A Greek and a Persian sharing drink for the first time since 491 BC, in a paper memorial commemorating the formal establishment of diplomatic relations between Greece and Iran in November 1902. [4995×3677]
by Party_Judgment5780
A Greek and a Persian sharing drink for the first time since 491 BC, in a paper memorial commemorating the formal establishment of diplomatic relations between Greece and Iran in November 1902. [4995×3677]
by Party_Judgment5780
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491 BC was just one year before the First Persian Invasion of Greece by the Achaemenid Empire. Darius the Great had sent envoys to various Greek city-states demanding “earth and water,” a symbolic gesture of submission. Many of those states refused; Athens and Sparta went so far as to execute the envoys. This act irreversibly shattered the possibility of diplomacy and directly triggered the outbreak of war.
Thus, 491 BC symbolizes the collapse of diplomatic relations and the beginning of the Greco-Persian Wars. In contrast, 1902 marks the renewal of those ties after 2,393 years of historical rivalry—hence the memorial’s satirical caption: “A Long Time Between Drinks.” It’s a witty way of saying, “Well, it took us more than two millennia to sit down civilly again.”
The memorial was published in Puck Magazine on December 31, 1902. Today, the original print is kept by the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.