How far back in history do modern Western Europeans feel some kind of connection to their past? Socrates, for example, seems way too far removed from them, doesn't he?
>>225542763That is a highly subjective and generational question. If you are a millenial you have most certainly met people born in the 1800s even if you weren't aware of it. As for myself (zoomer) I have met my great grandpa who was alive when the Titanic sank and have photos of him growing up in the 1910s and 20s. And those people encountered individuals from much earlier periods. Hell, his birth was literally closer in time to the era of powdered wigs than to the present day. Realistically if you know your family history well, you can feel some kind of connection back to the 1700s, further than that documentation becomes much more elusive unless you are of the nobility. It makes the past much more relatable knowing that those people you are descended from or literally met in person, breathed, struggled and enjoyed in the same human fashion as you do in a period that seems so distant to you, instead of viewing it through the lens of sterile oil paintings and black and white photos of abstract historical figures.
