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to careen back to depths of slaughter

English translation: War and destruction as contrast, alternating with splendor

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase: to careen back to depths of slaughter
Selected answer:War and destruction as contrast, alternating with splendor

09:56 Apr 21, 2016
    The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2016-04-25 04:54:10 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)


English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - History / History of Civilisations
English term or phrase: to careen back to depths of slaughter
For a thousand years after Cyrus, and well into the Common Era, Mesopotamia was incessantly catapulted to heights of splendor only to careen back to depths of slaughter as it passed from the alternating clutches of Alexander the Great of Greece, the Seleucid Greeks, the Parthian Empire, the Romans, and the Sassanid Persians.

What confuses me is the phrase "catapulted to heights of splendor only to careen back to depths of slaughter "
I have fgured out the incessant attacks against Babylonia by ancient empires but I could not re-phrase "to careen back to the depths of slaughter"

can you explain it please?
thanks in advance.

(Source: Edwin Black, The Farhud: Roots of the Arab-Nazi Alliance in the Holocaust)
MuratK.
Türkiye
Local time: 17:21
War and destruction as contrast, alternating with splendor
Explanation:
The region alternates between heights of splendor and its contrasting counterpoint, the death and destruction brought on by wars.
Selected response from:

Lincoln Hui
Hong Kong
Local time: 22:21
Grading comment
Thanks a lot...
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +2War and destruction as contrast, alternating with splendor
Lincoln Hui


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
War and destruction as contrast, alternating with splendor


Explanation:
The region alternates between heights of splendor and its contrasting counterpoint, the death and destruction brought on by wars.

Lincoln Hui
Hong Kong
Local time: 22:21
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in ChineseChinese, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12
Grading comment
Thanks a lot...
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Robert Forstag
58 mins
agree  Yvonne Gallagher
1 hr
neutral  B D Finch: I think that Agneta's comment about the use of "catapult" and "careen" is important here.
2 hrs
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