To be fair, depending on when these things were written, there was a lot of shit going on in Greece and Rome that merited such a take, including invasions, plagues, civil war. And the '20s[1], '30s[1], and '40s[2], and '50s[3].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War_(1953%E2%80%931962)