Crucible of Change

    Today in class we watched a video on the ancient Greeks called Crucible of Change. This is the story of the rise and fall of a civilization that changed the world. 508 B.C in the town called Athens pandemonium ruled Greece. One man looked on Clistanize. He would set his fellows on the path to empire. 570 B.C is the estimated time he was born. He was taught that he was an aristocratic. Athens lay the center of Greece. It's certainly not what someone call a city that would ever have an empire. There are farmers and tradesman. Reading and writing was rare. Life was tough. The life expectancy at birth was less than 15 years. Athens were all turned against each other. Greece is not the kind of place to produce a great civilization. There to many mountains and when you look at Greece it doesn't have the look of a great civilization. Greece was divided into little city states with their own independence. (Some City States: Argos Corinth Sparta Athens). Spartans were raised in the field and separated from their family. They were raised to be strong. They were brought up to put up with everything. They coqunored more than 4,000 sq miles. They were always a threat to the others. There were heroes. They were valued and are in all Greek art. There was a man (Asthistian) that rode into Athens with a women named Athena. The people welcomed him as a new leader when he demanded it. He had far more ambitions then to just gain power. He had to find allies. He turned to the Athens for support. He reduced taxes and allowed people to build their farms. He began to rebuild his city. Athens produced the best olives. Greece is bounded by great civilizations. Athenians first invention the vase (pottery). Inside the pot was more speacial than the pot. The lowest of the lowest were the pottery makers. They had different symbols and art on them. Pisistratus was raised to death in the Athenian grave yard and his son took over. 
   There were Olympic games. There was running, wrestling, boxing, and chariot racing, but there was no real prize. Greeks would travel thousands of miles to come to the games. The Greeks invented athletic contests and held them in honour of their gods. Anyone could win. The most famous games held at Olympia, South- West of Greece, which took place every four years. The ancient Olympics seem to have begun in the early 700 BC, in honour of Zeus. No women were allowed to watch the games and only Greek nationals could participate. When you fight you have to go in and show you can win. Isagerist seized control of Athens. Over 700 household were cast under Athens including Clistanize. Athens took there own destiny in their own hands. They created a revolution. 508 B.C it was Athens first step to empire and glory. The people had turned on their leaders and seized power on their own. They turned to one man, Clistanize. He was asked to build a government. He made a place where they could all come to talk about their ideas for their city state. He created the idea of simple vote. Its known as democracy to us. Every 9 days they would gather and talk. They talked about everything. They each would vote on ideas. Democracy really help then prosper.  A new generation would take up his legacy. They faced troubles. It would be tested by war. 
   Athens was gaining power and the Persians had to take power. The Greeks like freedom. The Persians want obedience. Marthan was a city without a standing army. The Athenians had been mustered. As they faced the Persians they didn't see victory. They were out numbered 2 to 1. While they fought they just had to keep pushing and going. The Athenians slaughter over 6 thousand Persians in one day. The Athenians celebrated their victory as the Persians scattered. But the General Themistocles had fought on the battle field at Marathon. He was blunt and straight forward. He was the savior of his city. He knew that if the Persians came again the Persians would have a new strategy. He convinced the Athenians to build the greatest army. was an Athenian politician and a general. He was one of a new breed of politicians who rose to prominence in the early years of the Athenian democracy, along with his great rival Aristides. As a politician, Themistocles was a populist, having the support of lower class Athenians, and generally being at odds with the Athenian nobility. Elected archon in 493 BC, he took steps to increase the naval power of Athens, which would be a recurring theme in his political career. During the first Persian invasion of Greece, he fought at the Battle of Marathon, and was possibly one of the 10 Athenian strategoi (generals) in that battle. Athenians turned to their Gods as fear stuck. They heard about an evasion from the Persians. He continued to advocate a strong Athenian navy, and in 483 BC he persuaded the Athenians to build a fleet of 100 triremes. He wanted to fight the Persians at sea. He had his people evacuate and brought the men with him. He wantes every man., woman, and child to go into exile. 


More Notes

• Pisistratus was to be a great general and tyrant of Athens. 
• His distinction came through the war against the Megarians (570-565BC). 
• Five years later he seized power and became tyrant for 33 years. 
• Pesistratus was a popular ruler, reducing taxes, helping the poor and disabled, uniting Attica and beautifying Athens with new buildings. 
•  Hippias. Hippias and his brother, Hipparchus, ruled the city much akin to the way that their father did.
•  After a successful murder plot against Hipparchus conceived by Harmodius and Aristogeiton, Hippias became paranoid and oppressive. 
• This change in attitude caused the people of Athens to hold Hippias in much lower regard. The Alcmaeonid family helped to depose the tyranny by bribing the Delphic oracle to tell the Spartans to liberate Athens, which they did in 510 BC.
•  The Peisistratids were not executed, but rather were mostly forced into exile. Afterward, Cleisthenes, a descendent of Megacles, helped erect a democracy based on the overturned reforms of Solon.