Archive for the ‘Ancient Greece’ Category
By: The Scribe on June, 2011
Theseus was a character that appeared in many Greek myths. Like some of the other heroes in Greek mythology he was the son of one of the Gods. In Theseus’ case, he was the son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. Theseus was also said to have had a mortal father as well. In addition to sleeping with Poseidon, Theseus’ mother, Aethra also slept with Aegeus on the same evening that she slept with Poseidon.
He was said to have reformed Athens. His mortal father Aegeus had ruled Athens before Theseus however Theseus was considered to have founded many of the traditions that were part of Athenian daily life. Different poets, authors and playwrights attributed many different things to Theseus.
One legend states that Theseus grew up in Troezen, the city state where his mother lived. in order to claim that he was the son of Aegeus, Theseus had to recover his father’s sandals and sword from under a huge rock. When he did, his mother was permitted to tell Theseus who his father was. Because the task marked Theseus as a hero, he was able to journey to Athens and claim his place as Aegeus’ son. Since Aethra had slept with Poseidon on the same evening that she had lain with Aegeus it was believed that Theseus had both human and divine qualities that allowed him to perform truly heroic feats.
After Theseus had retrieved his father’s sandals and sword he was then given a choice between two routes to Athens. The first was by sea. This was considered to be a much safer route. The second, the route that Theseus ultimately chose, followed a path around the Saronic Gulf. The gulf is part of the Aegean Sea. This was a treacherous route and Theseus would have to complete a number of tasks.
Completing tasks was a fairly common theme in Greek mythology. Hercules, for example, had to complete twelve tasks that are known as the Labors of Hercules. In the case of Theseus, he would have overcome the bandits who guarded six separate entrances to the Greek Underworld.
Even after Theseus arrived in Athens, he had other tasks to complete. He didn’t introduce 
himself to his father right away. His father’s wife, Medea, did recognize him and wanted to make sure that Theseus would not live long enough to claim his rightful place on the throne. She sent him on an errand to capture the Marathonian Bull. He was able to bring the bull back to Athens where it was sacrificed. Medea was upset that this plan had not worked but she had other tricks up her sleeve. Her last attempt on Theseus’ life was to poison him with a cup of wine. Luckily, Aegeus recognized the shield, sword and sandals that he had buried under the rock. He realized that Theseus was his son and prevented the poisoning from taking place.
Tomorrow: The first of Theseus’ encounters with the bandits who guarded entrances to the Greek Underworld.
By: The Scribe on April, 2011
There have been many plagues that have rocked the world throughout the past. Some plagues, like the Black Death that killed as much as half of Europe, are widely known. Other plagues, like the Plague of Athens are known more by historians despite the fact that they caused massive amounts of death and suffering in their own right.
The year was 430 BCE. The Peloponnesian War was in full swing. It had started a year earlier. Athens and the other members of the Delian League were fighting against Sparta and the rest of the Peloponnesian League. The war was terrible. There were many atrocities committed by the forces on both sides. The city states abandoned the formalized combat that had been so common during Greece’s Golden Age and went at each other without mercy. They destroyed the countryside and destroyed cities in their hunger to win.
The war seemed like it was going well for Athens. The forces were fairly evenly matched in some ways. Sparta’s forces were devastating on land while Athens dominated the seas. While Sparta was launching attacks by land, Athens was busy sneaking in by sea and attacking cities along the coast. Then, in the second year of the war, disaster struck Athens. It was 430 BCE and the Athenians were holed up behind Athens’ city walls.
People from the surrounding area began to move into the city of Athens itself. Suddenly, the crowded conditions became a great place for illness to multiply. The illness was very contagious and people began to die at an alarming rate. As people became ill, law and order in the city began to break down. People suddenly began to ignore the laws or go on wild spending sprees.
The plague caused the eyes to become red and inflamed. The breath became fetid as 
individuals bled from the throat and tongue. They started to sneeze and became hoarse. Victims felt that they were burning from within although they were not hot to the touch. The skin became red and developed pustules and ulcers. They often took seven to eight days to die. If they did not die, they often recovered but lost fingers, toes or eyes.
People who tended the ill were at great risk of getting sick themselves. Because of this, it was not uncommon to find that people were left alone once they became sick. They were often left to die in buildings or in the street. Some were dumped into mass graves or burned on communal pyres. In fact, the flames from the pyres were so large that they caused the Spartans to back away from the city in an attempt to avoid catching the plague.
It returned several times during the Peloponnesian War. At the end, Athens was crushed and reduced to a shadow of its former glory. While they did try to rally and mount a final attack in 415 BCE, they were never able to defeat the Spartans.
It is still not known what the Plague of Athens actually was. Scientists are fairly certain that it was not caused by the bubonic plague as was thought in the past. Scientists are now thinking it may have been a mutant form of some other illness that has not been seen since it last appeared in 427/6 BCE.
By: The Scribe on March, 2011
Greece and Persia were never known for getting along well. In fact, Persia had an almost permanent hatred for Greece and tried to invade several times. The first Persian invasion of Greece took place in 492 BCE. The Greeks were able to defeat them although it took them two years to do so. The final battle of this invasion was the Battle of Marathon. Persia hated Athens and Eretria because they had helped support the cities of Ionia when they revolted against Persia.
One man who fought at the Battle of Marathon was the Athenian general and politician Themistocles. He lived from 524 BCE to 459 BCE. One of his main goals was to increase the naval power of Athens and began his campaign to do so after being elected to the position of archon in 493 BCE. It is believed that he acted as one of 10 Athenian generals during the Battle of Marathon.
After the Greeks defeated the Persians, there was a temptation on behalf of the Athenians to divert money away from the navy into other areas that needed funding. Themistocles didn’t agree with this plan. He wanted the Athenian navy to remain strong and managed to convince the Athenians that the people of Aegina were an ongoing danger to Athens. This wasn’t actually the case but because of this, the Athenians were willing to build a new fleet made up of 100 triremes which made them a powerful naval force that was very difficult to defeat.
Themistocles used subterfuge in order to give Athenians the advantage during the second Persian invasion, which took place from 480 BCE to 479 BCE. This time, instead of Darius trying to punish Athens and Eretria, the second invasion was an attempt by Darius’ son, King Xerxes I, to completely conquer Greece altogether. It was believed that Themistocles was sending messages to Xerxes. He claimed that some of Xerxes’ allies, the Ionians, were actually much less loyal than they actually were. He also sent messages to the Persians which stated that the allied Greek navy was in a much worse condition than it actually was.
Not only did Themistocles manage to cause problems within the Persian army, he was also
able to find out important information that gave the Greek soldiers the advantage at the battle of Salamis. This gave the Greeks the upper hand and made it possible for them to eventually defeat the Persians at the Battle of Plataea that ended the second invasion.
After the second Persian invasion, Themistocles’ career began to go downhill. He continued to be an important political figure in Athens but in the process, he earned the hostility of Sparta, a sister state of Athens. He ended up alienating the people of Athens and was ultimately ostracized in either 471 BCE or 472 BCE. After that happened, he travelled to the Argos where he lived in exile. Ultimately, he ended up in the service of the Persians under King Artaxerxes I. He ended up becoming a governor of Magnesia, an ancient Greek city that was located in Anatolia. He ultimately died in 459 BCE of natural causes.
By: The Scribe on January, 2008
Apparently, the ancient Greeks were concerned more concerned about cleanliness and bacteria that they’re given credit for! In ancient Greek mythology, the goddess Hygieia was the daughter of the god Asclepius – the god of medicine and healing – and was associated with preventing sickness and the preservation of good health. Essentially, she was the goddess of cleanliness, health, sanitation… and the moon, oddly enough.
It’s thought that Hygieia might have had her own cult as early as the 7th century BC, but it is more likely that during this period, the goddess Athena was associated with this title – in Plutarch’s writings, he mentions a bronze statue of ‘Athena Hygieia’. However, the early years of the cult were strictly local, and it was only after the ‘Cult of Hygieia’ was recognized by the Oracle of Delphi that the goddess’ worship began to spread.
It probably also helped that there were several critically devastating plagues in Athens in 429 and 427 BC, which was when the cult began to rise in prominence. Another plague at Rome in 293 BC also helped to secure her position there – the people were desperate for help in the face of such a dire situation, so naturally they turned to a goddess who was supposed to be in charge of health.
The largest temples and centers of worship for Hygieia were at Epidaurus, Corinth, Pergamon and Cos – and in these temples were statues of Hygieia to which suppliants would bring offerings. The Greek traveler and geographer Pausanias noted something very interesting about these statues – he noticed that in one Asclepion he visited, the statues of Hygieia were covered in women’s hair and piece of Babylonian clothes! According to inscriptions, the same types of offerings were also made on the Cycladic island of Paros.
Hygieia was a popular subject for artists from the 4th century until late in the Roman period. A Sicyonian artist named Ariphon, during the 4th century, even composed a hymn in celebration of the goddess, and a number of renowned ancient sculptors were responsible for creating statues in her image – including Scopas, Timotheus, and Bryaxis.
In terms of representation, she was often depicted as a young woman feeding a very large snake, which happened to be wrapped around her body. In a number of cases, the snake would be shown drinking out of a jar that she carried in her other hand – which is the origin for one of today’s modern symbols of pharmacy, the Bowl of Hygieia.
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Theseus was a character that appeared in many Greek myths. Like some of the other heroes in Greek mythology he was the son of one of the Gods. In Theseus’ case, he was the son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. Theseus was also said to have had a mortal father as well. In addition to sleeping with Poseidon, Theseus’ mother, Aethra also slept with Aegeus on the same evening that she slept with Poseidon.
himself to his father right away. His father’s wife, Medea, did recognize him and wanted to make sure that Theseus would not live long enough to claim his rightful place on the throne. She sent him on an errand to capture the Marathonian Bull. He was able to bring the bull back to Athens where it was sacrificed. Medea was upset that this plan had not worked but she had other tricks up her sleeve. Her last attempt on Theseus’ life was to poison him with a cup of wine. Luckily, Aegeus recognized the shield, sword and sandals that he had buried under the rock. He realized that Theseus was his son and prevented the poisoning from taking place.
