Acropolis

In his work, The Histories, the Greek historian Herodotus gives an account of Darius and Xerxes, who were two members of the Achaemenidai family, and ruled as Kings during the Greco-Persian Wars. Persian kingship was different from earlier Greek kingship. I believe, however, that if we examine the virtues that Darius and Xerxes had, we could see they shared similar values than the Greeks. In this essay, I will argue that Herodotus does indeed provide us with a narrative that indicates that…

In early fifth century B.C.E, the Greeks constantly suffered from the threat of being conquered by the Persian Empire. Although Persian power vastly exceeded, the Greeks unexpectedly triumphed. Similar to the tale of David versus Goliath, the Greeks defeated the Persians due to divine support and Greek unity. The threat of the Persian Empire expansion into Greece and the imminent possibility that they would lose their freedom and become slaves to the Persians, so horrified the Greeks that they…

The Ancient Greeks celebrated religion on a different level than is currently done. The Greeks practiced a civic religion that combined the city, its people, and religion together and insinuated itself into their everyday lives. This was through their system of polytheism, their orthopraxic rituals, democratically elected religious officials, the patron deities of their Polis, and the rites of passage that every citizen went through. Civic religion in ancient Greece was the way that the ancient…

Ancient Greek Civilization: The Golden Age I. Introduction At least 2000 years before Christ, on the Island of Crete emerged the first Greek Civilization. Under the leadership of a general name, Pericles, Greece reached its Golden Age or Classical Period, which was later believed to be among the greatest civilizations ever existed. During that period, the Greek culture flourished and the city-state of Athens became the world’s first democracy. Nonetheless, similarly to others, the Greek…

led to the destruction of the archaeological record of more recent cultures to give a more sanitized and idealized view of the past (Hamilakis 2007:96–97). A more famous example of this is the removal of Islamic and Byzantine monuments from the Acropolis in order to feature the architecture from the Classical period more prominently (Kokkinidou and Nikolaidou 2004:160). Clearly, the construction of their national identity was affecting how archaeologists viewed and prioritized the…

spectacle and symbolism and as to be expected the women playing ‘men’ or rather ‘powerful women’ in Lysistrata are given hint of sexual representation. The roles reverse when the old men of the chorus attempt to burn the meddling women out of the acropolis. The men are given lit torches (phallus) as they try to force their way into the citadel gate, female gates shut by the women. Theatrically strategies like this raised the bar for comedy at the time and gave Aristophanes an edge during…

On the west slope of Mt. Helikon, below the acropolis of ancient Steirion, atop an ancient temple to Demeter2 lies the monastery of Hosios Loukas (See Fig. 1). It is enclosed by a wall and comprises two- and three-story blocks of cells, a bell-tower at the South West corner, the Refectory on the South side and the two adjoining churches at the center of the enclosure. The monastery was founded by the hermit Loucas Stereiotis, who lived in the area from 945 CE until the day of his death, in 953CE…

Pericles, Athenian statesman of the 5th century B.C., whose name is closely associated with the great age of Athenian democracy and culture, the Athenian Empire, and the Peloponnesian War. He was born about 495 B.C., son of Xanthippus, a well-known political figure during the period of the Persian Wars, and Agariste, of the Alcmeonid family, one of the most prominent in Athens. Although little is known of his youth, two men seem to have played an important role in his education: Damon,…

Throughout time each civilization has spread its folklore about their gods. Many of the stories still hold an impact on the world today. Maybe not in the sense of worship but people are intrigued to figure out the state of mind of the ancient people that once worshipped these gods. Civilzations worshipped these gods in hope that they would help them in their daily lives. Most civilzations had gods for everything. They had gods that controled the weather, the harvest, or if a woman would have…

After ruling for 40 years as Rome’s first king, Romulus was believed to have been carried away into the sky, where he became a god. Romans were proud of their city that they were sure that the gods must have had a hand in its birth. (Chrisp, 2007 pg. 10) The Romans were proud of the works they had done especially their architecture. The Romans built some incredible buildings. According to the Encyclopedia, The origins of Roman architecture can be traced to the Etruscans, who migrated from Asia…