Words for Board: Athens, Theseus, Solon, Democracy, Ostracism, Liturgy System, Darius I, Sardes, Marathon, Xerxes I, Hellespont, Thermopylae, Salamis, Plataea

(Note: Your 1st test should be happening soon!! Like maybe your next class session. If you don't know, you'd better find out!!!)

Athens was the biggest of the 3 city-states (of the big 3, that is). It develops the best military power (which includes a navy). It is the 2nd largest in land and the 1st in population. It becomes the #1 power in Greece. It is located in northern Greece by the isthmus.

History of Athens: It started with kings early. One of the legendary kings is Theseus. He may not have existed. If you're reading the books by Renault, you will read about him. After the kings died out, the aristocracy ran the government (i.e. The Eupatrids). The rich got everything and the poor got nothing (sounds familiar). That situation will lead to revolution fast. The rich got wise and changed the system they lost everything. They appointed Solon to make reforms and changes however he saw fit. He was a tyrant ("leader of the people") which in those days didn't have the bad connotation it does today. He was supposedly one of the 7 wise men of the ancient world. If you were a lower class peon who was getting nothing, what would you want? 1. Cancel all debts, cuz there ain't no way you could pay them back. And 2. Re-division of the land so you can make it on your own. Solon canceled the debts but he didn't re-divide the land which meant pretty soon, the poor would be in debt again. Solon passed some good laws and then retired and went on a world cruise. Tyrant #2 seized power in a coup. He seized the Acropolis with his goon squad and therefore had the city. Despite his bad beginning, he turned out to be good. He banished his enemies (who just all happened to be rich) and seized their property and re-divided it among his friends (who just happened to be poor) and things worked out as they should. By 500 BC, Athens was stable, prosperous and had a strong middle class.

The government of Athens was a Democracy ("rule by many"), on paper that is. All adult males had the right to vote. The people would go downtown to vote in the market square. By 500 BC, there were so many people, they had to go outside of town and vote on a hill set aside for that purpose. Every male could vote, but they weren't paid to vote. The middle class couldn't take the time to go and vote cuz they couldn't afford to close up their shops all the time. So only the rich and the poor had the time to vote. On crucial votes, the poor could be influenced ($) by the rich so that actually Athens functioned like an oligarchy where the rich were running the state. But that's ok cuz they were doing all right and were very stable.

The court system was set up with no judges. The jury served as both judge and jury. Jury ran by majority rule. The smallest jury was 251 men. For big crimes, juries ran from 501 to 1001 men. It prevented bribery cuz you couldn't pay that man people. But, on the other hand, big crowds are easy to sway with emotional votes. It was amazing how many good speakers were found not guilty. You voted with 2 little axles, one hollow, one solid. Essentially, there was a bronze flat plate (about the size of a silver dollar) with a hole in the middle. The hollow or solid axle (depending on your vote) would be put through the hole to cast a vote (basically like a wheel and axle assembly–the whole assembly is called a "die"–as in "the die is cast."). The hollow and solid axles would be counted up to decide the result of the vote. As you walked by the jury box, you drop one in for the vote and the other in the throw-away box. That kept the vote secret. Jurors were assigned to trials so everybody wouldn't show up at the murders and nobody at the petty thievery cases. You were punished by whipping, branding, fines, or death. If you'd been pretty neat and the state liked you, you were allowed to poison yourself with a nerve drug. Otherwise the state crucified you (kind of nailed you to a board and abandoned you to die of dehydration, etc.). You couldn't be jailed cuz there wasn't enough food to feed you.

Athens had a neat ceremony called Ostracism. Athenians were afraid that leaders would become dictators. So, once a year, in the winter time (nothing better to do), they had a day for ostracism. If over 6000 men showed up, there was a ceremony. You get a pot shard (broken piece of pottery) and write down the name of the guy you don't like. If he gets the majority of votes, he's kicked out of town for 10 years. He's not guilty of anything, he's just making the most Greeks nervous. If less than 6000 men showed up, obviously they weren't nervous. Sometimes Athenians got rid of their best generals in the middle of wars cuz they were too good leaders. There was also an un-ostracism ceremony if they needed the guy back.

Athenians paid no direct taxes. There were taxes on foreigners, imports, rent of harbor space, etc. Athens also made money on the silver mines they owned. Every year they divided the surplus among the citizens. But the state provided no services (school, military) either. The government also got money with the Liturgy System. The rich people could give $ to the state to spend. They usually liked to have it spent on buildings and stuff so they could carve their names on it. (Greeks love glory!)

Athenians have a problem. It's called overpopulation!! They turned to manufacturing and trade and with the money they imported the food they needed. They got their food from grain by the Black Sea. Athens traded with the East and Corinth traded with the West.

In 546 BC, the Lydian Empire fell to the Persians in the East. Persians covered most of the East–Asia and that general area. (See a map.) Persians were mild rulers. In the Persian Empire, you had to pay a little tax (probably less than under your original rule cuz the Persians had so much they could charge a little). Persians didn't care what kind of government you had as long as you didn't cause trouble. Persia picked up the territory of Asia Minor including the Greek city-states still over there. The Persians got a new king, Darius I. He developed a foreign policy: If you're attacked, go out and conquer the territory and stuff it into the empire. The barbarians in the north (who were growing the grain for Athens) were raiding the Persian empire. Darius sent an army up to get them and burned the grain.

In 499 BC, Myletus (Greek city-state on Asia Minor) pulled out of the Persian Empire and led a revolt against the Persians. It got some of the other city-states to join it and they marched on Sardes (capital city in the west of Persian Empire). The Greeks burned it down, which irritated the Persians. All of a sudden, Myletus realized that the Persians were big and asked the rest of Greece for help. Athens sent 20 Greek warships (1000 people). The Persians rolled over Myletus and sold the people into slavery. That left Athens as the #1 Greek power. Persia decided that Athens had aided the rebels and was going to stuff it into the Empire. In 491 BC, the Persians showed up outside Greece with 600 ships (100,000 men) to take Athens. They landed at Marathon (north of Athens). Athens asked for help and got some from the neighboring city-state of Plataea (See later in lecture for larger significance). The Spartans said they'd send help as soon as they could, but they were in the middle of religious ceremonies that week. However, start without them and they'd get there later. Athens freed its slaves and suited up every man they had and put 20,000 men into the field (odds were 5:1 in favor of the Persians). Athens had 10 generals and since they were a democracy, every one of them got to be general for a day. That would have insured their losing except that one of the generals had some sense. When it came time for Aristides to be general, he passed his turn in favor of Miltiades who led the army well. All the generals let Miltiades lead and he eventually won. Athens attacked. The Persians had never lost and they had lots more guys. But they had never seen the Greek phalanx. It cut through the army and those left ran off and sailed home. The Spartan army arrived the next day (that was the time they marched 150 miles in 3 days). They saw they were too late and turned around and marched home. That meant Athens had 2 heroes so after the war Miltiades was charged with graft and fined $600,000 and eventually died and Aristides was ostracized (and those were the good guys!!). The Persians were highly ticked cuz they had lost. But they figured out the Greek land army was good so the next battle was going to be in the sea. They outfitted their fleet but it never made it cuz a big storm wrecked it at sea.

Darius I died and was succeeded by Xerxes I who was smart. He collected men and material for 4 years for the next battle. In the meantime, he sent ambassadors to Athens and Sparta to ask them if they didn't want to reconsider and join the Persian Empire before they were stuffed into it anyway. Sparta and Athens put the ambassadors to death (tacky). The Greeks knew Xerxes was getting ready for war. They thought he had 5 million men but actually it was more like 100,000 men. You can't just sail an army like that over the seas and have it get lost like the last one. So, they built a pontoon bridge across the Hellespont out of ships. It took a whole week to move the troops across.

In the meantime, the Greeks decided to get together. They met in Corinth. They came up with Plan A: Block the Persians at the isthmus and guard so they can't get around the Corinthian and Athenian navy. In the meantime, Persians would starve. Athens didn't like Plan A cuz that meant abandoning their city to the Persians. So, Plan B: Up in the mountains in the north was a pass that was really narrow called Thermopylae. The Greeks were going to plug it like a cork and the Persians would eventually starve. The Spartans sent a small force but they sent a king so that qualified it as an army. Eventually, there were about 6,000 Greeks with 200,000 Persians on the other side. It worked for 3 days but then the plan fell apart cuz there was a way around the pass and the Persians found it. Everyone but the Spartans retreated. They couldn't retreat cuz the army never retreats and since they had one of the kings there, it was an army. The Spartans were slaughtered. So, it's back to Plan A. The Athenians asked Apollo at Delphi what to do. Apollo said they should rely on their wooden walls, which was open to interpretation. Did he mean walls as in the citadel? Some people thought so and holed up there. They were wrong and were slaughtered. Apollo meant wooden walls as in ships–kind of floating walls of the city. In other words, abandon the city and sail off. The Persians couldn't afford to be holed up at the isthmus cuz they can't afford the food. They decided to try for another sea battle. The Persian navy against the Corinthian and Athenian navies in Salamis Bay. The Persian navy was made of ships borrowed from the colonies including Egyptian and barbarian ships. The Persians didn't know that there are tricky currents in the bay. The Persians put too many ships in the bay and the Greeks tore them up. Loss #2!! Now the Persians had to get across the isthmus but summer was over and there was no food for winter. Xerxes took ˝ his army and wintered them in Asia Minor and left the other ˝ in northern Greece. All the Greeks were bottled up in the Peloponnesus. The Greeks nearly fell apart at the seams.

The last big battle came in the spring. The Greeks marched up and the battle was held at Plataea (near Athens). The Greeks almost lost cuz they were waiting for the Spartans to lead the attack while the Persians were shooting arrows at them. The Spartans were holding religious ceremonies and examining sheep livers for the sign to attack. Finally, Athens attacked without them and the Spartans found the right liver. Again, the phalanx mowed over the Persians.

Toynbee says the Greeks had 2 challenges: #1 was overpopulation which each city handled in its own way. #2 was the Persians to which the Greek response was winning. It gave the Greeks a feeling of confidence to whip the largest force on earth. They started building a new culture cuz they realized they were neat.