Athens

By AustinAll rights reserved

Athens is a city located on the Attic Plain of southeastern Greece.

Athens (Greece), city in southeastern Greece, capital and largest city of the country. Athens dominates the economic, cultural, and political life of modern Greece.

Athena’s city

Athens is said to be named for the Greek goddess Athena. According to Greek mythology, Zeus, the ruler of the gods, staged a contest between Athena and the sea god Poseidon to choose a patron for the city. In one version of the story, the people judged Athena’s gift of an olive tree more useful to humanity than Poseidon’s gift of a freshwater spring, and they dedicated their city to her..

Early history1.Minoan period(2200?-1400?BC)2. Mycenaean Period (1550?-1000? BC)3. The Greek Dark Age (1000?-750? BC)The ARCHAIC and CLASSICAL ages1. The Archaic Age (750-480 BC) 2. The Classical Age (480-323 BC).3. a. Athenian Empire (480-359 BC) b.

Macedonian Supremacy (359-323BC)

the 5th century, often called the Classical period, is usually considered the culmination of Greek art, architecture, and drama, with its highest achievements being the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, the Parthenon in Athens, and the plays of Athenian dramatists: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes.

Greek Cultural Influences

Ancient Greek ideas about art, architecture, drama, philosophy, and government greatly influenced Western civilization. Among the most influential of Greek cultural achievements is the Parthenon in Athens, an outstanding example of classical architecture. The Greek teacher and

philosopher Socrates affected Western speculative thought and philosophy with his emphasis on dialogue and rational

argument. Greek scientists developed methods of reasoning to demonstrate mathematic principles. Greek dramas set structural and thematic styles emulated by great Western

playwrights such as William Shakespeare.

【古希腊哲学】The Greek philosophers Thales 泰勒斯and Anaximander 阿那克西曼德, who lived in the 6th century BC, reached the revolutionary conclusion that the physical world was gov-erned by laws of nature, not by the whims of the gods. Pythagoras 普罗泰戈拉, who also lived in the 6th century BC, taught that numbers explained the world and started the study of mathematics in Greece.

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The Golden Age of Greek science came in the Hellenistic period, with the greatest advances in mathematics. Archimedes 阿基米德 (287-212 BC) calculated the value of pi (the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter) and invented fluid mechanics. Aristarchus 阿里斯塔克 , early in the 3rd century BC, argued that the earth revolved around the sun, while Eratosthenes 埃拉托 accurately calculated the circumference of the earth.Military technology vaulted ahead with the invention of huge catapults and wheeled towers to batter down city walls. Finally, medical scientists made many discoveries, such as the significance of the pulse and the nervous system.

欧几里得的《几何原本》 在科学史上，没有那一本书象欧几里得的《几何原本》那样把卓越的学术水平与广泛的普 及性完美的相结合。它集希腊古典数学之大成，构造了世界数学史上第一个宏伟的演绎系 统，对后世数学的发展起了不可估量的推动作用；阿里斯塔克：日心说的先驱 几乎所有的中学生都知道，是哥白尼发现了地球绕太阳转动而不是相反，他使人们从人类 中心论的迷梦中惊醒。其实，早在希腊时代就有天文学家提出过日心地动学说，他就是亚 历山大里亚的著名天文学家阿里斯塔克。阿里斯塔克另一个重要的天文学成就是测量太阳、月亮与地球的距离以及相对大小。这个 工作记载在他的《论日月的大小和距离》一书之中，该书流传到了现在。

埃拉托色尼测定地球大小 希腊人是最早相信地球是一个球体的民族。据史书记载，埃拉托色尼的科学工作包括数学、天文学、地理学和科学史：数学上确 定素数的埃拉托色尼筛法是他发明的；在天文学上，他测定了黄道与赤道的交角；在地理 学上，他绘制了当时世界最完整的地图，东到锡兰，西到英伦三岛，北到里海，南到埃塞 俄比亚；也许是利用图书馆馆长之便，他还编写了一部希腊科学的编年史，可惜已经失传 。 埃拉托色尼最著名的成就是测定地球的大小，其方法完全是几何学的

古代科学巨匠阿基米德是希腊化科学的杰出代表 。他不仅在数理科学上是第一流的天才，而且在工程技术上颇多建树。阿基米德也是希腊 最富有传奇色彩的科学家，他的传奇故事很多，而且每一个故事都从一个侧面展露了希腊 化科学的风采。有关浮力定律的传说更为人熟知。希龙国王请金匠用纯金打了一顶王冠，王冠打好后，国王觉得不太象是纯金的，可是又没有办法证实这一点。他请阿基米德来做这一鉴定工作， 而且要求不破坏王冠本身，因为并不能肯定其中掺有别的金属，要是把王冠毁坏了而其中又没有掺假，那代价又太大了。阿基米德一直在思考这一问题，但没有找到较好的鉴定方法。有一天，他正在潜心思考时，仆人让他去洗澡。这一次仆人把水放得太满了，当他坐进浴盆时有许多水溢了出来。他心不在焉地看着溢出的水，突然一下子豁然开朗起来。他意识到溢出的水的体积正好应该等于他自己的体积，如果他把王冠浸在水中，根据水面上升的情况可以知道王冠的体积。拿与王冠同等重量的金子放在水里浸一下，就可以知道它的体积是否与王冠体积相同，如果王冠体积更大，则说明其中掺了假。阿基米德想到这里，十分激动，他一下从浴盆里跳了起来，光着身子就跑了出去，一边跑还一边喊，“尤里卡（希腊语：发现了），尤里卡（发现了）”。阿基米德的一声“尤里卡”，喊出了人类探寻到大自然奥秘时的惊喜，正是为了纪念这一事件，现代世界最著名的发明博览会以“尤里卡”命名。

阿基米德的去世更具有传奇色彩。阿基米德晚年，也就是公元前 3 世纪末叶，正值罗马与迦太基开战，据说，阿基米德运用杠杆原理造出了一批投石机，有效的阻止了罗马人的攻城；还据说，阿基米德发明的大吊车将罗马军舰直接从水里提了起来，使海军根本接近不了叙拉古城。还有一次，阿基米德召集全城所有的妇女老幼手持镜子排成一个扇面形，将阳光会聚到罗马军舰上，将敌人的舰只全部烧毁。这些新式武器使罗马军队十分害怕，叙拉古城因而久攻不克。军中都在传说着阿基米德的威力，马塞拉斯也苦笑着承认这是一场罗马舰队与阿基米德一人之间的战争。攻城前，马塞拉斯命令士兵一定要活捉阿基米德，不得伤害他。可是命令尚未下达，城池已经攻陷。一位罗马士兵闯进阿基米德的居室时，他正在沙堆上专心研究一个几何问题。他由于过于专注于演绎的逻辑，没有意思到危险正在迫近。杀红了眼的士兵高声喝问没有得到答复便拔刀相向，沉思中的阿基米德只叫了一声“不要踩坏了我的圆”便被罗马士兵一刀刺死。事后，马塞拉斯十分悲痛，因为他深深知道阿基米德的价值。希腊科学精英就这样死在野蛮尚武的罗马士兵剑下，这一事件所具有的象征意义不久就显示了出来。

ParthenonThe Parthenon, built between 447 and 432 bc, is the greatest monument of classical Athens. Originally a temple to Athena Parthenos (the Virgin Athena), it was eventually converted into a Christian church and later into a mosque. The structure survived largely intact until 1687, when the Turkish gunpowder stored inside it was detonated in the course of a siege by Venetian troops.

Gail Mooney/MasterfileMicrosoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Lion GateThe famous Lion Gate in the ancient city of Mycenae in Greece shows the detailed stone carving at which the Mycenaeans excelled. Mycenae, which was the center of Aegean civilization from the 14th century bc to the 12th century bc, included massive walls and beehive-shaped tombs. Excavations at Mycenae began in 1876.

Francie Manning/The Picture CubeMicrosoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Temple of Poseidon, PaestumThe Greek temple of Poseidon at Paestum, Italy, was constructed in the mid 5th-century bc. Its massive, closely spaced columns are characteristic of the Doric order.

Farrell Grehan/ArcaidMicrosoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Temple of Athena Nike, Athens, GreeceThe Temple of Athena Nike is part of the Acropolis雅典卫城 in the city of Athens in Greece. Built around 420 bc, it is an excellent example of a classical temple, with ionic columns and a frieze around the top.

Temple of Apollo at DidymaThe Greeks built the Temple of Apollo at Didyma, Turkey (begun 4th century bc). The design of the temple was known as dipteral, a term that refers to the two sets of columns surrounding the interior section. These columns surrounded a small chamber that housed the statue of Apollo. With Ionic columns reaching 19.5 m (64 ft) high, these ruins suggest the former grandeur of the ancient temple.

Bernard Cox/Bridgeman Art Library, London/New YorkMicrosoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

DiscobolusThe Discobolus (Discus Thrower) is a Roman copy in marble of a statue made by Greek sculptor Myron of Eleutherae in about 450 bc. The original was made of bronze and was life-size, as is this copy. The composition of this piece incorporates two intersecting arcs, creating a feeling of movement and tension.

Scala/Art Resource, NYMicrosoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Laocoön and His SonsThis sculptural group of Laocoön and his sons is one of the finest surviving specimens of Hellenistic sculpture. Scholars believe it was carved in the mid-2nd century bc, but disagree as to whether this is the original of that date, or a later Roman copy. The sculpture was lost for many years but was rediscovered in the ruins of a Roman building in 1506, and exerted a powerful influence on the work of late Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo 米开朗基罗 .

Nimatallah/Art Resource, NYMicrosoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

5 main forms of government existed in ancient Greece

depended on a strong central authority

Monarchy

chiefdom

tyranny

depended on shared authority

democracy

oligarchy

Democracy gave an equal vote to every man who was liable for military service. In the most famous democracy, Athens, this included every freeborn male over 18 years old. Athenian democracy shared authority by choosing most government officials from the citizenry through a lottery and imposing term limits. Only the most sensitive positions in military and financial affairs were filled by election. Various other city-states also had democracies, but little evidence exists about them.

Government was shared by a limited group of people (oligoi) in city-states with an oligarchy（寡头政治） . Some oligarchic city-states had only a handful of leaders sharing authority; others had several hundred. Some city-states had an aristocracy (rule by the best, the aristoi), a type of oligarchy in which leaders were selected only from privileged families. The justification for oligarchy was that pure equality for citizens was morally inequitable because people were not the same. The idea was that some were more capable, more devoted, and more intelligent and thus deserved to rule the masses.

The most famous oligarchic city-state was Sparta. It had a dual kingship and an assembly composed of all free men over 30, referred to as “equals,” but neither the kings nor the equals came to hold real power. The 28-member Council of Elders and five elected officials held the reins of government, drafting laws that the assembly was expected to approve without debate.

Sparta 斯巴达Sparta, city in ancient Greece, and capital of Laconia（拉科尼亚） , It was on the right bank of the Evrótas River, about 32.5 km (about 20 mi) from the sea, in the foothills of Mount Taygetus.

From the 6th century BC on, however, the Spartans looked upon themselves as merely a military garrison, and all their discipline pointed to war. No deformed（畸形） child was allowed to live; boys began military drill at the age of 7 and entered the ranks at 20. Although permitted to marry, they were compelled to live in barracks until the age of 30; from the ages of 20 to 60 all Spartans were obliged to serve as hoplites (foot soldiers) and to eat at the phiditia (“public mess”).

对子女的艰苦锻练 婴儿 斯巴达犹如一个大军营，其公民的婴儿刚出生时，便要被检验体质，如果不合要求，便会被抛弃至荒山野岭；作为母亲的，会用烈酒为其婴儿洗澡，若受不了的，则任由他死去，这是因为斯巴达人只要最好的战士。 男孩 男孩在 7岁前是由双亲抚养的，但其父母从小则会训练他们成为独立坚强的战士，甚至有点冷酷无情。 7岁后便会编入团队进行军训。他们要被训练为绝对服从，身手敏捷，不怕艰苦的军人，所以每年均会被火辣辣的皮鞭鞭打，并不许求绕或叫喊。当男孩过了 12岁，便会被编入少年队，只能光头赤脚，不论天气冷暖均只许穿一件外衣，并只可在军营里作少量进食，逼使他们在外面偷取食物，锻练他们的身手。若被人发现，则会被重打，因为这证明他身手不灵活。至 20岁后，则成为正规军人。 30岁时便会成亲，但还是要每天作军训。 60岁时便会退役，但仍要作为预备军，随时候命。 女孩 女孩过了 7岁仍留在家里，但并不像中国的女孩般在家刺绣，而是在进行艰苦的体格训练，因为斯巴达人认为只有强壮的母亲，方能诞下坚强的战士。因此斯巴达的妇女十分坚忍，并不怕看到儿子浴血沙场。当儿子要上战场时，她们并不会为其祝福，只会给他一个盾牌，并说：「要么拿著，要么躺在上面。」即是说，要么打胜仗回来，要么光荣战死，在盾牌上被人抬回来。

Persian Wars 希（腊）波（斯）战争

Time ： (490-479 BC).

Background ： Between 560 and 500 BC the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East underwent great political changes. Under Cyrus the Great Persia grew into the largest empire the Near East had ever seen.In the same period, a number of small city-states consisting of an urban center and its surrounding territory had developed over a large part of the Greek mainland and the islands of the Aegean Sea. For the most part they were governed by local aristocracies, but the city-state of Athens had already begun a series of changes that would lead to the emergence of democratic government. Politically, the most important was Sparta, on the Peloponnesian伯罗奔尼撒 peninsula. It had become the strongest land power in Greece and controlled an alliance of other city-states that extended over much of southern Greece. However, in terms of population, resources, and organization, the Greek states were no match for the immense empire they were to fight.

By 500 BC Sparta had become the most powerful city-state. It had the most fearsome army, which was composed of superbly disciplined hoplite fighters (infantry with bronze body armor, shields, spears, and swords who fought shoulder-to-shoulder in a block called a phalanx).Fearing the oligarchic Spartans would attack their recovering democracy, the Athenians sought protection from King Darius I 大流士一世of Persia. However, the Athenians soon abandoned their alliance with Darius to help Ionian Greeks on the coast of Asia Minor rebel from Persian control. The Athenians’ behavior sparked the Persian Wars (490-479 BC)

In 490 BC Darius dispatched a fleet to capture Athens, expecting it to surrender. Instead, in the Battle of Marathon, outnumbered Athenian hoplites charged the Persian forces and to everyone’s astonishment drove them away. A messenger ran more than 32 km (20 mi) from Marathon to Athens to announce the news, a run memorialized in modern marathon races.Darius’s son, Xerxes I薛西斯一世, led an immense invasion of Greece in 480 BC to avenge the Marathon defeat. So huge was his army, the Greeks claimed, it required seven days and seven nights of continuous marching for it to cross a pontoon bridge between Asia Minor and mainland Greece. Some city-states in northern and central Greece surrendered, but Sparta led an alliance of 31 city-states against the Persians. A small detachment of Greek soldiers led by Spartan king Leonidas I gave their lives to temporarily block Xerxes’s army at a narrow pass called Thermopylae (see Battle of Thermopylae).

By the time the invading Persians reached Athens, the residents had evacuated, and the Persians burned an empty city. Athens was prepared to fight with its navy, built up from the proceeds of a rich discovery of silver a few years before. The Athenian general Themistocles defeated the Persian navy in the Battle of Salamís by luring Persian ships into a narrow channel, where the Greeks’ heavier ships proceeded to ram and sink them. In 479 BC the Greeks completed their triumph by defeating the Persian infantry步兵 at Plataea, relying on superior tactics and armor. This string of unexpected Greek victories in the Persian Wars preserved the Greeks’ independence and gave them so much self-confidence that they felt superior.

希波战争

　　在希腊城邦向地中海沿岸扩展的同时，西亚的波斯帝国也在扩张，强大的波斯帝国征服了小亚细亚半岛上的艾奥尼亚希腊诸邦。前 499年，小亚细亚半岛上的米利都等希腊城邦发动起义，得到雅典的支持。波斯国王大流士一世在镇压起义后，就准备进攻雅典。前 490 年，波斯大军渡海西侵，但在马拉松战役中被人数居于劣势的雅典重装步兵击败。希腊人赢得了第一次希波战争的胜利。

　　前 480 年，波斯国王薛西斯一世率 50万大军再次进攻希腊。希腊各城邦也结成同盟，共御强敌。希腊联军的陆军以斯巴达人为主力，海军则以雅典舰队为主。希腊陆军在温泉关阻击波斯陆军，虽然兵败，但为希腊海军的集结赢得了时间。波斯人攻入了雅典，将全城焚毁，但希腊海军在萨拉米海战中一举击溃波斯海军，波斯人面临补给被切断的危险，不得不撤退。希腊人乘胜追击，解放了小亚细亚的希腊诸邦。第二次希波战争以希腊的胜利告终。

Peloponnesian War伯罗奔尼撒战争

Cause ： Athens and Sparta did not share the joy of victory for long. Athens used its wartime fleet to become an aggressive military power rivaling Sparta. Both sides acquired allies to strengthen their positions. Athens allied with city-states in northern Greece, the Aegean Islands, and the west coast of Asia Minor, which were most exposed to Persian retaliation. Members of the Athens-led alliance, known today as the Delian League 。

Time ： 431-404 BC

The Delian League brought Athens unprecedented power and income. In time, more and more league members found it easier to pay their dues in cash rather than furnish their own warships and crews, and they let Athens build and man the league’s ships. Poorer Athenians welcomed this arrangement because it gave them paying jobs as oarsmen (Greek warships were rowed so they could ram other ships in battle). As naval strength became the city-state’s principal source of military might, oarsmen gained greater political influence in Athenian democracy. Since Sparta and its allies had far less naval power, they could not match Athens on the sea, where it gained money and goods by trading with other states or raiding them.

In 431 BC tensions erupted when Athens pressured Corinth and Megara, crucial Spartan allies who were rivals with Athens for seagoing trade. Sparta came to the defense of its allies, and the fighting escalated into the Peloponnesian War

Pericles Pericles, who took control of Athens in 461 BC, was responsible for making Athens most prominent among the Greek city-states. Pericles built many new structures, including the Parthenon on the Acropolis.

Pericles, an Athenian from a distinguished family, became the era’s leading politician in the 450s BC by promoting Athenian dominance within the Delian League and expansionist goals outside the league. He supported far-flung naval expeditions to territories in Phoenicia and the Black Sea region and engaged the navy in a confrontation with Sparta, ventures that benefited his power base, the fleet’s oarsmen. Eventually, he overreached by advising war on too many fronts at once while generating resistance among allies by making harsh demands of them. To devote its resources to maintaining the empire, Athens signed a peace treaty with Sparta, but the rivals continued to distrust each other.

Sparta feared Athens would use its navy to cripple Spartan control over its allies. Pericles refused to let the Athenians yield to any Spartan demands for concessions because he believed Athens could exploit its superior wealth to win a long war. Pericles’s strategy was to make periodic surprise naval raids on Spartan positions while retreating behind Athens’s walls whenever Sparta’s superior infantry attacked. The Athenians launched some successful attacks, but Pericles’s plan required sacrifice: the Athenians had to stay behind their city wall while Spartan troops ravaged Athens’s countryside.

Pericles’s strategy might have worked except for a terrible epidemic that struck Athens’s population, packed inside its wall. The epidemic, which started in 430 BC, killed thousands over several years, including Pericles himself.

Without Pericles’s strong direction, leaders after him introduced increasingly risky strategies. Their harsh demands for money from Athens’s allies incited rebellions. Several times Athenian leaders refused Spartan offers for peace. In 415 BC Athens launched an overly ambitious campaign against Sparta’s allies in Sicily, far to the west, and the invasion force suffered a catastrophic defeat at Syracuse in 413

With Persian monetary support, Sparta built a navy and launched the final phase of the war by establishing an infantry base in Athenian territory for year-round raiding. Athens continued to fight for ten years, despite the devastation of its agriculture and the loss of income from its silver mines. Finally, in 404, incompetent Athenian admirals lost the fleet and the war.

伯罗奔尼撒战争

　　希波战争以后，雅典成为希腊的霸主。雅典海军是希腊各城邦中最强大的军事力量，雅典的民主制也在伯利克里执政时期达到黄金时代。希波战争中，希腊各城邦建立了以雅典为首的提洛同盟，战后逐渐成为雅典实现其霸权的工具。以斯巴达为首的伯罗奔尼撒同盟不满雅典的霸权，双方爆发多次摩擦。前 431 年，斯巴达的同盟底比斯进攻雅典的同盟普拉提，正式引发了伯罗奔尼撒战争。雅典依靠其强大的海军进行封锁，斯巴达则攻入雅典，试图迫其决战。双方互有胜负，但都未能取得决定性胜利，遂于前 421 年缔结和约。和平未能维持很久，前 415 年，雅典对西西里岛斯巴达的盟邦叙拉古发动大规模远征，结果以惨败告终。西西里远征使雅典元气大伤，无力抵御斯巴达的攻势。前 405 年，雅典海军被全歼。次年，雅典向斯巴达投降，斯巴达成了希腊的新霸主。斯巴达的霸权也未能长久，希腊各城邦陷入混战之中。

Athens VS Sparta

1.Athens is a coastal city while Sparta is a inland city

3.The economy in Athens is mostly depended on trade while Sparta on agriculture

4.Athens is famous for its culture like philosophy, architecture, drama, government, and science while Sparta for its military garrison

2.The government-one is Democracy while the other is oligarchy（寡头政治）

Mount Olympus in

northern Greece is the highest peak in the

country. In Greek mythology it was the home of the gods.

Pelopónnisos The town of Návplion is situated on the shore of a long narrow peninsula in the Pelopónnisos, the southern part of the Greek mainland. The picturesque towns and countryside draw many tourists to the Pelopónnisos.

Cruising the Aegean

Mainland Mountains of Greece

Monasteries of Metéora

Church on Míkonos

Marina at Corfu

Ruins at Delphi

Windmill on Míkonos

Thanks