Questions tagged [athens]
Ancient Greek city-state located in Attica, east-central Greece. The main centre of arts, learning and philosophy during the classical period, Athens was also a powerful military state and Sparta's main rival for this period.
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When did Athenian archers pepper Spartan hoplites with arrows for days on an island?
The heading is basically all I remember from school. The hoplites lacked mobility and were thus harassed for day by the lightly armored Athenian archers. Athenian victory.
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Would an Athenian citizen, reduced elsewhere into slavery, remain a slave if brought back to Athens?
I understand that it was common at one time for debt defaulters in Athens to be driven into a form of slavery, or bonded servitude, and that Solon abolished this practice and freed all such bondsmen. ...
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Was there a temple dedicated to Old Age ("Geras") in ancient Athens?
Camus, in The myth of Sisyphus, mentions that
"There was in Athens a temple dedicated to old age. Children were taken there." ("Il y avait à Athènes un temple consacré à la vieillesse. ...
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How did people in Athens 500 BCE refer to Homer's era?
I know that there is probably not just one answer, so let's restrict the question to the golden era of 4th/5th century BC, in Athens.
If they wanted to refer to Homer's time, who lived 300 years ...
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Was Pericles the only famous loss from the plague in Athens?
Reading about the Plague of Athens in The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, I was struck by this question.
The plague killed an estimated 75,000 to 100,000 people in a city full of famous people, but ...
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In Classical Athens, what did the portico of the archon basileus look like?
In Plato's Euthyphro, Socrates and his titular interlocutor meet at the portico of the archon basileus - or chief archon. I've been looking for an image of the portico but had no luck so far, and am ...
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Were there socioeconomic reasons for the decline of Athenian democracy?
Historians often emphasize socioeconomic causes when describing the fall of the Roman republic, which began centuries before Augustus won the civil wars. For example, the sudden influx of wealth and ...
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Why did Athenian philosophers praise Spartan culture and laws, which would preclude philosophers like themselves?
Laconophilia was near universal among the important Athenian philosophers: Socrates, Aristotle, Plato and his followers - all praised Spartan culture and its laws, even after Sparta fell from glory ...
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What are canonical sources about fifth century BCE Athens?
I am looking for a history book on fifth century BCE Athens, preferably with emphasis on culture and the daily lives of the Athenians.
I found recommendations of books about Ancient Greece in general, ...
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Where did Cimon spend his time while in exile?
The Athenian statesman Cimon was ostracised from Athens for ten years (461-451 BC), after the Athenian expedition led by him and sent to help Sparta during the helot uprisings was dismissed by the ...
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What (primary) sources are there on the life of female slaves in Classical Greece, more specifically Athens?
Since there was often a difference in what jobs male and female slaves were respectively made to work in (and there even being one exclusive to women, being a wet nurse), I was wondering whether, for ...
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Why did Cleon say this in the Mytilenian Debate?
I was reading Cleon's argument in the Mytilenian debate, and feel that I understand most of his argument. However, I don't understand why Cleon would say the following (emphasis mine):
Let them ...
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Was (Mahanian) "control of the seas" an Athenian goal in the age of the trireme?
I recently read Nic Fields' 'Ancient Greek Warship: 500-322 BC'. In it, he makes the claim:
Control of the seas in the modern sense was impossible for a trireme navy, and sea power, therefore, had ...
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A comparison between the reforms of Athens and Rome
Question: What made it possible that, during the times of Solon, Athens underwent reforms characterized by isonomia, — that is, equality among citizens, — whereas their approximately contemporary ...
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Which were the four villages in Attica affected by Cleisthenes' reforms? What happened to them?
Cleisthenes reformed the Athenian society and the Athenian politics. He organized the Athenian society into 10 artificial tribes, and further divided them into thirds.
I am told that earlier, there ...
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