2-28

Today in class we watched a movie called "The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization," in this movie it was actual facts that happened, but in form so we could watch it and see what it was like! The Greeks built their own empire that stretched across the Mediterranean Sea! In 508 B.C, in Athens pandaemonium ruled the streets, which is wild and noisy behavior. During the time in Athens Cliesthenes was a ruler of Greece since birth, he was considered an Athenian nobleman. Socrates was the most famous philosopher of the time. In 570 B.C Cliesthenes was born, he was an aristocrat, and it was passed down through generation. In the 6th century B.C the aristocrats ruled the town Acropolis(Athens). A rare skill to have was reading and writing, and a lot od people lost their children at birth, the life expectancy was as little as 15 years old. The lower class had no say in anything and Greece was divided into countless places called "city states." The Corinthians dominated Greek trade, while Sparta had military power, and the Spartans were grown up from birth to be soldiers. The soldiers lived in areas called "barriks," their food was so bad that they were willing to die. The rest of Greece was always a threat to Sparta. The Greeks were inspired by their stories/myths by muse, which is their word for inspiration. Pisistratus came into town with a tall/beautiful woman and convinced people it was Athena, he was a really good tyrans, and reduced taxes and gave out free loans. He turned to the commoners and the noble people for power.