Get Better Mr. Schick

Mr. Schick was out and so we continued with watching the video on the Greeks-Crucible of Civilization. We worked on the worksheet for a little and just took more notes on the video.

Notes:

-Themistocles was an Athenian general and politician of superlative skill and foresight. He fought against the Persians at the Battle of Marathon while a young man, and distinguished himself as the savior of all Greece by persuading Athens to build a navy which went on to defeat Persia at Salamis in 480 B.C.

-As a politician Themistocles appears to have had no tutor other than himself, but rather than prove a hindrance, this was to become his greatest asset. His ability to innovate and to think of a new ways of doing things suited the times.

-Ultimately, the Athenians sided with Themistocles and Aristides went into exile. Immediately work began at break neck speed to build a navy of 200 triremes, the most advanced ships of the Ancient World.But time was running out…
-When the Persian king, Xerxes, invaded Greece in the spring of 480 BC, he did so at the head of a vast army. Once the Spartan force at Thermopylae had been defeated, his route by land to Athens was virtually undefended. Attica was seized by panic.

Pericles was born around 493 BC into a rich aristocratic family. On his mother’s side he was related to the great reformer Cleisthenes. His father was a famous general.

In 451 Pericles introduced a new citizenship law which prevented the son of an Athenian father and a non-Athenian mother becoming a full citizen. The law’s main effect was to curb the power of the aristocrats since if their heirs could not be legally recognized they could no longer forge alliances with aristocrats from other cities. Ironically, it would have major consequences for Pericles own private life.

Started in 447 the Parthenon was masterminded by Pericles who took personal responsibility for the whole project.

The spectacular defeat of the Persians at Salamis in 480 led to the formation of a more permanent alliance. Three years later negotiations, led by Aristides of Athens, began on the Greek island of Delos. The result was the Delian League, a sort of ancient equivalent to NATO.