Ethan

= Ancient Athenians =
 * Gender roles
 * Sports
 * Art
 * Religion
 * Language
 * Family Structure
 * Sexual Permissiveness

The first settlement of Athens is thought to have been built around 3000 b.c. when the king Theseus united into a state several settlements of Attica, it was situated on the rock of Acropolis and was once the capital of ancient Greece. The people of Athens spoke Attic Greek a dialect of Greek with very subtle differences like present day French and Cajun French. Athens benefited from Italian Trade during the Crusades.

Moving on to gender roles, Athenian women had very little freedom outside the house they were primarily just mothers and housewives their roles were decided by their patriarchal society to be modeled after divine and heroic orders. The divine order subjected the female roles to their male counterparts, the heroic order depicted Penelope, the wife of Odysseus in Homers Odyssey who remained faithful to her husband in his absence even with the temptation of many suitors, as the perfect Greek-Athenian wife. It also depicts Clytemnestra, Queen of Mycenae who murdered her husband, and Medea, a sorceress who convinced two daughters to kill their father for his throne, as being the polar opposite of what a woman should be. The Athenians even devised a specific training regimen for the "perfect wife." Men had the dominant role in society they participated in politics and public events the Athenians were the first civilization to use Democracy, //or rule by people//, the government was run by about 500 men all chosen to occupy a seat on the senior council for a year every ten days almost 5000 male citizens met on a "meeting hill" to vote on laws made by the council, during the Olympics only men could attend and/or participate. When it came to family Athens was quite different from other Greek city states in the fact that the Athenian political forces intervened in the private lives of citizens of Athens by decreeing that citizens had to be completely Athenian a child from an Athenian father and a Spartan mother could not be an Athenian citizen. Other than the interference in deciding citizenship Athenian family structure was similar to present day American families A father, a mother, and their children. Athens is the home of the first modern Olympics the Athenians participated in Boxing, Equestrian, Running,Jumping,Discuss throw, and wrestling. These games were to honor Zeus and try to prove there worthiness of his patronage.
 * Example of Attic Greek ||
 * [[image:https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSUnyJtHTm-3Pb7OSUrsvmzFJVfjsmUzoum2fMUoWFceKm-ZI2M caption="Image result for penelope ancient greece"]] ||
 * Penelope (Wife of Odysseus) ||
 * [[image:https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTWogHeUsiWcQnJnWYmuTRZq_8o_MNzSodCIzjWUGM3oFqCVKneTA caption="Image result for athenian men"]] ||
 * Athenian Man ||
 * [[image:https://stoa.wordpress.com/files/2009/03/ancient-athens-rhetors-politicians.jpg caption="Image result for athenian senate"]] ||
 * Athenian Senate ||
 * [[image:https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR654JZd9LErczHoxEWtbjhS1iraxa7NOctrp-KvBqOVf1h4VgB caption="Image result for athenian olympics"]] ||
 * Athenian Discus ||


 * [[image:https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcToGeCyh5rndPd_cl0Q4kqsjpNE3_cdjNa9V7r09MmdsOnmxarBag caption="Image result for athenian olympics"]] ||
 * Athenian Olympics ||

When it came to Religion the ancient Athenians were a very religious civilization they worshiped the Greek gods, human like beings of ageless beauty and superhuman strength, their city was named after the goddess Athena, a Greek myth tells the tale of Athena and Poseidon's struggle for patronage of the city Poseidon gave the Athenians a beautiful fountain that he had created from a rock by striking it with his Trident and Athena gave them the Olive tree which she brought forth from the soil with the touch of her spear, Athena was proclaimed the victor. Athena is also the goddess of wisdom and the Athenians were renowned for their wisdom among the other Greek city-states.
 * [[image:https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRuKTakyPuqxVaaEmpX7rve5xLfKpCpi8LyfBz57FdKVr9dYtpi caption="Image result for athena"]] ||
 * Athena ||


 * [[image:https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTXqOx95Ie49cGL6nelnEcFY6oLc0XefJVCt6Z-a1qGLKak6opR caption="Image result for poseidon"]] ||
 * Poseidon ||

Ancient Greek architecture is the best example of Greek art the Greeks believed that everything must be done to excellence their Architecture was flawless (At the time) and their pottery/sculptures were lifelike. they used their art as a way to honor the Gods often depicting them in Sculptures or building temples to them, the most famous Athenian sculpture is the Athena Parthenos a 40 foot tall statue made of Gold and Ivory to honor their patron goddess Athena.



Sexuality was a large part of Athenian culture, the Athenians did not have "Eve" who was shamed by her nakedness. What they did have were a lot of stone // phallus's, // male sexual organs //, // it was common to place a statue of a naked Hermes and an erect phallus outside your door for good luck. Nudity was completely acceptable and could be considered normal. The division of rights, responsibilities, and roles was not just split along gender lines, but also lines of class and age. [] Athens is named after the Greek goddess of wisdom and war Athena and was unconquered for a large part of its existence which posed a challenge to the Persians who attacked Greece at the city of Marathon, Athens repelled King Darius's attack and Darius was furious he spent the next three years organizing another attack on Greece during this time Athens was gathering money from the other Greek city states they used this money to build 200 Greek triremes(ships) in 480 BCE the new Persian king Xerxes decided to mount an attack on Greece Athens and Sparta joined forces to repel the attack at Hellespont meanwhile the Athenians regrouped at the island of Salamis leaving Athens open to be ransacked and destroyed by the Persians the Athenian navy defeated the Persians at Salamis and caused them to retreat the Athenians saved Greece and got what little was left of their city back. The Athenians rebuilt but this time with a huge wall surrounding the city and an extra 100 triremes which Sparta viewed as a threat, in 477 BCE city states surrounding the Aegean Sea joined into an alliance known as the Delian League which Athens dominated it was soon known as the Athenian Empire because of Athens strength and massive navy in 455 BCE Pericles, an Athenian leader, began to put all the unemployed soldiers to work on restoring Athens beauty this is when the Parthenon was built. Soon Sparta became aggressive with Athens, when they attacked the Athenian citizens were ordered to stay inside the city walls which caused them to be plagued with diseases this caused half the population to be wiped out causing Athens to surrender and Sparta to seize control. Due to Sparta's lack of organization Greece soon fell leaving many of the greatest minds in history behind.