Ancient+Athenians

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. The people of Athens spoke Attic Greek a dialect of Greek with very subtle differences like present day French and Cajun French. (Athens History." //History of Athens Greece a Brief Reference to Athens History //. Web. 11 May 2017.)

Moving on to gender roles, Athenian women were primarily just mothers and housewives, women in ancient Athens were not permitted to sleep in the same room as the men, they couldn't go to the marketplace or streets in the city, 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.(The Status of Women In Ancient Athens." //Ancient History Encyclopedia //. Web. 11 May 2017.)

It also depicts Clytemnestra, Queen of Mycenae who murdered her husband, and Medea, a sorceress who convinced two daughters to kill their father for hi s throne, as being the polar opposite of what a woman should be.(The Status of Women In Ancient Athens." //Ancient History Encyclopedia //. Web. 11 May 2017.) The Athenians even devised a specific training regimen for the "perfect wife." Men had the dominant role in society they participated in politics and created Democracy(or power to the people) and public events, during the Olympics only men could attend and/or participate most men worked during the day as businessmen or farmers, they were treated with the most respect at home, during dinner the man lay on a sofa and was fed by the slaves while the women and children ate in another room. 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. But other than that family life was very similar to present day American family life a mother, father, and 2 and a half children. The importance of family in ancient Athens was largely related to not only citizenship but also to the families function of passing on the inheritance of property rights.(Family in Athens." //Byrneathens //. 21 Nov. 2011. Web. 12 May 2017.) Athens is the home of the first modern Olympics the Athenians participated in Boxing, Equestrian, Running,Jumping,Discuss throw, and wrestling. But the games most commonly held in Athens were the Panatheniac Games these games incorporated religious festival, ceremony, athletic competitions, and cultural events they did these games to honor Zeus and prove there worthiness of his patronage.(Panathenaic Games." //Wikipedia //. Wikimedia Foundation, 06 May 2017. Web. 12 May 2017.) When it came to Religion the ancient Athenians believed in the Greek gods religion was a very central part of their lives with formal rituals including animal sacrifices, libations, temples that dominated the landscape, and myths to understand the creation of mankind and to give the gods human qualities. The city of Athens was named after the Greek 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.(Greek Religion." //<span style="background-color: #f1f4f5; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',HelveticaNeue,'TeX Gyre Heros',TeXGyreHeros,FreeSans,'Nimbus Sans L','Liberation Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Ancient History Encyclopedia //<span style="background-color: #f1f4f5; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',HelveticaNeue,'TeX Gyre Heros',TeXGyreHeros,FreeSans,'Nimbus Sans L','Liberation Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">. Web. 12 May 2017.)

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 that stands at the top of Acropolis Hill, also know as sacred rock. Most of the sculptures from ancient Athens and ancient Greece do not survive today the stone statues broke and the metal ones were melted down for reuse. Classic Greek pottery often had mythological scenes painted onto them, also people made small terra cotta figurines to sacrifice to the Gods/Goddesses, to bury with the dead, and for their children to play with.(<span style="background-color: #f1f4f5; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',HelveticaNeue,'TeX Gyre Heros',TeXGyreHeros,FreeSans,'Nimbus Sans L','Liberation Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">History.com Staff. "Ancient Greek Art." //<span style="background-color: #f1f4f5; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',HelveticaNeue,'TeX Gyre Heros',TeXGyreHeros,FreeSans,'Nimbus Sans L','Liberation Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">History.com //<span style="background-color: #f1f4f5; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',HelveticaNeue,'TeX Gyre Heros',TeXGyreHeros,FreeSans,'Nimbus Sans L','Liberation Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 15 May 2017.) When it came to sexuality we need to keep in mind that the Athenian culture had no corollary to many of the ideas at the root of western attitudes towards sex. Athens had no Eve, shamed by her nakedness, no commandments carved in stone. What they did have were plenty of phalluses, male sexual organs were often included in sculptures, literature, and drama. Nudity was viewed without shame, if it wasn't commonplace then it certainly was acceptable, men competed in the nude. With many of the Athenian wives being confined to the home the state of Athens felt it was their job to ensure an availability of sexual partners, prostitution not only had no social stigma it was perfectly legal and even taxed, many of the brothels were owned by the state. A well know fact about all Greek culture was that homosexuality was perfectly acceptable, it was believed that people humankind was originally two people in male-male, female-female, and male-female pairs but we were separated by the gods to find our match.There is even a Greek myth that the god Apollo had a homosexual love affair with a human mortal named Hyacinthus, the legeng goes that the God Zephros(God of the west wind) also loved Hyacinthus and jealous of Apollo and Hyacinthus's love affair Zephros blew a discus off course and killed Hyacinthus. Apollo distraught over the death of his love turned him into a flower by the same name.(<span style="background-color: #f1f4f5; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',HelveticaNeue,'TeX Gyre Heros',TeXGyreHeros,FreeSans,'Nimbus Sans L','Liberation Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Sex and the Citizen." //<span style="background-color: #f1f4f5; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',HelveticaNeue,'TeX Gyre Heros',TeXGyreHeros,FreeSans,'Nimbus Sans L','Liberation Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Sex and Sexuality in Athenian Culture | Ancient Athens //<span style="background-color: #f1f4f5; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',HelveticaNeue,'TeX Gyre Heros',TeXGyreHeros,FreeSans,'Nimbus Sans L','Liberation Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">. Web. 18 May 2017.)

[|Story of Athens] (Athens was named after the Greek goddess Athena. Athens was an unconquered city-state which put them in competition with the Persians and the other city-states. Athens began to rule the surrounding areas of the city including Attica. The Persians hated the power that Athens was accumulating so they attacked Greece at the city of marathon the Athenians were victorious and Darius [the king of Persia] was furious. Athens demanded money from the other city-states for the defense of Greece, they used this money to build 200 Greek ships while Darius planned another invasion. In 480BCE Xerxes the new Persian king invaded Greece, Athens and Sparta organized a resistance at Hellespont and the Persian invasion at Thermopolyae was continuously repulsed. Meanwhile the Athenians regrouped at the island of Salamis leaving Athens open for invasion and destruction by the Persians, at Salamis the Athenian navy defeated the Persians, the Persians returned home to lick their wounds and the Athenians got what little was left of their city back. The Athenians began to reconstruct their city, they built a hundred ships and a massive wall that Sparta viewed as a threat. In 477BCE city-states surrounding the Aegean sea formed into a league known as the Delian league but it was soon dominated by Athens and was eventually known as the Athenian empire because of the Athenians massive navy and incredible strength. In 445BCE Athens was the capital of a rich empire but they had hundreds of unemployed soldiers, Pericles resolved this plan by allowing these soldiers to beautify Athens this was when the Parthenon was created, in 431 Athens became aggressive with Sparta and Sparta attacked. The Athenians were ordered to stay within the city walls and were plagued by disease, this caused half the population to die and ultimately ended in Athens surrendering leaving Sparta in control due to Sparta's lack of organization Greece fell leavins some of the greatest minds and ideas behind)