Athens Books
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W. W. Norton & Company (01 April 1999)Price: $12.21 -
Penguin (Non-Classics) (28 January 2003)Price: $10.40 -
Berkley Trade (01 January 1999)Price: $10.20 -
Anchor (01 February 1996)Price: $10.20 -
Three Rivers Press (02 April 1996)Price: $13.57
Definition
The city is the birthplace of democracy, as well as famous statesmen such as Solon, Cleisthenes, and Pericles. It was a center of philosophical thought, exemplified by great minds such as Aristotle, Plato, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Socrates. The Academy of Plato was founded in Athens in 385 BC, and the Lyceum of Aristotle in 335 BC. Even under Roman rule, Athens remained an intellectual center that attracted students from across the Roman empire.
Articles
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Xenophon (430-354 BCE) was an early disciple of Socrates and a contemporary of Plato. He is best known as the mercenary general who wrote The Anabasis, which relates his adventures in leading his men out of Persia and back to Greece after the disastrous campaign of Cyrus the Younger. The Anabasis has long been considered a classic and was used by Alexander the Great as a field guide for his own successful campaigns in Persia.
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The early Athenian Agora served a series of very different purposes than it did in its halcyon days of ancient history. The area that came to be the Agora was in use as a cemetery from the Bronze Age (approximately 3000 B.C.) until the end of the 7th century B.C. It was also a residential area during this time. This is evidenced by the discovery of remains of wells that would have been dug for homes.
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The Classical Athenian Agora began to take shape under the ruling of Kimon. He took power around 479 B.C., as the Athenian people ostracized Themistocles. As a respected general who had led many victories for Athens in the Persian Wars, he was easily accepted as a new leader. Kimon is widely known in ancient history as a beautifier of the arid Athenian countryside, and he was responsible for several buildings in the Agora during his tenure.
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The Agora was the central gathering place for all of Athens, where social and commercial dealings took place. Arguably, it's most important purpose was as the home base for all of the city-state's administrative, legal and political functions. Some of the most important, yet least acclaimed, buildings of ancient history and Classical Athens were located in the Agora.
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After Athens' victory in the Persian War (around 448 BC), it was leader among the Greek poleis in the realms of politics, economics, art, and literature. They were seemingly untouchable, except by perhaps the Spartans. This period of power and prosperity is known widely as the Classical Period of ancient history, and the benchmark of the period of the 5th and 4th centuries BC, the culture against which all other cultures have been measured, was Athens.
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Illustrations
