“Sparta, Athens, Rome, and Carthage were all republics; two of them, Athens and Carthage, of the commercial kind. Yet were they as often engaged in wars, offensive and defensive, as the neighboring monarchies of the same times. Sparta was little better than a wellregulated camp; and Rome was never sated of carnage and conquest.”
– Alexander Hamilton, in the Federalist Papers (Federalist No. 6)
I have been learning the Ancient Greek language since 2013. The Athenian dialect of the language is the standard dialect taught in introductory classes about “Ancient Greek,” and the dialect that I’ve studied most. Thus, my education about Ancient Greece has been largely focused on Ancient Athens. But although I didn’t learn a lot of new content in this documentary, I enjoyed hearing what Bettany Hughes had to say about this familiar content. I am also a fan of her film about the Spartans, who are from a very different part of Ancient Greece. She portrays Athens more sympathetically than she does the Spartans, and this is as it should be. Nonetheless, this is a “warts and all” portrayal of Ancient Athens, which does not sugar-coat certain parts of the city’s legacy.
Athenian statesman Pericles
The first episode covers the beginnings of democracy, and the politics of Athens’ Golden Age
But first, some general information about this documentary: It is divided into two episodes of about an hour each. The first episode covers statesmen like Cleisthenes, Themistocles, and Pericles. These men all receive an entire episode each in PBS’s “The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization” (which I review here). Thus, Bettany Hughes cannot hope to compete with this latter film in its coverage of these three men. But she doesn’t have to go into greater depth than the latter film to make a good film. This is good stuff for history buffs to review, and not at all boring. They also cover the Persian Wars somewhat, and especially the Battle of Salamis. The military might of Athens came mainly from its remarkable navy, which soundly defeated the Persian navy in this battle. “The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization” likewise covers the Battle of Salamis, in addition to covering the Battle of Marathon – a land battle that Bettany Hughes did not have time to cover here. In fairness, she had only two hours of runtime to work with, and could not possibly have covered everything. (The latter was a land battle where the Athenians and their allies defeated the Persians, showing that the Athenian army was not to be dismissed, even if it was not as formidable as their famous navy.) These battles assured the survival of the Athenian way of life, and were among the most important battles in world history.
The Parthenon, a temple to the goddess Athena
They also cover the institution of slavery, and the Delian League (a sort of Athenian empire)
The first episode also covers the discovery of the silver mines in Athens, and the building of the magnificent structure called the “Parthenon.” But its primary focus is on the development of Greek democracy, which is among the most fascinating parts of this story. Ironically, Athens and Sparta were actually allied during the Persian Wars, much as the United States was temporarily allied with the Soviet Union during World War II. The reasons for the alliance were much the same, based on necessity and shared interest rather than any sort of shared values. The episode also covers slavery, which was common throughout the ancient world at this time. There is no known society of that time that was fortunate enough to be without it – although, in fairness, that doesn’t excuse the Athenians for practicing it. They also cover the Delian League, an alliance of Greek city-states based upon Athenian naval power. The other states of the alliance were obliged to contribute money to maintain the Athenian navy. When some of them tried to leave the alliance, they were soon forced back into it by Athens. The slavery and imperialism of Athens mirrors that of the United States in its early history, which enslaved African Americans and conquered native peoples in similar ways. The Delian League was Athens’ empire in all but name.
View of the Ancient Agora of Athens
Mention is also made of the oppression of women, who were excluded from voting in Athens
Mention is also made of the subordinate role of women in Ancient Athens, who were obliged to wear veils over their faces – much like their counterparts in the contemporary Muslim world. Women were oppressed in Ancient Athens; but in fairness, the Athenians didn’t oppress their women any more than the Spartans oppressed theirs. Sparta is sometimes painted as a sort of “feminist paradise” today, but I find this hard to believe for a number of reasons, including the presence of strong female characters (such as goddesses) in Athenian literature. After all, Athena (the patron goddess of Athens) was depicted as a female. Nonetheless, women were not allowed to vote in Athens, with only 10% of the population being allowed to vote at this time. Slaves and foreigners were also among those barred from the ballot box in Athens.
Athena, the patron goddess of Athens
The second episode covers the culture of Athens, rather than the politics of it
The second episode is quite different from the first, and covers ground not really touched upon in “The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization.” Where the first episode focused on politics, this episode focused on culture – including art, architecture, science, philosophy, religion, theater, and drama. They mention the comedy by Aristophanes entitled “The Clouds,” which lampooned the philosopher Socrates in a vicious caricature. They cover the institution of the symposium (a word meaning “drinking-party”), including the famous drinking-party depicted by Plato in his work entitled the “Symposium.” This was a real event in which philosophical issues were discussed late into the night. Plato’s version of it is notable for being one of the most prominent Greek documents to allude to male homosexuality, which was common throughout Ancient Greece. We know that Socrates was present there, and so was a man named “Alcibiades” – a statesman who was later forced to flee Athens during the Peloponnesian Wars (which are only briefly covered here, unfortunately). Alcibiades infamously defected to the Spartans, which is actually covered here. Alcibiades also betrayed Athens, but nonetheless returned to it later. His return is not covered here, although Bettany Hughes does cover it in some detail in her film about the Spartans. Incidentally, the Peloponnesian Wars were a series of conflicts between one group of Greek city-states led by Athens, and another group of Greek city-states led by Sparta. It was something like a Greek civil war, although these groups were all independent entities, rather than parts of a unified whole. Athens and its allies won in the early parts of this conflict, but the Spartans won in the end. This was the backdrop for most of Athenian democracy.
Athenian philosopher Socrates
This episode also covers the trial and execution of the philosopher Socrates
They also briefly cover the trial of Socrates, which was one of the most important events in all of world history. Athens actually had a significant amount of freedom of speech, but could not tolerate the often-embarrassing questions posed by Socrates. This was an exception to their general support for freedom of speech. Socrates was not charged for what he said, but for “impiety” and “corrupting the youth.” (“Impiety” is a word that basically translates to “offenses against the state religion.”) Specifically, he was charged with failing to acknowledge the gods that the city acknowledged, and introducing new deities altogether. He was innocent of both this and “corrupting the youth,” but was nonetheless convicted by a fairly narrow margin. When asked to propose an alternative penalty, he said “free board at the town hall,” the reward given to victors in the Olympic games. But he added that he would be willing to pay a significant fine instead. For him, it was too little, too late. He was instead sentenced to death by a huge margin, meaning that some of those who had voted for his acquittal had actually changed their minds and voted for his execution. The method of execution was to drink a poisonous beverage of hemlock, something that he complied with. Thus, he died of the poison in 399 BC. Athens instantly regretted its decision to execute him, and later built a statue to him. His views won converts after his death, meaning that Socrates eventually won out over his opponents.
The execution of Socrates (which was by drinking hemlock poison)
Direct democracy has been discarded, but Athenian democracy has still been very influential
Bettany Hughes said that the West has rejected Ancient-Greek-style democracy, which is true in part. This is because the Athenians believed in direct democracy, where the people vote on everything directly in person. (More about that at this page.) Nonetheless, Athenian democracy was enormously influential at this time, and paved the way for later democracies like Great Britain and the United States. If Athens had won the Peloponnesian Wars, their influence might have been even greater; but their democracy was trailblazing even without this. They were the first society to feature voting, and a large degree of freedom of speech. They were not the greatest democracy in history, but they were the first. We owe much to them for their noble experiment with popular government (limited though it was), because nothing like it had ever been seen before.
“In the most pure democracies of Greece, many of the executive functions were performed, not by the people themselves, but by officers elected by the people, and REPRESENTING the people in their EXECUTIVE capacity … Prior to the reform of Solon, Athens was governed by nine Archons, annually ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE AT LARGE. The degree of power delegated to them seems to be left in great obscurity. Subsequent to that period, we find an assembly, first of four, and afterwards of six hundred members, annually ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE; and PARTIALLY representing them in their LEGISLATIVE capacity, since they were not only associated with the people in the function of making laws, but had the exclusive right of originating legislative propositions to the people.”
– Alexander Hamilton or James Madison, in the Federalist Papers (Federalist No. 63)
DVD at Amazon
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If you liked this post, you might also like:
Learning the basics of Ancient Greek from a book
Reading about the trial of Socrates in the original Greek
Reflections on learning about history of Ancient Greece
A review of Bettany Hughes’ “The Spartans”
A review of “The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization” (PBS Empires)
A review of Michael Wood’s “In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great”
A review of “Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire” (History Channel)
A review of “Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire” (BBC)
A review of “The Roman Empire in the First Century” (PBS Empires)
Reflections on learning about history of Ancient Rome
Part of a series about
European history
Athenian Democracy
This list covers Europe through the Renaissance. For Europe since the Renaissance, click here.
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