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Statue of Athena (Last Place on Itinerary)

For my last stop on my hectic time travel experience, I visited the monument I felt had the most hope in ancient Greece, the Statue of Athena. Standing at approximately 40 feet tall, the statuesque chyrselephantine sculpture of the goddess was looked upon and worshipped amongst the Athenians. As religion and society were often intermixed into Greek culture, the statue represents victory. It was framed and sculpted after she won in combat. When I saw the statue, I could believe in terms of religion why they erupted the monument, but in terms of gender, I was baffled. With entertainment, traditions, and forms of writing such as tragedy and poem, women are portrayed as not having a major role in Greek society. One can argue that Theocritus in “The Women at the Adonis Festival” did not reveal the female experience, but rather parodied it as a woman’s view of traditional gatherings, such as religious festivals. For example, it is shown in lines 17 through 26 display the parodic nature of how Theocritus shows the state of women; as Gorgo tells Praxinoa to come with him to the festival, she responds with “Fine folks, fine ways” (Theocritus). Theocritus could have been exaggerating with the line as he may have not figured Praxinoa’s attitude would not reciprocate into the Greek society they were in at the time. 

To make matters more complicated, women wore veils around their faces for numerous reasons. In D.L. Cairns publication, “The Meaning of the Veil in Ancient Greek Culture,” the author mentions that veiling could be related to “some attitude or emotion” that is not representative of their value in the culture (Cairns 1). I could argue with that the Statue of Athena is not just representative of victory, but is a message of how reality and fantasy did not coincide well in the ancient Greek culture and history, which led to its religious demise.

However, from all the sites, events, and places I encountered today, ancient Greece is a booming civilization that will not stop spreading its value and culture to other countries in the future. When Greece fell after the Romans took over, it did not collapse or decline; instead, it continued with the values, education, and skills of the Greeks, which carried into vast generations of civilizations. The Statue of Athena is a symbol of victory, and I believe that. Although, from all the encounters, Greece may not show or be able to express its identity regarding the social and class structure. With examples such as women veiling and the significance of that, to the women being at the Adonis Festival, to women being thrown off of a mountain at the Olympic Games, Greece eventually makes sure to show they care for their civilization by the statues, monuments, and beautiful buildings and architecture, which flourish the culture to this day. 

Sources:

Cairns, D. L. (2001). THE MEANING OF THE VEIL IN ANCIENT GREEK CULTURE. Women's Dress in the Ancient Greek World, 73–94. https://doi.org/10.2307/J.CTV1N3581N.8

(n.d.). Idyll XV: The Women At The Adonis Festival. Theoi Texts Library. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.theoi.com/Text/TheocritusIdylls3.html#15

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The Travel to the Theater (date unknown)

For my penultimate destination, I chose to visit the illustrious theaters of Athens. For the theaters, they played actual movies with meaning (no superhero sequels in here). In essence, I talk mainly about poetry and problems faced during the time, including interference with the Gods, class structure, and how civilizations can rise and fall. For example, one stage play that was a first for the playwright, Aeschylus, was Septem contra Thebes, or “Seven Against Thebes,” which was about the brawl for power between two brothers, Eteocles and Polynice. After King Oedipus stepped down from king, the two sons created a war between the two, after one left for Argos to gather a team of his Argive supporters to regain power. When the play plays out, we see the power-driven Eteocles when he mentions, “it is the business of men to make sacrifices to the gods” (Aeschylus 2).

Sources:

Sailing, T. L. (n.d.). Aeschylus, Septem contra Thebas. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from http://www.mikrosapoplous.gr/prometheus/7epi_thivas/00.html

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Ancient Greek Olympics (494 BCE)

The Ancient Olympic Games were a meaningful athletics event usually held in ancient Olympia. For the Greeks, it was a ceremonial event with tradition for many centuries. Pausanias' "Descriptions of Greece," how he describes some practices and rules in the Games, can show you what the Greeks were like regarding gender and sex roles. For example, a mountain before you cross the Alpheus is called Mount Typaeum. According to Pausanias, it is a "law of Elis to cast down it any women who are caught present at the Olympic games…" (Pausanias). It does not surprise me, as women did not have much of a role in the government or anything in ancient Greek society.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that while we were watching the speech from Aeschines, the tall, lanky man in the trench coat and the matrix-looking sunglasses gave me an option to either take a red or blue pill to get my time machine back (he told me he was the CEO of Time, which is why he allowed me to get my time machine back). So, of course, I chose the blue pill because blue was the same color as my time machine! (and no, I did not steal the Doctor Who machine). So I decided to go to the Ancient Olympic Games in 394 BCE to try and enjoy some games. Like "Western Society" does the Olympics, the Greeks held them every four years between August 6 and September 19.

While traveling to Olympia, it was a beautiful, warm sunny day near Olympia. The grass fields and farmers' markets full of vegetables and fruits attracted me to try Greece's favorite foods. I decided to stop by a market near a farm filled with numerous hunched-back people struggling to hoe the grass under the heat. They resembled slave behaviors, so I decided to speak to one of them after getting my vegetables.

After getting my vegetables, which were fresh asparagus, cardoons, celery, fennel, cabbage, and onions, I decided to walk over to one of the enslaved people and ask them a few questions. An enslaved person named Angelo told me about his experience in agricultural labor near Olympia and the different Greek city-states, as Olympia has not been his first stop. He told me about certain farming practices and keeping the crops healthy, but he could not ignore the work part. He told me there was a "point of considerable stress during the agrarian cycle" when the farmers came under pressure to collect, process, and store crops before harvesting season ended (McHugh 208). I thanked him for his input into life, as I already knew from research that most of the evidence of communal labor, especially amongst the farmers during the Classical period, was lacking mainly due to no evidence. Historians have yet to find no evidence because of various factors, including education, social structure, and class structure.

After meeting with the farmer and getting my vegetables, I headed to the Colosseum. However, the games shut down when I arrived, as the Romans took over and thought the event was "pagan." The Romans allowed the games to go on, but the activities and everyday events which made the Games destroyed the value of the cultural phenomenon. It was a travesty to see how the event went down. From talking to the farmer to seeing how the Romans treated the Games were all confirmation that Greece was slowly losing its civilization, and I was unsure how the society would survive for the following centuries. 

Sources:

Internet History Sourcebooks. (n.d.). https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/greekgames.asp

McHugh, M. (2019). To reap a rich harvest: experiencing agricultural labour in ancient Greece. World Archaeology, 51(2), 208–225. http://eznvcc.vccs.edu:2048/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=141659997&site=ehost-live&scope=site

(n.d.-b). The Academy Of Athens. Theoi Texts Library. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias1C.html

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Against Timarchus 346-5 (BCE)

Where was I? Oh, I got taken by a stranger into a court case that is entirely different from the event that was happening when Pheidippides died. People were cheering; festivals were happening, rejoicing of family members, raising of wines; it was a celebration. I was caught in the celebration until a tall, slim person in a black trench coat and matrix-type sunglasses took my arm and transported me to the outside of a courthouse. On the courthouse stood a man who was straight in stature and was ruffling through papers, looking like he was preparing for a speech. 

I learned after my travels that man was none other than Aeschines, a Greek statesman and orator who supported and advocated for peace with Philip II of Macedonia, who was the political opponent of Demosthenes, who had previously led an attack on Philip II. During the negotiations for peace between Athens and Macedonia, Aeschines tried to bring together the Athenians to embrace the takeover of Macedonia by Greek expansion. Still, after the peace ended, Demosthenes and Timarchus decided to prosecute him for treason. As a way to get back on Demosthenes, Aeschines responded by putting Timarchus on trial for being unfit for the role for personal reasons and gross immorality. He also argues and reinstates his point by going over the laws made for all types of Athenians and compares them to how he believes Timarchus commits these laws badly. In lines 21 and 22, he mentions a law that states, "If any man who has been convicted of prostitution act contrary to these prohibitions, he shall be put to death…" and then follows with reinstating that the law was enacted "concerning youths who recklessly sin against their own bodies" (Aeschines 346). 

With this story, Aeschines successfully indicted Timarchus for his actions and was acquitted by nearly half the majority. While this is the most direct approach to appeal to the Athenian jury about Timarchus' "heinous" acts of homosexuality, this story shows how ancient Greek city-states struggled to change class structure and religion. Most of the time, religion was an underlying factor in this case, as well as influence from the government and other factors. However, with this case giving historians evidence that there was homosexuality during the Classical Age, it has shown them various clues about how the Greeks portrayed it as something out of one's nature.

Aside from the thematic elements of the speech, physical and psychological features reinforced how some Greek statesmen and orators got their message across to the people. For example, Plato's views on homosexuality were "highly distinctive" and "not necessarily shared by his fellow Athenians. Aeschines made sure to get his point across by delivering his message directly to the Athenian jury, persuading them to think negatively about Timarchus. The power of oration would later become a tradition in ancient Greece, especially during the Classical Period.

Sources:

Internet History Sourcebooks Project. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/pwh/aeschines.asp

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Running into Pheidippides (490 BCE)

As my time machine crashed near Athens, I saw a middle-aged man with a maximal, muscular body. That man came to be Pheidippides, the infamous courier who had run from Marathon to Athens to inform the Athenians about the incoming battle of Marathon. As we talked about multiple things, including the great city of Athens, he told me a bit about the city’s culture. Initially, when I asked him about Marathon, he quickly told me it was a parish, not a city. I remember Pausanias stated in his “Descriptions of Greece,” where he says, “There is a parish called Marathon, equally distant from Athens…” (Pausanias).

The conversation fell short as he told me he had to go to Athens to give an important message. As I saw him shout the message to the city, he collapsed to the ground and never got up again. According to Herodotus’s stories, he died after he said his statement.

As I walk through the streets of Athens, I see, hear, smell, and taste so many things in a few minutes. When I was walking, a group of guys was joking around with one another over a bald man. In the San Diego State University author and associate professor Walter D. Penrose Jr.’s publication on the discourse of disability in ancient Greece, he mentions how baldness “was seen as a deformity of sorts in the ancient world, one which was joked about…” (Penrose 505). Aristotle was the one who associated baldness as a deformity, which shows us a particular view of how the Athenians viewed disability in the Classical Age. In his publication, he argues that while there were no specializations of a specific disability shown in ancient history, signs of “pity, charity, and categorization” were present. 

After researching his claim, I argue that they did not show signs of pity but showed signs of ignorance; by hiding it with jokes or humor. The ancient Greeks, including Athens and Sparta, did not give access to their disabled persons, mainly because of the class structure of the city-states. Either way, I saw many things on my way through Athens. I visited various monuments, including the Temple of Aphaia, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, and more. I’m still trying to see if I can see anything related to Pythagoras, as that is my last name! But wait, someone is bringing me in to see the case of Timarchus? I’m in!

In this text, author, and associate professor from San Diego State University, Walter D. Penrose Jr, talks about how Greek society treated disability in ancient Greece. Penrose specializes in the History of Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Greek, Hellenistic, and South Asian contexts. With his interest in disability studies, he put immeasurable research into his publication, “The Discourse of Disability in Ancient Greece.” He argues while there were not any specializations of a specific disability shown in ancient history, there were signs of “pity, charity, and categorization” which were present. Penrose complemented his argument with evidence from multiple primary sources included in the publication, one example being how the Greek author Plutarch described how the Greek government should not have the “disabled” in the military or politics. 

Sources:

(n.d.-b). The Academy Of Athens. Theoi Texts Library. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias1C.htmlPenrose, W. D. (2015).

The Discourse of Disability in Ancient Greece. The Classical World, 108(4), 499–523. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24699780

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A Brief Introduction

Hi everyone. My name is Plutarch Pythagoras! (I promise you I did not make that up ;)) I will be your travel guide today through the illustrious world of ancient Greece. I originally set my time machine to go to the inevitable start of Greek civilization, which was around 1000 BCE to 750 BCE roughly. However, my time machine glitched while traveling, and I got stuck in Athens! Even though the plan did not go out as I expected, I would capture some unforgettable moments as I visited multiple sites and experienced numerous events. I am not sure which timeline I am in; however, I can assume that I’m in the classical era, as it seems like a democracy and not an oligarchy! Here are the sites and events I encountered throughout my travels: 

Sites:

Event: Running into Pheidippides, 490 BCE

Site: Ancient Olympic Games of 394

Event: “Against Timarchus” case between 346-5

City-state: Thebes

Monument- Statue of Athena