March 17^th, 2011

Pisistratus is helping people out by giving them a little bit of money and trying to help them live a better life. Hippias is now in charge. Hippias is taking all the rights away from the people. Cleisthenes is planning to over throw the tyrant. The year was 510 B.C. and Cleisthenes was now one of the most powerful men in the world and had lived up to the heroic goals he was brought up with. The Olympic Games were established in 776 B.C. They were originally supposed to be only the upper classmen but by Cleisthenes time everyone was allowed to compete. Some competitions were chariot racing, running, wrestling, boxing … etc. The Olympics was the largest gathering of Greece. Almost 40,000 people would come and watch the Olympics. They would travel hundreds of miles. It was heroic to win the Olympic Games. Everyone was allowed to compete but women. Here the Greeks found a civilized to way to establish a heroic way. Here they built a democracy. A world where anyone could gain victory, it made Athens more unstable. The most ambitious of the people going again Cleisthenes was Isagoris. He apparently shared his wife with a Spartan king. The Spartans helped him to try to overcome his city. It was cleat he wanted to turn Athens into a subject state. He and his troops were going to rule on top of and around the acropolis. Isagoris was against the democracy and people having a say in anything. The Spartans and Isagoris went and took over Cleisthenes and left Greece in the hands of a dictator along with a fierce group, called the Spartans. Cleisthenes had been brought up to be an aristocrat and a ruler. How could Athens ever escape from Isagoris and the Spartans? The ordinary people of Athens now took their destiny into their own hands. They rose up in revolution. Isagoris and his Spartan allies put themselves on the top of the acropolis but even there they couldn’t escape the Athenians. He stated on the top of the acropolis for two days and two nights but on the third day he was forced to surrender. This was the first time in human history that regular people rose up against their leader and gained power. No one had ever done that before, there was always people in power who would fight against other people in power but never people verse someone in power. Someone had to be the first one to do it, and it was the Athenians. They knew it was their freedom and that they were not to be denied. They knew there were more of them than the Spartans and Isagoris. Another big thing was that not only did they finally have their say again but they took over the Spartans who were unbeatable. The year was 508 B.C. this would be Athens first step to empire and glory. The people gained power in 508 B.C. The ordinary people now had to wonder who would rule them. Cleisthenes returned to Athens after the Spartans were thrown out. There was no possibility for Cleisthenes for him to put back an aristocratic government. So he had to establish a government. He basically invents democracy. He realized how much of a say the Athenians should have in their city state. For Cleisthenes he didn’t know how to give them a say in their future that they deserved. On the Shadow of the acropolis the Athenians could now gather and discuss the future of their state. They could address their fellow citizens. Anyone could go and explain what they wanted to do next. Cleisthenes invented a vote. A black peddle for no and a white pebble for yes. Everybody besides the girls and the slaves had a right to vote. He established a democracy. The great Athenian assembly would gather every 9 days and discuss issues such as war and taxes. The Athenian democracy was all new to Athens but it worked. The people are the government. This had never happened with anyone before. Democracy really does unleash and make possible potential in human society’s that are unlikely to be released in any other way. These Athenians would face struggles that would of stunned their ancestors. The world’s first democracy was about to be invaded. In 419 B.C., 18 years after the establishment of democracy, Pheidippedes was a man who came and was a citizen of Athens and he was about to make one of the most astonishing things happen. He didn’t want glory, but survival. He was going to be conquered by the Persian empires. The tiny state of Athens was gaining power, which threatened Persia. So they felt as though they had to destroy. Darius was known to the Greece as the great king. For Pheidippedes and the Persians, they wanted to disrupt the Athenians way of life. The Persians put more emphasis on obedience rather than freedom. They invaded a river 25 miles from Athens. Every male citizen would have to come to the defense of their state. Hoplites were professional solders with their own weapons and metal. There were not enough to hold up the Persians, so everyone would have to come and defend Athens. It was probably the first time Athens had to use all their men in battle .As they face the Persians on the battle field they were outnumbered 1 to 2. Even as Pheidippedes ran he had o know the horror the Athenians were going to have to face. Pheidippedes ran 140 miles in two days. His help though he didn’t know would be refused. His fellow Athenians would have to fight alone. Pheidippedes would never have imagined that the Greeks would win a victory. The Persians had scattered in the face of their assault. The Athenian hurt 6,000 Persians. The Greeks had won their first battle as a democracy. The Athenians returned to their city to celebrate thier victory. The war with Persia had just become. Themistocles....