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A Golden Age in Athens
A powerful navy helped Athens defeat the Persians.
After the war, there was extra money in Athens that encouraged the development of learning and arts.
Payment
for jurors and people who served in the assembly made government more fair because it permitted citizens (poor and rich) to
take part in the government.
Philosophers searched for wisdom, the right way to live, how to maintain good government,
and how to be a great citizen.
The Peloponnesian League was a group of allies brought together by Sparta
to defeat Athens.
The geography of Athens affected it during the Peloponnesian War because its coastal location
had encouraged it to create a powerful navy, which helped it survive Sparta's attack.
A Greek Trireme:
(an actual reconstructed trireme)
There was a maximum of 120 rowers and the trireme could go as fast as 10
knots (18 kilometers per hour).
Today, it takes a ferry about 14 hours to travel 360 km's.
Ex.Cr.->
Compare the travel time of the trireme with that of the ferry. Calculate about how long it would take a trireme at a
max. speed to travel 360 km's.
War lasted a long time as Athens' navy was matched by Sparta's tough
army.
The plague that struck Athens was so terrible because it spread very fast because the people were crowded
together inside the city walls. One third of the population died including Pericles who was a strong leader.
Sparta didn't benefit from their victory in the war because the war put too much of a strain on Sparta's economy,
army, and population.
Conflict inside a region welcomes outside threats because when people fight amongst each
other it leaves them vulnerable and weak.
History of The Parthenon
The Parthenon was built between
447 and 432 B.C. and had a giant statue of Athena.
[The Parthenon in
Athens]
The Parthenon was used as a church and even a storage space for gunpowder.
In 1687, during
a battle between the Venetians and the Turks, a Venetian shell hit the Parthenon. The Venetian shell caused the stored
gunpowder to explode. A century later Lord Elgin sent some of the surviving sculpture to the British Musuem.
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