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Aristogiton

Aristogiton

Harmodius (circa 530 BC - 514 BC) and Aristogeiton (circa 550 BC - 514 BC), known as "the Liberators" and "the Tyrannicides", became heroes in Athens through their role in the overthrow of the Tyranny of the Peisistratid family. Peisistratus seized power in 541 BC and established a radical regime. Peisistratus is usually called a tyrant, but the Greek word tyrannos does not mean a cruel and despotic ruler, merely one who took power by force. Peisistratus was in fact a very popular ruler, who made Athens wealthy and powerful, although the old aristocratic families he had driven from power hated him. When Peisistratus died in 527 BC - 528 BC, his sons Hippias and Hipparchus succeeded him. They continued their father's policies, but their popularity declined after Hipparchus began to abuse the power of his position. In 514 BC Hipparchus sought the sexual favours of Harmodius, who was, the historian Thucydides tells us, "then in the flower of youthful beauty," which would have made him about 15. Harmodius was the eromenos (younger lover) of Aristogeiton, whom Thucydides describes as "a citizen then in middle rank of life" - possibly aged about 35 and a member of one of the old aristocratic families. Sexual relations between an older man (the erastes) and a youth were sanctioned by custom in Athens and other Greek cities, although these relationships were not homosexual in the modern sense of the word, but paederastic. Such relationships were governed by strict conventions, and Hipparchus's actions in trying to steal Aristogeiton's eromenos was a definite breach of the rules. (Thucydides says bluntly that Aristogeiton "was his lover and possessed him.") Harmodius rejected Hipparchus and told Aristogeiton what had happened. Hipparchus, spurned, avenged himself by having Harmodius' young sister disqualified from carrying a ceremonial offering basket at the Panathenaea festival on the pretext she was not a virgin, as was required. This was such a mortal offence to Harmodius's family that he and Aristogeiton resolved to assassinate both Hippias and Hipparchus and thus to overthrow the tyranny. The plot - to be carried out by means of daggers hidden in the ceremonial myrtle wreaths - involved a number of other co-conspirators, but seeing one of these greet Hippias in a friendly manner on the assigned day, the two thought themselves betrayed and rushed into action, ruining the carefully laid plans. They managed to kill Hipparchus, stabbing him to death as he was organizing the Panathenaean processions at the foot of the Acropolis, but the two lovers were killed on the spot by Hipparchus's guards, and there was no revolt. Aristotle in the Constitution of Athens preserves a tradition that Aristogeiton died only after being tortured in the hope that he would reveal the names of other conspirators. During his ordeal, personally overseen by Hippias, he feigned willingness to betray his co-conspirators, claiming only Hippias' handshake as guarantee of safety. Upon receiving the tyrant's hand he is reputed to have berated him for shaking the hand of his own brother's murderer, upon which the tyrant wheeled and struck him down on the spot. Likewise, there is a tradition that Aristogeiton was in love with a courtesan (see hetaira) by the name of Leæna (lioness) who also was kept by Hippias under torture - in a vain attempt to force her to divulge the names of the other conspirators - until she died. It was said that it was in her honor that Athenian statues of Aphrodite were from then on accompanied by stone lionesses [after Pausanias]. His brother's murder led Hippias to establish an even stricter dictatorship, which proved very unpopular and was overthrown, with the help of an army from Sparta, in 510 BC. This was followed by the reforms of Cleisthenes, who established a democracy in Athens. Subsequent mythology thus came to identify the romantic figures of Harmodius and Aristogeiton as martyrs to the cause of Athenian freedom, and they became known as "the Liberators" (eleutherioi) and "the Tyrannicides" (tyrannophonoi). According to later writers, descendants of Harmodius and Aristogeiton were given hereditary privileges, such as sitesis (the right to take meals at public expense in the town hall), ateleia (exemption from certain religious duties), and proedria (front-row seats in the theater). Since it is not known if Harmodius had any descendants (it is most unlikely that Aristogeiton did), this may be a later invention, but it illustrates their posthumous status. After the establishment of democracy, the sculptor Antenor was commissioned to produce a statue group of Harmodius and Aristogeiton that was erected in the Agora. This statue group was stolen by the Persians when they occupied Athens in 480 BC (see Persian Wars). It was returned to Athens by Alexander the Great (according to the historian Arrian) or by Seleucus I (according to the Roman writer Valerius Maximus). In the meantime, however, the Athenians had commissioned Critius and Nesiotes to produce new statues, which were set up in about 477 BC. Both statue groups are now lost, but the later work was extensively copied in Hellenistic and Roman times. An excellent copy may be seen in the Archaeological Museum in Naples. It shows idealised portraits of the two heroes: a nude, clean-shaven Harmodius (with a much more adult physique than he would actually have had), thrusting a sword forward in his upraised left hand, another sword in his right hand; and the bearded Aristogeiton, also brandishing two swords, a chlamys, or cape, draped over his left shoulder. Of the four swords only the hilts are left, and the original head of Aristogiton having been lost, another has been set in its place and is only a poor fit. Another tribute to the two heroes was a hymn sung as a drinking song (skolion) at the symposia, written by Callistratus, an Athenian poet known only for this work. This ode, found in Athenaeus, has been translated by many modern poets, among whom Edgar Allan Poe, who composed this version in 1827: Hymn to Aristogeiton and Harmodius I
Wreathed in myrtle, my sword I'll conceal
Like those champions devoted and brave,
When they plunged in the tyrant their steel,
And to Athens deliverance gave. II
Beloved heroes! your deathless souls roam
In the joy breathing isles of the blest;
Where the mighty of old have their home
Where Achilles and Diomed rest III
In fresh myrtle my blade I'll entwine,
Like Harmodius, the gallant and good,
When he made at the tutelar shrine
A libation of Tyranny's blood. IV
Ye deliverers of Athens from shame!
Ye avengers of Liberty's wrongs!
Endless ages shall cherish your fame,
Embalmed in their echoing songs! The story of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, and its treatment by later Greek writers, is illustrative of attitudes to homosexuality in ancient Greece. Both Thucydides and Herodotus say that the two were lovers, without making any comment on this fact: clearly they assumed that their readers would be familiar with institutionalised homosexuality and would find nothing remarkable about it. The story continued to be cited as an admirable example of heroism and devotion for many years. In 346 BC, for example, the politician Timarchus was prosecuted (for political reasons) on the grounds that he had been a prostitute. The orator who defended him, Demosthenes, cited Harmodius and Aristogeiton, as well as Achilles and Patroclus, as examples of the beneficial effects of homosexual relationships. The fact that the statues of the Liberators were still being copied in Roman times shows the durability of their legend.

External links

- [http://www.livius.org Livius], [http://www.livius.org/tt-tz/tyrannicides/tyrannicides.html Harmodius and Aristogeiton] by Jona Lendering
- [http://www.androphile.org/preview/Library/History/Harmodius/Harmodius.htm Story of Harmodius and Aristogiton] Category:550 BC births Category:530 BC births Category:514 BC deaths Category:Ancient Athenians Category:Multiple people

514 BC

Centuries: 7th century BC - 6th century BC - 5th century BC Decades: 560s BC - 550s BC - 540s BC - 530s BC - 520s BC - 510s BC - 500s BC - 490s BC - 480s BC - 470s BC - 460s BC ----

Events and trends

- Establishment of the Roman Republic
- 519 BC - Zhou Jing Wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.
- March 12, 515 BC - Construction is completed on the Temple in Jerusalem.
- 516 BC - Indian subcontinent - Occupation of Punjab is completed by the Persian King Gustasp
- 514 BC - King Helu of Wu establishes "Great City of Helu", the ancient name for Suzhou, as his capital in China.
- 513 BC - Darius the Great subdues the Getae and east Thrace in his war against the Scythians
- 510 BC - Hippias, son of Pisistratus and tyrant of Athens, is expelled by a popular revolt supported by Cleomenes I, King of Sparta and his forces.
- 510 BC - End of reign of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, last king of the traditional seven Kings of Rome.
- 510 BC - Demaratus succeeds Ariston as king of Sparta. (approximate date)

Births

- 519 BC - Xerxes I of Persia (approximate date) Category:510s BC

550 BC

Centuries: 7th century BC - 6th century BC - 5th century BC Decades: 600s BC - 590s BC - 580s BC - 570s BC - 560s BC - 550s BC - 540s BC - 530s BC - 520s BC - 510s BC - 500s BC ----

Events and trends

- Carthage conquers Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica
- 559 BC - King Cambyses I of Anshan dies and is succeeded by his son Cyrus II the Great.
- 558 BC - Hegesias removed as Archon of Athens
- 558 BC - The Chinese state of Jin defeats its rival Qin in battle.
- 556 BC - Pisistratus is exiled from Athens to Euboea
- 556 BC - Labashi-Marduk succeeds Neriglissar as king of Babylon
- 556/555 BC - Nabonidus succeeds Labashi-Marduk as king of Babylon
- 550 BC - Abdera is destroyed by the Thracians.
- 550 BC - Cyrus of Anshan overthrows Astyages of the Medes, establishing the Persian Empire.

Significant people

- 558 BC - Death of Solon, Athenian statesman
- 556 BC - Birth of Simonides of Ceos (approximate date)
- 555 BC - Death of Stesichorus, Greek lyric poet
- 551 BC - Birth of Confucius, philosopher Category:550s BC

Tyrannicide

Tyrannicide, similar to regicide, literally means the killing of a tyrant. Typically, the term is taken to mean the killing of tyrants for the common good. The term tyrannicide does not apply to tyrants killed in battle or killed by an enemy in an armed conflict. It is rarely applied when a tyrant is killed by a person acting for selfish reasons, such as to take power for themselves. Sometimes, the term is restricted to killings undertaken by people who are actually subject to the tyrant. Not all overthrowings of tyrants involve tyrannicide because the tyrant might either be killed in battle, kill themselves, or they may be deposed. To be a tyrannicide the deceased ruler must be a tyrant (see list of tyrants). Examples of tyrannicide include those of:
- Hipparchus (527 BC-514 BC), son of Pisistratus; Hipparchus was murdered by Harmodius and Aristogeiton, the original tyrannicides.
- Julius Caesar murdered by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus.

Athens

Athens (Greek: Αθήνα, Athína; IPA ) is the capital of Greece, and of the Attica prefecture of Greece. Modern Athens is a large and cosmopolitan city; Ancient Athens was a powerful city-state and renowned center of learning. It was named after its patron goddess from ancient Greek mythology, Athena. Athens is located at (38.00°, 23.72°). The metropolitan area of Athens is home to some 3.5 million people. Currently the city (metropolitan area) is growing eastwards across Attica (Greater Athens).

Name

In ancient Greek, the name of Athens was -Athēnai, plural of -Athēnē, the Greek name of the goddess Athena. The city's name was used in the plural like those of -Thēbai (Thebes) and -Mykēnai (Mycenae) because it consisted of several parts. In the 19th century, this name was formally re-adopted as the city's name. Since the official abandonment of Katharevousa Greek in the 1970s, however, the popular form Athína has become the city's official name. See also a list of alternative names for Athens.

History

Main article: History of Athens History of Athens History of Athens Athens was the leading city in Greece during the greatest period of Greek civilization during the 1st millennium BC. During the "Golden Age" of Greece (roughly 500 BC to 300 BC) it was the Western world's leading cultural, commercial and intellectual center, and indeed it is in the ideas and practices of ancient Athens that what we now call "Western civilization" has its origins. After its days of greatness, Athens continued to be a prosperous city and a centre of learning until the late Roman period. Athens had a estimated peak population of 310,000 in the year 430 BC. The schools of philosophy were closed in AD 529 by the Christian Byzantine Empire, which disapproved of the schools' pagan thinking. During the Byzantine era, Athens gradually lost a great deal of status and, by the time of the Crusades, it was already reduced to a provincial town. It faced a crushing blow between the 13th and 15th centuries, when the city was fought over by the Greek Byzantines and the French and Italian Crusaders. In 1458 the city fell to the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Mehmet II the Conqueror. As the Emperor entered the city, he was greatly struck by the beauty of its ancient monuments and issued a firman (imperial decree) that Athen's ruins not be disturbed, on pain of death. The Parthenon was in fact converted into a splendid mosque. Despite the Sultan's good intentions to preserve Athens as a model Ottoman provincial capital, the city's population went into decline and conditions worsened as the Ottoman Empire declined as well starting in the late 18th Century. As time went by, the Turks slackened their care for Athens' old buildings; the great Parthenon itself was used as a warehouse for ammunition during the Venetian siege of Athens in 1687, and consequently the temple was severely damaged when a chance Venetian shell set off several casks of gunpowder stored in the main hall. The Ottoman Empire relinquished control of Athens after the Greek War of Independence. The city was inhabited by just 5,000 people by the time it was made the capital of the newly established kingdom of Greece in 1833. During the next few decades the city was rebuilt into a modern city applying mainly to the Neoclassic style. In 1896 Athens was the host city of the 1896 Summer Olympics.The next large expansion occurred in the 1920s when suburbs were created to house Greek refugees from Asia Minor. During World War II the city was occupied by Germany and fared badly in the war's later years. After the war the city started to grow again.

Location and setting

Germany Germany With its suburbs, Athens has a population of about 3.5 million representing around 35% of the total population of Greece. Athens has grown very rapidly in the years after the war until ca. 1980 and suffered from overcrowding, traffic congestion and air pollution; it is one of the most polluted cities in Europe. These problems still persist, although the massive investment of recent years in infrastructure has had a significant effect in easing the problem. Athens sprawls across the central plain of Attica, which is bound by Mount Aegaleo on the west, Mount Parnitha on the north, Mount Penteli to the northeast, Mount Hymettus on the east, and the Saronic Gulf on the southwest. Athens has expanded to cover the entire plain, and is thus unlikely to grow significantly in area in the future, because of the natural boundaries. The geomorphology of Athens frequently causes temperature inversion phenomena partly responsible for its air pollution problem (Los Angeles has similar geomorphology and similar problems). The ancient site of the city is centered on the rocky hill of the Acropolis. In ancient times the port of Piraeus (modern name Pireas) was a separate city, but it has now been absorbed into greater Athens. The centre of the modern city is Syntagma Square (Constitution Square), site of the former Royal Palace, the Greek Parliament and other 19th century public buildings. Most of the older and wealthier parts of the city are clustered around this area, which is also where most of the tourist attractions and museums are located. Syntagma Square Athens was host to the 2004 Summer Olympics. Athens was also the host of the 1896 Summer Olympics and of the 1906 Intercalated Games. The old campus of the University of Athens, on Panepistimiou Avenue is one of the finest buildings in Athens, together with the National Library building and the Athens Academy building. These three form the so-called "Athens Trilogy", built in the late 19th century. However, most of the university's functions have been moved to a larger modern campus east of the city centre, near Zográfou. The second most significant city institution is the Athens Polytechnic School (Ethniko Metsovio Politechnio), where more than 20 students were killed in 1973 during demonstrations against the Greek military junta (1967-1974). Greek entry into the European Union in 1981 brought new investment to the city along with problems of greatly worsened congestion and air pollution. Throughout the 1990s a series of measures were taken successfully to combat pollution. In preparation for the 2004 Olympic games the city spruced up its image with the introduction of a state-of-the-art transport infrastructure, a new airport, pedestrianised areas, and new museums and public squares. The city's increasingly multi-ethnic population enjoys a vibrant night-life and world-class shopping.

Tourist attractions

1981]] 1981 Athens has been a tourist destination since antiquity. Visitors from all over the world have always been eager to visit its famous monuments. Over the past eight years, the infrastructure and social amenities of Athens have been transformed as a result of the city's successful bid to stage the 2004 Olympic Games. The Greek state aided by the E.U. have poured money into infrastructure projects such as the new "Eleftherios Venizelos" International Airport, the massive expansion of the Metro system, and the new Attiki Odos ring-road. There has also been a great expansion of private investment on hotels and other tourist developments. Most importantly from the point of view of tourism, the area around the Acropolis has been remodelled, and a great pedestrian area from the Temple of Olympian Zeus to Plaka, Monastiraki and the Psirri square has been constructed. This allows the visitor space for calm walks among the ancient monuments, ruins and trees, from the Acropolis, to the Agora (the meeting place of the ancient Athenians) and then to the narrow streets of the old city of Athens (the Plaka), away from the noise of the city centre. Near the Syntagma square (described above) is the Kallimarmaro Stadium, the place where the first modern Olympic Games took place in 1896. It is a replica of the ancient Athens Stadium. It holds a special interest, not only for romantic reasons but also because it is the only major stadium (60,000 spectators) made entirely of white marble from Penteli, the same as the one used for the construction of the Parthenon. Penteli The classic museums like the National Archaeological Museum (which holds the world's greatest collection of Greek art), the Benaki Museum (including its new Islamic Art branch) [http://www.benaki.gr], the Byzantine Museum, the Museum of Cycladic Art (strongly recommended for its collection of elegant white metamodern figures, more than 3,000 years old) [http://www.cycladic-m.gr] have all been renovated in view of the 2004 Olympics. A new Acropolis Museum is being built [http://www.culture.gr/2/21/215/21502/e21509c.html] according to a design by acclaimed architect Bernard Tschumi [http://www.culture.gr/2/21/215/21502/e21509c.html]. Not to be missed is also the very impressive Athens Planetarium [http://www.eugenfound.edu.gr], one of the world's largest. As for the night life, Athens has a great number of multiplex as well as romantic open air garden cinemas, more theatres than any other European city (including ancient marble ones that are home to the Athens Festival from June to July) and many music venues including a state of the art music hall known as "Megaron" [http://www.megaron.gr] that attracts world-famous artists all year round. The coastline - now connected to the city centre with a gleaming new tram way - boasts a series of exciting venues next to the beaches where, during the day, Athenians swim and sunbathe. The Psirri neighborhood - aka Athens' 'meat packing district'- has acquired many new bars and restaurants and is a center for young Athenians. The Plaka remains the traditional tourist destination, with many tavernas featuring 'traditional' music, but the food, though good, is expensive compared to other parts of the city. The chic Kolonaki area, near Syntagma Square, is full of boutiques catering to well-heeled customers by day and bars and restaurants by night. Some central areas (south of Omonia Square) are mainly peopled by immigrants and are full of colorful ethnic restaurants and shops. The Gazi area, one of the latest in full redevelopment, is located around a historic gaz factory that has been converted into the Technopolis (Athens's new cultural multiplex)and has a number of small clubs, bars and restaurants as well as Athens' nascent gay village. Kolonaki Casinos operate on Mount Parnitha (accessible by car or cable car) and the near town of Loutraki (accessible by car or suburban railway). An entirely new attraction is the massively upgraded Olympic Stadium Complex (known by its Greek initials OAKA). The whole area has been remodelled by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava with monuments, gardens, futuristic passages and a characteristic new blue glass roof which was added to the main Stadium. A second olympic area, next to the sea at the beach of Kallithea (Faliron), also boasts futuristic stadiums, shops and an elevated esplanade. Athens is close to sand beaches and a very clean sea, and is surrounded by four very green and easily accessible mountains that are protected national parks (Lycabetus in the centre, Parnitha and Penteli to the north and Ymittos to the southeast) some of which feature also unmissable historic sites (Lycabetus,Ymittos). Lycabetus is a large hill in Athens that is said to have been a boulder thrown down by Athena as the legend goes. Lycab(v)etus is pronounced (LEE-KAH-VEE-TOS). Mountain Parnitha 25 km from the centre of Athens) has tens of well-marked paths, gorges, springs, torrents and caves and you may meet a deer in the forest. The nearby islands of Salamina, Aigina, Poros, Hydra and Spetses are also sites of spectacular natural beauty and historical architecture. Work is underway to transform the grounds of the old Athens Airport -named Hellinikon- in the southern suburbs into a massive landscaped park (considered to be the largest in Europe when ready). The Athens municipality maintains a site of tourist interest: http://www.cityofathens.gr/

20th century architecture in Athens

- East terminal by Eero Saarinen, at former Hellenikon airport, 1960-63
- American embassy by Walter Gropius, at Vassilis Sophias Avenue, 1961
- Athens Olympic Sports Complex, by Santiago Calatrava] ([[1998]]-[[2004) ([http://users.auth.gr/~lvorgias/ sketches and models])
- Bridge at Metro-station Katehaki by Santiago Calatrava

Transportation

Santiago Calatrava Santiago Calatrava] Santiago Calatrava The public transport system in Athens consists of bus, metro, tram and suburban railway [http://www.proastiakos.gr] services. The Athens Metro is one of the most modern systems in the world. It has four lines three of them which are distinguished by the colours used in maps and signs (green, blue and red). The green line, which is the oldest and for the most part runs on the ground, connects Piraeus to Kifissia. The other two lines were constructed mainly during the 1990s and the first sections were put to service in 2000. They run entirely underground. The blue line goes from Monastiraki to Doukissis Plakentias and the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, and the red line from Aghios Antonios to Aghios Dimitrios. Extensions to both lines are under construction, most notably to Marousi and Old Hellinikon Airport East Terminal (future Metropolitan Park). The fourth line is the Proastiakos (suburban) which runs from the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport to Athens Central train station. It is managed by three different companies (ISAP line 1), Attiko Metro (lines 2 & 3), Proastiakos (line 4). The whole Metro system of Athens has currently 91 km. Considering this issue shows how the mass transport system in Athens has improved in the last years, since until 1999 the length of the system was of just 25 km and comprised by one line. It's expected that for the 2008 it will reach 110 km, after the extensions of the first phase of expansion get concluded. The bus service consists of a network of lines on which normal buses, electric buses, and natural gas buses run (the largest fleet of natural gas run buses in Europe). There are plenty of bus lines serving Athens and the suburbs, and they link the centre of the city with most of the suburbs and neighborhoods. The tram runs from Syntagma Square to Palaio Faliro and there the line splits in two branches, going to Glyfada and Neo Faliro. Both Syntagma - Palaio Faliro - Neo Faliro and the Glyfada branch opened on 19 July 2004. Further extensions are considered. There are many taxis in Athens, which can be recognised by the yellow color of the vehicles. They are quite cheap and during rush hours it is considered normal to halt a taxi even when it is in service (although, strictly speaking, this is forbidden); in that case, if the one halting it happens to go to the same direction as the customer and the customer does not mind (although this is never brought up or an issue, and if you are the customer, be sure to enjoy the impoliteness of the taxi drivers if you do request that they do not stop to pick up other people, despite the fact that you are late, and they will wait for 2 minutes in a queue to take another fare, bearing in mind you pay for that 2 minutes as 'waiting time'), he is also allowed in, and each one pays normally as if they were the only customer. Athens is served by the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport at Spata, east of the city, about a 45-minute taxi ride from the city centre. There is also an express line connecting the airport to the metro system and 2 express lines connecting the airport to Pireus port and the city centre. Athens is also the hub of the Greek National Railway System, and ferries from Piraeus Port travel to all Greek islands. There are two motorways that go to the west towards Patra: (GR-8A, E94) and to the north towards Thessaloniki (GR-1, E75), and a ring motorway (Attiki Odos) which goes from Elefsina on the west to the airport after circling the city from the north, and another from Kaisariani to Glyke Nera where it meets the main road for Eleusis and the airport. Its total length is now about 70 km in 2004 up from 18 km in March 2001 when it first opened. There are about 21 exits and 4 junctions, up from 8. See Athens Mass Transit System for more on this topic.

Municipality

Athens Mass Transit System The modern city of Athens consists of what were formerly distinct towns and villages which gradually expanded to form a single large city; this expansion occurred in the 20th century. The city is now divided into 54 municipalities, the largest of which is the Municipality of Athens or Dimos Athinaion, with about 750,000 people (the next largest are Municipality of Piraeus, Municipality of Peristeri and Municipality of Kallithea). Athens can therefore refer either to the entire metropolitan area or to the Municipality of Athens. Each of the municipalities of Athens has an elected district council and a directly elected mayor. Mrs. Dora Bakoyanni of the conservative New Democracy party has been Mayor of Athens since October 2002. The Municipality of Athens is divived into 7 municipal districts or demotika diamerismata. The 7-district division however is mainly used for administrative purposes , while for Athenians the most popular way of dividing the city proper is through its neighborhoods (usually referred to as areas in english), each with its own distinct history and characteristics. For someone unfamiliar with Athens, getting to know about these neighborhoods can often come very handy for exploring and understanding the city.

Olympics 2004

2002 2002 Athens was awarded the 2004 Summer Olympics on September 5, 1997 in Lausanne, Switzerland, after surprisingly having lost the bid to organize the 1996 Summer Olympics, the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the modern Olympic Games. It was to be the second time Athens had hosted the Olympic Games. In 1997, Athens made a bid based largely on an appeal to Olympic history. In the last round of voting, Athens defeated Rome, 66 votes to 41. Before this, Buenos Aires, Stockholm, and Cape Town, had already been eliminated from consideration after receiving few votes. After that, the International Olympic Committee expressed its concern over the status of the progress of construction work of the new Olympic venues. A new Organizing Committee was formed under President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki and preparations began at an accelerated pace. Although the heavy cost was criticized, as is not unusual with Olympic preparations, Athens was transformed into a city that uses state-of-the-art technology in transportation and urban development. Some of the most modern sporting venues in the world were created, almost all of which were fully ready on schedule. The 2004 Games were adjudged a success, as both security and organization were good and few visitors reported problems with transportation or accommodation. The only problem noted was sparse attendance at preliminary events during the first days of competition. Total attendance was more than 3.2 million tickets sold, which was higher than any other Olympics with the exception of Sydney (more than 5 million tickets).

Cities nicknamed "Athens"

See Athens (disambiguation) for other cities named "Athens".
- Athens of the East - Madurai, India
- Athens of the South - Nashville, Tennessee
- Athens of the North - Edinburgh, Scotland
- Athens of America - Boston, Massachusetts
- Spree Athens - Berlin, Germany
- Athens on the Isar - Munich, Germany
- Athens of Latin America - Bogotá, Colombia
- Athens of Finland - Jyväskylä, Finland
- Serbian Athens - Novi Sad, Serbia and Montenegro
- Athens of Ireland - Cork, Ireland

External links

- [http://www.cityofathens.gr City of Athens official website]
- [http://www.athensvirtualtour.com/ Take a short virtual tour of Athens]
- [http://www.athens-today.com/ Take a long virtual tour of Athens]
- [http://www.culture2000.tee.gr/ Athens contemporary architecture and suggested walking routes]
- [http://www.athensdg.gr/ City of Athens official entertainment guide]
- [http://www.timeoutathens.gr/englishnew/default.asp/ TimeOut Athens - Find out what's on in Athens]
- [http://www.athinorama.gr/ Athenorama: the city's oldest weekly entertainment guide (in Greek)]
- [http://www.nyloo.com/index.ath.2.asp/ Tourist info]
- [http://www.oasa.gr/ Journey planner by the city's transport authority]
- [http://www.athens2004.com/ 2004 Olympics official website]
- [http://www.chem.uoa.gr/Location/AthensMap/Athensmap.htm Interactive Map of Central Athens]
- [http://www.transport.ntua.gr/map/en/ Real time traffic map of Athens]
- [http://www.constitution.org/ari/athen_00.htm The Athenian Constitution, Aristotle]
- [http://www.holiday.gr/place5.php?place_id=13 Hotel Finder by Holiday.gr]
- [http://www.edwebproject.org/balkans/athens.html Athens photo gallery by Susanne and Andy Carvin]
- [http://www.athensguide.org/pictures-of-athens.html Athens pictures]
- [http://www.around-athens.com Athens Directory]
- [http://sabin.ro/gallery/athens Athens Photo Gallery] Category:Capitals in Europe Category:Greek prefectural capitals Category:Coastal cities Category:Host cities of the Summer Olympic Games Category:Cities and towns in Greece zh-min-nan:Athína ko:아테네 ja:アテネ simple:Athens th:เอเธนส์

Tyrant

:This article is about the ruling leader. For other uses, see Tyrant (disambiguation). A tyrant (from Greek τύραννος týrannos) is a usurper of rightful power, possessing absolute power and ruling by tyranny. In the original Greek meaning "tyrant" carried no ethical censure; a tyrant was anyone who overturned the established government of a city-state, usually through the use of popular support, to establish himself as dictator, or the heir of such a person. Cypselus was the first tyrant of Corinth in the 7th century BC, and managed to bequeath his position to his son, Periander. Succession was seldom untroubled among the tyrants. In Athens, the title was first given to Pisistratus of Athens in 560 BC, followed by his sons, and with the subsequent growth of Athenian democracy, the title "Tyrant" took on its familiar negative connotations. The Thirty Tyrants installed at defeated Athens in 404 BC by the Spartans were not tyrants in the usual sense. The murder of the tyrant Hipparchus by Aristogeiton and Harmodios in Athens marked the beginning of the so-called "cult of the tyrannicides" i.e. killers of tyrants. This was a cult movement characterised by contempt for tyranny. The attitude was especially prevalent in Athens after 508 BC, when Cleisthenes reformed the political system such that it resembled demokratia (Ancient democracy as opposed to the modern meaning). The heyday of the tyrants was the early 6th century BC, when Cleisthenes ruled Sicyon in the Peloponnesus, and Polycrates ruled Samos. During this time, many governments in the Aegean world were overthrown. It was during this time that Persia first made inroads into Greece, as many tyrants sought Persian help against forces seeking to remove them. Greek tyranny was in the main an outgrowth of the struggle of the popular classes against the aristocracy or priest-kings whose right to rule was sanctioned by archaic traditions and mythology. Tyrants were generally installed by popular coups, and were often popular rulers, at least in the early part of their reigns. For instance, Pisistratus was remembered for an episode (related by [pseudo]Aristotle but possibly fictional) in which he exempted a farmer from taxation because of the particular barrenness of his plot. Pisistratus' sons Hippias and Hipparchus, on the other hand, were overthrown, and Hipparchus was assassinated. The tyrants of Sicily were the products of similar causes, but tyranny was prolonged by the threat of Carthaginian attack, which facilitated the rise of military leaders with the people united behind them. Such Sicilian tyrants as Gelon, Hiero I, Hiero II, Dionysius the Elder, and Dionysius the Younger maintained lavish courts and were patrons of culture. Later ancient Greeks, as well as the Roman Republicans, were generally quite wary of anyone seeking to implement a popular coup. The struggle of one such Roman, Marcus Junius Brutus, is portrayed by Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar. See also list of tyrants.

Modern tyrants

The term now carries connotations of a cruel despot who places their own interests or the interests of a small oligarchy over the best interests of the general population of the state over which they govern.

External links

- [http://www.livius.org Livius], [http://www.livius.org/tt-tz/tyrant/tyrant.html Tyrant] by Jona Lendering Category:Government ja:僭主

Peisistratus

Peisistratos is the name of a major Athenian ruler, as well as a minor character in the Odyssey. The name in Ancient Greek is Πεισίστρατος (Peisistratos). The standard spelling in English is Peisistratus; an alternate spelling (also used in Latin) is Pisistratus. The spellings Psistratus, Peistratus, or Pesistratus may also be used.

Peisistratos of Athens

Peisistratos of Athens (ca. 607-528 BC) was a Greek statesman who became the Tyrant of Athens following a (quite popular) coup and ruled in 561, 559-556 and 546-528 BC. Peisistratos was the son of a man called Hippocrates, and was named for the Peisistratos in the Odyssey. A friend of the Athenian lawgiver Solon, he assisted Solon in his endeavours, and fought bravely in the conquest of Salamis. When Solon left Athens, Peisistratos became leader of the party of the Highlands (poorer, rural people) in 565 BC. Peisistratos used a clever scheme, calling for bodyguards after he pretended to be attacked. Those bodyguards were composed of the people of the Highlands whom had entered Athens. In 560 BC he seized the Acropolis with this group of bodyguards, becoming turannos (tyrant). His rule did not last - he was driven out by Lycurgus, Megacles and others from the party of the Coast within the year. He returned in 559 BC with the help of Megacles, who had split from Lycurgus. Megacles had allied with Pisistratus on the condition that Pisistraus marry Megacles' daughter. The Athenians were persuaded by Megacles that Athena was bringing Peisistratos home and Peisistratos returned from exile in a carriage accompanied by a tall woman disguised as Athena in a suit of armor. Later, Megacles was angered by the fact that Peisistratos refused to have children with his daughter, and Peisistratos was again exiled in 556 BC by Lycurgus and Megacles. He went to Euboea and remained there for almost ten years, becoming quite rich through mining. He returned to Athens in 546 BC with a considerable force and regained power with the support of Lygdamos of Naxos. This time he worked well to retain his position. Peisistratos rewarded Lygdamos by making him tyrant of Naxos. Peisistratos consolidated his power by favouring rural citizens with new land laws, but he also kept a large force of mercenaries and took hostages. He kept the democratic forms introduced by Solon but ensured that family members held the highest offices. Pisistratus promoted the cults of Athena and Dionysus. He began the construction of the temple to Athena on the Acropolis and also promoted a number of other public works including the Lyceum, temples to Apollo and to Zeus as well as the Fountain of the Nine Springs. He also supported literature and the arts. The Panathenaic Festival (reintroduced shortly before his reign) and the city Dionysia festival flourished during his time. Athenian coinage was introduced by about 550 BC, and may reflect policy of his, though there is no reference in contemporary documents to such. According to tradition, Pisistratus commissioned the first standard written editions of the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, which had previously been passed down orally or "cribbed" in private copies. Peisistratos was succeeded by his son Hippias. But his other son, Hipparchus, is also mentioned together with Hippias, suggesting some form of joint rule. Peisistratos has been credited with the development of the first welfare state through his policy of providing a land loan to the underprivileged in society as part of an effort to encourage autarky.

Peisistratos the son of Nestor

In Greek mythology, Peisistratos was the youngest son of Nestor and became an intimate friend of Telemachus the son of Odysseus on their first meeting. Peisistratos travelled with Telemachus on his unsuccessful search for his lost father. (Odyssey III, 36, 400). Category:Characters in the Odyssey Category:607 BC births Category:528 BC deaths Category:Ancient Athenians ja:ペイシストラトス

541 BC

Centuries: 7th century BC - 6th century BC - 5th century BC Decades: 590s BC - 580s BC - 570s BC - 560s BC - 550s BC - 540s BC - 530s BC - 520s BC - 510s BC - 500s BC - 490s BC ----

Events and trends

- 547 BC -- Croesus, Lydian king, is defeated by Cyrus of Persia near the River Halys.
- 546 BC -- Cyrus of Persia completes his conquest of Lydia, and makes Pasargadae his capital.
- 544 BC -- People of Teos migrate to Abdera, Thrace to escape the yoke of Persia.
- 544 BC -- Zhou Jing Wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.
- 543 BC -- North Indian Prince Vijaya invades Ceylon and establishes a Sinhalese dynasty.
- 543 BC -- Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens, purifies the island of Delos (approximate date).
- 540 BC -- Greek city of Elea of sothern Italy founded (approximate date).

Significant people

- 549 BC -- Birth of Darius I.
- 547 BC -- Death of Croesus.
- 546 BC -- Death of Anaximander, Greek philosopher (approximate date)
- 545 BC -- Death of Zhou ling wang, King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.
- 543 BC -- Death of Gautama Buddha (traditional in Thailand and elsewhere - basis of the Thai solar calendar).
- 543 BC -- Death of Thales, Greek philosopher.
- 540 BC -- Amyntas I becomes king of Macedonia (approximate date) Category:540s BC

528 BC

Centuries: 7th century BC - 6th century BC - 5th century BC Decades: 570s BC - 560s BC - 550s BC - 540s BC - 530s BC - 520s BC - 510s BC - 500s BC - 490s BC - 480s BC - 470s BC ----

Events

- 526 BC - Psammetichus III succeeds Amasis II as king of Egypt.
- 525 BC - Cambyses II, ruler of Persia, conquers Egypt, defeating Psammetichus III. This is considered the end of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, and the start of the Twenty-seventh Dynasty.
- 522 BC - Smerdis succeeds Cambyses II as ruler of Persia.
- 522 BC - Babylon rebels against Persian rule.
- 521 BC - Darius I succeeds Smerdis as ruler of Persia.
- 521 BC - The Babylonian rebellion against Persian rule is suppressed.
- 520 BC - Zhou dao wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China but dies before the end of the year.
- 520 BC - Cleomenes I succeeds Anaxandridas as king of Sparta. (approximate date).

Births

- 525 BC - Aeschylus, author of Greek tragedies (d. 456 BC)
- 522 BC - Pindar, Greek poet

Deaths

- 529 BC, July - Cyrus the Great, ruler of ancient Persia
- 527 BC - Pisistratus, Athenian general
- 525 BC - Anaximenes of Miletus, Greek philosopher (born 585 BC)
- 525 BC - Psammetichus III, the last Pharaoh of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt
- 521 BC, March - Cambyses II, ruler of ancient Persia (suicide)
- 521 BC, October - Smerdis, ruler of ancient Persia Category:520s BC

Hippias (son of Pisistratus)

Hippias was one of the sons of Pisistratus, and was tyrant of Athens in the 6th century BC. Hippias succeeded Pisistratus in 527 BC, and in 525 BC he introduced a new system of coinage in Athens. His brother Hipparchus, who may have ruled jointly with him, was murdered by Harmodius and Aristogeiton (the Tyrannicides) in 514 BC. The Tyrannicides were executed by Hippias. After this, Hippias became a bitter and cruel ruler, and in 508 BC the Athenians decided to recall the Alcmaeonidae family, who had been exiled by Pisistratus. The Alcmaeonidae set about building a new temple at Delphi, then bribed the priestess to command the Spartans to help them overthrow Hippias. A Spartan force under Anchimolius was sent to help, but Hippias and his family, the Pisistratidae, allied with Cineas of Thessaly, and the Spartans and Alcmaeonidae were at first defeated. A second attempt, led by Cleomenes I of Sparta, successfully entered Athens and trapped Hippias on the Acropolis. They also took the Pisistratidae children hostage, and Hippias was forced to leave Athens in order to have them returned safely. The Spartans later thought that a free, democratic Athens would be dangerous to Spartan power, and attempted to recall Hippias and reestablish the tyranny. Hippias had fled to Persia, and the Persians threatened to attack Athens if they did not accept Hippias; nevertheless the Athenians preferred to remain democratic despite the danger from Persia. Soon after this, the Ionian Revolt began. It was put down in 494 BC, but Darius I of Persia was intent on punishing Athens for their role in the revolt. In 490 BC Hippias, still in the service of the Persians, led Darius to Marathon, Greece. According to Herodotus, Hippias had a dream that the Persians would be defeated, and they in fact were defeated at the Battle of Marathon. Category:Ancient Athenians ja:ヒッピアス

Hipparchus (son of Pisistratus)

Hipparchus was one of the sons of Pisistratus who became tyrant of Athens when Pisistratus died in 527 BC. Hipparchus ruled jointly with his brother Hippias. While Hippias was responsible for the political and economic aspects of the tyranny, Hipparchus was a patron of the arts; it was Hipparchus who invited Simonides of Ceos to Athens. In 514 BC Hipparchus was murdered by the Tyrannicides, Harmodius and Aristogeiton. This was apparently a personal dispute, according to Herodotus and Thucydides; Hipparchus had fallen in love with Harmodius, who was already the lover of Aristogeiton. When Harmodius rejected him, Hipparchus refused to allow Harmodius' sister to participate in a religious festival, insinuating that she was not a virgin. As a result, Harmodius and Aristogeiton assassinated him. After the assassination, Hippias became a more bitter and cruel tyrant, and was overthrown a few years later. Not to be confused with the astronomer and mathematician Hipparchus. Category:Ancient Athenians Category:514 BC deaths

Thucydides

Thucydides (between 460 and 455 BC–circa 400 BC, Greek Θουκυδίδης, Thoukudídês) was an ancient Greek historian, and the author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens. This work is widely regarded a classic, and represents the first work of its kind.

Life

Almost everything we know about the life of Thucydides comes from his own History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides' father was Olorus, a name connected with Thrace and Thracian royalty. He was a man of influence and wealth. He owned gold mines at Scapte Hyle, a district of Thrace on the Thracian coast opposite the island of Thasos. Thucydides, born in Alimos, was connected through family to the Athenian statesman and general Miltiades, and his son Cimon, leaders of the old aristocracy supplanted by the Radical Democrats. Thucydides lived between his two homes, in Athens and in Thrace. His family connections brought him into contact with the very men who were shaping the history he wrote about. He was probably in his twenties when the Peloponnesian War began in 431 BC. He contracted the plague that ravaged Athens between 430 and 427 BC, killing Pericles, in 429 BC, along with thousands of other Athenians. In 424 BC he was appointed strategos (general), and given command of a squadron of seven ships, stationed at Thasos, probably because of his connections to the area. During the winter of 424/3 BC, the Spartan general Brasidas attacked Amphipolis, a half-day's sail west from Thasos on the Thracian coast. Eucles, the Athenian commander at Amphipolis, sent for assistance to Thucydides. Brasidas, aware of Thucydides' presence on Thasos and his influence with the people of Amphipolis and afraid of help arriving by sea, acted quickly to offer moderate terms to the Amphipolitans for their surrender, which they accepted. Thus when Thucydides arrived, Amphipolis was already under Spartan control (see Battle of Amphipolis). Amphipolis was of considerable strategic importance, and news of its fall caused great consternation in Athens. Because of his failure to save Amphipolis, Thucydides says: :It was also my fate to be an exile from my country for twenty years after my command at Amphipolis; and being present with both parties, and more especially with the Peloponnesians by reason of my exile, I had leisure to observe affairs somewhat particularly. Using his status as an exile from Athens to travel freely among the Peloponnesian allies, he was able to view the war from the perspective of both sides. He may have travelled to Sicily for the Sicilian Expedition, although the extent of his local knowledge is debated. During this period of time he conducted important research for his history. According to Pausanias, someone named Oenobius was able to get a law passed allowing Thucydides to return to Athens, presumably sometime shortly after Athens' surrender and the end of the war in 404 BC. Pausanias goes on to say that Thucydides was murdered on his way back to Athens. Some doubt this account, seeing evidence to suggest he lived as late as 397 BC. In any case, although he lived past the end of the war, he did not complete his history. The abrupt end of his narrative which breaks off in the middle the year 411 BC, suggests that he may have died while writing the book. His remains were returned to Athens and were laid in Cimon's family vault.

Education

Thucydides would have been schooled by the Sophists. They were the teachers in Athens, but today would be considered more like philosophers and astronomers. Thucydides would have been taught by them not to accept things at face value but to question things. They would have taught Thucydides the mechanics of his writing and would have endowed him with his skills to assess the truth.

Character

His character was said to be dry, humorless and pessimistic. Thucydides admired Pericles and approved of his power over the people, though he detested the more pandering demagogues who followed him. Thucydides did not approve of the radical democracy Pericles ushered in but thought that it was acceptable when in the hands of a good leader.

Historian

Thucydides is generally regarded as one of the first true historians. Unlike his predecessor Herodotus (often called "the father of history") who included rumors and references to myths and the gods in his writing, Thucydides assiduously consulted written documents and interviewed participants in the events that he records. Certainly he held unconscious biases — for example, to modern eyes he seems to underestimate the importance of Persian intervention — but Thucydides was the first historian who seems to be attempting to be completely objective. By his discovery of [http://strongbrains.com/pages/bookreview1.htm historic causation] he created the first scientific approach to history. The only major difference between Thucydides' history and that of a modern historian is that Thucydides' history includes lengthy speeches which, as he himself describes, were as best as could be remembered of what was said (or, perhaps, what he thought ought to have been said). These speeches are used in a literary manner. Take, for example, Pericles' funeral speech, which includes an impassioned moral defense of democracy, heaping honor on the dead until it is often quoted in war memorials: :The whole earth is the sepulchre of famous men; they are honoured not only by columns and inscriptions in their own land, but in foreign nations on memorials graven not on stone but in the hearts and minds of men. Although attributed to Pericles, this passage appears to have been written by Thucydides for deliberate contrast with the account of the plague in Athens which immediately follows it: :Though many lay unburied, birds and beasts would not touch them, or died after tasting them. ... The bodies of dying men lay one upon another, and half-dead creatures reeled about the streets and gathered round all the fountains in their longing for water. The sacred places also in which they had quartered themselves were full of corpses of persons that had died there, just as they were; for as the disaster passed all bounds, men, not knowing what was to become of them, became utterly careless of everything, whether sacred or profane. All the burial rites before in use were entirely upset, and they buried the bodies as best they could. Many from want of the proper appliances, through so many of their friends having died already, had recourse to the most shameless sepultures: sometimes getting the start of those who had raised a pile, they threw their own dead body upon the stranger's pyre and ignited it; sometimes they tossed the corpse which they were carrying on the top of another that was burning, and so went off. In addition to disputing his status as the first historian, some authors, including Richard Ned Lebow, reject the common perception of Thucydides as a historian of naked real-politik. Actors on the world stage who had read his work would all have been put on notice that someone would be scrutinizing their actions with a reporter's dispassion, rather than the mythmaker's and poet's compassion and thus consciously or unconsciously participating in the writing of it. His Melian dialogue is a lesson to reporters and to those who believe one's leaders are always acting with perfect integrity on the world stage.

The Peloponnesian War

Thucydides does not take the time to discuss the arts, literature or society in which the book is set and in which Thucydides himself grew up. Thucydides was writing about an event and not a period and as such took lengths not to discuss anything which he considered unrelated. The Peloponnesian War was under major revision by Thucydides at the moment of his death, following a renewed realization on his part of the significance of the Persian influence to the events of the war.

Quotes

- "The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it."
- "The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."
- "It is a general rule of human nature that people despise those who treat them well, and look up to those who make no concessions."
- "Wars spring from unseen and generally insignificant causes, the first outbreak being often but an explosion of anger."

Notes

Thucydides 4.104.4[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Thuc.+4.104.4 ] Herodotus 6.39.1[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Hdt.+6.39.1 ] Herodotus 6.46.1[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Hdt.+6.46.1 ]; Thucydides 4.105.1[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Thuc.+4.105.1 ], Plutarch, Cimon 4.1[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plut.+Cim.+4.1 ] Thucydides 2.48.1–3[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Thuc.+2.48.1 ] Thucydides 3.87.1–3[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Thuc.+3.87.1 ] Thucydides 4.104.1[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Thuc.+4.104.1 ] Thucydides 4.105.1–106.3[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Thuc.+4.105.1 ][http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Thuc.+4.106.1 ] Thucydides 4.108.1–7[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Thuc.+4.108.1 ] Thucydides 5.26.5[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Thuc.+5.26.5 ] Pausanias 1.23.9[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+1.23.9 ] Plutarch, Cimon 4.1[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plut.+Cim.+4.1 ] "Wars spring from unseen and generally insignificant causes, the first outbreak being often but an explosion of anger."

References

- Herodotus, Histories, A. D. Godley (translator), Cambridge: Harvard University Press (1920). ISBN 0674991338[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Hdt.+toc ]
- Pausanias, Description of Greece, Books I-II, (Loeb Classical Library) translated by W. H. S. Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. (1918). ISBN 0674991044.[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+1.1.1 ]
- Plutarch, Lives, Bernadotte Perrin (translator), Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. (1914). ISBN 0674990536[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0182;query=toc;layout=;loc=Cim.%201.1 ]
- Strassler, Robert B, ed. The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War. New York: Free Press (1996). ISBN 0684828154
- Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War. London, J. M. Dent; New York, E. P. Dutton (1910).[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Thuc.+toc ]
- Sahlins, Marshall, Apologies to Thucydides: understanding history as culture and vice versa, Univ of Chicago Press, 2005. [A prominent cultural anthropologist uses a classic of Western culture to illuminate Fijian history, implicitly defending the western canon from a non-western perspective.]

External links

- [http://www.quote-fox.com/QuoteFox/plBrowse.php/?browse_cmd=browse_source&author_name=Thucydides Thucydides Quotes]
- Category:460 BC births Category:395 BC deaths Category:Ancient Greek historians Category:Ancient Athenians ko:투퀴디데스 ja:トゥキディデス

Homosexuality

Since its inception, the term homosexuality has acquired multiple meanings. In the original sense, it refers to a sexual orientation characterised by a lasting aesthetic attraction, romantic love, and sexual desire exclusively for members of the same sex or gender identity. It can also refer to the manifestation of that orientation in the identity of an individual, which may be at odds with that person's sexual behaviour. Finally, it can refer to sexual relations with another of the same sex regardless of one's sexual orientation, self-identification or gender identity. Homosexuality is usually contrasted with heterosexuality and bisexuality (see sexual orientation). Three major forms of homosexual relationships are proposed by anthropologists: egalitarian, gender-structured, and age-structured. Of these, one is usually dominant in a given society at a given time. (See Forms below.) As there are different biological, historical and psychosocial components to sex and gender, no single label or description will fit all individuals. See discussions on sex and gender at sex and homosexuality and transgender. Religion addresses homosexuality often, and the issue is one of the greatest in religious politics today. There are Abrahamic Religions that do condemn it, but there are denominations and groups that accept homosexuality and advocate gay rights. Non Abrahamic religions either take a neutral stance, or condemn it, or even idolize it. Until the colonial era, most idolized or did not care about it. The colonialization of Christian European empires changed this. Most nations do not impede consensual sex between unrelated individuals above the local age of consent. Some jurisdictions further recognise equal rights, protections and privileges for the family structures of same-sex couples, including marriage. Some nations and religions mandate that homosexual and bisexual people restrict themselves to heterosexual relationships or abstinence. In some jurisdictions individuals having relations with others of the same sex are subject to various sanctions, ranging as far as capital punishment in some fundamentalist Muslim areas such as Iran and parts of Nigeria. There are often significant differences between official policy and concrete enforcement. A force to be reckoned with in the homosexual community, Peter Pavlou is known as a taker

Etymology and usage

The word homosexual translates literally as "same-sex," being a hybrid of the Greek prefix homo- meaning "same" and the Latin root sex- meaning "sex." The first known appearance of the term homosexual in print is found in an anonymously published 1869 German pamphlet written by the Hungarian Karl-Maria Kertbeny. The term homosexual can be used as a noun or adjective to describe persons as well as their sexual orientation, sexual history, or self-identification. Since homosexual places emphasis on sexuality, it should be avoided in reference to non-sexual contexts. Some people also feel the term is too clinical and somewhat dehumanising. Much of that sentiment arose while homosexuality was still classified as a mental illness in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. As a result of this sentiment the terms gay and lesbian are generally preferred when discussing a person with this sexual orientation. Some same-sex oriented persons actually prefer the term homosexual to gay, as they may perceive the former as describing a sexual orientation and the latter as describing a cultural or socio-political group with which they do not identify. The term gay may refer to all homosexual people, or only to homosexual men, which is why gay man may be preferred. Lesbian refers exclusively to homosexual women. Although some early writers used the adjective homosexual to refer to any single-gender context (such as an all-girls' school), today the term implies a sexual aspect. The term homosocial is now used to describe single-sex contexts that are not specifically sexual. The more generic term homophilia ("same-love") is also preferred by some. Derogatory terms include fag or faggot, which generally refer to gay men; poofter, is used mostly in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth; queer is generally used against anyone who is not exclusively heterosexual, but also reclaimed as an affirming term by many gays and academics; Gay and homo are common terms of abuse among adolescents; and dyke, which refers to lesbians. See Homophobia Given how confusing and overloaded various terms can be, when specificity is important new terms are starting to be pressed into service. For example, men who have sex with men, or MSM for short, is sometimes used in the medical community when specifically discussing sexual behaviour (regardless of sexual orientation or self-identification). Same-sex attraction focuses on spontaneous feeling, but de-emphasises identification with a demographic or cultural group, and also leaves open the possibilty for co-existing opposite-sex attraction. Homoerotic is a synonym for same-sex attraction, that is used to refer both to personal feelings and works of art. Non-straight is another attempt at neutrality that is gaining currency. Some other humorous terms are now gaining weight, including heteroflexible to refer to a person who identifies as heterosexual, but occasionally engages in same-sex sexual activities, or metrosexual to denote a straight man with stereotypically gay tastes in food, fashion and design.

Academic study

The manifestation of sexual orientation is subject to a considerable variability. Thus it is common for homosexual individuals in heteronormative societies to love, marry, and have children with individuals of the opposite sex, a practice that may be done primarily for social reasons in societies which reject same-sex relations, as a cover for one's orientation (such relationships are known as "beards"). The opposite situation seems to obtain in homonormative societies, where men whose primary attraction may be to the opposite sex nonetheless engage in the homosexual practices prescribed by their respective culture. Both of these adaptations are forms of situational sexual behavior. A further, and extremely common, manifestation of situational sexual behaviour involving homosexuality is seen in prisons and other environments where individuals only encounter members of their own sex for long periods of time. (See prison sex.)

Anthropology

Forms

Numerous researchers studying the social construction of same-sex relationships have suggested that the concept of homosexuality would best be rendered as "homosexualities." They document that same-sex relations have been and continue to be organised in distinctly categorical ways by different societies over many documented eras. These variations are grouped by cultural anthropologist Stephen O. Murray into three separate modes of association:
- Egalitarian, features two partners with no relevance to age. Additionally, both play the same socially-accepted sex role as heterosexuals of their own sex. This is exemplified by relationships currently prevalent in western society between partners of similar age and gender. See Sexual minority cultures
- Gender structured features each partner playing a different gender role. This is exemplified by traditional relations between men in the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and Central and South Asia, as well as two-spirit or shamanic gender-changing practices seen in native societies. Albania also has a similar practice where a woman may choose to be an "Albanian Virgin" and be given all the rights and entitlements of a man. In North America, this is best represented by the butch/femme practice. See Homosexuality and Islam, Two-Spirit and Hijra Hijra
- Age structured features two partners of different ages, usually spanning at least one generation. This is exemplified by pederasty among the Classical Greeks or those engaged in by novice samurai with more experienced warriors; southern Chinese boy-marriage rites; and ongoing Central Asian and Middle Eastern practices. See Shudo, Pederasty, Historical pederastic couples, and Homosexuality in China, Both gender-structured and age-structured homosexuality frequently involve one partner adopting a "passive" and the other an "active" role. Among men, being the passive partner often means receiving semen, i.e. performing fellatio or being the receptive partner during anal sex. This is sometimes interpreted as an emphasis on the sexual pleasure of the active partner, although this is not true in all cases. For example, in gender-structured female homosexuality in Thailand, active partners (toms) emphasise the sexual pleasure of the passive partner (dee), and often refuse to allow their dee to pleasure them. Some anthropologists have argued for the existence of a fourth type of homosexuality, class-structured homosexuality, but many scholars believe that this has no independent existence from the other three types. Usually in any society one form of homosexuality predominates, though others are likely to co-exist. As historian Rictor Norton points out in his [http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/social19.htm Intergenerational and Egalitarian Models,] in Ancient Greece egalitarian relationships co-existed (albeit less privileged) with the institution of pederasty, and fascination with adolescents can also be found in modern sexuality, both heterosexual and homosexual. Egalitarian homosexuality is becoming the principal form practised in the Western world, while age- and gender-structured homosexuality are becoming less common. As a byproduct of Western cultural dominance, this egalitarian homosexuality is spreading from western culture to non-Western societies, although there are still defined differences between the various cultures.

Incidence

Estimates of the modern prevalence of homosexuality vary considerably. They are complicated by differing or even ambiguous definitions of homosexuality, and by fluctuations over time and according to location. Recent estimates on the number of homosexuals (not including bisexuals) in Western countries, where egalitarian relationships predominate, range from 1% to 10%, confined to a self-identified subculture. In the United States during the 2004 elections, exit polls indicated 4% of all voters self-identified as gay or lesbian. However, many who are homosexual may not be open in public as evident in the recent forced "outings" of New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey and Spokane, Washington, Mayor Jim West. In North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, where gender- and age-structured relationships are the rule, male homosexual practices are reported to be widespread, engaged in by many individuals who do not regard themselves as homosexual. See Homosexuality and Islam Historically, in areas where same-sex relationships were embedded in the culture, such as Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, parts of Melanesia, Renaissance Italy, and pre-modern Japan, homosexual relationships were engaged in by a majority of the male population. See Pederasty

Biology

Prenatal hormonal theory

One recent hypothesis on the formation of sexual orientation is the prenatal hormonal theory. It holds that as prenatal exposure to particular levels of circulating sex hormones determines whether a fetus will acquire male or female traits, so similar exposure determines sexual orientation. However this begins with genetic susceptibility. Twin studies provide strong support for this theory, with a high concordance rate in identical twins, who share 100% of their genetic material. Fraternal twins, as with siblings born at different times, share only 50% of their genetic material on average and are much less likely to both be homosexual. In a fetus that carries the genetic susceptibility for homosexuality, sex hormones from the mother and sex hormones from the gonads of the fetus (to a lesser extent) trigger the expression of those genes. Although identical twins have identical genes and almost always share a placenta, they do have their individual umbilical cords, providing subtle differences in the chemical environment for the developing brain. There are differences in identical twins, such as fingerprints, which are unique in each individual. Fingerprints are formed during the second trimester of pregnancy; lesbians often share a unique fingerprint swirl, adding to the mounting evidence that homosexuality is caused by genetic susceptibility triggered by the prenatal hormonal environment.

Physiological differences in homosexual persons

Several recent studies, including pioneering work by Simon LeVay, demonstrate that there are notable differences between the physiology of a heterosexual male and a homosexual male. These differences are primarily noted in the brain, inner ear and olfactory sense. LeVay discovered in his double-blind experiment that approximately 10% of human male brains were physiologically different than their heterosexual counterparts. Studies in women have not produced similar findings to date.

Homosexuality in other animals

olfactory.
(Picture:Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times)]] Homosexual behaviour is common in the animal kingdom, especially in species closer to humans on the evolutionary scale, such as the great apes. Georgetown University professor Janet Mann has specifically theorised that homosexuality, at least in dolphins, is an evolutionary advantage that minimises intraspecies aggression, especially among males.
- Male penguin couples have been documented to mate for life, build nests together, and to use a stone as a surrogate egg in nesting and brooding. In 2004, the Central Park Zoo in the United States replaced one male couple's stone with a fertile egg, which the couple then raised as their own offspring. German and Japanese zoos have also reported homosexuality among their penguins. This phenomenon has also been reported at Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium in Auckland, New Zealand.
- Courtship, mounting, and full anal penetration between bulls is common among American bison. The Mandan nation Okipa festival concludes with a ceremonial enactment of this behaviour, to "ensure the return of the buffalo in the coming season." Also, mounting of one female by another is common among cattle. (See also, Freemartin. Freemartins occur because of clearly causal hormonal factors at work during gestation.)
- Homosexuality in male sheep (found in 6-10% of rams) is associated with variations in cerebral mass distribution and chemical activity. A study reported in Endocrinology concluded that biological and physiological factors are in effect. These findings are similar to human findings studied by Simon LeVay.

Psychology

Behavioural Studies

At the beginning of the 20th century, early theoretical discussions in the field of psychoanalysis posited original bisexuality in human psychological development. Quantitative studies by Alfred Kinsey in the 1940s and Dr Fritz Klein's Klein Grid in the 1980s find distributions similar to those postulated by their predecessors. Many modern studies, most notably the Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and the Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953) by Alfred Kinsey have found that the majority of humans have had homosexual experiences or sensations and are bisexual. Contemporary scientific research suggests that the majority of the human population is bisexual, adhering to a fluid sexual scale rather than a category, as Western society typically views sexual nature. The Kinsey Reports found that approximately [http://www.indiana.edu/~kinsey/publications/duberman.html four percent] of adult Americans were exclusively homosexual for their entire lives, and approximately 10 percent were homosexual in their behaviour for some portion of their lives. Conversely, an even smaller minority of people appear to have had equal sexual experiences with both genders indicating an attraction scale or continuum. However, social pressures influence people to adhere to categories or labels rather than behave in a manner that more closely resembles their nature as suggested by this research. Kinsey himself, along with current queer activist groups, focus on the historicity and fluidity of sexual orientation. Kinsey's studies consistently found sexual orientation to be something that evolves in many directions over a person's lifetime; rarely, but not necessarily, including forming attractions to a new gender. Rarely do individuals radically reorient their sexualities rapidly — and still less do they do so volitionally — but often sexualities expand, shift, and absorb new elements over decades. For example, socially normative "age-appropriate" sexuality requires a shifting object of attraction (especially in the passage through adolescence). Contemporary queer theory, incorporating many ideas from social constructionism, tends to look at sexuality as something that has meaning only within a given historical framework. Sexuality, then, is seen as a participation in a larger social discourse, and, though in some sense fluid, not as something strictly determinable by the individual. Most sexual orientation specialists follow the general conclusion of Alfred Kinsey regarding the sexual continuum, according to which a minority of humans are exclusively homosexual or heterosexual, and that the majority are bisexual. The consensus of psychologists is that sexual orientation, in most individuals, is shaped at an early age; and is not voluntarily changeable. Other studies have disputed Kinsey's methodology and have suggested that these reports overstated the occurrence of bisexuality and homosexuality in human populations. "His figures were undermined when it was revealed that he had disproportionately interviewed homosexuals and prisoners (many sex offenders)." However, Kinsey's idea of a sexuality continuum still enjoys acceptance today and is supported by findings in the human and animal kingdoms including biological studies of structural brain differences between those belonging to different sexual orientations. More modern and accurate research Sex in America: A definitive survey (1995) is now available from NORC and the University of Chicago by Edward O. Laumann, University of Chicago. "Results reported from the study, and included in The Social organisation of sexuality, include those related to sexual practices and sexual relationships, number of partners, the rate of homosexuality in the population (which the study reported to be 1.3% for women within the past year, and 4.1% since 18 years; for men, 2.7% within the past year, and 4.9% since 18 years; in all, much lower than the Kinsey report of 10%; pp. 293-296), formative sexual experiences, sexually transmitted diseases, fertility, cohabitation and marriage." Sexologists have attributed discrepancies in some findings to negative societal attitudes towards homosexuality, for example, people may state different sexual orientations depending on whether their immediate social environment is public or private. Reticence to disclose one's actual sexual orientation is often referred to as "being in the closet". Individuals capable of enjoyable sexual relations with both sexes may feel inclined to restrict themselves to heterosexual relations in societies that stigmatise same-sex relations. Although the concept of three basic sexual orientations is widely recognised, a small minority maintain that there are other legitimate sexual orientations besides homosexuality, bisexuality and heterosexuality. These may include significant or exclusive orientation towards a particular type of transsexual or transgender individual (e.g. female-to-male transsexual men), intersexed individuals, or those who identify as non-gendered or other-gendered.

Behaviour modification

Some groups attempt to cure homosexuality, including Abrahamic congregations which interpret their sacred texts as holding homosexuality to be unnatural. These groups consider homosexuality to be an undesired orientation. Reparative therapy is psychotherapy aimed at the elimination of homosexual attractions and is employed by people who believe homosexuality to be a disorder and a sin. "Transformational ministry" believes that homosexual attraction is essentially a sin that can be reversed through a religious approach employing repentance and faith, usually in Jesus Christ. Proponents of these treatments have paid little attention to long term outcome studies, and some persons have reported that great harm was inflicted on them by such "treatments." There is no credible, scientific evidence supporting successful treatment of sexual orientation. Persons who do report a change to their sexual orientation most likely are bisexual to begin with - that is, capable of sexual attraction to the opposite sex.

Nature versus nurture

Considerable debate exists over what biological and/or psychological factors produce sexual orientation in humans. Candidates include genes and the exposure of foetuses to certain hormones (or levels thereof). Freud and many others psychologists, particularly in psychoanalytic or developmental traditions, speculate that formative childhood experiences help produced sexual orientation. Other scientists and medical professionals, particularly those in biology-oriented disciplines, tend to believe that in-born factors–whether genetic or acquired in utero–produce characteristically homosexual childhood experiences (such as atypical gender behaviour experiences), or at the least significantly contribute to them.

Societal attitudes

Societal attitudes towards same-sex relationships, reflected in the attitude of the general population, the state and the church, have varied over the centuries, and from place to place, from expecting and requiring all males to engage in relationships, to casual integration, through acceptance, to seeing the practice as a minor sin, repressing it through law enforcement and judicial mechanisms, to proscribing it under penalty of death. See Violence against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgendered

Modern law

In most developed countries, same-sex relationships are accepted, and are accorded legal protection. Many governments have established formal structures for confirming legal relationships (either as marriage or partnership) between people of the same sex. In some cultures influenced by anti-gay religious dogma, homosexuality is still considered unnatural, a perversion and has been outlawed (see sodomy law, consensual crime). In some Muslim such as Iran nations it remains a capital crime.

Understudied phenomenon

Despite the emollience of attitudes towards homosexuality and acceptance of it in some societies, in psychology it is considered an 'understudied relationship'. In his book, Understudied Relationships, social psychologist S.W. Duck found that most mainstream research is predisposed towards studying only heterosexuality, in terms of relationships in contemporary Western cultures, implicating that same-sex relationships are neglected and ignored by the majority of psychologists. More research since the 1990s has focused on homosexual relationships, rather than just heterosexual relationships.

Political aspects

Scapegoating

1990)]] Homosexuality has at times been used as a scapegoat by governments facing problems. Some examples would be Nazi Germany's Holocaust of gay men based on the understanding that they were a threat to masculinity as well as contaminating the Aryan Race with a "gay" gene. Another is the burning of 6,000 books of homoerotic poetry of 8th c. Persian-Arab poet Abu Nuwas by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture in January 2001, to placate Islamic fundamentalists. During the early 14th century, accusations of homosexual behaviour were instrumental in disbanding the Knights Templar by the French court under

Aristogiton

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514 BC

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Births

550 BC

Events and trends

Significant people

Tyrannicide

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Athens

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Peisistratos the son of Nestor

541 BC

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528 BC

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Homosexuality

Etymology and usage

Academic study

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Incidence

Biology

Prenatal hormonal theory

Physiological differences in homosexual persons

Homosexuality in other animals

Psychology

Behavioural Studies

Behaviour modification

Nature versus nurture

Societal attitudes

Modern law

Understudied phenomenon

Political aspects

Scapegoating