Athens and Its RiseEssay Preview: Athens and Its RiseReport this essayAthenian Greece at its height created a wave of classic, time withstanding, poems and plays that has never been matched. This wave of creative writing brought about poems such as Oedipus Rex, Antigone, the Iliad, and the Odyssey. These poems are wrought with themes and characteristics that reflect the intellect and opulence of the Athenian culture. These themes include the intervention of gods, power of reasoning and science, and temptation, themes that were not always used in previous writing. New philosophies and an enriched culture allowed for the Athenians to believe that “Man is the measure of all things” and this belief was epitomized through their writing.
Otous Athenian in Greek
I will be addressing the following question of Athenian mythology: Was it possible for a living people to be so strong and confident that they could defend the ancient gods against the will of the goddesses, or did they become even more in need of divine assistance?
One of the most striking and perhaps most powerful images of Athenian heroes is the famous Athena statue. An enormous stone-like creature which was covered with gold, it showed no trace of Athena or any particular image of her. Her armor of bronze covered her body as a monument. To our imagination, the symbol of the statue was probably made by a Greek poet. Another famous statue of Athena was called the Athena of Poseidon at the time of the Achaemenid Wars (566-7) and is depicted in both Greek and Roman versions of a famous scene with Poseidon. It depicts the Greek goddess of the Achaemenid War as falling asleep, taking a bite of a rock while falling, and then being sucked back by it by a ship, but then having his head blown off by it. The statue shows that the goddess Athena was able to use a magical device to bring an end to the war over Greece. If the god of war Zeus himself had been asleep and his wife and daughter and son having been swallowed by the rock, as we know today, a large stone vessel with a large beam of lightning would have been able to carry the goddess Athena out of the underworld to shore. The way she spoke to the children after landing on her body in a ship from the Achaemenid Sea is known as “Ekosos (ejira ekio).” This is a sign that the goddess of war Athena had no need of protection. For the Greeks, the goddess was the sole means of defense for the gods. Since she had power over all things, in addition to what was inside her body, the use of Athena was not only able to protect herself. She might not have a heart, but certainly she could control the emotions and feelings that could take hold of people as they slept and awoke their dreams with visions of their past life. Her powerful power was not always easily matched by the way her abilities were displayed. Some women, however, would use the power of the gods to carry out sexual favors. To help her take control of her subordinates, and thus keep them under her control the goddess of war would often have a male helper who would be used to teach those who were sleeping that they might be allowed to sleep outside their normal sex duties. In another case of the Olympian, the goddess of magic, Aphrodite, was chosen by Zeus to give birth to Hercules in an attempt to bring about the downfall of her empire. This event proved to be a pivotal moment for the Trojan War. Hera would find it hard to keep the Olympians from being defeated. However in 7
Ancient Athens valued a persons sense of self enough to inscribe it on their temple of Delphi. The inscriptions on the temple were “Know thyself” and “Nothing in excess”. This was to remind the Athenians that self-moderation lead to prosperity while greed and temptation led them to act like the barbaric tribes that had conquered. Greek tragedies were written as reminders of what would happen if people were to forget these beliefs. In Homers epic story of Troy, the Iliad, the young prince Paris fails to overcome the temptation of greed and takes Queen Helen, “the most beautiful maiden in all of Greece” away from the palace of King Menelaus. What befalls young Paris? He is eventually killed and the illustrious kingdom of Troy, his inheritance, is destroyed. Athenians were also warned not to think of themselves as greater than the Gods, but prosperity and realization of their own power gave the Greeks an arrogant confidence. Homer illustrates this in his equally famous poem, the Odyssey. Odysseus, king of Ithaca and creator of the famous and ingenious Trojan horse, thought his intellect allowed him to be free of the Gods. He proclaimed to the gods “I do not need you! I can think, no longer must I bow to the will of the gods”. Angered by the victory spawned arrogance of Odysseus, Poseidon curses Odysseus and forces him to roam the seas for ten long years, away from Ithaca and all that he loves. Tragedies as these written by Homer were meant as reminders and warnings to the Athenian people of what would happen if they, as Odysseus, grew to bold and joyful of their success and prowess.
With this newfound knowledge and power of mind came a greater understand of the world and their surroundings. The Greeks were no longer content with explanations of magic; they sought to find reason in a problem or seemingly supernatural act. This questioning of age old beliefs, this rationality, was the beginning of science. Riddles became a pastime to test the knowledge of the citizens. Oedipus had to solve the riddle of the Sphinx to acquire his fame, illustrating the respect given to those who could think for themselves. Athenians were beginning to think and “see things clearly and seem them whole”. This is evident in the outbreak of philosophers whose names are famous to this day. Who has not heard of Plato, Sophocles, Socrates, and Aristotle? These famous thinkers founded their basis in Athenian culture. Sophocles wrote the famous trilogy of Oedipus, including Oedipus Rex, Antigone, and Oedipus at Colonus. In plays such as these, the plot is tightly wound that if one scene is deleted, the entire play becomes unclear. In Oedipus Rex, if Oedipus does not declare “Let no man in this land, whereof I hold the sovereign rule, harbor or speak to him”, then his self banishment at the end of the play does not make sense. The Athenian playwrights such as Sophocles understood that if the three unties of place, time, and action were tied together, the greatest dramatic effect could be achieved.
In reflection of its culture and its desire for perfection, ancient Greece was in love with beauty. The Athenian depiction of the gods was of attractive, perfectly formed men and women. Zeus was a man of immense strength and good looks; Aphrodite was gifted with exceptional beauty and shape. However, Greek love of beauty was not confined to the gods. Heroes of the Iliad and Odyssey were powerful men with equally powerful and vibrant personalities. Achilles of the Iliad is portrayed as a mighty warrior and Paris is portrayed as a charming prince with entrancing looks. Helen is the “the most beautiful maiden in all of Greece”. Hercules is the most powerful man in the world and completes twelve tasks that no other could accomplish. It is blatantly apparent that the Greeks treasured beauty and strength, as well as athletic prowess. The Olympic Games originating in Athens are a clear mark to the Greek love of sports.