1.
Pancratium (plant)
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Pancratium is a genus of African and Eurasian perennial, herbaceous and bulbous plants in the Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae The flowers are large, white and fragrant. The perianth tube and the corona are present and it differs from the similar Hymenocallis in its numerous seeds with a thin black skin. Plants belonging to the genus Pancratium have been found in prehistoric Cretan frescoes, the name Pancratium is derived from the Greek and means all-strength, probably referring to the strength of a plant that can tolerate extreme climates. Pancratium species often inhabit extremely dry and sandy areas, many species have been published using the name Pancratium, but most have been transferred to other genera. Only a few species are cultivated, P. maritimum and P. illyricum being the hardiest for outdoor cultivation, but shy flowering in cool areas. P. zeylanicum is sometimes grown as a container plant. As of February 2013, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families accepted 21 species in the genus, Pancratium in West African plants – A Photo Guide
2.
Ancient Greece
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Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the end of the Mediterranean Sea. Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a influence on ancient Rome. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC. Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages and this period is succeeded, around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing Period during which a strong influence of Syro-Hittite, Jewish, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian cultures becomes apparent. The end of the Dark Ages is also dated to 776 BC. The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC, Ancient Periods Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may be subdivided into five major periods. The earliest of these is the Archaic period, in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, the Archaic period is often taken to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC. It was followed by the Classical period, characterized by a style which was considered by observers to be exemplary, i. e. classical, as shown in the Parthenon. This period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the Rise of Macedon, following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period, during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest, Herodotus is widely known as the father of history, his Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato, most of these authors were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many other cities. Their scope is limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic. In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. The Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period and it was fought between the important poleis of Chalcis and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered a decline as result of the long war, a mercantile class arose in the first half of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC
3.
Ancient Olympic Games
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The Olympic Games were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. They were held in honor of Zeus, and the Greeks gave them a mythological origin, the first Olympics is traditionally dated to 776 BC. The games were held four years, or olympiad, which became a unit of time in historical chronologies. During the celebration of the games, an Olympic Truce was enacted so that athletes could travel from their cities to the games in safety, the prizes for the victors were olive leaf wreaths or crowns. The games became a tool used by city-states to assert dominance over their rivals. Politicians would announce political alliances at the games, and in times of war, the games were also used to help spread Hellenistic culture throughout the Mediterranean. The Olympics also featured religious celebrations, the statue of Zeus at Olympia was counted as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Sculptors and poets would congregate each olympiad to display their works of art to would-be patrons, the ancient Olympics had fewer events than the modern games, and only freeborn Greek men were allowed to participate, although there were victorious women chariot owners. The games were held at Olympia rather than moving between different locations as is the practice with the modern Olympic Games. Victors at the Olympics were honored, and their feats chronicled for future generations, to the Greeks, it was important to root the Olympic Games in mythology. During the time of the ancient games their origins were attributed to the gods and these origin traditions have become nearly impossible to untangle, yet a chronology and patterns have arisen that help people understand the story behind the games. The earliest myths regarding the origin of the games are recounted by the Greek historian, according to the story, the dactyl Heracles and four of his brothers, Paeonaeus, Epimedes, Iasius and Idas, raced at Olympia to entertain the newborn Zeus. He crowned the victor with an olive wreath, which also explains the four year interval. The other Olympian gods would also engage in wrestling, jumping and running contests, another myth of the origin of the games is the story of Pelops, a local Olympian hero. The story of Pelops begins with Oenomaus, the king of Pisa, Greece, according to an oracle, the king would be killed by her husband. Now, the kings chariot horses were a present from the god Poseidon and were therefore supernaturally fast, Pelops was a very handsome young man and the kings daughter fell in love with him. Before the race, she persuaded her fathers charioteer Myrtilus to replace the bronze axle pins of the chariot with wax ones. Naturally, during the race the wax melted and the fell from his chariot and was killed
4.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
5.
Boxing
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Boxing is a combat sport in which two people wearing protective gloves throw punches at each other for a predetermined set of time in a boxing ring. Amateur boxing is both an Olympic and Commonwealth Games sport and is a fixture in most international games—it also has its own World Championships. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of one- to three-minute intervals called rounds, in the event that both fighters gain equal scores from the judges, the fight is considered a draw. In Olympic boxing, due to the fact that a winner must be declared, in the case of a draw - the judges use technical criteria to choose the most deserving winner of the bout. While people have fought in combat since before the dawn of history. The earliest evidence for fist fighting with any kind of gloves can be found on Minoan Crete, in Ancient Greece boxing was a well developed sport and enjoyed consistent popularity. In Olympic terms, it was first introduced in the 23rd Olympiad,688 B. C, the boxers would wind leather thongs around their hands in order to protect them. There were no rounds and boxers fought until one of them acknowledged defeat or could not continue, weight categories were not used, which meant heavyweights had a tendency to dominate. It was the head of the opponent which was primarily targeted, Boxing was a popular spectator sport in Ancient Rome. In order for the fighters to protect themselves against their opponents they wrapped leather thongs around their fists, eventually harder leather was used and the thong soon became a weapon. The Romans even introduced metal studs to the thongs to make the cestus which then led to a more sinister weapon called the myrmex, Fighting events were held at Roman Amphitheatres. The Roman form of boxing was often a fight until death to please the spectators who gathered at such events, however, especially in later times, purchased slaves and trained combat performers were valuable commodities, and their lives were not given up without due consideration. Often slaves were used against one another in a circle marked on the floor and this is where the term ring came from. In AD393, during the Roman gladiator period, boxing was abolished due to excessive brutality and it was not until the late 17th century that boxing re-surfaced in London. Records of Classical boxing activity disappeared after the fall of the Western Roman Empire when the wearing of weapons became common once again, however, there are detailed records of various fist-fighting sports that were maintained in different cities and provinces of Italy between the 12th and 17th centuries. There was also a sport in ancient Rus called Kulachniy Boy or Fist Fighting, as the wearing of swords became less common, there was renewed interest in fencing with the fists. The sport would later resurface in England during the early 16th century in the form of bare-knuckle boxing sometimes referred to as prizefighting. The first documented account of a fight in England appeared in 1681 in the London Protestant Mercury
6.
Wrestling
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Wrestling is a combat sport involving grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. The sport can either be theatrical for entertainment, or genuinely competitive, a wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position. There are a range of styles with varying rules with both traditional historic and modern styles. Wrestling techniques have incorporated into other martial arts as well as military hand-to-hand combat systems. The term wrestling is attested in late Old English, as wræstlunge, Wrestling represents one of the oldest forms of combat. The origins of wrestling go back 15,000 years through cave drawings in France, babylonian and Egyptian reliefs show wrestlers using most of the holds known in the present-day sport. Literary references to it occur as early as in the ancient Indian Vedas, the Iliad contains references, in which Homer recounts the Trojan War of the 13th or 12th century BC. Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata contain references to martial arts including wrestling, in ancient Greece wrestling occupied a prominent place in legend and literature, wrestling competition, brutal in many aspects, served as the focal sport of the ancient Olympic Games. The ancient Romans borrowed heavily from Greek wrestling, but eliminated much of its brutality, during the Middle Ages wrestling remained popular and enjoyed the patronage of many royal families, including those of France, Japan and England. Early European settlers in America brought a strong wrestling tradition with them if they came from England, the settlers also found wrestling to be popular among Native Americans. Amateur wrestling flourished throughout the years of the North American colonies and served as a popular activity at country fairs, holiday celebrations. The first organized national wrestling tournament took place in New York City in 1888, the international governing body for the sport, United World Wrestling, was established in 1912 in Antwerp, Belgium as the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles. The 1st NCAA Wrestling Championships were also held in 1912, in Ames, USA Wrestling, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, became the national governing body of amateur wrestling in 1983. It conducts competitions for all age-levels, some of the earliest references to wrestling, can be found in wrestling mythology. The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh established his credibility as a leader, after wrestling Enkidu, Greek mythology celebrates the rise of Zeus as ruler of the earth after a wrestling match with his father, Cronus. Both Heracles and Theseus were famous for their wrestling against man, the Mahabharata describes a malla-dwandwa between the accomplished wrestlers Bhima and Jarasandha. Rustam of the Shahnameh is regarded by Iranian pahlevans as the greatest wrestler, in Pharaonic Egypt, wrestling has been evidenced by documentation on tombs and Egyptian artwork. Greek wrestling was a form of martial art, at least in Ancient Greece
7.
Attica
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Attica is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea, the modern administrative region of Attica is more extensive than the historical region and includes the Saronic Islands, Cythera, and the municipality of Troizinia on the Peloponnesian mainland. The history of Attica is tightly linked with that of Athens, Attica is a triangular peninsula jutting into the Aegean Sea. It is naturally divided to the north from Boeotia by the 10 mi long Cithaeron mountain range, to the west, it is bordered by the sea and the canal of Corinth. The Saronic Gulf lies to the south, and the island of Euboea lies off the north, mountains separate the peninsula into the plains of Pedias, Mesogaia, and Thriasion. The mountains of Attica are the Hymettus, the portion of the Geraneia, the Parnitha, the Aigaleo. Four mountains—Aigaleo, Parnitha, Penteli and Hymettus —delineate the hilly plain on which the Athens-Piraeus metroplex now spreads, Athens water reservoir, Lake Marathon, is an artificial lake created by damming in 1920. Pine and fir forests cover the area around Parnitha, Hymettus, Penteli, Myrrhinous and Laurium are forested with pine trees, whereas the rest are covered by shrubbery. The Kifisos is the longest river of Attica, according to Plato, Atticas ancient boundaries were fixed by the Isthmus, and, toward the continent, they extended as far as the heights of Cithaeron and Parnes. The boundary line came down toward the sea, bounded by the district of Oropus on the right, during antiquity, the Athenians boasted about being autochthonic, which is to say that they were the original inhabitants of the area and had not moved to Attica from another place. The traditions current in the classical period recounted that, during the Greek Dark Ages, Attica had become the refuge of the Ionians, who belonged to a tribe from the northern Peloponnese. Supposedly, the Ionians had been forced out of their homeland by the Achaeans, supposedly, the Ionians integrated with the ancient Atticans, who, afterward, considered themselves part of the Ionian tribe and spoke the Ionian dialect. Many Ionians later left Attica to colonize the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, during the Mycenaean period, the Atticans lived in autonomous agricultural societies. The main places where prehistoric remains were found are Marathon, Rafina, Nea Makri, Brauron, Thorikos, Agios Kosmas, Eleusis, Menidi, Markopoulo, Spata, Aphidnae, all of these settlements flourished during the Mycenaean period. According to tradition, Attica comprised twelve small communities during the reign of Cecrops, strabo assigns these the names of Cecropia, Tetrapolis, Epacria, Decelea, Eleusis, Aphidna, Thoricus, Brauron, Cytherus, Sphettus, Cephisia, and possibly Phaleron. These were said to have been incorporated in an Athenian state during the reign of Theseus. Modern historians consider it likely that the communities were progressively incorporated into an Athenian state during the 8th. Until the 6th century BC, aristocratic families lived independent lives in the suburbs, only after Peisistratoss tyranny and the reforms implemented by Cleisthenes did the local communities lose their independence and succumb to the central government in Athens
8.
Black-figure pottery
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Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic is one of the styles of painting on antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BC, although there are specimens dating as late as the 2nd century BC, stylistically it can be distinguished from the preceding orientalizing period and the subsequent red-figure pottery style. Figures and ornaments were painted on the body of the vessel using shapes, delicate contours were incised into the paint before firing, and details could be reinforced and highlighted with opaque colors, usually white and red. The principal centers for this style were initially the commercial hub Corinth, other important production sites are known to have been in Laconia, Boeotia, eastern Greece, and Italy. Particularly in Italy individual styles developed which were at least in part intended for the Etruscan market, Greek black-figure vases were very popular with the Etruscans, as is evident from frequent imports. Greek artists created customized goods for the Etruscan market which differed in form, the Etruscans also developed their own black-figure ceramic industry oriented on Greek models. Black-figure painting on vases was the first art style to give rise to a significant number of identifiable artists, some are known by their true names, others only by the pragmatic names they were given in the scientific literature. Especially Attica was the home of well-known artists, some potters introduced a variety of innovations which frequently influenced the work of the painters, sometimes it was the painters who inspired the potters’ originality. Red- as well as black-figure vases are one of the most important sources of mythology and iconography, since the 19th century at the latest, these vases have been the subject of intensive investigation. The foundation for pottery painting is the carrier, in other words the vase onto which an image is painted. Popular shapes alternated with passing fashions, whereas many recurred after intervals, others were replaced over time. But they all had a method of manufacture, after the vase was made. The workshops were under the control of the potters, who as owners of businesses had a social position. The extent to which potters and painters were identical is uncertain and it is likely that many master potters themselves made their main contribution in the production process as vase painters, while employing additional painters. It is, however, not easy to reconstruct links between potters and painters, but such attributions can only be made with confidence if the signatures of potter and painter are at hand. The painters, who were slaves or craftsmen paid as pottery painters, worked on unfired. In the case of production the subject was painted on the vase with a clay slurry which turned black after firing. This was not a color in the sense, since this surface slip was of the same material as the vase itself
9.
Skyphos
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A skyphos is a two-handled deep wine-cup on a low flanged base or none. The handles may be horizontal ear-shaped thumbholds that project from the rim, Skyphoi of the type called glaux have one horizontal and one vertical thumbhold handle. Early skyphoi were made during the Geometric period, corinth set the conventions that Athens followed. Over a long period the shape remained the same while the style of decoration changed, Skyphoi were also made of precious metals, generally silver and gold leaf, many examples exist. One possible, well-preserved example is the Warren cup, an ovoid scyphus made of silver, a Roman skyphos of cameo glass can be seen at the Getty Museum. Comparable forms of a drinking cup on a base included, Kotyle. Black-figure pottery Red-figure pottery Boscoreale Treasure Skyphoi Perseus Encyclopedia, skyphos
10.
Heracles
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Heracles, born Alcaeus or Alcides, was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson and half-brother of Perseus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of clans who claimed to be Heracleidae. In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. The Romans adopted the Greek version of his life and works essentially unchanged, details of his cult were adapted to Rome as well. Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among the characteristics commonly attributed to him, together with Hermes he was the patron and protector of gymnasia and palaestrae. His iconographic attributes are the skin and the club. These qualities did not prevent him from being regarded as a figure who used games to relax from his labors. By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to have made the safe for mankind. Many popular stories were told of his life, the most famous being The Twelve Labours of Heracles and his figure, which initially drew on Near Eastern motifs such as the lion-fight, was widely known. Heracles was the greatest of Hellenic chthonic heroes, but unlike other Greek heroes, the core of the story of Heracles has been identified by Walter Burkert as originating in Neolithic hunter culture and traditions of shamanistic crossings into the netherworld. Heracles role as a hero, whose death could be a subject of mythic telling, was accepted into the Olympian Pantheon during Classical times. Around him cries of the dead rang out like cries of birds scattering left, in Christian circles a Euhemerist reading of the widespread Heracles cult was attributed to a historical figure who had been offered cult status after his death. The ancient Greeks celebrated the festival of the Heracleia, which commemorated the death of Heracles, what is believed to be an Egyptian Temple of Heracles in the Bahariya Oasis dates to 21 BCE. A reassessment of Ptolemys descriptions of the island of Malta attempted to link the site at Ras ir-Raħeb with a temple to Heracles, several ancient cities were named Heraclea in his honor. A major factor in the tragedies surrounding Heracles is the hatred that the goddess Hera. A full account of Heracles must render it clear why Heracles was so tormented by Hera, Heracles was the son of the affair Zeus had with the mortal woman Alcmene. Zeus made love to her after disguising himself as her husband, Amphitryon, thus, Heracles very existence proved at least one of Zeus many illicit affairs, and Hera often conspired against Zeus mortal offspring as revenge for her husbands infidelities. His twin mortal brother, son of Amphitryon, was Iphicles, Hera did this knowing that while Heracles was to be born a descendant of Perseus, so too was Eurystheus
11.
Theseus
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Theseus was a founder-hero, like Perseus, Cadmus, or Heracles, all of whom battled and overcame foes that were identified with an archaic religious and social order. As Heracles was the Dorian hero, Theseus was a hero, considered by Athenians as their own great reformer, his name comes from the same root as θεσμός. The myths surrounding Theseus—his journeys, exploits, and family—have provided material for fiction throughout the ages, Theseus was responsible for the synoikismos —the political unification of Attica under Athens, represented emblematically in his journey of labours, subduing ogres and monstrous beasts. Because he was the king, Theseus built and occupied a palace on the fortress of the Acropolis that may have been similar to the palace that was excavated in Mycenae. Pausanias reports that after the synoikismos, Theseus established a cult of Aphrodite Pandemos, Plutarchs vita of Theseus makes use of varying accounts of the death of the Minotaur, Theseus escape, and the love of Ariadne for Theseus. Plutarchs sources, not all of whose texts have survived independently, included Pherecydes, Demon, Philochorus, Aegeus, one of the primordial kings of Athens, was childless. Desiring an heir, he asked the oracle at Delphi for advice and her cryptic words were Do not loosen the bulging mouth of the wineskin until you have reached the height of Athens, lest you die of grief. Aegeus did not understand the prophecy and was disappointed and he asked the advice of his host Pittheus, king of Troezen. Pittheus understood the prophecy, got Aegeus drunk, and gave Aegeus his daughter Aethra, but following the instructions of Athena in a dream, Aethra left the sleeping Aegeus and waded across to the island of Sphairia that lay close to Troezens shore. There she poured a libation to Sphairos and Poseidon, and was possessed by the sea god in the night. The mix gave Theseus a combination of divine as well as mortal characteristics in his nature, such double paternity, with one immortal, after Aethra became pregnant, Aegeus decided to return to Athens. In Athens, Aegeus was joined by Medea, who had left Corinth after slaughtering the children she had borne, priestess and consort together represented the old order in Athens. Thus Theseus was raised in his mothers land, when Theseus grew up and became a brave young man, he moved the rock and recovered his fathers tokens. His mother then told him the truth about his fathers identity, young, brave, and ambitious, Theseus decided to go alone by the land route and defeated a great many bandits along the way. At the Isthmian entrance to the Underworld was a robber named Sinis and he would capture travelers, tie them between two pine trees that were bent down to the ground, and then let the trees go, tearing his victims apart. Theseus killed him by his own method and he then became intimate with Siniss daughter, Perigune, fathering the child Melanippus. In another deed north of the Isthmus, at a place called Crommyon, he killed an enormous pig, some versions name the sow herself as Phaea. The Bibliotheca described the Crommyonian Sow as an offspring of Typhon, near Megara, an elderly robber named Sciron forced travellers along the narrow cliff-face pathway to wash his feet
12.
Minotaur
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In Greek mythology, the Minotaur was a creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being part man and part bull. The Minotaur dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus, the Minotaur was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. The term Minotaur derives from the Ancient Greek Μῑνώταυρος, a compound of the name Μίνως, in Crete, the Minotaur was known by the name Asterion, a name shared with Minos foster-father. Minotaur was originally a noun in reference to this mythical figure. The use of minotaur as a noun to refer to members of a generic species of bull-headed creatures developed much later. After he ascended the throne of the island of Crete, Minos competed with his brothers to rule, Minos prayed to Poseidon, the sea god, to send him a snow-white bull, as a sign of support. He was to kill the bull to show honor to the deity and he thought Poseidon would not care if he kept the white bull and sacrificed one of his own. To punish Minos, Poseidon made Pasiphaë, Minoss wife, fall deeply in love with the bull, Pasiphaë had craftsman Daedalus make a hollow wooden cow, and climbed inside it in order to mate with the white bull. The offspring was the monstrous Minotaur, Pasiphaë nursed him, but he grew and became ferocious, being the unnatural offspring of a woman and a beast, he had no natural source of nourishment and thus devoured humans for sustenance. Minos, after getting advice from the oracle at Delphi, had Daedalus construct a labyrinth to hold the Minotaur. Its location was near Minos palace in Knossos, the Minotaur is commonly represented in Classical art with the body of a man and the head and tail of a bull. One of the figurations assumed by the river spirit Achelous in seducing Deianira is as a man with the head of a bull, from Classical times through the Renaissance, the Minotaur appears at the center of many depictions of the Labyrinth. This alternative tradition survived into the Renaissance, and still figures in modern depictions. Androgeus, son of Minos, had killed by the Athenians. Others say he was killed at Marathon by the Cretan bull, his mothers former taurine lover, the common tradition is that Minos waged war to avenge the death of his son and won. Catullus, in his account of the Minotaurs birth, refers to another version in which Athens was compelled by the plague to pay penalties for the killing of Androgeos. Aegeus had to avert the plague caused by his crime by sending young men at the time as the best of unwed girls as a feast to the Minotaur. Minos required that seven Athenian youths and seven maidens, drawn by lots, when the third sacrifice approached, Theseus volunteered to slay the monster
13.
Labyrinth
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In Greek mythology, the labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur eventually killed by the hero Theseus, Daedalus had so cunningly made the Labyrinth that he could barely escape it after he built it. Even as the designs became more elaborate, visual depictions of the mythological Labyrinth from Roman times until the Renaissance are almost invariably unicursal, branching mazes were reintroduced only when garden mazes became popular during the Renaissance. In English, the labyrinth is generally synonymous with maze. As a result of the history of unicursal representation of the mythological Labyrinth, however, many contemporary scholars. In this specialized usage refers to a complex branching multicursal puzzle with choices of path and direction. A labyrinth in this sense has a route to the center and back. Unicursal labyrinths appeared as designs on pottery or basketry, as body art, the Romans created many primarily decorative unicursal designs on walls and floors in tile or mosaic. Many labyrinths set in floors or on the ground are large enough that the path can be walked, unicursal patterns have been used historically both in group ritual and for private meditation, and are increasingly found for therapeutic use in hospitals and hospices. Labyrinth is a word of Pre-Greek origin, which the Greeks associated with the palace of Knossos in Crete and this designation may not have been limited to Knossos, because the same symbols were discovered in other palaces in Crete. Labrys was a cult-word that was introduced from Anatolia, where such symbols have been found in Çatal Höyük from the Neolithic age. In Labraunda of Caria the double-axe accompanies the storm-god Zeus Labraundos and it also accompanies the Hurrian god of sky and storm Teshub. Labrys, however, comes from Lydian, not Minoan, the Linear B inscription
14.
Nemean lion
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The Nemean lion was a vicious monster in Greek mythology that lived at Nemea. It was eventually killed by Heracles and it could not be killed with mortals weapons because its golden fur was impervious to attack. Its claws were sharper than mortals swords and could cut through any armor, today, lions are not part of the Greek fauna. However, according to Herodotus, lion populations were extant in Ancient Greece, the Nemean lion was sent to Nemea in the Peloponnesus to terrorize the city. The first of Heracles twelve labours, set by King Eurystheus was to slay the Nemean lion. According to one version of the myth, the Nemean lion took women as hostages to its lair in a cave near Nemea, after entering the cave, the warrior would see a woman and rush to her side. Once he was close, the woman would turn into a lion and kill the warrior, devouring his remains, Heracles wandered the area until he came to the town of Cleonae. Another version claims that he met Molorchos, a shepherd who had lost his son to the lion, saying if he came back within 30 days. If he did not return within 30 days, it would be sacrificed to the dead Heracles as a mourning offering, after some time, Heracles made the lion return to his cave. The cave had two entrances, one of which Heracles blocked, he entered the other. In those dark and close quarters, Heracles stunned the beast with his club and, using his immense strength, during the fight the lion bit off one of his fingers. Others say that he shot arrows at it, eventually shooting it in the unarmoured mouth, after slaying the lion, he tried to skin it with a knife from his belt, but failed. He then tried sharpening the knife with a stone and even tried with the stone itself, finally, Athena, noticing the heros plight, told Heracles to use one of the lions own claws to skin the pelt. When he returned on the day carrying the carcass of the lion on his shoulders. Eurystheus forbade him ever again to enter the city, in future he was to display the fruits of his labours outside the city gates, Eurystheus warned him that the tasks set for him would become increasingly difficult. He then sent Heracles off to complete his next quest, which was to destroy the Lernaean hydra, the Nemean lions coat was impervious to the elements and all but the most powerful weapons. Others say that Heracles armour was, in fact, the hide of the lion of Cithaeron, according to some authors, Heracles was helped in this labour by an Earth-born serpent, which followed him to Thebes and settled down in Aulis. It was later identified as the snake which devoured the sparrows and was turned into stone in the prophecy about the Trojan War
15.
Ancient Greek boxing
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Ancient Greek boxing dates back to at least the 17th century BCE, and was practiced in a variety of social contexts in different Greek city-states. Most extant sources about ancient Greek boxing are fragmentary or legendary, making it difficult to reconstruct the rules, customs, still, it is clear that gloved boxing bouts were a significant part of ancient Greek athletic culture throughout the early classical period. There is archeological and artistic evidence of ancient Greek boxing as early as the Minoan and Mycenaean periods, there are numerous legends about the origins of boxing in Greece. One legend holds that the heroic ruler Theseus invented a form of boxing in which two men sat face to face and beat each other with their fists until one of them was killed. In time, the boxers began to fight standing and wearing gloves and wrappings on their arms below the elbows. According to the Iliad, Mycenaean warriors included boxing among their competitions honoring the fallen, boxing was among the contests held in memorial of Achilles slain friend Patroclus, toward the end of the Trojan war. It was in commemoration of Patroclus that the Greeks later introduced boxing to the Olympic Games in BCE688, fighters wore leather straps over their hands, wrists, and sometimes breast, to protect themselves from injury. There was no protection for the face or head, the scholar and historian Philostratus maintained that boxing was originally developed in Sparta. The early Spartans believed helmets were unnecessary and boxing prepared them for the blows to the head they would receive in battle. However, Spartans never participated in the aspect of boxing, believing the means of defeat to be dishonorable. The style of protection utilized on the hands and knuckles could determine the style of fighting for the competitors, from the time of the Iliad until around 500 BCE, himantes were used as protection for the knuckles and hand. They were thongs of ox hide approximately 3. 0–3.7 m long that were wrapped around the hands, the thongs usually had loops in which an athlete could insert four of his fingers and clench them together in a fist. Generally, this was the form of protection worn by participants from the era of Homer until the end of the fifth century. This is in contrast to modern boxing, which utilizes thick, classical sources describe these as soft gloves, though modern study has indicated that these thongs were far from soft and were protection for the knuckles, not to soften the blow to the opponent. They can be found on many vases excavated from the fifth and sixth century BCE, in around BCE400 sphairai were introduced. The sphairai were very similar to himantes, the only notable difference was that they contained a padded interior when wrapped around the hands and the exterior of the thong was notably more rigid and hard. In addition, sharp thongs were introduced during this period to facilitate greater damage. Soon before the implementation of the sphairai, the oxys were introduced to boxing and they consisted of several thick leather bands encircling the hand, wrist, and forearm
16.
Greek wrestling
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Greek wrestling, also known as Ancient Greek wrestling and Palé, was the most popular organized sport in Ancient Greece. A point was scored when one player touched the ground with his back, hip or shoulder, three points had to be scored to win the match. One particularly important position in this form of wrestling was one one of the contestants was lying on his belly with the other on his back trying to strangle him. The athlete on the bottom would try to grasp an arm of the one on top, Wrestling was the first competition to be added to the Olympic Games that was not a footrace. The competitions were held in elimination-tournament style until one wrestler was crowned the victor, the wrestling area was one square plethron or stremma. This event was part of the pentathlon. Wrestling was regarded as the best expression of strength out of all of the competitions and was represented in Greek mythology by Heracles, milo of Croton was one of the most famous wrestlers from this ancient time period. At one set of games, no one challenged him, but as he walked to the skamma he slipped and he contested that he should be crowned because he had only fallen once, two short of the required at least three times. Leontiskos of Messene was also a noted champion and he was not known for his good wrestling skills, but for his superior finger bending skills. He was able to right up to the point of disqualification and won two championships with this technique.5 by 28. Oxy. III466, ancient manuscript containing instructions for wrestling Christopher Miller, Submission Fighting, stephen G. Miller, Ancient Greek Athletics. New Haven, Yale University Press,2004, Greek Wrestling Research Article Also Here And Here
17.
Mixed martial arts
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Mixed martial arts is a full-contact combat sport that allows both striking and grappling, both standing and on the ground, using techniques from other combat sports and martial arts. The first documented use of the mixed martial arts was in a review of UFC1 by television critic Howard Rosenberg in 1993. The term gained popularity when newfullcontact. com, then one of the largest websites covering the sport, the question of who actually coined the term is subject to debate. During the early 20th century, various mixed-style contests took place throughout Japan, in 1980 CV Productions, Inc. created the first regulated MMA league in the United States, named Tough Guy Contest, later renamed Battle of the Superfighters. The company sanctioned ten tournaments in Pennsylvania, however, in 1983 the Pennsylvania State Senate passed a bill prohibiting the sport. In 1993, the Gracie family brought vale tudo, developed in Brazil from the 1920s, later, individual fighters employed multiple martial arts into their style. MMA promoters were pressured to adopt additional rules to increase safety, to comply with sport regulations. Following these changes, the sport has increased popularity with a pay-per-view business that rivals boxing. In Ancient Greece there was a sport called pankration, which featured a combination of grappling and striking skills similar to found in modern MMA. Pankration was formed by a combination of the already established wrestling and boxing traditions and, in Olympic terms, All strikes and holds were allowed with the exception of biting and gouging, which were banned. Fighters, also known as pankratists, fought until a fighter submitted, according to E. Norman Gardiner, No branch of athletics was more popular than the pankration. From its origins in Ancient Greece, pankration was later passed on to the Romans, the mid nineteenth century saw the prominence of the new sport savate in the combat sports circle. At that time, French fighters wanted to test out the sport against the traditional styles of its time. However, the English team still won the four other match-ups during the contest, since then other similar contest also occurred by the late 19th to mid-20th century between French Savateurs and other combat styles. The next publicized encounter occurred in the late 1890s when future heavyweight boxing champion Bob Fitzsimmons took on European Greco-Roman Wrestling champion Ernest Roeber. In September 1901, Frank Paddy Slavin, who had been a contender for Sullivans boxing title, knocked out future world wrestling champion Frank Gotch in Dawson City, Canada. The judo-practitioner Ren-nierand who gained fame after defeating George Dubois, would again in another similar contest against Ukrainian wrestler Ivan Poddubny. Another early example of mixed martial arts was Bartitsu, which Edward William Barton-Wright founded in London in 1899, merikan contests were fought under a variety of rules, including points decision, best of three throws or knockdowns, and victory via knockout or submission
18.
Takedown (grappling)
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In martial arts and combat sports, a takedown is a technique that involves off-balancing an opponent and bringing him or her to the ground, typically with the attacker landing on top. The process of advancing on an opponent and attempting a takedown is known as shooting for a takedown. Takedowns are usually distinguished from throws by the motion and target of advancement. Takedowns are featured in all forms of wrestling and stand-up grappling, the leg trip is a technique in which the combatant uses his or her own leg to off-balance an opponent, hence causing the opponent to fall to the ground. Leg trips are often integrated into more complex techniques, and are also important in many throws. Takedown techniques that are pure leg trips usually involve controlling the body of the opponent, Leg trips are featured in for instance freestyle wrestling, judo, sumo, and shuai jiao while being an illegal technique in Greco-Roman wrestling. The scissor kick takes down an opponent by wrapping ones legs around the opponent, the single leg takedown involves grabbing one of the legs of the opponent, usually with both hands, and using the position to force the opponent to the ground. Typically, the part of the leg is pulled in one direction. There are several varieties of single leg takedowns, the leg can be attacked either across the body or from away from the body. Single leg takedowns can also be executed in combination with a leg trip to the other leg, which additionally destabilizes the opponent. Single leg takedowns can be countered by sprawling or by hooking the lifted foot in the crotch of the aggressor, and, in judo and other martial arts, there are many classifications of different types of single leg takedowns. Variants of the high crotch correspond to sukui nage, where the opponent is lifted up from the ground, while the typical forward pushing single leg takedown is classified as morote gari. Some techniques are more specific, for instance kibisu gaeshi, which is an ankle pick where the heel is grabbed, scooped up and the opponent is pushed and thrown immediately. In kuchiki taoshi, the leg is grabbed, pulled up. The technique was banned in competition by the International Judo Federation in 2010 except as a counter or combination. There are several varieties of forcing the opponent to the ground, such as lifting and slamming, the double leg takedown can be countered similarly to a single leg takedown, by sprawling, moving away, and/or striking. The guillotine choke is also a counter to a poorly performed double leg takedown. Morote-gari, despite having used by judokas for a very long time
19.
Chokehold
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A chokehold, choke, stranglehold or, in Judo, shime-waza is a general term for a grappling hold that critically reduces or prevents either air or blood from passing through the neck of an opponent. The restriction may be of one or both and depends on the used and the reaction of the victim. The lack of blood or air often leads to unconsciousness or even if the hold is maintained. Chokeholds are used in arts, combat sports, self-defense, law enforcement. They are considered superior to brute-force manual strangling, which requires a large disparity in physical strength to be effective. Rather than using the fingers or arms to attempt to crush the neck, the terminology used varies, in most martial arts, the term chokehold or choke is used for all types of grappling holds that strangle. This can be misleading as most holds aim to strangle not choke with the exception of air chokes, in Judo terminology, blood chokes are referred to as strangleholds or strangles while air chokes are called chokeholds or chokes. In forensics the terms strangle and stranglehold designate any type of neck compression, an air choke or tracheal choke specifically refers to a true choke that compresses the upper airway, hence interfering with breathing, and leading to asphyxia. Air chokes have been associated with fractures of the larynx or hyoid bone, the arm bar choke is an air choke done by placing the forearm across the front of the neck from behind. The free hand grabs the wrist and pulls back the forearm, a well applied blood choke may lead to unconsciousness in a matter of seconds. Compared to strangulation with the hands, properly applied blood chokes require little physical strength, most chokeholds featured in combat sports and martial arts are blood chokes, although some air chokes or combinations occur as well. Blood chokes, especially the rear naked choke, triangle chokes, in judo, chokeholds, known as shime-waza, are often subject to restrictions based on age or rank. Chokeholds are not allowed in sport sambo but are allowed in combat sambo, the chokeholds used in catch wrestling and shoot wrestling are the inspiration for the chokeholds in modern professional wrestling performances. In law enforcement the goal is to force an uncooperative subject to submit without causing death or permanent injury, in this situation it is vital to distinguish between air and blood chokes. A hold that simultaneously blocks both the left and right carotid arteries results in ischemia and loss of consciousness within seconds. If properly applied, the hold produces almost immediate cessation of resistance, however to avoid injury the hold cannot be maintained more than a few seconds. When pressure on the carotids is released, the flow of oxygenated blood resumes immediately, even if the hold is released at this point, the blood circulating through the brain contains no oxygen, and consequently the subject may not regain consciousness or resume spontaneous breathing. Possibly the most important element of training for the use of chokeholds in law enforcement is the understanding that the subject should always be able to breathe freely
20.
Joint lock
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A joint lock is a grappling technique involving manipulation of an opponents joints in such a way that the joints reach their maximal degree of motion. In judō these are referred to as, 関節技 kansetsu-waza, joint locking technique) and these typically involve isolating a particular joint and lever it in an attempt to force the joint to move past its normal range of motion. In judo, the combining of standing locks with throws is forbidden due to the risk of harm to the falling opponent, while jujutsu, taijutsu. Joint locks are commonly featured in all forms of grappling, whether it be in martial arts, self-defense, the variants involving lesser levering on a smaller joint are often featured in law-enforcement or self-defense application, where they are used as pain compliance holds. Joint locks that involve full body leverage can on the hand be used in hand to hand combat to partially or fully disable an opponent. They are usually practiced in a safe manner, with controlled movements. The types of joint locks allowed in competitions featuring them varies according to the danger in their application. Armlocks are generally considered safer, while small joint manipulation and spinal locks are banned in all combat sports. Chokehold Compression lock Grappling hold Iverson, Steven
21.
Sparta
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Sparta was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece. In antiquity the city-state was known as Lacedaemon, while the name Sparta referred to its settlement on the banks of the Eurotas River in Laconia. Around 650 BC, it rose to become the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece, given its military pre-eminence, Sparta was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars. Between 431 and 404 BC, Sparta was the enemy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War, from which it emerged victorious. Spartas defeat by Thebes in the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC ended Spartas prominent role in Greece, however, it maintained its political independence until the Roman conquest of Greece in 146 BC. It then underwent a period of decline, especially in the Middle Ages. Modern Sparta is the capital of the Greek regional unit of Laconia, Sparta was unique in ancient Greece for its social system and constitution, which completely focused on military training and excellence. Its inhabitants were classified as Spartiates, mothakes, perioikoi, Spartiates underwent the rigorous agoge training and education regimen, and Spartan phalanges were widely considered to be among the best in battle. Spartan women enjoyed more rights and equality to men than elsewhere in the classical world. Sparta was the subject of fascination in its own day, as well as in the West following the revival of classical learning and this love or admiration of Sparta is known as Laconism or Laconophilia. At its peak around 500 BC the size of the city would have been some 20,000 –35,000 free residents, plus numerous helots, olliers theory of the Spartan mirage has been widely accepted by scholars. The ancient Greeks used one of three words to refer to the location of the Spartans. The first refers primarily to the cluster of settlements in the valley of the Eurotas River. The second word was Lacedaemon, this was used sometimes as an adjective and is the name commonly used in the works of Homer. Herodotus seems to denote by it the Mycenaean Greek citadel at Therapne and it could be used synonymously with Sparta, but typically it was not. It denoted the terrain on which Sparta was situated, in Homer it is typically combined with epithets of the countryside, wide, lovely, shining and most often hollow and broken. The hollow suggests the Eurotas Valley, Sparta on the other hand is the country of lovely women, a people epithet. The name of the population was used for the state of Lacedaemon
22.
Hoplite
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Hoplites were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers utilized the phalanx formation in order to be effective in war with fewer soldiers, the hoplites were primarily represented by free citizens—propertied farmers and artisans—who were able to afford the bronze armour suit and weapons. Hoplites were not professional soldiers and often lacked sufficient military training, although some states did maintain a small elite professional unit, hoplite soldiers were relied on heavily and made up the bulk of ancient Greek armies of the time. In the 8th or 7th century BC, Greek armies adopted a military innovation known as the phalanx formation, the formation proved successful in defeating the Persians when employed by the Athenians at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC during the First Greco-Persian War. The phalanx was also employed by the Greeks at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. The word hoplite derives from hoplon, the name for the type of shield used by the soldiers, however, the shield was more commonly known as an aspis, so the word hopla may refer to the soldiers weapons or even their full armament. In the modern Hellenic Army, the word hoplite is used to refer to an infantryman, the fragmented political structure of Ancient Greece, with many competing city-states, increased the frequency of conflict, but at the same time limited the scale of warfare. Limited manpower did not allow most Greek city-states to form armies which could operate for long periods because they were generally not formed from professional soldiers. Most soldiers had careers as farmers or workers and returned to these professions after the campaign, all hoplites were expected to take part in any military campaign when called for duty by leaders of the state. This inevitably reduced the duration of campaigns and often resulted in the campaign season being restricted to one summer. Armies generally marched directly to their destination, and in cases the battlefield was agreed to by the contestants in advance. Battles were fought on ground, and hoplites preferred to fight with high terrain on both sides of the phalanx so the formation could not be flanked. An example of this was the Battle of Thermopylae, where the Spartans specifically chose a narrow pass to make their stand against the massive Persian army. The vastly outnumbered Greeks held off the Persians for seven days, when battles occurred, they were usually set piece and intended to be decisive. The battlefield would be flat and open to facilitate phalanx warfare and these battles were usually short and required a high degree of discipline. At least in the classical period, when cavalry was present, its role was restricted to protection of the flanks of the phalanx, pursuit of a defeated enemy. Light infantry and missile troops took part in the battles but their role was less important, before the the opposing phalanxes engaged, the light troops would skirmish with the enemies light forces, and then protect the flanks and rear of the phalanx. The military structure created by the Spartans was a phalanx formation
23.
Alexander the Great
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Alexander III of Macedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Argead dynasty. He was born in Pella in 356 BC and succeeded his father Philip II to the throne at the age of twenty and he was undefeated in battle and is widely considered one of historys most successful military commanders. During his youth, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16, after Philips assassination in 336 BC, he succeeded his father to the throne and inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army. Alexander was awarded the generalship of Greece and used this authority to launch his fathers Panhellenic project to lead the Greeks in the conquest of Persia, in 334 BC, he invaded the Achaemenid Empire and began a series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Following the conquest of Anatolia, Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of battles, most notably the battles of Issus. He subsequently overthrew Persian King Darius III and conquered the Achaemenid Empire in its entirety, at that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River. He sought to reach the ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea and invaded India in 326 BC and he eventually turned back at the demand of his homesick troops. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC, the city that he planned to establish as his capital, without executing a series of planned campaigns that would have begun with an invasion of Arabia. In the years following his death, a series of civil wars tore his empire apart, resulting in the establishment of several states ruled by the Diadochi, Alexanders surviving generals, Alexanders legacy includes the cultural diffusion which his conquests engendered, such as Greco-Buddhism. He founded some twenty cities that bore his name, most notably Alexandria in Egypt, Alexander became legendary as a classical hero in the mold of Achilles, and he features prominently in the history and mythic traditions of both Greek and non-Greek cultures. He became the measure against which military leaders compared themselves, and he is often ranked among the most influential people in human history. He was the son of the king of Macedon, Philip II, and his wife, Olympias. Although Philip had seven or eight wives, Olympias was his wife for some time. Several legends surround Alexanders birth and childhood, sometime after the wedding, Philip is said to have seen himself, in a dream, securing his wifes womb with a seal engraved with a lions image. Plutarch offered a variety of interpretations of dreams, that Olympias was pregnant before her marriage, indicated by the sealing of her womb. On the day Alexander was born, Philip was preparing a siege on the city of Potidea on the peninsula of Chalcidice. That same day, Philip received news that his general Parmenion had defeated the combined Illyrian and Paeonian armies, and it was also said that on this day, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, burnt down. This led Hegesias of Magnesia to say that it had burnt down because Artemis was away, such legends may have emerged when Alexander was king, and possibly at his own instigation, to show that he was superhuman and destined for greatness from conception
24.
Macedonian phalanx
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The Macedonian phalanx is an infantry formation developed by Philip II and used by his son Alexander the Great to conquer the Persian Empire and other armies. Philip II spent much of his youth as a hostage at Thebes, phalangites were professional soldiers, and were among the first troops ever to be drilled, thereby allowing them to execute complex maneuvers well beyond the reach of most other armies. Each phalangite carried as his primary weapon a sarissa, a pike over 6 m in length. Before a battle the sarissa were carried in two pieces and then slid together when they were being used, men in rows behind the initial five angled their spears at a 45 degree angle in an attempt to ward off arrows or other projectiles. The secondary weapon was a called a kopis, which had a heavy curved section at the end. Neither Philip nor Alexander actually used the phalanx as their arm of choice, the left flank was generally covered by allied cavalry supplied by the Thessalians, which fought in rhomboid formation and served mainly in a defensive role. Other forces — skirmishers, range troops, reserves of allied hoplites, archers, the phalanx carried with it a fairly minimal baggage train, with only one servant for every few men. Phalangites were drilled to perform short forced marches if required, the Macedonian phalanx also proved to be one of the best defensive formations in all of antiquity thanks to its elongated spear called a sarissa, and its very tight formation. The phalangites could stick the tip of their sarissa to block the most powerful enemy charges. They were the troops to hold a position as they were able to push their opponents back. During the siege of Atrax by the Roman legions in 198 BC, the Romans managed to break into the city after breaching its walls, but were then faced with a compact formation of Macedonian levy phalangites. The phalanx formation also had its disadvantages, lighter troops like peltasts for example protected the flanks of the phalanx to prevent any dangerous enemy encircling maneuver to succeed. The wars of the Diadochi, following the death of Alexander the Great and his empires collapse, the engagements between two Macedonian phalanges depended only on the number and the quality of the troops engaged and proved to be very long, indecisive and deadly. The length of the pike was increased by half during the fifty years that followed the death of Alexander and this new equipment was very uncomfortable for combat. The longer sarissa became a problem, the mobility of the soldiers, the later phalanx had to fight in perfectly ideal conditions because it wasnt capable of reacting as fast as it used to. The heavier phalanges faced issues that Alexanders phalanges never experienced, which can only be explained by the fact that their equipment was now too heavy to fight in good order. Phalangites couldnt maneuvre freely as they used to, their pace was greatly reduced, during the battle of Pydna, the phalanx formation collapsed because of the uneven terrain on which they were fighting. After pushing back and steam-rolling through the Roman legions, the phalanx had to pursue the retreating Roman infantry on the muddy hillsides behind the Roman army
25.
Battle of Thermopylae
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It took place simultaneously with the naval battle at Artemisium, in August or September 480 BC, at the narrow coastal pass of Thermopylae. The Persian invasion was a response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece. Xerxes had amassed an army and navy, and set out to conquer all of Greece. A Greek force of approximately 7,000 men marched north to block the pass in the middle of 480 BC. The Persian army, alleged by the ancient sources to have numbered one million. The vastly outnumbered Greeks held off the Persians for seven days before the rear-guard was annihilated in one of historys most famous last stands, during two full days of battle, the small force led by Leonidas blocked the only road by which the massive Persian army could pass. After the second day, a resident named Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks by revealing that a small path led behind the Greek lines. Leonidas, aware that his force was being outflanked, dismissed the bulk of the Greek army and remained to guard their retreat with 300 Spartans,700 Thespians,400 Thebans, fighting to the death. At Artemisium, the Greek navy, under the command of the Athenian politician Themistocles, since the Greek strategy required both Thermopylae and Artemisium to be held, and given their losses, it was decided to withdraw to Salamis. The Persians overran Boeotia and then captured the evacuated Athens, the Greek fleet—seeking a decisive victory over the Persian armada—attacked and defeated the invaders at the Battle of Salamis in late 480 BC. Fearful of being trapped in Europe, Xerxes withdrew with much of his army to Asia, however, the following year saw a Greek army decisively defeat the Persians at the Battle of Plataea, thereby ending the Persian invasion. Both ancient and modern writers have used the Battle of Thermopylae as an example of the power of an army defending its native soil. The primary source for the Greco-Persian Wars is the Greek historian Herodotus and this account is fairly consistent with Herodotus. Archaeological evidence, such as the Serpent Column, also some of Herodotus specific claims. For example, the military strategist Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart defers to Grundy, Grundy also explored Plataea and wrote a treatise on that battle. On the Battle of Thermopylae itself, two sources, Herodotus and Simonides accounts, survive. In fact, Herodotus account of the battle, in Book VII of his Histories, is such an important source that Paul Cartledge wrote, we write a history of Thermopylae with. The Greek city-states of Athens and Eretria had encouraged the unsuccessful Ionian Revolt against the Persian Empire of Darius I in 499–494 BC, the Persian Empire was still relatively young and prone to revolts amongst its subject peoples
26.
Herodotus
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Herodotus was a Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus in the Persian Empire and lived in the fifth century BC, a contemporary of Socrates. The Histories is the work which he is known to have produced. Despite Herodotus historical significance, little is known of his personal life and his place in history and his significance may be understood according to the traditions within which he worked. His work is the earliest Greek prose to have survived intact, of these only fragments of Hecataeuss work survive yet they allow us glimpses into the kind of tradition within which Herodotus wrote his own Histories. In his introduction to Hecataeus’s work, Genealogies, This points forward to the ‘folksy’ yet ‘international’ outlook typical of Herodotus. Yet, one scholar has described the work of Hecataeus as “a curious false start to history” since despite his critical spirit. It is possible that Herodotus borrowed much material from Hecataeus, as stated by Porphyry in a recorded by Eusebius. But Hecataeus did not record events that had occurred in living memory, unlike Herodotus, Herodotus claims to be better informed than his predecessors by relying on empirical observation to correct their excessive schematism. For example, He argues for continental asymmetry as opposed to the theory of a perfectly circular earth with Europe. Yet, he retains idealizing tendencies, as in his notions of the Danube. His debt to previous authors of prose ‘histories’ might be questionable, however, this point is one of the most contentious issues in modern scholarship. It is on account of the strange stories and the folk-tales he reported that his critics in early modern times branded him “The Father of Lies”. Even his own contemporaries found reason to scoff at his achievement, similarly, the Athenian historian Thucydides dismissed Herodotus as a “logos-writer”. Moreover, Thucydides developed a historical topic more in keeping with the Greek world-view, the interplay of civilizations was more relevant to Greeks living in Anatolia, such as Herodotus himself, for whom life within a foreign civilization was a recent memory. Modern scholars generally turn to Herodotus’s own writing for reliable information about his life, supplemented with ancient yet much later sources, modern accounts of his life typically go something like this, Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus around 484 BC. His name is not mentioned later in the tribute list of the Athenian Delian League, the epic poet Panyassis – a relative of Herodotus – is reported to have taken part in a failed uprising. Herodotus expresses affection for the island of Samos, and this is an indication that he might have lived there in his youth. So it is possible that his family was involved in an uprising against Lygdamis, leading to a period of exile on Samos, Herodotus wrote his Histories in the Ionian dialect, yet he was born in Halicarnassus, which was a Dorian settlement
27.
Battle of Mycale
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The Battle of Mycale was one of the two major battles that ended the second Persian invasion of Greece during the Greco-Persian Wars. It took place on or about August 27,479 BC on the slopes of Mount Mycale, on the coast of Ionia, the battle was fought between an alliance of the Greek city-states, including Sparta, Athens and Corinth, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I. Xerxes then retreated, leaving his general Mardonius with an army to finish off the Greeks the following year. In the summer of 479 BC, the Greeks assembled a huge army, at the same time, the allied fleet sailed to Samos, where the demoralised remnants of the Persian navy were based. The Persians, seeking to avoid a battle, beached their fleet below the slopes of Mycale, the Greek commander Leotychides decided to attack the Persians anyway, landing the fleets complement of marines to do so. Although the Persian forces put up resistance, the heavily armoured Greek hoplites again proved themselves superior in combat, and eventually routed the Persian troops. The Ionian Greek contingents in the Persian army defected, and the camp was assailed, the Persian ships were then captured and burned. The complete destruction of the Persian navy, along with the destruction of Mardoniuss army at Plataea, after Plataea and Mycale, the allied Greeks would take the offensive against the Persians, marking a new phase of the Greco-Persian Wars. The main source for the Greco-Persian Wars is the Greek historian Herodotus, Herodotus, who has been called the Father of History, was born in 484 BC in Halicarnassus, Asia Minor. He wrote his Enquiries around 440–430 BC, trying to trace the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars, Herodotuss approach was entirely novel, and at least in Western society, he does seem to have invented history as we know it. Some subsequent ancient historians, despite following in his footsteps, criticised Herodotus, nevertheless, Thucydides chose to begin his history where Herodotus left off, and therefore evidently felt that Herodotuss history was accurate enough not to need re-writing or correcting. A negative view of Herodotus was passed on to Renaissance Europe, however, since the 19th century his reputation has been dramatically rehabilitated by archaeological finds which have repeatedly confirmed his version of events. The prevailing modern view is that Herodotus generally did a job in his Historia. Nevertheless, there are some historians who believe Herodotus made up much of his story. This account is consistent with Herodotuss. Archaeological evidence, such as the Serpent Column, also some of Herodotuss specific claims. The Greek city-states of Athens and Eretria had supported the unsuccessful Ionian Revolt against the Persian Empire of Darius I in 499-494 BC, the Persian Empire was still relatively young, and prone to revolts amongst its subject peoples. Moreover, Darius was a usurper, and had spent considerable time extinguishing revolts against his rule, the Ionian revolt threatened the integrity of his empire, and Darius thus vowed to punish those involved
28.
Pausanias (geographer)
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Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the time of Roman emperors Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece, a work that describes ancient Greece from his first-hand observations. This work provides crucial information for making links between classical literature and modern archaeology, andrew Stewart assesses him as, A careful, pedestrian writer. interested not only in the grandiose or the exquisite but in unusual sights and obscure ritual. He is occasionally careless, or makes unwarranted inferences, and his guides or even his own notes sometimes mislead him, yet his honesty is unquestionable, before visiting Greece, he had been to Antioch, Joppa and Jerusalem, and to the banks of the River Jordan. In Egypt, he had seen the pyramids, while at the temple of Ammon, in Macedonia, he appears to have seen the alleged tomb of Orpheus in Libethra. Crossing over to Italy, he had something of the cities of Campania. He was one of the first to write of seeing the ruins of Troy, Alexandria Troas, Pausanias Description of Greece is in ten books, each dedicated to some portion of Greece. He begins his tour in Attica, where the city of Athens, subsequent books describe Corinthia, Laconia, Messenia, Elis, Achaea, Arcadia, Boetia, Phocis and Ozolian Locris. He famously leaves out key portions of Greece such as Crete, the project is more than topographical, it is a cultural geography. Pausanias digresses from description of architectural and artistic objects to review the mythological and historical underpinnings of the society that produced them and his work bears the marks of his attempt to navigate that space and establish an identity for Roman Greece. He is not a naturalist by any means, though he does from time to comment on the physical realities of the Greek landscape. He notices the pine trees on the sandy coast of Elis, the deer and the boars in the oak woods of Phelloe. Pausanias is most at home in describing the art and architecture of Olympia. Yet, even in the most secluded regions of Greece, he is fascinated by all kinds of depictions of gods, holy relics, Pausanias has the instincts of an antiquary. Some magnificent and dominating structures, such as the Stoa of King Attalus in the Athenian Agora or the Exedra of Herodes Atticus at Olympia are not even mentioned. While he never doubts the existence of the gods and heroes, he criticizes the myths. His descriptions of monuments of art are plain and unadorned and they bear the impression of reality, and their accuracy is confirmed by the extant remains. He is perfectly frank in his confessions of ignorance, when he quotes a book at second hand he takes pains to say so
29.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
30.
Theodosius I
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Theodosius I, also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from AD379 to AD395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. On accepting his elevation, he campaigned against Goths and other barbarians who had invaded the empire. He failed to kill, expel, or entirely subjugate them and he fought two destructive civil wars, in which he defeated the usurpers Magnus Maximus and Eugenius at great cost to the power of the empire. He also issued decrees that effectively made Orthodox Nicene Christianity the official church of the Roman Empire. He neither prevented nor punished the destruction of prominent Hellenistic temples of antiquity, including the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He dissolved the order of the Vestal Virgins in Rome, in 393, he banned the pagan rituals of the Olympics in Ancient Greece. Theodosius was born in Cauca, Gallaecia, Hispania or Italica, Baetica, Hispania, to a military officer. Theodosius learned his lessons by campaigning with his fathers staff in Britannia where he went to help quell the Great Conspiracy in 368. In about 373, he became governor of Upper Moesia and oversaw hostilities against the Sarmatians and he was military commander of Moesia, a Roman province on the lower Danube, in 374. However, shortly thereafter, and at about the time as the sudden disgrace and execution of his father. The reason for his retirement, and the relationship between it and his fathers death is unclear and it is possible that he was dismissed from his command by the emperor Valentinian I after the loss of two of Theodosius legions to the Sarmatians in late 374. The death of Valentinian I in 375 created political pandemonium, fearing further persecution on account of his family ties, Theodosius abruptly retired to his family estates in the province of Gallaecia where he adopted the life of a provincial aristocrat. In 378, after the disastrous Battle of Adrianople where Valens was killed, as Valens had no successor, Gratians appointment of Theodosius amounted to a de facto invitation for Theodosius to become co-Augustus of the East Roman Empire. After Gratian was killed in a rebellion in 383, Theodosius appointed his own son, Arcadius. By his first wife, the probably Spanish Aelia Flaccilla Augusta, he had two sons, Arcadius and Honorius and a daughter, Aelia Pulcheria, Arcadius was his heir in the East, both Aelia Flaccilla and Pulcheria died in 385. His second wife was Galla, daughter of the emperor Valentinian I, Theodosius and Galla had a son Gratian, born in 388 and who died young, and a daughter Aelia Galla Placidia. Placidia was the child who survived to adulthood and later became an Empress
31.
Eye-gouging
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Eye-gouging is the act of pressing or tearing the eye using the fingers or instruments. Eye-gouging involves a high risk of eye injury, such as eye loss or blindness. Eye-gouging as a style was once a popular form of sport fighting in the back-country United States. Eye-gouging is prohibited in modern sports and it is a serious offence in rugby football codes where it occurs rarely. It is prohibited in combat sports, but some self-defense systems teach it, training in eye-gouging can involve extensive grappling training to establish control, the eye-gouging itself being practiced with the opponent wearing eye protection such as swimming goggles. Yuki Nakai went on to win a bout in the Vale Tudo Japan 1995 tournament after his opponent performed an illegal gouge that blinded him in his right eye. Enucleation of the eye Eye for an eye Eye poke List of rugby union players banned for eye gouging Gouging Phantom eye syndrome United States Marine Corps, kino Mutai, The Art of Biting and Eye Gouging. URL last accessed January 7,2006, can the human eyeball be knocked out of the head
32.
Grecophone
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
33.
Lucian
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Lucian of Samosata was a rhetorician and satirist who wrote in the Greek language during the Second Sophistic. He is noted for his witty and scoffing nature, Lucian wrote exclusively in ancient Greek. He wrote mainly in the Attic dialect, but On the Syrian Goddess, few details of Lucians life can be verified with any degree of accuracy, though clues can be found in writings attributed to him. In several works he claims to have born in Samosata, in the former kingdom of Commagene. His depictions of the processes involved in the diverse and dynamic cult have many significant parallels to Syrias material culture. On the Syrian Goddess parodies the Greek view of foreigners as barbarous, while the narrator concludes that the Syrians, throughout the account, the narrator often conflates the terms Assyrian and Syrian. In The Syrian Goddess, the claims to be an Assyrian himself. In the final paragraph of the work, the describes a ritual in which initiates would dedicate a lock of their hair to Hippolytus as part of a pre-marital coming-of-age ritual. The narrator comments, as rendered in Strong and Garstangs 1913 translation, I performed this act myself when a youth, Lucians claim in Double Indictment to be a native speaker of a barbarian tongue has been suggested to refer Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic. A more likely interpretation is that he is referring to speaking a variety of Greek. It has been suggested that in referring to himself as a barbarian, he was from the Semitic and his name added lustre to any entertaining and sarcastic essay, more than 150 surviving manuscripts attest to his continued popularity. The first printed edition of a selection of his works was issued at Florence in 1499 and his best known works are A True Story, and Dialogues of the Gods and Dialogues of the Dead. Lucian was trained as a rhetorician, a vocation whose practitioners pleaded in court, composed pleas for others, Lucians practice was to travel about, giving amusing discourses and witty lectures improvised on the spot, somewhat as a rhapsode had done in declaiming poetry at an earlier period. In this way Lucian travelled through Ionia and mainland Greece, to Italy and even to Gaul, there are 80 surviving works attributed to Lucian. He wrote in a variety of styles which included comic dialogues, rhetorical essays, Lucian was also one of the earliest novelists in Western civilization. In A True Story, a narrative work written in prose, he parodies some of the fantastic tales told by Homer in the Odyssey. He anticipated modern fictional themes like voyages to the moon and Venus, extraterrestrial life and his novel is widely regarded as an early, if not the earliest science fiction work. Lucians On Dance is important for the history of dance as it is one of very few literary discussions of dance - specifically pantomime - that treats Roman dance in detail
34.
Plato
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Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Platos entire work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years. Along with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous student, Aristotle, Plato laid the foundations of Western philosophy. Alfred North Whitehead once noted, the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. In addition to being a figure for Western science, philosophy. Friedrich Nietzsche, amongst other scholars, called Christianity, Platonism for the people, Plato was the innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in philosophy, which originate with him. He was not the first thinker or writer to whom the word “philosopher” should be applied, few other authors in the history of Western philosophy approximate him in depth and range, perhaps only Aristotle, Aquinas and Kant would be generally agreed to be of the same rank. Due to a lack of surviving accounts, little is known about Platos early life, the philosopher came from one of the wealthiest and most politically active families in Athens. Ancient sources describe him as a bright though modest boy who excelled in his studies, the exact time and place of Platos birth are unknown, but it is certain that he belonged to an aristocratic and influential family. Based on ancient sources, most modern scholars believe that he was born in Athens or Aegina between 429 and 423 BCE. According to a tradition, reported by Diogenes Laertius, Ariston traced his descent from the king of Athens, Codrus. Platos mother was Perictione, whose family boasted of a relationship with the famous Athenian lawmaker, besides Plato himself, Ariston and Perictione had three other children, these were two sons, Adeimantus and Glaucon, and a daughter Potone, the mother of Speusippus. The brothers Adeimantus and Glaucon are mentioned in the Republic as sons of Ariston, and presumably brothers of Plato, but in a scenario in the Memorabilia, Xenophon confused the issue by presenting a Glaucon much younger than Plato. Then, at twenty-eight, Hermodorus says, went to Euclides in Megara, as Debra Nails argues, The text itself gives no reason to infer that Plato left immediately for Megara and implies the very opposite. Thus, Nails dates Platos birth to 424/423, another legend related that, when Plato was an infant, bees settled on his lips while he was sleeping, an augury of the sweetness of style in which he would discourse about philosophy. Ariston appears to have died in Platos childhood, although the dating of his death is difficult. Perictione then married Pyrilampes, her mothers brother, who had served many times as an ambassador to the Persian court and was a friend of Pericles, Pyrilampes had a son from a previous marriage, Demus, who was famous for his beauty. Perictione gave birth to Pyrilampes second son, Antiphon, the half-brother of Plato and these and other references suggest a considerable amount of family pride and enable us to reconstruct Platos family tree
35.
Philo
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Philo of Alexandria, also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. Philo used philosophical allegory to attempt to fuse and harmonize Greek philosophy with Jewish philosophy and his method followed the practices of both Jewish exegesis and Stoic philosophy. His allegorical exegesis was important for several Christian Church Fathers, and he believed that literal interpretations of the Hebrew Bible would stifle humanitys view and perception of a God too complex and marvelous to be understood in literal human terms. Some scholars hold that his concept of the Logos as Gods creative principle influenced early Christology, other scholars, however, deny direct influence but say both Philo and Early Christianity borrow from a common source. The few biographical details known about Philo are found in his own works, the only event in his life that can be decisively dated is his participation in the embassy to Rome in 40 CE. He represented the Alexandrian Jews before Roman Emperor Caligula because of civil strife between the Alexandrian Jewish and Greek communities, Philo was probably born with the name Julius Philo. His ancestors and family were contemporaries to the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty, although the names of his parents are unknown, Philo came from a family which was noble, honourable and wealthy. It was either his father or paternal grandfather who was granted Roman citizenship from Roman dictator Gaius Julius Caesar, Philo had two brothers, Alexander the Alabarch and Lysimachus. His ancestors and family had social ties and connections to the priesthood in Judea, the Hasmonean Dynasty, the Herodian Dynasty, Philo visited the Temple in Jerusalem at least once in his lifetime. Philo would have been a contemporary to Jesus of Nazareth and his Apostles, Philo along with his brothers received a thorough education. Philo, through his brother Alexander, had two nephews Tiberius Julius Alexander and Marcus Julius Alexander, Marcus Julius Alexander was the first husband of the Herodian Princess Berenice. We find a reference to Philo by the 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus. In Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus tells of Philos selection by the Alexandrian Jewish community as their principal representative before the Roman emperor Gaius Caligula. He says that Philo agreed to represent the Alexandrian Jews in regard to civil disorder that had developed between the Jews and the Greeks in Alexandria, Egypt. Josephus also tells us that Philo was skilled in philosophy, according to Josephus, Philo and the larger Jewish community refused to treat the emperor as a god, to erect statues in honor of the emperor, and to build altars and temples to the emperor. Josephus says Philo believed that God actively supported this refusal, many of these severe things were said by Apion, by which he hoped to provoke Gaius to anger at the Jews, as he was likely to be. Our remaining information about Philo is based upon his own writings, Philo himself claims in his Embassy to Gaius to have been part of an embassy sent by the Alexandrian Jews to the Roman Emperor Caligula. Philo says he was carrying a petition which described the sufferings of the Alexandrian Jews, Philo says he was regarded by his people as having unusual prudence, due to his age, education, and knowledge
36.
Panathenaic Games
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The Panathenaic Games were held every four years in Athens in Ancient Greece since 566 BC. They continued into the 3rd century AD and these Games incorporated religious festival, ceremony, athletic competitions, and cultural events hosted within a stadium. The competitions for which this came to be known were only part of a much larger religious occasion. These ritual observances consisted of numerous sacrifices to Athena as well as Poseidon, a sister-event to the Great Panathenaea was held every year - the Lesser Panathenaea, which was 3–4 days shorter in celebration. The competitions were the most prestigious games for the citizens of Athens, the first Great Panathenaea was held during the rule of Peisistratos in 566 BC, and was modelled on the Olympic Games. Peisistratos also added music and poetry competitions, which were part of the Pythian Games, the games were divided into games for Athenians only, and games for Athenians and any other Greeks who wanted to participate. These games in only the Athenians were allowed to participate were somewhat different. These included a race from the Piraeus to the Acropolis, mock infantry and cavalry battles, a javelin throw on horseback, the apobatai, the pyrriche. The prestigious event was a four-horse chariot race and the received a prize larger than for any of the athletic contests. In later years there was also a rowing competition, the procession to the Parthenon was more important than the games themselves. During the Great Panathenaia, a robe was made by the women of Athens for the statue of Athena. There was also a large sacrifice made to Athena, the hekatombe and the meat from the animals was used in an enormous banquet on the final night of the festival. Many scholars believe that this procession is the theme of the inner Ionic Parthenon Frieze, award ceremonies included the giving of Panathenaic amphora which were the large ceramic vessels that contained the oil given as prizes. The winner of the race received as a prize one-hundred. The Panathenaea also included poetic and musical competitions, prizes were awarded for rhapsodic recitation of Homeric poetry, for instrumental music on the aulus and cithara, and for singing to the accompaniment of the aulus and cithara. In addition, the Games included a reading of both the Odyssey and the Iliad, the athletic events were staged at the Panathenaic Stadium, which is still in use today. The Panathenaic stadium has hosted modern Olympic Games in 1870,1875,1896,1906 and 2004, the Panathenaic Games held contests in a number of musical, athletic, and equestrian events. Due to the fact there were so many contests held
37.
Panathenaic amphora
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Panathenaic amphorae were the amphorae, large ceramic vessels, that contained the olive oil given as prizes in the Panathenaic Games. Some were ten gallons and 60-70 cm high and this oil came from the sacred grove of Athena at Akademia. On the back of the vase was a representation of the event for which it was an award, sometimes roosters are depicted perched on top of the columns. The significance of the remains a mystery. Later amphorae also had that years archons name written on it making finds of those vases archaeologically important, the vases were commissioned by the state from the leading pottery workshops of the day in large numbers. Their canonical shape was set by 530 BCE, but the earliest known example is the Burgon amphora and this may mean that the vase predates the festivals reorganization in 566 since it is not an athletic event. The cock column is first seen on a panathenaic by Exekias, by the early fourth century the inclusion of the archons name appears on these vases, the earliest almost intact one being Asteios 373/2 BCE. There is a fragment that bears the name Hippodamas of 375/4 BCE, however, which may also be a panathenaic, as the century progressed the profile of the vases became elongated and the decoration more mannered. Some vases were used as grave goods by the families of the victors, some were dedicated to sanctuaries, the survival rate of Greek pottery as a whole may be calculated from the remnant of panathenaic amphorae that exist. After approximately 350 BCE at least 1450 vases were awarded four years in the greater Panathenaia. 25% of all Greek vases awarded are still extant. Basel, Vereinigung der Freunde Antiker Kunst 1998 ISBN 3-909064-18-3 Martin Bentz, Norbert Eschbach, Panathenaïka, ISBN 3-8053-2708-0 S. A. Callisen, The Iconography of the Cock on the Column, The Art Bulletin, Vol.21, No
38.
Red-figure pottery
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Red-figure vase painting is one of the most important styles of figural Greek vase painting. It developed in Athens around 520 BC and remained in use until the late 3rd century BC and it replaced the previously dominant style of black-figure vase painting within a few decades. Its modern name is based on the depictions in red colour on a black background. The most important areas of production, apart from Attica, were in Southern Italy, the style was also adopted in other parts of Greece. Etruria became an important centre of production outside the Greek World, Attic red-figure vases were exported throughout Greece and beyond. For a long time, they dominated the market for fine ceramics, only few centres of pottery production could compete with Athens in terms of innovation, quality and production capacity. Of the red figure vases produced in Athens alone, more than 40,000 specimens, from the second most important production centre, Southern Italy, more than 20,000 vases and fragments are preserved. Starting with the studies by John D. Beazley and Arthur Dale Trendall, some vases can be ascribed to individual artists or schools. The images provide evidence for the exploration of Greek cultural history, everyday life, iconography, red figure is, put simply, the reverse of the black figure technique. Both were achieved by using the three-phase firing technique, the paintings were applied to the shaped but unfired vessels after they had dried to a leathery, near-brittle texture. In Attica, the normal unburnt clay was of orange colour at this stage, the outlines of the intended figures were drawn either with a blunt scraper, leaving a slight groove, or with charcoal, which would disappear entirely during firing. Then the contours were redrawn with a brush, using a clay slip. Occasionally, the decided to somewhat change the figural scene. In such cases the grooves from the original sketch sometimes remain visible, important contours were often drawn with a thicker slip, leading to a slightly protruding outline, less important lines and internal details were drawn with diluted glossy clay. Detail in other colours, like white or red, were applied at this point, the relief line was probably drawn with a bristle brush or a hair, dipped in thick paint. The suggestion of a hollow needle seems somewhat unlikely, the application of relief outlines was necessary, as the rather liquid glossy clay would otherwise have turned out too dull. After the techniques initial phase of development, both alternatives were used, so as to differentiate gradations and details more clearly, the space between figures was filled with a glossy grey clay slip. Then, the vases underwent triple-phase firing, during which the glossy clay reached its characteristic black or black-brown colour through reduction, the new technique had the primary advantage of permitting a far better execution of internal detail
