024 Early Athens
The History of Ancient Greece
Ryan Stitt
4.4 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 5 December 2016
⏱️ 55 minutes
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Summary
In this episode, we discuss the early history of Athens beginning with its mythical past, and how and why the later Athenians promoted and propagandized these myths, with a particular focus on their first king Kekrops, the contest between Athena and Poseidon for the city's patronage, the birth of Erichthonios (the "love" child of Hephaistos-Athena-Gaia) who would go onto become king, the life of Theseus, and the death of the final king Kodras fighting the Herakleidai; in historical times, the abolishment of the monarchy in the Dark Ages that gave rise to the oligarchic government (first by the Medontidai and then the Eupatridai); the social organizations of the Athenians; and finally the social and economic crises at the end of the 7th century BC that brought about an unsuccessful tyranny attempt by an Olympic athlete named Kylon and Athens' first written constitution, orchestrated by a shadowy figure named Drakon
Show Notes: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/2016/12/024-early-athens.html
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Welcome back to the history of ancient Greece. Episode 24, Early Athens. |
| 0:25.0 | In terms of recorded history, the story of Athens is the story of Attica, |
| 0:30.0 | the region in the southeastern portion of Greece that juts into the Aegean Sea. |
| 0:35.2 | The entire region of Attica is about a thousand square miles and is considered one Polish, |
| 0:40.8 | making every citizen in Attica an Athenian. Attica was not the most desirable |
| 0:46.3 | region for agriculture. Besides the rich soil of the Central Valley, it was |
| 0:50.8 | rather barren and mountainous, but on the other hand it was very good for olive trees and grape vines. |
| 0:57.0 | Athens also had the splendid harbor of Piraeus, which could be easily defended. |
| 1:02.0 | Also, there are silver mines in southern Attica |
| 1:05.1 | that gave the state a source of income that the other Greeks did not have. Red clay |
| 1:10.3 | was also prevalent and it was great for pottery. |
| 1:13.0 | Furthermore, the Athenians had the luxury of having Mount Pentelicus in the northeast, |
| 1:18.0 | where they could find white marble that enabled them to build temples easier and cheaper than the others. |
| 1:23.6 | All of this certainly set up the Athenians quite nicely, |
| 1:26.8 | and allowed them to be prime players on the Aegean scene. |
| 1:31.2 | Literary evidence and physical remains show that as early as the 15th century BC |
| 1:36.0 | Athens was the largest and most important settlement in Attica and was a major Mycenaean city |
| 1:41.2 | with a fortress atop its Central Acropolis and had walls that could compare with those of Mycinea and Terence. |
| 1:48.0 | Athens may have exercised loose control over the other fortified palace centers in Attica? |
| 1:53.0 | However, Homer does not mention any great heroes from Athens, |
| 1:56.0 | so it's probable that the palace centers of Attica were independent of the Athenian |
| 2:00.9 | Wannox. |
... |
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