Greeks Part 2: The Golden Age
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0:00
Athens will be _____________ against the greatest power of the day, the tyrannical Persian Empire.
In a contest spread across land and sea, that will last over a decade, Athenian_____________ will be
tested in the crucible of war.
1:45
On this day, Pheidippides will make one of the most astonishing __________feats in history, the
inspiration for our modern marathon. But Pheidippides’ _____________ is not for glory, but survival.
The Persians lived in a culture of unbending tyranny. At the head of their ____________ sat Darius,
known to the Greeks only as The Great King.The Persian force landed at a sandy bay called
Marathon, just ______ miles from Athens. News of the invasion spread through the streets like
wildfire. Pheidippides’ run was to become the stuff of legend. Fired by the terror that his fellow
citizens were being slaughtered, he ran 140 miles in just two days. But Pheidippides’ quest would end
in _____________. Help would be refused. He was left only with the knowledge that his fellow
Athenians would have to fight alone.
9:50
The Athenians returned to their city to _____________ their victory. But amongst them was one for
whom the war with Persia had only just begun, an Athenian ______________ named Themistocles.
Themistocles had fought on the battlefield at Marathon. From this very podium, Themistocles would
now show himself to be one of history’s _____________ leaders, the savior of his city. For
Themistocles alone recognized that the Persians might still be a danger, and that _________ time
victory for the Athenians might not prove so easy. In the year 483 BC, the Athenians
_____________a great vein of silver in their territory, worth a hundred talents, a vast amount in the
ancient world. The Athenians wanted to ____________ these new found riches among themselves.
But then Themistocles stood up in the Assembly. He wanted to spend the money on ________. But
he also knew that this would be a hard proposal to sell. And so Themistocles played a ___________
bluff. Archaeologists have discovered copies of the questions asked of these ancient oracles: “Has
Aristos stolen the wool from the mattress?” “Hermion asks, what should I do to have useful children?”
But as the Athenians walked up this path two and half thousand years ago, there question was simple
and grave: What could they do to save themselves?
23:00
As night fell, Themistocles met the ______________ of the other Greek city-states on the island of
Salamis. They had also assembled their much ___________ fleets here. Their scouts reported back:
the Persians now no longer held Athens, but had also gathered a mighty ________four times the size
of the Greek forces. The Greek playwright Aeschylus took part in the battle and lived to tell the tale.
“We heard from every part this ________ of exultation. ‘Advance, ye sons of Greece. From slavery
save your country.
29:00
The Athenians founded the Delian League, alliance of Greek states designed to keep the
Persians in check. Its treasury was located here, on the _________ of Delos. The ruins still remain.
By 450BC, this league had more than two hundred member states, but Athens was the
undisputed _________. Athens’ rise to economic and political supremacy occurred at lightning speed.
After the Battle of Salamis, she became the dominant___________ in the eastern Mediterranean in
less than a generation. Some of the ostraka with Themistocles’ name still inscribed upon them have
been __________, hidden down an ancient well. Archaeologists believe that these had been
prepared by Themistocles’ enemies, to be ____________out to Athenian voters who couldn’t write.
Themistocles never recovered from this humiliation.
36:30
Pericles announced a glorious new________ to the Athenian Assembly: “All kinds of enterprises
should be created which will _____________ inspiration for every art, find employment for every
______________. We must devote ourselves to acquiring things that will be the source of everlasting
fame.” Pericles planned to spend over five thousand_____________ in the first year alone, a total of
more than a ___________ dollars in today’s terms. His project would require 20,000 tons of marble.
The quarries at Mount Pantelicus resounded as______________ of workmen traced and carved
great blocks of marble out of the mountain. The monuments that Pericles built for his fellow Athenians
still __________ on the peak of the Acropolis. They remain the most striking ____________ of
Classical Athens, of one of the great empires of the ancient world.
48:00
The traditional center of Athenian ____________ class life had always been the symposium, or
dinner party, where guests ____________ gather to eat, drink, and talk. In these years, Pericles
played host to an astonishing generation of individuals, figures whose achievements would shape
______________ Civilization.
49:30
The favorite tales of the Greek stage __________ called tragedies. These were stories as shocking
as a contemporary ____________ movie. The tragedies of great men falling from the heights, losing
everything they owned. Theaters were built in every major Greek city. In ______________, in Corinth,
on the island of Delos, here in Delphi. Athens was the heart of a cultural revolution that would spread
across the Mediterranean and echo _______________ the world.