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Theseus

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mythical founder-king of Athens

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son of Aegeus (goat-man) and Poseidon

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his story is told by Plutarch

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visit to Crete

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slays the Minotaur who is kept in the labyrinth, get assistance from Minos' daughter Ariadne [air-ee-AD-nee]

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when Theseus got back to Athens, he had a great idea "Synoecism", the idea of communities combining

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sets up a temple where everyone can come and worship Athena

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sets up sports games and competitions, created a sense of civic identity

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welcomed in foreigners, with restrictions

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Athena

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supervising divinity of the city

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she and Poseidon had a contest, Poseidon hit rock with his trident and water bubbled up

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Athena gave Greeks the olive tree

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she is a "fiercely virginal goddess" with no romantic attachments whatsoever

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myth around this: the lame smith God Hephaestus

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Hephaestus [heh-FIGH-stus]

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is to the male gods as Athena is to the females

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he gives skill to mortal artists and was believed to have taught men the arts alongside Athena

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is far inferior to the sublime character of Athena

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Greeks frequently placed small dwarf-like statues of Hephaestus near their hearths, and these figures are the oldest of all his representations

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myth of origin of Athenians: Athena, refusing a union with Hephaestus because of his unsightly appearance and crippled nature, and that when he became angry and forceful with her, she disappeared from the bed. His ejaculate fell on the earth, impregnating Gaia, who subsequently gave birth to Erichthonius of Athens

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Attica

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historical region of Greece, which includes Athens

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1,000 square miles

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good natural resources

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silver

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marble

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olive cultivation

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good potter's clay, to rival that of the Corithians

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massive, long coastline

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wealthy, hospitable

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some kind of synoecism had been completed by end of 700 BC, and by this time people were identifying themselves as Athenians

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synoecism = villages coming together into a large polis

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four original tribes

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eupatridae [yoo-PAT-rih-digh]

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hereditary elite, "those who had good fathers"

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controlled largest agricultural lands

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dominated political system

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Theseus was a king of Athens, but only in myth

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areopagus [air-ee-OP-ah-gus]

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council which met on a hill, elected by the Eupatridae

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archons [AHR-kons]

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chief magistrates

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archon basileus [BAH-zil-AY-us] = king archon

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polemarch [POL-ee-mark]

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war archon and commander in chief

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eponymous archon

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gave his name to the civic year, you talk about something having occurred in the archonship of (some person)

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Athens in 8th and 7th century BC

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not yet in the colonizing period

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some strain was beginning to show

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Kylon decided to stage a revolt (as Cypselus [KIP-se-lus] had done in Corinth)

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stage revolution and seized the Acropolis

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instead of following him, the ordinary people barricaded him there, he then escaped

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one of arcons named Megacles committed an awful sacrilege, promising the conspirators safe passage out of the temple, but when they emerged, he had them killed

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to kill suppliants was a terrible religious infraction

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his family had to leave Athens, sent into exile

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Kylon's attempt at revolution shows that there were strains in Athenian society

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624 BC: Athenians created their first law code

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Draco (7th century BC, 39th Olympiad)

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replaced the prevailing system of oral law and blood feud by a written code to be enforced only by a court. Known for its harshness, draconian has come to refer to similarly unforgiving rules or laws.

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name means dragon

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prescribing death as the punishment of any infraction

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archeologists found a inscription of Draco's law on homicide: even if someone kills someone unintentionally, he must go into exile, from which he can be reinvited after being purified by Delphi

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this was astonishing as it takes into count the circumstances of the murderer, shows that Draco's code was not as harsh as once thought

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620 BC: colonizing era

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to the Bosphorus area first