Lost Civilization - Greece

Summary

Step back in time to ancient Greece, where the majestic Parthenon stood as a symbol of a civilization's zenith. This video delves into the incredible history of Athens, highlighting the Golden Age under Pericles' leadership—an era marked by architectural brilliance, groundbreaking ideas, and the birth of democracy. From the gripping tale of Athens' rise to power and influence, leveraging its naval dominance and intellectual prowess, to the devastating blows of plague and war that led to its decline, the narrative weaves through the threads of history with vivid, engaging storytelling.

Highlights

• The Parthenon: A masterpiece of ancient architecture that stood as a testament to Athens' glory 🏛️
• Pericles' Vision: Building projects and democracy fueled by contributions from city-states for mutual protection 🤝
• Cultural Flourishing: Social gatherings with philosophical discussions led by figures like Socrates 🍇
• Athenian Sports: The origins of the Olympic Games and the importance of athletic competition in Greek society 🏅
• Women and Society: Contrasting roles and the power struggles depicted through tales like Medea's 🧙‍♀️
• Philosophical Trials: Socrates' execution marks a pivotal moment in Athenian society, reflecting its changing dynamics ⚖️

Key Takeaways

• Athenian Golden Age: Marked by extraordinary achievements in architecture, politics, and culture under Pericles' rule 🌟
• The Impact of Philosophy: Great thinkers like Socrates and Plato shaped Western philosophy with their revolutionary ideas 📚
• Rise and Fall: Athens soared with democratic ideals and cultural advancements but faced decline due to war, plague, and internal strife ⚔️
• Lasting Legacy: Despite its fall, Athens' contributions to democracy and culture continue to influence the modern world 🌍

Overview

Athens, during its golden age, was a beacon of infrastructure and intellect. The Parthenon stood not only as a religious site but as a symbol of the city's grandeur and architectural prowess. Led by Pericles, Athens didn't just thrive on military power but also on cultural and diplomatic significance, drawing thinkers, artists, and strategists to its fold. The Acropolis was more than buildings; it was an ethos of excellence and aspiration.

Pericles, a visionary leader, directed Athens through an era of prosperity and innovation. Under his guidance, democracy flourished, and the city became a nucleus of economic and intellectual activity. However, the Athenian quest for dominance led to conflicts like the Peloponnesian War, ultimately stretching its resources thin and sowing the seeds of decline. A devastating plague further compounded the city's woes, leaving it vulnerable to its rivals and internal discord.

Even as Athens fell from its pinnacle, its legacy endured through the ages. Philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle left indelible marks on Western thought, laying the groundwork for modern philosophical principles. Their teachings, alongside architectural innovations, continue to resonate today, underscoring a civilization that once charted a course for others to follow. The story of Athens is a timeless reminder of human potential and the cycles of rise and fall.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:30: Siege of Athens and Destruction of the Parthenon In the year 1687, the city of Athens is under siege. The enemy has positioned cannons on a hill overlooking the Parthenon, one of the world's architectural masterpieces. The unaware citizens are about to witness the unfolding of a significant and tragic historical event involving this iconic structure.
• 01:30 - 09:00: Athens and the Golden Age The chapter titled 'Athens and the Golden Age' begins with a discussion of the Parthenon. It highlights the unfortunate use of this magnificent structure as a gunpowder storage site, which led to its near destruction. For two millennia, the Parthenon has served as a symbolic overseer of Athens, representing a significant historical period known as the Golden Age.
• 09:00 - 18:30: Philosophers and Democracy in Athens This chapter titled 'Philosophers and Democracy in Athens' explores the influential period in Greek history where philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle contributed to the development and understanding of democracy in Athens. It delves into the philosophical underpinnings of democratic thought and examines how these thinkers shaped the political landscape of the time. Interspersed with music and applause, it captures the essence of an era where intellectual exploration and political practice were deeply intertwined, reflecting on the impact these philosophers had on democratic ideals and practices that still resonate today.
• 18:30 - 30:10: Greek Temples and Gods In this chapter titled 'Greek Temples and Gods', the focus is on the highly competitive nature of the city-states in ancient Greece, specifically highlighting the city of Athens, known for its power, brilliance, and daring, particularly during the fifth century.
• 30:10 - 45:00: Emergence of Theater and Role of Women The chapter discusses the rise of the Athenian Empire as Athens became a dominant power due to other city-states seeking protection against the Persians. The narrative highlights the significance of the Acropolis as a symbol of remarkable achievements in Western civilization during this period.
• 45:00 - 54:00: Ancient Greek Athletics and The Olympics The chapter discusses Ancient Greek athletics and the Olympics, highlighting the pursuit of excellence exemplified by architectural achievements in the fifth century BCE. It reflects on how magnificent buildings symbolized collective inspiration and the passion for perfection among the Greek people. The historian Plutarch noted the grandeur and grace of these structures, emphasizing the artists' dedication to achieving inimitable beauty.
• 54:00 - 66:00: Decline of Athens and Socrates' Trial The chapter discusses the decline of Athens and the trial of Socrates, highlighting the accomplishments during Pericles' leadership. Pericles, a prominent leader of Athens, initiated the construction of the Parthenon, an intricate project dedicated to the goddess Athena, which was remarkably completed within his administration.
• 66:00 - 72:00: Plague, War, and Fall of Athens This chapter explores the height of Athenian power and cultural achievement under Pericles, who became a leading figure in 461 BC. It highlights the grandeur of Athens, funded by taxes collected from other city-states, and symbolized by the impressive statue of Athena.
• 72:00 - 79:00: The Parthenon Restoration and Legacy The chapter examines the Parthenon's restoration and its enduring legacy, highlighting the unique nature of the city where the monument stands. Known for its rich array of spiritual and cultural offerings rather than mundane activities, the city appreciates beauty without indulging in excess or softness. Inhabitants see wealth as a means to practical ends, not just a status symbol. This practical yet aesthetically-minded philosophy is exemplified by the investment of significant resources during the age of Pericles into monumental buildings, emphasizing the Parthenon's importance in the city's historical identity and cultural heritage.

Lost Civilization - Greece Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 the year is 1687 the people of Athens are under siege unknown to them enemy cannon line a hill overlooking one of the world's most magnificent buildings the Parthenon [Music]
• 00:30 - 01:00 tragically the Parthenon had been used to store of all things gunpowder [Music] one of the most beautiful buildings ever conceived it was almost completely destroyed for 2,000 years the Parthenon has stood overlooking Athens recalling a remarkable moment in history the Golden
• 01:00 - 01:30 Age of Greece [Music] [Applause] [Music]
• 01:30 - 02:00 the city-states of ancient Greece were all highly competitive but there was one state that expected to win and usually did it was the powerful brilliant daring city of Athens during the fifth century
• 02:00 - 02:30 BC Athens grew more powerful as many city-states and islands turned to her for protection from their mutual enemy the Persians and so the Athenian Empire was born [Music] the Acropolis in Athens represents a pinnacle of achievement in the history of Western civilization's an extraordinary outpouring of creative
• 02:30 - 03:00 excellence that derives from one century the fifth century before Christ these magnificent buildings symbolized the collective inspiration of a people with a passion for perfection the historian Plutarch wrote so the buildings rose as imposing in their sheer size as they were inimitable in the grace of their outlines since the artists tried to
• 03:00 - 03:30 excel themselves in the beauty of their workmanship each of the men supposed would take many generations to build but in fact the entire project was carried through in the high summer of one man's administration that one man was Pericles leader of the Athenians Pericles built the Parthenon to house and honor the deity to whom the city was dedicated the goddess Athena in her hand
• 03:30 - 04:00 was a six-foot statue of victory adorned in gold and ivory Athena's sword 39 feet high Pericles came to power in 461 BC Athens flourished as few cities ever have Pericles paid for the magnificence of all of Athens out of taxes collected from other city-states and returned for
• 04:00 - 04:30 protection ours is no workaday city no other provides so many recreations of the spirit our love of what is beautiful does not make us soft we regard wealth as something to be properly used rather than as something to boast about to me it's wonderful that in the age of Pericles they would take what was a huge amount of their gross national product and pour it into buildings into a great
• 04:30 - 05:00 Parthenon into architecture that has influenced the history of architecture in the West for centuries beyond [Music] with the Acropolis and the Parthenon were saying to the world was that we are Athens we are the top we have this goddess whom we revere who looks after us under all circumstances and for whom we are going to build the most magnificent enclosure
• 05:00 - 05:30 we can imagine and it was a mark both of respect to the goddess and a way of showing the other Greeks that in this constant struggle this constant competition Athens was the best the city was completed within 50 years designed by the finest architects in Greece and adorned by the greatest Greek sculptor Phidias it was a workforce that
• 05:30 - 06:00 brought together the best craftsmen from all over the Mediterranean Athens buzzed with new energy and most of all new ideas evening parties were occasions not to just watch pretty girls dance or to get drunk but to talk the star guests would be the brilliant philosopher Socrates
• 06:00 - 06:30 usually all-male Affairs there was one interesting exception foreign women seized in war often became captive entertainers one particularly clever and beautiful courtesan was aspasia Pericles fell deeply in love with her and shocked everyone by marrying her even Socrates was said to love her company it must have been mind-blowing to be part of
• 06:30 - 07:00 that so much was being invented that we have inherited we think now in terms of Greek words philosophy and rhetoric and politics and geography and biology all of these things were just being discovered and discussed everyone was questioning these were the first people to calculate the position of the Earth
• 07:00 - 07:30 Moon and stars and the first to conceive of the atom the classic age of greece produced some of the world's greatest and most original minds the philosophers Socrates Plato and Aristotle the mathematician Pythagoras the poet Pindar the playwrights Aeschylus Sophocles and our Stephanies the historian Herodotus and the father of Medicine Hippocrates these were some of the greatest minds
• 07:30 - 08:00 that have ever lived and they were all alive in this small town more or less at the same time [Music] in Athens Pericles presided over the world's first democracy although only the 30,000 male citizens had the vote all officers of the city were elected and their deliberations were held in
• 08:00 - 08:30 public it was an idea that outlived the kings and tyrants of succeeding centuries to emerge again in the democracies of the modern world our founding fathers knew Latin and Greek they read the authors they understood the classical tradition ah the rule of law against tyranny I never cease to be amazed at the originality of the Greeks in inventing really democracy as we know
• 08:30 - 09:00 it it didn't exist before they were tyrants and tribal leaders but public participation in governance in decision-making on the part of citizens started really with the fifth century in Athens particularly under this extraordinary leader Pericles there was an opportunity for citizens to participate it wasn't we they everyone had to do it everyone had to give part of their time to be experienced in
• 09:00 - 09:30 government and you had majority rule you had public debate everybody got into the act [Applause] Athenian success in art and diplomacy in sports and in government was motivated by their desire for excellence ultimately it was a spiritual commitment this passion for perfection acropolis it
• 09:30 - 10:00 is not the house of a governor it is not an administrative center and it is not a shopping center as well it was the temple of Athena of a goddess they wanted to serve they wanted to create something above themselves above their height it wasn't like a modern church it wasn't a place
• 10:00 - 10:30 where you could go in and worship quietly the sacrifices were performed outside in part for hygienic reasons after all if you're slaughtering a bull you don't want it on the floor of your temple but also because the smoke had to rise to the gods and in the mean time since the divinity was thought to dwell in his or her home you didn't want to get too close he wanted to maintain a kind of deferential or respectful distance lest inadvertently you might do something wrong and get somebody very powerful really angry at you and that's always a bad idea
• 10:30 - 11:00 [Music] [Music] in 1928 off the northern coast of the Greek island of u boa in the Aegean Sea a small boat was looking for sponges
• 11:00 - 11:30 [Music] the divers are a strange shape beneath the sand [Music]
• 11:30 - 12:00 he had discovered a classical Greek statue that had sunk with the ship carrying it nearly 2,000 years before [Music] many now believe this rare bronze was Poseidon Greek god of the sea
• 12:00 - 12:30 the Magnificent statue was one of hundreds stolen in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD by the Romans gods like Poseidon were thought to have a very real power of the lives of ancient Greeks [Music]
• 12:30 - 13:00 [Music] overlooking the sea at SUNY on 37 miles south of Athens is a temple built in honor of Poseidon our God the Greeks were anxious to have on their side Poseidon is nature his domains are the depths of the earth and the sea he creates storms he helps the seamen or he sends them to the death so he's an uncontrollable God and you turn to him when you're scared the Greeks were very
• 13:00 - 13:30 good in building temples where you had a sense of otherness a sense of such a great beauty that only the gods could live there [Music] upon Mount Olympus lived the pantheon of Greek gods there were gods for everything love fertility wisdom anger jealousy but
• 13:30 - 14:00 one Greek God stood above the rest the all-powerful Zeus ruler of the world and of the gods themselves these gods were not imagined as spiritual beings they had very human characteristics and were known to interfere in the lives of humans on the slightest whim they could be rational and helpful or mischievous and vindictive anyone who offended them could expect terrible vengeance
• 14:00 - 14:30 this is Delphine the most important of all Greek sanctuaries to the gods this temple was dedicated to Apollo the god of knowledge light music and healing
• 14:30 - 15:00 [Music] Greeks honored Apollo with plays debates poetry readings and in this stadium near the top of the mountain great sporting events pilgrims would cleanse themselves in this spring having first sacrificed a goat to Apollo even in this highly educated and rational civilization they still believed in mysterious divine powers the
• 15:00 - 15:30 Great Temple of Apollo was home to a kind of prophet the Oracle of Delphi its pronouncements could affect the destiny of men and the history of nations ordinary citizens would come to ask if they should marry or if their spouse was being unfaithful generals would ask if they should go to war [Music] a priest took their questions to the Oracle or Pythia as she was called
• 15:30 - 16:00 [Music] the medium was an ordinary local woman sent into a trance often by chewing hosannah genic leaves [Music] her answers were always garbled messages that the priest would interpret more ambiguously still leaving supplicants to choose the meaning that suited them best at times the answers were simply
• 16:00 - 16:30 misunderstood when creases king of lydia asked if he should attack the persian empire he was told if you go to war you'll destroy a great Kingdom he went to war the Kingdom he destroyed was his own Greek sanctuaries were bursting with
• 16:30 - 17:00 life and we shouldn't imagine them as pristine with their white temples and clean robed priests they were vendors there they were musicians there were camping grounds around the temples so everything was full of life [Music] thousands of people came to Delphi every four years for a five-day festival moving up the sacred way to Apollo's temple passing 3,000 statues and Treasuries filled with the riches of
• 17:00 - 17:30 various city-states pilgrims were expected to offer whatever they could afford it was even said that King Midas sent his own solid gold throne all in the name of honoring Apollo but it was also at Delphi that another unofficial ritual took place honoring not Apollo but a very different sort of God in
• 17:30 - 18:00 winter it said women would climb Mount Parnassus directly behind Delfy and perform wild dances in honor of Dionysus god of wine they were called Maenads it was one of the few opportunities for women in this highly ordered society to follow their instincts and abandon all inhibitions men ads were followers of Dionysus so to say liberated women who live the household and go out in a
• 18:00 - 18:30 completely female bond atmosphere and they do dances and picnics probably harmless things but because they do it by themselves the male imagination made them do monstrous things they thought they were fornicating and having orgies and eating raw meat and so on such private rituals later became public events and the beginnings of what we now know as theater all drama originated as part of religious festivals and they had
• 18:30 - 19:00 the god Dionysus who was the god of everything delicious and people used to go out and celebrate and this led to poetry the disre and then they introduced male figures and masks and gradually you got what we now think of as tragedy and comedy this amphitheater at Delfy is one of hundreds built by the ancient Greeks
• 19:00 - 19:30 here plays were produced that are still performed today many were about women uhlig avala is a well-known greek actress who has played most of the female roles in the classical plays most of the women were kept at home but there were very powerful personalities they were running the house in the lives of their husbands EULA is preparing to
• 19:30 - 20:00 rehearse Medea one of many plays about the terrible things that happen when a woman's passions are Unleashed of course this woman power closed into this beautiful houses was mysterious too for men it was the Otherworld that they wanted to know more experienced more and that's why they chose women as their herons for their plays theater became
• 20:00 - 20:30 absolutely central to a way of life they would have a whole day you'd start of the morning you'll get three plays and I went on a long time you had subsidy from the government and you also had private support from the very rich and you had political debate you had a sense of involvement the chorus was a device that represented the people and the stories
• 20:30 - 21:00 were often known from mythology but it was the way they were played out that really captured the imagination of an entire populace Medea is about a woman driven to unspeakable acts of revenge when her husband betrays her for his own personal game she could have stayed in Corinth Medea refuses to accept her husband Jason's decision to abandon her in favor of the king's daughter instead
• 21:00 - 21:30 he talks like a fool and now what and now you're banished the tragedy of Medea is that she gives up everything for Jason and in a male-dominated society she's powerless to prevent him deserting her and her children [Music] traces of that tension between men and women can still be seen in Greece today
• 21:30 - 22:00 this too is a society dominated by men men committed to demonstrating their masculinity [Music] no women are performing in any roles in this summer festival not even dancing [Music] [Applause] men do whatever they like the women remain passive bystanders
• 22:00 - 22:30 [Music] Athens has been described as a boys club and in some ways this is very very true women resident foreigners slaves were not fully enfranchised and they were somehow lesser beings it was the boys in the boys club that ran the show and they wanted to keep it that way and to some
• 22:30 - 23:00 long-suffering women men still seemed to be running the show heart I saved your life and every Greek about the Argo knows eat it after endured all that [Music] you crawl to another woman
• 23:00 - 23:30 Jason where am I to go in her desperation Medea reaches a tragic conclusion that our only possible revenge is to kill her own children well you take a play like Medea which so
• 23:30 - 24:00 speaks to a society now in which divorce is rampant in which men and women get so angry at each other in which child custody is essential issue and you see it played out with an intensity of emotion that absolutely brings you to tears woman like Madea Helen there are women
• 24:00 - 24:30 that we see even today we women we have today the same problems problems with the relationship with men in our family with husbands [Music]
• 24:30 - 25:00 each age has its own beauty the youth that lies in the possession of a body ad to endure all kinds of contests whether of the race course or of bodily strength while the young man himself is a pleasant delight to behold to the Great's a beautiful body was as important as a brilliant mind
• 25:00 - 25:30 [Music] [Applause] it was in this stadium more than two million games were held one of the four great religious and athletic festivals of ancient Greece the original stadium held 20,000 spectators the site was excavated by Professor Steven Miller who is restaging your games his heralds have
• 25:30 - 26:00 to be coached safety-pin in the original games the officials would have been chosen from each city-state the ancient Greeks did not take weekends off they worked every day except for the more than 50 religious holidays and sporting festivals they
• 26:00 - 26:30 come in clusters of family or friends spread their blankets break out their wine skins and sit and watch the games you should also imagine cheering sections we have actually found evidence in the form of concentrations of coins but show us for example across the way it was the center of the Corinthian cheering section it's almost all of the coins that have come out of the stadium from Corinth are there here on the opposite side just behind where the judges stand is not coincidentally we have found
• 26:30 - 27:00 almost all of our coins from Argos and of course the games were controlled by Argos so you have the cheering section right behind the judges stand reinforcing I'm sure the judges decisions [Music] at the stadium site Miller made a remarkable discovery a starting line with holes in it from this he reconstructed the ancient starting mechanism to his Plex I can hear the torsion and what we have is a mechanism like the elbow when the arm is and I
• 27:00 - 27:30 think it's important to listen to the smack that it makes when it hits ropes were held in front of the athletes by posts that an official would drop simultaneously releasing the competitors originally athletes competed in the nude and women were excluded from the games but one woman determined to see her son
• 27:30 - 28:00 compete dressed up as a male trainer when her son won she jumped over a fence in her excitement all was revealed after that even trainers were required to be in the nude long jumpers carried weights that would thrust them forward and were jettisoned before landing in this way they could add up to a foot to each jump winners won no prizes other than Laurel
• 28:00 - 28:30 or wild celery Reed's back home they'd be showered with flowers at lavish parades where they'd be drawn around town in the finest chariots often they'd have a statue made in their likeness if they were Athenian they'd enjoy free dinners for the rest of their lives [Music] the most important games in Greece were held every four years in this valley at Olympia the first international sporting
• 28:30 - 29:00 event in all the world was held here in 776 BC the Greeks were the first to elevate athletics to the status of serious competition even our word athlete comes from the Greek word Atlas or contest but the Olympic festival was first and
• 29:00 - 29:30 foremost a religious occasion as many as a hundred oxen would be sacrificed here on an altar in front of the Temple of Zeus its interior was dominated by a gold clad statue of the God before it every Greek athlete had to pray before he competed at the entrance to Olympia was the gymnasium where athletes trained and the office of the organising committee who
• 29:30 - 30:00 decided on an assets moral suitability to compete a hotel for VIPs was built around an elegant fountain at the far end was a mini United Nations states were required to cease all hostilities during the games and met here to work out their differences central to everything was the Great Temple of Zeus [Applause]
• 30:00 - 30:30 sacrifice to Zeus you want to talk to people you knew from Argos or Sparta Athens or Thebes Herodotus might come and read the latest chapter of his histories to see if it was going to sell Pindar was waiting in the wings for an athlete to win so he could get a commission to write a poem Myron the sculptor was here hoping to get the Commission to do a sculpture of the victorious athlete mind and body came together in the
• 30:30 - 31:00 gymnasium this was a place for conversation and learning as much as for exercise and wrestling [Music] to the Greeks the aesthetic the physical and the intellectual were all part of their pursuit of perfection the philosopher Philostratus wrote dust from terracotta is good for opening closed pores for perspiration but yellow dust also has gluten and is a delight to see
• 31:00 - 31:30 on a nice body which is in good shape with so much emphasis on male intimacy and physical beauty perhaps it was inevitable that in Athens homosexuality was quite common with no stigma attached whatsoever sexual relations between mature single men and younger boys were entirely acceptable as long as the boys were first wooed with gifts and as long as it stopped with marriage admiration among men was best
• 31:30 - 32:00 reflected in the world of athletics Stephen Miller found some interesting graffiti in the tunnel at Nemea perhaps one of the most clearly is Piqua t's Carlos Epocrates is beautiful and if we look over here at another graffito we have the same name the quota toss is beautiful of course not everybody agreed somebody came along later and scratched scratched the Greek phrase to grop son toss which is the
• 32:00 - 32:30 rough equivalent of our modern expression says who of course was beautiful says who [Music] the Olympic torch still glows today if not always with the same strong clear flame that inspired those athletes 2500 years ago [Music] [Applause]
• 32:30 - 33:00 [Applause] [Applause]
• 33:00 - 33:30 but it does sometimes carry forward the original goal that once every four years the nations of the world should forget their disputes and come together in friendship and open competition [Applause] [Music] [Applause]
• 33:30 - 34:00 the Athenians tended to dominate in sports and just about everything else but their winning streak couldn't last forever and fate was preparing to deal some cruel blows to this society which had risen so high and achieved so much
• 34:00 - 34:30 in 399 BC the Athenians did a strange thing they put their wisest citizen on trial the great philosopher Socrates was judged by a jury of 200 of his fellow citizens each place to pebble in one urn for guilty for another for innocent he was accused of not believing in the gods
• 34:30 - 35:00 and of corrupting the minds of the young with his radical new ideas in many ways Socrates was the complete Athenian he served with courage and distinction as a soldier and as a statesman and in this way fulfilled the Athenian ideal at the same time though he demanded explanations he demanded definitions of his fellow citizens he described himself after all as a gadfly as a stinging fly on the great sluggish rump of the
• 35:00 - 35:30 Athenian potty politic Socrates was found guilty he was sentenced to death by poison his trial and conviction would never have happened earlier under Pericles rule the Athenians became too cautious I think something happened their old willingness to engage to experiment to
• 35:30 - 36:00 explore is still there but it's somehow muted the change in athens had its root in events decades earlier and 430 BC a terrible tragedy befell Athens a plague that was said to have come from Ethiopia than passed through Egypt and Persia before finally reaching Athens it was a
• 36:00 - 36:30 disease that killed almost everyone it touched and it swept through the city the historian Plutarch wrote there was no record of the disease being so virulent anywhere else as it was in Athens people in perfect health suddenly began to have burning feelings in the head their eyes became red and inflamed some too went blind and suffered from
• 36:30 - 37:00 total loss of memory Pericles own sister and then to his horror his son caught the plague and he was already burdened by a disastrous war with the Spartans Pericles had brought the entire population of the Athenian countryside within the great walls of Athens and sanitation one can be sure was primitive and a disease like the plague spread like wildfire as it did its effects were
• 37:00 - 37:30 no less devastating morally than physically all the old laws the things that the Athenians had relied on to hold their society together were shredded [Music] people came into temples to die or we were still brought their own dead in and left them there the horror I think is really to us almost unimaginable inside
• 37:30 - 38:00 that was a feeling of burning many of the sick who were uncared-for actually plunged into the water tanks in an effort to relieve the thirst was unquenchable the plague affected Pericles in two ways first of all politically because the Athenians blamed him for it and for the first time in 15 years he was not elected to the office of generalship that he had held for so
• 38:00 - 38:30 long shortly thereafter he himself caught the plague and died and with the death of Pericles a certain style of leadership died as well [Music] a third of the population would die [Music]
• 38:30 - 39:00 without Pericles leadership the Athenians were lost they started to make reckless decisions [Music] for half a century Athens battled Sparta for dominance over Greece the decisive battle would be fought not on Greek soil but in Sicily
• 39:00 - 39:30 Athens sent a fleet into battle but the highly trained Spartan army sided with the Sicilians the Athenian Navy was destroyed in a series of disastrous sea battles and in 404 BC Athens was utterly defeated I think finally the Athenians lost the great war against Sparta because they did overreach themselves the Spartans repeatedly offer terms of peace but here's what that old Athenian
• 39:30 - 40:00 aggressiveness comes into play as well the Athenian simply couldn't allow themselves to accept terms of peace from Sparta they wanted to win the defeat of the Athenians in Sicily left Sparta as the dominant power in Greece Athens had everything going for it but I think that it declined for many of the same reasons that made it great that aggressiveness that competitiveness
• 40:00 - 40:30 that need to be first and best war than out [Music]
• 40:30 - 41:00 the goddess to whom the Athenians turned for protection was powerless to help them this relief is called mourning Athena Socrates became the scapegoat for the decline of Athens in prison his friends offered to help him escape but he refused Plato wrote he said he had lived in Athens all his life for 70 years he
• 41:00 - 41:30 had been content with the city and its people why should he now run away from it like the lowest slave the hemlock leaves were crushed [Music] the poison potion was prepared Socrates really does embody Athens at its best in some ways and when he dies we really do see that things have changed the things
• 41:30 - 42:00 after Socrates just won't be the same Plato recorded the last words of his friend and teacher how much would one of you give to meet Orpheus or Homer I should like to spend my time there as here in examining and searching people's minds to find out who is wise and who only thinks he is [Music]
• 42:00 - 42:30 Socrates ideas live on to this day but over time his beloved Athens became part of other empires the Macedonians the Romans the Ottoman Turks in 1971 its crowning glory the Parthenon was discovered to be in danger of final collapse today it is being
• 42:30 - 43:00 restored not to its former splendor but as a magnificent ruin worthy of the civilization that represents the pieces of marble so cruelly shattered by cannon fire are being painstakingly cleaned and carefully reassembled the holes made by enemy cannonballs are being precisely filled in the restoration will take even longer than the 15 years it originally took to build the Parthenon
• 43:00 - 43:30 [Music] after its destruction in 1687 the temple was pillaged by treasure seekers the Turks who ruled Athens at the time were easily bribed any passing visitor with enough money could walk away with one of the great sculptures heads and limbs
• 43:30 - 44:00 were severed from bodies to make even more saleable items all over Europe eager salesmen offered their plundered treasure to museums and private collectors when a young English aristocrat Lord Elgin arrived in 18:3 this was the situation he felt justified his removing any remaining sculptures
• 44:00 - 44:30 [Music] his men pride lose 56 sections of freezes and a dozen or so statues including a magnificent horse's head it took 22 ships to carry the marbles to Britain one was wrecked on route [Music]
• 44:30 - 45:00 the Elgin marbles from the Parthenon are exhibited in the British Museum I entered the very large room and there I saw the beauty that overwhelmed me of this elgin marbles I got so excited I had goose pimples all over my body I couldn't speak I was just in a trance
• 45:00 - 45:30 the beauty was so powerful there was silent for a very long time looking at that beauty and then I felt sad because I couldn't see in my country those marbles it's very sad for us not to have that great experience here in Arthur's
• 45:30 - 46:00 everyday [Music] we need to see Parthenon to see a group wish to touch it it is a reminder of
• 46:00 - 46:30 what we have achieved the exercise of reaching to the perfect worse than and if we can assume for a moment that all these ruins remnants are disappeared erased from the earth it would be alike a universe without the fifth symphony of Beethoven
• 46:30 - 47:00 [Music] but there is a quality more durable even than stone in the legacy of Athens this was a city whose brilliant light shone so powerfully that it defined Western intellectual thought for centuries it is hard to go down a street without seeing some vestige of our enthusiasm for a Greek way of life and we forget that way
• 47:00 - 47:30 of life at our peril it was so effective and so courageous it's extraordinary that a society of only 70,000 Athenian men and women who lived 500 years before Christ could influence the world so dramatically the Democratic spark they lift blazed again 2,000 years later to affect the lives of people all over the world this then is
• 47:30 - 48:00 the kind of city for which men who could not bear the thought of losing her nobly fought and died mighty indeed are the marks and monuments of our Empire which we have left future ages will wonder at us as the present age wonders at us now [Music]
• 48:00 - 48:30 [Music] [Music]
• 48:30 - 49:00 [Music] [Music]
• 49:00 - 49:30 [Music] [Music]
• 49:30 - 50:00 just great-great-grandson just by the
• 50:00 - 50:30 sound of my voice EFR is the clearest
• 50:30 - 51:00 digital sound quality you can get from
• 51:00 - 51:30 one to one you'll really hear the
• 51:30 - 52:00 difference now when you do a one to one
• 52:00 - 52:30 you can bring your existing mobile phone
• 52:30 - 53:00 number with you welcome back to White
• 53:00 - 53:30 Hart Lane where Spurs and Wimbledon are
• 53:30 - 54:00 surprise surprise
• 54:00 - 54:30 drawing nil-nil a third time in 12 days
• 54:30 - 55:00 that there's been stalemate between the
• 55:00 - 55:30 two this is again with Chester isn't it
• 55:30 - 56:00 well it is both sides are very good
• 56:00 - 56:30 defensively and they squeeze the play
• 56:30 - 57:00 very well and then make the pitch very
• 57:00 - 57:30 small when they're defending no space
• 57:30 - 58:00 but neither side makes the big pitch
• 58:00 - 58:30 again once one nice to pitch big again
• 58:30 - 59:00 once they've got the ball said fullbacks
• 59:00 - 59:30 got it everyone pushes up so I can only
• 59:30 - 60:00 go long you can't find people in there
• 60:00 - 60:30 and I think they've got to be our
• 60:30 - 61:00 transfer from that tightness to make a no-bake pitch wider and longer and we're not getting that a moment and there's nothing in the last third from either side so far so there was just one middle point when we said all was at a penalty yeah coccoon yeah there's a free-kick koku pushes Campbell first then he runs
• 61:00 - 61:30 across him yeah and so just nudges him and that last minute and it's very dangerous you can see it there there he pushes him he goes again and just there there's a subtle just to push there and you know that's touch and go that can go against you soles got to stay calm really that's what you're saying in well he has been calm but in that particular instance he cannot fold to push anybody in the last in that last six or seven yards of the box you've been very impressed by Wimbledon's back absolutely I think they've been right from the kickoff all
• 61:30 - 62:00 right from the kickoff there's no spices to go through them you go go around the outside like they're trying to do now early crossing baby blocks it he could before he gets any time they're out and blocking him again that's locking any game and they're always those richart's are very close together and Campbell had a shot here baby puts it back over the top goes to Campbell but before he's if he has one to one touch like that you like that's fine two more there I think they're absolutely terrific and and
• 62:00 - 62:30 black white in particular I think II there's been really solid oh do you like or here's performance yeah all for a good that a really looks on top of his game they're not just competitors these boys are sharp and quick and good thinkers there he gets a very important interception that you can say that so nobody's sure if he misses it there's a bounce that sits up it don't run up and he's got a lot of power in his neck to get that back because there's no role in all of the ball what about the David Ginola contribution so far well is a guy that
• 62:30 - 63:00 everyone you can feel this there's it's scrappy so far I think I think that when he gets it you can feel the anticipation in the crowd that their thing there he comes you know they're waiting for something and he can do it but he said no change well that's wrongness I had no change of becoming them so he's now sliding in behind the front turn and what he's doing is trying to find some space there roberts is picking him up when he goes in and then Cunningham's got that space if he wants to make more of it so really do some damage down the right side
• 63:00 - 63:30 briefly of your two old mates Joe Kinnear and George Graham whose are happier here well I would think at this moment Joe will be the happier there's no doubt about that but neither side about they're going to threaten go and I'm let's hope that happens in the second half yeah well the other semi-final first leg of this Worthington Cup took place at the Stadium of Light last night Sunderland vs Leicester City dominated by a master poacher Eliot Sinclair Heskey in the middle Tati
• 63:30 - 64:00 towards the penalty spot s Keys crosscut is in there Oh terrifically neat finish [Applause]