Full Answer
What happened during the Golden Age of Athens?
The Golden Age of Athens was the period of Classical Greece in which Athens enjoyed the most wealth and prosperity. It occurred from 449 BC to 431 BC. During this period, many new temples were built, festivals were started, and the Acropolis was reconstructed. Both artists and sculptors flourished during this time as well.
What is a golden age in ancient Greece?
A “golden age” is a time of peace, prosperity, and happiness, often when cultural activities like art or writing reach a peak. The Greek city-state of Athens reached its Golden Age between 480 - 404 BCE.
What was Athens famous for in the Golden Age?
During its Golden Age, Athens, Greece was an artistic and intellectual hub. If there was a new contribution in the arts or sciences during this era in Greece, chances are that it was the work of an Athenian.
What happened to Athens in 431 BC?
In 431 B.C. the Spartans assembled an army of 60,000 hoplites to pillage and plunder Athens. They surrounded the fields and destroyed some grain and orchards for 30 days — while the Athenians were fortified within the walls of the city.
How did the Athenian Golden Age end?
The Peloponnesian War marked the end of the Golden Age of Greece, a change in styles of warfare and the fall of Athens, once the strongest city-state in Greece. The balance in power in Greece was shifted when Athens was absorbed into the Spartan Empire.
How long did the Golden Age of Athens last?
The golden age of Athenian culture is usually dated from 449 to 431 B.C., the years of relative peace between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. After the second Persian invasion of Greece in 479, Athens and its allies throughout the Aegean formed the Delian League, a military alliance focused on the Persian threat.
When did the Golden Age end?
Golden Age, in Latin literature, the period, from approximately 70 bc to ad 18, during which the Latin language was brought to perfection as a literary medium and many Latin classical masterpieces were composed.
When did ancient Athens end?
But the conversion of the Empire to Christianity ended the city's role as a centre of pagan learning; the Emperor Justinian closed the schools of philosophy in 529 AD. This is generally taken to mark the end of the ancient history of Athens. By 529 AD, Athens was under rule by the Byzantines and had grown out of favor.
What caused Athens to fall?
Three major causes of the rise and fall of Athens were its democracy, its leadership, and its arrogance. The democracy produced many great leaders, but unfortunately, also many bad leaders. Their arrogance was a result of great leadership in the Persian Wars, and it led to the end of Athenian power in Greece.
How did ancient Athens fall?
The war between Athens and the city-state Sparta ended with an Athenian defeat after Sparta started its own navy. Athenian democracy was briefly overthrown by the coup of 411, brought about because of its poor handling of the war, but it was quickly restored. The war ended with the complete defeat of Athens in 404.
Why did the Golden Age of ancient Greece end?
The “golden age” of Greece lasted for little more than a century but it laid the foundations of western civilization. The age began with the unlikely defeat of a vast Persian army by badly outnumbered Greeks and it ended with an inglorious and lengthy war between Athens and Sparta.
What volume does Golden Age end?
The plot of Berserk is divided in five major story arcs: "The Black Swordsman Arc" (黒い剣士篇, Kuroi Kenshi-hen) (volume 1–3); "Golden Age Arc" (黄金時代篇, Ōgon Jidai-hen) (volume 3–14); "Conviction Arc" (断罪篇, Danzai-hen) (volume 14–21); "Falcon of the Millennium Empire Arc" (千年王国の鷹編, Mireniamu Farukon-hen) (volume 22–35); " ...
What age is considered Golden Age?
age 65Generally speaking, the golden years begin at age 65 and last until age 80 and beyond. However, some experts question whether “golden years” still belongs in our vocabulary because the time span and definition of retirement have changed over the past half-century.
When did Athens fall to Sparta?
Finally, in 405 BC, at the Battle of Aegospotami , Lysander captured the Athenian fleet in the Hellespont. Lysander then sailed to Athens and closed off the Port of Piraeus. Athens was forced to surrender, and Sparta won the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC.
Who defeated Athens?
Spartan general LysanderIt would be another decade of warfare before the Spartan general Lysander defeated the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami. This defeat led to Athenian surrender. As a result, the Peloponnesian War was concluded. Simultaneous to the end of this conflict came the end of the golden age of ancient Greece.
When did Athenian democracy end?
Democratic regimes governed until Athens surrendered to Sparta in 404 BC, when the government was placed in the hands of the so-called Thirty Tyrants, who were pro-Spartan oligarchs.
Why was Athens considered a Golden Age?
Fifth-century Athens is the Greek city-state of Athens in the time from 480 to 404 BC. Formerly known as the Golden Age of Athens, the later part being the Age of Pericles, it was buoyed by political hegemony, economic growth and cultural flourishing.
What led to Athens Golden Age?
The “golden age” of Greece lasted for little more than a century but it laid the foundations of western civilization. The age began with the unlikely defeat of a vast Persian army by badly outnumbered Greeks and it ended with an inglorious and lengthy war between Athens and Sparta.
What was so special about Athens Golden Age?
Athens's Golden Age lasted for most of the 400s BCE. It was during this period that many of Greece's most famous and influential writers and thinkers lived. The fields of history, philosophy, and medicine were developed as areas of study.
What happened during the Golden Age?
By extension, "Golden Age" denotes a period of primordial peace, harmony, stability, and prosperity. During this age, peace and harmony prevailed in that people did not have to work to feed themselves for the earth provided food in abundance.
What happened to Sparta and Athens?
Athens’ democratic government implodes, and Sparta destroys their city’s fortifications and the long walls which once protected the road from Athens to Pire aus. At this point, the long conflict comes to a close and with the end of the Peloponnesian War comes the end of Athens’ golden age — but not the end of Athens altogether.
How long did the Spartans take to pillage Athens?
the Spartans assembled an army of 60,000 hoplites to pillage and plunder Athens. They surrounded the fields and destroyed some grain and orchards for 30 days — while the Athenians were fortified within the walls of the city. The Spartan soldiers eventually went home and the Athenians survived, thanks to their fortifications and the five-mile-long walls to a nearby port city of Pireaus.
What caused the Athenians to make bad decisions?
All throughout the Peloponnesian War, the political instabilities within Athens caused the Athenians to make bad decisions which would ultimately cost the city its position as the greatest in Greece. The Athenian assembly’s decision to execute Alcibiades, then bring him back, then exile him, is one example of how their fickleness led to their own demise. Though Athens suffered great loss throughout its drawn out conflict with Sparta, the city would rise once again from total defeat and make a comeback.
What did the Spartans ask the Athenians for?
After their fleet is destroyed again, the Spartans ask the Athenians for peace — which the Athenians spurn. The Athenian assembly also decide to execute all the Spartan political prisoners — which angers the Spartans — and decide to exile Alcibiades.
What made Athens vulnerable to attack?
The political instabilities within Athens made the city vulnerable to attack from its rival, Sparta. In the seventh lecture of Hillsdale College’s course on the histories of Athens and Sparta, which you can follow along with me here, Victor Davis Hanson, a history fellow at Hillsdale College, explains how the Peloponnesian War brought Athens’ ...
How did the Peloponnesian War start?
How The Peloponnesian War Began. After the defeat of the invading Persians, tensions between Athens and Sparta, which were allied during the Persian Wars, began to escalate. Both Sparta and Athens sought to shore up their superiority and might by gaining alliances with other, smaller cities within Greece. Megaris, a Greek city-state which was ...
What happened to the Athenians when they did not invade Sicily?
When the Athenians finally realized that they could not successfully invade Sicily, the troops fled home, but during their return, many died from disease and lack of food and water. This failed invasion pushed the Sicilians into the waiting arms of the Spartas — who formed an alliance against Athens.
Alejandra Mendez
When one pictures a Greek city-state, one pictures a beautiful city with a great leader to guide it, to give it courage in battle, and most importantly, to give its people hope. This Greek city-state was Athens, and this great leader was Pericles.
55 Responses
Greece is so full of beauty and tragedy. I enjoyed this article. Greek history runs deep because it’s an Ancient City. I like your ending sentence, “the end of Classical Greece.” Classical Greece is to be thought of gods and luxury, art and wine, money and growth.
How many people died in the Athens plague?
Plagues were nothing new for Classical Greece, but the scale of the Plague of Athens was unprecedented. It is estimated that some 50% of the city-state’s population died from the epidemic. It was indiscriminate. Old and young. Weak and strong, everyone was equally-susceptible to becoming a fatality.
What happened in 430 BC?
One of the most infamous occurred in 430 BC: the Plague of Athens. Earlier this week I was fortunate enough to interview Alastair Blanshard, a Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Queensland, about this devastating episode in Athenian history.
What was the first part of the Peloponnesian War?
The first part of the Peloponnesian War – known as the Archidamian War – still raged. Sparta wisely placed its troops far away from the disease-ridden city. But what is surprising is how effectively Athens managed to bounce back from this natural disaster.
What was Pericles' grand strategy?
As part of Pericles’ grand strategy to avoid a land battle with Sparta he had ordered that all Athenian citizens from across Attica withdraw behind Athens’ long walls; they would bring the fight to Sparta at sea. It was a sound strategy, but with it came unforeseen calamity.
Where did the plague originate?
The origins of the plague are unclear, but according to Thucydides it originated from Africa and arrived in Athens through its port: Piraeus. Remember, Athens at that time was an international centre; Piraeus was a hub of activity from across the Mediterranean World.
Did Thucydides recover from the plague?
Thucydides was present in the city when the disease erupted; he even fell victim to the plague, but recovered. It is from his eyewitness account that we can create such a vivid picture of this ancient disease – particularly its symptoms and how they developed.
Did the plague of Athens end the Golden Age?
Did the Plague of Athens End the City’s Golden Age? Plague in the ancient world was nothing unusual. Bouts of illness were common occurrences, but we do have accounts of some exceptional outbreaks: epidemics that brought powerful empires and city-states to their knees. One of the most infamous occurred in 430 BC: the Plague of Athens.
What Was The Golden Age of Athens
- The Golden Age of Athens was the period of Classical Greece in which Athens enjoyed the most wealth and prosperity. It occurred from 449 BC to 431 BC. During this period, many new temples were built, festivals were started, and the Acropolis was reconstructed. Both artists and sculptors flourished during this time as well. Athens was also a major c...
Who Was The Leader of The Golden Age?
- Pericles was the leader of the Golden Age of Athens. He was a famous orator and general. He increased democracy in Athens by extending citizenship to all free adult men. Pericles was a master orator, and he was known for his beautiful speeches. He died of the plague in 429 BC.
Factors That Led to The Golden Age
- 1. Athens was the most powerful city in Greece by this time. This helped Athens have success in war as well as many other things. 2. Athens gained many allies during the Peloponnesian War, which helped Athens become more powerful than Sparta. 3. Athens allowed all men to participate in its democracy and be citizens of Athens. That meant that people from all walks of life could joi…
Importance of The Golden Age of Athens
- The Golden Age of Athens was very pivotal to western civilization. Many famous thinkers, such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, lived in this time period. All of these people contributed greatly to the advancement of western civilization and the development of many other forms of philosophy and knowledge, such as science and mathematics. The writings and philosophies that came ou…
Achievements Made in The Golden Age
- 1. Athens was the most powerful city in Greece during this time. It had great military power and was very capable of war. This helped Athens become a powerful city-state, which later became one of the greatest countries ever to exist in Europe. 2. Athens’s democracy was much more open and accessible than other cities-states at this time. Citizens of all ages could participate in Athen…