Monday, September 5, 2011
Research Work
Please research on the following and post through your blog or to this blog as comment.
1. Peloponnesian War
a) Brief account having the content of who are involved, what are the issues/reasons for the war, how it ended and its result.
Peloponnesian wars (c.460-446, 431-404 bc). The first of these periods of warfare, sometimes called the first Peloponnesian war, although the second is never so designated, was sparked by Athenian aggression in the Argolid and the Saronic Gulf. It was complicated by Athens' continuing involvement in anti-Persian operations down to 450, and by Sparta's inability to strike overland at Attica due to the defection of Megara.
Athens began well, winning two sea battles off Aegina, before laying siege to the island's chief town, and twice defeating the Corinthians in the Megarid. Even when, in 457, a Spartan army crossed the Corinthian Gulf and defeated her at Tanagra, Athens' response, after the Peloponnesians had gone home, was to invade Boeotia, defeat the Boeotians at Oenophyta, and bring all Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris under her control. Shortly afterwards, Aegina surrendered, and perhaps in the summer of 456, an Athenian fleet sailed triumphantly round the Peloponnese, raiding as it went.
In 454 Athens' success was cut short by defeat in Egypt and growing unrest among her Aegean allies, and probably in 451-450 a five-year truce was negotiated with Sparta. Then, in 447, there was a revolt in central Greece, and after defeat at Koroneia, Athens abandoned Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris. Worse still, in the early summer of 446, Euboea revolted, and later that summer, after Megara had rejoined the Spartan alliance, a Peloponnesian army invaded Attica. Although it withdrew after ravaging the plain of Eleusis, Athens had had enough and a thirty-year peace was concluded.
In the spring of 431, this peace was broken by a Theban attack on Athens' ally, Plataea, and 80 days later by a Peloponnesian invasion of Attica. The causes of the war are controversial, but there is no good reason to doubt Thucydides' view (see Greek historians) that the fundamental cause was Sparta's fear of Athens. Twice before the war of 460-446 she had tried to do something about it, and although the events of 447-446 had seriously weakened Athens, there were signs that she had by no means learned her lesson. In 440-439, for example, she had crushed Samos, and Sparta would evidently have gone to war then but for the opposition of Corinth. In the 430s Corinth fell out with Athens over Kerkyra (Corcyra) (now Corfu) and Potidea, and another important ally, Megara, added her voice to the clamour for war.
Now able to invade Attica through the Megarid, Sparta did so five times down to 425, only desisting when Athens captured a number of her citizen hoplites on Sphakteria and threatened to kill them. At first, on Pericles' advice, the Athenians took refuge inside the walls surrounding the city and the Peiraeus, and responded to the Spartan ravaging merely by minor cavalry operations, raids on the Peloponnese, and biennial invasions of the Megarid. But after Pericles' death in 429 and the crushing of the Mytilenean revolt in 427, Athens adopted a more daring strategy, establishing bases on the Peloponnesian coast, notably at Pylos in Messenia. She also countered Peloponnesian operations in Acarnania, and twice attempted to knock Boeotia out of the war by over-elaborate, two-pronged invasions, the second of which ended in defeat at Delium, in 424.
In the same year, the Spartan Brasidas marched overland to Chalcidice and by a mixture of persuasion and threats succeeded in winning over a number of Athens' allies, including Amphipolis. His own death in battle outside the city, in 422, and that of the Athenian demagogue Cleon, led to the conclusion of peace.
The peace was unsatisfactory to many of Sparta's allies, and this and the ending of a peace between Sparta and Argos was exploited by the Athenian Alcibiades to create an anti-Spartan coalition in the Peloponnese. At the battle of Mantineia in 418, as Thucydides says Alcibiades claimed, the Spartans were forced to fight for their all on a single day. Although they were victorious, one has only to remember what happened after Leuctra to realize that this was the only way that Athens could ever have defeated Sparta, as opposed to merely ‘winning through’, the result Pericles had promised his strategy would achieve.
With Sparta's position in the Peloponnese once more secure, Alcibiades turned elsewhere for a field in which to exercise his talents, and, principally at his urging, in 415 Athens sent an expedition to Sicily, with himself as one of three commanders. The object is unclear, but it was either a pre-emptive strike to prevent Syracuse taking control of the island and then throwing her weight behind the Peloponnesians, or an extension of a long-held Athenian interest in the island which had already led to naval forces being sent there in 427-424, or a combination of the two. But the expedition became bogged down in a siege of Syracuse and ended in total disaster in 413. Whether it would have succeeded if Alcibiades had remained in command is doubtful, but in any case he was recalled early to answer charges of sacrilege, and rather than risk condemnation fled to Sparta.
Meanwhile mainland Greece had once more slipped into war, with the Athenians raiding the Peloponnese and the Spartans not only invading Attica in 413, but, on Alcibiades' advice, seizing a permanent base at Decelea in the foothills north of Athens. But the loss of so many ships and trained crews in Sicily changed the nature of the war. The Spartans were encouraged to try to match Athens at sea, while Athens' allies in the Aegean were in revolt and the king of Persia, infuriated by Athenian support for a rebel satrap, supported Sparta in the hope that his reward would be the Greek cities in Asia Minor which Athens had ‘liberated’ after 479.
The Peloponnesian war, 431-404 bc
(Click to enlarge)
The Spartans appreciated that the way to defeat Athens by sea was to win control of the Hellespont (Dardanelles) and Propontis (Sea of Marmara), through which essential supplies came to the now even more beleaguered city, and by 411 the conflict became increasingly focused in that area. Athens made a remarkable recovery but was at first hampered by internal problems, culminating in the overthrow of the democracy in June 411. However, the oligarchs who seized power were never able to reconcile the fleet at Samos to their rule, and in September they in turn were overthrown. At first only a limited form of democracy was restored, full rights being confined to the hoplite class, but the victory near Cyzicus, in 410, led to the restoration of the old system.
One paradoxical result of all this was the return of Alcibiades. After making Sparta too hot to hold him, he had fled to the Persians and started the train of events by suggesting that he might be able to win the Persians round if the democracy was replaced by a more congenial regime. Although the oligarchs soon dropped him, the fleet, at loggerheads with the new regime and all the more anxious to win Persian support, recalled him to Damos and elected him one of its commanders, despite his failure to deliver the promised Persian support. He played no part in the Athenian victory off Kynossema in the Hellespont in 411, but arrived in time to take part in the subsequent victory off Abydos, and another near Cyzicus in the following year. After further success in the north, including the recovery of Byzantium in 408, he returned triumphantly to Athens in 407, and was soon given supreme command of the Athenian navy on the west coast of Asia Minor.
But the new Spartan commander in the area, Lysander, was not to be lured into premature battle, and while Alcibiades was absent, his lieutenant was drawn into a scrambling fight off Notium, in which he lost his life and a number of ships. Furious, the Athenians sacked Alcibiades, who fled to Thrace. When Lysander in turn was superseded, the new Spartan commander, having succeeded in bottling up the Athenian fleet in the harbour of Mytilene, was then himself defeated off the Arginusae in 406. The Persians and Sparta's allies in western Asia Minor then demanded Lysander's reinstatement, and it was he who won the decisive battle at Aegospotami in 405. Athens held out to the spring of 404, but, now blockaded by both land and sea, was eventually compelled to surrender.
In the end the Spartans won primarily because Persian gold enabled them to build more ships when battles were lost, and to outbid Athens for mercenaries. But Sparta also recognized from the first that Athens would have to be beaten by sea, because she depended on seaborne supplies, whereas, apart from Alcibiades perhaps, the Athenians do not appear to have realized that Sparta could only be beaten by land. It took the Theban Epaminondas to show the way by his victory at Leuctra and subsequent invasion of the Spartan homeland.
Peloponnesian wars (c.460-446, 431-404 bc). The first of these periods of warfare, sometimes called the first Peloponnesian war, although the second is never so designated, was sparked by Athenian aggression in the Argolid and the Saronic Gulf. It was complicated by Athens' continuing involvement in anti-Persian operations down to 450, and by Sparta's inability to strike overland at Attica due to the defection of Megara.
Athens began well, winning two sea battles off Aegina, before laying siege to the island's chief town, and twice defeating the Corinthians in the Megarid. Even when, in 457, a Spartan army crossed the Corinthian Gulf and defeated her at Tanagra, Athens' response, after the Peloponnesians had gone home, was to invade Boeotia, defeat the Boeotians at Oenophyta, and bring all Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris under her control. Shortly afterwards, Aegina surrendered, and perhaps in the summer of 456, an Athenian fleet sailed triumphantly round the Peloponnese, raiding as it went.
In 454 Athens' success was cut short by defeat in Egypt and growing unrest among her Aegean allies, and probably in 451-450 a five-year truce was negotiated with Sparta. Then, in 447, there was a revolt in central Greece, and after defeat at Koroneia, Athens abandoned Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris. Worse still, in the early summer of 446, Euboea revolted, and later that summer, after Megara had rejoined the Spartan alliance, a Peloponnesian army invaded Attica. Although it withdrew after ravaging the plain of Eleusis, Athens had had enough and a thirty-year peace was concluded.
In the spring of 431, this peace was broken by a Theban attack on Athens' ally, Plataea, and 80 days later by a Peloponnesian invasion of Attica. The causes of the war are controversial, but there is no good reason to doubt Thucydides' view (see Greek historians) that the fundamental cause was Sparta's fear of Athens. Twice before the war of 460-446 she had tried to do something about it, and although the events of 447-446 had seriously weakened Athens, there were signs that she had by no means learned her lesson. In 440-439, for example, she had crushed Samos, and Sparta would evidently have gone to war then but for the opposition of Corinth. In the 430s Corinth fell out with Athens over Kerkyra (Corcyra) (now Corfu) and Potidea, and another important ally, Megara, added her voice to the clamour for war.
Now able to invade Attica through the Megarid, Sparta did so five times down to 425, only desisting when Athens captured a number of her citizen hoplites on Sphakteria and threatened to kill them. At first, on Pericles' advice, the Athenians took refuge inside the walls surrounding the city and the Peiraeus, and responded to the Spartan ravaging merely by minor cavalry operations, raids on the Peloponnese, and biennial invasions of the Megarid. But after Pericles' death in 429 and the crushing of the Mytilenean revolt in 427, Athens adopted a more daring strategy, establishing bases on the Peloponnesian coast, notably at Pylos in Messenia. She also countered Peloponnesian operations in Acarnania, and twice attempted to knock Boeotia out of the war by over-elaborate, two-pronged invasions, the second of which ended in defeat at Delium, in 424.
In the same year, the Spartan Brasidas marched overland to Chalcidice and by a mixture of persuasion and threats succeeded in winning over a number of Athens' allies, including Amphipolis. His own death in battle outside the city, in 422, and that of the Athenian demagogue Cleon, led to the conclusion of peace.
The peace was unsatisfactory to many of Sparta's allies, and this and the ending of a peace between Sparta and Argos was exploited by the Athenian Alcibiades to create an anti-Spartan coalition in the Peloponnese. At the battle of Mantineia in 418, as Thucydides says Alcibiades claimed, the Spartans were forced to fight for their all on a single day. Although they were victorious, one has only to remember what happened after Leuctra to realize that this was the only way that Athens could ever have defeated Sparta, as opposed to merely ‘winning through’, the result Pericles had promised his strategy would achieve.
With Sparta's position in the Peloponnese once more secure, Alcibiades turned elsewhere for a field in which to exercise his talents, and, principally at his urging, in 415 Athens sent an expedition to Sicily, with himself as one of three commanders. The object is unclear, but it was either a pre-emptive strike to prevent Syracuse taking control of the island and then throwing her weight behind the Peloponnesians, or an extension of a long-held Athenian interest in the island which had already led to naval forces being sent there in 427-424, or a combination of the two. But the expedition became bogged down in a siege of Syracuse and ended in total disaster in 413. Whether it would have succeeded if Alcibiades had remained in command is doubtful, but in any case he was recalled early to answer charges of sacrilege, and rather than risk condemnation fled to Sparta.
Meanwhile mainland Greece had once more slipped into war, with the Athenians raiding the Peloponnese and the Spartans not only invading Attica in 413, but, on Alcibiades' advice, seizing a permanent base at Decelea in the foothills north of Athens. But the loss of so many ships and trained crews in Sicily changed the nature of the war. The Spartans were encouraged to try to match Athens at sea, while Athens' allies in the Aegean were in revolt and the king of Persia, infuriated by Athenian support for a rebel satrap, supported Sparta in the hope that his reward would be the Greek cities in Asia Minor which Athens had ‘liberated’ after 479.
The Peloponnesian war, 431-404 bc
(Click to enlarge)
The Spartans appreciated that the way to defeat Athens by sea was to win control of the Hellespont (Dardanelles) and Propontis (Sea of Marmara), through which essential supplies came to the now even more beleaguered city, and by 411 the conflict became increasingly focused in that area. Athens made a remarkable recovery but was at first hampered by internal problems, culminating in the overthrow of the democracy in June 411. However, the oligarchs who seized power were never able to reconcile the fleet at Samos to their rule, and in September they in turn were overthrown. At first only a limited form of democracy was restored, full rights being confined to the hoplite class, but the victory near Cyzicus, in 410, led to the restoration of the old system.
One paradoxical result of all this was the return of Alcibiades. After making Sparta too hot to hold him, he had fled to the Persians and started the train of events by suggesting that he might be able to win the Persians round if the democracy was replaced by a more congenial regime. Although the oligarchs soon dropped him, the fleet, at loggerheads with the new regime and all the more anxious to win Persian support, recalled him to Damos and elected him one of its commanders, despite his failure to deliver the promised Persian support. He played no part in the Athenian victory off Kynossema in the Hellespont in 411, but arrived in time to take part in the subsequent victory off Abydos, and another near Cyzicus in the following year. After further success in the north, including the recovery of Byzantium in 408, he returned triumphantly to Athens in 407, and was soon given supreme command of the Athenian navy on the west coast of Asia Minor.
But the new Spartan commander in the area, Lysander, was not to be lured into premature battle, and while Alcibiades was absent, his lieutenant was drawn into a scrambling fight off Notium, in which he lost his life and a number of ships. Furious, the Athenians sacked Alcibiades, who fled to Thrace. When Lysander in turn was superseded, the new Spartan commander, having succeeded in bottling up the Athenian fleet in the harbour of Mytilene, was then himself defeated off the Arginusae in 406. The Persians and Sparta's allies in western Asia Minor then demanded Lysander's reinstatement, and it was he who won the decisive battle at Aegospotami in 405. Athens held out to the spring of 404, but, now blockaded by both land and sea, was eventually compelled to surrender.
In the end the Spartans won primarily because Persian gold enabled them to build more ships when battles were lost, and to outbid Athens for mercenaries. But Sparta also recognized from the first that Athens would have to be beaten by sea, because she depended on seaborne supplies, whereas, apart from Alcibiades perhaps, the Athenians do not appear to have realized that Sparta could only be beaten by land. It took the Theban Epaminondas to show the way by his victory at Leuctra and subsequent invasion of the Spartan homeland.
2. Persian War
a) Brief account having the content of who are involved, what are the issues/reasons for the war, how it ended and its result.
Persian Wars, a series of conflicts between the Greek states and the Persian empire, beginning in 490 BC, when the Persian king Darius invaded mainland Greece, and ending in 479 BC, when his son Xerxes, having suffered comprehensive defeats on land and at sea, was forced to withdraw from the Aegean (more loosely, the Wars can be said to extend from 499, when the Ionian Greek cities of Asia Minor rebelled against Persian rule, to c.449, when Greece and Persia agreed peace). After the rebellion, Persian rule in Asia Minor was restored in 494, and Darius decided to punish Athens and Eretria for the help they had given the Ionian colonists. In 492 the Persians conquered Thrace and Macedonia, but the Persian fleet was wrecked in a storm, bringing the expedition to an end. Two years later the Persians attacked again; they destroyed Eretria and landed an army in Attica in the Bay of Marathon. The Athenians appealed to Sparta for help (see PHEIDIPPIDES), but the Spartans arrived too late and the Athenians, numbering some ten thousand, had to face a far stronger enemy with help only from Platea, who sent all her hoplites (heavy infantry), a thousand men. Led by Miltiades, the Greeks won a great victory, utterly routing the enemy. According to Herodotus, 6, 400 Persians were killed, and only 192 Athenians. This was the end of the First Persian War, in reality a minor affair aimed only at Athens and Eretria, but in popular estimation soon acquiring mythical status. For Aristophanes and others sixty years later the ‘men who fought at Marathon’, Marathōnomachai, epitomized the stubborn virtues of the old soldier. The epitaph of Aeschylus the tragedian claimed as his only glory that he had fought in the battle.
Darius at once set about measures for a new invasion. He died in 486, but his son and successor Xerxes carried on the preparations on a huge scale and in 480 attacked by land and sea. The numbers given by Herodotus for the size of the Persian forces are fantastic; modern estimates are 200, 000 men for the army and 600 ships for the navy. The route of the Persian army lay through the narrow pass of Thermopylae, which was held by the Spartan king Leonidas. For two days he and his contingent held back the Persians and inflicted heavy losses on them. Then a traitor showed the Persians a mountain path by which they could outflank the Greek position. When Leonidas heard what had happened he dismissed his allies but remained with his 300 Spartans to die heroically in an impossible last stand (for their epitaph see SIMONIDES). The Persians now advanced into Attica, and Athens, which had been evacuated, was captured and burned in September 480. At sea, however, the Athenians remained strong, and within days of the sack of Athens the Greeks won a brilliant and crushing victory over the Persian fleet at Salamis. Xerxes, who had watched the battle from a throne on the mainland shore, returned to Persia, leaving a picked force to winter in Thessaly and continue the campaign by land. In the following year (479) the Greeks won a decisive victory near Plataea, during which the Persian commander Mardonius was killed. Meanwhile the Greek fleet had gone on to the offensive, and on the same day (it is said) as the battle at Plataea won another victory at Mycalē on the Ionian coast. These two victories ended the Persian threat, and until hostilities were formally ended by the Peace of Callias, the Greeks were on the offensive.
As a result of the Persian Wars, Greeks in general became increasingly conscious of their own nationality and superiority, and the Athenian city-state in particular gained enormously in pride and self-confidence. Our knowledge of these wars is derived mainly from Herodotus. Of contemporary evidence there are inscriptions, some epigrams of Simonides, and Aeschylus' tragedy the Persians. The Persian side of the story is unknown.
A second expedition, commanded by Artaphernes and Datis, destroyed (490) Eretria and then proceeded against Athens. The Persians encamped 20 mi (32 km) from the city, on the coast plain of Marathon. Here they were attacked and decisively defeated (Sept.) by the Athenian army of 10,000 men aided by 1,000 men from Plataea. The Athenians were heavily outnumbered, but fought under Miltiades, whose strategy won the battle. They had sought the help of Sparta, by way of the Athenian courier Pheidippides, who covered the distance (c.150 mi; 241 km) from Athens to Sparta within two days. The Spartan forces, however, failed to reach Marathon until the day after the battle.
The Persians did not continue the war, but Darius at once began preparations for a third expedition so powerful that the overwhelming of Greece would be certain. He died (486) before his preparations were completed, but they were continued by Xerxes I, his son and successor. The Athenians were persuaded by their leader Themistocles to strengthen their navy. In 480, Xerxes reached Greece with a tremendous army and navy, and considerable support among the Greeks. The route of the Persian land forces lay through the narrow pass of Thermopylae. The pass was defended by the Spartan Leonidas; his small army held back the Persians but was eventually trapped by a Persian detachment; the Spartan contingent chose to die fighting in the pass rather than flee. The Athenians put their trust in their navy and made little effort to defend their city, which was taken (480) by the Persians.
Shortly afterward the Persian fleet was crushed in the straits off the island of Salamis by a Greek force. The Greek victory was aided by the strategy of Themistocles. Xerxes returned to Persia but left a military force in Greece under his general, Mardonius. The defeat of this army in 479 at Plataea near Thebes (now Thívai) by a Greek army under the Spartan Pausanias (with Aristides commanding the Athenians) and a Greek naval victory at Mycale on the coast of Asia Minor ended all danger from Persian invasions of Europe. During the remaining period of the Persian Wars the Greeks in the Aegean islands and Asia Minor, under Athenian leadership (see Delian League) strengthened their position without seeking conquest.
The Persians did not continue the war, but Darius at once began preparations for a third expedition so powerful that the overwhelming of Greece would be certain. He died (486) before his preparations were completed, but they were continued by Xerxes I, his son and successor. The Athenians were persuaded by their leader Themistocles to strengthen their navy. In 480, Xerxes reached Greece with a tremendous army and navy, and considerable support among the Greeks. The route of the Persian land forces lay through the narrow pass of Thermopylae. The pass was defended by the Spartan Leonidas; his small army held back the Persians but was eventually trapped by a Persian detachment; the Spartan contingent chose to die fighting in the pass rather than flee. The Athenians put their trust in their navy and made little effort to defend their city, which was taken (480) by the Persians.
Shortly afterward the Persian fleet was crushed in the straits off the island of Salamis by a Greek force. The Greek victory was aided by the strategy of Themistocles. Xerxes returned to Persia but left a military force in Greece under his general, Mardonius. The defeat of this army in 479 at Plataea near Thebes (now Thívai) by a Greek army under the Spartan Pausanias (with Aristides commanding the Athenians) and a Greek naval victory at Mycale on the coast of Asia Minor ended all danger from Persian invasions of Europe. During the remaining period of the Persian Wars the Greeks in the Aegean islands and Asia Minor, under Athenian leadership (see Delian League) strengthened their position without seeking conquest.
3. Gods and Goddesses of Greece and Rome Compared
Greek Gods and their Roman Counterparts
| Greek God (English name) | Roman Counterpart | Domain | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aphrodite | Venus | Goddess of Love | |
| Apollo | Phoebus Apollo | God of Light | |
| Ares | Mars | God of war | |
| Artemis | Diana | Virgin goddess of the hunt, wilderness, wild animals, childbirth and plague. In later times she became associated with the moon. | |
| Athena | Minerva | Goddess of wisdom | |
| Demeter | Ceres | Goddess of grain/crops | |
| Dionysus | Bacchus | God of wine | |
| Eros | Cupid | God of love | |
| Hades | Pluto | God of underworld | |
| Helios | Sol | The sun God | |
| Hephaestus | Vulcan | God of fire | |
| Hera | Juno | Queen of the Gods | |
| Hermes | Mercury | Messenger of the Gods | |
| Nike | Victoria | Goddess of victory | |
| Pan | Faunus | God of woods and pastures | |
| Poseidon | Neptune | God of the sea | |
| Zeus | Jupiter | King of Gods |
Greek Gods and Goddesses and
Roman Gods Goddesses
Compared
Although Greek Gods are arguably better known, Greek and Roman mythology often have the same Gods with different names because many Roman Gods are borrowed from Greek mythology, often with different traits. For example, Cupid is the Roman god of Love and Eros is the Greek god of Love. Ares is the unpopular and feared Greek god of war and his Roman counterpart is Mars who is the revered martial fertility god.Comparison
4. Olympics
a)brief history
According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles (the Roman Hercules), a son of Zeus. Yet the first Olympic Games for which we still have written records were held in 776 BCE (though it is generally believed that the Games had been going on for many years already). At this Olympic Games, a naked runner, Coroebus (a cook from Elis), won the sole event at the Olympics, the stade - a run of approximately 192 meters (210 yards). This made Coroebus the very first Olympic champion in history.
Coubertin's attempt to get France interested in sports was not met with enthusiasm. Still, Coubertin persisted. In 1890, he organized and founded a sports organization, Union des Sociétés Francaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA). Two years later, Coubertin first pitched his idea to revive the Olympic Games. At a meeting of the Union des Sports Athlétiques in Paris on November 25, 1892, Coubertin stated,Let us export our oarsmen, our runners, our fencers into other lands. That is the true Free Trade of the future; and the day it is introduced into Europe the cause of Peace will have received a new and strong ally. It inspires me to touch upon another step I now propose and in it I shall ask that the help you have given me hitherto you will extend again, so that together we may attempt to realise [sic], upon a basis suitable to the conditions of our modern life, the splendid and beneficent task of reviving the Olympic Games.
His speech did not inspire action. Though Coubertin was not the first to propose the revival of the Olympic Games, he was certainly the most well-connected and persistent of those to do so. Two years later, Coubertin organized a meeting with 79 delegates who represented nine countries. He gathered these delegates in an auditorium that was decorated by neoclassical murals and similar additional points of ambiance. At this meeting, Coubertin eloquently spoke of the revival of the Olympic Games. This time, Coubertin aroused interest.
The delegates at the conference voted unanimously for the Olympic Games. The delegates also decided to have Coubertin construct an international committee to organize the Games. This committee became the International Olympic Committee (IOC; Comité Internationale Olympique) and Demetrious Vikelas from Greece was selected to be its first president. Athens was chosen as the location for the revival of the Olympic Games and the planning was begun.
b)contests/events
Olympic sports
c)Filipino winners to the Beijing Olympics
- Eric Ang – Lone Shooting
- Mark Javier – Archery
- Harry Tanamor – Boxing
- Heidilyn Diaz – Weightliftting
- Mary Antoinette Rivero – Taekwondo
- Tshomlee Go – Taekwondo
- Miguel Molina – Swimming
- James Walsh – Swimming
- David Coakley – Swimming
- Ryan Arebejo - Swimming
- Christel Simms - Swimming
- Sheila Mae Perez –Diving
- Ryan Rexel Fabriga – Diving
- Henry Dagmil – Track and Field
- Marestella Torres - Track and Field
5. Great Greek Philosophers: Books written/Philosohies/contribution.
 | We know almost nothing about Thales of Miletus. Later generations told many anecdotes about this wise man, but it is difficult to verify the reliability of these stories. What seems certain, however, is that he predicted the solar eclipse of 28 May 585, which was remembered because the Lydian king Alyattes and the Median leader Cyaxares were fighting a battle on that day. Another reliable bit of information is that he did geometrical research, which enabled him to measure the pyramids. However, his most important contribution to European civilization is his attempt to give rational explanations for physical phenomena. Behind the phenomena was not a catalogue of deities, but one single, first principle. Although his identification of this principle with water is rather unfortunate, his idea to look for deeper causes was the true beginning of philosophy and science. Thales died after 547. | |
 | Thales was not the only one who was looking for a first cause. Pythagoras of Samos (c.570-c.495) did the same. According to legend, he left his country and studied with the wise men of Egypt, but was taken captive when the Persian king Cambyses invaded the country of the Nile (525). He now became a student of the Chaldaeans of Babylon and the Magians of Persia. Some even say that he visited the Indian Brahmans, because Pythagoras believed in reincarnation. At the end of the sixth century, he lived in southern Italy, where he founded a community of philosophers. In his view, our world was governed by numbers, and therefore essentially harmonious. | |
 | Heraclitus was a rich man from Ephesus and lived c.500, during the Persian occupation of his home town. His philosophical work consists of a series of cryptical pronouncements that force a reader to think. Unfortunately, a great part of his work is lost, which makes it very difficult to reconstruct Heraclitus' ideas. It seems certain, however, that he thought that the basic principle of the universe was the logos, i.e. the fact that it was rationally organized and therefore understandable. Bipolar oppositions are one form of organization, but the sage understands that these oppositions are just aspects of one reality. Fire is the physical aspect of the perfect logos. | |
 | Parmenides of Elea was a younger contemporary of Heraclitus of Ephesus, but he lived at the opposite end of the Greek world: in Italy. Both men were intrigued by the immense variety of phenomena, but where Heraclitus discerned order in the chaos, Parmenides pointed out that the endless variety and eternal changes were just an illusion. In a long poem, which partially survives, he opposed 'being' to 'not being', and pointed out that change was impossible, because it would mean that something that was 'not being' changed into 'being', which is absurd. In other words, we had to distrust our senses and rely solely on our intellect. The result was a distinction between two worlds: the unreal world which we experience every day, and the reality, which we can reach by thinking. This idea was to prove one of the most influential in western culture. | |
 | One of the solutions to the problem postulated by Parmenides of Elea, was the hypothesis of Democritus of Abdera: matter is made up from atoms. There was no real evidence for this idea (which was not completely new), but it explained why change was possible. The atoms were always moving and clustering in various, temporary combinations. Therefore, things seemed to change, but 'not being' never changed into 'being'. (It was assumed that 'not being' was a vacuum, which means that it is in fact not a 'not being' because a vacuum exists in four dimensions.) The consequence of this idea is that we are allowed to use our senses, although Democritus warns us to be careful. | |
 | Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, and Democritus had been trying to explain the diversity of nature. The object of the studies of the Athenian philosopher Socrates (469-399) was altogether different: he was interested in ethics. It was his axiom that no one would knowingly do a bad thing. So knowledge was important, because it resulted in good behavior. If we are to believe his student Plato, Socrates was always asking people about what they knew, and invariably they had to admit that they did not really understand what was meant by words like courage, friendship, love etc. Socrates was never without critics. The comic poet Aristophanes ridiculed him in The clouds, and when his pupil Alcibiades had committed high treason, Socrates' position became very difficult. He was forced to drink hemlock after a charge that he had corrupted the youth. Among his students were Antisthenes, Plato and Xenophon. | |
 | In the decade after the death of Socrates, Antisthenes (c.445-c.365) was the most important Athenian philosopher. Like his master, he tried to find out what words mean, but he was convinced that it was not possible to establish really good definitions (which brought him into conflict with Plato). He did only partially agree with Socrates that someone who knew what was good, would not do a bad thing. Antisthenes added that one also had to be strong enough ("as strong as Socrates") to pursue what was good. Therefore, Antisthenes recommended physical training of all kinds, and wanted his students to refrain from luxury. His most famous pupil was Diogenes of Sinope. | |
 | The Athenian philosopher Plato (427-347) is usually called a pupil of Socrates, but his ideas are no less inspired by Parmenides. Plato accepted the world of the phenomena as a mere shadow of the real world of the ideas. When we observe a horse, we recognize what it is because our soul remembers the idea of the horse from the time before our birth. In Plato's political philosophy, only wise men who understand the dual nature of reality are fit to rule the country. He made three voyages to Syracuse to establish his ideal state, both times without lasting results. Plato's hypothesis that our soul was once in a better place and now lives in a fallen world made it easy to combine platonic philosophy and Christianity, which accounts for the popularity of Platonism in Late Antiquity. One element, however, was not acceptable: the idea of platonic love - a homosexual relation with pedagogical aspects. | |
 | Diogenes of Sinope (c.412-c.323) was a student of Antisthenes. Both men are called the founder of the school that is known as Cynicism. The essential point in this world-view is that man suffers from too much civilization. We are happiest when our life is simplest, which means that we have to live in accordance with nature - just like animals. Human culture, however, is dominated by things that prevent simplicity: money, for example, and our longing for status. Like his master, Diogenes refrained from luxury and often ridiculed civilized life. His philosophy gained some popularity because he focused upon personal integrity, whereas men like Plato and Aristotle of Stagira had been thinking about man's life and honor as member of a city state - a type of political unit that was losing importance in the age of Alexander the Great. However, we can not return to nature. The Cynics became some sort of jesters, accepted at the royal courts because their criticism was essentially harmless. | |
 | Plato's most famous student was the Macedonian scientist Aristotle of Stagira (384-322). After the death of his master, he studied biology and accepted a position as teacher of the Macedonian crown prince Alexander at Mieza. When the Macedonians subdued Greece, Aristotle founded a school at Athens. Most of his writings are lost; what remains are his lecture notes, which were rediscovered in the first century BCE. During the last decades, scholars have started to re-examine the fragments of the lost works, which has led to important changes in our understanding of Aristotle's philosophy. However, the accepted view remains that he replaced his master's speculations with a more down-to-earth philosophy. His main works are the Prior Analytics(in which he described the rules of logic), the Physics, the Animal History, the Rhetorics, the Poetics, the Metaphysics, the Nicomachean Ethics, and the Politics. All these books have become classics, and it is not exaggerated to say that Aristotle is the most influential philosopher of all ages and the founder of modern science. | |
| All philosophers are confident that rational thinking is the road to truth. Except for Pyrrho of Elis (c.360-c.270BCE), who entertained some doubts about the quest for knowledge. He argued that we can not fully comprehend nature, do not know for certain whether a statement is true or false, and are unable to build an ethical system on so weak a fundament. People would be happier if they gave up these useless intellectual exercises and postponed their judgment. The result was a conservative political philosophy, because Pyrrho recommended that, even though we had no moral absolutes, we should live by time-honored traditions. The weakness of his system is, of course, twofold: in the first place, one can not postpone a judgment forever, because sometimes action has to be undertaken; in the second place, how can you be certain that certain knowledge is impossible? Pyrrho's world-view is called Skepticism, and may be compared to the postmodernist philosophy of the 1980's. | ||
 | We live happiest when we are free from the pains of life, and a virtuous life is the best way to obtain this goal. This is, in a nutshell, the view of the Samian philosopher Epicurus (342-271). In his opinion, we are unable to understand the gods, who may or may not have created this world but are in any case not really interested in mankind. Nor do we know life after death - if there is an existence at all after our bodies have decomposed. Therefore, we must not speculate about gods and afterlife. In Antiquity, Epicurism was the most popular of all philosophical schools, a popularity which it partially owed to the fact that its founder had explained his thoughts in several maxims, which even the illiterate could remember. Predictably, Christian philosophers attacked Epicurus' ideas about the afterlife and divine providence. | |
 | After the conquests of Alexander, the world was larger than ever, and the city-state had ceased to be an important political unit. Like Diogenes of Sinope and Epicurus, Zeno of Citium (336-264 BCE) ignored traditional values like prestige and honor, and focused on man's inner peace. In his view, this was reached when a person accepted life as it was, knowing that the world was rationally organized by the logos. A man's mind should control his emotions and body, so that one could live according to the rational principles of the world. It has often been said that Zeno's ideas combine Greek philosophy with Semitic mysticism, but except for his descent from a Phoenician town on Cyprus and an interest in (Babylonian) astronomy, there is not much proof for this idea. This philosophy, called Stoicism, became very influential under Roman officials. | |
 | Zeno of Citium was succeeded as head of the Stoic school at Athens by Cleanthes, who was in turn succeeded by Chrysippus, a native of Soli in Cilicia (c.279-c.206). His contributions to the development of philosophy can especially be found in the field of logic, where he studied paradoxes and the way an argument should be constructed. He also reflected upon the use of allegoresis, which is a way to read a text metaphorically and find hidden meanings (or construct them). From now on, philosophers started to use the epics of Homer and the tragedies of Euripides as if they were philosophical treatises. Finally, Chrysippus was the man who concluded that if the rational principle of the universe, the logos, was divine, the world could be defined as a manifestation of God. | |
 | We are ill-informed about the development of philosophy after the origin of the Stoa, Epicurism, Skepticism, Cynicism, Aristoteleanism, and Platonism. For several reasons, nearly all texts are lost. This was also the fate of the works of the Stoic sage Posidonius of Apamea (c.135-51), but his books are often quoted by other authors. As a philosopher, he was not an innovator, but applied the theory to science and scholarship. For example, his Histories were a philosophical continuation of the World History of Polybius of Megalopolis. Among his other publications were treatises in which the Stoic world view was applied to everyday subjects: On anger, On virtue, and Consolation. Being more interested in educating the masses than in theoretical purity, he often borrowed ideas from other schools. Philosophy after Posidonius often was a cross-fertilization between viewpoints (e.g., Plutarch of Chaeronea and Plotinus). | |
| The charismatic teacher and miracle worker Apollonius lived in the first century AD. He was born in Tyana and gave a new interpretation to Pythagoreanism, which was essentially a combination of ascesis and mysticism. In his books On astrology and On sacrifices, he demanded bloodless offerings to the One God, who needs nothing even from beings higher than ourselves. This brought Apollonius into conflict with the religious establishment, but he was recognized as a great sage and received divine honors in the third century. Although the Athenian Philostratus wrote a lengthy Life of Apollonius, hardly anything is certain about the man who was and is frequently compared to the Jewish sage and miracle worker Jesus of Nazareth. | ||
 | In his own age, the Delphian oracle priest Plutarch of Chaeronea (46-c.122) was immensely popular because he was, like Posidonius of Apamea, able to explain philosophical discussions to a general audience. Among his Moral treatises are treatises like Checking anger, the useful The art of listening, the fascinating How to know whether one progresses to virtue, and the charming Advice to bride and groom. Plutarch also wrote double biographies, in which he usually compared a Greek to a Roman (e.g., Alexander and Julius Caesar). In the epilogue, he analyzed their respective characters. The result is not only an entertaining biography, but also a better understanding of a morally exemplary person, which the reader can use for his own progress to virtue. | |
| Born in Phrygia, Epictetus (c.50-c.125 CE) became a slave of the emperor Nero's courtier Epaphroditus. When he was old, useless and therefore "freed" from slavery, he had to make a living and started to teach the Stoic philosophy, first at Rome and (after the emperor Domitian had expelled the philosophers in 89) at Nicopolis in western Greece. Because Epictetus was able to explain Stoicism in a systematic way and with an open eye to its practical applications, he had many students from the rich senatorial order, which ruled the Roman empire. Among these men were the future emperor Hadrian and the historian Arrian of Nicomedia, who published several of his conversations. Epictetus wrote a Handbook, which is arguably the most popular book on philosophy that was ever written. | ||
 | After the age of Posidonius of Apamea, it was not uncommon that philosophers from one school borrowed concepts and ideas from other branches of philosophy. Slowly, the schools were merging, and a new synthesis (called Neo-Platonism) was created by Plotinus(205-270). Like Plato, he accepted that our world was a mere shadow of the world of the ideas, which was in turn -and this was a novel idea- a shadow of an even higher world, which was again a shadow of the One God. In other words, the world has four levels of reality: God was the highest level, and then there were the levels of the intellect, the soul, and matter. (That matter is more real than the speculative levels of existence, was an unusual idea in Antiquity.) According to Plotinus, the wise man would try, by means of ascesis, to free his soul from matter and unite it with God. Plotinus achieved this mystical unity several times. His philosophy was adopted by the fathers of the church Ambrose and Augustine, and was to remain the philosophical school par excellence until Aristotle of Stagira was rediscovered in the twelfth century. | |
Monday, August 1, 2011
ASSIGNMENT
1. Pope John Paul II is the only pope honored by Turkey, a Muslim nation. His statue stands at center of city square of Saint Esprit Cathedral,Istanbul,Turkey.
2. Who designed the tallest building in Hong Kong?
Chris Emmanuelle Daero Francisco
3. In September 11, 2011, two commercial airplanes commandeered by terrorist crashed and destroyed the World Trade Center in New York. Is this the first time that an airplane crashed into skycraper in New York?
No,because the first time that an airplane crashed into a skycraper in New York was in Sept.11,2001.
4. Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world. It is located in Dubai. The construction started in Sept. 21,2004 and was finished October 1,2009.
5. What are the four territories composing the United Kingdom? and where the name Great Britain came from?
The 4 territories of UK are England,Northern Ireland,Scotland,Wales. The name Britain goes back to Roman times when they called England and Wales "Britannia" (or "Britannia Major", to distinguished from "Britannia Minor", ie Brittany in France). The Roman province of Britannia only covered the areas of modern England and Wales. The area of modern Scotland was never finally conquered.
