Welcome to the Listening Time podcast. I’m Conner from polyglossa.com, and you’re listening to Episode 27 of the Listening Time podcast.

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Alright, so today, we have an interesting episode. It’s a little bit different from my other episodes because today, we’re going to talk about Ancient Greece, and in particular, ancient Athens. So, this episode will be a little more historical than the other episodes, and there will be more information and historical facts. So, hopefully you’ll like it and hopefully you learn something from this episode and you find it interesting. Alright, let’s get started.

Okay, so let’s start talking about Ancient Greece and ancient Athens, in particular. Of course, you might have learned a little bit about Ancient Greece in school in your history class or something like that. But, you probably don’t remember a ton about this civilization. But this people, this culture was very important and is still very important to the world today, because today, we still have many things that were influenced by the ancient Greeks. So of course, they had a very big impact on our world. So, we’re going to talk a little bit about the history of Athens, the capital of Greece, and we’ll just give a general overview of how Athens became a world power and the influence that it had on the rest of the world. When I say an “overview”, I’m saying a summary. So, if I give a brief overview of something, I’m giving a short summary of something.

So, I’m going to try to give you an overview of the history of Athens. And first of all, it’s important to note that one of the reasons why we know a lot about this culture and this civilization is that there were some good Greek historians that wrote about that time period. The most famous one was probably Herodotus, and there were some after him as well: for example, Xenaphon and some others. So, we have some great writings from these historians. And really, this period was basically the start of historical record keeping, if I’m not mistaken. I think in an earlier episode, I used the phrase “if I’m not mistaken”. This just means that I’m not 100% sure about something, but I’m pretty sure that it’s true. So, we can use that phrase when we give some fact that we’re almost sure about, but we’re not 100% sure about.

So, if I’m not mistaken, I believe that this period of ancient Greece, during the fifth century BC, the fourth century BC, this was the time period when historians started keeping records of what happened in history. So, that’s pretty cool, because we can learn about our history. So, ancient Athens became the ancient capital of democracy, philosophy, art, literature, science, and of course there was also a lot of war in that time period in Athens. So, there were so many things going on at the time, so many important things.

So, let’s talk a little bit about how it all started. So, Athens was once a very small town. Before it became a world power, it was just a small town in Greece. It wasn’t anything special. But in 547 BC, a man named Pisistratus came into Athens with a very tall woman by his side, who he claimed was Athena. If you don’t know the name Athena, this is just the name of the Greek goddess who was the protector of Athens and some other cities, I think. So, he came into Athens with this woman and claimed she was this goddess Athena. And really, she was just a tall girl from a local town, but the Athenians actually gave him power. They actually accepted him and gave him the power to rule there. We use the verb “to rule” to say that some king or governor or someone like that is in control of some region.

So, Pisistratus started ruling in Athens in 547 BC. So, Pisistratus was a very significant figure. We sometimes use the word “figure” to talk about a historical person or just a person in general. He was a very interesting figure because he ruled in a different way from the way that other rulers ruled at that time. He actually reduced taxes, and he actually gave free loans to people who wanted to build up their farms. The word “loan” just refers to money that you give to someone else and they’re expected to pay this money back in the future. And so that’s a loan. Pisistratus gave free loans to these people so that they could build up their farms. And the result of that was that agriculture flourished. We use the verb “to flourish” to say that something becomes very good, it grows, it becomes successful. So for example, I could say “he flourished in his new job”. This just means that he did really well and became very successful in his new job.

So, the agriculture in Athens flourished because of the policies of their new ruler. So, one of the greatest products of this agricultural growth was the production of olive vines. So, the word “vine” refers to the thing that carries olives or grapes or other fruit like that, right. When you pick grapes or olives, you pick them from the vine. Okay. So, Athens started selling olive oil to other empires at that time, and the citizens of Athens got a little taste of freedom and liberty for the first time. So, that’s why Pisistratus was such an important figure in ancient Athens.

Another important figure of ancient Athens was a man named Cleisthenes. Cleisthenes was actually the brother-in-law of Pisistratus, and he grew up under his brother-in-law’s rule. So, he became a man and grew up during that time period. But when Pisistratus died, his son Hippias took over. When we use the phrase “take over”, we’re saying that someone takes control of something. So, the son of Pisistratus, named Hippias, took over the rule of Athens after his father died. Hippias was a tyrant. A tyrant is a ruler who is very brutal and strict and takes away freedoms. So, Hippias was definitely a tyrant and wanted to take away the freedoms of the Athenian citizens. So, luckily Cleisthenes actually overthrew Hippias and banished him in 510 BC. So I used two interesting words there. The word “overthrow” means that a person or a group of people take power or take control over a government by removing the other person. And then I used the word “banish”. When you banish someone, it means that you force them to leave society. So, Hippias was banished. He was forced to leave.

But later, a man named Isagoras actually led a conspiracy against Cleisthenes. So, Isagoras did not want to allow Cleisthenes to rule in Athens, and he wanted to take power. So the way that he did this was he went to Athens’ enemy, Sparta. You might remember learning about Sparta when you were in school. This was a part of Greece where the men were trained up to be very strong warriors. So, Sparta was filled with strong fearless warriors. So, Isagoras used the help of Spartan warriors, and he took control of Athens and banished Cleisthenes. So, he forced Cleisthenes, and many other people, to leave. However, the citizens of Athens actually rose up against him in 490 BC. When we use the phrase “rise up against”, we’re saying that a group of people gets together and has a rebellion against their leaders.

So, the ordinary Athenian citizens rose up and actually trapped Isagoras at the top of the Acropolis. This was actually the first time in recorded history that the ordinary people rose up against their government and took power. So, this was a very important event in history. And when the people finished overthrowing Isagoras, they allowed Cleisthenes to return and they allowed him to rule again. When Cleisthenes came back and started ruling, he created an amazing, new revolutionary system of government. He actually instituted democracy. So, the way he did this was by allowing the ordinary citizens to vote.

So, their original voting system consisted of using black pebbles and white pebbles. The word “pebble” just means small rock. A pebble is a small rock. So, the people used black pebbles and white pebbles to vote yes or no. White pebbles represented Yes, and black pebbles represented No. So, they used these little rocks to vote. This was the beginning of democracy. The people were the government. And they met about every nine days, and they voted on practically everything. So, this was a turning point in history because the world saw its first democracy.

So, at that time in history, the most powerful empire in the world was the Persian Empire, and this empire was ruled by Darius. This empire stretched from India to Turkey. In English, we use the word “stretch” to show the limits or the range of something. So if I say that the Empire “stretched from India to Turkey”, I’m saying that the Empire went as far as India in the east, and Turkey in the West. So, this empire was very big and very powerful. But they started to see Athens as a threat. The word “threat” just means someone or something that might cause danger to you. So this empire thought that Athens might become too powerful, and eventually conquer the Persian Empire.

So, they viewed Athens as the enemy. So of course, they wanted to fight against Athens. And one of the most significant battles was the battle at Marathon. If I’m not mistaken, I think this was the first time that the Persian Empire fought against Athens. So, the Persian army outnumbered Athens two to one. In English, when we say that someone or something “outnumbers” something else, we’re saying that that thing had more people or more things than the other thing. So, the Persian army had many more men than the Athenian army. So of course, this was bad news for Athens.

And one interesting thing that happened at this battle was that a man named Pheidippides actually ran all the way to Sparta to try to ask them for help to fight the Persians. So, this man actually ran 140 miles in only two days. So, this was actually the motivation or the inspiration for our modern day marathon, because remember: this battle occurred at a place called Marathon. So nowadays, people run marathons, and it has that name because of this man who ran all the way to Sparta, 140 miles in only two days to ask for help. Pretty cool huh? The bad thing is that Sparta refused to help. Sparta did not say yes. When someone “refuses” to do something, they say no. So, he ran all that way, but Sparta said, “No, we’re not helping you”. But it actually didn’t matter because the Athenians actually defeated the Persian army. This was a huge victory.

One of the generals of the Athenian army was a man named Themistocles. He was also a politician as well. He was a political figure. So, I mention him because he did something very important for Athens. He convinced the other Athenians that they needed to build the greatest navy in Greece. His idea was for Athens to build this really powerful navy so that they could become really strong and defeat their enemies in war. And Athens did this. They created an amazing navy, and were able to win battles because of their naval strength. So, that’s another reason why Athens became such a great world power at the time, because they created such a powerful navy.

So, one other really important figure in ancient Athens, maybe the most important figure, was a man named Pericles. He became the leader of Athens in 461 BC. The reason why he was so important was because he actually improved their democratic system, and he brought it to its peak. In English, the word “peak” means the highest point. So, Pericles brought Athenian democracy to its highest point, it’s greatest point. Okay. Pericles had a very big vision for Athens. He wanted Athens to become the capital of art and culture and economics and other things, and he wanted Athens to become an amazing famous empire that everyone would remember in the future.

So, one of the most significant things he did was he started the construction of the Parthenon. So the Parthenon was originally built to be a temple for Athena. You remember Athena right? The Greek goddess. So, he built this amazing temple, and he ordered the construction of a very big statue of Athena. It was actually 40 feet high. It was a huge statue inside the Parthenon. So, the Parthenon became one of the most amazing buildings of the ancient world. So, Pericles also surrounded himself with the smartest people: the smartest thinkers. the first scientists, the greatest authors, and the first historians in the world. He created a very intellectual atmosphere in Athens, and of course, this had many effects and influences on the rest of the world.

So, one other important figure of ancient Greece was a man named Socrates. He’s perhaps the most famous philosopher of all time. He questioned everything. He questioned all of the assumptions at the time. The word “assumption” just refers to something that people think is true. So, he questioned all of the assumptions, he questioned people’s values, he questioned what was right and what was wrong. He questioned everything.

So one thing that he would do is that he would walk around the city, and he would talk with everyone that he could. He wanted to talk to everyone. So, he would stop people and start asking them questions about their values, their life, etc. And he would try to show them that they were wrong. And so of course, he made many enemies at the time, but he was really important, because he promoted reason and logic, and he really wanted to study people and study city life in general. He gathered a big following. When I say this phrase, I’m saying that many people started following him.

Many other people wanted to follow and learn from him and be philosophers too. The most notable one of his followers was a man named Plato. When I say the word “notable”, I’m saying important, significant. So, Plato was his most notable follower. And Plato was the teacher of Aristotle. You’ve probably heard all of these names: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. These philosophers had a huge influence at that time and even today. So, that is one of the biggest influences that we can see today from ancient Greece. So, Socrates was this really important philosopher, but of course, he had many enemies at the time because he was questioning everything and questioning everyone’s values, and people didn’t like him. So, he was actually executed in 399 BC.. He was “sentenced to death”, as we say in English.

So, that’s just a little bit about the history of ancient Athens, and some of the important figures of that civilization. So, we can see many influences and many important things, even today, that come from ancient Greece. So for example, I talked about the marathon. Another thing is the Olympics, right. The Olympic Games started in Olympia, Greece in 776 BC, many years ago. And another thing that came from ancient Greece was theater. The world’s first theater was in Athens. And one other really important influence from Greece was the Greek language. So even English, today, has many words that come from Greek. For example, the Greek word for heart is καρδιά. So, think of the word “cardiologist”, the doctor who works with human hearts. Right. And the word for stomach in Greek is στομάχι. You can see many English words and words in other languages that actually come from Greek. Pretty cool, huh?

So, we’ll stop there for today. I hope you enjoyed this episode. It was a little bit different, but I’m sure you learned some new words and it was good practice for your listening, and hopefully, it was an interesting topic for you. Remember to sign up for our one dollar Listening Practice Seminars at polyglossa.com and of course, you can access the transcript for this episode in the Episode Notes. And don’t forget to share this podcast with anyone who might find it useful, and help this podcast grow. So, thank you for listening to this episode and I hope you’ll come back for Episode 28 of the Listening Time podcast.