Tag Archives: Read-Aloud-Plays:The Iliad The Odyssey and The Aeneid

Ancient World

Ancient World Now:Thermopylae

Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #42.

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Thank the gods Themistocles had the nerve to convince the Athenians to use the profits from the silver mines of Laurium to build a fleet of warships! And thank the gods Leonidas & his 300 took a stand at that narrow mountain pass. Check out today’s podcast to find out what all the fuss was about.

www.thegreekwarriors.com…Last month I came across an exciting website that I just have to share with you. Let these guys be a lesson to all of us who strive to live lives full of passion and fun. George & Dave are brothers who share a love of ancient history and turned their passion into a reality when they started The Greek Warriors reenactment society. I asked permission to include their photos on my website & got a few emails back in response. Check out their amazing work. I told George I didn’t understand why people would NOT want to dress up in Greek armor, and he agreed, adding this about his work:

“What you see on my website has taken years to accomplish. I make a lot of what you see. We buy the helmets, greaves, metal chest armor, and spear heads and butt caps. But I make most of the shields, do a lot of the leather work, and make just about all of the helmet crests. They are made of real horse hair, and the whole process is quite tedious. But it’s all worth it. I have taken my love of the ancient Greek warrior, and brought him to life again. Glad you like it.

Thanks again Gwen, and please carry on.

Sincerely,

George – Commander of The Greek Warriors
www.TheGreekWarriors.com

And if you’d like to set yourself up with your own horsehair-crested helmet, here’s a direct link to The Greek Warriors arms & armor page! And be sure to tell them George & Dave sent you! Enjoy!

Ancient World

Ancient World Now:Marathon

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Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #41.

Click here for previous episodes.

The sad death of Sammy Wanjiru, the Kenyan Olympic marathon champion and gold medalist casts its shadow over today’s podcast. May he rest in peace…

I remember I first heard the story of Marathon when I was in high school. It thrilled me to the core to know that the Greek underdogs had beaten back the Persian aggressors. But more thrilling to me was the story of Pheidippides, the messenger, who ran so faithfully to bring news of the victory to the people of Athens that he collapsed and died of exhaustion on the spot!

Later, I read different versions of the story. In reality, he ran 140 miles in one day from Athens to Sparta to beg assistance. The Spartans, being a cantankerous bunch, kept the Athenians waiting and arrived a day late & a dollar short! They missed the battle and never forgave themselves!

The victory at Marathon was a pivotal moment in history, galvanizing resolve in the fledgling democracies, and filling Greek spirits with the kind of triumph that makes nothing seem impossible. This spirit flourished and brought to fruition in later years the finest aspects of Western Civilization to which we lay claim. After Marathon, Persian King Darius began preparations for a second attack, but trouble in Egypt postponed his plans. He died 4 years after the Battle at Marathon, and it was another 6 years before his son Xerxes would carry out his father’s plans by returning for another try. This ten year respite gave the Greeks time to regroup. And thanks to a brilliant general by the name of Themistocles, those years were spent preparing for the next Persian invasion. But that, my friends, is another story…. Enjoy!

Ancient World

Ancient World Now:Rise of the Warrior-Citizen

Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #40.

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An expensive undertaking, all-out warfare is to be avoided in any age. When Homer’s Bronze Age boys went at it, they did so as individuals: warrior-chief against warrior-chief. Warriors of the 8th century, however, fought as a unit. This concept is a visual indicator of the societal shift from oligarchy to polis. Shown here is the 12th century Mycenaean “Warrior Vase” in contrast to the earliest known representation of warriors in hoplite formation on the Chigi vase (650-640 BCE). Who was this new kind of warrior? And what did it mean to be a “citizen”? Find out in this week’s podcast.

My gosh, I’ve pulled us all the way from Earth’s beginning & prehistory, into the age of written historical accounts. Finally, something we can sink our teeth into!

Ancient World

Ancient World Now:The Age of Tyrants

Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #39.

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By chance, I happened to find myself in a crowd of Hellenes as I made my way through San Francisco’s Civic Center on the afternoon of April 10th. The annual Hellenic Cultural Parade was winding down and I got some colorful shots. Special thanks to the dancers and their families for letting me take the photos.

Our story of Greek history continues with the Age of Tyrants. The tyrants were one of a number of factors that allowed the idea of democracy to grow and develop. Today, I read from an old high school textbook from 1904! That’s one of the beauties of studying the ancient world, it’s ancient history! Enjoy!

Ancient World, Litquake

Ancient World Now:Theories of Mycenaean Collapse

Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #38.

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Migration and movements of peoples has been a constant ever since Australopithecus set up camp in a more advantageous spot one day four million years ago. This photo by Christian Sinibaldi, posted on the Guardian U.K. website, shows the boat graveyard on the Italian island of Lampedusa, where North African migrants abandon their vessels on their flight to more advantageous spots in Europe. In my constant quest to see the ancient world in our everyday modern lives, I encourage you to consider the current explosive uprisings throughout North Africa & the Middle East as an overlay onto your understanding of the events that precipitated the Greek Dark Ages.

Award ceremony and podcast and taxes, oh my! An overwhelming number of factors contributed to my missing our last podcast. Hope you can forgive me! To make up for it, in today’s podcast I am trotting out a new theory on the destruction of Mycenaean civilization. Michael Shanks and Gary Devore, archaeology professors at Stanford University, discussed their own theory in last week’s Archaeology of Greece class.

For many years now I have been on the children’s book committee for the Northern California Book Awards. Each year for the past 30 years, committees have gathered together from October to April to review the year’s published books from Northern California’s authors. There are dozens and dozens of books to read for each category: fiction, general non-fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, children’s literature, and translation for poetry & fiction. In the spring I do NCBA work and in the fall I do work for Litquake, the annual literary festival in San Francisco. I am honored to be a part of these organizations and my volunteer work is one of the many ways I contribute my creative energy to the Bay Area writer’s community. As I was writing this, we had a little earthquake! Felt like a truck hit the building. It disturbed the cats (including Achilles, my tuxedo warrior) and we all fled to different parts of the house! And today is the anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake! Yet another ancient world connection: ancient earthquakes. Think Crete, Delphi, Sicily, and Alexandria, to name a few.

Ancient World

Ancient World Now:The Greek Dark Ages

Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #37.

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How can writing disappear from a culture? Incredible! But that’s just what happened to the Greek world in their very own “Dark Age”. After doing some research, it made perfect sense. The only use for written language at that time was royal record-keeping by the Mycenaean rulers. So, when the palaces were destroyed across the Aegean world, the skill vanished.

The same goes for the potter’s skill. The whimsical octopus vase above is Minoan, while the representational drawing of a string of warriors is an example of Mycenaean pottery. Contrast those two vases, so full of character and charm, with this Dark Age’s Proto-geometric Style vase.

For a time, Greece was plunged into poverty and despair, and images to delight were not to reappear until a new structure for civilization emerged. Check out today’s podcast…

Ancient Tales, Ancient World, The Iliad, The Odyssey

Ancient World Now:Mycenaean World

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Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #36.

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Once upon a time, Heinrich Schliemann married a girl named Sophia. For the rest of their lives they searched for Homer’s Troy and Agamemnon’s Mycenae. News that they had discovered both stunned the world. And they lived happily ever after! This image of Sophia draped in “Helen’s gold” set off a firestorm of excitement for ancient-style jewelry. Enrich your life by reading about Schliemann’s heroic search. And enjoy today’s podcast on the basic facts about the Mycenaean world.

Ancient Tales, Ancient World, The Iliad, The Odyssey

Ancient World Now:Minoan Crete

Click here for direct link to audio Episode #35.

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Some tech difficulties after an “upgrade” made us miss last week! With this temporary fix we are back on track, and as promised, here is Minoan Crete.

Upon her discovery, this lovely lady was nicknamed “La Parisienne”, and she is a major icon of Minoan civilization.

Who were these amazingly artistic people? The jury is still out. Their civilization flourished between 2200 BC and 1450 BC, long before the Golden Age of Athens. In fact, that’s 1,000-2,000 years before Pericles and his fabulously enduring monument, the Parthenon. Consider the events and world changes that have happened within the past 2,000 years! The Knossos palace finds of Sir Arthur Evans in 1899 AD shook the archaeological world! This ancient Bronze Age civilization existed only in the dim distant memory of legends. They are referenced in Homer and the stories of the ancient heroes, but until Evans’ excavations between 1899 AD and 1935 AD, the magnitude of their power and prestige was unknown. This is the land of King Minos and the Labyrinth of Daedalus. Of Theseus, Ariadne, and the Minotaur. This is the land of the bull dancers and the snake goddesses. And their story is still unclear!

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford houses the Sir Arthur Evans finds. I was there in 2006 and remarked to myself how antiquated it looked for such an important collection. Lo & behold, the museum was renovated in 2009. I will definitely visit in the future.

Enjoy the podcast! Next week, the Mycenaeans. Bring it on, Clytemnestra!

Ancient World

Ancient World Now:The Bronze Age

Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #34.

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The Princess of Vix must’ve been an amazing lady! When she was buried around
480 BCE, they laid her to rest in a chariot and put in her grave an enormous wine-mixing vessel called a krater. The bronze krater was made in Laconia (area around Sparta), or on the island of Rhodes, measures 5 feet 4 inches tall, and weighs 450 lbs. To get an idea how big that is, take a look at the photo of its excavation!

This single archaeological find points to the significance of imported wine to the wealthy Celtic warrior class and to Bronze Age trade between the Mediterranean and Europe. Ah, if we could only catch a glimpse of this maiden. I am quite sure she’d outshine the Mona Lisa. And she would crush her completely in any physical contest! I’d give anything to have her gorgeous gold torque (480 grams & 96% pure gold)!

Margaret Oliphant’s exceedingly useful Atlas of the Ancient World, gives two-page general, but erudite, breakdowns of time periods and civilizations. I reach for it to remind myself which came first, the Sumerians or the Assyrians. Or to answer questions like: when did those crazy Roman emperors rule? Today I read from Oliphant’s section on the Bronze Age.

In addition, I read a section on Bronze Age Trade from The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece by Robert Morkot. These Penguin atlases remain my favorite. If you are following along with my podcasts, this is a good book to get. You can pick it up used from Amazon for a couple of dollars, believe it or not.

Always on the lookout for references to the ancient world in our everyday lives, I found this 70’s punk band called
The Vix Krater! Their logo was this funky sketch of our lady’s famous vessel.

Next week: Crete & the Minoan civilization (Bronze Age continued!)