44. Archaic Greece and the Rise of Athens

Cities grew.

People prospered.

The polis consolidated

Government became more complex.

Aristocracies of the new revival

Became Oligarchies.

Writing held history and ancient knowledge.

Homer begot Hesiod.

Hesiod begot other poets.

Sappho sang of weddings

Writing hymns to the gods for luck in love

As she walked her island paths.

Others sang to regular people

About regular people.

Trails on pottery

Showed the mighty deeds of warriors from a long dead time.

Hoplite armies rumbled throughout the land

In packed phalanx formation

Like shining human tanks.

Records were kept and used

Some for the good of people

Others for their own good.

Tyrants came

Bringing thinkers, artists and architects

They also brought curses

Raising armies to seize control

Cylon brought conspiracy and betrayal.

He begot the divine snake, Draco

Who wrote his laws in blood.

“I thought it was necessary,”

He said as he shrugged.

Then things changed when he died.

Civil war broke out.

Solon, the sun king came down

Repealing the snake’s evil bloody declarations.

He stilled the mighty war god

With his shield of justice and compromise.

“I can’t satisfy everyone,” he said,

“But I’ll do my best and I will not sell my arete in anyway.”

His strong arete

Proved his strength as a man.

Solon led Athens to democracy

As tyrants slipped into history

With the age of heroes.

43. The Greek Revival

Growing out of the dust and ashes of the Greek Dark Age.

Following the trails of Geometric pottery.

Following the call of Homer’s poetry

As beautiful as the siren song of Odysseus.

The Greeks found their way back to the homeland.

Trade flowed in once again

Feeding the culturally starving populous.

They told stories of the brave deeds of heroes long ago

As the spinning potter’s wheel

Built their complex city-states.

They eventually got too big

So brave men set off

To found new colonies

They splattered Mediterranean coastline

With pottery paint specks of Greek culture

Spreading all the way to Spain and down into Egypt.

The written word matured.

A man’s worth was judged by courage in battle

Homer said to agathoi and kakoi alike.

Those that cowardly hide in tents

Pouting about their losses

Are not favored by the gods.

Those that heed their brothers’ call to arms

Will see their rewarding afterlife

And escape Hades’ icy grip.

For their warrior’s society

They must practice the deeds and revel

In Ares’ grim works.

So they can be called aristos.

That was their goal in life.

Aristos in fighting.

Aristos in running.

Aristos in speaking.

Aristos in cunning.

Aristos in the chariot race.

Aristos in weaving and other crafts.

When others see success

They are roused to work hard themselves.

Potters are jealous of potters,

Same with carpenters and beggars.

All to preserve their fortune and enhance their valuable time.

42. The Dark Ages of Greece

The age of heroes and marble men

Came to an end

After the fall of Troy

Culture collapsed

Darkness took over the land.

Weeds grew among ancient temples

As thrones were abandoned by kings.

Palaces fell to the ground

As marble men

Eroded from their pedestals.

The armies disbanded leaving the comforting barracks.

The river of trade slowly dwindled to a trickle.

The temples went unfinished

With none to raise up Athena.

None to exalt Zeus.

No prayers to mother Hera

And none to shining Apollo

Where did these proud, vibrant people go?

To Anatolia

Where they waited out this cold, uncertain time

In the warm weather flowing in from the Greek Sea.

While they reveled in the ancient past

The glories of old Odysseus

The glorious fall of Troy.

Still, things were bubbling

Under the Greek mainland’s surface

Geometric pottery

Started directing paths

To and Iron Age revival.