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The title of this DVD is not altogether fair. If the writers had been eager in choosing a title which had veracity, the DVD would have been called “Athenians, Crucible of Civilization.” For it is the Athenians, not the Greeks in general, which this documentary focuses on. Lacedamon, the other Superpower in Greece, as well as minor city states such as Corinth and Attica, are only mentioned in passing. Even then, the purpose for speaking of these places is almost always unprejudiced to point out how they related to Athens.
Now, this is not necessarily a terrible thing. It is factual that Athens was a watershed for western culture with its impressive contributions to political ideology, art, literature, theatre, architecture, philosophy, science, polemic techniques and so grand more. All of these above topics were shunned by the people of Sparta, and the rest of the city states in Greece paled in comparison, insofar as these fields are concerned, when compared to the grandeur of the ostentatious Athenians.
One spot in which this preference for Athens is taken too far, however, is in the treatment of the Persian War. There were four major battles in this war; Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis & Plataea. Only Marathon and Salamis are illustrious in this work; Thermopylae and Plataea are not cited at all. Apparently, the reason for this is that Marathon & Salamis were the two battles where the Athenians faced the Persians alone [at least for the most part; there were some allied ships sprinkled into the mix @ Salamis]. At Plataea they squared off against the Persians shoulder-to-shoulder with the Spartans and other Greeks. The Athenians were not enthusiastic @ Thermopylae at all. Persons who are unusual with Greek history would be likely to hotfoot away from this presentation thinking that there were only 2 major battles in the Persian War, and the Athenians deserve all the credit for saving Greece. That is a skewed conception of history, and as such, not a pleasurable thing.
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The biggest oversight of the DVD resides in its chapter on the battle of Marathon. We are told that after his 140 mile jaunt to Sparta, the messenger Pheidippides’ plea for befriend was refused by the Laconians. That is very, very, very misleading. The Lacedamons did NOT intentionally hang their Athenian brethren out to dry in the face of the Persian invasion of Marathon. Rather, it was due to religious protocal which prevented the Spartan army from setting out suitable away. Here is the passage in Herodotus which details the Lacedamons’ reply to Pheidippides:
“…the Spartans wished to befriend the Athenians, but were unable to give them any explain succour, as they did not like to shatter their established law. It was then the ninth day of the first decade; and they could not march out of Sparta on the ninth, when the moon had not reached the chubby. So they waited for the fat of the moon.” (Herodotus, “Histories,” Book VI [Erato], p. 342, trans: George Rawlinson)
When the Spartans did send their army, they arrived @ Marathon within an extraordinary 3 days. Unfortunately, by then, the fighting was already over & the Athenians had earned a delicate (not to mention extraordinary) victory. So, the Laconians congratulated the Athenians and headed home. The (mostly Ivy league) historians who place this documentary together should have known better than to omit these facts.
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By now you’re probably thinking that I have nothing but abominable stuff to say about this work, proper? Well, no, that’s not quite true; I’ve said all the negative things I am going to say (after all, I did give it 5 stars, moral? ) . Now it’s time to detail why I loved this DVD so noteworthy.
First of all, what the DVD does hide, it covers very well. The major epochs of Athens are detailed down thru the ages until the kill of the Peleponnesian War. The work goes over such diverse subjects as the role of women in dilapidated Athens, the tactics and tools of warfare and the paradigms of pottery & architecture. Also, the lives of such tall men as Themosticles, Pericles and Socrates are scrutinized extensively. As an added bonus the narrarator is none other than the feeble Liam Neeson, and the regain is nearly movie-soundtrack calibre.
Despite my criticisms, I would highly recommend this DVD to all persons who have any interest at all in Greek history and / or the foundations of western concept.
This movie is an incredibly well done and thoughtful view at Greek history. It manages to include all the major events and individuals and do so in plan my high school students as well as college students were able to understand. It brings Venerable and Classical Greece into perspective and is an invaluable tool useful not unprejudiced in the classroom but for general spend. Challenging and educational not two words often keep together.
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