Ancient Greece

They probably didn't spend "so much time" when you compare them to us today and our view of how much is appropriate and the Greeks and their view.

The ancient Greeks spent an appropriate amount of time (to their minds) building temples and worshipping their gods. They, after all, had a lot of gods to keep happy and had a lot of free slave labour to do the work. Keep in mind that the Greek gods really didn't care about the people as the present Judeo-Christian god is thought to do. You had to do a lot of work to get their praise and attention, and avoid their wrath.

As far as the Greeks being excessive, the christian cathedrals and churches of Europe and the Americas are certainly numerous and opulent (e.g. The Vatican) and the mosques of Islamic countries and the Americas are in large numbers and just as well appointed. As far as devoting excessive time to worship, the whole economy of Christendom used to drag to a halt at least one day a week for sure and for dozens of special celebrations like Easter and Christmas every year. In Muslim countries there are calls to prayer five times a day that stop all activity - business and otherwise - and the observation of the Eids causes massive changes in lifestyle.

The Greeek Poli was unhappy with the Athens in the preceding years of the Peloponnesian War because the Athens became the supreme naval power in Grece. It created the Delian League to ward off possible Persian attacks. ... This power made the Athenian policy makers arrogant and intolerant with other city-states; creating a discontent of the Greek Polis.

Tyranny

When the Ionian Greek cities in Asia Minor revolted, he put down the revolt in a 7 year operation, and installed local Greek tyrants to keep them under control.

The revolt was supported from mainland Greece by Eretria and Athens who sent contingents to help. These were involved in an expedition which burnt down the Persian provincial capital Sardis, and destroyed the gods in the city.

Persia resolved to punish this and sent an amphibious force to capture them and install locals as tyrants, again to keep them quiet in the future. When this expedition was defeated at Marathon, the Persian king decided to get control of mainland Greece to keep them all quiet. This was done by gaining control of the cities in central Greece by bribery, then a major expedition was mounted to capture the southern cities.

This invasion failed at the battles of Salamis, Plataia and Mycale. The fighting went on for a further 20 years, until the Persians got tired of this and agreed to leave the Greeks alone to continue their usual fighting amongst each other.

So after 50 years of warfare, neither Greeks nor Persians had any love for each other.

strength, intelligence, courage, guile, leadership

We still use many of the Olympic events that were used in Ancient Greece.

The Olympics was very special to the Ancient Greeks as it was a huge event that happened only once every four years. The Olympics brought men together so it was easier for the Greeks to trade or invest politically, food and product trade. The Olympics also held a religious value as some was based around religion. Also it was a chance to show off Greece to foreign travellers.

The Greece's landforms separated many communities from each other so each developed their own customs and beliefs. Each believing it's own land, traditions, and way of life were the best. Even though they all shared a common heritage, spoke the same language, and worshipped the same gods.

God is eternal. Eternal implies Infinity. So, that be it.

A snake in a cave which was interrogated by a priestess who posed the questions to it asked by embassies from the Greek cities.

Delphi had a good intelligence network throughout the Greek cities, so they knew what questions were going to be asked by the time the ambassadors arrived, and so could cook up appropriate obscure two-way answers for the priestess to give. Being obscure and with two meanings, the answer would always turn out right, whatever eventually happened. The gifts which the ambassadors brought kept Delphi prosperous.

The battle of Marathon ended very shortly after it began when Persians tried to flee by retreating to ships and swimming in swamps.

I believe it was less than 3 hours because it started in midday and ended when the sun was still shining in the sky.

I'm no history expert, just trying to help.......

Can you be more specific of the crime?

(this also depends on the time period)

before 620 BC ----> pretty much weren't laws

620BC---> Draco law maker ---> crime = death

594BC ---> solon ---> change in laws ---> Fines, Voting rights taken away, exile, and death (rarely)

IE: woman gets raped, and person is found guilty: it would most likely be a fine of 100 drachmas (this being after 594 BC)

The ancient Greeks associated mountain exploration with bravery.

The geography of Greece caused it to separate into city states. This is because of the mountainous terrain that isolated several parts of Greece. These mountains were very hard to get around and caused every isolated city state of Greece to develop it's own culture. For example Athens developed a strong naval unit because it was close to the sea. AThens was also the most knowledgable about other cultures because the sea made for easy trading.

Demosthenes of Athens warned the Athenians not the other Greeks. He was protecting Athenian interests and their hegemony over Greece because Macedonia wanted to lead the Greeks. Demosthenes harbored a personal grudge against Philip because of the humiliation he suffered when he lost his power of speech at the Macedonian court (Aischines, On the Embassy 35), Demosthenes called Philip a barbarian but he would call anyone he did not like a barbarian to insult them, including fellow Athenians (Dem. 21.150) much like someone today being labelled as "un-American".

The Greek city-states were in constant hostility between themselves. There were brief periods of solidity under foreign invasion, and shifting alliances between groups of cities, but warfare was normal. It took the rise of Macedonia to temporarily tame this, but it reverted to renewed divisions and warfare, eventually controlled by their eventual absorption into the Roman Empire which enforced peace.

it was affected by the sea because they had to trade there

the mycenenaeans farmed and the steelers rock

A city of great fame located on the peninsula portion (called the Peloponnesus) of mainland Greece was Sparta. Known for its highly stratified society and, even more, the excellence of its soldiers in battle, Sparta was one of the most powerful Greek societies in ancient times.

The ten generals were appointed by the ten tribes, one by each tribe. Other office bearers were appointed by the lottery machine at random. As much as many Athenians wanted office bearers to come from the people at large, there was no way that they were going to allow themselves to be led in battle by some donkey selected at random, hence appointment by the tribes. In furtherance of this line of thought, when the assembly of the people made a decision, if it was important, they would add the rider 'the generals to implement', even if it was non-military, so that they had someone reliable to fix it up and make it work.

He sent an Athenian senator to force the Jews to profane the Temple in Jerusalem and dedicate it to Olympian Zeus. He also brought into the Temple things that were forbidden, so that the altar was covered with abominable offerings prohibited by the Torah laws.

Initially they were appointed to solve the problems between aristocrats and the lower classes dominated and exploited by the upper class. Their task was to create a balance to protect the interests of both sides.They were also used by empires eg the Persian Empire to rule a city and keep its people under control.

The early tyrants of Athens had a problem - to stop the aristocrats from assassinating them, they had to hire a strong guard to protect them. To pay the guard they had to impose a tax. Neither aristocrats or the lower classes liked taxes, so the tyrants, even though they tried to do their job fairly, became unpopular and were expelled.

Gods

Zeus- King of the gods, weather, lightning (and thunder), law, order, and fate.

Poseidon- God of the sea, rivers, floods, droughts, storms, earthquakes

Hermes- God of travel, messengers, trade, thievery, cunning wiles, language, writing, diplomacy, athletics, and animal husbandry, messenger of gods.

Hephaestus- Crippled god of fire, metalworking, stonemasonry, sculpture and volcanism

Hades- King of the Underworld and god of the dead and the hidden wealth of the Earth

Dionysus- God of wine, parties and festivals, madness, civilization, drunkenness and pleasure at forever young

Ares- God of war, bloodlust, violence, manly courage, and civil order

Apollo- God of music, healing, plague, prophecies, poetry, and archery; associated with light, truth and the sun

Goddesses

Aphrodite- Goddess of love and beauty

Artemis- Virgin goddess of the hunt, wilderness, wild animals, childbirth and plague, later became associated with the moon

Athena- Goddess of wisdom, warfare, battle strategy, heroic endeavour, handicrafts and reason

Demeter- Goddess of fertility, agriculture, horticulture, grain and harvest

Hera- Queen of gods, goddess of marriage, women, childbirth, heirs, kings and empires

Hestia- Virgin goddess of the hearth, home and cooking