To learn more about this unique city called Venice, let’s journey to the top of a country known today as Italy. To really understand the history of this city, we have to travel back in time about 500 years to a period known as the Renaissance. 

The Renaissance

The word “renaissance” comes from a French word that means rebirth. So, what exactly was being born again, and what did it have to do with a floating town?

Before the Renaissance, most people who lived in Europe had difficult lives. There were many attacks by Vikings and other invaders, and it was hard for rulers to keep power and maintain order. People were also battling a horrible disease called the Black Death that spread throughout Europe making a lot of people sick. Tragically, about one-third of the population of Europe actually died. Today, we call this period in history before the Renaissance the Middle Ages or Medieval Times. It lasted for about one thousand years.

Eventually, the rulers of Spain, England, and France had enough power to bring back some good old-fashioned order and control. At about the same time, an important new invention came along: the printing press. The printing press meant that books could be printed more easily, allowing more people to read and share them. And guess what? As more people learned to read, they discovered that learning new stuff was actually quite fun. And then, voila! A “rebirth” of learning took place, which we now call the Renaissance.

When the Renaissance first started, people in Europe were happy that their lives were better than they had been during the Middle Ages. They no longer had to fight against the Black Death plague or even each other! They had extra time to read books and think. Pretty soon, people were inspired to come up with new ideas. They began to paint and draw, write music, invent new technology, and discover new ways of doing things.  

Many of the most famous thinkers and creators of the Renaissance–like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo–were from Italy. Italian cities were filled with people just like these two guys, people creating art, writing poetry, and thinking up new stories. More importantly, they were filled with wealthy people who were paying for these pieces.

Venice Gets Its Start

One of these bustling Italian cities was Venice. Venice had already been around for more than one thousand years. There is evidence that people had been living on the islands that make up Venice since ancient times. However, it was not until nearly the end of the Roman Empire that Venice started really earning a name for itself, thanks to some unwelcome invaders.

In about 500 A.D., a bunch of power-hungry invaders swarmed into southern Italy causing chaos and terror. Many people escaped by fleeing to the north. Some of them discovered a shallow lagoon and a bunch of islands – 118 of them to be exact – in the northern part of the Adriatic Sea. It seemed like a pretty good place to wait out the chaos happening down south.

There was one big problem. It was basically a big old swampy marsh. How were they supposed to build anything in all that mud and muck?

These ambitious settlers came up with a plan. They would build the city on top of thick wooden pole sunk deep into the mud and sand of the lagoon. It seemed like a great idea–they would be protected and isolated by the surrounding water. However, as it turns out, mud was not a very  stable foundation to build on. And the city flooded. A lot. And it still does today!

Despite the soggy living conditions, people quickly figured out how to make Venice a flourishing city anyway. Not only was it a great place to hide from nasty invaders, but it was also an ideal location to set up a center of trade. 

The Perfect Location

Why was Venice a great place to trade goods? Well, first, ships sailing in from the Mediterranean Sea could easily reach the ports of Venice. Second, all of Europe was just a quick boat ride to the north. And third, traders from Asia were regularly stopping by having just made a long trek across the desert on a well-known route called the Silk Road. They brought with them unusual spices and beautiful silks carried on the lumpy backs of camels. Cool, right?

Venetians had a brilliant idea. If they could control the trade of things like spices, silk, silver, copper, and cloth, they could make a lot of money. They were right. By the 15^th century, Venice was both very rich and very powerful. I guess it was worth all of that building on top of the water!

And the people who lived there wanted it to stay that way. So, they declared themselves their own city-state and set up a government ruled by a series of leadersdukes called doges. Doges were supposed to be elected officials who could rule until they died. In reality, like most things related to government, it was a little more complicated. When the people in Venice–mostly the rich and powerful ones–decided that they weren’t happy with the job a doge was doing, they forced him to resign or quit. Then, they made him go live all by himself in a church to think about how badly he had failed. Not the best way to build a political career.

Despite the ups and downs of the doge system, Venice had some really cool stuff going on within its constantly-flooded buildings. The city became home to some of the world’s best, most skilled glassmakers. But what Venice really became known for were its gondolas. 

Banana-Shaped Boats?

Not surprisingly, Venice didn’t have roads like we know them today. It would have been pretty hard to build roads in a floating city, right? The buildings of Venice were close together, separated by weaving, narrow alleys, broken up only by the occasional courtyard called a piazza.  Instead of roads, Venice had a maze of shallow waterways called canals.

Today, Venice has more than 150 canals with over 400 bridges crossing them. Can you believe that!? When the city was first built, the canals were just sort of there: natural waterways between all of those squishy, marshy islands in the lagoon. Over time, more canals have been dug out and added to the city’s maps of water and land. And the canals have been strengthened through the addition of bricks and stone.

With all this water weaving in and out of buildings, it’s not surprising that flooding is common. But the Venetians figured they might as well make use of all the water. Who needed roads when you could sail everywhere instead? What they needed was a shallow, narrow boat that could easily maneuver through the canals. So, according to most historical evidence, they invented the gondola. 

A gondola is a boat with a flat bottom that is shaped sort of like a banana. During the Renaissance, thousands of gondolas could be seen sailing along the canals of Venice. The early gondolas had a small cabin called a felze (fel-zey) where people could ride and be protected from wind, rain, and sun. Each gondola had a person, known as a gondolier, who stood up to row it using a single oar. 

For a while, gondolas came in all sorts of colors. In fact, rich Venetians competed with each other by making gondolas in bold colors and adding expensive gold-plated siding and decorations to “show off” their wealth. Then, the doge passed a law that required all gondolas – except for his own massive golden one – to be painted black. Not a bad plan to make sure he stood out in the crowded canals!

Each gondola took about 500 hours to build. That’s almost 21 straight days of work! Master boat builders would build and repair these wooden boats in a boatyard called a squero. There were strict rules to follow regarding the boat’s design and size. In fact, there were rules governing everything about gondolas and gondoliers, such as how much money a gondolier could charge a passenger and how gondolas had to be passed down from father to son. Venetians back then–much like Venetians today–took their gondolas very seriously. 

When in Venice

Gondola-making wasn’t the only thing that the people of Venice took seriously. By the 1200s, the city’s top industry was glassmaking. And much like gondola-building, Venetians had strict rules about this art form, too.  First, the glassmakers in Venice had to keep their processes of making glass a secret. Another important rule required that the extremely hot furnaces that glassmakers used be moved out of Venice to the nearby island called Murano. This was probably a smart idea since nearly all of the buildings in Venice were made of wood. And as you probably already know, wood burns pretty quickly! If you’re going to have fires, better keep them separate, on an island, from the rest of the city!

Besides gondolas and glass, there was one final thing that made Venice a good place to visit, even 500 years ago: the food. 

Since they are surrounded by water, you might think that Venetians would make use of the sea’s large selection of tasty fish. And you’d be right. In fact, a modern-day Italian writer even noted that, when seen from above, Venice is shaped sort of like a fish!

But what could possibly be so great about eating fish all the time? Actually, it wasn’t the fish that made Venetian food so tasty. It was the spices used to cook the fish. Remember that whole thing about Venice being a center of trade? This meant that new and delicious spices were always passing through the city. Cinnamon from Ceylon, cumin from North Africa, and pepper from India were all benefits of being a port city. Plus, there were raisins, pistachios, walnuts, almonds, and dates from Asia. That may not sound super exciting today when you can pop on over to a grocery store or order takeout anytime you want to. But in the 1500s? These foods were luxuries!

Because of the appreciation for art and literature during the Renaissance, Venice today is a popular place for tourists who want to view beautiful artifacts of the past. Much like 500 years ago, you can still take a ride through the canals on one of the roughly 400 gondolas in operation.  A few years ago, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit Venice. We rode on a gondola, visited the beautiful cathedral, and tasted its delicious food. And yes, by midday they had to lay boards out because the piazza was starting to take on water! If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend the visit to one of the most fascinating cities in the world.You can still buy some of the most beautiful glass in the world in Venice. And if you get hungry, you only need to pop into a bacaro, or small tavern, and order ciccetti, a bite-sized piece of bread, often served with a bit of salted cod fish on top.  

But if you are planning a trip to this amazing city, you may want to bring some waterproof shoes. Just in case. 

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Have you ever come across something odd, and wondered what it was supposed to do? Did you wish you could open it up and find out what was inside? 

In 1900, a team of divers went looking for sponges off the coast of Greece. But what they found proved to be much, much more interesting. Wearing a waterproof canvas suit and a helmet with an air hose, the first diver was lowered into the water. When he reached the bottom of the Mediterranean sea, something strange caught his eye. It looked like a human arm. Looking around, he noticed more body parts, but fortunately, he realized quickly that these weren’t from real people. It was actually something very exciting: sunken treasure! He had found pieces of bronze sculptures from an ancient shipwreck! Soon, the Greek government organized an expedition to pull up the trove of artifacts.

Ships of Long Ago

The Mediterranean Sea is dotted with hundreds of shipwrecks from the ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and other civilizations that ringed the sea thousands of years ago. Most ships weren’t carrying anything very interesting: containers of olive oil or wine, unsculpted marble, or other stone. But this shipwreck was different. It sank in bad weather around 60 BCE, taking with it a cargo of beautiful bronze and marble sculptures, jewelry, and colorful glassware. 

It also had one other thing: an object that looked like little more than a slab of corroded metal with some obscure Greek lettering on it. About the size of a shoebox and not obviously anything, workers almost threw it back in the water. But fortunately, one of the expedition’s organizers stopped them. It’s a good thing he did, because that hunk of corroded metal turned out to be the most important treasure pulled up from the wreck.

One of those things you wish you could break open and look inside. A two thousand-year-old device that no one thought possible before. 

It became known as the Antikythera mechanism after an island near the shipwreck. Dozens of historians and scientists would work for over a century to find out exactly what it was and how it worked.  

Corroded Antikythera Mechanism

The mechanism was in bad shape when it was pulled out of the water. Originally made of bronze, it was severely corroded. Corrosion is when metal changes into other minerals when it interacts with other substances around it. Rust is a type of corrosion that happens when metals with iron in them react with oxygen in air and water. The mechanism had so much corrosion that it had clearly been in the water a long time. Workers found one big piece and many smaller pieces of the device. To make matters worse, the big piece broke into three soon after it was pulled from the water. All of the pieces were taken to the National Archeological Museum in Athens, Greece. 

What Was It?

At first, no one really knew what to make of the device. Because of how delicate and damaged it was, researchers definitely couldn’t just open it up and look inside. You could see gears from the outside, but there was clearly an inside of the device that researchers couldn’t see. The Greek writing on the outside was very hard to read. Scholars managed to read only a few words: the names of months and planets, and numbers that seemed to relate to the phases of the moon. 

A few scholars proposed that the object was some sort of navigational device or a planetarium that showed the rotations of the moon, sun, and planets. But these scholars didn’t do much to try to figure out exactly how the device worked. They didn’t have much opportunity to either, since, in the early 1900s, they had no way of seeing inside the object without destroying it. 

Within a few years, interest in the Antikythera mechanism died down. For decades, not many people bothered to pull it out of the museum’s storage boxes and study it in more detail. Finally, in the early 1950s, someone took notice. Derek de Solla Price, a historian of science, had always been interested in things driven by systems of gears and clockwork. He had already studied other ancient devices used to help calculate the positions of the sun, moon, and planets. The Antikythera mechanism was older and looked more complex than any similar device. Price thought he could unravel its mysteries.

In 1958, Price got the chance to visit Athens and study the device in person. The National Museum would let him examine the pieces, and hold them in his own hands. Price set about taking the most careful measurements of the fragments that anyone had attempted so far. It was hard, detailed work, measuring gears that were half corroded, counting the tiny teeth. He drew detailed pictures and carefully pieced the fragments together like a jigsaw puzzle. He was convinced that the mechanism was an ancient astronomical computer that could not only show the rotation of the planets, moon, and sun but also predict precisely where they would be on a given date.

But despite his careful measurements and calculations, Price still wasn’t sure exactly how all the gears worked together. What no one knew was that there were still more tiny gears inside, waiting to be discovered. But you don’t just break an ancient artifact like this open, even to learn more about it. Price would need to find a way to look inside, see through the outer layers to the inner workings.

Breakthroughs in X-ray Technology

Price returned home and for many years didn’t continue his work on the device. But in 1971, he learned about a new x-ray technology that would take images through metal objects. As soon as the museum agreed, Price was back in Athens, where he and an assistant took the images. These images showed a jumble of overlapping gears and teeth that would take some time to decipher, but they were the first peek inside the mechanism. Price counted over 30 gears in total, including 6 that couldn’t be seen at all from the outside. He was able to count the teeth on the gears. And the best part? He was able to use this information to build a working model of the device. By this time, Price thought the device probably only showed the workings of the sun and moon, not the planets. His model didn’t work perfectly, but it was progressing. The mechanism still held secrets, and it would take better technology to reveal them

Studying the Antikythera Mechanism

It would be almost another 20 years before those new technologies would come along, and 30 before the device would be fully understood. The new efforts kicked off in 1988, with the team of Michael T. Wright and Allan Bromley.  Wright and Bromley took new x-ray images using more advanced techniques. The images allowed them to make better measurements and see more clearly how things fit together when the device was new. Wright was convinced that the device also tracked the planets. The gears that still sat in the mechanism all seemed to help show the motions of the moon and sun. But Wright thought that the broken-off parts looked like they might have connected to another system of gears, and maybe these gears helped show the motions of the planets. Wright constructed a model of the mechanism based on his investigations, making intelligent guesses about the gears that seemed to be missing. 

In 2005, another team came together to study the mechanism. The team included mathematicians, physicists, historians, and experts on ancient Greek artifacts and science. X-ray technology had improved even more, and they thought they could get even better images of the inside of the device. They were also able to take much better photographs of the outside of the object. They found that Wright was correct in most of his observations, and he updated his model based on the new information.

So…how DID the Antikythera mechanism work? 

A dial on the front of the device showed the months of the solar year and the constellations of the zodiac. The solar year is based on the cycles of the sun. The calendar that most of the world uses now is based on the solar year, and so were the ancient Egyptian and Roman calendars. You would turn a knob on the outside to operate the machine. This turn of the knob would set in motion dozens of hidden gears inside the box. Seven pointers on the face spun around to show where the sun, moon, and five planets were relative to the constellations of the zodiac for any date you chose. The Greeks only knew about five planets, and the system reflected their belief that the Earth was at the center of the solar system, instead of the sun. Each full turn of the sun pointer equaled one solar year.  

On the back were two more sets of dials, operated using the same knob. The upper dial showed lunar months–from full moon to full moon. This dial would allow you to see how days in the lunar calendar lined up with days in the solar calendar. A small dial inside this one showed when athletic games, like the Olympics, would happen. Finally, the second large dial on the back showed when solar and lunar eclipses would occur.

The Antikythera device is the most complicated machine we have from the ancient world. As far as we know, nothing else so complex was built until the middle ages. 

As far as we know. 

Writers in the ancient Greek and Roman world did describe complicated “planetariums” –devices that showed how the planets, sun, and moon moved through the sky. So maybe similar devices were constructed. Maybe the Antikythera mechanism was just one example. Maybe others were lost and buried, or their bronze pieces melted down to make new things. We may never know, but it’s exciting to think about the possibilities!  Maybe someday, you’ll discover a mystery. If that happens, I hope you’ll ask questions, examine it from all angles, and learn from it. And maybe, you’ll solve it! 

Sources

https://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/2019-03/attachments/Jones.pdf

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Antikythera-mechanism

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84310-w

https://www.nature.com/articles/444534a

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature05357

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient-astronomical-calculator-even-older-we-thought-180953472/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-ancient-greek-astronomical-calculation-machine-reveals-new-secrets/

Jones, Alexander (2017) A Portable Cosmos: Revealing the Antikythera Mechanism, Scientific Wonder of the Ancient World. Oxford University Press, New York.

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Do you have a piggy bank? Or maybe you have a glass jar in your house full of coins? You’ve probably seen your parents pay for something at the store with dollar bills – or maybe have yourself? Have you seen your parents use a credit card or pay with something using their phone and wonder how it works? How can they use a card or their phone to pay for something without actual coins and bills?? If you have any of these questions, you’re just like me, because I was very curious about how money came to be.

So take your mind back to time of the earliest people on earth. They were probably like you imagine, wearing animal skins and living in tribes, sometimes in caves or in little stick and mud huts they’d built to keep off the cold and rain. When these people needed something they didn’t have, they’d try and figure out how to make it or grow it or hunt for it themselves, but sometimes it was just easier to trade. You’ve probably traded something with a sibling or a friend before, right? I’ll give you this if you give me that. I used to do it with baseball cards. Well, these early humans would do it for things they really needed like blankets made from animal furs. They’d meet with other tribes in the area and make deals. They’d trade. Another word for this is bartering. They’d say “hey, I’ll give you five arrowheads for 3 furs? How does that sound?” The other tribe would would discuss the trade and maybe come back with, “How about six arrowheads for 3 furs?” The first tribe might agree that’s fair and then the deal would be complete and they’d swap items and everyone was happy. 

Way back in 6,000 B.C. the people of Mesopotamia became known for their bartering skills and introduced trade to the Phoenicians. Over time it became more and more popular, but it’s more than likely bartering happened long before the Mesopotamians.

Bartering worked well down through history and people even do it today, but over time humans began to see the problems with bartering and began to think of other ways to “trade” goods. What if instead of trading things like arrowheads and furs directly, we can use a different object to make the deal happen. The problem with bartering is you had to move the thing you wanted to trade all over the place. So if I wanted to trade with a tribe all the way across the valley, I’d have to load all of my goods in a cart or a horse or a wagon and haul them there. Kind of a pain, right? Also, what if we couldn’t agree on arrowheads for furs and 3 ½ arrowheads made more sense than 4. You can’t break an arrowhead in half, then it wouldn’t be any good. 

So ancient people came up with the idea to use valuable objects IN PLACE of goods. One of the early examples of what became money were shells. This is also called currency, a way to use one object to exchange for other objects. In China around 1,000 B.C. Asians began using a special type of shell called a Cowrie shell in exchange for other goods. So for example, I’d go to the market with a beautiful new dress I’d woven. There, a store owner might offer me 10 cowrie shells for the dress. They’d give me the cowrie shells, I’d give them the dress, and now I have shells, which are the equal value of the dress in my pocket. A lot easier to carry around than the dress. And then I can keep the shells, maybe go to another market later that week, and use the cowrie shells to buy my family wheat and rice for the rest of the month. Cowrie shells became a very popular form of money in China and spread throughout the region, including Africa .

Shell money was common in other places, too, like Australia, the Middle East, and North America. In North American indigenous people of the Iroquois Confederacy and Algonquin tribes, took shells they found in the ocean and ground them into beads called wampum. These white and purple beads were then strung into necklaces that could be used as money to exchange for other items. Soon European settlers also used wampum as money and it was used in the exchange for beaver pelts which were a very popular item at the time. 

So you’re probably wondering why we’re still not using cowrie shells and wampum beads today? Well, that’s because once groups of people realized how money could be used some groups started creating their own money out of hard metals. Civilizations like those in China who worked in metals were able to create the first money out of gold, silver, bronze and other precious metals. This is called minting. What’s funny is some of this first metal money was shaped like cowry shells, their favorite money system of the past. They also stamped these early coins with a symbol to show that it was made by their people. This is important because a value is attached to money that sort of has to be agreed upon by everyone using it. And the value of money can change over time! We’ll talk about that in a few minutes. So with China minting money and creating coins, the really cool thing is that trade moved faster. People that have access to money, can exchange things easier, and the money moves throughout the empire and everyone is more prosperous because of it. Also, around this time metal coins were especially important because long trade roads were forming between Asia and Europe such as the famous Silk Road. Europeans and Asians traded goods along these roads and also by water.

Around this time, the Greeks also learned about minting money and started minting their own. The Athenians were minting their own silver coins by 500 B.C. and this practice later spread to the Roman Empire. Over time, minting became more and more common and as you know it’s in use by the United States and countries all over the world who have their own mints and their own coins. Growing up, I loved collecting coins with different dates and pictures on them and sometimes coins from other countries. I always thought it was interesting why they decided to put certain symbols and words on each of their own coins. 

Paper money also was first invented by the Chinese, since they were also the first inventors of paper. Over time, paper money became easier to carry around than heavy metal coins. Imagine if you had to carry $100 worth of coins with you every time you went grocery shopping. Imagine $1,000 if you had to buy a bigger item. Paper money was also used by Charlemagne during his reign in Europe and of course is in use today with the dollar bill in the United States and each country with their unique bills. Do you know the names of money in different countries? Maybe you know a few. I’ll list some of the ones I know. The British Pound, the European Euro, the Japanese Yen, the Indian Rupee, Mexico’s peso, the Russian ruble. So If you get a chance be sure to look up these different currencies and what they look like. Sometimes you can even find them at hobby shops nearby.

You’ll notice with currency in different countries, they also differ in value. So 1 U.S. dollar is equal to about 113 Japanese yen. This value changes over time. The dollar today can buy less than it could 50 years ago. For example, in 1970 the cost of a candy bar was 10 cents! Just ten pennies! Today the cost of a candy bar is more like 1 or 2 dollars. 

In modern times, countries are very careful with how they mint money. This is because counterfeiting is a widespread crime. Counterfeiting is when people try and make fake money and use it. This problem has existed for a very long time going back even 1500 years ago. People would mix other metals with gold or silver to make it appear that a coin was made of that metal. Today, counterfeiters use complex designs and machines to make paper bills that look like the real ones. If you hold bills up to the light and look closely at them, especially the big ones like a $20 or $100 dollar bill, you’ll notice complex watermarks inside the bills and strips of paper that are hard to duplicate. Whenever new money is printed the United States Treasury is trying to develop new ways to outsmart counterfeiters. And counterfeiters do the same, so it’s a never ending game of cat and mouse to keep money safe.   

To get an idea of how much new money is printed every year in 2020, the United States Treasury printed over 1 million $100 dollar bills and around 2 and a half billion $1 dollar bills. 

In the modern day, new modes of money have become popular. You’ve probably seen your parents swipe a credit card at the store or type in the numbers when buying something online. The first credit cards became available in the 1950s and grew in popularity over the years. What can be hard to understand, is that you can spend money on credit cards that you don’t even have yet. It’s what is called a loan. You spend a certain amount of money that the credit card company lets you borrow, and then you pay it off. Credit cards are a nice convenience but people also have to be careful not to spend too much on a credit card, because if you can’t pay it off by the next month it can cost you even more money.

Digital payments have also become very popular. This means that rather than having dollar bills or coins in your pocket, you can use your computer or phone to pay for things. All of the money spent using computers is tracked on a bank’s computer. It’s kind of hard to imagine that things are bought and sold and just tracked on computers now, but it is very convenient not to have to worry about having actual money in your wallet. For example, when I get paid by my job, the money just shows up in my bank account. And then I pay bills using my bank account and it just sends the transactions to pay for my house and my car and my electricity bill. And when people donate to Bedtime History, I get an email and then can use that to pay for expenses for the podcast. Pretty crazy, right? Using services like PayPal, Venmo, and Apple Payments, now you just bring up an app on your phone and send people and businesses money that way. It’s definitely revolutionized the way money can be used.

The last really interesting new form of money in the modern age I want to talk about is called cryptocurrency. If you’ve ever heard of Bitcoin, it’s the first cryptocurrency. The cool thing about cryptocurrencies is they aren’t managed by a government or bank like all of the other money. They live on the Internet and can be used by people all over the world, regardless of where they live. Cryptocurrency, also called “crypto” for short, started in 2008, when someone on the Internet using the fake name Satoshi Nakamoto wrote a paper about how crypto could work. Crypt uses a technology called a blockchain that keeps track of every payment (also called a transaction) made using Bitcoin. The blockchain is highly secure and anonymous, which means no one can hack into it and see who is using the money and what they are doing with it. It’s become an entirely new kind of money. When the first Bitcoin was released it was worth a few cents, but now it’s worth over $35,000 dollars. Of course, its value rises and falls and there are other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and there is debate over how important crypto will be in the future.

It’s pretty crazy to think back about how money started out, at basic trading or bartering for goods and where it is now, with complex digital payments systems and cryptocurrencies. The world has changed so much in the last few thousand years and one of the reasons I love history. To try and better understand where we are and how we got here. The world is a vibrant and rapidly changing place and knowing it’s history can help us better know how the world and people work and also what we can do to make it a better place. I hope you enjoyed learning about the history of money like I did! 

The post History of Money, Bartering, and Cryptocurrency for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

In a previous story, we learned about the ancient Greek poet Homer, and his epic poem The Iliad. The Iliad told the story of the hero Achilles,  and how he had to overcome his anger to help his people win the Trojan War. The Odyssey is a very different story, but just as full of adventure. It tells the story of one of the kings who fought in the Trojan War. His name was Odysseus and the story is about his adventures as he tries to return home. 

What was Homer’s The Odyssey?

The Odyssey starts after the war and is far away from the war and even far from Odysseus himself. It starts in Ithaca, Odysseus’ home island, where he was king before leaving for the Trojan War. There, we meet his son, Telemachus, who was just a baby when Odysseus went off to the fight at Troy, but who is now nearly grown up. Odysseus has been gone almost twenty years – ten years at war, and ten years trying to get home. Telemachus and his mother, Penelope, don’t know whether he survived the war or not. Other men have come to Odysseus’ house, demanding that Penelope choose one of them to marry. They behave very rudely, eating all the food in the house and making messes, and staying even when they’re told to leave. 

Penelope waits on choosing a new husband, hoping Odysseus will return home soon. She tells her suitors that she must weave a funeral blanket for her father-in-law before she can choose a new husband. So every day she weaves the cloth at her loom, and every night she unravels it, so the blanket is never finished. 

Her son, Telemachus decides he must find out whether his father is still alive, so he sets out on his own quest. He learns from one of Odysseus’ friends that his father had been imprisoned by a goddess named Calypso. She wanted to marry him, but Odysseus only wanted to return to Penelope and Telemachus in Ithaca. Finally, after seven years, the other gods convinced Calypso to let Odysseus go.

Odysseus builds a raft and leaves the island. He lands on an island called Phaecia. The king of Phaecia is kind and offers Odysseus food, gifts, and a place to stay. In return, Odysseus tells him the story of the many trials he faced on his quest to return home, and how he ended up alone on Calypso’s island instead. So Odysseus is now the bard, telling his own epic within Homer’s story!

After Odysseus and his crew leave Troy, their ships are quickly thrown off course. 

Buy The Odyssey

Polyphemus, the Cyclops

Soon, they are captured by a one-eyed giant called a cyclops. He plans to eat them! But crafty Odysseus comes up with a plan to trick the monster, whose name is Polyphemus. First, Odysseus talks to Polyphemus, pretending that he’s trying to convince him to let him go free. Polyphemus is not swayed though, and only promises that he’ll eat Odysseus last. While they’re talking, the cyclops asks Odysseus his name. But instead of telling him his real name, Odysseus replies that his name is “Nobody.” 

This is part of Odysseus’ real plan! 

As Polyphemus sleeps that night, Odysseus ties each of his men to the underside of a sheep. Then he takes a stake, and blinds the cyclops, plunging it into his eye. Polyphemus begins to scream, calling out to the other cyclops on the island to help him. But when they come to the cave entrance and ask who is hurting him, he replies “Nobody!” (the pretend name Odysseus gave himself) The other cyclops leave, thinking their friend is just goofing around. At last, Polyphemus calms down and rolls away the stone that covers the door to the cave so his sheep can leave to graze. When the animals leave, they take the men with them, tied to their bellies.  

Poseidon

After escaping the cyclops, Odysseus’ troubles are far from over. You see, Polyphemus came from a powerful family: His father is the sea god Poseidon. Poseidon wasn’t too happy with Odysseus for blinding his son. And, you can probably imagine, it’s not great to have the god of the sea angry with you when you’re trying to sail home in a boat. 

Odysseus finds that, because of Poseidon’s anger, the gods will no longer send helpful winds to blow him back to Ithaca. They wander, and all but one of his ships sinks in a disaster. 

Island of Circe

Finally, he is blown to the island of Circe, the home of a powerful witch. At first, Circe turns Odysseus’ men into pigs. But with some help from the god Hermes, Odysseus is able to steal Circe’s magic wand. He says he will only give it back if she turns his men back. Circe is impressed with Odysseus and agrees. Even better, she offers to help him! 

Circe tells Odysseus of the many dangers they will face sailing back to Ithaca, and how he should deal with each one. The last thing Circe warns Odysseus of is the Island of the Sun God. This island is where the Sun God’s cattle eat grass. If even one cow is eaten by Odysseus or his men, they will be punished severely. Circe tells him not to even stop there. 

So Odysseus and his men set out from Circe’s island. At first, they follow her advice as they pass through each danger. 

But after all these trials and challenges, the men are getting frustrated and tired. They insist on stopping at the Island of the Sun God. You can probably guess what happens next. Despite Odysseus pleading with them not to, his men kill and eat the cattle on the island. Odysseus is angry with them, but it’s too late. As they sail away from the island, the gods send a storm that sinks the ship. 

Only Odysseus survives the shipwreck. He clings to boards from his wrecked ship, drifting for days until he finally comes ashore on the island of Calypso, who of course captures and holds him prisoner.

This is the end of the story that Odysseus tells his new friends the Phaecians, but of course, it’s not the end of the epic. He’s still not home with his family in Ithaca. The Phaecian king helps Odysseus get a new ship and return home to set things straight.

Odysseys Returns to Ithica

Once he reaches his home of Ithaca, the goddess Athena disguises Odysseus as an old beggar. He returns to his house to see what’s been happening. By this time, Telemachus has returned home, and he and Penelope treat him kindly, not realizing he is actually Odysseus in disguise. 

While they are talking, Penelope tells him all about the men trying to marry his wife – how rude, wasteful, and selfish they are. She says that she’s decided to hold a contest. Twelve axes will be set up in a row. The axes each have a hole in their blades. Penelope says she will marry the person who shoots an arrow through the hole in the ax. She knows none of the suitors will be up to the task. Odysseus, still in disguise, encourages her to follow through on this plan. 

The next day, each suitor takes the challenge, stringing an arrow and trying to shoot through all twelve axe heads. Each one fails. When none are left, the old beggar (who is Odysseus in disguise) steps up and asks to try. The gathered suitors all laugh, but they let him try, sure he cannot possibly succeed where they have all failed. But they are wrong: Odysseus strings his bow and shoots. The arrow whistles through all twelve axe heads, sticking in the wall behind them. Everyone is stunned that this old, feeble man has beaten all the young, strong suitors.

At this point, Athena reveals the beggar’s true identity. It is Odysseus! Penelope and Telemachus are overjoyed that not only has Odysseus returned home, but he also beat the suitors in the contest. The suitors are terrified and realize they need to get out of there fast, knowing Odysseus isn’t going to be happy about how they’ve treated his family and home.

Conclusion

Stories like The Odyssey tell us about how the ancient Greeks thought. The poem warns people that they should treat others with respect and honor the gods, or else face terrible consequences. Though the consequences in real life might not be as harsh as they are in the poem, treating others with respect is a good idea no matter when or where you live. That’s another thing about Homer’s epics — they show us that people have always been people, even the ones we think of as heroes. They make mistakes. They might do or believe things we disagree with. But people have always  needed the same things we do now: Respect, the love of family, and a place to come home to after a long, hard journey.

Sources

https://www.worldhistory.org/homer/

https://blog.britishmuseum.org/who-was-homer/

Homer. The Iliad. Translated by Richard Lattimore. University of Chicago Press, 1951

Homer. The Odyssey. Translated by Emily Wilson. Norton & Company, 2020.

The post The Story of The Odyssey by Homer for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Wait! You’re probably saying: Did I just say poems? I did! Actually superheroes and epics have been around for thousands of years, and the first epics were performed as very long poems! These poems told of dangerous journeys, fantastical monsters, and grand battle scenes. Some of them were as long as chapter books. Heroes had to overcome almost impossible obstacles to fulfill their destinies.

Many cultures, from all over the world, have their own epics. These sagas told people about their history, mythology, and religion in a way that’s exciting and memorable. So memorable in fact, that before there was writing, people would memorize and perform them, and they would be passed down for hundreds of years! Today we’re going to talk about two of the most famous epic poems composed by a poet named Homer.

Homer was a poet and bard in ancient Greece. A bard was a person who recited stories or poems for an audience, often set to music. He composed two of the most famous epic poems in the world: The Iliad and the Odyssey. His life is a bit of a mystery actually. We don’t know exactly when he was born, or exactly where. He was probably born sometime in the 8th century BCE, and somewhere in what is now western Turkey, or a nearby island. At the time, there were many Greek settlements in western Turkey, along the coast of the Mediterranean. 

Both The Iliad and The Odyssey talk about events surrounding an ancient war called the Trojan War. The Trojan War in the poems was probably based on a real war, but as you’ll see in a few minutes, the real war was probably nothing like the one in the stories.  The first poem, the Iliad talks about the war itself. The Odyssey is the story of King Odysseus’ homecoming after the war. Today we’re going to talk about The Iliad, and in the next episode, we’ll talk about The Odyssey.

The Iliad starts out in the tenth year of the Trojan war. The leader of the Greek forces, Agamemnon, and his best fighter, Achilles are arguing. 

You might be wondering, why start the story in the tenth year of the war? Isn’t it important to start at the beginning so people know what’s going on? Well, Homer’s audience, the ancient Greeks, knew these stories. They probably even knew the stories he included in the Iliad, but the excitement would have been in hearing them all put together, maybe with certain details added or certain parts given more attention. But, since you may not know how the war started, I’ll go over that now. 

It all starts with an apple. The gods and goddesses of Ancient Greece were celebrating a wedding, and decided not to invite the goddess, Eris. She was angry and decided to trick the revelers. So she threw a golden apple into the party, and said it was a gift “for the fairest.” The goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite each thought they deserved the apple. After much arguing, they agreed to let a human named Paris judge which of them was the most beautiful and should get the apple. 

All three goddesses tried to gain Paris’s favor by promising him things if he chose them. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, promised him he could marry the most beautiful woman in the world. This was the prize Paris wanted, so Aphrodite won the contest. The most beautiful woman in the world was named Helen. But the BIG problem here was Helen was already married to the king of Sparta. You can imagine how this is going to cause some problems. So Paris and Helen fall in love and when Paris is visiting they escape back to the city of Troy. But Helen’s husband, Menelaus, was very angry that she and Paris left. So what did he do next? He called on all of his friends to help get her back. Many of his friends were powerful kings of other Greek cities and islands. They formed a huge army and headed to Troy to take Helen back from Paris. 

Now, if you’re a bit skeptical about the idea that an apple could cause a war, that’s okay. Remember, these stories weren’t just about telling history, they were also about entertaining people and teaching moral lessons. So gods and magical events would often become part of the story over time. It made things more exciting, just like the powers that the heroes of our day have like superpowers or magic. 

So, the Iliad starts ten years into this war over Helen! But more importantly, it starts with anger. In fact, the first line of the poem talks about anger: 

Sing the anger, oh goddess, of Peleus’ son Achilles.

This story starts with an argument between the hero Achilles and the leader of the Greek forces, Agamemnon, over a servant girl Agamemnon took from him.  Achilles refuses to fight, and also keeps his army, the Myrmidons, on the sidelines. This is a big problem for the Greeks, because there’s a prophecy that says they cannot win the war without Achilles.

Agamemnon tries all sorts of things to try to get Achilles to rejoin the fighting. He even tells everyone they should just pack up and go home. Maybe he thinks if he threatens to leave, Achilles might not like the idea and finally decide to cooperate. (Have your parents ever tried this on you?) But a few of the other leaders convince everyone they should stay and continue the fight.

Once the armies reach Troy, The Greeks and the Trojans try to settle their differences by having Paris and Menelaus fight one-to-one. After all, it was their argument over Helen that started the whole war. But when it becomes clear Menelaus is going to win, the goddess Aphrodite saves Paris by carrying him back to his house on a cloud. 

So the two sides just keep fighting. 

Another important character in the Battle for Troy is the warrior, Achilles. A prophecy says that the war can only be won with Achilles help, but Achilles had refused to fight because he was wronged. Eventually, Achilles starts to feel bad about not helping, as he sees his friends struggling and dying around him. So he gives his best friend, Patroclus his armor and tells him to lead his men into battle. Sadly, Patroclus Achilles dies in battle and Achilles regrets his decision to send him instead. Achilles now feels he has no choice but to rejoin the war, that he must avenge his friend’s death. 

So Achilles puts on his armor and in anger, avenges his friend’s death but the Trojan War continues on anyway. This poem, called The Iliad, ends with Achilles overcoming his anger and accepting his responsibilities towards his comrades. Eventually, the Greeks do win the war, and Helen returns home with husband, the King Menelaus, but those events aren’t part of The Iliad or The Odyssey. In a way, The Iliad isn’t about the war – how many years it took, why it was fought, or who won. It was about one person, Achilles, learning to overcome his angry feelings and do what his friends and community needed him to do. This is often what makes someone a hero: overcoming their own anger, pride, or fear in order to serve a bigger purpose.

The next episode, we’ll talk about Homer’s other epic poem, The Odyssey. This story is very different from the Iliad. Instead of talking about the war, it talks about one king’s return home. The king’s name is Odysseus, and he’s known for being very crafty and smart. He actually had the idea that led the Greeks to eventually win the Trojan War.  His idea was to build a giant, wooden horse, as tall as a building. It was also hollow inside so Greek warriors could hide inside. Then the Greeks told the Trojans they wanted to give them the horse as a gift. Once the horse was inside the city and it was night, the soldiers hidden inside climbed out of a trapdoor and took over the city! Pretty tricky right? This is where we get the term “Trojan horse” for something that looks harmless, but hides a nasty surprise.

Thanks for listening to this episode about The Illiad. Be sure to listen next time for the story about The Odyssey. 

Sources

Homer. The Iliad. Translated by Richard Lattimore. University of Chicago Press, 1951

Homer. The Odyssey. Translated by Emily Wilson. Norton & Company, 2020.

The post The Illiad by Homer for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Take a minute to imagine that you have traveled with your family to Italy.  You visit a popular tourist spot to check out one of the most famous buildings in the world: the leaning Tower of Pisa.  As you approach the tower, you can see that it is leaning over at a strange tilt.  How is this tower even standing?  It has white pillars and arches.  It leans at an angle that is scary, but you can see that it is held up by large metal wires pulling against its weight.  Your family decides that they are going to go inside to explore. It sounds a little risky to go inside a leaning tower.  Will you go inside too?

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the most famous buildings in the world.  It is a freestanding bell tower in the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa.  A cathedral means a church that has a section where a religious leader, a bishop, lives inside.  The tower is known around the world for its strong lean.  The tower leans at an angle of four-degrees.  The lean is due to a foundation that is not stable.  This means that the base of the tower that holds the tower up is likely to fall.

The Tower of Pisa is 183 feet from the ground on the low side and 186 feet on the high side.  It has 295 steps to the top level. 

The Tower first began to lean during the time it was built in the 12th century.  This happened because the ground that the Tower was built on was soft and could not properly support the weight of the huge tower. Throughout the building of the tower, the leaning only got worse. Oops! And it continued to lean more over the next few hundred years. By 1990, the tilt had reached 5 ½ degrees!  This was so far over that the Italian government decided to add extra support beams to help stabilize the tower.  Their work was successful and after 8 years of extra work the tilt of the building was reduced to 4 degrees. 

There is some mystery around who designed the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  For many years, people thought that the architect was a man named Bonanno Pisano.  This was based on a piece of metal found in the earth at the base of the tower.  But later scientists concluded that a different man named Diotisalvi was that actual architect and that Pisano likely just made the door frame.  This was due to the fact that the tower is very similar to at least two other buildings that Diotisalvi designed in Pisa. 

The Tower of Pisa was built in three stages over almost 200 years. In the year 1172, a woman named Donna Berta di Bernardo inherited a large sum of money from her husband.  She gave some of this money to the local Opera house in Pisa and she used the rest towards buying a few stones that are still part of the base of the bell tower.

One year later, the government had enough money to hire a crew of workers to continue to build the tower.  The government had more money than in recent years due to the fact that the army had successfully taken over some additional areas.  The crews started by building the foundations of the tower.  Later that year, they laid the ground floor of the tower with white marble. This ground floor has a “blind arcade”.  This means that the bottom had columns with classical looking arches but the other side of the arches have no actual openings.  Instead, it is just a hard surface of a wall with arches that are decorative, or there to make it look nice.  

The arches also aren’t “load-bearing”.  This means that they do not support the weight of the structure. 

About 400 years later, a man named Giorgio Vasari wrote that Guglielma together with sculptor Bonanno laid the foundation, or base, of the bell tower in the tower of Pisa.

The tower began to sink after construction had progressed to the second floor in 1178. The reason was because the foundation was not built to be high enough.  It was only three-metres high, which was very low for a tower of that height.  

Unfortunately, the tower was set in weak, unstable soil or dirt.  This was a problem that was there right from the beginning. Because the tower started to sink, the people who were building the tower stopped construction.  The tower then sat there for almost 100 years with nothing being done.  The country that the tower was in was called the Republic of Pisa. The Republic was almost constantly battling with the neighbouring countries of Genoa, Lucca and Florence. 

The 100 years that the tower sat there was actually a good thing.  This allowed time for the soil underneath the tower to settle, or become more stable. If the original construction crew had carried on building the tower, the tower would have almost definitely fallen over.

In the year 1233, a father and son started to do further construction work on the tower to try to finish it.  They eventually had to pass the project on to another builder and then yet another took over.  

In 1264, the tower construction had finally moved along far enough that the main architect at the time, hired 23 workers to go into the mountains close to Pisa and cut marble. After the marble was cut out of the mountain, they used it on the tower. In order to compensate, or counter-balance, for the tilt, the designers build the upper floors of the tower with one side taller than the other.  For this reason, the tower is actually curved today.  

The seventh floor was finished in 1319 and then the bell-chamber was finally added in the year 1372.  The bell-chamber, or room holding the bell, was built by a man named Tommaso di Andrea Pisano. He used Gothic elements and a Romanesque style of the tower. These are different historic styles of buildings that were popular at different times in Europe’s history. There are seven bells in the bell-chamber, one for each note of the musical major scale.  

After the tower of Pisa was finished, the tower was admired by many people and has had some famous visitors.  A famous astronomer _______ dropped cannonballs off of the tower to show the law of free fall, a famous law in physics.  Physics is the study of matter and motion, or things and movement. 

During World War 2, the Allies, Americans and English, thought that the Germans were using the tower of Pisa as a watch post. A U.S. Army sergeant was sent to find out if German troops were in the tower.  He was so impressed by the beauty of the tower, that even though he found that there were Germans in there he held back on ordering an air attack to save the tower from being destroyed.

There have been many attempts to restore the tower to a straight, standing, position or at least keep it from falling over. Unfortunately, most of these efforts failed.  And some of these attempts even made the tower worse.  

In 1964, the Italian government raised money to restore the tower again and stop it from falling over.  The government wanted it to become more stable, but it still wanted the tower to have a tilt. They realized that the tilt was what made it famous! It helped attract tourists, or visitors from other places, to visit Pisa, so why fix it?

The Tower was closed to visitors in January 1990 due to the collapse of another tower nearby.  The collapse scared the Italian government that the same things might happen to the tower of Pisa.  They removed the bells to take some of the weight out of the towers.  They also cinched cables around the third level of the tower and anchored the cables hundreds of metres away. People who lived in home nearby were told to leave to make sure they wouldn’t be hurt if the tower fell over. 

In 1993, the Italian government added almost 900 tonnes of lead counterweights, or weights on the other side of the tower to counter-balance the weight of the leaning side.  This helped straighten the tower a bit. They also removed soil underneath the raised side of the tower to help prevent the collapse of the tower. This helped to make the tilt of the tower a safer angle. This method worked!   The tower’s tilt was reduced by almost 18 inches, returning to its 1838 position. 

Finally, after 10 years of work to rebuild the tower and make it more stable, the tower was re-opened to the public in December 2001.  The government declared that it was now stable for at least another 200 years.  

Would you like to visit the leaning tower of Pisa one day?  If you do visit, would you brave enough to go inside?

The post History of the Leaning Tower of Pisa for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Egypt was home to one of the most powerful civilizations of all time. They built the gigantic pyramids that are still standing today. They were led by a king, who they called a pharoah. They believed he was a god and worshipped him. They used advanced math, astronomy, created a system of writing, their own paper and were able to farm the land and build on a massive scale. Their armies were powerful and dangerous and controlled all the land in Northeast Africa for thousands of years! It can be hard to imagine just how long Egypt was in power compared to countries today, but it was much, much longer than British Empire was in power or the United States has been a global power, for example. 

But over time other civilizations became powerful. Eventually, it was the Greeks under Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great was a skilled military hero, who conquered lands all across the Medeterranean and eventually took Egypt. From this time forward Egypt was controlled by the Greeks. When Alexander the Great died, one of his captains named Ptolemy became the new King of Egypt or Pharoah. Ptolemy and his children ruled Egypt from the city of Alexandria for many, many years. And this is where our story about Cleopatra begins. 

Cleopatra was born 69 BCE in the city of Alexandra, Egypt as a princess to the current pharoah, Ptolemy the 7th. Like Alexander the Great, who had conquered Egypt, Cleopatra and her family were Greek, even though they ruled the Egyptian people. She had an older sister named Berenice, a younger sister named Arsinoe and two younger brothers who also had their father’s name of Ptolemy. 

Cleopatra had a good and safe childhood as a princess of Egypt. She probably played dice games popular in Egypt and with carved wooden dolls. Because she might be the pharoah herself someday, she was given a very good education. She had very good teachers and was able to study in the grand library of Alexandria, one of the best libraries in the history of the ancient world. Smart people from all over the world gathered at Alexandria and her library to study and learn from each other. 

At school she memorized long poems and lists of gods, goddesses and heroes. She was taught to speak in front of other people, an important skill as a queen. Cleopatra dressed in beautiful silk robes, wore lots of jewelry and makeup, and made to look like a goddess, since that’s what the people believed she was, as the daughter of a god.  

Unfortunate for Cleopatra, she was born during a time when there were many problems going on in her family and in Egypt. Her father and the pharaohs before him had been poor leaders, so the Egyptian people no longer wanted him as their ruler. When Cleopatra was 11, the people finally made her father, Ptolemy, leave Egypt. 

After Ptolemy left, Cleopatra’s older sister, Berenice became the new pharoah. In order to take power, Berenice had to do some horrible things and Cleopatra watched as all of this happened. The struggles going on her family made her want to stay out of the fighting, but she also watched carefully knowing that someday she may be the one having to take control and rule Egypt. She was very smart and probably already started thinking about what the right moves might be when she was in the same position as her older sister. She also learned that the best rulers were the ones who had the support of their people, unlike her father. She decided the best way to do this was to find ways for the Egyptian people to like her. Cleopatra learned everything she could about the Egyptian people and learned their language. She started dressing like their goddess Isis to gain their support. 

Another great civilization that rose to power after the Greeks was the Roman Empire. They were the most powerful empire during the lifetime of Cleopatra. Cleopatra’s father, Ptolemy, after being run out of Egypt, fled to Rome and convinced the Romans to join him and retake control of Egypt. A battle broke out between the fearsome Roman Army and the Egyptians of Alexandria. The Roman Army won the battle and Ptolemy once again became the pharaoh of Egypt. But even though her father was in control again, Cleopatra knew if she made the right moves, she could become the next ruler once he was gone.

And by 51 BCE, Ptolemy died and Cleopatra became the new queen, the Pharoah of Egypt. She was only 18 at the time, but had been preparing for her entire life for the job. She knew she’d have to be very careful and win over the people if she wanted to stay in power. One of her first moves was to take a trip to the city of Thebes by boat in a grand ceremony and declare herself the goddess Isis. Isis was worshipped by the Egyptian people, so she hoped in turn they would worship and honor her.

Sadly, luck turned against Cleopatra though and the Nile River didn’t flood for the first two years she was pharaoh. The Nile River was how the Egyptian people survived when once a year it flooded and watered their farmlands. The people wondered why if Cleopatra was a goddess she wasn’t able to control the Nile. Soon the people were going hungry, because their crops weren’t growing. Guess who they blamed? Yes, Cleopatra. Seeing that the people were growing angry, she decided to leave before they forced her out. But did Cleopatra give up easily? No. Right away she started plans for how she would return to power. In the desert she used her mastery of language to start making allies, which means friends with those who she could join with, warriors who could help her become pharaoh again.

Around this time a war was going on in Rome between two generals, Pompey and Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar won and after beating Pompey and taking control over the entire Roman Empire as its first emperor, he headed to Egypt to make sure it was also under his control. When he arrived, Cleopatra’s younger brother, Ptolemy, was the pharaoh. Caesar wanted Ptolemy and Cleopatra to work together to figure out who should rule Egypt, but Cleopatra was afraid her brother might try to harm her when she returned from the desert. So she came up with a very cunning plan. Cunning means to be very tricky and smart. With the help of her friend, Apollodorus, Cleopatra put on a disguise and rowed up the Nile River to Alexandria in a small boat. After reaching the palace, she climbed into a big sack and had Apollodorus carry her over his shoulder. No one knew he was carrying Cleopatra as he walked across the grounds of the palace and right into the room where Julius Caesar was waiting. Next, Cleopatra climbed out of the bag to Caesar’s great surprise! 

Cleopatra then used her great skills of talking and persuasion to convince Julius Caesar to let her be the Pharaoh of Egypt in place of her brother. Caesar agreed to let her rule with her brother, who was angry with the decision. Her brother, Ptolemy’s army later attacked too, but Ceasar’s army was more powerful and won The Alexandrian War and Ptolemy did not survive, leaving Cleopatra once again in control of Egypt. After the war Julius Caesar stayed in Egypt and Cleopatra became his wife. They travelled up and down the Nile and had a child together and named him Caesarion, which means “Little Caesar.” Eventually, they returned to Rome together. 

The Roman people liked Caesar, but the other leaders did not. They did not like that he had become an emperor and also did not like that he had married a woman who was not Roman. While in Rome, one of Julius Caesar’s friends, Brutus, and the other leaders turned against him and Caesar did not survive their attacks. The reign of Emperor Caesar was over, so Cleopatra left Rome and returned to Egypt.

While Cleopatra was in Egypt, a new war in Rome began over who would lead the empire. The battle was fought between one of Caesar’s generals, Mark Antony and Brutus and Cassius. This was called the Roman Civil War. Mark Antony eventually sailed to Rome to gain Cleopatra’s support. At first she was unsure if she should befriend him, because she wasn’t sure which side would win the war. Eventually, she met him on the Nile in one of her huge, decorated boats. She was dressed as the goddesses Isis, the boat was covered in flowers, small torches, and purple sails making it a beautiful sight to behold. When Mark Antony met Cleopatra he was stunned by her beauty and her power of speech and persuasion. Soon, he and Cleopatra were a couple and spent the next several months sailing together along the Nile and throwing huge parties together at Cleopatra’s palace. They paid for huge feasts and dancers and acrobats. These were some of the biggest parties Egypt had ever seen!

While Mark Antony was away from Rome, Julius Caesar’s nephew, Octavian had risen to power. Mark Antony knew it was time for him to give up the parties and his time with Cleopatra and return to battle to conquer his own lands. He left Egypt and fought far away while Octavian won the Civil War and now wanted to make sure Mark Antony wasn’t a threat. He sailed to Egypt to finish him off. In Egypt, Cleopatra and Mark Antony joined forces to fight Octavian. Their ships and soldiers battled on the ocean, but Octavian’s navy was stronger and he beat Cleopatra and Mark Antony. They retreated to the big city of Alexandria and waited for Octavian to come after them. Cleopatra and Mark Antony loved each other and refused to be separated during their final days. They passed away in Alexandria together, where a funeral was also held in honor of them. The Egyptian people were sad to see their goddess queen, their pharaoh go.

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Have you ever wondered what our calendar is the way it is, with 12 months and 365 days? In ancient times, many of the discoveries and inventions were made in the city of Rome. Romans invented the calendar we use today, however, it was inaccurate and did not follow the seasons. So, the emperor Julius Caesar made some corrections and improved it to the version we know today. One that is based on the Sun, has 365 days and 12 months and matches the season.

Now that we know something about Julius Caesar, let’s learn about who he really was. Gaius Julius Caesar was born in July, 100 BC in Suburra, the city of Rome. His parents were nobles in the city. They were well-known, but not rich. As a young boy, Julius Caesar started his education at the young age of six and learned important skills from his tutor. He was taught to develop excellent speaking skills and exceptional leadership qualities. It was only because his parents wanted him to become a noble just like them and even become a King, someday.

By the time he turned sixteen, his father passed away and he became the head of household. All the responsibilities of the house were now his and he had to represent his house in the court of nobles. At the age of seventeen, Julius got married to Cornelia, the daughter of a powerful politician. During that time, there was a fight between his two uncles. Julius didn’t want to fight with his family members and thought that it was foolish. So, to escape the fight, he joined the army and left Rome. 

Julius fought many wars and became a brave warrior who started getting recognition in the army. Quickly, he began to reach higher ranks in the government. He made friends with many influential leaders namely Crassus who was a wealthy businessman and General Pompey, who was the best military commander back then. Influential means having power and wealth. By the time Caesar returned to Rome, he was famous among the people and was loved widely due to his victories and good speaking skills. 

By the age of forty, he was elected as the consul. Consul was the uppermost rank in the Roman government, similar to a president. He remained in this position for one year. Then, he was appointed the governor of a province named Gaul. As a result, he was granted four legions. Legions are large groups of soldiers in the military who protect the cities and during wars, fight the battles.

Julius was an extraordinary general. Gaul was surrounded by tribes who did not live according to the Roman rule. The military feared them as they had a very strong army. However, the troops were divided among themselves and fought with each other. Taking advantage of their internal conflict, Caesar led his troops into battle against them and became victorious. Due to his smart thinking, he managed to conquer all of Gaul. His strategic insight gained him the respect of his army. Strategic insight means the someone’s ability to find solutions to big problems. After his success, Julius Caesar was considered to be as good in war strategy as the great General Pompey. Nowadays, historians consider him as one of the best military commanders in history.

While he was in position as governor, the politics in Rome became very aggressive. Many leaders started to dislike Julius Caesar because of his success. Even General Pompey, who used to be a good friend of Julius became jealous. This jealousy turned hostile and the two old friends turned into big rivals. While Julius Caesar was supported and loved by the people, Pompey had the support of the corrupt people who were actually nobles and rich businessmen. 

Caesar then decided to run for consul again. He announced his intentions to gain the support of his people but the Roman Senate was against him. A Senate is a house for the noble people to make decisions for the city. Because they didn’t like him, the Senate asked Julius to give up his post as the General of the Army. It was a dreadful demand! Hence, Caesar refused. The government could not accept that he had dared to defy them so they called him a traitor of the nation. 

Both sides declared war. This was the Great Civil War of Rome that lasted four years. Caesar began marching his army towards Rome to fight against the Senate. General Pompey was leading the soldiers of the Senate. Caesar won the battle and gained total control of Rome. He kept fighting Pompey till he finally defeated him eighteen months later. By this time, he had managed to chase him all the way to Egypt. Pompey fled to save his life but was unfortunately captured by the Pharaoh who had him executed and presented to Julius Caesar as a gift. The Pharaohs were the ancient rulers of Egypt. 

This victory in war made Julius Caesar the most powerful man in the world. He returned to his home, the Roman Empire, in 46 BC.  He managed to crush everyone who resisted him in the government and was appointed “Dictator Perpetuo” which means “dictator forever”. When he came to power, Rome was suffering from financial (or money) issues because of the wars it was always fighting. It was very expensive to wage war and sent all of the workers off to battle. Julius changed the government and made improvements for the poor. He even passed various laws, ultimately bringing Rome back to its former glory. 

Julius Caesar made countless great changes to Rome and transformed it into the magnificent city it is today. He ordered the rebuilding of the great city Carthage which was destroyed in the Punic wars. It was a part of ancient civilization and later became the second largest city in Rome. 

One of his best achievements was the Julian Calendar which is the basis for our calendar we use today. Not only was he a  warrior, he was very learned. He was also said to be one of the best writers in Rome. He wrote several poems and many books. One of his books, the first text was assigned to students of Latin. 

On March 15, 44 BC some people of Rome, including other leaders in the government, were unhappy with his rule. They thought that he was too powerful and he would destroy the Roman Empire, which was based on a republic, ruled by a group of leaders rather than one. So they decided to put an end to his rule. Cassius and Brutus, Julius’s two best friends led the plot to assassinate him. When Julius Caesar entered the senate, they crept up to him and murdered him in cold blood. His death is still remembered today on 15^th March as the Ides of March.

Julius Caesar was very ambitious, which means he worked very hard to be smart and strong so he could become powerful in his country. He increased his power through violence and eventually took control over all of Rome. Historical people like Julius have many sides, which means they do some good things, but also some bad things as well. Take some time to reflect on this and think of people you know who may have good traits and not so good traits. But regardless, Julius Caesar will go down in history as one of the most influential leaders of all time.

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Believe it or not, the Olympics are a tradition that have ancient roots, all the way back to 7^th century BCE Greece, over 2,500 years ago! They happen every 2 years and switch between the Winter and Summer games. Usually around 200 countries come together to participate. It is an amazing show of worldwide unity and putting aside differences to celebrate sport and achievement.

The Ancient Olympics were part of a festival to honor the Greek god Zeus, who was the father of all the other gods and goddesses in Greek mythology. They were held every 4 years at Olympia, which was named after Mt. Olympus, the home of the Greek gods. The competitors came from everywhere in the Greek world. From Iberia, present day Spain, to the Black Sea, near Turkey.

Although some sources say that it’s possible that the Olympics began in the 9^th or 10^th century BCE, the agreed upon year the Olympics started is 776 BCE. It is said that the only event for the first 13 festivals was the stadion, a foot race 600 ft long. The first recorded person to win the race was a cook from the city of Elis. I thought it was pretty cool that a cook won the first race. Eventually other sports were added which included running races, jumping, wrestling, boxing, horse-related events, discus, and so on.

The Olympics were held in Ancient Greece for almost 1200 years. The Olympics became less frequent starting in the 2^nd century BCE when the Romans invaded Greece. Sometimes they would interfere by trying to declare themselves the winner. Not very fair, right? The Olympics came to an end in 393 CE when Emperor Theodosius I declared an end to all pagan festivals. Pagan began festivals that celebrated the Greek gods.

It was 1,500 years until the Olympics finally returned. A man from France named Pierre de Coubertin was visiting the ancient Olympic site in Greece when he had an idea. He was very interested in physical education and wanted others to be, too. He thought that starting the Olympics games back up would inspire others to be physically fit, too! 

He shared his idea to start the Olympics in November 1892. Two years later he got permission to create the International Olympic Committee, which is the same group in charge of the Olympics even to this day! A Greek man named Demetrius Vikelas was elected to be the first president. Through Coubertin and Vikelas’ hard work, and many people across the world donating, enough money was raised to help Greece host the Olympics. Two years later in 1896 they held the first modern Olympics in Athens, Greece. People from all over the world came to watch the first modern Olympics and over 80,000 people filled the stadium during opening ceremonies! More people attended this event than any sporting event in history. There were 280 people participating from 14 different countries. Some of the different sports were cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, racing, weightlifting, tennis and wrestling. 

During the first modern Olympics winners were awarded silver medals and the runners up were awarded copper medals. As you may know today the medals are gold, silver, and bronze. The United States won 11 silver medals and Greece won the most medals overall, 46. Runners up were Germany, France and Great Britain. A highlight of the Olympics was Greek marathon runner, Spyridion Louis, winning the marathon and the most competitive participant was German wrestler, Carl Schumann, who won 4 events. 

The first winter Olympics were held in 1924. For 70 years, both the Summer and Winter Olympics were held during the same year. It wasn’t until 1994 that they were split and began switching every 2 years.

There are many symbols around the Olympics, like the flag and the motto that have deep meaning.

The Olympic flag was originally created by Coubertin in 1913. It is a white background with five rings: blue, yellow, black, green and red. The five rings were to represent the 5 continents: Europe, Africa, Asia, America and Oceania. Coubertin chose those colors because together they represented the colors of all the countries participating. He took the rings interlocking from the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, interlocking rings symbolized to Jung continuity and the human being. It was a flag created to represent everyone, truly an international symbol.

The Olympic motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, which is Latin for “faster, higher, stronger” It was suggested by Coubertin at the original International Olympic Committee meeting. It was a saying that a friend of his, Henri Didon, who was a priest and a teacher came up with. Coubertin said “These three words represent a programme of moral beauty. The aesthetics of sport are intangible.” It was officially introduced at the 1924 games. 

The Olympic creed was said by the Bishop of Central Pennsylvania, Ethelbert Talbot, in a sermon during the 1908 Olympics. He said, “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

The Olympic Anthem is played when the Olympic flag is raised and even though it was performed at the first modern Olympics in 1896, it wasn’t made the official anthem until 1958. It was composed by Spyridon Samaras; the words are from a poem by the Greek writer Kostis Palamas. The poem is a celebration of the Olympics, and the sense of a worldwide friendship that comes with Olympics. A small part of it says, “As now we come across the world/To share these Games of old/Let all the flags of every land/In brotherhood unfold   Sing out each nation, voices strong/Rise up in harmony/All hail our brave Olympians/With strains of victory”. The anthem shows just how much the Olympics are meant to unify us.

Anciently, the prize for winning (only first place was recognized anciently) was a kotinos, a wild olive branch intertwined to form a circle. The kotinos was made from a sacred olive tree by the temple of Zeus near Olympia. But of course now first, second and third place are awarded medals. The front of the medal shows an image of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory and the back shows the host country of the games. Olympic diplomas are then given to fourth through eighth places. 

There is a modern Olympic tradition that was introduced at the Berlin Games in 1936. Months before the games are held, a torch is lit at the site of the ancient Olympics in Olympia, Greece. To do this the Sun is used to light the torch using a parabolic reflector (kind of like a giant mirror shaped like a bowl). The torch is then taken out of Greece to the host country and travels around before the games, staying lit the entire time. Sometimes on it’s way to the host country it is taken to really exciting places. The flame has gone underwater, to the North Pole and even to Outer Space! It has been carried by both famous people and ordinary people. The first day of the Olympics is called Opening Ceremonies. The day of Opening Ceremonies it is taken to a cauldron that is used to light the ceremonies. Here all of the participants parade around the stadium carrying flags representing their different countries. It’s an exciting day for the participants and for the world!

Today the Olympics includes many more sports than the first modern Olympics which beyond the traditional sports include basketball, baseball, volleyball, BMX, diving, soccer, hockey, karate, skateboarding, surfing, and trampolines.

The Olympic games come from the desire to be a part of something more, and while no country is perfect, it is incredible to see what we can accomplish when we work together, instead of apart. As we go into this exciting worldwide tradition this month and next, think about what you can do to contribute to unity in your world. Unity or to unify means to come together, to work together, to be one. Think about what this means as a family, friends, in your school and community. Our small efforts always have a bigger effect than we think they will. How can you make a difference?

Also, as you watch the Olympics, think about sports you are interested in, or might be interested in! Physical activity is good for your body and mind. Studies show that exercising makes you happier! When you move about and play and exercise chemicals in your brain are released that make you feel better and feel less stress. Isn’t that cool? I know for me it feels to get out and run or ride my bike or swim with my kids. It clears my mind and it gives me added strength or energy. Spend some time thinking about how you might add more physical activity to your life, and maybe by watching the Olympics you’ll be inspired to try a new sport.

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In the distance, you hear music and the voices of people gathering and singing songs. You join the crowd along the road and slowly walk up a very tall hill. At the top of the hill is a magnificent white building supported by gigantic marble pillars. People are streaming into the building as they clap their hands, sing and celebrate. Inside the temple, you gaze up at an enormous statue of Athena, the Greek god who protects your city. You place a wreath of flowers and food at her feet as an offering. Others around you do the same. Today is Panathenia, the festival celebrating Athena’s birthday. It’s the most important holiday of the year in the city of Athens.

Athens and Sparta

Tonight we’re going to learn about Athens and Sparta, two of the earliest civilizations in Western History. Athens and Sparta were located in what is now known as Greece in Europe on the Mediterranean Sea. 

Around 2,500 years ago Greece had over 1,000 city-states. A city-state was like a very small country. Athens and Sparta were two of the most powerful. At the time the Persian Empire controlled Greece and many of the city-states. But the Greek city-states wanted to be free of Persian rule, so they went to war and eventually beat the Persians during the Battle of Marathon. After the Greco-Persian War Athens and Sparta grew in number of people and in wealth.

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Athens

Even though they lived nearby each other, the people of Athens and Sparta couldn’t be more different. The people of Athens were known for their love of wisdom and subjects such as philosophy, history, science, and art. The word philosophy is a Greek word that means “love of wisdom.” The earliest and most famous philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were Greek. They spent their days studying the world around them and reflecting on their own thoughts. One of Socrates’s most famous quotes was an “unexamined life is not worth living,” which means we should focus on trying to understand our own thoughts and motivations and trying to make sense of the world around us. Inscribed on the Temple of Delphi were the words: “know thyself.” As we come to understand our own minds and intentions, we can improve ourselves and likewise the world around us. The philosopher Aristotle was known for studying nature and making observations about it. He was fascinated by the world around him. 

During its Golden Age Athens formed one of the first democratic governments, which means large groups of people made decisions for their city-state rather than a single ruler. This style of government was ahead of its time and later influenced the democratic governments we enjoy today, ruled by the people instead of a king. One of their leaders was named Pericles. Pericles was a talented speaker who loved wisdom and was known for thinking rationally, which means making decisions based on truth rather than strong emotions. The people loved Pericles and he led them to make good decisions for Athens. Most children were able to attend school and taxes were used to make the city a better place. The Athenians built beautiful temples to the Greek gods. The Parthenon was the most famous temple whose ruins can still be seen today on Acropolis Hill. Inside the Parthenon, they built sculptures of the goddess Athena and Zeus, the god of sky and thunder. 

Athenian Mythology

The Athenians wrote stories about their gods, which became known as Greek Mythology. Each of the gods had a personality and behaved like humans. Sometimes they were angry, sometimes they were happy, and even threw parties. In the stories, the gods fought wars and often used humans to do the fighting for them. The Athenians used their gods to explain acts of nature like hurricanes and the crash of thunder. The stories often also included moral stories to teach how people should behave. Some of the other well-known gods were Poseidon, the god of the sea, Hera, the goddess of marriage and family, and Ares, the god of war. 

The theater was also very popular in Athens. The people loved to gather and watch plays and listen to songs and music. Some of the great playwrights of the time were Sophocles, Euripedes, Aeschylus, and Aristophane. 

The Athenians loved art and wisdom, but to protect themselves and secure their freedoms, they also built a powerful navy. A navy was important because Greece was located on the Mediterranean Sea and surrounded by islands and other coastal city-states, which often attacked each other. Athen’s navy was made up of triremes, huge wooden warships that carried 170 rowers manning 3 banks of oars. The ships were 100 feet long and 20 feet wide. At one point Athens had over 400 warships and 80,000 sailors that protected their coasts. All young men joined the military when they were 18.

Sparta

Athens wasn’t the only powerful city-state in Greece at the time. Sparta was another very powerful city-state, but they couldn’t be more different than their neighbors. The Spartans were ruled by two kings and a small group of leaders who controlled the people by force. They prized military strength above all else. They were all about being strong and dangerous — a true warrior society. At the age of 7, Spartans joined a military school called the Agoge, which trained them to be tough and fierce. They went everywhere barefoot, so their feet could be strong. They ate bland food and wore uncomfortable clothes to toughen them. They learned how to wrestle and fight as soldiers. They were taught self-control and to be courageous in the face of danger. All Spartans were expected to devote their lives to their city-state above all their personal wants and needs.

Sparta was made up of three groups: the Spartans, who were full citizens and full-time soldiers, the Helots, who were slaves to the Spartans, and the Perioeci (peer-ee-oh-see), skilled craftsmen who built things such as homes and weapons of war.

Spartan soldiers were called hoplites. In battle, they wore bronze helmets, breastplates, and red cloaks. They carried large round shields, and a spear or sword. They were truly fierce warriors and were known for their tight fighting formation called a phalanx. In a phalanx, hoplites stood close together with their shields overlapping to form a single wall of armor. Then they attacked together as one body. 

King Leonidas

One of the most famous Spartans was King Leonidas, who led his army against the Persians in the Battle of Thermopylae. According to Greek historians, when Leonidas saw they were losing he sent most of his troops home, but stayed with 300 soldiers to fight a much larger army of Persians for three days. Leonidas and the other Spartans fought bravely, but the Persians found a way around them and eventually won. Even though Leonidas and his army lost, they would forever be remembered for their courage to continue fighting even when they were outnumbered.  

Spartan women were known for being strong-minded and independent. They were also expected to be fit and physically strong. They received some education and competed in games such as javelin throwing and wrestling. They also enjoyed dancing and singing and were able to own their own property, which wasn’t common in other parts of Greece.

The Peloponnesian War

Sadly, Sparta and Athens didn’t get along. As they grew more powerful, Athens tried to control the other city-states like Sparta, which wouldn’t stand for it. In 431 B.C. Sparta and its allies attacked Athens in what became known as The Peloponnesian War. Athens had a strong navy, but Sparta was stronger on land and besieged Athens. A siege is when one army surrounds the city of its enemy. During the siege a plague also hit Athens and many of its people didn’t survive, making the city even weaker. Surprisingly, Athens survived the siege, but the war went on for another 15 years. Athens tried to use its navy to beat Sparta, but in 405 B.C. the Spartan general Lysander and his armies finally beat Athen’s navy and besieged the city once again. This time they conquered. Athens had to surrender and join the new Spartan Empire. 

Eventually, Sparta faced its own problems, like the revolt of its slave class who didn’t want to be ruled anymore. By around 300 B.C. the more powerful empire of Alexander the Great conquered Greece and Sparta, too. 

Even though Athens lost the war against Sparta, their ideas about philosophy and history and science, and art spread throughout Greece and beyond. Later the Roman Empire admired Greek thought and culture and its beautiful sculptures were admired through the ages. During the Renaissance, Greek culture was rediscovered by the Italians, and once again the philosophy of Socrates and Plato was read. In fact, you can read their writings today and they have formed the foundation of modern philosophy.

Tonight think about the values of each of these amazing groups of people. Neither was perfect, but you can take what is best about them and apply it to your own life. The Athenians loved the mind and wisdom. What does it mean to you to “know yourself”? Spend some time thinking about your own thoughts and why you do things or maybe why you were upset about something the other day. As you come to know yourself first, you can better manage yourself, and in turn, help those around you.

Also, think about Aristotle and how curious he was about the world around him. He studied every living thing he saw: the sky, the trees, the birds, and other animals. He made observations about them and continued learning and sharing his ideas with others. 

The Greeks loved beauty and found ways to express it through their sculptures. You could do the same by drawing beautiful things around you.

The Spartans were dangerous and aggressive, but we can take their values of courage, and strength and apply them to ourselves. Spartan children didn’t always get what they wanted, this taught them to have self-control. Sometimes when we get everything we want, we don’t appreciate things as much. They also found ways to strengthen their bodies by running and swimming and doing sports. It’s important to keep your own body strong and healthy. Think of ways you can be physically fit like a Spartan.

Spartans also had the courage and continued to fight even when they were outnumbered. The struggles you face may not always be physical, it may just be a problem you’re trying to solve or something you’re trying to be better at, but you can continue trying and persevering even when it seems like you can’t win.

May you have the mind and heart of an Athenian and the strength and courage of a Spartan! 

Check out these great books about Ancient Greece!

Watch a tour of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece:

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