Customer Reviews

Athens: Dawn of Democracy

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What comes to mind when you think of democracy? And what about when you think of Athens, the first democracy? Is the image that of a peaceful, enlightened group of people, exercising power together for the good of the whole? Ah, that's why this program was made - to shatter such an image, and reveal the first democracy for what it truly was.

For, although there were some important and, really, groundbreaking changes in the approach to government, the truth is, Athens actually did some pretty terrible things, democracy or not. Case in point - slaves were a major reason for its success. They were used to work the fields and were treated as property (slaves were forcibly sterilized so they could not have children, and thus, concentrate on their work). Doesn't sound like a free society, does it? Also, and this is no real surprise, women were subjugated in Athens, just as they were in almost every other society. No special treatment here. But perhaps the biggest surprise was to learn that no two-year period went by without the people of Athens voting to go to war. Again, not the idea you might have of an enlightened group of people looking to advance their new concept of governance. The process of "exporting democracy" was really to conquer new lands, exploit their resources, and exact tribute from the defeated groups. This is no different than what a tyrant might do - the only change was that a majority of Athenians were voting to take these actions, as opposed to a king or despot doing it on his own. But the result was the same - Athens, once it gained power and prominence, behaved in much the same way as a dictator might.

With all of this Athens-bashing, one shouldn't lose sight of the fact that Athens did introduce some revolutionary ideas regarding citizens' rights and duties. Prior to this experiment, the idea of people-led government was pretty much non-existent. However, in the closing section, as if to drive the point home, the story of Socrates' trial and death sentence is told. Here was a solid citizen, one of the greatest philosophers of any age, being sentenced to drinking poison for "mocking the gods and corrupting the youth." Hardly a capital crime one would think. Shouldn't a democracy allow free speech? Well, not in Athens. Not if it angered enough of the wrong people.

Four stars. A sobering reminder that power corrupts, no matter what form - even in a democracy.

Both explains the positive aspects of Ancient Athens without avoiding the contradictions at its heart: a democracy reliant on slavery and imperialism to underpin its political system. A culture much celebrated for its rationality yet equally based on magic and mystery cults.

A good historical review of Athens in terms of democracy. They used the standard shots of the sites as they are now, historical re-creations of sites, artifacts, interviews with historians, and narration. The narrator, and the others, were mildly condescending and critical on Athens. They judged them with 21st century (Western, liberal (technical meaning), democratic ideals). In addition, the narrator is a babe.

I show this documentary in my 9th grade world history class. Students find the comparisons between Athenian and American democracies very interesting. It is a long documentary to show in its entirety for a high school audience, but it is still a great resource. I use it to discuss the beginnings of Athenian democracy and how it expanded after the Persian Wars.

Athens: Dawn of Democracy is a wonderfully hip and accessible presentation of a familiar yet critical period of western history. Hughes' takes on reasons and outcomes are provocative and eye-opening, and video footage is gorgeous. A book offering further depth in the subject would be a brilliant addition to the concept, as was Hughes' work with Helen of Troy.

There are two stars of this video. The first star is the ancient Athens city itself and the other is Bettany Hughes. Ms. Hughes is a narrator who has a gifted tenor voice and her narrative is never boring. Additionally, Ms. Hughes has done post graduate work at Oxford in Greek history, is well known in Greece as an active historian, and is closely associated with many major universities; it should be noted that Ms. Hughes has close associations with the University of Michigan and in 2011 she will be doing a speaking tour in the USA this spring. Links to Ms. Hughes web site can be found through wikipedia or facebook.

Now, more to the video of ancient Athens; the video is three stars and is well worth it. Now, it's not a five star video. There are several reasons for this. First, if one watches The Spartans it's easy to see the out takes from that older video. Second, there are quite a few shots of modern Greece. Now, this is masked in the earlier video of The Spartans by making general pans of the Eurotas valley. But modern Athens is a thriving city. One of the more distracting parts is Ms. Hughes is giving an excellent speech on the lay out of old city of Athens and then a modern Greek rail tram runs behind her. So, the historical mood is destroyed and a person then wonders about the city planners because the vibrations from the train are doing these surviving structures from antiquity no good.

Ms. Hughes and this series are better than "The Spartans" for one fact: she strives for historical information and avoids sheer entertainment. Indeed, in the Spartans there are bits of misleading information given to a viewer; the best example was when the Athenian traitor Alcibiades is murdered it's implied it happened in Athens after the capitulation of the city during the end of Peloponnesian war (Alcibiades was killed after the war in the area of modern Turkey).

In "Spartans" Ms. Hughes has a pro-Athens bias. But in this series she strives to show Athens, warts and all. She covers the new founding of the city, how the silver mines enrich the city but, conversely, how the mines force the Athens slave owners to impose slave compounds that rival any slave quarters found in history.

Only one war is really shown of importance to the Athenians, the Persian-Greek wars of the 480 BC era. While the public knows about the last stand of the Spartan 300 they don't know that all of the area of Attica was thrown into panic, the Athenians evacuate the city, and a last stand is organized on Salamis. Themistocles engineers the Greek destruction of the Persian fleet at The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter that Saved Greece -- and Western Civilization and the true threat to Greece is destroyed. The combined Greek Armies are able to defeat the Persians in detail because their logistics base has been destroyed. This video shows photographs, computer simulations, and films of the Modern Greek Trireme "Olympias" with the objective of educating the average viewer that Athens's power came from the sea.

Ms. Hughes has interviews with many historians. They give us insights from everything to newly discovered ancient Greek writings, the players in Athens's politics, the weather at Salamis Straights, and the day to day life of the average resident of Athens. While interviewing the Greek historians the camera gives a panoramic view of the Acropolis. Some of these camera angles are really excellent and the pictures are very clean. You can see the cracks in the marble of the buildings or the deep blue colors in the Aegean Sea. This is why you pay money for a video; to see places that you might not be able to see with ease. The cinematography is well worth the cost of the video. One is given video tours of museums, rare glimpses of newly recovered Greek manuscripts, and some times breath taking glimpses of Greece itself.

This video shows the true death of Athens was in the vote that condemns Socrates to drink hemlock. Socrates was a critic of Athens who would question the wisdom and choices the city had made. But in the Second Peloponnesian war the city was in no mood for self examination; they voted to force Socrates to commit suicide. Almost immediately the citizens realize their mistake but the damage had been done. Not long after this the video ends. It does not discuss much of the Peloponnesian war, that subject is far better covered in "The Spartans". The video discusses the people, citizens, and life of Athens. Ms. Hughes makes an analogy of Socrates and Athens: when one dies then the other follows. The subjects are the ideas of democracy, the best and worse of Athens. Athens is a democracy; demos are the people. Sparta is the military. Ms. Hughes gives an over view of Athens in this video. The wars are more the subject of Lacedaemon.

So, the video is three stars. But if one had to give it an academic grade it would be a solid B+, a worth while effort.

But the causal reader should know this; this reviewer is now far more interested in Greece than ever. "The Spartans" and this video have whetted my appetite for far more knowledge about Greece and the ancients in General.

This is one of the best documentary TV series I have seen. Immensely enjoyable and packed with unexpected revelations about ancient Athens. If only we could have more shows like this!

All that is Athens cannot be contained in just two hours of film, nevertheless, Athens: Dawn of Democracy does an excellent job of presenting an overview of one human civilization's greatest cities and the birthplace of democracy.
Bettany Hughes, as in the case of The Spartans, is a wonderful guide and narrator that helps transport the viewer back in time to Ancient Greece.
Shot on location, Bettany Hughes does a very good job of presenting the actual setting for the events that unfolded. Moreover, she accurately describes the process through which the Athenian/Delian alliance transformed into an Athenian empire. Additionally, major historical figures such as Socrates, Themistocles, Pericles, and Alcibiades among others, are very well and very accurately presented. Finally, the theme is Athens after all, which in itself is a positive aspect!
In the end, Athens: Dawn of Democracy brings to life the legendary Athenian heroes and achievements and is strongly recommended, along with The Spartans, to those with a soft spot for all things Greek.

I agree completely with the excellent customer review of Stephen J. Burr, but not with his four stars. The film's clarity is imprecise, if not its overall accuracy. They are not catastrophic, but viewing this after immersing myself in hundreds of pages of serious historical reading on ancient Athens, mostly from perhaps the world's preeminent scholar on the subject, Donald Kagan of Yale, I noticed a few things. The narrator early on mentions the date 416 BCE, the year of the graphe paranomon ("indictment against measures contrary to the laws.") I was confused enough not to know what she was talking about, maybe by the brevity of the reference to an obscure, complex, and context-dependent historical ripple.

She mistakenly refers to a unit of Greek infantry as a "hoplite," which is the word for a single fighter. "Phalanx" is the word for the unit. She's a historian?

It seems to be an accurate reporting of a current academic assessment, but for me locating Athens' dark side with indicators like superstition and the existence of slavery is more a contemporary bias than a fair analysis of the half-mythical first democracy. Most or all successful trading societies had slaves in the ancient world. Can we expect Athens to have instantly rejected all of its economic, cultural and religious practices because they happened to stumble on democracy? Only the similarities between our world and theirs are truly significant as a lens through which to look back. When we follow this course more important differences appear, like the lack of separation between the politicians and the polity in Athens. We can't come close to matching that.

Maybe these problems result from the host's not being an Athens expert but being some other kind of historian who happens to think she's good at storytelling.

To top off these problems, the narrator's voice and style are for me grating in the extreme. She has a habit of raising the joy in her voice while she's making a point, whether the point is joyous or not. Cloying.

If I weren't an Athens junkie--and I did get a few tasty scraps out of this thing--I would have given it two stars, not three.

Accurate and detailed information provided about the product allowed me to purchase this DVD secure in the knowledge I was buying what I needed. The product was delivered promptly, with accurate information regarding estimated delivery dates, and in pristine condition.