A day in the life of an ancient Athenian - Robert Garland

It’s 427 BCE, and the worst internal conflict ever to occur in the ancient Greek world is in its fourth year. Athens is facing a big decision: what to do with the people of Mytilene, a city on the island of Lesbos where a revolt against Athenian rule has just been put down. How did these kinds of decisions get made? Robert Garland outlines a day in the life of Athenian democracy.

Lesson by Robert Garland, animation by Zedem Media.

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[JoKeRfly]

"A ship was immediately dispatched to Mytilene to countermand the execution order sent out the previous day. The Mytilenean representatives in Athens offered a sizable reward to the crew if the ship arrived in time to prevent the executions. Rowing day and night, sleeping in shifts, and eating at their oars, the rowers of the second trireme managed to make up the first ship's one day lead and arrive at Mytilene just as Paches was reading the original order, in time to prevent its execution." - Wikipedia page on Mytilenean revolt, Thucidides account

[MrDunkleostus]

In case anyone was wondering, the second ship rowed much faster than the first ship whose crew was in no rush to carry out their gruesome task. The second ship managed to catch up with the first ship on the shore of Mytilene, narrowly stopping the massacre with mere minutes to spare.

[starcherry]

They’re quite a calm family despite being in the middle of a war

[SciencewithKatie]

I love this narrator, his voice is so calming. If he doesn't already do audiobooks he should! 💛

[amcghie]

I'd love the Ted-Ed videos 2, 000 years from now, talking about a day in the life of someone today....

"Andy, a student, drank too much the night before, so he slept in today.

Although he was meant to be working on his dissertation, he sat and watched videos about people in Ancient Athens. "

That's literally it.

[georgekokkos]

Alternative title: ‘A day in the life of an Athenian, during one of Athens’ most infamous and controversial parliamentary votings of the ancient times.’ Amazing video! Well done!

[Elizabeth-pbrx]

As a Greek student who has been taught about the Peloponnesian war at school an awful amount of times, I find this way of learning about it much more interesting than just reading straight from a book. You focus on the main events of the war and also get to see what everyday life was like back then. I wish classes were more like that, students would be way more interested in the subject
Great video though ~

[TheArmchairHistorian]

Awesome video! It'd be really interesting to make this a series, "A day in the life of a ____" and cover all different time periods and cultures.

Griff

[despoinaldr]

I'm greek, and i absolutely love this work. I'm so relieved to know ppl with care for history and information take time to study them properly and unbiased.
Everything in this video is true btw❤🇬🇷👏

[jungkooksbeautifulvoice]

It's so fascinating watching these videos because I am Greek(I don't live in Athens though). I feel proud that my country has such a long history, even if nowadays things are not going well for us financially...

[fadhillahsidik]

Could you do A Day in the Life of A Venetian in the Renaissance?

[rynieryarom]

What about a life a day of ancient China

[steliostoulis]

As a Greek, I've waited a long time about this.

[gerryj]

"A race of democracy against time" gave me shiver

[lesbolilo]

I need more day in the life videos! I’m obsessed! I love seeing what a day for an average person on this earth might have been like 1000’s of years ago!

[rustyshackleford]

I love Ted-Ed’s content on Roman and Greek histories, classics, and myths. The animation and clear narration makes these types of stories accessible to people who would otherwise consider it dry content

[abdullahmohammad]

Im in Hong Kong learning about ancient Greece!and on monday its our test

[OTlesuh]

Love this "A day in the life of" series, it's extremely interesting and awesome.

[jezanne]

I just came back from vacation in Athens and everything is so vivid in my mind, the Agora, the Acropolis, the heat at midday.

[Literally__owl]

WE NEED MORE OF THESE "DAY IN THE LIFE OF ...", THESE ARE SO INTERESTING AND EDUCATING! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING THIS WITH US TED-ED!!!