1 The Parthenon
1 The Parthenon is a temple of Athena.
2 Athena was a goddess of the Athenians.
3 She was the daughter of Zeus.
4 The Athenians had many gods.
5 The temple is made of marble.
6 Mount Pentelicon supplies the stones.
7 Mount Pentelicon is the name of a mountain.
8 The stones are white.
9 The quarries still provide stones.
2 Actors
1 There were many poets among the Greeks.
2 The Athenians honoured poets greatly.
3 Some composed comedies, while others tragedies.
4 Of the latter Sophocles, of the former Aristophanes was famous.
5 A rich man paid for the chorus.
6 The citizens used to go to the theatre in droves.
7 Firstly there were two, but later there were three actors.
8 Actors wore masks.
9 The masks were of all kinds and wonderful.
3 Arms
1 The hoplite carried many and heavy arms.
2 The greaves protect the shins.
3 A bronze breastplate keeps the chest safe.
4 The head bears a bronze helmet.
5 Horsehair crests stand on the helmet.
6 The left hand holds a shining shield.
7 All hoplites carry spears.
8 A leather belt holds a sword.
9 The sword is sharp.
4 Torch-race
1 The Athenians worshipped many gods.
2 They thought Prometheus was the god of fire.
3 Artemis was revered among them.
4 Every year they held a torch-race.
5 Many young men competed.
6 Each carried a torch.
7 They set off from the Potters’ Quarter
8 And they ran to the Acropolis.
9 Whoever arrived first holding a lamp still burning, won.
5 The Winds
1 Aeolus is the king of the winds.
2 Boreas is the harshest of all the winds.
3 This wind is carried from the North.
4 Notus is wet and violent.
5 For that wind brings rain clouds from the sea.
6 And Zephyrus is milder and more kindly.
7 This wind makes the sea calm.
8 But Eurus is dark and hostile.
9 For this wind burns the whole land.
6 Prometheus Stealing Fire
1 Prometheus was the son of Iapetus and Clymene.
2 It is said he discovered many and amazing skills.
3 Not only did he do many other things, he also gave fire to humans.
4 In pursuit of this, he went up to Olympus, the house of the gods.
5 From there he stole fire.
6 He hid it in a casket.
7 But the gods, upon learning this, were angry.
8 Therefore they decided to punish him.
9 Because he had helped humans, he himself suffered unjustly.
7 Hoplite
1 The Greeks fought on land and at sea.
2 The cities were often making war on one another.
3 The Athenians and the Lacedaemonians were the most famous of the Greeks.
4 A hoplite fought on foot.
5 He carried heavy weapons in battle.
6 He had a spear and a great shield.
7 The light infantry fought alongside the hoplites.
8 These men carried few arms.
9 The Lacedaemonians defeated the Athenians in the end.
8 Artemis
1 Artemis was the sister of Apollo.
2 Sophocles calls her a hunter.
3 She carried a bow and arrows.
4 She was skilled in the use of the bow.
5 She killed wild beasts with missiles.
6 She loved to hunt the deer in the mountains.
7 She was the quickest on foot and the strongest.
8 No-one either of gods or of mortals married her.
9 Her most famous temple stands in Ephesus.
10 Once, Oeneus, the king of Aetolia, insulted Artemis.
11 The goddess punished him for his outrage.
12 For she sent a boar to destroy the land.
13 But then Meleager, the son of the king, after bringing together many friends, killed the animal himself with a spear.
14 And having cut off the head, gave it to Atalanta.
15 He dedicated the hide to Athena.
16 He did this because the goddess aided him, for she always loved Meleager.
17 But he died not long afterwards.
18 Thus Artemis exacted vengeance.
9 Athletes
1 Greece reared men worthy of tales.
2 Some were worthy of note because of crafts, and others through contests.
3 They trained their bodies and competed in many contests.
4 Among these, the Olympic Games was the most honoured.
5 Many were very skilled in throwing the discus.
6 Many others competed in a running-race.
7 The prize was a crown of olive-branch.
8 Everyone thought this was the best prize.
9 Pindar composed many poems about prizes.
10 Darius
1 Darius was the king of the Persians.
2 He was wiser than the earlier rulers.
3 He imposed a tribute on his subjects.
4 The Cilicians brought a tribute of white horses.
5 From the Indians there was the largest tribute.
6 He once sent his army against the Greeks.
7 The Athenians defeated the Persians at Marathon.
8 There were more Persians than Athenians.
9 But the Athenians were braver than the Persians.
11 Chariot-races
1 At all athletic contests, chariot races were held.
2 Quick horses pulled chariots.
3 Some chariots had two horses, others had four.
4 Those who had won always became very famous.
5 The prize was only a crown of olive-branch.
6 But it was thought that the undying fame was the sweetest prize.
7 For there was no greater fame among the Greeks.
8 It was necessary that the charioteer be very clever.
9 Fat horses never won the contest.
12 Chariot of the Sun
1 The Sun was a god among the ancients.
2 Apollo was in charge of prophesy and music.
3 And in the poetry of Homer, these gods were thought to be different.
4 Later, Apollo was also thought to be the god of the sun.
5 He was carried in a chariot through the sky.
6 Four horses were yoked to the chariot.
7 Once, Phaëthon, son of the Sun, drove the chariot of his father.
8 But the horses, after running off from the track, burnt everything but the ground.
9 And Zeus, angered, killed Phaethon with a thunderbolt.
13 Dirce and the Bull
1 Lycus was once the king of Thebes, the one in Boeotia.
2 Antiope was the first wife of Lycus.
3 But then that man, after divorcing Antiope, married Dirce.
4 Amphion and Zethus were the sons of Antiope.
5 Until their coming of age, they were brought up on Mount Cithaeron.
6 Upon learning where they had been born, they schemed to avenge their mother.
7 They therefore went to Thebes as quickly as possible.
8 After making an attack, they seized the city.
9 They therefore decided to punish Dirce.
10 For this purpose, they took control of a bull by force.
11 The bull was large and terrifying.
12 They fastened Dirce to this bull with a rope.
13 The bull dragged her along, as she suffered greatly.
14 Therefore, she was thus killed having inflicted injustice on others.
15 But the young men threw her body into a spring.
16 For this reason the spring was named Dirce’s Spring.
14 Niobe
1 After killing Lycus, Amphion became king of Thebes.
2 Hermes gave a lyre to Amphion.
3 Having this lyre, he is said to have done something amazing.
4 For each stone of the walls moved themselves to the right place.
5 Amphion married Niobe, the daughter of Tantalus.
6 They had many sons and daughters.
7 Niobe was greatly exalted for these children.
8 But Leto had only two children.
9 Leto was the mother of Apollo and Artemis.
10 These were both gods.
11 Niobe said boastingly that her children were more beautiful than those of that woman.
12 Leto therefore sent Apollo and Artemis to Thebes.
13 Upon arrival, they killed all of Niobe’s children.
14 But Zeus changed Niobe into a rock.
15 Streams always flow from there during summer.
16 And Amphion himself died by his own hand.
15 Garments
1 The Romans and the Greeks wore fine garments.
2 The clothes of today are different from those from that time.
3 Actors often had a chiton (tunic).
4 Over this there was a chlamys (cloak) or a himation (cloth-mantle).
5 Their appearance was resplendent.
6 They differed greatly in shape.
7 Women sometimes put on a robe.
8 The generals and the ephebes wore a chlamys (cloak).
9 What, then, is more beautiful than the garments of the Greeks of that time?
16 Delphi
1 A temple of Apollo was established at Delphi.
2 The oracle there was the most famous of all.
3 Powerful kings sent trustworthy messengers to the oracle.
4 These messengers brought large and expensive gifts each time for the god.
5 The temple therefore became the wealthiest.
6 The gold was kept in treasuries, of which there were thirteen.
7 The priestess sat upon a bronze tripod.
8 A hot wind that came up through a chasm in the ground incited the priestess.
9 This tripod is still standing in Byzantium.
17 Theatre of Dionysus
1 In Athens stands the great Theatre of Dionysus.
2 The basin was cut from the rock of the Acropolis.
3 The seat-wedges were separated by broad stairs.
4 The seats are stone.
5 But the priests and generals sat on marble thrones.
6 These thrones were placed in front of the others.
7 Euripides directed famous tragedies there.
8 The actors wore masks.
9 The altar of the god stood in the middle of the orchestra (dance-stage).
18 Musical Instruments
1 The ancients were skilled in music.
2 They used the phorminx (harp), the lyre and the cithara.
3 Hermes, as they say, invented the cithara, and Apollo the lyre.
4 There was an aulete with the choruses, who had an aulos (oboe).
5 Some auloi were wooden, and some made of bone.
6 The lyre has strings, but the aulos does not.
7 The aulos is therefore blown; the lyre is plucked.
8 The archon (magistrate) who gives the chorus appoints the aulete to the chorus-leader.
9 The chorus-leader gave the aulete payment.
19 Ships
1 Ships carried many rowers and seafarers.
2 Each rower drove the ship with oars.
3 The prow of the ship is high.
4 The forestays secured the sail.
5 The sailors hoisted the sail.
6 The wind filled the sails.
7 The Corinthians were the first who built triremes.
8 Some of the Greeks used sails, and others used oars.
9 The ram smashes the ships of the enemy.
20 Paris
1 Paris was the son of Priam, king of Troy.
2 Once he came to Lacedaemon and saw there Helen, the wife of king Menelaus.
3 When Menelaus had gone away to Crete, Paris carried Helen off.
4 The Greeks were very angry at these events.
5 And after assembling a great expedition, assaulted the Trojans.
6 At first, they were not able to take the city.
7 But after besieging the city for ten years, the finally captured it.
8 And Paris, wounded by an arrow, died.