Kirchner



Homer is known as one of the greatest authors of all time. He wrote two of the greatest epics ever written, //The Iliad,// and //The Odessy.// What makes his writtings more amazing is the fact that he had not other authors to imitate and learn from, because there had never been an author like Homer in that time period. Homer wrote //The Iliad and The Odessy// well after the events had occured, making his writing a huge peice in history in a period when there were no other historical writing such as his. Homer's Popularity can mainly be contributed to his writings, and how they shaped historical writings in that time period.

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COMPARE/CONTRAST ESSAY
The politics of Sparta and Athens were very different. Athens was a democracy, often referred to as the first democracy, and Sparta was an Oligarchy. Athens had an open Assembly that all citizens could attend and participate in, while Sparta had assemblies with only 30 men. At the assemblies in Athens, all citizens could come and speak up about what they believed. Laws were passed and decisions about policies were made by the people at these assemblies. Sparta, on the other hand, had assemblies of only 30 men. These men would vote on laws brought forth to them by a senate of 28 councilmen and 2 kings. The assemblies held in Athens were direct practices of democracy, because the people were creating laws and making decisions, unlike in Sparta where a select group of males were making decisions for all of Sparta Sparta had two kings who controlled all of Sparta, while Athens had a number of officials elected by the people. Sparta’s two kings were the commanders of the army. They also had a few religious duties. The elected officials in Athens included 10 generals, magistrates and other positions. Sparta’s two king’s were big signs that Sparta was a military state, because their main purpose was to run the military. Sparta and Athens both had a group of people who looked after their states and enforced decisions made by their councils. Athens had a group of 500 people that were in charge of administering decisions made by the general assembly. Sparta had only five people carrying out the decisions made by the council. They were known as the five overseers. Another main focus the five overseers had was looking over the day to day operations of Sparta.

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The battle held off Salamis was a Great strategic victory for the Athenians. The Athenian admiral [|Thermistocles] knew that Persia had more troops and that they would destroy the abandoned city of Athens. He also knew that Athens had a stronger naval fleet than Persians. He realized that if he could turn the battle into a naval battle, that they could easily hold off the Persians. Thermistocles hid his naval fleet in the [|straights of Salimas], and sent a messanger to tell xerxes that the Athenians were abondoning their position. When Xerxes fell for the trap and moved into the straight, the Persian ships were attcked without warning. When the battle ended the persians had lost a third of the ships they had started with, which signified a great victory for the Athenian Navy. Overall, Thermistocles' military genius was the main reason the Persians were defeated. The battle could have ended very differently if Xerxes had not been tricked into sailing into the Staight of Salamis.