Life in Athens
...olonies of Athens which we acquired in the Aegean Sea after the war with the Persians. Our economy has flourished and business is really good. Our Athenian government became powerful not only because of our victory to the Persians but by our great leader Aristides. He is a great statesman and general who helped in developing the Athenian Empire. He is the leader of the Delian League and a great negotiator of our time. I acknowledge him as a very able leader because he uses his virtue of treating one another with equal justice. If he was not here Athens will not be as powerful as it is now. He also believes in democracy where we the people will help in ruling the government and the land. He tells us that our voice to the government is important to decide on laws that have to be passed. This concept is really interesting and gives me and my fellow citizen’s freedom. Another great leader of my time is Pericles. After Aristides Pericles became the prominent and well known statesman. He embodied a great leader not only militarily but economically too. He went to different colonies around the Athenian Empire and created trade partners all for the prosperity of Athens. He is also starting on many public projects around the city. He added some buildings and temples in the acropolis. Pericles also built a great temple for our major Gods including Athena and Zeus. The temple is called Parthenon and I really appreciate the beauty and extravagance of it. Pericles also gave way to many laws and rules that make our daily life easier. He is a great orator especially when I heard his funeral oration for the dead of our civil war with our enemy the Spartans. He raised our moral and willingness to fight the Spartans. Another war has come and now it is between our long enemies, the Spartans. I think this war will not end easily and a lot of bloodshed will occur unless our way of living is not bothered by the blood thirsty Spartans. My 2 sons joined the defenders and our training to fight for their country and for their belief. But recently my wife and the women of Athens with the leadership o a woman called Lysistrata has revolted to sleep with their men who go to fight in the war. I reacted violently to my wife and questioned her why are they fighting for this. My wife told me that they do not want any bloodshed anymore. They do not want to see their husbands brought back to Athens dead or wounded. They tell us that this war is meaningless. I somehow don’t believe what my wife is trying to say because I believe in what our soldiers our fighting for and that is the survival of our great city Athens. Recently I talked to a very wise man that goes around the city to share his thoughts. His name is Socrates. Socrates told me that a person must think rationally. He said that everything has a reason for happening and we must understand ourselves very well in order to react with our environment. We must improve ourselves by analyzing ourselves. In turn we will have progress and live our lives better. I really agree with the philosophies of Socrates and I did what he told me. I really improved myself not only physically but mentally. He told me that a person must have moral values and a good state of mind in order to interact with other people. I consider myself his student and I consider him my mentor even if I’m of old age. Sometime ago I saw one of his students that always disagrees with him. This student was a really wealthy citizen. His name is Plato and he came from a well known family. He always disagrees with the teachings of Socrates and develops different ideas. When I talked t...