Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

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Lead: The colossal temple of Artemis in the port city of Ephesus blended the size of Greek architecture and the decorative style of the East. It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Ephesus was a major trading port in western Asia Minor, now in the Turkish province of Izmir. It was a commercial center and, by the beginning of the sixth century BCE, a cultural hub largely due to the construction in its precincts of the cultic Temple of Artemis, in several versions built on the same site over many decades, climaxing in a huge temple enshrined to the worship of the fertility goddess of hunting, Artemis, also associated with the goddess Diana, who according to the cult provided protection for Ephesus and for supplicants from all over the region in trouble and fleeing their enemies. The final structure was recognized by ancient historians as one of the wonders of the Mediterranean world.

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Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: Pyramids at Giza

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Lead: Of the seven wonders of the ancient only the three pyramids of Gisa remain as demonstration of the creativity, resourcefulness, and determination of an age far removed from ours.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: They are three in number and probably mark the passing of three Pharaohs, father, son and grandson, of the fourth Egyptian dynasty. The first of the structures was commissioned around 2570 BCE and completed after twenty years of extraordinary effort. The largest is the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu, who died before it was complete, and the smaller possibly by his son and grandson, Khafre and Menkaure.

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Thermopylae III

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Lead: At Thermopylae, a small contingent of Greeks led by the Spartan King Leonidas delayed the onrushing Persian invasion. The tiny blocking force was destroyed, but its resistance paved the way to ultimate victory over Persia.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Thermopylae, the Hot Gates, named for a nearby sulfurous artesian spring, was in 480 BCE a narrow pass between the mountains and the Malian Gulf northwest of Athens. It was one of landside gateways to southern Greece and a well-chosen choke point where a small force could resist to great effect the regiments of Persian King Xerxes.

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The Trial and Execution of Socrates II

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Lead: In 399 BC, Socrates, Greek teacher and philosopher, suspected of complicity in Athens’ defeat in the Peloponnesian War, was condemned to death by a jury of his peers.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: In the modern era, Socrates is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the development of thought and philosophy in the west. In the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War, in 399 BC, Socrates was viewed by some as an enemy of Athenian democracy. Socrates often criticized city officials for their lack of moral and intellectual leadership. In the aftermath of Athens’ defeat, charges were brought against the seventy year old teacher, charges of impiety (religious heresies) and corruption of the morals of the young men of Athens (unpatriotic agitation).

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The Trial and Execution of Socrates I

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Lead: In 399 BC the Greek philosopher and social critic, Socrates, was tried for religious heresies and corrupting the morals of the young. His conviction led to his suicide.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Socrates, left no writings of his own. His life and philosophy are known to us through the writings of Plato, his most famous pupil and follower, and through the Greek historian Xenophon. His ideas became the foundation for an secular ethical philosophy based on knowledge and self-examination. Through knowledge, Socrates maintained, one could learn justice, truth and love, and in their application lead a moral life. Socrates’ method of teaching his philosophy is now known as the “Socratic method”- a dialogue between teacher and student that promotes self-examination. The teacher begins with a question such as “What is courage?” The student responds and thus begins a series of interrogatives, question answer, further question, answer, and so on.

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Mexico: Spanish Conquest and Rule

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Lead:  For almost 300 years after 1521, Mexico was a colony of Spain and known as “La Nueva España” or New Spain.  It was the crown jewel in Spain’s holdings in the New World.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: After the Spanish conquered the Aztecs in 1521, Mexico grew to include most of present day Central America and the southwestern United States. The colonial period lasted until the revolt of 1810 – which was led by a priest, Miguel Hidalgo, known today as the father of Mexico’s independence.

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Thermopylae II

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Lead: The battle at Thermopylae was as much a clash of cultures and competing loyalties as it was a military engagement. It helped preserve a unique part of the western tradition.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Despite a relatively benign style of imperial administration, the Greeks proved a problem for Persia. The Empire encountered resistance and then in the 490s BCE, open rebellion in the Greek city-state of Iona in what is now western Turkey. Persian attempts to put down that rebellion which had been aided by the city-states of mainland Greece and absorb the peninsula itself came a cropper at the Battle of Marathon northeast of Athens in 490. For ten years, Persia nursed its wounded pride and ambition violated in Darius’ defeat at Marathon. His son, Xerxes was determined to right that failure.

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Thermopylae I

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Lead: During three hot August days in 480 BCE, the Spartan king Leonidas and an elite force of his countrymen and their allies killed or held at bay thousands of Persian troops at the “Hot Gates,” Thermopylae.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: The battle at the narrow pass, which for a brief time delayed the enormous armies of Xerxes, has been described as triumph of west over east, one of the singular moments in the developments of western civilization and signaled the superiority of Spartan, hence Greek, hence European, arms and character over the perfidious and uncivilized hoards of the east. Most of that is Greek war propaganda and survives largely because the account of the Greco-Persian Wars was written by a Greek, the eminent historian Herodotus.

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