This is just a project Mallory and I worked on for WH.
This was done seperately, but we worked together to gather various screenshots (images) of in game battles, so I have posted this as a double blog entry giving credit to whoever wrote each one above the post.
Benjamin Temple:
This is a first person account of an Athenian historian, although fictional, it has a basis for the facts that he records upon facts about the Athenians.
The year is now 431 BC, it is sad, we (the Athenians) have lost great numbers to a disastrous sickness that swept through our lands. It must be the wrath of the Gods on our disobedience. But what a time to avenge us as this, we have but few soldiers now to fight, and who will stand up against the traitorous Spartans. Didn't they have freedom, democracy, and peace? Why, would they want to turn around then, and fight us? What strength we had, is all but gone now, with our sailors destroyed at sea, and the rest wiped out by disease or war. What is driving these evil villains to want “freedom” from us. What more can they want than for all citizens to have equal rights? Must they murder their own babies, worship war, and beat their children? They are truly a vile group of unruly people without morals, wisdom, or intelligence.
For many years, I have played a game called Age of Mythology. Although this is just a computer game, I have found it to be extremely historically accurate. Such as each civilization is given different abilities, one of these, is the Athenians have advantage on the sea. Also, the Spartans and Athenians have a land unit called Hoplites, and the Spartans have the advantage on land. Also, various maps even portray the Peloponnesian war with an accurate map. Where Sparta and Athens city states are placed as a city around the Acropolis. This map even lets you pick one, and play as one or the either, although, Athens is almost hopelessly outnumbered. These historically accurate events, and people are all in the game. When I encountered the war in the World History text book, I was able to identify with each event that happened. It made me understand how they must have felt with many of their people wiped out in a plague, and the after effects of war. It even explained some of the reasons for the war, and advantages each side had through a text dialogue at the beginning of the battle. (There are screenshots of the game below, under Mallory's post.)
Jeremiah 34:17 says, “Therefore, this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom for your fellow countrymen. So I now proclaim 'freedom' for you, declares the LORD -'freedom' to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth.” We need to realize, that no matter what “freedom” the Athenians or Spartans may have been trying to attain, whether through democracy, or freeing themselves by control, without God. They will eventually “fall by the sword, plague and famine.” Without God, everything will fall apart.
Sources:
Peloponnesian War, Athens, and Sparta. World History. Greenville:BJU Press, 2007
Peloponnesion War. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peloponnesian_War
Hoplite. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoplite
Mallory Moser:
Since Ben has already thoroughly explained the comparison to the game “Age of Mythology” and the Peloponnesian war, I will use my opportunity to create a first-hand account of a Spartan (fictional, of course) using extensive research as my basis for the character.
“Zeus has bestowed upon me, Eunomia, the privilege of being born strong. The name my parents gave me literally means “our way of life”. That is why the gods have chosen me to be a mighty warrior to survive against the Athenians. Sparta took this victory, thanks to our way of life and our gods.
Since the day I was born, I have been becoming stronger. When I was a young child, I had one fear: the dark. This fear weakened me, and it had to be overcome. When I was 6 years old, my parents gave me the privilege of overcoming that fear. I spent three days in the woods alone. My father gave me a knife and reminded me that if I was to die, it would mean that I wasn’t strong enough to deserve life from the gods. If I couldn’t kill my food, I would have to steal it. And when night rolled around, I would have to stay awake so that I would not be killed by wild animals. With only about 9 hours of day time sleep, and the loss of a finger, I returned home after three days. Blood was spattered on my clothes from killing my food and my finger was gone from stealing it. I wasn’t caught when I stole the fox from the market, but I hid it under my cloak so long that it had time to chew off my small finger. The entire purpose of this challenge was to make me overcome my insolent fear and teach me the toughness of war. No thought was ever given to my comfort or enjoyment. These things didn't help make me a stronger warrior so they were ignored.
Now I am 32, and we have just punished Athens for thinking they can make the Delian League their own empire just because they were the leader of it. No one rebels against Sparta. No one can rebel, because we are the strongest. The only way to survive on this earth is to be strong. Paintings and philosophy will get you no where in life. We only have a certain amount of time to live, so we must become as strong as possible and kill the weak so that, one day, all Greeks will be able to overcome the world with their power and strength alone.”
“No king succeeds with a big army alone, no warrior wins by brute strength. Horse power is not the answer; no one gets by on muscle alone. Watch this: God’s eye is on those who respect Him, the ones who are looking for His love. He’s ready to come to their rescue in bad times, in lean times He keeps body and soul together.”
-Psalm 16- 19 (Message translation)
I think that this verse contradicts the Spartan’s way of life. It says that no king can succeed on an army or on strength alone. The Lord is the only one who can lead victory. This verse is the answer as to why Sparta’s empire fell not long after the war. Even though they were strong enough to fight off enemies and start wars, they were not strong enough (and without God COULD not be strong enough) to create a lasting empire.
Sources:
The Bible: Message translation. www.bible.com
“Forest, W.G. (1968). A History of Sparta, 950-192 B.C. New York: W. W. Norton & Co
“Greece” The Peloponnesian war. www.csun.edu 19 October 2005.
“Growing up Spartan” www.digitalsurvivors.com
Athenian army (blue) Spartan army (red) Battle on the plain near Megara.
The sacking of a small Athenian village.
