Some people say he just has a vivid imagination. And yet, listening to Avery, all his tales seem to really happen!
It’s a strange nickname for a young boy, isn’t it?
But what’s even stranger is why he’s called that. All Avery has to do is close his eyes and, when he opens them, he finds himself in another place… IN ANOTHER TIME!
for exAmple, todAy he is Averos, A younG Greek boy from 436 bce!
850–750 BCE
In Greece, the city-states (poleis) are created and developed. All free citizens are considered equal before the law.
The first Olympic Games take place.
The last Athenian tyrant is defeated, ending the Archaic period and starting the Classical one, which would last almost 200 years.
Cleisthenes invents democracy!
The Greeks defeat King Darius I’s Persian army in the Battle of Marathon.
The Second Persian War begins, and the Greeks defeat King Xerxes in the Battle of Plataea.
The wise Pericles starts to lead Athens and rebuilds the Acropolis. It is a golden age for the city, art, and philosophy.
Our story begins here, during the eighty-sixth Olympic Games!
A very long war starts between Sparta and Athens.
Together with the Peloponnesian League, Sparta defeats Athens. The war had lasted for thirty years and led to a dark period for all of Greece.
Alexander III takes the Macedonian throne. It is the beginning of a great empire that will extend into Egyptian, Greek, Persian, and even Indian territory.
With the death of Alexander the Great, Macedonia is split into several kingdoms. The Hellenistic period begins, which will eventually end in 30 BCE with Cleopatra’s death.
The Romans conquer Greece, which then becomes one of their provinces.
Almost one year before the Olympics start, heralds cross Greece far and wide, announcing that the Games will be held in August! Athletes then have to train in the gym for an entire month beforehand.
THE GAMES OPEN WITH GREAT FEASTS TO HONOR ZEUS AND END ON THE SEVENTH DAY WITH AWARD CEREMONIES, WHERE WINNERS RECEIVE AN OLIVE WREATH. THAT’S RIGHT, NO MONEY, JUST ETERNAL GLORY!
The first Olympic Games lasted just one day and consisted of a single footrace. Now, there are different types of competitions. The most famous is the stadion because whoever wins it gives their name to the Olympiad and becomes part of the calendar!
The spectators also really like the pentathlon, which is very difficult. This is because the same athlete has to compete in the long jump, discus, javelin, running, and even wrestling!
FINALLY, THERE ARE QUADRIGA RACES, ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPETITIONS.
No way! Athens is the strongest city!
When I was young, I spent all my time running naked and playing.
My mom and the wet nurse took care of me. Then, a slave (the pedagogue) was given the task of teaching me good manners and accompanying me to class.
In Athens, there isn’t a real school. Parents decide whether to send their children to a private teacher. There, we study literature and music
At twelve years old, after studying literature and music, boys start going to the polis gym. Here, you can practice lots of sports, as well as the Olympic disciplines, running, and pentathlon.
BASICALLY, WE’RE TRAINED TO WIN!
Athenian women have no rights. They can’t go to school, and they only do housework!
When it is time to get married, their fathers choose their future husbands. What’s more, they can’t own any property.
But there are some exceptions, like SAPPHO , who is a very famous poet, and the intelligent ASPASIA , wife of PERICLES , who loved talking to and helping Athenian writers, artists, and sculptors.
Chapter 3
With his stash of coins in his pocket, Averos ventures confidently through the streets of Olympia. There’s just one problem; it seems like the gods collected temples, gyms, and buildings in their hands and scattered them randomly, as though they were rolling dice!
In Athens, it’s easy to get around. In the center, on a hill fortified by fortress walls, there’s the Acropolis with its temples. The Parthenon can be seen from anywhere in the polis. Below, the agora, the square where merchants do business, is on one side, and the Theater of Dionysus is on the other. It’s as easy as saying “Zeus.”
Instead, here…
Averos stops at the umpteenth crossroads.
“Are you sure you’re not lost?” asks Gyrtias.
“Lost? Of course not!” he lies, trying to quickly come up with a solution to avoid embarrassing himself. “I’ll show you right now. We’ll go in there and ask where we are. You’ll see that we’re where I think we are.”
Gyrtias looks at him doubtfully, but Averos is already going inside. They find themselves in a workshop full of half-sculpted statues, outlined bas-reliefs, and pieces of marble on which profiles have been drawn. A white cloud and a huge commotion are coming from the back of the workshop.
“Is anyone there?” shouts Averos.
The noise stops, and an old man covered from head to toe in white powder emerges from the thick cloud. He has a hammer and chisel in his hands.
When he sees them, he breaks into a smile.
“What do you need, kids?” the man asks them.
While Averos tries to ask for directions without giving himself away, Gyrtias is curious. “What were you doing back there?”
“Sculpting!” the man answers, wiping his face on his dirty tunic.
“I’m Phidias, the famous Athenian sculptor…You’ve never heard of me? Not to worry! I’m making a huge statue of Zeus that I’m sure will become one of the wonders of the world!”
Averos and Gyrtias try to see beyond the cloud. The only huge thing they can make out is a foot, for which Phidias was just finishing the big toenail. However, a little farther away, their gaze is drawn to a beautiful black and red amphora vase, decorated with two men fighting heroically.
Don’t make a drama out of it!
Tragedies tell sad and often violent tales.
The storytelling is frequently so enthralling that the spectators become agitated (they get angry or feel scared). When they go home to their families, they feel much calmer and at peace with the world!
On the other hand, comedies are fun. But this doesn’t make them any less important. On the stage, politicians, influential people, and the strangest of habits are mocked.
AND, IN DOING SO, WRITERS CAN INFLUENCE PEOPLE AND CITY LIFE!
We Greeks love the theater so much that we have a festival dedicated to it. For seven days, the Great Dionysia takes place in Athens at the Theater of DIONYSUS , Greece’s biggest and most beautiful theater!
During this week, nobody works, and everyone helps to organize the event, which many foreigners attend.
In fact, the aim is to show just how magnificent Athens is. After the plays, a jury decides which one is the best.
Chapter 5
Inspired, Aristophanes runs out of the workshop to go and write, while Phidias is nowhere to be seen.
“So, do you know where the gymnasium is or not?” asks Gyrtias.
Averos shrugs his shoulders. “Err, no, but I’ll take you anyway! I want to make sure you take part in your race. Athens has to win fair and square, not because you’re not there. Otherwise, it’s no fun!”
The girl grins and gives him a friendly punch on the shoulder. “Well said! I’m starting to like you, Athenian!”
Averos blushes from head to toe and, before she notices, he jumps up and leaves. Together, they stroll down the streets and under the stoa, the covered walkways with white columns. Then, all of a sudden, they’re alone!
They hear something: a voice, not far away.
Somewhat hidden is a lovely courtyard surrounded by olive trees. Sitting there, an elderly philosopher is giving a lesson. The two are enchanted and watch the scene until, one by one, the students say goodbye to their teacher and leave.
“Let’s go and ask him,” suggests Gyrtias.
Averos nods, but before he can open his mouth, the elderly philosopher grabs his arm. He has such bad vision that he narrows his eyes into two slits.
“There you are, Castor!” he exclaims, turning to Averos, who is trying to escape. The old man is as strong as a wrestler!
“Err, actually, I’m Averos!”
The philosopher shakes his head firmly. “Don’t be clever, Castor! You won’t get out of the exam! Come on! Tell me about the society of Athens!”
Averos looks to Gyrtias for help, but she shrugs. She has no idea what the philosopher is talking about.
“There are citizens?” tries Averos.
“And then?” the old man presses him.
“And then…slaves, I think.”
The philosopher grumbles to himself. “Poor, Castor! ‘I think’ is not an acceptable answer! And don’t you laugh, young lady. You know who the citizens of Sparta are because you’re Spartan, aren’t you?”
Not just DEMOCRACY, but alas, WAR too!
In the past, the Persian Empire was very strong compared with the small Greek city-states, which were constantly fighting one another. So, in 492 BCE, when DARIUS I , king of the Persians, decided to extend his territory, he moved against the Greeks. This was also because the Greeks had helped some cities rebel against his control!
This first war ended with the Battle of Marathon and Darius’s defeat. Legend has it that, to deliver news of the victory to Athens, the soldier PHEIDIPPIDES ran without stopping, dying from exertion on arrival.
THIS IS HOW THE MARATHON, A RUNNING RACE THAT IS MORE THAN 25 MILES (40 KILOMETERS) LONG, ORIGINATED.
XERXES , son of Darius, could not accept the defeat, so he started the second war between the Persian Empire and Greece.
The only one able to stop his troops was the Spartan king LEONIDAS . Along with 300 men, he took on the enormous army at the Thermopylae pass.
Leonidas and all his soldiers died in battle. But, thanks to their heroic actions, the Greeks were able to stop Xerxes’s advance for a whole seven days! Nevertheless, the Persians managed to reach Athens and burn the Acropolis.
IN THE END, ALL THE CITY-STATES JOINED FORCES AND DEFEATED THEIR ENEMY TOGETHER.
Chapter 6
Averos can almost see the steam coming out of Gyrtias’s ears. So, he hastily says goodbye to Pericles and drags the girl away by her arm.
“At least he told us where to go,” she grumbles.
The boy nods, and they cross the deserted streets until they reach the city’s sacred area. There, near Zeus’s enormous sanctuary, they find all the temples of the other deities.
Gyrtias claps. “There it is!”
“Wow!” says Averos.
Hera’s temple is certainly the most majestic.
Averos counts six columns at the front, fourteen at the sides, and a covered walkway around the four sides of the naos, the temple’s inner structure. It is full of people taking part in a huge celebration to honor the goddess.
That’s where everyone had gone!
There are songs, music, and dances, and a procession is about to start down the city’s sacred street. Some sheep have been sacrificed on the altar, and the cooked meat is given to the faithful. The priests, the only ones who can enter the naos, collect offerings as many people pray.
“What are we doing here?” asks Averos.
But Gyrtias has already climbed the temple steps. She pulls some tasty-looking sweets from her bag. Neither of them has eaten yet, but the girl hands them to a priest.
“We could have eaten those!” complains Averos. But she silences him with a Medusa-esque look. “They’re for Hera! So I have her blessing during the race.”
“That’s cheating, though!”
“Of course it isn’t,” retorts Gyrtias, “All the athletes do it. It’s up to the gods to decide who’s nicest!”
“But I’m still hungry,” he grumbles.
The Greeks are a population of thinkers, philosophers, mathematicians, inventors, scientists, and much more!
Tired of leaving the sick to sorcerers and soothsayers, HIPPOCRATES (460–370 BCE) created his school of medicine on the island of Kos
He believed medicine should be based on experience, knowledge, and technique. A good doctor observes his patient: what they eat, where they live, and the symptoms of their illness. Then, he must study what has been done in similar cases and understand which treatments worked and which did not.
Hippocrates also wrote a series of behavioral rules that young students must follow to be able to join the school and become doctors. These include helping the sick (even slaves and foreigners), respecting your teachers, and not revealing medicine’s secrets to others.
THESE RULES MAKE UP THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH, WHICH DOCTORS STILL REPEAT IN AN UPDATED FORM TODAY.
Here are some of his surprising inventions.
ARCHIMEDES found that, by using a mirror in the shape of a parabola, the sun’s rays could be concentrated on a single point, even one far away. Legend has it that the inventor managed to burn the Roman ships in this way during the Siege of Syracuse.
Water drips through a tube into a receptacle where a figurine is floating. Gradually, as the container fills, the figurine rises and points to a quadrant, indicating the right time. After twelve hours, the container is emptied.
ARCHIMEDEAN
SCREW:
This is a long wooden screw inserted into a waterproof cylinder. The bottom of the pipe is immersed in water, and the screw is turned: this way, the liquid rises to the top, allowing a channel or the bottom of a ship to be drained.
Chapter 7
After the banquet, Averos looks up at the sky. It’s really late!
He grabs Gyrtias by the hand, and together they run down the vaulted tunnel that leads to the stadium from the sanctuary of Zeus.
“It’s stunning,” exclaims the girl.
The track for the race is more than 656 feet (200 meters) long and is surrounded on all sides by mud benches for the spectators. Alexis had told Averos that it could seat 50,000 people. At the bottom is the stone stage reserved for the judges.
The thought of running in front of so many people makes him shudder. But Gyrtias is ecstatic. There’s no understanding her!
“Doesn’t it bother you?” he asks.
“When you run, everything around you disappears. There’s just you and your goal.”
“Your goal…the gymnasium!”
Now Averos remembers where he is: next to the gym!
They reach their destination in a flash. Once again, Averos is impressed by how strong all the athletes seem to be.
Gyrtias steps toward the entrance, then turns back.
She hugs Averos and says, “Thank you for bringing me here! Will you come and watch me beat the Athenians?”
“Of course I will!” he stammers. “You’ll eat our dust.”
But the truth is that, after spending the day together, neither of them cared anymore whether Athens or Sparta was stronger because they had become friends. Maybe this is what the Olympic Games are all about: feeling like one big family!
“I mean, may the best athlete win,” he finishes.
“You mean me!” chortles Gyrtias.
Averos thinks about it for a while…
“Well, yes, I mean you!” he exclaims.