Author: coffeeandhistory

Athens and Sparta: the myth.

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There is a place, born in myth, that history has led into the world of men: the hot gates. Because? Because from here began the study of ancient history, from what Herodotus and Thucydides, two of the greatest historians of ancient times, transcribed the stories of these places and actions of these people with the purpose of telling us posterity the origins of our history. Before telling the hot gates, you have to take a step back, at 490 b.c.. When the Greeks, gathered together, they succeeded in blocking the first Persian advanced: According to legend, Pheidippides would run from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory and options would die for the effort. Ten years after, in 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes attempted a second invasion of Greece, at the head of a huge army: 70.000 According to historians, 300.000 According to the Greeks, more than a million according to the gods. While Xerxes was heading south, an army of Greeks composed all the city-state turned to the North: the army led by Spartan King Leonidas consisted of 7.000 men, of which 300 Spartans, then the Thebans, The phocians, Locrians and Athenian Hoplites. The battleground was the hot gates, a narrow passage to the North of Attica, which turned out to be strategic to prevent the advance of the Persians. The tale of the battle between the greatest army in the world, the Persian one, and the small Greek forces is a mix of history and legend: in the end of the battle the 300 the Spartans led by Leonidas managed to block the advance of Xerxes at the cost of their lives. The Persians, given the impossibility of entering by land, they decided to circumvent the Attica to attack by sea. On their way, in the Bay of Salamis, a few steps from Athens, they found waiting for the Athenian general Themistocles the Athenian fleet of Triremes. Themistocles maneuvering Gulf Strait took advantage of the speed of small Greek Triremes being able to destroy larger ships shutters. In Xerxes was left with no choice but to retire. The exploits of Leonidas and his Spartans, Themistocles and his fleet entered the history, keeping the promise made by Themistocles to his soldiers before the battle against Xerxes: "resist and you will enter into history, you're in myth because you Greeks ".

Roberto

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Pio XII, Defensor Urbis

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The periodic repetition of the process of beatification of Pope Pius XII reopens the debate on the figure and the role of the Roman Pontiff during World War II. Eugenio Pacelli was at the head of the Church with the name of Pius XII from 1939 at 1958. The historical context within which entered the action by the Pope is particularly complex: the late 1930s saw a difficult situation by agreement between the Italian State and the Papal State, situation resulting from the conquest of Rome by late 19th century and its conversion into capital of the Kingdom of Italy. Concurrently, During this period, It is stated in Italy fascism, new phenomenon and that it imposes on Italian and international politics, followed by at the beginning of the 1940s, the outbreak of World War II, the difficult time of the Armistice, employment of German troops, the bombing of Rome, the liberation of Italy; the 1950s post war society evolution begins with the assumptions of a new economic boom and, at the international level, the cold war between the Usa and Russia. During all these events solidified the role of Pius XII: Historically it is difficult to judge rationally, objective and unanimous on his activities as Pope. To date, you have two types of evaluation: a negative one, According to which Pius XII worked in silence, not condemning the action Nazi genocide against Jews in Europe, not protecting the Roman Jews, not preventing the massacre of the Fosse Ardeatine; According to the other assessment, that defensive, It was only thanks to his work that Pius XII Vatican buildings could accommodate hundreds of Jews, thus saving their lives. The image etched in the collective historical memory italiana, tying Pacelli to conflict, is its presence in the San Lorenzo district, After the American bombing of July 1943: the Pope without an escort, on a simple car, accompanied only by his Secretary Malik, future Paul VI, he rushed into the place hardest hit by American bombing, praying through the crowd that image I had to Defensor urbis. From a historical point of view, what is less known is that, Thanks to the quiet of the Roman Pontiff, Pacelli extended the extraterritoriality even outside of the Vatican State, in the city of Rome, allowing Roman ecclesiastical buildings not to be searched by German troops and to be able to welcome and save Jews, military, political partisans and sought. Currently venerable for Pius XII has reached the status of the Catholic Church and the beatification process can be started only in the presence of a miracle attributed to his intercession. Only a miracle can, then, Re-evaluate the action of a Pontiff lived in an age of radical changes too strong even for the same Roman Church. This is the only way to explain why his successor, John XXIII, He felt the need to convene a Vatican Council to discuss changes in the world, of those that were taking place in society and to try to chart a new course for the Church. A summary of the pontificate of Pius XII to his radio Declaration pronounced on the occasion of the birth of 1943:

“We did and we will always do what is in our material and spiritual forces to relieve the sad consequences of war, for prisoners, for the wounded, for the missing, for stray dogs, for those in need, for all the suffering and the Tan of every language and nation " Pius PP. XII

Roberto

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Freedom is female: against violence against women

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Incidents of violence against women are increasingly numerous and increasingly clamor when rising to prominence in the news. This phenomenon has ancient origins, and it is basically the result of ignoble conception that women would be inferior to men.
Sobering figures released from a survey carried out by ISTAT in 2006: the 31.9% Italian female population aged 16 and the 70 years said they had immediately, at least once in your life, violence from the opposite sex. More than 90% of the nearly seven million women have suffered violence did not declare the fact to the appropriate authorities. The question that arises is: What motivates a woman to not want to denounce a fact so serious and especially the person who perpetrated?
In Italy every three days a woman is killed by a man who is or has been romantically linked. Most cases of violence suffered by women is familiar in nature, experienced within the home. In women who suffer violence from their partner's different forces come into play, the first of which is the intention to save or "change" the companion itself. Women often fail to be resigned to the idea of a love that has fallen apart; even the confidences with relatives sometimes bring victims to review its position, and to support partners who try to talk it down and disistimarle. It is a process, the low esteem of themselves, that's interesting women "in career", the more educated and socially active.
There are different types of violence, starting from the physical to the more subtle and devious, psychological violence, the fruit of a love sick and distorted, that often puts women greater difficulty in finding the courage to escape the daily trickle made at the same time stroking and verbal slapping.
What to do, Therefore? Women who are victims of any kind of violence should have the strength to get in touch with your nearest centre, help and support. Expert who will advise you and will find together will devise a way out.
Secondly, I recommend to all, men and women, read This is not love, a collection of stories that tell the domestic violence against women. Because, ultimately, that violence against women is a real cultural problem, that should be understood and eradicated with greater awareness.

Maria

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Paul VI: a Pope never understood

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Giovanni Battista Montini was Pontiff from 1963 at 1978, with the name acquired by Paul VI. Bresciano of origin, He turned down the priestly life; the study of theology in the church made him a profound knowledge of the doctrine of the Church. In the 1930s, arrived at the Vatican as Secretary to Pope Pius XII followed the appointment as Archbishop of Milan. Death in 1963 Pope John XXIII opened the doors to the pontificate. The first problem that the new Pontiff faced were the Second Vatican Council proclaimed by his predecessor. The Church understood that the world was quickly changing and needed an overhaul of its mechanisms to keep pace with society, but finding agreement between the various souls inside the Church was a daunting task that, However, Montini knew how to conduct and complete. In the seventies in Italy, popular movements in favour of divorce and abortion, and any subsequent institutional victories marked the furrow between the Church and society. Paul's answer was entrusted to two encyclicals, theHumanae Vitae And the Populorum Progressio: While the first reaffirmed the centrality of man in relation to God in deep respect of the dictates of the Church, the second condemned world poverty, coming to justify mutiny of the poor masses against the abuses of dictatorships. The world welcomed the Pontiff's writings so ambivalent: the reformers called him too conservative, While the conservatives too reformer. The kidnapping of Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades and the letter written by hand by the Pope for the release of his friend were the last act of his life. Malik died on the day of the Transfiguration of 1978 repeating what had been the last words of the Apostle Paul: "I have fought the good fight, I finished the walk, I have kept the faith ".

Roberto

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Ostraka: democracy in Athens

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In the 6th century b.c.. Cleisthenes led democracy in Athens, Solon talking improved laws, Pericles the exalted. The resident population in Athens was divided into classes of Census and from that Division are they citizens. The Athenian citizen was participating actively in the political life of the city, exercising a form of direct democracy. Head of democracy there was a leader, a first citizen, as he always Pericles. Citizens, convened periodically in the Assembly, decided by a show of hands on any matter relating to the city: politics, taxes and duties, religious festivals. In extraordinary meetings, Instead, We were discussing in relation to the war in case the enemy moving against the city, or in the event that you were to declare war on another city or people. Ostracism was one of the most important instruments of direct democracy in Athens: kept in the hands of citizens allowed to drive out from the city to the people who, aspiring to dictatorship, was threatening to democracy. The procedure required that all 6.000 citizens to meet at a certain place, as the "ceramic" in Athens, and that had an impact over a crock (Ostraka) the name of the citizen to ostracize. The final count provided the person who had obtained the largest number of shards: This was cleared by the city on the same day, conducted in a designated location (often were the Aegean Islands) in which he would assume his penalty for a period of five years. This democratic form recognized a great prestige to the one who was ostracized, because it was considered very important person, influential and powerful. Looking at the pieces found throughout Athens one remains marvelled by the names of those who were ostracised, among all Pericles and Themistocles. Heroes of the time which made great Athens, in a certain moment in history, they were considered by the people too dangerous for their own democratic order. For the Greek democracy was the institution that before anything else and more than any other person had to be protected.

In the picture you can see a real ostraka, found in the Agora of Athens, bearing the name of possible ostracized: Pericles.

Roberto

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