2013-12-20
48 分钟Hello!
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Around 150 BC, the city of Athens existed in a Mediterranean Sea region with heavy Roman influence.
The city of Athens was ride and high during a particularly strong period in their history.
Border disputes were rampant, and one of the most common ones Athens faced was with Boetia,
and it usually took place in a town called Oropos.
So feeling confident, they invaded.
They tried to annex the city, they stole some stuff, they destroyed some stuff, and left.
No big deal, right?
Well, for Rome it was a big deal.
See, Rome was the overbearing dad trying to keep his sanity on a long road trip,
and Athens was the antsy kid in the back seat who he's told to keep it down several times now.
They needed to be punished.
So the Romans find them 500 talents.
A talent is a unit of measurement back then, and in this context, one talent would have referred to 71 pounds of gold.
The Athenians owed the Romans 500 of those.
Well, of course, Athens doesn't want to pay that much, so in 155 BC, they gather up the leaders,