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A Brief History of Hellas at AS/AW
Demetrios of Hellas, his inquiries are here set down to preserve the memory of the past by putting on record the astonishing achievements both of our own and of other peoples. Alas, the earliest records are fragmentary and the archaeological layers are jumbled and confused. Still, it is possible to reconstruct a rough framework.
When the old Pathfinder Rostra group morphed into Ancient Sites, an expansion from Rome to other areas of the ancient world seemed a logical step. The first new city to be added was Athens. In this as in many other things, the Hellenes would lead the way and inspire a number of innovations at both Ancient Sites and Ancient Worlds. A game was planned for Athens, to be like SPQR for Rome. The first chapter was created and players were able to explore the Acropolis in an effort to stop a treasonous conspiracy. This was how the game was described: Acropolis! Athens in Crisis! Dramas that embroil all Athens are threatening now to erupt into treason, violence, and bloodshed. Meet you in Kallias' courtyard. There were also two fly-bys for Athens. You can still fly into ancient Athens here or fly through the Acropolis here. (Both require Quicktime.) In the beginning, AS was little more than a collection of bulletin boards and home sites. There was, however, a handful of protected boards that functioned like groups. Members had to be invited to join and then there would be discussion over the acceptability of that member. Athens had a group like this: the Symposion. Sometime in the late winter or early spring of 1998, groups were added as feature. By the beginning of May, Athens had 8 groups, second only to Rome. Besides the Symposion, groups included Mount Helicon for the discussion of ancient literature, TheaterDionysus and the PoetsLeague for creative writing, Areopagus and Pantheon for the discussion of religion, Olympia for role playing, and the Rhetra for the discussion of Sparta. Ten more would be added before the Dark Ages arrived, including many which can be found here today: The Royal Court of Crete and the Delian League, Seven Wonders, and most importantly Arachne. At the beginning of 1998, Rome held consular elections. The exact nature and power of these consuls is unclear, but this election prompted Myrrhine Solon to propose that Athens ought to elect archons. The idea was discussed for a month or so, eventually coming to nothing. But by September1998, each city held elections for a city editor to help run the city. On the night of January 27, 1998, Athens was visited by two great personages: Prometheus and Homer. Each visited the board devoted to discussing him. Prometheus claimed that he brought fire to mankind as a lark, as well as claiming to have taught the arts of painting, sculpture, poetry, pool, Scrabble and nipple piercing. Homer, on the other hand, was quite upset over the suggestion that he may have been a woman, though his objections were interrupted by his constant stumbling over the furniture (Doh!). After falling in a hole, he admitted to needing an eye test and went on his way. On March 12, 1998, Xenophanes Orestes began a census to find out which Athenians were active. Many of the respondents are still here today. Maia Nestor was the very first to reply. Others include two of Hellas’ current scribes, Demetrios Xanthippos and Kallsitos Alexandros (who checked in twice), Ioannis Nestor, Johannes Nestor, Athenia Glaucon, as well as the names of many who were here for a time but have drifted away: Jocasta Chabrias, Eirene Ariston, Myrrhine Solon, Richard Cylon. The first city editor of Athens was Epistate Philemon. Her primary role was running the Glaux Athenaion, the city’s first newspaper. It’s motto was “The owl never sleeps.” The paper featured news of events in Athens and informative articles, not unlike the Hellas World news page of the modern Acta Diurna, but it also featured a regular cartoon Ion the Athenian, written and drawn by Lysimakhos Artistides. Epistate was succeeded by Kritias Aristophanes, who edited the Athens Guardian, motto: “We stand on guard for you and Athens.” Along with news and historical articles, the paper also featured the Kritiad, the tale of young Kritias coming to Athens. Miron Isocrates, the runner-up in the election, also ran a paper, the Graecus Acta Diurna. I have been unable to determine who succeeded Kritias as city editor, but by June of 2000 the city newspapers had been gathered together and the only edition of the Athenian that I have been able to find was written by Cornellia Cornelius. Athens’ first ambassador was Agape Theocritos. Alas, I have been unable to determine what the role of the city ambassadors was or who later filled the role. Athens also had a chief Archon. The only name I have been able to connect with this high office is Athenia Glaucon. She was supported by other archons and the demarchs of Athens. During the final year of AncientSites, Athens experimented with demes. The demes fell somewhere between the groups and the open boards. Each deme was devoted to a different subject or area of interest. Members had a plaque for their homesite and there were boards to discuss deme business. Some demes held festivals. There were 10 in all, each named for one of the historic demes of ancient Athens: Brauron, Daedalidai, Eleusis, Marathon, Piraeus, Skambonidai, Sounion, Thorikos, Acharnai, Melite. And so things stood in Athens until the spring of 2001, when the lights went out and the Dark Ages descended. After a year or a year-and-a-half of exile, word began to filter out that the ancient world had been reborn, this time as AncientWorlds. Many former Athenians came, ostensibly to help work out the kinks in the beta version, but really to attempt to regain what had been lost. Groups became available in mid-September of 2002 and there was a flurry of creation. The first two groups to be created in Athens appeared on the same day, September 15, both academic groups: Byzantium and Ancient Scripts. Byzantium is still active, but Ancient Scripts has, alas, seen little activity in the last year. They were soon followed by a number of other groups, including the first social group, Arcanum Arcanorum (active up until last May), and the first role playing group, Exotikos (Hellas’ only currently active group devoted strictly to RP). Hellas’ only active interactive writing group, Delian*Dreams, came into being two years later in late November of 2004. It is difficult to determine from the available records who the first scribes for Athens were. The evidence points to Louisa Agis, Ioannis Nestor, and Aphrodite Theocritos, but this is by no means certain. Other early scribes include Athenia Glaucon and Nikolaos Cleomenes. The last group before those currently serving were Anna Hippon, Alerissa Nestor, and Bacchus Isocrates. Damon Harmodios served splendidly for several months, among other things creating the city state of Boiotia, before real life pressures took too much of his time. The scribes serving at the time of the Decennalia are Kallistos Alexandros, Demetrios Xanthippos, and Beauty Solon. Discussion over how the neighborhood project would be implemented in Athens began in November of 2003. Almost immediately, a strong desire to extend the Greek world beyond Athens became apparent. There was much debate, as always when Greeks gather, but the concept prevailed. Debate then followed on subdivisions and further subdivisions. Ultimately, the first six city states were chosen: Attica, Greek Asia Minor, Macedon, The Peloponnese, Thessalia, and The Greek Islands. (Boiotia would be added for the Prometheia in 2007 to fill the gap between Attica and Thessaly for the torch race.) There also came the realization that the world would have to be renamed. There was much discussion over the options Magna Graecia and Hellas. Finally, the Greek name prevailed. After many, many months of hard work, the hoods were developed and ready for inhabitation when they were opened in September of 2006. And so stands Hellas today. Let this, then, be the end of my narrative. The events after these will perhaps be the concern of another. |
ή βιβλιοθηκη
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