Constitutional Law

Part 2: “What Were They Thinking?”

Digression: “A History of Government in 6 Revolutions: From the Paleolithic to Philadelphia”

Pg 139: “850 B.C.”

 

 

PANEL 1:

 

A person wearing blue leather boots runs through a puddle with a splash. Ancient Narcissus poeticus daffodils are in the foreground.

 

NARRATION:

 

The year is 850 B.C.

 

For as long as you can remember, life’s been pretty good!

 

 

PANEL 2:

 

A young woman in a blue chiton and the same boots jogs past a hilly vineyard, waving to a man beyond the top of a hill. Goats graze nearby. The grapes are a multicolored ancient cultivar.

 

NARRATION:

 

Sure, farming is hard work. But hard work pays off!

 

In fact, your family grows more food than it could ever need!

 

Naturally, you share the surplus with the rest of your village. (That’s just basic decency.)

 

And naturally, this earns your family great prestige.

 

 

PANEL 3:

 

The young woman runs past a group of men trying to harness a horse to a wooden chariot. The horse is balking as a man hauls on the reins. Two other men are shaking with laughter. The young woman is rolling her eyes. The Acropolis is faintly visible in the distance.

 

NARRATION:

 

Your family can even afford to keep two horses!

 

(Frankly, they eat more than they’re worth. Horses can’t even pull a plow. But your father likes to hook them up to a little cart when he wants to survey the work in the fields, or visit other villages.)

 

Talk about prestige!

 

But if you really want to talk about prestige…

 

 

PANEL 4:

 

In a black panel, a beardless young man lit by blazing orange light from outside reaches behind him to grab a sword hanging on the wall.

 

NARRATION:

 

In your grandfather’s time, war came to Athens.

 

Men took up ancestral swords and spears, and bravely defended the villages.

 

 

PANEL 5:

 

A repeat of a scene from an earlier page, with men standing respectfully as an elderly man with a crutch and an eyepatch is led in. A man is telling a seated child “Stand up, boy.”

 

NARRATION:

 

Though they never needed their weapons again, the men of his generation were rightly honored all the rest of their days.

 

 

PANEL 6:

 

A funeral amphora of ashes has been buried in the ground, with a stone covering its top. A bronze sword has been bent to encircle the amphora.

 

NARRATION:

 

They buried the last of those heroes a month ago.

 

In his honor, his sword was ritually “killed” and buried with his ashes.

 

 

PANEL 7:

 

In a gathering of adult men, groups cluster to engage in thoughtful discussion.

 

NARRATION:

 

Not that prestige equals power, or anything.

 

Sure, you honor those who protect and provide, but that’s it.

 

They don’t outrank anybody.

 

Your dad, for example, would never presume to tell other households what to do.

 

That’d be wrong!

 

When he and the other heads of the village households assemble to decide important matters, each has the same say as any other.

 

 

PANEL 8:

 

The young woman in blue jogs to the top of a hill, where a pile of ashes lies smoldering. She shields her face from the smoke and smell.

 

NARRATION:

 

Everyone knows it’s the rain that gives life and wealth.

 

Elsewhere in Attica, some are trying to guarantee that the rains keep coming, by burning offerings on top of hills and mountains.

 

Apparently, they think sacrificing to the sky somehow makes it rain?*

 

Some people will believe anything.

 

You know that it’s our ancestors we must thank, for blessing us with rain and crops. That’s just common sense!

 

*No, not to Zeus. Later, his cult will take over some of these ash altars, but not for another couple hundred years. Sadly, the Greeks still hadn’t rediscovered how to write, so the names of these nascent sky/weather gods are lost forever.

 

 

PANEL 9:

 

A scene around the village granary. The granary consists of a high platform with spaces for air circulation beneath, and on top of the platform are five man-sized beehive silos. A man is pouring something from a large sack into the opening of the second silo, and another man is lugging another sack up the stairs. A young woman and small child sit on the left corner of the platform, looking at something offscreen. A teenage couple leans against a hut in the foreground, chatting. A cat is looking at birds, while another cat prowls. A bird is pondering a large low basket of grain. A young girl is skipping rope. The young woman in blue is jogging through the scene in the background. In the foreground, a woman with graying hair presses one hand to her temple while gesturing at a group of three women who are bickering about something. One woman with crossed arms is angrily saying something, while another woman looks disbelieving, and a third woman is giving the evil eye. The third woman is carrying a basket of figs.

 

NARRATION:

 

There’s always so much to do.

 

There’s your mother: She’s busy managing the silos where your village stores its surplus grapes and grain.

 

She organizes the storage after the harvest, makes sure everything’s put up properly, and sees to it that the granary’s kept clean, dry, and vermin-free.

 

And that’s the easy part. She also has to wrangle all the wives coming to get some groceries… and ensure that every family gets a fair share… and know how much surplus is on hand… and… and… and…

 

How she keeps track of it all is anybody’s guess, but everyone’s glad she manages!

 

 

PANEL 10:

 

The young woman in blue is running through a scene on the outskirts of the village. In the background, a team of men is constructing a lengthened apsidal house, with an incomplete frame and walls showing. Two men are thatching part of the roof, another man carries a long pole, and another man is lashing two poles together on the ground for the frame. A child is playing on the end of a high beam, while their mother is sternly pointing to the ground to come down. In the midground, two other men are working on a well, with one handing up a bucket of dirt to the other. A pile of discarded dirt is off to one side, and two dogs are playing.

 

NARRATION:

 

Some of your neighbors are putting in a new well.

 

And over there, a growing family is lengthening their house, so they can have a little more room.

 

THATCHING MAN:

 

Some families are even building new houses!

 

Founding new households—can you imagine?

 

NARRATION:

 

All the villages are growing. And—though it’s so gradual that you barely even notice—they’re all growing closer and closer together.

 

 

PANEL 11:

 

A view from the top of what is now known as the Areopagus. The young woman in blue is skittering down the far side, while a few clusters of old men sit or stand to converse. The Acropolis is visible in the midground, and there are distant mountains in the background. A setting sliver of a moon and colors in the clouds indicate it is close to sunset.

 

NARRATION:

 

In fact, there’s been talk of all the villages pitching it to build a common meeting house for everyone’s tribal elders.

 

The idea is to put it up on top of that rocky hill just west of the Acropolis.

 

The elders generally meet there anyway (it’s a climb, but it’s also quiet), so they might as well have a shady place to sit that’s out of the weather.

 

Nobody’s started building one or anything, but they certainly are talking about it.

 

 

PANEL 12:

 

The young woman in blue jogs away toward distant hills. In the foreground are iris flowers and nasturtiums. In the distance, the sunset clouds seem to be reminiscent of something. Maybe they almost resemble the head of a woman wearing a bronze plumed helmet, looking ahead to the future? Maybe they resemble some kind of violent explosion?

 

NARRATION:

 

It’s 850 B.C.

 

Life is peaceful. Life is good.

 

You’re certain that tomorrow’s going to be even better!