Weekly #4- Is History Created by 'the People' or by Individuals? Write a script for a movie about the events that took place in Athens during the Peloponnesian Wars.You should create a character that will live through some of the major events and you will tell the story through that character's eyes. Your character should be a common Athenian unknown to history. Scripts should be between three and five pages (longer is ok) and must include at least two major events. Be creative, but stick to the historical reality of what took place. Really think about what it would have been like to live in this time period and think about structuring your script so that there is some real drama. Imagine in your head what it would look like if we decided to film the script.

The Athenian Life

Setting: Ancient Greece, Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.)

Plot: An Athenian boy named Zetes changes a lot through the course of the Peloponnesian War. There is a struggle through the plague and Sicilian Expedition.

Characters:

Zetes

Agatha- Zetes’s sister

Cyrus- Zetes’s best friend

Kleon- Zetes’s father

Xenia-Zetes’s mother

Scene 1- Dream to be a Soldier

Zetes (to his father): What is it like to be in the Athenian army? I know that I’m only thirteen years old, but I really want to fight for Athens!

Kleon: Zetes, my son, I hope you become a great soldier because you are very brave and courageous. I will help you become the best soldier Athens will ever have.

Zetes: Thank you, dad!

Scene 2- Farewell, Kleon

Kleon (to family): I have just gotten an update about the Spartan invasions, and they are surrounding us. We must stay calm! You have to stay in between the long walls to stay safe. I will have to go to battle, and I do not know if I will make it back or not. Goodbye for now!

Xenia: Oh my! Kleon, I hope you don’t get hurt! I love you forever!

Zetes and Agatha: Goodbye, dad! I know you will make it back!

Scene 3- The Plague

Agatha: Mom, I do not like waiting for the Spartans to leave. I am feeling very sick, and we haven’t even gotten any food.  

Xenia: We just have to wait, Agatha! Everything will be okay!

Zetes: I do not know about that, mom. Our neighbors are sick, too.

Xenia: Zetes and Agatha, we will be safe if we stay here! We just have to wait for your father to come back!

Agatha exits.

Minutes later, Zetes’s friend, Cyrus, enters.

Cyrus (crying): Zetes! Zetes! Have you heard the news?

Zetes: No! What is wrong? What happened?

Cyrus: There is a plague. My mother has passed, and many of my neighbors are ill and are spreading their disease.

Zetes: We must stay away from the sick people! Mom, come with us!

Xenia: I have to go find Agatha. She has the disease!

Zetes (crying): No! Not Agatha! I don’t want her to die! Mom, if you go too, then you’ll get sick.

Xenia: I have to save Agatha!

Narrator: Zetes and Cyrus hide. They wait and wait.

Zetes: I must find my mom!

Cyrus: You are risking your life! She has probably died out there!

Zetes: I am willing to take the risk.

Narrator: Zetes searches for his mother. Finally, he finds her. She is lying down with his sister Agatha in her hands. Their eyes are closed, and they are dead. Zetes cries, and soon went back to Cyrus.

Cyrus: Finally! There is good news! The Spartans and their allies have finally left us!

Zetes (surprised): What?

Cyrus: It’s true and apparently Pericles died! A man found me and told me the news. We finally have food to eat.

Zetes: How did all of this happen?

Cyrus: The Athenian army won a battle, and Sparta surrendered!

Zetes: Yay! I hope my father is safe.

Scene 4- The Sicilian Expedition

Narrator: Years later, when Zetes joined the Athenian army, he was the only one left in his family. He had gotten married and is still friends with Cyrus. Cyrus has also joined the military, but he was forced.  They fight many battles because Sparta and its allies keep fighting back. The Peace of Nicias was no longer important to them. Cyrus and Zetes had gone on the Sicilian Expedition.

Zetes: I really hope we can help Sicily out.

Cyrus: You never know what is going to happen…

Zetes (whispers): Yeah! I wonder what will happen to Alcibiades! No one randomly breaks a bunch of Athenian statues, especially the general in charge of the Athenian army. Why would he do such a thing?

Cyrus (whispers): A ship will probably be sent out to pick him up! He’s definitely guilty!

Narrator: And that is what happened. A ship came to pick up Alcibiades, but he escaped and joined the Spartans. The Spartans know all of Athens plans now.

Scene 5- Spartan Slave

Zetes (writes in his journal):

I have been a slave for the Spartans because Alcibiades is a traitor! He is guilty for all of our deaths. I have to work in a stone quarry. I am very hungry. I wish I could escape, but there is no way out. Spartans are everywhere, and they have taken the life of Cyrus. He was killed on the ship, and now I am a slave for them. So many of the Athenian soldiers have died and death scares me. I will probably not be writing in here again because I am too weak. I want everyone to know that I am an Athenian soldier, and I have lived and died for Athens.