Athenian coup of 411 BC

The Athenian coup of 411 BC was the result of a revolution that took place during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. The coup overthrew the democratic government of ancient Athens and replaced it with a short-lived oligarchy known as The Four Hundred.

In the wake of the fiscal crisis caused by the Athenian military's failed Sicilian Expedition in 413 BCE, some high status Athenian men, who had long disliked the broad-based democracy of the city-state, sought to establish an oligarchy of the elite. They believed that this would manage foreign, fiscal, and war policies better.

The movement towards oligarchy was led by a number of prominent and wealthy Athenians who held positions of power in the Athenian army at Samos, in coordination with Alcibiades.

Background

By the time of the Peloponnesian War, the democracy in Athens was around 100 years old. Most of the upper class accepted this form of government, while either vying for positions of leadership within it, or remaining aloof outside of it. Until the war, most of the leading Athenian politicians had come from noble families. However, the democratic form of government in the city state of Athens remained an anomaly, as the rest of the Greek city states were either run as tyrannies or most often by oligarchies. Both Thucydides and Aristotle wrote that "the revolution was provoked by defeat in Sicily."

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953) is a musical fantasy film, the only feature film written by Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss), who was responsible for the story, screenplay and lyrics. It was directed by Roy Rowland, with many takes directed, uncredited, by producer Stanley Kramer.

Plot

Young Bart Collins (Tommy Rettig) lives with his widowed mother Heloise (Mary Healy). The bane of Bart's existence are the hated piano lessons he endures under the tutelage of the autocratic Dr. Terwilliker (Hans Conried). Bart feels that his mother has fallen under Terwilliker's influence, and gripes to plumber August Zabladowski (Peter Lind Hayes), without result. While hammering at his lessons, Bart dozes off and enters a musical dream, much as did Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz.

In the dream, Bart is trapped at the surreal Terwilliker Institute, where the piano teacher is a madman dictator who has imprisoned non-piano-playing musicians. He built a piano so large that it requires Bart and 499 other boys (hence, 5,000 fingers) to play it. Bart's mother has become Terwilliker's hypnotized assistant and bride-to-be, and Bart must dodge the Institute's guards as he scrambles to save his mother and himself. He tries to recruit Mr. Zabladowski, who was hired to install the Institute's lavatories ahead of a vital inspection, but only after skepticism and foot-dragging is the plumber convinced to help. The two construct a noise-sucking contraption which ruins the mega-piano's opening concert. The enslaved boys run riot, and the "atomic" noise-sucker explodes in spectacular fashion, bringing Bart out from his dream.