CHAPTER XII

ATHENS--ITS DECAY AND ITS REVIVAL 206

INDEX 229

List of Illustrations

1. The Parthenon from the Propylæa _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

2. The Acropolis from the Site of the Temple of Olympian Zeus 2

3. Corfu. The Old Fort from the West 8

4. Corfu. The Old Fort from the South 10

5. The Temple of Athena at Sunium 14

6. Sunset from the North-Eastern Corner of the Acropolis 16

7. Delphi from Itea 20

8. Delphi. The Castalian Gorge and Spring 24

9. Delphi. The Portico of the Athenians 28

10. The Ancient Quarries on Mount Pentelikon 32

11. Olympia. The base of the Kronos Hill with the remains of the Temple of Hera and the Philippeion 36

12. Olympia. The Palæstra and remains of the Temple of Zeus 40

13. The Temple of Hera at Olympia 44

14. The Bastion and Temple of Wingless Victory viewed from the ascent to the Propylæa 48

15. Colossal Head of Despoina 52

16. The Temple of Apollo at Bassæ in Arcadia, with distant view of Mount Ithome 54

17. Site of Megalopolis in Arcadia 58

18. Megalopolis in Arcadia 62

19. Andritsæna. The resting-place for the Temple of Apollo at Bassæ 66

20. The Castle of Karytæna in Arcadia 70

21. Interior of the Temple of Apollo at Bassæ in Arcadia 72

22. The Laconian Gate of Messene 74

23. Kalamata on the Gulf of Messene 76

24. Mount Ithome from the Stadion of Messene 80

25. Triple Bridge over the Mavrozoumenos River 84

26. Sparta and Mount Taÿgetus 86

27. Mistra, near Sparta 90

28. Mistra and the Valley of the Eurotas 92

29. Argos and Larissa 96

30. The Acropolis of Mycenæ from South-West, with Mount Elias 100

31. Mycenæ, showing the site of the famous discoveries of Schliemann 104

32. Tiryns. The Gate of the Upper Castle 106

33. Nauplia and Tiryns from the Road to Argos 108

34. The Theatre of Epidaurus 110

35. The Temple at Corinth 114

36. The Temple of Athena at Sunium from the North 118

37. Off Cape Matapan 122

38. The Western End of the Acropolis seen from below the Pnyx 124

39. The Temple of Theseus from the South-West 128

40. The Temple of Theseus from the North-West 130

41. The Areopagus and the Theseum 132

42. The Battle-Field of Marathon from Mount Pentelikon 136

43. The Seaward End of the Plain of Attica looking towards Salamis 140

44. The Temple of Athena on the Island of Ægina 144

45. Vista of the Northern Peristyle of the Parthenon looking westward 146

46. The Western Portico of the Parthenon from the South 148

47. The Acropolis and the Temple of Olympian Zeus from the Hill Ardettos 150

48. The Parthenon from the Northern End of the Eastern Portico of the Propylæa 152

49. Mount Pentelikon and Lycabettos from the North-Eastern Angle of the Parthenon 154

50. The Propylæa from the Northern Edge of the Platform of the Parthenon 156

51. The Southern side of the Erechtheum, with the foundations of the earlier Temple of Athena Polias 158

52. The Caryatid Portico of the Erechtheum from the West 160

53. The Northern Portico of the Erechtheum 162

54. The Eastern Portico of the Erechtheum viewed from the Northern Peristyle of the Parthenon 164

55. The Dipylon at Athens 168

56. The Street of Tombs outside the Dipylon at Athens 172

57. Athens from the Road to Eleusis 174

58. Convent of Daphni 176

59. Sacred Way from Athens to Eleusis, looking towards Salamis 178

60. The Great Temple of the Mysteries, Eleusis 180

61. The Hall of the Great Temple of the Mysteries, Eleusis 182

62. The Acropolis from the base of the Philopappus Hill 184

63. The lower part of the Auditorium of the Theatre of Dionysos at Athens 188

64. The Cavern Chapel on the South Side of the Acropolis 190

65. The Choragic Monument of Lysicrates 194

66. The Pnyx; or Place of Assembly of the People 198

67. The Acropolis with Kallirrhoè in the Foreground 202

68. Athens. The Monument of Agrippa and the Pinacotheca 206

69. The Tower of the Winds 208

70. The Portico of Athena Archegetis 210

71. The Stoa of Hadrian 212

72. The Arch of Hadrian 216

73. Columns of the Temple of Olympian Zeus from the North-West 220

74. The Square in front of the King’s Palace at Athens 222

75. The Stadion at Athens 226

_Sketch Map at end of Volume._

_The Illustrations in this Volume have been engraved and printed in England by The Hentschel Colourtype, Limited._

GREECE

INTRODUCTORY

More perhaps than any other country in Europe, Greece owes its charm to the traditions of a remote past. It has no lack of fine scenery, and there is much that is interesting in its modern life; but what chiefly distinguishes it from other countries is the rich and beautiful mythology which is reflected in its poetry, its art, and its philosophy, and was to a large extent the inspiration of its glorious history.

It will not be expected that any attempt should be made in these pages to give an adequate account of the artistic and architectural creations which, even in their ruins, form the chief attraction of the country. For detailed information on these matters, the reader must be left to consult such guide-books as Baedeker and Murray, or works specially devoted to archæology or art. The object of the present writer will be attained if he succeed in providing a congenial intellectual atmosphere for the scenes and objects to be presented by the artist. For this purpose it will be necessary, among other things, to recall many of the ancient legends, as well as the historical events associated with the places referred to. The history cannot be understood apart from the mythology, for the latter is a key to the religious faith as well as to the patriotic sentiment of the nation.

Opinions may differ as to the right interpretation of many of the myths, but whatever explanation we may be disposed to give of them, whether we regard them as allegorical, semi-historical, or purely poetical, they are generally full of human interest, and they were very dear to the Greeks as the embodiment of their earliest thoughts and cherished memories. Embalmed in their poetry, consecrated by their temples, and signalised by many other monuments, the Greek mythology formed for centuries the chief intellectual wealth of the nation. Even when history and philosophy had begun to make their influence felt, the old stories, dramatised by the tragic poets, still continued to fill the imagination and to occupy the attention of all classes of the people. Though Plato had a good deal to say against some of them from an ethical point of view, he did not propose in his ideal Republic to do away with them altogether, he only wished them to be so corrected and purified as to promote the interests of a sound morality and a reasonable theology.

An important feature of Greek mythology was its close connection with the received genealogies. These nearly always terminated, at the upper end, in a god or a hero, after whom a family or a group of families was named, with the curious result, to our modern

mind, that the shorter the pedigree the more honour it conferred upon its living representative. The public genealogies were thus an incentive both to the piety and the pride of the more influential classes, and they help to account for the reverence in which the ancient mythology was so long held by such an enlightened nation as the Greeks.

With the exception of Palestine, there is probably no country that can compare with Greece for the influence it has exerted on the life and thought of the world, in proportion to its size and population. In area it was never so large as Scotland, and its population, which is now under two millions and a half, was probably never much greater.

How far the influence of ancient Greece was due to the racial characteristics of its inhabitants, which they brought with them from other parts of the world, and how far to the peculiarities of the country itself, is a question which it is not easy to determine. To some extent, no doubt, both causes operated. The inhabitants belonged to a good stock, the Indo-Germanic, while their geographical position and surroundings were well fitted to develop a high type of manhood. The beauty of the scenery, the purity of the atmosphere, the geniality of the climate, the fertility of the plains and valleys, the grandeur of the mountains,--more numerous and widespread than in any other part of Europe of similar extent except Montenegro,--the bracing influence of the sea, and the commercial advantages afforded by its coasts, which are more extensive than those of any other country in proportion to its size, looking in the direction of Europe, Asia, and Africa--all these things no doubt helped to make the ancient Greeks the great nation that they were, though their comparative obscurity in modern times shows that something more is needed to produce a similar effect.

If we would form an adequate conception of the nation’s influence, we must take into account the numerous Greek colonies which were planted in Asia Minor and on the southern shore of the Black Sea, on the coast of Macedonia, along the Hellespont and Bosporus, and also in Sicily and Italy, where a new Greek world sprang up, which received the name of _Magna Græcia_. Hundreds of years before Athens reached the height of its glory, there was a Greek city in Italy, Cumæ (founded by colonists from Chalcis and Cymæ in Asia Minor), which held the first place in the peninsula for wealth and civilisation; while another Greek settlement was to be found as far west as Marseilles, which had been colonised from Phocæa in Asia Minor about 600 B.C.

The inhabitants of Greece in this wider sense not only spoke the same language (whose preservation was largely due to the influence of Homer), but were also bound together by fellowship in blood, in religion, and in manners. They were hardly more distinguishable from the rude and ignorant tribes of Europe than from the more civilised Orientals who practised human sacrifice, polygamy, and the mutilation of enemies. But perhaps the most marked characteristic of the Greeks was their love of local autonomy, and their rooted aversion to anything like imperial rule, such as prevailed so widely in Asia. Their attachment to an individual city, as the capital of a small district, was doubtless due in great measure to the divided nature of the country, which is broken up by mountains and rivers and arms of the sea into numberless plains and valleys only a few miles in extent. While this had the effect of fostering a spirit of independence, combined with a sense of civic obligation, which helped to develop the energies and capacities of the individual, the proximity to each other of so many rival states bred a great amount of jealousy and strife, which frequently led to bloody and destructive wars. Such disintegrating tendencies were too much even for the consolidating force of a common language and literature, or of voluntary confederations for the purpose of worship or amusement. Occasionally a great national emergency, such as the Persian invasion, might force the Greeks to join together for the resistance of a common foe, but it was almost inevitable that sooner or later they should fall into the hands of a great military power, such as Macedonia, and lose the civic liberties of which they were so proud. The political decay of Greece, however, only widened the scope of its influence. As the dissolution of the Jewish polity was followed by the rapid spread of a religion which had its roots in the Jewish Scriptures, so the national degradation of the Greeks led to a still wider diffusion of their language, their literature, and their civilisation.