Greece Painted by John Fulleylove; described by J.A. McClymont
CHAPTER XII
ATHENS--ITS DECAY AND ITS REVIVAL
Within a few years after the death of Demosthenes a striking evidence was afforded of the sad change which had come over the city of Athens. The restoration of its political freedom for a brief period by Demetrius Poliorcetes (307 B.C.) in the name of his father Antigonus, one of the successors (_diadochoi_) of Alexander the Great, was the occasion for an exhibition of servility and impiety which showed that the manly spirit of those who fought at Marathon and Salamis had utterly forsaken their descendants. Not only were Demetrius and his father acknowledged as kings, but they were also exalted to the rank of divinities, orders being given by the authorities that their pictures and achievements should be wrought into the sacred robe which figured so prominently at the Pan-Athenaic festival, along with those of Zeus and Athena. A few years afterwards the shameful profanation was carried still further by the admission of Demetrius to the Parthenon as the guest of the goddess, and by the issue of a licentious decree that whatever he commanded was to be regarded as holy and just. How
little sincerity there was in all this obsequious homage became evident the following year, when fortune turned against Demetrius at the battle of Ipsus. He set sail from Ephesus for Athens, but was refused admission.
Various causes may be assigned for the decline and fall of the Athenian state. From a political point of view the more immediate cause was its overweening pride and unbridled ambition--typified by the character of Alcibiades, who has been well described as the evil genius of his country at a most critical period of its history. Hence arose the terrible disasters which befell it in Sicily, and the subsequent dissolution of its naval empire. If the imperial capital had paid more respect to the claims of other Greek states associated with it in the Delian confederacy, its fate might have been very different. But while incurring the jealousy of Sparta and other rival powers it failed to gain the confidence of the minor states allied to it. Its imperial policy when at the height of its power may be contrasted with that of Great Britain, regarding which it has been recently said by Sir Wilfred Laurier, the Prime Minister of Canada: “The British Empire means freedom, decentralisation, and autonomy. It will live and live for ever.”
But Athens suffered from other causes besides its own imperial pride and the enmity of other Greek states. As Æschylus is said to have foreseen, the virtual abolition in a political sense of the court of Areopagus, the great representative of traditional authority, and the failure to provide any other adequate safeguards against democratic excesses, could not fail sooner or later to be attended with evil consequences. That the appointment to public offices should have been made by lot, as a general rule, and that no one, however eminent for ability and experience, should have been eligible as a member of the Council more than twice, shows how the public interests of the state were sacrificed to the theory of personal equality among the citizens. Even the high level of culture at Athens could not justify such a disregard for the inevitable diversity of natural gifts and acquired habits in every community. Moreover, the love of wealth and the taste for luxury, which resulted from the increasing prosperity of the city, tended to the deterioration of character both among the leading men, who were too open to bribes from foreign powers, even those at war with their country, and among the citizens at large, who were apt to become demoralised by their wholesale payment as dicasts, and were not content with largess at the Dionysiac festivals only. The self-denial which led the citizens in the time of Themistocles to forgo their claim on the proceeds of the silver mines of Laurium, amounting to ten drachms per head, in order that an addition might be made to their naval armament, would not have been so readily found at the close of the fourth century, when the “Theoric Fund” had come to be spoken of as “the cement of the democracy.”
While there are scarcely any monuments of the Macedonian period now to be seen in Athens, it is different as regards the age of Roman supremacy.
One of the oldest of the tributes of respect then paid by foreigners to the famous but decaying city, is the _stoa_ of Attalus, erected by the second king of Pergamus of that name (159-138 B.C.). The Stoa, which formed part of the eastern boundary of the Market-place (by that time commonly called the Cerameicus), consisted of two stories, the lower façade having a row of forty-five Doric columns in front, with an inner row of twenty-two Ionic columns. The latter divided the enclosed space into two aisles, where buying and selling went on, while farther in, behind the inner aisle, there were rooms for storing goods. The upper story did not extend so far back, and had only one row of Doric columns, connected by a lattice balustrade of Pentelic marble--the material of which the columns were also made.
In the same neighbourhood may be seen one of the best preserved monuments in Athens. It is an octagonal marble building, called the Tower of the Winds, standing fully 40 feet high, with a diameter of 26 feet. On each of its eight sides there is an emblematic figure, representing the wind which blows in that direction. On the top of the tower there was once a bronze Triton, which pointed to the picture of the wind that was blowing at the time. Under each figure is a sun-dial, and there was also an ingenious system of waterworks within the tower, to show the time in any weather, by night or by day. The tower was erected in the first century B.C. by a Syrian named Andronicus.
A little farther east stands a great gate or portico, consisting of four Doric columns, 26 feet high, with a massive architrave and pediment. An inscription on the architrave tells that it was erected in honour of Athena _Archegetis_ (“Foundress Athena”) by the people of Athens, from funds bestowed on them by Julius Cæsar and the Emperor Augustus. It was once supposed to be part of a temple, but excavations have proved that it led into a great market-place, which was surrounded by an Ionic colonnade, and was chiefly used (judging from an inscription found in the neighbourhood) for the sale of olive-oil, the great gift of Athena. In the pediment of the gate there was originally a statue of Lucius, the adopted son of Augustus. His son-in-law Agrippa was also held in honour in Athens; and on the Acropolis a pedestal can still be seen, close to the Propylæa, on which his statue rested, with an inscription in which he is styled a benefactor of the city.
On the Museum or Observatory Hill there is a marble structure called the Monument of Philopappus, erected in the beginning of the second century A.D., in honour of a generous Athenian citizen of that name, who was the last hereditary king of Commagene, in Asia Minor. Above the frieze are three niches, two of which contain statues of Philopappus and his grandfather Antiochus Epiphanes, while in the third, on the right, there once stood the figure of Seleucus Nicator, the founder of the dynasty. On the north-east side of the hill there are three rock-hewn chambers, no doubt originally tombs, though they are now called (apparently without any justification) the Prison of Socrates.
Among all the Roman emperors Hadrian was the
greatest admirer of Athens, and conferred most benefits on the city, both in the way of architectural adornment and otherwise. He erected a number of magnificent buildings in the heart of the city, one of which (as Pausanias tells us) had a hundred columns of Phrygian marble, another a hundred columns of Libyan marble, while a third, which was used as a library, was adorned with a gilded roof and alabaster. Part of a rich colonnade has been preserved, and is known as the Stoa of Hadrian. But the emperor’s greatest monument was the Olympieum, or temple of Olympian Zeus, situated to the south-east of the Acropolis, on the right bank of the Ilissus. The foundation of the temple had been laid by Peisistratus nearly 700 years before, and the work had been considerably advanced by Antiochus Epiphanes nearly 400 years later; but it was reserved to Hadrian to complete the great undertaking, which he did in a munificent style. Unfortunately only fifteen of the hundred or more Corinthian columns of Pentelic marble are now standing, occupying but a small part of the vast platform (about 2200 feet in circumference) on which the temple stood. But such is the grandeur of the columns, rising to a height of nearly 57 feet and fully 5½ feet in diameter, that they form one of the most imposing ruins in the world. Even before the commencement of the temple of Peisistratus, the place was regarded with peculiar veneration as the traditional site of a temple erected by Deucalion, the survivor of the Flood; and in the days of Pausanias a cleft was to be seen in the ground, into which the subsiding waters were said to have sunk, and where, every year, the people cast in wheaten meal kneaded with honey, probably in memory of those who perished in the Deluge.
Somewhere in this neighbourhood--though the exact locality has not been determined--was the Lyceum, a gymnasium named after an old temple of Lycean Apollo, in the midst of spacious grounds, where military reviews were sometimes held, but chiefly famous as the place where Aristotle and his followers had their daily walk and conversation, on account of which they received the name of _Peripatetics_.
Between the Acropolis and the Olympieum, probably in the line of the old city wall, stands the Arch of Hadrian, a handsome structure of Pentelic marble, almost 60 feet high, with an archway 20 feet wide. On one side of the entablature, facing the city, are inscribed the words, “This is Theseus’ Athens, the old city,” and on the other side, “This is the city of Hadrian and not of Theseus.” The emperor’s hope of a new city of Athens has been fulfilled in modern times, but the extension has not taken place in the direction of Hadrianopolis, but rather to the north.
Few cities in the Old World have made such rapid progress as Athens has done since the liberation of Greece three-quarters of a century ago. In 1834, when it became the capital of the new kingdom, it had only a population of a few hundreds, while Piræus was scarcely inhabited at all. The population of Athens is now approaching 150,000, and that of Piræus is about 50,000. The wealth of both has kept pace with the population.
Piræus is a prosperous and well-built town, whose trade has outstripped that of every other port in Greece, while Athens is incomparably the finest city in the kingdom, containing many beautiful modern buildings, both public and private, and some handsome streets, with shops that would do credit to London or Paris.
The growth of Athens is chiefly due to its political importance as the capital of the country and the residence of the king. Politics is the chief occupation of its educated citizens--dust and politics, indeed, are said to be its two plagues. The whole of Greece is remarkable for its consuming interest in politics; and, next to the daily newspapers, of which some thirteen are published in Athens, history is the favourite reading of the people. Unfortunately for the welfare of the country, the interest in politics does not arise so much from zeal for rival principles as from party struggles for place and power. In these struggles it is not merely the professional politicians whose personal interests are affected, but also the public officials of the country, most of whom are liable to dismissal or translation every time there is a change of Government--an event of much more frequent occurrence in Greece than in Great Britain. There is only one legislative chamber, the _Boulé_ or Council, the number of whose members varies, but can never be less than 150. They are elected on a basis of manhood suffrage, and receive a salary of from £50 to £100 a year, according to the length of the session. The Government consists of seven members, who receive each £300 a year, with an additional £150 for the Prime Minister.[8]
Closely associated with the politicians are the barristers, of whom there are about 800 in Athens, besides a great many others scattered through the country. The highest court of appeal, both for civil and criminal cases, bears the time-honoured name of _Areopagus_, and consists of eighteen judges. Of inferior judges there are nearly 600 in the whole country, most of whom are removable on a change of Government--an evil in some degree mitigated by the fact that all candidates for judicial posts must have passed a series of examinations in law. The medical profession is said to be also overstocked, though the legal fees chargeable for medical attendance would not be thought tempting in this country. With regard to the clergy, comparatively few of them receive their education in Athens or pass through the University. Their average culture is very low--but not lower than their remuneration--and the consequence is that any influence the Church exerts on the life of the nation is of a superficial kind, and finds its chief support in the festive celebration of the numerous Saints’ Days. The services in the churches are of a ritualistic order, and sermons are seldom heard except in Lent. The kissing of an _eikon_ or the lighting of a taper appears to be with many worshippers a mere formality, while, at the same time, there is a large amount of ignorance and superstition in the country districts.
Of late there has been a considerable diminution in the number of students at the University, notwithstanding the liberal subsidies which have been granted to it by Government; and pursuits of an industrial nature are attracting more attention. The opinion is gaining ground that education of a literary character has been overdone, with the result that a large proportion of those who have received an academic training fail to find suitable employment and become idlers and hangers-on, spending their time largely in talking politics in the neighbourhood of the _Boulé_ or the cafés of Constitution Square. In a political sense great importance is attached by many to the fact that about a third of the students at the University (say 200 freshmen every year) come from “Outer Greece,” and are expected on their return home to do much in the way of fostering enthusiasm for the great hope of a reunited Greece, to embrace Macedonia, Epirus, Crete, and the Levant. This hope has been somewhat damped by the favour recently shown by Russia to Bulgaria, the other likely claimant to Macedonia when the Turkish Empire is dissolved; and it is to Great Britain and France that the Greeks now chiefly look for countenance and support in their national aspirations. Their debt of gratitude to this country finds visible acknowledgment in the fine monument to Byron near the Arch of Hadrian, and in the statue of Gladstone in front of the University.
There is abundance of patriotic sentiment in Greece, which shows itself not only in eloquent speech but in voluntary contributions made in school and through national lotteries for the purpose of providing a more adequate navy. But what is most needed for the wellbeing of the country is a more steady and efficient administration of its own affairs, and greater energy and perseverance in developing its commercial and agricultural resources. For many years emigration to the United States of America has been going on at an alarming rate, especially from the Peloponnesus, including some of its most fertile provinces. The home-affection of the emigrants is shown by their generous remittances to their friends in the old country; and one of the most hopeful features in the life of modern Greece is to be found in the frequency with which her sons who have succeeded abroad devote their wealth to the founding of educational and philanthropic institutions at Athens or elsewhere. They are rewarded with the proud name of “national benefactors,” which is as much prized in democratic Greece as titles of nobility in Great Britain. One of the most recent of such benefactions is that of M. Averof (of Alexandria), who has restored the Stadium at a cost of a million and a half of francs, fitting it up with seats of marble from the quarries of Pentelicus (as Herodes Atticus did in the second century A.D.), to accommodate upwards of 50,000 people.
In the Archæological Congress held at Athens in 1905, which was attended by visitors and delegates from all parts of Europe, one of the most interesting
events was a public representation of Sophocles’ _Antigoné_ in the Stadium. It may be questioned how far its language would be understood even in Athens by the less educated classes. Probably the proportion of citizens who understood it thoroughly was not much greater than in Oxford when similar plays were put on the stage in that city some years ago. In the days of Sophocles the whole community virtually spoke the same language, so that his plays would be understood by the masses as well as the classes. It would seem that even the peculiarities of his Ionic dialect did not prevent Herodotus from being understood by the Greeks assembled at Olympia when he recited his History to them before it was published as a book. Nowadays the style and vocabulary of the ancient classical authors are foreign to a large section of the Greek nation. Hence it has been found that when the plays of Aristophanes are turned into the colloquial speech and so presented on the stage at Athens, they are attended with far greater success than in their original form.
In closing, a few words may be said on what may be described as one of the burning questions of the day. For more than a century there has been a tendency in high quarters to approximate as much as possible to classical Greek. Especially during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, there has been a strenuous attempt on the part of the educated classes, backed by the authorities in Church and State, to mould the written language according to classical forms, by restoring the old orthography and grammatical inflexions and by expressing new ideas and inventions in ancient terms, frequently compounded in a curious fashion. The ideal cherished by many educated Greeks was expressed by the Metropolitan Archbishop of Athens when he said that he hoped the time was not far distant when they would be using the language of Xenophon, and that if the newspapers would introduce but one new classical word a day, they would add 70,000 words to the language in the course of twenty years. The archaic style has been adopted by the Government in all public documents and in the system of education; it dominates the speeches delivered in Parliament, except when passion gets the better of the speakers; it is approved by the Church, and is cultivated by the newspapers and journals, and the vast majority of authors. Hence the most of the Greek which one reads in current literature bears a strong resemblance to that of the classical authors studied at school and college, and a good Greek scholar has no great difficulty in reading an Athenian newspaper, if he make himself acquainted with a few modern particles of frequent occurrence, and have patience to make out the meaning of the new combinations that have been devised to meet the requirements of modern civilisation.
But side by side with this artificial language, which, though classical upon the surface, is generally modern in style and construction, bearing the stamp, especially, of French and English idioms--there is what may be called the vernacular Greek, spoken more or less by all classes when they are not on ceremony, and understood in all parts of Greece, and in the Levant. The difference between the two does not lie merely in pronunciation, or grammatical forms, or the occasional use of peculiar words, such as are found in the local dialects of almost all languages; it shows itself in the employment of different words to express the commonest things in daily life, such as water, bread, wine. You may see such things called by their classical names on the merchant’s signboard, and yet if you wish to be understood when you go into the shop you must use the popular equivalents.
The relation between the spoken and the written Greek is often compared to that of Italian and mediæval Latin. Italian had to struggle for a literary existence before it gained a secure position as the national tongue in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. But unfortunately for Greek as a living language, ever since the days of Dionysius of Halicarnassus it has had to contend repeatedly against a persistent effort to go back, as far as possible, to the golden age of Athenian literature in the fifth century B.C. Its capacity for literary purposes has never been properly recognised, although it has preserved more of the original language than the Italian has of Latin. This fact is now forcing itself on the attention of the nation; and just as the descendants of the ancient Romans have practically given up the use of Latin, so there is an increasing party in Greece, supported by distinguished grammarians in other lands, who hold that the intellectual and moral life of the nation will never get fair-play and have full scope for its energies until the Atticising pedantry which has so long been the fashion both in Athens and in Constantinople shall be given up, and the popular speech be recognised as a suitable instrument for literary purposes as well as for the intercourse of common life. But those who are of this opinion will have a great battle to fight before they can hope to see their views prevail. A few years ago (in 1901) the world was startled by serious disturbances in Athens over a translation of the New Testament into the vulgar tongue, which showed what strong passions lie at the bottom of this linguistic controversy. A scholarly Greek merchant resident in Liverpool (Mr. Alexander Pallis), who has brought Homer within the reach of all classes of his countrymen by a translation into the language of the common people, set about rendering to them a similar service in the case of the New Testament. His version of the Gospel according to Matthew appeared in the _Acropolis_, one of the Athenian newspapers. It called forth a letter from the Patriarch of Constantinople to the Holy Synod of Greece, lamenting the degradation to which the sacred book was being subjected. Then followed a great outburst of indignation on the part of the educated classes, especially the “noble student youth” of the University. A demand was made for the excommunication of the translator and the banning of his work. But the ecclesiastical authorities were not in a position to proceed to this extremity. For the question was complicated by the fact that a popular version of
the New Testament, not quite so familiar perhaps in its style as that of Mr. Pallis, had been prepared shortly before by a learned lady at the instance of the Queen of Greece, who had found that many of the inmates of the gaols and hospitals which she visited were almost destitute of Christian knowledge, and were incapable of understanding the Greek of the New Testament. This translation had been revised by a learned Commission, and had been commended by the Metropolitan, Procopius. The excitement rose to such a height that nothing but a general excommunication of all modern Greek translations of the New Testament would satisfy the public. This demand not being granted, an indignation meeting, attended by more than 30,000 people, was held around the columns of Olympian Jupiter, and the feeling of the crowd was voiced by a student, who declared that during the centuries of Turkish oppression no such deadly injury had been inflicted on the nation with the sword as that which had now been perpetrated with the pen. The meeting was followed by riots in the streets, in which a collision took place between the crowd and the military, attended with serious and in some cases fatal results. Before the night was over, the Chief of the Police and the Commander of the Garrison had resigned their posts; a similar step had to be taken even by the Archbishop, who was conducted to the King’s palace in the middle of the night by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Public Instruction; and within a few days the Ministry itself had to relinquish office.
The whole occurrence was a striking proof of the passionate pride that is latent in the Greek character in any matter that affects its reputation and self-esteem. Although the question came to assume a semi-religious, semi-political aspect, the real offence lay in the fact that the language used in the translation was the vulgar tongue, which the University authorities desired to suppress, so far as its use for literary purposes was concerned. If the translation had been allowed to get a footing at home or in school it would have acquired a place in the affections of the people. To avoid this danger the ecclesiastical authorities issued an edict forbidding the use of all translations or any departure from the original text--and this notwithstanding the fact that there were thousands of the members of their Church who could derive little or no benefit from the New Testament without the help of a translation. It is easy to understand, from the feelings with which many devout people in this country received the changes made on the English Revised Version about thirty years ago, that the Greeks would be very sensitive to any alteration on the New Testament, which had been the cherished symbol of their nationality under the dominion of the Turk. But in this case there was no alteration of the sense; and no one was compelled to use the translation unless he pleased, nor was there any attempt to supersede the reading of the original text in church. No doubt the language of Mr. Pallis’ translation was sometimes of a very homely character. But to talk of its being a “profanation of the Gospel”
was quite a misrepresentation, and seems almost ridiculous in view of the fact--which the discovery of Egyptian _papyri_ has been bringing home to us of late--that the language of the New Testament was, at the time it was written, the language in every-day use among the masses of the people for whom it was intended, which the learned men of the day would have disdained to employ for literary purposes. No such outcry was raised in this country when a Scots translation of the Psalms was issued by the late Dr. P. H. Waddell, though it might have been more reasonably objected to as serving no practical purpose. But there was no jealousy of the Scots dialect on the part of the Church or the educated classes--hence it was simply regarded as a literary curiosity.
Equally groundless was the notion that the issue of translations was part of a scheme to which the Queen (a Russian princess) was supposed to be accessory, for the purpose of playing into the hands of the Russians in Macedonia, by leading the Greek population to surrender their birthright as the lawful heirs of the New Testament. To understand this suspicion we must remember that the Greeks had long prided themselves on the fact that they and they alone could read the very words of the New Testament in their own tongue, and they were afraid that they would forfeit this distinction and be reduced to a level with their Slavonic neighbours, if the need for a translation were admitted.[9]
However inconsistent it may seem, this attachment to the Greek of the New Testament is only another phase of the same pride of ancestry that is seen in the straining after classical Greek.[10] The desire to pose before the world as the descendants of the nation which produced Homer and Æschylus and Pericles and Plato and Demosthenes has led them to sacrifice in some measure the real interests of the nation to the glamour of a remote and glorious past. Just as they have been ashamed of some mediæval monuments which reminded them of humiliating epochs in their history, so they have tried to get rid of words and forms which bore the stamp of foreign ascendency. But such affectation cannot alter facts, and is bad for the _morale_ of a nation. The pride of birth, when carried to excess, may hurt the character of a people no less than of an individual, and foster a theatrical and pretentious spirit. It is easy to see that in the education of the young it cannot be favourable to vigour or spontaneity of thought if the pupil is denied the use of the words to which he has been accustomed from his earliest years. With such a discord between experience and expression, it is no wonder that the Greek people have produced so little native literature during the last two thousand years, and that they are so largely dependent at the present time on foreign authorship, especially Russian, English, and French. The loss sustained in almost all the practical departments of the national life, both sacred and secular, is alleged to be scarcely less serious. It can hardly be otherwise, indeed, if the language employed in public documents is only partially or with difficulty understood by a large proportion of the people for whom it is intended. Moreover, it cannot be good for the nation to be divided, intellectually speaking, into two more or less antagonistic camps, corresponding roughly to the educated and the uneducated.
Of recent years there have been signs of a strong reaction. Largely owing to the ability and zeal of Professor Psichari, a son-in-law of the late M. Renan, the Atticising tendency is not nearly so prevalent as it was twenty years ago, and a considerable native literature is now making its appearance not only in poetry (in which it has always been strong) but also in novels, dramas, journals, newspapers, and even in the publication of grammars. This literature is no longer confined, as it used to be, with few exceptions, to the Ionian Islands (where Salomos of Zanté and Valaoritis of Leucas sang) and Crete (where Cornaro, of Venetian extraction, produced his great epic _Erotokritos_, which procured for him the title of the “Homer of the People”). Even Constantinople is beginning to breathe the new spirit; and there is reason to hope that a compromise between the two extremes may yet be effected, by which the nation may realise its essential unity amid diversity, remaining true to its illustrious ancestry, without ignoring or suppressing the other elements--Roman, Byzantine, Turkish--which have contributed to its development. Its scholars are beginning to see that the idea of classical Greek ever becoming a universal language for men of culture is a vain dream, and that a nation’s speech, like its life, must undergo continual modification. Such modification, though it may appear to the pedant to be corruption, is evolution to the philosopher and man of sense. The history of the Russian and Czech languages, which have adapted themselves to literary purposes with such success during the last two hundred years, encourages the hope that the language now spoken by the common people of Greece may go through a similar process of development, borrowing from the ancient Greek what it requires in order to meet the needs of science and philosophy, while holding its ground as the essential basis of the national speech.[11]
Akin to this controversy is the question as to the proper pronunciation of Greek. So different is the pronunciation now current among the Greeks from that which is in vogue in this country that, even without any difference in vocabulary or grammar, a Western scholar trained in the Erasmian system would find the greatest difficulty in understanding or making himself
understood by a modern Greek, who allows the accentuation to supersede the vowel-quantity and reduces the diphthong to a simple sound. How different, for example, Peloponnēsos sounds when it is pronounced Pelopónnĭssos, or ta-nephē (τἁ νἑφη) when pronounced ta-néphī. The difference is still more marked when you hear a modern Greek read Homer, for he seems to do away with the metre altogether. Till lately the Greeks were inclined to smile at our rendering of the quantities. But recently they have been learning from one who is perhaps their highest authority on such questions (G. Chatzidakis) that ancient inscriptions and transcriptions show that their living language has not stood still in the matter of pronunciation any more than in other respects. It does not follow from this, however, that the Erasmian pronunciation, though older and more correct as to quantity than is now current among the Greeks, is in all respects the same as would have been heard in the streets of Athens in the days of Socrates.
Index
Academy, 172
Acanthus, 119
Achæan League, 18, 118
Achæans, 40, 52, 55, 103, 162
Achilles, 11, 142
Acro-Corinthus, 73, 111 _f._, 118
Acropolis, 124 _seq._, 152, 166, 170, 173, 188, 199
Adrastus, 95 _f._
Ægaleus (Mt.), 175
Ægeus, 126
Ægina, 82, 96, 108, 142 _seq._
Æginetans, 143 _ff._
Ægospotami, 82, 88, 144, 186
Æolian, 7, 15, 162
Æschines, 64
Æschylus, 21, 138, 176, 189, 191 _f._, 196, 207, 224
Africa, 73, 87, 102
Agamemnon, 40, 58, 61, 97, 100, 102, 105, 192
Agesilaus, 82, 89
Agesipolis, 59, 98
Agis, 58, 85, 89
Agraulos, 129
Agrippa, 210
Ajax, 140, 142
Alcæus, 7
Alcibiades, 48, 97, 185, 207
Alcinous, 9, 106
Alcmæon, 61
Alcmæonid, 131
Aleman, 85
Alexander the Great, 12, 21, 49, 64, 74, 97, 117, 122, 171, 196, 201
Alpheus, 34, 52, 63
Amazons, 68, 157
Amphictyony, 27, 130
Amyclæ, 90, 91
Anaxagoras, 203
Andritsæna, 67
Antipater, 64, 201 _f._
Aphæa, 145
Aphrodité, 119, 176
Apollo, 16, 20 _seq._, 41, 62, 68 _f._, 91, 98, 108, 118, 127, 174, 176
Aratus, 118
Arcadia, 51 _seq._, 82, 105
Archæology (schools of), 29, 35, 65, 119
Areopagus, 125, 127, 139, 166, 185, 207, 214
Areté, 106, 182
Arethusa, 52
Argive, 74, 82, 97
Argives, 58, 95, 98, 101, 107
Argolic, 104
Argolid, 108
Argolis, 36, 94 _seq._
Argonauts, 54
Argos, 49, 61, 64, 71, 94, 112
Ariadne, 125
Arion, 190 _f._
Aristides, 62
Aristodemus, 77
Aristogeiton, 134 _f._
Aristomenes, 72 _f._, 92
Aristophanes, 173, 193 _f._, 199, 217
Aristotle, 12, 41, 196, 203, 212
Art (development of), 43, 148 _f._
Artemis, 52, 54, 79, 145
Asclepios, 108 _f._, 174
Asia Minor, 40, 87, 103, 130, 134, 149, 197
Atalanta, 54
Athena, 28, 55, 91, 128, 131, 139, 144 _f._, 146 _seq._, 210
Athens, 9, 29, 32, 60, 61, 64, 75, 84, 88, 97, 102, 105, 114, 122, 124 _seq._
Athens (modern), 212 _seq._
Attalus (stoa of), 209
Attica, 125
Atreus, 105
Autonomy (love of), 5. _Vide_ Tyranny
Bacchiadæ, 113
Bacchus (Dionysus), 192
Baltic, 102
Bassæ, 66, 68 _f._
Bellerophon, 112
Bérard (Victor), 10, 16, 76
Blackie (Prof. J. S.), 192
Bœotia, 48, 58, 60, 74
Bosporus, 99
Boulé (Council), 78, 184, 208
Brasidas, 85, 200
Brennus, 28
Bribery, 25, 43, 84
British and Foreign Bible Society, 120
British Museum, 68, 154, 161, 176
Burial, 102 _f._, 137, 168, 172
Byron, 18, 165, 195, 215
Byzantine, 62, 66, 68, 92, 107, 159, 226
Callicrates, 153
Callimachus, 119
Callirhoe, 169
Callistratus, 60 _f._
Calydonian Hunt, 54 _f._
Calypso, 9
Canal (Corinth), 121 _f._
Capodistrias, 107
Caryatidæ, 149, 161
Castalian Spring, 32
Cecropia, 128, 147
Cecrops, 128 _f._, 139, 162
Celeus, 177-179
Cenchreæ, 120
Centaur, 37, 68, 154, 190
Cephallenia (Cephalonia), 7, 73
Cephisus, 175
Cerameicus, 169 _f._, 209
Chæronea, 29, 168
Charon, 169
Chatzidakis (G.), 227
Choregus, 195 _ff._
Chrysostom (Dio), 38
Chthonian, 39, 177
Cicero, 38, 60, 172, 180
Cimon, 127, 145, 173
Cirphis, 20
Cirrha, 27
Cladeus, 35
Cleisthenes, 96, 172, 184 _f._
Cleomenes, 25, 64, 89, 98
Clergy (Greek), 75, 214
Climate, 3, 124
Clytemnestra, 55
Codrus, 129
Colchis, 113
Colonies (Greek), 4, 24 _f._, 47, 49
Colonus, 174 _f._
Comedy. _Vide_ Drama
Conon, 172
Constantinople, 38, 158, 220, 225
Cora, 177
Coreia, 182
Corfu (Corcyra), 7 _ff._, 114
Corinth, 9, 88, 104, 111 _seq._, 140, 142, 190
Cornaro, 225
Cornelius Nepos, 116
Cotys, 187
Cowardice (contempt for), 80 _ff._
Cratinus, 194
Creon, 112
Crete, 30, 103, 126, 132
Creüsa, 162
Crisa, 19
Crœsus, 22, 96
Cronius, 34
Crusaders, 86
Cumæ (Hypereia), 10
Cyclopean, 102, 119, 125
Cyclopes, 85
Cyllene, 19
Cylon, 131
Cypselus, 113
Cyrene, 87
Cyrus, 22, 84
Danaids, 95
Danaus, 95
Daphni, 176
Darius, 134 _ff._, 142
Delian League, 152, 207
Delos, 30, 127
Delphi, 18 _seq._
Delphian Oracle, 20 _seq._, 56 _f._, 78 _f._, 98, 127-130, 138, 140, 144
Delyannis, 62
Demaratus, 25, 86
Demeter, 52, 144, 175 _ff._
Demetrius of Phalerum, 117
Demetrius Poliorcetes, 121, 206 _f._
Democracy, 183 _seq._, 206 _ff._
Demosthenes, 74, 158, 195, 201 _ff._, 224
Despoina, 52
Deucalion, 211
Diogenes, 118
Dion, 182
Dionysia, 191, 193
Dionysius, 21, 46, 115, 117, 187 _f._
Dionysus (Bacchus), 189 _f._, 194, _f._
Dioscuri, 90
Dipylon, 168 _f._, 175
Dodona, 26
Dorian or Doric, 31, 40 _f._, 55, 68, 71, 74, 87, 90, 99, 129, 142, 144, 193
Draco, 130
Drama, 46 _f._, 92, 188 _seq._, 217
Dress, 70, 103, 149
Ecclesia, 78, 184
Education, 197, 218
Egypt, 94, 102 _f._, 107, 128, 196
Egyptian, 99, 181
Eleusis, 167 _seq._
Elgin, Lord, 154, 161, 176
Elis, 40, 41
Emigration, 216
Empire (Athenian), 88, 207
Enneapylon, 125
Epaminondas, 58 _f._, 62, 73 _f._, 88
Epeia, 40
Ephors, 78, 82
Ephyra, 123
Epidamnus, 9
Epidaurus, 96, 108, 142
Epimenides, 132
Epizephyrian, 130
Erechtheum, 145, 160 _seq._
Erechtheus, 128, 145, 162
Erichthonius, 156
Erinyes, 166
Erymanthus, 19, 67
Eumæus, 14
Eumenes, 190
Eumenides, 131, 166
Euripides, 54, 172, 193, 196 _f._
Eurotas, 89 _f._, 92
Evzoni, 70
Flamininus, 123
Furies, 165
Fürtwangler, Prof., 145
Gæa or Gē, 21
Galen, 181
Geography, 3, 124
Gerousia, 78
Gladstone, 8, 215
Glauké, 112 _f._
Gorgon, 156, 159
Greece (characteristics of), 3 _ff._
Gymnopædia, 81
Hades, 95, 112, 169
Hadrian, 188, 211 _f._, 215
Harmodius, 134 _f._
Harpalus, 171, 196
Helen, 69, 90
Helisson, 63
Hellen, 129, 162
Hellenic, 20, 36, 47, 84, 86, 129, 152, 157, 162, 179
Hellespont, 61, 141
Helots, 87 _f._
Hephæstion, 171
Hephæstus, 105, 128
Hera, 35, 41, 99 _f._, 107
Heracleids, 40, 55, 77, 89
Heracles, 34, 37, 40, 55, 71, 79, 105, 123
Heræum, 99 _f._
Hermes, 37, 105
Herodes-Atticus, 190, 216
Herodotus, 24, 46, 56, 95 _f._, 113 _f._, 144, 163, 217
Hesiod, 21, 40, 54, 60, 162
Hesperides, 54
Hipparchus, 173
Hippias, 135
Hissarlik, 103
Homer, 4, 10 _seq._, 40, 43, 54, 62, 77 _f._, 95 _f._, 103, 105 _f._, 123, 128, 148, 224, 227
Homeridæ of Chios, 16
Homicide, 24
Honour (love of), 143
Human sacrifice, 23, 75
Hyacinthia, 91
Hyllus, 55
Hymettus, 148
Hyperbolus, 185
Ictinus, 68, 153
_Iliad_, 12 _seq._, 101, 108, 126
Ilissus, 150
Ilium, 16
Io, 99
Ion, 129
Ionian Islands, 7 _seq._, 122
Ionian and Ionic, 58, 129, 134, 136, 176, 197
Iphicrates, 91
Iphitus, 41
Isocrates, 47
Isthmian games, 39, 122
Itea, 19
Ithaca, 7
Ithome (Mt.), 68, 73, 75
Jason of Pheræ, 28
Jesus Christ, 166, 180
Julian the Apostate, 26
Julius Cæsar, 118, 121, 210
Jupiter (_vide_ Zeus), 29, 38, 221
Justinian, 157
Kalamata, 76
Karytæna, 66
Knossus, 126
Kolokotronis, 66
Laconia, 72, 80, 86, 93
Laius, 32
Langada, 92
Language question, 217 _seq._
Lapiths, 37, 68, 154
Larissa, 94, 99
Latona, 62
Laurium, 208
Lawyers (modern Gr.), 214
Leæna, 134
Lechæum, 120
Lenæan festival, 47
Lenormant statue, 157
Leonidas, 75, 80, 90
Lepreum, 48
Leucas, 11
Leuctra, 59, 61, 81
Liberation (of Greece), 18, 66, 77, 212
Locrians, 28, 130
Lucian, 160
Lycabettus, 125
Lycæus, 52, 67
Lycaon, 52
Lyceum, 212
Lycia, 112
Lycosura, 52
Lycurgus, 21, 41, 71, 79, 84
Lycurgus (of Athens), 172, 188
Lysander, 25, 83 _f._
Lysias, 47
Lysicrates, 195
Macedonia, 64, 97, 118, 201, 205, 223
Mænalus (range), 63
Magna Græcia, 4, 187, 197
Mahaffy (Prof.), 75
Malea (Cape), 96
Mantinea, 58, 62, 85
Marathon, 31, 127, 136 _ff._, 164
Mardonius, 56, 141 _f._
Marsyas, 62
Matapan (Cape), 89, 122
Medea, 113
Medes, 136
Medical profession, 108 _f._, 214
Mediterranean, 16
Medusa, 95
Megacles, 131
Megalopolis, 59, 63 _ff._, 69
Megara, 129, 131 _f._, 171, 178
Melanippus, 96
Menander, 172, 194
Menelaus, 76, 90
Menestheus, 126
Messene, 64, 73 _ff._
Messenia, 71 _ff._, 92
Metaneira, 177
Miletus, 114, 130
Miltiades, 127, 136 _ff._
Minos, 103, 126
Minotaur, 126
Mistra, 91 _f._
Morea, 92
Morosini, 158
Mummius, 118
Music, 31, 46, 74, 85 _f._
Mycale, 142
Mycenæ, 16, 35, 94, 97, 101 _ff._, 105, 123, 128
Mysteries, 175, 177 _seq._
Mythology, 1 _ff._
Naupactus, 40, 53, 73
Nauplia, 103, 107
Nausicaa, 11
Navarino, 77
Navel-stone, 29
Nemea, 39, 123
Nero, 31, 50, 121, 189
Nestor, 76
New Testament, 120, 220 _seq._
Nicetas, 159
Nicias, 161, 185
Niké, 37, 126, 164
Niobe, 40
Oaths, 48, 130 _f._
Odysseus, 9 _f._, 14, 106
_Odyssey_, 12 _seq._, 126
Œdipus, 32, 61, 96
Olympia, 18, 34 _seq._, 98, 217
Olympiad, 39
Olympian Games, 34 _seq._, 177
Olympieum, 211, 221, _cf._ 150
Olympus (Mt.), 15, 39, 117, 177
Omens, 28, 98 _f._, 116
Omphalos, 29
Ophis (river), 59, 62
Oracle. _Vide_ Delphian
Oratory, 197 _seq._
Orestes, 57, 61, 166
Otho, 107
Oxylus, 40
Pæonius, 37
Palace (Homeric), 105
Palæocastrizza, 10
Palamidi, 108
Pallis (Alexander), 220 _seq._
Pan, 190
Pan-Athenaic (games), 150, 154, 173, 206
Pancratium, 42
Pandora, 157
Pandroseum, 162 _f._
Parnassus, 19 _seq._
Parthenon, 151 _seq._, 206
Patras, 18
Paul (St.), 120, 180
Pausanias, 53, _passim_
Pegasus, 112
Peirene, 112, 119
Peisistratus, 76, 133 _ff._, 149 _ff._, 173, 191, 211
Pelasgian, 54, 103, 125
Pelasgicon, 125
Pelasgus, 52
Pelopides, 60
Pelopium, 38
Peloponnesian war, 9, 58, 69, 77, 87, 99, 143
Peloponnesus (Heracleid invasion of), 40, 55
Pelops, 36, 38, 102, 105
Penelope, 11, 69
Pentathlon, 41
Pentelicus, 126, 216
Periander, 114, 121
Pericles, 25, 140, 143, 152, 157, 160, 166, 168, 172, 185 _f._, 224
Periœci, 86
Persephone, 52, 177, 179
Perseus, 95, 102
Persia, 22, 47, 81, 84, 95, 117
Phæacian Island, 9, 106
Phædriadæ, 20, 32
Phalerum, 170 _f._
Pheidias, 38, 145, 153, 157
Pheidon, 96, 97
Pheræ, 76
Phigalia, 68
Philip (of Macedonia), 27, 49, 60, 74, 88, 117, 167, 196
Philopappus, 210
Philopœmen, 65, 89
Philosophy, 197, 203 _ff._
Phlius, 96
Phocæa, 130
Phocians, 27
Phocion, 171, 200
Phœbe, 120
Phœnicia, 16, 52, 96, 103, 111, 141, 196
Phormio, 172
Phrygian art, 40
Phytalus, 175
Pindar, 41, 45, 60
Piræus, 140, 142 _f._, 145, 172, 201
Pisa (Pisatis), 37, 40 _f._
Platæa, 57, 81, 97, 135, 137, 142, 144, 164
Plato, 174, 187 _f._, 198, 203, 224
Pleistoanax, 25
Pleistus, 20
Pliny, 31, 160
Plutarch, 30, 60, 62, 118, 181
Pluto, 2, 16, 169, 174
Pnyx, 125, 199 _f._
Poetry (ancient), 13
Polis, 11
Politics (modern), 213 _ff._
Polycleitus, 100
Ponticonisi, 10
Poseidon, 10, 73, 105, 122, 145, 162, 202
Pottery, 103 _f._, 169 _f._
Praxiteles, 37, 62
Priscilla, 120
Prometheus, 173
Pronunciation (Greek), 226 _f._
Propylæa, 158, 160, 163, 165 _f._
Proserpine, 52, 177
Protagoras, 198
Psichari, 225
Psyttaleia, 140
Pylos, 76 _f._
Pythian (air), 41
Pythian games, 19, 27, 39
Pythian oracle. _Vide_ Delphi
Pytho, 30
Queen (of Greece), 221, 223
Ramsay (Prof. W. M.), 190 _f._
Reformers (political), 130, 132, 183 _seq._
Rhegium, 73
Roman (period), 55, 118, 121 _ff._, 208 _seq._
Sacred Wars, 27 _ff._
Sacred Ways, 29, 179
St. Elias, 66
St. George, 128
Salamis, 132, 140, 164, 176
Salomos, 225
Samos, 120
Sanctuary (desecration of), 49, 99, 131 _f._, 144
Santa Mauro, 7
Sappho’s Leap, 7
Satyr, 190
Scheria, 9
Schliemann, 16, 101 _f._
Scopas, 55
Sellasia, 89
Sibyl, 30
Sicily, 73, 115 _f._, 197
Sicyon, 96
Silenus, 189
Sisyphus, 112
Slaves, 24, 72, 73, 87 _f._
Socrates, 21, 61, 127, 172, 194, 198, 203, 210, 227
Solon, 21, 132 _f._, 172, 183 _f._, 196
Sophists, 193, 197 _f._, 202
Sophocles, 175, 191, 193, 196, 217
Sparta, 25, 56 _f._, 61, 71 _seq._, 97 _f._, 107, 114, 117, 135, 142 _ff._, 186 _f._, 200
Sphacteria, 77, 86, 200
Stadium of Athens, 216 _f._
Stenyclerus, 74
Strabo, 77
Sulla, 31, 167
Sunium, 137, 158
Sydney (Sir Philip), 51
Synœcia, 125
Syracuse, 9, 46 _f._, 115 _f._, 188
Tantalus, 40
Tarentum, 87
Taygetus, 74, 77, 89, 91
Tegea, 54 _seq._, 62
Telemachus, 76
Terpander, 85
Thebes, 29, 54, 61, 64, 88, 95 _f._, 103
Themis, 21
Themistocles, 139 _seq._, 208
Theodosius, 26, 50
Theoric Fund, 185 _f._, 208
Thera, 89
Therapne, 90
Thermopylæ, 27, 57, 80, 97
Thersilium, 65
Theseum, 127 _f._
Theseus, 125 _seq._, 212
Thespis, 197
Thetes, 183
Thrasybulus, 114, 172
Thriasian (plain), 176, 178
Thothmes III., 99
Thucydides, 15, 46, 88 _f._, 99, 105, 168
Thyestes, 105
Thyrea, 142
Timoleon, 115 _f._
Tiryns, 94, 97, 100, 105 _ff._, 128
Titthion (Mt.), 108
Torch races, 173 _f._
Tower of the Winds, 209
Tragedy. _Vide_ Drama
Trapezus, 63
Treasuries, 49, 155
Treasury of the Athenians, 31
Tripoliza, 62, 66
Triptolemus, 177
Trœzen, 96
Troy, 16, 40, 94, 100 _f._, 105
Turks, 62, 77, 107
Tyranny (hatred of), 115, 133 _f._, 187 _f._
Tyrtæus, 72, 85
University (of Athens), 215, 220 _f._
Valaoritis, 225
Varvakeion, 156
Vases, 169 _f._
Venetians, 107, 158
Vespasian, 121
Ville-hardouin, 92
Vitruvius, 119
Vourkano, 75
Women, 11, 41, 69 _f._, 80 _f._, 149 _f._
Xenophanes, 203
Xenophon, 16, 21, 82
Xerxes, 43, 86, 134, 138 _seq._
Zaleucus, 130
Zanes, 43
Zanté (Zacynthus), 7
Zeno, 172
Zeus, 34, 38 _seq._, 52, 72, 75, 90, 99, 105 _f._, 112, 123, 139, 146 _f._, 150, 163, 177, 196
Zountas, 101
THE END
_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[1] It may interest the reader to have a specimen of these famous odes. The translation is that of Ernest Myers.
FOR ASOPICHOS OF ORCHOMENOS, WINNER IN THE BOYS’ SHORT FOOT-RACE
[This ode was to be sung, probably by a chorus of boys, at the winner’s city, Orchomenos, and most likely in the temple of the three _Charites_ or Graces--Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia--though sometimes the odes were sung at a banquet or at the door of the victor’s house. The date of the victory is 476 B.C.]
O Ye who haunt the land of goodly steeds that drinketh of Kephisos’ waters, lusty Orchomenos’ queens renowned in song; O Graces, guardians of the Minyai’s ancient race, hearken, for unto you I pray. For by your gift come unto men all pleasant things and sweet, and the wisdom of a man and his beauty, and the splendour of his fame. Yea even gods without the Graces’ aid rule never at feast or dance; but these have charge of all things done in heaven, and beside Pythian
Apollo of the golden bow they have set their thrones, and worship the eternal majesty of the Olympian Father.
O Lady Aglaia, and thou Euphrosyne, lover of song, children of the mightiest of the gods, listen and hear, and thou Thalia, delighting in sweet sounds, and look down upon this triumphal company, moving with high light step under happy fate. In Lydian{*} mood of melody, concerning Asopichos am I come hither to sing, for that through thee, Aglaia, in the Olympic games the Minyai’s home is winner.
{* The Lydian “mood” was sung to the accompaniment of the flute, and was tender, sometimes even plaintive. The Dorian mode was stronger, the Æolian more bright and animated, generally accompanied with the lyre or the flute, sometimes both. The metres of the different odes exhibit great variety.}
Fly, Echo, to Persephone’s dark-walled home, and to his father bear the noble tidings, that seeing him thou mayest speak to him of his son, saying that for his father’s honour in Pisa’s famous valley he hath crowned his boyish hair with garlands from the glorious games.
[2] Philip of Macedonia probably owed much of his success to the education he received at Thebes from his fifteenth till his eighteenth year.
[3] A name borne by many other hills in Greece owing to their resemblance to _Helios_, “the sun.”
[4] Frazer’s _Pausanias_, vol. iii. p. 7.
[5] Frazer’s _Pausanias_, vol. ii. p. 350.
[6] To this day speeches are often delivered in the cemetery, especially at the funeral of a person of note. Before being taken to the place of burial, the body, fully dressed, is carried in an open coffin to the church, where a religious service is held, of which an address sometimes forms part.
[7] “The conception of the _Satyr_, a half-human, half-bestial form, belongs originally to Asia Minor, and was developed, first in Ionian, and then in general Greek art. The more strictly Greek conceptions of Thessalian Centaur and Arcadian Pan are fundamentally the same in character. The Satyr-type varies between human mixed with horse and human mixed with goat, while the Centaur is only of the first kind and Pan only of the second. Silenus is a similar idea, of Anatolian origin probably, but developed in art more on the human side. The idea in all these figures is that of rude, free, natural life, untrained, unfettered by conventions and ideas of merely human origin.”--Prof. W. M. Ramsay’s “Religion of Greece” in Hastings’ _D. B._ (extra volume).
[8] A great amount of detailed information regarding the affairs of modern Greece will be found in W. Miller’s _Greek Life in Town and Country_ (Newnes, 1905).
[9] The following is Mr. Pallis’ translation of the Lord’s Prayer (Matt.