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GREAT NATIONS 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE 
 
GREAT NATIONS 
 
 In active prej>aration 
 
 ROME By H. L. HaveU, B.A. 
 
 FRANCE By Professor W. H. Hudson 
 
 GERMANY By T. W. RoUeston 
 
 IRELAND By Eleanor HuU and 
 
 Professor Stanley Lane- Poole 
 
 SCOTLAND By R. L. Mackie, M.A, 
 
 MEDIEVAL ITALY By H. B. 
 
 Cotterill, M.A. 
 
 \ 
 
I White Attic Lekythus 
 2. Red-figured Lekythus 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 A SKETCH OF ITS ART LITERATURE & PHILO 
 SOPHY VIEWED IN CONNEXION WITH ITS 
 EXTERNAL HISTORY FROM EARLIEST TIMES 
 TO THE AGE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT 
 
 BY H. B. COTTERILL M.A. 
 
 Translator of the " Odyssey " Editor of " Selections from the 
 
 Inferno" Goethe's "Iphigenie" Milton's "Areopagitica" Virgil's 
 
 " Aeneid " I and VI etc. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 

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 PRINTED AT 
 
 THE BALLANTYNE PRESS 
 
 LONDON 
 
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PREFACE 
 
 WHEN the attempt is made in a book ot this size to 
 give a continuous account of the external history 
 of Greece, and into this framework to fit a 
 number of sketches descriptive of its art, Hterature, and 
 philosophy, as well as other matters, it is of course necessary 
 to omit many details and to rely on whatever skill one may 
 happen to possess in selection and combination. In regard to 
 antiquities and literature, I have drawn attention chiefly to 
 what is extant and of general interest, and have trusted 
 to description, illustration, and quotation rather than to dis- 
 quisition and criticism. The Sections appended to each chapter 
 treat subjects that are closely connected with the period 
 covered by the chapter. Any of these Sections can be omitted 
 without seriously interrupting continuity. Temples, Dress, 
 Coins, and Vases have been relegated to Notes at the end of 
 the volume, seeing that they are not specially connected with 
 any one period. 
 
 The letters B.C. (but not a.d.) have been generally omitted, 
 as unnecessary in a book on Ancient Greece. 
 
 To name in full all the books that one has to use in such work 
 is unnecessary, but, since space did not always allow of exact 
 reference on occasions when I annexed a fact or a sentiment, 
 it is right that I should here acknowledge my obligations to 
 the following modern writers : Baikie, Berard, Bergk, Ber- 
 noulli, Buchholz, Burrows, Bury, Busolt, Butcher, Archer 
 Butler, Chamberlain (Grundlagen) , Christ, Dawkins, Deussen, 
 Diehl, Donaldson, Dorpfeld, Dussaud, Sir A. J. Evans, Frazer 
 (Pausanias), Furtwangler, E. Gardner, P. Gardner, Gomperz, 
 Grote, Hall, Miss Harrison, Head, Hill, Hogarth, Holm, 
 
 V 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Hommel {Chronology), A. I/ang, W. I^eaf, I/)wy, Mahaffy, 
 Meltzer, Mover, Mosso, A. S. Murray, G. Murray, F. A. 
 Paley, Petrie, Sir H. Rawlinson, Canon Rawlinson, Ridge- 
 way, Ritter and Preller, Schlegel, Schliemann, Schuchliardt, 
 A. H. Smith, G. Smith, W. Smith, Tsountas, H. B. Walters, 
 Wilamowitz, Wood (Ephesus), Zeller, Zimmermann. 
 
 Also, in regard to the illustrations, my thanks are due to 
 Mr. Hasluck, of the British School in Athens, and (especially 
 in regard to vases) to Professor H. Thiersch, of Freiburg, as 
 well as to many others whose names are mentioned in the I^ist. 
 Some of the illustrations supplied by F. Bruckmann and Co. 
 are from their fine series of Greek and Roman Portraits ; others 
 are from Bernoulli's Griechische Ikonographie. The autotypes 
 of coins in Plates I- VI are reproductions which I was permitted 
 by the courtesy of the Director of the British Museum to make 
 from Mr. Head's official Guide to the Coins of the Ancients. 
 
 In quoting Herodotus I have, with the permission of Mr. 
 John Murray, frequently made use of Canon Rawlinson's 
 version, and in translating Thucydides I sometimes accepted 
 the guidance of Dale. For the compilation of the index I am 
 indebted to Mr. C. C. Wood. 
 
 H. B. C, 
 
 Freiburg im Breisgau, 
 March 191 3 
 
 VI 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 iAPTl R PAGE 
 
 I. The Aegaean Civii^ization : The Achaean 
 
 Supremacy i 
 
 Sections : A. Language and Writing. B. The Old 
 Religion. C. The ' Homeric Age ' and Homer. D. Chrono- 
 logy of Aegaean and other Contemporary Civilizations. 
 
 II. The Dark Age ' 74 
 
 Sections ; A. ' Dipylon ' Antiquities. B. Hesiod 
 C. The Phoenicians and some other^Nations during the 
 Dark Age. 
 
 III. From the First OIvYmpiad to Peisistratus 113 
 
 Sections : A. Egypt and Cyrene. B. I,ydia : Ivist of 
 Eastern Kings. C. The Games. D. The Poets. 
 
 IV. The Age of Peisistratus and the Rise of 
 
 Persia 172 
 
 Sections : A. Poets and Philosophers. B. Early Greek 
 Sculpture and Architecture. 
 
 V. The Persian Invasions 234 
 
 I 
 
 Sections : A. The Greeks and Carthaginians in Sicily. 
 B. Pindar. 
 
 VI. The Rise of the Athenian Empire 283 
 
 Sections: A. Architecture and Sculpture. B. Aeschylus: 
 Herodotus : Philosophers of the Period. 
 
 V 
 
 VII. The PE1.OPONNESIAN War 326 W 
 
 Sections : A. Thucydides. B. Sophocles : Euripides : 
 Aristophanes. C. Democritus : The Sophists : Socrates. 
 D. Sculpture. 
 
 vii 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 VIII. The Spartan and the Theban Supremacy 387 
 
 Sections : A. Xenophon. B. Sicily and the Cartha- 
 ginians. C. Plato. D. Sculpture, Architecture, and 
 Painting till the Accession of Alexander. 
 
 IX. The Rise of Macedonia : Phiup and Alexander 422 
 
 Sections : A, Isocrates : Aeschines : Demosthenes : 
 I^ater Philosophers. B. Lysippus : Hellenistic Sculpture. 
 
 Note A. Greek Tempi^es 449 
 
 Note B. Dress 458 
 
 Note C. Coins 462 
 
 Note D. Pottery and Vase-Painting 471 
 
 I^isT OF Important Dates 477 
 
 Dates of Foundation of the Kari,y Greek Coi^onies 479 
 
 IvisT OF THE Persian Kings 480 
 
 lyisT OF THE Chief Greek Writers, Phii^osophers. 
 
 and scui^ptors 48 1 
 
 Index 483 
 
 viu 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 In the following list the names of those to whom the author is indebted for 
 permission to use copyright photographs, &c., are given in italic below the 
 title of the subject. 
 
 MAPS 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Greece and the Aegaean Sea i 
 
 Sicily and Magna Graecia 119 
 
 Athens and the Peiraeus 299 
 
 The Route of the Ten Thousand 390 
 
 COLOURED PLATES 
 
 PLATE 
 
 I. Two lyEKYTHi Frontispiece 
 
 Photo Mansell & Co. The larger, a white Attic lekythus 
 (funeral oil-vase) with polychrome painting of early, 
 severe style {c. 460). The smaller, a red-figured lekythus 
 of the earHer and still somewhat restrained ' beautiful 
 style,' which afterwards became fanciful and fantastic ; 
 date c. 450. In British Museum. 
 
 II. lyATE-MYCENAEAN VASES (c. I200) 8 
 
 Photo Mansell &• Co. One has the polypus decoration ; 
 the other is an example of the characteristic Mycenaean 
 false-necked amphora (' Biigel-kanne '). In the latter 
 vessel the neck, to which the handles are attached, has 
 no aperture. The spout is set in the shoulder of the vessel, 
 and in the picture it stands in front of the ' false neck ' 
 and hides it. In British Museum. 
 
 III. An Attic Hydria of the Middi^e Bi,ack-figured 
 
 Period (c. 550) 218 
 
 Photo Mansell & Co. Found at Vulci. Maidens fetching 
 water from a fountain. Similar vases are inscribed with 
 the names of the fountains Kallikrene or KaUirrhoe. This 
 vase has the names of some of the maidens with the 
 adjective /caX?) (' beautiful ') appended, as frequently 
 occurs in vase-paintings. On the lower part of the vase 
 is depicted Heracles strangling the Nemean lion. In 
 British Museum. 
 
 iz 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PLATE PACK 
 
 IV. A lyATK B1.ACK-FIGURED HyDRIA (c. 510) FROM 
 
 Vui,ci 250 
 
 Photo Mans ell 6- Co. Harnessing chariot-horses. The 
 driver in long white robe (c/. Fig. 74). Below, a boar- 
 hunt. In British Museum. 
 
 V. An APUI.IAN FuNERAi, Amphora with Voi^ute 
 
 Handi.es 470 
 
 Photo Mansell 6- Co. Date c. 300. Scenes from the ' Sack 
 of Troy ' {Iliou Persis) . Above, the death of Priam and 
 of Hecuba; below, Ajax and Cassandra. In British 
 Museum. 
 
 COINS 
 
 462 
 
 463 
 464 
 
 465 
 466 
 467 
 VII. Portrait Coins 468 
 
 Plates I- VI consist of reproductions from the British Museum ' Guide to the Coins 
 of the Ancients.' Plate VII is from photographs by F. Bruckmann. 
 
 GENERAL ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FIG. 
 
 1. Wai.1, of the Sixth City of Troy 6 
 
 From the Rev. James Baikie's ' Sea Kings of Crete ' {Messrs. 
 A. &^ C. Black). Since this photo was taken the site 
 has been further excavated. See, for instance. Dr. 
 W. Leaf's new book on Troy. There can be very 
 little doubt that these are the actual walls from a tower 
 of which Andromache (if Homer's story is true) saw 
 Hector being dragged round the city behind the chariot 
 of Achilles (//. xxii. 460 sq.). 
 
 2. The lyiON Gate, Mycenae io 
 
 Photo English Photographic Co. 
 
 3. Amenhotep III 10 
 
 Photo Mansell &> Co. British Museum. 
 X 
 
 I. Coins 
 
 OF C. 700-500 
 
 11. 
 
 c. 600-500 
 
 III. 
 
 c. 480-400 
 
 IV. 
 
 c. 480-430 
 
 V. 
 
 c. 400-350 
 
 VI. 
 
 c. 380-300 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FIG. PAGE 
 
 4. Men worshipping a Snake 10 
 
 From Miss J. E. Harrison's ' Prolegomena ' [Cambridge 
 University Press). 
 
 5. Siege Scene 12 
 
 Photo Mansell & Co. On fragment of silver vase. From the 
 copy in the British Museum. 
 
 6. Cretan Statue 12 
 
 Photo Maraghiannis. From Eleutherma. 
 
 7. From a Mycenaean G01.D Ring : Women and 
 
 Sacred Tree 14 
 
 From Dussaud's ' Civilisations prihelUniques ' {Geuthner, 
 Paris). Found south of Mycenaean acropolis. Sun and 
 moon and Milky Way (or ocean stream ?) ; sky-deity with 
 figure-of-eight shield and lance ; double axe ; child 
 picking the date-like (or grape-like ?) fruit of the sacred 
 tree ; row of animals' heads (?). 
 
 8. The ' Warrior Vase ' 14 
 
 Photo English Photographic Co. The painted fragment was 
 found outside acropolis at Mycenae. Note corslet, short 
 fringed chiton, leggings and footgear, metal (?) rings 
 at knee and wrist, gourd or bag for water or food (?) 
 hanging on spear, and the woman saying farewell. 
 
 9. G01.DEN Mask 14 
 
 Photo Rhomaides. The mask covered the face of one of 
 the Mycenaean princes buried on the acropolis. 
 
 10 y II. Mycenaean Daggers 15, 16 
 
 From Professor Bury 's ' History of Greece ' {Macmillan & 
 Co. Ltd.). 
 
 12. Goi^DEN Discs and Shrine 16 
 
 Photo Rhomaides. From the third tomb on the Mycenae 
 acropolis. Of thin gold. Rather less than natural size. 
 The discs probably dress ornaments. 
 
 13. GoivDEN Cups from Vaphio 16 
 
 Photo Rhomaides. 
 
 14. AcROPOus, Mycenae 18 
 
 Photo Simiriottis, Athens. 
 
 15. Excavations of Pai^ace, Cnossus 18 
 
 Photo Maraghiannis. 
 
 xi 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FIC. PAGE 
 
 i6. The Cup-bkarbr, Cnossus 20 
 
 Copyright. By permission of Mr. John Murray. 
 
 17. Acrobats and Bi^ands 21 
 
 Front Dussaud's ' Civilisations prShelUniques ' {Geuthner, 
 Paris). Cretan gems. Instead of the usual bull we find 
 here large antelopes like African elands. 
 
 18. ' Throne of Minos ' 22 
 
 Photo Maraghiannis. In the ' Council Chamber ' of the 
 Cnossus Palace. Fresco of " griffin with peacock-plumes 
 in a flowery landscape." 
 
 19. MiNOAN Game-board 22 
 
 Photo Maraghiannis. Found in Cnossus Palace. 
 
 20. Cretan Jars for Oii. or Corn 38 
 
 Photo Maraghiannis. Found in store-houses of Cnossus 
 Palace. Five feet high. 
 
 21. CivAY Disc of Phaestus 38 
 
 Photo Maraghiannis. 
 
 22. Tabi^ets with Cretan I^inear Script 39 
 
 From Dussaud's ' Civilisations prehelUniques ' {Geuthner, 
 Paris). Early linear writing {c. 1600 ?). 
 
 23. Inscription on Tataia's Fi.ask 42 
 
 Copied by the author from Mr. H. B. Walters' book on 
 Vases. 
 
 24. ' Harvester Vase ' 48 
 
 Photo Maraghiannis. A small vessel of black soapstone, 
 probably once covered with gold-leaf. Early Minoan 
 work. Foimd at Hagia Triada, Crete. 
 
 25. Cretan Sarcophagus 48 
 
 Photo Maraghiannis. Later Minoan. Plastered limestone, 
 painted. Funeral ceremony. Double axes. Musicians, 
 one with seven-stringed lute. 
 
 26. Griffins and PiU/Ar 50 
 
 From Dussaud's ' Civilisations prihelUniques ' {Geuthner, 
 Paris). Cretan gem. 
 
 27. Earth-Goddess and I^ions 50 
 
 From Dussaud's ' Civilisations prihelUniques ' {Geuthner, 
 Paris). Imprint of seal found in Cnossus Palace. The 
 Earth-Mother on mountain (Ida ?) with lions ; shrine 
 and worshipper (or her son, Zeus Cretagenes ?). 
 
 xii 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 28. RiTUAi. Danck and Uprooting of Sacred Tree 51 
 
 From Dussaud's ' Civilisations pr&helUniques ' {Geuthner, 
 Paris). Gold ring. The uprooting of the sacred tree was 
 perhaps a funeral ceremony. 
 
 29. Genii watering Sacred Tree 51 
 
 From Dussaud's ' Civilisations prShelUniques ' {Geuthner, 
 Paris). Gem found at Vaphio. 
 
 30. The ' lyADY OF Wii,D Creatures ' 52 
 
 From Miss J. E. Harrison's ' Prolegomena' {Cambridge Uni- 
 versity Press). Painting on a Boeotian amphora at 
 Athens. 
 
 31. Cretan Seai,s 53 
 
 From Dussaud's ' Civilisations prShellSniques ' {Geuthner, 
 Paris). Perhaps represent transformations in masked 
 ritual dance, or perhaps worn as charms against evil 
 spirits. 
 
 32. The Return of the Barth-Maiden 56 
 
 From Miss J. E. Harrison's ' Prolegomena ' {Cambridge Uni- 
 versity Press). Vase at Oxford. I^ike the Anodos of Kore, 
 but here the maiden is Pandora (generally the Greek 
 Eve, but here probably the ' All-giver,' Earth-goddess). 
 Zeus, Hermes, and Epimetheus welcome her return. 
 Compare the northern myth of Holda, the goddess of 
 spring. 
 
 33. MiNOAN, Mycenaean, and Trojan Ware 58 
 
 Photo Maraghiannis. 
 
 Top left jug and two small cups are of the exceedingly fine 
 
 Kamares ware ; found in Kamares cave. Mount Ida, 
 
 Crete. Date c. 2000. 
 Two other jugs on left, one with sunflower and papyrus (?), 
 
 the other with octopus, are later Minoan, c. 1500- 
 
 1400. The former is in what is called ' Cnossus Palace 
 
 style.' 
 Top right-hand jug, probably from an island tomb ; date 
 
 c. 2500. Black with incised lines filled with white 
 
 substance. 
 Two-necked jug of ' Hissarlik ' (Trojan) type. Date c. 1800, 
 I^owest to right : Mycenaean ware, but found in Cyprus. 
 
 Date c. 1300. 
 
 34. D1PY1.0N Vase 98 
 
 Photo Mansell &> Co. Two sides of same vase. Date 
 about 850 or earlier. British Museum. 
 
 xiii 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 35. DIPYI.ON, PHAI.ERON, SamIAN, AND CORINTHIAN 
 
 Ware, c. 800-600 100 
 
 Photo Mansell & Co. 
 
 Upper row, three Dipylon vessels ; ancient animal decoration 
 (bird, two horses at manger) combined with the revived 
 geometric and maeander style. See Note D. Date 
 c. 800. 
 
 Lowest to left : ' Phaleron ware.' About fifty of such one- 
 handled jugs discovered. Named after first, found on 
 the road to Phaleron. Very different from preceding, 
 and far more artistic. Oriental influence ? Date c. 700. 
 
 Samian two-handled jug, found in the cemetery Fikellura, 
 Rhodes. Date c. 600. 
 
 Old Corinthian ; easily recognized by rather heavy but finely 
 balanced shape, colours (rich browns and yellows) and 
 style of animals, with spaces filled with flowers, &c. 
 Corinth was anciently a great emporium, especially for 
 trade with the far West. Date, about Periander's age, 
 c. 600. 
 
 36. Foundations op Apoi,i.o's Tkmpi^e, West Dei^phi 104 
 
 Photo Simiriottis, Athens. See under Fig. 49 in this list. 
 
 37. Archaic Statue io6 
 
 From Gardner's ' Handbook of Greek Sculpture ' {Macmillan 
 & Co. Ltd.). One of the so-called ' Tanten ' (' Aunts') 
 excavated on the Athenian Acropolis. 
 
 38. ASSARHADDON WITH CaPTIVE EGYPTIAN AND 
 
 AETHIOPIAN 112 
 
 Photo Graphische Gesellschaft. 
 
 39. The ' Francois Vase ' ii6 
 
 Photo Alinari. In the Etruscan Museimi, Florence. Perhaps 
 the oldest inscribed Greek vase. Found by M. Fran9ois 
 at Chiusi (Clusium, the city of Lars Porsena, where 
 great numbers of tombs, &c., have been discovered). 
 It was in about fifty fragments, but was nearly complete. 
 In 1900, however, an insane employ & of the museum 
 overthrew it, and while it lay shattered on the floor 
 numerous shards were stolen, so that many important 
 portions (as seen in the picture) are wanting. For 
 questions of ancient Greek dress, weapons, chariots, 
 vases, &c., it is invaluable. See Index and Note B. 
 Many of the figures in the numerous scenes are named, 
 and we learn the names of the painter and maker by 
 the words KXir/as /z* eypayjfcv 'Epyori/xos- /x' iirolrjaev. Date 
 perhaps about 650. Greek work imported into 
 Etruria. 
 
 40. lyACiNiAN Cape and Column 120 
 
 From ' Aus dem klass. Siiden,' by permission of Herr Ch. 
 Coleman, Liibeck. 
 
 xiy 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FIG. PACm 
 
 41. Poseidon's TempIvE, Paestum 120 
 
 Photo Brogi. To left a part of the ' Basilica.' Note the 
 greater bulge {entasis) of the columns. See Note A. 
 
 42. Apoi.i.o's Tempi^e, Corinth 130 
 
 Photo Simirioitis, Athens. See Note A. 
 
 43. Site of Corinth and the Acrocorinthus 130 
 
 Photo Simiriottis, Athens. Looking south. The rock of the 
 ancient citadel Acrocorinth is some igoo feet high. A 
 village existed on the old site till 1858, when it was 
 destroyed by an earthquake, and New Corinth was then 
 founded on the sea-shore. 
 
 44. C01.0SS1 OF Abu Simbeiv 148 
 
 Photo Frith. They all represent Ramses II {c. 1300, the 
 Pharaoh of Moses' youth). The Greek inscription is on 
 the legs of the headless colossus. It is signed by ' Archon 
 and Pelekos/ who had " travelled with King Psamtik 
 to Elephantine, and as far as the river permits." Date 
 594- 
 
 45. Cimmerians 148 
 
 Photo Mansell S'Co. A terra-cotta sarcophagus found at Clazo- 
 menae, now in the British Museum. The head-dress, 
 weapons, and war-dogs make it likely that these are 
 the mysterious Cimmerians. Others take it for a 
 chariot-race or a ' Doloneia.' 
 
 46. Site of Oi^ympia and Vai,e of the Ai^pheios 152 
 
 Photo Simiriottis, Athens. 
 
 47. Heraion, Oi^ympia 152 
 
 Photo Simiriottis, Athens. 
 
 48. Vai,e of Tempe and Mouth of River Peneios 156 
 
 Photo Simiriottis, Athens. 
 
 49. Site of Dei^phi 156 
 
 Before the old village of Zastri had been cleared away. Photo 
 by Dr. Walter Leaf, Hellenic Society. In background 
 lower precipices of Parnassus and ravine, from the left 
 side of which springs the Castalian Fount. The great 
 Temple lies further west. 
 
 50. ' Artemis of Dei,os ' 172 
 
 From Gardner's ' Handbook of Greek Sculpture ' {Macmillan 
 &> Co. Ltd.). Primitive image with hair (as in Cretan 
 statue, Fig. 6) in Egyptian style. Dedicated by 
 Nicandra of Naxos to the Dehan Artemis. Found in ■ 
 Delos. 
 
 XV 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 riG. PAGE 
 
 51. STEI.E OF ArISTION 172 
 
 Photo Alinari. Athens National Museum. 
 
 52. The Croesus Coi^umn 182 
 
 From Gardner's ' Handbook of Greek Sculpture ' {Macmillan 
 &> Co. Ltd.). The inscription is on the moulding 
 beneath the figure. It is unfortunately almost invisible. 
 
 53. Tomb of Cyrus 192 
 
 From Dr. Sarre's ' Iranische Felsreliefs ' {Ernst Wasmuth, 
 A. -G., Berlin). See p. 193. 
 
 54. The OIvYmpieion, Athens 192 
 
 Photo Simiriottis, Athens. See p. 456. 
 
 55. Bl,ACK-FIGURED VASES, C. 70O-50O 204 
 
 Photo Mans ell S' Co. 
 
 Greek vase found at Vulci, Etruria. Achilles slaying Penthe- 
 silea. Date c. 550. 
 
 Panathenaic prize vase. Victor being crowned. Date 
 perhaps only c. 420, but in these prize vases the old 
 black-figured style of the sixth century was kept. 
 
 In middle : Attic amphora. Birth of Athene (springing from 
 the head of Zeus). 
 
 Left lower : Ancient Corinthian crater (mixing bowl). 
 Return of Hephaestus to Olympus, mounted on mule and 
 accompanied by Dionysus and satyrs. A not infrequent 
 comic subject. 
 
 From Daphnae, Egypt. Such water-jars (about thirty) 
 only found at Daphnae (and perhaps Clazomenae). 
 Decoration all of same type : above. Sphinxes ; below, 
 geese ; in middle, procession of women. Black-figured 
 style with white women's faces. Date c. 560 (age of 
 Solon, Croesus, and Amasis). 
 
 56. Ancient Bi,ack-figured Amphora 210 
 
 Photo Mansell cS* Co. From Vulci, in Etruria, but Attic 
 work. Athene, Zeus, and Hermes. Archaic style. 
 Date c. 560. 
 
 57. TEMPI.E NEAR SEGESTA 214 
 
 Photo Brogi. See Note A. 
 
 58. Statue from the Branchidae Tempi^e 222 
 
 From Gardner's ' Handbook of Greek Sculpture ' [Macmillan 
 &> Co. Ltd.) . Inscribed with name of Chares of Teichiussa. 
 British Museum. 
 
 59. The ' Harpy Tomb ' 222 
 
 Photo Mansell 6- Co. British Museum. 
 
 xvi 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 riG. PAOB 
 
 60. EuROPA ON Tim BuLi, 226 
 
 From Gardner's ' Handbook of Greek Sculpture * {Macmillan 
 6* Co. Ltd.). Metope from temple at Selinus. At 
 Palermo. Somewhat later than the Selinus reliefs of 
 Perseus and the Gorgon, and the extraordinary fore- 
 shortened chariot, models of which are in the British 
 Museum. 
 
 61. The Tyrannicides 230 
 
 Photo Alinari, Naples. 
 
 62. Tkmpi<e of Aphaia, Aegina 232 
 
 Photo Simiriottis, Athens. See Note A. 
 
 63. Aegina Pediment 232 
 
 Photo F. Bruckmann. Central group. Restored by Thor- 
 waldsen. 
 
 64. The ' Darius Vase ' 236 
 
 Photo F. Bruckmann. At Naples. An Apulian vase of about 
 300. Darius is seated in his throne, and before him 
 stands a counsellor who is supposed to be warning him 
 against invading Greece. 
 
 65. Pythagoras 242 
 
 Photo Alinari. Vatican. Almost incredible as genuine 
 portrait. No sign of great character or intellect. 
 
 66. Aeschyi^us 242 
 
 Photo Alinari. Capitol. Old type in simple grand style. 
 Possible portrait. Date c. 420. 
 
 67. MiLTIADES 242 
 
 Doubtful. He was painted, by Micon or Polygnotus, in 
 pictures of Marathon, and his statue was the centre of a 
 group by Pheidias at Delphi. Old drawings exist of 
 ancient busts, now lost. This bust (helm ornamented 
 with lions) is in the lyouvre. Replica, called ' Masinissa,' 
 in Capitol. 
 
 68. Themistoci^es 242 
 
 Photo F. Bruckmann. At Munich. Often called "unknown 
 archaic warrior." Very fine, and dates probably from 
 Persian wars. B ernouUi says it is possibly Themistocles. 
 
 69. Thermopyi^ae 260 
 
 From a photo by Miss A . R. Fry, Failand, Bristol. From the 
 Leonidas mound, looking west, towards MaUan Plain 
 and the Spercheios. In foreground the West Gate and 
 the Hot Springs ; to left KalUdromos and Trachinian 
 cliffs. In distance, spur of Mount Oeta (?) and range 
 of Mount Othrys. 
 
 b xvii 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FIG. PAGE 
 
 70. Tomb of IvEonidas (?) 260 
 
 Photo English Photographic Co. Ruins on a mound near 
 Thermopylae ; just possibly remains of the tomb of 
 I^eonidas, on which a lion was erected. 
 
 71. Bay of Sai^amis 266 
 
 Photo Simiriottis, Athens. From Mount Aegaleos, looking south. 
 Aegina and Epidaurian coast in distance. Salamis to 
 right, Psyttaleia to left. 
 
 72. Wai.i,s of Themistoci.es 266 
 
 Photo Simiriottis. Athens. From near Dipylon. Hymettus in 
 distance. Acropolis and Theseion to right. 
 
 73. Tomb of Darius 274 
 
 The entrance, which is on the face of a perpendicular precipice. 
 See Note, p. 193. 
 
 74. Charioteer found at Dei^phi 274 
 
 Photo Simiriottis, Athens. 
 
 75. OSTRAKA OF ThEMISTOCI^ES AND XANTHIPPUS, 
 
 Father of Pericles 274 
 
 Photo Mansell & Co. The second is a shard of a painted 
 vase " from the pre-Persian dibris on the Athenian 
 Acropolis." Another has been found with the name of 
 Megacles, possibly the Megacles mentioned by Pindar. 
 
 76. TempIvE of ' Concordia/ Acragas 278 
 
 Photo Brogi. See Note A. 
 
 yy. ' HiERo's Hei^met ' 278 
 
 Photo Mansell 6^ Co. 
 
 78. Group of Gods, Parthenon Frieze 284 
 
 From Gardner's 'Handbook oj Greek Sculpture* {Macmillan 
 & Co. Ltd.). 
 
 79. The ' Strangford ' Shiei<d 284 
 
 Photo Mansell cS^ Co. Copy of the shield of the Pheidian 
 Athene Parthenos, in British Museum. The figure 
 that half covers its face with its arm is said to be that of 
 Pericles, and the "bald-headed but vigorous" man on 
 his right side to be Pheidias himself. 
 
 80. Tempi^e on Sunion 288 
 
 Photo by Dr. Walter Leaf, Hellenic Society. 
 
 81. Theseion, or perhaps Tempi^e of Hephaestus 288 
 
 Photo English Photographic Co. 
 
 xviii 
 
LISiT OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FIG. FAO* 
 
 82. Metopes from the Parthenon 292 
 
 Photo Mansell 6* Co. British Museum. 
 
 83. Parthenon, from West 296 
 
 Photo Alinari. 
 
 84. ApoiviyO's Tempi^e, Phigai^eia 296 
 
 Photo Simiriottis, Athens. See Note A. 
 
 85. Portions of Parthenon Frieze 304 
 
 Photo Mansell cS- Co. 
 
 86. The Pediments of the Parthenon 306 
 
 Reconstructed by Karl Schwerzek, Ritter des kaiserl. Franz- 
 Joseph Ordens. The work was specially favoured by the 
 late Empress of Austria and the Imperial family. It is 
 regarded as a very successful attempt, founded on a most 
 careful study of all the remains. My thanks are due to the 
 artist for kind permission to reproduce the pictures of 
 his models given in his Erlduterungen, published by 
 himself in Vienna. 
 
 8y. Probabi^e Copy of the Pheidian Athene I/Emnia 310 
 
 Photo R. Tamme, Dresden; reproduced by permission of the 
 Director of the Alhertinum. A very fine head at Bologna 
 was found by Professor Furtwangler to fit exactly a 
 headless Athene at Dresden, which evidently belonged to 
 the Pheidian school of sculpture. Our picture represents 
 this body furnished with a cast of the Bologna head, and 
 according to Professor Furtwangler, whose authority few 
 would care to question, we have in the complete statue a 
 fine copy of the celebrated lyemnian Athene of Pheidias. 
 Another similar, but much mutilated, statue in the 
 Dresden Museum has been restored on the same lines. 
 The face of the Lemnia is cited by l^ucian in a famous 
 passage {Imag. vi.) as of ideal beauty and nobility, 
 and Himerius says, probably in reference to this statue, 
 that Pheidias sometimes " decked the virgin goddess 
 with a blush instead of a helmet." 
 
 88. Probabi^e Copy of Myron's Athene 310 
 
 Photo supplied and permission for reproduction given by Dr. 
 Swarzenski, Director of the Stddtische Gallerie, Frankfurt- 
 a.-M. The rather repellent Marsyas of Myron is well 
 known from a coin, a painted and a sculptured vase, and 
 from the statue in the £ateran Museum and a small bronze 
 in the British Museum. The Marsyas belonged to a group 
 in which Athene, who had invented flutes and had cast 
 them away (because they disfigured her face when she 
 played), was represented looHng disdainfully at the 
 satyr, who " while advancing to pick up the discarded 
 flutes is suddenly confronted by the goddess" and starts 
 
 xix 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 VIC. PAGE 
 
 back in dismay. The Athene was supposed to be 
 hopelessly lost ; but about 1882 this statue of Parian 
 marble was dug up in Rome, and after lying for twenty 
 years in a shed was recognized as probably the lost 
 Myron, and transferred by some rich German Hellenists 
 to the Frankfurt Gallery. It is a beautiful statue, 
 and, if it is Myron's, must give us an idea of him as 
 artist very different from what we gain from the Marsyas 
 or the Discobolos. 
 
 Three possibi^e Copies of the Pheidian Athene : 
 
 89. head of a statue in rome 314 
 
 From Professor E. Luwy's ' Griechische Plastik * [Klinkhardt 
 and Biermann, Leipzig). By Antiochos, a sculptor 
 otherwise unknown. Museo Nazionale delle Terme. The 
 dress and helm are not like those of the Athene Parthenos, 
 but the face is believed to be the best extant copy of that 
 of the Pheidian goddess, and is very much the finest of 
 the three here given. 
 
 90. A STATUETTE FOUND AT ATHENS, NEAR THE 
 
 VARVAKEION 314 
 
 Photo English Photographic Co. Supposed by some to be a 
 model, by a Roman artist, of the Pheidian Athene. But 
 it is q^uite incredible that it should be an exact repre- 
 sentation. The general pose may be reproduced (as it is 
 also in another half -finished statuette found by M. 
 lycnormant near the Pnyx), but it is impossible to accept 
 the face, or the exceedingly ugly device of the column 
 supporting the right hand — though it may have been 
 added to the original statue at some later time to 
 prevent collapse. 
 
 91. A RED JASPER INTAGWO INSCRIBED WITH THE NAME 
 
 ASPASIOS 314 
 
 From Brunn-Bruckmann's ' Denkmaler der griech. und rom. 
 Sculptur.' At Vienna. Evidently a copy of the Pheidian 
 Athene. 
 
 92. The * Meidias Vase ' 326 
 
 Photo Mansell &' Co. Hydria signed with name ' Meidias.' 
 Winckelmann esteemed it " above all others known to 
 him " for beauty of drawing. Date c. 430, but, though rich, 
 still very pure and unaffected by the ' fine style.' Below, 
 Heracles m the Garden of the Hesperides ; above, the 
 l^eucippidae carried off by Castor and Pollux. 
 
 93. The Nike (Victory) of Paeonius 336 
 
 From Gardner's ' Handbook of Greek Sculpture ' [Macmillan 
 (S' Co. Ltd.). In the Museum at Olympia. 
 
 XX 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FIG. 
 
 94. Herodotus 348 
 
 Photo Brogi. From double herm (with Thucydides) at 
 Naples. Ancient type and possible portrait. 
 
 95. Thucydides 348 
 
 Photo Anderson. Capitol. Somewhat like the Holkam 
 bust, which is perhaps the best ; but the types vary 
 considerably. 
 
 96. Perici^es 348 
 
 Photo Anderson. British Museum. Perhaps after the bust 
 or statue by Cresilas, whose name is on a base found on 
 the Acropolis. Date c. 450. Pericles was born c. 500, 
 and is represented here in his prime. On the ' Strangford ' 
 Shield he is probably ten years older. 
 
 97. Al^CIBIADES 348 
 
 Photo Anderson. Capitol. Doubtful, but ancient. Several 
 copies exist. 
 
 98. Sophoci.es 358 
 
 Photo Anderson. I^ateran. Other statues and busts of same 
 type exist. 
 
 99. Euripides 362 
 
 Photo Anderson. Vatican. Body once with other head. 
 A Euripides head (too small 1) put on it by Pio VII. 
 Tragic mask. 
 
 100. Socrates 376 
 
 Photo Brogi. Naples. Probably the most authentic of many 
 portraits of the philosopher. 
 
 loi. Pi,ato 376 
 
 Photo Brogi. Uffizi, Florence. Small — one-third of life-size. 
 Built into the wall. Inscribed name ancient. A small 
 bronze copy is at Oxford. A Plato bust at Copenhagen 
 is somewhat similar. But Bernoulli says these are 
 entirely overthrown by a bust lately discovered, now at 
 Berlin. 
 
 102. Aristophanes 376 
 
 Photo Anderson. Capitol. Several of same type. 
 
 103. lyYSIAS 376 
 
 Photo F. Bruckmann. Capitol. Several of same type, one 
 of the best at Holkam. 
 
 104. Mourning Athene 384 
 
 Photo Simiriottis, Athens. Perhaps mourning over the 
 epitaph of warriors fallen in battle (c. 450). Found built 
 into wall of Acropolis. 
 
 105. STEI.E WITH Woman carrying Vase 384 
 
 Photo English Photographic Co. From the Cerameicus at 
 Athens. 
 
 106. Stei,e of Hegeso 384 
 
 Photo English Photographic Co. From the Cerameicus at 
 Athens. 
 
 xxi 
 
FIG. 
 107. 
 
 108. 
 109. 
 
 IIO. 
 
 LIiSiT OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Figure from Greek Tomb 
 
 Photo Mansell &• Co. The ' Trentham Hall ' statue. Since 
 1907 in British Museum. Probably stood on a tomb in 
 the Cerameicus. For dress see Note B. Date about 
 fourth century. Probably found in Italy, and perhaps 
 reinscribed for monument of Roman lady. 
 
 Amazon by Poi,yci.eitus 
 
 Photo Alinari. So-called ' Mattei Amazon,' in Vatican, 
 Rome. 
 
 STEI.E OF DEXII^EOS 
 
 Photo Simiriottis, A thens. The inscription (in Athens National 
 Museum Catalogue) seems to give Coroneia as the place 
 where he fell, though others mentioned in the epitaph 
 were killed near Corinth. 
 
 From the Mausoi^eum 
 
 Photo Mansell 6- Co. Ionic column and architrave in British 
 Museum. 
 
 III. Head of Cnidian Aphrodite 
 
 112. 
 113- 
 
 114. 
 
 115. 
 1x6. 
 117. 
 118. 
 119. 
 
 xxii 
 
 Photo F. Bruckmann. Possibly a copy from the statue by 
 Praxiteles. In collection of Herr von Kaufmann, Berlin. 
 
 The Hermes of Oi^ympia 
 
 Photo Alinari. By Praxiteles. 
 
 Hypnos 
 
 Photo Mansell 6* Co. The well-known bronze winged head 
 in the British Museum has lately been set on the body, 
 newly discovered. It represents a youth running and 
 bending forward. He probably held a poppy in his 
 hand. The work is evidently of the Praxitelean age 
 (c. 360), and is Greek, though found near Perugia, in Italy. 
 
 The Satyr (Faun) of Praxitei.es 
 
 Photo A nderson. Capitoline Museimi, Rome. The best known 
 of the copies of the original. A torso in the I,ouvre is 
 believed by some to be a part of the original statue. 
 
 Apoi.1.0 Sauroctonos 
 
 Photo Mansell 6* Co. Copy of the statue by Praxiteles. 
 
 Demeter 
 
 Photo Mansell 6- Co. Head perhaps by Scop as. 
 
 KiRENE AND P1.UTUS 
 Photo F. Bruckmann. By Cephisodotus. 
 
 The Cnidian Aphrodite 
 
 Photo Mansell 6* Co. Copy of the statue by Praxiteles. 
 
 Drum of Coi^umn 
 
 From the later temple of Artemis at Kphesus. Photo 
 Mansell & Co, British Museum. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 384 
 
 392 
 
 392 
 
 392 
 392 
 
 394 
 394 
 
 400 
 
 404 
 408 
 414 
 418 
 420 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FIG. PAGE 
 
 120. Mausoi^us 422 
 
 Photo Mansell & Co. British Museum. 
 
 121. The lyioN OF Chabroneia 430 
 
 Photo Simiriottis, Athens. 
 
 122. Arcadian Gate, Messene 430 
 
 Photo Simiriottis, Athens. Messene was founded by Epamei- 
 nondas. 
 
 123. Alexander 434 
 
 Photo Mansell 6' Co. British Museum. 
 
 124. ISOCRATES 434 
 
 Photo Graphische Gesellschaft. Berlin. Same type as the 
 bust with inscribed name in Villa Albani, Rome. Possibly 
 copied from the statue of Isocrates by Leochares (see 
 p. 443) set up at Eleusis by Timotheus, son of Conon ; but 
 poor work, and represents him at earlier time of life. 
 If genuine, the portrait taken during his life, for otherwise 
 he would be represented as very old, having lived about 
 ninety-nine years. 
 
 125. Aeschines 434 
 
 Photo Anderson. Vatican. Several of same type. 
 
 126. Epicurus 434 
 
 Photo F. Bruckmann. Copenhagen. 
 
 127. Demosthenes 438 
 
 Photo Anderson. Vatican. False restoration with book. 
 Hands should be lightly interlocked and hold no book. 
 
 128. Aristoti^e 442 
 
 Sitting statue : Photo Anderson. Bust : Photo F. Bruckmann. 
 The beardless seated statue in the Spada Palace at 
 Rome has inscription arist . . . s, but the s is not 
 at the right distance for aristoTEI^ES, and the head 
 seems not to belong to the body. A drawing of an 
 ancient bust of Aristotle (such busts were very common 
 among the Romans — vide Juv. Sat. II, vi.) has been found 
 in an old manuscript, and has led to identification at 
 Vienna of the bearded bust, which may be an authentic 
 likeness ; but unfortunately it has a restored irregular 
 nose, whereas the drawing and old descriptions give him 
 an aquiline nose ! 
 
 129. Aphrodite of Mei,os 444 
 
 Photo Alinari. I^ouvre. 
 
 130. The ' A1.EXANDER Sarcophagus * 446 
 
 Photo Sebah and Joaillier. Constantinople. The larger relief 
 represents the battle of Issus. Alexander is on horseback 
 at the left end. 
 
 131. The Nike of Samothrace 448 
 
 Photo Alinari. Louvre. 
 
 132. Temple of Athene Nike 454 
 
 Photo Alinari. 
 
 xxiii 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FIG. PAGE 
 
 133. Erechtheion 454 
 
 Photo English Photographic Co. 
 
 134. The Acropous from near the OivYmpieion 456 
 
 Photo English Photographic Co. Relics of ancient city wall 
 and columns of Olympieion in foreground. Under 
 Cimon's great south wall of Acropolis (just above the 
 white house) the Theatre of Dionysus, and further left 
 the site of the Odeion of Herodes. 
 
 135. Caryatid from Erechtheion 460 
 
 Photo Mansell & Co. 
 
 136. Monument of I^ysicrates 460 
 
 Photo Alinari. 
 
 137. Bronze and S11.VER Dress-pins 460 
 
 From the British Museum ' Guide to the Department of Greek and 
 Roman Antiquities.' Mycenaean and later. 
 
 138. Ionic Chiton and Himation 460 
 
 Photo Mansell & Co. A very beautiful bronze statuette in the 
 British Museum. 
 
 139. Doric Chiton and Dagger-like Pins 460 
 
 From the British Museum ' Guide to the Department of Greek 
 and Roman Antiquities.' From a toilet-box in the 
 British Museum. 
 
 140. Early Female Dress 461 
 
 From the Fran9ois Vase. 
 
 141. Red-figured Vases and White Lekythi, c, 
 
 520-350 472 
 
 Photo Mansell & Co. 
 
 Attic hydria from Vulci, Etruria. Medea and the daughters 
 of Pehas (The trick of the rejuvenated ram) . Date c. 470. 
 
 Attic stamnos from Vulci. Odysseus and Sirens. Date c. 520. 
 
 White Attic lekythi, oil-flasks, found generally in tombs. 
 Earlier black on white, later polychrome. Date of these 
 c. 400. Very fine collection m British Museum. 
 
 Attic (or possibly Italian) hydria, found in Southern Italy. 
 Late rich ' Apuhan ' style, but not debased. Scene 
 similar to some on Attic stelae. Date c. 350. 
 
 XXIV 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION : THE 
 ACHAEAN SUPREMACY 
 
 (DOWN XO C. IIOO) 
 
 SECTIONS : lyANGUAGB AND WRITING : THB OlyD RKI.IGION : 
 
 the; ' HOMERIC AGE ' AND HOMER : CHRONOI^OGY OF 
 
 AEGAEAN AND CONTEMPORARY CIVII^IZATIONS 
 
 NOT very long ago the history of Greece (such history as is 
 founded on the evidence of contemporary inscriptions 
 and similar relics) was held to begin about the tra- 
 ditional date of the first Olympiad — namely, 776. It is true 
 that for some two thousand years a chronology of the 'pre- 
 historic ' or ' mythical ' age of Greece was accepted with more 
 or less diffidence, and has been handed down to our times. 
 This chronology, based on the calculations of ancient writers ^ 
 and drawn up finally {c. 220) by the keeper of the great 
 Alexandrian library, Kratosthenes, takes us back to the founda- 
 tion of Thebes by Cadmus in 13 13, a date of modest pre- 
 tensions compared with those given by some old writers, who 
 by calculating the generations of ancient dynasties and hero- 
 families lead us back beyond Deucalion, the Greek Noah 
 and father of all Hellenes, to Pelasgus, the ancestor of all 
 Pelasgians, and his ancestor Inachus, the first king of Argos, 
 who is said to have lived about 1986. 
 
 All this chronology and all the traditions of the so-called 
 mythical age were until quite lately rejected as of no historical 
 value by almost every modern writer on Greece — as valueless 
 
 1 See Hdt. vii. 204, where, according to the accepted genealogy of the Spartan 
 kings, Leonidas is shown to have been the twenty-first from Heracles, whose 
 traditional date is 1261-1209. C/. Hdt. viii. 131. Some assert that Eratosthenes 
 went back only to the Fall of Troy (i 184) . Thucydides fixes the Dorian invasion 
 (return of Heracleidae) at eighty years after the Fall of Troy. Some of these 
 dates come curiously near to those accepted by modern archaeology. 
 
 A I 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 as the legends of Brute the Trojan and the Cornish giants and 
 early kings of Britain, which Geoffrey of Monmouth gives as 
 serious history, and which even Milton in his history of England 
 is half inclined to accept on the ground that " never any 
 to have been real persons, or done in their lives at least some 
 part of what so long hath been remember'd, cannot be thought 
 without too strict an incredulity. '* 
 
 That in this ' mythical age ' of Greece, long before the Fall 
 of Troy, great wars had been waged ^ and great empires had 
 existed was not denied ; but even such statements as those 
 of Thucydides and Herodotus about the sea-empire of Minos 
 the Cretan were relegated to the realm of fable — the realm of 
 demigods and monsters. 
 
 Nor was it denied that from certain points of view fables and 
 traditions are of supreme interest and value. Plato himself 
 has pointed out ^ the great ethical value of poetic fiction and 
 the uselessness and folly of attempting to unweave the rainbows 
 of old fables — of decomposing them into allegories or sun- 
 myths ; and in this he has been followed by perhaps the 
 greatest modern historian of Greece, Grote, who has devoted 
 the first of his ten volumes almost entirely to the consideration 
 of the Greek myths as wonderful products of Greek imagination, 
 and has carefully weighed their influence on the Greek mind 
 and on the course of Greek history. 
 
 But Grote also agrees with Plato in believing it to be use- 
 less and foolish to analyse these ancient myths for the purpose 
 of discovering any deposit of historical fact. "The hope," 
 he says, " that we may, by carrying our researches up the 
 stream of time, exhaust the hmits of fiction and land ulti- 
 mately upon some points of solid truth appears to me no less 
 illusory than the northward journey in quest of the Hyperborean 
 Elysium" — the Earthly Paradise of the ancients, the I^and 
 beyond the North Wind. 
 
 Within the last thirty years or more this point of view has 
 been gradually abandoned, even by the most sceptical. How- 
 
 1 Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona Multi. , . . — HoracB. 
 
 2 In the Phaedrus. 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 ever disdainfully the modern historian may still speak of such 
 ' fables ' as those of Pelops and I^ycurgus (whom, borrowing a 
 phrase from Herodotus, they describe as " not men, but only 
 gods "), none would now venture to deny that there are " points 
 of sohd truth" in legends that indicate the former existence 
 of a great ancient Mycenaean civilization, or a still greater 
 and more ancient civilization in Crete ; for we now possess 
 indisputable evidence that such civilizations existed, and that 
 in many an old legend there was at least a germ of truth. Nor 
 is it impossible that ere long the excavator and the philologist 
 (for both of whom a vast amount of unexplored and unde- 
 ciphered material is at hand) may open up yet more wonderful 
 vistas and help us to reconstruct and repeople far more fully 
 and vividly the so-called mythical age of Greece. Should this 
 happen, I doubt not that many more of the old myths will be 
 found to contain some historical truth in the midst of their 
 poetic fictions, and that once more many a sceptic will have 
 to re weave his theories. 
 
 This, however, is a task for the archaeologist and the linguist. 
 For the historian it is still nearly as true as it was in Grote's 
 day that " two courses, and two only, are open : either to pass 
 over the myths altogether, or else to give an account of them 
 as myths." And seeing that to give a full account of myths 
 regarded as creations of poetic imagination, or as interesting 
 folk-lore, seems to be in this age of specialists the task of 
 other writers rather than that of the historian, and considering 
 that classical dictionaries and books about mythology are easily 
 obtained, and that a very full and systematic account of these 
 ancient Greek myths may be found in Grote's first volume, I 
 shall only relate, or mention, those which appear to have some 
 connexion with historical facts, or with such reconstructions as 
 may be reasonably built up on the relics of prehistoric times. 
 
 The first part of my subject is the so-called Aegaean civiliza- 
 tion, which has been brought to light within the last tliirty or 
 forty years. Enough has been discovered by excavation and 
 research to assure us that a once undreamt-of civilization 
 of very considerable importance did actually exist in Aegaean 
 
 3 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 lands long before the first Olympiad, or the invasion of the 
 Dorians, or even the first coming of those Achaeans by whom 
 Troy is said to have been sacked — a civilization which in all 
 probability was already in existence at a period as far anterior 
 to the age of Pericles as that age is anterior to our own. So 
 much seems certain ; but what further deductions we are 
 justified in making, and how we are to adjust and use all the 
 evidence that has come to Hght, it is at present difficult to see. 
 It should therefore be the aim of every one who writes on the 
 subject to place the evidence clearly, fully, and accurately 
 before his readers and to indulge as little as possible in theoretics. 
 A certain amount of theory and hypothesis is necessary in 
 order that the facts may be classified and presented in a dis- 
 tinct and graphic form, but it must not be forgotten that at 
 any moment new discoveries may be made which may roughly 
 upset our most plausible reconstructions. 
 
 At what stage in the history of humanity the first wave of 
 Aryan migration reached Central Europe we have no means 
 of knowing, but it is indubitable that the people whom we 
 call the ancient Greeks, and who called themselves Hellenes, 
 were mainly ^ of this Indo-Germanic race, and that when 
 their northern ancestors first pushed southward into Greece 
 they found there a race of quite a different kind — a dark- 
 haired, lithe-limbed race, which in that age under various 
 names seems to have inhabited most of the European lands 
 bordering on the Mediterranean. The Northmen probably 
 came in small bands at first, and, like the Normans of later 
 days i*n Southern Europe, established themselves as chieftains 
 among the less warlike Southerners. In time they would be 
 followed by successive waves of invaders, many of whom 
 would settle in the country, appropriate the land and the 
 
 ^ This is perhaps too strong. Possibly the intermixture of the northern 
 (Achaean and Dorian) invaders with the aborigines was in time somewhat 
 such as that of the Normans with the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic population in 
 Britain, and the strangely rapid development and perfection of classical 
 Greek art may have been due to the revival of art-feeling that had existed 
 in the race before the advent of the northern invaders, just as the supremac}- 
 of Tuscan art in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was possibly due to 
 the old Etruscan element. 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 women and enslave the men, or drive them forth to take 
 refuge in more barren or mountainous districts, such as Attica 
 and Arcadia.^ 
 
 Now the evidence supplied by excavation and research points 
 to the fact that in Greece, at a period not much anterior to 
 the age of the fair-haired Achaean princes described by Homer, 
 this dark-haired, lithe-limbed Mediterranean race was still in 
 possession ; and similar evidence makes it clear that in Crete 
 a people probably belonging to the same race, and of a like 
 civiHzation, existed from a very early time, and possessed a 
 powerful empire until the advent of the northern conquerors. 
 It is this so-called Minoan and Mycenaean civilization which 
 of late years has been revealed to us. 
 
 The Trojan Cities 
 
 In the year 1870 the first beginning was made, by Dr. SchHe- 
 mann, of the excavations that have led to this result. lyong 
 before that date the ancient history of Egypt and of Mesopo- 
 tamia had been to a large extent reconstructed by the dis- 
 coveries of monuments and the deciphering of hieroglyphic 
 and cuneiform inscriptions, but of the first ages of Greece what 
 few relics were known, such as old ' Pelasgic ' walls and a 
 few ancient sepulchres and remnants of primeval pottery, 
 were regarded with hopeless wonderment as the survivals of a 
 civilization which had passed away into eternal oblivion. 
 Much incredulity and some ridicule met the enthusiasm of 
 Dr. SchHemann, therefore, when he announced his intention 
 first to excavate ancient Troy and then to discover the tomb 
 of Agamemnon (described by Pausanias) at Mycenae. The 
 site of Homeric Troy he believed, in spite of the contrary 
 opinion of scholars, to be that of the later Roman city Novum 
 Ilium, now the Hill of Hissarlik. On this site»he and his 
 successors discovered the remains of no less than seven — 
 possibly nine — towns. Traces of the rough-stone walls of 
 
 ^ In this connexion the celebrated opening chapters of Thucydides' history- 
 should be read. The discoveries of late years have added greatly to their 
 interest. 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 the earliest of these towns are still visible, and within them 
 have been discovered fragments of primitive black pottery 
 and stone implements — among which is an axe-head of white 
 jade (nephrite), a stone said to be found in its natural state 
 only in China. ^ The second town had great ramparts with 
 towers and a fortified gate, all of sun-baked brick, with a 
 paved ramp and stone foundations. The relics were pottery 
 (still hand-made) and stone and copper implements. Bronze 
 seems to have been still rare, but near to the great gate, within 
 a kind of acropohs, was discovered a very considerable treasure 
 of gold and silver vessels and ornaments, together with copper 
 weapons and a hideous leaden idol of some ancient female 
 deity. The great ramparts and the wealth and art evidenced 
 by these finely wrought gold and silver ornaments made 
 Schliemann conclude that this was the Homeric city, and 
 that he had discovered the Treasure of King Priam. But, 
 almost incredible as it seemed before the discoveries of similar 
 treasures and other works of art in Crete and at Mycenae, 
 it is now beheved that this second city of Troy existed at least 
 a thousand years before the days of Priam and Agamemnon, 
 and that the ruins of the sixth stratum are in all probability 
 those of the Homeric city. These ruins consist of great and 
 well-built walls of wrought stone (Fig. i), far better built 
 than so-called * Pelasgic ' walls, and enclosing a very consider- 
 able area, with remains of a high- terraced acropolis, on the 
 summit of which was doubtless, as at Mycenae and Tiryns, 
 the regal palace. Of the four city gates the two greatest, 
 those to the south and the east, were guarded by strong towers, 
 and one of these might be the famous * Scaean Gate ' of the 
 Iliad except for the fact that Homer's ' Scaean Gate * seems 
 to have looked towards the Grecian camp and the sea — 
 
 ^ Jade and jadite are to be found in the Alps and in European megalithic 
 monuments. In one of the latter, in Brittany, an axe-head of white jade 
 seems to have been discovered {Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race, by 
 T. W. Rolleston). It seems therefore a little over-fanciful to build up on a 
 bit of nephrite the possibility of commerce between this primeval Trojan town 
 and China via Nineveh. But even such a guess may be verified by future 
 discovery. 
 
 6 
 
I. Wai.1, of the Sixth City of Troy 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 evidently to the north-west, in which part the old walls were 
 demolished (50 B.C.) in order to fortify Sigeion (Sigeum). 
 
 In this sixth city bronze ^ weapons were found, and many 
 fragments of what is called ' Mycenaean ' pottery — a glazed 
 and painted wheel-made ware which denotes the later period 
 of Mycenaean civilization {c. 1400-1200), and which has been 
 found not only in Aegaean lands, but in Spain, Italy, Egypt, 
 Cyprus, and Asia Minor. From these and other evidences it 
 seems highly probable that Homeric Troy was built at the 
 time when [c. 1350) the northern Achaean race was still pouring 
 down through Thessaly into lyower Greece ; that the builders 
 were a northern Aryan (Danubian) people related to the fair- 
 haired Achaeans, namely, the Bhryges, or Phrygians ; and 
 that this sixth city ^ was afterwards burnt by foreign enemies, 
 whom we may most reasonably suppose to have been the 
 Achaean princes of Greece and their followers (a mixed host 
 of Achaeans, Argives, and Aegaeans) described by Homer. 
 
 The Bhryges, or Phrygians, were apparently a tribe of the 
 same great Aryan race (originally from Northern India, but 
 long inhabiting Central Europe) to which the Mysians and 
 perhaps also the I^ydians and Lycians and other peoples of 
 Asia Minor belonged,^ as well as the Achaeans of Greece. They 
 seem to have come over from Thrace in successive waves 
 during several centuries. The second city of Troy was probably 
 founded by earlier Phrygian or northern invaders, and it was 
 possibly to later invasions of the same northern race that the 
 destruction and refounding of the third, fourth, and fifth 
 cities were due, on which occasions the earlier comers (I^ycians 
 
 1 But only one specimen of iron — a knife, which Schliemann believed to have 
 slipped down from a higher stratum. 
 
 2 Possibly also the fifth, for tradition tells us of a former sack of Troy by 
 Telamon and Heracles. 
 
 ^ The original inhabitants of Lydia may have been non-Aryan, but they 
 were conquered by and amalgamated with the Phrygians. These mixed 
 peoples are called. Maeonians (Mjyovfy) by Homer, who does not mention 
 Ivydians. The Lycians I believe to have been of Aryan stock, but not the 
 Carians, whom Homer describes as " speaking a strange tongue." The 
 Pamphylians are believed to have belonged to the later Dorian race of 
 invaders, of whom three tribes are often mentioned : Hylleis, Pamphyli, 
 Dymanes. 
 
 7 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 and others) were driven further south. Or possibly these 
 Aryan invaders for several centuries, before they made them- 
 selves masters of these north-western parts of Asia Minor, 
 had been obliged to fight for existence against the older 
 inhabitants. Who these older inhabitants were is not known 
 for certain, but it is believed that in this age the great Empire 
 of the Hittites, a Semitic race (mentioned in the Old Testament, 
 and perhaps the KrircLoi of Odyssey xi. 521), whose chief 
 city was Carchemish, extended over much of Asia Minor. 
 This seems proved by numerous inscriptions in Hittite script, 
 a syllabic hieroglyphic writing, which has been partly 
 deciphered. 1 Tablets, too, have been discovered with official 
 correspondence between the Hittite kings and subject states, 
 and a cuneiform version of a treaty between the Hittite 
 king Chetasor and Ramses II of Egypt. 
 
 We hear also of a great nation of Cappadocians (probably 
 different from the Hittites), whose chief city was Pteria. 
 These nations blocked the western expansion of Babylon and 
 Assyria, and of eastern art and cuneiform writing. 
 
 The Homeric Trojans were evidently a mixed people com- 
 posed of northern and aboriginal elements (Queen Hecabe, 
 for instance, was a Phrygian), speaking a language closely 
 akin to that of the Achaeans, and worshipping similar northern 
 deities.^ The chivalrous respect with which, in Homer's 
 poem, the Achaean princes regard their foes doubtless existed 
 in reality between the northern conquerors on both sides of 
 the Aegaean, and, in spite of all arguments about pure Achaean 
 blood and fair hair (which the Phrygian chieftains may also 
 have had), we can feel assured that the traditions that make 
 Pelops, the son of the Phrygian king Tantalus, give his name 
 to the Peloponnese and found the royal house of the Pelopidae, 
 to which Agamemnon and Menelaus belonged, as well as the 
 traditions (repeated by the sane-minded Thucydides) which 
 derived the great wealth of * golden Mycenae ' from Phrygian 
 mines and the gold-sands of the Pactolus, have some historical 
 basis. 
 
 1 See Section A, ' Writing/ * See Section B, ' The Old Religion.' 
 
 8 
 
u 
 
 t 
 
LIZ^IO 
 
 lesian djiasty < 
 ^^ no god reasc 
 :iether fe was 
 1 the P0ponne 
 
 • so. tlin i]iQ ( 
 
 ell ] 
 ed 
 
 IiicJ 
 lis, 
 n 1 
 
 
 Tr< 
 
 he t 
 He 
 lom 
 ' rec 
 )n ^ 
 
 ^(■over 
 iot B\ 
 le ve 
 
 ^perli£ 
 
 le 
 
 les 
 
 Jpar1 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 That the founder of a royal Peloponnesian dynasty came 
 from Phrygia, as tradition avers, we have no good reason to 
 doubt, but the question is, I think, whether this was not 
 long before the advent of the Achaeans in the Peloponnese or 
 the Phrygians in Asia Minor. If it were so, then the older 
 Pelopid monarchs of Pisa, Mycenae, and Sparta may well have 
 been of Aegaean or even Hittite race, and have ruled over 
 an aboriginal Aegaean population, and the tombs of which we 
 shall soon hear may be those of these older monarchs, into 
 whose family the Achaeans may have married when they 
 conquered the land. 
 
 Schliemann had proved conclusively that a great Trojan 
 city had existed, and that it had been burnt about the time 
 of the traditional date of the Fall of Troy (1184). He had 
 shown that there is a very solid historical basis in Homer's 
 great poem ; and further research has enabled us to recon- 
 struct and repeople this Homeric age. But excavation was 
 to open up vistas into far more distant ages. 
 
 Mycenae 
 
 Dr. Schliemann had announced his intention of discovering 
 the tomb of Agamemnon at Mycenae ; and if he did not find, 
 as he firmly believed he had done, the tomb and the very 
 body of the great Achaean king, he found something perhaps 
 still more wonderful. 
 
 Homer's " golden, wide- way ed Mycenae," the home of 
 Agamemnon, 1 was evidently one of the principal cities of 
 Achaean Greece, larger than Argos, Tiryns, Corinth, or Sparta. 
 In later days its importance declined so much that it could 
 supply only eighty men for Thermopylae and two hundred 
 for Plataea. Soon afterwards (462) it was destroyed by the 
 
 ^ Some modern writers have propounded the idea that Agamemnon had 
 nothing to do with Mycenae, but was king of the old district of Argos in 
 Thessaly, and was ' translated,' together with his Achaeans and Argives, 
 to the Peloponnese by some late contributor to the Homeric poems ! This 
 would indeed be an easy solution of the Mycenae problem. In the Odyssey 
 Agamemnon is evidently murdered at Mycenae. The dramatists make Argos 
 the scene of the slaughter. 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 Argives and the inhabitants were expelled, and the ingenuity 
 of Thucydides finds some difficulty in explaining away the 
 apparent insignificance of its ruins. 
 
 Some of these ruins were the massive ramparts and the 
 well-known lyion Gate, which still exist ; and it was within 
 these walls of the ancient Mycenaean acropolis that the 
 Greek traveller and writer Pausanias (to whose descriptions 
 we owe much of our knowledge of Greek antiquities) saw 
 the tombs, or what were then {c. a.d. i6o) believed to be the 
 tombs, of Atreus and Agamemnon. " Some remnants of the 
 encircling wall," says Pausanias, " are still visible, and also 
 a gate which has lions over it. These, as they say, were 
 built by the Cyclopes. . . . There is the tomb of Atreus 
 and of the men whom Aegisthus slew at the banquet when 
 they returned from Troy . . . and the tomb of Agamemnon. 
 But Clytaemnestra and Aegisthus were buried a short distance 
 outside the walls, for they were deemed unworthy to lie 
 within, where Agamemnon was interred and those who fell 
 with him.'' 
 
 Trusting in this description, Dr. Schliemann, in 1876, sank 
 
 a pit, some 40 yards square, within the walls of the acropolis, 
 
 not far from the lyion Gate. He first came upon stone slabs, 
 
 vertical and horizontal, forming what he thought to be the 
 
 seats of an agora (place of council). Below these he found 
 
 an altar and some tombstones (stelae) , and under these again, 
 
 some 25 feet below the surface, six square tombs hewn vertically 
 
 in the solid rock. These had originally been covered with 
 
 great slabs of stone. The slabs had given way, and the tombs 
 
 (which are from 10 to 15 feet deep and of various sizes) were 
 
 filled with earth and stones, amidst which lay embedded 
 
 no less than seventeen human bodies. On excavating these 
 
 tombs a great amount of treasure was discovered — rings and 
 
 sword-hilts and bracelets and pins and brooches and necklaces 
 
 and hundreds of other ornaments, all of pure gold, more than 
 
 seven hundred golden plaques (probably once attached to the 
 
 women's dresses), diadems of gold on the heads of the women 
 
 and masks of gold covering the faces of some of the men, 
 
 10 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 besides many other costly objects, in silver, bronze, amber, 
 and ivory. " Au seul point de vue de la valeur venale," says 
 DieH, " les bijoux representent plus de 100,000 francs d'or; 
 au point de vue artistique et scientifique, leur prix est 
 inestimable/' It was scarcely strange that Dr. Schliemann 
 in his hour of triumph dispatched a telegram to the King of 
 Greece announcing that he had discovered the tombs that 
 Pausanias describes, and probably the tombs of those Achaean 
 princes of * golden Mycenae ' of whom Homer sang. But are 
 these the tombs which Pausanias saw ? And are they the 
 tombs of the Achaean princes ? Before venturing to answer 
 this question let us hear more. 
 
 Besides the six shaft-graves on the acropolis there exist 
 (partly known before excavation by Schliemann and others) 
 nine great vaulted sepulchres, of which the so-called Treasury 
 of Atreus is the largest. It is a lofty ' beehive ' chamber, 
 about 50 feet high, sunk into the side of a hill, and approached 
 by a deep passage about 40 yards in length. The fagade was 
 once richly decorated. The portal, which has a lintel nearly 
 30 feet long and weighing some 120 tons, was flanked by 
 alabaster columns with zigzag and spiral ornament.^ Above 
 the lintel was a large triangle of red porphyry, the architectural 
 device being evidently copied from the lyion Gate. In these 
 great sepulchres no treasure was found. They had been 
 plundered and stripped even of their bronze decorations. 
 Nor were any bodies discovered. But what few evidences 
 came to light made it clear that these tombs were of a later 
 age than the shaft-tombs of the acropolis. 
 
 Some less pretentious square tombs with slanting roofs 
 were also discovered cut out of the rock on a lower level — 
 probably the site of the town of Mycenae ; and the remains 
 
 * Portions of these columns are in the British Museum. Another similar 
 tomb, and nearly as large, is known as the Tomb of Clytaemnestra. It was 
 mostly excavated by Mrs. Schliemann. In order to avoid perplexing the 
 reader with details I do not describe the further excavations at Tiryns, 
 Orchomenus, and other places, where interesting evidences of the Aegaean 
 civilization were found, but nothing at all comparable with the tombs of 
 Mycenae. 
 
 II 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 of a palace, probably of the Achaean age, were found on the 
 summit of the hills. 
 
 Now let us, with the aid of our illustrations, consider towards 
 what conclusion the evidence points. I believe it will be found 
 to point towards this conclusion : that the shaft-graves of the 
 acropolis are the tombs of princes (possibly Pelopidae) who 
 ruled over an ' Aegaean ' people before the advent of the 
 Achaean invaders. And I believe that the great vaulted 
 sepulchres of later date are most probably the tombs of the 
 Achaean princes,^ and that the palace was built by them. 
 
 (i) Firstly, the human remains were skulls and bones " on 
 which were remnants of flesh and skin." They had evidently 
 not been burnt. (Ashes were found, but probably these 
 were the ashes of sacrificed victims — possibly also human.) 
 Now the Achaeans, if we are to believe Homer, burnt their 
 dead, sometimes burying the ashes under a great mound. 
 Embalming or ' drying ' a body is once mentioned, but the 
 slain Homeric heroes (Achilles, Hector, Patroclus, Elpenor) 
 are all burnt on a funeral pyre, and the graphic account of 
 the process given by the ghost of Odysseus' mother {Od. xi.) 
 surely shows that burning was customary among the 
 Achaeans. 2 
 
 (2) Secondly, the dress and arms of the portrayed Mycenaean 
 warriors are not at all what one associates with the Homeric 
 Achaeans. In a siege-scene depicted on a fragment of a silver 
 vessel (Fig. 5) most of the defenders of the fort are armed with 
 slings and bows, and are stark naked, while two in the rear 
 rank are enveloped in great hide (or bark ?) shields, apparently 
 suspended by a baldrick of thongs or cords, for the men are 
 
 1 This is of course inconsistent with the assertion of Pausanias given above. 
 He may have seen the acropolis tombs, but it is very remarkable that if they 
 were known in his day they should have remained unrifled. 
 
 2 Burial and burning often existed side by side, as was certainly the case 
 in the ' classical ' age of Greece. A curious inconsistency occurs to me. The 
 skeleton of the Achaean Orestes, Herodotus tells us (i. 68), was found at 
 Tegea in a coffin over ten feet long ; but Sophocles brings on to the stage, in 
 the Electva, the (supposed) ashes of Orestes enclosed in an urn. The supposed 
 bones of Theseus, who belonged to the Aegaean age, were found by Cimon 
 in Scyros, whence they were transported to Athens. 
 
 12 
 
B 
 
 in 
 o 
 
 w « 
 o S 
 
 o 
 w 
 
 to 
 
 w 
 o 
 w 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 not holding them. Such shields are found, often in a figure-of- 
 eight form, on other Aegaean (Mycenaean and Cretan) gems 
 and seals. This great man-covering, ox-hide shield (" as great 
 as a tower ") is, indeed, not unknown to Homer, but as a rule 
 the Homeric shield seems to have been circular and smaller 
 and carried by a handle,^ and the armour (helm, greaves, 
 and breastplate) of the Homeric warriors was of bronze. 
 Now the warriors on the Mycenaean ' Warrior Vase ' (Fig. 8) 
 do certainly seem to carry a round, or rather a crescent-shaped, 
 light shield, with perhaps a rim (avrv^) of metal, but the 
 rest of their equipment is surely not Homeric. Allowance 
 may be made for the artlessness of the painter, but surely these 
 fighters are not the well-greaved, bronze-clad and bronze- 
 helmed Achaeans. 
 
 On an old painted tombstone found in the lower town of 
 Mycenae there is depicted underneath a row of warriors a 
 row of horses. Moreover, on old Aegaean pottery (see Fig. 33) 
 and in paintings found at Tiryns and on gems one finds horses, 
 and also warriors in primitive two-horsed chariots with wicker 
 breastwork. Does this, it may be asked, point to an age after 
 the Achaean invasion ? I think not. It is evident that the 
 horse was introduced into Greece before the coming of the 
 Achaeans, and probably the ancient myths that describe the 
 wars between Thessalian I^apithae and the Centaurs are a 
 reminiscence of a very early appearance of horsemen from the 
 north. The myth of Pegasus, too (connected with Perseus 
 and the Medusa), presupposes a knowledge of the horse. 
 
 [It may be remarked in passing that the horse is said not to 
 be found in early Egyptian art. Possibly it was introduced 
 by the Shepherd Kings, about 1800. It is first mentioned in 
 the Bible in connexion with Joseph and Jacob, who died in 
 Hgypt (see Gen. xlvii. 17 and 1. 9). Joseph's chariot is also 
 mentioned in Gen. xlvi. 29. Joseph probably lived under the 
 
 ^ This is a point much disputed. Some argue from the apparent incon- 
 sistencies that the Iliad is a poem of mixed authorship and diverse ages. 
 The small shield was invented by the Carians, according to Herodotus (i. 171). 
 The huge shield of Ajax in Homer has seven layers of ox-hide, and must have 
 been of enormous weight. 
 
 13 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 last of the Shepherd Kings. Abraham, who visited Egypt 
 about the year 2000, was given sheep and asses and camels by 
 Pharaoh, but no horses are mentioned.] 
 
 But to return to the subject of Mycenaean dress. In the 
 * siege-scene ' there are women standing on the very solidly 
 and regularly built rampart. They seem to be applauding 
 their defenders and deriding the foe. Their dress is not easy 
 to discern ; but on the gold ring (Figs. 7 and 28) one sees 
 
 7. From a Mycenaean Goi<d Ring 
 
 distinctly what the dress of the Mycenaean ladies of this age 
 was like. It apparently very much resembled that of fashion- 
 able dames of modern times, except that the whole bust seems 
 to have been often uncovered. 
 
 Now in Homer the dress of the women is entirely different. 
 Instead of rich-embroidered jackets or blouses {vQiy decolletees 
 sometimes, or conspicuous for their absence) and heavily 
 flounced skirts and lofty coiffures of hair, the Achaean ladies 
 wore a thin ^ chiton (tunic, chemise) and an ample over-garment 
 
 1 Even the chiton of Odysseus was as soft and glossy as the inner skin of an 
 onion. See Note B, * Dress.' 
 
 14 
 
8. The ' Warrior Vase 
 
 9. Goi^DKN Mask from Mycenae 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 (peplos or pharos) of lighter or thicker stuff, according to the 
 season, confined round the waist by 
 a zone, and fastened over the shoul- 
 ders and down the side by brooches. 
 (The peplos given to Penelope by a 
 suitor had twelve of such brooches ; 
 and it is remarkable that scarcely 
 one has been found among all the 
 Mycenaean treasures.) Over the 
 head they wore a coif of soft, glisten- 
 ing tissue {Od. i. 354), and above this 
 sometimes a large veil (Od. v. 232). 
 The men, moreover, when not in 
 armour were not content with the 
 bathing-drawers sort of garment 
 which we often find as the only 
 article of dress in Aegaean por- 
 traiture, but even such people as 
 swineherds wore the tunic (chiton) 
 and a mantle or cloak (chlaina, 
 pharos). The tunic was fastened 
 round the waist by a belt (zoster). 
 Thus the dress, both of men and of 
 women, of these Mycenaeans, as far 
 as we can judge from the evidence 
 supplied by excavation, was very 
 different from that of the Homeric 
 Achaeans. 
 
 (3) The remains of various palaces 
 and other buildings discovered at 
 Mycenae, Tiryns, and other places 
 where the relics (such as pottery) 
 make us suspect a similar ' My- 
 cenaean ' civilization are in some 
 respects like the Homeric palaces, 
 and a decorative material men- ^°- Mycknaean Dagger 
 tioned by Homer (cyan, or blue glass-paste) has been found. 
 
 IS 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 These buildings, however, are possibly not Aegaean, but 
 
 Achaean. 
 
 (4) Among the weapons dis- 
 covered at Mycenae are two 
 daggers (Figs. 10 and 11) the blades 
 of which are most skilfully inlaid 
 with gold and silver and a dark 
 substance on a ground of enamelled 
 bronze. It is true that we find 
 something similar in Homer, whose 
 ' Shield of Achilles ' and ' Brooch 
 of Odysseus ' and ' Belt of Hera- 
 cles,' as well as his descriptions 
 of the process of inlaying, testify 
 to high skill in the art. But here 
 again we have the loin-cloths and 
 the figure-of-eight shield (in the 
 lion-hunt), and a scene which 
 reminds one much more of Egypt 
 or Crete than of Homer, namely, 
 a representation of cats, or ichneu- 
 mons, hunting ducks amidst the 
 papyrus on the banks of a river 
 that may be meant for the Nile. 
 There was discovered at Thebes in 
 Egypt a very similar wall-painting ; 
 but the art of the Mycenae dagger 
 is distinctly not Egyptian : it is 
 evidently native work, and is a 
 striking evidence of the high 
 development which the art of 
 the metal - worker had already 
 reached among the pre-Achaean 
 Greeks. 
 
 (5) But still more striking as 
 works of art are two golden 
 
 cups (Fig. 13) which were found, not at Mycenae, but at 
 16 
 
 II. Mycenakan Dagger 
 
12. Goi^DEN Discs and Shrine 
 
 13. Goi^DEN Cups from Vaphio 
 
 16 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 Vapliio/ near the ancient capital of I^aconia, Amyclae. The 
 skill, both in design and execution, with which the scene 
 (perhaps the capture of wild bulls) is wrought is astonishing. 
 '* We see here, as in the Mycenae daggers, the highest attain- 
 ments of a mature art, not the promising attempts of one that 
 is yet in its infancy. . . . They in no way resemble the 
 often successful but always tentative experiments of an 
 archaic Greek artist." - 
 
 How are we to explain the existence of such art at such an 
 epoch in Greece ? There are, I think, only two possible 
 explanations : either these folk of golden Mycenae, whose 
 warriors were, when clad at all, clad and armed so differently 
 from the Homeric Achaeans, and whose women-folk were 
 bedizened like the fashionable dames of latter-day Europe, 
 not only possessed wealth and an abundance of gold (which 
 assuredly was not produced by the Peloponnese, or any other 
 part of Greece) and were in a high state of material civilization, 
 but also must have been the heirs of an age of art — for such works 
 as these Vaphio cups presume a long artistic training ; ^ or else 
 these cups are not a native product, but were imported from 
 some land where art had flourished for a long period. This land 
 could not have been Assyria or Phoenicia or Egypt, for there 
 is no trace whatever of the special characteristics of Oriental 
 or Egyptian art in this splendid repousse work, which is like 
 some chef-d'ceuvre of Benvenuto CelHni rather than a relic of 
 antiquity. " The design," says Professor E. Gardner, " which 
 is all round the outside of the cups, is beaten up from behind 
 into bold relief and finished with a chisel in front ; the repousse 
 plates are backed with others which are turned over at the 
 back, so as to hold in the reliefs." If not native Mycenaean 
 work, and if not Assyrian, Phoenician, or Egyptian, whence 
 could these cups have come ? 
 
 1 In a great vaulted tomb that had been brought to light by a landslip— 
 perhaps the tomb of some Pelopid lord of lyaconia. 
 
 2 Gardner's Handbook of Greek Sculpture. 
 
 8 If Dr. Flinders Petrie is right in tracing the periodical rise and decline of 
 art by means of sculpture and in assigning about 2000 years to such periods, 
 it would seem that the Vaphio cups were the product of an art at least 1000 
 years old. 
 
 B 17 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 Crete 
 
 There can be only one answer. They must have come from 
 Crete, or must have been the product of Cretan workmanship, 
 lyong before — perhaps for a thousand years before — the days of 
 those ancient pre- Achaean kings whose bones were unearthed 
 at Mycenae there had existed in Crete a civiHzation which has 
 only of late years been brought to light, and which we now 
 know to have produced artistic work of a quality no less 
 admirable than that of the Vaphio cups, and to have passed 
 its highest development before the era of * Mycenaean ' 
 civilization — which civilization seems to have been at its 
 highest and to have extended over a great part of the Aegaean 
 islands and over parts of Northern Greece, and to Cyprus and 
 Rhodes, about 1500 to 1200. This far more ancient Cretan 
 civilization, evidences of which, discovered during the last 
 dozen years, take us back to the Stone Age (say 3000 B.C. at 
 the very least), is only indirectly connected with the history 
 of the Hellenic race (if one uses the word history in its ordinary 
 sense) , but it is of very great interest and importance in regard 
 to artistic and rehgious matters. I shall therefore devote a 
 short space to its consideration. 
 
 The excavations in Crete that have opened up for us a vista 
 into so vast a realm of the past — very much more distant 
 than that revealed by the Mycenaean and the Trojan researches 
 of Schliemann and his successors — were first seriously begun 
 in 1901 by Dr. (now Sir Arthur) Kvans, who went to Crete 
 primarily in the hope of discovering further evidence of an 
 ancient written language, his curiosity having been awakened 
 at Athens by Cretan seals engraved with unknown hieroglyphic 
 and linear characters. After many difficulties he was enabled 
 to make extensive excavations on the site of the ancient city 
 of Cnossus (or Knosos), which Homer mentions as the chief 
 of ninety (or a hundred) towns of Crete, and where the famous 
 artist and inventor Daedalus built the lyabyrinth for King 
 Minos, and a beautiful dancing-ground for the princess, fair- 
 haired Ariadne. Ere long the excavators unearthed the 
 foundations of a very large palace, and a vast complex of 
 18 
 
14- AcROPOi<is, Mycenae 
 
 15. Excavations of Pai<ace, Cnossus 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 buildings which are beHeved by some to have formed the 
 celebrated I^abyrinth. Store-rooms were found with rows of 
 enormous jars, and shrines with idols and other sacred objects, 
 and a great hall, and remains of frescoes, still bright with colour, 
 and a handsome stone seat which has been dignified with the 
 title ' The Throne of Minos,' and finely worked vessels of 
 syenite and marble and alabaster and steatite (soapstone), 
 and a great quantity of tablets covered with inscriptions 
 of which no single word has been satisfactorily deciphered, 
 and, of course, a great deal of pottery, some of it dating 
 probably from at least 3000 — indeed, some of the ancient 
 black pottery (hke Etruscan bucchero) found among the 
 Stone Age deposits ^ on the hill of Cephala, near Cnossus, may 
 date from very much earlier times, possibly from 8000. 
 
 At Phaestus, on the south side of the island, and at Gortyna 
 and Gournia and Hagia Triada numerous finds have been made 
 that have supplemented and confirmed the evidence of Cnossus. 
 Any day important discoveries may bring us further knowledge 
 and upset some of our theories. 
 
 lyct us briefly consider the present evidence, and then see 
 what conclusions may reasonably be drawn from it. Our 
 illustrations will give us a fair conception of some of the 
 relics. 
 
 The walls of the palace (especially in the great Hall of the 
 Double Axes ^) show evident signs of a great conflagration. 
 Possibly the palace and city were sacked twice during the 
 long era of this so-called Minoan civilization, and almost 
 everything portable that was worth carrying off (such as 
 precious metals) has disappeared. Of what remains probably 
 the thousands of inscribed tablets, none of which has yet 
 been deciphered, will ultimately prove the most valuable to 
 the historian, if only some bihngual monument should be 
 discovered that will enable us to read and understand the old 
 
 1 These deposits (beneath the first stratum of the Bronze Age, which 
 began about 3000) are about 20 feet deep, which gives, according to 
 the usual calculations of archaeologists, a period of at least six thousand 
 years. 
 
 " For the ' I^abrys ' see Section B. 
 
 19 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Cretan language, as the Rosetta stone, with its Greek trans- 
 lation of a hieroglyphic inscription, enabled ChampolHon to 
 read the ancient language of Egypt, and as a list of Persian 
 kings proved the key to the cuneiform script, and as the 
 cuneiform version of the treaty between Ramses II and 
 King Chetasor taught us to decipher Hittite monuments. 
 But at present these Cretan tablets are a closed book to us, 
 and it is perhaps the pictures of these Minoan people that most 
 deeply interest one. In the ' Cup-bearer ' (Fig. i6) we have 
 a very striking portrait (perhaps some 3500 years old) of 
 one of these Minoan Cretans — for the features are most 
 certainly not Oriental or Egyptian. " The flesh-tint," says 
 Sir^Arthur Evans, "is of a deep reddish brown ; the limbs are 
 finely moulded, though the waist, as usual in Mycenaean 
 fashions, is tightly drawn in by a silver-mounted girdle. . . . 
 The profile is almost classically Greek, and the physiognomy 
 has certainly no Semitic cast. There was something very 
 impressive in this vision of brilHant youth and of male beauty 
 recalled after so long an interval to the upper air from what had 
 been, till yesterday, a forgotten world." The youth is bearing, 
 says Mr. Baikie, a " gold-mounted silver cup. His loin-cloth 
 is decorated with a beautiful quatrefoil pattern ; he wears 
 a silver ear-ornament, silver rings on the neck and upper arm, 
 and on the wrist a bracelet with an agate gem." Other 
 frescoes contain similar youths, a lady (perhaps a queen) in 
 a magnificent dress, and many other figures, as well as scenes 
 from bull-fights. In these scenes (found also on seals), athletes, 
 generally boys and girls, are depicted as awaiting the charge 
 of the infuriated animal or catching it by the horns and turning 
 a somersault, or vaulting, over its back. The bull figures 
 largely in Minoan art. As will be seen later, the animal 
 was intimately connected with the old Cretan rehgion, a 
 fact which forms a '* solid point of truth " in the legends 
 of Theseus and the Minotaur. The connexion between 
 Mycenaean and Cretan art and rehgious practices is, more- 
 over, graphically confirmed by a fresco found at Tiryns, 
 near Mycenae, and by various gems or seals where similar 
 20 
 
i6. The; Cup-bearkr, Cnossus 
 
 20 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 scenes are depicted. It is just possible, too, that the Vaphio 
 cups may represent a scene of * bull-grappling ' {ravpoKaOdxpia) 
 by athletes. 
 
 The Minoan ladies are pictured (as we find also in Egyptian 
 art and on early Greek vases) with a skin of chalky white- 
 ness. They are dressed in the same w^ay as the Mycenaean 
 women already described — with towering coiffures, tight 
 bodices, often covering but little of the bust, richly embroidered 
 heavily pleated and flounced skirts, and often with almost 
 
 17. Acrobats and Ei,ands{?) 
 
 incredible wasp-waists. Such figures are found both in colour 
 and also incised on seals (see Figs. 7 and 28). 
 
 Besides frescoes there were found figures and other objects 
 in terra-cotta, faience, ivory, and other material, and brightly 
 coloured reliefs in plaster, one of which is a hfe-sized bull's 
 head (perhaps once a part of a complete bull) . It is very finely 
 modelled and coloured, and testifies to as highly developed art 
 as do the Vaphio cups. Also many of the Minoan vessels 
 are of artistic workmanship. One of the steatite vessels, 
 once probably covered with gold-leaf, represents a boxing 
 match, another a company of soldiers with their ofiicers 
 (most interesting as a contrast to the Mycenae ' Warrior Vase '), 
 and another (Fig. 24) a band of people in procession carrying 
 what may be palm-branches and preceded by a huge figure in 
 
 21 
 
 L 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 a curious plaited costume. It is generally called a procession 
 of harvesters, but the presence of a man with a sistrum (metal 
 rattle) seems rather to point, I think, to some religious ceremony 
 — possibly a procession of Cretan Curetes, the priests of the 
 Cretan Zeus. 
 
 The painted stone sarcophagus found at Hagia Triada 
 (Fig. 25) is not a specimen of good Minoan art (possibly it 
 dates after the collapse of Cretan power and art, about 1400), 
 but is intensely interesting as an illustration of religious rites. 
 I shall speak of it again later, together with various idols, 
 seals with pictures of demons (genii), and other objects. 
 
 The only other rehc that I shall here describe is a very 
 beautiful table (Fig. 19), which is believed to have been the 
 board on which some game like draughts (mentioned in Homer) 
 used to be played. Its framework was of gold-plated ivory, 
 and it was richly set with crystals, blue cyan, gold, and silver, 
 and decorated with reliefs of flowers and shells of great 
 beauty. 
 
 Besides such relics we have in the vast ruins a most impressive 
 testimony to the greatness of Crete in this so-called Minoan 
 age. Whether or not the excavators have brought once more 
 to the light of day the veritable lyabyrinth of Cnossus or 
 the actual dancing-ground made by Daedalus for fair-haired 
 Ariadne, they have, at any rate, proved that the ancient 
 traditions about the great naval power of the Cretans are not 
 merely empty myths, and they have shown it to be highly 
 probable that even the Minotaur fable is an imaginative version 
 of facts, doubtless some of them of terribly tragic nature, 
 connected with Cretan bull-worship and the bull-grappling 
 spectacles, in which the boy and girl athletes must have often 
 lost their lives. 
 
 Thus it seems proved that in Crete a civiHzed and at one time 
 powerful nation existed from at least 3000 (possibly from much 
 earHer) down to about 1350, when some great calamity befell 
 it, from which it never recovered. 
 
 Now both Thucydides and Herodotus speak of the ancient 
 naval supremacy of Crete under a king Minos. Old myths 
 22 
 
8. ' Throne of Minos 
 
 19. MiNOAN Game-board 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 tell of two Cretan kings of this name. One was the son of 
 Zeus, a great lawgiver, who after his earthly life was made 
 a judge (as Homer describes him) in the nether world. 
 
 The other Minos was said to be his grandson. He was 
 the husband of Pasiphae, and in his reign Daedalus built 
 the lyabyrinth for the Minotaur, whom the Athenian hero 
 Theseus slew. Homer also speaks of this later Minos. He 
 calls him the father of Ariadne and Deucalion and the grand- 
 father of the Cretan hero Idomeneus, who fought at Troy, and 
 says that he conversed as a famihar friend with Zeus, and 
 reigned '' for a space of nine years." 
 
 Now it is almost certain that ' Minos ' was, like ' Pharaoh,' 
 a royal title, and that these kings of Crete or Cnossus were 
 believed to be descended from the great Cretan god, the 
 Dictaean Zeus, and it is thought that the king, as High-priest 
 of Zeus, went up once every nine years to ' converse ' with the 
 deity in the Dictaeatr cave and to receive his laws (like Moses 
 on Sinai). Moreover, research and excavation have made it 
 clear that the old Cretan religion was closely associated 
 with the bull, as is intimated by the myths of Kuropa ^ and 
 Pasiphae. Bulls were doubtless sacrificed to Zeus, and the 
 king-priest seems to have performed ceremonies in the disguise 
 of a bull-headed monster — a fact that is probably the real 
 explanation of the Minotaur and Pasiphae myths. By some 
 it is beheved that the priest-king, when he entered the Dictaean 
 cave at the end of his nine-years reign, was walled up there, 
 or slain, 2 and it is evident that at the bull-grapphng spectacles 
 given in honour of the Bull-god many human victims were 
 done to death, mostly youths and maidens (as in the case 
 of the sacrifices of first-born children to Moloch). It seems, 
 therefore, that behind these old myths of the ' Bull of Minos ' 
 
 1 Europa, according to the myth, was carried ofE by Zeus, in the form of a 
 bull, from Phoenicia, and it was formerly assumed that the bull-headed Cretan 
 deity was the Phoenician Baal or Moloch. Doubtless both the Minotaur and 
 the Talos myth do seem to point to the bull-headed Moloch and human 
 burnt sacrifice ; but at present the Phoenicians, like the Pelasgians, are in 
 disrepute, and it is asserted that Phoenician influence on Crete and Greece 
 was much later and much less important than was formerly supposed. 
 
 * As happened to the Pharaoh-priest at the ' Sed ' festival in Egypt. 
 
 23 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 and Theseus and the Athenian youths and maidens sent every 
 nine years (as Plutarch tells us) to be given over as victims to 
 this Minotaur, there is a good deal of fact, and when Thucydides 
 (who strongly condemns " careless investigation of truth ") 
 tells us that Minos of Crete was the first monarch to acquire 
 a navy and that he " made himself master of the greater 
 part " of the Aegaean and " swept piracy from the sea/' we need 
 no longer doubt his accuracy nor the possibility of trustworthy 
 traditions of the great Minoan Empire having reached the age 
 of Pericles. That it was an empire founded on naval supremacy 
 is remarkably confirmed by the fact that Cnossus possessed no 
 fortifications. Moreover, the existence of numerous settlements 
 named Minoa on the Mediterranean shores seems to prove it. 
 One of these was on the island oil Megara. In the Theseus myth 
 Minos lays even Athens under tribute. 
 
 But before we draw conclusions in regard to this Minoan 
 race and its connexion with the early history of the Hellenic 
 nation there is another group of evidence to be considered, 
 namely, that which Egypt ^ suppHes. 
 
 Egypt and Crete 
 
 The earliest evidences of what is called Minoan civilization 
 in Crete are perhaps a little later than the age (c. 3500) in which 
 King Mena is said to have founded the first of the Egyptian 
 dynasties,^ and the final fall of the Minoan Empire, about 
 1350, corresponds with the end of the XVIIIth Dynasty. 
 In the age of the first two dynasties there was doubtless some 
 intercourse between Egypt and Crete, but the only possible 
 evidence of it consists in fragments of bucchero (black pottery) 
 which have been found in very ancient Egyptian tombs. 
 This pottery is believed to have come from Crete. On the 
 other hand, very ancient vessels of syenite, some of which have 
 
 ^ There is only the very faintest evidence, if indeed it can be accepted as 
 evidence, of any intercourse in these ages between Crete (or any other Aegaean 
 land) and Babylonia or Assyria, and (what seems strange considering the 
 great antiquity of Sidon) very much less Phoenician influence than was 
 formerly believed to have existed. 
 
 2 Others put this back some two thousand years to 5500. 
 
 24 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 been found at Cnossus, are believed to have come from 
 
 Egypt. From the era of Cheops and other Pyramid-builders 
 
 (Ilird to Xlth Dynasties) there is considerably more 
 
 evidence of a similar nature ; but it was not till about 2000, 
 
 during the Xllth Dynasty, that the Cretan ware, especially 
 
 the beautiful ' Kamares ' porcelain, seems to have been 
 
 largely imported into Egypt. Indubitable specimens of this 
 
 polychrome Minoan ware have been discovered in Egyptian 
 
 tombs of this period, together with cylinders inscribed with 
 
 the name of Amenemhat III, the last of the dynasty. It was 
 
 this great king who built the lyabyrinth near I^ake Moeris in 
 
 Egypt which very possibly was imitated at Cnossus by King 
 
 Minos — unless indeed the Egyptian I^abyrinth was suggested 
 
 by the Cretan. ^ 
 
 Then follows the Dark Age of Egyptian history (Xlllth to 
 
 XVIIth Dynasties), during which for some five centuries the 
 
 Hyksos (a Canaanite or African nomad race) were the lords of 
 
 Egypt. Of these so-called ' Shepherd Kings ' the only one at 
 
 all known is Khyan (' Embracer of I^ands '). His cartouche, 
 
 carved on a lion, has been found even at Bagdad, and at Cnossus 
 
 the lid of an alabaster box has been discovered bearing his 
 
 name. After the Dark Age and the domination of the Hyksos 
 
 (broken by the Wars of Independence) we have the famous 
 
 XVIIIth Dynasty, founded by Aahmes in 1580. To this 
 
 dynasty belonged the great monarchs Queen Hatshepsut, 
 
 King Tutmes, and Amenhotep III (Fig. 3), who extended 
 
 Egyptian trade and influence into distant countries. In 
 
 the numerous inscribed and painted Egyptian records of 
 
 this era there figure many foreign races, and among these is 
 
 one, that of the Kephtiu, which formerly used to be regarded 
 
 as Phoenician, but which is evidently Cretan. In feature, in 
 
 dress, and in the high coiffure with long down-hanging tresses, 
 
 these painted Kephtiu bear a most striking resemblance to 
 
 the type that we have in the ' Cup-bearer ' (Fig. 16), and the 
 
 ^ This Egyptian lyabyrinth, with its 4500 rooms, was seen by Herodotus, 
 who describes (ii. 148) the enormous complex as the most wonderful building on 
 earth, " surpassing the Pyramids." Evidently this lyabyrinth was very much 
 larger than anything discovered in Crete. 
 
 25 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 name Kephtiu, which is said to mean ' the men from beyond ' 
 {i.e. from beyond the sea), is one that well suits the Cretans. 
 Also the fact that these Kephtiu are depicted carrying, as 
 tribute or gifts, gold and silver vessels very similar to the 
 Vaphio cups confirms one's behef that they are Cretans, 
 all the more when one remembers that the era of this 
 XVIIIth Dynasty corresponds to that of the great Palace 
 at Cnossus, with its wonderful frescoes and other signs of an 
 advanced civilization. Moreover, the evidence from pottery is 
 here very strong, great quantities of Cretan ware of this period 
 and of the succeeding centuries having been found in Egypt. 
 
 It is very striking that about 1400, the era of the sack of 
 Cnossus and the fall of the Minoan Empire, the Kephtiu suddenly 
 disappear from Egyptian records, and that some 100 years 
 later, about the time of the Biblical Exodus, the names of a 
 number of strange northern tribes are found, among whom are 
 the * Aqayuasha ' — very possibly the Achaeans. 
 
 Not much later, again {c. 1200 — just about the time of the 
 Trojan War), a great host of ' people of the sea,' leagued 
 with the Hittites, threatened Egypt from the north-east, but 
 they were defeated and dispersed by Ramses III. Among 
 these invaders are mentioned Danauna (possibly Danai, i.e. 
 Argives) and Pulosathu, who were probably Cretan refugees and 
 identical with the Kephtiu — perhaps the Biblical Philistines of 
 Kaphtor.i 
 
 Egypt and Mycenae 
 
 During the later period of Minoan civilization (say 1700-1400) 
 the Mycenaean civilization was probably at its highest, ^ and 
 
 1 See Jer. xlvii. 4 and Gen. x. 14. After their defeat by Ramses these 
 Pulosathu (Pelasgians ? Philistines ?) seem to have settled in Palestine, and 
 it is remarkable that Cretan pottery is said to have been discovered at their 
 chief town, Gath. Perhaps Goliath was a Cretan, and perhaps, after all, the 
 Philistines were of a people that for some reasons may claim to be children of 
 Light no less than the Israelites — artistically anyhow. 
 
 2 Not only are traces of ' Mycenaean ' civilization found in Aegaean lands 
 and islands, as well as in Northern Greece, and even in Sicily and Spain, but 
 it seems that there were Mycenaean kings in Cyprus about 1450. And yet 
 Mycenae was evidently not a great naval power. 
 
 26 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 to this period may belong the shaft-tombs on the acropolis 
 of Mycenae. Amongst the relics there discovered we have 
 already noted an evident Nile scene on an inlaid dagger-blade. 
 But besides this the cartouche of the Egyptian Amenhotep III 
 (Fig. 3), the great king of the XVIIIth Dynasty, was found 
 in one of the later vaulted tombs, as well as several pieces 
 of porcelain inscribed with his name. Amenhotep reigned 
 from 1414 to 1380, so it seems likely that these later Mycenaean 
 tombs were built about 1400. The old Aegaean (Pelopid ?) 
 kings of the earher tombs were probably supreme at Mycenae, 
 and in the rest of the Peloponnese, until about this date, when 
 Mycenae seems to have been conquered by some foreign enemy. 
 Shortly afterwards the same enemy seems to have sacked 
 Cnossus. 
 
 General Conclusions 
 
 The question now naturally arises, who were these invaders ? 
 And this question leads us to a still larger one, namely, what 
 conclusions can we from all this evidence reasonably draw in 
 regard to the early inhabitants of Greece, and those migrations 
 and invasions and heroes and dynasties of which Greek myths 
 tell so much, but which till lately were generally regarded as 
 quite worthless fables ? 
 
 Firstly, then, who were these invaders who seem to have 
 conquered Mycenae and some years later to have sacked 
 Cnossus ? 
 
 The old tradition, handed down to us by Herodotus, says 
 that when Daedalus made himself wings and thus escaped 
 to Southern Italy and Sicily he was pursued by Minos, and that, 
 Minos having come to a tragic end in Sicily, a great host of 
 Cretans set forth in ships to avenge his death ; but they failed 
 in their object and lost their fleet in a tempest and founded 
 Hyria in Southern Italy, where they changed their name to 
 Messapian lapygians. Herodotus also learnt from the inhabi- 
 tants of Praesos, in Crete, that after this national disaster 
 " men of various nations flocked to Crete, destitute as it now 
 was of inhabitants ; but none came in such numbers as the 
 
 27 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Greeks." He places the death of this King Minos three gene- 
 rations before the Trojan War, say in 1330 — i.e. not long after 
 the time when, we are assured by modern archaeologists, 
 Cnossus was sacked and the great palace burnt. 
 
 What truth there may be in this tale of a Cretan-Sicilian 
 expedition one cannot say. Possibly it represents the general 
 exodus of Cretans after the advent of " men of various nations " 
 from over the sea. Of these invaders, according to Herodotus, 
 the Greeks (Hellenes) were the most numerous, and among 
 the various nations which inhabited Crete in a somewhat 
 later, post-Dorian, age the first that Homer mentions are the 
 Achaeans,^ which looks as if then they were still the paramount 
 race. 
 
 All our evidence, I think, points to the Achaeans as the 
 conquerors of the Mycenaeans and other Aegaean peoples, 
 and as the sackers of Cnossus, and points to the period 
 1400-1200 as that during which these northern invaders (of 
 whom we have already heard much in connexion with the 
 Homeric age and the sixth city of Troy) extended their conquests 
 over Greece and as far as Crete. That these Achaeans (perhaps 
 the ' Aqayuasha ' of Egyptian records, of whom we have 
 heard) made themselves lords not only of mainland Greece 
 but also of the Aegaean, and perhaps Crete, seems probable 
 also from Homer's statement (quoted by Thucydides) that 
 Agamemnon, the great Achaean king, ruled not only over all 
 Argos but over ' many islands.' 
 
 The second and larger question which we must endeavour 
 to answer is, what conclusions we may reasonably accept 
 in regard to the races which inhabited Greece before the advent 
 of the Achaeans. We have already seen that they were 
 probably a dark-haired, lithe-limbed people, such as we find 
 the ancient Cretans to be depicted, and we have spoken of 
 them as the ' Aegaean ' race. I^et us now hear what old 
 Greek tradition says about these early inhabitants of Greece, 
 and their conquerors, the Achaeans. 
 
 1 Od. xix. 175. He mentions also aboriginal Cretans, Cydonians, Pelasgians, 
 and the (evidently later) Dorians. 
 
 28 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 At the beginning of his history Thucydides, after speaking 
 of the continual migrations of the tribes of ancient Greece, 
 mentions the ' Pelasgian ' name as that which was most widely 
 applied to these tribes. lyong before the time of Thucydides 
 these Pelasgians had been frequently mentioned by Homer, 
 who speaks of them in Thessaly, Boeotia, Attica, and even 
 in the Peloponnese, and also in Asia Minor (possibly aboriginal 
 Phrygians, fighting on the side of the Trojans) and in Crete 
 He gives the epithet ' divine ' (heaven-descended ? aboriginal ?) 
 to these Pelasgians. Moreover, he applies the epithet ' Pelas- 
 gian ' to the northern (Thessalian) Argos, and to the Zeus whose 
 oracle was at Dodona, in Epirus. 
 
 Herodotus also tells us of Pelasgians who built the old walls 
 of the Athenian AcroiDolis, and it seems certain that the original 
 lords of what was later the Athenian Acropolis were those 
 Pelasgi or Gecropes whom later ' autochthonous ' f amiHes 
 
 , of Athens claimed as their ancestors. 
 
 I It seems not impossible that these ancient Pelasgians were 
 of the same race as the Etruscans or Tyrrhenians, called 
 Tyrseni (perhaps ' Tower Men ') by the Greeks.^ It is also 
 not impossible that the Pulosathu of Crete (the PhiHstines?), 
 of whom we have already heard, were Pelasgians ; and, 
 lastly, it is quite possible that the Turusha, one of the 
 oversea tribes mentioned as having invaded Egypt about 1300 
 together with the Aqayuasha (Achaeans ?), were these Tyrseni 
 or Etruscans. 
 
 However this may be, it is not surprising that formerly all 
 writers on Greece accepted the word * Pelasgian ' as the most 
 satisfactory name to cover the unknown tribes inhabiting 
 
 i Greece at the time of the Achaean invasions. But of late 
 
 j ^ Hesiod (c. 750), or some early imitator, mentions the Tyrseni of Italy and 
 possibly even King Latinus ! The Etruscans called themselves * Rasena.' Some 
 three centuries later Herodotus asserts that the Tyrseni of Italy came from 
 I^ydia, and also that Pelasgians were expelled from Athens and settled in 
 lyemnos. Now other traditions say that there were people called Tyrsenes 
 in Ivemnos, who were believed to be Tyrrhenians, and an inscription found 
 in I,emnos is said to show similarities to old Etruscan. According to Pliny 
 and Varro, there was a great I^abyrinth, like the Cretan, connected with the 
 tomb of I^ars Porsena at Clusium, in Etruria. C/. Thuc. iv. 109. 
 
 29 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 years this name has met with disfavour, for it is evident that 
 the newly discovered ' Aegaean ' race was not identical with 
 the Pelasgic, and it is our knowledge of this so-called Aegaean 
 race that now allows us to reconstruct and repeople to some 
 extent that obscure * mythical ' age formerly regarded as 
 unworthy of the attention of the historian. 
 
 The only satisfactory answer, therefore, that we can give 
 in regard to the pre- Achaean inhabitants of Greece is this : 
 There were doubtless also other peoples (such as these Pelas- 
 gians), but in the southern parts of Greece the main race, 
 and the only race that we really know anything about for 
 certain, was this Mycenaean, or Aegaean, race, to which 
 probably the Cretans were closely related. They were a dark- 
 haired, long-headed people, not of Semitic origin, but possibly 
 with some affinity to the Egyptians. They lived in Greece in 
 what is called the Bronze Age — that is, before iron came into 
 general use — and perhaps before bronze was invented, which 
 could not have been until tin was brought from western lands 
 (from Spain, and perhaps even from Britain) . Before tin was 
 procurable to mix with their copper, which they obtained 
 in abundance from Cyprus and also from Chalcis, in Euboea, 
 they were obhged to make their weapons and tools of copper, 
 or of stone or obsidian. In early times possibly some of these 
 Aegaean folk {e.g. at Orchomenus, Tiryns, and other marshy 
 places) dwelt in lake- villages, like the Stone Age inhabitants of 
 other parts of Europe. The northern invaders, the Achaeans, 
 seem to have introduced the more general use of bronze for 
 weapons and armour. Then, about 1250, iron, which hitherto 
 had been among Aegaean peoples a rare material for rings and 
 small ornaments, began to be used for sharp-edged tools (as 
 we find it in Homer) , and gradually won its way into general 
 use.^ Possibly the arts of smelting and of forging iron (graphi- 
 cally described in the Odyssey, ix. 391) may have been intro- 
 duced by the Achaeans ; but the metal may have been found 
 less commonly by them in Greece, which may account for its 
 comparatively rare mention by Homer. 
 
 1 See Hesiod's Erga for these various Ages. C/. p. 105. 
 
 30 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 During this Bronze Age (that is, before the advent of the 
 northern invaders) there were in Greece doubtless other 
 important cities, besides Mycenae and Tiryns and Amyclae 
 and Orchomenus, inhabited by Aegaeans or Pelasgians or 
 whatever else we may call these early races, but, except in a 
 few cases, their memorials have utterly perished. Of Athens, 
 however, and of Thebes we have some remarkable traditions. 
 
 Athens in Pre-Dorian Times 
 
 On account of the poverty of its soil, as Thucydides tells us, 
 and also perhaps on account of the more warlike character 
 of its inhabitants, Attica seems never to have been permanently 
 conquered by invaders. It apparently remained (as also 
 Arcadia in the Peloponnese) finally unoccupied by the 
 Achaeans,^ and the ancient Pelasgian race was the main stock 
 from which the later Athenians sprang, though much else 
 was grafted upon it. Of these old Pelasgian aborigines a 
 relic may still be seen, namely, a few blocks of bluish lime- 
 stone which formed a part of the rampart built round their 
 citadel. This old wall was by the later Athenians called the 
 * Pelasgic ' or ' Pelargic ' wall, and to the north-west of the 
 Acropolis was an open space called the ' Pelasgion,' on which 
 it was forbidden to build, until at the beginning of the Pelo- 
 ponnesian War (431), when thousands were flocking from the 
 country into the city, the old law was allowed to lapse. ^ 
 Herodotus tells of old Pelasgian kings of Attica, Cecrops 
 and Brechtheus, regarded, of course, later as divine ^ and 
 associated with the ancient snake-worship so common in the 
 cult of the dead. According to one old legend, Cecrops came 
 from Egypt — which, indeed, possibly was the cradle of the 
 Aegaean and Pelasgian people. He is said to have introduced 
 
 ^ This evidently accounts for the fact that Athens is ahnost entirely ignored 
 by Homer, the glorifier of the Achaeans. (In later times the Athenians 
 perhaps inserted certain lines in their own honour.) 
 
 2 Thuc. ii. 17. 
 
 ' The ancient EJrechtheion, or * house of Brechtheus,' preceded the temple of 
 Athene. Some writers assert that Cecrops (as also many another old hero, such 
 as Odysseus, or even the lawgiver Lycurgus) was originally " only a god." 
 i Surely the reverse process is more credible. 
 
 31 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 a higher form of rehgion and to have aboHshed bloody (human ?) 
 sacrifice. On the old Cecropian citadel was built by his son 
 Krechtheus a temple, first dedicated to Poseidon, but after- 
 wards (as we see from Homer, Od. vii. 82) given over to the 
 new tutelary deity, Athene ; ^ or perhaps they shared it until 
 the first Parthenon was built. Aegeus, grandson of Krechtheus, 
 is said to have been the father of Theseus, and if (as we have 
 seen to be possible) the myth of Theseus and King Minos 
 refers to facts that occurred in the last era of Minoan civiliza- 
 tion — i.e. about 1350 — it will follow that Cecrops might have 
 lived (granting that tradition is fairly correct) about 1450. 
 Thus the era of the ancient traditional Pelasgian kings of 
 Athens would correspond with the highest period of Mycenaean 
 civilization, and the tradition which tells us that Theseus was 
 driven from his throne ^ may very possibly be founded on the 
 fact that the Achaeans, though they did not retain possession, 
 captured Athens. And the strange story of the fierce battle, 
 in the very midst of the city, in which Theseus conquered the 
 Amazons may point to some disturbance caused by the pressure 
 from the north of the Achaean invaders. 
 
 Thebes in Pre-Dorian Times 
 
 Another ancient city of Greece was seven-gated Thebes, 
 which has left us many remarkable legends, but very few ruins, 
 and almost no relics of its early existence — as is the case 
 with most places that have been continuously inhabited. 
 Homer speaks of Amphion (Niobe's husband) and Zethus 
 as its founders, and perhaps this is the oldest tradition, and 
 points to a dynasty (possibly from Phrygia, the home of 
 Niobe and her brother Pelops) before that of Cadmus, who is 
 
 ^ The contest between Poseidon and Athene for the tutelage of the city was 
 the subject of the west pediment of the later Parthenon (see Fig. 86) . Codrus 
 is said to have decided it. Others say that it was decided by the votes of the 
 Athenian women, who beat the men by one vote — a^ad were straightway dis- 
 franchised 1 
 
 2 He retired to the island Scyros, where he was murdered. Some nine 
 hundred years later what were supposed to be his bones were brought to 
 Athens by Cimon and consigned to the Theseion (Theseum) — perhaps not 
 what is now so called. 
 
 32 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 generally said to have founded Thebes. Cadmus, according 
 to Herodotus, was a Phoenician,^ and " introduced the art of 
 writing, whereof the Greeks till then had been ignorant.'' 
 Fourth in descent from Cadmus was Oedipus, whose tragic 
 fate is related by Sophocles. One of the sons of Oedipus, 
 according to the old legend, expelled by his brother fled to 
 the Peloponnese and incited the famous and disastrous expe- 
 dition of the Seven against Thebes, in which six of the seven 
 heroes perished ; but later their descendants (Kpigoni) made 
 a second expedition and razed Thebes to the ground. 
 
 This well-known myth doubtless rests on traditions of real 
 facts, and these facts were probably of this nature. When 
 the successive waves of northern invaders — whom we may 
 conveniently call by the collective name of Achaeans — 
 rolled southward through Upper Greece, the seven-portal' d 
 stronghold of Thebes, with its mighty ramparts and towers 
 (see Od. xi. 264) and its Cadmeia, the acropolis built 
 by Cadmus, at first proved impregnable ; but after the 
 invaders had firmly planted themselves in southern Argos 
 they sent an army across the Isthmus or the Gulf of Corinth 
 and succeeded in capturing the city. With this theory the 
 traditional date of Cadmus (1313) and that of the expedition 
 of the Seven against Thebes (1213) fit in very fairly, and the 
 theory that these attacks on Thebes were made by an elder 
 generation of the Homeric ' Achaeans ' and ' Argives ' is in 
 agreement with what Homer and Hesiod and others relate. 
 
 But let us hear further what is known, or what may be reason- 
 ably inferred, about these invaders who, doubtless in many 
 successive waves and under many different names, poured into 
 Greece, evidently from the north, during perhaps two centuries 
 (1400-1200). 
 
 It is said ^ that parts of Central Europe during these ages 
 were peopled by a race which in many points resembled the 
 
 ^ The name may possibly mean ' the Oriental ' ; cf. Hebrew gedent, the 
 East. Some, however, assert that what few relics have been discovered of 
 Thebes are purely Minoan in character. 
 
 ^ See especially Professor Ridgeway's Early Age of Greece. Others regard 
 this ' Hallstatt civilization ' as dating only from about 700. 
 
 c 33 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 Achaeans described by Homer. In the Austrian Alps not 
 far from Salzburg there is a place named Hallstatt, where 
 about a thousand graves have been examined. The relics 
 point to a transition between the ages of bronze and iron. 
 Armour and shields (round metal shields very unlike the huge 
 Aegaean shield) and swords of both metals were found, and a 
 great number of brooches [fibulae, irepovm), such as those 
 with which, as we have already seen, the Homeric woman's 
 peplos and the man's chlaina were fastened. Not much silver 
 was found, but many ornaments of amber (from northern 
 seas), and gold and a blue vitreous substance like the Homeric 
 cyan. Both burial and cremation seem to have been prac- 
 tised. Whether there is any evidence of horses and chariots 
 I do not know. 
 
 It seems possible that bands of this northern, fair-haired, 
 broad-headed Aryan race ^ made their way from time to time 
 down into Epirus and Thessaly, and established themselves 
 in the district of Pelasgic Argos, also called Phthiotis, the 
 home of the Homeric Achilles. Here they probably collected a 
 large army of the native Argives, and at the head of this Argive 
 host pressed southward, crossed the Corinthian Gulf, over- 
 ran the Peloponnese (except perhaps Arcadia), and founded 
 that southern Argos of which Agamemnon was afterwards 
 king, 2 and which before the advent of the Achaeans and their 
 Argives was probably called lyarisa (one of the very numerous 
 ' lyarisas,' or forts, in Greece and Asia Minor) and was a mere 
 outpost of royal Mycenae. 
 
 Now in Thessaly, perhaps before the advent of the Achaeans 
 (unless they accompanied or followed them from the north), 
 lived a people called Hellenes. They were evidently of Aryan, 
 not Pelasgic, race. Tradition makes Hellen, their ancestor, 
 son of the Greek Noah, Deucalion, and asserts that he 
 
 ^ Tites-caffies is even nowadays (besides its other meaning) used as a 
 sobriquet for the Teuton race. 
 
 * In Homer Diomede seems to be prince of the city Argos, probably under 
 the suzerainty of Agamemnon, who lived at Mycenae. The theory has already 
 been mentioned that Agamemnon and his Achaeans and Argives were only 
 transported from Thessaly to the Peloponnese by a poet's imagination. 
 
 34 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 reigned over Thessalian Phthiotis, or Phthia, as Homer calls 
 it, which was the home of Achilles. The district inhabited 
 by these Hellenes — the original Hellas — seems to have been 
 the valley of the river Spercheios (now called Ellada), which 
 runs into the sea not far north of Thermopylae. Some of 
 these Hellenes seem to have joined in the southward march, 
 and to have been merged in the larger host of Argives and 
 Achaeans — for in Homer the Hellenes, and the pan-Hellenes, 
 are still the Thessalian folk who followed Achilles, and Hellas 
 is still only a district in Thessaly. It was not till much later, 
 as Thucydides says, that the names Hellas and Hellenes 
 won their broader meanings, and denoted the land and the 
 peoples of what we call the Greek race not only in Greece 
 proper but in Asia Minor, Africa, Sicily, and Italy. ^ 
 
 These invading bands of Achaeans, with their Argive and 
 Hellene followers, seem to have settled themselves chiefly in 
 the Peloponnese. Mycenae was evidently captured by them, 
 but the signs of conflagration which are found both at Mycenae 
 and at Tiryns are very Hkely due to the later Dorians, of whom 
 we shall hear ere long. The Achaeans were probably not such 
 a refined and artistically civilized people as the Mycenaeans 
 whom they had conquered, but they were not, as the Dorians 
 seem to have been, what Homer calls " savages wanton and 
 wild, despisers of justice," and they seem to have assimilated 
 much that was valuable in the old Aegaean civiHzation. 
 Indeed, the pictures that Homer gives us of these Achaean 
 princes are those of men warlike and haughty, and sometimes 
 terribly cruel and crafty, but endowed with deep feelings of 
 affection and reverence and with a keen sensitiveness to all 
 
 ^ It is curious also how the word ' Greek ' won its way from an equally 
 obscure origin. Aristotle indeed asserts that near Dodona, in Epirus, there 
 lived in early ages a people "then called Greeks, but now Hellenes"; and 
 Sophocles perhaps used the name ; but it is generally supposed that it was 
 the Romans who first gave the name to the Hellenes whom they met in 
 Southern Italy (Magna Graecia). It has been pointed out that a band of 
 Graians from Boeotia joined the Kuboeans in founding Cyme (Cumae) in 
 Italy, and that their name was applied by the Romans to all Hellenic people. 
 Nations are sometimes named from apparently small causes {e.g. Americans, 
 Swiss), and are often known to foreigners by non-native names, e.g. Germans, 
 AUemands, Xedeschi, Dutch, Kafirs, ]^truscans (Rasena), I/ycians (Termilae). 
 
 35 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 that is gracious and beautiful. To their possession of such 
 quahties may be due the otherwise inexpHcable fact that the 
 tombs of the Mycenaean monarchs were discovered intact 
 after the lapse of more than 3000 years. How these could 
 have escaped the Dorians and later marauders is puzzling 
 enough, but that they were not at once plundered by the 
 Achaeans seems explainable by assuming (as I assumed before) 
 that these Achaeans did not ravage and enslave, but, like the 
 Norman adventurers in later ages, constituted themselves the 
 lords of the native population, and probably married princesses 
 of the native dynasties. On this assumption Atreus and 
 Agamemnon, though mainly of Achaean blood, might have 
 regarded the old Pelopidae as their ancestors, and in this case 
 would have carefully kept intact their tombs on the acropolis, 
 lyater, i^erhaps, the effects of some conflagration may have 
 concealed them from the invader. 
 
 Having thus given a sketch of what is known about the early 
 — so-called Aegaean — age of Greece, and having shown the 
 connexion between this Aegaean civilization and that of 
 Crete, Egypt, and Troy, and having discussed some of the 
 more important traditions in their possible relation to certain 
 great occurrences in Greece proper down to the final establish- 
 ment of the Achaeans in Southern Greece (say about 1200), I 
 shall now, before continmng the account of historical, or 
 quasi-historical, events, treat in the following three sections 
 three subjects connected with what has been already written — 
 namely, the questions of (A) I^anguage and Writing, (B) The 
 Old Religion, (C) The * Homeric Age ' and Homer. The fourth 
 section will contain a chronological table (with, of course, 
 many somewhat audaciously hazarded dates) which will 
 give a bird's-eye view of the era that we have been considering. 
 These and other such sections may be regarded as supple- 
 mentary monographs, not as integral parts of the main subject 
 of the book. 
 
 36 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 SECTION A : LANGUAGE AND WRITING 
 
 A chapter on the old Aegaean and Pelasgic languages 
 necessarily exhibits some similarity to the celebrated chapter 
 on the snakes of Ireland. Of ancient Cretan, which was 
 perhaps related to the Mycenaean and other Aegaean lan- 
 guages, we do, indeed, possess some thousands of inscriptions, 
 but not one single symbol or letter of all these inscriptions 
 has yet been satisfactorily deciphered, far less has any certain 
 meaning been extracted. It is uncertain whether Pelasgic 
 was of the same family as the Aegaean and Cretan, and whether 
 all these languages, or any one of them, belonged to the Aryan 
 stock or to the Semitic, or to some other entirely unknown 
 stock, from which perhaps also the Hittite language was 
 derived. 
 
 Herodotus tells us that, to judge from various Pelasgian 
 tribes of his day (some in Macedonia, others on the Hellespont) 
 and from cities " which have dropped the name, but are in 
 fact Pelasgian," their language was certainly ' barbarous ' ; 
 but of course this is no proof of its having been a non- Aryan 
 language, and tells us no more than Homer does when he calls 
 the Carians ' barbarous-tongued.' As we have already seen, 
 there is a possibiHty of the Pelasgic being closely related to 
 the Etruscan, and we have also seen that this same language 
 may possibly have been spoken by Goliath and his fellow- 
 Philistines. But to speak of the Pelasgic as the principal 
 language or dialect of ancient Greece, and to assume that it 
 may have been the same as the Mycenaean, and related to the 
 Cretan, is, of course, mere guesswork. All we can be fairly 
 certain about is that the pre-Hellenic language, or languages, 
 left behind names of places and other words which were 
 adopted by the northern invaders, and which are evidently 
 from no Greek source. ' I^arisa ' is a name that survived both 
 in Thessaly and in Asia Minor. It seems to mean ' a fortress.' 
 'Olympos' and 'Parnassus' are others. Words with the termi- 
 nation 'inth{os) are thought to be Pelasgic or Aegaean — e.g, 
 Corinthos, Tiryn(th)s, Olynthos, Zacynthos, Rhadaminthys, 
 
 37 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Hyacinthos, and lyabyrinthos. As far as we can tell, these 
 and other such words, supposed to be relics of the old Pelasgic 
 or Aegaean, have no affinity to an}'' Aryan or to any Semitic 
 language. 
 
 Formerly it was believed that no writing existed in Europe 
 before the Phoenicians introduced their alphabet into Crete, 
 whence it was brought to Greece. There seems, indeed, 
 no evidence that writing, whether alphabetic or other, was 
 known in pre-Hellenic Greece, for although Herodotus (v. 58) 
 asserts that Cadmus and his Phoenicians brought the art of 
 writing, " whereof the Greeks had been till then ignorant,*' 
 to Boeotia when they founded Thebes (traditional date 1313), 
 nevertheless no inscription of any sort has, I believe, been 
 found in Greece itself of a date earlier than about 700, and 
 nothing at all in any script except the alphabetic. Amid all 
 the costly and artistic treasures of the Mycenaean kings 
 there has been discovered no sign of writing. 
 
 But, strange as it may seem, writing was well known at this 
 time not only in Egypt and Babylonia, and perhaps in a 
 great part of Asia Minor, but also in Crete, and, as ancient 
 seals and other inscribed objects prove, it had existed there 
 ever since at least 2000 — long before the advent of the 
 Phoenician alphabet. This Minoan script — of which there are 
 various forms — was probably a Cretan ^ invention, although 
 in its oldest form it seems to have some affinity to Egyptian 
 hieroglyphics, and in its later possibly to the Hittite and Cypriot 
 writing. In its oldest form Minoan script was pictographic. 
 It consisted of rude pictures or symbols denoting objects 
 themselves. lyater it became hieroglyphic, in which system 
 the symbol denoted the name of an object, i.e. a word. 
 Finally it became linear, each sign probably denoting 
 a syllable (not a mere sound, as in the alphabetic system). 
 Thousands of tablets with this linear script have been dis- 
 covered. It went through various changes, and after the 
 great catastrophe of c. 1400 developed a more systematic 
 method of representing words and sentences, and a cursive 
 
 1 Similar script has been found in some of the islands— f.g. Thera and Melos. 
 
 38 
 
20. Cretan Jars for Oii. or Corn 
 
 21. Ci<AY Disc of Phaestus 
 
 38 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 character which seems to presume the knowledge of pen and 
 ink. In the later form the Minoan script stands on a level 
 very much higher than Egyptian hieroglyphics or Babylonian 
 cuneiform. Hitherto, as we have said, all attempts to decipher 
 Cretan script have failed, except that possibly certain numerical 
 symbols, like the Egyptian, have been recognized.^ 
 
 Perhaps the most remarkable of all inscriptions found in 
 Crete is that on both faces of the so-called disc of Phaestus 
 
 22. Cretan I^inkar Script 
 
 (Fig. 2i), a circular clay tablet about 7 inches in diameter. 
 The date is perhaps about 1800. It is evidently not merely 
 pictographic, and is divided into periods, which may repre- 
 sent words, or sentences. The regularity of these divisions 
 and the repetition of certain symbols, such as the crested or 
 horse-maned warrior ^ and the circle with seven dots (can they 
 
 ^ Supposed to have been on a decimal system, the unit signified by an 
 upright stroke, the tens by points, the hundreds by bars, and the thousands 
 by lozenges. 
 
 2 Reminding one of Egyptian pictures of the Pulosathu (Philistines), and 
 still more of the description by Herodotus of I^ibyans in the army of 
 Xerxes who wore on the head " the scalps of horses with the ears and mane 
 standing upright as a crest. ' ' In Central Africa I have seen similar crests made 
 of zebra scalps. 
 
 39 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 be tlie sky and seven planets ?), have made some believe that 
 it is a poem — possibly a hymn to the Cretan Zeus or the 
 Great Mother. Sir Arthur Kvans holds it to be lyycian rather 
 than Cretan script. 
 
 In later times, after Greek influence had established itself in 
 Crete, there was a considerable district at the eastern end of 
 the island inhabited by the descendants of the old Cretan 
 race (Eteocretes, or true-Cretans, as Homer calls them) 
 Among them an old Cretan language survived, as the Krse 
 in Ireland and the Basque in Spain. But the old script was 
 apparently forgotten, and an inscription in this language 
 written in Greek letters has been discovered. Unfortunately, 
 although we can read it, we cannot extract any meaning 
 from it. 
 
 In Greece itself, as has been already said, there has been 
 found no sign of any script but the alphabetic, and the hope 
 of discovering a clue to ancient Mycenaean or Pelasgic 
 is therefore immeasurably less than in the case of the old 
 Cretan languages. The earliest mention of writing in Greek 
 literature is probably to be found in Homer's Iliad (vi. i68), 
 where King Proetus of Argos sends Bellerophon to lyycia 
 with ' direful signs * written on a ' closed tablet,' in order that 
 the Ivycian king should kill him on his arrival. These ' direful 
 signs ' may have been pictorial, or (as Proetus had lived in 
 I/ycia) they may have been in I^ycian writing,^ or in such a 
 script as the Hittites employed — ^hieroglyphic or the so-called 
 Cypriot syllabarium — which seems to have been widely 
 used in Asia Minor, for imitations of it are said to have been 
 found among the ornamental devices on ancient Trojan 
 pottery. 
 
 Although not related in very ancient Greek literature, the 
 fable of Philomela (daughter of the old Athenian king Pandion) 
 seems to imply the knowledge of some kind of writing, as she 
 
 ^ The ancient Lycian alphabet is said to have had more vowels than con- 
 sonant?, so that it was probably non-Semitic, but it differed entirely from the 
 Greek, although Greece and Lycia seem to have been from early times closely 
 connected. Indeed, the word ' Lycian ' is wholly Greek. The people called 
 themselves ' Termilae,' as Herodotus says, and as is proved by inscriptions. 
 
 40 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 wove words into a peplos to communicate with her sister 
 Procne ; and the Apple of Discord was inscribed. 
 
 The invention, or anyhow the introduction into Europe, 
 of the alphabet is due to the Phoenicians.^ The Phoenician 
 script consisted (like other Semitic scripts) solely of consonants 
 and breathings. The Greeks seem to have adopted about 
 fourteen consonants from the Phoenicians and to have used 
 the Phoenician breathings (aspirates) to represent the four 
 vowel sounds A, B, I, O. Then from the East probably came 
 the Greek upsilon (Y), which at first was a consonant [i.e. 
 the digamma, pronounced like V or F), and the eta (H), which 
 in classical Greek is e, but at first was an aspirate, as later in 
 lyatin. It is found as aspirate on old Greek vases. lyater 
 it was cut in half vertically, and the halves were used 
 as the hard and soft breathings. The H as aspirate can be 
 seen on Hiero's helmet (Fig. ^/y) and on Tataia's oil-flask 
 (Fig. 23). Other consonants, e.g. "i^, ^, and the long vowel 
 17, were invented later — probably in Ionia, or perhaps Sicily. 
 The ancient 9 {koppa ; Hebr. Koph) was introduced very early 
 into Corinth, and is found on Corinthian vases down to Roman 
 times. The old form of the four-stroke S was undulatory, 
 nearly hke our S (Fig. 23). At Corinth it was sometimes 
 written M. This is found also on coins of Paestum. Euripides 
 (in a fragment) describes all the letters of the name 
 9H2EYE, and hence we see that in Attica about 440 the H 
 was the e and the 2 was already written with four strokes. 
 
 As we have seen, the art of writing is said by old authors 
 to have been brought to Greece by Cadmus of Thebes. It 
 is perhaps more probable that it was first introduced from the 
 East into Asiatic Hellas, and thence to Athens. But several 
 variations of Hellenic script existed, and the ' Cadmean' or some 
 other may have preceded the Ionian in Greece proper. The full 
 alphabet of twenty-four letters (called the Simonidean, after 
 the Cean poet) seems first to have been used in Samos, and not 
 to have reached Athens until after the Peloponnesian War 
 
 * How far the Phoenician alphabetic system influenced Cretan script is 
 not easy to determine. The latest form of Cretan script seems to be syllabic. 
 
 41 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 (403). At first the Greeks often wrote from right to left 
 (see Fig. 23), as was done in Phoenician and other Semitic 
 languages. Then they sometimes wrote alternate lines in 
 different directions, " turning the oxen/' as they expressed 
 it, at the end of each line (Pov<rTpo(l)vS6v) , or else they placed 
 the words in a column [kiovyiSov), as in some Oriental 
 languages. 
 
 We may regard 1000-900 (i.e. about the age of Solomon 
 and Hiram of Tyre) as the period in which the art of writing 
 became known to the Greeks through the same Phoenicians 
 who helped Solomon to build his Temple. Although doubtless 
 
 ,@®T^\4 
 
 Tfu* 'i at. tKtt^ntH. »LC/}ea' an *> 
 
 "^^^ Tpcrxt^j cfu hguBos ■ hos dkv fu h^6J/ih tiiJ^s &n^ 
 
 ^ J Atn Taputu J^asA ,<^ uhoei/i^JiaJjnc s{<z/( ie^tmc v^'nd ^ 
 FiGi 23- 
 
 it was long before it came into anything like general use, 
 it was most probably used for private, if not public, purposes ^ 
 during one or two centuries before an Attic jar, now in the 
 Museum at Athens, was incised with what is believed to 
 be the earliest Greek inscription extant. The inscription, 
 scratched on the shoulder of the jar in primitive Greek 
 letters, is to this effect : " He who of all the dancers the most 
 gaily skips. His shall be this vase." The date of this jar and 
 of the inscription (which seems to have been incised in the still 
 soft clay) is supposed to be about 700. Above is shown another 
 very interesting inscription, perhaps nearly as old, scratched 
 
 ^ The name of I^ycurgus is said to have been inscribed on the ancient discus 
 of Iphitus which was preserved at Olympia. The entire absence of all relics 
 of Greek inscriptions of this age is remarkable. 
 
 42 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 by a child (or for a child) on her lekythus — a clay bottle for oil 
 or scented water. Do not the letters seem to build a fairy 
 bridge across the gulf of all these 2500 years ? The signature 
 of the artists Krgotimus and Clitias, who made and painted 
 the Frangois Vase (Fig. 39), may be not very much later. 
 The Greek inscriptions on the Abu Simbel colossus (Fig. 44) 
 are of about 594. 
 
 SECTION B : THE OLD RELIGION 
 
 When we speak of the old religion of the Greeks as distin- 
 guished from the later worship of the Olympian deities it must 
 not be forgotten that the feeling of awe and the sense of mystery 
 which were the sources of that earlier religion are inexhaustible 
 in human nature, and that side by side with the worship of 
 Zeus and Athene there continued to exist all through the 
 so-called classical age many old rites and esoteric creeds and 
 secret practices, such as we hear of in connexion with the Bleu- 
 sinian and other mysteries, and with the Dionysiac (Bacchic) 
 orgies, and the occult and doubtless sometimes noble teachings 
 of the Orphic theology. Indeed, this old mysticism long 
 survived, as it was bound to do, what has been called the 
 short-lived puppet-show of the Olympian hierarchy, and one 
 of the last things that we know of the Athenians is that many 
 centuries after they had lost what little belief they ever had 
 in the deities of their pantheon they had reverted to that 
 * wonder ' which is said to be the fountain-head of all religion, 
 and were standing once more in doubt and awe before the 
 altar of a nameless god. 
 
 It would be futile to divide the ages of Greek history into 
 certain periods and assign to each its peculiar form of religion. 
 But there are certain underlying principles and many external 
 characteristics which distinguish the pre-Hellenic and the 
 Homeric forms of religion; and even the external form of 
 a nation's religion is of interest and helps one to understand 
 that nation. I shall, therefore, first consider some of the 
 distinguishing principles and then some of the very striking 
 
 43 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 differences in the kind of deities and the kind of worship that 
 we find in the two rehgions. 
 
 What chiefly distinguishes the old reHgion from the later 
 is that it was based mainly, if not entirely, on the dread 
 of evil spirits {^eKridaijULovla) . It was a religion of atone- 
 ment, propitiation, exorcism, purification, riddance — the 
 turning aside of evil influence (airorpoirri). Sacrifices and 
 offerings were made on the principle do ut abeas — i.e. " I give 
 in order that thou depart." 
 
 As it is still with many a barbarous people, so also in Greece 
 in early times, before the Hellenic imagination had personified 
 in human shape the powers of nature, every not quite usual 
 manifestation of natural force and every unusual natural 
 object was suspected of harbouring powers hostile to man. 
 " The earth is full of evil things, and full the sea," says Hesiod. 
 Pests and plagues and deadly ' snatchers ' and winged disease 
 were lurking and swarming and flitting about on all sides, 
 and the evil eye was ever on the watch. Ghosts and ghoulish 
 things haunted the darkness of night and of the grave. 
 
 The souls of the dead manifested themselves not seldom 
 in the form of snakes, to which propitiatory offerings were 
 made, and the powers of the nether world, hungering for 
 blood, were doubtless at times appeased by human sacrifice — 
 of which many evidences survived to a later age in ceremonies 
 of substitution or other curious rites whose meaning had long 
 been lost.^ And in later times, as we shall see, there were 
 many other survivals of old chthonic ritual, as it is called, con- 
 nected with the worship of the powers of the earth, especially 
 with that of the Karth-Mother, Demeter, and of Dionysus. 
 
 This religion of dread and exorcism gave place — probably 
 somewhat rapidly and not permanently — to a rehgion which 
 was not only wholly different in its external forms of v/orship, 
 but was founded on an entirely different basis, namely, that of 
 service (Oepairela) , the principle of which was do ut des — i.e. 
 
 ^ The stories of Isaac and of Iphigeneia denote the substitution of animals 
 for the human victim. Aelian tells of a curious rite where a baby calf was 
 dressed up and furnished with boots {cothurni) and thus sacrificed. 
 
 44 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 '' I give that thou mayst give/' The offering was no longer 
 made in order to propitiate some dreaded demonic power, 
 but given to a deity endowed with human feeHngs and human 
 reason — one who would surely grant some favour in return for 
 the service. The gloomy chthonic rites and the horrors of 
 human sacrifice and the orgies of Dionysus Zagreus, in which 
 the victim was torn to pieces and devoured raw (with some 
 idea of * eating the god '), and all the ' spook ' and mystery 
 and monstrosity and barbarity and sacerdotalism ^ that is 
 connected with such religion, disappeared apparently in a 
 short time after the coming of the Achaeans — for in all Homer 
 there is scarce a trace of such things.^ It is true that we 
 cannot infer from Homer's picture (even if it is a true picture 
 of a certain class) that the bulk of the Greek nation in the 
 so-called heroic age had renounced the old faith and adopted 
 the new. Possibly behind the dazzHng scene of the Achaean 
 and Argive hosts and behind all the brilliant ' puppet show ' 
 of the Olympian hierarchy there was still a dark background 
 in Greece itself where the old monstrous beliefs and the old 
 ritual still lurked, like the Python of Delphi before it was slain 
 by Apollo. 
 
 But for a time at least this new and brighter religion was 
 destined to prevail — to become the recognized national religion 
 of Greece — and before returning to consider some of the 
 ancient pre-Hellenic deities and their * supersession ' (as it 
 has been called) by the gods of the northern invaders, we 
 should note well how the Hellenic imagination transformed 
 all the ghouls and pests and other evil and monstrous things 
 into Fates and Harpies and Sirens and Gorgons, depriving 
 them thus of the vague, gruesome horror of their mysterious 
 wn-human nature. Apollo comes with his bright shafts, and 
 
 ^ The immense number of priests, prophets, hierophants, and other such 
 mediums connected with the Orphic and similar mystic systems is often 
 mentioned. Priestly office connected with the mysteries was the hereditary 
 right of certain great families, such as the i^umolpidae. What such things 
 can develop into may be seen from the history of the Persian Magi. 
 
 2 There certainly is the slaughter of Trojan captives by Achilles at the 
 funeral of Patroclus ; but that was scarcely liuman sacrifice. 
 
 45 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Heracles, the god of health/ the conqueror of Death itself 
 and the husband of ever-blooming Hebe — and they put to 
 flight the swarming hordes of evil things, and the mountain 
 glades re-echo to the laughter of dryads and nymphs, and the 
 sands of the sea-shore become the dancing-grounds of ocean 
 nereids. Kven the terrible Furies themselves — though in a 
 later age still worshipped with mystical chthonic rites as 
 denizens of Hell — seem to have won for themselves a worship 
 of service, and almost of affectionate veneration, as the August 
 and Kindly Goddesses. Instead of hideous and savage rites 
 and human sacrifice and wild orgies where live victims are torn 
 to pieces and their bleeding flesh devoured by the worshippers 
 in their mystical yearning to ' eat the god ' and thus participate 
 in the divine, we have Homeric prayer and sacrifice andhbation, 
 by which the gods are invoked as beings endowed with human 
 affections, in the full assurance (scarce ever deceived) of help 
 and favour ; ^ we have joyous sacrificial feasts at which the 
 gods themselves sometimes are present in visible shape. " Ever 
 till now," says King Alcinous (who, though no Achaean, is of 
 orthodox Olympian creed), "ever till now have the gods 
 appeared to us in manifest form whenever we offered glorious 
 hecatombs, and they feast with us, sitting at our side where 
 we are seated. Ay, and if any lonely wayfarer meet them, 
 they nowise conceal themselves — for we are nigh [akin] unto 
 the gods." The common form of invocation to the supreme 
 deity as ' Father Zeus,' the father both of men and of gods, 
 whose thunder is often a sign of favour, and who " follows 
 with his protecting care " even the stranger and the beggar, is 
 in itself a striking evidence of the new religious spirit, reminding 
 one much more of the northern All-Vater, Woden, than the 
 Bull-god of Crete or the monstrous and horrid Dionysus 
 Zagreus. 
 
 In Homer all is intensely human. There is none of that 
 
 1 Miss Harrison reproduces pictures in one of which Heracles is beating 
 to death with his club a little winged pest (/c^p) — perhaps a prehistoric bacillus 
 — and in another an emaciated bald-headed thing — perhaps the bacillus of 
 old age. 
 
 * Unfulfilled prayer we find occasionally ; e.g. Od, ix. 553. 
 
 46 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 ' spook ' and that childish dread of the supernatural which 
 often make folk-lore lose its human interest. We find very 
 few monstrous shapes (such as the huge octopus-like Scylla, 
 and the vague terror of the ' Gorgon head ' in Od. xi. 634), 
 no bull-headed or serpent-tailed men (Proteus is no permanent 
 monster, and the sirens and sea-nymphs are purely human in 
 form), no owl-headed Athene or cow-headed Hera, although 
 the old epithets of these goddesses point to the monstrosities 
 of an earher creed. Even the winged Pegasus is omitted in 
 the story of Bellerophon as told by Homer. It is true that 
 we have Circe (' Hawk-goddess ') with her wand and her 
 baleful drugs — but how intensely human she is ! How this 
 ' dread goddess,' this hawk-headed Eastern witch, is trans- 
 formed into a human being with womanly affections of love 
 and pity ! In the Homeric Hades, too, one feels, it is true, the 
 presence of the supernatural. But could anything be more 
 pathetically human than the meeting of Odysseus with his 
 mother, or with Elpenor, or with Agamemnon — or with 
 Ajax ? Here and there in the Odyssey charms and drugs 
 are mentioned — but never with superstitious awe. The plant 
 ' moly * which Hermes gives Odysseus as a charm — " black at 
 the root, but the flower is like unto milk in its whiteness" — 
 excites in us a sense of delight, not of dread or mystery ; 
 and when the sons of Autolycus bind for Odysseus the wound 
 that the boar of Parnassus had ripped in his leg, and " staunch 
 the dark red blood with a song of enchantment," we notice it 
 merely as we should notice some old superstitious habit of 
 the present day. The Cyclops himself is nothing but an 
 enormous human being ; and he too prays to Poseidon as 
 his father, although he speaks contemptuously of the gods 
 as his inferiors in strength. And how the touch of nature 
 makes us akin to the divine when Hermes complains of his 
 weary flight across the boundless expanses of ocean, afar from 
 the cities of men where he might have obtained a little refresh- 
 ment at some sacrificial feast ! And how touching is the 
 I motherly pride and joy of I^eto while she watches her daughter 
 Artemis among her attendant nymphs ! The Homeric gods 
 
 47 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 are as intensely human as the Pheidian gods that on the 
 Parthenon frieze await the approaching procession of their 
 worshippers. And they are the gods of all " bread-eating 
 races of mortals " — universal deities, not mere local or ancestral 
 divinities. 
 
 This different conception of the supernatural was doubtless 
 introduced by the northern invaders, whom we may perhaps 
 speak of under the collective name of Achaeans. The character 
 of these northmen evidently differed much from that of the 
 southern peoples whom they conquered. They had the vigour, 
 the courage, the open, if somewhat overbearing and inartistic, 
 nature of northern folk ; they had the contempt for all craven 
 dread of supernatural powers and monstrous things which 
 characterizes the best of the Aryan people. They looked up 
 to the heights of the sunlit dome of heaven and to the vast 
 expanses of cloudland and imagined there the home of the 
 gods — not in the gloom of a nether world haunted by forms of 
 horror. They did not hide their dead in shaft-tombs, but sent 
 them heavenwards in the flames that leaped upward from the 
 funeral pyre. 
 
 lyCt us now consider some of the ancient deities and rites 
 as contrasted with those of the later ' heroic ' age. Out of 
 a vast and confused congeries of fact and theory I shall choose 
 just a few of the most intelligible. 
 
 As in the case of pre-Hellenic races and pre-Hellenic civiliza- 
 tion, we have to turn to Crete and Mycenae for most of our 
 evidence in regard to pre-Hellenic religion. The evidence 
 supplied by Crete is, of course, only indirectly appHcable, 
 but it seems to confirm and supplement what little is known 
 about the reHgion of the Mycenaean and other Aegaean and 
 Pelasgic peoples, if we may use these words to denote the 
 early inhabitants of what we mean by ' Greece ' and some of its 
 adjacent islands. 
 
 In the earliest age of which we have evidence no temples 
 seem to have existed. Probably groves and caverns were 
 first used, such as the cave at Delphi, or the Dictaean cave in 
 Crete, the fabled birthplace of the Cretan Zeus, where an 
 
 48 
 
24- ' Harvkster Vase 
 
 25. Cretan Sarcophagus 
 
 48 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 ancient altar and a table of libation have been found, as well 
 as the ashes of victims and votive offerings, among which 
 are numerous bronzed models of the double axe, the symbol 
 of divinity. 
 
 In Crete no remains have been discovered of large temples, 
 but in the palaces as well as in ordinary houses small 
 rooms seem to have been set apart for worship, and in one 
 case, at Gournia, what seems to have been a little much- 
 frequented shrine (for it was approached by a well-worn 
 paved path) stood in the midst of the town. 
 
 In Greece itself, among the Aegaean and Pelasgic peoples, 
 if we may draw conclusions from the evidence of later days, 
 the first objects of religious worship were stocks and stones 
 — possibly sometimes such meteorites as the images of the 
 Tauric and Bphesian Artemis, which "fell from heaven.'* 
 These were at first formless and unhoused. I^ater they were 
 shaped into some rough resemblance to the human form, 
 though generally legless, as we see from old descriptions of 
 archaic wooden Greek idols {^oam), and from many ancient 
 images in earth- ware which have been dug up. 
 
 In Crete, besides such ancient legless and armless idols, have 
 been discovered many representations or models of (i) sacred 
 symbolic objects, (2) divinities. 
 
 The symbolic objects evidently signified the presence of 
 divinity in what is called an-iconic ritual [i.e. a ritual without 
 actual idols ; such as was used in the Mysteries, where certain 
 sacred objects were believed to possess a supernatural influence) . 
 Of these symbols the horns of consecration and the double 
 axe (see the Cretan Sarcophagus, Fig. 25) are the commonest. 
 The horns (reminding one of the horns of the Jewish altar, 
 and evidently connected with the worship of a Bull-god 
 — possibly Moloch) are depicted frequently in frescoes and 
 on seals when any religious scene is represented. They 
 have also been found at Mycenae. The double axe also 
 occurs on seals and in frescoes, often in combination with 
 the horns, and is, moreover, found impressed on stucco or 
 cut on stonework. 
 I D 49 
 
Griffins and Pii,i,ar 
 
 ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 In the great Palace of Cnossus this Labrys, or double axe, is 
 
 to be seen on many a pillar or block, and it can scarcely be 
 
 doubted that Labyrinth 
 means ' the house [or 
 place] of the double axe.' 
 The word Labrys is said 
 to be Carian. It occurs 
 in the title Labraunda, 
 given to the Carian Zeus. 
 The termination -nth we 
 have already noted as 
 probably Aegaean. What 
 was symbohzed by the 
 Cretan I^abrys, or double 
 axe, is not known, but 
 it has been supposed that 
 it may have intimated 
 the combined godhead of 
 
 Sun and Moon, or of the ancient Cretan Karth-goddess and 
 
 the Cretan Zeus. The symbol is not confined to Crete. It may 
 
 be seen on Carian 
 
 and other coins 
 
 (Plates 1. 5 and V. 2). 
 Besides the horns 
 
 and the axe we find 
 
 the pillar — evidently 
 
 also a symbol of 
 
 divine presence, as 
 
 was probably the 
 
 pillar set up by J acob 
 
 at Bethel. In the 
 
 picture of the I^ion 
 
 Gate at Mycenae 
 
 (Fig. 2) and in the 
 
 figure with griffins it will be seen that between the animals stands 
 
 a pillar, whereas in the next illustration we have the same 
 
 motive, but the goddess herself has taken the place of the pillar. 
 
 SO 
 
 27. BaRTH-GODDESS and I/IONS 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 Another symbol, or sacred object, is a tree that reminds 
 one somewhat of the ancient Babylonian and BibHcal Tree of 
 
 28. RrruAi, Dance and UrRooTiNG of Sacred Tree 
 
 lyife or of Knowledge. It occurs on gems and seals and in 
 paintings (see Figs. 7 and 28). Sometimes it is being watered 
 by grotesque genii, or is being uprooted by a priest, or it 
 bears great bunches of fruit like 
 dates, which in one case are being 
 gathered by a diminutive female. 
 
 Another very interesting sacred 
 object — for such it seems to be, as 
 it was found in a shrine — is a cross 
 of grey and yellow marble, which is 
 exactly like a Christian cross " of 
 orthodox Greek shape," as Sir 
 Arthur Evans says. A model of 
 this cross may be seen in the British 
 Museum. 
 
 Many rude idols have been found — mostly legless and 
 armless — merely grotesque attempts to represent the super- 
 natural. Remarkable evidences of demon and bogy 
 worship are given by numerous seals and gems (see 
 Fig. 31), where we find hideous and monstrous combinations 
 
 SI 
 
 29. Genii (Priests ?) 
 WATERING Sacred Tree 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 of bird, beast, and human being. Perhaps they were used as 
 charms.^ 
 
 But the most important fact of this nature that has been 
 brought to Hght by excavation is that the most ancient Cretan 
 deity was a goddess whom we meet in Greek mythology 
 under various names — for doubtless Ge (Earth), Cybele ^ or 
 Rhea (daughter of Earth and the Great Mother of the gods), 
 Demeter (Mother Earth), and the ancient pre-Hellenic or 
 Asiatic Hecate or Artemis (triform and many-breasted) are all 
 
 30. Tiiiv ' lyADY oi' WIJ.D Creatures ' 
 
 closely related to this ancient Cretan goddess. We find her, 
 pictured amidst all kinds of wild animals, as the goddess of 
 nature, the ' I^ady of Wild Creatures ' {irorvia Qjjpcov), as was 
 the later Artemis. Frequently, as we have already seen, 
 she is attended by lions, or by serpents which coil them- 
 selves around her. Possibly as goddess of the air she is 
 given doves and other birds, as goddess of earth she is attended 
 
 * Some hold these monstrous forms to be priests or priestesses in disguise, 
 perhaps performing a kind of transformation dance. 
 
 * Semele (mother of Dionysus) may also mean ' Barth-goddess * and be 
 another form of Cybele. Both Cybele and Dionysus are attended by lions. 
 Cybele (also Cybelle and perhaps Cybebe) seems to have been the Phrygian 
 name of Rhea. 
 
 S2 
 
f3i. Crbxan Seai,s (from"_Zakro) 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 by lions, and as goddess of the nether world she has the 
 serpent, thus resembling the triform Hecate — who was moon- 
 goddess Selene in heaven, the huntress Artemis on earth, and 
 identical with Persephone in Hades. 
 
 According to the Theogony of Hesiod the first of all things 
 that sprang from Chaos was Gaia, or Ge (Earth), who by 
 Uranus (Heaven) was the mother of the Titan-god Cronos 
 (Time?). The sister and wife of this old god Cronos was 
 Rhea (Rheia), or Cybele, and their children were the elder 
 Olympian gods, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus 
 (who seems to have been not the eldest, though the King of 
 Olympus). Now Cronos had the habit of swallowing his 
 offspring, but Rhea fled to Crete and gave birth to Zeus 
 in a cavern on Mount Ida or Mount Dicte ; or, according 
 to Hesiod, she gave over the child to " mighty Gaia in 
 broad Crete to nurse and rear,*' and Gaia hid it "in an 
 inaccessible cavern under the divine earth on the Aegaean ^ 
 mount." 
 
 It seems therefore, I think, very probable that the ancient 
 Nature-goddess whose effigies have been found in Crete is 
 this ' mighty Gaia ' of Hesiod — though doubtless she was 
 assimilated to her daughter Rhea, who, as the mother of Zeus 
 Cretagenes, is called the Idaean or Dictaean, or the Mountain 
 Mother ClSala, AiKTvvpa, Mrjrtjp opelrj). 
 
 We have seen how Greek mythology brings the northern god 
 Zeus to Crete. His worship there was not grafted on to the old 
 religion till the advent of northern invaders, who made their 
 supreme Sky-god the son of the ancient Cretan Earth-Mother. ^ 
 On old Cretan seals and gems there appears associated with the 
 great goddess what seems to be an inferior male deity. He 
 sometimes stands in a reverential attitude before her (as 
 perhaps in Fig. 27), and is also depicted as floating in the 
 
 ^ Aegaean (Aigaios) seems to come from some Pelasgic or Aegaean word 
 of unknown meaning. The name of this Cretan mountain may have given 
 rise to the myth that Zeus was suckled in the Dictaean cave by the goat 
 Amalthea (Grk. aigeios = * of a goat '). Later writers derive ' Aegaean ' 
 from Aegeus, the father of Theseus. 
 
 2 On coins of Phaestus Zeus is represented as quite young. 
 
 54 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 sky and apparently beating his figure-of-eight shield with 
 his spear (Fig. 7). This possibly is meant to represent a 
 sky-god producing thunder, but he cannot well be Zeus, for 
 these relics date from an age far anterior to the introduction 
 of the northern god. This inferior male deity was perhaps 
 fused into the person of Zeus Cretagenes. 
 
 There were other localities that claimed to be the birth- 
 place of Zeus, among them Thebes and Ithome, and also 
 the Trojan Ida, but the claims of Crete were generally 
 recognized. 
 
 A curious ancient legend relates that Zeus — weary perhaps 
 of sovereignty — retired to Crete and died there. His tomb was 
 said to be on Mount Juktas, near Cnossus. Doubtless this 
 legend inspired the wondrous description by Dante of the 
 gigantic image (Hke that of Daniel's dream) of Time, or the 
 World's Ages, standing within the Cretan Ida. The claim 
 of the Cretans to possess the tomb of the king of the gods is said 
 to have caused, or increased, their reputation as liars ; but if 
 the verse quoted by St. Paul was written by Epimenides 
 (c. 600) they seem to have had the reputation considerably 
 before what one would consider the probable date of the 
 decease of Zeus. 
 
 There seem to be also evidences of a younger Cretan goddess, 
 the daughter of the Earth-Mother, whose presence some suspect 
 in the stories of Britomartis, Europa, and Ariadne. In later 
 times she seems sometimes to have been identified with 
 Aphrodite ( Astarte) , but her true representative in the Olympian 
 family is doubtless Kore {i.e. the Maiden), the daughter of 
 Demeter, or Ge-meter, the Earth-Mother. This Maiden, it is 
 fabled, was carried off by Hades to his realm of darkness 
 while she was gathering flowers, and under the name of 
 Persephone was made the Queen of the Underworld, but was 
 allowed every year to return to her mother Earth — an allegory 
 of the yearly return of spring (see Fig. 32) . 
 
 Besides these ancient Cretan deities there are, as we have 
 seen, many evidences of a monstrous bull-headed deity — 
 whether of native origin or derived from some tauriform 
 
 5S 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Oriental deity, such as Moloch, or from the bull-Dionysus of 
 Thrace, of whose orgies I have already spoken, it is impossible 
 to feel certain. '' Of the ritual of the Bull-god in Crete," says 
 Miss Harrison, " we know that it consisted in part of the 
 tearing and eating of a bull ; and behind is the dreadful 
 suspicion of human sacrifice." As we have already seen, 
 Minos was probably the high-priest, and was possibly even 
 regarded as the incarnation, of this monstrous deity, and may 
 
 32. The return of the Barth-Maiden (here Pandora) 
 
 have himself been sacrificed in the Dictaean cave at the end of 
 his nine years of sovereignty. The later legend makes Zeus 
 the original Phoenician-Cretan Bull-god, and Minos his son, 
 but it seems more Hkely that the monstrous deity existed in 
 Crete long before the advent of Zeus or of the Phoenicians, 
 and that behind the horrid story of Pasiphae and the 
 Minotaur '' there lurks some mystical ceremony of ritual 
 wedlock [of the Cretan queen] with a primitive bull-headed 
 divinity." 
 
 How far this ancient Cretan religion was similar to the rehgion 
 of pre-Hellenic Greece it is impossible to say. The day may 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 soon come when a sudden shaft of light will be let into what is 
 still a very dark corner of history. At present we can only 
 point to the fact that numerous signs of connexion have been 
 discovered. The bull is found in Mycenaean art ; the horns 
 of consecration, the double axe, and the sacred tree occur 
 on (perhaps native) gems and plaques and rings, and in 
 many ancient tombs in Greece and the Aegaean islands 
 small rude idols of stone, bronze, lead, and gold have been 
 found which seem to represent a Nature-goddess (sometimes 
 attended by birds) similar to, if not identical with, the Cretan 
 Gaia. 
 
 This is practically all that is known of the religion of Greece 
 before the coming of the Achaeans and the Olympian gods, 
 and, except what we are told by Homer and Hesiod, and the 
 still more doubtful evidence that we gather from what was 
 related afterwards by Herodotus and other Greek writers, 
 almost all our knowledge of the Olympian gods and ritual 
 begins after the Dark Age of some three centuries which 
 followed the next invasion of northmen, that of the 
 Dorians. 
 
 A few facts, however, seem to emerge here and there, and 
 these we will consider in combination with what we are told 
 by Homer. But it must be remembered that Homer wrote 
 perhaps three centuries after the Achaean, or heroic, age, 
 and may have indulged in a good deal of imaginative recon- 
 struction. 
 
 In Homer we find the regime of the new gods already well 
 estabhshed. Each has his or her special functions and 
 appointed place in the Olympian family, and instead of a 
 Mighty Mother we have a well-marked patria potestas. There 
 are, indeed, signs that the worship of these new gods had 
 already lasted a considerable time, for familiarity had already 
 bred contempt, and the behaviour of some of the deities as 
 described in the poems was such as to excite indignation in 
 the mind of even such a philosopher as Plato. 
 
 Of most of these Olympians it is difficult to trace the 
 lineage. In some cases they are doubtless grand and beautiful 
 
 57 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 re-creations, the prime elements of which were deities of the 
 older religions, Northern, Aegaean, Pelasgian, and also some- 
 times Oriental. But Zeus is apparently almost purely northern 
 — the Aryan Dyaus-piter, the Day-Father or Sky-god, and 
 the Papas or Bronton (Father or Thunderer) of the Phrygians. 
 He was evidently introduced in a very early age into the 
 mountainous country in North-western Greece (Epirus, or 
 ' Mainland,' as it was called by the islanders), which, as well 
 as parts of Thessaly, was then inhabited by Achaeans, or 
 others of the same race, before they made their great descent 
 on Southern Greece.^ Kven before the coming of the Achaeans 
 there existed in Kpirus the far-famed sanctuary and oracle 
 of Dodona, where some Pelasgian Barth-Mother gave responses 
 through her priestesses by the murmuring of her doves. 
 This sanctuary was, it seems, annexed by the northern Zeus, 
 who (as Homer tells us) adopted the name of the * Dodonaean ' 
 or ' Pelasgic ' Zeus. As god of the air he gave his oracles 
 through the voices of winds moaning and rustling in his sacred 
 oak-grove amidst the murmur of falling waters and the clangor 
 of bronzen vessels struck by wind-moved hammers. lyater 
 he was brought to other Pelasgic and Aegaean lands, and 
 given the kingship of the new Olympian hierarchy. Apollo 
 was also doubtless of northern origin, but his many diverse 
 attributes (as Sender of Pestilence, Sun-god, Harp-god, 8z:c.) 
 show that he was a re-creation out of various deities. There 
 was later a Dorian Apollo with special attributes (see Pindar, 
 Pyth. v.), of whom many old statues ^ seem to be repre- 
 sentations, but by the Achaeans, if we may believe Homer, 
 Apollo was worshipped as Phoebus, '' the bright sun-god " 
 and sender of sudden death. Hermes, the Messenger, was 
 probably a native Aegaean (Arcadian) god. The Hermes 
 statues of later art seem to be a survival of old legless and 
 armless idols. Demeter, as we have already seen, was 
 
 ^ The Achaeans were apparently driven finally from Epirus about the time 
 of the Dorian invasion of Greece {c. iioo) by a barbaric northern tribe, the 
 Illyrians. Epirus and Aetolia thenceforth were regarded as mainly barbarian 
 (non-Hellenic) lands. 
 
 2 For these ' Apollos ' see p. 225. 
 
 58 
 
33- MiNOAN, Mycenaean, and Trojan Ware 
 c. 2000-1300 
 
 See List of Illustrations and Note D 
 
 58 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 as the Homeric question or the Athenian Constitution, derive 
 their only real value and interest from the fact that they lead 
 us towards a better understanding and a fuller appreciation 
 of the art and literature and philosophy of Greece, and of the 
 character of her greatest men. 
 
 SECTION C : THE 'HOMERIC AGE ' AND HOMER 
 
 Homer and the ' Homeric age ' do not really belong to the 
 same period, for the Homeric poems — even the earliest parts 
 of them — were not written in the age that they describe, as 
 is evident from the fact that the poet frequently speaks of 
 the men of his own age as far inferior to the heroes who fought 
 at Troy, although these were again inferior to the greater 
 heroes of an earlier age, such as Heracles {II. v. 304 ; Od. viii. 
 223, &c.) . But it is necessary to treat the two subjects together, 
 for these poems are the only evidence of this Achaean or 
 Homeric age. The Mycenaean shaft-graves have indeed 
 supplied evidence of an age of unsuspected civilization, but, 
 as we have seen, great differences are apparent in regard to 
 dress, armour, disposal of the dead, and probably rehgion, 
 between the Mycenaean civilization and that world which 
 Homer describes. These differences and the necessary supposi- 
 tion of an almost incredibly rapid and complete development 
 of another state of things, and of another entirely different 
 conception of deity, coupled with the fact that we have prac- 
 tically no evidence whatever of this * Homeric age ' except 
 what we are told by the Homeric poems, have made some 
 writers assert that these poems give merely an imaginative 
 picture of a world that never existed, and that, except a small 
 ' nucleus ' (some ancient ballad describing the * wrath ' of a 
 sea-god, Achilles, against a land-god, Agamemnon, both of 
 whom had their habitat somewhere in Thessaly, whence they 
 were transported by later Homeric bards to the Peloponnese), 
 the Iliad is a farrago compounded by several generations 
 of rhapsodists, a kind of epical romance in which the fiction 
 of some long-past mythical age was depicted and from which 
 60 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 almost all anachronisms ^ were carefully eliminated by the 
 bards themselves and their critical auditors. The Odyssey, 
 according to such critics, is of much later date than the older 
 parts of the Iliad, and was compiled by similar bards, or 
 perhaps by a single highly gifted bard, from old stories of 
 adventures in the Kuxine, which were transferred to western 
 seas. 2 Moreover, Odysseus was " only a god,'' and Penelope 
 only a goddess. 
 
 There certainly is much vagueness in the geography of 
 the Odyssey, and evident confusion of the far Bast with 
 the far West. Circe's original home was Colchis, and 
 her island Aeaea is said to have been near the sunrise. (She 
 and her brother Aeetes were both, perhaps, originally 
 bird-headed Eastern deities.) Moreover, the original home 
 of the Cimmerians was evidently the Crimea. Altogether 
 there can, I think, be no doubt that the poems, especially 
 the Iliad, underwent in the course of centuries of pubhc 
 recitation a certain amount of pruning and reshaping, that 
 ancient AeoHc words may have been modernized into the 
 later Ionian dialect, and that lines glorifying certain famiHes 
 or places may have been inserted, and possibly also some 
 episodes. Moreover, it is possible that when the poems 
 were arranged into books and canonized in the age of Peisis- 
 tratus (about 520) some readjustment and welding took place. 
 But any long disquisition on these much-vexed questions 
 
 1 Such writers point gleefully to numerous cases where "good old Homer 
 is caught napping " (to use Horace's expression) — various inconsistencies and 
 slips of memory, such as occur in the best of poets. They also assert that he 
 sometimes describes shields as man-covering and as huge " as a tower," and 
 at other times gives the warriors the small round Carian shield and breast- 
 plates, &c. — as if different kinds of shield and armour might not have been 
 in use ! Also they point at the mention of iron {Od. xix. 13) as " attracting 
 [to bloodshed]," whereas iron is elsewhere in the poems used only for knives 
 and axes — not for weapons. But the ' Iron Age ' had already begun, and it 
 rwas doubtless used already for weapons, though ' bronze ' was the usual term 
 in poetry. How plentiful iron already was is plain from Od. i. 184, where a 
 iwhole cargo of it is brought from Temesa (in Italy ?). 
 
 * A French writer, Berard, has endeavoured to prove that the Odyssey is 
 founded on the log-books of Phoenicians (who certainly as early as the time 
 of Solomon visited Spain, and perhaps South Africa), and discovers Calypso's 
 island on the African coast not far from Gibraltar. 
 
 61 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 would be here out of place, and I shall merely state my own 
 slowly formed conviction that both these poems owe their 
 main structure and most of their details to one great poet, 
 that the age which he depicted was no mere fiction, and that 
 he lived near enough to that age to paint, by the help of 
 traditions and ballads, its main features with very considerable 
 exactitude. It is a saying of Socrates that '' about flute- 
 playing musicians judge best, and about poetry poets." When 
 the poet Goethe first read the celebrated Prolegomena of the 
 German scholar Wolf, the originator of modern Homer- 
 scepticism, he was puzzled and half convinced. But he very 
 wisely determined to re-read Homer, and ended by recanting 
 his half assent to the " subjective stuff and nonsense," 
 declaring that "behind these poems there stands a splendid 
 unity — a single, lofty, creative mind." It was doubtless 
 a similar poetic instinct, innate in the Greek race, which 
 preserved the true Homer in the midst of a mass of inferior 
 ballad-epics (those of the so-called Cyclic poets), many of 
 which had appropriated his name, and finally sifted out the 
 true ore and cast aside the rubbish. J 
 
 The old Boeotian poet Hesiod, whose date and works have 
 been subjected to a similar critical process, but whom (as I shall 
 explain later) we may very reasonably beHeve to have lived 
 not much later than Homer (possibly c. 850), gives testimony, 
 of course rejected by the critics in question, that an age of 
 heroes preceded his own age (the age of iron). In this heroic 
 age, he says, took place the expedition of the Seven against 
 seven-gated Thebes, and that against Troy for the sake of 
 fair-haired Helen. I^astly, Herodotus, whose testimony is 
 however of a much later date (about 480-430), tells us that 
 he beHeved Homer and Hesiod to have both lived 400 years 
 before his time, and after hearing all that modern criticism 
 has to say I think we may quite reasonably accept this as 
 fairly correct, placing Homer from half a century to a century 
 before Hesiod — i.e. about 900 or 950. 
 
 Seven cities claimed to have been the birthplace of Homer. 
 The presence of Aeolic forms in his Ionic Greek seems to prove 
 62 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 that he Hved in Southern AeoHs, perhaps in Chios, or in Cyme 
 or in its daughter-city old Smyrna, which was then AeoHan. 
 (It was afterwards moved a few miles south over the Ionian 
 frontier. But Ionia perhaps did not already exist as a defined 
 country in Homer's time.) Some, indeed, imagine that the 
 oldest strata of the Homeric poems were written entirely in 
 ' ancient Aeolic ' (a dialect related to the later ' lycsbian ' of 
 Sappho and Alcaeus), and afterwards worked over into Ionic 
 (an early dialect of the Ionic used some four centuries later by 
 Herodotus), Aeolian forms being left when the scansion did 
 not allow of change. This is, of course, pure guesswork, 
 as is also the theory that the old Achaeans of Thessaly in- 
 vented the hexameter rhythm, and that their ancient ballads 
 about their local feuds formed the basis of the Trojan fiction ; 
 but until this is proved I think we may reasonably believe 
 that Homer belonged to one of the early ' Ionian ' colonial 
 families who began to come over about 1040, some 150 years 
 after the fall of Troy had first attracted Achaeans and other 
 Greeks to settle in Aeolis. Who these ' lonians ' were I shall 
 discuss in the following chapter. Possibly Homer, though 
 himself Ionian, lived across the Aeolian (Achaean) border, 
 and thus came across the old Aeolic (Achaean) ballads (pos- 
 sibly in hexameter rhythm) and thence formed his great 
 epic, finding eager auditors amongst the descendants of those 
 Achaeans who had sacked Troy and opened up the country 
 to Greek colonization. Whether Homer himself emigrated 
 from Greece, or whether he ever visited Greece, it is impossible 
 to say. Hesiod uses words which have been made to mean 
 that he met Homer at Chalcis, in Buboea, and conquered 
 him in a poetical contest ; indeed, a varia lectio of these words 
 (E. 657) asserts this ; but it is very improbable. Homer how- 
 ever knew Greece well, though he may never have seen it. The 
 local colour of his poems is that of the mother- country, and 
 not of Asia Minor. His gods and his Muses dwell evidently 
 on the Thessalian Olympus. Achaea, Pylos, Mycenae, Argos, 
 |Phthia, and all other Greek places, are spoken of with a kind 
 of Heimweh; and how often do the expressions ' homewards/ 
 
 63 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 ' fatherland/ * land of his fathers ' occur ! On the other hand, 
 Asia Minor is for Homer a wild un-Greek country. Of 
 Phrygia, Maeonia, I^ycia, and of islands such as I^esbos and 
 Chios we hear [Od. iii. 170), but no word of AeoHs or of 
 Ionia as Greek colonies. Miletus is mentioned as ruled by 
 the " Carians of barbarous tongue." Doubtless Homer lived 
 after the Dorian invasion of the Eastern Peloponnese (about 
 iioo), and he mentions Dorians as already in Crete ; but 
 he so entirely ignores them otherwise that it seems hardly 
 possible that they could have already conquered Argos and 
 Mycenae, and have become the dominant race in Southern 
 Greece, which happened, as we shall see later, about 950. 
 
 But all these questions as to personality and date are 
 of very trivial importance in comparison with the priceless 
 legacy of the Homeric poems — which were not written, as is 
 too often assumed, for the antiquarian and the philologist. 
 Possibly some day another Schliemann will excavate not 
 only the tomb of Zeus in Crete but even Homer's tomb in the 
 island of los, where the pseudo-Herodotus asserts that he was 
 buried, and put an end to all our polemics as well perhaps 
 as to such theories as that Odysseus was " only a god," or 
 that the authoress of the Odyssey was Nausicaa herself — 
 which has been seriously affirmed by the talented author of 
 Erewhon. 
 
 It would be out of place here to retell the oft-told tale of 
 Troy and the Wanderings of Odysseus, but for those who 
 do not reject the world of Homer as a fiction it is intensely 
 interesting to examine his evidence — the only evidence we 
 possess — in regard to this age of Achaean supremacy. I will 
 therefore note a few points. 
 
 In the Iliad we find the Achaeans and their Argive soldiery 
 under the abnormal (though perhaps for them not uncommon) 
 conditions of war and camp-life in a foreign land, and although 
 we learn less of the state of civilization than we might have 
 learnt had the scene of the epic been laid at Sparta or Mycenae, 
 we learn much else. In the Odyssey, on the other hand, we 
 have descriptions of home life : of palaces, of farmsteads 
 
 64 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 and orchards and agriculture, of the cottages and work of 
 herdsmen, of townsfolk and their town, of meetings of the 
 citizens, of busy wharves and arsenals and shipping, of masters 
 and mistresses amid their servants and thralls ; and, besides 
 these Ithacan and Phaeacian pictures, we are given particulars 
 of a chariot journey (evidently on a tolerably good road) 
 across a part of the Peloponnese and a very distinct picture of 
 the home of Menelaus and Helen at Sparta, and also a glimpse of 
 the Mycenaean palace of Agamemnon. By means of all these 
 various pictures, and by fitting together the almost innumerable 
 details that we find in both poems, we are able to form a fairly 
 complete conception of the Achaean world in peace ^ and in 
 war. 
 
 Pictures of religious rites, of sacrifices and libations and 
 funeral ceremonies are frequent, and sometimes we are reminded 
 of the old rehgion. Thus in the visit to Hades {Od. xi.) we 
 have a threefold libation to the ghosts of the dead — of honey- 
 milk, of wine, and of water — reminding us of an ancient 
 Cretan libation table with three basins found in the Dictaean 
 cave. Moreover, on the same occasion Odysseus fills a hole 
 that he had dug in the ground with the blood of victims, 
 and the ghosts come flocking round it in their longing to drink — 
 a picture that recalls the ' feeding holes ' for blood libation 
 which have been found on the summit of Mycenaean tombs. 
 Again, many instances occur of sanctuaries and altars in the 
 open air, under oaks and plane-trees and palms {Od. vi. 162), 
 and there is frequent mention of sacred groves and sacred 
 precincts. But we also have a few definite references to 
 temples — such as the ''house of Krechtheus'' at Athens 
 (possibly a late accretion) and the " temples of the gods " and 
 the "shrine of Poseidon" (evidently not a grove) in the 
 
 * In the following very incomplete list every word conjures up some 
 )icture or series of pictures for any one who knows the Odyssey : Spinning, 
 laving, dress, beds, tables, chairs, metal-work, inlaying, forging, goblets, 
 rooches, hunting, fishing, vineyards, gardening, bathing, swimming, horses, 
 lules, goats, cattle, swine, geese, dogs, lions, eagles, palaces, house-building, 
 lip-building, raft-building, sailing, rowing, feasting, athletic games, boxing, 
 raughts, ball-playing, acrobats, dancing, music, law-courts, funerals, 
 icrifices, beggars, clothes-washing, wagons, chariots. 
 
 E 65 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Phaeacian city {Od. vi. lo and 266), and in the sixth book of 
 the Iliad there is given with a few touches a fine sketch of the 
 temple of Athene in Troy and the seated statue of the goddess, 
 on whose knees (1. 273) Hecabe lays a peplos, just as was still 
 done by the Athenians of the age of Pericles at the Panathenaic 
 festival — a scene depicted on the frieze of the Parthenon. 
 There are also descriptions of funeral ceremonies, such as the 
 celebrated picture of the funeral of Patroclus in the twenty- 
 third book of the Iliad, and the exquisitely beautiful, though 
 possibly not Homeric,^ scene of the mourning for Achilles (Od. 
 xxiv.), and the cortege round his funeral pyre, and the pathetic 
 lines which tell us how Odysseus and his men felled trees and 
 built a pyre and burnt the body of their comrade Elpenor, 
 and how they then piled a mound above his buried ashes and 
 erected on the top of the mound the oar " with which in life 
 he had rowed amidst his mates,'' as his ghost in Hades had 
 implored them to do. Achaean funerals, as we have already 
 seen, were generally of this character — cremation and burial 
 of ashes. There is, however, one word (rapx^'etv) thrice used 
 in the Iliad which seems to point to some older custom, such 
 as was prevalent in Egypt, for the word means to ' dry ' (like 
 smoked fish). 
 
 Among the Homeric Achaeans the kingship was hereditary, 
 although it seems as if the family prerogative had to be con- 
 firmed by Zeus, probably through oracular response or omens, 
 for Telemachus allows this (Od. i. 386 sq.) and speaks of the 
 possibility of some other of the Ithacan princes (whom he also 
 calls ' kings ' — (^aa-iXrjeg) being elected instead of himself. 
 In the Iliad Agamemnon is the over-lord of all the Achaean 
 princes and the head of the army ; in the Odyssey Odysseus 
 is the over-lord of all the Ithacan chieftains and nobles and 
 possesses large estates and many flocks and herds and the rights 
 
 ^ The so-called Ne'/cuta Bevrepa (second visit to the dead), if not by Homer 
 himself, is worthy of him. It is like a figure by Praxiteles added to an un- 
 finished group by Pheidias. Some affirm that the first descent (Book XI) 
 was inserted (and composed ?) by some Orphic teacher, perhaps Onomacritus, 
 when the Homeric poems were collected and arranged in the time of Peisis- 
 tratus. This I prefer not to believe. 
 
 66 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 of pasture on the mainland and in Ithaca. The king has a 
 privy council (Boul^) formed of elders and nobles, and there is 
 also a pubhc assembly (Agora), which in the Iliad naturally 
 consists of all the fighting men — perhaps of others too, for one 
 can hardly conceive Thersites as a fighter. In the Odyssey 
 we have descriptions of both Ithacan and Phaeacian assemblies, 
 consisting evidently of all the free men of the state. They 
 seem, as a rule, to have been summoned merely to hear the 
 decisions of the king and his Boule; but sometimes they 
 certainly took their own course, breaking up in disorder, 
 some following one leader and some another {e.g. Od. iii. 
 
 The land seems to have belonged mainly to the Achaean 
 noble families, who probably held their hereditary title from 
 the king and Boule. There seem also to have been ' common 
 lands ' (//. xii. 422), and even thralls, such as the swineherd 
 Eumaeus, could receive in tenant-right a * lot ' {KXttpog) 
 from his lord, and those who were not landowners {aKXr^poi) 
 could engage farm-labourers and evidently hire land for culti- 
 vation {Od. xi. 490), but the family kleroi (allotments) probably 
 took up most of the good soil and pasturage. These allot- 
 ments could be divided among members of a family (in Crete 
 anyhow, as we see from Od. xiv. 209), but, being held in feu- 
 right from a liege lord, could not be sold. Hesiod, however, 
 speaks of the gods granting the blessing of " buying your 
 neighbour's allotment instead of his buying yours." But 
 that was later, and in Boeotia. 
 
 The Homeric palace, or large house, stood often in a palisaded 
 or walled courtyard. It consisted of a portico and a raised 
 ' stoep,' where guests slept, and a great megaron (hall) which 
 was used for meals and also as a sleeping-place ; but there 
 were also frequently {e.g. in Odysseus' palace) workrooms and 
 bedrooms in the back part of the house, those for the women 
 upstairs. Descriptions are given, more or less full, of the palaces 
 of Odysseus, Alcinous, Menelaus, Circe, and what I have called 
 glimpses of Agamemnon's Mycenaean palace and of the quarters 
 of Achilles in the Greek camp. Circe's palace had a flat roof 
 
 67 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 where guests could sleep. The palace of Alcinous had a frieze, 
 or coping, of blue glass-paste {cyan) such as has been found in a 
 palace at Tiryns. Its walls were bronzen (doubtless plated with 
 bronze, as in the ' Treasury of Atreus * at Mycenae), and its 
 doors and door-handle were of gold ; the door-posts and lintel 
 were of silver and the threshold was of bronze. The palace 
 of Menelaus is described as gleaming with bronze, gold, amber, 
 silver, and ivory. 
 
 Art treasures, Achaean and Sidonian, are frequently de- 
 scribed : metal-work, embroidery, fine-woven cloths, carved 
 woodwork, and other artistic objects. The ' Shield of Achilles ' 
 testifies to a high proficiency in the art of metal inlay, though 
 we must perhaps allow something for imagination. The art 
 of writing has already been mentioned. 
 
 Exceedingly beautiful are the relations between those who are 
 bound by ties of affection and kinship. Nowhere in literature 
 is to be found anything more touching and beautiful than the 
 love of Achilles for Patroclus, of Andromache and of old 
 Priam for Hector, of Hector for his wife and child, of Tele- 
 machus for his mother, of Penelope and of Anticleia for 
 Odysseus ; and even such love is equalled by the tender affec- 
 tion of the old nurse Kurycleia and the swineherd Kumaeus 
 and the old Dolius (all of them slaves) for their masters and 
 their mistress. When the good old swineherd saw Telemachus 
 once more, whom he feared the suitors had murdered, 
 
 ... to welcome his master he hastened. 
 Kissed him on both of his cheeks, on his beautiful eyes and his forehead, 
 Kissed him on both of his hands, while big tears fell from his eyelids. 
 
 And in the same way all the maids who had remained 
 faithful to Odysseus, when they recognized him after the 
 slaughter of the suitors, crowded round him, 
 
 Ivovingly kissing his head and his shoulders in token of welcome, ^^ 
 
 Grasping and kissing his hands. jfl 
 
 In Homer there is not much of that high-wrought sentiment 
 which plays such a large part in modern romance. Indeed, 
 there is a good deal that would offend the deHcate sensibiHties 
 of the writer and reader of such romance. An hour or so after 
 68 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 Odysseus' rather unconventional interruption of their ball- 
 playing on the river-bank, Nausicaa (who was a lady if ever 
 there was one) confesses openly and without the sHghtest 
 touch of sentiment to her maidens that she would be deHghted 
 to have him as a husband. 
 
 Passionate love seems in Homer to be regarded as somewhat 
 contemptible as well as dangerous. The names of Briseis, 
 Calypso, and Circe do not awaken very pleasant associations. 
 Helen bitterly bewails, even before Priam, the madness of 
 passionate love sent her by Aphrodite, and although the 
 greybeards of Troy seem to condone it on account of her 
 irresistible charms, and although — what is still more strange — 
 Menelaus himself condones it, and lives contentedly with her 
 after her ten years' infideHty, the general verdict seems to 
 agree with her self-accusation of ' dog-faced ' shamelessness 
 and with her self -contempt. Clytaemnestra affords another 
 example. She is described by Nestor as good by nature ; 
 but ilHcit love maddened her and led her to murder her 
 husband. With the deities passion cannot, of course, lead to 
 crime, for they are above law, but in their case such emotions 
 are represented as even more contemptible and ridiculous 
 than in the case of a mortal ; and when Hephaestus, as an 
 injured husband, demands compensation of Ares (Od. vii.) 
 the satire reaches its climax. 
 
 Nothing, indeed, is more remarkable than the way in 
 which the gods — who are generally treated with great respect, 
 and even veneration — are satirized in this matter. The 
 Homeric Zeus is a majestic figure, and inspires deep rever- 
 ence in mortal hearts, but he does not escape ridicule. 
 Although he sends Hermes to warn Aegisthus against 
 his design of seducing Clytaemnestra, the Father of the 
 Gods himself earns an unenviable notoriety in matters of 
 love, and at such moments stands on a much lower moral 
 level than mortals such as Hector or Odysseus ; for though 
 Odysseus was not faultless, the relations between him and 
 tenelope are very much more edifying and very much more 
 beautiful than are frequently the relations between the King 
 
 69 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 and Queen of Heaven. Indeed, family life on earth is pictured 
 as being on the whole happier than it is in heaven. In spite 
 of the fact that a wife was often practically bought by the 
 suitor who could offer the largest ' bride-gift ' to the parents, 
 married life in that age, if we may accept Homer's descrip- 
 tions, was often a life of the deepest affection and of 
 unbounded confidence — such a life as Odysseus himself 
 pictured to Nausicaa : 
 
 So shall the gods all blessings bestow tha thy soul desireth — 
 
 Husband and home ; and oneness of heart may heaven vouchsafe thee. 
 
 Blessing supreme — since nought can be wished that is greater and better 
 
 While imited in heart and in mind are dwelling together 
 
 Husband and wife. 'Tis a sight brings sorrow to wishers of evil, 
 
 Joy to the wishers of good. But the joy in their hearts is the loudest. 
 
 As a description of a work of art — of an art derived from the 
 old Mycenaean and Cretan artists — the * Shield of Achilles ' 
 (//. xviii.) is of great interest to the antiquarian, but its chief 
 value, of course, consists in the fact that it is magnificent poetry 
 and that it gives such wondrously vivid, and in their main 
 features doubtless accurate, pictures of the life of this age — the 
 age of Achaean supremacy. The fivefold shield was wrought 
 by Hephaestus of " unyielding bronze and tin and costly 
 gold and silver." In the centre he fashioned " earth and sky 
 and sea and the unwearied sun and the full moon and all the 
 constellations with which heaven is crowned, the Pleiades and 
 Hyades and Orion and the Bear, who alone hath no share in the 
 baths of Ocean." Round the outer rim flowed the " mighty 
 strength of the river of Ocean," and in the middle space were 
 city scenes and scenes of country life. First we have scenes 
 of peace within a city — a bridal procession, a court of law ; 
 then we see a city beleaguered, and warriors, led by Ares and 
 Athene, arming for a sortie and an ambuscade ; then cattle- 
 lifting and a general fray. Next come pictures of rural fife : 
 a field being ploughed by many ploughmen, and as each one 
 reaches the limit of the field he receives a cup of sweet wine, 
 and turns refreshed, eager to reach again the end of his furrow, 
 " and behind him it grew black, and looked Hke ploughed 
 earth, though wrought in gold." Then we have a reaping 
 70 
 
THE AEGAEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 scene, the heavy crop falling in swaths at the sweep of the 
 sickles, and being bound into sheaves, while the king looks on 
 in silence with exultant heart, and beneath a great oak a banquet 
 is being prepared. Then comes a vintage scene — the luscious 
 fruit borne in woven baskets amid music and dancing. Then 
 herdsmen drive their cattle forth to pasture, and nigh to the 
 watering-place and the waving reed-bed two lions attack and 
 drag off a bull, while the men vainly urge on their dogs, who bark 
 furiously but keep aloof. Then in a beautiful valley we see 
 a great flock of white sheep and the sheepfolds and the shep- 
 herds' huts. lyastly, there is a dancing-ground " like to that 
 which once Daedalus made in broad Cnossus for fair Ariadne," 
 and here maidens and youths are dancing, those crowned with 
 fair garlands and these with golden swords hanging from silver 
 baldricks, and two acrobats are turning somersaults amidst 
 the surrounding crowd while a minstrel makes music with his 
 harp. 
 
 Very interesting, too, is the description of the dress and 
 the golden brooch of Odysseus. The passage occurs in the 
 fictitious account {Od. xix.) that he gives Penelope of how 
 once in Cretan Cnossus he met and hospitably entertained — 
 himself ! 
 
 Purple and thick was the cloak that was worn by the godlike Odysseus, 
 Twofold, knit by a brooch that was fashioned of gold and was furnished 
 Doubly with sockets for pins ; and the front was embossed with a picture ; 
 Here was a hound that was holding a dappled fawn with his forefeet, 
 Watching it struggle ; and all that beheld were greatly astonished 
 How, though golden, the hound kept watching the fawn as he choked it, 
 While in the longing to win an escape with the legs it was writhing. 
 Further, I noticed the tunic he wore : 'twas of linen that glister'd 
 Like to the delicate skin that is peeled from a shrivelling onion ; 
 Such was the softness thereof ; and it gleamed as the sun in his glory. 
 
 71 
 
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CHAPTER II 
 
 THE DARK AGE 
 
 (c. IIOO TO 776) 
 
 The Dorians : The Coi^onization of Aeoi<is, Ionia, and Doris 
 
 SECTIONS : DIPYLON ANTIQUITIES : HESIOD : THE PHOENICIANS 
 AND SOME OTHER NATIONS DURING THE DARK AGE 
 
 OF the age that we have been considering, that of 
 the Achaean supremacy, we have in Homer's poems 
 a wonderfully distinct, though perhaps somewhat 
 imaginative, picture. These Homeric men and women and the 
 world in which they lived, although we have no memorials of 
 them but words, seem very near to us — nearer by far than 
 many nations of whom we have abundant relics, such as the 
 Babylonians, Assyrians, and Egyptians — nearer, too, than 
 many a people of an age not far removed from our own. 
 Without its vates sacer this Achaean age would doubtless be 
 as much of a blank as the three centuries which followed it — 
 an epoch which is indeed fairly rich in myths, but about which 
 we know for certain much less than we do about the far earher 
 Minoan and Egyptian civilizations. One fact, however, is 
 indubitable. It was an epoch of great invasions or ' migra- 
 tions,' which rapidly changed the character of the population 
 and the civilization in many parts of Greece and extended the 
 Hellenic name to large tracts of country on the other side of 
 the Aegaean Sea. 
 First, let us see what the myths say. 
 
 Mythical Accounts of the Migrations 
 
 Hellen, king of Phthia, in Thessaly, and son of Deucalion 
 (the Greek Noah), was the mythical ancestor of all the Hellenes. 
 
 74 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 Aeolus and Dorus were his sons, Achaeus and Ion his grandsons 
 through another son. From these ' eponymous ' heroes were 
 descended the AeoHans, Dorians, Achaeans, and lonians. 
 The AeoHans lived in Thessaly and the Dorians in Doris, a 
 small district in central North Greece. The lonians settled in 
 the country afterwards called Achaea, and the Achaeans 
 conquered the whole of the Peloponnese except this district 
 of the lonians and the mountain strongholds of the Arcadians. 
 Now in the Peloponnese there had been before the coming of 
 the Achaeans two great reigning dynasties — the descendants 
 of Perseus (who is said to have founded Tiryns and Mycenae) 
 and the Pelopid princes of Pisa, Olympia, and Amyclae, with 
 whom, as we have already seen, the northern Achaean invaders 
 probably intermarried and identified themselves. The last 
 of the Perseid dynasty had been Eurystheus (the king of Argos 
 who enslaved Heracles). He was succeeded by the Pelopid 
 Atreus. On the death of Heracles (traditional date 1209) 
 his children were exiled from Argos. They endeavoured to 
 return and recover their possessions, but after Hyllus, the son 
 of Heracles, had been killed in single combat they promised 
 to renounce all further attempts for a hundred years. At 
 the end of this time (1104) they put themselves at the head 
 of a great army of Dorians,^ who espoused their cause, and 
 who were finding the little district of Doris between Oeta and 
 Parnassus too narrow for their needs. This Dorian host, 
 helped by the Aetolians and I^ocrians, built a fleet at a port 
 thereafter knoWn as Naupactus (' Place of Shipbuilding '), 
 and overran most of the Peloponnese, which was divided among 
 the Heracleidae and their Dorian alhes. The most powerful 
 of the Peloponnesian monarchs was the Pelopid-Achaean 
 Tisamenus, son of Orestes (and, therefore, grandson of Aga- 
 memnon). He was either slain or else compelled to retire with 
 
 ^ Plato gives a very different story, namely, that the Achaeans who 
 returned from Troy were not received by the people at home, and, being 
 expelled, put themselves under the leadership of a chief named Dorieus 
 and changed their name to Dorians, They then allied themselves with the 
 ! Heracleidae and recaptured the Peloponnese. This is worth mentioning if 
 only to show the very great variations in such old myths. 
 
 75 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 his Achaeans to the northern district of the Peloponnese, 
 which was, as already stated, inhabited by lonians. These 
 lonians were driven out by the Achaeans, and took refuge in 
 Attica. 
 
 Now the king of Athens about this time was Codrus, of the 
 race of Nestor, whose descendants had been driven out of 
 Pylos by the Dorians. When the Dorians also attacked Attica 
 Codrus devoted himself to death, and thus (in accordance with 
 an oracle) saved his country. His sons quarrelled, and when 
 the oracle gave its verdict for one of them the other went off 
 with a ' mixed multitude ' consisting to a great extent of the 
 Ionian refugees, and, making his way from island to island 
 across the Aegaean, founded colonies on the coast of Asia 
 Minor, which ultimately developed into Ionia with its twelve 
 great cities. 
 
 The story of the ' Aeolic migration ' is thus narrated by 
 old writers. 
 
 On the 'Return of the Heracleidae ' — i.e. invasion of the 
 Peloponnese by the Dorians — those of the Achaeans who did 
 not remain with Tisamenus in Achaea crossed the Isthmus 
 and made their way to Boeotia and thence through Thessaly and 
 Thrace to the Hellespont ; or else they reached the port of Aulis, 
 the very place where Agamemnon had been delayed by winds 
 and had started with his assembled fleet for Troy, and thence, 
 accompanied by many Kuboeans and others, they sailed across 
 the Aegaean by the chain of islands that stretches from Buboea 
 to the Troad. They made settlements in I^esbos and the adj acent 
 mainland, capturing or founding twelve cities, of which Cyme, 
 named after a town in Buboea, was the first — the mother- 
 city of Smyrna, and mother, or perhaps sister, to the more 
 famous Cyme in Italy, the Cumae of the Romans. 
 
 Other forms of the legend, one of which is given by Pindar, 
 make this Aeolian migration take place some twenty years 
 before the 'Return of the Heracleidae' {i.e. in 1124), and 
 affirm that Orestes himself led the emigrants. According to 
 the Augustan writer Strabo, Orestes started with them, but 
 died in Arcadia — a version which agrees with the story of 
 y6 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 Herodotus that the bones of Orestes were discovered some 
 five and a half centuries later at Tegea, in Arcadia. 
 
 Now under these various myths about the Dorian invasion 
 and the AeoHc and Ionic migrations there is doubtless a basis 
 of historical facts, and probably these facts are somewhat as 
 follows. 
 
 Aeolic Migration 
 
 Possibly even before the siege of Troy there had been a 
 considerable stream of migration across the Northern Aegaean 
 by way of the islands that form a chain between the Pagasaean 
 Gulf in Thessaly and the Troad. Pagasae is celebrated in 
 mythology as the port where Jason built the Argo, and whence 
 the Argonauts set forth on their voyage to unknown eastern 
 lands, and the legend evidently gives poetic form to some 
 such early adventures. From Thessaly, which was in early 
 days the home of the Achaeans and the 'Aeolian Boeotians,' 
 it is quite possible that bands of sea-rovers, who either called 
 themselves or were called by their Mysian and Phrygian foes 
 AeoHans (possibly a corruption of the word Achaeans), made 
 their way across to I^esbos and the Troad, and that it was 
 the hostility between these Greek adventurers and the natives 
 (also of northern Aryan race) which ultimately brought about 
 the Trojan War and the expedition of Agamemnon and his 
 allies and the fall of the great Phrygian stronghold. 
 
 Even if we accept Homer's account, which gives no 
 hint of AeoHan or any other Greek settlements in Asia Minor, 
 it is not unlikely that the fall of Troy may have at once opened 
 up the south of the Troad and I^esbos and the adjacent mainland 
 to emigrants from Greece, Achaean and other, who prob- 
 ably assembled at Pagasae, or Aulis, or some such point of 
 departure and crossed the Aegaean by the islands. This 
 theory seems to fit in fairly well with the version of the myth 
 which makes Orestes head the first band of emigrants not so 
 very long after the Trojan War and some time before the 
 invasion of the Dorian Northmen. Doubtless the pressure 
 I of this invasion caused a large increase of emigration to the 
 
 77 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 Aeolian settlements, as well as to the country to the south of 
 Aeolis, which had been till then only sparsely occupied, if 
 occupied at all, by another section of the Greek race — the 
 lonians, or lavones, as they called themselves. 
 
 Ionic Migration 
 
 According to the myths, as we have seen, the lonians 
 originally inhabited the north of the Peloponnese, and when 
 pressed by the refugee Achaeans withdrew to Attica, and thence, 
 under leaders of the Pylian house of Codrus, passed over to 
 Asia Minor. This would make the Ionic migration a direct 
 result of the Dorian invasion of the Peloponnese ; and doubtless, 
 as already remarked, this invasion did cause a great exodus of 
 the conquered peoples, many of whom made their way to 
 the islands and to Crete, as well as to the mainland on the 
 further side of the Aegaean. 
 
 As Ionia plays such an important part in Greek history, it 
 is a question of deep interest who these lavones, or lonians, 
 were. They are only once mentioned by Homer. He 
 gives them the epithet ' chiton-trailing ' — a strange epithet 
 for warriors, and never used by any other Greek writer. 
 They take part in defending the ships against the attack 
 of Hector, and are apparently closely associated, if not 
 identified, with the Athenians. All tradition agrees with 
 Homer in such association or identification. If not actually 
 Athenians, these lavones, or lonians, were certainly non- 
 Achaean settlers in Argolis and Attica, and probably of the 
 same Aegaean or Pelasgic race as the Athenians themselves. For 
 it seems fairly certain that the Athenians, who always boasted 
 of their old Pelasgic origin, remained to a large extent as a 
 race unaffected both by Achaean and by Dorian influence. 
 They were, as Herodotus asserts, Hellenized Pelasgians and 
 Aegaeans rather than true Hellenes. In speech and religion 
 they were Hellenic, just as much as the Achaeans, but in their 
 deeper instincts there were elements which were derived from 
 the old pre-Hellenic race and which very possibly accounted 
 for many of their characteristics and proved the main cause 
 
 78 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 of that rapid and wonderful aesthetic and intellectual develop- 
 ment which took place later among the Ionic section of the 
 Greek race. 
 
 In the case of the Asiatic lonians probably these aesthetic 
 instincts were less modified by vigorous Northern influences 
 than was the case with the Athenians, and doubtless also 
 in time the enervating climate (though highly praised by 
 Herodotus, whose native clime it was), as well as the enervating 
 influences of the wealthy I^ydians and the semi-Oriental 
 Carians and other peoples of Asia Minor, contributed to 
 produce that Ionian luxury and voluptuousness which were 
 in such sharp contrast to the a-oj^poa-wv, the self-restraint, 
 of all that is greatest in Athenian art and character. For some 
 centuries, however, Ionia, like the Greek colonies in Sicily and 
 Italy, seems to have far outstripped the mother-country 
 not only in the size and magnificence of its cities — some of 
 which were probably never surpassed by Athens itself — but 
 also in most civilized arts. For instance, as we have seen, 
 Ionia probably knew and practised the art of writing for some 
 time before it was much used in Greece. 
 
 The colonists were by no means only lonians. Herodotus 
 calls them a mixed multitude composed of many diverse tribes 
 from North and South Greece. Moreover, he states that they 
 brought no wives with them and intermarried largely with the 
 Carians. They founded, or captured and refounded, in course 
 of time the twelve important cities which later formed the 
 Ionic Amphictiony, Phocaea being the northernmost and the 
 southernmost Miletus (formerly a Carian city, according to 
 Homer), which, together with Myus and Priene, lay on the 
 magnificent Bay of I^atmus, now changed into a vast swampy 
 plain by the deposits of the river Maeander. These twelve 
 cities afterwards had a common place of assembly and of 
 iworship, sacred to Poseidon, on the northern slope of Mount 
 Mycale. Here they met at the pan-Ionic festival, as the 
 Ipan-Hellenic world met at Olympia. 
 
 But this is anticipating. For the present it sufiices to have 
 pointed out the probability of this Ionian migration having 
 
 79 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 begun before the advent of the Dorians in the Peloponnese, 
 and to have shown the Hkelihood that many of these * Ionian ' 
 emigrants were of non-Hellenic (that is, of Aegaean rather 
 than Achaean) race. The fact that in Ionia — indeed, on 
 all the coast of Western Asia Minor — very few traces of 
 ' Mycenaean ' civilization have as yet been discovered need 
 not disturb us, for these lonians of, say, iioo were by no means 
 the Aegaeans of the ' Mycenaean ' age, and the fact that the 
 great Ionian cities were, with the exception of Miletus, con- 
 tinuously inhabited down to a late age makes it unlikely that 
 relics of early times have survived. Moreover, what few 
 relics have been discovered — especially by Mr. Hogarth in 
 his excavation of the earliest temple of Artemis at Ephesus — 
 seem at least to have a strong affinity to the relics of Aegaean 
 and Cretan civiHzation. Among these are many figurines of 
 Artemis as Karth-Mother and golden plaques and the double- 
 axe decoration. 
 
 Doric Invasion 
 
 Though the colonization of Aeolis and Ionia evidently began 
 before the great pressure of the Dorian invasion (c. iioo), 
 it was doubtless owing to that invasion that such multitudes 
 found their way across the Aegaean. We have already heard 
 the mythical account of these Dorians and of the * Return of 
 the Heracleidae.' These myths probably arose from the fact 
 that the descendants of these Dorian conquerors tried to make 
 out some hereditary claim to the countries which their ancestors 
 had invaded ; but it is, of course, possible that invasion 
 may have been incited by exiles, a thing that has happened 
 many times in history. More probably, however, the Dorians 
 moved southward because they were hard pressed by other 
 northern tribes. 
 
 Northern Greece had been from early ages the scene of con- 
 stant invasions and of constant migrations. We have already 
 heard of a great nation of northern barbarians, the Illyrians, 
 who poured into Kpirus and swept the Achaeans eastward 
 across the Pindus range into the country north of the Peneios. 
 80 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 Hither from the north came the Petthaloi, or Thessaloi, and 
 drove the Achaeans southward to Phthia. For some time 
 these ThessaHans held North Thessaly and reduced the original 
 natives to serfdom. Then they attacked the Boeotians, who 
 were, it is said, an Aeolian people at that time inhabiting 
 the fertile valley of the Peneios in Central Thessaly. The 
 Boeotians, forced southward, occupied the country known 
 henceforth as Boeotia ; and it is likely that this invasion 
 may have caused the Dorians to cross over into the Pelo- 
 ponnese. These Dorians were apparently just at that time 
 encamped in the basin between Mount Oeta and Mount 
 Parnassus (to the north-west of Delphi). The small area of 
 this district of ' Doris ' seems to preclude the possibility 
 that a great host of warriors, such as the Dorians certainly 
 were, could have made it their settled home for any length 
 of time. Probably they had made their way down from 
 the far north, following the great central range of Pindus, 
 and had for the time occupied what was afterwards known 
 as Doris and regarded as the original home of the Dorian 
 race. During their sojourn here or on their moves southward 
 (which probably went on for years) they seem to have possessed 
 themselves of the Delphic shrine and oracle, for we find at 
 a later period ancient Dorian famiHes at Delphi possessing 
 prerogatives as Apollo's priests. 
 
 Doubtless these Dorians were of the same Aryan stock as 
 the Achaeans. They seem to have worshipped the same, or 
 similar, deities, and to have accepted the Olympian religion 
 as they found it in Greece, possibly adding a few features, 
 such as the cult of the Doric Apollo — possibly that god of the 
 sun who with his bright arrows slew the Python of Delphi 
 and banished the old snake- worship. But in many points 
 they were evidently very different. Instead of assimilating 
 the civihzation of the conquered peoples they seem to have 
 swept it almost out of existence. But possibly the ' darkness ' of 
 this age is due mainly to our ignorance. Although no evidence 
 is forthcoming of anything in the way of art and refinement 
 in the countries overrun by these early Dorians during several 
 
 F 8i 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 centuries, it is just possible that their advent did not cause such 
 devastation as has been supposed. vStill, judging from the 
 Spartans, who were the only pure Dorians of later times, one 
 may reasonably believe that their early ancestors, fresh from 
 the north, were barbarians such as the Gauls or Huns, and it 
 seems a very natural conclusion that the Aegaean-Achaean 
 civihzation was for a long time almost annihilated in 
 Greece, except in Attica, which preserved its independence 
 and helped also to foster civilization in the colonies of Asia 
 Minor. 
 
 The Dorians seem to have been armed with iron, the 
 commoner use of which metal may have given them a great 
 superiority in war. They bore round metal shields, and wore 
 a square woollen cloak, fastened over the shoulders with 
 brooches (safety-pins). \ 
 
 We have seen that they built a number of ships at Naupactus. 
 In these ships many of them evidently crossed over to the 
 Peloponnese, landing at various points. They conquered all 
 the south-western parts, driving out the Achaean or Aegaean 
 lords of Amyclae^ near which they founded Sparta — destined, 
 though without wall or citadel, to become the mistress not only 
 of lyaconia, but for a time of nearly the whole of Hellas^ 
 But it seems probable that a considerable force of these 
 Dorians set forth at once in their new-built ships for more 
 distant conquests. They captured and occupied the islands 
 of Thera and Melos, and made a descent on Crete, where they 
 swept away the last remnants of Minoan civilization and 
 introduced Dorian customs and laws.^ The similarity of 
 the name of one of the three Dorian clans (Pamphyli) to 
 that of the people of Pamphylia has induced some writers 
 to assert that these adventurers even reached and gave their 
 name and language to that land. 
 
 1 The similarity of Spartan and Cretan laws and constitution is noticed 
 by old writers. Homer speaks of Dorians as one of many diverse races in 
 Crete — the only time he mentions the name — and possibly calls them ' three- 
 tribed.' If these are the Dorians of i loo or so the mention is an anachronism, 
 but it only proves that Homer did not write before that date. ' Pamphyli ' 
 really means ' of mixed races.' 
 
 82 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 In the Peloponnese the Dorians eventually extended their 
 conquests to Argolis, and it was doubtless their devastating 
 fire which, about 950, left its marks on the ruins of Mycenae 
 and Tiryns. Argos now was made the chief city of the Argive 
 plain, and the Dorian occupation lasted apparently for some 
 centuries ; but afterwards, although traces of Dorian govern- 
 ment remained, Argos became a great adversary of Sparta. 
 The lofty citadel of Corinth, the Acrocorinthus, was also 
 seized by a Dorian adventurer, Aletes ('Wanderer'), and 
 the city, under the sovereignty of the Dorian Argive kings, 
 became, doubtless by virtue of its two seas, a place of maritime 
 importance. Even Megara was seized and became a thoroughly 
 Dorian town ; and later (perhaps about 800) the island of 
 Aegina was also occupied, and for nearly four centuries proved 
 a Dorian thorn in the side of Athens, until the Athenians 
 were forced (as we were in the case of the Acadians of Nova 
 Scotia) to clear the country of its older population and settle 
 it anew with loyal colonists. 
 
 It was probably after thus extending and consolidating their 
 conquests in the Peloponnese that the Dorian chiefs led bands 
 of emigrants across the Aegaean, evidently by way of the 
 Doric islands of Thera and Melos, to Crete and thence to 
 Rhodes, where they founded, or annexed, the three cities of 
 Ivindus, lalysus, and Cameirus.^ Then the island Cos was 
 occupied by them, and two cities, Cnidus and Halicarnassus, 
 were founded on the mainland. These six settlements formed 
 the Hexapolis of the new oversea Doris — ^nominally a Dorian 
 colony, but to a large extent really Carian ; for, especially 
 in Halicarnassus, which was by far the most important of 
 these cities, the native Carian element was preponderant, 
 and ' Carian dynasts ' (among whom we shall later find Queen 
 
 1 Mentioned in the ' Catalogue of the Ships ' {Iliad, ii.). The Rhodians 
 also in this passage are described as divided into three (Dorian) clans. But 
 the ' Catalogue ' is admittedly full of late intercalations. Thera, Melos, and 
 Rhodes were colonized by Aegaeans long before the coming of the Dorians. 
 A ' Mycenaean ' cemetery at lalysus has given many evidences of this. 
 In Thera a volcanic disturbance buried a Mycenaean town, which has been 
 partially excavated, and in Melos a citadel has been discovered dating from 
 about 2000. 
 
 83 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Artemisia I and Mausolus) seem to have established their 
 rule from an early period. ^W^'^ !^-" 
 
 Thus during this so-called Dark Age very great and im- 
 portant movements and changes evidently took place. The 
 Aegaean, from which (if Thucydides is right) in an earlier 
 age the Minoan fleets had swept the pirates and expelled the 
 Carians, became during this period a Grecian sea, fringed on 
 all sides, except the extreme north, with Grecian colonies — 
 which extended, as we shall see later, even to Cyprus. Nor 
 were the changes in social and political matters less important, 
 for even in the twilight of the archaic period, before we emerge 
 into the full light of history, we can discern the fact that 
 the old monarchical system has already begun to give way, 
 that to a considerable extent constituted law has taken the 
 place of absolute government and those unwritten traditional 
 ordinances (Oeniiarre?) of which we hear in Homer, and that 
 the city, with its larger and more systematized community 
 and its function as political centre of a district, has succeeded 
 to migratory life and loosely grouped village communities clus- 
 tered (as in Mycenae) around the stronghold of some chieftain. 
 Moreover, the sites of towns were affected by the new state of 
 things, as Thucydides tells us in his celebrated opening chapters. 
 "When there were now greater facilities for navigation," he 
 says, '* cities were built with walls on the sea-shore, and they 
 began to occupy isthmuses, with a view to commerce and 
 security, whereas the older cities, owing to the long continuance 
 of piracy, were built farther off the sea . " Of the cities especi ally 
 affected by the disappearance of piracy and the more settled 
 state of things was Corinth, which took advantage of its 
 position on the Isthmus, and in early days became a great 
 emporium and the first naval power in Greece, so that we 
 may well credit the assertion of Thucydides that the first 
 triremes were built there ^ — war-galleys of 170 oars with 
 
 ^ This was not until c. 700, when they were perhaps introduced by the 
 Phoenicians. The trireme does not seem to have superseded the old fifty- 
 oared biremes in other parts of Greece till shortly before the Persian wars 
 (c. 500). In later times warships had often five banks. Alexander and the 
 Ptolemies built vessels which, it is asserted, had forty banks 1 
 
 84 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 three banks of oarsmen — and that the first Greek naval battle 
 was between the Corinthians and their own colonists, the 
 Corcyraeans. 
 
 Of other cities in Greece during this Dark Age we have a few 
 dim myths and a few relics, such as the contents of the so-called 
 Dipylon cemetery at Athens (see Section A) and various objects 
 found at Argos and Sparta. But when the veil rises and Greek 
 history begins we find some of these cities, or rather states 
 (for they had already begun to develop into organized com- 
 munities), furnished with constitutions and in possession of 
 much else that necessarily presumes a considerable period of 
 stable government and prosperity. It will therefore be well 
 to consider here some of the more important facts connected 
 with two cities which will later occupy much of our attention, 
 namely, Athens and Sparta, and see how far these facts, as 
 they meet our view at the dawn of history (say about 700), 
 may be traced to their sources in this Dark Age (say between 
 1000 and 700), although in doing this we shall be forestalHng 
 to some ej^itent. It is, of course, quite incredible that these 
 three or four centuries between the Dorian invasion and the 
 beginning of certified history should in Greece itself have been 
 a total blank, but almost the only proof that it was not so 
 resides in facts that really belong to the next age — facts which 
 it may not be too audacious to try to trace to their origin with 
 the help of more or less mythical accounts given by ancient 
 writers. 
 
 Athens 
 Of Athens and its ancient mythical history we have already 
 
 heard something, namely, how it was perhaps captured, but 
 
 not permanently held, by the Achaeans, how it repelled the 
 I Dorians and retained its independence, and how the last of its 
 
 kings, Codrus, for his country's sake devoted himself to death 
 I (c. 1044). 
 
 I Now so great, it is said, was the admiration of the Athenians 
 I for this heroic act of Codrus that they determined to allow 
 ': no one else the royal prerogatives, and elected Medon, the son 
 
 8s 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 of the king/ as their chief magistrate for life, giving him the 
 title archon {' ruler '). Such is the possibly mythical version 
 of the fact that early in the Dark Age the absolute monarch in 
 Athens was superseded by a constitutional and accountable 
 magistracy — perhaps elected by the nobles out of their own 
 body. This magistracy consisted probably from the first 
 of three archons, such as existed (though combined later with 
 ' lawgivers ') down to the time of the Roman Emperors. They 
 were the chief civil magistrate (called later eponymos, because 
 he gave his name to the year), the chief military commander 
 (polemarch) , and the King Archon (basileus) . The King Archon 
 may at first have belonged to the royal house, but he held the 
 merest shadow of kingly power, being allowed to retain little 
 but the pontifical functions of royalty (as the Rex Sacrificulus 
 at Rome after the expulsion of the kings and the election of 
 praetors and consuls). This seems to have been in many 
 of the states of Hellas the first stage in the evolution of the 
 later republics. On account of the great increase of ordinary 
 citizens, traders, agriculturists, and so on, the military element 
 gradually lost its exclusive political influence, and the king, 
 as head of the army, lost his political supremacy. Some 
 powerful clique or family of nobles then assumed this supremacy, 
 electing perhaps one of their number as polemarch, or war- 
 leader, and others as permanent, or annual, civil magistrates. 
 This state of things — that of a close aristocracy or oligarchy 
 — we find in early days at Corinth, where the Bacchiad family 
 for a considerable time held the reins of government. And as 
 it happened at Corinth, so it also happened in many other cases 
 that some specially strong-minded and ambitious noble over- 
 threw the aristocracy (sometimes by coming forward as a 
 demagogue and obtaining the support of the people) and 
 constituted himself ' tyrant ' or despot. He differed from a 
 hereditary monarch by basing his claims on force rather than 
 
 1 His younger brother, Neleus, led the emigrants to Ionia (see p. 78). The 
 archonship was at first a life-office and perhaps limited to the Medontid 
 family. About 750 its term was reduced to ten years, in 683 it was made 
 an annual office, and finally the pine chief magistrate^ were all called 
 archons, 
 
 86 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 on divine right, and generally surrounded himself with a strong 
 bodyguard, but not unfrequently he proved a beneficent 
 ruler, and one that forwarded the material prosperity of the 
 people far more than was often done by republican govern- 
 ments. The last stage of evolution was, as we shall see later, 
 the establishment of a constitutional democracy on the expul- 
 sion of the tyrannos. 
 
 It was either during the reigns of the early Athenian kings 
 (tradition attributes it to the reign of Theseus) or shortly 
 after the institution of the archonship that Athens became 
 the capital of the whole of Attica — an event which was of the 
 very greatest moment, giving her in time a position as political 
 centre of an united state which was possessed by no other city 
 in Greece. In spite of the poverty of its soil Attica had received 
 many foreign immigrants, such as the Achaean and the Ionian 
 refugees. We hear of twelve Attic * kingships ' in the age of 
 Cecrops. These petty chieftains in course of time, either by com- 
 pulsion or wilUngly, became subject to the growing Athenian 
 power, which extended its dominion first over the plain of 
 the Cephisus and then over the country east of Mount 
 Hymettus and north of PenteHcus from Cape Sunion to 
 Marathon. To the west, over Kleusis and its plain, the new 
 Athenian state did not for the present extend its sovereignty, 
 but the whole of the Ade (or ' coastland ') — ^from which word 
 is probably derived the name ' Attica ' — formed now a single 
 community.^ This community was divided into four tribes, 
 which received old Ionian names,^ the meanings of which are 
 obscure. Tradition attributes the formation and naming of 
 these four ' Ionian ' tribes of Attica to the mythical King 
 Ion, ancestor of all lonians. Some modern writers assert 
 that the names were derived from Miletus, where similar tribes 
 existed. But it seems more reasonable to suppose that they 
 were names in use among Ionian settlers in Attica, who 
 probably were divided into four tribes as the Dorians were 
 
 1 This a-vvoiKLa, or Union of Attica, was commemorated even in the days 
 of Plutarch by a festival in which offerings were made to the goddess Eirene 
 (Peace). 
 
 * Geleontes, Argades, Aegicores, and Hopletes. 
 
 87 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 into three. Each tribe had its tribe-king, and contained 
 three phratrias (brotherhoods) and numerous clans and 
 famiHes.^ The famiHes of each clan recognized, and perhaps 
 worshipped, a common ancestor, or a special deity, and were 
 bound together by various social ties. They had a special 
 burial-place, and perhaps community in land property. 
 
 But besides this it seems probable that from the first these 
 four ' Ionian ' tribes were divided into the trittyes (thirds) 
 and naucraries (shipownings) of which we hear so much in 
 later days. These divisions were perhaps local (Hke the 
 original demes, or townships, into which Theseus is said to 
 have portioned out Attica), but they were evidently made for 
 purposes of military and naval finance, the naucraries each 
 probably supplying, as later in Solon's constitution, the equip- 
 ment of one ship. 2 
 
 During this period of about three centuries {i.e. from the 
 abolition of monarchy until the first Olympiad), during which 
 Athens gradually became the political centre of Attica, the 
 Athenian state was doubtless, as we find it still in the seventh 
 century, an aristocracy with democratic tendencies. This 
 seems plain not only from the poHtical constitution which we 
 have been considering, but also from what little we know of 
 the social order. The whole people was divided into three 
 classes, the Bupatridae (' Well-born '), the Georgi (' lyand- 
 workers '), and the Demiurgi (' Public Workers '). The nobles 
 were large landowners. Many of them had removed into the 
 city from their country estates, which they worked by means 
 of labourers, who retained a sixth of the produce. The Demi- 
 urgi were craftsmen of all kinds, such as those who made 
 and painted those ' Dipylon ' vases which are the sole relics 
 of this age. Some of the workers probably had a limited 
 franchise, but there seems to have been a large number 
 
 * In later writers the calculation was i tribe = 30 phratrias = 90 clans = 
 2700 families, thus giving 10,800 families in all. 
 
 * Until lately this has been doubted, and the word naucraria has been 
 derived from other sources, because it was assumed that Athens had no 
 fleet before the time of Solon. We shall see that this assumption was wrong. 
 See Section A. 
 
 88 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 even of the free population who had not the rights of 
 citizenship. 
 
 This is about all we know, or can venture to guess, about 
 Athens in the Dark Age, except what we may infer from what 
 is called ' Dipylon civilization,' which I shall consider later. 
 
 Sparta 
 
 lyct us now turn to Sparta, which offers a very interesting 
 contrast. 
 
 After the Dorians had established themselves in the western 
 and southern part of the Peloponnese some of them seem to 
 have put themselves at the head of bands of those fighting 
 men and adventurers who had doubtless accompanied them in 
 great numbers from the north and to have set forth in quest 
 of new conquests in lands over the sea. Other Dorian chiefs 
 in course of time, as we have seen, also doubtless at the head 
 of armies largely composed of non-Dorians, made themselves 
 masters of Mycenae, Argos, Corinth, and even Aegina. But 
 the main body of the true-born Dorians — a body of probably 
 only some six or eight thousand warriors — seem to have chosen 
 Sparta, or I^acedaemon, the ancient residence of the Achaean 
 princes (in Homer it is the residence of Menelaus), as their 
 permanent abode. It was evidently at this time a place 
 consisting of several (afterwards five) villages, which even in 
 a later age were not closely united in one community, and 
 remained unwalled and without a fortified acropolis almost 
 down to the time of the Romans ; for the Dorians despised 
 fortifications ^ and relied solely on their superiority in open 
 battle. They were a comparatively small number in the 
 midst of a hostile population, and it was evidently with no 
 small difficulty that they held their own, for even at the 
 beginning of the so-called historical age of Greece (c. 776) 
 they were in possession of little more than the valley of the 
 Eurotas, on which their city lay, and tradition asserts that it 
 
 ^ Their want of practice in siege operations caused them often great trouble 
 in wars against the Messenians, and during the Persian and Peloponnesian 
 wars they had frequently to rely on the assistance of their allies in such 
 matters. 
 
 89 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 was not for over 200 years — i.e. not until the reign of the 
 Spartan king Teleclus (c. 850) — that they succeeded in 
 dislodging a remnant of the Achaeans from the ancient town 
 of Amyclae, about half a dozen miles distant from Sparta. 
 The aborigines, Aegaeans, Achaeans, Cynurians, or whatever 
 else they may have been, were either reduced to serfdom 
 and called Helots (probably 'Captives'), or were allowed 
 to form free municipalities in the neighbourhood of Sparta ^ 
 without being granted civic rights. These latter, treated, 
 perhaps, more leniently because they had offered less resistance, 
 were called Perioeci (' Dwellers round about '), and formed the 
 mercantile class, the Spartiatae, or true Dorian Spartans, not 
 deigning to engage in such occupations or to acquire wealth. 
 
 The Helots were not slaves. They were in some ways no 
 worse off than the mediaeval villein or Russian serf, and could 
 even acquire property, which was more than the Roman slave 
 was allowed, for even his peculium belonged by law to his 
 master. But the original Helots had been masters of the 
 country, and their descendants, conscious of this, and being 
 doubtless often equal to the Spartiates in civilized instincts, 
 bitterly resented their lot, and the constant danger of insur- 
 rection was one of the main reasons why Sparta lived under 
 martial law. A very striking specimen of the measures adopted 
 by the Spartans to meet this danger was the Crypteia, or 
 secret society of young Spartiates, who were empowered by law 
 to kill at once any Helot whom they might suspect as dangerous. 
 To cover such glaring injustice by a show of law it was the 
 custom for certain magistrates (the ephors) every year, when 
 assuming office, to declare war formally against the Helots ! 
 
 The whole of the political power lay in the hands of the 
 Spartiatae, who formed a military caste of no great size.^ 
 As might be expected, kingship was the inherent and permanent 
 
 ^ Later in the whole of Laconia, where there were a hundred such townships ; 
 but they formed no organic state like the Attic towns— indeed, they were a 
 constant source of danger to Sparta. 
 
 * After Thermopylae (according to Herodotus) Xerxes was told by Dema- 
 ratus that Sparta contained about 8000 full-grown men. After I^euctra (371) 
 the Spartans with full citizenship numbered ovlj abpiit 1500. 
 
 90 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 form of rule. The Spartan kings, who claimed an unbroken 
 lineage from Hercules (extending back a century beyond the 
 advent of the Dorians), retained the regal office and title, if 
 with diminished rights, for nearly a thousand years, while 
 almost every other city of Hellas passed through various 
 phases of government. Possibly the fact that two kings held 
 power at the same time, though it sounds a dangerous state 
 of things, may have limited the abuse of regal power and 
 helped to preserve kingship from its usual fate. This dual 
 kingship is said by old writers to have arisen from the diffi- 
 culty caused by the fact that the king of the Dorian invaders, 
 Aristodemus, left twins as heirs tohisthrone. Modern writers try 
 to explain it by a possible coalition of two tribes, each of which 
 insisted on retaining its king ; but the old explanation seems 
 quite as probable. However that may be, the state of things 
 was evidently not such as would seem likely to result in a very 
 satisfactory dispensation of justice, far less in any form of 
 settled government and constituted law. So it is not surprising 
 that Herodotus (i. 65) is of the opinion that in early times 
 the I^acedaemonians were "the very worst governed people in 
 Greece." But Sparta at some period during the Dark Age 
 received a very complete and rigid, if not a very highly organized, 
 constitution. It was not such a constitution as is gradually 
 evolved to meet the higher needs of a people. It has all the 
 marks of construction, and the main structure was doubtless 
 conceived and framed by some one lawgiver. This lawgiver, 
 according to old tradition, was I^ycurgus. He was regent 
 for his young nephew, King lyabotas, or Charilaus, and either 
 during this regency or after a period of voluntary exile and of 
 travel in distant lands, being encouraged by the Delphic oracle 
 and having gained the support of the chief men of the city, he 
 procured the introduction of his new constitution. Then, after 
 having extracted a promise from the people to keep his laws 
 until his return, he quitted Sparta for ever. Modern criticism 
 tells us that " lyycurgus was not a man ; he was only a god " ;^ 
 
 1 The phrase seems to be borrowed from Herodotus : " Whether Zahnoxis 
 was really a man, or nothing but a native god of the Getae, I now bid him 
 
 91 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 that his name means ' protector against wolves/ and that 
 he may have been identical with the ancient Arcadian wolf- 
 repelling deity who was called by the Greeks Zeus Lykaios. 
 All this is possible ; but it seems to some minds more natural 
 that one should begin by being a hero, or a great lawgiver, 
 and end in being a god. Anyhow, to save time and space 
 for more important matters, let us accept I^ycurgus, whether 
 a man or only a god, as the great lawgiver who, when the 
 " very worst governed people in Greece " found things 
 becoming intolerable, was begged, or allowed, to draw up a 
 constitution of a very rigid and drastic nature — such a con- 
 stitution as should be fitting for a military camp where martial 
 law was to prevail and where the one end of all law and 
 all social order was to turn out the best soldiers and the best 
 soldiers' wives. 
 
 The following are, shortly stated, some of the chief features 
 of this constitution as it existed about 700 to 600. It is 
 impossible to say for certain which portions of the structure 
 are the most ancient, but there is no reason to doubt that the 
 greater part had existed, as Thucydides asserts, at least from 
 about 800, and that many of these ' Dorian ordinances,' as 
 Pindar calls them, were derived from very early times, if 
 not, as he believed, from the days of the mythical Dorian hero 
 Aegimius. 
 
 The functions of the two kings were military and religious. 
 They had supreme command and dictatorial power in war, 
 and were high-priests of the Spartan Zeus and Apollo. The 
 kingship was hereditary, but the son succeeded who was 
 eldest born after his father's accession. In later times (for 
 instance, during the Persian wars) only one king held military 
 command. The kings had a council, like the Homeric 
 Boule, called the Gerusia (Council of Elders). It consisted 
 only of nobles, but they were elected by the people. There 
 
 farewell " (iv. 96). Herodotus (i. 65) tells us that lyycurgus " introduced from 
 Crete the system of laws still observed by the Spartans." This is also asserted 
 by Aristotle. The resemblances in the Cretan and Spartan constitutions 
 seem to be limited to a few features such as the syssitia, and are probably due 
 to Doric influences in Crete, 
 
 92 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 was also a public assembly, like the Homeric Agora, called 
 the Apella. To this every citizen of thirty years belonged. 
 In early days it was summoned by the kings, later by 
 the ephors. The vote of the public assembly was given by 
 acclamation. 
 
 Although Sparta never reached democracy pure and simple, 
 things had with them, as everywhere else, a tendency towards 
 democracy, of which the creation of the ephors (possibly not 
 till about 760) was a proof. The ephors (' overseers ' or 
 * guardians ') were representatives of the people, like the 
 tribunes in Roman history, elected after long contests between 
 the military caste and the working classes, which seem to have 
 included many who had been degraded from the ranks of the 
 Spartiatae as well as the lyaconian Perioeci. Every month 
 the ephors and the kings exchanged vows to abide by the laws 
 and to support one another's authority. There were five 
 ephors — one evidently for each of the five villages, or demes, 
 of which, as we have seen, Sparta was composed. They had 
 much of the judicial power in their hands, and could even 
 indict the kings. Two of them accompanied the army in 
 war. 
 
 Thus at Sparta we find a striking example of that mixed 
 constitution which, when a carefully balanced construction, 
 has proved elsewhere (as, for instance, in England) more 
 durable than any other form of government, possessing 
 something of the stability of the triangle of forces and of an 
 universe of three dimensions, 
 ■fe More characteristic even than this political machinery 
 '^'was the social constitution of Sparta, which was regarded 
 with intense admiration (at a distance) by many other Greek 
 citizens, and which Plato, struck perhaps by its artistic 
 symmetry, like that of some great Doric temple, took as the 
 type after which he constructed the framework of his Ideal 
 State — although his ideal ruler and ideal citizen had nothing 
 in common with those of the Spartan lawgiver.^ 
 
 ^ For a very full discussion of lyycurgus and his ' Laws and Discipline ' see 
 Grote, Part II, chap, vi 
 
 93 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Many of the details of this ' Spartan discipline ' and many 
 stories connected therewith are well known. I shall therefore 
 merely touch on a few points. 
 , One of the main points was that the Spartiat warrior-citizen 
 should be wholly free from the degrading necessity of working 
 to provide for himself and his family. He possessed landed 
 patrimony which could not be sold or broken up, and this land 
 I was tilled by serfs, who had to supply the lord of the manor 
 \ with corn, wine, and fruit. The serfs (Helots) of the Spartan 
 noble were not his property. They belonged to the state, 
 which alone could emancipate them ; and this was sometimes 
 done as a reward for valour in war. Hence arose a class like 
 the Roman lihertini (freedmen). 
 
 Every new-born child was inspected by the tribal authorities, 
 
 and if deemed too feeble or unhealthy it was taken to Mount 
 
 Taygetus and left there to die. At seven years the boy was 
 
 I taken from home and was kept in a great military school 
 
 ! until the age of twenty, when he entered the army and was 
 
 , allowed to marry, but was still obliged to live apart from his 
 
 i wife in barracks. At thirty he was considered a man and 
 
 received the rights of a citizen. 
 
 Every Spartan male citizen was obliged to take his meals 
 at a public ' mess ' (syssition) under the management of the 
 jWar Minister — such messes as More imagined in his Utopia, 
 except that in Utopia messing in the public halls was not 
 compulsory, and women were also admitted. 
 
 The education of the Spartan had an aim very different 
 from that of the Athenian — anyhow the Athenian of the 
 ; higher type in classical times, whose ideal was a truly cultured, 
 ' perfectly balanced, harmonious character, not the production 
 of a highly trained fighter nor professional or mercantile suc- 
 cess. Money-making and luxury were indeed, theoretically, 
 despised by the Spartiat, though he seems to have been more 
 open to a bribe than other Hellenes.^ But his contempt 
 
 ^ To substantiate this I would refer the reader to Hdt. iii. 148, v. 51, vi. 72 ; 
 Thuc. i. 129 and 131, ii. 21, viii. 50. What use the gold would be to them in 
 Sparta, where QSly^Jtpn money was allowed until the time of Alexander the 
 Great, it is difficult to see. 
 
 94 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 for such things did not spring from any hunger for angels* 
 food, as Dante calls it. The Spartan youth — as also the 
 Spartan girl — doubtless received a splendid physical train- 
 ing, and did full credit to the scientific breeding of muscular 
 and athletic citizens, but they were, even in the age of Demos- 
 thenes,^ for the most part not taught to read, and, according 
 to Plato, many of the Spartans " could not do the simplest 
 sum in arithmetic, nor did they care a jot for science, or logicL 
 or any such things/' Thus the governing classes in Sparta 
 were probably more illiterate than the mercantile Perioeci, 
 or even the Helots, and had to depend (as was also often the 
 case among the Romans) on slaves or hired amanuenses. 
 
 The love of the Spartans for brevity in speech — which 
 accounts for the meaning of the word ' laconic ' — is well illus- 
 trated by the following story, told by Herodotus. Some Samians 
 came to Sparta to ask for aid against the tyrant Polycrates, 
 and " had audience of the magistrates, before whom they made 
 a long speech, as was natural with persons greatly in need of 
 help. Now after this speech was ended the Spartans replied 
 that they had forgotten the first half of it and could make 
 nothing of the remainder. So the Samians had another 
 audience, whereat they simply said, showing a bag that they 
 had brought with them. The hag needs flour. The Spartans 
 answered that they did not need to have said The hag.*' In 
 the speeches attributed by Thucydides to lyacedaemonians 
 during the Peloponnesian War they seem to be quite as fond 
 of long-winded argument as other speakers. But the pitilessly 
 curt question by which, Thucydides says, they decided the 
 fate of the Plataeans certainly savoured of Spartan brevity. 
 
 A curious Spartan custom (scarcely traceable to their 
 northern origin) was that of not only allowing, even in regard 
 to female dress, a free exposure of the person, but also of 
 insisting on nudity, in the case of both sexes, on certain public 
 occasions, such as displays of gymnastic exercises. What 
 many might regard as a survival of barbarism was regarded 
 not only by the Spartans, but in course of time (as Thucydides 
 
 * See Grote, ii. 307, and Plato's Hippias Major. 
 
 95 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 seems to intimate) by all Hellenes, as a proof of higher civiliza- 
 tion — though only as far as male nudity was concerned. How 
 different the feeling in the rest of Greece was in regard to 
 female nudity can be seen from the fact that, though nude 
 male statues in early times are the rule, undraped female 
 statues are extremely rare until about 400. 
 
 The Dorian race, like some other northern races, seems to 
 have possessed very little art instinct ; but, as has happened 
 in other cases, the intermingling of the vigorous northern 
 with the softer and more imaginative southern nature produced 
 a very fine type of artistic character. Many of the Dorian 
 or half-Dorian cities of Hellas, such as Argos, Sicyon, Syracuse, 
 Halicarnassus, and Acragas, were distinguished for art — for 
 their sculpture, their coins, their magnificent temples — while 
 
 I Sparta, or the dominant class in Sparta, remained to a wonder- 
 ful degree purely Dorian, and inartistic. Some writers have 
 suggested that before the introduction of their^ jnilitary ^dij- 
 cipline the tastes of the Spartans were somewhat more cultured 
 than they were in historical times. However that may be, a 
 certain amount of art feeling seems to have survived even that 
 discipline, for although, as Professor Gardner says, *' the 
 traditional notion of the Spartan character is hardly such as 
 to lead us to expect that Sparta was in early times a centre of 
 artistic work and influence," nevertheless we do find that 
 the art of sculpture, probably introduced from Crete, flourished 
 in Sparta in the seventh century, and we hear of Sparta being 
 visited by the great lycsbian musician, Terpander (676), and 
 by the Lydian lyric poet, Alcman,^ who is said to have made 
 it his home (c. 650). 
 
 Terpander is said to have instituted at Sparta a musical 
 contest at the great festival in honour of the Carneian Apollo. 
 He was the musician who added three strings to the tetrachord 
 of the lyre. It may seem strange that the conservative 
 Spartans gave him such a friendly reception, for on a later 
 occasion, when Timotheus of Miletus, who had added four 
 
 * Fragments of songs by Alcman composed for choirs of Spartan girls are 
 still extant. 
 
 96 
 
THE DARK A.GE 
 
 strings to the heptachord, visited Sparta, the ephors, says 
 Cicero, ordered his extra strings to be broken before he was 
 allowed to compete. 
 
 By the way, Terpander seems to have got credit for what 
 he was not the first to invent, seeing that on a Cretan sarco- 
 phagus (Fig. 25) of a date at least eight centuries before 
 Terpander a musician is depicted with a lyre of seven strings. 
 
 We know, of course, very little about Greek music of this 
 age, but it seems that the native Dorian music not only 
 differed from the lyydian, Aeolian, Phrygian, and lastian 
 (Ionian) in ' mode ' — whether that means scale or pitch — 
 but also in rhythm and time, being used generally as 
 accompaniment to processionals^ and ^martial strains rather 
 than to bardic and lyric poetry. The Homeric KiOapi? (cithara), 
 or phorminx, was perhaps originally the harp or lute of the 
 northern races, and probably this instrument rather than the 
 lyra or chelys (tortoise-shell) — i,e. the Aegaean and Egyptian 
 lyre — was popular at Sparta, and what delighted the soul of 
 the Spartiat was doubtless the old martial ballad or war-song, 
 such as we shall hear of when we come to Tyrtaeus. 
 
 We have wandered somewhat from the Dark Age while 
 following up things which had their first origins in that eraj 
 Before passing on to what until lately, before the discovery 
 of the Minoan and Mycenaean civihzations, was regarded as 
 the beginning of Greek history, I shall in the following sections 
 briefly discuss two subjects, namely, 'Dipylon' antiquities 
 and Hesiod's poems, the consideration of which may throw faint 
 shafts of Hght into the obscurity of the two centuries preceding 
 the first Olympiad. In the third section I shall offer a few 
 remarks about the contemporary history of certain nations 
 closely connected with the history of Greece. Of these the 
 I somewhat mysterious Phoenician people specially interests us, 
 for in early times it came into closer contact with the Hellenic 
 world than did the great Oriental empires or Egypt, and the 
 desperate conflict of this Semitic race with the Sicilian Greeks 
 and later with the Romans lends additional interest to the 
 subject. 
 
 c 97 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 SECTION A ; ' DIPYLON ' ANTIQUITIES 
 
 The expression ' Dipylon antiquities ' is used rather loosely 
 to cover all Greek relics of the age to which belong many of the 
 objects found in an ancient cemetery excavated near the ruins 
 of the Dipylon — that is, the ' Double Gate ' of Athens, a great 
 city gate with an inner and an outer portal, probably built 
 in Periclean times not far from the more ancient and smaller 
 Sacred Gate, through which the Sacred Way led to Eleusis, 
 passing through the Outer Cerameicus (Potters' Quarter). 
 The Cerameicus was used as the cemetery of Athens, and many 
 beautiful monuments (stelae) of a later age are still to be seen 
 there, in the * Street of Tombs.' The ancient cemetery near 
 the Dipylon was to a great extent covered by later tombs, 
 under and amidst which have been excavated some hundreds of 
 ancient graves. Some of these are said to date from the ninth 
 century or even earlier. In many of the graves of the ' Dipylon 
 age ' (say looo to 800 B.C.) the dead had been buried unburnt ; 
 in some their ashes were found. The most valuable relics were 
 very numerous fragments of pottery, as well as entire vases, 
 some of which, of large size, were standing upright on the top 
 of shaft-graves or tile-built tombs. The oldest of this pottery, 
 which is of red clay painted with lustrous black on a yellowish 
 surface, is geometric in its style, showing that there had been 
 a curious relapse from the much earlier Mycenaean style, in 
 which we have already found sea animals and even human 
 beings depicted. These early Dipylon vases (see Fig. 35) show 
 a fine decorative sense, but at first offer nothing but geometric 
 patterns. Then they begin to introduce animals, and more 
 generally birds, of an amusingly primitive type. Then they 
 give other animals, such as horses ; then human figures ; and 
 finally we have large compositions (found, however, only on 
 Athenian Dipylon vases) showing an ambitious style of painting 
 not far removed from that of the first black-figured Attic vases, 
 such as the Frangois Vase (Fig. 39) . These pictures give by far 
 the most clear and intelligible information that we possess con- 
 cerning the ' Dipylon age.' Almost all else besides pottery 
 
 98 
 
34- DiPYi^oN Vase 
 
 See List of Illustrations 
 
 98 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 seems to have entirely disappeared, except some old founda- 
 tions and a vast quantity of bronze and terra-cotta objects, 
 most of which tell us next to nothing. 
 
 First to be noticed are the ships. They are biremes, with 
 forty or fifty oarsmen in two ranks, and this proves that the 
 Athenians already possessed the beginnings of a fleet and a 
 considerable skill in shipbuilding and naval matters. The 
 ships seem even already to be furnished with rams at the bows. 
 But it also seems to show that these pictures date before the 
 introduction of the trireme, which was known to the Corinthians 
 by about 700, as we have already seen ; indeed, the picture of 
 an Athenian bireme given in Fig. 34 may be of a date two 
 centuries before 700, and is an exceedingly interesting and 
 valuable confirmation of what we have heard on the subject 
 of the Athenian naucrariae (p. ^^), 
 
 Then we have numerous pictures of horses and of chariots : 
 first two-horsed chariots, with very primitive horses and with 
 men whose wasp-waists remind one of Minoan and Mycenaean 
 art ; and in some cases much of the human figure is concealed 
 by the great Mycenaean or Minoan figure-of-eight shield, 
 while in others the smaller round shield is held by the handle. 
 Then we find — what are not found in Homer — four-horsed 
 chariots, and also even horsemen. Finally we have scenes 
 — sea-fights, processions, funeral ceremonies, &c. Some of 
 the funeral scenes intimate an ostentation and magnificence 
 quite astonishing in this Dark Age — although not unknown to 
 us in Homer — the bier being attended by a great number of 
 chariots or ships. 
 
 The general appearance of the Athenians (and doubtless of 
 other Greek peoples) in the ' Dipylon ' age is depicted graphi- 
 cally, though perhaps not flatteringly, on these vases. Both 
 men and women have impossibly narrow waists, and the legs, 
 when in view, are often enormously thick. Much of this is, of 
 I course, due to want of skill and exaggeration, but the main 
 [features of the dress are doubtless true. The women are 
 dressed much in the same fashion as the Minoan and Mycenaean 
 women, in tight bodices and bell-shaped skirts — such as Hesiod 
 
 99 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 also describes (p. 107) . It is evident that the Achaean peplos of 
 Homer's women, if it ever became fashionable at Athens in 
 early days, had in the period 1000-800 given way again 
 to the earlier Mycenaean style of dress, while the square 
 Doric dress, with a flap over the shoulder needing a long pin 
 ox fibula (brooch, safety-pin), such as one sees on the Fran9ois 
 Vase (Fig. 39), had not yet been adopted at Athens, although 
 the immense number of very long metal pins and of large 
 fibulae found with later * Dipylon ' vases in Boeotia and at 
 Argos (not to mention Sparta) shows that fashion changed 
 rapidly, as it is wont to do.^ 
 
 Everything seems to point to a civilization at Athens in the 
 Dark Age something like the old Mycenaean, and not much 
 changed either by the Achaean (Homeric) or the later Doric 
 influence — at all events, in its earlier stages. 
 
 Pottery of the same kind as the Athenian, but not with large 
 painted scenes, has been excavated from the temple of Apollo 
 on Mount Ptoos, in Boeotia, and also at Tanagra and Thebes — 
 mostly geometric in style, but some of it evidently dating from 
 late Mycenaean times, notably an earthenware box discovered 
 at Thebes, on which we find the Earth-Mother with her animals 
 
 In the great Doric temple of Aphaia and the shrine of 
 Aphrodite in Aegina much pottery has been excavated, some 
 of it Mycenaean and some imported or native * Dipylon ' 
 ware and early Corinthian This pottery supplements the 
 evidence from Athens. 
 
 In the temple of Hera at Argos, excavated by the American 
 School at Athens, have been found, besides many bronzes and 
 long dress-pins (used in the Doric female dress), a number of 
 fragments of vases with pictures of horses and chariots like 
 those discovered at Athens, and of the same ' Dipylon ' period. 
 
 On the island Thera ' Dipylon ' ware and other relics of this 
 age have been found, and what are possibly some of the first 
 known Greek inscriptions cut on rock. 
 
 At Delphi and at Olympia thousands of bronzes dating from 
 this age have been excavated, all testifying to no mean civiliza- 
 
 * For more on the subject of dress see Note B. 
 100 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 tion and to an enormous cult of certain deities. At Tiryns, 
 besides much else, we have various representations of the 
 female dress of the Dark Age, and again we find a tight-fitting 
 frock, evidently more like the Mycenaean bodice and skirt than 
 the square Doric chiton fastened at the shoulder with pins. 
 
 Contemporary with this ' Dipylon ' ware, found in all these 
 places and testifying to a civilization very different from the 
 Spartan, we have the wonderfully beautiful proto-Corinthian 
 ware, which shows a very advanced state of artistic skill, 
 but gives us no such pictures of contemporary life as the 
 Athenian vases. This is unfortunate, for Corinth in this age 
 was a great trade emporium and a naval power, and it 
 would be most interesting to discover some evidences of this 
 Corinthian civilization. 
 
 Now, if we turn to Sparta we find something quite different. 
 Excavations made by the British School of Athens have brought 
 to light what seems to be the base of the great altar of Artemis 
 Orthia. This goddess and her altar are mentioned by Xenophon 
 and by Plutarch.^ Spartan youths were flogged at the altar 
 in order to test their endurance, and sometimes died under 
 the ordeal. In or near this old altar and the neighbouring 
 temple of Artemis Orthia (which existed from early days 
 down to about 600) a vast number of lead and terra-cotta 
 votive figures of the goddess, as well as bronzes and fragments 
 of pottery, were found. The early pottery is geometric and 
 something like the * Dipylon,* but the other relics seem to 
 point to quite a different (Doric) civilization. There are many 
 grotesque winged figures and evident Earth-Mothers, and also 
 many nude female figures, which are attributed to Oriental 
 influence (as being un-Greek), but which surely seem to point 
 towards the curious Spartan ideas on this subject already 
 mentioned. 
 
 * In Hdt. iv. 87 we find an Artemis Orthosia at Byzantium, and we hear 
 of her also in I^emnos. Also the form Orthasia has been discovered at 
 Sparta. The word Orthia means ' straight ' or * loud-voiced ' in Greek. It 
 may refer to the yells of the priests trying to drown the cries of human victims 
 — ^for this ceremony of bloody flogging may have been substitutory. But 
 perhaps it is some northern word in disguise. 
 
 lOI 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 SECTION B : HESIOD 
 
 The personality of Hesiod has not been questioned like that 
 of Homer. It is perhaps too frequently and strongly affirmed 
 by Hesiod himself, who names himself and gives us a good 
 deal about his father and his brother Perses, and a great 
 deal about his own philosophy of life, whereas nowhere in the 
 Iliad or the Odyssey is there any personal note, such as we 
 have in Milton's great epic, nor any suggestion of the poet's 
 existence, except in the opening addresses to the Muse — unless, 
 indeed, we are to recognize Homer in his blind bard, Demodocus, 
 as we recognize Shakespeare in Prospero. 
 
 Hesiod's date, however, and Hesiod's poems afford rich 
 material for the sceptic. 
 
 Herodotus, as we have already seen, places both Hesiod and 
 Homer at about 850 or 900, and he mentions Hesiod before 
 Homer, as do several other writers. But internal evidence seems 
 to show that the Homeric poems are older than the Erga and the 
 Theogonia, and such modern criticism as delights in " bringing 
 low the strong and diminishing the illustrious," as Hesiod 
 expresses it, has brought low and diminished his date little 
 by little until we find him flourishing about 700, seventy years 
 and more after the first Olympiad. 
 
 To discuss the question in detail is here impossible. As in 
 the case of Homer, I can only state my belief. Much evidence 
 seems to me to point to about 850 as the date of Hesiod's 
 poems, and this belief is confirmed by something besides, 
 and perhaps better than, philological and archaeological 
 arguments. 
 
 About two centuries after Hesiod's age we shall meet with 
 what is sometimes called the first exact date in Greek history. 
 It is the date April 6, 648, on which day, astronomers tell us, 
 a total solar eclipse took place. Now Hesiod tells us something 
 about the star Arcturus which, although it certainly does not 
 allow us to make such an exact deduction, does supply us 
 with very interesting information. He says that Arcturus 
 had its sunset-rising sixty days after the winter solstice, 
 102 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 i.e. about February 19. But Arcturus now rises at sunset in 
 Greece about March 30, and one can calculate from this 
 difference (caused by the precession of equinoxes) that Hesiod 
 probably lived about 2780 years ago. This gives his date 
 at about 870. He had, of course, no means of observing 
 very accurately such risings and settings of the stars, and 
 he may have got his information from some older observer, 
 so that the evidence cannot be regarded as quite exact, but 
 within fifty years or so it seems to be trustworthy. 
 
 Hesiod tells us that his father came from Cyme in Aeolis, 
 whither perhaps the family had migrated from Aeolian Boeotia 
 (Thessaly), and had settled at Ascra, on the northern slopes of 
 Mount Helicon — a place "bad in winter, wretched in summer, 
 and never pleasant." Possibly Hesiod was born at Cyme, 
 and he may have had memories of the softer climate of Asia 
 Minor, as also of the Aeolic dialect, which he sometimes uses ; 
 but he seems to have passed his early years at Ascra, 
 shepherding his father's flocks or working on the farm, and 
 doubtless often wandering alone on Mount Helicon and 
 neglecting his work ; and against the theory of his Asiatic 
 birth stands the fact that, as he tells us, he was only once on 
 the sea, namely, when he crossed the Euripus Strait, from 
 Aulis to Euboea, in order to take part in a poetical contest — 
 at which he won a tripod. lyCgend, as we have already seen, 
 asserts that he won that tripod in a contest against Homer 
 himself. On the death of his father his brother Perses 
 succeeded in ousting him from his share of the farm by bribing 
 the judges — " gift-devouring kings," as he calls them. 
 
 The poems attributed to Hesiod, and cited as his by Pindar, 
 Aristophanes, Plato, and other ancient writers, are the Works 
 and Days (Erga kai Hemerai, i.e. ' Farming Operations and 
 lyUcky and Unlucky Days ') and the Theogonia (' The Genea- 
 logy of the Gods'). Another poem. The Shield of Heracles, 
 is generally printed with his works, but is evidently of later date. 
 The two former poems contain, no doubt, many interpolations 
 made by rhapsodes and later ' Hesiodic poets,' but there is 
 much that is undoubtedly authentic and valuable to the 
 
 103 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 historian. Moreover, what is of more importance, across the 
 homespun warp of rules and maxims there runs many a bright 
 thread of Horatian wit and wisdom and of deep and true 
 feehng, and at times there comes a golden flash of true poetry, 
 as in the description of the Five Ages in the Erga and the 
 celebrated meeting of Hesiod with the Muses on Mount Helicon 
 which forms the opening of the Theogonia. 
 
 As a creative poet and a master of language Homer is incom- 
 parably the greater, but Hesiod touches at times chords of 
 far deeper import, giving voice to his own human nature and 
 that of the common people. 
 The Erga (' Works and Days ') is addressed to his brother, 
 most foolish Perses,'' to whom he gives many a sharp reproof 
 and much sage advice, in order to save him from being ruined 
 by his thriftless and dishonest ways and his love of lounging 
 and gossip. The poem offers us a very graphic picture of 
 Boeotian country life in the ' Dipylon ' age. Hesiod 's love of 
 the country and of animals and of the stars, his interest in 
 farming and in ships and boats (in spite of his disHke of the 
 " churlish sea"), his reverence for Zeus and his laws, his behef 
 in prayer and in good guardian spirits (1. 122), his conviction 
 that work is the happiest lot for a mortal, *' whatever he may 
 be in fortune " ; that often " the half is more than the whole " ; 
 that wealth should not be " clutched at " nor won by guile of 
 tongue, but accepted as the gift of heaven ; that home-life is far 
 better than gadding about and gossiping — all this testifies to a 
 state of mind by no means entirely miserable and discontented 
 among the country folk of Boeotia. The very epithets and 
 names that he gives to animals show his delight in them and 
 his keen observation. The ox is described as if he were, hke 
 the Irishman's pig, a member of the family ; the snail is the 
 ' house-carrier,' the ant is ' the knowing one,' the cuttle-fish 
 is ' the boneless one,' wild beasts are ' forest-sleepers,' the 
 swallow is ' early- wailing,' the spider is ' high-hovering.' 
 Bees, drones, hawks, ravens, nightingales, dogs, mules, are all 
 mentioned with knowledge and sympathy. The horse (if we 
 exclude Pegasus) is referred to once only, and that in a line of 
 104 
 
36. Foundations of ApoIvI^o's Tempi^e, West Dei^phi 104 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 doubtful authenticity. As regards Hesiod's keen observation 
 of nature, what could be more Wordsworthian than his likening 
 of a certain kind of tree-leaf as it unfolds in spring to the 
 *' foot of an ahghting raven " ? 
 
 But there is a dark side to his picture. He inveighs with 
 great bitterness against the avarice and injustice of this age 
 of iron in which fate has set him — this age in which '' money is 
 the life of wretched mortals," and which will go from bad to 
 worse until, *' veiling their fair faces in white mantles. Honour 
 and Righteous Indignation shall leave mankind and flee away 
 from the broad-wayed earth to Olympus, to the race of the 
 immortal gods." He denounces people for their jealousies and 
 strife and scandal-mongering and eternal lawsuits. *' Potter 
 quarrels with potter and carpenter with carpenter; beggar envies 
 beggar and minstrel minstrel." And his bitterness is especially 
 intense against the heartlessness and greed and injustice 
 that he sees in those around him — intensest, perhaps, against 
 his own brother and the unrighteous judges who have deprived 
 him of his heritage. He calls upon Zeus to smite with his 
 thunderbolt, and to send again to earth his daughter, Justice,^ 
 who has been dragged with insults through the streets by 
 mortals and expelled from her own tribunals — that goddess 
 who alone can bring back peace and golden prosperity to a 
 land ruined by tyranny and the idleness of wealth. 
 
 We have thus a picture of aristocratic oppression such as 
 we found also intimated at Athens, and of an unhappy state 
 of things among the working classes. I^aws and law-courts 
 and law-court holidays are mentioned, but it is evident that 
 the power of *' deciding questions of ancient right [OeVto-ra?] 
 by straight judgments," of which Hesiod speaks, too often 
 lay in the hands of " gift-devouring kings." Hesiod's cry for 
 justice and for equality before the law is the earliest in European 
 literature. So, too, he is the first to assert the nobiHty of 
 work rather than that of rank and wealth, and to claim for 
 
 * The word Dike (Justice), or some word derived from it, occurs fourteen 
 times in thirty lines. Homer's description of the blessings brought by a 
 good king offers a striking contrast {Od. xix. 109). 
 
 105 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 poetry a function higher than that of recounting pretty fictions 
 in the halls of the nobihty.^ 
 
 Hesiod touches at times on questions of the deepest import. 
 His maxims are, however, not always such as we approve. 
 Thus he tells us that " easy and smooth is the way to evil 
 and toilsome the way to virtue, steep and rough at first ; but 
 when one reaches the height then it becomes easier, though 
 ever difiicult " — which reads like a combined quotation from 
 the Bible and from Dante. But he also tells us to " love those 
 who love us," to " give to him that giveth, but not to him that 
 giveth not," and to ask a next-door neighbour to dinner because 
 he may prove useful in some future village squabble. Again, 
 " Give good measure," he says, " yes, an over-measure if you 
 can, so that you may find a sure supply when you need it." 
 
 Another of his maxims shows a dry humour and a worldly 
 wisdom, doubtless learnt by bitter experience. " Even in the 
 case of a brother," he says, " insist on having a witness — but 
 do it with a laugh." 
 
 In the Erga there are evident signs of that superstitious 
 dread of the supernatural which we noticed in the older = 
 Greek religion, but which is scarcely perceptible in Homer. 
 Hesiod speaks with gloomy apprehension of all the curses, the 
 swarming diseases and things of dread, that have been brought 
 on the earth by the theft of Prometheus and the creation of 
 the first woman. Pandora. " The land," he exclaims, " is full 
 of evil things and full the sea." And he gives numerous rules 
 for the avoidance of evil results : *' Not at a feast of the gods 
 to cut the dry from the quick on the five-branched thing 
 [the hand] " ; " not, when men are drinking, to lay the wine- 
 ladle over the wine-bowl — for 'tis a most fatal thing to do." M 
 
 * '' Field- abiding shepherds, shameless ones, mere belly-gods," exclaim the 
 Muses who bring to Hesiod the staff of laurel, " we know to tell of many- 
 things resembling what is real, but we know also to sing, whene'er we wish, 
 of what is true." Doubtless he refers here once more to lounging and scandal- 
 mongering, such as was connected with recitations of old ballads. It 
 by no means follows that he considered ' didactic ' poetry higher than such 
 poetry as that of Homer. He was too good a poet for that ; but he believed, 
 as Aristophanes did, that the poet was the ' teacher of men ' in the highest 
 sense. 
 
 io6 
 
37- Archaic Statue 
 
 Excavated on the Acropolis 
 
 See List of Illustrations 
 
 io6 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 Then he gives a long list of lucky and unlucky days, reminding 
 one forcibly of Old Moore's Almanack. 
 
 lyastly, dress is sometimes mentioned. In his description 
 of the effects of cold weather (which he evidently hated) 
 Hesiod advises one to get as a '' protection for one's flesh" a 
 thick-woven soft chlaina (mantle) and a chiton (tunic) reaching 
 down to the feet, and ox-hide sandals lined with felt. This 
 male attire is thoroughly Homeric ; but the dress of the 
 fashionable lady among these Boeotian country folk seems to 
 have been rather of the Mycenaean style, such as we found 
 in contemporary Dipylon vase-paintings. Doubtless the lady 
 in question wore a dress of the latest Athenian fashion, with 
 tight bodice and flounced skirt and well-padded protrusions. 
 Hesiod is giving advice to a young farmer, such as his brother : 
 *' Don't let yourself be taken in," he says, " by any fashionably 
 dressed woman who comes trying with wheedHng flatteries to 
 making herself mistress of your farm " — and the real meaning 
 of the epithet he applies to her is " furnished with a big bustle 
 behind." 
 
 The Theogonia is more Homeric in its language than the 
 Erga, and of a quite different tone. It is chiefly taken 
 up with a long account of the genesis of the Universe from 
 Chaos and with a genealogy of the gods. The presence of 
 I/Ove as the formative and creative principle in this Hesiodic 
 Genesis is very remarkable. It forestalls some of the wisest 
 guesses of later Greek sages. The poem does not throw so 
 much light as the Erga on life in the Dark Age, but it shows 
 that a very complex and complete mythology had already 
 grown up around the hierarchy formed by the superimposition 
 of the northern on the old Aegaean or Pelasgian deities. The 
 
 ; opening lines of the Theogonia, describing the visit of the 
 Muses to Hesiod on Mount Helicon, are of very high merit as 
 
 • poetry, and, together with not a few other passages in his 
 poems, entirely justify the honour conferred by these daughters 
 
 'i of Memory on one whom a modern writer has called a ' gifted 
 rustic' 
 
 I 
 
 107 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 SECTION C : THE PHOENICIANS AND SOME OTHER 
 NATIONS DURING THE DARK AGE 
 
 Since the discovery of the Minoan and Mycenaean civiliza- 
 tions the Phoenicians have lost the credit of having introduced 
 art into Crete and Greece. But they had most of the Aegaean 
 and Mediterranean sea- trade in their hands for some centuries 
 — probably from the decline of the Minoan naval supremacy 
 until the rise of Corinthian and Athenian sea-power (about 
 1400 to 750). Indeed, in still earher times they seem to have 
 been a nation of merchant princes, such as Isaiah describes 
 them (xxiii.). They probably introduced the Egyptian 
 decimal coinage into Babylon as well as the ' ell/ They are 
 said to have brought the vine and the olive to Crete. In old 
 Egyptian monuments the tribute of the Phoenicians includes 
 the products of many distant lands. In the time of Moses 
 (c. 1350) they possessed the colony of Tartessus, or Tarshish, 
 in Spain; and had perhaps already reached Britain and the 
 Baltic, as well as the west coast of Africa (where later they had 
 three hundred factories) and the Euxine. Gades (Cadiz) was 
 founded probably about the time of the Trojan War, and Utica 
 about 1 100. In the time of Solomon (960) they had fleets also 
 on the Red Sea, which brought gold from India or South Africa. 
 Indeed, perhaps these were the oldest fleets possessed by the 
 Phoenicians, for the men of Tyre and Sidon are said to have 
 come originally from the Red Sea, or Persian Gulf — perhaps 
 from the ' land of Punt,' as Abyssinia or Somaliland is called in 
 an Egyptian inscription of the Vth Dynasty (c. 3000) . Possibly, 
 too, the Greek name Phoenix, which was believed to mean 
 ' the red man,' or ' the man of the red land ' (land of the sun, 
 or sun-god?), may have originally meant ' the man of Punt' 
 (cf. I^atin Punicus, Poenus). 
 
 When Herodotus visited new Tyre (c. 450) he was told by 
 the priests of Melcarth, the Phoenician Heracles, that ancient 
 Tyre was founded about 2750. If Tyre was the ' daughter of 
 Sidon,' as we are told in the Bible, Sidon must have existed 
 from at least 3000, and it was the chief city of Phoenicia 
 108 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 until about 1120, when it was conquered by the Philistines. 
 A century or so later, in the days of Solomon and King 
 Hiram, Tyre took the lead. Both Jezebel, Ahab's wife, 
 and Queen Dido were members of the same dynasty as 
 Hiram. At this era Assyria became very powerful under 
 Shalmanezer II, and Tyre was captured by the Assyrians. 
 Perhaps on account of this Assyrian oppression a large body 
 of Phoenicians, led, as tradition says, by the Princess Klissa 
 (Dido), made a new home (c. 825) on the coast of Africa, not 
 far from the older colony Utica. This new city was Carthage. 
 The fact that the Phoenicians had settlements in all quarters 
 of the Mediterranean even in the fourteenth century, and that 
 they doubtless took with them the worship of the bull-headed 
 Phoenician sun-god Baal, or Moloch, to whom human sacrifices 
 were made, has very naturally caused many to believe that 
 the Cretan bull-worship and the Minotaur and Talos legends 
 were originally derived from this source, and that the myths 
 of Theseus and Iphigeneia are reminiscences of the abolition of 
 Phoenician human sacrifice by Greek influence. However that 
 may be, it is evident that the Phoenicians had little or nothing 
 to do with Aegaean and Cretan art or with ancient Minoan 
 writing. But they introduced, as we have seen, the alphabet 
 into Hellas, and they also {pace some modern writers) possessed 
 no mean craft as ' cunning workers,' as the Bible and also 
 Homer tell us. Thus a silver wine-bowl described by Homer 
 was " more beautiful than all others on earth, since it was 
 wrought by those cunning workers the Sidonians." Another 
 such crater was given to Menelaus by the king of the Sidonians, 
 and a beautiful peplos worked by Sidonian women is mentioned. 
 But it must be allowed that the Odyssey usually gives us a 
 picture of the Phoenician not as craftsman but as trader 
 and artful huckster of gauds and trinkets — such a despicable 
 creature as the Phaeacian Kuryalus describes when pouring 
 contempt on Odysseus : 
 
 Nay, O stranger, and truly I liken thee not to a mortal 
 
 Practised in any of all of the contests known to the nations ; 
 
 Rather to one that frequents with his well-benched vessel the harbours, 
 
 109 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 Skipper, methinks, of a folk of the sea who traffic as chapmen, 
 Mindful of nought but the bales and careful of nought but the cargo. 
 Ay and the grab and the gain. 
 
 No large settlements were made by the Phoenicians on 
 Aegaean shores, except perhaps Cameirus, in Rhodes, but they 
 had numerous marts and purple-factories — one perhaps on 
 the Isthmus of Corinth and another near the Peiraeus. The 
 struggle between the Semitic and Japhetic races — a struggle 
 which, no less than the Persian wars, was to decide the destiny 
 of Kurope — took place, not in the Aegaean, but in Sicily, 
 where by the eighth century the Phoenicians, Uticans, and 
 Carthaginians possessed many trade-stations, and whither 
 during the eighth century, as we shall see, a large stream of 
 Greek colonists began to find its way. This struggle (with 
 which the battles of Himera and Crimisus and the Punic wars 
 are connected) lasted for six centuries, till the total demolition 
 of Carthage by the Romans in 146. 
 
 Of Crete during the Dark Age very little is known. We have 
 seen that in the heroic age, if we may accept Homer's account, 
 it possessed, some two centuries after the sack of Cnossus, 
 ninety or a hundred towns and was inhabited by many different 
 races, among whom Dorians are mentioned. The great Dorian 
 invasion a century or so later evidently subjected the whole 
 island to that race, and for some centuries it was probably 
 under Dorian kings and had a constitution not unlike the 
 Spartan, except that there seem to have been no perioeci, but 
 only serfs and nobles. I^ater we find the kingly office aboHshed 
 and an aristocracy in power, and the executive in the hands of 
 ten magistrates called cosmoi. 
 
 Of Cyprus we had some notice during the age of Aegaean 
 civiHzation. Mycenaean kings are said to have ruled there in 
 the fifteenth century. Aegaean pottery of this era, together 
 with Egyptian scarabs and ornaments of the XVIIIth Dynasty 
 (Queen Ti and Amenhotep III), have been discovered in a 
 tomb at Knkomi, near Salamis, and clay tablets have been 
 found in Egypt inscribed with cuneiform missives to the 
 Pharaohs from these Mycenaean Cypriot kings. The island 
 no 
 
THE DARK AGE 
 
 was in early ages sometimes subject to Egypt, and on 
 account of its valuable copper-mines was also evidently 
 occupied by Phoenicians, but the latest researches (by 
 Ohnefalsch Richter) seem to prove that Hellenic civilization 
 and the Olympian gods (Athene, Heracles, Aphrodite, and 
 others) preceded the Phoenician supremacy, and that the 
 Phoenician kings destroyed Greek temples and razed Greek 
 inscriptions.^ If this be so, the Paphian Aphrodite was not 
 derived from the Eastern Astarte, but Astarte was super- 
 imposed on the Cyprian-Greek divinity, who seems to have 
 been a kind of Earth-goddess, or a Spring-goddess (Hke Kore), 
 with such titles as * The Idaean Mother ' and * She who spreadeth 
 abroad the roses.' The Greeks who introduced these deities 
 were, of course, not the Mycenaeans, but Hellenes, and it seems 
 likely that the old tradition (see Hor. Carm. I, vii., and Virg. 
 A en, i. 619) about Teucer, brother of Ajax, having been 
 expelled from Salamis on his return from Troy and having 
 founded a new Salamis in Cyprus has for its basis an historical 
 fact ; for about the time when the colonization of Ionia was 
 at its height (c. 1050) a considerable body of Greeks, probably 
 Achaeans with Arcadian and other followers who were pressed 
 by Dorian invaders, are said to have left Greece and to have 
 made their way to the old Aegaean colonies in Cyprus. The 
 chief Greek towns in Cyprus were Paphos, I^apathus, Marion, 
 Curion, Salamis, and later Soli ; but in some of these there was 
 also a large Phoenician element. During the next two centuries 
 and more Cyprus seems to have been ruled by the * kings ' 
 of the numerous cities, for about 720 the Assyrian monarch 
 Sargon (who carried Israel away into captivity) conquered the 
 island, and we find in the inscription on the stele which he 
 set up there (now in Berlin) seven Yatman (Cyprian) kings 
 mentioned, and in an inscription of Assarhaddon, the son 
 of Sennacherib (Fig. 38), ten Cypriot kings are described as 
 his subjects. 
 Of Egypt during this age the notices are scanty. In the 
 
 ^ It seems strange that in these Greek (or Cypriot ?) inscriptions neither 
 Zeus nor Kore nor Dionysus is mentioned. 
 
 Ill 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 period 1120-950 (from the time of Samson and the Philistine 
 supremacy in Palestine until the days of Solomon) it was ruled 
 by the inglorious priestly Tanite Dynasty (the XXIst). Then 
 Sheshenk, or Shishak, of the XXIInd Dynasty, carried war into 
 Palestine and captured Jerusalem, as we learn from an inscrip- 
 tion at Karnak (c/. 2 Chron. xii.). After this Egypt was 
 evidently overrun by the Aethiopian hosts of whom we read in 
 2 Chron. xiv., and the XXVth Dynasty was one of Aethiopian 
 kings. Then, about 674, Egypt is conquered by the great 
 Assyrian monarch Assarhaddon. The liberation of Egypt 
 (c. 665) from the Assyrian yoke by Psamtik I with the aid 
 of Ionian * men of bronze ' opened, as we shall see later, a new 
 epoch, and brought Egypt into closer relations with Greece. 
 
 The great empires of the East, Babylonia and Assyria, have 
 hitherto come into no direct contact with Greece, nor even 
 with the Greek colonies, except, perhaps, in the case of Sargon's 
 conquest of Cyprus, which has been mentioned. It is enough 
 to note here that Assyria during the Dark Age was in 
 constant war with Babylonia, and in the ninth century, under 
 its great kings Assurnasirpal and Shalmanezer II, conquered 
 Phoenicia and made head against the Syrian kings of 
 Damascus. 
 
 After the expulsion of the Assyrians from Egypt, and the 
 rise of the Median power under Cyaxares, these Oriental 
 peoples will occupy more of our attention ; for one of the 
 striking traits which especially distinguish the history of 
 Greece is the fact that we are so often brought into contact 
 with other great ancient civilizations, and it is of deep import 
 that, although subjected to such influences, Hellenic art and 
 literature and philosophy retained an almost perfectly in- 
 dependent character, and have remained till our own day not 
 only supreme in beauty of form, but also incomparable for 
 originality, if we accept that word in its true sense. 
 
 112 
 
38. ASSARHADDON, WITH CapTIVK EGYPTIAN 
 AND AETHIOPIAN 112 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 FROM THE FIRST OLYMPIAD TO 
 PEISISTRATUS 
 
 (776 TO 560) 
 
 An Age of Coi^onization : The Kuxine : SiciIvY : South ItaIvY : 
 The Homei;and : Argos : Sparta : Tyrants and Sages : Athens 
 
 SECTIONS : EJGYPT AND CYREJNK : LYDIA. LIST OP BASTEJRN 
 KINGS : TH^ GAMBS : THE) POETS 
 
 AlyTHOUGH when we speak of Greek art and literature 
 and philosophy (the three priceless legacies that Greece 
 has left us) we instinctively think of Greece itself 
 and especially of Athens, which in the so-called classic era was 
 the * eye of Hellas/ the fact is that Greece owes much 
 of its fame to its colonies.^ Of colonial origin were Homer, 
 Archilochus, Terpander, Arion, Alcaeus, Sappho, Stesichorus, 
 Simonides, Anacreon, the younger Simonides, Theocritus, and 
 other Greek poets. The historian Herodotus was born at 
 Halicarnassus. All the great early phifosophers were lonians. 
 Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes were of Miletus, 
 Heracleitus of Kphesus, Pythagoras of Samos, Xenophanes 
 of Colophon. Of the seven sages four were colonials, and 
 among celebrated colonial artists may be mentioned Paeonius, 
 Pythagoras, Scopas, Polygnotus, Parrhasius, Apelles, Zeuxis. 
 The arts of working in marble and of bronze-casting came, it 
 is said, from Chios and I^esbos ; sculpture came from Crete. 
 The coins, too, of many of the cities of Greater Hellas, such as 
 the beautiful Syracusan coins, were finer than any produced 
 in the mother-country ; and, lastly, many of the magnificent 
 
 ^ See dates of the foundation of early Greek colonies, p. 479. 
 
 H 113 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 temples in Ionia, Sicily, and Southern Italy, of which some are 
 still standing, were built long before the Parthenon. 
 
 It is, indeed, a striking view that the Hellenic world offers 
 about the end of the seventh century. Greece itself, with no 
 very large population and in no very highly advanced state of 
 civilization or art, is already the mother of cities, which 
 extend from Sicily and Italy, and even the south of Gaul, to 
 the further shores of the Kuxine. The Aeolian and Ionian 
 and Cyprian Greek cities date, as we have seen, from much 
 earlier times. Doubtless emigration went on continuously 
 during the interval, but it is not till about the date of the 
 first Olympiad that we hear for certain of the first Hellenic 
 colonies in the West and on the Propontis and Buxine. 
 
 The question arises, what were the reasons of this very large 
 emigration from the old country ? Greece is not a fertile land. 
 ** Want hath ever been a foster-sister to Hellas," said the 
 Spartan Demaratus to King Xerxes. But doubtless also a 
 land-grabbing aristocracy (who were glad to get rid of dis- 
 contents) , as well as the wretched state of things that we have 
 seen described by Hesiod, aggravated much the condition 
 of the peasant and the artisan, so that without any great 
 surplus of population ^ there was a natural impulse among the 
 working classes to get away to freer lands ; and many of the 
 leisured classes would also be attracted by the love of adventure. 
 The vast numbers of emigrants may thus be partly explained, 
 and the huge population of some of these colonial cities was, 
 of course, partly due to a large native element. 
 
 Although in early days serious conflicts took place between 
 some of the colonies and their mother-cities, such as the naval 
 war (c. 664) between Corinth and Corey ra already mentioned, 
 the general result of the expansion of Greece was to strengthen 
 immensely Hellenic patriotism, if one may use these words 
 to express the sense of the oneness of the whole Hellenic race — 
 or rather of the whole people of Greece, including all its diverse 
 
 ^ Bven two and a half centuries later (430) Athens had only 80,000 inhabi- 
 tants, half of whom were slaves. At Marathon (490) the Athenian army only 
 numbered about 9000. 
 
 114 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 races, and all its progeny in other lands — in contradistinction to 
 the outer world of barbarians. The Greek colonies were, as 
 a rule, more Greek than Greece itself. They looked on the 
 mother-country with the deepest affection and reverence. 
 No colony was founded without consulting the great Greek 
 oracle at Delphi and procuring an oekist (founder appointed 
 by some Greek mother-city) ; and a flame from the sacred fire 
 that burnt in the town-hall (prytaneion) at home was carried 
 abroad in order to light the public hearth in the new city. 
 They took with them also the religion of their Grecian home. 
 They sent frequent deputations to the festivals of the metro- 
 polis, and received with reverence its envoys. The founder 
 who had been supplied by the city in Greece was often wor- 
 shipped after his death as a divinity ; and no new colony 
 was sent forth from a Greek colony without obtaining a 
 founder from the mother-city. 
 
 And for Greece itself the existence of her colonies — of this 
 great Hellenic community extending over so much of the 
 then known world — was of great moment. " The_jiifluence 
 of _Greate r Greece," says the late Professor Butcher, " is the 
 detennimngjact iii-the history of the Hellenic people." Not 
 only, as was the case in our Elizabethan age, did the opening 
 up of new worlds stir the imagination and enlarge the vision of 
 Greek poets and deepen the insight of Greek thinkers, but the 
 existence of Greater Hellas had much influence in developing, 
 for good or for evil, the imperial policy of Athens in the days of 
 her power, and in determining her fate. 
 
 The Euxine 
 Although they were, perhaps, not so ancient as some of the 
 : colonies in the far West, Greek settlements on the Kuxine and 
 i the Propontis were founded in very early times. ^ Doubtless 
 j there was trade between the Euxine shores and the Greek 
 i cities of Asia Minor from early days of the first colonization of 
 j Aeolis and Ionia. Indeed, as we have seen, the old fable of 
 I the Argonauts points to the beginnings of intercourse between 
 ^ The plates of coins should be referred to, and the explanations in Note C. 
 
 "5 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 Greece itself and the Kuxine even before the Aeolian migration. 
 The Greek town of Sinope, on the south shore of the Buxine, 
 claimed to have been founded by Miletus about the middle of 
 the eighth century. It was, old writers say, destroyed by 
 the Cimmerians, and was refounded about 630. Another 
 Milesian colony, Trapezus (now Trebizond), lay some 400 
 miles more to the east, not far from Colchis, the country of 
 Medea and the mythical Golden Fleece. Probably even in 
 these early days there were Grecian marts and halting-places 
 along the coasts of the Propontis and Kuxine. On not a few 
 of these sites regular settlements were in course of time founded 
 by various Greek cities. I^ittle Megara especially distinguished 
 itself by founding (c. 685) Chalcedon, on the Thracian Bosporus, 
 and some thirty years later occupied the opposite shore, where, 
 on account of the magnificent site that it enjoyed, the city of 
 Byzantium rose rapidly to importance, and in later times 
 became one of the most famous cities in the world. Sestos 
 and I^ampsacus (once Phoenician) were settled by Aeolians, 
 Abydos and Cyzicus by Milesians. These Hellespontine towns 
 owed their prosperity to the ever-increasing commerce between 
 the Kuxine and the Aegaean and Grecian ports. The trade in 
 iron and silver and flax and other products from Colchis and 
 the country of the Chalybes and other lands on the South 
 Kuxine was in course of time supplemented by trade with its 
 northern shores, where numerous Greek settlements were 
 made, such as Odessus and Olbia, on the Dnieper mouth, and 
 Panticapaeum in the Tauric Chersonese (Crimea), while at the 
 mouth of the river Phasis — where the Argonauts reached the 
 home of Medea — the Greek town of Phasis arose, and another, 
 Dioscurias, still closer to the great range of the Caucasus. 
 On the North Aegaean, too, various cities were now founded, 
 of which Potidaea, a colony of Corinth, and Methone, a 
 Kuboean settlement, are of the most importance historically. 
 
 Cyme in Italy 
 
 The western waters of the Mediterranean were navigated 
 by Phoenician traders in very early times, and some of their 
 116 
 

 m 
 
 39. The ' Francois Vase ' 
 
 See List of Illustrations 
 
 Il6 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 settlements preceded the first Greek settlements in these parts 
 by at least 500 years. By about 1350, as we have seen, 
 Tarshish, or Tartessus, the Phoenician port in Spain, was well 
 known, and Gades was founded about 1200. Doubtless these 
 navigators spread the worship of their gods, Melcarth (the 
 Phoenician Heracles) and the bull-headed sun-god Baal or 
 Moloch, and hence we have the old Greek legends of Heracles 
 erecting pillars at the straits near Tarshish and capturing 
 the cattle of the monster Geryon, and of the sacred cattle 
 of the sun-god Kelios, which, as Homer tells us, the com- 
 panions of Odysseus slew in Sicily.^ Herodotus, indeed, 
 intimates that a hundred years and more before the days 
 of Odysseus a Greek city. Cyme (Cumae), existed in Italy, 
 close to what was afterwards known as I^ake Avernus, nor 
 far from the frontier of the great Etrurian or Tyrrhenian 
 nation — those Tyrseni of whom we heard in connexion with 
 the Pelasgians, and whom we shall meet again in the time of 
 Hiero.2 The tradition about this ancient Greek city is repeated 
 by Virgil ; Daedalus, he says, after flying from Crete to escape 
 Minos, alighted at Cumae, and hung up his wings there in 
 Apollo's temple. Cyme is also said by old tradition to have 
 received Greek settlers from Corsica, where a still more ancient 
 Boeotian colony of the Thespiadae is asserted to have existed. 
 Perhaps, however, the first important colonization of Cyme 
 by the Greeks took place about 800. The colonists were 
 mainly from Cyme in Aeolis, the home of Hesiod's father, 
 and from Cyme in Buboea, the mother-city. Chalcidians and 
 other Buboeans joined, and it is just possible that a small 
 contingent of Graioi from Boeotia gave to the Italians in the 
 neighbourhood of Cumae the name which the natives of Italy 
 first applied to the Hellene race, and by which we now 
 generally designate it. 
 
 * Od. xii. The seven herds probably have reference to the seven planets. 
 Can the name Belios be connected with El, the primitive Semitic name of 
 God — probably the sun-god ? 
 
 ' Hesiod (if the passage is authentic) speaks not only of Etruria, but of the 
 Latins and King Latinus. His connexion with Aeolian Cyme may explain 
 his knowledge. 
 
 117 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 Sicily 
 
 The Chalcidians of Euboea and the Cymaeans also founded 
 (735) the first Greek city in Sicily, Naxos (destroyed in later 
 times by Dionysius), and not long afterwards Catane (now 
 Catania), I^eontini, Zancle (the ' sickle-harbour,' like Drepanon ; 
 afterwards renamed as Messene), and Himera on the north 
 coast (celebrated later for the great victory of Greeks over 
 Carthaginians in 480, perhaps on the same day as the victory 
 of Salamis ; finally razed to the ground by the Carthaginians 
 in 409). 
 
 Before the coming of the Greeks the eastern half of Sicily 
 was held by the Sicels, who had probably crossed from Italy 
 and driven the older inhabitants, the Sicans, towards the 
 western parts of the island. Besides these there were the 
 Blymi, whose chief city was Kgesta, and whom tradition 
 asserted to be descendants of Trojans left there by Aeneas 
 on his voyage to I^atium. On the SiciHan coasts there were 
 also numerous Phoenician stations, but no large settlements. 
 It was not until after the rise of the naval and military power 
 of Carthage, about 550, that Sicily became the arena of the 
 great struggle between the Semitic and Hellenic races. 
 
 Some 1 of the most famous of the Greek cities of Sicily were 
 founded by Dorians, mostly in the south-western corner of the 
 island. Of these cities Syracuse, a colony of Corinth, was the 
 oldest, and in the same year (734) Corcyra (Corfu) was also 
 colonized by the Corinthians. ^ The small state of Megara, 
 which showed such vigour on the Kuxine, placed a Hyblaean 
 Megara on the coast north of Syracuse, and a century later 
 this settlement, with the aid of the mother-city, founded on the 
 south-western coast the city of Selinus, famed for its majestic 
 temples, all built in the two centuries of its existence before 
 its utter destruction by the Carthaginian Hannibal at the same 
 
 1 Our main authority is here Thucydides (Book VI). 
 
 2 Both sites had already been occupied by Buboeans, who were expelled. 
 Corcyra never became of much importance, and after the Peloponnesian War 
 dwindled to almost nothing, while Syracuse at its prime occupied a larger space 
 than Rome under the Empire. Its walls were about fifteen miles in length, 
 those of Rome about twelve. But Rome's population was greater by far. 
 
 118 
 

 
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ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 time as Himera (409) . The remains of these temples and of the 
 acropolis form probably the greatest mass of ruins in Europe, and 
 the metopes of the temples afford some of the oldest and most 
 interesting specimens of Greek sculpture (see Fig. 60). The 
 name of SeHnus is probably of Phoenician origin, but the word 
 selinon means * wild celery ' in Greek, and that the Selinuntines 
 accepted this meaning is proved by their coins, on which the 
 plant is depicted (see Plate IV, 5). Possibly Homer's descrip- 
 tion of Calypso's isle with its " meadows of violets and celery " 
 may have favoured the interpretation. 
 
 About 688 Gela, a Sicel town overlooking the southern sea, 
 was occupied by Greek Rhodians and Cretans. It became later 
 a city of importance, and is famous as the home of the great 
 Syracusan princes Gelo and Hiero, and as the death-place 
 of Aeschylus. In 581 Gela founded, with an oekist from Rhodes, 
 the city of Acragas (Agrigentum, and now Girgenti), about 
 fifty miles distant towards the west, on a lofty site not far from 
 the sea. Acragas, the city of the notorious tyrant Phalaris 
 and of Thero, who shared with Gelo the victory of Himera, 
 became a city of vast population and wealth, as was testified 
 by the line of magnificent temples on its southern front, some 
 of which are still standing (see Fig. 76). The greatest of 
 these, the Olympieion, now a wilderness of ruin, was the 
 vastest of all Greek temples. 
 
 The Greeks did not try to colonize the west of Sicily.^ Here 
 Egesta (or Segesta), the city of the Elymi, held sway in alhance 
 with Phoenicians, whose settlements at Panormus (Palermo) 
 and on the island Motya gradually developed into important 
 towns. The people of Motya were afterwards (397) trans- 
 ferred by the Carthaginians to the great Punic city of I/ily- 
 baeum, on the neighbouring mainland. At the north-west 
 corner of Sicily, on Mount Eryx, overlooking the sea, stood a 
 famous temple dedicated to a goddess, called Aphrodite by 
 the Greeks and Venus Erycina by the Romans — evidently 
 either a Phoenician Astarte or some Elymi an (Phrygian ?) 
 Nature-goddess. 
 
 * But see Greek temple. Fig. 57. 
 120 
 
40. Lacinian Cape and Coi^umn 
 
 m 
 
 41. Poskidon's Tempi^e, Paestum 
 
I 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 'H /ULeydXrt "EXXay— MagnA GrAECIA 
 
 We must now return to Italy. Here by the middle of the 
 seventh century we find some fifteen flourishing Greek cities 
 occupying almost the whole of the line of the southern coasts 
 from Brundisium to Cumae ; and by about 550 their number 
 will have increased to twenty or more, some of them greater 
 than any city in the mother-country. The earliest of these was 
 founded in 721 by Achaeans from the Peloponnese, who seem 
 to have found their harbourless and rugged country, with 
 its twelve obscure townships, both unattractive and over- 
 populated, and to have made settlements first in the island 
 Zacynthus, and then to have made their way across to Italy, 
 as the south-western extremity of the Hesperian peninsula was 
 already called. 
 
 Here, just within the great gulf, they founded Sybaris, on an 
 alluvial plain between the rivers Sybaris and Crathis, and some 
 eighteen years later they planted Croton on a fine harbour, 
 near to the Ivacinian promontory, where still stands a solitary 
 column of the great temple of Hera which for ages greeted the 
 Greek as he came from the motherland to Greater Hellas, 
 and where he was wont to sacrifice and offer gifts before he 
 sailed further (see Fig. 40). Both of these settlements 
 became at an early era very great and powerful cities and the 
 mothers of many other Greek towns. Sybaris is said to have 
 possessed twenty-five such dependencies and to have ruled 
 over four of the native peoples. It became a great trade 
 emporium, and in order to extend its commerce by land-routes 
 to Btruria and the far West it founded on the Tyrrhene Sea the 
 
 ; cities of I^aos and Scidros and that of Poseidonia (Paestum), 
 whose magnificent Doric temples are still standing almost intact 
 (Fig. 41). The wealth and luxury of Sybaris are proverbial. 
 
 i Its army is said to have numbered 300,000 (perhaps mainly 
 native troops), and the circuit of its walls to have rivalled 
 that of Syracuse. But even in the days of Herodotus Sybaris 
 was only a memory, for in 510 it was utterly destroyed by its 
 rival Croton, as we shall see later when we come to the life 
 
 121 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 of Pythagoras. On the western coast also Croton planted 
 various towns, of which Terina was one (see coin 13 on 
 Plate III). Another was on the site of the old Ausonian port 
 Temesa (or Tempsa), perhaps mentioned in the Odyssey as an 
 export-mart for bronze. ^ 
 
 Another great Greek city was Taras, or Tarentum, situate 
 in lapygian territory at the head of the great gulf which still 
 bears its name. It is said to have been originally a Cretan 
 settlement, but about 708 it was occupied by Spartans. Taras 
 was the only colony ever founded by Sparta, and tradition 
 accounts for its foundation by a strange story, perhaps invented 
 to explain the word Partheniae (' The Maidens' Children '), who 
 are said to have been its first settlers, for it was related that on 
 their return from a very long campaign against the Messenians 
 the Spartans found a large number of illegitimate youths, 
 and that these, after an attempted rebellion, were dispatched 
 to the far West under the leadership of a certain Phalanthus. 
 This Phalanthus was afterwards worshipped as the son of 
 Poseidon, and was represented on Tarentine coins astride a 
 dolphin (see Plate II, 3). Taras became renowned for its 
 industrial products — its wool and pottery and dyes — but is 
 historically connected more with Rome than Greece, although 
 for a long period, after the fall of Sybaris, it was perhaps the 
 most powerful and wealthy of all the cities of Greater Hellas. 
 
 Two other Greek cities, Metapontion and Siris, stood on the 
 shores of the Gulf of Tarentum, between Tarentum and 
 Sybaris. The former was founded by Sybaris with the aid 
 of the Peloponnesian Achaeans, Siris by the Ionian city 
 Colophon.2 No other city of Ionia attempted to found a 
 colony during this age in the West ; but the Aeolians were 
 more venturesome, for Phocaea, which had already the 
 important settlement of lyampsacus on the Propontis, about 
 600 planted a colony at Massalia (Marseille), near the delta 
 of the Rhone — the westernmost of all Greek cities, except its 
 own later settlements in Spain. The Phocaeans also had 
 
 ^ If so, this {Od. i. 184) is the earliest mention of any Italian town. 
 
 * The poet Archilochus {c. 650) writes of Siris as if it were known to him. 
 
 122 
 
r 
 
 THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 settlements in Corsica, where about 565 (according to Hero- 
 dotus) they founded a city called Alalia. Some twenty years 
 later, as we shall see, in order to escape from the Persians, 
 almost the whole population of Phocaea took ship for Alalia, 
 but being expelled from Corsica by the Carthaginians and 
 Etruscans they fled to Rhegium and thence founded Elea 
 (Velia), on the west Italian coast, to the south of Poseidonia. 
 It is possible that Xenophanes of Colophon may have fled 
 to Siris from Asia to escape the Persians, and may have joined 
 the Phocaean fugitives at Rhegium and have been among the 
 first colonists of the city, whose name owes its survival mainly 
 to the fame of the school of philosophy that he founded there. 
 Among the more important Greek colonies of this age must 
 be mentioned Cyrene, in North Africa ; but as its foundation 
 (c. 630) is connected with the opening up of Egypt to Greek com- 
 merce it will be described later when we consider that subject. 
 
 The Homeland : Corinth 
 
 The Greeks calculated all their dates from the victory of 
 Coroebus in the foot-race at the Olympic Games (revived, it 
 is said, by I^ycurgus and Iphitus) in the year that we call 
 776 B.C. They regarded this as the beginning of the historical 
 period ; but there is very little known for certain about 
 Greece — less, perhaps, than we know about the Greek colonies 
 — during the first century of this epoch. 
 
 It is evident that about the eighth century Corinth was 
 a great mercantile and maritime power. With her newly 
 invented triremes and her great trading vessels she dominated 
 two seas. She had founded Syracuse and colonized Corcyra, 
 which colony had become strong enough by 664 to oppose 
 her mother-city in the first sea-fight known to Thucydides. 
 
 ^RGOS 
 
 In the Peloponnese, while Sparta was engaged in long warfare 
 with the Messenians and at times holding her own with diffi- 
 :ulty, Argos seems to have been a leading state. In 668 the 
 \rgives, it is said, defeated the Spartans at Hysiae. They 
 
 123 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 captured Mycenae and Tiryns, overran Aegina, and, perhaps, 
 held for some time all the eastern coast of I^aconia and even 
 the island of Cythera (see Hdt. i. 82). Corinth, too, is said to 
 have fallen for a time into their hands. The successes of Argos 
 at this era are attributed to the famous Argive king Pheidon, 
 who (as we shall see later) reinstated the people of Pisa in the 
 management of the Olympic Games and instituted himself 
 as president, claiming the right through his ancestor Heracles. 
 His date is, however, very uncertain. ^ To him is also attributed 
 the introduction of systematic weights and measures, as 
 standards for which he deposited bars of metal in the great 
 temple of Argive Hera. The first homeland Greek coins 
 were struck in Aegina, probably in Pheidon's reign and after 
 Pheidonian standards. 
 
 The Argive hegemony in the Peloponnese seems to have 
 decHned rapidly after the reign of Pheidon, a fact evidently 
 due to the rise of the Spartan power. According to tradition, 
 Pheidon's interference at Olympia roused the wrath of the 
 Spartans, who reinstated the Eleans and expelled the Argives. 
 
 Sparta 
 
 Sparta during the first century of the historical period, 
 as we have seen, took but little share in colonization, and her 
 one colony, Taras, is said to have originated from her political 
 difficulties. During these years she was mainly engaged in 
 fighting the Messenians — those western neighbours of hers 
 who, after a hundred years of warfare, submitted (those who 
 remained in Messenia) to be treated almost as slaves for two 
 centuries, and then, having rebelled, were ejected (in 464) 
 from their homeland, and finally, a century later, were restored 
 by Epameinondas, never again to be conquered by their old 
 enemies, but to become the subjects of Rome. 
 
 These Messenians inhabited the south-western corner of 
 
 ^ Alexander the Great, to prove his right to compete at Olympia, claimed 
 descent from Pheidon. Pausanias (a.d. 160) asserts that Pheidon presided 
 at the eighth Olympiad (748), but Herodotus says that Pheidon's son was a 
 suitor for Agarista, which would make his date about 620, and his father's 
 about 660. 
 
 124 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 the Peloponnese/ cut off from the Spartan valley of the 
 Eurotas by the great range of Mount Taygetus. Their land 
 consisted of the fertile plain of Stenyclarus, through which the 
 river Pamisus flows ; and to the west is a mountainous district 
 in which the strong fortress of Ithome was built, overlooking 
 the plain across which Homer describes Telemachus driving 
 on his journey from Pylos to Pherae and Sparta. 
 
 The first Dorian chiefs, who, in order to justify their over- 
 lordship, claimed descent from Heracles, seem to have resided 
 at Stenyclarus, on the northern stream of the Pamisus, and 
 never to have conquered the southern district of Pylos. The 
 number of these Dorians was evidently small, and in course 
 of time the dominant race may have been very considerably 
 merged in the native Messenian people. This may partly 
 explain the treatment these rebellious half-castes received — as 
 severe as that accorded to revolted Helots — at the hands of 
 the pure-bred Dorian Spartiates. 
 
 Of the origin and the events of the first Messenian war 
 (traditional date 743-724) many picturesque legends survive, 
 handed down by writers who lived much later, but who may 
 have collected the traditions from the Messenians restored 
 to their country by Kpameinondas (370). These legends tell 
 of a Messenian hero, Aristodemus, who determined to sacrifice 
 his own daughter to save his country, then slew her in anger, 
 and slew himself afterwards on her tomb. They tell of a 
 Spartan king, Theopompus, who, after many battles, in the 
 twentieth year of the war captured and razed Ithome and 
 reduced all the Messenians who did not leave their country 
 to the same level of serfdom as that of the Helots. 
 
 After about forty years the Messenians again rebelled, and a 
 second war of nearly equal length took place (traditional date 
 685-668) . In the first war some of the other Peloponnesian 
 states had taken a part, and on the outbreak of hostilities 
 Corinth again sent aid to Sparta, while on the side of the 
 Messenians were the Argives, Arcadians, Sicyonians, and the 
 
 * Homer mentions Messene, the district of Pherae, and its ruler Orsilochus. 
 The city of Messene was first built by Kpameinondas. 
 
 125 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 people of Pisa. The hero of this war was Aristomenes, under 
 whose leadership the Messenians inflicted such defeats on the 
 Spartans that they sent to the Delphic oracle for advice. 
 This bade them apply to Athens for a leader. The Athenians, 
 it is said, sent them in disdain a lame schoolmaster, Tyrtaeus, 
 and this man by his martial songs so aroused the courage of 
 the Spartans that, although they were defeated in a great 
 battle by the Boar's Grave, on the plain of Stenyclarus, they 
 again renewed the contest, and besieged the Messenians, 
 it is said, for eleven years in their new mountain stronghold, 
 Eira. During this siege Aristomenes performed many prodigies 
 of valour, and was several times taken prisoner ; but he always 
 managed to escape — once, it is said, even from the great pit 
 Caiadas in Sparta, into which the Spartans used to cast their 
 criminals. This feat he performed by grasping the tail of a 
 fox, which, struggling to get free, showed him the underground 
 aperture by which it had entered. But no heroism could 
 save the Messenians. Kira was captured. Many escaped to 
 Arcadia or to Rhegium and other places over the sea ; the rest 
 were again enslaved. Aristomenes is said to have gone to 
 Rhodes, and to have died there. 
 
 Fragments of the songs of Tyrtaeus exist, and I shall speak 
 of them later. They mention some of the events of this second 
 Messenian war ; but they do not name Aristomenes. The 
 songs were, says Athenaeus, chanted by a single voice to 
 the accompaniment of the flute. They consisted in spirited 
 appeals to the Spartans to show courage in battle and to 
 maintain law and order (eunomia) at home. It should perhaps 
 be added that some modern writers regard Tyrtaeus as a 
 Spartan and the story of his origin as an Athenian invention. 
 
 Tyrants (Ionia : Corinth : Megara : Sicyon) 
 
 While Sparta was thus laying the foundations of her future 
 supremacy very important changes had been taking place 
 in other cities of Greece. We have already seen how the old 
 hereditary monarchies of Homeric days had in many cases 
 given place to constitutions which were aristocracies in form 
 126 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 but which contained within them a strong tendency towards 
 democracy — a tendency that even under the permanent 
 monarchical system of the Spartan state manifested itself 
 in the creation of the popular magistracy of the ephors. We 
 have also noticed the growing demand for constituted law 
 and the adoption by Sparta of a code possibly founded to some 
 extent on the laws of Crete and other ancient nations. Besides 
 the half -mythical lyycurgus we hear of the shepherd Zaleucus, 
 who (about 664) was authorized by the Delphic oracle to devise 
 a constitution for the Italian lyocrians, and slew himself for 
 having unwittingly transgressed one of his own laws ; and of 
 Charondas, who gave a code to Sicihan Catane ; and ere long 
 we shall hear of the Athenian lawgivers Dracon and Solon. 
 The cry for justice — for equality before the law — uttered by 
 Hesiod was making itself heard. And the great increase of 
 the trading and labouring classes began to give them a con- 
 sciousness of power and the desire for self-government. More- 
 over, the introduction of a new method in warfare helped 
 greatly towards these ends. Instead of a Homeric Achilles 
 or a Messenian Aristomenes we have serried ranks of mailed 
 hopHtes, and it is on these infantry-spearmen, drawn from 
 the poorer classes, rather than on the high-born hippeis 
 (knights), that the hope of victory now depends. 
 
 But the struggle of the people for self-government was long 
 and difficult. In not a few cases it led to nothing but frequent 
 and violent changes of constitution, which proved perhaps 
 more disastrous than a permanent absolutism would have 
 been. In others its first result was a relapse — or perhaps we 
 may regard it as an advance towards democracy through a 
 necessary phase. Aristocracy was exchanged for tyranny. 
 The process has already been described. Feuds (such as arose 
 in mediaeval Florence) disunited the aristocratic party, and 
 some ambitious noble would invoke the aid of the people 
 against his rivals and succeed in establishing himself as 
 ' tyrant ' — that is, as an unconstitutional despot. ^ Greek 
 
 * The word tyrannos (possibly a Doric form of koiranos, a ruler, and con- 
 nected with the common word kurios, lord, or perhaps an Asiatic word) had 
 
 127 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 * tyrannies * seem to have first arisen in Ionia. About 620 we 
 hear of a tyrant of Bphesus marrying the daughter of Alyattes, 
 the king of I^ydia, and about the same time Miletus flourished 
 exceedingly under the tyrant Thrasybulus. 
 
 lyesbos, on the other hand, evidently suffered long and 
 severely from its aristocrats and despots, being oppressed 
 first by the oligarchy of the Penthelids and then by tyrants. 
 The last tyrant seems to have been expelled from Mytilene 
 by the people under the leadership of Pittacus and the brothers 
 of the poet Alcaeus, of both of whom we shall learn more 
 when we turn to the poets and sages of this era. Pittacus 
 had distinguished himself in war against Athens, and had won 
 the confidence of the people. He was elected absolute dictator 
 (aisymnetes) of Mytilene for ten years, during which time he 
 governed with such wisdom as to render possible the return of 
 the exiled nobles, among whom was the poet Alcaeus himself. 
 
 Of the wealth and splendour of the Ionian cities during 
 this age of despots, both on the mainland of Asia and on the 
 Aegaean islands, there is evidence enough, although we know 
 almost nothing about their history. In the so-called Homeric 
 Hymn to Apollo (perhaps dating from about 600) a fine de- 
 scription is given of the magnificence of the great festival on 
 the island Delos, which was the religious centre of the Ionic 
 world until the Asiatic lonians instituted their festivals at the 
 temple of Kphesus. 
 
 Indeed, at this time Ionia was apparently far in advance of the 
 homeland in many civihzed arts, and during the age of Solon and 
 Peisistratus Athens adopted largely Ionian luxury and Ionian 
 dress — that soft linen raiment and those golden cicalas, worn 
 even by men as hair ornaments, of which Thucydides speaks 
 somewhat contemptuously. And probably surpassing Athens 
 itself in Ionian splendour were the Kuboean cities of Bretria 
 and Chalcis, of which we have already heard as the mothers of 
 colonies. But they exhausted themselves in a conflict for 
 
 no moral significance. It merely signified that the ruler had no hereditary or' 
 constitutional claim. It was perhaps first used by the Greeks with reference 
 to the I^ydian kings (see Archilochus, frag. 21). The king of Persia was 
 always Basileus. 
 128 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 the possession of the fertile I^elantine plain. So long and 
 embittered was this war that, if we believe Thucydides, almost 
 all Greece (as well as Miletus and Samos) took part in it. 
 These Buboean cities declined rapidly in importance. Chalcis 
 was crushed by Athens, and the Eretrians were carried away 
 to Persia by Darius. 
 
 In the homeland several important cities during this era 
 (660-560) fell under tyrannies. Those of Corinth, Megara, 
 and Sicyon are of special interest. 
 
 At Corinth the monarchy of the Heracleid kings had long ago, 
 as we have already seen, given way to the oligarchy of the 
 noble, or royal, family of the Bacchiadae. This oligarchy 
 was overthrown (c. 655) by Cypselus, about whose birth 
 Herodotus relates a curious old story. The mother, it was said, 
 belonged to the Bacchiad family, but she was lame, and was 
 given in marriage to Action, who was poor but of the noble house 
 of the I^apithae. An oracle had declared that their son would 
 prove [a rock to fall on Corinth and crush lawless power, and 
 the oligarchs sent men to murder the child ; but (as in the 
 * Babes in the Wood ') the murderers were overcome by pity, 
 and while they hesitated the mother, I^abda, hid her infant 
 in a cypsele — either a corn-bin or a great jar (tt/^o?), such as 
 the one depicted in Fig. 20 — and thus saved him. So he 
 very naturally received the name Cypselus. The story is, 
 perhaps, scarcely worth repeating except as an example of the 
 kind of myth that higher criticism rejects as being evolved in 
 explanation of a name ; but it is also interesting because this 
 chest or jar connects itself, as we shall see later, with the 
 celebrated ' chest of Cypselus' — perhaps the earliest Greek work 
 of art (besides the Shield of Achilles and that of Heracles !) of 
 which we have a detailed description. 
 
 It was probably before, possibly during, the reign of 
 Cypselus that the naval battle between Corinth and Corcyra 
 took place which has been mentioned. Corinth evidently 
 gained the victory, for while Cypselus and his son Periander 
 held power this city seems to have developed on the north- 
 western coast of Greece a considerable colonial empire, including 
 
 I 129 
 
 1 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Anactorium, Ambracia, ApoUonia, and lyeucas — which in the 
 Homeric age was a peninsula (Nericon, the kingdom of lyaertes), 
 but was now converted into an island by a channel cut through 
 its isthmus. It was also evidently at this time that Corcyra, 
 with an oekist of Heracleid descent from the mother-city, 
 Corinth, founded that city of Bpidamnus which, according to 
 Thucydides, was the first cause of open hostilities in the 
 Peloponnesian War. 
 
 The son of Cypselus, Periander, could claim at least the 
 shadow of hereditary right, but he seems to have found it 
 necessary to protect himself by means of a strong bodyguard of 
 mercenaries and by forcibly ridding himself of troublesome 
 nobles. In this connexion Herodotus tells almost exactly the 
 same story that is told by lyivy about Tarquin. Periander sent 
 for advice to Thrasybulus, tyrant of Miletus, who said nothing 
 to the messenger, but led him through a field of corn and 
 " broke off and threw away, as he went, all such ears of corn 
 as overtopped the rest.'' Aristotle and other writers confirm 
 the description of Periander given by Herodotus. Together 
 with Thrasybulus, he is said to have drawn up a regular code 
 of ' sanguinary maxims,' as Grote calls them, of a Machia- 
 vellian nature. He is described by Herodotus as at first 
 " milder than his father," but afterwards a bloodthirsty despot ; 
 and revolting stories are recounted of his private life (including 
 the murder of his wife, MeHssa, and his quarrel with his son, 
 whom he outlawed and banished to Corcyra) . So hated was 
 the tyrant by all that when, in old age, he proposed that his son 
 should return and take his place at Corinth, and that he himself 
 should come to Corcyra, the Corcyraeans, in their terror at 
 the prospect, put the son to death — ^for which deed Periander 
 took on them a terrible vengeance.^ 
 
 This is one view. Others laud Periander as a wise and just 
 though a severe ruler, and explain away the alleged acts of 
 cruelty and oppression as wholesome sumptuary legislation. His 
 
 ^ See Hdt. iii. 48-53, v. 92. The story of the 300 Corcyraean youths whom 
 Periander vseized and attempted to send to Alyattes of I^ydia is told with 
 great detail by Herodotus and bears the stamp of truth. 
 130 
 
42. Apoi^iyO's Tempi^e:, Corinth 
 
 43. Site of Corinth and the Acrocorint'hus 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 wisdom was, indeed, so famed in some quarters that his name is 
 found in some lists of the Seven Sages. That Corinth rose to 
 great prosperity under his rule is undeniable, and it is more 
 than possible that the immense increase of wealth and luxury- 
 made repressive measures necessary. Of wealth and magni- 
 ficence an evident proof is what we hear of a colossal golden 
 statue of Zeus and the famous chest of Cypselus, two of many 
 splendid offerings made to Olympia by the Cypselid family. 
 At Delphi, too, the treasure-house of the Corinthians was built, 
 it is said, by Cypselus ; and there still exists at Corinth a 
 relic of the age, perhaps of the reign, of Periander — seven great 
 columns of what was once a mighty Doric temple sacred to 
 Apollo (Fig. 42). lyike others of the Greek tyrants, Periander 
 seems to have been a patron not only of sculpture and archi- 
 tecture, but also of music and poetry, for Arion, the Jonah- 
 like story of whose escape (on the back of a dolphin) when 
 cast into the sea seems to belong to the region of myths, 
 was doubtless a minstrel at the Corinthian court. ^ Corinth, 
 with its two seas, had fleets on both sides of the Isthmus, 
 and was in touch not only with the Adriatic, Great Hellas, 
 Sicily, and the far West, not only with the Euxine and with 
 Miletus and Rhodes and Cyprus, but also with the newly 
 founded Cyrene and with Egypt, in this age first opened up to 
 Greek trade. The reign of Periander (625-585) was contem- 
 porary with the last years of Psamtik I, who liberated Kgypt 
 from Assyria, and the reigns of the famous Pharaoh Necho 
 and his son Psamtik II. It is an interesting proof of the 
 tyrant's close connexion with Egypt that the nephew who 
 succeeded him bore the name Psammetichus. 
 
 Megara, of whose adventurous spirit and maritime power 
 we have already had remarkable evidence in the foundation 
 of Byzantium and Selinus, seems to have suffered as much as 
 any Greek city from a despotic aristocracy. At last, possibly 
 with the help of the Corinthian Cypselus, a certain Theagenes 
 estabHshed himself as tyrant (c. 630) by adopting the usual 
 method of obtaining permission to form a bodyguard and then 
 
 ^ For Arion see Index. 
 
 131 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 exterminating political rivals. After a reign of about twenty 
 years his power was overthrown, and Megara became for a 
 long time the arena of fierce conflicts between the popular 
 and aristocratic parties, of which what little is known reminds 
 one by its intensely bitter personal feeling of the old Florentine 
 feuds rather than of political and social upheavals such as the 
 Secession of the Plebs. Again and again the nobles were 
 expelled and the popular party sated their lust for vengeance 
 by confiscating property, cancelling the debts of the poor, 
 and demanding even repayment of the interest ; again and 
 again the nobles returned, and finally established themselves 
 firmly in power. It is of these troubled times that the poet 
 Theognis sings. I shall speak of his poems later. 
 
 Sicyon, whose small territory lay not far to the west of 
 Corinth and was under Dorian oligarchs in early times, 
 seems to have been ruled by tyrants of Ionian blood from the 
 days of the second Messenian war. Of these only Cleisthenes 
 is known to history, and that mainly on account of his connexion 
 with Athens ; for his daughter Agarista, of whose wooing and 
 wedding Herodotus (vi. 126 sq.) gives us such a graphic and 
 humorous account, was the wife of Megacles, and mother of 
 the Athenian reformer Cleisthenes. The Sicyonian tyrant, 
 it is said, in his hatred of all things Dorian and Argive, forbade 
 at Sicyon the recitation of Homer, who glorifies Argos and 
 the Argives, and changed the names of the three Doric tribes 
 in Sicyon into names meaning swine, asses, and pigs. 
 
 The Sages 
 
 In the later period of the age which we are considering is 
 found the first distinct evidence of that philosopliical thought, 
 that earnest search after truth, which is one of the noblest 
 characteristics of Greek civilization. Before the days of 
 Socrates Greek thought was directed more towards the solution 
 of physical than metaphysical problems. The so-called Ionic 
 philosophers propounded theories of wonderful boldness and 
 penetration on the origin and constitution of the material 
 universe, which formed as it were stepping-stones to doctrines 
 132 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 on the nature of the soul and of deity. But even before these 
 Ionic philosophers and others, whom I shall consider at the 
 end of the age of Peisistratus, we find signs of deep reflexion 
 on ethical questions, on questions of right and wrong, on the 
 moral sense as a guide to action, on virtue and vice, justice and 
 injustice. 
 
 Many such reflexions, revealing the deep, fundamental beliefs 
 of the human heart, we find in Homer — though not stated 
 didactically — and, as we have seen, the cry for justice is loud 
 in Hesiod. Of course these beliefs exist in every age ; but it is 
 not till towards the end of the seventh century that we find 
 them expressed by Greek thinkers and men of action, and the 
 form of expression is either the sententious and passionate 
 verse of the so-called gnomic poets (among whom Solon 
 and Theognis and the older Simonides are reckoned), or 
 moralizing stories in prose, such as the Fables of Aesop, or else 
 short, pithy, wise sayings, such as those which are attributed to 
 the Seven Sages. 
 
 Some of these Seven, all of whom flourished in the period 
 600-550, and whom the next age reverenced for their wisdom, 
 were men pre-eminent as rulers or lawgivers, and one was 
 renowned as the first and perhaps the greatest of the Ionic 
 philosophers. Most of them doubtless wrote, and some of their 
 writings were probably well known to the ancients, but hardly 
 anything remains except fragments of Solon's verse, of which 
 I shall speak later. 
 
 According to Plato the Seven Sages were Thales of Miletus, 
 Solon of Athens, Pittacus of Mytilene, Bias of Priene, Cleobulus 
 of lyindus (Rhodes), Myson of Chenae, and Chilon of Sparta. 
 Others, strangely enough, insert Periander of Corinth in the 
 place of Myson. Opinions seem to have differed much as to 
 the authentic list. Not only do the names of the last three 
 vary considerably, but we have lists of ten, and even of seven- 
 teen. In later times each of the Sages was credited with 
 one distinctive maxim, and some of these maxims, such as 
 " Know thyself," " Nothing too much," '' Know thy oppor- 
 tunity," were inscribed on Apollo's temple at Delphi. Cleobulus 
 
 133 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 and his daughter seem to have made a reputation by their 
 riddles, and the poet Simonides speaks of this vSage as a ' f oohsh 
 mortal.' Periander, as we have seen, may have suffered 
 much from calumny, but if his wisdom, as is Hkely, was such 
 as is found in Machiavelli's Principe, we cannot wonder that 
 Plato omits him. 
 
 Athens, 776-560 
 
 In a former chapter we obtained glimpses of Athens in the 
 Dark Age, and saw that she too, like most of the Greek cities, 
 was at that time under the rule of aristocracies. This con- 
 tinued during the seventh century. The government was 
 carried on by archons, whose term of office had been [c. 750) 
 reduced to ten years. Then, in 683, three annual archons 
 were instituted. From this time onward a list seems to have 
 been kept of the archons, the chief of whom gave his name 
 to the year, and was therefore called the archon eponymos. 
 As deliberative and legislative council, hke the Homeric 
 Boule, the archons had the Areopagus, consisting of past 
 archons and fifty-one special judges [ephetae) and other nobles 
 (Eupatridae) . 
 
 The Areopagus, one of the most ancient institutions of 
 Athens, was originally a court of justice for cases of murder 
 and homicide, evidently estabHshed, like the English ' blood- 
 wite,' in order to regulate private vengeance. According to 
 the legend adopted by the Greek dramatists, it was before this 
 divinely instituted court, and by the votes of the gods them- 
 selves, that Orestes was acquitted when, chased by the Furies 
 for the murder of his mother, he sought sanctuary at Athene's 
 shrine in Athens. As Aeschylus intimates, the court was 
 closely connected with the worship of the Furies as avengers of 
 blood, and it is likely that the name Areopagus, which was 
 conferred to distinguish this court from Solon's Boule, and 
 was in later ages believed to mean ' The Hill of Mars ' (Areios 
 pagos), really means ' The Hill of the Arai ' (Avengers) — as the 
 Semnai, or ' Awful Goddesses,' are called by Aeschylus himself. 
 The court was gradually empowered to interfere in matters 
 
 134 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 of religion and morals, and then in political affairs ; but after 
 serving as the supreme council of the aristocracy it lost much 
 of its power under the reforms of Solon and Cleisthenes, and 
 finally (in the age of Demosthenes) was allowed to retain no 
 authority except in trivial questions of ritual, gymnastics, 
 public parks, and the like. 
 
 The Athenian Kcclesia, the great popular assembly lineally 
 descended from the Homeric Agora, probably began to gain 
 more political influence after the institution of annual 
 archons and of the tribal guilds. There are many evidences 
 of a considerable advance towards democracy about the 
 opening of the seventh century. On account of the great 
 increase of trade and the invention of money, wealth began to 
 abound and to determine social and poHtical status. As in 
 the later Servian constitution at Rome, the people (formerly, 
 as we have seen, divided into nobles, land-workers, and public 
 workers) were now, or perhaps in Solon's time, for political 
 purposes classed according to income. Five hundred measures 
 of corn and oil (or the equivalent) put a man in the highest 
 class, to which the chief magistracies were confined ; three 
 hundred gave him the title of knight, and two hundred that of 
 zeugites, which meant that he belonged to the rank of the well- 
 to-do peasant, the owner of a span of oxen. Another sign of 
 advance was the annual election (about 650) of six legislators 
 (thesmothetae) , who, like the Roman decemviri, or perhaps more 
 like the Roman tribunes of the people, represented a growing 
 determination to acquire equal rights before the law. These six 
 thesmothetae, whose ofiice was to examine laws and supervise 
 justice, were associated with the three supreme magistrates, 
 so that henceforth we hear of nine archons. 
 
 While matters were in this state an event took place which, 
 perhaps because it is so graphically described by Thucydides, 
 as well as by Herodotus and by Plutarch, seems to stand out 
 as the first distinct picture in the history of Athens. 
 
 Among the Athenian noble families (Kupatridae) one of the 
 most distinguished was that of the Alcmaeonidae, a branch of 
 the Neleid family, which claimed descent from the kings of 
 
 13s 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Pylos. Now in the year 632, when the Alcmaeonid Megacles 
 was archon, an attempt was made by an Athenian noble, 
 Cylon by name, who had distinguished himself as winner of 
 the foot-race at Olympia, to establish himself as tyrant at 
 Athens. He had married the daughter of Theagenes of Megara, 
 and, incited by this tyrant's success, and by an oracle which 
 he misinterpreted, with a band of young Athenians and 
 Megarian soldiery he seized the Acropohs, trusting in popular 
 discontent. He was not supported, and, after being blockaded 
 for some time, he is said by Thucydides (not, however, by 
 Herodotus) to have made his escape. His comrades were forced 
 to capitulate. They sought sanctuary at the " altar of the 
 Acropolis " — evidently that of Athene PoHas. " And those of 
 the Athenians who had been commissioned to keep guard, 
 when they saw them dying of famine in the temple raised them 
 up, promising to do them no harm ; but they led them away 
 and killed them. Others were cut down as they tried to seat 
 themselves in front of the altars of the Awful Goddesses." 
 Plutarch adds a graphic touch — one that recalls other examples 
 of the virtue of divine protection being transmitted by contact. 
 He says that the besieged, when under promise of quarter 
 they left Athene's temple, fastened themselves with a rope to 
 the statue of the goddess and were making their way down 
 from the Acropolis, when the rope broke,^ and they fled to 
 the sanctuary of the Furies, which happened to be near, but 
 were all cut down. 
 
 Cylon' s unsuccessful raid is historically of importance, for 
 the belief that a curse had been incurred by Megacles and by the 
 Alcmaeonidae in this double act of sacrilege influenced the 
 course of events on more than one occasion. The taint, as 
 Grotesays, " was supposed to be transmitted to the descendants 
 of Megacles, and we shall find the wound reopened not only 
 in the second and third generation, but also two centuries 
 
 1 This, according to Plutarch, was urged by the Alcmaeonidae as a defence 
 against the charge of sacrilege. For other cases of a belief in the eflScacy 
 of attachment see Hdt. i. 26 (where Bphesus, when besieged, is connected 
 by a cord with the temple of Artemis outside the walls), and Thuc. iii. 104 
 (where Rheneia is connected with Delos by a chain). 
 
 136 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 after the original event." (See Index and Hdt. v. 71, Thuc. i. 
 126.) For a long time public feeling seems to have been 
 deeply affected by exasperation mingled with superstitious 
 dread. At length — perhaps about 625, or perhaps later (for 
 Solon is said by some to have suggested it) — the Alcmaeonidae 
 were tried before a special court of 300 nobles and were banished, 
 those who had already died being disinterred and cast forth 
 as an ' accursed thing ' beyond the borders of Attica. But 
 religious excitement and despondent gloom still dominated. 
 Pestilence appeared, and neither sacrifice nor purification was 
 of any avail. The Delphic oracle was consulted, and bade the 
 Athenians seek some healer from a distant land. 
 
 It will be remembered that in Hesiod, as well as elsewhere, 
 there are many evidences of the persistence of the super- 
 stitious dread of the supernatural and of the belief in the efficacy 
 of propitiatory rites and charms which were such striking 
 characteristics of the ancient Greek religion, but which seem 
 to have crept away for a time into obscure hiding-places at the 
 advent of the Olympian gods. In a later age we shall find 
 these superstitions revived in the Mysteries and the Orphic 
 religion, and it is interesting to notice that also at the period 
 which we are now considering such vague terrors and beliefs 
 prevailed very generally. We read of many magicians and 
 healers, such as the Hyperborean Abaris, and Aristeas of 
 Metapontion, and Thaletas the Cretan, who was summoned 
 to Sparta to stay a pestilence, and in connexion with this 
 ineradicable tendency towards deisidaimonia may be named 
 I the philosopher JPythagora s and the Sicilian Empedocles, both 
 of whom were regarded as more than human. 
 
 The healer whom the Athenians sent for (perhaps about 
 625, perhaps considerably later) was the Cretan Epimenides, 
 about whom wondrous tales are told. He is said to have 
 fallen asleep in a cave and to have slept (like Rip Van Winkle) 
 ior more than half a century, and to have lived 150 or even 
 500 years. By his contemporaries, as also by Plato and 
 Cicero, he was regarded as divinely inspired, and even Aristotle 
 limself speaks of him as something not quite canny. Besides 
 
 137 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 being a prophet and a healer, he was a proHfic poet, and 
 possibly one very celebrated line of his, on the subject of the 
 Cretans, has been preserved by St. Paul. As for his visit to 
 Athens, I will quote what is said by Grote, who does not dis- 
 miss this very possible case of faith-healing, which is of great 
 interest both psychologically and historically, with the curt 
 contempt shown by some other writers. *' Epimenides is 
 said to have turned out some white and black sheep on the 
 Areopagus, directing attendants to follow and watch them, 
 and to erect new altars to the appropriate local deities on the 
 spots where the animals lay down. He founded new chapels 
 and established various lustral ceremonies ; and more espe- 
 cially he regulated the worship paid by the women in such a 
 manner as to calm the violent impulses which had before 
 agitated them. . . . The general fact of his visit and the 
 salutary effects produced in removing the religious despondency 
 which oppressed the Athenians are well attested." 
 
 The pestilence very probably departed in the wake of the 
 religious despondency, but in this disturbed state of public 
 feeling doubtless political animosities were intensified and 
 lawlessness grew rampant. 
 
 As a drastic remedy the Athenians commissioned Dracon, 
 the archon of the year 621, to reform the laws and publish a 
 written code. Dracon's laws were " written in blood," as an 
 orator of later days expressed it. His reforms seem to have! 
 consisted largely in terrorism. He increased penalties to 
 such an extent that petty theft was punishable by death, ^ 
 and debt exposed a man to the danger of slavery. Suchj 
 relapse to barbarism may have had an effect for a time, but; 
 could not permanently satisfy either rich or poor. The fact; 
 
 1 See Hor. Sat. I, iii. 115 sq., where the allusion is evidently to Dracon. 
 Aristotle intimates that even idleness was thus punishable. An Egyptian lawj 
 of King Amasis punished with death a man who would not work to support 
 his family. Dracon's laws have perhaps been misrepresented. He may 
 have merely codified old and severe laws, some already lapsed. He seems to 
 have instituted some carefully framed legal forms, such as trials for variouf 
 cases of homicide. Even inanimate objects charged with homicide, if con- 
 demned, were solemnly cast forth beyond the frontier. Also the fifty-one 
 ephetae (special judges) may have been his creation. 
 
 138 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 that the laws were now fixed in writing was an immense 
 advantage, but their publication doubtless made the poorer 
 classes realize all the more keenly the intolerable state of 
 bondage and misery into which they had been brought by 
 debt and mortgage and the insolent exactions of the rich, 
 by which many had been reduced to actual slavery or to the 
 necessity of selling their own children as slaves to pitiless 
 creditors. 
 
 At this crisis a great and wise man arose who refounded the 
 state on the basis of true democracy, as some two and a half 
 centuries later the celebrated Rogations of lyicinius set upon 
 its true basis the Roman republic. 
 
 I do not intend to give any detailed account of Solon's 
 constitution. It is a subject that requires full and special 
 treatment, and such it has received from writers who regard 
 the political history of Greece as of great importance. To me 
 it seems that we have little to learn from Greece in politics — 
 as little, perhaps, as from her perpetual intestine feuds. 
 I shall, therefore, while giving a sketch of Solon's personality, 
 touch very briefly on his reforms. 
 
 Solon was born about 638, some seventeen years before the 
 archonship of Dracon. He claimed descent from Codrus, and 
 from Poseidon through the PyHan Nestor, and his mother was 
 a cousin of Peisistratus. But his patrimony had been wasted, 
 and he took to trade and visited many distant lands, where 
 he gained not only riches but a knowledge of the world and of 
 human character and of letters which placed him on a level 
 probably much higher than that of most Athenians of his 
 day. It was natural that under such circumstances he should 
 express his opinions and feelings in a written form ; and that 
 this form should be verse was almost inevitable, for (as we 
 shall see in a subsequent section) there was as yet no prose 
 literature. His high birth and the great reputation that his 
 knowledge brought him, and perhaps also his newly acquired 
 wealth, led to his election, in 594, as archon with unlimited 
 legislative powers, in order that he should discover some 
 modus Vivendi between the people and the rapacious aristocracy. 
 
 139 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Doubtless his life had brought him much in contact with the 
 working classes, and at the same time he was closely connected 
 with the nobility, so that great hopes were placed in his 
 mediation. 
 
 His first move must have startled both parties. On entering 
 office he should have made the usual public declaration that 
 he would " preserve undiminished all private property." 
 Instead of this, he published an ordinance named the Seisach- 
 theia (the ' Shaking off of Burdens '), which cancelled all 
 obligations that pledged the liberty of the debtor and set free 
 all deb tor-slaves. 1 Then he repealed all Dracon's laws except 
 those that dealt with homicide, and having thus cleared the 
 ground, and having deprived the oligarchic Areopagus of some 
 important functions, he laid the foundation of the future 
 Athenian democracy by extending the franchise to the Thetes 
 (lit. hirelings), the lowest of the four classes, by instituting 
 the Hehaea, or popular courts of justice, in which every 
 citizen in turn could take his place among the dicasts (judges 
 or jurymen), and by introducing election by lot.^ Moreover, 
 he formed a new council (Boule) of 400 members chosen from 
 the whole people except the Thetes, and transferred to this 
 council from the Areopagus the work of preparing measures 
 to be submitted to the Bcclesia. In addition to these con- 
 stitutional reforms he limited private land-owning and forbade 
 exportation of Attic products, except oil. Solon's laws were 
 written, or inscribed, on tablets or pillars (agoi/e?, Kvp/Set^), 
 which revolved on a pivot, and were first kept in the Acropolis, 
 but later, by the advice of Ephialtes, were placed in the 
 Agora. 
 
 Whether it was before, during, or even long after his 
 archonship is quite uncertain, but the conquest of Salamis 
 by Athens is said to have been due to Solon's influence. Bleusis 
 had been annexed long before, but Salamis, lying close in front 
 
 * The Greek expression eTrt r« arafiari davel^eiv corresponds to the Latin 
 nexum inire. See addictus and nexus in Diet. Ant. 
 
 ' Lot was used for selecting the nine archons out of forty candidates pro- 
 posed by the tribes. The Heliaea soon deprived the archons of all judicial 
 power and became the final court of justice. 
 140 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 of the Peiraeus, was still in the possession of Megara, and 
 so often had the Athenians vainly tried to conquer it that, 
 it is said, they forbade under penalty of death any proposal 
 to renew the attempt. Pretending to be in a divinely inspired 
 frenzy, vSolon recited in public some verses in which he passion- 
 ately denounced the cowardice of * Salamis-abandoners,' and 
 called on the Athenians to *' cast aside their disgrace " and once 
 more to *' fight for the lovely island." The result of this appeal 
 was another attack on Salamis, which ended, perhaps by the 
 arbitrage of Sparta, in the island being separated permanently 
 from Megara and divided among Athenian cleruchs (' lot- 
 holders '). It seems possible that Peisistratus acted as 
 general in this war, and succeeded in occupying Nisaea, the 
 port of Megara — a military success that perhaps made effective 
 the Athenians' claim that Salamis had originally belonged to 
 them.^ 
 
 Herodotus tells us that the Athenians swore to obey 
 Solon's laws for ten (Plutarch says a hundred) years, and that 
 during these ten years he visited Egypt and Cyprus ^ and other 
 distant lands. If this took place soon after his archonship 
 he must have returned to Athens about 582, and as he did not 
 die till about 558 there is an interval of over twenty years 
 which we must suppose him to have passed at Athens, possibly 
 making voyages from time to time across the Aegaean. But 
 even if his visit to Egypt and Cyprus took place much later 
 (Herodotus says he was in Egypt in the reign of Amasis, who 
 came to the throne in 570), and if he did not return to Athens 
 until about 562, there is no reason why between 560 and his 
 death in 558 he may not have visited King Croesus, as 
 Herodotus asserts — although this was denied even in Plutarch's 
 day as chronologically impossible, and is denied by some 
 modern writers. The well-known story of this visit, so 
 beautifully narrated by Herodotus, will be given later. 
 
 ^ Both sides appealed to the mode of burial in the ancient tombs of Salamis. 
 The Athenians cited the (perhaps interpolated) line in the Homeric ' Cata- 
 logue of Ships ' in which Ajax, who brought twelve ships from Salamis, is said 
 I to have " drawn them up where the Athenian hosts were encamped." 
 
 * In Cyprus he is said to have persuaded a prince to found the city Soli. 
 
 141 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 It was probably during the absence of Solon {c. 568) that 
 the unsuccessful attack on Aegina was made by the Athenians 
 which, according to Herodotus (v. 8y), had such a dramatic 
 ending and caused a revolution in the dress fashions of Athenian 
 women, on account of their having stabbed to death with their 
 long stiletto dress-pins the sole survivor of the ill-fated 
 expedition (see Note B, on Dress). This attack was repelled 
 with Argive help ; and for some time to come we shall find 
 Athens and Argos on anything but friendly terms 
 
 Fierce dissensions had again broken out in Athens — so fierce 
 that for two years no archons were elected. The party of the 
 Plain, composed of rich landowners, was headed by lyycurgus ; 
 that of the Coast, formed mainly of the industrial and working 
 classes, was led by that Megacles who had married Agarista 
 of Sicyon — a grandson of the Megacles whose sacrilege in the 
 matter of Cylon had caused a temporary banishment of the 
 Alcmaeonid family. At last, taking advantage of these 
 dissensions, a friend and relative of Solon, a man who had 
 distinguished himself in the war against Megara and had Vv^on 
 great favour among the extreme democrats and other dis- 
 contents, created a third party, that of the Hills — so called 
 because it comprised many of the peasants of the Attic high- 
 lands. This man was Peisistratus, the rise and fall of whose 
 tyranny will be the subject of the next chapter. 
 
 Solon is said to have detected and denounced, but in vain, 
 the ambitious projects of Peisi stratus. He died about two 
 years after the establishment of the tyranny. His ashes, it 
 is said, were by his orders strewn over the soil of Salamis, 
 
 SECTION A : EGYPT AND CYRENE {c. 670-570) 
 
 In Section C, Chapter II, I sketched the history of Egypt, 
 as far as it touches that of Greece, down to its conquest (c. 674) 
 by the Assyrian monarch Assarhaddon. Some five years later 
 this great king of Nineveh and Babylon abdicated (weary of 
 power, like Charles V) , and was succeeded by the unwarlike and 
 literary Assurbanipal, known to the Greeks as Sardanapalos. 
 142 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 Now of the twelve vassal-kings who still governed. Kgypt 
 under the suzerainty of Assyria, one named Psamtik (Psam- 
 metichus), of I^ibyan descent, who reigned at Sais, in the 
 Delta, is said by Herodotus to have been dethroned by his 
 fellow-rulers and to have fled to the marshes. Having sent 
 to inquire of the famous Egyptian oracle of I^eto, he was told 
 that '* vengeance would come from the sea, when bronzen 
 men should appear." Not long afterwards some bronze-clad 
 Carian and Ionian warriors were driven by storms to the 
 Egyptian shore (modern criticism believes they were purposely 
 sent by the king of I^ydia), and by their help Psamtik brought 
 the whole land under his sway, founding thus the dynasty of 
 the four Saitic kings, and defeated Assurbanipal {c. 664) and 
 finally drove the Assyrians out of Egypt. He naturally showed 
 great favour to the lonians and other Greeks, who now for the 
 first time were allowed to settle freely in Egypt. About 660 
 the Milesians founded the trade-settlement Naucratis, the 
 ruins of which have lately been discovered on the west bank 
 of the Canopus Nile, not far from Sais.^ Greek mercenaries 
 formed the right wing of the army, and also the garrison in the 
 new and least remote Egyptian stronghold, Defenneh (called 
 by the Greeks ' Daphnae,' i.e. I^aurels), which Psamtik had 
 built as a defence against his eastern foes. These favours are 
 said to have so incensed the native Egyptian soldiery, who had 
 i to garrison the distant Aethiopian and lyibyan frontiers, that 
 they revolted, and 240,000 of them marched south and settled 
 inAethiopia (perhaps Abyssinia) , four months' journey beyond 
 Syene (Assouan) and two beyond Meroe (Khartum). 
 
 Psamtik reigned for forty-seven years, and extended his 
 iominions to the boundaries of Syria, but there he was stopped 
 3y the Scythians, who at this period swept over the east of 
 ^sia Minor and were only induced by a large bribe not to 
 ittack Egypt itself. Of Necho, his successor, we have already 
 leard. He also favoured the Greeks, and they helped him to 
 
 ^ No large temples but numerous small ones have been found — evidently 
 ;he ' chapels ' of the various Hellenic settlers. I^ater a great fortified brick 
 inclosure, the Helleneion, with large stone storehouses, was built, probably 
 iy leave of King Amasis. 
 
 I 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 build his triremes and merchant fleets. In his ships Phoeni- 
 cians circumnavigated Africa. He cut a canal from the Nile 
 to the Red Sea, and prolonged the Suez Canal, begun in the 
 fourteenth century B.C. by King Seti and finished by de lycsseps 
 in the nineteenth century a.d. He defeated and slew King 
 Josiah at Megiddo, and advanced as far as the Euphrates, 
 but was defeated at Carchemish (6oi) by Nebucadnezar, the 
 young king of the new Babylonian Empire — for Nineveh and 
 the Assyrian Empire had fallen in the year 606. 
 
 His son, Psammis (Psamtik II), made an expedition against 
 the Aethiopians, or possibly the Deserters ^ who had settled in 
 Aethiopia. In his army were many Greek mercenaries, and one 
 can yet see at Abu Simbel, on the Upper Nile, some forty miles 
 before reaching Wady Haifa, Greek names and inscriptions on 
 the legs of a colossus (Fig. 44) cut by some of these soldiers. 
 
 Psamtik II was succeeded by his son Apries (the Hophra 
 of the Bible), who gave refuge to a ' remnant ' of Jews after 
 Judah had been carried away to Babylon by Nebucadnezar 
 in 587. Among these Jews was Jeremiah, who had been set 
 free by Nebucadnezar and had in vain tried to dissuade his 
 countrymen from leaving their native land, but had accom- 
 panied them to Tahpanhes (Defenneh, or Daphnae), where 
 they were allowed to settle, protected by the Greek garrison of 
 the frontier fortress. ^ It will be remembered how Jeremiah 
 (xliii. 10) buried great stones in clay at the entry of * Pharaoh's 
 house ' Sit Daphnae and prophesied that Nebucadnezar would! 
 come and set up his throne and his royal pavilion above thesej 
 stones. Nebucadnezar did come (c. 572), as both Jeremiahj 
 and Ezekiel had prophesied, and overran Egypt right up toi 
 Syene (Assouan) ; and at Daphnae the modern excavator 
 has found not only Greek pottery in abundance, but the relics! 
 of the burnt palace of Hophra (which " to this day, most! 
 curiously, bears the title of the house of the Jew's daughter")} 
 and also a square pavement which may possibly be the veryi 
 
 * Called also ' I^eft-wing men ' (' Asmachs' =Abyssinians ?) because deprived! 
 
 of the place of honour on the right wing ; whence their discontent and rebellion.! 
 
 2 2 Kings XXV. 26 ; Jer. xl.-xliii. (perhaps partly by the ' Deutero- Jeremiah '). 
 
 144 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 stones " hid in the clay " by Jeremiah, above which the king 
 of Babylon set up his throne and pavilion. Nebucadnezar 
 and his Babylonians did not remain long, and an unsuc- 
 cessful expedition by the Egyptian native army against 
 Cyrene caused disturbances amidst which Hophra (Apries), 
 although supported by his Greek troops, was dethroned by 
 Aahmes, known in Greek history as Amasis, in whose reign, 
 as we shall see later, there was much friendly intercourse 
 between Egypt and Hellas ; for although Greek mercenaries 
 had fought against him he was wise enough to forget it. 
 
 The unsuccessful expedition of the Egyptian army against 
 
 Cyrene was possibly made against the wishes of Apries, 
 
 and none of his Greek soldiers took part in it — as was but 
 
 natural, for Cyrene (some 200 miles to the west of Egypt) was 
 
 a Greek colony. It was founded (c. 630) by aborigines of the 
 
 small volcanic island Thera, who had quarrelled with Dorian 
 
 settlers. After several failures ^ a site was found in the hills 
 
 about eight miles from the coast and about 1800 feet above the 
 
 sea, near to a fine spring and in a part of I^ibya where, according 
 
 to Herodotus, there were three different climates, allowing 
 
 harvest during eight months of the year, and such abundant 
 
 rains that the natives described the place as one in which 
 
 ** the sky leaks." Here Aristoteles of Thera founded Cyrene 
 
 .and adopted the native name Battus (' King '), and for eight 
 
 generations the Battiadae held kingly power. About 560 
 
 Cyrene founded Barca, which soon rivalled its mother-city. 
 
 In its earlier days (c. 580) Cyrene gained literary fame from its 
 
 poet Eugammon, who, like other Cyclic poets, tried to finish 
 
 5 the stories of the Iliad and Odyssey. He wrote the Telegoneia, 
 
 ■the story of the son of Odysseus and Circe, and (as Virgil 
 
 did for the Romans) connected the legend of Troy with the 
 
 history of his countrymen. At a later period Cyrene was 
 
 the home of several renowned philosophers and literary men, 
 
 and Cyrenaica, with its five prosperous cities, became a very 
 
 rich province of the Ptolemies, and afterwards of Rome. 
 
 ^ Herodotus (iv. 145 sq.) gives a very long story of these Therans and of 
 misinterpreted oracles, &c. See also iv. 199. 
 
 K 145 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 The wealth of the country was largely due to the rather 
 mysterious plant silphion — for which see coin 6, Plate VI. 
 
 SECTION B : LYDIA (J76-S60) 
 
 Except Cyrene there was no point of antagonism between 
 Hellas and Egypt, and the conflict between the Hellenic and 
 Semitic races in Sicily was yet to come, but in Asia Minor the 
 Greek colonies had a vast hinterland of Oriental or semi- 
 Oriental nations — the wild Pisidian tribes, the I^ycians, 
 Carians, Mysians, Phrygians, I^ydians — some of them of 
 Aryan blood largely intermixed with that of the old Cappa- 
 docian and Hittite aborigines. And behind all these again 
 loomed during the earlier ages the mighty empires of old 
 Babylonia, of Assyria, and of the Babylon of Nebucadnezar, 
 soon to be replaced by the still more dangerous empire of the 
 Medes and Persians. 
 
 Perhaps it is not too much to say that the destiny of 
 modern Europe was decided by the battles of Salamis 
 and Himera — which took place, if we may believe tradition, 
 on the self-same day. Anyhow, it was decided by the 
 result of the conflict of Hellas with the non-Hellenic world, 
 especially with Persia and Carthage. It is therefore advisable, 
 without distracting our attention too much, to keep the chief 
 of these nations in view. 
 
 Down to the conquest of I^ydia by Cyrus (546) the great 
 empires of the far East had not come into direct contact with 
 the Hellenic world, except that Greeks in Cyprus had become 
 subjects of the Assyrian kings Sargon and Assarhaddon, and 
 Greek mercenaries had fought against Nebucadnezar in Egypt. 
 In Ionia and Greece itself much had doubtless been heard 
 of the vast cities and armies of Assyria and Babylonia, and 
 something of the learning of the East, such as the Chaldaean 
 astronomy and their system of weights, had been introduced ; 
 but during the age that we are considering (776-560) 
 Phrygia and I^ydia formed a buffer between Asiatic Hellas 
 and the far East, and what at present concerns us is the 
 146 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 history of these nearer Oriental countries and their relation to 
 Ionia. 
 
 In Phrygia, which enclosed I^ydia on the east, the dominant 
 race (as we saw in Chapter I) was of Northern (Aryan) stock, 
 and therefore was akin to the Greek. Phrygians evidently 
 settled also in I^ydia and are the ' Maeonians ' mentioned 
 by Homer (who knows nothing of * I^ydians '). They founded 
 what some writers have even called a ' Heracleid * (Greek) 
 dynasty of I^ydian kings, who, as also the Phrygian kings 
 (named alternately Gordias and Midas), lived on friendly 
 terms with the Ionian and Aeolian Greeks. The wealth and 
 civilization of both nations were evidently considerable. They 
 seem to have introduced the alphabet at an early age, and their 
 music and decorative art had influence on the Greeks. One 
 King Midas (perhaps the one to whom the fable gives 
 donkey's ears) made the gift of his royal throne to the temple 
 at Delphi — the first offering, says Herodotus, made by a 
 ' barbarian.' 
 
 But it is of lyydia that we hear most. Its capital, Sardis, 
 was built on a precipitous spur of Mount Tmolus, whence 
 flowed into the Hermus the gold-bearing stream Pactolus — 
 one of the sources of I^ydian wealth. The ' Heracleid ' kings 
 seem to have brought the country to a high state of prosperity. 
 Herodotus even relates that these early I^ydians colonized 
 Umbria, in Italy, and founded the Tyrrhenian (Ktruscan) 
 nation ; and he tells us that they invented " all the games 
 that are common to them and the Greeks,*' and also the use of 
 gold-and-silver {electron) coinage. 
 
 The last of the ' Heracleid ' kings was Candaules. ^ He was 
 
 i slain [c. 716) by Gyges, who established the dynasty of the 
 
 lative lyydian Mermnadae, to which Croesus belonged. Gyges 
 
 extended the I^ydian power over Mysia and endeavoured to 
 
 I conquer the Greek seaboard of the Aegaean, but about 680 
 
 * An Aryan name meaning ' dog-throttler,' corresponding to KwdyKr^s, 
 
 in epithet given by Hipponax to the god Hermes : " O dog-throttler Hermes, 
 
 ' ty the Maeonians called Candaules." War-dogs were used by the Cimmerians 
 
 nd other barbarians. For the dramatic story of Candaules and Gyges see 
 
 Idt. i. 7. Coinage was probably first introduced by Gyges. See Note C. 
 
 147 
 
 I 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 Ivydia itself was attacked from the north and east by the 
 innumerable hordes of a wild northern people called the 
 Cimmerians. 
 
 The Cimmerians (doubtless the originals of Homer's 
 fabulous Cimmerians on the further shore of the river Ocean) 
 were probably driven south from their country (Cimmeria, 
 i.e. the Crimea) by the pressure of other northern tribes. 
 Whether they came by way of the Danube delta or the 
 Caucasus is unknown, but they captured the Greek city 
 Sinope and made it their chief camp, whence they ravaged 
 almost the whole of Asia Minor, and even attacked the great 
 Assyrian king, Assarhaddon. At first Gyges was successful, 
 and he sent many Cimmerian captives in chains to Nineveh — the 
 first act of I^ydian homage to Assyria, if such it was, that we 
 hear of. But two years later the Cimmerians again poured 
 down from the north, slew Gyges, plundered vSardis, and 
 pressed southwards, where they destroyed Magnesia and burnt 
 the great temple of Artemis that stood outside the city walls of 
 Kphesus. Of these hordes of ravaging northern barbarians the 
 Kphesian poet Callinus speaks (as we shall see in Section D), 
 and a vivid picture of them is given on a sarcophagus of 
 Clazomenae (Fig. 45). 
 
 Between Gyges and Croesus three kings reigned, Ardys 
 (678-629), Sadyattes (629-617), and Alyattes (617-560). 
 During this period we hear of various invasions of West Asia 
 Minor by Cimmerians, while in the far Bast the Scythians, 
 another wild northern people, totally defeated the king of 
 Media, Cyaxares, and for twenty-eight years (640-612) were 
 dominant even as far south as the Philistine city of Ascalon, 
 which they sacked. Indeed, it was only by bribes that 
 Psamtik I saved Egypt from them. 
 
 In spite of these recurring Cimmerian invasions Ardys and 
 Sadyattes seem to have attacked Ionia. Priene and perhaps 
 other cities were taken, and Miletus was much harassed by 
 them. Alyattes finally expelled the Cimmerians. He then 
 turned his arms against the Greeks, wishing doubtless to acquire 
 a seaboard for I^ydia. He took and utterly destroyed {c. 590) 
 148 
 
44- Coi^ossi OF Abu Simbei. 
 
 45. Cimmerians on the Sarcophagus op Ci^azomenae 148 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 new Smyrna/ which now almost disappears from the history 
 of ancient Greece, but after warring for eleven years against 
 Miletus (now under the tyranny of Thrasybulus, Periander*s 
 friend) he made peace, probably because I^ydia was assailed 
 by a new foe, namely, the Medes, who under Cyaxares (the 
 conqueror of Babylon) and his son Astyages were extending 
 the new Median empire towards the Aegaean. In the sixth 
 year this war between I^ydia and the Medes was ended by a 
 strange occurrence. In the midst of a battle the sun was 
 darkened, and the combatants were so alarmed that they ceased 
 fighting and concluded a peace. This solar eclipse, the date 
 of which was May 28, 585, is of interest not only because it 
 
 . gives us (like the eclipse of 648 recorded by Archilochus) 
 an exact date, but because it was foretold, more or less accu- 
 rately, by the philosopher Thales. This was perhaps the first 
 eclipse predicted by a European. Thales gained his know- 
 ledge of the lunar cycle (of about seventeen years) and the 
 
 ; astronomical data for calculating eclipses from the Egyptians, 
 
 I who themselves, it is likely, were indebted to the Chaldaeans 
 of Babylon. 2 But whatever may have been the source of his 
 
 i knowledge, the prediction of Thales was a momentous event, 
 for it was, as far as we know, the very first attempt made in 
 Europe to lay the foundation of inductive science. It marks, 
 as Grote says, the beginning in the Hellenic world of scientific 
 prediction as distinguished from the prophecies of soothsayers, 
 oracles, and omens. 
 
 To seal the peace with Media King Alyattes gave his 
 daughter in marriage to Astyages, and for the next forty years 
 Ivydia enjoyed, under Alyattes and his son Croesus, brilliant 
 prosperity, until Cyrus the Persian overthrew the Median 
 Astyages, and twelve years later (546) attacked and overthrew 
 the Ivydian Croesus also, as we shall see in the next chapter. 
 
 ^ See p. 63. But Pindar afterwards mentions Smyrna as a ' bright city.' 
 " Ptolemy, the great geographer and astronomer, although he lived in 
 ^gypt, cites the Chaldaean calculations for eclipses as the earliest {i.e. from 
 721). Egyptian astronomical knowledge, however, dates at least from the 
 I time of the Pyramids (c. 3000). 
 
 149 
 
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THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 SECTION C : THE GAMES 
 
 It is a trite remark that Greece was never a nation ; and it 
 is true that Hellas, and even the Hellenic homeland, had no 
 political coherence. Very rarely, as Thucydides says, did the 
 Greek states take any combined action, and even against the 
 Persians the combination was by no means complete. Greek 
 patriotism was not based on the idea of political union, far 
 less on that of any central imperial power. All imperialism, 
 all hegemony of Greek over Greek, was as odious as tyranny 
 to the deeper instincts of the race, and although such 
 temporary structures as the Athenian Empire and the 
 Spartan and Theban supremacies arose from time to time, 
 they were maintained by forces foreign to true Hellenic 
 genius. But though not united politically, often torn asunder 
 by intestine feuds, the Hellenic world was united in heart by 
 sentiments perhaps nobler than those of ordinary patriotism 
 — by the proud consciousness of kinship not only in blood 
 but in the deepest sympathies of human nature, such as find 
 expression in religion and art and literature. 
 
 This fact is finely stated in the message sent by the Athenians 
 to Sparta before the capture of Athens by Mardonius the 
 Persian : " Not all the gold that the earth contains would 
 bribe us to take part with the Medes and help them to enslave 
 our countrymen. . . . There is our common brotherhood, 
 our common language, the altars and the sacrifices of which 
 we all partake, and the common character which we bear. 
 Did the Athenians betray all this, of a truth it would not be 
 well,^' 
 
 This consciousness, which more and more counteracted 
 the old antipathies between Doric, Ionian, and other sections 
 of the race, and inspired all Hellas with a feeling of boundless 
 superiority over the nations that surrounded it on all sides — 
 though some of these ' barbarians ' could boast of a civilization 
 far more ancient and a sense of truth and honour ^ far keener 
 
 1 See later remarks on the Persian character. The traitor was never far to 
 seek among the Greeks, but was scarcely known among the Persians. 
 
 151 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 than that of the Greeks — ^was fostered by the great religious 
 festivals held by the mother-cities, to which the colonies of 
 the Hellenic world sent solemn embassies (Oewplai) vying 
 with each other in the magnificence of their offerings. 
 
 Also for the Greeks of the colonies there were meeting- 
 places where great festivals were held, such as the Ivicinian 
 promontory in South Italy, and the island of Delos. This 
 island, lying in the midst of the Cyclades, which offer easy 
 transit between Greece and Ionia, was in early times an impor- 
 tant entrepot. It was also the religious centre of the Ionian 
 world, famed as the birthplace of Artemis and Apollo and for 
 the most ancient oracle of the god.^ Every fifth year the 
 birth of the twin deities was celebrated with magnificence, 
 amidst a great concourse, vividly described in the ancient 
 Hymn to Apollo : " Hither gather the long-robed lonians 
 with their children and chaste wives. They wrestle, they 
 dance, they sing in memory of the god. He who saw them 
 would say they were immortal and ageless, so much grace and 
 charm would he find in viewing the men, the fair-girdled 
 women, the swift ships, and riches of every kind." (See 
 also Thuc. iii. 104.) These festivals seem to have been 
 accompanied by contests in music and poetry. The temple, 
 with its priceless treasure of offerings, was not touched by 
 the Persians, who plundered most of the other islands, but 
 the Delian festivals seem to have ceased during the Persian 
 supremacy. They were revived with great ostentation by the 
 Athenians of the Empire, who used to send splendid theorias 
 in the sacred Delian galley [Salaminia) ; but this revival 
 was of short duration, for Delos had lost its special sanctity 
 in rivalry with Delphi, and the centre of religious life for 
 the lonians had been long since transferred to the great temple 
 of Artemis at Ephesus, as that of their political life was 
 transferred to the pan-Ionian assembly on Mount Mycale. 
 
 ^ Homer speaks only of Apollo's altar in Delos. Excavation has revealed 
 a sanctuary with small temples of Artemis, Apollo, I,eto, and Aphrodite — 
 perhaps built on the site of the great ancient temple. Statues, possibly of 
 Artemis, have been discovered (see Fig. 50). The original Delian statue of 
 Apollo was said to have been brought thither by Theseus from Crete. 
 
 152 
 
46. Site of Oi^ympia and Vai,k of the Ai^pheios 
 
 47. Heraion, Oi^ympia 
 
 152 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 By far the most famous, if not the most ancient, pan-Hellenic 
 assembly was that held at Olympia, where Heracles is said to 
 have consecrated (c. 1200) a sanctuary to Zeus, and to have 
 founded games after his victory over Augeas, king of Blis. 
 Others even attribute the foundation to Pelops (c. 1280) . Tradi- 
 tion asserts that the games, which had fallen into disuse, 
 were reinstituted by I^ycurgus of Sparta and Iphitus, king 
 of Blis ; ^ to prove which was shown at Olympia the discus 
 of Iphitus inscribed with the name of I^ycurgus. Perhaps it 
 was on this occasion that the Eleans, supported by Sparta, 
 usurped the presidency at the games, held till then by the 
 people of Pisa, in whose territory Olympia lay, and to whom, 
 as we have already seen. King Pheidon of Argos {c. 680) for a 
 time restored their rights. During the seventh century all the 
 victors were Spartans, Messenians, and Bleans, so that it seems 
 as if the games were confined to these peoples. After the 
 Messenian wars (c. 600) we find competitors from other Greek 
 states, and later many of the most celebrated victors came 
 from South Italy, Sicily, and other parts of Hellas. None but 
 pure Hellenes were allowed to compete. Foreigners might be 
 spectators, but no slave nor any woman was allowed to be 
 present. 2 
 
 From 776 to 724 the games consisted merely of a foot-race of 
 about three hundred yards. I^onger races were then introduced, 
 and the pentathlon (a fivefold contest in running, leaping, 
 wrestling, discus- and spear-throwing) and chariot-races, and 
 lastly the pancratium (combined boxing and wrestling). The 
 competitors had to undergo a training of ten months and 
 special practice for a month at Olympia under supervision, and 
 to make sacrifices and to vow that they would compete fairly. 
 There were official trainers besides the judges (hellanodicae) , 
 who awarded the prizes — wreaths cut with a golden knife from 
 the sacred oHve-tree, which, it was said, Heracles had planted. 
 
 ^ Traditional date 884. Others give 776, i.e. the year of the victory of 
 Coroebus, from which the Olympiads are dated. 
 
 * Perhaps no married women ; and possibly exceptions were made with 
 Spartan women. A story is told of a woman being detected in male attire, 
 but as her son was victor she was forgiven. 
 
 IS3 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 Marvellous stories were told of the feats of some of the 
 victors. The distances (fifty feet or so) covered by them in 
 leaping seem incredible, but how they used the halteres 
 — i.e. ' leaping weights ' held in the hands while jumping — is 
 unknown. Of activity and endurance we have a striking 
 example in the victor of the nine-mile race, who is said to have 
 continued running after passing the goal, and to have reached 
 Argos, some fifty miles distant, on the same evening. 
 
 The festival took place every fourth year. At first it 
 was limited to a single day (probably that of the first full 
 moon after the summer solstice). After the Persian wars 
 it was extended to five days. The vast multitudes who camped 
 on the slopes of the Mount of Cronos and the sandy hillocks 
 between the beds of the Alpheus and the Cladeus, and who 
 for five days stood in dense throngs around the racecourse and 
 palaestra, must have suffered greatly from heat and drought — 
 for the river-water was scanty and bad, and it was not till a 
 late age that a reservoir of pure water was made by the wealthy 
 Roman, Herodes Atticus. No wonder that special sacrifices 
 were offered to Zeus the Averter of Flies ! 
 
 A ' holy truce * was proclaimed for the whole month, 
 during which all warfare was forbidden and the land of Elis 
 was considered sacred. 
 
 The temenos, or sacred precinct, at Olympia was called the 
 Altis.^ Within it stood in early days the ancient temple of 
 Zeus, on the site of which was probably afterwards built the 
 wonderful structure for which Pheidias made his famous 
 statue, and where the equally famous chest of Cypselus was 
 kept. Another temple contained the tomb of Pelops, and 
 very ancient stone foundations have been excavated which 
 are believed to have belonged to the temple of Hera and 
 Zeus — an edifice of sun-baked brick with wooden Doric columns 
 dating from perhaps looo (see Fig. 47). In an open space 
 of the Altis stood the great altar of Zeus, and outside the walls 
 was the Stadion, a racecourse about two hundred yards in 
 
 * Probably the Elean form of aXaos, a sacred grove. The Altis was a 
 square of about two hundred yards each way, enclosed by great walls. 
 
 154 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 length. Such was Olympia in the age of lyycurgus, and also 
 of Pheidon ; but in time the old buildings were replaced by 
 marble temples, and many other magnificent structures arose 
 within and without the Altis — halls and porticoes and treasure- 
 houses. More than eighty altars erected to the various deities 
 testified to the vast numbers of the worshippers, who came 
 from all parts of Hellas ; ^ the avenues were lined with the 
 statues of victorious athletes, and both within and without 
 the temples were erected the masterpieces of renowned sculptors, 
 such as the Olympian Zeus of Pheidias, the Victory of Paeonius, 
 and the Hermes of Praxiteles. 2 
 
 Even in the sixth century, as we shall see, men like 
 Xenophanes the philosopher spoke disdainfully of the glori- 
 fication of the athlete. Euripides, too, in the fragment that 
 survives of his Autolycus, calls athletes the worst of all the 
 ills of Hellas, and Socrates, one of the hardiest and bravest 
 of soldiers, spoke of such men with contempt, as did also 
 Epameinondas. 
 
 In a still later age — when chryselephantine statues of 
 royal Macedonians stood in the Philippeion at Olympia — the 
 games degenerated into mere professional contests, and 
 Alexander the Great himself is said to have despised ' athleti- 
 cism.' Under the earher Roman emperors the Olympic Games 
 were celebrated with great magnificence, but were abolished 
 in A.D. 394 by Theodosius I. His grandson, Theodosius II, 
 had all the temples burnt. But many a splendid ruin still 
 remained, and afforded material to Christian church-builders, 
 as well as to Goths, Slavs, and Turks. At last the great 
 columns and pediments of the temple of Zeus were overthrown 
 by an earthquake. Excavations made by the Germans 
 about 1876 brought to light not only old foundations and 
 many fragments of architectural sculpture, but also the two 
 
 ^ As one might infer from its site on the western shores of Greece, Olympia 
 was frequented far more by the Greeks of Western Hellas than by those of 
 Ionia. Out of the twelve treasure-houses five were erected by Greeks of 
 Sicily and South Italy, one by Epidamnus, one by Cyrene, and one by 
 Byzantium. 
 
 * See Figs. 93, 112, and cow 10, Plate III. 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 statues already mentioned, the Hermes and the Victory — 
 both of them original masterpieces by great Greek artists. 
 Of these and of the sculptures of the Zeus temple I shall 
 speak again later. 
 
 Pan-Hellenic festivals with athletic and sometimes musical 
 and poetical contests were held also at Delphi, at Nemea, 
 and on the Isthmus. For all of them great antiquity was 
 claimed. The Isthmian Games were said to date from the 
 age of Theseus and Sisyphus, the Nemean from that of the 
 Seven against Thebes, while Apollo himself was said to have 
 founded the Pythian Games at Delphi. But very little is 
 known of them until they were refounded — the Isthmian 
 festival, in honour of Poseidon, possibly by Periander of 
 Corinth, and the Nemean, in honour of Zeus, by the Argives. 
 These festivals were biennial. At the same time as they were 
 reinstituted (c. 580) the Pythian Games were revived. At the 
 original Pythian festival there were probably only contests in 
 music and poetry. The great temple stood, as the Homeric 
 Hymn to Apollo says, "in a hollow, rugged glen beneath the 
 overhanging crags of snowy Parnassus " — a site very unsuitable 
 for athletic gatherings and horse-races. Nor did the god himself 
 seem to favour such things, for in the same Hymn the poet 
 protests in the deity's name against the clatter of chariots and 
 horses around his temple, and the " drinking of mules at the 
 sacred fountains." But when an arena was found at sufficient 
 distance, so that the tumult of games should not disturb the 
 sanctity of his oracle, Apollo was content and vouchsafed his 
 favour. This arena was the plain of Cirrha, or Crissa, lying 
 between Delphi and the sea. The people of Crissa, to whom 
 belonged the port at which pilgrims landed, levied heavy dues 
 and otherwise annoyed the people of Delphi, who had control 
 of the Delphic shrine. These appealed to the Amphictiony ^ — 
 a religious league of North Grecian states — which espoused 
 their cause, and with the help of Cleisthenes of Sicyon, after 
 
 * Amphictiones means 'dwellers around.' The league was probably begun 
 by the neighbours of a shrine of Demeter near Thermopylae, and gradually 
 grew until the Amphictionic Council had great influence. See Diet. Ant. 
 
 is6 
 
!. Vai,e of Tkmpe and Mouth of River Penfios 
 
 49. Site of Dei^piii 
 
 156 
 
M 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 a struggle of about ten years (the first Sacred War) , succeeded 
 in capturing Crissa (590). They razed it to the ground and 
 dedicated the Crissaean plain to the service of the Delphian 
 god ; and on this plain was held the Pythian festival, which 
 for its musical, poetical, and artistic contests, as well as for 
 its chariot-races, became scarcely less famed than that of 
 Olympia itself. French excavators have brought to light the 
 remains of the great temple and of about six others, as well as a 
 theatre, stadium, and gymnasium, not far from the Castalian 
 Fount, and the paved Sacred Way which winds up the huge 
 stone terraces on which Apollo's temple stood. This Sacred 
 Way was lined by treasure-houses erected by many of the chief 
 cities of Greece, and was once filled with priceless works of 
 art, almost all of which have naturally disappeared, for Delphi 
 was the prey of plunderers during many ages. Fine architectural 
 sculptures have, however, been recovered, especially some that 
 belonged to the Athenian, Sicyonian, and Cnidian treasuries, 
 and also numerous statues, offerings to the Delphic god. Of 
 these the most remarkable are a colossal Sphinx dedicated 
 by the people of Naxos, and the bronze charioteer (Fig. 74) 
 which was probably erected as a thank-offering for victory in 
 a chariot -race by Polyzalus, the brother of Hiero. 
 
 SECTION D : THE POETS (776-560) 
 
 We have seen how by the time of Hesiod the old monarchical 
 and feudal feeling had largely given way to the natural yearn- 
 ings for personal liberty and independent thought, and how 
 such yearnings, thwarted by the rich and high-born oppressor, 
 found vent in bitter lament and the cry for justice and 
 equality. The true poet — who ever interprets his age — no 
 longer deigned to sing the praises of heaven-descended princes. 
 The epic bard, or rhapsode, indeed, still existed, and the 
 Cyclic writers (so called because they attempted to finish the 
 whole cycle of the legend of Troy) supplied him with material 
 such as the Sack of Ilion, the Cypria, the Little Iliad, and the 
 Telegoneia, and sometimes, for a change, with mock-heroic 
 
 157 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 parodies of the Homeric epic such as the Margites, the story 
 of a booby-hero who " knew many professions but knew all 
 badly/' or the Batrachomyomachia, the ' Battle of the Frogs 
 and Mice/ And there were (as there are in most ages) poets 
 who wrote religious verse — hymns for festivals of the gods, 
 some of them, such as the * Homeric ' hymns to Apollo and 
 Demeter, of great dignity and beauty. But all this was a 
 survival. The spirit of the age was another, and poetry 
 demanded new forms in which to sing of freedom and fatherland, 
 love and friendship, wisdom and virtue, life and death. 
 
 The first of these new forms was elegiac verse, which in its 
 original home, Caria and I^ydia, was of a dirge-like character 
 and was accompanied by mournful flute-music. But the 
 metre, a couplet consisting of the epic hexameter and a similar 
 but shorter and more energetic verse with two emphatic 
 monosyllables, was adopted by the Greeks for their war-songs, 
 and also for exhortatory poetry [viroOmai) and sententious 
 maxims {yvwimai), and for the expression of personal feelings 
 and opinions on all subjects affecting human life. Among the 
 elegiac poets of this age the chief were Callinus, Tyrtaeus, 
 Mimnermus, and Solon. 
 
 The second form was iambic verse, generally of a satiric 
 character, the chief writers of which were Semonides of Amorgos 
 and Archilochus. 
 
 The third form was lyrical verse. These early lyrical 
 poets stand on a level immeasurably higher than that of the 
 elegiac and iambic writers. The best known, though, alas ! 
 by repute rather than from what has survived of their poetry, 
 are Sappho and Alcaeus, with whom one may perhaps venture 
 to associate Alcman, Arion, and Stesichorus. 
 
 The following brief accounts of these poets and of some of 
 their surviving works may prove interesting. Further bio- 
 graphical details will be found in classical dictionaries. 
 
 (i) Callinus of Ephesus was perhaps the inventor of the 
 elegiac couplet. His seems to have been mostly war-poetry. 
 Among the few verses of his that are extant he calls upon his 
 countrymen to rouse themselves : *' How long will ye lie idle, 
 
 158 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 while war fills all the world ? . . . 'Tis honourable and glorious 
 for a man to fight for his fatherland, his children, and the 
 wife of his youth. ... It is not possible to escape one's 
 destined death. . . . Many a man has fled battle and the clash 
 of arms only to return to his home and find there the doom 
 of death." In a verse preserved by Strabo Callinus exclaims : 
 ** Now is coming the host of the Cimmerians, those doers of 
 terrible deeds ! " It is therefore probable that by his war-songs 
 he roused the Bphesians against these savages, who (c. 678) had 
 captured Sardis and killed the I^ydian king Gyges, and soon 
 afterwards burnt the temple of Artemis, just outside the walls 
 of Kphesus. 
 
 (2) Of Tyrtaeus {c. 660) we have already heard. Whether 
 
 ^ he was really an Athenian, or whether his birthplace, Aphidna 
 
 in I^aconia, was confused with Aphidna in Attica, is unknown. 
 
 Fragments survive of * Tyrtaean ' marching songs in anapaestic 
 
 measure — e.g. 
 
 "Ayer'j w ^rrdpras evdvSpov 
 Kovpoi iraTepoiv TroXiarav . . . 
 
 — and about eighty elegiac couplets, some of which have a 
 splendid swing, such as : 
 
 TeBvdfievai yap koKov inl 7rpop.dxoi(n Trea-ovra 
 avBp* dyaObv Trepl jj irarplSi fiapvdpevov . . . 
 
 Km TToda Trap ttoSi Bus /cat eV d(nri8os damld* epfiaas . . . 
 
 The language is almost pure Ionic, not Doric ; which is 
 trange if he was really vSpartan. Moreover, his poetry (if 
 t is his) contains numerous lines almost identical with lines 
 
 |;)f Callinus, so that some hold that it was written in Ionia 
 )y some Milesian poet and attributed to Tyrtaeus. Among 
 
 : Tyrtaean elegiac exhortations (vTroOtiKai) sue some fine verses 
 
 pncouraging young warriors not to desert their elders in battle. 
 
 r What a foul sight," the poet exclaims, " is a white-headed 
 /arrior lying dead in the front ranks ! But in the youth 
 
 i verything is seemly ; he is handsome alive and handsome also 
 /hen fallen in the van of the battle." Besides, he adds, 
 ravery is the best policy ; the bold survive, while all the herd 
 
 IS9 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 of cowards perishes. Of his elegy Eunomia (' Good Order ') 
 about thirty Hnes are extant. In it the poet calls on the citizens i 
 to avoid dissension and to respect the Pythian oracle as the 
 source of law and order. He mentions the " god-honoured 
 kings" of Sparta, especially Theopompus, under whose 
 command, after nineteen years, " we conquered Messenia, 
 good to plough and good to plant." Another fragment 
 (possibly genuine) depicts vividly a well-known characteristic of i 
 the Spartans : " The love of money and naught else shalli 
 ruin Sparta. . . . Thus hath golden-haired Apollo prophesied! 
 from his rich shrine." 
 
 (3) The poetry of Mimnermus [c, 630) is of a more personal 
 character. Some of it is addressed to Nanno, a flute-girl .! 
 ** What is life," he exclaims, " without golden Aphrodite ? " 
 Old age is a terrible thing ; its doom {kyip) is worse than that of 
 death, destroying both eyes and mind.^ lyike Horace he sings ol 
 the joys of youth, and bids one gather them donee virenti canities 
 abest. Perhaps more interesting than his views on this subjed 
 are the verses in which he tells how an ancestor of his drov( 
 in rout the phalanxes of I^ydian horsemen on the plain of the 
 Hermus. This was evidently in a fight between the people o: 
 Smyrna, the poet's birthplace, and King Gyges, who failed t( 
 take the city. Three generations later (c. 590) Alyattes o 
 lyydia captured and razed Smyrna (see p. 149). But Mimnermu; 
 probably did not live to see this evil day, though he seem 
 to have survived to the manhood of Solon (c. 600), wh( 
 answered his assertion that life was over at seventy ^ b 
 bidding him substitute ' eighty.' 
 
 (4) When Solon was in Egypt, says the grandfather 
 Critias in Plato's Timaeus, he heard from the priests (the sam 
 priests who told him that the Greeks were always childrer 
 the wonderful story of the isle Atlantis. '' Ay," adds the ol 
 Critias, "if he had not taken up poetry as a mere by-worl 
 but had worked at it earnestly like others and had compose 
 
 ^ Perhaps these Kr^pes of Mimnermus are the evil spirits, or, as Miss Harrisc 
 has argued, the bacilli, of old age and death. See p. 46. 
 
 ^ Strangely enough, Solon in his Ten Ages gives seventy as the limit, ar 
 Herodotus makes him give the same in his conversation with Croesus. 
 160 
 
l 
 
 THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 a poem on this story that he brought from Egypt, instead of 
 having been obHged to neglect it on account of all the political 
 troubles that he found here at Athens, I believe that neither 
 Hesiod nor Homer nor any other poet would have been more 
 famous." 
 
 In spite of Critias, or even of Plato himself, it is not easy to 
 believe that Solon could ever have been a great poet. But his 
 verses are often exceedingly eloquent and forcible, and on 
 account of his great reputation as statesman and sage they 
 are of supreme interest. In an age when writing was still a 
 rare accomplishment and one had to trust mainly to the 
 living voice those who had anything to say and who wished 
 to impress it on the memory of their hearers chose a rhythmical 
 form — which, after all, is the natural mode of expression for 
 the emotions, and far less artificial than literary prose. ^ Even 
 laws, it is said, were anciently published in rhythmical language, 
 and not only sages such as Solon and Bias (who wrote a poem of 
 two thousand lines), but also many of the earlier philosophers, 
 as Parmenides, Heracleitus, Xenophanes, Empedocles, and 
 perhaps even Thales himself, expressed their doctrines in verse 
 — a method which, as the magnificent De Rerum Natura of 
 I^ucretius in a later age proved, allows the imagination its 
 sublimest flights, but which might have its disadvantages 
 for writers on what is nowadays called philosophy. The 
 extant verses of Solon are (a) eight lines of his celebrated 
 verses, originally a hundred, about Salamis ; (b) Exhortations 
 to the Athenians ; (c) Exhortations to himself ; (d) some 
 trochaic and iambic verses. 
 
 The sense of his lines about Salamis is as follows : "I 
 came myself as a herald from lovely Salamis, having composed 
 an order [series] of verses instead of a set-speech. . . . Would 
 that I had been then [when we gave up Salamis] a man of 
 Pholegandros or Sicine [little Aegaean islands] rather than an 
 
 * Aesop (c. 570) should here be mentioned. If he wrote his Fables in verse, 
 as is probable, they were known later only in a prose version ; for Socrates, 
 when in prison, bidden by the god to " make his life more musical," versified 
 some of them. 
 
 L 161 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 Athenian, for swiftly this report might be spread abroad : 
 This is an Attic man — one of the Salamis-abandoners." 
 
 In his Exhortations to the Athenians he eloquently describes 
 the ruin brought on a city which loves injustice — how its poor 
 are sold into slavery and not even the courtyard doors keep out 
 disaster from a man's home. He sings of Order and Disorder, 
 and of feuds between rich and poor. *' I stood holding before 
 both a mighty buckler, nor did I let either win unjustly." " It 
 is hard," he says, " to please all in great undertakings." He 
 speaks of the Demos, and how it best obeys its leaders when 
 not given too loose a rein nor held in too tight ; and he addresses 
 a remark to this same Demos which shows how thoroughly 
 he understood its nature : " Each one of you singly treadeth 
 in the tracks of the fox [is foxish in cunning], but when ye 
 are all together the mind within you is a gaping gooselike 
 thing ; for ye pay regard to the tongue and the word of any 
 wheedling flatterer and look not at all to what is being 
 done." 
 
 The Exhortations to himself contain many wise saws and 
 maxims — e.g. " Wealth is good, but not when ill-acquired " ; 
 " God is a righteous judge, not quick to anger as a man." 
 
 A very interesting fragment is his Ten Ages, in which he 
 depicts with almost Shakespearean art the state of man at 
 every seventh year of his life — from the child of seven shedding 
 his first teeth to the septuagenarian ''ripe to receive his destined 
 doom of death," an expression inconsistent with his answer to 
 Mimnermus. He probably lived eighty years himself, and one 
 of his finest sayings was, " I grow old ever learning many 
 things." 
 
 Of historical interest (if genuine) are the lines that he 
 addressed to Philocyprus, the Gyprian prince, bidding him 
 farewell, and wishing him long life at his new city, Soli (see 
 p. 141). 
 
 Among the fragments of his trochaic tetrameters there is a 
 rather amusing passage in which he pretends to quote public 
 criticism of the fact that he followed the example of Pittacus 
 rather than that of Periander " Solon," he says, " was a 
 162 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 man of no deep wisdom or judgment, for when God gave 
 him good things he would not accept them, and, having 
 enclosed his catch, became nervous and did not haul his big 
 net to land. If / had got hold of such power and boundless 
 wealth, even if I had been tyrant of Athens for a single day, 
 I should have been willing to be flayed to make a wine-skin and 
 have all my family exterminated." 
 
 In his iambics he gives a most interesting account of how 
 he released debtors and recalled those who had been sold into 
 foreign slavery. 
 
 (5) Horace says that '* fury armed Archilochus with his 
 own iambus." Doubtless iambic rhythm (which in some 
 languages, such as English, is the natural rhythm of emotional 
 language) existed before.^ It is found, for instance, in the 
 Margites, sometimes attributed to Homer, and it was 
 probably used in chants at Demeter mysteries and other reli- 
 gious ceremonies ; whence perhaps Archilochus borrowed it, for 
 his father was a priest of Demeter, and he himself won the 
 prize for a hymn to the goddess. But possibly the iambic 
 trimeter (the metre used by the great Greek dramatists) was 
 invented by this poet of Paros, who used it with dire effect, 
 it is said, in his scathing satires against lyycambes and his 
 daughters. From fragments of his poems (which comprised 
 elegiacs, iambics, trochaic tetrameters, and also combinations 
 of various rhythms, imitated by Horace in his Epodes) it seems 
 that he visited Southern Italy, for he speaks of the '* streams 
 of the Siris, more lovely than Thasos," Also he mentions 
 Euboea, and describes the Kuboean mode of fighting : " not 
 much bending of bows nor many slings, but the terrible work 
 of the sword " ; so, perhaps, he took part in the lyelantine war 
 of Chalcis and Bretria (p. 128). He joined an expedition to 
 Thasos made by the Parians, attracted by the gold-mines of 
 that island and of the opposite Thracian mainland ; but it 
 seems to have been unsuccessful. He speaks of Thasos with 
 
 * The essential difference between the hexametric and iambic rhythms con- 
 sists in the fact that the spondee (or dactyl) is in equipoise, its two parts 
 balancing each other and producing a smooth onward motion, whereas the 
 trochee or iambus ("^ or ^~) causes an agitated, up-and-down movement. 
 
 163 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 dislike as a bare, rocky ridge " like a donkey's back." In a 
 fight with Thracians he lost his shield (a fact that probably 
 accounts for a similar story about Alcaeus, and certainly 
 accounts for the imaginative loss of Horace's shield at 
 PhiHppi). His lines on the subject may be thus rendered : 
 
 Some Thracian's doubtless chuckling o'er an unexpected find — 
 A brand-new shield, which much against my will I left behind. 
 Well, anyhow, I saved my life. The shield may go to pot I 
 Another and a better one can easily be got. 
 
 More important for the chronologist is the fact that, perhaps 
 while he was in Thasos, he witnessed a solar eclipse, for this 
 gives us the first quite certain date in Greek history, viz. 
 April 8, 648. " Nothing," he says, " is incredible and impossible 
 any longer, since Zeus created night at noonday, hiding the 
 light of the blazing sun ; and pale dread fell upon mortals. 
 Henceforth all things can be believed and expected. I^et none 
 wonder even if the beasts of the forest exchange with dolphins 
 and dwell in the briny realms, and the resounding billows 
 become dearer to them than the dry land, while the mountains 
 delight those others." Possibly there is reference here to his 
 former love for the fair Neobule, I/ycambes' daughter, now 
 changed into the bitterest disdain. 
 
 But of all that has survived of Archilochus the lines are 
 the finest in which he addresses his own soul, as Odysseus 
 does in the Odyssey. " Soul, soul, storm-tossed by desperate 
 cares, come forth and defend thyself breast-foremost 'gainst 
 thy foes, and station thyself in safety anigh the ambush of 
 the enemy. And if victorious, triumph not openly, nor, if 
 conquered, fall on thy face in thy house and lament, but rejoice 
 in all that is joyous and vex not thyself too much because of 
 evil men, remembering that such is the way of mortals." Words 
 like these and a line such as 
 
 Gyges with all his golden wealth is naught to me, 
 
 come like a breath of fresh air across all the long ages of dusty, 
 dreary warfare and politics that so often form the main subject 
 of history. 
 164 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 (6) Semonides, called also Simonides, probably from being 
 confused with the later poet of that name, was a Samian by 
 birth, but migrated, perhaps as oekist of a Samian colony, 
 to the little island of Amorgos. I^ike Archilochus, he used the 
 iambic trimeter for satire ; but his satire was not directed against 
 individuals, and his only extant complete poem, in spite of some 
 very caustic passages, is quite Horatian in its playful humour. 
 This poem, which is of about a hundred lines, describes the 
 creation of ten different kinds of women — the dirty from the pig, 
 the sly from the fox, the shameless and inquisitive from the 
 dog, the stupid from earth, the unstable from water, the obsti- 
 nate from the donkey, the thievish from the cat, the coquettish 
 from the horse, the mischievous from the monkey, and, lastly, 
 the good and industrious from the bee. The last he describes 
 with as much enthusiasm as Solomon himself, and a couplet 
 of his preserved by Clement of Alexandria repeats almost word 
 for word Hesiod's assertion that "nothing can a man win 
 better than a good woman, or worse than a bad one/' Some of 
 the pictures in this poem of Semonides are exceedingly vivid — 
 such as that of the coquette, who will take no share in household 
 duties, but sits afar from the hearth, fearing the soot, and 
 performs her ablutions and anointings twice or even three 
 times daily, and " carries on her head a deep mane of hair 
 all combed out and overshadowed with flowers — a pretty sight 
 indeed for others, but to her lord and master a misfortune, 
 unless he be some tyrant or sceptre-bearing king who delights 
 in such things." 
 
 (7) Alcman was born at Sardis, in I^ydia, but his father 
 was probably Greek. How he came to Sparta is unknown. 
 Either, like Terpander, he was invited thither, or he came 
 originally as a slave and gained his freedom and civic honours 
 by his poetry. He is, according to the canon of the Alexandrine 
 grammarians, the first Greek lyric poet. His language is the 
 old lyaconian dialect. He wrote hymns, love- and war-songs, 
 and Parthenia (songs for Spartan maidens), all of which 
 seem to have been true songs and of a far higher poetic value 
 than the verses of Tyrtaeus. The form, too, of his poems 
 
 165 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 is very different from that of the elegiac and iambic poets. 
 They consist of short hnes, mostly trochaic and dactylic, 
 arranged in strophes and antistrophes — a system invented by 
 him, amplified by Stesichorus and Pindar, and adopted by 
 the Attic dramatists for their choral odes — in which also the 
 Doric dialect is often used. He lived about 670-600, and was 
 thus probably a contemporary of Tyrtaeus. 
 
 Of his poetry numerous fragments remain. Of these the 
 most important was discovered (written on papyrus) in Egypt 
 about sixty years ago. It is a Parthenion, meant to be sung 
 by virgins at the festival of Artemis Orthia (see p. loi). There 
 are also four hexameters of great beauty, addressed in old age 
 to the Spartan maidens. He laments that he can no longer 
 take part in their songs and dances and wishes he were some 
 bright-coloured sacred sea-bird *' that over the foam of the 
 sea with dauntless heart amid the halcyons flies.'' His lines 
 descriptive of the stillness of night have all the vividness, 
 if not the pathos, of Goethe's Ueber alien Gipfeln ist Ruh'. 
 
 (8) Arion {c. 625) was a native of lyesbos, which he left 
 probably early, before the days of Alcaeus and Sappho. He 
 spent most of his life at the court of Periander of Corinth, where 
 he became famous as a minstrel and song- writer. According 
 to Herodotus, as well as Aristotle, he was *' the first to invent 
 the dithyramb measure." More probably he adapted the 
 rough measures and boisterous ribaldry of the old Cyclic, 
 or dithyramb, chorus, sung at vintage dances in honour of 
 Dionysus. There is nothing of Aiion's poetry extant, although 
 the historian Aelian (third century a.d.) quotes verses in which 
 Arion himself is supposed to give an account of his rescue by 
 the dolphin. Aelian also appeals to the inscription on the 
 bronze statue of Arion and his dolphin erected on Cape Taenarus 
 to prove the truth of that account ; and perhaps there is 
 more truth in the story than we believe. Pliny tells of a 
 dolphin (porpoise) who used to carry a boy to and from 
 school every day across the bay of Baiae. 
 
 (9) Stesichorus {c. 632-556) was born at Himera, in Sicily. 
 One tradition asserts that he was a son of Hesiod. He incurred 
 166 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 the hostility of the notorious tyrant Phalaris and fled to 
 Catane, where he died. His tomb gave the name to one of 
 the city gates. This name, Stesichorus, he is said to have 
 received in addition to his original name Tisias because he 
 was famed as an ' arranger of choruses.' He is said to have 
 brought the lyric art to perfection in language and rhythm, 
 but the bulk of his writings seems to have been on epic subjects 
 — the old Trojan and Orestean legends and the myths about 
 Heracles. Of these poems numerous fragments survive, but 
 they are of little interest except the first three lines (preserved 
 for us by Plato) of the celebrated Palinode with which Stesi- 
 chorus atoned for having slandered Helen of Troy and thus, 
 it is said, recovered his eyesight : " It is not true — that story. 
 Thou didst never embark on well-benched ships nor reach 
 the battlements of Troy." It was not Helen herself that 
 Paris carried off, but only a phantom — that ' double ' of 
 Helen which plays a part in Greek legend and literature and 
 is intimated in the beautiful episode of the Helena in Goethe's 
 Faust. 
 
 (id) Alcaeus {c. 645-580) belonged to a noble family of 
 Mytilene in I^esbos. He took part against the tyrant Myrsilus, 
 and after the defeat of the lycsbians by the Athenians at 
 Sigeum (in defence of which stronghold he distinguished 
 himself — and perhaps lost his shield) he, as well as his brother 
 and many others of the aristocratic party, went into exile 
 {c. 596). He seems to have been for some time in Egypt, 
 where Apries (Hophra) was reigning and Naucratis, the Greek 
 settlement, was already a flourishing town. Hither, too, 
 perhaps with Alcaeus, came Charaxus, the brother of Sappho — 
 and possibly even Sappho herself. The brother of Alcaeus 
 took service under Nebucadnezar, and may have been at the 
 sack of Daphnae (see p. 144), but probably he returned with 
 the poet to Mytilene. Here Alcaeus violently opposed the 
 democratic party, and when Pittacus (c. 590) was made 
 dictator (p. 128) he was imprisoned ; but the wise Pittacus 
 seems to have forgiven him, and probably the two became 
 friends. A true and tender friendship existed also between 
 
 167 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Alcaeus and Sappho, who was the younger by a few years. 
 His poetry breathes passionate emotion. He sings of gods 
 and of men, of war and arms, of love and wine. In verses still 
 extant he describes the ship of the state (a picture copied by 
 Horace) tossed on the waves, rolling to and fro with sails 
 rent and the water rising ever higher in the hull. Two lines 
 survive addressed to Sappho : " O violet- weaving, holy, 
 sweetly smihng Sappho, I wish to say something to thee, but 
 shame prevents me." Of all his poems (ten books of which 
 once existed) we have but these lines and a few other fragments. 
 Many of his odes were written in the measure (a stanza of four 
 lines) invented by him, and named after him — a measure 
 well known from Horace's translations and imitations of the 
 Aeolian bard ; known also to English readers from Tennyson's 
 fine stanzas addressed to Milton. 
 
 (ii) Sappho, like Alcaeus, was a I^esbian, and had her home 
 at Mytilene ; but for some years (c. 596-590) she too lived 
 in exile, perhaps in Sicily — possibly also at Naucratis. At 
 Mytilene her house, which she named ' The Home of the Muses,' 
 was the gathering-place of many literary and fashionable 
 women, and as I^esbos was at this time, it is said, rich in female 
 writers, some of whom tried to found schools in rivalry of 
 Sappho and her ill-fated friend, the poetess Krinna, jealousy 
 and calumny were inevitable. Hence doubtless arose the 
 tales that sullied her good name — tales which were more 
 readily believed by the Athenians because of the very different 
 ideas that prevailed at Athens and among the lycsbians in 
 regard to the amount of social freedom allowable to women, 
 lycss intelligible is the tale that relates her hapless infatuation 
 for the mythical Phaon, the ugly ferryman who was rejuvenated 
 and beautified by Aphrodite, and her fatal leap from the 
 lycucadian precipice. 
 
 Sappho's poetry has the exquisite natural grace and the 
 delicate but distinct outlines of the finest Greek sculpture — 
 such sculpture as we see on the frieze of the Parthenon or on 
 some beautiful Athenian stele. Both in thought and in lan- 
 guage it offers the very greatest contrast imaginable to what 
 168 
 

 THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 is often regarded as the true poetical method of expressing 
 deep emotion. It affects one not by the display of vehement 
 passion, but by impressing on one's mind a picture which 
 haunts the memory and ever afterwards has the power of 
 stirring one's feelings as if it were a real experience. 
 
 Even the fragments that remain of her nine books of poems 
 allow us to accept without hesitation the judgment of ancient 
 critics, who were unanimous in their almost reverential admira- 
 tion. Among these surviving fragments are three probably 
 complete odes in her favourite measure, invented by her (or 
 some say by Alcaeus) and known as the Sapphic.^ 
 
 No translation can give any hint of the beauty and power 
 of her language, but even a rough prose version of some of 
 these relics of her poetry may be more useful and interesting 
 than biographical details and critical comments. First let us 
 take the ode to Aphrodite : 
 
 *' Immortal Aphrodite on thy throne of many colours, 
 daughter of Zeus, weaver of wiles, I implore thee, break not 
 my heart, O I^ady, with excess of love and of anguish, but come 
 hither, if ever before thou heardest from afar my cries and, 
 leaving the golden mansion of thy father, didst yoke thy 
 :ar and come ; and swiftly thy winsome sparrows brought thee 
 Dver the dark earth, eddying their rapid wings, from heaven 
 ;hrough the midmost aether ; and quickly they arrived, and 
 ;hou, O blessed one, smiling with thy divine countenance, 
 iidst ask what ailed me now again, and why again I called on 
 :hee, and what in my maddened heart I wished. Whom dost 
 hou desire that Persuasion should bring to thy friendship P 
 Vho doeth thee wrong, Sappho ? E'en if she fleeth, she shall 
 von pursue thee ; and if she accepteth not gifts, yet shall she give 
 hem ; and if she loveth not, soon shall she love — yea, even against 
 ■er will. Come to me also now, and set me free from grievous 
 ares, and all that my heart longs to be fulfilled do thou fulfil, 
 nd be once more my helper ! " 
 
 ^ Horace used the Sapphic metre twenty-six times and the Alcaic thirty- 
 . ^ven times. Probably the best example of the metre in English is Canning's 
 Needy Knife-grinder.' 
 
 169 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 The second is an ode that was discovered not many years 
 ago among the papyrus manuscripts found at Oxyrhynchus, 
 in Egypt. It was addressed by Sappho to her brother 
 Charaxus, at Naucratis, where he is said to have disgraced 
 himself with his relations by falling in love with the notorious 
 Rhodopis, who was a slave-girl (a fellow-slave, says Herodotus, 
 of Aesop the fable- writer), and was redeemed by Charaxus 
 at a great expense — for which he was " often lashed by Sappho 
 in her poetry " : 
 
 '' I implore you, Sea-nymphs, grant that my brother return 
 hither in safety, and that all things which in his heart he may 
 desire be fulfilled, and that he may atone for all the errors 
 of the past and become a joy to his friends and a sorrow to 
 his enemies ; and to us may he never prove of no account. 
 And may he wish to make his sister share in his good name, 
 and may he forget the grievous pain of what in days past 
 made him mourn and break his heart, as he heard at some 
 festival of the citizens a wounding word that cut right deep 
 into the quick and, though ceasing for a time, ere long returned 
 again." 
 
 The third ode, also in Sapphic measure, gives us, without 
 any attempt at direct description, a picture of a beautiful 
 maiden beloved by Sappho : 
 
 " lyike unto the gods seemeth to me that man who sits in 
 thy presence and nigh unto thee listens to thy sweet voice andn 
 laughter, which ever sets a-throbbing the heart within my 
 bosom. For when I look e'en for a moment on thee, no voice 
 comes any more, but my tongue fails utterly and a soft glow 
 at once spreads o'er my face, and I see no more with my eyes, 
 and my ears are filled with sounds, and the sweat pours dowr 
 and trembling seizeth all my body, and I am more pallid than 
 grass and am so distraught that I seem nigh unto deatl 
 itself." 
 
 Another short poem, in a different metre, intimates by i 
 different poetical process, and again without any direc 
 170 
 
THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 i description, the loveliness of Sappho's friend Atthis, who had 
 married a I^ydian and had gone with him to Sardis : 
 
 " Now amidst I^ydian women she shineth in her beauty 
 as, whene'er the sun is set, the rosy moon, having round her all 
 the stars, spreads abroad her light o'er the briny sea alike 
 and o'er the flowery fields ; and the dew lies there, beautiful, 
 and roses revive and bloom, and fragile chervil and rich- 
 blossoming melilot." 
 
 A very different woman is pictured in another fragment : 
 
 " When thou art dead thou shalt lie there, and never shall 
 there be any remembrance of thee nor any longing for thee 
 in days to come, for thou hast no share in the roses of Pieria 
 [poetry and music], but when thy soul has flown forth, also in 
 the mansion of Hades unnoticed thou shalt flit about with the 
 dim inglorious dead." 
 
 Many other beautiful fragments of Sappho's poetry survive. 
 Well-known lines of Byron were evidently inspired by her 
 address to the evening star : " O Hesperus that bringest 
 back all things which the gleaming dawn dispersed, thou 
 bringest the sheep, thou bringest the goat, thou bringest the 
 boy back to his mother." 
 
 A graphic picture of autumn is given in a few words : " All 
 round it pipeth chill amidst the orchard boughs ; the leaves 
 are quivering and the foliage falls." Another touch of autumn, 
 recalHng Coleridge's " one red leaf on the topmost twig," is 
 given in what may be the fragment of some marriage-song : 
 " As a sweet apple blusheth on the tip of the branch, on the 
 topmost tip, and the apple-pickers have forgotten it — nay, 
 have not forgotten it, but have been unable to reach it." 
 
 Among the many papyrus manuscripts yet undeciphered or 
 undiscovered we may have the fortune to come upon more of 
 Sappho's poetry. Indeed, it was lately reported that some- 
 thing more had been found. Were enough to come to light 
 to influence modern literature, the gain would be inestimable, 
 for the great qualities of Sappho's poetry are just what modern 
 literature lacks most. 
 
 171 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS AND THE 
 
 RISE OF PERSIA 
 
 (560-500) 
 
 SECTIONS : POETS AND PHIIvOSOPHERS : THE ORDERS OP GREEK 
 ARCHITECTURE : SCUIvPTURE, DOWN TO THE PERSIAN WARS 
 
 TO the student of comparative politics the history of 
 Athens from 560 to 500 is especially attractive, for 
 during this period, while the democratic constitution 
 framed by Solon still continued to exist, as Thucydides says, 
 in its essential features, the state was for many years under 
 the absolute control of a single man and his heirs, who, although 
 the power was seized by the usual methods, may be regarded 
 rather as constitutional rulers than as despots. That Athens 
 for a time lost her liberty and emerged from the trial stronger 
 and better prepared to face the foe of Hellas cannot but be of 
 deep interest, but the phenomena of political evolution form 
 by no means the main subject of Greek history. Such pheno- 
 mena are due to ever-recurring influences working on average 
 human nature, and they may be traced under various conditions 
 in the stories of many another nation ; ^ but genius has ever 
 something new to tell us, and from Greek genius we may learn 
 what we cannot learn from any other source. I shall therefore 
 content myself with giving a brief account of the reign, or 
 tyranny, of Peisi stratus and his sons and of the reforms of 
 Cleisthenes, and shall reserve more of the space at my disposal 
 for matters of greater importance. 
 
 When Solon returned to Athens (c. 562) dissension was at 
 
 * By a strange coincidence the same year (510) saw the banishment of the 
 Tarquins from Rome and of the Peisistratidae from Athens. 
 
 172 
 
50. ' Artemis of Dei.os * 
 
 51. Stei^k of Aristion 
 
 172 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 its height, and it is quite possible that, finding his influence 
 of no avail, he again left for the East and visited Croesus, 
 who ascended the throne of I^ydia in 560. In this same year 
 Peisistratus, the cousin of Solon, and the leader, as we have 
 seen, of the so-called party of the Hills, consisting mainly of 
 peasants and ultra-democrats, persuaded the people by means of 
 a stratagem ^ to allow him a bodyguard, and seized the Acro- 
 polis. Hereupon his political opponents left Athens, and 
 he seems to have quietly assumed the reins of government 
 and to have remained in power for about five years. Solon, 
 when again in Athens, is said to have appealed to the people 
 to " pluck the tyrant up by the roots,'* but in vain. Some 
 relate that he returned to his friend the king of Soli, in 
 Cyprus, but from his verses to Mimnermus (if they are 
 his) it seems likely that he remained at Athens and lived 
 till c. 558, and found life at eighty not unenjoyable, even 
 under a despot. 
 
 Two or three years later Peisistratus was driven out by the 
 united parties of the Coast and the Plain, but they quarrelled, 
 and by the aid of Megacles he returned (c. 550) . The stratagem 
 by which this was effected would be incredible if we did not 
 know how ineradicable proved the old deisidaimonia — that 
 eerie dread of the supernatural which was so universal in an 
 earlier age, and to which the Athenians seem to have been 
 especially susceptible. The story is that Peisistratus entered 
 Athens in a chariot on which there stood by his side a stalwart 
 peasant woman arrayed as Athene, and that the mob accepted 
 the apparition as genuine and reinstated him in power. Peisis- 
 tratus had promised to marry the daughter of Megacles 
 (who was the head of the Alcmaeonid nobles), and he did so, 
 but he refused to treat her as his wife, for he had a family 
 by a former wife and was unwilling to connect himself with 
 descendants of Cylon, who were regarded as accursed. This 
 led to his second banishment, which lasted for ten years, 
 
 * By displaying self-inflicted wounds. We have a similar story connected 
 with Sextus Tarquin, and with Odysseus {Od. iv. 244). The grant of a body- 
 guard was proposed to the Kcclesia by Aristion, whose portrait we probably 
 have in Fig. 51. 
 
 173 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 until about 540, when, with mercenaries from Argos and 
 Naxos, he crossed from Euboea to Marathon, surprised or 
 won over the Athenian troops and entered the city, where he 
 re-estabHshed himself as absolute ruler, sending the children 
 of his adversaries as hostages to his friend Lygdamis, tyrant 
 of Naxos, and expelling the Alcmaeonidae. 
 
 The rule of Peisistratus during the next thirteen years is 
 said to have been wise and beneficial. He feued much of the 
 land to peasants, encouraged agriculture, extended Athenian 
 power and commerce abroad, recapturing Sigeuni from 
 the lycsbians and promoting Greek influence on the shores 
 of the Hellespont, where the Thracian Chersonese was now 
 governed by an Athenian — the half-uncle of the famous 
 Miltiades. 
 
 About this elder Miltiades a picturesque story is told. He 
 was, says Herodotus, a victor in the Olympian chariot-race 
 and a man of high distinction, but an adversary of Peisistratus. 
 One day (c. 558) as he sat in the porch of his house, probably 
 brooding over the success of his rival, some wayfarers "in 
 outlandish garments and armed with lances" approached. 
 He offered them entertainment, and after the banquet was over 
 they told him that the Delphic oracle had bidden them take 
 back with them to their country, the Thracian Chersonese, 
 the first man who offered them hospitality, for he would help 
 them against their enemies. Miltiades, perhaps glad to leave 
 Athens, acceded to their entreaties and became ' king ' of the 
 Chersonese and a friend of Croesus. He was succeeded in 
 his office as Thracian prince and Athenian governor of the 
 Greek settlements on the Hellespont by a nephew, who was 
 (c. 520) succeeded by the younger and more celebrated 
 Miltiades. 
 
 Under Peisistratus Athens seems to have begun to assert 
 that hegemony in the Ionic world which she afterwards 
 attained. The lord of the Ionian mother-city took upon 
 himself, as Thucydides says, to ' purify ' Delos by removing | 
 all the tombs within sight of the temple. He also ordered that 
 the Homeric poems, recited at the Delian and other festivals, 
 
 174 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 should be collected and arranged and written out in the Attic 
 script and divided into books. Possibly on this occasion 
 lines may have been inserted in order to connect Athens with 
 the great Ionian epic — for, whatever the reason may be. Homer 
 had said but little about the Athenians and their legends. 
 This revision of Homer was undertaken by Peisistratus and 
 his son Hipparchus in order to regulate the hitherto arbitrary 
 and disconnected recitations of the poem at the great festival 
 of Athene, which had been lately founded. At this festival 
 took place the musical and athletic contests and the stately 
 procession of which we have such precious records in the so- 
 called Panathenaic prize- vases and in the frieze of the Parthenon 
 (see Figs. 55 and 85). 
 
 Besides the Panathenaic festival Peisistratus revived or 
 amplified the vintage festival, which had been held from early 
 ages in honour of Dionysus (the lycnaia, or ' Festival of the 
 Wine- vat '), such as we have already heard of in connexion 
 with Arion at Corinth. At this new festival, which was 
 called the Great Dionysia, the old dances and songs performed 
 originally by peasants dressed up as satyrs were in course of 
 time combined with dialogue and with representations of 
 Did legends, and this ' goat-song ' performance (rpayfjiS/a) 
 ieveloped little by little into the Attic drama. The chief 
 bomposer and director of these Dionysiac performances in 
 :he age of Peisistratus was Thespis, who is often spoken of as 
 :he father of Attic tragedy. He is said to have first introduced 
 , iialogue and to have himself taken the part of the actor who, 
 I n various disguises and with a stained or masked face, con- 
 versed with the chorus of dancers. The first representation 
 i)f this kind at the New Dionysia is said to have taken place 
 
 n535. 
 
 During the rule of Peisistratus and his sons the huge 
 
 f emple of Olympian Zeus was begun and many fine buildings 
 
 i^ere erected. Some of these will be described later. One 
 
 'f his most useful works was a system of pipes by which 
 
 dhens was supplied with water, possibly from the Upper 
 
 lissus, or more probably from Kallirrhoe (' Fair-stream '), a 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 natural source near the Ilissus and the Olympieion, to the 
 south-east of the Acropolis.^ 
 
 Peisistratus died in 527 and left the government to his 
 eldest son, Hippias, while the second, Hipparchus (Hke a 
 King Archon), had, perhaps together with a younger 
 brother Thessalus, the control of religious festivals, literary 
 and musical contests, and the like.^ 
 
 For thirteen years Athens seems to have enjoyed an unevent- 
 ful prosperity under the Peisistratidae. We know really next to 
 nothing of this period, except that Hippias and his brother 
 were, like the Medici of Florence, patrons of art, and thati 
 Anacreon and Simonides of Ceos visited their court. Herodotus! 
 speaks of them as oppressive tyrants, while Thucydides, whol 
 was related to the Peisistratidae, but whose judgment was not| 
 likely to have been warped by prejudice, asserts that they 
 " cultivated virtue and intellect." He allows, however, thati 
 '* their tyranny proved galling at last," and that Hippias! 
 ultimately proved not only a tyrant but a traitor to his country.i 
 
 In 514 Hipparchus was assassinated by Harmodius andi 
 Aristogeiton. He had conceived an infatuation for the! 
 young Harmodius, and having been repelled he insulted the! 
 vSister of the youth, refusing her as a * basket-carrier ' in 
 the Panathenaic procession.^ So the two friends planned to 
 kill Hipparchus and his brother ; " but, having suspected," saysi 
 
 1 Remains of the water-pipes of Peisistratus have perhaps been discovered,' 
 between the Pnyx and the Areopagus. KaUirrhoe, sometimes depicted onj 
 Athenian vases, changed its ancient name, as Thucydides tells us (ii. 15),! 
 to Enneakrounos ('Nine Fountains'), after the natural spring had been 
 built over and the waters were collected into a reservoir furnished with 
 nine distributing pipes, (Herodotus, however, speaks of it as Enneakrounos 
 in connexion with the old Pelasgic inhabitants.) The spring still exists and 
 retains its ancient name (KalUrroi), but almost every trace of the reservoii 
 has disappeared. The pools formed by the spring are now used by Atheniani 
 washerwomen. 
 
 ' See Thuc. i. 20 and vi. 54 sq., and Hdt. v. 55. Also the pseudo-Plato in 
 his Hipparchus says that this prince" first introduced Homer into Greece." 
 The writer, whether Plato or not, evidently regarded Hipparchus as the chief 
 ruler — a belief stigmatized by Thucydides. 
 
 ^ According to Herodotus the Gephyraean family to which Harmodius 
 belonged was originally Phoenician, and was " excluded at Athens from a 
 number of privileges." Perhaps this was a legal ground for the rejection of 
 the girl. 
 
 176 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 Thucydides, '' that information had been given to Hippias by 
 their accompHces, they abstained from attacking him, as being 
 forewarned, and as they wished to do something at all hazards, 
 having fallen in with Hipparchus, who was arranging the 
 Panathenaic procession, they slew him." 
 
 Possibly at first no great enthusiasm was excited by the 
 act — or else it was suppressed by dread — but not many years 
 later, after the expulsion of Hippias, statues were erected to 
 the Tyrannicides, and popular songs, such as the well-known 
 drinking-song (skolion) composed by the otherwise unknown 
 Callistratus, ' 111 wreathe my sword in myrtle bough,' prove 
 how the Athenians had learnt to detest the name of the 
 Peisistratidae. This hatred was much intensified by the 
 tyrannical conduct of Hippias after the murder of his brother. 
 " Being now in greater apprehension," says Thucydides, '' he 
 put to death many citizens, and also kept his eye on foreign 
 states in whatever quarter he had a prospect of safe retreat 
 in case of revolution." Doubtless among these foreign states 
 was Persia. 
 
 After four years the revolution came. The exiled Alc- 
 maeonidae, who longed to return to Athens, had at length 
 succeeded in obtaining the aid of Sparta in the following way. 
 The great temple at Delphi had been burnt down, and a public 
 subscription through the whole of Greece had enabled the 
 Delphic treasury to contract for its reconstruction. The Alc- 
 maeonidae undertook the contract, and, using marble instead 
 of the specified poros, rebuilt the temple with such magnificence 
 and so won the favour of the Pythian priests that whenever 
 the Spartans came to consult the oracle the invariable answer 
 was, " First liberate Athens ! " Sparta, by the conquest of 
 Tegea and the defeat of Argos, had made herself the head of a 
 ' Peloponnesian league, and was strong enough to interfere in 
 1 Northern Greece. The first raid into Attica was defeated by 
 cavalry sent from Thessaly to aid Hippias, but the Spartan 
 I king Cleomenes then led a strong force against Athens, and 
 Hippias, blockaded in the ' Pelasgic fortress ' (i.e. the Acropolis), 
 and hearing of the capture of his children, capitulated (510). 
 
 M 177 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 He was allowed to leave Attica ' under treaty/ together with 
 his children, and went, says Thucydides, " first to Sigeum, then 
 to lyampsacus, and thence to the court of King Darius." 
 
 Now the head of the Alcmaeonidae who had been thus 
 restored to Athens was Cleisthenes. He was the grandson 
 of Cleisthenes the tyrant of Sicyon, whose daughter married 
 the Athenian Megacles. Of this Megacles we have already 
 heard much. It was his daughter (and therefore the sister of 
 Cleisthenes) whom Peisistratus married and rejected. 
 
 On the expulsion of Hippias, whose absolute rule had kept 
 open feuds in abeyance, political discussion once more began. 
 Cleisthenes, the personal foe of the Peisistratidae, was naturally 
 opposed to the old regime, and, as Herodotus expresses it, 
 " called to his aid the common people." He was opposed by 
 Isagoras and the aristocratical party. Isagoras, being worsted, 
 appealed to Sparta, and the Spartans sent a peremptory 
 order (as they did again seventy-seven years later, in refer- 
 ence to Pericles) that the Athenians should " cast out the 
 accursed thing " — the *' pollution of the goddess " — namely, 
 the Alcmaeonidae.^ 
 
 Cleisthenes was forced to leave Athens. This, however, did 
 not content Isagoras and his party. They invited the Spartans ; 
 whereupon King Cleomenes came and expelled 700 Athenian 
 families. But on his trying to dissolve the Kcclesia and establish 
 an oligarchy the Athenians rose. The Spartans were blockaded 
 for two days in the Acropolis, and then accepted terms, pur- 
 chasing their lives by handing over their mercenaries to the 
 tender mercies of the Athenians, who put them all to death, 
 among them a Delphian who, as pancratiast, had won three 
 victories at the Pythian and two at the Olympic Games, 
 and whose statue by the celebrated Argive sculptor Ageladas I 
 (the master of Pheidias, Myron, and Polycleitus) was seen ' 
 nearly 700 years later at Olympia by the traveller Pausanias. 
 
 Cleisthenes and the 700 families were then recalled. Cleomenes 1 
 endeavoured to invade Attica again, and although the attempt j 
 failed (the Spartan kings having quarrelled) , the Athenians were | 
 ^ See about Cylon p. 136; also Thuc. i. 126, and Hdt. v. 70. 
 
 178 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 so alarmed, if we are to believe Herodotus, that they actually 
 
 sent ambassadors to Sardis to sue for the alliance of Darius ; 
 
 but they were told that the friendship of the Great King was 
 
 only to be bought by earth and water, tokens of vassalage. 
 
 Possibly it was not in alarm that they did this, but in arrogance, 
 
 ! for we find them soon afterwards inflicting crushing defeats 
 
 I on the Boeotians and the Chalcidians (of Euboea), who had 
 
 j joined the Spartans in their last invasion of Attica. The 
 
 rich lyelantine plain (p. 129) was allotted to Athenian settlers, 
 
 ! and many Chalcidian prisoners were kept fettered at Athens 
 
 1 until they were ransomed at two minae apiece (say £8 nominal, 
 
 [but perhaps ^^40 in present value). "The chains wherewith 
 
 I they were fettered,'' says Herodotus, " were hung up by the 
 
 Athenians in their Acropolis, where they were still to be 
 
 seen in my day, hanging against a wall scorched by the Median 
 
 flames." From a tenth of the ransom-money a magnificent 
 
 bronze quadriga was set up to the left of the old gate of the 
 
 Acropolis.^ Moreover, in a stoa (portico) at Delphi the Athenians 
 
 I dedicated (as we learn from an inscription lately discovered 
 
 1 there) arms and beaks of ships captured in this war. 
 
 1 The people of Aegina had made common cause with the 
 
 Boeotians against their old enemy, Athens. In Solon's time, 
 
 ' as we have seen, the Athenians had attacked Aegina, not long 
 
 I after their conquest of Salamis, but had been driven out of the 
 
 I jj island by the Argives.^ Since that time hostility had smouldered, 
 
 • I ; but it now broke out openly, and the Aeginetans carried on a 
 
 e I- chronic 'unheralded' war with Athens right down to the 
 
 1, ( ; time of the Persian war, making constant descents on the coast 
 
 :e i 3f Attica and on the Athenian port Phaleron. Such was their 
 
 s,;:imbitterment that shortly before the battle of Salamis the 
 
 asjJ5partans had to interfere and send Aeginetans as hostages to 
 
 Vthens in order to prevent Aegina aiding the Persians ; nor 
 
 lid Aegina cease to be a thorn in the side of Athens till (in 431) 
 
 ^ P|' * Pericles perhaps set up another on the right hand (c. 446), and when the 
 ew Propylaea were built {c. 437) they were probably put on new bases. 
 'ne of these bases with traces of the inscription quoted by Herodotus (v. 77) 
 as been found. 
 * See Hdt. v. 82 sq., and Note B, Dress. 
 
 179 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 the inhabitants were expelled and the island was incorporated 
 in the Attic state. 
 
 Thus Athens began to unfold her powers — a fact that 
 Herodotus justly attributes to her regained political freedom. 
 " These things show/' he says, " that while undergoing 
 oppression they let themselves be beaten, since they worked 
 for a master ; but as soon as they got their liberty each man 
 was eager to do the best he could." 
 
 Had this rewon liberty retained the basis of the old vSolonian 
 constitution the old political feuds would have assuredly 
 reappeared and led even again to some form of enslavement, 
 but fortune willed it that Cleisthenes should discover a 
 method by which all the local and clan influences which had 
 made party feeling so rancorous and dangerous should be 
 eliminated, and the weal of the state should become the one 
 object of political activity. Having abolished the four old 
 Ionic tribes, which were founded on locality, profession, and 
 wealth, he formed ten tribes solely for political purposes. Each 
 of these new political tribes consisted of three trittyes (thirds) 
 taken from three different regions of Attica, so that the tribal 
 vote was not prejudiced by local influences. Each tribe had 
 to supply a contingent of hoplites, some cavalry,^ and one of 
 the ten generals of the Athenian army. Fifty men from every 
 tribe, chosen by lot from a selected number, formed the new 
 council (Boule) of 500. This council, in conjunction with theF 
 archons and other magistrates, managed all internal affairs' 
 and initiated laws to be sanctioned by the great Assembly 
 (Ecclesia). But for the dispatch of business the Boule had a 
 permanent, committee. Each of its ten groups of councillors: 
 took it in turn to act as this committee for thirty-six days 
 (the tenth of the year of 360 days, which was rectified by 
 intercalating a month every five years). While they sat on 
 committee these deputies were called prytaneis (presidents),! 
 and their tribe was the ' presiding tribe ' during this space of 
 
 1 The tribal regiment was called a ' tribe ' {phyle). The subdivisions werci 
 tA^cls and Xo^ot. See Hdt. vi. iii. In Solon's time Athens could mustei 
 barely a hundred horsemen, and even at the beginning of the Peloponnesiai 
 War only about a thousand. 
 180 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 thirty-six days (which was called a prytaneia). The people's 
 Assembly (Ecclesia) probably met, as it did in later times, 
 every nine days — or it may have been summoned only on 
 special occasions to sanction a law by plebiscite or to dispose 
 of some referendum. Of the Areopagus we hear little at this 
 period. It probably existed with only an empty show of 
 authority. 
 
 Ostracism may have been an invention of Cleisthenes, though 
 it seems to have been used first in 488. It was an useful method 
 of getting rid for a time of a dangerous citizen. The council 
 and Assembly first decided (and could only do it during the 
 sixth prytaneia) that an ostrakismos was advisable. On a fixed 
 day barricades were erected in the Agora and every voter of 
 the ten tribes gave his vote by casting into an urn an ostrakon 
 (potsherd) on which he had inscribed the name of any citizen 
 whom he held to be especially dangerous. The man against 
 whom most votes were given, should his ostraka number at least 
 6000 — i.e. about a fifth of the number of the voters — was 
 exiled for ten (later for five) years, but lost neither his citizenship 
 nor his property. 
 
 The Rise of Persia 
 
 We must now turn from the affairs of the refounded demo- 
 cracy of the little Attic state to note the rise of a mighty empire 
 which ere long will threaten to annihilate the whole of the 
 eastern while Carthage is endeavouring to annihilate the 
 western world of Hellas. 
 
 It would take us too far afield to follow Herodotus in his 
 mvestigations of the origins of the feud between Greece and 
 :he Asiatic ' barbarian,' nor will it be possible to repeat 
 nany of the countless stories that he tells in connexion with 
 lie lyydian, Median, and Persian kings, stories with which he 
 Hures the reader to Egypt and Scythia and many another 
 trange land and people before he launches out into the subject 
 I the Graeco-Persian war. 
 
 I have already traced the history of Assyria and Babylon 
 own to the death of King Nebucadnezar in 562, that of 
 
 181 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 I^ydia to the accession of Croesus in 560, and that of Media to 
 the death of Astyages in 559, and we have seen that the great 
 kings of Nineveh and Babylon had never (except in the case 
 of Cyprus) come into colhsion with the Greeks. But the 
 early lyydian kings had attacked and subjugated several of 
 the Ionian and Aeolian cities, and Croesus, as soon as he was 
 firmly seated on the I^ydian throne, made himself master of 
 all the Greek cities on the mainland of Asia Minor except 
 Miletus, and even made preparations to invade the islands, 
 but was, says Herodotus, deterred by a witty remark of the 
 sage Bias.^ Kphesus was the first city he attacked — " The 
 Ephesians, when he laid siege to the place, made an offering 
 of their city to Artemis by stretching a rope ^ from the town 
 wall to the temple of the goddess, which was distant from the 
 ancient city by a space of seven furlongs." This was evidently 
 the new temple of the Kphesian Artemis, which was still being 
 built to replace the old temple burnt by the Cimmerians in 
 677. After capturing Kphesus, Croesus presented to this 
 temple, says Herodotus, " golden heifers and most of the 
 columns." The sculptured drum of one of these columns is 
 now in the British Museum (Fig. 119). On it were found the 
 
 Greek letters BA KP AN .... EN, which 
 
 have been (doubtless rightly) restored to BA2IAEY2 
 KPOISOZ ANAGHKEN, i.e, " King Croesus dedicated." 
 
 The wealth ^ of Croesus, as that of his ancestor Gyges and 1^ 
 the Phrygian Midas, was proverbial. Although the conqueror 
 of the Greek cities of Aeolis and Ionia, he was a great admirer !| 
 of Hellenic civilization, and his court at Sardis was frequented 1 1 
 by many Greeks of distinction. He made, moreover, many 
 splendid offerings to Greek temples, of which Herodotus gives 
 a description that may well excite wonder, if not incredulity. 
 
 Shortly after the accession of Croesus, perhaps in 560-5591 
 Solon not improbably, as we have seen, visited Sardis. Croesus, 
 
 * Herodotus says: " Within my own knowledge Croesus was the first to 
 inflict injury on the Greeks " ; but Alyattes, Sadyattes, and perhaps Ardys 
 attacked the Greek cities. 
 
 * See p. 136, foot-note. 
 
 3 See Hdt. i. 50 and 92. For the lyydian coinage see Note C, Coins. 
 
 182 
 
52. The Croesus Coi^umn 
 From the earlier Ephesian temple 
 
 182 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 a young man of thirty-five in the first flush of kingly pride, 
 bade the sage tell him whom of all men he had ever met he 
 deemed the most happy. Solon cited an Athenian, Tellos 
 by name, who had been blessed with domestic happiness and 
 had died a soldier's death in defence of his country, and as 
 second happiest he cited the Spartan youths Cleobis and Bito, 
 who, when the oxen failed to come, yoked themselves to a car 
 and drew their aged mother five-and-forty furlongs to the 
 festival of Hera at Argos, and died in the temple ; and when 
 Croesus asked him in astonishment how he ventured to put 
 the happiness of such people on a level with his, Solon replied 
 that no wealth could give good fortune, and that even a fortu- 
 nate man cannot for certain be called ' happy ' imtil he is 
 dead, for '' in every matter it behoveth us to mark well the 
 end." 
 
 Soon afterwards Croesus learnt that all his gold could not 
 save him from the grief of losing his favourite son, and some 
 ten years later he was taught the wisdom of marking well the 
 end. His kingdom had extended itself eastward over all 
 Phrygia, Mysia, and Paphlygonia, as far as the river Halys, 
 and hearing of the presumptuous doings of Cyrus and his 
 Persians and Medes, he got together a great army of I^ydians 
 and Greeks and crossed over into Cappadocia to challenge the 
 new foe — not before having consulted the oracle at Delphi. 
 The Delphic god, though he received gifts of almost indescrib- 
 able magnificence from Croesus, played him a rather disingenu- 
 ous trick, bidding him (as Ahab was bidden) go up, for he 
 would destroy a mighty empire. So vast had the power of 
 Croesus become that doubtless he had visions of making 
 himself the king of Media in the place of this usurper who 
 had dethroned the old Astyages. But the empire that he 
 should destroy was his own, as the oracle afterwards ex- 
 plained. After an indecisive battle near the ancient capital 
 of Cappadocia, Pteria, he retreated to Sardis, which ere long 
 was stormed by Cyrus. Croesus was condemned to die. He 
 was placed, with twice seven noble I^ydian youths, on a great 
 funeral pyre. The pyre was lighted, and as the flames shot 
 
 183 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 upward he was heard to call aloud three times on the name 
 of Solon. Cyrus demanded the reason, and when he learnt 
 it he bade the fire be quenched. But it was too late ; the 
 flames were not to be mastered. Then Croesus called on 
 Apollo, and a sudden deluge of rain extinguished the fire. 
 Cyrus, deeply moved by the miracle, made Croesus his coun- 
 sellor and constant companion. 
 
 Cyrus captured Sardis probably in 546. Thirteen years 
 earlier he had (according to Herodotus) dethroned the 
 Median king Astyages. His father, Cambyses, a descendant 
 of a noble chieftain named Achaemenes, was prince of the 
 Persians, a race of bold and hardy mountaineers, closely akin 
 to the Medes, living in the highlands between Media and 
 the Persian Gulf. This Cambyses married a daughter of 
 the Median king, and their son, the young Cyrus, putting 
 himself at the head of a body of Persians, succeeded (in 559) 
 in conquering his grandfather and establishing the Medo- 
 Persian Empire. This Medo-Persian Empire, when first Cyrus 
 mounted the throne,^ occupied, roughly speaking, the lands 
 between the Caspian, the Persian Gulf, the Indus, and the valley 
 of the Tigris. Its chief cities were Pasargadae, Persepolis, 
 Ecbatana, and Susa. The general name given to this vast 
 country by its inhabitants was Iran, and these inhabitants 
 are therefore generally said to have belonged to the Iranian 
 branch of the Aryan race. In religion they were followers 
 of Zoroaster and worshipped Mithras, the sun-god. According 
 to Herodotus they had neither images of gods nor temples nor 
 
 * Herodotus gives a story about the infancy of Cyrus and his childhood at 
 the court of Astyages which has great similarity to the Roman legend of 
 Romulus and Remus and King Numitor (Hdt. i. 107 sq.). It should be 
 mentioned that Xenophon, who wrote later but knew personally the younger 
 Cyrus, and Ctesias, who was surgeon to that prince's brother (Artaxerxes II), 
 give versions very different from that of Herodotus. Xenophon states in his 
 Cyropaedeia, where he describes the bringing up of Cyrus the Great, that Cyrus 
 never rebelled against his grandfather, but acted as his general and the 
 general of his son, Cyaxares II (unknown to Herodotus), and that he even 
 took Babylon (538) as the general of this Cyaxares II (perhaps the ' Darius 
 the Median ' of Daniel v. 31), whom he later dethroned. Ctesias asserts 
 that Cyrus and Astyages were in no way related. According to Herodotus, 
 Cyrus was a great-nephew of Croesus, who married a sister of Astyages. 
 
 184 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 altars, " accounting the use of such things a folly." As fire- 
 worshippers they probably had no idols, and there seems to 
 be no trace of ancient Persian (though of course of Chaldaean) 
 temples, but huge stone altars on open-air terraces have been 
 discovered which were apparently used for sacrifice to the 
 sun-god. Probably the Persians had a purer form of Zoroas- 
 trian fire-worship than the other Iranian peoples, such as the 
 Chaldaeans and Medes, regarding I^ight and Darkness as 
 symbols of the powers of good and evil, also symbolized by 
 the deities Ormuzd and Ahriman. The priests and religious 
 teachers, called Magi, formed a very select and influential 
 caste. Of the character and the customs of the Persians 
 graphic and full descriptions are given by Herodotus (i. 131 sq, 
 and elsewhere) and by Xenophon and other writers. It is 
 here impossible to treat this intensely interesting subject as 
 it deserves, but it is well to note in passing that, although we 
 are indubitably right in regarding the result of the Graeco- 
 Persian conflict with the deepest gratitude, nevertheless we 
 must allow — as, indeed, did many of the Greeks themselves — 
 that in some important points the Persian character (which 
 was evidently very different from that of the Medes and the 
 Babylonians) was originally greatly superior to that of the 
 average Hellene. It was no strong character and soon con- 
 tracted many Oriental and Hellenic vices ; but noble traits 
 remained. Many acts of magnanimity are related of the 
 Persian kings, ^ and their contempt for the huckstering 
 and rhetorical arts and deceits of the Greek Agora, as well 
 as for the venality and treachery not only of the ordinary 
 Greek but even of Greek leaders, was frequently and openly 
 expressed. " The most disgraceful thing in the world, in their 
 opinion," says Herodotus, ''is to tell a lie " ; and when he 
 
 ^ See Hdt. vi. 41 and 119, vii. 136, &c. Kven the mad Cambyses was 
 ^capable of generous impulses. Doubtless such qualities coexisted with 
 terrible callousness towards human suffering. As for the painful subject of 
 the ever-present Greek traitor, one need only think of Bretria and Thermopylae 
 and Marathon and Aegina and Thebes and Pausanias and Themistocles and 
 Miltiades and many other names. For an arraignment of Greek character 
 see Mahaffy's Social Life in Greece. 
 
 185 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 remarks that " the Persians look upon themselves as very greatly 
 superior in all respects to the rest of mankind," we cannot but 
 concede that in some respects at least they do offer a very 
 striking contrast to the less admirable sides of the Greek cha- 
 racter. Thus one cannot help contrasting such facts as the 
 treatment by Darius of the Eretrian captives and the terrible 
 decree passed by the Athenians against Mytilene. It is true 
 that in this case intense excitement may be pleaded and the 
 decree was ultimately reversed — so that the process somewhat 
 reminds one of what Herodotus says about the Persians : 
 ''It is their practice to deliberate upon affairs of importance 
 when they are drunk, and then on the morrow, when they are 
 sober, to reconsider it." ^ 
 
 After his conquest of Lydia Cyrus returned to the far East, 
 leaving his general Harpagus to reduce the Greek Asiatic cities, 
 all of which, with the exception of powerful Miletus, had 
 aided their liege-lord Croesus. Harpagus had no very difficult 
 task, for these cities, in constant feud, were ever a prey to the 
 invader. Had they but formed a confederation, as the sage 
 Thales, it is said, advised, ^ Ionia and Aeolis might perhaps 
 have offered a successful resistance to the advance of Persia ; 
 but the consciousness of disunion in the face of such over- 
 whelming odds paralysed them, and we are scarcely surprised 
 when we hear that another sage. Bias of Priene, advised the 
 lonians to migrate en masse to Sardinia, and that the people 
 of Phocaea, when besieged, embarked on their ships and sailed 
 away (most of them) to Corsica,^ while the people of Teos 
 made for Thrace, where they founded Abdera. 
 
 Cyrus meantime had attacked Babylonia. The great 
 Nebucadnezar had died in 562, and had been succeeded by 
 several Babylonian kings, the fourth of whom, Nabonid (whose 
 regal title seems to have been I^abynetus), ruled in great state 
 at Babylon, where the Jews with Daniel were still in captivity. 
 
 ^ Sometimes, he adds, they reversed the process. See Tacitus, Germ. xxii. 
 
 * Thales is said to have persuaded the Milesians not to aid Croesus. But 
 Miletus was in alliance with I^ydia, and we hear of Thales himself aiding 
 Croesus by damming up the river Halys in order to allow him to pass over. 
 
 ' See p. 123 as to the Phocaeans at Alalia and Klea. 
 
 186 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 He had made alliance with Amasis of Egypt, Croesus of I^ydia, 
 and Polycrates of Samos against the usurper Cyrus. The 
 conquest of Babylonia by Cyrus seems to have lasted about 
 ten years. In 538 he succeeded in capturing Babylon by 
 diverting the Euphrates.^ Not content with the mighty 
 empire that he had now under his rule, he made an expedition 
 into what is now Russian Turkestan against a Scythian tribe, 
 the Massagetae. In this remote land, near the Aral lake, 
 he fell in battle (529).^ The queen of the Massagetae is said 
 to have placed his head in a bowl of blood and bade it drink 
 its fill. 2 Cambyses, his son, increased the Persian Empire 
 by the conquest of Egypt. 
 
 During the first thirty-four years of the period we are consider- 
 ing in this chapter (560-500) Egypt had enjoyed independence 
 and prosperity under King Aahmes (Amasis), whose friendship 
 with the Greeks has already been mentioned. He had con- 
 quered Cyprus and had formed an alliance with Polycrates, 
 the powerful despot of Samos, who, with a strong fleet of 
 fifty-oared ships of war, had defied Cyrus and Harpagus. All 
 that Polycrates undertook seemed to prosper. His court, 
 at which the poets Ibycus and Anacreon lived, and which 
 Amasis possibly honoured with his presence, rivalled the fame 
 of that of Periander or Peisistratus, and under his rule the 
 city of Samos was furnished with its splendid harbour and the 
 great temple of Hera and many other magnificent buildings, 
 as well as with the celebrated Samian aqueduct, with its 
 tunnel of seven furlongs. But the envy of the gods was aroused, 
 and Amasis, foreseeing the ruin of the Samian tyrant (as all 
 readers of Schiller's fine ballad know), renounced his friendship. 
 Perhaps the fact lying beneath the story of the Ring is that 
 the kings quarrelled ; for we hear that Polycrates sent forty of 
 his penteconters (which mutinied and never arrived) to aid 
 Cambyses in his attack on Egypt. Not long afterwards (523), 
 having apparently broken again with Cambyses, he fell into an 
 
 1 Hdt. i. 191. The Belshazzar of Daniel is either Nabonid himself or (as 
 inscriptions seem to prove) his son, who was acting as governor of Babylon. 
 * See note at end of this chapter. 
 
 187 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 ambuscade laid by the satrap of Sardis, who crucified him. 
 Bre Cambyses reached Egypt King Amasis had died (525). 
 His son, Psamtik III, was defeated near Pelusium, and Memphis 
 was then captured and the whole of Egypt and Cyrene sub- 
 mitted to the Persians. But, incensed at his failure to conquer 
 Aethiopia, Gambyses vented his fury in acts of sacrilege (such 
 as mutilating the corpse of Amasis and stabbing the sacred 
 bull Apis) and in other deeds so indescribably cruel and 
 foolish that one is forced to believe that he was insane. One 
 assassination, that of his brother Bardyia, or Smerdis, who 
 was regent of some of the eastern provinces of the empire, 
 caused the fall of the tyrant ; for a false Smerdis, one of the 
 Magi, named Gaumata, pretending to be the murdered prince, 
 proclaimed himself king, and Cambyses hastened homeward, 
 and somewhere in Syria either met his death by an accident, 
 as related by Herodotus, or committed suicide, as is stated 
 by the Darius inscription at Behistun. 
 
 The false Smerdis, keeping himself out of sight in his palace 
 to avoid detection, held power for eight months so firmly that, 
 according to the Darius inscription, " no Persian or Mede had 
 the courage to oppose him." But seven nobles, who, by means 
 of one of the women of the royal harem, Herodotus says, 
 discovered that he possessed no ears and was a Mede and a 
 Magian whom Cambyses had thus punished for some offence, 
 slew the pretender and a great number of the Magi. One of 
 these nobles, Darius, the son of the satrap Hystaspes, was 
 elected king. Herodotus gives a graphic description of how 
 it was arranged that the man should be king whose horse 
 neighed first, and how the groom of Darius won the royal 
 crown for his master. Some modern critics, however, reject 
 the story as childish, and assert that Hystaspes ^ was the 
 legitimate heir of Cyrus. The probability is that the false 
 Smerdis was a pretender put forward by the party of the 
 Medes and Magi (who, although Persian priests, were of Median 
 
 * Hystaspes was, according to Herodotus, " governor of Persia" (iii. 70). 
 In the Behistun inscription he is called a general of his son Darius (!) and a 
 satrap of Parthia. 
 
 188 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 extraction), and that his overthrow meant the triumph of the 
 Persian royal house of the Achaemenidae, to which Darius 
 (as Xerxes asserts in Hdt. vii. ii) unquestionably belonged ; 
 and Darius strengthened the tie by marrying Atossa, a daughter 
 of Cyrus, who had been Cambyses' queen. 
 
 Darius began to reign in 521, and reigned for thirty-six 
 years. After suppressing revolts that broke out more than 
 once in Media and Babylonia and forced him to capture 
 Babylon twice, he confirmed the Persian sovereignty in his 
 western empire by placing Phrygia, I^ydia, and Ionia under 
 satraps, to whom the tyrants of the Greek cities of the main- 
 land paid tribute and furnished troops and ships as vassals 
 of the Great King. Samos, too, which under Polycrates had 
 defied Darius, was conquered and ' netted ' and given over to 
 the brother of Polycrates, who had won the friendship of the 
 young Darius when he was in Egypt with Cambyses. ^ 
 
 But it was not only in war that the empire of Darius was 
 great. It attained a wealth and a magnificence of Oriental 
 civilization which in ancient times were probably never 
 equalled. 2 The gold staters of King Darius, known as ' Darics ' 
 (probably the 'dram' of Ezra and Nehemiah), circulated 
 throughout Hellas. The chief cities were connected by care- 
 fully kept roads, and there was a system of royal mails carried 
 by relays of horses and couriers {ayyapela). The ' royal 
 road ' between Sardis and Susa, some 1500 miles in length 
 and with about a hundred stations, was traversed by pedes- 
 trians in about ninety days, and by a post or courier, of course, 
 in far less time. (Herodotus, who describes it fully, probably 
 travelled by this route.) 
 
 After he had reigned about eight years Darius, it is said, con- 
 ceived a desire to punish the Scythians for their invasion of 
 Media, which had taken place about a century before (p. 148). 
 Whether this was his real object or whether his purpose was 
 the conquest of Thrace and the acquisition of the gold-mines 
 
 ^ For this story see Hdt. iii. 139; and for the process of 'driving' or 
 ' netting ' a hostile country see Hdt. iii. 149, vi. 31. 
 
 - See Hdt. iii. 89 sq. for an account of the revenues of Darius from his 
 immense empire of twenty satrapies. ^ 
 
 189 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 of this country and of Dacia is questioned. Herodotus had 
 far better opportunities than we have of learning the truth, 
 and there can be httle doubt that the professed object was 
 what he asserts it to have been, but there is no less doubt 
 that what he describes as a disastrous failure resulted in the 
 establishment of Persian supremacy in Thrace, and even in 
 Macedonia, for the next fifteen years or so. 
 
 As for the story that Herodotus gives us of this Scythian 
 expedition, it certainly contains a good deal that sounds 
 impossible, especially in regard to the distances traversed in 
 a comparatively short time ; but the chronicler himself had 
 visited Scythia (he had been, for instance, four days' journey 
 up the river Bug, and evidently knew the Dnieper and its 
 sturgeon), and had collected an immense amount of informa- 
 tion about the country, as well as reports, more or less founded 
 on facts, about the nations further north, and what he relates 
 has a deep interest for every one except the purely scientific 
 historian. He tells us that Darius collected an army of 
 700,000 men and a fleet of 600 Greek ships. The ships, or 
 some of them, he sent up the Danube, and ordered a bridge 
 to be thrown across the river above the delta. His army 
 crossed the Bosporus by another bridge, constructed by the 
 Samian Mandrocles (who afterwards gave to the Heraion at 
 Samos a picture of the passage of the troops, with Darius 
 seated on his throne in the foreground), and two marble pillars 
 with inscriptions in Greek and Assyrian were erected. One of 
 these Herodotus seems to have seen later at Byzantium. 
 
 Having reached the Danube, Darius left the Ionian Greeks 
 in charge of the bridge, and, giving them a leathern thong in 
 which sixty knots had been tied, he bade them untie one 
 every day, and if he had not returned when the last had been 
 untied they were to sail home. He then set out " with all 
 speed," and, following the retreating Scythians, marched as 
 far as the Maeotic lake (Sea of Azof) and the Don, and even 
 perhaps the Volga ! But the Scythians doubled and re-entered 
 their own country, and baffled and harassed the returning 
 Persians ; and some of them, stealing ahead, reached the 
 190 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 Danube and urged the Greeks to destroy the bridge. This 
 proposal was strongly seconded by Miltiades, who was now, 
 as we have seen, the Greek ' tyrant ' of the Chersonese, and 
 had been obliged to join the expedition. But when Histiaeus 
 of Miletus opposed it, saying that their existence as tyrants 
 depended wholly on Persia, the Greek leaders decided (to the 
 great disdain of the Scythians, who called them the " faith- 
 fullest of slaves ") only to break the bridge for a distance of a 
 bow-shot from the Scythian side, and to await the return of 
 Darius, though the sixtieth knot had long ago been untied. 
 At length the Persians arrived. " It was night, and their 
 terror when they found the bridge broken was great. . . . 
 But there was in the army of Darius an Egyptian, who had a 
 louder voice than any other man in the world. He was 
 bid by Darius to stand at the water's edge and call Histiaeus 
 the Milesian, who, hearing him at the very first summons, 
 brought across the fleet. . . . Thus the Persians escaped from 
 Scythia.'' And Darius, having reached Sestos, took the bulk 
 of his army across the Hellespont and returned to Sardis. 
 But, although Herodotus seems to regard the return of the 
 king as a flight rather than a dignified withdrawal after a 
 successful campaign, 80,000 men were left behind in Europe 
 under the command of Megabazus, who '* subdued to the 
 dominion of the king all the towns and all the nations of 
 these parts." For some time the whole of Thrace and the 
 islands of the North Aegaean remained in the possession of 
 Persia, and tribute was probably exacted from the Macedonian 
 king.^ After the revolt of Ionia in 499 the Thracians (whom 
 Herodotus calls " the most powerful people in the world, 
 except, of course, the Indians '') threw off the Persian yoke, 
 and were forthwith invaded by the Scythians, who succeeded 
 even in driving Miltiades out of the Chersonese. 
 
 The fourth book of Herodotus consists mainly of his account 
 of Scythia and the Scythians. Whatever may be its value 
 from the standpoint of the historical critic, it is very fascinat- 
 ing. Much that he recounts is founded on his own experiences 
 
 ^ For the fate of one Persian embassy demanding tribute see Hdt. v. 17. 
 
 191 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 and may be accepted as trustworthy, and as for the stories 
 that he retails about the fabled lands beyond the Tanais 
 (Don) — about the one-eyed Arimaspi and the treasure of 
 sacred gold guarded by griffins (recalling the Rheingold and 
 the dragons of the Siegfried legend), and about the Hyper- 
 boreans and the ' Perpherees,' those maiden-messengers who 
 brought (possibly from Britain) gifts packed in wheat-straw 
 to the shrine of Artemis in Delos, and died there, and were 
 honoured as deities with the hair-offerings of Delian youths 
 and maidens ^ — all such things he merely repeats on hearsay 
 for whatever human interest they may possess, and he especially 
 warns us that much of it was derived from a very weird person, 
 namely, a poet and traveller named Aristeas, a kind of 
 ' spectre-man,' as Herodotus calls him, who was said to have 
 vanished on several occasions and to have reappeared after 
 the lapse of years — once, indeed, after the lapse of over three 
 centuries ; having recounted which fact, Herodotus uses his 
 favourite formula and allows that " enough has been said 
 concerning Aristeas." 
 
 The geography of Herodotus is a subject too large to discuss 
 fully here. I must content myself with one or two of his 
 remarks. " I cannot but laugh,'' he says, " when I see numbers 
 of persons drawing maps of the world . . . and making the 
 ocean-stream running all round the earth, and the earth itself 
 an exact circle, as if described with a pair of compasses, with 
 Europe and Asia of just the same size." Doubtless here he 
 is making a thrust at Hecataeus, his predecessor in history- 
 writing, who composed a text to the map that Anaximander 
 made of the world (p. 205). He then proceeds to give his own 
 ideas as to the shape and relative size of the three continents, 
 and asserts that Europe is by far the largest — so much larger 
 that he " cannot conceive why three different names, and 
 women's names especially, should have been given to what is 
 really only one continent." In one point at least he was 
 right. " As for lyibya," he says, " we know it to be washed on 
 
 * Hdt, iv. 33. It reads like the legend of some St. Walpurga. Herodotus 
 himself saw their graves " on the left as one enters the precinct of Artemis." 
 192 
 
'"*' iir:^' '-^ "■^^lito -'• 
 
 53. Tomb of Cyrus 
 From Dr. Sarre's ' Iranische Felsreliefs ' {Ernst Wasmuth, A.-G., Berlin) 
 
 54. The OlyYMPIEION, ATHENS 
 
 192 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 all sides by the sea, except where it is attached to Asia." 
 He gives as proof the circumnavigation of Africa by Pharaoh 
 Necho's Phoenician sailors/ but he rejects just the one bit 
 of evidence that for us is conclusive. " On their return," he 
 says, " they declared (and I for my part do not believe this, 
 though perhaps others may) that in sailing round I^ibya they 
 had the sun upon their right hand " — i.e. on looking towards 
 the noonday sun the east was to their right. Another attempt 
 to circumnavigate Africa was made, says Herodotus, by a 
 nephew of Darius, who was condemned to death for some 
 crime, but respited on condition that he should " sail round 
 lyibya." He seems to have got as far as the Guinea coast, 
 where he discovered a " dwarfish race," but his ships " refused 
 to go any further " (perhaps on account of the south trade- 
 winds), and he returned and (like Walter Raleigh) was put to 
 death in execution of the former sentence. 
 
 NOTE ON THE TOMBS OF CYRUS AND DARIUS 
 
 (See Figs. 53 and 73) 
 
 The story related by Herodotus about the death of Cyrus 
 seems inconsistent with the fact that his tomb (a cenotaph ?) 
 was to be seen at Pasargadae, where Alexander the Great 
 visited it — and punished severely those who had pillaged it. 
 There still exists at Pasargadae (if the ruins in the valley of 
 the Murghab are really the remains of the ancient capital of 
 the Achaemenid princes) a square building on an eminence 
 amidst desolate scenery which may be this celebrated tomb of 
 Cyrus, once surrounded by luxuriant parks. It is now called the 
 ' Tomb of Solomon's Mother.' Here there have been discovered 
 imany stones inscribed with the name of Cyrus, and also a 
 relief of a four- winged figure surmounted by a curious structure 
 I like an Egyptian headdress — possibly a portrait of Cyrus set 
 up by Cambyses. Darius abandoned Pasargadae and built, 
 sixty miles further down the valley, the magnificent city of 
 Persepolis, called by the Greeks " the richest city under the 
 
 1 See p. 144. 
 
 N 193 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 sun " — until Alexander plundered its treasury, where he 
 found 120,000 talents of gold. On the site of Persepolis 
 enormous ruins still exist of the architectural works and 
 sculptures of Darius and Xerxes. There is a huge pylon or 
 portal with winged bulls, and some of the hundred columns 
 of the immense Hall of Xerxes, and the great flight of steps 
 that led up to his palace, which, it is said, Alexander set on 
 fire, incited by the notorious Athenian courtesan Thais. On 
 the side of the Royal Mount near Persepolis are the tombs of 
 Darius and of some of the later Persian kings, as well as 
 many monuments of the Sassanidae, who ruled Persia during 
 the Roman Empire and until Persia fell into the hands of the 
 ^ Mahometans. The tomb of Darius is cut out of the solid 
 rock in the middle of a perpendicular precipice (Fig. 73) . At 
 Behistun in Media, between Babylon and Bcbatana, on the 
 face of the rock in a precipitous gully there may still be 
 seen the sculptured relief that records, with inscriptions in 
 three Oriental languages, the victories over revolted provinces 
 which Darius gained in the first three years of his reign. 
 
 SECTION A : POETS AND PHILOSOPHERS (560-500) 
 
 How far the political state of a country influences art is a 
 question difficult to answer. Perhaps it might be possible 
 to discover some apparent connexion between the events 
 related in the last chapter and the fact that in the Hellenic 
 world during this period, although many magnificent temples 
 were erected and sculpture was beginning to show signs of 
 the coming glory, as far as we can judge from surviving 
 fragments no really great poetry was written — nothing at all 
 comparable with that of Sappho or Alcaeus — while during the 
 next century or so more great poetry, as well as great sculpture 
 and architecture and oratory and philosophy, was produced by 
 one single city of Greece than we can perhaps find in any other 
 century of the world's history. 
 
 At Athens, as we have seen, the first beginnings of the 
 Attic drama were made, during the rule of the Peisistratidae, 
 194 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 by Thespis, who introduced dialogue into the rude choruses 
 of vintage festivals. He was followed by Choerilus and 
 Phrynichus and Pratinas and others, by whom these Dionysiac 
 performances were developed into drama. All these three 
 must have written plays of no mean value, for they contended 
 not unsuccessfully with Aeschylus himself in his younger 
 days. Of their works we know scarcely anything. Choerilus 
 wrote something like 150 pieces. Phrynichus gained a tragic 
 victory in 511, and some eighteen years later had the mis- 
 fortune to write a drama representing the capture of Miletus 
 by the Persians (494), which so painfully affected the Athe- 
 nians that he was fined 1000 drachmae. Sixteen years later 
 (478) he gained the prize with the Phoenissae. In this play 
 he gave a description of the battle of Salamis which Aeschylus 
 is said to have imitated in his Persae.^ But we are here 
 encroaching on what belongs to the next century. 
 
 Of other Greek poets, or verse-writers, of the period 560-500 
 the most notable are Theognis, Xenophanes, Ibycus, Anacreon, 
 and Simonides of Geos. 
 
 It may be remembered that one of the cities which fell 
 under the rule of a tyrant was Megara. About the year 640 
 Theagenes overthrew the aristocratic party and held power 
 for some time ; but he was ejected, and for the next century 
 the state suffered from endless conflicts between the nobles 
 and the people, in the midst of which troubles the Athenians, 
 at Solon's instigation, wrested Salamis from Megara, and 
 even for a time occupied her port, Nisaea. Among the nobles 
 banished during a temporary supremacy of the democratic 
 party was Theognis. He seems to have spent many years 
 in exile in Sicily and Kuboea {c. 550), but to have returned 
 and lived at Megara until the Persian peril was imminent ; 
 for in his poem he prays Apollo to " keep far from this city 
 the savage host of the Medes." Of the 1368 lines in elegiac 
 metre which are attributed to Theognis (collected about 
 400 B.C.), about half — those addressed to a young nobleman, 
 Gyrnus — are perhaps authentic. They pour the bitterest 
 
 1 See p. 315. In Aristophanes' Frogs (1296) this charge seems rebutted. 
 
 195 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 contempt on the ' bad ' and ' cowardly ' (KaKoi, SeiXoi) — 
 cant terms among the aristocrats for the working classes — and 
 call upon the ' good ' and * brave ' (ay aOoi, ea-OXol) to trample 
 on the neck of their hated inferiors and to keep themselves 
 from the contamination of the common herd. Theognis 
 laments that Megara is still the same but her people are all 
 changed, that for the sake of gold the noble deigns to wed the 
 daughter of the vile plebeian, and that those who once were 
 the good are now base and vile. Historically all this is of 
 interest. It seems also to have been thought valuable 
 educationally, for it was much used by schoolmasters and by 
 lecturing Sophists ; but regarded as poetry it is very poor 
 stuff, about on a level with Tupper's Proverbial Philosophy, 
 or even below it, being tainted with virulence and a maudlin 
 pessimism. 1 
 
 Of a very different character are the verses of Xenophanes. 
 He is, as we shall see, more important as a thinker than as a 
 poet, but the vigorous lines in which he expressed some of his 
 convictions are very notable not only for their thoughts 
 but also for their form. In his chief poem {Hepl ^vcrecog, 'On 
 Nature '), of which fragments survive, he inveighs against the 
 popular anthropomorphic conception of Deity, and especially 
 against Homer, and Hesiod for attributing human weaknesses 
 and follies to the gods. " God," he says, " is wholly Sight and 
 wholly Thought and wholly Hearing, and with no effort He 
 rules all things by the working of His mind. . . . There is one 
 God, supreme among divinities and men, hke unto mortals 
 neither in body nor in thought." The Aethiop, he says, makes 
 his gods black, the Thracian makes his blue-eyed and blond, 
 and if horses and oxen and lions had hands and could write 
 and do handiwork as men, they would have formed con- 
 ceptions and made images of gods in their own likeness. 
 We possess also fragments of his elegiacs, in which are found 
 many wise and manly sayings about self-restraint and the 
 
 ^ He steals, and spoils in stealing, the well-known saying, which King Midas 
 learnt from the god Silenus, and which Sophocles used with such pathetic 
 effect, that " The happiest lot is never to have been born — or to return as soon 
 as possible thither whence we came." 
 
 196 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 true enjoyment of life, and a fine passage in which he contrasts 
 the glory won by Olympic victors with that which wisdom 
 confers on a man. " If any one should win by swiftness of foot, 
 or in the pentathlon, there where is the precinct of Zeus by the 
 streams of the Pisa, or else by wrestling, or by being skilled 
 in painful boxing, or that formidable contest that they call 
 the pancratium, he would be granted a conspicuous front seat 
 at the games, and food would be given him by the city from 
 public funds and a gift such as to be an heirloom for ever ; 
 or e'en if he won the victory by means of his horses, and not 
 by his own strength, he would gain all these things . . . but 
 he would not deserve them as I do ; for better than the 
 strength of man or of horses is our [human] wisdom.'* 
 Xenophanes was born at the Ionian city Colophon, but left 
 it (some say, banished on account of his heretical poem) at 
 the age of twenty-five. In the fragment which tells us this 
 he says that he is already ninety- two years old, having 
 "tossed about through Hellenic lands" for sixty-seven years. 
 In another fragment he asks himself : " How old wast thou 
 when the Mede arrived ? " It seems probable, therefore, that 
 he left Colophon on account of the Persian invasion under 
 Harpagus [c. 545), when the Phocaeans abandoned their city 
 and sailed to Corsica. We have already seen (p. 123) that he 
 possibly joined these Phocaeans in founding Elea, where he 
 is said to have lived in very modest circumstances to about 
 his hundredth year. We shall hear more of him as a philosopher. 
 At the semi-Oriental court of Samos we find the poets Ibycus 
 and Anacreon (c. 550-522). Ibycus, a native of Rhegium, 
 is said to have been tutor to Poly crates. From the few lines 
 that we possess of his voluptuously imaginative poetry, and 
 from the fact that he is called by Suidas the " maddest of all 
 love-poets," one may infer what was his influence on the youth- 
 ful prince. But it should be remarked that, as far as one can 
 judge from a few lines, there was in Ibycus (as also in the 
 genuine Anacreon) intense passion without any of that effemi- 
 nate sentimentality which is found in later Greek love-poetry. 
 His conception of Eros is that of a strong and terrible deity, 
 
 197 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 " like the Thracian Boreas blazing with lightning," or of an 
 insidious and mighty wizard : " From under dark eyebrows 
 shooting forth ravishing glances with enchantments of every 
 kind, he casteth me into the immeasurable toils of the Cyprian 
 goddess." He is said also to have composed epic poems similar 
 to those of the Cyclic writers. The story of his death at the 
 hands of robbers and of the detection of the crime has become 
 well known through Schiller's fine ballad, The Cranes oflbycus^ 
 Anacreon was a native of Teos, in Ionia. When the city 
 was taken by Harpagus (544) he migrated to Abdera, in Thrace. 
 Thence he came to Samos, and lived there until the crucifixion 
 of Polycrates in 523, when Hipparchus is said to have sent a 
 trireme to bring him to Athens. Here he spent some years, 
 but probably returned to Abdera or Teos. He died two years 
 after the battle of Salamis, at the age of eighty-five, choked 
 by a grape-stone. The Athenians erected a statue of him 
 (seen by Pausanias) in the characteristic guise of a drunken 
 old man. Much that passed under the name of Anacreon is 
 evidently the product of ' Anacreontic ' poets of later times. 
 Some of these Anacreontic odes are exceedingly clever and 
 pretty, such, for instance, as the Address to a Painter, which 
 was adduced by lycssing, in his Laocoon, as an example of the 
 kind of pictorial description that poetry should not attempt. 
 It is nevertheless very charming, and ends in a most ingenious 
 conceit. " Come, good painter," exclaims the poet, " paint 
 my absent mistress as I bid thee." He then gives exact details 
 — the soft black locks, the ivory brow, the milk and roses of 
 the cheeks, the marble neck and bust; but, as if feeling the 
 uselessness of all such word-painting, he bids the painter stop, 
 and, turning to the picture created by his own imagination, he 
 calls upon it to speak and answer him. It is exceedingly clever 
 and pretty. But this is not how Homer and Shakespeare 
 make us realize the beauty of Helen and Juliet. Probably, 
 however, we form quite a wrong idea of Anacreon's poetry 
 when we associate him with such delicately worded trifles, 
 
 1 Schiller imagines him journeying from Rhegium to Corinth to take part 
 in the Isthmian Games. 
 
 198 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 for in fragments of what is undoubtedly his work we find a 
 very different style and some quite different conceptions. 
 Thus, like Ibycus, he gives us a picture of lyove (Eros) which 
 offers a very striking contrast to the winged, roguish, rose- 
 fettered urchin of the Anacreontics. " lyike a smith, with 
 mighty hammer," he says, " Eros smote me and plunged me 
 in a wintry torrent." This is the Eros of the older poets and 
 sculptors, the first-born of the gods of whom Hesiod sings, 
 the strong-Hmbed, manly Eros of Praxiteles, not the chubby 
 little Cupid with his toy bow and quiver whom we meet so often 
 in Hellenistic and Roman art. 
 
 One generally associates Simonides of Ceos (556-467) with 
 Marathon and Thermopylae. But while he was a boy Croesus 
 was still reigning, and he was already nearly thirty years of 
 age when Peisistratus died. About 525 he was invited by 
 Hipparchus to leave his home on the island of Ceos and to 
 come to Athens, where Anacreon was then living. When 
 Hipparchus was murdered by Harmodius and Aristogeiton 
 he went to Thessaly, probably to the court of the Aleuadae, 
 the princes of lyarissa, whose submission to the Persians prob- 
 ably occasioned his return to Athens. Here he became intimate 
 with Themistocles and was held in great honour for his 
 learning and poetical genius. Four years after the battle of 
 Salamis, when he was eighty years old, he gained the prize 
 at the Great Dionysia — the fifty-sixth public prize for poetry, 
 as he tells us, that he had won. Soon afterwards, together 
 with his nephew, the poet Bacchylides, he went to Syracuse, 
 where, at the court of Hiero, he met Aeschylus and Pindar. 
 He died at Syracuse, aged eighty-nine, in 467. Thus his life 
 extended almost from the age of Solon to that of Pericles, and 
 he was a contemporary for a few years of both Thales and 
 Socrates. In considering him one is therefore obliged either 
 to anticipate or to defer considerably. He seems to have 
 produced a great amount of poetry in his long life — hymns 
 to the gods, funeral eulogies and elegies, triumphal odes, 
 dithyrambs, and odes in honour of victors at the games. In 
 such odes he, as also his nephew Bacchylides, had a powerful 
 
 199 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 rival in Pindar, by whose sublimity of imagination and majesty 
 of language, it is said, they were both eclipsed. Nevertheless 
 some of the fragments of his poetry that survive are as fine as 
 almost anything in Pindar, and the subject is certainly some- 
 times on a far higher level than that of the ordinary Pindaric 
 ode. In an encomium on those who fell with L^eonidas he 
 says : " Splendid was the fortune of those who died at Thermo- 
 pylae and glorious their fate. Their tomb is an altar ; instead 
 of wails there is remembrance, and lamentation is changed into 
 praise ; such a shroud neither decay shall e'er destroy, nor 
 time, that conquereth all. This resting-place of brave men 
 hath received to dwell within it the glory of Hellas." The 
 metres of these odes are probably such as had been used from 
 an early age in musical compositions. They seem to be 
 conditioned by various musical rhythms (Doric, Aeolic, I^ydian, 
 &c.), and to be, as Horace says with reference to Pindar, free 
 from all law,^ except that the poem has certain divisions 
 (strophes, antistrophes, epodes, &c.). Simonides is remem- 
 bered chiefly on account of the famous lines, quoted by Hero- 
 dotus, that were engraved on the monuments at Thermopylae. ^ 
 Herodotus does not mention Simonides as their author, but 
 Cicero and other writers do. Another couplet, on the 
 Athenians who fought at Marathon, is attributed to Simonides 
 by the rhetorician Aristides, and some lines of his beginning 
 " I am the bravest of beasts " may have been composed as the 
 inscription for the stone lion which, as Herodotus tells us, 
 was set up at Thermopylae in memory of I^eonidas. Earlier 
 in life (c. 506) he wrote, it is said, an epitaph for the Athenians 
 who fell in the Chalcidian war. Simonides is said to have 
 invented, or introduced, the letters v, Wj ^, \p. 
 
 ^ Of the forty -four extant odes of Pindar only two have any decided metrical 
 similarity, and these two are addressed to the same person and probably 
 form one consecutive piece. 
 
 * Thus translated by Rawlinson : 
 
 Here did four thousand men from Pelops' land 
 Against three hundred myriads bravely stand ; 
 and 
 
 Go, stranger, and to I^acedaemon tell 
 That here, obeying her behests, we fell. 
 200 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 The Philosophers 
 
 Some of the older Greek philosophers, such as Xenophanes, 
 Parmenides, and Bmpedocles, may be classed also among the 
 poets, and others, such as Thales and Pythagoras, would 
 perhaps be conceded a like honour if their writings had sur- 
 vived. The incomparable insight into the life of things which 
 distinguishes Greek thought from what often usurps the name 
 of philosophy was due mainly to the poetical spirit that 
 animated it. As Plato tells us, the truths which are the object 
 of the ' lover of wisdom ' cannot be learnt in the same way 
 as scientific facts, but only by the help of our imaginative 
 faculties and by contemplation ; and his statement is con- 
 firmed by Aristotle himself, who says that " poetry is more 
 philosophical and more worthy of serious regard than history.*' 
 
 In the Greek thinkers of the period that we are examining 
 there are noticeable three distinct methods of regarding the 
 universe. The Ionic philosophers, fixing their gaze on the 
 visible order of things, endeavoured to discover the prime 
 element or self-created and self-moving elementary substance 
 to which the material universe owes its origin and existence. 
 The Eleatic school, of which Xenophanes was the founder, 
 sought the one true existence behind appearances, denying 
 the reality, or even the very existence, of the material world. 
 Pythagoras taught that the life of things — that which alone 
 gives them any true existence — is the relation that they bear 
 to the one life of all (as numbers to unity), and that their 
 nature and their reality as objects of the sensible universe 
 depend on the relation that they bear (Hke numbers) to one 
 another. Thus, all things being bound together into a cosmos 
 by proportion, the universe is of the nature of harmony. To 
 give any full and systematic account of the theories of these 
 early Greek thinkers is here impossible, but if the essential 
 characteristics of the three schools are kept in mind the follow- 
 ing facts will perhaps fall into place and offer a fairly intelligible 
 picture. 
 
 Thales of Miletus (c. 636-546) was the first of the Ionic 
 
 201 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 ' Physicists,' and is regarded as the father of Greek philosophy, 
 as well as the chief of the Seven Sages. Herodotus asserts 
 that he was of Phoenician origin, and possibly the Semitic 
 strain may account for genius in his case, as it has done in 
 others. When Thales was still a young man, Miletus, then 
 " a rich and powerful city " and the mother of many colonies, 
 fell under the rule of the tyrant Thrasybulus (p. 130), the 
 friend and Machiavellian adviser of Periander; and it remained 
 under his rule for more than forty years. Thales is said to 
 have visited Egypt and to have acquired there the knowledge 
 of geometry and astronomical calculation which enabled him 
 to foretell the eclipse^ that put an end to the battle between 
 Astyages of Media and the I^ydian king Alyattes (585) . Possibly 
 he also learnt in Egypt a certain amount of geology — enough 
 to make him a ' sedimentarist ' and a believer in water as the 
 prime element — for Herodotus, who also was in Egypt, gives 
 us a long description of the formation of the country by alluvial 
 deposit, which he held to have been going on for some 12,000 
 years. Miletus was harassed a good deal by Alyattes, but 
 under Croesus the Milesians (almost alone of the Ionian Greeks) 
 retained their independence, and Thales is said to have advised 
 his fellow-citizens not to aid the I^ydian king against Cyrus — 
 advice which probably saved the city from being taken by 
 Harpagus. But the anxiety caused by the advance of Persia 
 is shown by the fact that Thales tried to persuade th^Ionians 
 to form a ' confederation,' with Teos as capital. It must have 
 been soon after this that he died. 
 
 Whether Thales wrote anything is not known. What we 
 know of his doctrines we learn from Plato, Aristotle, and other 
 writers. The fact that he chose water as the prime substance 
 should be connected closely with the fact that he conceived 
 such prime substance to be in perpetual motion, and mind, 
 
 1 The Chaldaeans, from whom possibly (but not probably) the Egyptians 
 learnt their astronomy, are said to have registered, or calculated, eclipses 
 from about 720. They are said to have believed the world to have existed for 
 172,000 years. But the Indian sages claim an antiquity of two million years 
 for their astronomical tables, and doubtless the most ancient names of the 
 constellations are of Indian origin. 
 
 202 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 or intelligence, to be present wherever there was motion ; ^ 
 and, as motion exists everywhere in the universe, he asserted 
 that " all is full of gods," and that even the kinetic power of 
 the magnet and of amber proved their possession of what he 
 called a ' soulless soul ' (or ' lifeless vitality '). Cicero, indeed, 
 says that Thales spoke of the ' Mind of the Universe ' as being 
 equivalent to ' God,' but it is probable that his theories were 
 unconnected with religious ideas — that is, that they were 
 entirely materialistic and without any assumption of a spiritual 
 or intellectual ' first cause,* such as was proclaimed later by 
 Anaxagoras. Consequently, in order to account for move- 
 ment he was obliged to conceive his prime substance as self- 
 moving, and, indeed, self -created, and was thus driven to face 
 the same difficulties that all materialists are forced to encounter. 
 Some writer has remarked that " a lake formed by the Maeander 
 i now covers the native city of the man who taught that every- 
 thing comes from and returns to water.'* The story of his 
 falling down a well into his favourite element while star- 
 gazing is perhaps a playful invention. 
 
 In connexion with Thales it may be interesting to raise the 
 question how far, if at all, Greek philosophy was indebted to 
 the philosophy of the Bast. It is indubitable that Thales and 
 Pythagoras, and perhaps other early Greek philosophers, 
 visited Egypt, and perhaps other Eastern lands, and it seems 
 possible that, as far as their external form is concerned, some 
 of the doctrines of Greek thinkers, such as that of ' trans- 
 migration,' had an Oriental or Egyptian origin,* and that the 
 belief in the immortality of the soul, which we find so strongly 
 ^ asserted by Socrates, was not evolved by Greek thought, but 
 introduced from Eastern sources ; moreover, in Vedanta 
 j philosophy there are doctrines of ' abstraction ' and of the 
 kriune nature of the Deity (as Intelligence, Matter, and Multi- 
 tude) which have a singular resemblance to the Socratic 
 doctrine of the '' release and purification of the body " and to 
 
 ^ Cf. "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." The 
 theory of Thales is like that of the modern Monist. 
 
 ^ Herodotus asserts this (ii. 123), but no proof has been found of it in 
 EJgyptian monuments. 
 
 203 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 the Monad and Triad doctrine of Pythagoras, and others that 
 closely resemble the Bleatic denial of the reality of the sensible 
 world ; but it is surely not impossible that the human mind 
 is so constructed that it may (perhaps must) arrive at similar 
 formulae ; or, if it be true that Greece accepted certain forms 
 of Eastern thought, it is no less true that Hellenic genius 
 reinspired these forms with a new life so that they are as truly 
 original creations as Hamlet or Faust. 
 
 The human mind seems generally to find no insuperable 
 difficulty in forming a vague conception of an inert prime 
 element (more or less immaterial) existing from all eternity ; 
 but for the conception of a cosmos, an ordered, differentiated 
 universe, or even of ' matter ' itself, it is necessary to account 
 for the ordering force, and one instinctively rejects the ' self- 
 moved ' material prime element of Thales and the ' self-moved ' 
 atoms of Democritus, of which we shall hear later. This 
 difficulty accounts for the creative lyove (Eros) of Hesiod, 
 the "love and hate of the atoms" of Empedocles, the Nous 
 (Mind) of Anaxagoras, and all other such attempts to visualize 
 and personify the mysterious power which manifests itself in 
 motion and life, and it is not surprising that Anaximander 
 (c. 610-545), 9- contemporary and fellow-citizen, perhaps 
 disciple, of Thales, should have attempted to go a little further 
 toward the realm of the Immaterial in his search for a first 
 cause of motion. He is said to have been the first Greek 
 philosopher who wrote a prose work. Of this work (entitled, 
 as usual, About Nature) nothing but a few quotations survive, 
 but they prove that the author proclaimed as the prime element, 
 or rather the first ' principle ' (for he was the first to use the 
 word apx'/) , what he called ' the infinite ' or ' unconditioned ' 
 {to aireipov), by which he probably meant matter not exactly 
 in a chaotic state, but with its elements {a-TOixeia) not yet 
 differentiated.^ But his apxh is really quite as materialistic 
 as that of Thales, and is less conceivable. Instead of ' self-' 
 
 ^ See Cicero, De Nat. Deor. i. Plato uses to aneipov for primal ' matter ' 
 regarded merely as a passive, potential, formless existence — and this seems 
 practically what Anaximander meant. 
 
 204 
 
55- Bl,ACK-FIGURED VASES 
 
 c. 700-500 
 
 See List of Illustrations and Note D 
 
 204 
 
,.^, '"_ J** i. 
 
 if' 
 
 I 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 movement ' he has to imagine ' counteracting forces,' such as 
 heat and cold, dryness and moisture, in order to produce a 
 cosmos. His theory that Hving things were evolved out of 
 damp matter and that men as well as all other animals were at 
 first fish-like has affinity to modern morphological doctrines. 
 He is said to have invented the sun-dial (though Herodotus 
 credits the Babylonians with the invention) and to have made 
 a map of the world and an astronomical globe. The map is 
 said to have been engraved on a brass tablet, and was perhaps 
 the very one which (c. 499) Aristagoras of Miletus took over 
 to show the vSpartans the extent of the Persian Empire, and 
 for which Hecataeus wrote a text. A third Milesian, Anaxi- 
 menes, proclaimed as the apxn an illimitable element of the 
 nature of air — the life-breath, as it were, of the universe. This 
 seems a relapse ; but we know too little of his doctrines to be 
 certain. The earth he believed to float sustained in the midst 
 of air, and he is said to have been the first (Greek ?) to teach 
 that the moon's light came from the sun. If, as it is said, he 
 taught Anaxagoras (born in 500) and was himself a disciple 
 of Anaximander, he must have lived to a great age. 
 
 In connexion with these Physicists may be mentioned 
 Heracleitus of Kphesus, for, although he lived somewhat later 
 (c. 540-470), and although his genius was of a strikingly original, 
 imaginative, and independent character (justifying his proud 
 remark, " 1 have gone to no teacher but myself," and perhaps 
 even justifying the gift of his own book to the temple of Artemis 
 as the most precious offering he could make), nevertheless 
 the fact that he accepted a ' prime element ' makes it convenient 
 to class him with the other Ionian philosophers. 
 
 During most of the life of Heracleitus Ephesus was under the 
 sovereignty of Persia and the rule of Greek tyrants. But he 
 evidently lived to see the day of liberation, for in his work 
 On Nature he pours bitter disdain on the Ephesian democracy 
 for having banished his friend Hermodorus (who, by the way 
 some twenty-six years later helped the Roman decemviri 
 to draw up their Twelve Tables). This would seem to prove 
 that he wrote the book after the recovery of Sestos by the 
 
 205 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 Athenians and the liberation of Ionia from the Persian yoke 
 (478). 
 
 To judge from the 136 short fragments of his writings 
 that survive Heracleitus expressed himself in very trenchant 
 aphorisms. The following are some of them : " War is the 
 father of all things " (i.e. all things are evolved by antagonistic 
 forces) ; ''No man can wade twice in the same stream " [i.e. 
 material objects are always changing) ; " The wisest of men is 
 an ape to the gods " \ " I^ife is the death of gods, death their 
 life " ; " Men are mortal gods, gods immortal men " \ ''A man's 
 character is his destiny " ; " lycaming teaches not wisdom/' 
 In connexion with this last aphorism he added : '' Otherwise 
 learning would have taught Hesiod and Pythagoras and 
 Xenophanes and Hecataeus." Still more strongly he expressed 
 himself about Homer and Archilochus, saying that they 
 " ought to be whipped." Such language is intelHgible enough, 
 so that probably it was the abstruseness of his doctrines rather 
 than his words that won him the title ' the Obscure.' Even 
 Socrates confessed that there were many things in the book 
 of Heracleitus that needed a * Delian diver ' to bring them up 
 from their obscure depths. 
 
 Heracleitus held fire to be the prime element. Possibly he 
 was led to the choice by Oriental (Zoroastrian) influence. But 
 by ' fire ' he meant a subtle, fiery, aetherial substance rather 
 than flame. Of this self-kindled, ever-vibrating fiery aether 
 he conceived the human soul and the soul of the universe, 
 and even Deity itself, to consist.^ Doubtless fire, or heat, 
 was believed by him (as it is, or was until lately, believed i 
 by modern science) to be caused by, or to he, vibration ori 
 undulation, and it was evidently as a most striking form, or 
 symbol, of perpetual and inconceivably rapid motion that he I 
 chose it, for all his philosophy was founded on the axiom thatj 
 there is no true existence except in motion, in mutation, 
 development, action, transition. " All is in flux " {iravra pel) 
 
 * Anticipating by some 2400 years the assertion of the modern Monist, 
 who tells us that the only possible God is "the sum total of the vibrations of 
 the Kther." Socrates was accused by Aristophanes (of course falsely) of having 
 enthroned ' Aetherial Vortex ' in the place of Zeus, 
 206 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 was his fundamental dogma. There is no such thing as a 
 permanent state of being. Being (existence) consists in change. 
 Nothing exists except in merging its identity in something else. 
 Thus, " Death is life, life is death,'' and " Sleep and waking 
 are the same,'' or (if I may slightly change his form of expres- 
 sion and put some of his aphorisms into the words of three 
 great modern poets), ''There is no Death ! What seems so is 
 transition," ^ '* To sleep is to wake," and " lyiving are the dead, 
 and I am the apparition, I the spectre." Such doctrines, so 
 unintelligible to the many, probably credited him with the 
 obscurity and melancholy which have attached themselves 
 to his memory. 
 
 Of the life and poems of Xenophanes I have already spoken. 
 His philosophy offers a very striking contrast to that of Hera- \ \ 
 cleitus, and forms a part of the first rude foundation on which \ \ 
 was reared the Ideal Theory of Plato. 
 
 Heracleitus asserted that nothing truly exists except in so 
 
 far as it is in motion, mutation, transition — that is, as a link 
 
 in the endless chain of cause and effect. Xenophanes, on the 
 
 contrary, asserted that all motion and mutation and transition, 
 
 ( as well as the things that they affect, are merely appear- 
 
 I ances, the multitudinous phenomena of the senses [ra iroWa), 
 
 I which are not existent except so far as they stand in relation 
 
 to the one eternal and immutable Reality, the " unmoved 
 
 source of motion" and the only source of all being. In his 
 
 • poetry, as we have seen, he gives this immutable and eternal 
 
 i Reality the name of God. As a philosopher he calls it the 
 
 One — an expression used also by Pythagoras and by Plato. 
 
 iBut though he held that things of the senses (the Many) are 
 
 non-existent in their variety and their mutations and their 
 
 relation to one another, he asserted that they exist truly by 
 
 virtue of their relation to the One. Thus the keystone of 
 
 the Bleatic school is ra iravra ev (' All things One ') rather 
 
 than TO eV Km TOL iravra ('The One and the Many'), which 
 
 vvas the formula of Platonic philosophy ; and we should regard 
 
 ^ In the Phaedo Socrates (or Plato) speaks of transition from life to death 
 and from death to life in reference to the immortality of the soul. 
 
 207 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 the creed of Xenophanes as pantheistic rather than duaHstic — 
 that is, as identifying spirit and matter rather than separating 
 them by an impassable gulf, as Plato seems to do. But how- 
 ever that may be, it is clear that Xenophanes himself allowed 
 the practical existence of sensible objects and of change and 
 motion — allowed, as Socrates did, that such phenomena, 
 although not the objects of true knowledge, could be used as 
 ' rafts ' to carry us across the sea of human life — whereas some 
 of his successors, such as Parmenides and Zeno, insisted on the 
 absolute non-existence of the natural world, and were thus 
 landed in absurdities. Under Zeno the sublime philosophy 
 of the founder degenerated into metaphysical quibbles and 
 paradoxes and puzzles about the infinitely small and great, 
 such as the puzzle of Achilles and the tortoise. He denied not 
 only the absolute reahty but also the practical existence of 
 the sensible world and the possibility of motion — a doctrine 
 refuted, it is said, by an unbehever who rose from his seat 
 and walked across the lecture-room, or lecture-portico, of the 
 philosopher. Hence the expression Solvitur amhulando. 
 
 The one doctrine of real importance in the philosophy of 
 Xenophanes, and that which places it on a level quite different 
 from that of the Ionic Physicists, is that which asserts the 
 reality of things to depend on their relation to the one true 
 existence — a doctrine substantially the same as that of Socrates, 
 who taught that everything exists by virtue of its true, not its 
 apparent, cause, and that the only true knowledge is the 
 knowledge of the true cause of things. 
 
 Pythagoras {c. 570-490) was a contemporary of Xenophanes 
 and a generation earher than Heracleitus. He and Xeno- 
 phanes, living only some 120 miles distant from each other in 
 Southern Italy, may be supposed to have met ; but there was 
 evidently not much mutual admiration, if we may judge from 
 some very contemptuous verses of Xenophanes. " They relate," 
 he says, " that once when he [Pythagoras] was going past 
 while a puppy was being whipped, he was touched with pity 
 and exclaimed : ' I^eave off ! Beat him not ! for he is the 
 soul of a friend of mine. I recognized it at once by his voice.' " 
 208 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 Pythagoras was a Samian, but about 540, after having visited 
 the East and Egypt/ he left Samos, perhaps in order to escape 
 from the frivolous court of Poly crates, and settled in Croton. 
 Here he seems to have gained great influence with the wealthy 
 aristocratical party. Three hundred Crotoniats he formed into 
 an Order, bound together by vows of allegiance and secrecy, 
 after the fashion of Freemasons, whom they also resembled in 
 possessing secret signs. On new members a period of proba- 
 tion, some say of seven years, was imposed, during which they 
 were tested in their powers of keeping silence (like the Trap- 
 pists) and in keeping their temper and in mental capacities. 
 Only a few were initiated into the secret (esoteric) doctrines 
 and rites, which were perhaps of an Orphic character, and 
 seem to have been specially connected with the worship of 
 Apollo ; and it is possible that Pythagoras was identified by 
 his followers with Apollo and that he laid claim (as Empedocles 
 did later) to supernatural powers. The rule of the Order 
 seems to have included strict abstinence from animal food — 
 a practice necessarily involved in the creed of transmigration 
 of souls. 2 Music and athletics formed an indispensable part 
 in the system. When a member wished to leave the Order 
 he was presented with double his original subscription and 
 allowed to depart, but over his seat in the refectory was 
 erected a monument, and funeral rites were celebrated to 
 intimate his philosophic decease. To the chief lodge (so to 
 speak) at Croton were affiliated others in Taras, Sybaris, 
 Metapontion, and other towns. 
 
 Perhaps it was owing to the political influence of these 
 aristocratical Pythagorean societies that in 510 (the year when 
 Tarquin and Hippias were expelled) Croton utterly destroyed 
 
 ^ Herodotus evid-ently alludes (iL 123) to him, though he declines to mention 
 his name, when he speaks of certain Greek writers having appropriated and 
 published as their own the Egyptian (?) doctrine of Transmigration. In 
 iv. 95 he calls him " not the meanest of Greek philosophers." 
 
 * Beans were also taboo, if we are to take Horace's joke seriously {Sat. 
 II, vi. 63), who intimates that some relative of Pythagoras had been a bean. 
 Grote rejects Pythagorean vegetarianism as a fable because Milo must have 
 had a meat diet 1 
 
 o 209 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 Sybaris,^ which had led into the field, we are told, an army of 
 300,000 men, against whom Milo, the celebrated Pythagorean 
 wrestler (six times Olympic victor), did deeds like those of 
 Samson. Soon after this the popular party, under the leader- 
 ship of Cylon, gained the upper hand in Croton, and the 
 Pythagorean societies fell under ban. Milo's house, where 
 forty disciples were assembled, was set on fire by the mob, 
 and all but two perished — possibly Pythagoras among them ; 
 but some say that he had fled to Taras some years, pre- 
 viously, and thence to Metapontion, where 40a years later, 
 Cicero tells us, his tomb was to be seen.^ Probably Pytha- 
 goras, like Socrates and many other wise men, wrote nothing, 
 although there is a story of his having left all his writings to 
 his daughter Damo, with orders not to publish them — a com- 
 mand that she kept, although in great poverty. There are 
 extant so-called ' Golden Verses * (seventy-one hexameters) 
 which are attributed to him, but they are evidently a late fabri- 
 cation. One of his disciples, Philolaus, who is said to have 
 escaped from the conflagration and taken refuge in Greece, 
 incorporated the doctrines of the school in a book (of course 
 called On Nature), but only a few questionable relics of this 
 book, as also of about ninety other works by the older 
 Pythagoreans, survive (including some fragments ascribed to 
 Archytas, the famous Tarentine mathematician, well known to 
 readers of Horace). The disappearance of these old records is 
 doubtless due to the fierce persecutions to which the sect was 
 exposed. For the life and doctrines of Pythagoras we are 
 almost entirely dependent on a few comments of Aristotle 
 and on the writings of Porphyry and lamblichus, neo-Platonists 
 of the third century A.D., at which epoch, at Alexandria, there 
 was a great revival of the mystical doctrines of the school and an 
 attempt to proclaim Pythagoras as the anti-Christian Messiah. 
 
 1 Sixty-seven years later, after a vain attempt to revive Croton, Thurii 
 was founded (443) in the vicinity. Herodotus probably took part in the 
 founding of Thurii and saw the ruins of Sybaris. 
 
 * In Cicero's time the revival of Pythagoreanism was beginning. In early 
 days the Romans, when bidden by an oracle to erect a statue to the wisest 
 of the Greeks, erected one to Pythagoras. 
 
 210 
 
56. Ancient Bi^ack-figured Amphora 
 
 See List of Illustrations and Note D 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 Plato himself borrowed largely from Pythagoras. Timaeus of 
 lyocri, a Pythagorean, is said to have been Plato's teacher, and 
 in the dialogue Timaeus Plato propounds views on the physical 
 universe which are perhaps mainly Pythagorean ; but it is 
 as impossible to say how far they are Platonized as to say how 
 far the doctrines of Socrates were Pythagorized by Plato. 
 In the Phaedrus Plato uses, doubtless merely as a parable, 
 the doctrine of Transmigration and of the ten periods of the 
 soul as it was taught by Pythagoras, and the Platonic theory 
 of Ideas is founded on Pythagorean and Eleatic doctrines of the 
 One and the Many. 
 
 The main thesis of the Pythagorean system of philosophy 
 is that the human mind recognizes within itself certain laws 
 without which thought is impossible, and in these laws it 
 possesses a revelation of the natural laws to which the structure 
 of the universe is due. Now of these intellectual laws those 
 of number are the most immutable and categorical, and the 
 universe (both the sensible and the intellectual) is an ' imita- 
 tion ' or ' realization ' of the laws of number, where Deity is 
 the omnipresent Unit or Monad — of which all numbers consist, 
 though it is itself no number — and prime (brute, chaotic) matter 
 is the Duad, and the ordered Cosmos (formed by the addition 
 of the creative Monad to the chaotic Duad) is the Triad. ^ 
 
 Now, strictly speaking, the sensible universe, according to 
 this theory, is number realized in space, and when number is 
 realized in space it is geometry. Therefore we find that with 
 Pythagoras, as with Plato, geometry was the foundation of 
 all true science. He himself is said to have discovered the most 
 important fact of the equality of the square on the long side of 
 
 1 a right-angled triangle to the sum of the squares on the shorter 
 sides — and to have sacrificed a hundred oxen as thank-offering. ^ 
 But in his philosophy he seems to have adopted numbers, as 
 
 j being more readily expressive of ratio and proportion than are 
 
 ^ Natural objects (under three dimensions) are triads, and human nature 
 is a triad, and the mind's conception of Deity is also a triad. I^ater Pytha- 
 goreans made the Four represent solidity, the Five quality (colour, &c.), the 
 Six vitality, the Seven mind, and so on. 
 
 ^ Hardly consistent with his transmigration and vegetarian principles ! 
 
 211 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 lines and areas. As numbers are dependent for their individual 
 existence on the unit, so sensible objects are dependent for 
 their specific existence on their true cause — the One, or Deity. 
 But the existence of natural objects as phenomena depends on 
 their relation to all other such objects (nothing being of any 
 meaning or value, or conceivable, by itself), in the same way 
 as every intelligible number stands related, in a certain ratio 
 or proportion, to every other number. Thus all things of the 
 senses are knit together into one harmonious whole, and the 
 natural universe is a Harmony ^ — such as also modern science 
 proclaims it to be " Throughout the processes of Nature,'' 
 says Tyndall, " we have interdependence and harmony, and 
 the main value of physics as a mental training consists in the 
 tracing out of this interdependence and the demonstration 
 of this harmony." 
 
 In passing it may be observed that many phenomena seem 
 (though this may be merely due to the constitution of the 
 human mind) to be the results of the vibration of some one 
 prime element (' ether ' ?) at different rates, so that we have 
 light and electricity and the octaves of sound and colour, and 
 possibly of taste and smell, all related and standing in certain 
 numerical ratios each to the other. But their specific exist- 
 ence, as light and sound and so on, is due, as Pythagoras 
 expresses it, to their relation, not to each other, but to the 
 Unit. Thus, when Professor Romanes asserted that with one 
 persistent force and one prime matter he could account for 
 the universe, Darwin answered : " 1 could not disprove it if 
 some one should assert that God had given certain attributes 
 to force so that it develops into light, heat, electricity, and 
 magnetism — and perhaps even into life." 
 
 This doctrine of the harmonious system of the universe is 
 one of the most suggestive and illuminating of all parables. 
 But scientifically Pythagoras was, of course, on the wrong 
 lines. He attempted to force Nature into accordance with| 
 his theories ; and of this we have a striking instance in the 
 
 I 
 
 ^ Hence the Pythagorean ' music of the spheres,' which our ears are too i 
 dull, or from long familiarity too callous, to perceive. 
 
 212 I 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 fact that, in order to complete the mystic ' Decad/ he added 
 a tenth to the then-known nine celestial bodies which circled 
 round the central Fire or Watch-tower of Zeus. This tenth 
 body he called the Antichthon (' Counter-earth '). How such 
 a method differs from that by which Neptune was discovered 
 need scarcely be explained. 
 
 The gulf between Physics and Ethics Pythagoras conceived 
 to be bridged by music, which is at once a subject of intellectual 
 research and a means of affecting the emotions. The explana- 
 tion of the musical intervals and of harmony as due to propor- 
 tion is attributed to him, although some accounts of his experi- 
 ments are apocryphal, seeing that hammers of different weight 
 do not produce different notes from the same anvil or bell. 
 But he seems to have discovered the fact that a chord at the 
 same tension vibrates in proportion to its length : that half 
 the length produces the octave above the original note, two- 
 thirds produces a musical fifth, three-fourths a fourth, and 
 eight-ninths a major tone. 
 
 Thus from Physics to Ethics, from the sensible world to the 
 world of mind and morals, we pass by the bridge of Music — 
 climb the Beanstalk, as it were, and find ourselves in a fairy- 
 land where our dull, boorish materialism not seldom wakes to 
 find itself ' translated ' and invested with an ass's nowl. Even 
 in this realm Pythagoras, or later Pythagorean philosophy, 
 ventures to use the scale of Number and reads off vice as 
 imperfect and virtue as perfect proportion — a virtuous life 
 (i.e. virtue realized in action) as the straight line, abstract 
 justice as the square number, and a just life as the geometric 
 square. The soul he defines as a ' self-moving number,' or 
 triune Monad, and thus asserts it to be of the same nature as 
 Deity — a connexion that doubtless encouraged his claim to 
 supernatural powers. These formulae are, of course, merely 
 little curiosities preserved for us by later writers, and are of 
 no value except as curiosities ; nor can we regard otherwise 
 such stories as that of the recognition by Pythagoras in the 
 temple of Hera at Argos of the shield whicn he had used (as 
 Euphorbus, the Trojan) in a former life. But, however 
 
 213 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 unworthy of serious regard they may appear to some minds, such 
 a parable as that of Metempsychosis, with its gradual redemp- 
 tion of the human soul by purification, initiation, and intuition, 
 until it is fit to dwell with the gods, and such an imaginative 
 conception as the harmony of the universe and the music of 
 the spheres, are (as Aristotle himself allows) of more value to 
 the true thinker than much that goes by the name of scientific 
 metaphysics. The main structure of the Pythagorean philo- 
 sophy, however dimly it looms through the ages, is of impres- 
 sive grandeur — a watch-tower of Zeus overlooking the infinities 
 of space and time. 
 
 SECTION B : THE ORDERS OF GREEK ARCHITECTURE : 
 SCULPTURE, DOWN TO THE PERSIAN WARS 
 
 Something has already been said about the primitive 
 shrines of the Mycenaean age and the temples of Homeric 
 times, and some of the temples of the earlier historic period 
 have been mentioned. Others will be mentioned later in 
 connexion with historical events and with sculpture, and further 
 information will be found in Note A at the end of this book, 
 and can be supplemented by reference to the Index and the 
 I^ist of Illustrations. 
 
 But without attempting to trace minutely the evolution of 
 the Greek temple or to describe the technical details of Greek 
 architecture (on which points full information can be found in 
 dictionaries and text-books) it may be well to state here the 
 main characteristics of the different orders and to add a few 
 facts in connexion with some of the chief temples. 
 
 The original shrine, generally of wood or sunburnt brick, 
 was an oblong, or rarely a round, building, like the ancient 
 Greek house, with a porch. Sometimes this porch had side 
 walls and perhaps a couple of wooden pillars in front, so 
 that the whole building consisted of a hall (the shrine proper, 
 or mo?) and a closed forecourt (Tr/ooVao?).^ Then the row 
 of pillars or columns was extended across the whole front of 
 
 ^ Ex. the Treasure-house of Megara at Delphi. 
 214 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 the building and the side walls of the porch were omitted, so 
 that an open portico was formed.^ Then a porch or portico 
 was placed at both ends of the building. ^ Next, a row of 
 columns was extended all round the building, which was said 
 to be peripteros — i.e. winged, or aisled — and sometimes the 
 portico had two rows of columns.^ Ivastly, two rows of columns 
 were placed all round, and there were also columned porches 
 at both ends of the building itself.* Such a temple was called 
 dipteros, ' two- winged.' The interior sanctuary (the paog or 
 a-rtKog, in which was the statue of the divinity facing east, so 
 that the light of the rising sun should illuminate it) had side 
 walls, but frequently had also inside them two rows of columns 
 (as in the great Paestum temple) , forming aisles and perhaps 
 supporting the roof. These interior aisles were sometimes 
 formed by two tiers of small columns, one on the top of the 
 other. Whether the interior building was generally, or ever, 
 hypaethral — i.e. open to the sky — is not quite certain. Certain 
 it is that the statue was not often unprotected by a roof ; 
 and it is probable that the open space was only just enough 
 to allow of sufficient light, as in the Pantheon at Rome. 
 
 The number of columns in the front of a temple was two, 
 four, six, eight, or ten. The side (counting the corner columns) 
 had generally one more than double the number of the front 
 columns. Thus the Parthenon is 8 x 17, the Theseion is 
 6 X 13, as also is the temple of Zeus at Olympia ; but Paestum 
 is 6 X 14, and so is the splendid temple at Segesta (Fig. 57). 
 
 The three orders of Greek architecture are the Doric (espe- 
 cially used in Western Hellas), the Ionic (at first peculiar to 
 Ionia), and the Corinthian. In the motherland we find all 
 three styles, but the Doric is the most ancient. 
 
 The Corinthian, with its slender shaft and its capital orna- 
 mented with rows of acanthus leaves, need not occupy our 
 attention now, for it was first invented about the time of the 
 Peloponnesian War. The earliest specimen known (c. 430) 
 
 1 Ex. the Erechtheion. 2 Ex. the Nike temple at Athens. 
 
 ' Ex. the Zeus temple at Olympia and the Parthenon. 
 * Ex. the Artemis temple at Ephesus. 
 
 215 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 is said to have been a single column (now lost) inserted in the 
 Ionic court of the Doric temple at Phigaleia (Fig. 84) . Other 
 fine examples are the monument of Lysicrates (Fig. 136), 
 the ' Temple of the Winds/ and the splendid columns of the 
 Olympieion at Athens (Figs. 54/134), erected by the Emperor 
 Hadrian. 
 
 The Doric order has a baseless, somewhat tapering column, 
 surmounted by a capital composed of a thick slab (abax, or 
 abacus) lying on a very flat oval moulding (the echinus). The 
 columns bear a plain architrave (' main beam '), which supports 
 the frieze and the projecting cornice. 
 
 The Ionic order has a slenderer column,^ standing on a base, 
 and bearing a capital whose main characteristic is two large 
 spiral volutes (evidently an artistic modification of the ox-heads 
 which occur in Oriental architecture, e.g. in the Persepolis 
 columns). The columns carry an entablature composed, as 
 in the Doric order, of architrave, frieze, and cornice, but the 
 face of the architrave is cut into three planes, each pro- 
 jecting a Httle above the one below it, and the friezes of the 
 two orders differ essentially. This difference of the friezes will 
 be noted at once in pictures of Doric and Ionic temples. 
 It will be seen that the Ionic frieze is one undivided space, 
 either plain or filled with a line of figures in procession or 
 otherwise forming a continuous series, whereas in the Doric 
 temples the frieze consists of numerous spaces (metopes), 
 either left plain or else filled each by a single group of 
 figures, 2 and every metope is divided from the next by a 
 kind of tablet of three bands sundered by flutings (triglyphs). 
 These triglyphs are said to represent the ends of the rafters, 
 which were visible in the old wooden temples, and the small 
 
 1 The Ionic column scarcely tapers at all. Its height is 16 to 18 semi- 
 diameters (modules). That of the Parthenon columns is 12. In the great 
 Paestum temple it is only 8, and in the Apollo temple at Corinth {the 
 most ancient perhaps in Greece) it is only yf . The columns of Atreus' Treasury 
 and the lyion Gate (Mycenae) taper downwards. 
 
 ^ In the Parthenon the external frieze consisted of metopes and triglyphs, 
 but the frieze of the inner building was Ionic in character, although the 
 columns were Doric. This is the frieze, representing the Pan?ithetiaic 
 procession, which is in the British Museum. 
 
 2l6 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 spherical ornaments (mutules) below and above the frieze are 
 supposed to represent rain-drops, or perhaps nail-heads. 
 
 Another characteristic, especially in the Doric style, is 
 that the column not only tapers considerably but it has a 
 slight outward curve (called the entasis) in the middle, the 
 object of which may have been to correct some optical error 
 in perspective. In the Parthenon this bulge is scarcely per- 
 ceptible. In the temple of Demeter at Paestum, or still 
 more in the ' Basilica,* it is disagreeably noticeable (Fig. 41). 
 At Phigaleia it seems entirely absent. 
 
 The columns of all three orders have almost always parallel 
 flutings. The Doric are sharp-edged, shallower, and fewer 
 (twenty in the Parthenon), the Ionic and Corinthian gene- 
 rally separated by fillets, semicircular, and numbering from 
 twenty-four up to thirty- two. Sometimes the lower part of 
 the Ionic column was left plain, or (as at Ephesus) was used for 
 sculptured reliefs. In later times spiral flutings were sometimes 
 used. 
 
 In point of size, especially in regard to height, Greek temples 
 are, of course, not comparable with our cathedrals, nor with 
 the great temples of the East, and, as Herodotus himself remarks, 
 " although the temple of Ephesus is worthy of note, and also 
 the temple of Samos, if all the great works of the Greeks could 
 be put together in one they would not equal " things that 
 are to be seen in Egypt. The length of the Olympieion at 
 
 I Acragas (Girgenti), the largest temple in the Hellenic world, 
 but (like its Athenian namesake) never completed, was 363 feet ; 
 that of the Samian Heraion was 346, that of the (earlier) 
 Ephesian temple was 342, and that of the Parthenon is 227 
 
 i feet. St. Paul's Cathedral is 513 feet long and St. Peter's at 
 
 I [ Rome is 613 feet. 
 
 I 
 
 Sculpture, down to the Persian Wars 
 
 In a former section we considered some of the main charac- 
 teristics of the religion that preceded the introduction of the 
 Olympian hierarchy, and noticed how the feelings of awe and 
 dread for the supernatural revealed themselves in grotesque 
 
 217 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 and horrible effigies, which were regarded with superstitious 
 reverence. This fetish- worship was by no means eradicated 
 by the new Olympian religion. Although we find little or no 
 trace of ' spook * or superstitious awe in Homer, who seems 
 to shrink instinctively from all that is grotesque, monstrous, 
 and uncanny, the old deisidaimonia survived (as we saw in 
 Hesiod's case) side by side with the brighter and more openly 
 professed Olympian orthodoxy, and during the sixth century 
 there seems to have been a great recrudescence of ' chthonian ' 
 cult, aggravated by the introduction and spread of the Orphic 
 creed and rites and the institution, or revival, of Dionysian 
 and Eleusinian Mysteries. This subject we shall meet again 
 when we come to the philosophers of the fifth century. At 
 present it will suffice to note the fact that Greek sculpture 
 was apparently a direct evolution from the fabrication of 
 grotesque fetish-idols, although it is impossible by any analysis 
 to discover the vital force which effected this wondrous develop- 
 ment — a development which in many cases, such as that of 
 Egypt and of Assyria and of other Oriental nations, has scarcely 
 taken place at all, and in no other case has been so rapid 
 and so perfect as in Greek art. Certainly we cannot account for 
 it by what we call civilization. In our sense of the word the 
 Persian Empire was in the age of Aeschylus and Pheidias at a 
 higher stage of civilization than Greece, and in the Hellenic 
 world the advent of a more scientific learning and research 
 and criticism was contemporary with the degeneracy, and was 
 soon followed by the disappearance, of all true art, until its 
 renascence in other forms. But however inexplicable it may 
 be, it is an incontestable fact that within less than two centuries 
 the superstitious awe attaching to some ghoulish monstrosity 
 or some formless stock or meteorite gave place to reverence 
 for the images of a Pheidian Zeus or Athene — reverence paid 
 not so much to the present deity as to the manifestation of the 
 grand, the serene, and the beautiful.^ 
 
 1 The testimony of many writers to the effect produced by the Pheidian 
 Zeus at Olympia is very striking. " Let a man sick and weary in soul," says 
 one of these, " who has passed through many distresses and sorrows, whose 
 
 2l8 
 
An Attic Hydria of the Middle Black-figured Period 218 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 The vital power which effected this development revealed 
 its workings not only in sculpture but also in other creations 
 of Hellenic genius — in Greek literature, Greek thought, Greek 
 mythology, and Greek theology, all of which bear testimony 
 to a genius essentially formative and artistic — perhaps we 
 may say essentially sculpturesque — a genius well described 
 as the converse of that of the Jewish nation, and one for which 
 the dangers of idolatry were to a great extent neutralized by 
 poetic imagination and reverence for the ideally beautiful. 
 
 Doubtless the imaginative and allegorical pictures of the 
 Olympian gods and the Olympian creed which we find in the 
 art of Homer and Pheidias and the dramatists do not reveal 
 to us the gross anthropomorphic superstitions of the populace, 
 which were, as we have seen, as bitterly denounced by Xeno- 
 phanes as was Jewish idolatry by Isaiah. Doubtless, as in every 
 age, the religion of the thinker and the true artist was not that 
 of the people, but in spite of all the superstitions in which it 
 was involved (and we need only think of Socrates to realize 
 them) this anthropomorphism of the popular theology was 
 a result of the same formative spirit to which was due the 
 evolution of Greek sculpture from the formless or grotesque 
 effigies of the early age of Greece. 
 
 Whether we should regard Greek plastic art as lineally 
 descended from Aegaean it is not easy to say. Aegaean 
 plastic art (as we see by the Vaphio cups) attained an 
 astonishing proficiency, but was apparently swept out of 
 existence by the Dorians. It may have survived and been 
 the germ from which sprang the glories of the Periclean age, 
 but it is foolish to refuse to recognize in Hellenic art, as in 
 Hellenic thought, the presence of many elements derived from 
 other sources — from Crete, I^ydia, Phrygia, the East, and 
 Hgypt — and to insist on an ' autochthonous ' originality in 
 the case of Greek sculpture or Greek thought which cannot 
 be claimed for Giotto, Dante, or Shakespeare. But whether 
 
 pillow is un visited by kindly sleep, stand in front of this image ; he will, 
 I deem, forget all the terrors and troubles of human life." (Quoted by 
 Professor Bury.) 
 
 219 
 
 i 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 of Aegaean or other origin in regard to some of its elements, 
 the art of classical Hellas is, of course, original in the true 
 sense of the word, being a re-creation — and that, too, into a 
 far higher existence. 
 
 Genuine statuary is said to have begun in Greece about 
 600, and the so-called ' archaic * period extends to the end of 
 the Persian wars, say 480. Of this period I shall give a brief 
 review, prefaced by a few remarks on the fetish-worship which 
 preceded the attempt to represent deity, and later also the 
 human form divine, as a thing of perfect beauty. 
 
 The ancient Greek idol was often merely a symbol of divine 
 presence — sometimes a rude figure (such as one finds in 
 thousands on sites of temples) of clay or wood or lead, fre- 
 quently grotesque or monstrous, sometimes a formless stock, ^ 
 or a ' heaven-fallen ' stone, or a pillar, such as we hear of in 
 the Bible and see in the Lion Gate at Mycenae and in pictures 
 of the Earth-goddess. Real statuary assuredly existed in 
 Greece (as, of course, in Egypt and the East) before the sixth 
 century,^ and rich and elaborate relief-work was produced, 
 as we see from the descriptions of the famous Cypselus chest 
 and the carved throne of the Apollo image at Amyclae. The 
 former, which Pausanias saw some 800 years later in the 
 Heraion at Olympia, was presented probably by Periander, 
 and was asserted to have been the actual chest in which 
 Cypselus was hidden by his mother {c. 655). In any case it is 
 probably the most ancient specimen of artistic Greek carved 
 work (if it was by a Greek artist) of which we have historical 
 record. The reliefs, in cedar wood, ivory, and gold, represented 
 mythological subjects (Pelops, Heracles, Perseus, &c.) in thirty- 
 three panels arranged in five parallel rows. The Amyclaean 
 
 1 These old wooden idols were called ^oava (' carved things ') , See Hdt. v. 82. 
 
 ' E.g. the gold and silver dogs and the golden torch-bearers of Od. vii. 
 and the Apollo statue intimated by //. i. 28, and the statue of Athene in//, vi. 
 92 and 303, evidently imagined in a sitting position. A colossal gold-plated 
 statue of Zeus was given by Cypselus or Periander [c. 600) to Olympia. Also 
 we hear of an artist of Rhegium, Clearchus, who at a very early period made 
 a bronze statue (not cast, but plated) of Zeus at Sparta. Moreover, there is 
 a stone sculpture still existing in Greece that is far older than Homer — the 
 Lions of Mycenae. 
 
 220 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 throne was also decorated by about twenty-seven reliefs 
 (probably in bronze), and was supported by figures of the 
 Seasons, the Graces, Tritons, &c. It was the work of a I^ydian 
 (Magnesian) artist, Bathycles, who may have come to Sparta 
 in the time of Croesus (say 550), but whose date is possibly 
 considerably earlier. This was a work produced by a foreign 
 artist ^ as a throne, or screen, for a Greek god. But in what 
 form was that god represented ? He was, as Pausanias tells 
 us, a bronzen pillar, some 45 feet high, " with head and hands 
 and feet attached." Such old fetishes, pillars and logs and 
 meteorites, sometimes quite formless or else shaped into 
 some rude resemblance to humanity or to some monstrous 
 thing, and decked out with ornaments, were not seldom pre- 
 served reverentially in temples^ — hidden away like Bambini 
 and relics and displayed only on solemn occasions — long after 
 a splendid statue of the deity had been erected in the sanc- 
 tuary. At Troy we hear of the Palladium, and at Ephesus 
 and on the Tauric Chersonese of the heaven-fallen image of 
 Artemis, and in the Brechtheion there was kept an old ^oavov 
 of Athene long after the Pheidian goddess had been erected in 
 the Parthenon, and at Phigaleia existed (and was renewed 
 in bronze by Onatas of Aegina) a monstrous horse-headed 
 Demeter. Doubtless of the nature of the ancient wooden or 
 clay idol were the ' Aeacidae ' — the images of the old Aeginetan 
 heroes Aeacus, Telamon, and Peleus of which Herodotus tells 
 us. The Aeginetans, he says, when appealed to by the Thebans 
 for help, " sent them the Aeacidae," and the Thebans, " relying 
 on the assistance of the Aeacidae," ventured on war, but were 
 beaten ; whereupon they returned the Aeacidae and " besought 
 the Aeginetans to send them men instead." Moreover, in 
 spite of this experience, just before the battle of Salamis, 
 
 * Ivydia, Phrygia, and I^ycia all seem to have reached an advanced stage 
 in plastic art before Greece, and doubtless, as well as Egypt, Crete, and the 
 East, contributed many important elements for the development of Greek 
 sculpture. The great rock-relief of ' Niobe ' (probably the Earth-Mother 
 Cybele) on Mount Sipylus in Lydia is very ancient, and so are recently dis- 
 covered tombs in Phrygia with lions like those of Mycenae. Sculptured 
 monuments of high antiquity, probably of Hittite provenance, have lately 
 been discovered at Pteria, the ancient capital of Cappadocia. 
 
 221 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 says Herodotus, " sl ship was sent by the Athenians toAegina 
 to fetch Aeacus and the other Aeacidae/' 
 
 According to tradition, the first sculptors and workers in 
 metals were superhuman beings, such as Hephaestus and the 
 fabled tribes of Phrygian Dactyli and Cretan and Rhodian 
 Telchines and I^emnian Cabiri and the Cyclopes. Then we 
 hear of Daedalus. The name may be an epithet (' the artificer '), 
 but there is no good reason to doubt that it was given to some 
 great worker in metals and sculptor and inventor (possibly 
 even of wings!), whom legend and Homer ^ connect with Minos, 
 and thus also with Theseus and Athens, intimating doubt- 
 less the artistic connexion between Crete and Greece in the 
 Minoan age. 
 
 Daedalus is said to have made statues that could see and 
 walk, and even run away if they were not chained to their 
 pedestals ! This we may accept as an imaginative way of 
 saying that he first gave usable-looking legs to statues and 
 opened their eyes and freed their arms.^ But it will be seen 
 that he and his followers, the Daedalidae, did not succeed 
 at once in banishing the type of the old image with cone-shaped 
 or columnar nether extremities and arms glued to its side, 
 or with its figure swathed in massive drapery and forming a 
 solid piece with the marble on which it is seated — as if doomed 
 to sit there for all eternity. 
 
 After about 600 the sculptors and masterpieces mentioned 
 by old writers become very numerous, but of many nothing 
 survives but the name. For our object it will be enough to 
 limit ourselves to what can be illustrated by extant monuments. 
 Of these relics there are several well-defined types, in which we 
 trace the evolution from the primitive idol to a statue of high 
 artistic value. 
 
 (i) The first of these types is a figure whose lower half, 
 though no longer a mere column or block, is columnar, with the 
 
 * Homer frequently uses cognate words (daidaXeos, SaidaXXeiv, &c.) in 
 connexion with artistic decoration, but only mentions Daedalus as the maker 
 of a dancing-ground for Ariadne. With ' Daedalus ' cf. the half-mythical 
 sculptor ' Smilis ' ((t/xiXt; = sculptor's chisel). 
 
 ' Something analogous can be said of Giotto. 
 
 222 
 
58, Statue from the Branchidae Tempi^e 
 
 59. The ' Harpy Tomb 
 
 222 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 legs undefined and entirely hidden by a stiff, shapeless skirt, 
 below which the feet protrude side by side. The arms are 
 attached to the sides, the drapery has no real folds or texture, 
 but is a solid mass marked with conventional lines. The head- 
 dress is of an Egyptian or Oriental character, generally with 
 broad flat masses of hair hanging down in front of each shoulder. 
 This type is well illustrated by the ' Naxian Artemis ' (Fig. 50) 
 discovered in Delos, where Nicandra of Naxos dedicated the 
 image to the goddess, and by a similar, but headless, statue 
 found near the site of the great Hera temple in Samos. 
 
 (ii) Secondly, there are heavily draped seated figures 
 which, in early examples, seem, as has been said, to form one 
 solid piece with the block or throne on which they sit. Of 
 this type the Branchidae statues (which are in the British 
 Museum) offer fine examples. The specimen given in Fig. 58 
 is inscribed with the name ' Chares of Techiussa,' probably 
 some great Milesian, possibly a tyrant of Miletus long before 
 its destruction by Darius in 494. (See Note A at the end of 
 this book for the Branchidae temple.) 
 
 The Cretan statue given in Fig. 6 was perhaps of the same 
 character. The lower half is wanting, but not only the flat 
 masses of pendent (probably false) hair but also the general 
 pose remind one forcibly of seated Egyptian statues. It is the 
 only specimen extant of Cretan sculpture of this period, and 
 shows perhaps the style of the followers of Daedalus, such as 
 Dipoenus and Scyllis, who are said to have introduced statuary 
 (c. 580) from Crete into the Peloponnese. This statue is 
 perhaps considerably older than any of those from the temple 
 of the Branchidae. 
 
 (iii) Thirdly, we have winged figures, possibly an imitation ' 
 from Oriental art. In classical Greek art wings are rare, as 
 being unnatural. In Oriental art we often have four or six 
 wings, and it seems just possible that the oldest Greek Victory 
 (Nike) extant may have had six. It is a very uncouth thing, 
 
 1 For wings in Greek sculpture I may perhaps refer to an appendix in my 
 edition of Virgil's A eneid, i. (Blackie & Son) . In later sculpture Victory, Cupid, 
 and Death are winged. See Fig. 119 and p. 419. 
 
 223 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 but is highly interesting as one of the first Greek statues with 
 unmistakable legs — legs, too, that are bent. Perhaps the 
 goddess was represented flying. From small bronzes that 
 repeat the type it seems probable that the figure floated, 
 suspended by the drapery. Its wings were probably coloured. 
 It has a rather sour archaic smile and an elaborate system of 
 forehead curls and pendent tresses. It is also interesting 
 because it may be the actual statue referred to by Aristophanes, 
 who says that Achermus of Chios was the first to make a 
 winged Nike. It was discovered in Delos, whither many 
 statues were sent as offerings from other Aegaean islands, 
 and a pedestal was discovered near it on which were the names 
 of Micciades and Achermus, the Chian sculptors, whose date 
 is about 570. Winged figures occur also on vases and in other 
 paintings of this period. They are sometimes purely decora- 
 tive (as perhaps on the Clazomenae sarcophagus. Fig. 45), 
 sometimes they represent a winged Artemis, sometimes 
 Harpies, Fates (/cr/pe?), genii, or evil spirits. The finest 
 example of this (of about 550) is the famous ' Harpy tomb/ 
 a monument evidently of Greek (Ionic) work, but discovered 
 in lyycia and now in the British Museum (Fig. 59). The 
 winged bird-like figures are doubtless death-goddesses who are 
 carrying away the souls of the dead. The central portion 
 represents probably Hades, the king of the lower world, or 
 else a deceased hero, receiving gifts — a motive found on many 
 Greek tombs, the earliest examples being very ancient Spartan 
 gravestones. ^ These sculptures formed a part of the frieze of 
 a massive square monument, some 30 feet high. The relief 
 was elaborately painted, but the colours have quite disap- 
 peared. From frescoes on the internal walls of the sepulchral 
 chamber it seems as if the monument was used in early 
 Christian times by a ' Stylite ' (a hermit who lived on the top 
 of a column). 
 
 (iv) Fourthly, we have draped figures, mostly female, in 
 which the arms are, in later examples, no longer attached to the 
 sides, but bent and projecting forward (made of a separate 
 
 ^ Cf. the (later) stele of Hegeso, Fig. 106. 
 224 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 piece and inserted) or crossed over the body ; and^the left foot 
 is almost always advanced. In these statues the drapery 
 is no longer massive and conventional, but treated with a 
 skill that shows a very great advance. Of this type we have 
 striking examples in the fourteen female statues excavated 
 some twenty-seven years ago on the Acropolis (p. 228). Their 
 date is probably about 520 to 500. 
 
 (v) I^astly, a large number of later archaic Greek statues 
 belong to what is called the * nude male' type.^ They are 
 full length, and fully developed in limb, and show great ana- 
 tomical knowledge and artistic skill. They seem not seldom to 
 represent the god Apollo ^ (thence are commonly known as 
 ' Apollos '), but are evidently sometimes statues of athletes. 
 Nude ' Apollos ' of this type have been found in Naxos, 
 Thera, Melos, and other places. A very striking early example, 
 now at Munich, was found at Tenea (between Corinth and 
 Mycenae). It has the antique Egyptian 'wig' and the 
 archaic grimace, but the anatomy is finely treated. The 
 finest examples, however, come from Boeotia, especially from 
 the sanctuary of Apollo on Mount Ptoon. They are archaic 
 in style, but give evidence of a careful study of the human body, 
 and are the first distinct intimations of that mastery of the 
 Greeks in statuary which has never been approached. In 
 connexion with these ' Apollos ' should be mentioned the 
 statues of athletes. We hear of wooden statues of athletes 
 erected at Olympia about 540, and one at Phigaleia perhaps 
 as early as 560. The chief makers of athlete statues were 
 the sculptors of Argos and Sicyon. Ancient writers speak of 
 the great pre-eminence of these schools, and doubtless their 
 statuary, which consisted at this epoch mainly of avSpLavTe<s 
 (' men-portraits ') rather than ayoKixara or avaQrfiJ.aTa (images 
 [for worship or dedication), had a very great influence on 
 1 Attic art. Unfortunately — perhaps because they worked 
 1 mostly in bronze, which tempted the plunderer — nothing of 
 
 * These various types are given by Professor Vi. Gardner in his Handbook 
 'f Greek Sculpture. 
 2 A colossal nude Poseidon was found at Sunion in 1906. 
 
 P 225 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 any importance, except a bronze statuette of a very heavily 
 built athlete, has survived, and we must content ourselves 
 with the facts that the Argive Ageladas ^ was the master of 
 two of the most illustrious Athenian sculptors, Pheidias and 
 Myron, as well as of Polycleitus (who himself was perhaps an 
 Argive), and that Canachus of Sicyon made for the Branchidae 
 temple a bronze Apollo which was carried off by Darius and 
 restored by Seleucus. 
 
 The reliefs on Attic tombstones of this period may be men- 
 tioned in connexion with portrait sculpture. Of these the 
 most interesting is that of Aristion (Fig. 51), probably the same 
 Aristion who proposed giving a bodyguard to Peisistratus 
 {c. 560). Although archaic in style, it shows the very delicate 
 modelling and finish for which the early Athenian school is so 
 remarkable. 
 
 Thus, very faintly and discontinuously amidst all the 
 complexities of the subject, we are able to trace the evolution 
 of the statue of the classical period from the primitive Koavov, 
 In doing this we have left unnoticed some very important 
 facts connected with the use of statuary for architectural 
 purposes. I shall, therefore, add a few words about, firstly, 
 the sculptures from the ancient temple at Selinus ; secondly, 
 the archaic sculptures excavated on the Athenian Acropolis ; 
 and, thirdly, the Aeginetan marbles. 
 
 (i) On the site of the most ancient of the temples at Selinus, 
 in Sicily (see Note A), have been discovered some metopes 
 (reliefs on a Doric frieze) which are probably the oldest extant 
 perfect specimens of Greek architectural sculpture. Origi- 
 nally they were coloured and had a dark blue background, 
 but only faint traces of colour remain. They date from about 
 600, and are thus some half-century older than the Croesus 
 column, and still older than the ' Harpy tomb ' (Figs. 52, 59). 
 Three of the earliest of them, casts of which are to be seen in 
 the British Museum, represent Perseus cutting off the Gorgon's 
 
 ^ See Hdt. v. 72 for the Olympian victor {c. 520) whose statue by Ageladas 
 was seen at Olympia by Pausanias. As Ageladas also made a statue of Zeus 
 for the Messenians at Naupactus in 459, he must have lived and worked to 
 a great age. 
 
 226 
 
6o. BUROPA ON THE BUI^I, 
 
 Metope from temple at SeJinus 
 
 226 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 head, Heracles carrying the Cercopes ^ suspended Hke rabbits 
 to the two ends of a pole, and a chariot with its four horses 
 facing the spectator — a clever bit of perspective. Some of 
 the figures are exceedingly uncouth, misproportioned, and dis- 
 torted, and the faces repulsive with their goggle eyes and mean- 
 ingless stare, but they are interesting as being original Greek 
 work (Selinus having been founded by Megara), and showing 
 no such evidence of Egyptian, Cretan, or Oriental influence 
 as is noticeable in much of the early sculpture that we have 
 been considering. The Selinus metope of which Fig. 60 
 gives a representation is from another temple, and is perhaps 
 of somewhat later date (say about 580). It is of very much 
 more artistic conception and execution, and has considerable 
 dignity and vigour and delicacy in detail, although it is 
 thoroughly archaic in its outlines and perspective. The subject 
 — Europa being carried by the bull across the sea (intimated 
 by a dolphin) from Phoenicia to Crete — seems to point to 
 Cretan workmanship or influence. 
 
 (2) After the departure of the Persians, who had twice 
 (in 480 and 479) sacked Athens and had burnt or broken down 
 as far as they could every temple and monument, the Athenians 
 at once set to work to rebuild on a more magnificent scale, 
 and in order to obtain a larger area on the Acropolis they 
 erected (on the advice of Cimon or Themistocles) strong walls 
 on the upper slopes and filled in the spaces between these 
 walls and the top of the hill, using for this purpose the relics 
 of the old temples — such as the ancient temple of Athene 
 Polias — which had stood on the summit. During the years 
 1882-87 these spaces were thoroughly searched, and many 
 statues and inscriptions and architectural fragments were 
 excavated, which have thrown a great deal of light on the 
 question of Athenian sculpture in the sixth century. The 
 most important of these finds are (a) remains of the pediments 
 of some very ancient temples, {b) remains of the pediment 
 of the temple of Athene Polias — rebuilt by Peisistratus — and 
 (c) a series of fourteen female statues, more or less perfect. 
 
 ^ For these mischievous little gnomes see Rawlinson's note to Hdt. vii. 216. 
 
 227 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 (a) The ancient pediments (to be seen in the Acropolis 
 Museum at Athens) are of yellow limestone (poros). One 
 represents Heracles killing the Hydra ; in another he is wrest- 
 ling with Triton, the ' old man of the sea,' while from the other 
 corner is advancing — perhaps against Zeus, who was his great 
 adversary — the horrid monster Typhon, with three human 
 heads and busts (reminding one of Dante's Geryon, whose 
 face was that of a just man), and a winged body with inter- 
 woven snakes for feet, and a long dragon tail. All these 
 monsters were originally painted in bright reds and blues 
 and greens, like terra-cottas, and set against a coloured back- 
 ground. They doubtless date from a time earlier than that of 
 Peisistratus — probably from about the same period as that of 
 the Selinus sculptures. So shocking to the modern Hellenist 
 does their barbarous monstrosity appear — especially when 
 imagined in their pristine glare of colour — that some suppose 
 them to be products of the Dark Age, and to have been buried 
 out of sight long before the advent of the Persians, as offensive 
 to public taste. Perhaps one was the pediment of the ancient 
 shrine of Athene Polias before it was rebuilt by Peisistratus. 
 
 (b) The pediment of the old temple of Athene was in Parian 
 marble. Its fragments have been successfully reconstructed 
 into a ' gigantomachia ' — a battle between Athene and giants. 
 Three she has overthrown, and is striking at one with her 
 spear while she holds extended the aegis — originally gorgeously 
 decorated with red and blue and green scales. The date of 
 this marble pediment may be about 540. It was probably 
 erected by Peisistratus when he turned the old shrine of Athene 
 into a Doric temple (see Note A) . 
 
 (c) Fourteen female draped statues in Parian marble 
 (eight of them with heads) were excavated, mostly from the 
 filled-up space between the Erechtheion and the north-western 
 wall of the Acropolis. What they represent, whether priestesses 
 or donors or dedicated portraits, is unknown. Perhaps they 
 stood in or near the old temple of Athene. They are all in 
 slightly different attitudes, but all are erect, with left foot 
 advanced and forearm projecting horizontally, as if they held 
 228 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 some offering in the hand (Fig. 37). The dress — evidently 
 that which prevailed at Athens in the age of Peisistratus — 
 consists of a long crimpled Ionic chiton, fastened above the 
 upper arm with small brooches (jepovai, fibulae) or buttons, 
 and a peplos, doubled and fastened over the right shoulder 
 by fibulae. In some cases the peplos is wanting ; in others it 
 is fastened, like a Doric chiton, over both shoulders. The 
 drapery, of which parts were richly decorated and coloured, 
 is of exquisitely delicate and elaborate workmanship, though 
 in this, as in the type of face and otherwise, there is a great 
 difference between the earlier and the later of these statues. 
 Some have the goggle eyes and meaningless stare or grimace 
 of archaic sculpture ; in others the face shows considerable 
 character and is very finely modelled, giving evidence of a 
 great advance in the direction of that feminine grace and 
 delicacy which is one of the characteristics of early Attic 
 sculpture, and to which, when wedded to the manly vigour of 
 the athletic Argive school, we owe the development of the 
 highest types of Greek plastic art — those which we associate 
 with the names of Pheidias, Myron, and Praxiteles. 
 
 Before the excavations on the Acropolis we possessed scarcely 
 any relics of Athenian sculpture during the period preceding 
 the Persian wars. Nor was this surprising, for the Persians 
 were not only intensely embittered against Athens and therefore 
 wreaked their vengeance by wholesale destruction, but they 
 were also fire- worshippers and therefore iconoclasts. In 
 Asia Minor the Bphesian temple was the only one spared by 
 Xerxes, and in Attica every shrine and every image was 
 destroyed or mutilated. This explains the total disappearance 
 : of many buildings and works of art mentioned by ancient 
 ; writers. And much that was made of valuable material 
 and was transportable was doubtless carried off to the Bast. 
 This probably accounts for the disappearance of the bronze 
 four-horse chariot which is said to have been erected on the 
 left hand of the steps leading up to the Acropolis, as a trophy ^ 
 of the victorious Chalcidian campaign of 506. It certainly 
 
 ^ Pericles probably set another in its place. 
 
 229 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 does account for the temporary disappearance of another 
 work of art — the bronze statues of the tyrannicides Harmodius 
 and Aristogeiton, made by the sculptor Antenor, whose name 
 occurs on what is beHeved to be the basis of the largest and 
 best preserved of the ' Tanten ' (' Aunts ') — to use a name 
 that has been given to the draped female statues lately de- 
 scribed. These bronze tyrannicides were carried off by Xerxes, 
 but restored to Athens by Alexander the Great, or one of his 
 successors, and were seen by Pausanias standing in the 
 Athenian Agora side by side with the marble statues (possibly 
 replicas from memory) which had been erected at once (c. 477) 
 to retrieve the loss. Now for the most part of the six 
 centuries between the age of Xerxes and that of Pausanias these 
 groups — one in bronze and the other in marble — were among 
 the most famiHar sights in Athens. They seem to have been 
 spared even by the rapacious Sulla, and by Caligula and Nero 
 himself, but possibly found their way to Constantinople 
 with the bronzen Athene and the Olympian Zeus of Pheidias. 
 Anyhow, they disappeared. But not many years ago re- 
 productions of one of the groups on a vase and a coin and a 
 marble chair (now at Broom Hall, in England) led to the 
 recognition of two statues in the Naples Museum (Fig. 61) 
 as copies — it is uncertain whether of Antenor' s bronzes or the 
 marbles of Critius and Nesiotes. Probably Antenor's statues 
 (if we may judge from the ' Tante ' attributed to him) were 
 much more archaic in style than these dramatically animated 
 figures. It should be remarked that the figure with the 
 chlamys on the left arm is that of Aristogeiton, the elder of 
 the two tyrannicides, and that the original statue had a bearded 
 head, for which in modern times a youthful beardless head of 
 fourth-century work has been substituted. 
 
 The last Athenian statue that I shall mention here belongs 
 as regards date rather to the next period, for Calamis, the 
 sculptor who probably made it, was born only some ten years 
 before Pheidias and survived him (having, it is said, made a 
 statue to Apollo, the Stayer of Evil, to commemorate the 
 cessation of the great plague of 430). Calamis is classed by 
 230 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 ancient writers among the greatest Greek sculptors, and the 
 Hst of his works is long. He made many famous statues of 
 gods, and was also celebrated for his horses. He is said to have 
 been an Athenian, and his style was probably that of the 
 earlier Attic school, which, as we have seen, was distinguished 
 for its grace and delicacy rather than for athletic muscularity 
 and vigour. Of his works we possessed until lately not one 
 single specimen, and it is by no means certain that we now 
 possess one, but it seems likely — especially as he is known to 
 have accepted various commissions from Hiero of Syracuse 
 and to have made him several bronze horses. The statue in 
 question (Fig. 74) is an exceedingly fine bronze which was 
 found at Delphi about fifteen years ago. It represents a 
 youthful charioteer, who stood originally on a chariot at rest, to 
 judge from fragments of the horses that have been found. The 
 tranquil, self-possessed dignit^T- of the figure, the careful and 
 graceful treatment of the long charioteer robe, and the ex- 
 ceedingly delicate modelling of the arms, hands, and feet offer 
 a striking contrast to the bold, Michelangelesque work of the 
 Peloponnesian athletic schools. Upon the basis a fragmen- 
 tary inscription contains the word polyzalos (' much-loved '), 
 which may be a name ; and possibly the group was dedicated 
 by Polyzalus, brother to Hiero. This high-bred youth is 
 therefore possibly Polyzalus himself or some younger member 
 of the princely Syracusan family. It is known that Hiero 
 won chariot-races at Olympia. 
 
 (3) The so-called Aeginetan marbles, remains of the two 
 pediments of the temple of Athene (or, if we may infer so from 
 an inscription found on the site, the temple of a local goddess 
 named Aphaia), were discovered in 1811. Casts are to be seen 
 in the British Museum, but the originals are in the Glyptothek 
 at Munich, restored and reconstructed by the Danish sculptor 
 Thorwaldsen (Fig. 63). A more successful reconstruction (the 
 models of which are also in the Munich Museum) has been made 
 by Professor Furtwangler, who in 190 1 excavated further frag- 
 ments. He divides the combatants into groups, and makes 
 the archers shoot towards the corners instead of towards the 
 
 231 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 centre, where Athene stands, and fills up the two cornets 
 with two prostrate bodies. The scene of the west pediment is 
 evidently some episode in the Trojan War in which Aeginetan 
 heroes (Aeacidae, such as Ajax and Achilles ?) took part, and 
 the subject of the east pediment seems to be the earlier expe- 
 dition against I^aomedon of Troy made by Heracles and 
 Telamon, king of Aegina. Both the figures of Athene are stiff 
 and archaic. Possibly they are old statues belonging to the 
 temple before the erection of the other figures — ^which date 
 evidently from the years following the battle of Marathon. 
 Some of the figures had bronze armour originally. At this 
 epoch paint or gilt was used only for dress, ornaments, eyes, Hps, 
 and hair. The nude was mostly represented by plain or tinted 
 marble. Its surface was very often oiled and polished and 
 slightly coloured, both in the case of Parian and also in that of 
 the somewhat yellower Pentelic (Attic) marble, which came 
 into use during the fifth century. The glittering white of 
 Carrara marble, unrelieved by any colour, as we see it in 
 modern sculpture galleries, would have seemed repellently 
 cold and inartistic to the Greek. The dismay that we gene- 
 rally feel at colour in statuary and architecture may be an 
 evidence of very refined sensibility, but it is essentially un- 
 Greek. 
 
 The sculptor of these pediments is not known for certain, 
 but probably it was Onatas, the most celebrated of the Aeginetan 
 school, which was evidently closely related to the Pelopon- 
 nesian schools of athletic sculpture. Before Onatas, another 
 famous Aeginetan sculptor, Smilis, had made the Samian 
 Hera ; and ancient writers give us to understand that Aegina 
 in early times was famed for its sculptors, but of this we possess 
 almost no evidence except these Aeginetan marbles ; and the 
 Aeginetan school, even if famous, was short-lived, for the 
 existence of Aegina as an independent state was blotted out 
 by Athens in 455. Onatas is said to have made statues for 
 many cities both in Greece and Western Hellas, and, like 
 Calami s, to have received commissions from Hiero for bronze 
 horses and charioteers. He also made warrior groups for 
 232 
 
62. Tempi^e of Aphaia, Aegina 
 
 63. Aegina Pediment 
 
 232 
 
THE AGE OF PEISISTRATUS 
 
 dedication at Olympia and Delphi. It is therefore very 
 probable that the pediments of the Aegina temple were his 
 work. They show remarkable anatomical knowledge. The 
 modelling of the limbs is exact and firm. But the faces are 
 those of mere fighters or athletes, entirely devoid of higher 
 human interest, and, except perhaps technically, these 
 specimens of Aeginetan art stand lower than many older 
 sculptures, and very much lower than the best Attic art of 
 the next period. 
 
 233 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 (500-478) 
 
 SECTIONS : THE GREEKS AND CARTHAGINIANS IN SICILY : 
 
 PINDAR 
 
 IN the last chapter the thread of the narrative was dropped 
 at the arrival of Darius at Sardis after his Thracian and 
 Scythian expedition of 512. He had left Megabazus with 
 an army of 80,000 men in Thrace, the greater part of which, 
 as well as Paeonia, to the west of the Strymon, was brought 
 under Persian dominion and remained tributary to the Great 
 King for some fifteen years. 
 
 When Darius left Sardis for Susa he appointed his brother 
 Artaphernes satrap of the western province of the Persian 
 Empire. The Greek cities on the mainland were governed by 
 Greek tyrants who were responsible to this Persian satrap at 
 Sardis. For some years things went on quietly. Then came 
 the explosion known as the Ionian revolt, and this was followed 
 by the Persian invasions of Greece : first (after an unsuccess- 
 ful attempt by Mardonius) the invasion by the fleet and 
 army of Darius under the command of Datis and Arta- 
 phernes, who were beaten at Marathon ; then the far 
 more serious invasion by Xerxes, whom the Greeks defeated 
 at Salamis. 
 
 The story of the Ionic revolt and the Persian invasions is 
 told by Herodotus in the last four books of his history. With 
 an art that veils itself in seeming artlessness he leads us leisurely 
 onward with his simple, unaffected tale, lingering ever and 
 again over what some may deem unessential details, and making 
 long and delightful digressions, but leaving nevertheless in 
 the mind a far more distinct picture than that which we gain 
 
 234 
 
THE PERSIAN INVAftJONS 
 
 from many more scrupulously critical and correct accounts. 
 Those who have the leisure for such readinf^nd are not forced 
 by a scientific conscience or by the exigencies of examination 
 to use the more sceptical and accurate compilations of modern 
 historians, will find in Herodotus, or in the admirable, though 
 rather free, version of his history by Canon Rawlijfton, the 
 best and most attractive of all descriptions of this period. 
 The same kind of sensation as one has when gliding gently and 
 steadily over a smooth blue sea, with now and then a slight 
 pressure of the hand on the tiller, will be experienced as the 
 story is followed, with now and then a glance at some foot-note 
 which respectfully corrects or supplements the statements of 
 the Father of History. 
 
 This episode of the world's history is so well known and has 
 been related so often that I shall not attempt to give any very 
 detailed account of it. Moreover, whatever value the story, 
 as told by Herodotus, has for the true student — and it has 
 much — consists in its panoramic effects and its revelation of 
 human and national character, and this value is not increased 
 by a too anxious reconstruction of battles and other military 
 operations, or a too anxious scepticism as regards statistics. I 
 shall therefore briefly state the main facts, and then add a 
 little colour to the bare outline by quoting descriptive passages 
 from Herodotus or other sources.^ 
 
 It will be remembered that Histiaeus, tyrant of Miletus, 
 who had accompanied Darius on the Scythian expedition, 
 had persuaded his fellow- Greeks not to break down the bridge 
 over the Danube. The king bade him name his reward. 
 He asked for the gift of the town Myrcinus, on the river 
 Strymon, near the site of the future Amphipolis, and at once 
 • began to fortify it and to collect troops — a procedure which so 
 aroused the suspicions of Megabazus, the commander of the 
 Persian army in Thrace, that he sent word to Darius. The 
 j result was that Darius, who was still at Sardis, informed 
 Histiaeus that he could not bear his absence any longer and 
 
 ^ Quotations in this chapter are all from Herodotus, unless otherwise stated. 
 ^y versions are founded to some extent on Canon Rawlinson's translation. 
 
 235 
 
 V 
 
 I 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 ordered him to come to Sardis, and thence took him to Susa, 
 where for twelve years he led the envied life of a " benefacl-or 
 of the king " — gnawing his heart with anger and longing for 
 an opportunity for revenge. 
 
 Now the government of Miletus had passed into the hands of 
 Aristagoras, the son-in-law of Histiaeus. He quarrelled with 
 a Persian commander, Megabates, with whom he had made 
 an unsuccessful raid on Naxos, and (perhaps encouraged by a 
 message from Histiaeus tattooed on the head of a slave) 
 resolved to incite a general revolt of the Hellenic cities against 
 Persia. Democracies were set up in place of tyrannies, and 
 Aristagoras himself, having resigned his government, visited 
 Sparta and vainly tried to win the aid of King Cleomenes. 
 He then went to Athens, and " it being easier,'* says 
 Herodotus, " to deceive a multitude than one man, he suc- 
 ceeded with the Athenians, who were 30,000, though he had 
 failed with Cleomenes. They voted that twenty ships should 
 be sent to the aid of the lonians . . . and these ships were the 
 beginning of trouble between the Greeks and the barbarians." 
 The Eretrians joined with five triremes. With their fleet thus 
 powerfully reinforced, the lonians, had they followed the 
 advice of the historian Hecataeus to fortify some island, 
 might have held their own in the Aegaean and on the 
 coast, but, having landed near Bphesus, they marched up to 
 Sardis " with a great host," and took it. The city contained 
 many houses built of reed, and, a fire having broken out, it 
 was burnt (497). The Greeks hastily retreated, but were 
 overtaken and cut to pieces by Artaphernes and the Persians,_^ 
 and though the revolt spread to Cyprus and Caria and the 
 Propontis, it was suppressed. Aristagoras fled to Myrcinus 
 and met his death in Thrace, but Miletus still headed the 
 revolt against Persia. Histiaeus, having at length persuaded ^ 
 Darius to let him return to the West in order to pacify 
 his fellow-Greeks, aroused the suspicions of Artaphernes at 
 Sardis and fled. He tried in vain to re-enter Miletus. Then 
 he took to piracy in the Hellespont, but at last was caught and 
 put to death by the Persian satrap, an act reprimanded by 
 236 
 
64. TiiK ' Darius Vase; 
 
 236 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 Darius, who, when the head of Histiaeus was brought to him, 
 bade it be buried honourably " as the head of a man who had 
 been a great benefactor to the king and his people." 
 
 The Persians then with a vast land force, and with 600 ships 
 drawn from Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Egypt, prepared to lay 
 siege to Miletus. The Greek fleet of 353 triremes assembled 
 at the island of lyade — now a hillock in the midst of the wide 
 swampy plain which was once the splendid I^atmic bay at the 
 mouth of the Maeander. Treason and cowardice gave the 
 victory to the barbarians. The Samians deserted in the midst 
 of the battle and sailed home.^ Miletus was captured (493). 
 *' Most of the men were killed. The women and children were 
 made slaves. Those whose lives were spared were carried to 
 Susa, but received no ill-treatment from Darius, who established 
 them at Ampe, a city on the Persian Gulf near the mouth of 
 the Tigris. The sanctuary [of the Branchidae] at Didyma 
 was plundered and burnt." (See p. 223 and Fig. 58.) 
 
 On his expulsion from Athens in 510 Hippias, the son of 
 
 Peisistratus, had lived first at Sigeum. The Spartans had 
 
 tried to restore him, but had been foiled by their allies. He 
 
 then did his utmost to gain help from Persia, and Artaphernes 
 
 had threatened Athenian envoys at Sardis that " if they 
 
 wished to remain safe, they must receive Hippias back " ; but 
 
 nothing had come of it. Though now an old man of seventy, 
 
 Hippias himself, who was now at Susa, had doubtless urged his 
 
 claims with Darius during these last dozen years or so, and had 
 
 rejoiced at the anger of the Great King against the Athenians 
 
 I and at the subjugation of the lonians. It was, however, not 
 
 I the laments of the old Hippias but the burning of Sardis 
 
 i that determined Darius to wipe out Athens and Kretria 
 
 I from existence and transport their inhabitants to the far East. 
 
 j In the spring of 492 he ordered Mardonius, " a youth lately 
 
 I married to Artazostra, the king's daughter," to take a great 
 
 I fleet from Cilicia to the Hellespont, whither a vast army was 
 
 I sent to meet him. (On his voyage along the Ionian coast he 
 
 I * Shortly afterwards a large number of the Samians " of the richer sort " 
 1 went off to Western Hellas and occupied Zancle (Messina). 
 
 237 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 '' put down all the tyrants and established democracies ' — a 
 fact that Herodotus regards as " a marvel.") He crosse-; the 
 Hellespont successfully with all his land army, but his flee' was 
 wrecked while attempting to round the dangerous promontory 
 of Athos. *' It is said that the number of ships destroyed 
 was nearly 300, and the men who perished were more than 
 20,000. The sea around Athos abounds in monsters, and some 
 of the men were seized and devoured by these animals." 
 After subjugating a Thracian tribe, from whom he had 
 suffered great losses, Mardonius withdrew to Asia, " having 
 failed disgracefully. ' ' 
 
 When Darius had first heard of the burning of Sardis, " laying 
 aside all thought of the lonians, who would, he was sure, pay 
 dearly for their revolt, he had asked, Who are these Athenians ? " 
 — as Cyrus once had asked. Who are these Spartans ? — " and 
 when he was informed, he called for his bow and placed an 
 arrow on the string and shot into the sky, exclaiming. Grant 
 me, Zeus " — he probably said Ormuzd — " to revenge myself on 
 these Athenians I Then he bade one of his attendants every 
 day when his dinner was served thrice to repeat these words : 
 Master, remember the Athenians I " And now the failure of 
 Mardonius had deepened his resentment and his determination. 
 He transferred the command of the armament to the Mede 
 Datis and to his own nephew Artaphernes, who had probably 
 succeeded his father as satrap at Sardis. A mighty fleet was 
 collected by the seaport towns tributary to Persia, and heralds 
 were sent demanding earth and water from the islands and 
 also from the cities in Greece, a large number of whom, says 
 Herodotus, including Aegina, sent the required tokens of 
 submission. But the heralds " were thrown at Athens into 
 the barathron " — an oubliette for criminals — " and at Sparta ^ 
 into a well, and bidden to take therefrom earth and water." Then 
 Datis and Artaphernes, " with orders to carry the Athenians 
 and Eretrians away captive and to bring them into the presence 
 
 ' Probably the flight of the Spartan king Demaratus to the court of Darius 
 in 491 had incensed the Spartans. I^ater two Spartans voluntarily went to 
 Susa to atone for this murder of the heralds with their lives, but were freely 
 pardoned by Xerxes (Hdt. vi. 134-136). 
 
 238 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 of Darius/' took their fleet of 600 triremes across the Aegaean. 
 They burnt the city of the Naxians and took hostages from other 
 islands, but by the command of Darius they spared the temple 
 and treasure of Delos/ on which island Datis landed and made 
 a burnt-offering of 300 talents of frankincense. " After his 
 departure," says Herodotus, " Delos (as the Delians told me) 
 was shaken by an earthquake — the first and last that has been 
 felt there to this day." In passing we may remark that 
 Thucydides (ii. 8) says exactly the same of an earthquake 
 that occurred at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. The 
 great fleet then reached Euboea. Eretria had begged Athens 
 for help, and 4000 Athenian settlers were directed to act as 
 auxiliaries, but these, finding the Kretrians meditating flight 
 or treason, escaped from Buboea. After a siege of six days, 
 two traitors, " both citizens of good repute," betrayed the city 
 to the Persians. It was plundered and burnt, and most of the 
 citizens were carried away to Susa. " King Darius," says 
 Herodotus — and it is another example of Persian magnanimity 
 — " before they were made his captives, cherished fierce 
 indignation against these men for having injured him unpro- 
 voked, but now that he saw them brought into his presence 
 and subjected to him he did them no further harm, and only 
 settled them at a place called Ardericca, 210 furlongs from 
 Susa. . . . And here they continued till my time, and still 
 spoke their old language." 
 
 From Bretria, by the advice of the old Hippias, the Persians 
 crossed over to Attica. " And because there was no place in 
 all Attica so convenient for their horse as Marathon, and as it 
 lay, moreover, quite close to Bretria, therefore Hippias con- 
 
 ^ ducted them thither." Of the three Attic plains offering a 
 favourable landing-place, the Thriasian, the Athenian, and the 
 
 [ Marathonian, the last — about twenty-two miles from Athens — 
 
 ^ A still more striking example of the regard that Darius and his Persians 
 
 • — but not Xerxes — showed for the temples of Apollo (whom they perhaps 
 
 identified with the Sun-god) is the fact that Datis, after his defeat at Marathon, 
 
 ' having found a gilt image of Apollo that his men had looted, took it to Delos 
 
 \ in his own ship and begged the Delians to restore it to its temple in Greece — 
 
 which was not done for twenty years. 
 
 239 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 was for the Persian armament by far the most accessible ; 
 and doubtless Hippias remembered vividly how, fifty years 
 before, he had accompanied his father, Peisistratus, in his 
 successful expedition from Bretria, and how they had landed 
 at Marathon and had surprised and routed the Athenian 
 army. 
 
 " When intelligence of this reached the Athenians, they 
 likewise marched their troops to Marathon, and there stood on 
 the defensive, having at their head ten generals, of whom one 
 was Miltiades." They seem to have chosen the rather shorter 
 and steeper path that skirts round Pentelicus to the north, 
 for we find them " drawn up in order of battle in the sacred 
 precinct of Heracles," to the north-west of the Persian encamp- 
 ment. " Before they left the city, the generals had sent off 
 to Sparta a herald, who was by profession a trained runner. . ,- . 
 He reached Sparta " — some 135 miles distant — " on the very 
 next day. . . . The Spartans wished to help the Athenians, 
 but were unable to come to their aid at once, being unwilling 
 to break the estabHshed rule. They could not march out of 
 Sparta on the ninth, when the moon had not yet reached its 
 full. So they waited for the full of the moon." These state-^ 
 ments, so composedly made by Herodotus, amaze one. Why, 
 we ask, had not the Athenians secured the aid of the Spartans 
 and other allies long ago ? Surely all that had happened in 
 Buboea was known to them. Surely they knew that their 
 turn would come next. And the fact that Aegina, and perhaps^ 
 Thebes, and other Greek cities had sent earth and water to 
 the barbarians ought surely to have made them still more 
 anxious to organize resistance — if they meant to offer resistance. 
 And how is it credible that a highly civilized Greek people, 
 the people that prided itself on being representative Hellenes, 
 the foremost of Greek states, the head of a powerful league of 
 Greek cities, should have let a superstition which nowadays 
 scarcely any longer incommodes the traveller in Central Africa 
 prevent them sending help when the very existence of Greece 
 was at stake ? It would truly be incredible had we not in 
 Greek history other similar cases, and no explanation can be 
 240 
 
W THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 Pfound except, as Grote says, in a most astounding " attribute 
 of Greek character " — or perhaps we might more justly call it 
 Spartan character. One can but cite such instances and leave 
 them to explain themselves. Other cases, as we shall see, 
 occurred in connexion with Thermopylae and with Salamis.^ 
 
 The battle has been described and ' reconstructed ' times 
 without number. I shall content myself with noting a few 
 points of interest. The Athenian hoplites numbered perhaps 
 9000 and the gallant little Plataean contingent 1000. The 
 total Greek loss was 192 ! The Persians had about 200,000 
 
 - foot and 10,000 cavalry ; but all this armament could not well 
 have taken part in the fight. They lost, says Herodotus, 6400 
 men and seven ships. The rest of the great fleet — some 600 
 triremes and many transports — at once sailed south and rounded 
 Sunion, with the evident intention of capturing Athens, possibly 
 incited to do so by a signal, the flashing of a shield from the 
 top of Pentelicus, a treacherous act which none has ever 
 explained, but which was attributed (Herodotus thinks wrongly) 
 to the Alcmaeonidae. The walls of the city had been demolished 
 
 ?by the Peisistratidae, and it could have offered no resistance 
 had not the Athenian army, leaving Aristides and his regiment 
 to guard the field, hastened back (Herodotus only says " with all 
 possible speed," which has sometimes been interpreted as ''on 
 the same day"), and the Persians, seeing them and probably 
 learning the approach of the 2000 Spartans, who had at length 
 started, abandoned their project and sailed away. " After 
 the full of the moon," says Herodotus, " 2000 Spartans came 
 to Athens. So eager had they been to arrive in time that they 
 took only three days to reach Attica. They came too late for 
 the battle, but as they had a strong desire to see the Medes, 
 they continued their march to Marathon, and there viewed the 
 tSiain. Then, after bestowing great praise on the Athenians 
 for their achievement, they returned." 
 
 Before passing on let us note a few points of personal interest. 
 
 ' ^ See Hdt. vi. io6, vii. 206, ix. 7 ; Thuc. iv. 5, v. 54. One is reminded of 
 'the Jews refusing to fight on the Sabbath during the siege of Jerusalem by 
 1 the Romans. 
 
 Q 241 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 After the Greek wings had closed in and routed the victorious 
 Persians in the centre and had chased them to the sea, " they 
 laid hold of the ships and called for fire ; and it was here 
 that Callimachus, the polemarch, after greatly distinguishing 
 himself, was slain . . . and Cynaegeirus, the son of Euphorion, 
 having seized on a ship by the decoration at the stern, had his 
 hand cut off by the blow of an axe, and thus perished." This 
 Cynaegeirus was the brother of the poet Aeschylus, who 
 himself, as well as another brother, Ameinias, was present at 
 the battle ^ and probably took part in the celebrated charge 
 of the Athenian hoplites. That Callimachus was the * pole- 
 march ' — that is, the official commander-in-chief of the ten 
 generals (each perhaps in command of a phyle of looo men) — 
 is allowed by Herodotus, but he states that Miltiades won over 
 Callimachus to give his casting vote for risking the battle, 
 and that the other nine generals, " when their turn came to 
 command, gave up their right to Miltiades," who nevertheless 
 *' waited until his own day of command came," and then won 
 the battle. This has been questioned, for it is asserted that 
 daily command by rotation came into practice later ; but there 
 is no sufficient reason to doubt the account given by Herodotus, 
 and in any case Miltiades was practically, if not officially, 
 > the victor of Marathon — as the Athenians, too, thought, for 
 besides the ten pillars on the field of battle in memory of the 
 fallen a monument was, it is said, erected in honour of him. 
 It will be remembered that he had succeeded his uncle as 
 tyrant of the Chersonese. He had incurred the resentment of 
 Darius by voting for the destruction of the bridge over the 
 Danube (p. 191) and by conquering and handing over to the 
 Athenians the islands of lycmnos and Imbros, and on the failure 
 of the Ionic revolt he had fled to Athens. His son, Metiochus, 
 had been captured by the Persians. ('* Darius, however, 
 when the Phoenicians brought him into his presence, was so 
 far from doing him any hurt that he loaded him with favours, 
 
 ^ He doubtless also fought at Salamis — so vividly described in his Persae — 
 and at Plataea, and an Ameinias, possibly this brother of his, greatly dis- 
 tinguished himself at Salamis. 
 242 
 
65. Pythagoras 
 
 66. Aeschyi^us 
 
 67. MII^TIADES 
 
 68. ThemistocIvES 242 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 giving him a house and estates and also a Persian wife/') 
 His popularity at Athens was partly due to the acquisition of 
 lycmnos and Imbros and partly to his hostility to the Peisis- 
 tratidae, who had assassinated his father Cimon (celebrated 
 for having thrice won with the same mares the four-horse 
 chariot-race at Olympia) ; moreover, his experience in war 
 and his knowledge of the Persians doubtless led to his election 
 as general. 
 
 Besides Aeschylus and Callimachus and Miltiades two 
 famous men, afterwards great rivals, Aristides and Themistocles, 
 took part in the battle — the former as general, the latter a 
 young man of perhaps twenty-six. 
 
 Some thirty years later, in the great public portico near the 
 Athenian Agora known as the Poikile Stoa (the ' Painted 
 Portico '), the Michelangelo of antiquity, Polygnotus, depicted 
 the battle of Marathon. He seems to have chosen three 
 scenes : the first was the charge of the Athenians and Plataeans, 
 the second was the slaughter of the Persians in the swamp, 
 the third showed the attack of the Greeks on the ships. The 
 Persian leaders, Datis and Artaphernes, and the Greek generals 
 Callimachus and Miltiades and others were portrayed — 
 Cynaegeirus, too, seizing the stem of the vessel. 
 
 Something should perhaps be said here about the Spartan 
 leaders — though they were conspicuous for their absence. 
 
 We have several times already heard of the Spartan king 
 Cleomenes. He had reigned since about 520, and had helped 
 to eject Hippias, but had failed in a second expedition to 
 Athens. He had resisted the appeal of the Milesians and the 
 bribes of their envoy, Aristagoras.^ As was often the case 
 (an inevitable and perhaps intentional result of the curious 
 dual system), the two Spartan kings had quarrelled. Cleomenes, 
 who was wild and impulsive (touched, indeed, with insanity, 
 
 ^ See Hdt. v. 49 sq. for the story of the bronzen map and the dismissal of 
 I Aristagoras for having suggested to the Spartans a three months* march up 
 I to Babylon ; and how the little Gorgo, daughter of Cleomenes, and after- 
 wards wife of her half-uncle Leonidas, saved her father from accepting the 
 bribe. 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 if we are to believe Herodotus), succeeded finally, a year before 
 Marathon, in persuading the Delphic oracle to declare his rival, 
 King Demaratus, to be illegitimate. Demaratus fled to the 
 court of Darius,^ and we shall find him later as the trusted 
 adviser of Xerxes. A year after Marathon Cleomenes was 
 proved to have tampered with the Delphic oracle in order to 
 dethrone his rival, and took to flight. He was allowed to return, 
 but showed signs of insanity and was fettered and placed under 
 the guard of a Helot, and committed suicide. I^eonidas, his 
 half-brother, succeeded, and when he died at Thermopylae" 
 Cleombrotus and then Pausanias held the regency for his son 
 Pleistarchus. Demaratus was succeeded by I^eotychidas, who 
 reigned till 469. 
 
 The counsel given by Solon to Croesus to " mark well the 
 end " has a striking application in regard to many — indeed, to 
 most — ^of the famous leaders and statesmen of Greek history. 
 
 The end of Miltiades is especially painful. He used his 
 popularity to persuade the Athenians to put a fleet of seventy" 
 fully manned ships at his disposal, *' without saying what 
 country he was going to attack, but only that it was a very 
 wealthy land, where they might easily get as much gold as 
 they could carry away." In order to avenge some private- 
 wrong he attacked the island of Paros ; but after besieging the 
 town in vain, he was persuaded by a Parian prisoner, a priestess, 
 to steal some sacred object — for this was apparently his purpose 
 in going by night to a Parian temple. On his return he injured 
 himself when jumping from the wall of the precinct, and he 
 returned invalided to Athens. Here he was impeached for 
 having deceived the Athenians. His life was spared, but he was 
 fined fifty talents. " Soon afterwards his leg gangrened and 
 mortified ; and so Miltiades died ; and the fine was paid by his 
 son Cimon." 
 
 What was the end of Hippias is uncertain. Herodotus 
 gives a graphic picture of the old man landing at Marathon, 
 and *' marshalling the companies of the barbarians as they 
 
 ^ Many famous Greeks went over to the Persians. I need only mention 
 the two ' saviours of Greece,' Themistocles and the victor of Plataea, Pausanias. 
 
 244 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 disembarked " ; but we hear no more. Had he been killed in 
 the battle we should have surely heard of it. Some assert that 
 he retired to I^emnos, which was now for a time reoccupied 
 by the Persians, but was reannexed by Athens after Salamis. 
 We hear of Peisistratidae — perhaps sons of Hippias — at the 
 court of Xerxes. 
 
 The occurrences in Greece during the interval between 
 the battle of Marathon and that of Salamis proved of very 
 great moment in deciding the fate of the Hellenic race. I^et 
 us first consider these, and then turn to Persia and the vast 
 preparations of Darius and Xerxes for wreaking vengeance on 
 Athens. 
 
 The perpetual hostility between Athens and Aegina has been 
 frequently mentioned, and it will be remembered that the 
 Athenians had denounced Aegina to Sparta for having sent 
 earth and water to the Persian king. Sparta, the head of a 
 great confederation to which even Athens belonged, had lately^ 
 by means of a rather mean ruse,^ defeated its great rival 
 Argos, and had almost exterminated the Argive warriors — 
 so that the city " was left so bare of men that the slaves 
 managed the state and administered everything until the sons 
 of those who were slain by Cleomenes grew up.'' Sparta, 
 therefore, felt justified in acting in a high-handed manner, 
 and, having taken hostages from the Aeginetans, handed them 
 over to the Athenians. After Marathon these hostages were 
 demanded back by the Aeginetans, but the demand was 
 refused by Athens, and continual fighting went on between 
 the two states from about 487 until 483, when, in prospect of 
 I renewed invasion by the Persians, the Greek states assembled 
 on the Corinthian isthmus and decided to patch up all 
 quarrels. 
 
 Probably, as Herodotus says, " the breaking out of this 
 Aeginetan war was the saving of Greece ; for hereby the 
 i Athenians were forced to become a maritime power.'' 
 
 Even in the Dark Age, as we have seen, Athens possessed 
 a considerable navy ; but as a maritime power she was then 
 
 1 Hdt. vi. 78. 
 
 24s 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 out-rivalled by Corinth, and in later days by Corcyra and 
 Syracuse, and had held her own with much difficulty against 
 Aegina. The quarrel with this neighbouring island-state 
 induced the Athenians now to build ships, and the man who 
 suggested this (doubtless foreseeing Salamis) was the great 
 statesman Themistocles. 
 
 Bven before the battle of Marathon he had been archon,^ 
 and had carried a measure for the fortification of the Peiraeus 
 and the preparation of docks in the three natural harbours ; 
 and the work was begun ; but it was not completed until 
 after the Persian wars. Themistocles, as we are told by 
 Thucydides in a masterly analysis of his character (i. 138), 
 was " the best judge of things present with the least delibera- 
 tion, and the best conjecturer of the future/' This insight 
 and foresight made him beHeve that the safety of Greece 
 and the future greatness of Athens depended on her sea-power. 
 
 Marathon had been a victory for Athenian hoplites — the high- 
 class citizens of Athens, whose political leaders were Aristides 
 and Xanthippus. Themistocles, though no professional party- 
 leader or demagogue, gained the allegiance of the mercantile and 
 naval part of the population, of that ' nautical rabble ' on which 
 Aristophanes — the praiser of good old Marathonian times — 
 pours such contempt. The claims of the Peiraeus were begin- 
 ning to make themselves heard. It was felt by some that 
 Athens, if she was to be a great maritime power, should not 
 be at the distance of four miles from the sea, and doubtless the 
 transference of the city to the Peiraean peninsula would have 
 saved her from enormous difficulties and expenses (such as 
 those connected with her Long Walls) ; but the feeling against 
 abandoning the ancestral site and the Acropolis was exceedingly 
 strong and prevailed. The policy urged by Themistocles was 
 that of fortifying the harbours of Athens and increasing her 
 navy. About the year 483 fortune offered him the following 
 opportunity. *' The Athenians, having a large sum of money 
 
 * If this was, as stated, in 493-2, and if he was born, as stated, about 514, 
 he would have been only about twenty-one years of age. Hitherto the open 
 beach of Phaleron had sufficed for the warships. 
 
 246 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 in their treasury, the produce of the mines at lyaurion [near 
 Sunion], were meaning to distribute it among the full-grown 
 citizens, who would have received ten drachmae apiece, when 
 Themistocles persuaded them to build with the money two 
 hundred ships " — more probably to raise their navy to this 
 number — " to help them in their war against the Aeginetans. 
 . . . The new ships were not used for this purpose, but became 
 a help to Greece in her hour of need." 
 
 About the personality of Themistocles and his two chief 
 rivals, Xanthippus and Aristides, a few words should be said. 
 He was the son of a middle-class Athenian, Neocles. His mother 
 was a foreigner, a Thracian or Halicarnassian. He owed, 
 therefore, his citizenship to the late reforms of Cleisthenes, 
 and his early political pre-eminence under such unfavourable 
 conditions to very unusual abilities. His meteor-like career 
 and fall will be related in connexion with historical events. 
 Probably no one ever earned more justly the name of a 
 saviour of his country, nor that of a traitor — although many 
 illustrious Greeks contest with him the latter title to fame. 
 
 Xanthippus was connected through his wife, Agarista 
 (a niece of the reformer Cleisthenes), with the celebrated ^^l 
 Alcmaeonidae. He was a leader of the old democratic party, 
 which held to the reforms of Cleisthenes against the more 
 advanced radical and nautical doctrines of Themistocles. 
 In 483, things having come to a crisis between the two parties, 
 an appeal was made to ostracism and Xanthippus was banished 
 (see Fig. 75). At the battle of Salamis he returned, was made 
 admiral in place of Themistocles in 479, and fought at My cale. 
 He was the father of Pericles, who began to take part in public 
 affairs about 469. 
 
 Aristides was of noble Athenian family. He was, as we have 
 seen, one of the generals at Marathon. In the following year 
 he was archon. He had been an intimate friend of Cleisthenes 
 (who had evidently died about 500) . His character gained him 
 the surname ' the Just.' He took part with Xanthippus 
 in opposing the policy of Themistocles, and like him was 
 ostracized (483 or 482). In this connexion a rather trite 
 
 247 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 story should perhaps be retold. An ilHterate voter appealed 
 to a bystander to scratch on his ostrakon (potsherd) the name 
 Aristides. The bystander, who happened to be Aristides 
 himself, complied with the request, but asked the man why he 
 wished to ostracize Aristides. " Because," was the answer, 
 " I'm so tired of hearing him called the Just." Aristides, 
 permitted to return, took part in the battle of Salamis, as we 
 shall see, and became a great power in the state. To him and 
 Cimon, the son of Miltiades, was chiefly due the building up 
 of the Athenian Empire. He lived to see the ostracism of 
 Themistocles, and died, almost in poverty, in the year 468. 
 
 Ivct us now turn to Persia. After the return of Datis and 
 Artaphernes the determination of Darius to chastise Greece 
 seems to have urged him to collect a still vaster armament. 
 But in the midst of these preparations he died (485). His 
 latter years had been troubled by the quarrels of his sons 
 in regard to the succession. Artabazanes was the eldest, 
 but was born before, whereas Xerxes was born soon after, 
 the accession of Darius. Moreover, the mother of Xerxes was 
 Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus and widow of Cambyses, and 
 she was regarded as the chief wife of Darius. He therefore 
 (influenced also, it is said, by the arguments of the exiled 
 Spartan Demaratus, who had himself lost his kingship through 
 a question of legitimacy) appointed Xerxes as his heir. Xerxes 
 was a mere youth. He was at first " coldly disposed towards 
 a Grecian war," and gave his attention to subduing Egypt, 
 which had revolted, and over which he set his brother Achae- 
 menes as satrap. (Achaemenes led the Egyptian naval contingent 
 in the invasion of Greece, and was afterwards killed in Egypt.) 
 After his return from Egypt Xerxes called a council and pledged 
 himself " not to rest till he had taken and burnt Athens." 
 The plan was warmly supported by Mardonius, who had' con- 
 stantly incited Xerxes to avenge the Persians, and had been 
 seconded by messengers from the Aleuadae (the Thessalian 
 princes who had espoused the cause of the Persians), and by 
 certain Peisistratidae (perhaps sons of Hippias), as well as by an 
 ' oracle-monger,' Onomacritus by name, who had long ago been 
 24-8 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 banished by Hipparchus from Athens for having forged 
 prophecies under the venerable name of Musaeus. This 
 Orphic seer " had plied Xerxes with his oracles, and the 
 Peisistratidae and Aleuadae had not ceased to press him with 
 their advice, till at last Xerxes had yielded." But his uncle 
 Artabanus was strongly opposed to the attempt, extolling 
 the invincible bravery of the Greeks, while Mardonius sneered 
 at them as cowards, saying, " Though I went as far as Mace- 
 donia and came little short of reaching Athens itself, yet not a 
 soul ventured to come out against me to battle." Xerxes 
 was disquieted by the advice of his uncle ; but he had a vision 
 which bade him keep to his former decision, and after the 
 vision had twice appeared he bade Artabanus don the royal 
 robes and lay himself on the royal bed. The vision then 
 appeared also to him, and " threatened him and endeavoured 
 to burn out his eyes with red-hot irons." So he was convinced ; 
 and, encouraged by still another vision, Xerxes sent forth 
 orders to all the nations in the Persian Empire to collect men 
 and horses and chariots and transports and ships of war. 
 
 Herodotus uses all the resources of his inimitable art in 
 order to impress one with the incomparable vastness of the 
 armament of Xerxes. Some of his statistics may perhaps be 
 questionable, but in spite of all that it has suffered at the 
 hands of scepticism and criticism his account of the invasion 
 still remains by far the most worthy of perusal, for it is a work 
 of art and not merely a bare enumeration of well-authenticated 
 facts. As my space allows me only the choice between con- 
 structing a narrative from provable statistics and offering 
 some of the innumerable pictures delineated by Herodotus, 
 I shall adopt the latter course, leaving it to the reader to fill 
 up, if necessary, the numerous gaps by reference to some 
 shortly told history of Greece. 
 
 " In the first place, because the former fleet had met with so 
 great a disaster at Athos, preparations were made there during 
 three years. Detachments were sent by the various nations 
 whereof the army was composed. These relieved each other 
 in turn and worked at a moat beneath the lash. The people 
 
 H9 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 dwelling about Athos also bore a part in the labour. Athos 
 is a great mountain stretching out far into the sea, and where it 
 ends towards the mainland there is a neck of land some twelve 
 furlongs wide, the whole extent of which is a level plain, broken 
 only by a few low hills " ; and the modern name of the locality 
 (Provlaka) means 'the canal in front [of the mountain].' 
 Distinct traces of Xerxes' canal are still visible. The isthmus is 
 formed of deposits of sand and marl, and its highest part is 
 only 50 feet above sea-level, so that the cutting of a canal was 
 a comparatively easy task. " It seems to me," says, never- 
 theless, our historian, " that Xerxes was actuated by pride, 
 wishing to display his power and to leave a memorial to posterity, 
 for, although it was possible with no trouble at all to have the 
 ships drawn across the isthmus, he ordered that a canal should 
 be made of such width as to allow two triremes to pass abreast 
 with oars in action." 
 
 Xerxes met the main body of his Eastern troops in Cappa- 
 docia, and spent the winter of 481 at Sardis. Meantime all the 
 contingents of nearly fifty different nations, land and sea forces, 
 were assembling near the Hellespont, and preparations were 
 being made to throw a double bridge across the strait. " Near 
 Sestos and just opposite Abydos there is a rocky tongue of 
 land which runs out for some distance into the sea. Towards 
 this tongue they constructed a double bridge from Abydos, 
 the Phoenicians making one line of it with cables of white flax, 
 the Egyptians for the other using ropes of papyrus. But 
 after the channel (which is seven furlongs wide) had been 
 bridged it happened that a great storm arose and broke the 
 whole work to pieces. Now when Xerxes heard thereof he 
 was filled with wrath and straightway sent orders that the 
 Hellespont should receive three hundred lashes, and that 
 fetters should be cast into it. Nay, I have even heard it said 
 that he bade branders take their irons and brand the Helles- 
 pont. And while the sea was thus punished by his orders, 
 he also commanded that the overseers of the work should lose 
 their heads." 
 
 So a new bridge was built. Six hundred and seventy-four ships 
 250 
 
A Late Black-figured Hydria 
 
 250 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 of war (triremes and penteconters) were arranged in two lines, 
 and over each of these were stretched by means of capstans six 
 huge cables, some of flax and some of papyrus (the former weigh- 
 ing not less than fifty-seven pounds the cubit) . Transversely 
 were laid immense planks, and a road was formed with brush- 
 wood and earth, and fenced with a high boarding, so that the 
 animals should not see the water. Then Xerxes set forth from 
 Sardis. " At the moment of departure the sun suddenly quitted 
 his seat in the heavens, though there were no clouds in sight. "^ 
 The omen was favourably interpreted by the Magi, and Xerxes 
 " proceeded on his way with great gladness of heart. . . . 
 First of all went the baggage-carriers and the beasts of burden, 
 and then a vast crowd of many nations . . . then in front of 
 the king a thousand picked horsemen of the Persian race 
 and a thousand spearmen ; then ten sacred horses richly 
 caparisoned and the holy car of Zeus [Ormuzd] drawn by eight 
 milk-white steeds with their charioteer on foot ; for no mortal 
 may mount upon the car. Next came Xerxes himself, in a 
 chariot drawn by Nisaean horses — but when the fancy took 
 him he would alight and travel in a litter. Then immediately 
 behind the king a thousand spearmen, the noblest of the 
 Persians, and a thousand Persian horsemen ; then ten thousand 
 on foot, all picked men. And of these last one thousand carried 
 spears with golden pomegranates at their lower ends instead 
 of spikes, 2 and these encircled the other nine thousand, who 
 bore on their spears pomegranates of silver ; and the thousand 
 Persians who followed after Xerxes had golden apples." 
 
 On reaching Ilium (Troy), where the water of the Scamander,^ 
 naturally enough, ' ' failed to satisfy the thirst of men and cattle,' * 
 
 1 Here our chronicler seems to have made a slip, and to have transferred 
 to this occasion an eclipse which occurred in the preceding spring — probably 
 before the departure of Xerxes from Susa. 
 
 2 In the monuments of Persepolis such pomegranates or apples may be 
 recognized. 
 
 • The Scamander has, like many rivers in hot countries, a wide bed, but 
 is reduced to a small brook in summer. It was now fairly early in the year ; 
 but, as in other cases where the veracity of Herodotus has been questioned, 
 it is very easy to believe that a host of perhaps a milUon with innumerable 
 beasts of burden would soon exhaust the drinkable water of such a stream. 
 
 251 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Xerxes (as afterwards Alexander) ascended the citadel, and 
 " made an offering of a thousand oxen to the Trojan Athene, 
 while the Magi poured libations to the heroes who were slain at 
 Troy." Thence he arrived at Abydos, and from a white marble 
 throne (or platform) viewed all his land forces and all his ships ; 
 and when the appointed day had come " they burnt all kinds 
 of spices on the bridge and strewed the way with myrtle boughs, 
 while they anxiously waited for the sun, hoping to see him as 
 he rose. And now the sun appeared ; and Xerxes took a 
 golden goblet and poured a libation into the sea, praying the 
 while with his face turned to the sun ; and after he had prayed 
 he cast the golden cup into the Hellespont, and with it a 
 golden bowl and a Persian sword of the kind that they call 
 acinaces. I cannot say for certain whether it was as an offering 
 to the sun-god that he threw these things into the deep, or 
 whether he repented of having scourged the Hellespont. . . . 
 And as soon as Xerxes had reached the European side, he stood 
 to contemplate his army as they crossed under the lash. And 
 the crossing continued during seven days and seven nights, 
 without cessation or pause." 
 
 From Sestos the land forces marched westwards and met the 
 fleet at Doriscus on the Thracian sea-coast, near to the river 
 Hebrus. Here Xerxes numbered his forces. ** A body of ten 
 thousand men was brought to a certain place and made to 
 stand together as close as possible ; then a circle was drawn 
 round them and the men were let go ; then, where the circle 
 had been, a fence was built about the height of a man's middle, 
 and the enclosure was filled continually with fresh troops, 
 till the whole of the army had thus been numbered." The sum 
 total was 1,700,000. Herodotus takes this as the number of 
 Asiatic foot-soldiers, and adds 80,000 horsemen, and also camel- 
 riders and charioteers, and half a million seamen — the crews 
 and soldiers of 1207 triremes and 3000 smaller vessels. Thus, 
 together with some 300,000 men pressed into service in Europe, ^ 
 he makes 2,641,610 combatants, and to these he adds the same 
 
 * Also quite half the naval force was supplied by Greeks, or nations of 
 Greek lineage. 
 252 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 number of non-combatants, arriving at a grand total of over 
 five millions. Doubtless the nobles were attended by their 
 harems and large retinues, but the Persian and Median 
 picked troops only amounted, including the famous 10,000 
 * Immortals,' to about 24,000 (Hdt. vii. 40, 41) — about one- 
 hundredth of the whole army, which was mainly a motley 
 host of picturesquely dressed savages, many of them only armed 
 with light javelins or flint-headed arrows (or " staves with one 
 end hardened in the fire "), and certainly well able to look 
 after themselves without such slaves and attendants as, for 
 instance, the Spartan hoplites took into battle.^ As for the 
 number of combatants given by Herodotus, we need not whittle 
 it down to about a seventh, as is done by some sceptics. Six 
 millions, it is said, took the Red Cross, and a million combatants, 
 with a ' vast multitude ' of followers, composed the host of 
 invaders in the First Crusade under far less favourable com- 
 missariat conditions. Doubtless the provisioning of such a vast 
 multitude as this army of Xerxes was difiicult, but those who 
 have had experience of Africans and Orientals know how re- 
 sourceful they are, and it should not be forgotten that immense 
 stores had been laid up beforehand in Thrace, and that the 
 whole country, according to Herodotus, was drained of its riches 
 by the enormous strain put upon it (Hdt. vii. 25 ; see also 
 vii. 1 18-120, where the cost of one meal is reckoned at about 
 £100,000, and the joke is made that " if the order had been to 
 provide breakfast as well as dinner, the people of Abdera must 
 have fled, or have been entirely ruined "). 
 
 The descriptions given by Herodotus of the warriors of 
 the forty-six different nations, with their various weapons and 
 costumes, are most graphic and interesting, but are too long to 
 repeat. Doubtless he draws largely on his own reminiscences, 
 for he travelled much in the East and in Africa. Some of 
 his word-pictures are corroborated by Persian and Egyptian 
 monuments. In one case — that of the Aethiopians — it seems 
 that the fashions in battle costume have remained unchanged 
 for some 2400 years, for, substituting zebras for horses, 
 ^ At Plataea each Spartan hoplite was accompanied by seven Helots. 
 
 2S3 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 I have seen exactly the same in equatorial Africa. " When 
 they went into battle," says Herodotus, '* they painted their 
 bodies half with chalk and half with vermilion. . . . They 
 wore on their heads the foreheads of horses with ears and mane 
 attached to the scalp, the mane serving as a crest and the 
 ears standing stiffly upright." ^ 
 
 Among the many commanders may be noted Mardonius, 
 the brother-in-law of Xerxes, and Achaemenes, his brother, 
 and that other unfortunate brother of his, Masistes, whose 
 tragic story is told by our historian (ix. io8 sq.), and that 
 queen of Halicarnassus, Artemisia, who distinguished herself 
 so highly at Salamis, and whose " brave and manly spirit 
 moved the special wonder " of her fellow-countryman 
 Herodotus. 
 
 At Doriscus the king, having reviewed his land army, 
 " exchanged his chariot for a Sidonian vessel, and, sitting 
 beneath a golden awning, sailed along before the prows of all 
 his vessels," drawn up at some distance from the shore, " with 
 fighting men upon the decks accoutred as for war." Klate 
 with pride, he turned to the exiled Spartan king Demaratus, 
 asking whether the Greeks would dare to oppose such an 
 armament. The answer was memorable : " Poverty hath 
 at all times been a fellow-dweller with us in the land, but 
 Valour has come to us as an ally whom we have gained by 
 wisdom and strict laws. . . . Brave are all the Greeks, but as 
 for the lyacedaemonians they will never accept slavery. As for 
 their numbers do not ask ; for if only a thousand take the 
 field they will meet thee in battle, so will any number, less or 
 more." Thereat Xerxes laughed and rejoined : '' lyct them 
 be five thousand and we shall have more than a thousand to 
 each one of theirs " ; " and much more he said in contemptuous 
 ridicule ; and Demaratus answered all, and added : ' Though 
 they be free men they are not free in all respects, for law is 
 their master. This master they fear more than thy subjects 
 fear thee, and his commandment is always the same, for- 
 bidding them to flee whatever be the number of their foes, 
 * Heracles sometimes thus wears his lion-skin. Cf. also Virg. A en. xi. 680. 
 
 254 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 and requiring them to stand firm and to conquer — or else to 
 die.' " 
 
 From Doriscus the vast armament marched westward, 
 crossed the Strymon, and arrived at Acanthus, near the Athos 
 canal. Then, passing through Chalcidice, it reached Therma 
 (later named Thessalonice after the sister of Alexander the 
 Great). The fleet meanwhile sailed through the canal and 
 rounded the promontories of Sithonia and Pallene, gathering 
 fresh supplies of men and ships and provisions from the 
 numerous Greek cities on the coast. During the land march — 
 which followed the same route as that later traversed by St. 
 Paul — " the camels were set upon by lions which came down by 
 night " ; and Herodotus adds : " The whole of that region 
 is full of lions ^ and wild bulls with huge horns, which are 
 imported into Greece." 
 
 From Therma King Xerxes beheld in the far distance the 
 mountains Ossa and Olympus, and embarking on a Sidonian 
 vessel he visited the mouth of the Peneios (Peneus), which dis- 
 charges its waters through the narrow vale, or ravine, of Tempe 
 (Fig. 48). "Wise men, truly,'' he remarked, "are they of 
 Thessaly, and good reason they had to change their minds, 
 for nothing more is needed but to fill up the gorge with an 
 embankment, and lo ! all Thessaly would be laid under water." 
 And possibly he was right, for Thessaly was once a great lake,* 
 until, as Herodotus believed, the gorge of Tempe was formed 
 by volcanic disturbance, or by erosion. The remark of 
 Xerxes alluded to the fact that the Thessalians had begged the 
 southern Greeks to make a stand at the pass of Tempe. Ten 
 thousand hoplites were dispatched — the Athenian contingent 
 under Themistocles — but the Macedonian king, Alexander I, sent 
 to warn them of the vastness of the Persian army, and when 
 it was discovered that there were several other practicable 
 
 ^ Aristotle confirms this. Tradition from the age of Heracles to that of the 
 Nibelungenlied asserts the presence of lions in E)urope. The ' wild bull ' is 
 probably the auerochs (urus). Classical writers also tell of bonasi (wild oxen), 
 alces (elk), bubali (buffalo ?). 
 
 2 The Greek tradition of the Deluge is connected with Thessaly, the Greek 
 Noah, Deucalion, having been king of Thessalian Phthia. 
 
 25s 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 passes from the north (by one of which Xerxes led his 
 army) the troops were recalled ; whereupon the Thessalians, 
 doubtless to the great satisfaction of their Aleuad princes, 
 who had long before held treasonable correspondence with 
 Xerxes (Hdt. vii. 6), " warmly espoused the side of the Medes, 
 and were of the greatest service to Xerxes during the war." 
 
 This expedition had set out while Xerxes was at Abydos ; 
 for when the Greeks had learned for certain that the invasion 
 would take place, they had convened an assembly, under the 
 presidency of Sparta, at the Corinthian isthmus. It was the 
 first time in Greek history that a congress of all the states of 
 Greece had been summoned — the first time (with the exception 
 perhaps of the Trojan War) that all Greece, indeed all the 
 Hellenic world, was called upon to co-operate against a common 
 enemy. Besides deciding to defend Thessaly, they agreed to 
 put an end to all feuds among themselves, such as that between^ 
 Athens and Aegina, and between Sparta and Argos. In spite 
 of the jealousy of Athens, Sparta was given the leadership 
 on land and on the sea. They determined also to send an 
 appeal to Gelo, the powerful lord of Syracuse, and to Corcyra 
 and Crete. Also they at once dispatched spies to Sardis, 
 while Xerxes was still there. The spies were detected, but 
 sent back unharmed by Xerxes, " after having been taken 
 round the Persian camp and having viewed everything to their 
 hearts' content " ; for he expected that the Greeks, when they 
 heard of the vastness of his army, would submit and " save 
 him the trouble of the expedition." The embassy to Gelo, 
 " whose power was said to be far greater than that of any 
 single state in Greece," failed because he demanded the chief 
 command — or, anyhow, the command of the naval forces — 
 and when this was indignantly refused he dismissed the envoys 
 with the contemptuous remark : "Ye have, it seems, no lack 
 of commanders ; but ye are likely to lack men to receive their 
 orders." The Corey raeans made lavish promises, but failed 
 to keep them — " watching to see what turn the war would 
 take." The Cretans, warned by an oracle, refused point- 
 blank. The Argives, when asked to lay aside their feud 
 256 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 and aid in repelling the Persians, applied to the Delphic oracle, 
 which, in cowardly fashion, bade them " warily guard their 
 own head." They then made, like Gelo, extravagant demands, 
 and ultimately stood aside — probably in collusion with the 
 Persians. " Some," says Herodotus, " go even so far as to 
 say that the Argives first invited the Persians to invade 
 Greece, because of their ill-success against I^acedaemon " — 
 nor is this impossible, for at the outbreak of the Peloponnesian 
 War both the Athenians and the I^acedaemonians, according 
 to Thucydides (ii. 7), '* intended to send embassies to the 
 Persian king and to the barbarians in other parts, whencesoever 
 either hoped to gain assistance." 
 
 On their return from Thessaly the Greeks once more took 
 counsel together on the Corinthian isthmus. " The opinion 
 prevailed that they should guard the pass of Thermopylae^ 
 since it was narrower than the Thessalian defile, and at th^ 
 same time nearer to them. Of the pathway by which th( 
 Greeks who fell at Thermopylae were circumvented they hac 
 no knowledge as yet. At the same time it was resolved thai 
 the fleet should proceed to Artemisium, in the region oi 
 Histiaeotis [in Northern Kuboea]." 
 
 The Greek fleet of rather more than 300 warships, of whic] 
 200 were supplied by Athens, took up its station near Art( 
 misium, and the Persian fleet arrived at the precipitous 
 promontory of Magnesia, which is formed by the long ridg( 
 of Mount Pelion. They had sent forward ten swift ships) 
 which succeeded in capturing three Greek vessels on the look- 
 out, and when fire-signals ^ from the island Sciathos informed 
 the Greeks of this disaster they " quitted their anchorage 
 at Artemisium, and, leaving scouts on the Euboean heights to 
 watch the enemy, withdrew to Chalcis, intending to guard 
 the Euripus " — the narrow strait between Buboea and the 
 mainland. But the movements and sequence of events as 
 
 1 Evidently some code was used by the Greeks, for such news could not 
 
 ihave been foreseen. For fire-signals see Aesch. Agam. 29 and 272 sq. ; Thuc. 
 
 'ii. 94, iii. 22, 80 ; Hdt. vii. 182, ix. 2 (where a system of signals between 
 
 1 Attica and Sardis is mentioned) . The news of Plataea is said to have reached 
 
 1M7cale on ^he same day (see p. 273). 
 R 257 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 described by Herodotus are difficult to follow. One great 
 fact emerges — the wreck of 400 vessels of the Persian fleet, 
 which had taken up a dangerous position off the harbourless 
 Magnesian coast-line. " The ships of the first row were moored 
 to the land, while the rest swung at anchor further off. The 
 beach extended but a very little way, so they had to anchor off 
 the shore, row upon row, eight deep. In this manner they 
 passed the night ; but at dawn calm and stillness gave place 
 to a raging sea and a violent storm. . . . Such as put the loss 
 of the Persian fleet at lowest say that 400 ships were destroyed 
 and that a countless multitude of men perished ^ and a vast 
 amount of treasure was engulfed." To some the fact may 
 appear not worthy of mention, but it may help one to realize 
 better the Greek character when we learn that the people of 
 Delphi " earned the everlasting gratitude of the Greeks " 
 for cheering them with the oracle that " the winds would do 
 Greece good service," and that the Athenians attributed this 
 storm to the sacrifices and prayers that they offered to Boreas 
 (to whom later they erected a temple on the banks of the 
 Ilissus) . It is also psychologically if not historically interesting 
 to note that the winds were influenced also by the entreaties 
 of the foe, for " after the storm had lasted three days, at length 
 the Persian Magi, by offering sacrifices to the winds and charm- 
 ing them with the help of conjurers, succeeded in laying the 
 tempest ; or perhaps," adds Herodotus, " it ceased of itself." 
 The loss of 400 vessels out of their immense fleet was a matter 
 of no vital importance to the Persians. They moved round 
 Cape Sepias to the shelter of the great Pagasaean Gulf and 
 took up station near the port whence Jason in the Argo put 
 forth on to the high sea, called from that fact * Aphetae.' 
 Meantime the Greeks had returned to Artemisium and managed 
 to capture fifteen stray Persian vessels. Although terribly 
 alarmed at the huge fleet of Xerxes, they held their post 
 (Themistocles, it is said, having received a bribe of thirty 
 talents from the Buboeans, and having given five to the 
 Spartan admiral Eurybiadas), and in several engagements 
 
 ^ As also at Salamis, for the Persians could not swim (Hdt. viii. 89). 
 258 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 did considerable damage to the enemy and captured thirty 
 more of their ships. But the Persians, determined on their 
 part to capture the whole Greek fleet, and " not let even a 
 torch-bearer slip through their hands,'' sent a squadron of 
 200 warships to circumnavigate Buboea and seize the strait of 
 the Buripus. News of this was brought to the Greeks, it was 
 said, by a diver — a Greek of Scione, ScylHas by name. *' I 
 marvel much," says Herodotus, " if the tale commonly told be 
 true. 'Tis said he dived into the sea at Aphetae and did not 
 once come to the surface till he reached Artemisium, a distance 
 of nearly eighty " — really sixty — '' furlongs. Many things 
 are related of this man that are plainly false, but some seem 
 to be true. For my part I think he made the passage to 
 Artemisium in a boat." 
 
 The 200 Persian ships never arrived at their destination. 
 *' Heaven so contrived it that the Persian fleet might not 
 greatly exceed the Greek, but be brought nearly to its level. 
 The squadron was therefore entirely lost about the Hollows of 
 Buboea." 
 
 The Greeks had scouts on watch near Thermopylae and 
 near Artemisium, ready to sail at any moment with news. 
 The watches in the Maliac Gulf " now arrived at Artemisium 
 with the news of what had befallen lyconidas and those who were 
 with him." Forthwith the Greek fleet sailed ofl southward, 
 through the Buripus, and the Persians captured Histiaea and 
 overran the north of Buboea. 
 
 Themistocles had cut inscriptions on the rocks at various 
 places on the coast, entreating the lonians and Carians not to 
 fight against their ancestors, and pointing out that it was 
 through them that Greece had incurred the enmity of the 
 Persians. Whether this had any result we are not told, and 
 whether any of these inscriptions are extant I cannot say. 
 
 Meanwhile the battle of Thermopylae had been fought. 
 
 It was the wish of the lyacedaemonians and their Pelopon- 
 nesian allies that Northern Greece should be abandoned to its 
 fate, and that a stand should be made at the Isthmus. But 
 they were conscious that it would be vain to hold the Isthmus 
 
 259 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 if the Persians had the supremacy on the sea/ and that their 
 safety depended on the fleet, two-thirds of which belonged 
 to Athens. To please the Athenians, therefore, they sent a 
 small body of men northwards. " They intended presumably, 
 when they had celebrated the Carnean festival, to hasten in 
 full force to join the army ; and the rest of their allies intended 
 to act similarly, for it happened that the Olympic Games fell 
 exactly at this period. ^ None of them expected that the 
 contest at Thermopylae would be decided so speedily ; there- 
 fore they were content to send forward merely an advance- 
 guard." lyconidas took with him 300 Spartan veterans^ 
 and some 3000 other Peloponnesians, and was joined by about 
 3000 from Northern Greece, including 400 Thebans, whom he 
 " made a point of demanding from Thebes, because the 
 Thebans were strongly suspected of being well inclined to the 
 Medes " — a suspicion which, if we can believe Herodotus, 
 was fully confirmed by their shameful surrender in the midst 
 of the fight at Thermopylae, where they suffered the indignity 
 of being branded as fugitive slaves by the Persian victor 
 (Hdt. vii. 233. But later writers know nothing of this, and 
 perhaps Herodotus was influenced by the bitter anti-Theban 
 feeling prevalent after the Persian wars) . 
 
 The pass of Thermopylae has been much broadened by 
 alluvial deposits. A swampy plain of about two miles now 
 separates the waters of the Maliac Gulf from the precipices 
 of Mount Kallidromos. Formerly the pass itself (by the hot 
 sulphur springs) was about fifty feet wide, and there were two 
 other places where it was still narrower, that to the east 
 
 1 In a fine passage (vii. 139) Herodotus expresses his convictions on this 
 point and, Doric as he was by origin, shows his impartiality. " I cannot 
 see," he says, " what possible use walls across the Isthmus could have been 
 if the king had had the mastery on the sea. If, then, a man should say that 
 the Athenians were the saviours of Greece, he would not exceed the truth." 
 With this compare the advice given to Xerxes by Demaratus (vii. 235) — 
 viz. to send ships to attack the coasts of Laconia, and " the Isthmus and the 
 cities of the Peloponnese will surrender without a battle." 
 
 2 Cf. p. 240. 
 
 » All fathers with sons living. Sparta only possessed 8000 full-grown 
 Sp artiats, if we are to believe Demaratus. The numbers given by Herodotus 
 (vii. 202) do not seem to agree with the inscription that he quotes (vii. 228). 
 
 260 
 
I 
 
 69. THERMOPYIyAE 
 
 70. Tomb of IvEonidas (?) 
 
 260 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 allowing only the passage of a single wagon (Herodotus how- 
 ever speaks of marshes between the road and the sea). At 
 Thermopylae itself there were the remains of an ancient wal\^ 
 built by the Phocians as a defence against the Thessalians. 
 This the Greeks now repaired, and here they determined to 
 make their stand. Xerxes took up his headquarters at 
 Trachis, just to the west of the pass, and " after waiting four 
 days, expecting that the Greeks would run away, he grew 
 wroth with their impudence," and sent Median troops, who 
 were beaten back with great loss, and then commanded his 
 Immortals to attack. " They, it was thought, would soon 
 finish the business." But they too were repelled, and " during 
 these assaults, it is said, Xerxes, who was watching the battle, 
 thrice leaped from the throne on which he was sitting, in 
 terror for his army." On the third day the traitor appeared. 
 Bphialtes,^ a man of Malis, offered to guide the Persians by 
 a steep pathway across the mountains so as to cut off 
 the Greeks in the rear. Xerxes sent Hydarnes with the 
 Immortals — probably not all the Ten Thousand. They 
 ascended the ravine of the stream Asopus, between the 
 Trachinian cliffs and Mount Oeta (famous in connexion with 
 the legends of Heracles), and surprised at break of day and 
 put to rout the thousand Phocians who were guarding this 
 mountain path. I^eonidas, having learnt the fact from a seer 
 and from deserters, ^ dismissed all the Greeks except his 300 
 Spartans, the Thebans (whose fidelity he suspected), and 
 700 Thespians. It is just possible that he detached other 
 troops — numbering perhaps about 2500 — in order to oppose 
 the Immortals ; but we hear of no collision. According to 
 Herodotus, the devoted band of Spartans and Thespians, 
 having retreated to a hillock, were assaulted on both sides 
 
 1 It is but fair to say that Herodotus names others ; but he feels so certain 
 that he " leaves this name on record " as that of the real perpetrator. Bphialtes, 
 anyhow, had a price set on his head by the deputies of the Amphictionic 
 Council, which, by the way, had its ancient meeting-place at Anthela, in the 
 pass of Thermopylae. 
 
 2 Both rather strange sources. The seer was Megistias, who refused to desert 
 Leonidas and was killed and had the honour of an epitaph by Simonides 
 (Hdt. vii. 221, 228). Who the deserters could have been is not easy to say. 
 
 261 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 and massacred, while the Thebans surrendered. I^ater and 
 more rhetorical writers describe the battle with ridiculous 
 exaggeration. One asserts that the Spartans not only drove 
 back the Persians to their camp, but that I^eonidas snatched 
 the diadem from the head of Xerxes. The account given by 
 Herodotus bears the impress of truthfulness and impartiality 
 — except possibly in regard to the Thebans. The loss of the 
 Persians he gives at 20,000 (probably too many) and that of 
 the Greeks at 4000, including many Helots {seven of whom 
 generally attended each Spartan). He asserts that Xerxes 
 gave permission to the seamen of the fleet to come and view 
 the battlefield, and buried or concealed all the Persian dead 
 except a thousand. " It was indeed most truly a laughable 
 device— on the one side 1000 men lying strewn all about the 
 field, on the other 4000 crowded together on one spot." Two 
 brothers of Xerxes were among the slain. The body of 
 lyconidas was maltreated by Xerxes, who cut off the head 
 and crucified the trunk. This act excited the wonder of 
 Herodotus : "for the Persians are wont to honour those 
 who show themselves valiant in fight more than any nation 
 I know " — a statement that is confirmed by many of his 
 anecdotes. The sulphur springs still exist, and their water 
 is bluish green, just as it is described by Pausanias. About 
 a mile to the west of these springs is a round hillock which 
 is probably the mound (KoXumg) on which the Spartans 
 and Thespians made their last stand. " The hillock," says 
 Herodotus, "is at the entrance of the pass " — i.e. as one 
 comes from the west — " where the stone lion stands ^ which 
 was set up in honour of I^eonidas. . . . The slain were buried 
 where they fell, and in their honour and for those no less who 
 were slain before lyconidas sent away the allies an inscrip- 
 tion was set up . . . and another for the Spartans alone." 
 For these inscriptions (rejected as later bombast by some 
 modern critics) see p. 200. It will be noticed that 4000 
 " from Pelops' land " are mentioned. On a column at Sparta, 
 which was seen six hundred years later by Pausanias, were 
 
 ^ This lion existed till the time of Tiberius. 
 262 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 engraved the names of I^eonidas and his 300 Spartans — or 
 299, for one, being ill, or not returning when sent on a message, 
 escaped. He was treated with great contumely, but " wiped 
 away all his disgrace at Plataea," where he was slain. 
 
 The Persian army now poured into Phocis, Boeotia, and 
 Attica. The Phocians took refuge on Mount Parnassus, and 
 the temple of Delphi was only saved by the aid of the god, 
 who repulsed the barbarian plunderers by lightning and by 
 hurHng down from the heights great masses of rock — seen 
 afterwards by Herodotus. The Thespians and Plataeans, 
 who alone of the Boeotians had not surrendered, fled to the 
 Peloponnese, and their towns were burnt and plundered. 
 Attica was ravaged. When Athens was reached it was found 
 to be deserted, except for a small garrison in the Acropolis, 
 who had " barricaded the citadel with planks and boards/' 
 in accordance with what they held to be the meaning of a 
 Delphic oracle. For the Pythian god, though he defended 
 his own treasure, gave what seems craven counsel in this 
 hour of need. He had bidden the Argives " warily guard 
 their own head," and when the Athenians sent messengers to 
 Delphi they were consternated by the answer that all was 
 lost — head and body, hands and feet — and that they were to 
 depart from the sanctuary and " o'erspread their hearts with 
 woes" ; and when they as suppliants implored a more comfort- 
 able response, the priestess answered that Athene could gain 
 no more from Olympian Zeus except the promise that their 
 * wooden wall ' should remain undestroyed. Some interpreted 
 this literally, and demanded that the Acropolis should be 
 fortified with wood and be strongly garrisoned, and this seems 
 to have been done. But Themistocles (whom some accuse 
 of having prompted the oracle) persuaded the great majority 
 that by the ' wooden wall ' was meant the fleet, and the ques- 
 tion now to be decided was whether to " quit Attica without 
 lifting a hand and make a settlement in some other country " 
 — as the Phocaeans and Samians had done — or to venture a 
 sea-fight. In any case Athens would have to be abandoned 
 for a time. Themistocles and his fellow-generals " issued a 
 
 263 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 proclamation that every Athenian should save his children 
 and household as best he could. Whereupon some sent their 
 families to Aegina, some to Salamis, but the greater number 
 to Troezen. This removal was made with all possible haste, 
 partly from the desire to obey the oracle, but still more for 
 another reason." This reason was that the huge serpent which 
 lived in the temple of Athene Polias (or was supposed to live 
 there, for Herodotus throws doubt on its existence) no longer 
 consumed its honey-cake ; "so they believed that the goddess 
 had already abandoned the Acropohs." Xerxes therefore 
 found and sacked a deserted city. The Persians set fire to 
 the wooden wall of the Acropolis, and after two weeks' siege 
 scaled the north side by a secret path, massacred the garrison, 
 and destroyed the temples and statues. {The destruction was 
 completed on the later occupation by Mardonius.) 
 
 Meantime the Spartans under Cleombrotus (the regent for 
 the child-king, Pleistarchus, son of I^eonidas), together with 
 their allies — ^Arcadians, Corinthians, Eleans, and others — ^were 
 busily fortifying the Isthmus. They blocked the Scironian 
 Way, which led past precipitous rocks on the eastern shore, 
 and then " decided to build a wall right across the Isthmus. 
 Stones, bricks, timber, baskets filled with sand, were used . . . 
 and they laboured ceaselessly night and day." Their policy 
 was not only selfish but foolish, for had Themistocles carried 
 out his threat made to the Spartan admiral Burybiadas, to 
 sail away with all the Athenians and refound the city of 
 Siris in Italy, little would have availed them their Isthmian 
 wall. 
 
 Councils were held now on both sides. The fleet of Xerxes 
 had arrived off Phaleron, and he came aboard a ship (probably 
 his favourite Sidonian vessel) and " sat in a seat of honour ; 
 and the sovereigns of nations and the captains of ships were 
 sent for, and took their seats according to the rank assigned 
 them of the king. In the first seat sat the king of Sidon, and 
 after him the king of Tyre, and then the rest in their order. 
 And Xerxes sent Mardonius and questioned each whether 
 a sea-fight should be risked or no. And all gave the same 
 264 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 answer, advising to engage the Greeks, except only Artemisia/' 
 The speech of Artemisia, as given by Herodotus, was audacious 
 in its contempt for the seamanship of the king's allies and for 
 its advice to risk no naval engagement. It was fully expected 
 that " her life would be forfeit." But Xerxes took it 
 good-naturedly and " gave orders that the advice of the 
 greater number should be followed, and resolved that he 
 himself would be an eye-witness of the combat." 
 
 The council of the Greeks was of a stormier character. 
 The Spartan admiral Eurybiadas, seconded by the Corinthian 
 captain Adeimantus, insisted that the fleet should retire to 
 the Isthmus, and thus abandon Salamis, Aegina, and Megara ; 
 and fierce altercations took place between them and Themis- 
 tocles, who when bidden to be silent, " since he was a man 
 without a city," replied with justice that his 200 ships of war 
 were as good as any city in Greece. Eurybiadas, conscious 
 that the only safety for the Peloponnese lay in these ships 
 (for of 378 warships the Athenians supplied 200), at length 
 yielded ; but Themistocles still feared the influence of the 
 Peloponnesians, and sent a secret message to the commanders 
 of the Persian fleet, saying that " fear had seized the Greeks 
 and they were meditating a hasty flight." Forthwith the 
 Persians " landed troops on the islet Psyttaleia, between 
 Salamis and the mainland, and advanced their western wing 
 towards Salamis ^ so as to enclose the Greeks, moving forward 
 at the same time their centre so ats to fill the whole strait as 
 far as Munychia." >^ 
 
 At this critical moment Herodotus brings on to the stage 
 Aristides. He and Xanthippus and other political exiles 
 had been recalled while Xerxes was still in Thessaly, but he 
 seems to have delayed his return, and is now just in time to 
 co-operate with Themistocles (to whom he offers reconciliation) 
 and to announce to the council of sea-captains that " he has 
 come from Aegina and has barely escaped, for the Greek 
 fleet is now entirely enclosed by the ships of Xerxes." 
 
 1 Diodorus, but not Herodotus, says that 200 Kgyptian vCvSsels were sent 
 round Salamis to the south to cut off the retreat of the Greeks. 
 
 265 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 While they still doubted a Tenian trireme, which had deserted 
 from the Persians (" and for this reason the Tenians were 
 described on the tripod at Delphi among those who overthrew 
 the barbarian"), arrived and confirmed the news. The battle 
 of Salamis (September 20, 480) is described graphically by 
 Herodotus (vii. 84 sq.), and also by Aeschylus (Persae, 359 sq.), 
 who was an eye-witness but as a poet perhaps may have 
 drawn somewhat on his imagination. The main features in 
 both descriptions are similar. Numerous modern reconstruc- 
 tions have been made, and almost every detail given by older 
 writers has been questioned or modified. Some theorists 
 (e.g. Gobineau and Chamberlain) have even doubted whether 
 any real sea-battle took place. 
 
 The main body of the Greek fleet engaged the Phoenicians 
 and the rest of the Persian centre in the strait between 
 Salamis and Mount Aegaleos (at the base of which Xerxes 
 sat on his throne viewing the conflict), " fighting in order and 
 keeping their line, while the barbarians were in confusion and 
 had no plan in any of their movements, so that the result of 
 the battle could scarce be other than it was." The immense 
 number of the Persian ships proved disastrous to them. 
 While attempting to overwhelm the Greeks they crowded 
 tumultuously into the narrow strait, and the repulse of the 
 foremost lines threw all the vast throng of vessels into 
 inextricable confusion (vii. 89). Then the Aeginetan ships, 
 which formed the right wing of the Greek fleet, ^ managed to 
 turn the left wing of the Persians (held by the lonians) and 
 charged the disordered centre of the enemy's fleet, while 
 Aristides, " taking a number of Athenian hoplites which were 
 drawn up on the shore of Salamis, landed them on the islet 
 of Psyttaleia and slew all the Persians by whom it was 
 occupied." The attack of the Aeginetans decided the battle. ^ 
 
 1 Either inside the strait or on the south-east coast of Salamis. 
 
 2 They were accorded the first prize for valour {to. dpLo-Tela). The Corin- 
 thians were, perhaps unfairly, accused by the Athenians of having tried to 
 desert in the midst of the battle. Aeschylus represents Xerxes as tearing his 
 raiment and uttering shrieks when he saw the slaughter on Psyttaleia. I 
 have omitted the well-known story of Artemisia sinking a friendly ship to 
 save herself (Hdt. vii. 87). 
 
 266 
 
71. Bay of Sai^amis 
 
 72. Wai,i,s of Themistoci,e;s 
 
 266 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 The Persians collected their vessels at Phaleron, and the 
 Greeks, " expecting another attack, made preparations." 
 But Herodotus represents Xerxes as in a great state of panic. 
 " He riiade up his mind to fly ; but, as he wished to hide his 
 project alike from the Greeks and his own people, he set to 
 work to carry a mound across the strait to Salamis, and at the 
 same time began fastening a number of Phoenician merchant- 
 ships togethefl to serve at once for a bridge and a rampart." 
 But his brothqr-in-law Mardonius was not deceived, for " long 
 acquaintance toabled him to read all the king's thoughts," 
 and with the approval also of Artemisia, who reminded Xerxes 
 that he had burnt Athens and thus had gained the purpose of 
 his expedition, the plan was formed that the king should 
 return to the Bast^ yerland^hat the fleet should at once sail 
 to the Hellespont to guard the bridge, and that Mardonius, 
 after escorting the king throughTThessaly, should retain 300,000 
 men, including the 10,000 Immortals, for the purpose of com- 
 pleting the conquest of Greece. 
 
 If all the tales told of the return of Xerxes are true it was 
 as disastrous as Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. Herodotus 
 himself refuses to believe that the king " never once loosed 
 his girdle till he came to the city of Abdera, not feeling himself 
 till then in safety " ; but he tells us that famine and disease 
 so thinned the ranks of his troops that he reached the Helles- 
 pont with a mere fraction of his former army. Aeschylus 
 draws on his imagination and gives us a fine picture, scarcely 
 less impressive than that of the disaster of Pharaoh's host 
 in the Red Sea. He tells us how the Strymon, frozen over in 
 a single night and unfrozen by the heat of the next day's sun, 
 swallowed up great numbers of panic-stricken fugitives. By 
 some Xerxes is said to have taken ship from Eion (on the 
 Strymon) and to have been nearly lost in a storm — during 
 which, in order to lighten the vessel, a great number of Persian 
 nobles, " having made obeisance, leaped overboard." Others 
 say that he reached the Hellespont, but found the bridge 
 destroyed by storms — not that this was of much consequence, 
 for his fleet had arrived. 
 
 267 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 The Greeks had pursued the ships of the enemy only as far 
 as Andros. Themistocles had tried to induce them to con- 
 tinue the pursuit and annihilate the Persian fleet, but the 
 Peloponnesians were still afraid that the land forces of Xerxes 
 might march against the Isthmus, and refused to set sail.^ 
 Then, it is said, Themistocles once more sent a messenger 
 (the same faithful slave, Sicinnus, the tutor to his sons) and 
 informed Xerxes that it was by his own influence that the 
 pursuit had been abandoned. Possibly this was a fabrication 
 of later days, after Themistocles had proved a traitor ; possibly 
 it was a result of that preternatural insight into the future 
 with which he is credited by Thucydides. However that 
 may be, he is said to have urged this act as a reason for 
 expecting favour when he reached the court of Xerxes as an 
 exile. 
 
 That the journey of Xerxes was not a flight is apparent from 
 the fact that the troops which had accompanied him to the 
 Hellespont not only returned to Thessaly, where they rejoined 
 Mardonius, but also during their return march undertook, 
 under the command of Artabazus, the reduction of the cities 
 of Olynthus and Potidaea. Olynthus was captured and all 
 the inhabitants were " led out to a marsh and put to death." 
 Potidaea stood a siege, and treason, for three months, and 
 ultimately many of the besieging Persians were caught by a 
 spring- tide or bore and, " not being able to swim, perished 
 immediately." " The Potidaeans say," remarks Herodotus, 
 " that what caused this spring- tide was the profanation by 
 these very men of a temple and image of Poseidon. And in 
 this they seem to me to say well." 
 
 Mardonius now sent as envoy to Athens the king of Mace-^ 
 donia, Alexander I, who had ties both with the Athenians and 
 with Persia. In the name of the Great King forgiveness and 
 friendship were offered. But the Athenians answered : " So long 
 as the sun keeps his present course we will never join alliance 
 
 1 Cleombrotus, in command at the Isthmus, had intended to follow up the 
 retreating Persian land forces, but had been stopped by — an eclipse ! This 
 happened, they say, at 2 p.m. on October 2, 480. 
 
 268 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 with Xerxes" ; and to the I^acedaemonians, who had hastily 
 sent an embassy to oppose Alexander, they declared : " Not 
 all the gold that the whole earth contains would bribe us to 
 take part with the Medes. . . . First, there is the burning and 
 destruction of our temples and the images of our gods. . . . 
 Then there is our common brotherhood with the Greeks, our 
 common language, the altars and sacrifices at which we all par- 
 take, the common character that we bear. Did the Athenians 
 betray all these, of a truth it would not be well. While one 
 Athenian remains alive we will never join alliance with Xerxes.'* 
 Mardonius therefore, though the Thebans advised him to stay 
 in Thessaly and send gold to the leaders of the Greeks, marched 
 down upon Athens. '' But on his arrival he did not find the 
 Athenians. They had again withdrawn, some to their ships, 
 the greater number to Salamis. So he only gained possession 
 of an empty city." This was in July 479. The reason why 
 the Athenians had again withdrawn was because the Spartans 
 had refused to leave their Isthmian wall and march north to 
 help in opposing Mardonius, alleging in excuse (as so often they 
 had done) a religious festival — this time the ' Hyacinthia.' 
 Mean and selfish as such conduct appears, especially in contrast 
 to that of the Athenians, it was soon to be proved once more 
 that when face to face with the foe they possessed a splendid 
 courage. To them was mainly due the great victory of Plat^fi^ 
 which for ever liberated Greece from the Persian invader. 
 
 The Athenians, dispossessed of their city, though they had 
 for a second time rejected with disdain the proposals of Mar- 
 donius, sent word to the Spartan regent Pausanias (Cleom- 
 brotus having died soon after the eclipse) that they, and also 
 Megara and Plataea, would be forced to surrender to the Mede 
 unless the I^acedaemonians would help them. Hereupon 
 5000 Spartiats were ordered to start northwards under tli£_ 
 command of Pausanias. They were accompanied by many 
 Helots and Perioeci and other Peloponnesians, and joined 
 iby the Athenians under the command of Aristides, so that the 
 iwhole army may have numbered 70,000 men, among whom, 
 ccording to Herodotus, there were 38,700 hoplites. 
 I ^^9 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Mardonius, when he heard of this army, resolved to with- 
 draw to Thebes, as Attica was too hilly for his cavalry and 
 there was *' no way of escape from the country except through 
 defiles/' Before leaving Athens he completed as far as possible 
 the destruction of the city and its temples, leaving the 
 Acropolis a waste of ruins. His army, says Herodotus, num- 
 bered about 300,000 and perhaps 50,000 Greek auxiliaries. 
 About six miles to the south of Thebes he built a huge fort, 
 " a square of about ten furlongs each way," with ramparts and 
 towers formed of trees that he cut down in all directions. His 
 army he encamped along the Asopus, which flows through the 
 plain between Thebes and the great range of Cithaeron, the 
 boundary between Boeotia and Attica. Here, with his rear 
 covered by the Thebans, he awaited Pausanias, who crossed 
 into Boeotia, and, finding the enemy blocking the way, disposed 
 his forces on the north slopes of Cithaeron. For ten days th^ 
 armies faced one another. The Greeks were much harassed 
 by the cavalry, having themselves no horse ; but in the skir- 
 mishes the leader of the Persian horsemen, Masistius, a splendid 
 warrior with golden breastplate, was slain ; whereupon the 
 Persians " made great lamentation, shaving all the hair from 
 their heads and cutting the manes from their war-horses and 
 sumpter-beasts, while they vented their grief in cries so loud 
 that all Boeotia resounded with the clamour." Day by day 
 the numbers of the Greeks increased, but so great was the 
 self-confidence of the barbarians that Artabazus advised 
 Mardonius merely to wait, as the Greeks would never venture 
 down into the plain, and to harass them and cut off their 
 supplies and ply the leaders with bribes. The Persian horse 
 did indeed cut off their communications by occupying the 
 passes in their rear, and succeeded in reaching and choking 
 up the fountain Gargaphia on which they relied for water. 
 But Mardonius was impatient for a battle, and decided to 
 attack, and, according to Herodotus, the news of this decision 
 was brought to the Greek outposts by the Macedonian king 
 Alexander. 
 
 The battle is exceedingly difficult to * reconstruct.' I shall 
 270 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 not attempt to describe, far less to explain, all the false moves, 
 the blunders, and the unobeyed orders that have complicated 
 the question. The chief facts seem to have been that the 
 Athenians, after accepting the proposal of Pausanias that they 
 should oppose the Immortals and Persian picked troops, were 
 ordered to fight the Thebans and other renegade Greeks, and 
 that when the decisive moment came they were held in check 
 by their opponents and were unable to take any great part in the 
 actual rout of the barbarians. This rout was effected mainly 
 by the I^acedaemonians and Tegeans. After faUing back and 
 being followed up byjthe._main body of the Persians, 4:hey 
 halted for some time—losing many men by the arrows of the 
 foe, shot from behind the line of wicker shields, while they 
 sacrificed and calmly waited for favourable omens — and then, 
 the omens allowing it, they swept forward, broke through the 
 array of wicker shields, and put the whole host of the enemy 
 to flight. " The barbarians many times seized hold of the 
 Greek spears and broke them ; for in boldness and warlike 
 spirit they were nowise inferior to the Greeks, but they were 
 without real shields, and far below their opponents in skill 
 with weapons. . . . The fight was hardest where Mardonius, 
 mounted on a white horse and surrounded by the bravest of 
 the Persians, the Ten Thousand, fought. So long as he was 
 alive these troops resisted, but when he fell,^ and those with 
 him, all the others took to flight.'' Artabazus, seeing how 
 the day was going, wheeled off with 40,000 men and made his 
 ' way northwards. The Thebans, after fighting with desperate 
 B fury and losing 300 men, retreated to their city. Most of the 
 '■routed Persian army fled for refuge to their wooden rampart, 
 closely followed by the Spartans, who, however, being unskilled 
 in siege operations, had to await the arrival of the Athenians 
 before they were able to take the fortification. ^ A terrible 
 f massacre ensued. Only 3000 are said to have survived out 
 I of the immense host ; but possibly many escaped and joined 
 
 1 His body was treated with respect by Pausanias, but was stolen. 
 
 2 Cf. Thuc. i. 102. The Spartan city itself was without walls. The Spartans 
 'despised and hated such defences, as is seen from their bitter opposition to 
 
 the building of the Athenian lyong Walls. 
 
 271 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 Artabazus, who with great difficulty reached Byzantium and 
 crossed to Asia. The spoil was enormous/ and during many 
 years afterwards the Plataeans used to find treasures of gold 
 and silver on the battlefield. The loss of the Spartans is given 
 by Herodotus at 91, of the Tegeans at 16, and of the Athenians 
 at 52 (though Plutarch states the whole loss, probably including 
 Helots, at 1360) . It would therefore seem that, in spite of 
 the fierce depreciation to which their conduct in the battle 
 has been subjected by some writers, the Athenians had a 
 certain amount of fighting. Of the Corinthians and Megarians 
 Herodotus says that they were drawn up at some distance and 
 did not know that a battle was being fought ! At last they 
 learnt the fact and rushed forward, but were cut to pieces by 
 the Theban cavalry. The Spartans were given the chief credit 
 for the victory. " The Athenians," says Herodotus, " and 
 the Tegeans fought well, but the prowess shown by the I^acedae- 
 monians was beyond either." Pindar gives Sparta the chief 
 praise. Aeschylus, too, attributes the victory to the ' Doric 
 spear.' A tenth of the booty was set aside for the Delphic 
 treasury, and colossal bronze images of Zeus and Poseidon 
 were erected at Olympia and the Isthmus respectivel)^ At 
 Delphi was dedicated, says Herodotus, " the golden tripod 
 which stands on the bronze serpent with three heads close to 
 the altar." On the base of the supporting pillar, formed of 
 three serpents, were inscribed the names of the Greek states 
 which had joined to repel the Persian invader. This base is 
 still to be seen in the Hippodrome at Constantinople, whither 
 it was removed by Constantine the Great. ^ 
 
 The battle of Plataea was fought probably on August 12, 479. 
 " On the same day," says Herodotus, " another defeat befell 
 the Persians at Mycale, in Ionia." The Greek fleet had started 
 in the spring to aid the lonians, who had entreated their help 
 
 ^ The throne and scimitar of Mardonius and the golden breastplate of 
 Masistius were still to be seen in the Athenian Acropolis in the time of 
 Pausanias, 600 years later. 
 
 ^ Discovered in 1880, when Constantinople was occupied by the Western 
 Powers. Mahommed II, on the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, smashed 
 the jaw of one of the serpents with his battle-axe (Gibbon, ch. 68). See p. 284. 
 
 272 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 against the Persians. But it had got no further than Delos, 
 for " all beyond that seemed to the Greeks full of danger and>^ 
 swarming with Persian troops.'* For some months it lay idle 
 at Delos. But on the urgent appeal of the Samians the Spartan 
 king lycotychidas, induced by favourable omens (especially 
 by the lucky-sounding name of the Samian envoy), decided 
 to attack the Persian fleet, which lay in the lee of Samos. 
 When the Greeks reached the Samian coast near the^reat 
 temple of Hera, the Persians, who shrank from a naval battle, 
 dismissed all their Phoenician vessels and stranded the rest 
 on Cape Mycale, where they had a land force of 60,000 men 
 under the command of Tigranes. The Greeks disembarked 
 and after a desperate fight carried the ramparts of the naval 
 camp and burned the ships, the Athenians especially distin- 
 guishing themselves, and the victory being rendered more 
 easy by the wholesale desertion of the Ionian auxiliaries of 
 the enemy. According to Herodotus, the news of the victory 
 at Plataea, which had been gained on the very same forenoon, 
 arrived in time to cheer the Greeks while advancing to the 
 fight. This is, of course, rejected as a fable by many writers. 
 Possibly fire-signals (if visible by day) may be the explanation. 
 If not, perhaps it may have been one of those cases in which 
 the knowledge of an event seems to have been transmitted 
 over great distances by some unexplained agency — such as 
 the Greeks named ' divine rumour ' ((pmv, ocrcra). 
 
 The Greek fleet then sailed to the Hellespont, but when they 
 
 ; found Xerxes' bridge destroyed the- Spartans went home. 
 
 'The Athenians, however, laid siege to Sestos, still in the 
 
 possession of the Persians, and late in the autumn of 478 they 
 
 succeeded in capturing it. " This done, they sailed back to 
 
 Greece, carrying with them, besides other treasures, the shore 
 
 fcables from the bridge of Xerxes, which they wished to dedicate 
 
 |in their temples." ^ These are, all but a few lines, the last words 
 
 ipf the history of Herodotus. 
 
 ^ One is forcibly reminded of the chain cables still to be seen hanging in 
 !the Campo Santo at Pisa. 
 
 8 273 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 SECTION A : THE GREEKS AND CARTHAGINIANS 
 IN SICILY (500-478) 
 
 While Greece was fighting for her existence against the 
 Persian invader the Greeks in Western Hellas were also 
 struggling against an Asiatic race — the Phoenicians and the 
 Phoenician colony of Carthage. It seems, indeed, probable 
 that Carthage and Persia were acting in concert. 
 
 We have already noted the rise of the Greek colonies in 
 Sicily and Southern Italy. During the first period of their exist- 
 ence the Phoenician settlements in Sicily gave them little or 
 no trouble, but these offered a valuable base to the navies of 
 the rapidly growing Carthaginian state, which, in alliance with 
 the powerful and piratical princes of Etruria, began to gain 
 supremacy in the Western Mediterranean, and almost annihi- 
 lated, as we have seen, the Phocaean fleet at the battle of 
 Alalia, off the coast of Corsica {c. 535) . Carthage now domi- 
 nated Sardinia and Corsica, and intended to dominate Sicily. 
 Indeed, as early as about 565 a Carthaginian army, commanded 
 by Malchus, had landed in Sicily, and seems to have won a 
 battle against the tyrant Phalaris of Acragas. But it was not 
 till the era of Xerxes that the Carthaginians made a serious 
 effort to wrest the island from the Greeks. Meanwhile Hellenic 
 civilization and power in Greater Greece, in spite of devastating 
 intestine wars and such disasters as the annihilation of Sybaris 
 by Croton, had reached a very high stage of development. 
 The chief cities of Sicily had fallen into the power of despots. 
 In the north Himera was ruled by Terillus. In the south and 
 east Acragas (Agrigentum) and Syracuse ^ were ruled by Thero 
 
 1 For reference the following may be useful : Syracuse founded by Dorians 
 734 ; under aristocracies and democracies till the despots Gelo (485), Hiero 
 (478), Thrasybulus""(467) ; then democracy ; besieged by Athenians 413 ; 
 democracy overthrown by Dionysius (406-367), whose son, Dionysius the 
 Younger, was finally dethroned by Timoleon in 343. In passing it is interesting 
 to note that Sicily for some 3000 years (perhaps for much longer) has been 
 the arena of racial strife. One need only mention the following names to 
 recall such conflicts : Sicals, Sicanians, Elymi, Phoenicians, Greeks, Cartha- 
 ginians, Romans, Franks, Odoacer, Bast Goths, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, 
 Germans, French, Aragon princes. Bourbons. 
 
 274 
 
73- Tomb of Darius 
 
 74. ChARIOTIvIvR found at DEIvPHI 
 
 Themistokles,ofthe Deme' 
 Phrearroi. 
 
 m 
 
 Xaav 6 L 7T n o <^ 'A£(^ L(|) (> o V o ^ 
 
 XanTHIPPOS SONOF 
 
 Arriphron. 
 
 75. OSTRAKA OF ThEMISTOCI,ES AND XANTIIIPPUS 
 
 274 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 and his son-in-law Gelo, and attained very great prosperity 
 and power under these despots. Gelo, originally a general of 
 Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela, had succeeded to the lordship 
 of that city, and when appealed to by the exiled Syracusan 
 Gamori (landed nobility) had reinstated them and at the same 
 time seized the power also in Syracuse. He gave over the 
 tyranny of Gela to his brother Hiero, and as ruler of Syracuse 
 adorned the city with many fine buildings and with magnificent 
 docks and raised her to the rank of a great naval power, while he 
 increased her wealth and her population greatly by transferring 
 thither many of the richer inhabitants of captured Camarina 
 and Hyblaean Megara — the poorer being sold into foreign 
 slavery ; for he " regarded the demos,** says Herodotus, " as 
 a most unpleasant neighbour." While Gelo and his brothers, 
 Hiero, Polyzalus, and Thrasybulus, kept their magnificent 
 court at Syracuse, the city of Acragas, though not yet adorned 
 with its splendid temples, ^ became wealthy and powerful under 
 the rule of Thero, whose daughter Demarete became Gelo's 
 wife ; and when Thero quarrelled with Terillus and drove him 
 out of Himera, and Terillus appealed to the Carthaginians for 
 aid (as Hippias appealed to the Persians), the lords of Syracuse 
 and Acragas combined to oppose the foreign invader. It was 
 at this moment that the envoys from Greece came to beg Gelo 
 for assistance against Persia ; ^ and it can cause no wonder that 
 he was unable to promise it, though he possessed a "far larger 
 eet and army " than any other Greek state. The Cartha- 
 inians, about 300,000 men under Hamilcar, landed at Panor- 
 us (Palermo) and besieged Thero in Himera. Gelo hastened 
 his relief, and by a ruse gained entrance to Hamilcar' s naval 
 mp. Then, profiting by the confusion, he assailed the land 
 mp also. The struggle was fierce and long, but the victory 
 mplete. Half the Punic army was massacred ; the rest 
 ere enslaved. Only one single vessel, we are told by Diodorus, 
 
 ^ Built by slave labour after the battle of Himera. See Note A (5). 
 
 2 See p. 256. Gelo is accused by Herodotus of having sent three ships to 
 iielphi under the command of a certain Cadmus, who took with him " a 
 
 rge sum of money and a stock of friendly words, and was to watch and see 
 ^hat turn the Persian war might take." 
 
 27s 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 reached Carthage. A fine picture is given by Herodotus, 
 which is well worth a moment's pause, although it may not 
 represent an historical fact ; indeed, Herodotus, as often, gives 
 the thing for what it is worth — and it is worth much from a 
 standpoint other than that of the scientific historian. 
 
 " After the battle Hamilcar disappeared. Gelo made the 
 strictest search, but he could not be found, dead or alive. The 
 Carthaginians, who take probability for their guide, give the 
 following account. Hamilcar, they say, during all the time 
 that the battle raged, which was from dawn till evening, 
 remained in the camp [near the shore] sacrificing and seeking 
 favourable omens, while he burned on a huge pyre the entire 
 bodies of victims. Here, as he poured libations on the sacri- 
 fices, he saw the rout of his army ; whereupon he cast himself 
 headlong into the flames, and so was consumed and disappeared. 
 Whether it happened in this way or not, certain it is that the 
 Carthaginians offer him sacrifice." The oft-repeated assertion 
 of old writers that the leaders of armies, both Greek and Roman, 
 would refuse to give battle without obtaining favourable 
 omens ^ often gives one pause. Here is the case of the 
 commander of a Carthaginian ^ arm}'- absenting himself all day 
 from an important battle for such purposes. 
 
 The battles of Himera and Salamis (as those of Mycale 
 and Plataea) were believed to have been fought on the 
 same day (September 20, 480). It is, of course, possible that 
 this was not so ; but there is little to be gained by doubt- 
 ing it. From, the spoil a large present was made by the Syra- 
 cusans to Demarete, the wife of Gelo. The silver coins, called 
 Demareteia, struck on this occasion, some of which still exist, 
 are exceedingly beautiful (see coin 6, Plate IV). At Himera 
 exist the remains of a temple near the mouth of the river. 
 It may have been the very temple before which Hamilcar 
 offered sacrifice to Poseidon. 
 
 Gelo died in 478, the year of the capture of Sestos by the 
 
 * The well-known exception of P. Claudius and the refractory chickens 
 was followed by a crushing defeat ! 
 
 2 Hamilcar is said to have been Greek from his mother's side, and at 
 Himera to have sacrificed, not to Phoenician deities, but to Poseidon. 
 
 276 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 Athenians, the last event recorded by Herodotus. The reign 
 of his brother Hiero therefore really belongs to our next period ; 
 but it may be better to anticipate a little for the sake of con- 
 tinuity. During the twelve years of his reign Syracuse was 
 probably the most notable city of the Hellenic world, both 
 for its power and for its patronage of the fine arts. At the 
 court of Hiero and at that of Thero of Acragas we find Simo- 
 nides, Bacchylides, Pindar, and Aeschylus. The victories of 
 Hiero and others of the Sicilian princes at the Olympic and 
 Pythian chariot-races were celebrated by the first poets of the 
 day. The exact dates of some of these victories (extending 
 from 482 to 472) have been lately ascertained by means of 
 papyrus manuscripts discovered in Egypt ; and at Delphi not 
 many years ago was excavated the famous bronze statue of the 
 charioteer (Fig. 74) dedicated by Hiero's brother Polyzalus, 
 evidently as a thanksgiving for victory. Beneath all this 
 iisplay there was doubtless much to disgust — much tyranny 
 md inhumanity, 1 much insolent, if magnificent, patronage 
 )f genius. Of all this there are evidences not only in recorded 
 ,cts of barbarity, but even in hints dropped by Pindar himself, 
 spite of his evident admiration of the feudal pomp of the 
 yracusan court. One feat performed by Hiero justly earned 
 gratitude of Hellas. The people of the Greek city of 
 ae, or Cyme, in Italy (see p. 117), were hard pressed by the 
 scans — the same Btruscans, or Tyrseni, whose pirate- 
 t had rendered so much aid to the Carthaginians, the same 
 pie who had espoused the cause of the Tarquins and had, 
 der their king, I^ars Porsena, besieged Rome some thirty 
 ars before. Hiero sent his fleet and inflicted a crushing 
 efeat on the Etruscans. Of this victory we possess a most 
 ^iteresting memorial (Fig. "jf) — a bronze Etruscan helmet, 
 i*und (1817) at Olympia. Its inscription says : *' Hiero and 
 'le Syracusans [dedicate] to Zeus Tyrrhenian spoil from 
 yme." In the splendid ode that Pindar wrote to celebrate, 
 [imarily, the victory which Hiero's horses gained at the 
 
 I Sinister stories are told of Hiero's conduct towards Polyzalus, who had 
 irried Demarete. 
 
 277 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Pythian Games in the same year (474) he also alludes to the 
 victory of Cyme, and prays Zeus that " the Phoenician and 
 the war-cry of the Tyrseni may remain in peace at home, 
 having seen the grievous ruin of their ships before Cyme." 
 
 In 472 Thero of Acragas died. His son quarrelled with 
 Hiero and was overthrown, and Acragas became a free republic. 
 Not long after Hiero' s death in 467 his brother Thrasybulus, 
 who succeeded him, was expelled on account of his cruelty 
 and avarice, and Syracuse also became free. Its further 
 connexion with Greece will occupy our attention when we 
 come to the ill-fated Sicilian expedition of the Athenians and 
 to the visits of Plato to the court of Dionysius. 
 
 SECTION B : PINDAR (522-442) 
 
 Pindar and Aeschylus were contemporaries, but the plays 
 of Aeschylus are perhaps better considered in connexion 
 with those of the other Attic dramatists, whereas Pindar, 
 both in feeling and in form, belongs to a different school. 
 Although it is full of wise saws and pious sentiments, and 
 parades with great pomp and solemnity the dogmas and 
 legends of the popular religion, the poetry of Pindar — such at 
 least as we possess — is for the most part a majestically magnilo- 
 quent glorification of wealth and high birth and success ; 
 while Aeschylus, though for a time he enjoyed, as did Pindar, 
 the regal patronage of the Syracusan court, moved in quite 
 another, and a far higher, world of thought and feeling, and in 
 his dramas pictured, in language of still more superb audacity 
 and with a far sublimer imagination, the wrestlings of the 
 human soul against the mysterious decrees of Fate. 
 
 Pindar was born at or near Thebes about 522. He studied at 
 Athens, and when still a youth of sixteen composed dithyrambs 
 for public festivals. On his return he came under the influence 
 of the Theban poetess Corinna, some fragments of whose lyrics 
 have been discovered in a papyrus manuscript. She advised 
 him to introduce mythology into his poetry. The result was i 
 a hymn written for the Thebans, twelve lines of which are | 
 278 
 
76. Tempi;e of ' Concordia 
 
 : 
 
 77. ' HiERO'S HEI.MET 
 
 278 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 extant. In these twelve short lines there are twelve different 
 proper names and sixteen epithets, mostly long made-up 
 words. This hymn is said to have introduced every mytho- 
 logical character connected with Thebes. No wonder that 
 Corinna's criticism was, '' One should sow with the hand and 
 not with the whole sack." He seems soon to have become 
 noted as a poet. The earliest of his epinikia (' songs of victory ') , 
 all of which we probably possess, was written in 502. It was in 
 honour of a Thessalian youth who had won the foot-race at the 
 Pythian Games, and it extols the Aleuadae (Pyth. x.) . But Pindar 
 did not share the Medizing propensities of these princes. He 
 belonged to the small minority at Thebes which sympathized 
 strongly with the victors at Marathon and Salamis and Plataea. 
 Indeed, it is said that (perhaps later in life) in consequence 
 of his praises of Athens (XiTrapai . . . KXeival 'AOavai) he was 
 severely fined by his fellow-citizens, and that the Athenians 
 made him their pubHc guest (Tr/ooSej/o?) and paid him twice 
 the sum and erected a bronze statue to him. His poetry 
 was greatly admired by Alexander I of Macedonia ^ — who, 
 as we have seen, submitted to Persia, but was Greek at heart — 
 and also by Thero of Acragas and Hiero of Syracuse, for both 
 of whom he wrote numerous enkomia (panegyrics) and epinikia. 
 In 473, a year after the great victory of Hiero at Cyme, Pindar 
 went to Sicily, where he lived for about four years. Here he 
 may have met Aeschylus (who, however, probably went there 
 first in 468), and certainly met Simonides (who died c. 468) 
 and the nephew of Simonides, the lyric poet Bacchylides, 
 who was also employed by Hiero to celebrate his victories at 
 the games. 2 In 468 Pindar was again in Thebes, whence he 
 sent a fine ode [01. vi.) to Syracuse. Hiero was at this time 
 suffering from a serious disease, and in 467 he died. In the 
 next year Pindar wrote two of his finest odes (Pyth. iv. and v.) 
 
 1 As lovers of Milton's sonnets know, Pindar's house was consequently 
 spared by Alexander the Great (as it had been already by the Spartans). 
 
 2 Bacchylides was regarded by some ancient writers as a formidable rival 
 of Pindar, but fifteen of his poems discovered lately among Egyptian papyrus 
 manuscripts seem to prove that, though he possessed elegance and taste, he 
 was a poet of no high order. 
 
 279 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 for Arcesilaus IV, king of Cyrene — a descendant of Battus 
 (see p. 145) — and it is just possible that the poet visited Cyrene 
 and also Rhodes. In 460 he wrote one of his epinikia, and 
 another in 452, at Olympia. His last poem was a hymn to 
 Persephone, of which three words are extant. He is said to 
 have died at Argos, in the theatre. 
 
 There were seventeen volumes of Pindar's poems — hymns, 
 paeans, dithyrambs, dirges, enkomia, epinikia, and others. 
 Besides about 150 fragments of other poems, we possess, prob- 
 ably complete, the forty-four epinikia, or odes of triumph, 
 which were written in honour of victors at the gamCvS — 
 Olympic, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian — and were recited 
 at banquets or festive processions {kcojuloi). The earliest 
 (P. X.) has been mentioned. Another early one {P. vii.) is in 
 honour of an Athenian, Megacles, perhaps a son of the reformer 
 Cleisthenes, and it is interesting to note that this ode, as also 
 the only other written for an Athenian {NAi.), is remarkably 
 short, and that there is a good deal said about avoiding envy. 
 The date is that of the battle of Marathon, and Megacles 
 had already been twice ostracized — so, what with the Medizing 
 tendency of the Thebans and the democratic dislike of hero- 
 worship at Athens, we cannot wonder at Pindar's brevity and 
 sage advice. Exceedingly Gne and historically the most interest- 
 ing are the numerous epinikia composed for Thero and Hiero — 
 ' King of Syracuse,' as the poet calls him, using a title that 
 Hiero assumed about 478. In one of these (P. i.) Pindar cele- 
 brates the victory gained by Hiero' s chariot horses (or perhaps 
 by his celebrated racer Pherenikus) at the Pythian Games in 
 474, and alludes (as we have already seen) to the still more 
 important victory won at Cyme in the same year, and also 
 to the battles of Salamis and Plataea and Himera. " I will 
 claim a reward," he says, " from Salamis for the sake of the 
 Athenians, and at Sparta I will tell of the fight before 
 Cithaeron where the Medes with their crooked bows were 
 smitten, and by the well-watered banks of the Himera I will 
 pay the sons of Deinomenes [Hiero and his brothers] the hymn 
 that is their due for deeds of valour." Fourteen of the odes are 
 280 
 
THE PERSIAN INVASIONS 
 
 for Sicilian victors, and not a few are in honour of Aeginetans, 
 for whom Pindar seems to have had a special partiality. In 
 a series of six of his ' Nemeans ' he extols the Aeacidae, and 
 contrasts the noble character of Ajax with that of Odysseus, 
 of whom he says : " I deem that his fame became greater than 
 his deeds and sufferings through the sweet singer Homer." 
 
 The metre of the Pindaric odes seems at first sight — as it 
 seemed to Horace — to be quite arbitrary. But, although 
 there is scarcely any resemblance between the metres of the 
 various odes, each of them consists of parts (strophes, epodes, 
 &c.) in which the same or a similar metre recurs. The 
 rhythms were doubtless based on the kind of music (Doric, 
 Aeolic, lyydian, &c.) to which the poems were set. Grandeur 
 of expression, often rising to sublimity but sometimes sinking to 
 magniloquence, is the striking characteristic of Pindar's poetry. 
 Although he possesses no such sublimity of imagination ^ as 
 Aeschylus, or Dante, or Milton, the onward rush of thought, 
 clothed in superb language, is magnificent. He compares 
 himself to an eagle. " I send thee," he says, " this mingled 
 draught of honey and white milk — late indeed ! but amidst 
 the birds of the air the eagle is swift : he marketh from afar, 
 and, swooping suddenly, seizeth with his talons the tawny prey ; 
 but cackHng jackdaws haunt the lower ground." Gray, too, 
 has pictured for us the Theban eagle as 
 
 Sailing with supreme dominion 
 Thro' the azure deep of air ; 
 
 and Horace in one of his finest odes has likened Pindar to a 
 mighty torrent, and to a wild swan winging its way through 
 the realms of cloudland. 
 
 Although he accepted many strange myths for artistic 
 purposes, Pindar protested strongly, as Xenophanes had done, 
 against all that was derogatory of the dignity of the gods. 
 "It is seemly," he says, "for a man to speak nobly of the 
 deities." And although for artistic purposes he makes use 
 
 ^ The finest imaginative picture in Pindar is perhaps that of the eagle of 
 Zeus lulled to sleep by the tones of Apollo's golden lyre (P. i.)- The paraphrase 
 ; by Gray in his Progress of Poetry does it very poor justice. 
 
 28l 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 of the Olympian gods, in most cases when he is expressing 
 his own beHefs he speaks of ' God ' as Xenophanes and other 
 sages, and indeed Homer himself, had done. " One must not 
 strive with God," he says, " who now exalte th the one and 
 now giveth great glory to others/' God, he tells us, " o'ertakes 
 the eagle in its flight and passeth the dolphin in the sea." 
 If God does not " swiftly put forth his hand to the helm of 
 the state, it is oft no easy task for the rulers to guide it 
 aright." 
 
 He is full of wise, if rather trite, saws and maxims. The best 
 of them is perhaps preserved by Herodotus and Plato : " I^aw 
 is king of all." Others are : " Future days are wisest witnesses " 
 (which reminds one of Solon) ; " Silence is oft wisest for a man " ; 
 *' We all die but once." His wisdom does not bear the impress 
 of deep conviction ; it is purely decorative — like exquisite 
 embroidery. Not a few dark threads of melancholy and 
 embitterment sometimes traverse the web — due perhaps to 
 the rivalry of other poets, and to that ' envy ' of which he 
 sometimes sings — possibly also to a too close contact with 
 regal wealth and luxury. Pythagorean and Orphic influences 
 can perhaps be traced in some passages where he speaks of 
 purification and initiation, and of the rewards and punishments 
 in a future life. A fine picture of the life of spirits in Elysium 
 is given in a fragment of one of his dirges, reminding one of 
 similar pictures by Virgil and Dante and of passages in Plato's 
 Phaedo. In another fragmentary dirge he speaks thus of 
 death : " By a happy destiny all travel towards a bourne 
 where they are loosed from toil. The body, indeed, followeth 
 almighty Death, but still alive remaineth a shadowy image 
 of vitality, and this alone is of origin divine." The Orphic 
 teachings doubtless were associated with much superstition 
 and priestcraft, but, together with Pythagorean mysticism, 
 they helped by their imaginative parables to keep alive in 
 the hearts of many the beliefs that lie at the root of all true 
 religion. 
 
 zSz 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE RISE OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 (478-439) 
 
 SECTIONS : ARCHITBCTURK AND SCULPTURE : ABSCHYIvUS, 
 HERODOTUS, PHILOSOPHERS OF THE PERIOD 
 
 THE capture of Sestos is, as we have seen, the last event 
 recorded by Herodotus in his history of the Persian 
 invasions ; but Persia continued to hold important 
 posts in Thrace,^ and, although after Mycale the Ionian and 
 Aeolian cities regained autonomy, the barbarian was still at 
 their gates ; nor was it unlikely that Xerxes would attempt 
 to revenge himself on Greece itself. The need for combined 
 action was therefore strongly felt. Hitherto Sparta had been 
 regarded as leader. Although the victories of Marathon and 
 Salamis had been due mainly to Athens, and although her 
 ships formed the bulk of the Greek fleet, the allies had hitherto 
 refused to submit to Athenian leadership, and the supreme 
 command both on land and on the sea had been held by 
 Spartans — by Kurybiadas at Salamis, by Pausanias at Plataea, 
 and by I^eotychidas at Mycale. How the command of the 
 allied fleet was acquired by Athens, and how she made herself 
 the head of a great anti-Persian confederacy, and how out of 
 this leadership (riyijULovia) in less than twenty years she developed 
 an empire (apxn) which extended its victories even to Cyprus 
 and Egyptian Memphis, has been recounted by many writers ; 
 and although this period lies between those described in detail 
 by Herodotus and by Thucydides, enough is told by both, 
 especially by Thucydides,^ to render possible a fairly satis- 
 factory reconstruction. 
 
 1 Doriscus was evidently still Persian when Herodotus wrote vii. 106-107. 
 
 2 Thuc. i. 89 sq. and the speech of the Athenians in i, 74. Other sources are 
 inscriptions, Plutarch, and Nepos. 
 
 283 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 But it is not my purpose to follow closely the evolution of 
 the Athenian Empire, nor the varying fortune of those long- 
 protracted struggles for supremacy which often fill so many 
 pages of Greek history with their wearisome and ever-recur- 
 ring details of battles and sieges and seditions and revolts 
 and butcheries. Such things, it is true, form the main staple 
 of one of the greatest of histories — that of Thucydides — but 
 they are so skilfully interwoven, now with the brilliant 
 rhetoric and the intricate arguments of fictitious speeches, 
 now with some subtle analysis of character or motive, now 
 with some trenchant criticism or the vivid description of a 
 beleaguered town or plague-stricken city or sickening butchery, 
 that we are at times almost persuaded that these miserable 
 squabbles and atrocities are, as he believed them to be, not 
 only more worthy of record than what Herodotus calls " the 
 great and wonderful deeds of the Greeks and barbarians " in the 
 Persian wars, but even of more consequence to posterity than all 
 the legacies of Greek art, Greek poetry, and Greek philosophy. 
 A " possession for ever " doubtless his book will remain, but 
 not by reason of its minute record of events, many of which 
 have no longer any value except in so far as they may at 
 times give us a fuller view of the dark side of Greek character. 
 The transfer of the naval command from Sparta to Athens 
 happened thus. In the year following the capture of Sestos 
 (in which lycotychidas and the Spartan ships had taken no 
 part) a fleet composed mainly of Athenian and Ionian vessels 
 was put under the command of the Spartan Pausanias, who 
 as the victor at Plataea enjoyed great popularity in spite of 
 his overweening arrogance.^ He made for Cyprus and cleared 
 the island of the Persians ; then he sailed to Byzantium. 
 Here he laid himself open to the charge of Medism. He was 
 accused of releasing Persian prisoners, assuming Median 
 
 ^ On the dedicated tripod (p. 272) he had caused onlj'- his own name to be 
 inscribed as the conqueror of the Mede. The Spartans erased the distich and 
 engraved the names of the cities (Thuc. i. 132). This doubtless rankled in his 
 mind, and (as seen in Cleomenes) the peculiar temperament and training of 
 the Spartans seem to have induced a tendency towards unbridled passion 
 and insanity. 
 
 284 
 
78. Group of Gods, Parthenon Frieze 
 
 79. The * SXRANGFORD ' ShIEI^D 
 
 284 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 habits and dress, and even of treasonable correspondence with 
 the Great King/ and was recalled to Sparta. The Ionian 
 allies hereupon, weary of arrogant despotism, begged the 
 Athenians to assume the command of the fleet, and although 
 another admiral (Dorkis) was sent out from Sparta, he was 
 not recognized. The acquiescence of Sparta seems remarkable, 
 but was probably due to the influence of the military caste 
 of the old school, which regarded sea-power as an illusion. 
 To this influence was also probably due a raid on Thessaly 
 made about this time (c. 476) by the Spartans under their 
 king I^eotychidas, who landed in the Gulf of Pagasae, and 
 might perhaps have annexed the whole of Thessaly unless 
 he had proved as venal as many of his compatriots. He 
 was convicted of receiving bribes from the Persian-loving 
 Aleuadae, and only saved his life by seeking sanctuary at 
 Tegea. 
 
 Here we may perhaps glance at the question of what 
 Thucydides calls the entirely different character of the 
 Spartans and the Athenians. Many of these differences 
 have been noted by the Attic historian, who during his exile 
 of twenty years had special opportunities for studying them, 
 and it would be a most interesting, if exceedingly difficult, 
 task to collect all that he has said on the subject, to compare 
 it with what has been said by Herodotus and other ancient 
 writers, and to see how far it is borne out by historical facts. 
 
 1 His letter to Xerxes, proposing to marry his daughter, and the reply of 
 Xerxes, are given by Thucydides. The fate of Pausanias may be best related 
 here, so as to avoid discontinuity. He hired a private trireme and returned 
 to Byzantium, where he conducted himself like a Persian magnate and was 
 guilty of many excesses. He even got possession of Sestos, but the Athenians 
 sent Cimon with a squadron and expelled him. Having retired to Cleonae in 
 the Troad, he renewed his intrigues with the Persians and was again summoned 
 to Sparta, where, suspected of inciting a rising among the Helots, and being 
 also convicted by a ruse (see Thuc. i. 133) of his correspondence with Persia, 
 he fled for sanctuary into a small building in the precinct of Athene and 
 was walled up there by the ephors and died of starvation (471). Although he 
 was carried out of the sanctuary while still breathing, the Delphic oracle 
 ordered atonement for the pollution ; and this ' pollution ' was urged as a 
 charge by the Athenians when, at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, 
 they themselves were ordered by the Spartans to cast out the Alcmaeonid 
 ' pollution ' in the person of Pericles. 
 
 285 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 From various passages — such as the speech of the Corinthians 
 in i. 70, where the contrast is strongly brought out, and in 
 i. 141, where Pericles points out the practical advantages 
 possessed by Athens, and his great speech (iii. 39-40), where 
 he delineates the main features of Spartan and Athenian 
 character — one may gain a fairly clear impression of his finely 
 drawn distinctions, but to restate that impression in any other 
 form, especially in a still more concise form, is almost im- 
 possible. These passages should be studied. In passing I 
 can but oifer a few epithets such as may perhaps occur to the 
 reader of Thucydides as roughly intimating his judgments. 
 The Spartans he seems to regard as eminently dilatory, 
 enslaved to tradition and system, unimaginative, illiterate, 
 boorish, short-sighted and narrow in policy, unenterprising, 
 unideal, incapable of foreseeing difficulties, cold-blooded, tena- 
 cious, heroically but stupidly regardless of danger and death, 
 and incredibly superstitious and venal. The character of the 
 ' Athenians he seems to consider a rare composite of the prac- 
 tical and the ideal : they are at once " most enterprising and 
 most prudent,'' " lovers of the beautiful but also of economy, 
 lovers of learning but also of manliness," magnanimous but 
 severe (alas! we might add, often inhumanly cruel), generous 
 but exacting, sanguine, impulsive, imaginative, brilliant, versa- 
 tile, restless but capable of strenuous and protracted effort, 
 fascinating but false. The last two epithets may be exemplified 
 by the intense affection and the intense hatred that, far more 
 than Sparta, Athens seems to have excited under various 
 conditions. The enthusiasmtfor Athens among the Ionian 
 Greeks at the formation of^the Confederacy was evidently 
 very strong, but it was soon^to be followed by a detestation 
 as universal and still more intense, so that at the beginning 
 of the Peloponnesian War " the good wishes of all men made 
 greatly for the I^acedaemonians ... so angry were most with 
 the Athenians, some of them from a wish to be liberated from 
 their rule and others from a fear of being brought under it/' ^ 
 
 ^ Thuc. ii, 8. All quotations in this chapter are from Thucydides, if not 
 otherwise specified. Dale's translation has been used to some extent. 
 
 286 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 During the next few years we hear but little of Sparta. 
 We have chiefly to note the foundation and rapid development 
 of the so-called Confederacy of Delos — the work especially of 
 Aristides and Cimon ; and, secondly, the important changes 
 effected at Athens by the influence of Themistocles. 
 
 The Confederacy of Delos 
 
 The allies, especially the lonians, had begged Athens to 
 assume the naval command. This led to the formation of a 
 league, nominally anti-Persian, under the hegemony of Athens. 
 The isle of Delos, the sacred ancient gathering-place of the 
 Ionic race, was chosen as headquarters and as treasure-house. 
 In course of time the Confederacy included about 260 towns 
 (Aristophanes says a thousand!), situate mostly in Ionia and 
 Aeolis and the adjacent islands and Kuboea. According to its 
 wealth each state had to contribute its share in fully equipped 
 vessels, or the equivalent in tribute ((popog). Most of the 
 smaller and some of the greater states preferred the latter 
 method, and thus practically subscribed to the enlargement 
 of the Athenian fleet, and what was at first the voluntary 
 subscription of a confederate was soon regarded by Athens as 
 the tribute of a subject. The work of valuation was entrusted 
 to Aristides, and his estimates gave such general satisfaction 
 that they remained in force for half a century. To Cimon, 
 
 1" the son of Miltiades, was given the command of the confederate 
 fleet. His first feat, after expelling Pausanias from Byzantium, 
 was the capture of Bion — stubbornly defended by the Persian 
 Boges, who finally lit a pyre and flung his wife and children 
 and slaves and himself into the flames. A year or two later 
 (473) Cimon distinguished himself by capturing from pirates 
 the illustrious isle of Scyros, and still more by discovering, as 
 was believed, the bones of Theseus, who, tradition asserts, 
 when expelled from Athens was murdered on this island by 
 tl^ycomedes (the king at whose court Achilles lived for some 
 time disguised as a girl). The bones were brought to Athens, 
 and possibly the Theseion was built to receive them ; but this 
 is doubted (see Note A). Some five years later (468) the 
 
 287 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 confederate fleet, after having driven the Persians from several 
 lyycian and Carian cities, gained a brilHant victory over the 
 Persian fleet at the mouth of the Eurymedon in Pamphylia. 
 About 200 of the enemy's vessels were destroyed, as well as a 
 reinforcement of 80 Phoenician ships that arrived after the 
 battle, and the Greeks are said to have disembarked and 
 routed the Persian land troops on the same day. 
 
 Shortly before this battle, doubtless with the full approval 
 of Athens, though also doubtless not with the full approval of 
 the confederate council (for Thucydides speaks of it as the 
 " subjugation of an allied city contrary to agreement ''), Cimon 
 had reduced by force the island of Naxos, which had signified 
 its intention of withdrawing from the Confederacy. The 
 Naxians were henceforth treated as ' subject allies ' of Athens, 
 and this precedent was soon followed by similar cases. Thasos 
 quarrelled with Athens about a gold-mine and ' revolted ' 
 (for thus the Athenians now described withdrawal from the 
 league). After two years it was reduced (463), having hoped 
 in vain for the aid of the lyacedaemonians, who were prevented 
 from keeping their promise by an earthquake — and this time 
 a really serious one, as we shall see later. 
 
 One after another the states of the Confederacy, discontented 
 with Athens for using the funds and the fleet against Greeks 
 instead of against Persians, were either reduced by force or 
 acquiesced in being treated as tributaries of the Athenian 
 Empire, until only Chios, I^esbos, and Samos were still autono- 
 mous and not liable to military service under Athenian com-: 
 manders, although obliged to contribute contingents to the 
 confederate fleet ; and, if we allow ourselves to look forward 
 a few years, we may note here that in 454 the treasury was 
 removed from Delos to Athens and the Confederacy came prac- 
 tically to an end, although this name still continued to be used 
 ofiicially instead of the word ' Empire ' {apx^) — a word odious 
 to the democratic Hellene, except in the case of such lovers 
 of freedom as the Athenians, who, as Goethe said, loved no 
 freedom but their own. From its full development in 454 until 
 its total collapse at the end of the Peloponnesian War this 
 288 
 
8o. Tkmpi;e on Sunion 
 
 8i. Theseion 
 
 288 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 Athenian Empire existed just half a century. But this is 
 anticipation, and we must now return and note what has 
 been occurring at Athens itself. 
 
 Themistocles and Events at Athens 
 
 In a former chapter I touched upon the personality and 
 political tenets of the four leading Athenians during the 
 Persian invasion, namely, Themistocles, Xanthippus, Aristides, 
 and Cimon. To Themistocles it was mainly due that Athens 
 had become a maritime power and had conquered at Salamis. 
 Xanthippus had succeeded him in the command of the fleet, and 
 had won the battle of Mycale. Aristides had distinguished him- 
 self at Marathon and at Salamis, and had commanded at Plataea, 
 and was the chief organizer of the Confederacy. Cimon, the 
 youngest of the four, the son of Miltiades, was actively occupied 
 in extending the oversea empire of Athens. He and Aristides 
 belonged to the older school of Cleisthenic republicanism, 
 opposed to the more advanced democratic and ' Peiraean ' 
 influences of Themistocles, and were politically in sympathy 
 with Xanthippus ; but between Cimon and Xanthippus was 
 a very strong hereditary hostility, for Xanthippus had been 
 the chief accuser of Miltiades. Themistocles was not a pro- 
 fessional party politician, nor was he, as the other three, of 
 noble family. He stood, therefore, somewhat apart, but exer- 
 cised great influence on the decisions of the Kcclesia. Even 
 before the battle of Marathon, in 493, he had as archon per- 
 suaded the Athenians to begin the fortification of the Peiraeus 
 and the formation of new docks. These operations had been 
 stopped by the Persian invasions. On his suggestion they were 
 now renewed, and walls round Athens itself were begun, 
 enclosing a greater space than those demolished by Peisistratus 
 and by the Persians. Hereupon Sparta sent envoys to propose 
 the stoppage of the work and the demolition of all fortifications 
 in Greece ; but Themistocles, says Thucydides, went to Sparta 
 and deluded the authorities with various excuses, while at home 
 ' the whole population, men, women, and children, worked at 
 the building, sparing neither private nor public edifice. . . , 
 
 T 289 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 And the building still shows even now " — as its relics do even 
 in our day — '' that it was executed in haste, for the foundations 
 are laid with stones of all kinds, and many columns from 
 tombs and sculptured blocks were inserted." Thus ere long 
 Themistocles was able to inform the I^acedaemonians that 
 " Athens was already walled and capable of defending itself," 
 and that " as the Athenians had abandoned their city without 
 the leave of Sparta, so without her leave they intended to 
 have their city walled." 
 
 Besides the erection of city ramparts there was an immense 
 amount of clearance and rebuilding to be done in Athens 
 itself and on the Acropolis, where, as we have already seen, 
 the debris of the old temples and sculptures was cast into 
 the spaces between the new walls and the newly levelled 
 plateau. On this plateau arose the new temples, which will 
 be described later. The new walls of the Acropolis were 
 probably erected, not by the advice of Themistocles, but by 
 that of Cimon, since we hear of the southern wall being built 
 out of the spoils of the battle of the Eurymedon (468), when 
 Themistocles was an exile at Argos, or perhaps already a 
 fugitive in Asia. 
 
 Whether he was suspected of Medism or of receiving bribes, 
 or whether arrogance made him unpopular, or whether his 
 political opponents persuaded the Bcclesia that he was a danger 
 to the state, is not known, but that he was ostracized is certain 
 — and the fact is illustrated, if not proved, by the potsherd 
 bearing his name that may be seen in the British Museum 
 (Fig. 75). This was probably in 471, the same year in which 
 Pausanias met his fate. For some years he '' had a house at 
 Argos and used to travel about the Peloponnese." Then, 
 apparently about 467, the lyacedaemonians accused him to the 
 Athenians of having taken part in the intrigues of Pausanias. 
 He fled, first to Corcyra, then through Thessaly (aided by the 
 king, Admetus) to Asia, and ultimately reached Susa. Here 
 he wrote a letter to Artaxerxes, who was now king (his father, 
 Xerxes, having been murdered by Artabanus in 465) , claiming 
 recognition as a " benefactor of the king " for his messages sent 
 290 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 to Xerxes (p. 268) and asking for a year's grace in order that 
 he might learn the Persian language. At the end of this time 
 he presented himself and gained such favour with the Persian 
 king — to whom he proposed plans, never to be carried out, 
 for the conquest of Greece — that he was made governor of 
 Asiatic Magnesia and was supplied with bread and wine by 
 the cities of I^ampsacus and My us. Thus he lived, as a Persian 
 magnate, till about 450. The story that he poisoned himself 
 with bull's blood probably arose from a statue that was erected 
 to him in Magnesia, which represented him pouring a libation 
 while standing near a slain bull. " His relations say that his 
 bones were carried over to Attica and buried there without 
 the knowledge of the Athenians." A tomb in the rock near 
 the Peiraeus lighthouse is still shown as the tomb of Themis- 
 tocles. 
 
 Aristides had died ^ in the year of the battle of the Eury- 
 medon (468), and Cimon was thus for a time without any 
 powerful political opponent. But Xanthippus, his hereditary 
 enemy, now dead or retired, had left behind him a son who 
 was to attain by his splendid gifts of intellect and character an 
 almost absolute control of the state. Nor was it long before the 
 popularity of the victor of the Eurymedon — the generous and 
 jovial old sailor whose plentiful lack of wit had been proverbial 
 in his earlier days and whose preferences were still for wine- 
 bouts and aristocratic boon companions rather than for states- 
 manship and philosophy — suffered total eclipse. Ostracism — 
 the almost inevitable fate of the eminent Athenian statesman 
 — came upon him under rather dramatic circumstances. He 
 had always obstinately maintained that the one object of 
 Athens should be to extend her oversea empire and harass 
 Persia, and that she should recognize the supremacy of Sparta 
 on land and live at peace with her — a doctrine that won 
 him the contemptuous sobriquet of the I^aconizer or Philo- 
 I/aconian. Now in 464 a very severe earthquake laid Sparta 
 
 1 He is said to have died so poor that he was buried at public expense. 
 Some of his descendants, fortune-tellers and beggars, were granted rations 
 by the state. The descendants of Themistocles were wealthy and respected. 
 One was a friend of Pausanias the traveller. 
 
 291 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 in ruins. Many Spartans perislied, and the opportunity was 
 seized by the Messenian Helots, who, after defeating the 
 Spartans with the loss of 300 men on the plain of Stenyclarus, 
 fortified themselves (as their forefathers had done) on Mount 
 Ithome. For more than two years they defied the Spartans, 
 who at last appealed for assistance to Athens — the Athenians 
 being skilled in siege operations. Cimon, in spite of the oppo- 
 sition of Pericles and another newly risen anti-oligarchical 
 politician, Bphialtes, carried the Assembly with him by his 
 sailor eloquence. " Consent not,'' he exclaimed, " to see 
 Hellas lamed and our city without her yoke-fellow ! " Four 
 thousand Athenian hoplites were sent under his command to 
 help in the siege of Ithome ; but Ithome was not easily to be 
 taken, and the Spartans, perhaps suspecting treason, suddenly 
 and insultingly dismissed the Athenian troops. The indignation 
 at Athens was intense, and Cimon was ostracized. For about 
 two years longer Ithome defied capture. At last the Messe- 
 nians capitulated on the condition that they should leave the 
 Peloponnese ; and Athens offered them a site for a new home 
 at Naupactus, the haven on the Corinthian Gulf which, it will 
 be remembered, was so called because it served as a ship-yard 
 for the Dorians on their invasion of the Peloponnese. It had 
 been lately occupied by the Athenians as a naval station, a 
 kind of Gibraltar commanding the entrance of the gulf and the 
 trade with Western Hellas. In a later age we shall hear again 
 of these Messenians of Naupactus (see Figs. 93, 122, and 
 
 pp. 336, 396) • 
 
 Soon after the ostracism of Cimon the friend of Pericles, 
 Bphialtes, was assassinated — probably in revenge for his 
 attacks on the ancient and aristocratic council of the Areo- 
 pagus, which he accused of corrupt practices and caused to 
 be deprived of the relics of its political power, leaving it nothing 
 but jurisdiction in cases of homicide and a few religious func- 
 tions.^ Pericles now and for the next thirty years stood alone 
 at the helm of the state, often, it is true, fiercely assailed, but 
 only for one short period opposed by a rival of any importance. 
 ^ 1 See remarks on the Eumenides, p, 319. 
 
 292 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 The * age of Pericles/ if we limit the name to these thirty 
 years and except the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, 
 offers comparatively little of moment in its military and 
 political occurrences, but much that is of supreme literary and 
 artistic interest. It is true that the fame of Pericles himself 
 rests mainly on his statecraft, and it was to his genius and 
 his good fortune that Athens owed a measure of peace during 
 the time of her greatest artistic and intellectual activity, but, 
 putting aside the question whether a policy which resulted 
 in the universal hatred of Athens and the acclamation of Sparta 
 as the liberator of Greece was really a great policy, what the 
 Periclean age has of value for us is very slightly connected 
 with the facts of its political history. These facts I shall 
 therefore state as concisely as possible. 
 
 461-459. After Cimon's banishment Athens breaks with 
 Sparta and forms an entente with Argos (the Oresteia of Aeschy- 
 lus reflects this feeling). Megara puts itself under the pro- 
 tectorate of Athens. lyong Walls are built between Megara and 
 its port Nisaea and garrisoned by Athenians, who thus com- 
 mand the passes of Geraneia leading to the Isthmus. A fleet 
 of 200 Athenian and confederate ships cross from Cyprus to 
 Kgypt to assist the I^ibyan king Inaros to free Egypt from 
 the Persians. They sail up the Nile as far as the Pyramids 
 and capture Memphis, except the ' White Citadel,' which holds 
 out for years. (Finally, in 454, Artaxerxes sends a great 
 army and besieges the Greeks on a Nile island, which he takes 
 by diverting the stream. The Greeks burn their ships and 
 capitulate and are allowed to retreat to Cyrene. A reinforce- 
 ment of fifty triremes sent from Athens is annihilated by the 
 Phoenician fleet in the Nile.) 
 
 458-450. The occupation of Megara by Athens causes war 
 with Corinth and with Aegina. The Athenians, though many 
 of their warships are in Egypt, capture seventy Aeginetan 
 vessels and force Aegina to surrender the rest and to be enrolled 
 as subject state in the Confederacy. The I^acedaemonians 
 send troops to Northern Greece to defend their mother-country, 
 
 293 
 
ANCIENT GREiECE 
 
 Doris, against the Phocians, and use the opportunity to re- 
 estabhsh a Boeotian league, with Thebes at its head, to counter- 
 act Athens. On their return they threaten Athens and rout 
 the Athenians at Tanagra, but soon afterwards Athens re- 
 occupies Boeotia. At the battle of Tanagra the exiled Cimon 
 had appeared and offered to fight as hoplite. His request 
 was refused, but he was allowed to return to Athens. Some 
 years later he negotiates a five-year truce between Athens 
 and Sparta. He is reinstated as admiral of the confederate 
 fleet, and once more renews naval operations against Persia. 
 During the blockade of Cition in Cyprus he dies. From 458 
 to 455 the two lyong Walls from Athens to the Peiraeus are 
 built (p. 297). 
 
 448. After the death of Cimon the Greeks and Persians 
 seem to have agreed to abstain from hostilities. It is doubtful 
 whether a formal treaty was made. Thucydides does not 
 mention it. Some later writers assert that Callias, brother-in- 
 law of Cimon, went to Susa to ratify it and that the Persian 
 king promised to send no ships into the Aegaean or the Pro- 
 pontis, nor to cross the river Halys, nor to claim the Greek 
 Asiatic cities, except those in Cyprus, which were surrendered 
 to the Phoenicians. A copy of this treaty, it is said, was 
 engraved on a column at Athens. As we hear soon after 
 (Thuc. i. 115) of a satrap of Sardis, some of these details are 
 evidently incorrect. 
 
 447. Boeotia revolts and the Athenians suffer a severe 
 defeat and lose many prisoners at Coroneia. Buboea revolts, 
 but is reduced by Pericles. Even Megara, which had volun- 
 tarily put itself under Athenian protection, finds Athenian 
 imperialism too hard a taskmaster, or possibly is induced to 
 revolt by the oligarchical faction, and massacres the Athenian 
 garrison. Then a Peloponnesian army invades Attica. 
 
 446. Thirty Years' Peace is concluded. Athens agrees to 
 surrender Megara and Achaea, and it is stipulated that neither 
 side shall tamper with the other's allies. The terms are 
 humiliating for Athens and for the policy of Pericles. The 
 loss of Megara and the lyong Walls of Nisaea deprives Athens 
 294 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 of the command of the Isthmus of Corinth, and exposes her 
 to attack from the Peloponnese. 
 
 445-431. During these fourteen years Pericles has absolute 
 control of the state, not by virtue of any special official position 
 (he is officially only one of the ten strategoi, or generals, re- 
 elected yearly), but merely through strength of character and 
 intellect. About 443 a politician named Thucydides (not the 
 historian, but the son of Melesias), a relative of Cimon, heads 
 a party that violently opposes the imperial policy of Pericles, 
 asserting that even the weal of the empire should not override 
 justice and honour. These * little Athenians ' (so to speak) 
 sit apart in the public Assembly to show their contempt of 
 the malodorous demos and its hero, whom they accuse (doubtless 
 with some justice) of misappropriating the funds of the Con- 
 federacy for the purpose of adorning Athens and carrying on 
 her wars against fellow-Greeks. Pericles argues that as long 
 as the allies are protected satisfactorily by Athens they have 
 no right to interfere with the finances — an argument well 
 suited to win the approval of an imperialistic mob. Thucy- 
 dides, who seems to have been an orator scarcely inferior to 
 Pericles himself, and who evidently stood on a higher level 
 of political morality, is said to have complained, and doubtless 
 with much reason, that " even when he had thrown Pericles 
 he denied that he had fallen and talked over those who had 
 seen him fall." It is therefore not surprising that when 
 Thucydides proposed a trial by ostracism he himself was 
 banished (443). It was perhaps in the same year that after 
 an unsuccessful attempt had been made by the Sybarites to 
 refound their city (destroyed by Croton in 510), Pericles 
 settled the pan-Hellenic colony of Thurii near the site of 
 Sybaris — a fact the more interesting because both Herodotus 
 and the orator I^ysias were probably among the first colonists, 
 and because Hippodamus (p. 298) laid out the plan of the 
 new city on the new method, with streets at right angles, as 
 he did at the Peiraeus. 
 
 439. Samos, one of the three autonomous allies and the 
 richest of them, now shared the fate of Naxos and of many 
 
 29s 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 others of the confederates. The Samian oligarchy quarrelled 
 with Miletus, and refused to accept the arbitration of Athens, 
 which was in favour of the Milesians, some say because Aspasia, 
 who was Milesian, influenced Pericles ! Pericles himself 
 probably went out in command of the fleet and established 
 a democracy ; but the exiles returned, and again Pericles 
 went out, this time having as a fellow-s^m^^^os the poet 
 Sophocles, who had lately gained great fame by his Antigone. 
 After a blockade of nine months Samos surrendered her fleet 
 and paid looo talents indemnity. Also Byzantium revolted, 
 but was forced to return to allegiance. Perhaps it was at this 
 time that Pericles visited the Euxine with a large fleet, and 
 sailed as far as the Crimea. In his funeral speech in honour 
 of those who fell in the Samian war his eloquence is said to 
 have produced an extraordinary effect. He was crowned as 
 an Olympic victor. But Cimon's sister Elpinice (who seems 
 not to have accepted Pericles' definition of the ideal woman 
 as one about whom least is said) reproached him publicly with 
 having triumphed over fellow-Greeks, while her brother had 
 triumphed only over the barbarian. 
 
 We have now arrived at events (the sedition at Kpidamnus 
 and the sea-fight of the Corcyraeans against the Corintliians) 
 which were among the immediate causes of the outbreak of 
 the Peloponnesian War, and it will be better to reserve them for 
 consideration in closer connexion with the war. Also whatever 
 more there is to be said, or quoted, on the subject of the policy 
 and character of Pericles will be more intelligible if deferred to 
 the end of his career. In the following sections a brief account 
 is given of some of the important artistic and literary works 
 produced during the period that we have been considering. 
 
 SECTION A : ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE 
 
 {c. 478-431) 
 
 When the Athenians returned to their city after its second 
 occupation by the Persians and the withdrawal of Mardonius 
 in 479 they at once set to work, as we have seen, to clear away 
 296 
 
8 3. Parthenon, from West 
 
 :^5s:;: 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 the ruins and to rebuild. They were also persuaded by 
 Themistocles to surround Athens with new ramparts and to 
 fortify also the Peiraeus, and, probably by Cimon's advice, 
 they set aside some of the spoil taken from the Persians at the 
 Kurymedon for the building of the great south wall of the Acro- 
 polis, and perhaps also for clearing and enlarging the plateau 
 and either attempting to restore the old temple of Athene Polias 
 (see Note A, 14) or laying foundations for new temples. More, 
 however, was not accomplished until about twenty years later, 
 when Pericles, at the zenith of his power, induced the Athenians 
 to vote a large sum (partly their own and partly taken from 
 the treasury of the confederates) for the erection of the 
 Parthenon, which was built on old foundations, but after a 
 new plan, devised by the architect Ictinus. 
 
 But before we come to the Parthenon and its sculptures a 
 few words should be said about some works of great political, 
 if not artistic, importance, namely, the port of the Peiraeus 
 and the I^ong Walls which connected it with Athens. The 
 fortifications of the Peiraeus, as also the first formation of docks 
 in its three natural inlets, Munychia, Zea, and ' The Harbour,' 
 of which Cantharus (' The Cup ') was the part used by warships, 
 were due to the influence of Themistocles, and probably the 
 I^ong Walls were begun or planned before his exile ; but they 
 seem to have been finished between 458 and 455. These 
 walls diverged considerably in order to include both the 
 Peiraeus and the open bay of Phaleron, the beach of which, 
 some two miles in extent, offered an easy landing-place for 
 an invader. About 443 Pericles induced the Athenians to 
 remedy this defect by building another long wall parallel to 
 the northern wall, and at a distance from it of about 400 
 yards, thus forming a far narrower and more defensible fortified 
 passage of about four miles between the port and the upper 
 city. After the completion of this third wall the old Phaleron 
 wall was no longer kept in repair, and the open beach of 
 the Phaleron bay was deserted for the quays and marts of the 
 new harbours. The town of Peiraeus, spreading round the 
 great harbour and Zea, and up the slopes of Acte and Munychia, 
 
 297 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 was laid out on a new plan, in rectangular blocks, by the 
 Milesian architect Hippodamus, who also laid out the new 
 cities of Thurii and Rhodes, and whose name was given to 
 the chief market-place in the Peiraeus. A fine Kmporion, or 
 * Place of Commerce,' and a spacious colonnaded ' Show-place ' 
 (Deigma) for imported merchandise were constructed, and a 
 thousand talents spent on new docks and an arsenal. 
 
 The Peiraeus has of late years recovered its ancient name as 
 well as its ancient prosperity. As late as 1835 it was known as 
 Porto lycone. This name its little fishing hamlet received on 
 account of the ancient stone lion which once stood at the 
 entrance of the harbour, and which was carried off by the 
 Venetians in 1687 and now stands in front of the arsenal at 
 Venice. 
 
 Having secured their city and their port by ramparts and 
 long walls, the Athenians were easily won over by Pericles 
 to beheve that it was their duty to show their gratitude for 
 deliverance from the barbarian by erecting worthier shrines 
 " to the gods. They had still stored up in their treasury a 
 great amount of Persian spoil, aiidjt he yearly tribute of thejr. 
 subject aUies was abmit 600 lakats — some at least of which 
 they thought it justifiable to use in adorning the imperial 
 city. On the Acropolis, in the place of the ancient temples 
 burnt by Mardonius, had arisen — or perhaps had only been 
 begun — a new shrine to receive the old wooden idol of Athene, 
 which had doubtless been hidden away during the barbarian 
 invasion. And Cimon, who did not believe in fortifying the 
 city, had built a strong portal and a south wall for the citadel. 
 Moreover, on the plateau inside Cimon' s Gate statues were 
 again erected, among them {c. 460) a colossal bronze Athene 
 by Pheidias, then about thirty-five years of age, and some ten 
 years later perhaps his scarcely less famous I^emnian Athene 
 (see Fig. 87 and lyist of Illustrations). 
 
 The greater statue — which was dedicated from Persian 
 spoils and was sometimes called the ' Promachos,' or Champion 
 Goddess — is said to have been, together with its pedestal, 
 66 feet high. In representations of the Acropolis on coins 
 298 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 it overtops considerably the Parthenon and the Propylaea. 
 The crest on the helmet and the gilded tip of the spear served, 
 says Pausanias, as a landmark for sailors, like the gilt angel 
 on the Venetian Campanile. The statue stood on the Acropolis 
 for eight centuries, and was then probably taken to Constanti- 
 nople, and was there destroyed by a mob in a.d. 1203. The 
 lycmnian Athene was a smaller bronze statue dedicated by 
 the Athenian colonists of I^emnos. This island, as we have 
 seen, was gained for Athens by Miltiades shortly before the 
 battle of Marathon, and the colonists probably commissioned 
 Pheidias to make the statue about 450. 
 
 But Athens possessed no longer — indeed, she never had 
 possessed — any shrine worthy of her goddess, any temple so 
 majestic as that of Delphi or of Olympia or Bphesus or 
 Samos or Sicilian Acragas or Selinus, or even far-away Italian 
 Paestum. 
 
 So keenly did Pericles feel this that in 448, having perhaps 
 
 failed in getting money voted by the Athenians, he induced or 
 
 allowed them to send an embassy to the other Grecian states 
 
 proposing a pan-Hellenic congress in order to discuss various 
 
 matters, especially the restoration of the temples burnt by 
 
 , the barbarians. Naturally the " twenty elderly Athenians 
 
 I were rebuffed," as Grote tells us. Sparta cared httle for grand 
 
 1 temples and such things, and doubtless regarded the proposal 
 
 as a sly stroke of policy for increasing the imperial power of 
 
 Athens. Perhaps this rebuff effected what the eloquence of 
 
 Pericles had failed to effect. 
 
 The chief buildings erected by the Athenians in this period 
 were the Parthenon (c. 445-438), the Theseion, the temple on 
 Sunion, the Odeion, the new Propylaea (437-432), and the Hall 
 of Mysteries at Bleusis. Besides these we may note the 
 splendid temple of Apollo at Phigaleia, in Messenia, designed 
 by the Athenian Ictinus, the chief architect of the Parthenon. 
 Three of these, and also the Krechtheion, which was somewhat 
 later, are described in Note A at the end of this volume. 
 Of the others the following brief account may be useful. 
 
 The Propylaea (i.e. the Gate-porticoes) took the place of the 
 300 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 fortress-portal built by Cimon, and were for show rather than 
 for defence. The edifice was designed by Mnesicles and built 
 between 437 and 432. It consisted of a massive wall in which 
 were pierced five gateways, and on each side of the wall was 
 a portico of six Doric columns. Through the central gateway 
 ran the main road. The other gateways, two on each side, were 
 on a higher basement, reached by several steps of marble and 
 one of black Eleusinian stone. The gateways had massive doors, 
 whose ' harsh thunder ' is mentioned by Aristophanes. The 
 inner roof of the fore-portico was supported by six Ionic 
 columns. This central building was to be flanked by projecting 
 wings with colonnades backed by spacious halls. The north 
 wing, much of which, together with considerable portions of 
 the central building, still exists, was fairly well completed, 
 and contained a portico and a hall (Pinakotheke) in which 
 votive paintings were hung, some of them probably by the 
 famous painter Polygnotus. (He had probably already painted 
 his fresco (?) of the battle of Marathon in the Stoa Poikile, 
 near the market-place, and a picture of the Descent of OdyvSseus 
 into Hades for the I^esche of the Cnidians at Delphi.) The 
 south wing, however, was never completed, either because of 
 the Peloponnesian War or else because the ground had already 
 been consecrated as the site of the temples of Brauronian 
 Artemis and Athene Nike, and the priests refused to give it 
 up. Whatever may have been the reason, the little temple of 
 Athene Nike was built on this projecting cliff, as is explained 
 in Note A. 
 
 The Odeion, or Music Hall, was built soon after Pericles had 
 got rid of his opponent Thucydides (442) and was able to 
 indulge more freely his wish to spend public money on splendid 
 structures. Its site was on the south-west slope of the Acropolis, 
 not far from the theatre of Dionysus. (A far greater Odeion 
 was built three centuries later near the Propylaea by Herodes 
 Atticus. In passing note that the theatre of Dionysus, in which 
 all the masterpieces of the Attic drama were first performed, was 
 at this time only a somewhat primitive stage facing the 
 Acropolis, on the natural slope of which the audience was 
 
 301 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 accommodated with wooden benches or dug-out seats. The 
 huge auditorium, capable of holding 30,000 spectators, was 
 excavated and furnished with stone seats in the fourth 
 century.) 
 
 The Hall of Mysteries at Eleusis was constructed about the 
 same time to replace the old building destroyed by the Persians. 
 The design was by Ictinus, and the superintending architect 
 was Coroebus. The inner temple (Telesterion, or ' Place of 
 Initiation ') was partly built into the rock of the Kleusinian 
 acropolis. It was afterwards {c 310) furnished with a fine 
 Doric colonnade. The Mysteries were celebrated here down to 
 A.D. 396, when the building was burnt by Alaric. 
 p The Parthenon was begun about 445, some three years before 
 /the ostracism of Thucydides. It is therefore probable that his 
 indictment of Pericles was based mainly on the great expenses 
 / demanded for this magnificent temple. ^ The designer was 
 I Ictinus, the builder Callicrates, and to Pheidias was entrusted 
 the decorative work. It is regarded as the purest type of Doric 
 architecture, the characteristics of which I have explained 
 elsewhere. Its dimensions are 228 by loi feet ; its peristyle 
 consists of 8 X 17 columns of about 35 feet. At both ends there 
 is a double portico, the inner row of columns standing on a level 
 with the inner temple and two steps above the stylobat (base- 
 ment of the outer columns) . The sanctuary containing the gold 
 and ivory statue of Athene by Pheidias, which was 38 feet high, 
 formed the larger (eastern) part of the inner temple, and was 
 enclosed by walls and divided lengthwise, like a church with 
 its nave and two aisles, by two rows of small columns arranged 
 in two tiers, one above the other. The statue stood facing the 
 eastern portal, so as to receive the light of the rising sun, or 
 perhaps the sunlight from the open space in the roof — if the 
 Parthenon was a hypaethral temple. Behind this sanctuary 
 (called the Hecatompedos, or ' Hundred-foot Shrine,' being 100 
 Attic feet in length) was a smaller compartment with its 
 
 1 Grote gives 3000 talents as perhaps spent at this time on public buildings 
 (say ;^70o,ooo, representing three times as much in modern money). The 
 gold on the Athene statue weighed 40 talents. In the treasury at the beginning 
 of the Peloponnesian War were 6000 talents (Thuc. ii. 13). 
 
 302 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE ^ 
 
 entrance at the west end of the temple. This was the ' Par- 
 thenon ' proper. It was perhaps so named because it was 
 (besides being the treasure-house) the dwelHng of the maiden 
 priestesses of the goddess, and it may have given its name to 
 the whole temple. But possibly the word ' Parthenon ' (' Room 
 of the Maiden/ or ' the Maidens ') was originally applied to 
 the temple itself, although it seems that at first it retained 
 the name of the old temple of Athene Polias. Apart from its 
 sculptures and regarded only as a building, the Parthenon 
 possesses, even in its present state, a beauty and dignity such 
 as we seek in vain in other ancient ruins, however impressive. 
 It is as impossible to analyse and define such qualities as to 
 discover by dissection the causes of what is great and beau- 
 tiful in the art of Pheidias or of Sophocles ; but it is possible 
 to note the wonderful care that in the best Greek architecture, 
 as in the best Greek sculpture and poetry, was given to details 
 of symmetry and proportion. Doubtless in order to render 
 the perspective effect more perfectly harmonious and to lend 
 a certain undefinable grace and beauty to the whole building, I 
 the use of the absolutely straight line was avoided to a great 
 extent. The columns not only taper gently, and gently diminish 
 the width of their flutings, but have the slight convexity in 
 their middle parts which is known as entasis. They also all 
 lean very slightly inwards, and the corner columns are slightly 
 thicker than the others. Even the steps of the marble basement 
 are not exactly horizontal, but have a slight convexity. By 
 what rules, if by any, the Greeks thus attempted to eliminate 
 the imperfections of natural perspective as presented to us by 
 our dull senses it is impossible to say. I 
 
 The Parthenon was built of Pentelic (Attic) marble, which! 
 was first used about this time, all finer architectural and 
 statuary work having been until now done in the imported 
 Parian marble. The Pentelic stone contains a certain amount 
 of iron, to which is due the rich golden tint that it acquires. 
 As has been stated elsewhere, colour was used for the decora- : 
 tion of Greek temples and statuary very much more freely i 
 than we are willing to believe, accustomed as we are to Greek 
 
 303 
 
^ ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 j architecture and sculptures deprived of their original colours 
 \ and to the dazzling white of Carrara marble in modern statues. 
 j How far the Parthenon was decorated externally with colour 
 I is not easy to discover, but probably the columns and architraves 
 I were left uncoloured (though ornamented with wreaths, 
 shields, &c.) or were only slightly tinted, while the mouldings 
 and other decorations were brightly coloured, as well as the 
 dress and other details of the pediment sculptures and the 
 reliefs of the metopes and frieze, all of which had doubtless 
 a background of dark red or blue. Above the architraves 
 of the outer colonnade (as in all Doric temples) the frieze 
 was divided by triglyphs into metopes. These metopes, 
 ninety-two in number, were all sculptured in very high 
 relief. As each forms a distinct picture it is easy to 
 understand why metopes generally represent concentrated 
 and vigorous action, every group being self-balanced and in- 
 dependent. In the Parthenon the metopes depict contests 
 between Centaurs and I^apithae and between Greeks and 
 Amazons (Fig. 82), and possibly (on the north side, where the 
 reliefs are very weather-worn) scenes from the Trojan War. 
 Fifteen of the best are in the British Museum. Some are 
 exceedingly vigorous and wonderfully balanced, and were 
 possibly the work of Pheidias or of Myron, who excelled in poise 
 amidst violent action (as in his Discobolos and his Marsyas) ; 
 these have a decided likeness to the high-reliefs of the Theseion. 
 Others again are of very inferior design and workmanship, 
 jand were probably Ti>y disciples of the ' athletic^ scEooF^ 
 iArgos. 
 
 5 ""The frieze of the Parthenon (much of which is in the British 
 ; Museum) was a continuous frieze, as in an Ionic temple, and 
 iran above the inner columns of the porticoes, all round 
 I the outside of the walls of the sanctuary. It could thus be 
 j seen by those who walked, or a procession which marched, 
 round the Parthenon, and " the figures would seem to advance 
 I as the spectator moved " (Gardner). 
 
 Being under the colonnade and only lighted from below, the 
 sculptures (especially the lower portions) were in very low relief, 
 
 304 
 
■" ' ' 'i ■■ "'UJHAJM 
 
 '-r v 
 
 85. Portions of Parthi^non Frikze 
 
 304 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE .., 
 
 so as to avoid too deep shadows. The continuous (Ionic) frieze- 
 is, of course, well adapted for the representation of processions. 
 The subject of the Parthenon frieze is the Panathenaic pro- 
 cession, the great solemnity that took place every fourth year 
 in connexion with the Panathenaic games, and in which all the 
 richest and noblest born, all the magistrates and colonial and ; 
 foreign representatives, all the youth and beauty of Athens, ■ 
 took an eager part. The procession consists of knights on 
 horseback, charioteers, victims for sacrifice, musicians, maidens 
 carrying the sacred vessels and baskets, the archons and other 
 dignitaries ; and over the main portal of the temple is seated 
 in dignified expectation, awaiting the procession of worshippers, 
 Athene herself with all the other Olympian divinities — a 
 magnificent group. Nigh at hand is a priest with the sacred 
 robe (peplos) which was offered to Athene on these occasions. 
 There is an unity of design as well as a similarity of workmanship 
 in the whole frieze from which it is fairly safe to conclude that it 
 was mainly the jvotk of Phexdias himself, or carried out under 
 his direct supervision. Perhaps there is a concentration of 
 power in a single statue which may make it a more wonderful 
 product of creative art than any sculptured group or continuous 
 frieze can be (the difference being somewhat analogous to 
 that between a drama and an epic), but by reason of its incom- 
 parable grace and beauty the Parthenon frieze, even in its 
 present state, holds something of the same place among works 
 of sculpture that the Odyssey holds among works of poetic 
 literature, while the groups of the two pediments may perhaps 
 be likened to the Iliad. 
 
 The sculptures of the pediments, doubtless also designed 
 by Pheidias and executed under his direct supervision, were; 
 still more wonderful for their masculine beauty and poweri 
 than the frieze was for its beauty of delicate grace. So much 
 we can tell from their scanty and mutilated remains — most of 
 which may be seen in the British Museum. It is impossible for 
 me to attempt any full description here, or to discuss the very 
 numerous and diverse theories as to the meaning of the various 
 figures and the way in which they were grouped. A fairly i 
 
 u 305 I 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 isatisfactory reconstruction, or rather restoration, made by 
 jthe Austrian sculptor Schwerzek, is given in Fig. 86. All 
 such reconstructions are considerably indebted to drawings 
 ,; of the Parthenon that were made by a French artist, Carrey, 
 ; in 1674, a few years before a German gunner of the Venetian 
 forces besieging the Turks in the Acropolis succeeded in 
 dropping a shell into the Turkish powder magazine, which 
 was located in the Parthenon, with the result that a great 
 part of the temple, until then in fair preservation, was 
 demolished and many of the sculptures were shattered. The 
 Venetian commander endeavoured to carry off the figure of 
 Poseidon and the horses of Athene's chariot, but the whole 
 group fell and was broken to pieces. In 1801 the English 
 ambassador, lyord Elgin, procured a firman allowing him 
 to " remove a few blocks of stone and figures," and removed 
 the greater part of the metopes, frieze, and pediment sculptures 
 — perhaps fortunately, as they were thus saved from further 
 destruction by weather and vandalism. 
 
 The subject of the east pediment was the birth of Athene. 
 The central figures are lost. They perhaps represented the birth 
 as it is frequently depicted on old vases, where the goddess 
 in the form of a small fully armed figure springs forth from 
 the head of Zeus, which has been smitten by Hephaestus with 
 his hammer ; or more probably Pheidias chose a moment 
 of more dignity, and represented the goddess already in full 
 stature by the side of her father. An extant but mutilated 
 figure is believed to represent Iris starting to take the news to 
 mortals. In the left corner Helios (the sun) is rising from the 
 sea in his chariot, and in the right the moon (Selene) is descending 
 with her chariot into the waves. The other figures, sometimes 
 called ' Theseus ' (or ' Olympus '), ' The Three Fates ' (or ' The 
 Seasons '), and so on, are all of uncertain meaning. The subject 
 of the west pediment was the contest of Poseidon and Athene for 
 the land of Attica (see p. 32). Poseidon produced, to support 
 his claim, a spring of salt water, and Athene made an olive- 
 tree spring forth. (Both were preserved as objects of reverence 
 in the ancient ' house of Erechtheus,' which was replaced by 
 306 
 
m 
 
 .:^«r, 
 
 'Ci 
 
 vO 
 O 
 ro 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE , 
 
 the Brechtheion.) The central group of Poseidon, Athene, ' 
 and the horses of Athene's chariot were destroyed as has been 
 explained. Carrey's sketch depicts Poseidon as a huge nude 
 figure starting backwards in amazement before Athene, much 
 as Marsyas does in Myron's group (see Fig. 88 and explanation, ; 
 p. 309). The chariot of Poseidon, on the right, was probably | 
 drawn by sea-horses. Reclining figures that once filled the ' 
 corners may perhaps have represented the streams Ilissus and 
 Cephisus, between which Athens lay. But the relics are too few 
 and too mutilated to serve for any certain reconstruction, and 
 it may be safer to confine one's admiration to them as single 
 figures and as examples of unrivalled skill in the technique of 
 sculpture — " marvellous translations into marble," as they have j 
 been called, " of flesh and of drapery." 
 
 Pheidias was born about 500, so he must have had distinct 
 memories of Marathon, and perhaps fought at Salamis and 
 Plataea. Among his earliest works was a group (Miltiades 
 amidst gods and heroes) erected at Delphi, probably by 
 Cimon to commemorate Marathon and his father. His 
 colossal bronze Athene has already been mentioned, and his 
 Athene lycmnia. Of his chryselephantine Athene Parthenos 
 we are forced to form our only conception from two most 
 unattractive statuettes and a few gems, busts, and coins 
 (Figs. 89, 90, 91). After the dedication of the Parthenon 
 in 438 (though the chronology is uncertain) Pheidias seems to 
 have spent five years at Olympia working at his great statue 
 of Olympian Zeus, which ancient writers describe as the most 
 majestic and impressive of all images of the gods. The throne 
 on which Zeus was seated was probably, with its supporting 
 pedestal (22 feet broad), the most magnificent work of decora- 
 tive sculpture ever produced. Every available surface was 
 I used for reliefs or paintings. The statue itself was about 40 feet 
 high, and the whole monument perhaps over 60 feet, so that, 
 it was said, Zeus could not stand up without putting his head 
 through the roof. On the extended right hand of the god 
 stood a Victory, on his sceptre perched his eagle. Rough 
 imitations of the monument and of the head of this Pheidian 
 
 307 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Zeus may be seen on coins (Plate VI, 8, and Plate III, lo), 
 and some of these heads are incomparably more satisfactory 
 than any relic we possess of the Athene ; but this is all that 
 is extant to help us to form any conception of the greatest 
 masterpiece of Greek sculpture. Caligula tried to remove the 
 statue, but portents, it is said, deterred him. 
 
 It was probably after his return to Athens, about 432, that 
 Pheidias was accused (by the enemies of Pericles) of peculation 
 and sacrilege. He was able to refute the first charge because, 
 by the advice of Pericles, he had made all the gold ornaments 
 of the Athene detachable, and could thus prove that he had 
 used the whole of the forty talents entrusted to him. The other 
 accusation was based on the fact that he had introduced his 
 own portrait and that of Pericles in the decorations of Athene's 
 shield (see Fig. 79 and lyist of Illustrations) . It is said that he — 
 the great artist who had been lately the pride of Athens and 
 of all Greece — was condemned on this trivial charge and thrown 
 into prison and died there — a fact almost incredible if we had 
 not the cases of Anaxagoras and Socrates and others to prove 
 how fatal were the results of giving judicial powers to a bigoted 
 and litigious populace, whose vaunted reverence for law 
 was merely a reverence for their own verdicts, not for any 
 principles of justice and humanity. The creation of the 
 dicasteries, that much-lauded gift (confirmed by the wise 
 Pericles himself) to the Athenian mob, led to the pernicious 
 influence of sophists and rhetoricians and inflammatory talk 
 of all kinds, and the consequences were inevitable. 
 
 Contemporary with Pheidias were the sculptor Calamis, 
 renowned for his Attic grace uninfluenced by Argive ' athleti- 
 cism ' and renowned for his horses (see the Delphic charioteer. 
 Fig. 74 and p. 231), and Alcamenes, a I^esbian, and Paeonius, of 
 Mende in Thrace. These two are said by Pausanias to have 
 made the fine pediment sculptures for the magnificent temple 
 of Zeus at Olympia [c. 450, some years before Pheidias was 
 summoned to make the great statue) . Many of these sculptures 
 have been recovered — enough to allow of a fairly complete 
 reconstruction of the two pediments, which represented the 
 308 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 race of Pelops and Oenomaus and the fight of the Centaurs 
 and lyapithae. Except one majestic statue with outstretched 
 arm — perhaps an Apollo — the excavated figures have not, 
 however, raised our esteem for these sculptors. Nor can 
 one easily beheve that such a heavy, stiff, and somewhat 
 antiquated style could ever have been practised by a sculptor 
 who (perhaps when an old man and influenced by the Attic 
 grace of Pheidias) was able to produce such a miracle of delicate 
 beauty and lightness as the ' Nike of Paeonius,' one of the 
 two great art treasures discovered by the excavators at 
 Olympia (Fig. 93). 
 
 Another and perhaps greater contemporary of Pheidias was 
 Myron (c. 500-410), an Attic sculptor, who seems to have studied 
 under Ageladas at Argos, probably together with Pheidias, 
 and to have adopted the Argive ' athletic ' style. We have fine 
 copies of two at least of his works — the well-known Discobolos 
 (' Quoit- thrower ') and the equally well-known figure of the 
 satyr Marsyas starting back when confronted by Athene. 
 This group is described by Pliny and others, but the second 
 figure was supposed to have been irrecoverably lost. Not 
 many years ago was discovered at Rome what almost 
 certainly is a copy of the Athene. It is in Frankfurt, and 
 I am fortunate to be able to give a photograph of it (Fig. 88) . 
 The original was in bronze, a material preferred by the 
 Argive school and well adapted for statues representing violent 
 motion — or, rather, that momentary poise in the midst of 
 motion which is so conspicuous a characteristic of Myron's 
 works and is selected by I^essing (in his Laocoon) as an 
 essential characteristic of all great sculpture. 
 
 SECTION B : AESCHYLUS : HERODOTUS : PHILOSOPHERS 
 OF THE PERIOD 
 
 How the Attic drama originated in Doric dithyrambs and 
 in ' goat-dances ' performed at vintage festivals in honour of 
 Dionysus, the wine-god, has been told, and we have seen how 
 dialogue was introduced (perhaps by Thespis) between the 
 
 L 
 
ANCIENT GREEiCE 
 chorus and its leader, and also how the performances were 
 transferred from the vintage gatherings * in the marshes ' 
 outside Athens to a primitive theatre on the south-eastern 
 slope of the Acropolis, where later the great theatre of Dionysus 
 was constructed. 
 
 In the time of Aeschylus (525-456) various innovations were 
 made, some of them doubtless by him. A second ' hypocrite ' 
 (i.e. ' answerer,' or speaker) was added, so that the narrative 
 and the ' drama ' (action) became much developed and more 
 independent of the chorus, which now fell more into the back- 
 ground. Masks and costumes were improved and the high 
 buskin [cothurnus, like the Elizabethan chopin) introduced. 
 Statues, houses and temples, curtains, painted rocks and groves 
 and other scenery, doors for exits and entrances, and other such 
 stage apparatus, began to take the place of the central thymele 
 (altar) round which the old dances had been performed, and, 
 by about 430, movable platforms, wheeled or revolving on 
 pivots, cranes, and other machinery for the descent and ascent 
 of deities, became common. But to the end the classical Attic 
 drama retained much of its original scenic simplicity. It 
 was always more sculpturesque than pictorial. Sophocles 
 introduced a third, perhaps a fourth, actor ; but this number 
 was seldom, if ever, exceeded. Spectacular effects seem to 
 have been almost entirely disregarded, and nuances of by-play 
 and facial expression were made impossible by the great size 
 of the open-air theatres and by the masks of the actors. The 
 one thing of importance — and it must have been exceedingly 
 difficult, needing mechanical aids — was audible and effective 
 recitation both of dialogue and of chorus, for text-books were 
 unknown, and the vast audiences would doubtless be eager 
 to hear and criticize the new versions of the familiar legends 
 that generally formed the subjects of these dramas.^ 
 
 It has already been mentioned that Aeschylus fought at 
 
 1 The Persians of Aeschylus was a striking exception. So was the Capture 
 of Miletus, by Phrynichus (p. 195). The knowledge of the audience and the 
 supposed ignorance of the characters in the play as to the approaching cata- 
 strophe allowed place to that ' dramatic irony ' which is especially associated 
 with Sophocles. 
 
 310 
 
w. 
 
 I7. Probabi,e Copy of tiif. Phridian 
 Athene: ItICmnia 
 
 Probabi^E Copy of 
 Myron's Athene 310 
 
 Marsyas group 
 
 See List of Illustrations. 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 Marathon, where his brother Cynaegeirus was killed. Probably 
 he was present also at Salamis and at Plataea, and some believe 
 that the ' Ameinias of Pallene ' who at Salamis first attacked the 
 Persians was the youngest of his brothers.^ He first competed 
 for the tragic prize about 499, and first won it in 484. He is 
 believed to have invented the ' trilogy ' — a group of three 
 connected, or unconnected, tragedies, followed usually by a 
 semi-comic ' satyric ' play. In 468 he was defeated by the 
 young Sophocles, amidst great public excitement. Cimon in 
 this year brought the bones of Theseus from Scyros, and he 
 with his nine fellow-generals were asked to act as judges, 
 and decided in favour of Sophocles. It has been said that 
 either on this account or because he was beaten by Simonides 
 in the composition of the Marathon epitaph (which, however, 
 was in 489 !), or else because he was accused of revealing 
 the Kleusinian Mysteries or of impious language (perhaps in 
 his Prometheus, where Zeus is blasphemed), Aeschylus withdrew 
 to the court of Hiero at Syracuse. It seems, however, that he 
 had already been in Syracuse (about 475-470), where he 
 must have known Simonides and Pindar. Hiero died in 467, 
 and the poet, who was again in Athens in 465, returned to Sicily 
 after the production of his Oresteia at Athens, and died (456) 
 at Gela — killed, it is said, by being struck on the head by 
 a tortoise dropped by an eagle, in fulfilment of a prophecy 
 that he should perish by a ' stroke from heaven.' 
 
 Of the seventy or more tragedies attributed to Aeschylus 
 we possess only seven complete, ^ but these seven are more than 
 enough to prove that in dramatic power and sublimity he is, 
 with perhaps the one exception of Shakespeare, the greatest 
 of poets, and in majesty and might of language unrivalled. 
 His plots are simple, and in the earlier dramas there is a want 
 
 ^ Hdt. viii. 84, 91 ; Aesch. Pars. 409 ; also scholia of the Medici MS. 
 
 ^ The preservation of classical works is due mainly to the critics and writers 
 of Alexandria, where there was a vast library (destroyed by Omar in a.d. 641) , 
 founded by the Ptolemies (c. 300 B.C.) . They chose what was most popular and 
 what best illustrated their theories of art. Sophocles wrote, it is said, 13O 
 plays, of which only seven are extant. Of Euripides we have about twenty, 
 and half the Hypsipyle, lately discovered. 
 
 3" 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 of movement, the chorus sometimes being unduly prominent 
 and using exceedingly obscure language ; but the dramatic 
 effect is often overpowering. " Terror," says Schlegel, " is 
 his element, and not the softer affections.^ He holds up a 
 Medusa's head before the petrified spectators." His mind 
 seems to have been deeply imbued by awe of mysterious 
 powers — such powers as we hear of in the old religion of Greece 
 and the Orphic and Kleusinian Mysteries. ^ There is constant 
 reference to expiation and purification and the averting of 
 evil, to dreams and oracles and portents and spectral appari- 
 tions and to the ancient chthonian (infernal) deities, especially 
 to the primal Earth-Mother. In some passages, says Paley, 
 there is scarcely a word that does not involve some mystic 
 doctrine. In splendid contrast to this background of gloom, 
 with its sinister Fates and terrific Furies, stand the figures of 
 the gods of Olympus, the benign sunHght deities — Zeus and 
 Apollo and Athene. To these also Aeschylus pays reverence, 
 but rather perhaps as personifications of Nature and agents 
 of those supreme spiritual powers of good and evil the mani- 
 festations of whose irresistible will are intimated under such 
 names as Fate and Destiny and Justice and Retribution, and 
 that Infatuation that maddens a man and goads him on to 
 insolence and impiety and tempts him to " kick against the 
 altar of Righteousness." 
 
 Aeschylus is said to have belonged to the aristocratic 
 anti-popular party of Aristides and Cimon, and to have 
 opposed the innovations of Themistocles. But his glorifica- 
 tion of the battle of Salamis seems scarcely consistent with a 
 bigoted anti-naval poHcy, and his Eumenides is not, as is 
 
 1 In the Frogs of Aristophanes is an amusing scene (in Hades) between 
 Aeschylus and Euripides, where the claims of the two poets are tested by 
 Dionysus — partly by means of a balance to weigh their verses. Aeschylus 
 boasts that " nobody ever accused him of describing a woman in love." " No," 
 says Euripides, " there's nothing of Aphrodite in you ! " " And may there 
 never be ! " answers Aeschylus. 
 
 2 It is notable that Aeschylus was born at Eleusis, and as a child may have 
 received many such impressions ; and this may account for the charge of 
 " revealing the mysteries " in his poetry. Cicero says that he was " almost a 
 Pythagorean," and certainly there is much in his poetry that recalls Pytha- 
 gorean doctrines. 
 
 312 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 sometimes imagined, directed against the action of the party 
 of Kphialtes (p. 292) , but is rather a recognition of the Areopagus 
 as the supreme court for cases of homicide. His reverence for 
 the divine rights of kingship is very perceptible, and he seems 
 to have been much impressed by the magnificence of the 
 Persian court. Indeed, one may perhaps trace an Oriental 
 influence in some of his imaginings, which at times are scarcely 
 Greek in their audacity and grotesqueness — a quality noticed 
 by Aristophanes, who makes Euripides ridicule the ' horse- 
 cocks ' (griffins) and ' goat-stags ' of Aeschylean drama. 
 
 No translation can reproduce the splendours and sublimities 
 of the verse of Aeschylus, but some idea of the greatness of 
 his dramatic power may be gained by reading even an unpre- 
 tentious prose version, not of selected passages, but of an 
 entire play, or, still better, of the great Trilogy — perhaps the 
 mightiest drama in all literature. The pages of a volume on 
 Ancient Greece could scarcely be better filled than with such 
 a version ; but I shall have to content myself with giving a 
 brief account of the seven extant plays. 
 
 (i) The Suppliants is probably the earliest extant Greek 
 tragedy. Some connect it with the alliance of Athens and 
 Argos and the Egyptian expedition of 460-459. But from the 
 style and the antique form of the drama, which consists mainly 
 of chorus, it seems certain that the true date is about 488. 
 The suppliants, who form the chorus, are the fifty Danaides 
 who with their father. King Danaus, have fled from Egypt to 
 Argos in order to escape hated nuptials with their cousins, 
 the fifty sons of King Aegyptus. They plead for protection as 
 descendants of Argive lo, whose wanderings (in the form of 
 a heifer) had brought her to Egypt. Pelasgus, the Argive king, 
 grants their prayer and repels the insolent black herald who 
 demands their surrender. There were only two actors, as 
 Danaus and the herald were played by the same person. The 
 trilogy consisted of the Egyptians, the Suppliants, and the 
 Danaides. In the last the Danaides were, it is believed, tried 
 for the murder of their cousins (whom after all they had been 
 compelled to marry), and were seemingly acquitted, although 
 
 313 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 according to the well-known legend they suffered punishment 
 in Hades. It is unlikely that Aeschylus introduced the senti- 
 mental exception of Hypermnestra, who alone — splendide 
 mendax — out of pity or love, is said to have disobeyed her 
 father and spared her husband (Hor. C. Ill, xi.). 
 
 (2) The Seven against Thebes (467) was preceded in a trilogy 
 by Laws and Oedipus, and followed by a satyric play, the 
 Sphinx. For the story of the expedition of the seven heroes 
 see p. 33. In the Frogs of Aristophanes Aeschylus describes 
 it as a play "cram-full of Ares." The moment chosen is that 
 of the assault on the city. After a long and vivid report by a 
 messenger who describes the assailing host to the chorus of 
 Theban women and the king, Eteocles stations a Theban hero 
 at each of the seven gates, and, goaded by the Krinys of a 
 father's curse, in spite of the entreaties of the chorus and 
 his own foreknowledge of inevitable death, determines to meet 
 his brother Polyneices in mortal combat, in which both are 
 slain. Antigone and Ismene then appear, mourning their 
 brothers in a very beautiful and pathetic lamentation, in which 
 the younger echoes in somewhat different form the broken 
 utterances of the elder sister. In defiance of the proclamation 
 of the new ''ruler of the Cadmean city'' (Creon), Antigone 
 now states her determination to bury Polyneices, her brother. 
 Thus we are brought to the moment with which the Antigone 
 of Sophocles opens ; and modern criticism gravely (and perhaps 
 not unreasonably) suspects that this last scene may have 
 been added by some later writer in order to link the Seven up 
 with the Sophoclean play. 
 
 (3) The Persae is the only extant Greek tragedy dealing 
 with contemporary history. It was performed at Athens 
 (with other plays on legendary subjects) about eight years 
 after the battle of Salamis. Possibly it was written in Sicily 
 for King Hiero and first performed at Syracuse. The scene is 
 laid in Persia, in front of the tomb of Darius (Fig. 73 and p. 194), 
 near Persepolis,^ where, awaiting Queen Atossa, is collected a 
 
 1 The " city of the Persians " (1. 15) may, I think, be Persepolis ; but Susa 
 and EJcbatana are alone mentioned by name. 
 
 314 
 
89-91. Three possible Copies of the Pheidian Athene 314 
 
 See List of Illustrations 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 band of twelve elders — * Faithfuls.' They chant of the crossing 
 of the Hellespont and of the innumerable host that has accom- 
 panied Xerxes to Greece, but express their anxiety at hearing 
 no news. The mother- queen Atossa approaches. She too is 
 full of anxiety about her son Xerxes, and has been disturbed 
 by strange dreams, and will offer libations at the tomb of her 
 deified husband. A messenger now arrives and relates the 
 disasters of the Persians. The descriptions of the battle of 
 Salamis and the terrified flight of Xerxes and the catastrophe 
 at the river Strymon (see p. 267) are exceedingly fine, and 
 most interesting as the earliest picture that we possess of 
 any great historical event in Greek history — if we exclude 
 the Homeric poems ! The ghost of Darius now rises from 
 the tomb, and to him Atossa recounts the disastrous story 
 of the invasion, whereat the spirit of the Great King, full of 
 mourning and of wrath at the folly of his son, prophesies the 
 utter defeat of the Persians at Plataea — being able, as are 
 the spirits in Dante's Inferno, to foresee the future, though 
 ignorant of the present. After the disappearance of the ghost 
 of Darius, Xerxes and his retinue arrive in a pitiable state 
 of despair and terror, and the play ends amidst their heart- 
 rending lamentations — a scene that, however unhistorical, 
 must have highly delighted an Athenian audience. ^ 
 
 (4) Prometheus Bound was written perhaps a few years 
 after the great eruption of Aetna (c. 478; see Thuc. iii. 116), 
 which is mentioned prophetically (1. 375). But the highly 
 developed form of the play, with its finely finished metrical 
 and rhetorical language and the predominance of the dramatic 
 over the lyrical element, and the possibility of a third actor 
 (though Prometheus may have been an effigy), as well as 
 the probable use of stage machinery {e.g. in the case of the 
 ocean nymphs, whose advent is heralded by the flutter of 
 wings), has induced some to give it a much later date and even 
 needlessly to question its authenticity. 
 
 ^ In the Frogs Dionysus exclaims (<i propos of the Persae) : " Ay, truly, 
 and I was delighted when news was brought of the death of Darius." There 
 seems some slight error here. 
 
 31S 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 The other plays of the trilogy were the Fire-bearing 
 Prometheus and the Loosing of Prometheus. Of the last some 
 fragments survive, as well as a I^atin version by Cicero of 
 about thirty lines — enough to prove that we have lost a 
 magnificent Greek drama on the same subject as Shelley's 
 very un-Greek Prometheus Unbound. The fable of Prometheus 
 (with whom Bpimetheus and Pandora are sometimes asso- 
 ciated) is of great antiquity and probably of Eastern origin. 
 Aeschylus borrows names and the main features of his picture 
 from Hesiod's Theogonia. He depicts the Titan, a divinity 
 of the old dynasty of Cronos and the benefactor of the human 
 race, fettered to the side of a precipice in the Caucasus, but 
 still defying the power of Zeus and refusing to divulge 
 the oracle of Themis which threatened the overthrow of the 
 usurping Olympian deity. Prometheus is visited by the 
 ocean nymphs and their father Oceanus. To him he recounts 
 all the blessings of civilization (letters, numbers, astronomy, 
 houses, horses, ships, &c.) that he had brought to mortals, 
 whom he depicts as having been weak and miserable and 
 living " like frail ants in sunless caverns " before his gift of 
 fire,^ and he refuses the counsel of the sea-god to make peace 
 with Zeus. Then lo, who has also been greatly wronged by 
 Zeus and is now in the form of a heifer wandering through 
 the world (from Argos to Egypt via the Caucasus), appears 
 on the scene. She relates her wanderings and Prometheus 
 foretells her future, and how her progeny (the Danaides) will 
 return to Argos, and how an Argive hero (Heracles, a son of 
 Zeus) will come to set him free, and how Zeus himself will have 
 to appeal to him for help — power and deity have to appeal to 
 knowledge. Hermes then visits him, but his arrogant behests 
 are repelled with scorn, and amidst a terrific storm and earth- I 
 quake the drama ends. It is interesting to note that although ' 
 the real scene of the sufferings of Prometheus was, according 
 to scholiasts, the *' European shores of the Ocean/' the spot 
 
 ^ The golden age of Cronos seems inconsistent with this. Horace and 
 others attribute diseases and degeneration to the advent of fire and the 
 gifts of Pandora. The fable has analogy to that of the Tree of Knowledge. 
 
 316 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 intimated by Aeschylus (Scythia is mentioned in our play, 
 and the Caucasus in a fragment of the Loosing) became so 
 locaHzed that Pompey the Great during the Mithridatic war 
 undertook a long journey in order to visit it. 
 
 (5) The Oresteia, or ' Story of Orestes/ consisting of the 
 Agamemnon, the Choephoroe (' lyibation-carriers '), and the 
 Eumenides (' Furies '), won the first prize in 458. Soon 
 afterwards Aeschylus went for the second time to Sicily, 
 probably in order to produce the play there also. It is the 
 only extant Greek trilogy. The (lost) satyric play by which 
 it was followed was Proteus, which probably depicted the 
 entertaining adventure of Menelaus among the seals. ^ 
 
 The Agamemnon Jopens with the monologue of the sentinel 
 who so long has watched at night for fire-beacons announcing 
 the fall of Troy. Suddenly the signal flashes in the far distance, 
 and he hurries forth to the queen. A band of Argive elders 
 enters. In an ode of great sublimity they sing of the long, 
 disastrous war, and of portents and of the direful curse that 
 broods over the house of Pelops. Clytaemnestra now appears 
 and exultingly proclaims the capture of Troy and the return 
 of the king ; but our suspicions are aroused by the gloomy 
 chants of the elders, who forebode some terrible catastrophe. 
 A herald arrives. He describes the sack of Troy and then 
 announces the approach of Agamemnon, who ere long ap- 
 pears, followed by chariots laden with spoil and by captives, 
 among whom is Priam's daughter, the prophetess Cassandra. 
 Clytaemnestra welcomes her husband with feigned joy and 
 reverence, and offers friendly words to her hated rival, 
 Cassandra. The chorus once more utters its dark forebodings, 
 and Cassandra, foreseeing the impending terrors and her 
 own fate, breaks forth into lamentation and describes the 
 ghastly visions that she sees in her ecstasy. Then she rushes 
 
 1 Od. iv. The only extant satyric play is the Cyclops by Kuripides. The 
 subjects of these lighter plays were often taken from Homer ; e.g. Nausicaa, 
 or The Washerwomen. It is noticeable that Aeschylus wrote the Oresteia 
 at an age (sixty-seven) when nowadays men are regarded as past work, 
 especially creative work. Sophocles wrote many of his finest plays between 
 his sixty-fifth and ninetieth years. 
 
 317 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 into the palace to meet her fate, while from behind the scenes 
 we hear the groans of the murdered king. The palace door 
 opens and we see Clytaemnestra standing by the body of her 
 murdered husband and hear her proudly, insolently, confess 
 the crime and justify it as righteous requital for the sacrifice 
 of her daughter Iphigeneia. Here she is joined by Aegisthus, 
 her accompHce in infidelity and murder, amidst whose fierce 
 altercation with the elders the drama ends. 
 
 The Choephoroe tells the same story as the Eledra of Sopho- 
 cles and of Euripides (to which it forms a most interesting 
 contrast) — namely, the return of Orestes (who had been sent 
 away to Phocis when a child by his mother Clytaemnestra), 
 the recognition of him by his sister Blectra, and the slaying 
 of the queen together with her paramour by her own son, 
 who has brought her the false tidings of his own death. 
 The character of Klectra is wonderfully drawn, and that of 
 Clytaemnestra is perhaps even more impressive in its defiant 
 pride and almost majestic lyady-Macbeth-like insolence than 
 in the Agamemnon. The ' libation-carriers ' are the maidens 
 who, together with Electra, have been ordered by the queen, 
 because of an evil dream, to make offerings at the tomb of 
 Agamemnon — probably in Mycenae. The drama ends by a 
 vision of the Furies, beheld by Orestes, who flees in terror 
 before them. 
 
 The opening scene of the Eumenides is before the great 
 temple at Delphi. The aged Pythian priestess enters the 
 shrine to offer prayers to the goddess Earth and other ancient 
 deities and then to take her seat on the oracular tripod. She 
 returns terrified and scarce able to say what she has seen : 
 a suppliant at the central altar, his hands and sword dripping 
 with blood, closely surrounded by a band of slumbering 
 monstrous forms — like Gorgons or Harpies, but wingless, 
 black, distilling filthy ooze from their eyes and snorting forth 
 in sleep their fetid breath. She has scarce ended when Apollo 
 comes forth leading Orestes. He promises him safeguard to 
 Athens, entrusting him to the care of Hermes. The temple 
 door has remained open, and within we see the Furies lying 
 
 3i8 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 asleep around the central altar — the '* navel of the earth " — 
 above which arises a spectral form, the ghost of Clytaemnestra, 
 which calls on the sleepers to awake and pursue. With 
 horrid moans and groans they answer, still asleep ; then, 
 waking, they find their victim fled, and chanting their terrible 
 song they dance wildly round the altar, till Apollo drives 
 them forth from his temple. The scene now changes. Orestes 
 is embracing the statue before Athene's temple on the 
 Athenian Acropolis. The Furies arrive and claim their 
 victim, uttering their terrible cry for vengeance in a 
 magnificent hymn in which they chant of sin and inexorable 
 retribution. But Athene appears in her four-horse chariot. 
 She bids the herald summon the council of the Areopagus, 
 '' the best of my citizens." Perhaps the scene is supposed to 
 be changed to the ' hill of Ares ' (or rather ' of Curses ' — 
 i.e. of the Avenging Goddesses). Apollo appears to advocate 
 the cause of Orestes against the accusing Furies. The judges 
 cast their ballots into the two urns. The votes are equal. 
 Athene gives the verdict in favour of Orestes, and the 
 rage of the Furies against the ' younger deities ' is allayed, 
 and even their blessings are elicited, by the promise of Athene 
 to assign them a special sanctuary " near the house of 
 Erechtheus " (probably in the dark cleft still existing amid 
 the north-eastern crags of the Areopagus). Here they are to 
 be worshipped as the ' Eumenides,' or ' Kindly Goddesses.' 
 
 Herodotus 
 
 The passages that have been quoted from Herodotus in 
 connexion with the Persian invasions will have shown, to 
 some extent, the character of his work. Much has been 
 written about it, both in praise and in depreciation, but for 
 those who care to read the book itself — of which there are 
 good annotated translations — such criticism is mostly super- 
 fluous. Here I shall content myself with offering a few 
 biographical data and a few general remarks. 
 
 As historian Herodotus was preceded by Hecataeus of 
 Miletus and Hellanicus of Mytilene. The former has already 
 
 319 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 been mentioned in connexion with the Ionic revolt and as 
 having written a geography [Travels round the Earth) for the 
 map or globe of Anaximander. His history is mentioned 
 several times by Herodotus, who also speaks of his having 
 been in Egypt. The ' Attic history ' of Hellanicus is men- 
 tioned by Thucydides. 
 
 Herodotus, who tells us (ii. 143) that he was not accus- 
 tomed to '' boast of his family," was born (c. 484) in the 
 Dorian city of Halicarnassus in Caria, whence he withdrew, 
 or was banished, in consequence of a revolt against the 
 ruler, or tyrant, I^ygdamis — the grandson of that Queen 
 Artemisia whose courage at Salamis was so admired by 
 Xerxes, and also b}'' his historian. Probably in Samos or 
 I/Csbos he acquired the Ionic dialect in which he wrote — 
 apparently a selection from the four forms of the ordinary 
 Ionic combined with Attic and epic elements. His travels 
 extended to Scythia (nearly to the Crimea), Babylon, and 
 Elephantine (near Assouan). He seems to have returned 
 to Halicarnassus and aided in expelling I^ygdamis. His 
 evident admiration for Athens seems to confirm the assertion 
 that he lived there, under the patronage of Pericles, for some 
 time. It is even stated that the Athenians presented him 
 with ten talents (some £2500) for reciting his history at the 
 Panathenaea [c. 446) . Also perhaps he recited it at Olympia ; 
 and Thucydides, then a boy, is said to have been present — 
 and to have shed tears ; but chronology makes this improb- 
 able. In 444-443 the Athenians and the cityless Sybarites 
 founded Thurii, close to the site of ruined Sybaris, and 
 Herodotus may have been among the first colonists. He 
 may also have composed his history (from previous notes) 
 at Thurii, and perhaps he died there about 426. Some say 
 that he (as also the orator I^ysias) returned to Greece, and 
 that he died at Pella, in Macedonia. From his mention 
 (i. 130) of a revolt of the Medes against Darius, which was 
 thought to be the revolt of 408 against Darius II, instead of 
 the earlier revolt against Darius Hystaspes, it has been wrongly 
 believed that Herodotus lived until nearly the end of the 
 320 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 Peloponnesian War. In spite of all the sins of omission and 
 commission laid to his charge by the modern historical 
 critic — his inaccuracies, his credulity, his reverence for 
 prophecies and oracles, his belief in the efficacy of images 
 and prayer and sacrifice, his tendency to seek for supernatural 
 causes, his partiality, and so on ^ — this " naive, uncritical, 
 entrancing story-teller *' possesses gifts that many a more 
 scientific chronicler might well envy. By his keen powers 
 of observation he has collected an immense amount of interest- 
 ing and curious information in regard not merely to events 
 but also to customs and character and cities and countries, 
 and much else, and, what is of even greater importance, his 
 human sympathies allow him an insight into the true causes 
 of things which Thucydides, with all his skilful analysis of 
 secondary and superficial motives, does not possess. The 
 great agent in shaping outward circumstances, as Professor 
 Butcher says, is the human will. But human will is pro- 
 foundly influenced by beliefs and feelings that lie very deep 
 in human nature, and into these depths mere critical acumen 
 has no such insight as that which is sometimes vouchsafed 
 to the ' naive * and sympathetic spirit. 
 
 Philosophers of the Period 
 
 The Eleatic philosophers Parmenides and Zeno have already 
 been mentioned as followers of Xenophanes (p. 208), and it 
 has been shown how his doctrine of the one eternal and im- 
 mutable Reality, the source and cause of all the natural 
 universe, degenerated in course of time into a barren denial 
 of the existence (even the temporal, practical existence) of 
 sensible things, and of the possibility of motion. With Par- 
 menides the sublime philosophy of his master still retained 
 much of its elevation and aroused the reverent admiration of 
 Socrates and of Plato, who speaks of his " wondrous depth." 
 As an old man Parmenides is said to have visited Athens 
 
 1 Sometimes he ventures to express a doubt [e.g. " or perhaps the wind ceased 
 of itself "), or prays gods and heroes to forgive his scepticism. He was very 
 far removed from a credulous fool or a bigot. " My duty," he says, " is to 
 report all that is said, but I am not obliged to believe it all." 
 
 X 321 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 {c. 448), and Plato describes (possibly invents) a very interest- 
 ing interview in whicli Socrates, then quite a young man, 
 imparts to him his newly conceived Ideal theory and is en- 
 couraged by him to develop and apply it more boldly. Indeed, 
 it was the Bleatic behef in the one immaterial Reality — 
 involving the denial of the absolute reality of sensible objects 
 — that was the foundation of the Socratic (or Platonic) beUef 
 in the divine Will as the one true cause of all things. This 
 denial of the real existence of natural objects has ever en- 
 countered the ridicule of the uninitiated, but, " paradoxical 
 as it may appear, this insistence on the unreality of the sensible 
 world is the only way in which worth and meaning can be 
 given to it." Misunderstood, it leads to all kinds of extrava- 
 gant absurdities, as it did in the case of Zeno, who wasted his 
 energies on endless intellectual puzzles and quibbles about 
 the impossibility of motion and the non-existence of place 
 and so on. He is interesting merely because the Sophists 
 were (though they may not have acknowledged it) his lineal 
 descendants. With them, as with him, there was no absolute 
 truth, and consequently no absolute knowledge. Their highest 
 object was intellectualism and rhetorical artifice — that art 
 of Belial, " to make the worse appear the better reason." 
 
 Zeno is said to have accompanied Parmenides to Athens in 
 448, and to have been at that time about forty years of age. 
 The only important literary relics of these two Bleatics are 
 about a hundred hexameters by Parmenides, besides a I^atin 
 version of about fifty more. In one fragment he offers us a 
 fine imaginative picture — a vision in which he is borne aloft, 
 in a chariot drawn by the horses of Wisdom, out of the night 
 of Ignorance and through the portal of the goddess Justice, 
 up into the sunlit realm of Knowledge. In other fragments 
 he insists again and again on the existence of the One and the 
 non-existence of the Many, and he asserts that all sensible 
 things are resultants produced by two counteracting principles, 
 such as cold and heat, darkness and light, force and inertia. 
 
 Kmpedocles of Acragas, the last of the great colonial sages, 
 was a man of supreme intellectual powers and of a most extra- 
 322 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 ordinary character. His personality is half hidden in fable, 
 for he claimed supernatural powers as a divinity exiled for 
 a time from heaven, and was reverenced as such. Mounted 
 on a chariot, clad in purple robes, and crowned with Delphic 
 laurel and with gold, he made triumphal progress through 
 Sicily. Many miracles of healing are attributed to him. It 
 is even said that he raised the dead. By his art — perhaps by 
 draining a marsh — Selinus was freed from pestilence (see coin 5, 
 Plate IV). Some assert that he threw himself into the crater 
 of Aetna (as happens in Matthew Arnold's poem) to solve the 
 mystery of existence. Others say that after a banquet, when 
 all his companions had fallen asleep, he disappeared, and, like 
 Elijah, was borne aloft to heaven. The modern critic is more 
 inclined to accept the statement of Timaeus, the historian of 
 Sicily, that he took ship for the Peloponnese and died there. 
 That he was a great poet is proved by the magnificent eulogy 
 addressed to him by I^ucretius, and also by a fragment of about 
 470 lines from his poem on Nature, which is grand in language 
 and contains some highly imaginative metaphors. His philo- 
 sophy seems to have combined some of the main doctrines of 
 the Ionic, Bleatic, and Pythagorean schools. lyike Xenophanes 
 he believed in the one real existence, and denied the testi- 
 mony of the senses to be absolutely true. He developed a 
 cosmology, founded on the four elements. These elements, 
 however, are not * self -created ' or ' self -moving,' as with the 
 old Ionic sages ; they are mere material {v\ri) subject to the 
 influence of immaterial forces, which he named * love ' and 
 ' hate,' the attraction and repulsion caused by which set up 
 an eddying motion and thus formed the natural world out of 
 chaos. Should ' love ' finally conquer, the world would relapse 
 into a state {airoLov) where there is no counteraction, no contra- 
 distinction, no genus or species or other differentiation, and 
 where everything is everything else. He seems to have origi- 
 nated the theory of ' emanations ' (adopted by Democritus, and 
 described by lyucretius) — that is, the giving off by natural 
 objects of minute particles that affect those elements of our 
 sense-organs which are of the same nature. Hence the doctrine 
 
 323 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 " lyike is affected by like," which was later applied even to 
 things immaterial — as by Plato to the relation between the 
 intellect and its cognate Ideas. 
 
 The attribution of affections and will to elemental matter 
 (or to prime monads, i.e. atoms) converted the universe, so to 
 speak, into a living and sensitive thing, such as Virgil describes 
 in a celebrated passage (Aen. vi. 723 sq.), but was in reahty 
 no more intelligible than the old Ionic doctrine of self-created 
 and self -moving prime elements. The one great difficulty 
 remained, and for the materialist still remains, viz. to account 
 for this omnipresent Will or Energy in Nature. *' Amid the 
 mysteries,'' says Herbert Spencer, " that become the more 
 mysterious the more they are thought about, there will remain 
 the one absolute certainty that we are ever in the presence 
 of an infinite and eternal energy from which all things proceed." 
 To attempt to explain it as due to chemical affinity, gravity, 
 magnetism, or any such natural force does not in the least 
 help towards a solution. We still ask : Whence comes the 
 force that causes these physical manifestations ? 
 
 It was Anaxagoras who first gave a definite answer to this 
 question. He held, indeed, that matter was eternal, infinite, 
 indestructible, and uncreated (for his mind refused to believe 
 in " creation from nothing "), but he believed that it existed 
 originally in a chaotic state in which " all things were to- 
 gether [ojuLou] " — that is, not differentiated and distinguishable 
 — until " Mind [N0O9] came and arranged them into a Cosmos." 
 This Mind, or IntelHgence, is conceived by Anaxagoras as 
 not immanent in matter, far less as identical with matter, 
 but as an immaterial ordering Will, self -existent (e0' eavrov), 
 omniscient, and " with supreme lordship over all things." 
 Thus we have no longer a materialistic explanation of the 
 universe (which, in spite of their doctrines in regard to the 
 Deity, was still apparently held by Xenophanes and others 
 like him), and no longer a Monistic identification of mind 
 and matter, nor even such ' Higher Pantheism ' as that 
 described by Tennyson, but a distinct confession of a spiritual 
 cause of the ordered universe. 
 
 324 
 
THE ATHENIAN EMP{IR[E 
 
 Both Plato and Aristotle, however, complain that Anaxa- 
 goras (as is the case with many of us) only called in this divine 
 Intelligence when in difficulties — so that Socrates is said (in the 
 Phaedo) to have given up the study of his works because the 
 writer had not the courage to apply his own doctrine in physical 
 questions. But, timid guess as it was, it was apparently the 
 first conception by a Greek thinker of a God of infinite power 
 and goodness, such as was proclaimed by Socrates, so that 
 we cannot be surprised at the words of Aristotle : '* When one 
 of them said that there is in Nature an Intelligence that is the 
 cause of the order of the universe, this man appears alone to 
 have been sober among the wild speculations of his prede- 
 cessors." 
 
 Anaxagoras (c. 500-428) was a native of Clazomenae, in 
 Ionia. Probably soon after the battle of Salamis he went 
 to Athens, where he lived for about thirty years. He was an 
 intimate friend of Pericles, and his teachings exercised great 
 influence on Euripides. In 450 he was accused of impiety 
 by the Athenian mob and the high-priests of Olympian ortho- 
 doxy, and only escaped death by the eloquent pleadings of 
 Pericles. He retired to I^ampsacus, where he died in 428. 
 
 32s 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 (431-404) 
 
 SECTIONS : THUCYDIDKS : SOPHOCI^BS, EURIPIDBS, ARISTO- 
 PHANES : DEMOCRITUS, THE SOPHISTS, SOCRATES : 
 SCUI^PTURE 
 
 IN 445 a Thirty Years' Peace had been concluded between 
 the Athenians and the Peloponnesians, who had been 
 in a state of almost continuous hostility for about 
 fifteen years. This peace had lasted only some twelve years — 
 those years during which the Parthenon and the third I^ong 
 Wall of Athens and the docks and marts of the Peiraeus were 
 built- — when events occurred that led to the declaration of 
 war by Sparta. The conflict lasted for about twenty-seven 
 years. After the first ten years of ineffectual warfare, consist- 
 ing mainly of such reprisals as were possible between a maritime 
 and a land power, a respite was given by the Peace of Nicias 
 (421), but the break was so short that, with Thucydides, we 
 may regard the war as scarcely interrupted. Hostilities were 
 soon renewed. Had the Athenians remained true to the policy 
 of Pericles and renounced all ambitious attempts to increase 
 their oversea empire, they might have retained their maritime 
 supremacy ; but, under the influence of such demagogues and 
 adventurers as Cleon and Alcibiades, they embarked on the 
 disastrous SiciHan expedition (415), by which, and by the revolt 
 of almost all their allies, their power was fatally undermined 
 and rapidly sank, until Sparta, which had built ships and had 
 even stooped to solicit the powerful aid of Persia against the 
 * enslaver of Greece,' crushed the Athenian fleet at the battle 
 of Aegospotami, captured Athens, razed her lyong Walls, and 
 put an end to her empire (404). 
 326 
 
92. The ' Meidias Vase ' 
 
 See last of Illustrations 
 
 326 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 The story of this Peloponnesian War (as we call it, regarding 
 it from the Athenian point of view) is told very fully by Thucy- 
 dides down to the year 411, and is continued by Xenophon 
 in his Hellenica. I^ater historians have repeated, sometimes 
 with a vast amount of comment, all the details of every little 
 skirmish or poHtical compHcation. Doubtless during these 
 twenty-seven years many heroic deeds were done, and some 
 memorable events took place, as well as many that every true 
 lover of Greece would gladly forget ; but there is a very great 
 deal to be found in the hundreds of pages often devoted to 
 this war which is for us of no importance whatever — except 
 when we associate it with memories of Thucydides. All these 
 miserable fightings and butcheries, all this hateful intestine 
 strife and hatred and treason and inhumanity, bulk so largely 
 in the ordinary Greek history because they have been recounted 
 by a writer perhaps unrivalled for graphic description, for 
 brilliant rhetoric, and for powers of subtle analysis. I do 
 not purpose to make any attempt to describe fully the 
 details of the war, but shall give a concise statement of the 
 chief events of this period and then some descriptive passages 
 from Thucydides. 
 
 The Peloponnesian War (431-404) 
 
 In the last chapter we followed the course of events down 
 to the revolt and reduction of Samos in 439, Some five years 
 later incidents occurred in connexion with two Corinthian 
 colonies, Corcyra and Potidaea, which (as Corinth was the 
 great maritime rival of Athens) induced the Athenians to 
 interfere, and led to remonstrance and finally an ultimatum 
 from Sparta, as the head of the Peloponnesian league and the 
 champion of the Hberties of Greece. 
 
 The trouble began at Bpidamnus (Dyrrhachium, in Illyria) , 
 a colony of Corcyra (Corfu). The Bpidamnians, harassed by 
 exiled oligarchs, appealed to Corcyra, and, obtaining no aid, 
 with the advice of the Delphic oracle turned to Corinth, 
 which sent them troops. The Corey raeans forthwith blockaded 
 Kpidamnus. Corinth sent seventy-five ships against them, but 
 
 327 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 the Corcyraeans had a large fleet, and, after defeating the 
 Corinthian ships, captured Epidamnus. Then Corinth, highly 
 indignant, resolved to collect a great navy. Both sides appealed 
 to Athens, and Athens (though it was a hostile act against the 
 democracy of Epidamnus) was induced by the prospect of 
 such strong maritime support against her future Peloponnesian 
 enemies to make an alliance with Corcyra, and sent ships. 
 A naval battle then took place (433) off the Sybota islets, near 
 Corcyra. The Athenian ships held aloof at first, but interfered 
 to save the Corcyraeans from defeat. The Corinthians sailed 
 homewards, much incensed at the breach of the Thirty Years' 
 Peace — a charge repelled by the Athenians, who asserted that 
 Corcyra had belonged to neither of the two great confederacies, 
 and that Athens had a right to defend her new ally. 
 
 Another complication with Corinth arose in the regions 
 Thraceward. Potidaea, on the isthmus of Pallene, was a 
 Corinthian colony, but had become a tributary ally of Athens, 
 and was now ordered by the Athenians to eject its Corinthian 
 officials. It refused. Corinthian forces were sent to support 
 its revolt, but were defeated, and Potidaea was closely invested 
 for two years by the Athenians.^ Corinth now appealed to 
 Sparta, which was itself incensed at Athens for having (on 
 the advice of Pericles) excluded Megara from its ports and marts. 
 An Athenian envoy was, perhaps accidentally, present at Sparta, 
 and was allowed to answer the Megarians and Corinthians. 
 Thucydides has taken the opportunity to give us some brilHant 
 speeches, which, though fictitious, probably represent fairly 
 accurately the arguments on both sides. The Peloponnesian 
 confederates, he tells us, held two assembHes, and the Corin- 
 thians were allowed a final speech, in which they vehemently 
 incited Sparta to overthrow the * despot city ' which was 
 trying to enslave all Greece. In spite of the prudent advice 
 of the king, Archidamus, the violent war-speech of an ephor 
 carried the assembly, and, after receiving encouragement 
 from the Delphic oracle (which did not feel ashamed of thus 
 
 1 A monument now in the British Museum extols those who fell on the 
 Athenian side. 
 
 328 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 inciting fratricidal war), and after making various trivial 
 demands {e.g. that Athens should cast out the ' pollution * 
 in the person of Pericles), Sparta sent an ultimatum : " The 
 Athenians can avoid war if they restore the independence 
 of the Hellenes.'' 
 
 The speech of Pericles at this juncture was (if we accept 
 the version given by Thucydides) a splendid example of fiery 
 and yet dignified oratory. He advised a temperate answer and 
 a proposal of arbitration, but a decisive refusal of all unjusti- 
 fiable demands. Regarding war as inevitable, he reviewed 
 the resources of both sides and pointed out that the I^acedae- 
 monians, having neither ships nor money, could not carry on 
 any protracted war. Formerly Themistocles had advised the 
 abandonment of Athens ; Pericles now advised the Athenians 
 to trust not only to their wooden but also to their stone walls, 
 and to abandon their open country to devastation. He believed 
 in a Fabian policy of exhaustion. War was inevitable, was 
 indeed practically declared, but they still, says Thucydides, 
 had intercourse without heralds, until early in the year 431, 
 when the first act of open hostility took place — an attack by 
 the Thebans on the town of Plataea, which, though Boeotian, 
 had always remained faithful to Athens. The attack failed and 
 a massacre of Theban prisoners — the precursor of many such 
 barbarities, if that word can be appHed with double intensity 
 to the Greeks themselves — was the signal for the beginning of 
 the long and miserable civil war. 
 
 Archidamus and his Peloponnesians forthwith invaded 
 Attica, from which flocks and herds had been removed toKuboea 
 and the inhabitants to Athens, where the overcrowding was 
 terrible. Pericles, in spite of fierce opposition, prevented the 
 Athenians from sallying forth against the foe. The fleet was 
 sent against the Peloponnese and Peloponnesian colonies, 
 but very little was effected. In their excitement and alarm, 
 and perhaps in order to relieve the overcrowding of the city, 
 the Athenians decided to expel the whole population of Aegina 
 and to settle the island with Athenians. The Aeginetans 
 found a home at Thyrea in I^aconia, as the Messenians had at 
 
 329 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Naupactus, but a few years later were captured and enslaved 
 by the Athenians. 
 
 To what a degree our interest in the war is purely literary 
 is plain from the fact that for many the most memorable 
 event of this first year is the great speech of Pericles — a funeral 
 panegyric in honour of those who had already fallen/ and 
 whose bones were now buried with great ceremony in the 
 Cerameicus without the walls. This celebrated speech, reported 
 by one who was himself doubtless present, must have been so 
 impressed on the memories, and perhaps also the tablets, of 
 many that we may feel sure that we possess in the famous 
 eleven chapters of Thucydides much of what Pericles actually 
 said. Indeed, all the three great orations of Pericles that 
 Thucydides has preserved — the first in favour of war, the 
 second in honour of the fallen, and the third, spoken shortly 
 before his death, in self-defence against his assailants — have, 
 in spite of many a brilliant Thucydidean antithesis, an im- 
 press of originality which we find in no other of his reported 
 speeches. 
 
 In the second year of the war, after the annual invasion and 
 devastation of Attica, a calamity befell Athens which probably 
 contributed more than the bloodiest defeats to her final 
 overthrow.^ Out of perhaps 100,000 citizens about a fifth, 
 besides an '' indiscoverable number " of slaves, foreigners, and 
 others, died of a terrible plague ^ which continued for two 
 years, and after a year's intermission broke out again with 
 great virulence. A vivid description — as vivid as anything 
 in Boccaccio, Defoe, Virgil, or I^ucretius — is given by Thucy- 
 dides, who was himself struck down by the disease, but 
 recovered. In the midst of this distress Athens made over- 
 tures of peace, but they were rejected. Pericles meanwhile had 
 
 1 Fig. 104 represents Athene contemplating a stele with the names (pos- 
 sibly) of these same warriors. 
 
 2 See Note A (Phigaleia). A statue to Apollo, the ' Averter of Pestilence,' 
 by Calamis was dedicated in Athens about 430. 
 
 * Probably some malignant form of variola, now extinct ; evidently not 
 the bubonic plague. Curiously, no account is given by the great physician 
 Hippocrates, who lived from 460 to 356. 
 
 330 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 made an unsuccessful sea-raid on the Peloponnese, and on his 
 return was vehemently assailed, and fined, and deprived of his 
 post as strategos. His eloquent and dignified defence caused 
 a revulsion of feehng and he was reinstated in his command, 
 but many sufferings had of late fallen upon him. He had 
 been constantly lampooned and satirized and insulted both 
 by political and private enemies. 
 
 His friends Pheidias and Anaxagoras, the greatest artist 
 and the greatest philosopher of the da)^ had been assailed 
 by bigotry and calumny ; the one had died in prison, the 
 other was an exile. Aspasia, with whom he lived, and whose 
 house was a centre of intellectual and artistic life, had been 
 accused, perhaps by Cleon, of impiety and immorahty. Both 
 his sons (by a wife from whom he was separated) died of the 
 plague, and the blow seems to have left him a broken man.^ 
 A year or so later he died, it is said from a low fever after an 
 attack of the plague. As he lay dying and seemingly uncon- 
 scious, his friends, says Plutarch, spoke together in praise of 
 him, but he heard it and interrupted them saying : " What 
 chiefly gives me pride is that no Athenian ever put on mourning 
 for any act of mine." By friends and enemies alike the wonderful 
 eloquence of Pericles is attested. Aristophanes describes him 
 as the Olympian Zeus hurling his flaming thunderbolts, and 
 Plato extols his " majestic intelligence." His character and his 
 policy are graphically described by Thucydides (see p. 348), 
 and though the partiality of the historian is apparent, ^ we 
 may rather accept his estimate than the suggestion of Plutarch 
 that he corrupted the people by display and by distributions of 
 public money and by " nursing up the city in elegant pleasures " 
 in order to maintain his personal power, or the accusation 
 of his assailants that he "fanned up the war" to escape the 
 charge of peculation. At the same time, while fully allowing 
 
 1 Plutarch describes him as breaking down into uncontrollable tears and 
 sobs at the funeral of his favourite son, Paralus. The elder, Xanthippus, was 
 a mauvais sujet and caused him much trouble. His son Pericles, by Aspasia, 
 was legitimatized before the death of his father. 
 
 2 In spite of the fact that he was related to the family of Cimon, the here- 
 ditary opponent of Xanthippus and Pericles. 
 
 331 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 his integrity and sincerity, it is possible to doubt the wisdom 
 of a poHcy which, although opposed to imperiaHstic adventure, 
 was in support of an empire that had been built up on a 
 foundation of tyrannical injustice, extortion, and bloodshed, 
 and was doomed to perish by the hatred that it inspired 
 not only in the rest of the Hellenic world, ^ but also among its 
 so-called allies. 
 
 While the plague was raging an armament had been sent to 
 storm Potidaea, which still held out, but a fourth of the troops 
 had perished by the disease and the rest returned. Karly 
 in 429, however, the town surrendered to blockade ^ after 
 such sufferings that the garrison had fed on the bodies of the 
 slain. Fair terms were granted, which intensely displeased the 
 Athenian mob, who had looked forward to a great capture of 
 slaves and a wholesale butchery to gratify their resentment. 
 About the same time the Spartans massacred a number of 
 prisoners captured at sea and cast their bodies out for the 
 birds and beasts. The Athenians retaliated by murdering 
 Spartan envoys who had fallen into their hands and by serving 
 the bodies in like fashion. Henceforward acts like these and 
 of still greater ferocity became common, till at Aegospotami 
 from three to four thousand Athenian prisoners were butchered 
 in cold blood. 
 
 The chief events of the next five years (429-424), besides 
 the almost annual devastation of Attica, were the capture of 
 Plataea by the I^acedaemonians, the revolt and reduction of 
 Mytilene, the revolution and massacre at Corcyra, the capture 
 of Spartans on Sphacteria, and the defeat of Athens at Delion. 
 The following brief accounts of these facts will be supplemented 
 later by descriptive passages from Thucydides. 
 
 In 429, instead of devastating Attica, Archidamus and his 
 Peloponnesians cross the ridge of Cithaeron, and the Plataeans, 
 on the (never fulfilled) promise of aid from Athens, determine to 
 stand a siege. The account that Thucydides has given of this 
 
 1 Thucydides, though an Athenian, tells us that at the beginning of the war 
 public feeling through the whole of Greece was " greatly in favour of the 
 I^acedaemonians " as adversaries of the ' despot city.' 
 
 2 Socrates served as Athenian hoplite in this campaign. 
 
 332 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 siege, with all its picturesque details of vallation and counter- 
 vallation, of mines, battering-rams, and so on, and of the escape 
 of about half the garrison, who on a moonless winter night 
 amidst a storm of wind and rain scaled the besiegers' walls 
 and waded across the flooded moats, covered with fragile ice, 
 and reached Athens in safety — this picture has made the 
 P siege of little Plataea, with its garrison of 400, and later only 
 ' 200, Plataeans and 80 Athenians, as famous as that of Syracuse, 
 Saguntum, or Magdeburg. Athens, either from cowardice or 
 because of the plague, thought it best to forget its promised 
 aid, and at last, in the summer of 427, the Plataeans surrendered 
 at discretion. In vain they appealed to the memory of Mara- 
 thon and their heroic ancestors and to the tombs of the Spartans 
 who fell at the battle of Plataea. Commissioners sent from 
 Sparta to decide their fate put to each man only the question 
 whether in the present war he had done any service to the 
 Spartans or their allies. All the 200 were slaughtered, as well 
 as some Athenians, and Plataea was razed to the ground. 
 
 While Plataea was still being besieged (428) Mytilene, the 
 capital of I^esbos, nominally still an autonomous ally of 
 [Athens, was induced by the oligarchical party to assert, as 
 jSamos had done, its independence. I^esbian envoys appealed 
 to the Greeks assembled at the Olympic Games, and lycsbos 
 was admitted into the Peloponnesian league. The Athenians, 
 though much crippled by the plague and by want of money, 
 dispatched forty ships under Paches and blockaded Mytilene. 
 The Spartans also sent a fleet, but it returned without daring 
 to attack the Athenians, and ultimately the democrats in the 
 city forced the authorities to capitulate on the condition that 
 its fate should be decided by the Assembly at Athens. At 
 Athens there had come to the front a politician named Cleon. 
 The character of Cleon as drawn by Aristophanes, who was an 
 aristocrat in politics and his private enemy, as well as by 
 Thucydides, who was banished by his influence, is that of a 
 loud-voiced, brutal, overbearing demagogue, one of the most 
 pernicious products of the dicasteries and the Bcclesia ; and, 
 after making all due allowances for personal dislike and for 
 
 333 
 
AN,CIENT GREECE 
 political rancour, as well as for the exaggerations of comic 
 caricature, this tanner or leather-seller, who has been sedu- 
 lously whitewashed by some modern writers, seems to have 
 really been something very like the picture given by his 
 two great contemporaries. That on one occasion, as we 
 shall see, he gained a remarkable success, and that his chau- 
 vinistic war-policy may have been more to the advantage of the 
 Athenian Empire than that advocated by the milder-tempered 
 Nicias, can be allowed without causing us to exchange the 
 portrait of the man given us by Aristophanes in his Knights 
 for that offered by writers who describe him as a " great 
 Opposition speaker," not more unnecessarily virulent than 
 Demosthenes, Cicero, Milton, or Chatham, and withal a 
 discoverer and castigator of social and political scandals and 
 a true friend of the poorer classes. This man proposed that 
 all the grown-up men of Mytilene should be put to death, and 
 his proposal was passed. A ship of war was forthwith sent 
 with orders to Paches to carry out the terrible verdict. But a 
 revulsion of feeling set in. On the next day the Assembly was 
 again summoned, and by a small minority, in spite of Cleon's 
 efforts, the decree was revoked. A swift vessel was dispatched 
 to overtake the trireme, which had the start of a day and a 
 night. Paches had already received the warrant and was 
 preparing to execute it when the reprieve arrived. The Athe- 
 nian mob was satiated with the blood of about looo ring- 
 leaders who had been sent to Athens, and Paches, on his return, 
 was arraigned on some charge and committed suicide in the 
 presence of the Athenian burghers who were judging the case. 
 One of the most vivid scenes depicted by Thucydides is 
 that of the horrible massacres of the Corcyraean oligarchs by 
 their fellow-citizens which took place at this period (427-425). 
 The episode, with all its revolting details — perhaps as revolting 
 in their inhuman, unnatural ferocity as anything in the world's 
 history — has been recounted by many writers.^ The event is 
 only indirectly connected with the Peloponnesian War, and 
 very slightly, if at all, with the history of that Greece which is 
 1 See Thuc. iii. 71 sq., iv. 45 sq. ; Grote, 1. and lii. 
 
 334 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 of any importance to us. The last scenes of the insane butchery 
 of fellow-Greeks and fellow-citizens, as described by Thucy- 
 dides, together with his reflexions on moral and political feeling 
 in Greece at this time, will be given or referred to later. Here 
 it is only necessary to say that the trouble was begun by the fact 
 that Corinth sent back to Corcyra the 250 high-born prisoners 
 whom they had captured in the sea-fight off Sybota (433) . The 
 rest of the prisoners they had sold as slaves, but had kept and 
 treated with especial lenience these nobles, with the intention 
 of using them later for the establishment of an oligarchy in 
 Corcyra. The occasion now presented itself, as Athens was 
 weakened by the plague and distracted by the lycsbian revolt. 
 The return of these prisoners was the signal for a revolution, 
 in which, after some temporary successes and many atrocities, 
 the oligarchs were overwhelmed and driven out. They returned 
 and entrenched themselves in a stronghold, Istone, but finally 
 capitulated to the Athenians and the democrats and were all 
 massacred. 
 
 Another important event of this first period of the war, also 
 vividly described by Thucydides, is the capture of some 300 
 Spartans on the island of Sphacteria. An Athenian fleet had 
 been dispatched in 425 to interfere in the affairs of the Sicilian 
 cities and to help the democratic party at Corcyra. As they 
 coasted round the Peloponnese the Athenians had fortified and 
 occupied Pylos,^ the promontory which together with Sphacteria 
 forms the great landlocked bay famous in modern history under 
 the name Navarino. The Spartans sent considerable forces by 
 land and by sea to eject the Athenians, who were commanded by 
 Demosthenes and numbered 200 with perhaps 1000 Messenians. 
 The Athenian fleet then hastened back from Corcyra and 
 defeated the Peloponnesian vessels, forcing them to run ashore 
 at the north end of the bay. They then blockaded Sphacteria, 
 on which was the main body of the picked land troops of the 
 Spartans. The alarm was so great at Sparta that a truce was 
 made in order that envoys should be sent to Athens to treat 
 for peace. The stranded Spartan ships and others, sixty in 
 
 1 The Homerie * sandy Pylos,' Nestor's town, was probably in the vicinity. 
 
 335 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 all, were handed over to the Athenians on the promise that 
 they should be restored at the expiration of the truce — a 
 promise which, by the way, was not fulfilled. At Athens all 
 right-thinking men were doubtless inclined for peace, and it 
 would have been a wise decision, and one that might have 
 affected deeply the future of the Hellenic race and of European 
 civilization, had the Athenian people taken advantage of 
 their good fortune to end honourably this most foolish and 
 detestable civil war. 
 
 But the evil passions of the mob and their greed for the 
 aggrandizement of the empire were stirred up by Cleon. Nisaea 
 (the Corinthian port), the ports of Megara, the whole of Achaea, 
 and Troezen was the price that Athens demanded for peace ; and 
 the demand was refused. But the blockade of Sphacteria lasted 
 long and the mob at Athens grew impatient. " If I were 
 commander," bragged Cleon before the Assembly, " I would 
 soon do it ! " At these words Nicias, the strategos, who had 
 been bantered by Cleon for not going off to Pylos and capturing 
 the Spartans, rose up and offered to cede his command to the 
 demagogue. The mob was tickled, and insisted. Finally Cleon 
 accepted, and with a band of mercenaries, refusing the offer 
 of Athenian hoplites and promising, doubtless amid great 
 laughter, to return within twenty days with the Spartan 
 captives, he set out for Pylos, and, to the amazement of all 
 and the discomfiture of many, within the stipulated twenty 
 days he and Demosthenes returned with the Spartan prisoners 
 — nearly 300 men. The fight had been very severe. The 
 Spartans had been driven with heavy loss gradually back till 
 they had taken their last stand, as at Thermopylae, on a 
 height ; but, when circumvented, as at Thermopylae, they 
 doubtless felt no such enthusiasm for their cause as those 
 around I^eonidas had felt, and they surrendered — a course 
 never before taken, perhaps, in Spartan warfare. Sphacteria 
 was strongly garrisoned with Messeiiians from Naupactus, 
 whose exultation at the crushing defeat of their ancient foe 
 found, and still finds, expression in a gift that they made from 
 the spoil to the sacred precinct at Olympia — a splendid figure 
 336 
 
i 
 
 93. The Nike (Victory) of Paeonius 
 
 336 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 of Victory floating aloft amidst trailing wind-blown drapery — 
 the work of the sculptor Paeonius (Fig. 93). 
 
 In the next year (424) the Athenians captured the island 
 of Cythera — a formidable base for naval operations against 
 Sparta. Also Nisaea and its lyong Walls (built by themselves 
 c. 460) fell into their hands. Athens was now at the acme of 
 her success, and might have well accepted the generous terms 
 offered by Sparta. But some Ate seems to have goaded her 
 onward to ruin. Elated by good fortune and incited by the 
 ambitious militarism of the strategos Demosthenes and the 
 harangues of Cleon, the populace determined to take revenge 
 on Thebes for the defeat of Coroneia and the loss of Boeotia. 
 The crushing overthrow of Delion (424) was the result. 
 The Athenian general, Hippocrates, was slain and his army 
 of 7000 hoplites and 20,000 Hght-armed troops was routed 
 by the Thebans, who used, apparently for the first time, a 
 formation (twenty-five deep) like that of the phalanx, to 
 which their future victories were mainly due. 
 
 With the battle of Delion is associated the name of Socrates. 
 He is said to have fought with great courage and to have 
 contributed much to an orderly retreat, thus saving many 
 lives, among them that of Alcibiades. 
 
 After the defeat at Delion (424) disaster overtook the 
 Athenians also in Thrace. The Spartan Brasidas, who had 
 already distinguished himself at Pylos and Megara, with a 
 strong body of Peloponnesian hoplites, had traversed Thessaly 
 and Macedonia, where he joined forces with Perdiccas, the 
 Macedonian king, and invaded the Athenian possessions in 
 Thrace, proclaiming himself as their liberator from slavery. 
 His chivalrous and humane character seems to have favoured 
 his success no less than his courage and the rapidity of his 
 strategic movements. Acanthus, Stageiros, and other cities 
 welcomed him, and by a forced march he surprised Amphipolis, 
 which came to terms with him before the arrival of the 
 Athenian ships from Thasos under command of Thucydides, 
 the son of Olorus, as the historian calls himself when relating 
 the mishap Thucydides rescued Kion, the port of Amphipolis 
 
 Y 337 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 at the mouth of the Strymon, but this did not save him from 
 banishment, which, he tells us, lasted twenty years (424-404) . 
 Disheartened by the defeat at Delion and by the brilliant 
 successes of Brasidas in Thrace, the Athenians concluded a 
 truce, for the purpose of considering the terms of a definite 
 peace. Two days, however, after the truce had begun the town 
 of Scione (on Pallene, south of Potidaea) opened its gates to 
 Brasidas and welcomed him with enthusiasm, offering him a 
 golden crown as the liberator of Greece from Athenian slavery. 
 At Athens the exasperation was intense, and Cleon carried a 
 proposal that Scione should be razed and all its male inhabi- 
 tants be slain — which was eventually done. Cleon" himself 
 was sent with forces to Thrace, and in a fight under the 
 walls of AmphipoHs both he and Brasidas fell. Their deaths 
 strengthened the hands of Nicias and others who wished to put 
 an end to the war, and in 421 the so-called Peace of Nicias 
 was concluded for fifty years. Prisoners and places captured 
 during the war were to be restored ; but AmphipoHs refused 
 to belong again to Athens, and Athens refused to evacuate 
 Pylos, and in spite of all the efforts of the prudent Nicias, who 
 was thwarted by the intrigues of the brilliant and unprincipled 
 young Alcibiades, formal peace soon relapsed into overt 
 hostility. Sparta and Athens were nominally in alliance, but 
 Alcibiades brought about an alliance also between Athens and 
 Argos, which state had set itself at the head of a new Pelo- 
 ponnesian league, thus defying the supremacy of Sparta. Such 
 a state of things could not last. Sparta put an army into the 
 field, and the alHed forces of the Argives, Mantineians, and 
 Athenians suffered a severe defeat at the battle of Mantineia 
 
 (418). 
 
 For two or three years no great event, we are told, took 
 place except the capture of Scione and the massacre of all its 
 male inhabitants, and an entirely unprovoked and unjustifiable 
 attack by Athens on the island of Melos, which was quite 
 independent and had taken no part in the war. On the proposal 
 of Alcibiades it was commanded to subject itself to the Athe- 
 nian Empire, and on its refusal it was besieged and reduced ; 
 
 338 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 all the adult males were massacred, all the women and children 
 sold as slaves. Thucydides gives us in full the arguments 
 used by the Melians and by the Athenians at a conference held 
 before the perpetration of this hideous atrocity. The cold- 
 blooded inhumanity of the Athenians, their insolent assertion 
 of the right of the stronger and their impious appeal to the 
 example of the gods themselves to support that claim, affect 
 one Hke the prelude to some terrific catastrophe in a tragedy 
 of Aeschylus, and prepare us for the calamity that is shortly 
 to befall Athens and her empire. 
 
 The pitiful story of the Sicilian disaster is well known to 
 readers of Thucydides and has been retold by many writers, 
 who have vied with each other in depicting anew all its pathetic 
 and harrowing incidents. What makes it so especially pitiable 
 and horrible is the fact that this ferocious fratricidal conflict 
 was due to nothing but the insatiable greed for dominion and 
 supremacy on the part of that Hellenic people to whom for 
 many reasons we owe an inestimable debt of gratitude. As 
 the main object of this book is to draw attention to some of 
 these reasons rather than to recount external history, and as 
 this Sicilian episode has little or no connexion with the true 
 inner life of Greece and would be, even as framework, of little 
 assistance to us, the following facts may suffice. 
 
 The Greek cities of Sicily and Southern Italy owed their origin, 
 some to Dorian, others to Ionian founders, and, although their 
 own intestine feuds and their own struggle for existence against 
 the Carthaginians and Etruscans were for them matters of 
 prime importance, their sympathies were doubtless enhsted 
 on the side of their respective mother-cities in the long war 
 that was desolating the land. But, in spite of the progress of 
 democracy, sympathy with Sparta, increased by a growing 
 resentment against the ambitious and tyrannical conduct of 
 Athens, had become ever stronger, and when in 425 the 
 Athenian fleet, sent, as has been related,^ to support I^eontini 
 against Syracuse, at last reached Sicily it could do nothing, 
 
 1 This fleet had to return from Corcyra to Pylos, where it was detained for 
 some time. 
 
 339 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 for at a conference of the Sicilian cities it was decided (on the 
 proposal of the Syracusan Hermocrates) to lay aside dissension 
 and to brook no foreign interference in Sicilian affairs. So 
 incensed were the Athenians at this wise and most justifiable 
 decision that they punished severely by fines and banishment 
 the two admirals of their fleet, Sophocles and Eurymedon. 
 Unhappily political rancour in Sicily led to further appeals 
 for Athenian interference, and in 416, when called upon by 
 Segesta for aid against SeHnus, the Assembly, cajoled by the 
 fascinating eloquence of Alcibiades, in spite of the warnings 
 of Nicias, determined to send a large armament of some 140 
 triremes and 500 transports, under the command of Alcibiades, 
 Nicias, and Ivamachus, to support Segesta and other anti- 
 Dorian cities in their revolt against the authority of Syracuse 
 — the reduction of which city was the prime object of the 
 expedition. 
 
 Just before the expedition sailed a strange event occurred — 
 the mutilation of the busts of Hermes which stood in front 
 of temples and many private houses. The excitement and 
 alarm was such as might be caused in some Roman Catholic 
 countries by a wholesale mutilation of roadside crucifixes and 
 Madonna images. Whether it was an act of drunken vandalism 
 or of impiety or had political meaning was never discovered. 
 Possibly it was perpetrated by paid agents of Sparta or Syra- 
 cuse. Alcibiades was suspected, and evidence was forthcoming 
 that he had indulged in profane mimicries of mystic Bleusinian 
 rites. The fleet had already started, but orders were sent 
 for his return. At Thurii he managed to get ashore and ere 
 long was at Sparta, where he revealed all the schemes of the 
 Athenians, vented his disdain of democracy as ' acknowledged 
 folly,* and induced the Spartans to fortify Deceleia, in North- 
 western Attica — a stronghold which proved most troublesome 
 to Athens. 
 
 The investment of Syracuse both by land and sea by Nicias — 
 who after the gallant Ivamachus had fallen was the sole general 
 — seemed at one time not unlikely to succeed. But Nicias 
 was slow and unenterprising. Moreover, the Syracusans were 
 
 340 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 fighting for their homes and their liberty, while he and many 
 of his men, when they thought of Marathon and Salamis, 
 must have felt but little enthusiasm for their task. Soon, 
 however, they themselves had to fight for their lives, for, 
 their blockade on the land side being ineffective, Syracuse 
 was reinforced by the Spartan Gyhppus (who with four ships 
 had reached Himera and had collected 3000 men), and they 
 therefore abandoned the higher ground and entrenched them- 
 selves on Plemmyrion, near the sea. Here they were closely 
 invested by the Syracusans and finally driven to camp on the 
 marshy western shores of the great harbour near the mouth 
 of the river Anapus.^ 
 
 A fleet of seventy-three triremes under the command of 
 Kurymedon and Demosthenes was sent from Athens for their 
 relief and entered the harbour in triumph. But also the 
 enemy had gained large reinforcements, and after some fruitless 
 attempts to act on the offensive the newly arrived generals 
 persuaded Nicias to embark the troops and withdraw by sea 
 to some place of safety. This was still practicable, and the 
 armament would have doubtless escaped had not an eclipse 
 of the moon taken place (August 27, 413). The soothsayers 
 insisted on the departure being deferred for a month, and 
 Nicias yielded to the superstitious clamour of the soldiers. 
 The Syracusans, learning the intention of the Athenians to 
 escape, attacked with seventy-six vessels. Though five miles 
 in circumference, the space afforded by the harbour did not 
 allow the Athenians to take advantage of their superiority 
 in manoeuvring. They were worsted and Kurymedon was 
 slain. Then the Syracusans blocked the exit of the harbour 
 with vessels and chains, and a desperate conflict took place, 
 the walls of Ortygia, the heights of the upper city, and the 
 shores of the harbour being crowded with innumerable specta- 
 tors as in a mighty amphitheatre, while the two fleets — about 
 
 ^ Ancient Syracuse lay on the island of Ortygia (joined to the mainland by a 
 causeway) and extended up the heights of Achradina and Tyche, and later 
 included the more westerly heights of Bpipolae, which the Athenians at this 
 time occupied at first with their circumvallation. The Great Harbour is formed 
 by Ortygia and Plemmyrion, between which there is a narrow exit. 
 
 341 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 200 vessels, carrying thousands of armed men — struggled for 
 mastery. At last the Athenians were driven back to their 
 camp, and in spite of the entreaties of Demosthenes refused to 
 make another effort to break through the barrier. It was then 
 decided to attempt a retreat by land. In a state of pitiable 
 distress and despair they started — a host of about 40,000. 
 The march was directed inland with the object of reaching 
 friendly Sicel territory. After four days they reached a 
 precipitous hill, the Ascraean cliff, where the road passed 
 through a narrow ravine. This was strongly occupied by the 
 enemy, and the fugitive army turned southward. The rear 
 division, under Demosthenes, was surrounded and capitulated. 
 Nicias, after pushing forward desperately under enormous 
 losses for two days more, surrendered to Gylippus. The chief 
 captives — Athenians and their alHes — some eight thousand 
 in number, were consigned for months to the stone quarries of 
 Achradina and Epipolae, in which deep, unsheltered dungeons 
 many perished miserably. The survivors were treated as con- 
 victs or sold as slaves — a fate that doubtless befell all the 
 rest of the prisoners.^ 
 
 In spite of much that the true lover of Greece may well 
 leave to chroniclers of the horrors and political insanities of 
 which ordinary Greek history so largely consists, the intense 
 human pathos of this SiciHan disaster as related by Thucydides 
 makes it a most impressive and memorable episode. The 
 remaining nine years of the war, two of which only are described 
 by him, offer far less of interest. Athens had lost two-thirds of 
 her ships and probably half her trained fighters. Incited by the 
 renegade Alcibiades, almost all her allies now revolted. Sparta 
 made an infamous treaty with the satrap Tissaphernes, giving 
 over the Ionian Greek cities to Persia in return for financial 
 aid against Athens. But Alcibiades, who had fallen into 
 disfavour with the Spartans and had taken refuge with Tissa- 
 phernes, persuaded him to transfer his aid to the Athenians 
 
 1 Browning's Balaustion should be read in this connexion. In commemora- 
 tion of their victory over the invader the Syracusans issued some very beau- 
 tiful coins of the same type as the Demareteia (coin 6, Plate IV) struck after 
 the battle of Himera. 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 on condition that an oligarchy should be set up at Athens. 
 This was effected (411). A council of Four Hundred with 
 practically absolute powers was instituted, but the army and 
 fleet assembled at Samos (which had remained faithful to 
 Athens) decHned to recognize it, and a counter-revolution took 
 place re-establishing the democracy. In the midst of all 
 these poHtical dissensions the Spartan fleet more than once 
 nearly took Athens by surprise, and succeeded in defeating 
 a hastily raised Athenian squadron off Kuboea and causing 
 that island to revolt. The sea-power of the Spartans and 
 their alHes had become almost equal to that of the Athenians, 
 but the latter gained several naval successes in the next few 
 years (Cynossema, Cyzicus, Byzantium), some of them due 
 to the strategic genius of Alcibiades, who made a triumphal 
 entry into Athens and was given supreme command of all 
 land and sea forces.^ In 407, however, a slight defeat induced 
 the mob to dismiss their hero, who retired in disgust to the 
 Thracian Chersonese. ^ In 406 the sea-fight of Arginusae 
 (near I^esbos) was won by the Athenians — a victory memorable 
 chiefly for the fact that six of the victorious commanders 
 (among them the son of Pericles) were accused of having 
 abandoned the crews of certain disabled vessels, and without 
 due hearing or legal process were condemned to drink hemlock. 
 In passing it is interesting to note that the only man among 
 the state-councillors (prytaneis) who, not overawed by t\& 
 popular clamour, persisted in his protest against this illegali 
 was Socrates. 
 
 The final triumph of Sparta in the war was largely due to 
 funds suppHed by Persia, especially by Cyrus, the younger 
 brother of King Artaxerxes. Cyrus had been sent as satrap 
 to Sardis ^ by his father, Darius II, and was strongly attached 
 
 1 The leaden plate on which the curses of the priests against him (as 
 profaner of Mysteries) had been inscribed was cast into the sea by the 
 hysterical demos. 
 
 2 Hence he tried to reach the court of Artaxerxes in Susa, but was prevented 
 by Pharnabazus, and in 404 was murdered, probably through Spartan influence. 
 
 ' Tissaphernes was ousted by Cyrus at Sardis and given the less important 
 satrapy of Caria, which explains his hostility to Cyrus. Pharnabazus continued 
 as satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia till about 387. 
 
 343 
 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 to the Spartan interest and to I^ysander, the Spartan com- 
 mander, to whom he even entrusted his satrapy when he was 
 called to the deathbed of his father in 405. In this same year, 
 at Aegospotami (' Goat's Rivers '), on the coast of the Thracian 
 Chersonese, I^ysander captured almost the whole of the Athe- 
 nian fleet (of about 170 vessels) while the crews were on land. 
 Between 3000 and 4000 Athenians were made prisoners and 
 were all put to death. The Athenian commander-in-chief, 
 Conon, escaped, but, fearing to return to Athens, took refuge 
 with Bvagoras, king of Salamis, in Cyprus. I^ysander then 
 blockaded the Peiraeus, while the kings Agis and Pausanias 
 with the Spartan army invested Athens. A conference of 
 the Peloponnesians was called, which voted that the city 
 which for so long had enslaved Greece should be razed and 
 her whole population sold into slavery. But, like Florence, 
 Athens was saved by the magnanimity of her great rival. 
 Sparta refused to destroy a city that had done such noble 
 service against the barbarian invader. The conditions imposed 
 (at first rejected by the influence of the demagogue Cleophon, 
 a lamp-maker and a worthy successor of Cleon) were that 
 Athens should become the ally and acknowledge the supremacy 
 of Sparta ; that she should give up all her possessions except 
 Attica and Salamis, and all her ships ; that the I^ong Walls 
 and fortifications should be pulled down, and that all exiles 
 should be recalled. After the terms were ratified, the 
 Spartan fleet entered the Peiraeus (April 404) and the 
 Athenians aided in demoHshing the walls to the sound of 
 flutes and the jubilant shouts of the Peloponnesians, who 
 imagined that at last the day of freedom for Greece had 
 dawned. 
 
 Even in this hour of humiliation the Athenians found it 
 necessary to spend their remaining strength in the insane fury 
 of political strife and intestine bloodshed. A supreme council 
 of thirty (known as the * Thirty Tyrants ') was instituted 
 under the approval of I^ysander, who occupied the Acropohs 
 with his Spartans. To the Thirty belonged Theramenes, a 
 former member of the Four Hundred, and Critias, a violent 
 
 344 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 oligarch, who had been exiled by the democrats.^ These two 
 quarrelled and Theramenes was put to death. But the exiled 
 democrats under Thrasybulus fortified themselves in the 
 stronghold of Phyle, on Mount Parnes, and seized the Peiraeus, 
 where Critias was slain in a fight. The Thirty were deposed 
 by the Athenian mob, and, to make matters worse, a Council 
 of Ten was elected, strongly supported by I^ysander. At last 
 the Spartan king Pausanias intervened, and by his counsel 
 and the influence of advisers from Sparta reconciliation and 
 general amnesty were proclaimed, and the ferocious and 
 turbulent Athenian demos had a season of enforced quiet under 
 " the laws of Solon and the institutions of Draco." ^ 
 
 SECTION A : THUCYDIDES 
 
 The History of Thucydides has been mentioned and quoted 
 several times already, and his main characteristics as a writer 
 have been noted. All that is known for certain about his 
 life and that is of any importance has been already related 
 except what may be gathered from the following quotations 
 and except the facts, if they are such, that during his exile 
 he lived for some time at the Macedonian court, and that he 
 was also in Sicily and perhaps present at the fight in the Great 
 Harbour, and that not long after his return from exile [c. 403) 
 he was assassinated at Athens, or, according to others, by a 
 robber in Thrace. From internal evidence it would seem that 
 the first three or four books of the History, except two passages 
 
 1 It did not redound to the popularity of Socrates that both Alcibiades 
 and Critias had been among his followers as young men. Socrates, however, 
 again showed his character by refusing to obey an illegal command of the 
 Thirty. The orator Lysias, afterwards a considerable power, barely escaped 
 the Thirty by fleeing from Athens. 
 
 * It is strange how differently the acts of the Athenian demos affect some 
 minds. Grote speaks of " a generous exaltation of sentiment and an absence 
 of ferocity such as nothing except democracy ever inspired in Grecian bosoms." 
 In so far as a democracy means self-rule it is ideally the highest form of 
 government, but, even if it may not be indispensable (as in the case of Plato's 
 ideal republic) that all self -rulers shall be philosophers, it is surely necessary 
 that they shall be incapable of such insanities and atrocities as those perpe- 
 trated by the Athenian mob. 
 
 345 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 inserted later, were finally composed (from his notes) during 
 his exile in the pause that occurred after the Peace of Nicias 
 (421), and that he at that time considered the war as finished ; 
 but in Book V he protests against this view, and regards the 
 subsequent (Deceleian) war as a continuation of the original 
 war, which he asserts (v. 26) to have lasted twenty-seven years. 
 The work ends abruptly at the year 411. Probably he had 
 collected material for the rest, which had not been put into 
 literary form at the time of his death. Book VIII was perhaps 
 * written up ' from such notes — some say by his daughter, or by 
 Xenophon. Without the slightest intention of presuming to 
 offer what journaHsts call an ' appreciation ' of Thucydides, per- 
 haps I may note once more his critical, analytical, sceptical 
 (or, rather, agnostic) attitude, and his * surly ' reserve, as it 
 has been called — qualities which are possibly admirable in an 
 historian and which offer a striking contrast to the urbanity 
 and humanity of Herodotus. Whether with all his descriptive 
 powers, his analytic subtleties, his brilliant antitheses, and his 
 polite scepticism he has the breadth of view and the deeper "^ 
 insight that are sometimes vouchsafed to more childlike and 
 sympathetic natures may perhaps be doubted. He mentions 
 Hesiod and Homer, makes Pericles say, " We need no Homer 
 to praise us," and quotes Homer for historical purposes. But 
 he gives no evidence of any sense for art or poetry or philosophy, 
 such as is frequent in Herodotus. Such contemporaries as 
 Aeschylus, Pindar, Sophocles, Anaxagoras, Socrates, Pheidias 
 he does not deign to mention, and never alludes to art, I 
 think, except on one occasion (the famous ^iXoKoXovjULev yuer' 
 ein-eXe/a?, " We love what is beautiful with economy "). There 
 is, I think, in his book no sympathetic mention of any 
 woman, such as of Artemisia, Atossa, Agarista, Gorgo, and 
 others in Herodotus ; indeed, hardly any woman is named but 
 Brauro, who murdered her husband. King Pittacus. Perhaps 
 Thucydides, like Euripides (whom he must have known at 
 Athens and also at the court of Archelaus in Macedonia), 
 was a confirmed misogynist. Anyhow, he was no admirer of 
 female notorieties, and evidently agreed warmly with what 
 346 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 he makes Pericles say : " Great is her glory who is least talked 
 of among men either for good or for evil/' Herodotus, being a 
 colonial and having lived long in Ionia, was not hampered 
 by old-fashioned Athenian proprieties and could allow range 
 to his broader sympathies as regards women. 
 
 (i) Thucydides and his Book 
 
 " Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war 
 between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, how they 
 warred against each other, having begun directly it broke out, 
 with the expectation that it would prove important and more 
 worthy of description than any that had preceded it. . . . 
 As for what was said on either side, it was hard to remember 
 the exact words, both for me, in regard to what I myself 
 heard, and for those who reported it to me from other 
 quarters ; but as I thought they wcv^/i have most likely spoken 
 on the subjects from time to time before them, while I held 
 as closely as possible to the general sense of what was really 
 said, so I have recorded it. But with regard to the facts 
 and deeds of the war I did not think right to state what I 
 heard from a chance informant, nor what seemed to me 
 probable, but I have related only those events at which I was 
 myself present and those which, after learning them from 
 others, I have investigated with all possible care in every 
 detail. . . . Now for recitation perhaps the unfabulous 
 character of my work will appear not very attractive, but all 
 who shall wish to study what really happened and what is 
 bound by reason of human nature to happen again — in the 
 same or similar forms — for such to judge it to be useful will be 
 sufficient. The work is meant to be a possession for ever 
 rather than a prize composition to be listened to for a passing 
 hour. . . . The same Thucydides, the Athenian, has also 
 written of all these things in order as they severally happened, 
 by summers and winters, until the I^acedaemonians and their 
 allies put an end to the empire of the Athenians and captured 
 the lyong Walls and the Peiraeus. ... I lived on through 
 the whole of the war, being of an age to apprehend events 
 
 347 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 and using my judgment in order to gain accurate knowledge. 
 It was moreover my lot to be an exile from my country for 
 twenty years after my command of the expedition to Amphi- 
 polis, and being, by reason of my banishment, present at the 
 transactions of both sides, especially of the Peloponnesians, I 
 was enabled to gain at my leisure a better acquaintance with 
 them." (i. i and 22 ; v. 26.) 
 
 (2) Character and Policy of Pericles 
 
 " But not long after, as a mob is wont to do, they again 
 elected him general and entrusted all public affairs to him 
 . . . and as long as he was at the helm of the state in time of 
 peace he governed it with moderation and kept it in safety, 
 and during his rule it was at the height of its greatness ; and 
 when the war broke out he again seems to have foreseen the 
 capabilities of Athens also in this respect. For he said that 
 if they kept quiet and attended to their navy, and did not try 
 to increase their empire during the war and thus imperil the 
 safety of the state, they would prove successful — whereas 
 they did exactly the contrary in all these matters, and in 
 other matters too, which apparently had nothing to do with 
 the war, their policy was actuated by selfish ambition and 
 greed and proved fatal to themselves and to their allies. . . . 
 And the reason [of his success] was that, wielding a powerful 
 influence by means of his reputation and intellect and being 
 manifestly and absolutely beyond the range of bribery, he 
 controlled the populace with a free rein so that they followed 
 his guidance, not he theirs, because he said nothing to please 
 them for the sake of gaining power by improper means, but was 
 able on the strength of his character to contradict them even 
 at the risk of their displeasure. Whenever, for instance, he 
 perceived them to be unseasonably and insolently self-reliant, 
 by his words he dashed them down to alarm, and when, on the 
 other hand, they were unreasonably terrified, he would restore 
 them to self-confidence. It was in name a democracy, but in 
 reality was absolute rule carried on by the foremost man of 
 the state." (ii. 65.) 
 
94- Herodotus 
 
 95. Thucydides 
 
 96. Perici,es 
 
 97. Al^CIBIADES 348 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 (3) The Plague 
 
 "It is said to have first come from Aethiopia and to have 
 spread over Egypt and lyibya and most of the king's territory. 
 On the city of Athens it fell suddenly, first attacking the people 
 in the Peiraeus, so that it was reported that the Peloponnesians 
 had thrown poison into the tanks. . . . Now, every one, 
 whether physician or private person, can say what he thinks 
 as to its probable origin and the causes that he considers 
 sufficiently powerful to have produced such a distemper. I 
 shall simply describe it and state clearly its symptoms so that 
 any one who notes them may not fail to recognize it if ever 
 it should break out again ; for I myself had the disease and I 
 saw others who were attacked by it. 
 
 " The year, as was generally allowed, happened to be par- 
 ticularly healthy as regards all other disorders, and if any one 
 did have any previous illness it always developed into this. 
 In other cases persons who were quite well were suddenly and 
 without any apparent reason seized at first with violent 
 feverish headaches and their eyes became red and inflamed, 
 and the internal parts, throat and tongue, at once assumed a 
 bloody appearance and emitted a strange and noisome breath. 
 Then sneezing and angina came on, and in a short time the 
 pain descended to the chest, accompanied by violent coughing, 
 and as soon as it settled in the stomach it produced vomiting 
 . . . and in most cases the empty retching caused violent 
 spasms. Externally the body was not excessively hot to the 
 touch, nor was it pallid, but reddish, livid, and broken out in 
 small pimples and sores ; internally there was such intense 
 heat that they could not bear even the very lightest garments 
 or fine linen to be laid upon them, nor to be anything else but 
 naked, and most gladly would have thrown themselves into 
 cold water ; indeed, many among those who were not taken 
 care of did throw themselves into tanks, overcome by their 
 unquenchable thirst ; and it made no difference however much 
 or Httle they drank. . . . And the birds and quadrupeds that 
 prey on human bodies either did not come near them, though 
 
 349 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 there were many unburied corpses, or perished after tasting 
 them. . . . And what added much to the distress was the 
 crowding into the city from the country, especially in the 
 case of the newcomers, for as there were no houses for them 
 they lived in stifling cabins in the hot season of the year, and 
 the mortality spread uncontrolled, the bodies of the dying 
 lying one on the other or rolling about half dead in the streets 
 and round all the fountains, in their craving for water. The 
 sacred precincts also, in which they had camped, were full of 
 the corpses of those who had died there, for the calamity was 
 so overwhelming that men, not knowing what was to become 
 of them, came to disregard everything both sacred and profane 
 alike. . . . Such was the calamity which befell Athens and 
 by which it was afflicted, the people dying within its walls 
 and the land being devastated without." (ii. 48 sq.) 
 
 (4) The Night Escape from Plataea 
 
 " They made ladders equal in height to the siege-wall of 
 the enemy, calculating it by the layers of bricks where the 
 wall looking towards them happened not to be plastered. 
 Many counted the layers at the same time, and although some 
 were bound to miss the correct number, most would hit it, 
 especially as they counted often and were at no great distance. 
 Thus they ascertained the right length of the ladders, guessing 
 it from the thickness of the bricks. Now the rampart consisted 
 of a double line of walls, which were about sixteen feet apart, 
 and between these walls quarters had been built and assigned 
 to the men on guard ; and they were continuous, so that it 
 seemed to be one thick wall with battlements on both sides. 
 And at intervals of ten battlements there were large turrets 
 of the same breadth as the rampart, extending across to its 
 inner and to its outer front, so that there was no passage 
 alongside the tower, but they passed through its middle. Now 
 at night, whenever it was wet and stormy, they left the battle- 
 ments and kept watch from the towers, as these were at short 
 distances from each other and were roofed. . . . When all 
 was ready, having watched for a stormy night with rain and 
 
 350 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 wind and at the same time moonless, they sallied forth. First 
 they crossed the moat that encircled the town, then they got 
 up to the enemy's wall without being noticed by the sentinels, 
 who could not see far through the darkness and could not hear 
 them because the clatter of the wind drowned the noise of 
 their approach ; moreover, they kept far apart so that their 
 weapons might not clash together and attract notice ; also they 
 were lightly equipped and were shod only on the left foot as 
 security against the [slippery] mud. Thus they reached the 
 battlemented rampart at a point between two towers, knowing 
 that here it was unguarded. First those who carried scaling- 
 ladders approached and planted them ; then twelve light-armed 
 men, with only daggers and breast-plates, mounted , . . then 
 more with javeHns, whose shields, to facilitate the advance, 
 others carried in the rear, ready to hand them over as soon 
 as they came upon the enemy. When now a considerable 
 number had mounted, the sentinels in the towers discovered 
 them, for one of the Plataeans in catching hold of the battle- 
 ment dislodged a tile, which made a noise when it fell ; and 
 forthwith a shout was raised." [The Plataeans nevertheless 
 seized two towers and all got safely over the double wall ; 
 but outside the external wall, as a defence against any attack 
 from Athens, the Peloponnesians had dug a second moat, 
 on the inner edge of which the fugitives now found themselves, 
 and in the meantime 300 of the enemy with torches were 
 rapidly approaching *' outside the wall and in the direction of 
 the shouting.''] " Now the Plataeans from their dark position 
 on the brink of the moat saw the enemy better and directed 
 their arrows and javelins against the unprotected parts of 
 their bodies, while they themselves were hidden and still 
 less easily discerned on account of the torches, so even the last 
 of them got safely across the moat, though with difficulty 
 and after great efforts, for ice had formed upon it, not firm 
 enough to walk upon but watery, as usual with a wind more 
 easterly than north; and the night, being snowy and with a 
 wind of this kind, had made the water in it deep, so that they 
 crossed with heads barely above the surface ; but all the same 
 
 3SI 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 it was the violence of the storm to which they owed their 
 escape." (iii. 20 sq.) 
 
 (5) CORCYRAEAN ATROCITIES 
 
 " They [i.e. the democrats] then began to massacre all of their 
 political opponents whom they had happened to catch, and 
 dispatched, while they were landing them, all those whom 
 they had persuaded to go on board. They also went to the 
 sanctuary of Hera and persuaded about fifty of the suppliants 
 to take their trial, and then condemned them all to death. 
 Most of them were not to be persuaded, and when they saw 
 what was being done they slew one another there in the sacred 
 precinct. Some hanged themselves on the trees, others killed 
 themselves as they could. During the seven days that 
 Eurymedon remained there with his sixty ships the Corcyraeans 
 went on murdering those of their fellow-countrymen whom 
 they believed to be hostile to them. They accused them of 
 abolishing democracy ; but some were killed for private 
 enmity, and others were slain by their debtors for money owed 
 them. Every kind of death was experienced, and all that is 
 wont to happen at such times happened now, and still worse ; 
 for father slew son and men were dragged out of sanctuaries 
 and slain near them, while some were walled up in the temple 
 of Dionysus and thus perished. So bloody was the course of 
 the revolution." (iii. 81. See also remarks by Thucydides in 
 82, 83.) 
 
 '' When the Corcyraean [democrats] had caught them, they 
 confined them in a large building. Then they took them out 
 by twenties and led them roped together through two ranks 
 of heavy- armed men, who smote and stabbed any personal 
 enemies they saw. And men with whips went by their side, 
 hastening on their way those who were going too slowly. As 
 many as sixty they had thus led forth and butchered without 
 raising the suspicions of those in the building, who thought 
 they were being removed to some other place. But when 
 they learnt the truth (some one having informed them) they 
 refused to leave the building. So the Corcyraeans, not 
 352 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 being disposed to force their way in by the doors, climbed up 
 on to the top of the building, and, having broken through 
 the roof, began to hurl the tiles and shoot arrows down on them. 
 And they defended themselves as best they could, while at 
 the same time many tried to kill themselves by thrusting 
 down their throats the arrows discharged by their assailants 
 and by strangling themselves with the cords of certain bedsteads 
 which happened to be in the building and by strips that they 
 tore off their clothing, and thus in divers ways during the 
 greater part of the night (for night came on during these atro- 
 cities), either by laying hands on themselves or by being 
 struck by missiles from above, they perished. And when it was 
 day the Corcyraeans piled them in cross layers on wagons and 
 carried them out of the city ; and all the women who had been 
 captured in the fortress [Istone] they enslaved.'' (iv. 47 sq.) 
 
 (6) Sea-fight in the Harbour of Syracuse 
 
 " When the Athenians came near the bar [formed by 
 vessels and chains stretched across the harbour mouth] 
 they charged, and with their first onset they got the better 
 of the ships posted near it and tried to loosen the fastenings. 
 But soon afterwards the Syracusans and their alHes bore down 
 on them from all quarters, and the fight no longer went on 
 only near the bar, but became general all over the harbour ; 
 and it was a severe engagement, such as no previous one had 
 been. . . . And as a great number of vessels attacked each 
 other in a small space (indeed, never had so many fought together 
 in so small a space, for altogether they fell scarcely short of 
 two hundred) ramming was httle used, as to back water or to 
 break through the enemy's fine was impossible, but collisions 
 were more frequent, just as one ship might chance to run into 
 another while flying from or attacking its adversary. Now, 
 as long as a vessel was bearing down on another those on the 
 decks used javelins and arrows and stones in great quantities 
 against it, but when they came to close quarters the seamen 
 \ fought hand to hand and tried to board each other's ships, 
 ^nd on account of the narrow space it often happened that 
 
 2 353 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 while tiiey were charging others they themselves were being 
 charged, and that two, or even sometimes several, vessels 
 were forcibly entangled round one. . . . The foot-soldiers 
 of both sides on shore, while the result of the sea-fight hung 
 in the balance, experienced an intense anguish and conflict of 
 f eehngs, the man of Sicily being eager for still greater honour and 
 the invaders fearing to fare still worse than hitherto. For since 
 with the Athenians all was staked on their ships their anxiety 
 as to the result was Hke none they had ever felt before . . . 
 and every kind of clamour was to be heard, lamentation and 
 triumph, ' They conquer I ' ' They are beaten I ' and other such 
 various exclamations as a great armament in great danger 
 would be constrained to utter — until finally, after the fighting 
 had lasted for a long time, the Syracusans and their allies 
 routed the Athenians, and, following up their advantage 
 brilhantly, with great shouting and cheering pursued them to 
 the shore." (vii. 70 sq.) 
 
 (7) The Retreat from Syracuse 
 
 " It was pitiable, not only because of the fact that they were 
 retreating after having lost all their ships and all their high 
 hopes, and having brought themselves, and Athens too, into 
 peril, but also because on leaving the encampment they all 
 had to look upon things grievous to the sight and grievous to 
 the mind ; for the dead were unburied, and whenever any 
 saw one of his friends lying there he was filled with grief and 
 with fear ; and the living who were being abandoned, the 
 wounded and the sick, were to the living much more painful 
 than were the dead, and more piteous than those who had 
 perished, for, betaking themselves to entreaty and to wailing, 
 they drove them into despair, begging to be taken, and calhng 
 upon each one individually, if they saw anywhere any friend 
 or relation, and hanging on to their comrades as they were 
 on the point of departure, and following as far as they 
 could ; and if strength or bodily power failed they were left 
 behind not without many adjurations to the gods and many 
 groans. So the whole army, filled with tears and distress of 
 
 354 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 this kind, did find departure easy, though it was from a hostile 
 country and though they had already suffered woes too deep 
 for tears, and were full of anxiety as to their sufferings in the 
 unknown future. They resembled nothing so much as a city 
 starved out and trying to escape by stealth — and no small 
 city, for the whole multitude that started numbered not less 
 than forty thousand." (vii. 75.) 
 
 (8) The Surrender 
 
 " The Athenians pressed on towards the river Assinarus, 
 being urged to do this by the attacks of the enemy and also 
 by weariness and the craving for water ; and when they 
 reached it they cast themselves into it with no further regard 
 for order, every one wishing to get across first, while the enemy 
 assailed them and made the crossing difficult. For, being 
 compelled to advance in a dense mass, they fell on the top of 
 one another and trod one another down, and some were killed 
 by falHng on the javeHns and baggage, and others got entangled 
 and were swept down-stream. On the further bank, which was 
 precipitous, stood the Syracusans and launched their missiles 
 down on the Athenians while most of them were drinking 
 eagerly and crowding together confusedly in the hollow river- 
 bed. Moreover, the Peloponnesians came down to attack them, 
 and slaughtered those especially who were in the river. And the 
 water was forthwith spoiled, but none the less it was drunk by 
 them together with the mud, all bloody, and was even fought 
 for by most of them. At last, when many dead bodies were 
 already lying one upon the other in the river and the army had 
 been cut to pieces, some of it in the river-bed and whatever 
 part escaped thence by the cavalry, Nicias surrendered to 
 GyHppus." (vii. 84.) 
 
 SECTION B : SOPHOCLES : EURIPIDES : ARISTOPHANES 
 
 In the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides we 
 can trace the same kind of development — or, as some would 
 call it, degeneration — that is noticeable in the three principal 
 
 355 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 stages of Greek sculpture. First we have the supernatural, 
 the mysterious, the terrible, the subHme — forms of more than 
 mortal grandeur and a spirit ofttimes majestically disdainful 
 of ordinary humanity ; then man's nature idealized and the 
 perfect balance and exquisite symmetry of the human form 
 divine — the mortal as he should be rather than as he is, such 
 as we see him in the heroes and heroines of Sophocles and in 
 the works of Polycleitus and the still more gracious forms of 
 Praxiteles ; then the attempt to portray in sculpture and in 
 sculpturesque drama the diversity and passion and movement 
 of actual life, with details which, however significant and 
 interesting they may be in life itself, often become trivial or 
 offensive when borrowed by the artist for purposes of sensa- 
 tion, pathos, or prettiness. 
 
 A vast amount of learning and acumen has been employed 
 in studying and contrasting the special characteristics of 
 these three great poets, and for those who take interest in such 
 questions there is an abundance of literature, from the Frogs 
 of Aristophanes (of which Frere's sprightly version is good 
 reading) to the latest modern ' appreciations,' German, 
 French, or English. More satisfactory it is, of course, to 
 form one's own opinion by reading the plays themselves, of 
 which fair verse translations exist, or, still better, by seeing 
 them acted ; for these old Greek poets are still a hving 
 power on the stage, and, even when roughly translated 
 into modern languages, their works produce surprising 
 emotional effects on audiences to a great extent ignorant 
 of the original poems and of the subjects that they treat. 
 The ' appreciation,' moreover, of the literary critic is not 
 always very trustworthy or edifying, for he is too apt 
 to use the foil of depreciation — and that not merely for 
 purposes of comedy, as did Aristophanes — and to waste 
 our time in formulating his ideas about the * unfeminine ' 
 and ' degenerate ' heroines of Sophocles, the * disagreeable 
 features ' of Antigone and her ' vast inferiority to Alcestis,' 
 and so on, or in expressing his contempt for the beggar- 
 heroes, the enamoured dames, the querulous old men, the 
 356 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 effusive rhetoric, the sophistries, and the ' absurdities ' of 
 Euripides.^ 
 
 Few perhaps can admire equally things so different as the 
 stern grandeur of Aeschylus, the perfect art, the sculpturesque 
 strength, dignity, and beauty of Sophocles, and the vivid 
 colouring, the living warmth, and varied movement of Euri- 
 pides ; but even though we may with Aristophanes place 
 Aeschylus (or Sophocles in his absence) on the throne of tragedy, 
 we must surely be insensate if we do not feel moved by much 
 in the plays of Euripides, by his passionate, almost Words- 
 worthian love for our common humanity and for the beauty 
 of Nature, and by his pathetic power, which has never, 
 perhaps, been equalled except by Shakespeare — a power so 
 supreme that Aristotle, the master of all critics, calls him 
 " the most tragic of the poets/' How deeply he aroused 
 the admiration of the ancients is shown by the fact that 
 eighteen of his plays (as against seven by Sophocles) have 
 survived, besides a great number of fragments, which still 
 receive frequent additions from Egyptian papyri. Dante, the 
 greatest of mediaeval poets, refers to him, though he mentions 
 neither Aeschylus nor Sophocles. Browning's BalausHon, 
 besides being a tribute of intense admiration from a great 
 modem poet to 
 
 Euripides, the Human 
 With his droppings of warm tears, 
 
 And his touches of things common 
 Till they rose to touch the spheres, 
 
 is founded on an historical fact that proves how magical 
 among the ancients was the influence of the last Athenian 
 tragedian. " Numbers of the Athenian captives in Sicily," 
 says Plutarch, " were saved by Euripides, and when they had 
 returned home they greeted him with gratitude and related 
 how by singing his poems, as much as they could remember, 
 they had been released from slavery, or how, when wandering 
 
 1 See, for instance, Schlegel's Dramatic Literature. Such sophistries as the oft- 
 quoted " My tongue swore it, but my mind remained unsworn," may not prove 
 that the poet himself approved of mean mental reservations, but they certainly 
 do bring us down to a very low level. Cf. Mahaffy's Social Life in Greece. 
 
 357 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 about after the battle, they had by the same means procured 
 food and drink." AeHan, too, tells us that Socrates seldom 
 went to the theatre except to see some new play of Euripides, 
 and the philosopher is even suspected of having had a hand in 
 some of these plays. 
 
 A few biographical facts and a brief account of some of 
 the chief plays of Sophocles and Euripides may be of more 
 use than comment. %^ ^ 
 
 Sophocles was born about 495 at Colonus, near Athens. He 
 is said to have led the chorus of boys at the rejoicings after 
 Salamis, " dancing and playing on the lyre around the trophy." 
 As already related, he conquered Aeschylus in 468, when 
 Cimon and the other generals voted for his Triptolemus. About 
 440 he brought out his Antigone, which, probably against his 
 wishes, procured him his election as a general in the expedition 
 against Samos (p. 296). *' I do my best," he is said to have 
 remarked, " since Pericles will have it so ; but I am no general." 
 In 413, after the SiciHan disawSter, he was elected, doubtless 
 unwillingly, as one of the * Advisers ' (irpof^ovkoi) who coun- 
 selled the establishment of the Four Hundred. He died in 406, 
 in his ninetieth year. Of his 130 (or 113) dramas perhaps half 
 were written in the last third of his life. Seven are extant. 
 
 The Antigone (c. 440) continues the story of the Aeschylean 
 Seven against Thebes. In spite of the commands of her uncle 
 Creon, who, after the sons of Oedipus had slain each other, 
 has reinstated himself as king of Thebes, Antigone determines 
 to bury her brother Polyneices — which she does by sprinkling 
 dust on his dead body. She is condemned to be buried aHve in 
 a tomb. Haemon, Creon's son, who loves her, kills himself, 
 and his mother, Eurydice, also commits suicide. The strong 
 and impulsive character of Antigone forms a fine contrast to 
 that of her timid younger sister Ismene, but perhaps its strength 
 is rather too virile. 
 
 The Ajax, which seems from its form and style to be of early 
 date, has for its subject the overthrow of a noble mind by the 
 consciousness of shame. As a so-called psychological study it 
 is comparable with King Lear or Hamlet, In order to follow the 
 
 358 
 
98. SoPHOCIvES 
 
 358 
 

 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 internal action one must read the play. Its external action is 
 simple. The arms of the dead Achilles have been adjudged to 
 Odysseus. Ajax in his furious indignation determines to make 
 an onslaught on the Achaean princes, but is afflicted by Athene 
 with a sudden fit of insanity, during which he slaughters a 
 number of sheep and cattle, believing them to be his foes. 
 On his recovery his sense of shame drives him to suicide. After 
 the catastrophe the play drags on rather wearily. Odysseus, 
 though his great rival, persuades the Atridae to give Ajax 
 burial. 
 
 The Electra treats the same subject as the Choephoroe of 
 Aeschylus and the Electra of Euripides, with which I shall 
 compare it later. The contrast between two sisters, Electra 
 and Chrysothemis, is not unlike that depicted in the Antigone. 
 One of the finest passages in the play is a description given to 
 Electra by an old man of a chariot-race at the Pythian Games, 
 in which, as he reports, Orestes was killed. The lament of 
 Electra over the funeral urn in which she believes the ashes of 
 her brother to be is as beautiful as anything in literature, and 
 for dramatic effect the last scene, where Aegisthus, believing 
 it to be the corpse of Orestes, unveils the dead body of 
 Clytaemnestra, is probably unsurpassed. 
 
 The Trachiniae (so called from the chorus, consisting of 
 maidens of Trachis, near Thermopylae) describes the fearful 
 end of Heracles. The legend is that when Nessus the Centaur 
 was killed by Heracles with an arrow that had been dipped 
 in Hydra poison he bade Deianira, the wife of Heracles, pre- 
 serve some of his blood as a love-charm. Being jealous of lole, 
 a princess captured by Heracles, Deianira steeps a robe in this 
 poisoned blood and sends it to him for a sacrificial ceremony. 
 The robe cleaves to his flesh and the venom enters his body. 
 In his madness he seizes I^ichas, his companion, by the feet and 
 hurls him into the sea, and writhes in terrible anguish while 
 trying to tear the clinging poisoned robe from off his Hmbs. 
 He is borne in a litter, or ship, to Trachis, his home. Deianira 
 hangs herself. Heracles bids his son Hyllus bear him to the 
 peak of Mount Oeta and place him on a pyre of wood and 
 
 359 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 set it aflame. Hyllus at last obeys, and the play ends as 
 Heracles is being carried away. From other writers we learn 
 that Hyllus refused to light the pyre, which was done by a 
 shepherd, Poias, who was passing by. This Poias was father to 
 Philoctetes, to whom he bequeathed the bow and arrows 
 given him in gratitude by Heracles. Some say that Philoctetes 
 himself lit the pyre and was given the weapons. 
 
 Oedipus Tyrannus was probably composed in the year (430- 
 429) of the Great Plague, to which there is evident allusion 
 in the well-known opening Hues. Although written long after 
 the Antigone, this drama and the Oedipus at Colonus {c. 420 ?) 
 were doubtless intended to form together with it a Theban 
 trilogy on somewhat the same Hues as those of the Aeschylean 
 trilogy to which, as is beheved, the Seven against Thebes 
 belonged. The story of Oedipus — how he, as was fated, slew 
 his own father and was wedded to his own mother, and how he 
 discovered the terrible truth and blinded himself — scarcely 
 needs recounting. The art with which all is made to lead up 
 to the awful catastrophe, and with which the contrast is 
 depicted between the powerful and haughty monarch of the 
 opening and the bHnded and humiliated sufferer and outcast 
 of the later scenes, is supremely great. In the second play 
 the old blind king, led by his daughter Antigone, comes to the 
 grove of the Eumenides at Colonus, a village near Athens (the 
 birthplace of Sophocles). He feels conscious that his involun- 
 tary crimes have now been atoned for and that the Avenging 
 but Kindly Goddesses ^ will receive him. His other daughter, 
 Ismene, now joins him, and Creon of Thebes appears and tries 
 to carry off the two girls. Theseus, the Athenian king, re- 
 covers them and protects the suppliants. Him the blind 
 Oedipus, as guided by some inner light and by the calling 
 of a voice, leads to the place (perhaps the sanctuary chasm 
 of the Kumenides) where it is fated that he shall die ; and 
 here he passes away from sight. 
 
 In the Philoctetes is related how Odysseus and Neoptolemus 
 
 i^The sanctuary itself was in a cleft of the Areopagus, near the Acropolis, 
 two miles from the village of Colonus. 
 
 360 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 (son of Acliilles) intend to carry off from I^emnos the son of 
 Poias, Philoctetes, who (see above) possessed the bow and 
 arrows of Heracles, without which Troy could not be taken. 
 Philoctetes had been stung by a viper, and the loathsome sore 
 thus caused on his foot had induced the Greeks before Troy 
 to banish him to lycmnos. He refuses to return, and at first 
 Neoptolemus consents to aid Odysseus in using guile ; but his 
 nobler nature revolts, and he confesses all to Philoctetes. 
 Heracles then appears from heaven and induces Philoctetes 
 to change his mind. 
 
 It is interesting that in two at least of these plays the main 
 action is founded on motives such as are not present, or not 
 easily to be discovered, in any drama of Aeschylus — on the 
 dictates of what we call conscience, or the moral sense — on 
 those inviolable unwritten laws of the heart which are higher 
 than all ordinances proclaimed by human authority in the 
 name of justice or religion. Both Antigone and Neoptolemus 
 obey that voice by which, as Goethe says in his Iphigenie, the 
 gods speak to us through our hearts. Antigone, '* daring a holy 
 crime," perishes, but, Hke Cordelia, proves herself a conqueror 
 over death. Neoptolemus, like the heroine of Goethe's play, 
 will dare or suffer anything rather than practise a mean deceit. 
 Here, I think, is intimated a very essential difference between 
 the ethical teaching of the two poets. As we have already 
 seen, Aeschylus depicts man in his struggle against inexorable 
 Fate — against the external and immutable laws of Necessity ; 
 but Sophocles points to a moral law within the heart, which to 
 obey is to conquer destiny and death. ^ In Euripides we have 
 indeed at times admirable courage and defiance of misfortune, 
 but it is the courage and defiance of the Stoic. There is no 
 deep sense of the eternal laws of the conscience, nor even a 
 
 ^ " The interest of a Sophoclean drama is always intensely personal, and 
 is almost always centred in an individual destiny. In other words, it is not 
 historical or mythical, but ethical. Single persons stand out magnificently in 
 Aeschylus, but the action is always larger than any single life, ... In 
 Sophocles vast surroundings fall into the background and the feelings of the 
 spectator are absorbed in sympathy with the chief figure on the stage, round 
 whom the other characters (the chorus included) are grouped with the minutest 
 care." — Professor Lewis Campbell. 
 
 361 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 tragic battling against an overwhelming fate, for all is guided 
 by Chance rather than by Necessity, and the gods themselves 
 are little else but useful stage machinery.^ He gives us a picture, 
 often intensely real and moving, of human character amid 
 the various accidents of life ; but, as tragedy was still limited 
 to the myths of gods and heroes, the purely human element 
 often causes a descent from the sublime to the commonplace, 
 and even to the ridiculous, so that the remark is not so unjust 
 as it may seem that Euripides was the precursor of the New 
 Comedy. Indeed, the writers of this later comedy of 
 common Hfe and character, such as Menander, acknowledged 
 Euripides as their model, especially in dialogue, where clever 
 repartee, smart epigram, and quotable apophthegm were in 
 request. 
 
 Euripides was born, some say, in Salamis on the very day 
 of the battle (c. September 20, 480). When twenty-five years 
 of age he was ' granted a chorus ' (officially allowed to compete), 
 but did not win the prize till fourteen years later. Of his ninety- 
 two plays, it is said, only four or five were crowned, which 
 seems to show that his popularity was very much greater than 
 his appreciation by contemporary critics. 
 
 I^ate in Hfe (about 408) he withdrew to Thessaly, and thence 
 to the court of King Archelaus of Macedonia, possibly on 
 account of the domestic troubles which embittered so much 
 of his life, or because his philosophical and poHtical sentiments 
 exposed him to danger at Athens. He died in 406, a few 
 months before Sophocles. The story that he was torn to pieces 
 by dogs possibly arose from the fact that in his last play, the 
 Bacchae, written probably in Macedonia, Pentheus is torn to 
 pieces by infuriated Bacchanals. 
 
 Of the eighteen extant plays of Euripides (excluding the 
 Rhesus, which is probably a later imitation, but including 
 the Cyclops, the only surviving classical satyric drama) perhaps 
 the finest are the Alcestis (438), Medea (431), Ion (c. 420), 
 and|the two Iphigeneias (412-408), the stories of which are well 
 
 1 In nine out of the eighteen extant plays of Euripides the problem is solved 
 by the appearance of a deus ex machina. 
 362 
 
99- Euripides 
 
 362 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 known and need not here be recounted. ^ But in order to 
 illustrate some characteristics of the poet a few remarks may 
 be made on one of his less known dramas, the Electra. All 
 three of the great Athenian dramatists treated the subject of 
 the Electra, and all three dramas are extant. The main action 
 of the Choephoroe and of the Sophoclean Electra has already- 
 been briefly intimated. Euripides has chosen the same story, 
 namely, the return of Orestes, his recognition by his sister and 
 the slaying of Clytaemnestra and Aegisthus ; but he has used 
 a very different setting, his object doubtless having been to 
 bring it all nearer to us — '' menschlich naher," as Schiller 
 expresses it. The scene opens, not before the palace of Argos 
 or the tomb of Agamemnon at Mycenae, but before a cottage, 
 out of which steps forth an old peasant. In a long prologue — 
 an introductory device much used by Euripides — ^he explains 
 for the benefit of the audience, though evidently talking to 
 himself, that Electra had been forced by her mother to marry 
 him, and that she lives with him, but as a daughter, not as a 
 wife. Electra then enters, bearing on her close-shorn head a 
 pitcher, and, in spite of the dear old man's entreaties, insists 
 on performing the menial work of the household. With such 
 a mise-en-scene we might have had a very pathetic and withal 
 a dignified play ; but, unfortunately, there is much that one 
 might think more adapted to satisfy the taste of the tragical- 
 comical players in Hamlet than that of an Athenian audience. 
 After the catastrophe Electra puts a wreath on her brother's 
 head, while he holds the head of Aegisthus suspended by its 
 hair; she then pours vituperation and sarcasm on the dead 
 man's head. When Orestes, in his alarm (though he sees no 
 Furies, as in the Choephoroe), determines to flee, Electra 
 exclaims, a Httle irrationally, *' Who will now marry me ? " 
 The play is wound up by the appearance ex machina of Castor 
 
 ^ The Alcestis is finely translated by Browning (in Balaustion). The recon- 
 structions of the Medea by Grillenparzer and of the Iphigeneia in Tauris 
 by Goethe are interesting as not unsuccessful attempts at re-creation in 
 the modern spirit. The imitations by Racine and Voltaire are, as Goethe 
 says, mere parodies. Professor Murray's translations into English are 
 popular. 
 
 363 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 and Pollux, who order Py lades to marry Blectra and to give a 
 liberal compensation to the peasant. 
 
 But perhaps nothing in the whole play ' lets us down ' quite 
 so much as the dehberate and sarcastic way in which Euripides 
 expresses, through Blectra (11. 524 sq.), his disapproval of the 
 means used by Aeschylus to bring about the recognition, 
 namely, a lock of hair and footprints. Certainly the scar 
 that he uses for the purpose has Homeric precedent and is 
 more satisfactory ; but the attack on his great predecessor is 
 surely in bad taste and much out of place in a work of art. 
 
 In the Iphigeneia in Aulis the dea ex machina, or rather the 
 substitution of a fawn instead of the victim by the invisible 
 Artemis, is in keeping with the old legend, but in the case of 
 the Iphigeneia in Tauris the deadening effect on our sympathies 
 of such contrivance is apparent when we think of the solution 
 of the knot by Goethe, who in the place of a stage divinity 
 makes the power of courage and truth on the part of Iphigeneia 
 save her and her brother from the infuriated Scythian king. 
 In some of his dramas, such as the Phoenissae, in which the 
 Oedipus story is employed, Euripides alters the old legends 
 very considerably or uses rare versions. He even gives con- 
 tradictory versions in different plays. In the Helena the 
 heroine (whom Homer and Herodotus state to have been in 
 Egypt, evidently on her way back from Troy with Menelaus) 
 never reaches Troy at all. What accompanied Paris to Troy 
 was a wraith. The true Helen was all the time in Egypt, 
 in charge of King Proteus. Schlegel calls it the " merriest 
 of tragedies." But I prefer to end with Goethe's words, 
 referring to Schlegel, rather than with Schlegel's disparage- 
 ment. " If a modern critic," he said, " must pick out faults 
 in so great a master of drama, he should do it on his knees." 
 
 The names are known of 104 Greek comic poets. About 
 forty were writers of the prisca Comoedia, the Old Attic Comedy 
 [c. 480-390) , and produced something like 360 plays. Of these 
 nothing worth mention has survived except eleven, out of 
 perhaps forty, of the comedies of Aristophanes. How great 
 364 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 our loss is we cannot tell. Aristophanes was a great poet as 
 well as a comedian. " The Graces," said Plato, " chose his 
 mind for their dwelling." But, excepting his work and 
 Terence's paraphrases of Menander, we have no evidence that 
 there was much of permanent value in all this immense output 
 of comic verse, and for our purpose it will suffice if, after a 
 few remarks on the rise of Greek comedy, we consider briefly- 
 some of these eleven plays that have been preserved by the 
 admiration of Alexandrian critics. 
 
 Tragedy, as we have seen, originated at the vintage festivals, 
 where the peasants, disguised as goat-eared satyrs, or dressed 
 in goatskins, danced and sang their * goat songs ' and dithy- 
 rambs in honour of Dionysus, and in course of time introduced 
 dialogue and representations of old legends, both tragical and 
 satyric.i Comedy, the song of ' revelry ' (KayjuLo^ — which is 
 also the name of the god of revelry), originated, as Aristotle 
 tells us, in festivals connected with the divinities of fertility, 
 at which much carneval licence was allowed (as at the Roman 
 Saturnalia), much coarse jesting and abuse and repartee and 
 pasquinade and comic dialogue (as with the old I^atin 
 Fescennine songs), accompanied by processions and dances of 
 mummers and maskers in all kinds of quaint and indecent dis- 
 guises. (On old Attic vases may be seen such maskers depicted 
 — disguised as birds or other animals, and in one case as knights 
 mounted on the back of slaves.) lyudicrous acting was then 
 introduced — first mere improvised mummer-show. We hear 
 of an early and rather mythical Attic comic poet, Susarion, but 
 it was in Sicily that comic plays were first learnt for recitation, 
 and it was Bpicharmus, of Sicilian Megara (about 500, somewhat 
 
 1 Plutarch says that after the Thespian tragical performances had come 
 into vogue the common people were discontented, missing the old humour of 
 the original ' tragedy ' — i.e. the ' goat ' or ' satyr ' song — and asked : " What 
 has this to do with Dionysus ? " Therefore humorous ' satyric ' dramas were 
 often acted in connexion with the later ' tragedies,' which had become too 
 serious for public taste. In the greatest of all tragedies, Shakespeare's, there 
 is humour — unintelligible to minds like Voltaire's, but not to minds like 
 that of Socrates, who affirmed that every tragic poet should also be a comic 
 poet. Plato, too, calls jesting the " sister of earnestness," and Horace tells us 
 that it often decides great things better and quicker than seriousness. 
 
 • 365 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 later than Thespis, the Attic founder of tragedy), who first com- 
 posed parodies, or burlesques, of old legends. A few small frag- 
 ments of his plays are extant. This old Sicihan comedy was 
 transplanted to Athens in the age of the Persian invasions, and 
 rapidly struck root. It was ere long recognized by the state, 
 and the comic poet was granted a chorus like the tragedian, 
 and allowed to compete publicly for a prize. Among the 
 first Athenian comic poets we hear of Chionides, Magnes, 
 Crates, Cratinus, and Eupolis. The last two were early 
 contemporaries and rivals of Aristophanes. Crates was 
 perhaps the first to raise comedy above personal lampoon 
 and to attack vice and folly in the abstract. Under Pericles 
 great licence was allowed to the comic poet, but he might be 
 impeached for " doing wrong to the people " by attacking un- 
 fairly their magistrates. During the trouble with Samos (440) 
 comedy was suppressed, and again when democracy fell in 
 411, and although it revived with the democracy it was no 
 longer allowed to satirize pubHc characters. 
 
 Of the life of Aristophanes (c. 445-380) very little is known. 
 He produced his first play, the Banqueters, in 427, when 
 " hardly more than a boy," and two years later he won the first 
 prize with the Acharnians, the earliest of his extant comedies. 
 It was directed against the iniquity and folly of the war. A 
 good old Attic farmer, angry at the constant rejection of peace, 
 sends a private embassy to the Spartans and secures immunity 
 for himself and his family. He rails off his property and 
 invites his neighbours to an open market and all the blessings 
 of peace, including a fine banquet. The play teems with 
 political allusions. The consequent complications, social and 
 political, are most ludicrous. The chief butts of the satire are 
 the demagogues and Euripides. 
 
 In the Knights (424) a most audacious attack was made 
 on Cleon, just then elated by his success at Sphacteria (p. 336). 
 It was the first play that Aristophanes exhibited in his own 
 name, and as no one dared to play the part of Cleon, nor even 
 to make a mask for the character (see 1. 232), the poet himself, 
 it is said, undertook the role with his face stained, as in old 
 366 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 times, with wine-lees. Cleon is represented as the drunken 
 and crafty Paphlagonian slave and ' demagogue ' of the old 
 gentleman, Demos (the People), and is finally outwitted by 
 a sausage-seller. After ridding himself of his pestilent ' dema- 
 gogue ' the old Demos appears rejuvenated, takes again into 
 favour his honest servants Nicias and Demosthenes, and is 
 enthusiastic for good old Marathonian times. It was probably 
 on account of this play that Cleon brought an action against 
 Aristophanes to prove that he was an alien and not entitled 
 to exhibit plays. What grounds there were for the action is 
 uncertain, though it is possible that the poet's father came 
 from Aegina, or Rhodes. Anyhow, the suit failed, and Aristo- 
 phanes prided himself later on his Heraclean contest with the 
 monster ; but he never again ventured on any such violent 
 personal attacks on public characters, unless we except 
 Euripides, and perhaps Socrates. 
 
 The Clouds (423) is directed especially against the sophists 
 and rhetoricians and the ' modern education.' An old gentle- 
 man, deep in debt, takes his son (evidently typical of Alci- 
 biades) to Socrates to be educated in the new sophistry, so 
 as to free himself from his creditors by forensic quibbles ; 
 but he suffers so much from his up-to-date offspring that he 
 burns down the Socratic ' thinking shop ' on the stage. The 
 attack on Socrates is elsewhere described (p. 377). It is evident 
 that the humour was understood by even such an admirer of 
 Socrates as Plato, for he sent the play to Dionysius, and in 
 the Symposion he speaks with admiration of Aristophanes. 
 
 In the Wasps is satirized the mania for lawsuits and serving 
 as jurymen (dicasts), whereby all home life and professional 
 duties are neglected, the whole male population swarming 
 like wasps to the law-courts. In 421 Aristophanes exhibited 
 his Peace, in which (in reference to the Peace of Nicias, concluded 
 in that year) a peace-loving Athenian flies up to heaven, 
 mounted on a dung-beetle, in search of the Goddess of Peace. 
 In heaven, however, he finds only the Demon of War, pounding 
 up the cities and races of men in a gigantic mortar. Peace 
 has been hurled from heaven and lies buried in a deep pit, 
 
 367 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 whence all the nations of Greece haul her forth with ropes. 
 The Birds (414), in which the building of ' Cloud-cuckoo 
 City ' is described, probably alludes to the great air-castle 
 that the Athenians were endeavouring to erect by extending 
 their empire to Sicily. The play appeared shortly before the 
 disastrous end of the Sicilian expedition. In the Frogs (405) 
 the god Dionysus descends, like a second Heracles, to Hades — 
 crossing the Styx amid loud croaking of the chorus of frogs — 
 in order to bring back Euripides (who had lately died) to give 
 the Athenians, now in great political trouble, his sage advice. 
 Dionysus finds him disputing with Aeschylus the right to the 
 throne of tragedy, and finally Aeschylus returns to earth with 
 Dionysus, leaving Sophocles as his representative in Hades. In 
 the remaining extant plays social questions are dealt with. In 
 the Plutus we have the unjust distribution of wealth and the 
 question of communism. In the coarse but exceedingly 
 humorous Lysistrata and the Women in Parliament we have the 
 rights and political influence of women (who institute a sociahstic 
 state with community of wives). In the Thesmophoriazusae 
 the women assembled at the festival of the Thesmophoria, to 
 which no men were admitted, swear to avenge themselves on 
 Euripides for his misogyny, and finally amidst indescribable 
 excitement detect the presence of his brother-in-law, whom 
 he had persuaded to enter the assembly in female disguise. 
 
 SECTION C : DEMOCRITUS : THE SOPHISTS : SOCRATES 
 
 Greek thought deHneates or suggests in sculpturesque out- 
 line every philosophy worthy of the name, and especially 
 distinct is the picture that it offers us of the gradual develop- 
 ment of the conviction that the ordering force omnipresent 
 in the universe cannot be accounted for by any supposed 
 ' self-creation ' and * self-movement ' of prime matter, but 
 solely by the existence of an IntelHgence and a Will that not 
 only manifests itself in the sensible world, but is also recogniz- 
 able by the mind as the one Reality. Theoretically, at any 
 rate, Anaxagoras had reached this doctrine, and we shall see 
 368 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 later how Socrates and Plato accepted it as the foundation 
 for their philosophy. But here it is necessary to note a 
 remarkable genius of the materialistic or ' mechanical ' school, 
 whose influence aided the development of those brilliant 
 intellectuaHsts and fashionable lecturers known as the Sophists. 
 Democritus of Abdera, in Thrace, was born in 460, and is 
 said to have lived until 361. He was perhaps the son of that 
 Damasippus who entertained Xerxes at Abdera. After some 
 years of travel, of which he writes somewhat boastfully, he 
 resided at Athens, and seems to have excited the dislike of 
 Anaxagoras (his senior by forty years), probably on account 
 of his self-conceit and mockery — which may have earned him 
 the sobriquet ' the lyaugher ' (6 y^Xoov) . Plato, too, is said 
 to have disliked his writings so much that he wished to collect 
 and burn them. lycngthy fragments of these writings remain. 
 His style is praised by Cicero as similar to that of Plato. His 
 physical theories were derived from I^eucippus, of whom nothing 
 is known. They come to us mainly through Epicurus {h. 341) 
 and the Roman poet lyucretius. He, or lycucippus, is regarded 
 as the founder of the atomic theory, which has been largely 
 held by modern science and which supposes matter to consist 
 of minute soHd particles [not infinitely divisible, as Anaxagoras 
 believed) possessing weight and the power of coherence. These 
 ' atoms ' Democritus conceived as infinite in number ; therefore 
 it was necessary to assume a boundless space to accommodate 
 them. Through this boundless, dark Inane streamed Hke 
 everlasting rain the endless torrents of atoms, clashing together 
 and by fortuitous concurrence forming '' another and another 
 frame of things for ever," as is described by Tennyson in his 
 poem Lucretius. By giving his atoms weight Democritus 
 assumed persistent gravity — which is absurd in the case of 
 bodies moving endlessly through boundless space. Moreover, 
 atoms acted upon by any such force would " ruin along th' 
 inimitable Inane " for ever in parallel fines without colfiding. 
 He, or perhaps Epicurus, saw this difficulty and tried to meet 
 it by asserting that Necessity (self-created from all eternity), 
 or else Chance, as a kind of side wind, caused the atom-streams 
 
 2 A 369 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 to deviate, collide, and combine, thus forming all the objects 
 of the natural world, and by the coherence of specially fine 
 and durable particles forming also living organisms and even 
 spiritual beings and the Deity himself. Thus is the materialist, 
 if he is not content with agnosticism, ever forced to assume 
 some immaterial first cause, even though he may not vouchsafe 
 it intelligence or will. As ethical thinker Democritus preached 
 (so did Epicurus later) moderation and virtue as the means 
 of attaining cheerfulness — a comfortable state of mind 
 (ivOvjuLLr}) like the Stoic's aequus animus ; and since no one 
 is willingly unhappy, the one thing necessary for virtue he 
 held to be knowledge. This seems very like what Socrates 
 taught, but the 'knowledge' of Democritus (seeing that he 
 believed in nothing but his atoms and his Inane) was something 
 very different from that of Socrates, who, if we are to believe 
 Plato rather than Aristophanes, regarded the investigation 
 of physical causes as, at the best, an innocent form of recrea- 
 tion, and likened the erudite and fashionable intellectualists 
 of the day to men eagerly scanning and discussing shadows 
 cast on a cavern's wall, while the rhetoric by which they 
 degraded the search for truth into a mere display of dialectic 
 skill he disdainfully put on the same level as the art of cookery. 
 And yet some of these Sophists — whom Aristotle describes as 
 *' trading in false wisdom " — were men of great learning, exceed- 
 ingly ' well educated ' from our modern point of view.^ Such 
 was the SiciHan Gorgias, who was sent (427) as an ambassador 
 to Athens and excited there by his eloquence intense enthu- 
 siasm. Such was Protagoras of Abdera, friend of Pericles 
 and Euripides, whose philosophy was summed up in the asser- 
 tion that " man is the measure of all," and who, according to 
 Plato, made by his teaching more money than Pheidiasand 
 ten other sculptors, and was impeached at Athens for asserting 
 that he was " unable to know whether the gods exist," and is 
 said to have perished at sea while fleeing to Sicily. However, 
 
 1 Some regard the Sophists as valuable ' spreaders of enlightenment,' and 
 assert not only that Socrates was called a sophistes by contemporaries, but 
 that there was no essential difference between his teaching and theirs. 
 
 370 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 whatever their merits may have been, their ideal, which was 
 that of the mere intellectuahst, was entirely false, in the judg- 
 ment of Socrates, who, when the Delphic oracle proclaimed 
 him the wisCvSt of men, interpreted it to mean that he alone 
 was fully conscious of his own " nothingness in regard to 
 wisdom." But perhaps I cannot use my limited space better 
 than by giving two pictures, copied roughly from Plato, of 
 some of these professional lecturers. The first is from the 
 Hippias Major. 
 
 Hippias of Klis, the popular teacher and lecturer, has been 
 bragging to Socrates how he had been sent on embassies of 
 state and had also been going from city to city lecturing on 
 science and literature and history and logic and ethics and the 
 like, and winning huge renown and a large fortune by his 
 discourses. " Going to Sicily," he says, " in a very short time 
 I made more than 150 minae [say £600, or much more accord- 
 ing to the present value of money]. Indeed, I am inclined to 
 think that no two other Sophists, name whom you will, ever 
 acquired so much money. And even at Sparta, where the law 
 prevents a foreigner from giving instruction to the young, 
 everybody flocked to my lectures and lavished much praise 
 upon me. 
 
 " Socr. But in the name of the gods, of what kind were those 
 lectures for which they gave you such rewards and praises ? 
 On what subjects do they so delight to hear you harangue ? 
 No doubt they were the subjects in which you have such sur- 
 passing knowledge — the stars and the celestial phenomena. 
 
 " Hipp. Yes, sometimes. But the Spartans will hear no 
 word on such subjects. 
 
 " Socr. Then I suppose it was about geometry and mathe- 
 matics. 
 
 " Hipp. Not at all. Most of the Spartans are ignorant of the 
 most elementary rules of arithmetic. 
 
 " Socr. Then was it logic and the art of persuasion ? Or 
 perhaps that subject in which you of all men are so expert in 
 accurately distinguishing and defining, I mean letters and 
 syllables and the harmony of words and rhythms ? 
 
 371 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 " Hipp, The Spartans care nothing for such subjects. 
 
 " Socr. Well, do tell me — since I cannot find it out by myself. 
 
 " Hipp. It was about genealogies of heroes and distinguished 
 men, and about the migrations of tribes and settling of colonies, 
 and the antiquity and first founding of cities — in a word, every- 
 thing concerning ancient history. And I have been obliged 
 for their sakes to work up these subjects and perfect myself 
 in that kind of knowledge. 
 
 " Socr. By Zeus, Hippias, it was fortunate that they didn't 
 want you to give a list of all the archons from the time of Solon ! 
 
 '' Hipp. Why so, Socrates ? Upon hearing fifty names 
 repeated only once I will undertake to remember them." 
 
 Thus Socrates (or Plato) banters the self-conceited intellec- 
 tualism of the lecturing Sophist. 
 
 The other picture is from Plato's dialogue Protagoras, in 
 which Socrates describes, with sly humour, a scene in which 
 are introduced many of the more famous Sophists.^ 
 
 " Entering, we found Protagoras walking up and down the 
 poxtico, and with him, on one side, were Callias, Paralus, and 
 Charmides, and on the other Xanthippus, the son of Pericles, 
 and Antimaerus of Mende, who bears the highest reputation 
 of all the disciples of Protagoras, and is studying with a view 
 to hereafter being a Sophist himself. Others followed behind to 
 catch what was said, seeming chiefly to be foreigners whom 
 Protagoras brings about with him from every city through 
 which he travels, charming them [kti^oov] with his voice, as 
 Orpheus of old, while they under the fascination follow the 
 voice ; some also of our countrymen were in the train. As 
 I viewed the band [xopov] I was delighted to observe with 
 what caution they took care never to be in front of Protagoras, 
 but whenever he turned, those who were behind, dividing on 
 either side in a circle, fell back so as still to remain in the rear. 
 ' Him past, I saw ' (to speak in Homeric phrase) Hippias of 
 Elis enthroned beneath the opposite portico ; around whom, 
 on benches, sat Kryximachus, Phaedrus, and others. They 
 
 ^ I have here borrowed from the version given by Archer Butler in his 
 Lectures on Ancient Philosophy. 
 
 372 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 seemed to question Hippias concerning the sublimities of 
 nature and the revolutions of the stars, while he, reposing 
 upon his throne, resolved each successive difficulty. Presently 
 I came upon Prodicus of Ceos, who was not yet risen, but lay 
 cushioned in a retired chamber among bedclothes, and around 
 him were Pausanias, Adimantus, and others. The subjects 
 of their discussion I could not gather from without, though 
 extremely anxious to hear Prodicus ; for I hold him to be a 
 man of wisdom more than human ; but the perpetual rever- 
 beration of his voice — an extremely deep one — confused the 
 words in their echoes." 
 
 To give any full account of the teachings of Socrates, or even 
 a bare outline of the great structure of Ideal philosophy built 
 thereupon by Plato, lies far beyond the range of this volume. 
 I shall only offer a few biographical facts and a few remarks 
 and quotations for the purpose of intimating the nature of these 
 teachings and this philosophy rather than of describing their 
 exact form. For the Hfe and personality of Socrates we are 
 chiefly indebted to the Dialogues of Plato and the Memoirs of 
 Xenophon ; for his doctrines, although Aristotle tells us some- 
 thing, we have to investigate the fundamental principles of 
 Platonic philosophy, endeavouring to distinguish them from the 
 superstructure ; for how far Socrates used the forms of thought 
 and imagination (such as those of Ideas, and the allegories 
 of Metamorphosis and Prenatal Existence) attributed to him 
 by his great disciple is quite uncertain ; nor can we feel quite 
 sure that Plato has given us a perfectly trustworthy picture 
 in all details even of such scenes as the trial and the last hours 
 of his master. Still, it seems incredible that he should have 
 misrepresented the essential tenets and the personality of 
 Socrates, for it would have been at once detected and resented 
 by those who had known him, and who, to use the words of 
 one of them, had loved him as " the wisest and justest and. 
 best man they had ever known." 
 
 Of the external life of Socrates we know comparatively little, 
 but we know enough to recognize a noble attempt to practise 
 
 373 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 what he taught, r In my hfe," he said a few hours before his 
 death, *' I have striven as much as I was able, and have left 
 nothing undone, to become a true philosopher. Whether I 
 have striven in the right way, or whether I have succeeded or 
 not, I suppose I shall learn in a little while, when I reach the 
 other world, if it be the will of God.'' 
 
 The philosopher was born about 469 in the demos Alopeke 
 (' The Place of Foxes '), not far from Athens. His father was a 
 sculptor, or rather a ' stone- worker,' and he himself attained 
 such proficiency that a group of three draped Graces made by 
 him was to be seen on the Acropolis, Pausanias asserts, six 
 centuries later. 
 
 He received the ordinary ' musical ' and gymnastic educa- 
 tion of an Athenian citizen — an education in the arts patro- 
 nized by the Muses and in athletic exercises — the object of 
 which was something very far removed from professional or 
 mercantile success. His knowledge of Homer and other old 
 poets was evidently extensive. From Xenophon we learn 
 that he was " fond of studying the treasures that wise men of 
 old had left in their books," such as the abstruse philosophy of 
 Heracleitus, whose book, lent him by Euripides, he is said 
 to have greatly admired, but to have found at times so difficult 
 that "it needed a Delian diver." With the mathematical, 
 astronomical, and philosophical works of Pythagoras he was 
 acquainted, and in the Phaedo he tells us that when young he 
 was passionately fond of physical science, but that he aban- 
 doned it later as dealing, not with reaHties, but appearances, 
 and as useless except for merely practical purposes or as a 
 recreation. He seems to have had an iron constitution and to 
 have borne unflinchingly pain and fatigue and the extremes 
 of heat and cold, so that the soldiers, says Alcibiades, " looked 
 angrily at him." He went, at least in later years, always bare- 
 foot, and wore the same coarse, homely cloak in summer and 
 winter alike. His features were not at all such as one associates 
 with intellect or with Hellenism. Neither friends nor foes spared 
 their jests en his satyr-hke physiognomy, with its broad nose, 
 its wide, thick-lipped mouth, and its prominent, glaring'^eyes. 
 
 374 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 In the Sym^osion Alcibiades likens him to a figure of the 
 satyF-gM~Silemis, which, when opened, discloses images of 
 the Olympian gods. " He thinks all such things as beauty and 
 riches of no value and spends his Hfe among us in irony and 
 jest. But when he is serious and is opened, I know not if any 
 of you have seen the images within. But I have seen them, 
 and they appeared to me so divine, golden, all-beautiful, 
 and wonderful that I was ready to do in an instant whatever 
 Socrates might command.'' 
 
 In 432, just before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, 
 Socrates served as a hoplite in Thrace, at the siege of Potidaea, 
 and here he saved the life of the wounded Alcibiades. At the 
 battle of Delion, in 424, where the Athenians suffered a serious 
 defeat, he behaved, as Alcibiades tells us in the Symposion, 
 with great courage in covering the retreat, and perhaps saved 
 the life of Xenophon, carrying him a long distance. Two years 
 after Delion Socrates fought a third time for his country at 
 the battle of Amphipolis, and once more distinguished himself 
 by his courage and endurance. He was now forty-seven years 
 old. Some time before this he had taken to frequenting the 
 markets and colonnades and other public places and talking 
 in a familiar way to any one, rich or poor, who cared to listen 
 and answer his questions, " babbling," as Alcibiades puts it, 
 " about market-donkeys and coppersmiths and shoemakers 
 and tanners" — testing those who thought they were wise and 
 proving that they knew nothing truly, and didn't even know 
 that — plaguing high-priests with some such elementary question 
 as " What is religion ? " or the learned with " What is know- 
 ledge ? " and poHticians with " What is justice ? " — refusing to 
 accept cant definitions and current valuations but going back to 
 primary, indisputable facts and simple, distinct conceptions, 
 to the true nature and true value of everything — beginning 
 discussion with some such tiresome, elementary question ^ as 
 " Do you allow that justice is anything ? and if so, what is it ? " 
 
 1 The true subject of Plato's Republic is Justice, the ordinary conception 
 of which is described by Socrates. He compares the high-priests of Justice 
 in Athens to men who undertake to tame some savage animal. They learn 
 
 375 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 — implanting thus in minds filled with the conceit of false 
 knowledge the seed of self-knowledge and endeavouring to make 
 men reaHze their own ignorance as the first step in the search 
 for wisdom. As Bacon in science, so Socrates in a higher sphere 
 set himself and others the task (as Bacon says of himself) of 
 *' throwing entirely aside received theories and conceptions 
 and applying the mind, thus cleansed, afresh to facts." It is 
 this inductive process, this search for a solid basis of fact 
 on which to build up a general law, that Aristotle held to be 
 the most important factor in the teachings of Socrates. 
 
 Socrates likens himself to a troublesome gadfly, and doubtless 
 he did arouse great resentment among the fashionable and self- 
 conceited intellectualists and the high-priests of Olympian 
 orthodoxy, as any man is bound to do who goes about 
 annoying respectable people with inconvenient questions on 
 matters which should be left to the care of theologians and 
 cabinet ministers. Doubtless, too, the fact that his example 
 incited the young to disprove the wisdom of their elders by 
 the application of the Socratic scrutiny must have winged a 
 deadly shaft of accusation against him. " I go about," he 
 says in his Apology, " testing and examining every man who 
 has the reputation of being wise, and if I find that he is not 
 wise, I point out to him on the part of the God that he is not 
 wise. And I am so busy in this pursuit that I never had leisure 
 to take any part worth mention in public matters nor to look 
 after my private affairs. I am in very great poverty by reason 
 of my service to the God." Twice, however, we hear of 
 his taking part in pubHc affairs (pp. 343, 345), and on both 
 occasions, unsupported and at the peril of his life, he refused 
 to give his sanction to gross injustice. 
 
 That Socrates had gained notoriety and had aroused ani- 
 mosity even as early as the battle of Delion is proved by the 
 celebrated scene in the Clouds of Aristophanes (423) in which 
 he is depicted as a believer in strange deities (such as Aether 
 
 its moods, learn what sounds provoke and soothe it and how to manage and 
 coax it, and having thus discovered the temper and caprices of the many- 
 headed beast, the public, they call that justice which it likes, and that injustice 
 of which it disapproves. 
 
 376 
 

 ■■ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 -. f 
 
 |k ^ 
 
 ... .'/ 
 
 mir-*^-'^^'' 
 
 loo. Socrates 
 
 loi. Pl,ATO 
 
 :o2. Aristophanes 
 
 103. lyYSIAS 
 
 376 
 
J 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 and King Vortex — deities not unknown to modern science) 
 and as a swindling Sophist and a corrupter of the young. But 
 especially he is represented (of course quite falsely) as a scientist 
 impiously prying into the secrets of Nature, suspended mid-air 
 in a basket in order to examine the nature and motions of the 
 heavenly bodies, and endeavouring to calculate the length 
 of the leaps of a flea by dipping its feet in wax and using the 
 impression as a measure. Aristophanes was not personally 
 hostile to Socrates (at least in the Symposion the two seem 
 on quite friendly terms) , but he was a staunch Conservative, a 
 praiser of old Marathonian times, rigidly orthodox, strenuously 
 imperialistic, and apparently quite incapable of distinguishing 
 Socratic wisdom from the blatant intellectualism and the 
 atheistic materialism of the day. Suspicion and resentment 
 gathered year by year until at last the storm broke, and he 
 who was among the Greeks the first to proclaim a God of perfect 
 wisdom and goodness, whose will is the true cause of all 
 things, and to assert that he " held it more certain than any- 
 thing else that the soul exists after death and that it will be 
 better in that other hfe for the good than for the evil," is 
 condemned to die as a malefactor, on the charge of *' not 
 believing in the gods of his country " and for " corrupting the 
 young," exemplifying to no small extent in himself that " truly 
 just man " whom in Plato's Republic he thus describes : ''He 
 will be misjudged, despised, and hated ; he will be condemned 
 as unjust and as an evil-doer ; he will be scourged, tormented, 
 fettered, have his eyes burnt out ; and lastly, after having 
 suffered all manner of evil, will be crucified." The last scenes 
 — those of his trial, imprisonment, and death — are well known, 
 and to give any worthy picture of them is here impossible. 
 I can only refer those who have not yet read it to the vivid 
 and touching account given by Plato in the Apology, the 
 Crito, and the Phaedo, 
 
 Doubtless many of the wisest and best were deeply shocked 
 and grieved. The great Athenian rhetorician I^ysias is said 
 to have composed a speech for Socrates to use in his defence — 
 but Socrates would not use it. Diodorus (who Hved in the age 
 
 377 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 of Julius Caesar) and other writers assert that even the Athe- 
 nian rabble bitterly repented their act, and put to death the 
 accusers of Socrates. It is said that certain verses of the 
 Palamedes of Euripides (" Ye have killed, O Greeks, the all- 
 wise, the nightingale of the Muses . . . '') made the audience 
 burst into tears. Such hysterical changes of public sentiment 
 are common enough, but although there were many who, like 
 Xenophon and Plato and Phaedo and Crito and Simmias, 
 loved Socrates as the " best and wisest man they had ever 
 known," it is not at all probable that the Athenian mob and 
 its leaders were capable of repenting what they believed to 
 have been a perfectly justifiable and wise extermination of 
 a noisome and intolerable influence. Justifiable, from the point 
 of view of the dicast, it may have been, and some historians, 
 such as Grote, who regard with favour the Athenian dicast, 
 speak of the " marked and offensive self -exaltation '* and the 
 "insulting tone" — such a tone as " dicasts had never heard 
 before " — with which Socrates forced his judges to '* uphold 
 the majesty of the court and the constitution." To some of 
 us the unwritten law which Socrates by his character and his 
 teaching proclaimed was of a majesty inexpressibly more 
 sacred than that of the Athenian dicasteries, to which with 
 such calm dignity he submitted himself. 
 
 Some of the intellectual and imaginative forms in which 
 Socrates, perhaps, clothed his beliefs will be mentioned on a 
 later occasion. Here I add only a few more words about the 
 methods that he used — so entirely different from those employed 
 by the fashionable lecturers and teachers of his day. His 
 wisdom consisted, as he tells us, in the consciousness of his 
 own ignorance. " I never professed," he says, *' to teach any 
 one any knowledge." He did not profess to impart ready- 
 made opinion, but by quiet discussion he tried gradually to 
 bring about a certain attitude or frame of mind such as would 
 prove receptive of truth. One of these methods was what is 
 known as Socratic irony. In one way the ' irony ' of Socrates 
 was, of course, no pretence — for he was deeply conscious of his 
 own ignorance — but he often pleaded ignorance in order to 
 
 378 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 elicit the definitions of his opponents or hearers. " Here is a 
 specimen of your well-known irony," exclaims some one in the 
 Republic. " I knew all the time that you would refuse to answer, 
 and would pretend ignorance and do everything rather than 
 answer a straightforward question." How far the respect that 
 Socrates often shows for the learned ignorance of his opponents 
 was pretended or sincere it is not always easy to discover, but 
 his ' irony ' never has any tendency to sarcasm ; it is always 
 good-natured and modest ; but nevertheless it must have often 
 given great offence to self-conceit. Another Socratic method 
 is what he calls the maieutic, or ' midwife ' method. In 
 playful allusion to the profession of his mother, Phaenarete, 
 he says that he too merely helped at the birth of thought — 
 helped the labouring mind to produce its offspring — something 
 that shall be its own by the rights of nature, not merely 
 a supposititious foundhng picked up in the gutter of public 
 opinion. 
 
 The word ' dialectic ' (discussion) is used nowadays in rather 
 a loose way to describe any of the artifices of disputation ; 
 but the dialectic of Socrates (or Plato) in its highest sense is 
 the discourse of the mind on the beliefs of the soul — the mani- 
 festation in thought and words of that '' discussion of the soul 
 with herself which takes place without the voice." But, as 
 Dante tells us, " form accords not always with the intention of 
 art," and even the serenest self-communion may seem sometimes 
 to take the form, in Plato's dialogues, of rather exhausting and 
 apparently quibbling disputation. To those of us who are 
 impatient for conclusions the long-drawn discussion may at 
 times seem tedious and unprofitable. In some cases no 
 conclusion at all is arrived at, and one looks in vain for any 
 dogmatic summing up, such as no modern writer on such 
 subjects could afford to dispense with, if he had any respect 
 for the critics. How entirely different the object of Socrates 
 was from that of most who argue may be seen from what he 
 says in the Phaedo : "I am not in the least anxious that 
 any one present should believe in my theories, except just as 
 may happen. ... If this is not true, then something like it 
 
 379 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 may be true." He knew well that the highest truths were not 
 to be thus attained and formulated — a fact that is well stated 
 in a letter written probably by Plato himself. ^ " About 
 these things," he says — ^he means the highest objects of 
 philosophy — " there never was and never will be any treatise 
 of mine. For a matter of this kind cannot be expressed in 
 words like other kinds of learning, but by long familiarity and 
 living together with the thing itself a Hght, as it were of a 
 flame leaping forth, will suddenly be kindled in the soul and 
 will nourish itself there." 
 
 Perhaps it may be asked : "Of what nature, then, was 
 this inexpressible object of the Socratic philosophy ? And 
 what is the use of this dialectic, or of any intellectual process, 
 if it cannot hope to attain and formulate the highest kind of 
 truth ? " 
 
 What Socrates (or Plato) believed to be attainable by intel- 
 lectual processes is explained in one of the most interesting 
 and most difficult of the Platonic dialogues, the Theaetetus, 
 where Socrates comes to the conclusion that the highest 
 certainty attainable by the mind is what he calls '* a true 
 opinion with reason " — that is, an observed fact which is 
 confirmed by other facts and can be classed under a general 
 law. Such inductive truths he accepted as * rafts,' seaworthy 
 enough to waft us over the waters of intellectual and practical 
 life. 
 
 But there are truths beyond the reach of the unaided mind 
 — truths of which the knowledge is identical with virtue (so 
 that wrong-doing is only due to ignorance of such truths, and 
 "nobody is willingly — but only ignorantly — wicked"). To 
 gain a vision of such truths and realities is possible by means of 
 some contemplative faculty, the " reasoning part of the soul," 
 as it is called in the Phaedrus, and dialectic in its highest 
 sense, as the " voiceless discussion of the soul with herself," 
 induces these seasons of calm weather in which such visions 
 
 1 The Seventh Epistle, which describes Plato's relations with Dion and Diony- 
 sius in Sicily, and seems, although sometimes questioned, to be genuine. (See 
 Selections from Plato, edited by T. W. RoUeston.) 
 
 380 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 are vouchsafed. And should we wish for some intimation 
 of the nature of these truths, after which Socrates searched so 
 earnestly, perhaps we cannot do better than turn to the 
 definition that he has given of true philosophy. If we consult 
 a text-book of modern philosophy ^ we shall find that " Philo- 
 sophy proper is the science of the phenomena and laws of 
 Mind," or something similar. If we open the Phaedo we shall 
 find that " True philosophy is nothing else but the study of 
 how to die and to be dead." 
 
 But perhaps the following passage may still more clearly inti- 
 mate of what kind was that knowledge of the true nature and 
 cause of all things which was the aim of Socratic philosophy. 
 
 " When I was a young man," says Socrates in the Phaedo, 
 shortly before drinking the cup of hemlock, " I was wondrously 
 desirous of that kind of wisdom which they call natural science. 
 It seemed to me a very grand accomplishment to know the 
 causes of everything, and I tossed myself in speculating 
 whether matter, when by alternations of cold and heat it has 
 arrived at a certain state of putridity, generates life — and 
 whether it was the blood or air or animal heat or the brain 
 that generates intelligence and the senses, and thence memory 
 and opinion. . . . However, I received no advantage from my 
 inquiries. . . . But once I heard somebody reading out of a 
 book which he said was by Anaxagoras, and when he came to 
 that part in which he says that Intelligence [Nouc] orders 
 and is the cause of all, I was delighted and thought it an excellent 
 idea that Intelligence orders everything and puts it where it 
 is. But from this grand hope I was swept away when I read 
 the book and found that the man made no use of this Intelli- 
 gence in the ordering of the cosmos, but talked about airs 
 and aethers and waters and all kinds of strange things. And he 
 appeared to me like one who should first assert that all the 
 actions of Socrates are due to intelligence, but should then 
 declare that I am sitting here because my body is composed 
 of bones and muscles, and that the muscles being elastic and 
 
 ^ Sir W. Hamilton's Lectures. I suppose the definition applies rather to 
 ' psychology,' as it is now called. 
 
 381 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 the bones solid enable me to bend my limbs, and that this is 
 the reason why in tliis crouching attitude I am sitting here, 
 utterly ignoring the true reason, namely, that, since the 
 Athenians thought it better to condemn me, on this account I 
 also have thought it better to sit here, and more honourable 
 to remain and endure whatever punishment they may have 
 ordained. Otherwise, by the Dog, I think these muscles and 
 bones would have long ago been somewhere in Megara or 
 Boeotia." ^ 
 
 SECTION D : SCULPTURE {c. 440 to c. 400) 
 
 To divide anything of such vitality and continuous growth as 
 Greek sculpture into distinct periods is perhaps unwise, but 
 much of what was produced between the chief works of Pheidias 
 {c. 450-432) and those of Scopas and Praxiteles (c. 390-360) 
 seems to possess marked and interesting characteristics. 
 Nothing is more striking in the wonderful development of 
 Greek art and literature during the fifth century than the 
 rise and pre-eminence of Athenian influence. We have already 
 seen how in the earlier part of the century the influence of 
 the ' athletic ' Peloponnesian school found its way into Attica, 
 especially through Ageladas, the master of both Pheidias and 
 Myron, and how this vigorous, masculine style, wedded, as it 
 were, to Attic grace and dehcacy, produced the incomparable 
 art that we still admire in the Parthenon frieze and pediments. 
 In its turn the new and beautiful Athenian style influenced 
 the sculpture of the Peloponnese and extended even to such 
 distant regions as I^ycia and Western Sicily. 
 
 (i) At Athens itself we find lyycius, son of the great sculptor 
 Myron. Nothing of his has survived, but he is less of a mere 
 name than many once famous Greek artists, for besides the 
 numerous works mentioned by old writers, such as the cele- 
 brated group at Olympia representing the combat between 
 Achilles and Memnon, he made one or more of the bronze 
 
 * Phaedo, xlv. sq., abbreviated in parts. 
 
 382 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 equestrian statues that once decorated the Propylaea/ and 
 on the basis of one of these his name may still be read. Another 
 Athenian sculptor, a Cretan by birth and Cresilas by name, 
 is of greater interest, for in the British Museum may be seen 
 what is a fine copy (Fig. 96) of his bust of Pericles, the basis 
 of which has been discovered during the excavations on the 
 Acropohs. It is supposed to be an ideal rather than a realistic 
 portrait — " not so much an accurate presentment of the 
 features of Pericles as an embodiment and expression of his 
 personaHty.'' It was probably one of the first statues of public 
 men erected at Athens. As in the case of coins, portraiture 
 in Greek sculpture was rare till the fourth century. Even the 
 statues erected to victorious athletes were usually, it is supposed, 
 not realistic portraits, nor were, as a rule, in earlier times, the 
 figures on tombstones. On the other hand, we have the 
 statues of the Tyrannicides as early as about 500, and such 
 portraits as that of Aristion, about 550 (Fig. 51). A figure of 
 Miltiades, as we have already seen, stood in the Marathon 
 trophy at Delphi, and Polygnotus introduced portraits into 
 his pictures, and Pheidias did the same in the case of the 
 notorious shield of Athene (Fig. 79) ; but until this bust of 
 Pericles was set up, evidently to record the founder of the 
 Parthenon and the Propylaea, no great Athenian seems to 
 have been honoured by a public statue in his lifetime. 
 Another Athenian sculptor of this period, Strongylion, has real 
 interest for us, for one of his works, a colossal bronzen figure 
 of the wooden horse of Troy, is mentioned (c. 414) by Aristo- 
 phanes, and its basis has been discovered on the Acropolis. 
 
 (2) Attic influence in the Peloponnese is well exemphfied in 
 the temple of Apollo at Phigaleia, in Arcadia (Fig. 84 ; Note A) . 
 It was built either after the Great Plague of 430 or about ten 
 years later by the Athenian Ictinus, the architect of the 
 Parthenon. The frieze, which is complete, is now in the 
 British Museum. It represents combats between Centaurs 
 
 ^ The great bronze four-horse chariots, one erected after the Chalcidian 
 war in 506 and another probably by Pericles about 446, were probably placed 
 on new bases when the new Propylaea of Mnesicles was built, c. 437, and 
 perhaps the statues by I^ycius were then erected. 
 
 383 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 and I^apithae and between Greeks and Amazons. Although 
 the execution appears to be by local workmen and is defective, 
 the design is undoubtedly by some great Athenian sculptor, 
 and the figures and the grouping and the splendid, though 
 roughly finished, drapery recall the Parthenon sculptures. 
 An exceedingly finely balanced and vigorous group is that of 
 which Heracles and the Amazon queen form the centre. 
 
 But perhaps the greatest triumph of Attic influence is to 
 be noted in the celebrated Argive (or Sicyonian) sculptor 
 Polycleitus, who is said to have been a fellow-pupil of Pheidias 
 in the studio of Ageladas at Argos. Polycleitus continued 
 the traditions of the Argive school, with its heavy-limbed, 
 strongly muscular, and highly unintellectual athletes, but he 
 combined with massive strength a certain amount of Pheidian 
 grace and proportion, so that his statues were regarded as 
 almost perfect representations of the highest ideal of the human 
 form, and, although the numerous marble copies that we 
 possess doubtless give a very poor idea of the bronze originals 
 (which are said to have been of an exquisite finish) , we can still 
 recognize in the Spear-hearer and the Diadoumenos (an athlete 
 binding a fillet round his head) something of what formerly 
 excited such great admiration. The former (the Doryphoros) 
 represents a nude athletic figure holding a spear sloped over 
 his left shoulder, and was known as the ' Canon ' — that is, 
 the * Rule ' or standard of perfection in proportion — and 
 served as an embodiment of the rules which Polycleitus pub- 
 lished in a treatise of like name. But he did not limit himself 
 to the athletic style. Influenced doubtless by the Athene 
 Parthenos and the Olympian Zeus, he made a great chrysele- 
 phantine statue of Hera for her temple near Argos ; and this 
 Hera is praised by some ancient writers as equalhng or even 
 surpassing the Pheidian statues. The goddess was enthroned 
 and crowned and held a pomegranate in one hand, and in the 
 other her sceptre, on which was perched a cuckoo. The head 
 of this Hera given on Argive coins (Plate V, 7) is certainly very 
 much more beautiful than any relic of the Athene Parthenos. 
 On the site of the Heraion near Argos have been found fragments 
 
 384 
 
104. Mourning Athene 
 
 105. SteIvE with Woman 
 carrying Vase 
 
 106. Stei,e op Hegeso 
 
 107. Figure from Greek Tomb 
 
 384 
 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 of its sculptures, which both in the grace and variety of the 
 figures and the floating or clinging drapery reveal a strong 
 Attic influence ; and many of them are in Attic (Pentelic) 
 marble. An exceedingly beautiful female head in Parian 
 marble, now at Athens, perhaps belonged to the pediment, 
 or to a decorative statue. If these sculptures are by Poly- 
 cleitus, as some beUeve and many hope, he must have been 
 much more influenced by Attic grace than could be inferred 
 from his Spear-bearer or from his heavily built and square- jowled 
 Amazon (Fig. io8), and if more of his work were extant we 
 should probably feel no surprise when ancient writers give 
 the palm for ' art ' to Polycleitus and for ' grandeur ' to 
 Pheidias. 
 
 (3) The Nereid Monument, probably a regal tomb, was 
 discovered by Sir Charles Fellows in I^ycia. Its remains, 
 lying scattered by earthquake, were brought to England in 
 1842 and are to be seen in the British Museum. On a square 
 base, ornamented with two bands of frieze, rose an Ionic 
 
 j building, between whose columns stood female figures in float- 
 ing drapery, probably representing ocean nymphs (Nereides) 
 skimming over the surface of the sea. Some of these recall 
 vividly the beautiful Victory of Paeonius (Fig. 93), and the 
 subjects and style of the friezes show unmistakable resem- 
 blance to Attic work (such as the friezes of the Athene Nike 
 temple at Athens) and to the Phigaleian sculptures. The 
 date of the Nereid Monument is probably about 420. Another, 
 and perhaps older, lyycian monument which reveals similar 
 influences has been found at Trysa, and is now at Vienna. 
 It is, however, very weatherworn, being made of soft stone, 
 and not, as the Nereid tomb, of Parian marble. 
 
 (4) Greek tombstones {a-rfjXdi) are to be seen in many 
 t museums, and at Athens especially there is a very large number 
 
 of beautiful specimens of Attic work, found in the Cerameicus 
 and in Athens (some built into the walls of Themistocles), 
 and at the Peiraeus and elsewhere in Attica. Some of these, 
 such as that of Aristion (Fig. 51), keep something of the form 
 of the original stele (i.e. column), which was anciently erected 
 
 2B 385 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 on the tumulus, and in older examples the single figure is 
 perhaps more often a portrait than it was in later times, when 
 tombstones seem not seldom to have been bought ready made, 
 it being enough if they represented fairly well the required 
 age and sex. The single figure often represented the deceased 
 occupied in some characteristic pursuit ^ — as an athlete with 
 his strigil and oil-flask, or a child with a bird or a toy, or a hunter 
 with his dog, or a lady (as in Fig. io6) with her jewels, or the 
 warrior in battle (Fig. 109) . 
 
 Many of the most beautiful and pathetic of these stelae 
 date from the fourth century, but, as is natural in the case 
 of funeral monuments, the designs are generally old and 
 carry one back sometimes to Pheidian days. The original 
 narrow pillar gave way considerably to broader tombstones, 
 and the sculptured relief was often enclosed in an archi- 
 tectural framework. Frequently we find a family group 
 represented, and a scene of farewell — a maiden perhapvS 
 having her sandals put on, as a sign of departure, or a man 
 clasping affectionately the hand of his wife, or his child, or his 
 aged father or mother. No relics of antiquity bring us nearer 
 to past ages than these Athenian tombstones, nor do any 
 surpass them in calm and delicate beauty. 
 
 ^ Thus in the Odyssey Blpenor begs that his oar shall be erected on 
 his tumulus. 
 
 386 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE SPARTAN AND THE THEBAN 
 
 SUPREMACY 
 
 {404-362) 
 
 SECTIONS : XENOPHON : SICIIyY AND THE CARTHAGINIANS : 
 PI/ATO : SCUIyPTURE, ARCHITECTURE. AND PAINTING 
 
 THE story of the Persian invasions is associated with much 
 that is great in Greek character and much that is inte- 
 resting in the history of humanity, and the rise and fall 
 of the Athenian Empire deserves study, in spite of many 
 tedious and many revolting details, not only on account of 
 the incomparable skill with which it is depicted by Thucydides, 
 but also because it has many points of contact with the true 
 history of Greece — with the history of that Greece which alone 
 retains any importance for our age. But the period that 
 intervened between the fall of Athens and the rise of the Mace- 
 donian power is not of this nature. It offers, indeed, some 
 splendid examples of courage and self-devotion, which we 
 must needs admire, however little we may sympathize with the 
 causes that called them forth ; but the endless quarrels and 
 battles and political combinations, details of which, raked 
 together from old authors, compose what is generally called 
 the history of this rather dreary interval, no longer possess for 
 us any appreciable value, except perhaps as an exercise for 
 the memory. I shall, therefore, give only a short summary 
 of the external events of these forty-five years, during which 
 the baneful lust for ' supremacy ' ever again reared its head, 
 until a semi-barbaric empire arose against which ancient 
 Hellas, drained of her life-blood by internecine strife, was 
 powerless to stand. 
 
 387 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 (i) The Spartan Supremacy 
 
 At Aegospotami (405) lyysander had captured nearly the 
 whole of the Athenian fleet, and shortly afterwards Athens 
 was forced to renounce almost all her empire and to acknow- 
 ledge the supremacy of Sparta both on sea and land. For 
 thirty years Sparta had proclaimed herself as the liberator 
 of Greece from the enslavement of the * despot city/ At the 
 beginning this claim had been sanctioned by the enthusiastic 
 approval of the greater part of the Hellenic world, and at the 
 end of the war the Ivong Walls of Athens had been pulled down 
 to the music of flutes and amid jubilant shouts welcoming the 
 dawn of the new liberty. But the enthusiasm was short-lived. 
 It was soon apparent that Sparta had no intention of granting 
 independence to the cities that acknowledged her supremacy. 
 Athens was, like a wounded Honess, too dangerous to meddle 
 with. For a year or so a Spartan harmost (' regulator,* or 
 commandant) with his troops had occupied the Acropolis, and 
 a decarchy (oligarchy of ten) managed the civil government, 
 but the wisdom of the Spartan king Pausanias, doubtless 
 influenced by the success of the political exiles under Thrasy- 
 bulus, finally allowed the re-establishment of the democracy, 
 while in the subject cities of the Confederacy, now under the 
 control of Sparta, rapacious harmosts and subservient decarchies, 
 from whom there was no appeal (as there had been under the 
 Athenian Empire), for a long time continued to exercise 
 the worst kind of tyranny. Sparta proved herself wholly 
 incapable of founding any pan-Hellenic Empire. During her 
 short-lived supremacy her one object was her own territorial 
 extension, both in Greece and in Asia, and not only did greed 
 and a brutal and stolid militarism render her incapable of any 
 conception of pan-Hellenic federation or even any true imperial 
 policy, but she also stooped to the meanest treachery against 
 the Hellenic world. The descendants of the heroes of Thermo- 
 pylae and Plataea, after overthrowing the Athenian Empire by 
 Persian aid, purchased by the betrayal of the Ionic cities, and 
 after proving faithless to their barbarian allies and attacking 
 
 388 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 the western satrapies in the hope of Asiatic plunder, and after 
 losing their naval supremacy at the battle of Cnidus (394), 
 overpowered by the Persian fleet under the command of the 
 fugitive Athenian admiral Conon (p. 344), proved capable 
 of once more abandoning the lonians and of accepting the 
 humiliating peace (that of Antalcidas, or the ' Peace of the 
 Great King ') by which Persia was recognized as the overlord 
 and arbiter of the Hellenic states — and this merely in the hope 
 of securing their own supremacy in their miserable quarrels 
 with their neighbours in Greece. This hope was frustrated by 
 the victory of Thebes at lycuctra in 371. 
 
 Such is the bare outline of the Spartan hegemony, and into 
 this framework the following facts will easily fit themselves. 
 
 Of the first period the most important fact is probably the 
 expedition of Cyrus, related by Xenophon in his Anabasis 
 (see Section A of this chapter). It will be remembered that 
 Cyrus had been sent by his father, Darius II, to supersede 
 the satrap Tissaphernes at Sardis. He was the favourite of 
 his mother. Queen Parysatis, and had been saved by her 
 influence when his elder brother, Artaxerxes, who had succeeded 
 Darius in 405, had endeavoured to put him to death on a charge 
 of high treason, brought by Tissaphernes. He was intimate 
 with the Spartan I^ysander, whom he liberally supplied with 
 money, and being a great admirer of Greek discipline and 
 courage and fully aware of the powerlessness of Oriental forces 
 against even a small body of trained hophtes, he determined 
 to dethrone his brother, and set about enhsting Greek mer- 
 cenaries ; and in this he was helped by the Spartan government, 
 who placed 700 men at his disposal. Kre long he had collected 
 about 100,000 native troops and a body of 10,600 Greek 
 hoplites under the command of Clearchus, a Spartan harmost 
 who had been banished for trying to make himself the tyrant 
 of Byzantium. 
 
 Cyrus had led his army through Phrygia and Ivycaonia and 
 as far as Tarsus in Cilicia before the Greeks discovered that the 
 object of the expedition was not, as had been given out, the 
 punishment of the robber tribes of Pisidia, but a more distant 
 
 389 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 goal, and it was not till they reached the Euphrates at 
 Thapsacus that they learnt that they were marching against 
 the Great King. By lavish promises of pay they were induced 
 to proceed. The vast hosts of Artaxerxes barred their progress 
 at Cunaxa, some sixty miles north of Babylon. Although the 
 left wing of the barbarians fled in panic at the charge of the 
 Greeks, their centre and right outflanked^ and surrounded the 
 
 much smaller army of Cyrus, who in an ecstasy of fury led a 
 band of horsemen against his brother and actually succeeded 
 in wounding him with a javelin, ^ but was struck in the eye by 
 the javelin of a Carian soldier, and, together with all of his 
 faithful 'table-companions,' was overpowered and slain (401). 
 Commanded to lay down their arms, the Greeks refused to 
 obey, but they accepted the guidance of Tissaphernes, who 
 misled them towards the north across the Tigris. Clearchus 
 and Proxenus and three other generals and twenty captains 
 
 1 " Wounded him through the corslet, as says Ctesias the physician, who 
 also says that he himself healed him " {An. i. 8). Ctesias was a Greek, a native 
 of Cnidus, who for seventeen years was the physician of Artaxerxes and wrote 
 a history of Persia, of which we possess abstracts given by the writer Photius. 
 
 390 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 were induced to visit the camp of Tissaphernes for a parley, 
 and were massacred, together with their attendant soldiers. 
 Then Xenophon the Athenian, though he had no rank, having 
 joined the expedition as the guest of Proxenus, took the lead, 
 and under his guidance and that of the Spartan Cheirisophus 
 the Greeks, striking boldly northward through Kurdistan and 
 Armenia, after many sufferings and losses succeeded in reach- 
 ing the Buxine Sea at Trapezus (Trebizond), whence, partly 
 by sea and partly by land, they made their way to Chalcedon, 
 on the Bosporus. After serving for a time in Thrace they — 
 the 6000 that still remained together — crossed over again to 
 Asia Minor, where they found service against Persia under 
 the Spartan general Dercyllidas and under King Agesilaus, 
 with whom the remnant returned to Sparta. With these 
 survivors of the Ten Thousand was Xenophon, who for a time 
 had returned to Athens, reaching it a few weeks after the death 
 of his much-loved master, Socrates (399). Of his subsequent 
 life, as well as of his Anabasis and other works, more will be 
 said later. 
 
 The death of Cyrus and the return of Tissaphernes to Sardis, 
 intent on revenge, naturally alarmed the Greeks in Asia. 
 They appealed to Sparta, and the Spartans, to whom the 
 expedition had revealed the impotence of Oriental forces 
 against Greek discipline, tempted by the hope of rich plunder 
 and possibly the annexation of the Persian Kmpire, sent troops 
 under Thimbron and then under Dercyllidas. But after 
 some successes they made a truce with Tissaphernes and 
 Pharnabazus and sent envoys to Susa to propose alliance 
 and the betrayal of Greek Asia. The proposals were rejected. 
 Artaxerxes had determined to prosecute the war by sea, and 
 had set Conon, the exiled Athenian admiral, over 300 Phoenician 
 and Cilician ships. Thereupon (in 396) the Spartans sent 
 out with large reinforcements their king Agesilaus, who, 
 lame and puny in stature but big with courage and ambi- 
 tion, regarding himself as a second Agamemnon, ^ dreamt of 
 
 ^ He tried to sacrifice, like Agamemnon, at Aulis before starting, but was 
 expelled by the Thebans — an insult he never forgave. His succession to his 
 
 391 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 conquests such as some sixty- six years later Alexander realized. 
 Having got rid of the troublesome and ambitious I^ysander 
 (who shortly after was killed at Haliartus, in Boeotia), he 
 defeated Tissaphernes — who was consequently deposed and 
 murdered by a successor sent from Susa by the influence of 
 Parysatis — and occupied Phrygia, the satrapy of Pharna- 
 bazus ; but affairs in Greece compelled the Spartans to recall 
 him. Reluctantly renouncing his schemes of Oriental conquest, 
 he left his brother-in-law, Peisander, in command of the Greek 
 fleet and returned with his troops by the overland route — 
 that of Xerxes — through Thrace and Macedonia. 
 
 The troubles in Greece that had recalled him were due to 
 the insolent and overbearing conduct of the Spartans, who 
 had alienated their allies, almost exterminated the Kleans, 
 expelled the fugitive Messenians from Naupactus (p. 336), 
 and caused Athens, Corinth, Argos, and Thebes (incited by 
 Persian emissaries) to form a hostile league. Fighting had taken 
 place near Corinth ^ and at Haliartus, in Boeotia, and when 
 Agesilaus arrived from the north a fierce and bloody battle 
 took place at Coroneia (Western Boeotia), in which the Spartans 
 were technically victorious ; but their king, who was himself 
 nearly trampled to death in the fight and was disheartened 
 by the news of the defeat at Cnidus, retreated to the Pelopon- 
 nese, crossing over from Delphi, as the confederates held the 
 Isthmus. Only a week or two before Coroneia (August 394) 
 there had been fought a naval battle near Cnidus, in which 
 Peisander had been slain and his fleet utterly routed by the 
 Persian fleet under the command of Conon. The result of 
 this defeat was that all the Greek cities of Asia expelled the 
 Spartan harmosts and acknowledged Artaxerxes as their 
 overlord. The satrap Pharnabazus then with his Persian 
 
 brother Agis, the fellow-king with Pausanias of Sparta, had been secured 
 (in spite of an oracle that warned against a ' lame monarch ') by I^ysander, 
 who, being foiled in a project to establish his own military dictatorship, 
 and believing that he would easily rule such a cripple, voted for him against 
 the son of Agis, lycotychidas, whom he accused of illegitimacy — as son of 
 Alcibiades. 
 
 ^ See explanation of Fig. 109 in lyist of Illustrations. 
 
 392 
 
io8. Amazon by PoIvYCi,e;itus 
 
 109. Stei<E of Dexii^eos 
 
 no. From the Mausoi^eum 
 
 III. Head of Cnidian Aphrodite 
 
 392 
 
\^ 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 fleet cruised round Greece, overawing the Spartans, and he 
 allowed Conon with the crews of some of the Persian ships to 
 land at the Peiraeus and help the Athenians to rebuild their 
 lyong Walls. Thus ended the naval supremacy of Sparta, 
 which had lasted ten years (404-394). 
 
 Her land supremacy Sparta still upheld, though with ever- 
 increasing difficulty. Kven in Asia Minor she still warred 
 against Persia, for the Great King had again disdainfully 
 rejected her overtures for purchasing his alliance by the 
 betrayal of the Greek Asiatic cities. At length, however, 
 an impolitic and somewhat ungrateful act of Athens — the 
 support of the Cypriot king Bvagoras in his revolt against 
 Persia — gained for Sparta the favour that she craved, and 
 Artaxerxes listened graciously to the pleadings of her envoy, 
 Antalcidas, and issued a decree claiming for himself Cyprus 
 and all the Hellenic cities in Asia, and proclaiming himself 
 the arbiter of Greece. " If any," he said, '' refuse to accept 
 this peace, I shall make war on them with ships and with 
 money." This decree was engraved on tablets that were 
 set up in all the chief sanctuaries of the Grecian states. To 
 such a depth of humiliation by its insane fratricidal feuds had 
 Greece demeaned herself before the barbarian. Nor did even 
 such a foe of Persia as Agesilaus seem to feel the humiliation. 
 He strongly favoured the ' King's Peace ' (generally known 
 as the * Peace of Antalcidas '), and laughingly remarked 
 that " the Persians were I^aconizing." 
 
 On the strength of this understanding with Persia, and a 
 similar understanding with the Sicilian tyrant Dionysius, the 
 Spartans began again to act in a high-handed fashion. The 
 city of Mantineia, in Arcadia, had at times given them trouble. 
 They now razed it and dispersed the population into the five 
 country villages of which it had originally [c. 470) been formed 
 — an act worthy of Darius or Xerxes. Three years later 
 (382) I^acedaemonian troops on their way towards Macedonia 
 (where a confederation was beginning to cause Sparta suspi- 
 cions) seized the citadel of Thebes — a violation of peace and 
 an act of tyrannical insolence denounced by all right-minded 
 
 393 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 men in Hellas, such as the venerable orator lyysias and Isocrates, 
 and regarded sorrowfully by Xenophon, the lover of Sparta, 
 as the fatal deed that brought down heaven's just retribution. 
 This retribution came surely but somewhat slowly. The 
 Cadmeian citadel was recaptured by Pelopidas with a band 
 of Theban exiles, disguised as women, and under the new 
 tactics and the discipline of his friend, the great Theban 
 general Kpameinondas, the military power of Thebes rapidly 
 grew till she became the head of a Boeotian confederacy, and 
 as the rival of Sparta won the alliance even of Athens, her 
 hereditary enemy. 
 
 Moreover, Athens had already, since the crushing defeat 
 of the Spartan fleet at Cnidus, regained her naval superiority 
 and was again endeavouring to found another confederacy, 
 if not another empire. In 376 she won a naval victory over 
 the Spartans near the island of Naxos, and her new fleet, 
 under Timotheus, the son of Conon, cruised triumphantly 
 around the coasts of the Peloponnese, and an attack that 
 the Spartans, aided by the SiciHan Dionysius, made on Corcyra 
 was foiled by the Athenians. But Athens became jealous of 
 the rising power of Thebes. She consented to an alHance 
 with Sparta (the ' Peace of CalHas,' 371). Thebes was to have 
 been included in the peace, but refused to take the oath except 
 as the head of the Boeotian confederacy. " Will you leave 
 the Boeotian cities independent ? " asked the Spartan king 
 Agesilaus. " Will you leave the Peloponnesian cities in- 
 dependent ? " replied Kpameinondas. The name of Thebes 
 was therefore struck out of the treaty. 
 
 Athens was now once more a * great power,' and had 
 Sparta been content to allow her the naval supremacy and 
 to retain for herself the hegemony on land, this Peace of 
 Callias might possibly have brought about some such pan- 
 Hellenic federation as that which the Athenian orator 
 Isocrates had so enthusiastically described in the Panegyric 
 that he delivered before the Greeks assembled at the Olympian 
 festival (p. 437). But two new forces had arisen to disturb 
 the equilibrium — Thebes and Thessaly ; for the military chief 
 
 394 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 {tagos) of Thessaly, Jason, tyrant of Pherae, was aspiring 
 to play a part similar to that borne so successfully a little 
 later by Philip of Macedon. Relying on his powerful Thes- 
 saHan cavalry, a large body of paid hoplites, and a rapidly 
 increasing navy, he dreamed of uniting all Hellas under his 
 command, and when in 371 the Spartans were routed and 
 slaughtered by the Thebans at lycuctra, not far from Plataea, 
 in Boeotia, it was Jason who, though he arrived too late to 
 help the Thebans, dictated the terms. He behaved as the 
 victor, and overawed all Northern Greece, threatening to 
 usurp the rights of the Amphictionic Council and to elect 
 himself president of the Pythian Games — possibly even to 
 seize the treasury at Delphi. But after four years his career 
 was cut short by assassination, and the power of Thessaly 
 subsided as rapidly as it had arisen. 
 
 (2) The Theban Supremacy (371-362) 
 
 lycuctra was won by the tactics of Bpameinondas. He 
 adopted and improved a formation already used by the 
 Thebans at Coroneia. He drew up his men in a wedge, fifty 
 shields deep, which cut through the twelve-ranked Spartans, 
 as Xenophon says, " like the beak of a charging trireme." A 
 thousand lyacedaemonians, among them King Cleombrotus and 
 four hundred Spartiats, were slain. During the next nine years 
 the Thebans held the coveted ' supremacy,' and again and 
 again invaded the Peloponnese under their ' Boeotarch ' 
 Bpameinondas, while Pelopidas made frequent expeditions 
 into Thessaly and Macedonia to support the cities against the 
 despots and to extend the Theban hegemony. 
 
 Both in the Peloponnese and in Thessaly the Theban 
 influence, guided by the wisdom of Bpameinondas, was on the 
 side of liberty, and in the midst of continual bloodshed we 
 hear of certain acts that proved beneficial and of permanent 
 value. Two great means of defence against tyranny, whether 
 of a despot ruler or a despot city, are confederation and 
 synoecism — that is, the centralization of a scattered population 
 into fortified towns. This had induced Sparta to raze the 
 
 395 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Arcadian city of Mantineia and disperse its inhabitants, and 
 no sooner was Sparta rendered powerless by the defeat at 
 lycuctra than the Mantineians rebuilt their home and sur- 
 rounded it with a double line of walls, in spite of the impotent 
 remonstrances of old King Agesilaus. An Arcadian con- 
 federation was then formed, and by the advice of Bpamei- 
 nondas a new federal capital, Megalopohs (' Great City '), 
 was founded not far from the lyaconian border, on an affluent 
 of the Alpheus. Thirty-eight village communities formed 
 the bulk of its population. It was encircled by a strong 
 double line of fortifications more than five miles long. The 
 remains of its theatre and the great federal assembly -hall, 
 the Thersilion, are still to be seen. 
 
 Bpameinondas and his Thebans now invaded the Pelopon- 
 nese. They crossed the Kurotas by Amyclae and (what no 
 foe had ever done before) approached and threatened 
 Sparta itself, and, had not prompt assistance arrived from 
 alHed Peloponnesian towns, the unwalled city would prob- 
 ably have been taken. ^ Bpameinondas then crossed into 
 Messenia, where on the slopes of Mount Ithome, using the 
 site of the old stronghold for the new acropolis, he founded 
 the city of Messene, to populate which the Messenian 
 exiles, ejected in 399 from Naupactus by the Spartans and 
 scattered through the whole of Hellas, came flocking. This 
 new city — a Uberia in which the former thralls of Sparta were 
 now free citizens of a hostile state planted on Spartan terri- 
 tory — ^held its own until (in 146) it was incorporated in the 
 Roman Bmpire. The fortifications of Messene are described 
 by the traveller Pausanias as the strongest he had ever seen, 
 and the remains (Fig. 122) are still impressive. 
 
 In her distress Sparta now appeals to Athens and to Diony- 
 sius of Syracuse. Athens, jealous of Thebes, consents to an 
 alliance. Dionysius sends troops — ^but soon withdraws them. 
 Constant fightings take place, among them a ' tearless battle,' 
 
 1 The number of Spartans with full citizenship at this time is said to have 
 been no more than 1500. To fill up the ranks of the fighters thousands of 
 Helots had been emancipated. 
 
 396 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 in which on the Spartan side not a man is killed. Vain attempts 
 are made to patch up peace by a conference at Delphi. Then 
 a general appeal is made to Persia to arbitrate in the insane 
 fratricidal strife, and Artaxerxes (gained over by Pelopidas, 
 who went as envoy to Susa) graciously issues a rescript dic- 
 tating terms of peace favourable to Thebes and insisting on 
 the recognition of Messenian independence. But even the will 
 of the Great King proves powerless. 
 
 Also in Thessaly and Macedonia the Thebans were combating 
 Spartan and Athenian influence and supporting liberty against 
 despotism — the federated cities of Thessaly against the succes- 
 sors of Jason of Pherae, and the free cities of Chalcidice against 
 the Macedonian kings (Alexander II, and afterwards the usurper 
 Ptolemy Alorites) . Pelopidas succeeded in making all the north 
 of Thessaly a Theban protectorate and in forcing Macedonia 
 to acknowledge Theban supremacy. From the usurper Ptolemy 
 he took hostages, one of them being the boy -prince Philip 
 (afterwards the famous Philip II of Macedon), who was sent 
 to Thebes, where he was trained in Theban military science — 
 soon to be used with such fatal consequences. But fortune 
 deserted the gallant Pelopidas. He was caught and imprisoned 
 by Alexander of Pherae, and it needed all the promptitude and 
 diplomacy of his friend Epameinondas to rescue him. Some 
 three years later he set forth for a third time from Thebes 
 (against the warnings of an ominous solar eclipse, July 13, 364) 
 in order to aid the Thessalian cities against the tyrant, and at 
 the ' Dogs' Heads ' (Cynoscephalae) , crags that rise on the east 
 of the Pharsalian plain, he fell in battle, having rushed into 
 the ranks of the enemy at the sight of his hated adversary, 
 I as Cyrus did at Cunaxa. Athens meantime, aided by the skill of 
 [its generals Iphicrates and Timotheus (son of Conon), had been 
 rapidly consolidating her new empire in the Aegaean and in 
 the parts Thraceward. To check this a Boeotian fleet of 100 
 triremes was built, and Epameinondas, scouring the Aegaean 
 and the Propontis, succeeded in disaffecting several of the 
 'Athenian subject allies. 
 ^' Thus the state of unstable equilibrium continued. For 
 
 397 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 some years there was an interminable succession of fights 
 and alliances and quarrels and endless political combina- 
 tions and recombinations, fighting, between Pisans and 
 Eleans, even going on in the sacred Altis of Olympia 
 during the celebration of the games. The ridiculous folly 
 of all these squabbles is evident from the fact that we find 
 even Mantineia, which had been destroyed by Sparta and 
 rebuilt by the aid of Thebes, now deserting Thebes and 
 fighting on the side of Sparta. 
 
 To prevent further disaffection and to defend Messene and 
 Arcadia the Thebans under Epameinondas now made their 
 fourth descent on the Peloponnese. They once again nearly 
 captured Sparta, the surprise planned by Epameinondas being 
 foiled only by the swiftness of a Cretan runner. Then on the 
 plain to the south of Mantineia, which city also he just failed 
 to capture by surprise, Epameinondas (in the autumn of 362) 
 out-manoeuvred the Spartans and their alHes, and, as at 
 Leuctra, the mighty wedge-formed column of the Thebans,, 
 like the ram of a trireme, came sweeping obliquely down on the 
 right wing of the enemy, broke through the ranks of the lyace- 
 daemonians, and put the whole army to flight. In the excite- 
 ment of the pursuit Epameinondas fell mortally wounded, 
 and with his dying breath he advised the Thebans to make 
 peace. As at lyiitzen and at Quebec, the joy of victory was 
 changed into mourning, and for Thebes the loss was irreparable. 
 Her supremacy was doomed, for it had been sustained by the 
 genius and the personality of her great general, and even he 
 had been unable to combine Boeotia into a compact and per- 
 manent state. All that was great in the Theban supremacy — 
 and there were elements of real greatness in it — was due to 
 Epameinondas. The unanimous verdict of ancient writers, 
 including even the Sparta-loving Xenophon, affirms him to 
 have been not only a great military leader, but also in personal 
 character one of the noblest of the Greeks — frinceps Graeciae, 
 as Cicero calls him. 
 
 Xenophon says that the battle of Mantineia (in a preliminary 
 skirmish of which, by the way, his son Gryllus was slain) was 
 
 398 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 expected to be a very decisive engagement, but that it left 
 things in a " ten times more unsettled " state; and this is 
 probably true, except that it confirmed the independence of 
 Messenia and Arcadia. Sparta had sunk low even before the 
 battle. To what depths she descended is apparent from the 
 fact that as early as 365 the white-haired King Agesilaus, 
 perhaps partly actuated by his old hatred of Persia, but also, 
 it seems, moved by the hope of high pay, had taken Spartan 
 troops across to Asia to fight as mercenaries for Ariobarzanes 
 in his revolt against the Great King ; and now, after Mantineia, 
 being eighty-four years of age, he took a thousand mercenaries 
 to Egypt to aid in another rebelHon against Persia. In Egypt 
 the old warrior was at first treated scornfully on account of 
 his lameness and insignificant person, but his military services 
 brought him a fee of 230 talents. On his homeward journey 
 he died, at the harbour of Menelaus in the territory of Cyrene. 
 
 SECTION A : XENOPHON 
 
 Most of the facts that are known about Xenophon's life 
 have been mentioned in connexion with Socrates and with the 
 expedition of Cyrus. He was born near Athens about 444, and 
 he seems to have lived over ninety years. After his return 
 to Athens in 399 (p. 391) he was banished, probably on account 
 of his relations with Cyrus. He rejoined the remnant of the 
 Ten Thousand in Asia Minor, and, having returned overland 
 with Agesilaus to Greece in 394, fought on the side of Sparta at 
 Coroneia. The Spartans then gave him an estate in Triphyleia, 
 near Olympia, where with his family he passed twenty years 
 of quiet country Hfe ; but when Sparta, after the ' King's 
 Peace,' began to stir up strife and had seized the Theban 
 Cadmeia, Triphyleia became a bone of contention, and the 
 Eleans succeeded in ejecting Xenophon. His sentence of 
 banishment was repealed when Athens made alliance with 
 Sparta (374), but whether he returned to his native city or spent 
 the rest of his Hfe at Corinth is unknown. Besides the Anabasis 
 he wrote the Cyropaedeia, an imaginative account of the 
 
 399 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 boyhood of Cyrus the Great and of the early Persian court 
 and nation, and the Memoirs of Socrates, and the Hellenica, 
 a chronicle of the Spartan and Theban supremacies. He also 
 wrote a book about hunting, and although a soldier and a 
 leader of men he was evidently happier amid natural sur- 
 roundings, country scenes and wild animals, than amid the 
 clash of arms and the turmoil of fratricidal wars. His keen 
 observation and his picturesque descriptions of remote regions 
 and of wild men and animals lend a charm to the Anabasis 
 which is entirely wanting in the Hellenica. His piety, which 
 recognized the will of heaven in every event and believed 
 implicitly in the efficacy of vows and sacrifice, reminds one less, 
 perhaps, of the childlike naivete of Herodotus than of the manly. 
 God-fearing character of such a soldier as Gordon. The follow- 
 ing passages from the Anabasis are characteristic of his style : 
 
 " Now there was a certain Xenophon, an Athenian, accom- 
 panying the army neither as a general nor a captain nor a 
 common soldier, whom Proxenus, an old family friend, had 
 invited to come over from Greece, promising to obtain for him 
 the friendship of Cyrus. When Xenophon had read the letter 
 he informed Socrates about the expedition ; and Socrates, 
 fearing that friendship with Cyrus might inculpate Xenophon 
 with the Athenians, seeing that Cyrus zealously supported 
 the Spartans against Athens, advised him to go to Delphi 
 and ask the god about the expedition. So Xenophon went 
 and asked Apollo to which deities he should offer sacrifice 
 and prayer so as best to undertake the journey that he con- 
 templated and succeed and return in safety. And Apollo gave 
 answer and told him to what gods to sacrifice. But Socrates 
 blamed Xenophon because he had not first inquired whether 
 it were better to go or not. ' However,' he said, ' since you 
 put the question in this manner, you must do all that the god 
 commanded.' " (iii. i.) 
 
 " In this region the country was one great plain, as level 
 as the sea, and covered with wormwood ; and whatever other 
 shrubs and reeds grew there were all fragrant, like aromatic 
 400 
 
114. 'The Satyr (Faun) of Praxitei.es 
 
 40 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 pot-herbs ; and not a tree was to be seen. And there were all 
 kinds of wild animals, especially wild asses, and many ostriches, 
 and also bustards and gazelles. When one chased the wild 
 asses they would gallop off and then halt, for they were much 
 swifter than the horses, and as soon as the horses approached 
 they would do it again, and it was impossible to catch them 
 except by posting hunters at intervals and taking up the 
 chase with fresh horses. Nobody got an ostrich. Those who 
 chased them on horseback soon gave it up, for the bird drew 
 off at great speed, using the feet for running and lifting herself 
 along with the wings, as with a sail. But the bustards [wild 
 turkeys] can be caught if one follows them up quickly, for 
 they fly only a short distance, like partridges, and soon tire ; 
 and they are very good eating." (i. 5.) 
 
 " Thence they marched three stages, five parasangs [i.e. 
 about nineteen miles in three days], over a plain, through deep 
 snow. The third stage proved difiicult, and a biting north 
 wind opposed them, piercing through everything and freezing 
 their very blood. One of the augurs suggested sacrificing to 
 the wind. This was done, and every one remarked that the 
 violence of the wind decreased perceptibly. The snow was 
 six feet deep, so that many of the beasts of burden and of the 
 menials perished, and about thirty soldiers. They got through 
 the night by lighting fires, for they found a large store of wood 
 where they encamped ; and wherever a fire was Ht the snow 
 melted and great pits were formed right down to the ground, 
 and one could thus measure the depth of the snow. . . . But 
 those who had fallen behind on the march had to camp without 
 food or fire, and some of them perished, and although dense 
 masses of the enemy were pressing on the rear, frequently 
 capturing broken-down pack-animals and fighting with each 
 other over them, it was nevertheless necessary to leave behind 
 those of the soldiers who had been blinded by the snow and 
 those whose toes had been rotted off by the cold. . . . And they 
 
 fught sight of a dark patch, where there was no snow, and 
 ought it had melted ; and so it had, on account of a stream 
 lich was steaming in a gully near by. And they left the Hue 
 . ,. 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 of march and sat down there and refused to move. And 
 Xenophon, who was bringing up the rear, when he perceived 
 it, used every art and means of persuasion to induce them not 
 to give up, telHng them that great masses of the enemy were 
 close behind ; and at last he grew angry. But they told him to 
 kill them, for they simply could not go any further." (iv. 5.) 
 
 " Their homesteads were underground, with openings like 
 the mouth of a well, but below they were extensive. For 
 beasts of burden there were entrances excavated, but the 
 people descended by means of ladders. In the homesteads 
 there were goats, sheep, cattle, fowls, and their young. All 
 the beasts in the place were fed on hay. There was also wheat 
 and barley and pulse and barley- wine in bowls ; and the barley- 
 corns themselves were there, level with the brims ; and reeds 
 without joints were lying in the bowls, some of them large, 
 others small ; and one was expected, whenever one was 
 thirsty, to take a reed and suck." (iv. 5.) 
 
 " When the vanguard had got to the top of the hill a great 
 clamour arose. And Xenophon and the rearguard, when they 
 heard it, thought that some other hostile bands were making 
 an attack. But as the shouting became louder and nearer, 
 and each company as it came up started running towards 
 those who continued to shout, and the uproar became greater 
 as the crowd increased, Xenophon felt that it must be some- 
 thing of importance. He therefore mounted his horse, and 
 together with lyycius and the cavalry rode forward to the 
 rescue ; but soon they hear that the soldiers are shouting 
 The sea I The sea ! and are passing the word to their comrades. 
 Thereupon all set off running, even the rearguard, and the beasts 
 of burden were driven forward and the horses ; and when all had 
 reached the summit they began to embrace each other, generals 
 and captains and everybody, shedding tears of joy." (iv. 7.) 
 
 [In explanation of the following passage it should he stated 
 that a tithe from the ransom of certain prisoners had been 
 entrusted to Xenophon for dedication to Artemis, and that 
 402 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 he had for a time deposited this money in the great temple 
 of Artemis at Ephesus.] 
 
 " But when Xenophoti was banished, and was already 
 settled at Scillus, near Olympia, Megabyzus, the warden of the 
 Ephesian temple, came over to attend the Olympic festival, 
 and restored the deposit. So Xenophon, having received 
 the money, purchased a precinct for the goddess in a place 
 pointed out by the god [Apollo ?]. A stream called SeHnus 
 [' Wild Celery River '] happened to flow through the place, 
 just as a river Selinus flows past the temple of Artemis at 
 Ephesus ; and in both there are fish and shells ; but in the 
 precinct at Scillus there are chases [preserves] of all kinds of 
 game. And he built an altar and a shrine from the same 
 money, and henceforward he used to devote to the goddess 
 the tithes of all the produce of the estate at a sacrificial festival 
 in which all the townspeople and neighbours, both men and 
 women, took part, camping in booths and being supplied by 
 the goddess with meal, bread, wine, dried fruits, and a share 
 of the consecrated portion of the sacrifice, and also a share 
 of the game ; for with a view to the festival a hunt was got 
 up by the sons of Xenophon and of the other townspeople, 
 and grown-up men joined in it, if they wished. The quarry 
 consisted of wild pig, gazelles, and deer. Now the place lies 
 on the road between Sparta and Olympia, about twenty 
 stades [2 J miles] from Olympia. . . . And around the shrine 
 .was planted a grove of cultivated trees, the fruits of which 
 grow ripe and edible. And the shrine was a small model of 
 the great Ephesian temple, and the wooden image [Koavov] 
 was like the image at Ephesus, as far as cypress wood can 
 esemble gold.'' (v. 3.) 
 
 SECTION B : SICILY AND THE CARTHAGINIANS 
 
 The struggle between the Hellenic and Semitic races in 
 licily was probably more important for the future of humanity, 
 Liid was certainly on a larger scale and of a more interesting 
 lature, than the intestine strife that for a century exhausted 
 
 403 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 Greece, and after humiliating lier before the barbarian left 
 her an easy prey to Macedonia. But the connexion between 
 Western and Eastern Hellas after the disastrous Sicilian 
 expedition was slight. We hear of triremes and troops sent 
 to the aid of Sparta by the elder Dionysius ; Plato visits 
 Syracuse in the vain hope of founding a model state ; Corinth 
 commissions Timoleon and a thousand mercenaries to eject from 
 Syracuse the second Dionysius ; Archidamus, son of the old 
 warrior Agesilaus, takes Spartan troops across to help Tarentum 
 (^' 338) . against the I^ucanians, and is slain on Italian soil ; 
 but, on the whole, the later history of the Sicilian and ItaUan 
 Greeks has little to do with the history of Greece proper. 
 They formed no part of the world-empire of Alexander and his 
 successors, but continued to struggle for existence against 
 Italian tribes and the Phoenician power until Rome swallowed 
 up both them and their foes. 
 
 For my present purpose a very brief resume of Sicilian history 
 during this period will suffice. 
 
 After the crushing defeat of the Carthaginians at Himera 
 in 480 they gradually re-estabhshed their power in Western 
 Sicily, and when, about 410, Segesta appealed to Carthage for 
 aid against its rival Selinus, the Carthaginian shophet (general) 
 Hannibal, grandson of the Hamilcar who perished at Himera, 
 was sent from Africa with 100,000 men. He sacked Selinus 
 and then attacked Himera, which, although Syracusan ships 
 rescued some of the inhabitants, was captured and utterly 
 destroyed ; and Hannibal sacrificed with torture 3000 captives 
 on the spot where Hamilcar was said to have leapt into the 
 flames (p. 276). In 406 he blockaded Acragas. A pestilence 
 broke out among his troops and he himself died. After eight 
 months the besieged sallied forth at night, leaving sick and 
 aged behind, and reached Gela in safety. Himilco, Hannibal's 
 successor, massacred the abandoned Acragantines and sacked 
 the place. (But the gigantic temples survived the sack, and the 
 city was afterwards rebuilt by Timoleon, though the great 
 Olympieion was never finished. Finally it was captured 
 by the Romans (210), and, as Agrigentum, was one of the 
 404 
 
115. The Apoi^IvO Sauroctonos of Praxitei.es 404 
 
J 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 chief cities of the Roman province of Sicily.) In 405 Gela 
 was taken by Himilco, in spite of the assistance of Syracuse, 
 or possibly with the connivance of the tyrant of Syracuse, 
 Dionysius. 
 
 This Dionysius, a man of obscure origin, who had risen to the 
 position of sole military authority in Syracuse (profiting by 
 political feuds between democrats led by Diodes and aristocrats 
 led by Hermocrates — both of whom had been expelled), had 
 persuaded the people to allow him a bodyguard, and, in the 
 same way as Periander and Peisistratus, had seized the chief 
 power, which he retained for thirty-eight years. To assure 
 his position he made peace with the Carthaginians and recog- 
 nized their lordship over almost the whole of Sicily, but in 
 397, having extended his sway over Catane, I^eontini, and 
 other cities, he felt strong enough to renounce the compact. 
 Thereupon Himilco blockaded Syracuse, and Dionysius was 
 reduced to such straits that he tried to make his escape. 
 Pestilence, however, once more attacked the Carthaginian 
 troops, encamped in the marshes of the Anapus, and Himilco 
 was glad to purchase safe retreat with a bribe of 300 talents, 
 leaving all his allies behind to be massacred by the Syracusans. 
 The empire of Dionysius now extended rapidly. In 393 
 he defeated Mago, a Carthaginian, who came over with a great 
 army from Africa, and by 384 we find him master not only of 
 all Sicily except the western extremity, but also of a great 
 part of Magna Graecia (Italian Hellas) and of Kpirus, the 
 Greek mainland opposite Corcyra. He even planted on the 
 distant shores and islands of the Adriatic various colonies, 
 such as Ancona, Issa, and Hadria, near the mouth of the Po. 
 Syracuse was at this time the greatest and most powerful 
 city of all Hellas. It had 500,000 inhabitants and was enclosed 
 by a line of ramparts, which encircled not only the original 
 stronghold on the island Ortygia and the higher ground of 
 Achradina, NeapoHs, and Tyche, but also the heights of Epipolae 
 — a line about eighteen miles long, considerably longer than 
 the AureHan walls of Imperial Rome. (Massive ruins of the 
 fort E^uryalus, at the western angle of the ramparts, still 
 
 405 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 exist, and beneath them a labyrinth of underground passages 
 and chambers.) 
 
 Dionysius cultivated art and literature, and, after many 
 failures that excited much ridicule at Athens, one of his 
 tragedies is said to have won a prize ; but he seems to have 
 been jealous of real genius, to judge from his relations with 
 Plato, who in 388 is said to have visited his court, and to have 
 soon left it under a cloud — indeed, according to one report, 
 he was sold as a slave to the Spartans by the despot ! On the 
 other hand, stories are told of the wisdom and generosity 
 of Dionysius, one of which is well known through Schiller's 
 ballad Die Burgschaft. 
 
 When Dionysius the elder died in 367 (perhaps in consequence 
 of a great banquet held after his tragic victory at Athens) he was 
 succeeded by his son Dionysius II, a weak and self-opinionated 
 young man. The new lord of Syracuse at first was under the 
 influence of a wise adviser, Dion, the brother of one of the late 
 tyrant's wives. Dion invited Plato to return to Syracuse, 
 suggesting that he might attempt to realize the model state 
 the outline of which he had sketched in his Republic. Plato 
 gladly fell in with the suggestion, for it was his behef that 
 such a model state was a possibility in case " fortune should 
 bring a wise lawgiver in the way of a young ruler who was 
 intelligent, brave, and generous." Unluckily the young ruler 
 in this case proved a failure, or perhaps Plato, like Milton, 
 was too exacting with the young. (In accordance with the 
 rule of his academy,- "I^et no one enter who is ignorant of 
 geometry," he insisted, it is said, on putting his royal pupil 
 and the whole court of Syracuse through a preliminary course 
 of this science, holding that, as Kuclid remarked to King 
 Ptolemy, " there is no royal short cut to geometry.") 
 
 Dionysius soon afterwards (360) succeeded in expelling his 
 mentor, Dion, and Plato was allowed to return, doubtless 
 somewhat disillusioned, to his Academeia on the Cephisus. 
 Once more, perhaps persuaded by Dion, who was at Athens, 
 Plato acceded to the request of Dionysius and returned (357) 
 to Syracuse, whence he seems to have escaped with his life 
 406 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 only through the influence of the Pythagorean Archytas. 
 About the same time, while Dionysius was absent on an 
 expedition to Italy, Dion returned and was enthusiastically 
 received as their ruler and lawgiver by the Syracusans. 
 However, their hopes were disappointed. Dion developed 
 tyrannical proclivities and was assassinated in 353, and a 
 few years later (346) Dionysius returned and re-established 
 himself in the stronghold of Ortygia. In 344, hearing that the 
 Carthaginians were preparing a vast armament for the invasion 
 of Sicily, the Syracusans appealed to their mother-city, Corinth, 
 and ten ships with 1000 hoplites were sent under the command 
 of Timoleon. This man had once saved his own brother's 
 hfe in battle, but had afterwards killed him, or instigated 
 his murder, to save the state from his treasonable plots. 
 Abhorred by many as a fratricide and admired by others as 
 a patriot, he had long lived in obscurity, but was now given 
 the chance of proving his real character. He was welcomed 
 as deliverer by many of the Sicilian cities, and ere long 
 Dionysius capitulated and was allowed to retire to Corinth, 
 where he spent the rest of his life in fashionable diversions, 
 and, it is said, in presiding over a school, or literary academy — 
 perhaps in imitation of his old teacher ! 
 
 Timoleon succeeded in ejecting the tyrants from many of the 
 SiciHan cities and uniting the Hellenic power against the 
 Carthaginians, who were planning another great invasion. 
 In 339 they brought over an army of 70,000 men and 10,000 
 horses in a fleet of more than a thousand vessels. Timoleon's 
 forces amounted to less than 10,000 ; but on the river Crimisus 
 he gained a complete victory. Many thousands of the enemy 
 were slain or drowned, 15,000 were made prisoners, and 
 immense spoil was captured. Carthage was glad to make 
 peace and to confine herself to the western end of the island. 
 Timoleon now resigned his powers and retired to an estate near 
 Syracuse. He had become totally bhnd. Plutarch tells us 
 how at times he visited Syracuse and was drawn in a car into 
 the middle of the great theatre amid the deafening applause 
 of the immense multitude, who listened with reverence to his 
 
 407 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 words. He died in 336, only two years after his great victory 
 — ^in the year that Alexander the Great ascended the Macedonian 
 throne. 
 
 The Syracusan democracy lasted till 317, when Agathocles, 
 a potter, made himself tyrant. The Carthaginians had once 
 more overrun all Sicily. They defeated Agathocles at Himera 
 and blockaded Syracuse ; but Agathocles boldly transported 
 an army to Africa and for years laid waste the Carthaginian 
 territory. Finally he established himself as the king of 
 Sicily. In 270 Hiero II was elected king of Sicily. At first 
 he sided with the Carthaginians against the Romans, but 
 afterwards became the faithful ally of Rome. His grandson, 
 Hieronymus, reverted to the Carthaginians, and Syracuse was 
 thereupon (212) besieged and captured by Marcellus and 
 became the chief city of the Roman province of Sicily. 
 
 SECTION C : PLATO 
 
 Some of the facts of Plato's life have been given in connexion 
 with Socrates and with Dionysius. 
 
 It is only necessary here to add that he was born at Athens 
 in 428, and became a follower of Socrates when about twenty 
 years of age. After the death of his master he lived for a 
 time at Megara, and seems to have visited Cyrene, Egypt, and 
 possibly other Eastern lands, as well as Sicily and Magna 
 Graecia, where he became intimate with Pythagorean and 
 Eleatic philosophy. When forty years of age (after his first 
 visit to Dionysius) he acquired a small estate on the southern 
 slope of Colonus, and for the next forty-two years, except 
 during his two later visits to Syracuse, occupied himself by 
 writing his dialogues and by teaching in his own house or in 
 the gymnasium and avenues of the Academeia — a place of 
 public resort, named after the old hero Academus, and laid 
 out by Cimon — adjacent to his garden. All his chief works, 
 thirty-six dialogues, have come down to us. Of these the 
 Republic consists of ten and the Laws of twelve books. 
 
 In the case of Socrates it is the personaHty of the man and 
 408 
 
1 1 6. DEMKTER 
 
 408 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 the fundamental principles of his teaching that are of interest ; 
 with Plato it is rather the superstructure of thought and 
 imagination that is important, not only for the consummate 
 grace and power of his style — which is perhaps the most perfect 
 in all prose literature, reminding one of the movements of some 
 strong and beautiful animal — nor only for the poetic faculty 
 by which he bodies forth the forms of things unknown and 
 intimates to us in parables what " cannot be communicated 
 directly by words like other kinds of learning/' but also for the 
 illumination and insight that his intellectual conceptions bring 
 us. No more can here be done than to indicate the more 
 important of these intellectual conceptions, and give one or 
 two specimens of his imaginative parables. 
 
 Aristotle tells us that Plato as a young man was much 
 impressed by the doctrines of Heracleitus, as taught by the 
 Athenian Cratylus, concerning the ceaseless movement (flux) 
 and instability of all things and the impossibility of any certain 
 knowledge founded on phenomena. These doctrines, which 
 we find constantly in Plato (generally attributed by him to 
 Socrates) , were doubtless confirmed by his study of the Eleatic 
 philosophy, such as that of Parmenides ; but he, or Socrates 
 (with whom we may henceforward identify him), was too wise 
 to accept the paralysing Kleatic denial of the practical reality 
 of the natural world. While holding the sole absolute reality 
 of the One he accepted the Many as practically real, as ' rafts ' 
 useful for wafting us over the sea of earthly life. And for 
 intellectual existence also he accepted such ' rafts.' In the 
 Phaedo he says that he had given up gazing directly at absolute 
 truth, lest he should be bhnded as those who gaze too long at 
 the sun, and had sought its reflected image — i.e. he had given 
 up pure contemplation, as apt to paralyse thought and action, 
 and had taken to forming intellectual conceptions, which he 
 accepted as temporary rafts, to be abandoned at any time if 
 they did not prove seaworthy. 
 
 When Socrates gave up the study of natural science, won- 
 dering how any one could be so bhnd as " not to be able to 
 distinguish between a true cause and that through which it 
 
 409 
 
 k. 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 operates/' he went back, like Descartes, to fundamental 
 principles and the simplest possible conceptions. " I began 
 thus," Plato makes him say. " I assumed what I judged to 
 be the strongest principle " — the strongest beam for his raft 
 — " and then accepted as true whatever was in agreement 
 with it." What one of these strongest principles was he tells 
 us in the Phaedo. " Nothing," he says, " has any reality 
 except so far as it participates in the real Existence, or Idea, 
 of which it is the manifestation. ... If any one tells me 
 that a thing is beautiful because it possesses a rich colour, or 
 a certain shape, or so on, I bid farewell to such statements, 
 for they only confuse me. I keep to the simple, uncritical, 
 and perhaps foolish opinion that nothing else causes it to be 
 beautiful but the presence, or operation, of ideal Beauty. How 
 this takes place I cannot say, but I do assert that all beautiful 
 things become such through ideal Beauty." 
 
 In another passage he puts it thus : No two material things 
 were ever perfectly equal. What then do we mean by saying 
 that things are equal ? We must mean that they more or 
 less approach that perfect Equality which, as it exists nowhere 
 on earth, we must have seen in some other life, before the sleep 
 and forgetting of our birth ; and just as we are reminded of a 
 person by a portrait, so when we see two things nearly equal 
 (" longing for Equality ") we are reminded of that truly existing 
 ideal Equality of which they are the imperfect manifestation. 
 This is the Platonic doctrine of Reminiscence [Anamnesis], 
 which connects itself with the doctrine, or parable, of a conscious 
 prenatal existence, and, as we shall see later, with that of 
 Transmigration (Metempsychosis). 
 
 In order to gain any satisfactory view of Plato's doctrine 
 of Ideas, it is necessary, I think, to regard it from various 
 standpoints. Firstly, the parable of the One and the Many 
 is useful. Secondly, an Idea has some analogy to what one 
 calls an Archetype — and one may conceive, if one can, such 
 Archetype as an independent objective existence, of which 
 all the individuals of a genus, or species, are more or less imper- 
 fect copies ; or, from the opposite standpoint, we may consider 
 410 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 it (though Plato tried not to do so) as a mere generahzation, or 
 abstraction, existing only in our own minds. Again, an Idea 
 may sometimes be regarded as the real Cause, or lyif e, of a thing. 
 For instance, when the scientist analyses the protoplasm and 
 finds nothing left in his pot but water, carbonic acid, and 
 ammonia, and exclaims, " I^o, here in my pot is the First 
 Cause ! " the intellectual conception or parable of an Idea of 
 life — an ideal Reality, a true Cause, existing in all eternity 
 quite independent of *' that through which it operates " — is 
 helpful, just as a raft. And there is another way of regarding 
 the Platonic Idea which is sometimes useful. In the case of 
 both things and persons there are certain accidental qualities 
 which seem to affect only the senses and the mind and to 
 make no difference in our feelings, whereas there are other 
 elements, both in things and in persons, which appeal straight 
 to our affections, and it is these elements that compose the 
 real person or the real thing. So we may, perhaps, say that 
 the Idea is that real inner Self of a thing or of a person which 
 appeals to our heart rather than to our mind. Thus Plato 
 speaks of that ecstasy of * divine madness ' which we experience 
 when we recognize in earthly forms the reflexion of that divine 
 Idea of beauty or of truth which our soul has seen and loved in 
 a former existence. 
 
 As in every allegory, there are in this parable of Ideas various 
 points against which our understanding stumbles. Firstly, it 
 is not easy to understand how our mind is related to these 
 Ideas, and how we apprehend them, or are certain of their 
 existence as Realities. They seem to be mirrored darkly in 
 our mind as Reminiscences, and to be contemplated by some 
 special " reasoning part of the soul.'' Secondly, in regard to the 
 presence or operation of the Idea in material things Plato 
 himself says, " How this takes place I cannot say." It is 
 the same kind of question as that of the connexion between 
 mind, or life, and matter. In such cases one has once more to 
 take refuge in allegory, and Plato does so when he tells us that the 
 material universe is an ' imitation ' and that it ' participates in ' 
 and * has community with ' the Perfect and Eternal and Divine. 
 
 411 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 By allowing that all things participate in Perfection he 
 endowed the natural world with a certain reflected reality and 
 dignity, such as lends a value to earthly existence, but (as 
 Socrates is made to confess to the old Parmenides in the 
 dialogue of this name) he was also obliged to suppose an 
 Archetype, or Ideal, of everything, even of ugliness, of filth, of 
 evil. To such an " unfathomable abyss of absurdity " was he 
 led by his theory. And yet he retained his theory as the most 
 seaworthy raft he could find, and on this ' strongest principle ' 
 he reared a structure that has proved for many a refuge against 
 the blasts of materialism. 
 The following are specimens of Plato's imaginative allegories : 
 
 " ' Imagine/ says Socrates, ' people in a subterranean place 
 like a cavern, with an entrance expanding to the light across 
 the whole width of the cave. Suppose them to have been 
 in this cavern from their childhood with chains on their legs 
 and necks, so as only to be able to look towards the inner part 
 of the cave, and unable to turn their heads round. And suppose 
 behind, between these fettered men and the light, a low stage 
 or parapet, like those on which mountebanks show their 
 curious tricks. And imagine that along this parapet pass men 
 bearing all kinds of things raised aloft — human statues and 
 figures of animals and all kinds of utensils.' 
 
 " ' You mention,' says Glauco, * a strange comparison and 
 strange fettered men.' 
 
 " ' Yes,' answers Socrates, ' but such as resemble us human 
 beings. Now I suppose you will allow that they can see nothing 
 but only the shadows thrown by the light on the further wall 
 of the cavern ? ' 
 
 " ' How can they,' says Glauco, ' if all their life they have 
 had their heads thus fixed ? ' 
 
 " ' Such people as these, then, will believe that there is 
 nothing truly existing except these shadows ? ' 
 
 " * Necessarily.' 
 
 " ' Well, then, if one of them should be loosed and made 
 suddenly to rise up and turn his head round and look towards 
 412 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 the light, and in doing this should be so pained and blinded 
 by the splendour as to be unable to behold the things of which 
 he had formerly seen the shadows, do you not think he would 
 turn away from the light and seek again the shadows and believe 
 that they alone are real ? ' 
 
 '' ' He certainly would do so/ 
 
 " ' Well, but if some one should drag him thence by force 
 up the steep and rough ascent and never stop till he had drawn 
 him right up to the sunlight, would he not be distressed and full 
 of indignation ? And when he had come up into the light and 
 his eyes were filled with its splendour, would he be able to see 
 any of the things that are there called real ? Would he not 
 require time so as to become accustomed to it ? And first he 
 would perceive shadows best, and then the images of things 
 reflected in water, and after that the things themselves. . . . 
 Ivast of all, he would be able, I think, to perceive and contem- 
 plate the sun itself/ 
 
 " ' Assuredly,' answers Glauco. 
 
 " ' Well, then, when he remembers his first habitation and 
 the wisdom that was there, and those who were his companions 
 in bonds, do you not think he will esteem himself happy by 
 the change, and pity them ? 
 
 " ' He will, greatly/ 
 
 " ' And if there were any honours and renown and rewards 
 among those fettered men for him who most acutely perceived 
 the shadows that passed along the wall, and who best remem- 
 bered which were wont to pass foremost and which last, and 
 which of them went together, and from this knowledge were 
 even able to foretell what was coming, does it appear to you 
 that he would be desirous of such honours, or envy those who 
 are thus honoured and rewarded ? Or would he not wish, as 
 Homer says. To work as the hireling of some portionless man, 
 or to suffer anything, rather than to hold such opinions and 
 five in such a fashion ? ' 
 
 " ' I think,' says Glauco, ' that he would rather suffer and 
 endure anything/ 
 
 " ' Now consider this. If such an one should descend once 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 more into the cave and resume his seat, would not his eyes 
 be filled with darkness in consequence of coming back suddenly 
 from the sunlight ? And should he now be obliged to give his 
 opinion about those shadows, and dispute about them with 
 those men who are there, eternally chained, whilst still his 
 eyes are dazed and before they have recovered their former 
 state, would he not afford his companions laughter ? And would 
 it not be said of him that, having ascended, he had returned 
 with his eyes damaged, and that it is wrong to attempt to go 
 up to the light, and that should any one ever try to liberate 
 them and lead them up to the light, if ever they should lay hands 
 upon him, he should be put to death ? ' 
 
 " ' They would most certainly,' says Glauco, ' put him to 
 death.' " {Rep. vii.) 
 
 " lyct us compare the soul to the combined energies of a 
 winged chariot and a charioteer. The horses and charioteers 
 of the gods are all noble and of noble descent, but those of 
 other natures are very various. With us men the charioteer 
 does indeed direct the chariot, but of the horses one is well 
 proportioned and well bred and the other is quite the reverse ; 
 whence it results that the work of guiding the chariot is exceed- 
 ingly difficult. ' ' [These winged chariots are described as soaring 
 up to the apse of heaven preceded by the host of the divine 
 charioteers.] " The sovereign ruler Zeus leads the van, guiding 
 his winged chariot and disposing and controlling all. After him 
 comes the host of the gods and divine powers in eleven com- 
 panies, Vesta (the Central Fire) alone remaining in the palace 
 of the immortals. And as they ascend to the zenith of heaven's 
 vault the chariots of the deities, always in perfect balance, 
 advance with lightness and ease, while the others toil on with 
 difficulty, for the evil courser drags down earthwards the car, 
 unless he has been right well trained by his driver. Here comes 
 the great and sore trial of the soul. The souls of the immortals, 
 when they have reached the zenith, place themselves on the 
 outer surface of the heavenly vault, and the revolution carries 
 them round and they behold that region above the sky of which 
 414 
 
1 1 7. EiRENE AND Pl^UTUS 
 By Cephisodotus 
 
 414 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 no earthly poet has ever sung nor ever shall sing worthily 
 where true Existence (Reality) dwells, colourless, formless, 
 impalpable, not to be contemplated except by the mind that 
 guides the soul. . . . Such is the life of the gods. Among the 
 others that soul which best follows and resembles the divine 
 lifts the head of the charioteer into the upper region and is 
 carried round by the revolution, but it is much troubled by 
 its horses and with difficulty contemplates true Existences. 
 Another is now lifted, now depressed. The plunging of its 
 horses allows it to see some Existences and not others. The 
 rest follow afar, eager to contemplate the higher region, but 
 are powerless to do so and are carried round beneath the surface. 
 They clash together and fall one over the other, each attempting 
 to get to the front ; they crowd, they battle, they toil, and by 
 the awkwardness of their charioteers many are lamed and 
 many lose the best part of the plumage of their wings, and 
 after painful and unavailing efforts are foiled in gaining a 
 view of Reality and are obliged to find their aliment in the 
 fodder of opinion. Such a soul, becoming fattened on the 
 gross food of vice and f orgetfulness, gravitates, loses its wings, 
 and falls to earth, and takes to itself a body ; but the law pro- 
 tects it from animating the body of a beast in its first stage." 
 
 The philosopher then describes the destinies of the undying 
 soul passing through various forms of death — sinking perhaps 
 even below the level of the beasts, until it is cast as incurable into 
 Tartarus, or rising in the course of ten earthly lives and through 
 ten millenniums of purgatory until it regains its wings and 
 finally reaches heaven, where it " dwells for ever with the gods." 
 
 In one case only this period is abridged — in that of the lover 
 of Wisdom, whose soul recovers its wings after the third mil- 
 lennium. During his earthly existence he prizes above all else 
 the reminiscence of those Realities which in a former life he 
 has beheld. " The man who turns these precious recollections 
 to good account," says Plato, " shares perpetually in the true 
 and perfect Mysteries and himself becomes perfect. For 
 withdrawn from earthly interests and attached to things divine, 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 he is warned by the multitude to give up his folly. They 
 treat him as an idiot. They see not that he is inspired." 
 (Phaedrus, 246.) 
 
 SECTION D: SCULPTURE, ARCHITECTURE, AND 
 PAINTING TILL THE ACCESSION OF ALEXANDER 
 
 There is a striking difference between the sculpture of the 
 fourth century and that of the fifth. In the fifth almost all 
 works of sculpture were pubHc dedications. Even the statues of 
 victorious athletes and charioteers, erected by cities or tyrants 
 or other wealthy persons, were for the most part national 
 monuments and seem to have been generally rather of a typical 
 character than personal — as is seen also in the case of sculptured 
 tombstones and in such idealized portrait busts as that of 
 Pericles (Fig. 96). The gods, too, were represented as majestic 
 and somewhat impersonal beings beyond the range of mortal 
 affections. In the fourth century sculpture became (as in 
 Homer poetry long before had been and as in the plays of 
 Euripides even the drama had now become) more individual, 
 personal, and emotional, and the artist began to inspire his 
 statues of the divinities with human feelings, and to lend them 
 the subtle distinctions of personal character, without, how- 
 ever, disturbing (as was done later by the more emotional 
 Hellenistic and Graeco- Roman sculpture) the perfect balance 
 of dignified self-restraint that is essential in all great plastic 
 art. The great sculptors of this period are Praxiteles and 
 Scopas (c. 390-340). In connexion with Praxiteles should 
 be mentioned his father (or maybe his elder brother), Cephiso- 
 dotus, a copy of one of whose statues is at Munich. This work 
 (Fig. 117) represents Eirene (Peace) as a benignant matron 
 holding on her left arm the infant Plutus (Wealth). It very 
 forcibly illustrates the new tendency, its touch of nature and 
 human affection reminding one of the Madonna and Child of 
 mediaeval art. Also it is interesting because the attitude and 
 motive are almost identical with those of the one work that we 
 possess by the hand of the son, or brother, of Cephisodotus — 
 416 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 the famous Praxitelean Hermes with the infant Dionysus. This 
 Hermes (Fig. 112) was found by German excavators, about the 
 year 1877, in the Heraion at Olympia (Fig. 47 and Note A). 
 It is doubtless the very same statue that Pausanias saw there 
 and described as " a Hermes of marble, carrying the infant 
 Dionysus, a work of Praxiteles.'' It is the only extant ancient 
 Greek statue that we know for certain to be the actual work 
 of one of the great Greek sculptors— though perhaps we may 
 not be wrong in beheving parts of the Parthenon frieze and 
 pediments to be the work of Pheidias, or in attributing the 
 Charioteer to Calamis, or the Aeginetan marbles to Onatas. 
 The Hermes has eHcited much enthusiastic admiration from 
 experts on account of its wondrous technical perfection, but 
 to many it does not appeal strongly. There is a well-groo'med, 
 somewhat dandified air about the god, and the child, " whose 
 proportions are those of a much older boy," seems far less 
 attractive than the infant Plutus of Cephisodotus— indeed, 
 more of a homunculus than a real child. 
 
 The masterpieces of Praxiteles, according to old writers, 
 were the Aphrodite of Cnidus, the Bros of Thespiae, the Satyr, 
 and the Apollo Sauroctonos (' the I^izard-killer '). It is said 
 that the famous professional beauty Phryne, to whom Praxi- 
 teles had promised a statue, wished to discover which he 
 considered the best, and told him that his house was on fire, 
 ivhereupon he exclaimed that he was ruined if his Satvr and 
 lis Kros were burnt. The Cnidian Aphrodite, regarded by 
 nany old writers as the most beautiful of all statues, was, it 
 s said, offered to the Coans, who, however, preferred a draped 
 joddess.i The people of Cnidus thereupon bought it, and 
 luring many years it attracted multitudes of visitors to their 
 own. The Bithynian king Nicomedes offered to pay off the 
 mblic debt of Cnidus in exchange for it, but in vain. From 
 'nidian coins, on which it is represented, copies of the statue 
 .ave been recognized. The best of these is in the Vatican 
 Fig. 118 is from a cast taken before the statue was clothed, 
 
 1 And jetCoae vestes had a bad repute as almost invisible garments affected 
 J lashionable women in Rome ! 
 
 2D 417 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 by papal orders, in a tin skirt. See also Fig. iii). THe face of 
 the Vatican statue is very much more beautiful than that 
 which we find on Cnidian coins, and may give us some idea 
 of the original, which the Greek writer I^ucian praises so highly 
 for its loveliness. The goddess shows strong human feeHng, a 
 natural shrinking, as it were, from even her own unveiled 
 presence, but it is combined with perfect self-command, dignity, 
 and repose, whereas in the Graeco-Roman Venus dei Medici 
 (which copies the motive) we see affectation and assumed 
 embarrassment before human spectators. 
 
 Of the Bros no copy is known. The god was, to judge 
 from coins, probably represented as a full-grown youth and 
 with long wings — more like the strong, manly Bros of antiquity 
 than the chubby Cupid of later times. The so-called Cupid 
 of the Vatican may be a reminiscence of it. The little Boeotian 
 town of Thespiae, Phryne's birthplace, to which she gave the 
 statue, became as celebrated by this means as Cnidus. 
 
 The Satyr, of which the ' Faun of the Capitol ' is perhaps 
 the best extant copy, needs no description (see Fig. 114). It 
 is well known from Hawthorne's Transformation. A fine 
 torso in the I^ouvre is thought by some to have belonged to 
 the original statue. 
 
 Of the Apollo Sauroctonos (perhaps a bronze) marble copies 
 exist, of which the best, though evidently a late and rather 
 weak and emasculated imitation, is to be seen in the Tribuna 
 at Florence (Fig. 115). 
 
 Praxiteles was the inheritor of the early Attic manner, in I 
 which beauty of form was pre-eminent, rather than a follower 
 of Pheidias, whose style combined all the best quahties of Atticj 
 grace with the mascuHne vigour of the Argive school. He isfi 
 credited with many great works of which no known relic is 
 extant except small and vague reproductions on coins. Possibly 
 many of the well-known but unauthenticated statues in our| 
 galleries may be derived from some Praxitelean type — ^though 
 the general motive may be sometimes more ancient. The: 
 genius of Praxiteles probably created many types of gracq 
 and beauty which deeply influenced Hellenistic and Graeco-^^ 
 418 
 
1 1 8. The Cnidian Aphrodite of Praxitei«es 
 
 418 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 Roman art, but they were too often spoilt by the false 
 sentiment and prettiness of the later sculptors. 
 
 Scopas of Paros excelled in dramatic expression of strong 
 emotion, which in his open-eyed and strenuous faces and figures 
 offered a striking contrast to the calm restraint and dreamy 
 beauty of Praxiteles, and was a quality more Peloponnesian 
 than Attic. Although he is sometimes described as the Greek 
 Michelangelo, we have no certain proofs of this greatness. 
 Two heads with traces of intense passion on their mutilated 
 faces have been excavated at Tegea, the temple at which 
 place he is said to have rebuilt, and also a decidedly fine figure 
 and head that may perhaps belong to each other and represent 
 Atalanta. These are sometimes attributed to him, as also the 
 head ^ of a Demeter statue in the British Museum (Fig. ii6), 
 which was discovered at Cnidus. The Roman writer Pliny 
 tells us that Scopas sculptured one of the columns of the new 
 temple of Artemis at Ephesus (begun about 355 ; see Note A) . 
 Fragments of the drums of several of these columns are in the 
 British Museum. One is fairly complete and of great beauty 
 (Fig. 119). It probably represents the scene between Alcestis, 
 Death, and Hermes the Guider of Souls. It is totally unlike 
 what we should expect from Scopas. Its delicate beauty of 
 form and sentiment is decidedly Attic — and far more like the 
 work of Praxiteles than anything we know of Scopas. It is, 
 however, probably by neither of these sculptors, for many 
 artists were employed. 
 
 The influence of the passion-fraught style of Scopas on later 
 art was evidently very strong, and as Praxitelean beauty 
 degenerated into effeminacy and coquetry, so the dramatic 
 vigour of Scopas led to such inartistic strenuosities as the 
 Pergamon Altar, the Farnese Bull, and (pace I^essing !) the 
 I^aocodn. Probably numerous sculptures exist which are 
 more or less close imitations of his works, such as of his cele- 
 brated raving Bacchante. The Apollo Citharoedus at Rome 
 
 1 The head is of Parian marble and of far finer work than the body, which, 
 although grandly designed, is of inferior execution and of inferior Cnidian 
 marble. 
 
 419 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 (a statue of the god singing to his harp) and the Venus Victrix 
 of the lyouvre may possibly be copies of his works. Of the 
 Niobe group I shall speak later. 
 
 A subject of great interest in connexion with Scopas is that 
 of the Mausoleum of HaHcarnassus, the magnificent monument 
 
 erected by Artemisia (352- 
 350) to her husband Mauso- 
 lus, lord (dynast) of Caria. 
 It was an oblong building 
 with thirty-six Ionic columns 
 (Fig. no) on a high base- 
 ment decorated with reliefs. 
 Above the columns was prob- 
 ably a frieze, and this was 
 surmounted by a roof in 
 the form of a pyramid with 
 twenty-four steps, on the 
 top of which was a chariot. 
 Pliny, who thus describes it, 
 tells us that Scopas and four other famous Greek artists 
 were employed on the sculptures. The Mausoleum stood 
 till perhaps the tenth century of our era, and it was 
 almost entirely demolished by the Knights of St. John, who 
 used the material for building the castle of Budrum, and 
 burnt most of the marble sculptures for hme. All that 
 remained was excavated and brought to England about 1857, 
 and is in the Mausoleum Room of the British Museum. Some 
 of the fragments of the frieze reliefs (Greeks and Amazons and 
 Centaurs) show a dramatic vigour such as one might expect 
 in a work of Scopas, and in the reHef depicting a chariot- race 
 there is a fine figure of a charioteer leaning forward on his 
 long chiton (Hke the Delphi charioteer) which may well be by 
 him. But by far the most interesting relic of the Mausoleum 
 is the very striking and noble statue of Mausolus (Fig. 120), 
 which probably stood inside the building, not on the roof 
 beside the chariot, as is intimated by its position in the Museum, 
 for, although found near the remains of the chariot, the statue, 
 420 
 
 The Mausoi^eum 
 Reconstruction by Adler 
 
iig. Drum of Coi^umn 
 
 From the later temple of Artemis, Ephesus 
 
 420 
 
SPARTA AND THEBES 
 
 as also that of Artemisia, seems too small in proportion to 
 the chariot, and too well preserved to have stood in the open 
 and to have sustained a fall from such a height. The statue 
 is evidently a realistic portrait of the Carian prince, the features 
 being decidedly non-Hellenic. 
 
 A word should be said here on the subject of painting, ^ 
 which since the time of Mandrocles (p. 190) and of Polygnotus 
 (p. 243) had attained great development. As, however, the 
 works of the great Greek painters have entirely perished, the 
 subject has little value except for the antiquarian. It will 
 suffice to mention a few names. Apollodorus the Athenian 
 is said to have first given attention to the effects of light and 
 shade (chiaroscuro), or rather what Plutarch calls apochrosis — 
 i.e. tone, or the gradations not only of light into shade but of 
 colour under the influence of light and shade. By such means, 
 as Pliny says, he first painted men and natural objects realisti- 
 cally and so as to ' attract observation.' Zeuxis of Heraclea, 
 who was patronized by King Archelaus and may have met 
 Euripides and Thucydides at the Macedonian court, was a 
 great master of colour, and especially excelled in depicting 
 female beauty of the heroic type. The Helen that he painted 
 for the people of Croton, using as models five of the most 
 beautiful Crotoniat maidens, was one of his most famous 
 pictures. (See Note A, ' Temple of Hera lyacinia,' and 
 Fig. 40.) 
 
 Parrhasius of Bphesus, who lived mostly at Athens (c. 400), 
 was somewhat younger than Zeuxis and rivalled him in splen- 
 dour of colouring and grandeur of form. He called himself the 
 ' prince of painters,' and according to Pliny was the most 
 insolent and arrogant of artists, not even excepting Zeuxis. 
 
 Many other painters are named, and many of their pictures 
 are described by old writers and many anecdotes are related 
 about them, but the complete loss of all such works makes the 
 subject almost valueless in comparison with that of Greek 
 sculpture. 
 
 1 For vase-painting see Note D. 
 
 421 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA : PHILIP 
 AND ALEXANDER 
 
 (fo 334) 
 
 SECTIONS: ISOCRATES, AESCHINBS, DBMOSTHBNBS, I,ATBR 
 PHILOSOPHERS : LYSIPPUS, HBLLBNISTIC SCULPTURE 
 
 WE have seen how after Mantineia the Theban supre- 
 macy rapidly declined, and how Athens once more 
 began to build up an oversea empire. In this she 
 might have been successful had it not been for the rise of two 
 semi-Hellenic powers, Caria and Macedonia. Whether she would 
 have held her own against the maritime expansion of Caria, 
 which under Mausolus seems to have been very remarkable, 
 it is idle to speculate, for both she and her rival were swallowed 
 up by Macedonia, and it is a question of more practical import 
 whether an united Greece (if such a thing is conceivable) might 
 not have succeeded in resisting the Macedonian conqueror, 
 against whom the miserable feuds that for seventy years had 
 drained, and were still draining, her life-blood now left her 
 powerless. 1 
 
 When Thebes was at the height of her power Pelopidas had 
 brought even Macedonia under Theban influence, if not under 
 Theban dominion, and to assure the fideHty of the Macedonian 
 ruler (at that time a usurper, Ptolemy Alorites) he had sent 
 as a hostage to Thebes the young Macedonian prince, Philip, 
 afterwards the victor at Chaeroneia and the father of Alexander 
 the Great. 
 
 Until this time neither Macedonia nor Thessaly had really 
 
 ^ Of course another view can be taken. One may regard Macedonia as a 
 Hellenic state and Philip and Alexander as the beneficent founders of a vast 
 Hellenic Empire in which the petty squabbles of the Greek cities found peace 
 as brawling streams when they reach the sea, to use a Dantesque simile. 
 422 
 
I20. MAUSOI^US 
 
 422 
 
THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 
 
 come within the range of Hellenic poHtics. We hear indeed of 
 Thessalian cavalry under their king, Cineas, coming to help 
 Hippias {c. 510) and defeating the Spartans, and of constant 
 wars between Thessalians and Phocians (Hdt. vii. 176), and of 
 the Thessalian Aleuadae, who sided with the Persians and 
 fought for them at Plataea; and later we hear of a Spartan 
 attempt to subjugate Thessaly (476) and the wild attempt of 
 Jason of Pherae, after the battle of I^euctra (371), to seize the 
 hegemony and place himself at the head of the Hellenic world 
 (as did afterwards Alexander) ; but Thessaly was not regarded 
 by the southern Greeks as a part of Hellas, and Macedonia, 
 though its kings claimed to be of Hellenic blood, was looked 
 upon as scarcely less a barbarian country than Scythia itself. 
 
 The race that in the early age of Greece inhabited Macedonia 
 was probably related to the Thracians and the Phrygians. It 
 was of Aryan stock (as the remains of the language prove), but 
 not Hellenic — that is, neither Achaean nor Doric. I^ater the 
 coast region and the more fertile inland plains were overrun 
 by Hellenes from the south, who drove the natives to the hills. 
 These Greeks, or semi-Greeks, of the lowlands regarded them- 
 selves as ' companions ' of the king. They composed the royal 
 bodyguard and, like the Norman nobility, formed a distinct 
 class. It was long before the wild Macedonian hill tribes, as 
 well as the Paeonians, Thracians, and lUyrians, were sufficiently 
 subjugated and civilized to coalesce with their conquerors and 
 to form a powerful nation. 
 
 The Macedonian kings, as has been said, claimed to be of 
 Hellenic descent — a fact that Demosthenes fiercely denied, 
 calling Philip Ha" pestilential Macedonian [oXiOpog Ma/ceSwv 
 — a Macedonian pestilence] and in no way related to the 
 Greeks.'' But it was proved to the satisfaction of the judges 
 when Alexander I, who had entered for the foot-race at 
 Olympia, was challenged as a non-Hellene. " He proved 
 himself to be an Argive," says Herodotus, who in another 
 passage (viii. 137) gives us a very picturesque story about 
 three Argive brothers, descendants of Temenus (and therefore 
 of Heracles), who fled {c. 700 ?) to Illyria and thence crossed 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 to Macedonia " and took up their abode near a place called 
 the Gardens of Midas, where there are roses of incomparable 
 sweetness, many with sixty petals. And above the gardens 
 rises a mountain called Bermius,^ which is so cold that none 
 can reach the top. . . . And from this place by degrees they 
 conquered all Macedonia." 
 
 Such is the legend that intimates the reflux of Hellenes from 
 the south. The youngest and cleverest of the brothers, Per- 
 diccas, founded the dynasty of the Macedonian kings. The 
 fifth of these, Amyntas I, was contemporary with Peisistratus 
 and submitted to Megabazus, the general of Darius (p. 191). 
 His son and successor, Alexander I, about whose assassination 
 of some Persian envoys Herodotus tells a weird story (v. 22), 
 was obliged to side with the barbarians during the Persian 
 invasion, and was sent by them as ambassador to Athens ; 
 but he is said to have been secretly in favour of the Greeks 
 and to have clandestinely imparted to them at Plataea the 
 plans of the Persians. He competed at the Olympian Games 
 as above stated, and set up a golden statue at Delphi (Hdt. 
 viii. 121). Perdiccas II lived during the Peloponnesian War 
 and changed sides more than once. Then came Archelaus, 
 who was a great admirer of Greek civilization and art, and 
 entertained at his court many Greek notabilities, such as 
 Euripides, Thucydides, Agathon, and Zeuxis. The relationships 
 of the succeeding Macedonian monarchs will be best explained 
 as follows : 
 
 Amyntas II (393-369) 
 
 1 1 
 
 Al^EXANDER II (369-367) PERDICCAS III 
 
 1 
 
 Pfttjp II 
 
 Murdered by usurper Ptolemy (364-359) 
 
 (359-336) 
 
 Alorites, who is killed by Perdiccas | 
 
 
 Amyntas 
 
 
 (Put aside by Philip and 
 
 Al^EXANDER III 
 
 afterwards executed by 
 
 (Great) 
 
 Alexander) 
 
 (336-323) 
 
 1 Now Verria, the range running north of Olympus and separated from it 
 by the valley of the Haliacmon. Under the range lay Aegae (Kdessa), the old 
 capital and burying-place of the Macedonian kings. Archelaus made Pella 
 the capital. 
 
 424 
 
THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 
 
 When Perdiccas III fell fighting against the Illyrians his 
 brother Philip was probably acting as his gerent. After 
 crushing the Illyrians, PhiHp, probably by the invitation of the 
 nobles, put aside his young nephew Amyntas (to whom he after- 
 wards married one of his daughters) and assumed the crown. 
 
 Philip's education in Thebes had given him a deep insight 
 into Creek character and Greek politics. He possessed great 
 intellectual gifts and a genius for diplomacy. Under a frank 
 and attractive personality he concealed a subtle cunning and 
 an ambition that was as unscrupulous as it was boundless. 
 Conscious that the last appeal was to force, he gave the greatest 
 attention to the formation and training of a powerful standing 
 army, the efficiency of which was much increased by the use 
 of newly invented engines of war (catapults, &c.), and also by 
 the introduction of a new formation — that of the famous 
 Macedonian phalanx, the idea of which Phihp probably took 
 from the deep wedge-like column invented by Bpameinondas 
 and used with such effect at I^euctra. The single phalanx (at 
 least later) consisted of about 4000, and its ordinary depth 
 varied from sixteen to thirty-two (that of the old Spartan 
 phalanx having seldom exceeded eight) . The men were heavily 
 armoured and bore great shields. Their principal weapon was 
 a very long spear (the sari^sa), and the files were so arranged 
 that the spears of even the fifth rank protruded three feet in 
 front of the first rank. The greater phalanx sometimes con- 
 sisted of four such bodies of about 4000 each ; but even the 
 single phalanx was unwieldy, and if once broken was useless. 
 Otherwise its impact was almost irresistible. 
 
 But Philip did not trust only to his army. By the acquisition 
 of Thracian mines and by getting Thasian miners to work the 
 gold in the neighbourhood of his town, Philippi, newly founded 
 on the site of the ancient Crenides, he obtained large revenues 
 (see Note C, on Coins), and it was by gold that he gained many 
 of his successes. ^ 
 
 ^ Diffidit urbium Portas vir Macedo . . . muneribus {Hot. C. Ill, xvi.). 
 Juvenal calls him the callidus emptor Olynthi. Cicero tells us that Philip 
 used to say he could take any town into which an ass could climb laden 
 with gold. i 
 
 425 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 Philippi and its gold-mines brought Philip and the Athenians 
 into collision. AmphipoHs, at the mouth of the Strymon, cut 
 him off from the sea and commanded the access to the gold- 
 bearing range of Mount Pangaeus. This city, a colony of 
 Athens, had been more or less independent ever since the time 
 of Brasidas (p. 338), and the Chalcidian Confederacy of Greek 
 towns, headed by Olynthus, had tried in vain to gain it as an 
 ally. By cunningly playing off Olynthus against Athens Philip 
 duped both of them and captured Amphipolis, and soon after- 
 wards Pydna and Potidaea fell into his hands. This happened 
 in 356 — ^the year in which his son Alexander was bom ; and, 
 as Plutarch remarks, the year brought Philip a third gift of 
 fortune, namely, an Olympic victory. 
 
 It is not my purpose to follow closely the tortuous and per- 
 plexing course of events during the next twenty years. Some 
 of the more important details will be given later in connexion 
 with Demosthenes. The following brief summary will suffice 
 to show how the crafty Macedonian took advantage of the 
 rivalries and dissensions of the Greek states, and how he 
 deluded the hopes of those who, as Isocrates and Bubulus 
 and Phocion, more or less openly and warmly hailed him as 
 the healer of the feuds of the Greeks and their leader against 
 the barbarian foe. We shall see how he extinguished the 
 last possibilities of liberty and of nationality and of that 
 self-government whereof the Hellenic world, by its never- 
 ending fratricidal wars and its political animosities and 
 atrocities, had proved itself to be unworthy. 
 
 Between 357 and 355 Athens has once more, as of old, serious 
 troubles (sometimes called a ' Social War ') with her allies. 
 Byzantium, Rhodes, Chios, Cos, I^esbos, Corcyra, all revolt. 
 Expeditions are sent, first under a young firebrand. Chares, 
 and the old warrior Chabrias, the victor of Naxos, and when 
 Chabrias is defeated and slain the veteran commanders 
 Timotheus (son of Conon) and Iphicrates are dispatched to 
 support Chares. This fiery and dissolute son of Ares*^accuses 
 his more prudent colleagues of cowardice, and the Athenian 
 mob, evidently influenced by bribed demagogues, actually 
 426 
 
b 
 
 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 
 
 condemns Timotheus and imposes a fine of loo talents, so that 
 the old admiral has to escape to Chalcis, where he dies. Chares 
 then allies himself with the revolted satrap Artabazus and so 
 incenses the Great King, Artaxerxes III (Ochus), that he 
 threatens to aid the revolted allies of Athens. Mausolus, 
 too, the dynast of Caria, who had acquired a large fleet and 
 had annexed I/ycia, actually affords them aid, so that finally 
 the Athenians are obliged to recognize the independence of 
 many of the subject states of their new empire, the whole 
 revenues from which now amount to no more than forty-five 
 talents yearly. 
 
 Meanwhile a disastrous quarrel had broken out between the 
 Thebans and the Phocians. Phocis was accused of having 
 cultivated a part of the sacred Crissaean, or Cirrhaean, plain 
 near Delphi. Some ninety years before (448) the Phocians 
 had with the aid of Athens seized Delphi, but had been 
 ejected by the Spartans, who restored the Delphians.^ On 
 the present occasion the Athenians openly and the Spartans 
 secretly sided with Phocis, which had of late become powerful 
 enough to contest the ' supremacy ' with Thebes and to occupy 
 Thessaly, and had renewed her claim (founded on a line in 
 Homer) to the possession of ' rocky Pytho.' Being fined heavily 
 by the Amphictionic Council, the Phocians, led by Philomelus, 
 Seized Delphi. The Thebans, however, defeated them and 
 Philomelus perished, leaping over a precipice to save himself 
 from capture. The Phocians were then led by Onomarchus, 
 brother of Philomelus, who hired a large body of mercenaries 
 with the treasures of the Delphic temple. 
 
 At this juncture (353) PhiHp of Macedon intervened. He 
 had just captured Methone,^ on the Thermaic Gulf, the last 
 ally of Athens in that quarter, and pushing down into Thessaly, 
 after two serious repulses, utterly routed the Phocians and 
 killed Onomarchus ; but, finding Thermopylae and Boeotia 
 occupied by the Athenians, he returned to Macedonia, and 
 
 1 The three ' Sacred Wars ' of c. 590, 448, and 356 should be noted. 
 
 2 He is said to have lost an eye during the siege. As Demosthenes said, 
 " To gain empire and power Philip had an eye knocked out, a collar-bone 
 broken, an arm maimed, and a leg lamed." 
 
 427 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 turned his attention to the conquest of Thrace and the 
 Chersonese. 
 
 It was now that Demosthenes, who for the last three or four 
 years had been attracting notice by his pubHc speeches, came 
 forward to attack PhiHp. PubHc affairs at Athens were at 
 this time under the guidance of a poHtical party the chief 
 leaders of which were Eubulus and Phocion. The former had 
 proved himself a wise financier as president of the public 
 Theoric Fund, and his poHcy, as well as that of the strategos 
 Phocion, was that of non-aggression, of peace and amity among 
 the Greek states, and of friendliness and confidence towards 
 Macedonia — without probably going so far as the old orator 
 Isocrates, who seems almost to have hailed Philip of Macedon as 
 the heaven-sent leader of Hellas. Whether was wisest the policy 
 of this moderate party, the pro-Macedonian pan-Hellenism 
 of Isocrates, or the fierce miso-Philippic, self-centred, and 
 exclusively Athenian patriotism of Demosthenes, is not an easy 
 question to answer satisfactorily. The programme of Isocrates 
 was what was destined to be carried out — except that Greece 
 was to become enslaved by the heaven-sent Macedonian leader 
 — but it is impossible not to feel moved by the fiery indigna- 
 tion and the eloquent zeal of the great Athenian orator, 
 however much one may deplore a state of things in which an 
 irresponsible and excitable democracy is swayed by mere 
 oratory. 
 
 PhiHp, as we have seen, had already possessed himself of 
 AmphipoHs, Potidaea, and other Athenian towns in Chalcidice 
 and the neighbourhood. He now (351) threatens Olynthus, 
 the chief of the Greek Chalcidian Confederacy. Demosthenes 
 endeavours by his Olynthiac orations to rouse the Athenians, 
 but the peace party is slow to move, and Philip, by means 
 of his war-engines and his gold, gains possession of the town. 
 He razed it to the ground and enslaved the population. Then 
 he attacked the Chersonese, and thus threatened to cut off the 
 Euxine trade, on which Athens largely depended for supplies 
 — a move by which at last public feeHng was thoroughly excited 
 and the influence of Demosthenes strengthened. 
 428 
 
THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 
 
 Meanwhile the ' Sacred War ' between the Phocians and 
 Thebans had been continued from year to year with no decisive 
 results, although both Athens and Sparta had sent large 
 contingents to help the Phocians, whose leader, Phayllus, a 
 brother of Philomelus and Onomarchus, freely plundered the 
 Delphic treasury to pay his mercenary troops. At last Athens, 
 weary and possibly somewhat ashamed of her Phocian allies, 
 was meditating friendship with Thebes, when Philip, quick to 
 see and seize his opportunity, made overtures to the Athenians. 
 They forthwith dispatched to Pella an ambassador, Philocrates, 
 with nine officials in his train, among whom were Demosthenes 
 and his great rival, Aeschines ; but the wily Macedonian seems 
 to have been too clever for them all, and to have once more 
 found his gold effective. He sent commissioners to Athens, and 
 a second Athenian embassy visited Pella and was kept waiting 
 for weeks till he returned from a Thracian expedition, and then 
 had to dance attendance on him while he marched through 
 Thessaly ; and when at last they were allowed to return, with 
 the humiliating treaty at length fully ratified, they were 
 closely followed by Philip, who this time found Thermopylae 
 unoccupied and the Phocians at his mercy. 
 
 Great was the indignation and the consternation at Athens 
 when it was realized that, instead of crushing Thebes, Philip 
 meant to annihilate Phocis. The partisans of Demosthenes 
 were full of impotent fury, and he himself fiercely assailed 
 Aeschines ^ and Philocrates on the charge of accepting bribes 
 from Philip and playing a treasonable part as peace-com- 
 missioners ; but the Athenian mob was paralysed with 
 fear and sent congratulations to Philip, renouncing their 
 support of the Phocians. Every town in Phocis, except Abac, 
 was then razed to the ground and the inhabitants dispersed 
 into small hamlets. For this act Philip had craftily obtained 
 the sanction of the Amphictionic Council, which also decreed 
 
 1 He was, however, cowed for the time by an attack made by Aeschines 
 on Timarchus, one of his associates of evil repute, and did not renew the 
 charge until 343, when Philocrates evaded trial by flight and Aeschines, 
 who was supported by Eubulus and Phocion, made a plucky defence and 
 was acquitted — though doubtless he had accepted Philip's gold. 
 
 429 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 that Phocis should restore by yearly payments all that had 
 been taken from the Delphic treasury. The Macedonian 
 king, as a Greek potentate, was then given the votes in the 
 Amphictionic Council (see coin 9, Plate V) which had been 
 possessed by Phocis, and as champion of the Delphic god he 
 was granted the presidency of the Pythian Games, which 
 happened to be celebrated in this year (346). At Athens this 
 was regarded as insufferable. No delegates were sent to the 
 festival. Philip contemptuously ignored the insult, but sent 
 a formal notification of his election, which was equivalent to, 
 an ultimatum ; however, he deferred open hostiHty till a 
 more convenient season. 
 
 Such was the sequel of the dishonourable Peace of Philo- 
 crates, in which Athens had been thoroughly outwitted by the 
 craft and the rapidity of Philip. She was forced to conceal her 
 shame and indignation under a show of servility. Even Demos- 
 thenes himself thought it advisable in his speech On the Peace 
 to advocate a temporizing submission, while at the same time 
 his fury against his personal enemy, Aeschines, was, as we 
 shall see, intensified by the failure of his impeachment. More 
 worthy of our respect, even if we cannot allow it our full 
 sympathy, was the action of the ' old man eloquent,' Isocrates 
 — now in his ninety-first year. By his written speeches and 
 letters he had for a long time persistently and quietly asserted 
 his belief in Macedonian hegemony, and he now addressed to 
 Philip a letter full of dignity, urging him to assume the leader- 
 ship against Persia and begging him to prove that he was not 
 plotting against the liberties of Greece. 
 
 Between 346 and 341 this Peace of Philocrates, though a 
 hollow affair, continued to remain formally unbroken, in spite 
 of the vehement attacks made on the Macedonian king by 
 Demosthenes, whose Second Philippic (344), by its outspoken 
 accusations of perfidy, proved that the orator had recovered 
 from his temporary mood of submission. Philip took but little 
 notice. He was waiting for his opportunity. Meantime he 
 ravaged Illyria, occupied Thessaly, and, having built a con- 
 siderable fleet (ostensibly against Persia), began to menace the 
 
121. The Lion of Chaeroneia 
 
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 m^'.^ 
 
 
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 MM 
 
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 •i--^ ^ «- :.-«-. 
 
 122. Arcadian Gate, Messene 
 
 430 
 
I 
 
 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 
 
 Athenian settlements on the Chersonese, whereby Athenian 
 and Macedonian troops actually came into collision. Hereupon 
 Philip, with crafty impudence, sent a letter of remonstrance 
 to Athens, recounting his grievances and complaining that 
 the Athenians had rejected his overtures and refused arbitra- 
 tion. A result of this was a speech by Demosthenes In Answer 
 to the Letter of Philip, and another Concerning Affairs in the 
 Chersonese, and these speeches were followed up by the 
 still louder war-blast of the Third Philippic. Moreover, the 
 orator actually tried to practise what he preached. He went 
 to the Hellespont and persuaded Byzantium and Perinthus to 
 secede from alHance with Philip. But the man of deeds recked 
 little of the man of words. He forthwith captured various 
 Greek towns on the Propontis and brought up his siege-engines 
 against Perinthus, and tried to surprise Byzantium. In these 
 undertakings, however, he was foiled by the advent of a large 
 Athenian fleet under Chares and Phocion. For a few months 
 he withdrew into the wilds of Thrace in order to punish rebel- 
 lious Scythian tribes ; but the open defiance of the Athenians 
 had determined him to take his revenge on the first oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 This opportunity soon came. The cultivation of the sacred 
 ground near Delphi (anciently called the Crissaean or Cirrhaean 
 plain) had once more excited the votaries of the god. This time 
 it was the town of Amphissa that had perpetrated the sacri- 
 lege, and the Amphictionic Council called upon PhiHp, as the 
 champion of the deity, to punish the offender. 
 
 In the spring of 338 he marched southward ; but instead 
 of attacking Amphissa he seized Klateia, a town of Northern 
 Phocis, and began to entrench himself. At Athens the news 
 caused an indescribable panic. On the advice of Demosthenes 
 an embassy was sent to beg the Thebans for support, and a 
 combined army of Thebans and Athenians, with a few auxi- 
 liaries from Corinth, Megara, and Kuboea, marched to meet 
 the Macedonians. A few miles before they reached the frontier 
 of Phocis they were met, on the plain of Chaeroneia, by the 
 army of PhiHp, and suffered a disastrous defeat (August 7, 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 338). The battle is said to have been decided by a brilliant 
 charge of the Macedonian ' companions ' (horse-guards) , led 
 by Alexander, then a youth of eighteen/ but the result was 
 mainly due to the larger numbers of the Macedonians and their 
 superiority in arms, training, and generalship — for the best of 
 the Athenian commanders was Chares, and he was opposed to 
 Philip himself. The Thebans who fell were buried on the field of 
 battle, and beside the cemetery was erected a great stone lion, 
 which was still in position in the days of Pausanias, but sub- 
 sequently was overthrown and covered with earth. Not many 
 years ago the fragments were excavated, and quite lately they 
 have been reconstructed (see Fig. 121). 
 
 Demosthenes was present at the battle as hoplite, and saved 
 himself by flight. It is said that Philip, after celebrating his 
 victory at a banquet, came reeling drunk to the field of battle 
 and jeered at his prisoners and the flight of the great orator, 
 singing in triumph the words (that happened to make a comic 
 iambic verse) Ari/uLOcrOevr}? A-nimocrOevov^ Haiavievg tolS^ elirev — 
 " Demosthenes, the son of Demosthenes, of the deme Paeania, 
 thus spake." 
 
 But among the captives was an Athenian orator named 
 Demades, who, though a bitter adversary of Demosthenes and 
 an advocate of Macedonian supremacy, was so moved by 
 disgust as to tell Philip that " though fortune had given him 
 the part of Agamemnon he was playing the part of Thersites." 
 This sobered the king, and instead of resenting the remark 
 of Demades he took him into his confidence and sent him as 
 envoy to Athens. Moreover, he had the magnanimity, or the 
 diplomatic wisdom, to treat the Athenians with surprising 
 lenience, and to win their approbation by his severity against 
 the Thebans. He sent back all the Athenian prisoners unran- 
 somed and laden with gifts, while he occupied the Cadmeia of 
 Thebes with a Macedonian garrison. He then marched south- 
 wards, and after accepting the submission of all the Pelopon- 
 nese except Sparta, whose territory he ravaged, he held a 
 
 ^ 'Alexander's oak,' under which, it is said, his tent was pitched, still 
 stood some centuries later. 
 
 432 
 
THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 
 
 congress at Corinth and was appointed chief commander of 
 the Greek states against Persia.^ l^ 
 
 War was formally declared against the barbarian, and after 
 consolidating his northern dominions, from Ambracia to 
 Byzantium, the Macedonian generalissimo of Hellas began 
 to collect a great army for the invasion of Asia. 
 
 But Philip's dream of Oriental conquest was not to be 
 realized. He had already sent across to Asia the vanguard of 
 his army under the command of his generals Parmenio and 
 Attains, and was intending soon to follow, when his life was 
 cut short. Olympias, the mother of his son Alexander, was an 
 Epirot princess, daughter of the king Neoptolemus, who traced 
 his descent from the son of Achilles. She had perhaps inherited 
 the proud and wrathful temperament of her great ancestor, 
 and possessed the somewhat savage characteristics of Epirot 
 women, who were noted for their wild excesses in the worship 
 of Dionysus. Her uncanny habits (one of which was the 
 keeping of poisonous snakes) and her violent temper seem to 
 have repelled PhiHp and to have exposed her to the suspicion 
 of insanity — a suspicion that seems justified by not a few acts 
 of her son. Philip, who is said to have possessed a considerable 
 harem besides his queenly spouse, took to himself as consort 
 (perhaps after formally repudiating Olympias) the niece of 
 his general Attains, Cleopatra by name. At the wedding feast 
 the intoxicated uncle of the bride called upon heaven to bless 
 the marriage with a ' legitimate ' heir to the throne of Mace- 
 donia, and Alexander, in furious indignation at the insult, hurled 
 a wine-goblet at Attains. Philip seized his sword, but reeled 
 and fell as he rushed at Alexander, who left the banquet-hall 
 exclaiming, " lyO, the man who wishes to cross from Europe to 
 Asia, but falls as he crosses from one couch to another ! " 
 
 Olympias and her son fled — she to her brother Alexander, 
 king of Epirus, he to Illyria. Philip, however, offering the hand 
 of a daughter to his brother-in-law, and bringing his powers 
 
 1 Artaxerxes III was poisoned by the eunuch Bagoas in 338, and his son 
 Arses was also murdered by him (336), whereupon the all-powerful Bagoas set 
 Darius III on the throne. In 338 Athens entreated Persia for help against 
 Philip, but was ' haughtily and barbarously ' repelled. 
 
 2E 433 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 of persuasion to bear on the young Alexander, succeeded, 
 strange as it may seem, in effecting the return of the fugitives. 
 
 In the spring of 336 the marriage of PhiHp's daughter and 
 the Kpirot king was solemnized with great magnificence at 
 Aegae, the ancient capital. On the following day a public 
 procession took place, during which a young man suddenly 
 rushed forth from the crowd and plunged a sword into Philip's 
 side, kilHng him on the spot. He was pursued and cut down 
 by the royal guards. It is said that his motive was to revenge 
 an outrage of Attains which Philip had refused to punish ; 
 but doubtless he was also instigated to the deed by Olympias. 
 That Alexander knew and approved is not probable, although 
 one of the accomplices, Alexander of I^yncestis, who was fore- 
 most in acclaiming him as the new monarch, not only escaped 
 the punishment that Alexander threatened against the con- 
 spirators, but later enjoyed the friendship of the king and was 
 loaded with honours. 
 
 The existence of ancient Greece as a free country (a nation 
 she never had been) is often said to have ended with the disaster 
 of Chaeroneia. Her history is henceforth, after a few vain 
 attempts to regain liberty, for many years merged in that of 
 Macedonia, and is no longer of much interest except in so far 
 as by her art and literature and philosophy she *' took captive 
 her barbarian conqueror." ^ 
 
 But perhaps we may regard the departure of Alexander for 
 the East in 334 as the real beginning of the Hellenistic age, for 
 ere this took place he had asserted the Macedonian supremacy 
 and crushed out all hope of resistance by a chastisement still 
 more terrible than that of Chaeroneia. ^ 
 
 Demosthenes had proposed to celebrate Philip's death by 
 a public thanksgiving and to pay honour to the memory 
 of his assassin. The proposal had been indignantly opposed 
 by the more noble-minded Phocion, who, in words that recall 
 the rebuke administered by Odysseus to old Eurycleia, 
 
 1 Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit . . . (Hor. Ep. II, i. 156) applies 
 equally well to Macedon and to the later conqueror, Rome. 
 
 * Once more, after Alexander's death, Athens persuaded other Greek cities 
 to join her in revolt, but was finally overwhelmed at Crannon, in 322. 
 
 434 
 
123- Al^EXANDER 
 
 124. ISOCRATES 
 
 125. Aeschines 
 
 126. Epicurus 434 
 
r" 
 
THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 
 
 exclaimed that " nothing shows a more dastardly nature than 
 to rejoice over the death of an enemy." But pubHc jubilations 
 took place in Athens, and Demosthenes poured his contempt 
 on the young king, whom he likened to the Homeric * Margites ' 
 — the well-known type of a blatant braggart. Other cities also 
 began to show signs of disaffection, and embassies were being 
 sent to Persia and to Attains, who had declared for his niece's 
 infant son. But with astounding rapidity Alexander swept 
 down on Greece, suppressed an insurrection in Thessaly, 
 strengthened the Macedonian garrison in Thebes, received a 
 submissive embassy from Athens, called a congress at Corinth 
 (where he was appointed generalissimo of Greece in the place 
 of his father, and had his celebrated interview with the Cynic 
 Diogenes), and then hastened back to chastise the Thracians 
 and other northern tribes, whom he chased over the Danube, 
 and finally turned his arms against the western tribes of 
 Illyrians and Taulantians and reduced them to submission. 
 
 A rumour now reached Greece that Alexander had been 
 slain in battle. Demosthenes produced a man who swore that 
 he had witnessed it. The Thebans blockaded the Macedonian 
 garrison in the Cadmeia, and called on Athens and other cities 
 to rise. But suddenly, ere any plan had been developed, a 
 Macedonian army was reported in Boeotia, and scarce had 
 the Thebans recovered from their delusion that he was dead 
 when Alexander was before their walls, and soon after he was 
 in possession of their city. A terrible massacre took place. 
 Six thousand were butchered and thirty thousand enslaved. 
 The Greek allies of Alexander, the Phocians, Plataeans, and 
 Orchomenians (or perhaps the delegates of the Corinthian 
 Congress), were commissioned to decide the fate of Thebes. 
 The city was razed to the ground and her territory divided 
 among other Greek states. Only one single house was left 
 standing — the house of the great Theban poet. Perhaps the 
 temples were spared, although Milton tells us that 
 
 The great Emathian conqueror bid spare 
 
 The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower 
 
 Went to the ground. 
 
 435 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 Alexander, it is said, repented this destruction, and attri^ 
 buted his fits of uncontrollable fury (in one of which he killed 
 Cleitus, who had saved his life) to the anger of the wine-god 
 Dionysus, who specially favoured Thebes. The city, thus 
 cruelly destroyed in 335, was rebuilt by Cassander in 316, 
 but never again became of much importance. 
 
 The conduct of the Athenians on this occasion, although 
 allowance may be made for panic, seems very contemptible. 
 A few days after deciding to send troops to aid Thebes in her 
 revolt they sent an embassy to Alexander congratulating him 
 on the annihilation of the rebellious city. Alexander replied 
 by demanding the surrender of Demosthenes and other anti- 
 Macedonian demagogues, and Demosthenes owed his life to 
 the intercession of Phocion. 
 
 The name of Phocion reminds us that we should not judge 
 the Athenian people solely by the decrees of popular assemblies, 
 the verdicts of dicasteries, and the rancour and sophistries of 
 orators. Although scorned by the militant imperiahsm and 
 Demosthenic patriotism of the day as a pro-Macedonian and 
 an advocate of peace at any price, Phocion, like doubtless many 
 other wise and honest men in Athens, sincerely, if mistakenly, 
 believed in what he held to be a higher form of patriotism, 
 not merely Athenian, but Hellenic, and he was, what can be 
 said of very few Greek political celebrities except Aristides 
 and Timoleon (and certainly not of Demosthenes), as ''mani- 
 festly proof against bribery " as Pericles himself. It is pleasant 
 to be able to end this brief chronicle of the external history of 
 ancient Greece with an anecdote which is well invented, if 
 not (though it possibly is) perfectly true. Alexander sent 
 Phocion a present of a hundred talents. Phocion asked how he 
 had deserved such a distinction. " Because," repUed the envoy, 
 " the king regards you as the only just and honest man in 
 Athens.*' " Then," answered Phocion, '* I beg him to allow 
 me to remain such." 
 
 Alas ! justice and honesty force one to add that some eigh- 
 teen years later, amidst frenetic acclamation, this ' one just 
 man' was condemned to death for treason by the Athenian 
 436 
 
THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 
 
 Assembly — to the same death as that by which Socrates had 
 died — and that not long afterwards they celebrated his funeral 
 obsequies at public expense and erected a statue to his memory, 
 thus honouring him as a patriot and martyr. 
 
 SECTION A : ISOCRATES : AESCHINES : DEMOSTHENES : 
 LATER PHILOSOPHERS 
 
 Isocrates (436-338) was an Athenian. Among his teachers 
 were Socrates (who in Plato's Phaedrus prophesies great things 
 of him) and Gorgias. He first taught rhetoric in Chios, and 
 afterwards in Athens, where he acquired great reputation and 
 wealth. Of his twenty-two extant orations the best known 
 are the Panegyricus and the Areopagiticus. On account of 
 his timidity and weak voice, as he tells us, he renounced pubhc 
 speaking, and even the Panegyricus, an early work and osten- 
 sibly addressed to a national assembly (Tramjyvpi^) , such as 
 that at Olympia, may not have been delivered in pubHc. The 
 one great idea that dominated Isocrates all through his long hfe 
 was the possibiHty of putting an end to the insane fratricidal 
 strife of the Greek cities for ' supremacy ' and of uniting them 
 against the common enemy. It was shortly after the humi- 
 liating ' Peace of the Great King ' (Peace of Antalcidas) in 387 
 that he wrote his Panegyric — fifty years before Chaeroneia, 
 and some thirty years before PhiHp's accession. At this time 
 he had not yet given up the hope that Athens and Sparta 
 might be reconciled and might share the hegemony, Athens 
 supreme on the sea and Sparta on land. He begins by lament- 
 ing (as Solon did) that while honours are showered on athletes 
 no honour awaits the wise counsellor, for rhetoric with its 
 sounding brass and its sophistries fascinates pubHc regard, 
 "depreciating what is important and exalting triviahties, 
 talking in a new-fangled way of old things and in archaic 
 fashion of new." He next states his case for the amicable 
 division of the supremacy, and then launches out into eloquent 
 and enthusiastic praise (hence the later meaning of ' pan- 
 egyric ') of Athens, showing how from the legendary age of 
 
 437 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 the heroes down to the present she had deserved well of Greece 
 and had won, and lost, and yet once more was winning, a 
 supremacy as queen of the sea. He defends her (not very 
 successfully) against the charge of despotism and inhumanity. 
 Then he turns to Sparta and speaks of Thermopylae and 
 Plataea, and how she has won a right to military supremacy 
 on land. He then points out how, in spite of her great size, 
 Persia had never been able to hold her ground before Greek 
 courage, and he cites Marathon and Cunaxa. Then he returns 
 to the burden of his lamentations against the civil wars of 
 Greece, and bids his imaginary hearers think of the glorious 
 and exhilarating poetry, such as that of Homer and of Aeschy- 
 lus, that describes the victories of Greeks over barbarians, 
 and reminds them (forgetting the Seven against Thebes, but 
 otherwise reminding them with justice) that no great Greek 
 poetry described the quarrels of Hellenes with each other. 
 And very justly, too, he inveighs against the shameful peace 
 lately dictated by the Great King, and once more turns with 
 rapture to the visions of an united Hellas and of the conquest 
 of Asia Minor by the Greeks. One of these visions was indeed 
 in a fashion realized, but under a hegemony of which he at 
 that time did not dream. 
 
 The Panegyric was applauded as a triumph of literary oratory, 
 but the visionary politics of Isocrates were not taken seriously 
 by the Athenian pubHc, and even by men like Phocion they 
 were probably regarded as of such stuff as dreams are made 
 of. Athens and Sparta could no more share hegemony than 
 nowadays could England and Germany, though between the 
 Ionic and the Doric Hellene there existed a closer relationship 
 than that between Anglo-Saxon and Teuton. 
 
 The Areopagitic Oration (after which Milton named his 
 famous treatise on the liberty of the Press) was written c. 355, 
 after the so-called Social War, in which Athens had lost some 
 of her chief subject-allies. It was not spoken, but is addressed 
 to the Athenian}^ Kcclesia. After warning the Athenians 
 against their love of money and display and their arrogant 
 self-conceit, and urging a return to simplicitv and manliness, 
 
 438 
 
127- DEMOSTHENES 
 
 438 
 
THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 
 
 he points out the perils that threaten them, and then states 
 (what must have excited many a smile) that the only means 
 of safety is to restore the old Solonian and Cleisthenic 
 democracy and to revive the supreme authority of the ancient 
 and aristocratic court of the Areopagus. 
 
 In 346, when a peace (that of Philocrates) had been made 
 with Philip, Isocrates, as we have seen, addressed him a letter. 
 " This is," he says, " no sudden and passing whim of an 
 imbecile old man, but a belief that I have held all my life. 
 The hour is now come. Under thy leadership Hellas shall 
 conquer Persia.'' But he entreats PhiHp to prove that he is 
 not plotting against the liberties of Greece. 
 
 What Isocrates thought of Philip's rapid acquisition of 
 Hellenic cities and of the fate of the Phocians it is not easy to 
 discover. Whether the tidings of Chaeroneia did cause, as Milton 
 asserts, the death of the ' old man eloquent,' and whether it 
 was caused by grief or by a sudden access of hopeful enthu- 
 siasm, are questions that have received very diverse answers. 
 
 Aeschines 
 
 Of Aeschines, the great rival of Demosthenes, we possess 
 only three orations — that against Timarchus, that on the 
 Embassy, and that against Ctesiphon. All three are directed 
 against Demosthenes. After the failure of his attack on 
 Ctesiphon, who had proposed that Demosthenes should be 
 presented with a golden crown in the great theatre at the 
 festival of the Dionysia, Aeschines, not having gained a 
 fifth of the votes, was heavily fined, and escaped to Rhodes, 
 where he founded a school of rhetoric. He died at Samos 
 11314- 
 
 Demosthenes 
 
 Many of the facts of the life of Demosthenes have already 
 been related, for his rhetorical activity is intimately connected 
 with the political events of the last period that we have con- 
 sidered. For some time after the departure of Alexander 
 for the East in 334 we hear comparatively little of him. The 
 
 439 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 cause celebre of the Golden Crown was decided in 330. We 
 possess the speeches of both orators, and can Hsten, as it 
 were, to the very tones of the passionate denunciations that 
 they thundered at each other. The speech of Aeschines, 
 with its scathing review of the Hfe of Demosthenes, is so 
 irresistibly eloquent that, like his audience at Rhodes, to whom 
 he recited it, we can hardly believe it possible that it should 
 have failed — until we read the reply of Demosthenes, which, 
 if it does not impress us so much with its sincerity and straight- 
 forwardness, is incomparably greater in eloquence. 
 
 In 324 the general Harpalus, whom Alexander had left to 
 administer the satrapy of Babylon, having revolted, passed 
 over to Greece with a fleet of thirty ships and much treasure 
 and endeavoured to incite the Greek cities to join him. Har- 
 palus was murdered, and 700 talents of his money were seized 
 by the Athenians to be handed over to Alexander. Half of 
 the money disappeared, and Demosthenes was condemned of 
 theft or of gross negligence. He was imprisoned, but escaped, 
 and lived in Troezen and Aegina till Alexander's death, 
 when he was recalled. But Antipater, Alexander's gerent 
 in Macedonia, crushed the Greeks at the battle of Crannon 
 (322) and Demosthenes fled. He was overtaken by Anti- 
 pater's emissaries on the islet of Calaureia, near Troezen, 
 where he had taken sanctuary. When arrested he poisoned 
 himself. 
 
 In the oratory of Demosthenes, as in that of Cicero, there 
 is nothing of the sublime. Its characteristics are passionate 
 intensity, dauntless courage in attack, unrivalled skill in defence, 
 and an incomparable mastery over words. He used a language . 
 free, natural, personal, direct, perfectly plain and unaffected, i 
 entirely untainted by the rhetoric of the schools. He depended, 
 not on an elegant and decorated diction, but on force, vigour, 
 and dramatic emphasis — such as he meant when he said that 
 the three things necessary for the orator were Acting (vTroKpio-ig), 
 Acting, and Acting. A few lines from his Third Philippic, 
 though they suffer much in translation, may illustrate this. 
 How different his feeling about the fratricidal wars of the 
 440 
 
THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 
 
 Greek states was from that of Isocrates is very evident from 
 the opening words. 
 
 " Ay, and what is more, you know well that whatever wrongs 
 were done to Greeks by the Spartans or by us were at any 
 rate done by genuine sons of Greece, and one might regard 
 it just in the same way as when a son who by birth is the 
 genuine heir to a large property indulges in some pursuit not 
 admirable or right. Such conduct in itself certainly deserves 
 to be blamed and reprimanded ; but one cannot regard it 
 as if he did not belong to the family and were not the heir, 
 whereas if a servant, or some supposititious child, were to 
 destroy or spoil what was not his own, good heavens, how 
 much more readily would every one declare that he was a 
 scamp and deserved their anger ! But concerning Philip and 
 his doings they have no such feelings — and yet he is not only 
 not a Greek and no connexion of the Greeks, but not even a 
 barbarian of any country of which one can speak with respect. 
 He is just a pestilential Macedonian — of a country from which 
 one never could buy even a decent slave." 
 
 The following passage is, in the original, a good specimen 
 of his vigour and his pugnacity — and perhaps also of his 
 ingenuity, for in many of the manuscripts the word which I 
 have translated by ' hireHng ' is in this passage accented on 
 the first syllable, iull(t0(jjto9, whereas the accent generally falls 
 on the last, and this seems to confirm the truth of the 
 story that Demosthenes purposely mispronounced the word, 
 and that the audience, far more shocked at the false accent 
 than at any iniquity of Aeschines, shouted out fjucrOiDTog — 
 thus at the same time correcting the orator's mispronunciation 
 and answering his question as he desired. 
 
 '' As for what then took place, there is much more that I 
 could 3ay. But I think I have said enough — ^perhaps more 
 than enough. And it is his fault if I have, for he so drenched 
 me with the dregs of his own rascality and that of his rascally 
 conduct that I was obliged to clear myself before those who 
 
 441 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 are too young to remember the facts. But even before I said 
 a word you yourselves were probably thoroughly disgusted — 
 those of you who knew about his hireling servility. He, 
 forsooth, calls it intimacy and friendship, and on some late 
 occasion spoke about my * insulting his friendship with Alex- 
 ander/ Where did he get it from ? How did he earn it ? 
 I wouldn't call him a ' friend ' either of Philip or Alexander — 
 I'm not such an idiot — unless one ought to call reapers, or 
 others who do anything for hire, the ' friends ' of those who 
 hire them. No ! I call you a hireling — formerly of Philip 
 and now of Alexander ; and so do all these gentlemen. If 
 you don't believe me, ask them ! — or, rather, I'll do it for 
 you. . . . Which, O Athenians, do you think Aeschines to be — 
 Alexander's friend or his hireling ? . . . You hear what they 
 say ! " {De Corona, 242.) 
 
 Later Philosophers 
 
 The greatest teachers, knowing that truth, as Plato says, 
 " cannot be communicated like other branches of learning," 
 have ever been more anxious to intimate, and to enforce by 
 word and deed, deep-lying principles than to formulate doctrines 
 and build up systems. Of such nature was the teaching of 
 Socrates. He wrote nothing," and it is probable that the 
 underlying principles that he enforced were intimated by him 
 in a much less systematized form than that in which they are 
 presented by Plato. It was therefore natural that his followers, 
 when they began (as was inevitable) to formulate and systema- 
 tize, should split up into various schools. The doctrines of 
 these diverse schools of post-Socratic philosophy, being in- 
 timately connected with the later philosophy, that of the 
 Romans and the early Christian ages. He beyond the scope 
 of this volume. I shall therefore only say a few words on the 
 subject. 
 
 Besides Plato, Socrates' greatest disciple, who, as we have 
 seen, founded the Academic school, should be mentioned 
 Kucleides, Aristippus, and Antisthenes, who founded respec- 
 tively the Megaric (Dialectic), the Cyrenaic, and the Cynic 
 442 
 
THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 
 
 schools. To the Cynics belonged Diogenes, and the Cynic 
 philosophy led towards Stoicism, which was founded by Zeno 
 of Cyprus about the same time as Epicurus of Samos was 
 proclaiming his philosophy {c. 300). 
 
 Far more famous (at least in mediaeval and modern times) 
 than any of these philosophies was that of Aristotle and his 
 followers, the so-called Peripatetics. Aristotle was born at 
 Stageiros (or Stageira), a town of Chalcidice, which was 
 destroyed by Philip, but rebuilt, at the philosopher's request, 
 by Alexander. In 342 Aristotle was invited by Philip to act as 
 tutor to the young Alexander, and remained at Pella till 335, 
 when he settled at Athens, and for thirteen years taught at 
 the I/yceum. He died in Euboea in 322. 
 
 SECTION B : LYSIPPUS : HELLENISTIC SCULPTURE 
 
 Scopas and Praxiteles, as we have seen, flourished from 
 about 390 to 350. Towards the end of this period we hear 
 of lycochares, who together with Scopas was employed by 
 Artemisia to supply sculpture for the Mausoleum. He is of 
 interest also because he was the designer of the gold and ivory 
 images of Philip II and his family which were erected in the 
 Philippeion, a hall built at Olympia by the Macedonian king. 
 Moreover, the bust of Isocrates (Fig. 124) may be founded on 
 his statue of the orator which was erected at Kleusis, and the 
 well-known group of Ganymede and an eagle, copies of which 
 are to be seen in museums (the best of them in the Vatican) , 
 was probably his work. Considered as a realistic production, 
 the latter offends by the evident impossibility that the bird 
 could lift such a weight — though Professor Gardner tells us 
 that " boy and eagle strain upward in an aspiration like that 
 which Goethe expresses in his poem of Ganymede " — and 
 regarded as a work of art, it seems to fail entirely in satisfying 
 one's imaginative faculty. It is doubtless clever, but surely 
 rather too much of the tableau vivant type. 
 
 Somewhat younger than Teochares was Ivysippus, whose 
 name one associates with Alexander, for it is said that the 
 
 443 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 monarch allowed no sculptor but I^ysippus and no painter 
 but Apelles to portray him — that is, probably, other 
 artists were denied a sitting after having once " failed to 
 render," as Plutarch says, " his manly and leonine aspect 
 while trying to represent the bend in his neck and the emotional 
 glance of his eyes/' I^ysippus was of the school of Sicyon — 
 the athletic school of Polycleitus — ^but his ideal of the manly 
 form was more Hthe and slender than that of his predecessor, 
 with a smaller head (an eighth instead of a seventh of the 
 total height). It is said that he put a coin in his money-box 
 whenever he received payment for a commission, and at his 
 death 1500 coins were found within it ; and yet until lately the 
 only extant statue believed to be a copy of a work of his was 
 the Apoxyomenos of the Vatican (an athlete scraping himself 
 with a strigil), to which was sometimes added the bust of 
 Alexander found at Alexandria and now in the British Museum 
 (Fig. 123), the best of many such portraits. But the French 
 excavations at Delphi have brought to light an exceedingly 
 fine statue of the athlete Agias, probably a marble replica of 
 a bronze original — a much finer work of art than the Apoxyo- 
 menos, The face, though not highly intellectual, is of a far 
 nobler type than that of any known statue by Polycleitus 
 or Scopas, or than that of the Praxitelean Hermes, and the 
 skill shown in the splendid nude figure displays the great 
 artist, not merely the anatomical expert. 
 
 I^ysippus produced several works of enormous size, among 
 them a colossal Zeus at Tarentum, sixty feet high, and a Sun- 
 god (Helios, or Baal) in a four-horse chariot at Rhodes — 
 anticipating the Colossus of Rhodes, which was by his pupil, 
 Chares — and a huge seated Heracles, of which he made a 
 minute copy as a table ornament for Alexander — a statuette 
 which, if we are to believe Martial, afterwards belonged to 
 Hannibal and Sulla. 
 
 A statue of Alexander by I^ysippus, described by Plutarch, 
 represented him (somewhat as in the bust, Fig. 123) gazing 
 upwards with the head a httle bent to the left (in consequence 
 of a wound), a defect, Plutarch tells us, imitated by some of 
 444 
 
129. Aphrodite of Mei,os 
 
 444 
 
THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 
 
 his successors. The ' leonine ' face with its overhanging 
 mane of hair and its ' swimming ' eyes, in whose depths passion 
 and madness seem to lurk, became a type which long pervaded 
 sculpture, so that not a few extant works of the later period 
 are either evidently meant for portraits of Alexander or 
 contain reminiscences of the type created by I^ysippus ; and 
 doubtless Apelles, whose famous picture of Alexander repre- 
 sented him wielding a thunderbolt, helped to confirm this 
 type. A magnificent work of art which is doubtless a product 
 of the school of I^ysippus — ^possibly even a work of I^ysippus 
 himself, who is known to have made groups representing 
 Alexander in battle and hunting with his companions — is the 
 so-called Alexander Sarcophagus (Fig. 130). It was found, 
 together with others,^ at Sidon, and is now in the Constanti- 
 nople Museum. On it ''we seem to recognize the features of 
 more than one Macedonian warrior besides Alexander himself, 
 and their peculiar helmets and arms are rendered with accuracy, 
 as well as the swathings and drapery " — and the hraccae or 
 anaxy rides — *' of their Persian opponents.'' It is probably 
 the best preserved of all monuments of antiquity. The colours 
 with which the marble was stained are still plainly visible. 
 " No one," says Professor Gardner, " who has not seen this 
 sarcophagus can realize the effect produced by a correct and 
 artistic appHcation of colour to sculpture." 
 
 Another product of this period, and one which illustrates 
 the tendency towards bigness and theatrical pose, is the well- 
 known and often much-admired group of Niobe and her 
 children. The original was brought to Rome, probably from 
 CiHcia, about 35 B.C. PHny describes it and tells us that it is 
 " doubtful whether it was by Praxiteles or by Scopas." It is 
 most evidently by neither. Although free from the contortions 
 
 ^ E.g. the 'Tomb of the Satrap,' and the ' I^ycian Sarcophagus' (of about 
 420 perhaps), with Attic influence, such as we see in the Nereid Monument 
 (p- 385), and a sarcophagus with eighteen most beautiful female figures, ' the 
 Mourners,' reminding one of Athenian tombstones. The Alexander Sarcophagus 
 is of Pentelic (Attic) marble. It is not supposed to have contained his body. 
 A sarcophagus in the British Museum (brought from Alexandria) has better 
 claims to this honour. 
 
 445 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 of later Hellenistic art, it shows neither in its forms nor faces 
 nor drapery nor attitudes the characteristics of the best Greek 
 sculpture. The group probably stood, not in the pediment 
 of a temple, but on some rocky elevation against a background, 
 and possibly statues of the vengeful deities, Apollo and 
 Artemis, were placed on some higher level. Good ancient 
 copies of fourteen of these figures are to be seen in the Niobe 
 Hall of the Ufiizi at Florence. Some of them were dug up at 
 Rome in 1583, and may possibly be the statues seen by Pliny. 
 
 Hellenistic Sculpture 
 
 It may be useful to add a few words indicating the main 
 features of later Greek sculpture. 
 
 After the conquests of Alexander Greek art died down to 
 the root, though it did not become entirely extinct, in the 
 mother-country, but its scions, planted in Eastern soil, flourished 
 exceedingly. The religious characteristic of old Greek statuary, 
 the main function of which was to produce images of the gods 
 and heroes, has been to a large extent lost. Sculpture is 
 now used a great deal for portraiture, and for personifica- 
 tions such as of Wealth and Peace and Fortune and of 
 countries and cities,^ and the tendency towards the colossal, 
 already observed in I^ysippus, becomes stronger. This is 
 especially noticeable at the two great centres of Hellenistic 
 art, Rhodes and Pergamon. In Rhodes, according to Pliny, 
 more than a hundred huge statues existed, of which the greatest, 
 the famous bronzen Colossus, made by Chares, was 105 feet 
 high. It represented the Sun-god (see coin 13, Plate VI). 
 The well-known groups of I^aocoon and the Farnese Bull 
 were brought to Rome from Rhodes, and are wonderful 
 illustrations, though comparatively small, of later Rhodian 
 work, with its Michelangelesque mastery over huge masses 
 of material and its ostentatious display of anatomical know- 
 
 ^ Europe and Asia are figured on the little Arbela tablet (given in my 
 Quintus Curiius), and a very beautiful seated female figure representing the 
 ' City Antioch,' by a pupil of Lysippus, is given in Gardner's Handbook. 
 In earlier art a river was often personified by a river-god (or bull), and a city 
 by its tutelary deity ; but that was an essentially different method. 
 
 446 
 
130. The ' AiyEXANDER Sarcophagus 
 
 446 
 
THE RISE OF MACEDONIA 
 
 ledge. In connexion with this taste for the gigantic may be 
 mentioned the bronze equestrian statues of, perhaps, Castor and 
 Pollux on Monte Cavallo at Rome, which are evidently a Greek 
 work and of this period — although an inscription (of the age 
 of Constantine) attributes them to Pheidias and Praxiteles ! 
 
 The other great Hellenistic school of sculpture was the 
 Pergamene. Attains, the third king of Pergamon, the Troad 
 city which was later the Hterary rival of Alexandria, erected 
 many statues and groups to commemorate his victories, espe- 
 cially those over the Gauls (Galatians), whom he had forced 
 to settle down in the province henceforth known as Galatia. 
 Many of the bases of these sculptures have been discovered, 
 and from the way in which the feet of the statues have been 
 carefully cut out of the pedestal it is certain that the figures 
 were carried away to Rome or Constantinople. One of these — 
 or possibly only a copy of the original bronze — is the Dying 
 Gaul (in the Capitol at Rome), formerly called the Dying 
 Gladiator. Other sculptures of smaller size, representing 
 battles of Greeks with Persians, Athenians with Amazons, 
 and Greeks with Gauls, were placed by Attains on the Athe- 
 nian Acropolis. The son of Attains, Eumenes, made Perga- 
 mon famous by means of the enormous base (lOO feet square) 
 on which, surrounded by a colonnade, stood the altar of Zeus. 
 On this altar-base there were friezes whose huge contorted 
 figures represented the battle of the Giants against Zeus and 
 all the di majores et minores of the Greek Pantheon, aided by 
 numerous non-Hellenic deities and by various demi-gods, 
 each of the great divinities attended by his or her sacred 
 animal — a " writhing mass of giants with whom their divine 
 antagonists are inextricably entangled," reminding one of 
 the horribly impressive giant-frescoes by Giulio Romano in 
 the Mantuan Palazzo del Te. The weather-worn remains of 
 these Pergamene sculptures are now at Berlin. 
 
 Of the many other extant statues that are attributed to the 
 earlier Hellenistic age, or the preceding period, perhaps the finest 
 are the Aphrodite of Melos, the Apollo Belvedere, and the Nike 
 of Samothrace (Figs. 129, 131). The Aphrodite was discovered 
 
 447 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 on the island of Melos in a grotto, in which also a fragment of a 
 pedestal was found bearing a few words of an inscription that 
 contained the last part of the artist's name, viz. ' sander ' 
 or * xander,' and gave Antioch on the Maeander as his home. 
 The sculptor is unknown, but from the character of the writing 
 the inscription was believed to date from about loo. How- 
 ever, it is quite uncertain whether this fragment ever belonged 
 to the pedestal of the statue, and it has now disappeared. To 
 judge from the statue itself one cannot but believe that it dates 
 from a much earlier period. " For a conception of the female 
 figure at once so dignified and so beautiful," says Professor 
 B. A. Gardner, " we have to go back to the sculpture of the Par- 
 thenon, and we see the same breadth and simplicity of modelling 
 in the drapery as in the nude. . . , The sculptor who made this 
 Aphrodite must have lived in spirit in the age of Pheidias." 
 
 The Apollo Belvedere is by some attributed to lycochares, 
 merely by reason of some supposed similarity (perhaps in 
 technique) to the Ganymede. This attribution I find quite 
 impossible to accept. Modern criticism has rightly pointed 
 out that the Apollo shows what might be called a degradation 
 of Praxitelean grace and a loss of masculine vigour. The 
 attitude is somewhat theatrical, and the modelling of the nude 
 is smoothed away so much and the limbs are made so slender 
 that we have an almost painful idealism and unreality. But 
 in spite of all this it remains unquestionably one of the most 
 magically beautiful of all Greek statues, although only a marble 
 copy of a bronze original. 
 
 The Victory (Nike) was discovered on the island of Samo- 
 thrace, and is now (headless, alas ! and armless) in the I^ouvre. 
 The trophy was erected by Demetrius PoHorcetes to commemo- 
 rate a naval victory won in 306. The goddess — a magnificent 
 figure with wind-swept draperies like the Nike of Paeonius, but 
 more stately — stands on the marble prow of a warship with 
 her wings outspread, reminding one of the vision of Dante 
 on the shore of the Purgatorial Mount — the angel standing 
 on the vessel with his snow-white wings outspread as sails, 
 
 Trattando I'aere con I'eterne penne. 
 
 448 
 
131. The Nike of Samothrack 
 
 448 
 
NOTE A 
 GREEK TEMPLES 
 
 IN order to avoid the distraction that would be caused by 
 frequently interrupting the narrative, or by dealing with 
 the subject in several widely separated Sections, I have rele- 
 gated to this Note a few details concerning the chief Greek 
 temples of different ages. The chronology is, of course, 
 not always certain. The Index and lyist of Illustrations 
 should be consulted. Pictures are given of thirteen of these 
 temples. 
 
 (i) The Heraion (Temple of Hera), at Olympia. Doric : 
 6 X i6. Built perhaps c. 900. The stone foundations 
 (probably the most ancient relic of a Greek temple extant) 
 were originally surmounted by walls of sunburnt brick and 
 wooden pillars. Stone columns were gradually substituted, 
 which accounts for the fact that, to judge from the remains 
 of thirty-six of the columns and of twenty capitals, they were 
 almost all different. Pausanias saw one old wooden pillar 
 still remaining. Nothing has been found of an entablature, 
 frieze, &c. The Hermes of Praxiteles was found in this temple, 
 buried in the clay of the sunburnt bricks. 
 
 (2) Temple of Apollo, Corinth. Doric : 6 x 15. Probably 
 built by Periander, c. 600. Seven monolith columns of rough 
 limestone, originally overlaid with yellowish stucco, still 
 stand and bear a part of the architrave. They are finely pro- 
 filed, with a noticeable entasis, but are shorter than usual in 
 proportion to the thickness, the height (23 J feet) being only 
 7f modules (semi-diameters), and the capitals are remarkably 
 'massive. 
 
 2 F 449 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 (3) Temple of Apollo, Delphi. Built to replace the 
 ancient temple, burnt down in 548. The architect was 
 Spintheros of Corinth. A fourth of the expense was to be 
 borne by the Treasury of Delphi, and the rest was raised by 
 subscription through all Hellas (even Amasis of Egypt con- 
 tributed). But the Alcmaeonidae undertook the construction 
 (thus probably saving the Treasury much expense), and 
 carried it out in a more splendid manner than was stipulated 
 in the contract, using Parian marble in many parts instead of 
 poros or tufa. The remains show that the columns were of 
 white tufa coated with stucco, and that the outer colonnades 
 were Doric and the inner Ionic. The pediments contained 
 figures of Apollo and other deities and the nine Muses. To 
 the architrave were attached golden shields, offerings of the 
 Athenians after the battle of Marathon. In the vestibule 
 were engraved the sayings of the Seven Sages — e.g. " Know 
 thyself," &c. 
 
 (4) Temple of Athene (or Aphaia), Aegina, in the north- 
 eastern corner of the island. Doric : 6 x 12. Built perhaps 
 before 500. The pediment sculptures were erected probably 
 soon after the battle of Salamis. Twenty- two columns are 
 still standing, bearing the entablature. They are of yellow 
 limestone covered with stucco. The sculptures of the pedi- 
 ments were discovered in 181 1, and bought by the Crown 
 Prince of Bavaria. They were restored and reconstructed 
 by Thorwaldsen, the great Danish sculptor, and are preserved 
 in the Glyptothek at Munich. An inscription excavated in 
 1901 seems to show that the temple was sacred to Aphaia, a 
 '' local goddess with affinities to Artemis.'* 
 
 (5) Temples at Selinus and Acragas (Sicily). The remains 
 of seven ancient Doric colonnaded temples, some of great 
 size, built probably soon after the foundation of the city, 
 c. 628, are to be seen at Selinus, in South-western Sicily, 
 where a wilderness of enormous ruins covers the acropolis and 
 an adjacent hill. The greatest of these temples, called the 
 Apollonion, was almost as large as the huge Olympieion at 
 Acragas, and was, similarly, not finished when the city was 
 4S0 
 
GREEK TEMPLES 
 
 taken by the Carthaginians in 409. Some of the still unfinished 
 column drums are to be seen in a quarry three miles distant. 
 The most ancient of the SeHnus temples had the unusual 
 proportions 6 x 17. Many of its huge columns are lying in 
 a row side by side, just as they fell when a great earthquake 
 (it is not known when) overthrew all the temples of Selinus 
 and some at Acragas. Some very ancient metopes from the 
 frieze of this temple are preserved at Palermo. 
 
 At Acragas (lyat. Agrigentum, Ital. Girgenti) many splendid 
 temples were erected by Thero after the victory over the 
 Carthaginians at Himera in 480. A portion of the still older 
 Athene temple is yet to be seen forming a part of a church 
 inside the city, but the temples erected by Thero lined the 
 south city wall, and from their lofty plateau overlooked the 
 sea. Of these the unfinished Olympieion was the greatest 
 Greek temple in existence, as its widespread ruins testify. The 
 magnificent ' Concordia ' temple (Doric : 6 x 13) is one of the 
 finest and most perfect Greek temples extant (Fig. 76), and the 
 so-called temple of I^acinian Hera (also 6 x 13), of which many 
 columns still stand on an elevated site, is one of the most 
 impressive of all ruins. The name * Concordia ' is due to a I^atin 
 inscription which has nothing to do with the temple, and the 
 ' lyacinian ' temple got its name from a mistake made by Pliny, 
 who states that Zeuxis painted for Agrigentum a picture of 
 Helen of Troy, whereas it was painted for the temple of Hera on 
 the I/acinian promontory (see paragraph 11 of this Note). 
 
 (6) Temple of Apollo at Didyma (now Hieronda), near 
 Miletus, called the Temple of the Branchidae, who were the 
 priestly family in charge. It was famed for its antiquity and 
 wealth and for its oracle. The original temple perhaps dated 
 from the early days of Ionian migration (say about 1000). In 
 603, before the battle of Carchemish, Pharaoh Necho presented 
 his cuirass to the temple. Also Croesus made costly golden 
 offerings (Hdt. i. 92) . The building was plundered and burnt by 
 the Persians after the capture of Miletus in 494 (possibly without 
 the consent of Darius, who, as a letter of his to the satrap of 
 Ionia proves, felt great reverence for this oracle of Apollo). 
 
 451 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 The Branchidae were accused of having surrendered the temple 
 and treasure, and to save them from the vengeance of the 
 lonians Xerxes tiransplanted them to Sogdiana (Turkestan), 
 not far from I^ake Aral, where they founded a Greek town, 
 some 2000 miles distant from Miletus. But about 170 years later 
 Alexander, when greeted on his victorious campaign by this 
 httle Greek colony, revived the accusation and massacred every 
 man, woman, and child — one of the foulest deeds that his 
 insanity perpetrated. The Branchidae temple was rebuilt in 
 the age of Alexander, and probably by his orders, and was said 
 to be the greatest Greek temple in Asia Minor — so great that 
 it could not be roofed ! Some of the magnificent Ionic 
 columns are still standing, buried to a third of their height, 
 which is said to be 60 feet. 
 
 But by far the most ancient relics of Didyma are some of 
 the great seated figures which lined the ' sacred way * from the 
 temple to the sea (about two miles). These date from about 
 550. Several are in the British Museum (see Fig. 58, and 
 Hdt. i. 92, 157, v. 36, vi. 19). 
 
 (7) Temple of Artemis, Ephesus — about a mile north-east 
 from the ancient city. The first temple was burnt by the 
 Cimmerians about 678. The second, which during the siege of 
 Ephesus by Croesus was attached to the city by a rope (p. 182), 
 was finished during his reign and received many gifts from him, 
 including the sculptured drums of some of the columns, one 
 of which is in the British Museum (Fig. 52). The huge Ionic 
 front columns rested, it is thought, on great square blocks 
 which brought their shaft bases on a level with the floor of 
 the temple, and these blocks, as well as the lowest drums 
 of the columns, were decorated with bas-rehefs. This second 
 temple — the only Greek temple spared by Xerxes — was burnt 
 down (by Herostratus — merely, it is said, in order to perpetuate 
 his name !) on the very night when Alexander the Great was 
 bom (356) . The third was begun at once and finished about 300. 
 Alexander offered (c. 334) to bear the whole expense if he were 
 allowed to have the fact recorded by an inscription ; but his offer 
 was declined with the rather clever excuse that " it was not meet 
 452 
 
GREEK TEMPLES 
 
 for one deity to build a temple to another." (No such scruples 
 seem to have deterred Croesus !) This third Kphesian temple 
 was a copy of the second (see sculptured drum, Fig. 119), but on 
 a more magnificent scale, and was the largest temple of the 
 Greek world. It was regarded as one of the Seven Wonders, and 
 continued in use (see Acts xix.) till the abolition of paganism. 
 
 (8) Temple of Apollo at Phigaleia, or Bassae (' The Ravines,' a 
 village near Phigaleia, in Arcadia), stands on a fine site among 
 mountainous solitudes. It was probably built to enclose an 
 ancient shrine of Apollo Epikouros ('the Helper'), and was, 
 says Pausanias, erected in hope of averting the Great Plague 
 of 430 — and seemingly not in. vain, for Thucydides says the 
 disease did not spread to the Peloponnese. The architect was 
 Ictinus, who built the Parthenon. It is Doric, 6 x 15, but the 
 inner temple had ten Ionic and one Corinthian column (now 
 lost) . What is unusual, it faces north and south ; but the 
 inmost shrine (probably the ancient sanctuary around which the 
 temple was built) had its door to the east, so that the image 
 of the god faced the rising sun. The great bronze statue of 
 Apollo was taken by Megalopolis. It was replaced by a marble 
 statue, of which fragments, as well as twenty-three tablets of 
 the frieze, are in the British Museum. In spite of earthquakes 
 about thirty of the thirty-eight external columns are standing. 
 
 (9) The Temple of Segesta. The SiciHan city of Segesta 
 (Greek Kgesta) was situate in the mountainous north-west 
 coast of Sicily. It was originally the chief city of the Sicihan 
 Klymi (see p. 118), who had a town and a great temple on Mount 
 Kryx, a promontory some 2000 feet above the sea, dedicated 
 to Aphrodite (or rather to Astarte, the Phoenician goddess). 
 But Greek influence afterwards prevailed, as is testified by a 
 magnificent Doric temple that now stands in majestic solitude 
 among the hills, not far from the ancient site of Kgesta. Its 
 columns are of rough stone without flutings, and the fact that 
 they were never finished gives us a clue to the date of the temple. 
 The cessation of the work was probably due to the troubles 
 caused (about 410) by the quarrel between Segesta and Sehnus, 
 which ended in Segesta calHng on Carthage for aid and in the 
 
 4S3 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 destruction of Selinus and the establishment of Carthaginian 
 supremacy in Western Sicily. 
 
 (10) The Temples at Paestum, in Southern Italy. Posei- 
 donia, called Paestum by the Romans, was a colony of Sybaris, 
 founded c. 524. Of its three Doric temples that of Poseidon 
 (6 X 14, built about 450) is by far the finest, rivalling the 
 Parthenon and the * Concordia ' in its splendid proportions. 
 The so-called 'Basilica' is unusually broad (9 x 18). It is 
 perhaps more ancient, but the architecture is not so perfect. 
 It was divided down the middle by columns, the two portions 
 having probably been sacred to different deities. The 
 temple of Demeter, as it is called, is less massive than the 
 Poseidon temple, and the columns have an exaggerated entasis, 
 but it is a splendid ruin. 
 
 (11) Temple of Hera Lacinia, near Croton. One solitary 
 column (Fig. 40) remains of this great Doric temple, built 
 probably about 480-450 to replace the ancient temple which 
 was for centuries the first landmark that greeted the Greek 
 on his way to the far West. Here he generally landed and 
 made sacrifice. The marble-roofed temple was surrounded by 
 pine-groves where were erected statues of Olympic victors. It 
 was the assembly-place of the Greeks of Greater Hellas, and 
 festivals were celebrated here, with athletic games. It possessed 
 great riches — amongst other things a pillar of gold and a picture 
 of Helen by Zeuxis. Hannibal here slaughtered 2000 Italian 
 mercenaries and put up a brass tablet (used by Polybius) to 
 recount his victories. In a.d. 1600 the temple was still almost 
 intact, but was demolished by a bishop, I^ucifero by name. 
 Two columns were left. One was overthrown by earthquake 
 in 1638. 
 
 (12) Temple of Hera at Samos. Of this, the greatest 
 Greek temple known to Herodotus, only one Ionic column 
 remains. It stands not far from the sea-shore about four 
 miles from the ancient city of Samos. The temple was finished 
 by Polycrates and burnt by the Persians, but rebuilt in the 
 time of Herodotus. 
 
 (13) The Parthenon is regarded as the ideal of Doric 
 
 454 
 
132. Tempi^e of Athene Nike 
 
 --^ 
 
 133. Krechtheion 
 
 434 
 
GREEK TEMPLES 
 
 architecture. For details as to its proportions, its sculptures, 
 &c. , see Chapter IV, Section B, and Chapter VI, Section A. 
 
 (14) The Erechtheion is in a depression on the north side 
 of the Acropolis plateau. It stood incomplete for many years 
 and was finished (as proved by an inscription in the British 
 Museum) c. 409. It is considered a model of Ionic style, but 
 is of very unusual form, being as different from the ordinary 
 Greek temple as San Vitale is from the ordinary Christian 
 basiUca. It is only about 66 feet long, and has two side porches, 
 as well as the eastern portico. The southern of these porches 
 is that of the ' Maidens ' or Caryatides (one of these Maidens 
 is of terra-cotta, the original being in the British Museum). 
 The unusual form of the building was evidently occasioned by 
 the fact that it included several distinct old Ionian (Athenian) 
 shrines — that of Krechtheus and that of Athene Pohas and 
 perhaps others. Krechtheus, the old Athenian snake-hero-god, 
 was identified with Poseidon, and in early times shared with 
 Athene the ' house of Krechtheus ' (mentioned by Homer) . The 
 lair of his snake, and the hole made by Poseidon's trident in 
 the rock, and the olive planted by Athene, were all shown 
 in the old Krechtheion, which was burnt by the Persians in 
 480. Athene's olive thereupon put out a long new shoot 
 within two days, and the new temple was promptly taken in 
 hand. The question of the old site is puzzling, for between 
 the Parthenon and the Krechtheion, and almost contiguous 
 to it, have been discovered the foundations of the ancient 
 temple of Athene Polias (the ' Hecatompedos,' the ' hundred- 
 foot ' temple, built, or more probably turned into a Doric 
 temple, by Peisistratus) . If, as some assert, this old temple 
 was rebuilt on the same site after the Persian invasion the 
 Caryatid porch could not have been erected without making 
 a breach in the wall of the new building, and thus utterly 
 ruining the view of the porch and forming a most ugly and 
 ridiculous complex. It is easier to believe that the Krech- 
 theion replaced this old temple (whose site was left unused), 
 and that it also included the ancient shrines in the precinct. 
 
 (15) The Theseion, the best preserved of all ancient Greek 
 
 4SS 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 temples, stands on an elevation north-west of the Acropolis. 
 It is smaller than the Parthenon {i.e. 6 x 13), and the columns 
 of PenteHc marble are somewhat slenderer. The sculptures 
 of the pediments have entirely disappeared. Only the metopes 
 on the east front, and four of the adjoining fields on each side, 
 were sculptured. These eighteen reliefs represent the labours 
 of Heracles and of Theseus, and the frieze of the sanctuary 
 (which, as in the Parthenon, is continuous, like an Ionic 
 frieze) depicts the contest of Centaurs and I^apithae, in which 
 Theseus had a part. It seems, therefore, very probable that the 
 temple is, as till lately has been universally beheved, the 
 building in which Cimon deposited the bones of Theseus. 
 But because Pausanias seems to ignore it and speaks of a 
 temple of Hephaestus, and because the architecture seems to 
 be as late as that of the Parthenon, some writers have 
 asserted that it cannot be Cimon's * Theseion.' 
 
 (16) The Olympieion at Athens was begun (about 530) by 
 Peisistratus (Thuc. ii. 15). This original temple was Doric. 
 It was planned on such a vast scale that at the height of her 
 power Athens never ventured to complete it. Aristotle mentions 
 it as a " work of despotic grandeur." In the year 174 Antiochus 
 Epiphanes, king of Syria, undertook to finish it. The fifteen 
 huge Corinthian columns still standing (56 J feet high) may date 
 from this period. Sulla (85 B.C.) when he plundered Athens 
 carried off some of the smaller (Doric ?) columns. Augustus 
 forwarded the work (described by Ivivy as the " only temple on 
 earth worthy of the greatness of the god "), but it was not 
 finished until the reign of Hadrian (a.d. 120). It had 100 
 columns and was 353 J feet in length. 
 
 (17) Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Built c. 470 by the 
 people of Elis from the spoils of Pisa, which they had destroyed 
 a century before (c. 572, when they finally won from the Pisatans 
 the supremacy in the games). It was a Doric temple (6 x 13), 
 210 feet long, with a sanctuary, aisled by two rows of columns, 
 containing the famous statue by Pheidias of Zeus Olympios. 
 Many of the columns and some capitals are still to be seen, 
 lying where they fell when overthrown by earthquake. For 
 456 
 
o 
 Pi 
 a 
 <1 
 
 w 
 w 
 
 H 
 
GREEK TEMPLES 
 
 the sculptures of pediments and the statue of Zeus, &c., see 
 Chapter VI, Section A. 
 
 (i8) Temple of Athene on Sunion. Cape Sunion (I^at. 
 Simium), now Cape Colonna, is the steep promontory, about 200 
 feet high, in which Attica terminates. The earhest temple on 
 ' sacred Sunion,' as Homer calls it, was dedicated to Poseidon 
 (at least Aristophanes calls Poseidon " the god invoked on 
 Sunion "), but, as at Athens, the sea-god was forced to share his 
 shrine with Athene (or possibly to allow his shrine to be over- 
 shadowed by her larger temple). Eleven Doric columns of 
 Laurion marble still stand. The temple was like the Theseion, 
 but somewhat smaller, and was built about the same time. 
 Some very weather-worn sculptured metopes possibly once 
 depicted the feats of Theseus. 
 
 (19) Temple of Athene Nike [i.e. Athene in her character 
 as Victory), sometimes wrongly called the temple of ' Wingless 
 Victory,' is a small early Ionic shrine (only 27 x 18 feet) 
 of Pentelic marble, with a portico of four columns at each end. 
 It was built on an elevated platform of rock to the right of 
 the Propylaea, as one ascends, probably after the original 
 great plan of the Propylaea had been given up [i.e. during the 
 Peloponnesian War, c. 425) . In 1684 i^ was entirely demolished 
 by the Turks, who used the material to build a bastion. In 
 1835 the fragments were carefully collected and the shrine was 
 reconstructed. 
 
 4S7 
 
NOTE B 
 DRESS 
 
 TO follow with any certainty, after the lapse of 
 millenniums, the ever-varying fashions of dress is 
 impossible. The differences that prevail on the subject among 
 antiquarians are mainly due to the fact that fashions are apt 
 to change very rapidly, to revert to old types, to develop 
 new combinations, and to exist simultaneously, even in close 
 contact. But some well-marked characteristics are noticeable 
 at certain periods of Greek history. 
 
 (i) In Minoan and ' Mycenaean ' civiHzation, to judge from 
 pictorial evidence (Figs. 5, 10, 16, &c.), the men when at 
 war generally wore nothing at all, and at other times often only 
 a sort of bathing-drawers garment, and footgear curiously 
 like our * puttees.' Their hair was often built up into a high 
 coiffure with long pigtails, and in many paintings they have 
 extraordinarily slender waists, as if they laced tightly; or 
 perhaps they gained their slimness by such gymnastic train- 
 ing as was necessary for the Cretan matadors (Fig. 17). 
 The women had strangely modern-looking costumes — heavy, 
 deeply flounced, embroidered skirts, and (when the bust was 
 not nude) puff-sleeved jackets or blouses (often very decoUeUes). 
 The hair was elaborately coiled and curled. 
 
 (2) In Homer we find quite a different dress, which we may 
 call Achaean, evidently of northern origin. It differs essen- 
 tially from the Minoan and Mycenaean composite sewn dress, 
 and consists (with the possible exception of the linen under- 
 garment) of a single piece of cloth, or lighter stuff, fastened 
 by brooches, or safety-pins {fibulae, Trepovai), which were not 
 required, except for ornament, in the older sewn garments. 
 458 
 
DRESS 
 
 Homer's men wear a chiton (an under-garment, sometimes of 
 thicker coloured stuff, sometimes " soft and shiny as the skin 
 of a dried onion") and either a kind of mantle called the 
 pharos (* thin/ ' silver-white/ ' purple/ ' great ') or a warmer 
 cloak, the chlaina (' woollen,' ' shaggy/ ' purple '), which was 
 also used at night as a blanket. The chlaina was fastened in 
 front by a brooch, as we see from the celebrated passage in 
 which the golden brooch of Odysseus is described {Od, xix. 225). 
 The women have the chiton and the pharos (' light,' * silver- 
 white' — Od. V. 230), or else the warmer peplos, a long robe 
 fastened with brooches. (A peplos with twelve brooches is 
 mentioned in Od. xviii. 293.) The brooch, or safety-pin, 
 was perhaps introduced by the northern (Achaean and Dorian) 
 invaders, and was of course necessary for unsewn garments. 
 On the head women in Homer sometimes wore the Kpy^e/uLvov, 
 3L kind of scarf or short veil (but long enough to be tied round 
 Odysseus' body — Od. v. 346), or a * covering ' (KaXv-Trrpri), a 
 head-dress often richly ornamented (Hesiod calls it 'daedal '). 
 (3) In the Asia Minor colonies the long hnen chiton and 
 ample over-garment were retained by the ' chiton-trailing 
 lonians,' as Homer calls them, but the Dorians (say about 
 iioo-iooo) seem to have introduced into the Peloponnese 
 and Doric colonies a simpler northern style of dress for both 
 sexes, viz. a single square woollen raiment, which took the 
 place of both the Hnen chiton and the over-garment. This 
 * Doric chiton ' was sleeveless and simply wrapped round the 
 body horizontally under the armpits and fastened, either with 
 or without flaps, over both shoulders by long dagger-like pins. 
 It was left open at one side (even in the case of women at 
 Sparta), or sometimes fastened with brooches (safety-pins), 
 or confined with a girdle. The Doric fashion does not seem 
 to have found favour at Athens for some time, since the 
 ancient Mycenaean cut-out and sewn dress is still depicted 
 on Attic (Dipylon) pottery of the Dark Age ; and also in 
 Hesiod's Boeotia the female dress with protruding ' bustle ' 
 still prevailed (p. 107). Doubtless the anti-Spartan sentiments 
 of the Athenian women were more incHned to perpetuate the 
 
 4S9 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 old Aegaean or Ionian fasliions or to introduce the luxurious 
 style from the Ionian colonies — against which, it is said, Solon 
 had to legislate — than to adopt the new and simpler Doric 
 chiton. But even before Solon's age, probably about 750 or 
 700, a Doric-like chiton with shoulder-flaps and dagger-pins 
 (or is it a cut-out and sewn bodice ?), combined with a richly 
 ornamented skirt of the Minoan style, seems to have been in 
 
 139. Figures from a Toii,et-box in the British Museum 
 
 vogue at Athens, as is proved by the very fashionably dressed 
 dames on the Fran9ois Vase (Fig. 140). 
 
 ^(4) About 568 the tragic event took place (see p. 142) which 
 forcibly and suddenly changed the fashion in Athens. The 
 women were commanded to give up their long, dangerous 
 stiletto-pins and to adopt the long, soft, and generally crimpled 
 Ionian Hnen chiton, stitched or buttoned, or fastened with 
 quite small safety-pin brooches, over the shoulder and down 
 the upper arm. Above this was worn a wrap or shawl (himation, 
 lyat. pallium), which at first was small and oblique, fastened 
 over one shoulder and under the other armpit (as in Fig. 37). 
 In course of time this outer garment becomes much 
 larger and more elaborately folded and decorated (hke the 
 Roman toga or the palla). In ' classical ' statuary we have 
 460 
 
 i 
 
^ 'M^MM, 
 
 135. Caryatid from Erech- 
 
 THEION 
 
 136. Monument of IvYSicrates 
 
 137. Bronze and Shaver 
 Dress-pins 
 
 138. Ionic Chiton and 
 
 Himation 460 
 
■ 
 
 I 
 
DRESS 
 
 generally the long Ionic chiton in the case of women, and a 
 shorter tunic for men, and for both sexes a voluminous outer 
 garment, coarser and heavier in the case of men (see Figs. 98, 
 107, &c.), as well as the smaller chlamys, a scarf or cape that 
 sometimes takes the place of the heavier woollen himation, 
 and sometimes is carried loosely on the arm or shoulder. 
 
 (5) It should, however, be noticed that after the Athenian 
 women were thus forced to adopt the Ionian 
 dress {c. 568) the new and more effeminate 
 Eastern chiton seems to have prevailed for a 
 time also among the men, but only for a time. 
 Thucydides tells us (i. 6) that " the Athenians 
 were the first who gave up wearing iron [military 
 garb] and changed to greater luxury. And the 
 elders among the rich classes not long ago ceased 
 wearing linen chitons and binding up the coil of 
 the hair on their heads with a fastening of 
 golden cicalas." Now " not long ago '' would 
 mean about the time of the Persian wars, 
 and it seems that then or a little later the 
 Athenian men reverted to the simpler and (in 
 war) more convenient woollen Doric chiton, or 
 to a short shirt-like linen chiton with a square 
 woollen himation, which was the male dress 
 during the Peloponnesian War. 
 
 I^astly, it should be remembered that this change to simpler 
 Doric, or northern, habits which is mentioned by Thucydides 
 meant also the rejection of the loin-cloth of the older Aegaean 
 and Ionian civiHzation, and the adoption in athletics, as also 
 to a great extent in war, of nudity (except for armour and 
 tunics), a matter in which, curiously enough, the Greek con- 
 sidered himself far in advance of the Oriental, who regarded 
 nudity as shameful. 
 
 140. Figure 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 Francois 
 Vase 
 
 461 
 
NOTE C 
 COINS 
 
 COINS are believed to have been first made in I^ydia, where 
 the Mermnadae kings began, c. 700, to punch ingots of 
 electron (an alloy of gold and silver) with official marks (see I, i) 
 as assurance of full weight. The Greek Asiatic cities soon 
 adopted the invention and used engraved dies, and the lower 
 side (obverse) of the coin was adorned with the badge of the 
 state or city (often an animal) or a tutelary deity or his symbol 
 (see I, 2, 3, 4, where Kl. = electron). Croesus probably first 
 used gold and silver coins (staters) instead of electron, and 
 Darius adopted the practice in his gold daric and silver siglos 
 (shekel). Pheidon, the Argive king, is said to have first intro- 
 duced standard weights and measures into Greece, and the 
 first European coins were probably struck in Aegina (see I, 
 15). Archaic coins are frequently bean-shaped. In the earliest 
 specimens the reverse generally bears only an official mark, 
 or incuse square (I, 6), but later both sides bore a type. Before 
 about 500 the eye of the profiled human face is represented 
 (as in some old reliefs) as if fronting one, and the hair consists 
 of small dots and the mouth has the ' archaic smile ' (I, 5, 9 ; 
 II, I). 
 
 In the period c. 500-400 very great advance was made in 
 artistic engraving. The Syracusan coins are especially notice- 
 able for their exquisite beauty (II, 10 ; IV, 6). The Athenian: 
 coinage had so great a circulation through Hellas and so higl 
 a reputation for weight and purity that it was thought inad- 
 visable to alter the old type. Hence the Athenian coins do not 
 show such technical perfection as one might expect (see III, 7J 
 compared with II, i). 
 462 
 
PIRATE I {c. 700-500) 
 
 lyYDiA. El. c. 700, Earliest known 
 
 coin. 
 Mii^ETUS. El. c. 630. 
 Samos. El. c. 525. Reign of 
 
 Poly crates (?). 
 Oi,D Smyrna (?). El. Phocaean 
 
 stater, c. 600. 
 Tenedos. 
 
 Aeoi^ian Cyme (?). Before 600. 
 DEiyOS. Before Persian wars. 
 
 8. Phocaea. x\ge of Croesus. 
 
 9. Cntdus. 
 
 10. Lycia. Before 480. 
 
 11. Thasos or Thrace. El. 
 
 12. POTIDAEA. 
 
 13. CORCYRA. 
 
 14. Thebes. 
 
 15. Aegina. Age of Pheidon (?). 
 
 c. 650. 
 
 16. Corinth. AgeofPeriander. c.6oo. 
 
 462 
 
n.ATH II (c. 600-500) 
 
 I. Athens. About age of Solon. 6. Sybaris. c. 600. 
 
 c. 570 
 
 7. Crotona. c. 600. 
 
 2. Crete. Minotaur and Labyrinth. 8. Acragas ( Agrigentum) . 
 
 C. 550. 
 
 3. Taras (Tarentum). c. 560. 
 
 4. PoSEiDONiA (Paestum). c. 510 
 
 5. EI.EA (Velia). c. 520. 
 
 9. HiMERA. Before 481. 
 o. Syracuse. Reign of Gelo, 
 c. 480. 
 
 463 
 
COINS 
 
 In the age of Praxiteles and Scopas — that is, during the 
 Spartan and Theban supremacies (400-338) — and in the early 
 times of Alexander the Great numismatic art is considered to 
 have reached its highest perfection. The electron staters of 
 Cyzicus (III, i) continued to have a large circulation in Asia 
 Minor (especially as medium between Agesilaus and the 
 Persian satraps), and in Greece proper the chief currencies 
 were Theban, Athenian, and Corinthian (Sparta had probably 
 till the third century only iron money, of which no specimen 
 remains) . After the victories of Epameinondas and the founding 
 of Messene we find Arcadian and Messenian coinage (V, 11, 12). 
 In Southern Italy and in Sicily during the Dionysian tyranny 
 and under Timoleon many very beautiful coins were struck 
 (VI, I, 2, &c.). The fine coinage of Philip II of Macedonia 
 is especially noticeable (V, 5, 6, 8). The working of his Thracian 
 mines, and especially of those near his new-named city of 
 Philippi, afforded him a great abundance of gold for his ' royal 
 coinage,' as Horace calls his ' Philips,' and the means to " break 
 open the gates of cities and undermine rival kings by bribes " 
 (Hor. C. Ill, xvi.). Until these golden 'Philips' attained 
 currency the coinage of Greece itself had been mostly silver, 
 gold being coined only on .special occasions, when treasure 
 had to be melted down to meet exceptional needs. (Gold 
 staters of Croesus and golden Darics were, however, current 
 in Greece in earHer times.) 
 
 The usual type of Alexander's coins (VI, 7, 8) shows a 
 Heracles head with the lion-skin (the features bearing a distinct 
 likeness to those of Alexander), and on the reverse the seated 
 figure of the eagle-bearing Olympian Zeus of Pheidias. After 
 his death and deification some of the states of the empire {e.g. 
 Macedonia and Greece) continued for two centuries to issue 
 coins in his name and with his portrait, as Heracles with the 
 lion-skin, and also with the ram-horns of Zeus Ammon, whose 
 son he had claimed to be. In Egypt, Syria, and other provinces 
 the Diadochi (Successors), such as Ptolemy Soter, Seleucus, 
 and lyysimachus, at first struck coins as the vicegerents of 
 Philip III and of the young Alexander IV, the son of Alexander 
 
 463 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 the Great and Roxana {e.g. VI, ii) ; but when they assumed 
 the regal title they began to introduce (as had long been done 
 by Persian kings and satraps) their own portraits — the first in 
 Greek coinage with the exception of Alexander's (who was a 
 god !) — at first timidly under the type of the Heraclean 
 Alexander and then in propria persona and no longer under 
 the guise of a deity (VI, 9, 10). For some time the reverse 
 bore the seated Zeus, or some design of a similar motive. The 
 following additional explanations of some of the reproduced 
 coins may be useful. 
 
 I, 5. Janiform head, possibly Zeus and Hera. For the 
 religious symbol of the double axe (Labrys) 
 see Index ; and for Zeus Labrandeus see 
 V,2. 
 
 I, 8. A ' type parlant,' for the Greek word phoke means 
 a seal. 
 
 I, 9. The lion was symbol of the Asiatic sun-god. On 
 the reverse is Astarte, the Asiatic Aphrodite. 
 
 I, II. A centaur (Thessalian or Thracian ?) carrying off 
 a nymph (?). 
 
 I, 12. Poseidon Hippios (equestrian) with trident. The 
 horse was sacred to Poseidon, who is said 
 to have created it. The type is very possibly 
 that of Poseidon's image that, according to 
 Herodotus, stood ' in the suburb ' of Potidaea 
 (viii. 129). 
 
 I, 13. The floral pattern in the sinkings is by some 
 thought to represent the ' Garden of Alcinous ' 
 described by Homer (Od. vii.). Corcyra 
 (KEpKvpa, Corfu) was believed to be the 
 Homeric Scherie, the island of the Phaeacians. 
 
 I, 14. A Boeotian shield and an incuse at the centre 
 of which is a cross in a circle — the archaic 
 form of theta (first letter of Thebes). 
 
 I, 15. Sea-tortoise. Perhaps the oldest extant Greek 
 silver coin. See Index, ' Pheidon.' 
 464 
 
plate: III {c. 480-400) 
 
 Cyzicus. El. c. 470. 
 Persia. Gold Daric. c. 480, 
 Methymna. c. 480. 
 Kphesus. c. 450. 
 Chios, c. 450. 
 
 Ol^YNTHUS. C. 475. 
 
 Athens, c. 460. 
 EiyiS. Nike. 
 
 9. Ki/iS. Hera head. 
 
 10. KIyIS. Zeus head. 
 
 11. Byzantium. 
 
 12. KrETria (Euboea). 
 
 13. Terina. 
 
 14. NEAP01.1S. 
 
 15. Thurit. c. 440. 
 
 464 
 
PLATE IV {c. 480-430) 
 
 1. Etruria (Fiesole ?). c. 460. 
 
 2. GEI.A. c. 430. 
 
 3. HiMERA. c. 450. 
 
 4. IvEONTlNI. C. 475. 
 
 5. Seunus. C. 450. 
 
 6. Syracuse. Demareteion. c. 480. 
 
 465 
 
COINS 
 
 I, i6. Pegasus and tlie old letter koppa, used anciently 
 for K. Pegasus was captured by Bellerophon 
 at the Corintliian fountain Peirene. 
 
 II, 3. Tlie mythical Taras, son of Poseidon and founder 
 
 of Tarentum, riding on a dolphin. On reverse 
 a sea-horse and scallop-shell. 
 
 II, 4. Poseidon. 
 
 II, 5. Unknown archaic head ; perhaps the river- 
 nymph Hyele, Vele, or Elea ( = the glassy 
 stream ?). Cf, II, 10. 
 
 II, 7. Notice the QRO instead of KPO. 
 
 II, 8. Before the seizure of Himera by Thero of Acragas 
 
 in 481. 
 II, 10. The nymph Arethusa, about whose fountain on 
 Ortygia see Class. Diet, under ' Alpheus/ An 
 Olympic victory of Gelo is intimated by the 
 Nike and the chariot. Cf, IV, 6. 
 
 Ill, I. Cecrops, the mythical first king of Attica, half 
 man, half serpent, holding oHve-branch. The 
 electron staters of Cyzicus had great circula- 
 tion down to about 380. The usual mint-mark 
 is a tunny-fish. 
 
 Ill, 2. Gold Daric : the Great King with bow and spear. 
 
 Ill, 3. Archaic head of Athene. Helmet ornamented with 
 a Pegasus. 
 
 Ill, 4. The bee was the badge of Bphesus and a symbol 
 connected with the worship of the Bphesian 
 Artemis. 
 
 III, 5. Sphinx seated before an amphora. Chios was 
 
 famous for its wine, and the Sphinx is a symbol 
 of Dionysus, the wine-god. 
 Ill, 8. Copied on the medal commemorating Waterloo. 
 
 III, 9, 10. Heads of Hera and Zeus. See Note A for 
 
 Heraion and temple of Zeus at Olympia. 
 
 III, II, 12. The cow represents lo, who crossed by the 
 
 Bosporus (' Cow-ford '), and according to one 
 
 version recovered her human form and gave 
 
 2 G 465 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 birth to Epaphus, not in Egypt, but in Euboea. 
 The bird on the cow's back may be Zeus, who 
 in this form guided Hermes to lo in order 
 tha the might slay the hundred-eyed monster, 
 Argus. 
 
 Ill, 13. This most beautiful coin of Terina, in Southern 
 Italy, probably represents Nike (Victory). 
 The (j), scarcely visible behind the nape of the 
 neck, is the artist's signature. It is also found 
 on the obverse of III, 15. All the finest coins 
 of Terina are by this artist. 
 
 Ill, 14. Athene. Naples was founded by Cyme (Cumae) 
 possibly as early as 700. This coin may date 
 from about 470. The naval battle off Cyme 
 when Hiero beat back the Etruscans was in 474. 
 
 III, 15. Thurii was colonized by Athenians and cityless 
 
 Sybarites in 443. 
 
 IV, I. Winged Gorgon, said to be symbol of moon- 
 
 goddess worship. Date about 470 probably. 
 At Fiesole (Faesulae) there are ancient Etrus- 
 can ruins. 
 
 IV, 2. River Gelas in form of bull. For Gela see Index. 
 
 IV, 3. The river-nymph Himera sacrificing. Silenus 
 bathing at a fountain. 
 
 IV, 4. Head of Apollo and laurel-leaves. Probably by 
 the artist of the Demareteia (IV, 6). 
 
 IV, 5. River-god SeHnus sacrificing to Asclepios, whose 
 symbol, a cock, is figured below the altar. 
 Behind is figure of a bull (symbol of the river) 
 and a leaf of selinon (wild celery). On reverse 
 Apollo and Artemis in chariot, Apollo dis- 
 charging arrows, a symbol of the plague which 
 about 445 desolated Selinus and which Empe- 
 docles is said to^^have stayed — perhaps by 
 draining a marsh. 
 
 IV, 6. A silver Demareteion, named after Gelo's wife 
 Demarete and coined from the Carthaginian 
 466 
 
PlyATE; V {c. 400-350) 
 
 I. Coi^OPHON (?). Tissaphernes (?). 8. Phiwp 
 c. Aoo. Q. 10. De: 
 
 c. 400. 
 
 2. Coin of Mausoi^us. c. 370. 
 
 3. Tyre. c. 400. 
 
 4. SiDON. c. 375. 
 
 5. 6. PHII.IP II. 
 7. Argos. Hera head. 
 
 II. c. 350. 
 9, 10. Dei^phi. 
 II, 12. Messenia. 
 
 13. CnossUvS. Hera head. 
 
 14. Phaestus. Talos. 
 
 15. 16. Syracuse. Age of 
 
 Dionysius I. c. 400 
 
 466 
 
PIRATE VI (c. 380-300) 
 
 I, 2. Syracuse. K1. Age of Timo- 10. Sophytes (India). 
 
 leon. 
 
 3, 4. Carthage, c. 380 
 5, 6. Cyrene. c. 380 
 
 11. Egypt. Alexander IV. 
 
 12. Ptoi^Emy Soter. c. 306. 
 
 7, 8. Coin of Ai^exander the ^3. M- Rhodes, c. 304 
 
 Great. 
 9. Syria. Seleucus I. c. 306. 
 
 15. Tarsus, c. 323. 
 
 16. SiDON. c. 340. 
 
 467 
 
COINS 
 
 spoils (or indemnity) after the battle of 
 Himera, 480. The head is that of Nike — pos- 
 sibly with a suggestion of the features of 
 Demarete. 
 
 V, I. A satrap, perhaps Pharnabazus or Tissaphernes. 
 " He wears the tiaras not the royal Kidaris '* 
 (Head). A fine example of an early non-Greek 
 portrait-coin. 
 
 V, 2. A coin of the Carian king Mausolus, representing 
 Zeus with sceptre and double axe (see Index 
 under ' Lahrys'). 
 
 V, 3. Melcarth, the Phoenician (especially Tyrian) sun- 
 god and city-god (identified by the Greeks 
 with Heracles), riding over the waves on a 
 sea-horse and holding a bow. 
 
 V, 4. Galley before a fortified city. Below two lions 
 (sun-god symbols). 
 
 V, 5, 6. A silver ' Philip.' Head of Zeus, perhaps from 
 the Pheidian Zeus of Olympia. Jockey-boy 
 on horse and holding palm-branch in com- 
 memoration of Philip's Olympic victories. 
 
 V, 7. The very fine Hera head copied from the celebrated 
 Hera by Polycleitus at Argos (p. 384). 
 
 V, 8. A gold ' Philip.' 
 
 V, 9, 10. Demeter and Apollo (seated on Delphic om- 
 phalos). Issued by Amphictionic Council after 
 the Sacred War of 346. 
 
 V, II, 12. Demeter and the eagle-bearing Zeus, probably 
 copied from the statue made by Ageladas 
 c. 455. But the coin must date after the found- 
 ing of Messene in 369. 
 
 V, 14. Talos, or, as here spelt, Talon, was the bronzen 
 giant who kept watch for Minos over the 
 Cretan coasts, making the circuit of the island 
 thrice daily and killing all strangers by em- 
 bracing them in his red-hot arms — evidently 
 a Moloch image. 
 
 467 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 
 VI, I. Head of Zeus and legend " Zeus Eleutherios 
 IXiberator]/' referring to the liberation of 
 Syracuse by Timoleon. 
 
 VI, 3, 4. Female head in Phrygian-like tiara — possibly 
 Dido, or the moon-goddess Astarte. lyion 
 and date-palm. There are no Carthaginian 
 coins till about 400. 
 
 VI, 5, 6. Zeus Ammon. The silphion plant (see Index). 
 
 VI, 7-12. See notes on Alexander's coins, p. 463. Sophy tes 
 (or Sopithes) was an Indian king who sub- 
 mitted to Alexander and later issued coins of a 
 Greek model. In VI, 11, the lion-skin is replaced 
 by an elephant's scalp. 
 
 VI, 13, 14, Radiate head of HeHos (sun-god), perhaps 
 copied from the famous Colossus of Rhodes. 
 On reverse a rose (five-petalled) . Greek 
 rhodos = ' a rose.' 
 
 VI, 15. I^egend (in Aramaic character), baal tars (Zeus 
 of Tarsus). 
 
 VI, 16. King (probably Artaxerxes III) in chariot. 
 
 Attendant with sceptre and flask. Sidon was 
 taken by Artaxerxes III c. 350. 
 
 VII. These portrait coins are mostly of late date, some 
 of them struck in the age of the Roman emperors by 
 Hellenic cities, which introduced portraits of their most 
 celebrated citizens. These are sometimes imaginative, but 
 sometimes they are doubtless taken from old types, or from 
 old busts and statues, and on this account they are of great 
 interest. 
 
 VII, I. Silver coin of los (one of the Cyclades), where 
 
 the supposed grave of Homer was shown. 
 
 Some of these fine los coins go back to the 
 
 fourth century B.C. I^egend, OMHPOY. 
 VII, 2. Bronze coin of Priene. I^egend, BIAC. 
 VII, 3. Bronze coin of Mytilene. The only example; in 
 
 Paris. I^egend, niTTAKOC. 
 468 
 
PIRATE) VII. PORTRAIT COINS 
 
 1. Homer. 
 
 2. Bias. 
 
 3. PiTTACUS. 
 
 4. Al^CAEUS. 
 
 5. Anacreon. 
 
 6. Stesichorus. 
 
 7. Sappho. 
 
 8. Pythagoras. 
 
 9. HERACI^ElTrS. 
 
 10. Themistocles 
 ri. Anaxagoras. 
 12. Hippocrates. 
 
 468 
 
COINS 
 
 VII, 4. The reverse of VII, 3. I^egend, ALKAIOC 
 MYTILHNH. 
 
 VII, 5. Coin of Teos, home of Anacreon. I^egend, THI12N 
 ('Of the Teans'). Probably from an early 
 statue. On the Athenian Acropolis was one 
 (p. 198) side by side with that of Xanthippus, 
 his friend, which Pericles is said to have 
 erected. The description given of it is hardly 
 credible, viz. that it represented him in a 
 state of intoxication, with his clothes fallen 
 to the ground and one sandal lost. There is 
 a more decent picture of him on a vase in the 
 British Museum. 
 
 VII, 6. Coin of Himera, perhaps of the second century 
 B.C. After the destruction of Himera in 409 
 another town was built on the further side 
 of the river and called Thermae. Hence the 
 legend: OEPMITAN IMEPAION ('Of the 
 Himeraean people of Thermae '). The figure 
 of Stesichorus is evidently taken from the 
 statue which Cicero says Verres wished to 
 steal, and which represented Stesichorus *' lean- 
 ing over a book.'' 
 
 VII, 7. Coin of Mytilene. I^egend, ^An..l2. There 
 are numerous busts and vase-pictures of 
 Sappho, but many very dissimilar and none 
 trustworthy. 
 
 VII, 8. Coin of Samos. I^egend, nYGArOPAC CAMION. 
 Column and globe. 
 
 VII, 9. Ephesiancoin. lyCgend, . . . TOO EcE»ECLlN. The 
 club in the left hand probably alludes to 
 Heracles and the name Heracleitos. 
 
 VII, 10. Bronze Athenian coin of Roman Empire. Prob- 
 ably copy of some early representation of the 
 Salamis monument. Themistocles standing 
 onf a galley and holding a wreath and a 
 trophy. 
 
 469 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 VII, II. Coin of Clazomenae with figure holding globe — 
 
 probably Anaxagoras. 
 
 VII, 12. Coin of Cos. I^egend, III . . . Numerous busts 
 
 of the great physician Hippocrates exist, but 
 
 none very trustworthy. This coin represents 
 
 him as a very old man. He is said to have 
 
 lived 104 years (460-356). Remains exist 
 
 on the island of Cos of the baths, arena, temple, 
 
 library, theatre, &c., connected with his 
 
 famous school of medicine, which included 
 
 open-air treatment and evidently also some 
 
 kind of faith-heaHng, for fragments of prayers 
 
 addressed to Asclepios have been found, and 
 
 the god's ' famiHars ' in the shape of serpents 
 
 were religiously tended by the patients. 
 
 There is also to be seen a mighty plane-tree 
 
 (2350 years old !) under which, it is said, 
 
 Hippocrates used to sit. Dante speaks of 
 
 " supreme Hippocrates, whom nature produced 
 
 for the animals that she holds most dear 
 
 {i.e, human beings]." 
 
 470 
 
An Apulian Funeral Amphora 
 
 470 
 
NOTE D 
 POTTERY AND VASE-PAINTING 
 
 IN the I/ist of Illustrations information will be found con- 
 cerning the thirty-nine specimens of archaic pottery 
 and Greek vases which are depicted in this volume. Here 
 I shall add a few general remarks, and shall first note 
 the fact that, while many of the vases of the classic era are of 
 exquisite beauty and of inestimable value as works of art, also 
 a fragment of common old pottery — the shard, maybe, of some 
 ill-shaped, hand-made earthenware vessel, roughly decorated 
 with scratches, or with artless and grotesque pictures of plants 
 or animals or human beings, or incised perhaps with a few 
 rudely scrawled letters — may be of very great interest, and 
 that too not only for the antiquarian. It may have sur- 
 vived many a majestic work of art, many a splendid 
 temple, many a famous city ; it may have outlived the rise 
 and fall of mighty empires ; it may possess the power, 
 as I said in reference to the inscription on little Tataia's 
 oil-flask, to throw for us a fairy bridge across a vast abyss of 
 time. 
 
 Of archaic pottery directly connected with Greek ceramics 
 we have two important types — the Cretan and the Aegaean, 
 or * Mycenaean.' 
 
 (i) Among the relics of the NeoHthic Age (c. 6000-3000) 
 are numerous fragments, excavated in Crete, of black, 
 hand-made, unfired and undecorated pottery of the same 
 character as the ancient Italian bucchero, the intensely black 
 colour of which is supposed to have been obtained by laying 
 charcoal and resin on the wet clay. lyater relics of this age 
 are hand-burnished and have linear incisions filled with white 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 pigment. The ' Early Minoan ' pottery (c. 3000-2000) is 
 somewliat thick, but finely glazed and painted and often 
 decorated with the so-called ' spiral ' pattern. Many ' beaked ' 
 jugs belong to this period, towards the end of which wheel- 
 made ware seems to appear.^ The ' Middle Minoan ' pottery 
 (c. 2000-1500) is richly polychrome, beautiful in form and 
 of wonderfully dehcate consistency, like the finest porcelain. 
 The decoration is both geometric and naturalistic — ^flowers, 
 sea-plants, and marine animals, such as the polypus, being 
 favourite designs. (For this and the beautiful Kamaresware 
 see Fig. 33 and I^ist of Illustrations.) In the ' I^ate Minoan ' 
 era {c. 1500-1400), although fresco-painting, carving, metal- 
 work, and plaster-moulding give evidence of a high degree of 
 civilization, pottery shows manifest signs of decadence. 
 
 (2) Much archaic pottery of what is called the Mycenaean 
 type (although it is very doubtful whether Mycenae itself was 
 the chief, or even an important, centre of export) has been 
 found in Rhodes and many other Aegaean islands, in Cyprus, 
 Egypt, and Sicily.^ The earliest specimens resemble the Neo- 
 lithic Cretan pottery, being black or monochrome, with incised 
 lines filled with white pigment ; then we find dull, lustreless 
 colours, geometric or spiral patterns, and pot-bellied forms ; 
 then lustrous yellowish glaze, more graceful shapes, designs 
 imitated from flowers, sea-plants, and marine animals, as in 
 Middle and I^ate Minoan ware, and sometimes we have rude 
 effigies of horses and men. (See plate facing p. 8 and Fig. 33, 
 and the Mycenaean ' Warrior Vase,' Fig. 8.) A very charac- 
 teristic example of the * Mycenaean type ' is the false-necked 
 amphora shown in the plate facing p. 8. 
 
 After the advent of the Dorians and the disappearance of 
 Cretan and Mycenaean civilization there is a Dark Age in the 
 history of Greek ceramics. Between the latest pottery of the 
 
 ^ The date of the invention or introduction of the potter's wheel is much 
 disputed. It is generally placed " towards the end of the Bronze Age " 
 (c. 1200 ?). In Cyprus and the Aegaean islands all the pottery of c. 2500 to 
 1500 seems to be hand-made. The wheel is mentioned by Homer (//. xviii. 
 600). 
 
 2 The ' Hissarlik ' (Trojan) type is again somewhat different. (See Fig. 33.) 
 
 472 
 
141. RED-FIGURED Vases and White IvEkythi 
 c. 520-350 
 
 See List of Illustrations and Xote D 
 
 472 
 
POTTERY AND VASE-PAINTING 
 
 Mycenaean type and the vases of the classic era we have little 
 but ' Dipylon ' vessels and ' Phaleron ' jugs (see Chapter II, 
 Section A, and Fig. 35), rare specimens of exquisite pear-shaped 
 ' proto-Corinthian ' lekythi, of which fine examples may be 
 seen in the British Museum, a few beautiful relics of ' Fikellura ' 
 (Samian) ware, numerous rather heavy but impressive Boeotian 
 amphoras, some of them ornamented with carved or moulded 
 figures, and the * old Corinthian ' ware, also rather heavy, 
 but finely proportioned and richly decorated in a strikingly 
 characteristic style (see Fig. 35). 
 
 Before passing on to the classic age of vase-painting it should 
 be remarked that by far the greater number of the almost 
 innumerable extant Greek vases of this era have been found, 
 not in Greece, but in Italy, especially in Tuscany. From the 
 latter half of the eighteenth century onwards many thousands 
 have been unearthed at Vulci and Chiusi (Clusium, the city of 
 lyars Porsena) and at Nola in Campania and on other sites of 
 old Btruscan or South Italian cities. In 1767 great quantities 
 of these so-called ' Etruscan vases ' were brought to England 
 by Sir W. Hamilton, and formed the nucleus of the splendid 
 collection in the British Museum. It is not surprising that 
 these magnificent vases were at first believed to be of Etruscan 
 origin. The ' Etruscan theory ' was stoutly maintained by 
 most scholars of the day, and, although strongly opposed by 
 the great German archaeologist Winckelmann, it was not 
 finally disproved until about 1850, when the researches of 
 Jahn and other Hellenists showed that these so-called Etruscan 
 vases were indubitably of Greek (mostly of Attic) workman- 
 ship, and that the products of native Etruscan art were of a 
 very different character. ^ 
 
 * As those who have visited the Etruscan Museum at Florence know, the 
 pottery of the ancient Etruscans (however interesting their terra-cotta 
 plastique may be) seems surprisingly rude when compared with their work 
 in gold and bronze, which is regarded as perhaps the most beautiful in 
 existence and is eagerly copied by modern jewellers. Etruscan metalwork 
 is said to have been largely imported into Greece in the classic era. (In 
 Od. i. 184 Homer mentions Temesa, probably an Italian town, as an export- 
 haven for bronze.) Egyptian influence is traceable in old Etrurian art, and 
 cartouches of Psamtik I (660-610) have been found in Etruscan tombs. 
 
 473 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 The question is how the presence in Etruria of such great 
 quantities of Greek vases at such an early period is to be 
 explained. In later times, doubtless, many imitations of Attic 
 ceramic were produced in Italy, perhaps by Greek craftsmen, 
 and in the third century there was a vast output of Italian 
 vases — Apulian, lyucanian, and Campanian. But this does 
 not explain why genuine Greek vases of the sixth and fifth 
 centuries have been found in such great abundance in Etruscan 
 cemeteries. The difficulty can only be solved by supposing 
 that there was at this early age a large importation from Greece 
 of such works of art. It will be remembered that even in the 
 seventh century there was a very considerable emigration from 
 Greece to the far West, and that Greek-Italian cities, such as 
 Cyme, Sybaris, Croton, and Taras, as well as many Hellenic 
 colonies in Sicily, rapidly became populous and wealthy, and 
 liberally patronized the arts of the mother-country. It was 
 doubtless through such settlements that Greek art became 
 known to the great nation of the Tyrseni, or Etruscans, of 
 whose powerful navy, allied to that of the Carthaginians, we 
 have read, and who, in spite of their defeat by the Romans at 
 IfSke Regillus (498) and by Hiero at Cyme (474), continued for 
 two centuries to be formidable for their military prowess and 
 renowned for their riches and their luxury ; and it seems 
 unquestionable that the Tyrrhenian lyucumones (Princes) and 
 other rich men of Etruria bought up large quantities of the 
 finest obtainable works of Greek vase-makers. The facts, 
 moreover, that these vases were much used for sepulchral 
 purposes, and that the Etruscan cities were to a large extent 
 depopulated, and their cemeteries forgotten, after the final 
 subjugation of the country by the Romans {c. 280 B.C.), may 
 be the reason why so many more Greek vases have been 
 discovered in Tuscany than in Greece itself, where systematic 
 pillage during several centuries accounts for their disappearance. 
 The age of classic Greek vase-painting may be divided into 
 three periods, which, though not sharply definable chrono- 
 logically, are strongly distinguished by their characteristic 
 styles. These three periods are : 
 
 474 
 
POTTERY AND VASE-PAINTING 
 
 (i) That of the ' black-figure style ' (c. 700-490). 
 
 (2) That of the ' red-figure style ' {c. 490-350), 
 
 (3) That of the ' new ' or ' beautiful ' style, which degenerated 
 into the richly ornate, florid, elaborate style of South Italian 
 ceramic art. 
 
 In the Greek vases of the first classic period, of which the 
 Frangois Vase (Fig. 39) is one of the earliest extant specimens, 
 male figures are black silhouettes on the red earthenware back- 
 ground. Details of the nude and the dress are given by lines 
 incised in the black pigment. The nude of female figures is 
 painted in a chalky white, as also are white horses, linen gar- 
 ments, and certain bright portions of armour. In order to 
 represent heavy drapery the black pigment is sometimes laid 
 on thickly and assumes a purplish or greenish tint. In other 
 cases, where the pigment is thin, a reddish brown is produced. 
 The black silhouette does not allow of the marvellous beauty 
 and delicacy of outline and detail which we find in red-figure 
 work ; but these earlier vases with their naive and realistic 
 pictures are not seldom more valuable archaeologically and 
 more interesting for the student of human nature than the 
 more artistic and more idealized — sometimes more conven- 
 tionalized — paintings of the later period. Fine specimens of 
 the black-figure style are given in the plates facing pp. 218 
 and 250, and in Figs. 55 and 56. The jar found at Daphnae, 
 and the Greek amphora found, like the Fran9ois Vase, in 
 Etruria, are evidences of the wide influence of Attic skill in 
 ceramics. 
 
 A fairly distinct line of demarcation between the first and 
 second period seems to be supplied by the fact that all the 
 vases except one found in the Marathon tomb are black- 
 figured, whereas most of the fragments excavated on the 
 Acropolis — relics of the sack of Athens by Xerxes — are of red- 
 figured vases. This appears to prove that a sudden change of 
 style took place between 490 and 480 ; but we must reckon 
 here with the facts that for sepulchral purposes the old- 
 fashioned black-figure vases were preferred long after the 
 advent of the red-figure style, and that even in the fourth 
 
 475 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 century, or later, antique black-figured vases continued to be 
 given as prizes at the Panatlienaic festivals (Fig. 55). It is 
 likely that for a considerable time vases of both kinds were 
 produced, and it seems certain that some celebrated craftsmen 
 worked in both styles.^ 
 
 In these vases of the second classic period, the figures, which 
 are of the natural red colour of the baked clay, are blocked out 
 against a background of black pigment, the contours being 
 softened by delicate incised lines, while details on the red 
 surface are filled in with lighter shades of black. The best 
 vases in this style are of incomparable dignity in composition 
 and show exquisite skill in execution (see Figs. 92 and 141). 
 
 White Athenian lekythi (sepulchral oil-flasks) seem to have 
 been in fashion contemporaneously with the red-figured vases. 
 Many of them, especially earlier specimens, which present 
 delicately outHned figures on a white ground, are exceedingly 
 beautiful. (See Frontispiece and I^ist of Illustrations under 
 Fig. 141.) 
 
 Towards the end of the fourth century the simplicity, dignity, 
 and classic repose of Greek vase-painting began to be seriously 
 influenced by a taste for elaboration, prettiness, and dramatic 
 affectation. In South Italy this ' new and beautiful ' style 
 struck root and flourished luxuriantly, while in the mother- 
 country the art of vase-painting suffered a sudden decline, and 
 by about 250 B.C. was practically extinct. Immense quantities 
 of large and magnificently decorated vases, with elaborate 
 paintings and with splendid mouldings and volute handles, 
 were now manufactured in Apulia, I^ucania, and Campania in 
 order to adorn the palaces and villas of Roman nobles (see 
 plate facing p. 470 and Fig. 64). But in spite ^ of their mag- 
 nificence these vases are for the most part of no great value 
 artistically, the paintings being weak and fantastic in compo- 
 sition, overcrowded with figures, and overloaded with architec- 
 tural designs and trivial details. 
 
 ^ At Palermo a vase, signed by Androkides, shows on one side black and on 
 the other red figures. 
 
 476 
 
LIST OF IMPORTANT DATES 
 
 (See also pp. 72-73 and 150) 
 
 776. First year of first Olympiad. 
 
 743-668. First two Messenian Wars (traditional date). 
 
 c. 700 (750 ?). Pheidon of Argos. 
 
 683. I/ist of annual Athenian archons begins. 
 
 664. Naval battle between Corinth and Corey r a. 
 
 648 (April 8). Solar eclipse mentioned by Archilochus. 
 
 c. 632. Cylon's attempt to seize power at Athens. 
 
 c. 620. Dracon's legislation. 
 
 c. 600. Periander tyrant of Corinth. 
 
 594. Solon's archonship. 
 
 c. 590. First ' Sacred War.' 
 
 585 (May 28). Solar eclipse during battle between Alyattes of 
 
 Lydia and Astyages of Media. 
 560. Peisistratus seizes power. 
 556-540. Peisistratus is twice exiled. 
 540-528. Peisistratus rules Athens till his death ; his sons 
 
 succeed. 
 523. Polycrates crucified. 
 
 514. Hipparchus killed by Harmodius and Aristogeiton. 
 510. Hippias banished (Tarquins banished from Rome). 
 
 Sybaris destroyed by Croton. 
 c. 510-505. Reforms of Cleisthenes. 
 499. The Ionic revolt. 
 497. Burning of Sardis. 
 
 494-3 (495-4 ?). Battle of I/ade, and fall of Miletus. 
 493. Themistocles archon. 
 490. Battle of Marathon. 
 489. Death of Miltiades. 
 482. Ostracism of Aristides. 
 
 477 
 
ANCIENT GREECE 
 480. Battles of Artemisium, Thermopylae, Salamis, and Himera. 
 479. Battle of Plataea. 
 478. Capture of Sestos. Foundation of Confederacy of Delos 
 
 (Athenian Empire). 
 474. Battle of Cyme (Italy). 
 472-471. Ostracism of Themistocles (d. 449). 
 470. Revolt of Naxos. 
 468. Battle of the Eurymedon. 
 464. Great earthquake at Sparta. Revolt of Helots. 
 462-460. Rise of Pericles. Cimon ostracized. 
 458-455. Building of the I/ong Walls. Athenian naval power 
 
 at its height. 
 457-456. Aegina conquered by Athens. 
 
 446. Thirty Years' Peace between Athens and Peloponnesians. 
 440-439. Revolt and reduction of Samos. 
 438. Parthenon finished. 
 431-404. Peloponnesian War. 
 430. Outbreak of plague. 
 429. Pericles dies. 
 
 425. Capture of Spartans on Sphacteria. 
 424. Battle of Delion. Brasidas in Thrace Thucydides 
 
 banished. 
 421. Peace of Nicias. 
 418. Battle of Mantineia. 
 415. The SiciHan expedition. 
 413. The SiciHan disaster. 
 411-410. The Four Hundred at Athens and restoration of 
 
 democracy. 
 406. Battle of Arginusae. Acragas destroyed by Carthaginians. 
 405-367. Dionysius I of Syracuse. 
 405. Battle of Aegospotami. 
 404. Athens surrenders. The I^ong Walls demolished. ' The 
 
 Thirty.' 
 404-371. Spartan supremacy. 
 
 403. * The Thirty ' overthrown. Democracy restored. 
 401. Battle of Cunaxa. 
 399. Death of Socrates. Return of Xenophon. 
 
 478 
 
IMPORTANT DATES 
 
 398-360. King Agesilaus of Sparta. 
 
 395. Long Walls again begun. 
 
 394. Battles of Gorinth, Cnidus, and Coroneia. 
 
 387. Peace of Antalcidas (the ' King's Peace '), 
 
 386. Mantineia destroyed by Sparta. 
 
 382. Spartans seize the Theban Cadmeia. 
 
 379. Spartans expelled from Thebes by Pelopidas. 
 
 378. Second Athenian Confederacy (Empire) founded, exactly 
 100 years after the founding of the first. 
 
 371. Battle of lycuctra. Jason of Pherae. 
 
 371-362. Theban supremacy. Epameinondas rebuilds Man- 
 tineia and founds Messene. Pelopidas in Thessaly ; he 
 is killed at Cynoscephalae (364) and Epameinondas at 
 Mantineia (362). 
 
 361-360. Agesilaus in Egypt ; his death. 
 
 359-336. Philip II of Macedonia. 
 
 346. Peace of Philocrates. Phocians crushed. Philip president 
 of Pythian Games. 
 
 339. Timoleon defeats the Carthaginians on the Crimisus. 
 
 338. Battle of Chaeroneia. 
 
 336. Philip assassinated. 
 
 336-323. Alexander the Great. 
 
 FOUNDATION OF EARLY GREEK COLONIES 
 
 Cyprus has Mycenaean kings, Sybaris, c. 721. 
 
 c. 1400. Taras, c. 708. 
 
 ' Aeolian migration,' c. 1200. Croton, c. 702. 
 
 ' Ionian migration,' c. iioo. Gela, c. 688. 
 
 Cyprus colonized by Hellenes, Chalcedon, c. 685. 
 
 c. 1050. Byzantium, Sestos, Abydos, 
 Doris colonized, c. 900. Cyzicus, c. 650. 
 
 Cyme in Italy founded, c. 800 Cyrene, c. 630. 
 
 (or earlier). Selinus, c. 610. 
 
 Naxos, in Sicily, c. 735. MassaHa, c. 600. 
 
 Catane, Himera, Syracuse, and Acragas, c. 580. 
 
 Corcyra, c. 734. 
 
 479 
 
LIST OF THE PERSIAN KINGS 
 
 Gyrus, 559 {549 ?)-529. 
 
 Sardis taken, 546. Babylon taken, 538. 
 Cambyses, 529-522. 
 
 Egypt conquered, 525. 
 The false Smerdis (usurper for seven months), 522-521. 
 Darius I (son of Hystaspes), 521-485. 
 
 Thrace conquered, Scythia invaded, 512. Marathon, 490. 
 Xerxes I, 485-465. 
 
 Salamis, 480. 
 Artabanus (usurper for seven months), 465-464. 
 Artaxerxes I (lyongimanus), 464-425. 
 Xerxes II (two months), 425. 
 Sogdianus (seven months), 425-424. 
 Darius II (Ochus and Nothus), 424-405. 
 
 Married Parysatis, 
 Artaxerxes II (Mnemon), 405-359. 
 
 Revolt of Cyrus the younger. 'A nabasis. * Cunaxa, 401 . 
 Artaxerxes III (Ochus), 359-338. 
 Arses, 338-336. 
 Darius III (Codomannus), 336-331. 
 
 Conquered by Alexander at Arbela, 331. 
 
 Note. Darius I was probably of the same family (Achaemenidae) as Cyrus, 
 but was not the son of Cambyses. Sogdianus and Darius II were illegitimate 
 brothers of Xerxes II. Darius III was a distant relative of Arses. With these 
 exceptions and two brief-lived usurpations the crown descended from father 
 to son. 
 
 480 
 
LIST OF THE CHIEF GREEK WRITERS, 
 PHILOSOPHERS, AND SCULPTORS 
 
 I. Poets, Historians, and 
 Homer. 
 
 Hesiod. 
 
 Archilochus, /. c. 700. 
 Semonides, ^. c. 660. 
 Tyrtaeus, c. 660. 
 Stesichorus, c. 632-556. 
 Alcman,^. c. 630. 
 Arion,_/?. c. 625. 
 Alcaeusl „ r 
 Sappho ]fl' '' ^^^' 
 S'il<MV^*.£u6oo.^^^_^ 
 Theognis,/. c, 550. 
 Ibycus,^. c, 540. 
 
 II. Philosophers 
 Thales, c. 636-546. 
 Anaximander, c. 610-545. 
 Anaximenes, /. c. 544. 
 Pythagoras,^, c. 540-510. 
 Xenophanes, /. c. 540-500. 
 Parmenides, c. 513-445. 
 Heracleitus, /. c. 500. 
 Anaxagoras, c, 500-428. 
 
 III. Sculptors 
 Ageladas, c, 540-455. 
 Antenor,/. c. 500. 
 Calamis, c. 500-430. 
 Pheidias, c. 490-432. 
 Myron, c. 500-410. 
 
 Orators 
 Anacreon,/. c. 530. 
 Simonides, c. 556-467. 
 Kpicharmus, c. 540-450. 
 Aeschylus, 525-456. 
 Pindar, c. 522-442. 
 Sophocles, 495-406. 
 Herodotus, c. 484-426. 
 Euripides, 480-406. 
 Thucydides, 471-401. 
 Aristophanes, c. 445-380. 
 Xenophon, c. 444-350. 
 Isocrates, 436-338. 
 Demosthenes, c. 385-322. 
 
 Zeno, c. 488-420. 
 Empedocles, c. 480-425. 
 Protagoras, c. 480-410. 
 Socrates, 469-399. 
 Democritus, 460-361. 
 Plato, 428-347. 
 Aristotle, 384-322. 
 
 Polycleitus, c. 480-412. 
 Paeonius,/. c. 425 (450 ?). 
 Scopas,/. c. 370. 
 Praxiteles,;^, c. 360. 
 lyysippus,/. c. 330. 
 2H 4-81 
 
 I 
 
INDEX 
 
 AahmeS I, 25 
 
 Aahmes II — see Amasis 
 
 Abac, 429 . 
 
 Abaris, 137 
 
 Abdera, 186 
 
 Abu Simbel, colossi at, xv, 43, 144 
 
 Abydos, 250 
 
 Academeia, 408 
 
 Acanthus, 337 
 
 Achaea, Athens and, 294 ; in Pelo- 
 ponnesian War, 336 
 
 Achaean supremacy, 28-36 ; Homer's 
 evidence relative to, 64-70 
 
 Achaeans, origin of, 7, 75 ; con- 
 querors of Aegaean peoples, 28 ; 
 capture Thebes, 33 ; finer qualities, 
 35-36 ; inspire new religion, 48 ; 
 funeral customs, 48, 66 
 
 Achaemenes, 248, 254 
 
 Achaemenidae, 189 
 
 Achaeus, 75 
 
 Acharnians of Aristophanes, 366 
 
 Achermus, 224 
 
 Achilles, 34, 287 
 
 Achilles and Memnon group at 
 Olympia, 382 
 
 Achilles, Shield of, 70-71 
 
 Achradina, 341 w., 342, 405 
 
 Acragas, 120, 274, 275, 277, 278, 404 ; 
 temples at, 451 
 
 Acrocorinthus, xv, 83 
 
 Acropolis, Athens, xviii, xxiv ; 
 early sculpture found at, 227- 
 229 ; rebuilding on, under the 
 Empire, 290, 297 ; theatre of 
 Dionysus on, xxiv, 310 ; pottery 
 found at, 475 
 
 Admetus, 290 
 
 Aeacidae, 221, 222, 281 
 
 Aeetes, 61 
 
 Aegae, 424 «., 434 
 
 Aegaean civilization, 1-36 ; race, 30, 
 31 ; language, 37 ; age, approxi- 
 mate chronology, 72-73 
 
 Aegicores, 87 «. 
 
 Aegina, 142, 179 ; remains of temple 
 of Athene at, 231-233 ; and sculp- 
 ture, 232 ; conflict with Athens, 245, 
 293 ; joins Confederacy of Delos, 
 293 ; in Peloponnesian War, 329 
 
 Aeginetan marbles, 231-233 ; war, 245 
 
 Aeginetans, at Salamis, 266; Pin- 
 dar and, 281 ; in Peloponnesian 
 War, 329-330 
 
 Aegospotami, 326, 332, 344, 388 
 
 Aeneas, and the i^lymi, 118 
 
 Aeolians, origin of, 75 ; migration of, 
 76-78 
 
 Aeolis, colonization of, 76 
 
 Aeolus, 75 
 
 Aeschines, 429, 430, 439, 440, 441 
 
 Aeschylus, xvii ; at Marathon, 242, 
 310; description of Salamis, 266, 
 267, 312, 315 ; intellectual quality, 
 278 ; and development of Attic 
 drama, 310; life, 311 ; works, 311- 
 319 
 
 Aesop, i6in. 
 
 Action, 129 
 
 Agamemnon, and Mycenae, 9 ; tomb 
 of, 10 
 
 Agamemnon of Aeschylus, 317-318 
 
 Agarista, 132, 247 
 
 Agathocles, 408 
 
 Agathon, 424 
 
 Ageladas, 226, 309, 382 
 
 Agesilaus, 391, 392, 393, 394. 396, 399 
 
 Agias, 444 
 
 Agis, 344, 392 n. 
 
 Agora, in Homer, 67 
 
 Ahriman, 185 
 
 Ajax of Sophocles, 358-359 
 
 Alalia, 123, 274 
 
 Alaric, 302 
 
 Alcaeus, 128, 167-168 
 
 Alcamenes, 308 
 
 Alcestis of :Euripides, 362, 363 «. 
 
 Alcibiades, xxi, 326, 337, 338, 340, 
 342, 343, 345 n., 367; on Socrates, 
 375 
 
INDEX 
 
 Alcmaeonidae, 135, 137 ; and Peisis- 
 tratidae, 174, 177, 178 ; and temple 
 of Apollo at Delphi, 177, 450 
 
 Alcman, 96, 165-166 
 
 Aleuadae, 279, 423 
 
 Alexander I of Macedon, 268, 270, 
 
 279, 423. 424 
 Alexander II, 397, 424 
 Alexander III (the Great), 124 w., 
 
 279 «., 422, 423, 424, 432, 433, 434, 
 
 435, 436, 439, 440. 444, 445, 44^ ; 
 
 destroys Thebes, 435 ; and Stagei- 
 
 ros, 443 ; and the Branchidae, 452 ; 
 
 and the temple of Artemis, Ephe- 
 
 sus, 452 ; coinage of, 463 
 Alexander of Bpirus, 433, 434 
 Alexander of Lyncestis, 434 
 Alexander of Pherae, 397 
 Alexander Sarcophagus, xxiii, 445 
 Alexandrian library, i, 311 w. 
 Alphabet, introduction of, into Europe, 
 
 41 
 Altis, 154 
 Alyattes, 148 
 
 Amasis (Aahmes II), 145, 187, 450 
 Amazon, statue by Polycleitus, xxii, 
 
 385 
 Ameinias, 242, 311 
 Amenemhat III, 25 
 Amenhotep III, 25, 27 
 Ampe, 237 
 Amphictionic Council, 156, 261 «,, 
 
 427, 429, 430, 431 
 Amphictiony, Ionic, 79 
 Amphion, 32 
 Amphipolis, 235, 337, 338, 426 ; 
 
 Socrates at, 375 
 Amphissa, 431 
 Amphora, 'false-necked,* ix 
 Amyntas I, 424 ; II, 424 ; III, 424, 425 
 Anabasis of Xenophon, 399, 400 ; 
 
 extracts from, 400-403 
 Anacreon, 187, 197, 198-199, 469 
 Anaxagoras, 205, 308, 325, 331 ; 
 
 philosophy of, 324-325 ; and 
 
 Democritus, 369 
 Anaximander, 192, 204-205, 320 
 Anaximenes, 205 
 Ancona, 405 
 Androkides, 476 n. 
 Antalcidas, 393 
 
 Antalcidas, Peace of, 389, 393, 437 
 Antenor, 230 
 
 Antigone of Sophocles, 314, 358, 360 
 Antioch, statue representing the city, 
 
 4i6n. 
 Antiochos, sculptor, xx 
 
 484 
 
 Antiochus Kpiphanes, and the Athe- 
 nian Olympieion, 456 
 
 Antipater, 440 
 
 Antisthenes, 442 
 
 Apella, 93 
 
 Apelles, 444, 445 
 
 Aphaia, 231, 450 
 
 Aphetae, 258 
 
 Aphrodite, Cnidian, xxii, 417 ; of 
 Melos, 447, 448 
 
 Aphrodite, the Paphian goddess, iii 
 
 Aphrodite, temple of, on Mount Eryx, 
 453 
 
 Apollo, probable northern origin of, 
 58 ; the Delian statue, 152 n. ; 
 temple of, at Corinth, 216 w., 449 ; 
 throne of the image at Amyclae, 
 220, 221 ; statues of, 225 ; respect 
 of Persians for, 239 n. ; temple of, 
 at Phigaleia, 216, 217, 300, 453 ; 
 temple of, at Delphi, 450 ; temple 
 of, at Selinus, 450-451 ; temple of, 
 at Didyma, 451 
 
 Apollo, 'Averter of Pestilence,' 
 statue, 330 n. 
 
 Apollo Belvedere, 447, 448 
 
 Apollo Citharoedus, 419 
 
 Apollo Epikouros, 453 
 
 Apollo Saurocionos, 417, 418 
 
 Apollodorus, 421 
 
 ApoUonion, Selinus, 450-451 
 
 Apology of Plato, 377 
 
 Apoxyomenos, 444 
 
 ' Aqayuasha,' 26, 28, 29 
 
 Arbela tablet, 446 n. 
 
 Arcadian confederation, 396 
 
 Arcesilaus IV, 280 
 
 Archelaus, 421, 424 and n. 
 
 Archidamus, 328, 329 
 
 Archilochus, 163-164 
 
 Architecture, orders of Greek, 215- 
 217 
 
 Archons, 86 
 
 Archytas, 210, 407 
 
 Ardericca, 239 
 
 Ardys, 148 
 
 Areopagiticus of Isocrates, 437, 438- 
 439 
 
 Areopagus, 134, 181, 313; council of 
 the, 292 
 
 Argades, 87 
 
 Arginusae, 343 
 
 Argives, and Persian invasion, 257 ; 
 in Peloponnesian War, 338 ; Mace- 
 donian kings descended from, 423- 
 424 
 
 Argolis, Dorian invasion of, 83 
 
INDEX 
 
 Argos, Pelasgic, 34 
 
 Argos, southern, founded, 34 ; Dorian 
 occupation, 83 ; development, 123- 
 124 ; and sculpture, 225, 304, 308, 
 309 ; conquered by Sparta, 245 ; 
 in Peloponnesian War, 338 ; joins 
 league against Sparta, 392 
 
 Arimaspi, 192 
 
 Ariobarzanes, 399 
 
 Arion, 131, 166 
 
 Aristagoras, 205, 236, 243 
 
 Aristeas, 137, 192 
 
 Aristides, 243, 247-248, 265, 266, 287, 
 289, 291. 312, 436 
 
 Aristion, stele of, 226, 385 
 
 Aristippus, 442 
 
 Aristodemus, Dorian king, 91 
 
 Aristodemus, Messenian hero, 125 
 
 Aristogeiton, 176, 177 
 
 Aristomenes, 126 
 
 Aristophanes, xxi, 3 12 w., 313, 331, 333, 
 364-365, 366 ; works, 366-368 ; 
 and Cleon, 366-367 ; and Socrates, 
 367, 376-377 
 
 Aristoteles of Thera, 145 
 
 Aristotle, xxiii ; and the philosophy 
 of Anaxagoras, 325 ; on Euripi- 
 des, 357 ; on the Sophists, 2t2P '> 
 and theteachings of Socrates, Xl^'> 
 life, 443 
 
 Armour, Homeric, 13 
 
 Art, quality of ancient Cretan, 18 ; 
 connexion between Mycenaean and 
 Cretan, 20 
 
 Artabanus, 249, 290 
 
 Artabazanes, 248 
 
 Artabazus, Persian commander, 268, 
 270, 271, 272 
 
 Artabazus, satrap, 427 
 
 Artaphemes, 234, 236, 238 
 
 Artaxerxes I, 290, 293 
 
 Artaxerxes II, 343, 389-393. 397 
 
 Artaxerxes III, 427, 433 n. 
 
 Artemis, Delian statue, xv ; Orthia, 
 temple of, loi ; temple of, at 
 Bphesus, 215 n., 419, 452 ; Naxian 
 statue, 223 ; Brauronian, temple 
 of, 301 
 
 Artemisia of Halicarnassus, 254, 265, 
 266 «., 267, 320 
 
 Artemisia, wif e of Mausolus, 420, 443 
 
 Artemisium, 258, 259 
 
 Ascalon, 148 
 
 Aspasia, 296, 331 
 
 Assurbanipal (Sardanapalos), 142 
 
 Assyria, in the Dark Age, 112 ; kings, 
 eighth to sixth century, 150 
 
 Astarte, iii ; temple of, on Mount 
 
 Eryx, 453 
 Atalanta, supposed statue of, 419 
 Athene, and tutelage of Athens, 32 ; 
 remains of pediment of old temple 
 of, on Acropolis, 228 ; remains of 
 temple of, at Aegina, 231-233 ; in 
 Marsyas group, xix-xx, 309 ; temple 
 of, at Aegina, 450 ; temple of, at 
 Acragas, 451 ; temple of, on Sunion, 
 
 457 
 Athene Lemma, xix, 298, 300, 307 
 Athene Nike, temple of, 301, 457 
 Athene Parthenos, xx, 302, 307, 308 ; 
 
 shield of, xviii 
 Athene Polias, temple of, 297, 455 
 Athene Promachos, 298-300 
 Athenians, racial origin, 78 ; at 
 Plataea, 269, 271, 272 ; character, 
 contrasted with that of Spartans, 
 285-286 
 Athens, in pre-Dorian times, 31-32 ; 
 and Dorians, 76, 85 ; Codrus and, 
 85 ; under archons, 86 ; becomes 
 capital of Attica, 87 ; develop- 
 ment of the state, 87, 134-142 ; 
 division of the community into 
 tribes, 87 ; social order, 88 ; Cylon's 
 insurrection, 136 ; Dracon's laws, 
 138-139; Solon's constitution, 139- 
 140 ; under Peisistratidae, 173- 
 177 ; return of Alcmaeonidae, 177 ; 
 Cleisthenes' reforms, 180 ; sacked 
 by Persians, 264 ; Persians' second 
 occupation, and destruction, 269, 
 270 ; rise of the Empire, 283-296 ; 
 and Confederacy of Delos, 287- 
 
 296 ; Themistocles and, 289-290, 
 
 297 ; building of walls, 289-290, 
 297 ; breaks with Sparta, and joins 
 with Argos, 293 ; assists Egypt, 
 293 ; war with Corinth and Aegina, 
 
 293 ; routed at Tanagra, 294 ; 
 truce with Sparta, 294 ; war 
 with Persia renewed, 294 ; Long 
 Walls built, 294, 297 ; truce with 
 Persia, 294 ; defeated at Coroneia, 
 294 ; and Thirty Years' Peace, 
 
 294 ; and her temples, 300 ; in 
 Peloponnesian War, 326^-345 ; the 
 great plague, 330 ; the Long 
 Walls demolished, 344 ; under the 
 Spartan supremacy, 388 ; joins 
 league against Sparta, 392 ; re- 
 gains her power, 394 ; during the 
 Theban supremacy, 396, 397 ; and 
 the rise of Caria and Macedonia, 
 
 48s 
 
INDEX 
 
 422 ; Philip of Macedon and, 426, 
 429, 430, 431,432; the ' Social War, ' 
 426-427 ; in third Sacred War, 
 42^, 429 ; Thebes joins, against 
 Philip II, 431 ; and the defeat of 
 Chaeroneia, 431-432 ; appeals to 
 Persia, 433 n. ; finally over- 
 whelmed at Crannon, 434 n. ; atti- 
 tude in the conflict between Alex- 
 ander and Thebes, 436 
 
 Athos, 249-250 
 
 Atossa, 189, 248 
 
 Atreus, tomb of, 10; Treasury of, 11, 
 216 n. ; succeeds Eurystheus, 75 
 
 Attains, general of Philip II, 433, 434, 
 
 435 
 
 Attains, king of Pergamon, 447 
 
 Attica, resistance of, to conquest, 31 ; 
 Dorians and, 76, 82 ; Athens be- 
 comes capital of, 87 ; origin of the 
 name, 87 ; in Peloponnesian War, 
 329, 330, 332. 344 
 
 Atticus, Herodes, 301 
 
 Augeas, 153 
 
 Axe, double, xi, xii, 49-50 
 
 Baai,, 109 
 
 Babylonia, conquest of, by Cyrus, 187 
 Bacchae of Euripides, 362 
 Bacchante, statue by Scopas, 419 
 Bacchiadae, 129 
 Bacchylides, 199, 279 
 Bagoas, 433 n. 
 
 Banqueters of Aristophanes, 366 
 Bare a, 145 
 
 Bardyia, or Smerdis, 188 
 Basilica, Poseidonia, xv, 454 
 Bathycles, 221 
 Batrachomyomachia, 158 
 Battiadae, 145 
 Battus, 145, 280 
 Bermius, 424 
 
 Bhryges, or Phrygians, Aryan origin 
 of, 7 
 
 '^■'W^HSTfnSistophanes, 368 
 
 Boeotia, revolt of, against Athens, 294 
 
 Boeotian league, 294 
 
 Boeotians, 81 
 
 Boges, 287 
 
 Boule, in Homer, 67 ; Athenian, in- 
 stituted, 140 ; new Athenian, 180 
 
 Branchidae, statues, 223 ; temple of 
 the, 451-452 ; Xerxes and Alex- 
 ander and, 452 
 
 Brasidas, 337, 338, 426 
 
 Brauro, 346 
 
 486 
 
 Bronze, in ancient Troy, 6, 7 ; intro- 
 duced by Achaeans, 30 ; imported 
 from Italy, 473 « 
 
 Brute the Trojan, 2 
 
 Bucchero, 19, 24, 471 
 
 Bull, the, in Cretan art, 20 ; in Cretan 
 religion, 20, 23, 56 
 
 Bull-god, identified with Zeus, 56 
 
 Byzantium, 131; revolt against Athens, 
 296 ; sea-fight at, 343 ; in ' Social 
 War,' 426 ; and Philip II, 431 
 
 Cadmus, i, 32-33 
 
 Caiadas, 126 
 
 Calamis, 230-231, 308, 330 «., 417 
 
 Calaureia, 440 
 
 Caligula, and statue of Olympian 
 Zeus, 308 
 
 Callias, 294 
 
 Callicrates, 302 
 
 Callimachus, 242 
 
 Callinus, 158 
 
 Callistratus, 177 
 
 Cambyses, father of Cyrus, 184 
 
 Cambyses, son of Cyrus, 187, 188 
 
 Canachus, 226 
 
 Candaules, 147 
 
 * Canon,' of Polycleitus, 384 
 
 Cantharus, 297 
 
 Cappadocians, 8 
 
 Capture of Miletus of Phrynichus, 310 
 
 Carchemish, 451 
 
 Caria, 343 «., 422 
 
 Carrey, drawings of the Parthenon 
 by. 306, 307 
 
 Carthage, founded by Phoenicians, 
 109; demolished, no; power in 
 Western Mediterranean, 274 ; and 
 Sicily, 403-408 ; invaded by Syra- 
 cuse, 408 
 
 Cassander, 436 
 
 Castalian Fount, xv, 157 
 
 Castor and Pollux (?), statues, 447 
 
 ' Catalogue of Ships,' 83 n. 
 
 Catane, 118 
 
 Cecrops, 31, 32 
 
 Ceos, 199 
 
 Cephala, excavations at, 19 
 
 Cephisodotus, 416 
 
 Cerameicus, xxi, 98, 330 
 
 Chabrias, 426 
 
 Chaeroneia, 422, 431-432, 434, 439 
 
 Chalcedon, 116 
 
 Chalcidian Confederacy, 426, 428 
 
 Chalcis, 128, 129, 427 
 
 Chaldaeans, and astronomy, 202 n. 
 
 Charaxus, 167, 170 
 
INDEX 
 
 Chates, general, 426, 427, 431, 432 
 
 Chares, sculptor, 444, 446 
 
 Chares of Teichiussa, xvi, 223 
 
 Charilaus, 91 
 
 Charioteer of Delphi, 231, 308, 417 
 
 Charondas, 127 
 
 Cheirisophus, 391 
 
 ' Chest of Cypselus,' 129 
 
 Chetasor. 8 
 
 ma, possibility of commerce of, 
 
 with ancient Troy, 6 «. 
 Chionides, 366 
 Chios, 288, 426 
 Chiusi, 473 
 
 Choephoroe of Aeschylus, 317, 318 
 Choerilus, 195 
 
 Chronology of ' mythical ' age, i , 72-73 
 Cimmerians, xv, 61, 148 
 Cimon, father of Miltiades, 243 
 Cimon, son of Miltiades, 244, 248, 287, 
 
 289, 290, 291, 292, 294, 295, 296, 
 
 297. 298, 301, 307, 311, 312, 456 
 Cimon's Wall and Gate, Athens, 297, 
 
 298 
 Cineas, 423 
 Cition, 294 
 
 City, development of the, 84, 85 
 Clazomenae, xvi ; sarcophagus, 224 
 Clearchus, artist, 220 n. 
 Clearchus, Spartan harmost, 389, 390 
 Cleisthenes, Athenian reformer, 132, 
 
 178, 180, 280 
 Cleisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon, 132 
 Cleitus, 436 
 
 Cleob^T^JUa^ 
 
 Cleombrotus, regent, 244, 264, 268 w. 
 
 Cleombrotus, king, 395 
 
 Cleomenes, 178, 236, 243-244 
 
 Cleon, 326, 331, 333-334. 336, 337. 
 338, 366, 367 
 
 Cleopatra, a consort of Philip II, 433 
 
 Cleophon, 344 
 
 Clouds of Aristophanes, 367 
 
 Clytaemnestra, Tomb of, 11 n. 
 
 Cnidus, battle of, 389, 392; and 
 statue of Aphrodite, 417 ; head of 
 the Demeter statue found at, 419 
 
 Cnossus, excavations at, 18-22 ; sack 
 of, 27 
 
 Codrus, 76, 85 
 
 Coins, portraiture in, 383, 464 ; first 
 use of, and earliest types, 462 ; 
 artistic advance in, 462 ; Syra- 
 cusan, 462 ; Athenian, 462 ; per- 
 fection in manufacture, 463 ; early 
 Spartan iron money, 463 ; of 
 
 Sicily and Southern Italy, 463 ; 
 of Philip of Macedon, 463 ; of 
 Alexander the Great, 463, See 
 Plates I-VII, and explanations, 
 pp. 464-470 
 
 Colonies, debt of Greece to, 113 ; 
 influence upon patriotism, 114- 
 115 ; affection of, for the mother- 
 country, 115 
 
 Colonization, Hellenic, causes that 
 produced, 114; influence on the 
 national history, 115 
 
 Colonus, 358, 360 
 
 Colophon, 122, 197 
 
 Colossus of Rhodes, 444, 446 
 
 Comedy, Old Attic, 364 
 
 Comedy, origin and development of, 
 365-366 
 
 ' Concordia ' temple, Acragas, 451 
 
 Confederacy of Delos, 287-288 
 
 Conon, 344, 389, 391, 392, 393 
 
 Corcyra, 118, 123, 129, 130, 296, 327, 
 328, 332, 334-335. 426, 464 
 
 Corcyraean oligarchs, massacre of, 
 
 334-335 
 Corinna, 278, 279 
 
 Corinth, xiv ; Dorian occupation, 
 83 ; development, 84, 123 ; under 
 tyrannies, 1 29-1 31 ; in Pelopon- 
 nesian War, 327, 328, 335 ; joins 
 league against Sparta, 392 ; 
 Philip II at, 433 ; Alexander the 
 Great at, 435 
 Corinthian order, 215-216, 217 
 Coroebus, architect, 302 
 Coroebus, athlete, 123 
 Coroneia, xxii, 294, 337, 392 
 Cos, 83, 426 
 Cosmoi, no 
 Council of Ten, 345 
 Crannon, 434 n., 440 
 Crates, 366 
 Cratinus, 366 
 Cratylus, 409 
 Cresilas, xxi, 383 
 
 Cretan civiUzation, early, 18 ; art, 
 18, 20, 21 ; inscriptions, 19, 20, 
 39 ; women's dress, 21 ; naval 
 power, 22 ; religion, and the bull, 
 20, 23, 56 ; script, 38-39 ; numerical 
 symbols, 39 ; deity, the first, 52-54. 
 See also Crete 
 Crete, and Vaphio cups, 18 ; excava- 
 tions in, 18-22 ; human sacrifice 
 in, 23 ; intercourse with Egypt, 
 24-26 ; writing in, 38 ; Dorians 
 invade, 82 ; in the Dark Age, no 
 
 487 
 
INDEX 
 
 Crimea, «= Cimmeria, 148 ; Pericles at, 
 296 
 
 Crimisus, battle of, 407 
 
 Crissa (Cirrha), 156, 157 
 
 Crissaean plain, 156, 157, 427, 431 
 
 Critias, 344, 345 n. 
 
 Critius, 230 
 
 Crito, 378 
 
 Crito of Plato, 377 
 
 Croesus, 149, 182-184, 451, 452 ; 
 column, xvi, 182 
 
 Cross, sacred, 51 
 
 Croton, 121, 122, 474; Pythagoras at, 
 209 ; and the Helen of Zeuxis, 421 ; 
 temple of Hera I^acinia near, 454 
 
 Crypteia, 90 
 Ctesias, 390 n. 
 Ctesiphon, 439 
 Cimaxa, 390 
 ' Cup-bearer,' 20, 25 
 Curetes, 22 
 Cyaxares, 148 
 Cyclic poets, 62, 157 
 Cyclops of Euripides, 317 w., 362 
 Cylon of Athens, 136 
 Cylon of Croton, 210 
 Cyme, Aeolian, and Buboean, 117 
 Cyme (Cumae), in Italy, 76, 117, 277, 
 474; Daedalus legend and, 117; 
 Hiero and, 277 
 Cynaegeirus, 242 
 Cynic philosophy, 443 
 Cynossema, 343 
 Cypria, 157 
 Cyprus, in the Dark Age, iio-iii ; 
 
 early pottery in, 472 and n. 
 Cypselus, 129 ; ' chest ' of, 129, 220 
 Cyrenaica, 145 
 Cyrene, 123, 145, 293 
 Cyropaedeia of Xenophon, 399 
 Cyrus the Great, 183-184 ; takes 
 Babylon, 187 ; death, 187 ; tomb, 
 
 193 
 Cyrus the younger, 343, 389, 390, 391 
 Cythera, 337 
 Cyzicus, 343 ; coinage of, 463 
 
 Dabdai^idab, 222 
 
 Daedalus, 18; and Cyme in Italy, 
 117 ; and statuary, 222 
 
 Damasippus, 369 
 
 Danaides of Aeschylus, 313 
 
 Danauna, 26 
 
 Daphnae, xvi, 143, 144, 475 
 
 Darius I, xvii, 188-191, 193, 451 ; 
 tomb of, 194 ; invades Greece, 
 234-243 ; death of, 248 | 
 
 488 
 
 Darius II, 343 
 
 Darius III, 433 n» 
 
 Dark Age, in Egypt, 25 ; in Greece, 
 74-107 
 
 Datis, 234, 238 
 
 Deceleia, 340 
 
 Deigma, Athens, 298 
 
 Deinomenes, 280 
 
 Delion, 332, 337 ; Socrates at, 375 
 
 Delos, XV, 152, 239 ; Confederacy 
 of, 287-288 
 
 Delphi, dedication in temple at, in 
 honour of Plataea, 272 ; Alex- 
 ander I's golden statue at, 424 ; and 
 the Sacred Wars, 427 
 
 Delphic oracle, and Dorians, 81 ; and 
 Persians, 263 ; in Peloponnesian 
 War, 328 ; and Socrates, 371 
 
 Demades, 432 
 
 Demaratus, 238 n., 244, 254 
 
 Demarete, 275, 276, 277 n. 
 
 Demareteia, 276, Plate IV 
 
 Demeter statue, head of, by Scopas (?), 
 419 
 
 Demeter, temple of, at Paesttmi, 217, 
 
 454 
 
 Demetrius Poliorcetes, 448 
 
 Demiurgi, 88 
 
 Democritus, 369-370 
 
 Demosthenes, 335, 336, 337, 341, 342, 
 439-441 ; and Philip II, 423, 427 n., 
 428, 429, 430, 431, 432, 434 ; at 
 Chaeroneia, 432 ; and Alexander 
 the Great, 435, 436 ; extract from 
 the Third Philippic, 441 ; extract 
 from De Corona, 441 
 
 Dercyllidas, 391 
 
 Deucalion, i, 255 
 
 Diadoumenos, 384 
 
 Dicasteries, 308 
 
 Dictaean cave, 48 
 
 Didyma, 237; temple of the Bran- 
 chidae at, 451-452 
 
 Diogenes, 435, 443 
 
 Dion, 406, 407 
 
 Dionysia, Great, 175 
 
 Dionysius I, tyrant of Syracuse, 393, 
 394. 396, 405. 406 
 
 Dionysius II, 406, 407 ; and Plato, 
 406 
 
 Dionysus, theatre of, Athens, 301, 
 310 ; festivals of, and beginnings 
 of Attic drama, 309 ; Alexander 
 the Great and, 436 
 
 Dipoenus, 223 
 
 Dipylon, 98 
 
 ' Dipylon ' antiquities, 98-101 
 
INDEX 
 
 Discoholos, XX, 304, 309 
 Dorian invasion, i n., 80-83 
 Dorians, in Homer, 64 ; origin, 75, 
 
 81 ; alliance with Heracleidae, 75 ; 
 repelled in Attica, 76, 82, 85 ; and 
 oracle of Delphi, 81 ; religion, 81 ; 
 found Sparta, 82 ; invade Crete, 
 
 82 ; invade Argolis, 83 ; at My- 
 cenae and Tiryns, 83 ; occupy 
 Argos, Corinth, Megara, Aegina, 
 Rhodes, and Cos, 83 ; found 
 Halicarnassus and Cnidus, 83 ; 
 contempt for fortifications, 89 ; 
 lack of art instinct, 96 
 
 Doric order, 216, 217 
 
 Doris, 81 
 
 Dorkis, 285 
 
 Dorus, 75 
 
 Doryphoros, 384 
 
 Double axe, xi, xii, 49-50 
 
 Dracon, 138 ; laws of, 138-139 
 
 Drama, beginnings of Attic, 175, 
 309 ; development of, 310, 355- 
 356, 365 ; comedy, 364-366 
 
 Dress, Minoan and Mycenaean, 12, 
 14-15, 458 ; Homeric or Achaean, 
 14-15, 458-459 ; ' Dipylon,' 99- 
 100, loi, 459 ; the ' Doric chiton,' 
 459 ; early Athenian, 459-460 ; 
 later Athenian, 460-461 ; in ' clas- 
 sical ' statuary, 460-461 
 
 Dying Gaul (or Dying Gladiator), 447 
 
 Dyrrhachium — see Epidamnus 
 
 Ecci,KSiA, 135, 181 
 
 Eelios, 117 
 
 Egesta — see Segesta 
 
 Egypt, intercourse with Crete, 24- 
 26 ; and Mycenae, 26-27 '» approxi- 
 mate chronology of the ancient 
 civilization, 72-73 ; in the Dark 
 Age, IH-112 ; Aethiopian domina- 
 tion, 112 ; Assyrian domination, 
 112; Psamtik liberates, 143; re- 
 ceives Greek settlers, 143 ; Nebu- 
 cadnezar's invasion, 144 ; astro- 
 nomical science in, 149 tz. ; kings, 
 eighth to sixth century, 150 ; 
 under Aahmes, 187 ; conquered by 
 Persia, 187, 188, 248 ; helped by 
 Athens, 293 
 
 Egyptians of Aeschylus, 313 
 
 Eion, 267, 287, 337 
 
 Eirene, statue by Cephisodotus, 416 
 
 Elateia, 431 
 
 Eleans, Sparta and, 392 | 
 
 Eleatic philosophy, and Socratic con- 
 ception of the divine Will, 322 
 
 Electra of Sophocles, 318, 359 ; of 
 Euripides, 318, 363-364 
 
 Electron coinage, 147, 462 
 
 Elephantine, xv, 320 
 
 Eleusinian Mysteries, 302, 311 
 
 Eleusis, 140 ; Hall of Mysteries at, 
 300, 302 
 
 Elgin, lyord, and Parthenon sculp- 
 tures, 306 
 
 Elpinice, sister of Cimon, 296 
 
 Elymi, 118, 453 
 
 Embassy of Aeschines, 439 
 
 Empedocles, 137, 322-323 ; philo- 
 sophy of, 323-324 
 
 Emporion, at the Peiraeus, 298 
 
 Epameinondas, 124, 394, 395, 396, 
 
 397» 398 
 Ephesus, temples of Artemis at, 182, 
 
 217, 452, 453 
 Ephetae, 134, 138 n. 
 Ephialtes, Athenian politician, 292, 
 
 313 
 
 Ephialtes, traitor at Thermopylae, 
 261 
 
 Ephors, 90, 93 
 
 Epicharmus, 365 
 
 Epicurus, 369, 443 
 
 Epidamnus (Dyrrhachium), 130, 296, 
 327. 328 
 
 Epigoni, raze Thebes, 33 
 
 Epimenides, 137 
 
 Epipolae, 341 n., 342, 405 
 
 Epirus, the women of, 433 
 
 Eratosthenes, and ' prehistoric ' chro- 
 nology, I 
 
 Erechtheion, 31 n., 215 n., 300, 307, 
 
 455 
 Erechtheus, 31, 32, 455 
 Erechtheus, ' house ' of, 31 n., 306, 
 
 455 
 Eretria, 128, 129, 239 
 Eros of Praxiteles, 417, 418 
 Eryx, Mount, 453 
 Etruria, and Greek pottery, 473-474; 
 
 metalwork of, 473 n. 
 ' Etruscan ' pottery, 473 
 Etruscans, 29, 117 
 Euboea, revolt of, against Athens, 
 
 294 ; in Peloponnesian War, 343 
 Eubulus, 426, 428, 429 n. 
 Eucleides, 442 
 Eugammon, 145 
 Eumenes, 447 
 Eumenides, 360 and n. 
 Eumenides of Aeschylus, 312, 317, 318 
 
 489 
 
INDEX 
 
 Eunomia of TjttaevLS, i6o 
 
 Eupatridae, 88, 134 
 
 EupoKs, 366 
 
 Euripides, xxi, 311 m., 325, 346, 357- 
 
 358, 366 ; estimate of his work, 361- 
 
 362 ; life, 362 ; works, 362-364 
 Euryalus, fort, 405 
 Eurybiadas, 264, 265 
 Eurymedon, Athenian admiral, 340, 
 
 34i> 352 
 Eurymedon, battle of, 288, 290, 297 
 Eurystheus, 75 
 Euxine, colonization of. and trade 
 
 with, 1 1 5-1 16 
 Evagoras, 344, 393 
 Evans, Sir Arthur, excavations in 
 
 Crete by, 18-22 
 Exhortations of Solon, 161, 162 
 
 FarnESK Bull, 419, 446 
 Fikellura ware, xiv, 473 
 Fire-bearing Prometheus of Aeschylus, 
 
 316 
 Four Hundred, council, 343 
 Fran9ois Vase, xiv, xxiv, 43, 475 
 Frogs of Aristophanes, 312 n., 314, 
 
 315 «., 368 
 Furies, Areopagus and the, 134 
 
 Gades, 117 
 
 Galatia, 447 
 
 Ganymede group, 443 
 
 Gargaphia, 270 
 
 Gela, 120, 311 
 
 Geleontes, 87 
 
 Gelo, 120, 256, 275, 276 
 
 Georgi, 88 
 
 Geraneia, passes of, 293 
 
 Gerusia, 92 
 
 Goethe, and the ' Homeric age,* 62 
 
 Golden Crown, controversy of the, 
 
 439, 440 
 Gorgias, 370, 437 
 Gorgo, 243 n. 
 
 Greece, origin of the name, 35 n. 
 Gyges, 147, 148 
 Gylippus, 341, 342 
 
 Hadria, 405 
 
 Hagia Triada, excavations at, 19 ; 
 
 sarcophagus foimd at, 22 
 Halicarnassus, 320 ; Mausoleum of, 
 
 420 
 Hall of the Double Axes, 19 
 Hall of Mysteries, Eleusis, 300, 302 
 ' Hallstatt civilization,' 33 n., 34 
 Hamilcar, 275, 276, 404 
 
 490 
 
 Hannibal, general, 404 
 
 Hannibal the Great, 454 
 
 ' Harbour, The,' Athens, 297 
 
 Harmodius, 176 
 
 Harpagus, 186 
 
 Harpalus, 440 
 
 * Harpy tomb,' 224 
 
 Hatshepsut, Queen, 25 
 
 Hecabe, Queen, 8 
 
 Hecataeus, 192, 205, 319, 320 
 
 Hecatompedos, 302, 455 
 
 Helen of Zeuxis, 421, 454 
 
 Helena of Euripides, 364 
 
 Heliaea, 140 
 
 Hellanicus, 319, 320 
 
 Hellas, 35 ; becomes the general name 
 
 for all lands inhabited by Greeks, 35 
 Hellen, 34, 74 
 
 Hellenes, Aryan origin, 4, 34 
 Hellenic script, 41 
 Hellenica of Xenophon, 400 
 Hellespont, Xerxes and, 250 
 Helots, 90, 94 
 Hera, Samian statue, 232 ; statue 
 
 by Polycleitus, 384 ; temple of, 
 
 at Olympia, 449 ; temple of, at 
 
 Samos, 454 
 Hera Lacinia, temple of, at Acragas, 
 
 451 ; temple of,nearCroton, 451, 454 
 Heracleidae, ' Return ' of, 75 
 Heracleitus, 205-207 ; Plato and the 
 
 doctrines of, 409 
 Heracles, 75, 117, 423 ; and Olympic 
 
 Games, 153 ; statue by Lysippus, 
 
 444 
 
 Heraion, Olympia, 449 
 
 Hermes, mutilation of the busts of, at 
 Athens, 340 
 
 Hermes of Praxiteles, 417, 449 
 
 Hermocrates, 340 
 
 Hermodorus, 205 
 
 Herodotus, xxi ; on events in the 
 rise of Persia, 182-191 ; his 
 geography, 192-193 ; story of 
 the Persian invasions, 234-273 ; 
 at Thurii, 295, 320 ; life, 320 ; 
 value as historian, 321 ; on the 
 claim of Alexander I, 423 ; story 
 of the Argive origin of Macedonian 
 kings, 423-424 
 
 Herostratus, 452 
 
 Hesiod, date, 62, 102-103 ; and the 
 ' heroic age,' 62 ; birthplace, 103 ; 
 contest with Homer, 103 ; works, 
 103 ; compared with Homer, 104 ; 
 the Erga, 103-107 ; the Theo- 
 I gonia, 103, 104, 107, 316 
 
INDEX 
 
 Hiero I, 120, 231, 275, 277, 279, 280, 
 311,314.474 
 
 Hiero II, 408 
 
 Hieronymus, 408 
 
 Himera, 118, 146, 275, 276, 404, 408 
 
 Himilco, 404, 405 
 
 Hipparchus, 176, 177 
 
 Hippias, 176-178, 237, 239, 244, 423 
 
 Hippias, the Sophist, 371 
 
 Hippocrates, Athenian general, 337 
 
 Hippocrates, physician, 330 n., 470 
 
 Hippodamus, 295, 298 
 
 Hissarlik, Hill of, 5 
 
 Histiaeus, 191, 235 
 
 Hittite script, 8 
 
 Hittites, and ancient Troy, 8 
 
 Homer, transmutation of the gods 
 in, 59 ; inconsistencies in, 61 n. ; 
 possible date, 62 ; birthplace, 62- 
 63 ; nationaUty, 63 ; and Hesiod, 
 63 ; local of the poems, 63-64 ,* 
 so-called tomb, 64 ; portrays age 
 of the Achaean supremacy, 64- 
 70 ; social system in, 66-67 »* 
 houses and palaces in, 67-68 ; 
 art in, 68 ; affection and kinship 
 in, 68 ; love in, 68-69 ; and the 
 ' Shield of Achilles,' 70 
 
 ' Homeric age,' 60-71 ; authenticity 
 of, 60-62 
 
 Hophra (Apries), 144, 145 
 
 Hopletes, 87 
 
 Horns, religious symbol, 49 
 
 Horse, introduction into Greece, 13 ; 
 mto Egypt, 13 
 
 Hydarnes, 261 
 
 Hyksos, 25 
 
 Hymn to Apollo, 128 
 
 Hypnos, xxii 
 
 Hypsipyle of Euripides, 311 
 
 Hyria, 27 
 
 Hysiae, 123 
 
 Hystaspes, i88 
 
 lAPYGiANS, Messapian, 27 
 lavones, 78 
 Ibycus, 187, 197-198 
 Ictinus, 297, 300, 302, 383, 453 
 Idol- worship, 218-221 
 Iliad, authenticity of, 61-62 
 Iliad, Little, 157 
 Ilium, 251 
 
 Illyria, ravaged by Philip II, 430 
 Illyrians, 80 
 Imbros, 242 
 
 ' Immortals,' at Thermopylae, 261 ; 
 at Plataea, 271 
 
 Inachus, i 
 
 Inaros, 293 
 
 Ion, 75. 87 
 
 Ion of Euripides, 362 
 
 Ionia, colonization of, 76 ; develop- 
 ment of, 79, 128 ; revolt of, 191, 234 
 et seq. 
 
 lonians, origin of, 75 ; migration of, 
 76, 78-80 ; Athenians related to, 78 
 
 Ionic Amphictiony, 79 
 
 Ionic order, 216, 217 
 
 Iphicrates, 397, 426 
 
 Iphigeneia in Aulis of Euripides, 362, 
 
 364 
 Iphigeneia in Tauris, 362, 363 «., 364 
 Iphitus, 123, 153 
 Iran, 184 
 Iron, in ancient Troy, 7 w. ; among 
 
 Aegaean peoples, 30; Achaeans and, 
 
 30 ; Dorians and, 82 ; mentioned 
 
 in Homer, 61 n. 
 Isagoras, 178 
 Isocrates, xxiii, 394, 426, 428, 430, 
 
 437-439. 441. 443 
 Issa, 405 
 
 Isthmian Games, 156 
 Istone, 335 
 Italy, Greek colonies in, 121-123 ; 
 
 Greek pottery in, 473, 474, 476 
 Ithome, Mount, siege of Messenians 
 
 on, 292 
 
 J A SON of Pherae, 395, 423 
 Jeremiah, 144-145 
 
 Kai,i,irhoE, 175, 176 «. 
 
 Kamares ware, xiii, 472 
 
 Kephtiu, 25-26 
 
 Khyan, 25 
 
 ' King's Peace,' 389, 393, 437 
 
 Knights of Aristophanes, 366 
 
 Knosos — see Cnossus 
 
 Labotas, 91 
 
 Labrys, xi, xii, 49-50 
 
 Labyrinth of King Minos, 18, 19 ; 
 
 Egyptian, 25 ; at Clusium, 29 n. 
 Lacedaemon — see Sparta 
 Lade, 237 
 
 ' Lady of Wild Creatures,' 52 
 Laios of Aeschylus, 314 
 Lamachus, 340 
 Lampsacus, 291, 325 
 Language, Aegaean, 37 ; Pelasgic, 
 
 37 
 Laocoon, statue, 419, 446 
 Larisa, 34 
 
 491 
 
INDEX 
 
 Lekythi, ix, xxiv, 476 
 
 Lemnos, 242, 300 
 
 I^enaia, 175 
 
 Leochares, 443, 448 
 
 Leonidas, xviii, 244 ; at Thermo- 
 pylae, 260-263 
 
 Leontini, 118, 339 
 
 lyeotychidas, 244, 273, 285 
 
 Lesbos, 128, 288, 426 
 
 Lesche, Cnidian, 301 
 
 Leucas, 130 
 
 ieucippus, 369 
 
 Leuctra, 389, 395, 423 
 
 Lion Gate, at Mycenae, 10, 216 n. 
 
 Long Walls, Athens, 297, 344 
 
 Loosing of Prometheus of Aeschylus, 
 316 
 
 Lucumones, 474 
 
 Lyceum, Athens, 443 
 
 Lycia, annexed by Mausolus, 427 
 
 * Lycian Sarcophagus,' 445 n. 
 
 Lycian writing, 40 
 
 Lycians, Aryan origin of, 7 
 
 Lycius, 382 
 
 Lycomedes, 287 
 
 Lycurgus, 91, 92, 93 «., 123 
 
 Lydia, 146-150 
 
 Lydians, Aryan origin of, 7 
 
 Lygdamis, 320 
 
 Lysander, 344, 345, 388, 389, 392 
 and n. 
 
 Lysias, xxi, 295, 320, 345 w., 377, 
 
 394 
 Lysicrates, monument of, 216 
 Lysippus, 443-445, 446 
 Lysistrata of Aristophanes, 368 
 
 Macedonia, during Persian supre- 
 macy, 190 ; Theban supremacy, 
 397, 422 ; rises into power, 422 ; 
 relationship to Hellas, 423 ; early 
 inhabitants, 423 ; development of 
 the nation, 423 ; claim of the 
 royal line to Hellenic descent, 
 423 ; sways Hellas, 434 
 
 Maeonians, 147 
 
 Magi, 185 
 
 Magna Graecia, 121-123 
 
 Magnes, 366 
 
 Magnesia, 291 
 
 Mago, 405 
 
 Malchus, 274 
 
 Mandrocles, 421 
 
 Mantineia, battles at, 338, 398 ; razed 
 by Sparta, 393 ; rebuilt, 396 ; sides 
 with Sparta, 398 
 
 Marathon, battle of, 239-243 
 
 492 
 
 Mardonius, 237-238, 248, 249, 254, 
 264, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272 n. 
 Margites, 158 
 Marsyas, statue, xix, xx, 304, 307, 
 
 309 
 
 Masistes, 254 
 
 Masistius, 270, 272 n. 
 
 Massagetae, 187 
 
 Massalia, 122 
 
 Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, 420, 443 
 
 Mausolus, 420, 422, 427 
 
 Medea of Buripides, 362, 363 n. 
 
 Media, kings of, in eighth to sixth 
 century, 150 
 
 Megabates, 236 
 
 Megabazus, 191, 235, 424 
 
 Megacles, archon, 136 
 
 Megacles, subject of Pindar's ode, 
 xviii, 280 
 
 Megalopolis, 396, 453 
 
 Megara, 116, 118 ; under tyrannies, 
 1 31-132 ; Theognis and, 195- 
 196; Treasure-house of , at Delphi, 
 214 n. ', Athenian protectorate 
 over, 293 ; revolts against Athens, 
 294 ; Athens surrenders claims 
 upon, 294 ; in Peloponnesian War, 
 328, 336 
 
 Megara, Hyblaean, 118 
 
 Megistias, 261 n. 
 
 ' Meidias ' vase, xx 
 
 Melesias, 295 
 
 Melos, 338-339, 448 
 
 Memphis, captured by Greeks, 293 
 
 Mena, 24 
 
 Mernmadae, 147 
 
 Messene, 125 n., 396 
 
 Messenian wars, 124-126 
 
 Messenians, siege on Mount Ithome, 
 292 ; in Peloponnesian War, 335, 
 336 ; expelled from Naupactus, 
 392 ; return of, 396 
 
 Metalwork, Mycenaean, 16 ; Etruscan, 
 473 n. 
 
 Metapontion, 122, 210 
 
 Methone, 427 
 
 Metiochus, 242 
 
 Micciades, 224 
 
 Micon, xvii 
 
 Midas, 147 ; Gardens of, 424 
 
 Miletus, 202, 237, 296 
 
 Milo, 210 
 
 Miltiades, the elder, 174 
 
 Miltiades, the younger, xvii, 174, 
 191, 289, 307 ; at Marathon, 240, 
 242 ; death of, 244 ; and Lemnos, 
 242, 300 
 
INDEX 
 
 Mimnermus, i6o 
 
 Minoa, 24 
 
 Minoan civilization — see Cretan 
 
 civilization, &c. 
 Minos the Cretan, 2, 18, 23, 24, 25 
 Minos, son of Zeus, 23, 56 
 Minos, the Throne of, 19 
 Minotaur myth, 22, 23 
 Mnesicles, 301 
 ' Mourners, the,' 445 
 Munychia, 297 
 Mycale, battle of, 272-273 
 Mycale, Mount, 79 
 Mycenae, excavations at, 9-12 ; 
 
 decline, and destruction, 9-10, 27 ; 
 
 tombs at, 10-12 ; intercourse with 
 
 Egypt, 26-27 
 Mycenaean pottery, 7, 471, 472, 
 
 473 ; dress, 12, 14-15 
 Myrcinus, 235 
 
 Myron, xix, xx, 226, 304, 309, 382 
 Mysians, Aryan origin of, 7 
 My son, 133 
 ' Mythical' age, i, 2 
 Mytilene, 128, 332, 333, 334 
 Myus, 291 
 
 Nabonid, 1 86 
 
 Naucraries, 88 
 
 Naucratis, 143 
 
 Naupactus, 75, 292, 392 
 
 Naxos, 118, 288 
 
 Neapolis, 405 
 
 Nebucadkezar, 144 
 
 Necho, 143-144, 451 
 
 Nemean Games, 156 
 
 Neoptolemus, 433 
 
 Nereid Monument, 385 
 
 Nericon, 130 
 
 Nesiotes, 230 
 
 Nicandra, xv 
 
 Nicias, 334, 336, 338, 340, 341, 342 
 
 Nicias, Peace of, 326, 338, 367 
 
 Nicomedes, 417 
 
 Nike of Paeonius, 309, 336-337, 448 
 
 Nike of Samothrace, 448 
 
 Nike, the first statue of, 223-224 
 
 Niobe group, 445-446 
 
 Nisaea, 293, 336, 337 
 
 Odeion, 300, 301 ; of Herodes, 
 xxiv, 301 
 
 Odyssey, authenticity, 61-62 ; con- 
 fusion in, 61 ; B^rard's theory, 
 61 n. ', Nausicaa's alleged author- 
 ship of, 64 portrays the Achaean 
 
 world, 64-65 ; religion in, 65 ; 
 funeral ceremonies in, 66 
 
 Oedipus, 33 
 
 Oedipus of Aeschylus, 314 
 
 Oedipus at Colonus of Sophocles, 360 
 
 Oedipus Tyrannus of Sophocles, 360 
 
 Olympia, temple of Zeus at, 308, 309, 
 456 . 
 
 Olympiads, commencement of, 153 w. 
 
 Olympias, 433, 434 
 
 Olympic Games, and Greek chrono- 
 logy, 123 ; foundation and de- 
 velopment, 153-155 ; abolition, 
 155 ; Alexander I at, 423, 424 
 
 Olympieion, Acragas, 120, 217, 450, 
 
 451 
 Olympieion, Athens, xxiv, 216, 456 
 Olynthus, 268, 426, 428 
 Onatas, 221, 232, 417 
 Onomacritus, 66 «., 248 
 Onomarchus, 427, 429 
 Oresieia of Aeschylus, 293, 311, 317 
 Orestes, and AeoUc migration, 76 ; 
 
 and the Areopagus, 134 
 Ormuzd, 185 
 
 Orphic teachings, value of, 282 
 Ortygia, 341 and n., 405 
 Ostracism, 181 
 
 Paches, 333, 334 
 
 Paeonius, 308, 337 
 
 Paestum (Poseidonia), founded, 121 ; 
 
 temples at, 215, 216 n., 454 
 Pagasae, 77 
 Painting, 421 
 Palermo, 275, 476 n. 
 Palladium, at Troy, 221 
 Pamphyli, and Pamphylia, 82 
 Panathenaic festival, 175, 305, 476 
 Panegyric of Isocrates, 394, 437-438 
 Panormus, 275 
 
 Paralus, son of Pericles, 331 w. 
 Parmenides, 208, 321, 322 
 Parmenio, 433 
 Paros, 244, 419 
 Parrhasius, 421 
 Partheniae, 122 
 Parthenon, 215 and n., 216 n., 217, 
 
 297» 300. 302-307, 454 ; the 
 
 metopes, 304 ; the frieze, 304-305 ; 
 
 the pediments, 305-307 
 Parysatis, 389, 392 
 Pasargadae, 193 
 Pausanias, king, 344, 345, 388 
 Pausanias, regent, 244, 269, 284-285, 
 
 290 
 
 493 
 
INDEX 
 
 Peace of Antalcidas, 389, 393, 437 
 
 Peace of Callias, 394 
 
 Peace of Philocrates, 430 
 
 Peace of Aristophanes, 367 
 
 Peiraeus, 289, 295, 297, 298 
 
 Peisander, 392 
 
 Peisistratus, 142, 424, 455, 456 ; the 
 
 tyranny of, 173-176 
 Pelasgians, 29-31 
 Pelasgic language, 37 
 Pelasgion, 31 
 Pella, 320, 424 n., 429 
 Pelopidae, 8, 75 
 Pelopidas, 394, 395, 397. 422 
 Peloponnesian War, 326-345 
 Pelops, and the Olympic Games, 
 
 153 
 Pentelic marble, 303 
 Penthelids, 128 
 Perdiccas I, 424 ; II, 337, 424 ; III, 
 
 424. 425 
 
 Pergamon, altar of Zeus at, 419, 
 447 ; and sculpture, 446, 447 
 
 Periander, 129, 1 30-131, 133, 449 
 
 Fericles, xviii, xxi, 292, 293, 294, 
 295, 296, 297, 298, 300, 301, 302, 
 308, 325, 326, 329, 330, 331, 346, 
 347. 436 
 
 Pericles the younger, 331 w. 
 
 Perinthus, 431 
 
 Perioeci, 90 
 
 Peripatetics, 443 
 
 Perpherees, 192 
 
 Persae of Aeschylus, 195, 314 
 
 Perseid dynasty, 75 
 
 Persepolis, 193-194 
 
 Persia, rise of, 1 81-189 ; under 
 Darius, 189 ; invades Scythia, 
 189-192 ; invades Greece, 237- 
 273 ; takes Athens, 264, 269 ; 
 defeat on the Eurymedon, 288 ; 
 truce with Athens, 294 ; in Pelo- 
 ponnesian War, 342, 343 ; defeats 
 Sparta, and helps Athens, 392- 
 393 ; and Peace of Antalcidas, 
 393 ; favours Thebes, 397 
 
 Persians, ancient religion of, 184- 
 185 ; character, 185-186 ; as 
 iconoclasts, 229 
 
 Persians of Aeschylus, 310 «, 
 
 Petrie, Dr. Flinders, and art-periods, 
 17 ». 
 
 Phaedo, 378 
 
 Phaedo of Plato, 377 
 
 Phaedrus of Plato, 211 
 
 Phaenarete, mother of Socrates, 379 
 
 Phalanthus, 122 
 
 494 
 
 Phalanx, of Thebans at Delion, 337 ; 
 of Epameinondas, 395 ; Mace- 
 donian, 425 ; the old, 425 
 
 Phalaris, 120, 274 
 
 Phaleron, 297 
 
 ' Phaleron ' ware, xiv, 473 
 
 Phaon, 168 
 
 Phamabazus, 343 n., 391, 392 
 
 Phayllus, 429 
 
 Pheidias, xvii, xviii, xix, 226, 298, 
 302, 304, 305, 306, 307-309, 331, 
 383, 385, 417. 418, 447, 456 
 
 Pheidon, and the Olympic Games, 124 
 
 Pherenikus, 280 
 
 Phigaleia, temple of Apollo at, 216, 
 217,300,453 
 
 Philip II of Macedon, 397, 422, 424, 
 425, 426, 427 ; and Demosthenes, 
 428, 429, 430, 431, 432 ; and Athens, 
 429-430 ; aggressive movements, 
 430-431 ; Isocrates and, 430, 439 ; 
 and Chaeroneia, 431-432 ; invades 
 Asia, 433 ; and Olympias, 433 ; 
 assassination, 434 ; and Stageiros, 
 443 ; coinage of, 463 
 
 Philippeion, 443 
 
 Philippi, 425, 426 
 
 Philistines, 26 n. 
 
 Philocrates, 429 and n. ; Peace of, 
 430 
 
 Philoctetes of Sophocles, 360-361 
 
 Philolaus, 210 
 
 Philomelus, 427, 429 
 
 Philosophy, Ionic school, 201 ; ^le- 
 atic school, 201, 207, 321, 322 ; 
 Pythagorean, 201, 21 1-2 14 ; Greek, 
 how far indebted to Oriental 
 philosophy, 203-204 ; Platonic, 
 207, 409-412 ; of Socrates, 208, 
 322, 409-410 ; of the Sophists, 322, 
 369, 370-371 ; of Empedocles, 323- 
 324 ; of Anaxagoras, 324-325 ; of 
 Democritus, 369-370 ; Academic 
 school, 442 ; Megaric (Dialectic) 
 school, 442 ; Cyrenaic school, 442 ; 
 Cynic school, 443 ; Stoicism, 443 ; 
 of Aristotle (Peripatetic school), 
 
 443 
 
 Phocaeans, found Massalia, 122 ; colo- 
 nize Corsica, 123 ; found Blea, 
 123 
 
 Phocion, 426, 428, 429 w., 431, 434, 
 
 436-437. 438 
 Phocis, conflict with Thebes, 427, 
 429 ; Athens and, 429 ; ravaged by 
 Philip II, 429 ; Amphictionic Coun- 
 cil and, 430, 431 
 
INDEX 
 
 Phoenician script, 41 
 
 Phoenicians, visit Spain, 61 «., 108 ; 
 and Africa, 61 n. ; in the Dark Age, 
 108-110; colonies and trade, 108- 
 iio ; origin of the name, 108 ; found 
 Carthage, 109 ; introduce alphabet 
 into Greece, 41, 109 ; as craftsmen, 
 109 ; as pictured in Odyssey, 109 
 
 Phoenissae of Euripides, 364 
 
 Phoenissae of Phrynichus, 195 
 
 Phrygia, 147 
 
 Phryne, 417, 418 
 
 Phrynichus, 195, 310 
 
 Phthiotis, 34, 35 
 
 Phyle, 345 
 
 Pillar, religious S5nnbol, 50 
 
 Pindar, 199, 200, 278-282, 435 ; 
 quality of his poetry, 281 
 
 Pittacus, 128, 133 
 
 *TTaf35av^5ameof, 269-272, 273, 311, 
 424 ; in Peloponnesian War, 329, 
 
 332-333 
 
 Plato, xxi ; on fables, 2 ; version of 
 ' Return of Heracleidae,' 75 ; and 
 the Spartan social constitution, 
 93 ; and Pythagorean philosophy, 
 211 ; on Parmenides, 321 ; and 
 Anaxagoras, 325 ; on Pericles, 
 331 ; on Aristophanes, 365, 367 ; 
 and the Clouds of Aristophanes, 
 367 ; and Democritus, 369 ; on the 
 Sophists, 371-373 ; and Dionysius 
 of Syracuse, 406 ; second and third 
 visits to Syracuse, 406 ; life, 408 ; 
 philosophy, 409-412 ; on ideal 
 Beauty, 410 ; doctrine of Remini- 
 scence, 410 ; doctrine of Ideas, 
 410-41 1 ; Ideal theory, 412 ; ex- 
 tracts from his Dialogues, 412-416 ; 
 and Socrates, 442 
 
 Pleistarchus, 244 
 
 Plemmyrion, 341 and n. 
 
 Plutarch, on Pericles, 331 
 
 Plutus of Aristophanes, 368 
 
 Polybius, 454 
 
 Polycleitus, 226, 384-385, 444 
 
 Polycrates, 187, 454 
 
 Polygnotus, xvii, 243, 301, 383, 421 
 
 Polyzalus. 231, 277 
 
 Poseidon, and tutelage of Athens, 32 ; 
 temple of, at Poseidonia, 454 ; 
 and temple on Sunion, 457 
 
 Poseidonia (Paestum), 121 ; temples 
 at, 215, 216 n., 454 
 
 Potidaea, 268 ; in Peloponnesian 
 War, 328, 332 ; Socrates at, 375 ; 
 captured by Philip II, 426 
 
 Potter's wheel, introduction of, 472 n. 
 
 Pottery, * Cnossus Palace 'style, xiii; 
 primitive black, 6, 471 ; ' Myce- 
 naean,' 7, 471, 472, 473 ; at Cnossus, 
 19 ; Cretan, in Egypt, 24, 25, 26; 
 Cretan, in Palestine, 26 «. ; ' Dipy- 
 lon,' 98-101, 473 ; Early Minoan, 
 472 ; beginnings of wheel - made, 
 
 472 ; Middle Minoan, 472 ; Kamdres 
 ware, xiii, 472 ; I^ate Minoan, xiii, 
 472 ; the' Dark Age,' 472 ; ' Hissarlik' 
 type, xiii, 472 n.; ' Phaleron,' xiv, 
 
 473 '> ' proto-Corinthian, ' 473 ; ' Fikel- 
 lura,' 473 ; ' old Corinthian,' xiv, 
 473 ; the classic age of, 473 ; ' Etrus- 
 can,' 473 ; commerce in, between 
 Greece and Italy, 473-474 ; decora- 
 tion and painting on, 471-476 
 
 Pratinas, 195 
 
 Praxiteles, 416-419, 445, 447 
 Prometheus, the fable of, 316 
 Prometheus Bound of Aeschylus, 311, 
 
 315 
 Propylaea, 300-301 
 Protagoras, 370 
 Proteus of Aeschylus, 317 
 Proxenus, 390, 391 
 Psammis, 144 
 Psamtik I, 131, 143, 473 n.; II, xv, 
 
 144 ; III, 188 
 Psyttaleia, xviii, 265, 266 
 Pteria, 8 
 
 Ptolemy Alorites, 397, 422, 424 
 Pulosathu, 26, 29 
 Pydna, 426 
 Pylos, 335, 336, 338 
 Pythagoras, xvii, 137, 208-214 
 Pythian Games, 156, 157 ; Philip II 
 
 and, 430 
 Pytho, 427 
 
 Ramses II, xv, 8 ; III, 26 
 
 Religion, the bull in Cretan, 20, 23, 
 56 ; the old, 43-60 ; crude, dis- 
 appears, 45 ; in Homer, 46-47, 57, 
 59 ; the new, inspired by northern 
 invaders, 48 ; the first idols, 49 ; 
 an-iconic ritual, 49-51 ; trans- 
 mutation of the gods, 58-59 ; con- 
 nexion with sculpture, 218-219 ; 
 idol- worship, 218-221 
 
 Republic of Plato, 375[«. 
 
 Rhegium, 123 
 
 Rhesus of Euripides, 362 
 
 Rhodes, 298, 426, 439, 472 ; Colossus 
 of, 444, 446 ; and sculpture, 446 
 
 495 
 
INDEX 
 
 Richter, Ohnefalsch, researches in 
 Cyprus, III 
 
 Sack of I lion, 157 
 
 Sacred War, first, 157 ; second; 427 ; 
 third, 427, 429 
 
 Sacred Way, at Delphi, 157 
 
 Sacrifice, human, in Crete, 23 
 
 Sadyattes, 148 
 
 Sages, the Seven, 133-134 
 
 Sais, 143 
 
 Salamis, xviii, 140, 344 ; battle of, 
 146, 266-267, 311 .* Aeschylus' de- 
 scription in the Persae, 315 
 
 Samos, 187 ; Heraion at, 217, 454 ; 
 in Confederacy of Delos, 288, 295- 
 296 ; revolt of, 296 ; in Pelopon- 
 nesian War, 343 
 
 Samothrace, 448 
 
 Sappho, 168-171 
 
 Sardis, 147, 183, 236, 294, 343 
 
 Sassanidae, 194 
 
 Satyr of Praxiteles, xxii, 417, 418 
 
 Scaean Gate, 6 
 
 Scamander, 251 
 
 Schliemann, Dr., excavations at site 
 of ancient Troy, 5-9 ; at Mycenae, 
 9-12 
 
 Schliemann, Mrs., excavations at 
 Mycenae, 11 n. 
 
 Schwerzek, reconstruction of pedi- 
 ments of Parthenon, xix, 306 
 
 Scione, 338 
 
 Scironian Way, 264 
 
 Scopas, 416, 419-421, 443 
 
 Script, Cretan or Minoan, 38-39 ; 
 lyycian, 40 ; Hittite, 40 ; Phoeni- 
 cian, 41 
 
 Sculpture, connexion with religion, 
 218-219, 446 ; origins of Greek, 
 219-220 ; development of, 222- 
 226 ; the Peloponnesian ' athletic^ 
 school, 225-226 ; colour in, 232, 
 303 ; Aeginetan school, 232 ; in- 
 fluence of Athenian style, 382- 
 386 ; portraiture in, 383, 446 ; the 
 ' Canon ' of Polycleitus, 384 ; in 
 the fourth century, 416; Hellen- 
 istic school, 446-448 ; tendency to 
 personification and to the colossal, 
 446 
 
 Scyllias, 259 
 
 Scyllis, 223 
 
 Scyros, 287, 311 
 
 Scythia, invasion by Darius, 189-191 
 
 Scythians, 143, 148 
 
 Seals, Cretan, 51, 53 
 
 496 
 
 Selesta, 120; temple at, 215, 453; 
 in Peloponnesian War, 340; appeals 
 to Carthage, 404, 453 
 
 Seisachtheia, 140 
 
 Selinus, xvii, 118, 120 ; temples at, 
 118, 120, 450-451 ; early sculpture 
 at, 226-227 ; Empedocles and the 
 pestilence at, 323 ; and Segesta, 
 340, 404, 453 
 
 Semnai, 134 
 
 Semonides, or Simonides, 165 
 
 Sestos, 273, 285 n. 
 
 Seti, 144 
 
 Seven against Thebes, 33 
 
 Seven against Thebes of Aeschylus, 314 
 
 Shepherd Kings, 13, 25 
 
 Sheshenk (orShishak), 112 
 
 Shield of Achilles, 70-71 
 
 Shields, Mycenaean, 12-13 I Homeric, 
 
 Sicily, colonization of, 118, 120; 
 Carthaginians in, 274-276 ; racial 
 conflict in, 274 n. ; Athenian ex- 
 peditions to, 326, 339-342 ; and 
 the drama, 365 ; coinage of, 463 ; 
 early pottery in, 472 
 
 Sicinnus, 268 
 
 Sicyon, under tyrannies, 132 ; and 
 sculpture, 225, 444 
 
 Silphion, 146 
 
 Simmias, 378 
 
 Simonides of Ceos, 199-200, 261 n., 
 279. 3" 
 
 Sipylus, Mount, ' Niobe ' image at, 
 221 «. 
 
 Siris, 122 
 
 Smerdis, 188 
 
 Smilis, 222 n., 232 
 
 Smyrna, 76, 149 
 
 ' Social War,* 426-427 
 
 Socrates, xxi, 308, 321, 322, 325, 
 ^ I 332 n., 337, 345 n., 370 and n. ; 
 on the Sophists, 371-373 ; life, 
 373-378 ; intellectual methods, 
 378-379 ; his dialectic, 379-380 ; 
 object of his philosophy, 380- 
 382 ; his definition of true philo- 
 sophy, 381 ; on ideal Beauty, 410; 
 and Isocrates, 437 ; Plato and, 442 
 
 Solon, 133, 139-142 ; as poet, 160- 
 163; and Peisistratus, 173 ; and 
 Croesus, 183 
 
 Sophists, 322 ; Socrates on, 370-373 
 
 Sophocles, xxi, 12 n., 317 n., 356, 
 357 ; in Samian war, 296 ; and 
 development of Attic drama, 310 ; 
 and Aeschylus, 311, 358; extent 
 
INDEX 
 
 of bis work, 311 n. ; and Sicilian 
 expedition, 340; life, 358; work, 
 358-361; compared with Aeschylus, 
 361 
 
 Sparta, founded by Dorians, 82, 89 ; 
 social system, 90, 93-94 ; form of 
 rule, 91, 92 ; constitution, 91-93 ; 
 Taras founded by, 122 ; and the 
 Messenian wars, 124-126 ; inter- 
 venes in Athenian affairs, 177, 178 ; 
 and Marathon, 240, 241 ; and 
 Plataea, 269, 271, 272 ; and the 
 revolt of Thasos, 288 ; revolt of 
 Messenians, 292 ; breaks with 
 Athens, 293 ; re-establishes Boeo- 
 tian league, 294 ; routs Athens at 
 Tanagra, 294 ; truce with Athens, 
 294 ; in Peloponnesian War, 326- 
 345 ; her supremacy, 388-395 ; 
 and the rise of Thebes into power, 
 395-399 ; and second Sacred War, 
 427 ; and third Sacred War, 427, 
 429 ; Philip II and, 432 
 
 Spartans, ' discipline ' of, 94 ; educa- 
 tion, 94-95 ; brevity in speech, 
 95 ; and nudity, 95 ; lack of art 
 instinct, 96 ; and music, 96-97 ; 
 dislike of fortifications, 271 ; 
 character, contrasted with that 
 of Athenians, 285-286 
 
 Spartiatae, 90 
 
 Sphacteria, 332, 335-33^ 
 
 Sphinx of Aeschylus, 314 
 
 Spintheros, 450 
 
 Stadion, 154 
 
 Stageiros, 337, 443 
 
 Stelae, 385-386 
 
 Stenyclarus, 292 
 
 Stesichorus, 166-167 
 
 Stoa Poikile, 301 
 
 Stoicism, 443 
 
 Stone Age, Cretan civilization extends 
 to, 18 
 
 ' Strangford ' shield, xviii, xxi 
 
 Strategoi, 295 
 
 Strongylion, 383 
 
 Suez Canal, antiquity of, 144 
 
 Sun-god, statue by Lysippus, 444 
 
 Simion, temples on, 300, 457 
 
 Suppliants of Aeschylus, 313 
 
 Susarion, 365 
 
 Sybaris, 121, 210, 295, 474 
 
 Sybota, battle near, 328, 335 
 
 Syracuse, 118, 274-275, 277, 278 ; 
 Athenian expeditions against, 
 339-342 ; rise into power under 
 Dionysius I, 405 ; under Diony- 
 
 sius II, 406; under. Timoleon, 
 407-408 ; taken by Romans, 408 ; 
 coinage of, 462 
 Syssitia, 92 n., 94 
 
 Tanagra, battle of, 294 
 
 ' Tauten,' statues, 228-229, 230 
 
 Taras, 122, 124, 474 
 
 Tarshish (Tartessus), 108, 117 
 
 ' Tataia's flask,' 42-43, 471 
 
 Tegea, 419 
 
 Tegeans, at Salamis, 271 
 
 Teleclus, 90 
 
 Telegoneia, 145, 157 
 
 Temenus, 423 
 
 Temesa (Tempsa), 122,473 n. 
 
 ' Temple of the Winds,' 216 
 
 Temple, primitive, 214 ; develop- 
 ment, 215 
 
 Temples, 449-457 
 
 Ten Ages of Solon, 162 
 
 Ten Thousand, march of the„39i 
 
 Tenians, at Salamis, 266 
 
 Teos, 198, 202 
 
 Terillus, 274, 275 
 
 Terina, 122 
 
 Terpander, 96, 97 
 
 Teucer, iii 
 
 Thai's, 194 
 
 Th ales, 133, 149, 201-20^ 
 
 Thaletas, 137 
 
 Thasos, 288 
 
 Theagenes, 131 
 
 Thebans, at Thermopylae, 260 ; at 
 Plataea, 2> i ; at Delion, 337 
 
 Thebes, foundation by Cadmus, i, 
 32-33 ; in pre-Dorian times, 32- 
 33 ; Kpigoni and, 33 ; captured by 
 Achaeans, 33 ; head of Boeotian 
 league, 294 ; in Peloponnesian War, 
 337 ; joins league against Sparta, 
 
 392 ; Cadmeia seized by Spartans, 
 
 393 ; rise into power, 394 ; allied 
 with Athens, 394 ; and Peace of Cal- 
 lias, 394 ; her supremacy, 395-398 ; 
 decline after Mantineia, 398, 422 ; 
 conflict with Phocis, 427, 429 ; 
 joins Athens against Philip II, 
 431 ; at Chaeroneia, 431-432 ; 
 Phihp's severity against, 432 ; 
 destroyed by Alexander the Great, 
 435 ; rebuilt, 436 
 
 Themistocles, xvii, xviii, 243, 246- 
 247, 258, 263, 264, 265, 268, 287, 
 289-291, 312, 329 
 
 Theognis, 133, 195-196 
 
 Theogonia of Hesiod, 103, 104, 1 07, 316 
 
 2 1 497 
 
INDEX 
 
 Theopompus, 125 
 Theoric Fund, 428 
 Theramenes, 344, 345 
 Thermae, 469 
 
 Thermopylae, xvii, 200, 257, 427, 
 429 ; the battle, 259-263 
 
 Thero, 274, 275, 277, 278, 280 
 
 Thersilion, 396 
 
 Theseion, xviii, 32 n., 215, 287, 
 300, 304, 455-456 
 
 Theseus, 32, 287, 311, 456 
 
 Thesmophoriazusae of Aristophanes, 
 368 
 
 Thesmothetae, 135 
 
 Thespiae, 418 
 
 Thespis, 175, 309, 366 
 
 Thessalians, 8i ; and Persian inva- 
 sion, 255 
 
 Thessaly, 255, 285 ; rises into power, 
 394-395 ; under the Theban su- 
 premacy, 397 ; in Hellenic politics, 
 423 ; occupied by Phocis, 427 ; 
 occupied by Philip II, 430 
 
 Thimbron, 391 
 
 ' Thirty Tyrants,' council, 344, 345 
 
 Thirty Years' Peace, 294, 328 
 
 Thrace, Persia and, 190, 191 ; in 
 Peloponnesian War, 337, 338 ; 
 Philip II and, 425, 428, 431 
 
 Thrasybulus, Athenian, 345, 388 
 
 Thrasybulus of Miletus, 128, 130, 202 
 
 Thrasybulus of Syracuse, 278 
 
 Thucydides, son of Melesias, 295, 
 301, 302 
 
 Thucydides, son of Olorus, xxi ; 
 his History, 284, 345-346 ; and 
 Herodotus, 320 ; and the Pelo- 
 ponnesian War, 327-335* 337-339 ; 
 estimate of his work, 346 ; 
 compared with Herodotus, 346- 
 347 ; extracts from the History, 
 347-355 > on Athenian dress, 461 
 
 Thurii, 210 n., 295, 298, 320 
 
 Thyrea, 329 
 
 Tigranes, 273 
 
 Timaeus, historian of Sicily, 323 
 
 Timaeus of I^ocri, 211 
 
 Timaeus of Plato, 211 
 
 Timarchus, 429 n., 439 
 
 Timoleon, 404, 407, 436 
 
 Timotheus, Athenian general, 394, 
 397» 426, 427 
 
 Timotheus of Miletus, 96 
 
 Tisamenus^ 75 
 
 Tissaphernes, 342, 343 n., 389, 390, 
 391, 392 
 
 ' Tomb of the Satrap,' 445 n. 
 
 498 
 
 Tombstones, 385-386 
 Trachiniae of Sophocles, 359 
 Tragedy, development of, as shown in 
 
 the work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, 
 
 and J^uripides, 355-357 ; origin 
 
 of, 365 
 Tree, sacred, 51 
 Triptolemus of Sophocles, 358 
 Tnttyes, Ionian, 88; Athenian, 180 
 Troezen, 336 
 
 Trojan War, a possible cause of the, 77 
 Troy, fall of, in.; excavations on 
 
 site of, X, 5-7 ; chronology of the 
 
 successive cities, 72-73 
 Turusha, 29 
 Tuscany, Greek pottery found in, 
 
 473. 474 
 Tutmes, 25 
 Tyche, 341 n., 405 
 Tyrannicides, statue, 230 
 Tyrannies, how instituted, 86-87 
 
 127 ; development of, 87 
 ' Tyrannos,' 86-87, 127 w. 
 Tyre, 108-109 
 Tyrrhenians — see Tyrseni 
 Tyrseni, 29, 117, 147, 277, 474 
 Tyrtaeus, 126, 159-160 
 
 Vaphio cups, 16-18, 21 
 Varvakeion, Athens, statuette found 
 
 near, xx 
 Vase-painting, early, 471-472 ; ' Dark 
 
 Age ' of, 472 ; classic age of, 473, 
 
 474-476 ; ' new and beautiful style,* 
 
 476 ; decline, 476 
 Venus Brycina, 120 
 Venus Victrix, 420 
 ' Victory ' of Paeonius, 336-337 
 Vulci, X, xvi, xxiv, 473 
 
 ' Warrior Vase,' xi, 13, 21 
 
 Wasps of Aristophanes, 367 
 
 Woh's Prolegomena and the ' Homeric 
 age,' 62 
 
 Women in Parliament of Aristophanes, 
 368 
 
 Writing, not known in ' prehistoric ' 
 Greece, 38 ; known in early Crete, 
 38 ; earliest mention in Greek litera- 
 ture, 40 ; I^ycian, 40 ; introduction 
 into Greece, 41-42 
 
 Xanthippus, father of Pericles, xviii, 
 247, 289 
 
 Xanthippus, son of Pericles, 331 «. 
 
 Xenophanes, 123, 196-197 ; philo- 
 sophy of, 207-208, 321, 323, 324 
 
INDEX 
 
 Xenophon, 375, 378 ; and the Ten 
 Thousand, 391 ; life and workvS, 
 399-400 ; extracts from the Ana- 
 basis, 400-403 
 
 Xerxes, Hall of, 194 ; birth of, 248 ; 
 succeeds his father, 248 ; invades 
 Greece, 249-273 ; and Thermopy- 
 lae, 261-262 ; and Salamis, 266- 
 267 ; Pausanias and, 285 ; death 
 of, 290 ; and the Branchidae, 452 ; 
 and temple of Artemis, Bphesus, 
 452 
 
 Zai^eucus, 127 
 Zancle, 118 
 Zea, 297 
 
 Zeno of Cyprus, 443 
 
 Zeno, Kleatic philosopher, 208, 321, 
 322 
 
 Zethus, 32 
 
 Zeugites, 135 
 
 Zeus, northern origin, 54, 58 ; 
 birthplace of, 55 ; tomb of, 55 ; 
 identified with Bull-god, 56 ; 
 the Homeric, 69 ; temple of, at 
 Olympia, 215 and n., 308, 456 ; 
 statue of, by Pheidias, at Olym- 
 pia, 230, 307-308, 456 ; statue 
 of, by £ysippus, 444 
 
 Zeus Cretagenes, xii, 23, 54, 55 
 
 Zeus Lykaios, 92 
 
 Zeuxis, 421, 424, 451, 454 
 
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