[Frontispiece: HERMES OF PRAXITELES. 4th Century BC.]
The Book of the Ancient Greeks
An Introduction to the History and Civilization of Greece
from the Coming of the Greeks to the Conquest
of Corinth by Rome in 146 B.C.
By
Dorothy Mills, M.A.
Teacher of History at the Brearley School, New York
Author of "The Book of the Ancient World"
_With 16 Illustrations and a Map_
G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York & London
The Knickerbocker Press
Copyright, 1925
by
Dorothy Mills
Published, August, 1925
Second impression, March, 1928
Third impression, October, 1928
Fourth impression, September, 1929
Fifth impression, October, 1930
Sixth impression, October, 1931
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, must
not be reproduced in any form without permission.
The Knickerbocker Press
New York
Made in the United States of America
To
M. C. S. M.
{v}
PREFACE
This book, like the first of the series the _Book of the Ancient
World_, was used in its original manuscript form by one of my history
classes. It carries on the story of the way in which man has been
learning how to live from the time of the Coming of the Greeks to the
loss of Greek independence in 146 B.C.
The spirit of a nation is expressed and its history is recorded in
three ways: in its political history, in its literature and in its
art. The aim of this book has been to use such parts of the
political history of the Greeks, of their literature and of their art
as seem to have been the outward and visible signs of the spirit that
inspired them.
It would not have been possible to write this book in this way
without the kind permission of translators and publishers to use
copyright translations. I gladly take this opportunity to
acknowledge my debt to Professor Gilbert Murray and the Oxford
University Press for the translation of the _Iphigenia in Tauris_; to
Mr. A. W. Pickard--Cambridge and the Oxford University Press for the
translations from _Demosthenes_; to Mr. A. E. Zimmern and the Oxford
University Press for passages from the _Greek Commonwealth_; and to
the Trustees of the Jowett Fund and the Oxford University Press for
translations {vi} from _Plato_ and _Thucydides_; to Sir Arthur Evans
for passages from an article in the _Monthly Review_; to Mr. G. S.
Freeman for translations from the _Schools of Hellas_ by the late
Kenneth J. Freeman; to Mr. A. S. Way for a passage from the
_Persians_; to Mr. A. W. Crawley for passages from the translation of
the _Odyssey_ by Butcher and Lang; to Mrs. Putnam for an extract from
_The Lady_; to Miss Leslie White Hopkinson for her arrangement of one
of the _Elegiacs of Solon_; to Messrs. Macmillan and Co. for
translations from the _Iliad_ by Lang, Leaf and Myers, from
_Pausanias_ by Sir J. G. Frazer, from _Plato's Republic_ by Davies
and Vaughan, from the_ Trial and Death of Socrates_ by F. G. Church,
from _Herodotus_ by G. C. Macaulay, from _Xenophon_ by H. G. Dakyns,
and for various translations in _Greek Athletic Sports and Festivals_
(E. N. Gardiner), _The City State of the Greeks and Romans_ (W. Warde
Fowler) and _Our Hellenic Heritage_ (H. R. James); to Messrs. J. M.
Dent and Sons for translations from _Plutarch's Lives_; to Messrs. G.
Bell and Sons for translations from _Aristophanes_ by B. B. Rogers,
from _Theocritus_ by S. C. Calverley and from _Aristotle_ by Sir F.
G. Kenyon; to Messrs. George Allen and Unwin for translations from
the _Homeric Hymns_ by Andrew Lang; to Messrs. Edward Arnold and Co.
for three poems from _Love, Worship and Death_ by Sir Rennell Rodd;
and to Messrs. Longmans, Green and Co. for translations from _Select
Epigrams from the Greek Anthology_ by J. W. Mackail, and from _Greek
History for Young Readers_ by Alice Zimmern.
{vii}
This book is only intended as an introduction to the history of Greek
civilization, and the difficulty of my task has been to decide on
what to omit. Everyone will not agree with me as to what I have
taken and what I have left, but my aim will have been accomplished,
if the book should create a desire to know something more of the
great heritage which has come to us from the Greeks.
DOROTHY MILLS.
NEW YORK, March, 1925.
{ix}
CONTENTS
CRETE AND THE CIVILIZATION OF THE EARLY AEGEAN WORLD
CHAPTER
I.--THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
II.--CRETE
I.--LEGENDS OF CRETE
II.--THE PALACES OF CRETE
III.--DRESS
IV.--RELIGION AND LITERATURE
V.--A DAY IN CRETE
VI.--THE DESTROYERS
III.--THE MAINLAND
I.--TROY AND THE FIRST DISCOVERIES
II.--MYCENAE AND TIRYNS
III.--LIFE IN THE HOMERIC AGE
IV.--THE GREEK MIGRATIONS
THE GREEKS
I.--THE LAND OF GREECE
II.--GREEK RELIGION AND THE ORACLES
{x}
III.--THE OLYMPIC GAMES
IV.--THE GREEK CITY-STATE
V.--SPARTA
I.--THE GOVERNMENT OF SPARTA: LAWS OF LYCURGUS
II.--CUSTOMS IN SPARTA
III.--SPARTAN EDUCATION
VI.--THE GROWTH OF ATHENS
I.--EARLIEST ATHENS
II.--THE RULE OF THE FEW: THE OLIGARCHY
III.--SOLON, THE WISE MAN OF ATHENS
AND THE RULE OF THE MANY
IV.--THE TYRANTS
VII.--GREEK COLONIES
I.--THE FOUNDING OF A COLONY
II.--IONIA AND LYDIA
VIII.--THE BEGINNING OF THE PERSIAN WARS
I.--DARIUS AND THE IONIAN REVOLT
II.--MARATHON
IX.--THE GREAT PERSIAN INVASION UNDER XERXES
{xi}
I.--THE PREPARATIONS:
(a) THE PERSIANS
(b) THE GREEKS
II.--THERMOPYLAE
III.--THEMISTOCLES
IV.--SALAMIS TO THE END
X.--THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE
I.--THE FORTIFICATIONS OF ATHENS
II.--THE CONFEDERACY OF DELOS
III.--THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE UNDER PERICLES
XI.--LIFE IN ANCIENT ATHENS IN THE TIME OF PERICLES
I.--A WALK IN ANCIENT ATHENS
II.--ATHENIAN DRESS
III.--THE ATHENIAN HOUSE
IV.--ATHENIAN TRADE
V.--ATHENIAN POTTERY
XII.--A DAY WITH AN ATHENIAN
I.--THE ATHENIAN GENTLEMAN
II.--THE ATHENIAN LADY
XIII.--THE ATHENIAN SCHOOLBOY
XIV.--THE GREEK THEATRE
{xii}
XV.--THE TEMPLES OF ATHENS
I.--GREEK TEMPLES
II.--THE ACROPOLIS IN THE TIME OF PERICLES
III.--LATER HISTORY OF THE ACROPOLIS
XVI.--THE DOWNFALL OF ATHENS
I.--RIVALRY BETWEEN ATHENS AND SPARTA AND THE BEGINNING
OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
II.--ATHENS DURING THE WAR
III.--ALCIBIADES
IV.--THE DOWNFALL OF ATHENS AND THE SUPREMACY OF SPARTA
V.--THE MARCH OF THE TEN THOUSAND
XVII.--THE GREAT DAYS OF THEBES
I.--LEGENDS AND EARLY HISTORY OF THEBES
II.--EPAMINONDAS
XVIII.--ALEXANDER THE GREAT
I.--PHILIP OF MACEDON
II.--DEMOSTHENES
III.--ALEXANDER THE GREAT
{xiii}
XIX.--THE GIFTS OF GREECE TO THE WORLD
I.--THE GREEK SPIRIT
II.--SOCRATES
III.--GREEK LITERATURE: THE PHILOSOPHERS
IV.--GREEK LITERATURE: THE HISTORIANS
V.--GREEK LITERATURE: THE DRAMATISTS
VI.--GREEK ART
XX.--THE HELLENISTIC AGE
I.--THE EXTENT OF GREEK INFLUENCE
II.--ALEXANDRIA
III.--SCIENCE IN THE HELLENISTIC AGE
IV.--THE END OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE AND THE POWER FROM
THE WEST
SUGGESTIONS ABOUT BOOKS FOR FURTHER READING
INDEX
{xv}
ILLUSTRATIONS
Hermes of Praxiteles . . . Frontispiece
Outline Map of Greece and Coasts of the Aegean Sea [missing from
source book]
Snake Goddess and Cupbearer
The Birth of Aphrodite
Discobolus of Myron
A Girl Racer
The Temple of Poseidon at Paestum
Pericles
Athens with the Acropolis
Greek Vases
The Flute Lesson, and the Writing Lesson
The Lyre Lesson, and the Poetry Lesson
Music School Scenes
{xvi}
The Theatre at Epidaurus
The Parthenon
Alexander the Great
Sophocles
Chronological Chart
[Transcriber's Note: the above Chronological Chart and the map
mentioned on the title page were both missing from the source book.]
{1}
CRETE AND THE CIVILIZATION OF
THE EARLY AEGEAN WORLD
{3}
CRETE AND THE CIVILIZATION
OF THE EARLY AEGEAN WORLD
CHAPTER I
THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
To the people of the ancient world the Mediterranean was "The Sea";
they knew almost nothing of the great ocean that lay beyond the
Pillars of Hercules. A few of the more daring of the Phoenician
navigators had sailed out into the Atlantic, but to the ordinary
sailor from the Mediterranean lands the Ocean was an unknown region,
believed to be a sea of darkness, the abode of terrible monsters and
a place to be avoided. And then, as they believed the world to be
flat, to sail too far would be to risk falling over the edge.
But the Mediterranean was familiar to the men of the ancient world,
it was their best known highway. In those ancient times, the Ocean
meant separation, it cut off the known world from the mysterious
unknown, but the Mediterranean did not divide; it was, on the
contrary, the chief means of communication between the countries of
the ancient world. For the world was then the coast {4} round the
sea, and first the Phoenicians and later the Greeks sailed backwards
and forwards, North and South, East and West, trading, often
fighting, but always in contact with the islands and coasts. Egypt,
Carthage, Athens and Rome were empires of the Mediterranean world;
and the very name Mediterranean indicates its position; it was the
sea in the "middle of the world."
In the summer, the Mediterranean is almost like a lake, with its calm
waters and its blue and sunny sky; but it is not always friendly and
gentle. The Greeks said of it that it was "a lake when the gods are
kind, and an ocean when they are spiteful," and the sailors who
crossed it had many tales of danger to tell. The coast of the
Mediterranean, especially in the North, is broken by capes and great
headlands, by deep gulfs and bays, and the sea, more especially that
eastern part known as the Aegean Sea, is dotted with islands, and
these give rise to strong currents. These currents made serious
difficulties for ancient navigators, and Strabo, one of the earliest
writers of Geography, in describing their troubles says that
"currents have more than one way of running through a strait." The
early navigators had no maps or compass, and if they once got out of
their regular course, they ran the danger of being swept along by
some unknown current, or of being wrecked on some hidden rock. The
result was that they preferred to sail as near the coast as was safe.
This was the easier, as the Mediterranean has almost no tides, and as
the early ships were small and light, landing was generally a simple
{5} matter. The ships were run ashore and pulled a few feet out of
the water, and then they were pushed out to sea again whenever the
sailors were ready.
Adventurous spirits have always turned towards the West, and it was
westwards across the Mediterranean that the civilization we have
inherited slowly advanced. The early Mediterranean civilization is
sometimes given the general name of Aegean, because its great centres
were in the Aegean Sea and on the adjoining mainland. The largest
island in the Aegean is Crete, and the form of civilization developed
there is called Cretan or Minoan, from the name of one of the
legendary sea-kings of Crete, whilst that which spread on the
mainland is called Mycenaean from the great stronghold where dwelt
the lords of Mycenae.
{6}
CHAPTER II
CRETE
The long narrow island of Crete lies at what might be called the
entrance to the Aegean Sea. This sea is dotted with islands which
form stepping stones from the mainland of Europe to the coast of Asia
Minor. Crete turns her face to these islands and her back to Egypt,
and the Egyptians, who did not travel very much themselves, called
the inhabitants the "Great Men of Keftiu," Keftiu meaning _people at
the back of_. They were the men who dwelt beyond what was familiar
to the Egyptians.
The Aegean world is a very beautiful one. The Islands rise out of
the sea like jewels sparkling in the sunshine. It is a world
associated with spring, of "fresh new grass and dewey lotus, and
crocus and hyacinth,"[1] a land where the gods were born, one rich in
legend and myth and fairy tale, and, most wonderful of all, a world
where fairy tales have come true. In 1876 a telegram from an
archaeologist flashed through the world, saying he had found the tomb
of wide-ruling Agamemnon, King of Men and Tamer of Horses; and later
on, in Crete, traces were {7} found of the Labyrinth where Theseus
killed the Minotaur. The spade of the archaeologist brought these
things into the light, and a world which had hitherto seemed dim and
shadowy and unreal suddenly came out into the sunshine.
I. LEGENDS OF CRETE
There is a land called Crete in the midst of the wine-dark sea, a
fair land and a rich, begirt with water, and therein are many men
innumerable and ninety cities.[2]
Legend tells us that it was in this land that Zeus was born, and that
a nymph fed him in a cave with honey and goat's milk. Here, too, in
the same cave was he wedded and from this marriage came Minos, the
legendary Hero-King of Crete. The name Minos is probably a title,
like Pharaoh or Caesar, and this Minos, descendant of Zeus, is said
to have become a great Sea-King and Tyrant. He ruled over the whole
of the Aegean, and even demanded tribute from cities like Athens.
But Theseus, helped by the King's daughter Ariadne, slew the
Minotaur, the monster who devoured the Athenian youths and maidens,
and so defeated the vengeance of the King. This Minos fully realized
the importance of sea-power in the Aegean. Thucydides, the Greek
historian, tells us that he was the first ruler who possessed a navy,
and that in order to protect his increasing wealth, he did all that
was in his power to clear the sea of pirates. Piracy was a
recognized {8} trade in those days, and when strange sailors landed
anywhere, the inhabitants would come down to the shore to meet them
with these words: "Strangers, who are ye? Whence sail ye over the
wet ways? On some trading enterprise or at adventure do ye rove,
even as sea-robbers over the brine?"[3] Minos himself may have been
a great pirate who subdued all the others and made them subject to
him, but whether this were so or not, he was evidently not only a
great sea-king; legend and tradition speak of him as a great Cretan
lawgiver. Every year he was supposed to retire for a space to the
Cave of Zeus, where the Father of Gods and Men gave him laws for his
land. It is because of the great mark left by Minos on the Aegean
world, that the civilization developed there is so often called
Minoan, thus keeping alive for ever the name of its traditional
founder.
The Labyrinth in which the Minotaur was slain was built by Daedalus,
an Athenian. He was a very skilful artificer, and legend says that
it was he who first thought of putting masts into ships and attaching
sails to them. But he was jealous of the skill of his nephew and
killed him, and so was forced to flee from Athens, and he came to
Knossos where was the palace of Minos. There he made the Labyrinth
with its mysterious thousand paths, and he is also said to have
"wrought in broad Knossos a dancing-ground for fair-haired
Ariadne."[4]
But Daedalus lost the favour of Minos, who imprisoned him with his
son Icarus. The cunning of {9} the craftsman, however, did not
desert him, and Daedalus skilfully made wings for them both and
fastened them to their shoulders with wax, so that they flew away
from their prison out of reach of the King's wrath. Icarus flew too
near the sun, and the wax melted, and he fell into the sea and was
drowned; but Daedalus, we are told, reached Sicily in safety.
The Athenians believed that Theseus and Minos had really existed, for
the ship in which, according to tradition, Theseus made his voyage
was preserved in Athens with great care until at least the beginning
of the third century B.C. This ship went from Athens to Delos every
year with special sacrifices, and one of these voyages became
celebrated. Socrates, the philosopher, had been condemned to death,
but the execution of the sentence was delayed for thirty days,
because this ship was away, and so great was the reverence in which
this voyage was held that no condemned man could be put to death
during its absence.[5] It was held that such an act would bring
impurity on the city.
II. THE PALACES OF CRETE
The first traces of history in Crete take us back to about 2500 B.C.
but it was not till about a thousand years later that Crete was at
the height of her prosperity and enjoying her Golden Age. Life in
Crete at this time must have been happy. The Cretans built their
cities without towers or fortifications; they were a mighty sea
power, but they lived more {10} for peace and work than for military
or naval adventures, and having attained the overlordship of the
Aegean, they devoted themselves to trade, industries and art.
The Cretans learnt a great deal from Egypt, but they never became
dependent upon her as did the Phoenicians, that other seafaring race
in the Mediterranean. They dwelt secure in their island kingdom,
taking what they wanted from the civilization they saw in the Nile
Valley; but instead of copying this, they developed and transformed
it in accordance with their own spirit and independence.
The chief city in Crete was Knossos, and the great palace there is
almost like a town. It is built round a large central court, out of
which open chambers, halls and corridors. This court was evidently
the centre of the life of the palace. The west wing was probably
devoted to business and it was here that strangers were received. In
the audience chamber was found a simple and austere seat, yet one
which seizes upon the imagination, for it was said to be the seat of
Minos, and is the oldest known royal throne in the world.
In the east wing lived the artisans who were employed in decorating
and working on the building, for everything required in the palace
was made on the spot. The walls of all the rooms were finished with
smooth plaster and then painted; originally that the paint might
serve as a protection, but later because the beauty-loving Cretans
liked their walls to be covered with what must have been a joy to
look at, and which reminded them at every turn of {11} the world of
nature in which they took such a keen delight. The frescoes are now
faded, but traces of river-scenes and water, of reeds and rushes and
of waving grasses, of lilies and the crocus, of birds with brilliant
plumage, of flying fish and the foaming sea can still be
distinguished.
The furniture has all perished, but many household utensils have been
found which show that life was by no means primitive, and the palaces
were evidently built and lived in by people who understood comfort.
In some ways they are quite modern, especially in the excellent
drainage system they possessed. These Cretan palaces were warmer and
more full of life than those in Assyria, and they were dwelt in by a
people who were young and vigorous and artistic, and who understood
the joy of the artist in creating beauty.
Near the palace was the so-called theatre. The steps are so shallow
that they could not have made comfortable seats, and the space for
performances was too small to have been used for bull-fights, which
were the chief public entertainments. The place was probably used
for dancing, and it may have been that very dancing ground wrought
for Ariadne.[6]
III. DRESS
The dress of the Cretan women was surprisingly modern. The frescoes
on the walls, as well as small porcelain statuettes that have been
found, give us {12} a very clear idea of how the people dressed. The
women had small waists and their dresses had short sleeves, with the
bodice laced in front, and wide flounced skirts often richly
embroidered. Yellow, purple and blue seem to have been the favourite
colours. They wore shoes with heels and sometimes sandals. Their
hair was elaborately arranged in knots, side-curls and braids, and
their hats were amazingly modern.
The men were not modern-looking. Their only garment was a short
kilt, which was often ornamented with designs in colours, and like
the women, they had an elaborate method of hair-dressing. In general
appearance the men were bronzed, slender and agile-looking.
[Illustration: SNAKE GODDESS. From Knossos. ca. 2000 B.C.
CUP-BEARER. Fresco from Knossos, ca. 1500 B.C.
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.]
Some of the frescoes are so lifelike that as they were brought to
light during the excavations, it almost seemed as if the spirits of
the long-dead Cretans were returning to the earth. The workmen felt
the spell, and Sir Arthur Evans, who excavated Knossos, has described
the scene as the painting of a young Cretan was found:
The colours were almost as brilliant as when laid down over three
thousand years before. For the first time the true portraiture
of a man of this mysterious Mycenaean race rises before us.
There was something very impressive in this vision of brilliant
youth and of male beauty, recalled after so long an interval to
our upper air from what had been till yesterday a forgotten
world. Even our untutored Cretan workmen felt the spell and
fascination.
They, indeed, regarded the discovery of such a painting {13} in
the bosom of the earth as nothing less than marvellous, and saw
in it the "ikon" of a saint! The removal of the fresco required
a delicate and laborious process of under-plastering, which
necessitated its being watched at night, and one of the most
trustworthy of our gang was told off for the purpose. Somehow or
other he fell asleep, but the wrathful saint appeared to him in a
dream. Waking with a start he was conscious of a mysterious
presence; the animals round began to low and neigh, and there
were visions about; in summing up his experiences the next
morning, "The whole place spooks!" he said.[7]
Crete seems to have had more than the other earlier civilizations of
what today is called society. The women were not secluded but mixed
freely at court and in all social functions, and life seems to have
been joyous and free from care.
IV. RELIGION AND LITERATURE
(a) _Religion_
We know almost nothing of the Cretan religion. There were no idols
or images for worship and no temples. The people worshipped in their
houses, and every house seems to have had a room set apart for this
purpose with its shrine and altar; pillars were one of the
distinguishing marks of these shrines. The chief goddess was the
Mother Earth, the Source of Life, a spirit who had a good and kindly
character. Sometimes she was called the Lady of the Wild Creatures,
and bulls were sacrificed in her honour. Scenes representing such
sacrifices are to be found {14} on engraved gems, and the horns of
the bull are frequently found set up on altars and shrines. This
Earth Goddess was Goddess both of the Air and of the Underworld: when
she appears as the Goddess of the Air, she has doves as her symbol;
when she appears as the Goddess of the Underworld, she has snakes.
Another sacred symbol found in connection with shrines and altars is
the Axe and often a Double Axe. This seems to have been looked upon
as a divine symbol representing power, for it is the axe which
transforms all kinds of material into useful articles and by means of
man's toil it supplies much of what man needs. Ships could not be
built without an axe, and as it was the ship which gave Crete power
in the Aegean, the axe came to be looked upon as symbolizing this
spirit.
These early Aegean people did not feel the need of any temples. When
they worshipped in what they thought was the dwelling place of the
gods, they chose lonely places, remote hill-tops or caverns or the
depths of a great forest. They selected for this worship some place
that was apart from the daily human life and one that had never been
touched by the hand of man, for they felt that it was such places
that the god would choose for his dwelling. From such spots
developed the idea of a temple; it was to be a building enclosed and
shut out from the world, just as the forest grove had been surrounded
by trees, a place apart from the life of man.
It was the custom in these early times for people to bring to the god
or goddess offerings of that which {15} was most valuable to them.
The best of the flock, the finest fruit, the largest fish, the most
beautiful vase, were all looked upon as suitable offerings. But many
people could not afford to part with the best of the first-fruits of
their toil, and so it became the custom to have little images made of
the animal or other offering they wished to make, and these were
placed in the shrine. Such images are called _votive offerings_, and
they are a source of rich material out of which the archaeologist has
been able to rebuild parts of ancient life.
(b) Writing and Literature
One reason why it has been so difficult to know much about the Cretan
religion is because the writing has not yet been deciphered. Over
sixty different signs have been recognized, but no key has yet been
found by means of which the writing can be read. In the palace at
Knossos a great library was found, consisting of about two thousand
clay tablets. These had evidently been placed in wooden chests,
carefully sealed, but at the destruction of Knossos the fire
destroyed the chests, though it helped to preserve the clay records.
Some of these were over-charred and so became brittle and broke, but
there are still quantities awaiting decipherment. The writing does
not look as if it represented literature, but more as if it were
devoted to lists and records. It seems strange that people dwelling
in a land so rich in legend and story, and possessed of the art of
writing, should not have left a literature. But in those days the
songs of minstrels preserved the {16} hero-tales in a form that was
then considered permanent, for the minstrel gathered his tales
together and handed them down to his successor by word of mouth in a
way that we, with our careless memories, deem marvellous. This was
actually considered a safer way of preserving the tales and poems
than trusting them to the written form. Be that as it may, however,
the writing that is there still awaits the finding of a key. But in
spite of these difficulties, life in Crete can be partially
reconstructed, and so it will be possible for us to spend a day in
the palace of ancient Knossos.
V. A DAY IN CRETE
It is early dawn about the year 1500 B.C. The great palace of
Knossos lies quiet and still, for the inhabitants have not yet begun
to stir. When they are aroused, the noise will be like the bustle of
a town, for everything used in the palace is made there, from the
bronze weapons used by the King when he goes out hunting to the great
clay vessels in which not only wine and oil, but also other articles
of food are kept. The palace is guarded by sentries, and the first
person to come out of it in the morning is an officer who goes the
rounds and receives the reports of the night's watch from each
sentry. He then goes into the royal storerooms, where rows of large
vessels stand against the wall, and he inspects them to make sure
that no robbery has taken place and also that there are no leaks and
no wine or oil lost.
{17}
By this time the sun is up and the workmen are going to the palace
workshops, where some are at work on pottery, others are weaving, and
others working with metals. Some of the potters are fashioning
beautiful vases, the younger workmen copying the well-known patterns,
the more experienced thinking of new forms, but all of them handing
over the finished vessel to the artist who paints beautiful designs
on them. The weavers have been very busy of late, for today is the
birthday of the Princess, and great festivities are to be held in her
honour, and not only the Princess but the Queen and her maidens and
all the ladies of the court need new and dainty robes for the
functions of the day. The goldsmiths also have been hard at work,
for the King has ordered exquisite jewellery as a gift for his
daughter. All these workmen are now putting the finishing touches to
their work, and in a few hours they will take it to the officials who
will see that it is delivered to the royal apartments.
Soon all is bustling in the kitchens, for later in the day a great
banquet will be held. Farmers from the country-side come with the
best of their flocks, with delicious fruits and honey; fishermen from
the shore have been out early and have caught fine fish. Nearly
every one who comes has brought some special dainty as a particular
offering for the Princess, for she is much beloved in Knossos and in
all the country round about.
The morning is spent in preparation for the festivities of the
afternoon. The Princess is arrayed by her maidens in her new and
beautiful robes; her hair {18} is elaborately arranged, a long and
tiresome process, but the time is enlivened by the merry talk of the
maidens who give to their young mistress all the gossip of the
palace. At length she is ready, and she goes to the great audience
chamber, where the King her father presents to her the shining
ornaments he has had made for this day. Then, sitting between her
parents, she receives the good wishes of the courtiers, all of whom
have brought her rich gifts.
This reception is followed by an exhibition of boxing and
bull-fighting, favourite amusements of the Cretan youths; but the
great excitement of the day is the wild boar hunt which follows. All
the youths and younger men take part, and each hopes that he may
specially distinguish himself in order that on his return he may have
some trophy to present to the Princess, and that she will reward him
by giving him her hand in the dance that evening.
While the young men are all away at the hunt, the Princess sits with
her parents in the great hall or wanders with her maidens in the
gardens. Great excitement prevails when the hunters return. On
arriving, they hasten to the bath and anoint themselves with oil and
curl their long hair and make themselves ready for the dance. When
all are ready they go out to that
dancing place, which Daedalus had wrought in broad Knossos for
Ariadne of the lovely tresses. There were youths dancing and
maidens of costly wooing, their hands on one another's wrists.
Fine linen the maidens had on, and the youths well-woven doublets
faintly {19} glistening with oil. Fair wreaths had the maidens,
and the youths daggers of gold hanging from silver baldrics. And
now they would run around with deft feet exceeding lightly, as
when a potter sitting by his wheel maketh trial of it whether it
run; and now anon they would run in lines to meet one another.
And a great company stood around the lovely dance in joy; and
among them a divine minstrel was making music on his lyre, and
through the midst of them, as he began his strain, two tumblers
whirled.[8]
The dance over, the feasting and banqueting begins. The Queen and
the Princess with their maidens retire early to their own apartments,
but the merrymaking goes on in the hall, where tales of the day's
hunt are told, and old tales of other adventures are recalled by the
old men, until weariness overcomes them. Then the Queen sends her
handmaids who "set out bedsteads beneath the gallery, and cast fair
purple blankets over them, and spread coverlets above, and thereon
lay thick mantles to be a clothing over all. Then they go from the
hall with torch in hand." So the youths and men lie down and go to
sleep, and after the excitements of the day "it seemed to them that
rest was wonderful."[9]
VI. THE DESTROYERS
After the glory of the Golden Age of Crete came destruction. Some
tremendous disaster broke for ever the power of the Sea-Kings. We do
not know {20} what happened, beyond the fact that Knossos was burned,
but from our knowledge of the life of the time and the methods of
warfare, we can make a picture of what probably took place. There
may have been some terrible sea fight, in which the fleet was worsted
and driven back upon the shore. Then the conquerors would march upon
the town and besiege it. The inhabitants, knowing that all was at
stake, would defend it to the last with the most savage fury, cheered
on by the women, who knew that if the city was taken there would be
no hope for them. Their husbands and sons would be slain, the city
utterly destroyed by fire and themselves taken captive. This is what
happened at Knossos. We know the fate of the city, but nothing of
the conquerors. Egyptian records of this time say that "the isles
were restless, disturbed among themselves," but that is all we know.
The invaders, whoever they were, and from whereever they came, do not
seem to have been men of a highly civilized type, for they left
untouched many works of real art, and carried off only such articles
as could be turned into material wealth. These were the things they
evidently valued, and the degree of civilization to which nations or
individuals have attained, can usually be measured by the comparative
values they put on things.
And so Knossos fell, and she tasted of "the woes that come on men
whose city is taken: the warriors are slain, and the city is wasted
of fire, and the children and women are led captive of strangers."[10]
{21}
The old Knossos was never rebuilt, though another city grew up in the
neighbourhood. The site of the old palace became more and more
desolate, until at length the ruins were completely hidden under a
covering of earth, and the ancient power and glory of Crete became
only a tradition. And so it remained for long centuries, until
archaeologists, discovering what lay beneath those dreary-looking
mounds, recalled for us that spring-time of the world.
[1] Iliad, XIV.
[2] Odyssey, XIX.
[3]Odyssey, III.
[4] Iliad, XVIII.
[5] See p. 374.
[6] Important excavations in other parts of Crete have been carried
on by Mr. and Mrs. Hawes. (See Bibliography, p. 410).
[7] Sir Arthur Evans: in the _Monthly Review_, March, 1901.
[8] Iliad, XVIII.
[9] Odyssey, VII.
[10] Iliad, IX.
{22}
CHAPTER III
THE MAINLAND
I. TROY AND THE FIRST DISCOVERIES
An ancient tradition told the story of how Helen, the beautiful wife
of Menelaus King of Sparta, had been carried off by Paris, son of the
King of Troy, and of how the Greeks collected a mighty army under
Agamemnon, King of Argos and his brother Menelaus and sailed to Troy
to bring back the lost Helen. For ten years they besieged Troy,
during which time they had many adventures and many hero-deeds were
performed. Glorious Hector of the glancing helm was slain by
Achilles fleet of foot, and the gods and goddesses themselves came
down from high Olympus and took sides, some helping the Trojans and
some the Greeks. At length Troy was taken and the Greek heroes
returned home, but their homeward journey was fraught with danger and
they experienced many hardships. The wise Odysseus, especially, went
through many strange adventures before he reached Greece again. All
these tales were put together by the Greek poet Homer, and may be
read in the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Until the beginning of the nineteenth century no {23} one had
seriously thought that there was any truth in these tales. But in
1822 a boy was born in Germany who was to make the most extraordinary
discoveries about these lands of legend.
Henry Schliemann was the son of a German pastor who was well versed
in all these ancient legends, and as he grew up, he learned all about
Troy and the old Greek tales. He lived in a romantic neighbourhood.
Behind his father's garden was a pool, from which every midnight a
maiden was said to rise, holding a silver bowl in her hand, and there
were similar tales connected with the neighbouring hills and forests.
But there was not much money to educate the young Schliemann, and
when he was fourteen years old he was taken as errand boy by a
country grocer. This was not perhaps the occupation a
romantic-minded youth would have chosen, but there was no help for
it. One evening, there came into the shop a man, who after sitting
down and asking for some refreshment, suddenly began to recite Greek
poetry. The errand boy stopped his work to listen, and long
afterwards he described the effect this poetry had on him:
That evening he recited to us about a hundred lines of the poet
(Homer), observing the rhythmic cadence of the verses. Although
I did not understand a syllable, the melodious sound of the words
made a deep impression upon me, and I wept bitter tears over my
unhappy fate. Three times over did I get him to repeat to me
those divine verses, rewarding his trouble with three glasses of
whiskey, which I bought with the few pence that made up my whole
wealth. From that moment I never {24} ceased to pray God that by
His grace I might yet have the happiness of learning Greek.
A few years later, Schliemann was taken as errand boy in a business
house in Amsterdam, and he had to run on all kinds of errands and
carry letters to and from the post. He says of this time:
I never went on my errands, even in the rain, without having my
book in hand and learning something by heart. I never waited at
the post-office without reading or repeating a passage in my mind.
Schliemann got on well and the time came when he was able to found a
business of his own. Now at last he had time to learn Greek, and he
read everything written by or about the ancient Greeks on which he
could lay his hands. And then came the time to which he had been
looking forward all his life. He was able to free himself from his
business and to sail for the Greek lands.
Schliemann believed that the tales of Troy were founded on true
historic facts, but everybody laughed at this opinion, and he was
often ridiculed for holding it so firmly. Now, however, he was to
prove himself victorious, for he went to the place where he believed
Troy had once stood and began to dig. His expectations were more
than realized, for he found six cities, one of which was later
conclusively proved to be the Troy of Homer! Homer had written about
what was really true, and though legends and myths had been woven
into his poem, the main events had really taken place, and a
civilization {25} which up to that time had, as it was thought, never
existed, suddenly came out into the record of history.
II. MYCENAE AND TIRYNS
All these discoveries sent a thrill of excitement through the world,
and of course at first many mistakes were made. Because Troy was
found to have really existed, everything found there was immediately
connected with the Trojan heroes of the Iliad, and some things which
were obviously legendary were treated as facts. Schliemann himself
was not entirely free from these first exaggerations, but encouraged
by what he had already discovered, he determined to find still more.
Now Pausanias, an ancient Greek traveller, had written a book about
his travels, and one of the places he had visited was Mycenae on the
mainland of Greece. Here, he said, he had seen the tomb of
Agamemnon, who on his return from Troy had been murdered by his wife,
Clytemnestra, and hastily buried. Up to the time of Schliemann no
one had seriously believed that there had ever been such a person as
Agamemnon, but the spirit of discovery was in the air, and what might
not still be found! Schliemann determined that having proved that
Troy had once existed, he would find truth in still more legends, and
he went to Mycenae and began to excavate. The early Greeks had not
the same beliefs about the future life that the Egyptians had, but
they did believe that death meant removing the dwelling-place on
earth to one beneath the {26} earth, and so the early Greek tomb was
built in much the same shape as the earthly house. These Greeks did
not allow man to go naked and alone into the other world; they gave
to the departed to take with him all that was best and finest of his
earthly possessions. They filled the tomb with everything that could
add to his comfort, and if he were a king or great chief, he would be
surrounded by things which would mark him out from other men and
point to his great position. This being so, Schliemann thought that
a king's tomb would be easily recognized, and he opened what he
thought was probably the burial place of Agamemnon. What he saw
swept him off his feet with excitement! Before doing anything else
he sent a telegram to the King of Greece, which was speedily
published throughout the world. The telegram said: "With great joy I
announce to Your Majesty that I have found the tomb of Agamemnon!"
The sensation created by this news was tremendous. That it was
really the tomb of the wide-ruling King of Argos was perhaps
uncertain, but it was undoubtedly the tomb of a great lord who had
lived at the same time, and at his death had been buried in barbaric
magnificence. Diadems, pendants, necklaces, ornaments of all kinds,
goblets, plates, vases, all of pure gold were piled high in confusion
in the tomb, and close by were other tombs also filled with untold
treasure. In one grave alone Schliemann counted 870 objects made of
the purest gold. This was only the beginning of excavations at
Mycenae. Later on, a great palace was uncovered, and other {27} work
at Tiryns, nearer the sea, showed that another palace had existed
there.
These buildings were very unlike the palace at Knossos; the latter
had no fortifications, but these were strongly fortified. They had
great walls, so mighty that in ancient times the Greeks thought the
walls of Tiryns had been built by demons, and Pausanias considered
them even more wonderful than the Pyramids. The fortress palace of
Mycenae was entered by the gate of the Lionesses, which was reached
by a rather narrow road, along which only seven men could march
abreast. This seems a rather mean approach to so splendid a palace,
but such narrow approaches were necessary in those war-like times,
for they made it more difficult for an enemy to approach the gates.
Mycenae and Tiryns are the best known today of the ancient
fortress-palaces on the mainland of Greece, but at the time when they
were built there were many others. The great lords frequently chose
the hill-tops for their dwellings, for the sake of better security
and for the protection they could then in their turn afford the
surrounding country people in times of danger. Most of these
fortress-palaces were in the neighbourhood of the coast, for no true
Greek was ever quite happy unless he were within easy reach and sight
of the sea.
III. LIFE IN THE HOMERIC AGE
The Homeric Age was the age of the great hero-kings and chiefs. Most
of these were supposed to {28} be descended from the gods, and they
shine through the mists of the early days in Greece as splendid,
gorgeous figures. Heaven was nearer to the earth in those days, and
the gods came down from Olympus and mixed familiarly with man. Life
was very different in this heroic age from the life of historic
Greece, and it is evident from the excavations and discoveries that
have been made, that it was a civilization with distinct
characteristics of its own which preceded what is known as the Greece
of history. It was an age when the strong man ruled by the might of
his own strong arm, and piracy was quite common. Manners and customs
were very primitive and simple, yet they were combined with great
material splendour. Women held a high position in this society and
they wore most gorgeous clothes. A Mycenaean lady, arrayed in her
best, would wear a dress of soft wool exquisitely dyed or of soft
shining linen, and she would glitter with golden ornaments: a diadem
of gold on her head, gold pins in her hair, gold bands round her
throat, gold bracelets on her arms, and her hands covered with rings.
Schliemann says that the women he found in one of the tombs he opened
were "literally laden with jewellery."
The fortress-palaces were the chief houses and the huts of the
dependents of the king or chief would be crowded round them, but
these huts have, of course, disappeared. The palaces themselves were
strongly built, with courtyards and chambers opening from them.
"There is building beyond building, and the court of the house is
cunningly wrought with a wall {29} and battlements, and well-fenced
are the folding doors; no man may hold it in disdain."[1]
Excavations have proved that the Homeric palaces did indeed exist:
and well fortified though they were, their gardens and vineyards and
fountains must have made of them very pleasant dwelling-places.
There was a gleam as it were of sun or moon through the
high-roofed hall of great-hearted Alcinous. Brazen were the
walls which ran this way and that from the threshold to the
inmost chamber, and round them was a frieze of blue, and golden
were the doors that closed in the good house. Silver were the
door-posts that were set on the brazen threshold, and silver the
lintel thereupon, and the hook of the door was of gold. And on
either side stood golden hounds and silver, which Hephaestus had
wrought by his cunning, to guard the palace of great-hearted
Alcinous, being free from death and age all their days. And
within were seats arrayed against the wall this way and that,
from the threshold even to the inmost chamber, and thereon were
spread light coverings finely woven, the handiwork of women.
There the chieftains were wont to sit eating and drinking for
they had continual store. Yea, and there were youths fashioned
in gold, standing on firm-set bases, with flaming torches in
their hands, giving light through the night to the feasters in
the palace. And he had fifty handmaids in the house, and some
grind the yellow grain on the mill-stone, and others weave webs
and turn the yarn as they sit, restless as the leaves of the tall
poplar tree: and the soft olive oil drops off that linen, so
closely is it woven. And without the courtyard hard by the door
is a great garden, and a hedge runs round on either {30} side.
And there grow tall trees blossoming, pear-trees and
pomegranates, and apple-trees with bright fruit, and sweet figs,
and olives in their bloom. The fruit of these trees never
perisheth, neither faileth, winter nor summer, enduring through
all the year. Evermore the West Wind blowing brings some fruits
to birth and ripens others. Pear upon pear waxes old, and apple
on apple, yea and cluster ripens upon cluster of the grape, and
fig upon fig. There too hath he a fruitful vineyard planted,
whereof the one part is being daily dried by the heat, a sunny
spot on level ground, while other grapes men are gathering, and
yet others they are treading in the wine-press. In the foremost
row are unripe grapes that cast the blossom, and others there be
that are growing black to vintaging. There too, skirting the
furthest line, are all manner of garden beds, planted trimly,
that are perpetually fresh, and therein are two fountains of
water, whereof one scatters his streams all about the garden, and
the other runs over against it beneath the threshold of the
courtyard and issues by the lofty house, and thence did the
townsfolk draw water. These were the splendid gifts of the gods
in the palace of Alcinous.[2]
A blue frieze just like the one described above has been found both
at Mycenae and Tiryns.
The furniture in these houses was very splendid. We read of
well-wrought chairs, of goodly carven chairs and of chairs inlaid
with ivory and silver; of inlaid seats and polished tables; of
jointed bedsteads and of a fair bedstead with inlaid work of gold and
silver and ivory; of close-fitted, folding doors and of doors with
silver handles; and of rugs of soft wool. Rich and varied were the
ornaments and vessels {31} used: goodly golden ewers and silver
basins, two-handled cups, silver baskets and tripods, mixing bowls of
flowered work all of silver and one that was beautifully wrought all
of silver and the lips thereof finished with gold. The most famous
cup of all was that of the clear-voiced orator Nestor; this had four
handles on which were golden doves feeding and it stood two feet from
the ground. Very skilful was all the work done in metal at this
time, and the warriors went out arrayed in flashing bronze, bearing
staves studded with golden nails, bronze-headed spears and
silver-studded swords, their greaves were fastened with silver
clasps, they wore bronze-bound helmets, glittering girdles and belts
with golden buckles. Only a god could have fashioned a wondrous
shield such as Achilles bore, on which were depicted scenes from the
life of the time (the description of it can be read in the Iliad),
but the tombs at Mycenae and elsewhere have yielded weapons and
treasures very similar to those used by the heroes in Homer.
IV. THE GREEK MIGRATIONS
It was more than a thousand years after the Pyramids had been built
that Crete reached her Golden Age. When Knossos was destroyed, the
centres of civilization on the mainland, such as Mycenae and Tiryns,
became of greater importance, and life was lived as Homer has
described it. All this was the Greece of the Heroic Age, the Greece
to which the Greeks of the later historical times {32} looked back as
to something that lay far behind them.
Nearly two thousand years ago the site of Mycenae was just as it had
remained until the excavations of Schliemann, and in the second
century A.D. a Greek poet sang of Mycenae:
The cities of the hero-age thine eyes may seek in vain,
Save where some wrecks of ruin still break the level plain.
So once I saw Mycenae, the ill-starred, a barren height
Too bleak for goats to pasture--the goat-herds point the site.
And as I passed a greybeard said: "Here used to stand of old
A city built by giants and passing rich in gold."[3]
Even to the Greeks of historical times there was a great gap between
the return of the heroes from Troy and the beginnings of their own
historic Greece. That gap has not yet been entirely filled up; it is
even now a more shadowy and misty period to us than the Age of the
Heroes, but it was during these mysterious centuries that there were
wanderings among the peoples, that restlessness and disturbance
spoken of by the Egyptians. It was a dark period in the history of
Greece. Wandering tribes, tall and fair men, came from out the
forests of the north, over the mountains and through the passes into
Greece. Others came from the East. Some again came by sea, driven
out from their island homes by invaders. There was fighting and
slaying and {33} taking of prisoners. The old civilization was
broken down, but slowly something new arose in its place. There were
enemies on all sides, but gradually those who were left of the
conquered made terms with the conquerors; they abandoned their old
language and adopted that of the newcomers, and they dwelt together,
and were known as Greeks. The older civilizations had done their
work and had perished. The time had come for the mind of man to make
greater advances than he had ever before dreamed of, and in the land
of Greece this period begins with the coming of the Greeks.
[1] Odyssey, XVII.
[2] Odyssey, VII.
[3] Alpheus, translated by Sir Rennell Rodd in _Love, Worship and
Death_.
{37}
THE GREEKS
CHAPTER I
THE LAND OF GREECE
The land to which people belong always helps to form their character
and to influence their history, and the land of Greece, its mountains
and plains, its sea and sky, was of great importance in making the
Greeks what they were. The map shows us three parts of Greece:
Northern Greece, a rugged mountainous land; then Central Greece with
a fertile plain running down to more mountains; and then, across a
narrow sea, the peninsula known as the Peloponnesus. One striking
feature of the whole country is the nearness of every part of it to
the sea. The coast is deeply indented with gulfs and bays, and the
neighbouring sea is dotted with islands. It is a land of sea and
mountains.
The soil is not rich. About one-third of the country is mountainous
and unproductive and consists of rock. Forests are found in the
lower lands, but they are not like our forests; the trees are smaller
and the sun penetrates even the thickest places. The trees most
often found are the laurel, the oleander and the myrtle. The forests
were thicker in ancient times; {38} they are much thinner now owing
to the carelessness of peasants who, without thinking of the
consequences, have wastefully cut down the trees.
The land used by the Greeks for pasture was that which was not rich
enough for cultivation. Goats and sheep and pigs roamed over this
land, and the bees made honey there. In ancient times there was no
sugar and honey was a necessary article of food.
The cultivated land lay in the plains. The mountains of Greece do
not form long valleys, but they enclose plains, and it was here that
the Greeks cultivated their corn and wine and oil, and that their
cities grew up separated from each other by the mountains. Corn,
wine and oil were absolutely necessary for life in the Mediterranean
world. Every Greek city tried to produce enough corn, chiefly wheat
and barley, for its inhabitants, for the difficulties and sometimes
dangers were great when a city was not self-sufficing. Wine, too,
was necessary, for the Greeks, though they were a temperate nation,
could not do without it. Oil was even more important, for it was
used for cleansing purposes, for food and for lighting. Even to-day
the Greeks use but little butter, and where we eat bread and butter,
they use bread and olives or bread and goat's cheese. The olive is
cultivated all over Greece, but especially in Attica, where it was
regarded as the gift of Athena herself. It was looking across the
sea to Attica that--
In Salamis, filled with the foaming
Of billows and murmur of bees,
{39}
Old Telamon stayed from his roaming,
Long ago, on a throne of the seas;
Looking out on the hills olive-laden,
Enchanted, where first from the earth
The grey-gleaming fruit of the Maiden
Athena had birth.[1]
The olive is not a large tree and its chief beauty is in the shimmer
of the leaves which glisten a silvery-grey in the sunshine. Olive
trees take a long time to mature. They do not yield a full crop for
sixteen years or more, and they are nearly fifty years old before
they reach their fullest maturity. It is no wonder that the olive is
a symbol of peace.
Herodotus, the earliest of the Greek historians, wrote that "it was
the lot of Hellas to have its seasons far more fairly tempered than
other lands." The Mediterranean is a borderland, midway between the
tropics and the colder North. In summer the cool winds from the
North blow upon Greece making the climate pleasant, but in winter
they blow from every quarter, and according to the poet Hesiod were
"a great trouble to mortals." Greek life was a summer life, and the
ancient Greeks lived almost entirely out-of-doors: sailing over the
sea, attending to all their affairs in the open air, from the
shepherd watching his flock on the mountain side to the philosopher
discussing politics in the market place. But the Greeks were a hardy
race, and though the winter life must have been chilly and
uncomfortable, life went on just the same, until the {40} warm spring
sunshine made them forget the winter cold.
What kind of people were made by these surroundings and what was
their spirit?
The hardy mountain life developed a free and independent spirit, and
as the mountains cut off the dwellers in the different plains from
each other, separate city-states were formed, each with its own laws
and government. This separation of communities was a source of
weakness to the country as a whole, but it developed the spirit of
freedom and independence in the city dweller as well as in the
mountaineer. As all parts of Greece were within easy reach of the
sea, the Greeks naturally became sailors. They loved the sea and
were at home upon it, and this sea-faring life developed the same
spirit of freedom and independence.
The mild climate relieved the Greeks of many cares which come to
those who live in harsher lands, but the atmosphere was clear and
bracing, which stimulated clear thinking. The Greeks were the first
great thinkers in the world; they were possessed of a passion for
knowing the truth about all things in heaven and earth, and few
people have sought truth with greater courage and clearness of mind
than the Greeks.
The poor soil of their land made it necessary for them to work hard
and to form habits of thrift and economy. It was not a soil that
made them rich and so they developed a spirit of self-control and
moderation, and learned how to combine simple living with high
thinking to a greater degree than {41} any other nation has ever
done. But if their soil was poor, they had all round them the
exquisite beauty of the mountains, sea and sky, surroundings from
which they learned to love beauty in a way that has never been
excelled, if, indeed, it has ever been equalled.
The spirit of a nation expresses itself and its history is recorded
in various ways: in the social relations of the people both with each
other and with other nations, and this is called its political
history; in its language which expresses itself in its literature;
and in its building, which is its architecture. The Greek people
were lovers of freedom, truth, self-control and beauty. It is in
their political history, their literature and their architecture that
we shall see some of the outward and visible signs of the spirit that
inspired them, and the land of Greece is the setting in which they
played their part in the history of civilization.
[1] Euripides: _The Trojan Women_, translated by Gilbert Murray.
{42}