THE LANDS OF THE WEST AND THE RISE OF GREECE TO ABOUT 500 B.C. [1]
20. PHYSICAL EUROPE
EUROPE A PENINSULA OF ASIA
The continent of Asia, projecting its huge bulk southwestward between the
seas, gradually narrows into the smaller continent of Europe. The boundary
between the two regions is not well defined. Ancient geographers found a
convenient dividing line north of the Black Sea in the course of the river
Don. Modern map makers usually place the division at the Ural Mountains,
the Caspian Sea, and the Caucasus. Each of these boundaries is more or
less arbitrary. In a geographical sense Europe is only the largest of the
great Asiatic peninsulas.
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF EUROPE
But in physical features the two continents disclose the most striking
contrasts. The sea, which washes only the remote edges of Asia, penetrates
deeply into Europe and forms an extremely irregular coast line with
numerous bays and harbors. The mountains of Europe, seldom very high and
provided with easy passes, present no such barriers to intercourse as the
mightier ranges of Asia. We miss in Europe the extensive deserts and
barren table-lands which form such a feature of Asiatic geography. With
the exception of Russia the surface, generally, is distributed into
plains, hills, and valleys of moderate size. Instead of a few large
rivers, such as are found in Asia, Europe is well supplied with numerous
streams that make it possible to travel readily from one district to
another.
CENTRAL AND NORTHERN EUROPE
The almost unbroken mountain chain formed by the Pyrenees, the Alps, and
the Balkans, sharply separates the central land mass of Europe from the
regions to the south. Central Europe consists, in general, of lowlands,
which widen eastward into the vast Russian plain. Northern Europe includes
the British Isles, physically an extension of Europe, and the peninsulas
of Scandinavia and Finland, between the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Ocean.
Twenty centuries ago central and northern Europe was a land of forests and
marshes, of desolate steppes and icebound hills. The peoples who inhabited
it--Celts in the west, Teutons or Germans in the north, Slavs in the east
--were men of Indo-European [2] race and speech. They were still
barbarians. During ancient times we hear little of them, except as their
occasional migrations southward brought them into contact with the Greeks
and the Romans.
SOUTHERN EUROPE
Southern Europe comprises the three peninsulas of Spain, Italy, and the
Balkans, which reach far south into the Mediterranean. This great inland
sea is divided into two parts near the center, where Africa and the island
of Sicily almost touch each other across a narrow strait. The eastern part
contains several minor seas, of which the one called the Aegean had most
importance in Greek history.
21. GREECE AND THE AEGEAN
THE AEGEAN SEA
The Aegean is an almost landlocked body of water. The Balkan peninsula,
narrowing toward the Mediterranean into the smaller peninsula of Greece,
confines it on the west. On the east it meets a boundary in Asia Minor.
The southern boundary is formed by a chain of islands, while the only
opening northward is found in the narrow passage leading to the Black Sea.
The coasts and islands of the Aegean thus make up a little world set off
by itself.
[Illustration: Map, PHYSICAL MAP OF EUROPE]
CONTINENTAL GREECE
Continental Greece is a tiny country. Its greatest length is scarcely more
than two hundred and fifty miles; its greatest breadth is only one hundred
and eighty miles. Mountain ridges, offshoots of the Balkans, compose the
greater part of its area. Into the valleys and deep gorges of the interior
the impetuous sea has everywhere forced a channel. The coast line,
accordingly, is most irregular--a constant succession of sharp
promontories and curving bays. The mountains, crossing the peninsula in
confused masses, break it up into numberless valleys and glens which
seldom widen into plains. The rivers are not navigable. The few lakes,
hemmed in by the hills, have no outlets except in underground channels. In
this land of the Greeks no place is more than fifty miles from a mountain
range, or more than forty miles from some long arm of the Mediterranean.
THE AEGEAN ISLANDS
From the Greek mainland to the coast of Asia Minor the traveler follows a
route thickly studded with rocky islands. They are near enough together to
permit the passage from one to another without losing sight of land. The
Aegean islands thus served as "stepping-stones" between Greece and Asia
Minor. [3]
WESTERN ASIA MINOR
Western Asia Minor resembles Continental Greece in its deeply indented
coast, variety of scenery, and mild climate. The fertile river valleys of
this region early attracted Greek colonists. They built here many
flourishing cities, especially along the central coast, which came to be
known as Ionia.
INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS
Greek history well illustrates the influence of geographical conditions on
the life of a people. In the first place, mountain ranges cut up
Continental Greece into many small states, separated from one another by
natural ramparts. Hence the Greeks loved most of all their own local
independence and always refused to unite into one nation under a single
government. In the second place, the near presence of the sea made sailors
of the Greeks and led them to devote much energy to foreign commerce. They
early felt, in consequence, the stimulating effects of intercourse with
other peoples. Finally, the location of Greece at the threshold of Asia,
with its best harbors and most numerous islands on the eastern coast,
enabled the country to receive and profit by all the culture of the
Orient. Greece faced the civilized East.
22. THE AEGEAN AGE (TO ABOUT 1100 B.C.)
A PREHISTORIC CIVILIZATION
The Greeks of historic times knew very little about their prehistoric
period. Instead of accurate knowledge they had only the beautiful legends
preserved in ancient poems, such as the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_. Within
our own day, however, remarkable excavations have disclosed the remains of
a widespread and flourishing civilization in times so distant that the
historic Greeks had lost all sight of it. As in the Orient, [4] the labors
of modern scholars are yearly adding to our knowledge of ancient life.
[Illustration: Map, AEGEAN CIVILIZATION]
[Illustration: EXCAVATIONS AT TROY The great northeast tower of the sixth
city. The stairs at the right belong to the eighth city.]
SCHLIEMANN'S EXCAVATIONS AT TROY
The man who did most to reveal the prehistoric civilization of Greece was
a wealthy German merchant named Heinrich Schliemann. An enthusiastic lover
of Homer, he believed that the stories of the Trojan War related in the
_Iliad_ were not idle fancies, but real facts. In 1870 A.D. he started to
test his beliefs by excavations at a hill called Hissarlik, on the
northwestern coast of Asia Minor. Here tradition had always fixed the site
of ancient Troy. Schliemann's discoveries and those of later explorers
proved that at Hissarlik at least nine successive cities had come into
existence, flourished, and passed away. Excavations completed in 1892 A.D.
have shown that the sixth city in order from the bottom was the one
described in the Homeric poems. It had powerful walls defended by towers,
well-fortified gates, and palaces of stone. The marks of fire throughout
the ruins indicate that the city must have been destroyed by a disastrous
conflagration.
SCHLIEMANN'S EXCAVATIONS AT MYCENAE AND TIRYNS
The remarkable disclosures at Troy encouraged Schliemann to excavate other
Homeric sites. At Mycenae, a prehistoric city of Argolis in Greece, he
laid bare six rock-hewn graves, containing the skeletons of nineteen
persons, men, women, and children. The faces of the dead had been covered
with thin masks of gold, and their bodies had been decked with gold
diadems, bracelets, and pendants. The other funeral offerings include gold
rings, silver vases, and a variety of bronze weapons. At Tiryns, once the
capital of Argolis, he uncovered the ruins of an extensive structure with
gateways, open courts, and closed apartments. Characteristic of this
edifice were the separate quarters occupied by men and women, the series
of storerooms for provisions, and such a modern convenience as a bathroom
with pipes and drains. In short, the palace at Tiryns gives us a clear and
detailed picture of the home of a Homeric prince.
[Illustration: LIONS' GATE, MYCENAE
The stone relief, of triangular shape, represents two lions (or lionesses)
facing each other on opposite sides of a pillar. The heads of the animals
have been lost.]
EVANS'S EXCAVATIONS AT GNOSSUS
But the fame of even Schliemann's discoveries has been somewhat dimmed by
the excavations made since 1900 A.D. on the site of Gnossus, the ancient
capital of the island of Crete. At Gnossus an Englishman, Sir Arthur
Evans, has found the remains of an enormous palace, with numerous courts,
passages, and rooms. Here is the royal council chamber with the throne on
which the king once sat. Here are the royal magazines, still filled with
huge earthenware jars for the storage of provisions. A great number of
brilliant pictures--hunting scenes, landscapes, portraits of men and
women--cover the palace walls. Buried in some of the chambers were
thousands of clay tablets with inscriptions which, if ever read, will add
new chapters to ancient history. [5]
[Illustration: THE VAPHIO GOLD CUPS (National Museum, Athens)
These beautiful objects were found in 1888 within a "bee-hive" tomb at
Vaphio in Laconia. The two cups are of beaten gold, ornamented with
designs in _repoussé_ work. The first scene represents a wild-bull hunt.
The companion piece pictures four tame bulls under the care of a
herdsman.]
[Illustration: SILVER FRAGMENT FROM MYCENAE (National Museum, Athens)
A siege scene showing the bows, slings, and huge shields of Mycenaean
warriors. In the background are seen the masonry of the city wall and the
flat-roofed houses.]
ANTIQUITY OF AEGEAN CIVILIZATION
These discoveries in the Aegean enable us to place another venerable
center of civilized life by the side of Babylonia and Egypt. As early as
3000 B.C. the primitive inhabitants of the Aegean were giving up the use
of stone tools and weapons for those of metal. Bronze soon came into
general use, as is shown by the excavations. The five centuries between
1600 and 1100 B.C. appear to have been the time when the civilization of
the Aegean Age reached its highest development.
THE FINE ARTS
Remarkable progress took place during Aegean times in some of the fine
arts. We find imposing palaces, often splendidly adorned and arranged for
a life of comfort. Wall paintings, plaster reliefs, and fine carvings in
stone excite our admiration. Aegean artists made beautiful pottery of many
shapes and cleverly decorated it with plant and animal forms. They carved
ivory, engraved gems, and excelled in the working of metals. Some of their
productions in gold, silver, and bronze were scarcely surpassed by Greek
artists a thousand years later. [6]
COMMERCE
There was much intercourse throughout the Mediterranean during this
period. Products of Aegean art have been found as far west as Sicily,
Italy, and Spain, Aegean pottery has frequently been discovered in
Egyptian tombs. Some objects unearthed in Babylonia are apparently of
Aegean workmanship. In those ancient days Crete was mistress of the seas.
Cretan merchants preceded the Phoenicians as carriers between Asia and
Europe. [7] Trade and commerce thus opened up the Mediterranean world to
all the cultural influences of the Orient.
[Illustration: A CRETAN GIRL (Museum of Candia, Crete)
A fresco painting from the palace of Gnossus. The girl's face is so
astonishingly modern in treatment that one can scarcely believe that the
picture belongs to the sixteenth century B.C.]
DOWNFALL OF AEGEAN CIVILIZATION
Aegean civilization did not penetrate beyond the shores of Asia Minor, the
islands, and the coasts of Continental Greece. The interior regions of the
Greek peninsula remained the home of barbarous tribes, which had not yet
learned to build cities, to create beautiful objects of art, or to traffic
on the seas. By 1100 B.C. their destructive inroads brought the Aegean Age
to an end.
23. THE HOMERIC AGE (ABOUT 1100-750 B.C.)
COMING OF THE NORTHERN BARBARIANS
The barbarians who overthrew Aegean civilization seem to have entered
Greece from the north, perhaps from the region the Danube River. They
pushed gradually southward, sometimes exterminating or enslaving the
earlier inhabitants of the country, but more often settling peaceably
in their new homes. Conquerors and conquered slowly intermingled and so
produced the one Greek people which is found at the dawn of history. These
Greeks, as we shall call them henceforth, also occupied the islands of the
Aegean Sea and the coast of Asia Minor. The entire basin of the Aegean
thus became a Greek world.
[Illustration: AEGEAN SNAKE GODDESS (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
A gold and ivory statuette found in Crete. Dates from the sixteenth
century B.C. The goddess wears the characteristic Cretan dress, with low-
cut jacket and full skirt with five plaited flounces. On her head is an
elaborate crown.]
THE HOMERIC EPICS
The period between the end of the Aegean Age and the opening of historic
times in Greece is usually called the Homeric Age, because many features
of its civilization are reflected in two epic poems called the _Iliad_ and
the _Odyssey_. The former deals with the story of a Greek expedition
against Troy; the latter describes the wanderings of the hero Odysseus on
his return from Troy. The two epics were probably composed in Ionia, and
by the Greeks were attributed to a blind bard named Homer. Many modern
scholars, however, consider them the work of several generations of poets.
The references in the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ to industry, social life,
law, government, and religion give us some idea of the culture which the
historic Greeks received as their inheritance.
INDUSTRY
The Greeks as described in the Homeric epics were in a transitional stage
between the life of shepherds and that of farmers. Wealth consisted
chiefly of flocks and herds, though nearly every freeman owned a little
plot of land on which he cultivated grain and cared for his orchard and
vineyard. There were few skilled workmen, for almost everything was made
at home. A separate class of traders had not yet arisen. Commerce was
little followed. The Greeks depended on Phoenician sailors to bring to
their shores the commodities which they could not produce themselves. Iron
was known and used, for instance, in the manufacture of farm tools. During
Homeric times, however, that metal had not yet displaced copper and
bronze. [8]
SOCIAL LIFE
Social life was very simple. Princes tended flocks and built houses;
princesses carried water and washed clothes. Agamemnon, Odysseus, and
other heroes were not ashamed to be their own butchers and cooks. The
Homeric knights did not ride on horseback, but fought from chariots. They
sat at table instead of reclining at meals, as did the later Greeks.
Coined money was unknown. Trade was by barter, values being reckoned in
oxen or in lumps of gold and silver. Men bought their wives by making
gifts of cattle to the parents. The art of writing is mentioned only once
in the Homeric poems, and doubtless was little used.
[Illustration: A CRETAN CUPBEARER (Museum of Candia, Crete)
A fresco painting from the palace of Gnossus. The youth carries a silver
cup ornamented with gold. His waist is tightly drawn in by a girdle, his
hair is dark and curly, his profile is almost classically Greek.]
LAW AND MORALITY
The times were rude. Wars, though petty, were numerous and cruel. The
vanquished suffered death or slavery. Piracy, flourishing upon the
unprotected seas, ranked as an honorable occupation. It was no insult to
inquire of a seafaring stranger whether he was pirate or merchant. Murders
were frequent. The murderer had to dread, not a public trial and
punishment, but rather the personal vengeance of the kinsmen of his
victim. The Homeric Greeks, in fact, exhibited the usual defects and vices
of barbarous peoples.
HOMERIC GEOGRAPHY
The _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ disclose a considerable acquaintance with
peninsular Greece and the coasts of Asia Minor. Cyprus, Egypt, and Sicily
are also known in part. The poet imagines the earth as a sort of flat
shield, with Greece lying in the center. [9] The Mediterranean, "The Sea,"
as it is called by Homer, and its continuation, the Euxine, [10] divided
the world into two equal parts. Surrounding the earth was "the great
strength of the Stream of Ocean," [11] a river, broad and deep, beyond
which lay the dark and misty realm of the mythical Cimmerians. The
underworld of Hades, home of the dead, was beneath the surface of the
earth.
[Illustration: Map, THE WORLD according to HOMER (900 B.C.)]
[Illustration: Map, GREEK CONQUESTS AND MIGRATIONS]
24. EARLY GREEK RELIGION
THE OLYMPIAN COUNCIL
We may learn from the Homeric poems what were the religious ideas held by
the early Greeks. The greater gods and goddesses were not numerous. Less
than a score everywhere received worship under the same names and in all
the temples. Twelve of the chief deities formed a select council, which
was supposed to meet on the top of snow-crowned Olympus. The Greeks,
however, did not agree as to what gods and goddesses should be included in
this august assemblage.
ATTRIBUTES OF THE DEITIES
Many of the Olympian deities appear to have been simply personifications
of natural phenomena. Zeus, "father of gods and men," as Homer calls him,
was a heaven god, who gathered the clouds in storms and hurled the
lightning bolt. Apollo, a mighty god of light, who warded off darkness and
evil, became the ideal of manly beauty and the patron of music, poetry,
and healing. Dionysus was worshiped as the god of sprouting and budding
vegetation. Poseidon, brother of Zeus, ruled the sea. Hera, the wife of
Zeus, represented the female principle in nature. Hence she presided over
the life of women and especially over the sacred rites of marriage.
Athena, who sprang full-grown from the forehead of Zeus, embodied the idea
of wisdom and all womanly virtues. Aphrodite, who arose from the foam of
the sea, was the goddess of love and beauty. Demeter, the great earth-
mother, watched over seed-time and harvest. Each deity thus had a kingdom
and a function of its own.
[Illustration: GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES
ZEUS OTRICOLI, Vatican Gallery, Rome
HERA, Ludovisi Villa, Rome
APOLLO OF THE BELVEDERE, Vatican Gallery, Rome
APHRODITE OF CNIDUS, Glyptothek, Munich]
[Illustration: THE APHRODITE OF MELOS (Louvre, Paris)
More commonly known as the "Venus of Milo." The statue was discovered in
1820 A.D. on the island of Melos. It consists of two principal pieces
joined together across the folds of the drapery. Most art critics date
this work about 100 B.C. The strong serene figure of the goddess sets
forth the Greek ideal of female loveliness.]
CONCEPTIONS OF THE DEITIES
The Greeks made their gods and goddesses after themselves. The Olympian
divinities are really magnified men and women, subject to all human
passions and appetites, but possessed of more than human power and endowed
with immortality. They enjoy the banquet, where they feast on nectar and
ambrosia; they take part in the struggles of the battle field; they marry
and are given in marriage. The gods, morally, were no better than their
worshipers. They might be represented as deceitful, dissolute, and cruel,
but they could also be regarded as upholders of truth and virtue. Even
Homer could say, "Verily the blessed gods love not evil deeds, but they
reverence justice and the righteous acts of men." [12]
[Illustration: THE FRANÇOIS VASE (Archaeological Museum, Florence)
Found in an Etruscan grave in 1844 A.D. A black-figured terra cotta vase
of about 600 B.C. It is nearly three feet in height and two an one half
feet in diameter. The figures on the vase depict scenes from Greek
mythology.
Calydonian boar hunt
Games at the funeral of Patroclus
Peleus Thetis and the gods
Pursuit of Troilus by Achilles
Animal scenes, sphinxes, etc.]
IDEAS OF THE OTHER WORLD
Greek ideas of the other world were dismal to an extreme. The after-life
in Hades was believed to be a shadowy, joyless copy of the earthly
existence. In Hades the shade of great Achilles exclaims sorrowfully,
"Nay, speak not comfortably to me of death. Rather would I live on earth
as the hireling of another, even with a landless man who had no great
livelihood, than bear sway among all the dead." [13] It was not until
several centuries after Homer that happier notions of the future life were
taught, or at least suggested, in the Eleusinian mysteries. [14]
25. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS: ORACLES AND GAMES
ORACLE OF APOLLO AT DELPHI
The Greeks believed that communications from the gods were received from
certain inspired persons at places called oracles. The oracle of Apollo at
Delphi in Phocis enjoyed the utmost veneration. It lay within a deep cave
on the rocky side of Mount Parnassus. Out of a chasm rose a volcanic vapor
which had a certain intoxicating power. The Pythia, or prophetess of
Apollo, sat on a tripod over the steaming cleft and inhaled the gas. The
words she uttered in delirium were supposed to come from the god. They
were taken down by the attendant priests, written out in verse, and
delivered to the suppliants.
INQUIRIES AT THE ORACLE
The fame of Apollo as the patron of inspiration and prophecy spread
throughout Greece and penetrated to foreign lands. Every year thousands of
visitors made their way to Apollo's shrine. Sick men prayed for health,
childless men prayed for offspring. Statesmen wished to learn the fate of
their political schemes; ambassadors sent by kings and cities sought
advice as to weighty matters of peace and war. Above all, colonists came
to Delphi in order to obtain directions as to the best country in which to
settle. Some of the noblest cities of the Greek world, Cyrene and
Byzantium, for example, [15] had their sites fixed by Apollo's guidance.
[Illustration: CONSULTING THE ORACLE AT DELPHI]
CHARACTER OF THE RESPONSES
The priests who managed the oracle and its responses were usually able to
give good advice to their inquirers, because news of every sort streamed
into Delphi. When the priests were doubtful what answer to give, the
prophecy of the god was sometimes expressed in such ambiguous fashion
that, whatever the outcome, neither Apollo nor his servants could be
charged with deceit. For instance, when Croesus, the Lydian king, was
about to attack Cyrus, he learned from the oracle that "if he warred with
the Persians he would overthrow a mighty empire" [16]--but the mighty
empire proved to be his own. [17]
THE OLYMPIAN GAMES
Athletic games were held in different parts of Greece from a remote
period. The most famous games were those in honor of Zeus at Olympia in
Elis. They took place every fourth year, in midsummer. [18] A sacred truce
was proclaimed for an entire month, in order that the thousands of
spectators from every part of Greece might arrive and depart in safety. No
one not of Greek blood and no one convicted of crime or of the sin of
impiety might participate in the contests. The candidates had also to
prove that they were qualified for the severe tests by a long and hard
training. Once accepted as competitors, they could not withdraw. The man
who shrank back when the hour of trial arrived was considered a coward and
was punished with a heavy fine.
THE CONTESTS
The games occupied five days, beginning with the contests in running.
There was a short-distance dash through the length of the stadium, a
quarter-mile race, and also a longer race, probably for two or three
miles. Then followed a contest consisting of five events: the long jump,
hurling the discus, throwing the javelin, running, and wrestling. It is
not known how victory in these five events taken together was decided. In
the long jump, weights like dumb-bells were held in the hands, the swing
of the weights being used to assist the spring. The discus, which weighed
about twelve pounds, was sometimes hurled more than one hundred feet. The
javelin was thrown either by the hand alone or with the help of a thong
wound about the shaft and held in the fingers. In wrestling, three falls
were necessary for a victory. The contestants were free to get their grip
as best they could. Other contests included boxing, horse races, and
chariot races. Women were apparently excluded from the games, yet they
were allowed to enter horses for the races and to set up statues in honor
of the victors.
[Illustration: THE DISCUS THROWER (DISCOBOLUS) (Lancelotti Palace, Rome)
Marble copy of the bronze original by Myron, a sculptor of the fifth
century B.C. Found in 1781 A.D. on the Esquiline Hill, Rome. The statue
represents a young man, perhaps an athlete at the Olympian games, who is
bending forward to hurl the discus. His body is thrown violently to the
left with a twisting action that brings every muscle into play.]
THE VICTOR'S REWARD
The Olympian festival was profoundly religious, because the display of
manly strength was thought to be a spectacle most pleasing to the gods.
The winning athlete received only a wreath of wild olive at Olympia, but
at home he enjoyed the gifts and veneration of his fellow-citizens. Poets
celebrated his victories in noble odes. Sculptors reproduced his triumphs
in stone and bronze. To the end of his days he remained a distinguished
man.
[Illustration: HERMES AND DIONYSUS (Museum of Olympia)
An original statue by the great sculptor, Praxiteles. It was found in 1877
A.D. at Olympia. Hermes is represented carrying the child Dionysus, whom
Zeus had intrusted to his care. The symmetrical body of Hermes is
faultlessly modeled; the poise of his head is full of dignity; his
expression is refined and thoughtful. Manly strength and beauty have never
been better embodied than in this work.]
[Illustration: ATHLETE USING THE STRIGIL (APOXYOMENUS) (Vatican Gallery,
Rome)
Marble copy of the bronze original by Lysippus, a sculptor of the fourth
century B.C. The statue represents an athlete rubbing his arm with a flesh
scraper to remove the oil and sand of the palestra, or exercising ground.
His slender form suggests quickness and agility rather than great
strength.]
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GAMES
There were few Greeks who at least once in their lives did not attend the
festival. The crowds that gathered before and after the games turned the
camp into a great fair, at which merchants set up their shops and money
changers their tables. Poets recited their lines before admiring audiences
and artists exhibited their masterpieces to intending purchasers. Heralds
read treaties recently formed between Greek cities, in order to have them
widely known. Orators addressed the multitude on subjects of general
interest. The games thus helped to preserve a sense of fellowship among
Greek communities.
26. THE GREEK CITY-STATE
NATURE OF THE CITY STATE
The Greeks in Homeric times had already begun to live in towns and cities.
A Greek city, being independent and self-governing, is properly called a
city-state. Just as a modern nation, it could declare war, arrange
treaties, and make alliances with its neighbors. Such a city-state
included not only the territory within its walls, but also the surrounding
district where many of the citizens lived.
THE CITIZENS
The members of a Greek city-state were very closely associated. The
citizens believed themselves to be descended from a common ancestor and so
to be all related. They were united, also, in the worship of the patron
god or hero who had them under his protection. These ties of supposed
kinship and common religion were of the utmost importance. They made
citizenship a privilege which came to a person only by birth, a privilege
which he lost by removal to another city. Elsewhere he was only a
foreigner without legal rights--a man without a country.
GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY-STATE
The Homeric poems, which give us our first view of the Greek city-state,
also contain the most ancient account of its government. Each city-state
had a king, "the shepherd of the people" [19] as Homer calls him. The king
did not possess absolute authority. He was surrounded by a council of
nobles, chiefly the great landowners of the community. They helped him in
judgment and sacrifice, followed him to war, and filled the principal
offices. Both king and nobles were obliged to consult the common people on
matters of great importance. For this purpose the ruler would summon the
citizens to the market place to hear the deliberations of his council and
to settle such questions as making war or declaring peace. All men of free
birth could attend the assembly, where they shouted assent to the decision
of their leaders or showed disapproval by silence. This public assembly
had little importance in the Homeric Age, but later it became the center
of Greek democracy.
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY-STATE
After the middle of the eighth century B.C., when historic times began in
Greece, some interesting changes took place in the government of the city-
states. In some of them, for example, Thebes and Corinth, the nobles
became strong enough to abolish the kingship altogether. Monarchy, the
rule of one, thus gave away to aristocracy, [20] the rule of the nobles.
In other states, for instance, Sparta and Argos, the kings were not driven
out, but their power was much weakened. Some states came under the control
of usurpers whom the Greeks called "tyrants." A tyrant was a man who
gained supreme power by force and governed for his own benefit without
regard to the laws. There were many tyrannies in the Greek world during
the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. Still other states went through an
entire cycle of changes from kingship to aristocracy, from aristocracy to
tyranny, and from tyranny to democracy or popular rule.
SPARTA AND ATHENS AS TYPES OF THE CITY-STATE
The isolated and independent Greek communities thus developed at an early
period many different kinds of government. To study them all would be a
long task. It is better to fix our attention on the two city-states which
held the principal place in Greek history and at the same time presented
the most striking contrasts in government and social life. These were
Sparta and Athens.
27. THE GROWTH OF SPARTA (TO 500 B.C.)
SPARTA AND THE PELOPONNESIAN LEAGUE
The Greek invaders who entered southern Greece, or the Peloponnesus, [21]
were known as Dorians. They founded the city of Sparta, in the district of
Laconia. By the close of the sixth century B.C. the Spartans were able to
conquer their immediate neighbors and to organize some of the city-states
of the Peloponnesus into a strong confederacy called the Peloponnesian
League. The members of the league did not pay tribute, but they furnished
troops to serve in war under Spartan leaders, and they looked to Sparta
for guidance and protection. Thus this single city became the foremost
power in southern Greece.
SPARTA A MILITARY CAMP
It is clear that the Spartans must have been an extremely vigorous and
warlike people. Their city, in fact, formed a military camp, garrisoned by
soldiers whose whole life was passed in war and in preparation for war.
The Spartans were able to devote themselves to martial pursuits because
they possessed a large number of serfs, called helots. The helots tilled
the lands of the Spartans and gave up to their masters the entire product
of their labor, except what was necessary for a bare subsistence.
GOVERNMENT OF SPARTA
Spartan government also had a military character. In form the state was a
kingdom, but since there were always two kings reigning at once and
enjoying equal authority, neither of them could become very powerful. The
real management of public affairs lay in the hands of five men, known as
ephors, who were elected every year by the popular assembly. The ephors
accompanied the kings in war and directed their actions; guided the
deliberations of the council of nobles and the assembly of freemen;
superintended the education of children; and exercised a general oversight
of the private life of citizens. The ephors had such absolute control over
the lives and property of the Spartans that we may describe their rule as
socialistic and select Sparta as an example of ancient state socialism.
Nowhere else in the Greek world was the welfare of the individual man so
thoroughly subordinated to the interests of the society of which he formed
a unit.
THE SPARTAN BOY
Spartan education had a single purpose--to produce good soldiers and
obedient citizens. A sound body formed the first essential. A father was
required to submit his son, soon after birth, to an inspection by the
elders of his tribe. If they found the child puny or ill-shaped, they
ordered it to be left on the mountain side, to perish from exposure. At
the age of seven a boy was taken from his parents' home and placed in a
military school. Here he was trained in marching, sham fighting, and
gymnastics. He learned to sing warlike songs and in conversation to
express himself in the fewest possible words. Spartan brevity of speech
became proverbial. Above all he learned to endure hardship without
complaint. He went barefoot and wore only a single garment, winter and
summer. He slept on a bed of rushes. Every year he and his comrades had to
submit to a flogging before the altar of the goddess Artemis, and the hero
was the lad who could bear the whipping longest without giving a sign of
pain. It is said that boys sometimes died under the lash rather than utter
a cry. Such ordeals are still a feature of savage life to-day.
THE ADULT SPARTAN
On reaching the age of twenty the youth was considered a warrior. He did
not live at home, but passed his time in barracks, as a member of a
military mess to which he contributed his proper share of food, wine, and
money. At the age of thirty years the young Spartan became a full citizen
and a member of the popular assembly. He was then compelled to marry in
order to raise children for the state. But marriage did not free him from
attendance at the public meals, the drill ground, and the gymnasium. A
Spartan, in fact, enjoyed little home life until his sixtieth year, when
he became an elder and retired from actual service.
EXCELLENCE OF THE SPARTAN SOLDIERY
This exclusive devotion to military pursuits accomplished its object. The
Spartans became the finest soldiers of antiquity. "All the rest of the
Greeks," says an ancient writer, "are amateurs; the Spartans are
professionals in the conduct of war." [22] Though Sparta never produced
great thinkers, poets or artists, her military strength made her the
bulwark of Greece against foreign foes. The time was to come when Greece,
to retain her liberties, would need this disciplined Spartan soldiery.
[23]
28. THE GROWTH OF ATHENS (to 500 B.C.)
ATHENS AS A CITY-STATE
The district of Attica, though smaller than our smallest American
commonwealth, was early filled with a number of independent city-states.
It was a great step in advance when, long before the dawn of Greek
history, these tiny communities were united with Athens. The inhabitants
of the Attic towns and villages gave up their separate governments and
became members of the one city-state of Athens. Henceforth a man was a
Athenian citizen, no matter in what part of Attica he lived.
OPPRESSIVE RULE OF THE NOBLES
At an earlier period, perhaps, than elsewhere in Greece, monarchy at
Athens disappeared before the rising power of the nobles. The rule of the
nobility bore harshly on the common people. Popular discontent was
especially excited at the administration of justice. There were at first
no written laws, but only the long-established customs of the community.
Since all the judges were nobles, they were tempted to decide legal cases
in favor of their own class. The people, at length, began to clamor for a
written code. They could then know just what the laws were.
DRACO'S CODE, 621 B.C.
After much agitation an Athenian named Draco was employed to write out a
code for the state. The laws, as published, were very severe. The penalty
for most offenses, even the smallest theft, was death. The Athenians used
to declare that the Draconian code had been written, "not in ink, but in
blood." Its publication, however, was a popular triumph and the first step
toward the establishment of Athenian democracy.
LEGISLATION OF SOLON, 594-593 B.C.
The second step was the legislation of Solon. This celebrated Athenian was
accounted among the wisest men of his age. The people held him in high
honor and gave him power to make much-needed reforms. At this time the
condition of the Attic peasants was deplorable. Many of them had failed to
pay their rent to the wealthy landowners, and according to the old custom
were being sold into slavery. Solon abolished the custom and restored to
freedom all those who had been enslaved for debt. He also limited the
amount of land which a noble might hold. By still another law he admitted
even the poorest citizens to the popular assembly, where they could vote
for magistrates and judge of their conduct after their year of office was
over. By giving the common people a greater share in the government, Solon
helped forward the democratic movement at Athens.
TYRANNY OF PISISTRATUS, 560-527 B.C.
Solon's reforms satisfied neither the nobility nor the commons. The two
classes continued their rivalry until the disorder of the times enabled an
ambitious politician to gain supreme power as a tyrant. [24] He was
Solon's own nephew, a noble named Pisistratus. The tyrant ruled with
moderation and did much to develop the Athenian city-state. He fostered
agriculture by dividing the lands of banished nobles among the peasants.
His alliances with neighboring cities encouraged the rising commerce of
Athens. The city itself was adorned with handsome buildings by architects
and sculptors whom Pisistratus invited to his court from all parts of
Greece.
REFORMS OF CLISTHENES, 508-507 B.C.
Pisistratus was succeeded by his two sons, but the Athenians did not take
kindly to their rule. Before long the tyranny came to an end. The
Athenians now found a leader in a noble named Clisthenes, who proved to be
an able statesman. He carried still further the democratic movement begun
by Draco and Solon. One of his reforms extended Athenian citizenship to
many foreigners and emancipated slaves ("freedmen") then living in Attica.
This liberal measure swelled the number of citizens and helped to make the
Athenians a more progressive people. Clisthenes, it is said, also
established the curious arrangement known as ostracism. Every year, if
necessary, the citizens were to meet in assembly and to vote against any
persons whom they thought dangerous to the state. If as many as six
thousand votes were cast, the man who received the highest number of votes
had to go into honorable exile for ten years. [25] Though ostracism was
intended as a precaution against tyrants, before long it came to be used
to remove unpopular politicians.
ATHENS A DEMOCRATIC STATE
There were still some steps to be taken before the rule of the people was
completely secured at Athens. But, in the main, the Athenians by 500 B.C.
had established a truly democratic government, the first in the history of
the world. The hour was now rapidly approaching when this young and
vigorous democracy was to show forth its worth before the eyes of all
Greece.
29. COLONIAL EXPANSION OF GREECE (ABOUT 750-500 B.C.)
THE GREAT AGE OF COLONIZATION
While Athens, Sparta, and their sister states were working out the
problems of government, another significant movement was going on in the
Greek world. The Greeks, about the middle of the eighth century B.C.,
began to plant numerous colonies along the shores of the Mediterranean and
of the Black Sea. The great age of colonization covered more than two
hundred years. [26]
REASONS FOR FOUNDING COLONIES
Several reasons led to the founding of colonies. Trade was an important
motive. The Greeks, like the Phoenicians, [27] could realize large profits
by exchanging their manufactured goods for the food and raw materials of
other countries. Land hunger was another motive. The poor soil of Greece
could not support many inhabitants and, when population increased,
emigration afforded the only means of relieving the pressure of numbers. A
third motive was political and social unrest. Greek cities at this period
contained many men of adventurous disposition who were ready to seek in
foreign countries a refuge from the oppression of nobles or tyrants. They
hoped to find in their new settlements more freedom than they had at home.
CHARACTER OF THE GREEK COLONY
A Greek colony was not simply a trading post; it was a center of Greek
life. The colonists continued to be Greeks in customs, language, and
religion. Though quite independent of the parent state, they always
regarded it with reverence and affection: they called themselves "men away
from home." Mother city and daughter colony traded with each other and in
time of danger helped each other. A symbol of this unity was the sacred
fire carried from the public hearth of the old community to the new
settlement.
COLONIZATION IN THE NORTH AND EAST
The Greeks planted many colonies on the coast of the northern Aegean and
on both sides of the long passage between the Mediterranean and the Black
Sea. Their most important colony was Byzantium, upon the site where
Constantinople now stands. They also made settlements along the shores of
the Black Sea. The cities founded here were centers from which the Greeks
drew their supplies of fish, wood, wool, grain, metals, and slaves. The
immense profits to be gained by trade made the Greeks willing to live in a
cold country so unlike their own and among barbarous peoples.
COLONIZATION IN THE WEST
The western lands furnished far more attractive sites for colonization.
The Greeks could feel at home in southern Italy, where the genial climate,
pure air, and sparkling sea recalled their native land. At a very early
date they founded Cumae, on the coast just north of the bay of Naples.
Emigrants from Cumae, in turn, founded the city of Neapolis (Naples),
which in Roman times formed a home of Greek culture and even to-day
possesses a large Greek population. To secure the approaches from Greece
to these remote colonies, two strongholds were established on the strait
of Messina: Regium (modern Reggio) on the Italian shore and Messana
(modern Messina) on that of Sicily. Another important colony in southern
Italy was Tarentum (modern Taranto).
[Illustration: "TEMPLE OF NEPTUNE," PAESTUM
Paestum, the Greek Poseidonia, was a colony of Sybaris The malarial
atmosphere of the place led to its desertion in the ninth century of our
era. Hence the buildings there were not used as quarries for later
structures. The so called "Temple of Neptune" at Paestum is one of the
best preserved monuments of antiquity.]
THE SICILIAN COLONIES
Greek settlements in Sicily were mainly along the coast. Expansion over
the entire island was checked by the Carthaginians, who had numerous
possessions at its western extremity. The most celebrated colony in Sicily
was Syracuse, established by emigrants from Corinth. It became the largest
of Greek cities.
OTHER MEDITERRANEAN COLONIES
In Corsica, Sardinia, and on the coast of Spain Carthage also proved too
obstinate a rival for the Greeks to gain much of a foothold. The city of
Massilia (Marseilles), at the mouth of the Rhone, was their chief
settlement in ancient Gaul. Two colonies on the southern shore of the
Mediterranean were Cyrene, west of Egypt, and Naucratis, in the Delta of
the Nile. From this time many Greek travelers visited Egypt to see the
wonders of that strange old country.
RESULTS OF COLONIZATION
Energetic Greeks, the greatest colonizers of antiquity, thus founded
settlements from the Black Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. "All the Greek
colonies" says an ancient writer, "are washed by the waves of the sea,
and, so to speak, a fringe of Greek earth is woven on to foreign lands."
[28] To distinguish themselves from the foreigners, or "barbarians," [29]
about them, the Greeks began to call themselves by the common name of
Hellenes. Hellas, their country, came to include all the territory
possessed by Hellenic peoples. The life of the Greeks, henceforth, was
confined no longer within the narrow limits of the Aegean. Wherever rose a
Greek city, there was a scene of Greek history.
30. BONDS OF UNION AMONG THE GREEKS
LANGUAGE AS A UNIFYING FORCE
The Greek colonies, as we have seen, were free and independent. In Greece
itself the little city-states were just as jealous of their liberties.
Nevertheless ties existed, not of common government, but of common
interests and ideals, which helped to unite the scattered sections of the
Greek world. The strongest bond of union was, of course, the one Greek
speech. Everywhere the people used the same beautiful and expressive
language. It is not a "dead" language, for it still lives in modified form
on the lips of nearly three million people in the Greek peninsula,
throughout the Mediterranean, and even in remote America.
LITERATURE AS UNIFYING FORCE; HOMER
Greek literature, likewise, made for unity. The _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_
were recited in every Greek village for centuries. They formed the
principal textbook in the schools; an Athenian philosopher calls Homer the
"educator of Hellas." It has been well said that these two epics were at
once the Bible and the Shakespeare of the Greek people.
RELIGION AS A UNIFYING FORCE; AMPHICTYONIES
Religion formed another bond of union. Everywhere the Greeks worshiped the
same gods and performed the same sacred rites. Religious influences were
sometimes strong enough to bring about federations known as amphictyonies,
or leagues of neighbors. The people living around a famous sanctuary would
meet to observe their festivals in common and to guard the shrine of their
divinity. The Delphic amphictyony was the most noteworthy of these local
unions. It included twelve tribes and cities of central Greece and
Thessaly. They established a council, which took the shrine of Apollo
under its protection and superintended the athletic games at Delphi.
A NEW AGE
The seventh and sixth centuries before Christ form a noteworthy epoch in
Greek history. Commerce and colonization were bringing their educating
influence to bear upon the Greeks. Hellenic cities were rising everywhere
along the Mediterranean shores. A common language, literature, and
religion were making the people more and more conscious of their unity as
opposed to the "barbarians" about them.
THE GREEK WORLD, 500 B.C.
Greek history has now been traced from its beginnings to about 500 B.C. It
is the history of a people, not of one country or of a united nation. Yet
the time was drawing near when all the Greek communities were to be
brought together in closer bonds of union than they had ever before known.
STUDIES
1. On the map facing page 66 see what regions of Europe are less than 500
feet above sea level; less than 3000 feet; over 9000 feet.
2. Why was Europe better fitted than Asia to develop the highest
civilization? Why not so well fitted as Asia to originate civilization?
3. "The tendency of mountains is to separate, of rivers to unite, adjacent
peoples." How can you justify this statement by a study of European
geography?
4. Why has the Mediterranean been called a "highway of nations"?
5. Locate on the map several of the natural entrances into the basin of
the Mediterranean.
6. At what points is it probable that southern Europe and northern Africa
were once united?
7. Compare the position of Crete in relation to Egypt with that of Sicily
in relation to the north African coast.
8. Why was the island of Cyprus a natural meeting place of Egyptian,
Syrian, and Greek peoples?
9. What modern countries are included within the limits of the Balkan
peninsula?
10. Describe the island routes across the Aegean (map between pages 68-
69).
11. What American states lie in about the same latitude as Greece?
12. Compare the boundaries of ancient Greece with those of the modern
kingdom.
13. What European countries in physical features closely resemble Greece?
What state of our union?
14. Why is Greece in its physical aspects "the most European of European
lands"?
15. What countries of Greece did not touch the sea?
16. Tell the story of the _Iliad_ and of the _Odyssey_.
17. Explain the following terms: oracle; amphictyony; helot; Hellas;
Olympiad; and ephors.
18. Give the meaning of our English words "ostracism" and "oracular."
19. Explain the present meaning and historical origin of the following
expressions: "a Delphic response"; "Draconian severity"; "a laconic
speech."
20. What is the date of the first recorded Olympiad? of the expulsion of
the last tyrant of Athens?
21. Describe the Lions' Gate (illustration, page 70) and the François
Vase (illustration, page 77).
22. Compare Greek ideas of the future life with those of the Babylonians.
23. Why has the Delphic oracle been called "the common hearth of Hellas"?
24. What resemblances do you discover between the Olympian festival and
one of our great international expositions?
25. Define and illustrate these terms: monarchy; aristocracy; tyranny;
democracy.
26. Why are the earliest laws always unwritten?
27. What differences existed between Phoenician and Greek colonization?
28. Why did the colonies, as a rule, advance more rapidly than the mother
country in wealth and population?
29. What is the origin of the modern city of Constantinople? of
Marseilles? of Naples? of Syracuse in Sicily?
FOOTNOTES
[1] Webster, _Readings in Ancient History_, chapter iii, "Early Greek
Society as Pictured in the Homeric Poems"; chapter iv, "Stories from Greek
Mythology"; chapter v, "Some Greek Tyrants"; chapter vi, "Spartan
Education and Life."
[2] See pages 16-17.
[3] For the island routes see the map between pages 68-69.
[4] See page 42.
[5] See the illustration, page 10.
[6] See the plate facing page 70.
[7] See pages 29, 48.
[8] See page 5.
[9] See the map, page 76.
[10] The Greek name of the Black Sea.
[11] _Iliad_, xviii, 607.
[12] _Odyssey_, xiv, 83-84.
[13] _Odyssey_, xi, 488-491.
[14] See page 227.
[15] See pages 88,90.
[16] Herodotus, i, 53.
[17] See page 37.
[18] The first recorded celebration occurred in 776 B.C. The four-year
period between the games, called an Olympiad, became the Greek unit for
determining dates. Events were reckoned as taking place in the first,
second, third, or fourth year of a given Olympiad.
[19] _Iliad_, ii, 243.
[20] _Aristocracy_ means, literally, the "government of the best." The
Greeks also used the word _oligarchy_--"rule of the few"--to describe a
government by citizens who belong to the wealthy class.
[21] "Pelops's island," a name derived from a legendary hero who settled
in southern Greece.
[22] Xenophon, _Polity of the Lacedaemonians_, 13.
[23] The Spartans believed that their military organization was the work
of a great reformer and law-giver named Lycurgus. He was supposed to have
lived early in the ninth century B.C. We do not know anything about
Lycurgus, but we do know that some existing primitive tribes, for
instance, the Masai of East Africa, have customs almost the same as those
of ancient Sparta. Hence we may say that the rude, even barbarous,
Spartans only carried over into the historic age the habits of life which
they had formed in prehistoric times.
[24] See page 82.
[25] The name of an individual voted against was written on a piece of
pottery (Greek _ostrakon_), whence the term _ostracism_. See the
illustration, page 97.
[26] See the map facing page 50.
[27] See page 49.
[28] Cicero, _De republica_, ii, 4.
[29] Greek _barbaroi_, "men of confused speech."