STĂTOR, a public servant, who attended on the Roman magistrates in
the provinces. The Statores seem to have derived their name from
standing by the side of the magistrate, and thus being at hand to
execute all his commands; they appear to have been chiefly employed
in carrying letters and messages.
STĀTŬĀRĬA ARS is in its proper sense the art of making statues or
busts, whether they consist of stone or metal or other materials, and
includes the art of making the various kinds of reliefs (alto, basso,
and mezzo relievo). These arts in their infant state existed among
the Greeks from time immemorial. There is no material applicable to
statuary which was not used by the Greeks. As _soft clay_ is capable
of being shaped without difficulty into any form, and is easily
dried, either by being exposed to the sun or by being baked, we may
consider this substance to have been the earliest material of which
figures were made. The name plastic art (ἡ πλαστική), by which the
ancients sometimes designate the art of statuary, properly signifies
to form or shape a thing of clay. The second material was _wood_,
and figures made of wood were called ξόανα, from ξέω, “polish” or
“carve.” It was chiefly used for making images of the gods, and
probably more on account of the facility of working in it, than for
any other reason. _Stone_ was little used in statuary during the
early ages of Greece, though it was not altogether unknown, as we
may infer from the relief on the Lion-gate of Mycenae. In Italy,
where the soft peperino afforded an easy material for working, stone
appears to have been used at an earlier period and more commonly
than in Greece. But in the historical times the Greeks used all the
principal varieties of marble for their statues. Different kinds of
marble and of different colours were sometimes used in one and the
same statue, in which case the work is called Polylithic statuary.
_Bronze_ (χάλκος, _aes_), _silver_, and _gold_ were used profusely in
the state of society described in the Homeric poems. At that period,
however, and long after, the works executed in metal were made by
means of the hammer, and the different pieces were joined together by
pins, rivets, cramps, or other mechanical fastenings, and, as the art
advanced, by a kind of glue, cement, or solder. Iron came into use
much later, and the art of casting both bronze and iron is ascribed
to Rhoecus and to Theodoras of Samos. _Ivory_ was employed at a later
period than any of the before-mentioned materials, and then was
highly valued both for its beauty and rarity. In its application to
statuary, ivory was generally combined with gold, and was used for
the parts representing the flesh. The history of ancient art, and of
statuary in particular, may be divided into five periods.
I. _First Period, from the earliest times till about 580_ B.C.--Three
kinds of artists may be distinguished in the mythical period. The
first consists of gods and daemons; such as Athena, Hephaestus, the
Phrygian or Dardanian Dactyli, and the Cabiri. The second contains
whole tribes of men distinguished from others by the mysterious
possession of superior skill in the practice of the arts, such as
the Telchines and the Cyclopes. The third consists of individuals
who are indeed described as human beings, but yet are nothing
more than personifications of particular branches of art, or the
representatives of families of artists. Of the latter the most
celebrated is _Daedalus_, whose name indicates nothing but a smith,
or an artist in general, and who is himself the mythical ancestor
of a numerous family of artists (_Daedalids_), which can be traced
from the time of Homer to that of Plato, for even Socrates is said
to have been a descendant of this family. _Smilis_ (from σμίλη, a
carving-knife) exercised his art in Samos, Aegina, and other places,
and some remarkable works were attributed to him. _Endoeus_ of
Athens is called a disciple of Daedalus. According to the popular
traditions of Greece, there was no period in which the gods were not
represented in some form or other, and there is no doubt that for
a long time there existed no other statues in Greece than those of
the gods. The earliest representations of the gods, however, were
only symbolic. The presence of a god was indicated by the simplest
and most shapeless symbols, such as unhewn blocks of stone (λίθοι
ἀργοί), and by simple pillars or pieces of wood. The general name
for a representation of a god not consisting of such a rude symbol
was ἄγαλμα. In the Homeric poems there are sufficient traces of the
existence of statues of the gods; but they probably did not display
any artistic beauty. The only work of art which has come down to us
from the heroic age is the relief above the ancient gate of Mycenae,
representing two lions standing on their hind legs, with a sort of
pillar between them (woodcut under MURUS). The time which elapsed
between the composition of the Homeric poems and the beginning of the
fifth century before our aera may be termed the age of discovery;
for nearly all the inventions, upon the application of which the
development of the arts is dependent, are assigned to this period.
Glaucus of Chios or Samos is said to have invented the art of
soldering metal (σιδήρου κόλλησις). The two artists most celebrated
for their discoveries were the two brothers Telecles and Theodoras of
Samos, about the time of Polycrates. They invented the art of casting
figures of metal. During the whole of this period, though marble and
bronze began to be extensively applied, yet wood was more generally
used for representations of the gods. These statues were painted
[PICTURA], and in most cases dressed in the most gorgeous attire.
The style in which they are executed is called the _archaic_ or the
_hieratic_ style. The figures are stiff and clumsy, the countenances
have little or no individuality, the eyes long and small, and the
outer angles turned a little upwards; the mouth, which is likewise
drawn upwards at the two corners, has a smiling appearance. The hair
is carefully worked, but looks stiff and wiry, and hangs generally
down in straight lines, which are curled at the ends. The arms hang
down the sides of the body, unless the figure carries something in
its hands. The drapery is likewise stiff, and the folds are very
symmetrical and worked with little regard to nature.
II. _Second Period, from 580 to 480_ B.C.--The number of artists who
flourished during this period is truly astonishing. The Ionians of
Asia Minor and the islanders of the Aegean, who had previously been
in advance of the other Greeks in the exercise of the fine arts, had
their last flourishing period from 560 to 528 B.C. Works in metal
were produced in high perfection in Samos, in Aegina and Argos, while
Chios gained the greatest reputation from its possessing the earliest
great school of sculptors in marble, in which Bupalus and Anthermus
were the most distinguished about 540 B.C. Their works were scattered
over various parts of Greece, and their value may be inferred from
the fact that Augustus adorned with them the pediment of the temple
of Apollo on the Palatine. Sicyon also possessed a celebrated school
of sculptors in marble, and about 580 B.C. Dipoenus and Scyllis, who
had come from Crete, were at the head of it, and executed several
marble statues of gods. Respecting Magna Graecia and Sicily we
know few particulars, though it appears that the arts here went on
improving and continued to be in advance of the mother-country. The
most celebrated artists in southern Italy were Dameas of Croton,
and Pythagoras of Rhegium. In Athens the arts made great progress
under the patronage of the Pisistratids. The most celebrated among
the Athenian sculptors of this period were Critias and Hegias, or
Hegesias, both distinguished for their works in bronze. The former
of them made in 477 B.C. the statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton.
Argos also distinguished itself, and it is a curious circumstance,
that the greatest Attic artists with whom the third period opens, and
who brought the Attic art to its culminating point, are disciples
of the Argive Ageladas (about 516 B.C.) In the statues of the gods
(ἀγάλματα), which were made for temples as objects of worship, the
hieratic style was more or less conscientiously retained, and it is
therefore not in these statues that we have to seek for proofs of
the progress of art. But even in temple-statues wood began to give
way to other and better materials. Besides bronze, marble also, and
ivory and gold were now applied to statues of the gods, and it was
not uncommon to form the body of a statue of wood, and to make its
head, arms, and feet of stone (ἀκρόλιθοι), or to cover the whole of
such a wooden figure with ivory and gold. From the statues of the
gods erected for worship we must distinguish those statues which were
dedicated in temples as ἀναθήματα, and which now became customary
instead of craters, tripods, &c. In these the artists were not only
not bound to any traditional or conventional forms, but were, like
the poets, allowed to make free use of mythological subjects, to
add, and to omit, or to modify the stories, so as to render them
more adapted for their artistic purposes. A third class of statues,
which were erected during this period in great numbers, were those
of the victors in the national games, and, though more rarely,
of other distinguished persons (ἀνδριάντες). Those of the latter
kind appear generally to have been portraits (εἰκόνες, _statuae
iconicae_). The first iconic statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton
were made by Antenor in 509 B.C., and in 477 B.C. new statues of the
same persons were made by _Critias_. It was also at the period we
are now describing that it became customary to adorn the pediments,
friezes, and other parts of temples with reliefs or groups of statues
of marble. We still possess two great works of this kind which are
sufficient to show their general character during this period. 1.
The _Selinuntine Marbles_, or the metopes of two temples on the
acropolis of Selinus in Sicily, which were discovered in 1823, and
are at present in the Museum of Palermo. 2. The _Aeginetan Marbles_,
which were discovered in 1812 in the island of Aegina, and are now at
Munich. They consist of eleven statues, which adorned two pediments
of a temple of Athena, and represent the goddess leading the Aeacids
against Troy, and contain manifest allusions to the war of the Greeks
with the Persians.
III. _Third Period, from 480 to 336_ B.C.--During this period Athens
was the centre of the fine arts in Greece. Statuary went hand in
hand with the other arts and with literature: it became emancipated
from its ancient fetters, from the stiffness and conventional forms
of former times, and reached its culminating point in the sublime
and mighty works of Phidias. His career begins about 452 B.C. The
genius of this artist was so great and so generally recognised,
that all the great works which were executed in the age of Pericles
were placed under his direction, and thus the whole host of artists
who were at that time assembled at Athens were engaged in working
out his designs and ideas. Of these we have still some remains:--1.
Parts of the eighteen sculptured metopes, together with the frieze
of the small sides of the cella of the temple of Theseus. Ten of the
metopes represent the exploits of Hercules, and the eight others
those of Theseus. The figures in the frieze are manifestly gods, but
their meaning is uncertain. Casts of these figures are in the British
Museum. 2. A considerable number of the metopes of the Parthenon,
which are all adorned with reliefs in marble, a great part of the
frieze of the cella, some colossal figures, and a number of fragments
of the two pediments of this temple. The greater part of these works
is now in the British Museum, where they are collected under the name
of the Elgin Marbles. Besides the sculptures of these temples, there
are also similar ornaments of other temples extant, which show the
influence which the school of Phidias exercised in various parts of
Greece. Of these the most important are, the Phigalian marbles, which
belonged to the temple of Apollo Epicurius, built about 436 B.C., by
Ictinus. They were discovered in 1812, and consist of twenty-three
plates of marble belonging to the inner frieze of the cella. They
are now in the British Museum. The subjects represented in them
are fights with Centaurs and Amazons, and one plate shows Apollo
and Artemis drawn in a chariot by stags. About the same time that
the Attic school rose to its highest perfection under Phidias, the
school of Argos was likewise raised to its summit by Polycletus. The
art of making bronze statues of athletes was carried by him to the
greatest perfection: ideal youthful and manly beauty was the sphere
in which he excelled. One of his statues, a youthful Doryphorus,
was made with such accurate observation of the proportions of the
parts of the body, that it was looked upon by the ancient artists
as a canon of rules on this point. Myron of Eleutherae, about 432
B.C., adhered to a closer imitation of nature than Polycletus, and
as far as the impression upon the senses was concerned, his works
were most pleasing. The cow of Myron in bronze was celebrated in all
antiquity. The change which took place after the Peloponnesian war
in the public mind at Athens could not fail to show its influence
upon the arts also. It was especially Scopas of Paros and Praxiteles
of Athens, about one generation after Myron and Polycletus, who gave
the reflex of their time in their productions. Their works expressed
the softer feelings and an excited state of mind, such as would make
a strong impression upon and captivate the senses of the beholders.
Both were distinguished as sculptors in marble, and both worked in
the same style; the legendary circles to which most of their ideal
productions belong are those of Dionysus and Aphrodite, a fact which
also shows the character of the age. Cephissodorus and Timarchus were
sons of Praxiteles. There were several works of the former at Rome
in the time of Pliny; he made his art subservient to passions and
sensual desires. Most of the above-mentioned artists, however widely
their works differed from those of the school of Phidias, may yet be
regarded as having only continued and developed its principles of art
in a certain direction; but towards the end of this period Euphranor
and Lysippus of Sicyon carried out the principles of the Argive
school of Polycletus. Their principal object was to represent the
highest possible degree of physical beauty and of athletic and heroic
power. The chief characteristic of Lysippus and his school is a close
imitation of nature, which even contrived to represent bodily defects
in some interesting manner, as in his statues of Alexander.
IV. _Fourth Period, from 336 to 146_ B.C.--During the first fifty
years of this period the schools of Praxiteles and Lysippus continued
to flourish, especially in works of bronze; but after this time
bronze statues were seldom made, until the art was carried on with
new vigour at Athens about the end of the period. The school of
Lysippus gave rise to that of Rhodes, where his disciple Chares
formed the most celebrated among the hundred colossal statues of
the sun. It was seventy cubits high, and partly of metal. It stood
near the harbour, and was thrown down by an earthquake about 225
B.C. Antiquarians assign to this part of the fourth period several
very beautiful works still extant, as the magnificent group of
Laocoon and his sons, which was discovered in 1506 near the baths of
Titus, and is at present at Rome. This is, next to the Niobe, the
most beautiful group among the extant works of ancient art; it was
according to Pliny the work of three Rhodian artists: Agesander,
Polydorus, and Athenodorus. The celebrated Farnesian bull is likewise
the work of two Rhodian artists, Apollonius and Tauriscus. In the
various kingdoms which arose out of the conquests of Alexander
the arts were more or less cultivated. Not only were the great
master-works of former times copied to adorn the new capitals, but
new schools of artists sprang up in several of them. At Pergamus
the celebrated groups were composed which represented the victories
of Attalus and Eumenes over the Gauls. It is believed by some that
the so-called dying gladiator at Rome is a statue of a Gaul, which
originally belonged to one of these groups. The Borghese gladiator
in the Louvre is supposed to be the work of an Ephesian Agasias,
and to have originally formed a part of such a battle-scene. About
the close of this period, and for more than a century afterwards,
the Romans, in the conquest of the countries where the arts had
flourished, made it a regular practice to carry away the works of
art. The triumphs over Philip, Antiochus, the Aetolians, the Gauls in
Asia, Perseus, Pseudo-Philip, and above all the taking of Corinth,
and subsequently the victories over Mithridates and Cleopatra, filled
the Roman temples and porticoes with the greatest variety of works
of art. The sacrilegious plunder of temples and the carrying away
of the sacred statues from the public sanctuaries became afterwards
a common practice. The manner in which Verres acted in Sicily is
but one of many instances of the extent to which these robberies
were carried on. The emperors, especially Augustus, Caligula, and
Nero, followed these examples, and the immense number of statues
which, notwithstanding all this, remained at Rhodes, Delphi, Athens,
and Olympia, is truly astonishing.--We can only briefly advert to
the history of statuary among the Etruscans and Romans down to the
year 146 B.C. The Etruscans were on the whole an industrious and
enterprising people. With the works of Grecian art they must have
become acquainted at an early time through their intercourse with
the Greeks of southern Italy, whose influence upon the art of the
Etruscans is evident in numerous cases. The whole range of the fine
arts was cultivated by the Etruscans at an early period. Statuary in
clay (which here supplied the place of wood, ξόανα, used in Greece)
and in bronze appears to have acquired a high degree of perfection.
In 267 B.C. no fewer than 2000 bronze statues are said to have
existed at Volsinii, and numerous works of Etruscan art are still
extant, which show great vigour and life, though they do not possess
a very high degree of beauty. Some of their statues are worked in
a Greek style; others are of a character peculiar to themselves,
and entirely different from works of Grecian art, being stiff and
ugly: others again are exaggerated and forced in their movements
and attitudes, and resemble the figures which we meet with in the
representations of Asiatic nations. The Romans previously to the
time of the first Tarquin are said to have had no images of the
gods; and for a long time afterwards their statues of gods in clay
or wood were made by Etruscan artists. During the early part of the
republic the works executed at Rome were altogether of a useful and
practical, and not of an ornamental character; and statuary was in
consequence little cultivated. But in the course of time the senate
and the people, as well as foreign states which desired to show
their gratitude to some Roman, began to erect bronze statues to
distinguished persons in the Forum and other places.
V. _Fifth Period, from_ B.C. _146 to the fall of the Western
Empire._--During this period Rome was the capital of nearly the whole
of the ancient world, not through its intellectual superiority, but
by its military and political power. But it nevertheless became the
centre of art and literature, as the artists resorted thither from
all parts of the empire for the purpose of seeking employment in the
houses of the great. The mass of the people, however, had as little
taste for and were as little concerned about the arts as ever. In
the time of Nero, who did much for the arts, we meet with Zenodorus,
a founder of metal statues, who was commissioned by the emperor to
execute a colossal statue of 110 feet high, representing Nero as
the Sun. In the reign of Hadrian the arts seem to begin a new aera.
He himself was undoubtedly a real lover of art, and encouraged it
not only at Rome, but in Greece and Asia Minor. The great Villa of
Hadrian below Tivoli, the ruins of which cover an extent of ten
Roman miles in circumference, was richer in works of art than any
other place in Italy. Here more works of art have been dug out of
the ground than anywhere else within the same compass. Some statues
executed at this time are worthy of the highest admiration. Foremost
among these stand the statues and busts of Antinous, for whom the
emperor entertained a passionate partiality, and who was represented
in innumerable works of art. The colossal bust of Antinous in the
Louvre is reckoned one of the finest works of ancient art, and is
placed by some critics on an equality with the best works that Greece
has produced. There are also some very good works in red marble which
are referred to this period, as that material is not known to have
been used before the age of Hadrian. As the arts had received such
encouragement and brought forth such fruits in the reign of Hadrian,
the effects remained visible for some time during the reigns of the
Antonines. The frieze of a temple, which the senate caused to be
erected to Antoninus Pius and Faustina, is adorned with griffins
and vessels of very exquisite workmanship. The best among the
extant works of this time are the equestrian statue of M. Aurelius
of gilt bronze, which stands on the Capitol, and the column of M.
Aurelius with reliefs representing scenes of his war against the
Marcomanni. After the time of the Antonines the symptoms of decline
in the arts became more and more visible. The most numerous works
continued to be busts and statues of the emperors, but the best
among them are not free from affectation and mannerism. In the time
of Caracalla many statues were made, especially of Alexander the
Great. Alexander Severus was a great admirer of statues, not from a
genuine love of art, but because he delighted in the representations
of great and good men. The reliefs on the triumphal arch of Septimius
Severus, representing his victories over the Parthians, Arabs, and
Adiabenians, have scarcely any artistic merits. Art now declined
with great rapidity: busts and statues were more seldom made than
before, and are awkward and poor; the hair is frequently indicated
by nothing else but holes bored in the stone. The reliefs on the
sarcophagi gradually become monotonous and lifeless. The reliefs on
the arch of Constantine, which are not taken from that of Trajan, are
perfectly rude and worthless, and those on the column of Theodosius
were not better. Before concluding, it remains to say a few words on
the destruction of ancient works of art. During the latter part of
the reign of Constantine many statues of the gods were destroyed,
and not long after his time a systematic destruction began, which
under Theodosius spread to all parts of the empire. The spirit of
destruction, however, was not directed against works of art in
general and as such, but only against the pagan idols. The opinion,
therefore, which is entertained by some, that the losses we have
sustained in works of ancient art, are mainly attributable to the
introduction of Christianity, is too sweeping and general. Of the
same character is another opinion, according to which the final decay
of ancient art was a consequence of the spiritual nature of the new
religion. The coincidence of the general introduction of Christianity
with the decay of the arts is merely accidental. That the early
Christians did not despise the arts as such, is clear from several
facts. We know that they erected statues to their martyrs, of which
we have a specimen in that of St. Hippolytus in the Vatican library.
The numerous works, lastly, which have been found in the Christian
catacombs at Rome, might alone be a sufficient proof that the early
Christians were not hostile towards the representation of the heroes
of their religion in works of art. In fact, Christianity during the
middle ages became as much the mother of the arts of modern times, as
the religion of Greece was the mother of ancient art. Another very
general and yet incorrect notion is, that the northern barbarians
after the conquest of Rome intentionally destroyed works of art.
This opinion is not supported by any of the contemporary historians,
nor is it at all probable. The barbarians were only anxious to carry
with them the most precious treasures in order to enrich themselves;
a statue must have been an object of indifference to them. What
perished, perished naturally by the circumstances and calamities of
the times. In times of need bronze statues were melted down and the
material used for other purposes; marble statues were frequently
broken to pieces and used for building materials. If we consider
the history of Rome during the first centuries after the conquest of
Italy by the Germans, we have every reason to wonder that so many
specimens of ancient art have come down to our times. The greatest
destruction, at one time, of ancient works of art is supposed to have
occurred at the taking of Constantinople, in the beginning of the
thirteenth century. Among the few works saved from this devastation
are the celebrated bronze horses which now decorate the exterior of
St. Mark’s church at Venice. They have been ascribed, but without
sufficient authority, to Lysippus.
STĬLUS or STỸLUS is in all probability the same word with the Greek
στύλος, and conveys the general idea of an object tapering like
an architectural column. It signifies, (1) An iron instrument,
resembling a pencil in size and shape, used for writing upon waxed
tablets. At one end it was sharpened to a point for scratching
the characters upon the wax, while the other end, being flat and
circular, served to render the surface of the tablets smooth again,
and so to obliterate what had been written. Thus, _vertere stilum_
means _to erase_, and hence _to correct_. The stylus was also termed
_graphium_, and the case in which it was kept _graphiarium_.--(2) A
sharp stake or spike placed in pitfalls before an entrenchment, to
embarrass the progress of an attacking enemy.
[Illustration: Stilus. (Museo Borbonico, vol. vi. tav. 35.)]
STIPENDĬĀRĬI. The stipendiariae urbes of the Roman provinces
were so denominated, as being subject to the payment of a fixed
money-tribute, _stipendium_, in contradistinction to the vectigales,
who paid a certain portion as a tenth or twentieth of the produce
of their lands, their cattle, or customs. The word _stipendium_
was used to signify the tribute paid, as it was originally imposed
for and afterwards appropriated to the purpose of furnishing the
Roman soldiers with pay. The condition of the urbes stipendiariae
is generally thought to have been more honourable than that of the
vectigales, but the distinction between the two terms was not always
observed. The word stipendiarius is also applied to a person who
receives a fixed salary or pay, as a _stipendiarius miles_.
STĪPENDĬUM, a pension or pay, from _stipem_ and _pendo_, because
before silver was coined at Rome the copper-money in use was paid by
weight and not by tale. According to Livy, the practice of giving
pay to the Roman soldiers was not introduced till B.C. 405, on
the occasion of the taking of Tarracina or Anxur. It is probable,
however, that they received pay before this time, but, since it was
not paid regularly, its first institution was referred to this year.
In B.C. 403 a certain amount of pay was assigned to the knights
also, or EQUITES, p. 156, _b_. This, however, had reference to the
citizens who possessed an equestrian fortune, but had no horse
(_equus publicus_) assigned to them by the state, for it had always
been customary for the knights of the 18 centuries to receive pay out
of the common treasury, in the shape of an allowance for the purchase
of a horse, and a yearly pension of 2000 asses for its keep. [AES
EQUESTRE; AES HORDEARIUM.] In the time of the republic the pay of a
legionary soldier amounted to two oboli, or 3⅓ asses; a centurion
received double, and an eques or horseman triple. Polybius states
that foot soldiers also received in corn every month an allowance
(_demensum_) of ⅔ of an Attic medimnus, or about 2 bushels of wheat:
the horsemen 7 medimni of barley and 2 of wheat. The infantry of the
allies received the same allowance as the Roman: the horsemen 1⅓
medimni of wheat and 5 of barley. But there was this difference, that
the allied forces received their allowances as a gratuity; the Roman
soldiers, on the contrary, had deducted from their pay the money
value of whatever they received in corn, armour, or clothes. There
was indeed a law passed by C. Gracchus, which provided that besides
their pay the soldiers should receive from the treasury an allowance
for clothes; but this law seems either to have been repealed or to
have fallen into disuse. The pay was doubled for the legionaries by
Julius Caesar before the civil war. He also gave them corn whenever
he had the means, without any restrictions. Under Augustus it appears
to have been raised to 10 asses a day (three times the original sum).
It was still further increased by Domitian. The praetorian cohorts
received twice as much as the legionaries.
STŎLA, a female dress worn over the tunic; it came as low as the
ankles or feet, and was fastened round the body by a girdle, leaving
above the breast broad folds. The tunic did not reach much below
the knee, but the essential distinction between the tunic and stola
seems to have been that the latter always had an _instita_ or flounce
sewed to the bottom and reaching to the instep. Over the stola the
palla or pallium was worn [PALLIUM], as we see in the cut annexed.
The stola was the characteristic dress of the Roman matrons, as the
toga was of the Roman men. Hence the meretrices were not allowed to
wear it, but only a dark-coloured toga; and accordingly Horace speaks
of the _matrona_ in contradistinction to the _togata_. For the same
reason, women who had been divorced from their husbands on account of
adultery, were not allowed to wear the stola, but only the toga.
[Illustration: Stola, female dress. (Museo Borbonico, vol. iii. tav.
37.)]
STRĂTĒGUS (στρατηγός), general. This office and title seems to
have been more especially peculiar to the democratic states of
ancient Greece: we read of them, for instance, at Athens, Tarentum,
Syracuse, Argos, and Thurii; and when the tyrants of the Ionian
cities in Asia Minor were deposed by Aristagoras, he established
strategi in their room, to act as chief magistrates. The strategi
at Athens were instituted after the remodelling of the constitution
by Clisthenes, to discharge the duties which had in former times
been performed either by the king or the archon polemarchus. They
were ten in number, one for each of the ten tribes, and chosen by
the suffrages (χειροτονία) of the people. Before entering on their
duties they were required to submit to a _docimasia_, or examination
of their character; and no one was eligible to the office unless
he had legitimate children, and was possessed of landed property
in Attica. They were, as their name denotes, entrusted with the
command on military expeditions, with the superintendence of all
warlike preparations, and with the regulation of all matters in any
way connected with the war department of the state. They levied and
enlisted the soldiers, either personally or with the assistance of
the taxiarchs. They were entrusted with the collection and management
of the property-taxes (εἰσφοραί) raised for the purposes of war;
and also presided over the courts of justice in which any disputes
connected with this subject or the trierarchy were decided. They
nominated from year to year persons to serve as trierarchs. They had
the power of convening extraordinary assemblies of the people in
cases of emergency. But their most important trust was the command
in war, and it depended upon circumstances to how many of the number
it was given. At Marathon all the ten were present, and the chief
command came to each of them in turn. The archon polemarchus also was
there associated with them, and, according to the ancient custom, his
vote in a council of war was equal to that of any of the generals.
Usually, however, three only were sent out; one of these (τρίτος
αὐτός) was considered as the commander-in-chief, but his colleagues
had an equal voice in a council of war. The military chiefs of the
Aetolian and Achaean leagues were also called _strategi_. The Achaean
_strategi_ had the power of convening a general assembly of the
league on extraordinary occasions. Greek writers on Roman affairs
give the name of _strategi_ to the praetors.
STRĒNA, a present given on a festive day, and for the sake of good
omen. It was chiefly applied to a new year’s gift, to a present made
on the calends of January. In accordance with a senatusconsultum, new
year’s gifts had to be presented to Augustus in the Capitol, even
when he was absent.