OUR EARLIEST TEACHERS
ANCIENT CITIES THAT STILL EXIST. In Ancient Times the most
important peoples lived on the shores of the Mediterranean. The
northern shore turns and twists around four peninsulas. The first is
Spain, which separates the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean;
the second, shaped like a boot, is Italy; and the third, the end of
which looks like a mulberry leaf, is Greece. Beyond Greece is Asia
Minor, the part of Asia which lies between the Mediterranean Sea and
the Black Sea.
The Italians now live in Italy, but the Romans lived there in Ancient
Times. The people who live in Greece are called Greeks, just as they
were more than two thousand years ago. Many of the cities that the
Greeks and Romans built are still standing. Alexandria was founded by
the great conqueror Alexander. Constantinople used to be the Greek
city of Byzantium. Another Greek city, Massilia, has become the modern
French city of Marseilles. Rome had the same name in Ancient Times,
except that it was spelled Roma. The Romans called Paris by the name
of Lutetia, and London they called Lugdunum.
RUINS WHICH SHOW HOW THE ANCIENTS LIVED. In many of these cities
are ancient buildings or ruins of buildings, bits of carving, vases,
mosaics, sometimes even wall paintings, which we may see and from
which we may learn how the Greeks and Romans lived. Near Naples are
the ruins of Pompeii, a Roman city suddenly destroyed during an
eruption of the volcano Vesuvius.
For hundreds of years the city lay buried under fifteen or twenty feet
of ashes. When these were taken away, the old streets and the walls of
the houses could be seen. No roofs were left and the walls in many
places were only partly standing, but things which in other ancient
cities had entirely disappeared were kept safe in Pompeii under the
volcanic ashes.
The traveler who walks to-day along the ruined streets can see how its
inhabitants lived two thousand years ago. He can visit their public
buildings and their private houses, can handle their dishes and can
look at the paintings on their walls or the mosaics in the floors. But
interesting as Pompeii is, we must not think that its ruins teach us
more than the ruins of Rome or Athens or many other ancient cities.
Each has something important to tell us of the people who lived long
ago.
ANCIENT WORDS STILL IN USE. The ancient Greeks and Romans have left
us some things more useful than the ruins of their buildings. These
are the words in our language which once were theirs, and which we use
with slight changes in spelling. Most of our words came in the
beginning from Germany, where our English forefathers lived before
they settled in England. To the words they took over from Germany they
added words borrowed from other peoples, just as we do now. We have
recently borrowed several words from the French, such as tonneau and
limousine, words used to describe parts of an automobile, besides the
name automobile itself, which is made up of a Latin and a Greek word.
[Illustration: RUINS OF A HOUSE AT POMPEII The houses of the
better sort were built with an open court in the center]
In this way, for hundreds of years, words have been coming into our
language from other languages. Several thousand have come from Latin,
the language of the Romans; several hundred from Greek, either
directly or passed on to us by the Romans or the French. The word
school is Greek, and the word arithmetic was borrowed from the French,
who took it from the Greeks. Geography is another word which came,
through French and Latin, from the Greeks, to whom it meant that which
is written about the earth. The word grammar came in the same way. The
word alphabet is made by joining together the names of the first two
Greek letters, alpha and beta.
Many words about religion are borrowed from the Greeks, and this is
not strange, for the New Testament was written in Greek. Some of these
are Bible, church, bishop, choir, angel, devil, apostle, and martyr.
The Greeks have handed down to us many words about government,
including the word itself, which in the beginning meant "to steer."
Politics meant having to do with a _polis_ or city. Several of the
words most recently made up of Greek words are telegraph, telephone,
phonograph, and thermometer.
MANY WORDS BORROWED FROM THE ROMANS. Nearly ten times as many of
our words are borrowed from the Romans as from the Greeks, and it is
not strange, because at one time the Romans ruled over all the country
now occupied by the Italians, the French, the Spaniards, a part of the
Germans, and the English, so that these peoples naturally learned the
words used by their conquerors and governors.
INTERESTING ANCIENT STORIES. In the poems and tales which we learn
at home or at school are stories which Greek and Roman parents and
teachers taught their children many hundred years ago. We learn them
partly because they are interesting, and because they please or amuse
us, and partly because they appear so often in our books that it is
necessary to know them if we would understand our own books and
language. Who has not heard of Hercules and his Labors, of the Search
for the Golden Fleece, the Siege of Troy, or the Wanderings of
Ulysses? We love modern fairy stories and tales of adventure, but they
are not more pleasing than these ancient stories.
[Illustration: THE PLAIN OF MARATHON]
THE STORY OF THE GREEKS. Our language and our books are full of
memories of Greek and Roman deeds of courage. The story of the Greeks
comes before the story of the Romans, for the Greeks were living in
beautiful cities, with temples and theaters, while the Romans were
still an almost unknown people dwelling on the hills that border the
river Tiber.
MEMORIES OF GREEK COURAGE. The most heroic deeds of the Greeks took
place in a great war between the Greek cities and the kingdom of
Persia about five hundred years before Christ. In those days there was
no kingdom called Greece, such as the geographies now describe.
Instead there were cities, a few of which were ruled by kings, others
by the citizens themselves. These cities banded together when any
danger threatened them. Sometimes one city turned traitor and helped
the enemy against the others. The most dangerous enemy the Greeks had,
until the Romans attacked them, was the kingdom of Persia, which
stretched from the Aegean Sea far into Asia. In the war with the
Persians the Greeks fought three famous battles, at Marathon,
Thermopylae, and Salamis, the stories of which men have always liked
to hear and remember.
PREPARING FOR MARATHON, 490 B.C. To the Athenians belong the
glories of Marathon. They lived where the modern city of Athens now
stands. The ruins of their temples and theaters still attract students
and travelers to Greece. The plain of Marathon lay more than twenty
miles to the northeast, and the roads to it led through mountain
passes. When the Athenians heard that the hosts of the Great King of
Persia were approaching, they sent a runner, Pheidippides by name, to
ask aid of Sparta, a city one hundred and forty miles away, in the
peninsula now called the Morea, where dwelt the sturdiest fighters of
Greece. This runner reached Sparta on the second day, but the Spartans
said it would be against their religious custom to march before the
moon was full. The Athenians saw that they must meet the enemy
alone--one small city against a mighty empire. They called their ten
thousand men together and set out. On the way they were joined by a
thousand more, the whole army of the brave little town of Plataea.
[Illustration: GREEK SOLDIERS IN ARMS From a Greek vase of
about the time of the battle of Marathon]
HOW THE ATHENIANS WERE ARMED. Although the Persians had six times
as many soldiers as the Athenians, they were not so well armed for
hand to hand fighting. Their principal weapon was the bow and arrow,
while the Greeks used the lance and a short sword. The Greek soldier
was protected by his bronze helmet, solid across the forehead and over
the nose; by his breastplate, a leathern or linen tunic covered with
small metal scales, with flaps hanging below his hips; and by greaves
or pieces of metal in front of his knees and shins. He was also
protected by a shield, often long enough to reach from his face to his
knees. According to a strange custom the Athenians were led by ten
generals, each commanding one day in turn.
THE BATTLE-GROUND. Marathon was a plain about two miles wide, lying
between the mountains and the sea. From it two roads ran toward
Athens, one along the shore where the hills almost reached the sea,
the other up a narrow valley and over the mountains. The Athenians
were encamped in this valley, where they could attack the Persians if
they tried to follow the shore road.
The Persians landed from their ships and filled the plain near the
shore. They wanted to fight in the open plain because they had so many
more soldiers than the Athenians and because they meant to use their
horsemen. For some time the Athenians watched the Persians, not
knowing what it was best to do. Half the generals did not wish to risk
a battle, but Miltiades was eager to fight, for he feared that delay
would lead timid citizens or traitors to yield to the Persians. He
finally gained his wish, and on his day of command the battle was
ordered.
THE BATTLE. The Persians by this time had decided to sail around to
the harbor of Athens and had taken their horsemen on board their
ships. When they saw the Greeks coming they drew up their
foot-soldiers in deep masses. The Athenians and their comrades--the
Plataeans--soon began to move forward on the run. The Persians thought
this madness, because the Greeks had no archers or horsemen. But the
Greeks saw that if they moved forward slowly the Persians would have
time to shoot arrows at them again and again.
When the Greeks rushed upon the Persians the soldiers at the two ends
of the Persian line gave way and fled towards the shore. In the
center, where the best Persian soldiers stood, the Greeks were not at
first successful, and were forced to retreat. But those who had been
victorious came to their rescue, attacked the Persians in the rear,
and finally drove them off. The Persians ran into the sea to reach the
ships, and the Athenians followed them. Some of the Greeks were so
eager in the fight that they seized the sides of the ships and tried
to keep them from being rowed away, but the Persians cut at their
hands and made them let go.
[Illustration: THE STRAITS OF SALAMIS Where a great sea-fight
between Greeks and Persians took place]
THE NEWS OF THE VICTORY. The Athenians had won a victory of which
they were so proud that they meant it never should be forgotten. Their
city had suddenly become great through the courage and self-sacrifice
of her citizens. One hundred and ninety-two Greeks had fallen, and on
the battle-field their comrades raised over their bodies a mound of
earth which still marks their tomb. The victors sent the runner
Pheidippides to bear the news to Athens. Over the hills he ran until
he reached the market place, and there, with the message of triumph on
his lips, he fell dead.
OTHER VICTORIES OF THE GREEKS. Marathon was only the beginning of
Greek victories over the Persians, only the first struggle in the long
wars between Europe and Asia. Ten years after Marathon the Spartans
won everlasting glory by their heroic stand at the Pass of Thermopylae
--three hundred Greeks against the mighty army of the Persian king
Xerxes. The barbarian hordes passed over their bodies, took the road
to Athens, burned the city, but were soon beaten in the sea-fight
which took place on the waters lying between the mainland of Athenian
territory and the island of Salamis. This victory was also due to
Athenian courage and leadership, for the Athenians and their leader,
Themistocles, were resolved to stay and fight, although the other
Greeks wanted to sail away.
WHY MARATHON IS REMEMBERED. The victories of Marathon and Salamis
were great not only because small armies of Greeks put to flight the
hosts of Persia, they were great because they saved the independence
of Greece. If the Greeks had become the subjects and slaves of Persia,
they would not have built the wonderful buildings, or carved the
beautiful statues, or written the books which we study and admire.
When we think of the Greeks as our first teachers we feel as proud of
their victories as if they were our own victories.
THE WARS OF THE GREEK CITIES. The Athenians had done the most in
winning the victory over the Persians, and therefore Athens was for
many years the most powerful city in Greece. The Spartans were always
jealous of the Athenians, and in less than a century after the victory
of Marathon they conquered and humbled Athens. The worst faults of the
Greeks were such jealousies and the desire to lord it over one
another. Greek history is full of wars of city against city, Sparta
against Athens, Corinth against Athens, and Thebes against Sparta. In
these wars many heroic deeds were done, of which we like to read, but
it is more important for us to understand how the Greeks lived.
QUESTIONS
1. What ancient cities still exist? Find them on the map.
(For each difficult name find the pronunciation in the index.)
2. What things do we find in the ruins of ancient cities which tell
us how the people lived?
3. From what country did most of our words come in the beginning?
Why are they now called English? What peoples used the word
geography before we did? About how many words do we get from the
Greeks, and how many from the Romans?
4. Which people became famous earlier, the Greeks or the Romans?
Point out on the map the peninsula where each lived.
5. Why do we like to remember the brave deeds of the Greeks?
6. Find the city of Athens on the map. Find Sparta. Where
was Marathon? What city won glory at Marathon?
7. What were the worst faults of the Greeks?
EXERCISES
1. Collect pictures of ruined cities in Italy, Greece, and Asia
Minor, from illustrated papers, magazines, or advertising folders.
Collect postal cards giving such pictures.
2. Choose the best one of the Greek stories mentioned in Chapter II,
and tell it.
3. Find out how differently soldiers now are clothed and armed from
the way the Greek soldiers were.
4. Find out why a long distance run is now called a "Marathon."