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[Illustration: LANDS OF THE AEGEAN]
UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME
THE GRANDEUR THAT WAS ROME:
A Survey of Roman Culture and Civilisation. By J. C. STOBART, M.A. With
about 200 Illustrations in Colour, Gravure, Collotype, Half-tone and
Line.
TO BE PUBLISHED IN 1912.
_An Illustrated Prospectus will be published in due course._
THE GLORY THAT WAS GREECE
[Illustration: _Aphrodite of Melos_
Mansell & Co. Photo. Emory Walker Ph]
THE GLORY THAT WAS
GREECE
A Survey of Hellenic Culture
& Civilisation: by
J. C. Stobart, M.A.
LATE LECTURER IN HISTORY
TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
[Illustration: colophon]
LONDON
SIDGWICK & JACKSON LTD.
3 Adam Street, Adelphi
1911
_All rights reserved_
PRINTED BY
BALLANTYNE & COMPANY LTD
AT THE BALLANTYNE PRESS
TAVISTOCK STREET COVENT GARDEN
LONDON
PREFACE
With the progress of research, classical scholarship tends more and more
towards narrower fields of specialisation. Real students are now like
miners working underground each in his own shaft, buried far away from
sight or ear-shot of the public, so that they even begin to lose touch
with one another. This makes an occasional survey of the whole field of
operations not only necessary for interested onlookers, whether they
happen to be shareholders or not, but also serviceable to the scholars
themselves. The task of furnishing it, however, is not an easy one. No
man nowadays can be as fully equipped in archæology, history, and
literary criticism as were great writers of general history in the last
century like George Grote and Theodor Mommsen. We are driven, therefore,
to one of two courses: either to compile encyclopædic works by various
writers under slight editorial control, or else to sacrifice detail and
attempt in a much less ambitious spirit to present a panorama of the
whole territory from an individual point of view. The former plan is
constantly producing valuable storehouses of information to be used for
purposes of reference. But they tend to grow in bulk and compression,
until, like the monumental “Paully-Wissowa,” they are nothing but
colossal dictionaries.
The writer who attempts the second plan will, of course, be inviting
criticism at a thousand points. He is compelled to deal in large
generalisations, and to tread upon innumerable toes with every step he
takes. Every fact he chronicles is the subject of a monograph, every
opinion he hazards may run counter to somebody’s life-work. He will
often have to neglect the latest theory and sometimes he is unaware of
the latest discovery. The best that he can hope for is that his
archæology may satisfy the historians and his history the archæologists.
My only claim to the right of undertaking such a task is that
circumstances have so directed my studies that they have been almost
equally divided between the three main branches--archæology, history,
and literature. I have experienced the extraordinary sense of
illumination which one feels on turning from linguistic study to the
examination of objective antiquity on the actual soil of the classical
countries, and then the added interest with which realities are invested
by the literary records of history.
It is by another title that the writer of a book like this makes his
appeal to the general reading public. He must feel such a love of Greece
and of things Hellenic that he is led by it into missionary enthusiasm.
The Greek language has now, probably for ever, lost its place in the
curriculum of secondary education for the greater part of our people.
Whether this is to be deplored is beyond the question; it is, at any
rate, inevitable. But there has always been a genuinely cultivated
public to whom Greek was unknown, and it is undoubtedly very much larger
in this generation. To them, though Greek is unknown Greece need not be
wholly sealed. But their point of view will be different from that of
the professional philologist. They will not care for the details of the
siege of Platæa merely because Thucydides described it; they will be
much less likely to overrate the importance of that narrow strip of time
which scholars select out of Greek history as the “classical period.”
Greek art will make the strongest appeal to them, and Greek thought, so
far as it can be communicated by description. They will be interested in
social life and private antiquities rather than in diplomatic intrigues
and constitutional subtleties. My object is to present a general and
vivid picture of ancient Greek culture. I recognise that the brush and
camera will tell of the glory of Greece far more eloquently than I can.
My text is intended to explain the pictures by showing the sort of
people and the state of mind that produced them. Some history, some
politics, some religion and philosophy must be included for that
purpose. The result will be a history of Greece with statues and poems
taking the place of wars and treaties.
This volume is fortunate in the moment of its appearance, for it is now
possible for the first time to illustrate the prehistoric culture of
Greece in a worthy manner, and to attempt, at any rate, to link it up
historically with the classical periods. Both the Ashmolean Museum at
Oxford, and the British Museum have recently added to their collections
magnificent and faithful models of the artistic treasures of Crete and
Mycenæ. These I have been allowed to reproduce in colour (Plates 5 and
7) by kind permission of Sir A. J. Evans. I must also acknowledge my
obligation to the Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass.,
U.S.A., for permission to reproduce photographs of the lately discovered
reliefs from the “Ludovisi Throne,” which have not as yet been
adequately reproduced anywhere (Plate 32); to the Committee of the
British School at Athens, through the kind offices of the Secretary, Mr.
John Penoyre, for permission to use many of the illustrations of Cretan
objects that have appeared in their _Annual_; to Mr. John Murray, for
the use of the block representing the “Cupbearer Fresco” (Plate 6) and
the illustration on p. 27 from Schliemann’s “Tiryns”; to the Cambridge
University Press for a similar accommodation in respect of the
illustration (p. 37) from Professor Ridgeway’s “Early Age of Greece”;
and to M. Ernest Leroux, of Paris, for courteously permitting a
reproduction to be made from a plate in MM. Reinach and Hamdy Bey’s
sumptuous work, “Une Nécropole Royale à Sidon.” The authorities of the
Greek and Roman and of the Coin and Medal Departments of the British
Museum have also allowed many subjects to be reproduced; while I have
gratefully to record the fact that the task of illustrating this book
has been materially lightened by the co-operation of Messrs. W. A.
Mansell & Co. I must thank Mr. Robert Whitelaw and his publishers,
Messrs. Longmans, for permission to quote from the former’s translation
of Sophocles, and finally I must acknowledge my debt to Mr. Arnold Gomme
for much assistance in the correction of the proofs of this book.
J. C. S.
[Illustration: Mycenæan Gems (_see_ p. 23)]
CONTENTS
PAGE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii
INTRODUCTION
HELLENISM : THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 1
CHAP.
I. ÆGEAN CIVILISATION
A NEW CHAPTER IN HISTORY : CRETE, THE
DOORSTEP OF EUROPE : PROGRESS OF ÆGEAN
CULTURE : THE MAINLAND PALACES, MYCENÆ
AND TIRYNS : THE MAKERS OF ÆGEAN ART 12
II. THE HEROIC AGE
THE NORTHERN INVADERS : HOMER AND THE
ACHÆANS : THE SHIELD OF ACHILLES : KINGS
AND GODS : ART OF THE EPIC PERIOD : THE
HERO’S HOME : HESIOD’S WORLD 35
III. THE AGES OF TRANSITION
THE COMING OF APOLLO : ATHLETICS :
SPARTA : PALLAS ATHENE : TYRANNY AND
CULTURE : IONIA : THE WEST 65
IV. THE GRAND CENTURY
THE RISE OF ATHENS : PHEIDIAS : ICTINUS
AND THE TEMPLE-BUILDERS : TRAGEDY AND
COMEDY : AIDŌS 132
V. THE FOURTH CENTURY
ATHENS : SPARTA AND THEBES : FOURTH-CENTURY
CULTURE : SCULPTURE : THE
OTHER ARTS : LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY 194
VI. THE MACEDONIAN WORLD
ALEXANDER AND HIS WORK : ALEXANDER IN
ART : ALEXANDRIA : ATHENS AND HER
PHILOSOPHERS 237
VII. EPILOGUE 260
GLOSSARY 267
BIBLIOGRAPHY 270
INDEX 275
NOTE
_The cameo on the front cover of this volume is from a
jasper intaglio, at Vienna, of the bust of Athena
Parthenos, signed by Aspasios._
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PHOTOGRAVURE PLATES
HEAD AND BUST OF THE APHRODITE OF MELOS _Frontispiece_
Engraved by Emery Walker from a photograph by Mansell & Co. of
the original in the Louvre, Paris. _See_ p. 251.
TO FACE
PAGE
BOY VICTOR. BRONZE, FIFTH CENTURY B.C. 160
Engraved by Emery Walker from a photograph by Bruckmann of the
original in the Glyptothek, Munich. _See_ p. 160
VASE PLATE (IN COLOUR) 112
CORINTHIAN VASE (FIG. 1)
British Museum, Second Vase Room, Case 8, A 1375
RED-FIGURED VASE (FIG. 2)
British Museum, Third Vase Room, Case 17, E 453
BLACK-FIGURED VASE (FIG. 3)
British Museum, Second Vase Room, Case I, B 134
WHITE POLYCHROME VASE (FIG. 4)
British Museum, Third Vase Room, Case F, D 60
PLATE
1 THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS (FIG. 1) 6
From a photograph
THE CITADEL OF CORINTH (FIG. 2)
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens. In the foreground
are the columns of the oldest temple in Greece
2 OLYMPIA: VALLEY OF THE ALPHEUS 8
From a photograph by Alinari. A specimen of Greek scenery in one
of the few well-watered plains
3 THE VALE OF TEMPE 10
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens. The famous
pass at which a vain attempt was made to repel the Persian invasion of
480 B.C.
4 ASSYRIAN RELIEF: KING ASSURNASIRPAL (NINTH CENTURY
B.C.) 18
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. of Slab 36 in the Nimroud
Gallery, British Museum. An example of stylistic Oriental art at its
highest. _See_ p. 19
5 FAIENCE FROM THE TEMPLE REPOSITORY OF THE SECOND
PALACE, CNOSSOS, CRETE 22
SNAKE GODDESS (FIG. 1). _See_ p. 34
WILD GOAT AND YOUNG (FIG. 2)
Painted from the facsimiles in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford,
by Diana R. Wilson, by special permission. _See_ p. 22. According to
Greek mythology Zeus was suckled by a she-goat in Crete
6 THE “CUPBEARER” FRESCO 24
From an article by Sir A. J. Evans in the _Monthly Review_, March,
1901; by kind permission of Mr. John Murray. _See_ pp. 25 and 32
7 BULL’S HEAD. LIFE-SIZE RELIEF IN PAINTED STUCCO.
CNOSSOS, CRETE 26
Painted from the facsimile in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, by
Diana R. Wilson, by special permission. _See_ p. 25. The bull is a very
frequent subject of artistic representation at Cnossos, where bullfighting
seems to have been in vogue
8 THE LION GATE, MYCENÆ 30
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens. Showing the
sculpture and masonry of prehistoric Greece. _See_ p. 29
9 VAPHIO CUPS 32
Collotype plate, from the facsimiles in the British Museum, First
Vase Room, Case B. Two gold cups found on Spartan territory. The
design is in relief beaten up from the back. One shows the trapping of
wild cattle, the other tame cattle going to pasture. The vessels are
about the size of the modern teacup. _See_ p. 30
10 INLAID DAGGER-BLADES 34
Collotype plate, from the electrotypes in the British Museum, as
Plate 9. They show the dress and weapons of Ægean folk. All but
the blade is a restoration. _See_ p. 30
11 WARRIOR VASE, BLACK STEATITE (FIG. 1) 38
These vases were originally covered with gold-leaf. The subjects have
not yet been completely explained. Probably the whole vase deals
with athletic combats: running and leaping on the top zone, bullfighting
on the second, and boxing on the third and fourth
FRAGMENT OF SILVER VASE (FIG. 2)
Collotype plate, from the facsimiles in the British Museum, as Plate 9.
_See_ p. 38. The subject is the siege of a city. We observe that here, as in
the previous illustrations, the warriors are represented as almost naked.
They fight with slings and arrows and protect themselves with huge
shields of wicker
12 THE “FRANÇOIS” VASE 42
Collotype plate, from a photograph by Alinari. _See_ pp. 43 and 57. A
masterpiece of the earlier Attic school of vase-painting. It is signed by
Ergotimus and Klitias, sixth century B.C. The scenes are mythological
13 HERMES KRIOPHOROS (THE LAMB-CARRIER) 66
From a terra-cotta relief, British Museum, Terra-cotta Room, Case C,
B 486. A fine example of archaic relief-work, showing Hermes as the
Arcadian shepherd’s god
14 PANORAMA OF DELPHI 68
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens. _See_ p. 69
15 “APOLLO” FROM ORCHOMENUS 70
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens, of the original
in the National Museum. _See_ pp. 69 and 70
16 “APOLLO” OF TENEA 72
Collotype plate, from a photograph by Hanfstaengl of the original at
Munich
17 THE “STRANGFORD APOLLO” 74
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. of the original in the Archaic
Room, British Museum. These three figures may indicate the progress
of early Greek sculpture in expressing the human figure. There is little
ground for calling these figures “Apollo.” They may equally well
be human athletes
18 HEAD OF APOLLO, FROM THE WESTERN PEDIMENT,
OLYMPIA 76
Collotype plate, from a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens,
of the marble at Olympia. _See_ p. 70
19 THE “DISCOBOLUS” OF MYRON (FIG. 1) 80
From a photograph by Anderson of a cast from the original in a private
collection at Rome. The copy in the British Museum (drawn on p. 80)
has the head reversed. _See_ p. 81
THE “DIADUMENUS” OF POLYCLEITUS (FIG. 2)
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. He is binding the victor’s garland
round his forehead. This is, perhaps, the best of several copies made
from the famous original, but it is much restored and probably not a
very faithful copy
20 THE “DORYPHORUS” OF POLYCLEITUS (FIG. 1) 82
From a photograph by Brogi
THE “APOXYOMENUS” (FIG. 2)
From a photograph by Alinari. _See_ p. 81. The recent discovery of the
Agias (Pl. 51) has proved that this is not, as was formerly supposed, a
true example of the work of Lysippus
21 CHARIOTEER: BRONZE 84
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. of a cast from the original at
Delphi. _See_ p. 81
22 VIEW OF MODERN SPARTA, WITH MOUNT TAYGETUS 86
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens. _See_ p. 87
23 RUNNING GIRL 90
Collotype plate, from a photograph by Anderson. Represents a competitor
in the girls’ foot-race which took place at Olympia in honour
of Hera. The original must have been in bronze, but this marble copy
reproduces its archaic character. _See_ p. 83
24 ATHENA PROMACHOS, FROM A PANATHENAIC AMPHORA 94
Drawn from Vase B 140 in the Second Vase Room, British Museum
(Case I). _See_ pp. 95 and 112
25 DEMETER, PERSEPHONE, AND TRIPTOLEMUS (ELEUSINIAN
RELIEF) 98
From a photograph by the English Photo Co. of the original marble
relief at Athens. _See_ p. 98
26 ATHENA POLIAS 102
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens, of the original
bronze statuette in the Acropolis Museum. _See_ p. 102
27 CORINTHIAN VASES 104
Collotype plate, from a photograph of the originals in the British
Museum, Second Vase Room, Case 8, A 1430, and Case 16, B 29.
The style of these vases may be distinguished by the purple tones of
the colouring and the Oriental character of the designs. _See_ Vase Plate,
Fig. 1, and p. 105
28 OLD TEMPLE AT CORINTH 108
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens. _See_ p. 107
29 STELE OF ARISTION (FIG. 1) 114
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens, of the original
in the National Museum. _See_ p. 114
HARMODIUS (FIG. 2)
From a photograph by Alinari of the original in the Naples Museum.
_See_ p. 116
30 SCULPTURED COLUMN FROM THE OLD TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS
AT EPHESUS (FIG. 1) 122
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. of the original in the British
Museum. It was dedicated, as the inscription shows, by King Crœsus.
_See_ p. 123
30 RELIEF FROM THE HARPY TOMB: NORTH SIDE (FIG. 2) 122
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. of the original in the Archaic
Room, British Museum. In the centre, a warrior yielding up his armour
to Pluto. On the right and left, Fates (“Harpies”) carrying off the
souls of the dead. In the right corner, a woman mourning. _See_ p. 123
31 RELIEFS FROM THE “LUDOVISI THRONE” 124
From photographs by Alinari of the originals at Rome. _See_ p. 124
32 RELIEFS FROM THE “LUDOVISI THRONE” 126
Collotype plate, from photographs of the originals in the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston, Mass., U.S.A., by kind permission of the Director.
_See_ p. 125
33 THE TEMPLE OF POSEIDON AT PÆSTO 128
From a photograph. _See_ p. 128
34 METOPES FROM THE TEMPLE OF HERA AT SELINUS 130
PERSEUS AND GORGON (FIG. 1)
HERA AND ZEUS (FIG. 2)
From photographs by Alinari of the originals, now in the Palermo
Museum. _See_ p. 130
35 EARLY COINS OF SICILY AND MAGNA GRÆCIA 132
Photographed from casts in the British Museum. _See_ p. 131
CASE I, SECTION C.
1. SILVER DIDRACHM OF NAXOS, No. 31
_Obverse_: Head of Dionysus crowned with ivy. _Reverse_: Bunch of
grapes and inscription
2. SILVER DIDRACHM OF TARENTUM, No. 7
_Reverse_: Archaic head, ? Taras. _Obverse_: Taras (the city’s hero)
riding a dolphin, cockle-shell and inscription
3. SILVER TETRADRACHM OF CATANA, No. 25
_Reverse_: Winged Victory holding a wreath. _Obverse_: River-god as
a bull with man’s head, a fish below and a water-bird above
4. SILVER TETRADRACHM OF SYRACUSE, No. 35
_Reverse_: Head of Arethusa surrounded with dolphins. _Obverse_:
Four-horse chariot with Victory above
36 THE PLAIN OF MARATHON 134
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens. _See_ p. 134
37 THE BAY OF SALAMIS 138
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens. _See_ p. 138
38 PERICLES 140
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. of the original in the British
Museum, after Cresilas. _See_ p. 142
39 PEDIMENTAL FIGURES FROM THE TEMPLE OF APHAIA
AT ÆGINA 142
From photographs by Bruckmann of the originals at Munich. _See_ p. 147
40 SCULPTURES OF THE EASTERN PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON 146
From photographs by Mansell & Co. of the originals in the Elgin
Room, British Museum. _See_ p. 151
41 PORTIONS OF THE EAST FRIEZE OF THE PARTHENON 148
Figures referenced, 30-48 in the British Museum. _See_ p. 154
42 PORTIONS OF THE WEST FRIEZE OF THE PARTHENON 150
Figures referenced, 2-3, 16-19, and 28-30 in the British Museum.
From photographs by Mansell & Co. of the originals and casts in the
British Museum. (Some of the marbles are still _in situ_ at Athens.)
_See_ p. 155
43 THE “STRANGFORD” SHIELD (FIG. 1) 152
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. of the marble copy in the British
Museum. The old Greek striking down an Amazon is said to be a
portrait of Pheidias by himself. _See_ p. 156
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE ACROPOLIS (FIG. 2)
From a drawing by R. Bohn in the British Museum. _See_ p. 163
44 THE LEMNIAN ATHENA 154
Collotype plate, from a photograph by Tamme of the marble at
Dresden, completed by Furtwängler from the head at Bologna. _See_
P. 157
45 HEAD OF THE LEMNIAN ATHENA 156
Collotype plate, from a photograph by Alinari of the marble at
Bologna. _See_ p. 158
46 STATUE OF MARSYAS, AFTER MYRON 158
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. of the original bronze in the
British Museum, after Myron. _See_ p. 159
47 THE VICTORY OF PÆONIUS (FIG. 1) 162
From a photograph of the original at Olympia
THE “SPINARIO” (FIG. 2)
From a photograph of the original at Florence. _See_ p. 161
48 THE PARTHENON: MODERN VIEW FROM NORTH-WEST 164
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens. _See_ p. 163
49 THE TEMPLE OF NIKÈ APTEROS (THE WINGLESS VICTORY)
(FIG. 1) 166
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens. _See_ p. 164
49 THE CARYATID PORCH OF THE ERECHTHEUM (FIG. 2) 166
From a photograph. _See_ p. 166
50 THE “THESEUM,” ATHENS 168
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens. Really a temple
of Hephæstus. _See_ p. 167
51 THE “AGIAS” OF LYSIPPUS 170
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens. A marble statue
recently discovered at Delphi. It can be identified as a contemporary
replica of a bronze by Lysippus, and is our only certain evidence of
his style. _See_ pp. 169 and 218
52 THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO AT PHIGALEIA [BASSÆ] 172
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens. _See_ p. 169
53 PORTIONS OF THE PHIGALEIAN FRIEZE 174
From photographs by Mansell & Co. of the originals, now in the
British Museum (Phigaleian Room). _See_ p. 170
54 THEATRE AT EPIDAURUS 176
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens. The best extant
example of a Greek theatre. In the centre is the circular _orchestra_,
where the chorus danced and sang, and behind it are relics of the
stage-buildings. In the centre of the orchestra was an altar of Dionysus.
This theatre was built about the middle of the fourth century B.C. The
auditorium would hold about 15,000 spectators. _See_ p. 175
55 MONUMENT OF LYSICRATES AT ATHENS 182
From a photograph by Rhomaides. _See_ p. 182. The whole monument
would form a base for the prize tripod
56 RED-FIGURED VASE AND PYXIS 184
Collotype plate, from originals in the British Museum, Third Vase
Room: Vase E 155; Pyxis D 11 (_see_ illustration, p. 45). The vase
is a fine two-handled _kantharos_ of the late fifth century. The background
is painted black and the figures left red. _See_ p. 191
The Pyxis (lady’s jewel-box) shows a marriage procession, drawn in
colours on a light ground. The bride is being led to the family altar,
preceded by a flute-player. _See_ p. 191
57 WHITE POLYCHROME VASES (LECYTHI) 186
Collotype plate, from originals in the British Museum, Third Vase
Room, Vases D 54 and D 60 in Case F. Vessels, specially painted, to
contain the oil used in funerals and buried in the tomb. The youth
in the mourning robe is holding an oil-jar and gazing at the monument
of his deceased friend. Compare Vase Plate, Fig. 4, and _see_ p. 191
58 ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE [TOMBSTONE RELIEF] 188
From a photograph by Alinari of the original at Rome. _See_ p. 192
59 THE MOURNING ATHENA 190
From a photograph by the English Photo Co. of the original in the
Athens Museum. _See_ p. 193
60 TWO TOMBSTONE RELIEFS, FROM THE CERAMEIKOS,
ATHENS 192
From photographs of originals in the Athens Museum. _See_ p. 193
61 APOLLO SAUROCTONOS (THE LIZARD-SLAYER) (FIG. 1) 194
Collotype plate, from a photograph by Anderson of the original in
the Vatican. _See_ p. 217
THE CNIDIAN APHRODITE (FIG. 2)
Collotype plate, from a photograph by Mansell & Co. _See_ p. 214. This
Vatican statue of Aphrodite has never been photographed in its original
nudity, but a cast was made and from it this photograph was taken
62 GIRL’S HEAD 196
From a photograph by Bruckmann of the original at Munich. _See_ p. 214
63 THE MARBLE FAUN, AFTER PRAXITELES (FIG. 1) 198
From a photograph by Anderson of a copy in the Capitoline Gallery,
Rome. _See_ p. 214
THE EROS OF CENTOCELLE (FIG. 2)
From a photograph by Anderson of a copy in the Vatican. _See_ p. 215
64 HEAD OF A YOUTH (FIG. 1) 202
From a photograph by Brogi of the bronze at Naples. _See_ p. 215
WINGED HEAD OF HYPNOS (SLEEP) (FIG. 2)
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. of the original bronze in the
British Museum. _See_ p. 220
65 THE HERMES OF PRAXITELES 204
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens, of the original
at Olympia. _See_ p. 215
66 THE HERMES OF PRAXITELES: HEAD 206
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens, of the original at
Olympia. _See_ p. 215
67 APOLLO AND MARSYAS 208
From a photograph by the English Photo Co., Athens, of the relief
from Mantinea. _See_ p. 216
68 MELEAGER: HEAD, AFTER SCOPAS 210
From a photograph by Anderson of the marble at Rome. The head,
which does not belong to the body, has been recognised as representing
the style of Scopas (fourth century B.C.). _See_ p. 218
69 THE DEMETER OF CNIDOS 212
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. of the marble in the British
Museum. _See_ p. 219
70 SCULPTURED COLUMN FROM THE TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS
AT EPHESUS 214
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. of the original in the British
Museum. This belonged to the new temple built after the fire of
356 B.C. _See_ p. 219
71 FIGURE OF A YOUTH. FROM CERIGO 216
From a photograph by the English Photo Co. of the bronze at Athens.
_See_ p. 220
72 THE “LUDOVISI” ARES 218
From a photograph by Anderson of the marble at Rome. The cupid
between the god’s feet is certainly a later addition. _See_ p. 220
73 THE “RONDANINI” MEDUSA (FIG. 1) 220
From a photograph by Bruckmann of the marble copy at Munich. The
original was in bronze. _See_ p. 220
RELIEF FROM THE MAUSOLEUM (FIG. 2)
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. of the original in the British
Museum. Representing a combat between Greeks and Amazons. _See_
p. 222
74 STATUE OF MAUSOLUS, FROM THE MAUSOLEUM 222
As the last. _See_ p. 222
75 A NIOBID 224
From a photograph by Anderson of the recently discovered original
at Rome. _See_ p. 222
76 ATHLETES BOXING. FROM A PANATHENAIC AMPHORA 226
Drawn from Vase B 607 in the Fourth Vase Room, British Museum.
It is inscribed with the name of the Archon Pythodelos, giving the
date 336 B.C. The figures are in black, but this is a survival from the
earlier style. _See_ p. 224
77 COINS OF THE FOURTH CENTURY 228
Photographed from casts in the British Museum. _See_ p. 225
CASE III.
1 GOLD STATER OF RHODES, A 37
_Obverse_: Head of the Sun-god. _Reverse_: A rose
2 ATHENIAN GOLD STATER, B 30
_Obverse_: Head of Athena. _Reverse_: Owl and olive-branch
3 GOLD STATER OF PANTICAPÆUM, B 2
_Obverse_: Head of Pan. _Reverse_: Gryphon and barley (the latter
typifying the corn trade)
4 SILVER TETRADRACHM OF TENEDOS, A 20
_Obverse_: Janiform head. _Reverse_: Double axe and bee in a
wreath
5 SICILIAN DECADRACHM, C 29
_Obverse_: Head of Arethusa or Persephone. _Reverse_: Four-horse
chariot with Victory above and armour below
78 GREEK GEMS 230
From photographs by Mansell & Co. of gems in the British Museum.
_See_ p. 225
1 A QUOIT-THROWER OR HYACINTHUS; probably fourth century B.C.
2 A WOUNDED WARRIOR
3 HARPER (compare Pl. 32). Fine work of the fifth century, cornelian
intaglio
4 DRUNKEN SATYR, agate scarab
5 HOMERIC SCENE. ? fifth century
6 IDEAL HEAD IN THE GARB OF HERACLES; late work
79 CORINTHIAN CAPITAL 232
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. of the originals in the British
Museum. _See_ p. 226
80 FIVE TANAGRA STATUETTES 234
From photographs by Mansell & Co. of originals in the British Museum.
_See_ p. 227
81 BUST OF “SOCRATES” 236
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. Not an authentic portrait but a
later attempt to express the rugged exterior of the sage which is often
a subject of humorous allusion in Plato and elsewhere. _See_ p. 231
82 ALEXANDER AT ISSUS. 242
Collotype plate, from a photograph by Brogi of the mosaic at Pompeii.
_See_ p. 245
83 “THE SARCOPHAGUS OF ALEXANDER” FROM SIDON: LION-HUNT 244
From a photograph by Seban and Joaillier of the original at Constantinople.
_See_ p. 246
84 PORTION OF THE EASTERN FRIEZE OF THE SARCOPHAGUS
OF ALEXANDER 246
Reproduced in colour from Plate XXXV in “Une Nécropole Royale à
Sidon,” by MM. O. Hamdy Bey and Th. Reinach, by kind permission
of M. Ernest Leroux, of Paris. _See_ p. 246
85 ALEXANDER THE GREAT 248
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. of the bust in the British Museum.
_See_ p. 246
86 RELIEF FROM PERGAMUM 250
Collotype plate, from a photograph by Titzenthaler of the original at
Berlin. This is a clever reconstruction of the great altar of Zeus erected
by the Attalids near the beginning of the second century B.C. The
subject is the combat between gods and giants. _See_ p. 251
87 APHRODITE OF MELOS (THE VENUS OF MILO) 252
From a photograph by Alinari of the marble in the Louvre. _See_ p. 251
88 THE VICTORY OF SAMOTHRACE 254
From a photograph by Alinari of the marble in the Louvre. _See_ p. 252
89 STATUE OF ARISTOTLE 256
From a photograph by Anderson of the original in the Palazzo Spada,
Rome. An ideal conception of a philosopher rather than an authentic
portrait. _See_ p. 253
90 THE PORTLAND VASE 262
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. of the original in the British
Museum. No certain interpretation of the figures has been made. _See_
p. 263
91 THE FARNESE BULL 264
From a photograph by Brogi of the original at Naples. Depicts how
Zethus and Amphion punished their stepmother, Dirce: a degenerate
work by two sculptors of the Rhodian school in the first or second
century B.C. _See_ p. 265
THE PRAYING BOY 266
From a photograph by Mansell & Co. of the cast in the British Museum.
Original bronze at Berlin. _See_ p. 220
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT
PAGE
TABLET OF CRETAN LINEAR SCRIPT, FROM CNOSSOS 13
From the _Annual_ of the British School at Athens, vi. plate ii
BLACK VASE, FROM CYPRUS 18
British Museum, First Vase Room, Case 7, C 81
PLAN OF NEOLITHIC HOUSE 18
TERRA-COTTA FIGURE, FROM PETSOFÀ 20
From the _Annual_ of the B.S.A., ix. plate x
TERRA-COTTA IDOL, FROM TROY 20
British Museum, Terra-cotta Room, Case 1, A 38
VOTIVE TERRA-COTTA, FROM PETSOFÀ 21
From the _Annual_ of the B.S.A., ix. plate viii
KAMÁRES CUP 22
From the _Annual_ of the B.S.A., ix. p. 305
KAMÁRES “HOLE-MOUTHED” JAR 22
From the _Annual_ of the B.S.A., ix. p. 306
CRETAN FILLER 24
From the _Annual_ of the B.S.A., ix. p. 311
CUTTLE-FISH KYLIX 25
British Museum, First Vase Room, Case 19
CLAY SEAL IMPRESSION: PUGILIST 25
From the _Annual_ of the B.S.A., ix. p. 56
CITADEL OF TIRYNS 27
After Schliemann’s reconstruction; from his “Tiryns,” by kind permission
of Mr. John Murray
BEEHIVE TOMB: SECTION 29
CRETAN CUP OF DEGENERATE STYLE 31
From the _Annual_ of the B.S.A., ix. p. 318
CLAY SEAL IMPRESSION, CRUCIFORM SYMBOL 34
From the _Annual_ of the B.S.A., ix. p. 90
WARRIOR STÉLÉ FROM MYCENÆ 37
From Ridgeway’s “Early Age of Greece,” i. p. 314, by kind permission of
the Cambridge University Press. An early representation of the arms and
dress of the Northern Invaders
MARRIAGE PROCESSION 45
From a pyxis in the British Museum, Third Vase Room, Case C, D 11
(_see_ Plate 56)
SEATED STATUE FROM BRANCHIDÆ 55
British Museum, Room of Archaic Sculpture, No. 9
GEOMETRIC VASE 56
British Museum, First Vase Room, Case 34, No. 362
COIN OF CROTON, SHOWING TRIPOD 63
British Museum, Room of Greek and Roman Life, III. 19
SHIP OF ODYSSEUS 64
From a vase in the British Museum, Third Vase Room, Case G, E 440
LYRE AND CITHARA 68
From vases, &c.
THE “DISCOBOLUS” OF MYRON 80
Outline drawing of the statue in the British Museum
COIN OF CORINTH 105
British Museum, Room of Greek and Roman Life, II. B 25. _Obverse_:
Head of Athena wearing a Corinthian helmet. _Reverse_: Pegasus
GREEK ARCHITECTURE 107
Diagram illustrating Doric and Ionic styles
COIN OF PHANES 123
British Museum, Room of Greek and Roman Life, I. A 7
OSTRAKON OF THEMISTOCLES 141
COIN OF ELIS: HEAD OF ZEUS 148
British Museum, Room of Greek and Roman Life, III. B 33
COIN OF PHILIP II. OF MACEDON: HEAD OF ZEUS 148
British Museum, as above, III. B 18
THE ERECHTHEUM: MODERN RECONSTRUCTION 166
THEATRICAL FIGURES, COMIC AND TRAGIC 175
From statuettes in the British Museum
COIN OF THRACE: ALEXANDER THE GREAT 246
British Museum, Room of Greek and Roman Life, IV. B 20. Showing
Alexander as a god with the horns of Ammon
THE LAOCOÖN GROUP 264
Drawn from a photograph of the original at Rome
LATE GREEK VASE PAINTING 266
British Museum, Vase Room, IV. Case 52, F 308
INTRODUCTION
αἰ δὲ τεαὶ ξώουσιν ἀηδόνες ᾖσιν ὁ πάντων
ἁρπακτὴρ Ἀῒδης οὐκ ἐπὶ χεῖρα βαλεῖ
CALLIMACHUS.
“Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales, awake,
For Death, he taketh all away, but them he cannot take.”
HELLENISM
“Greece” and “Greek” mean different things to different people. To the
man in the street, if he exists, they stand for something proverbially
remote and obscure, as dead as Queen Anne, as heavy as the British
Museum. To the average finished product of Higher Education in England
they recall those dog-eared text-books and grammars which he put away
with much relief when he left school; they waft back to him the
strangely close atmosphere of the classical form-room. The historian, of
course, will inform us that all Western civilisation has Greece for its
mother and nurse, and that unless we know something about her our
knowledge of the past must be built upon sand. That is true: only nobody
cares very much what historians say, for they deal with the past, and
the past is dead and disgusting. To some cultured folk who have read
Swinburne (but not Plato) the notion of the Greeks presents a world of
happy pagans, children of nature, without any tiresome ideas of morality
or self-control, sometimes making pretty poems and statues, but
generally basking in the sun without much on. There are also countless
earnest students of the Bible who remember what St. Paul said about
those Greeks who thought the Cross foolishness and those Athenians who
were always wanting to hear something new. St. Paul forgot that “the
Cross” was a typical Stoic paradox. Then there are a vast number of
people who do not distinguish between “Greek” and “classical.” By
“classics” they understand certain tyrannous conventions and stilted
affectations against which every free-minded soul longs to rebel. They
distinguish the classical element in Milton and Keats as responsible for
all that is dull and far-fetched and unnatural. Classicism repels many
people of excellent taste, and Greek art is apt to fall under the same
condemnation. It is only in the last generation that scholars have been
able to distinguish between the true Greek and the false mist of
classicism which surrounds it. Till then everybody had to look at the
Greeks through Roman and Renaissance spectacles, confounding Pallas with
Minerva and thinking of Greek art as represented by the Apollo Belvedere
and the Laocoön. We are now able, thanks to the labours of scholars and
archæologists, to see the Greeks as they were, perfectly direct, simple,
natural, and reasonable, quite as antagonistic to classicism as Manet
and Debussy themselves.
Lastly, there are a few elderly people who have survived the atmosphere
of “the classics,” and yet cherish the idea of Greece as something
almost holy in its tremendous power of inspiration. These are the people
who are actually pleased when a fragment of Menander is unearthed in an
Egyptian rubbish-heap, or a fisherman fishing for sponges off Cape
Matapan finds entangled in his net three-quarters of a bronze idol. And
they are not all schoolmasters either. Some of them spend their time and
money in digging the soil of Greece under a blazing Mediterranean sun.
Some of them haunt the auction-rooms and run up a fragment of pottery,
or a marble head without a nose, to figures that seem quite absurd when
you look at the shabby clothes of the bidders. They talk of Greece as
if it were in the same latitude as Heaven, not Naples. The strange thing
about them is that though they evidently feel the love of old Greece
burning like a flame in their hearts, they find their ideas on the
subject quite incommunicable. Let us hope they end their days peacefully
in retreats with classical façades, like the Bethlehem Hospital.
Admitting something of this weakness, it is my aim here to try and throw
some fresh light upon the secret of that people’s greatness, and to look
at the Greeks not as the defunct producers of antique curios, but, if I
can, as Keats looked at them, believing what he said of Beauty, that
“It will never
Pass into nothingness, but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.”
It cannot be done by studying their history only. Their history must be
full of battles, in which they were only moderately great, and petty
quarrels, to which they were immoderately prone. Their literature, which
presents the greatest bulk of varied excellence of any literature in the
world, must be considered. But as it can only reach us through the
watery medium of translation we must supplement it by studying also
their statues and temples, their coins, vases, and pictures. Even that
will not be sufficient for people who are not artists, because the
sensible Philistine part of the world knows, as the Greeks knew, that a
man may draw and fiddle and be a scoundrel. Therefore we must look also
at their laws and governments, their ceremonies and amusements, their
philosophy and religion, to see whether they knew how to live like
gentlemen and freemen. If we can keep our eyes open to all these sides
of their activity and watch them in the germ and bud, we ought to get
near to understanding their power as a living source of inspiration to
artists and thinkers. Lovers of the classics are very apt to remind us
of the Renaissance as testifying the power of Greek thought to awaken
and inspire men’s minds. Historically they are right, for it is a fact
which ought to be emphasised. But when they go on to argue that if we
forget the classics we ourselves shall need a fresh Renaissance they are
making a prophecy which seems to me to be very doubtful. I believe that
our art and literature has by this time absorbed and assimilated what
Greece had to teach, and that our roots are so entwined with the soil of
Greek culture that we can never lose the taste of it as long as books
are read and pictures painted. We are, in fact, living on the legacy of
Greece, and we may, if we please, forget the testatrix.
My claim for the study of Hellenism would not be founded on history. I
would urge the need of constant reference to some fixed canon in matters
of taste, some standard of the beautiful which shall be beyond question
or criticism; all the more because we are living in eager, restless
times of constant experiment and veering fashions. Whatever may be the
philosophical basis of æsthetics, it is undeniable that a large part of
our idea of beauty rests upon habit. Hellas provides a thousand objects
which seventy-five generations of people have agreed to call beautiful
and which no person outside a madhouse has ever thought ugly. The proper
use of true classics is not to regard them as fetishes which must be
slavishly worshipped, as the French dramatists worshipped the imaginary
unities of Aristotle, but to keep them for a compass in the
cross-currents of fashion. By them you may know what is permanent and
essential from what is showy and exciting.
That Greek work is peculiarly suited to this purpose is partly due, no
doubt, to the winnowing of centuries of time, but partly also to its own
intrinsic qualities. For one thing, all the best Greek work was done,
not to please private tastes, but in a serious spirit of religion to
honour the god of the city; that prevents it from being trivial or
meretricious. Secondly, it is not romantic; and that renders it a very
desirable antidote to modern extravagances. Thirdly, it is idealistic;
that gives it a force and permanence which things designed only for the
pleasure of the moment must generally lack. With all these high merits,
it might remain very dull, if it had not the charm and grace of youth
perfectly fearless, and serving a religion which largely consisted in
health and beauty.
THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE
A glance at the physical map of Greece shows you the sort of country
which forms the setting of our picture. You see its long and complicated
coast-line, its intricate system of rugged hills, and the broken strings
of islands which they fling off into the sea in every direction. On the
map it recalls the features of Scotland or Norway. It hangs like a jewel
on a pendant from the south of Europe into the Mediterranean Sea. Like
its sister peninsulas of Italy and Spain it has high mountains to the
north of it; but the Balkans do not, as do the Alps and Pyrenees,
present the form of a sheer rampart against Northern invaders. On the
contrary, the main axis of the hills lies in the same direction as the
peninsula itself, with a north-west and south-east trend, so that on
both coasts there are ancient trade routes into the country; but on both
sides they have to traverse passes which offer a fair chance of easy
defence.
The historian, wise after the event, deduces that the history of such a
country must lie upon the sea. It is a sheltered, hospitable sea, with
chains of islands like stepping-stones inviting the timid mariner of
early times to venture across it. You can sail from Greece to Asia
without ever losing sight of land. On the west it is not so. Greece and
Italy turn their backs upon one another. Their neighbouring coasts are
the harbourless ones. So Greece looks east and Italy west, in history as
well as geography. The natural affinities of Greece are with Asia Minor
and Egypt.
A sea-going people will be an adventurous people in thought as well as
action. The Greeks themselves fully realised this. When Themistocles
was urging his fellow-Athenians to build a great fleet and take to the
sea in earnest, opposition came from the conservatives, who feared the
political influence of a “nautical mob” with radical and impious
tendencies. The type of solid conservative was the heavy-armed land
soldier. So in Greek history the inland city of Sparta stands for
tradition, discipline, and stability, while the mariners of Athens are
progressive, turbulent, inquiring idealists.
This sea will also invite commerce if the Greeks have anything to sell.
It does not look as if they will have much. A few valleys and small
plains are fertile enough to feed their own proprietors, but as regards
corn and food-stuffs Greece will have to be an importer, not an
exporter. In history we find great issues hanging on the sea-routes by
which corn came in from the Black Sea. Wine and olive oil are the only
things that Nature allowed Greece to export. As for minerals, Athens is
rich in her silver-mines, and gold is to be found in Thrace under Mount
Pangæus. But if Greece is to grow rich it will have to be through the
skill of her incomparable craftsmen and the shield and spear of her
hoplites.[1]
The map will help to explain another feature of her history. Although at
first sight the peninsula looks as if it possessed a geographical unity,
yet a second glance shows that Nature has split it up into numberless
small plains and valleys divided from one another by sea and mountain.
Such a country, as we see in Wales, Switzerland, and Scotland,
encourages a polity of clans and cantons, each jealous of its neighbour
over the hill, and each cherishing a fierce local patriotism. Nature,
moreover, has provided each plain with its natural citadel. Greece and
Italy are both rich in these self-made fortresses. The traveller in
Italy is familiar with the low hills or spurs of mountains, each crowned
with the white walls of some ancient city. If ever geography made
[Illustration: FIG. 1. THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS]
[Illustration: FIG. 2. THE CITADEL OF CORINTH
Plate I
_English Photo Co., Athens_]
history, it was where those flat-topped hills with precipitous sides,
such as the Acropolis of Athens and Acrocorinthus,[2] invited man to
build his fortress and his shrine upon their summit. Then, perched
safely on the hill-top and ringed with her wall, the city was able to
develop her peculiar civilisation even in troubled times while the rest
of the world was still immersed in warfare and barbarism. The farmer
spends the summer in the plain below for sowing and reaping, the mariner
puts out from harbour, the soldier marches out for a summer campaign,
but the city is their home, their refuge, and the centre of their
patriotism. We must not overrate the importance of this natural cause.
Even the plains of Greece, such as Thessaly and Bœotia, never developed
a unity. There too the citadel and the city-state prevailed. Geography
is seldom more than a contributory cause, shaping and assisting
historical tendencies, but in this case it is impossible to resist the
belief that in Italy and Greece the hill-top invited the wall and the
wall enabled the civilisation of the city-state to rise and flourish
long in advance of the rest of Europe.
Greece enjoys a wonderful climate. The summer sun is hot, but morning
and evening bring refreshing breezes from the sea. The rain average is
low and regular, snow is almost unknown in the valleys. Hence there is a
peculiar dry brightness in the atmosphere which seems to annihilate
distance. The traveller is struck with the small scale of Greek
geography. The Corinthian Gulf, for instance, which he remembers to have
been the scene of famous sea-battles in history, looks as if you could
throw a stone across it. From your hotel window in Athens you can see
hill-tops in the heart of the Peloponnese. Doubtless this clearness of
the atmosphere encouraged the use of colour and the plastic arts for
outdoor decoration. Even to-day the ruined buildings of the Athenian
citadel shine across to the eyes of the seafarers five miles away at the
Peiræus. Time has mellowed their marble columns to a rich amber, but in
old days they blazed with colour and gilding. In that radiant sea-air
the Greeks of old learnt to see things clearly. They could live, as the
Greeks still live, a simple, temperate life. Wine and bread, with a
relish of olives or pickled fish, satisfied the bodily needs of the
richest. The climate invited an open-air life, as it still does. To-day,
as of old, the Greek loves to meet his neighbours in the market square
and talk eternally over all things both in heaven and earth. Though the
blood of Greece has suffered many admixtures, and though Greece has had
to submit to centuries of conquest by many masters and oppressors, her
racial character is little changed in some respects. The Greek is still
restless, talkative, subtle and inquisitive, eager for liberty without
the sense of discipline which liberty requires, contemptuous of
strangers and jealous of his neighbour. In commerce, when he has the
chance, his quick and supple brain still makes him the prince of
traders. Honesty and stability have always been qualities which he is
quicker to admire than to practise. Courage, national pride,
intellectual self-restraint, and creative genius have undoubtedly
suffered under the Turkish domination. But the friends of modern Greece
believe that a few generations of liberty will restore these qualities
which were so eminent in her ancestors and that her future may rival her
past. Not in the field of action, perhaps. We must never forget, when we
praise the artistic and intellectual genius of Greece, that she alone
rolled back the tide of Persian conquest at Marathon and Salamis, or
that Greek troops under Alexander marched victoriously over half the
known world. But it is not in the field of action that her greatness
lies. She won battles by superior discipline, superior strategy, and
superior armour. As soon as she had to meet a race of born soldiers, in
the Romans, she easily succumbed. Her methods of fighting were always
defensive in the main. Historians have often gone astray in devoting too
much attention to her wars and battles.
[Illustration: PLATE II. OLYMPIA: VALLEY OF THE ALPHEUS
_Alinari_]
The great defect of the climate of modern Greece is the malaria which
haunts her plains and lowlands in early autumn. This is partly the
effect and partly the cause of undrained and sparsely populated
marsh-lands like those of Bœotia. It need not have been so in early
Greek history. There must have been more agriculture and more trees in
ancient than in modern Greece. An interesting and ingenious theory has
lately been advanced which would trace the beginning of malaria in
Greece to the fourth century. Its effect is seen in the loss of vigour
which begins in that period and the rapid shrinkage of population which
marks the beginning of the downfall in that and the succeeding century.
In Italy the same theory has even better attestation, for the Roman
Campagna which to-day lies desolate and fever-stricken was once the site
of populous cities and the scene of agricultural activity.