^$^

Classical Greece
f DF78 .B6

12118

Bowra, C. M.
NEW COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA (SF)

DF 78 .B6
1898-1971
BoSra, C. M.
Classical Greece
f

#13161

BOBFIOWEH'SNAME_
DATE DUE

#13161

DF
178

B6

Bowraf C M.

(Cecil Maarlce),

1898-

1971.

Classical Greece / by C. M. Bowra and

the editors o Time-Life Books* New
York
Timet inc cl965
192 p : ill* (some col) mapst plant
ports. ; 28 cm. (Great ages of man)
Bibliography: p. 186.
Includes index.
.

JV13161 Sec lass S

:

Civilization To 146 B.C.

1. Greece
Greece. I2. Art
Pictorial works.
Title
^^

21 APR 93

407 134

NEWCxc 65-17305r842

DUE DATE

CL7ISSIC7IL

GREECE

Life

World

Life

Nature Library

Library

Life Science Library

The

Life

History of the United States

Man

Great Ages of
Life Pictorial

The Epic of

Atlas of the World

Man

The Wonders of
The World

We

Life

on Earth

Live In

The World's Great Religions

The

Life

Life's

The

Book of Christmas

Picture History of Western

Life

Man

Treasury of American Folklore

Americas Arts and Skills

300 Years of American Painting

The Second World

Life's

Picture
Life

War

Picture History of

Cook Book

Guide to Paris

Time Reading Program

World War

II

GREAT AGES OF

MAN

A History of the World's Cultures

CMSSIOL
GREECE
by
C.

M.

BOWRA
and

The

Editors of

TIME-LIFE Books

TIME INCORPORATED, NEW YORK

C. M. Bowra is warden of Wadham College at Oxford, and a towUniverering figure in classical studies. He has held the vice-chancellorship of the
academic post. Among his books are Tradition and Design in
highest
sity, Oxfords
Experithe Iliad, Early Creek Elegists, Sophoclean Tragedy, as well as The Creek
ence, which won him a wide audience. Sir Maurice has also translated Pindar's Pyth-

THE AUTHOR:

ian

Odes and been

The Oxford Book of Creek Verse

a co-editor of

in Translation.

Leonard Krieger, formerly Professor of History

holds the post of University Professor at the University of Chicago.
the author of The German Idea of Freedom and Politics of Discretion.

THE CONSULTING EDITOR:

at Yale,

He

is

now

THE COVER:

This head

part of a statue of Poseidon that probably dates from

It was found in the Aegean in the 1920s.

is

the middle of the Fifth Century B.C.

GREAT AGES OF MAN

BOOKS

TIME-LIFE

Harold C. Field

SERIES EDITOR:

Editorial Staff for Classical Greece:

Notman P Ross

Assistant to the Editor: Peter Meyerson

William ]av Cold

Text Editor: Betsy Frankel

Edward A Hamillo

Designer;

John Stanton

Chief Researcher: Carlotla Kerwin

Assistant Text Director: lerry Korn

Assistaitt Art Director:

Norman Snyder

Staff Writer:

Beatrice T. Dobie

Researchers:

Arnold Holeywell

Assistant Chief of Research: Monica O.

Terry Drucker

Ho

Dori Watson,

Lilla

Zabriskie

Barbara Moir, Linda Wolfe

Rhett Austell

General Manager: Joseph C. Hazen

Business Manager: John D.

Jr.

Color Director: Robert

McSweeney

Circulation Manager: Joan D.

L,

Young

Art Assistants: James D. Smith,

Manley

Wayne

R. Young,

David Wyland
Picture Researchers: Margaret K. Goldsmith,

Joan T. Lynch

Copy

Staff;

Marian Gordon Goldman,

Rosalind Stubenberg, Dolores A.

Valuable aid

in

preparing this book was given by Doris

ham, Chief, Time

Inc.

Littles

Neil. Chief, Life Picture Library:

Bureau of Editorial Reference; Richard M. Clurman, Chief, Time-Life

Content Peck-

News

Service;

Ann Natanson and Joseph Pilcher (Rome), KatharineSachs (London),

Elisabeth Kraemer (Bonn), Franz Spelman (Munich), Gertraud Lessing (Vienna) and Joseph Harriss (Paris).

Correspondents Helga Kohl (Athens),

Classical Greece

J965 by Time

Inc.

All rights reserved. Published simultaneously

Library of Congress catalogue card

School and library distribution

(i.v

in

Canada.

number 65-17305.

Silver Burdetl

Company.

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION

CRADLE OF THE MODERN

1

2
3

4
5

Picture Essay:

SPIRIT

THE GREAT LEGACY

18

DARK AGE AND NEW DAWN

Picture Essay:

OF

30

WAR AND A WANDERER

39

A CONFIDENT ARISTOCRACY
Picture Essay:

48

THE GREEK HOMELAND

61

THE PERSIAN WARS

Picture Essay:

Picture Essay:

68

A ZEST FOR LIVING

ATHENS

IN ITS

79

TIME OF GLORY

THE PERICLEAN EPOCH

105

GREEK AGAINST GREEK

Picture Essay:

7
8

us

THE PANHELLENIC GAMES

A NEW TIME OF
Picture Essay:

125

BRILLIANCE

i36

ENDURING THEATER

145

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

Picture Essay:

i56

AFTERMATH OF EMPIRE

165

APPPENDIX

177

Chronologies, 177; The Olympian Family, 180;

of Heroes, 182; Greeks Great and Famous, 184

BIBLIOGRAPHY,

INDEX and

lo

Gallery

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND CREDITS 186

Pronunciation Guide

188

NTRODUCTION
Apart from

its

other claims to fame, the importance

assigned by Classical Greece to individual achieve-

ment assures

man. There were

among

place

it

the great ages of

earlier great ages,

but those peri-

human
may be

interest.

For this reason, too, that study

salutary for our

to accept regimentation

own

society, all too prone

and nameless conformity.

The distinguished Commission on

Humani-

the

established in 1963 by three of the leading

ods were dominated for the most part by absolute

ties,

rulers of monolithic states; the truly creative indi-

scholarly organizations in the United States, has

viduals

who

Mesopota-

certainly existed in Egypt,

mia and Anatolia

are almost entirely

Classical Greece

was

different.

We know

names of more than 20,000 individuals

ticipation

in

the heart of

civic

affairs.

or ph\^sicist, will not realize

name

each bearing the

of those

of

Each ostrakon

some outstanding

Cimon,
offers

stage in their careers the

their fellow citizens of

Pericles

and many

proof that

men were

aiming

at

at

some

who have gone

to

In other aspects of

we

new

must

live

generation of
in

the individual stands out.

The

find that the begin-

all

fine pottery

made

in

and Fifth Centuries B.C. can be

assigned to some five hundred different masters,

history

signed their products.

emphasis on the individual man Greek

owes much of

its

past

the

men who

Man makes

to

'necessarily
little

important contributions to the

achievement of these goals.

associated with individual men. Even in the crafts

this

the privilege

This book in the Time-Life series on the Great

Ages of

choice. Sir

sparkling and perpetual

His

Its

author

Greek

and

of Hellenism

following pages shows us Greece in

freshness. In the picture essays that

ious aspects of the

his life to

literature, art

brilliant distillation

happy

is

Maurice Bowra has devoted

the contemplation of

To

one small corner for one

ety.

whom

stretch of time.'

nings of the various literary genres, of the schools

of

suspected by

maintain a balance between

life,

each

of philosophy, of the major artistic trends are

many

Human-

before him.

tyranny. These

personal ambition and the civic interest.

in the Sixth

his

to

been kin-

has

and obligation of interpreting

man

ostraka remind us that the Athenians were ever

Athens

poten-

full

the institution of ostracism),

to

name

mindful of the need

his

contribution

fullest

scholars have therefore

ist

Aristides, Themistocles,
others.

his

dled by the aspirations and accomplishments

ostraka (the potsherds, or pottery fragments, that

gave their

make

times unless his imagination

in

thousand

or

tial

their par-

Recent excavations

Athens have yielded over

Even the most gifted individual, whether poet

the

Athens

in

most of them recorded because of

alone,

stated:

anonymous.

all

soci-

on the

its

dewy

document

var-

Greek experience, even the most

assiduous reader of the current spate of books on

Greece

will discover

ing, imaginatively

much

that

deployed

to

is

new and

refresh-

bring out the essence

of Classical Greece.

HOMER
Field Director,

American School of

A.

THOMPSON

Classical Studies at

Athens

1i

^b

At

ZACYNTHUS

ELIS

Olyrtipia.

CRETE

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

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BLACK SiA

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SAMOTHRACE

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For centuries Greece has exerted a peculiar enchant-

ment over the imaginations

who

men. The Romans,

of

incorporated Greece into their empire and in

the process did not shrink from sacking

were deeply impressed by

it.

cities-

its

Young Romans were

sent to study at the university in Athens, and edu-

cated

Romans looked

to the

Greeks

as their masters

philosophy, science and the fine

in

the

Romans' confidence

in their

own

arts.

sion and their gift for government, they

was much

uneasily, that there

in

Despite

imperial misfelt, a little

thought which they could never hope

and

letters

art,

to

do as well

as the Greeks.

When

CRADLE OF
THE

MODERN

the Italian Renaissance of the 15th Cen-

tury A.D. brought an intensified

ancient world,

SPIRIT

Rome

at first

behind the imposing

poets
ful

felt

Roman

and more

alluring.

Slowly
past,

the

in

iaqade, scholars and

the presence of something

from the mists of the

the

interest

held the attention. But

this

more power-

was disentangled

and the

full

majesty of

Greek performance was revealed. So great was

Greek prestige that Greek ideas on medicine,

as-

tronomy and geography were accepted with unquestioning faith

birth of a

the

until

new

17th Century,

when

the

inaugurated the era

scientific spirit

of experiment and inquiry into

which we ourselves

have been born.

Even today, when we have discarded so many

creeds and cosmologies, the Greek view of
cites

and

exalts us.

life

ex-

Greek thought and Greek

as-

sumptions are closely woven into the fabric of our

lives

almost without our knowing

reason alone

we

its

achievement.

own

origins,

No

and

for this

know

about

and the scope

the Greeks, to assess the value

their

it,

are right to wish to

of

people can afford to neglect

and the modern world

is

far too

deeply indebted to Greece to accept in unthinking

ingratitude

At

what

it

has inherited.

the center of the

Greek outlook

lay

an un-

shakable belief in the worth of the individual man.

In centuries

when

large parts of the earth

east,

the Greeks were evolving their belief that a

man

must be respected not

PALLAS ATHENA Was a goddess with
of civilized

she

is

life

shown

in

and donor of

many

roles,

among

were

dominated by the absolute monarchies of the

as

the

omnipotent overlord, but for

instrument of an

his

own

sake.

They

others protectress

the indispensable olive tree. In this statue

her helmet, garbed as the defender of righteous causes.

sought

at all costs

to

be themselves, and in this

they were helped by the nature of their country.

EVOLVING STYLES
Greek

in

art, are

male form, the central figure

in portraying the

shown

(1000-700 B.C.), on the

here.
left,

They began with

the nearly abstract

went through the

monumental

stiff,

kind of figure (700-500 B.C.) in the center and finally reached

the graceful naturalism of the statue (500-300 B.C.) at the right.

Geographically, Greece was in ancient times very

much what
of the

it is

today: the southernmost extremity

huge Balkan mass.

land of hard limestone

mountains separated by deep

valleys,

is

it

cut

al-

two by the narrow divide of the Corinthian

most

in

Gulf.

To

the east the structure of the mainland

is

continued intermittently by islands, and the whole

pattern

rounded

is

part of Crete,

south by the long ram-

off to the

which has been

called "the stepping-

stone of continents." Even including the islands,

Greece

a small country, smaller

is

Florida.

Moreover,

able to support

and yet

more than

in the history of

Yemen

than

this small area has

or

never been

few million inhabitants,

Western

civilization

it

has

played an enormous part.

The reason
Mesopotamia,

is

GEOMETRIC PERIOD

partly geographical. In Egypt and

in the great

and the Euphrates,

it

riverlands of the Nile

was easy

large

to subject a

great Athenian statesman Pericles: "Each single one

of our citizens, in all the manifold aspects of

population to a single ruler and to see that each

is

man performed an

of his

fied

allotted function in a vast, uni-

system. But in Greece, where every district was

men were

was impossible, and

forced to be not specialists in this or that

own

person, and do

This

own

in their

circles a

ize his full potential

The Greek

sibilities.

and

own

its

being, and within each

members were cognizant

its

gifted with the

climate, dry and exhilarating

most magical of

to action, while the sea,

skies, incited

which was always

developed

in its servants

hand and

eye.

an unusual

made them conscious

worth. Without this

both

human

honored

in a

hard school, but

of themselves

self-awareness

and

they

their

would

man must

be

worth and treated with

re-

experience: the belief that a

for his individual

spect just because he

in his

of

man

claimed for himself the

mind, to go his

The

own way

without

belief in

freedom

was sustained by

and nurtured by

a love for action,

This feeling
as

to real-

within his society, to speak

interference from other men.

hand,

at

skill of

never have made their most important contribution

to

what was

all

deep respect for personal honor,

among

the Greeks

something vague, but

it

may have

was deeply

felt,

started

and

matured into reasoned philosophy which long

Nature nursed the Greeks

this

of their respon-

do

which he was capable,

and accomplishments. Each separate group was

to

liberty. Just

thought of being conquered, so

freedom

deeply aware of

moreover, with ex-

this,

what the Greeks meant by

is

as they detested the

profession but masters of a whole range of crafts

group

is

himself. In the words of the

life,

and owner

the rightful lord

ceptional grace and exceptional versatility."

separated from the next by mountains or the sea.

central control of this kind

show himself

able to

shaped, and
ethical

still

it

after

shapes, our own. Supported by

and psychological arguments,

was based

it

on convictions which we take so much

for granted

today that we can hardly imagine what efforts must

have been made

what

own

its

to establish

the

philosophy, or

absence meant outside Greece.

It

had

its

dangers, of course, especially the risk that in

regarded themselves as vastly superior in this respect to the Persians, who, utterly dependent on

whim, were

their king's

in the

Greek view no

better

than slaves.

From

the

first

Greek lawgivers stems the whole

majestic succession of the West's legal systems.

The Romans,

lawmakers

great

in their

own

right,

learned from the Greeks. In turn, the comprehensive codes of

modern

Gaius and Justinian gave

rise to

most

legal systems.

The belief in law emphasized and strengthened

an ethnic pride which shaped the whole political

A Greek state consisted

and of the lands around it which provided
livelihood. Each state formed its own habits,

development of the Greeks.

of a city
ARCHAIC PERIOD

its

rules

asserting their owr\ claims

tle

men would pay

too

lit-

attention to their neighbors' and reduce soci-

ety to anarchy.

And

indeed Greek states did suffer

gravely from internal dissensions. Nevertheless they

survived as centers of order because the Greek
belief in

was inextricably associated with

liberty

the existence of law.

The Greeks
notion of

when
ages,

it.

consequence

as a

local loy-

were remarkably strong. But beyond this, the

Greeks had a second loyalty, vaguer perhaps and
not always paramount, but in the end irresistible.

Though they
er,

they

felt

quarreled and fought with one anoth-

strongly that they were

who spoke some form

all

Greeks,

men

same language, wor-

of the

shiped the same gods and obeyed the same cus-

did not invent law or originate the

Codes of law existed

the Greeks were

and government;

alties

still

little

and the Mosaic Law of

in

Babylonia

better than sav-

Israel

is

also ancient.

tomsand

in all these respects they

saw themselves

as vastly superior to other races or nations.

they never created

those of the

Though

truly national state such as

modern world, they presented

a strong

But Greek law, which emerged in the Seventh Cen-

contrast to the multinational empires of Babylonia

tury B.C., differed from these in several respects.

or Persia,

First,

was not intended

it

either of

to

carry out

the

an omnipotent monarch or of

Greek law aimed

entirely at

improving the

will

god;

lot

of

mortal humans. Second, while these earlier systems

could be changed virtually at the will of a king or
priesthood, Greek law

was usually based on some

kind of popular consent and could be changed only
by being referred to the people for their approval.
a

Finally,

Greek law was expected

and property
for a select

for

all

members

to

secure

life

of a society, not just

group of leaders or

priests.

The Greeks

which comprised

a large

number

of dif-

ferent peoples held together not because they shared

a

common

culture or ideal but simply because they

were subjects of

despotic ruler.

Greeks were attacked by

fought against him

to

Whenever

foreign

the

enemy, they

defend their Greek heritage

as well as their local liberties.

The Greeks' sense

man's obligation
gifts, led

the

them

to

of personal achievement, of a

make

the most of his natural

to give to the

same care and attention

structure of political

life.

works of

their

hands

that they gave to the

In the

Greek view, any-

thing worth doing was worth doing well, and the

remains of their humblest pots have

Even objects so

distinction.

masterpieces of

little

remarkable

utilitarian as coins are

relief

sculpture

gold or

in

silver.

We may

ask

why

so

much

of the Greeks' work,

which has survived the centuries by accident and

therefore truly representative of

what they

The answer

so high a quality, so fine a design.

partly that the

Greek

artisans

worked

is

did, has
is

for specific

patrons instead of manufacturing wholesale for an

state)

ting

at

or grotesque

violent, gross

Instead

effects.

the

showed men

in the full strength of their lithe,

knew what they wanted and insisted on getThe Greeks wanted their arts and handi-

cular bodies,

women

anonymous

public.

The patrons (who included

it.

crafts to stand the acid tests of time

and

to

hoped

ion they

to

prolong their

own

influence into

drapery of their

finest clothes.

When

keep

their attraction for future generations; in this fash-

in the rippling

did,

it

Greek

art dealt

with animals, as

it

on

lions leaping

their

prey with savage mastery,

horses elegantly on the move. This art found

impose order on any disordered mass of material,

terial in

to leave things as

in its natural state.

Not content

they found them, they wished to

rearrange and shape them. But they employed restraint

in

this

process,

and the

result

has that

quality of balance and completeness which

we

call

justice to

was no

workmanship was

by something more
meant

to

to

inspired and reinforced

exalted.

Greek sculpture was

be seen in public places, principally in

temples, and

had

What was

less true of

to perpetuate

The Greeks were

have

it

had

to

a nobility

be worthy of the gods.

and dignity, and yet

it

It

could

in

arts
in

pected, they delighted in words.

able language,

and they made

the Greeks, as with

many

by

re-

it.

lacked inhibitions

They had

and

sight that

it

full

became almost

was created with

was accorded

use of

peoples, poetry

religion,

never aimed

who

that art

is

visible

at their

disposal a wonderfully subtle, expressive and adapt-

fore prose. Poetry, in fact,

art at its best

do

an or-

it

such as decorations

each case

something

a people

the gods were believed to be always at work. All

why Greek

to

speaking about themselves, and as might be ex-

not be too remote from everyday things, for in these

this explains

ma-

true of high sculpture

humbler

on pottery. The explanation

was intended

its

that to

felt

what he saw, he must impart

der and balance.

In the major arts, notably in sculpture, this sense

of fine

the real world, but the artist

vealing what was most important in

classical.

often

displayed dogs alert to every scent and sound,

the future. In addition, they had a strong desire to

such as rock or clay

it

mus-

to

all

it.

With

came bea

second

the care and in-

the visual arts. Poets

SIGNATURE SEALS, used by wealthy men

of the Fifth

Century B.C.

endorsing documents, were tiny cari'ings, often of animals.

in

These

seals, originally

carved

impressions, represent (from

quartz but shoivn here in plaster

in

a charging bull, a resting heron,

left)

ewe

a race horse with broken reins, a stag on one knee, a

from the ground, and a leaping dolphin playing

The most

relevant today as

with which

cy.

We may

it

was when

it

was

it

to

it

it

for

is

its

were highly esteemed a poet, said the philosopher

was "a

and

light

and winged and holy thing"

they wrote about

sorts of subjects: farm-

all

man, any man, had

ing, local lore, the weather. If a

by arguing

technical

its

values.

something important

which

in the early

song, for almost

or

spoken

all

to say

he often said

it

in verse

days meant that he said

Greek poetry was

originally

it

in

sung

Poetry was the Greeks' immediate response to a

wide range of experience, and

they invented or perfected

of exciting

and

is

to reflect this variety

many

we now know. They seem

which

irresistible

of the poetic forms

have begun with the

to

objective storytelling in verse

tragic events.

They followed

this

home

its

ing force of people

who were

arts

and

tragedy and comedy, the

er

and more

is

called lyric for this rea-

noon the Greeks invented both

first

difficult relations

dealing with the dark-

between the gods and

men, the second viewing with derisive ribaldry

manner

of

continued

human
to

foibles.

write

Even

in later years

charming poetry, though

strength had become diminished and

less majestic.

its

all

they
its

subjects

feel the liv-

fields in

of

the

which

physical

world excited their curiosity and led them to make

spectacular scientific hypotheses. Before them, to

be sure,

much

complished

in

of a practical nature had been ac-

such

fields as

astronomy and engi-

neering by Egyptians and Babylonians.

unique contribution was

provide

to

eral principles,

to the lyre

we

and passion.

The nature

was sung

their high

it

were not the only creative

basis for these applied sciences.

At

pow-

immediacy and

eager to examine their

destinies with the utmost candor

The

gains our

it

imaginative thoughts with

with a more personal, more emotional poetry, which

son.

and

its

deals with

It

full, in all its

power, and behind

the Greeks excelled.

to music.

heroic epic,

but by presenting a situation in

an

but

skill,

for this side or for that

erful implications. Its extraordinary

directness drive

pow-

profound humanity,

precise issues in a universal way,

Socrates,

and

written.

first

to the extraordinary

human

wise appreciation of

attention not

literature,

as alive

is

it

presents issues of perennial urgen-

admire

what binds us

that

is

We cannot fail to respond

er

Greek

striking quality of

poetry and prose alike,

arising

sea below.

in the

and

The Greeks'
a

theoretical

They sought gen-

in the process

became not only

the founders of science but of philosophy (literally,

"love of knowledge").

fields

were closely

related,

which men could seek

To

the Greeks the

two

both being means by

to find out

more about the

nature of things, and both moving by argument

and proof from one hypothesis

If

in

their

astronomy

practical

for navigation

way

to another.

the

Greeks

needed

and an understanding

of

THE OLYMPIAN GODS

this

in

processwn

from the

are,

left:

Persephone: Hermes; Aphrodite: Ares; Demeter with wheat

sheaves: Hephaestus: Hera with scepter: Poseidon with his
trident:

Athena with a spear: Zeus, chief of the gods, with

Artemis with bow; and Apollo. The Creeks

his thunderbolt:

membership

revised the

this

of

list

pantheon

at

times.

weights and stresses for building, they strength-

ened and broadened

this technical

knowledge with

and general principles about the nature of

theories

matter and space and motion, which they expressed

in

mathematics, especially in geometry. Then they

often reaped the benefits in other

set a firm

would produce

it

and experiment.
Fifth

saw

also

When

a theo-

the need for observation

medicine flowered in the

Century B.C. under the inspiration of the

great physician Hippocrates of Cos,

task the collection of data from

it

made

Greek doctor

mon among athletes, and

head wounds received in

set great store

to deal

The

spirit

made

wounds especially

with
war.

which inspired Greek researches

human

nature was also at work on

its first

end

the Greeks the

on the correct

to verifiable

first

actions,

into

and

it

true historians. Their ac-

Century

"What

fact;

Hecataeus of Miletus

write here," said

beginning of the Fifth

at the

what

B.C., "is the account of

thought

to

be true; for the stories of the Greeks [of other centuries] are

which deductions

could be drawn. Thus in the identification of diseases a

Greeks were able

with fractures and dislocations, which were com-

counts of past events gradually changed from leg-

seven-note scale.

While Greek science was developing on

retical basis,

ciples of physiology, the

Pythagoras

fields:

foundation for music, for example, by

discovering the numerical ratios of the lengths of

string that

on animals and learning something about the prin-

numerous, and

In pursuing truth for

were hampered by no
were not

my opinion

in

own

its

theology. Since they

rigid

tied to creeds, they

scheme of

ridiculous."

sake the Greeks

were

free to ask ques-

Such

description of symptoms, and proceeded from that

tions about the

point to do what he could to effect a cure. Medicine

from being thought impious, were often regarded

much

was

of course very

tors

were much better

than

in

knowing what

had made
illnesses

a great

at

to

in its infancy,

diagnosing

do

for

it,

but

and doccomplaint

at least

they

advance over the old days when

were thought

magic charms and the

to

be curable by amulets,

like.

In surgery the begin-

nings were primitive enough, but by experimenting

things.

inquiries, far

as a quasi-religious activity because they

the wonderful workings of the gods.

As

showed
the phi-

losopher Xenophanes said, "The gods did not

veal everything to

men

at the

as they seek in time, find

a

something better." Thales,

thoroughly rational man,

tell

an eclipse

in

re-

beginning, but men,

who was

able to fore-

585 B.C., nevertheless insisted

>
but equally on high occasions of festival and rejoic-

They thought

ing.

could ever hope

pect

them

to

more beautiful than

the gods far

men

to be,

and they did not ex-

human

follow the rules of

What counted was

their

behavior.

power.

men

Because the gods were the sources of power,

honored every kind of power and wished

it

in their

own

This applied equally to war,

lives.

games and thought.

the arts, athletic

to display

and

of his divinely provided gifts

Greek did

If a

was making

well in any of these, he

proper use
that extent

to

he was getting nearer to the gods. This

means when he

Aristotle

we can." Thus

mortal as far as
that "all things are full of gods,"

and

this

was the

usual Greek attitude.

Thus Greek
pily with
to inspire

art

Greek

and Greek science

fitted in

religion; indeed, religion did

hap-

much

to

modern minds

below the standards demanded of

fall

vinity, they

had something impressive

They were

all

in

di-

common.

high degree embodiments of

to a

power, whether in the physical world or in the

mind

that

much like them as possible,

humans must not attempt this

lest

they imagine that they were gods.

and sustain the poets and philosophers.

of man.

From them came

both visible and

the mortals to

invisible,

make

everything,

literally

and

it

was the task of

the proper use of

what the

gods provided.

The Greeks took

all

the familiar steps to keep in

hymns and

sacrifices;

oracles; they

They

offered prayers and

they consulted

all

kinds of

had countless shrines containing im-

ages of the gods.

They hoped

that the gods

would

the characteristic

moderation, both in

Greeks zestfully

life

maxim "Nothing

in excess,"

Mean, the

Western Sea. They

felt

the gods' presence every-

where, especially in times of need such as battle.

not

attempting enough. Needless to say, they did not

always achieve the Mean, but

and

felt in

it

set its

mark on

it

to

was

themselves a driving strength

make

the

most

at

least

an

They
which came

their civilization.

from the gods, and they knew that

it

was

their task

by seeking pleasure

of this, not

and sensation (though of course they enjoyed these

as the

reward for

their efforts)

out to

an Elysium beyond the

much and

middle state between attempting too

be worthy of their

stantial ghosts to imagining

While the

arts.

desirability of the

it

to

varied from thinking that the dead were unsub-

and the

with the

tempered

set

death they

it

and they praised the

language of friendship. They had no very clear doclife after

eagerly,

every form of action, they

tried

lives to rational

Even on the subject of

knowing

too

Greek mixture of energy and

be kind to them, and they spoke of them in the

trines.

once eager

yet

This ambivalence proved of great value. From

came

ideal,

contact with their gods.

what

be im-

the Greeks stood in

to their gods, at

to be as

Though Greek gods might seem

often to

an ambivalent relation

is

"We must

says:

make

the best of their natural gifts

human

cated themselves to noble

thing
fit

new and

to living in

toil,

and

nature, they dedito

creating some-

splendid, to keeping their bodies as

making order out of disorder,

harmony with their fellow citizens.

as their minds, to

and

but by shaping their

and desirable ends. As the Greeks

THE GREAT LEGACY

"hiiure ages will wonder ai

us,

as the present age wonders at us now''

MNCiENT GREECE

/
M
is

\ and

literary

left

Vanother. But

great.

It is,

some of the most magnificent works

monuments
it is

of art

ever bequeathed by one civilization to

not mostly for these that the legacy of Greece

rather, because of the spirit they evoke, a spirit rooted in

the belief that

man is a free, indeed an

exalted, being. For thousands of

years older civilizations Persian, Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian-

thought of

man

as a despised figure

despots. The Greeks picked

is

full of

who

groveled before deities and

man up and set him on his

wonders," sang Sophocles, "but nothing

is

feet.

more wonderful

than man." The Greeks depicted their gods in idealized

like the smiling

Apollo shown on the opposite page.

"The world

human

What

form,

the world

2,400 years later would think of the Greeks the Athenian statesman
Pericles foretold (above) in his eloquent funeral oration

casualties of the Peloponnesian

on the

first

War. The picture essay beginning

here combines the proud affirmations of Pericles with photographs of

Greek masterpieces that sum up the everlasting Greek achievement.

THE SERENE SPIRIT OF GREECE shines from

intellect.

It

was

this Apollo,

cast in bronze 2,400 years ago, lost

god of the

some 400

years later and found again under a Piraeus street only in 1959.

ORDER

IN

STONE

IS

shown

in the

columns of the temple at Lin-

das on the island of Rhodes. These columns, which grow narrower as they rise,

were designed by architects who knew the rules of

geometrical precision and

"Our love of what is

when

to

change them

to please the eye.

beautiful does not lead to extravagance"

TO

ARCHITECTURE, as well as to the handcrafting of house-

hold utensils, classical Greece brought a great feeling for

purity, elegance and function.

These

qualities are clearly

stated in the strong Doric columns, the austerely

harmonious

steps and the delicately symmetrical vase shown on these pages.

An

unexpected lecturer on these matters was the old soldier

Xenophon, who,
ment, wrote:
.

in his delightful

"It is beautiful to see the footgear

garments sorted according

book on household manage-

to their use

ranged

in a

ranged with sense and symmetry." Beauty was above

When

the

King

of Bithynia offered to

poverished people of Cnidus

les'

if

row

cooking pots arprice.

pay the debts of the im-

only they would sell him Praxite-

statue of Aphrodite, they spurned him. But a taste for beauty

must not be overindulged; the Greek rule

must be enjoyed
warned

that

in

that everything in life

moderation applied even here. Socrates

"when a man allows music

to play

upon him and

to

pour into his soul through the funnel of his ears those sweet and
soft

WORKADAY

JUG, turned out

carry wine and olive oil to

world,

still

by endless thousands
all

to

parts of the ancient

stands witness to the Creek love of beauty.

and melancholy

airs

... he becomes a feeble warrior.

'

"Where the rewards of valor

are the greatest,
there

you will find also

the best

and bravest spirits among

THE

GREEK regard for individual worth applied equally

and war so

their

ganized on democratic

lines.

in peace

mand

men, explained

of 10,000

said, "If

anyone has

Athens elected

common

the people"

its

generals.

and

soldier

sidered the

a better

supreme

was

or-

army and then

his plans to his

plan to propose,

force

fighting

Xenophon, taking com-

let

man might walk

him do

to

so."

one war

War was conman and not beneath the concern

ride to the next a general.

test of a

of the gods. Aeschylus, writing his

own

epitaph, ignored en-

during dramas and noted only the courage he displayed against

the Persians.

Headlong bravery was the

of Greek fighters. But style in war

least that

was expected

was particularly admired. The

Greeks esteemed Dieneces the Spartan who, told that the enemy
hosts at Thermopylae were so large their arrows would hide the
sun, replied, "So

WARRIOR GODS march

much

into

the better,

we

shall fight in the shade."

combat against an enemy force composed

part of a frieze at Delphi telling

how

of giants.

This

is

imtnortal gods defeated mortals in a pitched battle.

jMPF'^^

'i

^.

i;.

"^

V.^J^^

^:--

'^^'^i^m..*-;

"V\le are free

but

and toleraut

in public affairs

to those

we

hi

our private

keep to the law.

lives;

We give our obedience

whom we put in positions of authority''

''Our love of the things of the

mind does

MAN

OF THE MIND,

exercise of all a

Ath-I.'llr .Irlinr.i

man's

,'/;-

,(.!/,

,i/

Ihll'iuiieas as

the

"vital p'owcrs n/oiii; the lines of excellence."

not

make us soft"

THE

GREEKS gave equal respect to mental and physical prow-

ess because they believed that the ideal life

would be one

spent in the pursuit of excellence in

The complete

man would
or at

be equally active as

an

all

things.

athlete, philosopher, judge, poet

any other worthy pursuit. The philosopher Socrates once

worked

as an apprentice sculptor; the playwright Sophocles not only

served as a general but was also at different times imperial treasurer,

diplomat and

At

priest.

for the best poets

MEN OF ACTION, young

athletic festivals prizes

were also awarded

and the best rhapsodists, dancers and musicians.

riders easily

the Panathenaic procession in

keep their prartcing horses under control.

This frieze depicts

honor of the goddess Athena that took place once every four

'TT^'-^'m^^mm

^'^ar

<1'H"^#
/
-\

years.

''Mighty indeed are the marks and monuments.. we have

.

THEJOCKEY, urgiMj; on a horse that has

that dates

from the

later period of

SCULPTURE was

long,

Greek

since fallen victim to the

art.

It

the art form most favored

a logical reason.

They made monuments

commemorate victories,

ravages of time,

shows a tenseness foreign

is

a bronze

to the classical period.

by the Greeks, and

to

left"

honor

for

their gods, to

to record religious rites but

what they

always depicted was man. Sculptors combined selected features to

produce the idealized

human

westernmost Mediterranean

figures that
to India.

ranged from serene representations

have been found from the

Over

the centuries Greek art

THE DELPHI CHARIOTEER, fashioned

like the charioteer (opposite) to

nervous, vital figures like the jockey (above).

No

matter what the

period,

illustrates

pressure, a quality

mood, the works

still

testify to the

Greek

belief in the

wonder

of

man.

in

bronze at the height of the classical

er

restraint

under

much sought

by the Greeks of ancient

aft-

times.

f^
'->

C>"
/In

);a ^.

*^^V

..'^,

The Greeks

of historical times,

which date from

about 750 B.C., believed themselves to be descended from a legendary race of heroes.

Men

of prodi-

gious physique and energy, these heroes sailed to

the end of the world for a golden sheepskin, warred

against the Trojans for 10 years over a beautiful

woman, and one

of

them singlehandedly cleaned

incredibly filthy stables in a day. For

ries

2
AND NEW DAWN

fiction,

they had some basis in

that

many

centu-

and

that these heroes

adventures were pure

their

we now know

but
fact.

For nearly a century archeologists have been uncovering evidence of a rich civilization, centered at

Mycenae, that flourished between 1600

the city of

DARK AGE

assumed

scholars

and 1200 B.C. and Mycenae was the home of Aga-

memnon,

the

King who

name

(the ancient

in legend led the

Achaeans

War. This long-lost Mycenaean world was

ly a

development of

Minoan

Aegean from about 1600

lively,

version

clothes. Their

colors, intricate

homes, sometimes

elegant

five stories high,

terraces. Their palaces

system of plumbing (they even had

flush toilets)

unmatched

Victorian times.
all

games (they

backgammon) and

of

had light-wells and setback

contained

not

which dominated the

1400 B.C. The Mino-

to

pleasure-loving and sensuous

people fond of bright

played a

original-

a still older world, the brilliant

civilization of Crete

ans were

Trojan

for the Greeks) into the

Some

nicety until

for sanitary

of their engineering skills,

their cultural refinements,

if

were taken over

their Mycenaean heirs.

The Mycenaeans themselves were

by

builders. Their palaces

were

ble citadels with walls 10 feet thick,

made

and some of

tombs were enormous beehive struc-

their royal

tures

spectacular

built within formida-

much

of stones weighing, sometimes, as

as 120 tons.

They were

also

immensely wealthy,

pecially in metals,

and most especially

Mycenaean tombs,

diggers have found death

es-

in gold. In

masks

and breastplates of gold; bronze swords and daggers; gold and silver drinking cups; gold rings and
diadems; and thin sheets of gold used as funeral

wrappings
dren.

for the bodies of

The tombs

also

two small royal

disclose

physical characteristics of these people.

NOBLE LADIES OF MYCENAEAN GREECE

set Out in a chariot to attend a hunt.

Their era, 13 centuries before Christ, gloried in mighty deeds of war and

hunting and adorned

its

palaces with pictures of expeditions like this one.

taller

chil-

something of the

They were

and broader-faced than the Minoans; the

men were mustachioed and sometimes

bearded.

One
a

corpse had apparently suffered from gallstones

And

then, less than a century later, this vigor-

other had a fractured skull which had been neatly

ous, splendid civilization

trepanned thus giving us the

It

earliest record of this

surgical operation in Europe.

Decisions of

court

his

were carried out by an officialdom consisting, in

diminishing order, of military leaders, administrative officials, charioteers

and mayors of the group

surrounded the

of villages that

Archeologists

city.

have discovered the actual records, kept by this

bureaucracy,

efficient

holdings, agricultural
slaves,

horses,

pair wheels

of

chariots

bound with bronze,

land

assessments,

tax

and inventories

stores,

and chariot

bound with

silver,

parts

phered, also

B.C.,

Dark Age from

which survived only scattered legends and some

unrewarding

artifacts.

The Dorians attacked and destroyed Mycenaean

cities when they were weakened by war. The conquerors lived as squatters in burned-out

decayed

crafts

arms

tablets in a script

in

Mycenaean

effective)

icent

at

weapons made

cremation.

The

tightly organized

longshoremen, oarsmen, saddlers, shepherds, dry

the

car-

of iron; burial in magnif-

tombs was largely superseded by perfunctory

tally disintegrated

foresters,

lamentable speed. Finely worked

bronze were replaced by crude (but more

masons, bakers, cooks, woodcutters, messengers,

potters,

between 1200 and 750

Greek world passed through

vanished, the art of writing disappeared. Handi-

are goldsmiths, shipwrights,

cleaners, doctors, heralds,

of far

("one

one pair wheels

B by scholars) only recently decilist more than 100 Mycenaean occu-

Among them

end.

terrible

palaces but did not rebuild them. Record-keeping

unfit for service").

These records, inscribed on clay

to a

Greeks from the north, called Dori-

ans. For 450 years,

the

came

by successive invasions

obliterated

of

(called Linear

pations.

was

less civilized

Mycenaean king and

and lasted 10 years.

Helen,

the stolen princess,

diagnosis which suggests a rich diet and an-

Mycenaean

by the Dorian

society

assault.

was

to-

Many

of

Mycenaeans became dispossessed, purposeless

wanderers.

To

this

chaos of moving people was

penters,

bowmakers, weavers, bath attendants and

added the movement of the conquerors themselves,

unguent

boilers.

but their travels were purposeful. Not content with

In

sum, the Mycenaeans were an accomplished

and enterprising people, worthy successors

to the

Minoans. But they were unlike the peaceful Minoans

in

one important aspect:

baldly, brigandage

principal

business seems to have been

war or,

to

Mycenaean
put

it

more

and piracy. Military enterprises

took the Mycenaeans far from

home on adventurous

ravaging the Mycenaean

cities,

the Dorians pressed

southward and seized the Laconian

Greek mainland they

nean
Crete

to Crete,
it

subjugating

was only

plain.

From

the

sailed across the Mediterrait

completely.

short voyage to

And from

Rhodes and

neighboring islands, which suffered a similar

its

fate.

This was the Dark Age of Greece. Although

missions 1,300 years before the birth of Christ. Ac-

few remnants of the old Mycenaean culture remained

cording to Hittite records the Hittites controlled a

here and there on the island of Cyprus; in the

powerful empire in Asia Minor from a stronghold

mountains of Arcadia; and

east of present-day

Ankara marauding bands

Achaeans were harassing the coast of Asia Minor

the middle of the 13th

Century B.C.

drawn-out expedition they

Troy

in the

On

said

clustered

in

Achaean world

one long-

was fought

Attica,

around the small town of Athens most of the old

laid siege to the city of

war which legend

in

of

for

bility

fell

apart. People lost their old sta-

and order. They

lived as best

they could.

Brother was pitted against brother, children against

parents, friend against friend.

One

of Greece's ear-

A TIME OF CRUMBLING EMPIRES

Pharaoh Ramses
pylon

at a

depicted on a stone

III,

Nile temple,

seen repelling

is

Egypt's attackers early in the 12th Century

when Dorian

B.C. This period,

invaders

were overrunning Greece, was elsewhere

marked by

the eclipse of great empires.

Egypt, despite Ramses' victories, slowly

lost

mastery

its

Mediterranean,

the

in

and the Hittites were overthrown

Among

Asia

in

numerous small nations

to rise and flourish in the power vacuum
were Phoenicia, whose aggressive traders
Minor.

the

Hebrew

colonized Carthage, and the

dom, which reached

apogee

its

kingthe

in

David and Solomon from 1005

925 B.C. India remained a checkerboard

reigns of
to

of warring city states

produced

its

through an era that

Mahab-

vast epic poems, the

harata and the Ramayana. Until the fierce

warriors of Assyria reached the peak of
their

power

Century

in the Eighth

B.C.,

China under the Chou Dynasty was the

only extensive empire

liest

and best-known poets, Hesiod,

lived at

very close of this period and described

it

with the hope that he could induce the Greeks

change

their

embodied

all

the

in detail
to

ways. To Hesiod the Mycenaean age

that

was beautiful and good. His own

In the

naean

centuries after the

first

each

civilization,

hamlets and farms, became

isted

was usually military

in effect a garrison

and

his captains.

brother will claim from brother the love

once claimed,

And

of the

Myce-

surrounding

its

separate social unit.

in origin:

governed by

little

order ex-

the city

was

commander and

Gradually borders became fixed along

natural boundary lines, and

No

fall

with

city,

Borders shifted constantly, and what

time was full of violence and brutality, intolerance

indifference, stealing, cheating, lying:

in the ancient world.

fensible, the city

and

its

if

the lines were de-

surrounding countryside

survived to become an independent community, a

parents will quickly age, dishonored

city-state. Military

governments became hereditary

and shamed.

And men

will scorn

them and

bitter

words

considered to be descended from gods.

they'll say.

Hard-hearted, no longer god-fearing. They'll

their nurture, but

might

their

ravaging

wall.

men

head.

will break

through a city

Nowhere

community
in

Greece,

king was

as well as its

however, did

kings claim actually to be gods, as some Asian

kings did.

right they'll call;

And

the religious leader of his

secular

not repay

The cost of

monarchies. Kings ruled by divine right and were

Nor

did they

ence or absolute

demand

authority

claimed as their right.

that

the abject obedi-

Oriental

rulers

Along with

developing sense of civic independ-

Greeks began

ence, the

to acquire certain

uniform

they had subdued the neighboring settlements in

the Laconian plain. Then, for a period of time, Spar-

became one of the brightest centers of the

cultural patterns that transcended local boundaries

ta

and

ture that flowered at the close of the

local

styles

They became
change

in

dress,

decoration and speech.

willing to learn

and

their ideas

their

from one another,

ways

Sometimes they shared technical

to

of doing things.

sometimes

skills,

The Greeks' own name for themselves, HelDark Age. Greek pottery be-

tastes.

lenes, originated in the

gan

to take

on

distinctively Hellenic character,

despite regional variations.

mon

And

they shared

com-

language, so that despite their different dialects

From

they were intelligible to one another.

tentative beginnings sprang the

were eventually

main features

Hellenic

define

to

these
that

civilization

cul-

Dark Age.

produced exquisite pottery, and was noted for

festivals of

It

its

song and dance. But when military con-

cerns again became uppermost, these disappeared,

and Sparta, by
reverted to

its

this

time a major Greek city-state,

pawns

of the state, rigidly controlled

death.

From seven onward

its

and

hardship

Home

without question.

The men

to

weapons but

accept

was

life

ate at a

from birth

children were trained

for war, learning not only to use

endure physical

existent.

became

earlier attitudes. Its citizens

to

discipline

practically non-

common

mess, could

the intellectual and political freedom, the sense of

not marry before the age of 20, and could not live

cultural unity.

with their wives (except surreptitiously) until the

Not

all

same fashion

of Greece reacted in the

to

the Dorian onslaught or survived the subsequent

Dark Age

same manner. The

in the

two of the most

moment. Strangely,

was

of great

at the outset, the first

was not

very important and the other

isted in

pened

Mycenaean

to

early history of

influential city-states

may

not even have ex-

times. Nevertheless,

Athens and Sparta

in the

what hap-

Dark Age

set the

age of 30. After 30 they were permitted to have

Even during periods when the

austere in outlook, and

Athens was able

because

it

cities,

was destined

village,
in

what may have been

to

remain essentially Dorian

outlook thereafter. Athens held

and was able

a tiny

off the

to give refuge to fellow

fleeing the invaders. In the

crowded

Dorians

Mycenaeans

city

were pre-

served elements of the splendid past on which a

glorious future

would some day be

built.

Centuries later Athens and Sparta represented

opposing philosophies
political

When
it

in

freedom against

Greek life intellectual and

stern, military discipline.

the Dorians settled at Sparta they organized

as a military

camp.

It

kept that character until

no im-

made

virtue of extreme

to fight off the

was on

natural

Dorian invaders

fortress,

rocky

the

Then refugees from the other Mycenaean

among them the royal family of Pylos,

Golden Age of Greece and paradoxically insured

site of

in

simplicity.

Acropolis.

Dorians on the

was

state

mediate danger, Sparta remained conservative and

stage for the roles they were to play in the later

the end of that great Age. Sparta, settled by the

household, but their children belonged to the state.

flocked to Athens and the surrounding countryside of Attica.

Soon the population grew too

large

comparatively limited space available. But

for the

Attica had several superb

Piraeus, only five miles

harbors,

among them

from Athens, and

in

about

1100 B.C., emigration began. Greeks sailed out into

the

Aegean

to find

new homes on

the

Aegean

islands

and on the western coast of Asia Minor. These

emigre colonies of Greeks in and around the Aegean

came

to

The

be called Ionia.

first

of the Ionian colonies

were on the

is-

lands of Naxos, Chios and Samos, but others soon

followed on the mainland.

The

soil

was

rich,

the

coastline well provided with

and

harbors,

rivers

winding Maeander offered passage inland

like the

be strong and brave and noble and capable of

to

prodigious achievements.

They were

also lessons in

and expansion. The Greek colonists were

noble and ignoble conduct, and repositories of tales

not always welcomed by the native population, and

on the ways of the gods. Thus the bard imparted

for trade

newcomers

so the

themselves

fortified

in

walled

towns. Eventually these precautions stood them in

good stead,

menaced by

for as the colonies prospered they

the

Cimmerians and

the Lydians,

instruction while

he

gave

The legends

delight.

themselves were only a framework to which he

were

added extemporaneous elaboration, designed

to

who

the needs and temper of a specific audience.

Over

fit

had, one after the other, supplanted the Hittites

the years, succeeding generations of bards evolved a

Asia Minor. Despite these harassments the loni-

technique which depended heavily on a very large

in

ans were

home.

at

old

much
If

they could not hope to re-create the

Mycenaean world, they were

fashion a
Like

all

new

in Attica.

and

to

expatriates the lonians were extremely

ties

and they spoke

nies

free

social

number
all,

with the homeland. Their

a modified

Mycenaean

They kept

form of the

line-

dialect

the gods and ceremo-

systems that they had brought with

of characters

and

a central hearth

with geo-

their pottery, elegantly decorated

metric patterns, was copied from the pottery

in

Athens. Most important of

all,

made

the lonians pre-

served the epic songs and stories that had been

passed

The

down from Greek

antiquity.

epics were crucial to

Greek

civilization.

Not

There was,

first

much

whose names and

of

a cast

personalities

were

the same. There were also set descrip-

tions for certain recurring places

and events,

in-

cluding conventionalized figures of speech. Bards

used

huge stock

cally into verse:

of

phrases that

fell

automati-

"wine-dark sea," "long-shadowing

spear," "death that lays at length," "rosy-fingered

dawn," "brazen sky," "windy Troy."

The

them. Their houses were built on the traditional

Greek plan one room surrounding

of standardized forms.

an established outline for each legend and

always

leaders included princes of ancient

spoken

least

at

one.

conscious of their

age,

countrymen

better off than their

epic

drew upon

several kinds of legends or

myths: some concerned with gods, others with gods

and men, and others with men alone. In the Dark

when bards first began to perfect them, myths

way of answering hard questions about
human nature and the universe for audiences unable to consider these matters scientifically. The
myths made abstract ideas comprehensible by

Age,

offered a

only were they the chief relaxation for the Greeks in

presenting the ideas as they affected real people

the early period, but they also performed for pre-

caught

literate

Greeks

number

were

sential to their survival. Later, they

as a strong element in the art

and

Western world. For these reasons

to stop here to

the

examine

Greek epics and

bards

To

in

some

to live

on

literature of the
it

is

appropriate

detail the nature of

to discuss the greatest of the

primarily to explain religious matters, such as the

changes that occurred when one

The
gods on Mount Olympus
displaced by another.

is

set

of gods

was

substitution of the Greek

Minoan gods
myth which tells

for the old

explained, for instance, by the

who composed them Homer.

of the brutal struggle between Zeus, ruler of the

the Greeks, struggling to regain a lost glory,

Olympian

the epic songs were entertainment, inspiring history,

in recognizable events.

The myths concerned with gods were intended

of functions that were es-

reminders of a time

when

to be a

Greek was

gods, and his father Cronos; Zeus finally

overcomes his father and throws him into Tartarus,

the ancient Hell.

GREEK ALPHABET LETTER

NAME OF LETTER
ENGLISH TRANSLITERATION
'^H^^VIa9^vl

kappa

lambda

mu

c,

more than

One

His patrons probably wanted no

his characters.

tales of

heroism, but he gave them a

whole view of the world, of the gods

at

their ap-

men and women pursuing their

every mood from grim vengeance to

development

final

Mycenaean

times, but

destinies, of

enough

making

Behind every story

lands and rocky shores.

imagination

work, seeing humans as they

at

is

understanding

really are,

is-

his

why

they act as they do,

when they are

with warmth and

portraying them with insight even

bad, and

when

they are good,

Homer was

fitted for literature.

ill

new

the culmination of the

that flowered in Ionia, but he

spirit

body

in

new

plement

was

of the
its

use

Bay

and bronze began

home

to

jewelry and

trinkets

still

its

busy

communal

earliest of these

afield,

they

gold

and

of

to

copy and

was the

and tempering

lives

religious rites.

One

festival of song,

games on the island of Delos,

in

their

of the

dance and

honor of Apollo.

more famous event was the great games held

Olympia every four years to honor Zeus. All

far

at

Greece participated

in the

Olympian games. Each

city sent its best athletes to

compete

in wrestling,

foot racing, boxing, leaping, discus throwing, javelin

at Ischia,

an island

am

at the

entrance to the

Nestor's cup.

He who would drink from

this

cup

With an alphabet, many matters which were

memory

viously entrusted to

hurling and chariot racing, and each

man

gave

within his
to

down

as literary

own

lifetime.

and provided

set

down

Writing made

much more

set

up

the people to read, and

conduct trade negotiations

much more
effective

in writing
it

possible

efficiently

means

of re-

cording history.

The Greek alphabet took

them leading

to the

turn inspired the

several forms, one of

Etruscan alphabet, which in

Roman

alphabet that the Western

world uses today. But despite minor variations,

remained essentially the same down through

long career,

fine

and

flexible

instrument.

it

its

With

writing and literature, and a promising renaissance

in arts

To

spread

of their shared culture.

all

Homer's poetry was probably

Age

Greek people the games were one more case

square for

in the public

pre-

or limited to itemized

record-keeping could be written

of his best to honor himself, his city and his gods.

the

verse about love incised on a drinking

Persuasion of beautifully crowned Aphrodite.

Ionian colonies. Although the city-

easily, living

parts

all

examples of

still

kept their petty kings and autonomous

activity with

earliest

Shall be assailed by the subtle seductive

governments, the people themselves mingled freely

and

Admirably

spread rapidly to

documents. Laws were incised on stone and

Soon the Greek homeland began

states

it

hint

carved ivory.

compete with

needs,

consonants.

body underneath. Temples

and merchants ventured farther

brought

good

tool,

bookkeeping but

acquired vowels to sup-

it

Greek world. One of the

is

clumsy

of Naples:

were adorned with wooden sculptures, and as Greek

sailors

many

for

The new alphabet was based

Phoenician

the

adapted to

direc-

movement: the draperies were

stylized, but there

and

was not the only man-

metalsmiths and woodcarvers moved in

tions. Figurines in clay

was

it

lists

on that of Phoenicia, but

ifestation of that spirit. In the plastic arts, potters,

at the

for

cup found

gentle affection.

stronger: the appear-

ance of a Greek alphabet. Writing had existed in

pointed tasks, of

uproarious farce, of palaces and gardens, remote

Dark

at the close of the

Age made Greek unity even

and

crafts,

Ionia

emerged from the Dark

into the sunlight of Hellenism

its

and began

to

message of beauty and refinement through-

out the Greek world.

IN

GENERAL COMBAT helmeted Warriors

OF
The

fight at Troy, where,

Homer

reported, "showers of big stones battered the shields of the fighting men.

WAR AND A WANDERER

picture above and most of the other photographs in this essay are taken from

a frieze in grayish

seum

in Vienna.

covered

pock-marked sandstone stored

The

frieze,

it is

superimposed rows of low-relief carvings

on request, and
the

Mu-

century ago on the walls of a tomb in Gjolbaschi, on modern-day Tur-

key's Mediterranean coast. Because

It is

in the Kunsthistorisches

dating from the early Fourth Century B.C., was dis-

it

too large for convenient display its

total

600

feet in

length it

has rarely been photographed and even

most monumental attempt

to depict the

is

two

shown only

rrtore rarely

published.

mighty deeds of the warriors

who fought at the siege of Troy, ancient Ilion that Homer sings of in the Iliad.
Its many panels also contain a scene of the homecoming of Odysseus which Homer
recounts in the Odyssey. Heightening the spell that Homer's poems
these stories in stone give visual form to major episodes from the

still

two

weave,
epics.

sj:

^^^M

P^

^i^.:^

THE CLANGOROUS SIEGE

OF A PROUD CITY
The fighting around Troy's walls lasted
ing years. The Iliad's time span is
weeks
is

for 10 grind-

scarcely

of the last year of that war. But this

an exciting story, ringing with the clash of ar-

mored and embattled men. For the Greeks who

heard

it, it

expressed the heroic ideals of their

aristocratic era, freshly

and served

as

characters of the

his pride

first

own

emerged from the Dark Age,

document

religious

Olympian

high tragedy the story of

by

six

poem

family. For

a great

man

that set
all

time

the
it

is

brought low

and anger. Achilles, the Greek warrior

who was incomparable

in battle,

the central figure

is

of this poem. After a heated quarrel with

Agamem-

non, Achilles, furiously angry, sulks in his tent

while the Trojans under Hector, son of Troy's King

Priam, drive the Greeks

when

comes forth

to lead

the

There he slays Hector.

clus.

away from Troy's

his dearest friend, Patroclus,

Then

is

walls.

But

killed, Achilles

invaders back to Troy.

funeral

is

the sorrowing Achilles,

held for Patro-

moved

to

com-

passion by the mediation of the gods, gives Hector's

body

to Priam, to be buried as befits a fallen hero.

1^

tr.;<i-

%..

^'^'^'^

'mmmm

SINGLEHANDED BATTLE, two warriors clash. While it is not

two figures, Homer told of the Trojan
Hector using a sword, the Creek Achilles a spear, here eroded.
IN

possible to identify these

MAN-TO-MAN COMBAT
OF GREAT WARRIORS
Armies maneuver and

But heroes

fight in the Iliad.

the men whose bravery gives added dignity

mankind are proved

against Patroclus, Achilles against Hector.

seldom speaks of ordinary

is

to all

combat: Hector

in individual

soldiers;

Homer

his attention

focused on heroic figures, often on the losers.

The Greeks thought

victory glorious and a defeat

heroically endured only a shade less glorious.

real goal

was not

victory, but fame.

accept death, but he

would remember.
clus' death,

vows

ing his friend.

he

cries.

would so

The

could

die that the living

Achilles, sorrowing over Patroto

win fame

"Now may

"May

A man

they

know

for himself

win
that

by aveng-

a glorious
I

name!"

have been long

the battle! May I bring sobs and groansome wives of Troy and Dardania." And
Hector, knowing he will die at Greek hands, takes

away from

ing to

comfort in the judgment of posterity. "Then

men

will

say in far distant generations to come,

they

sail

of a

along the shore, 'Yonder

man dead

long ago, a champion

Hector slew.' So

my

fame

will

is

as

the barrow

whom

famous

never be forgotten."

the Trojans hurl stones

DEFENDING THE WALLS,

who

on Creeks,

take cover under shields. In these melees the

Olympian

gods intervened, some favoring one side, some the other.

A ROLE FOR THE GODS

The war began when

three goddesses Hera,

Athena

and Aphrodite quarreled over which was the

est.

beauty contest was

set

fair-

with Paris of Troy

as judge. All three goddesses tried to bribe him, but

Aphrodite

won by promising him

the most beautiful

wife in the world. This promise obliged her to help

Paris carry off the lovely Helen, wife of

laus of Sparta.

As

King Mene-

the Greeks sailed against Troy

to recover Helen, the other

gods took

sides.

Zeus,

chief of the gods, tried to keep his bickering family

out of the battle, but his wife Hera,

the Greeks, put
lulled

Zeus

who

favored

on her most subtle perfumes and

to sleep.

When

next Zeus looked at

the battlefield the Trojans had suffered heavy losses.

MOMENT OF

DESTINY comes for one soldier as another

grasps him by the hair and prepares to stab him. The Creeks

thought Zeus at such a

POSEIDON'S PERCH

moment weighed a man's

is

Mount

fate

on

scales.

Phengari, the highest point on

Samothrace, where he watched over Creek ships.

When

the

Trojans threatened, he rode his golden chariot to the rescue.

FLEEING THE CITY a Trojan wife

after her husband.
at its capture

razed,

Most men

(left) rides off

still

and women

and

the city

in

were slaughtered, the

children

BACK AT HOME, Odysseus, disguised

city

was

enslaved.

as an old

beggar (below), and his son enter the banquet

hall of

his

own

for his wife's

t,^^j0f)>ii-^mB'

house, where

wily

suitors

hand have long been ensconced.

-^^-^'i^fc^i^l^^'igt

AN EXCITING
The Greeks won
military

their

war with

men and statesmen

other ways.

They gave Troy

TALE OF DARING DEEDS

famous ruse

that

tells

gift a

wooden horse

with Greeks hidden inside. While the Trojans

soldiers

in the

slept,

who had

devised the

horse trick, found the route 10 years long.

IV

i<!Li

^\i

.. \iL\.

men

Homer

the

first

playfully

Odysseus

to

where he chatted with some old

war comrades. But he

kill

who

into swine, then sent

the gates of Hades,

ev-

wooden

</4^Jir-^k.;<.^ '-tfof

cave of the Cyclops. Afterward, he had trou-

turned his

eryone started for home. But one among them, the

ingenious Odysseus

rousing story of adventure. Odysseus

bles with the enchantress Circe

Greek

saw Helen reunited with Menelaus, and

reached the land of the Lotus Eaters, then got trapped

the Greeks crept out and opened the city's gates to

the rest of their army. Masters at last, the

of his experiences in his second great poem, the

Odyssey,

often try to repeat in

finally got

men who had been

eating

home

up

in time to

his stores while

courting his presumed widow, the faithful Penelope.

''

\ tti

4%'A^tif9UJ Mf^'Mt j^tM>ufn&

After the appearance of the Greek alphabet, sometime during the Eighth Century B.C., the Greeks

begin to speak to us in their

at last

own contem-

porary words. The evidence, after so long a time,

is

naturally fragmentary and

lively, significant details

many

add

haphazard but

its

our knowledge in

to

areas.

The Greek economic

revival,

marked by

re-

surgence of fine craftsmanship and an expansion

of foreign trade, soon introduced a

change

in the structure of

Greek

fundamental

life.

In almost

every state except Sparta and Thessaly the petty

kings of tradition were deposed or reduced to
ureheads. Sparta, with

A CONFIDENT

petuated

with

ARISTOCRACY

its

fig-

rigid conservatism, per-

ancient dual monarchy, and Thessaly,

its

agrarian society of widely separated land-

its

holders, kept

its

system of hereditary kings until

the Fifth Century B.C.

moved from

office for

ereven though,

Elsewhere, kings were re-

good reason abuse of pow-

as sole repository of

custom and

bound

to

law, they had not been

to

conform

any

code.

Where

the kings were deprived of their power,

authority passed to the local aristocracy.

government by

a single ruler to

The new
riors

rulers

who had

Thus

the

was made from government by

great step forward

group of men.

were the descendants of the warseized land and established estates

during the Dark Age.

Initially

only landowners

could be aristocrats; later some wealthy merchants

and manufacturers were admitted

were

men

pursuits,

to the class.

They

of leisure, active in sports and outdoor

if

only as part of their military training.

They were accustomed to country life, but not

afraid to put to sea. They were versed in the social
skills demanded by life in a small community.
Taught from childhood

to take part in singing

dancing, they shared

common

and the

art of the

subscribed to a

them

to

interest in

and

music

spoken and sung word. And they

strict

code of conduct that required

be truthful, trustworthy, courteous (even

to enemies),

courageous, respectful of the rights of

others, generous with their possessions (as far as

their
A RUIN AT DELPHI magnificently evokes the search for splendor at the holy
site.

Theodorus of Phocaea,

Built by the architect

round building, but what

it

was designed

for

this

was a

tholos,

or

has been tost to history.

means would

tion to cheat,

These

abundant

permit),

immune

and proud of the code

aristocrats

may have

to the

tempta-

itself.

lacked the super-

vitality of later Greeks,

but they never-

had a splendid energy. They excelled

theless

many
like

members

enjoy

The

they did not

aristocracies,

secure enough to allow them to

a position

become

and geographical center of Greek

political

mean, and

of government.

its

came

polis

much more than merely

of people

walls. In

it

who

total

of people

tradesmen and

men

sailors

mingled

now

like

was

small,

Corinth and

one

was

at

various kinds of

to

which the term

who governed

the polis regarded

themselves as superior beings, and associated mainly

with their

own

specially qualified

class.

They

believed themselves

by birth and breeding

to their

own

advantage

to

keep the city secure

and prosperous, they often showed great

doing

so.

it

talent in

Nevertheless, there were repeated clashes

of interest

between the

aristocrats

and the common

commoners demanded and got a

laws. The earliest of these codes

people. Finally the

written code of

date from the Seventh Century B.C., before the

word "democracy"

existed.

They

dealt mainly with

homicide, which had hitherto been settled by family

feud,

and with property ownership. They

dealt with contracts

laid

down

and other

between two persons, and they

rules for the

officials.

also

appointment of magistrates

Sometimes they even regulated

became

621
syn-

any

area.

of cabbage-stealing

person of his debtor in effect enslaving the

to the

debtor. But Draco's code also introduced the idea of

and made

justifiable homicide,

distinction be-

tween premeditated and involuntary manslaughter.

Under

the aristocrats the polis acquired a

stable system of

came

government and the

Greek

differentiate the

to

Long

life

because of

Greeks from

their

after the aristocrats

its

man's existence ought

ority

more

rich civic life

had

power, the polis remained the focus of

lost their

what

inspired view of

to be.

Because their superi-

supposedly came from the favor of the gods,

the aristocrats considered that they were "good"

men. But

them "good" was by no means an

for

exclusively or even predominantly ethical concept.

was an

Goodness, or

arete,

existed in

things.

all

intrinsic excellence that

good man, the poet Simoni-

des wrote, was "truly noble, in hands and feet and

mind, fashioned foursquare without blemish."

According

for the

task of looking after public affairs and since

was

that "Draconian"

pre-

punishable by death, and gave a creditor the right

that

ac-

refers.

aristocrats

for extreme severity or cruelty in

foreign neighbors.

freely. Life

full of

civic activity, including that

"politics"

onym

and de-

as well. Farmers, craftsmen,

once varied and intimate,

The

rites

population included townsmen and coun-

trymen, and in maritime centers

Athens, seafaring

was so harsh

B.C.,

who

affairs discussed

tually lived within the walls of the polis

its

pared for Athens by

business was transacted,

number

cided on. Although the

and

it,

lived inside

manufacturing was carried on, ceremonies and

were conducted, public

to

the seat

included the lands around

It

was the meeting-place

and outside

The

polls, or city-state.

to be,

One of these codes,

man named Draco in

the form of government.

Draco made the minor offense

overrefined.

was the

life

some

of

in

Un-

graces, but were not in the least effete.

or

to this ideal of

manhood, public hon-

and private honor were intimately

owed

related.

A man

to himself to display his best qualities

it

and

be recognized for them, and the praise he received

for his actions

cess

was

was not only

a
a

mark

of his success. But suc-

personal reward:

was an

it

owed his city. If a man died for his

city's honor, he was a "good" man. And during his
lifetime he was expected to keep its laws, do nothobligation he

ing to disgrace

havior

among

ancestry

and

it,

maintain a certain sobriety of be-

and be worthy

his

fellows,

his

upbringing.

"goodness," what are

now

In

this

of his

view

of

considered strictly moral

virtues were less important than the social ones,

and mattered only when moral

failure

brought

shame upon

man and

The

his class.

manhood was wide and

ideal of

not restrict "goodness" to a specific

man

havior, but simply expected a

aristocratic

generous.

did

It

of be-

field

every

to be in

The

this closely

were identified with per-

city's interests

sonal interests. This helps to explain

propensity for war. Although

because their

tially

cities'

men went

Greek

the

The

to display

in battle,

in itself.

war

of civic honor, they also

had economic causes. One

of the most persistent of the latter

and insoluble

nial

was the peren-

difficulty created

of land. In times of peace

by

shortage

population increased, this problem became acute.

to

was

essentially hand-to-

those qualities

man

it

and

no means

lavish.

were olive

oil,

most admired by

prowess not only gained him

his

their

was already being worked

And

could yield.

an opportunity

to his utmost, physically

a

the available land

at best the

Then

fish,

Greek

now

as

diet

the

for all

was by

staple

foods

goat cheese, wine and bread.

Goats and sheep provided occasional meat, as well

milk for cheese; and bees provided honey for

as

sweetening. There were also nuts and

was

in equal

and

his family.

figs,

as deli-

measure

a source of pride to himself

cacies.

Some

idea of the intensity of this

with such homely items as beans, peas, cabbage,

public pridefulness can be gotten from an epitaph

a stone slab in a

It

honors

But otherwise the staples were rounded out

lettuce, lentils

tomb, dating from about 600

found on the island of Corcyra.

B.C.,

and prosperity, when the

admiration but also brought honor to his city and

on

but

was ennobling

rather because death in this form

Often, there was not enough food simply because

Thus war gave

fellows. His

any hope of

for

ini-

fighting

man

hand, taxing a
mentally.

was not

reputations were at stake,

they also did so for personal gain and for personal

satisfaction.

It

Although wars were ostensibly fought on points

and personal honor were

civic

connected, an affront to one was an affront to the

other.

existed.

heaven that they died so willingly

sense a man.

When

any

ful that

and

garlic.

possible solution to the need for

more land

was, of course, to seize a neighbor's. But this was

Whole populations might be

the courage in battle of a warrior felled by Ares,

not very satisfactory.

the god of war:

reduced to slavery, as the Spartans reduced their

Messenian neighbors, but they could not be wholly

This

is

the

tomb of Arniadas. Him

eyed Ares destroyed as

he

obliterated their labor was

flashing-

fought by

seized lands.

the

needed to farm

the

so they had to be fed. Because

war did not solve the problem of land and food,

ships at the streams of Aratthus, displaying

the highest valor

And

the Greeks attempted an alternative. Capitalizing

amid the groans and shouts

on

of war.

their experience as

seamen and

their

knowl-

edge of trade, they organized parties of colonists

To

die in battle

to life, the right

when

was regarded

Greek died

as a fitting

end

and sent them abroad

to

settle

in distant

And

This relieved the drain on the Greek food supply,

in the defense of his city's

hon-

and also provided the homeland with new sources

name gained even greater dignity. He was

mourned by his fellowmen, commemorated by a

The

public memorial and thenceforth held in the high-

continued unabated for two centuries.

or, his

est esteem.

about

Greeks

life after

lands.

to defy life's brevity.

way

in general

thought only vaguely

death, and most

men seemed doubt-

for the

produce and raw materials Greece lacked.

process,

begun

in

the Eighth Century

Greek colonization followed two main

north and west.

To

B.C.,

directions,

the north, colonies were planted

first

along the northern Aegean

and

To

finally

then on the

littoral,

(now the Sea

shores of the Propontis

of Marmara),

on the Crimean shore of the Black Sea.

the west the Greeks

went

coast of Italy as far as the

and south-

into Sicily

up the western

ern Italy around 750 B.C., going

Bay

CAUL

of Naples. In about

BAY OF
BISCAY

600 B.C., Ionian Greeks from the city of Phocaea in

Asia Minor, seeing the advantages of the natural
harbor at present-day Marseilles, founded a

ment

settle-

there called Massilia. East of Massilia, along

the coast

now famous

Heracles

Monoecus

as the French Riviera, ancient

Greek settlements were established

at

Adgssjlja

Nicaea, Her-

^^^^^ Nicaea

AphrodisiaJ'

Monoecus and Antipolis present-day

acles

Monaco and

Nice,

BERIA

Antibes. Massilia conducted a flour-

"tmporiae

raw

materials. Their business took

them up the Rhone River

Gaul and

as far west as

proof of this exchange

found

at Vix,

;.;T5aguntum

to the inland regions of

One

Cornwall and Ireland.

is

large

Tharrus*

BALEARIC ISLANDS

bronze vessel,

SARDINIA

It is

famous and beauti-

example of archaic Greek craftsmanship, and

x--'-;:*--

must have been ordered by some

local

high occasion, perhaps a wedding or

Compared

to the

king for a

relatively unimportant.

a funeral.

NUMIDIA

colonizing might

And

Greek

yet the

colonies were one of the most powerful

means of

spreading Greek civilization to other lands, though

that

was not

their intention,

and though the

GREEK COLONIES

results
<1

only became visible with the passage of time.

reached the region of the Etruscans in central

when
height. The
Italy

their

that fascinating civilization

language

arts

at its

origins of the Etruscans are a mystery,

evident that they

Greek

was

is

fell

scarcely understood, but

it

is

under the enchantment of the

and modeled much of

their

own

refined

sculpture and ceramics on Greek examples.

Far to the east in the Crimea, Greek colonists

EUBOEAN
CORINTHIAN

MILESIAN

Greek wares passing up the western coast of

Italy

Utica

Carthage

Greeks' achievements in other,

less tangible fields, their talent for

seem

and

Alalia

near Chatillon-sur-Seine, about 140

miles southeast of Paris.

ful

CORSICA

Tarraco-'*""*(Tarragona)

ishing trade, bartering Greek manufactured products for Celtic

(Monai;a)y

MEGARAN
ACHAEAN
PHOCAEAN

OTHER

COLONIZERS ARE SHOWN THUS

CorinthI

GREECE IN 750 B.C.

13 GREEK-CONTROLLED COASTS
PHOENICIAN-CONTROLLED COASTS
e NON-GREEK CITIES

THE OUTWARD THRUST OF A CIVILIZATION

THE GREAT AGE of Creek expansion tasted from 750

to

550 B.C.

in blue.

Expansion

Colonies were established along the coasts from Spain to the

towns and

Black Sea. Further Creek advances

cities

west were halted by the

to the

u>ell-estahlished colonies of the older Phoenician domain, shoion

cities

boxed on the

on the

map

to

the

of the

north was blocked by the fortified

Etruscan people of

map founded most

Italy.

identify the parent city of each of the

new

"^'S^r

SCYTHIA

f.Olbia

Panticapaeum

.fTyras

..-.iPhanagoria

icOiersonesus
Heracleotica

p.
?il'strus
.I^Tomi

BLACK

SEA
Sir\ope (Sinop)

Mesembria'*;

ITALY

''V.

Rome

Byzantiunij^^ Chafced'orV

Neapolis

Apolfonia,, .,'^P"'"I

(larinio)

..

Posidonia"

'

"^Methonea
QAtjIon
Potidapio

...

Hj^on/^ .>::,,;;gCroton
Hippon;,,;;;::;/^Croton

'''KIj>:

*-

, aOascyliutn

,fl;#'S'c'ylletium

^^^^^

,^^,14

EUBOtq^^,

T J/;i_|Phocaea|
CARIA

Mallus

PAMPHYLIA
LYCIA

Agrigerrttim:*
S

k>iiM/^D
MINOR

^,^5,^

fRegg,od,Ca/abna;

'^Selinus

acia
ASIA

Lvzicus
^V'"-"^

-,

^^n*"

'

'

Messana

Hmtjpavr.

MendeTorone
%c/c
._u
,,ACAnA^
Cokyra ^
Copcyra
"Ambracia^
(Corfu' '^"i![S!a^
_
s^M
iff

Calfipolis
alfipolis

^,

.,N

'

MAGNA:-:,!,

(Trebaond)

pontus

J<34feraclea Pontica

^fORll5

MACEDONIA

?!*Trapezus
{vttv?:-:v.-;^r--!-:
j;r paphlagonU ""''

Apollonia

Megara Hyblaea

Side

.:>^=*Phasells

C iV'-Syracuse
I

ByblosgU
Sidonez

IVlEDITERRANEAN SEA
aLeptis

Magna

Tauchira^.:

>ne
^Y^^"^

Barca

Euhesperides*

SCALE
100
1

200
I

300 Miles
I

CYRENAICA

Tyre0

A,
<o

The Creek

of the colonies: symbols

colonies.

THE COINS OF GREECE came from many far-flung

colonies.

ship,

The one above, showing the ends of a

from Phaselis, famous for

is

its

seafarers.

came

were able

nomad Scyths

with the

in contact

though they had

common

httle in

to create for the

ful gold vessels that

Greek techniques

and,

al-

with them, they

Scythian market delight-

blended Scythian subjects with

in

raised relief.

Gradually, the Greeks took

full

advantage of the

natural resources of their adopted homes, which

A SILVER PIECE from Abdera on the fringe of
Greek world shows a seated griffin. Beyond

the

Abdera, the legends said, was the

griffins' land.

equaled or surpassed the native homeland

This was especially true in

Megara Hyblaea,

Selinus and

like Syracuse,

in wealth.

where colonies

Sicily,

from being provincial, had an astonishingly

far
vital

sculpture by the mid-Sixth Century B.C. and one

who ranked among

poet, Stesichorus,

the best of

the age.

The

Greeks kept apart from the culture of

the indigenous peoples. Nonetheless, they

A SYRACUSE
ens.

ISSUE celebrates triumph over

winged Victory drives a

reverse,

chariot.

Ath-

On

the

Persephone symbolizes abundant crops.

commonly

associate with Greece. Cultural

was not always the

aloof. Colonization

and

ness,

a detailed

this

is

was so

many Greek

common

in the

mountains, was
cities.

the

was

a gifted poet

who

wrote frankly and freely

about his

life.

In fact Archilochus' frankness verged

on

and

his

satire,

for his

them

own

as

freedom on

leaders

little

disillusion.

the

reverse

is

feared

whom

he

liking or respect

and companions. He regarded

came from

illegitimate son of a
slave, he

much

He

better than murderers. Perhaps

of his attitudes

his

some

background. As the

well-born adventurer and

had no rights

to paternal succession

and

plant.

Zeus-AmmonZeus's head

with the ram's horns of the Egyptian god

of

ochus, he came from the island of Paros, and he

fought, but he did not have

On

island

in the first part

and disliked the "Thracian dogs" against

A COIN OF CYRENE displays a silphium

man who

Seventh Century B.C. His name was Archil-

of the

symbol of Ahydos and other nearby

colonies. For

account of the Greek experience we are

Thasos and the mainland of Thrace

Troy. The eagle,

integ-

frequently a dangerous busifor

participated in the colonization of

the

chief reason for remaining

lucky to have the personal witness of

APOLLO'S HEAD adorns a coin from Abydos near

made

on many places that we do not

lasting impression

rity

home-

colonies remained extensions of the

land, for the

Ammon.

had

to

sword.

make

his

own way by

his skill

with the

THE SCALE OF VALUES of Athenian

Bitter,

disappointed, and understandably

erned by a stern sense of

gov-

Archilochus

reality,

re-

fused to be taken in by pretentious talk and was

resolute in his desire to
hurt. His

own

the truth, even

when

philosophy was simple and sane:

not rejoice too

when they go

tell

much when

go

things

it

Do
and

well,

badly, do not lament. Paradoxically,

while he rejected exaggerated expressions of the old

Homeric values he

He

purest sense.

them

also personified

in

their

believed in living honorably, re-

garded any material benefit as

his

due,

earned

through personal worth, and took any slight as

Of one who had wronged him

deadly insult.

he

things. In fact they

through

error, before

first

and

trial

From

here.

left to

worked hard,

they achieved their

These came during the Sev-

true successes.

were sim-

aristocrats. Since the conditions of life

them was

ple, the art that reflected

not prevent

this did

it

also simple, but

from being noble and

begin to assert themselves, and the work

with the magical Greek

its

The Greek

many

is

infused

sense of form apa

rocky landscape

on the mind and

discipline

artist

molded by

pears, unconsciously

that imposes

light.

show

dis-

and balance

tinguished. Standards of proportion

it.

stiff

piece.

enth Century B.C., under the patronage of the

convention and
he be cast ashore, naked and

shown

making beautiful

Painting and sculpture

May

is

not have an unerring and miraculous instinct for

wrote:

at

once

eye.

powerful

individual attempts to modify

worked

had

for a society that

and

some extent

with cold, at Salmydessus and seized

strong opinions about the

by Thracians (who will make him suf-

he had to cater to them. But within these limitations

may

eating the bread of slavery),

fer,

arts,

to

he also experimented and innovated. Looked

he be covered with shellfish in the surf,

the proper frame of reference, archaic

may

lively

lies

his teeth chatter like a dog's, as he

face

downwards by

the margin of

the waves.

yet he had few illusions about the efforts de-

manded by

life

and the paucity of

its

rewards:

and varied.

Greek

at in

art

is

ranges from life-size statues,

It

intended to honor the gods, or the

men and women

who sought

humble painted

pots

And

head of Athena,

coins, all displaying the

an obol, a drachma worth six obols, a double drachma and a four-drachma

right are: a half obol,

for

life at its

the gods'

domestic

most

favor,

use.

The

to

first

Greek

reflect

serious, the second at

its

most

re-

laxed and gay. But gaiety and seriousness often

overlapped. Statues were not required to be wholly

No man

gets

honor or glory of

solemn, nor was

his

it

out of order for a

common

drink-

countrymen once he be dead; rather

ing bowl to be decorated with dramatic or heroic

do we pursue the favor of the living

subjects.

while

we

worst

part.

the dead get ever the

live;

As

Bowl and statue could each combine

and

altation
far

ex-

delight.

back

as

Mycenaean times vases had been

decorated with paintings, and the art had survived,

Not

all

Greek colonists may have been

tive as Archilochus,

and determination

as percep-

but they shared his courage

in

setting about their task of

establishing themselves in a

new

land.

And

while

at a

much

lower

level,

through the Dark Age. But in

the Seventh Century B.C. the painting broke

Compositions became freer and more

human

and

they bent their efforts toward this pioneering work,

Before,

they also found time for

cessions had been painted

Contrary

to

artistic creativity.

common assumption

the Greeks did

away

from geometrical abstractions and stylized scenes.

straight lines,

figures

battles
in

naturalistic.

and funeral pro-

formalized sets of

and the figure was no more impor-

tant than

Now, men and animals

surroundings.

its

and monsters became the main subjects of carefully

thought-out designs.

new

color

New techniques

were invented,

schemes and new ways of applying paint

form devised.

to the clay

Drawing,
tured with

at first hesitant

and inexperienced, ma-

astonishing speed

into

the

flawless,

expressive line which became the significant ele-

ment
of

on the island

in all Greek, painting. Artists

Rhodes produced animated processions of

ani-

mals circling the body of a vase, and on Melos,

tumultuous scenes from myths. At Sparta, during

the height of that city's

artistic

soon after

life,

600 B.C., vase paintings were delightfully diverse.

There are

dramatic epi-

fish in graceful patterns,

sodes from the past, scenes from everyday

Apollo
rior

is

kills

home by

carried

tified as

life:

the great serpent. Python; a dead warhis comrades; a king (iden-

Arcesilas of Cyrene) watches the weighing

and packing of silphium,

a medicinal plant

much

prized in the ancient world. Continuously experi-

menting,

artists learned

to stress the

FUNCTIONAL DESIGN Was a mark of Greek

pottery.

were proved suitable they were seldom varied,

perfected in Athens are

mouth

facilitate

to

lifting;

(3),

had two horizontal handles for

for carrying water,

The pitcher-shaped oinochoe

(5)

was a

few basic shapes

was a two-handled drinking cup. The

a third handle, not visible here,

amphora

above. The krater (1) had a wide

mixing wine and water, the staple Greek

beverage. The kylix (2)

hydria

shown

Once forms

(4)

was

made pouring

the standard wine jug.

large urn for storing supplies.

established the Mediterranean

The

supremacy of Atheniatj

potters.

to use

empty space

how

compose

to

men and women into a continuous prohow to mass them without crowding. Even

groups of
cession,

the vase itself

became an element of the design,

the artist adapted his subject to

fit

its

as

particular

curves and protuberances.

easy.

Such vases

how

contours of a figure,

In sculpture, development

came

and had

later

further to go. Small figurines in clay or bronze pro-

vided a beginning in the Dark Age.

And

then, in

the Seventh Century B.C., larger figures appeared,

in

wood, limestone, marble and bronze. The

earliest

Greek monumental sculpture obviously owed

great deal to Egyptian example.

with upright figures of naked

women,

life-size

and carved

have one foot forward and

their sides.

The women

men and

in the round.

their

The Greeks began

clothed

The men

arms hang down

are heavily draped in

looks, in the earliest examples, like

mere

at

what

layers of

cloth.

But the Egyptian stiffness

behind with

is left

known

itself is

only through isolated fragments, but

remarkable speed. The male form becomes more

the surviving words enchant the ear with their ef-

engaging, mainly through the balance of

fortless,

and the treatment of

form gains
and more

And

muscles.

its

its

become

in grace as its draperies

limbs

the female
lighter

forms.

ment

body beneath.

delicate, hinting at the

But sculpture was not confined

to figures in the

dancing rhythms.
poetry had

Lyric
It

many

uses and

in public affairs.

active in the

B.C.,

ring military songs, exhorting his

the architectural elements of temples:

battle

the

tri-

war. In Athens another poet, Solon,

on the band between the roof and columns, known

about 640 to 560 B.C., preached

which

instances included

in certain

rectangles called metopes, spaced at intervals. Each

shapes triangle, band, rectangle raised

of these

special design problems.

would take

a full

The pediment,

human

else

at its base.

The

frieze

had

And

be

continuous pat-

crowded or busy with

tern but could not be too

detail.

for the acute angles

to

the metopes had to have a composition

that neatly filled the rigid confines of a rectangle.

Not

all

of these problems were solved at once,

but the principal ones were under control by the

end of the Sixth Century B.C. By

Greek
for

artist

form

had learned

to suit the

to balance his

work became

richer in detail

ical line in the

the Greeks

As

vase paintings cannot,

knew about

the

human

the visual arts progressed

The impersonal

timents, gave

way

to a

epic,

from

lived

philosophy of so-

of his reforms enacted

when he became

dance for

lyric

time Sparta was

of

center of such festivals, and one

most famous poets was

its

who,

poetry was composed in the form

works combining music, poetry and

performance at civic festivals. At one

late in the

for choruses of

man named Alcman

Seventh Century B.C., wrote

lyrics

young Spartan women. His poems

are wonderfully limpid

and gay, entirely suited

to

his performers:

time the

parts.

Look, beside

my

me

sings

my

friend,

cousin, of the ankles small:

Agido and she commend

His

alike our ceremonial.

Immortals,

econom-

who

possess the end

of every action, hear their call

how much

with favor, as their voices blend!

figure.

from rude begin-

nings to majestic maturity, poetry also evolved

forms.

choral

and more dramatic.

the sculptural details reveal, as the

some

Sometimes
of

his feeling

component

who

to

glories of

a leader of the state.

requirements of a severe frame.

He knew how

And

this

to discipline

stir-

reform to a city torn by dissension and actual-

ly got

for example,

figure in the center, but

was required

something

cial

wrote

countrymen

and indoctrinating them with the

angular space under the roof, called the pediment;

as the frieze,

many

The Spartan poet Tyrtaeus,

mid-Seventh Century

round. Carved decorations also began to appear on

in

took

could, for instance, be a powerful instru-

with

its

new

heroic sen-

poetry whose sentiments

Some

of the best of the lyric

by poets about themselves

highest point of

this

poems were written

for their friends.

The

personal lyric poetry was

were often quite personal and whose subject matter

reached about 600 B.C. on the island of Lesbos in

was often current

the

of lyric song, of

events. This

poems sung

of the flute or the lyre.

was the golden age

work

of

two

poets, a

man and

woman. The

accompaniment

thoroughly masculine Alcaeus wrote about politics

Sometimes the performers

and war and the pleasures of wine-drinking. His

to the

were individuals, sometimes choruses. The music

friend

Sappho wrote about her

feelings

for

the

CORINTHIAN

young

girls

Her touch

On

who formed

her circle of acquaintances.

intimate, personal:

is

the black earth, say some, the

thing most lovely

Is

a host of horsemen, or some, foot

soldiers.

Others say of ships, but ! whatsoever

Anyone

loveth.

Within the compass of

mood can

many

shift

single

times, but

from the heart and

straight

For the Greeks

for getting to

lyric
it

true

is

poem

the

always speaks

and human.

was an incomparable medium

it

know

own

their

But they were also getting

to

emotions.

know

themselves

in

another way, and through another medium. Greek

religion, as

it

revealed in poetry, always encour-

is

aged inquiry into the nature of things. Curiosity

was pleasing

to the

gods because curiosity made the

known

gods' marvelous works

had

done much

in their time

to

men. The myths

to explain the

world

to

now something more

was needed. And so sci-

unsophisticated people, but

factual

and more precise

ence and philosophy were born. As early as the

Sixth Century B.C., Ionian Greeks were seeking
THREE ARCHITECTURAL STYLES of Greece's temples and their principal parts are illustrated above. The letters indicate: (A) the steps

and

stylobate, or platform, of the temple; (B) the fluted

shaft; (C) the cushion (echinus)

which together form the

column

and rectangular block (abacus)

capital;

(D) the architrave, which per-

forms the function of a beam; (E) the plain or sculptured metope

tablets; (F) the projecting
frieze,

and channeled triglyph

tablets;

and

(1)

the pediment, or sculptured gable, between

the sloping roof surfaces.

an Ionic column

(left)

At

(L) the plinth, or

are

shown

the voluted capital of

and the acanthus-leafed

rinthian style (right); (K) the

style temples.

(J)

capital of the

molded bases of the two

supporting block of stone, used

Some temples combined

in

primal substance, a single basic material from

which, they reasoned,

styles;

some

Co-

all

developed. Three men,

and

all

of

all

it.

was

that

was

colorless

it

was

some

thought

them from Miletus,

of

Thales thought that the basic

material
it

other things must have

them astronomers and mathematicians,

had theories about

(C) the

comprising the metope and triglyph tablets; (H) the pro-

jecting cornice;

clear liquid;

Anaximenes thought

gas;

and Anaximander

indeterminate

substance,

boundless and imperishable. At the same time an-

and

Ionic-

features of different styles.

other group of men, also lonians, were speculating

on the nature of

life

itself.

They were seeking

single, unifying principle that

what they

things are

One

Heraclitus,

who

lived in

Ephesus. Heraclitus believed that the essential condition of

life

was "flux" that nothing was abso-

everything changed.

lute,

who was

Pythagoras,

born on Samos but lived most of

Greek colony of Croton

his life

the

in

in Italy, believed that the

universe was ordered by a harmonious system of

numbers.

sum

One

of his concepts has

come down

to us

Pythagorean theorem, which proves that the

as the

two shorter

of the squares of the

right-angled triangle

long side.

The

is

equal to the square of the

his

was

home

in

Persian invasion and settled at Elea in

Ionia

by

Italy.

Xenophanes founded

which taught

a philosophical school

that the universe

supreme, divine being

single,

sides of a

third of these early philosophers

Xenophanes, who was driven from

a

was ordered by

who

operated through

thought alone.
scientists

and philosophers

attached the utmost importance to their work, and

did not hesitate to reject the old

gods

if

ories,

the

they

myths were

to take

its

at the

dawn

very

place.
call

Their

scientific.

of science, they operated

by flashes of insight and inspired guesses.

Nevertheless some of their conclusions are astonishing.

Anaximander,

world was but one

for instance, claimed that the

in

an unending succession of

worlds; and Xenophanes declared that

inally

come out

of the sea,

man had

and produced

orig-

fossils as

To

rich, de-

manding land and power. They enjoyed occasional

successes but these seldom produced any lasting
victory.

Consequently Greece was continually

dis-

turbed by

civil strife.

were so

odds that the government became pow-

erless,

at

leaving the

man

scrupulous
take over.
least

Sometimes the two factions

way

Such men, known

some

some

clear for

to force his

way

able or un-

the top and

to

as tyrants,

The

sort of equilibrium.

produced

best of

at

them

even tried to conciliate the warring factions. Tyrants frequently

and

made concessions

in return

keep themselves

in

to

the

poorer

counted on their support to

power.

In reality, tyrannies were extensions of the aris-

Under them the

tocratic system.

And

befori',

city-state gained

enabling

it

to resist

because power was concentrated in one

man's hands, public works and enterprises could be

undertaken on

a scale

that

would otherwise have

been impossible. Some tyrants,

tal

it

is

true,

were bru-

and unjust and gave "tyrant" the unpleasant

connotation
icent

it

has today. But others were benef-

and law-abiding. The tyrants epitomized the

spirit of a

flected

its

vigorous but divided society.

tastes

and temperament, and

They
their

re-

un-

usual power gave them unusual opportunities to

display

its

salient traits in action.

During the Seventh and Sixth Centuries B.C.

evidence.
the aristocratic

knowledge gave

the

was

it

poor were regularly on the very edge

attack.

they had to discredit an old myth,

for

and slaves

and naturally turned on the

some divine governance

methods were not what we should

largely

Many of the
of starvation,

believed in

new one

yet

often hard indeed.

even greater unity than

If

And

truth.

was pleasant

Life

conflict.

aristocrats, but for the peasants

variance with their the-

they created a

Working

by persistent

at

still

of the world.

myths about the

between

distinction

and the love of

apparently enlightened society was troubled

this

classes,

Although these early

They made no

of fine arts.

the love of beauty

men was

of these

would explain why

are.

as

elite,

much

the pursuit of scientific

pleasure as the enjoyment

most

city-states

conformed

tern of aristocratic

life.

to

this

But one

changing patcity

eventually

moved beyond

the pattern,

and one never turned

And

back on the aristocratic ways.

its

two

again,

the

Although Sparta had

not last very long and
tan institutions.

it

a cultural flowering,

it

did

did not alter the old Spar-

Remnants

of the city's period of

was expelled by

B.C., Hippias

who had gone

nobles

were Athens and Sparta.

cities

chus, the younger son, was murdered, and in 510

time in

The

office.

exiles

was not welcome

to Sparta.

introduced coinage to the entire Greek

simplifying

world, thereby

Sparta

structure,

refused

cumbersome

tinued to use

ways was based

to its old

and

serfs.

were automatically members of the As-

monetary

up commerce

remain an agra-

serf labor.

even

It

continued

in peace. Its fidelity

on

partly

fear:

Spartan

their slaves

Consequently they insisted on maintain-

camp

ing their old

Greek

discipline and, unlike

B.C.

it

to the general pattern.

was governed by

Though

tus.

He was

in

the

latter

it

strengthened

became,

political

them

power, but in both instances he

encouraged drama and,

years of his rule, commissioned

of

the

Athens

with Ionia, giving the city

Aegean

his

and Hipparchus, but they lacked

and

talents. In

felt

miraculous

in

Then, inflamed by

off.

514 B.C., Hippar-

their

new

belief

in

ritory of

Oropus on

their

northern coast and ac-

quire the rich plain of Chalcis across the strait at

also attacked

in full

the

island

view of Athens

Gulf, but they failed to subdue

in

of

Aegina,

the Saronic

it.

Nevertheless, the Athenians were obviously on

the move.

Once but

single state

among many,
now began

with no special pre-eminence, Athens

the career which

and

influential

results
a

area.

he died, Peisistratus was succeeded by

their father's tact

ulti-

themselves, the Athenians went on to annex the ter-

lies

ties

democracy

Troubled by these developments, the Spartans

They

its

full

contained the mechanics for

it

freedom the Athenians

which

text

was not the

surge of confidence and strength.

Aulis.

his leadership

If it

mately becoming one. With their newly acquired

factions

greater influence in the

sons, Hippias

later

and did

and the Odyssey. Under

When

freedom of speech.

when opposition

learned body to prepare a definitive

Iliad

527

a gifted tyrant, Peisistra-

art of poetry,

power and

equality before the laws, equality of

to return. Peisistratus beautified the city,

supported the

Athenians

affairs.

claimed with justice that their government offered

to liberalize the land laws,

exiled twice

briefly regained

managed

to

himself an aristocrat, he rose to power

by promising
so.

From 561

say in public

adult male

all

506 B.C. invaded Attica, but the Athenians drove

For a greater part of this same period Athens

conformed

sembly and had

any other

remained a military community.

city,

of a noble family active in Athenian

citizens

were heavily outnumbered by

citizens

member

conform and con-

scale, preferring to

to practice the arts of war,

re-

who

Under the new constitution

iron rods as

dependent on

rian society,

was

was

a brilliant reformer, Cleisthenes,

politics.

exchange. Sparta refused to take

on any serious

modeled by

whole economic

the
to

the Athenian constitution

In 507 B.C.

taste.

to a revo-

lutionary change that

in fact the

would

its

overthrow of Hippias led

they can be seen in painted pots and carved ivories.

But Sparta stood obdurately outside the main cur-

when Lydia

that the tyranny

be succeeded by a government more to

But

economic change. In the Seventh Century,

group of Athenian

were helped by Sparta,

which undoubtedly thought

grace and elegance continued into the Sixth Century;

rents of

into exile during his father's

was

power

were not

to

to

make

in the

it

the most energetic

Greek world. The

full

appear immediately because, for

dramatic and crowded interval, one urgent prob-

lem occupied the attention alike of Athens, Sparta

and most other Greek

the Persian Wars.

cities:

they had to survive

THE LIGHT OF GREECE, which seems

on the Argive plain. The wall

is

to be brighter

and more lustrous than Ught elsewhere,

part of ancient Mycenae, where the war against Troy

slants

down

was planned.

THE GREEK HOMELAND

The hard, clear Greek light, playing on glittering water, bright white limestone and
bare brown earth, impresses every new beholder. This clarity, admirers of the Greeks
suggest,

may have determined

the hard, direct quality of

Greek thought. And

infuses an essentially harsh landscape with glowing beauty.

is

a stiff

300-mile-long finger pointing southeast into the seas.

the lives of the people were shaped

by

their

slopes, in the dry valleys, along the gulfs

the
or

mountain winters were

bitter,

summer, the Greek found joy

in

it

The Greek mainland

On

this peninsula

dwelling places: on rugged mountain

islands. The climate tested them:
summers hot and dusty. But winter

and on

the lowland

spending as much time as possible out of doors.

A BOUNCY HUNTER

him and

his

Strides

homeward with

dog dancing ahead on a

lead.

his kill slung

behind

His weapons were spears,

nets, foot-snares, javelins and, infrequently, the

bow and

arrow.

THE ROUGH HIGHLANDS

Although walled
tains, plains

in separate

and

seas, the

communities by mounGreeks were never

far

from one another; no man

in

Greece stood more

than 60 miles from the

Of

the three areas, the

sea.

mountains and barren regions, covering three quarters of the country, offered poorest fare.

ridges

Fifth

Century

B.C., the slopes

had few

The country's bones showed. Lack

the mountains
lings

Once

these

were covered with scrub forests but by the

trees left.

of moisture in

and the fondness of goats

had produced

a sparse Greece.

for sap-

The highlands

offered aromatic plants for honeybees (important

in a sugarless land);

wolves and lions

(if

and summer grazing

hunting for hare, lynx, bear,

only to protect the flocks);
for

sheep and goats, which

were the source of Greek cloaks and Greek cheeses.

A TUMBLING COUNTRYSIDE, Greece's mountains (above) helped the

city-states to develop independently of

Arakhnaions

in the

one another. These heights, the

Peloponnesus, sepamted Epidaurus from Argos.

A FOUNTAIN OF ROCKS, the grotesque

pillars of

by ages of wind and water, range from 85

believed that they were rocks flung

to

Meteora (below), sculptured

300

down on

feet high. Ancierjt

Greeks

the earth by angry gods.

A ROADSIDE COPSE
is

filled

in the

moiouaiti>

iyi'ix

between Sparta and Kalamata

with cypresses and small growth. In

this area, a

ground, Spartans abandoned children deemed too weak

to

famous hunting
become soldiers.

VENERABLE GROVES of gnarled-trunk

a spectacular

their leaves flash

from silvery grey

as the dry

summer wind

ON THESSALYS
(below).

olive

show when

trees (left) offer

to

white

rustles the branches.

PLAINS sheep graze

in

peace

These animals, whose wool pro-

vided essential

warm

clothing,

were often

covered with skins to keep their fleece

soft.

THE FRUITFUL VALLEYS

Between the mountains were
though they made up
land, their soil

less

fertile

pockets. Al-

than a quarter of

was deep and

level.

all

the

Here grew the

"Mediterranean triad": grain; grapes for wine, the

Greek drink much

whose

oil

was the

in

demand

butter, soap

overseas; and olives,

and lamp

fuel of an-

tiquity. Large-scale olive

growing was

men. Only they had the

capital to wait the 16 years

until a tree

left to

gentle-

matured and only they had the patience

needed to bring it to peak production.

for the 40 years

After that

man

could

sit

back and enjoy himself.

A SACRIFICIAL CALF

IS

supply of meat came

^JBS!*""^~'

carrtea to a shrine.
in the

he Creeks' meager

main from such votive

offerings.

A BROAD THOROUGHFARE TO THE WORLD

Living on a peninsula, the Greeks came early to the
sea.

They panned

it

for salt, then set sail

upon

it

in

night and stayed ashore in the winter.

They

talked

nervously of being caught between the rock of Scylla

boats to catch tunny, mullet, anchovies and sardines,

and the whirlpool of Charybdis

develop trade routes to the Greek islands and the

end has

mainland of Asia Minor, drive the Phoenicians away

Marseilles discovered the Tin Islands (presumably

and defeat the Persians. They found courses through

England, whose mines in Cornwall were

the

windy raceways

of the Dardanelles and Bos-

it

off Italy's boot. Leg-

that an adventurous

source of tin until the

last

Greek

sailor

from

a principal

century). But the prudent

porus to the Black Sea, routes that do not differ

Greeks, awed by Carthaginian strength in the west-

much from modern sailing directions. They remained

ern Mediterranean and the Atlantic, never challenged

cautious seamen; they sailed by day, anchored by

the

North Africans' long supremacy

in the tin trade.

HOME WATERS OF THE

is

tors
to

CREEKS, the Aegean Sea

dotted with islands and headlands. Naviga-

moved from one

to the next,

always trying

keep some familiar piece of land

in sight.

LORD OF WIND AND WAVES, Poseidon, god of

the sea, lifts a balancing hand as he prepares
to

throw a

trident.

on the water

The Greeks believed

that

their fate rested with Poseidon.

While the young Greek culture gathered strength

and assurance, another

also

expanding

their insistence

submitted to

its

was

culture, to the east,

power. Unlike the Greeks, with

on individual freedom, the Persians

a ruler

Greeks were soon

whose power was

to be challenged

absolute.

The

by the Persian

autocracy, and to learn that freedom, to be preserved,

must sometimes be

curtailed.

was

It

a lesson

they learned slowly, and on occasion the fate of

Western

For

hung upon the outcome

among Greek city-states.

civilization

petty disputes

many

centuries the Greek colonial cities on

the coast of Asia

THE PERSIAN WARS

of

Minor had very

the great states to the east.

little

trouble with

The power

of Babylonia

and Assyria never reached that

half of the Seventh

Century

far west. In the first

B.C., however, a Lyd-

ian king, Gyges, attacked the

Greek

the

in

cities

course of expanding his inland kingdom to the

Lydian kings allowed them autonomy,

coast. Later

but not complete freedom from Lydian

last of the

Lydian kings, Croesus,

self the richest

monarch of

his country's gold

He

greatly.

Apollo

at

his time

deposits,

home

In 546 B.C., Croesus

by exploiting

famous shrine of
and the

of a revered oracle

most venerable sanctuary

The

admired the Greeks

sent royal gifts to the

Delphi,

rule.

who made him-

in Greece.

was attacked and defeated

by Cyrus the Great, King of

Persia.

Cyrus had

al-

ready combined Persia, Media and Assyria into one

vast dominion. Croesus tried to stop him, and ex-

pected to succeed, because the Delphic oracle had

told

him

that he

He assumed

would "destroy

that the empire

instead, he destroyed his

is

said to

a great

empire."

meant was Cyrus', but

own. Afterwards Croesus

"No one

have commented sadly,

ish as to prefer to peace war, in

is

so fool-

which, instead of

sons burying their fathers, fathers bury their sons.

But the gods willed

it

so."

After conquering the Lydians, Cyrus marched his

well-trained

army

to the coast

and subdued

all

of

the major Ionian colonies except the island of Sa-

mos, which held out under the determined leadership of

its

tyrant, Polycrates. Polycrates

piratical control of the sea

IN

A COUNCIL OF

WAR

the arts.
Persia's

King Darius, on the throne, decides

vade Greece. This work was made by a Creek

artist

in

plundered friend and foe

alike,

but

to in-

southern Italy

about 325 B.C. Above Darius are gods: below, Persians bringing

He

combined

with lavish patronage of

tribute.

then returned his friends' property on the theory

that they

would be more grateful than

if

they had

been spared in the

in engineering

first

place.

to be built for his harbor

through

mountain

was no match

He was

also a pioneer

works, commissioning a breakwater

and

dug

a tunnel to be

for his water supply.

for the Persians,

who

lured

But he

him

to

the Asian mainland in 520 B.C. and crucified him.

Darius

I,

who had

the year before,

The

succeeded to the Persian throne

was now master

of

Persians did not allow their

retain their

autonomy. They made

Ionia.

all

new

subjects to

local tyrants sub-

ordinate to Persian provincial governors, called satraps,

and forced the lonians

military service.

The Greeks

the Aegean, did very

Sparta did

make

little

their

pay tribute and do

to halt the subjugation.

a gesture:

Persians, protesting

to

of the mainland, across

it

sent envoys to the

actions

and reminding

A SOLDIER'S GEAR included

Greek

that Sparta claimed the right to protect

cities.

But

it

failed to follow

with effective action. The other

up

all

the protest

on the Greek

cities

mainland did not even protest.

For a time the lonians submitted to the Persian
regime, even though they did not take kindly

to.it.

But in 499 B.C., they revolted. This time Athens

and

sent 20 shiploads of soldiers to help,

the island of Euboea, sent five.

Eretria,

on

The lonians began

promisingly enough by advancing inland to the city

of Sardis

and burning

it.

After this

however, the Athenian and Eretrian

home, and the lonians were

initial

sally,

allies

went

left to their

own

re-

sources. For a while they stubbornly struggled

alone, but ultimately the revolt collapsed.

engagement was

The

on

final

naval battle off the island of

Lade, near Miletus, in which, according to the historian Herodotus, a fleet of 353 Ionian ships

overwhelmed by

a fleet of

of Persia but Herodotus

600 ships

may have

was

in the service

exaggerated the

latter figure.

To

chastise the Greeks for this uprising the Per-

sians sacked

part of

its

and burned Miletus, and transplanted

population to the mouth of the Tigris

things useful or merely cumber-

of dyed horsehair, restricted both side vision

and hearing but

protected the head. The bronze tip of the battering ram with the

ram's head cast on

walls,

them

many

some. The bronze helmet (above), usually adorned with a crest

though

it

it

(below) was meant for use against city

seldom succeeded. The short sword and the lance

whose metal point

is

shown

at right

were the principal weapons.

River on the Persian Gulf, more than a thousand

miles away.

was

It

blow

terrible

to the Greeks.

Miletus had been the richest and most brilliant of

the Ionian cities, with

more than 60 colonies of

own, ranging from the Adriatic

Shortly after

its

poet Phrynichus turned

bitterly that the

drachmas

From

the Athenian

story into a tragedy.

its

The Capture of Miletus,

wept so

when

destruction,

Athenian audience

his

pervised these roads, an

playwright was fined 1,000

for depressing them.

had followed the

fail to

note the desertion of the Greek mainland

troops after Sardis.

On

weakness, as well as his

tion of the
to him.

the basis of this

own

show

of

strength, the subjec-

Greeks must have seemed

a small affair

Darius was the sole ruler of a vast empire

the "King's

Mardonius
then,

if

to

move

his first

Greek mainland. He sent

subdue Thrace and Macedonia, and

possible, to

move southward

wrecked

into the

now

demanding

to return

sent heralds to

their

first

home.

Greek

the

all

submission and token

"earth and water."

Some

Greek
part of

rounding Mt. Athos

his ships

Macedonia and had

Darius

men

of his son-in-law

peninsula. Mardonius accomplished the

in

against

a large force of

and ships under the leadership

course of the whole Ionian revolt, and probably did

not

made

In 492 B.C., Darius

the

his task, but

his capital at Susa, Darius

official called

Eye."

its

to the Hellespont.

was the man who su-

functionaries in Darius' court

states,

of

gifts

states complied, but not

Athens and Sparta. According

to

Herodotus the

Athenians threw the Persian heralds

gesting that they collect their

own

in a pit, sug-

and Spar-

earth,

which extended from Egypt

to India,

and from the

Persian Gulf to the Black Sea, an area of more than

two million square

miles.

The

ruins of the royal

ta

threw them into

their

own

a well, suggesting they collect

water. But although the two states re-

jected the Persian

demands, they did nothing

to

Athens was busy working

palace at Persepolis display his image in relief over

forestall Persian action.

the doorways, proclaiming his omnipotence under

out the problems of a democratic form of govern-

the protection of

Ahura Mazda,

the chief Persian

god. Sculptured processions of soldiers,

tributaries

and slaves march

in

officials,

friezes along the

palace stairways, acknowledging their subservience

him

to

as the Great King.

casting covetous eyes on

its

In 490 B.C., Darius struck again.

with a

He was a shrewd and aggressive leader, astute

money matters and interested in engineering. His

equipped army; they sailed

for,

says

Herodotus, "Darius looked to making a gain in everything."

coin that

He

gave his name to the daric, the gold

was the

basis of his currency,

ported his national

He
and

built a canal
built a

his armies.

economy by

fixed yearly taxes.

between the Nile and the Red Sea,

network of roads

One

and he sup-

for the

movement

of

of these highways, the Royal Road,

ran 1,500 miles from Susa, near the Persian Gulf, to

Sardis, near the Aegean.

One

of the

most important

literally of

He

of 600 ships and a large and

fleet

for the

to

march

Athens. But they held their ships

shore, in case

it

became necessary

attack Athens through

its

to sail

the

successful instance of hurried,

ning, they decided

on

off-

around and

port of Phaleron.

enemy on their own soil

suddenly awoke to their danger. In
With

well-

bay of Mara-

thon, intending to land their troops and to

overland

two

sent

and Artaphernes, across the Aegean

Darius was more than an Oriental despot, how-

contemporaries called him "The Huckster,"

neighbors.

its

two kings, was almost

two minds about the Persian menace.

generals, Datis

ever.
in

mentand

Sparta, with

the Athenians
a

remarkably

last-minute plan-

strategy and tactics that

turned out to be flawless. Most of the credit for

these plans
eral

named

must go

to

Miltiades,

an able and determined gen-

who had been

the governor

THRACE
MACEDONIA
ILLYRIA

IONIAN
THE PERSIAN WARS
PERSIAN EMPIRE 497

B.C.

PERSIAN RECONQUESTS 496-493 B.C

PERSIAN RECONQUESTS,

MARDONIUS- CAMPAIGN 492

PRO- PERSIAN

B
y/

B.C.

AND

NEUTRAL STATES 491-479

ALLIED GREEKS
MAIN BATTLES

B.C.

THE EBB AND FLOW OF BATTLE

THE GREAT CONFLICT between Creeks and
battles

Persians,

whose main

and campaigns are outlined on the map above, involved

most of the peoples of the Near

tions across the Hellespont,

East.

When

Xerxes led his forma-

Herodotus says, they included not

only his Medes and Persians armored in iron scales but also other
troops variously attired: Assyrians

who wore

brass helmets and

painted their bodies half chalk, half vermilion. The Indians in

the line of

march wore cotton dresses and

while the Scyths were clad in trousers and

carried
tall,

bows

fought with bows, daggers and battle axes. The Thracians dressed
in

long cloaks of

the

army was

many

the

colors.

But the most spectacular unit

Ten Thousand,

sometimes called the Immortals because when one

opians with helmets made of horses' scalps, and curly-haired

was immediately replaced by another. They marched

who

dressed in leopard and lion skins and

in

body of picked Persians

Moschians who wore wooden ones; straight-haired eastern Ethiwestern Ethiopians

of cane,

pointed caps and

fell in battle

he

glittering

with gold decorations and were followed by servants and women.

had firsthand

of a Thracian city and, as such,

quaintance with Persian battle

his fellow generals not to wait for the Persians to

and march imme-

attack, but to take the offensive

partly to save as

succeeded to

of the countryside as pos-

his father's plan. For years a slave stood beside

hemmed

a plain

to thwart

in

pos-

advance

for a distance,

Herodotus says, of

new

by mountains

took the initiative and ordered

his infantry to

was

who

much

sea, Miltiades

It

Egypt. But Darius' son Xerxes,

re-

a revolt in

was determined

pursue

to

him

dinner and whispered, "Master, remember the

at

Athenians." Xerxes' preparations were even more

At Marathon,

mile."

from the death of Darius, and

the throne in 485 B.C.,

sible traitors.

and

was occupied with other matters changes

sulting

Marathon. His purpose was

from devastation, and partly

sible

Persia

at

meet them

diately to

For the next 10 years the Greeks had a respite;

ac-

He persuaded

tactics.

run and in close order

at a

under

a "little

thorough than his

dug through

the neck of

theMt. Athos peninsula, where the ships of

his fa-

had been wrecked.

ther's first expedition

Athens, meanwhile, was embroiled in internal

Greeks, and ap-

tactic for the

father's. In a prodigious feat for

the time, he had a canal

among

parently astounded the Persians, who, according to

squabbles

Herodotus, "when they saw the Greeks coming on

forays against the neighboring island of Aegina,

speed," without the support of horsemen or

then the strongest naval power in Greece. Gradual-

at

archers,

"made ready

seemed

to

them

their senses,

them, although

to receive

it

Athenians were bereft of

that the

and bent upon

own

their

destruction."

But the onslaught was more than the Persians could

deal with.
sea.

They

fell

back

to their ships or into the

Herodotus claims that Marathon cost the Per-

sians 6,400

men

to the

news

of the victory,

and hurried

by ship.

When

his

army back

now advancing on

the Persians rounded

to

Phaleron

Cape Sunium

and neared the shore they found him holding such

a

commanding

them

position that

it

more people acquired voting

as

power

of the popular

was impossible

for

Assembly

in military

and the

rights

pow-

increased, the

one

er of the aristocracy faded. Finally

man

of the

people became the leading voice in the Athenian de-

mocracy. Themistocles was the personification of

Vehement and im-

the vigorous Athenian spirit.

petuous as

Athenians' 192.

Miltiades dispatched a runner to Athens with the

meet the Persian forces

ly,

and

political leaders,

a youth,

quick to learn, and with

bent for action and public

model of

a politician

young man he
suade
a

hand and

and apparently knew

top."

know how

raise

it

And

strong

he was the very

said, "I shall enter politics

my way to the

harp, but

affairs,

later: "I

to take a

As

it.

and per-

cannot tune

modest

city in

to greatness."

sailed

Themistocles thought that the future of Athens

home. The runner meanwhile had run nonstop the

lay in sea power, a notion that naturally got strong

whole distance from Marathon

support from those elements of the population that

to

to land,

gasp out

ous!" and

and so they withdrew and

his message,

fall

dead.

"We

to

Athens, 22 miles,

have been

To Athenians

the victory

so astonishing that they could only explain

suming
side.

that gods

The dead

of

the battle, and

high honor

all

it

its

their lives.

still

was

by

and heroes had fought on

as-

their

lived

by

seafaring.

As

far

back

as 493 B.C. he

had

new harbor

for

conceived the idea of building a

Athens

at Piraeus,

which was much

than the existing harbor

easier to fortify

at Phaleron. In fact

he had

in a great

already started to build a protective wall around Pi-

stands at the

raeus before the Persian attack. After the Persian

Marathon were buried

commemorative mound, which

site of

victori-

veterans were held

in

retreat he

when

persuaded the Assembly to finish

a rich vein of silver

it.

was discovered

Then,
in

the

Then far-seeing Zeus grants

southern part of Attica, he also persuaded the As-

sembly

to

just before

Thanks

Xerxes began to move

to

crisis.

any other Greek

it

was

to Sparta, rather

than Athens, that the Greeks turned for leadership

against Xerxes. In 481 B.C., at Sparta's invitation,
representatives of

Greek

the

all

met and

states

agreed to terminate their feuds in the interest of

their

common danger.

Calling themselves the League

of the Greeks, they gave Sparta authority over

their forces.

At

all

troops at the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow

its

neck of land that

of Greece.

But

Peloponnesus

joins the

to the rest

plan was rejected because

this

it

would have abandoned central and northern Greece

to the

enemy, and thereby exposed Athens directly

to the Persians.

to

make

a stand near the

northern border of Thessaly, but this

protected in the rear.
the

narrow pass

at

left

them un-

So they withdrew instead

to

Thermopylae, on the southern

border of Thessaly a wise military move, but foolish politically.

was

fense

Thinking

abandoned,

itself

northern Greece submitted

all

of

make this mean that de"wooden walls" might

might mean the hulls of ships.
to

possible, although

mean a palisade or
The two states still

disagreed on policy, however.

Sparta continued to press for

defense confined to

and Athens had

the Peloponnesus,

to

force

the

Spartan generals to change their minds by threatening to withdraw the Athenian

fleet.

Xerxes had been proceeding toward Europe with

Herodotus puts

a fighting force that

at a staggering

2,641,610 men, supported by 1,207 warships

total of

and 3,000 smaller

Most modern

vessels.

think, however, that the

Persian

historians

army probably

numbered between 150,000 and 200,000 combat

and

troops,

The Greeks then decided

wall continue for

children.

Athens and Sparta chose

the League considered massing

first

and thy

thee

state for the

Yet such was the reputation of Spar-

military matters that

ta in

wooden

Safe shall the

480 B.C.

Themistocles' advice, Athens was far

better prepared than

coming

in

this to the

prayers of Athena;

expand the navy. This was accomplished

navy probably consisted of 700

its

When

800 warships.

to

he reached the Hellespont,

Xerxes ordered his engineers

to build

him

but

it

At

says Herodo-

tus,

Xerxes was

tore apart in a storm.

".

this,

a bridge,

wrath, and straightway

full of

gave orders that the Hellespont should receive 300

and that

lashes,

a pair of fetters

should be cast into

enemy, and

this

in turn aroused the defeatist elements within

the

branders take their irons and therewith brand the

Greek ranks. These elements

felt that effective

re-

Hellespont.

sistance to Xerxes' army, with

its

of

manpower and

to the

materials,

enormous reserves

was impossible. They

it

...

who

have even heard

It

is

it

certain that he

scourged the waters

them

said, that

he bade the

commanded

to utter, as

those

they lashed

barbarian and wicked words ... he like-

commanded

thought that the wisest course was to make peace

wise

on the best terms they could

should lose their heads." Other overseers were

get,

and claimed sup-

port for their views in the utterances of the Delphic

oracle, a

profound influence on temporal as well as

spiritual affairs.

The

oracle

hopeless, and

first

to

work on

that the overseers of the

second

they succeeded.

One

set of bridges,

that resistance

warned Athens and Sparta

would be destroyed.

harsh, but ambiguous:

was

that they

second response was

less

over

on

they spanned something

mile and a quarter.

either side with

set

this time

bridge had 314 boats lashed

together, the other 360;

announced

and

work

The roadway was

lined

bulwarks that hid the sea from

view so that the horses and beasts of burden would

not take fright.

After he had crossed the Hellespont, Xerxes ad-

vanced into Greece by the

marching

for the

most part

classic

invasion route,

parallel to the shore, so

and

that the Persian ships could provide support

When

supplies.

he reached Thermopylae, then a

narrow, 50-foot-wide defile between the mountains

and the sea (but now broadened by

by

river to a plain that

wide), Xerxes

is

in

some

from

silt

near-

places three miles

met an advance force of the Greek

army. Three hundred Spartan warriors had marched

north under their king, Leonidas, expecting the rest
of their allies to follow at the conclusion of the

Olympic Games, which took

En

place at the

same

time.

had picked up more than 6,000

route, Leonidas

additional men, so that

by the time he reached

was some

destination his full strength

his

7,000.

For four days Xerxes waited, while the long line

marched

into posi-

this period

he sent a

of Persian cavalry and infantry

tion at

Thermopylae. During

spy

observe the enemy

to

says, laughed in disdain

camp and, Herodotus

when the spy reported that

the Spartans spent their time doing gymnastic exercises

and combing

their long hair.

But one of

He

Xerxes' advisers corrected his impression.

plained to Xerxes that

Spartans
to

adorn

"when

it

was

in fact the Persians

kingdom and town

."

were about

in Greece,

ex-

custom among the

they are about to hazard their

heads with care

their

and

told

to face

lives,

him

that

the "first

and with the bravest

men."

On

the fifth and sixth days after he had arrived

at the pass,

Xerxes attacked. Making no headway,

he "leaped three times from his throne in agony for

his

army." But from

different turn

cent character of
XERXES' BRIDGES over the Hellespont are showri in a drawing based on research by modern military experts. The boats are pentekoniers, or 50-

oared galleys. They were anchored fore and aft and lashed in line 9 to 11

less

odds.

way through

this point on, the battle

took a

and acquired the desperate, magnifiall

Greek

heroic struggles against hopetraitor

showed

the Persians a

them

to strike

Responding

swiftly,

the mountains, enabling

Greeks from the

feet apart.

at the

bles

Leonidas sent the main body of the Greek army

Roadways were made of thick planks resting on large casuspended from the boats and covered with straw matting and dirt.

rear.

back

to safety,

but with his

own 300

While Xerxes, moving according

Spartans and a

took

to plan,

picked group of aUies, determined to hold the pass.

Athens, Themistocles was engaged in

He attacked and was killed almost instantly. "And

now there arose," says Herodotus, "a fierce struggle

nipulations designed to bring the Greek navy into

between the Persians and the Lacedaemonians over

nesian commanders wanted the Greek ships to be

the

body of Leonidas,

in

which the Greeks four

combat with the Persian

moved

to the

fleet.

Most

political

of the Pelopon-

western end of the Saronic Gulf, just

times drove back the enemy, and at last by their

offshore from the Isthmus, where their

great bravery succeeded in bearing off the body."

gathered. But Themistocles

The Greeks fought

the fleet at Salamis

were

left

with nothing but a hillock. Here, says He-

rodotus, "they defended themselves to the

as

last,

such

had swords using them, and the others

still

sisting with their

ans

end

on, leaderless, but in the

hands and

teeth;

till

re-

the barbari-

overwhelmed and buried the remnant

left

taken, Xerxes

central Greece unopposed, toward

city,

moved

across

Athens and the

however, the Greek armies

re-

turned to their original scheme to fortify themselves at the Corinthian Isthmus. Left at the

of the Persians,

Athens had

mistocles ordered the

sent to Aegina, Salamis

and recruited
for the

plans.

all

mercy
The-

to be evacuated.

women and

children to be

and Troezen

for

safety,

men
now had new

the remaining able-bodied

Greek navy,

He proposed

and so compel them

for
to

which he

engage the enemy

to retire

"many

that the

keep

to

narrow channel
from

far

narrowness of the

tactical

advantage, but

he also had another motive in choosing

it.

He was

anxious to stop the Persians before they penetrated

could be defeated

at a

might be forced to

If

the Persian fleet

point close to Athens, Xerxes

retire

from that

city as well.

Themistocles finally got the Greek commanders

to agree to his plan,

into attacking him.

to the Persians

and then duped the Persians

He

with

secretly sent a trusted slave

a

message pretending sym-

pathy and warning them that the Greek

frightened and meant to run
ing.

fleet

away without

was

fight-

Xerxes responded to this as Themistocles had

hoped he would: he closed

and the

battle of Salamis

in

on the Greek

fleet,

was begun. In some ways

sea,

Salamis anticipated Sir Francis Drake's famous rout

Athenian evac-

of the Spanish Armada, nearly 21 centuries later.

The Persian ships greatly outnumbered the Greek,

at

by land.

In the general confusion of the

He thought

channel would give him a

second phase of the war. Instead of preparing to

defend that

fight in the

too deeply into Greek waters.

beneath showers of missile weapons."

With Thermopylae

and

army was

was determined

between the island and the mainland, not

Athens.

ma-

desirous to be carried along with their masters that

this. They could

move easily in the narrow waters, got in each
other's way and lost whatever unity of command
they might have had. The Greek ships, on the other
hand, though fewer in number, were better manned

had kept them; among which

and managed, smaller and easier

uation, Plutarch writes,

old men, by reason

of their great age, were left behind; and even the

tame domestic animals could not be seen without

some

pity,

running about the town and howling, as

is

it

reported that

but they were actually hampered by

not

Xanthippus, the father of Pericles, had a dog that

in

would not endure

among

the sea, and

came

swam

to stay behind,

along by the galley's side

to the island of Salamis,

away and

died."

but leaped into

till

he

where he fainted

to

maneuver, and

addition were fitted with rams.

the

Persians,

them against each

They darted

harrying them and driving

other.

Then, with the help of

favoring wind, they forced them to retreat, sailing

around them, as they went,

to pick off stragglers.

VITAL

For the Persians

it

was an enormous

was choked with

sea

rout.

NEW CREEDS

The

the wreckage of ships and

slaughtered men, and the coast was piled high with

From

dead.

sitting

on

the shore, Xerxes watched the carnage,

Herodotus

a throne at the water's edge.

says that he had kind words for only one person,

woman. Queen Artemisia

come with her

five

of Halicarnassus

Greeks, "notwithstanding that she was a

now

says Herodotus. "She had

yet her brave spirit
to the war,
.

woman,"

son grown up,

and manly daring sent her forth

when no need

required her to adventure.

which she furnished

the five triremes

had

warships to fight against the

When

to the

the Persians

Greece

Persians were, next to the Sidonian, the most fa-

mous

ships in the

She likewise gave

fleet.

first

attacked mainland

492 B.C. the philosopher Con-

fucius (above)

Xerxes

to

in

was teaching

in China.

dedicated reformer, he urged a return to

When

the moral standards of an earlier epoch.

Xerxes saw that some of the best fighting on his

His doctrine was one of several great creeds

was being done by Artemisia, he

which arose almost simultaneously and

sounder counsel than any of

side at Salamis
said,

his other allies."

"My men have become women,

and

won

my women

millions of followers in the East.

Persia itself, administering

men."

territories

its

and intermittently warring with the Greeks,

After Salamis, Xerxes went home, taking a large

was being converted

Zoroastrianism.

part of his troops with him. But he left a sizable,

the teacher Zoroaster,

well-trained force with Mardonius, with orders to

retreat north into

Thessaly for the winter and

turn to the attack in the spring.

to

another

new

creed

Based on the beliefs of

this

esoteric

reli-

gion outlasted the Persian Empire and gave

re-

wide currency

When Mardonius

to

such momentous con-

cepts as a day of judgment and the

started south to
fell

renew the

fight, the

Greeks again

pervasive struggle between good and

into disagreement over the proper measures of

defense. Athens asked for help from the Pelopon-

nesian generals,
that

who once more

Athens once more had

from the war.

Finally,

after

was

Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu. Partly

rupting China late in the

Megara

Chou Dynasty,

Lao Tzu taught that man's salvation lay

and Plataea added

their pleas to those of

Athens,

renouncing society and retiring into

the generals acceded. While they had argued, the

Persians had

moved from Thessaly through

der

the

In India, where the great

Spartan general, Pausanias,

where he took up

Mardonius back

the

position

rifices,

Greeks

into Boeotia,

near Plataea.

The

Greeks followed and encamped near him. Mardon-

little

but

obscure ritual and the need for costly sac-

combined force of some 100,000 men un-

north, driving

mass of the

people found in their religion

them

moved

in

a life

of solitary contemplation.

Boeotia

to the borders of Attica.

With

in

reaction to the feudal wars that were dis-

withdraw

the cities of

third creed spreading at this time

born of the teachings of a semilegendary

procrastinated, so

to threaten to

all-

evil.

of

life

Gautama Buddha

arose

to

offer

the comforts of a gentle philosophy

ruled by compassion and self-denial.

waited for them to attack, planning to counter-

ius

attack with his cavalry and destroy them. In the

meantime he hoped

would reveal

that the waiting

cracks and dissensions in the Greek ranks. Both

mortal enemies. In 472 B.C. the dramatist Aeschy-

spirit in the majestic poetry of

when both seemed likely to be realized. But the actual conflict, when it came, was almost accidental
and

outcome,

tainly unforeseen.

Mardonius

to

new Greek

The Persians:

Behold

cer-

Greek

shift

vengeance, and remember

Remember Athens:

henceforth

let

not

pride.

and attacked, but Pausa-

men and fought back with

this

Greece,

was

least,

Mardonius mistook

of position for a retreat,

nias rallied his

at

themes of Greek

tragic

theater to honor the victors and the

moments

calculations were sound, and there were

its

from the usual

lus departed

skill

Her present

and

state disdaining, strive to

grasp

his

main

Another's, and her treasured happiness

infantry force was slaughtered; the rest of his

army

Shed on the ground: such insolent

courage. Mardonius himself

northward as

retreated

On

the very

was

fast as

attempts

could.

same day, according

the remainder of the Persian

stroyed.

it

killed,

to

Awake

Herodotus,

navy was

also

Greek ships followed the Persians

temperate thoughts.

into the

With words of well placed counsel teach

harbor of Mycale, on the coast of Asia Minor, where

they had beached their ships.

the vengeance of offended Jove.

But you, whose age demands more

de-

his

The Greeks went

To

ashore, defeated the Persians and burned the Per-

youth

ci4rb that pride,

calls

which from the gods

down

sian ships.
Destruction on his head.

By any standards
Persia

the victory of the Greeks over

No

was an astonishing achievement.

other

people, faced with the full weight of Persian military strength,

the Greeks

had done anything

had done

Spartan forces were

of the

though

first

strictly professional;

all

as the navy,

of ordinary citizens. Also, the

never arrived at

mon

under handicaps. Only the

it

Greek army, as well

composed

to equal it and

the

a truly unified

members

the rest

was

largely

Greeks had

course of action. Al-

the centuries

that

victories. In

have passed since Marathon,

Thermopylae and Salamis, the names of these epochal battles

have become synonymous with man's un-

ending quest
early 19th

to

be

free.

Century of

Lord Byron, writing

in the

Greece then under another

com-

Asian power, the Ottoman Empire, put into one

state

stanza the feelings evoked, more than two millennia

later,

In view of the odds against them,

it

is

prising that the Greeks were filled with pride, self-

that in their minds, their actions

and

their litera-

epic proportions.

in noble epitaphs.

by one of these

battles:

not sur-

confidence and patriotism at their achievement, and

were celebrated

was not contemporary Greeks alone who

own

its

in matters of policy.

war assumed

it

of the League had a

aim, each put the interests of

ture, the

But

were stirred and inspired by the Greek

The dead

Those who had

not supported the Greek cause were regarded as

The mountains look on Marathon

And Marathon looks on the sea;

And musing there an hour alone,
I

dream'd that Greece might

still

be free;

For standing on the Persians' grave,

I

could not deem myself a slave.

A TENDER LOVf
child. It is

tliat

Warm,- J nun:

'

',

.i

.!,

jl

'.i

r,\

r,

Jr^filr

taken from a tomhitone whose ptoignant inscription

ill,:

tells

!ini: Jr., }i<!in,\

i-.

..Iinwn tu

,i

y-jotiping of

grandmother and

of the grandmother's happiness at having held the child.

A ZEST FOR LIVING

In pleasure-loving

Athens the routine of

fJaily life

was

as simple as in stern

and

authoritarian Sparta, but the Athenians brought to their every activity a sense of

excitement unparalleled elsewhere. Every day these zestful people were up with
the sun and to their work. Philosophers paced

heeding the clatter of trade

in the

walkways talking

markets and

trials in

to students,

un-

the law courts nearby.

Like most Greeks the Athenians professed to love leisure and in truth there was

always time for good talk and,

was

at

the end of day, a rousing

banquet but

it

complaint elsewhere in Greece that the Athenians were "by nature incapa-

ble of either living a quiet

life

themselves or of allowing anyone else to do so."

TOYS FOR BOYS included

rines, like this

terra-cotta

"destined for the beguiling of

0W^
'J
^-<'

figu-

one of a boy riding a goose,

little

children."

'^,

V i

~t^S2i

FOR THE VERY YOUNG, there was a two-wheeled

cart to putt about, here

shown

in a

vase painting. Besides these, there were also simple wheels attached to long poles
that were "horses." Toys were

sometimes homemade or the product of smalt shops.

TOYS FOR GIRLS included

girls,

who were

dolls.

Many Greek

married off as early as 14, of-

ten played with toys until their weddirig day.

THE GOLDEN YEARS OF GROWING UP

A Greek child grew up in an
survived his

first

enchanting world if he

fortnight. For 10 days after birth the

father could inspect the baby,

and

formed or weak, he could order

it

if

he found

to

the

ders appeared. In addition to the playthings

on these pages, there were terra-cotta

tots.

de-

be exposed in

some public place to die. Once he approved,

pebbles in them for

it

won-

shown

rattles

with

For older children, there were

swings, seesaws, kites, balls and

all

manner

During the early years the mother was

task

was to provide a life free of sorrow,

in the first three years,

ment in the second

and

three.

The

girls

The boys were

stayed at

Her

and pain

and amuse-

the golden era ended.

After their sixth birthday boys and

rated.

fear

full of sports

Then

of games.

in charge.

girls

home with

were sepa-

their mothers.

sent to school to learn to be men.

ROLLING THE HOOP Was a favorite sport for

Greece. Hoops,

made

of iron, often

a glittering display and a

tinkling

had

bells

sound

boys

as

the

ancient

in

and rings

to

hoop

make
rolled.

fr'".:

'>5j!?%'

LONG SEASONS OF STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE

After they

left

the freedom of the nursery, Athe-

nian children were strictly reared. Plato recorded

"Mother and nurse and father

Protagoras' words:

and tutor are vying with one another about the im-

provement of the child

understand what

is

and blows,

wood." From

their

soon as ever he

being said to him

is

able to

...

If

he

is

straightened by

like a piece of

bent or warped

obeys, well and good;

threats

as

if

not, he

seventh to 18th years, boys

at-

tended private schools, often under the guard of a

slave. In daily classes,

streets
licly

sometimes held

in the

open

by harassed schoolmasters who were pub-

disdained and often unpaid, students learned

reading, writing, arithmetic, poetry

adoxically, these institutions

and music. Par-

came

into

existence

because the law required parents to educate their

sons but did not require the state to provide schools

and

they became the best in the classical world.

A BOY FISHERMAN
line (right).

IS

intently playing a fish that

He may have been

is

nibbling on his

playing hooky from the classroom,

but an overflowing creel might well calm his displeased parents.

IN

THE CLASSRCX3M two scholars (below),

teachers, learn to play the pipes

the pedagogue,

and

in front of their seated

to write.

At

the right sits

an elderly slave who brings the student

to school.

KVv,

'M

---^T^;

m
!;

A SIMPLE MEAL. sc/i

as might have been pre-

pared by the wife of a humble Athenian 2,400

years ago,

displayed on the opposite page.

is

The tableware and

utensils date

from the

Century B.C. Spread out are

leeks,

Fifth

olives,

cheese, fish, bread, drinking mugs, flasks for

oil

and vinegar, and a stone grinder

round bowl.
the Acropolis.

High

in

Athenians usually ate

and

or no breakfast, a light lunch

late

afternoon,

in

background

the

consumed

a
is

little

then, in

a heavier dinner.

-'./%.

"^^^

THE QUIET LIVES

OF WIVES AND MOTHERS
Athenian society was organized pre-eminently
man's world.

Women

were expected

as a

to prepare the

meals, run their households and stay out of sight.

Fathers arranged

marriages

for

their

adolescent

daughters. Thereafter, wives came under total con-

much male
home and being
silent. The playwright Menander told them, "The
loom is women's work and not debate." When their
trol of their

husbands. They received

advice on the subject of staying

husbands entertained guests

remained in

their

own

at

dinner the

women

quarters on the second floor,

anointing their bodies with fragrant essences and

sweet-scented
traffic

oils,

entertain every

guests

Thus

dreamily watching the street

through the windows. But husbands did not

man and

night,

and when there were no

wife shared each other's company.

the segregated relationship ordained

ciety melted into the family love

again

is

that again

so-

and

pictured in vase painting and sculpture.

WOMAN WITH MIRROR, shown at right, is

Among

by

inspecting her makeup.

the various cosmetics used during this period were scents,

white lead to whiten skin and alkanet root to redden the cheeks.

i^'

.^

iji....tf..t.ii

-rm^j ta

.'a.<( .

WORKING ON A STATUE, AM
WEAVING AT HOME, two Women at a loom (above) pass
the shuttle. Most homes were small workshops, where
household necessities were produced from raw materials.

MEASURING

for a sandal, a

shoemaker (below) places

customer's foot on the leather and cuts the

doors and

in

summer many Creeks went

sole.

his
In-

barefoot.

artist

ure of Heracles with thick

wax

(below) colors a
pair\t.

Nearly

all

fig-

the

sculpture of ancient Greece was originally painted.

IN

A BUTCHER'S SHOP,

boy holds a quarter of beef as the butcher (above)

fl

BUSY COMMERCE
Athens bustled.
rare

marketplace, where odors of

swarmed with

little

shops.

The

people.

largest

Its streets

were

full

factory in the Greek

world was probably Cephalus' arsenal, with 120

slaves,

though there were mines which used more.

But the average business was

likely to

employ not

more than a half-dozen slaves, and in these shops

men and

slaves

worked

Meat was a luxury and

IN

perfumes mingled with those of the day's catch

of fish,

of

Its

cuts.

free

together. Athenians of Per-

it

was seldom

eaten, save on festive occasions.

A CLASSICAL CITY
icles'

day saw nothing despicable

in

work, providing

demean the human spirit by limiting

man's freedom. The great Solon had required

that

it

did not

fathers to teach their sons a trade, and skilled artisans

gloried in the

nous

toil,

name

"lord of the hand"; monoto-

however, they considered

fit

only for the

lower orders. Athenian craftsmen of course

benches

to attend the

as ready to stop

left their

Assembly. But they were

whenever they were

just

tired or bored.

THE GREEK PLOWMAN Was badly served by

Despite

its

the earth.

MERCHANT

iron share

To

finish

and

his

up he had

his simple

own hard work,

to

it

plow

(above).

scarcely turned

put his back into swinging a pick.

SHIPS had capacious hulls for cargo, steering

oars

and

loading ladders (right). These vessels sailed only in favoring winds.

But roads were so few and so bad that ships offered the easiest

travel.

A MERCHANT, assisted by two boys (above), adds a

bring his scales into balance.

little

Besides his commodities

weight
the

to

trader

overseas peddled an invisible export Greece's language and culture.

VITAL
Greek agriculture changed
antiquity.

little

Knowing nothing

Greeks sowed

WORK ON LAND AND

in

the course of

of crop rotation, the

their fields in one-year-harvest, next-

year-fallow cycles.

They

persisted in reaping

wheat

wool) that, added to the manufacture of the

(pottery and jewelry), could be traded
the Mediterranean

with a sickle for want of a scythe and threshing

to

grains

how

to drain

swamps and

was the Greek farmer

but they did learn

terrace hillsides.

able to feed

all

Never

of Greece,

but he produced things (wine and olive

oil

and

and Black Sea

France and Ireland

that

in

were always

the

west.

needed,

all

areas.

merchants wandered from the Crimea

grain by driving cattle over

it,

SEA
cities

around

Greek

in the east

Besides

they

the

brought

back many good things: cheese and pork from

Sicily,

glass

rugs from Carthage, ivory from Ethiopia,

from Egypt and perfumes from

far

Araby.

ATTHESTARJ
and

ui

xiAKii

:i,uests recline

listen to a flute-girl play.

on couches,

sitig

the

Later the guests will sing

Piicciri to Dioiix/iiis,

AT THE END OF A PARTY, a wine-laden husband comes home. He

with the butt end of his torch, while his young wife, lamp

giver of wine,

more frivolous songs

in

is

hammering

to

at the

the flute.

doorway

hand, fearfully trembles within.

AFTER THE DAY'S

WORK-A BANQUET

At Athenian banquets, guests concentrated on the

tainersdancing

food; the sparkhng conversations were a feature of

set the

the

symposium,

or drinking session that followed.

Here the most important

chosen by

lot

or a

man was

throw of the

charge of everything.

He

decided

would be mixed with the wine,

girls,

acrobats and magicians and

guests to entertaining one another.

sym-

man

comb

brain-crunching riddles, but

who took
how much water

posiarchs would assign a bald-headed

called in the enter-

sym-

intellectual

the symposiarch,
dice,

posiarch like the philosopher Socrates might pose

less

his hair, a stutterer to orate or

race

round the room with the

to

an ardent fellow

flute-girl in his

to

arms.

IN

RAPT ADMIRATION youths watch a dancing girl perform. As

wine flowed more freely, a girl was sometimes auctioned off

the
to

a guest to become his property for the rest of the evening.

The
left

great victory of the Creeks over the Persians

Sparta the most important power

spite of

its

planning of the war,

its

all

Marathon and Salamis, came

fine

its

yet, for the next

50 years, Athens counted for

in

Greek

and Sparta

life,

in

in

of the Persians

431 B.C., Athens displayed a phenomenal

vitality. This,

The major

in

was the Athenian Golden

fact,

in the history of

man.

strength and inspiration for this de-

velopment was Athens' democratic form of government, the

OF GLORY

al-

for al-

479 B.C. until the outbreak of the Peloponnesian

War

TIME

at

And

most everything

Age, without parallel

IN ITS

showing

second best.

off

most nothing. From the retirement

ATHENS

the

in

troops had fought well and

courageously. Athens, for

in Greece. In

and shortcomings

hesitations

first

true

most precise and

democracy

history.

in

sense of

literal

the

In

word, the

the

Athenians governed themselves. The process begun

by Cleisthenes

in

507 B.C. with constitutional

forms was completed by Ephialtes

in

Ephialtes stripped the aristocrats of

re-

462-461 B.C.
their

all

pow-

ers except for certain judicial functions in matters

of homicide, and certain religious duties. For this

act the nobles

murdered Ephialtes, but

his

democ-

racy survived. Thereafter, no political body stood

above the popular Assembly.

The Athenian Assembly was open

to

free

all

male citizens of adult age, regardless of income or

class.

It

met 40 times

usually at a place

year,

called the Pnyx, a natural amphitheater

on one of

the hills west of the Acropolis. In theory,

any mem-

ber of the

Assembly could speak about anything,

providing he could

command an
was

practical reasons, there

This was prepared by

audience. But for

an

also

men, 50 from each of the 10 Attic

chosen by

lot

from

tribes.

volunteers,

a list of

agenda.

They were
all

of

The Council was

citizens over the age of 30.

way

official

Council composed of 500

check on the Assembly;

deliberations easier. Council

it

them
in

no

simply made

its

members were always

paid for their services and served for

an interval they might serve

a year.

After

second year, but

they could never serve for more than two.

Within the Council was

A

DOORWAY DOWN THE

a smaller,

of 50 men, called the Prytany,

CENTURIES

IS

Set in the Walls of

inner council

which met every day

the Parthenon.

Through the doorway may be seen the section of modern Athens in which
is located the Agora of classical times. In the distance are the Attic hills.

and

in

effect

administered

the

government. The

composition of the Prytany changed 10 times

and

year,

its

chairmanship, the chief executive po-

Athens, changed every day. In theory no

sition of

man remained

one

in

power long enough

to en-

trench himself. But in reality this opportunity was

open

to

one class of men: the 10 generals of the

armed forces who were elected

Assembly and served

from the

directly

for a year's term.

general

could be re-elected any number of times. Inevitably

the generals played a large and sometimes continu-

ing role in nonmilitary affairs.

Unlike representative democracies or republics,

which one man

in

Athens was
for himself.

when

exist

a true

Such

elected

is

speak for many,

system of government can only

population

to

democracy: every citizen spoke

is

small and

intensely

civic-minded, and Athens met both these conditions.

Every Athenian citizen had the right

ticipate in the public life of his city,

and

followed that he should have a voice in

that reason

was

true

slavery.

daily domestic chores

logically

its

govern-

why Athens

ment. But there was another reason

could afford to be

to par-

it

democracy. Ironically,

With

slaves to handle the

and the routine work of com-

merce and manufacturing, Athenian citizens were

free to give their time to public affairs.

They could

not only attend and vote in the Assembly, but also

assume public posts from time

It

to time.

has been estimated that the slave population

of Attica
total

around 430 B.C. was about 115,000

population of 315,000.

tractor

rich

in a

mine con-

might employ as many as 1,000 slaves

several mines,

and the

in

largest household, about 20.

Athenian slaves were born of other

slaves, or ac-

quired by piracy, or bought as captives taken in

war.

Many

They

had, of course, no political rights, but their lot

in
ter

of

them were not of Greek

general was no worse and sometimes

it

origin.

was

The

life

of a slave

who worked

Creek homes.

but drawings such as those above can be

bet-

in the mines,

where conditions were most unhealthy, was wretched

made

has survived,

Little

of

frorrj

vase paintings. The

it

throne (top) was a seat of honor on state occasions. Just below, separated by
a stool, are couches used both for sleeping

than that of slaves in other parts of the ancient

world.

SPARSE, SIMPLE FURNITURE graced

less chair, or

klismos (bottom), was the

couch seats were made of leather or

and

reclining at meals.

common

fiber cords,

The arm-

seating place. Chair and

on top of which cushions

were placed. The Creeks also had chests and three-legged dining

tables.

indeed, but slaves sometimes received wages, as well

degree of importance in the real world. Attic grave-

as their

keep, and sometimes their owners freed

stones and funeral vases, in fact, portray scenes of

few Athenians of independent mind recog-

domestic

them.

nized that slavery was in

playwright Euripides,

who

One was

bad.

itself

the

more

wrote:

touching and

are

that

life

to

Public

That thing of

evil,

by

its

Forcing submission from

No man

than the provision of food and children.

it

may have been off bounds to a woman,

home she was far more than a

life

should yield

nature

man

servant.

evil,

to

what

As

the head of an operation

which

in

to.

of considerable responsibility.

Aristotle, a century later, attempted to justify slav-

men became

ery by claiming that certain

because of their natural disposition to be

however,

failed to explain,

become

did not eventually

why

slaves
servile.

men

servile

all

The home

itself

women
in many

aristocratic age

had mixed freely with men, taking part

public functions, although not in government. In

woman's

Periclean Athens, however, a

home, and her main

theoretically in the
ligation

was

keep

to

women

Pericles advised

be anonymous:
is

silent.

".
.

you or

less

her

home was

by men, whether they

But theory does

not seem to have jibed with practice and there

is

and

enough

thereafter,

in

the

dramatic action. Antigone, in Sophocles' play about

her, motivates the entire action

by insisting on giv-

ing her brother a proper burial in defiance of tem-

And

poral authority.

comedy, uses
force
If

thoroughly

Athens and Sparta

women

in the

ment

Lysistrata, in Aristophanes'

to

feminine

make

tactic

to

could be assigned roles of such stature

for thinking that they

is

wife for

went out and

as he

from the marketplace, he saluted

and

"

Having discovered
of liberty

the

meaning and advantages

and democracy, the Athenians had

a pas-

sionate desire to impart their discoveries to others.

In fact they

saw themselves

as charged with

an

exalted mission to do so, and the situation in Greece

sulting

from

only

minor part

first

gave them excellent oppor-

Despite Sparta's enormous prestige,

its

wartime successes, that

in

Greek

political

re-

city played

life.

From

feeble attempt at political leadership, the citv's

rulers quickly

fell

to quarreling internally aristo-

crats against ambitious kings. Finally Sparta con-

fined itself to a kind of isolationism, devoting

its

energies exclusively to maintaining the Spartan do-

peace.

world of imagination, there

to divorce his

according to the later writer

tunities.

major importance

said

is

and

after the Persian retreat

a place of

influential

life.

nian drama, both tragedy and comedy, frequently

women

was even more

center of Athenian intellectual

evidence of the facts being quite otherwise. Athe-

gives

rare occa-

Plutarch, "every day, both as he

in

at

On

to write his speeches,

Pericles loved her

her,

kissed her.

woman

position

have helped Pericles

man

than

and wore was produced

Aspasia, the mistress of Pericles,

came

that they should aspire to

criticizing you."

to

woman's

this.

social ob-

the greatest glory of a

to be least talked about

are praising

No

was

place

ate

home, under the wife's supervision.

sions a

was

uncom-

design but almost everything that an

plicated in

Athenian family

than

slaves.

second group of underprivileged people in

Athens was women. In the

some

respects resembled a factory, a wife had a position

physically simple austerely furnished and

much

but within her

Slavery,

He

and

noble,

strongly suggest that Athenian marriage had

some argu-

must have enjoyed

main

in the

This

left

Peloponnesus.

Athens

of Greece, and

it

free to take over the leadership

moved

to

do

so.

During the winter

A FABULIST AND HIS FOX chat

cup. This

famous

of 478-477 B.C.

a drawing on the bottom of a

in

Aesop, a onetime slave who, legend says, wrote the

is

But today scholars doubt that Aesop ever

fables.

proposed the formation of

it

lived.

league of Greek states for the purpose of harrying

the Persians

and protecting themselves from Per-

sian reprisals.

The Delian League,

included the Greek

called,

most of the Aegean

as

islands,

came

it

be

to

Asia Minor,

of

cities

some towns on

the

Propontis and in Thrace, and most of the island of

Euboea in other words, most of the Greek states in

It numbered at its height

or about the Aegean.

somewhere between 250 and 300 members.

Each member of the League agreed
ships,
not,

if

it

was

enough

rich

money toward

to

do

to contribute

so, or,

the building

if

ships

of

Athens would provide. The amount of

was

it

which

this contri-

bution was fixed according to each member's

re-

sources by Aristides, whose fairness caused him to

strong and united. Accordingly Athens thought that

become widely known

any

as

"Aristides the Just.

"

At

one performance of Aeschylus' play Seven against

Thebes, the

line,

"modest and

and good and

just

reverent" was taken by the audience to refer to him,

and

at its recital

they broke into cheers.

state

belong

to

which benefited from the League ought

to

which threatened

to

it,

and that any

leave the League

earlier, the city of
join,

state

was guilty of treachery. When,

Carystus, on Euboea, refused to

had been attacked and forced

it

to

the sacred

when

the islands of

island of Delos, site of a major shrine to Apollo.

leave,

Athens not only compelled them

Delos was also the meeting place for the League's

but

The League's treasury was kept on

council. Each

member had an

council, but right

nated.

It

equal voice in this

from the beginning Athens domi-

was willing

to

shoulder the heaviest bur-

dens, and the allies were willing

Athens was

thus, to

tress of the

Aegean.

With
newed

all

intents

so.

re-

Under Cimon,

liberated the provinces of Caria

and Lycia on the southern coast

of Asia

Minor and

brought them into the League. In about 468 B.C.

new
Eurymedon

destroyed the

Persian

in the

River, a fleet

fleet as

built for a fresh invasion of the

it

it

lay at anchor

it

And
to

to stay in,

them by making them

tributary

threat of secession could indeed be con-

sidered a disloyal act, a breach of a solemn pledge.

But the

was

real

reason for Athens' punitive measures

a belief in the value of the

itself,

quite apart from

its

Ultimately,
resulted in

States

its

League

to

Athens

original value as a mil-

Athens' dominance of the

becoming the

Lesbos and Samos.

these:

Chios,

tribute

and were reduced

often found their affairs

ficials

convinced Athens of the need to keep

it

to

rank

there were only three of

time,

Aegean. This im-

League

ruler of the League.

which contributed ships continued

as equals, but in

which Xerxes had

portant victory not only justified the League's existence;

The

so.

tried

itary alliance.

Athens soon

the offensive against Persia.

it

it

and purposes, mis-

the League for support,

son of Miltiades,

have

to

punished

states.

do

Naxos and Thasos

The

rest

to a lower station.

paid

They

managed by Athenian

of-

supported by an Athenian garrison, and in

addition to paying tribute, had to contribute soldiers.

Athens claimed

final

jurisdiction

over

all

criminal cases even in those states ostensibly

equals.
ter,

its

any mat-

also reserved the right to settle

It

such as conspiracy or treason, that threatened

the safety of the League. In 454-453 B.C.

insisted

it

on transferring the League treasury from Delos

Athens, where

it

was completely

the Athenians. Finally,

lies

at the disposal of

demanded

it

to

that

the al-

all

use Athenian coinage and the Athenian system

of weights and measures.

In

there

all this,

advantage

meant

An

members.

or civil disorders.

raids

Athenian
from

state

central

court

that certain legal policies were identical for

all states.

tage in

single coinage

commerce. In

than before. This bound them to Athens,

was

of obvious advan-

Athenian coins,

the

fact,

stamped with the head of Athena on one

and

side

relinquished control and the local aristocrats

re-

gained their power, they would exact

re-

when

it

might have been safe

few

throw

to

For a while, after the Empire was formed, the

to

have

felt

that nothing could

withstand them. Their ships made them masters of

the

Aegean and

and gave them

and

the coasts beyond.

Trade prospered
both financial

sufficient resources,

industrial, to

wage war on an extensive

of

Megara

into the
a large

Empire

who had

Egyptian king
In 458 B.C.

Persians.

two

at its

own

rebelled against the

they attacked Aegina and,

after

however, the League was no longer

the League. In 457 B.C. they conquered

but an empire ruled from Athens.

ing after

its allies'

be look-

to

welfare and safety, and in fact

it

fleet

was

the

maintained

high level of preparedness and

effi-

in battle

Athenian

ciency, the Athenian Empire

was

safe

from Persian

attack, as the victory at the

Eurymedon had

umphantly showed.

also safe

the

It

was

from

so

pirates,

immemorial pests of the Aegean, many of

were

now

tri-

whom

eliminated (their stronghold on the rocky

island of Scyros, for instance,

was

cleared in 474-

Furthermore,

rangements of

in interfering
its allies,

with the internal

Athens

in

many

government not unlike

own. The dispossessed

aristocrats

and were

ar-

cases es-

tablished a democratic

terly

names

complained

its

bit-

a potential source of trouble, but the

majority of the people were probably better off po-

inkling

of

of Boe-

multi-

the

of citizens

from

a single tribe

who

fell

"In

Cy-

during one year, 459-458 B.C.,

prus, in Egypt, in Phoenicia, at fialieis, in Aegina,

at

Megara.

"

This policy of aggression was not entirely successful, but considering the

marvel

is

that

it

in

number

was successful

campaign against Persia

and ended

473 B.C.).

Some

join

to

it

all

memorial, raised during this period, recording

As long

at a

Thebes.

compelling

it,

Athenian enterprises can be gotten from

plicity of

frequently was.

as the

years, captured

otia except

Athens claimed

In ruling that empire,

and

request,

expedition to Egypt in support of

ens than on the vulnerable island of Delos. Clearly,

confederacy,

scale.

In 459 B.C. they incorporated the neighboring state

a local

Athen-

off the

did.

Athenians seemed

currencies throughout the eastern Mediterranean.

certainly far safer in Ath-

bloody

counts for the remarkable loyalty to the Empire. Even

dispatched

was

venge. This more than anything else probably ac-

her owl on the other, were the most respected of

Finally, the treasury

wounded pride at being deprived of their

knew that if Athens

independence. Also they

ian yoke,

some outlying

garrison might protect

hostile

local

was some reason, and even some

the League

to

litically

despite their

of fronts, the

at all.

destruction of their ships. Boeotia

come

and then
to ruin

though
after a

its

six years

complete disaster, with the surrender

of the Egyptians and their Athenian

years,

The Egyptian

some

lasted for

if

lost.
it

allies,

and the

was held

for 10

Athens would certainly have

had continued

this policy,

even

gains remained substantial. Fortunately,

decade of aggression

it

settled

down

to

con-

RECORDS OF ANTIQUITY were scratched on stone and pottery

large piece

below records the

confiscated after their conviction for

left is

right are tokens used to select

with

solidate

open

to

who more
Athens

the spirit of

in

its

had

uncle), Pericles

aristocrat

family

pro-democratic

and

democracy

An
was

(the

his great-

philosophy that embraced

empire.

Personally

aloof,

choosing his friends from the leading thinkers of

his day,

he was nevertheless popular with

men. He owed
ity in the

many

his position of influence to his abil-

Assembly, where he was

speaker and

most

effective

"the eyesore of

instance,

for

memorable phrases. He

coiner of

called Aegina,

the

Piraeus," and in a funeral oration for the dead of

the Peloponnesian

youth;

its

War

as

is

it

spring." But
bly's trust

what

was

said that

won

truly

his foresight

to lead the

"The

city has lost

though the year had

ning Athenian policy.

came

lost

and

its

Assem-

Pericles the

initiative in plan-

time

Pericles

actually

democracy, even though

officially

In

he remained an annually elected general.

Pericles

had

dream

for

Athens. By 443 B.C. his

main opponents were discredited and he was

pursue
in

it.

He proposed

to

more than one sense of

free to

make Athens a great city

the word. He was not an

advocate of wide expansion on the mainland, having

tried this unsuccessfully,

but he was determined to

enlarge the maritime empire, and he encouraged

liances favorable to trade

the

Greek world. In

al-

on the farther fringes of

fact Pericles himself visited the

Black Sea for this purpose,

in

command

of

an im-

posing squadron.

He

also believed that the glory of

be revealed in visible form.

insight and

It

is

Athens should

to his inspiration,

powers of persuasion that we owe the

great buildings on the Acropolis,

tial

it.

To the

public service, jurors' ballots

hubs (not guilty) and hollow hubs (guilty) are seen at

whose substan-

remains are evocations of their grandeur

Pericles' time. In

.pfj:

man embodies

heyday.

constitutional reformer Cleisthenes

both

lot for

the bottom

right.

name

associated with the

is

than any other

traditionally

At

others,

it.

This ensuing period

from

solid

men by

religious rites.

name scratched on

and

winnings and see what other kinds of

its

activity lay

of Pericles,

mocking

a ballot for ostracism with Pericles'

The

shards.

sale of the property of Alcibiades

in

480 B.C. the Persians had com-

/ t'm":^ V^^"^'

/i.'-;t'-J^

'1^1/

:7j

A A An

f<

JURORS BALLOTS

pletely devastated

from

and the Athe-

Acropolis,

the

had subsequently incorporated

nians

debris

the

temples and statues into the city's

its

built foundations

and

its

new

So

walls.

re-

Pericles

began from scratch. He employed the very best

and

architects

project his

money

for

the great gateway to the holy

and public meeting place;

with

its

Athens strength

spirit of

near Athens, which changes

it is

Mount

marble, quarried from

changing

Its

unusual mixture of Doric and Ionic

its

tempered by grace. Like the Parthenon

color

its

made

of

Pentelicus

with

the

varying from gold and honey to rose

light,

radiantly beautiful Parthenon

was the

spir-

Athens. Unlike some Greek temples,

itual center of

served only one divinity, the goddess Athena,

creative

and active intelligence and the

guardian deity of Athens. The whole plan was sub-

The Parthenon was begun

ordinated to her worship.

in

447 B.C. and finished

was
its

in

432 B.C.

"master of works

Ictinus, its

"

Its

architect

Callicrates,

and

decorations were designed and supervised by the

sculptor Phidias.

It

one of the largest known

is

Greek temples, and although

simple, the simplicity

ingenious adaptations
tapering
its hill

it

when
is

is

its

main outlines

carefully contrived.

make

lines look straight or

in fact they are neither.

visible

are

Many

Standing on

from miles around, especially

from the sea ships crossing the Saronic Gulf saw

from

image on coins and gems,

its

no long-

carried off to Constantinople in the

was destroyed by

it

later,

that remains

it

metalwork and

in

is

in

smaller copies in marble.

large part of the sculpture

the building does survive,

most of the

frieze

and

(originally there

were

have done

but

it

all,

from the exterior of

however the pediments,

number

92). Phidias
is

it

done

the

of

metopes

cannot possibly

in his style

and

is

obviously of his design. The metopes portray vari-

ous conflicts between

men and

their enemies,

instance the Centaurs, half-man, half-horse,

for

whose

defeat signifies the triumph of order over barbarism.

and gray.

spirit of

was

sometime between the Sixth Century and 10th

fire

stern majesty

dominates, the entrance.

still

columns, catches the very

it

clothing, ivory for her flesh. But the statue

Century A. D. The only record of

dominated, and

The

gold and ivory gold for the goddess'

Century A.D., where

grants of

places of the Acropolis, functioning also as an art

a local

in

late Fifth

The Propylaea was

style,

and covered

unflagging support by persuading

make annual

wood

statue of Athena, 40 feet high, fashioned of

It

to

inside in

monumental

Phidias'

er exists.

time,

his

the cost.

gallery

shadowy sanctuary was

the

and gave the

of

artists

own

Assembly

the

symbol of temporal authority. Standing

afar, the

it

manifest evidence of Athenian wealth

and power.

frieze encircling the building depicts the color-

ful

procession

climaxing

Athena's

solemn and

a holiday.

mal,

also a

happy occasion,

it.

All of

old,

them

this.

It

was

much

sacred shrine as well as

is

also caught

watchful and friendly gods.

end of the temple the huge triangular

pediments were

filled

with sculptures. At the east-

ern end the birth of Athena, goddess of

intelligence, expresses

marvelous

part

magnificent celebration, mind-

ful of the presence of

either

children,

shown taking

are distinctly themselves, infinitely

in the spirit of a

At

is

holy day and

men and women and

varied and individual, but each one

up

It

Every kind of creature human and ani-

young and

horses and cattle and sheep is

in

the

festival,

Great Panathenaea, held every fourth year.

Olympus. At

wisdom and

what the emergence

power meant

to the

of

so

dreaming gods of

the western end, the struggle between

Athena and the sea god Poseidon

For Athenians, however, the Parthenon was

more than

The

for

supremacy

symbolizes the goddess' successful domination of

the city's religious

life,

and the

city's

domination

and grave-to-be of

of the sea, cradle

The sculptures

parable peak of Greek

in the great

PERICLES

ON DEMOCRACY

of

Zeus

Olympia, gifted

at

the

[n the winter of

War

431-430 B.C., with the Pelo-

made

begun, Pericles

Athens. Below are two stirring

to extol

passages translated by the scholar Rex Warner.

"Our

constitution
is

democracy

called a

is

in the

hands not of

minority but of the whole people.

everyone

is

equal before the law;

a question of putting

When

when

bility,

what counts

a particular class,

is

not membership of

but the actual ability

which the man possesses.

"Here each individual

own

only in his

affairs

of the state as well

that a
tics is

and
their

Parthenon

of the

is

human

body. But the

art

more varied

altogether a finer,

achievement. The sculptures are set high on the

building, well above eye level,
in their execution.

on the pediments are

figures

dominant pattern,

is

of the great

and delicately

as firmly

And though

carved as the fronts.

has

and yet nothing

The backs

each sculpture
to

the central

composition, even the smallest detail

is

worked out

with

the

relating

it

not

interested

is

but in the affairs

... we do not say

that he has

no business here

all.

And

another point where

this is

from other people.

ble at the

We

same time of taking

of estimating

at

are caparisks

and

them beforehand. Others

brave out of ignorance; and,

are

when they

stop to think, they begin to fear. But the

man who
brave

is

what

terrible,

he

can most truly be accounted

who

best

sweet in

knows

the

is

to

meet what

is

to

come."

is

for

revealing

and variety are every-

not a single trace of sur-

prise for surprise's sake, or of

ingenuity reduced

merely ingenious. The sculptures of the Par-

thenon, combining the old aristocratic appreciation

for fine

craftsmanship with the vigor and confi-

dence of the

new democracy,

Periclean Athens. For

few

are the essence of

brief years

perfect

new

equilibrium existed between the old and the

and the genius of Phidias, supported by

gave

it

The

Pericles,

visible form.

lofty vision

embodied

in

Parthenon's

the

sculpture was matched by the development of a no

The

less lofty poetry.

chief

form of

this

was

tragic

drama, but Greek tragedy differed from modern

tragedy in

many ways. To

ligious rite,

and of what

life

appreciation

begin with,

it

was

a re-

meaning

and then goes out undeterred

is

sensitive

where present, but there

to the

man who takes no interest in polia man who minds his own business;

differ

stroke. Invention, originality

"

we say

of

art

and action through

it

one person before

another in positions of public responsi-

we

had freed themarchaic

of

a question of settling private disputes,

it is

is

life

intimate knowledge of the

skimped
because power

earlier,

his funeral

oration. Instead of praising only the dead, he

chose

artists

limitations

achieved the effect of

ponnesian

Nearly 20 years

art.

metopes and pediments of the temple

from

selves

glories.

its

of the Parthenon are the incom-

performed

at

annual festivals

the

in

Theater of Dionysus for the whole population.

Its

theme was the relationship between men and the

gods, and
illustrated

its plot,

some

the profundity of

usually

drawn from

heroic myth,

particular problem or lesson. But

its

purpose did not exclude sharp

delineation of character or intense dramatic

mo-

merits.

The

plays themselves were short, although

sometimes

were

trilogies

performed and

spent whole days in the theater.

performance was devoted

mented on the action

people

large part of the

to the chorus,

at intervals

which com-

throughout the

drama. The actors wore masks, often representing

the character's

mood

Century B.C. whose work has survived

part Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. All

in

this

One

be.

his treatment of

is

pus Rex. Sophocles makes him

headstrong young

man who

his
er.

is

of the best ex-

Oedipus

in

Oedi-

good-hearted but

own

his

kills

father

and marries

his father,

mother without realizing that she

When

compas-

however

moth-

his

is

he discovers what he has done, he blinds

himself in a paroxysm of horror and remorse.

Euripides, the last of the three great tragedians,

but they differed markedly from each oth-

belongs to a somewhat later generation of Creek

who

Aeschylus, the poet

er.

may

deluded or broken they

amples of

lies in his

for his characters,

and Lenaean

three wrote plays for the Dionysiac

festivals,

His power

exalt.

sympathy

sion, in his

without knowing that he

as well as his role.

There were three great masters of Greek tragedy

in the Fifth

can redeem and

power and grandeur,

best evokes Athenian

deeply concerned with the

is

moral issues that power and grandeur

raise.

He

ex-

thought, and

sions and

is

is

and unsatisfied

more troubled, questioning

far

spirit.

He comes

a less certain

no clear conclu-

to

craftsman, but he has mo-

amines the dangers of overweening arrogance, the

ments of astonishing insight into human character.

ancient rule of blood for blood, the inevitability of

Sophocles reportedly said of him

the misuse of power. His conclusions are his

own,

often breaking with traditional concepts. His characters

are

recognizable

though they move

human

in a theatrical

ited passions, personal

individuals

even

world of uninhib-

magnificence and unfailing

splendor of speech.

Among

the most

men

as they are,

they ought to be.

"

that,

and of himself,
Euripides

is

"He

paint

"I

also the

paints

men

most

as

direct

of the three in his questioning of established be-

Where Aeschylus and Sophocles merely sugways may be wrong, Euripides

liefs.

gest that the old

criticizes

memorable

"

them

And

boldly.

yet, skeptic

though he

of Aeschylus' plays

is,

he treats passion and grief with moving lyricism.

are the three concerned with the story of Orestes,

In

The Trojan Women, Andromache, the Trojan

Agamemnon, the conqueror of Troy. The

tnlogyAgamemnon, Choephoroe and Eumenides

princess, relinquishes her small son to be killed

son of

tells the story of Orestes'

murder of

the Greeks with these words:

his mother,

Clytaemnestra, for her murder of his father. For

his

crime Orestes

is

pursued by the Furies until

Athena, taking pity on him, prevails upon the Furies to

"Thou

little

That curlest

thing
in

my

arms, what sweet

scents chng,

become Eumenides Kindly Ones and serve

All round thy neck! Beloved; can

it

he

her as subsidiary goddesses.

Sophocles works

in a different

chylus argues for and

Sophocles

and

treats

is

its

ways

them with awe and reverence. He examview of some problem and from

central truth.

All nothing, that this

bosom cradled

And

weary nights where-

of the gods,

content to accept them as they are,

ines the accepted

draws

justifies the

way. Where Aes-

To Sophocles, any

it

violation

of the cosmic order creates suffering, but suffering

fostered; all the

thee

through
I

watched upon thy sickness,

till I

greio

Wasted with watching? Kiss me. This

one time;

Not ever
climb

again. Put

up thine arms, and

by

About my neck: now,

lips.

losophers, scientists, poets and prominent citizens

kiss me, lips to

and whose fun

O, ye have found an anguish that outstrips

Greek tragedy

not tragic in one

is

and

modern sense

it does not always end unhappily. Sometimes

it

ends with the healing of wounds and the restoration of

harmony

tensely

and

broken world. But

to a

relentlessly serious.

it

in-

is

can be wry and

It

but never purely comic. There are no mo-

ments of lowered tension everything

the highest pitch.

Even

if

erything that precedes

there

it

happy end,

is

played

is

ev-

dark and anxious.

is

at

It

presents man's position before the gods as uncer-

and dangerous and the gods as

tain, fragile

ines-

Christianity has alleviated

life

which was

much

of

the

tragic

Greek thought

implicit in

the assumption that the gods were inscrutable and

inexorable in their dealings with men. But

thought

still

retains the

ceptance of his

Greek

belief that

modern

man's ac-

no matter how intolerable that

fate,

his characters,
vitality.

very

spirit of song.

He

Athens.
ly,

when

the

how

they

may

how

they

be borne.

Attic comedy, in every other respect the antithesis

of tragedy, also

also

performed

at

had
a

He wrote

religious origin

festival of

tragedy offered release from

life's

and was

Dionysus. Where
mysteries in pity

with Sparta. Yet he does

it

dalous malice.
If

Greek tragedy shows the Athenians' depth of

Greek comedy shows

their ability

er afraid of the truth,

disreputable
set. It

it

nor obscenity, and two of

its

early masters, Crati-

nus and Eupolis, both largely concerned with

tics,

were uninhibited

caricaturists.

of the writers of Attic

who made fun

libel

poli-

But the greatest

comedy was Aristophanes,

equally of politicians, generals, phi-

and death,
almost

helps to explain

to hold their

no matter how undignified or

was, and this was an incalculable as-

own

why

the Athenians were able

even when

for so long,

their star

Part of their strength indubitably

laugh

at

themselves.

Because Periclean Athens was the intellectual

naturally

drew from other

center of Greece,

it

men who knew

that their intellectual gifts

be welcomed and honored there.

Anaxagoras of Clazomenae,
Pericles.

Among them was

personal friend of

He

believed that

it

was an organized

to a living

and that the force which moved

it

process similar to that of the mind.

Athens
tus of

cities

would

Anaxagoras had an interesting theory about

system of matter, comparable

were restrained by laws neither of

life

to face

any situation with lightheartedness. They were nev-

heart-easing ridicule and rollicking mirth.

prac-

for

free-

without solemnity, pack-

the universe.

titioners

and does so

ing his messages between riotous jokes and scan-

and understanding, comedy offered the release of

Its

after the death

shadows were deepening

but he also puts forward intelligent ideas about

their ability to

exposes them and shows

however,

uniting the Athenian Empire or coming to terms

was

happen, and

at his funniest,

ridicules public affairs

provides no explicit answers for the sufferings of

it

Even

afraid of expressing them.

of Pericles,

declining.

humanity, but

burst

life,

Aristophanes had serious intentions, and was not

was

may

taken straight from

His choral lyrics are winged with the

with

seem, can be ennobling. Greek tragedy

fate

indecent,

imaginative.

thought on the fundamental issues of

capable, never far away.

view of

audacious,

ribald,

all,

Aristophanes' situations are brilliantly absurd,

All tortures of the East, ye gentle Creeks!"

ironic,

is

reckless and, above

was
It

organism,
a

mental

was

also in

that the views of the philosopher

Democri-

Abdera slowly found recognition. His atomic

theory differs in every detail from modern theories,

but does at least use similar terminology:

it

says

that the primary substance of things consists of indivisible units

Among

it

calls

atoms.

the greatest of these Athenian visitors

was Herodotus

of Halicarnassus.

Herodotus was

the "father of history," author of the great

To

the Persian Wars.

collect

book on

information for

it

he
.^

Greek world and

traveled widely through the

into

Egypt, Babylonia, Syria and southern Scythia. Ev-

erywhere he asked questions and noted the answers.

Herodotus' sympathies are with Athens but he

remarkably

He sees

and even generous,

the whole

but

life,

fair,

at the

war

an epic event, larger than

as

same time he

actual participants and

is

to the Persians.

its

concerned with

is

factual background.

includes details on

many

interest but are not

immediately related

its

He

matters which caught his

to the

war,

and on past events that happened outside Greece,

notably in Asia and Egypt.

He

is

also deeply inter-

ested in personalities, in individual men, and he

them with

writes of

makes him

delighted observation that

the father, not just of history, but of

other social sciences too.

Herodotus did his best

Sometimes he
are

failed, or got

minor compared

fort.

Many

to
it

to the

discover

the

thoroughness of his

times he gives

firsthand

leaving the reader to

make up

writes with great force, humor,

liness. In style

and

spirit

his

ef-

information

from actual witnesses, or gives both sides of

ry,

truth.

wrong, but the lapses

own

a sto-

mind.

sympathy and

He

live-

he blends Ionia with Ath-

ens; he treats history as both an art

on one side recalling the poetic

and

spirit of

a science,

Homer, on

the other invoking the scientific temper of his age.

During

this

into a science.

same period medicine

The development

Hippocrates of Cos, the

first

common body

school of medi-

adhered to

medical doctrine. They followed

accepted

also developed

associated with

and most famous of

group of physicians who formed

cine, in the sense that they

is

common

of knowledge,

common
practices,

exchanged

jMt--K-

new

one another, developed

ideas with

from estabhshed discoveries and worked

theories

on

strictly

Hippocrates stressed the im-

scientific principles.

portance of careful observation and classification,

and believed that

part of the

was impossible

it

understand

to

human body without understanding

the

whole. With this knowledge, said Hippocrates,

fear

and alarm

empire, often at the ex-

its

pense of unwilling victims, and

at

that aristocratic

same time

the

promoting democracy with missionary

opment

They saw

other Greek states.

to

Athens busily extending

zeal, a devel-

governments viewed with

shocked disapproval. This anti-Athenian point of

view

is

expressed in the work of the poet Pindar of

doctor could proceed to diagnosis, and diagnosis

Thebes, whose patrons were rich aristocrats and ty-

was the

rants. Aegina,

The

central point of Hippocratic doctrine.

science of medicine affected

When

the Fifth Century.

sor,

thought

all

in

Herodotus' great succes-

Thucydides, wrote The Peloponnesian War, he

examined the causes of the war

an almost

in

clinical

spirit.

Like a good scientist, Thucydides was deter-

mined

to find the truth.

where Pindar had many

and

friends,

from

Boeotia, his native land, had both suffered

Athens' compulsive expansion. Consequently,

al-

though Pindar had begun by being well disposed

Athens, he ended by regarding

and disapproval. He

trust

its

to

actions with dis-

criticized the

Athenian

spirit for

destroying the sense of inner peace which

ences of one generation were relevant to those of

was one

of the chief blessings of

another, and that later generations could therefore

city as

learn

from

He

believed that the experi-

their predecessors.

Consequently he of-

ten stopped to analyze a specific occurrence in terms

of

its

more general problem. Al-

application to a

though

his

conception of history

political, largely

human

is

almost purely

lacking in Herodotus' concern with

Thucydides

personalities,

extremely perceptive. Also, he

moral conclusions.

No

is

in his

own way

not afraid to

Thucydides
sense of

its

tells

And

plicated,

it is

for all his

pitfalls of

self-control,

the story of an event with a full

drama:

ments of tragedy.

he

civil strife.

one has delineated more clearly the

unrestrained power.

draw

one has better described the

corruption of standards that comes from

No

is

If

risks, its

its

his

language

not intentionally so.

tries to state his

ugliness,
is

ele-

its

sometimes com-

He

is

serious,

and

thoughts exactly, including the

emotion which colors them. Not until modern times

and were routed by them.

the gods,

many Greeks were

Like Pindar,

ens' insatiable activity,

its

troubled by Ath-

unexpected interference
they

in distant places, its refusal to leave things as

were.

The Greek

emergence of

them

of their

deeply resented the

aristocrats

power which was

own power and

likely to deprive

But they

privilege.

re-

sented no less the Athenian state of mind, which

seemed

to

them the

were willing
only

let

to let

them go

antithesis of their

Athens go

theirs,

but

its

own. They

own way

this,

if it

they feared,

would

was

it

not prepared to do. Fearing what Athens stood

they failed completely to compete with

scope of

its

it

in the

for,

wide

achievements. Neither in the fine arts

and dominating, and very few historians of

gin to rival Athens. Indeed they seemed rather to

regard for what they

er,

own ruin. Athens, he said, was like Bellerophon,

who tried to scale the sky on the winged horse,
Pegasus. It was like the Giants, who revolted against
its

nor in science did the established aristocracies be-

a respect for truth so

any time have treated events with so passionate

As

the

pow-

has any historian

erful

shown

He saw

life.

an example of that self-pride which breeds

a result

mean

in the lives of

of this explosion of energy

Athens had become, by 460

B.C.,

have stuck where they were, and avoided new de-

men.

velopments. Inevitably,

and pow-

tions

an object of

was bound

the long

to

a conflict in

come, and

when

the
it

two posi-

came,

and deadly Peloponnesian War.

it

was

THE CITY'S FIRST CITIZEN, austere

his

war helmet. He dominated

aristocrat, soldier, orator

and statesman, was

Pericles,

the affairs of the city, cultural center of Greece, from

shown above

460

until

in

429 B.C.

THE PERICLEAN EPOCH

Greece's Golden

Age glowed

brightest in

Athens

for the 30 years

it

had the

lead-

shown above. His city, of some

150,000 inhabitants, had two cores. One was made up of the great marketplace
called the Agora and adjacent Pnyx Hill. The center of trade, schools and law
ership of the political genius

courts, the

Agora

whose bust

is

also harbored the offices of the world's first democratic gov-

ernment; the Assembly met on Pnyx

Hill.

The second

core

was the grouping

marbled temples, among them buildings the world has ever since counted

most beautiful, on top of the Acropolis,

city.

The two Athenses the

rocky

city of creativity

hill

of
its

which was the heart of the

below and the one of beauty on the

heights made sober fact of Pericles' boast: "Our city

"

is

an education to Greece.

-T-l_l

C IT^V O F DF R

r^

FQ

"^^^

drawing on these pages shows the Athens Pericles

or helped plan. Rising

above the

Acropolis, with the structures

rest of the city

whose ruins

the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the temple of

still

is

built

the rocky

inspire

men:

Athena Nike and

the Erechtheum. Originally the Acropolis constituted the entire

fortified city,

but

spread

down

1.

Unfinished Temple ot Zeus

2.

Unfinished law courls

3.

Painted Sloa

stood stoas, or open-sided markets, where the philosophers

4.

Stoa of the

taught; the Bouleuterion, where the

5. Altar of the

in war,

it

was

it

rebuilt.

into the valleys. Destroyed

Great walls enclosed

it.

In the

Agora

500-man council met;

the

mint; courts; and the Strategeion, or military headquarters.

Herms
Twelve Gods

6.

Stoa of Zeus with his statue

7.

Temple

8.

Bouleuterion

9.

Monument

of Hephaestus

of the

Eponymous Heroes

13. Heliaia law cour

14.

South Stoa

IS

Southeast Fount

15.

Mint

17. Panathenaic (est

18.

Pnyx

19.

Areopagus

20.

Temple

21.

Propylaea

of

Alher

Nike

10. Tholes (administrative headquarters)

22. Statue of Athena Promacho

11. Strategeion

23.

12. Southwest Fountain

House

Erechtheum

24. Parthenon

THE SPEAKERS PODIUM On Pnyx

that seated 18,000.

Hill faced a natural hillside

To ensure adequate attendance

ing, police with long ropes

dipped

at a dull

wet paint herded citizens

in

amphitheater

Assembly meetto

Pnyx

Hill.

AN

EARLY ROSTRUM
OF DEMOCRACY
r^: ^mi'mm, mm

Athens was

talkative town.

orators; Pericles

became

its

was ruled by

It

leader because he

Ecclesia, or

Assembly

of

all citizens,

ai.

was

the best orator. All major decisions were reached

by the

m^

its

i^w

which

-^

'

f*

>*ito

*
ttani

'=

^^ ^^

M^.

{ ZT ZT ZI ^^

^.

usually met about 40 times a year in the amphitheater dominated by the rostrum

In addition, there

chosen by

lot.

was the Boule,

The Boule met

shown

above.

500-man council

daily,

with a sub-

committee available day and night, making decisions that were pressing and preparing the agenda
for the Ecclesia.

Among

Assembly during

public service, thus

for the poor;

Persians:

decisions reached in the

the golden era:

making

to reconstruct

and the

to

pay

fees

for

office-holding possible
A KLEROTERION" was used

temples destroyed by

fateful decision to fight Sparta.

of

which

balls

is

to select nirors. blots in the device,

fragment

seen above, held individual volunteers' names. Black and white

were dropped down a tube (not shown)

to select jurors

by groups.

ORATING HORSEMAN,

like

most Athenians a man of strong mind, gives the crowd a few words while waiting

to ride in procession to the Acropoli:

:^-^^
K!'-x-iezt

SHRINE TO THE BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CITY

Wishing

to enclose in

splendor the sacred

sites of

the fables concerning the beginnings of Athens, the

city architects

produced the Erechtheum.

It

is

on

well of sea water, and the well

was the gnarled

Athena gave the

the north side of the Acropolis, where once stood

test

what Homer

says the

called "the strong

us," a legendary king.

theum

is

the

of Athens.

tomb

Under

house of Erechthe-

a corner of the Erech-

of Cecrops, mythical

The building contained

first

King

the gifts that the

gods Poseidon and Athena gave the city in a contest

to

win

its

devotion. There were the marks of the

fiery trident

which Poseidon used

to strike

open

life

left in

front

is

a cast of the original,

now

in the British

Museum.

city

In

a"

again after they

all

true Athenians.

left.

To encompass

became

Legend

all

it is

one of which

is

built

shown

one another. Yet

it

It

is

not

on two

levels;

at left,

bear no relation to

its

porches,

breathes Ionic grace and charm.

PANATHENAIC PROCESSION, paraders en

route to the Acropolis

carry jars of water, perhaps for sacrificial gifts.

statue of

of these

most unusual tem-

ple in this land of rectangular temples.

wooden

which

destroyed by the Persians, sprang to

symmetrical;

the

courtyard

time,

all

and thereby won both the con-

and the hearts of

tree,

itself.

olive tree of

things the Erechtheum

IN

PORCH OF THE MAIDENS On the Erechtheum has four original columns. The background figure has a modern head: the second from

first

Athena

that

was housed

Their goal was

in the

Erechtheum.

ATHENA'S TEMPLE
Three mighty talents collaborated on the Parthenon
Phidias, sculptor and general director; and Ictinus

and

Callicrates, architects. Their greatest achieve-

ment, perhaps the greatest architectural work of

antiquity,
it is
it

is

was

this

temple

to

columned rectangle

an extraordinary

in

Athena. In appearance
Doric

style. In reality

series of refinements

that,

taken together, produce optical harmony: horizontal lines

curve in the middle; the columns bulge in

the center, taper at the top and lean slightly in-

ward; flutings diminish

in the

Plutarch,

when

in

width as they

marble gives the structure

who

first

saw

rise.

Iron

golden glow.

the Acropolis'

buildings

they were 500 years old, claimed they must

have been "venerable as soon as they were

CEREMONIAL RIDER
clothes to

make

built."

of the Panathenaic procession wears his best

a splendid show.

He

is

wearing a Thracian riding

hat with ear coverings, while his cloak and tunic are Athenian.

'

^. j

.':.J^>^

\t'^'

THE HISTORIC PARTHENON, although

its

builders

hoped

to

a ruin,

still

clearl\/

shows what

achieve more than 2,400 years ago. For nearly 900

s^^^M''i.;|?^':MPi4^jtf ilis
:

^s^

?:.-

yr.n.

,(

uw.

.,

tcnplc

AtUcu. ,or nearly 1.000 y,.. a Cnr,.tu,u

Moslem rr^os.ue. Then, m 1687. the Venetian

to

church, for 200 years a

.>-

:>^,
forces besiegmg the lurks o the

phded a powder magazir,e,

AcropoUs dropped a

shell that ex-

thus destroying the inside of the Parthenon.

THE TEMPLED GODDESS

ADORED BY ATHENS
Religious ceremonies and public worship were held

outside the temples; the interiors were for

at altars

private prayers. Here in a majestic half light one

might come face to face with an awesome divinity.

Changing shadows could impart human expressions to the statue.

what the

Today no man knows

interior of the

Parthenon looked

exactly

like.

model shown here was constructed especially

this

book on the

ship.

It

basis of the best

modern

The
for

scholar-

remains, however, an informed guess. There

were two rooms

inside. In

one stood the statue of

Athena the Virgin, made by Phidias

ivory around

wooden

in gold

In a second

core.

and

room,

there were other treasures of the temple: the Persian

Xerxes' silver-footed throne, for instance, on which

he had sat and watched his forces defeated by the

Athenian

fleet

But nothing was more

at Salamis.

important than the statue. Thus

wished
ias,

to strike at

they accused the

gold given to him to

plates

when

him through

Pericles' foes

friend Phid-

his

artist of stealing

make

some

were removable Phidias was able

them down, weigh them and prove

was

still

fied.

They next accused

there.

But

their

of the

the statue. Since the gold

that

all

to

take

the gold

enemies were not

satis-

Phidias of sacrilege in carv-

ing pictures of himself and of Pericles on Athena's

shield. Pericles

stood by him to the end.

Fortu-

nately most of his great works had been completed

when

the attack came. Pericles continued in his post

as a general for a
(

)M

A KAiN\ i'\i

tiir

I'liiiit^

itui

few more years

until his death.

walls of the south side of the

Parthenon stand desolate. The north and south walls were blank.

The temple received

its

light

from doors facing east and west.

THE GODDESS ATHENA

sumptuous

On

is

shown

robes. In her right

her helmet

was

a Sphinx

in

hand

is

this

reconstruction

clad

in

a statue of Nike, or Victory.

and on her breast an ivory Medusa.

Along with

display

incredible

its

matters relating to the mind and

Athens was
and

trade

also busily

engaged

political influence.

its

now

began

it

to cast

its

The Greek

which had hitherto maintained

states,

now drawn

were

GREEK AGAINST GREEK

expanding

in

covetous eyes on

neighbors on the mainland.

a precarious balance of

in

Periclean

had firmly estab-

It

lished itself as a sea power;

energy

of

spirit,

power among themselves,

into one of

or Sparta's and soon

War began

Peloponnesian

two camps Athens'

war became

inevitable.

and

in 431 B.C.

The

lasted,

with one brief interval of peace, until 404 B.C.

It

was

ended

long war, bitter and demoralizing, and

for

Athens

and even

it,

And

in disaster.

after its end,

the wellspring of

Greek

it

yet all through

Athens continued
and

intellectual

to be

artistic

producing playwrights and philosophers whose

life,

contributions were different in spirit from

those

of the age of Pericles, but every bit as extraordinary.

At

war

the outbreak of the

was divided

in two.

in

431 B.C., Greece

The Spartan

Alliance took in

most of the Peloponnesus, the Isthmus of Corinth,

and Megara. The Athenian Empire embraced the
islands of the

Aegean and the coast

of Asia Minor.

Sparta was conservative, aristocratic, resolute in

its

determination to maintain the existing state of af-

Athens was aggressively democratic, even

fairs.

olutionary, and determined to spread

new
one

The war was

places.

in principle.

It

to history, largely

also

it

in his

therefore an important

became an important one

through the

the historian Thucydides,

count of

it

eyewitness accounts of

tails

at

the

it.

its

battle sites.

ings with scientific care

book,

same

superb ac-

book The Peloponnesian War.

took notes on

documents and

one man,

effort of

who wrote

Thucydides himself participated

through

rev-

gospel to

its

time,

in the war,

and

events, and examined

He

set

down

his find-

and detachment, but

is

all

Afterward he collected

full

of

his

revealing de-

about personalities and intelligent interpreta-

tions of the issues over

which each engagement

was fought.
Although the war's underlying cause was Sparta's

led

MARCHING TO WAR,

deep distrust of Athens, the incidents which

up

to its

outbreak were, as so often happens,

a soWier on a Sixth Century B.C. wine-and-water mix-

ing howl found at Vix, France,

is

protected by a knee-to-neck round shield,

bronze greaves around his legs and a helmet equipped with cheek guards.

quite trivial.

One

of Sparta's

leading

allies

was

Corinth, a commercial and colonial power whose

m
WAR

OF THE BROTHERS

THE GREAT CAMPAIGNS

shown on

are
tics

the map.

of the Pelopotinesiaii

Many

were employed. Besieging Plataea, the Spar-

tans tried to build a

mound from which

archers could shoot over the walls.

tunneled
the

to the

bottom as

When

mound and removed

fast as the

the walls.

a circle,
sailed

At sea

the dirt

Spartans put

the Spartans brought

up

the Spartans

their

The Plataeans

it

on

from
top.

battering rams the

Plataeans lassoed them and pulled

them

inside

drew up 47 ships

in

prows outward. Twenty Athenian ships

around and around them, forcing them into

an ever smaller
all

War

unconventional tac-

circle until the

Spartan ships were

entangled and easy prey. At Delium the Boe-

otians, Sparta's allies,

coals, a

used a cauldron of burning

hollowed-out tree and a belloivs

to

make

flamethrower that destroyed the defensive walls.

ASIA

MINOR

IONIAN
SEA
PYLOS
SPHACTERIA
425 BC.

MODES
Revolt, 411 B.C.

and

tried

and fined him

for

misuse of public funds.

Not long afterward, however, they

re-elected him,

realizing that, whatever his failings, he

One

best leader they had.

His death, by plague,

is

was the

year later Pericles died.

described by Plutarch as

called himself "the people's

Athenians agreed with

all

Thucydides

himself.

and quiet people would be more

evil

with various changes and alterations, leisurely, by

of others."

and

little,

faculties of his soul."

For Athens, the loss was tragic.

The men who succeeded

Assembly
ment.

rivaled

One

Nicias,

him

by the

rich

and respectable

to sue Sparta for peace; the other,

under the violent demagogue Cleon, wanted

tinue fighting. Nicias

who was sometimes

buy

to

con-

was an honest but timid man

accused of using his wealth to

the Athenians' favor.

He

doings and

less

likely to notice his

likely to believe

his slander

the Athenian cause in a constant state of turmoil,

ments
the

in

two days.

On

angry debates.

Assembly reversed

itself

at least

one occasion

within the space of

In 428 B.C., Mytilene,

on the island of

Lesbos, tried unsuccessfully to bolt the Athenian

Empire.

To punish

the city for this act of disloyal-

Cleon persuaded the Assembly

ty

for

its

to

whole adult male population.

vote death

ship was

gymnastic games, and

out, but the next day, over Cleon's angry protests,

more sumptuous and more

known

in his or in

former ages." Cleon was the son of a tanner and

risen to

opposed

sent to the Athenian fleet with orders to carry this

splendid than had ever been

had

he

sponsored, says Plu-

tarch, "dramatic exhibitions,

other public shows,

evaluation of

that

disagreeing over policy and exposing their disagree-

Pericles as leaders of the

neither in authority nor judg-

faction, led

wanted

own

Between them, Nicias and Cleon kept Athens and

wasting the strength of his body,

and undermining the noble

suggests

peace because "he thought that in a time of peace

being "a dull and lingering distemper, attended

little

watchdog," but not

his

power during the war through

com-

bination of shrewdness, daring and eloquence.

He

the
a

Assembly countermanded the order and sent

second ship, which, by exerting

fort, arrived

On
in the

ahead of the

first

prodigious ef-

one.

another occasion Nicias called Cleon's bluff

handling of the blockade of the island of

Sphacteria, offshore from the Spartan seaport of

Pylos.

Athenian forces had occupied Pylos

B.C. but a contingent of Spartans

in

425

many months

The

when

Cleon, in the Assembly, contemptuously an-

had dragged on

nounced that
Athenian

if

for

he had been in

command

of the

have taken the island

forces, he could

command over
make good on his

handily. Piqued, Nicias turned the

him, and demanded that he

to

claim.

Cleon

sailed off,

tried to renege,

but could not, so he

with a parting promise to accomplish his

task within 20 days.

To

he was also feared.

held Sphac-

still

teria.

siege

vigorous patriot and was loved and admired. But

everyone's surprise, he did.

spirit of recklessness, of

an extreme representative,

Added

to

it

was

new

Thucydides, "War

them

of the

wants,

it

is

power

which Alcibiades was

now

pervaded Athens.

a stern teacher;

depriving

in

of easily satisfying their daily

brings most people's minds

level of their actual circumstances."

down

ens nor Sparta any longer allowed considerations

way

of decency and honor to stand in the

sible

when

advantage. In 427 B.C.,

captured the city of Plataea, an Athenian

put to death

seemed

good time

to

all

who

the people

winter of 416-415 B.C.,

when

of pos-

the Spartans

unprecedented event in Greek history.

it

to the

Neither Ath-

The Spartans on Sphacteria surrendered, an almost

To many Athenians

words of

ruthlessness. In the

ally,

they

surrendered. In the
the island of Melos

stop the war altogether while Athens was ahead

refused to join the Athenian Empire, Athens killed

and could exact favorable terms. But Cleon,

all

flated

by

struggle.

ground.

his success,

was defeated

first

at

at

Delium

Amphipolis

Cleon himself was

422 B.C.

in-

on continuing the

Almost immediately, Athens began

It

424 B.C., and then

in

insisted

in

men

of military age

and enslaved the

rest of the

inhabitants.

But not everyone was callous about such

to lose

acts.

Women,

in Boeotia

In 415 B.C., Euripides produced his Trojan

Thrace

dramatizing the injustices and horrors of war. In

in

killed in the battle at

it,

Hecuba, the captured Trojan queen, says:

Amphipolis, and so was the Spartan general, Brasidas, a

man

so personable that even his enemies ad-

Who am

mired him. Thucydides says that the recollection

of his gallantry and

wisdom was

pro-Spartan feeling

in creating

allies later in

felt

little

gains, while at

ure
a

new

to

Athenian

kinsman of

up

Athens

made bold

sit

Weeping alone

signed, but the

allies

before,

home,

for her dead;

low and bruised head.

And

the glory struck therefrom.

younger, more confident

plans.

They were

politics, the

Pericles. Alcibiades

in Pericles'

Yea, in the dust of it?

had been defrauded of legitimate

that they

generation

was

chance of being kept. Sparta's

that

A slave that men drive

A woman that hath no

the Athenian

the war.

In 421 B.C. a peace treaty

peace had

the chief factor

among

Here at a Greek king's door,

young

led

by

a fig-

Alcibiades,

had been brought

household, but he was a very differ-

In 419 B.C. Alcibiades undertook a

sive against Sparta

new

offen-

on the pretext that Sparta had

not carried out the obligations of the peace treaty.

The climax

of this

campaign came

year

later,

ent sort of man. Unusually gifted in looks, intelli-

when, despite careful preparations, the Athenians

gence and wealth, he was also ambitious, insolent

and

and extravagant. As long

tans at Mantinea. But the collapse of this venture

as his personal ambitions

coincided with Athens' gain, he was accounted a

their allies

were soundly defeated by the Spar-

did not wholly discredit Alcibiades.

He continued

to

control a powerful,

if

extreme, element of public

opinion, and soon had devised other, more ingenious plans.

attack, he

proposed

If

Sparta could not be defeated by frontal

would destroy

by other means. He

it

Sparta alone for the time being

to leave

and strengthen Athens by incorporating the Greek

colonies in the west, notably in Sicily, into the
pire. If this

financial

backbone of the Spartan Alliance, would

be mortally stricken and Sicily's rich yield of crops

and

cattle

would

fall to

Athens. In addition Sicilian

new

source of troops

But even more glittering prizes

for military service.

may have

bewitched the Athenian imagination

across the narrow strait from Sicily

was the

rich

changing his allegiance, gave advice

lightly

After a slow

city of

Syracuse and, on the pretext of pro-

tecting neighboring Sicilian cities

from Syracusan

tyranny, a large-scale expedition was launched.

point of cutting

exalted ambitions of an admiring

crowd of well-

wishers. Thucydides says that "almost the entire

rival of a

tation at the

same

hope and

full of

thinking, too, of those

they might never see again."

torical events

doomed

which seem

to disaster.

a success,

No

and every

of those his-

in retrospect to

effort

have been

was spared

effort failed.

two of the most important men

in

It

to

was

make
led

by

Athens, Nicias

and Alcibiades, and one of the best Athenian generals,

Lamachus. Actually, Nicias had opposed the

project in the

drawback

Assembly and

in

one sense was

and seemed on the

as well.

But then two

ar-

Spartan general, Gylippus, sent on the

us,

or

has come for you to decide

else

to

send out another

both naval and military, as big as the

first,

with large sums of money, and also someone to

lieve

me

of the

neys has made

command,

me

grew even

the situation

more menacing. The Athenian army, unable

surround Syracuse or breach

to

encamped

led

in a low-lying,

fever,

re-

as a disease of the kid-

unfit for service."

In the year 413 B.C.,

and

its

was

area.

The troops

illness

worsened.

marshy

Nicias'

either

defenses,

the requested reinforcements finally arrived,

by Demosthenes, they were too

late;

they sailed

into the harbor only to find themselves in danger

of being trapped.

The Syracusan expedition was one

it

lamen-

time, thinking of the conquests

made and

that might be

whom

full of

sea,

by land

the end of 414 B.C. he sent a message to

contracted

off

it

Athens: "The time

When

the Athenians succeeded in

advice of Alcibiades. Nicias was deeply discouraged.

Toward

population of Athens, citizens and foreigners, went

.

at

to the

and the hopes of Syracuse were revived by the

down

to Piraeus

images

events spoiled their chances. Lamachus was killed

It

from Piraeus, carrying the vast hopes and

sailed

start,

blockading Syracuse by

force,

was the

stand

to

Spartans which was to do severe harm to Athens.

whole trade of the western Mediterranean.

campaign

home

against

Athens, Alcibiades instead defected to Sparta and,

either to recall

objective of the Sicilian

of sacrilege

act

god Hermes. Knowing what awaited him

of the

Phoenician city of Carthage, which controlled the

The immediate

he was ordered

Sicily,

for a gross

trial

Em-

could be done, Corinthian trade, the

manpower would provide

upon reaching

They should have withdrawn

as

swiftly as possible, but Nicias delayed because the

moon was

in eclipse

moving

such a time. Thucydides remarks that he

at

and he was superstitious about

"was rather over-inclined

to divination

and such

things."

By
the

the time Nicias did give the order to move,

Athenian cause was hopeless. The Greek ships

were unable

to

break out of the harbor, and the

gift for dar-

army, trying to retreat southward by land, was too

ing enterprise. Alcibiades could have supplied the

disorganized and demoralized to fend off the Syr-

imagination and initiative which Nicias lacked but.

acusans. Nicias and Demosthenes surrendered and

to the

expedition he had no

SHIPS OF THE LINE in Creek

one of which

is

shown

were the triremes,

fleets

view below and

in a side

in

cutout on the opposite page. They carried 170 row-

on three banks of 14-foot

ers

and 10

oars,

30

18 soldiers. Their chief

to

was a metal-tipped ram

were put

to hole

to death.

became house

deck crew

in the

weapon

in battle

and sink enemy

ships.

fortunate few of their troops

slaves, but

the rest were put into

Sicilian stone quarries, where, according to

dides, "they

where

were crowded together in

they suffered

trast,

came on

change

and then,

air;

in

con-

brought disease among them.

in temperature

it

necessary for them to do

everything on the same spot;

were the bodies

pit,

autumnal nights, and the

the cold

Lack of space made

narrow

and besides there

heaped together on top of one

all

another ... so that the smell was insupportable

.

were on an enormous

their sufferings

their losses were, as they say,

scale;

army, navy,

total;

everything was destroyed, and, out of many, only

in Sparta,

and serve
city's

was actually allowed

as general, but

he failed to

to return
fulfill

the

hopes for strong and effective leadership, and

was not

from the heat of the

first

sun and the closeness of the

Thucy-

welcome

re-elected.

Despite these vacillations, Athens might have

One was

continued the war but for three setbacks.

the defection of

many of

the Athenian

ing Chios, Miletus, Mytilene,

to the

Spartan side

in

and Greek

among

Persia;

412-411 B.C. The second was

tradition, to

for

ample funds. The

Athens was Sparta's decision

and oppose Athens

few returned."

The

end,

own

its

form an

when

it

princi-

alliance with

other advantages, this

plied Sparta with

includ-

Rhodes and Abydos,

Sparta's decision, in defiance of

ples

allies,

move sup-

third calamity

to build

a fleet

at sea.

came, was sudden. The Atheni-

Yet such was the resilience of the Athenian spir-

an

and the strength of

Thrace, was caught off guard and destroyed by the

it,

its

naval power, that

were

built,

new crews

Black Sea and

At

trained,

its vital

wonder

conships

and the routes

to the

grain ports were kept open.

same time Athens was

the

it

New

tinued to fight for another 10 years.

sufficiently

self-

fleet,

Spartan

waiting in the harbor of Aegospotami, in

fleet,

under Lysander, while the Athenian

crews were ashore eating a meal. The news reached

Athens on

that night

no man

day

in late

summer, 405

slept."

B.C.,

and "on

Faced by starvation and

critical

to

something might be wrong

stymied by fruitless negotiations, Athens surren-

with

democratic system of government, and for

dered to Lysander in April 404 B.C. By the terms

its

a short time

it

if

experimented with more traditional

forms.

From June

stance,

it

to

September, 411 B.C., for

in-

placed the entire administration, including

control of

money

matters, in the hands of an ap-

pointed Council of 400 men, 40 from each of the

10 Attic

tribes.

Other experiments followed, but

none of them inspired confidence, and eventually

full

democracy was

most

a year,

restored.

At one

point, for al-

the traitorous Alcibiades, no longer

of peace

it

its fleet,

agreed to pull

lost all its foreign possessions, forfeited

down

the walls of Piraeus

and the Long Walls between Piraeus and Athens,

and pledged

itself to

become an

ally of Sparta.

For Athens the war had been a total war.

The

lands had been invaded and devastated, and the

fighting had reached the very walls of

Men

of mature years had been called

service;

up

the city.
for active

communication other than by sea had been

end he even gave

scanty and perilous; food, never abundant, had of-

vice. In the

ten been scarce.

enchanting spoof of poetry, was written to soften

Yet despite the huge drain on

sources, the city never

physical re-

its
its

interest in the

During the worst phases of the war Athens

arts.

two of the

raised
lis,

abandoned

the

little

loveliest

temple

to

temples on the Acropo-

Athena Nike and the Erech-

the

blow

by forcing
infusing

sense

it

wrote his masterpiece, Oedipus Rex, and in the

life.

war he comforted the Athenian

people with the message of his

at Colonus.

Oedipus

in this play

fered long for his misdeeds, but

is

old

and has suf-

finally

is

permitted

him some mem-

peace. Sophocles gave

to die in

Oedipus

last play,

orable and reassuring lines:

but

many

others to

their arrogance to extremes: the

to these things slowly.

those

who put

off

But they attend

God and

the product of physical hardship,

Athens

of inquiry, but the

"

termed

democracy

"an

and Athens, although

both of which are deeply compassion-

and understanding inspired, no doubt, by the

experience of Athens.

and morality,

his

made fun

ebullient
of the

comedies.

In

war party and

in

it

acknowledged

eventually threw

it

substituted a belief in "might

right" and twisted the old concept of per-

sense of honor, people no longer be-

fine

to pro-

Acharnians

he

Birds he ridi-

culed the heady fancies current at the time of the

their

behavior with

words. The old love of serious argument was

debased into ingenious dispute, by which the most

despicable actions were

The

made

to

appear excellent.

old admiration for intellectual prowess degen-

erated into

During the war Aristophanes continued

duce

day cared

out, tended to agree with him. For the old re-

Lacking

were written during the war, including Heracles

ate

prolonged

sonal honor into personal advancement.

turn to madness!

Fifteen of the 19 surviving plays of Euripides

Electra,

of Alcibiades'

haved honorably but masked

and

of the spiritual

more about authority than freedom. Alcibiades

makes

to

strife

war. Pericles had been proud of Athens' free spirit

ligion

gods attend

was

it

During the long years of

erosion that inevitably accompanies

him

grow hard and push

spirit

matters and

and corrupt crept into Athenian

was much more the product

himself

For every nation that lives peaceably, there

it.

sinister

Partly
it

folly,

will be

many

with courage and nobility. In another

it

degraded

something

deeply into

to look

it

defeat seemed imminent.

war enriched the Athenian

In one sense the

theum. In the very midst of the plague Sophocles

closing days of the

when

of defeat

comfort. Frogs, an

it

respect for a certain kind of crafti-

ness, the ability to

means came

to

views happened
Sophists.

advance

cause by whatever

mind. The chief exponents of these

to be

among

group of men called

Sophist was simply a traveling teacher

invasion of Syracuse. Despite his irreverence Aris-

and the doctrine he expounded was very much

tophanes loved his city and often gave

own, often quite unlike any other Sophist's.

it

wise ad-

his

Many

preached a meth-

of them, however, practiced and

od of argument based on clever, specious reasoning.

much

But they were very

in

demand, because

regard for law and order. In less than a year the

people of Athens rose, deposed the Thirty and

drove them from the

they were thought to purvey the latest ideas and

to

equip their students for success in pubHc Hfe.

Thrasymachus,
by force was

Sophists,

all

taught that rule

law of nature, had

a considerable

men around

vogue among the young

Not

who

for instance,

however

were concerned only with matters of worldly suc-

Some

cess.

them were

of

The

victory had given

tunity to unite, at long

entirely serious, true de-

an unparalleled oppor-

it

the

last,

Greek

city-states.

But Spartan misrule soon had Greece more divided

than ever.

Alcibiades.

adroit their arguments,

city.

Elsewhere Sparta's policies were equally inept.

thority at

used to

Its

kings, accustomed to absolute au-

home, did not know how

being

own

their

men

to treat

masters.

generals,

Its

by

trained only for war, were quickly corrupted

new

scendants of an older generation of scientists and

the prospects of gain in their

philosophers whose goal had been knowledge. Pro-

rison

tagoras, pondering the nature of the gods, carried

brutal and bloodthirsty and incompetent. Sparta's

than any previous Greek

his speculations further

by concluding:

"I

cannot

know

that

they

exist,

nor yet that they do not exist." For this "impiety"

Protagoras was forced to
afraid of

imagined them

Men

Athens.

flee

such radical notions; they

were

war dragged on and Athens needed whatever moral

strength
It

it

could muster.

piety,"

who

new

inspired the flowering of a

until a generation later.

from the immediate

it

of "im-

phi-

Athens. But that was not to happen

in

Athens had

first to

effects of the war,

recover

which

economically exhausted and torn by

left

political

problems.
political

difficulties

stemmed

from Sparta's bungling attempts

government favorable
gave

its

cratic

element

a ruling

to

Spartan

to

ideas.

in

at the Battle of Leuctra

under

a gifted

general

At Athens, with
rants, a
city

was de-

removed from power by the defeat

by

of

its

Theban army

named Epaminondas.

the departure of the Thirty

Ty-

measure of democracy was restored and the

began

to

mend

its

shattered economic
its

The

life.

treasury and

it

could no longer, as in former times, draw upon the

treasury of the Delian League. Athenian markets
in the

Mediterranean had been encroached upon by

from other countries not involved

traders

the

in

war. In the port cities of Sicily and Italy, for ex-

ample, Athenian ships

now had

large

in the

Black Sea area was

began

to concentrate its

install

Sparta

support to the conservative, antidemoin

Athenian

council of 30

ferred to in

politics,

and appointed

men who were

Athenian history

as

afterward

the Thirty

re-

Ty-

rants. Instead of governing, the Thirty spent their

time persecuting their old opponents, the democrats.

army

it

were

to share their

com-

merce with ships from Carthage. But Athens' trade

Athens'
part

governments

expenses of the war had emptied

was Socrates, another Sophist accused

losophy

local

Its

gains were quickly spent. In 371 B.C.

cisively

may even have

downright harmful while the

to be

commanders.

positions as gar-

They

confiscated property and

an appalling number of

men

to death,

condemned
with

little

still

ports as distant as the Crimea.

was
of

sufficiently

its

and

intact,

it

now

shipping there, calling on

prosperous

to

By 370 B.C. Athens

attempt

a restoration

Empire. At best the attempt was successful

only in part and by 360 B.C. had clearly failed, but

the city

had obviously recovered enough

become again the

"school of Hellas." In this

Pericles'
its

vitality to

spiritual center of Greece,

new phase

the

the

Athens

of

day was replaced by an Athens that took

attitudes from the ideas of Socrates.

THE DISCUS THROWER holds

used for throwirjg. Then a

the plate-shaped weight

flat

palm outward. At

first

a discus was any object

disk was used. Stone disks weighed about 15, metal ones 3 to 9 pounds.

THE PANHELLENIC GAMES

Scarcely a city failed to stage games in honor of the gods, but the attention of
all

Greece was attracted by the four great Panhellenic

Games

at

Olympia and

and the Nemean Games

the Pythian
in Argolis

Games

at Delphi,

festivals:

and the Isthmian Games

every two years. These drew athletes from

all

the

at

parts of Greece.

Corinth, each held

They competed

individuals, not as teams (though their cities gloried in their victories),

vently amateur basis.

Wars were put

violating the sacred truce of the

aside for the

Olympic

both held every four years;

Games; Sparta was

Olympic Games during

on

as

a fer-

fined for

the Peloponnesian

War.

IN

A PRE-GAME CEREMONY fl pig, IS formally slaughtered as a sacriThen the athletes swore they had trained hard for 10 months.

fice.

THE OLYMPIC GLADE

Greatest of the Panhellenic
pics, held at

Games were

Palaestra, or training area, stand.

a

town but

the

Olym-

Olympia, where the mute ruins of the

Olympia was not

grouping of temples and arenas

the fields. People

came

to

it

from

all

in

parts of Greece

and since there were no permanent houses, they

set

up

and

tents

politics; often

ranged
ers

at the

Among them

slept in the open.

were leaders from

all

the cities

who

talked high

peace treaties or alliances were ar-

Games. Also present were horse

deal-

and shouting vendors of wineskins and food,

amulets and votive offerings, for this was not only

a religious occasion

but also a

fair.

The crowds

flowed to the stadium to see running and jumping

events, discus and javelin throwing.

They went

to

the hippodrome, or race course, for the horseback

and chariot
altar of
tling.

races.

An open

Zeus was the arena

space in front of the

for

boxing and wres-

Elsewhere in the forest of altars and statues

could be found artists and poets come to entertain

or sell their wares,

and

at night, there

was

feasting.

AT THE TRAINING AREA of Olympia, wind-stirred flowers evoke

the

:F^
jm0:
jat-v*^;
m^}^:^

H"-"

.^tt

4J

*"^J

.fW

ghosts of multitudes of people. Here the judges gathered to watch the

athletes go through their final preparation before participating

in the actual

games.

THE CHARIOTEER was one of the few clothed athletes. Because the victor's crown went not to the driver but to the

owner of

the chariot

and

horses, rich

men

sometimes entered as many as seven chariots

avid for honors

in the

same

THE STARTING SLAB at Olympia (below), divided to give each

runner four feet of lateral room, accommodated 20 men. The
racers,

who wore no

according

to

shoes, lined

up by positioning

their feet

the grooves that are cut into the stone slab.

ipmn

race.

RUNNERS AND CHARIOT RACING

Racing foot racing from such

starting blocks as

various intervals calculated to bring

all

the chariots

The distance was

the one at the far left and chariot racing behind

into a line at the start of the race.

such steeds as those above was the essence of the

nearly nine miles, or 12 double laps back and forth

Games. The opening spectacle of the Olympics was

between two posts

four-horse chariot race.

lined

up

As many

The ropes

its

ground. Since swinging

four galloping horses around a stone post sent the

prow-shaped

chariots skidding wildly, the races were run off in

in the stalls of a triangular,

starting gate with

in the

as 40 chariots

apex facing down the course.

freeing the contestants to run dropped at

a dust

storm of

Very few

collisions,

starters

managed

spills

to

and upendings.

finish

the course.

IN

WAR GEAR

citizen warriors

compete

in

a special race that

many Creek

spectators apparently considered comic. But the event was, nonetheless, very

popular and 25 shields were on hand at Olympia for the use of the contestants.

FIERCE

COMPETITIVE SPIRIT
Competition
all

Olympia was

at

fierce.

Jockeys rode

out without saddle or stirrups. Jumpers carried

weights

in their

hands which they swung

forward impetus. The pankration was

tion

to gain

combina-

boxing and wrestling, kicking and strangling

fight to the finish

with nothing barred save goug-

ing and biting. Breaking an opponent's fingers

also

condemned. Save

were contested

in rare instances the

in the nude.

seemed the natural way

To

the Greeks nudity

to exercise and

pride in physical fitness and

was

games

shame

at

it

fostered

being flabby.

A BOXING TRIUMPH comes when the victor gets

head and the

loser,

left,

EVENTS OF THE PENTATHLON, depicted on the cup

round athletes
sport.

Among

who

could do well in a series of

the pentathletes

shown

raises a finger to

at the left,

in

were designed

five contests, rather

a crack to the

acknowledge

to

defeat.

choose

all-

than specialists in one

here stands a trainer holding a baton in his hand.

IN

AN ANCIENT BALL CAME, each side tries to force the other back
its own goal line. A favorite sport of youths in their late teens,

over

PASTIMES
Training was grinding work.
that the

Greek word

for

It is

not happenstance

English word "agony." But there were periods of

idle

moment

and dog

at the training

fights like the

one

Men

might use an

school betting on cat

at

had aspects of modern rugby. But

for the

this sport

was recreation

Creeks and was not one of their more serious games.

AND AMUSEMENTS

pubHc games became the

rehef from the endless practice.

it

the right, or they

must now be guessed

at, for

dence about them than

crooked sticks

in

or a picture of a
to catch

made

ball.

what looks

man on

there

is

a picture of
like a

no other

evi-

two men with

hockey

face-off,

another's shoulders trying

These were pastimes that never

the Olympics,

where there were no team con-

could get up a vigorous ball game (above). Greek

testsperhaps because the Greek temperament was

no end of games whose exact nature

too hotly competitive for the cooperation required.

art pictures

ANIMAL FIGHTS, such

as the one being

promoted

in

the picture above, provided

amusement and an occasion

for

gambUng

in

gymnasiums.

THE WINNERS' AWARDS

Winners

at the great

Games

Panhellenic

only garlands wild olive leaves

at

received

the Olympics,

Games at Corinth,
Games at Delphi, and parsley
Nemean Games in Argolis. Lesser festivals

pine needles at the Isthmian

laurel at the
at the

Pythian

gave valuable prizes: 100 vases of olive

to the

oil

chariot race winner at Athens, cloaks at Pellene,

shields at Argos. But there were other benefits as
well. In their
victors.

special

home

cities statues

were erected

to

At times the hero was welcomed through a

hole knocked in the city's walls. He was pa-

raded in triumph through the streets, and poems in

his praise

were sung

in public places.

enthusiastic city might give

all

public spectacles,

tion

and give him

Games,

is

laurel,

awarded winners

re-created over a similar stone wreath

theater of Dionysus in Athens.

Laurel

was sacred

THE VICTORS PRIZE

such as
side

this

one.

at

Delphi's

now
to

in

the

Apollo.

at Athens' games was olive oil, in amphorae

The vase has a picture of Athena on one

and a picture of the game

it

was given

for

on the other.

especially
seats to

make him exempt from

free meals.

where, too, he was given

THE VICTORS GARLAND of

An

him front-row

taxa-

And in Athens, and else-

good round sum

in cash.

A YOUTHFUL WINNER of the games

is

shown

in this

bronze wearing a

fillet,

or hand,

around

his head. This

band

will serve to

support the garland.

1%

After 404 B.C., Athens never regained the glory of

Age because much

the Periclean

from

were now,

beliefs that

To Athenians

eroded.

not dead,

by Sparta had tarnished

when

during the period

at

least

a life spent in the service of

had once seemed

their city-state
feat

of that glory arose

if

but the de-

ideal,

that ideal. For a time,

the Sophists

over Athenian intellectual

life,

sway

held

some men aspired

to

nothing except getting ahead in the world. Then

and gave Athens

the ideas of Socrates took hold

new

spiritual concern. In the Socratic view, a

conscience was
the

demands

man's

guide to right conduct than

a better

An

of society.

Athens with

this belief

could not hope to return to the golden days of

A NEW TIME

Pericles,

but

accomplishments

its

followed the war,

OF BRILLIANCE

ishing. In Plato

the

in the

less glorious, are

if

and Aristotle

it

century that

no

aston-

less

produced two of

most extraordinary thinkers who ever lived

the Platonic and Aristotelian systems of thought

underlie

much

of

Western philosophy. Fourth Cen-

tury Athens also raised oratory to a fine

art;

public

speakers gave their discourses the brilliance and

an

style that

had lavished on drama and

earlier age

poetry.

Socrates was the

exponent

first

Greece of

in

morality based on the demands of individual con-

demands

science rather than the

of the state. His

teaching took the form of relentless questioning.

The

method was based on

Socratic

pitiless

nation and skepticism, a combination

have doomed

his

search

truth

for

nothing can be accepted as true,

And

be found?
intentions

posed

to

yet

to

how

the

of

theories

may

failure.

If

can truth

seriousness of Socrates'

the

beyond question. He was

is

exami-

that

totally op-

power and expediency

current at the time; he had no personal ambition,

money

refused to take

order his

own

life

for his teaching,

along the simplest of

he was deeply religious, and although he

said very

little

about his

beliefs,

they played

Socrates'

ruthless

inquisitions

the city's old self-assurance.

to

generations

"Venus de Milo" because

it

is

was found

a statue of Aphrodite,

known

a large

life.

of

Athenian attitudes may have helped

the

tried to

lines. In his

own way

part in his

MOST LOVELY OF WOMEN

and

Athenian public thought

traditional

to

undermine

One segment

this to be so,

and

of the

felt

that

as

at Melos. After the Peloponnesian

War, though some arts declined, sculpture flourished for over 300 years.

his teachings
officially

were dangerous. In 399 B.C. he was

accused of introducing strange gods and

corrupting the young, and brought to

Socra-

trial.

might have saved himself by recanting, or con-

tes

ceding that he had been at fault, but he refused.

On

by de-

the contrary, he antagonized his judges

fending his actions in a speech which they regarded as arrogant:

Athenians,

own

sake

am

sin against the

am

not going

argue for

my

may

not

to

hut for yours, that you

God by condemning me, who

if you kill me you will

his gift to you. For

not easily find a successor to me, who,

may

if

and

a sort of gadfly, given to the state by God;

the state

and noble steed who

a great

is

am

use such a ludicrous figure of speech,

is

tardy in his motions owing to his very size,

and requires

to be stirred into

God

gadfly which

and

all

day long and

fastening

you

am

that

am

in all places

always

upon you, arousing and persuading

and reproaching you. You

another

life.

has attached to the state,

like

will not easily find

me, and therefore

would advise

to spare me.

Athens, condemning him to death, ordered him

hemlock. As the poison was taking effect

to drink

Socrates sat and talked quietly with a group of his

friends.

who

The

talk

was recorded by

his pupil Plato,

hailed Socrates as "the wisest

and best man" who ever

Plato set

down

all

and most
and

lived, a saint

he could remember of Socrates'

teaching (Socrates himself never wrote a

and

his

own

by Socrates'

long and productive

passion

for

truth,

When

is

not worth living.

his

was shaped

THE SPARTAN WARRIOR, shown

in

his cloak

its

own

without

to

enlist

Socrates died, Plato was 30 and seemed

life.

He was born

Athenian aristocracy and was thoroughly

schooled in music, mathematics and

letters.

The

by

and helmet, dominated Greece

life

in a

harsh military

commu-

Spartan was the best infantryman of his time. But rigid rule brought

nity, the

uncomprolife

"

destined for a career in public

into the

thing),

after the defeat of Athens. Disciplined

life

mising morality and his belief that "a

inquiry

just

a martyr.

weaknesses. The warrior caste gradually dwindled; the city refused

new blood and Sparta shrank from

strength

to

insignificance.

death of his teacher scarred his

the course of his

life.

When

to travel abroad.
city

and

spirit

For a time he

about 385 B.C., he founded a school

Academy), where he taught

as the

Socrates:

durance

he returned to his native

garden called Academus (the school became

noble, certainly.

And you would

is

say that a wise en-

good and noble?

also

Laches: Very noble.

the

in

Most

Laches:

altered

Athens

left

what would you say of

Socrates: But

known

ish

until his death

endurance?

a fool-

not that, on the other hand,

Is

regarded as evil and hurtful?

to be

in 347.

Along with many

was much

Laches: True.

day Plato

intellectuals of his

in

He

especially geometry.
to

believed that

any system of thought, and he

mathematician. In

self a

more than
assign
ideas

this,

him

fact,

Plato

was

it

basic

liked to call him-

that

is

it

lowers of the Sixth Century philosopher

to fight,

is willitjg

fewer and inferior men

will be

hard to

pose that he has also advantages of position;

fol-

would you say

of such a one

some man

opposing army

in the

dures and remains at his post,

Laches:

mathematical

systems

believe that the entire universe

upon numerical

relationships.

struse ideas that Plato

into his

Plato

some matter
cussion

which

in

written dia-

group of people discusses

The

disin

follows a skillfully concealed

it

plan. Socrates

often the leading character, be-

much

as he

behaved

in

is

in the

should say

is

the braver?

the latter, Socrates.

is

a foolish endur-

ance?

tone, but in fact

having

that he, or

Laches: That

true.

is

The Dialogues cannot

possibly be actual records

of Socrates' conversations, but undoubtedly they

of far-reaching importance.

is

who

was these ab-

It

always natural and conversational

is

to

borrowed and incorporated

Socrates: But, surely, this

the

was constructed

own philosophical system.

set down his philosophy

logues, in each of

and

He had come

opposite circumstances to these and yet en-

who had

formulated the Pythagorean theorem every school-

mystical meanings of numbers.

cal-

will help him,

against him than there are with him; and sup-

boy knows. Pythagoras' investigations had been

concerned with

endures

and wisely

and knows that others

and that there

took his mathematical

from the writings of the Pythagoreans,

war, and

culates

he was a great deal

much more

so

label.

who

Socrates: Take the case of one

interested in the science of mathematics,

life.

He

subjects

are developments of his ideas

and methods. And the

message of the early Dialogues

Socratic. Later on,

own

ideas, he

when

continued

and even continued

It is

his

thoughts

He

also

undoubtedly

to

use the dialogue form

spokesman.

to use Socrates as a

characteristic of

down

is

Plato began to express his

him

that he should

in this indirect

have

set

way, and he did

ideas to keen analysis, reveals cracks and flaws in

it

the reasoning of his colleagues, and reduces his

only be found by arduous search, and could never

for a reason.

believed that the truth could

for

be presented as dogma. In their slow and careful

the purpose of discovering the truth. In one dia-

exploration of philosophical problems from more

logue, for instance, Plato has Socrates question a

than one point of view, the Dialogues dramatize

opponents

character

to

impotence but always, and only,

named Laches on

the nature of courage:

this search

truth.
Socrates:

am

sure, Laches, that

you would

consider courage to be a very noble quality.

and show how

They were

difficult

it

search: the self-questioning that goes

man when

he

is

is

to find the

also intended to illustrate another

on within

troubled by large and fundamental

issues. Plato may have used the dialogue form so

human and lively and dramatic as an outlet for
his own inner struggles, turning those struggles into

drama

a literary

in

which the chief events

his actual philosophy

that

is,

are ideas.

also allowed Plato to express both

The dialogue

and

his philosophical attitude

both a body of ideas and a method of

ar-

riving at them. Deeply involved in his search for

truth, Plato

the

may have

believed that the

method was

more important of the two, but the scope and

multiplicity of things perceived

merely "appearance";
a

world of Forms, or Ideas.

templation, though

arts.

many

Plato expanded and revised

of his

trine

was

a consistent, highly organized

lived.

liking for the time in

he aimed at an ideal quite remote from

complishments of men

to reality.

which he

a source of

tocles

and

Pericles

meant nothing

to

it.

The

ac-

and Themis-

like Miltiades

him; they had

with harbors and dockyards and walls

"filled the city

known

more im-

too

removed from the world

consummate

he wanted poetry excluded from his ideal

because

system of

Far from wishing to revive Periclean Athens,

be

far

words, and responded more than he liked

represented an imperfect approach

it

At the same time

no

was

Although he himself was

to poetry,

state

thought.
Plato had

it

high a value. Plato attacked the fine

set so

He thought them

artist in

but right from the start his philosophical doc-

may sometimes

it

portant than the world of the senses on which the

Greeks

achievement for one man. During the course of his

life

world, was

the Form, or Idea,

meaning and substance.

through intuition. In either case

of Ideas.

ideas,

it

It is

This world of Forms must be sought through con-

quality of his actual philosophy are an astonishing

long

which gives

of a thing

by the senses was

reality, the "real"

much

that lay

ment.

He

stories of

that he rejected the senses as

Plato believed that

truth,

beyond the scope of

insisted that there

was

there

rational argu-

was truth

in the old

rewards and punishments after death for

actions done in

and he made these rewards and

life,

punishments the cornerstone of

Thus

system of mor-

his

by

and tributes instead of with righteousness and tem-

ality.

perance." Even their political ideas seemed to him

mystical sense of another world. Plato himself at-

false, for

he believed not in political liberty, but in

order. In his Republic,

down

his notions of

and

what

Laws, he set

later, his

a state

ought

to be.

He

believed in government by a wise few, especially

trained for the task, an intellectual and moral

These "philosopher-kings

'

philosophy

is

tached these beliefs to monotheism.

sist

on monotheism

that the religious

life

in others, but

was

fortified

He

did not in-

he did believe

a necessary

foundation to

morality and law.

Plato's strength lies in this

elite.

would be educated from

his rational

ticism and logic.

Once

his

combination of mys-

assumptions are granted,

childhood until the age of 35, by which time they

everything seems to follow from them. Yet this

would be

method

fit

to

govern the

ideal education in detail,

state. Plato

described this

and went on

to lay

down

the laws and the administrative structure of

his

ideal state.

These

phy

that

was

at

were based on

a philoso-

once penetrating and all-embracing.

Like other mathematicians of his day Plato believed

that

all

the eye,

applied to the physical universe.

to

political notions

matter,

however various

was governed by

it

appeared to

few basic laws. The

of assumption and deduction, so entirely

right in mathematics, runs into trouble

show

When

that the physical world, too,

certain rules, he dealt a cruel

Plato, these rules

were God-given.

great artificer. Physical

plained, not

blow

by looking

when

is

must obey

to science.

To

God was

the

phenomena were
at

it

Plato set out

to be ex-

them, but by speculating

on why God had made them

so.

Thus

Plato ignored

A NEW POWER BORN

IN BATTLE

greatest gift in order to save the Republic.

A young

soldier,

Marcus Curtius, declared

was Roman cour-

that

Rome's chief

age.

Then, on horseback, he plunged into

asset

deep chasm that had opened up

Forum. The moment of

picted in the relief at

in the

his sacrifice

de-

is

left.

In a series of local

wars the Romans

pushed outward from the Tiber. At

Rome imposed

first

on

treaties of alliance

its

vanquished neighbors, becoming the leader

and the chief beneficiary of the Latin

League. Inevitably this arrangement proIn the

mid-Fourth Century B.C.,

Mace-

as

But

in

dominance

new power was emerging Rome.

feated and subjugated

Tales of

and early history of the na-

tion

which began

According
required

to

on the Tiber.

as a city

one legend, the Romans were

by the gods

to

the need for observation and experiment

the basis of science. In rejecting

all

accomplishments, he even rejected

their

sacrifice

which

is

of Athens' past

suc-

its scientific

With
litical

fend

in Greece,

local rivals

all

system,

Rome
its

his

de-

finally

former

allies.

absorbed into

Rome was now

its

po-

free to de-

against other enemies.

interests

its

The new wars

338 B.C., the very

Macedon confirmed

the neighboring peninsula of Italy another

the legends

that followed

made Rome

master of the whole peninsula by 265 B.C.

He

for disorder.

turned men's attention

the world of the senses

and the

life

away from

of action to a

transcendent, invisible, abstract world. This was in-

deed a revolution.

cesses.

In the end Plato's

main conclusions seem wrong.

His ideal state was not only impossible

to realize,

knew, but was based on postulates that ran

counter to

revolts.

year that Philip of

bloody battles and lofty heroism dominate

as he

voked

donia was gaining supremacy in Greece, on

human

nature.

The

Athens

collapse of

had so frightened him that he was prepared

to

im-

order even on the activities of the mind,

pose

a rigid

and

this carried order too far.

Plato's philosophical

work was continued, and often

Plato's

and contradicted, by
girus in
Plato's

Macedonia

Academy.

In

Aristotle,
at the

volume

were even

his writings
all

of

them were,

speaking, his own. Parts of Aristotle's work

were done by assistants working under

system and marvelous lan-

Sta-

age of 17 to study at

greater than Plato's, although not

strictly

criticized

who came from

his guid-

ance, but his personality dominates every piece of

guage make him one of the most gifted men who

writing that bears his name. Even the literary char-

ever lived. Nothing was beyond the reach of his

acteristics of

subtle, discriminating intellect.

But he represented

the antithesis of almost everything that had

Greece great. He believed that action was

portant than thought, that personal success in

had no value, that

political liberty

was

made

less

fancy

im-

itself

name

these

writings

are

Aristotle's

own.

Unlike Plato's elegant dialogues, Aristotle's mature

writing

is

shaped into closely reasoned

which concern
clarity

for style or phrasing

is

treatises in

sacrificed to

and conciseness of thought.

Aristotle

was

rightly called

by the poet Dante

"the master of them that know." Almost no branch

of

knowledge seems

an experimental

have been alien

to

approach

sentially his

him. Es-

Although he took the

scientist.

whole world of knowledge as

look remained scientific.

to

knowledge was that of

to all

his

Plato

If

domain, his out-

was fundamentally

mathematician, Aristotle was fundamentally a

ologist. Plato rejected the senses as

bi-

being untrust-

worthy; Aristotle accepted them as one of the most

important sources of knowledge and as the means
for discovering the laws that

govern the physical

world.
Aristotle

enormously advanced the inquiries of

the scientists

who had

preceded him.

human

logic, to

his deepest strength as a philosopher: his tolerance

to

human

society and

behavior, and even to the art of words in rhetoric

and poetry. In each case he

first

collected

and

ar-

ranged the evidence; then drew up distinctions and

classifications;

and

finally

proceeded to general con-

and wisdom,

He

believed in both ex-

periment and theory, and his whole work

by

common

in-

from the behavior of animals

the conviction that

both

The

than Aristotle's.

reject

human

societies Aristotle did not

Athens' recent past. Instead, he

what was good and bad

in

it

tried to see

by analyzing the na-

ture of political constitutions, describing both their

strengths and weaknesses.

He was profoundly hu-

man,

a trait not

ings,

but fully exposed in his Ethics. This treatise

combined
the good

always visible

Aristotle's

life

generous conception of

with the personal morality introduced

by Socrates and the

had brought

own

in his scientific writ-

intellectual virtues

to the fore.

To

which Plato

Aristotle, the goal of

every action was happiness, but not necessarily

it

in

ultimately intelligible and

is

divine.

influence of both Plato and Aristotle has

has been said that some

It

every age some

men follow a system

which everything

of thought

worked out from abstract

is

principles

by stern

system

which everything

in

men

and others Aristotelians: that

are born Platonists,

in

In examining

human and

been incalculable.

is,

other

of existence,

level

to the rules of correct

thinking, a universe that rewards inquirers with

sense so cool and balanced that

angry or absurd prejudices.

inherited his sense of a single uni-

verse that encompasses every

often seems impossible to conceive of an approach

spired
it

is

his lack of

Modern man has

clusions that were always balanced, perceptive and

well supported by evidence.

use of one's

and devised

and animals.

Later he took a similar approach to weather,

metaphysics and

full

essential nature. In defining this goal he displayed

the biological structure of living things

classifications for all kinds of plants

came from the

pleasure. Happiness

He examined

logic,

while other

men

examined

is

follow a
in detail

and conclusions are drawn cautiously. Plato has

ways been

al-

philosopher for mystics, and a political

guide for advocates of unity and order.

He

provided

the foundations of a philosophy which, in different

forms, infused religious thought for several centuries

and eventually passed

it still

into Christianity,

exerts an influence.

his political ideas passed

an thinkers, where,

in a

on

By
to

where

roundabout route

modern

authoritari-

debased form, they too

exert an influence. Aristotle laid

down

on which science was pursued

for centuries.

still

the principles

When

APHALANXSECTION, a 256-friaS(juflre,rowW/i^fif a/one

or as part

of a full phalanx of several thousarjds. In battle the five front

ranks extended their spears. Those behind rested theirs on the

men
II

providing a bristling barrier against arrows. Philip

in front,

used these troops

to

prepare the

way

for

cavalry charges.

ans had fought against the Greeks in the Persian

Wars, and

ceeded

to the

make

to

civilization

In 359 B.C., Philip

trifling.

Greek

all

He began

lands.

moved south

into Thessaly

east into Thrace.

By

exploiting the mines of

which yielded him 1,000

Pangaeum

in Thrace,

talents of gold a year (the

equivalent of eight million dollars today),

amassed enough money

Arab

him
It

Arab scholars

phalanx formation a

North

Africa, Sicily

and Spain

re-

to create

the foremost military

was

world preserved them. In the 13th Century A.D.,

in

moving

and armed with spears 14

ern times.

in

In one way, however, both Plato and Aristotle

were failures as

way

Neither of them saw

theorists.

out of the political tangle

left in

Greece by the

By 352

made

the center of

it

losophers. Dionysius' empire hardly survived the

for leadership against this

creator,

have thought

it

and Plato and Aristotle may

an eccentric and unnatural enter-

which could never be maintained. Yet

prise

in the

to

life.

same

northern frontier

Macedonia stood
tion to the

in a

Greek descent, aspired

sense.
rule

somewhat ambiguous

to

But they ruled over

was

force

brought

Greek world.

Its

kings,

rela-

who were

of

be Greeks in the fullest

a

mixed people, and

despotic, not democratic.

their

The Macedoni-

threat, they looked

its

feelings

much power and eloquence by a new generation of

men who brought to speechmaking the

not in Greece proper, but on

its

reli-

anywhere

toward Philip. Athenian policy was discussed with

orators,

Macedonia.

new

Athens. But Athens was divided in

middle of the century the situation began to change,

in

him

six or

Greek

Insofar as the Greeks looked

gious

its

to

it

all,

march on Delphi, whose sacred

to

ern Italy, but this feat impressed neither of the phi-

death of

he tied

had reached Thermopylae, and

B.C., he

shrine of Apollo

and south-

force,

seven wives.

Fourth

had

in Sicily

by military

alliances in marriage. Philip had, in

was preparing

empire

en-

and

domains. Sometimes, instead of

to his

a state

Century B.C. one Greek, Dionysius of Syracuse,

built a substantial

He

states,

while they fought each other he increased his forces

and added

by

for a civi-

talent.

couraged dissension among the Greek

unity of the Greek states; both assumed that the

was the only possible center

new

body of men

feet long. Philip's skill

diplomacy matched his military

annexing

lized, Hellenic life. In the first years of the

of his time.

sometimes 16 ranks deep,

in close order,

Peloponnesian War; neither was interested in the

city-state

commander

solid yet flexible

turned them to the West, where they formed the

mod-

Philip

an army that made

professional army, trained to fight in a

groundwork

for the resurgence of science in

suc-

his control into the outlying regions

of Macedonia, then he

these principles were forgotten in Europe, the

II

throne of Macedonia, and determined

himself master of

by extending
and

Greek

their contribution to

had hitherto been

who

and

skill

to poetry.

which an

One

side

earlier generation

was

led

by

had

Isocrates,

held that the real danger to Athens was the

Persians,

still

sporadically active across the Aegean.

In 346 B.C., Isocrates appealed to Philip to unite

the Greeks and take the offensive against Persia.

But

in the

war of words he was outclassed by

master of oratory, Demosthenes, the greatest of

all

Greek speakers.

Demosthenes had no humor, no

of

lightness

touch, but he had extraordinary oratorical power.

Appealing

to his

who meant

to

countrymen

the tyrant

to resist

overwhelm them, he mounted

erful case against Philip, driving each point

may have

with relentless force. Demosthenes

for

it

him.

to

argument and persuasion

fight for

upon

their

used

to

make

In the

liberty.

the

Philip,

He

first

was harsh

Although there

treated

by

mosthenes

talks

big

cannot

he

rest

with what he has conquered; he

cause, but

content

men

It

like

us,

while

we

When, Athenians,
action?

What

sit idle

are

you

you are compelled,

are

we

For

my own

to

powers of eloquence

and impossible not

clear that the

to

a lost

system he was strugtime and was

its

few others saw,

He was

that Greece

for?

Until

and he alone, could unify the Greek

But

what

he succeeded

happening now?

in

doing

so.

was

confident that he,

waiting

is

to

impossible not to admire De-

ready for political unity.

He had

and

city-states,

achieved what

theretofore had scarcely been thought possible, ex-

think that for a free peo-

cept as the loosest kind of alliance. Having united

ple there can be no greater compulsion than

shame

all their

is

presume.

think of what
part

is

Philip saw, as

and do nothing.

you take the necessary

will

It

has seen him largely through

for his patriotism,

it

cul-

fated to be absorbed in a larger system.

taking in more, everywhere casting his net

round

its

his capacity

Demosthenes, who feared and

gling to perpetuate had outlived

always

is

no question of

sympathize with him as the gallant leader of

no choice of action or inaction; he blusters

and

is

and bribery, Philip has been badly

posterity.

denounce him.

you

as the cen-

Hellenism and profoundly respected

ter of

hated him and used

fellow's insolence has soared: he leaves

Ath-

to

questionable stran-

Greek world, Philip looked upon Atheos

for chicanery

which the

to

was occasioned by sentiment.

the eyes of

Observe, Athenians, the height

Thebes but generous

good part of that generosity

ger from the semibarbarian fringes of the civilized

of his attacks

harangues the Athenians:

his military leadership in the

to

Undoubtedly

ture.

Demosthenes

all

and confederated

In the peace treaties that followed this brief war,

the Athenians

Philippic,"

"First

most of them under

ens.

lacked

city-states at Corinth

League of Corinth.

home

his gifts of

all

Greek

Philip

ardor of his love for the city. Athens

in the

meant everything

After this victory Philip called a congress of

the

pow-

Athens' mission, but he made up

Pericles' sense of

tia.

Greece, Philip prepared for even further exploits

for their position.

the conquest of Persia. But just as he

was on the

verge of attacking the Persian Empire, he was struck

Demosthenes' insight into

accurate, but only

prehend

Philip's

up

Philip's intentions

to a point.

He

was

could not com-

grand plan, but he did foresee his

moves, and made carefully considered and practicable proposals to counter them.

and eloquent argument he got

Through constant
his

oppose Philip and persuaded Thebes

in the struggle.

But

in

the

countrymen
to join

summer

to

Athens

of 338 B.C.,

Philip routed the allied force at Chaeronea in Boeo-

down. In 336

B.C., in the midst of a feast celebrat-

ing the marriage of a daughter, Philip

dered.

The murderer may have been

or possibly an agent of Philip's

pias. In

any

case,

it

first

wife,

Olym-

Olympias' son Alexander

succeeded to his father's throne,

As

was mur-

a Persian agent,

at

now

the age of 20.

turned out, Alexander was to outstrip his

markable father
in the

in military skill, in

range of his ambitions.

re-

diplomacy and

THE ORCHESTRA

(or diliuing floor)

ill

the base of an altar

ENDURING THEATER
Of

the hundreds of Greek plays

full,

but

it

is

clear

from

greatest achievements in the

drama

are obscure, but

whose

this small

it

titles

are

still

known, only 45 survive

whole history of

theater.

The

Greek theater came

to deal

behaved

in

this choral

in

beginning,

with profound subjects. The tragedies examined

the nature of evil in an effort to edify the

spirits

origins of Hellenic

probably began with dances and songs performed

honor of the god Dionysus. Gradually developing from

the

in

remnant that Greek drama ranks among the

mind by showing how

the presence of evil.

Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, this

In

the

art

expression, offering a powerful and profound

tragedies

of

form achieved
vision

of

great and heroic

the
its

playwrights

most exalted

man's inner nature.

Ih

!^

wn

LORD OF THE PLAYS

In the beginning Greek theater

matic story

telling;

was

it

was more than dra-

a religious rite

honoring

Dionysus. Youngest of the gods, Dionysus was the

lord of the

good

and giver of wine. In his

life

manifestations he was the god of revelry.

his followers

were women, called maenads. Intox-

maenads raced through

icated with wine, the

woods
as the

at

first

Among

night in

drama grew

torchlit
in

his

orgiastic

revels.

name and took on

the

But
its

various forms, Dionysus became a more serious

figure.

sus,

Perhaps because goats were sacred

to

Diony-

perhaps because goats were prizes for the best

A PRANCING

plays, the highest

called tragedy,

form of the plays came

which

in

to

be

Greek means "goat song."

MAENAD

carries a staff
believe,

ATTHE GRAPE

wears a snake as headdress and

and leopard

began

in

ecstatic

his grapevine

(left)

flaunts

two symbols:

and drinking cup. Other symbols the ivy crown,

the panther-skin cloak stress his role as god of wild

things.

many
rites.

The

PRESS Dionysiaii satyrs marked by horses

ears (above) preside over the

THE INVENTOR OF WINE, Dionysus

art of acting,

dancing of Dionysian

cub.

up more grapes

to

making

of the wine.

tails

One

and

brings

be pressed beneath the other's dancing

feet.

^^B

A GLORIOUS SETTING
FOR MAJESTIC
The

DRAMA

theaters were outdoor auditoriums

where large

audiences sat upon stone benches. Starting time

was daybreak. Often the

citizens

would

sit

through

three tragedies, a satyr play (a grotesque tragicomic

play with actors wearing horses'

and

tails

and

ears)

comedy. The theater was considered part of

Greek's education, and everyone was encouraged

a
to

come. The admission charge would be refunded to

playgoers

who

could not afford

it,

ask to be reimbursed for the loss of

In

Athens during drama

and they could

a

day's wages.

festivals all business

was

suspended, the law courts were closed and prisoners

were released from

jail.

Even women, barred from

most public events, were welcomed

THE SEAT OF HONOR

in

priest of Dionysus.

Other

seats.

skeuioii (a colonnade that eventually

{or scene building),

became the stage) and the skene

which was both dressing hut and stage backdrop.

Then came

at the theater.

Athens' theater was reserved for the high

officials,

priests claimed

50 of the 67 front-row

guests of honor and ordinary citizens.

0k.
A

MAKER OF COMEDIES,

ble inspecting actors'

ihf table are other

the playwright

masks.

masks

He

for a

Menander

holds the

is

mask

shown

in

mar-

of a youth.

On

young woman and older man.

EARLY TRICKS OF THE STAGE

Greek theaters were so

large that

it

was hard

to

head;

funnel-shaped mouths

communicate moods and

feelings to distant spec-

acted as

Masks were used

that instantly identified

was

tators.

the character as old or young,

py or

man

or

woman, hap-

sad. Further to create a larger-than-life ap-

megaphones

a rolling

to

the

in

direct

machine in Greek, from which came

masks with calm expressions on one

side
to

change moods with one swift movement of his

derrick per-

mitted actors playing gods to arrive on the stage

pearance, the actor was equipped with thick-soled

vices:

that

contrivance that was used to simulate

indoor scenes in the outdoor theater.

boots and robes with sleeves. There were other de-

and angry ones on the other, allowing the actor

masks

project the voice. There

from the heavens.

It

was

called

mechane

the Latin deus

ex machiua, or "god from the machine," a phrase

still

used to

mean any

artificial or

miraculous event

introduced into a story to help solve a plot

difficulty.

MASKS FOR TRAGEDY represent King Priam of Troy and a youth. These are terra-cotta
made of linen and plaster, once used by Creek actors.

copies of masks, probably

FROZEN EMOTIONS are etched on

helped actors submerge their

the faces of a devilish satyr

own

personalities in

the

and a buffoon. Masks

characters that they played.

Li*'!!?

m"

COMEDY, TRAGEDY AND

A WREATH OF IVY
Two

forms of Greek drama, comedy and tragedy,

came

to domir\ate the

Dionysian theater, ahhough

the other dramatic forms, the dithyramb (or

to

hymn

Dionysus) and satyr play, never died. In Athens

two

festivals

were devoted each year

and tragedy. The City Dionysia

to

comedy
March-

festival, in

April, centered

on tragedy. The Lenaea

named

Greek month (January-February)

the

for

festival,

traditionally reserved for celebrating weddings,

was

devoted chiefly to comedies. The playwrights submitted their work to an

chon.
to the

If

official

known

as the Ar-

Archon approved he "gave

the

poet i.e., assured him that

his

a chorus"

work would

be performed. Competition was fierce and even

a

cho-

was assigned

to a

famous writers were, on occasion, "refused

rus."

The

choregus

successful dramatist
rich

(a

citizen

choregus then chose a

to

flute player

proceeded with the staging.

openhanded,

a lavish

pay the

If

and

costs).
a

the choregus

judged the plays, and the

winners were awarded the Dionysiac wreath of

ROWDY FUN two

tattered

drunks

was

production emerged. At each

festival a jury of citizens

tN

The

chorus and

(left),

wearing grotesque cos-

ivy.

IN

SOLEMN THOUGHT Melpomene, Muse

of tragedy, contemplates

tumes and masks, hold each other up. Marked by an earthy

a theatrical mask. This terra-cotta figurine was found at Tanagra,

humor, comedies were often trenchant pieces of

near Athens, which was the center of the best of Creek drama.

social criticism.

153

THE SPIRIT OF GREEK DRAMA, representing not a scene from any

one play but a mood that expresses them

Athens by

its

all,

re-created in

is

National Theatre group and Creek

Army

soldiers.

A FLOURISHING THEATER
ZOOO YEARS OLD
With

the emergence of

West, Greek drama was

Roman
some

Rome
all

as mistress of the

but forgotten save by

playwrights. Then, 16 centuries after Christ,

of the plays were printed for the

Greek drama began

tine scholars

and

tragedy with

its

ets translated

time.

first

remarkable recovery. Floren-

artists,

trying to re-create

Greek

choruses, created grand opera. Po-

or adapted the ancient

Greek into

German and English. Now, there

few countries in the West where Greek drama

rolling French,

are
in

In

some form cannot be seen and heard every year.

America it is regularly presented in Greek on

some

college campuses. In translation the plays ap-

pear in professional theaters in

New

York and

else-

where, and modern playwrights have experimented

with masks and choruses in their

drama has become

part of every

own

plays.

Greek

man's education.

THETROJAN WOMEN,"
in a
its

1964

New

women

Euripides' tragedy of 415 B.C.,

is

shown below

York production. Before the walls of the burning

are being given to the

victors

to

serve as

city

their slaves.

"'

J'.

; ^^*^;

When

Philip of

Macedon

died in 336 B.C., his son

Alexander came into an impressive inheritance. Un-

much more

der Philip's rule Greece was politically

stable than

had ever been. He had successfully

it

united in the League of Corinth

all

the city-states

except Sparta and he had shrewdly permitted the

members

League's

Few

of the

Greek

much of

to retain

states

autonomy.

their

had Macedonian garrisons,

and no tribute was exacted. Philip had

insisted

only that the states undertake not to fight

among

themselves and not to overthrow the government

in

power

at the

time the peace treaties were signed.

young

Philip had learned to admire Greece as a

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

man, when he was

He longed
and to make

hostage at Thebes.

to be a Hellene, to lead the Hellenes,

his

own

people Hellenic.

Even

so, the

dom was

the

whom

Greeks, to

first

individual free-

of faith, found Philip's

article

control hard to accept. Political stability, however

desirable, did not justify the loss of their right to

conduct their

own

affairs.

Consequently they could

never truly sympathize with the goal of Philip's

Alexander dreamed of

heir.

whole world that

would be confederated and he came incredibly

to achieving that

led

ly,

the

to

which was

close

dream. His near success, ironical-

ultimate downfall of

his cultural

homeland,

the

just as

it

country

had been

his father's.

When

Alexander ascended the throne

of 20, Macedonia's

and

power was so firmly

Philip's policy of

world needed only

left off.

He

to pick

his father's

for organization, he
ality.

dream

his

up where

did so, but in his

Alexander had

age

expansion so well developed,

young king with

that the

at the

established,

had

of a unified

his father

had

own way. Though

ambition and capacity

very different person-

Philip had been a cautious, patient, often de-

vious man; he had never struck without careful

planning.

The youthful, headstrong Alexander

to settle

problems by immediate action. Making

liked

decisions with great speed, he took extraordinary

risks; his sheer force

and drive overcame the

His favorite book was the

Iliad.

risks.

Alexander saw

himself as a second Achilles, and not entirely with-

out
LEADING THE CHARGE, Alexander the Great, ardent and brave,
Persians.
field

"monster of celerity," the Macedonian was

cheering his formations forward. In

many

all

fights

battles he suffered

justice. If

ever a

man was worthy

to

be classed

the

over the battle-

wounds.

with the heroes of Greek legend, Alexander was

that

man. He was heroic

in

his

physique,

his

strength, his courage, in his unflagging endurance

and
tle

his

and

gifts

unconquerable
his confident

will,

in his delight in bat-

assumption that he possessed

He was no

denied to other men.

and

the strength of his affections

Assembly quickly congratulated Alexander, and

Greek

loyalties, in his

remained Macedonian

tion of Sparta,

Alexander

less heroic in

the

with the continuing solitary excep-

states,

now

allies.

took on a project that Philip had

planned but never carried out: an invasion of PerSolid political reasons led

him

unrestrained relaxations, in his generosity to his

sia.

enemies and his sudden outbursts of furious pas-

For a century Persia had interfered increasingly in

sion.

And

devoted

were mainly

Greek

affairs

and had constantly oppressed the

he handled the political prob-

Greek

cities in

Asia Minor. There was always the

although his

to warfare,

to this decision.

and

life

talents

lems created by his military conquests with brilliant

dangerous possibility

originality.

might step up

under

that,

strong king,

it

troublemaking and once again

its

The

actively take the offensive against Greece. Alexan-

philosopher imbued his young pupil with a love of

der had personal reasons for the invasion, too. Avid

was Alexander's boyhood

Aristotle

Greek

art

and poetry, and

instilled in

teacher.

him

philosophy and science. In

interest in

a lasting
later

life

Alexander had philosophers accompany him on

campaigns

to advise

him on

political matters.

totle's

mineralogist and a meteorologist.

own

Of

Aris-

particular philosophical bent, Alexander

retained almost no trace.

It

paradox that

is

youthful prince from a semibarbarian state should

and

for identification with Greece,

better

way

by attacking Greece's ancient

His

military retinue also included geographers, botanists, a

for glory

young King knew no

In

some ways

taking.

mous

It

the invasion

distance from

the

win both than

foe.

was

army

required a large

to

a reckless

to

under-

move an

enor-

supply bases, through an

its

unfamiliar country, against a power incalculably rich

money and men. Furthermore,

in

Persia

was gov-

erned by a patriotic and devoted military caste that

show

was eager

to

the whole world, while his wise and sophisticated

enemy

had weaknesses. The Achaemenid dyn-

teacher took the narrow view that the city-state

asty,

was the ultimate unit of

Darius

have conceived of

Within

a political

system that embraced

civilization.

accession Alexander ex-

year of his

tended his dominions northward to the Danube

River and westward to the Adriatic Sea.

He

then

also

in

But the

war.

which had produced the formidable

figures of

and Xerxes, had suffered the usual

hereditary despotisms.
III,

prowess

its

had come

to

The

current

fate of

King, Darius

murder

the throne through the

He was no leader in
brave man. The best of his

he

of his predecessor.

fact,

turned his attention to Greece, where Thebes and

was not even

generals

Athens were threatening

and satraps might have been able

ander put

down

B.C. Then, to punish the city for

as treachery, he

had

its

League. Alex-

to bolt the

the insurrection in

Thebes

in

335

what he regarded

inhabitants slaughtered or

sold into slavery and razed

all

of

its

buildings ex-

for his

quarter.

Many

and were unlikely

age lesson of Thebes brought results.

The

sav-

The Athenian

chance.

of the Empire's subject peoples had

Pindar himself was dead long since, but Alexander

a Hellene.

Alexander could also count on help from another

no loyalty or affection

revered him and was eager to prove that even a

compensate

hierarchy of the Empire did not give them

cept for temples and the house of Pindar the poet.

Macedonian conqueror could be

to

shortcomings, but the rigidly structured

their

Persian

rulers

an invading army. In

Greek mercenary army had dem-

401-400 B.C.

onstrated just

how

move

for

to resist

easy

across Persia.

it

was

for foreign troops to

The mercenaries were

in

the

service of Cyrus, a rebellious Persian Prince. Seek-

ing the throne of his brother, Artaxerxes

-j-i

led his

Euphrates River. There he was

tar as the

were

and the Greeks

Athenian, Xenophon,
in a

Cyrus

II,

10,000 Greeks toward Babylon and got as

later

leaderless.

left

killed,

young

wrote of their retreat

famous book. Anabasis. Harassed by enemy

attacks, plagued

by bad weather and hampered by

made

unfamiliar terrain, they

most 1,300 miles,

The

their

way

back,

al-

to the Black Sea.

Persians had

been unable to destroy the

Greek mercenaries of Cyrus. Alexander, with

his far

stronger army, had good reason to believe that he

could win. In 334 B.C. he crossed the Hellespont,

which Xerxes had crossed

in the opposite direction

nearly a century and a half before. Soon afterward

he defeated the Persian forces gathered to meet him

on the Asian

side at the River Granicus.

spoils of this victory he sent

armor back

to

From

the

300 suits of Persian

Athens. With them went the mes-

sage, "Alexander, the son of Philip,

except the Spartans, have

won

and the Greeks,

this spoil

from the

barbarians of Asia," thus expressing in one brief

and self-assured sentence

sians, his

his

contempt

even greater contempt

for the Per-

for the Spartans,

and his conviction that he was furthering

FROM A PERSIAN PALACE comes

this relief of a

the Emperor. Part of a panel

on a stairway

depicted for ordinary people

who were

what went on

whim

there.

in

camel

being,

led in

of lovely Thais,

who was

it

not allowed to enter the Audience Hall

Alexander burned the palace, legends say,

Greek

tribute to

Darius' palace at Persepolis,

to satisfy a

the mistress of one of his generals, Ptolemy.

cause.

As

the campaign progressed, Alexander's

plan

expanded. Originally his purpose had been simply

to destroy the Persian

army. Before long he had

decided to take over the whole Persian Empire.

he went on to achieve
gle battle.

Of

all

this

aim without losing

And

a sin-

the great generals of the ancient

world, Alexander was surely the greatest.

He

pos-

sessed an almost clairvoyant insight into strategy

and was

consummately resourceful

Napoleon, he believed

tactician. Like

in swiftness of

movement,

but he could be patient too, as he showed in his

long siege of the formidable fortress of Tyre.

He was enormously

skillful at dealing

with un-

Alexander's goal at the start of the Persian in-

familiar tactics of warfare, such as the use of char-

armed with scythes, elephants deployed

iots

in

vasion was the destruction of the Persian army.

and evasive, encircling movements by nomad

If

he thought of the Empire

horsemen. Sometimes he got unexpected help from

it

simply as

battle,

who was

enemy. Darius,

the

cruel as well as

cow-

did

em-

up

ardly, treated prisoners with a harshness that

the

bittered

Macedonian

Darius

victories

from the

fled

two major

333 B.C. and Gaugamela

battles, at Issus in

B.C.,

In

soldiers.

field.

in

331

With these two

Alexander broke the main Persian

resist-

ance and in the autumn of 331 B.C. he entered

Babylon, the winter capital of the Persian kings. In

December

of the

same year he entered the summer

capital at Susa.

From Susa he went on

monial capital

at

Persepolis.

Here he collected

treasure so vast, says Plutarch, that

mules and 5,000 camels

Persepolis, Alexander

King

the Great

clear. Possibly

in a
it

fit

remove

it

was

at last

it.

took 20,000

it

Before leaving

burned the huge palace of

have never been

for reasons that

a

whim, possibly he did

drunken excitement,

of

to signify

had

to

to the cere-

it

or possibly he did

that the Persian invasion of Greece

been avenged.

Alexander already considered himself King of

Darius was

of 330 B.C., Alexander

him.

He had

still

was

in

and more

govern

without also governing

it

effectively he

the Greek world.

was

statecraft as he

menid

kings.

the Great

Now,

King of

at last,

He

gious and social customs.

many

permitted each country to keep

Hellenic ideas.

Greek

of the

number

The most important one was

He was

city-state.

name and among

of

that

with his

liberal

the cities he founded were

no

fewer than 16 Alexandrias. Most of them were built

from the foundation up. The

one was the Egyptian

As

his

city

first

and most famous

which became,

century

center of the Hellenistic world.

Empire grew Alexander saw

Somehow

that

Asia

he had to bring Persians and

Greeks together into

he married a Sogdian Princess, Roxane. Alex-

ander does not seem to have cared

much

"he was wont

sensible that he

was mortal;

as

much

Alexander was

frailty

officially

and imbecility

of

human

for

wom-

say that

to

sleep and the act of generation chiefly

that weariness and pleasure proceed

he headed

327 B.C.,

In

single unit.

partly for political reasons, but perhaps also for

cemetery of the Achae-

role

reli-

extent,

national institu-

its

At the same time he introduced

tions.

local

some

even, to

Greece.

sent back to Persepo-

new

at

summer

in pursuit of

came upon Darius' body near

Persia. In his

with

it

skillful

Since his main concern was to keep the Empire

en. Plutarch writes that

for burial in the royal

to be as

functioning, Alexander tolerated

resentment of his mismanagement of the Persian

lis

and that

it,

merge

to

at military matters.

love,

it

had

He proved

when the Persian leader was suddenly slain by his

own men, finally brought to rebellion by their long

Hecatompylos, and ordered

more

could not be administered simply as a colony of

almost caught up with his quarry

defense. Alexander

setting

he saw that he could not hold

territory,

the Empire
to

beyond

control

establish his

question

at large. In the

marched north

to

Consequently he

military garrisons. But as he took over

later, the

Persia, but his right to the throne

as long as

little

he thought of

at all,

a source of wealth.

made him
to say,

as

from the same

nature.

"

Three

years after his marriage to Roxane, he married the

east to take possession of the remaining Persian

elder daughter of Darius in a purely political union.

provinces. After two years he reached and subdued

This wedding was

Bactria and Sogdiana;

he

now

controlled

lands that had belonged to Darius.

all

the

time,

communal

affair: at

on Alexander's order, 80 of

officers

married 80 Persian

girls

the

same

his top-ranking

of

noble birth.

Further

consolidate

to

Empire

his

drafted Persian cavalry into his

Alexander

own army and

or-

dered 30,000 Persian boys to be trained in Mace-

donian combat techniques.

for himself

and

He adopted

Persian dress

time even tried to get his

for a

soldiers to follow the Persian

custom of prostration

before the King. But his Macedonian captains were

They

affronted by this.

felt

that

it

implied worship,

and they did not think that Alexander was

Once Alexander

Macedonian captains and urged them

whole world as
their brothers.

a god.

called together his Persian

their

home and

all

to

and

regard the

good men

as

This was not a plea for the brother-

hood of man. That

idea

Alexander

the phi-

left to

who made it a
His own vision of

They

he was setting himself above them,

felt that

spoiling the old sense of comradeship-in-arms

which

had once characterized the Macedonian army. They

treatment of the

resented his

Persians

their

as

which obliterated the age-old distinctions

equals,

between Greeks and barbarians. They were

dis-

mayed when he put Greeks under the command

of Persians, and made Persians governors. More
than once, Alexander was faced with conspiracy.

He

could never be sure that forces

govern occupied

cities

would not

left

revolt.

behind

He

never rule out the danger of assassination.

yet he held his

enormous Empire

to

could

And

together.

After he had taken over the provinces of Bactria

his conquest of the Per-

losophers of the next generation,

and Sogdiana, completing

cardinal point of their teaching.

sian Empire, Alexander turned south and headed

brotherhood was inspired by simple

ex-

political

pediency: he saw that he could not hold the Empire

without granting

He wanted

people some rights and powers.

its

his Persian captains to feel

that they

were the equals of the Macedonians and wanted

the

Macedonians

Possibly

was

it

also

prompted Alexander
to

be regarded as

to

political

announce

expediency
that he

representative of

that

wished
gods.

the

Quasi-divinity gave him a status that transcended

his dual role as leader of the
Persia.

The

Greeks and King of

Persians agreed to his wish willingly

enough; they were accustomed

to associating

with gods. The Greeks, however, scoffed

idea.

gods,

was almost unheard of

himself. Divinity

man by
Most

for a

the

at

his

as

to deify
a

of Alexander's ideas for consolidating the

little

impression

Macedonian companions. They were

fit

their

no sympathy

own

sol-

His concept of empire

crude ambitions and they had

for his desire to

two centuries

govern responsibly.

before, in the reign

the Persian Empire had included part

of that subcontinent. Determined to recapture

Alexander crossed the Hindu Kush mountains,

lowed the Kabul River down

it,

fol-

the Indus River

to

Hydaspes River. At

the

to

the Hydaspes, near a place

fought one of the most

now

called Jhelum, he

difficult battles of his entire

opponent was the Indian King, Porus,

career. His

whose army was several times

larger

ander's and superbly trained.

included war ele-

It

than Alex-

phants, and the huge beasts reduced Alexander's

striking

power because

horses would not go

his

near them. By feinting a series of attacks and finally

attacking from an unexpected quarter, Alexander

One of the casualties of battle, howown horse, Bucephalus. Alexander

him as a boy of 12 by riding him when
could. He founded a city in his memory

defeated Porus.
ever,

was

had earned

others.

diers, not political scientists.

did not

man

was an honor bestowed on

Greek and Persian peoples made

on

kings

Although they sometimes recognized men

it

I,

and crossed overland

accept this equality.

to

into India. Nearly

of Darius

his

no one

else

on the

site of the battle,

From

the

naming

it

Bucephala.

Hydaspes Alexander advanced deeper

into India. Like

most men of

that the Indian continent

jutting eastward,

and

that

his time he believed

was
its

small peninsula

uttermost extremity

was washed by the body

of water, called simply

Ocean, that encircled the world.

Ocean and explore

reach

campaign. With

it

He

expected

to

as the climax of his long

mind he had brought with

this in

him rowers and shipwrights from Phoenicia, Cyand Egypt, and had even chosen

prus, Caria

boyhood friend named Nearchus. But

admiral, a

._

his troops

had other

ideas.

of the Persian campaigns, but not of

They had heard rumors

India.

fierce warriors

^^

an invasion of

"t
^P-*-

of vast deserts

and

334

AlCiAN-?,ry\

'Athens
/
M,le.us/Sa)is

-r-^4
'"

"

Xy

/I

and great armies of elephants lying

R.

B.C.

Captured 334 S C. *i,^

;,
Halijcarnassus*^ _,!'|.'y|
Captured 3J*B.C. \t^J

ahead. Besides, they were tired and yearned for home.

'2^

a / CRAWmS

V^UiSPCtnf

see the point

They could

'^^Or-

BLACK SBA

his

^
~V,_^

->>n^.V-ASIaV^^^INOR

^'

,,.

>,
t-.

'"

CAUCAMELA

'

331 B.C.

CRETE

They refused

to

march.

Alexander waited three days

When

minds.

their

would

them

for

to

change

he was convinced that they

home.

not, he agreed to start

On

the banks

of the River Hyphasis, he erected 12 altars to the

gods of Olympus, in gratitude for granting him so

many

victories

Then he divided

world's end.

the Persian Gulf.

in-

The

ALEXANDER'S ROUTE

rest

of the army, under Alexander, returned through the

Much

Iran.

desert.

route

of this

The heat was

now

lay

Baluchistan and

through scorching

so intense that the

army had
o

to

march

For

at night.

a stretch of

EGYPT

second group went

a northerly route.

southern regions of what are

Amman

Indian

structions to explore the coastline of the

back by land, following

Oracle of

troops, sending

his

one group back by ship, under Nearchus, with

Ocean and

Siwa
Visited the

and leading him within reach of the

MAIN BATTLES
MACEDONIA IN

V'^,
336 B.C.

ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE

RED

ALEXANDERS

SEA

ALLIES

ALEXANDER'S ROUTE TO AND

FROM INDIA 334-323 B.C.

CITIES FOUNDED BY ALEXANDER

200 miles, the

guides lost their way. Food supplies ran low and

had

the baggage animals

der brought his

ships.
foot,

He

to be slaughtered.

army through and shared

Alexanits

and refused water when there was not enough

In the spring of

and began almost

323 B.C. he reached Babylon,

at

once

to

regroup his army and

plan an invasion of Arabia. But in June

ney

had

The

THE EPOCHAL CAMPAIGN that Alexander began

that took

him

11 years to complete

(On entering Asia he made

pal aim: he left the army

for everyone.

struck him.

THE STEPS OF A MIGHTY CONQUEROR

hard-

sent his horse to the rear and went on

efforts

undermined

fever

and privations of the jourhis

hitherto

magnificent

is

in

334 B.C. and

traced on the

map

above.

a personal detour from his princito

visit

the exploits of his hero, Achilles.)

Troy, legendary scene

He began with

a mixed

of

Ma-

cedonian-Creek force of 30,000 infantrymen and 5,000 cavalry,

of

which the most important were the 2,000 "Companions."

The infantry included heavily armed spear and shield

and

lightly

armed

.f..;j^

^^^l^j^j^f^^i^'"^
.*.-^'*W^
<!?nj|

javelin throwers

and

archers.

carriers,

There was

al-

so a siege train equipped with portable towers and rams on wheels.

He grew rapidly worse, and soon could no

One by one his captains filed past

health.

longer speak.

he was unable to do more than

his bed;

hand and make

'ir^Z

ARAL
SEA

a sign

On

with his eyes.

With
SOGDIANA

tj Alexandria Eschata

Em-

his death the political structure of his

own

conquests reverted to their

(ieninabad)

his

of June, 323 B.C., not yet 33 years old, he died.

The Indian

pire disintegrated almost immediately.

Maracanda (Samarkand)

lift

the 13th

and Alex-

rulers,

ander's generals, grabbing for power, soon divided

what was

Bokhara*
Winter 328-327 B.C.

Persia
Bactra-Zariaspa

326

ARACHOSIA HYDRAOTIS
325
Alexandria
Arachosiae

B.C.

j
R.h

^,

Macedon.

states,

of
wounded

^"^1

two new

alliances,

(Uch)

INDIA

beyond

on

his rule,

own membership.

its

and they followed

some of

city-state

and adopted the Greek language

uJinte'^i^^

INDIAN OCEAN

at least

They modeled

their cities

titles

and

his

on the Greek
the

as

They even appropriat-

attributes,

and stamped

with his image.

In Bactria
300 Mile

authority or

patterns.

their coins

200

much

Alexander's successors in Asia claimed to carry

ed Alexander's

SCALE

city-

Achaean

the Aetolian and

lingua franca of their world.

100

apart.

fell

while most of the other states joined in one

influence

Alexandria

League of Corinth

Leagues, neither of which had

Opiana

BALUCHISTAN

Antigonus, became King of

Alexander

Alexandria.o'^AIexandrla

BALUCHISTAN
DES[RT

a third,

In Greece the

Athens and Sparta were again independent

hyphasis r

X^

(Kandahar)

(Colashkerd)

Egypt; and

R.

B.C.

GANDHARA//"^.

n/
>'

"S

TJ^Nicaea

Alexandria

ni>o
(Chazni)

in

HYDASPS
,./kBU1 ,

ad Caucasunn
,o'

One, named Seleucus, seized most of

Ptolemy, established the dynasty of the Ptolemies

'

Alexandria

"t-

BACTRIA

BADAKHSHAN

left.

and formed the Seleucid Empire; another,

and India petty

rulers for

many

turies claimed to be his direct descendants.

cen-

The

In-

dian King Chandragupta saw in Alexander's success

the possibility of uniting India under a single

archy.

The Mirs

horses were

of

Badakhshan believed

descended

mon-

that their

from Alexander's

horse,

Bucephalus. Greek

art influenced the art of all of

western Asia and

left

an enduring mark on the

sculpture of the Gandhara school in India. Greek

design infiltrated Persian design, and from

moved

to the Far East.

there

Objects showing Greek in-

fluence have been found at the western end of the

Great Wall of China. Several hundred years after

Alexander's death,

Roman

legions pushing into the

eastern Mediterranean and Asia found the residue

of his system

working and learned from

still

some

it

of the arts of ruling an empire.

but

Alexander himself was barely dead when he be-

came

the subject of a romantic legend.

his life

was

retold

The

story of

throughout the inhabited world.

For scope and variety

it

has almost no parallel.

There are more than 80 versions, written

languages and ranging from Britain

24

in

Malaya. In

to

one version his conquests take him westward

Rome and

to

Carthage, and then through the Pillars

of Heracles to the Western Ocean. In another he

made
siah.

tale

comes

to the

more

broadened the Greeks' outlook and

still

when Napoleon invaded

part of Islamic

Egypt. Bedouin

cultural

life.

Classical Hellenism

was modified by

Asian influences and became Hellenistic. In

form Greece influenced Rome, Egypt

Greek

areas of Asia, but

brilliance

and

zest of

and reached

heyday

its

to

Dark Age

the

in

in Periclean

and virtues of an

the elegances

all

ciety,

a sunset.

was nonetheless

it

The Greeks had achieved

their

marvelous

aristocratic so-

For a time events seemed to prove them right. But

The

ple could

way,

too. Like the

for action
les

do what they

did.

Alexander began

Greeks he loved action and lived

above everything. Just as Homer's Achil-

preferred a short and glorious

inglorious one, so Alexander

temperament
Greek

this

spirit,

improvisation,

its

its

love of effort,

to

realize

his

own

He embodied
its

full

the

capacity for

adaptation of ideals to

unconquerable urge

long and

was driven by

to a similar destiny.

with

life to a

regained

its

its

to turn against

was broken; the

too.

itself;

creative impulse

of endeavor.

its field

ever a people changed the face of the world,

was the Greeks

B.C. Without

are,

gifts of the spirit

certainly

Fifth Centuries

man

much

different

poorer in the

and the imagination. They exploit-

ed the whole range of

an ideal of

and

of the Sixth

them we should indeed be

from what we

that

human

nature and created

had never existed

form before and was perhaps never

so fully again. There

to

in so full a

be realized

was almost no sphere

of

life

the

accomplishment they attempted that they did not

life

for

perform

maintained

began

to fail.

failed

which the Greeks did not touch and transform, no

After Alexander, Greece was never the same. Poit

If

Greece

of

rest

reality, its

individual.

litically

fine intelligence

the old fortitude

it

the

failure,

its

narrowed

successes by concentrating their powers on certain

accepted ends, and by assuming that no other peo-

un-

thought that nobody could withstand them.

With

long day of classical Greece, but

its

doing. Athenians, maintaining in their democracy

carnated.
a splendid sunset to the

Athens

which had carried Greece

another was in the end

Athens attempted too much, and so had

made

the

with the Peloponnesian War.

to decline

from one success

lost

morning and noon.

its

The long process which began

of Ionia

had

civilization

this

and large

tribesmen thought that Napoleon was Iskander rein-

Alexander's career

same

the

at

time introduced essentially alien ideas into their

inspired confidence

Land of Darkness. As Iskan-

homogeneous.

Greek trade inevitably

to

The

China and part of Russia,

influence

its

had ever been,

it

diffuse and less

of Asia

has him going on from India

dary heroes of Islam and was

folklore

also

began

two-horned," he became one of the legen-

der, "the

was

first

to cross Tibet, part of

until he

it

Mes-

prophecy, precedes the coming of

The Persian

Alexander was wider than

The opening

is

the ruler of a world-kingdom that, according

to Biblical

was conquered by Rome. Culturally

after

independence, but

it

never

former power and after two centuries

at

the highest level.

have had longer

record of what
self

and

in the

histories,

Other peoples may

but none

man can do when

left

so rich a

he believes in him-

world into which he

is

born.

'>''

''^wii
A

CAVALRYMAN

IN

BATTLE appears on a coin issued by Macedonia's dependency, Paeonia. Paeonia fur-

nished contingents of horsemen to the armies with which Alexander established the Hellenistic world.

AFTERMATH OF EMPIRE
Alexander multiplied the Greek world fourfold and paradoxically made the
earth a smaller place.

When

his

troops reached India, they effectively ended

Persian control of the profitable trade routes to the Orient. Alexander put into
circulation the gold hoard heaped
ternational trade.

freeing

He

instituted a

commerce from ancient

up by Darius, and thus further stimulated

uniform coinage for

regional restrictions.

tiny city-states to share in the

new

affluence.

his

in-

vast domain, thus

The Greeks came from

their

In the 300 years that followed

Alexander's death in 323 B.C., they created a different era the Hellenistic age

that extended the influence of that remarkable

man

for

many more

centuries.

Hi

A SHIFT TO REALISM
Greek

art in the Hellenistic period

changed with the

changing character of the people. The detachment

of classical sculpture gave

human emotions
of

anatomy and

way

to

an exploration of

that utilized a greater

matter. Art, once a religious exercise,

business.
statues

The new

for

their

cities in

temples and

fl

in a

is

finding release from her cares

bout of drinking. Classical sculpture had

preferred to portray beautiful

laOCOOn and

young women.

his sons, a powerful study of

was done by three sculptors. The famshown in the death grip of serpents sent

terror,
ily is

by the gods as punishment after Laocoon urged

the Trojans not to touch

the

wooden

horse.

became big

Egypt and Syria wanted

AN OLD WOMAN 15 Roman copy of a Hellenistic work showing a very real and wrinkled

woman who

knowledge

wider range of acceptable subject

streets.

Not only

IN

ART

kings and generals but rich merchants bought marble replicas of themselves.
profits of its sculpture.

Athens boomed on the

Athenian sculptors turned

out both original work and

fair

copies of old statues.

Boatloads of artwork were shipped to

all

the Mediterranean. Eventually factories

up near
sale.

parts of

were

set

the quarries to turn out statues whole-

Even

so,

supply never kept up with demand.

NEW, ORNATE CITIES

No

matter where they were situated, the

of the Hellenistic world were

ture, language,
cite

new

Greek in

cities

architec-

law and entertainment. Palmyra,

one example, was transformed from

to

caravan

stop in arid central Syria into a thriving city with

a

marketplace,

a senate, a theater,

shops and

fine

dwellings. Here, as elsewhere in Hellenistic cities,

the austerity of Doric and Ionic

more elaborate Corinthian

was replaced by the

style.

These towns,

laid

out in carefully planned grids wherever the terrain

permitted, had more libraries, parks, gardens and
A STUMP or A COLUMN from the temple of Apollo

at

Didyma shows

the search for the ornate in Hellenistic architecture. In place of

a severe Ionic base, there

is

palaces than the cities of Greece.

They had

great

temples too, but often to gods strange to Greece.

a foundation of intricate carvings.

In the twilight of classical Greece,

some Greeks

turned to philosophy, others to Egyptian and Near

Eastern deities housed in temples of Greek design.
A FUSION OF STYLES on a sarcophagus of the Second Century A.D.
combines a Greek treatment of face and figure with an Eastern
sumptuousness

in the

sculptured wreaths and bunches of grapes.

i^^Bii

A STREET IN

PALMYRA

IS

lined with

columns that

in classical

Greece might have been considered too grand for anything

less

than an important temple.

^^-

>

-.

r
\f^
/

ALEXANDERS CAMPING GROUND

modern Afghanistan,

at Bactra, in

is

near a camel caravan route.

He spent two

winters there en route to India.

GREECE IN ASIA
The long reach

of Hellenistic influence

more dramatically evident than

is

Greeks ruled there only intermittently,

Alexander, then again

dhara a region now

century

later.

in Pakistan

nowhere

ancient India.

in

first

But

in

under

Gan-

and Afghanistan

school of religious art arose that was Hellen-

istic in

technique and

seven centuries.

It

is

sentation of the Lord

in this school. It

was

style.

It

flourished for about

possible that the

Buddha

a figure like the

modeled on the Greek god Apollo.

thought

it

repugnant

the Buddha's image

first

human form

in

to depict the

repre-

arose

one opposite,

Earlier

Buddhists

Buddha, but soon

was embedded

in the religion.

HANDMAIDENSOF THE QUEEN

A HEAD OF BUDDHA, made
Apollo topped by the

in

hump

Buddha's special brain. The

Candhara,

is

a modified head of

traditionally said

bump

is

to

contain

the

covered with a topknot.

III

Cuhihanm

carving are in attend-

ance at the birth of the Buddha. The modeling of the costumes

echoes the skillful handling of draperies by Greek sculptors.

'^t.-,-;-

'*

m..

^*'r^<^\

A SHATTERED ATHENA, the proud patron of

the

most

Creek

civilized aspects of

on the ground

(left).

life,

lies

The work, which was

discovered at Side in southern Turkey, was

part of a

Hellenistic

theater's

decoration.

INTACT COLUMNS of the ruined Temple of

the Olympian Zeus in Athens, the largest
Hellenistic shrine built in

stand today as soaring

European Greece,
testaments

to

the

aspiration that filled the hearts of Creeks.

FINAL ACTS

ON A CHANGING STAGE

Athens, the center of classical Greece's most glori-

Epicurus taught their differing philosophies

ously vibrant days, found a different role in the

generations.

Hellenistic world.
tiny

was decided

No

longer a sea power,

at times

by Macedonia,

des-

its

at

other

times by Egypt. Athens' intellectual leadership was

challenged by Alexandria, with

and

its

its

large library. Nevertheless,

new Museum

Athens was

still

with

new

Hellenistic

buildings.

Rome,

Not

to

new

Athens

leading families of Egypt,

sent their children to be educated at Athens.

until Justinian closed the

Athenian schools 500

years after the birth of Christ did the statues bethe city to crumble. But by then

revered as the fount of Greek thought and learning.

gin to

was more than

Zeno and

beautified

Syria and Macedonia, and later the upstarts from

There Philemon wrote his plays. The school of

Aristotle flourished under Theophrastus.

The

kings

fall,

a city.

It

Athens

had become the expres-

sion of an intellectual freedom that will never die.

"Fidure ages will wonder at

us,

!^^

>'^-

as the present age wonders at us now''

APPENDIX
Greece

^^H

AD

GREAT AGES
OF WESTERN

100

1200

X300

CIVILIZATION

1400

The

chart at right

is

designed to show the

duration of the Greek culture that forms

Exploration

the subject matter of this volume, and to

Colonization

relate this culture to other cultures of the

Western world that are considered

major group of volumes of

comprehensive

which

this chart

world
is

one

chronology from

excerpted appears

the introductory booklet

Comparison

in

this series.

to

this

in

series.

of the chart seen here with

the world chronology will relate the great

ages of Western civilization to important

cultures in other parts of the world,

some

of which are the subject of other volumes

in the series.

On

the next two pages

is

a table of the

important events which took place in Greece

during the period covered by

this

book.

and

_____

SHI

Renaissa

Rome

^^1

u
o
(DO

E
g

"^

"2

I I o

mV IVDISSVID

RISE

PELOPONNESIAN

OF ATHENIAN EMPIRE

WAR

SUPREMACY

RISE OF

MACEDONIAN
EMPIRE

.SPARTA

S a

"2

t;

-S

III

111!

1 1

1 1

! I

-S

jSS ^
I

'-^

Ht^Sn

oH<<H

"iHI-'<

Dft.

.c.<<UH<<

<

.1

<

THE OLYMPIAN FAMILY

Titans, led

Greek belief, there was a great void

From Chaos ultimately issued forth the Elder Gods, or
by Cronos. Cronos' son Zeus led the next generation of

deities the

Olympians the gods worshiped by

In the beginning, according to

called Chaos.

the

Golden Age

the Greeks through

of their history. Listed here are the chief

Olympians.

loorsbiped her, sprang full

grown from

the

forehead of Zeus. In earliest times Athena

was depicted as a young girl, but as Athens,
her favorite city, aged, so did the goddess.

Eventually she was shown as a matronly

the intellect,

She was said

in

womanly

ment

when

blow on

win

and the gentle arts of living.

have invented the flute, but

to

fashion she scorned this instru-

how

after seeing

looked

at

it.

disfigured

ARTEMIS,

fig-

under whose protection flourished all

that was most valued in civilized Athens:

ure,

her face

she puffed out her cheeks to

Although she helped the Creeks

Troy, she took vengeance on those

heroes who failed to pay her appropriate

homage. She established the rule of law,

virgin goddess of

moon, twin sister of Apollo, mighty

huntress and "rainer of arrows," was the
guardian of cities, of young animals and of
women of all ages. To her women prayed for
easy childbirth and she was the midwife at
the

the birth of her

own

twin brother, .Apollo.

She could be harsh: she blocked the passage

of the Creek army to Troy because Agamemnon boasted he was a better shot than she
was, and

demanded

the sacrifice of his

ter.

But some say she spared the

love

and beauty, presided,

daugh-

girl's

life.

even the concept of mercy, in the trial that

freed Orestes from the dread Furies after
he had murdered his mother at Apollo's orders.

ZEUS,
pus, king of gods
er,

sixth child of

was

ruler of

Mount Olym-

to

Some say

that her gift of the olive tree

mankind won her

the devotion of Athens.

and men, god of the weathCronos and his wife Rhea,

have been eaten by

his father, as were

and sisters. But his motiier hid
him and fed Cronos a stone instead. Grown
up, Zeus then fed Cronos an emetic and he
coughed up his sons and daughters. They
joined Zeus against the elder gods. Using
to

his brothers

lightning stolen from their elders, the rebel

children

won

the battle

and the universe.

APHRODITE,
APOLLO, god
patron of

truth,

archery,

of the sun

music,

and

medicine

and prophecy, was the most majestic of the

Olympians. This son of Zeus is associated
with the basic Creek precepts:
self"

PALLAS ATHENA,

virgin pa-

and "Nothing

"Know

in excess." In

thy-

Delphi he

tron of the household crafts, goddess of wis-

established the oracle, an order of prophets

that gave advice to Creece, both good and

dom and

had,

protectress in

war

of those

who

and prophecies, both

clear

and murky.

the goddess of

the poet Hesiod

and tricks: sweet

and caresses." Wherever

said, over "girlish babble,

rapture, embraces

she walked flowers sprang up, and sparrows

and doves flew about

her. To Ares, her lover,

among them Fear
had the power to beguile
even wise gods and often placed tempta-

she bore several children,

and

Terror. But she

tion in the path of Zeus,

making him forget

and his bride."

"the love of Hera, his sister

guardian of wayfarers, celebrated on the day

he was born by stealing Apollo's cattle. He

confused his pursuers with an ingeniously

trail. Caught, he protested that

devised false

he was too young for stealing. Perhaps

tongue

in

cheek, this trickster

witli

was named

god not only of commerce and the marketplace, but of orators and writers as well.

HERA,

O^

protectress of marriage,

married women, children and the home, was

both Zens's wife and his sister, one of those
coughed up by Cronos. Some tales say that

ARES, god
ly

of war, appropriate-

symbolized by the vulture, was detested

Zeus courted her for 300 years before she

would marry him. Hera wanders through

by Zeus and Hera, his mother and father,

the stories of the gods, always a

betrayed

started increased the population of the un-

Zeus loved them.

derworld. Ares embarrassed the other gods

wife, torturing girls because

but was liked by Hades, for the wars Ares

when he and Aphrodite were caught

rendezvous by

who

her

husband,

in

Hephaestus,

trapped the lovers with a nearly invis-

ible net.

But Ares, although a persistent war-

was not a very successful one. He was

captured by giants and wounded thrice by
Heracles and once by Diomedes. As a symbol of war, of its evil, its suffering and its
sorrow, he was held in awe by the Creeks
but he was never an object of adoration.
rior,

POSEIDON, god

of the sea

and

earthquakes, and giver of horses to man, had

a palace built "of gleaming gold," Homer
says,

deep

in

the

Aegean

Sea.

The Creeks

were thankful for the horse but they were

always wary of the treacherous seas. And
so they prayed to Poseidon to "be kindly in

heart and help those

DEMETER,
giver of grain and

fruit,

who voyage

in

ships."

goddess of crops,

withheld her gifts

when Zeus permitted Hades

to

carry

off

her daughter Persephone to the underworld.

Famine spread until a compromise could be

reached; Persephone would spend only one
the underworld. Then
and crops flourished anew.

third of the year in

Demeter

relented,

HEPHAESTUS, god
artisans, was, according to

pelled from

DIONYSUS, god

HERMES,
senger
cattle,

to

Zeus's son and mes-

and
and mischief-makers, and

mortals, protector of flocks

of thieves

of the vine

and fertility, of the joyous life and hospitality was the son of Zeus by a mortal mother.
Jealous Hera destroyed his mother and drove
him mad. He wandered the earth accompanied by satyrs and maenads. A symbol of
revelry, he

at times

gave Creece the

gift of

man's blessing, at others

wine

his

ruin.

Olympus by

of

fire

and

one legend, ex-

his

own mother,

Hera, in disgust at his lameness. From his

forges
first

came many marvels, among them

the

whom

the

mortal woman. Pandora, into

gods breathed

life.

On Olympus

he built

himself a magnificent, shining, bronze palace staffed by

many mechanical

Athens, a discerning city

manship, held him

in

in

servants.

matters of work-

the highest esteem.

A GALLERY OF HEROES
The heroes

of

Greek mythology,

mortals, but special mortals,

from the gods, were

as distinguished

some of

whom

claimed descent from the

gods; their feats were chronicled in tales and depicted in works of art
that expressed
thors, artists

Greek views

of life

and human conduct. To

and composers find inspiration

this

day au-

in stories of the heroes.

Highlights from the lives of some of the most famous of them follow.

killed

OEDIPUS, journeying
man in a scuffle. He

an old

to

Thebes,

then chal-

lenged the Sphinx, a monster which ate

passersby

What

two

ing,

gave thanks for

their deliverance

and heard

a voice ordering them to throw the bones of

their

mother over

their shoulders.

At

first

Then Deucalion realized the

was their mother and her bones were
The boulders they threw turned into

they refused.
earth

stones.

human

who

beings

repopulated the world.

who
at

noonday and

morn-

three in the eve-

ning? Oedipus' correct answer: Man,

first

alt

could not solve this riddle;

creature goes on four feet in the

who

must use

crawls, then walks, finally

Oedipus was rewarded with the hand

oflocasta, widowed Queen of Thebes. It had
been prophesied that Oedipus would murder
his father and marry his mother, and the
prophecy had now come true for Jocasta
was his mother, and the man he had slain
was her former husband and Oedipus' father. When focasta and Oedipus discovered
their horrible sin, she killed herself. Oedipus
put out his eyes and wandered throughout
Greece, prey to the Furies. Athens finally
sheltered him and he died there, promising
that his body would save the city from harm.
cane.

lO was loved by Zeus; he turned

her into a heifer to hide her from his wife
Hera. Hera, undeceived, put the calf under
the guard of hundred-eyed Argus. lo escaped,

but Hera pursued her with a gadfly until

Zeus restored her to human form. Later they

had a son who started the line of Heracles.

HERACLES was
to

complete

in

atonement

given 12 tasks

for a crime

com-

mitted by his father. In turn Heracles: (1)

choked

to

Nemea;
(3)

ing

death the "invulnerable" lion of

(2) killed the

nine-headed Hydra;

captured a golden-horned stag after chasit

for a year; (4) trapped a great boar

running

it

to

rivers to flush out the befouled

bles; (6)

drove away

Augean

sta-

the voracious Stym-

pjhalian birds and, as they flew up, shot

dowri with his

by

bow and arrow;

(7)

them

captured

wife, were the sole survivors of

the

his

flood

tempting

to forestall the

boy would one day

kill

cued arid when he grew up went

set

up

tar

and Ceuta);

the Pillars of Heracles

(11) held

(now Gibral-

the couple

land

up the sky while

turned to stone. With the help of the gods

Perseus killed Medusa, one of the Corgons,
and carried away her head. He freed Andromeda, a princess threatened by a man-eating

mother's insistent suitor

receded

to the

body scales, and hair made of twisting snakes,

Hesperides, then tricked Atlas into resum-

the waters

at-

res-

were so ugly that those who looked upon them

wicked. The pair floated on the waters in a

which they had stocked with pro-

was

man-eating mares of Diomedes; (9) asked for

and got the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of
the Amazons; (10) stole the cattle of Geryon,

sea serpent,

As

cast

of the Corgons. These creatures with wings,

he sent Atlas to find the golden apples of the

large chest

was

who was

prophecy that the

him. Perseus

with which Zeus destroyed a world grown

visions.

as a child,

into the sea by his grandfather,

the savage hull of Minos; (8) ensnared the

a three-bodied mor^ster and, in the process,

DEUCALION and PYRRHA,

PERSEUS,

exhaustion; (5) diverted two

ing the burden of the heavens; (12) captured

Cerberus, the

three-headed dog of Hades.

and wed

Next he turned his

stone by displaying Medusa's headand fulfilled the prophecy by accidentally killing his grandfather.
her.

to

of the Golden Fleece of a fabled ram. After

many adventures fighting Harpies, skillfully avoiding battle with Amazons the heroes,
called the Argonauts, reached Colchis

on the

Black Sea. Jason seized the Golden Fleece

and

fled,

accompanied by the sorceress MeKing of Colchis, fason

dea, daughter of the

and Medea lived happily together until Jason

left her to marry Creusa. Medea murdered

own children and took

drawn by dragons. Jason,
distraught, went wandering. One day he lay
Creusa, then killed her
flight in a chariot

down

in the

shade of the "Argo," his old ship,

fell on him.

and died when the rotted prow

CADMUS, commanded by

BELLEROPHON was

Apol-

found the city of Thebes, first had to

slay the guardian of the site, a dragon which
killed alt of his companions. To people his
lo to

ordered to

the Chimaera, a fire-breathing

kill

which had a

lion's head, the

arid a slithering

snake for a

monster
body of a goat
tail.

Mounted

in-

on Pegasus, the winged horse, Bellerophon

They sprouted armed

soared above the Chimaera, weakened her

men who fought each other until only five remained; with these Cadmus founded Thebes.

with arrows and finished her off by pouring

molten lead down her throat. Later Bellero-

city,

he planted the dragon's teeth, as

structed by Athena.

phon angered

the gods by trying to fly on

Pegasus

them

to join

in their

sacred enclosure

on Mount Olympus. But the horse threw

him and left him to wander the

pled and blind, and despised by

THESEUS, kinsman
and

earth, crip-

the deities.

of Heracles

his rival for heroic honors, cleared the

roads into Athens of bandits and penetrated

the Cretan labyrinth to

kill

the

half-bull,

half-human Minotaur. As King of Athens,

he fought Thebes, married an Amazon princess

and

also sailed on the

of the Golden Fleece.

er

EUROPA,
gathering flowers
in

sister of

Cadmus,

when Zeus appeared

to

ivas

her

Argonauts

terrible

in the

"Argo"

He took

in

search

part with oth-

Calydonian Hunt for a

boar and battled the Centaurs. Ulti-

mately, he united Attica into a single state.

the form of a beautiful bull with a silver

circle

on his brow and horns like the moon's

Persuaded to mount, she crossed

crescent.

became his bride and

mother of famous sons, and eventually

the sea on Zeus's back,

the

gave her name

to

the continent of Europe.

THE HEROES AT TROY:

Achil-

Greek warriors and of

the line of Zeus, was known for his implacable fury. But he learned in battle that "life
les,

greatest of the

is all

sorrow," and showed a new compassion

by allowing his

ATALANTA,

famed for his shrewdness, invented

them up, he passed her and so won the

Horse that

part in the heroes' hunt for

suitors

She offered

who

to

marry

could beat her

in

would kill. Daring

Hippomenes won her hand by carrying three
golden apples into the race. Whenever Atafoot race: the losers she

AbON and his band

of heroes,

Heracles, Orpheus, Castor

"Argo"

in

and

search

an honorable

lanta took the lead, he threw a golden ap-

women, took

the Calydonian boar.

Pollux, sailed in the ship

Hector,

ple in front of her; as she stopped to pick

of

any of her

among them

foe.

and beauty second only

to Achilles, realized that he had behaved ignobly toward his friends and ended bis life;
Agamemnon, commander of the Greeks and
brother-in-law of Helen, over whom the war
was fought, was killed by his own wife Clytaemnestra for having sacrificed their daughter to Artemis: Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and

most adventurous

race.

burial; Ajax, in valor

finally

won

the Trojan

victory for the Greeks.

GREEKS GREAT

AND FAMOUS

SOLON
(c.MO-c.SdO)

Reformer whose legal code, with its opposition

to tyranny and injustice, laid the constitutional

men and womWestern civilization. Of

foundations of Athenian democracy,

Classical Greece produced literally hundreds of

en

who made

this

lasting contributions to

number, 62 of the greatest are

(C.528-CA62)

identified briefly below. In

keeping with the Greek ideal of all-around excellence,

were outstanding
is

in several fields,

classified only according to his

of birth

THEMISTOCLES

Athenian statesman and commander whose advocacy of sea power and national unity made
him the chief architect of victory over Persia.

many

but for convenience each

major

activity.

Most

dates

and death are approximate. All of the dates are B.C.

ORATORS AND SOPHISTS

ANTIPHON
(.480-411)

Politician, professional

speech-writer and one

of the earliest great Athenian orators.

STATESMEN AND LEADERS

DEMOSTHENES
ALCIBIADES
(c. 450-404)

Gifted Athenian politician-general

that

"democracy

acknowledged

is

who

averred

folly."

(384-322)

He

ALEXANDER THE
GREAT
(356-323)

Successor to his father, Philip

don. Alexander launched

conquest that spread his

II,

King

Mace-

of

13-year career of

GORCIAS
483-376)

Empire and Greek

culture around the eastern rim of the Mediterranean, through Asia Minor and into India.

ISOCRATES
(436-338)

CIMON
(C.512-499J

Conservative Athenian politician

commander

cessful

in the

and
war against

won fame

for

powerful speeches warning Athens against

King Philip

(c.

implacable oppo-

nent of the rising Macedonians, he

his

turned traitor during the Peloponnesian War.

An

Greatest of Greek orators.

of

II

Macedon.

Prose stylist and noted

member

of the Sophists,

group of professional instructors who taught

public speaking and the art of successful living.

Influential speech-writer
al

famous

and teacher of sever-

orators.

suc-

LYSIAS

Persia.

Speech-writer noted for his simple, vivid

style.

(C.4S9-C380)

CLEISTHENES

Brilliant

(Sixth Century)

ocratic

who

statesman

government

in

revolutionized

dem-

PROTAGORAS

Athens.

Earliest

and best known of the Sophists.

(C.485-C.4U)

CLEON
(fifth

Century)

EPAMINONDAS
(c.418-362)

EPHIALTES
(Fifth

Century)

LEONIDAS
(fifth

Century)

LVSANDER
(fifth

Successor to Pericles as leader of Athens.

Century)

MILTIADES
(c.550-489)

NICIAS
(c.470-413)

Illustrious

Theban soldier-statesman who

per-

POETS

manently destroyed the power of Sparta.

Athenian statesman responsible

for

major dem-

ocratic reforms.

AESCHYLUS
(c.525-456)

King of Sparta and heroic commander of the

soldiers who were
wiped out by
Xerxes' Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C.
Spartan

ALCAEUS

defeated

ALCMAN
(Seventh Century)

Athenian general, renowned for his victory over

the Persians at Marathon in 490 B.C.

(Seventh Century)

the Athenian fleet at

who

Aegospotami

in

Prominent statesman-general who led Athens'

campaign against the Syracusans in Sicily.

(Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles). His

are dignified, sonorous

and philosophic.

Lyric poet of Mytilene

on the island

works

of Lesbos.

(Sixth Century)

405 B.C.

Spartan general and statesman

AND HISTORIANS

Oldest of the three Greek masters of tragedy

ARCHILOCHUS

ARISTOPHANES
(c.450-c.385)

Spartan poet, considered the inventor of love poetry. He wrote in simple meters, with easy charm.
Satirical poet

much admired

for his verbal

and

metrical originality.

Athenian genius of comedy. His plays are highendlessly

spirited,

and

inventive

laced

with

scathing attacks on his contemporaries.

PEISISTRATUS
(c.605-527)

Athenian tyrant who patronized the arts, beautified the city and promoted its power.

BACCHYLIDES
(Fifth

PERICLES
(c.495-429)

II

OF

MACEDON
(382-336)

Versatile lyric poet noted

narrative

for

his

clarity

and

skill.

Statesman, orator and general, considered the

all Athenians. He brought Athens
peak of power, and, through democratic
reforms and public works, transformed the city.

greatest of
to

PHILIP

Century)

its

King of Macedon, who, with military genius

and masterful diplomacy, took control of all
the city-states of Greece.

EURIPIDES

Least orthodox and most realistic of the three

(c.485-c.406)

great tragic playwrights. His plays express his

radical views of morality

HERODOTUS
(c.484-e. 424)

Author

of a discursive

the Persian Wars,

historical

work

of

and

religion.

and humane account of

which is considered the

Western civilization.

first

HESIOD
(Ei<ihih O'li/iirj/)

Author
farm

of

life,

Works and Days, a poetic account of

and The Theogony, a rich collection

PRAXITELES
(fourthCentiiry)

Celebrated Greek sculptor

who

excelled at repre-

senting emotion, with grace and relaxed strength.

of religious lore.

SCOPAS

HOMtR
(Eighth CeiiUiry)

The

giant of epic poetry,

and Odyssey. Almost nothing

life: it is believed that he was
ble birth

MENANDER
(C.342-C.291)

author of the

who

lived in Asia

known

is

Iliad

(fourthCentiiry)

is

in Paros, a leader in por-

traying strong emotion and vigorous action.

of his

Greek of hum-

Minor.

PHILOSOPHERS AND SCIENTISTS

Leading exponent of latter-day Greek comedy.

He

Renowned sculptor born

considered the father of the modern com-

ANAXAGORAS

edy of manners.

(C.500-C.428J

PINDAR

Supreme Greek

(518-4JS)

revered that

lyric poet.

His

memory was

when Alexander

the

so

telligence

composed of an

was

Great

who maintained that a supreme inimposed a purposeful order on the

physical world. He believed that matter was
Philosopher

infinite variety of tiny particles.

sacking Thebes he spared Pindar's home.

ANAXIMANDER
SAPPHO
(Sixth Century)

Poet of Lesbos so admired for her lyricism that

the Greeks called her "the

(610-C.547)

Tenth Muse."

ter

(c.556-468)

limitless quantity.

(c.

496-406)

(C.460-C.400)

ARISTOTLE

elegies in praise of fallen heroes.

TYRTAEUS

tion

terrible stress.

and

all

ponnesian War, in which he served as

a general.

DEMOCRITUS

Elegiac poet of Sparta.

His poems

reputedly

EMPEDOCLES

Tomb

mer-

HERACLITUS
(C.535-C.475)

Persian military unit.

AND ARCHITECTS

Century)

Master builder who helped design the Parthenon

and the Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis.

ICTINUS

Chief architect of his day, associated with Peri-

scientific

method.

Philosopher whose atomic theory declared that

things are

all

composed of invisible and

and of empty space.

inde-

Philosopher

who held

that matter

of four elements fire,

air,

was composed

water and earth.

cles'

Famed physician and medical

and frequent

429-347)

(c

Towering philosopher who, influenced by

teacher, Socrates, believed in
ideas, the greatest of
idealistic

styles,

his

the existence of

which was goodness. This

system inspired countless

whose approach was

intuitive

later

think-

and subjective.

portraitist

of Alexander the Great. His figure studies set

two new

held that logic-and not

physical truth.

he designed the great Parthenon.

favorite sculptor

who

Radical thinker

sensory experience was the only criterion of

ers

The

teacher, an early

advocate of sound diet and proper hygiene.

PARMENIDES

master plan to beautify Athens. With Cal-

licrates

Thinker who held that the basic condition of

life was change and the basic element was fire.

(Fifth Century)

PLATO

LYSIPPUS

His approach made him

modern

Historian and biographer. His finest work, the

Anabasis, was based on his experience as

ARTISTS

(FoiirthCentnryj

system on direct observa-

logic.

strict

roused Spartan soldiers to victory after their

(C.460-C.377)

(FifthCenturyj

Be-

structible particles,

HIPPOCRATES

(Fifth

it.

Historian famed for his chronicle of the Pelo-

cenary in

CALLICRATES

to

theory must follow demonstra-

ble fact, he based his

lieving that

(C.493-C.433)

(C.430-C.354)

in space.

opposed

that of his teacher Plato, but

tions reacting to situations of

defeat in the battle of the Boar's

XENOPHON

pioneered the conception

Creator of a philosophy as vastly influential as

Most perceptive of the great tragic dramatists.

His dramas present characters of noble inten-

(C.460-C.370)

(Seventh Century)

He

body suspended

the father of the

THUCYDIDES

mat-

all

Lyric poet of Ceos, famed for his dirges and his

(384-322)

SOPHOCLES

held that

consisted of an imperishable substance of

of the earth as a

SIMONIDES

who

Philosopher-astronomer

one emphasizing extreme mus-

PYTHAGORAS
(Sixth Century)

Mathematician who sought to explain the natureof all things in mathematical terms.

cularity, the other featuring elongated bodies.

SOCRATES

MYRON
(FifthCenturyj

Sculptor famed for his bronzes of performing

athletes

(469-399)

Powerful thinker and teacher, immortalized by

his refusal to save his own life at the price of
repudiating his beliefs. His great contribution

and his realistic statues of animals.

was his serious inquiry

er.

PHIDIAS

Designer of the Parthenon sculptures, consid-

190-C-J27;

ered the greatest artist of the classical period.

THALES
(C.640-C.546)

POLYCLITUS
(FifthCentury)

Sculptor whose statues were said to epitomize

the

Greek concept

(FifthCentiiry)

Realistic painter

known Western

Earliest

philosopher.

He

assert-

ed that the physical world was composed of one

basic material, a clear liquid.

of physical perfection.

ZENO OF
POLYCNOTUS

into questionsof morality.

who

introduced such

new

ef-

fects as the rendering of transparent draperies.

(Fifth

ELEA

Century)

pupil of Parmenides

logical

method

in

who

an attempt

used his teacher's

to

prove that space

and motion are figments of the imagination.

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and aulhorily, and for their usefuln

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B.,

A,.

Modern

History of Greece.

The Cambridge Ancient History.

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danger

(i)

hard cover ar,d

aoailabilil^

only

paperback.

Robertson, Martin, Creek Painting. Skira, World Publishing Co,, 1959

Schoder. Raymond V
SI Masterpieces of Creek Art New York
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The Creek TyraiKs, Hilliiry. 1050

Bolsford, G, W.. and C. A, Robinson Jr.. Hellenic
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(4lh ed

Matmiilan.

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The Persian Empire and

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the kVfsl

Man

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Margarete, Tfie

Press. 1961,

Robinson, C- A. )r Athens in the Age of Pericles. University of

tRostovtzeff M., Greece. Oxford University Press. 1963.

Oklahoma

Press.

1050

Roy

Flickinger,

ek and Ro

of the

f^is

The Creek Theater and

Drj

its

Chicago

of

iity

Pn

1960.

Creek Tragedy. Doubleday. 1954,

(Norwood, Gilbert. Creek Comedy. Hill & Wang. 1963.
tNorwood. Gilbert, Greek Tragedy. Hill & Wang, I960
Oates. Whitney J
and Eugene O Ncill |r eds
Tl
Random House. 1938
tKitto. H.D.F.,

tThucydides. T)ic Peloponnesian War. Transl. by Rex Warner, Penguin

VVoodhead, A.
The Creeks in the West. Praeger, 19t>2
Zimmern. Alfred E The Creek Commonwealth Modern Library. 1956.

Books.

ek Drama. 2 vols.

ECONOMICS, SOCIOLOGY AND CULTURE

SCIENCE
Bonna

Andri

ek Civilization. 3 vols. Macmillan. 1957-loo3

Bowra. C. M,. The Creek Experience. World Publishing Co.. 1957
Durant. Will. The Life of Greece. Simon and Schuster. 1939.
tHamilton. Edith. The Greek Way. Norton, 1930.
Michell. H,. The Economics of Ancient Greece. Barnes & Noble. 1957.
Payne. Robert. Tlie Splendor of Greece Harper &. Row, 1960.
tStobarl. J. C. The Glory that was Greece (3rd ed,). Grove Press. 1962,
Joutain.].. The Economic Life of the Ancient World Barnes & Noble
Turner. Ralph. J7if Great Cultural Lraditions. 2 vols McGraw-Hill
Quennell, Mariorie and C H B
Everyday Things m .-incienl Cre

Cohen. M. R. and

1.

Drabkin.

Source Book

ill

Creek Science. Harvard Univeri

Press. 1959,

Hippocrates. 4 vols

by

WHS

Jon. s (Loeb Classical

Library)

Harvard Univ

1957

sity Press.

Taylor.

Transl

Henry

Creek

8iolo.<y

and Medici, ic. Cooper Square Publishers, I9o3.

RELIGION

AND MYTHOLOGY

ART, ARCHITECTURE

Hamilton, Edith, Mythology. Little, Brown, 1 = 42

Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology Putnam, 1959

AND ARCHEOLOGY

tNilsson, Martin

tAnas. Paolo E.. and Max Hirmer. A History of 1000 Years of Creek V,
Patntins
Harry N-Abrams, 19t,2.
Berve, Helmut, Gottfried Cruben and Max Hirmer. Creek Temples. Theaitres and
ijfirine>. Harry N Abrams, 19o2,
Bieber. Margarele. The Sculpture 0/ (lie Hellenistic Age. Columbia Universil
1961.

Dinsmoor. William B.. The Architecture of Ancient Greece.

Gardner. Helen. Art Through the Ages (4th ed.). Harcourl. Brace
Lawrence. A. W,. Greek Architecture. Penguin Books. 1957,
Lullies.

ATHLETICS
Gardiner. E

Gardiner, E

& Row.

AND

1961,

FESTIVALS

/IncieiK World. Oxford University Press. 1930

Creek Athletic Sports and Festivals Macmillan. 1910
Gardiner. E N,. Olympia: its History and Remains. Oxford University Press, 1925
.

/lt/i/c(ics of Ifie

London. Batsfor
World, lo.so

&.

ALEXANDER AND THE HELLENISTIC WORLD

Max Hirmer. Creek Sculpture. Harry N, Abrams. 19o0

The Creek Stones Speak. St. Martins Press. 1962
M. A.. Archaic Creek Art Oxford University Press. 1949.
Gisela M. A.. A Handbook of Creek Art Phaidon. 1960.
Gisela M. A.. Sc/l>(ure and Sculptors of (tie Creeks Yale Universil
Paul.

Richter. Gisela

Richter.

Creek Folk Religion. Harper

Reinhard. and

MacKendrick.
Richlcr.

P.,

1950
Robertson, D.

tBurn, A, R Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Empire. Collier, 1962.
Lamb. Harold, .4/exaMifer of Moce^fou. Doubleday, 194o
,

VI. Macedon 401 301 BC. Macmillan, 1927.

Robinson. C. A. Jr., Alexander the Great E, P Dutton, 1947
W,, Alexander the Great. Vols, and II. Beacon Press. 1956.
Tarn.
The Creeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press, 1951
Tarn,
and G T. Griffith, Hellenistic Civilizalion. St. Martin s Press.
Till-

Caoiliriifje .AricienI History. Vol

tTarn.
S,.

A Handbook

of

Creek

& Roman

Architecture. Cambridge

Press, 1959.

W
W W
W W

1952,

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF QUOTATIONS
from Herodotus' The Persian War: are from Tfie Greek Historians Vol I.
Random House. 1942. Translation by George Rav linson. All quotations from Thucydides'
Tfie Peloponnesian War are from the translation by Rex Warner, Penguin Books, 1961.

All quotations

Otfier (jMofations;
33: Hesiod; from Tfie

Oxford Book of Creek Verse

Transfalion, Oxford University
by lack Lindsay, p, 39; Home
Tfie Iliad: translation by WH.D,
Rouse. Mentor Books, 19o2, by arrangement with Thi
as Nelson and Sons, Ltd,, 1938,
p. 43: Ibid. p. 55: Archilochus: first quotation from
fie
Cambridge Ancient History,
Vol. IV. rfie fersinn Empire and the West. Macmillan. 192o
quoti
frc
Creek Civilization: From the Iliad to the Parthenon, by Andre I
ird. Ma,
1957.
p.

Press, 1944. Translation

p 57 Alcman: from The Oxford Book of Greek Verse in Translation. Trainslation by

Gilbert Highet. p. 78: Aeschylus, Tfie Persians: from The Complete Creek Dra

Random House.

1938, Translation by Robert Potter, p. 95: Euripides: from

Way, by Edith Hamilton. Mentor Books, 1963, by arrangement with W, W, Noi
Trofan Women: from Tfie Complete Creek Drai
Translation by Gilbert Murray, p, 123: Sophocles. Oedipus at Colonus: from
plele Greek Tragedies, Vol, III (Sophocles I). Modern Library. Translation
Fitzgerald, copyrighted 1941 by Harcourt. Brace & World, p. 144: Demosthc
Philippic'
from Demostfienes I. The Loeb Classical Library. Harvard Univei
1954, Translation by I, H, Vince,
1942- p. 101: Euripides, Tfie

Studies at Ath. ns; Homer A. Thompson, Field Director. |ohn Travlos,

Tliompson, Poly Demoulini and Lucy Talcott, Agora Excavations.
Athens, Christos Karou/os. General Ephor of Antiquities, Athens; Semni Karou/ou.
General Ephor of Antiquitiies. Athens. Nikolaos Plalon. Director. Acropolis Museum.
Athens. Vasileios Callipolitis, Director, Barbara Philippaki and Maria Pelropoulakou.
National Archaeological Museum. Athens, Emil Kun/c. Director, and Gerhard Neumann.
German Archaeological Institute, Athens. Mario Morelti. Superintendent, and Giovanni
Classical

Dorothy Burr

Museo Nazionale di Villa Ciul ia. Rome; Alfonso de Franciscis and Giuseppe
Maggi. Musco Naiionale. Naples. Ermiilia Speyer. Vatican Galleries and Museums;
Nina Longobardi and Ernest Nash. Ameiican Academy. Rome; Theodor Kraus, Istituto
Scichilone.

PICTURE CREDITS
-Poseidon, bronze, ca, 400 B,C
al

Ml iseum. Athens (Gjon

les

(si

The sources

for the

low. Descriptive

no

identified as Zeus). National Archaeologi-

Mili).

1: 10-Athena, bronze, ca, 350 B,C

Piraeus Museum (Roloff Beny) 12-Attii GeoB.C. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rogers Fund. IIH 13Kouros (youth), marble. 7th c. B-C-. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Fletcher Fund. 1932.
Hermes by Praxiteles, marble, ca, 325 BC Olympia Museum (Nic Stournaras), 14. 15Gems. impressions. 5th c, BC Museum of Fine Arts. Boston (John McQuade) If. 17OlvmpianCods. marble, possiblv 1st c BC South Italy, Walters Art Gallerv Baltimore loApollo. bronze, ca. 530 B C. National Archaeological Museum. Athens (Carlo Bavagnoli).
20-Amphora.clay.5thc.B,C-, Agora Museum in the Stoa of Attalos. Athens (G|on Mili), 21Temple of Athena. Lindos. Rhodes. 4th c. BC portico, ca. 200 BC, (Sante Forlano), 22, 23SiphnianTreasury, Delphi, marble frieze, ca, 525 BC. Delphi Museum (Gjon Mili), 24-Nike
ofSamothrace (Winged Victory), marble, ca, 200 BC. Louvre Museum. Paris (Gjon Mili),
25-Stele. Law against Tyranny. 330 BC marble. Agora Museum. Athens (Gjon Mili), 2t>,
27-Aristotle. Roman copy of 4th c.
original. Museo Nazionale delle Terme. Rome (G|on
Mili)-Parthenon frieze, marble, completed 432 B.C. British Museum. London (G|on Mill)
28-|ockey. bronze, ca. 150 B.C.. National Archaeological Museum. Athens (Stephanos Papa29-Charioteer.
dopoulos).
bronze, ca. 470 B.C.. Delphi Museum (George Hoyningen-Huene
from Rapho-Guillumelte: flexichrome by Peter Bitlisian),

CKAPTER

metric vase, detail. 8th c

BC

CHAPTER 2: 30-Wall painting, Tiryus. 13th c. B.C.. National Archaeological Museum. Athens
(Stephanos Papadopoulos). 33-Temple of Ramses III. 12th c, BC
Medinet Habu, Egypt
(Eliot Elisofon), 36-Etruscan Bucchero vase, 7th c, BC, The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Fletcher Fund, 1924 (Eric Schaal), 39 through 47 (except 41 and 44 below)-Sandstone
frieze from Gjolbaschi, ca, 400 BC Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (Erich Lessing from
Magnum) 41-Walls of Troy (Ara Guler), 44-Samothrace (Roloff Beny)
.

CHAnTER3: 4

BC (Gjon Mill), 54. 55-Silver stater from Phaselis.

520-492 B C -silver tetradrachma. Syracuse, ca,
390 BC -silver tetradrachma, Cyrene, ca, 435-375
490-450 B C Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (John McQuade)
Maria Lazzarro t>l-Richard Meek 02, D3-Richard Meek ex-

,ca,

400

na. Abdera. ca.

OS.
1

,d

ca,

Archaeologico Germanico, Rome; Denys Haynes, Keeper of Creek and Roman Antiquities,
British Museum. London. Gerhard R. Meyer. Director, and Elisabeth Rhode, Antikenabteilung. Slaatliche Museen. East Berlin; Norbert Kunisch. Antikcnableilung. Staatliche
Muscen. West Berlin. Erwin M, Auer. Kunsthistorisches Museum. Vienna. Antikensammlungen. Prin/ Carl Palais. Munich. The Rev, Raymond V, Schoder. S,i,, Loyola
University. Chicago. Phillip Bacon. Professor of Geography. Teachers College. Columbia
University. Paul P Vouras, Associate Professor of Geography, and Livio C
Stecchini.
Assistant Professor of History. Paterson State College; Colonel |ohn R, Elling. Acting
Deputy Head. Department of Military Art and Engineering, and Frederick P Todd.
Director of the Museum. United States Military Academy, West Point; and Judy Higgins.

in this

hook

me

set forth be-

irksofarlare included. Credits

to ri^ht are separated by semi-

colons, from top to bottom

b\/

dasht

which follow a descriptive note appei

c. for century and ca

viations include

Phototiraphei

INDEX

MAPS
All

IN THIS

9o. shrine at Delphi. o9. 143. 180;

temple al Didyma. ^168
Apollonia (ap 6-16'ni.a) (on Adriatic
Sea), map 53. map 119
Apollonia (on Black Sea), map 9. map 53

VOLUME

maps bv David Greenspan

map

Arabia,

Land of the Greeks

The Persian Wars

8-9

53.

map

Arakhnaions

Greek Colonics

118-119

Alliances in 431 B.C.

52-53

Archilochus

32

(ar-kii'o-kiis). 54-55.

map

coin, '54
(a-bi'dos).

53.

com, *54.
Academy, the, 139, 141
Acarnania (ak er-na'ni'fl). map 8;
Peloponncsian War, map 119
Achaea (a-ke'rt). map 8. map 53;
71:

Mycenaean

in

Achaean League, 163

Achaemenid dynasty,

Empire

158, loO

loI-lo2,

Minoan.

map 72

Arlnrs 101, 149 151

74,

expansion

Marrdonlan

118-119, 121
Alphabet, Creek, table 36-37, 38, 49

map

Ambracia (am-bra'shi-o). map

,37

(ad-r

Adriatic Sea,

map

158,

to,

lo2

(e-je'an) islands: in

Empire. 117.

map

League

League of the Greeks, map 72,

78; Spartan Confederacy, 117, map

158, 163:

Athenian

8,

map

53,

119; colonization of,

map

i-mis'iis),

34-35: in Delian League, 96. See also

Oracleof,

at

Cleisthenes. 60. 93; daily

Arginusae

(ar (i-nu'se), battle of,

Argolis (ar'go-lis),

Games

in,

colonization of northern shore. 52,

19;

map

53, Persian

War

fleet

movements,

71. mop 72
Aegina (e-ji'no). map 8. map 72, 76. 98.
Athenian aggression against. 60. 73. 97.
104; in Delian League. 97

Aegospotami legds-pot'a-mi). destruction

of Athenian fleet at. map 119. 122
Aeolia

(e-6'li-<i|.

Aeschylus

map

9:

Persians

in.

map 72

(es'ki-liis or, esp. Hnt.. es'-l.

22, 101. 145. Oresleia

(Agamemnon;

Choephoroe: Eumenidei), 101; The

Per:

Aesop

IS,

map

Aeotolia

(e-to'li-a),

map 8; in
map 119

Peloponncsian War,
Aetolian League. 163

Agamemnon (aga-mcm'nonl.

31. 3d,

41, 101. 180. 183

Ag,amemnon. Aeschylus, 101

Agora (ag'6-ra). Athens. "92. 105. "lOo-lO?
Agriculture, 49, 51, 60. '64-65, '88. 89

Agrigentum

map

(ag-ri-jen'tiim),

map

118
Ahura Mazda. 71
53,

Amphipolis (am-fip'o-lis), map

oi, map 119,120

lt.2;

Aiax(a'iaks). 36-37, 183

8, battle

Amphora, *56
Anabasis (a-nab'a-sis). Xenophon, 159
Anaxagoras (an ak-sag'o-ras). 102. 185

Anaximander (a-nak

si-man'der). 58. 59.

185

Anaximenes (an ak-sim'cnezl. 58

map

lo2
Andromache (androm'a-ke), 101
Andromeda (androm'l-da), 37, 182
Ancyra(an-sir'ol,

Andros
Animal

(an'dros),

8,

fights,

Animals:

50. education in. '82-83. 123-124. 138.

119

Nemean

of.

Argonauts, 183

Argos

(ar'gos).

map

map

8, 62.

map

71.

map

election of. 22. 94:

women.

legends. 111, 183: Peisistratus. 60. in

Peloponncsian War. 117-122.

husbandry. 51.

62

117. in Persian Wars. 71-74.

73, 93, 97

and economic revival

War. 124; population

99-100, 111, 114, 123, 124, 180, 181.

sciences. 102-104. 141. 142: slavery.

influenceon.l63.^170-171;andreligion,

Aphrodisias (af-ro-dizl-as), map 52

Aphrodite (afro-di'te), '16-17, 20. 44.
180. 181: of Melos. '136
Apollo (a-pol'6). 'Ib-l?. 18. 38. 56. 134.
18C. 181. 183. Buddha modeled after.
170. 171; on coin. '54. of Piraeus.
19: shrine and festival at Delos, 38,

women

of, 85.

95

awards. '134-135, training, '126-127.

132. See also Sports
Athos. Mt. (ath'os). 71. map 72. 73
Atlas (at'las). 182

Atomic theory

9;

159,

map

Attica (an-kfl).

map

94; silver mine,

invasion of,

19;

of.

Creek trade with. 66:

Greek

34-35.

map

8, 32, 34,

map

119;

map

72, 76, 77. population figures (430 B.C.).

Achaean warfare on

colonization on coast

map

hills of. '92; Persian invasions of.

162, Athenian domination of

coast of. 96. 117.

of Democritus. 102-103

Attic tribes. 93. 122

Asclepius(as-kle'pi.us).^103

69;

52

117. 122. 124. 167. vase designs. '56;

Athletics. 17, 38. 49, '125. 126. '128-131.

14-15. 17. 18. 28, 99, 166. See also

Music; Painting; Pottery; Sculpture

Artaphernes. 71
Artaxerxes II. King of Persia. 159
Artemis (ar'te-misl. *16-17. 180. 183
Artemisia (a te-miz'i-a). 77

Antiphon(an'ti-f6n), 184

map

153. Thirty Tyrants, 124: trade. 97. 98.

Architecture: Crafts; Frieze. Literature;

coast of. 32; Alexander

Antipolis (an-tip'O'lis),

degeneration due to Peloponnesian War.

123-124. 137; theater. 100-102, '149,

99-100, 110-115; Egyptian

166-169. 172-173. in Ionia. 36, main

periods, 12-13, oriental. Hellenistic

figure. 105;

94-95; Solon s reforms. 57; spiritual

influence. 56-57. geometric style. ^12.

colonies. 54-55; Hellenistic.

Peloponnesian

after

post-Periclean culture. 117, 123-124,

137-142; religious beliefs and rites,

of aristocratic era. 55-58: classical. ^13.

map

72.

philosophy, 123-124, 137-142. political

^26. 95. 137.

Antibes. Greek origin, map 52

Antigone (an-tig'o-ne), Sophocles. 95
Antigonus (an-tig'o-niis), King of
Macedon, 163

map

70-77, and Philip of Macedon. 143-144,

158; Elfiics, 142, scientific approach of,

142. quoted. 17.26
Armor. ^39-40. '70. '116. '139 See also

Asia Minor,

map

118-119; Periclean. 95. 98-104. '105-115.

Athens and Aegean,

Creek

of.

'173;

period. 11. 173; layout of, 105. '106-107;

95; science

sociopolitical

141-143, 173, 185; Alexander's teacher.

in

in. 167.

influence during and after Hellenistic

Aristophanes (ar istof'a-nSz), 102,

123. 184; Acharnians, 123. Birds, 123;
Frogs, 123: Lysistrata, 95; quoted, 25
'1).

Golden Age

93-105; Hellenistic art

Aristocrats. 49-51, 55; decline of influence

Aristotle (arls-tot

119. 124;

149,153(sfealsoCilyDiony5ia,Lenaean
Panathenaic festival); generals,

festival:

antagonism
toward democratic Athens. 104. 117-118
Aristocratic era. 41. 49-o0. art and
Aristocracies. 49-51,59. 117.

52-53; role of

Empire

of, 97.

map

(499 B.C.), 70, festivals, 99, 100-101,

119. 134
Aristides(ar'is-ti'dez). 96

>72

in art, 14, 56,

campaign

97-98, 104. 117, 118.

expansionism. 60, 95-97. 98, 104.

117-118; expeditionary force to Ionia

'133

62. 64-65; wild.

78

(e'sdp), '96

life and work.

79, '80-91; during Dark Age. 32. 34;
and Delian League. 96-97; democratic
government. '25. 60. 73. 93-94. 97. 108.
117.122.124. Draconian code of law.

173. Egyptian

map

and

^92. 98-100. 110-115,

149. 153: coins. '55. 97; constitution of

125, 134

14. 28. *29,

Aegean Sea, map 8-9, "66-67, map 162,

Athenian domination of, 96, 97, 117. map

map

in.

123. classical drama. 100-102. 120. 123.

Art. 14. 18. *19-29; archaic. IS. 55. 100;

53

Siwa,

of

Archon (ar'kon). 153

Areopagus (ar-e-op'a-gus). Athens.

architecture

Weapons

119

162;

aristocratic era. 50. 60: classical art

of. in

90-97, 124: League of Corinth, 144, 157,

158.

Mycenaean. 31; Parthenon. ^92. 99.

112-115. temple elements. 57. '5:
tholos. ^48. '106-107
Architrave. *58

conditions. 49-51.59

162-163

163, Aetolian League, 163; Delian

(fl-krop'o-lis), 34, '84, 93,

(ak'te),

map

s ally.

Greeks toward. 104. 117-118.

literature. 55-58; colonization. 51-55.

loO,

map

Alexander

and philosophy. 58-59;

Alliances of city-states Achaean League,

hero, 157, 162

Aegospotami.

163. 164. 173. age of tyrants. 60;

map

162, 173

at

'84. ^92. 93-104. lOS-llS.

8.

alphabet. 36. antagonism of other

157-158, l60; political skill, 158,

160-161; quasi-divinily. 161

map

map

Erechlheum.^llO. 111. 123;

144, 158, I59-I0O; personality,

Alexandria, cities founded by Alexander,

98-100, 105, 106-107, 'IIO-IIS, 123

Aegean

map 162-lo3, 165,

map lo3; legends,

loO-lol,

Alexandria, Egypt, 160,

(n-kar'ni-anz). Aristoph-

Alexander

of.

lo2-lo3, death, 163:

lo4, marriages, loO, as military leader,

Achilles (o-kil'ez), 37, 41. 43, 164, 183,

Acte

map

in India,

anes, 123

Acropolis

Alcman(alk'man).57. 184
Alexander the Great, 144, '156, 157-lo3,
lo5, 184, aims of. 157. 158. 159, army of.
162; campaigns of. 159-160. 161. map
lo2-l63. at Baclra, *171: cities founded
by, 160,

civilization, 31-32, in

Peloponncsian War, map 119,

Persian Wars, map 72
Achaean colonies, map 52-53

Acharnians

map

72. 76; loss at

Hellenistic. 168-169. ^173; Ionic. *58.

Argive plain, ol

122. 124. 184.

map 9. map
map 119. 122

Abydos

sibi'a-dez), 98. 120-121,

(al

in

119, 122, triremes, '122-123

Athens,

Ares (a'rez). 16-17, 51, 180, 181

Arete (ar'e-te) (goodness), 50-51

Alcaeus(al-se'iis).57. 184

map

Syracuse. 121-122: loss

106-107

map 52

Alcestis(alses'tis).37

Alcibiades

on coins, ^55. of Phidias

(Parthenos). 99. 114. US; Promachos.

battle of Salamis.

31;

Alalia (a-laH-a).

(d-the'na). lO. ^16-17, 44. 101.

172. 180, 183;

184

Corinthian. SB, 168. "169. 173;

Doric. 20. ^21. Sa. 112-115, 168;

reflect the

110. 111. 168; orders, SS;

Abacus (architectural element!. 'SS

Abdera (ab-der'fl), map 9, map 53.

Athena

Architecture. 20; Acropolis, 96-99.

106-107. IIO. 111. 112-115, 123;

changes in terrain
and coastline worked by wind and wave action. The most familiar form
of old place names has been used-Greek. Latin or an Anglicized version

These maps of the ancient world do not

8.

Arcesilas(arses'i-las).56

162-163

Alexander's Route

map

11. 15. 17

Atalanta(ala-lan'ta). 183

106-107; standing and worship of.

Athens. 27.99. 111.114
Athena Nike temple. '106-107. 123
Athenian fleet. 73-74. 96. 97. 118; in

*62-63

(<i-rok-na'dnz).

Arcadia (ar-ka'di-a).

Astronomy.

Creek trade

162;

with. 89

72-73

Assyrians, in Persian army. 72

map

72, 73-74: Spartan

invasion of (506 B.C.). 60: Spartan

invasions during Peloponnesian War.
118: unification. 183
Aulis (o'lis). 60
Aulon (ol'on). map 53
Axius River (ak'si-iis). map 8

53.

Hittite

Empire. 32, 33. 35; Lydian expansion.

69; Persian annexation of. 69-70. map

71
Aspasia (as-pa'shi-a), 95
Assembly, Athenian, 60. 73. 87. 93. 108.
119. speaker s podium, loa
Assyria. 69. map 162. comparisons with
Greece. 18: Empire. 33

add,:

B
Babylon, map Io2. Alexander
Babylonia. 13. 15. 69. map 162

in.

160. 162

Bacchylides (ba-kill-dez). 164

Bactra (Zariaspa).

stay

at,

ofa.

map

163:

Alexanders

'171

ind.

silc-nt.

aker.

Alexander in, loO, Ipl. nuip

games. 'Ul-UJ

Bactria.
Ball

lt>3

Baluchistan Deserl, Alexanaet m. 102,

map lo3
Banquets. Athenian. PO-'Jl
(Bar'kii).

Cimon
Circe

Biriis.

Aristophanes. 123

(bi-thin'i-ii). 20. map 53

Black Sea. map 0. oo. map 162; extension
of Persian Empire to. 71. map 72;
Greek colonization and trade. 52. mtip

map

Athenian
Peloponnesian

8;

aggression. 7. 104. in

War. map 119. 120. Persian invasions

o(,

map

72. 77; Philip of

Macedon

in. 144
Bokhara,

map 163
Bosporus, map 9, map

map

53, 06.

lo2

Boule (bob'le) (Council of 500). 93, 107.

108
Athe;
Bouleuterion (boblu-t
106-107
Boxing. 38. 126, '131
.

53; coin. 54

comparisons with Greece. 12. 15. 18;

Greek trade with. 64. 89; Hellenistic
influences. 164. 167; influence on early

(sith'er-a).

{siz^klis).

69

Persia,

map 6
map 9. map

Creek art, 56-57; Iskander legend, 164;

under Persian rule. 71, 73, 97; Ptolemaic

53

dynasty, 163
Elca (e'le-o).

founded by Alexander. loO. map

162-163; Hellenistic. 163, 168, See a/so

City-state

Ekclta

(s), 13.

at

banquets. 90. ^91.

festivals. 34. 38. 57. 145.

50, 62, 124. 143. 163.

development and early

history.

Wars,

U?

Dante, on Aristotle. 142

Danube

Aristotle and. 142. 158; decline. 137.

at

map

River,

expansion

to.

map

158.

lo2

Daphnae. map 53
Dardanelles. 66

o9, 74, 7o. 77, 78. introduced to lands

Darius

conquered by Alexander. loO, lo3,

Plato and. 140. 142. under tyrants.
59-0O, See also Alliances of city-states

Darius

Kingof

1,

Persia, "68,70-71,73,

158. l6l

King

III.

Dark Age

of Persia. 158. 160. 165

of Greece. 32-38. 49. arts

and

Class war: aristocratic era, 59, 60; in

crafts. 32. 55. 56; cultural revival at

Athens. 00. 93. 124

Cleiithcnes (klis'thl-nez). 60, 93, 98. 134
Cleon (kle'on). 119-120. 184

close of. 38; emigration. 34-35; epic

EphesUb(efe-si(S).

Datis. 71

David. King of

Clytaemnestra(kli te'm-ncs'tra),36, 101,

Deforestation, 62

"39-47, 60
Epicurus (epl-kii-rus), 173

Delian League. 96-97. 121

Epidamnus

Israel,

33

map

Brasidas (brasl-das), 120

Coinage: introduction of, 00; unified

in Alexander s Empire, lo5, unified
in Delian League, 97

Deles (df'los). map 8; center of Delian

League. 96. 97; festival of Apollo, 38
Delphi (del'fi), map 8, 143; frieze at.
"22-23, oracle, 69, 74, 180; Pvthian
Games, 125, 134; tholos. "48

of.

28-29. 31. 32. 38. 56. "70

Burial.

Mycenaean (Achaean),

map

53. 183

Colonization: of Aegean (Ionia). 34-35;

other Mediterranean. 51-55. map 52-53

31

Columns: Corinthian.

Butcher's shop, *S7

map 53
Byron. George Gordon. Lord. 78
Byzantium, map 9. map 53, map
119

*58. '169. '173;

Doric. 20. ^21. "58. 112-114; Hellenistic

Byblos,

(kad'mus). 183

map 53
Camarina (kam-a-rin'ij). map 118
Cape Sunium (sunl-iim). map 72.

73

Caria (karl-a).

map

9.

map

53,

map

119; liberation by Athens, 96

map

Carpathos (kar'pa-thds),
Carthage. 33.

map

52. 66. 89.

map

118.

121.124
Carystus (ka-rls'tiis). 96
Castor (kas'ter). 183

Catana

(kat'a-na).

map

Cavalry. Alexander

s.

118

I6l. lo2. *165

Cecrops (se'krops). Ill

Celtic trade, 52

Centaurs, 99. 183

Cephalonia (sefa-16'ni-a(, map 8. map

119
Cephalus (sefa-lus). arsenal of. 87
Chaeronea |ker o-ne'a). battle of, 144
Chalcedon (chal-sed'dn), map 9. map 53
Chalcidian alphabet, '30

map

Chalcidice (kil-sid'i-se),

map 72
Chalcis(kal'sis). map 8;
invasion

8,

Persian

60

Chandragupta, Indian King. 163

Chaos, 180

US-UO

Chariot racing, 38. 126.

Charioteer, Delphi, ^29

Chersonesus Heracleotica (cher-55nes'lls

her-a-kle-ofi-ka),

map

53

Children, upbringing of. 80-83;

abandonment

of weak, o3, 80, in

Sparta, 34

Chimaera(ki-mer'a), 183
China, 33,77, 163

Chios (ki'os), map 9, 34; in Athenian

Empire, map 119; in Delian League,
96; under Persian rule, map 72;
revolt against Athens. 122
Choephoroe (ko-ef'o-roy), Aeschylus, 101
Choregus (ko-re'gtis), 153

72

Ethics, Aristotle. 142

Greek trade with, 89

interruptions of. in Athens, 122, 124,

Ethiopians, in Persian army. 72

Elruna, 52,

sculpture. "25; spreading outside

Athens. 97, 104. 117; in warfare. 22

Euboea

relief

Corcyra

Demosthenes

(kor-sir'a) (island),

map

map

8.51,

Corcyra (Corfu), map 53, map 1 19

Corinth (korlnth). map 8. 50. map 53,
Isthmian Games at. 125, 134: member of
Spartan Alliance, 117-118. map 11, 121
Corinth. Isthmus of: defense in Persian
Wars, map 72. 74. 70. Spartan domain,
117. 118, map 119
Corinth. League of. 144. 157. 158, 103
Corinthian architecture. ^58. I08. loO.
173
Corinthian colonies, map 52-53. 118
Corinthian Gulf, map 8. 12
Corsica, map 52
Cos (kos). map 9; school of medicine.
103-104

Dia/ojMCs, Plato, 138-140

(didl-ma).

Eupolis(u'po-hs). 102

Temple

of Apollo. "168

/ec(ra, 123; Heracles. 123;

o-mc'dez). 181. 182

Dionysus

Eurymedon River

97

(ii-rim'e-diJn). 96.

(dio-ni'siis), 90. 100, 145. "146.

147, 149.181; hymn to, 153

Discus throwing, 38, ^125, 12o
Dithyramb, 153
(do-do'na).

map

Dark

Doriscus (dor-is'kus),
Drachma, coin. *55

Family

8. 12.

map

53,

map

life.

"79: Athenian, "84. 85. '90.

95. Spartan. 34. See also Children;

125. 134; Spartan. 34. 57

Ecclesia, 108, See also

Echinus (e-ki'nus). "58

53

(Argolis). 125, 134;

and

fishing. 51. 66. "83

Food, "84. "87. 95; imports. 64. 89:

Currency, See Coinage; Coins

Cyclades (sik'la-dez). map 8. map 72
Cyclops (si'klops). 47

map

Nemean

126. 145. 149. 153; Pythian (Delphi).

Fish

Cumae(ku'me). map53

101. 153;

arts at. 27. 34. 38. 57. 100-101. 102.

Ecbatana,

map

(Athens). 153; at Delos. 38; Dionysiac.

100-101. 102. 149. 153; Isthmian

Olympic. 38, 75, 125, 126-131, 132,

134; Panathenaea (Athens). 26-27. 99.
106-107. "111-112. 134; performing

100-102, 123
Drawing, art of. 50
Dress, See Clothing

53;

Cyprus. 32. map 5i. map lo2

Cyrenaica (sir enalka). map l62. Greek

Farming. 51. "64-65. "88. 89

Festivals and games. 27. 38. 125.
126-131. 134-135; athletics at. 38,
125. 126. "128-131. 132; awards.
134-135. 147. 153; City Dionysia

(Corinth). 125, 134: Lenaean (Athens).

revival. 154-155; religious

Cronos (kro'nos). 35. 180. 181

Croton (kro't'n). map 53

(si-len'e),

origin of. 100. 145. 147; subject matter.

162,

civilization, 31

map

map

map 72

Draco (dra'ko). and Draconian code, 50

Drama. Greek, 15, oO, 95. 100-102, 120,
123, 145-155; forms of, 100. 153;

modern

Crimea: Greek colonization. 52.

trade with. 64, 89. 124
Criminal law, early, 50
Croesus. Kingof Lydia. 69

un

slavery.

EurotasRiver(a-riVlas).map8

143

Doris (dorls) (mainland),

Doris (colony), map 9

Dorian invasion, 32; in legend, 183;

charity: old. olwy, orb. odd. connect: food. cQbe.

on

The, 101-102. 120.

Europa, 183

Dionysius (di'6-nish'i-Ms). of Syracuse.

Doric architecture. 20. "21. 58, 112-115,

Cremation. 32

colonization,

Women,

"154-155

Dionysiac festivals, 100-101, 102, 147,

149. 153

Dorian invasions. 32. 33, 34

Age. 32, 55, Ionian. 38; Mycenaean. 31

55- See also Pottery

Cyllene. Mt,

Euripides (u-rlp'i-dez). 101. 145. 184:

95; Trojan

(di

Greek

53; and

Women

Crafts. 13-14. 20, 49. 55. "SO. 87;

map

map

Diomedes

Dodona

Council of 400. Athens. 122

Council of 500. Athens. 93, 107. 108
Courts, See Juries. Law courts

Minoan

8.

Dieneces (di-en'c-sez). 22

Cosmetics. 85

Crete,

53, alphabet, 38;

map

Euhesperides (ij-hes-perT-dez). map 53

Eumeriides lumenl-dez). Aeschylus. 101
Euphrates River. 12. 159. map 162

(the orator). 144. 184

Deucalion (da.ka-lin). 182

Didyma

(ij-be'a),

War, map 119; in Persian Wars, map 72

Euboean colonies, map 52-53

Deus ex machina, 151

119

map

influence on art of, 52

Delian League, 9o: in Peloponnesian

Democritus (de-mok'ri-tiis). 102. 185

Demosthenes (de-mos'the'-nez) (the
general). 121

Creusa(kre-ij'sa). 183

Charybdis(karib'dis),66

Wai

expeditionary force
70; in Persian

BC),

Pericles on, 100; popular consent, 13.

Cratinus(kra-ti'nus).102

of.

Demeter (de-mc'tetl, 16-17, 36, 181

Democracy. 25. 93-94. 108; Alcibiades on.

Ill

(e-rck'thiis).

(e-re'tri-ii):

to Ionia (499

Maidens), "110

118,

Capital (architectural element). 58

Erechlheus
Eretria

Propylaea, 99. sculptured (Porch of the

on. 100
Confucius, '77
Contract law. 50

Callipolis (ki-lip'o-lis).

Erechtheum (erek-the'iim). '106-107.

110. 111.123

Ethiopia.

Constitution. Athenian, 60. 93: Pericles

Callicrates (ka-lik'rii-tez). 99. 112. 185

Delphi charioteer. *29

Deluge, in Greek myth. 182

(ep-i-dam'niis), map 8. map 53

Epidaurus (epl-d6'riis). map 8, 62. 1 18.
map 119, theater at, '148-149
Epirus (e-pi'riis), map 8, map 53. map
119. map 162; in Persian Wars, map 72

123; evolution of. in Athens. 60. 73. 93:

base. "168. Ionic. '58. IIO; mixed, of

Comedy, 15, 95. 102. 123. ^152. 153

Commerce. See Business; Trade

Cadmus

119. 120

Coins. 14. ^54. loS; Athenian. ^55. 97

Colchis (kol'kis).

battle of 1 18.

124. 184

map9

Ephialtes (efl-al'tez), 93. 184

Epic, heroic. 15, 35-38. 57; Homer. 37-38.

Delium (deh-um).

Bucephalus (bu-sefo-lus). 161. 163

Buddha. 77; sculpture. 170, 171

table 36, 132

Enlcrlainmenl, "90-91, "132-133, 168;
epic songs, 35-38; lyric songs, 57-58;
theater, 100-102, 123, *145-153. See

Climate. 12. 01
Clothing. 31.34. 62. 64. 80.95, 112

183

123

also Festivals and games

Epaminondas (e-paml-non'das),

songs handed down. 35-38

Dascylium (da-sill-iim). map 53

Cnidus (ni'diis). map 9. 20

Cnossus (nos'MS). map 8

Bronze, use

map

Elis(c'lis).map8
Elysium. 17

Empedocles (em-ped'o-klez). 185

Emporiae (em-p6r'i-e), map 52
Engineering. 15-16.31.70
England. Greek trade. 52, 66
English language, derivatives from Greek,

Macedonian

8-9;

Boys; upbringing of, 34, 80, *82-83;

toys for. *80-81
Bridges. Xerxes', across Hellespont. 74.
"75

53

(c-lek'lra). Euripides.

Eleusis le-lu'sis),

Dance. 49. 145;

of aristocratic eta. 50-51. 59-60;

144;

map

Eleatic school, 59

City-states

33, 34, 38, disunity in Persian

53. 64. 8. 08.122. 124

Boeolia (be-o'sha).

map

Cyrus the Great, King of

47

Citium, map 53
City Dionysia festival, 153

Bilhynia

(si-re'nc),

Cyrus. Prince of Persia. 159

(si'mdn). 96, 184

(siit-s^),

Cities:

U2

Cyrene

Cythera
Cyzicus

Cimmerians. 35

Bcllerophon (be'-ler'o-fon). 3o. 104. 183

Beverages. 5t>- See also Wine
Biology.

map S3

Cilicia(si-lishl-a).

map

53
Bards. 35: Homer. 37-38
Battering ram. '70
Barca

Chorus, 57; in drama. 101. 102. 145. 153;

revival in modern drama. 154
Christianity. 102. 142

map

scarcity. 51. 59. 64, 89, staples. 51. 62.

l63

Assembly

64-65
Foot racing, 38. 126. "128. 129. "130
Footwear. "86

Education. 80. "82-83; Academy. 138;

Athens as lasting center of. 11. 173;

Forests. o2

Sophists. 123-124; Spartan military. 34.

theater as. 149

Egypt. 33.
162.

map

53. 173; Alexander in.

Athenian aid

10,

map

against Persia. 97;

Frieze. 57. "58: at Delphi. '22-23; of

Gjolbaschi. '39-47; Panathenaic

procession (Parthenon). 20-27 90

111-112

Frogs. Aristophanes,

Hermus River

Fuel. lamp. 65

Herodotus

Furies. 101. 180. 182

(hur'miisl,

map

Heroes, myths

Furniture. 94. 95

of,

184
31, 36-38, 182-183,

Lysias (list-os). 184

lockey. sculpture. '28

Lysippus

lumping.

Lysistrata (li-sis'trd-td). Aristophai

38. 126. 131

Hmdu

map 52

Gades.

Games, 131, ball, "132-133: children

80, Minoan, 31. Panhellenic, 125,

s,

Kush, l6l, map lo3

Hipparchus (hi-par'kiis), 00
Hippias (hip'i-iis), 60
Hippocrates (hi-pak'ra-le?), 16, 103104,
185, oath of, 103

"120-131, 132, 134 (see also Festivals

Hippodrome, 126

Hippomenes (hi-pom'e-ne^), 183

Hipponium (hi-p6n^um), map 53

and games)
Gandhara, map 163; Hellenistic
innuence on religious art of, 163.

History:

170-171
Caul,

map

of, 160,

map 162

52

Geography: of Greece, map 8-9, 12, 61:

Greek knowledge of, II, 161-102
Geometry, 16, 20,59,138

Homer

Gibraltar, 182

185:

Gods, Greek,

at,

14, 16-17: in

"39-47

Olympian, "10-17,

drama, 100,

35, 41, 44, 99, 102.

in sculpture. "10. "16-17. 18.

"19, "22-23. "67, lis. *136, "172;

and

warfare, '22-23, 44. See also Religion

Gold, 31. 38. 54: mining in Thrace, 143.
sculpture plating. 99. 114

Golden Age of Greece.

Golden Fleece. 183

Gordium
Gorgias

lliati,

(gor'di-iim).

(gor'ji^is}.

39. 47. 60; quoted. 39.

map

Hydraotis River,
Hydria. "56

163

map

Hvphasis River. 162.

34. 93-104. "105-115

map 162

184

Ictinus (ik-ti'nus). 99. 112. 185

Greek beauty.

Ideals,

20. 28: heroism.

38. 49. 71. 124: Plato's ideal state. 140.

22. 41. 43. 51. individual liberty. 11-13.

141. tyrannies, 59, 60, 69-70. 124.

IB. "25. 34. 94-95. 140. 157. law. 13. 25:

See also City-states

Grain crops, "64, 65, 89

manhood. 50-51.

Granicus River (gro-ni'kiis), battle

> 162
159,1
Gyges, King of Lydia, 69
{ji-lip'iVs),

of.

See also Troy

llion (il'iiin). 39.

Illyria (i-lir'i-o).

map

map

map

map

53.

map

72,

Immortality, 17 See also Life after death

India:

(ha'dez), 36, 181, 182

77,

River (hahak'mon),

map
map

map 102

Halieisfha'li-es), 118

Hebrui River

Alexander

map

map

161.

in,

163. 165.

at.

161.

mop

163

(hek-fl-tom'pi'los), 160,

Ionia {i-6'ni-o).

map 163
Hector (hek'ter), 35, 41, 43, 183
Hecuba (hek'u-ba), 120
Helen of Trov, 32, 44, 47, 183
Hellenistic Age, 160, 163-164, 165;
architecture, "168-169, "172-173;
Asian influences, 164; Athens' role,

domination,

map

map

9.

53.

of, 161, 173;

map

sculpture,

*172
9,

map 119;
159, map 162,

53,

Alexander's crossing of,

Xerxes' crossing of. map 72. 74, "75

Hephaestus (he-fes'tus
-fes'liis),

Iron, use of, 32, "70

or, csp, Brit.,

"16-17, 181: temple at

Israel:

Kingdom,

Mosaic law. 13

33.

map

Issus. battle of. 160.

Italy:

mop 53
Heracles (her'o.klcz), 36. "86. 181, 182,
183

Ithaca

Istrus (is'triis).

map

map 53

9.

Greek colonization and trade. 52.

53, 124. Rome's emergence. 141.
Empire of Dionysius. 143

map

{ith'fl-kii).

map

8.

Ivory. 38. 89, 99, 114

Heracles, Euripides, 123

Monoecus (mon-ek-us), map 52

183

Laurium, Mt. Ilorl-um), map 72

Law, 13, 25, codification, 38, 50, influence
on later legal systems. 13. 168- See also

Marcus

Mardonius, 71,72. 77-78

Market place, Athenian, 87, 105, "106107
Marmara, Sea of (Propontis), map 9,
Athenian domination, 9o, map 119:

Greek colonization of shores,

52,

map

mop 72

53: Persian domination,

Law

"106-107. See o/so Juries

"

ideal of. 17. 20

in Persian army, 72
Media, 69, map 163
Medicine, 11, 16, 32, 103-104
Mediterranean: Greek colonization and
trade, map 52-53, Phoenician-controlled

Medes,

(lem'nos),

coasts,

9,

Megalopolis

map 72

(lc-nc'o"n) festival, 101,

(le-6n'f-dds), 75-76,

153

map

Melita (mel'f-td),
96,

rule,

8; in

Peloponnesian
Wars, map 72

in Persian

Locris Ozolis (6-z6ns),

mop

Logic: Plato, 140: Aristotle, 142

Long Walls,

Piraeus, 122
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 37
Lycia (lish'i'd), map 9, map 53, liberation

map

9,

map

53,

map

119,

introduction of coinage, OO, sub|ugates

Ionian colonies, 69; subjugation by

09

lavelin throwing, 38, 12

Lyric poetry. 15.57-58

Jewelry, 31,38, exports.

Lysander (h-san'der). 122. 184

map

8,

Athenian Empire, 97,

in

Spartan Alliance, 117, 118

Epic, Lyric poetry

War, map 119;

map 8
map S3, map

(meg'fl-lop'o-lis),

(meg'fl-rd),

Megara Hyblaea (hible'o), mop

Megaran colonies, map 52-53

57-58; classical Athenian. 100-102. 123.

Ionian, 37-38; Plato, 138-140, See o/so
Locris (lo'kris),

52-53; rise of Rome, 141,

72, 77, joins

184

under Persian

mop

163-164

Medusa, 182

Megara

map

Leptis Magna, map 53

Lesbos (lez'bos), map 9, in Athenian
Empire, mop 119, in Delian League,

Persia.

Geometry
"Mean (moderation),

Mechone (mS-kd-ne'l, 151

Medea (me-de'o), 183

courts. Athenian. 93. 96-97. 105.

Drama;

Greek origin, map 52

Masks, theater, 101, "150-151, 154
MassiUa (mo-sil'i-o), mop 52
Mathematics, 16, 138, 140 See also

Meat. 51.05, "87

Reform

Lydia,

Hercules. Sec Heracles

Hermes (hur'mez), "16-17, 181. of
Praxiteles. "13

Curtius, "141

Marseilles,

mop

by Athens, 96

Heraclitus (her n-kli'tus), 59, 185

Hermione (hur^mi'o.ne). 118

Herms. Stoj of the. Athens, "106-107

163

Isthmian Games. 125. 134

Athens, '106-107
Hera (he'ra), "16-17, 44, 180, 181, 182
Heraclea Pontica (her'a-klW p6n'ti-ko),

Heracles

89

trade, 52,

battle of. 71-73,

71, 93

LaoTzu,77

Literature. 14-15. 18. of aristocratic era.

Greek

Ischia(Is'ki-ij),38

map

against

Isocrates (i-s6k'rd-tez), 143, 184

Ionic architecture, "58, "110, 111, 168

Ireland.

philosophers

map

Iskander, 164

173, cities of, 160, 163, 168: influence

t'n-e'o), battle of (418 B,C ),

mop 119
Manufacture, 49, 50, 87. 89. See also Crafts
Maracanda (Samarkand), mop 163

Marble, 56: used on Acropolis, 99, 112

Leucas (lu'kds) (island), map 8, in

Peloponnesian War, map 119
Leucas (town), map 53, map 119
Leuctra(luk'tra), battle of, 124
Liberty, individual Greek ideal of, 11-13,
18. "25. 34: in conflict with order and
stability. 12-13. 140. 157
Life after death, concepts of. 17. 51. 140
Light. Greek, 55, "61
Lighting, 65
Lindos (lin'dds), map 9, temple at, "21
Linear B script. 32

58-59. subiugation by Lydia. 69;

subjugation by Persia. 69-71, map 72,
See also Aegean islands
Ionian Sea, map 8, map 72, map 119

(mnl'iis),

Marathon (mar'o-thon).

Athenian

on oriental

28, *166-168,

34

mop 72

119

lyric poetry, 57-58,

map 119. colonization.

34-35; cultural revival. 38. and heroic
epic. 35-38; science and philosophy.

34-35

Marriage: in Athens. 85. 95, 153; girls age,

80, in Sparta, 34

Leonidas

182

9,

spreading in Hellenistic Age, 163, 168

Uocoon (l|.6k'o-6n) group, "loo

Lenaean

Infanticide. 63. 80

Hecatompylos

Hellespont,

mop

Athens,

Leisure, 49, 79, "90-91

lo(i'6).

163, "170-171,

8, 32,

Land reform, Peisistraius, 00

Land shortages, 34,51
Landowners, 49

Lemnos

Indus River. Alexander

(heb'riis),

mop

(lad'e), battle at, 70.

on sculpture of. 163.

"170-171. around 1000 B.C.. 33:
under Persian rule. 71. 161; rise
of Buddhism. 77

Hecataeus (hek a-te'us) of Miletus. 10

art,

Laconia (Id'ko'ni-a),

Lamachus (lam'a-kws), 121

Lampsacus (lamp'sa-kiis), revolt

171: Chandragupta. 163: Hellenistic

influence

Halicarnassus (hal'I-kar-nas'us),
9,

8.

lo2

Imbros (im'bros),

Hahacmon

Mallus

League of Corinth, 144, 157, 158, 163

League of the Greeks, mop 72, 74, 78;
disunity,74,76, 77, 78
Legend (s), 35-38; of beginnings of
Athens, 111; and history, 16, 36, 37;
of Odysseus, 37, 47, 183; of Trojan
War, 31, 32, 36-37, 40, 41, 43, 44, 47,
183

157

143-144

Mantinea (man

Laws, Plato, 140

37. 39. 41. 43. 60.

II,

mop 8
mop 53

Malis (mal'is),

20. excellence. 13-14. 17. 26. 27,

Homer.

72, 143; under Philip

Graecia, map 53
Magnesia (mag-ne'zhd), map 8

Socratic, 137-138; Spartan, 34

Iliad,

121

123; moderation. 17.

53,

Magna

'56

Latin League, 141

mop9

Icaria(i-ka'ri'O).

Athens. 122: democracy. 13. "25. 60.

73. 93-94. 97. 108; monarchies. 32. 33.

Hades

(ki'liks).

Larissa (la-ris'a),

Greek colonization, map 52

Iberia.

49-51. 59. Council experiments, in

Gylippus

Kylix

map

8,

Magistrates, 50

Landscape, Greek, 12, 61-67; influence

on art, 55
Language, Greek, 13, 14, 34, table 36;

163

map

162; in Persian Wars, 71,

Krater. '56

Lade

Homicide, 50, 93
Horseback racing, 126, 131
Houses, 31,35
Hunting, "62, 63
Hydaspes River, battle at, l6l, mop 163

mop

Maeander River (mean'der), mop

Maenads (mc'nadz), "147, 181

Lacedaemonians (las'e-de-mo'ni-on), 76

37, 39, 41, 43, 60, 157;

map

(mas'e-do'niti),

119, 143, 163, 173; under Alexander,

157-158,

K/eroterion (kle-ro-terl-on). "108

K/ismDs(klis'mds). "94

Labor. 87; serfs, 60; slaves, 51, 87, 94-95

43. Ill, 181

Minoan {also Elder, Titans), 35,

myths of, 35-36, 38, 99, 180-181,

180,

(ho'mer), 35, 37-38, 103, 164,

Odyssey, 37,

Cjolbaschi, frieze found

180-181;

of,

map

Herodotus: Thucydides): and legend.

16.36.37
Hittites. 32, 33,35
Home life. See Family life

Girls, "80, 90, "91

102:

Greek reporting and writing

Macedonia
Kabul River. Alexander at. 161. mop 163
Kings. See Monarchial government

16,38. 103. 104. 117 [see also

Gaugamcia, battle

185

Justinian. 173. legal code o(. 13

Ihii

(li-sip'iis),

Juries: ballots. "99. selection. "It

See also Legends

Hesiod (hc'si-od), 33, 180, 185
Hir

182

Jocasta(j6-kas'tii).

(he^rod'o-tiis), 70, 71, 72, 73,

74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 103, 104,

mop

53,

53, 54

mop 118

Melos (me'los), map 8, in Peloponnesian

War, map 119, 120: vase painting, 56

Melpomene (mel-pom'e-ne), "153

Memphis, map 53. map 162
Menander (me-nan'der), 85, "150, 185
Mende(men'de),mop53
Menelaus (men c-la'iis), 44, 47
Mercenaries, 158-159

Merchants, 49, "88, 89, See also Trade

Mesembria (me'-sem'bri'd), map 53
Mesopotamia, 12
Messana (me'-san'fl), map 53, mop 118

Messene

(me"-se'ne),

Messenia

map 8
map

(me'-se'ni-o),

8,

51

Messina, Greek origin of, map 53

Metals, use of, 31, 32, 38. See olso Bronze;
Gold: Iron
Metaphysics, 142
Meteora (me-te-or'o), rock pillars of, 62-63

Methone

(me"-th6n'e),

map

53,

map

119

Metope(s), 57, "58: of Parthenon, 99,

temple of Zeus at Olympia, 100
Milesian colonies, mop 52-53. 71
Miletus (mi-le'tiis). map 9, map 53.
72,

map

119: Alexander

in,

map

map
102:

destruction by Persians, 70-71, revolt

against Athens, 122, scientists of, 58
Miletus, The Capture of, Phrynichus, 71
Militarism: Aristocratic era, 51: Athenian
aggressions, 96, 97, 104; Mycenaean, 32;
Spartan, 34, 57, 60, "139. See ojso

Warfare
Military training, 34, 49

Miltiades(mill['iide2),71,73,o<,, 140.
184

Oratory. 108. "109, 137, 143-144,

Mining. 87, 94. gold, 143, silver, map 72,

73-74
Minoans, 31, 32; gods of, 35
Minos (mi'nos), bull of, 182
Minotaur, 183
Monaco, Greek origin, map 52
Monarchial government, 32, 33. 38. 49.
124; dual, in Sparta. 49.71
Money. See Coinage; Coins
Monotheism: Plato. 140. Xenophanes. 5c
Morality; aristocratic concept of. 50-51.
personal, emergence of concept
(Socrates). 137. 142; Plato. 140
Motya (mot'yfl). map 53
Mountains of Greece. 12.01. '62-63

Orchestra. "145. "148-149

97, 143, 158; Seleucid Empire, 163;

Oresteia, Aeschylus, 101

Sparta's alliance with, during

Music. 15. 16, 49, 57;

Demosthenes, 144;

banquets, '90;

at

map

(mi-se'ne),

i,55;

Myron
Mysia

72, 78

8: civilization

31-32; epics of, 36-37;

fall of,

(or-6p'i(s).

Orpheus

(or'fe-i"<s). 183
Oslrolcon (os'tro-kon). ostracism ballot.

destruction in

9f

map

53.

119

Eurymedon

in Pel
at

River, 96, 97,

Wa

'72;

Salamis, 76-77; strength, 71. 74

map

Persian Wars. 60. 71-78,

72, 93, 143;

background, 69-71 under Darius I,

71-73: under Xerxes, 74-78; Herodotus'
study and reporting of, 103; Persian
army, 72, Persian strength, 71, 74
Persians, Die, Aeschylus, 78
Phalanx formation, "142-143
Phaleron ( fo-lSr'6n), 71 map 72. 73
Phanagoria (fa-na-gorT-a). map 53
;

map

Paeonia (pe-o'ni-a),
coin. "165
Pagasae (pag'a-se).

My

map

map

8,

8.

162.

map

72

Minoan,

31;

,31

Pallas Athena, See

map

9,

threat to Greece, 96,

73-77, 96

Olympia, "120-127
Athena

Palmyra, 168, "169

map

renewed

72;

*ersian fleet: destruction at Mycale, 78;

Palaestra (pa-les-trn), at

nts.

map

Peloponnesian War, 122; under Xerxes,

180
annexation by

Athens, 60

Palaces: Hellenistic, 168;

c

32-33;

(mi'rdnl. 185
(mish1'(i),

(o-res'tez), 36, 101,

Oropus

"125, "126, "128-131, "134, "146-147

map

(mik'o-le). battle of,

Mycenae

Orestes

Painting, 55-5o, "86; Mycenaean, '30, vi

12, "62, "68, "77, ^80, 82-90, 'Oo,

choral, 57. 145: at festivals. 34. 38. 57.

145, 153; instruments, 57, '90

Mycale

Ionian colonies subjugated by, 69-71,

Pericles, 98, 100. 108

Pamphylia

(pim-fitt-ii),

map

53

(fi-le'mdn), 173

Myths, 35-38, 58, 59; dramatization,

Pandora (pan-do'ra), 181

Philippi(fi-lip1).map9

Pangaeum

Philosophy, 15-17, 37, 137-142; of

aristocratic era, 58-59; Aristotle, 142;

Mytilene

(mit'*I-e'ne).

map

map

9.

119;

revolts against Athens, 119. 122

map

53

Napoleon Bonaparte, 159, 164

National bonds, 13. 34. 38. 125. See also

67,88

map

8, 34.

Delian League. 96
Neapolis (ne-ap'6-lis).

map

72; in

map 53

Nicaea (on

Nike Apteros

(ap'te-ros)

(Athena Nike),

temple. *106-107, 123

map

Nile River, 12,

53.

North Africa. Greek colonies

in,

map

52-53

Northern Sporades,

map

Paros (par'os). map 8

Parthenon. 99-100. *106-107. "112-115.

41,43

map 163
Pausanias (p6-sa'ni-as), 77-78
Peasant uprisings, 59
Pedagogue, '83

pel'a),

map

8,

map

Odyssey, Homer. 37.

183

39. 47, 60

Oedipus (ed'i-piis). 3o, 101. 182

Oedipus at Colonas, Sophocles, 123
Oedipus Rei, Sophocles, 101, 123
OtBcials: aristocratic era, 50; Athenian,

93-94, 108; lots used in selection of.

98; Mycenaean. 32; payment of, 108
(e-nok'o-e), "56

Oinochoe
Olbia
Olive
Olive

oil.

map

53
51. 65. 89. 134

l6l'bi-o).

trees. "64. 65. 111.

"128; templeof Zeus. 100

Olympian Zeus. Templeof. Athens.

"106.

"173

Olympias (o-lim'pias). 144

Olympic Games. 38. 75. 125. "126-131.
132. 134

Olympus. Ml.
72.

home

Olynthus

(o-lim'piis),

map

8.

map

of gods. 35

map 8
Ammon. map

(6-lin'thus),

Oracles. 17: of

lo2;

Delphic, 69, 74, 180

ill,

charily; old, 5bey. orb. odd.

conn

map

53. 66; alphabet,

sphere of influence in
Mediterranean, map 52-53
Phrvgia (frii'i-a). map 9. map 53
Phrynichuslfrinl-kus). 71
Pillars of Heracles. 182
Pindar (pin'der). 104. 158. 185
Pindus Mountains (pin'diis). map 8
Piracy. 32. 69. 94. 97
Piraeus (pi-ri'us). map 8. 34, 73, 98,
36, 38;

and culture, 123-124,

137; peace treaty of 421 B.C 120;
spirit

peace treaty of 404 B.C.. 122; revolts of

Athenian allies, map 119. 122; Sicilian
campaign. 121-122; tactics. 118;
mentioned, 18, 93, 98, 100, 125
Peloponnesian War, The, Thucydides,
104, 117
Peloponnesus (pel'o-po-ne'sus), map 8,
53. '62-63, Pericles' invasion of,

map

72, 74, 76,

map

119

Plant

life,

map

occupation

Renaissance. 11
Republic, Plato. 140

Rhea (re'a). 180

Rhegium (rej1-m). map

map

53.

map

119,

alphabet. 36. 38

Rome, map

53; expansion in Mediterranea

163-164. Greek influence on. 11.
163-164. 173; law. 13; rise of. 141
Roxane, loO

map

119; battle of.

Spartan siege and

120

of. 118.

Plato (pla'to). 82. 137. 138-141, 142, 143,

185, Dialogues, 138-140, his ideal state,

140, 141, Laws, 140; Republic, 140;

Sacrificial offerings, 17, '6.^,

views on liberty

Saguntum

lis.

order, 140, 141;

quoted, 138, 140

Plinth. '58

Sais,

(sa-gun'ti^m),

'126

map 52

map 53

Salamis (sal'a-mis). 76: battle

76-77, 93, 114

Plowing. '88
Plutarch (pldb'tark), 76, 95, 112, 119, 160
Pnyx (p'niks), 93, 105, '106-107, '108
Poetry, 14-15. 37, 54, 57-58, 60, 100-102;
15, 57, 100.

Polls (po'lis). 50. See also City-states

Pergamum

Political systems.

See also Drama; Epic;

Samos

(sa'mos),

map

Empire,

map

9.

of,

map

72,

34; in Athenian

119; in Delian League,

96; Persian subjugation of. 70.

under Polycrates. 69-70

Samothrace (sam'o-thras).

map

map

72;

9. '44:

Victory statue. *24

Periclean Age, 95, 98-104, '105-115, 117

Pericles (per'1-klez), 98, '105, 106, 108.

Sappho

See City-states;
Government, forms of

(safo). 57-58. 185

map 52
map 9. 71. map

Sardinia,
Sardis,

72.

map

123. 140. 184; death of. 119; funeral

Pollux (pol'iiksl. 183

Ionian expedition to 70 71
Saronic Gulf (sa-ron'ik). map

oration of. 18. 98. excerpts 100; and

Polycrates (po-lik'ra-tez). 69-70

Satraps, 70

Peloponnesian War. 118-119, and

Satyr play, 149, 153

quoted, 12-13, 18-28, 95, 105; mentioned

76, 102,120, 124, 137,144
Perinthus (per-in'thws), map 53

Polygnotus (pol-ig-no'tus). 185

Pontus pon'tHs), map 53. map 163
Population figures: Attica (430 B.C.). 94;
city of Athens. 105
Porch of the Maidens. '110

Persephone (per-sefo-ne), '16-17, 36,

181, on coin, '54

Porus. Indian King. 161

Poseidon (po-si'don). "16-17. 44. 67, 99,

and women, 95;

Polyclitus (p61-i-kH'tiis). 185

Persepolis (per-sep'o-lis): Alexander in,

160, map 163; palace at, 71, '159, 160

Posidonia (p6-si-d6n'i-a),

map

Peloponnesian War,

map

map 53
8, map 53:
map 119

99

Satyrs, "147, 181, mask, "151

Schliemann,Heinrich,40

Schools. "82-83;

Academy.

Aristotle. 173. sloas.

138; of

"106-107

Sciences. 11. 15-16. Alexander

in. 158.

interest

102; of aristocratic era. 58-59;

102-104; post-Periclean Athens,

in

18,

Pottery, 14, '20, 34, 35, 38, 55, "56;

exports

162;

8. 60. 7o.

Aristotle. 142-143; of Periclean Age.

111, 181

Potidaea (pot i-de'a),

162-163, in Egypt, 71, 73, 97; expansion

under Cyrus the Great, 69; expansion
under Darius I, 70-71, 161 Greek
mercenary army of Cyrus in, 158-159;
;

118

Rhodope Mountains (rod'o-pe). map a

Rhone River, map 52

Roman

Penelope (pe-nel'o-pe), 47
Peneus River (pe-ne'us), map 8
Pentathlon (pen-tath'lon), '130-131

Perseus (pur'sijs), 37, 182

Persia: absolutism, 13, 18, 69, 158;
Alexander's conquest of, 158-161,

and

Gods

Religious festivals, 38, 99, 100, 125, 145,

147. See a/so Festivals

painting. 56

forms, 15; meter, 37; subject matter,

map

of, 37,

beliefs, 59, 140;

See also

122; temple at Lindos, "21; vase

Penal codes, 50

(pur'ga-miim),

book

as source

monotheist

32, revolt against Athens,

62. *63

72. 77-78;

Rhodes (rodz) (city), map 9

Rhodes (island), map 9. Doiian invasion,

119, 122

Plains of Greece, '61, "64-65

Athenian

Rhetoric. 123-124. 142

Plague, at Athens, 118, 123

Plataea (pla-te'a), 77.

Phidias, 100, 114;

118

Olympia|6-Hm'pi-<J). map 8. 125. 126;

Palaestra. "126-127; starting slab.

72

Phoenicia(ns). 33.

map

162

77; Spartan domain, 95, 117,

(o-dis'us). 37, 39, "46-47.

map

Pellenelpe-len'el, 134

118; and Persian Wars,

Obol, coin. *55

Phocaea (fo-se'a). map 9, 52. map 53

Phocaean colonies, map 52-53
Phocis (fo'sis). map 8. in Peloponnesian
War. map 119; in Persian Wars.

Peloponnesian War, 117-123, map 118119, causes of, 104, 117-118; effects on

map

Odysseus

102, 145, 147, Hellenistic period, 168;

sacrificial offerings, 17. '65, '125;

map 162

Eleatic school, 59. Hellenistic period.

state, 33.

Pella

Nicias{nishn-ns). 119-120. 121. 184

Nike (ni'ke), *115; of Samolhrace, '24

141, 143-144, 157,

Pharaoh, *33

Reform: constitutional, 60, 93, land, 60:

social, 57
Keggio di Calabria, Greek origin, map 53
Relief sculpture -See Frieze Sculpture
Religion, le-17. 58: and art. 14. 17. 18. 28,
99. 166; Athens, 99-100, 111, 114, 123,
124; Delphi. 74. 143; and drama. 100,

Ideals

Peisistratus (pi-sis'tra-tus), 60, 184

map 52
Hydaspes R). map 163

Macedon,

111,

Recreation, 79, "90-91, '132-133

137-138. Sophists. 123-124. See also

100; temple of Zeus at Olympia, 100

Pegasus (peg'a-siis), 104, 183

Nicaea(ni.se-a| (Nice),

of

Ramses

Panticapaeum (pan-ti-ka-pe'tim), map bi

Paphlagonia (paf l-g6'ni-fl). map 53
Paris(ofTrovl,44
Parmenides lpar-men'i<iezl. 185
Parnassus. Mt. (par-nas'iis). map 8

Pediment(5l, 57, '58; of Parthenon, 99,

Nearchus(n5ar'kus).lo2
Nemean (ne-me'dn) Games, 125. 134
Nestus River Ines'tiVs). map 9

139, 185
Pythagorean theorem. 59, 139
Pythian (pith'i-an) Games, 125, 134

Python (pi-|h6n), 56

Homer's epics

Pattala,

ot>,

120

Nausicaa(n6-sik'3-a).37
(nak'sos),

19,

16, 59,

34, Plato, 138-141, 142; Socrates, 124.

Patroclus(pa.tr6't

Naxos

map

Pythagoras (pi-thag'o-ras),

161. 173, of individual liberty, 12-13,

map 53
Naupactus (no-pak'tus). map 119
Navigation, 15.

8, 34,

Pankralion (pan-kra'shi-iin), 131

sculpluresof. '26-27. 99-100. '111-112.

'92
115.

Alliances of city-states

Naucratis {n6'kra-tis).

II

158, 184

Festivals

N
Naples, Greek settlement, 52.

Philip

Panhellenic Games, 125, '126-131

awards, ^134-135; training, 132, See also

163

(tol'e-mi), 159,

Pylos (pi '16s), map

Pyrrha(pir'a), 182

'54

Phengari. Mt. (fen-gar'e). ^44

Phidias (fid1-as). 99, 100, 112, 185; his
Athena Parthenos, 99. 114, ^115

Philemon

(pan-je'iVm). 143

Proskenion (prds-ka'ni-6n), "148-149

Protagoras (pro-tag'o-ras). 82, 124, 184
(prit'a-ni), Athens, 93-94

Prytany
Ptolemy

map 8
Phaselis (fa-sells), map 53; coin
Phasis(fas'is), map 53

Panathenaic

100-101, 123: of gods. 35-36. 180-181; of

heroes. 36-38. 182-183 See also Legends

Propylaca (pr6p'Me'a), Athens, 99,

"106-107

Pharsalus(far.sa'liis).

Mysticism: Plato, 138, 140, 142,

Pythagoreans, 138

festival, 99; procession,

26-27, 99, ^106- 107, '111-112

Priam(pri'am),37, 41; mask, "151

Priests, 13, 149
Property laws, 50
Propontis. See Marmara, Sea of

of. 52, 54, 89.

See also Vases

140-141, 142-143
Scopas (sko'pas), 185

Sculpture. '10. 14. 18. '19. '22-29, 38, 55;

archaic, 13. 56-57. 100; classical. '13.

Prasiae(pras'l.e).118

14.28. '29.99-100. '111-112. '115.

Praxiteles (praks-ife'-lez), 20. 185;

'136. lo7; Dark Age, 56: Hellenistic.

'28, '166-168, ^172, Indian, Hellenistic

Hermes

of.

"13

influence on. 163, 170-171; mass

Sphacteria

production. lo7; materials. 38, 56;

surrender of. map 119, 120

Sporades (spor'a-dez). map 9,
Sporades. Northern, map 8

painting of early. '86, Parthenon,

'20-27, W-lOO, "111-112, "115; relief,
14, 16-17, 'ZS, 57, "81, "91, "109.

"132-133, 'ISO, "168 (see also Frieze);

Athenian

Hunting

Stesichorus (stc-sik'o-riis), 54

Strymon River

66

(stri'mon),

mufi 118

Sybaris

map

118

map 9
Shipping, 66, 67, "88-89; pentekonlers,
"74-75; triremes, "122-123

Sestos (ses'tds),

Shoemaker's shop, "Be

empire of Dionysius. 143; Greek
colonization and trade, 52, map 53, 54.
89, 1 24 Peloponncsian War campaign
in. mollis. 121-122
Sicyon (sish'i-on). map 8
Side(sid'e), mafi53, "172

(sib'a-ris),

map

163

map
map

53,

art in, 168,

mop

53

Silver, 31. 32;

"169

Tanais(lan'a-is),

53.

map53

(tan'ta-liisl.

36

(td-ren-tiim) (Taranto).

map

map 52

map

53, 54,

Apollo,

at

Delphi, 69, 143, of Apollo,

Didyma, "168;

map 72,
map

in

119
124

(thra'-sira'a-kiis),

(thu-sid'i-dez). 104, 185;

map

76-77. 118; Persian tactics against

Alexander, 160; in sculpture, "22-23,

39-45; tactics,
in

tom'i).

map

(tor-on'e).

Erechtheum

in, 160, 161.

map 163

Solomon, King of

Israel.

Sophocles (sofo-klez), 27, 101, 145, 185,

Atitigotie, 95; Oedipus at Colonus, 123;
Oeiiipus Rex, 101. 123; quoted, 18. 101
(spar'tfl),

map

8, 34. 60.

117,

map

162. 163; brief cultural flowering of.

34. 56. 57. 60; dual monarchy. 49. 71;
fleet. 122; infanticide, 63. invasion of

Attica (500 B.C.). oO. isolationism of.

60. 95. 157. 158; militarism. 34. 57. 60.

139; in Peloponnesian War. 1 17.

118-122. 125; Persian alliance of. 122.
in

Persian Wars. 71,

policies after

map

72. 74. 75-76.

Peloponnesian War. and

defeat at Leuctra. 124, 139, political and

military prestige of. 74, 93, 95; protests

Persian subiugalion of Ionia, 70;

slavery, 51, 60; warrior, "138; way of

79
Spartan Confederacy, 117,
life,

121

34,

map

118-119,

(tha'sos).

map

Trojan

Delian

map 72

149. 151; awards, 147. 149. 153; chorus.

Tyras

Women,

Tyre,

(tir'as),

map

44. 47,

The, Euripides. 101-102.

of Leuctra. 124. 139; defeated

map

at

(li-re'ni-an) Sea.

map

118

map

16-17, 35, 38. 44. 180, 181,

-Ammon, on

coin, ^54, stoa

Olympia, 100; Temple of Olympian

eplsof. 50, 102, 138

Zeus. Athens, ^173

Zoroaster, 77

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(ziis),

182, 183;

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mentioned, 114, 158, 159

.173
Zeno, of Elea, 185

John L Halleribeck (Vice President and Director of Production), Robert

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159

Xerxes, King of Persia. 73-77. 96;

Athens,

Tyrlaeu5(tCir-le'us).57. 185

Themistocles (the-mis'to-klez), 73-74, 7o.

140,184
Theodorusfthe-o-dorTislof Phocaea, 49
Theophrastus (the o-fras'tiis). 173

Bound

/liialiasis,

of.

53

by Philip of Macedon, 144, insurrection

against Alexander, 158; myths, 182, 183
Thebes (on Nile), map 162

Printed hy Fawcett

Xanthippus (zan-thip'ijs), 76
Xanthus (zan'thlis), map 9
Xenophanes (ze-nofa-nez). 16. 59
Xenophon (zen'o-tiin), 20, 22, 185;

53; Alexanders siege of. 159.

map 162
Tyrrhenian

Theatron (the'a-tron). '148-149

Thebes (thebz), map 8, 97, 104, map 162,

P.

US

history, 16, 38, 103, 104, 117; Plato,

183

of.

Tyrants. 59. 60, 69-70: Thirty,

124

101. 102. 145, 153. financing, 140; use

of masks, 101, "150-151 See a/so Drama
Theater of Dionysus (Athens), 100, '145.
'149

lames

38. 56. 99. 114.

138-140. See also Literature

Written documents. See Records

120; modern production. 154-155

Troy, map 9, 39; Alexander's visit to,
map 162; battlements of, *40-41; fall
46.47

Theater, 100-102. '145-153, actors. 101.

at battle

Woodcarving.
Wool. 64. 89

^85

Writing. 14-15. 38: Aristotle, 141-142,

180; Gjolbaschi frieze. 39-45:

heroes

9. 54; in

League. 96, Persian rule,

role of. 80. 82. 85. '86. 90-91.

95; cosmetics of.

of.

147

Victory, '24

Thais (tha'is). 159

Thales (tha'lez). 16. 58. 185
Tharrus. map 52

Thasos

Women:

53

Troad (tro'ad). map 9

Troezen trez'e'n). map 8. 76. 118
Trojan horse. 47. 183
Trojan War. 31. 32. 36-37. 41. 43.

Tenedos (ten'e'-dos). map 72

Tennyson. Alfred Lord. 37

33
Solon (so'lon), 57. 87. 184
Sophists. 123-124. 137

Sparta

map

*64, 89

51, 65, 89, 90.

Winged

Transportation. 88

Triglyph. '58
Trireme. 122-123

map 53

Wheat growing,
Wine,

Wrestling. 38. 126. 131

Athens. 106-107; at Lindos. *21. of

Olympian Zeus. Athens. '173;
Parthenon. "92. 99-100. "106-107.
'112-115. ofZeus. atOlympia. 100

65

War. 118; hunting. 62; iron. 32; Trojan

War. "42-45; warships. "122-123;
Xerxes' army. 72, See also Armor
Weaving, ^86

153; origin of word. 147

Trapezus (trap'e-zus) (Trebizond).

Soli (sol'i).

bronze. 31. 32; heavy. Peloponnesian

Tragedy, 15. 95. 100-102. 120. 123. 145.

153. modern revival. 154-155: Muse

"106-107, *110, 111. 123. Hellenistic

period. 167. 168. *173: of Hephaestus,

Sogdiana, Alexander

Militarism

Weapons. 70-71; Alexander's army. 162;

map bi

Athena Nike, '106-107,

123,

at Marathon, 72, tactics,

Peloponnesian War, 118, Theban

tactics at Leuctra. 139. See also

53

Athens, Delian League and Athenian

Empire, 97, 98, 117, 122, 124;

at

Achaean (Mycenaean]

17. 22. 51.

32. Alexander. 159-160. I6l.

Corinthian, 121; expansion into Asia,

164, 165, imports, 64, 89; written
negotiations, 38, ^98

architectural elements,

Warfare.

democracy in. 22. ideals of. 22. 43. 51;

Macedonian phalanx. "142-143; naval.

Socrates (sok'ra-tez). 27, 90, 124,

137-138, 139, 142, 185; trial and death,

Soil. 61,

The

Tombstones. '79. 95

Social reform, Solon. 57

137-138; quoted. 15, 20

Venus de Milo, "136

Victory statue. Samothrace, "24

Toys, '80-81
Trade, 35, 49, 51-52, 54, 66, *88, 89,

57, '58, architectural styles, "58;

map

Tombs. Mycenaean (Achaean). 31

Torone

Taygelus Mountains (ta-ij'e-tiis). map 8

Teachers, "8283: Sophists, 123-124

-S"

9,

Weapons

map 118

Tegea (te'je-a), map 8

Temples. 17. 38: in Athens, "106-107; of

Smyrna, map

map

Tools and utensils: farming. '88. 89.

household, ^84; sense of beauty and
function, 14, 20. 55 See also Vases;

Tanagra(tan'a.gra),I53

Slavery, 51,59. 60, 94-95

uprisines.

(thras),

Tin trade, 66
Tiryns (tir'inz),

Tarraco (tar'a-ko) (Tarragona),

Tartarus (tar'tfl-rws). 35
Tauchira (tokir'a). map 53

"83; population figures, Attica, 94;

Painting
Vegetable crops. 51
Vegetation. 62. "63

Peloponnesian War, 104. 117: quoted.

119, 120, 121-122

162, 173; Hellenistic

Simonides (si-mon'i-dez), 50. 185

Sinope (5i-n6'pe)(Sinop), map S3
Siphnos(sIf'nDs).ma|)8
Siwa, map 162
Skene (ske'ne), "148-149
Slaves: as labor, 51. 87, 94-95; pedagogues.

Valleys of Greece, 12. 61. ^64-65

Tomi

Tarentum

mining. m<jp 72. 73-74

Macedonian

Titans. 180

Tantalus

Signature seals, '14-15

o4-65, 74.

Vase(s). ZO; basic shapes. 56. See also

Thucydides

map

8,

75,77

Thrasymachus

Sicily:

Sidon,

map

Peloponnesian War,

of,

and utensils

52

invasion of, 143; in Peloponnesian War

map 119; Persian invasion of, map 72,

Thracians. in Persian army, 72

118.121-122; coin. "54

Syria,

(thes'o-li),

invasions of, 71,

53

Symposiarch (sim-po'zi-ark), and

symposium, 90
Syracuse, map 53, 54: Athenian siege

map

183

(the'sus),

162; Delian League members, 96,

Macedonian invasion of, 143; Persian

160,

in.

map

72, 75-76: Philip of

162; agrarianism, 49;

Thrace

Stylobate(sti'lo-bat), "58

Surgery. 16, 32

Susa,7I; Alexander

fleet

(se-jes't(i),

Seleucus (se-lu'kiVs), 163

Selinus |se"-Un'i<s), map 53. 54,
Serfs, 60

mop

at,

Thirty Tyrants, Athens, 124

Tholos (tho'los): Athens, 106-107;
Delphi, ^48

Strategeion (stra-ta'ge-on), Athens,

Sea power, Athenian. 73. 74. 76. 9o. 97,

98,99-100,117, 118. 122. 173, See also

Utica.

143

map

106-107

Sea. influence of. 12 61, 62,

Utensils. See Tools

map

Macedon
Theseus

Stoas, in Athens, "106-107

Scyths, 54, 72

''er-mop'j-le), 74, 75;

battle of, 22,

Thessaly

recreational, "132-133 See also

States- Sec City-states

Scylletium (si-lcsM-um), muji 33

Scyros (sir'os), map 8. 97
Scythia (sith'l-fl). map 53

Segesta

map 72

Sports, 38. 49; of children, 80. "81. "83,

Athletics; Fishing:

54
Scylla (sil'i), 66
in Sicily,

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