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The Book of the Ancient Greeks
The Book of the Ancient Greeks
An Introduction to the History and Civilization of Greece from the Coming of the Greeks to the Conquest of Corinth by Rome in 146 B.C. By Dorothy Mills, M.A. Teacher of History at the Brearley School, New York Author of "The Book of the Ancient World" With 16 Illustrations and a Map G. P. Putnam's Sons New York & London The Knickerbocker Press Copyright, 1925 by Dorothy Mills Published, August, 1925 Second impression, March, 1928 Third impression, October, 1928 Fourth impression, Septemb
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CHAPTER I THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
CHAPTER I THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
To the people of the ancient world the Mediterranean was "The Sea"; they knew almost nothing of the great ocean that lay beyond the Pillars of Hercules. A few of the more daring of the Phoenician navigators had sailed out into the Atlantic, but to the ordinary sailor from the Mediterranean lands the Ocean was an unknown region, believed to be a sea of darkness, the abode of terrible monsters and a place to be avoided. And then, as they believed the world to be flat, to sail too far would be to r
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CHAPTER II CRETE
CHAPTER II CRETE
The long narrow island of Crete lies at what might be called the entrance to the Aegean Sea. This sea is dotted with islands which form stepping stones from the mainland of Europe to the coast of Asia Minor. Crete turns her face to these islands and her back to Egypt, and the Egyptians, who did not travel very much themselves, called the inhabitants the "Great Men of Keftiu," Keftiu meaning people at the back of . They were the men who dwelt beyond what was familiar to the Egyptians. The Aegean
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CHAPTER III THE MAINLAND
CHAPTER III THE MAINLAND
An ancient tradition told the story of how Helen, the beautiful wife of Menelaus King of Sparta, had been carried off by Paris, son of the King of Troy, and of how the Greeks collected a mighty army under Agamemnon, King of Argos and his brother Menelaus and sailed to Troy to bring back the lost Helen. For ten years they besieged Troy, during which time they had many adventures and many hero-deeds were performed. Glorious Hector of the glancing helm was slain by Achilles fleet of foot, and the g
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CHAPTER I THE LAND OF GREECE
CHAPTER I THE LAND OF GREECE
The land to which people belong always helps to form their character and to influence their history, and the land of Greece, its mountains and plains, its sea and sky, was of great importance in making the Greeks what they were. The map shows us three parts of Greece: Northern Greece, a rugged mountainous land; then Central Greece with a fertile plain running down to more mountains; and then, across a narrow sea, the peninsula known as the Peloponnesus. One striking feature of the whole country
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CHAPTER II GREEK RELIGION AND THE ORACLES
CHAPTER II GREEK RELIGION AND THE ORACLES
The city-dwellers in Greece lived in the plains separated from their neighbours by mountains, and this caused the development of a large number of separate communities, quite independent of each other, each having its own laws and government, but there were three things which all Greeks had in common wherever they lived: they spoke the same language, they believed in the same gods, and they celebrated together as Greeks their great national games. The Greeks called themselves Hellenes and their
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CHAPTER III THE OLYMPIC GAMES
CHAPTER III THE OLYMPIC GAMES
The Greeks were bound together by their language, by their religion, and also by their great national games. The origin of these games is still somewhat in doubt. They probably began as some kind of religious ceremony in connection with burials, such as the Funeral Games described by Homer that were held in honour of Patroclus. But whatever may have been their origin, they were firmly established in the earliest times of historic Greece. Greece was never free for long at a time from warfare. The
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CHAPTER IV THE GREEK CITY-STATE
CHAPTER IV THE GREEK CITY-STATE
Whenever men live together in communities, no matter how small they may be, some form of law has to be observed, in order to maintain order, and that there may be justice between man and his neighbours. The form that this law takes in different places and in different communities is what is called government. The earliest form of government in Greece was, like all primitive government, that of the family, and the word of the head of the family was law to all those belonging to it. The land on wh
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CHAPTER V SPARTA[1]
CHAPTER V SPARTA[1]
Of all the city-states in Greece, two stand out from the others as having played the leading part in Greek history. These two are Athens, which most nearly approached the ideal city-state, and Sparta, the foremost military state in Greece. Sparta was the chief city in the peninsula in the south of Greece called the Peloponnesus, or the Land of Pelops, one of the ancient mythical heroes of that land. During the period of the Greek migrations, the Peloponnesus was probably the last district to be
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CHAPTER VI THE GROWTH OF ATHENS
CHAPTER VI THE GROWTH OF ATHENS
Athens was the most beautiful city in Greece. It grew up at the foot of the high rock known as the Acropolis, which in the earliest times was the citadel that defended the city. The Acropolis had very strong walls, and the main entrance was guarded by nine gates, which must have made it almost impossible for an enemy to take, and there was a well within the fortress, so that there was always water for those who defended it. But history has told us almost nothing about the mighty lords who built
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CHAPTER VII GREEK COLONIES
CHAPTER VII GREEK COLONIES
The Greeks were a sea-faring people, and they were an adventurous people. Their own land was small, but the islands of the Aegean formed stepping-stones, as it were, to the coast of Asia Minor, and the Aegean world was very familiar to the Greek sailor. Greek galleys were found in most ports, and the Greek trader became a formidable rival of the Phoenician. As they sailed from island to island and on to the mainland, the Greeks came to realize that some of these places would make suitable homes,
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CHAPTER VIII THE BEGINNING OF THE PERSIAN WARS[1]
CHAPTER VIII THE BEGINNING OF THE PERSIAN WARS[1]
The rule of the Lydian Kings over the Ionian cities in Asia Minor had not been a hard one, but that of the Persians was different, for they established tyrants in all the Greek cities, and required the assistance of their soldiers and sailors in their wars, things which were very bitter to the freedom-loving Greeks. When Darius had become King, he determined, like the Great Kings before him, to add yet more lands to his empire, and so made ready an army which was to invade Scythia, the region no
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CHAPTER IX THE GREAT PERSIAN INVASION UNDER XERXES[1]
CHAPTER IX THE GREAT PERSIAN INVASION UNDER XERXES[1]
(a) The Persians The Persians came again. When the report came to Darius of the battle which was fought at Marathon, the King, who even before this had been greatly exasperated with the Athenians on account of the attack made upon Sardis, then far more than before displayed indignation, and was still more determined to make a campaign against Hellas. He at once sent messengers to the various cities of the Empire and ordered that they should get ready their forces. Each city or community was call
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CHAPTER X THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE
CHAPTER X THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE
The Persian had been defeated, and Greece was free. The Athenians had suffered more than any other state, for they had been forced to leave their city to be occupied by the enemy, and twice it had been burnt to the ground. Now, however, they were free to return. The city was utterly destroyed, but a great hope for the future filled their hearts when they found that the sacred olive tree on the Acropolis, which had been burnt by the Persians, was not dead after all, but had sent up fresh green sh
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CHAPTER XI LIFE IN ANCIENT ATHENS IN THE TIME OF PERICLES
CHAPTER XI LIFE IN ANCIENT ATHENS IN THE TIME OF PERICLES
Almost in the centre of Attica lies a plain surrounded in the distance by hills: towards the East, Mount Hymettus, the home of goats, purple with thyme and filled with the murmur of bees; and to the North, Mount Pentelicus, famous for its shining white marble, that gleamed a rosy-red when the sun went down. Rising straight out of the plain is a great oval-shaped rock, the famous Acropolis of Athens, once its citadel and fortress, but transformed by Pericles into a great shrine for Athena. From t
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CHAPTER XII A DAY WITH AN ATHENIAN
CHAPTER XII A DAY WITH AN ATHENIAN
The day began early in Athens, and as soon as the sun was up everyone was stirring: the workman was off to his work, the schoolboy to school, and every booth and stall in the Agora was laden with articles to attract the buyers who were expected in the market. Before leaving his house, the Athenian gentleman had his breakfast, a little bread soaked in wine, after which one of his house-slaves saw that his himation hung in graceful folds, and then, accompanied by one or more slaves carrying basket
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CHAPTER XIII THE ATHENIAN SCHOOLBOY
CHAPTER XIII THE ATHENIAN SCHOOLBOY
The chief aim of Athenian education was the building of character. The Athenians were more concerned that their sons should grow up to be good citizens, loving what was beautiful and hating all that was ugly, than that they should know any great number of facts. The object of any education is to teach a child how to live, and a system of education is good or bad according as it fulfils this aim. As different states and countries, at different periods, have had different ideals as to what is mean
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CHAPTER XIV THE GREEK THEATRE
CHAPTER XIV THE GREEK THEATRE
The Greek drama began as a religious observance in honour of Dionysus. To the Greeks this god personified both the spring and the vintage, the latter a very important time of year in a vine-growing country, and he was a symbol to them of that power there is in man of rising out of himself, of being impelled onwards by a joy within him that he cannot explain, but which makes him go forward, walking, as it were, on the wings of the wind, of the spirit that fills him with a deep sense of worship. W
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CHAPTER XV THE TEMPLES OF ATHENS
CHAPTER XV THE TEMPLES OF ATHENS
A Greek temple was not a place where people met to worship, and it was never intended to hold a very large number of people. The religious ceremonies were carried on in the great spaces outside the temples, and sacrifices were offered on the altars which were always in the open air. The temple was the dwelling-place of the god and the treasury where the gifts brought by the worshippers were kept. Greek temples varied in size, but they were all built on the same general plan. The whole building w
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CHAPTER XVI THE DOWNFALL OF ATHENS
CHAPTER XVI THE DOWNFALL OF ATHENS
Athens in the middle of the fifth century B.C. was in very truth as Pericles had said, the "school of Hellas." For half a century after the Barbarian had been driven out of Greece, Athens went forward on the wings of youth and hope and aspiration towards the fulfilment of her great ideal, that of the perfect citizen in the perfect state. Everything that was worth while in human life lay in that direction: Freedom, Order and Progress; Truth and Beauty; Knowledge, Virtue and Religion; and in the G
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CHAPTER XVII THE GREAT DAYS OF THEBES
CHAPTER XVII THE GREAT DAYS OF THEBES
Up to the end of the Peloponnesian War, the history of Greece had been chiefly the history of Athens and Sparta. The end of the war left Sparta supreme, but she did not know how to use her power. She was stern and harsh, cared little for literature, and disliked changes. She had not the imagination to put herself in the place of Athens and to understand how she should rule such independent, sea-faring, intellectually alert and artistic people. The short period of her supremacy ended in failure,
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CHAPTER XVIII ALEXANDER THE GREAT
CHAPTER XVIII ALEXANDER THE GREAT
History is the story of the way in which man has learned how to live, and in learning this, man has come from time to time to periods of great change: periods when the old order of things has changed, passing into the new. These times are always very difficult for those who live in them, for so much of the old seems to be undergoing destruction that the building of the new is not noticed, for those who destroy generally make more noise than those who build. Greece was living through one of these
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CHAPTER XIX THE GIFTS OF GREECE TO THE WORLD
CHAPTER XIX THE GIFTS OF GREECE TO THE WORLD
What man achieves is, in regard to its permanent value, of less importance than the spirit in which he achieves it; what one learns is of less importance than how one learns; learning facts is of less importance than developing certain qualities of mind. It is not possible, and were it possible it would not be desirable, to reproduce in modern life, the conditions of a past age, but certain qualities of the mind and spirit are undying, and some of the greatest of these qualities have come to us
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CHAPTER XX THE HELLENISTIC AGE
CHAPTER XX THE HELLENISTIC AGE
Alexander was a great conqueror and he won for himself a mighty empire. But that empire did not last, for his successors were unable to hold it together. It would almost seem as if he had crowded into his short reign of barely thirteen years, hero deeds and marvellous exploits, which however much they may have done to enrich tradition and to appeal to the imagination, were hardly of any great permanent value. Alexander, however, did more than create a passing empire; he did more than any other o
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SUGGESTIONS ABOUT BOOKS FOR FURTHER READING
SUGGESTIONS ABOUT BOOKS FOR FURTHER READING
This book has been intended for those who were reading about Greece for the first time. The following list is for those older readers of the book who would like to know more about this great civilization. It only contains suggestions as to how to begin , and is therefore not in any way a complete bibliography. I. Books about Greece GROTE. History of Greece . This book was written some time ago, but it is still the most famous history of Greece. C. H. and H. B. HAWES. Crete the Forerunner of Gree
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