A Day in Old Athens

Chapter Xiii. the Armed Forces of Athens.

85. Military Life at Athens 86. The Organization of the Athenian Army 87. The Hoplites and the Light Troops 88. The Cavalry and the Peltasts 89. The Panoply of the Hoplites 90. The Weapons of a Hoplite 91. Infantry Maneuvers 92. The Preliminaries of a Greek Battle 93. Joining the Battle 94. The Climax and End of the Battle 95. The Burial Truce and the Trophy after the Battle 96. The Siege of Fortified Towns 97. The Introduction of New Tactics

Chapter Xiv. the Peiræus and the Shipping.

98. The “Long Walls” down to the Harbor Town 99. Munychia and the Havens of Athens 100. The Glorious View from the Hill of Munychia 101. The Town of Peiræus 102. The Merchant Shipping 103. The Three War Harbors and the Ship Houses 104. The Great Naval Arsenal 105. An Athenian Trierarch 106. The Evolution of the Trireme 107. The Hull of a Trireme 108. The Rowers’ Benches of a Trireme 109. The Cabins, Rigging, and Ram of a Trireme 110. The Officers and Crew of a Trireme 111. A Trireme at Sea 112. The Tactics of a Naval Battle 113. The Naval Strength of Athens

Chapter Xv. an Athenian Court Trial.

114. The Frequency of Litigation in Athens 115. Prosecutions in Athens 116. The Preliminaries to a Trial 117. The Athenian Jury Courts 118. The Juryman’s Oath 119. Opening The Trial. The Plaintiff’s Speech 120. The Defendant’s Speech. Demonstrations by the Jury 121. The First Verdict 122. The Second and Final Verdict 123. The Merits and Defects of the Athenian Courts 124. The Usual Punishments in Athens 125. The Heavy Penalty of Exile 126. The Death Penalty of Athens

Chapter Xvi. the Ecclesia of Athens.

127. The Rule of Democracy in Athens 128. Aristocracy and Wealth. Their Status and Burdens 129. Athenian Society truly Democratic up to a Certain Point 130. The Voting Population of Athens 131. Meeting Times of the Ecclesia 132. The Pnyx (Assembly Place) at Athens 133. The Preliminaries of the Meeting 134. Debating a Proposition 135. Voting at the Pnyx 136. The Ecclesia as an Educational Instrument

Chapter Xvii. the Afternoon At the Gymnasia.

137. The Gymnasia. Places of General Resort 138. The Road to the Academy 139. The Academy 140. The Social Atmosphere and Human Types at the Academy 141. Philosophers and Cultivated Men at the Gymnasia 142. The Beautiful Youths at the Academy 143. The Greek Worship of Manly Beauty 144. The Detestation of Old Age 145. The Greeks unite Moral and Physical Beauty 146. The Usual Gymnastic Sports and their Objects 147. Professional Athletes: the Pancration 148. Leaping Contests 149. Quoit Hurling 150. Casting the Javelin 151. Wrestling 152. Foot Races 153. The Pentathlon: the Honors paid to Great Athletes

Chapter Xviii. Athenian Cookery and the Symposium.

154. Greek Meal Times 155. Society desired at Meals 156. The Staple Articles of Food 157. Greek Vintages 158. Vegetable Dishes 159. Meat and Fish Dishes 160. Inviting Guests to a Dinner Party 161. Preparing for the Dinner: the Sicilian Cook 162. The Coming of the Guests 163. The Dinner Proper 164. Beginning the Symposium 165. The Symposiarch and his Duties 166. Conversation at the Symposium 167. Games and Entertainments 168. Going Home from the Feast: Midnight Revelers

Chapter Xix. Country Life Around Athens.

169. The Importance of his Farm to an Athenian 170. The Country by the Ilissus: the Greeks and Natural Beauty 171. Plato’s Description of the Walk by the Ilissus 172. The Athenian Love of Country Life 173. Some Features of the Attic Country 174. An Attic Farmstead 175. Plowing, Reaping, and Threshing 176. Grinding at the Mill 177. The Olive Orchards 178. The Vineyards 179. Cattle, Sheep, and Goats 180. The Gardens and the Shrine

Chapter Xx. the Temples and Gods of Athens.

181. Certain Factors in Athenian Religion 182. What constitutes “Piety” in Athens 183. The Average Athenians Idea of the Gods 184. Most Greeks without Belief in Immortality 185. The Multitude of Images of the Gods 186. Greek Superstition 187. Consulting Omens 188. The Great Oracles 189. Greek Sacrifices 190. The Route to the Acropolis 191. The Acropolis of Athens 192. The Use of Color Upon Athenian Architecture and Sculptures 193. The Chief Buildings on the Acropolis 194. The Parthenon 195. A Sacrifice on the Acropolis 196. The Interior of the Parthenon and the Great Image of Athena 197. Greek Prayers

Chapter Xxi. the Great Festival of Athens.

198. The Frequent Festivals in Athens 199. The Eleusinia 200. The Holy Procession to Eleusis 201. The Mysteries of Eleusis 202. The Greater Dionysia and the Drama 203. The Theater of Dionysus 204. The Production of a Play 205. The Great Panathenaic Procession 206. The View from the Temple of Wingless Victory

Index

Maps, Plans, and Illustrations.

1. Athenian Acropolis 2. Sketch Map of Attica 3. Sketch Map of Athens 4. Peasant going to Market 5. At the Street Fountain 6. A Wayside Herm 7. A Carpenter 8. Conjectural Plan for the house of a Wealthy Athenian 9. Spinning 10. The Maternal Slipper 11. Athenian Funeral Monument 12. At the Smithy 13. Hoplite in Armor 14. The Town of Peiræus and the Harbors of Athens 15. Fishermen 16. An Athenian Trireme 17. The Race in Armor 18. Itinerant Piper with his Dog 19. Women pounding Meal 20. Gathering the Olive Harvest 21. Rural Sacrifice to a Wooden Statue of Dionysus 22. Sketch Map of the Acropolis of Athens 23. Sacrificing a Pig 24. Athena Parthenos 25. Comic Actors dressed as Ostriches 26. Actor in Costume as a Fury

A Day in Old Athens

Chapter I.. The Physical Setting of Athens.

The Physical Setting of Athens.

1. The Importance of Athens in Greek History.—To three ancient nations the men of the twentieth century owe an incalculable debt. To the Jews we owe most of our notions of religion; to the Romans we owe traditions and examples in law, administration, and the general management of human affairs which still keep their influence and value; and finally, to the Greeks we owe nearly all our ideas as to the fundamentals of art, literature, and philosophy, in fact, of almost the whole of our intellectual life. These Greeks, however, our histories promptly teach us, did not form a single unified nation. They lived in many “city-states” of more or less importance, and some of the largest of these contributed very little directly to our civilization. Sparta, for example, has left us some noble lessons in simple living and devoted patriotism, but hardly a single great poet, and certainly never a philosopher or sculptor. When we examine closely, we see that the civilized life of Greece, during the centuries when she was accomplishing the most, was peculiarly centered at Athens. Without Athens, Greek history would lose three quarters of its significance, and modern life and thought would become infinitely the poorer.

2. Why the Social Life of Athens is so Significant.—Because, then, the contributions of Athens to our own life are so important, because they touch (as a Greek would say) upon almost every side of “the true, the beautiful, and the good,” it is obvious that the outward conditions under which this Athenian genius developed deserve our respectful attention. For assuredly such personages as Sophocles, Plato, and Phidias were not isolated creatures, who developed their genius apart from, or in spite of, the life about them, but rather were the ripe products of a society, which in its excellences and weaknesses presents some of the most interesting pictures and examples in the world. To understand the Athenian civilization and genius it is not enough to know the outward history of the times, the wars, the laws, and the lawmakers. We must see Athens as the average man saw it and lived in it from day to day, and then perhaps we can partially understand how it was that during the brief but wonderful era of Athenian freedom and prosperity[*], Athens was able to produce so many men of commanding genius as to win for her a place in the history of civilization which she can never lose.

3. The Small Size and Sterility of Attica.—Attica was a very small country according to modern notions, and Athens the only large city therein. The land barely covered some 700 square miles, with 40 square miles more, if one includes the dependent island of Salamis. It was thus far smaller than the smallest of our American “states” (Rhode Island = 1250 square miles), and was not so large as many American counties. It was really a triangle of rocky, hill-scarred land thrust out into the Ægean Sea, as if it were a sort of continuation of the more level district of Bœotia. Yet small as it was, the hills inclosing it to the west, the seas pressing it form the northeast and south, gave it a unity and isolation all its own. Attica was not an island; but it could be invaded only by sea, or by forcing the resistance which could be offered at the steep mountain passes towards Bœotia or Megara. Attica was thus distinctly separated from the rest of Greece. Legends told how, when the half-savage Dorians had forced themselves southward over the mainland, they had never penetrated into Attica; and the Athenians later prided themselves upon being no colonists from afar, but upon being “earth-sprung,”—natives of the soil which they and their twenty-times grandfathers had held before them.

Continue reading A Day in Old Athens free in the Wunder reader →