The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade/Chapter 2
CHAPTER II.
Slavery in Greece. Athenian Slaves.
In Greece, slavery existed from the earliest period of her history. Before the days of Homer it generally prevailed. The various states of Greece had different codes of laws, but in all of them the slaves were a majority of the people. The proportion of slaves to freemen probably varied in different states, and in the same state at different times. A historian states the proportion to have been at one period as 400 to 30. In Athens, another writer states, there were three slaves to one freeman. In Sparta, the proportion of slaves was much greater than in Athens.
The greatest writers of antiquity were, on this subject, perplexed and un- decided. They appear to have comprehended the extent of the evil, but to have been themselves too much the slaves of habit and prejudice to discover that no form or modification of slavery is consistent with justice. Most perplexing of all, however, was the Laconian Heloteia ; because in that case the comparatively great number of the servile class rendered it necessary, in the opinion of some, to break their spirit and bring them down to their condition by a system of severity which constitutes the infamy of Sparta.[1]
The discredit of subsisting on slave labor was, to a certain extent, shared by all the states of Greece, even by Athens. But in the treatment of that unfortunate class, there was as much variation as from the differences of national character might have been inferred. The Athenians, in this respect, as in most others, are represented as the antipodes of the Spartans ; inasmuch as they treated their slaves with humanity, and even indulgence.[2] We read, accordingly, of slaves whose love for their masters exceeded the love of brothers ; they have toiled, fought, and died for them ; they have sometimes surpassed them in courage, and taught them, in situations of imminent danger, how to die. An example is recorded of a slave, who put on the disguise of his lord, that he might be slain in his stead. These examples, however, do not prove that there is any thing ennobling in servitude. On the contrary, the inference is, that great and noble souls had been dealt with unjustly by fortune.
As soon as men began to give quarter in war, and became possessed of prisoners, the idea of employing them and rendering their labors profitable, naturally suggested itself. When it was found that advantages could be derived from captured enemies instead of butchering them in the field, their lives were spared. At the outset, therefore, it is argued, slavery sprung from feelings of humanity. A distinguished historian remarks: "When warlike people, emerging from the savage state, first set about agriculture, the idea of sparing the lives of prisoners, on condition of their becoming useful to the conquerors by labor, was an obvious improvement upon the practice of former times, when conquered enemies were constantly put to death, not from a spirit of cruelty, but from necessity, for the conquerors were unable to maintain them in captivity, and dared not set them free."[3] Possibly the practice was borrowed from the East, where the mention of slaves occurs in the remotest ages. In later times, the Queen of Persia is represented to have urged Darius into the Grecian war, that she might possess Athenian, Spartan, Argive and Corinthian slaves. The practice was, when a number of prisoners had been taken, to make a division of them among the chiefs, generally by lot, and then to sell them for slaves.
Examples occur in antiquity of whole cities and states being at once subjected to servitude. Thus the inhabitants of Judea were twice carried away captive to Babylon, where their masters, not perhaps from mockery, required of them to sing some of their national songs; to which, as we learn from the prophet, they replied, "How can we sing the songs of Zion in a strange land?" The citizens of Miletos, after the unsuccessful revolt of Aristagoras, were carried into Persia, as were those also of other places. Like the Israelites, those Greeks long preserved in captivity their national manners and language, though surrounded by strangers, and urged by every inducement to assimilate themselves to their conquerors. A similar fate overtook the inhabitants of Thebes, who were sold into slavery by Alexander.
As the supply produced by war seldom equaled the demand, the race of kidnappers alluded to in a former chapter, sprung up, who, partly merchants and partly pirates, roamed about the shores of the Mediterranean, as similar miscreants now do about the slave coasts of Africa. Neither war, however, nor piracy, sufficed at length to furnish that vast multitude of slaves which the growing luxury of the times induced the Greeks to consider necessary. Commerce, by degrees, conducted them to Caria and other parts of Asia Minor, particularly the southern coasts of the Black Sea, those great nurseries of slaves from that time until now. The first Greeks who engaged in this traffic, which even by the Pagans was supposed to be attended by a curse, are Baid to have been the Chians. They purchased their slaves from the barbarians, among whom the Lydians, the Phrygians and the natives of Pontos, with many others, were accustomed, like the modern Circassians, to carry on a trade in their own people.
Before proceeding farther with the history of the traffic, it may be well to describe the power possessed by masters over their domestics during the heroic ages. Every man appears then to have been a king in his own house, and to have exercised his authority most regally. Power, generally, when unchecked by law, is fierce and inhuman; and over their household, gentlemen, in those ages, exercised the greatest and most awful power, that of life and death, as they afterwards did at Rome. When supposed to deserve death, the slaves were executed ignominiously by hanging. This was regarded as an impure end. To die honorably was to perish by the sword.
The Chians, as before observed, are said to have been the first Grecian people who engaged in a regular slave-trade. For although the Thessalians and Spartans possessed slaves at a period much anterior, they obtained them by different means; the latter by reducing to subjection the ancient Achaean inhabitants; the former by their conquests over other nations. But the Chians possessed only such slaves as they had purchased with money; in which they resembled the slave-holding nations of modern times. Other circumstances strongly suggest the parallel. We have here, perhaps, the first type of the Maroon wars, though on a smaller scale, and marked by fewer outbreaks of atrocity.[4]It is not, indeed, stated that the females were flogged, though throughout Greece the males were so corrected; but whatever the nature of the severities practiced upon them may have been, the yoke of bondage was found too galling to be borne, and whole gangs took refuge in the mountains. Fortunately for them, the interior of the island abounded in fastnesses, and was in those days covered with forest.
Here, therefore, the fugitives, erecting themselves dwellings, or taking possession of caverns among the almost inaccessible cliffs, successfully defended themselves, subsisting on the plunder of their former owners. Shortly before the time of the writer, to whom we are indebted for these details, a bondsman named Drimacos, made his escape from the city, and reached the mountains, where, by valor and conduct, he soon placed himself at the head of the servile insurgents, over whom he ruled like a king. The Chians led several expeditions against him in vain. He defeated them in the field with great slaughter; but at length, to spare the useless effusion of human blood, invited them to a conference, wherein he observed, that the slaves being encouraged in their revolt by an oracle, would never lay down their arms, or submit to the drudgery of servitude. Nevertheless, the war might be terminated, "for if my advice," said he, "be followed, and we be suffered to enjoy tranquility, numerous advantages will thence accrue to the state."
There being little prospect of a satisfactory settlement of the matter by arms, the Chians consented to enter into a truce, as with a public enemy. Humbled by their losses and defeats, Drimacos found them submissive to reason. He therefore provided himself with weights, measures, and a signet, and exhibiting them to his former masters, said:""When, in future, our necessities require that I should supply myself from your stores, it shall always be by these weights and measures; and having taken the necessary quantity of provision's, I shall be careful to seal your warehouses with this signet. With respect to such of your slaves as may fly and come to me, I will institute a rigid examination into their story, and if they have just grounds for complaint, I will protect them — if not, they shall be sent back to their owners."
To these conditions the magistrates readily acceded; upon which the slaves who still remained with their masters grew more obedient, and seldom took to flight, dreading the decision of Drimacos. Over his own followers he exercised a despotic authority. They, in fact, stood far more in fear of him, than, when in bondage, of their lords; and performed his bidding without question or murmur. He was severe in the punishment of the unruly, and permitted no man to plunder and lay waste the country, or commit any act of injustice. The public festivals he was careful to observe, going round and collecting from the proprietors of the land, who bestowed upon him both wine and the finest victims; but if, on these occasions, he discovered that a plot was hatching, or any ambush laid for him, he would take speedy vengeance.
Observing old age to be creeping upon Drimacos, and rendered wanton apparently by prosperity, the government issued a proclamation, offering a great reward to any one who should capture him, or bring them his head. The old chief, discerning signals of treachery, or convinced that, at last, it must come to that, took aside a young man whom he loved, and said,"I have ever regarded you with a stronger affection than any other man, and to me you have been a brother. But now the days of my life are at an end, nor would I have them prolonged. With you, however, it is not so. Youth, and the bloom of youth, are yours. What, then, is to be done? You must prove yourself to possess valor and greatness of soul: and, since the state offers riches and freedom to whomsoever shall slay me and bear them my head, let the reward be yours. Strike it off, and be happy!"
At first the youth rejected the proposal, but ultimately Drimacos prevailed. The old man fell, and his friend, on presenting his head, received the reward, together with his freedom; and, after burying his benefactor's remains, he sailed away to his own country.
The Chians, however, underwent the just punishment of their treachery. No longer guided by the wisdom and authority of Drimacos, the fugitive slaves returned to their original habits of plunder and devastation; whereupon, the Chians, remembering the moderation of the dead, erected an heroon upon his grave, and denominated him the propitious hero. The insurgents, also, holding his memory in veneration, continued for generations to offer up the first fruits of their spoil upon his tomb. He was, in fact, honored with a kind of apotheosis, and canonized among the gods of the island; for it was believed that his shade often appeared to men in dreams, for the purpose of revealing some servile conspiracy, while yet in the bud; and they to whom he vouchsafed these warning visits, never failed to proceed to his chapel, and offer sacrifice to his manes.
In process of time the Chians themselves were compelled to drain the bitter cup of servitude. For, as we find recorded, they were subjugated by Mithridates, and were delivered up to their own slaves, to be carried away captive into Colchis. This, Athenæus considers the just punishment of their wickedness in having been the first who introduced the slave trade into Greece, when they might have been better served by freemen for hire. The servile war which took place among the Samians had a more fortunate issue, though but few particulars respecting it have come down to us. It was related, however by Malacos in his annals of the Siphnians, that Ephesos was first founded by a number of Samian slaves, who, having retired to a mountain on the island to the number of a thousand, inflicted numerous evils on their former tyrants. These, in the sixth year of the war, having consulted the oracle, came to an understanding with their slaves, who were permitted to depart in safetv from the island. They sailed away, and became the founders of the city and people of Ephesos.
In Attica the institution of slavery, though attended by innumerable evils is said to have exhibited itself under the mildest form which it any where assumed in the ancient world. With their characteristic attention to the interests of humanity, the Athenians enacted a law, in virtue of which, slaves could indict their masters for assault and battery. Hyperides observed in his oration against Mantitheos,"our laws, making no distinction in this respect between freemen and slaves, grant to all alike the privilege of bringing an action against those who insult or injure them." To the same effect spoke Lycurgus in his first oration against Lycophron. Flato was less just to them than the laws of their country. If, in his imaginary state, a slave killed a slave in self-defense, he was judged innocent; if a freeman, he was put to death like a parricide. But Demosthenes has preserved the law which empowered any Athenian, not laboring under legal disability, to denounce to the Thesmothetæ the person who offered violence to man, woman or child, whether slave or free. Such actions were tried before the court of Heliæa, and numerous were the examples of men who suffered death for crimes committed against slaves. Another privilege enjoyed by the slave class in Attica was that of purchasing their own freedom, as often as, by the careful management of the peculium secured them by law, they were enabled to offer their owners an equivalent for their services.
At Athens, with some exceptions, every temple in the city appears to have been open to them. Occasionally, certain of their number were selected to accompany their masters to consult the oracle at Delphi, when they were permitted, like free citizens, to wear crowns upon their heads, which, for the time, conferred upon them exemption from blows or stripes. Among their more serious grievances was their liability to personal chastisement; which was too much left to the discretion of their owners. In time of war, however, this privilege was not practised, since the flogged slaves could go over to the enemy, as sometimes happened. They are said, besides, to have worked the mines in fetters; probably, however, only in consequence of a revolt, in which they slew the overseers of the mines, and taking possession of the acropolis of Sunium, laid waste, for a time, the whole of the adjacent districts. This took place simultaneously with the second insurrection of the slaves in Sicily, in the quelling of which nearly a million of their number were destroyed.
We find from contemporary writers, that except in cases of incorrigible perverseness, slaves were encouraged to marry; it being supposed they would thus become more attached to their masters, who, in return, would put more trust in slaves born and brought up in the house, than in such as were purchased.
We have seen that slaves were protected by the laws from grievous insults and contumely; but if, in spite of legal protection, their masters found means to render their lives a burden, the state provided them with an asylum in the temple of Theseus and the Eumenides. Having there taken sanctuary, their oppressors could not force them thence without incurring the guilt of sacrilege. Thus in a fragment of Aristophaues' Seasons, we find a slave deliberating whether he should take refuge in the Theseion, and there remain until he could procure his transfer to a new master; for any one who conducted himself too harshly towards his slaves, was by law compelled to sell them. Not only so, but the slave could institute an action against his lord and master, or against any other citizen who behaved unjustly or injuriously towards him. The right of sanctuary was, however, limited, and extended from the time of the slave's flight to the next new moon, when a periodical slave auction appears to have been held.
On this occasion the slaves were stationed in a circle in the market place, and the one whose turn it was to be sold, mounted a table, where he exhibited himself and was knocked down to the best bidder. The sales seem to have been conducted precisely like those of the present day in Richmond, Charleston, New Orleans and other cities of the south. The Greek auctioneer, or slave-broker, however, was answerable at law if the quality of the persons sold did not correspond with the description given of them in the catalogue. It appears that, sometimes, when the articles were lively, or witty, they made great sport for the company, as in the case of Diogenes, who bawled aloud — "whoever among yon wants a master, let him buy me."
Diogenes, of Sinope, flourished about the fourth century before Christ, and was the most famous of the Cynic philosophers. Having been banished from his native place with his father, who had been accused of coining false money, he went to Athens, and requested Antisthenes to admit him among his disciples. That philosopher in vain attempted to repel the importunate supplicant, even by blows, and finally granted his request. Diogenes devoted himself, with the greatest diligence, to the lessons of his master, whose doctrines he extended still further. He not only, like Antisthenes, despised all philosophical speculations, and opposed the corrupt morals of his time, but also carried the application of his doctrines, in his own person, to the extreme. The stern austerity of Antisthenes was repulsive; but Diogenes exposed the follies of his contemporaries with wit and humor, and was, therefore, better adapted to be the censor and instructer of the people, though he really accomplished little in the way of reforming them. At the same time, he applied, in its fullest extent, his principle of divesting himself of all superfluities. He taught that a wise man, in order to be happy, must endeavor to preserve himself independent of fortune, of men, and of himself: in order to do this, he must despise riches, power, honor, arts and sciences, and all the enjoyments of life. He endeavor ed to exhibit, in his own person, a model of Cynic virtue. For this purpose he subjected himself to the severest trials, and disregarded all the forms of polite society. He often struggled to overcome his appetite, or satisfied it with the coarsest food; practised the most rigid temperance, even at feasts, in the midst of the greatest abundance, and did not even consider it beneath his dignity to ask alms. By day, he walked through the streets of Athens barefoot, without any coat, with a long beard, a stick in his hand, and a wallet on his shoulders; by night, he slept in a tub, though this has been doubted. He defied the inclemency of the weather, and bore the scoffs and insults of the people with the greatest equanimity. Seeing a boy draw water with his hand, he threw away his wooden goblet as an unnecessary utensil. He never spared the follies of men, but openly and loudly inveighed against vice and corruption, attacking them with satire and irony. The people, and even the higher classes, heard him with pleasure, and tried their wit upon him. When he made them feel his superiority, they often had recourse to abuse, by which, however, he was little moved. He rebuked them for expressions and actions which violated decency and modesty, and therefore it is not credible that he was guilty of the excesses with which his enemies have reproached him. His rudeness offended the laws of good breeding rather than the principles of-morality. Many anecdotes, however, related of this singular person, are mere fictions. On a voyage to Ægina, he fell into the hands of pirates, who sold him as a slave to the Corinthian Xeniades in Crete. The latter emancipated him, and intrusted him with the education of his children. He attended to the duties of his new employment with the greatest care, commonly living in summer at Corinth, and in winter at Athens. It was at the former place that Alexander found him on the road-side, basking in the sun, and, astonished at the indifference with which the ragged beggar regarded him, entered into conversation with him, and finally gave him permission to ask for a boon."I ask nothing," answered the philosopher, "but that thou wouldst get out of my sunshine." Surprised at this proof of content, the king is said to have exclaimed, "Were I not Alexander, I would be Diogenes." At another time, he was carrying a lantern through the streets of Athens, in the daytime: on being asked what he was looking for, he answered,"I am seeking a man." Thinking he had found, in the Spartans, the greatest capacity for becoming such men as he wished, he said "Men I have found nowhere; but children, at least, I have seen at Lacedæmon." Being asked,"What is the most dangerous animal?" his answer was "Among wild animals, the slanderer; among tame, the flatterer." He died 324 B. C, at a great age. When he felt death approaching, he seated himself on the road leading to Olympia, where he died with philosophical calmness, in the presence of a great number of people, who were collected around him.
Slaves of little or no value, were contemptuously called "salt bought," from a custom prevalent among the inland Thracians, of bartering their captives for salt; whence it may be inferred that domestics from that part of the world were considered inferior.
Respecting the price of slaves, a passage occurs in the Memorabilia, where Socrates inquires whether friends were to be valued at so much per head, like slaves; some of whom, he says, were not worth a demimina, while others would fetch two, live, or even ten minæ; that is, the price varied from ten to two hundred dollars. Nicias bought an overseer for his silver mines at the prico, of B talent, or about twelve hundred dollars.
Exclusively of the fluctuations caused by the variations in the supply and demand, the market price of slaves was affected by their age, health, strength, beauty, natural abilities, mechanical ingenuity, and moral qualities. The meanest and cheapest class were those who worked in the mills, where mere bodily strength was required. A low value was set upon slaves who worked in the mines — a sum equal to about eight dollars. In the age of Demosthenes, ordinary house slaves, male or female, were valued at about the same price. Demosthenes considered two minæ and a half, fifty dollars, a large sum for a person of this class. Of the sword cutlers possessed by the orator's father, some were valued at six minæ, others at five, while the lowest were worth above three. Chairmakers sold for about two minæ, forty dollars. The wages of slaves, when let out for hire by their masters, varied greatly, as did the profit derived from them. Expert manufacturers of fine goods produced their owners much larger returns than miners.
Slaves at Athens were divided into two classes, private and public. The latter, who were the property of the state, performed several kinds of service, supposed to be unworthy of freemen. They were, for example, employed as vergers, messengers, scribes, clerks of public works, and inferior servants of the gods. Most of the temples of Greece possessed a great number of slaves, or serfs, who cultivated the sacred domains, exercised various humbler offices of religion, and were ready on all occasions to execute the orders of the priests. At Corinth, where the worship of Aphrodite chiefly prevailed, these slaves consisted almost exclusively of women, who, having on certain occasions burnt frankincense, and offered up public prayers to the goddess, were sumptuously feasted within the precincts of her fane.[5]
Among the Athenians, the slaves of the republic, generally captives taken in war, received a careful education, and were sometimes intrusted with important duties. Out of their number were selected the secretaries, who, in time of war, accompanied the generals and treasurers of the army, and made exact minutes of the expenditure, in order that, when, on their return, these officers should come to render an account of their proceedings, their books might be compared with those of the secretaries. In cases of difficulty, these unfortunate individuals were subjected to torture, in order to obtain that kind of evidence which the ancients deemed most satisfactory, but which the moderns regard with extreme uncertainty.
Æsop, the oldest Greek fabulist, was a native of Phrygia, and a slave, until he was set free by his last owner. He lived about the middle of the sixth century B. C. He inculcated rules of practical morality, drawn from the habits of the inferior creation, and thus spread his fame through Greece and all the neighboring countries. Crœsus, king of Lydia, invited Æsop to his court, and kept him always about his person. Indeed, he was never absent, except during his journeys to Greece, Persia and Egypt. Crœsus once sent him to Delphi to offer sacrifice to Apollo; while engaged in this embassy, he wrote his fable of the Floating Log, which appeared terrible at a distance, but lost its terrors when approached. The priests of Delphi, applying the fable to themselves, resolved to take vengeance on the author, and plunged him from a precipice. Planudes, who wrote a miserable romance, of which he makes Æsop the hero, describes him as excessively deformed and disagreeable in his appealance, and given to stuttering; but this account does not agree with what his contemporaries say of him. The stories related of Æsop, even by the ancients, are not entitled to credit. A collection of fables made by Planudes, which are still extant under the name of the Grecian fabulist, are ascribed to him with little foundation; their origin is lost in the darkness of antiquity.
A very significant and pleasant custom prevailed when a slave newly purchased was first brought into the house. They placed him before the hearth, where his future master, mistress and fellows ervants poured baskets of ripe fruit, dates, figs, filberts, walnuts, &c., upon his head, to intimate that he was come into the abode of plenty. The occasion was converted by his fellow slaves into a holiday and feast; for custom appropriated to them whatever was cast upon the new comer.
Their food was commonly, as might be expected, inferior to that of their masters. Thus the dates grown in Greece, which ripened but imperfectly, were appropriated to their use; and for their drink they had a thin wine, made of the husks of grapes, laid, after they had been pressed, to soak in water, and then squeezed again. A drink precisely similar is now made in the wine districts of France. They generally ate barley bread; the citizens themselves frequently did the same. To give a relish to their plain meal of bread, plain broth and salted fish, they were indulged with pickles. In the early ages of the commonwealth, they imitated the frugal manner of their lords, so that no slave, who valued his reputation, would be seen to enter a tavern; but in later times they naturally shared largely in the general depravity of morals, and placed their greatest good in eating and drinking. Their whole creed, on this point, has been summed up in a few words by the poet Socian. "Wherefore," exclaims a slave, "dole forth these absurdities; these ravings of sophists, prating up and down the Lyceum, the Academy, and the gates of the Odeion? In all these there is nothing of value. Let us drink — let us drink deeply Let us rejoice, whilst it is yet permitted us to delight our souls. Enjoy thyself, O Manes! Nothing is sweeter than eating and drinking. Virtues, embassies, generalships, are vain pomps, resembling the plaudits of a dream. Heaven at the fated hour will deliver thee to the cold grasp of death, and thou wilt bear with thee nothing but what thou hast drunk and eaten! All else is dust, like Pericles, Codros and Cimon."
The employment of household slaves necessarily varied according to the rank and condition of their lords. In the dwellings of the wealthy and luxurious, they were accustomed to fan their masters and mistresses, and drive away the flies with branches of myrtle. Among the Roman ladies, it was customary to retain a female slave, for the sole purpose of looking after the Melitensian lap-dogs of their mistresses, in which they were less ambitious than that dame in Lucian, who kept a philosopher for this purpose. Female cup-bearers and ladies' maids were likewise slaves; the latter were initiated in all the arts of the toilet.
There seems to have been a set of men who earned their subsistence by initiating slaves in household labors. In the bakers' business, Anaxarchos, a philosopher, introduced an improvement, by which modern times may profit, — to preserve his bread pure from the touch, and even from the breath of the slaves who made it, he caused them to knead the dough with gloves on their hands, and to wear a respirator of some gauze-like substance over their mouths. Other individuals, who grudged their domestics a taste of their delicacies, obliged them to wear a broad collar like a wheel around their necks, which prevented them from bringing their hands to their mouths. This odious praclice, however, could not have been general.
Besides working at the mill and fetching water, both somewhat laborious employments, we find that female slaves were sometimes engaged in wood cutting upon the mountains. Towards the decline of the commonwealth, it became a mark of wealth and consequence to be served by black domestics; as was also the fashion among the Romans and the Egyptian Greeks. Cleopatra had negro boys for torch-bearers; and the Athenian ladies, as a foil, perhaps, liked to be attended by black waiting maids.
When men have usurped an undue dominion over their fellows, they seldom know where to stop. The Syrians, themselves enslaved politically, and often sold into servitude abroad, affected when rich a peculiarly luxurious manner: female attendants waited on their ladies, who, when mounting their carriages, required them to bend on all fours, that they might make a footstool of their backs.
We append to our notice of slavery in Athens, a description of the splendors of that celebrated city, from whence the light of intellectual cultivation has spread for thousands of years down to our own time. This capital of the old kingdom of Attica, and of the more modern democracy, was founded by Cecrops, 1550 years before Christ. The old city was built on the summit of some rocks, which lie in the midst of a wide and pleasant plain, which became filled with buildings as the inhabitants increased; and this made the distinction between Acropolis and Catapolis, or the upper and lower city. The citadel or Acropolis was 60 stadia in circumference, and included many extensive buildings. Athens lies on the Saronic gulf, opposite the eastern coast of the Peloponnesus. It is built on a peninsula formed by the junction of the Cephissus and Ilissus. From the sea, where its real power lay, it was distant about five leagues. It was connected, by walls of great strength and extent, with three harbors — the Piræus, Munychia and Phalerum. The first was considered the most convenient, and was one of the emporiums of Grecian commerce. The surrounding coast was covered with magnificent buildings, whose splendor vied with those of the city. The walls of rough stone, which connected the harbors with the city, were so broad, that carriages could go on their top. The Acropolis contained the most splendid works of art of which Athens could boast. Its chief ornament was the Parthenon, or temple of Minerva. This magnificent building, which, even in ruins, has been the wonder of the world, was 217 feet long, 98 broad, and 65 high. Destroyed by the Persians, it was rebuilt in a noble manner by Pericles, 444 years B. C. Here stood the statue of Minerva by Phidias, a masterpiece of art, formed of ivory, 46 feet high, and richly decorated with gold, whose weight was estimated at from 40 to 44 talents (2000 to 2200 pounds), which, if we reckon, according to Barthelemy, the silver talent at 5700 livres, and the ratio of gold to silver as 1 to 13, would make a sum of 2,964,000, or 3,260,400 livres (523,700, or 576,004 dollars). The Propylasum, built of white marble, formed the entrance to the Parthenon. This building lay on the north side of the Acropolis, close to the Erectheum, also of white marble, consisting of two temples, the one dedicated to Pallas Minerva, and the other to Neptune; besides another remarkable building, called the Pandroseum. In the circle of Minerva's temple stood the olive-tree, sacred to that goddess. On the front part of the Acropolis, and on each end, two theatres are visible, the one of Bacchus, the other, the Odeum; the former for dramatic exhibitions, the latter for musical competitions, also built with extraordinary splendor. The treasury is also in the back part of the temple of Minerva. In the lower city were many fine specimens of architecture, viz: the Poikile, or the gallery of historical paintings; besides the temple of the Winds, and the monuments of celebrated men. But the greatest pieces of architecture were without the city — the temples of Theseus and Jupiter Olympius, one of which stood on the north, the other on the south side of the city. The first was of Doric architecture, and resembled the Parthenon. On the metopes of this temple the famous deeds of old heroes and kings were excellently represented. The temple of Jupiter Olympius was of Ionic architecture, and far surpassed all the other buildings of Athens in splendor and beauty. Incalculable sums were spent on it. It was from time to time enlarged, and rendered more beautiful, until, at length, it was finished by Adrian. The outside of this temple was adorned by nearly 120 fluted columns, 60 feet high, and 6 feet in diameter. The inside was nearly half a league in circumference. Here stood the renowned statue of the god made by Phidias, of gold and ivory. The Pantheon (sacred to all the gods) must not be forgotten. Of this the Pantheon at Home is an exact copy. Besides these wonderful works of art, Athens contains many other places which must always be interesting, from the recollections connected with them. The old philosophers were not accustomed, as is well known, to shut up their scholars in lecture-rooms, but mingled with them on the freest and pleasantest terms, and, for this purpose, sought out spots which were still and retired. Such a spot was the renowned academy where Plato taught, lying about six stadia north of the city, forming a part of a place called Ceramicus. This spot, originally marshy, had been made a very pleasant place, by planting rows of trees, and turning through it streams of fresh water. Such a place was the Lyceum, where Aristotle taught, and which, through him, became the seat of the Peripatetic school. It lay on the bank of the Ilissus, opposite the city, and was also used for gymnastic exercises. Not far from thence was the less renowned Cynosarges, where Antisthenes, the founder of the Cynic school, taught. The sects of Zeno and Epicurus held their meetings in the city. Zeno chose the well-known Poikile, and Epicurus established himself in a garden within the walls, for he loved both society and rural quiet. Not only, literary, but political assemblies gave a particular interest to different places in Athens. Here was the court of areopagus, where that illustrious body gave their decisions; the Prytaneum, or senate-house; the Pnyx, where the free people of Athens deliberated. After 23 centuries of war and devastation, of changes from civilized to savage masters, have passed over this great city, its rains still excite astonishment. No inconsiderable part of the Acropolis was lately standing. The Turks have surrounded it with a broad, irregular wall. In this wall one may perceive the remains of the old wall, together with fragments of ancient pillars, which have been taken from the ruins of the old to construct new edifices. The right wing of the Propylæum, built by Pericles at the expense of 2012 talents, and which formed the ancient entrance, was a temple of victory. The roof of this building stood as late as 1656, when it was destroyed by the explosion of some powder kept there. In a part of the present wall, there are fragments of excellent designs in basso relievo, representing the contest of the Athenians with the Amazons. On the opposite wing of the Propylæum are six whole columns, with gate-ways between them. These pillars, half covered on the front side by the wall built by the Turks, are of marble, white as snow, and of the finest workmanship. They consist of three or four stones, so artfully joined together, that, though they have been exposed to the weather for 2000 years, yet no separation has been observed. From the Propylasuin we step into the Parthenon. On the eastern front of this building, also, there are eight columns standing, and several colonnades on the side. Of the pediment, which represented the contest of Neptune and Minerva for Athens, there is nothing remaining but the head of a sea-horse, and the figures of two women without heads; but in ail we must admire the highest degree of truth and beauty. The battle between the Centaurs and Lapithæ is better preserved. Of all the statues with which it was adorned, that of Adrian alone remains. The inside of this temple is now changed into a mosque. In the whole of this mutilated building, we find an indescribable expression of grandeur and sublimity. There are also astonishing remains to be seen of the Erectheum (the temple of Neptune Erectheus), especially the beautiful female figures called Caryatides, and which form two arch-ways. Of both theatres there is only so much of the outer walls remaining, that one can estimate their former condition and enormous size. The arena has sunk down, and is now planted with corn. In the lower city itself, there are no vestiges to be found of equal beauty and extent. Near a church, sacred to Santa Maria Maggiore, stand three very beautiful Corinthian columns, which support an architrave. They have been supposed to be the remains of a temple of Jupiter Olympius, but the opinion is not well grounded: probably, they are the remains of the old Poikile. The temple of the Winds, built by Audronicus Cyrrhestes, is not entire. Its form is an octagon: on each side it is covered with reliefs, which represent one of the principal winds: the work is excellent. The preservation of this edifice is owing to its being occupied by the dervises as a mosque. Of the monuments of distinguished men, with which a whole street was filled, only the fine one of Lysicrates remains. It consists of a pedestal surrounded by a colonnade, and is surmounted by a dome of Corinthian architecture. This has been supposed to be the spot which Demosthenes used for his study, but the supposition is not well supported. Some prostrate walls are the only remains of the splendid gymnasium built by Ptolemy. Outside of the city, our wonder is excited by the lofty ruins of the temple of the Olympian Jupiter. Of 120 pillars, 16 remain; but none of the statues are in existence. The pedestals and inscriptions are scattered here and there, and partly buried in the earth. The main body of the temple of Theseus has remained almost entire, but much of it, as it now stands, is of modern origin. The figures on the outside are mostly destroyed, but those which adorn the frieze within are well preserved. They represent the actions of the heroes of antiquity. The battle between Theseus and the Centaur is likewise depicted. On the hill where the famous court of areopagus held its sittings, you find steps hewn in the rock, places for the judges to sit, and over against these the stations of the accuser and the accused. The hill is now a Turkish burial-ground, and is covered with monuments. The Pnyx, the place of assembly for the people, not far from the Areopagus, is very nearly in its primitive state One may see the place from which the orators spoke hewn in the rock, the seats of the scribes, and, at both ends, the places of those officers whose duty it was to preserve silence, and to make known the event of public deliberations. The niches are still to be seen, where those who had any favor to ask of the people deposited their petitions. The paths for running are still visible, where the gymnastic exercises were performed, and which Herodes Atticus built of white marble. The spot occupied by the Lyceum is only known by a quantity of fallen stones. A more modern edifice stands in the garden in the place of the academy. In the surrounding space, the walks of the Peripatetics can be discerned, and some olive-trees of high antiquity still command the reverence of the beholder. The long walla are totally destroyed, though the foundations are yet to be found on the plain. The Piræus has scarcely any thing of its ancient splendor, except a few ruined pillars, scattered here and there: the same is the case with the Phalerum and Munychia. It appears probable, that, in the time of Pausanius, many monuments were extant which belonged to the period before the Persian war; because so transitory a possession as Xerxes had of the city, scarcely gave him time to finish the destruction of the walls and principal public edifices. In the restoration of the city to its former state, Themistocles looked more to the useful, Cimon to magnificence and splendor; and Pericles far surpassed them both in his buildings. The great supply of money which he had from the tribute of the other states, belonged to no succeeding ruler. Athens at length saw much of her ancient splendor restored; but, unluckily, Attica was not an island, and, after the sources of power, which belonged to the fruitful and extensive country of Macedonia, were developed by an able and enlightened prince, the opposing interests of many free states could not long withstand the disciplined army of a warlike people, led by an active, able and ambitious monarch. When Sylla destroyed the works of the Piræus, the power of Athens by sea was at an end, and with that fell the whole city. Flattered by the triumvirate, favored by Adrian's love of the arts, Athens was at no time so splendid as under the Antonines, when the magnificent works of from eight to ten centuries stood in view, and the edifices of Pericles were in equal preservation with the new buildings. Plutarch himself wonders how the structures of Ictinus, of Meuesicles and Phidias, which were built with such surprising rapidity, could retain such a perpetual freshness. Probably Pausanius saw Greece yet uuplundered. The Romans, from reverence towards a religion approaching so nearly to their own, and wishing to conciliate a people more cultivated than themselves, were ashamed to rob temples where the masterpieces of art were kept as sacred, and were satisfied with a tribute of money, although in Sicily they did not abstain from the plunder of the temples, on account of the prevalence of Carthaginian and Phœnician influence in that island. Pictures, even in the time of Pausanias, may have been left in their places. The wholesale robberies of collectors, the removal of great quantities of the works of art to Constantinople, when the creation of new specimens was no longer possible, Christian zeal, and the attacks of barbarians, destroyed, after a time, in Athens, what the emperors had spared. We have reason to think, that the colossal statue of Minerva Promæhos was standing in the time of Alaric. About 420 A. D., paganism was totally annihilated at Athens, and, when Justinian closed even the schools of the philosophers, the recollection of the mythology was lost. The Parthenon was turned into a church of the Virgin Mary, and St. George stepped into the place of Theseus. The manufactory of silk, which had hitherto remained, was destroyed by the transportation of a colony of weavers, by Roger of Sicily, and, in 1456, the place fell into the hands of Omar. To complete its degradation, the city of Minerva obtained the privilege (an enviable one in the East) of being governed by a black eunuch, as an appendage to the harem. The Parthenon became a mosque, and, at the west end of the Acropolis, those alterations were commenced, which the new discovery of artillery then made necessary. In 1687, at the siege of Athens by the Venetians under Morosini, it, appears that the temple of Victory was destroyed, the beautiful remains of which are to be seen in the British museum. September 28, of this year, a bomb fired the powder magazine kept by the Turks in the Parthenon, and, with this building, destroyed the ever memorable remains of the genius of Phidias. Probably, the Venetians knew not what they destroyed; they could not have intended that their artillery should accomplish such devastation. The city was surrendered to them September 29. They wished to send the chariot of Victory, which stood on the west pediment of the Parthenon, to Venice, as a trophy of their conquest, but, in removing, it fell and was dashed to pieces. April, 1688, Athens was again surrendered to the Turks, in spite of the remonstrances of the inhabitants, who, with good reason, feared the revenge of their returning masters. Learned travelers have, since that time, often visited Athens; and we may thank their relations and drawings for the knowledge which we have of many of the monuments of the place.[6]
- ↑ Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece.
- ↑ Herodes Atticus lamented the death of his Slaves as if they had been his relatives, and erected statues to their memory in woods, or fields, or beside fountains.
- ↑ Mitford's History of Greece.
- ↑ Maroons; the name given to revolted negroes in the West Indies and in some partB of South America. The appellation is supposed to be derived from Marony, a river separating Dutch and French Guiana, where larges numbers of the fugitives resided. In many cases, by taking to the forests and mountains, they have rendered themselves formidable to the colonies, and sustained a long and brave resistance against the whites. When Jamaica was conquered by the English, in 1655, about 1500 slaves retreated to the mountains, and were called Maroons. They continued to harass the island till the end of the last century, when they were reduced, by the aid of blood-hounds. (See Dallas's History of the Maroons.
- ↑ Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love among the Greeks, synonymous with Aphrogeneia, that is, born of the foam of the sea. Aphrodisia was a festival sacred to Venus, which was celebrated in various parts of Greece, but with the greatest solemnity in the island of Cyprus.
- ↑ Encyclopedia Americana.