A Smaller History of Greece

W >> William Smith >> A Smaller History of Greece

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22

In the battle, as depicted by Homer, the chiefs are the only
important combatants, while the people are an almost useless
mass, frequently put to rout by the prowess of a single hero.
The chief is mounted in a war chariot, and stands by the side of
his charioteer, who is frequently a friend.

CHAPTER III.

GENERAL SURVEY OF THE GREEK PEOPLE--NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.

The Greeks, as we have already seen, were divided into many
independent communities, but several causes bound them together
as one people. Of these the most important were community of
blood and language--community of religious rites and festivals--
and community of manners and character.

All the Greeks were descended from the same ancestor and spoke
the same language. They all described men and cities which were
not Grecian by the term BARBARIAN. This word has passed into our
own language, but with a very different idea; for the Greeks
applied it indiscriminately to every foreigner, to the civilized
inhabitants of Egypt and Persia, as well as to the rude tribes of
Scythia and Gaul.

The second bond of union was a community of religious rites and
festivals. From the earliest times the Greeks appear to have
worshipped the same gods; but originally there were no religious
meetings common to the whole nation. Such meetings were of
gradual growth, being formed by a number of neighbouring towns,
which entered into an association for the periodical celebration
of certain religious rites. Of these the most celebrated was the
AMPHICTYONIC COUNCIL. It acquired its superiority over other
similar associations by the wealth and grandeur of the Delphian
temple, of which it was the appointed guardian. It held two
meetings every year, one in the spring at the temple of Apollo at
Delphi, and the other in the autumn at the temple of Demeter
(Ceres) at Thermopylae. Its members, who were called the
Amphictyons, consisted of sacred deputies sent from twelve
tribes, each of which contained several independent cities or
states. But the Council was never considered as a national
congress, whose duty it was to protect and defend the common
interests of Greece; and it was only when the rights of the
Delphian god had been violated that it invoked the aid of the
various members of the league.

The Olympic Games were of greater efficacy than the amphictyonic
council in promoting a spirit of union among the various branches
of the Greek race, and in keeping alive a feeling of their common
origin. They were open to all persons who could prove their
Hellenic blood, and were frequented by spectators from all parts
of the Grecian world. They were celebrated at Olympia, on the
banks of the Alpheus, in the territory of Elis. The origin of
the festival is lost in obscurity; but it is said to have been
revived by Iphitus, king of Elis, and Lycurgus the Spartan
legislator, in the year 776 B.C.; and, accordingly, when the
Greeks at a later time began to use the Olympic contest as a
chronological era, this year was regarded as the first Olympiad.
It was celebrated at the end of every four years, and the
interval which elapsed between each celebration was called an
Olympiad. The whole festival was under the management of the
Eleans, who appointed some of their own number to preside as
judges, under the name of the Hellanodicae. During the month in
which it was celebrated all hostilities were suspended throughout
Greece. At first the festival was confined to a single day, and
consisted of nothing more than a match of runners in the stadium;
but in course of time so many other contests were introduced,
that the games occupied five days. They comprised various trials
of strength and skill, such as wrestling boxing, the Pancratium
(boxing and wrestling combined), and the complicated Pentathlum
(including jumping, running, the quoit, the javelin, and
wrestling), but no combats with any kind of weapons. There were
also horse-races and chariot-races; and the chariot-race, with
four full-grown horses, became one of the most popular and
celebrated of all the matches.

The only prize given to the conqueror was a garland of wild
olive; but this was valued as one of the dearest distinctions in
life. To have his name proclaimed as victor before assembled
Hellas was an object of ambition with the noblest and the
wealthiest of the Greeks. Such a person was considered to have
conferred everlasting glory upon his family and his country, and
was rewarded by his fellow-citizens with distinguished honours.

During the sixth century before the Christian era three other
national festivals--the Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games--
which were at first only local became open to the whole nation.
The Pythian games were celebrated in every third Olympic year, on
the Cirrhaean plain in Phocis, under the superintendence of the
Amphictyons. The games consisted not only of matches in
gymnastics and of horse and chariot races, but also of contests
in music and poetry. They soon acquired celebrity, and became
second only to the great Olympic festival. The Nemean and
Isthmian games occurred more frequently than the Olympic and
Pythian. They were celebrated once in two years--the Nemean in
the valley of Nemea between Phlius and Cleonae--and the Isthmian
by the Corinthians, on their isthmus, in honour of Poseidon
(Neptune). As in the Pythian festival, contests in music and in
poetry, as well as gymnastics and chariot-races, formed part of
these games. Although the four great festivals of which we have
been speaking had no influence in promoting the political union
of Greece, they nevertheless were of great importance in making
the various sections of the race feel that they were all members
of one family, and in cementing them together by common
sympathies and the enjoyment of common pleasures. The frequent
occurrence of these festivals, for one was celebrated every gear,
tended to the same result.

The Greeks were thus annually reminded of their common origin,
and of the great distinction which existed between them and
barbarians. Nor must we forget the incidental advantages which
attended them. The concourse of so large a number of persons
from every part of the Grecian world afforded to the merchant
opportunities for traffic, and to the artist and the literary man
the best means of making their works known. During the time of
the games a busy commerce was carried on; and in a spacious hall
appropriated for the purpose, the poets, philosophers, and
historians were accustomed to read their most recent works.

The habit of consulting the same oracles in order to ascertain
the will of the gods was another bond of union. It was the
universal practice of the Greeks to undertake no matter of
importance without first asking the advice of the gods; and there
were many sacred spots in which the gods were always ready to
give an answer to pious worshippers. The oracle of Apollo at
Delphi surpassed all the rest in importance, and was regarded
with veneration in every part of the Grecian world. In the
centre of the temple of Delphi there was a small opening in the
ground, from which it was said that a certain gas or vapour
ascended. Whenever the oracle was to be consulted, a virgin
priestess called PYTHIA took her seat upon a tripod which was
placed over the chasm. The ascending vapour affected her brain,
and the words which she uttered in this excited condition were
believed to be the answer of Apollo to his worshippers. They
were always in hexameter verse, and were reverently taken down by
the attendant priests. Most of the answers were equivocal or
obscure; but the credit of the oracle continued unimpaired long
after the downfall of Grecian independence.

A further element of union among the Greeks was the similarity of
manners and character. It is true the difference in this respect
between the polished inhabitants of Athens and the rude
mountaineers of Acarnania was marked and striking; but if we
compare the two with foreign contemporaries, the contrast between
them and the latter is still more striking. Absolute despotism
human sacrifices, polygamy, deliberate mutilation of the person
as a punishment, and selling of children into slavery, existed in
some part or other of the barbarian world, but are not found in
any city of Greece in the historical times.

The elements of union of which we have been speaking only bound
the Greeks together in common feelings and sentiments: they
never produced any political union. The independent sovereignty
of each city was a fundamental notion in the Greek mind. This
strongly rooted feeling deserves particular notice. Careless
readers of history are tempted to suppose that the territory of
Greece was divided among comparatively small number of
independent states, such as Attica, Arcadia, Boeotia, Phocis,
Locris, and the like; but this is a most serious mistake, and
leads to a total misapprehension of Greek history. Every
separate city was usually an independent state, and consequently
each of the territories described under the general names of
Arcadia, Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris, contained numerous
political communities independent of one another. Attica, it is
true, formed a single state, and its different towns recognised
Athens as their capital and the source of supreme power; but this
is an exception to the general rule.

CHAPTER IV.

EARLY HISTORY OF PELOPONNESUS AND SPARTA, DOWN TO THE END OF THE
MESSENIAN WARS, B.C. 668.

In the heroic age Peloponnesus was occupied by tribes of Dorian
conquerors. They had no share in the glories of the Heroic age;
their name does not occur in the Iliad, and they are only once
mentioned in the Odyssey; but they were destined to form in
historical times one of the most important elements of the Greek
nation. Issuing from their mountain district between Thessaly,
Locris and Phocis, they overran the greater part of Peloponnesus,
destroyed the ancient Achaean monarchies and expelled or reduced
to subjection the original inhabitants of the land, of which they
became the undisputed masters. This brief statement contains all
that we know for certain respecting this celebrated event, which
the ancient writers placed eighty years after the Trojan war
(B.C. 1104). The legendary account of the conquest of
Peloponnesus ran as follows:--The Dorians were led by the
Heraclidae, or descendants of the mighty hero Hercules. Hence
this migration is called the Return of the Heraclidae. The
children of Hercules had long been fugitives upon the face of the
earth. They had made many attempts to regain possession of the
dominions in the Peloponnesus, of which their great sire had been
deprived by Eurystheus, but hitherto without success. In their
last attempt Hyllus, the son of Hercules, had perished in single
combat with Echemus of Tegea; and the Heraclidae had become bound
by a solemn compact to renounce their enterprise for a hundred
years. This period had now expired; and the great-grandsons of
Hyllus--Temenus, Cresphontes, and Aristodemus--resolved to make a
fresh attempt to recover their birthright. They were assisted in
the enterprise by the Dorians. This people espoused their cause
in consequence of the aid which Hercules himself had rendered to
the Dorian king, AEgimius, when the latter was hard pressed in a
contest with the Lapithae. The invaders were warned by an oracle
not to enter Peloponnesus by the Isthmus of Corinth, but across
the mouth of the Corinthian gulf. The inhabitants of the
northern coast of the gulf were favourable to their enterprise.
Oxylus, king of the AEtolians, became their guide; and from
Naupactus they crossed over to Peloponnesus. A single battle
decided the contest. Tisamenus, the son of Orestes, was defeated
and retired with a portion of his Achaean subjects to the
northern coast of Peloponnesus, then occupied by the Ionians. He
expelled the Ionians, and took possession of the country, which
continued henceforth to be inhabited by the Achaeans, and to be
called after them. The Ionians withdrew to Attica, and the
greater part of them afterwards emigrated to Asia Minor.

The Heraclidae and the Dorians now divided between them the
dominions of Tisamenus and of the other Achaean princes. The
kingdom of Elis was given to Oxylus as a recompense for his
services as their guide; and it was agreed that Temenus,
Cresphontes, and Eurysthenes and Procles, the infant sons of
Aristodemus (who had died at Naupactus), should draw lots for
Argos, Sparta, and Messenia. Argos fell to Temenus, Sparta to
Eurysthenes and Procles, and Messenia to Cresphontes.

Such are the main features of the legend of the Return of the
Heraclidae. In order to make the story more striking and
impressive, it compresses into a single epoch events which
probably occupied several generations. It is in itself
improbable that the brave Achaeans quietly submitted to the
Dorian invaders after a momentary struggle. We have, moreover,
many indications that such was not the fact, and that it was only
gradually and after a long protracted contest that the Dorians
became undisputed masters of the greater part of Peloponnesus.

Argos was originally the chief Dorian state in Peloponnesus, but
at the time of the first Olympiad its power had been supplanted
by that of Sparta. The progress of Sparta from the second to the
first place among the states in the peninsula was mainly owing to
the military discipline and rigorous training of its citizens.
The singular constitution of Sparta was unanimously ascribed by
the ancients to the legislator Lycurgus, but there were different
stories respecting his date, birth, travels, legislation, and
death. His most probable date however is B.C. 776, in which year
he is said to have assisted Iphitus in restoring the Olympic
games. He was the son of Eunomus, one of the two kings who
reigned together in Sparta. On the death of his father, his
elder brother, Polydectes, succeeded to the crown, but died soon
afterwards, leaving his queen with child. The ambitious woman
offered to destroy the child, if Lycurgus would share the throne
with her. Lycurgus pretended to consent; but as soon as she had
given birth to a son, he presented him in the market-place as the
future king of Sparta. The young king's mother took revenge upon
Lycurgus by accusing him of entertaining designs against his
nephew's life. Hereupon he resolved to withdraw from his native
country and to visit foreign lands. He was absent many years,
and is said to have employed his time in studying the
institutions of other nations, in order to devise a system of
laws and regulations which might deliver Sparta from the evils
under which it had long been suffering. During his absence the
young king had grown up, and assumed the reins of government; but
the disorders of the state had meantime become worse than ever,
and all parties longed for a termination to their present
sufferings. Accordingly the return of Lycurgus was hailed with
delight, and he found the people both ready and willing to submit
to an entire change in their government and institutions. He now
set himself to work to carry his long projected reforms into
effect; but before he commenced his arduous task he consulted the
Delphian oracle, from which he received strong assurances of
divine support. Thus encouraged by the god, he suddenly
presented himself in the market-place, surrounded by thirty of
the most distinguished Spartans in arms. His reforms were not
carried into effect without violent opposition, and in one of the
tumults which they excited, his eye is said to have been struck
out by a passionate youth. But he finally triumphed over all
obstacles, and succeeded in obtaining the submission of all
classes in the community to his new constitution. His last act
was to sacrifice himself for the welfare of his country. Having
obtained from the people a solemn oath to make no alterations in
his laws before his return, he quitted Sparta for ever. He set
out on a journey to Delphi, where he obtained an oracle from the
god, approving of all he had done, and promising prosperity to
the Spartans as long as they preserved his laws. Whither he went
afterwards, and how and where he died, nobody could tell. He
vanished from earth like a god, leaving no traces behind him but
his spirit: and his grateful countrymen honoured him with a
temple, and worshipped him with annual sacrifices down to the
latest times.

The population of Laconia was divided into the three classes of
Spartans, Perioeci and Helots.
I. The SPARTANS were the descendants of the leading Dorian
conquerors. They formed the sovereign power of the state, and
they alone were eligible to honours and public offices. They
lived in Sparta itself and were all subject to the discipline of
Lycurgus. They were divided into three tribes,--the HYLLEIS, the
PAMPHILI, and the DYMANES,--which were not, however, peculiar to
Sparta, but existed in all the Dorian states.
II. The PERIOECI were personally free, but politically subject
to the Spartans. [This word signifies literally DWELLERS AROUND
THE CITY, and was generally used to indicate the inhabitants in
the country districts, who possessed inferior political
privileges to the citizens who lived in the city.] They
possessed no share in the government, and were bound to obey the
commands of the Spartan magistrates. They appear to have been
the descendants of the old Achaean population of the country, and
they were distributed into a hundred townships, which were spread
through the whole of Laconia.
III. The HELOTS were serfs bound to the soil, which they tilled
for the benefit of the Spartan proprietors. Their condition was
very different from that of the ordinary slaves in antiquity, and
more similar to the villanage of the middle ages. They lived in
the rural villages, as the Perioeci did in the towns, cultivating
the lands and paying over the rent to their masters in Sparta,
but enjoying their homes, wives, and families, apart from their
master's personal superintendence. They appear to have been
never sold, and they accompanied the Spartans to the field as
light armed troops. But while their condition was in these
respects superior to that of the ordinary slaves in other parts
of Greece, it was embittered by the fact that they were not
strangers like the latter, but were of the same race and spoke
the same language as their masters, being probably the
descendants of the old inhabitants, who had offered the most
obstinate resistance to the Dorians, and had therefore been
reduced to slavery. As their numbers increased, they became
objects of suspicion to their masters, and were subjected to the
most wanton and oppressive cruelty.

The functions of the Spartan government were distributed among
two kings, a senate of thirty members, a popular assembly, and an
executive directory of five men called the Ephors.

At the head of the state were the two hereditary kings. The
existence of a pair of kings was peculiar to Sparta, and is said
to have arisen from the accidental circumstance of Aristodemus
having left twin sons, Eurysthenes and Procles. This division of
the royal power naturally tended to weaken its influence and to
produce jealousies and dissensions between the two kings. The
royal power was on the decline during the whole historical
period, and the authority of the kings was gradually usurped by
the Ephors, who at length obtained the entire control of the
government, and reduced the kings to a state of humiliation and
dependence.

The Senate, called GERUSIA, or the COUNCIL OF ELDERS, consisted
of thirty members, among whom the two kings were included. They
were obliged to be upwards of sixty years of age, and they held
their office for life. They possessed considerable power and
were the only real check upon the authority of the Ephors. They
discussed and prepared all measures which were to be brought
before the popular assembly, and they had some share in the
general administration of the state. But the most important of
their functions was, that they were judges in all criminal cases
affecting the life of a Spartan citizen.

The Popular Assembly was of little importance, and appears to
have been usually summoned only as a matter of form for the
election of certain magistrates, for passing laws, and for
determining upon peace and war. It would appear that open
discussion was not allowed and that the assembly rarely came to a
division.

The Ephors were of later origin, and did not exist in the
original constitution of Lycurgus. They may be regarded as the
representatives of the popular assembly. They were elected
annually from the general body of Spartan citizens, and seem to
have been originally appointed to protect the interests and
liberties of the people against the encroachments of the kings
and the senate. They correspond in many respects to the tribunes
of the people at Rome. Their functions were at first limited and
of small importance; but in the end the whole political power
became centred in their hands.

The Spartan government was in reality a close oligarchy, in which
the kings and the senate, as well as the people, were alike
subject to the irresponsible authority of the five Ephors.

The most important part of the legislation of Lycurgus did not
relate to the political constitution of Sparta, but to the
discipline and education of the citizens. It was these which
gave Sparta her peculiar character, and distinguished her in so
striking a manner from all the other states of Greece. The
position of the Spartans, surrounded by numerous enemies, whom
they held in subjection by the sword alone, compelled them to be
a nation of soldiers. Lycurgus determined that they should be
nothing else; and the great object of his whole system was to
cultivate a martial spirit, and to give them a training which
would make them invincible in battle. To accomplish this the
education of a Spartan was placed under the control of the state
from his earliest boyhood. Every child after birth was exhibited
to public view, and, if deemed deformed and weakly, was exposed
to perish on Mount Taygetus. At the age of seven he was taken
from his mother's care, and handed over to the public classes.
He was not only taught gymnastic games and military exercises but
he was also subjected to severe bodily discipline, and was
compelled to submit to hardships and suffering without repining
or complaint. One of the tests to which he was subjected was a
cruel scourging at the altar of Artemis (Diana), until his blood
gushed forth and covered the altar of the goddess. It was
inflicted publicly before the eyes of his parents and in the
presence of the whole city; and many Spartan youths were known to
have died under the lash without uttering a complaining murmur.
No means were neglected to prepare them for the hardships and
stratagems of war. They were obliged to wear the same garment
winter and summer, and to endure hunger and thirst, heat and
cold. They were purposely allowed an insufficient quantity of
food, but were permitted to make up the deficiency by hunting in
the woods and mountains of Laconia. They were even encouraged to
steal whatever they could; but if they were caught in the fact,
they were severely punished for their want of dexterity.
Plutarch tells us of a boy, who, having stolen a fox, and hid it
under his garment, chose rather to let it tear out his very
bowels than be detected in the theft.

The literary education of a Spartan youth was of a most
restricted kind. He was taught to despise literature as unworthy
of a warrior, while the study of eloquence and philosophy, which
were cultivated at Athens with such extraordinary success, was
regarded at Sparta with contempt. Long speeches were a Spartan's
abhorrence, and he was trained to express himself with
sententious brevity.

A Spartan was not considered to have reached the full age of
manhood till he had completed his thirtieth year. He was then
allowed to marry, to take part in the public assembly, and was
eligible to the offices of the state. But he still continued
under the public discipline, and was not permitted even to reside
and take his meals with his wife. It was not till he had reached
his sixtieth year that he was released from the public discipline
and from military service.

The public mess--called SYSSITIA--is said to have been instituted
by Lycurgus to prevent all indulgence of the appetite. Public
tables were provided, at which every male citizen was obliged to
take his meals. Each table accommodated fifteen persons, who
formed a separate mess, into which no new member was admitted,
except by the unanimous consent of the whole company. Each sent
monthly to the common stock a specified quantity of barley-meal,
wine, cheese, and figs and a little money to buy flesh and fish.
No distinction of any kind was allowed at these frugal meals.
Meat was only eaten occasionally; and one of the principal dishes
was black broth. Of what it consisted we do not know. The
tyrant Dionysius found it very unpalatable; but, as the cook told
him, the broth was nothing without the seasoning of fatigue and
hunger.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22