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Title: The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks
Author: Blümner, Hugo
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks" ***
THE HOME LIFE OF THE
ANCIENT GREEKS.
[Illustration: A GREEK LADY’S TOILET (FIG. 88, _see_ p. 162).]
THE HOME LIFE
OF THE
ANCIENT GREEKS
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF
PROF. H. BLÜMNER
BY
ALICE ZIMMERN
_Late Scholar of Girton College, Cambridge_
With Numerous Illustrations
NEW AND REVISED EDITION
CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED
_LONDON, PARIS & MELBOURNE_
1895
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
[Illustration]
TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.
The following pages do not claim to be an absolutely literal translation
of Dr. Blümner’s text. Such slight alterations have been made as the
different and more concise character of the English language seemed to
demand, assuming that, in a work of this character, the most faithful
translation is that which clearly presents the author’s meaning in the
different dress of another language. In one or two cases I have ventured
to make some slight alterations. Thus, on page 277, my translation of
the passage from Lucian (_Philopseudes_ 18) describing Myron’s
Discobolus differs slightly from Dr. Blümner’s, and, as a result, the
inference drawn as to the original position of the head is also
different. This interpretation is in accord with more recent criticism,
and has the support of Dr. Murray, Head of the Antiquities Department at
the British Museum. The list of authorities consulted is printed on
pages 533 to 536. The illustrations are taken from the German work, and
a list is given on pages xi to xv.
* * * * *
I take this opportunity to express my warm thanks to those friends who
have kindly helped me with the proof-sheets, and in particular to Mrs.
Henry Unwin for her very welcome assistance.
ALICE ZIMMERN.
_Tunbridge Wells, October, 1893._
CONTENTS.
PAGE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi
INTRODUCTION xvii
CHAPTER I. COSTUME 1
CHAPTER II. BIRTH AND INFANCY 78
CHAPTER III. EDUCATION 99
CHAPTER IV. MARRIAGE AND WOMEN 133
CHAPTER V. DAILY LIFE WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE HOUSE 175
CHAPTER VI. MEALS AND SOCIAL ENTERTAINMENTS 202
CHAPTER VII. SICKNESS AND PHYSICIANS, DEATH AND BURIAL 233
CHAPTER VIII. GYMNASTICS 265
CHAPTER IX. MUSIC AND DANCING 306
CHAPTER X. RELIGIOUS WORSHIP 323
CHAPTER XI. PUBLIC FESTIVALS 349
CHAPTER XII. THE THEATRE 392
CHAPTER XIII. WAR AND SEAFARING 450
CHAPTER XIV. AGRICULTURE, TRADE, AND HANDICRAFT 489
CHAPTER XV. SLAVERY 519
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
1. Ancient Male and Female Costumes. Vase-painting from _Élite
céramographique_, II. 27 5
2. Antique Male _Chiton_ with _Himation_. Vase-painting from Gerhard.
_Etruskische und campanische Vasenbilder._ Plate 21 6
3. Antique Costumes (Dance) from the François Vase. From the _Wiener
archæologische Vorlegeblätter_. Series II. Plates 3 and 14 8
4. Costumes of the Fifth Century B.C. (Rape of Helen.) Vase-painting by
Hiero. From Gerhard. _Trinkschalen und Gefäsze._ Plates 11 and 12 10
5. Short Male Chiton with _Kolpos_. Vase-painting from Gerhard. (_See_
2.) Plates 6 and 7 13
6. Warrior in _Exomis_. Relief on a Tombstone. From _Bulletin de
correspondence hellénique_, IV. Plate 7 14
7. Statue of Sophocles in the Lateran. From a Photograph 16
8. Citizen in Chiton and Himation. Terra-cotta from _Bull. de corr.
hell._, VII. Plate 12 17
9. Costume of Ephebos (Adoration of a Hermes). Vase-painting from
Schreiber. _Kulturhistorischer Atlas, Altertum._ Plate 14, 3 18
10. Dress of Attic Ephebos (Farewell of a Young Warrior). Vase-painting
from Baumeister. _Denkmäler des classichen Altertums._ Fig. 421 19
11. Antique Female Costumes from the François Vase. From _Wiener arch.
Vorlegebl._ 23
12. Antique Female Costume. Vase-painting by Exekias. From _Mon. d'Inst.
Archéol._, II. 22 24
13. Antique Female Costume. Vase-painting from Stephani. _Kampf des
Theseus and Minotaurus._ Plate I 25
14. Antique Female Dress, from the François Vase. (_See_ 3.) Plate
V 26
15. Antique Female Costumes. Vase-painting from _El. céram._, III. 36,
B 27
16. Ancient Female Costume with _Kolpos_. Vase-painting from Gerhard.
_Auserlesene Vasenbilder_, III. 727 29
17. Dress of the Fifth Century B.C. From a Vase-painting by Euphronios.
From the _Wiener arch. Vorlegebl._ Series V. Plate 7 31
18. Female Costume of the Fifth Century B.C. (Mænads), from a Vase by
Hiero. _Idem._ Plate 4 32
19. Female Costume of the Fifth Century B.C., from a Vase by Brygos.
From _Mon. d'Inst._, V. 14 34
20. Modes of arranging Chiton. V.-P. from Tischbein. _Vases Hamilton_,
I. 7 35
21. Putting on the Chiton and arranging the Bib. Bronze Statue from
Herculaneum. From a Photograph 36
22. Caryatid from the Erechtheum. From Baumeister. (_See_ 10.) Fig.
535 37
23. High-girt Chiton with Himation. Statue of a Daughter of Niobe in the
_Museo Chiaramonti_ in the Vatican. From a Photograph 38
24. Ungirt Chiton with Himation. V.-P., Gerhard. (_See_ 2.) Plates 6 and
7 40
25. Open Chiton with Mantle. Vase-painting from the _Wiener arch.
Vorlegebl._ Series II. Plate 6, 2 41
26. Open Chiton with Mantle. Vase-painting from _El. céram._, III.
56 42
27. Lady in Walking Dress. Terra-cotta Figure from Stackelberg. _Gräber
der Hellenen._ Plate 67 41 and 45
28. Lady in Walking Dress. _Idem_ 46
29. Sandals. Collected from Works of Art (chiefly Vase-paintings) 49
30. Sandals with High Straps. _Idem_ 50
31. Antique Men's Shoes. _Idem_ 51
32. Men's and Women's Shoes. _Idem_ 52
33. High Boots (_Endromides_). _Idem_ 53
34. High Boots with Overhanging Lappets. _Idem_ 54
35. Various Shapes of the _Petasos_. _Idem_ 56
36. The Common Forms of _Petasos_. _Idem_ 57
37. Uncommon Forms of _Petasos_. _Idem_ 58
38. Youth in Travelling Costume. Vase-painting from Overbeck. _Gallerie
heroischer Bildwerke._ Plate 2, 1 59
39. _Exomis_ and _Pilos_. Statuette of Odysseus. From Winckelmann.
_Monumenti mediti_, No. 154 60
40. Sailor's Costume. V.-P. from Welcker. _Alte Denkamäler_, III. Plate
39, 1 61
41. Lady with _Petasos_. Terra-cotta Figure from Kekulé. _Terra-cotten
von Sicilien._ Plate 33 62
42. Lady with Sunshade. V.-P. from Gerhard. _Vases grecs._ Plate
8 63
43 and 44. Antique Modes of Dressing the Hair. Vase-painting and Marble
Head from Schreiber. (_See_ 9.) Plate 85, 3 and 14 66
45 and 46. Antique Coiffures. Marble Heads from _Mitteilungen des
Deutschen archäologischen Instituts in Athen_, VIII. (1883.) Plate X.
12a and XI. 1 67
47. Antique Coiffure. Marble Head. _Idem._ Plate XII. 4a and 4b 68
48. Antique Coiffure. V.-P. by Euphronios. _Idem._ Plate XI. 5 69
49. Antique Coiffure. Bronze Head from Pompeii. From a Photograph 70
50. Antique Mode of Wearing the Beard. Relief from _Nuove memorie
dell'Inst. Archeol._ Plate 13 73
51 and 52. Female Coiffure. Terra-cotta Heads from Kekulé. (_See_ 41.)
Plates 161 and 22, 6 74
53 and 54. Female Coiffure. _Idem._ Plates 16, 5 and 162 75
55, 56, 57. Female Coiffure. _Idem._ Plates 17, 1; 18, 5;
and 19, 5 76 and 77
58. Relief from a Tomb representing Child in Swaddling-clothes. From
_Ann. d'Inst._ 1830. Add. Plate, G 79
59. Hermes in the Cradle. V.-P. from _Arch. Zeitg._ for 1844. Plate
20 81
60. Child's Bed on Rollers. V.-P. from _Nuove mem. dell'Inst. Arch._
Plate 15, 2 82
61. Mother giving her Child the Breast. Terra-cotta Figure from Gerhard.
_Gesammelte Abhandlungen._ Plate 80, 2 83
62. Mother and Child. Relief from a Tomb at Athens. From a
Photograph 86
63. Boy with small Cart and Dog. V.-P. from Stackelberg. (_See_ 27.)
Plate 17 87
64. Child's Cart. Vase-painting from _Compte-rendu de la commission
archéologique de St. Pétersbourg_. 1871. Plate 5, 4 88
65. Child with Cart drawn by Dogs. V.-P. from Baumeister. (_See_ 10.)
Fig. 766 89
66. Jointed Doll. Terra-cotta Figure. From _Antiqu. du Bosph. Cimmér._
Plate 74, 8 90
67. Boy with Hoop. Vase-painting from _El céram._, I. 18 91
68. Toy Quiver. From _Compte-rendu de St. Pètersb._ for 1873. Plate
38 92
69. Girl flying a Kite. Vase-painting from _Arch. Ztg._ for 1895, p.
125 93
70. Boy with Wheel. V.-P. from Benndorf. _Griech. u. Sicil.
Vasenbilder_, p. 62 94
71. Woman with Wheel. Vase-painting from Gerhard, _Vases grecs._ Plate
10 95
72. Child's Swing. V.-P. from _Ann. d'Inst._ 1857. Add. Plate, A 96
73. See-saw. Vase-painting from Schreiber. (_See_ 9.) Plate 79, 6 96
74. See-saw on the Foot. V.-P. from Baumeister. (_See_ 10.) Fig.
834 97
75. Attic School Instruction. Vase-painting by Duris. From _Arch. Ztg._
for 1869. Plate 1 105
76. Ephebi racing on Horseback. V.-P. from Schreiber. (_See_ 9.) Plate
24, 9 125
77. Female Racer from Elis. Statue in the Vatican. From a
Photograph 131
78. Reception of Bride at Bridegroom's House. Vase-painting from
Stackelberg. (_See_ 27.) Plate 32 143
79. Women at the Well. Vase-painting from Gerhard. (_See_ 16.) IV. 308,
9 150
80. Woman Spinning. Vase-painting. _Idem_, IV. 302 and 3, M 3 153
81. Woman at the Loom (Penelope). V.-P. from _Mon. d'Inst._, IX. 42,
1 154
82. Women at Bath and the Toilet. Vase-painting from Stackelberg. (_See_
27.) Plate 33 155
83. Women Washing. Vase-painting from Gerhard. (_See_ 16.) III.
218 156
84. Folding-up Clothes. Vase-painting. _Idem_, IV. 301 157
85. Women's Toilet and Bath. V.-P. from Baumeister. (_See_ 10.) Fig.
220 158
86. Washing at the Well and Completion of Toilet. (Athene and Hera
before the Judgment of Paris.) V.-P. from _Mon. d'Inst._, IV. 18 160
87. Women's Public Bath. Vase-painting from _El. céram._, IV. 18 161
88. Toilet Scene. Vase-painting from _Gazette archéologique_ for 1879.
Plate 23 Frontispiece
89. Lady Arranging her Hair. Terra-cotta from Tanagra. _Idem._ 1878.
Plate 10 163
90. Lady (Bride?) at her Toilet. V-P. from Benndorf. (_See_ 70.) Plate
45, 1 164
91. Scene from the Life of Women. V.-P. from Gerhard. (_See_ 4.) Plate
14, 1 165
92. Toilet Scenes. From _Compte-rendu de St. Pétersbourg_. 1860. Plate
1, 3 168
93. Diagram of a Water-clock 187
94. Bronze Razors, from Helbig. _Das homerische Epos._ Fig. 49 188
95. Hair-dresser. Terra-cotta Group, from Tanagra. From _Arch. Ztg._,
XXXII. Plate 14 189
96. Men's Public Bath. Vase-painting from Schreiber. (_See_ 9.) Plate
21, 9 193
97 and 98. Drinking Scenes. V.-P. from _Mon. d'Inst._, III. 12 210
and 211
99. Female Juggler. Vase-painting from _Mus. Borbonico_, VII. 35 217
100. Female Juggler, from Baumeister. (_See_ 10.) Fig. 631 218
101. Cottabus. Vase-painting from _Mon. d'Inst._, VII. 51, 2 222
102. Playing "Board-games." Terra-cotta Group from _Arch. Ztg._, XXI.
Plate 173, 1 224
103. Girl Playing Astragals. Terra-cotta Figure from Tanagra; from
Baumeister. (_See_ 10.) Fig. 156 226
104. Morra Players. Vase-painting from _Arch. Ztg._, XXIX. Plate 56,
1 227
105. Cock-fighting. Vase-painting from Baumeister. (_See_ 10.) Fig.
695 228
106. Consequences of Intemperance. Vase-painting from _Arch. Vorlegebl._
Series VIII. Plate 5 229
107. Scene at a Nocturnal Comus (Hercules and Satyrs). Vase-painting
from Benndorf. (_See_ 70.) Plate 95 231
108. Funeral Lament. Vase-painting from _Mon. d'Inst._, III. 60 247
109. Funeral Lament. V.-P. from _Ann. d'Inst._ 1869. Plate 299,
O.P .248
110. Burial. Vase-painting from _Mon. d'Inst._, VIII. 4, 1b 252
111. Corpse in the Tomb. V.-P. from Stackelberg. (_See_ 27.) Plate
38 253
112. Extinguishing the Funeral Pile. V.-P. from _Mon. d'Inst._, IV.
41 256
113 and 114. Athenian Beliefs on Tombs. From _Arch. Ztg._, XXIX. Plates
43 and 44 257 and 259
115. Care of a Grave. Vase-painting from Stackelberg. (_See_ 27.) Plate
44 260
116. Care of a Grave. Vase-painting from Benndorf. (_See_ 70.) Plate
25 261
117. Relief from an Athenian Tomb. From a Photograph 263
118. Gymnastic Exercises. V.-P, from Baumeister. (_See_ 10.) Fig.
611 267
119. Exercise with Dumb-bells. Engraving from a Bronze Discus. From
_Ann. d'Inst._ Plate B 268
120. Racers. Vase-painting from _Mon. d'Inst._, X. 48m 272
121. Runners and Jumpers. Vase-painting from Gerhard. (_See_ 16.) IV.
259 273
122. Armour Race. Vase-painting from _Mon. d'Inst._, X. 48e, 3 274
123. Standing Discobolus of the Vatican. Marble Statue. From a
Photograph 276
124. Throwing Discobolus (after Myron) in the Vatican. Marble Statue.
From a Photograph 279
125. Discobolus after the Throw. Bronze Statue at Naples. From a
Photograph 280
126. Spear-thrower. Engraving. Reverse of Fig. 119 282
127. Running, Jumping, Spear-throwing, Boxing. Vase-painting by
Pamphaios, From _Mon. d'Inst._, XI. 24 283
128. Wrestlers. Marble Group in the Uffizzi at Florence. From a
Photograph 287
129. Wrestlers. Vase-painting from _Mon. d'Inst._, II. 24 288
130. Wrestlers. Vase-painting. _Idem_, X. 48e, 1 289
131. Wrestlers. Vase-painting from Gerhard. (_See_ p. 4.) Plate
20 291
132. Boxers. Vase-painting from _Mon. d'Inst._, 48e, 2 294
133. Boxers. Vase-painting from Benndorf. (_See_ 70.) Plate 31,
2a 295
134. Gymnastic Exercise with a Sphere. Bas-relief from Schreiber. (_See_
9.) Plate 23, 2 300
135. Archery. Vase-painting from Schreiber. (_See_ 9.) Plate 80,
7 301
136. Women playing Musical Instruments. V.-P. from _El. céram._, II.
86 310
137. Woman playing the Trigonon. Vase-painting from _Mon. d'Inst._, V.
37 313
138 and 139. Flute player. Bronze Statuette from Dodona. From Carapanos.
_Dodone et ses ruines._ Plate 10 314 and 315
140. Flute-player. Vase-painting from _Mon. d'Inst._, X. 10 317
141. Performance of a Flute-player. Vase-painting by Euphronios. From
_Wiener arch. Vorlegebl._ Series V. 4 318
142. Female Flute-player and Dancer with Castanets. Vase-painting by
Hiero. _Idem._ Series C. 5 319
143. Lustral Sacrifice. Vase-painting from Heydemann. _Griechische
Vasenbilder._ Plate 11, 3 331
144. Presentation of Sacrificial Offerings. Vase-painting from _Mon.
d'Inst._, VI. and VII. Plate 37 332
145 and 146. Presentation of Sacrificial Offerings. Vase-paintings from
Benndorf. (_See_ 70.) Plate 45, 2 333 and 334
147. Sacrificial Scene, Vase-painting from _Mon. d'Inst._, IX.
53 339
148. Leaden Tablet with Question addressed to the Oracle of Delphi. From
Carapanos. (_See_ 138.) Plate 36, 2 345
149. Putting Horses to a Chariot. Vase-painting from Gerhard. (_See_
16.) IV. 249 and 250 355
150. Plan and Section of the great Theatre of Dionysus at Athens. From
the _Zeitschrift für Bildende Kunst_ for 1878, p. 193 393
151. Theatre of Syracuse in its present Condition. From a
Photograph 395
152. Theatre of Syracuse: Ground plan. From Strack. _Griechisches
Theater._ Plate V. 1 396
153. Theatre of Segesta, Reconstructed. _Idem._ Plate I 397
154 and 155. Tragic Mask. Terra-cotta from Vulci. From _Ann. d'Inst._
1881. Plate K 427
156 and 157. Comic Masks. _Idem._ Plate J 431
158. Comic Actor. Terra-cotta from _Arch. Ztg._ for 1854 Plate 69,
3 432
159. Comic Actor. Terra-cotta from Kekulé. (_See_ 41.) Plate 51,
5 433
160. Masks from the Andromeda-myth. Pompeian Wall-painting from _Arch.
Ztg._ for 1878. Plate 3 435
161 and 162. Tragic Actor. Ivory Statuette from _Mon. d'Inst._, XI.
13 437
163. Scene from Comedy (The Sick Chiron?) Vase-painting from _El.
céram._, II. 94 439
164. Scene from Comedy. (Adventure of Hercules.) Vase-painting from
_Arch. Vorlegebl._ Series B. Plate 32, a 441
165. Scene from Comedy. (Soldier and Parasite.) Pompeian Wall-painting
from _Mus. Borbon._, IV. 18 443
166. Military Chariot. Vase-painting from _Compte-rendu_ for 1874. Plate
5 453
167 and 168. Warriors putting on their Armour. From Gerhard. (_See_ 16.)
IV. 269 458 and 459
169. Murder of Dolon. Vase-painting from Gerhard. (_See_ 4.) Plate C,
1 460
170. Achilles binds up the Wounds of Patroclus. Vase painting from _Mon.
d'Inst._, I. 25 461
171. Farewell of Amphiaraus. _Idem_, III. 54 463
172. Equipment of a Warrior. Vase-painting by Duris. _Idem_, VIII.
41 464
173. 174, and 175. Ancient Greek Helmets. From Helbig. (_See_ 94.) Figs.
70-72 466
176. Warriors playing Draughts. Vase-painting from _Mon. d'Inst._, II.
22 467
177. Death of Memnon. Vase-painting from Gerhard. (_See_ 4.) Plate
D 469
178, 179, 180, 181. Spear-heads from Dodona. From Carapanos. (_See_
138.) Plates, 57, 8; 58, 1; 3 and 5 471 and 472
182, 183, 184. Swords from Mycenae. From Helbig. (_See_ 94.) Figs. 90,
86 and 87 473
185 and 186. Swords from Italian Lake-dwellings. _Idem._ Figs. 88 and
89 474
187. Head of an Arrow from Megalopolis 477
188 and 189. Greek Spurs from Dodona. From Carapanos. (_See_ 138.) Plate
52, 1 and 2 479
190. Sailing Vessel. Vase-painting from Schreiber. (_See_ 9.) Plate 45,
11 481
191. Ship of Odysseus. Vase-painting from _Mon. d'Inst._, I. 8 482
192 and 193. Antique Ships with Spurs at the Prow. Vase-painting from
Helbig. (_See_ 94.) Figs. 3 and 4 483
194. Ship with two Rows of Oars. V.-P. from Schreiber. (_See_ 9.) Plate
45, 12 484
195. Attic Trireme. Relief from _Ann. d'Inst._ 1861. Plate M, 2 485
196. Men Ploughing, Vase-painting from _Berichte der Sächsischen
Gesellschaft der Wissenschaft_ for 1867. Plate I. 1 494
197. Olive Harvest. _Idem._ Plate III. 2 495
198. Artisan in _Exomis_. Terra-cotta from _Bull. de corr. hell._, VII.
Plate 12 502
199. Shoemaker. Vase-painting. (_See_ 196.) Plate III. 5 503
200. Shoemaker's Workshop. Vase-painting from _Mon. d'Inst._, XI. 28,
1 505
201. Smithy. _Idem._ Plate 28, 2 507
202. Brass Foundry. Vase-painting. (_See_ 196.) Plate V. 4 508
203. Vase Factory. From _Ann. d'Inst._ 1876. Plates D, E 509
204. Cook(?). Terra-cotta from Tanagra. From _Arch. Ztg._ for 1874.
Plate 14 511
205. Trade in silphium. Vase-painting from _Mon. d'Inst._, I. 47 515
206. Slave. Terra-cotta from _Bull. de cor. hellén._ 528
INTRODUCTION.
If the account of Greek life and customs given in this work does not
present all sides of life in due proportion, we must lay the blame on
the insufficiency of the sources whence a description of this kind is
derived. These are of three kinds: literary, artistic, and epigraphic.
The literary sources supply us with a large amount of detail for the
work in hand, but seldom give complete pictures or descriptions of
social conditions. Those writers of the Free Age of Greece whom we still
possess entirely, or in considerable fragments, are not all equally in a
position to touch on matters of private or domestic life. The Homeric
Epics give a good deal of insight into the life of those early times;
but after Homer epic poetry disappears from the ranks of available
testimony, and what remains to us of the Alexandrine Epic, which was
essentially a learned style of poetry, supplies no useful material, if
only because it seeks its subjects in the mythological period, and
describes them on essentially Homeric lines. The lyric poets, too,
afford little help; now and then they enable us to add a few details to
our picture, but, as a rule, the results are small, and not till we
reach the Alexandrine period, and there chiefly in bucolic and
epigrammatic poetry, do we obtain richer results in this domain. Here
the poems of Theocritus are of especial value. Unfortunately, very much
of this period, which would have thrown most interesting lights on
different aspects of Greek life, has been entirely lost, or survives
only in small fragments. Tragedy again, which usually takes its subjects
from mythology, cannot be considered at all. Ancient poetry possesses no
“middle-class epic” like modern poetry, which will assuredly some day
supply valuable material for the social historian. But ancient comedy is
of the greatest value for our purpose, and may indubitably be regarded
as the most fertile source of our knowledge of private life. The
comedies of Aristophanes deal with the immediate present, and, although
full of extravagant notions and fantastic inventions, yet treat of
actual circumstances, and thus supply a mine of wealth for the student
of Attic life. We can only judge, from numerous fragments of their
comedies, how valuable would have been the other poets of the so-called
“Older Comedy” of the fifth century B.C., who are, unfortunately, lost
to us. Even though we must exercise some caution in the use of these
authorities, distinguishing comic inventions and poetical exaggeration
from actual fact, yet in the majority of cases it will not be very
difficult to come to a decision on such questions. No less valuable,
perhaps even more useful, for our purpose would be the so-called “New
Comedy” of Menander and others, if we possessed more than a few
scattered fragments of it. The imitations of Plautus and Terence
compensate to some extent for the lost originals, yet even here we must
be on our guard, since the Roman poets in their adaptation often
introduced traits from Roman life. Still, as a rule they adhered to
Greek, or, rather, Attic manners, upon which the original comedies were
based.
Among prose writers we must chiefly consider the historians and orators.
The former are of comparatively little use. They deal with great
political and military events; the daily life going on around them gave
them no subjects for description; apart from the fact that it probably
never occurred to them that anyone in later ages would ever care to hear
about the social conditions of that time. A writer like Herodotus, who
introduces not only political history, but also geographical,
ethnological, and social information, directs his attention for this
very reason chiefly to foreign nations, and gives his countrymen a great
deal of information about the life and customs of the Egyptians,
Assyrians, and Persians; concerning the Greeks themselves he is
absolutely silent. It is quite natural that historians should only
mention by the way facts which we could use with advantage in a
description of Greek life. The orators, on the other hand, supply richer
material, not so much in political speeches as in private orations
dealing with law-suits, of which a considerable number have come down to
us. Here side-lights fall on many events of daily life, and we obtain an
insight into private affairs such as we seldom gain elsewhere.
Philosophical writings supply some material, though comparatively
little; especially those that take actual life as their basis and deal
with philosophical problems in connection with existing circumstances.
Among these may be included such writings as the “Characters” of
Theophrastus, and here we can but regret that we possess only mutilated
fragments of these admirable descriptions of character, based on much
accurate observation, and taken direct from real life.
The Greek literature of the Roman period can only be utilised in
selections and with care, to illustrate the period with which we have
to deal. After Greece came under Roman dominion, new manners and customs
took root there, unknown during the period of Greek freedom and the
Hellenistic epoch. This diminishes the value for our purpose of the
writings of Plutarch, and even more of Lucian, that excellent delineator
of the customs of the second century A.D. But even in this later
literature there is a good deal which we have a right to use in our
description, for some of its habits and customs obtained through the
whole of antiquity; besides which, the later writers often turned to
past centuries for descriptions, and sought their material in older
sources or old historians and other authors, on whose accuracy we
cannot, however, always depend. The same was the case with the materials
which we are able to use in Roman literature.
From all this it is plain that the account given here deals especially
with the real “classic” period of Greek antiquity from about the sixth
to the third century B.C. It is impossible to give a connected history
of the development of Greek civilisation from the beginning, if only on
account of the nature of our authorities and the incompleteness of
tradition. Between Homeric culture and that which we meet with
afterwards in the poets and prose writers of the best time, lies a
period of several centuries, about which we know very little, and that
little chiefly in a legendary form. We can only determine in a few cases
how the conditions of the sixth and fifth centuries gradually developed,
for instance in the rise of the constitution, while it is impossible for
us to trace the genesis of manners and civilisation. We shall,
therefore, not attempt to give a separate account of Homeric
civilisation, but content ourselves with introducing a few of its
details in appropriate places; nor shall we go beyond the period of
Hellenism, since even here foreign, and especially Oriental, influence
produced many alterations, while Roman influence afterwards made many
essential changes.
The artistic authorities are also chosen in accordance with this scheme.
The vase paintings, of which so many have been preserved to us, supply a
great quantity and variety of pictures of Greek life, and we have drawn
largely on this valuable source of information, which supplies most of
the pictures chosen as illustrations. Compared with this there is little
else of importance. The statues to which we have access are chiefly
figures of gods and heroes, or portraits. These we can only use to
illustrate Greek costume. But a few _genre_ pictures are preserved to us
in the artistic productions of the best Greek period, and some of these
we shall have occasion to discuss. For this purpose the small
terra-cotta figures are more useful, which often represent with vigorous
truth subjects from real life. Here, too, as in the case of the statues,
we must always remember the difference between Hellenic and Roman work,
and it is just this consideration which greatly limits our choice of
sculptures; for the great majority of those which would be suitable for
our purpose date from the Roman period, and usually represent Roman
life. For this reason mosaics and frescoes can scarcely be regarded,
since none have come down to us from the Greek period. Undoubtedly many
of them imitate Greek models, or, at any rate, those of the Alexandrine
epoch, but it is not always easy to decide in particular cases; and,
moreover, the greater part are mythological pictures. It is obvious that
works of Etruscan art, such as sarcophagi, pictures on mirrors, and the
like, cannot be regarded. Thus the works of art suitable for
supplementing our literary sources are limited in number. Of these the
vase paintings constitute the great majority, and this is entirely in
accordance with the chronological limits which we have set to our
description; for they almost all belong to the centuries mentioned
above, and only a few that would be suitable for our purpose are of
greater antiquity.
The nature of our authorities not only sets a limit of time, but also
one of space. When we speak of Greek life we ought to include in it not
only life in actual Greece or Hellas, but also that in the numerous
colonies on the Aegean and Black Seas, in Southern Italy, Northern
Africa, etc. But we know very little of the conditions in those Greek
settlements outside Greece, and even in Greece itself, where, in
consequence of the political and racial differences, these circumstances
are by no means everywhere identical, our knowledge is limited in many
ways. Even though the difference in manners and customs was greater in
early times than afterwards, when increase in trade and greater facility
of travel produced more equal conditions, yet certain local and national
peculiarities always prevailed. Life at Sparta differed in many respects
from that at Athens. The other large towns of Greece--Corinth, Sicyon,
Thebes, not to speak of the colonies of Miletus, Syracuse, and
Cyrene--doubtless showed many local peculiarities which are entirely
hidden from our knowledge. Our literary sources are for the greater part
Athenian. The majority of our monuments, too, are of Attic origin, or,
at any rate, influenced by it, though Southern Italy supplies some of
the vases, and in many cases the customs of Magna Graecia are
represented in these pictures. Most of our knowledge of Greek life,
then, refers to Athens, and to be quite accurate we ought to call our
description “Life in Ancient Athens.” Every now and then we are enabled
to enlarge our pictures by details from other parts of Greece. Still, we
must beg our readers to remember that most of the traits here introduced
relate to Athens between the sixth and fourth centuries B.C. We have
scarcely the remotest conception of the mode of life at that time in any
small Greek city or in the country.
Here the third class of our sources comes in to help us, viz., the
inscriptions. These not only give us most of our material for a
knowledge of political conditions, legal and religious antiquities,
etc., but they also supply interesting details of private life; and as
they are found not only in Attica, but all over Greece, the islands, and
the colonies, they supply much very valuable information about matters
which our literary sources entirely ignore. As in most cases the period
of the inscription can be ascertained by the character of the writing or
by other peculiarities, we are not so liable here to make chronological
mistakes and refer customs of a later period to earlier times. Compared
with our literary sources, the inscriptions are also far safer material;
for the accuracy of a writer may be sometimes called in question,
especially when his information is supplied at second-hand.
GREEK LIFE AT HOME.
CHAPTER I.
COSTUME.
Costumes, Stitched and Draped--The Chiton--The Himation or
Chlaina--Drapery--The Uniform Male Dresses of Sparta--The
Chlamys--Similarity Between Male and Female Costumes--The
Difference Between Doric and Ionic Garments--The Fashion at Athens
in the Fifth Century B.C.--The
Materials--Footgear--Leggings--Head-Coverings--Mode of Dressing the
Hair.
To obtain a complete insight into the life of former ages we require
primarily a knowledge of the historical and geographical, political, and
religious conditions of the people in question, as well as of its
intellectual development in art and science. These, however, it is not
our purpose to consider here. The second requisite for a vivid picture
is a clear notion of the surroundings in which the people of that time
lived: their dwellings, furniture, utensils, etc. And lastly, there is
another point, the knowledge of which is no less indispensable in order
to obtain a clear image of the past, and that is the costume. Our
knowledge of the customs and habits of daily life appears far more real,
and stands out more vividly, if we can also form in our minds a picture
of the people of that time. Thus no one can expect to form a clear
picture of mediaeval life without at least a general notion of the
costume of that period. This is equally true of every epoch of
civilisation, even of a period so little distant from us in time as the
eighteenth century.
We therefore preface our description of Greek life with an account of
the details of Greek costume, and of its historical development; and our
reasons for going into greater detail here than in other domains is that
there are so many wrong, or at any rate incomplete, notions extant
concerning it. For when we speak to-day of Greek costume we may
generally assume that the majority of people, if female dress is in
question, think of the drapery of the magnificent female figures in the
Parthenon marbles; while, as regards male costume, their minds will at
once recur to the classic figure of Sophocles in the Lateran or of the
Aeschines of Naples, and form their notion of Greek male costume
accordingly. It is, however, absolutely wrong to regard these as typical
of Greek dress. They represent neither the costume of all Hellas nor
that of the whole Greek age. That “noble simplicity and quiet
greatness,” which is as conspicuous in the dress of the age of Pericles
as in its art, is, like the latter, the product of slow development
through various phases, concerning which, with the exception of a few
literary allusions, the monuments give us all the information we
possess.
* * * * *
Generally speaking, we may distinguish, both in male and female Greek
costume, two kinds of garments--those which are cut in a certain shape
and partly stitched, and mantles of various shapes which are draped on
the figure and only acquire their form by means of this draping. This
distinction holds good with few exceptions throughout the whole history
of Greek costume; and, generally speaking, it is the under garments
which are stitched, while the upper garments are draped. Yet we must
observe that, while male clothing is, as a rule, confined to two
garments, we very often find in female costume a third, or even a
fourth, belonging sometimes to the first and sometimes to the second of
the above-mentioned classes.
The names which were used throughout almost the whole of Greek antiquity
for the two chief articles of dress are, for the under garment,
_chiton_; for the upper garment, _himation_. These terms are used for
both male and female garments, but several other designations are used,
and the word himation is not found in the Homeric period, but the cloak
which is worn over the chiton is called _chlaina_.
We may treat first of male costume. As regards the chiton of the oldest
period, we infer, from allusions in epic poetry, with which the oldest
monuments agree (for the discoveries at Mycenae give us no distinct
notion of pre-Homeric costume), that both the short and the long kinds
were in use. The short chiton seems to be the usual dress of daily life;
it was especially worn when free movement was required, and was
therefore the suitable garment for war or hunting, for gymnastic
exercises or manual labour. The long chiton, which was afterwards
regarded as especially Ionic, and certainly maintained itself longer in
Ionia and in Attica than in the rest of Greece, was not, however,
unknown to the Doric races. It was the usual dress for men of advanced
age and good position; it was also worn by young people on festive
occasions. We therefore find on the monuments of the oldest style that
not only the older gods wear a long chiton, but also that young men are
clothed in it on festive occasions, or if they are in any way connected
with religious functions, as, for instance, priests, harp-players,
flute-players, charioteers, etc. This use of the long chiton remains up
to the classic period. Thus, for instance, we see the figure known as
the _Archon Basileus_ in the central group of the Eastern Parthenon
frieze in this dress; and tragic actors, if they represented men of good
position and in peaceful circumstances, also continued to wear the long
chiton.
Epic poetry itself gives us no direct information about the shape of the
chiton in the Homeric period. Helbig maintains, basing his assertions on
some casual indications, and chiefly on the oldest monuments, that it
differed from the dress of the classic period in being close-fitting and
free from folds. It is true that the old vase paintings show us the
short chiton fitting closely round the body and drawn quite firmly round
the legs. It is girt fast round the hips, and as a rule does not go
below the knee. However, it is not safe to draw conclusions of this kind
from ancient pictures, for much which might be regarded as
characteristic of ancient costume may be due only to the incompleteness
of art, which was not yet capable of representing full garments with
folds. Thus, in ancient works of art, the long chiton also appears quite
narrow in the upper part, but then falls perpendicularly from the waist,
sometimes gradually, but more often straight without any folds to the
feet. (Compare the figure of Apollo in Fig. 1 and of Priam in Fig. 2.)
Both the long and short chitons as a rule have no sleeves, but only an
armhole; we sometimes find short sleeves not quite covering the upper
arm. Unfortunately, we cannot form a clear notion from the pictures of
the mode in which it was put on. It is, however, probable that the
[Illustration:
_Luk de Binleail_ _A Roy. sc_
FIG. 1.]
short chiton was sewn together all round and thrown over the head, where
there may have been an additional slit connected with this opening, and
fastened with a pin. There are, however, no traces of this on the
monuments, nor are fibulae or brooches mentioned in the Homeric
descriptions in connection with the male chiton. Probably the long
chiton was cut in the manner of a chemise. Helbig’s hypothesis that
there was a slit down the middle of the front is just as uncertain as
his similar assumption with regard to Homeric female dress.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
Besides the chiton, the older male costume also had a sort of loincloth
or apron. It is not at all improbable that at one period the Greeks wore
merely the apron and cloak, and no chiton. When the latter became
universally fashionable (which, according to recent surmises, was due to
Semitic influence) the cloth disappeared, or continued only as part of
military dress.
The himation, or chlaina, appears on ancient monuments stiff and free
from folds, like the chiton. This is a garment resembling a mantle,
which appears in many archaic vase pictures in two distinct forms:
either as a wide cloak covering the greater part of the body, or as a
narrow covering lightly draped. The first form, corresponding to the
later male himation, is most commonly combined with the long chiton. The
cut of this cloak is four-cornered, probably oblong, and it is worn in
such a way that the greater part of it falls behind and covers the back
and part of the legs, while in front it is thrown over the shoulders and
arms, and falls down over the body, two of its points falling within the
arms and the other two without. The other form, which may be in general
compared with the later _chlamys_, is found with both the long and the
short chiton, and is also sometimes worn as the only covering, without
any under garment. This may, however, be regarded as the ideal clothing,
which does not correspond to real life, just as in later monuments we
find the chlamys alone without the chiton. It is put on in such a way
that the lower arm is left uncovered, and the two points fall down in
front over the shoulder and upper arm, while behind it either covers
only the upper part of the back, or else the cloak falls down so far
that its edge is almost as low as the points in front. (Compare Fig. 3,
representing a dance from the François vase.) We cannot pronounce with
certainty on the shape of this cloak. It appears, however, to have been
oval or elliptical, and to have ended in two points; it was folded in
such a way that the folded part was worn inside, while the edges, which
were ornamented with wide borders, fell outside. In Fig. 2, where the
shape of the cloak is that of an ellipse cut through the long axis, the
folding is also evident. I should therefore differ from Helbig in
regarding this narrower chlaina as the garment called in epic poetry
_diplax_. Neither kind of cloak is fastened, and they both differ from
that of later periods in being worn open in front. In Homeric poetry
another kind of chlaina is also mentioned, which corresponds more
closely to the later one; since it is stated that the folded chlaina is
fastened on the shoulder with a brooch. No proof of this, however, has
as yet been found in the older monuments.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
As a remnant of the most primitive dress, clothes made of skins, such as
were afterwards worn only by country people, huntsmen and the like,
still existed in the Homeric age. Homer several times mentions skins as
the dress of soldiers; on the older monuments we see them drawn over a
short chiton, and sometimes even fastened with a girdle.
How long this ancient dress continued in use we cannot determine with
any certainty; but the majority even of vase pictures with black figures
show a different dress. It is true, as we mentioned just now, that the
long chiton still continued in use besides the short one, but the cut
and the mode of wearing it changed.
The monuments of this period almost always show signs of drapery, and
this is, moreover, of an artificial, exaggerated, and pedantic kind. It
must have been the fashion at that time, that is, from the sixth till
nearly the middle of the fifth century, to lay the folds of men’s dress,
as well as of women’s, in symmetrically parallel lines. In pictures the
lower edges of dresses and cloaks show various regularly cut-out points,
while on the inner side there are many small zigzag folds arranged with
laborious symmetry. (Compare Fig. 4, “The Rape of Helen,” after a vase
picture by the vase painter Hiero.) This may be partly due to the
artistic style, which at that period inclined to over-elaboration; yet
it is impossible to doubt that we find here not only an expression of
archaic art, but also the representation of a dress laboriously and
artificially folded, stiffened, and ironed, in which the folds were
produced by external aids, such as ironing, starching, pressing, even
stitching of the stuff laid in folds, or sewing such folds on to the
material. We cannot determine when this custom began in Greece. In works
of art we find it comparatively late in the sixth century B.C.; yet, as
Helbig remarks, it is by no means impossible that this fashion existed
at a far more ancient period, since the custom of laying material in
artificial folds by means of stiffening or ironing was already known in
Egypt in 4000 B.C.; and it therefore seems extremely probable that the
Phoenicians adopted the practice at a very early period, and introduced
it into Greece. It is a very natural assumption that this mode of
draping would in the first instance be adopted for linen material, and
that it would therefore be introduced among the Greeks with the linen
chiton, which took the place of the woollen one formerly worn.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.]
On the other hand, however, it is probable that, as woollen clothing was
afterwards worn as well as linen, they attempted to ornament this in
similar fashion by artificial folds; the works of art, however, show
that these folds were far less in quantity and less sharply defined in
woollen clothing than in linen, which is naturally much better adapted
for the purpose.
Apart from the folds, the clothes now became wider and more comfortable,
and were less closely girt round the hips. The chiton is still a garment
made by sewing, and the long differs from the short only in length, not
in shape. Both are, as a rule, so cut as to be sewn together regularly
below the girdle; above the girdle they are sometimes provided with a
slit on one side to facilitate putting on. They usually have sleeves,
sometimes short, sometimes long; these are either fastened all round,
or, as is also the case in female dress, open at the top and fastened by
pins or buttons. In this case the chiton is sewn in such a manner as to
be all in one above the girdle as far as the sleeve, and open at the
top, so that the slits for the arms and neck are connected; the wearer
puts the chiton over his head, draws up the sleeve on the upper arm, and
thus supplies the opening for the neck. Besides this, there is often an
ornamental arrangement such as we find in the female dress of the same
period a puff of regular folds (_kolpos_), formed by drawing up the
dress over the girdle and letting the piece drawn up all round fall
again over the girdle; and, in addition, a bib falling over the breast
in zig-zag folds, which appears, as a rule, to be a separate piece sewn
on the dress at the opening of the neck. In Fig. 4 we observe the kolpos
and bib over the short chiton of Hermes in the centre, the bib also
over the long chiton of Paris (on the left), and of Tyndareus (on the
right).
In this dress we already find the elements of the male costume common
throughout classic Greece in the fifth century. It is modelled on the
ancient elaborate style, and the sewing is reduced as much as possible,
while the garment falls in regular free folds, and fits closely to the
figure. According to Thucydides, it was at Sparta that it first became
customary to adopt a uniform dress for the whole male population, and
thus to do away with a distinction which had hitherto prevailed between
the dress of poor and rich. This distinction, at any rate, held in so
far that at Athens the richer people, as Thucydides states, wore the
long linen chiton, the poorer people the short woollen one. At Athens
and in Ionia the long linen chiton remained as the dress of older people
till shortly before the time of Thucydides; but then it was universally
discarded, or rather reserved for the classes mentioned above, and for
festive occasions; while the short woollen chiton from that period
became the universal dress. This is usually found in the form of a
widish garment sewn together below the girdle, and above it divided into
two parts, a front and back piece, put on in such a manner as to be
fastened together by pins or fibulae on the shoulder. If the chiton was
allowed to fall quite free it usually fell down about as far as the
knees; but it was customary, especially when unimpeded and free movement
was necessary, to draw up a part above the girdle and let it fall in
folds below it. (Compare Fig. 5.) Workmen, countrymen, sailors, and
others whose occupation required free movement of the right arm, used
only to fasten the two pieces of the chiton on the left shoulder, then
the points of the other side hung down in front and behind, and left
the
[Illustration: FIG. 5.]
right breast, shoulder, and arm exposed. This costume, of which the
relief in Fig. 6 gives a representation, was called _exomis_. Strictly
speaking, it is no actual garment, but only a particular way of wearing
the chiton; but special tunics for labourers were made in
[Illustration: FIG. 6.]
this fashion. Besides this, chitons were afterwards made with the upper
part also sewn together, and with armholes or short sleeves, which,
however, never covered more than a part of the upper arm. Long sleeves
falling to the hand belong exclusively to barbarian costume. Yet the
bib, which as late as the first half of the fifth century was worn with
the male chiton also, is not a part of later costume.
From this time onward the name “himation” was used for the cloak worn
with the chiton, while “chlaina” was only retained for a special kind,
distinct rather by its material than by its shape. The himation was
often worn in the oldest period in the way described above, that is,
with two points falling on the two sides in front. (Compare the Hermes
in Fig. 4.) But it became more and more common, and from the classic
period onwards quite universal, to fold the cloak tightly round, and
this was done as follows. One point was drawn from the back over the
left shoulder and held fast here between the chest and arm, then the
cloak was drawn round over the back in wide folds reaching to the shins,
and from there back again to the front on the right side. This was done
in two ways. If the right arm was to be kept free the himation was drawn
through under the right shoulder and in front folded across the body and
chest, while the last piece was thrown back across the left shoulder
(compare the Paris in Fig. 4 on the left), or else over the left arm
(compare the man on the right in Fig. 4). The other mode, and the one
common in the dress of an ordinary citizen, was to draw the cloak over
the right arm and shoulder, so that at most the right hand was exposed,
and then to throw it back again over the left shoulder. This arrangement
was facilitated by small weights of clay or lead sewn on
[Illustration: FIG. 7.
Statue of Sophocles in the Lateran. From a Photograph.]
the points, which helped to keep the cloak firm in its place. It was,
however, a special art, which required practice, and probably also
assistance, to produce a beautiful and harmonious drapery in this kind
of dress; and the position of the wearer showed itself in the way in
which he wore his himation, which ought neither to be drawn up too far,
nor fall too low. It was also regarded as inelegant to wear the cloak
from right to left. There is no nobler or more perfect example of this
costume, in which the chiton is combined with the himation, than the
portrait statue of Sophocles in the Lateran given in Fig. 7. Here the
wide cloak with its many folds covers the form in such a way as not to
hide the shape of the body, and the various folds caused by the position
of the arm and the mode of draping the cloak are combined together in
the most harmonious manner. A humorous counterpart of this ideal figure
is Fig. 8 in terra-cotta, representing a vulgar citizen in chiton and
himation.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.]
The “chlamys” was a special kind of cloak which originated in Thessaly,
but from the fifth century
[Illustration: FIG. 9.]
onwards became common in Greece. Originally it was a soldier’s or
rider’s dress, and is, therefore, only seen on statues worn over armour.
It is a short cloak of light material and oval shape, fastened by means
of a brooch either in front at the neck, or more commonly on the right
shoulder, thus covering the left arm and leaving the right free.
(Compare Figs. 9 and 10, of which Fig. 9 shows the former mode of
wearing the cloak, while in Fig. 10 the youth with the spear has his
whole left side covered by the chlamys.) The chlamys was the common
dress of youths as soon as they attained their majority ἐϕηβεία and
entered the cavalry; till that age they wore no upper garment over the
chiton in the ancient period, but in later times a wide himation, in
which they usually enveloped themselves entirely. It was regarded as
correct for modest boys not to have their arms exposed. Hermes also, the
divine representative of youth, usually appears in the chlamys, but this
is generally lightly folded and thrown over the left arm. Apollo too,
except where he wears the long chiton as harp-player, is usually
represented on works of art with the chlamys. It is, however, unusual in
male dress, with the exception of military costume, and is never found
in combination with the long chiton.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.]
At home, as a rule, only the chiton was worn. It was, however, not
considered correct to be seen thus in the street: only artisans or
eccentric people went out without a cloak; but it was just as incorrect
to appear without the chiton, only in the himation or chlamys. It is
true this is very common on works of art: Zeus, Poseidon, and some other
gods are represented without the chiton, and only in the himation, and
Hermes and Apollo only in the chlamys; and even in representations of
daily life we very often see in statues, reliefs, vase pictures, etc.,
men without under garments, clad only in the cloak (compare the youth in
Fig. 9), and also in portrait figures. This is, however, a liberty taken
by artists in order to avoid concealing the body entirely by the dress,
but by no means corresponding to reality. Only those who specially
desired to harden their bodies, and also poor people and certain
philosophers who wished to proclaim their cynic principles by
exceedingly scanty dress, went out, even in winter, in a cloak without
an under garment. Shirt and trousers were unknown in Greek male dress;
the latter are Oriental, and therefore only appear on monuments
representing barbarous persons.
As regards female dress, it may be stated at once that the strong
contrast found in modern times between the dress of men and women is
foreign to Greek antiquity: both have essentially the same elements,
sometimes even the same shape; and this similarity becomes greater the
nearer we get to antiquity. This was not carried so far that a woman
could simply have put on a man’s under garment; in fact, even the
Homeric epics distinguish the woman’s _peplos_ from the man’s chiton.
Unfortunately, both the shape and the mode of wearing the Homeric peplos
are matters of dispute which cannot be satisfactorily settled by the
words of the epic. According to Helbig, it was not essentially different
from the long male chiton; like this, it descended to the feet, fitting
closely and without folds to the figure, and was provided with an
opening for head and arms. The girdle was worn rather low down, not
immediately under the breast or round the waist, but round the hips, and
fell down somewhat in front. The peplos was put on by means of a slit
between the breasts, which often descended as far as the feet, and was
fastened by a large number of fibulae, or hooks. Helbig thinks that this
fashion was due to Oriental influence, since such openings are very
commonly found on monuments representing Oriental nations.
There is much in favour of Helbig’s hypothesis, especially the
circumstance that a dress similar in many respects appears to have
maintained itself for several centuries. The vase pictures, as well as
several works of art, show, as Boehlau has remarked, that in almost all
the Greek states (especially Corinth, Chalcis, Athens, Megara, Sparta,
as well as Ionian and Sicilian towns) a closely-fitting chiton was worn
by women as late as the seventh, perhaps even the sixth, century. This
was not drawn over the head, but put on like our dress of the present
day, and open in front. Numerous monuments of the oldest style show that
slit in front, and it appears to be seldom wanting in very ancient
pictures of the deities. This chiton is provided with tight sleeves
falling down to the elbows, and is generally adorned at all the edges
(accordingly round the neck and armholes, as well as round the hem) with
broad stripes and patterns of various colours; and as a further
peculiarity it has folds drawn up over the girdle and falling on each
side over the hips.
Helbig’s hypothesis concerning the Homeric peplos: that it had a long
opening in front extending to the feet, has been energetically combated
by Studniczka, who attempts to explain differently all the passages
quoted from the epics in support of the other theory, and regards the
strips down the front found on monuments as merely meant for ornamental
purposes, and not a reminiscence of that opening. Studniczka, for his
part, considers the Homeric female dress identical with the so-called
Doric, which is described to us by writers as the oldest Greek female
dress, in place of which the Ionic afterwards came. His first
assumption, therefore, is that the dress was not sewn and arranged for
slipping on, but rather consisted in a shawl-shaped piece of stuff
fastened on the shoulders by means of pins. This is not the fitting
place to discuss this controversy; we must therefore content ourselves
with alluding to it, and refrain from deciding in favour of either
opinion, since this would not be the purpose of our book.
Herodotus informs us, concerning the female dress of the historic
period, that the Athenian women in olden times wore the Doric dress, a
woollen chiton fastened with fibulae, but afterwards, instead of this,
adopted the Ionic dress, a stitched linen chiton. However simple this
statement may sound, it is by no means so easy to trace this change of
dress on the works of art. These show us female dresses in ancient times
which appear to have been sewn rather than pinned together; while the
chiton which we find in the classic period of Greek art may really be
traced back to the Doric type. It is, therefore, comprehensible that
attempts lately made, especially by Boehlau and Studniczka, to trace the
transition from the ancient Doric to the later Ionic costume on works of
art, should have led to very different results.
If we look at the female dress on the oldest vase pictures (compare
Figs. 1, 3, 11-15), we almost always find a stiff chiton descending
without folds to the feet (the Homeric name “peplos” gradually falls
into disuse), which could, however, in no case be as narrow as it is
depicted, else it would be impossible to walk in it; the feet as a rule
are uncovered, but sometimes the dress is lengthened behind in the form
[Illustration: FIG. 11.]
of a train, and there touches the ground. (Compare Fig. 15.) The girdle
is regularly worn with this chiton, rather high up, and so as to be
visible. There is also a second garment covering breast and shoulders,
and falling down nearly as far as the girdle. How this
[Illustration: FIG. 12.]
chiton was put on, and how the upper garment was connected with it, is
not clear. When we see long borders descending from the girdle to the
feet on some figures, and also continued above the girdle (as in the
case of two women in Fig. 11), we might assume that here was an opening
for putting on the dress; but we have already shown above that these
borders are often of a purely ornamental character, and have no
structural importance; and, indeed, they are entirely wanting on many
chitons. It is, therefore, generally assumed that the garment
represented here was sewn together below, and thus fastened all round,
but above the girdle was open at the side, and that the bib was produced
by making this upper part double, and fastening the folded ends on the
shoulders with pins, thus corresponding to that style which is commonly
called Doric. In fact, the point of the dress, passed from the back to
the front, is often visible on the shoulder (compare Figs. 1, 3, and
11); sometimes even the long pin which fastened both points can be
plainly recognised (Fig. 11); but in spite of this there is a great deal
that this hypothesis does not explain. It is true we may reconcile with
it the occasional appearance of different borders at the neck of the
bib, for these might be sewn on, and thus this garment would be
constructed ready for the wearer, while in the corresponding dress of
the later period it rested with the wearer to draw down a shorter or
longer piece of her chiton. But how are we to explain that upper part of
the chiton in such a case as Fig. 12? Here it is closely fastened at the
side. Clearly the artist wished to represent an armhole. These two facts
are in opposition to the previous hypothesis, unless we assume that the
upper part also was sewn together on one side, and its open side with
the pins must be sought on the left side of the woman, which is not
visible here. It is still more remarkable when, as in Fig. 13, the
painter represents the lower part of the chiton with a pattern and the
upper plain; or, as in Fig. 14, gives different patterns to the two
parts. If we do not attribute this to the arbitrary fancy of the artist,
or assume that the upper part of the chiton was ornamented with a
different material behind, we are reduced to the opinion which, in view
of similar developments in the dress of a later period, is not
improbable--that this upper part was sometimes quite separate from the
chiton, and was put on as a special garment.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.]
With this costume we sometimes find an over garment, which must not,
however, be confused with the himation. This is worn over the chiton,
but fastened in by the girdle also, and is usually open on one side.
(Compare Fig. 15.) This upper garment, which usually is only seen below
the girdle, is sometimes made of the same material as the bib, sometimes
of a different one, but it usually differs in colour and pattern from
the garment worn under it. It is not very evident from the vase pictures
how this was put on, but it seems to have been draped and not sewn, and
worn over the chiton for more elaborate dress, and fastened together
with it by means of the girdle.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.]
With this antique costume the himation was worn as a cloak, which, both
in its shape and in the mode of wearing, corresponded absolutely to the
large himation worn by men; like this, it specially covered the back and
fell over the arms in two points. There is, however, this distinction
between the male and female costume, that the women often drew this
cloak up so high as to cover the back of the head (compare Fig. 1), a
fashion which also continued in later times.
The change which we see gradually produced in this costume on works of
art has been often regarded as a real change in the fashion, but was
probably
[Illustration:
T. III PL. XXXVI D.
FIG. 15.]
in great part only a consequence of the development of art, which
rendered it possible to represent a great deal which at an earlier stage
could not be depicted. As in the case of male dress, the dresses on the
vase pictures gradually become wider with fuller folds. At first, it is
true, they are still so narrow that if a long step is taken the shape of
the body becomes very distinct; but the cylindrical form, quite free
from folds, which the earliest vase style gives to the woman’s dress
below the girdle, disappears entirely. Besides this we find, instead of
the outer wrap, a puffing, or _kolpos_, which henceforth is the
characteristic of the female dress. This was arranged in various ways,
though in later times it was sometimes dispensed with altogether. There
are different modes of producing this kolpos: sometimes it belongs to
the dress itself; the length of the dress then so far exceeds that of
the body that, in order to prevent the hem from dragging on the ground,
a piece must be drawn up above the girdle, which then falls down in
folds below it, and in the fashion of the time, which we have first to
deal with, often descends a long way, not, however, equally all round
the waist, but only in front, and probably also behind. But as the vase
pictures often represent this upper part as of an entirely different
material from the under dress, it is possible that it was sometimes not
connected with the chiton, but was a distinct garment worn over the
under dress, and, like the chiton, fastened in by the girdle. (Compare
Fig. 16.) If we remember that in the ancient dress of the previous
period, the bib was sometimes a distinct garment, we may surmise that
this gradually developed into the kolpos close round the waist, and that
the fashion of constructing this girding by means of the chiton itself,
and not by a separate piece, was a further stage in this development.
With this costume we usually find longish sleeves, reaching below the
elbow, as a rule wide and puffed, though very narrow round the armholes.
It is evident that a chiton of this description, as well as the upper
garment, if it was separate, was entirely constructed by sewing, and was
put on over the head by passing the arms into the sleeves; for we
nowhere find an opening above the girdle in this dress. We do, however,
find, when the upper garment is separate, that the chiton has an opening
on one side below the girdle. If we remember the remark of Herodotus
previously quoted about the introduction of the stitched Ionic linen
chiton, it is a natural assumption that this chiton, which was entirely
put together by sewing, and worn without pins, was an Ionic garment; and
in accordance with this we find this particular form of sleeve on
Athenian reliefs as well as on those of Asia Minor.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.]
Contemporaneously with this change in female dress, the elaboration of
the folds mentioned above with cut-out corners and regular zigzag
folds, produced by stiffening and ironing, becomes more and more
apparent, especially round the hems of the lower garments. It is true we
must not depend too much on the monuments, for we often observe on these
that only the front hem of the garment has the zigzag folds, while the
back hem is quite plain, with only a suggestion of the necessary stiff
folds. (Compare Figs. 17 and 19.) It is evident, therefore, especially
in the case of the vase painters, that this drapery is not so much an
imitation of actual costume as a peculiarity of the artist’s style.
If we may draw any conclusion from the above-mentioned facts as to the
differences between Doric and Ionic costume, these do not appear to be
fundamental, affecting the shape and appearance of the whole dress, but
rather to have depended essentially on the mode of wearing, for the
Doric chiton was shaped by pinning, the Ionic constructed by sewing.
There is, however, a difference of material, since the Doric chiton was
woollen and the Ionic linen. Nor must we understand Herodotus to mean
that the Doric dress disappeared entirely after the introduction of the
Ionic, for the monuments show us clearly that both kinds existed side by
side; so that just at the time of Herodotus the chiton, which, at any
rate in its upper part, was not sewn, but fastened by pins or buttons,
was the more common. It is true that fashion, which was just as
important in antiquity as now, is apparent in various changes, and these
are especially conspicuous in pictures by the vase painters of the fifth
century, such as Hiero, Duris, Brygos, etc. On these monuments (compare
Figs. 4, 18, 19) the female dress is much wider and fuller than before,
the kolpos goes all round the
[Illustration: FIG. 17.]
body, and falls down below the hips almost to the knees. There is a sort
of mantle, which falls a little way below the breast; there are almost
always sleeves, as there were in the previous fashion, but they are
generally less puffed and have no narrow armhole, but a wide opening at
the arms. The mode of putting on the chiton is also different, and
corresponds to the Doric fashion; the sleeves are not sewn together all
round, but have a slit at the top, so that when the chiton is put on it
is quite open there. The drawing together of the sleeve openings by
little fibulae or buttons fastens the chiton together at the neck, and
gives the whole dress consistency. Fig. 17, a cithara player about to
tie, or possibly to unloose, the girdle which fastens her upper garment,
shows this method of putting on and fastening the upper garment very
plainly. However, the bib, which is usually found, is absent here.
[Illustration: FIG. 18.]
But if we look somewhat more closely at this costume, we find in it a
sort of combination of the Doric and Ionic. The mantle is due to the
former, the kolpos to the latter: the fastening with fibulae is
characteristic of the former, the sewing of the latter. For we must
regard a chiton like that worn by the Maenad on the left in Fig. 18 as
one connected piece, one wide garment, more than twice the length of the
body, sewn together round the sides, open at top and bottom, out of
which the wearer constructed the bib and sleeves by drawing up the folds
and letting them fall over the girdle, and by fastening or buttoning on
the arms and shoulders. There is, however, reason to suppose that parts
of this dress were sometimes separately constructed of different
material. On the vase pictures of that period the various parts of the
dress are sometimes characterised by different drapery. As a rule, the
folds of the dress are marked by unbroken black lines: but, besides
these, we sometimes find reddish brown, zigzag, or wavy lines (thus in
Fig. 17, the upper part of the woman’s dress; in Fig. 18, the kolpos of
the Maenad on the right; in Fig. 19, the kolpos and the sleeve). When we
observe (as in Fig. 18) that in other figures the corresponding parts of
the dress are all marked by the same lines, we find ourselves almost
forced to the conclusion that the artists wished to represent distinct
garments separately put on, especially as this distinction of unbroken
and zigzag folds can also be traced in sculpture. It would be very easy
to imagine it in such a dress as that in Fig. 17; for if in Fig. 16 the
upper garment above the girdle is distinct, it might also be the case in
Fig. 17. But such an assumption would be more difficult, nay, almost
impossible, for Fig. 18. If we assume distinct material for the kolpos,
the woman would be wearing three separate garments--the long chiton,
which simply covers the whole body, the kolpos, and over that a
distinct upper garment with sleeves. The dress in Fig. 19 would be no
less complicated. It seems, therefore, that we ought not to lay too much
stress on that treatment of the folds; probably the artists made use of
it in order to distinguish sometimes between the wavy folds of full
garments, sleeves, etc., and the stiff folds of the perpendicular skirt.
For we may observe that the wavy folds are never found in these
perpendicular garments, such as the chiton and the bib.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.]
If the vase painters are to be relied on, especially in the arrangement
of the girding, the fashion at Athens in the middle of the fifth century
B.C. was still rather heavy and awkward. It was not until the excessive
fulness of the girding was limited that it developed that regular and
truly noble dress which we admire in the female figures of classic art
and the following period. Still the dress is by no means uniform, for
the same chiton can be worn in various ways, according to the
arrangement of the girding and bib. The vase picture in Fig. 20 gives
examples of this. There were, in particular, two methods. The one was to
cover the body from the feet to the shoulders with a piece of stuff, and
to fasten this by drawing the points of the folded back piece over the
shoulders and hooking them to the points of the front piece, which was
also doubled
[Illustration: FIG. 20.]
back. Then the extra piece fell down at the back and front, and the
girdle was passed over it. The stuff was then drawn up a little over the
girdle, while the ends of the garment fell down over the hips. Strictly
speaking, the kolpos here fell over the bib. (Compare the figure on the
left.) The second plan was to take a longer piece of the chiton than was
required below the girdle, so that the remainder fell on the ground; the
upper part was drawn up to the shoulders and fastened there by fibulae,
either in such a way that these were visible (in that case the doubled
pieces were fastened together), or so that the pins were hidden by the
front piece
[Illustration: FIG. 21.]
(then the doubled piece at the back was fastened to the under layer of
the front piece, as in Fig. 20). The bib then fell freely over the
breast and back till a little above the waist, the superfluous piece
below was drawn up over the girdle. The manner of arranging this kind of
dress, which is the commoner, is very clearly seen in the bronze statue
from Herculaneum represented in Fig. 21. The girl, who is in the act of
dressing herself, has already girded the chiton, and is now arranging
the bib; she has fastened it on the left shoulder and is now drawing
the folded back piece over the right shoulder with her right hand, in
order to pin to it the front piece, which she holds in her left hand in
such a way that the back piece may fall over the front piece. The points
of both then fall over the hips to right and left a little more than
half-way down the front breadth. To complete her dress, the girl will
then draw up part of the garment, which is too long for walking, over
the girdle, and this will appear below the bib. In the dress of the best
period this puffing does not fall as low as before (or as that on Fig.
20). It is so arranged that the folds fall lower on the sides than in
the middle, so that its lines may follow the outline of the bib, the
points of which fall lower at the sides. Thus originated that beautiful
costume, inspired by a truly artistic spirit, which we admire in the
best Attic works of the age of Pheidias. As an example of this, compare
Fig. 22, a Caryatid, from the Erechtheum at Athens.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.]
[Illustration: FIG. 23.]
With this dress sleeves, like those above described, are sometimes, but
not always, worn. They are usually half-sleeves, with openings fastened
by buttons or fibulae, not pieces separately sewn on, but part of the
actual chiton.
The last-described form of the chiton, which formed the kolpos and bib
by means of the girdle and pins, continued in the next period, and seems
not only to have extended throughout Greece, but also throughout later
Greek antiquity down to the Roman period. But there were also several
other styles of dress, distinguished partly by their shape, partly by
the manner of wearing. Thus, for instance, the general form of the
chiton was retained, but the dress was made more comfortable by the
separate construction of the bib, which, as we observed, was probably
the case at an earlier period too, and by sometimes omitting it
altogether. Sometimes, again, only a light chiton was worn without any
kolpos or bib, either with a girdle which was sometimes worn above the
waist (compare Fig. 23, “A Daughter of Niobe”), or sometimes falling
quite freely (compare Fig. 24). Afterwards it was not unusual for the
bib to fall below the girdle, while the kolpos was entirely absent
(compare Fig. 25), or else fell above the bib (compare Fig. 20). In the
graceful female figure in Fig. 26 there is another peculiarity. Here, as
in Fig. 25, the chiton is open at one side, even below the hips, which
was not the case with the ordinary dress, especially that worn out of
doors. It is probable that this was the original form of the so-called
Doric chiton, for it is thus that the Doric maidens were dressed, and on
this account were mockingly described as “showing their hips.” In the
ideal figures the chiton of Artemis and the Amazons,
[Illustration: FIG. 24.]
though shorter, is of the same kind. The form of the chiton fastened
together all round originated so early that we only find the kind open
at the side in rare instances on the oldest monuments. This chiton
corresponds in shape most closely to the short male chiton; like this,
it often only extends to the knees, and is fastened on the shoulders by
pins without forming the bib. The dress with regular sleeves is also
found in the later costume, either connected with the under garment or
specially constructed so as to cover only the upper part of the body. It
was fastened together all round, and opened at the sleeves, which were
constructed by buttons.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.]
The himation continued to be the usual upper garment. In the older
costume of the sixth and fifth centuries it is often treated as a scarf
in the manner above described, with two points falling down in front
over the shoulders (compare Figs. 4 and 24), but afterwards women began
to wear the himation in the same way as men, either enveloping the arms
entirely or leaving the right arm free (compare Fig. 23). A third mode
of wearing the himation, which, however, is commoner in older than in
later costume, is to draw it from the right shoulder across the breast
to the left hip, leaving the left breast uncovered, and letting the
points fall down on the right
[Illustration: FIG. 26.]
side of the body. In the pictures it often looks as though the himation
were fastened on the shoulder by pins, or even stitched together. We
also find a light kind of shawl, put on something in the manner of the
scarf worn by ladies some forty or fifty years ago. In fact, there seem
to have been many varieties of female dress in the Alexandrine period,
but we are not intimately acquainted with the details, as our principal
authorities, the vase pictures, at that time no longer confined
themselves as strictly as in the older periods to the prevailing
fashion. In one of Theocritus’ idylls a woman puts on first her chiton,
then a _peronatris_ (a robe fastened by clasps) of costly material, and
over that an _ampechonion_. It is not clear what sort of garment this
peronatris was. On the other hand, the terra-cottas of that period often
represent graceful female forms in walking dress, that is, in the chiton
and himation. Thus in Fig. 27, _a_ and _b_, we see a woman in a long
dress with a train, wearing over it a cloak drawn over her head in such
a manner that only her face is visible. To promote freedom of motion her
cloak is drawn up over both arms, which are closely enveloped. In a
similar matron-like dress is the lady represented in the terra-cotta
figure, No. 28. She holds up her long himation daintily with both hands,
to enable her to walk more easily.
We cannot with certainty prove the existence of a chemise, since those
expressions which are generally thus interpreted appear to relate to
different kinds of chitons. Sometimes we see in vase pictures
representing scenes from the baths short garments with little sleeves,
which cannot well be anything but chemises, worn under the actual
chiton. We must not, however, assume that these were universally worn;
far commoner was the band called _strophion_, corresponding to the
modern corset, used to check the excessive development of the breasts,
or to hold them up when the firmness of youth was gone.
[Illustration: FIG. 27_a_.]
We know very little about the colour and pattern of the dresses. The
clothing worn by men, or, at any rate, those of the lower classes who
laboured in the workshop or in the field, was certainly dark, either of
the natural colour of the wool or dyed brown, grey, etc. Otherwise the
commonest colour for the chiton and himation was white, and, as such
garments naturally soon got dirty, they were often sent to the fuller,
who washed them and gave them fresh brightness by means of pipeclay and
similar methods. On festive occasions gaily-coloured dresses were
usually worn, and then even simple people indulged in the luxury of
bright colour; though, as a rule, to display this in ordinary, every-day
life was regarded in the better ages of Greek antiquity as a mark of
vanity or characteristic of a dandy. Naturally, women were more inclined
to
[Illustration: FIG. 27_b_.]
bright hues, and they were especially fond of saffron-coloured dresses,
and also of materials with coloured borders and rich designs. Generally
speaking, we may infer from the works of art that bright colour and rich
ornamentation were most popular in the oldest period, and afterwards
again in the epoch of declining taste; while the classic period made but
a sparing use of either. The older vase pictures almost always represent
materials with coloured patterns, either purely ornamental designs
(compare Figs. 10, 11, 13), or with representations of figures.
Sometimes whole scenes full of figures in coloured embroidery were part
of the dress, and this was sometimes arranged in rows, like the
decorations on pots in ancient art. (Compare Fig. 12.) This is quite
natural if we consider that in the more ancient costume there was
scarcely any drapery; both the chiton and the cloak were drawn tightly
round the figure, and, therefore, the pictures could be fully developed
and seen without any interruption from folds. Purely ornamental
patterns are also very common, and show great variety, but very seldom
good designs. Checks and diamonds were especially popular.
[Illustration: FIG. 28.]
As the fashion in dress changed, so did the use of materials with
patterns; for garments worn at religious ceremonies, or by actors, the
coloured embroidery was retained; but in ordinary life the men, and even
women, gradually discarded it, or at any rate reduced it to moderate
proportions compared with the rich fulness of ornament in the older
fashion, which almost concealed the real colour of the dress. This is
especially noticeable in the chiton when it falls in free folds, while
the old-fashioned chiton, which had very few folds, bore bolder designs.
It is also the case with the himation, which even in the classic period,
when it no longer fell stiff and straight over the back, but was drawn
round the body in plentiful drapery, was often richly adorned with
embroidery. The reason is probably because such shawl-like garments are
more loosely related to the body, and therefore the introduction of a
pattern which weakened the impression of the figure is less disturbing
here than in the chiton. However, these bright-coloured cloaks were
exceptional luxuries. The fashion of the better period shows its classic
sense of beauty in forming chiton and cloak from materials of one
colour, and merely introducing ornaments at the seams and edges, and
these such as are of especial beauty and noble simplicity.
In the fourth century B.C. a gradual decline is again observable, and
after the time of Alexander the Great rich designs, sometimes
introducing figures, become commoner, even in purely Hellenic dress.
Numerous examples on works of art show us the unaesthetic and absurd
side of this fashion. The elaborate patterns give a disturbing
appearance to the whole figure; the outline of the body is completely
hidden by the dress; and when the drapery is disturbed or folded, in the
case of borders or materials covered with figures, the result is
sometimes very ridiculous.
As regards the material of the dresses, we mentioned above that when the
change described by Herodotus was made, the linen chiton was introduced,
but woollen materials were not on that account discarded; and as men
ceased to wear the chiton long, it became commoner to make it of wool.
The oldest sculpture as a rule represents two distinct materials when
once we get beyond the tight-fitting costume of the earliest period. One
of these shows fine and flat folds, while the other falls in large,
deep folds. We cannot always maintain with certainty that these are two
distinct materials, the former wool, the latter linen; sometimes it
seems as though there were only two qualities of the same material, one
being fine and thin, and the other coarse and thick. Yet the frequent
use of linen is proved by the regular parallel and zigzag folds so
common in the older art, which could only be produced in linen by
artificial means.
As a rule, they wore, as we do, lighter stuffs in the summer and heavier
ones in the winter; but though we very often find on archaic monuments
transparent garments showing distinctly the outline of the body (compare
Figs. 18, 24), we are scarcely justified in assuming a very widespread
use of really transparent garments. Even though such thin materials may
have been worn at that time, especially by hetaerae, their extensive use
in vase painting is probably due to the fact that the painters, not
knowing how to represent the outline of the body and the movements of
the limbs under the dress, and yet desiring not to hide them completely
by the clothes, resorted to this expedient of letting the outline appear
through the dress material. These thin stuffs were always common in the
dress of the hetaerae, but respectable women used them only as under
garments. We may, however, assume that this was also a matter of
fashion, since materials from the looms of the island of Amorgos, which
were especially noted for their fineness and transparency, were only
fashionable for a short time in the period of the older Attic comedy.
Later allusions to these stuffs are made chiefly by the learned, and do
not refer to actual reality. Moreover, it is natural that the
circumstances of the persons concerned played a part in the choice of
coarser or finer materials. The stuffs introduced from foreign parts,
such as cotton and muslin, could only be worn by the rich, as also silk,
which, even in the Alexandrine period, was very rare and expensive. On
the other hand, common men wore felt-like materials, and countrymen even
tunics of skin or leather.
[Illustration: FIG. 29.]
In Greek antiquity coverings for the feet were not so essential an
article of clothing as at the present day, at any rate not for the male
portion of the population. At home, and in summer, men as a rule went
barefoot; artisans and other members of the lower classes and slaves did
so out-of-doors also, as well as people who desired to harden their
bodies, like Socrates, or those who perhaps only affected an ascetic
mode of life, like some of the Cynic philosophers. At Sparta, where the
State took cognisance of the dress and food of the citizens, young men
were actually forbidden to wear shoes, and many adhered to this habit
even in old age, as, for instance, Agesilaus, who, even as an old man,
used to go without shoes and chiton, dressed only in his cloak. Still,
it was unusual for men to go out of doors in winter barefoot, as
Socrates is said to have done during his campaign in Macedonia.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.]
Generally speaking, the footgear of the Greeks was of two kinds:
sandals, that is, mere soles tied under the foot, and actual boots.
Between the two, however, there were a great number of transition
stages, so that it is sometimes impossible to say to which of the two
classes some kinds belonged. Sandals, which were probably the oldest
kind, and in Homer apparently the only one, were worn by men and women
alike, though far more commonly by the
[Illustration: FIG. 31.]
latter. They consisted of a sole made of several thicknesses of strong
leather, with sometimes a layer of cork; to this straps were fastened,
which passed across the foot and held them firm. For this purpose
(compare the selection in Fig. 29, taken from works of art) a pair of
straps passing over the instep and heel were often sufficient, and these
were either tied or fastened in such a way that another strap, passing
between the first and second toes, was connected with the other two,
which were fastened to the edge of the sole and buckled on the instep,
the buckle usually having the shape of a heart or a leaf. But these
straps were often more numerous, and so complicated as to cover almost
the whole foot, and thus resemble a perforated shoe. Sometimes they were
continued as far as the ankle, or even the shins (compare the examples
in Fig. 30), but this is only the case in men’s dress. Costly and
brightly-coloured leather, with gilt and other ornaments, made this
footgear, which was naturally simple, both ornamental and expensive.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.]
The boots were something like ours; they covered the whole foot, and
were laced or buttoned in front, over the instep, or at the side. In the
older period men’s boots generally went above the ankle, and at the
front edge had a more or less pointed tongue bent forward. (Compare
examples in Fig. 31, which also show us how this tongue gradually became
smaller, and at last disappeared entirely.) Afterwards, low shoes,
generally stopping short of the ankle, were the rule, especially for
women, if they did not wear sandals. Fig. 32 gives various examples of
this: they
[Illustration: FIG. 33.]
are usually pointed at the toes, and old Spartan reliefs even represent
shoes with points in front as part of female dress. Huntsmen,
countrymen, and the like, wore high boots reaching to the shins
(ἐνδρομίδες), laced or buttoned in front, as in Fig. 33.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.]
These generally had broad toes and thick soles, but like the ordinary
shoes they had no heels. A common decoration of such boots were broad
zigzag lappets of leather, falling down from the upper edge, as in the
examples in Fig. 34. Between sandals and boots we find various forms of
low shoes, in which the foot is partly covered with leather and partly
with straps. Thus there was a kind of slipper covering the upper part of
the foot in front, while the back was covered with straps, and another
kind which left the toes quite free and covered the rest of the foot.
Probably the _crepida_, which only originated in the Alexandrine period,
but then became very common, belonged to this class, and was a shoe with
low leather sides, from which straps passed across the foot. Other kinds
of shoes we know only by their antique names. Thus there was an elegant
kind worn by guests invited to dinner (βλαυταί); and a coarser kind worn
chiefly by peasants (καρβατιναί) made of rough leather, and probably not
on a block, but roughly sewn together by the country people themselves.
In fact, the number of names for footgear used by the ancient writers is
very large, and we may thence conclude that the fashion changed
frequently. Thus in Greece there were shoes of the Persian fashion. At
Athens they wore Laconian shoes; Amyclaean, Sicyonian, Rhodian shoes,
and others which are also mentioned, probably refer more to the shape
than to the origin. There were also shoes called after celebrated men,
who probably made use of them, such as Alcibiades shoes, Iphicrates
shoes, etc.; but we cannot illustrate all these from works of art, in
spite of the rich variety supplied by them. They also distinguished
between shoes which, like our slippers, could be worn on either foot,
and those which were made on particular lasts for the right and left
foot. The latter were regarded as more elegant, for they laid great
stress on having shoes well-fitting and not too wide. They said of
people who wore too comfortable shoes that they “swam about” in them. It
was a mark of poverty or avarice to wear patched boots, and heavy nailed
shoes were only worn by soldiers or country people, and for others were
regarded as a mark of rusticity.
The material used was, as a rule, leather, but occasionally felt. They
were mostly black; but we also find coloured shoes mentioned, especially
for women, and sometimes see them represented on polychrome vases.
Stockings were unknown to antiquity, but sometimes in extreme cold it
was the custom to wrap fur or felt round the legs. Thus, in Homer, old
Laertes, when doing rough work in his garden wears gaiters of neat’s
leather, and also gloves to protect himself against the thorns. As a
rule, the latter were also unknown; only actors wore something of the
kind, but their object was, by apparent lengthening of the arms, to
harmonise them with the artificial increase in height.
[Illustration: FIG. 35.]
As a rule, men went bare-headed, or wore caps in bad weather. Generally
speaking, they distinguished, as we do, between hats and caps. The hat,
whose distinguishing mark was the brim, bore the name _petasos_. It
originated in Thessaly, but spread to other places, and at Athens was
regarded as the characteristic riding hat, and as such was worn with the
chlamys by youths. We see many in this dress on the Parthenon frieze.
Otherwise the petasos was essentially a part of travelling dress, and,
therefore, a usual attribute of Hermes as messenger of the gods. When
older men wore the petasos there was generally some distinct reason for
it. (Compare Figs. 9 and 10.) The shapes of the petasos on works of art
are so various that it is sometimes difficult to tell whether they ought
all to be included under the same name.
[Illustration: FIG. 36.]
Some of the hats are so very like caps that we can scarcely decide
whether they ought to bear the name of petasos. In the oldest period the
petasos almost always had a pointed, rather high crown, and a broad brim
turned up in front and behind. (Compare the examples in Fig. 35.)
Afterwards varieties were introduced; sometimes the crown was
semi-circular, sometimes flattened, now high, now low, or with a little
point like a button; the brim, too, was sometimes broad, shading the
whole face, sometimes quite narrow; now turned down, now horizontal; at
other times, again, turned up or bent round the head. Thus in the first
half of the fifth century, we find a very peculiar shape. The brim
projects in front in
[Illustration: FIG. 37.]
a narrow point, and at the back is turned up as far as the high conical
crown. (Compare Fig. 35.) The commonest shape is that of which examples
are given in Fig. 36; the crown is tolerably flat, generally not higher
than the skull; the brim, which is rather broad, and generally turned
down, is not circular all round, but cut out at several places--either
between the ears and the forehead, so that a point falls over the
latter, while the brim extends in semi-circular form round the back of
the head; or else this half is cut out in the same way as the front
part, so that the brim ends in four points, which generally fall over
the forehead, back of the head, and ears. Still, we sometimes find
instances where it is only cut out over the forehead, and the points
fall to the right and left of the face. This shape is very common in the
best period, that is, in the fifth and fourth centuries. Afterwards,
there were some very strange shapes, such as that in Fig. 37, on the
left, which is found on vase pictures of the best period and reminds us
of the hats pointed in front and behind worn at the beginning of this
century. The petasos was fastened under the chin with a cord; when it
was not wanted it was pushed down below the neck, where it was kept in
place by the cord; and we find it frequently in this position. (Compare
Fig. 38.)
[Illustration: FIG. 38.]
When, as sometimes happens, the petasos has a high crown, and a narrow
turned-up brim, it is often very like the _pilos_, a cap of leather or
felt, which was the common dress of workmen, especially smiths,
countrymen, fishermen, sailors, etc. Odysseus, as sailor, is almost
always represented with it; and so is Charon, the ferryman of the nether
world, Hephaestus, as smith, etc. Invalids who were obliged to protect
their heads from the weather, also wore such caps. These caps, too, were
of various shapes; semi-circular, fitting closely to the head, and
half-oval, projecting somewhat beyond the head, or of a more pointed
conical shape. (Compare that of Odysseus, Fig. 39, and the sailors, Fig.
40, where, as is often the case, it has a narrow, lower brim.) It is
evident from the drawing that the material must have been skin, which
was the commonest next to felt. These caps were often fastened with
strings below the chin, and there was sometimes a bow at the apex by
which they could be hung up.
[Illustration: FIG. 39.]
Women, who were seen out of doors much seldomer than men, had even less
need for head-coverings. Especially in the oldest period, where scarves
covering the greater part of the hair were in fashion, they probably
contented themselves with drawing the himation over their heads when
they went out. (Compare Fig. 4.) This was often done in later periods
also, as we see in terra-cotta figures (compare Figs. 27 and 28); but
even at that time women in the country, or travelling, often wore a
petasos similar to that of the men, though with a narrower brim. A
graceful Sicilian terra-cotta, represented in Fig. 41, shows a lady
wearing one of these, and it is very becoming to the face. On the other
hand, after the Alexandrine period, the _tholia_ is very common. This is
a light straw hat, with a pointed crown and broad brim, fastened by a
ribbon and balanced on the head--no doubt very convenient, since the
broad brim protected the wearer from the rays of the sun, but by no
means becoming. Terra-cotta figures from Tanagra give numerous examples
of this hat, which was evidently very common at the time, and is also
mentioned by writers.
[Illustration: FIG. 40.]
For further protection against the sun women often used sunshades, which
were made to fold up like ours. Such sunshades are common on old
[Illustration: FIG. 41.]
monuments, but, as a rule, ladies did not carry them themselves, but
were accompanied by a slave, who performed this office for them. The
sunshades were
[Illustration: FIG. 42.]
usually round (compare Fig. 42), but there are also examples of a
fan-shaped kind, which enabled the servant who walked behind to hold the
sunshade by its long handle comfortably over her mistress without going
too near her. Sometimes we even see men on vase pictures with sunshades.
This, however, was regarded as effeminate luxury. The stick belonged to
the ordinary equipment of a man. Old people walked with the help of a
heavy knotted stick, or leant on it as they stood, like the Athenian
citizens on the Parthenon frieze; and young people also used them. They
seem always to have used natural sticks; but the Laconian canes, with
curved handles, were considered specially convenient, and were used at
Athens by those who liked to imitate Spartan manners and customs. In the
fourth century the use of sticks seems to have become less common.
* * * * *
The last heading to be considered is the fashion of wearing the hair;
and, although the writers and statues give us considerable information,
there are several difficulties here which have not yet been solved.
In the heroic period long curly hair was regarded as a suitable ornament
for a man. This is proved by the favourite epithet, “The curly-haired
Achaeans,” and by other quotations from epic poetry; various indications
prove that the curls were not always left to fall naturally, but that
artificial means were sometimes adopted for facilitating and preserving
their regular arrangement. When the “effeminate Paris” is said to
rejoice in his “horn” (κέρᾳ ἄγλαε), old commentators state that this
horn was a twisted plait. It is possible that this might be produced by
the mere use of stiffening pomades or other cosmetic means, which had
been introduced from the East in the Homeric period; but the statements
in the Iliad about the gold and silver “curl-holders” of the Trojan
Euphorbus clearly point to artificial aids. The oldest sculptures and
vase pictures give sufficient proof that this mode of wearing the hair
in regular curls continued for a long time, for they almost always
represent hair falling far down the neck, generally in regular stiff
locks with horizontal waving, while small curls surround the forehead,
arranged with equal accuracy. As to the means employed for producing
these curls, Helbig’s opinion is that the spirals of bronze, silver, or
gold wire found in old graves in several parts of the Old World were
used as a foundation for the curls, which were twined around them.
Certainly these spirals have often been found in Etruscan graves, near
the spot where the head rested, and generally one on each side. This
might, however, be explained by the other interpretation that they were
a kind of primitive ear-ring. Perhaps the “gold and silver” with which
Euphorbus “bound together” his locks, according to Homer, was not a
particular kind of adornment, but only flexible gold and silver wire.
The monuments as well as the writers teach us that men wore their hair
long, in the next period also, down to the fifth century; we sometimes
find hair of such length and thickness depicted that it seems almost
incredible that a man’s hair could have been so much developed, even by
the most careful treatment. However, it did not often hang quite loose,
but it was tied back somewhere near the neck by a ribbon, and, unlike
the Homeric head-dress, where each curl is separately fastened, the
whole mass of hair was bound together, and then spread out again below
the fastening, and fell down the back. Sometimes the hair, after being
tightly tied together in one place, was interwoven with cords or ribbons
lower down, so that it fell in a broader mass than where it was tied
together, but by no means hung loose. Another kind of head-dress is that
in which the hair is tied together in such a manner as to resemble a
broad and thickish band, something like our head-dress of the last
century. The hair falls a little way below the neck, and is then taken
up again and tied in with the other piece by a ribbon in such a manner
that the end of the hair falls down over this ribbon. Here, too, we find
variety, for the hair sometimes fell some way down the back, sometimes
was fastened up again at the back of the head. An example of the former
kind is the bronze head from Olympia represented in Fig. 44; of the
latter, Fig. 43, from a vase painting of the fifth century.
[Illustration: FIG. 43.]
[Illustration: FIG. 44.]
Most commonly, however, in the sixth and fifth centuries men plaited
their long hair and laid the plaits round their head. There were two
distinct modes of doing this. One was to take two plaits from the back
of the head in different directions and fasten them like bandages round
the head; the other was to begin the plaits at the ears, turn them
backwards so that they crossed each other at the back of the head, then
bring them round to the front and knot them together over the centre of
the forehead. This is the head-dress of the figure on the Omphalos known
as Apollo (Fig. 45), and the head of a youth (Fig. 46). There are also
many other differences in detail; sometimes
[Illustration: FIG. 45.]
[Illustration: FIG. 46.]
the two plaits were laid across the hair from the parting to the
forehead in the form of a fillet holding the hair fast, as in the marble
head (Fig. 47); but sometimes the front hair is laid across the ends of
the plait fastened together in front, as in the head from a vase
painting represented in Fig. 48. The head in Fig. 47 also shows a
peculiar mode of treating the back hair. The lower part of this is
plaited, and the plait turned up again and fastened where the other two
braids cross each other. Other plaits also fall from behind the ears in
regular arrangement over the shoulders in front, often reaching as far
as the breast. The hair on the forehead is dressed with equal care. With
this fashion also the regular little curls, arranged in one or more rows
round the forehead, are very common. Sometimes they are in spiral form,
sometimes in that of “corkscrew” curls, as on the archaic bronze head
from Pompeii represented in Fig. 49 and in Fig. 48.
[Illustration: FIG. 47.]
These are the principal archaic modes of wearing the hair found on the
monuments, but they by no means exhaust the varieties which might be
observed. The writers, however, only mention one ancient head-dress.
Thucydides, in the passage already quoted, which describes the long
chitons formerly worn by the Athenians, also tells us that at the same
time that this old-fashioned dress was abandoned, the Athenians gave up
the old way of dressing their hair in the _crobylus_ (κρωβύλος), into
which they fastened golden grasshoppers. It has not yet, however, been
possible to determine with any certainty which of the head-dresses found
on the statues corresponded to this crobylus, which seems to be
identical with the _corymbus_ (κόρυμβος) mentioned in other places; nor
has it been possible to find any traces of the grasshoppers.
Consequently almost all the head-dresses above described have been
claimed for the crobylus, even the double plaits behind the ears; and
the grasshoppers have been explained sometimes as the above-mentioned
spirals, sometimes as hair-pins or fibulae. Perhaps some day a fortunate
discovery may throw light on this difficult question.
[Illustration: FIG. 48.]
It would be scarcely possible to assign a chronological order to all
these various archaic head-dresses. However, in the latter half of the
fifth century they all disappear, and here we have another proof of the
increasing aesthetic sense noticeable in all domains of life in the
classic period. The allusions in Aristophanes show that in his time it
was only old-fashioned people, who probably also went about in long
chitons, who still wore the grasshoppers. From the time of Pheidias, the
elaborate head-dresses entirely vanish; and though they are continued
for a longer period on the vase paintings, that is probably because
painting adhered longer than sculpture to the old forms and fashions,
since its free development in style was also of later growth. After this
time the long, flowing hair of the men, and the pigtail disappear; and
though only youths and athletes wore their hair quite short, yet the
men’s hair was also shortened, and owed its chief beauty to nature,
which has granted the gift of graceful curl to Southern and Oriental
nations. The portrait heads of this and the following period depict the
hair as simply curled, soft, and not too abundant. This seems to have
continued during the following centuries; at any rate,
[Illustration: FIG. 49.]
the monuments show no trace of a return to the artificial head-dresses
fashionable in ancient times. Just as wigs, powder, and pigtails have
disappeared for ever among us, so antiquity, when it had once recognised
the beauty of hair in its natural growth, never returned to the stiff
and laborious head-dress of the past. Of course, there were various
fashions in the mode of wearing the hair and having it cut; in fact,
there are a number of different names for the modes of cutting it, such
as the “garden,” the “boat,” but we do not know what these were like,
since the monuments afford no clue. Probably it was only dandies who
laid any stress on such matters. It is but natural that there should
have been many local variations in the mode of wearing the hair, as in
the dress, and probably these were of some importance in the oldest
period; but we know very little about them. At Sparta it was the custom
at the time of the Peloponnesian War to shave the hair quite close to
the head, but as the Spartans wore long, carefully-curled hair at the
time of the Persian wars, a change in the fashion must have taken place
at Sparta in the course of the fifth century.
No special ornaments were worn in the hair by men after they gave up the
old-fashioned curl-holders and the mysterious grasshoppers. The “band”
or fillet laid round the forehead, which Dionysus commonly wears in
works of art, was only actually used as the reward of victory in
gymnastic or other contests. The diadem is a token of royal dignity,
and, therefore, unknown in free Greece.
The change of fashion in the mode of wearing the beard can also be
traced in Greek antiquity. There is no direct account of it in the
Homeric poems, but probably some indirect hints. A well known simile in
Homer mentions the razor. As the Achaeans wore their hair long, and
certainly were not smooth shaven, the question arises, what use they
could have made of the razor. Helbig points to the analogy of the
Egyptian and Phoenician custom, which had considerable influence on
Hellenic culture, and also shows, by means of old Greek monuments, that
very probably the Ionians of the Homeric period shaved the upper lip;
as, in fact, the Dorians also did in older times. It is true this period
must have been preceded by an older one unacquainted with this custom,
for the gold masks found in graves at Mycenae bear a moustache; and the
best example of these is treated in such a way as to point to the use of
some stiffening pomade, as well as the artificial cutting of the
moustache.
The monuments also show us that the custom of shaving the upper lip
continued for some time in the following centuries; but it was not the
only prevailing one, for we also find whiskers, beard, and moustache. It
is but natural that in the period when the hair was elaborately dressed,
special care was taken also with the treatment of the beard. It was not
only regularly cut, and usually in a point (compare Fig. 50), but it was
also cut short at certain places, especially between the lower lip and
the chin, so that the part thus treated presented a different appearance
from the rest of the beard. They also curled the moustache, and arched
it upwards; and if we may believe the testimony of archaic monuments, we
must assume that curling-irons were sometimes used for the artificial
arrangement of the beard. It was not till the latter half of the fifth
century that the beard was allowed to fall naturally and simply, at the
time when they began to treat the hair in a
[Illustration: FIG. 50.]
similar manner. The beard, although not entirely abandoned to its
natural growth, since it was cut into a shape corresponding to the oval
of the face, instead of the former point, at any rate was no longer
treated by artificial means, such as pomades, elaborate curling, etc.
The portrait type of Pericles or Sophocles (compare Fig. 7) shows us the
finest example of a simple and dignified mode of wearing the beard,
while the ideal head of Zeus from Otricoli, with its artificially parted
beard, in spite of the grandeur of the treatment, is far removed from
the classic simplicity of the age of Pheidias. After Alexander the Great
and his successors it became the custom to shave the whole face. The
portrait statues show us that old men especially, who had formerly
allowed their beard to grow, now almost always shaved it off. Aristotle,
Menander, Poseidippus, the princes of the Alexandrine age, etc., have
smooth-shaven faces. Youths and middle-aged men at that period
sometimes let their beard grow, but old men only did so when they wished
to indicate, by a long, ragged beard, that they were followers of the
Cynic school; for even down to the time of the Empire the long beard was
the distinguishing mark of the philosopher.
[Illustration: FIG. 51.]
[Illustration: FIG. 52.]
The head-dress of women also underwent many changes. We do not know how
their hair was bound up and arranged in the Homeric period, when it was
treated with sweet-scented oils and pomades, which were, in fact, very
common during the heroic period. Mention is especially made of a
cap-like arrangement of the hair, and a plaited braid connected with it.
Helbig believes he has recognised the same fashion in the women’s
head-dress on old Etruscan pictures, on which it is possible to
distinguish a high-pointed cap and a band laid over it. However this may
be, Andromache’s head-dress, as described by Homer, has a distinctly
Oriental character. In the next period the works of art are again our
best guide. They show us that, apart from external ornament, the
head-dress of men and women in ancient times was essentially similar. We
find the long hair either falling freely or in single plaits down the
back (compare Figs. 11 and following); curls falling on the shoulders;
and little ringlets surrounding the forehead; we find the hair tied up
at the back of the neck, or the mode described above of tying it up in
band-like fashion in several places. (Compare also the peculiar
hair-knot in Fig. 11.) We also find that arrangement of double plaits
laid several times round the back of the head, which has been claimed as
the crobylus, although this is only mentioned as a male head-dress. This
last fashion is even found in the graceful Caryatides of the Erechtheum,
but here it is probably a reminiscence of the old custom, natural in
these female figures, which are, as it were, in the service of the
goddess. Otherwise none of these fashions continue beyond the last
quarter of the fifth century, either for women or men.
[Illustration: FIG. 53.]
[Illustration: FIG. 54.]
About the middle of the fifth century the fashion
[Illustration: FIG. 55.]
[Illustration: FIG. 56.]
of wearing many-coloured kerchiefs, covering the greater part of the
hair, must have been very prevalent. Polygnotus paints his women thus,
and we find the same fashion in the pediments of Olympia, and on some of
the female figures on the Eastern Parthenon frieze, and on numerous vase
paintings of that period. (Compare Fig. 17, where the kerchief even
seems to develop into a cap, with a bow at the apex.) But at the same
period, when the men began to emancipate themselves from the stiff
head-dresses, and to wear their hair in a natural manner, a simple and
beautiful fashion also became commoner among the women. The hair was
usually parted in the middle and either fell in slight ripples loosely
down the back or else was drawn up into a knot at the back of the head.
(Compare Figs. 20 and 24.) The latter fashion, which we still call the
“Greek knot,” is the commonest and most beautiful in the next period
too. Sometimes the knot fell far down the neck (compare Figs. 51 and
52), which was certainly the most graceful, or else it was higher up the
head (compare Fig. 53), where the hair is combed upwards from the face,
or else (compare Fig. 54) the knot developed into a flattened nest or
wreath. A simple ornament frequently found is a narrow band or fillet
entwined with the hair or laid around the hair and forehead. (Compare
Figs. 16, 20, 24, and 52.) Kerchiefs were also much worn afterwards,
sometimes put on in such a way as to cover almost the whole hair
(compare Figs. 55 and 56), sometimes only a part, so that the hair at
the back of the head is visible beneath it. (Compare Fig. 25.) There
were also a variety of metal ornaments, which were fastened into the
hair either to keep it firm or else for decorative purposes--golden
circlets or diadems (compare Fig. 57), pins, etc. Detailed consideration
of these ornaments show us that the age of Pericles and that immediately
following it, were the periods when the style and technique attained
their highest development and artistic beauty. Thus dress, hair, and
ornament all combined harmoniously to represent the people of that age
in surroundings corresponding in the fullest degree to the poetic and
artistic attainments of the epoch.
[Illustration: FIG. 57.]
CHAPTER II.
BIRTH AND INFANCY.
An Athenian Home--The Birth of a Child--Its Dedication--Its First
Years--Learning to Walk--Playthings--Amusements.
We must now transport ourselves in imagination to the house of an
Athenian citizen of the better classes. He is a rich man, who not only
owns a comfortable, though simple, town house and land outside the gate
managed by slaves, but also draws considerable interest from capital
invested in trading vessels, and from the numerous slaves who work in
factories for wages. But, in spite of his comfortable circumstances, his
joy has hitherto been troubled by one sorrow--he has been married for
several years, and as yet no heir to his possessions has been given him.
A little daughter is growing up in the house to the joy of her parents,
but even this cannot console the father for the sad prospect of seeing
the possessions inherited from his ancestors, and increased by his own
industry and economy, pass into the hands of strangers.
But to-day joy and gladness have entered this man’s house. His wife has
borne him the much-longed-for son and heir. The neighbours, who had seen
the well-known nurse enter the house, were anxious to see in what manner
the front door would be decked--whether, as before, woollen fillets
would announce the birth of a daughter, or the joyous wreath of olive
branches proclaim the advent of a son and heir. While the slaves are
festively decking the door
[Illustration: FIG. 58.]
outside, within the house the new-born child is receiving its first
care. With a happy smile the young mother looks on from her couch while
the nurse and maids are busily occupied in preparing the bath for the
little one. For this only tepid water and fine oil are used, for the
Spartan custom of adding wine to the baby’s first bath is unknown at
Athens. After the bath, too, the baby has a warmer bed than would have
fallen to his lot in the sterner city. True, the father intends, as soon
as possible, to send to Sparta for one of those celebrated nurses known
and prized for their success in rearing children; but still he shrinks
from beginning the hardening process at this tender age, and rearing up
the child according to Spartan customs without the warm swaddling
clothes. So the baby is carefully wrapped in numerous swaddlings, in
such a manner that even the arms are firmly swathed, and only the little
head is visible. (Compare Fig. 58.) The ancient physicians prescribe for
the new-born child soft woollen swaddling three fingers broad, and
direct that the swaddling should begin with the hands, then pass on to
the chest, and at last cover the feet, swathing each part separately but
loosely, only drawing the bandages tight at the knees and the soles of
the feet; the head also must be enveloped, and, finally, a second
covering is put over the whole body. When modern physicians maintain
that this swaddling must injure the child and check the development of
its organs, they forget that the Greeks treated their children thus for
centuries and yet were a healthy nation. But it is quite incredible that
they should have been thus swaddled for the first two years of their
life, as a passage in Plato seems to indicate, for this would not only
have been extraordinary, but also injurious to the health. It can only
be a question of maintaining a covering suitable to the age for these
two years, instead of the children’s dress afterwards worn. A physician
of the age of the Empire recommends the end of the fourth month as the
time for gradually leaving off the swaddling; and probably this was also
the Greek custom. Antiquity does not seem to have been acquainted with
our soft cushions, but the little Athenians also had their cradles,
though these did not stand on the ground on rockers like ours, for such
cradles are not mentioned till the Roman period, and seem to have been
unknown in the classic age; but they resembled a basket of woven osier,
suspended from ropes like a hammock, and thus made to rock. The cradle
in which Hermes, who seems already to have attained the age of boyhood,
is depicted on a vase painting represented in Fig. 59, is of a peculiar
shape, quite like that of a shoe; the handles at the side, through which
ropes were probably passed, show that this was also made to rock. Fig.
60 shows a different kind of cradle. It is a bed on rockers, which may
have been used in the same way as the babies’ cots common among us.
[Illustration: FIG. 59.]
The young mother now for the first time gives the new-born baby the
breast (compare Fig. 61, taken from a Greek terra-cotta), and rejoices
that she is able to perform this duty herself. However, in case she
should not have been able to do it, a poor peasant woman from the
neighbourhood had been brought to the house and paid for her services.
Meantime, the husband sits down by the bed and discusses with his wife
the steps which must next be taken. A question that sometimes causes a
good deal of difficulty presents none on this occasion--viz., the
legitimation of the child. And as the boy is strong and healthy, there
cannot be a question of the barbarous custom
[Illustration: FIG. 60.]
of exposing it, which, though rarely resorted to at Athens, was still
quite common at Sparta. Even had the child been a second daughter, the
kindly-disposed master of the house would not have resorted to this
cruel step; although, had he done so, his fellow-citizens would not have
blamed him for it. But the parents have to settle on which day the
family festival shall take place, to welcome and dedicate with religious
rites the newborn child (_Amphidromia_) and what name they shall give
it. They decide upon the tenth day after the birth for the festival.
Many parents, it is true, celebrate this as early as the fifth day, and
then on the tenth hold a second festival with an elaborate banquet and
sacrifices, and but few rich people content themselves with a single
celebration. But though in this case there is no lack of means, yet, as
the young mother wishes to take part herself in the Amphidromia, they
decide to be content with one celebration, which is to take place in ten
days. According to old family custom, the boy receives the name of his
paternal grandfather.
[Illustration: FIG. 61.]
When the appointed day has come, and the house is festively decked with
garlands, messengers begin to arrive early in the morning from relations
and friends, bringing all manner of presents for the mother and child.
For the former they bring many dishes which will be useful at the
banquet in the evening, especially fresh fish, polypi, and cuttle-fish.
The baby receives various gifts, especially amulets to protect him
against the evil eye. For, according to widespread superstition, these
innocent little creatures are specially exposed to the influence of
evil magic. Therefore the old slave, to whom the parents have confided
the care of the child, chooses from among the various presents a
necklace which seems to her especially suitable as an antidote to magic,
on which are hung all manner of delicately-worked charms in gold and
silver: such as a crescent, a pair of hands, a little sword, a little
pig, and anything else which popular superstition may include in the
ranks of amulets; and hangs this round the child’s neck.
The festival begins with a sacrifice, and is followed by the solemnity
in which mother and child, who, according to ancient notions, are
regarded as unclean by the act of birth, are purified or cleansed, along
with all who have come in contact with the mother. This part of the
ceremony is the real “Amphidromia” (literally “running round”). The
nurse takes the child on her arm, and, followed by the mother and all
who have come in contact with her, runs several times round the family
hearth, which, according to ancient tradition, represents the sacred
centre of the dwelling. Probably this was accompanied by sprinkling with
holy water. At the banquet the relations and friends of the family
appear in great numbers. In their presence the father announces the name
which he has chosen for the child. After this all take their places at
the banquet, even the women, who, as a rule, do not take part in the
meals of the men. The standing dishes on this occasion are toasted
cheese and radishes with oil; but there is no lack of excellent meat
dishes such as breast of lamb, thrushes, pigeons, and other dainties, as
well as the popular cuttle-fish. A good deal of wine is drunk, mixed
with less water than is generally the custom. Music and dancing
accompany the banquet, which extends far into the night.
The first years of his life were spent by the little boy in the nursery,
in which things went on in much the same way as with us. During this
period boys and girls alike were under the supervision of mother and
nurse. If the baby had bad nights and could not sleep, the Athenian
mother took him in her arms just as a modern one would do, and carried
him up and down the room, rocking him, and singing some cradle song like
that which Alcmene sings to her children in Theocritus:--
“Sleep, children mine, a light luxurious sleep.
Brother with brother: sleep, my boys, my life:
Blest in your slumber, in your waking blest.”[A]
At night a little lamp burnt in the nursery. Although, as a rule, in
small houses the apartments for the men were below and those for the
women and children in the upper storeys, yet it was customary for the
women to move into the lower rooms for a time after the birth of a
child, partly in order that they might be near the bath-room, which was
necessary both for mother and child. During the first years of their
life the children had a tepid bath every day; later on, every three or
four days; many mothers even went so far as to give them three baths a
day. When the child had to be weaned, they first of all gave it broth
sweetened with honey, which, in olden time, took the place of our sugar,
and then gradually more solid food, which the nurse seems to have chewed
for the child before it had teeth enough to do this itself. Aristophanes
gives us further details about Greek nurseries, and even quotes the
sounds first uttered by Athenian children to make known their various
wants.
[Illustration: FIG. 62.]
They do not seem to have had any special mechanical contrivances for
learning to walk. In the time of the Empire baskets furnished with
wheels are mentioned. Apparently they were in no great hurry about
this. For the first year or two the nurses carried the children out into
the fields, or took them to visit their relations, or brought them to
some temple; then they let them crawl merrily on the ground, and on
numerous vase pictures we see children crawling on all fours to some
table covered with eatables, or to their toys. (Compare the Stele,
represented in Fig. 62, on which a child has crawled to its mother and
is trying to raise itself.) When the child made its first attempt at
walking, prudent nurses took care that it should not at first exert its
feeble legs too much, and so make them crooked; though Plato probably
goes too far when he desires to extend this care to the end of the third
year, and advises nurses to carry the children till they have reached
that age.
[Illustration: FIG. 63.]
Children’s dress must have given but little trouble during these first
years. At home--at any rate in summer--boys either ran about quite naked
or else
[Illustration: FIG. 64.]
with only a short jacket open in front, like the little boy with the
cart in Fig. 63. The girls, however, had long dresses reaching to their
feet, fastened by two ribbons crossing each other in front and behind.
Naughty children were brought to obedience or quiet by threats of
bogies, but, curiously enough, these Greek bogies were all female
creatures, such as Medusae or witches: “Acco,” “Mormo,” “Lamia,”
“Empusa,” etc.; and when the children would not stay quiet indoors, they
seem to have threatened them with “The horses will bite you.” The
mothers and nurses used to tell the children all sorts of legends and
fairy tales--Aesop’s Fables were especially popular--and little stories
from mythology or other tales of adventure, which often began, like
ours, with the approved “Once upon a time.” Among the many poetical
legends of gods and heroes there were, it is true, some which were
morally or aesthetically objectionable, and the philosophers were not
wrong in calling attention to the danger which might lie in this
intellectual food, supplied so early to susceptible childish minds; yet
this was undoubtedly less than what is found in our own children’s
stories.
[Illustration: FIG. 65.]
Greek children had toys of various kinds, though the excessive luxury
attained in these at the present day was unknown to antiquity. A very
ancient toy is the rattle, usually a metal or earthenware jar filled
with little stones, sometimes made in human form; and there were other
noisy toys, with which the children played and the nurses strove to
amuse them; though complaints were sometimes made that foolish nurses by
these means prevented the children from going to sleep. A very popular
toy, found in many pictures in children’s hands, was a little
two-wheeled cart (compare Fig. 63), or else a simple solid wheel,
without spokes, on a long pole--a cheap toy which could be purchased for
an obol (about three-halfpence). Larger carriages were also used as
toys, which the children drew themselves, and drove about their brothers
and sisters or companions, as we see in Fig. 64. Sometimes tame dogs or
goats were harnessed to them, and the boys rode merrily along, cracking
their whips. (Compare Fig. 65.) The custom of letting the nurses draw
the children in perambulators in the street seems to have been unknown,
but baby-carriages, in which the children were drawn about in the room,
are mentioned by the ancient physicians. (Compare Fig. 60.)
[Illustration: FIG. 66.]
The little girls liked to play with all kinds of earthenware vessels,
pots, and dishes; and, like our little girls, they made their first
attempts at cooking with these. Many such are found in the graves. More
popular however, even in ancient times, were the dolls, made of wax or
clay and brightly coloured; sometimes
[Illustration: FIG. 67.]
with flexible limbs, like the one in Fig. 66, or with clothes to take on
and off, and representing all manner of gods, heroes, or mortals; dolls’
beds were also known. Though boys may have sometimes played with these
figures, or even made them for themselves out of clay or wax, yet we
generally find them in the hands of girls, who seem to have taken
pleasure in them even after the first years of childhood; indeed, it was
not uncommon, since Greek girls married very early, for them to play
with their dolls up to the time of their marriage, and just before their
wedding to take these discarded favourites, with their whole wardrobe,
to some temple of the maiden Artemis, and there dedicate them as a pious
offering.
[Illustration: FIG. 68.]
The boys delighted in other more masculine pleasures. Like our own boys,
they played with box-wood tops and whips, singing a merry song the
while, or else they bowled their iron hoops, to which bells or rings
were attached. The hoop was a favourite toy until the age of youth, and
we often find it on vase paintings in the hands of quite big boys.
(Compare Fig. 67.) We may certainly assume that
[Illustration: FIG. 69.]
they also had little imitations of warlike implements such as swords and
shields; a little quiver, which can hardly have served any other purpose
(compare Fig. 68) has been found. Clever boys made their own toys, and
cut little carts and ships out of wood or leather, and carved frogs and
other animals out of pomegranate rinds. Our hobby-horse, too, was known
to the ancients, as is proved by a pretty anecdote told of Agesilaus. He
was once surprised by a visitor playing with his children, and riding
merrily about on a hobby-horse. It is said that he begged his friend not
to tell of the position in which he had found the terrible general,
until he should himself have children of his own. Kite-flying also was
known to them, as is proved by the vase painting represented in Fig.
69, which, though rough in drawing, distinctly shows the action.
[Illustration: FIG. 70.]
They were also acquainted with the little wheels, turned by means of a
string which is wound and unwound, that are still popular among the
children of our day, and about a hundred years ago were fashionable toys
known as “incroyables.” What we see in the boy’s hand in Fig. 70 can
hardly be anything else. This was a game in which even grown-up people
seem to have taken pleasure. On the vases of Lower Italy we often see in
the hands of Eros, or women, a little wheel, with daintily jagged edge
and spokes, fastened to a long string in such a way that, when this is
first drawn tight by both hands and then let go, the wheel is set
revolving. (Compare Fig. 71.) Probably this was not a mere toy when used
by grown up people, but rather the magic wheel so often mentioned as
playing a part in love charms; but about this we have no exact
information.
[Illustration: FIG. 71.]
Swings must also be mentioned as popular with both young and old. These
were exactly like ours: either the rope itself was used as a seat and
held fast with both hands, or else a comfortable seat was suspended from
the cords. (Compare Fig. 72.) This was a merry game, in which grown-up
women sometimes liked to take part; and so was the see-saw, of which
even big girls made use. (Compare Fig. 73.) Sometimes the mother or
older sister took the little boy by the arm and balanced him on her
foot, as the girl in Fig. 74 does with Eros, and, as in the well-known
beautiful statue, “The Little Dionysus,” is carried on the shoulders of
a powerful satyr. Many a Greek father probably gave his son a ride on
his shoulders.
[Illustration: FIG. 72.]
[Illustration: FIG. 73.]
It is a matter of course that the young people of that day were
acquainted with all the games which can be played at social gatherings
by children, without any assistance from without. The various games of
running, catching, hiding, blind-man’s-buff, etc., in which our young
people still take pleasure, were played in Greece in just the same
manner, as well as the manifold variety of games with balls, beans,
pebbles, coins, etc.
[Illustration: FIG. 74.]
Games of ball served as recreation for youths and men, and some of the
above-mentioned games of chance, rather than skill, were especially
popular with grown-up people, particularly games of dice or
“knuckle-bones,” to which we shall refer later on in another section.
Thus our young Athenian spends the first years of his life amid merry
play with his companions, under the watchful care of his mother. During
the first six years the nursery, where girls and boys are together, is
his world, though he is sometimes allowed to run about in the street
with boys of his own age. He is not yet troubled with lessons, and
although, should he be obstinate or naughty, his mother will sometimes
chastise him with her sandal, yet in a family in which a right spirit
prevails, the character of the education at this early age is a
beneficent mixture of severity and gentleness. Sometimes, it is true,
the father does not trouble himself at all about the education of his
children, and leaves this entirely to his wife, who may lack the
necessary intellectual capacity, or even to a female slave. This, of
course, has bad results, and the same happens when the wife, like the
mother of Pheidippides, in the “Clouds” of Aristophanes, is too
ambitious for her little son, and, in constant opposition to the weak,
though well-intentioned, father, spoils him sadly. Let us assume that
the boy whose entrance into life we described above, is free from such
deleterious influences, and, sound in mind and body, passes in his
seventh year out of his mother’s hands into those which will now
minister to his intellectual and physical development.
CHAPTER III.
EDUCATION.
Schools--At Sparta--At Athens--Methods of Instruction--Reading
Lessons--Music--Geometry--The Gymnasia--Physical Training--The
Education of Girls.
Here, as in so many other domains of which we must treat, there is a
marked distinction between the Doric and Ionic states. In the latter the
education of boys was a private duty of the parents, and the State only
retained a general right of control; while in the Doric states, and
especially at Sparta, with whose institutions we are best acquainted,
boys were regarded as belonging, not to the family, but to the State,
which undertook the entire charge of their physical and intellectual
well-being.
At the age of seven years the Spartan boy left his father’s house to
live with companions of his own age, whose occupation and mode of life
were regulated by definite rules. All the boys were divided into
companies, according to age. Several of these companies were again
combined into a troop. At the head of each company and of each troop was
a superintendent, chosen from among the youths. His duty was to direct
the occupations and exercises of the boys under his charge, and, as
leader in their gymnastic exercises, to help them by his example. The
general care of their education was in the hands of the trainers
(παιδόνομοι), themselves under the control of a Board of Inspection
(βιδιαῖοι), but in other respects their power was unlimited, and they
had the right, by means of “scourge-bearers” (μαστιγόϕοροι), to inflict
punishment for disobedience or other faults. In this office, which was a
very responsible one for a single man, they were assisted by the whole
body of citizens, who were not only permitted, but even bound by their
duty, to take part in the exercises of the boys, instructing,
encouraging, or even punishing them. Every Spartan citizen could, in a
measure, exercise paternal rights over every boy, and, again, was
regarded by every boy in the same light as his own father. Obedience
towards their elders, modest and reverent bearing, were impressed on the
Spartan boys from their earliest years, and they were thus
advantageously distinguished from the somewhat precocious Attic youth.
The aim of their whole education was to harden the body and to attain
the greatest possible bodily skill. The boys had only the most necessary
clothing; from their twelfth year onwards they wore only an upper
garment, even in winter, and in all other respects their life was of the
simplest, so that it is not a mere figure of speech to talk of Spartan
discipline. They received only sufficient food for the barest needs,
and, though the boys were often taken to the meals of the grown men, yet
these too were anything but luxurious. Their bed was hay or straw; from
their fifteenth year onwards reeds or rushes, which they had themselves
to fetch from the Eurotas. Indifference to physical pain was carried to
an excess which appears to us absolutely barbarous, even in later times,
when they had departed in some respects from the original severity of
the so-called laws of Lycurgus.
The instruction at Sparta also corresponded to these principles. There
was little question of developing the intellect, nor was this part of
the public duty, but only a private matter. Those who wished to learn
reading and writing doubtless found an opportunity of doing so, but not
in the institutes conducted by the State; at any rate, we find no
mention of such. Probably most Spartans did learn so much, but very
little more. A little arithmetic was added, as mental arithmetic
especially was regarded as important on account of its practical
utility. But this was all the literary culture which a young Spartan
received. They also studied music, for which the Doric race had always
natural ability and liking; and this instruction was compulsory. The
boys learnt to play the cithara and flute, and to sing songs or choruses
of serious moral nature. The inspectors were careful to see that nothing
unsuitable was admitted here, and that traditional methods were adhered
to in harmony and metre; therefore, every innovation on the domain of
music was regarded with suspicion, and departure from the traditional
custom was sometimes even punished.
The most important part of the instruction consisted in gymnastic
exercises. These were methodically studied on rational principles; the
exercises were graduated according to age, and only those were admitted
which developed strength and skill, and did not merely fit a man for the
career of an athlete. Their first aim was to make their men good
warriors, and this they certainly attained. But it was a necessary
consequence of the excessive development of the physical side, and the
disregard of all higher intellectual developments, that Sparta never
attained any real greatness in literature or art. Again, however
attractive the moral seriousness developed by the Spartan education may
seem to us, we cannot deny that the deadening of the family feeling, and
the complete abandonment of everything to the State, produced that
hardness and cruelty which we so often meet with in the history of
Sparta.
Very different was the system of education at Athens. Here it was left
entirely in the hands of individuals. The State provided no public
schools, but only appointed certain boards, whose duty it was to see
that there were no offences against tradition or morality committed in
the private institutes. This duty was entrusted to the superintendents
(ἐπιμεληταί and σωϕρονισταί). These were, however, chiefly concerned
with the youths, and thus especially with the instruction in the
gymnasia. We do not know how far the Areopagus took part in this
control.
As a rule, Athenian boys, when they had completed their sixth year, were
entrusted to the charge of an old slave, called _Paidagogos_, whose duty
it was, not to train or instruct the boys, but simply to accompany them
to school, or on their walks, and to watch over their behaviour. As it
was not considered correct for the son of an Athenian citizen to carry
his school utensils himself, it was the duty of the paidagogos who
accompanied him, to carry his books or his cithara, his strigil, or even
his ball. Very often the paidagogos remained in the room (or perhaps in
an ante-room) during the lesson, and at the end again accompanied his
charge home. Though he was only a slave, and often but slightly
educated, he generally had authority given him over the boys entrusted
to his care. When they reached the age of eighteen the control of the
paidagogos either ceased entirely, or assumed a different character.
It is impossible not to recognise that there were many objections to
this system. It was by no means always the worthiest and most
trustworthy slaves who were chosen for this office, but rather old men
who were of no use for other work, and who were not only entirely
ignorant intellectually, but whose manners were often bad. As foreigners
they often spoke barbarous Greek, set their charges a bad example by
fondness for drink, or else winked at their faults and bad habits; in
short, were by no means fitted to have the charge of growing boys. Many
complaints seem to have been made, but the practice still continued; in
fact, in some respects matters grew worse in the Hellenistic period. On
monuments, where we often see them accompanying boys, even in
mythological representations (_e.g._, The Children of Niobe, Archemorus,
Medea, etc.), the paidagogoi appear in a special dress corresponding to
their non-Hellenic origin--in a chiton with sleeves, rough cloak, and
high boots. However, this corresponds to the practice of Greek tragedy,
which had fixed costumes for certain characters. In reality the
paidagogoi probably dressed much like other citizens.
The instruction at Athens is divided into two headings: music and
gymnastics. Let us first consider the former. It appears to have been
very rare for boys to be taught at home by private teachers. They were
usually sent to some school conducted by an elementary teacher. We know
very little about the arrangement and curriculum of these schools. It
seems that boys from the same neighbourhood generally attended the
nearest school, and were taught there in the same room by one teacher,
who had to instruct in turns the beginners and the more advanced pupils.
Cases of over-filled classes are mentioned, but these do not refer
specially to Athens. It is not improbable that classes not only received
different instruction, but were also taught in separate rooms; and that
besides the master who was the director and proprietor of the schools,
assistants paid by him also took part in the instruction. But in reality
we know very little about these matters; it is however, certain that
some teachers had no schoolroom at all, but sat out in the street with
their scholars--a thing which is only possible in the sunny South. No
doubt these were only schools for the poor, and the sons of rich parents
did not attend them.
The furniture of the schoolroom was doubtless very simple. A music
teacher sometimes set up in his school statues of Apollo and the Muses,
but he would be well paid, and we must not expect to find such luxuries
in the furniture of ordinary elementary schools. Here probably, there
was little more than the benches for the boys, a seat for the master,
and some aids to teaching, such as we see hanging on the walls on the
few ancient monuments which introduce us to Greek schoolrooms. (Compare
Fig. 75.) Among the requisites was a white board. It is not probable
that the charts, used in the Roman period to impress dates of mythology
and history on the pupils’ minds by plastic representation, were already
known to Greek antiquity. The master supplied the ink required for
instruction in writing: we may infer this from the fact that Aeschines,
who as a boy used to help his father, a schoolmaster, had to mix the ink
and sweep out the schoolroom. The salary which the master received for
his instruction probably depended on his knowledge and ability;
doubtless popular teachers were well paid. But it was not a paying
profession, for it is not likely that the school fees, usually paid
monthly, were high; also negligent fathers often put off paying them for
a long time; while stingy parents kept their children at home during a
month in which there were many holidays, in order to save the school
fees. We must not assume high culture in these elementary teachers, and
we find that the pupils feared their masters more than they loved them,
which is natural, seeing that they seem to have made a freer use of
canes and sticks than our present pedagogic principles would permit.
Still we do not find any Greek pendant to Horace’s _Plagosus Orbilius_.
[Illustration: FIG. 75.]
Instruction usually began early in the morning; we do not know how long
it lasted, but there certainly were lessons given in the afternoon; an
ordinance of Solon’s forbade their continuance after sunset. We do not
know how the elementary and gymnastic instruction were combined. There
were plenty of holidays, owing to the numerous feasts and festivals;
there were also special school festivals, especially those of the Muses
for the grammar schools, and of Hermes for the gymnasia.
A very interesting picture by the vase painter Duris, represented in
Fig. 75, gives us, in spite of some artistic liberties, an excellent
idea of Attic school teaching in the fifth century B.C. The scenes are
represented on the outside of a bowl; on each half five people are
depicted: two masters, two pupils, and an oldish man looking on. This
cannot, therefore, represent one of the ordinary schoolrooms, where a
single master instructs together a whole class of boys, for each boy is
being instructed by a separate teacher. Perhaps this is a liberty on the
part of the painter, who has grouped together four separate scenes, or
else this individual instruction may really have taken place even in the
public schools. Masters and pupils are dressed alike, wearing only the
himation. It is important, however, to remember what was stated on page
20, that this dress on the monuments by no means corresponds to reality,
and, as a rule, the chiton cannot have been wanting under the himation.
The masters, some of whom are young and beardless, others more advanced
in age, sit on simple stools; with the exception of one pupil, who is
learning the lyre, the boys stand upright before them, both arms wrapped
in their cloaks, as was considered fitting for well-bred youths. Of
course, the boy with the lyre must have the upper part of his body
free, and his himation is folded over his knee. There is a difference of
opinion as to the two bearded men leaning on their sticks, who are
present at these scenes, and attentively looking on; it has been
suggested that they are paidagogoi, who have accompanied the boys to
school, and are superintending them during the instruction; or else, on
account of the manner in which they are sitting, it has been assumed
that they are fathers or inspectors.
The subjects taught here all belong to musical instruction (that is,
instruction over which the Muses preside), and are partly concerned with
grammatical teaching, partly with actual teaching of music. On one side
we see a young teacher playing the double pipe, while the boy standing
in front of him listens attentively. It is usually assumed that the boy
is learning to play the flute, but then it is curious that he has not an
instrument in his own hands, like the boy who is learning the lyre; for
if he wished to imitate what the teacher is showing him, he would have
to take the master’s instrument. There is something, therefore, to be
said for the hypothesis that the boy is learning to sing, and the master
is giving him on the flute the notes or the melody which he has to sing.
The scene on the right of this represents instruction in writing. The
boy stands in the same position as the other, before another young
teacher, who holds a _triptych_ consisting of three little folding
tablets, open before him, and has a pencil in his right hand. He is
looking attentively at the tablet, either correcting the boy’s writing
or about himself to write a copy for the pupil. On the other side of the
picture we have, on the left, musical instruction. Both master and
pupil have seven-stringed lyres in their hands; at the moment
represented the master seems to be only showing the boy how to grasp the
chords by the fingers of the left hand, and is making no use of the rod
(πλῆκτρον), which he holds in his right. The boy, who sits bent forward,
is trying to imitate the master’s action. The last group represents a
pupil who appears to be reciting a poem, the beginning of which is
written on the scroll which the master holds in his hand.
Various implements hang on the walls of the schoolroom: at one side a
roll of manuscript with a handle; next to it a writing tablet, with a
cord fastened round it, and a handle; next, a lyre and a curious cross,
which is not easy to interpret; some think that it is meant for a
sextant for the geometrical instruction. On the other side hang two
drinking-cups, which the pupils are probably allowed to use during the
intervals; two seven-stringed lyres; a basket with handle and feet,
probably used to contain the manuscripts; and finally, a case for a
flute, with the capsule for the mouthpieces hanging to it.
We must now examine more closely the special implements used in musical
instruction, and the mode in which that instruction was given.
Elementary knowledge of reading and writing was very common, at any rate
in Attica, and people who were unacquainted with either were even rarer
in ancient Greece than in our own day. In the school of the teacher who
had charge of the boys’ elementary grammatical instruction
(γραμματιστής), the boy was probably first taught his letters, their
names and shapes, and very likely some external helps were used for this
purpose; at any rate, these were common in later periods. The next
process was combining the letters in syllables; and thus gradually they
advanced to reading whole words. At the same time, probably, instruction
in writing began. The master made single letters and words for the
pupils to copy in the space left free under his lines, and probably
helped them a little by guiding their hands. The place of our slate was
taken by a wax tablet. This was a wooden tablet covered with a thin
coating of wax, in which the letters were scratched with a pointed
style, made of bone, ivory, or metal; the broad end was used for
flattening the wax when the slate was full, and then it could be used
again. There were generally two, three, or more of these tablets
connected by hinges, and these were called _diptych_, _triptych_, etc.
It was only more advanced pupils who were allowed to use such expensive
material as papyrus and reeds for writing, and even then, on account of
the expense, they were not provided with new paper, but wrote on the
back of what had already been used. Chance has preserved to us, in a
discovery dating from the age of the Ptolemies, some very interesting
specimens of Greek instruction in writing--several wax tablets, six
inches long and four inches broad, all containing the same Greek
trimeter verses, probably by Menander. The writing on one of these
tablets, which was probably the master’s copy, is good and careful; that
on the others, the pupils’ copies, is inferior. Under one the word
“industrious” has been written by the master’s hand. But slight demands
seem to have been made on the pupils in the matter of writing, and more
stress was laid on clearness than beauty or speed, since there were
always experienced slaves ready to do work of this kind.
For reading lessons the poets were chiefly used, and their writings
were inscribed in manuscripts which were either rolled or folded.
(Compare Fig. 75.) Homer was used as the school book of the Greeks, from
the earliest periods to the fall of the Byzantine Empire, and his
writings were read and expounded, as well as other poems in various
metres, chiefly of a lyrical character. The master then either gave the
boys copies, which he had probably made himself, or else, if they were
already able to write, dictated longish passages to them; the pupils
also had to learn a good deal by heart. Many teachers prepared
anthologies of various writers for reading purposes; those especially
were chosen which by their contents were well adapted for the reading of
youth, such as Hesiod, Theognis, Phocylides, etc. The boys thus, by
their reading and learning, acquired a knowledge of mythology, while at
the same time the most important ethical principles were impressed on
them. We must be careful not to rate too low the results of this
instruction, however little we may think of the Athenian acquirements in
the mechanical arts of reading and writing. A people who knew how to
appreciate the tragedies of Aeschylus, who could understand the comedies
of Aristophanes, with their fulness of mythological, literary, and
political allusions, must have possessed a degree of culture which in
many respects was far above the average of the present day. It was, of
course, easier for the pupils to acquire a large amount of mythological
and literary knowledge when there were so few subjects to study; since
natural science, geography, history, and foreign languages were all
disregarded. In reading, the elements of prosody were also learnt, and
these were more fully treated in the musical instruction.
We are no longer in a position to state how arithmetic, with whose
practical uses the ancients were naturally well acquainted, was taught;
but it is probable that--at any rate at Athens--this instruction was
given at home and not at school, and was acquired by children in play by
means of concrete objects, which enabled them to learn the principal
notions and relations. As regards method, counting on the fingers was
very common in Greece. The left hand was used to represent all the units
and tens, and with the addition of the right hand all the hundreds and
thousands; the mode in which a finger was placed on the open palm and
the number of the fingers, which were either bent or stretched out,
determined the number required. More complicated calculations were
performed by help of an _abacus_ with little stones, an ancient
invention long known to the Egyptians, in which the arrangement of the
stones in the parallel lines on the board determined their value as
units, tens, hundreds, etc. We do not, however, know anything further
about the arrangement of the Greek abacus.
The instruction in these elementary subjects occupied the first years of
school life. In the twelfth or thirteenth year the instruction in music
began, and was given by a special master called the harpist
(κιθαριστής), the Greeks regarding music not from the standpoint of the
modern amateur, as only a pleasant distraction for hours of recreation,
but rather as an essential means of ethical development. The main object
of the instruction was not the attainment of facility in execution on
any instrument, but rather ability to render as well as possible the
productions of the poets, especially the lyrists, and at the same time
to accompany themselves suitably on a seven-stringed instrument.
Accordingly, most weight was given to the instruction in the lyre (which
we see in Fig. 75 in the hand of both teacher and pupil), while the
cithara, on account of its louder sounding-board, as well as the
phorminx, which was connected with it, if not, in fact, identical, were
reserved for the use of professionals, and were regarded as a kind of
concert instrument, and therefore learned specially by those who desired
to attain something more than average proficiency in music. No doubt
there was opportunity given in the ordinary schools for learning both
kinds of stringed instrument. The flute, which, when used for purposes
of accompaniment, could naturally not be played by the singer, was on
this account less popular at Athens; at Thebes, on the other hand, it
was universally popular, and it has been supposed that the neglect of
the flute at Athens was due to the ancient antagonism between Attica and
Boeotia; moreover, the flute, which originally belonged to the Bacchic
worship of Asia Minor, with its sharp, shrill tone, was regarded as an
exciting instrument, hostile to a calm state of mind, and therefore the
philosophers all agreed in considering it unsuitable from a pedagogic
point of view. We must not forget that the Greek flute was very
different from that to which we give the name at the present day, which
is regarded as a somewhat sentimental, effeminate instrument. There was,
however, a time when flute-playing was popular at Athens among amateurs;
according to Aristotle, the flute was introduced into Attic schools
after the time of the Persian Wars, and soon became so popular that
almost all the youths of the better classes learnt to play on it.
Afterwards, however, apparently about the time of the Peloponnesian War,
they recognised how very unsuitable this instrument was for
intellectual and musical development, and it was again discarded by
people of culture, probably in consequence of the example set by
Alcibiades, who was regarded as a leader of fashion. Afterwards the
flute was still learnt, and on vase pictures we see flutists and
hetaerae playing it, as well as youths, but it was no longer a subject
of instruction in the ordinary schools--at any rate, not at Athens.
Naturally Sparta carefully avoided an instrument which was regarded as
absolutely dangerous in its ethical effect.
No musical instruction, besides the elementary subjects and playing on
stringed instruments and singing, was given at school during the best
period of Athens. Boys attended school until the age of adolescence:
that is, about their sixteenth year; though it is not probable that
there was a definite limit of age; those who wished to extend their
education had opportunities for doing so, even in the fifth century, by
attending the sophists’ lectures. However, compared with the cheap fees
of the elementary schools, the honorarium paid to these by their pupils
was very high. There was no question of organised school instruction.
In the course of the fourth and the third centuries B.C. some other
subjects of instruction were added to these. After the time of Alexander
the Great, drawing was also taught to boys; probably this was due to the
influence of Pamphilus, who was the Principal of the Painting School of
Sicyon. The pupils learnt to draw with a style, or brush, on boxwood
tablets, specially prepared for the purpose. As the school of Sicyon
laid especial stress on correct drawing, and appears to have been
rather behind the others in colouring, we may assume that the
instruction in drawing was chiefly confined to outline, but we have few
exact details concerning it.
At that time instruction in the elements of geometry was added to the
teaching in arithmetic, but only the older boys appear to have learnt
it. This seems to have begun as early as the fifth century, but Socrates
thought it ought to be limited to what was absolutely necessary. The
philosophers of the fourth century, however, recommended geometry as an
excellent means for developing and sharpening the intellect and logical
powers. Plato even suggests teaching boys in play not only arithmetic
and geometry, but also the first principles of astronomy, and afterwards
continuing the study more seriously till about their eighteenth year.
Astronomy, however, would only signify to them what we now include in
mathematical geography. Less educated people had a decided prejudice
against geometry and other such abstract studies, on the ground that
they were quite superfluous, since they were of no practical use in
after years, either for the purposes of private or public life; and the
opinion so often heard at the present day prevailed even then, that
these subjects, since they could not be practically applied in after
life, were only learnt for the purpose of being forgotten as soon as
possible.
In this manner the grammatical and musical instruction developed the
intellect of the boys, while gymnastic exercises were used to strengthen
and train their bodies. Although these did not occupy quite so prominent
a position at Athens as in the Dorian states, yet considerable time and
attention were devoted to them, since the real aim of all pedagogic
efforts was supposed to be the harmonious development of body and mind.
It is not easy to determine at what age the gymnastic training began;
what Plato and Aristotle say on the subject merely gives the pedagogic
opinion of these philosophers, but does not refer to actual existing
circumstances. Among modern scholars some assume that both musical and
gymnastic instruction began with the seventh year, and that from that
time onwards boys went every day to two distinct schools. Others suppose
that gymnastic instruction came first, but that at first the exercises
were easy ones, suited to the previous life of the child and tending to
strengthen his body, and that afterwards the training in elementary
subjects began. We have too little information to pronounce a definite
opinion.
The buildings in which the boys received their gymnastic training were
not, as was formerly supposed, the gymnasia, but the wrestling schools
(παλαῖστραι)--a name given to these establishments because wrestling and
running were regarded as the most important exercises in elementary
gymnastic training. No doubt other gymnastic exercises were practised at
the wrestling school. Of course, many changes took place in the course
of centuries till the time of the Roman Empire, and therefore it is but
natural that very various opinions should prevail about the wrestling
school and the gymnasium. The most probable theory is, that, at any rate
at Athens in its best period, the instruction in gymnastics was given at
the wrestling school, while the gymnasium was used for the further
training and development of the youths. The wrestling school was not a
public institute, but a private undertaking conducted by a teacher of
gymnastics, who received a fee for the use of the building and the
instruction given by him. These schools were under directors and
managers (παιδοτρίβαι); the institutes usually bore their names, but
they were sometimes called after the founder. Like other masters, they
had a full disciplinary right over their pupils but they were also
subject to the supervision of the inspectors mentioned above, whose duty
it was to see that nothing which offended against morality took place in
the gymnastic institutes, and also that the instruction was methodical
and suited to the different ages. Besides these inspectors, no one else,
except the paidagogoi who accompanied their charges, was allowed to be
present at the instruction in the wrestling school; an ordinance of
Solon’s forbade admission to grown men, but in later times this rule
seems to have fallen into disuse.
The gymnastic training had a double purpose; in the first place to teach
the boys a modest and dignified bearing (much as dancing is taught in
the present day), and in the second, which, of course, was most
important, to train them in the chief gymnastic exercises. These were
jumping, which included both the high and long jump, for which purpose
dumb-bells were generally used; racing, throwing the quoit and the
spear, and wrestling. Boxing was not included in the instruction given
to boys, nor yet the _pancratium_, a combination of wrestling and
boxing, nor the _pentathlum_, a combination of five exercises specially
used in athletic contests, and therefore not generally practised at the
wrestling unless boys were to take part in some public contest, in which
case they might, of course, be prepared here beforehand. We shall deal
later on in greater detail with the separate exercises, and must
therefore content ourselves for the present with merely enumerating
them, since the exercises of the boys only differed in degree, but not
in kind, from those of the youths and men.
Such was the training given to the boys until about their sixteenth
year. This was, however, by no means the end of their education, at any
rate not for boys of the better classes, who were not obliged to follow
any definite profession; and the gymnastic training extended for several
years longer. The years between adolescence and somewhere about the
twentieth year were generally called _ephebeia_; but besides this
expression we find a good many others, especially in inscriptions, which
prove that there were several sub-divisions for the purposes of
gymnastic exercises and tests, made according to age; in fact, they
generally distinguished between a first, second, and third class of
_ephebi_. But there were other special names in use. In ancient times
the only distinction in the gymnastic tests was between boys and men,
and the ephebi were therefore included in the former class; but
afterwards they distinguished between boys, youths, and men, though
these designations and their sub-divisions according to age seem to have
varied a good deal according to time and place. In any case, we must
distinguish between the use of the term _ephebus_ in the gymnastic
classes and in the State. For State purposes it was not applied till the
eighteenth or nineteenth year, and the boy had then to take his oath as
a citizen; his name was entered in the book of his deme, and he received
a warrior’s shield and spear. The oath taken by the ephebi, composed by
Solon, has been preserved to us. The youth had to swear “Never to
disgrace his holy arms, never to forsake his comrade in the ranks, but
to fight for the holy temples and the common welfare, alone or with
others; to leave his country, not in a worse, but in a better state
than he found it; to obey the magistrates and the laws, and defend them
against attack; finally to hold in honour the religion of his country.”
The witnesses to this oath were, besides Zeus, a number of special Attic
local deities of military or agrarian importance.
When a boy attained to the condition of ephebus he discarded the
himation and adopted the chlamys as his characteristic dress. The hair,
which was worn long by boys, was cut short, and this act of cutting the
hair was a kind of religious ceremony, since the hair cut off was often
dedicated to some deity. This sacred rite, the importance of which we
can better understand if we imagine our modern rite of Confirmation
combined with the attainment of majority, was usually celebrated as a
festival in the family circle. The new ephebi, after taking their oath
and receiving their arms, were presented publicly to the people in the
Theatre. This usually took place at the festival of Dionysus,
immediately before the performance of a tragedy. It is, however, not
quite certain whether this introduction was confined to the sons of
those only who had fallen in battle, whose equipment was presented to
them by the State. This, however, like most of the details which we have
about the ephebeia in Ancient Greece, refers specially to Athens; at
Sparta and other places there were customs, more or less different, of
which we know little or nothing. Moreover, at Athens, as well as in the
rest of Greece and Asia Minor, the usage concerning the ephebi underwent
many changes during the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire. The
numerous inscriptions give us far more exact details of this later
period than of the best time; but we refrain from discussing them, since
this institution, which originally had an essentially warlike
character, gradually became a mere matter of form, and was confined to
the sons of rich citizens, who merely played with the customs without
regarding their ethical or political importance. Most of the information
which the inscriptions supply about the officers and teachers of the
ephebi also belongs to the later period; a great many boards of
management for the arrangements concerning the ephebi, which became more
and more complicated, were either created fresh or transformed out of
the older ones, but their importance and powers were entirely different.
Moreover, our purpose is to confine our attention to the classical and
Hellenistic period.
We mentioned above that the place where the ephebi received their
gymnastic instruction, or practised on their own account, was the
gymnasium. The gymnasia, of which every town possessed one or more, were
not, like the wrestling schools, private undertakings on the part of
gymnastic teachers, but State institutions. At Athens the two oldest
institutions of the kind were the _Academy_ and the _Cynosarges_, at the
foot of the _Lycabettos_, and in the time of Pericles the _Lyceum_ was
added as a third; the gymnasium of Ptolemy was not built till the
Hellenistic period. The originally simple structure and arrangement of
these institutions became in the course of centuries more complicated
and extensive; and, though the first gymnasia were probably not more
than simple halls supported by columns, with a racecourse attached, in
course of time other rooms were added, and also baths, since the
gymnastic exercises rendered bathing immediately afterwards absolutely
necessary. At the time of Plato a number of different rooms belonging to
the gymnasia are mentioned, which show that even at that time these
must have been very extensive. We cannot clearly tell, from the accounts
of the Greek writers, how these rooms were arranged and connected, and
the description given by Vitruvius of a gymnasium is but unsatisfactory,
because in many points he is not clear in his expressions. Moreover, it
does not give a general scheme, but only a particular description, and
this may not refer to his own period, as has been generally assumed,
since the Roman gymnasia were on a far more complicated plan than the
one described by Vitruvius, but rather to an earlier period, though not
the best.
We are enabled to complete and correct the statements of Vitruvius from
the ruins of various gymnasia in Asia Minor and Greece, especially those
of Pergamum and Olympia. The description of Vitruvius connects the
gymnasium and the wrestling school, but we must distinguish this
wrestling place, which was a necessary part of the whole plan of the
gymnasium, from that mentioned above, which was only used as a gymnastic
school for boys. In the plan given by Vitruvius the centre is a square
court with covered arcades; connected with this are a space for the
ephebi, rooms for exercises with the _corycus_ (boxing with a dummy),
for anointing, sprinkling with dust or sand previous to wrestling,
bath-rooms for hot and cold baths, etc.; further, in connection with
these principal buildings there are covered racecourses, with levelled
floors, gardens, and places for exercise, for rest, exedrae, etc. The
arrangements of the gymnasium at Olympia, which probably dates from the
end of the fourth or the beginning of the third century B.C., seem to
have been simpler. We can distinguish two separate buildings--a smaller
one, the actual palaestra, which has been almost entirely uncovered;
and a larger, the large gymnasium, of which only a little has been
excavated. Both lie close together, west of the sacred grove of Altis,
near the banks of the Kladeos; it was, in fact, very common to place the
gymnasia near running water, in order to have at hand the water so
necessary for the baths. We do not, however, find any trace of those
complicated bathing arrangements described by Vitruvius, and probably
they did not become common till the Roman period. In the wrestling
school of Olympia we can only trace one large bath, but still it is
possible that there were more extensive arrangements in the larger
gymnasium. The wrestling school itself is a square, the sides of which
measure about sixty-four yards each, surrounded with Doric arcades; on
the south there is a long hall in the Ionic style; on the three other
sides are also halls and little rooms, the purpose of which we cannot
determine, connected with the inner court by doors or porticoes; on the
north wall is the door connecting it with the south hall of the larger
gymnasium. This latter was separated from the wrestling place, though,
as a rule, this is an integral part, or even the centre of the whole
structure; it is oblong in form, and is surrounded by arcades on two or
three sides. The eastern hall extends to the length of 210½ yards. No
doubt the exercises in jumping, running, throwing the quoit and spear,
took place here. The best-preserved ruins are those of Ephesus and
Alexandria Troas, but even here we are obliged to be very arbitrary in
our attempts at reconstruction.
In any case it is certain that the gymnasia of the classic period gave
sufficient opportunity for different kinds of gymnastic exercises, as
well as for wrestling and the various contests, and also supplied places
for recreation and comfortable repose from the fatigues of physical
exertion. The superintendence of the youths who practised here, and the
maintaining of order were the duty of the _Gymnasiarchs_. They had the
right of discipline, which they could exercise on any visitor to the
gymnasium, and in token of this they carried a rod; thus we often see on
vase pictures, among the gymnasts, men with long sticks, probably meant
to represent the gymnasiarchs. In the older period at Athens there was
but one gymnasiarch, but afterwards several shared the dignity. We
cannot decide how far they also exercised a right of control over the
wrestling-schools. Besides the gymnasiarch, or perhaps below him, was a
board of officials whose duty it was to see to the preservation of the
buildings and of the implements used in the gymnasia, while the general
superintendence of the gymnastic exercises, and therefore also of the
gymnasia, was exercised by the superintendents mentioned above (page
113), and, as a rule, men somewhat advanced in years were chosen for
these posts.
There were other officials who were not so much concerned with the
external arrangements of the gymnasia as with the instruction given
there. The president of the gymnasium and head of the teachers
(κοσμητής) is not mentioned until the late Hellenic and Roman periods;
under him were the actual teachers and also those who instructed the
ephebi in grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy; but in the classic period
no instruction of this kind was given. At that time, however, we find
the trainer (γυμναστής) acting as gymnastic teacher to the older youths,
whose aim was to prepare themselves for athletic contests, and who
intended to enter the lists as professional athletes. As boys were
sometimes prepared for such contests, no doubt the trainer sometimes
took the place of the ordinary teacher; and again, on the other hand, a
competent gymnastic master sometimes undertook the training of athletes.
Generally speaking, however, in the older period this distinction was
maintained, that the boys’ teacher was concerned chiefly with the
general training of the body suitable for everyone, and wrestling on a
rational and hygienic basis, while the trainer was a professional
teacher, and was more concerned with special subjects than the general
harmonious development of the body. Below these teachers stood the
rubber (ἀλείπης), whose task was originally a purely mechanical one, but
gradually when anointing and rubbing came to be regarded from the
hygienic point of view, and were perhaps connected with a kind of
_massage_, his standing improved, and after a time he took a far more
important position than belonged to him of right.
In spite of the numerous allusions to the instruction of the ephebi
which have come down to us, there is a good deal that is still doubtful
or unexplained; as, for instance, in how far the trainers also
instructed those ephebi who were not in training for the contests, and
whether they were paid for their services by the State or by each pupil
individually. Afterwards, at any rate, the ephebi as a rule only paid a
fee to the teacher for musical instruction, while the gymnastic teacher
seems to have been paid by the State.
As for the subjects of gymnastic instruction, these were in part the
same as those in which the boys had already been trained in the
gymnastic school, but gradually becoming more difficult, while others
were added to them which were usually excluded from the wrestling
school--namely, boxing, pancratium, and pentathlum. Besides these there
was fencing with heavy weapons (ὁπλομαχία); the fencing was not properly
connected with the exercises of the gymnastic tests, but it formed an
important part of the military education of the ephebi, and was the more
important for these because, when they attained their majority as
citizens, they had to spend several years in a kind of garrison and
frontier service (περίπολοι). This was a training for military service
which the ephebi, like all other citizens capable of bearing arms, had
to perform from their twentieth year upwards, and they generally served
the State for two years before in the manner above mentioned. Methodical
instruction in fencing was originally rather looked down upon, but still
was accepted in the curriculum of the ephebi, and in the inscriptions
the fencing-master (ὁπλόμαχος) has a regular place beside the other
masters. Plato also recommends fencing as strengthening for the body and
useful in case of war, but he warns people to avoid all display and
professionalism.
In the course of time other exercises in arms were added. Throwing the
spear was part of the regular gymnastic training practised even by boys;
and in many inscriptions of the last three centuries B.C. mention is
made of special teachers (ἀκοντίσται). Shooting with bow and arrows was
also learnt, and a teacher for this is mentioned in these inscriptions,
as well as one who gave instruction in hurling and in the use of
machines for throwing. Probably these purely military exercises were not
part of the regular gymnastic curriculum. The same may be said of
riding. Every youth had to learn riding, for he had to perform his
frontier service on horseback; and at the great festivals, especially
the Panathenaea, the troops
[Illustration: FIG. 76.]
of ephebi on horseback formed one of the most conspicuous parts of the
procession, and, indeed, they occupy the greater part of the relief on
the Parthenon frieze. Fig. 76, taken from a vase painting, represents
ephebi racing on horseback; on the left stands a column, no doubt
marking the limit of the course. In fact, representations on vase
paintings of ephebi on horseback are very common. Still we cannot assume
that regular methodical instruction in riding was given in the older
period, at any rate not as part of the instruction of youths, though
even in the time of Plato there were riding-masters who seem to have
understood how to deal with difficult horses. At a later period the
president seems to have occupied himself with instruction in riding, but
we know no details about this. The Greeks used neither horse-shoes nor
stirrups, therefore, unless some stone for mounting happened to be at
hand, they had to jump on to their horses, and this they usually did
with the help of their lances; saddles were also unknown, but
horse-cloths were generally used, and though on the Parthenon frieze and
the vase pictures we see the ephebi riding without these, we must regard
this as an artistic license, like the absence of the chiton on the same
pictures. To ride thus in a procession, clad merely in the chlamys,
without any under garment, on a horse without a saddle, would appear a
very doubtful pleasure even to the most hardened Athenian youths.
As regards the other exercises not directly included in gymnastics, we
may state that swimming was practised from earliest youth, and was
regarded as indispensable for everyone, so that it was proverbially said
of an absolutely uneducated person that he could neither swim nor say
his alphabet. The most celebrated swimmers were the inhabitants of the
island of Delos, but the Athenians were also distinguished. There were
no special swimming masters; children learnt to swim by themselves or
were instructed by their fathers.
Inscriptions also tell us that the Attic ephebi every year made
expeditions by sea from the Peiraeus to the harbour of Munychia, and in
later times also to Salamis, and these apparently partook of the nature
of a regatta. Connected with these, even in the Hellenistic period, were
naval contests, so that at that time the ephebi must have had some
knowledge of the elements of seafaring, unless these sea-fights bore the
character of naval games, and were conducted rather for amusement than
for serious military purposes; and this is the more probable as at that
period, when Athens had long ago lost its political importance, actual
preparations for naval warfare had no special aim for young Athenians.
Finally there were, even in the earlier centuries, exercises in marching
in the neighbouring country. These were partly connected with the
military position of the ephebi as protectors of the frontier, and they
partly aimed at extending their knowledge of localities as well as
giving practice in marching and riding. As they sometimes had to march
out in heavy armour, and generally bivouacked in hastily-pitched tents,
sometimes even in the open air, these marches supplied an excellent
opportunity for growing accustomed to the fatigues of military life. It
is clear from all this that the instruction of the ephebi bore a
half-gymnastic, half-military character, and thus chiefly aimed at
physical development; yet, on the other hand, many opportunities were
given the young men for further intellectual development. We cannot, of
course, determine whether the majority of them took advantage of this,
for undoubtedly it was optional, and not immediately connected with
their necessary training. However, in the second century B.C. the custom
prevailed of letting the presidents of the various gymnasia at Athens
see that they were regularly attended.
As regards the subjects of this more advanced instruction, opportunity
was certainly given for further study in arithmetic, geometry, and
astronomy, as well as music and drawing. After the fourth century the
various schools of philosophy which arose at that time, began to take a
very important place in the intellectual development of these youths. As
early as the fifth century the Sophists gave instruction to young and
older men for payment; but after the time of Plato the higher
instruction was regularly organised and also given free of charge, and
from this time forward it was closely connected with the training of the
ephebi, since the gymnasia destined for gymnastic teaching were also
used for instruction in philosophy. Plato and his school taught, as is
well known, in the Academy; Aristotle and the Peripatetics in the
Lyceum; and Antisthenes and the Cynic school in the Cynosarges; the
Stoics also originally taught at the Lyceum, but afterwards in the _Stoa
Poikile_ (the “painted portico”) near the old _Agora_; at Athens the
Epicurean school only was not connected with any existing gymnasium.
This connection, however, between these schools and the gymnasia was
merely an external one, and really meant that the ground and gardens
belonging to them were situated in the domain of these special gymnasia.
However, the fact that the schools possessed a fixed place under the
direction of the head for the time being did very much to establish
their stability. We must not regard these philosophical schools as
higher schools in the modern sense; though each school had a head who
had the management in his own hands, and at his death appointed a
successor, yet there was no question of an organised scheme of studies
or of instruction regularly occupying certain hours of the day, or,
indeed, of any of the conditions which could be compared with our modern
universities, at any rate not before the period of the Roman Empire. In
the fourth century and in the Hellenistic period the instruction merely
consisted in a discourse given by the head, or a disputation with his
scholars, by means of which the various branches of philosophy and
ethics were treated. Practical instruction in rhetoric was also given,
sometimes by philosophers, but oftener by celebrated rhetoricians, such
as Isocrates, and this training lasted several years. Very often young
men prepared themselves in this way for their future career as statesmen
or lawyers; and in the Hellenistic period the study of philological
grammar began to gain importance, especially in the schools of
Alexandria, Pergamum, and Antioch, to which places celebrated teachers
attracted numerous pupils. These studies were in no way connected with
the regular training of ephebi.
Generally speaking, we may say that the main object of the education of
the youths in the best period of Greek antiquity was to train a citizen,
capable in body and mind, who should be able to serve his country as
well in war as in peace, in a public as in a private capacity, while all
special development of any branch of learning, except, of course, the
gymnastic element, was excluded. This is the more comprehensible since
Greek antiquity was unacquainted with the higher professions in our
sense of the word.
There is far less to be said about the education of girls, since no
regular instruction was given. The sphere to which women were confined
in all the Greek states was the household, and their position,
especially in the Ionic states, was so distinctly a subordinate one that
it was not considered desirable to give them also regular teaching. In
consequence there were no girls’ schools; girls belonging to the better
classes were taught a little reading and writing by their mothers or
nurses--the women of the lower classes did not learn even this--and,
with the addition of some superficial knowledge of religion and
mythology, such as could be acquired from stories or by reading the
poets, this constituted all the intellectual development which fell to
the lot of the girls. Sometimes a little musical instruction was also
given, and even in the Ionic states there were some exceptions, since we
hear of women of higher intellectual development. As a rule, it was only
the hetaerae, whose freer intercourse with men enabled them to gain from
them more extensive literary culture; and as a consequence we find that
even men of high intellectual powers chose to associate with these
persons, and that at Athens, at any rate, the men who desired the
stimulus of intercourse with intellectual women, were bound to seek it
from this class. The fault was, of course, their own, since the
semi-Oriental system of shutting off women from the outer world and
degrading them into mere managers of the household, necessarily lowered
the average culture of women. Still, it sometimes happened that a man
who had married a young open-minded girl contrived to raise her up
intellectually to himself, and to develop her powers, as Xenophon has
shown in his _Oikonomikos_.
On the other hand, Greek women appear to have been experienced in
feminine arts--such as spinning and weaving, sewing and embroidery,
accomplishments which they certainly learnt from their mothers and
nurses. No regular instruction was given in them, or in cooking, an art
with which Greek women were undoubtedly well acquainted. This system of
educating girls did not, however, meet with general approval, for we
find that Plato, in his “Laws,” prescribes regular school instruction
for girls in the subjects required for women, and also musical and even
gymnastic training. These principles were, however, never practically
realised at Athens, though elsewhere the conditions may have been
different, since an inscription from Teos of somewhat late date makes
express mention of instruction given in common to boys and girls.
It was a natural consequence of the very different position occupied by
women at Athens and Sparta, that the latter had a very different
education from the Athenian women. Though the young Spartan maidens did
not, like the boys, associate together in clubs, but remained with their
families, yet the State took cognisance of these also, and especially
prescribed for them gymnastic training, which was in essentials the same
as that given to the boys, though with
[Illustration: FIG. 77.]
corresponding modifications, in order to develop and strengthen their
bodies. Of course, they had their own special schools for this purpose,
distinct from those of the boys, where they were instructed in running,
jumping, wrestling, throwing the spear and quoit, as well as in several
exercises in running and springing, which were partly of a military
character, partly allied with dancing. For this purpose they wore a
special dress; Fig. 77 shows us a female racer from Elis. The statue
which is in the Vatican is in the ancient style, and represents a robust
girl clad in a short chiton, with a girdle descending only a little way
below the hips, and leaving the right breast exposed. This special dress
used for gymnastic exercises must not, however, be confused with that in
which the Spartan ladies usually appeared, though this, too, as already
stated (page 39), differed from the ordinary dress of Greek girls. In
spite, however, of this dress, and of the fact that youths and maidens,
who in the Ionic states scarcely ever met each other except at religious
festivals, were brought into frequent contact at Sparta, especially at
public contests, games, choruses, etc., the Spartan women bore an
unstained reputation. The system of physical exercises produced healthy
women, strongly built, with blooming complexions; and it also implanted
and developed in them the manly and determined spirit for which the
Laconian women and mothers were distinguished. Yet, even at Sparta,
there was no question of intellectual training for the girls; and,
indeed, as we have already seen, even in the case of the boys, it was
regarded as far less important than physical education.
CHAPTER IV.
MARRIAGE AND WOMEN.
Love amongst the Greeks--Engagements--Marriage Rites and
Ceremonies--The Laconian Custom--Marriage in the Doric States--The
Mode of Life of the Athenian Women--Their Personal Habits--The
_Hetaerae_.
The boyhood of the young Athenian was occupied by school and play; his
youth was spent in gymnastic exercises, and sometimes also in scientific
studies and military labours. When he attained his majority as a
citizen, he acquired the right of exercising his political and civic
duties, taking part in popular assemblies and other public gatherings;
but apparently the young people did not make much use of these
privileges when they first entered on their political majority. Besides
these occupations there were many others to draw them away from serious
duties: pleasant intercourse with companions, drinking bouts, and also
the charms of pretty hetaerae, who were easily won to regard with favour
anyone possessing a tolerably well-filled purse. And this was all the
compensation they had for exclusion from the society of the daughters of
citizens; for, with the exception of the hetaerae, and the flute and
cithara players who performed at the banquets, women played no part in
social intercourse at Athens. There were but few occasions when the
girls left the close confinement of the women’s apartments for any kind
of publicity, and this custom, which resembled the Oriental, and was
probably introduced by the Ionic Greeks from Asia Minor, while the
Doric practice was very different, caused one of the greatest wants of
Attic life. This is brought forcibly before us in the comedies of the
fourth century, the so-called “New Attic Comedy,” in which the basis was
usually a love story, which our modern ideas would regard as purely
sensual, or even immoral; while love, in the best sense of the word, is
never represented. We must not, on this account, suppose that the Greeks
were entirely unacquainted with that kind of affection which is based on
real inclination, similarity of mind, and recognition of intellectual
virtues; in fact, the contrast often emphasised by poets and artists
between _Aphrodite Urania_, as the type of heavenly intellectual love,
and _Aphrodite Pandemos_, as that of sensuous love, must convince us of
the contrary; while Greek literature also supplies many examples of pure
love in the truest sense of the word, though a strong admixture of the
sensuous element was natural, even here, to a passionate southern race.
It was, however, quite unusual for such attachment to begin before
marriage, since opportunities for this were wanting. But often, in spite
of the conventional mode by which marriages were arranged, this
attachment was developed after marriage, and we must not fall into the
mistake of judging married life in Greece, or especially at Athens, only
from the greatly exaggerated descriptions of Aristophanes, or the
sarcastic tirades of misogynists like Euripides. The great majority of
the women were not so superficial or so quarrelsome as these poets have
represented them, nor the young men, as a rule, so vicious or hostile to
marriage as they are depicted in the majority of the New Attic Comedies.
It is true enough, of course, that marriage was usually a matter of
contract between the fathers or guardians of the young pair, and not the
consequence of affection between the youth and maiden; and this it is
which we see in the comedies of Plautus and Terence, who copied Greek
originals. Very often the fathers agreed to a marriage between their
children; sometimes the arrangements were made by a woman (προμνηστρία)
acquainted with the circumstances of the citizens’ families, who made a
kind of business of arranging marriages. An important point was equality
of fortune; of course, both parties had to be full citizens, but degrees
of relationship do not seem to have been any hindrance. The girl’s
consent was not asked at all; it was a matter of course that she should
accept the husband chosen by her parents, and, as she had no other male
acquaintances, objections can very seldom have been made. Generally she
was only acquainted with the husband destined for her by seeing him
hastily on her walks or at festivals. The destined bridegroom is more
likely to have made objections if the appointed bride did not please
him; yet here, too, as a rule, the father could have his way, since his
son was entirely in his power, unless it so happened that he earned his
own living by any profession, which was seldom the case among the better
classes. The fathers or guardians then concluded the contract of
engagement, in which the bride’s dowry was fixed and special
arrangements made for community of goods, return of the dowry in case of
a divorce, etc. The Homeric custom, by which it was the bridegroom who
brought gifts in order to win a bride, while the father gave his
daughter to the one who promised the richest bridal presents, had early
fallen into disuse, and probably even in the heroic period it was only
customary among noble families. In the historic period a dowry was
regarded as an indispensable basis for marriage: so much so that
daughters or sisters of poor citizens were often endowed at the expense
of generous friends, or poor orphan girls by their guardians; sometimes
the State even gave a dowry to the daughters of citizens who had
deserved well of their country. The engagement itself was, as a rule, a
legal act, which followed the private agreement between the fathers, and
was considered an essential preliminary to a legal marriage; it was not,
however, a general custom to celebrate this act in a social manner by a
banquet. As is usual in southern countries, the girls married very
young, sometimes even at the age of fifteen, or earlier; but the period
between their sixteenth and twentieth years was probably the usual one
for marriage. There seems to have been no distinct limit of age for men,
but probably the years between twenty and thirty were those in which
most of them entered the married state. We do not know how long a period
usually elapsed between the engagement and the marriage; probably there
was no definite custom, but we know that very often the wedding
immediately followed the engagement. We are likewise unable to say
whether, in the case of a long engagement, the bride and bridegroom had
any opportunities for meeting each other. The actual wedding usually
took place in the winter, and a favourite time was the month _Gamelion_
(the end of January and beginning of February), which hence received its
name. Certain days regarded as auspicious were generally chosen, and the
waning moon was specially avoided. It is curious, when we compare our
own and the Roman customs, to note that, though the wedding received a
religious character by sacrifices and other solemn ceremonies, it was
not of itself regarded as a religious or legal act. The legality of the
marriage depended on the engagement, and the religious consecration was
not given by a priest (who took no part, as a rule, in the wedding
ceremony), but by the marriage gods, who were invoked by prayer and
sacrifice, more especially Zeus and Hera, Apollo, Artemis, and Peitho,
the goddess of persuasion. We must now endeavour to form an idea of an
Athenian wedding ceremony, as described by Greek writers.
Among the ceremonies bearing a religious character which preceded the
wedding, an important part was played by the bath. Both bride and
bridegroom took a bath either on the morning of the wedding-day or the
day before, for which the water was brought from a river or from some
spring regarded as specially sacred, as at Athens the spring Callirhoe
(or Enneacrunos), at Thebes the Ismenus; and this water had to be
fetched by a boy who was some near relation; sometimes, however, we hear
of maidens sent to fetch it. The bride also offered libations and
gifts--as, for instance, her toys, locks of hair, and the like--to one
of the marriage goddesses. More important was the sacrifice generally
celebrated on the wedding-day, but we know few details about the mode of
its performance. It was offered to the marriage deities mentioned above,
either to all collectively or singly; the families of both bridegroom
and bride took part in the ceremony. We do not know of any special
directions as to the animals to be sacrificed; it appears to have been
the custom to remove the gall of the victim, and not burn it with the
rest of the inner parts, and this was supposed to indicate symbolically
that all bitterness must be absent from marriage.
Most sacrifices connected with the slaughtering of animals were followed
by a festive banquet, at which the flesh of the victims constituted the
principal dish, and thus the wedding sacrifice also was followed by a
feast, which was generally held at the house of the bride’s father. As
this must, according to custom, have taken place in the afternoon, we
may assume that the other wedding ceremonies had been performed in the
morning. The wedding banquet was one of the few occasions when men and
women dined together; this generally occurred only in most intimate
family circles, but not when guests were present. The luxury of these
wedding banquets seems to have increased so much that the State was at
last obliged to limit the number of guests by law. Plato would not have
allowed husband and wife to invite more than five friends and five
relations each--that is, twenty in all--on any occasion, whether a
wedding or otherwise; and a statute of the fourth century B.C. makes
thirty the maximum limit for weddings, and instructs the officials who
had charge of the women (γυναικόνομοι) to see that this rule is not
infringed; and they seem to have carried out their office so strictly
that on these occasions they often entered the house, counted the
guests, and turned out all who exceeded the legal number. At the
banquet, as well as at the sacrifice which preceded it, the bride
appeared in all her bridal adornments. Some female relation or friend
who took the part of a modern bridesmaid (νυμφευτρíα) undertook to deck
the bride and anoint her with costly essences, and dress her in clothes
of some fine, probably coloured, material, while special shoes, ribbons,
and flowers in the hair were regarded as important, as well as the veil,
which was the special mark of the bride, and covered the head, falling
low down and partly covering the face. The bridegroom, too, appeared in
a festive white dress, which differed from his ordinary clothing chiefly
by the fineness of material; he, too, wore a wreath, as did all the
other guests at the banquet; but special flowers, supposed to be of
fortunate omen, were worn by the bride and bridegroom. We do not hear of
any special dishes supplied at weddings, but cakes, to which the Greeks
assigned a symbolical connection with festive occasions, played an
important part, and in particular cakes of sesame found a place at the
wedding banquet. A special custom peculiar to Athens was for a boy, both
of whose parents must be alive, to go round wreathed with hawthorn or
acorns carrying a basket of cakes, singing, “I fled from misfortune, I
found a better lot.”
When the banquet was concluded, according to custom, by libation and
prayers, and the night began to set in, the bride was conducted home to
the house of the bridegroom. It was only among very poor people that the
bride went on foot in this procession; if it was at all possible, she
took her place between the bridegroom and the groomsman (παράνυμφος or
πáροχος), who was a near relation or intimate friend of the bridegroom,
in a carriage drawn by oxen or horses. All the other persons who took
part in the procession--that is, all who had been at the banquet, and
probably many others as well--went on foot behind the carriage to the
sound of harps and flutes, while one went on in front as leader. The
bride’s mother occupied the place of honour in the procession, carrying
in her hand the bridal torches, kindled at the family hearth, and thus
the bride took the sacred fire of her home to her new dwelling. On this
account the ancients represented the god of Marriage, Hymen, with a
torch as symbol. If other members of the procession also carried
torches, that was only in accordance with the custom of using them when
going out in the evening; it was only the torches of the bride’s mother
that had any symbolical meaning. Meantime the bride’s attendants sang a
bridal song, while the procession moved through the streets to the
bridegroom’s house. This song is called _Hymenaeus_, and the following
is found at the end of the Birds of Aristophanes:--
“Jupiter, that god sublime,
When the Fates in former time
Matched him with the Queen of Heaven
At a solemn banquet given,
Such a feast was held above,
And the charming god of Love,
Being present in command,
As a bridegroom took his stand
With the golden reins in hand.
Hymen, Hymen, Ho!”[B]
The bridegroom’s mother, also carrying torches, awaited the procession
by the bridegroom’s door, which was festively decked with wreaths. A
shower of all manner of sweetmeats was poured on the bridal pair, partly
in jest and partly to symbolise the rich blessing invoked upon them; nor
was the serious work forgotten which now awaited the young wife in her
new position: a pestle for bruising the corn grains was hung up near the
bridal chamber, to remind her of her duties as head of the household,
and it was an ancient Athenian custom for the bride herself to carry
some household implement in the procession, as, for instance, a sieve or
a vessel for roasting. Another symbolical custom, supposed also to date
from an ordinance of Solon, was for the bride, after her arrival in her
new home, to eat a quince, which, like the pomegranate, was supposed to
be a symbol of fruitfulness.
The bridegroom’s mother then attended the bridal pair to the _thalamus_
or bridal chamber, where the richly-decked, flower-strewn marriage couch
was prepared. When all the guests had gone away the bridegroom locked
the door, and while the bride unveiled herself to him for the first
time, the youths and maidens outside sang another song--either a few
verses of the Hymenaeus or an Epithalamium, accompanied with praises of
the married pair, and also doubtless by some jesting personal allusions.
The Epithalamium of Helen, in Theocritus, begins thus:--
“Slumberest so soon, sweet bridegroom?
Art thou over-fond of sleep?
Or hast thou leaden-weighted limbs?
Or hadst thou drunk too deep
When thou didst fling thee to thy lair?
Betimes thou shouldst have sped,
If sleep were all thy purpose,
Unto thy bachelor’s bed,
And left her in her mother’s arms
To nestle and to play,
A girl among her girlish mates,
Till deep into the day:--
For not alone for this night,
Nor for the next alone,
But through the days and through the years
Thou hast her for thine own.”
And it ends thus:--
“Sleep on, and love and longing
Breathe in each other’s breast;
But fail not, when the morn returns,
To rouse you from your rest:
With dawn shall we be stirring,
When, lifting high his fair
And feathered neck, the earliest bird
To clarion to the dawn is heard.
O God of brides and bridals,
Sing ‘Happy, happy pair!’”[C]
Very often the young men, before setting out homewards, amused
themselves by knocking and banging at the door of the bridal chamber,
though a friend of the bridegroom’s kept watch there, ostensibly to
prevent the maidens from going in to their married comrade. The last
lines of the above-quoted epithalamium show that the chorus sometimes
returned early next morning to greet the pair on their awakening.
On the morning after the wedding, the newly-married pair received visits
and congratulations from their relations and friends. The husband
presented his young wife with gifts, and so also did the visitors, but
this ceremony sometimes did not take place till the second day after the
wedding; for a curious custom existed (only at Athens, however) for the
husband on the day after the wedding to move into his father-in-law’s
house, and there spend a night apart from his wife; she then sent him a
new garment, whereupon he returned to her. With the wedding presents the
dowry was often presented, along with various objects belonging to the
trousseau, such as jars, ointments, sandals, toilette implements, etc.
The wedding festivities were then concluded by a banquet given either by
the bridegroom’s father in his house or by the bridegroom himself; but
it does not appear that there were any women present on this occasion.
Still, this banquet was of a certain importance for the young wife; at
Athens it was connected with her formal admission among the clansmen to
whom the bride now belonged by her marriage. Every tribe (φυλή) at
Athens was divided into three clans (φρáτραι), each of these into thirty
households (γένη); the members of the clans examined into the purity of
descent of citizens, and every new-born child had to be entered in their
register. This ceremony gave a sort of official, or at any rate public,
legitimation to the marriage.
[Illustration: FIG. 78.]
Among the monuments which have been preserved to us, there are several
which refer to marriage; but, as a rule, they adhere to a mythological
form, and do not represent a real scene from daily life. Thus, for
instance, we often see the bridal pair driving in a car, but those who
attend them are the Marriage gods in person, especially Apollo and
Artemis, and when the presentation of marriage gifts to the newly-wedded
pair is represented, it is usually the celebrated couple, Peleus and
Thetis, that we see depicted, while those who offer them the gifts are
gods, such as Hephaestus and the Horae, etc. The vase painting, which
is here given as Fig. 78, also bears a mythological character, though
it, no doubt, adheres very closely to the forms of reality. It
represents the arrival of the bride at the bridegroom’s house. The
latter stands leaning on a spear (which, however, must be an heroic
attribute, and not customary at marriages in the historic period) before
the door of his house. On the left comes the bride, who is recognised by
the veil covering her head. She approaches with a hesitating step, and
the bridesmaid attending her is pushing her gently forward with both
hands, while the groomsman, who goes before her, holds her left hand.
Apollo, with his laurel staff, and Artemis, with quiver and bow, are
gazing sympathetically at the bride; in front of them a woman, either
the match-maker or the bride’s mother, holds out both her arms to
welcome the bridegroom.
Of course, marriage customs differed considerably in the various Greek
states, as is proved by many allusions. Strangest of all seems the
Laconian custom, which points clearly to marriage by capture; a custom
of great antiquity, mentioned in many legends (as, for instance, that of
the Dioscuri and the daughters of Leucippus). No mention is made here of
a real marriage celebration; the bridegroom carried off his bride, who
must, however, have previously been betrothed to him by her father, from
her parents’ house, and in his own dwelling handed her over to the
charge of some middle-aged woman (νυμφευτρíα), who was either a relation
or an intimate friend. During his absence at the common dining table, to
which all Spartan citizens and youths went every day, this woman cut off
the bride’s hair, dressed her in male dress, with men’s shoes, and left
her lying in the dark on some straw. Then, when the bridegroom
returned, he unloosed the bride’s girdle and carried her in his arms to
the bridal chamber. Curiously enough, the appearance of secrecy was kept
up for some time longer; the young husband continued to live with the
other young citizens, and only visited his wife occasionally in secret.
Similar practices prevailed also at Crete. We do not, however, know how
long these strange customs continued in the Doric states.
In considering the position of women in relation to men and in the
household, we must allow for the differences between the heroic and
historic periods, and also between the Doric and the Ionic-Attic states.
Of the Aeolian states we know very little. In the heroic period, as far
as we can gather from the Homeric poems, women occupied an important
position, in many respects equal to that of the men. Heroic times, like
the rest of Greek antiquity, were only acquainted with monogamy;
polygamy is an entirely Oriental custom. Still, it was by no means
unusual in olden times for princes and nobles to have a number of
concubines, who were either slaves or female captives, besides their own
lawful wives, who were sprung of noble family. In fact, the idea of
conjugal fidelity held good only for the female portion of the
population, while the men were absolutely free to act as they pleased.
Undoubtedly there were cases in which husband and wife were so well
suited together that the men resisted all temptations to infidelity;
among these we may include Hector, Laertes, and Odysseus, in spite of
the amours of this last with Circe and Calypso. Whenever we obtain a
closer insight into the conditions of married life, as in the case of
Hector and Andromache, Odysseus and Penelope, the impression received is
a favourable one. There is even a vein of true affection perceptible,
which is generally absent from ancient conceptions of marriage.
In the heroic age women were chiefly occupied with household management
and female accomplishments, while they plied their tasks with their
attendants in the women’s apartments; but their life was not one of such
absolute retirement as that of the Oriental harems. On some occasions
they associated with men, and took part in their sacrifices and
banquets; and though they never went out unattended, yet a good deal of
liberty must have been allowed the young girls, to judge from the story
of Nausicaa, who went down to the sea-shore to wash the clothes.
In the historic age, the Doric states bear the closest analogy to heroic
times in their marriage customs. Here, too, we find the same undisguised
assumption that marriage existed for the sake of rearing children; and,
in fact, the laws of Lycurgus permitted a man to transfer his conjugal
rights for a time to another, if his childlessness imperilled the
existence of the family. In spite--or, perhaps, on account--of this
custom, infidelity was very rare at Sparta, even among the men, and the
institution of hetaerae never gained ground there. Concubinage, which
was very common in the heroic age, fell into disuse during historic
times, but, except at Sparta, it was really discontinued only in name.
The domestic relations between husband and wife more closely resembled
our own at Sparta than in the Ionic-Attic states. Even at Sparta the
household was the centre around which the woman’s life revolved, but she
was not degraded into a mere housekeeper; a Spartan addressed his wife
as “Mistress” (δέσποινα), made her the partner of his interests, and
consulted her about matters of importance. This seemed so strange to
the other Greek states that they were inclined to regard the Spartan
husbands as henpecked, which was by no means the case; but there is no
doubt that Spartan history can boast of far more remarkable women and
admirable mothers than Athenian. The strong patriotism of the Spartan
women which triumphed over gentler feelings is sometimes a little
unattractive to our modern sentiments, but, in any case, these women
command our fullest respect.
The position of women in the Ionic states bears a more Oriental
character, and here it is the wife who addresses the husband as
“Master.” The Athenian regarded his wife as a subordinate being, who
would bear him children and keep his house in order, but was incapable
of rising beyond this sphere. A woman must keep silence about all
political matters, and, as a rule, she was not even acquainted with her
husband’s private affairs. The husband was very seldom at home; public
life, professional duties, gymnastics, social intercourse, kept him from
his family during the greater part of the day; at meals they met
together, except when the husband had invited guests, and then the wife
had to withdraw into retirement. As a rule, husband and wife hardly knew
each other before marriage; it was not till afterwards that it was
possible to discover whether their characters were suited to one
another, and then it often turned out that these were quite
incompatible. Then they went their own ways, or else jarred and
quarrelled. Sometimes a sensible man succeeded in educating and raising
to his own level a really intelligent wife, to whom he could communicate
his plans and interests, and thus make her his partner in the true sense
of the word; but this was the exception, and, as a rule, the spheres of
husband and wife remained distinct. Moreover, the ever-increasing
influence of the hetaerae did much to loosen the bonds of marriage. It
was a very common thing for married men to visit hetaerae or enter into
love intrigues with slaves; and, as a rule, the wives shut their eyes to
it, so long as some regard was shown for appearances. If a married man
were to take an hetaera into his own house, that would be a ground of
divorce; but unmarried men very often kept mistresses, and the relation
between them sometimes closely resembled marriage. Supposing a man were
to neglect his own family too much through this intercourse, or, by
spending his money in this way, to inflict an injury on them, the wife,
if she possessed the full rights of citizenship, had the right to enter
a complaint. Improper language in the presence of women was not
permitted, and no stranger was allowed to enter the women’s apartments
during the absence of the husband. The children were bound to the most
absolute obedience and reverence to both father and mother.
Generally speaking, the law afforded a woman but little protection from
her husband; infidelity on his part did not entitle her to a divorce. On
the other hand, the strictest fidelity was required from the wife; but,
in spite of the seclusion in which she lived, infidelity was by no means
uncommon, since there were always plenty of obliging slaves ready to
help their mistress in these matters. In most Greek states the offenders
were punished by the loss of certain rights, and the husband was not
only justified in demanding a divorce, but even morally bound to do so
if his wife’s wrong-doing had been noised abroad. The law took no steps
to punish the lover; but the husband had the right to inflict corporal
punishment on him, or even, if he caught him in the act, to kill him,
unless, indeed, he preferred to seek compensation for his shame in a
money fine. In case of divorce, too, the woman was worse off than the
man. In consequence of the loose relation of the marriage-tie, it was
very easy to break it. A husband could dismiss his wife or send her back
to her parents, or the woman could simply leave her husband’s house, and
this was usually enough to annul the marriage. In the latter case the
wife was obliged to lodge a complaint against her husband in person with
the archon, as there were certain legal matters connected with the
divorce, chiefly concerning the dowry; as a rule, if the husband sent
away his wife without sufficient reason, he had to give back the dowry
to her or her legal representative (father, brother, or guardian),
unless the cause of the divorce was infidelity which had been clearly
proved against the wife. But though there is an appearance of justice
here, in reality the man had the advantage; for it was only the most
cogent reasons that would induce a woman voluntarily to leave her
husband, while the man often arbitrarily put away his wife for the most
trivial reasons; moreover, as a woman was always politically a minor,
and if she left her husband could not go on living by herself, she was
obliged to return to a state of tutelage under her father, or, if he
were no longer living, her brother or legal guardian. Many a woman would
rather endure the most cruel treatment from her husband than return thus
to her father’s house.
The life of Athenian women was entirely devoted to domestic affairs. The
part of the house set aside for the wife and children, and afterwards
for the grown-up daughters and the female slaves, was generally
separate from the rest of the dwelling; and a Greek writer says that, as
the door which separates the women’s apartments from the rest of the
house is the boundary set for a maiden, so the door which shuts the
house off from the street must be the boundary for the wife. We must
not, however, suppose that Greek women were entirely shut off from
publicity. The wives of poorer citizens, whose circumstances were, of
course, quite different from those of the upper classes, went out of
doors often enough. Some were compelled to do so by their occupation,
and others, who had few or no slaves at their disposal, were obliged to
go out every day to purchase food and other necessaries of life.
[Illustration: FIG. 79.]
It was very common for women to fetch water from the public wells, and
to have a little chat there; but in rich houses this duty of fetching
the water naturally fell to the slaves. We find allusions to these
expeditions to the well in legends and in real life; and they are often
represented on monuments, especially vase paintings. Fig. 79 gives an
example of the kind taken from a vase painting in the antique style. On
the left we see the well, surmounted by a Doric portico; the water is
flowing from a lion’s mouth into a jug (ύδρíα) placed beneath it; the
woman who has come to fill her vessel stands waiting beside it. On the
right we see other women conversing in pairs; two have already filled
their jars, and are carrying them on their heads, supported by a little
cushion, according to the pretty custom which still prevails widely in
the south; the vessels of the two others have not yet been filled, as we
can tell from their position.
Women of the better classes only went out attended by a servant or
slave, and then but seldom. A respectable woman stayed at home as much
as possible; in fact, the symbol of domestic life was a tortoise, a
creature which never leaves its house, and was regarded as an attribute
of Aphrodite Urania. In consequence, the women liked to linger by the
windows of the upper storey, the one generally used for their
apartments, in order to look down on the street, which afforded many
women the only entertainment and change they had in the day’s
occupations. There were no common meetings for them as there were for
men. They visited one another occasionally, and there were a few
festivals in the year to which they went without the men, and then the
proceedings seem to have been very lively, as for instance, at the
Thesmophoria. The women drove in their finest clothes to the Eleusinian
celebrations, and they also took part in the Panathenaea, on which
occasion the daughters of the resident foreigners (μέτοικοι) carried
their chairs and sunshades behind them. In general, it appears as though
more liberty had been gradually granted women in the matter of
appearance in public, though this liberty did not extend in Greece as
far as at Alexandria in the time of the Ptolemies, when Theocritus, in
one of his idylls, represents two citizens’ wives, attended by their
servants, penetrating into the densest crowd on the occasion of the
Festival of Adonis. The manifold contradictions which we find in the
ancient writers regarding the public appearance of women which have
called forth so many various opinions among the learned of the present
day, must be attributed in part to differences of period and, in part,
to differences of locality.
Notwithstanding this, everywhere and always in antiquity a woman’s
sphere was supposed to be the household, and when the family and the
number of slaves was large, this charge required a good deal of strength
and attention. Not only had all the food to be prepared for the
household, but also the clothing had to be provided for all its members;
for it was very unusual for any woman, who had numerous slaves at her
disposal, to purchase stuffs or clothes ready-made. They therefore spent
a great part of the day with their daughters and maids in a specially
appointed part of the house, where the looms were set up. Here, in the
first place, the wool, which was bought in a rough condition, was
prepared for working, by washing and beating, then fulled and carded,
disagreeable occupations which, on account of the exertion required,
were usually left to the maids. The wool thus prepared for working was
then put in large work-or spinning-baskets (κáλαθοι or τáλαροι),
[Illustration: FIG. 80.]
and we often see these on monuments which represent scenes from a
woman’s life. A statue of Penelope, the prototype of an industrious
woman, of which several replicas have come down to us, represents a
spinning-basket under her chair. The spinning-wheel was unknown to
antiquity, but the distaff and spindle were used exactly as they still
are in the south. (Compare the representation from a vase painting in
Fig. 80.) The woman here represented is seated
[Illustration: FIG. 81.]
(sometimes we find women walking or standing as they spin); she holds up
the distaff in her left hand; in front of her is a stand, on which wool
or flax seems to be fastened ready to fill the distaff afresh. For
weaving they used an upright loom of tolerably simple construction, but
yet suited for weaving heavy materials and elaborate patterns. Such an
one is represented on Fig. 81, from a vase picture of Penelope at the
loom. We can recognise on the already finished material, an ornamental
border and various figured patterns interwoven. The construction of the
loom is only superficially indicated, and has therefore been explained
in many different ways, into which we cannot at present enter. Fig. 82,
taken from a vase painting, represents a number of women, of whom some
are occupied with feminine work and others with their toilet. On the
left we see a woman holding a spinning-basket in her left hand; further
to the right a second woman is seated on an easy chair (καθέδρα),
holding an embroidery frame, on which a piece of material is stretched,
while a third woman stands near, watching her. Further to the right is a
fourth, who is drawing up the folds of her dress, and probably about to
fasten her girdle. The woman sitting next her on the easy chair holds an
object in front of her which is not quite distinct--possibly a mirror,
represented in profile, in which she is looking at herself; near her
stands a maid, holding in her right hand a pot of ointment, in the left
some undetermined object, perhaps a pin-cushion.
[Illustration: FIG. 82.]
The fulling of the woven materials was not undertaken at home, since it
was a difficult operation and required special arrangements; it was done
by the fuller, to whom any soiled cloth garments were also sent. Simple
woollen clothes, as well as linen garments, were, of course, washed at
home.
[Illustration: FIG. 83.]
The charming description in the “Odyssey” of Nausicaa, who goes with her
companions to the sea-shore to wash the clothes, is well known;
doubtless similar scenes might be seen in later times, even though no
king’s daughter took part in them, and no god-like hero alarmed the
maidens by his unexpected appearance. Fig. 83 represents a vase picture,
showing how an artist of the fifth century imagined that scene in
Phaeacia, according to the analogy of his own time. On the left side of
the picture, not represented here, stand Odysseus and Athene, and
several articles of clothing are hanging up to dry on the branches of a
tree; on the right, which is here represented, some girls are engaged in
hanging out the clothes. The finished, or newly-washed, clothes were
then carefully folded and laid in chests, since wardrobes for hanging up
dresses, such as we have, seem to have been unknown.
[Illustration: FIG. 84.]
The vase picture represented in Fig. 84 shows us two women occupied in
folding some kind of embroidered garment; on the left another woman is
turning round to look at them; on the floor stand a chair and a chest,
on the wall hang a mirror and a garment.
Notwithstanding these numerous domestic occupations, the women seem to
have had sufficient time to devote to their toilet. In spite of the few
opportunities they had of appearing elegantly dressed before strange
men, or their own friends, Greek women seem to have been no exception to
their sex
[Illustration: FIG. 85.]
in their fondness for dress and fine clothes. Considerable attention was
devoted to the care of the body. Washing and bathing were, of course,
very common. Scenes from the bath are often represented on monuments;
especially we often find in sculpture or painting representations of
Aphrodite, or some beautiful mortal, stooping down while a maid pours
water over her back from a jar. In the vase picture represented in Fig.
85, next to which a scene from the toilet is depicted, one woman is
pouring water into a basin, while another has disrobed, and is arranging
her hair before a mirror. We must suppose the locality of these scenes
to have been a special bathroom, which was always found in the better
class of houses on the lower storey.
The usual morning wash was performed in large basins standing on high
feet, or sometimes at the well itself, which was situated in the
courtyard of a house; women of the lower classes probably washed at one
of the public wells. On a picture representing the Judgment of Paris, of
which some figures are represented in Fig. 86, a vase painter naïvely
represents Athene thus performing her toilet before presenting herself
to the judge; she is holding both hands under the water flowing from the
fountain, evidently intending to wash her face; she has carefully drawn
her dress between her knees in order to keep the water from it. There
were also large public baths for women, but ancient authorities tell us
very little about their construction and use; still, notices here and
there in writing, or on monuments, enable us with certainty to assert
their existence. The vase painting, Fig. 87, gives a wonderfully vivid
picture of one of these public baths for women. It is a hall, supported
by Doric columns, covered to the height of
[Illustration: FIG. 86.]
[Illustration: FIG. 87.]
about a foot with water, which is always flowing fresh from the heads of
animals below the capitals of the pillars; probably the water was led
through the pipes passing from column to column, on which the women have
hung their clothes. The women, with their hair plaited in single braids
to prevent it getting wet, are standing under the douches and letting
the water pour over their head, back, arms, and legs, while they rub
themselves with their hands. We cannot tell whether women of the better
classes also went to these public baths; in any case, the middle
classes, who probably had no bathrooms of their own, formed the greater
part of the attendance.
Bathing was accompanied by anointing and rubbing with oils or other
fragrant essences; this, too, we often find represented on monuments,
where a lady herself makes use of a little oil-flask (λήκυθος), or an
attendant rubs her body with it. In fact, rich women always had a slave
who acted as lady’s-maid to help them at their toilet, and on the many
toilet scenes depicted on the Greek vases we seldom see women dressing
without assistance. Thus, in Fig. 88 (Frontis.), two women are helping a
third to dress; the mistress stands in the middle, and is about to
fasten her girdle, and, in order not to be hindered by the falling folds
of her chiton, she is holding the tip in her mouth; in front of her
stands an attendant holding a mirror; another woman standing behind her,
apparently rather a friend than a slave, holds a jewel casket in the
left hand, and with the right hands a pearl necklace taken from it to
the lady. On Attic _Stelai_ we very commonly find a lady represented
with her lady’s-maid and jewel casket. The use of the mirror is also a
favourite subject in works of art, especially connected with the
arrangement of the hair and veil Thus, in
[Illustration: FIG. 89.]
Fig. 86, we find that even Hera, before showing herself to Paris, finds
it necessary, with the help of her hand-mirror, to make some slight
alteration in her veil. A similar scene is depicted by the pretty
terra-cotta from Tanagra (Fig. 89). Fig. 90 represents
[Illustration: FIG. 90.]
a lady fully dressed, perhaps a bride, attended by two lady’s-maids, one
of whom holds an open jewel casket before her, in order that she may
choose something more out of it, in spite of the fact that she is so
carefully veiled that all ornament seems superfluous. Besides these
toilet scenes, Fig. 91 represents a vase picture giving other scenes
from the life of women, which, however, have not yet been clearly
interpreted. The woman represented here is seated on a chair, her right
leg is uncovered, and the foot is placed on a curious rest; in her hand
she holds a bandage, as though she intended to fasten it round her foot.
Another woman stands and looks on; a spinning-basket and a stool are
also included in the picture. It is impossible to say whether this
should also be regarded as a toilet scene.
[Illustration: FIG. 91.]
Greek women made use of many cosmetics for their toilet. They not only
anointed their bodies with fragrant essences and their hair with
sweet-scented oils and pomades, but the practice of rougeing was also a
very common one. The Spartan women, whose healthy complexions were
celebrated, probably made little use of it; but the ancient writers
supply sufficient testimony to its commonness at Athens. This practice
probably originated in the East, and its great popularity among the
women of the Ionic-Attic race is probably due to the fact that want of
fresh air and exercise gave them a pale, sickly complexion, and they
therefore considered it necessary to improve it artificially, though it
were only to please their own husbands. They supplied the tender
colouring of forehead and chin with white lead, the redness of their
cheeks with cinnabar, fucus, and bugloss, or other (usually vegetable)
dyes; there was a special flesh tint used for painting below the eyes.
The eyebrows were dyed with black paint, which was made of pine blacking
or pulverised antimony, and dyeing the hair was quite common as early as
the fifth century B.C., and by no means unusual even among men. The
rouge was put on either with the finger or a little brush. In vain the
poets, especially the comic writers, aimed the sharpest arrows of their
wit at this evil practice; in vain they described in drastic colours
how, in the heat of summer, two little black streams poured down from
the eyes over the face, while the red colour from the cheeks ran down to
the neck; and the hair falling over the forehead was dyed green by the
white lead. The best cure would doubtless have been found, if every man
had been as sensible as the young husband described in Xenophon’s story
alluded to above (p. 130), who cured his wife of rougeing by
representing to her the absurdity of this practice, showing her how
impossible it was for a woman to deceive her own husband in this way,
since the truth might come to light at any moment. He also advised his
wife not to spend the whole day in her room, but to move about the
house, superintend the servants’ work, help the housekeeper, and herself
lend a hand in kneading the dough, and other such occupations, while
supplying exercise for herself by shaking out and folding up the
clothes. Then she would have a better appetite for her meals, be in
better health, and naturally have a better complexion. But such sensible
husbands were rare, and probably all the women were not so obedient as
the wife of Ischomachus.
We do not intend to penetrate any further into the toilet mysteries of
Greek ladies, but, instead, will give our readers a representation of a
vase picture equally remarkable for fineness of drawing and variety in
the scenes represented. (Fig. 92.) It is the decoration of a lid of some
terra-cotta jar or box, and was probably used for cosmetic purposes.
Here we see a large number of girls, most of whom are occupied with
their toilet. In spite of the modesty of their dress and behaviour, it
does not seem probable that we are here obtaining an insight into a
family dwelling; the numerous little Cupids represented, and also the
presence of a young man, lead us to suppose that we see hetaerae before
us. The young man is leaning against the seat of a richly-clad lady, who
appears somewhat more matronly than the others; she holds an open jewel
casket in her hand, from which she is about to take some object. The
young man is leaning on a stick, at the end of which a Cupid is climbing
up in play. If we follow the view of L. Stephani, in regarding this
woman as the superintendent of the girls, he is probably right in his
further interpretation, that the youth has given the casket to this lady
in order to win her favour and access to the girls. To the left of this
group we find a girl holding a hand mirror before her, apparently about
to arrange her hair, as she is holding one hand up, but this might also
be interpreted as a gesture of pleased surprise at her
[Illustration: FIG. 92.]
appearance. Next to her is an attendant helping a girl arrange her
head-dress; both her hands are occupied with it, while the girl bends
her head a little forward, and in her hands already holds the necklace
which she is going to put on. Two Cupids stand beside her, one carrying
some indistinct object, perhaps a tympanum, the other apparently holding
two bracelets. On an easy-chair, under which appears a bird, perhaps a
duck, a girl is sitting holding an open casket, out of which a woman,
standing in front of her, has taken some fine material, or a veil,
which she is now unfolding. Between the two, on the ground stands an
incense-burner (θυμιατήριον), next a Cupid holding an oil-flask in his
hands. A richly-dressed woman leans against a terminal figure of the
bearded Dionysus, bending a branch into a wreath with both hands; in
front stands a dog, looking up at her. Further to the left a girl is
sitting on a stool, while an attendant is arranging her hair; she has
placed both hands on her knees, and is sitting quite quietly while the
other, to judge from the posture of her left hand, appears to be saying
something to her; the Cupid, kneeling on the ground, is fastening the
sandals of the seated girl; an incense-burner stands beside them. Next
them stands a woman with richly-dressed hair; her right hand hangs down
and holds a mirror; at her feet is some object whose meaning is not
clear. Still further we see a little table on three goat-shaped feet, at
which two girls are sitting opposite one another, one on an easy-chair,
the other on a simpler seat; under the easy-chair is a cage with a
little bird. We cannot determine the occupation of the girls who have
placed their hands on the table, while one of them holds some indistinct
object in her left hand--probably they are playing some game; above them
hovers a Cupid with a wreath of leaves; near him we observe a
beautifully ornamented little chest. The last of these female figures
stands in front of a washing basin, in which she has placed both hands,
probably to wash them, rather than, as Stephani supposes, in order to
wash some object in the basin; for a domestic occupation such as the
washing of any garment would not be appropriate to the rest of the
scenes. On the ground stands a beautifully-shaped water-jar.
It would not be easy to pass judgment on Greek women in general, as
differences of race have considerable influence. Nor can we place much
confidence in our literary authorities, least of all in Aristophanes,
who says in the _Thesmophoriazusae_ that the men could place no trust
whatever in their wives, and were obliged to keep them under lock and
key, and keep Molossian hounds on purpose to frighten away their lovers,
while they deprived them even of the keys of the storeroom. This is, of
course, exaggerated invention, as is also the statement that all the
suspicion of the women is due to the calumnies of Euripides. The poets
of the Old Comedy directed the arrows of their wit only at women of ill
fame; and the Newer Attic Comedy chooses most of its heroines from among
the hetaerae (though a favourite _dénoûment_ was the discovery that
these were really long-lost legitimate daughters of citizens); and
consequently the women are generally treated from their worst side, and
the men represented as poor victims. The aim of comedy, which is to
provoke laughter, is more easily attained by the representation of
characters whose morality is not unimpeachable; and it would be equally
unfair in our own time to form a picture of modern morals based on the
representations of the stage. Undoubtedly, the Athenian women were far
inferior to the Spartan in morality, and in some towns--especially
Corinth and Byzantium--female morality seems to have been at a very low
ebb; but we must not on that account condemn all Greek women
indiscriminately. One reproach is too often heard, and too clearly
proved to be discredited, and that is inclination to drink. This vice
was so common that in some places women were actually forbidden to drink
wine, and it was this that sometimes compelled husbands to take the keys
from their wives.
We cannot close this section without a word on that class of women who
sold their favours to any who would pay the price for them. The Greeks
euphemistically called these hetaerae (ἑταῖραι), female companions. They
seem to have been unknown in the heroic age, but in historic times they
were found almost everywhere, and association with them was so common
that it was hardly a cause of reproach even to married men. The law
regarded their existence as not only a matter of course, but even as
necessary, and the State promoted the establishment of houses for them.
There were many such at all the ports, and many large manufacturing or
trading cities, such as Corinth, obtained a distinct reputation on this
account; though at the same time it was often said that a stay there was
both dangerous and expensive. Besides these public establishments, the
visitors to which paid a fixed entrance fee, the amount of which varied
according to the elegance of the house, there were also private
establishments of a somewhat different character. These were kept by a
man or woman, sometimes an old hetaera, whose property the girls in the
house became, by being bought direct as slaves or obtained in some other
way. Many of these poor girls had been exposed in their infancy, and
brought up by the owners of these houses, who repaid themselves for the
cost of nurture by the income thus brought in. Such girls were often the
heroines of comedies, and in the end were happily united to their
lovers. The flute-girls, who played at the symposia, were also often
kept in such houses, and their owners not only provided rich and elegant
clothing, but also spent much money on their education, and especially
on the training of their musical talents, which enabled them to earn
higher pay.
But far the greater part of the hetaerae lived alone, and every large
town possessed a number of these women, who were classed in different
grades according to their education. Some of them were rich women,
owning large numbers of slaves; their fame spread through the whole of
Greece, and their rooms were crowded by men of the first rank in
politics, literature, and art; great artists vied in representing them
in bronze and marble, and their fame has descended even to our own
times. Among all these, the most celebrated was the older Aspasia, the
friend of Pericles, a woman of the highest intellectual endowments and
most cultivated taste, who attracted men rather by the power of her
intellect than of her charms. Other celebrated hetaerae, such as Laïs
and Phryne, owe their renown, which has descended even to the present
day, chiefly to their extraordinary beauty and the numerous anecdotes
current about their life and also about their greed for money, and
shameless character. These hetaerae, who thus lived by themselves, were
either freed women or foreigners; some of them are not unattractive
characters, whose wit and grace may easily have attracted even men of
note, while others were mere courtesans, covetous, superficial, and
dress-loving.
In order to understand the possibility of their social intercourse with
men of unblemished reputation, and the fact that these girls played a
part in Greek literature almost more important than that of honest
women, we must bear in mind the slight education and retired life of the
Greek women. Even this can hardly account for the permission granted to
a hetaera like Phryne to dedicate her statue by Praxiteles at Delphi, or
her venturing to bathe in the sea, completely naked, like an Aphrodite
Anadyomene, in the presence of numerous admiring spectators. We can
only explain this by remembering the intense Hellenic love of beauty,
apart from the considerations of morality, which looked on a beautiful
human body as a divine work demanding adoration, which made it possible
to forget the moral weaknesses inherent in it. At Corinth, in the temple
of Aphrodite, more than a thousand temple slaves (ίερόδουλοι) were
maintained, who were regarded as in the service of the goddess, and this
conception of love as worship was very common throughout the East. But
although much was openly done in ancient times which would be concealed
at the present day, it would be a mistake to suppose that the position
occupied by these women was a really honourable one.
Although there was no official control kept over them, yet they were not
left absolutely free; in most towns they had to pay a tax to the State.
Later writers have maintained, but with what accuracy is uncertain, that
a special dress was prescribed for them; probably they were only
distinguished from other women by conspicuous bright clothing and more
elaborate dress. The legal protection generally accorded to women in
case of wrongful treatment, could naturally not be claimed by them, and
a hetaera who had a child could not claim from its father money for its
support. In fact, the lot of the majority was at best but gilded misery,
and many ended their days in extreme poverty.
Greek art is very rich in scenes from the life of hetaerae; many have
been already represented here (compare Figs. 17 and 92), and others will
follow. We must face the fact that the very period which is renowned in
Greek literature and art as that of the greatest splendour, was a time,
also, of moral rottenness. Where there is much light we must expect
much shade; and in modern art, too, the highest development of painting
and sculpture was contemporaneous with the religious and moral
degeneracy of the Middle ages; indeed, the Rome of Alexander VI. and Leo
X. was probably far more immoral than the Athens of Pericles.
CHAPTER V.
DAILY LIFE WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE HOUSE.
At Sparta--At Athens--Chronology--Sun-dials--Breakfast--Morning
Occupations--Lunch--The Afternoon--Warm
Baths--Dinner--Amusements--The Gymnasia--Greek Hospitality.
A picture of the daily life of the Greeks must of necessity be subject
to various changes according to time and place. Life in the sixth
century B.C. was different from that in the fourth; the daily occupation
and the mode of life of a Spartan differed from those of an Athenian or
Theban; and again, the rich and free citizen spent his time in a very
different way from the small artisan or countryman, who was dependent on
the work of his own hands.
There is very little to say about the heroic period, and we cannot form
any complete picture of it. Homer describes only the life of the nobles,
but he does not tell us how they spent their time when they were not
fighting, though this was a very common occupation, owing to the
numerous feuds and predatory expeditions against their neighbours. It is
not likely that the princes and nobles spent all their time at festive
banquets, delighting in plentiful food and drink, and listening to the
songs of the bard, though there are many passages in Homer which might
lead us to suppose so. No doubt the pleasures of the feast and of wine
were held in very high estimation in the heroic period, yet serious and
respectable citizens can hardly have spent their whole day in luxurious
idleness, like the wooers of Penelope, who daily feasted at the expense
of others. Laertes, who, even in his old age, worked in his garden, was
far more typical of the Homeric noble, who was in reality only a landed
proprietor on a large scale, and devoted the greater part of his time to
agricultural pursuits, himself often taking active part in them. He was
also occupied with gymnastic exercises, and occasionally by political
duties, such as attendance at the popular assemblies which concerned the
interests of the country. But the great mass of the people, as opposed
to the few members of the nobility, occupied themselves chiefly with
agriculture and cattle rearing, and, to a small extent, with handicrafts
which were but slightly developed at this time, when many things were
imported from other countries, and others chiefly made at home. Of
course they all had to attend their Prince as vassals in case of war,
and in consequence there must have been military training for the lower
classes, even in time of peace. Apart, however, from military details,
we learn nothing from Homer about the life of these classes of society,
and very little about that of the nobility, for his description of the
life of the Phaeacians bears only a very partial analogy to Greek
circumstances at that time, since the poet desires to represent this
people as specially fortunate beyond others. We may, therefore, forsake
the misty domain of legend and turn to those ages which are enlightened
for us by writers, though even there we shall find many gaps unfilled.
It is a natural consequence of the nature of our authorities that, even
in historic times, the descriptions of authors present us principally
with a reflection of life in towns, and especially large towns or
capitals. At the present day life in large towns differs in many
essential respects from that in small ones, and even more from that in
the country; and doubtless, even in antiquity, there were strong
contrasts, though, perhaps, less clearly marked than in modern times. In
large towns, too, there were many differences due to the character of
the race and the nature of the town itself; the life of a citizen in a
large trading city must have been very different from that at a place
where there was very little trade, and the interest of the inhabitants
was centred in agriculture. But of all this in reality we know very
little.
The life of the Spartan citizens was the most regular and uniform, and
this in consequence of the fixed and severe demands made on them by the
State. Their dwellings, though large and roomy, were of the simplest
description, and in other respects, too, the life of the Dorians was
distinguished by simplicity, yet even here refinements of life gradually
gained ground, and in the Dorian colonies often went so far as to
produce effeminacy. Life at Sparta itself adhered longest to its
primitive simplicity. Here, too, the old Dorian custom of common meals,
called _Syssitia_ or Pheiditia, prevailed longest; a Spartan took his
meals, not with his family, but with other companions, usually connected
by relationship. They were small parties of about fifteen men, who
clubbed together for this purpose; each contributed his appointed share
to the expenses of the meal, partly in kind (especially barley, wine,
cheese, figs, or dates), partly in money for the purchase of meat. This
last was, however, supplied in part by the frequent sacrifices, and also
by hunting, for the custom prevailed of contributing additional gifts
now and then, apart from the legal contribution: sometimes some game or
wheaten bread, instead of the usual barley bread, or poultry, young
cattle, fruits, etc., according to opportunity or season. The notorious
“black broth,” which played a great part at these meals, was not so much
soup as a solid meat dish with broth, and though simple and easily
prepared, was probably not as bad as it seemed to the dainty palates of
the other Greeks. These common meals, though by no means luxurious, were
not in any sense meagre; and though plentiful drinking after the meal
was not as customary at Sparta as in other places, yet every guest had
his cup beside him filled with mixed wine, and as soon as it was empty
it was filled up again by the cup-bearer. The intercourse among these
men was cheerful and free; they discussed political and military
matters, and also found time for merriment and even singing. Women dined
alone at home with the smaller children and the daughters; the boys, as
soon as they had outgrown their mother’s care, were taken by their
fathers to the mess, and sat beside them there on low stools, receiving
little portions of the dishes which were considered suitable for youth.
When they grew older they dined together with their own mess.
No Greek race despised handicrafts when pursued for the sake of money as
much as the Dorians; no Spartan would pursue a craft or trade. Still the
life of the Laconian must not be imagined as one of pure idleness; there
were sufficient opportunities for other occupations. In the first place
there were the gymnastic and military exercises, which occupied a great
part of the day, then there was the study of music, which was continued
even after their education had ended; hunting, too, was a very favourite
occupation among the Dorians, and was valued on account of its tendency
to harden the body. Some time, too, was occupied by State matters, and
also by the exercise of religious duties, such as sacrifices, choruses,
etc. Moreover, there was a great deal of social life among the men. In
most Dorian cities there were special meeting-halls, or club-rooms
(λέσχαι), which existed at Athens also and other places. The older
citizens used to assemble there and discuss various matters of interest.
We must now turn to Athens, where, in consequence of the more numerous
literary authorities, we can form a clearer idea of the conditions, and
attempt also to form a picture of the town itself, such as it appeared
in its most flourishing period under Pericles, and after his time. It
would be a great mistake to form an idea of the appearance of the whole
city from the splendid buildings on the Acropolis, the temples which are
partly standing at the present day, and the other public buildings which
were constructed and decorated without regard to expense. Most private
houses were quite plain outside; the ground-floor generally had no
windows; there were no splendid porticoes, or elaborate façades, and
they were low, seldom having more than two storeys. There was no regular
arrangement of streets in the older period, any more than there was in
our cities in the middle ages; and even after the burning of the city by
the Persians, when dwellings had to be constructed for the returning
population, the town was quickly rebuilt without any regular plan. It
was not till later that streets were methodically laid out, and this was
largely due to the influence of Hippodamus of Miletus, who flourished
about the middle of the fifth century, and reformed the ancient style of
building cities. Athens itself could not profit by his system, which
adopted a uniform artistic plan for the construction of a whole town;
but he was able to carry out his scheme in the building of the lower
city, near the Peiraeus, which took place under Pericles. Here
Hippodamus constructed a network of straight broad streets, cutting each
other at right angles, and in the middle he placed a large market,
evidently in the form of a square, called the “Market of Hippodamus.”
The land belonging to this suburb had probably been very little built
on; we do not know whether the State had any right of ownership over
these new buildings. The flourishing suburbs, the numerous public
squares planted with trees and laid out in the manner of parks, did much
to improve the appearance of the city, but a great deal must still have
been wanting to make it appear really comfortable to us moderns, or even
to the Romans of the Empire. In the first place, the streets were
unpaved, and there were no sidewalks; these improvements were not
introduced until the Roman period, and Greek antiquity was content with
ordinary high roads; it is natural, therefore, that in dry weather the
dust, and in rainy weather the mud, should have been disagreeable. Very
little attention was paid to the cleanliness of public roads; all
kitchen refuse, bath water, etc., was simply poured out of doors; at
night it was even thrown straight from the windows on to the street, and
though it was usual to call, “Out of the way,” yet careless people might
sometimes be besprinkled on their way home at night. There was no public
cleansing of the streets; it was left to beneficent rains to wash away
all uncleanness, although the street and market police (ἀστυνόμοι) and
(ἀγορανόμοι), whose duty it was to maintain order in the streets and
market places, were supposed to see that they were kept in proper
condition, and could compel proprietors who threw out ashes or other
refuse to clear this away; yet they probably confined themselves to
keeping the streets in fairly good building condition, and seeing that
all was in order when processions had to pass along certain roads.
Generally speaking, Nissen[D] is probably right when he maintains that,
to form an idea of the life at Athens by any modern counterpart, we must
not think of Florence or Munich, but rather of Cairo or Tunis.
As regards the interior of the houses, we know very little about the
arrangement and appointment of the rooms. Naturally these were liable to
variations, since a small family might inhabit a modest little dwelling,
or there might be larger houses, containing numerous apartments. The
front door, which opened (sometimes outwards) into the street, at which
those who desired entrance knocked with their fingers or the knocker,
was opened by a slave, acting as porter, and generally led to a hall,
through which, either direct or through a second door, an open hall
surrounded with a colonnade (_Peristylium_) was reached, which in the
dwelling-houses of the historic period corresponded to the open
courtyard of the Homeric palace, and bears an analogy to the _Atrium_ of
the Roman house. This space, which was uncovered in the middle, and
surrounded by colonnades, was the usual dwelling-place of the family;
sometimes they took their meals there, and the altar to _Zeus Herkeios_
generally stood there. Round about were apartments whose doors, and
probably windows, too, opened into the central hall; for it was not
customary to have ground-floor windows opening on the street, and the
sides of the houses usually touched the walls of the neighbouring
buildings, so that the rooms on the ground-floor could, as a rule, only
obtain their light from the central hall. Some of these apartments were
destined for the men, and others for the women, but there was no
general room. If the house was built on a considerable space, and had
only one storey, the men’s rooms generally opened direct on the central
hall, while the women’s were placed behind these, and were separate from
them, having a special door, and doubtless, too, a special corridor,
through which the women could reach the street without passing through
the men’s apartments. If the house was small it was built in two
storeys, and the women’s apartments were then situated in the upper
storey. This latter arrangement appears to have been the more frequent.
We often find allusions to women looking down on to the street from the
windows of the upper storeys, and we also often find women represented
on vase pictures sitting at upper-storey windows. These window openings
were closed either by bars or wooden shutters, since glass panes were
unknown in the Greek period. Where there were a good many slaves, it
seems that the male slaves slept in the men’s apartments, and the female
in the women’s apartments, except in those cases where the master
allowed certain couples to live together. In larger houses, which
contained a great number of rooms, we must imagine not only special
sleeping and dining apartments, along with guest-chambers, rooms for the
slaves, store-rooms, work-rooms, library, bathroom, etc., but also a
second hall in the centre of the women’s apartments, and gardens
connected with this; though flower gardens seem to have been a late
introduction at Athens--it is said, indeed, that they date from the time
of Epicurus. We must not assume that everyone had his own house in
ancient Athens. It is true that a house could be acquired for a very low
price, as is proved by the example of Socrates, whose whole wealth was
taxed as five minae (something under twenty pounds), and yet included a
house; but still there were a great number of poorer citizens who hired
their dwellings. The upper storey, which no doubt had a special
entrance, and which occasionally projected beyond the ground-floor, was
let to lodgers, while the owner lived on the ground-floor. Large
lodging-houses, many storeys high, such as existed at Rome, were
probably not found at Athens in the classical period.
We have no certain information about the place of the kitchen. It was
probably always on the ground-floor, and was certainly the only room in
the house which had a chimney, since there was no heating apparatus in
the dwelling rooms. There appears to have been a complete absence of all
sanitary conveniences.
At the present day an indispensable factor in our daily occupations is
some apparatus for measuring the time. This was not of so much
consequence in Greek antiquity, and, in fact, the means for exact
division were wanting. They had no exact arrangement of days extending
from midnight to midnight, with twenty-four hours of equal length, but
instead they distinguished between day-time and night-time, calculating
from sunrise to sunset, and naturally the length of these periods
differed according to the time of year. These two chief divisions were
again subdivided; first came early morning (from about 6 till 9, if we
take the equinoctial periods), the forenoon, when the market-place began
to fill (9 to 12), the mid-day heat (12 to 3), and the late afternoon (3
to 6); in the night there was, first, the time when the lamps were lit
(6 to 10), next the dead hours of the night (10 to 2), last the dawn (2
to 6). Besides this, they divided the day into twelve equal divisions,
the length of which naturally varied according to the length of the day.
For this purpose they made use of the sun, which was, of course, only
available on cloudless days, though these are by no means infrequent in
the south. All these arrangements for measuring the time were probably
invented by the Babylonians in very ancient times, and introduced among
the Greeks by Anaximander about 500 B.C. The most primitive is the
“shadow-pointer,” which is only a pointed stick fixed in the earth, or a
column, or anything else of the kind; the length of the shadow, which
varies with the position of the sun, supplied the standard for
calculating the hours. The length of the shadow, which changed from
morning to evening, made a superficial division of time possible, but it
could not fix the time once for all, for all days of the year, but had
to be specially calculated according to the changes of the seasons.
Twelve divisions of the day, to be determined by the shadow,
corresponded with ours only at the equinox; these hours, if we may use
the expression, were longer in summer and shorter in winter than our
equinoctial hours. This explains why the time of the chief meal, which
was usually taken at about five or six in the afternoon, was indicated
sometimes by a 7-foot, sometimes by a 10-or 12-foot, or even a 20-foot
shadow; for though at midsummer the shadow would be quite small at this
time, it would have a considerable length at the equinox, and at the
time of the winter solstice it is probable that they did not dine until
after sunset. Unfortunately, we have not sufficient information to
determine exactly the length of this shadow-pointer, which was doubtless
always the same, in order to prevent confusion. The assumption that the
pointer was about the average height of a human being, and that people
even used their own shadows for measuring time, is very improbable. Such
shadow-pointers probably stood in public places, where everyone could
make use of them with help of the lines drawn on the ground; they could
only be set up in private dwellings when these had large open spaces
(which was not often the case) to which the sun could have access all
day long. In later times inventions were made which supplied what was
wanting in this mode of reckoning time; lines were graven on the stone
floor on which the shadow-pointer stood, which gave, at any rate, some
indication of the change in the length of the hours according to the
months; a network of lines of this description belonged to the obelisk
which Augustus set up on the Campus Martius, and also used as a
shadow-pointer.
The sun-dials, invented later than the shadow-pointers, probably by
Aristarchus, about 270 B.C., were different; here the shadow of a stick
placed in a semicircle, on which the hours were marked by lines,
indicated the time of day. There were three kinds: first, those that
were calculated at the place on which they were set up, and could not be
moved, and which indicated the hours of the day according as they
changed in the course of the year; second, those which were arranged for
moving, and could be set up at different places; and, third, those used
by mathematicians, which showed the equinoctial hours such as we use
to-day. It is impossible, however, to determine whether the Greeks were
acquainted with all the three kinds which we find in use in the Roman
period.
Besides this, water clocks were used, and here again we must distinguish
two kinds. The common water clock, which, like our hour-glass, marked a
definite period of time by the flowing away of a certain quantity of
water, is certainly a very ancient invention. This clock consisted of a
vessel of clay or glass, in the shape of a jar or a basin, which was
filled with water by an opening above, and a second cup-shaped vessel,
on the top of which the former was arranged in such a way that the water
poured out slowly through little sieve-like openings into the lower
vessel. Water clocks of this kind probably existed in most households,
but were not real clocks, since they did not indicate the hour of the
day, but were only used for calculating some particular period of time.
They were chiefly used in the law courts to mark the time allowed to
each speaker, and when a speech was interrupted in order to hear
witnesses, or to read out documents, or for any other purpose, the flow
of the water was stopped, and it was set going again when the orator
continued his speech. These water clocks were also used on other
occasions wherever certain periods of time had to be calculated, and
this might take place in any household. The same principle underlay the
water clocks which were supposed to have been invented by Plato, and
perfected by the Alexandrine Ctesibius, by means of which a long period
of time could be subdivided into equal parts, and thus the hours of the
night could be calculated, which was of great importance. These water
clocks could only be constructed when it was possible to make
transparent glass vessels large enough to hold a quantity of water
sufficient to last for twelve hours and longer; on the glass there was a
scale graven, which gave the relation of the hours to the height of the
water. But as the length of the night decreases and increases in the
course of the
[Illustration: FIG. 93.]
year, like that of the day, and therefore the length of the night hours
is continually decreasing and increasing, a very complicated network of
lines was required; four vertical lines denoted the length of the hours
at the two solstices and the two equinoxes, so that the exact ratio was
given for these days. At other times they had to make shift with a more
or less exact calculation, assisted by horizontal curves, which
connected together the third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth hours (Compare
the scheme represented in Fig. 93, which shows the network of lines
engraved on the glass vessel.) The longest and shortest days are here
set down according to the latitude of Athens, the former as 14 hours, 36
minutes, 56 seconds, the latter as 9 hours, 14 minutes, 16 seconds. The
improvement of Ctesibius consisted in adding a table with horizontal
hour-lines to the water-vessel, on which a metal wire, fastened to a
cork that swam on the water, marked the time by its position, which rose
according to the increase of the water. These clocks could, of course,
be used in the daytime, when the weather made the sun-dial useless, but
a different scale was required from that of the night clocks. Still, as
the difference between the longest night and the longest day, and the
shortest night and the shortest day, is very slight, the same scale
could really be used for day and night, but in reverse order as
indicated by Fig. 93.
[Illustration:FIG. 94.]
Let us now consider the manner in which an Athenian citizen usually
divided his time. We cannot, of course, name any definite hour for
rising, still it seems probable that early rising was the rule at
Athens, and that not only the artisans began their work directly after
sunrise, but that the schools, too, often opened early. The morning
toilet does not seem to have occupied much time. In washing, a slave
poured water over his master from an ewer over a basin, and some
substitute for soap, such as fuller’s earth or lye, was used; men who
lived very simple lives, like Socrates, probably performed their
ablutions at one of the public wells. Breakfast was a scanty meal, and
generally consisted of unmixed wine and bread. After that, artisans or
others who had a definite trade went to their daily occupations; but the
citizens who had no regular profession, unless attracted by some other
occupation, such as hunting, generally spent the morning hours visiting
their friends, practising gymnastics, or, supposing they put off these
occupations to a later hour, visiting the barber to have their hair
arranged or their beards cut or shaved. As we have already discussed the
question of hair-dressing (p. 65), we will here only give a picture of
some ancient bronze razors (Fig. 94), which are of semi-circular shape,
and differ essentially from our modern ones. The pretty terra-cotta
group
[Illustration: FIG. 95.]
from Tanagra, in Fig. 95, transports us to a barber’s shop; a worthy
citizen, apparently covered by a long dressing-mantle, is seated on a
low stool, while a short man standing behind him--perhaps a slave--is
carefully cutting his hair with a pair of scissors. Barbers undertook
the care of both hair and beard, and cut and cleaned the nails. These
barbers’ shops were also meeting-places for the citizens--not only for
idlers, but, generally speaking, for all who desired to hear the news.
This custom still prevails in many parts of Italy, especially in the
south, where the _Salone_ is a general meeting-place. Even in ancient
times barbers had a reputation for being talkative. Every day many
people entered their shops, and among them strangers who brought news
and expected to receive some in exchange. It is well known that the news
of the defeat of the Athenian expedition to Sicily was first made known
in a barber’s shop in the Peiraeus by a stranger who had just landed.
All this occupied about the first quarter of the day; the second part
was devoted to visiting the market. The market-place served not only its
original end as a place for selling, but was also the place where
acquaintances met and business was transacted. Here stood the
money-changers and the bankers, at their booths or shops; here were
shady arcades, with comfortable seats, where the hot rays of the sun
might be avoided in summer, while there was opportunity in the winter of
profiting by the warmth of the workshops situated close by the
market-place. It was a very general custom in cold weather to go to
public baths or smiths’ workshops, where a warm stove could certainly be
found, and poor people, who did not possess the means of warming
themselves at home, often pressed so eagerly to the bath-stoves that
they singed their clothes. In fact, it was a very general custom to
enter any workshop or booth to have a chat with the owner or the
visitors there, even without any intention of making purchases. We need
not, therefore, be surprised when we hear of Socrates visiting a
shoemaker or a sculptor or any other artisan and beginning a discussion
with him; this custom was so general that meetings were arranged in the
workshops--thus, for instance, the people of Decelea, when they came to
Athens, always met at a particular barber’s shop.
The men also went to market with the object of making purchases, for at
Athens, curiously enough, this shopping was not undertaken by the women
or their servants, but by the men instead, who were accompanied by a
slave, and themselves purchased the required food, and in particular the
fish, so very popular at Athens, for which there was a special market,
whose beginning was announced by a bell. Later on, in the third century,
it seems to have been no longer regarded as correct for the master of
the house to make his own purchases; in the richer houses there was a
special slave (ἀγοραστής) kept for this purpose; female slaves, too,
were sometimes sent.
At mid-day the market was usually over; then the men went home and took
a slight repast, not by any means the chief meal of the day, but rather
something like our lunch. This meal, of course, varied a good deal
according to individual fancy; many people contented themselves with the
remains of the previous day’s dinner, others had fresh warm dishes
served them; and in Sicily and Magna Graecia, where great stress was
laid on good and plentiful food, this often became a really substantial
meal. Some people entirely omitted this lunch, and either took a late
breakfast or an earlier dinner. Still, most well-to-do people seem to
have taken some meal at the end of their morning’s business.
The afternoon was spent in various ways. The heat which prevails at this
time during the greater part of the year generally compelled people to
stay at home then; some took a little mid-day nap, but this was not very
general. Men of serious disposition devoted these hours to reading or
other intellectual pursuits, while those who were inclined to idleness
probably went, even in the afternoon, to the houses devoted to
dice-throwing and drinking, or else dawdled about in the barbers’ shops,
workshops, etc.; the club rooms, which were specially devoted to social
intercourse among the citizens, were probably very full at this time.
Between the third and fourth divisions of the day, they generally took a
bath as a preparation for dinner. The custom of taking a warm bath daily
had at first found much opposition in Greece. In Homer we find warm
baths only mentioned as a refreshment after long journeys or other
fatigues, or else used for purposes of cleanliness; later on, cold
baths, especially in the sea or in streams, were recommended as good for
the health and strengthening for the nerves, while warm baths were
looked upon as enervating; still the custom became very common of taking
a bath before dinner, either at home or in one of the public baths. We
have already introduced our readers to a public bath for women; Fig. 96
represents a public bath for men, taken from a vase picture. In the
middle is the bath room, where the water is pouring out of two animals’
heads. On the right and left are youths who have already taken their
bath, and are about to anoint themselves with oil. We know very little
about these public baths from writers or from remains of the buildings.
They were certainly not nearly so large or so luxurious as the _Thermae_
of the Roman Empire; but even in the Greek baths there were separate
apartments for warm, cold, and vapour baths, with large reservoirs or
smaller basins, in which water was poured out over the body, also rooms
for undressing, anointing, etc. The more the custom grew of remaining
for hours in these places or connecting them with the gymnasia, the more
extensive they became and
[Illustration: FIG. 96.]
the more luxurious. We cannot accurately ascertain to what extent the
State sometimes owned these public baths and attended to their
maintenance, but admission was not free even to these; a small fee was
paid to the bath attendant, who superintended the place, and rendered
assistance in the bath, not perhaps to cover the expenses of
maintenance, so much as for his own trouble and labour. The owners of
private establishments were obliged to charge higher fees if they wanted
not only to cover their expenses, but also to gain a profit; mention is
made of a private bathing establishment which was sold for 3,000
drachmae, and must, therefore, have brought in corresponding interest to
the purchaser, which could only be obtained by the entrance fees of the
bathers. The owner and attendants were responsible for the care of the
bath, but not for the clothes of the bathers, which were often stolen.
Those who had plenty of slaves used, therefore, to bring one with them
to carry the utensils required for the bath, such as towels, oil flasks,
and strigils, and to watch over his master’s clothes while he was
bathing. As the custom of taking a warm bath daily became more general,
the scene in the bath houses an hour before dinner grew more and more
animated. Talking and joking went on; cheerfully-disposed people even
sang, though that was regarded as unseemly; in the rooms devoted to
refreshment after the bath they played knuckle-bones, or dice, or ball,
sometimes even cottabus, for which game wine was necessary, and hence we
must infer that opportunity for wine drinking was also given there in
later times.
Towards sunset, or in winter after sunset, they returned home for the
principal meal, or else went to the house of some friend who had invited
guests. In the latter case the meal was generally a good deal prolonged,
and followed by drinking, which extended far into the night. Those who
dined at home with their wives and children generally finished their
meal very quickly, and as the custom of early rising prevailed, they
were probably in the habit of retiring early, unless the cares of
business, study, or other serious pursuits kept some of them awake by
lamplight; for the quiet of the night was a propitious time for serious
thought after the noise of the day, which was probably as great in
ancient times in the busy south as it is to-day. It is well-known that
Demosthenes prepared nearly all his speeches at night.
There were also many other occupations, partly serious, partly
entertaining, which filled up the life of the Greek citizen. At the time
of the highest political development of Athens, in the fifth and fourth
centuries, the political and judicial duties occupied a considerable
amount of a citizen’s time. Even if he did not fill any of the numerous
unpaid posts, or sit in the Council of Five Hundred, the _Boule_, whose
duty it was to hold preliminary discussions, he still had to devote
about forty days of the year to the ordinary popular assemblies, in
addition to which there were often extraordinary meetings. Supposing the
lot should have appointed him to be one of the 6,000 jurymen (ἡλιασταί)
annually chosen, this gave him plenty to do for his year of office, for,
besides the meetings, he had to acquire information about various suits
at which he had to give his opinion; and we know, chiefly from
Aristophanes, how devoted many citizens were to their judicial duties,
and how all their thoughts and actions were often centred in this
activity, which by no means always exercised a good moral influence over
them. Rich citizens also performed voluntary public services
(λειτουργίαι), which consisted partly in entertaining the people by
providing scenic or choric representations, gymnastic games, torchlight
processions, etc., partly in important services to the State, such as
equipping a man-of-war at their own expense. These voluntary services
not only imposed on the rich citizens considerable money burdens, which
in later times, when the Athenian wealth had diminished, could no longer
be met by one individual, but also took up a great deal of their time,
since they had not only to supply the necessary money, but also to
superintend and arrange the work. Another change in the monotony of
daily life was supplied by the religious festivals, in which the Attic
calendar was unusually rich, and the theatrical and other performances
connected with them, with which we shall deal later on.
Those who possessed estates in the country, even when they lived in
town, often went out to them to look after the management; hunting and
bird-catching were also very popular occupations. The former especially
was a favourite amusement. Hunting in ancient times was very different
from what it is at the present day; this is partly due to the great
difference between our modern firearms and the hunting implements of the
ancients, partly to their almost universal custom of using nets, into
which they drove the game and there killed it. These nets were used for
nearly all quadrupeds which they hunted, and the strength and density of
the meshes differed according to the object hunted, as well as the
method of arrangement. There were in particular bag nets, which were
drawn together behind the game when it ran into it, and falling nets,
which were hung loosely on forked sticks, and when the animal ran
against them fell down from the sticks and entangled it. Snares were
also used for catching not only hares and foxes, but also larger
four-footed game, such as boars and stags. In consequence of this custom
of driving the game, and bringing it to bay, bows which were calculated
for longer distances were of very little use in hunting; the animals
were either killed by a light javelin thrown from a small distance, or,
if the game had turned to bay, with a hanger, which was especially
useful in boar hunting. Dogs were used for starting the game and driving
it into the nets at bay, and the ancients devoted a good deal of care to
their training; indeed, the important part played by dogs in Greek
hunting is expressed by the Greek name for huntsman, which means “dog
leader” (κυνηγός). They used to hunt boars, stags, hares; beasts of
prey, such as wolves and jackals, were only hunted when they were
dangerous to the herds; and larger animals, such as lions and bears,
did not exist at all in Greece in historic ages, although the numerous
legends of lion hunts bear sufficient testimony to their existence in
earlier times. Birds were caught with nets, snares, traps, and lime;
and, since Greece was by no means rich in quadrupeds suitable for
hunting, bird-catching was one of the most popular occupations, and also
a lucrative one. On the other hand, fishing, which was carried on with
both lines and nets, seems never to have become a regular sport.
We have already alluded to the practice of visiting the gymnasia, and
the military duties of the citizens. There were also public houses and
gaming houses, but these do not appear to have played a great part in
the lives of the men. The drinking parties supplied sufficient
opportunity for social meetings. Those who visited the public drinking
bars usually did so for other purposes as well--to see pretty girls or
to meet companions for dice, though both these purposes could be
effected in special houses. It is natural, therefore, that it was not
regarded as respectable to visit these wine taverns, and that grave men,
as well as youths of good principle, avoided them. Still, even here the
custom seems to have gradually relaxed, and though the Athenians were
never as bad as the inhabitants of Byzantium, who were accused of
spending the whole day at the bars, yet at the end of the fourth and in
the third century B.C. it was very common for young men, or people of
the lower classes, to dawdle about in the wine bars and gaming houses.
Travelling played a far less important part in the life of the Greeks
than it does at the present day. In ancient times almost the only
inducement for travelling was business. The merchant plied his trade
chiefly as a sailor, the small shopkeeper travelled about the country
as a pedlar. In the heroic period we also find artisans and travelling
singers on their wanderings, and in the first centuries of the
development of art, and to some extent even afterwards, sculptors and
architects were summoned from a distance to execute commissions under
the orders of the State, or some special board of officials. But those
who were neither merchants nor artisans had less inducement to travel;
for military expeditions, which of course were numerous, can hardly be
included among journeys. There were also official embassies and
pilgrimages to celebrated shrines, or visits to the great national
festivals. Again, Solon, Herodotus, and others travelled for political
or scientific purposes, with a view to study history or ethnography,
that they might learn to know foreign nations, their manners and
customs, countries and buildings. In the Alexandrine period, journeys
were also undertaken for purposes of natural science. Our modern custom
of visiting foreign lands for the sake of their natural beauty was
unknown in Greek antiquity, but we must not on that account suppose that
the ancients had no feeling for natural beauty. The Odyssey gives a
picture of travel in heroic times; the common man trudges along on foot,
while the rich man goes in his carriage, drawn by horses or mules, and
the fact that the latter was possible even in the mountainous
Peloponnesus, proves that even at that period good roads must have
existed there. The Greeks never attained as great perfection in
road-making as the Romans; apparently those roads were kept in best
condition which led to the national sanctuaries, and here regular tracks
were cut out of the rocky ground, and there were places for passing
other carriages, halting places, etc. This was not, however, the case
with all the roads, and we must not assume that ancient Greece
possessed a well-kept complicated network of streets, such as the
practical Romans constructed at every place to which their legions came;
indeed, in historic times it appears that people travelled very little
in carriages. Of course these had to be used on long journeys,
especially when women were travelling; then they used four-wheeled
carriages, which were sometimes used for sleeping in; and they also had
smaller two-wheeled carts. But as a rule men travelled on horse-back or
mule-back, and very often merely on foot, followed by one or many
slaves, who carried the baggage required for the journey, in particular
bed-coverings, clothes, utensils, etc.
If it was necessary to spend the night anywhere on a journey of several
days, the widespread beautiful custom of hospitality which prevailed in
ancient times, and made men regard every stranger as under the
protection of Zeus, enabled them to find shelter; and, though this
custom could not maintain itself in later times in its full extent, yet
the effects of it still remained, and many people entered into a sort of
treaty of hospitality with men in other towns, which was usually handed
on to the descendants. By this they pledged themselves on the occasion
of visits from members of one or the other family, to receive them in
their houses and afford them the rights of hospitality; some little
token of recognition previously agreed on--such as a little tablet, a
ring broken into two halves, or something else of the sort--was used in
such cases to legitimise the stranger. Sometimes whole districts entered
into a league of this kind with one another, or one single rich man
became the “guest-friend” of some foreign community, and entertained
them when they came to his home. The service of the “guest-friend” was
not always extended so far as to supply complete entertainment to the
stranger as well as lodging; often he only supplied the lodging, the
necessary coverings for the bed, and the use of the fire, which could
not easily be procured, but in other respects left the guest, if he had
brought servants with him, to provide for himself; some additional gifts
of hospitality were usually sent him. Still this custom of
“guest-friendship” was not sufficient to supply shelter for all
travellers; therefore inns were opened in large trading cities, near
harbours, and places of pilgrimage, such as Delos, Delphi, Olympia,
etc., where strangers were entertained for payment. These inns were of
very various character--some of them apparently supplied only rooms and
a little furniture, especially bedsteads, while the stranger brought his
own bed and coverlets, and had to provide his own food; others supplied
food and drink, and were often houses of ill-fame, and in consequence it
is natural that the position of inn-keeper should have been generally
looked down upon in Greek antiquity. Probably these inns were not
particularly pleasant places to stay in; very often the landlord cheated
the travellers, and it was customary to arrange the price of everything
beforehand; there were also inns which were used as hiding-places by
robbers and thieves, and thus might prove dangerous quarters for the
guests. Another disagreeable accompaniment of southern inns, even in the
present day, is hinted at by Aristophanes in the “Frogs,” when Dionysus,
on his journey to Hades, inquires for the inns in which there are fewest
fleas. Travellers do not seem to have troubled themselves about
passports; a legitimation was only necessary when the town to which they
were going was engaged in war, or when they went into a hostile country
in time of war. But to travel at all at such times was not advisable,
for the roads, which at no time were specially safe, were then infested
by travelling mercenaries or marauders. Sometimes travellers had to
submit to an examination of their luggage. Officials generally farmed
out the tolls to private undertakers, and these therefore had, or at any
rate took, the right, if they suspected travellers of trying to smuggle
dutiable articles, to stop them and examine their luggage, and sometimes
even to open letters which they had by them.
CHAPTER VI.
MEALS AND SOCIAL ENTERTAINMENTS.
Banquets--The Various Courses--The Symposium--Its
Character--Conversation--Music--Entertainments--Jugglers--Flute-Girls--
Riddles--Games--Excessive Drinking.
At Athens, and probably throughout Greece--except, perhaps, at
Sparta--the chief meal of the day was taken in the evening. This was
not, however, the case in the Homeric period, when it was taken at
mid-day, and the evening meal was of less importance. The customs of the
heroic age differed in many respects from those of later times. In
particular, the practice of sitting on chairs at meals then prevailed,
and, in fact, there was no large common table used by all, but each
guest had his own little table before him, on which the attendants
placed the food which had been carved at a special board used for the
purpose. Another difference is that, though the Homeric heroes, in
accordance with the condition of their times, which laid special stress
on the pleasures of the senses, cared a good deal for plentiful food and
drink, and though full cups were continually circling at the meals,
still the regular drinking parties which were common in later times, and
which followed the meal itself, were quite unknown in the heroic age.
In considering the meals of the historical period, particularly at
Athens, we must remember that we are dealing specially with large common
banquets, which were very frequent among men, and not with the usual
family meal, which the master of the house took in the circle of his
family. We know very little of the proceedings at these family dinners,
and that only from works of art. On Greek reliefs on tombstones we often
find, from the classical to the Imperial period, representations of the
family meal, where the master of the house lies on his couch, his wife
sitting on it at his feet, for it was not considered correct for women
to lie down at meals as the men did, and when we see on works of art
women lying down along with the men, we may be certain that these are
hetaerae, who were not bound by the same rules of custom. The children
of the house sat round the table on chairs. But as a rule, the wife and
children only dined in the most intimate family circle; when guests were
invited they dined alone in the women’s apartments, and only on some few
occasions, especially weddings and family festivals, were the women
allowed to appear before the men.
The custom of entertainments for men alone was far more common in
antiquity than at the present day; for these banquets took the place not
only of our parties and other social gatherings, but they also gave the
men an opportunity, especially in the drinking which followed, while
sitting together over their wine, to discuss at their leisure both
serious and frivolous matters. There were also plenty of festive
occasions which gave opportunities for these common banquets; a public
or private sacrifice was a very common excuse, if only because the flesh
of the victim--of which, as a rule, only the entrails were burnt--could
be best made use of in this manner. There were also birthdays, funerals,
victories in some contest or game, departure or return from a journey of
a friend, etc.; all these occasions were celebrated by feasts, and
there were also great public banquets, which were usually of a simpler
character, owing to the number of guests and the fact that the expenses
were publicly defrayed. Besides these meals, to which individuals
invited their friends or relations, picnics were very common. Very often
all who participated sent baskets of provisions into the house of one
who gave up his rooms for the purpose; but it was even commoner for each
to contribute a certain share of money, and thus to defray the expenses
of the meal, which was taken at the house of one of the participants, or
of some obliging hetaera. We do not know what arrangement was made about
the wine, and whether the expenses of this were also defrayed out of the
general charge.
Generally speaking, in the fifth and fourth centuries there was a great
deal of simple and pleasant social intercourse; friends were invited
without any ceremony, during the course of the day, to come to the
evening meal. If they did not appear at the appointed hour, the meal
began without them, and if the guest put in his appearance later on,
this was regarded as a matter of course. It seems not to have been
unusual to go even uninvited to the meal or to the _Symposium_ which
followed it, and one of the speakers in Plato’s “Symposium” suggests the
following version of a line in Homer:--
“To the feasts of the good, the good unbidden go.”
Sometimes idle fellows, such as the parasites who were always hunting
for a dinner, made too liberal use of this hospitality, or persons made
their appearance who did not suit with the rest of the company and would
have disturbed the general harmony. In such cases the door keeping slave
received the order to send away certain persons, saying, “My master is
not at home,” or else, “He has already retired to rest.”
The usual course of proceedings at one of these banquets was as follows.
The invited guests, who according to custom had previously attended the
bath, first took their places sitting on the couches placed ready for
them. The slaves of the host, or even of the guests, who often brought
them to help wait at table, then took off their masters’ sandals or
shoes, and as the dust of the street might have soiled their feet, which
were but slightly protected by the soles, these were washed once more by
the slaves, a proceeding which was the more necessary, as in lying down
they often rested on couches covered with very valuable coverlets.
Hereupon they lay down, as a rule two guests on one sofa, but the
monuments often show us three or even more persons on a single couch,
and we cannot always determine with certainty whether the artist has
adhered to the actual practice or introduced arbitrary changes of his
own. In lying down they rested on their left elbow, or on numerous
cushions at their back; the right arm was left free, in order to take
the food from the table and reach it to the mouth; but plates, dishes,
cups, etc., were also taken in the left hand. When the guests had all
lain down and washed their hands in bowls handed round for the purpose,
the little three-legged dining tables were brought in, which were always
a little lower than the sofas. On these the food was arranged in dishes
or plates, and always cut up small, for forks were never used at table,
but only in the kitchen by the cooks for carving the meat, whilst the
guests made use, instead, of a spoon or sometimes of a piece of bread
hollowed out, and very seldom used a knife. Table cloths and napkins
were unknown; the place of the latter was taken by soft dough, on which
the fingers were rubbed. At large banquets, sometimes towels and water
for washing the hands were handed round between the courses, and this
was always done at the end of a meal. The practice of using the fingers
for eating made this indispensable.
Luxurious living, which was of course unknown at Sparta, was far less
common at Athens, too, than in many other Greek states, such as
Thessaly, and in particular Sicily and Magna Graecia. In these places
the gastronomic art was cultivated to a high degree, and there were
books in which the various kinds of joints and ragouts, fishes and
sweets, etc., were enumerated in verse, sometimes in a comic manner and
sometimes with due seriousness. The Boeotians, on the other hand, had a
bad name for consuming great quantities of food, and this of a coarse
description. At Athens, in the classic period, meals were, as a rule,
simple and modest. In the various descriptions of banquets handed down
to us by different writers, no mention is ever made of the cooking, and
the simplicity of Plato’s meals may be inferred from the somewhat
malicious remark commonly made that those who had dined with Plato would
be in excellent health next morning.
The meat most in use was that of the sacrificial animals, especially
oxen, sheep, goats, and swine; this last was very popular, both roast
and salted or smoked, and was also used for sausages. The ancients were
acquainted with various kinds of sausage; we find allusions to these
even in Homer; they were also acquainted with the practice of
adulterating them by introducing the flesh of dogs or asses. In poultry,
they had fowls, ducks, geese, quails, and also wild birds, such as
partridges and wood pigeons; the special favourites were thrushes,
which were a very popular dainty in the poultry market, where dishonest
poulterers blew the birds up in order to make them seem fatter and in
better condition. A favourite kind of game was hare, which is very
frequently mentioned; they even had a proverb, “To live in the midst of
roast hare,” which means to be in a land of plenty. Fish, too, was eaten
in great quantities. In the Homeric period the taste for it did not yet
exist, but in later times it was very much sought after. A special
delicacy was eels, from Lake Copais, which are often mentioned, and were
favourites with all the Athenian _gourmets_. Otherwise, sea fish was
preferred to fresh-water fish, and there seems no end to the various
kinds mentioned, which were also prepared in many different ways. The
inexhaustible wealth of the neighbouring sea permitted even the poor
people to have fish in plenty; in particular, the delicate sardines,
which were caught in the harbour of Phalerum, and which were cheap and
also quickly prepared, formed an important article of food for the
Athenians. There were also great quantities of salt and smoked fish,
which were prepared in the large smoking establishments of the Black Sea
and on the coast of Spain, and brought by traders to Greece. The salted
tunnies, herrings, etc., were excellent and also cheap, and therefore
very common as food for the people. In the houses of the richer classes
the finer kinds were also used--various sorts of fish sauces, caviar,
oysters, turtles, etc., which added to the variety of the bills of fare,
and could satisfy even the daintiest palates.
Under the heading of vegetable food, we must first of all consider bread
and porridge. The kinds of grain chiefly used were wheat and barley, as
well as spelt; rye was not cultivated in Greece, and rye bread was
regarded as food for barbarians. Bread was made chiefly of wheat, and
was white or brown, according to the greater or less addition of bran
and the finer quality of the flour. But the common people did not eat
much wheaten bread; the chief daily food of the poorer people was a kind
of barley cake, called _maza_, a sort of porridge, which was moistened
and dissolved in water, and of which there were various kinds with
different savoury additions. This porridge seems to have resembled the
_polenta_ still used in the south, but was probably not much eaten by
the richer classes. They had also green vegetables and salads,
asparagus, radishes, mushrooms, lentils, peas, lupins, etc. These
leguminous vegetables supplied nourishing fare for poor people, and were
therefore sold by street cooks hot from the fire, at a low price. We
find even in antiquity the fondness for onions and garlic still shown by
southern nations, and these were eaten raw with bread. Besides salt,
pepper, and vinegar, various spices were used to flavour the dishes,
such as sesame, coriander, caraway, mustard, etc., and also silphium,
which was much sought after, but very expensive, and was imported from
Cyrene, but could no longer be obtained at the beginning of the
Christian era. Olive oil was used for cooking.
The second course, which played an important part at large dinners,
consisted of cheese (butter was not in use for food), all kinds of
fruit, and cakes. Athens was especially distinguished for its cakes,
because the excellent honey of Hymettus supplied good material for it;
confectioners knew how to make the most various kinds of cakes, and
often produced them in the shapes of animals, human beings, and other
objects.
It is commonly supposed that the Greeks did not drink at all during
their meals, but this is an untenable opinion. The great number of salt
or highly-spiced dishes which they had, must of necessity have induced
thirst. In fact, many allusions in the writers show us that some
drinking went on during dinner, but in a very moderate degree when
compared with the symposium which followed the meal, and only with a
view to quenching thirst. In any case, when the last course was brought
in, they took a draught of unmixed wine in honour of the “good genius.”
Then the tables were taken away, and, if no drinking party followed, the
guests arose from their couches after once more washing their hands.
Usually, however, these banquets were followed by a symposium.
The proceedings at the symposium were generally as follows:--The
servants in attendance removed the larger tables which had been used at
dinner, and brought in instead other smaller tables, which were also
three-legged, but had round tops. On these they arranged the drinking
cups, bowls, and cooling vessels, plates with all kinds of dessert, and
little dainties that would induce thirst. Then wreaths were given to the
guests to adorn their heads, and sometimes to put round their necks, and
sweet-scented ointments were handed round. While the guests were
occupied in adorning themselves, the servants brought in the wine in
large mixing bowls, generally three at the beginning of the feast, and
later more, as occasion required. The customary drink at these feasts
was a mixture of wine and water. Even at the present day southern
nations seldom drink strong wine unmixed with water, and in ancient
times unmixed wine was only drunk in very small quantities; at the
symposium, when it was customary to drink deep and long, they had only
mixed wine, sometimes taking equal parts of wine and water, and
sometimes, which was even commoner, three parts of water to two parts of
wine. Generally, at the beginning of every symposium, a president, or
“Symposiarch,” was appointed by lot or dice to take command for the rest
of the evening, and it was his duty to determine the strength of the
mixture, for this might be of various kinds, as weak even as two parts
of wine to five of water, or one to three, or even one part of wine to
five of water, which last was certainly a somewhat tasteless drink, and
was contemptuously called “frog’s wine.” In early times it was usual to
put the water first into the mixing bowl and pour the wine upon it;
afterwards the reverse proceeding took place.
[Illustration: FIG. 97.]
The commoner sorts of wine were very cheap, and in consequence it was
the universal drink, of which even the poor people and slaves partook;
better kinds were more expensive, and the best came from the islands,
especially Lesbos and Chios; Rhodian and
[Illustration: FIG. 98.]
Thasian wines were also largely exported. Beer was by no means unknown
to antiquity; in Egypt, Spain, Gaul, Thrace, etc., they brewed a malt
liquor which must have had some resemblance to our beer, but the Greeks
disliked this drink, and always spoke of it contemptuously. The gift of
Dionysus remained the national drink of the Greeks, but it differed in
many respects from our wines of the present day. Much of the ancient
wine must have resembled in taste the resin wine of modern Egypt, since
resin was added to it, and as the large clay casks in which the wine was
exported were painted over internally with pitch, this must of necessity
have given a taste to the wine. Nor did they know how to clear their
wine; it was usually thick, and, in order to be made at all bright, had
to be filtered through a fine sieve or cloth each time before it was
used. To return to the symposium. Figs. 97 and 98, taken from pictures
on the outside of painted cups, give representations of drinking
parties. In Fig. 97 we see three bearded men with wreaths lying near
one another; in front of them are two bowls, a wine can, a cooling
vessel, a footstool, and a shoe. The man on the right holds a cup in his
left hand and puts his right hand to his head, which is bent backwards;
his open mouth shows that he is supposed to be singing. The guest in the
middle is playing energetically on the double flute, the one on the
right holds a lyre, and in his right hand the rod, but he is not
striking the strings; near him, on the wall, hangs a flute-case. Fig. 98
also represents three men, and in front of them a bowl, a can, a cooling
vessel, another vessel of curious shape, and three shoes. The man on the
left is stretching out his right hand with a cup to a boy with a wine
can near him; the one in the middle also holds a cup and turns in
conversation to the one on the right, who in his right hand holds a
goblet (σκύφος).
The symposium began with three libations, offered to the Olympian
deities, the heroes, and to _Zeus Soter;_ sometimes incense was burnt
meantime, and if the flute girl, who as a rule did not make her
appearance till afterwards, was present at the beginning of the
symposium, the solemn proceedings were probably accompanied by flute
playing. For these libations they used three mixing bowls which had
previously been made ready, taking one libation from each; after the
libation from the first, they sang in chorus a short hymn in praise of
Dionysus (Paean), which was repeated if, as often happened, a new
mixture had to be prepared in the course of the evening. The drinking,
as well as the rest of the procedure was carried on according to certain
fixed rules, which somewhat resembled those still practised by German
students. If a president or symposiarch was chosen, he had to appoint
not only the strength of the mixture, but also the kind of cup, whether
large or small, from which it was to be drunk, and, in fact, generally
undertook the direction of the conversation, the toasts, forfeits, etc.
We generally find on the monuments flat, two-handled cups in use at the
symposium, but sometimes also large, deep goblets, and after drinking
for some time, it seems that they even occasionally drank from the
capacious vessels, really destined for cooling the wine by means of
snow-water, and that practised drinkers, such as Socrates and
Alcibiades, could empty them at a draught. It was a very common custom
to empty goblets thus, and many drinking cups were shaped in such a way
that they must be emptied at once, as they could not stand upright.
Every guest had to submit to the ordinances of the symposiarch; he
exercised unlimited authority in the matter of drinking, unless, indeed,
the arrangement had been made from the first that everyone should drink
little or much, as he pleased, during that evening. Those who disobeyed
the commands of the president had to submit to some punishment, which
consisted either in drinking a certain quantity, or else was directed at
some personal infirmity; thus, for instance, a bald man was told to comb
his hair, a stammerer to sing, a lame man to hop, etc. This compulsion
of submitting to the ordinances of the president naturally led to very
deep drinking, and even the mixture of the water with the wine was
insufficient defence against this practice. It was also very common to
drink to one another, and propose the health of friends or popular
girls. It was customary for the drinking to circulate to the right, and
this practice was also kept up for all other performances which were
expected from every guest, such as the singing of songs, guessing of
riddles, etc.
Though the main object of the symposium was, undoubtedly, the drinking,
yet we must not compare the Greek symposia with the wild drinking bouts
customary in Germany during the middle ages, which continued till the
17th century. In consequence of the weakness of the mixture, it must
have taken some time for the intoxicating effects to make themselves
apparent. Moreover, there were various kinds of amusement which caused
the drinking to fall somewhat into the background, but these naturally
varied a good deal according to the degree of culture and character of
the guests. Symposia, such as those described by Xenophon and Plato, at
which there was very deep drinking, but also really intellectual
conversation and discussion of deep problems, are, of course, idealised;
and, even in Plato’s Symposium, the presence of the flute girl shows
that the sensual element was regarded as well as the intellectual
entertainment. As a rule, music played an important part at the
symposia. Even in the Homeric period, song was an important feature of
the banquet. The cunning singer, who sang the stories of gods and heroes
to the accompaniment of the “lyre,” and who was listened to eagerly by
all, was never absent from any banquet at which a great number of guests
were present. In historic times, the musical entertainment took a
different character, for the guests, instead of merely listening, took
part in it themselves, singing generally as well as playing. There were
three kinds of singing; choruses, sung by all together, such as the
_Paean_ already mentioned; part songs, in which all shared, not
together, but each in his turn; and solos, sung by those who had special
musical ability and education. These solos were especially popular; the
singer accompanied himself with the harp, and here, too, they adhered to
the custom of always passing to the right the harp and the myrtle bough,
which the singer had to hold in his hand during the performance. Of
especial importance among these solo songs, from a literary point of
view, were the “Scolia,” which were usually of a serious character,
either religious, patriotic, or of a general moral nature. A well-known
scolion sang the praises of the two conspirators who murdered the tyrant
Hipparchus; it began as follows:--
“In myrtle veiled, I will the falchion wear;
For thus the patriot sword
Harmodius and Aristogeiton bare,
When they the tyrant’s bosom gored;
And bade the men of Athens be
Regenerate in equality.
Beloved Harmodius, oh, never
Shall death be thine, who livest for ever.
Thy shade, as men have told, inherits
The islands of the blessed spirits,
Where deathless live the glorious dead,
Achilles, fleet of foot, and Diomed.”[E]
Other songs celebrated the praise of wine, the joys of love, the
happiness of friendship; there were also special drinking songs, some
composed by very great poets, such as Alcaeus, Sappho, Anacreon,
Simonides, Pindar, who composed them in various metres. A vase painting
shows us a reveller lying on a couch with a wreath on his head, holding
a lyre in his hand, and singing, while raising his head as though
inspired; the words written underneath by the vase painter show us that
he is singing an ode by Theognis in praise of a beautiful boy. Here,
too, changes in taste took place in the course of time; many of the old
songs were regarded as old-fashioned, even in the time of Aristophanes,
and he who when his turn came sang a song by Simonides, instead of some
grand air from Euripides, was regarded as quite behind the times.
Very commonly flute or harp girls were present at the symposium, and
entertained the guests by playing and singing, and probably also by
dancing. These girls were either specially invited and paid by the host
for the evening, or else entered of their own accord a house where they
imagined there was a merry company, or they were sometimes introduced by
guests who came late in the evening. Thus, in Plato’s Symposium we find
a flute girl present at the beginning; she accompanies the introductory
libation with her playing, but one of the guests suggests that they
should send her away, and let her either play to herself or to the women
in their own apartments, since men preferred to entertain each other by
sensible conversation. But Plato was almost alone in this opinion, which
he expresses far more strongly in another place, saying that educated
men did not require flute or harp girls or dancers, or any such foolish
entertainment while drinking. Most people regarded these playing girls
as equally indispensable at the symposium with the entertainments and
wreaths, and accordingly in Plato’s banquet, towards the end of the
evening, Alcibiades, coming from another drinking party, already in a
state of intoxication, is supported by a flute girl who accompanies him.
On the vase pictures these girls are seldom wanting; and these pictorial
representations, as well as other allusions to the symposia, show that
the presence of these girls was not due only to a desire for music. The
flute and harp girls were almost always hetaerae, and liberties of
various kinds were taken with them; for instance, a guest might be
ordered to carry the flute girl several times round the room, or she
might be put up for auction, and handed over to the highest bidder as
his property for the evening; and in consequence of the presence of
these girls the drinking parties often became veritable orgies, in which
Eros was honoured no less than Dionysus. The vase painters sometimes
give us a picture almost too truthful, though this degeneracy of custom
seems to have increased rather than diminished in later times.
[Illustration: FIG. 99.]
Other kinds of amusements were also offered to the guests at the
symposia. In the “Banquet” of Xenophon, at an early stage of the
proceedings, a Syracusan appears, who has been invited by the host, with
a flute girl, a dancing girl, and a beautiful boy who plays a harp and
dances. They play and perform pantomimic dances; in particular, there is
a full description of one such dance, which represents in very graceful
fashion the meeting of Ariadne with Dionysus. Conjurers, too, so-called
“Thaumaturgists,” show their skill on these occasions. The dancing girl
in Xenophon’s “Banquet” throws twelve rings into the air while dancing,
and catches them all in turn; then she performs a bold sword dance,
turning head over heels into a stand round which sharp knives are set,
and out again in the same fashion. We often find similar representations
on vase paintings; thus, Fig. 99 shows a girl walking on her hands and
performing a dangerous dance between sharp swords. In a similar posture
the woman represented in Fig. 100 shoots an arrow with her toes from a
bow held between her feet. The ancient jugglers seem to have known all
the many tricks which are still admired at fairs and other popular
festivals, such as swallowing swords, eating fire, etc.; a feat unknown
at the present day was writing on a quickly-revolving potter’s wheel, or
reading something written on it. It was very common to invite such
jugglers at weddings or after feasts, but it was undoubtedly a
confession of weakness to have recourse to such trivialities instead of
carrying on an intellectual and interesting conversation. On a similar
low level were the official “entertainers,” who in ancient times took
the place of the Court fools of the middle ages. The jokes of these
“entertainers,” who travelled from house to house, from meal to meal,
who were always hungry, and glad to supply their jokes in return for
entertainment and payment, were as a rule very poor and shallow, and
their chief point seems to have consisted in leading the young men to
make fun of each other, and to submit good-humouredly to jokes practised
upon them.
[Illustration: FIG. 100.]
On a higher level were those social entertainments which laid the
intelligence and wit of the participants under contribution. To begin
with, there was free conversation, dealing with the many questions of
the day, politics, literature, etc.; but they generally avoided serious
subjects, and Anacreon says:--
“That man hold I not dear, who drinking his wine from a full bowl,
Ever of conquest and war sings but the dolorous strain,
But who the glorious gifts of the Muses and fair Aphrodite,
Mingling together, recalls feelings of joy and of love.”[F]
They amused themselves with games requiring thought--riddles and
such-like--as, for instance, naming an object which contained a certain
god’s name, or singing a verse in which one particular letter must not
appear, or whose first and last syllables must have a particular
meaning, etc. In circles where the culture was above the average, a
definite subject was sometimes given the guests for oratorical
discussion. Here, as in the drinking and singing, the turns also went to
the right after the subject had been previously discussed and fixed by
all together. The appointed tasks were of various kinds. A favourite
amusement seems to have been to compare the guests present with
particular objects, such as mythical monsters, etc., and here
opportunity was given for showing wit and making innocent jokes.
Sometimes, when a professional “entertainer” was present, the task was
left to him, but as he was not always plentifully supplied with wit, it
often happened that the poor man, who practised his jokes from
necessity, grew quite sad at the disregard of his witticisms. A more
difficult task, and one making greater demand on the intellect, was to
make a little improvised speech on some set subject, to praise or blame
some particular thing, and this became especially common with the
development of the rhetorical art. Thus, in the “Banquet” of Xenophon,
each guest has to say what he is proud of, and to give his reasons; in
Plato’s symposium, the glorification of Eros is the task appointed. In
the ages of the Alexandrine learning, this even led to learned
discussions, in which scientific problems of all kinds were treated over
the cups. Those who were successful in these intellectual contests, who
solved difficult riddles, etc., were rewarded, receiving wreaths or
fillets, or sometimes kisses; on the other hand, the symposiarch
inflicted punishments on those who were unsuccessful, and these usually
consisted in drinking, at a draught, a whole cupful of unmixed wine, or,
which was worse, wine mixed with salt water.
There were also a great number of games played at the symposium, and
also at other times, chiefly by young people. The one which was the most
popular at the symposia, and which in consequence we find on numerous
monuments, was _Cottabus_, a game introduced from Sicily, which fell
into disuse during the age of Alexander’s successors, and was unknown to
the Romans, so that the accounts we have of it are somewhat confused.
This much is certain, that it consisted in skilfully throwing drops of
wine left in the cup at some definite goal, and producing a certain
effect in striking it. The cup was held, not by the foot, but by one
handle with the fingers, and they did not use the whole arm in throwing
it, but only the wrist, or, if the arm was bent, only the lower arm.
There were various ways of playing this game; for the commonest, they
seem to have used a stand something like a high candelabrum (see the one
represented in Fig. 101), the shaft of which could be screwed higher or
lower according to requirement. On the top of it was balanced, placed
loosely upon it, a little saucer or bowl of brass, and the wine which
was thrown had to fall with a ringing noise upon it, and throw down the
disc; it is clear, from various vase paintings, that this was not
fastened to the top, since we see girls in the act of laying the disc on
the top of the shaft. This, however, was not enough; various
complications were added to increase the difficulty. On some of the
cottabus stands they fastened the figure of a slave, called “Manes,”
made of brass, which must also be struck in throwing, and according as
it was fastened on the shaft, either first or last. Sometimes the disc
on to which the wine was thrown must, when struck, fall down on to
another small scale fixed a little lower down, and the sound then made,
according as it was strong or weak, was regarded as a kind of oracle in
love. In Fig. 101, the bearded man lying on the couch is in the act of
throwing the wine left in his cup, which he holds by the first finger of
the right hand, at the cottabus stand. Near him lies a youth with a
thyrsus, who is handing fruit, or something of the kind, to a woman with
a tambourine, sitting on a cushion in front of him. On the right is a
cup-bearer, a naked boy with a wine can. Sometimes they seem to have
spirited the wine from their mouths instead of from a cup; or they set
little saucers or nut-shells to swim empty on the water, and tried to
fill them by throwing in the wine drops and making them sink. This
occupation, in spite of the great popularity it seems to have had in the
fifth and fourth centuries, can but be regarded as a very unintellectual
one.
[Illustration: FIG. 101.]
We may deal at once with the other most important games, in which
grown-up people took part in their hours of leisure. Many of these were
also children’s games, in particular the game of ball, which we find
even in Homeric times, and it was very popular throughout the whole of
antiquity, especially in the hours of recreation after the bath or after
physical exercises in the gymnasium, and it was especially recommended
by physicians as healthy exercise. Some other games also bore a
semi-gymnastic character, and will therefore be mentioned afterwards
under the heading of gymnastics. Games of skill or chance, which were
played with boards, figures, dice, etc., were very popular. We meet with
these board games, which were already known to the Egyptians, even in
the Homeric period. In later times, too, they were a favourite
amusement, and we often find them represented on ancient monuments.
Among the various modes of playing these, some bore a great resemblance
to our modern games; the “game of towns” may be compared to our
draughts; two opponents played at a board divided into squares with
thirty stones apiece, which differed in colour, and the game was, by
enclosing a hostile stone, either to capture it or to prevent it from
moving. The terra-cotta group represented here in Fig. 102 probably
shows a game of this kind. A youth and a woman are playing together,
while a third person, a caricature, is looking on; the board is roughly
divided into forty-two squares, and there are twelve flat stones, but we
cannot from this draw any conclusion about the nature of the game.
In this game, as in chess or draughts, the victory depended entirely on
the skill of the player, but an element of chance was added when the
defence of the stones on their lines or squares depended on the
[Illustration: FIG. 102.]
throwing of dice, which was the case in the game of “five-lines”
(πεντέγραμμος). But even here there seem to have been modifications,
which would enable a skilful player to compensate himself for an
unfavourable throw, by the choice of various moves open to him. The
games played with knuckle-bones and dice were pure games of chance, and
were very often played for money. In playing dice they used several,
generally three, dice, corresponding exactly to those of the present
day, and a cup from which they threw them, and a board or a table with
a raised edge on to which they were thrown. The victory depended on the
number of points thrown. The best throw, three times six, was called the
“Coan,” the worst, three times one, was called the “dog,” but there were
various rules of the game dealing with particular combinations, such as
is still the case in dice-playing at the present day.
There were several ways of playing with astragals, or knuckle-bones,
which were really the ball of the ankle-joint of a lamb, or else were
artificially imitated in other material. One way of playing, chiefly
used by children, but also sometimes by grown-up people, was a real game
of skill, and consisted in throwing up a number, usually five, of
knuckle-bones, pebbles, beans, coins, etc., and catching them again on
the back of the hand, meantime picking up with the stretched-out fingers
those which had fallen down. Sometimes they only played “odd or even,”
and one of the players had to guess straight away whether the other had
an odd or even number of these astragals, which took the place of our
counters, in his closed hand. Sometimes they played with astragals in
the same way as with dice. In this case the four large sides of the
bone, on which it might fall, had a particular numerical value, which
was not written upon it, but depended on the shape of the bone, as each
side differed from the others. The convex narrow side counted as one,
the other, concave, narrow side as six, the broad convex side as three,
and the broad concave side as four; two and five were wanting
altogether, for the other little surfaces of the bone were not counted,
since it could never fall upon them. Four pieces were generally used for
playing, and they were treated just like dice; the best throw was that
in which each of the astragals lay in a different position, and thus
all values were represented, sometimes they counted according to the
highest number thrown. In works of art we very often see girls playing
astragal. One of the prettiest of these is the terra-cotta figure from
Tanagra, represented in Fig. 103.
[Illustration: FIG. 103.]
Another game of chance was “fast and loose,” which very closely
resembled the game still played at fairs
[Illustration: FIG. 104.]
by sharpers. A strap was folded double and wound round several times on
a table; the player then pricked it with a dagger or other pointed
instrument, and if, when the strap was unwound, it appeared that the
point had gone between the layers of the strap, he won; but he lost if
the strap could be entirely wound off. Another favourite game was
similar to _morra_, still popular in Italy. Two players quickly thrust
out their right hands with some fingers bent in and others stretched
out, and they have at one glance to notice and exclaim how many fingers
of both hands together are stretched out. This game is often represented
on ancient works of art; for instance, on the vase painting depicted in
Fig. 104. Here a youth and a girl are playing, both are seated, though
morra players of the present day stand; in their left hands they hold a
stick, the object of which is to prevent them in the excitement of the
game from using their left hands by mistake. Similarly the Italians put
their left hands behind their backs while playing. The youth is
stretching out four fingers, the girl two, so that the number to be
called out in this case is six. A Cupid seated above is handing a wreath
to the girl, and thus pointing her out as victorious.
[Illustration: FIG. 105.]
A popular amusement in Greece was cock and quail fighting, a pursuit
which played so important a part at Athens that even the great theatre
of Dionysus had to be used for the purpose, and the Athenians actually
maintained that this was a spectacle calculated to rouse the courage of
the citizens to brave deeds. Fighting cocks were trained at Tanagra and
Rhodes; both young and old men aimed at the possession of fighting cocks
or quails, carried them about for hours, and tried by all possible means
to excite their courage in order to obtain prizes. For this purpose they
were fed with garlic, and sometimes brazen spurs were even tied on them
in order to make the wounds they inflicted more serious. The
representations (compare the vase painting, Fig. 105) show
[Illustration: FIG. 106.]
that before the beginning of the fight each owner took his bird in his
hand, knelt down, and thus gradually approached the cocks to one another
in order to excite them from a distance; then they were sent against
each other, and the owners stood up again. Sometimes the hens were
present at the fight, because the cocks were more inclined to fight in
their presence. A curious custom is mentioned--namely, that the owner of
the defeated bird took it up as quickly as possible and shouted loud
into its ear; the object of this was supposed to be to prevent the
defeated cock from hearing the triumphant crow of his conqueror, and
thus being discouraged for future combats.
To return to the symposium. We have already mentioned that, in spite of
the custom of mixing the wine with water, the great quantities consumed,
since drinking went on far into the night, did often conduce to
drunkenness. The scenes which were sometimes enacted by the light of the
quivering oil lamps were not always very attractive or indicative of the
grace and moderation which we are apt to regard as the special qualities
of Greeks. The vase painting depicted in Fig. 106 shows us the immediate
consequences of excessive drinking: we see a youth vomiting his wine,
while a pretty girl is smiling and holding his head.
The official termination of the symposium was a libation to Hermes, but
even then they did not always set out on their homeward journey in
company with the slaves who were waiting for their masters with torches
or lanterns, but sometimes their excitement led them to wander noisily
through the streets with the flute girls and torch bearers in a Comus
(κῶμος), and they thus entered the houses of friends who were still
sitting at their wine, or carried on all manner of jokes and
absurdities. This naturally led to other scenes, such as fighting, etc.,
especially if one of the participants tried to obtain entrance to an
hetaera, when a quarrel often ensued between the rivals. The vase
painting depicted in Fig. 107 represents a scene from the Comus, the
chief person in which is the drunken Hercules, accompanied by satyrs,
but in reality it is only a scene from real life transported to the
heroic domain. The hero, who is lying dead drunk on the
[Illustration: FIG. 107.]
ground, appears to have demanded admittance at a door which remained
closed to him, and some old woman has poured water upon him from a
window over the doorway. Two young satyrs, adorned with fillets and
wreaths, of whom one bears a thyrsus and a basket of fruit and cakes,
the other a mixing-bowl and fillets, and a harp girl with a thyrsus
wand, and a flute player with a torch, are the attendants of this night
wanderer. These scenes furnish an unpleasant contrast to the conclusion
of the Platonic Symposium, when Socrates, who has been drinking hard all
night, but at the same time carrying on serious conversation with some
friends as staunch as himself, gets up at daybreak, while the rest of
the participants have fallen fast asleep, walks with steady step to the
well in the Lyceum, and then, as usual, proceeds to his day’s
occupations.
CHAPTER VII.
SICKNESS AND PHYSICIANS, DEATH AND BURIAL.
The Great Plague--Homer’s References to
Physicians--_Asklepiadae_--The Oath of Hippocrates--General
Practitioners and Specialists--_Plutus_ of Aristophanes--Customs
connected with Death, Burial, and Burning--Tombs and their
Ornaments.
Greek mythology tells us that in the golden age mankind lived without
trouble or sorrows, equally unacquainted with vice and with cruel
disease; but when fatal curiosity opened the disastrous box of Pandora,
along with a thousand other troubles which pursue mankind, there came
forth also the countless diseases which attack men by day and night. The
myth thus expresses in simple language that, with the advance of
civilisation and the disappearance of the ancient simple mode of life in
accordance with nature, the number of diseases also increased. But the
greater the number of these attacks on the health and life of mankind,
the more eagerly do men seek to avoid them, though, at first, in a
purely empirical manner, and, therefore, the beginnings of the healing
art are as ancient as human civilisation itself. The oldest literary
monument of Greek life, the Homeric Epic, makes little mention of
disease, with the exception of the great plague, which devastated the
camp of the Greeks before Troy. The reason of this, however, lies in the
nature of the poet’s subject, and we must not on that account infer that
illness was little known. Even in Homer mention is made of physicians,
and though the Homeric doctors were chiefly concerned with healing the
wounds inflicted in war, still they possessed some surgical skill in
cutting arrows out of wounds, putting on bandages, etc., and were also
acquainted with the healing qualities of certain herbs, which they used
not only for external treatment of injuries, but also apparently for
internal use, in reducing fever, etc. Knowledge of this kind always
appears very early, even among nations of slight civilisation, and is
handed down from generation to generation. But the healing art was not
confined to heroes or demigods, such as Aesculapius and Podalirius, who
were afterwards regarded as ancestors of the physicians’ profession, and
who traced their origin and their knowledge alike to the gods. There
were also, even at that time, professional physicians, and certainly it
cannot have been left to chance to determine that some persons
possessing surgical and medical knowledge should be with every army.
It is no longer possible to trace in detail the development of the
medical profession after the times of Homer. In the historical period we
find the healing art developed in two special directions; first, as
practised by an actual medical profession; secondly, as a kind of
religious mystery in the hands of priests; besides these, quackery was
known in antiquity, as in all times.
The professional physicians, who, even in later times, regarded their
art as divine, and handed down by their ancestor Aesculapius (on which
account they also called themselves _Asklepiadae_), were probably a
development from the priestly physicians. It is very likely that in the
first centuries after Homer, the practice of the medical art was still
directly connected with the worship of Aesculapius, and that the
separation which we find in the historic period, where some remained as
medical assistants to the priests in the sanctuaries, and others
practised independently on their own account, only gradually made way.
It cannot be a mere chance that the places where the most celebrated
medical schools of antiquity existed, Cos and Cnidus, were also regarded
as the chief seats of the worship of Aesculapius. The professional
physicians, who practised their art independently, and were not
connected with the sanctuaries, naturally received a fee, and though
this brought them into somewhat bad repute, with which every art that
conduced to making money was regarded, yet their occupation stood in
much higher general estimation than any of the trades, and it was a
serious reproach if they, as sometimes happened, insisted on receiving
their payment beforehand, and in case of inability to pay, refused to
give any treatment at all. Their knowledge was not acquired at colleges
or hospitals, like that of our modern physicians, but, as a rule, they
became assistants or apprentices to old experienced physicians, whom
they accompanied on their visits, and by whom they were instructed in
diagnosis and therapeutics, as well as in the preparation of medicines.
There were sellers of drugs, who kept the most important remedies, but
there were no apothecaries in our modern sense, and physicians always
prepared their own medicines. There does not appear to have been any
examination necessary in early times before practising the medical
profession, or any direct control or supervision of the doctors, but in
later times physicians seem to have held together in a sort of guild,
and, perhaps, even solemnly dismissed their apprentices at the end of
their period of instruction before their assembled colleagues. This is
suggested by the oath of Hippocrates, which has been preserved to us,
in which the young disciple of Aesculapius promises to keep only the
welfare of his patient before him, to keep silence, to give no one
poison, even at his own request, etc. Probably this oath was only used
in the school of Hippocrates and his followers.
Among the professional physicians there was a further distinction
between those who practised privately and those who had official
positions. The former either gave their advice at home or else visited
their patients. Slight invalids, who were able to go out, generally
visited the physician in his consulting hours, and there they received
not only advice but sometimes also direct treatment, since other
apartments for bathing, operating, etc., were connected with the
consulting room, and the physician also prepared and dispensed his
medicines here. Even those who were very ill, as, for instance, the
wounded Lamachus in the “Acharnians” of Aristophanes, were carried
straight to the doctor when the case was pressing. Of course a very
celebrated physician could not himself treat all his patients, and he
therefore employed assistants in his consulting room, who also
accompanied him when he paid visits abroad, in order to profit by the
master’s experience at the sick bed; and it may not have been very
pleasant for the patients when the doctor thus arrived in company of a
not inconsiderable troop of students. It was still more unpleasant,
however, if want of means compelled them to resort to inferior
assistants, who sometimes were even slaves. These slave doctors were not
only summoned to the slave population, but they also treated free
people, chiefly those who were too poor to pay a high fee. Of these it
was said that they differed from the better physicians, who were careful
and who studied and watched their patients, in paying very hasty
visits, scarcely taking time to inquire after the nature of the illness,
and hurrying on after giving any directions that might occur to them.
Sometimes a citizen had one of his slaves taught the healing art by some
physician, supposing he showed any ability for this profession, and by
this means he had someone in the house who, in case of need, could
supply help at once. The position of the Greek slaves, especially in
Attica, was a comparatively free one, and therefore we must not be
surprised that they were willing to entrust the welfare of their body to
a slave, seeing that they even left much of the moral training of their
children to him. Complaints were often made, too, about free physicians,
not on account of their hastiness and carelessness, but rather because
of their boastful and haughty bearing; thus, for instance, Menecrates, a
physician of Syracuse, was accused of always dressing in the most
elaborate fashion, and wishing to be called Zeus. Others were rude or
inconsiderate to their patients, like that doctor who answered a
patient, when he expressed fear of death, with the words of
Homer:--“Patroclus, too, is dead, and he was a better man than thou.”
Others gave annoyance by carelessness in their dress and noisy manner,
loud talk, etc. Hippocrates insisted that a physician should aim at a
certain amount of elegance in dress and care in regard to his person,
though he adds characteristically that any doctor is at liberty to do
otherwise supposing his patients prefer it.
The position of the public physicians, who were chosen and paid by a
community, and therefore bound to receive no fees for their treatment,
was a different one, though it is not clear whether they treated all the
citizens or only the poor ones. These public physicians sometimes
received very high salaries. Thus the physician Democedes, as public
doctor at Aegina, received a salary of one talent (about £326);
thereupon he was summoned to Athens with a salary of a hundred minae
(£393), and in the following year the tyrant Polycrates, of Samos,
invited him, probably to fill the post of public physician, not as his
own private doctor, and gave him a salary of two talents (probably Attic
talents, therefore £471). On the other hand we sometimes hear of rich
physicians treating the poor free of charge.
Specialists do not seem to have been common in ancient Greece, the same
doctors treated external and internal complaints, and also men and
women. It seems, however, from the oath of Hippocrates that there were
specialists who undertook the operation of cutting for stone. Oculists
were unknown till a later period, when the medical practice generally
developed in various ways, and in particular the influence of
gymnastics, and the dietetics connected therewith had a very important
influence on medical methods.
These physicians, although they at times made use of strange or
“sympathetic” means of treatment, yet in general aimed at scientific
methods, building on the knowledge handed down to them by their
predecessors, and enriching it by their own experience and studies. On
the other hand, the healing processes, to which the priests of the
Aesculapian sanctuaries resorted, seem to have occupied a very doubtful
position between empirical therapeutics and superstitious hocus-pocus.
It had been a custom from ancient times for the priests of Aesculapius
to practise the healing art. Their knowledge was supposed to be in part
very ancient, handed down by the god himself, and in part divine
revelation, which was continually renewed. Some of the sanctuaries of
Aesculapius were renowned and visited beyond all others on account of
their wonderful and successful cures, in particular Cos, Cnidus, Tricca,
but especially Epidaurus, and afterwards also Pergamum. To these
sanctuaries the invalids who sought healing went as pilgrims, just as
people still go in Catholic countries to wonder-working shrines, and as
in these we see countless memorials of successful cures, pictures and
descriptions of diseases, wax or silver imitations of the part or limb
that was healed, etc., so in ancient times thank-offerings were made to
Aesculapius, sometimes in the shape of coin, sometimes also imitations
of hands, legs, eyes, ears, and breasts, etc., in marble, silver, or
gold, or else in simple wax or clay, together with the name of the
person who found healing there. Some also dedicated tablets, on which
was inscribed a detailed account of their illness and cure, and the
priests set up large tablets in the domain of the temple, on which all
manner of wonderful cures were described. The geographer Strabo tells us
of such inscriptions, describing diseases, in the sanctuaries of
Epidaurus, Cos, and Tricca. Pausanias saw in the temple domain at
Epidaurus six large tablets of this kind. Very considerable fragments of
two of these were found a few years ago, which give us a very
interesting insight into the proceedings at the Aesculapian sanctuaries.
The healing methods of the priests of Aesculapius were especially
distinguished from those of the professional physicians by the veil of
secrecy and miracle which surrounded them, since they rightly understood
that the love of wonders among the common people would always bring them
success. The healing was effected by what was called “incubation”; the
patient had to lie down at night in the sanctuary and sleep; in a dream
the god appeared to him, and either suggested to him the remedy which
would cure him, or else undertook, on the spot, to heal the sleeper, so
that the patient, when he awoke, found himself restored to health, and
went joyfully away! Aristophanes, in his “Plutus,” drastically depicts
one of these cures in the temple. The blind god of riches comes to the
temple of Aesculapius to seek for healing; after taking a bath in the
sea, he is conducted to the sanctuary; he offers a sacrifice and then
lies down to sleep, together with other patients, and one of the temple
servants warns them to keep unbroken silence. The servant who
accompanies Plutus, and who relates the proceedings, seems to be a
somewhat free-thinking rogue. He cannot sleep, and as he observes that
after the invalids have gone to sleep, the priests take away and pocket
the offerings laid upon the altars, he also takes the opportunity to
filch a pot of porridge from an old woman near him. After a time the god
himself appears, accompanied by two goddesses of healing. He goes round,
examines the individual patients, and, at last, comes also to Plutus; he
feels his head, dries his eyelids with a linen cloth, and one of the
goddesses puts a purple veil over his face. Suddenly two great snakes
come from the interior of the temple, creep under the veil, and lick the
eyelids of Plutus, who thus recovers the power of sight. Here the cure
takes place during sleep, as also in the stories which are related on
the inscriptions of Epidaurus, mentioned above. There, too, an account
is given of the cure of a blind woman to whom Aesculapius appears in a
dream, and restores her sight by dropping some healing lotion into her
eyes, in return for the promise that she will dedicate a silver pig to
Aesculapius (to whom pigs were often sacrificed), as a penalty for
having come to the temple in a state of unbelief. Such cures of
blindness are often mentioned in the inscriptions; sometimes the dog,
which was also sacred to Aesculapius, takes the place of the god, as the
snakes did in Aristophanes, and cures the eyes by licking them; in
another case the snake of Aesculapius cures the wounded toes of a
patient by licking. Many cases are even more wonderful. A man, who has
completely lost one of his eyes, receives the lost eye again by means of
healing lotion poured into his sockets by the god during sleep. A woman,
who has a worm in her body, dreams that Aesculapius cuts it open for
her, takes the worm out, and sews it up again. A man has moles on his
forehead, which the god removes by laying a bandage over his brow,
whereupon next moment it appears perfectly white and pure, while the
moles are left on the bandage; another man has lost the use of the
fingers of one hand, the god jumps on his hand and pulls his fingers
straight again, whereupon he is once more able to use them, etc., etc.
Indeed, Aesculapius not only cures sick people, but also lifeless
objects. A slave has broken his master’s cup, and as he sits sadly
looking at it, a passer-by laughingly says that even Aesculapius could
not mend that. That suggests to him taking the fragments into the
temple, and next morning, when he opens the case in which he has put
them, behold, the cup is whole again!
It is difficult to say which part of these stories is mere charlatanism
and what refers to real medical treatment by means of operation. It is
but natural that the priests at first got information by questioning
each patient about his illness. The sleep in the sanctuary, which was
indispensable for healing, was probably not a natural one, but either a
mesmeric sleep--since undoubtedly the ancients were acquainted with
this--or else a half-sleep induced by some narcotic, during which the
priests in the service of Aesculapius or their assistants appeared and
performed slight surgical operations on the sick people. This hypothesis
is the more probable, since all the cures mentioned in these
inscriptions from Epidaurus (which, though dating from the time of
Alexander the Great, are copies of older inscriptions, probably of the
fifth century) deal only with external means and never with internal
treatment; no medicine or healing drink is mentioned.
The cures which took place later on in the sanctuaries of Aesculapius by
means of incubation, or temple sleep, which were customary even in the
Roman period, were of a different nature. The invalids were not actually
cured during their sleep, but they received in a dream an indication
from the god of the manner in which they could be freed from their
sufferings, directions sometimes in reference to dietetic measures, such
as baths, fasting, etc., and sometimes to medicines. In these cases,
too, we must suppose that the invalid fell into a state of half-sleep,
during which a priest in the form of the god appeared, and gave the
directions in question, for which a quantity of medical knowledge,
gradually acquired by experience, stood the priests in good stead.
Sometimes healing _thermae_, or springs, which were found near some of
the sanctuaries, did good service, especially if the invalids remained
there for some time. The Greek sanctuaries of Aesculapius were almost
always situated on high ground, where the air was healthy and pure.
There must always have been houses for the reception of sick people,
especially those who came from a great distance. Thus the sanctuary of
Aesculapius at Epidaurus was about four miles from the town, but, to
prevent any pollution of the holy place, no children must be born there
and no one must die there, and on this account pregnant women and dying
people were mercilessly sent away. Of course the priests did not give
their aid for nothing, but were repaid in money or offerings to the
shrine, and we find many allusions to these offerings; indeed, the
sanctuary at Epidaurus could vie in wealth with that at Delphi.
It was not only in the temples of Aesculapius that dream oracles
existed. Many other gods or heroes took similar care for suffering
humanity, just as at the present day the shrines which possess
miraculous pictures of Madonnas or relics vie with one another. Thus
sick people were received in the temple of Hades, situated between
Tralles and Nysa, in Lydia, but here it was the priests and not the
patients to whom the method of cure was revealed in sleep, and this was
also the case in the temple of Amphiaraus at Oropus, on the borders of
Attica and Boeotia.
Mention must also be made of quackery and sympathetic cures. The belief
in the latter was very general in antiquity, and was shared even by
unprejudiced men of considerable education. This was effected by
amulets, supposed to ward off or heal diseases, and also by magic words
which we should now describe as conjuring; laying on of hands,
symbolical washing, etc. The sellers of drugs were specially occupied
with quackery; besides rouge, paint, and other means of promoting
beauty, they also sold medicines and offered their wares in mountebank
fashion. Very often, when sick people had failed to obtain alleviation
or cure from a regular physician, they gave him up and resorted to
quackery instead.
There were a number of half symbolical, half superstitious, customs
connected with death and burial, which were partly due to the belief
that the soul would be more easily received and allowed to remain in the
dark realm of shadows in consequence of this care of the body; but the
ancients also regarded fitting burial and care for the grave as the
fulfilment of a duty imposed by the gods, and likely also to bring
blessing to the surviving members of the race. This duty was, therefore,
only neglected in the very rarest cases. Criminals were buried without
any ceremony, or were left to rot unburied; suicides, too, were refused
the common honours of public burial, and were put away by night, a time
which was not customary for funerals.
In order to gain some insight into these customs, let us turn once more
to that house which we visited in order to be present at the birth and
early life of an Athenian of the well-to-do class. Let us suppose that
after spending a long and honourable life in the service of his country,
he has lain down to take his last rest. Surrounded by the nearest
members of his family, he has breathed his last breath, after having
himself, with his dying hand, drawn one of the points of his garment
over his face, in order to spare his friends the painful sight of the
death struggle. One of the survivors now steps up to the bed, uncovers
the face of the dead man, and softly closes his eyes and mouth.
According to the curious ancient belief, not peculiar to the Greeks,
that a human being is unclean immediately after entrance into life, and
also on his departure from the world, and as this uncleanness is
extended to the whole house and all who associate with it, immediately
after the death a vessel of consecrated water, which must be brought
from another house, is placed before the door, and everyone who leaves
the dwelling sprinkles himself from it, in order to be once more pure
and able to associate with others. The corpse is then washed by the
women of the family, anointed with fine oil and sweet-scented essences,
and clothed in pure white garments. These are the dress of common
life--the chiton and the himation, but so put on that both arms are
covered and only the head and feet seen. Youths were probably clad in
the chlamys, and the Spartans preferred to clothe their dead in the
scarlet military cloak, while at Athens coloured garments were sometimes
used instead of white. On the dead man’s head they put a wreath of real
flowers--whatever the season might supply--or else laurel, olive, or
ivy. At burial, this was often replaced by an artificial wreath of
beaten gold leaf, and numerous remains of these death-wreaths, which
were often of very artistic workmanship, have been found in Greek
graves. Relations and friends also sent fresh wreaths and garlands as a
token of sympathy, and these were used for decking the bier and grave.
In the dead man’s mouth they put a coin, as passage money for the
ferryman who had to ferry the souls over the Styx; for after the belief
in Charon, which was unknown in the Homeric period, had taken firm root
among the Greeks, it was regarded as a pious duty to supply the dead
man, as soon as possible, with this passage money, in order that the
shade might not wander too long restlessly by the shore of Styx. The
coin was put in his mouth, because in common life it was not unusual to
put single coins in the hollow of the cheek, since pockets were unknown
in ancient costume; large sums were seldom carried about, or else they
were put in a bag. It was a similar superstition which made people in
some places put a honey-cake by the side of the corpse to pacify the dog
Cerberus, the fierce guardian of the lower regions. Previous to the
funeral there was a solemn laying-out of the body, when friends and
acquaintances came to see the departed for the last time, and the near
relations took part in the funeral lament for the dead. This laying-out,
or πρόθεσις, usually took place in the central hall of the house, but
care was taken that the sun should not shine on the corpse, since even
the Sun god must not pollute himself by the sight of a dead body. On a
couch covered with cushions and hangings, adorned with flowers and
branches, the dead man was laid, his feet turned towards the house door,
through which he must take his last journey; round about him, at any
rate at Athens, they placed large or small oil flasks (λήκυθοι), adorned
with paintings, all depicting scenes dealing with death or graves, which
were made in one of the Attic vase factories specially for this purpose,
and were probably sent by sympathetic friends as funeral offerings.
Besides the nearest relations, intimate friends also took part in the
solemn funeral lament, and were sometimes specially invited for the
purpose. The servants of the house also stood by the couch with the
other mourners, and joined with them in the lament, in which men and
women, standing apart, joined alternately. This lament was no wild,
irregular wail, but a regular hymn of sorrow, and very often singers
were specially hired in order to add to the beauty of the performance,
and the hymn was sometimes broken from time to time by choruses sung
either by the whole assembly or by semi-choruses. Many external marks of
sorrow were also shown, such as are customary in the south, where the
character of the people is more violent and excitable, viz., beating the
breast, lacerating the cheeks, tearing out the hair, rending the
garments; and sometimes cries of grief
[Illustration: FIG. 108.]
interrupted the song of mourning. Solon had ordered moderation in these
marks of sorrow, but it must have been difficult, if not impossible, to
keep within bounds by any legal decrees the expression of wild despair,
especially on the part of the women.
[Illustration: FIG. 109.]
The custom of these funeral laments is a very ancient one. We find it
universally adopted in the Homeric period, and here, too, in the form of
responsions; the wail is heard at Troy by the corpse of Hector, as well
as in the Greek camp by the bier of Achilles. We find the laying-out of
the corpse and the funeral lament represented on a great many vase
paintings, as, for instance, in the one depicted in Fig. 108. Here we
see the dead man lying on a richly-decked couch, in front of which
stands a footstool; he is enveloped in his mantle up to his neck, he
wears a wreath, and his head rests on several cushions. In front of the
couch and at the sides stand six women, all raising their arms with
gestures of grief; some of them are touching their heads, as though to
tear out their hair. A little girl in a similar attitude stands at the
foot of the bed; on the right, turning away from the scene, stands a
boy. Fig. 109 is similar. Here we see under the dead man’s couch his
shield, helmet, and cuirass; of the wailing women, who are almost all
tearing out their hair, one holds a lyre in her hand, and another a
fillet; the former is accompanying the lament, the other is about to
deck the corpse or the bier. The hot climate of the south generally
necessitated limiting the duration of this ceremony to a single day,
and, indeed, Solon expressly commanded that this should be done; only
where special measures were taken for preserving the body was it
possible to leave it for several days. Embalming was not customary in
Greece; it was only when the corpses of those who had died in foreign
lands were brought home to be buried, that they were placed in some
substance to check the dissolution--for instance, in honey, as the
Spartans did with those of their kings who died away from home.
The funeral usually took place in the early morning before sunrise, and
throughout the whole of antiquity both burying and burning were common,
sometimes subsisting side by side, while at other times one fashion or
the other was more general. It seems as though burying had at first been
more common among the Greeks than burning. It is true we find only
burning mentioned in the Homeric poems, but we must not forget that we
are concerned with exceptional circumstances in the Iliad, since the
warriors who fell before Troy did not die at home; and in such cases,
even in later times, burning was preferred, since it enabled the
survivors to bring the ashes of the dead man home with them. Still, even
in those early times, burying was very common, as is proved, in spite of
the lack of literary evidence, by the ancient burial grounds discovered
at many places in Greece; and similarly, in the historic period, the
burning of dead bodies, though certainly practised, was not so common as
burying, if only for the very practical reason that the latter was far
cheaper and much less troublesome. Whichever form was chosen by the
friends, or had been appointed by the dead man himself, the solemn
funeral procession was never omitted; the crematoria, like the
cemeteries, were outside the city gates, since at Athens, and probably
in most Greek states, they were not allowed to bury their dead within
the walls; the Doric states alone seem to have made an exception to this
rule. A very ancient painted vase seems to afford a proof that it was
customary in early times to convey the dead to the cemetery on a car
drawn by horses, but in the historical age, at any rate, the corpse was
taken to the grave on the same couch on which it had been exposed to
view. This duty was generally performed by the slaves of the household,
and where there were not sufficient of these, gravediggers were
specially hired; while in the case of men who had deserved well of their
country, the citizens regarded it as an honour to perform this duty
themselves. If the dead man had died a violent death, a spear was
carried in front of him, which pointed to the revenge to be taken; the
spear was then fixed in the earth near the grave, and the nearest
relation pronounced a curse against the murderer, after which the place
was watched for three days. This did not, however, point to revenge on
the part of the relations alone, but to the punishment to be inflicted
by the legal authorities. As a rule, the male relations and friends
walked at the head of the processions, and the women behind the corpse;
but one of Solon’s ordinances limited the female followers to the
nearest relations not extending beyond the nieces. Among the more
distant relations, only women over sixty years of age were allowed to
follow. This law does not, however, seem to have been quite strictly
observed. All the mourners wore grey or black mourning; the nearest
relations cut their hair off, for the custom of shaving the hair in case
of death is a very old one, and even in Homer we read that the hair cut
off was sometimes placed in the dead man’s hand. During the procession
laments were again sung, and accompanied by the wailing tones of a
flute; but here customs differed somewhat, and at Ceos, for instance,
where the ordinances concerning burial, differing in many respects from
the Attic customs, have been preserved to us, there were especial
directions that the body should be carried out in silence. The dead man
wore the clothes in which he had been laid out, but extravagance and
excessive luxury necessitated some limitations by the law, so that Solon
expressly ordained that the number of garments should not exceed three,
and the above-mentioned ordinance allowed only one under garment, one
cloak, and one pall or covering, the whole value not to exceed 300
drachmae, and also ordained that the couch on which the dead man was
carried to the grave, and the other hangings or cushions, should not be
burnt or buried, but brought back again.
[Illustration: FIG. 110.]
There were various ways of burying the dead. If they were placed in a
grave it was customary to make use of a coffin, which was let down into
the grave by the bearers. We see this represented on the vase picture,
Fig. 110. Two men, who look like barbarian slaves or men of the lower
classes, are standing in the grave and holding up their hands in order
to receive the coffin, which is carefully let down by two men of similar
appearance; on the right and left stand weeping women. The coffins were
sometimes made of wood, especially Cyprus wood, which was occasionally
decorated with costly carving and painting; sometimes of clay, less
often of stone, although stone sarcophagi have been found in Greece, but
the custom of decorating their sides with sculptured pictures did not
become common until the Roman period. The shapes of the
[Illustration: FIG. 111.]
coffins differed; there were square box-like coffins, and also others of
an oval shape, or pointed coffins, made of flat terra-cotta tiles. Poor
people were generally buried in some common cemetery, in simple coffins,
and in graves made to hold a large number. Richer people had special
vaults, which were either constructed by hollowing out the rocky ground
below or above the earth, or by the artificial building up of a tumulus.
The curious _tholos_ buildings of Mycenae, Orchomenus, Attica, etc., are
generally supposed now to be nothing but large vaults of this
description; and, indeed, throughout the whole of Greece, Sicily, and
Lower Italy, numerous tombs, either vaulted out of the rock or
constructed of large blocks of stone, have been discovered, not to speak
of the temples and towers which are chiefly found in Asia Minor, and
usually appear to be due to non-Greek origin or influence. In these
vaults, which often served for whole families, they laid their dead,
either in coffins or without them, merely in their grave clothes,
generally resting on a flat stone. Thus the Attic vase picture in Fig.
111 represents the dead man in his tomb, the vaulting of which the
painter has imitated, wrapped in a white cloth, a cushion under his
head; fillets hang down from above. In Attica it was the custom to place
the bodies so that their heads turned to the west and their feet to the
east, while the opposite position was usual at Megara, where the customs
differed in other ways, and three or four corpses were sometimes put in
the same coffin. The custom of placing various objects required in daily
life in the grave by the side of the dead man was universal, chiefly the
things with which he had been occupied in his lifetime, or which
belonged to his profession; clothes, money, oil-flasks, and other vases
were put in, and besides them, in the case of a child, his toys; in the
case of a warrior his arms; a woman’s spindle or ornaments and mirror; a
young man’s strigil and oil-flask; a musician’s flute or lyre. We owe
nearly all the small art treasures which have come down to us from
antiquity, such as vases, terra-cottas, cameos, gold ornaments, caskets,
etc., to this custom of adorning the graves of the dead with the objects
used in daily life. Many of these, especially vases, lamps,
candlesticks, arms, etc., seem to have been specially made with a view
to being placed in the grave, since they were often of no use for
practical purposes. There were no doubt special places outside the walls
devoted to burning the bodies, though it is quite possible that some
people were burnt on their own land if that happened to be large enough.
Wood, twigs, and other easily-combustible substances were used for
erecting a pile; the body was laid on it, along with the cushions
destined to be burnt, among which, besides the objects already
mentioned, the favourite animals of the dead were often included; and
the pile was lighted with a torch. Round about stood the mourners, who
called aloud many times on the dead, bidding him farewell. There do not
appear to have been any other ceremonies connected with the funeral, nor
did it bear a specially religious character, such as would be given it
by the presence of priests or the offering of sacrifices; still, we must
not forget that the mere act of burying or burning was regarded as a
religious one. Funeral orations were only pronounced in the case of
soldiers who had fallen in war, or men who had deserved specially well
of their country. When the corpse was consumed by the fire and the pile
had burned down, the glowing remains were quenched with water or wine.
This act is represented on a vase painting (Fig. 112), which gives a
scene from the Apotheosis of Hercules. The ashes and pieces of bone
which had not been completely consumed were then collected and put in a
special vessel. For this purpose they used urns, coffin-like boxes, and
small vessels, which were afterwards placed in larger cases. These were
constructed of different materials, clay or stone, brass, lead,
sometimes even silver or gold. The urns were then placed, like the
coffins, in a vault or under the earth.
When the burying or burning was ended, it was the custom for the
relations and intimate friends of the deceased to return to the house of
the latter, and after both the house and its inhabitants had been
purified from the pollution connected with the death, by means of
incense and sprinkling, or washing with consecrated water, they took
part together in a funeral banquet. At this the near relations, who had
hitherto
[Illustration: FIG. 112.]
refrained from food, or at any rate from meat, for the first time again
partook of it, a custom which could probably only be carried out when
the funeral took place on the second day after the death. On the third
and ninth days after, the nearest relations went to the grave with
libations, which consisted in part of bloodless offerings, such as milk,
honey, wine, etc., and partly in the sacrifice of real victims. On the
spot where the body or the ashes were buried, unless the remains were
placed in some vault above the earth, they erected a funeral monument,
which bore the name of the family and home of the deceased, sometimes in
metrical form; and even gave details about
[Illustration: FIG. 113.]
his life and his virtues. This was usually decorated in an artistic
manner. The commonest form was the “Stele,” which was sometimes a tall
column, at others merely a horizontal gravestone, and represented the
dead man in some occupation of daily life. A boy might be seen playing
with his ball, and a girl with her doll; a young man holds his quoit; a
strong warrior stands fully armed as though ready to depart; a
countryman accompanied by his faithful dog, leans on his knotted stick;
a young wife sits near her work-basket or gazes with pleasure at her
ornaments, like the one represented on the relief in Fig. 113, where the
lady seems to be taking a ring from a jewel case held for her by her
attendants; others represent the dead person alone or with others, not
engaged in any occupation, but in some simple natural attitude, like the
two women on the stone represented in Fig. 114; others suggest death,
since the relations are taking leave of a member of a family. On one it
is the mother who is dying, and the smallest of the children is creeping
up to her (compare Fig. 62), or they are holding out to her a child
still wrapped in swaddling clothes for her last kiss (compare Fig. 58);
the husband steps to his wife, who is resting in an easy chair, and
gives her his hand for a last farewell, with an expression of sorrow
mingled with self-control. On some tombstones of a longer shape the
family meal is represented; the husband lies on the couch, the wife sits
near him, the children are pressing around them, and even the faithful
animals, the dog and favourite horse, are not forgotten. This subject is
a very common one; sometimes it is a simple scene from daily life,
sometimes the master is represented in a more heroic attitude as already
dead, and his relations are paying the
[Illustration: FIG. 114.]
[Illustration: FIG. 115.]
departed the fitting honour and adoration. There seems to be little
attempt at representing real portraits on most Greek tombstones; they
are ideal types, often of extraordinary beauty, now and then, perhaps,
with some slight resemblance to the dead, but by no means realistic
portrait statues. But whether it is a scene from real life that is
represented by art, or the bitter last farewell, or whether it is any
hint of the life in a future state, which last is by no means uncommon,
these reliefs are always distinguished by their moderation in the
expression of pain, and a peaceful feeling of calm and worthy expression
of sorrow, which can but have an elevating effect even on those who have
grown up in the views of Christianity. This is the case even where some
simple stonemason has roughly expressed in stone the thought of parting
and reunion; how much more, then, in those magnificent
[Illustration: FIG. 116.]
creations of the finest period of Attic art to which the examples
represented above belong.
There were many other shapes adopted for these tombstones. Very often
the stelai were decorated with painting instead of reliefs; in some the
surface was extended and the background hollowed out, which gave them an
altar-like character, and they were often framed in correspondingly by
pillars and gables. Occasionally the stones bore the shape of a vase,
especially of the oil-flask, so important in its association with death,
and this, too, might be decorated with sculpture. Sometimes they set low
columns of round or square shape on the grave, on which they often
represented a siren, who had a special significance as singer of
mourning songs; sometimes whole statues--ideal pictures or portraits of
the deceased--were placed there, though the custom was more common in
the Hellenic period than in the best ages of art.
Childish affection and belief led them to decorate these graves still
further with wreaths, fillets, growing plants, etc. These were often
renewed, and especially on the anniversaries of birth and death the
relations came with libations and sacrifices, pouring out sweet odours
or wine, or by other means showed that the memory of the departed was
not gone from them. There are many pictures extant, especially on vases,
depicting the care of the graves. Fig. 115, from a vase painting, shows
two women approaching a stele, carrying plates with flasks and fillets.
Similarly, in Fig. 116, the weeping woman at the end of the stele is
drawn with especial grace.
Thus the Greeks held the memory of their dead worthily in honour,
although their time of mourning did not last nearly as long as is
customary with us, but
[Illustration: FIG. 117.]
was generally limited to one or a few months. Even in the case of those
who had died away from home, and whose remains could not be brought
back, as, for instance, those who were drowned at sea, or altogether
lost to sight, they erected cenotaphs, in order to have some spot with
which to connect the ceremonies devoted to the memory of the dead. The
tombstone represented in Fig. 117 was probably that of a man who had
lost his life in some such way, perhaps in a shipwreck. The relief shows
the dead man sitting sadly on land near his ship, and gazing towards his
distant home which he was not permitted to see again. In the empty space
below, his name and probably also the details of his death were
inscribed in writing, which has now been effaced.
CHAPTER VIII.
GYMNASTICS.
Jumping--Use of Dumb-bells--Running--The
Torch-race--Quoit-throwing--The
Javelin--Wrestling--Boxing--_Pancration_--_Pentathlon_--
Ball-games--Archery--Training.
We have already had occasion to allude to the important part played by
gymnastics in Greek life. In the Doric states it was the basis of the
education of girls as well as boys, and even at Athens the training of
the body was an important feature of the education of boys and youths,
and was also diligently cultivated even afterwards for the sake of
developing and strengthening the body. We have now to consider the most
important of these gymnastic exercises, and the mode in which they were
carried on, dealing first with the easier and simpler ones, and
afterwards with the more difficult and complicated.
One of the chief exercises in the gymnastic schools and at the sports
was jumping. Along with running, quoit-throwing, wrestling, and boxing,
jumping was regarded even in the Homeric age as part of gymnastics, but
we know very little of the mode in which it was practised. In the
historic period we find the same kinds of jumping as at the present day,
namely, the high jump, the long jump, and the high long jump; among
these the long jump was of the first importance, and was the only one in
use at the contests. While we, however, confine ourselves more to the
jump with or without a spring-board, and use no artificial means except
perhaps a pole, in ancient times weights (ἁλτῆρες) were largely in use,
and though they required a greater effort on the part of the jumper on
account of the additional weight, yet they gave him some advantage by
increasing the impetus. These weights are simply dumb-bells made of
metal or stone, and resemble in shape those which we use at the present
day for very different purposes. There were two kinds. The older form
resembled the segment of a circle, somewhat smaller than a semicircle,
part of the circle being used as a handle. This older kind of dumb-bell,
which is represented on many vase pictures, was used in later times
chiefly for hygienic purposes. Another kind came into general use for
sports, and especially the Pentathlon; these exactly resembled our
modern dumb-bells, for which, indeed, they served as models. A round
ball is fastened at either end of a massive handle, bent into something
of a curve, and sometimes--especially when they were used not merely to
exercise the arms but in leaping--one of these balls was larger and
heavier than the other, and this, in the leap, was thrust forward.
We are expressly told that these dumb-bells were also used in ancient
gymnastics for strengthening the shoulders, arms, and fingers, and on
many old vase paintings, where we see dumb-bells in the hands of youths,
the attitude suggests such exercises and not jumping. In the painting
represented in Fig. 118 one of the men holds two such dumb-bells in his
hands; it is not easy to decide whether he is preparing to jump, as is
usually supposed, or is only practising dumb-bell exercises. Still, the
latter seems to have been a subordinate use only, and the chief use of
the
[Illustration: FIG. 118.]
dumb-bell was in jumping. In running, previous to jumping, they held the
dumb-bells behind them, and at the moment of jumping thrust the arms
violently forward; the impulse given by the weight then communicated
itself also to the legs, and enabled them to cover a longer distance.
We, therefore, often find jumpers represented in pictures holding their
arms stretched in front of them; and practical attempts in recent times
have convinced us that the importance of the dumb-bells in jumping was
due not so much to a backward motion communicated by them, as to the
thrusting forward of the arms. On springing down the arms were thrust
backward again, as we may also learn from the pictures, and thus a firm
and safe standing posture was attained. In the case of the youth
represented with dumb-bells in Fig. 119, taken from an engraved discus
(compare below, Fig. 126), it is uncertain whether he is using them
merely to exercise his arms or to help him in jumping; possibly he is
taking a preliminary run. Other representations of jumpers are given
below, in Figs. 121 and 127. It is very probable that these
spring-weights were used for the long jump, but not for the high jump,
where they would be rather an impediment than an assistance.
Another difficult question is whether the ancients made use of
leaping-poles. There is not a single picture of which we can say with
certainty that it represents exercises with a leaping-pole, although on
vase paintings of gymnastic scenes we do very frequently see sticks or
poles, but it is always possible to find another interpretation for
these. Thus they may be javelins, such as were used for throwing, or
measuring rods, with which the superintending teachers or judges
measured the length of a jump or a quoit-throw, or they may be merely
sticks carried in token of official position. None of the writers afford
any direct information about the use of leaping-poles; they are hardly
mentioned except in references to occasional leaps over trenches with
the help of a pole, and mounting horses by help of a lance; and,
accordingly, we may infer that they did not play an important part in
ancient gymnastics.
[Illustration: FIG. 119.]
Another disputed question is whether the ancients used a spring-board.
Some references among the later writers seem to suggest that they made
use of a little elevation (βατήρ), from which they took the long jump,
which was far the commonest and the only kind in use in the contests.
There is nothing, however, to show that this elevation was of wood, and
thus gave the jumper an advantage in consequence of its elasticity; it
seems to have been only a little mound of earth. The course of events
was something of this sort: all who took part in the contest took their
stations in a row behind a line drawn in the sand of the wrestling
school, and jumped from there in turn; of course, this was not done
without previous running, for some of the achievements of the ancients
in the long jump would have been quite impossible without running.
Accordingly, they must have run from the appointed place to the mound
and jumped from that. Where the first jumper stopped a fresh line was
drawn with a pick-axe, such as we often see on vase pictures in the hand
of a youth or superintendent, and they were also used to loosen the
earth in order to lessen the shock in jumping down. Those that followed,
of course, tried to jump even further, and every longer jump was again
marked by a line, while the short ones were left unnoticed, unless, as
in the case of the Pentathlon, the object was to have several victors.
Finally, the result of the various jumps was determined by long
measuring chains. What the ancient writers have told us about the
wonderful achievements of the Greek athletes in the long jump, sounds
almost fabulous; especially the story about Chionis, who is said to have
jumped 52 feet, and Phayllus, who jumped 55. Modern writers on
gymnastics have declared these statements impossible and exaggerated, in
spite of the fact that they rest on good authority; but it is not right
to declare our disbelief simply on account of our modern gymnastic
training, which is entirely different from the Greek, since the
elasticity of the sinews and the muscles, which come into play in
jumping, has not been nearly so well developed from earliest youth
upwards as it was in Greece; moreover, these accounts refer to especial
_tours de force_, and were only remarkable exceptions. In any case,
Greeks must have demanded a great deal even from ordinary jumpers,
otherwise they would not have considered the jump, which in itself is
one of the easiest exercises, one of the most difficult achievements in
the gymnastic contests.
Running is already mentioned by Homer among the sports practised by the
youth of Phaeacia; it was very popular, too, in after times, and formed
an important part of the gymnastic contests which took place at the
great Hellenic festivals. Speed was not of as much importance as
endurance, and overcoming difficulties of ground; for they did not run
on firm earth, but in soft sand, where it was doubly difficult to run
fast, since the feet sank in if they were too firmly set down. There
were four kinds of racing, according to the length of the course: the
single course (στάδιον), the double course (δίαυλος), the horse race
(ἵππιος δρόμος), and the long course (δολιχός). The single course was
the length of the race-course, or _stadium_--that is, six hundred feet;
the runner had to measure the course from beginning to end. In the
double course the same space was passed over in both directions--that
is, twice. In the horse race they ran twice backwards and forwards,
consequently four _stadia_, which therefore was the length of the course
on horseback, and hence its name. There are very different accounts
about the length of the long course; seven, twelve, twenty, and even
twenty-four _stadia_ have been mentioned; the last (about three miles)
seems to have been the usual length at Olympia. It is impossible to say
whether these various statements are due to erroneous calculations or
differing customs; still there is no reason to doubt even the longest
course mentioned, since many of our modern runners can achieve far
greater distances, so that a course of twenty-four _stadia_ might very
well have been required as the highest achievement of a good athlete.
Our authorities, however, do not inform us what degree of speed was
usual. We know that the educational and practical value of running
depended not only on the attainment of great speed over a short
distance, but also on the endurance necessary for achieving a long
distance; and among the exercises in the gymnasia they probably laid as
much stress on an even pace in the long races as on speed. But when
running was practised at the contests, the moderation in speed of course
gave way to the attempt to be first in the race and in consequence we
hear of cases in which the victorious runner, on reaching the
winning-post, fell down dead in consequence of excessive exertion, like
the runner Ladas, whose statue Myron made. Therefore, the runners, as
well as others who engaged in gymnastic contests, were in the habit of
previously rubbing their bodies with oil in order to make their limbs
flexible. In running, three or five generally entered at the same time;
when there were more they seem to have been divided into parties of
four, and in that case the winning party had to run once more to decide
the final victory. The signal for running was given by the dropping of a
rope stretched out in front of the runners; in running, they either held
their arms with the elbows closely pressed to their sides or swung them
violently and regularly backwards and forwards, corresponding in time to
the feet; the former attitude
[Illustration: FIG. 120.]
was probably reserved for the long course, when it was a question of
preserving an equal speed, and the latter for the quickest course, in
which the swinging of the arms might be a help; even here, however, the
rule held that a good runner should adopt a slower motion at first, and
only gradually proceed to his greatest speed. The pictures of runners,
which are very common on vase pictures, especially on the so-called
_Panathenaic_ prize amphorae, generally show the peculiarity of holding
the front leg very high up, while the other is set far backwards, and
seems only to touch the ground with the toes. Now in ordinary pictures
of runners we generally see the front leg resting on the ground and the
other thrown out far behind, and this is sometimes found on antique
pictures, but less often; we therefore must suppose that quick running
in ancient times consisted rather in a series of wide jumps, in which
only the toes touched the ground. In the vase painting represented in
Fig. 120 we see four runners moving thus from left to right; their left
legs are thrown far forward, their right legs back, and the arms swing
with a motion corresponding to that of the legs. The hypothesis formerly
current that on the vase paintings the runners from left to right are
running the single, those from right to left the long course, is,
however, not tenable. The two men practising, on the vase picture Fig.
121, are jumping in exactly the same manner; behind them another man is
preparing to jump with dumb-bells, near them stands a teacher or
superintendent in a cloak, with a switch in his hand; on the ground lies
a quoit.
[Illustration: FIG. 121.]
In ancient times, runners usually wore some drapery round their loins,
but afterwards they had no clothing at all. There was, however, a
special kind of race, called “armour-race,” (ὁπλιτοδρομία), which was
not introduced into the Olympic games till the year 520, in which the
runners wore the heavy armour of _Hoplites_. In ancient times, they seem
to have run in full armour--that is, with helmet, cuirass, greaves,
sword and spear; afterwards, if we may trust the representations on the
vases, the armour-race consisted in running with helmet and round
shield, as in Fig. 122. This kind of race, which, of course, required
still greater exertion, seems to have been only in use for the single
and double course, and chiefly for the latter, but not for the
horse-course, or the long course.
[Illustration: FIG. 122.]
The torch-race (λαμπαδοδρομία) was more a matter of skill than of speed
or bodily strength. This was especially popular at Athens, and there
constituted an important part of certain festivals, especially the
Panathenaea, and the festivals of Hephaestus and Prometheus, but had
nothing to do with the gymnastic contests at the great national games.
The youths who took part in the torch-race, lighted their torches at an
altar in the Academy, and ran together from there, with burning torches
to some appointed place in the town. In this race the victor was not he
who ran fastest, but he who first arrived at the goal with a burning
torch. It was important, therefore, to run quickly, and at the same time
cautiously, so that the torch might not be put out. The expenses of the
arrangements, which, however, cannot have been very considerable,
belonged to the so-called Liturgies, the charges voluntarily undertaken
by certain wealthy citizens. They also had to superintend the
practising, or, at any rate, to see to its being done. If we may judge
from ancient representations of the torch-race, the runners sometimes,
besides the torch, bore a shield on their left arm, and also some
head-covering, and, since it was not really a question of great speed,
some light article of clothing.
In the third place, we must consider quoit-throwing. This exercise, in
which the object was to throw a heavy disc as far as possible, is also
mentioned in the Odyssey. The youth of Phaeacia played it, but Odysseus
excels them all, and sends the disc hurled by him beyond all the marks
of the other players. Quoits are also mentioned as an amusement of the
suitors, and among the funeral games in honour of Patroclus. Homer
mentions stone and iron quoits; in later times metal, chiefly iron or
bronze, was the commonest material. They were round and flat in shape,
somewhat raised on each side, with a diameter of about a foot, and were,
therefore, very heavy, and not easy to grasp on account of their
smoothness. The descriptions of ancient writers and monuments give us a
very clear idea of the manner in which these
[Illustration: FIG. 123.]
discs were thrown. The quoit-player, first of all, took a firm stand,
and while he measured the space over which he had to throw his disc, he
held it in his left hand in order not to tire the right too soon; this
is the position in which we see the standing “Discobolus” in the
Vatican, represented in Fig. 123. The attitude adopted when actually
throwing is best given by the Discobolus of Myron, which has come down
to us in several copies, and which is thus described by Lucian: “He is
stooping down to take aim, (his body) turned in the direction of the
hand which holds the quoit, one knee slightly bent, as though he meant
to vary his posture and rise with the throw.” The thrower, therefore,
bent his whole body somewhat in the moment when he threw back the right
hand with the disc, in order to give it the necessary impulse, pressing
his left leg firmly on the ground, and digging his toes into the sand,
at the same time bending the right knee in order to give the disc
increased power by springing up from his bent position at the moment of
throwing. In this attitude the position of the head followed the whole
direction of the body with a slight inclination to the right (the left
of the spectator), as we may learn from the best copies preserved to us
of Myron’s Discobolus, a statue in the Palazzo Massimi, at Rome, and a
bronze statuette at Munich; the downward bending of the head, in the
Vatican copy, represented in Fig. 124, and on the other replicas of the
statue, is due to a mistake in restoration. We may also assume with some
certainty that they did not remain on the same spot at the moment of
throwing, but had space enough to run a little way forward, as is done
even now in playing skittles--a game which differs but little from
quoit-playing--for the force of the throw would be checked by remaining
in one place. Thus the bronze statue, Fig. 125 (though this is
sometimes interpreted as a wrestler running to the attack), shows the
disc thrower running forward a few steps, the upper part of his body
bent forwards, and trying to follow the result of his throw. Probably
the little elevation from which, according to the ancient writers, the
thrower hurled the quoit, supplied the necessary space for this forward
movement, and the extreme edge of this elevation (βαλβίς) was also the
limit which, in case of a contest prevented any from running further
than others, or throwing their discus from a nearer point, so that the
conditions of the contest might be alike for all. The umpires, or
superintendents, carefully marked, by lines or some other means, the
place to which each combatant threw his disc, and he whose quoit flew
the farthest was the victor.
Quoit-throwing, as well as running and jumping, was taught even to boys,
but undoubtedly they used smaller and lighter discs than men. The disc
from Aegina, now in the Berlin Museum, one side of which is represented
above in Fig. 119, was only eight inches in diameter, and about four
pounds weight, but was probably never used as an actual implement of the
school.
Throwing the javelin was also taught in the boys’ gymnastic schools.
This was originally a military exercise; we find it mentioned in heroic
times, not only as a mode of fighting, but also as a game. In the
gymnastic schools of the boys and youths they often used, as we may tell
from the pictures, instead of a real spear, a blunt stick of about the
same length, but they must sometimes have made use of real spears with
sharp points for their exercises, since the orator Antiphon tells us
that one of the older boys at the
[Illustration: FIG. 124.]
[Illustration: FIG. 125.]
gymnasium killed a younger one, who had by mistake run in the way, and
this would have been impossible if a mere stick had been used. Probably
the weight of the spears was gradually increased, as also of the quoits,
and the youths used heavier weapons than the boys, while the men in
their turn used still heavier ones. We may, however, infer that, besides
throwing a mere stick in which certainty of aim would be the object,
they used actual spears, and studied especial ways of managing them,
since the javelin, which was supplied with a loop or strap, had to be
thrown in a quite peculiar way, while the stick had no loop, and could
be quite differently thrown. This loop was near the lower end of the
javelin; the thrower put the first and second fingers of his right hand
through it--sometimes it was a double loop, so that each finger grasped
a separate strap--he laid his thumb on the wood of the spear, which
rested on the third or fourth fingers placed underneath, or else on the
third finger alone; in this position the hand was drawn backwards and
then aim was taken at some definite goal, the nature of which we are not
acquainted with. This we learn from the Berlin disc already mentioned
(Fig. 126), and also from various vase paintings, and the figure of the
giant frieze from Pergamum. The throw was either horizontal, if distance
was aimed at, which was most usual, or upwards towards some raised mark.
Among gymnastic exercises represented in a vase painting (Fig. 127),
throwing the spear also plays a part. We see here, on the left (near the
handle), a youth represented as just about to run; on the right, near
him, a second is practising dumb-bells, or else preparing to jump. Near
a long-robed flute-player, whose music is accompanying the exercises, a
spear-thrower is running forward, but his face is not turned forward to
the mark, but backward towards the hand which holds the spear (like the
throwing Discobolus), so that we must suppose that it was not a question
of throwing the spear at a definite mark, but only of sending it as far
as possible. Next to a bearded superintendent, wearing a cloak and
holding a switch, follows a quoit-player, who is about to throw the disc
which he holds in the right hand. Lastly, we have a pair of boxers,
whose attitude will be discussed further on. Other representations show
us that, in throwing upwards, the handle with the loop was held
downwards, but in throwing to a distance, if the object was to throw as
far as possible, the right arm was drawn back as in Fig. 119 and here;
but if a mark was aimed at, the upper arm was kept in a horizontal
position, about the height of the ear, and the aim carefully taken
before throwing. The javelin used in gymnastic exercises and contests
differs from that used in war in being constructed of very light wood,
and having no lance-head like the one used in battle, but, as Fig. 119
shows, a very thin and rather long head, obviously in order that the
spear may cling more easily to the mark which was probably made of wood.
[Illustration: FIG. 126.]
Throughout the whole of antiquity the favourite contest was wrestling,
and the importance of this depended on the fact that the whole body was
exercised at the same time, and all the muscles came into play; and also
that it was not an exercise
[Illustration: FIG. 127.]
performed by one single man, but was an immediate measuring of strength
by two opponents, and, therefore, even more than the other contests,
required full bodily power. Even in the Homeric age, therefore,
wrestling played an important part, and the deep hold it took on Greek
life is shown by the great number of technical expressions taken from
wrestling which in metaphorical form found their way into the ordinary
every-day language; no other exercise had so large a store of technical
expressions; indeed, it is absolutely impossible for us to find words to
express them all at the present day. Wrestling, like other gymnastic
exercises, was carried on at first with some drapery round the loins,
and afterwards without any clothing. As a preparation, the combatants
rubbed their whole bodies with oil, with a view to making their limbs
more supple and elastic. For this purpose there were special rooms in
the gymnasia and wrestling schools, in which stood large vessels, filled
with oil, from which they filled their own little flasks; then they
poured a little oil out of these into their hands, and either rubbed
their bodies with it or else had them rubbed by one of the attendants of
the gymnasia appointed for the purpose (ἀλείπτης). But as this oiling
and the perspiration which resulted from the contest would have made the
body too smooth and slippery, and absolutely impossible to grasp, they
covered themselves, when the anointing was finished, with fine dust,
taken from special pits, or else prepared on purpose. This was supposed
also to serve a hygienic purpose, for it was assumed that the dust
prevented excessive perspiration, and in consequence saved the strength;
it was also regarded as advantageous because it closed the pores and
sheltered them from the air, which might have an injurious effect. Oil,
perspiration, dust, and also the soft sand, which, when the wrestlers
continued their contest on the ground, clung to their bodies, together
formed a thick crust, which could not have been sufficiently removed by
a mere warm bath; therefore the wrestlers used a _stlengis_, or
_strigil_, for cleansing their bodies, rubbing off the dirt partly
themselves and partly with the help of attendants, and afterwards took a
warm bath. The action of this scraping, which, in spite of its
unaesthetic nature, gave rise to many graceful attitudes, has been often
plastically represented by artists; a good copy has come down to us of
the most celebrated of these figures, the _Apoxyomenos_ of Lysippus. The
bath was usually followed by oiling the body once more, because the use
of oil was regarded as good for the health and tending to strengthen the
limbs. As already mentioned, this anointing was accompanied by a kind of
massage, a pressing and kneading of the body, which the rubber
understood, and which was regarded as a hygienic method, so that one who
was specially skilled in it was called a medical-rubber (ἰατραλείπτης),
and in a measure combined the duties of physician and rubber. The
constant exposure to fresh air and accustoming of the naked body to the
rays of the sun, combined with the oiling and dusting mentioned above,
produced in the wrestlers especially, though to some extent in all the
athletes, a very dark complexion, which the ancients regarded as a mark
of health and of manly courage, and often held up to admiration in
contrast to the pale colouring of the artisans and stay-at-homes who
“sat in the shade.” There were two principal methods in ordinary
wrestling--standing and ground wrestling. In the first kind of contest
everything depended on throwing an opponent, either by skill, or by
certain tricks which were allowed in wrestling, in such a way that his
shoulder touched the earth, while the other kept his position; throwing
once, however, did not decide the victory, but in order to be victorious
in the standing wrestling-bout it was necessary for a man to throw his
opponent three times in this manner. When both opponents fell together
while wrestling without clasping each other, they jumped up and began
the contest afresh; but if they grasped each other firmly when they
fell, so that the contest was not yet decided, the wrestling usually
passed into the second stage, in which both wrestled while lying on the
ground, when now one now the other might get the advantage, until one of
the two declared himself conquered, and gave up the struggle. The
wrestlers in the celebrated Florentine marble group, represented in Fig.
128, are in this position. This wrestling on the ground, however, only
took place in the boys’ gymnastic school, and afterwards in the public
contests of Pancratiasts (see below, page 296), and professional
athletes; in the great contests and the Pentathlon only standing
wrestling was allowed. The mode in which the wrestlers began the combat
has been clearly described by several writers, and often represented on
monuments. Each combatant took his place, with his legs somewhat apart,
his right foot forward, stretched out his arms, drew his head a little
between his shoulders, and thrust forward the upper part of his body,
back, shoulders, and neck, in order to protect the lower part somewhat
from the attack of his opponent. In this manner the combatants stepped
towards each other, each watching for the moment when the other would
expose himself in some way of which he could take advantage, and as they
were naturally both as much as possible on their
[Illustration: FIG. 128.]
[Illustration: FIG. 129.]
guard, it was often a considerable time before they could begin the
contest by seizing hold of their opponents. But when it was once begun,
the masters or other officials who superintended watched to see that no
tricks contrary to tradition and rule were made use of, that there was
no striking or biting; but still, they were allowed to make use of
certain tricks or feints in order to deceive the enemy or gain an
advantage over him. Among the methods allowed was throttling, either by
touching the opponent’s neck or throwing an arm round it, or pushing the
elbow under his chin, and sometimes the combatant who was attacked in
this way was forced from want of breath to declare himself conquered,
even without being thrown; similarly his opponent might force him, by
pressing his body together to abandon the contest; and in the ground
wrestling it sometimes happened that the combatant who had the upper
hand knelt
[Illustration: FIG. 130.]
down on the one who had been thrown to the ground and throttled him
until he asked for mercy. Twisting and bending the limbs was also
allowed, thrusting an arm or a foot into the opponent’s belly, pushing
or forcing him from the spot, which, if the hands were occupied, was
often done by means of the forehead, the two combatants dashing their
heads against each other like two angry bulls; this was a very favourite
trick, and is frequently shown on works of art. In Fig. 129, taken from
a vase painting we see two wrestlers who have grappled, each holding his
opponent’s right arm with his own left; their foreheads are pressed
together, one has drawn back his right foot in order to increase his
resisting power. The combatants in Fig. 130, are fighting in a similar
manner, the left hand of one seizes the right arm of his opponent, while
his right arm is thrown round his body; the left hand of the other
meantime attacks his enemy’s back. On the left a superintendent, who
wears a cloak, and holds a branch in his hand, stands looking on; on the
right a young man is running quickly away. Among the permitted feints
was a sudden thrust of the leg, which hit the opponent’s knee from
behind with the foot in such a manner as to throw him, or, if this was
impossible, a similar blow was attempted on the side; they also seized
an opponent by the leg or ankle in such a way as to lift it from the
ground with a violent impulse, so that he must fall backwards. Sometimes
a strong and skilful wrestler would put his arms round his opponent’s
hips in such a way as to lift him entirely from the ground, and turn him
over with his head downwards. On the vase painting represented in Fig.
131, in the group on the right, one of the wrestlers has lifted up his
opponent in this manner, and the latter is trying to free himself from
the arms which are holding him. In the other group, one of the wrestlers
with his right arm seizes the left arm of his opponent and tries to
press him down with his body, thrusting his head over the left shoulder
of the other; the latter, however, thrusts his head over his opponent’s
back, and with his right arm seizes his opponent’s right arm from
behind. The richly-clad youth standing by presents an almost feminine
appearance, holding a staff and flower in his hands, and it is not clear
for what purpose he is there. Similar tricks and manoeuvres were used in
ground wrestling. Besides this they also attempted to entangle the
opponent’s legs in theirs, in order to prevent him from standing up
again. There were a great many similar modes or plans of wrestling, all
with a special terminology, and it seems as though no gymnastic exercise
had been so thoroughly developed into a real art as that of wrestling.
Boxing, which we hear of among the funeral games in honour of Patroclus,
was also practised in the historic period, but as a mode of fighting it
was not actually necessary for the gymnastic training of every
[Illustration: FIG. 131.
Vase painting.]
Greek, but was rather studied by those who desired to win prizes in the
public games, and to obtain honour and reward by their bodily skill and
strength. We are accustomed to regard the gymnastic training of the
Greeks as tending not only to the development of the body, but also to
that of the mind; and we cannot deny that boxing, especially in the form
which it assumed in the course of centuries, was a rough sport, and that
the pleasure which the Greeks undoubtedly took in watching it, though
not quite of so degrading a nature as the cruel delight taken by the
Romans in the fights of gladiators and wild beasts, yet, considered in
connection with certain other popular sports, such as cock-fighting,
must be taken as a sign that even the high degree of culture, which the
Athenians had undoubtedly attained by the fifth century, was not quite
sufficient to suppress completely the animal instinct in man. After all,
our much-lauded nineteenth century is not unacquainted with such
amusements as boxing, pigeon-shooting, and similar sports.
Boxing, like wrestling, was subject to special rules, from which we see
that more stress was laid on artistic and elegant methods than on the
mere evidence of great bodily strength and rude force. Specially skilful
boxers, indeed, devoted themselves chiefly to wearing out their enemy by
keeping strictly on the defensive--that is, parrying all his blows with
their arms, and thus forcing him at last to give up the contest, rather
than making him unfit to fight by well-aimed blows. They distinguished,
too, in the defensive between correctly-aimed blows and mere rough
hitting, which sometimes gave a combatant the victory if he happened to
possess considerable strength, but by no means won reputation for him.
All the same, severe bodily injuries, or, at any rate, lasting
deformities, especially in the head and face, were inevitably connected
with boxing, and it was by no means unusual for boxers to have their
ears completely disfigured and beaten quite flat, and, indeed, we see
this on some of the ancient heads; afterwards it became customary to use
special bandages for protecting the ears. A practice which made boxing
especially rough, and sometimes even dangerous to life, was that of
covering the hands with leathern thongs. Originally these thongs were
tolerably harmless; they consisted merely of leather, and were put on in
such a way that the fingers remained free, while the thongs extended a
little way above the wrist and covered part of the lower arm--of course,
in such a way as not to check the motion of the hand. But this gentler
kind, which were still capable of inflicting rather serious injuries,
were afterwards in use only for the preliminary practice before a
serious contest; for the latter they used heavy boxing-gloves of
hardened bull’s hide, into which knobs of lead, etc., were worked. We
can easily imagine what terrible wounds might be inflicted by a blow
from one of these. Many of the old athletes could show bodies covered
with wounds like that of an old soldier, and the writers of epigrams
laughingly compared the bodies of athletes to sieves full of holes. And
although they were forbidden purposely to give blows which threatened
the life of an opponent, yet it sometimes happened, as in the notorious
contest between Creugas and Damoxenus, that in the excitement of the
moment the combatants forgot the established rules, and the professional
contest turned into mere brutality, from which those of the spectators
whose feelings were of a less coarse nature turned away with horror.
For the contest they generally took their position in such a manner as
not to turn their whole body to
[Illustration: FIG. 132.]
the enemy, but only one side, and, as a rule, the left. It was in the
nature of the contest that a constant change between attack and defence
must take place; the attitude represented on numerous monuments, in
which the left arm is used for parrying, the right for attack, was the
common one, not only as an opening, but repeated at each new phase,
though a change would sometimes take place, and the right arm be used in
defence, the left for attack. On the vase painting represented in Fig.
132 we see two boxers, whose huge proportions show that they were
endowed with unusual strength; both have covered their arms and hands
with heavy thongs, one is apparently countering with the left, the other
parrying with the right; his left aims at his enemy’s head. On the right
stands a winged Goddess of Victory, on the left a
[Illustration: FIG. 133.]
boxer with the thongs, raising his left arm to his head. The vase
painting, Fig. 133, represents two boxers, one of whom aims a
well-directed blow with his left at the breast of the other, who
totters. On one side lie some poles, as well as implements belonging to
the wrestling school, strigil, sponge, etc. There are also two boxers on
the vase painting represented in Fig. 127. The one to the right has “got
home” so effectively on the head with his left, that the other, who has
tried to guard with his left arm, has to give ground, and seems to have
had enough, for he is raising the first finger of his right hand, a
sign that he begs for mercy and declares himself conquered. The thongs
here are only worn on the right hand of one of the combatants, but this
was probably merely an omission on the part of the painter.
As preliminary practice in boxing, especially in learning the commonest
attacks and parries, they used a kind of quintain (κώρυκος), a bladder
or leather ball, hung up and filled with sand; this exercise is often
represented on old monuments, and most clearly on the so-called
“Ficoronese Cista.” This striking at the quintain was one of the regular
contests in the gymnasium, for though the dangerous fighting with the
leaded thongs was left to professional athletes, yet a trial of skill in
the commoner kind of harmless boxing, in which there was no risk of
losing teeth, etc., was a very favourite practice, and this, no doubt,
is meant when we find boxing mentioned even among the gymnastic
exercises of boys.
Similar was the _Pancration_, as difficult as it was dangerous, which
was unknown to the heroic age, a combination of boxing and wrestling,
which, though included among the exercises of the boys and youths, was
only of real importance for professional athletes. Here all the parts of
the body came into play, tricks and cunning feints to lead an opponent
astray were permissible, and as important as bodily strength and
powerful fists. The combatants fought naked, like the wrestlers, after
oiling and strewing dust over their bodies; but they did not use thongs,
which would have been in the way in wrestling, nor were they permitted
to strike with the whole fist, but only with the bent fingers. They
began the fight standing, as in wrestling, and the special difficulty
was, in taking the offensive, to avoid being seized by an opponent as
well as to parry an unexpected blow from his fist. Blows were dealt not
only in the standing fight, but also in the ground wrestling, and in the
pancration they made even more use of their feet for hitting and kicking
than in the separate contests in wrestling and boxing; they also tried
to twist their opponent’s hands and break his fingers, since the main
object was to make him incapable of fighting. It is, therefore, natural
that among professional athletes the pancration was regarded as the most
important of all modes of fighting.
Another contest, the _Pentathlon_, was of a very different nature. In
the pancration the two modes of wrestling and boxing were combined
together, but in the pentathlon the different contests were undertaken
one after another by a number of competitors, and he who did well in all
of them, and took the first place in some, was declared victor in the
whole. The contest consisted in jumping, running, throwing the quoit,
throwing the spear, and wrestling. Although the combination of these
five contests was arranged with a view to the public games, yet it also
had some educational importance; for difficult and easy contests were
here combined, both those which required skill as well as those in which
mere bodily strength carried off the palm, and thus the pentathlon was
well calculated to develop the whole body harmoniously, and to keep
professionals from devoting too much attention to one side of gymnastics
to the disadvantage of the others. For this reason it was introduced
among the exercises of the boys. We have no conclusive information about
the proceedings in the pentathlon, the order in which the various
contests followed one another, and the conditions on which a combatant
was declared to be victorious. There is a good deal of difference of
opinion among the moderns who have ventured hypotheses on the subject.
One great difficulty in deciding this question arises from the fact
that, though a considerable number of combatants might take part in the
four first-mentioned contests, wrestling must in the nature of things be
performed by only two; we must therefore assume that the contests were
arranged in such a manner that only two combatants should be left for
the last. Probably they began with running, for which a considerable
number could enter; supposing there were very many, they may have had
several series of combats afterwards. The five best runners would then
enter upon the second contest, perhaps throwing the spear; then the
worst of these five would be thrown out, and the remaining four enter
for the next, the jump; the three best jumpers would then throw the
quoit, and the two best quoit-throwers would wrestle finally for the
palm. Whether this or something similar was the arrangement, it might
happen that a combatant who had never taken the first place in one of
the first four contests might carry off the victory at last, but they
avoided this by the rule that, if anyone took the first place in the
first three contests or in three of the four, the two last or the last
might be left out, and he would be considered victor in the pentathlon.
Consequently, the final wrestling match only took place if after the
fourth contest the victory was still undecided--that is, if among the
two best quoit-throwers neither had taken the first place three times.
It might, therefore, happen that a man who took the first place twice
and the second place once in the first three contests was thrown out in
the fourth, and the victory fell to another who had never taken the
first place except at the last. Still, this apparent injustice was
counterbalanced by the fact that the last contest was really the most
difficult, while a certain average excellence in the former contests was
required of everyone who entered the pentathlon at all; also it was no
small merit to keep a place among the victors in all five contests,
though it might not be the first or second. Of course these are merely
hypotheses; we have not sufficient materials for attaining certainty in
this matter.
A number of other gymnastic exercises were of greater importance for the
gymnasium than for the public games. Among those which were merely
preliminary training for more serious tasks we have already mentioned
the dumb-bells and the quintain. Others bear some resemblance to our own
gymnastics; thus, for instance, exercises in bending the knees, which
were especially popular at Sparta, and also practised by girls there;
thrusting the arms forward and backward whilst standing on tiptoe,
hopping on one foot, or changing the foot, etc. Ball was also included
among the games of a semi-gymnastic character, as with us, too, it plays
some part in gymnastic exercises; rope-pulling was also a favourite
practice, but throughout the whole of antiquity far the most popular
recreative game in the gymnastic schools was ball-playing, and there
were special places devoted to it, just as there were afterwards in the
baths or thermae. The ancient writers mention several other occupations
of this kind, half-way between serious exercises and mere games;
undoubtedly there were many others concerning which we have no
information, and the relief in Fig. 134 probably shows us one of these.
It seems to represent a game with a large hard ball, which was thrown up
into the air and caught on the thigh, and, perhaps, thrown up again into
the air from there.
[Illustration: FIG. 134.]
Many exercises of a partly military character were also practised in the
gymnasia. Besides throwing the spear, which was regarded as an entirely
gymnastic exercise, and was practised at the public contests, there was
archery, which, in the Alexandrine age, as we previously mentioned, even
found a place in the curriculum of the Attic youths. This was also the
case with the Cretans, who were renowned as excellent archers at the
time of Plato, and probably even earlier. They used for the purpose a
bow constructed of horn or hard wood; bows were of two different shapes,
one which was common in the East, and was already described by Homer, in
which two horn-shaped ends were connected by a straight middle piece;
the other was a simpler shape, in which the whole bow consisted of one
piece of elastic wood, scarcely curved at all when the bow was not bent,
and which, when bent, acquired a semi-circular shape. As a rule, when
the bow was not in use the string was only fastened at one end. Before
shooting, it was attached to the hook at the other end by means of a
little ring or eye. A good deal of strength was needed to bend the bow
far enough to attach the string. In shooting, they drew back the
feathered arrow, on which a notch fitted, along with the string towards
the breast, holding the bow firmly in the left hand. The vase painting
depicted in Fig. 135 represents archery practice. The target here is the
wooden figure of a cock set upon a column; of the three youths who are
practising one shoots standing, the second kneeling, the common position
for an archer, and the third is just about to draw his bow pressing his
knee against it. All three use the second kind of bow. It is, of course,
only an artistic licence that the archers are placed so near their goal;
similarly the arrows are still flying while the two archers are about to
shoot fresh ones.
[Illustration: FIG. 135.]
We have already had occasion several times to point to the difference
between the gymnastic training of youths, continued into manhood with a
view to strengthening the body, and the professional gymnastics of the
athletes; we must, therefore, say a few words about the position as
well as the training of the latter. As the public games increased in
importance, and the glory gained by the victors induced ambitious youths
and men to strive for a wreath in the gymnastic contests, and thus gain
undying fame for themselves and their native city, it gradually became
the custom for especially strong and skilful athletes (ἀγωνισταί) to
make the development of their body for these gymnastic contests the
object of their life, in order, by constant practice, by a particular
diet and mode of life calculated to increase their strength, to attain
the highest position in this profession, and thus to be almost sure of
victory. In this way “agonistics,” which was originally only a
development of gymnastics in accordance with the rules of art, became a
regular profession, and those who devoted themselves to it were
distinctively known as athletes. As athleticism became a profession and
a means of making money, it ceased, of course, to be an occupation
worthy of a free and noble citizen; and it is, therefore, natural that
at Sparta, where every profession by which money could be made was
looked down upon, it should have made no way, and that in other places,
too, it was only men of the lower classes who devoted themselves to it,
however enticing it might seem to an ambitious youth who desired to
attain the material advantages enjoyed by the victors in these contests,
as well as the glorious honours with which they were specially
distinguished.
The athletes received their training from a trainer (γυμναστής), who
must be carefully distinguished from the gymnastic teacher of the boys
(παιδοτσριβής). The trainer instructed his pupils in the higher branches
of gymnastics, practised frequently with them, and probably also
accompanied them to the public games, in order to instruct them to the
very last moment, since the victory of a pupil was also honourable and
advantageous to the master. The exercises probably took place in the
gymnasia belonging to the trainers, or in the public gymnastic places;
and consisted not merely in a methodical increase in the usual gymnastic
exercises until the highest achievements were attained, but also in many
which were not practised elsewhere, and which were not calculated to
harden the body or make the limbs supple. Along with the gymnastic
training they observed, as already mentioned, a very careful mode of
life, which was superintended by the rubber, whose half-medical training
has been already alluded to. This diet was in part observed at all
times, but was especially severe just before the games, at which an
athlete had to appear. In ancient times the principal nourishment of the
athletes was fresh cheese, dried figs, and wheaten porridge; in later
times they abandoned this vegetarian diet for meat, and gave the
preference to beef, pork, and kid. Bread might not be eaten with meat,
but was taken at breakfast, while the principal meal consisted of meat;
confectionery was forbidden; wine might only be taken in moderate
quantities. In addition to this diet, which was prescribed to the
athletes for the whole year, a special training had to be followed at
times, especially when preparing for the games, which lasted for more
than three-quarters of the year; at these times the athletes every day,
after the conclusion of their practice, had to consume an enormous
quantity of such food as was permitted them, and then digest it in a
long-continued sleep. By gradually increasing the amount, an athlete
succeeded at last in consuming an enormous quantity of meat, and at
length this became a habit and even a necessity. By this means they
attained, not, it is true, hardening of the muscles, but the corpulence
which is often represented in the ancient pictures, and which might be
advantageous in certain contests, especially in wrestling and the
pancration, since it enabled them more easily to press down and wear out
their opponents; on the other hand, this artificially-produced
corpulence was very unhealthy, and it is natural that these athletes
were liable to many kinds of disease, especially apoplectic strokes.
The training and mode of life of the athletes just described was
obviously not suitable for all kinds of gymnastic contests. Such diet
would have been very pernicious for running and jumping; wrestling and
boxing and the pancration were their chief domain, and it was in these
that the more celebrated athletes of antiquity, whose names have come
down to us--viz., Milo, Polydamas, Glaucus, and the rest--were specially
distinguished. Their rewards were of various kinds. The victors in the
Olympian games were allowed to set up a statue in the Grove of Altis, at
Olympia, at their own expense or that of their relations, sometimes even
of the state to which the victor belonged; and at home, too, they very
frequently had the same honour of a public statue assigned to them. When
they returned from the games, they held a solemn entry into their own
town, dressed in purple, riding on a car drawn by four white horses,
accompanied by their friends and relations and a rejoicing crowd; it was
even an ancient custom to pull down a piece of the city wall, in order
to show that a city which could produce such citizens required no walls
for its defence. Then followed a banquet in honour of the victor, in
which hymns were sung in his praise. Rewards were also given in coin.
At Athens, after the time of Solon, the victor in the Olympian games
received 500 drachmae, the victor in one of the three other great
national contests a hundred drachmae; in later times they even had the
right of dining every day at the public expense in the town-hall
(πρυτανεῖον), and they also enjoyed the honour of sitting on the front
benches of the theatre (προεδρία). Moreover, most of the professional
athletes, if they lived carefully and abstained from all departures from
their customary diet and mode of life, were able to continue their
contests for a good many years, sometimes thirty or more, and were thus
able to pile honour on honour and reward on reward. The unlimited
admiration which the mass of the people, and especially the youth, who
were easily won by exhibitions of strength, gave to these combatants,
who seem to us at the present day to have been but rough prize-fighters,
stands in strong contrast to the judgment pronounced on them by men of
real intellectual development, especially by the philosophers. They
rightly complained that this one-sided development of the body was
perfectly useless to the State, since the athletes were only capable in
their own domain, but were quite unable to endure fatigues and undertake
military service; they pointed out that the mode of life which aimed
merely at increasing the bodily strength tended to dwarf the intellect,
and that, therefore, the athletes were absolutely useless for political
as well as for all intellectual purposes. Wise educators, therefore,
disapproved of athletic training, and, indeed, the greatest warriors and
statesmen of Greece seem always to have despised it.
CHAPTER IX.
MUSIC AND DANCING.
Stringed Instruments--The Lyre--The Cithara--Wind Instruments--The
Flute--Trumpets, Tambourines, and other Instruments--Dancing as a
Popular Amusement--The Dance in Religious Ceremonies.
We do not intend in this place to discuss the history and theory of
ancient music, but only to supplement what has been said already about
the musical instruction of youth, by indicating the most important
branches of music which were studied in Greece and describing the
instruments in use. We shall pass over vocal music entirely, since it
played no great part in antiquity apart from instrumental accompaniment,
and its chief purpose was for song and the drama.
The commonest instruments in ordinary use were stringed. These were well
suited for solo-playing as well as for accompanying songs, and the
singer could accompany himself with them, which would have been
impossible in the case of wind instruments. The stringed instruments
used in Greece were all played by striking or thrumming, and not by
means of a bow; in fact, it is a disputed point whether the ancients,
and in particular the Egyptians, were at all acquainted with the bow; in
any case we do not find it in classical antiquity. Among the various
kinds of stringed instruments which had either existed in Greece since
the oldest times or been introduced from foreign countries, especially
from the East or from Egypt, there were only two which were of special
importance for educational and ordinary purposes. These were the lyre
and the cithara, which were closely related to one another, and only
distinguished by the effect of the sound. Of these the simpler, and
probably also the older, was the lyre, which, according to a Greek
legend, was an invention of Hermes, who constructed the first lyre out
of a tortoise, which he used as a sounding-board, stretching cords
across it. Even in later times tortoise-shells seem to have been
actually used in the construction of lyres, and on works of art,
especially vase pictures (compare the “Bowl of Duris,” which represents
school teaching in Attica, Fig. 75), we can plainly distinguish the
markings of the tortoise on the outer side of the instrument. It must,
however, have been more usual to construct the sounding-board of wood,
and only adorn it externally with tortoise-shell or other decorative
materials; the writers mention boxwood and ilex as the principal
materials for lyres, as well as ivory, which last was probably used for
decorative purposes. In the Homeric hymn to Hermes, in which the
invention of the lyre by the god is described in detail, Hermes cuts
little stems of reed, which he fastens into the shell in gridiron
fashion and covers with ox-skin, and by this means obtains the necessary
covering for the sounding-board. In later times the proceeding was
probably different, since the usual material for the sounding-board was
undoubtedly wood, and the covering was, no doubt, made of wood also. But
the shape of the sounding-board always remained the same; the outer side
was a good deal raised, while the inner side on which the strings were
attached was a level surface. Into this sounding-board two arms were
fixed, which are almost always represented on Greek monuments as merely
curved pieces of wood fastened on the inner side of the sounding-board;
but the custom which in later times, especially in the Alexandrine and
Roman periods, became very common, of not merely constructing these arms
in the shape of horns, but even making them of real horns of chamois or
gazelles, no doubt existed even in the ancient Greek period.
At their upper ends the two arms, which might be called horns, were
fastened together by a cross-piece, called the yoke, which was usually
constructed of hard wood, and on to this the strings, constructed of
sheep-guts, were stretched. Of these the lyre usually had seven, all of
equal length, which was also the case in the cithara. These strings, as
we can clearly see in the lyres of the above-mentioned bowl (Fig. 75),
passed downwards over a bridge consisting of a piece of reed fixed on
the flat covering of the sounding-board, and were then fastened singly,
probably to a little square board, such as we see on the lyre hanging on
the wall in Fig. 75. Probably this little board could be taken out, and
thus, if a string were to break, the injury could be easily repaired.
Occasionally the strings were merely tied to the yoke; but, as this
primitive method would make it impossible to tune them, we must assume
that there was usually some other contrivance, though neither writers
nor monuments give us sufficient information about it. On the lyres in
Fig. 75, and also in other pictures of stringed instruments, we perceive
at the upper ends of the strings, longish rolls which in other places
are shaped more like rings or discs, and are probably set at an angle to
the stretched strings. An hypothesis has been set up by Von Jan, who
infers, from ancient writers, after comparing similar contrivances in
Nubian stringed instruments, that these rolls were constructed of thick
skin or hide, taken from the backs of oxen or sheep; the strings were
fastened into these adhesive covers and twisted along with them round
the yoke of the lyre until they attained the right tune, and they were
then fastened into their proper position by strongly pressing down these
rolls of hide. Still, this rough mode of fastening which could only
permit of very superficial tuning of the strings, does not appear very
satisfactory; indeed, Von Jan himself calls attention to a far more
artistic contrivance observed in some of the pictures which has not yet,
however, been satisfactorily explained. There seems also to have been a
third mode of fastening; sometimes the whole yoke was divided into as
many little pulleys connected by pegs as there were strings, so that
each string had, as it were, its own yoke, by the tightening of which it
could be tuned without the other strings being affected. We have no
further details about this construction.
On the vase painting represented in Fig. 136, which presents a number of
women with musical instruments, perhaps Muses, one is leaning back
comfortably in her easy-chair, and playing on the lyre, here represented
with six strings; the woman standing in front of her seems about to tune
the strings of her cithara. The cithara differed from the lyre chiefly
in the form and structure of the sounding-board. This was constructed of
wood, often artistically decorated and adorned with valuable materials,
precious stones, etc., and was much larger and more arched than the
sounding-board of the lyre. It usually had a straight base, and
sometimes sounding holes, which was less often the case with the lyre,
and its arms were far wider and squarer, and, being also hollow, seem to
have helped to strengthen the sound. On some
[Illustration:
PL. LXXXVI
FIG. 136.]
instruments it is clear that the sounding-board and the arms which rise
out of it were constructed out of a single piece, and that,
consequently, the cavities are in connection; on some the arms are of a
different colour from the sounding-board, usually white, which would
suggest ivory; still, we must not on this account conclude that they
were constructed separately, since it is possible that the different
colouring was only an external ornamentation or veneer for the arms, and
need not lead us to assume a different material for the whole structure.
The arms were usually slightly curved outwards, but turned inwards again
at the top. The instrument in Fig. 136 is one of the simplest, since the
arms are quite plain; on other examples we often see elaborate carving.
The bridge which unites the two arms is either a perfectly simple rod,
as in the case of the lyre (compare Fig. 136), or else the arms have at
their projecting ends solid handles or crooks, which probably assisted
the tuning. The number of strings was originally limited in the cithara;
seven was at first the usual number, and this number was even fixed by
law at Sparta, but in other places nine, ten, or eleven strings were
used. The writers and pictures give us no more accurate information
about the mode in which these strings were fastened to the yoke and to
the sounding-board than they do about the lyre; the pictures dating from
the Roman period are much clearer in that respect, but we cannot safely
use them as authorities.
The lyre was generally played sitting. This instrument, which was a
light one, was held close to the left side, as we see in Figs. 75 and
136, and supported by the seat of the chair. The cithara was played
standing, and it was therefore necessary, on account of the considerable
weight of the instrument, to suspend it by a band over the shoulders.
This band is seldom represented in works of art, but it must always be
assumed to be there, since the mode in which the stringed instruments
were played would not leave a hand free for holding it. Both lyre and
cithara were played in such a manner that the strings were thrummed from
without by the left hand, but struck from within by an instrument called
_plectrum_, held in the right hand, and constructed of wood, ivory, or
some half-precious stone. This plectrum was fastened by a string to the
instrument (compare again Fig. 75). There were, however, exceptions to
this mode of playing; thus, a woman in Fig. 136 apparently does not use
the plectrum, but thrums the strings of the lyre with both hands, and at
other times it seems as though the left hand and the plectrum, which was
held in the right, were not used at the same time, but in turns. Thus,
in Fig. 75, both teacher and pupil are only thrumming the instrument
with their left hand, and leaving the plectrum at rest. The practical
object of fastening the plectrum to the instrument was that it enabled
the player at any moment to pass from the use of the plectrum to the
fingers of the right hand, and _vice versa_. An hypothesis based on
works of art, and apparently very plausible, has been made by Von Jan,
who supposes that musicians, as a rule, accompanied their song with the
play of the left hand, and only used the plectrum in the pauses.
Besides the lyres and citharae, among which we must certainly include
the Homeric _Phorminx_, of which we find various kinds but all with the
same main features, there are several other stringed instruments, to
which we can, as a rule, assign the ancient names with some certainty,
though we find a very great number of designations for these instruments
in different writers, and apparently most of them were introduced into
Greece from the East and from Egypt. One of the safest identifications
relates to a large, many-stringed instrument, of a shape which closely
resembles our modern harp (Fig. 136). This is played by the third woman
in the centre, and is also found elsewhere (compare the vase painting,
Fig. 137). We almost always find this instrument in the hands of women;
they play it seated, resting the horizontal base on their laps, while
the broader sounding-board which joins this at an angle, rests against
the upper part of their body; they strike the short strings near them
with the right hand, without a plectrum, and with the left hand the
long strings which are further from them. The pictures sometimes show
contrivances for tuning, shortening, or lengthening the strings; the
number of strings varies. As the shape is usually triangular, we may
probably assume that this instrument is the one called _Trigonon_.
Possibly some of the examples may be instances of the _Sambuca_, since
this, too, had a triangular form.
[Illustration: FIG. 137.]
We also hear of many other stringed instruments, of which we know only
the names, some with a small number of strings--three or four, others
with a large number--thirty to forty; but we know little or nothing
about their shape, and, therefore, will not enter into details
concerning them, especially as their use must have been very rare as
compared with that of the instruments already described. We must just
mention the _Barbiton_, since it seems probable that an instrument which
appears very often on ancient monuments, very narrow and long, with a
sounding-board closely resembling the lyre, but smaller, and with a very
few strings, which was played with the hand and the plectrum, may have
been the barbiton which was popular at festive gatherings, and for
accompanying love-songs.
[Illustration: FIG. 138.]
Among wind instruments we must, in the first instance, consider the
flute. Although for a time this was not popular in the most fashionable
circles at Athens, still it was much in use in Boeotia, and also in the
rest of Greece, even among amateurs, and at all times was of great
importance, especially for choruses
[Illustration: FIG. 139.]
and festive performances, for entertainments during meals, dancing, and
other such occasions. The form of this instrument which is commonest on
the monuments is the double flute. The ancient flute (ἀὐλός) differed in
shape and use from that which bears the name at the present day, since
the players did not blow into it at the side, but made use of a
mouthpiece like that of a clarinet. This mouthpiece, which was usually
of the same material as the flute proper, has an easily vibrating tongue
cut in its upper part, which vibrates within the mouth, as the greater
part of the mouthpiece is taken right into the mouth by the player. The
principal part of the flute, the pipe, which is either of the same
thickness throughout, or else somewhat widened at the lower end, was
sometimes formed of a single piece and sometimes of several component
parts. Various notes were produced by the holes of which there were at
first only three or four, but afterwards a larger number; there were
also holes at the side, which helped to increase the compass of the
flute, and various other helps, such as valves on the side, rings which
in turning either opened or closed the holes, etc. In spite of the very
numerous practical attempts instituted during the present century to
procure some notion of the mode of playing and the effect of the ancient
flute, it does not seem possible to obtain any proper conception of it.
The pipe seems never to have been used singly in Greece, but only as the
double flute, as we see on so many representations, and, as a rule, the
flutes are both of equal length. In order to facilitate the playing on
two instruments at the same time or in quick succession, and perhaps
also to prevent the escape of air, they often, though not always, made
use of a cheek-piece round the mouth. The bronze statue of a flute
player, of which both sides are represented in Figs. 138 and 139, shows
very plainly the mode in which this bandage was fastened by two leathern
thongs passed round the head; we can also recognise it in the flute
player in Fig. 140, a vase painting which undoubtedly, as the pedestal
on which he stands indicates, represents a flute player at a public
contest; this is also suggested by his curious costume--the long festive
robe and short jacket without sleeves.
In the vase painting represented in Fig. 127, the flute player, who
accompanies the gymnastic exercises, is also playing the double flute
with the mouth bandage; over his arm hangs the flute case, which was
usually made of skin, and with which the case for the mouthpieces, of
which they had several, was connected. On the other hand, the youth in
Fig. 75 has no bandage; nor yet the two women in Fig. 126, or the seated
hetaera in Fig. 142, nor the youth who
[Illustration: FIG. 140.]
in the vase painting represented in Fig. 141, with a double flute in his
hand, mounts the pedestal from which he intends to perform to the
audience who are
[Illustration: FIG. 141.]
seated close by. On the Greek monuments of the pre-Roman period we
always find two similar flutes connected together, but afterwards, and
especially in pictures connected with the worship of Cybele, one of the
flutes very often has a curved horn, which seems to have been a special
peculiarity of the Phrygian flute. This was apparently not known to the
Greeks in ancient times.
[Illustration: FIG. 142.]
The other wooden wind instruments are of no special importance for
music or art. The _Syrinx_, or pan-pipe, constructed of a number of
reeds fastened together, which in one kind of syrinx were all of equal
length, but in others varied from short to long, was used by the
shepherds, and is often seen in pictures, especially of Pan and other
forest and field divinities, but played no part in actual music. Still
more is this the case with the _Plagiaulos_, answering to the modern
_Flûte traversière_, which originated in Egypt, and with various other
kinds of single flutes which have been described to us.
Metal wind instruments, or trumpets (σάλπυγξ), were only used for
military and religious purposes. They were usually made of bronze, with
a bone mouthpiece, were of a longish shape, with a very broad mouth.
Among other musical instruments in use among the Greeks we must mention
tambourines (τύμπανα), cymbals, and castanets (κρόταλα), which were used
in the worship of Dionysus and Cybele, and in dances of an orgiastic
character; in Fig. 142 a girl, dancing to the sound of a flute, holds
castanets in her hands. But, in spite of the frequency with which these
instruments are represented on works of art, especially those which are
connected with Dionysus, their use in daily life must have been very
rare, except for the dancing girls who appeared at the symposia, and who
marked the time of their motions with them.
There is very little to say about dancing among the Greeks; in spite of
its importance in religious observances and plays or choruses, it was of
little account in daily life. We do not find it mentioned among the
usual subjects of instruction, except, indeed, at Sparta. Dancing was a
popular amusement, especially as an entertainment during banquets and
drinking feasts; but the guests did not dance themselves, but contented
themselves with looking on at professional performers. Still, no doubt,
it sometimes happened that when the revellers had drunk a good deal of
wine, they felt inspired to join the dance; there were certainly
opportunities for learning it, since we are expressly told that Socrates
took lessons in dancing at an advanced age. It is almost always solo
dancing that is in question; this consisted chiefly in rhythmic
movements of hands and feet in a variety of well-chosen postures, and
was essentially connected with gymnastics, in which the training in
dancing was sometimes included. Dancing together by people of different
sexes, such as is customary with us, was unknown in the social life of
antiquity, and would in any case have been impossible in Greece, owing
to the separation which existed in ordinary life between men and women.
The chief use of the dance was for religious purposes. In the most
ancient times solemn dances were always a part of worship; merry dances
were part of the service of Dionysus; and sometimes both sexes took part
in these choric dances, but even here there was no question of round
dancing, but only of a series of movements regulated by music, and of a
dignified and rhythmical character. The dances in armour which were
popular in the Doric states, and were, of course, only performed by men,
were of a livelier character. The dancers were equipped with helmet,
shield, and sword, and went through a number of choregraphic evolutions;
the dances at country festivals, which very often had a pantomimic
character, were also of a lively nature. Here, as well as in the solemn
religious dances, it was very common for the dancers to sing as they
danced, and sometimes even accompany themselves on some instrument; in
fact, this distinction holds good between dancing in ancient and in
modern times, that in antiquity it was not an object in itself, but was
always closely connected with the other musical arts. The ancient dance
attained its highest development and perfection in the drama, where
dancing, music, and pantomime were most perfectly combined; but we shall
have occasion to refer to this later on, in discussing the theatre of
the Greeks.
CHAPTER X.
RELIGIOUS WORSHIP.
Greek Religion--The Functions of the Priest--Forms of Worship,
Prayer, and Sacrifice--Purification--Holy Water--Two Forms of
Sacrifice, Bloody and Bloodless--Libations--Prophecy and
Divinations--The Oracles.
In a description of Greek life it is impossible entirely to pass over
the many customs connected with the worship of the gods, and their
importance in the life of individuals. Greek religion did not appoint
any fixed ceremonies to be observed every day, as the Jewish or
Mahometan religions do; but still it placed a believer in connection
with the Deity, and thus gave occasion for some religious act every day.
There were also some special occasions which led them to turn to their
gods, and it is, therefore, natural that religious worship should have
played a very important part in the life of the Greeks, especially as it
was only in rare cases that they required to resort to the mediatory
help of a priest; as a rule, any Greek might perform the various
religious ceremonies himself. It is a disputed question whether Greek
natural religion in its first beginnings was acquainted with temples,
images of the gods, and priests as a separate class; in any case, in the
oldest literary monument of Greek life, the Homeric poems, worship was
chiefly in the hands of laymen, and service in the temples and
priesthood generally played a very subordinate part in the life of
mankind.
Greek religion was unacquainted with regular worship returning on
certain appointed days, for which priests and laymen assembled together
in the House of God. It is true the temple was regarded as the dwelling
of the god; but the believer, as a rule, only entered it if he had some
special prayer to make, and otherwise performed his religious duties at
home in his own dwelling. This he could generally do without the help of
a priest; the priest existed, in the first place, for the sake of the
god, and only in the second in order to facilitate the intercourse
between god and man. The gods desired worship and sacrifice, and, as it
could not be left to chance whether some one person would supply these,
since there must be no interruption to the worship, it was necessary to
have a class of men whose work in life was the performance of these
duties towards the divinity. It was probably this idea which led them to
appoint a priestly class; and it was only as a consequence of this that
laymen sometimes called upon the help of the priest, especially in
important cases, since these men, who were in constant intercourse with
the gods, were assumed to have the most accurate knowledge of the forms
well-pleasing to the divinities. Consequently, as the development of
civilisation made greater claims on ordinary people in their
professional activity, such as military service, politics, studies,
etc., and thus drew them away from divine things, it became commoner to
make use of the mediatory assistance of the priest, and thus the
influence and importance of the priestly class continued to increase.
There was another reason which led the laymen to make use of the
priests. According to Greek belief, the gods revealed their will to
mankind by various signs and visions; it was not everyone, however, who
knew how to interpret these signs; a deep knowledge of the divine nature
and will, as well as a rich treasure of experience were required, and
it was, therefore, natural that they turned for this purpose to those
who had devoted their whole life to discovering the will of the gods.
These were the seers or interpreters who were closely connected with the
priests, though they must not be identified with them.
When we speak of a priestly class among the Greeks, we must not take it
in the literal sense of the word; the Greek priests did not constitute a
class in our modern sense of the word, since there were no preliminary
studies required for the office. Greek religion possessed no dogmas; the
priest’s duty was only to perform certain rites and ceremonies, and
these were easily learnt. Consequently, the priesthood in Greece was
limited to no age and no sex; boys and girls, youths and maidens, men
and married women could perform priestly functions for a long or short
period. The essential requirement was legitimate birth and participation
in the community in which the priestly functions had to be performed;
bodily purity and moral character were also required; members of ancient
and noble families were especially privileged, and sometimes bodily
strength and beauty were regarded in the choice. Generally speaking,
however, the requirements made differed not only according to the gods
in whose service they were to stand, but also according to local or
other accidental circumstances. Thus sometimes priestesses were required
to be virgins, if not for their whole life, at any rate for the duration
of their priesthood; in other cases, however, married women might
undertake the priestly functions. The same held good for the men.
Although, as a rule, priests entered for their whole life, yet it
sometimes happened that their priestly functions were only performed
for a time, as for instance, in the case of boys or girls who entered
the service of the temple until they attained their man or womanhood, or
in other cases where citizens were made priests for one or several
years, and, when the time was up, retired again and let others take
their place.
There were various modes of appointing priests. They were either elected
from among several candidates, in which case the right of election lay
with the citizens or their representatives, or else by lot, or the right
was given from birth. Certain priesthoods were hereditary in families;
either the first-born was appointed as such, or else the lot had to
decide between the various members of a family; sometimes, if disputes
ensued, a legal decision might even be given. Consequently, it is clear
that the priests in Greece did not form a special caste, and as they
very often retired again to private life, their influence was not
extensive or very important.
The duties of the priests consisted, in the first instance, in
performing those acts of worship to the divinity which might also be
performed by any layman--viz., prayers and sacrifices; and in the
second, those which belonged to the worship of the particular divinity,
and recurred at certain fixed periods, and particularly those which they
undertook at the request of others. Besides this, there were various
duties connected with the care of the temple and divine images, the
fulfilment of the various customs connected with the worship of each
divinity, the performance of mysterious dedications and purifications,
guarding of the temple treasure, etc. To this were due various
ordinances concerning their mode of life, food, clothing, etc. Their
persons were regarded as sacred, just as the sanctuary was, and they
also received their share in the adoration paid to the gods, being
regarded, in a measure, as their representatives. Very often they had a
house in the temple domain, and received a share of its income, which
had, in the first instance, to supply the means for performing the
service of the god, erecting necessary buildings, statues, etc., but
which often supplied the priests also with considerable profit; thus,
the skins and certain parts of the sacrificial animals fell to their
lot. In some of the sanctuaries the income derived from the temple
property and the money lent out for interest from the temple treasure,
was very considerable, and far exceeded the means required for the
maintenance of the sanctuary and the service of the god. Another
privilege enjoyed by the priests was the right of occupying places of
honour in the theatre and at public meetings. They were usually
distinguished by their dress from the rest of the citizens; they wore
the long chiton, which had gone out of fashion for ordinary people; it
was generally of white or purple colour, and they had wreaths and
fillets in their long hair, and probably carried a staff as a token of
dignity.
The priests were assisted in their duties in the temples by a large
number of attendants and servants. Some of these only took part
occasionally in a procession or sacrifice, and, as this was regarded as
an honour, they gave their service without return. Some were permanent
temple servants, who either performed for pay certain menial services
connected with the worship and the care of the temple, or else were
slaves and the property of the god. Among these were included the
so-called “temple-sweepers” (νεωκόροι), men and women whose duty it was
to clean and care for the temple. There were also heralds, sacrificial
servants, butchers, bearers of the sacred vessels, singers and
musicians, etc., concerning whom inscriptions give us a good deal of
information. Even these positions, so long as the services to be
performed were not menial but honourable, were an object of ambition to
citizens, or regarded as a valuable privilege inherited by certain
families; thus, for instance, at Olympia, the descendants of Pheidias
had charge of the statue of Zeus, which was the masterpiece of their
ancestor.
The two forms in which the worship of the ancients chiefly consisted
were prayer and sacrifice. Prayer, either to all the gods together or to
some single one, consecrated the beginning and end of the day; combined
with libations, it attended the beginning and end of the meals, and was,
in fact, an essential part of every important action of daily life.
These prayers were, of course, of a general character, but there were
other occasions when special prayers were used, adapted to particular
cases; thus it was a matter of course that in the assemblies of the
people the blessing of the god should be invoked on the discussion. When
they set out to war they called on the help of the god in the coming
fight, and similarly private citizens asked for divine aid in their
undertakings and help in difficulties, though some wiser men--and
especially those who had had a philosophical training--could not
disguise from themselves that it was a foolish hope to expect that their
prayers should necessarily be heard, and they looked upon prayer rather
as a religious consecration of human actions. Kneeling and folding the
hands were unknown to the ancients. In praying they stood and stretched
out their hands to the region which they supposed to be the dwelling of
the godhead invoked; thus, they held them upward when praying to one of
the Olympian deities, forward when praying to a sea god, and down to the
ground if the prayer was addressed to one of the infernal deities, at
the same time trying to attract his attention by stamping on the ground.
The commonest position was towards the east; when they prayed in the
temple they turned towards the altar and the statue of the god, and
sometimes even embraced the altar. In fact, the worship of the temple
statues led to a very sensual conception of prayer; they not only threw
kisses to the god they were worshipping, but even touched or kissed his
statue; while suppliants threw themselves on the ground before the
temple image, or at any rate knelt down before it.
In order to ensure the efficacy of the prayer, those who offered it must
be free from every bodily and moral taint and, therefore, if necessary,
submit to purification. There were a number of occasions which rendered
a man unclean and unfit for intercourse with the deity; such were birth
and death, which required the purification of all those who had come in
contact with the mother or the dead person, not only in order that they
might appear untainted before the deity, but also to prevent their
communicating their impurity to others, and to enable them once more to
enter into intercourse with human beings. Even apart from these special
occasions it was impossible to tell whether some accidental contact
might have produced impurity, and on this account it was usual to
precede the act of prayer by washing, or, at any rate, by a symbolical
purification, such as sprinkling with holy water. For this purpose a
vessel with holy water and a whisk for sprinkling were placed in the
entrance of every temple for the use of those who entered the domain;
similar arrangements were made in private houses, and preference was
given to flowing water, especially sea-water, which was supposed to have
special purifying power; for sprinkling they used a branch of some
sacred tree, such as laurel. This purification was extended not only to
the person of those who approached the divinity, but also to their
garments and the utensils used for prayer and sacrifice, as well as the
dwelling generally; consequently, purification by fire and
smoke--especially by means of burnt sulphur--played an important part
along with the washing. There were also certain plants to which a
purifying power was ascribed; thus, it was customary to hang up a
sea-leek over the house door.
Purification of this kind was, of course, even more necessary when some
actual crime, such as a murder, even if an accidental one, had been
committed, or any other action performed which would render a man unfit
to come into the presence of the deity. In these cases an important part
was also played by sacrifices, for it was an ancient belief--found also
in the Jewish ritual--that sins could be laid on the victim, and in this
way removed from the sinner. Special ceremonies were used on such
occasions, such as purification by the blood of swine, since these
animals were supposed to have a special lustral power. At Athens it was
the custom to sacrifice sucking-pigs before the assembly of the people
was held; the slaughtered animals were carried round the assembly, the
seats sprinkled with their blood, and the bodies thrown into the sea. On
a vase painting representing the purification of Orestes after the
murder of his mother, Apollo himself holds a sucking-pig above the head
of the murderer; a similar proceeding is represented by the vase
painting Fig. 143, where the woman who is performing the lustral
rites--probably a priestess--holds in her right hand a sucking-pig, in
her left a basket with offerings, while three torches stand on the
ground in front of her, the smoke of which also possessed purifying
power. Similar ceremonies were observed by those who, according to a
very common superstition, regarded themselves as bewitched, or who
desired to protect themselves from the injurious influence of philtres
or other witchcraft, or else to cure madness, which was traced to the
wrath of the infernal gods; in these cases, Hecate was the goddess to be
propitiated, and part of the curious ceremony consisted in carrying
about young dogs.
[Illustration: FIG. 143.]
Next to prayer, the commonest observance was sacrifice. The
anthropomorphic conception of the gods induced the Greeks to try to win
their favour,
[Illustration: FIG. 144.]
as they would that of powerful princes, by means of gifts, in the belief
that they would be more inclined to fulfil human wishes if they were
propitiated by valuable presents. These gifts consisted in dedicatory
offerings and also in sacrifices, and these had to be regularly offered
in order to preserve the goodwill of the divinities. Generally speaking,
any gift offered to the god might be regarded as a sacrifice; but, as a
rule, this name was only applied to those offerings which were not to be
a lasting possession of the god but were only given for momentary
enjoyment, and must, as a rule, be destroyed, generally by means of
fire. The idea underlying these sacrifices was the participation of the
gods in the material possessions of men. The gifts included under the
heading of offerings were not all of such a nature as to be destroyed at
once; thus, first-fruits of the field, fruit, jars of cooked lentils,
flowers, fillets, and other such things could not be regarded as real
gifts, owing to
[Illustration: FIG. 145.]
their transitory nature; and these were merely laid on the altar of the
god, or else hung up beside it; sometimes there was a special table near
the altar to receive these gifts. On the vase painting (Fig. 144) a
table of this kind is represented near the altar; behind it we perceive
the antiquated statue of Dionysus, on one side stands a woman with a
goat destined for sacrifice, and on the right another woman is
approaching carrying a flat dish, probably containing cakes. The
offerings represented in Figs. 145 and 146 were probably also destined
for Dionysus. A satyr, carrying in his left hand a branch, in his right
a dish, probably containing cakes, is approaching an altar, on which
similar gifts have already been placed; on the other side, near the
table for offerings, on which lie fruit and cakes, a woman, probably a
Maenad, is seated, holding in her right hand a branch, in her left a
flat basket with little dedicatory offerings. Although these gifts were
not immediately destroyed by fire, they were of so transitory a nature
that they could not be counted among those destined to be a lasting
possession of the gods. The Greeks called these gifts fireless
sacrifices.
[Illustration: FIG. 146.]
Sacrifices wore usually divided into two classes--bloody and bloodless.
The bloodless seem to be the most ancient; they consisted chiefly in the
first-fruits of the field and cakes, usually made of honey, which were
regarded as a specially welcome gift by some of the gods. Very often
cakes were used as a substitute for animals, since poor people, who
could not afford the considerable expense of sacrificing real animals,
fashioned the dough into the shape of oxen, swine, sheep, goats, geese,
etc. In this class we may include smoke offerings. The custom of burning
sweet-scented woods and spices probably came to Greece from Asia, where
it had long prevailed. At first they made use of the products of the
country, especially cedar wood; afterwards frankincense, storax, and
other fragrant substances were introduced from foreign countries. These
smoke offerings were often connected with animal sacrifices, since
grains of incense were cast into the flames of the altar on which the
flesh of the animal was burnt, in order to overpower the smell of
burning meat. Libations, too, may be included among bloodless
sacrifices. Just as the gods required a portion of the food of men, they
desired also to share in their drink, for they were supposed to require
food and drink as men did. Libations were therefore offered before
partaking of wine after a meal, or drinking any other draught, and
Socrates even wished to offer some of his hemlock to the gods. On other
occasions too libations were offered, as for instance before public
speeches, on the occasion of sacrifices for the dead, invocation of the
gods for especial purposes, etc. The part of the wine or other liquid
destined for the god was poured from a flat cup either on to the ground
or into the flame of the altar, and words of consecration were spoken
meantime. It was most usual to use unmixed wine, but there were some
gods to whom no wine might be offered, in particular the Erinnys, the
infernal deities, nymphs, Muses, etc.; to these they dedicated libations
of honey, milk, or oil, either separately or mixed together, or with
water. On these occasions there were certain fixed ceremonies to be
observed, but these were not the same in all parts of Greece.
There are numerous indications in legends which show that the Greeks
were not originally unacquainted with the custom of human sacrifices;
but these are no longer heard of in the historic period, and wherever
they had formerly existed their place was taken by symbolic actions, or
the sacrifice of animals instead of human beings. The commonest victims
were animals, and the choice of the particular victim depended on the
god to whom the sacrifice was offered. Here, as in the case of the
bloodless sacrifices, some gods rejected gifts which were well-pleasing
to others, and special animals were offered to particular gods. It is
not always easy to trace the origin of this choice, though in some cases
it can be done; thus, for instance, goats were offered to Dionysus
because they destroyed the vineyards, and swine to Demeter because they
injured the corn-fields. Oxen and sheep were the commonest victims next
to goats and swine, and very often several animals were offered in a
common sacrifice. Horses were offered to Poseidon and Helios, dogs to
Hecate, asses to Apollo, etc. Birds, too, were sacrificed; for instance,
geese, doves, fowls, and, in particular, cocks to Aesculapius. Game and
fish were very seldom employed for the purpose, probably because they
were not much used for food in ancient times; for in most cases the
standard of eating decided which animals should be used, though there
were exceptions, too, among the classes already named.
It was originally the custom to burn the whole animal, with skin and
hair, but though this extravagant mode of sacrificing was sometimes in
use in later times, it became common to burn only the thigh bones and
certain flesh parts of the animal, and to use the rest for a festive
banquet. In consequence the number of victims was often calculated
according to the number of persons invited to the banquet; in other
cases it depended on the importance of the occasion, or the fortune of
the sacrificers, and even in historical times it was not unusual for
whole communities or very rich private citizens to offer a hecatomb (a
sacrifice of a hundred oxen), or even several, on which occasions the
sacrifice only supplied the opportunity for entertaining the people on a
magnificent scale. As a rule, the animals sacrificed must be sound and
healthy in every respect; but at Sparta, which was often reproached with
excessive economy in sacrifices, diseased cattle were sometimes used.
There were several other necessary conditions to be observed; thus, the
animals must never have been in the service of man; the ox that drew the
plough might not be sacrificed. The sex of the victim generally
corresponded to that of the deity to whom it was offered. Even the
colour was of importance; white animals were usually offered to the gods
of light, black to the infernal gods. There do not seem to have been any
fixed regulations with regard to age, except that the animals must have
attained a certain maturity.
The ceremony observed at sacrifices was much the same throughout the
whole of antiquity, and remained such as it is described by Homer. The
victim which had been dedicated to the god, was adorned with wreaths and
fillets, and led to the altar by servants or attendants; Homer speaks of
gilding the horns of bulls, and this was customary afterwards. If
possible, they tried to induce the animal to go forward of its own free
will, since violent struggling was regarded as an unpropitious omen, and
sometimes led to the rejection of the victim. It was even customary to
require the animal to give a sort of consent, by nodding its head; this
consent of the victim was, of course, produced by artificial means, such
as pouring water into the ears, etc. Hereupon all the participants in
the solemn action were prepared by sprinkling with holy water, which was
sanctified by dipping into it a firebrand taken from the altar, and
they were exhorted to keep unbroken silence. The actual sacrifice then
began by strewing roasted barleycorns, as the oldest food of their
ancestors, on the animal, and in token of dedication they cut a bundle
of hairs from its forehead and threw it into the fire, which was already
burning on the altar. In heroic ages, the princes, as high priests,
themselves killed the animals; afterwards this duty was undertaken by
priests or attendants. They gave the animal a blow on its forehead with
a club or axe, and then cut its throat with a sacrificial knife, and
sprinkled the altar with the blood; in so doing they usually bent the
head backwards; or, if sacrificing to the infernal gods, or the shades
of the departed, they pressed it down to the ground. When the victim
fell, the women who stood round uttered a low cry, and in the ages after
Homer it was very usual to accompany the whole ceremony by the sound of
the flute. Experienced attendants then flayed the animals and cut up the
bodies, whereupon the parts destined for the gods, especially the thigh
bones surrounded with fat, were burnt in the flames of the altar with
incense and sacrificial cakes, and at the same time libations were
poured out; the flesh was held in the fire by means of long forks. This
is very often represented on ancient works of art. In the vase painting
in Fig. 147 we see an altar on which wood appears to be regularly piled
up; parts of the sacrifice are recognised in the flames. An attendant
wearing a short garment round his loins kneels in front, holding a piece
of flesh in the flames on a long pole or spit; on his left a man holds a
cup for libations, into which a goddess of victory, flying over the
altar, pours the liquid; on the right stands Apollo, with lyre and
plectrum.
[Illustration: FIG. 147.]
The flesh of the animals which was not used for the sacrifice was
usually consumed at the feast which followed the ceremony; this custom
was only departed from in the case of sacrifices to the shades of the
dead or for purposes of propitiation, and then the flesh which was not
burnt was buried or destroyed in some other way, and, in fact, on these
occasions many of the ceremonies were of a different kind.
As a rule, another purpose was combined with the sacrifice; it was
necessary not only to win the favour of the gods, or atone for some
crime, but also to discover the will of the gods by interpretation of
signs. Although prayer was called for from all men--from labourer as
well as from priest--and sacrifices, though usually offered by priests,
could also be performed by others, the interpretation of omens was an
art which depended on ancient traditions and knowledge of ritual, and
was almost entirely confined to the priests, though, in the nature of
things, it could be undertaken by anyone. This mode of prophecy had
existed in various forms since the most ancient times. The commonest,
though unknown in the time of Homer, was the examination of the
entrails, in which the structure, that is, colour, form, and integrity
of the inner parts of the victim, especially the liver, gall, etc., were
regarded as of fortunate or unfortunate omen. Some anatomical knowledge
of the inner parts of animals was therefore indispensable, and in
consequence it is natural that this branch of knowledge was kept in the
hands of the priests. The older kind of prophecy described in Homer was
of a different nature, since it depended on all manner of phenomena
appearing during the sacrifice; whether the flame attacked the victim
quickly or slowly, whether it burnt clearly, whether it rose upwards,
whether it was not put out until the whole animal was consumed, whether
the wood crackled loudly, what shape was assumed by the ashes of the
victim and of the wood, etc.
Apart from sacrifices, prophecy and divination played a great part in
the life and religion of the Greeks. A distinction made by the ancients
themselves was between prophecy by art and without art. Prophecy without
art was regarded as inspiration of a human being by the divine spirit,
and was not dependent on external signs or on the interpretation of an
experienced person. There were three kinds: ecstasy, in which the gift
of prophecy was communicated to a human being without his own assistance
by divine strength and power; dreams, in which the gods revealed
directly to men their will or coming events; and thirdly, the oracles,
which were of a somewhat different character, being connected with
professional prophecy. They were also regarded as direct revelations of
the will of the god, so the mode in which this was expressed differed a
good deal according to the various oracles; but the questioner was not
immediately inspired, as in ecstasy and dreams, but required a mediator,
one who was alone able to interpret the revelations of the gods.
Of these three classes, the least important during the historic period
is ecstasy; the seers in the real sense of the word, whom we so often
meet with in legends, had no importance later on. The second kind, the
dream oracle, is of far greater importance. The idea that dreams were
communications from the gods, no less than other oracles and signs, was
so universally adopted that it not only took firm root in the popular
belief, but was shared by educated men, even by those who had more or
less discarded the old belief in the gods. The ancient writers give us
numerous accounts of portentous dreams; unlucky dreams were averted by
religious ceremonies, sacrifices to the gods who could turn away ill
fortune, sprinkling with holy water, etc. It was usual to pray for
prophetic dreams, and, as we have already seen, these were specially
produced by sleeping in the temple of Aesculapius, though they often
required interpretation afterwards at the hands of the priests. It is a
very old belief that dreams reveal the will of the gods, not directly
and immediately, but in the form of parables or images, which require
special comprehension and secret knowledge, and thus the interpretation
of dreams became an especial art, which led to a whole literature of
dream-books (remains of which have been preserved to us; in particular
the dream-book of Artemidorus, dating from the second century A.D.), and
to the profession of interpreters, who, although not held in especial
honour, were yet greatly sought after by all classes of the community.
The influence of the oracles was even more important. In Greece and Asia
Minor there were several hundred places where oracles were given; this
much is common to all of them, that it was not a divinely-inspired human
being, but the god himself who announced his will by special tokens,
while the priests were only the interpreters of the god’s will; the
signs and methods of interpretation differed considerably. The oracles
of Apollo were far the most celebrated, since he was specially the god
of prophecy; among these, the oracle of Delphi surpassed all others in
importance. Here the medium through which the god revealed his will to
mankind was the holy priestess called Pythia; a vapour which rose from
a cleft in the earth produced ecstasy in the Pythia, who had previously
purified herself by chewing laurel leaves and drinking from the sacred
spring, and clad in rich garments with a golden head-dress, long flowing
robes, and buskins, and had taken her place on a tripod over the cleft.
In this condition she uttered the oracles, which were, as a rule,
incomprehensible to ordinary people. It was then the duty of the priests
who were present during the ecstasy with the questioners, to discover
the real meaning and sense of the senseless sounds, and arrange the
answer in poetic form, usually in hexameters, which were, as a rule,
cunningly arranged so as to have a two-fold meaning. At first this took
place only once a year, but when the reputation of the oracle increased,
and thousands of people came every year to Delphi, or sent messengers
with questions to the temple, it became the custom to supply answers all
the year round, and, in consequence of the great numbers, two Pythiae
had to mount the tripod alternately, while a third was at hand to take
their place occasionally. Only a few days in the year were regarded as
unlucky, and then no oracles were given. At the time of the Empire, when
the influence of the Delphic oracle had considerably diminished, it was
only accessible once a year. The order in which the suppliants were to
enter was generally decided by lot; in some few cases it may have been
determined by rank. Prayer and sacrifice of course preceded the sacred
ceremony; goats were chiefly offered, because, according to the legends,
the discovery of this miraculous vapour was due to a goat.
At the other oracles of Apollo the proceedings were different: at
Hysiae, in Boeotia, the prophet sought his inspiration in a well; at
Argos, in the blood of a victim; at the Clarian temple of Apollo, at
Colophon, a priest descended into the sacred cave and drank holy water,
whereupon the gift of prophecy was granted to him; at the sanctuary of
the Branchidae, at Didymae, near Miletus, the oracles were given by a
priestess, who moistened the hem of her garment and her feet at a well,
and then let the rising vapour act upon her. At other oracles the god
revealed his will or the events of the future by signs instead of words,
which the priest then had to interpret. This was the case with the
oldest and most sacred of all the Greek oracles--that of Zeus, at Dodona
in Epirus. These signs were of various kinds: sometimes it was the
rustling of the branches in the sacred oak, sometimes the murmuring of
the spring at its foot, sometimes the sound given by a brass bowl. The
excavations lately undertaken at Dodona have supplied some information
about the nature and variety of the questions, though not about the mode
in which the oracle was given. Those who desired an oracular answer had
to hand in their question in writing, usually on a tablet of lead, on
which it was scratched. This was laid in a vessel and placed in the
sanctuary, so that the priestess might learn what the question was; the
answer was then given on a similar tablet, sometimes the same on which
the question had been written. The examples found of these tablets show
that these questions were not always of political import, and sent by
whole communities or princes, but that even private affairs were
sometimes made the subject of a question. Thus, on the tablet
represented in Fig. 148, a certain Lysanias inquires whether the child
which his wife is about to bear him is really his own; another inquires
whether
[Illustration: FIG. 148.]
it would be profitable for him to rear sheep; a third asks who has
stolen the cushions he has lost. These questions on leaden tablets were
also in use at other places. At the oracle of Apollo-Coropaeus, in the
Peninsula Magnesia, in Thessaly, the questioners had to give their names
to the temple scribe to be written on the tablet; they were then called
in turn and conducted to the sanctuary, where the leaden tablets were
handed them. On these they wrote their questions; the tablets were then
collected and placed in a vessel, which was sealed with the official
seal of the temporal and spiritual officials, and left for the night in
the sanctuary. Next morning the seals were broken, the names of the
questioners called according to the list, and the tablets given back
with the answers. Among oracles we must mention that of Zeus Ammon, in
the Libyan Desert, which enjoyed a great reputation in Greece even in
early times; that of Zeus Trophonius, at Lebadia, in Boeotia; that of
Amphiaraus, at Oropus, which last was included among the dream oracles,
since the mediation of the priests was not required here, and the
questioners received their revelation direct from the god. It would be
impossible to enumerate all the oracles and the customs observed there;
throughout the whole of Greek antiquity they played a very important
part in the life of the nation and the individual, and were often
decisive in political matters, as well as in trivial details of daily
life.
Of no less importance than the modes of prophecy already mentioned are
those which may be called professional, and which did not depend on a
direct revelation of the will of the god, so much as on the observation
and interpretation of certain apparently fortuitous signs, which were,
however, supposed to proceed from the divinity. Of course, many oracles
were very closely connected with these professional prophecies. Here,
too, we may distinguish several different kinds. In the first place,
there is interpretation of signs which appear though unsought for. The
number of these is, of course, countless, since the whole realm of
nature and life affords scope for them. Signs of the sky, atmospheric
phenomena, change in the course of rivers, earthquakes, clefts in the
ground, abnormal births, all which are frequently mentioned in ancient
history, may be included in this class, as also the flight of birds, to
which particular attention was given, though the proceedings of other
animals were also watched, or the mere fact of their appearance was
supposed to announce good or evil fortune. Then there were phenomena
relating to human beings, such as sneezing, singing in the ears, words
spoken by chance, etc., and the place where these things occur is of
great importance, as, for instance, whether on the right or the left
hand. The second class of professional prophecy is that in which man
seeks for the signs and calls upon the god to grant him a token of his
presence and will. In this class we may include prophecy from sacrifice
and also some of the oracles, but in particular the private oracles--if
we may use this expression--by means of which individuals procured signs
by any means whatever, and either interpreted them themselves or got
some skilled prophet to do it for them. This closely resembles our
modern fashion of telling fortunes from cards, and in these cases it was
not usually a priest, but some cheat or conjurer who interpreted the
prophecy; thus dice and sieves were used for prophesying, and fortunes
were told from physiognomy, or the lines of the hand, as they still are
at the present day.
The interpreters of prophecy and signs, whether belonging to the class
of priests or laymen, naturally represented their art as coming direct
from the gods, and loved to envelop it in the veil of mystery, though in
other respects Greek religion aimed at publicity and universal
comprehension. There were, however, some ceremonies which were closely
concealed from the world without; and those who took part in them were
required to observe absolute secrecy, and were subject to a gradual
initiation, passing through several stages before they attained the
final one. We refer to the mysteries which were universally known
throughout Greece, and, owing to the great number of those who sought
initiation, played an important part in the life of the ancient Greeks.
Our knowledge of these secret doctrines is very small, as is natural
under the circumstances, and, consequently, the most recent
investigations have led to very different hypotheses. Still, the latest
discoveries enable us to feel sure that these mysteries were not, as
was formerly supposed, remains of ancient revealed wisdom containing
purer and better doctrines than were known to the popular religion; nor
were they, as Voss supposes, merely priestly trickery. They represented
the religious myths, and their form corresponded to the ordinary
religious worship; the mystery was due simply to the fact that in the
myth the symbolic and allegorical elements prevailed, and in the worship
the purifications and expiations had a specially important place; while
the other ceremonies connected therewith, such as sacrifices, signs,
dances, etc., bore a strongly orgiastic and ecstatic character. There
were also dramatic or pantomimic representations of the mythical
actions, and a great number of artistic and decorative means were used
to dispose the mind of the initiated to a condition suited for solemn
and mysterious doctrines. There were no really deep secrets hidden
behind these mysteries, which were so numerous that almost each god had
his own; and indeed, the initiation was not a difficult one, and was
open to every free and blameless Greek.
CHAPTER XI.
PUBLIC FESTIVALS.
The Olympic Festival--The Gymnastic and Equestrian Contests--The
Hippodrome--The Judges--The Preliminary Ceremonies--The Course of
the Festival--Honours to the Victors--The Delphic Festival and
Pythian Games--The Isthmian and Nemean Games--The Athenian
Festivals--The Festivals of Dionysus.
In ancient and in modern times alike it has been usual to connect public
festivals with some religious observance, even though the actual
occasion might be the celebration of the change of the seasons or some
regular event connected with agriculture. Greek worship was naturally of
a cheerful nature. The sacrifices were usually followed by banquets,
which communicated a festive character to an act of worship, and this
was often accompanied by singing and dancing, sometimes of a serious and
solemn nature, at other times lively and cheerful. As a rule, sacrifices
to the heavenly deities were offered early in the day, but the banquet
did not take place till the afternoon, and thus opportunity was afforded
for devoting the interval to entertainments, among which, along with
song and dance, dramatic and gymnastic performances soon began to occupy
a place, and gradually to assume the character of regular competitions.
Sacrifices to the infernal deities took place in the afternoon or
evening, and were, in consequence, followed by a festival at night,
which often degenerated into a wild orgy. These festivities, which were
partly connected with the worship and partly celebrated for their own
sake or connected with ancient national games, were at first a natural
consequence of the religious ceremonies and the manner in which a nation
of the cheerful disposition of the Greeks would celebrate them. But as
these performances and festivities came to be more closely connected
with the religious festivals, they gradually became an integral part of
them, and were no longer left to the arbitrary disposition of the
persons concerned, but were taken in hand by the state or community, and
subject to regular arrangement.
The entertainments most commonly added to the religious ceremonies at
the festivals were, in the first place, those of a musical character,
partly vocal, partly instrumental, or a combination of both; in the
second, dances, both choric and pantomimic, lastly scenic
representations, gymnastic contests, processions, national games, etc.
Among these the musical, choregraphic, scenic, and gymnastic
representations were first raised to the dignity of regular
competitions. Of course, different festivals were celebrated in
different ways; apart from local differences, the very character of the
divinity in whose honour the festival was held, and the different phases
of the legend, necessitated differences in the mode of celebration and
in the regulation of those who were to take part in them; thus some
festivals were celebrated by both sexes together, and others by only
one, to the exclusion of the other. In one point, especially, the
Hellenic differed from our modern Christian festivals. It is a natural
consequence of the Christian religion that the great festivals are
celebrated at the same time by all believers in all parts of the
civilised world, while the Greek religion knew of no such religious
festivals common to all Hellenic tribes. There were a number of national
festivals which were of equal importance to all Greeks; but these were
not celebrated simultaneously throughout the country, but only at one
specially appointed place, to which spectators came from all parts, and
which thus provided an opportunity for great national meetings recurring
at regular intervals. In consequence of the decentralisation of the
country, these provided the only means of awakening and maintaining
national feeling among the Greeks. Other festivals were peculiar to
particular countries, or even to towns or communities; the differences
existing in Greek belief, which are often closely connected with
national traditions and racial peculiarities, were also marked in the
act of worship. Even those regular festivals which were celebrated alike
in most of the Greek states were not all held on the same day, but at
different times, which was probably due to the fact that Greek antiquity
was acquainted with no common calendar. The proceedings at these
festivals also differed greatly according to the place. We know very
little about the majority; most details have come down to us concerning
the Attic calendar and the customs in use there, though even here our
knowledge is very incomplete. The great Hellenic national festivals,
which were celebrated at Olympia, Delphi, Nemea, and on the isthmus of
Corinth, will first claim our attention.
Of these the Olympic festival is the oldest, at any rate as regards its
national importance. The festival and the games celebrated there existed
long before the year 776 B.C., after which its regular recurrence was
used for expressing the date of the year; still, it is only from this
time onward that we can regard it as a really national festival. The
Pythians did not begin to calculate by their games till the year 586,
the Isthmians in 582, and the Nemeans in 573. The Olympic and Pythian
festivals recurred every four years, the other two every two years; the
Olympic festivals always took place at the first full moon of the summer
solstice, the Pythian in the autumn of the third year of an Olympiad; we
cannot determine the exact period of the others, and only know that the
Isthmian games were held at midsummer, and the Nemean alternately in
winter and in summer. The main features of all, next to the usual acts
of worship, such as prayer, sacrifices, etc., was the gymnastic contests
connected with them. All four had attained so great a reputation even
beyond the frontiers of their narrow home that most of the Greek states
took part in them by means of official embassies (θεωρίαι) and numbers
of spectators came from a distance, and a great market was held there in
consequence. This universal interest taken in the festivals gave them a
character of inviolability, so that they were able to continue even in
time of war, since there was always a truce as long as the games lasted,
and all who took part in them were allowed to travel undisturbed, as
soon as the heralds of peace had announced the beginning of the sacred
month, first in their own state, and afterwards in that of all the
Greeks who took part in the contests. We possess far more details
concerning the Olympic festival than any other, and, in fact, it
exceeded them all in importance. The games constituted the most
important part, and it was for their sake that spectators came from most
distant parts of the ancient world to the plain of the Alpheus; and,
indeed, the myth concerning the origin of the festival is intimately
connected with these games. Every free-born Greek was allowed to take
part in them. Barbarians were strictly rejected, at any rate in the best
period of the Olympic festival, and it was not till the time of the
Roman Empire, when its glory had long departed, that this practice was
abandoned. They also excluded all who had committed murder or any other
great crime, or forfeited the rights of citizenship, and before the
beginning of the contest a strict examination was held into the claims
of all who desired to take part. At first only youths and men were
admitted; from 632 onwards boys were allowed to contend, at any rate in
some of the sports. We hear of women taking part or being victors in the
Olympic games, but this does not mean that they appeared in person; in
the chariot races and riding it was not the custom for the owner of a
horse to drive or ride, and thus rich women who were interested in the
training of horses could let them run at the Olympic games; and since it
was not the charioteer or rider, but the trainer and owner of the horses
who was crowned, they might thus obtain the prize.
The contests at Olympia were of a gymnastic or equestrian nature;
musical contests were excluded. But the perfect development of
gymnastics as shown at the Olympic competitions only took place very
gradually. At first the contests consisted only in running, and this was
the case for the first thirty Olympiads after the time when the counting
began. Then the double-course was introduced, and soon afterwards the
long course (724 B.C.). In the year 708 the pentathlon was added, and
thus the most important sports--jumping, throwing the spear and quoit,
and wrestling--were introduced, along with running, and henceforward
were regarded as one of the most attractive parts of the whole contest.
In 688 a boxing-match was added; in 680, chariot races with four
full-grown horses; in 648, riding races and the pancration. No more
contests were added; further changes were only slight modifications,
such as the admission of boys, who at first took part only in the
running and wrestling, then for a short time in the pentathlon, and
afterwards in the boxing-match, and only in very late times (200 B.C.)
in the pancration. In the year 520 the race in full panoply was
introduced, and in 408 the chariot race with two horses. Attempts were
made to introduce mules and mares, but these were soon abandoned; colts
were, however, introduced for the contest with four and two horses, and
also for riding. It was natural that when there was so large a number of
events they could not all, as at first, take place on one day; and,
indeed, it would hardly have been worth the journey from such great
distances. From time to time, as new sports were added, another day was
given to the festival, so that when the number was complete it generally
lasted for five days, divided in such a way that the three intermediate
days were devoted to the contests, the first and last to the public and
private sacrifices, processions and banquets.
The gymnastic contests have been already discussed in a previous
section; we must give some details here about the equestrian
competitions, among which racing with four-horse chariots was always
regarded as one of the most splendid. They employed for the purpose the
light two-wheeled chariots used in battle in the heroic age; these had,
as a rule, wheels with four spokes, and the car was open at the back and
closed in a semi-circular shape in front, with two bent hoops turned
back behind, which were used to catch hold of in jumping up. (Compare
the vase painting, Fig. 149.) Here we see the preparations for driving;
the charioteer, clad in a long garment according to ancient custom,
stands behind the two
[Illustration: FIG. 149.]
horses, which are yoked to the chariot, and seems about to complete the
arrangement of the harness, while an attendant in a short garment is
helping him; another attendant leads a third horse, which is probably
also to be yoked to the chariot; while the owner holds in his hand the
reins and the goad with which to urge on the horses. The usual plan was
to fasten the middle horse to a yoke at the end of the pole which is
raised in front, while the outer horses were connected with ropes at
either side, fastened to a ring in front of the chariot. The reins were
all drawn through a ring or loop at the top of the pole, and the pin on
to which this ring was fastened was connected with a vertical rod in
front of the chariot by a line drawn very tight, the object of which is
not clear; perhaps it was to establish equilibrium between the car,
which was drawn backwards by the weight of the driver, and the forward
pressure given to the pole by the pull of the horses. This picture also
shows other details of harnessing, the bridle, etc.
The races took place in the Hippodrome; but the one at Olympia is
completely destroyed, and all the knowledge we possess of its situation
is due to Pausanias, who gives us no information concerning the length
of the course to be run twice by full-grown horses. However, he supplies
a detailed description of the starting places, which were very
complicated, since no competitor must have an advantage over another by
starting earlier or having a shorter piece of ground to cover. For this
purpose the two long sides of the Hippodrome were of unequal length, and
the one at the end of which were the goal and the seats of the judges
was rather shorter than the other; the stands for the chariots were not
in a straight line, but in the form of the segment of a circle. The
ropes, which prevented the chariots from starting before the appointed
time, did not all drop at the same moment, but one after another in such
a way that the chariots started first from the more distant stands, and
reached a given point at the same time as those from the nearer stands,
which started a few seconds later, so that the racing began at this
place under equal conditions. The signal was given by the sound of
trumpets, and also by some ingenious mechanism which caused a bronze
dolphin on an elevated place at the beginning of the course to fall,
while an eagle, which till then had rested on an altar, rose into the
air with extended wings. At this sign the barriers fell, and the
chariots started in the appointed order over the longer side of the
course, and then, turning back, returned by the shorter side. This was
the exciting contest which has been so magnificently described by Homer
in his account of the funeral games in honour of Patroclus, and by
Sophocles in the “Electra.” The victor who first reached the goal, near
which sat the umpires, received the much-coveted reward of a wreath; but
even the next seems to have had some distinction or, at any rate, an
honourable mention.
Racing with four full-grown horses was always most popular, but there
were also races with two-horse chariots and with colts. Afterwards, when
riding races came into fashion, they became extremely popular, although
they never attained the great importance claimed by the chariot races in
the Olympic games. In both contests it was the trainer of the horse who
was regarded as victor, and though it sometimes happened that the owner
or his son drove or rode himself, yet it was more commonly done by
strangers, very often by professional charioteers and riders hired for
the purpose, like our jockeys of the present day. Instead of the wreath,
which was not allotted to them, they received a fillet as a token of
victory.
The judges (Ἑλλανοδίκαι) were appointed by the Elians, on whose
territory the games took place. Their number varied in the course of
years. At first, in 576 B.C., two citizens were chosen by lot to arrange
and superintend the contests; but a hundred years later there were nine
judges appointed, three for the equestrian contests, three for the
pentathlon, and three for the rest of the sports; to these nine a tenth
was soon added, then for a short time the number was reduced to eight,
and afterwards once more increased to ten, which remained the appointed
number. They were chosen by lot even in later times. As their decisions
were of extreme importance, it was regarded as no small matter to
undertake this responsible office; in fact, the judges had to be trained
in a special building in the market-place of Elis, in the arcades of
which they spent the greater part of the day for ten months, to be
instructed in their duties by the guardians of the laws (νομοθύλακες),
and in particular to acquire an accurate knowledge of gymnastic rules.
When the time of the games arrived, they took a solemn oath in the
court-house at Olympia, before the altar of _Zeus Herkeios_; their
period of office extended only over a single festival.
Their duties were to make the arrangements for the contests, and all the
festivals connected therewith; to examine the competitors as to their
right to enter; to superintend the training of the athletes and their
teachers in the gymnasium; to see that the athletes really entered for
the contests which they had chosen, and that everything was done
according to established custom, and the laws of the games were in no
way broken; for this purpose they also had disciplinary power, and a
right to impose considerable fines, and even sometimes inflict corporal
punishment. Finally, in case of uncertainty, they had to give judgment
about the victory, if necessary, by a majority of votes. A combatant who
was not satisfied could appeal against their decision to the council
(βουλή) of Olympia, but he could not afterwards be pronounced victor;
the most he could obtain, should it appear that the judges were in the
wrong, was their condemnation to pay a fine. Under the judges were
officials who helped to maintain order and carry out their ordinances;
and all the attendants present--and this must have been a considerable
number, owing to the great concourse of spectators and combatants--were
under their orders.
We can form some general idea of the succession of events and the
arrangement of festivities during the five days of the festival,
although we are not fully acquainted with all the details. A preliminary
ceremony was the entrance of the embassies from the various Hellenic
states. All the states considered it a matter of importance to send
their representatives equipped with as much splendour as possible, and
therefore the richest people were always chosen for the purpose. Since a
great deal of splendour was shown by these delegates at the festive
processions with their chariots and horses, their magnificent utensils,
etc., they probably held a grand entry on their arrival, and thus the
spectators, at the very beginning of the festival, were able to gratify
their love of fine sights. No doubt the whole proceeding began with a
sacrifice to Zeus, in whose honour the games were held, and who was
regarded as their director. Next, the umpires, the athletes who entered
for the contests, and the trainers who had come with them, took a solemn
oath in the court-house at Olympia. After a swine had been sacrificed,
the competitors had to swear that they possessed the full rights of
citizens, that they had fulfilled all the conditions which were
necessary for admission, and were ready to submit to the regulations. In
spite of this oath, an examination into their claims took place; it was
not only necessary to prove the right of citizenship, but also the
appointed training for the contests by the athletic diet already
described, and on this account the presence of the trainers was
desirable, if not indispensable, at the examination and oath. The horses
for the races were also examined. It is uncertain whether the lots to
determine the groups of competitors were drawn on this first day. The
drawing was preceded by a prayer to _Zeus Moiragetes_, the Director of
Destiny; then the charioteers drew lots for their places at starting,
and the others for their order of entry. The runners were divided into
groups, probably of four; the lot decided the order in which they were
to follow one another; and the victors in these races had then to run
once more for the prize. This however was probably only the case with
the single and double course, since it is not likely that there were so
many competitors for the more difficult long course and the race in full
panoply. Wrestlers, boxers, and pancratiasts drew lots from an urn, in
which small lots, of which a pair was marked with the same letters, were
thrown; each competitor drew out one. Those who drew the same letters
had to fight together; the victors then fought afresh. If there were
more than two victors, they probably drew lots again in the same way. At
last there was only one pair left, of which one was victor in the whole
contest. It sometimes happened that when these lots were drawn the
number of combatants was unequal, and thus one was left without an
opponent. He was called the third combatant (ἔφεδρος), and it was a very
lucky thing to draw this lot. Of course, it would be a very unusual
piece of luck for one person to be third combatant at all the drawings,
and thus be able at last to meet, with his strength unbroken, an
opponent who would have sustained many contests already; still, to draw
this lot even once was to have a distinct advantage. There was, of
course, a certain amount of unfairness connected with it, but they seem
to have found no other way out of the dilemma; still, in most cases,
when the victors and the third combatant drew afresh, it might be left
to chance to see that one person was not too highly favoured. Sometimes
a competitor was lucky enough to obtain a wreath without any contest at
all; for instance, if only two had entered for a particular contest, and
one of them did not appear in time or abandoned the fight. Many
celebrated athletes could obtain a prize thus by the mere terror of
their names.
The gymnastic and equestrian competitions continued from the second to
the fourth day; probably the boys contended on the second, the men on
the third and fourth days. We know little about the order of events;
still, it is probable that on the third day the racing took place first,
and in this order--long, single, and double course, then wrestling,
boxing, and pancration; on the fourth day the equestrian contests, the
pentathlon, and, last of all, the race in full panoply. There would then
be several changes of locality, since the equestrian contests took place
in the Hippodrome; the races, pentathlon, and other gymnastic sports in
the Stadion. There was, of course, a gymnasium at Olympia, but this
could not contain the multitude of spectators as well as the Stadion,
and, therefore, the wrestling school and gymnasium at Olympia were used
exclusively for the previous training of the competitors who came there
for the contests. On the last day the prizes were distributed. The
prize, as is well known, was the simplest possible--a mere wreath of
olive, which a boy, both whose parents must be alive, according to the
old tradition, cut with a golden knife from a wild olive tree in the
Grove of Altis. Another outward token of victory was the palm branch
granted to the victor, and, in consequence, the palm as a token of
victory often appears in the statues of the Olympic conquerors. In olden
times the wreaths to be distributed were placed on a brazen tripod; but
Kolotes, a pupil of Pheidias, constructed a magnificent table of gold
and ivory for the purpose, which was usually kept in the temple of Hera.
It was the duty of one of the judges to crown the head of the victor
with the wreath after it had been previously surrounded by a woollen
fillet. During this solemn act the herald announced the name of the
victor, as well as of his father and his native city. The importance
attributed by the ancients to the victory in the Olympic games was such
that this proud moment, when the victor received his reward amid the
applause of the whole people, and, as it were, before the eyes of all
Greece, was a sufficient compensation for all the troubles and
difficulties involved in the preparation for the contest. Still, there
were many other honours which fell to his lot, both in Olympia and at
home in his own country.
After the name of the victor had been announced, sacrifices and banquets
took place. It is not certain whether the great sacrifice of the
Elians, a hecatomb offered to Zeus as the supreme director of the
contests, took place at the conclusion of the festival, or at the
beginning; in any case, numerous sacrifices of thanksgiving were offered
by the victors and also by the delegates sent from other states. Very
often the victor’s sacrifice was combined with that of his countrymen;
for the state to which the conqueror belonged considered itself honoured
by his victory, and it was the duty of the delegates to exhibit as much
splendour as possible at the sacrifice as well as at the procession
connected with it. These solemn processions, which made the last day of
the feast a specially magnificent one, were accompanied by flutes and
citharas, and, perhaps, also by the singing of choruses. They probably
marched at first round the altars, while the flames of the sacrifices
were burning on them, and afterwards touched at all the sacred places
near the holy Altis.
In the afternoon a great banquet, given by the Elians to the victors,
united them all in the town hall (πρυτανεῖον); but even this was not the
end of the festivities, for feasting continued in the evening and far
into the night at entertainments given by the victors to their relations
and friends, who had hurried to the spot. These were more or less
magnificent according to the means of the givers, though sometimes the
state to which they belonged bore a part of the expenses. These festive
gatherings were also honoured by music and song, and it was on these
occasions that the songs of victory (ἐπινίκια), specially composed in
praise of the victor and his family, were often sung, along with old
songs, supposing it to have been possible in this short interval to
write, compose, and study one of these hymns of victory. Most of the
odes, especially those of Pindar, which have come down to us, were not
performed on these occasions, but at the festivities held in honour of
the victor in his own country, which were often celebrated there from
year to year.
Herewith the official programme of the festivities came to an end, but
there was no lack of further entertainment; for the opportunity of
appearing before so great a number of their countrymen, and thus
attaining sudden fame, was a very attractive one for poets and writers,
who in those days were little assisted by the bookselling trade. The
custom of holding lectures or reciting poems before the assembled people
originated in the 5th century, when it is said to have been introduced
by Herodotus, who read aloud a portion of his history at Olympia, though
this story is not entirely removed from doubt. It is, however, a fact
that from that time onwards recitations of this kind became commoner;
thus Gorgias the Sophist, and Hippias the Elian, held long discourses
here; and similarly, Prodicus and Anaximenes, Lysias, Isocrates, etc.,
lectured at Olympia; and in later times this was a frequent occurrence.
Occasionally, though less often, works of art were here exposed to view;
thus, a painter, Aetion, exhibited his picture of the marriage of
Alexander the Great and Roxana, and the astronomer, Oinopides, of Chios,
exhibited a brass tablet which was to explain a new method of
calculating the time, discovered by him. This last, however, turned out
a failure. The publicity of the Olympic festival was also used in other
ways. Important decrees relating to solemn pledges, treaties among
states, mutual acknowledgment of meritorious actions, decisions to
confer crowns, or other matters of importance, which it was desirable to
bring into universal notice as soon as possible, were proclaimed by the
solemn voice of the herald and then graven in bronze or stone, and set
up in the Altis.
Every free man might be present at the contests and other festivities,
provided his means permitted him to defray the expenses of the journey
and of a stay in the festive city. Naturally the greater number of the
spectators came from the neighbouring states of the Peloponnesus; but,
still, many came very long distances. So great was the interest roused
by these contests that people from all classes came to view them; and
even men of the highest intellectual eminence took pleasure in them.
Statesmen and generals, such as Themistocles, Cimon, Philopoemen;
philosophers, such as Thales, Chiron, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato;
orators, such as Gorgias, Lysias, Demosthenes; poets, such as Pindar,
Simonides, were among the spectators; and though some of the poets,
especially Euripides, and philosophers were inclined to criticise rather
severely the value of the performances at Olympia, yet these were but
isolated opinions, and in no way tended to diminish the popularity of
the games or the glory of the victors in the eyes of the general public.
This interest was revealed by the endurance with which the spectators
continued to watch the games, in spite of the fact that they took place
in the very hottest season, and lasted for the greater part of the day;
from early morning, when they went to the Stadion in order to secure a
good place, till late in the afternoon, when the decision was given,
they watched and endured the heat, dust, crowding, and thirst, either
standing or squatting, according as space permitted, with that patience
and endurance of which only the people of the south are capable. No
doubt there were noisy expressions of sympathy during the contests,
encouraging or mocking cries, applause and sounds of sorrow, since all
feelings are expressed in a violent manner by southern nations. Women
were not allowed to be present at the games. The statement that the
maidens of Elis were an exception to this rule is scarcely credible.
Those women or girls who had come to the festival to accompany competing
husbands, sons, or brothers, had to remain on the other side of the
Alpheus. In consequence of the great number of spectators, inns and
lodging-houses were built to accommodate those who had not, like the
sacred envoys, brought their own tents with them. Moreover, as already
indicated, a kind of fair was connected with the Olympian festivities;
traders, with all manner of wares, some of them objects directly
connected with the festival, such as fillets, flowers, food, etc., and
other useful articles, set up their booths and tents; and, thus, along
with the festival, there was a busy commercial activity, such as was
common in every place where great crowds of people met together at fixed
times.
The games performed at Delphi in honour of Pythian Apollo bore the name
of the Great Pythia, to distinguish them from the Lesser Pythia, held
every year at Delphi, and also from the festival of the same name
celebrated in other places. This festival, which at first was held every
eight years, had been changed to a quadrennial one after the beginning
of the 6th century B.C.; it lasted several days, and gradually many
additions were made to the original contests. At first the musical
competition, which comprised cithara and flute playing, was the only
one; in later times, too, it was the principal part of the festival, but
after the example of the Olympian games, gymnastic and equestrian
contests were also added. A general truce was connected with the Pythian
games as well as with the Olympian, and this lasted long enough to
enable spectators from the distant colonies on the shores of the
Mediterranean to journey in safety to Delphi and back. The chief events
of the festival and the order of proceedings were something of this
sort.
A great sacrifice to the three gods, Apollo, Artemis, and Leto, called
_Trittyes_ probably formed the introduction. Then followed an important
part of the festival, calculated to arouse lively interest in the
public, the _Pythian Nomos_, the subject of which was the celebrated
fight with the dragon Pytho by Apollo. Many suggestions have been made
about the nature of this performance. One is that the fight was
presented in dumb show; another that it was a song, accompanied by
instruments; and, again, another very popular theory is that this
Pythian Nomos was a concerto of flute solos, by means of which various
stages of the fight with the dragon were represented in tone painting.
Probably the most important situations--the fight, thanksgiving, and
hymn of victory--could be thus represented, and, indeed, they must have
attained considerable proficiency in tone painting, since even the
gnashing of the dragon’s teeth was musically represented. With a view to
strengthening these effects, the flute, which always remained the chief
instrument, was afterwards reinforced at certain places by trumpets and
shepherds’ pipes. This Pythian Nomos constituted part of the musical
contest, which was of greater importance in the Pythian games than the
gymnastic competition, since Apollo was essentially the representative
of the musical arts. Besides the solo flute playing, the musical
competition included songs with cithara accompaniment, and at first also
with the flute, but this last was discontinued, being regarded as too
sad and gloomy; and, instead, cithara playing without song was
introduced in the musical contest. It was only in much later times, when
troops of artists were called in to make the festival more splendid,
with the consent of the officials of the land, that dramas were also
presented at the Pythian games.
We know but little of the gymnastic contests which gradually found a
place in the Pythian games. In essentials they were the same as those at
Olympia, but the double course and the long course for boys were also
added, while at Olympia these two contests were only open to men. The
order of events, too, was different; the competitors were classed
according to age, and each class, after completing its own contests, was
able to rest while the others went through the same exercise, so that
these intervals for rest enabled the boys to perform greater feats of
running than they could at Olympia, where they had to enter for all
their contests before the men’s turn came at all. To the usual gymnastic
sports were afterwards added the race in full panoply and the pancration
for boys. Equestrian competitions were early introduced; racing with
full-grown horses, with four-horse chariots, and afterwards with
two-horse chariots; when colts were introduced at Olympia the example
was also followed at Delphi: probably the events followed in such a way
that the musical contest was connected with the acts of worship, and was
followed by the gymnastic, and this by the equestrian contests. The
gymnastic sports were held, at the time of Pindar, in the neighbourhood
of the ruined city Cirrha, south of the mouth of the Pleistos;
afterwards the Delphic Stadion was to the north-west of the city, while
the driving and riding races took place in the old Stadion near the
ruined city of Cirrha. In later times there was also a theatre for the
performance of the musical contests.
Here, as at Olympia, punctual attendance was required of the
competitors; those who entered unlawfully were expelled by the servants
of the Amphictyons, who were entrusted with disciplinary power. It was
they who had the superintendence of the games, as well as the right of
judging. Originally both these privileges had belonged to the
inhabitants of Delphi; but after the reorganisation of the games in the
year 586, the duties of superintendents and judges passed to the
Amphictyons, or to officials appointed by them. It seems that we must
distinguish between the Amphictyonic superintendents (ἐπιμεληταί), in
whose hands were the arrangement of the programme, and all matters of
expense, the appointment or ratification of the festive officials, etc.
(ἀγωνοθεσία), and the real umpires (βραβῆς), who had themselves to make
the most important arrangements for the contests, such as assigning the
places for the chariots in the races and giving decisions about the
victory; but we cannot attain any certainty in this matter. Sometimes,
towards the end of the age of Greek freedom, the right of
superintendence was conferred on princes--as, for instance on Philip of
Macedon--and in the time of the Empire it was not unusual for a rich man
to bear the expenses of the ceremony wholly or in great part; though
even here the old custom was, at any rate externally, observed. The
prizes of victory were originally valuable gifts, tripods, etc.; at the
rearrangement of the games the custom originated of giving, instead, a
wreath, as was done at Olympia, made of laurel sacred to Apollo. They
also followed the example of Olympia in introducing lectures and
recitations by historians and poets; thus Gorgias the Sophist, delivered
an oration on one of these occasions. A very important part of the
festival was the great procession (πομπή), in which strangers who came
to the games, embassies with their dedicatory offerings, the officials
and priests, took part; and besides the offerings, which were often very
splendid, valuable treasures, usually kept in the treasuries, were
exhibited; costly weapons and armour, splendid garments and jewels,
vases, etc., were exposed to view, so that this procession, which
probably marched from the suburb Pylaea, upwards to the temple of
Apollo, must have presented a very varied and richly-coloured picture.
As well as the triple sacrifice already mentioned, there were other
solemn sacrifices, among them a hecatomb to Apollo; this was, of course,
connected with the great banquet, at which there was no lack of musical
entertainment.
The Isthmian games, the third of the great Hellenic national festivals,
were celebrated on the isthmus of Corinth, in the sacred pine grove of
Poseidon, where a hippodrome and a stadion for equestrian and gymnastic
contests had been erected. The festival, which from the year 582
onwards, became national and Hellenic, took place every two years, in
the first and third years of an Olympiad; it consisted of musical,
gymnastic, and equestrian contests. We do not hear of any differences
between these games and those at Olympia, and we may assume that there
were the usual competitions for men and boys; in addition to them there
was an intermediate class of the beardless ones--that is, youths
(ἔφηβοι). Of course, there was a universal truce during the Isthmian
games, and numerous and splendid embassies attended it, since the site
between two seas facilitated attendance. The arrangement of the
programme fell to the Corinthians, who also appointed the umpires,
probably from among the rich and respected citizens. The prize of
victory was a wreath of ivy, for which they afterwards substituted one
of pine, and this seems to have been still the custom at the time of
Ibycus, who, as Schiller tells us, met his death on the way to this
“contest of chariots and song.” In the later period, especially in the
Hellenistic and Roman times, there were also rhetorical and poetical
recitations at the Isthmian games, but they did not form a part of the
musical contest.
The Nemean games were held at Argolis, in a valley between Cleonae and
Phlius, in a grove belonging to the sanctuary of _Zeus-Nemeios_, and
they did not attain national importance till the year 573. These, like
the Isthmian games, were held every two years, in the second and fourth
years of an Olympiad. The contests here also comprised musical,
gymnastic, and equestrian competitions; we are incidentally informed
that cithara and flute players appeared in the musical contest. We have
no information about the length of its duration, but it must certainly
have lasted for several days. The Cleonaeans were for a long time
superintendents and umpires, but when the Argives gained possession of
the Nemean sanctuary they also claimed this privilege. The prize of
victory here, as at the Isthmian games, was a wreath of ivy; there were
the same arrangements for a universal truce, and visits of sacred
envoys, as at other great festivals.
From this consideration of the Hellenic national celebrations we must
now turn specially to Athens, with whose festive calendar we are much
better acquainted; but we must content ourselves with a selection from
among the most important. The first place is due to the greatest
festival of the Athenians, the _Panathenaea_ celebrated in the first
month of the Athenian calendar, Hekatombaeon (probably our July). We
must distinguish between the lesser and the greater Panathenaea; the
former was celebrated every year; the latter, introduced by
Peisistratus, every four years; the real difference was that, at the
greater Panathenaea the contests were more splendid and probably lasted
a longer time. The festival was held in honour of the patron goddess in
the ancient temple of _Athene Polias_; it consisted of sacrifices and
competitions, equestrian, gymnastic, and also musical. The oldest
musical contest was a competition between rhapsodists, perhaps
introduced by Peisistratus. The performances of the rhapsodists were
probably chiefly concerned with the Homeric poems, which had been
collected and edited at the command of Peisistratus, but we do not know
in what way they contended for the prize; the place of recitation was
the Odeon. Afterwards the Homeric rhapsodies fell into the background,
when Pericles extended the musical contests by introducing cithara and
flute playing and song. We learn from the inscriptions that songs with
cithara accompaniment, as well as with flute accompaniment, were usual,
and they also speak of cyclic choruses, that is, dithyrambs, sung by
choruses while circling round the altar on which the sacrifice was
burning. The prize for the musical contest was a gold wreath and some
money. The gymnastic contests were arranged according to age (boys,
youths, men); the youngest entered first, and each class ended its
competitions before the next one began. Similarly the competitions
advanced from easy to difficult; they were of the usual kinds already
described, but it was only the men from whom all were required. Boys and
youths in the earliest period entered for racing, wrestling, and boxing,
pancration, and pentathlon. Afterwards the pentathlon was abandoned, and
the double and long course introduced instead, though probably the
requirements for these were reduced, since the usual attainments of
these contests would have been too great for boys. We do not know
exactly where the gymnastic competitions took place, since the
Panathenaeic Stadion was not built till the latter half of the fourth
century. Before that there seems to have been a place to the west of the
Peiraeus, where both equestrian and gymnastic contests were carried on;
here, too, the victors were proclaimed, and the prizes conferred on
them. These consisted in a quantity of oil from the celebrated
olive-trees of Athene in the Academy, and this was drawn into earthen
amphoras, on one side of which was represented the image of the patron
goddess, and on the other generally a scene from the gymnastic
competition. Many imitations of these amphoras exist, and no small
number of them have come down to us, and are known as Panathenaeic prize
amphoras.
There were several events peculiar to the equestrian contests at Athens.
Thus, in Attica and Boeotia chariot-jumping was a popular sport. Besides
the charioteer on the two-wheeled car there was a second person
(ἀποβάτης), who, while the chariot was moving at full speed, jumped down
from the car and up again, assisted by the charioteer; this performance
is traced back by legend to the time of Erichthonius. There were also
martial contests, in which warriors in full panoply stood in their
chariots; and also races of javelin-throwers, who aimed at a fixed goal
from their running horses; but these sports connected with the
Panathenaea are known to us only by casual allusions, and not by
accurate description. Here, as elsewhere, we learn from the inscriptions
that the usual kinds of racing took place, namely, with four horses, and
afterwards, too, with colts, as well as riding races. Here, as in the
gymnastic contests, the prize consisted in jars of oil; in both cases
the first prize was generally five times the value of the second.
To the festivities of the Panathenaea belonged also a performance of the
Pyrrhic war dance (πυῤῥίχη) which originated at Sparta, and was probably
introduced at Athens at the time of Solon and Peisistratus. In later
times they distinguished three kinds, according to age. The various
classes, clad in magnificent armour, combined together in bands and
performed a dance to the music of the flute, which partook of the double
nature of choregraphic and military movements. A still extant relief
from the Acropolis, set up by a choragus who had won the prize (rich
citizens undertook the equipment of the Pyrrhic choruses as a public
service or liturgy), presents a number of youthful dancers performing a
measured dance in light helmets, and holding their shield in their left
hand, but without any clothing; they are in two divisions; the choragus
stands superintending them in a long chiton (as festive garment) and
himation. We do not know how the victory of a Pyrrhic chorus was
decided. The prize of victory was an ox.
Another contest peculiar to the Panathenaea was a muster of men
(εὐανδρία). Like the dramatic representations, the torch-race, and the
Pyrrhic dance, this was a liturgy, that is, a voluntary service
performed by a rich citizen. It was his duty to select the handsomest
and strongest men of his tribe, to clothe and equip them, and present
them at the festival; that tribe which, in the opinion of the judges,
made the best impression, received the prize. This curious custom
originated after the expulsion of the Peisistratidae, since they would
not have been permitted, during the tyranny, to bring forward the armed
citizens in this manner. Another liturgy was the torch-race
(λαμπαδοφορία), which was superintended by the gymnasiarchs; the victor
in this contest received a water-jar. The contests of the Panathenaea
were concluded by a regatta, which took place at the Peiraeus. Here,
again, it was not individuals, but tribes, that competed for the prize,
which was not inconsiderable, since the victorious tribe received 300
drachmae, and money for a festive banquet.
The expenses of these various contests, if they did not happen to be
voluntary services, were defrayed from the treasury of Athene Polias;
the sacrifices, in particular the hecatomb offered to the goddess at the
greater Panathenaea, were provided by the superintendents of sacrifice
(ἱεροποιοί), appointed as the ten representatives of the ten tribes, but
there were sometimes special subscriptions for the purpose, and, at the
great festivals at any rate, the Attic client cities sent their
contributions to the sacrifices, apparently each one cow and two sheep.
The hecatomb was offered on the chief day of the feast; another
sacrifice was performed to _Athene-Hygeia_, and a third on the
Areopagus, but we do not know when these took place, nor whether they
were also offered at the lesser Panathenaea.
We have only a general notion of the order of the festivities. They
began with the contests, which lasted several days, taking the musical
contest first, which was followed by the gymnastic, and this again by
the equestrian. With these were probably connected the Pyrrhic dance and
the muster of men. Then came the chief day of all, the glory of the
festival, introduced the evening before by a festivity combined with a
torch-race, and lasting far into the night (παννυχίς). At sunrise began
the great procession which was peculiar to the greater Panathenaea. Here
the goddess received her splendid robe, which was renewed every four
years, and artistically worked by the Attic women and maidens, so as to
represent the battle of the gods and giants. This procession, of which a
wonderfully idealised representation has come down to us in the friezes
of the Cella of the Parthenon, combined all the chief splendour and
glory of Athens, all the proud youth and fair beauty of women. In it
marched priests and prophets, archons, and the treasurers of Athene, the
superintendents of sacrifice, generals, envoys from the Attic colonies,
with their dedicatory offerings, and other delegates sent to the feast.
Behind these dignified men followed beautiful maidens, carrying
sacrificial vessels, censers, etc.; then came the resident foreigners
(μέτοικοι), with flat dishes filled with honey-cakes, fruits, and other
sacrificial offerings, and jars containing the wine required for the
sacrifices; their daughters carried sunshades and seats for the
daughters of Attic citizens. Next came the numerous herds of cows and
sheep for the sacrifices, accompanied by drovers. These were followed by
the Attic citizens, venerable old men and men in the prime of life,
carrying their knotty sticks and olive branches in their hands; then
came the four-horse chariots, which had entered for the contests of the
previous days. The greater part of the procession was taken up by the
cavalry, in which appeared the citizens who served on horseback in the
army, as well as other owners of fine horses; the fondness for
horse-rearing peculiar to Attica made this part of the procession
especially large and splendid. There were also the heavy-armed infantry
under the command of their officers, and the musicians, who played
during the march on their instruments--flutes and citharas; of course,
the victors in the various competitions took part in the procession,
though probably each walked with the members of his own tribe. The most
conspicuous place was occupied by the robe of the goddess, which, at any
rate after the beginning of the fourth century, was suspended like a
sail on the mast of a ship, running on rollers, and spread out in such a
way that all might admire the splendid workmanship.
This endless procession moved from the Kerameikos to the market-place,
then eastwards to the Eleusinion, north of the Acropolis, and round this
to the western ascent of the citadel, where the ship halted, and the
robe was taken off in order to be carried in procession to the temple of
Athene Polias, the Erechthaeum. Here the hecatomb was offered on the
great altar in front of the temple, as well as the sacrifices of the
Attic clients. A plentiful banquet concluded this chief day of the
festival, for the meat sacrificed was divided among the people, being
distributed among all the demes separately, who specially told off a
number of members to receive their share. The meals took place also
according to demes. The after celebration at the Peiraeus consisted in
the regatta already mentioned. We cannot tell how long the whole
festival of the greater Panathenaea lasted; opinions vary between six
and nine days, according as a longer or shorter period is assumed for
the various competitions. The general direction of the procession and
the sacrifices, as well as of the night festivity, was under the control
and superintendence of the annual superintendents of sacrifice; while
ten judges (ἀθλοθέται), appointed for a period of four years, undertook
the direction of the contests.
The annual Sacred Festival of the Eleusinia must be distinguished from
the lesser Eleusinia celebrated at Agrae in spring. It took place in the
month of Boedromion, about September, in honour of Demeter of Eleusis.
This was a celebration of the mysteries, and, therefore, no national
festival, but still the number of the initiated was so great, and the
mysteries were renowned so far even beyond the bounds of Attica, that it
might be regarded as Hellenic, especially as the holding of the
mysteries was announced in the neighbouring states by special envoys or
heralds, whose office was hereditary in certain families, and a general
truce prevailed during the celebration. The whole festival consisted of
two parts, of which the first was held at Athens, the second at Eleusis.
It began with a general assembly, of which we only know that it was
probably a noisy procession, such as was very common at the celebration
of mysteries. Another feature of the beginning of the festival were the
public addresses to the community, delivered in the _Stoa Poikile_
(Painted Porch) at Athens, where the Hierophant, the chief priest of the
Eleusinian sanctuaries, and one of the chief priests in Attica, and the
torch-bearer (δαδοῦχος), another Eleusinian official, acquainted the
candidates for initiation with the arrangement of the festival and the
conditions on which participation in the ceremony depended. It was the
duty of the Initiators (μυσταγωγοί) to see that the numerous people
assembled really fulfilled these conditions; these were not officials
but private people who had passed through all the degrees of initiation,
and were acquainted with all the rites; and foreigners who attended the
mysteries were obliged to prove their initiation in the first place to
these. Either on this day or the next ensued that ceremony which
received its name from the cry, “To the sea, ye Mystae!” when the whole
community descended to the sea coast in order to purify themselves and
the sacrificial animals, which on this occasion were swine, in the sea
water for the impending sacrifices. Sometimes, if a visitor to the
contests was conscious of special and numerous acts of wrongdoing, this
purification was repeated several times, and the efficacy further
ensured by fasting for nine days--that is, refraining from food during
the time between sunrise and sunset. On the following days sacrifices
were offered, especially the great Thankoffering (σωτήρια), brought by
the superintendents of the mysteries to Demeter and Kora and the other
gods, probably in the town of Eleusinia. Another sacrifice offered by a
town was the _Epidauria_, which was said to have been founded in honour
of Aesculapius, who arrived belated from Epidaurus. We are not
acquainted with the place of this ceremony, nor with the time or other
circumstances connected with it; the fourth and the fifth days of the
festival have been suggested. Next followed the main part of the
festival, the great procession which escorted Iacchus, the sacred child
of the gods, from Athens to Eleusis. In the course of the day the
participants in the procession, who often numbered several thousand,
assembled at various parts of the city, and were drawn up in order in
the Agora and the Kerameikos. The priests and officials, as well as the
whole band of Mystae, were decked with myrtle and ivy leaves, and
carried ears of corn and agricultural implements in their hands, as well
as torches, for they did not reach Eleusis before nightfall. The leader
of the procession was Iacchus himself, though, at the same time, he was
led. His sacred image was fetched, along with the temple utensils, from
the sanctuary of Iacchus, and placed on a car, accompanied by attendants
(Ίακχαγωγοί), at the head of the procession, which set out from the
Kerameikos to the gate known as Dipylon amid loud shouts of “Iacchus,”
and through this began its long journey along the sacred road to
Eleusis. The procession moved on, singing a song especially composed for
it, as was believed, by the god himself, accompanied by dancing and
other ceremonies. The journey lasted four hours, and, in consequence of
its length, rich women used to ride in carriages until the orator
Lycurgus forbade this by a special law. During this long march they
stopped to worship at various sanctuaries on the way, and also
entertained each other with jokes, such as were customary at the
festivals of Demeter and Dionysus: at the Kephisos especially there was
jesting and mockery. At the fountain of Kallichoros dances and games
were carried on by torchlight. Of course, all this detained the
procession longer than the mere length of the journey would have
required, so that after the arrival at Eleusis, when the image of the
god had been put in its place, the pilgrims required rest and
refreshment before going on to the remainder of the festival.
The rites at Eleusis also lasted several days. Besides solemn sacrifices
and the festive banquets connected with them, there was the ceremony of
seeking the Maiden (κόρη) and the sacred representations. The former was
an imitation of the sad wanderings of Demeter, when seeking her
daughter, who had been stolen from her; the Mystae ran about with
torches in the white raiments of the Eleusinian sanctuaries, and
frequent jokes, some of a coarse description, reminded them that Demeter
in her wanderings had been similarly cheered in her deep sorrow by the
coarse jests of her maid Iambe. The Mystae also imitated the goddess in
drinking a strengthening potion (κυκεώυ), which, according to a legend,
the goddess drank at Eleusis after her long fast. The main feature,
however, was the performance, on a stage in the sanctuary, of the
mysterious sacred dramas which presented the secret doctrines of the
Eleusinian mysteries to the new initiates, and also brought them clearly
before the eyes of those who had been already initiated. We must not,
however, suppose that all were present at the same representations. It
was, in fact, here that the difference of degrees required different
representations; beginners, among whom there were some not far removed
from the age of childhood, were only admitted to representations
corresponding to the ordinary legends of Demeter and Persephone, while
the highest degrees, which were granted only to those of advanced years,
went beyond these popular presentations, and represented the new-born
Iacchus reunited in bliss with Persephone and Demeter. On these
occasions even the highest dignitaries of the Eleusinia did not scorn to
appear as actors; the Hierophant as the _Demiurgos_, the leader of the
initiates as Helios, the altar priest as Selene, the herald (ίεροκῆρυξ)
as Hermes, etc. These dramas, which fully occupied the eighth and ninth
days, thus concluded the chief part of the ceremony. The last act of
worship was to take two earthen vessels filled with water, as was done
at funerals, and pour them out to east and west amid mystic words
(πλημοχόαι). Then followed some days occupied with entertainments of all
kinds--gymnastic contests, national games, song and dance, and in later
times also scenic representations.
The festival of the _Thesmophoria_, held in Pyanepsion (October), was in
honour of Demeter alone; it lasted five days, and only women might take
part in it. These women had to undergo a solemn preparation of nine
days, during which they kept apart from their husbands, and purified
themselves in various ways. After this they went to Halimus, the scene
of the Thesmophoria, not in a long procession, but in small groups and
at night-time. The comic side of the Demeter festivals was visible here
also: those who went alone met each other on the way, and demanded and
gave tokens of recognition in jest, amid much laughter, which became
excessive if, as sometimes happened, a man fell into their hands. At
Halimus, in the sanctuary of the Thesmophoria, the mysteries took place
by night; the day was occupied with purifying baths in the sea, and
playing and dancing on the shore. After this had gone on for a day or a
day and a half, the women set out again for Athens, this time in a long
procession, carrying the laws of Demeter, the _Thesmoi_ whence the
festival took its name, in caskets on the head of sacred women, and the
festival was then continued at Athens, either in the Thesmophorion of
the town or in that of Peiraeus. This further celebration occupied two
days, besides the day of return; first came the day of “fasting,”
so-called because on this day the women sat in deep mourning on the
ground and took no food, probably singing dirges and observing other
customs common in case of a death; they also sacrificed swine to the
infernal gods. The third day (καλλιγενεία) bore a more cheerful
character. Its name, signifying “the birth of fair children,” seems to
refer to Demeter, who was assumed to be appeased and who gave the
blessing of fair children to women. This day was occupied with
sacrifices, dances, and merry games, of which we know very little. At
all these festivals the presence of men was most sternly forbidden; only
those women who were full citizens might take part, and probably none
who were unmarried.
There were various smaller festivals which we must pass over, and turn
to the festivals of Dionysus, which had an important influence on life
in Greece, as well as on its literature and art. There were four of
these every year at Athens; in the month of Poseidon (February), the
country Dionysia, called also “the lesser,” took place. Naturally this
was a vine festival, as would result from the character of the god; but
the common opinion, that it was to celebrate the vintage, is open to
many objections, especially since the time of the feast seems too late
for the vintage. It is more probable that the new wine was then tasted
for the first time. This festival was not connected with any special
place; country Dionysia were celebrated in every village, and not only
in Attica, but everywhere in Greece where vines were cultivated, and it
always bore the character of a cheerful national feast connected with
fun and merry frolic. In the “Acharnians” of Aristophanes a peasant
celebrates the festival alone with his family; it begins with prayer and
a procession to the sacrifice, in which the daughter, as basket-bearer
(κανηφόρος), carries the basket of offerings on her head; the slave
with the _Phallus_, the symbol of fertility and the never extinct
producing power of the earth, next follows; and the master of the house
sings his merry phallic song, while his wife looks on at the procession
from the roof of the house. What was done here on a small scale by a
single family, we must assume was performed on a larger scale in the
real ceremony by all the assembled villagers. There were also other
parts of the festival, especially the chorus, which stood round the
altar during the sacrifice of the goat, and praised the god in speech
and song, probably also in answering refrain; they sang the birth,
sufferings, and death of Dionysus, and were the origin of the dithyramb
as well as of the drama, since this latter, as is well known, owes its
origin to the festivals of Dionysus. Often there were real dramatic
representations at the lesser Dionysia; it was especially the custom for
strolling actors on these occasions to perform before the country people
old plays, which had been already represented in the towns. Among the
other entertainments, along with the festive processions, choruses, and
banquets, one is especially worthy of mention (ἀσκώλια). This was a game
in which the young people of the village hopped about on greased wine
skins, and tried to push each other down, while the falls were greeted
with laughter by the bystanders; those who succeeded in retaining their
place received prizes. This entertainment, which may be set on a par
with our own running in sacks, was customary, too, at other festivals of
Dionysus.
The second Athenian festival of Dionysus was peculiar to Athens, but was
probably only one of the country Dionysia transferred to the town; it
was called _Lenaea_, after the place where it was usually held, the
Lenaeon, in the suburb Limnae, and was held in the month of Gamelion
(January). The name suggests a feast of wine-presses, which does not
coincide with the time of the celebration; many attempts have been made
to explain this difficulty, but without result. The festival, or at any
rate a special part of it, bore the name Ambrosia, probably because they
drank a great deal of the new wine to which they assigned this divine
name; and, in fact, plentiful drinking was a characteristic of all the
festivals of the wine god. A great banquet accompanied the festivities,
for which the State provided everything, and there was also a solemn
procession into the town, in which many people drove, amid jest and
frolic, so that the “jokes from the car” became proverbial. In the
Lenaeon, to which the procession first marched with the sacrificial
animals, solemn dithyrambs were sung in competition, and the prize was a
wreath of ivy; there were also dramatic representations, at which both
old and new pieces were performed.
The third festival of Dionysus was the _Anthesteria_, in the month
Anthesterion (February), which lasted three days, and was even more
distinctly associated with the tasting of the new wine than the Lenaea.
The first day of the festival bore the distinctive name of
“Cask-opening” (πιθοιγία). It was essentially a family festival. The
casks, with the new wine which was to be used next day for the banquet,
were brought in by the servants and opened; the wine was drawn off into
amphoras or other vessels, and naturally many a draught was drunk, and
in particular the slaves had their share. For the Athenians, who always
treated their slaves well, did not grudge them their fair share on this
festive occasion, and when they offered their sacrifices at the
Cask-opening, and helped to draw off the wine, they probably themselves
filled a jar for their servants and workmen with the new gift of
Bacchus. All other work ceased for this day and the next, and the
children, too, had holidays. The old image of Dionysus, which was to
make its solemn entry into the town in the procession of the following
day, was also brought on this first day from its temple in the Nemaeon
to a chapel in the outer Kerameikos. But this festival was only a
preparation for the principal day, called “The Feast of Pitchers,” which
began at sunset--the time when all festivals commenced--with a great
procession. Those who took part in it appeared wreathed and bearing
torches (for the procession did not take place till dark) in the outer
Kerameikos; children, too, except those under three years, took part in
it, probably accompanied by their mothers, or in carriages, for many
participants drove; and here, as in the country Dionysia, it was the
custom to mock the passers-by from the carriage. In fact, this part of
the festival bore the character of a merry carnival; many people
appeared in costume as Horae, Nymphs, Bacchantes, etc., and
crowded gaily around the triumphant car on which the statue of
_Dionysos-Eleutheros_, which had been fetched from its temple on the
previous day, was conducted to the town. On the way religious rites were
observed at various places sanctified by legend. At one place the
_Basilinna_, that is, the wife of the Archon Basileus, had to sit on the
car next the statue of Dionysus, for on this day she was the bride of
the god, and thus, on her wedding-car, she entered the Lenaeon, where a
mystic sacrifice was offered for the welfare of the State in the
innermost part of the temple, by the Basilinna, together with the
fourteen ladies of honour appointed for this purpose by the Archon
(γεραραί). These took a solemn oath to the queen before the ceremony
took place, and in so doing followed an ancient formula inscribed on
stone columns in the temple. After the sacrifice, with which other
secret ceremonies were connected, followed the symbolical marriage of
the Basilinna and Dionysus. While these sacred ceremonies, to which but
few were admitted, were taking place in the interior of the temple, the
other celebrants enjoyed themselves in different ways. On the next day
the actual Pitcher Feast took place--the great banquet, with the
drinking contest, that followed it. At this great public feast the
Archon-Basileus was superintendent of the festival, but the State
defrayed the expenses, originally, probably, in kind, but afterwards in
such a way that each citizen received a fixed sum of money, and with
this supplied his food and also the can of pure wine which stood in
front of everyone, and gave its name to this day. Both the banquet and
the drinking contest were probably held in the theatre in the Lenaeon,
where the chief priest of Dionysus had to provide cushions, tables, and
other conveniences. A proclamation by the herald, in ancient style,
introduced the most interesting event--the drinking contest. At a signal
given by a trumpet, all who took part in it set their pitchers to their
mouths, and the judges allotted the victory to him who first emptied
his; the prize consisted in a skin of wine, cakes, or something of the
kind. Besides this public banquet there were also private hospitalities,
provided by those who preferred to celebrate the day by themselves in
the circle of a few intimate friends, and here, too, much drinking went
on; the Sophists, in particular, who received their honorarium and
presents on this day, were in the habit of inviting their acquaintances
to a feast. Thus things went on merrily till the beginning of the night;
then each guest took his pitcher and the wreath of fresh flowers which
he had worn at the feast to the sanctuary of _Dionysos-Eleutheros_, that
was divided off with a rope, and here the wreaths were handed to the
priestess, and the remains in the pitcher poured out as a libation to
the god.
The third day was called the “Feast of Pots” (χύτροι), from a sacrifice
offered to _Hermes Chthonios_ and the spirits of the dead, and here they
observed the traditional custom of first sacrificing to those who had
perished in the Flood of Deucalion. At these sacrifices, pots containing
a number of vegetable substances cooked together, played an important
part, and these dishes also constituted the meal of this day, on which
no flesh was eaten. The ladies of honour also offered sacrifices to
Dionysus at sixteen specially erected altars, and there were probably
other ceremonies connected with this; in fact, this third day of the
“Anthesteria,” with its serious ceremonial, formed a strong contrast to
the merriment of the previous days, and suggests a similar contrast
between our Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. But even on the “Day of
Pots” there was no lack of amusements for the people; sacred choruses
were conducted by the poets, but it does not seem that any regular
dramas were performed. Possibly dramatic contests had been the custom in
earlier times, or else only such competitions were allowed as determined
the admission of the poets and actors, who won the prize on this
occasion, to competition at the greater Dionysia. The chief festival of
Dionysus in Attica was the greater, or city Dionysia, in Elaphebolion
(March), which lasted at least five days, and perhaps even longer, and
whose chief importance consisted in the plays acted during these days.
The first solemn ceremony of the greater Dionysia was in honour of
Aesculapius, to whom a public sacrifice was brought. Here, too, there
was a procession, in which the statue of _Dionysos-Eleutheros_ was
carried; whether it was the old wooden image which was carried at the
Lenaea, or the new statue by Alcamenes, is uncertain, but the latter was
of gold and ivory, and, therefore, not easily portable; in any case the
statue was fetched from the sanctuary at Lenaea, and carried by
torchlight to the theatre of Dionysus, where it was set up in the
orchestra. On the following day came the procession, in which the
sacrificial animals, as well as the presents sent by allies, probably
appeared. The procession stopped in the market place, and a cyclical
chorus performed a dance round the altar to the Delphic gods who stood
there. When they passed on they seem to have fetched away the Dionysus
statue from the theatre, and carried it once more in a festive
procession to the sanctuary in the Lenaeon. This procession was followed
by sacrificial banquets, and on the other days plentiful feasting was
also a part of the celebration. The following days were chiefly occupied
by the performances, which seem to have followed in some such order as
this: First of all, lyric choruses; both men and boys entered, and the
expenses, which were heavy, were defrayed by citizens acting as choragi.
Perhaps this day was concluded by a “Comus,” as public processions of
this kind often followed common banquets, and since it was the god of
wine who was specially to be honoured, it was, no doubt, very splendidly
equipped. The next days were occupied with representations of tragic
tetralogies and comedies; it is not certain whether these lasted two or
more days, but it is probable that they continued for three days, and
that on each of these a tetralogy was performed in the morning and a
comedy in the afternoon. On the evening of the third day of the
performances, which concluded the whole festival, the prizes were
distributed; in these musical contests they consisted of bulls and
tripods. These last were often set up in a public street on a high
pedestal by the victors, and hence it acquired the name “Street of
Tripods.”
Very different in character from these Dionysiac festivals of Attica
were the night celebrations which took place in some parts of Greece,
but especially on the Cithaeron and Parnassus, on the Islands, and in
Asia Minor, every other year, and in which only women, both married and
unmarried, took part. The wild and orgiastic character of these Dionysia
originated in Thrace, but spread very quickly, and found much favour
among the women, who were inclined to this kind of ecstatic worship.
They fell in the middle of winter, about the time of the shortest day;
the women dressed for the purpose in Bacchic costume, threw deer-skins
over their shoulders, let their hair fly loose, and took in their hands
the thyrsus staff and tambourine, and thus wandered to the hills near
their homes, and there performed all manner of mysterious ceremonies,
sacrifices, dances, etc., amid the wildest merriment resulting from the
juice of the grape, which was seldom allowed them. We can form some
notion of the wild nature of the proceedings from the descriptions of
the poets and artistic representations of Maenads; still, we must always
remember that both poets and artists described not so much the customs
of their own day as those of mythical or heroic periods, and permitted
themselves many exaggerations which did not correspond to reality.
These descriptions of Greek, and especially Athenian, festivities must
suffice, and we pass over a number of festivals in Greece and the
colonies, of which we know little more than the names. Those who desire
a striking picture of a great festival, which, though Oriental in its
origin, had become Hellenised, celebrated in a great city in the
Alexandrine age, should read the splendid description by Theocritus in
his Fifteenth Idyll of the Feast of Adonis at Alexandria.
CHAPTER XII.
THE THEATRE.
Origin of the Greek Drama--The Structure of the Theatre--The
Theatre of Dionysus--The Theatre at Syracuse--The Auditorium--The
Stage--The Orchestra--Scene-painting--Stage Accessories--The Greek
Drama--Tragedy, Comedy, and Satire--The _Choragia_--Theatrical
Masks--Costumes--Conditions of Admission to the Theatre--The
Securing of Seats--The Audience.
Greek drama, both tragedy and comedy, originated in the national
amusements and performances of the choruses at the Dionysiac festivals.
A few words must also be said about the arrangements of the theatre,
such as they were at the time of the greatest glory of the drama at
Athens. Here, fortunately, we have so large a store of information and
monuments still extant, that we can form a very clear picture of these
representations, differing as they did entirely from our modern
performances.
In spite of the great advance made by Greek drama from the rough popular
beginnings till the time of its greatest glory, and in spite of the
enormous difference between the tragedies of the three great masters and
the comedies of Aristophanes, both in their whole character as well as
in the details of their structure and performance, and the cyclic
choruses and rustic sports of the old Dionysia, yet there are a few
points in which the drama, even in its highest development, shows the
traces of its origin. One of these is the custom of giving theatrical
representations only at certain festive seasons of the year, and in some
way connected with the worship of Dionysus as actual religious acts,
though
[Illustration: FIG. 150.
A Temple of Asclepios.
B Rocky ground.
C Seats hewn from the rocks.
D Entrance.
E Remains of rows of seats.
F Destroyed portions.
G Parts not yet excavated.
H Not yet excavated; private property, with houses on it.
I Avenue or boulevard.
K Church of the Passover--
(a) Former size.
(b) Present size.]
towards the end of the ancient Hellenic period theatrical
representations were also given at festivals not in honour of Dionysus.
In consequence of this the structure of the theatres, and especially the
place for the spectators, had to be far larger than at the present day.
As performances only took place a few times in the year, and not only
the whole population of the town and neighbourhood, but even many
strangers from a distance, collected together for them, the space for
the audience had to be so large that many thousands, even tens of
thousands, might have room there, and it must also be built in such a
way that the performance could be conveniently seen from every place.
These remarks refer in particular to Athens, with whose theatrical
arrangements we are best acquainted, and which, moreover, was the model
for most of the others. In the first place, it was impossible to have a
covered space; covered theatres--concert-halls (ὠδεῖα), as they were
called--were destined, not for dramatic, but for musical performances;
secondly, the performances took place by daylight, in consequence of
which much of the illusion was lost. Again, the great size of the
structure and the considerable distance of most of the seats from the
actors necessitated certain peculiarities in the costume of these latter
which we must discuss later on.
The memory of the origin of the drama from choruses, to which in the
course of time was added dramatic action, was preserved in a separation
between the performers who presented the action and the chorus who only
accompanied it--a separation which only gradually disappeared at a time
when means were insufficient for defraying the considerable expenses of
equipping a chorus. This distinction between actors and chorus was not
only observed in the composition of the drama, but also in locality; the
chorus, who not only sang, but also danced and marched, required a very
large space for their evolutions, while the actors, whose number was
very small, could do with less. Therefore, while the modern theatre
consists of only two parts, the stage with its
[Illustration: FIG. 151.]
[Illustration: FIG. 152.]
accessories and an auditorium, the Greek theatre consisted of three
parts; besides the auditorium and the structure of the stage, there was
between the two a space for the chorus known as orchestra. In
considering the arrangement of the buildings, we derive assistance from
the descriptions of the ancients, as well as the still existing remains
of Greek theatres. Fig. 150 represents the ground plan of the ruins of
the great theatre of Dionysus at Athens, though we must remember that
this structure, built originally in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.,
had experienced considerable changes in the Roman period. Fig. 151 gives
a view of the theatre of Syracuse in its present condition, and the
ground plan restored is seen in Fig. 152; while Fig. 153 gives a
restored view of the theatre of Segesta, reconstructed by Strack. We
[Illustration: FIG. 153.]
may regard the orchestra as the centre of the whole structure. This was
originally only a level dancing place, and its shape was usually an
incomplete circle, since part was cut off by the stage, which extended
at right angles along the orchestra. Opposite to this the circumference
of the orchestra was surrounded in concentric lines by the raised seats
of the auditorium, the theatre in the true sense of the word. There is
no fixed standard for the shape of the orchestra and the corresponding
auditorium; sometimes it is a semicircle with the circumference extended
a little way on both sides, sometimes it is lengthened by a tangent, or
some other line at right angles to the circle. In the great theatre of
Dionysus the orchestra was originally a perfect circle; a complete
semicircle, which is common in the Roman theatres, was very unusual in
those of Greece. Here, as in the structures used for games, such as the
Stadia and Hippodromes, the Greeks tried as far as possible to utilise
the natural conditions of the ground for their theatres. If possible,
therefore, they placed the auditorium on some natural elevation; thus,
the great theatre of Dionysus extends up the southern slope of the
Acropolis; and if there was no such elevation they often supplied it by
artificial mounds of earth, differing thus from the custom of the
Romans, who, in consequence of the greater development of their
architectural knowledge, were able to build a theatre on an open space,
and to support the auditorium by strong sub-structures. The Greek mode
of building had the advantage of greater cheapness and security, and, if
the nature of the ground permitted, also enabled them to make exits and
entrances for the public besides those below. In the theatre of Dionysus
there were side approaches on the high ground also. The auditorium of
the Greek theatre was usually situated in some beautiful spot, from
which the visitors to the theatre, at any rate those on the higher
ground, who were not hindered by the structure of the stage opposite,
had an extensive view. Thus the theatre of Syracuse (Fig. 151) had a
glorious view over the harbour and town--in fact, nearly all the
theatres in the neighbourhood of the sea are usually so built that the
auditorium is open towards the sea, and the fresh breeze may refresh the
public during the hot hours of the day.
The seats, according to the nature of the locality, were either hewn
direct out of the rocky ground or based on artificial foundations. At
Athens the spectators originally sat on the bare ground of the Acropolis
slope or on wooden benches placed there; in the fourth century stone
steps were made there. At Syracuse, Sicyon, and other places, nearly the
whole auditorium and the steps were hewn out of the rock; the ends or
wings of the auditorium, which jutted out where the seats ended, close
by the stage, had to be of specially massive construction. Sometimes,
though more often in the Roman than the Greek theatres, the auditorium
touched the side wings of the stage; but this was not a particularly
convenient method, since a considerable number of the places along this
stone wall had no view of the stage or, at any rate, only a very
unsatisfactory one. Entrance was procured for the public by the great
gates which led on the right and left between the auditorium and the
stage, and which, when the spectators were assembled, also formed the
entrances for the chorus (πάροδοι). When a theatre was situated on
elevated ground, there were also other approaches leading to the
gangways of the upper storeys; probably these were only used for
emptying the theatre, and not for admission, since on entering the
spectators had to pay for their admission, or else present their
tickets, and therefore the number of entrances was probably limited with
a view to simplifying the control. In those theatres where the seats
extended as far as the stage, the approaches which were below the seats
had to be covered over (compare the view of the theatre at Syracuse),
but, as a rule, we must suppose that they were uncovered. The seats were
arranged in such a manner that the steps, which rose from the orchestra
to the top of the theatre, were also used as seats; people sat on the
actual stone, unless, as sometimes happened, they brought cushions with
them, or had these carried by slaves. There were a number of places in
the lower rows distinguished from the others by seats of honour, made
also of stone, usually of costly marble; some of these seats, dating,
however, from the Roman period, have been found in the theatre of
Dionysus. The usual height of the steps was from about 16 to 19 inches,
and the depth from 24 to 28. There was no division of seats, and though
probably care was taken that too many persons should not be crowded
together, yet there were no lines drawn to mark out the appointed
places. There was a very convenient and at the same time simple
arrangement for preventing the feet of those who sat on a higher row
from inconveniencing those in front. The depth of the seat was often
sufficient to prevent contact, but, besides that, it was the custom to
hollow out that part of the step where the spectators would put their
feet. Some of the steps, in fact, have three distinct surfaces: the
nearest of these to the row above was hollowed out for the feet; then
came a gangway for those who wished to move to or from their places,
who could thus pass along without incommoding those who were seated; and
the third surface was that on which the next row below were seated.
There were, as a rule, no backs to the seats, but in places where there
was a wider gangway, and thus one row of spectators did not come into
immediate contact with the next, they were sometimes introduced and made
of one piece with the seat.
In larger theatres the auditorium was almost always divided into several
storeys by gangways. These gangways ran round the auditorium
concentrically with the seats, and their object was to facilitate the
circulation of the public; they were therefore of considerable breadth
(compare Fig. 153), and sometimes two such gangways were put close to
each other, one higher and one lower, so that the public could circulate
easily on them without pushing each other. The separate seats were
everywhere connected by steps. Although the arrangement of the whole
auditorium with its raised seats was that of a circus, yet the seats
were far too high to be used as steps also, and these had to be
specially constructed. They were of two kinds; small steps in the
direction of the seats, the object of which was to enable people to
mount from one seat to the next, and the principal staircases, which
intersected the seats through their whole extent from top to bottom, and
formed, as it were, radii of the circle represented by the auditorium.
The number of these staircases was larger or smaller as occasion
required; sometimes the number was doubled at the top, where the
distances increased, by introducing a third staircase between each pair;
sometimes the staircases which began below did not continue at the top,
but there was a change in the radii. It was most common, however, for
these staircases to intersect the whole theatre right up to the highest
seats, and thus to divide the whole auditorium into a number of
wedge-shaped divisions, which, in fact, received the designation of
wedges (κερκίδες). Sometimes these wedges had special names, being
called after statues which were placed there, as, for instance, in the
theatre at Syracuse, and these designations facilitated the finding of
places. As a rule, the steps were so arranged that there were two to
every seat, thus each step was half the height of the seat.
In later times the upper seats led to open arcades; when the ground
permitted it, the Romans often laid out walks and gardens on the
elevation of the theatre, where the spectators might refresh themselves
during intervals; below, near the orchestra, the auditorium was cut off
by a wall, which must be so low that the spectators on the first seat
could conveniently see the stage, which was raised a good bit above the
orchestra. Sometimes the first gangway for the circulation of the public
was placed behind this wall, which was bounded by a low breastwork; when
this was the case, steps of the first-mentioned kind led up sideways to
the orchestra (compare Fig. 153).
The size of the auditorium varied greatly. If our measurements of ruined
theatres are correct, the theatre at Ephesus was the largest of all;
Falkener has calculated that it could contain 56,700 people. The largest
theatre in Europe was that of Megalopolis, which was calculated to have
44,000 seats, and the theatre of Dionysus 30,000. These calculations
are, however, very uncertain, since we do not know how many feet were
allotted to each person, and a variation of half a foot would make a
very considerable difference.
The most important question connected with the orchestra deals with the
_Thymele_, often alluded to by ancient writers. It was formerly assumed
that this represented the ancient altar of Dionysus, round which the
choruses originally danced, and that it was situated in the centre of
the orchestra, while the chorus grouped around it, and that the leader
of the chorus stood near the Thymele or on its steps, and the officials
of the theatre also took their stand there. The view given by Strack in
Fig. 153 is constructed according to this hypothesis; and a structure
resembling an altar with steps is placed in the middle of the orchestra.
But this interpretation of the Thymele has proved untenable, and though
it is not possible to decide this question with any certainty, yet,
among the various hypotheses, that of Wieseler seems the most
probable--viz., that the Thymele was a wooden scaffolding constructed in
the orchestra, on which the chorus performed its dances. The main object
of this scaffolding, or podium, was not so much to place the chorus on
higher ground as to facilitate their games and dancing, because it was
easier to move and dance on the elastic floor of a wooden scaffolding
than, as formerly, in the dusty orchestra, which, in fact, from this
circumstance received the name “dust-place” (κονίστρα), or even on the
stone pavement which seems to have been afterwards laid down in the
orchestra. We do not know whether there were steps leading from the
floor of the orchestra to this scaffolding, and, in fact, we cannot even
determine its height. The size of the podium must have been
considerable, since it must have supplied sufficient space for a large
chorus. Besides its members, the number of which in cyclic choruses
often amounted to fifty, the musicians who accompanied took their place
there, and, apparently, even the constables (ῥαβδοφόροι), who
superintended the theatre; for, strange as it may seem to us that the
officials whose duty it was to keep order among the public should be
placed in so prominent a position at the side of the chorus, yet the
proofs in favour of this arrangement seem decisive. The usual entrances
to the orchestra for the chorus were the same as those used by the
public; here, as in the arrangements on the stage, the rule was that the
entrance on the right hand of the spectators indicated approach from the
neighbourhood, from the town or harbour, and the left arrival from a
distance.
The stage in the early days of the theatre was not much more than a mere
wooden scaffolding, on which the actors appeared, while the chorus
performed its dances in the orchestra below. There was a tent on the
side turned away from the orchestra which served as a place of waiting
for the actors when they had nothing to do on the stage, and it was this
tent (σκνή) which gave its name to the stage, although even afterwards
distinction was made between the actual stage and the structures
connected with it. The real stage was an oblong surface, raised from ten
to twelve feet above the orchestra; it was called the proscenium
(προσκήνιον), and sometimes the speaking-place (λογεῖον). The lower
front wall was decorated in the Roman period with architectural designs,
reliefs, or painting; we do not know whether this was also the case in
the Greek theatre, as Strack has assumed in his reconstruction, but it
is very probable that the front scene, which was turned to the
spectators was not left quite bare. In Strack’s view there were also
steps leading from the orchestra to the speaking-place. We cannot tell
whether these were regularly placed in the theatres. Still, steps
between the orchestra and stage were indispensable in those plays in
which (as, for instance, in “Philoctetes”) the chorus leaves the
orchestra and ascends to the stage; but it is quite possible that there
were special wooden steps used for this purpose, which were taken away
again when this connection was not required. The existence of these
movable steps is especially mentioned in ancient writers.
Connected with this proscenium were the buildings belonging to the
stage; these usually formed a structure several storeys in height, which
enclosed the stage on three sides (compare Fig. 153) in the plan of the
theatre of Dionysus (Fig. 150). The older walls belonging to the fourth
century are sketched more lightly than the later restorations; here the
walls of the stage, the actual _skene_, is the piece marked G. Z.; on
the right and left were side wings (παρασκήνια), and these were
terminated by the walls 12 and 13. The latest investigations of Dörpfeld
prove that the stage of the theatre of Dionysus, constructed by the
orator Lycurgus, had originally no fixed proscenium, but that a fresh
wooden stage was constructed on every occasion. In later times they cut
off a piece of the two side wings and fixed scenery between them.
Several doors led from the tent to the stage; as a rule, there were
three in the background, of which the middle one was the entrance of the
chief actor, called “Protagonist,” and was supposed to lead either from
a royal palace, or a dwelling, or a cave, according to the nature of the
play; the door on the right was for the second actor, the one on the
left had no special significance. We must not, however, regard these
statements as universal. Probably there were usually three entrances to
the stage, though in the theatre of Dionysus there is only a single
door; but as the front was usually covered by some decoration, these
entrances were not directly used, but the actors came through them into
the narrow space between the wall of the stage and the decorations, and
thence through the doors in the decorations on to the stage. The scenery
of the background varied according to the nature of the action, and
sometimes required several doors or entrances; sometimes there may have
been no door at all, since the actors also had at their disposal the
entrances by the side wings. These statements, therefore, only refer to
certain plays, especially those tragedies in which the chief personage
is a king; in this case, probably, the middle door was the one supposed
to lead to the royal palace, and used, therefore, only by the
protagonist, although we must not on that account suppose that he always
came and went through this door, since the nature of the plays would of
itself forbid this. Very often, too, a king appeared in the play whose
part was an unimportant one, not given to the protagonist, and then, of
course, the rule above quoted could not be observed.
The side wings were used for the actors to wait in, and it is very
probable that the chorus also before making their appearance, and during
the time when they were not present in the orchestra, retired thither,
and that there were passages leading thence to the side entrances. There
were also doors communicating with the stage, and these, like those in
the orchestra, had their special significance; through the right-hand
door came those actors who were supposed to come from the town, and
through the left those who came from a distance, such as messengers,
guests, friends returning home, etc.
The decorations were only on the stage, the orchestra was left quite
bare, and probably had not even any movable properties. It is pure
fantasy to suppose that in some plays a connection was established
between the stage and orchestra by making the whole represent a mountain
with rocky caves, etc. The Greeks assumed a certain amount of illusion,
but confined this to the stage; they did not trouble about the space in
front, any more than we care to-day about the appearance of the
orchestra in front of the opera. It was the scene represented on the
stage that gave its significance to the orchestra; if a palace was
represented, and the stage represented the place in front of it, then
the orchestra became an open space, on which the people assembled; if
the background was a temple, the orchestra was the sacred space
immediately in front of it (τέμενος), and so on. Possibly the wall under
the front of the stage was connected with the decoration, so that if the
stage, for instance, represented a wild forest with a cave, the front of
the scene was similarly decorated.
Scene-painting, in which Greek art first made an attempt at perspective
drawing, had no such difficult and complicated tasks to accomplish in
those times as in ours. The chief pieces of scenery were the background
and the revolving pieces (περίακτα). The background of the proscenium
had to cover the wall of the stage, and also indicate the place of the
action, whether a square in front of a palace, or a street with private
houses, or a forest, etc. We must not think of the great variety of
scenery known to our modern stage; no doubt, too, they were content with
very simple execution, merely hinting at the scene required. The
background was probably suspended in a wooden scaffolding or frame, and
placed immediately before the inner scene front on the floor of the
stage. We do not know, however, how the decoration of the background was
changed, for change of scene was sometimes necessary even in the ancient
drama; perhaps they were in the habit in such cases of placing one of
the scenes in front of another, so that, as at the present day, the
front decoration had only to be moved, either by dropping it or by
dividing it in two parts drawn to the side (for in the absence of rods
they could not draw them up), and thus the second scene became visible
behind.
The second kind of decoration, which took the place of our movable
scenes, were the revolving pieces. These were two contrivances shaped
like a three-sided prism, placed on either side of the stage at a little
distance from the side-wings; their axis was attached to the wooden
floor of the stage, and round this they moved. Each of them had three
surfaces for decoration, so that, by turning them round, three different
scenes could be represented, and this was doubtless enough for any play,
for in the pieces which have come down to us there is only change of
scene in two, the “Eumenides” of Aeschylus, and the “Ajax” of Sophocles,
and in both these tragedies there is only one change. These revolving
pieces must also have had a little store of decorations, for it was very
easy to cover them with a change of picture, as they appear to have been
simple stands. The theory that the ancient stage had altogether only
three scenes for these stands--viz., one for tragedy, one for comedy,
and one for the satyric drama, is undoubtedly mistaken.
The Greek stage had no other scenery than that for the background and
the revolving pieces; there must have been some movable properties,
such as benches, altars, tombs, etc., which are indicated by the
contents of many plays preserved to us. It is very doubtful whether the
Greek theatre resembled the Roman in the use of a curtain, which,
instead of drawing up, sank down into the ground when the play opened;
there is no absolute proof that this was the case. The modern prompter’s
box was unknown, and it is evident that they did not make use of a
prompter.
The machinery of the ancient stage seems to have been very complicated.
Of most of the theatrical machines we know only the names, and can form
but a very insufficient conception of them. A contrivance in very
frequent use was the “rolling-out machine” (ἐκκύκλημα), which, according
to the statements of ancient writers, was used to show the spectators
proceedings in the interior of a house--as we should say, “behind the
scenes;” for in the Greek drama the scene was never laid inside a room,
but everything went on in the open air. Our authorities do not, however,
enable us to form any clear conception of this contrivance; probably the
background opened out in some way, and the person or group which was to
be seen on the machine was rolled out on a wooden scaffolding moving on
rollers or wheels, which must, of course, have been decorated in some
way; in some cases it may have been unnecessary to open out the
background, and sufficient for the machine to be pushed in through one
of the three doors. There was a similar contrivance for rolling out
persons who were to be shown in the upper storey of a house at a
corresponding height above the stage, as we see from the “Acharnians” of
Aristophanes, where Euripides appears in this manner on a sort of
balcony in the upper storey. Another contrivance bore the special name
of “machine” (μηχανή), and was the origin of the expression _Deus ex
machina_, used when a god, descending from Olympus, violently cut the
knot of the action; this was used for suspending in the air gods,
heroes, or mortals, but especially those persons who had to appear above
as though flying. We cannot tell where this machine was attached, and
how it was worked; there seems to have been a contrivance of this kind
on either side of the stage, above the side entrances, near the side
pieces, and the one on the left was used by gods, while that on the
right was used for other purposes. The machine itself must usually have
been kept in some upper storey of the stage structure. It must have been
a somewhat dangerous means of transit; the actors who had to perform
this aerial journey were usually bound fast with ropes or girths, and in
the “Peace” of Aristophanes Trygaeus, when mounting on his aerial horse,
the dungbeetle, which must have been a similar flying machine, implores
the manager of the machinery, who has to superintend all these
arrangements, to be very careful that he does not come to grief. The
“gods’ speaking-place” (θεολογεῖον) appears to have been a scaffolding
above the chief entrance in the background, on which the gods appeared,
probably surrounded by clouds; it differed from the “machine” in showing
the gods peacefully throned above, instead of bringing the Olympian
deities down to earth. Connected with the “machine” was the “crane”
(γέρανος), a crane-like machine let down from above, which was used when
human beings were to be lifted up from the stage; as, for instance, when
Eos carried away the corpse of Memnon through the air.
They also had machines for producing thunder and lightning. We do not
know how the lightning was made, and it is difficult to imagine that it
could have been produced with any great result in broad daylight. The
thunder was caused by rolling bladders full of little stones to and fro
on brass plates in the hollow space under the stage. In this hollow
space were also probably the “steps of Charon,” a contrivance for
bringing the spirits of the dead on to the stage. Nothing certain is
known concerning these steps, but it is very probable that they were
managed after the fashion of our trap-doors, for undoubtedly the floor
of the stage covered a hollow space, and thus a contrivance of this kind
was very easily produced.
We must next consider the plays which had to be performed here. On the
old Greek stage there were three kinds of drama--tragedies, comedies,
and satyric dramas. The comedies were acted singly, and each constituted
a complete whole; but tragedy, as it developed out of the Dionysus
legend and the division of the action into three connected therewith,
was so constructed that a large circle of myth was treated in three
separate tragedies, whose contents were connected, but which were
structurally complete in themselves, and these were called a Trilogy.
But about the same time the curious custom originated of following up
these three serious pieces, with their deeply pathetic contents, by a
merry satyric drama by the same author,--a wild farce, in which a chorus
of satyrs was introduced in connection with some mythical action, which
of course, only appeared in travesty; and this combination of four
dramas was called a Tetralogy. Unfortunately no tetralogy has come down
complete to us; the trilogy of Aeschylus alone, which deals with the
story of Orestes, gives us some notion of the mode in which the tragic
poets arranged their material in the form of a trilogy. The first part,
“Agamemnon,” represents the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra and
Aegisthus; the second, the “Choephorae,” the vengeance taken by Orestes
on the murderers; the third, the “Eumenides,” the absolution for the
murder of his mother by the Areopagus. The tragic poets did not very
long abide by the custom of presenting complete tetralogies at the
Dionysia, in which the trilogy presented one connected subject. It
attained its complete development under Aeschylus, but Sophocles already
began to depart from it, and in the tetralogies with which he and
Euripides competed, the internal connection between the tragedies was
wanting. In later times it was customary for tragedies complete in
themselves to be acted singly, so that the poets competed with drama
against drama; still, the inscriptions show us that even in the fourth
century tetralogies were acted, though they may not have been connected.
Each of these three kinds of drama underwent several changes during the
course of Greek literature.
In tragedy, whose subject was usually legend, but which also dealt with
questions of the day, such as the occupation of Miletus and the wars
with the Persians, there was at first a distinct preponderance of the
lyric element supplied by the chorus over the purely dramatic part.
Before the time of Aeschylus there was little idea of dramatic
treatment; at that time there was only a single actor who, together with
the chorus, supplied the whole action, and confined himself chiefly to
recitations, so that there could be no question of striking situations
and dialogue. Aeschylus then introduced a second actor; and as these
actors, by a change of dress, could undertake several parts, the action
was enlarged and animated, and the dialogue grew more interesting. When
Sophocles added a third actor--an innovation of which Aeschylus, too,
made use in his later period, and which constituted the highest number
ever used in the Greek drama--the victory of the dramatic part over the
lyric was accomplished; and from that time onward the chorus sank in
importance compared with the actors, and at last disappeared altogether.
In the tragedies of Euripides the dramatic element had become so
important that the chorus could really be dispensed with; true,
Euripides could not venture entirely to discard this custom, which was
sanctified by religion and tradition, but, by gradually diminishing the
share of the chorus in the action, he prepared for its complete
abandonment. In Aeschylus, therefore, the solemn songs and reflections
of the chorus occupy a considerable space, and the chorus even sometimes
takes an active part in the action, since it preponderates in the play,
and may be regarded as an acting personage; in Euripides its presence is
more accidental--it expounds the dogmas and opinions of the poet, but
takes no part in the action, and in tragedies it might be entirely left
out without injury. In Sophocles alone the chorus and dialogue are
harmoniously balanced. Corresponding to these changes in the position of
the chorus was the amount assigned to them for declamation. We may say
in general that the chorus sang an entrance song (πάροδος), and
afterwards during the further course of the play choric songs to mark
pauses in the action, accompanied by marching, but without leaving the
orchestra, and these were called standing songs (στάσιμα); these long
odes divided the drama into a series of parts, called episodes
(ἐπεισόδια), which may be compared to our acts, since the action stops
during the song, and the spectator has time to collect himself and to
let what he has heard and seen act upon him, while the song continued
through the interval helps him to keep the impression produced by the
action, or else prepares him for what is to follow.
The older comedy, of which Aristophanes is the chief representative,
made use of chorus and dialogue in the same way as tragedy. Its subjects
referred to actual life, and dealt with political, social, and literary
questions, and others of universal interest, but in a fantastic manner,
with the most eccentric masques and absurd contrivances, dealing out
hits all round with the wildest licence, and sparing neither the common
citizen nor the most powerful and exalted personages. The part played by
the chorus differed in many respects from that undertaken in tragedy;
the comic chorus very often stepped entirely outside the action, and, as
the mouthpiece of the poet, who used this opportunity to bring his
political or other opinions before the public, to fight out personal
quarrels, and, in general, to say whatever he pleased, it directed
itself to the public; such are those comic choruses which bear the name
_Parabasis_. The comic chorus was also adequately distinguished from the
tragic, both in the difference of costume and in the number of its
members; the latter were generally only twelve, and the former twice as
many. Again, the dances and rhythmic movements of the comic choruses
differed greatly from those of the tragic. But even during the lifetime
of Aristophanes, the transformation of the comedy began in its outer
form as well as in its real nature. The outer change consisted in the
abolition of the chorus, the expenditure of which the citizens were no
longer willing to defray, and thus an excellent opportunity was lost of
saying rough truths with a laughing face, and the way was paved for a
gradual change of subject. The change was accomplished by the so-called
newer Attic Comedy, which had no chorus, and, instead of political or
social satire, took as its subject pictures from Athenian life, love
intrigues, comic misunderstandings, etc., and, in fact, more closely
resembled our modern comedies. Then the lyric element naturally
vanished, which in the older comedy, as in tragedy, appeared not only in
the chorus but also in the dramatic performance of the actors; the
action was presented only by dialogue, and the musical element, which
had formerly played a very important part in comedy, was confined to
accompaniment of the recitation, and thus became entirely subordinate.
The satyric drama is the one in which we can trace the fewest changes,
but it had only a short existence. It was invented by Pratinas, a
contemporary of Aeschylus, probably with the intention of compensating
the public, who must have sadly missed the popular sports which had
formerly enlivened the celebration of the Dionysia, and to satisfy their
desire for coarser fare. At first the satyric drama seems to have
preceded the tragedies, but this was soon changed. In the best period of
the drama we never find satyric plays alone without tragedies preceding
them; they were so essentially a part of the tragedy that we only hear
of tragic writers as composers of satyric dramas. The best period of the
satyric drama was the time of Pratinas and Aeschylus; Sophocles and
Euripides, too, composed them--one by the latter has come down to us,
the “Cyclops”--but at that time its best period was already over, since
it no longer formed the necessary conclusion of a dramatic tetralogy.
Still, satyric dramas retained their position on the stage until the
second century, and, in fact, the Alexandrine poets made a fresh attempt
to connect the satyric drama with tragedies in a tetralogy. We know very
little about the subject of these later satyric dramas. The titles of
Alexandrine plays that have come down to us show that at that time
actual life was introduced, though the mythological subjects which had
formed the sole basis of the ancient satyric drama were also used.
The ancient drama, under which we include tragedy, satyric drama, and
comedy, was a combination of three arts--poetry, music, and dancing. The
last was, as a rule, confined to the chorus, and it very seldom happened
that an actor in the play performed a dance, but the musical part
belonged not only to the chorus but also to the actors; for though the
usual dialogue consisted merely in recitation, yet there were long
passages in the purely dramatic part which were not declaimed by the
actors, but sung. Our modern writers express very different opinions
about the mode in which the dialogues were recited. It appears to us
most probable that in comedy there was, as a rule, only speaking,
without any musical accompaniment; while in tragedy continuous musical
composition was introduced alternating with dramatic speech--that is,
spoken recitation, accompanied by music--and even with simple
declamation. Then there were also solo songs by the actors, of which the
metre was lyric, and these bore some resemblance to the airs of our
modern opera; they are less common in the older tragedy than in
Euripides, with whom they sometimes take a disproportionately large
place. There were also musical dialogues between the actors and chorus,
in particular its leader. The instruments used for accompaniment were
the lyre and cithara, and also the flute. The stringed instruments were
used chiefly for striking a few notes like the chords struck at our
recitations; the flute only indicated the chief notes, and accompanied
the melody of the chorus and the solo song either at the same height or
one or two octaves higher. Flute playing accompanied most of the choric
songs; with the chorus entered a flute player, who always took his place
on the thymele. In later tragedy the music, which had formerly been very
simple, grew more elaborate and complicated; several flute players
played at the same time, and with their shrill music very often drowned
the singing; but the solo performances on the stage were accompanied by
only a single flute.
The choregraphic element in the drama, which belonged especially to the
chorus in tragedy, consisted chiefly in marching with various figures,
much like our modern polonaise. The dances in comedy were much more
lively and often of a lascivious character, and those of a satyric
chorus were also of a burlesque nature. But, doubtless, the choric
dancing consisted not merely in certain regular movements of the feet
adapted to the music, but also in rhythmic motions of the whole body,
and especially of the hands and arms, so that their dancing must have
somewhat resembled our modern ballet. It is not easy to get any complete
conception of it; the later hypotheses are by no means proved, and many
strange statements have been made about the recitation of the chorus,
the division of verses and words of the song among the semi-chorus,
leaders, or individual members. In any case the task of the chorus was
no easy one, since the members were not professional artists like the
actors, but amateurs, who had to be specially trained for each
performance. This was due to the institution of the _Choragia_.
In ancient times the equipment and performance of plays was not, as
afterwards, a duty of the State; the poet undertook the expenses, and
tried to cover them by entrance money. But when the theatrical
representation became a regular part of the Dionysiac festivals, the
State took the matter in its own hands, and arranged things in such a
way that the expenses for the chorus were undertaken by some wealthy
citizen as a liturgy, while the rest of the expenses were defrayed by
the State. This liturgy was called _Choragia_, because originally the
person who defrayed the expenses also trained and led the chorus. For
the various choric performances required at the many festivals--since
besides tragic and comic choruses there were also cyclic and other
choral representations--each tribe chose its “choragus,” and this was
done a year in advance, because the preparations required a great deal
of time. If a poet wanted to perform one of his dramas at a festival, he
need not consider how to procure the necessary actors, but only how to
get his chorus. For this purpose he addressed himself to that archon
whose duty it was to make the arrangements for the festival in question,
and begged him to assign him a choragus. It appears to have been in the
power of this official to accept or refuse the play. Probably the poets
handed in the manuscript of their plays. The only limitations in
applying were that the poet must be a citizen, and of unstained
reputation; and in comedy, on account of its political character, he
must be of a certain age--thirty years, according to most of the
statements. If the archon accepted the drama, he assigned the poet one
of the choragi, either by election or lot. It was by no means a matter
of indifference whether this was required for tragedy or comedy; for at
the time when they competed with tetralogies, tragedy involved at least
as much expense as did comedy with its larger chorus. It is probable,
therefore, that the choragi were sometimes assisted by the State,
especially as in later times, when the glory of Athens had departed, and
its citizens were no longer so rich, it became more and more difficult
to find people ready to undertake these great expenses; and in later
times it was not unusual for several choragi together to undertake a
chorus.
The first duty of the choragus was to collect the necessary number of
persons and to pay those who were not bound to appear unpaid. He had
also to choose and pay a chorus teacher, who had to train the chorus
(χοροδιδάσκαλος), and usually undertook the place of chorus-leader at
the performance. In former times, when this instruction of the chorus
was not a profession as it was later on, and the poet often helped in
the training, the choragus frequently trained the chorus himself, and
even appeared as their leader at the performance; but in later times
this was unusual. The choragus had also to procure, or if necessary
hire, a place for the training of the chorus, to keep the members during
the time of training, and to provide them with festive garments and
wreaths for the performance. It rested with him to spend a large or a
small amount for this last purpose, but a choragus who equipped a comic
chorus economically, risked being made the subject of the poet’s sarcasm
on some future occasion, and in the allotment of prizes, too, the
appearance of the chorus would be considered, as well as the manner in
which it performed its task.
The chorus-members were usually free citizens; strangers were jealously
excluded. Their task was by no means a light one; bodily dexterity was
required for the dances, and good musical training, good delivery and
comprehension of the poetic text were necessary in order to give a
satisfactory representation of the poet’s work before the keenly
critical Attic public. It is, therefore, natural that a good choragus
took considerable trouble to procure a good chorus, the rather as the
choragia was a contest in which not only the poet but also the choragi
contended for the prize. Besides those already mentioned, the choragi
had also other duties: to procure the requisites, such as decoration for
the side-scenes, perhaps even to supply sacrificial animals if they were
required in the play. In later times, when the chorus had lost its
importance, and the expenses were less considerable, the choragus had
also to supply the dresses of the actors, though this was never the case
in the best period of the drama. In fact, as we may learn from the
inscriptions, a complete change in the choragia took place in the
Hellenistic period. It became the custom for the people to choose
presidents of contests (ἀγωνοθέυαι), whose duty it was to provide for
the musical competitions at the Dionysia and other festivals. They had
to attend to the regular and suitable performance of the contests, to
supply certain sacrificial animals, etc.; this was often a very
expensive undertaking, and, like all officials, they had to make a
statement concerning their office at the conclusion of its duration.
This institution in a way placed the choragia in the hands of the
people, who transferred their duties to the presidents, and these had
then to equip all the choruses, which were no longer so numerous as they
had been formerly. This innovation was necessitated by the fact that
the number of rich families of whom these pecuniary sacrifices could be
demanded, had become very small, and these now supplied the presidents.
This change in the arrangements of the choragia seems to have taken
place under the rule of Demetrius of Phalerum, towards the end of the
fourth century B.C.
It is a well-known fact that in the ancient theatre women never appeared
on the stage, and all women’s parts were presented by men; we have also
noted the fact that there was at first only a single actor, who
represented various parts one after another, and entered into a dialogue
with the leader of the chorus, and that Aeschylus added a second, and
Sophocles a third. Originally the poet himself appeared as actor, and
when there were several actors, as protagonist--that is he represented
the chief part. When Sophocles, who had himself appeared a few times,
abandoned this custom, it gradually fell into disuse, and the first
actor, as well as the two others, was supplied to the poet by the State.
As a rule, the actors were allotted to the poets by lot; it seems,
however, that before the State undertook to pay an actor, he had to
submit to examination, and that only those who had already appeared, and
whose performances were well known, were excluded from this examination.
The State, then, engaged for each festival a number of protagonists,
deuteragonists, and tritagonists, corresponding to the number of poets
contending; thus, if there were three poets competing, they required
nine actors, supposing the same actors continued to perform throughout
the whole tetralogy, of which we cannot be certain. The lot assigned to
each of the poets one out of the three classes; still, we know that some
poets always had the same protagonist, who appeared in all their plays,
and for whom, in fact, they sometimes wrote a special part; therefore,
it must have been customary for poets who had already been victorious to
ask for a particular protagonist without drawing lots, and this custom
probably became the rule afterwards. We cannot, however, say how the two
others were chosen.
The parts of the play were now divided between these three actors; the
chief part, which, as a rule, was the most difficult, fell to the
protagonist; the next in importance--viz., the one which was brought
into the closest connection with the chief person, fell to the
deuteragonist; the tritagonist undertook unimportant parts, such as
messengers, heralds, etc., and these actors of the lowest class did not
stand in particular estimation with the public. But as the plays
contained more than three parts, each actor had to undertake several,
and therefore, even while composing a play, the poet had to be careful
that the actors, if they had to appear in another part, had sufficient
time for change of costume, and that the absence of an actor who was to
be used for another part should be in some way explained. There were,
however, plays in which it was absolutely impossible to manage with
three actors, and for these there was a contrivance about which the
exponents of passages referring to it hold very different opinions, and,
indeed, there seem to be mistakes or misrepresentations in the authors
themselves. It is most probable that when a poet required more than the
three actors assigned him by the State he applied to the choragus, and
came to an agreement with him; he then supplied a fourth actor, or even
a fifth, since it was only small parts that had to be thus undertaken,
and, if necessary, the choragus also provided a second, or minor,
chorus, such as was required in certain plays (parachorêgêma). There
were also dumb personages, or statists, called also “spear-bearers,”
since these parts were frequently merely standing parts. We do not know
whether the State or the choragus paid for these. We have, in fact,
little information about the payment given to the actors, which must
have been, however, different in proportion to their performances; in
the Macedonian period celebrated actors received very high pay. In the
Hellenistic period a complete transformation took place in acting. When
the chorus was abolished, and the representation of dramas in
consequence became easier, and took place at other festivals as well as
the Dionysia, unions of actors were formed, calling themselves
“Dionysiac artists,” concerning which the inscriptions give us a good
deal of interesting information. A number of these companies combined
together into sacred guilds, which had their seat in the large towns,
and sent their members in companies into small towns and also into the
provinces as far as Asia Minor, for festive representations. We are best
acquainted with the arrangements of the Dionysiac artist company of
Teos, an Ionic town on the coast of Lydia. These not only appeared in
Asia Minor, but had also rights in Delphi, Thebes, and Thespiae. It
numbered a great many members, not only actors, but also writers of
tragedies, comedies, and satyric dramas, epic poems, and encomia;
composers, musicians, dancers, machinists, decorators, wardrobe owners,
etc. They also instituted a dramatic musical school, a kind of
Conservatorium, in which pupils from various parts of Greece were
trained, and usually in turn became members of the guild. It is very
interesting to examine the details, management, inner organisation, and
life of the members of these actors’ guilds in the Alexandrine period,
but unfortunately space does not permit us to do so here.
All the arrangements already described show strong contrasts between
ancient and modern theatres, and perhaps there is nothing which strikes
us as so extraordinary as the Greek theatrical costume, and especially
the appearance of actors in masks. It is impossible for us to understand
this complete disregard of expression and change in representing
feelings, and this perpetual stare of the unchanging mask. This curious
custom has been explained in many different ways. It is a mistake to
suppose that the Greek theatres were too large for the play of an
actor’s expression to be observed, and that the coarse features of the
mask were arranged with a view to this distance, in which their want of
change would be less striking. Since they played in broad daylight, in
the sharp clear light of a southern sky, the spectators, even in the
most distant places, could have followed the play of the actor’s
features, especially since the ancients had better eyes than our present
generation. Nor is it correct to suppose that the masks were required in
order that the funnel-shaped contrivance applied to its mouth should
strengthen the sound; for the acoustics in the Greek theatres were
usually so good that the very slightest word even whispered on the stage
could be heard in the auditorium. Undoubtedly it would have been
impossible without masks for the same actor to undertake many parts in
quick succession; but at the same time we may ask whether they would
have held so strictly to this system of dividing all the parts among
three actors if they had not already possessed the masks, and thus the
possibility of abiding within these limitations. The introduction of
real characters, whose features were to be faithfully imitated was also
facilitated by the masks, but good mimics could achieve this even
without, as examples on the modern stage have shown. Consequently, none
of these reasons really explain the use of masks; in reality they
originated in the religious customs which were the origin of the drama,
and afterwards were simply maintained with many other relics of its
religious origin, as people had got accustomed to them and found them
convenient. It had formerly been the practice at the Dionysia, whence
the drama originated, for people to disguise their faces by smearing
them over with husks of grapes, etc., or to cover them up completely, or
disguise them with wreaths of ivy, etc. Instead of painting and covering
them with leaves they gradually began to use pieces of linen, at first
quite shapeless and destined only to cover the face and prevent
recognition, but afterwards by imitating human features, these developed
into masks. This custom continued, then, as sanctified by tradition,
and, indeed, all the theatrical arrangements were regarded as a sacred
ceremony in honour of Dionysus.
The theatrical masks, the material of which in later times, too, was
linen, covered with plaster of Paris, or else wood, bark, etc., differed
from our modern masks in covering not only the face, but the whole head
of the actor. The actor who had put on the mask could, of course, only
see through the slits for the eyes, and, indeed, it sometimes
happened--and in the oldest period seems to have been common--that,
instead of cutting out a slit for the whole eye, there was only one for
the pupil, and the iris was represented on the mask itself, and
coloured, so that the actor had the difficult task of looking only
through the place for the pupil; still, as the dimensions of the masks
were usually larger than those of a human face, this may have been
larger than his own. Of course, the masks were completely painted over;
the eyebrows, lips, cheeks, wrinkles, etc., were marked; the beard and
hair were made of real hair, or wool, or some other succedaneum. Some of
the tragic masks had a high bunch of hair above the forehead to increase
the height; this was called the “superficies” (onkos), and its object
was mainly to increase the height of the actor and make him appear of
greater size--an object at which many other peculiarities of the tragic
costume also aimed. The ears were not always visible. The mouth was
usually open, very wide, with lips and sometimes artificial teeth. The
object of the great width of the mouth opening was to enable the actor
to declaim and sing unhindered. The comic masks (see below, Figs. 156
and 157), very often had a funnel-shaped mouth opening, which gave a
very grotesque expression to the whole face, and may have been connected
with some special technical object, or else merely destined to increase
the comic effect. In putting on the masks they took hold of the chin,
and drew them on from bottom to top; they were then fastened under the
chin with strings, and the actor’s neck was almost completely covered by
the mask and his clothing; hence the curious, we might almost say
asthmatic, impression given by the pictures of ancient actors.
Generally speaking, we may distinguish three kinds of masks, according
to the three kinds of drama--tragic, comic, and satyric; and it is not
difficult among the numerous representations of masks on ancient works
of art to distinguish between these three kinds, especially since the
expression is, as a rule, decisive. In the tragic masks we see calm
solemnity, deep grief,
[Illustration: FIG. 154.]
[Illustration: FIG. 155.]
or wild passion; every feeling is expressed on a large and usually
dignified scale. The comic masks, on the other hand, always incline to
caricature; and those used for the satyric drama, since they were meant
for satyrs, naturally represent the physiognomy of animals. But, besides
these general indications, there were a large number of gradations--some
of them very finely marked--which proves to us that the old makers of
masks, which was a special branch of trade, thoroughly understood their
work and also human physiognomy. In olden times they seem to have made
the masks specially for each drama, so that they might correspond
exactly to the characters. This was the case in tragedy as well as in
the older comedy, Aeschylus, to whom in particular innovations and
inventions in this domain are ascribed, required quite new masks for his
“Eumenides,” which had never before appeared on the stage; as did
Aristophanes and the other poets of the older comedy for their fantastic
characters--Frogs, Clouds, Birds, etc., as also for the real personages
represented in their comedies, such as Euripides, Socrates, Cleon, and
could only use the already existing masks for the usual typical figures
of citizens and citizens’ wives, slaves, etc., as well as for the
mythological personages, Hercules, Dionysus, etc. The newer Attic
comedy, with its typical characters, very seldom required
specially-constructed masks, and it thus became the custom for the
properties of every stage or acting company to include a considerable
supply of character masks of every kind, which in most cases were
sufficient for the demand. Consequently, to speak simply of tragic or
comic masks is to express ourselves rather superficially; for though an
actually comic mask--that is, one whose absurdity excites to
laughter--could never be used in a tragedy, yet there were serious
masks which might be used in a comedy; and it would be wrong to suppose
that all the persons in a comedy for instance by Menander, appeared in
masks which could be designated as specially comic.
Among the typical masks they distinguish between sex, age, and
differences of figure; thus there was a mask called “the young girl,”
another “the thin old woman,” “the fat old woman,” etc.; then they
distinguished according to the colour or cut of the hair: there was the
“curly-headed youth,” the “short-haired maiden,” the “fair man,” the
“grey satyr,” or by the beard: the “man with a long beard,” the
“beardless satyr,” or by the complexion: the “brown man,” the “fair
woman with flowing hair,” and even by the shape of the nose, as the
“satyr with a pug-nose.” Other masks were characterised by the social
position they were to represent, such as “the old housewife,” “the
countryman,” “the old hetaera,” “the soldier,” “the lady’s maid with
elaborate coiffure,” or according to special peculiarities of mind or
character; “the worthy young man,” “the talkative old woman.” Even
varying moods of mind or feelings were represented by the masks, and it
is probable therefore, that when an important change took place in any
one person, the actor changed his mask behind the scenes. The writers
also supply various instances to show the different means by which
special traits of character were represented. One of these tokens was
the colour of the complexion; a brown complexion characterised healthy
men, living much out of doors, or devoting themselves to physical
exercise; a white complexion was given to women and to delicate or
effeminate youths; pale or yellowish to invalids, or those whose mind
was disordered or suffering, as for instance unhappy lovers. The colour
and expression of the eyes was also important; they distinguished
between dull, piercing, dark, gloomy, sad, etc., and all this was not
represented by the actor, but was already indicated in the mask. The
eyebrows, too, were of importance; when they were drawn up high they
indicated, in comedy, pride and boastfulness, and were thus allotted to
parasites, soldiers, etc.; narrow eyebrows indicated seriousness or a
sad state of mind. No less important for the character of the mask was
the treatment of the forehead, nose, etc. To explain all this we give,
in Figs. 154 and 155, the front and side view of a tragic terra-cotta
mask, whose wide-open mouth, staring eyes, brows drawn upwards, and
wrinkled forehead indicate fear and terror. A contrast to these is the
comic mask (Figs. 156 and 157), with the funnel-shaped mouth opening,
the pug-nose, squinting eyes, and eyebrows drawn down towards the
middle. Similar is the mask worn by the comic actor in Fig. 158, who in
other respects appears in the costume of ordinary life--that is, in the
short slave’s dress--and the mask of the comic actor in Fig. 159 is a
similar caricature.
Besides the regular masks, from which the actors chose those that suited
their part, unless the poet had already prescribed what they were to
wear, others were in later times adapted for extraordinary
situations--for personages of quite abnormal figure, allegorical
characters, etc.--and these could not be used for ordinary performances.
Tragedy especially was often obliged to bring unusual masks on the
stage; and the comedy of Southern Italy, which treated mythological
subjects in grotesque fashion, may have occasionally required quite
special masks. Thus, on the Pompeian wall-painting (Fig. 160), which,
doubtless, was copied from a Greek picture, the masks relate to the
legend of Andromeda; the one on the left belongs
[Illustration: FIG. 156.]
[Illustration: FIG. 157.]
to a youth with a brown complexion, whose winged cap and harp resting on
the ground mark him out as Perseus; this is a special mask, and so is
that of the monster in the middle, while that of Andromeda above on the
right, and the others on the right below, which are not quite distinct,
may easily have formed part of the ordinary supply.
[Illustration: FIG. 158.]
Equally strange and different from the modern was the rest of the
costume of the Greek stage. Speaking of tragic equipment, we may
characterise the contrast between that day and our own by saying that
Greeks, in the choice of their tragic costume, aimed at the type, while
we desire to indicate the individual. In theatrical costume, as in art,
we wish to represent everything with historical truth; the history of
costume and fashion is a subject of special study for modern stage
managers. Ancient tragedies very seldom
[Illustration: FIG. 159.]
dealt with historical subjects, but usually with legends; therefore a
costume must, as it were, be invented for the characters. Art could
assist them but little, since it generally represented the gods and
heroes in the nude; but the theatre, which at the same time was a
religious institution in which all the co-operators were participants in
the celebration, sought its effects chiefly by splendour of costume.
Thus was developed the ordinary tragic dress, which belonged neither to
actuality nor to the past, but was an ideal costume most closely
resembling the garments of religious festivities. There were also
certain special means adopted for increasing the height of the actor
beyond reality, but we must not suppose that this was required by the
great distance at which the actors were seen; these attempts at
magnifying were rather caused by the desire to make the actors appear
super-human, heroic personages, excelling the men of the day in physical
power and dignity, just as the wonderful deeds of the Homeric heroes
exceeded the weak actions of their descendants. The requirements of
costume in comedy were somewhat different; for gods and heroes the same
costume was used as in tragedy, but slaves or persons of ordinary life
were also introduced, and these could not be clad in solemn garments. It
is difficult to find a fixed standard in comedy, since we must take into
account not only the difference between the older and the newer comedy,
but also the comedy outside Attica--for instance, that of the
Sicyonians, the Tarentines, etc.--which had its peculiar character, and,
doubtless, also peculiar dress, just as the “Arlecchino” of the Venetian
popular comedy appears in a different dress from the Florentine
“Stenterello,” and the Neapolitan “Pulcinella,” although originally they
were all three the same person. A special costume was not required for
the satyric chorus, since all that was necessary here was to imitate as
well as possible what was represented by works of art. In stage costume,
as in that of real life, we must distinguish between upper and lower
garments. The lower garment of the tragic actor, as well as of the
chorus, both in male and female parts, was the long chiton, which was
worn in Attica before the time of Pericles, and traced its origin to
Ionia; this dress was maintained on the stage because it was especially
a festive garment, and, like these festive garments, the theatrical
dresses were many-coloured, richly adorned with embroidery or borders,
and often very costly, if a rich choragus desired to equip his chorus
splendidly. As a rule, this chiton was girded in the old fashion, which
we see also in the cithara players, immediately under the shoulders,
thus forming a very high waist. They also wore long sleeves reaching
down to the hands, a peculiarity of festive costume which had
disappeared from real life. To increase the magnificence, the chiton
often had a train, not only for women but even for men. The upper dress
was either the himation and chlamys, common in ordinary life, or else
garments peculiar to the stage, of which a number of names have come
down to us, but no exact details of their shape and mode of wearing.
Here, too, colour was the rule; black clothing was worn
[Illustration: FIG. 160.]
by wretched and persecuted people. In their case, of course, the festive
costume, which would have formed too sharp a contrast with their parts,
was discarded; Philoctetes, Telephus, etc., did not appear in royal
splendour, but in simple garments or even in rags. We may remember the
description given in the “Oedipus at Colonus” of the appearance of the
unhappy exiled prince; and Aristophanes’ jokes show us that Euripides
aimed specially at attracting the pity of the spectators by wretched
beggars’ dress. The dress of the women, generally speaking, was similar;
perhaps there was a difference in the mode in which the upper garment
was put on. Subordinate personages in tragedy--messengers, satellites,
slaves, etc.--wore the short chiton; paidogogoi appeared in the barbaric
dress already described; and thus variety in the appearance of the
actors was produced, while the ceremonious dress was reserved for the
most important personages. The ivory statuette of an actor, of which two
sides are represented in Figs. 161 and 162, gives an excellent notion of
the tragic costume. He wears a long chiton, with sleeves (painted blue
in the original) decorated with three broad stripes, descending from the
girdle to his feet, and with horizontal stripes round his sleeves. The
mask, with the high superficies, bears an expression of wild anger; the
size of the slits for the eyes is remarkable, and we can see through
them the eyes of the actor, as well as a piece of the face immediately
round them. As a rule, only the pupil so appears in Greek masks, and
therefore the editor (C. Robert) surmises that this points to a Roman
custom of the Imperial age. This statuette is also interesting for the
shape of the “cothurnus,” the usual foot-gear of the tragic actor. The
cothurnus was a tolerably high shoe, but made to fit either foot;
[Illustration: FIG. 161.]
[Illustration: FIG. 162.]
the tragic cothurnus was especially distinguished by very high cork
soles, which considerably increased the height of the wearer. As may
here be seen, the foot with the actual cothurnus is hidden under the
dress, only the high soles are visible beneath it. When the height of
the actor was thus increased by the superficies and cothurnus, it was
necessary to give a larger appearance to the rest of the figure; for
this purpose they stuffed themselves out with cushions, and wore gloves
with long fingers, which seem to have been fastened to the sleeves, etc.
The whole produced an effect that would hardly have suited our taste,
but in reality was not nearly so strange as the costume of the heroes of
Corneille and Racine, to whose court dress and long wigs the seventeenth
century seems to have taken no exception. Of course, there were various
necessary additions to this costume: arms for the warriors, a sceptre
for the kings, a lion’s skin and club for Hercules, and a fawn skin for
Artemis, etc. In comedy the women probably appeared in the costume of
ordinary life. For the male characters, except the fantastic parts, the
short chiton seems to have been commonest, especially for persons of the
lower classes; and the slaves, who were never absent from the newer
comedy, wore the “exomis,” the common workman’s dress. The skin garments
of the country people were also worn, and knapsacks and knotty sticks
completed their equipment. In later comedy special characters were
marked out by the colour of the dresses: thus, the parasites wore black
or green dresses; others, again, coloured dresses with cloaks; slaves,
the white exomis; youths, the white chiton with purple border; cooks,
unfulled garments, etc. Similarly the feminine characters were marked
out; there was the old woman, the daughters of citizens, the rich
heiresses, hetaerae, etc. In the comedy of Southern Italy, the costume
of which is represented on many vase paintings, the actors of male parts
usually wear a closely-fitting dress,
[Illustration:
T. II PL XCIV.
FIG. 163.]
covering the legs as far as the ankles, and the arms down to the hand,
and over this a tight-fitting tunic, leaving arms and legs free (compare
Fig. 163). Here it is evident that the lower garment takes the place of
our tricot; the arms and legs are supposed to be bare. If the object was
to represent absolute nudity, the tunic was replaced by a close-fitting
vest, usually provided with a false stuffing, on which the breasts and
navel were marked. To this was sometimes added the comic phallus, a
remnant of the old coarse popular jokes, in which the Older Comedy
frequently indulged. But in the New Comedy it fell gradually into
disuse, and was entirely absent from the representations of ordinary
life, though introduced into farces which burlesqued the myths and tales
of the heroes.
We give here several examples of pictures from ancient comedy. In Fig.
163, the meaning of which is not clear, the stage has on its left side a
scaffolding covered in with a roof, to which a staircase leads; on the
floor of this erection lie a bundle of beds or carpets, a cap, and a
litter. Chiron, whose name appears on the plate, is climbing up the
staircase with difficulty, and bending down leaning on his rough knotty
stick; a slave is pushing him up from behind, while Xanthias, standing
on the top of the stairs, seizes hold of his head as though to draw him
up. In the background we see two not specially attractive nymphs, of
whom only the upper part is visible; these again are designated in the
inscription; the youth on the right, in the himation, and without a
mask, is not one of the actors. Possibly this is a representation of the
sick Chiron seeking healing at a sanctuary of the nymphs. The costume
and the tricots, as well as the grotesque masks, are worthy of notice.
The vase painting in Fig. 164 has not been satisfactorily
[Illustration: FIG. 164.]
explained. It is evident that Hercules is engaged in some love
adventure, as is proved by the lion’s skin in which the actor, who is
jesting with a girl, is dressed, and the club which rests beside him.
The figure on the right probably represents an old woman; on the left is
a man contemplating the scene. With the exception of the girl and the
woman in the middle, the masks are extreme caricatures; the costume of
the two men resembles that in Fig. 163. Fig. 165, a Pompeian
wall-painting, may be here compared, because it evidently imitates Greek
prototypes, and the scene represented in the centre belongs to the later
comedy. The one actor with a curious head-dress and a spear seems to be
a sort of _Miles Gloriosus_, the man in a reverential position speaking
to him a parasite. The three youths who stand near wear no masks, and it
is therefore doubtful whether they are to be regarded as part of the
representation in the character, perhaps, of statists, who may have
appeared without masks. Two old men to the right and left of the central
scene, seated on a somewhat lower plane, and leaning on their knotty
sticks, with serious official mien, are doubtless theatrical police, who
had to keep order during the performance. It is not easy to say what
place in the theatre they were supposed to occupy.
We gain some information concerning the costume of the satyric drama
from a very interesting vase painting, which cannot, however, for
various reasons, be represented here, and which we propose, therefore,
shortly to describe. This represents the personages taking part in a
satyric drama before the commencement of the performance; a group in the
centre of the top row does not belong to the performers: this represents
Dionysus resting on a
[Illustration: FIG. 165.]
couch with Ariadne, near him is a woman holding up a mask, probably a
Muse, and the little _Eros Himeros_. To the right and left of this
group, which must be regarded as the ideal scene, stand three actors,
each holding his mask in his hand (the strings by which they were held
are visible); next on the right is Hercules, who may be recognised by
his lion’s skin, club, and quiver; near him is the “Papposilenus,” his
whole body covered with skin, a panther’s skin thrown over his left arm,
and holding a short staff; we do not know the name of the third actor on
the left. The chorus of satyrs consists of eleven persons, of whom only
one has as yet put on his mask. That one is practising a dance in
preparation for the performance. Most of the chorus are dressed alike
with only a little covering of skin round their loins, and the short
satyr’s tail; one of them, however, has a little garment of some
material with a pattern, and another wears an embroidered dress with
himation; he might be taken for an actor if his mask did not bear the
satyric type like the rest, the pug nose and the pointed ears. In the
middle of the lowest row two musicians are represented: a splendidly
dressed flute player seated, in front of him stands a cithara player.
Further to the left sits a young man holding a roll in his hand, another
roll lies on the ground, a lyre is visible behind him. In spite of his
striking youthfulness, this young man is probably the teacher of the
chorus or the poet himself. The actors are bearded men, the chorus
beardless youths. Two tripods close by probably suggest the prize to be
competed for.
We must now say a few words about the external details of the
performance, the public, and the reception of the pieces. Originally,
admission to theatrical representations was free, as to a religious
festival in which the whole population were to take part. But when the
crowd of spectators became greater this had its disadvantages, and very
often quarrels for places ensued between citizens and strangers. We know
little of the conditions in other places; but at Athens, when in 500
B.C. the old wooden theatre fell down during a performance, and the new
stone theatre of Dionysus was erected, they took advantage of the
occasion to levy an entrance fee, the amount of which is uncertain. Even
at the beginning of the fifth century the income from this source seems
to have belonged to a theatrical lessee, whose duty it was in
consequence to keep the building in proper condition. He paid a fixed
sum to the State, and in return received the entrance money. It is well
known that Pericles, partly with a benevolent desire of making the
theatre accessible for the poorer class of citizens, and partly also in
order to increase his popularity by this democratic measure, introduced
a law by which every citizen received the price of admission from the
State. This was the “show-money” (θεωρικόυ), an institution which seems
to have lasted for centuries, but the arrangements connected with it are
by no means clear. In the first place, it was probably calculated for
the poor people only; but the rich, too, made use of it, if only to
escape from possible reproach of pride or haughtiness by some of the
numerous informers who at that time existed at Athens. There was a
special board entrusted with the distribution; the show-money was
allotted to the citizens according to tribes by cashiers appointed by
lot, whose duty it was to see that none received it without proper
claim. It was therefore distributed in the separate tribes according to
the registers of citizens in the demes. The statements of the ancients
do not agree about the amount of the money; but the most probable of the
newer hypotheses is that for one day it amounted to two obols, for the
three days of the great Dionysia one drachma. The money was paid, on
admission into the theatre, to the lessee, who either received it in
person, or levied it by means of his controllers or cashiers; the same
people took the fees from those who had not received the show-money,
such as the resident foreigners, strangers, etc. It is very difficult to
decide whether this was paid in coin or not; one hypothesis is that,
instead of money, the citizens received tickets, which had the value of
money, and simplified the paying out as well as the paying back; many
such counters bearing theatrical emblems, have come down to us, and are
supposed to have been admission passes. Still, weighty objections have
been made to this hypothesis; and it is more probable that the citizens
really received the actual money, with which they could do what they
pleased; they either bought a ticket for the theatre--and very likely
these counters were really entrance tickets--or spent it in any other
way they pleased. It was not possible to control this; and herein, no
doubt, lay the disadvantage of the institution, which has often been
spoken of as injurious to the Attic democracy, since it was followed by
similar institutions at other times, and consequently the unproductive
expenses of the Attic budget extended more and more. A number of places
in the theatre were given free, or were places of honour: thus, for
instance, those reserved by the State for foreign envoys, the places for
the priests and others who had a right to special seats; naturally, the
expenses of these places had to be paid by the State to the theatrical
lessee.
The question whether women and children might visit the theatre is often
asked. Undoubtedly women were allowed to be present at the tragedies,
since there are sufficient passages to prove this. Now, tragedy was
followed by the satyric drama, which was often exceedingly coarse both
in language and gesture; obviously then the women must have sat this
out, and this need not appear so very strange to us, since there does
not seem to have been much prudery among the Greek women. Moreover, the
satyric drama was only indecent now and then, and the jokes were vulgar
according to our ideas, but not exactly frivolous, and no worse than
modern operettas to which ladies are in the habit of going. The comedies
were different, especially the older comedies, for the whole contents
are often coarse, and situations occur in them which make it impossible
for us to imagine that women or boys should have been present. Still,
all indications seem to prove that they were seen by women, with this
limitation, that respectable women who had regard for their reputation
did not go to comedies; hetaerae, who are often alluded to as eager
theatre-goers, probably constituted the greater part of the feminine
public. It also seems that boys were present. Slaves were allowed to
visit the theatre; some even earned money, and could therefore pay their
own admission, others may have gone in attendance on their masters, or
have received the money for their entrance in some other way; but it is
unlikely that they sat among the citizens; probably there were special
places allotted them; indeed it has been suggested that there were
distinct seats for every class. The only places about which this is
certain are the lowest rows, which were seats of honour for officials,
priests, etc. Moreover, it is probable, but not quite certain, that the
highest places were reserved for strangers. It has also been assumed
that the women sat in the more distant places, or, at any rate, not in
the front rows, and this seems probable; otherwise, there is no passage
which proves for certain that the seats for the men at Athens were
distinct from those of the women.
Another question is the manner in which the non-reserved places were
allotted. It seems certain that they were not numbered, and, indeed,
this would have been scarcely possible among so many thousands; but
there may have been a general division of the theatre according to the
wedges, and the separate divisions of each wedge, and these may have
been indicated on the entrance counters. Benndorf has suggested that at
Athens each wedge may have been assigned to the members of a particular
tribe, and that on the counter given to each citizen the tribe in
question was marked by some symbol. But this hypothesis is only probable
if we assume, with Benndorf, that the citizens received not money but
counters; if the spectators bought their theatre tickets from the lessee
with the show-money, or at their own expense, it was impossible for
there to be any division of places according to tribes, for this would
have necessitated a fresh and very troublesome control of the registers
of citizens. We must therefore assume that the counters bought of the
theatrical lessee were marked according to wedges and division, and the
spectators had to take their places accordingly but that, with the
exception of a few classes of spectators, there was no compulsion to
take a place in any special division.
Of the three musical contests celebrated at the greater Dionysia, each
kind, namely, the tragedies with the satyric dramas, the comedies, and
the cyclic choruses had their special judges. At the appointment of the
choragi, which took place a long while before the festival, the Council
of the Five Hundred, probably under the presidency of the Archon, in the
presence of the elected choragi, elected these by ballot, and the lot
once more decided which of them was to pronounce judgment. We know for
certain that five judges were appointed for comedy, probably the same
number was required for tragedy, although an exceptional case is
mentioned, during a contest between Aeschylus and Sophocles, in which
there were ten judges, a departure from the ordinary custom, which was
required by the great excitement in the public and the fear that the
judges might be influenced in their decision by it. The judges had to
pronounce on three points: the work of the poet, the performance of
chorus and choragus, and the acting. The reward for the victorious poet
was a wreath of ivy; the choragus received permission to set up a public
monument in token of his victory, and, as already mentioned, the choragi
in the tragic choruses usually dedicated tripods, those of the comic
choruses fillets, thyrsus wands, and other festive apparatus; their
decisions were also commemorated by inscriptions. The prize of the
actors probably consisted in additional gifts of money besides the fees
that were legally due to them.
CHAPTER XIII.
WAR AND SEAFARING.
The Heroic Period--Tribal Wars--The Chariot--Characteristics of
Greek Warriors--The Spartans--The Athenian Array--Greek
Arms--Cavalry--Greek Sieges--Greek Ships--The Trireme.
Scarcely any changes seem to have taken place in the character of the
offensive and defensive arms of the Greeks from the most ancient period
until the Roman time, though the conduct of warfare made enormous
advances in the thousand years between the Trojan War and the age of
Alexander the Great and his successors. Our authorities for the earliest
period are but few, but the wars of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.
have been carefully described by historians, some of whom themselves
possessed military knowledge. We must therefore be content to obtain our
knowledge of warfare in early times from the descriptions of poets, who
naturally aimed at a very different result from the historian. The
Homeric Epics are not authorities which we can follow absolutely in
every respect, but still they enable us to form a picture of the warfare
of that period, and gain some general notion of the mode in which it was
conducted.
The military conditions of that time bore the same patriarchal character
which characterised the government of the heroic age. Greece, which even
in the historic age was broken up into a number of separate
nationalities, was in the heroic period merely a collection of tribes
living in constant feud with one another, and undertaking continual
predatory expeditions on their neighbours’ territory; the nobles placing
themselves at the head of a number of enterprising men, and regarding
these proceedings as in no way dishonourable to them. Sometimes a great
common undertaking combined several tribes under one head, but even then
the power of this chief was by no means an unlimited one; the separate
tribes who took part in the expedition under their own princes and
nobles stood under their immediate command, and it depended on the
goodwill of these little kings whether they submitted to the ordinances
of the chief commander or not. Consequently there could be no question
of a common arrangement of the army, or of a subdivision of the people
according to the nature of the arms they used; the battle order was
drawn up according to tribes.
Nor were they acquainted with any definite plan of battle. The main
brunt of the fight was borne by the nobles, who fought from their
chariots, and whose single combat with renowned leaders on the other
side excited such universal interest that very often the battle stopped
meantime. Moreover, these duels were often decisive for the victory or
defeat of the whole army. The nobles appeared in full armour,
accompanied by their charioteers, on their war chariots, usually drawn
by two horses. On the vase painting depicted in Fig. 166 the painter has
represented four horses drawing the chariot, but in so doing he was not
following an old tradition, since in his time the custom of fighting
with chariots had long ceased, but rather the universal practice of
ancient vase painting, which always represented war chariots with four
horses, following the example of the _Quadrigae_ used in races. The
warrior stands holding the reins in his left hand, and his spear in the
right, and has not yet mounted his chariot; he is in full armour, and so
is the warrior standing in front of the chariot, and consequently we are
justified in supposing that this really represents a war chariot. The
Greeks, when they fought from their chariots, dashed at full speed from
their own ranks against the foe, and often challenged an enemy to single
combat with words of bitter mockery; this was begun with lances, and
afterwards, when the combatants had got close together and possibly left
their chariots, with the sword; even stones were not despised in the
heat of combat. Cavalry was unknown in the time of Homer; the masses of
infantry seldom fought hand to hand, but usually from a distance with
bows and javelins. But when they came to close quarters they closed
their ranks and locked their shields together; for the principle of the
closed phalanx, which became so important for Greek warfare, was
indicated even in the heroic age. Their mode of warfare shows the
uncivilised condition of the Greeks at that time. Cunning and ambush
were regarded as permissible, and cruelty and harshness to the fallen
enemy were universal. The captives taken in war became slaves if they
were not ransomed, and were sometimes even mercilessly sacrificed. It
was considered a glorious deed to rob the fallen enemy of his armour in
the midst of the fight, nor was it ignoble to leave his corpse unburied,
to be consumed by the wild beasts. Still, there were traces of noble
self-sacrifice and comradeship in their conduct towards their own
fellow-countrymen.
In the following centuries, after many revolutions and internal
contests, the tribes were combined
[Illustration: FIG. 166.]
together into separate states, in the manner which continued with slight
territorial changes down to the Macedonian period. But as the Greeks
never succeeded in becoming one great united power, or even a federation
of states, they never attained to a common army, and the armies of
Greece were as manifold and various as the circumstances in the various
small states of Hellas. Details have come down to us concerning very
few; we know most of Sparta and Athens.
Sparta in particular was warlike in the whole character of its
inhabitants, and consequently the whole constitution was based on
military principles. Every “Spartiate,” that is, every man descended
from an ancient Spartan family, was bound to military service in his
country from his twentieth to his sixtieth year. Of course, they did not
call upon all capable of bearing arms in time of war, but in each case
the Ephors decided which classes were to be levied. Each of the five
communities of Sparta supplied one division (λόχος); these were again
subdivided in companies (μόραι), who messed in common. In later times,
towards the end of the fifth century, the divisions were changed. The
whole Lacedaemonian army was then divided into six divisions, each of
these into two companies; the size of these divisions varied according
to requirement. The non-citizens too were called to military service;
the “Perioiki” formed separate divisions, who as a rule did not fight in
the same ranks with the Spartiates, but still served like these, as
heavy-armed infantry (ὁπλῖται), while the “Helots,” who were actual
slaves, followed their masters to battle as attendants, chiefly as
shield-bearers, and were sometimes used in battle as light-armed troops.
The command in time of war fell to one of the two kings, and it was the
citizens who decided which of the two should take the chief command on
a particular occasion. Each separate division of troops had its own
leader, who was probably entrusted in time of peace also with the
military training and exercise of his men. In military matters the
Spartans far excelled most of the other Greeks, because their whole
training and education rested on a military basis, and no glory was
regarded as greater than that achieved in war. Moreover no Spartiate
might work at any profession or trade, but was obliged to dedicate all
his powers to the State, and therefore the Spartans were professional
soldiers in the true sense of the word. It is true they were only strong
in infantry; the cavalry was insignificant both in quality and quantity.
Each division had some cavalry, but for this purpose they took the
weaker men, who were incapable of serving as heavy-armed infantry, and,
in consequence, the cavalry played a very unimportant part in the
Spartan army, and they were often obliged to engage foreign mercenaries
for the purpose.
The warlike Spartans regarded a military expedition as a desirable
opportunity of putting to the test their powers acquired in time of
peace, and it was really a kind of festival to them. They set out for a
campaign after sacrificing and taking auspices. In the enemy’s country
they set up a camp, and this was not square as was the usual Greek
custom, but round and unfortified; it was guarded by the outposts and
the cavalry, who were sent out to patrol. The helots were encamped
outside. Military drill was carried on very energetically within, but
still, on the whole, the life and discipline in the field were less
severe than at home; and on these occasions purple garments were worn,
and the hair was carefully curled and decked with wreaths, a thing
which was never done at home in time of peace. Before a battle they
offered sacrifices in the early hours of the morning; then they set out
against the enemy, with closed ranks and regular step, to the joyous
sound of flutes and the marching song, in which the whole army joined.
The heroic courage and self-denying endurance with which the
Lacedaemonians fought, even without hope of victory, are everywhere
renowned, and the noble friendships between older and younger men on
these occasions stood out in the brightest light.
At Athens too the citizens were bound to military service till their
sixtieth year, but this obligation was not so general as at Sparta.
According to the constitution of Solon, it was only the citizens of the
three highest classes who were bound to military service; the “Thetes,”
who formed the fourth class, were exempt, and only in exceptional cases,
such as occurred in later times, during long and serious wars, they were
levied as light-armed troops, or more often as sailors for the fleet.
After the Revolution of Cleisthenes, when Attica was divided into ten
tribes, this political division was also maintained for the levy; the
register of citizens was made the basis of a roll of the men in each
tribe and deme who were liable to military service, and on each separate
occasion the decree of the people decided what ages were to be levied.
It was the rule, however, that the first two ages, from the eighteenth
to the twentieth year, _i.e._, the ephebi, should not be called for
service in the field, but only in the country as riding patrol, and it
was not till their twentieth year that citizens were required to serve
outside the country. The members of the council, as well as the higher
officials, were exempt from military service during their period of
office. The Athenian army was divided into ten divisions (τάξεις)
according to the number of tribes; these, again, were divided into
companies and further subdivisions, whose strength varied according to
the size of the levy and the conditions of the country. The resident
foreigners, who were also bound to military service, served in the
fleet, and also in the land army among the infantry, but never in the
cavalry; they were chiefly used to garrison fortified places and defend
cities. The cavalry were far more important at Athens than at Sparta.
Every tribe supplied a hundred horsemen, and altogether these formed two
divisions of five hundred men, commanded by the Hipparchs. As the State
did not provide the horses, but expected the soldiers to procure and
feed their own, this service was a very expensive one, and consequently
was only undertaken by the first two classes. These cavalry regiments,
which were the pride of the Athenian citizens, were exercised in time of
peace also, and from time to time inspected by the Council of Five
Hundred; we have already mentioned that the cavalry played an important
part at the Panathenaic procession. In ancient times the army was
commanded in time of war by the king, and afterwards by the archon as
long as there was only one; when there were nine archons this duty fell
to one of them, called the Polemarch. After the reforms of Cleisthenes,
it became customary for each tribe to elect a general (στρατηγός), and
for the chief command in time of war to fall to all these generals in
turn, each commanding for a day. Next came the “Taxiarchs,” and the two
“Hipparchs,” and ten “Phylarchs,” but nearly all these offices lost
their importance, as did also the military organisation of the citizens,
when the
[Illustration: FIG. 167.]
mercenary system was introduced. This began as early as the time of the
Peloponnesian war, and gradually gained ground. Originally they hired
troops from foreign nations of a kind which were wanting in their own
army; thus, javelin throwers were brought from Rhodes, and archers from
Crete, but in the course of the fourth century the actual Hellenic
population, and in particular that of Attica, became more and more
unwarlike, and as the princes of Macedonia and other non-Hellenic states
began to form standing armies of well-disciplined mercenary troops, the
Hellenic republics were forced to follow this example as their own
military power diminished. This mercenary system did a great deal to
undermine the independence of Greece, and facilitate its subjection
under the Macedonian dominion. Even in the time of the Peloponnesian
war, the Arcadians were willing to fight for anyone who would pay them,
against their own countrymen; in the expedition of the Ten Thousand,
they formed an important part of the troops of
[Illustration: FIG. 168.]
the younger Cyrus, and by no means the worst part. As the population was
impoverished by many wars, they became more willing to respond to the
invitation of any capable _Condottiere_, and collected from all states,
but chiefly from Peloponnesus; and it sometimes happened that the
members of a single state or tribe united together as a special division
of the army. As the warlike spirit disappeared among the citizens, who
were unwilling to undergo the fatigues of service, these standing
mercenary troops, under the command of excellent generals, became more
and more disciplined and capable. The pay for a common soldier was
usually four obols a day (about fivepence), half of which was pay and
the other half ration-money; this amount was sometimes increased. The
captain of a company received twice as much, the general four times, but
the prospect of booty was even more attractive than the money; for
according to the conditions of warfare of that time, every campaign was
a predatory and ravaging expedition, and the mercenary troops who went
to war from purely personal motives spared neither friend nor foe, and
herein simply followed the example of their leaders.
[Illustration: FIG. 169.]
We must now say a few words about Greek arms, in which, as already
mentioned, very few changes took place. The full armour of a Homeric
hero consisted of greaves, cuirass, helmet, shield, sword, and one or
two spears, and in all essentials this was also the armour of the
heavy-armed soldiers of the historic
[Illustration: FIG. 170.]
period; there were, however, a few modifications in the centuries which
followed Homer. The defensive armour of the infantry consisted in
helmet, cuirass, greaves, and shield. As a rule, they began by putting
the greaves on first, as it would have been difficult to bend the body
after putting on the cuirass, and we see this rule observed in most old
works of art, though there are some exceptions. The greaves were
half-bent plates of brass, lined within with leather or wool; they had
to be elastic, because they were bent outwards in putting on, and by
means of their elasticity they clung to the leg, the front of which they
covered, extending above the knee; still, there must have been a ring
round the ankle to hold them fast, and perhaps there was another
fastening above. In Fig. 167, which, with Fig. 168, represents pictures
from a painted bowl with red figures, we see on the right a young
warrior stooping down to put on one of his greaves, which he is bending
outwards for this purpose; contrary to the usual custom, the youth has
already put on the cuirass and chlamys over his chiton. In Fig. 169, the
inner picture of a drinking cup, representing the murder of Dolon, the
Greek hero Diomede wears greaves, on which we can clearly recognise the
ring below.
The cuirass of the heroic and historic periods is shorter than that
which was customary with the Romans, but still descends far enough to
cover the greater part of the body below, and may be seen on works of
art; but, as a rule, the massive parts do not extend below the waist,
and there are movable lappets attached to it to protect the parts below.
The cuirass was generally made of bronze, and consisted of two plates,
one of which covered the breast, the other the back, and these were
fastened together at the lower edges, and also below and above the
shoulders by buckles or other fastenings. In later times,
shoulder-pieces were added, which are not mentioned in Homer; these were
fastened to the back, and when the cuirass was put on drawn from there
over the shoulder, and made firm in front with little chains or cords to
rings or hooks. In Fig. 168, the man on the right, who is putting on his
armour, has already drawn on his cuirass; the two shoulder-pieces are
still open, and he is just on the point of pulling the right
shoulder-piece
[Illustration: FIG. 171.]
[Illustration: FIG. 172.]
forward, in order to fasten it there to the front piece of his cuirass.
In Fig. 170, a heroic _genre_ picture, we see this more clearly. Here
Achilles bandages the arm of the wounded. Patroclus; the right
shoulder-piece of Patroclus is fastened, but the left is opened in order
not to hurt the wounded arm. The mode in which the shoulder-pieces were
fastened to the cuirass is very clearly represented in the figure of
Amphiaraus, in Fig. 171, a vase painting representing the “Farewell of
Amphiaraus.” There were two kinds of cuirass: those with stiff plates,
and those with scales. In the former, those plates are commonest which
do not fit closely to the body, but only roughly represent its shape; of
this kind are the cuirasses of the warriors in Figs. 167 and 168, and
also that of Amphiaraus in Fig. 171. In Fig. 172, taken from a bowl
painted by Duris, the youth who is going to battle receives a cuirass of
this kind (compare also Fig. 166). Sometimes this cuirass was made in a
shape common among the Romans, imitating the form of the human body and
representing its chief features. The warriors in Fig. 170 wear scale
armour; the cuirasses are evidently made of leather, covered with little
brass plates, arranged one over another like scales. Some parts of the
cuirasses seem also to be made of plates; for instance, the girdle of
Achilles and a strip behind, also the upper part of the breast-plate of
Patroclus; the shoulder-pieces, however, are made of scales, for
flexibility was of special importance here. The belly was protected by
leather strips or lappets, covered with metal, hanging down at the lower
edge of the cuirass, and covering part of the thighs (compare Figs. 169
and 170). The cuirass was generally fastened round the hips by a
leathern belt, with brass coverings; perhaps this is the object which
the boy in Fig. 168 is offering to the warrior putting on his armour.
Below the cuirass they wore a short chiton woven of especially strong
threads, and frequently mentioned by Homer as twisted or woven; the
sleeves were usually cut short, falling a little way below the
shoulders, and it only descended over part of the thighs. (Compare the
pictures.) Homer also makes mention of a broad girdle (μίτρα), plated
with brass, worn immediately over the chiton in such a manner that the
upper part of the girdle was covered by the cuirass, while the lower was
exposed. This girdle seems to have fallen into disuse soon after the
Homeric age, for we can find no trace of it on any works of art. The
linen tunics mentioned in Homer, which became commoner in later times,
were probably woven of strong thread, and covered with brass at the most
exposed places.
[Illustration: FIG. 173.]
[Illustration: FIG. 174.]
[Illustration: FIG. 175.]
The helmet, which, even in the earliest ages, took
[Illustration: FIG. 176.]
the place of the original head-covering of skin, was usually of bronze,
and, according to the statements of Homer and originals still existing,
was of three thicknesses, strongest in the middle, with a thinner layer
above and below. The chief part of the helmet fitted close to the head
like a cap, and covered forehead and temples; in front it hung down in
two separate pieces over the cheeks; there were two openings for the
eyes between the nose-piece and cheek-pieces. In ancient times the skull
cap and cheek-pieces were made of a single piece, as we see on the
ancient Greek helmets from Olympia and Sardinia, represented in Figs.
173 to 175; these are also provided with nose-pieces, so that not much
could be recognised of the warrior who was covered in this way. The
helmet acquired an additional protection by a ridge extending over the
middle of the skull cap from the back of the head to the forehead, in
which the crest was fastened; there were also helmets with two ridges to
increase the resisting power, and this then had two crests. Very often
the crest, which was of great size, was not fastened directly into the
ridge, but connected with it by means of a tall, narrow elevation, so
that it towered high above the helmet. The vase painting represented in
Fig. 176 shows helmets of this kind belonging to two warriors who are
playing draughts; one of them has taken off his helmet and placed it on
the shield beside him; the other keeps his on, but has raised the part
over the forehead; the shape resembles the originals represented in
Figs. 173 to 175. Sometimes the crest was fastened straight into the
skullcap without any ridge, as on Fig. 166, in the helmet belonging to
the warrior on the right. In later times, many changes took place in the
shape of helmets; the nose-piece and cheek-pieces were sometimes
flexible and sometimes stiff, but of a different shape; thus the helmet
of Achilles, in Fig. 170, has the stiff forehead and nose-piece, but the
cheek-pieces move on a hinge, and for the sake of comfort the hero has
turned them upwards. Of the three helmets in Fig. 167, the one on the
ground on the right seems also to have movable cheek-pieces, but there
is no nose-piece, and only a protection for the forehead, which could
probably also be pushed back; the two others have stiff nose-and
cheek-pieces in one with the skull cap, but the cheek-pieces are not
pointed, as was usually the case in the older kind, but rounded off.
(Compare also Figs. 166, 169, and 172.) There was usually also a
protecting piece for the neck, as may be seen on many other pictures.
Works of art show manifold ways of decorating the helmets. (Compare the
helmet of Diomede in Fig. 169.) Sometimes they made them in the shape of
a human face, imitating the lines of the forehead, eyebrows, etc., in
bronze. Curiously enough, this mask form was sometimes transferred even
to the back of the helmet, as may be seen in Fig. 177, representing the
death of Memnon, where the long hair of the warrior descends below the
helmet, though this may have been due to a mistake on the part of the
artist; another point of interest about this helmet is its two crests.
Besides these high and usually splendid helmets, the simple cap-shaped
helmets were also extant in later times, and these were strengthened by
ridges or plates of brass nailed on them; such is the helmet worn by
Amphiaraus in Fig. 171. To prevent excessive pressure on the head, they
usually wore a close-fitting cap below it, as we see in the case of
Patroclus, in Fig. 170.
[Illustration: FIG. 177.]
In the Homeric age, there were two chief kinds of shields: a small
circular one, and an oval shield of almost human height. They were made
of several layers of bull’s hide, sewn on the top of one another, and
covered, as a rule, on the outer side, with bronze. As the diameter of
the skins decreased from without to within, and the strength of the
metal coverings decreased from the middle to the edge, the result was
that the middle of the shield, which had to offer the greatest
resistance, was also the strongest part; besides this, a boss or convex
bronze plate (ὄμφαλος), was also fixed in the centre of the outer side,
but in later times they put the coat of arms in its place. The smaller
circular shield seems to have been carried by a double handle, through
one part of which, in the middle of the hollow, the arm was thrust,
while the other at the edge was clasped by the hand (compare Fig. 169).
This mode of carrying would be impossible for the large shields, and
these must have been managed by a single handle, though we must not
forget that these very heavy shields were also suspended from the body
by straps. In later times, too, we find the round and oval shields still
in use, but the latter were considerably diminished in size, which is
very natural, since it must have been extremely inconvenient and
troublesome in battle to carry these enormous shields. Both kinds were
moderately vaulted, and had a somewhat projecting edge; the shields,
both round and oval, often had two slits at the sides, the object of
which was to enable the warrior to peep at the enemy from behind his
shield, and also perhaps to send his spear through the opening; these
slits may be recognised in the shields in Fig. 176. As to the mode in
which they were carried, we sometimes find two handles, both at a little
distance from the centre, as on the shield in Fig. 171, of which the
inner side is visible; sometimes a crossbar extended over the whole
inner breadth of the shield, through which the arm was thrust, while
there were various straps at the edge which could be easily grasped, and
which made it possible to go on using the shield even if one of these
handles should have been torn off. There is a rather different
contrivance in a shield in Fig. 167, of which we see the inner side;
instead of one crossbar used as a diameter of the circle, there are
three like radii meeting together in the centre. Here, too, there were
probably loops at the edge. Very often the shields were lined inside
with coloured materials, and decorated with tassels or cords; on small
round shields we sometimes find a broad lappet of leather, or some such
material, hanging down, to give the combatant a further protection for
the lower part of his body. The coats of arms, which were very various
and full of meaning, were either put on in relief like the head of a
satyr in the centre of a shield in Fig. 176, or else inlaid of metal of
another colour, or nailed on.
[Illustration: FIG. 178.]
[Illustration: FIG. 179.]
[Illustration: FIG. 180.]
[Illustration: FIG. 181.]
Offensive arms may be divided into those which were used in close
combat, especially lance and sword, and those which were used from a
distance, in particular, javelin, bow, and sling. The spear, or lance,
consisted in a shaft usually made of ash, provided at both ends with a
bronze point; one of these points was used for attack, the other
(compare Fig. 166) to fix the spear in the ground when it was not
required. The material for the point, in the heroic age, was usually
bronze; in later times, iron. The blade of the point required for attack
was usually leaf-shaped and two-edged (compare Figs. 178 to 181, taken
from originals in Dodona); its length was from 7 to 8 inches, its
breadth about 2½ in the middle; it was fastened to the upper pointed
end of the shaft by a socket, and this socket was surrounded by a ring
in order to increase the firmness. The lower end was usually only a
short conical point. The length of the spear was greater in the heroic
age than afterwards. Homer mentions spears about five yards long, and in
naval warfare even one about ten yards long, but this was constructed of
several pieces fastened together, and was probably only used in naval
warfare to keep off the grappling irons; in later times the usual length
was from two to two and a quarter yards. That is about the length of the
spears represented in Figs. 167, 168, and 171. We often find, as in Fig.
176, two spears in the hand of a warrior; this usually happened when the
soldier used his long spear not only for thrusting, but also for
throwing, in which case he would require a reserve spear. In thrusting,
as well as in throwing, he clasped the spear in the middle with the
right hand alone.
[Illustration: FIG. 182.]
[Illustration: FIG. 183.]
[Illustration: FIG. 184.]
The sword is an even more useful weapon for hand-to-hand combat than the
spear, which on account of its length can only be used from some
distance. Originally swords were constructed of bronze, and this is the
only kind mentioned by Homer, afterwards of iron; the blade was
two-edged, and in the heroic age tolerably long, probably shaped like
that in Fig. 182, which was brought from Mycenae and is twenty-four
inches long; the two-edged blade and the top of the handle, which was
decorated by plates of wood, bone, or such like, fastened on by nails,
but which has not been preserved, were formed of a single piece. As this
sword and the others resembling it were equally well calculated for
thrusting and piercing, Helbig’s theory that they most closely resemble
the Homeric swords, is a very probable one. The swords
[Illustration: FIG. 185.]
[Illustration: FIG. 186.]
in Figs. 183 and 184, also from Mycenae, are of a different kind; the
blades are two-edged, and measure thirty-two inches in length; the top
of the haft is formed of the same piece with the blade, and covered with
plates of a different material, but this weapon seems to have been
exclusively used for piercing. Of another kind are those in Figs. 185
and 186, but these date from Italian lake dwellings, though the same
kind is said to have been also found in Greece. The two-edged blade is
short here, very broad at the top, but growing gradually narrower, so
that the shape almost resembles an acute-angled triangle. The handle,
the lower end of which is bent outwards in the shape of a semicircle, is
worked out of a separate piece of bronze, and connected with the blade
by nails. In the historic age the swords are usually short, the blade
about twenty inches long, reed-shaped, and two-edged, adapted for
thrusting and piercing; the handle, which is generally suited for
parrying strokes, is rather small (compare the sword in Fig. 169, where
the sheath and shoulder-belt are well represented). The sheath was often
of some costly material, and artistically decorated, ordinary kinds were
made of leather; the shoulder-belt was usually a leather strap, with
metal plates; it was suspended over the right shoulder, and was so long
that the sword hung down by the left side, but in later times they
sometimes wore the sword on the right side. Besides the kinds of swords
already mentioned there were some others; in particular that which is
specially designated as the Lacedaemonian sword, the blade of which is
slightly curved on one side from the handle onwards, and very sharp,
while the other edge is straight and evidently blunt; this kind of sword
could of course only be used for thrusting. Towards the end of the
Hellenic period, Iphicrates again introduced long swords in the Greek
armies; they measured as much as a yard with the haft, but the
heavy-armed infantry probably continued to use the short sword.
There were two other weapons for close encounter, the club and the
battle-axe, but they are not important for Greek warfare. The former was
chiefly used in the mythical contests of pre-historic times, the latter,
represented on works of art as the usual weapon of the Amazons, is
sometimes mentioned in Homer as used by Greek heroes, but it was
afterwards only in use as an actual military weapon among some Oriental
nations.
Throwing weapons were chiefly used by light-armed troops. In the heroic
ages the javelin was only a hunting weapon; the heroes usually used
their ordinary long lances for throwing. The light javelin, about two
and three-quarter yards in length, became a very common weapon of attack
in the next period, when the light-armed troops formed a regular part of
the army; this closely resembled the javelin used in the gymnastic
contests, especially in the Pentathlon, and like this was provided with
a loop, which the thrower wound round his fingers. We have already
discussed the method of throwing this spear.
Next we have to consider bow and arrows. There were two kinds of bows:
in the first place, a simple one formed of a single piece of elastic
wood bent outwards at the ends; its form is slightly bent, and only
attains the shape of a strong curve when it is drawn. This bow was
called the “Scythian,” or “Parthian,” but we find it also on Greek works
of art, and it was probably the older kind. The other shape is that of
the double bow, in which two curved pieces of horn are connected
together by a cylindrical piece of metal; this shape was the commoner in
the Greek army, and even when they gave up using goat and gazelle horns
for the bow, but constructed it of wood, it retained the shape. The
metal plate in the middle was also used as a rest for the arrow, and the
ends of the bow to which the string was fastened, were usually plated
with metal. The cord was made of plaited guts, and as a rule, when the
bow was not in use, was fastened only to one end, and hung down loose,
in order that the bow might not lose its elasticity through the constant
strain of the string. The arrow was a shaft about twenty-four inches
long, usually of light reed, on which the point, supplied with two or
more barbs, was fastened with a string; at the other end, it usually had
a little weight, supplied with a notch for setting
[Illustration: FIG. 187.]
it more firmly against the string. We have evidence in Greek excavations
of the three-edged arrow mentioned by Homer; compare Fig. 187, an
arrow-head from Megalopolis. The arrows were kept in a quiver made of
leather or basket-work, of which two kinds are found: one wide kind of
triangular form, worn on the left side, and generally used with the
so-called Scythian bow; and a smaller cylindrical shape, which hung down
on the back over the left shoulder, and belonged to the Greek bow. The
sling consisted in a cord or strap, broad in the middle, and narrower at
the two ends, by means of which little plummets were thrown; these were
placed on the broad centre of the strap, the two ends of which were
pressed together in the hand and swung a few times round the head; with
a careful aim they then let go one end of the strap, whereupon the shot
flew in the direction which it had received by the impulse of swinging.
In the heroic age the sling-shots were always stone balls; afterwards
they also used plummets of clay or lead, very often in the shape of an
acorn. The most important part of the Greek army in the heroic age, both
in the period of citizen armies and in that of mercenary troops, were
the heavy-armed soldiers (ὁπλῖται). The weight which they had to carry,
including offensive and defensive armour, amounted to about 70 lbs., but
this considerable weight was only carried by a soldier in battle. On the
march, part of the armour was carried in baggage-carts, or else the
shield, or even the helmet, was given to a slave to carry (ὑπασπιστής).
But as the inconvenience of the baggage-waggons was great, and the
number of slaves--which had formerly been very considerable, so that
among the Lacedaemonians there were sometimes seven helots to one
Spartan--gradually diminished, we notice a tendency to decrease the
weight of the soldier’s armour, first by substituting for the brazen
cuirass a tunic of leather plated with brass and shoulder-pieces, and
afterwards by using a small round shield for the large oval one. In the
time of the Persian wars the light infantry took the place of the
slaves, who had formerly, in order that they might not be a useless
addition to the army, been armed with javelins and stones. But as the
skill required of the light-armed troops was not equally developed among
all nationalities, it was necessary here to supply their defects by
mercenary soldiers. Thus, as we have already mentioned, the Cretans were
celebrated archers; excellent slingers came from Rhodes and Thessaly;
and the best javelin-throwers from Acarnania and Aetolia. These three
kinds of light-armed troops were distinct; they all went to battle
without any defensive armour, not even wearing a helmet, but only a
light felt cap or some national hat. Besides these, and standing midway
between slaves and light-armed soldiers, were the “Peltasts,” originally
a Thracian troop, deriving their name from the _pelta_, a small wooden
shield covered with leather, which resembled the crescent-shaped shield
of the Amazons; their offensive weapons were the sword, a long spear,
and four or five little javelins. The light-armed troops and peltasts
were placed in the field, now in front, now behind the main body of the
army, on the wings, or wherever seemed good to the general; they were
also used a good deal for sallies, archery, as spies, in ambushes, etc.
[Illustration: FIG. 188.]
[Illustration: FIG. 189.]
The Greeks did not attach any great importance to the cavalry, which was
in part the result of the mountainous nature of their country, where
cavalry regiments could seldom be properly deployed. Consequently the
Greek cavalry, as a rule, rode badly and with uncertainty; they only
fought against each other, and never attacked closed ranks of infantry,
but pursued them when they were thrown into confusion; regular cavalry
attacks, in which the horse not only carries its rider, but also is a
means of attack, were unknown. The horses wore saddle-cloths, not
regular saddles, and bit and bridle, and armour--consisting of
head-piece, breast-plate, and side-pieces. The rider wore a brazen
cuirass, with neck-pieces, protected his abdomen by the usual leathern
apron with metal coverings, and also wore a special kind of mail over
arms and shoulders; the hips were also protected. The shield was not
used for ordinary service, the offensive weapons were a long lance and a
sword. There can be no doubt that spurs were used at that time, but it
is possible that they wore them on only one foot, as the statues of the
Amazons seem to show; Figs. 188 and 189 represent Greek spurs, still in
existence. Horse-shoes and stirrups were unknown, the rider sprang on
his horse with the help of his lance, or else used some stone, branch,
or other object to enable him to mount.
We do not propose to enter into detail concerning the arrangement and
discipline, tactics and strategy, of the Greek armies. A few words must
be said about Greek sieges. Schliemann’s excavations at Mycenae and
Tiryns have proved to us the magnificence of some ancient
fortifications. It is, therefore, natural that the siege of a
strongly-fortified place was a difficult matter for a Greek army, since
effective besieging machines were only very gradually invented. For
centuries they contented themselves with simply surrounding a city and
trying to force it by hunger; an even more favourite device was trickery
or treachery; they were neither able to storm a town nor make breaches
in the wall. The first machine for storming made use of by the Greeks
was the ram, an invention of the Carthaginians, but this, too, was
ineffectual against very strong walls. They, therefore, very often
resorted to the device of undermining the walls in order to make them
fall; sometimes they raised the ground for attack by constructing a
mound, or made movable towers in order to enable them to fight from the
same height as the garrison. There were various devices, too, for
setting the town, or at any rate its fortifications, on fire; and if the
local conditions permitted it, they sometimes tried to reduce the
besieged to extremities by cutting off their drinking water, or
producing an artificial flood. This primitive kind of siege warfare only
gave way to a more rational method during the Macedonian wars; it was in
particular the merit of King Philip, instead of enclosing a city, to
concentrate the attack on one point in the wall, in which breaches were
made. The discovery of heavy artillery, the perfection of breaching
implements, movable batteries, protective apparatus, and revolving
turrets, did not take place till the Alexandrine age.
[Illustration: FIG. 190.]
It was a natural consequence of the geographical position of Greece that
seafaring developed far more quickly. Even in the heroic period fairly
good ships were built, though they were better suited for coasting than
sailing in the open sea. They were moved by twenty to fifty sailors,
seated on thwarts on either side of the ship, while their oars were
suspended in leathern straps between the rowlocks; if the wind was
favourable, they replaced the oars by a sail suspended from the mast by
a sail-yard; in the stern, the helmsman directed the course of the ship
with the rudder. The ship of Odysseus was thus represented, even in
later art, cutting its way through the sea (compare Fig. 191). Still,
this picture, which dates from a much later period, cannot give us a
proper conception of the build of the Homeric ships: we should rather
turn to the representations from ancient vases on Figs. 192 and 193, in
spite of the roughness and smallness of the drawing. Both these have a
strong spur at the prow, and were, therefore, apparently used for naval
warfare, with which the Homeric age was not yet acquainted. Probably the
ships of the heroic age had high projecting ends both forward and aft.
[Illustration: FIG. 191.]
As in the Homeric age, so probably also in the following period, the
ships were constructed in such a
[Illustration: FIG. 192.]
[Illustration: FIG. 193.]
manner as to be tolerably flat, and accommodate only one line of rowers
on each side; consequently, in large ships there would be fifty oarsmen
or more on either side. But they soon began to build the ships higher
and to arrange the oarsmen in several ranks one above another, in two
rows, as in Fig. 194, but more commonly in three rows, and these ships
were then called Triremes; in later times, especially after the fourth
century, there were four or even six rows, and possibly still more. The
arrangement of these rowers’ benches is of particular interest, and is
made tolerably clear by the Athenian relief represented in Fig. 195.[G]
The rowers’ benches occupied the whole
[Illustration: FIG. 194.]
space of the two long sides of the ship, with the exception of the two
ends; they were arranged over one another in rows of different heights,
not separated by partitions, but only by the open structure of wood. In
each row each rower sat immediately in front of the next man in a
straight line, but there is a difference of opinion as to the manner in
which the rowing benches were arranged. According to Graser, they were
immediately under one another, but the rowers did not sit
perpendicularly above each other; but in order to save space as much as
possible, and partly to facilitate their movements, they were arranged
in such a way that the seat of the next highest was in the same
direction and height as the head of the man on the next seat below, so
that each man, instead of sitting directly under the man above, sat a
little towards the back, and, in moving, kept his arms immediately under
the seat of the man above. Lemaître, on the other hand, assumes that
only the lowest benches were close to the edge, and those
[Illustration: FIG. 195.]
above were removed by the breadth of the thwart, the third by two
breadths, in which case the height must have been so arranged that the
oar of the man above always passed over the head of the one immediately
below. It is impossible to attain any certainty about this matter; both
hypotheses are open to objection. For the length of the oars naturally
increased in proportion to the distance of the rowers from the water,
and those of the highest row must have been longest; according to
Graser’s arrangement, the length of the oars increased 1 yard for each
row, so that in a ship of five rows the lowest rank had oars 2½ yards
long, the highest 6½; according to the arrangement of Lemaître, the
length was even greater, but there was this advantage, that the longer
oars had also longer leverage, and could consequently be more easily
controlled. The larger the number of rows, the greater in consequence
was the length of the oars, but still they were able to build and
control ships of fifteen or sixteen rows. The splendid ship of Ptolemy
Philopater is said to have had no less than forty rows, and the length
of the highest oars was 18½ yards; but this was not a ship of war,
and was only used in calm water--in fact, a modern authority on
seafaring regards the whole description of this forty-decker as a
satire. Of course, the larger the ships the greater the number of
oarsmen required, since the number of rows would be greater; a “trireme”
was rowed by 174 men, a “quinquereme” by 310, the arrangement being that
each higher row had two men more than the one below, because the bulk of
the ship was broadened towards the top. In rowing the greatest
regularity of movement was indispensable; this was attained by the
command of a special captain, and also by marking time with flutes, so
that all the oars might strike the water at the same moment. Here we
meet with a problem, hitherto unsolved: how was it possible for the long
oars of the upper rows to keep stroke with the short ones of the lower
rows? This would have been impossible if the same word of command was
given to all the rowing benches, since the stroke of a long oar would
naturally require more time than that of a short one. Another difficulty
is the great number of oarsmen which would have been required for
Attica, where the number of ships was very considerable; still, the
number of sailors and marines was very small, as in naval warfare the
main object was to sink the enemy’s ship by means of the prow, while
they did not trouble much about shooting and fighting at a distance.
As to the construction of the ships, the prow and stern were, generally
speaking, of similar build; both, as a rule, ended in curves, but there
was usually a lofty decoration of leaves or feathers for the stern,
while at the prow they put the image of a god, or the head of an animal,
or some other picture, which often showed the name of the boat; these
were constructed of wood or bronze, and a flag waved at the top. Below
the prow, for the most part under water, lay the strong beak, made of
boards firmly fastened into the bow, and protected in front by massive
iron points. On the deck there was usually a little canopy at both ends;
in Fig. 194 this is seen on the front deck, and apparently also in Fig.
191, though this may be a little tent used as a protection against the
sun, such as was often placed on the upper deck. The tower at the back,
and the little hut for the helmsman from which he directed both rudders,
are wanting on these pictures. The old ships had two rudders, to the
right and left of the stern; by means of a mechanical contrivance, which
is, however, not represented in the pictures, these two rudders could be
directed at the same time in a parallel direction.
In Figs. 192 and 193 we observe near the bow a round opening,
corresponding to a similar hole in Fig. 191; the object of this was to
enable the anchor-ropes to pass through the ship to the anchors, which
resembled our modern ones in all essentials, and were hung up when not
in use on little projections at both sides of the prow, which also
served the purpose of keeping off the enemy’s ship when avoiding an
attack. On the great mainmast there were, as a rule, two square yard
sails, fastened one over another, with a third above them, and at the
top of the mast two triangular topsails. The ships of war also had two
sails following the length of the ship, which were of particular
importance for turning when the wind blew from the side. The Attic
inscriptions give us many other details about seafaring, but these are
only of special interest for professional sailors.
CHAPTER XIV.
AGRICULTURE, TRADE, AND HANDICRAFT.
The Ancient Greek Prejudice Against Labour--Cultivation of the
Soil--Agricultural Implements--Cattle Rearing--Handicrafts--The
Organisation of Labour--Various Trades--Wholesale and
Retail--Bankers and Money-Changers.
The domains on which the activity of the ancients was chiefly
concentrated were agriculture and cattle rearing, trade, and handicraft.
Intellectual or artistic labour, which at the present day plays a very
important part as a means of earning a livelihood, was hardly considered
at all in Ancient Greece, and the artist, if he worked for pay, was put
on the same footing as the artisan; in fact there were very few
intellectual professions connected with money. These circumstances
changed somewhat in the Hellenistic period; but even there the
intellectual labour of teachers, physicians, etc., would be placed in
the same class with other occupations, though gradually, as the payment
of this labour increased, so did also the estimation in which it was
held.
As to the statistical relation in which agriculture, industry, and trade
stood to one another, there were naturally many changes as civilisation
advanced; and again, local circumstances in every part of Greece, in
every district, and perhaps even every city, as well as the geographical
position, the nature of the land, the adaptability of the soil for
cultivation, etc., were of importance for these branches; and again,
peculiarities of race, national prejudices, were often of great weight
in the choice of a profession. It was an idea not peculiar to the Doric
races, though most strongly developed among them, that in reality every
kind of work done for pay was unsuitable for a citizen, and that his
whole activity should be given without reward to the State; but this
theory--though the main features of it are defended even by philosophers
such as Plato and Aristotle, and it rests on the assumption that every
citizen must have sufficient possessions for himself and his family, and
obtain what he requires by the labour of slaves--was only gradually
developed, and was quite foreign to the Homeric age, as well as to the
period immediately following, in which Hesiod could venture to say that
not work but idleness was disgraceful. Changes in political conditions
produced other changes as well. When the old Monarchy was succeeded by
the rule of the Oligarchs, and the privileged class being in possession
of landed property and numerous slaves, devoted its whole activity to
military and political matters, the prejudice originated that only such
occupations were worthy of a free and noble citizen, and that all work
was low and servile; and it is natural that this opinion should have
been obstinately maintained at Sparta, because the constitution there
kept the character of the Oligarchy most rigidly. In other places a
healthier conception of work gradually prevailed, and, in particular,
the tyrants of the older period tried to combat the disinclination of
the citizens for professional activity; in their case, however, it was
not only reasons of political economy, but also political expediency
that influenced them, since they did not wish to see their rule
threatened by an unoccupied warlike population longing for a share in
the government. But these efforts were only partially crowned with
success, and though in the time of absolute democracy many citizens
practised occupations connected with money, yet the old idea still
prevailed that those really stood on a higher footing whose fortune
permitted them to live without any definite occupation, and we
constantly meet with traces of it even in a philosopher like Socrates,
whose statement that idleness was the sister of freedom reflects the
opinion of the majority with particular emphasis.
The prejudice against many professions was not equally directed against
all. Agriculture was least liable to it. In the heroic period,
agriculture was the chief occupation, not only of the lower classes, but
even of the nobles and princes, who regarded it as no disgrace to
perform with their own hands, or superintend, many duties connected with
farming. It was natural that a change should be gradually introduced in
these patriarchal conditions, and this was due not only to political
revolutions, but also to the advance of civilisation, and the growth of
industrial and commercial life in Greece; yet agriculture always
remained one of the most respected occupations, especially in those
states whose geographical position cut them off from trade, and the
nature of whose soil was suited for agriculture and cattle-rearing; in
these places the citizens too took part in these occupations, though in
other places, especially at Sparta, any work performed with the hands
was regarded as unsuitable for citizens, and was assigned to slaves or
free subjects. In the large towns, such as Athens, where trade and
industry attained a great height, and democracy, growing freer and
freer, tended to advance idleness by official gifts to citizens, such as
the show-money and public meals, agriculture lost in general estimation,
and the citizen of a large town regarded the industrious countryman as
a creature of a lower rank. This was but natural, and we find analogy
for it in many of our modern conditions. Local circumstances naturally
had a good deal to do in determining the position occupied by an
agricultural population. Where the land was good and the profits
considerable, the farmer occupied a better position than in those places
where but a poor harvest rewarded his toil. The soil of Greece was not
everywhere suited for agriculture, and in many places it required the
most careful labour to win any fruits from it. In Hellas, the
mountainous districts are more extensive than the plains suitable for
cultivation; consequently in many places they had to construct
artificial terraces, because the stony ground would not otherwise have
borne any fruit. In other places too, want of water, which in the hot
season of the year often amounted to actual drought, necessitated
artificial irrigation by means of canals and drainage, and again, the
mountain brooks, which often overflowed their banks in the rainy season
and threatened destruction to the fields, had to be regulated by means
of dykes. Descriptions of such structures have come down to us, and many
traces of them may still be found in Greece, some of them even pointing
to very considerable technical knowledge; the State, too, sometimes
undertook work of this kind, as is proved by the office of
water-superintendent, who, in many places, had the control of the
natural and artificial watercourses, and whose duty it was to prevent
undue use, and to inflict fines in such cases.
We know very little about the management of farms and the arrangements
for dividing land among large landowners or small cultivators, in the
separate districts of Greece. Greek antiquity shows no traces of
_latifundia_, such as gradually made way in Italy; there were some large
estates with numerous slave-workers, but small farms were commonest. In
some districts, as for instance in Arcadia, a small peasantry were the
chief part of the population, and it is not surprising, therefore, that
even the leaders of the State did not shrink from taking part in
agricultural labour, though the larger landowners left this to their
slaves and overseers. The Athenians, however, regarded the rough manners
of these smaller farmers as coarse, and the citizens of the larger
towns, accustomed to the refinements of ordinary life, mocked at their
rustic manners; we scarcely ever find any recognition of the fact that a
strong and healthy race of peasants together with an industrious
middle-class is the best means for maintaining the life of a state.
In its technical aspects, ancient agriculture remained in much the same
state throughout the whole of antiquity as it occupied in the heroic
age, and probably this was the common inheritance of the Indo-Germanic
race. In Homer, we find the custom, which always prevailed afterwards,
of alternating only between harvest and fallow; even the succeeding ages
seem to have known nothing of the rotation of crops. The implements used
for the necessary farming occupations were of the simplest kind, in
particular the primitive plough, which was not sufficient to tear up the
earth, so that they had to use the mattock in addition; they had no
harrow or scythe, in place of which they used the sickle, and their
threshing arrangements were most unsatisfactory, since they simply drove
oxen, horses, or mules over the threshing floor, and beat out the ears
with their hoofs, by which means a great part of the harvest was lost.
It was only the large number of labourers at the disposal of the
farmers, in consequence of the numerous slaves, to which at times, when
there was a press of work, they added hired labourers, and the great
care taken in manuring and improving the ground, etc., that enabled them
to earn a living at all. Great wealth was never attained in ancient
Greece by agriculture, certainly not by growing corn; vines and olives
supplied better profits, though here too the instruments used were of
the simplest, but the ground was especially favourable to their
cultivation. Oil, in particular, could be supplied by Greece to foreign
countries, but corn did not grow in a quantity sufficient to provide
their own population, and consequently they had to import a great deal
from foreign countries, especially from the Black Sea, and afterwards
too from Egypt.
[Illustration: FIG. 196.]
Greek writers give us very little information about the life of the
country people; a few simple pictures taken from vase paintings afford
some little notion of it. Fig. 196 represents three countrymen
surrounded by a variety of animals: deer, lizards, a tortoise, a
strange bird, and another creature, perhaps meant to represent a locust;
each of the men is directing a plough drawn by two oxen, holding the
handle in one hand, and in the other the goad-stick for urging on the
beasts. Behind one of the ploughmen walks a man with a large basket on
his left arm, in which, no doubt, there are supposed to be seeds, which
he is about to strew with his right hand. Fig. 197 represents a scene
from the olive harvest. On the right and left of an olive tree sit two
men, before them on the ground stand jars; one of them holds a little
flask in his left hand, and appears to be squeezing the juice of an
olive into it through a funnel, in order to test the quality of the
harvest. The inscription on the picture is, “O, Father Zeus, would that
I might grow rich!” The reverse side of the vessel, not represented
here, shows the fulfilment of this simple prayer in the picture and
inscription.
[Illustration: FIG. 197.]
Cattle-rearing played a very important part in Greek farming. In the
time of Homer it even exceeded agriculture in importance; the wealth of
great people at that time consisted chiefly in herds; to give cattle as
a bridal gift was very common; in calculations of value cattle formed
the basis instead of coined money, which was at that time unknown. The
kinds especially cultivated in the historic period were horses, asses,
mules, and oxen, and also sheep, goats, and swine. Except in a few
districts, horse-rearing was of little importance. The mountainous
nature of the country made the use of horses for driving difficult, nor
do they seem to have been required for carrying burdens; they were
chiefly used for riding purposes, for the cavalry, and also for
travelling, racing, etc.; and in connection with racing horse-rearing
became a favourite occupation of the aristocracy, and almost a mania at
Athens at the time of the Peloponnesian war, when many young men were
ruined by it. Horse-rearing was best developed in Thessaly, where the
wide plains were suitable for the purpose. The Thessalian cavalry was
always noted for its quantity and excellence. For domestic use mules and
asses took the place of horses, especially as beasts of burden. The
mules were used for drawing and for the plough, while the asses were
chiefly employed for carrying burdens. Cattle-rearing seems to have been
more important in the Homeric age than afterwards, when the needs of the
population could not be satisfied by the home growth, and importation of
foreign cattle from the Black Sea and from Africa was necessary. The
small number of herds of cattle was probably due to the fact that in
Greek antiquity very little cow’s milk was drunk, but chiefly goat’s
milk. Sheep-rearing, however, was very general, and brought to great
perfection, since they not only used the flesh and milk of the sheep for
food, but in particular required their skin and wool for clothing. Linen
was not much worn; the country people wore sheepskins, and the rest of
their dress was almost entirely made of sheep’s wool. Excellent
qualities of this were produced by Hellas proper, as well as by the
Greek colonies in Asia Minor and Lower Italy, and a great deal of it was
exported to foreign countries, where the woollen stuffs of Asia Minor,
Attica, and Megara, were held in great repute from most ancient times.
Goats were chiefly kept for the sake of the milk; the skins were used by
the peasants for clothing. The goat’s hair was woven into stuff, not in
Greece itself, but probably in Northern Africa and Cilicia, where a kind
of coarse cloth was manufactured of it, which however was not often used
for clothing. The facility of goat-rearing, which required no special
care, and could be carried on even on rocky ground, where but little
grass grew, enabled it to become very extensive, and we find it, in
fact, throughout almost the whole of Greece in ancient times.
Swine-rearing, on the other hand, played a very small part, for it was
not sufficiently remunerative. Although the flesh was used for food,
yet, in the historic period it was not so popular a dish as in the age
of Homer, and they did not understand how to draw a profit in other ways
from swine. Cattle-rearing was conducted on tolerably rational
principles. They were very careful in the choice of the animals used for
breeding, and in very early times attempts were made to improve the race
by importing foreign kinds from other countries. The cattle were chiefly
fed on pasture; the herds were driven out not only in summer, but even
in winter, when the climate permitted it; and in summer they were taken
to the mountains and forests, in winter to the plains. The sheep got
most attention, because the excellence of the wool depended on the care
they received, and Diogenes is supposed to have said that it was better
at Megara to be a ram than the son of a citizen, for the sheep were
carefully covered up, but the children were allowed to run about naked.
This custom of covering the sheep with skins to preserve the wool
existed in other places too. As Greece was not rich in pasture land,
there was a difficulty occasionally in providing sufficient pasture for
the herds; sometimes they had to be sent to very distant parts, it even
happened that states made treaties together, which permitted the
citizens of one state to use the pasture land of another for a fixed
period.
During the Homeric age, handicraftsmen seem to have been in a position
which, corresponding to the ideas entertained in ancient times about
physical labour, was by no means despised. This is easily
comprehensible, since even the gods were represented as undertaking the
labour of artisans; Hephaestus working at a forge, Athene weaving; and
we find even the heroes, the princes, and nobles sometimes themselves
working as carpenters and joiners, and with their own hands constructing
some object for their home; nowhere in Homer do we find a trace of
contempt for hand-work. Of course, handicrafts were not much developed
at that time, and there were only a small number of crafts which could
be looked upon as actual trades, such as that of smiths, workers in
gold, carpenters, stone masons, etc., while many occupations which
afterwards formed a distinct trade were performed at home by the masters
and slaves. In later times a very important change took place connected
with the political and social revolutions already mentioned.
Agriculture and cattle-rearing were still regarded as an occupation
which a free citizen might carry on without degrading himself, since the
more menial part of the work was performed by slaves or hired labourers,
and the master only superintended; but the work of the handicraftsmen
was designated by them with the word mechanical (βάναυσος), a word
indicating a contempt that cannot be expressed in the translation. This
word expressed the full scorn felt by the free citizen living on his own
fortune, and devoting all his intellectual and physical powers to the
State--of the gentleman, in fact--for the man with the horny hand, who
toiled in his workshop to earn his daily bread. This reproach of
“mechanical” was never aimed at the rich owner of a number of slaves,
who worked for his benefit; a factory owner need not take part in the
work himself, but had his overseers to attend to that; it was the little
man who had no other hands to work for him, and who wielded the hammer
himself, or who worked the cloth in the fuller’s shop, whom they looked
down on. In vain wise lawgivers tried to call the attention of the
citizens to the blessing of handicraft, and the honourable nature of
this occupation; in vain the democrats gave political equality to
artisans by permitting them to vote and speak in the Assembly of the
people along with the other citizens; while there was even a law
forbidding anyone publicly to reproach a citizen with his occupation.
There were some states in which an important part of the prosperity
depended on handicrafts, and there a more moderate view gradually made
way, but, generally speaking, the contempt for handicraft remained and
continued, the rather as even philosophers regarded it as but a
necessary evil. Doubtless they recognised the usefulness of
handicrafts, but still they maintained that work of this kind in the
workshop, near the hot furnace or in the gloomy room, was not suited to
a free citizen, and that the effort of gaining money which was connected
with it was injurious to the mind, and made it coarse and uncultivated,
and it was thus that the word _banausos_ came to be synonymous with
common, low, and stupid. No wonder that even the artists, whose work
depended on handicraft, and who, with few exceptions, worked for pay,
were put in the same class with shoemakers, bakers, and smiths! It is
strange indeed, that this depreciation of handicraft observed throughout
Greek literature in no way prevented the development and perfection of
the technical arts of Greece. There were many branches of it which
continued for centuries at the same point without making any technical
advances; but still trades attained a high degree of perfection in
antiquity, though it was chiefly in those where the practical element
was not as important as the artistic that the natural sense of beauty of
the Greeks made itself felt, so that there are numerous productions of
ancient handicraft which even our modern trades cannot rival. In fact,
we might almost say that, with the exception of such trades as bakers,
butchers, or fullers, Greek handicraft in almost every branch developed
into art, while at the present day there are only a few branches which
rise above the ordinary craft level.
The handicrafts were partly in the hands of citizens, and partly in
those of free settlers (μέτοικοι) and slaves. The proportion in which
they were divided among these three classes varied a good deal according
to time and the nature of the occupation. At Athens the number of free
citizens who carried on handicrafts was not small, in spite of the
contempt in which they were held; in Peloponnesus, it was only Sparta
where the free citizen kept aloof from all trades, while in the other
states the conditions were much the same as at Athens and elsewhere. The
resident foreigners formed a very important part of the workmen; at the
time when industry flourished most in Attica, trade seems to have been
almost entirely in their hands; and it is but natural that in those
countries where the free citizens kept aloof from trade, the settlers
who performed their labour with the help of slaves should have formed a
great part of the working population. Every master workman whose
position permitted kept working slaves; rich capitalists invested their
money in large undertakings, in which the work was done by a great
number of slaves, who either belonged to them or were hired for the
purpose. We shall have occasion later on to discuss the conditions under
which they worked.
We know very little about the organisation of labour. There were no
castes compelled by law to undertake certain trades, though in some
places special occupations were hereditary; thus, for instance, at
Sparta, the cooks and flute players always belonged to particular
families. Otherwise, when we find any occupation hereditary, this is not
due to legal compulsion, but to natural causes; thus the sons of
sculptors very often became sculptors, or the medical profession was
handed down in certain families, and so on. Nor do we meet with the
guilds so early developed in Italy; these are not heard of until the
Roman period, when we find them in Asia Minor. It is uncertain to what
extent the State was concerned with trade and its productions. There do
not seem to have been any limitations put upon it except certain police
regulations, such as that at Athens, which compelled tanners and
cheesemongers to have their workshops and booths outside the denser
parts of the city on account of the smell. There do not seem to have
been any taxes on trade; at Athens there was a toll on hetaerae; at
Byzantium jugglers, soothsayers, etc., paid one; but there is no reason
to suppose that handicrafts were taxed in the same way.
[Illustration: FIG. 198.]
It would be impossible to enter into the technical details of all the
trades. A few pictures taken from the life of artisans must suffice
instead. The terra-cotta figure, No. 198, represents an artisan in his
usual costume, the exomis, which left the right side free, and the
pilos, or felt cap; it is not clear from the picture what occupation he
is carrying on, since the object in his left hand is not distinct. Fig.
199 introduces us to a shoemaker at his work; he is seated on a low
stool in front of his work-table, and with one hand holds a piece of
leather, stretched over a board of hard wood; he is just about to cut it
out with the curved shoemaker’s knife; a second knife is suspended above
near some shoes, a hammer, and some strips of leather on the wall. Fig.
200 also introduces us into a shoemaker’s workshop. Here a girl is being
measured for a pair of shoes; for this purpose she has got
[Illustration: Fig. 199.]
on the table, so that the bearded workman, who is sitting in front of
it, may mark the outline of her soles on the leather on which she is
standing. In his right hand the shoemaker holds his crescent, a knife
with a curved blade; the apprentice, seated on the other side, is
holding a piece of leather bent together, probably destined to make the
upper part of the shoes. A white-haired old man, perhaps the master of
the workshop, or the father of the girl, stands by giving directions;
tools, lasts, strips of leather, and such like, are hung round on the
walls. Fig. 201, the counterpart to Fig. 200, represents a smithy. Near
the hearth, of which only a portion can be seen, crouches a young
workman, holding a piece of iron on the anvil with the forceps in his
right hand, while another workman, also without any clothing, strikes
the iron with a massive hammer, suspended above his head by both hands.
Two men wearing the himation, perhaps visitors to the workshop, are
seated on low stools. On the ground lie a hammer and forceps; on the
walls hang tools, such as hammers, chisels, drills, and productions of
the workshop, viz. a sword and a can.
Fig. 202 introduces us to the workshop of an artist and a metal founder.
In the presence of two men dressed in the himation, leaning on their
sticks, two workmen are occupied in chiselling or working over the
colossal figure of a warrior, represented in a posture of attack, which
is placed under a scaffolding. There is another colossal figure of a
naked youth, who has fallen to the ground, and is stretching out his
arms as though praying for help. Here the head has not yet been added,
for as a rule the ancients composed their large bronze figures in
several pieces; the head lies on the ground near the statue, at which a
workman is doing something with his hammer, perhaps trying to smooth
away roughness produced in the casting. This second figure seems to be
connected with the first, and the whole to represent a group of
combatants. A little further is the furnace, behind which stands an
assistant looking round; a workman crouching on a low stool wears the
cap usually worn by labourers with fire, and consequently represented in
pictures of Hephaestus; he is stoking the coals in the
[Illustration: FIG. 200.]
furnace to a fresh glow with a long pole curved at the end, and a second
apprentice stands looking at him, leaning on his hammer. On the walls
hang a variety of tools--hammers, files, a saw, etc.; also models of
feet and heads, and little tablets representing sketches of whole men
and animals.
No less interesting is the workshop of a vase painter, represented in
Fig. 203. Here we see a youth seated in an armchair, with a large
two-handled cup on his knee, which he is painting with the brush held in
his right hand; near him stands a little low table, on which are several
pots containing paints or varnish. Behind him a young apprentice, who
also has pots on the ground near him, is painting a large amphora; on
the right a second boy and a girl are working at a cup and another
amphora, while a jar and a large drinking-cup (κάνθαρος) stand on the
ground, and other vessels hang on the wall. Athene, the patroness of the
arts, and Nike are hasting to crown the skilful labourers as the reward
of industry.
It is difficult to determine the kind of work which the magnificent old
man in Fig. 204, a terra-cotta figure from Tanagra, is doing; in front
of him is a board with which he is occupied, and a little gridiron. Some
have pronounced him a baker, others a maker of plaster of Paris tablets,
others a tanner; perhaps he might be a cook, seated in the street, and
frying some quickly-cooked dish over the gridiron, in order to sell it
to the common people, who often procured their food in this way from
travelling cooks.
Even worse than the position of the artisans was that of the hired
workmen, that is, those labourers who, though free citizens, had not
learnt any technical art with which they could earn their living, and
who were therefore obliged to hire themselves out for
[Illustration: FIG. 201.]
hard bodily labour. Not only citizens, but even their wives, were often
driven by need to perform such menial offices as day labourers in mills
or in the fields; many such workmen carried weights in the harbour, or
helped to load or unload the goods, to carry stones for building, etc.
The pay was very small, if only on account of the competition of slave
labour; sometimes a day’s wages was three or four obols, though higher
amounts are mentioned. The fleets, and in particular the rowing boats,
were manned out of this class, which was socially regarded as the
lowest, and which bore the name of “thetes.”
[Illustration: FIG. 202.]
In the eyes of the Greeks, tradesmen stood on the same footing as
mechanical labourers. There was, of course, a distinction; if the
cultured Greek, who occupied himself only with higher intellectual
pursuits, despised the artisan because he regarded his bodily activity
as unworthy of a free man, the tradesman seemed to him contemptible
because he was influenced only by desire for gain, and all his striving
was to get the advantage over others. The
[Illustration: FIG. 203.]
profit and wealth accruing to so many Greek states from trade was not
sufficient to decrease the prejudice against money-making occupations,
even the common people were not able to understand that the merchant, on
account of the risk of injury, or even loss of his goods, changing
conditions of price, and all his own trouble involved, was obliged to
demand a higher price for his wares than what had been originally paid
by himself; and the opinion that the merchant’s business was based on
love of gain and deceit was so common that even a philosophical
intellect like Aristotle’s was under the influence of this prejudice. It
is possible that the Greek merchants often deserved the reputation of
dishonesty which they bore; their predecessors, the Phoenicians, who had
formerly carried on the whole trade of Greece, had not unduly been
reproached with deceit and even robbery and piracy, and it is possible
that there were traces of this still visible in the Greek merchants.
Still the contempt for the merchant class was not equally directed at
all; the wholesale dealer who imported his wares from a distance, and
had little personal contact with the public, was less affected by it; in
trading cities, such as Aegina and Athens, a great number of the rich
citizens belonged to this class. But the small trader was the more
exposed to the reproach of false weights and measures, adulteration of
goods, especially food, and all manner of deceitful tricks. Some
complaints were made that are still heard at the present day, that the
wine dealers mixed water with their wine, that the cloth-workers used
artificial dressing to make their materials look thicker, that the
poulterers blew out the birds to make them seem fatter, etc. Worst of
all was the reputation of the corn dealers. The division between
[Illustration: FIG. 204.]
wholesale and retail traders seems to have been somewhat sharper in
Greek antiquity than at the present day, partly because the former were
not only merchants but also seafarers. The wholesale dealers as a rule
were owners of ships; they fetched their goods themselves on their
journeys, or commissioned responsible subordinates in their place. The
ship was laden at home with goods which were likely to find a good sale
at the port to which she journeyed; of course the owner made inquiries
beforehand about the best places for disposing of his goods, the private
conditions, possible competition, etc. It was, therefore, very important
to hit the right moment, and artificial manoeuvres for sending up the
price of goods were not unknown. Arrived at their destination, the wares
were publicly sold, for which purpose bazaars were erected in large
harbours; then the goods were either bought collectively by a wholesale
dealer, or in small quantities by smaller traders; there were also
agents who undertook the mediation between the buyer and seller in
return for a commission. As a rule, therefore, goods were purchased with
the money, chiefly products of the country which might be sold with
advantage at home; it was almost necessary to make fresh purchases,
since the money of another state would have no value at home, though
Attic money could pass current anywhere. A merchant did not always
content himself with putting in at one single port; he often visited a
succession of neighbouring ports, calling at smaller stations on the
way, sometimes selling, sometimes buying, and often the cargo of a ship
changed three or four times during a journey. Probably these wholesale
dealers did not deal only with particular goods as at the present day,
but took anything which was likely to find a good sale, such as corn,
wine, oil, honey, skins, wool, clothes, textile ware, metal work, even
statues and books. Payment was made in coined money, and the calculation
cannot always have been an easy one, owing to the variety of money
systems prevailing in antiquity. In the Homeric age barter was usual,
but afterwards this ceased in civilised countries, though in some
districts, as for instance the neighbourhood of the Black Sea, it
continued for some time longer.
Very different was the position and occupation of the retail dealer or
pedlar. He did not travel by sea, scarcely even by land, but usually
carried on his business at one place; he either bought his goods direct
from the producers or from the wholesale dealers, and offered them for
sale in open shops or in booths on the market-place; in large towns
there were special stands or markets for particular goods, but those who
offered their wares at these places were usually the producers
themselves, thus at the Pot Market at Athens, the wares were offered by
real potters, who had doubtless made them themselves. We must therefore
distinguish between shopkeepers who lived only by trade, and did not
themselves produce, and producers, who brought their own goods to
market; the latter were regarded as merchants by the ancients, and the
hatred, where it existed, was chiefly directed at the small shopkeepers,
who sold their wares for as high prices as possible. In small cities the
circumstances may have been somewhat different, for it was only the most
important trades connected with food and clothing that were carried on
there, and many branches were not represented at all; consequently many
kinds of goods had to be imported for sale by the small shopkeepers. No
doubt the inhabitants of the small towns and even the country people
often went to the capital to satisfy their wants, especially to the
great markets held on fixed days of the month, usually on the first; the
national festivals too provided opportunities for many kinds of
purchases, since a sort of fair was usually connected with them.
In the market-places of large towns there were usually covered arcades
in which the merchants and dealers set up their wares; in some places
there were market-halls of this kind for special goods, such as corn,
oil, ointments, etc. Besides these permanent places of sale, there were
light booths of a temporary nature, constructed in tent fashion of woven
reeds and linen. The life in the market-place probably resembled that of
the present day in the south; the custom of calling out and extolling
goods existed in ancient Greece as well, and so did the excessive
demands of the seller and the depreciation on the part of the purchaser,
and even the notorious rudeness of the fish-wives seems to have been
known to the Greeks. We find mention also of peddling, and carrying
wares from house to house, and this was chiefly the case with
provisions.
Greek art supplies very few pictures from the trader’s life. Fig. 205,
taken from a vase-painting, though a caricature, has an especial
interest on account of its subject: a certain king Arcesilas of Cyrene
(probably mythical), is represented as a dealer in silphium; it is well
known that the silphium plant, so much valued by ancient epicures, came
from Cyrene, and was an important article of trade. Under a canopy, the
curtains of which are suspended by rings, stands a large pair of scales,
at which five men are weighing goods, some of which are heaped up on the
scales and others lying about on the ground.
[Illustration: FIG. 205.]
Most of the goods are as yet unpacked; these workmen, however, have
already filled large woollen sacks with them, and one of them is in the
act of tying his up, while another is carrying his away. The weighing
and packing are conducted under the superintendence of king Arcesilas,
who is seated close by, holding in his left hand his sceptre, and with
his right apparently giving directions to a workman standing before him.
His costume is very extraordinary. The panther under the prince’s seat,
a lizard, a stork (or crane), a monkey, and several pigeons, give life
to the picture, and partly indicate the place where the scene is laid.
Below the main picture, where we must suppose the cellar for the stores
to be, workmen are piling up finished packets, under the direction of a
man in a cloak.
Occupations connected with money were largely developed in antiquity.
The merchants who dealt with such business--the bankers and
money-changers--were called by the Greeks “table-merchants”
(τραπεζῖται), from the table at which they originally carried on their
occupations. Their duties were of a double nature; besides the actual
business of changing, they undertook the investment of capital and the
transaction of money business. When the increased coinage of money and
the augmentation of trade and travel brought large sums into the hands
of individuals, those who had not invested their possessions in wares or
property or slaves, naturally desired to profit by it in some other way,
and thus the loan business was gradually developed, in which capitalists
lent money to those who required it for any mercantile undertaking, in
return for a security and interest. In the bond executed in the presence
of witnesses, the amount of the capital, the interest agreed upon, as
well as the time for which the loan was arranged, had to be entered. For
greater safety, a third person usually became security for the debtor,
or else some possession was mortgaged, the value of which corresponded
to the sum lent. They distinguished between pledges in movable objects,
such as cattle, furniture, slaves, etc.; and mortgages given partly on
movable objects, such as factory slaves, and partly on immovable
property. Mortgages of this kind were very common in seafaring business.
The merchant who borrowed money from a rich citizen in order to carry
on a particular business with it, pledged his ship or the goods with
which he dealt, or perhaps both, to his creditor in a formal contract.
They endeavoured to obtain as much security as possible by very exact
arrangements concerning the object of the journey, the nature of the
goods, etc.; moreover, the interest in business of this kind was very
high, because the creditor ran the risk of losing his bargain entirely,
or in part, by storms, or pirates, or other misfortunes. Mortgages were
also given on property in land, and the creditor’s right of ownership
was inscribed on stone tablets set up on the property in question, with
the name of the creditor and the amount of the debt. In some places the
State itself conducted books for mortgages, in which all the property
was entered, together with the amount of the mortgages upon it. Here, as
in other loans, interest was high, and this was due to the insecurity of
trade and the very incomplete development of agricultural conditions.
There were no laws against usury; from ten to twenty per cent., or
higher if it was for risk at sea, was common, but there were even cases
where thirty-six or forty-eight per cent. were taken. Of course, in
these circumstances complaints of extortion were made.
The arrangement of this money business was chiefly in the hands of the
bankers. Their original and chief occupation was the changing of
money--the various kinds of coinage which became current through foreign
trade; and here they got their profit from the rate of exchange. They
also lent money, both small sums and capital for trade and other
business undertakings, and this was their share in these monetary
transactions. Rich people often invested their money with these bankers,
who paid them interest and gave them security or pledges; they then
themselves lent the money to men of business, and on account of the risk
naturally demanded higher interest than they paid. But even when money
was lent direct by a capitalist to a merchant, the mediation of a banker
was often resorted to in concluding the contract; for these men were
well known to the public on account of their extensive business, and
possessed considerable business knowledge. As a rule, though some were
known as usurers, and trickery and bankruptcy occasionally occurred,
they enjoyed so much confidence that they were gladly engaged as
witnesses in business contracts, and requested to take charge of the
documents. Money also was deposited with them, for which no particular
use appeared at the moment, and which would not be safe if kept at home;
of course, if this capital lay idle the banker could pay no interest,
but often demanded a sum for taking charge of the deposit. Some of them
left their money in the hands of money-changers to increase the business
capital, and the extent to which this was done is proved by the fact
that the banker Pasion, at the time of Demosthenes, in a business
capital of 50 talents (£11,700), had 11 talents (£2,593) lent by private
persons.
CHAPTER XV.
SLAVERY.
Slaves in Ancient Greece--Captives Taken in War--The Slave
Trade--The Price of Slaves--Native Serfs--The Helots--The Penestae
and the Clarotae--The Status of the Slave--Protection against
Ill-treatment--The Slave’s Duties--Modes of Liberation.
All the social and economic conditions of antiquity are based on the
institution of slavery, and without it would have been impossible; in
fact, slavery is so closely interwoven with the whole life of antiquity
that even the political development of the ancient nations and their
achievements in the domain of art and industry would be inexplicable
without the existence of a large slave population. So great was the
importance of slavery in antiquity that any account of Greek life would
be incomplete, which did not give some slight sketch of these peculiar
conditions.
The institution of slavery in Greece is very ancient; it is impossible
to trace its origin, and we find it even in the very earliest times
regarded as a necessity of nature, a point of view which even the
following ages and the most enlightened philosophers adopted. In later
times voices were heard from time to time protesting against the
necessity of the institution, showing some slight conception of the idea
of human rights, but these were only isolated opinions. From the very
earliest times the right of the strongest had established the custom
that captives taken in war, if not killed or ransomed, became the slaves
of the conquerors, or were sold into slavery by them. This custom,
which was universal in the Homeric age, continued to exist in the
historic period also, so that not only was it adopted in contests
between Hellenes and barbarians, but even in the numerous feuds between
Hellenes and Hellenes they often condemned their own countrymen to the
hard lot of slavery; in later times, however, it was only in cases of
special animosity that they resorted to this expedient; as a rule, they
exchanged or ransomed captive Greeks. Besides the wars, piracy,
originally regarded as by no means dishonourable, supplied the slave
markets; and though in later times endeavours were made to set a limit
to it, yet the trade in human beings never ceased, since the need for
slaves was considerable, not only in Greece, but still more in Oriental
countries.
In the historic period the slaves in Greece were for the most part
barbarians, chiefly from the districts north of the Balkan peninsula and
Asia Minor. The Greek dealers supplied themselves from the great slave
markets held in the towns on the Black Sea and on the Asiatic coast of
the Archipelago, not only by the barbarians themselves, but even by
Greeks, in particular the Chians, who carried on a considerable slave
trade. These slaves were then put up for sale at home; at Athens there
were special markets held for this purpose on the first of every month;
the slaves were arranged on platforms, so that the buyers might examine
them on all sides, for they sought chiefly to obtain physical perfection
and strength of limb for hard work, and therefore, if the purchasers
desired it, the slaves had to be undressed. Of course, those slaves who
were bought merely for the sake of their bodily strength were least
valuable; a higher price was given for those who had any special skill
or were suited for posts of confidence, and considerable prices were
also given for pretty female slaves or handsome boys. Consequently,
there was great variety of price; at the time of Xenophon the price for
a common male slave, who was only suited for rough work, was half a mina
(about £2), else the ordinary average was two minae (about £8); for
slaves who possessed any technical skill or higher education the price
rose from five to ten minae (£20-£40), and even in exceptional cases
amounted to one talent (£240).
A large portion of the slave population consisted of those who were born
in slavery; that is, the children of slaves or of a free father and
slave mother, who as a rule also became slaves, unless the owner
disposed otherwise. We have no means of knowing whether the number of
these slave children born in the houses in Greece was large or small. At
Rome they formed a large proportion of the slave population, but the
circumstances in Italy differed greatly from those in Greece, and the
Roman landowners took as much thought for the increase of their slaves
as of their cattle. Besides these two classes of slave population, those
who were taken in war or by piracy and those who were born slaves, there
was also a third, though not important, class. In early times even free
men might become slaves by legal methods; for instance foreign
residents, if they neglected their legal obligations, and even Greeks,
if they were insolvent, might be sold to slavery by their creditors, a
severe measure which was forbidden by Solon’s legislation at Athens, but
still prevailed in other Greek states. Children, when exposed, became
the property of those who found and educated them, and in this manner
many of the hetaerae and flute girls had become the property of their
owners.
Finally, we know that in some countries the Hellenic population
originally resident there were subdued by foreign tribes, and became the
slaves of their conquerors, and their position differed in but few
respects from that of the barbarian slaves purchased in the markets.
Such native serfs were the Helots at Sparta, the Penestae in Thessaly,
the Clarotae in Crete, etc. We have most information about the position
and treatment of the Helots; but here we must receive the statements of
writers with great caution, since they undoubtedly exaggerated a good
deal in their accounts of the cruelty with which the Spartans treated
the Helots. Still, it is certain that in many respects their lot was a
sad one. The constant fear of general insurrection on the part of the
Helots entertained by the Spartans, whose own numbers were far fewer,
and the terrible severity with which they punished, not only real
insurrection, but even merely suspected revolution, prove to us that the
statements concerning the cruel treatment of the Helots are not
absolutely without foundation. But, as a rule, they did not perform
menial slave offices in the houses of the free citizens, but cultivated
their lands, and as they were only obliged to hand over a certain part
of the profit to the owners, they were able to keep the remainder for
themselves, and sometimes to accumulate fortunes and even to purchase
their freedom. Nor do we hear of cases in which individual Spartans
treated the Helots who were subordinate to them with especial
severity--most of the cases of cruelty towards Helots are those in which
State reasons seemed to require such proceedings, and were aimed, not at
individuals, but at the whole mass of slaves. This was due to a curious
arrangement by which the Helots were not, like other slaves, private
property of the Individual citizens, but State property and assigned to
a particular piece of land, and along with it to the owner for the time
being, without enabling him to maintain right of ownership over them. We
must not therefore regard the Helots in the same light as ordinary
slaves; they were rather public serfs, and on this account they were
better off than those who belonged to individual owners. There seems no
doubt that besides the Helots there were also private slaves at Sparta,
who rendered personal services in the households.
The position and treatment of the slaves varied in different periods,
and differed also in the different parts of Greece. Here, too, the
conditions of the heroic age were patriarchal, and the distinction
between free men and slaves was not so great as afterwards. Trustworthy
slaves superintended extensive farms and numerous herds; old female
slaves had the whole direction of the household; they were often
intimately connected with the inmates of the house, and showed touching
fidelity and affection for their masters, with whom they lived on a
familiar footing. Similar conditions existed in later times too, but
only in remote pasture districts, such as Arcadia, where even in the
historic age the slaves were almost regarded as members of the family,
ate at the same table as their masters, and shared their labours and
recreations. Generally speaking, the Dorians were regarded as stern
masters, and the Athenians as kinder and more considerate; in fact, a
common reproach against the Athenians was that their kindness
degenerated into weakness, and that the slaves were nowhere so insolent
as at Athens; they expressed themselves freely, it was said, did not
give way even to free citizens in the street, they drank, they met
together for common banquets, carried on love affairs, etc., just like
free men. These reproaches seem not to have been altogether exaggerated,
as is proved by the important part played by slaves in the newer Attic
comedy; they were usually insolent, cunning fellows, who cared little
for an occasional beating, and were always ready to play their masters a
trick, or to intrigue with the sons against their stern fathers. Still
it was not unusual in Attica for slaves to run away, and therefore the
slave-owners tried to prevent this by stern supervision, and even by
chaining and branding. It is natural that the temperament of the
Athenians, which changed quickly from extreme to extreme, should not
often succeed in finding the right mean between severity and kindness,
and therefore, in their sudden transitions from excessive consideration
to severest cruelty, a real feeling of attachment between slaves and
masters was very rare; still there were instances of devoted fidelity on
the part of the slaves, and many inscriptions still extant speak of such
devotion continuing even to the grave.
The rights assigned by law to the master over his slaves were very
considerable. He might throw them in chains, put them in the stocks,
condemn them to the hardest labour--for instance, in the mills--leave
them without food, brand them, punish them with stripes, and attain the
utmost limit of endurance; but, at any rate at Athens, he was forbidden
to kill them. These severe punishments were generally reserved for
special cases of obstinacy, theft, or such like; as a rule, the slaves
were treated much as our servants are. Their masters gave them the
ordinary dress of artisans and workmen--the exomis, or short garment
with sleeves (compare the terra-cotta figure, No. 206);
[Illustration: FIG. 206.]
their food was simple but nutritious, chiefly barley porridge and pulse,
sometimes meat; their drink was the cheap wine of the country; they had
their own sleeping apartments, usually those of the male slaves were
separated from those of the female, except when the master allowed a
slave to found a family and to live with one of his fellow-slaves. Legal
marriages between slaves were not possible, since they possessed no
personal rights; the owner could at any moment separate a slave family
again, and sell separate members of it. On the other hand, if the slaves
were in a position to earn money, they could acquire fortunes of their
own; they then worked on their own account, and only paid a certain
proportion to their owners, keeping the rest for themselves, and when
they had saved the necessary amount they could purchase their freedom,
supposing the owner was willing to agree, for he was not compelled.
Generally speaking, the position of the public slaves was even more
favourable. There were certain occupations which free men were unwilling
to undertake, and for this purpose the State used slaves; thus, for
instance, at Athens the executioner, torturers, gaolers, and police were
all slaves; they had their own dwellings assigned them by the State,
could possess property, and received a small salary from the State out
of which they had to feed and clothe themselves; they could also earn
money by other kinds of work, and sometimes attained a position of
fortune. Some of them, as for instance the Athenian police, held a
position which gave them certain rights over the citizens, and,
therefore, the position of these public slaves must have been a very
independent one, while the numerous temple slaves also felt the hardness
of their position much less than those whose owners were private
persons.
The protection given to slaves by the State was very small, but here
again there were differences in different states. It was only in cases
of the utmost emergency that the State interfered between master and
slave. In the oldest period the owner had power of life and death over
his slave, but later legislation put an end to this, and at Athens, in
particular, the master might not even kill a slave if he found him
committing a crime, the penalty of which was death; cases of necessary
defence, or such where the crime could only be prevented by killing the
perpetrator, were, of course, excluded. If any owner had killed his
slave without being able to justify himself, he was punished for so
doing, not as severely as though he had murdered a free man, but only as
if it were a case of manslaughter. Further protection against excessive
ill-treatment from their masters was given by the right of sanctuary,
which permitted the slave to take refuge at the altar of some god, where
he found, at any rate, protection for the time being; they might even,
supposing they were too cruelly used by their masters, ask to be sold to
another master, and it even appears as if the owner could be legally
compelled to grant this request. In other respects the State took little
notice of slaves, except to forbid certain things, such as gymnastic
exercises, love-making with free citizens, participation in certain
festivals and sacrifices. Very curious and characteristic of the view
they held of slaves, were the arrangements when a slave had to give
evidence in a court of law. So bad was their opinion of the moral
character of barbarians, and especially of those who were not free, that
they thought the slaves could only be induced to speak the truth by
direct physical compulsion, and consequently they were always questioned
under torture. If in a suit one party required the testimony of his
opponent’s slave, the latter could refuse it, but he did so at the risk
of losing the suit. Sometimes a master voluntarily offered his slave as
witness. If the torture, of which there were various grades, some of
them very severe, inflicted any lasting injury on his body or health,
the owner might demand compensation, supposing that he was not the loser
in the case.
The mode in which slaves were used varied a good deal, according as an
owner required his slaves for his own personal service or household, or
used them for work in the field or at some trade, or sent them out to
work for others. Among those in the personal service of their master
were all who were occupied with the duties of the household and service
and attendance on their master and his family. Their number was, of
course, regulated by the size of the household; a poor family had often
to content itself with a single slave, but very few were so poor as not
to have any; in large houses a whole army of slaves was kept, who all
had their special duties, though often very slight ones. There were the
door-keeper, the slaves who attended their master or his family in the
street, the paidagogos, the lady’s maid, the cook, the coachman, the
stable boys, water carriers, wool workers, etc. This whole army of
servants was usually under the direct supervision of a superintendent or
steward, himself a slave, but a particularly trustworthy one, who was
often trusted so much by his master as to have charge of his keys and
his signet ring. The office of these stewards was of particular
importance on the country estates, where they had all the slaves
required for farming purposes immediately under them, and had to assign
them occupations and superintend their work, unless the master undertook
this or himself took up his dwelling on the estate. Slaves who could
fill such posts of confidence would, of course, fetch a very high price,
and their position can in no way be compared with that of ordinary
slaves. The same may be said of those who possessed some intellectual
culture, and could serve their masters as secretaries or readers, or
even help them in scientific labours, by making extracts, etc.; but this
was far rarer among the barbarian slaves of the Greeks than among the
Greek slaves of the Romans. The slaves could also render their masters
important assistance by technical skill; thus, in a rich household,
there would be, besides the cook, a special baker for bread and cakes,
also weavers, fullers, embroiderers, whose duty it was to provide the
clothing. And as the slaves in the country had to work in field and
meadow, to attend the vineyards, and olive gardens, to guard and attend
the cattle, so the artisan set his slaves to work in his workshop, and
either instructed them himself in his art or bought such as were already
trained for the purpose. Even physicians often had slave assistants, and
some of these were so much trusted by their masters that they took their
place by the sick bed.
It was very common, too, for people who were not themselves artisans to
own a number of slaves who practised some particular trade, as in a
factory. Among the ancients slaves took the place of machinery, for they
were tolerably cheap to buy and maintain, and thus a factory of this
kind, worked by slaves, was a good investment for capital, especially if
the owner understood enough business to undertake the direction himself,
or if he had a good overseer. These factory owners also escaped the
prejudices against artisans; to own slaves who made money by the work of
their hands was not regarded as “mechanical” so long as they kept their
own hands from the work. Thus the father of Demosthenes possessed a
knife factory, that of Isocrates a flute factory, Lysias and his brother
owned a shield factory of one hundred and twenty workers. The slaves who
worked in these were not all necessarily the property of the owner. Very
often a slave proprietor who did not understand a business himself, let
his house to someone who carried it on at his own risk; or, supposing a
master to possess among his slaves one who understood some particular
trade, he let him out for a certain time at a fee (which was paid not to
the slave, but to the master) to someone who could make use of him,
perhaps in a large factory. In this way slaves were often let out for
work in the mines, which required a great many hands; in fact, they
might be let out for a long or short period, even for days and
half-days, for work in the fields, domestic occupations, personal
service, etc. Many of the flute girls and hetaerae were slaves, and were
hired out by their owners by the hour, day, or month, an arrangement
with which we are familiar from ancient comedy.
Moreover, it sometimes happened that slaves who had learned some
profession made an agreement with their masters to pay them a certain
proportion of their earnings, and keep the rest for themselves;
sometimes these lived in their own houses and paid for their own food,
and might easily earn enough to purchase their freedom.
There were various ways of liberating slaves, and the proceedings were
different in different states; it was a matter of some importance too,
whether a slave was private property or owned by the State or by some
sanctuary. There was no definite legal formula for the manumission of
private slaves as at Rome; the State did not interfere in the matter,
but only demanded a certain tax from the liberated slave. As a rule, the
act of manumission was performed before witnesses or publicly in some
large assembly, at the Theatre, in courts of law, etc., in order to give
the freed man a guarantee of its validity. It often happened that an
owner gave all or some of his slaves their freedom in his will, either
immediately upon his death or on the condition that the slave should
serve his heirs for a certain period, or pay a certain sum to them out
of his own earnings in return for his freedom. If a slave purchased his
freedom during the lifetime of his master there was a curious
arrangement for establishing the legality of the proceeding, since a
slave was not able to conclude a legally valid contract. We owe our
knowledge of this proceeding chiefly to documents at Delphi. A mock sale
had to be carried on; the master sold the slave for a sum mentioned in
the contract (which was paid by the slave himself, unless it was
remitted by the master) to some god, _e.g._ at Delphi to Apollo, under
the condition that he should be free as soon as he entered the
possession of the god. The slave did not then become a temple slave, but
was set free by the god, probably in return for some small payment to
the sanctuary. As these contracts were concluded in the presence of
witnesses, usually priests of the divinity in question, and deposited in
the sanctuary, the freed slave had the security of not being afterwards
claimed by his former master or his heirs, and again losing his freedom.
Sometimes these contracts contained clauses which pledged the slave to
certain obligations towards his master as long as he lived, or towards
his heirs, or to care for the burial and grave of his former master,
etc. In most cases the freed slave did not immediately lose all
connection with his old master; he was not a citizen, and therefore his
former owner became his legal patron. It was not unusual for the
contract to specify that in case the slave should die without children,
his property should belong to his former master or his heirs, and
sometimes this even extended to the children of the slave, supposing
they in turn died without legal heirs. It may have often happened, as
was also the case among some of the Russian serfs in our own time, that
the freed slave was richer than his master, and we may thus explain such
obligations as those already mentioned, or the condition that the
liberated slave should maintain his master until his death. The right of
citizenship was seldom conferred on slaves when they were set free;
supposing this was the case, of course, all such obligations were
omitted. This was usually done when a slave had deserved especially well
of his country; thus, for instance, all those who fought at the battle
of Arginusae received their freedom and the right of citizenship. The
conditions at Sparta were different; sometimes the Helots received
their freedom from the State, especially those children of Helots who
were educated and brought up together with the sons of citizens, but the
right of citizenship was never combined with this freedom. Still, it was
not unusual for children who were born of Spartan fathers and Helot
mothers to be both free men and citizens; the celebrated Spartan
generals Lysander, Gylippus and Callicratidas, were sons of Spartans and
Helots.
It would be impossible to make a guess at the number of slaves in
Greece. Statements on the subject are extant, but these are insufficient
to give us any general idea. There can be no doubt that the number was a
very large one; it was a sign of the greatest poverty to own no slaves
at all, and Aeschines mentions, as a mark of a very modest household,
that there were only seven slaves to six persons. If we add to these
domestic slaves the many thousands working in the country, in the
factories, and the mines, and those who were the property of the State
and the temples, there seems no doubt that their number must have
considerably exceeded that of the free population. The injurious
influence of this part of the population, who were chiefly barbarians,
was felt in many different ways; and though it is not as evident in
Greece as in Rome, where the disastrous results of slavery are most
marked, yet we cannot hesitate to affirm that the speedy fall of Greece
from her political and social height, and the sad picture she offered
under Roman dominion, was due, among other causes, in very great part to
the institution of slavery.
THE END.
LIST OF AUTHORITIES CONSULTED FOR THIS BOOK.
I.--WORKS BEARING ON THE SUBJECT GENERALLY.
J. A. St. John. “The Hellenes.” London, 1844.
J. P. Mahaffy. “Social Life in Greece from Homer to Menander.” London,
1875.
W. A. Becker. “Charikles neu bearbeitet von H. Goell.” Berlin, 1877.
C. F. Hermann. “Griechische Privataltertümer,” 3rd ed., edited by H.
Blümner. Freiburg and Tübingen, 1882.
Panofka. “Bilder antiken Lebens.” Berlin, 1843.
Panofka. “Griechen und Griechinnen.” Berlin, 1844.
Weiszer. “Lebensbilder aus dem Klassichen Altertum.” Stuttgart, 1862.
A. Baumeister. “Denkmäler des Klassichen Altertums.” Munich, 1884.
Th. Schreiber. “Kulturhistorischer Atlas des Altertums.” Leipzig, 1885.
H. Blümner. “Kunstgewerbe im Altertum.” Leipzig and Prague.
II.--WORKS DEALING WITH SPECIAL SUBJECTS.
1. _Costume._
W. Helbig. “Das homerische Epos aus den Denkmälern erläutert.” Leipzig,
1884, pp. 115-180.
J. Boehlau. “Quaestiones de re vestiaria Graecorum.” Weimar, 1884.
Fr. Studniczka. “Beiträge zur Geschichte der altgriechischen Tracht.”
Vienna, 1886.
Th. Schreiber. “Mitteilungen des deutschen archaeologischen Instituts in
Athen.” Vol. VIII. (1883), pp. 246 f.; IX. (1884), pp. 232 f.
2. _Birth and Early Childhood._
H. v. Swiecicki. “Die Pflege der Kinder bei den Griechen.” Breslau,
1877.
Becq de Fouquières. “Les jeux des anciens.” Paris, 1869.
L. Grasberger. “Erziehung und Unterricht im Klassischen Altertum.”
Würzburg, 1864-1881.
3. _Education._
L. Grasberger. (_See 2._)
J. L. Ussing. “Erziehung und Jugendunterricht bei den Griechen und
Römern.” Berlin, 1885.
4. _Marriage and Women._
No special books quoted.
5. _Daily Life within and without the House._
G. Bilfinger. “Die Zeitmesser der antiken Völker.” Stuttgart, 1886.
6. _Meals and Social Entertainments._
Anastasios Maltos. A modern Greek work on the symposia of the Ancient
Greeks. Athens, 1880.
7. _Sickness and Physicians; Death and Burial._
Welcker. “Kleine Schriften.” III., pp. 1 f.
8. _Gymnastics._
L. Grasberger. (_See 2._)
J. H. Krause. “Die Gymnastik und Agonistik der Hellenen.” 2 vols.
Leipzig, 1841.
Ed. Pinder. “Ueber den Fünfkampf der Hellenen.” Berlin, 1867.
H. Marquardt. “Zum Pentathlon der Hellenen.” 1886.
9. _Music and Dancing._
K. v. Jan. “Die Griechischen Saiteninstrumente. Programm des Lyceums von
Saargemünd.” Leipzig, 1882.
Gevaert. “Histoire et théorie de la musique dans l’antiquité.” Vol. II.
(1881), pp. 241 f.
K. v. Jan. An article in “Baumeister’s Denkmäler des Klassischen
Altertums.” I., 553 f.
10. _Religion._
K. F. Hermann. “Lehrbuch der gottesdienstlichen Altertümer der
Griechen.” Second edition. Revised by K. B. Stark. Heidelberg, 1858.
Metzger. An article entitled _Divinatio_ in Pauly’s “Realencyklopädie.”
II., pp. 1113 f.
Bouché-Leclerque. “Histoire de la divination dans l’antiquité.” Paris,
1880.
Büchsenschütz. “Traum und Traumdeutung im Altertum.” Berlin, 1882.
11. _Games and Festivals._
J. H. Krause. “Ἑλληνικά.” Part I. Olympia. Vienna, 1838. Part II.,
Pythien, Nemien, und Isthmien. Leipzig, 1841.
E. Curtius. Olympia. Berlin, 1852.
Ad. Böttiger. Olympia. “Das Fest und seine Stätte.” Second Edition.
Berlin, 1886.
Holwerda. An article in the “Archæologische Zeitung” for 1880, pp. 169
f.
A. Mommsen. “Delphica.” Leipzig, 1878, pp. 149-214.
H. Guhrauer. “Der Pythische Nomos” in “Supplemente der neuen Jahrbücher
für Philologie und Pädagogie.” Vol. VIII., pp. 309 f.
A. Mommsen. “Heortologie. Antiquarische Untersuchungen über die
städtischen Feste der Athener.” Leipzig, 1864.
A. Michaelis. “Der Parthenon.” Leipzig, 1871.
Preller. An article in Pauly’s “Realencyklopädie.” Vol. III., pp. 83 f.
Preller. “Demeter und Persephone.” pp. 342 f.
12. _The Theatre._
Wieseler. An article entitled “Griechisches Theater,” in Ersch. Gruber’s
“Encyklopädie.” First series. Vol. LXXXIII., pp. 243 f.
Wieseler. “Theatergebäude und Denkmäler des Bühnenwesens.” Göttingen,
1851.
Alb. Müller. “Lehrbuch der szenischen Altertümer.” Freiburg-im-Br.,
1886.
W. Donaldson. “Theatre of the Greeks.” Ninth edition, London, 1879.
Lüders. “Die Dionysischen Künstler.” Berlin, 1873.
Sommerbrodt. “Scaenica.” Berlin, 1876. pp. 199 f.
Arnold. An article in “Verhandlungen der 29ten Philologen Versammlung,”
1875. pp. 16 f.
Wieseler. “Das Satyrspiel.” Göttingen, 1848.
O. Benndorf. “Beiträge zur Kenntnis des Attischen Theaters,” an article
in the “Zeitschrift für österreichische Gymnasien.” 1875.
13. _War and Seafaring._
W. Rüstow and H. Köchly. “Geschichte des Griechischen Kriegswesens.”
Aarau, 1852.
Helbig. “Das Homerische Epos aus den Denkmälern erläutert.” pp. 195-250.
Jähns. “Handbuch einer Geschichte des Kriegswesens von der Urzeit bis
zur Renaissance.” Leipzig, 1880.
A. Müller. An article in Baumeister’s “Denkmäler des Klassischen
Altertums.” Vol. I., pp. 525 f.
Boeckh. “Urkunden über das Seewesen des Attischen Staates.” Berlin,
1840.
Graser. “De veterum re navali.” Berlin, 1864.
A. Cartault. “La trière Athénienne.” Paris, 1880.
A. Breusing. “Die Nautik der Alten.” Bremen, 1886.
Raoul Lemaître. “Sur la disposition des rameurs sur la trière antique,”
an article in the _Revue Archéologique_ for 1883. pp. 89 f.
14. _Agriculture, Trade, and Commerce._
Büchsenschütz. “Besitz und Erwerb.” Halle, 1869.
Büchsenschütz. “Die Haupstätten des Gewerbfleiszes im klassischen
Altertum.” Leipzig, 1869.
W. Drumann. “Die Arbeiter und Kommunisten in Griechenland und Rom.”
Königsberg, 1860.
Blümner. “Die gewerbliche Thätigkeit der Völker des klassischen
Altertums.” Leipzig, 1869.
Blümner. “Technologie und Terminologie der Gewerbe und Künste bei
Griechen und Römern.” 4 vols. Leipzig, 1875-1887.
15. _Slaves._
Wallon. “Histoire de l’esclavage dans l’antiquité.” Second edition.
Paris, 1879.
Büchsenschütz. “Besitz und Gewerb.” pp. 104--208.
INDEX.
_Abacus_, The, 111
Academy, The, at Athens, 119, 127
Acarnania, Javelin-throwers of, 478
“Achaeans, Curly-haired,” 64, 72
Achilles, Wail at the death of, 248;
bandaging the arm of Patroclus, 464
Acropolis, Buildings on the, 179
Actors, Dress of, 4, 46;
Gloves of, 56;
sometimes poets, 421;
selected by poets, and examined by the State, 421;
Division of parts to, 422;
Dumb, 423;
Payment of, 423;
Guilds and Schools of, 423;
Costumes and masks of, 422-444;
Prizes of, 449
Adonis, Festival of, 152
Aeschines, Figure of, 2;
his employment in boyhood, 104;
his allusion to slaves, 532
Aeschylus, The Trilogy of, 411;
his introduction of a second actor, 412;
Songs and Chorus of, 413;
his “Eumenides,” 428;
his contest with Sophocles, 449
Aesculapius, 234;
Sanctuaries of, 238;
Sacrificial offering of cocks to, 336
Aesop’s Fables, 88
Aetion exhibits his picture at Olympia of Alexander’s Marriage, 364
Aetolia, Javelin-throwers of, 478
Agesilaus, Dress of, 50;
Anecdote of, and the hobby-horse, 93
Agora, The, 128
Agrae, The lesser Eleusinia at, 378
Agricultural implements, 493
Agricultural pursuits, 176
Agriculture, in statistical relation to industry and trade, 489;
the chief occupation in the heroic period, 491;
at Sparta, 491;
at Athens, 491;
Irrigation in, 492;
in Arcadia, 493;
Allusion in Homer to, 493;
Implements of, 493
Alcibiades, Shoes named after, 55;
at a banquet, 216
Alcmene, her song to her children, 85
Alexander the Great and Roxana;
picture of their marriage, by Aetion, 364
Alexandria, School of, 128
Alexandria Troas, Ruins of Wrestling School at, 121
Alexandrine period, Varieties of female dress in the, 43
Altis, Grove of, 121, 304, 362, 365
Amazons, Chiton of, 39;
Battle-axe of, 475;
Shields of, 478
Ambrosia, Festival of, 385
Amorgos, Looms of, 48
Ampechonion, The, 43
Amphiaraus, Temple of, 243;
Oracle of, 346;
Figure of, 465;
Helmet of, 469
Amphictyons, The, 369
Amphidromia, The, 82, 83, 84
Amphoras, 373
Amulets for infants, 83, 84;
in curing disease, 243
Anacreon on Conversation, 219
Anaximander introduces methods of measuring time, 184
Anaximenes lecturing at Olympia, 364
Andromache, Head-dress of, 74, 145
Andromeda, Masks relating to, 430
Animals, Sacrifice of, 137, 138, 203, 336, 337
Animals, wild, Hunting, 196
Anthesterian Festival, The, 385
Antioch, School of, 128
Antiphon on spear-throwing, 278
Antisthenes, 127
Aphrodite Anadyomene, 172
Aphrodite bathing, 159
_Aphrodite Pandemos_, 134
_Aphrodite Urania_, 134, 151
Apollo, Figure of, 4;
The chlamys of, 19;
Head-dress of, 66;
invoked at weddings, 137, 144;
at the purification of Orestes, 330;
Sacrifice of asses to, 336;
Oracles of, 342;
Clarian Temple of, 344;
Sacrifice at Pythian Games to, 367;
Hecatomb to, 370;
A slave set free by, 531
Apollo-Coropaeus, Oracle of, 345
_Apoxyomenos_, The, of Lysippus, 285
Arcadians, The, 458
Arcesilas of Cyrene, 514
Archery, Skill of Cretans in, 300;
Instruction in, 124 (_See, also_, Bow and Arrows)
_Archon Basileus_, Dress of the, 4
Areopagus, The, 102
Arginusae, the battle of, Slaves at, 531
Argolis, 371
Argos, Prophecy at, 344
Ariadne, 444
Aristarchus, inventor of sun-dials, 185
Aristophanes, his allusions to chitons and mode of wearing the hair, 69;
allusions to nurseries, 85;
allusion to the mother of Pheidippides, 98;
his descriptions of marriage, 134, 170;
“Birds” of, 140;
“Frogs” of, 200;
allusion to fidelity of citizens to judicial duties, 195;
The “Acharnians” of, 236, 383;
his account of the recovery of Plutus from blindness, 240;
Comedies of, 392;
Jokes of, 436
Aristotle, Shaven face of, 73;
his allusion to the flute, 112;
teaches in the Lyceum, 127;
his opinion of work, 490;
of tradesmen, 510
Arithmetic in Spartan education, 101;
in Attic education, 111, 127
“Armour-race,” The, 273, 274
Arms, Exposure of, 18
Arms, presented to _ephebi_, 118;
used in war, 452;
of Homeric soldiers, 460;
of later times, 462-480
Army of Sparta, 454-456;
of Athens, 456-460 (_See, also_, Soldiers)
Artemidorus, Dream-book of, 342
Artemis, Chiton of, 29;
Dolls offered to, 92;
invoked at weddings, 137, 144;
Sacrifice at Pythian Games to, 367
Artist, Profession of, 489, 500;
Workshop of an, 504
Askolia, Game of, 384
Aspasia, 172
Astragals (_See_ Knuckle-bones)
Astronomy in Attic schools, 114, 127
Athene at her toilet, 159;
as a weaver, 498
_Athene-Hygeia_, 375
_Athene Polias_, 372, 375, 377
Athens, Dress at, 12;
Shoes worn at, 55;
Walking-sticks at, 64;
Mode of dressing the hair at, 68;
System of education at, 102-132;
Tribes and clans of, 143;
Daily life in, 179-201;
Streets and suburbs of, 179, 180;
Houses at, 179, 181;
Duties and voluntary services of citizens of, 194, 195;
Banquets in, 203-232;
Festivals of, 372-390;
Theatre of, 396;
Military service in, 456
Athletes, Hair of, 69;
Complexion of, 285;
Position and training of, 302-305;
useless to the State, 305;
at Olympia, 358
Auditorium of theatres, 398-402
Augustus, Obelisk of, in the Campus Martius, 185
Babylonians, their arrangements for measuring time, 184
Ball, Game of, 223, 299
Bankers, 190, 516, 517, 518
Banquets for men, 203;
Order of proceedings at, 205;
The various dishes served at, 206, 207;
Drinking at, 209;
at religious festivals, 349;
at Olympia, 363 (_See, also_, Symposium)
Barbers’ shops, 189, 190
_Barbiton_, The, 314
Barley-cake, 208
Barter, 515
Basilinna, 386, 387
Baskets for learning to walk, 86
Bathing children, 85
Baths for new-born infants, 80;
in gymnasia, 121;
for bride and bridegroom, 137;
of women, 159;
for men, 192-194;
Public and private, 192, 193;
connected with the gymnasia, 192
Battering-ram, 480
Battle-axe, The, 475
Beard, the, Modes of wearing, 71-74
Beer, 211
Bib, The, 24, 28, 32, 33, 35, 36, 39
Birds, Snaring, 197;
Sacrifice of, 336
Birds of Aristophanes, 140
Birth and Infancy, Period of, 78-98
Birthdays, 203
“Black broth,” 178
Blindness, Cures for, 240
Board of Inspection in Sparta, 99
Boating, 126
Boehlau on the woman’s chiton, 21
Boeotians, Food of, 206
Bogies, 88
Boots, 52, 53
_Boule_, The, 195
Bow and Arrows, Teaching the use of, 124;
Construction of, 300;
in war, 476, 477 (_See, also_, Archery)
“Bowl of Duris,” The, 307
Boxing, 116, 123, 291, 292;
subject to special rules, 292;
Injuries from, 293;
Methods of, 293-296;
Thongs used in, 293, 296;
at Olympia, 353
Boys, Clothing of, 100, 118;
Education of, 99-132;
Gymnastic exercises of, 100, 115, 116, 119-124;
Oath taken by, 117;
period when classed as _ephebeia_, 117;
exercised in arms, 124;
horse-riding, swimming, boating, and marching, 124-126;
Advanced instruction of, 127, 128;
at quoit-throwing, 278;
as priests, 325, 326;
at the Olympic games, 353, 354;
at Pythian games, 368;
at theatres, 447;
as slaves, 521
Branchidae, The Sanctuary of, 344
Bread, 207, 208
Bridal dress, 138
Bridal presents, 135
Bridal procession, 139
Bridal song, 140
Bridal torches, 139
Brooches, 6
Brygos, vase painter, 30
Burning the dead, 250, 254, 255
Byzantium, Intemperance at, 197
Cakes, 207, 208;
for Cerberus, 245
Callirhoe, The sacred water of, 137
Calypso, 145
Camps, 455
Caps, Shape and material of, 59
Captives taken in war, 452
Carriages for infants, 90;
of the rich, 198
Caryatid, Dress of a, 37;
Head-dress of a, 75
Castanets, 320
Cattle rearing, 176, 496, 497
Cavalry, 452, 457, 479, 480
Cenotaphs, 264
Ceos, Burial ordinances of, 251
Cerberus, 245
Chairs, 202
Chariot races, 353, 354-357, 368, 373
Charioteers, Costume of, 4, 354
Chariots, Fighting from, 451
Charon, The pilos of, 59;
his fees, 245
Chemises, 43
Children, Customs at the birth of, 78-80;
Swaddlings for, 80;
Suckling, 81;
Legitimation of, 81;
Exposure of, 82;
Naming, 83;
Welcome and Dedication of, 82, 84;
Charms for, 84;
in the nursery, 85;
Bathing, 85;
Weaning, 85;
learning to walk, 87;
Clothing of, 88;
Threats for quieting, 88;
Stories for, 88;
Toys for, 89-92;
Games of, 92-97;
Chastisement of, 98;
Education of, 98;
Registration of new-born, 143;
bound to obedience, 148;
at meals, 178;
at the Feast of Cans, 386;
as slaves, 521 (_See, also_, Boys and Girls)
Chionis, jumping feat of, 269
Chiton, The, long and short, and by whom worn, 3, 4;
Homeric descriptions of, 6;
Change in the cut of, 8;
of Hermes, 11;
of workmen and others, 12;
Modes of wearing the, 14, 15;
combined with the himation, 17;
worn at home, 19;
its resemblance to the peplos, 20;
worn by women, 21, 24-26;
Changes in, 30;
Construction of, 33;
Folds of, 33, 34;
Arrangement of, 37;
Varieties of, 39-41;
Colour of, 44, 45;
Patterns of, 46;
Material of, 47, 48;
on the stage, 438;
of soldiers, 465
Chlaina (Cloak), 3;
shape of, 7, 8;
material of, 15
Chlamys, The, 7;
place of its origin, 17;
shape and mode of wearing, 18;
of Hermes and Apollo, 18, 19
Choragia, The, 418
Choruses, 214, 350, 389, 392, 394, 413, 415;
Training of, 417, 419, 420;
Prizes to, 419;
The selection of, 420;
Dress of, 444
Circe, 145
Cirrha, 368
Cithara, The, taught in Attic schools, 112;
Construction of, 309-311;
Manner of playing, 311;
at Pythian games, 366
Cithara player, Dress of, 32;
at banquets, 133
Citizens, Daily life of, 188-201;
Judicial duties and voluntary services of, 195;
as soldiers, 456
Civic rights of young men, 133
Civil duties, 195
Clans at Athens, 143
Clarian Temple of Apollo, The, 344
Clarotae, The, 522
Cleisthenes, Reforms of, 457
Cleon, 428
Cloak, The, 7;
Mode of wearing, 15, 17, 19;
Coloured, 47
Clocks, Water, 185-187
Clothes, Washing, 156, 157
Club, The, 475
Club-rooms, 179, 192
Cnidus, Medical school of, 235, 239
Cock and quail fighting, 228
Coffins, Material and shapes of, 252, 253
Coins put into mouths of dead men, 245
Callicratidas, 532
Colours of dress, 44-47
Comedy, 414, 415, 436-442
Comus, The, 230
Concubinage, 145, 146
_Condottiere_, The, 459
Conjurers, 217
Conversations and discussions at symposia, 219
Cooking, 206
Corinth, Female morality at, 170;
The hetaerae of, 171;
Temple of Aphrodite at, 173
Corn dealers, 510
Corymbus, The, 68
Cos, Medical school of, 235, 239
Cosmetics, 165
Costume, Knowledge of, essential to a complete picture of past ages, 1;
Theatrical, 432-444
(_See, also_, Dress)
Costume, Greek, Incorrect ideas of, 2;
Two kinds of, 2;
Names of garments in, 3
(_See, also_, Dress)
“Cothurnus,” The, 436
Cottabus, Game of, 194, 220, 221
Cotton garments, 49
Council of Five Hundred, 195, 449
Cradles, 81
Crematoria, The, 250
_Crepida_, 54
Crete, Marriage custom at, 145;
skill of its people in archery, 300, 478
Crobylus, The, 68, 75
Ctesibius, Water clock of, 187
Cuirass, The, 460, 462, 464, 465, 479
Culture of Greeks, 110
Cup-bearers, 178, 221
Cups, Wine, 213
“Curl-holders,” 64, 71
Curls worn by men, 64, 65, 68
Curse on murderers, 251
Cybele, Musical instruments used in the worship of, 319, 320
“Cyclops,” The, 415
Cymbals, 320
Cynic philosophers, Dress of, 20;
Bare feet of, 49;
Beards of, 74;
at the Cynosarges, 127
Cynosarges, The, at Athens, 119
Cyrene, Silphium of, 514
Daily life at Sparta, 175-179;
at Athens, 179-201
Dancing, at symposia, 216;
Pantomimic, 217;
chiefly confined to professional performers, 321;
between the sexes unknown, 321;
for religious purposes, 321;
in the worship of Dionysus, 321;
in armour, 321;
Singing combined with, 321;
Distinction in ancient and modern, 322;
in connection with religious mysteries, 348;
after religious ceremonies, 350;
Choric, 417
“Daughter of Niobe, A,” 39
Death and burial, Customs connected with, 244-264
Delos, Proficiency in swimming of inhabitants of, 126
Delphi, Oracle of, 342, 343;
Pythian games at, 366-370
Demeter, Offering of swine to, 336;
Wanderings of, 381;
Festival in honour of, 382
Democedes, the physician, 238
Demosthenes, 194;
Factory of the father of, 529
Dice, 97, 192, 194, 223, 224, 225, 347
Diogenes, his allusion to the care taken of sheep, 498
Diomede, Helmet of, 468
Dionysus, Fillet on forehead of, 71;
Festival of, 118;
in a vase picture, 169;
his journey to Hades, 200;
Hymn in praise of, 212;
Worship of, 320;
Sacrifice to, 333;
Goats offered to, 336;
Festivals of, 383-390;
Theatre of, 298, 403, 445;
on the stage, 442
“Dionysus, The Little,” 96
_Dionysos-Eleutheros_, 386, 389
Diplax, The, 8
Discipline in Sparta, 100
“Discobolus,” The, in the Vatican, 277
Diseases, described in inscriptions, 239;
Modes of curing, 239-243
Dishes at a birth-festival, 84;
sometimes enumerated in verse, 206
Divorce, Grounds of, 148, 149
Dodona, Oracle of Zeus at, 344
Dogs for hunting, 196;
carried about in the propitiation of Hecate, 331
Dolls, 90-92
Door, Decking the, on the birth of a child, 78
Doric and Ionic costume, Differences between, 22-30
Dough, as a substitute for table-napkins, 206
Dowry, Bride’s, 135,136;
Return of, 149
Dragon, Apollo’s fight with the, 367
Drama, Origin of, 392;
Divisions of the, 411, 416;
Choregraphic element in the, 417;
Representation of the, 421-448
Dramas at Eleusinian festivals, 381;
at the Feast of Cans, 389, 390
Drapery in Egypt 4000 B.C., 9;
among
the Phoenicians, 9;
as shown in vase paintings, 30, 33, 34
Drawing, Teaching of, 113, 127
Drawing lots at Olympia, 360
Dream oracles, 240-243
Dream-book of Artemidorus, 342
Dreams, 341;
revealing the will of the gods, 342
Dress, of actors, 4;
at Athens, 12;
of charioteers, 4;
of cynic philosophers, 20;
of flute players, 4;
of gods, 3;
of harp players, 4;
in Ionia, 12;
of the age of Pericles, 2;
of priests, 4, 327;
of riders, 18, 125;
of soldiers, 8, 18, 455;
in Sparta, 12;
of workmen, 12, 19, 502;
of youths, 18, 100, 106, 118;
of women, 20-49;
Colour and pattern of, 44;
with designs of figures, 47;
Material of, 47, 48;
of hetaerae, 48;
of children, 87, 88;
paidagogoi, 103;
of female gymnast, 132;
of bride, 138;
of bridegroom, 139;
of a corpse, 245;
of funeral mourners, 251;
of peasants, 497;
of slaves, 524
Drinking parties, 197, 202, 209;
Representations of, 212
Drinking songs, 215
Drunkenness, 230;
of women, 170
Dumb-bells, 116;
used in jumping, 266
Duris, vase-painter, 30;
his representation of school-teaching, 106
Dwellings in Sparta, 177;
in Athens, 179, 181
Dyeing the hair, 166
Early rising, 194
Ear-rings, 65
Ecstasy, 341
Education, Distinction in the Doric and Ionic states in system of, 99;
in Sparta, 99-102, 130, 132;
in Athens, 102-132
(_See, also_, Schools)
Egypt, Drapery in, 9
Eleusinian celebrations, 151, 377-382
Elians, The, 358, 363
Embalming, 249
Embroidery, 45, 130
_Ephebi_, 117;
Double use of the term, 117;
The oath taken by, 117;
their change of dress, and dedicatory rites, 118;
Military education of, 124, 126, 127, 456
Ephesus, Ruins of wrestling school at, 121;
theatre of, 402
Ephors, The, 454
Epicureans, The, 128
Epidaurian sacrifice, 379
Epidaurus, Sanctuary of Aesculapius at, 239, 242, 243
Epithalamium of Helen, 141
Erinnys, The, 335
Eros, Glorification of, 220
Ethics, 110
Etruscan graves, Spirals found in, 65
Euphorbus, The hair of, 65
Euripides, his tirades against married life, 134, 170;
Songs from 216;
on
Olympic games, 365;
Tetralogies of, 412;
“Cyclops” of, 415;
represented on the stage, 428
Evil eye, The, 83
_Exomis_, mode of wearing the chiton, 13;
on the stage, 438
Exposure of infants, 82
Eyebrows, Dyeing the, 166
Factories, 529
Fair at Olympic Festival, 367
Fairy tales, 88
Farms, Management of, 492, 493
“Fast and Loose,” Game of, 226
Feast of Adonis at Alexandria, 391
“Feast of Pitchers,” The, 386
Feet, the, Coverings for, 49-55
Felt garments, 49
Fencing, 124
Festivals, Costume for, 3, 46;
at the birth of children, 82-84;
of the Panathenaea, 124;
at marriages, 138;
for women, 151;
of Adonis, 152;
Religious, 195, 349, 350, 351;
Frequency of, 203;
National, 350;
at Olympia, 351-366;
at Delphi, 366-370;
Isthmian, 370;
Nemean, 371;
Athenian, 372-391
Fibulae, 6, 32, 33, 39, 69
“Ficoronese Cista,” The, 296
Fireless sacrifices, 334
Fish, Eating, 207
Fish-market, 191
Fishing, 197
“Five-lines,” Game of, 224
Flowers for funeral wreaths, 245
Flute, the, Instruction in, 107, 112;
neglected at Athens, but popular at Thebes, 112;
its Bacchic origin, 112;
carefully avoided in Sparta, 113;
Construction of, 315;
playing, 316-319;
at Pythian games, 366
Flute players Costume of, 4;
at symposia, 214, 216;
at sacrificial ceremonies, 338;
as slaves, 521
Forfeits, 213
Fortune-telling, 347
“Frogs,” The, of Aristophanes, 200
“Frog’s wine,” 210
Fruits, 208
Fuller’s earth used in washing, 188
Funerals, 203, 245-264;
Bearers at, 252;
Cars at, 250;
Games at, 290;
Laments at, 246;
Orations at, 255
_Gamelion_, The month, favourite time for weddings, 136
Games of children, 92-97, 223;
at the symposium, 220, 223-229
Gaming houses, 197
Gaolers, 525
Gardens at Athens, 182
Geometry in Attic schools, 114, 127
Gifts for new-born children, 83
Girdle, The, 11, 20, 23, 24, 35, 39
Girls, Early marriages of, 92;
Education of, 129;
Domestic instruction of, 130;
Plato on the education of, 130;
their gymnastic training in
Sparta, 130, 131;
debarred from social intercourse, 133;
as priestesses, 325, 326;
of Elis, 366
Glaucus, 304
Gloves, 55, 56
Goat-rearing, 497
Gods, Costume of, 3;
Libations to, 212;
Temples of, 324;
modes of revealing their will, 324;
their desire for worship and sacrifice, 324;
Prayers to, 328;
Sacrifices to the, 331-335
Gold masks discovered at Mycenae, 72
“Good genius,” the, Drinking in honour of, 209
Gorgias, his discourses at Olympia, 364
Graser on arrangement of rowing-benches, 484
Grasshoppers, Golden, for the hair, 68, 69, 71
Graves, 252;
Adornment of, 254;
Libations at, 256;
Care of, 262
Greaves, 460, 461, 462
Greece, Conditions in heroic period, 451
“Guest-friend,” The, 199, 200
Guests, Reception of, 203, 204
Gylippus, 532
Gymnasia, The, 115;
State institutions, 119;
at Athens, and their arrangement, 119, 120;
of Rome, 120;
Teachers in, 122, 123
Gymnasiarchs, The, 122
Gymnastic exercises, 265-305;
in Sparta, 301;
in Athens, 115-124;
of Spartan girls, 130, 131
Hades, Temple of, 243
Hair, the, Modes of wearing, of men, 64-74;
of women, 74-77;
curled, 64, 75;
plaited, 66, 67, 75;
ornamented, 65, 68, 77;
cut short, 69;
Modes of cutting, 71;
Shaving, 71;
Scenting, 74;
Kerchiefs for 76, 77;
parted in the middle, 76;
with “Greek knot,” 76;
with a fillet, 77;
of _ephebi_, 118;
Laconian custom of cutting off the bride’s, 144;
dyeing, 166;
cut off at funerals, 251;
of soldiers, 455
Handicrafts, 176;
of gods, 498;
depreciation of, 499, 500;
in the hands of three classes, 500;
of foreigners, 501
Hands, Washing, at meals, 205, 206;
Lines of, 347
Hangmen, 525
Harp, The, 215
Harp players, Costume of, 4;
at symposia, 215
Hats, Place of origin of, 56;
Various shapes of, 56-59;
of straw, for women, 61
Head, the, Coverings for, 56-61
Hecate, Propitiation of, in cases of madness, &c., 331, 336
Hecatomb, Offering of a, 337;
to Apollo at the Pythian Festival, 370;
to Athene Polias, 377
Hector, 145;
Wail at death of, 248
Helen, Epithalamium of, 141
Helios, Sacrifice of horses to, 336
Helmet, The, 466-469;
of Diomede, 468;
of Amphiaraus, 469
“Helots,” The, 454, 455, 478, 522
Hephaestus, The pilos of, 59;
Gifts to newly-wedded pair from, 143;
at the forge, 498
Hera, invoked at weddings, 137;
with her mirror, 163;
Temple of, 362
Herbs, Medical, 234
Hercules, Drunken, 230
Hermes, The chiton of, 11;
The himation of, 15;
The chlamys of, 18;
The petasos of, 56;
Cradle of, 81;
Libation to, at symposia, 230;
Inventor of the lyre, 307
Herodotus, on female dress, 22, 30;
Travels of, 198
Hesiod, in Attic schools, 110;
his opinion of work, 490
_Hetaerae_, Dress of, 48;
Literary culture of, 129;
Position of, 133, 173;
without legal protection, 173;
at meals, 203;
at symposia, 216;
as slaves, 521;
reason of their social intercourse with men, 172;
Tax exacted from, 173;
in Old Comedy, 170;
sanctioned by the State, 171;
Celebrities amongst, 172;
their influence on the marriage relationship, 148;
in a vase picture, 167;
at the theatre, 447
Hiero, vase painter, 9, 30
Himation, The, 3, 6;
mode of wearing, 15;
of youths, 18;
of women, 26, 41;
as a scarf, 41;
Colour of, 14, 45;
Embroidery of, 47;
drawn over the head, 60
“Hipparchs,” The, 457
Hipparchus, 215
Hippias, Discourses at Olympia of, 364
Hippocrates, Oath of, 236
Hippodamus of Miletus, 179
Hippodrome, The, 356, 361
Hobby-horse, The, 93
Homer, his reference to skins as the dress of soldiers, 8;
his allusion to Laertes gardening, 55;
in Attic schools, 110;
his description of the life of nobles, 175;
his allusion to warm baths, 192;
allusion to physicians, 233;
his account of the funeral games in honour of Patroclus, 357;
his allusions to armour, 465, 466, 467, 475;
to agriculture, 493;
to handicraftsmen, 498
Honey, of Hymettus, 208;
used to check dissolution of a corpse, 249
Horace’s _Plagosus Orbilius_, 105
Horae, The, 143
Horse-cloths, 125
Horse-racing, 270, 357
Horse-rearing, 496
Horse-shoes, 480
Hospitality, Custom of, 199
Human sacrifice, 335
Hunting, among the Dorians, 178;
among the Athenians, 196
Hymen, Torch of, 140
_Hymenaeus_, 140
Hysiae, Prophecy at, 343
Iacchus, 379, 380
Immorality of the age of Pericles, 174
Implements of agriculture, 493
“Incroyables,” 94.
“Incubation” in the cure of disease, 239-242
Infantry, 452;
Armour of, 461;
in the time of Persian wars, 478
Infernal deities, 335, 349
Inns, 200, 366
Inscriptions on tombs, 256, 257
Interpreters of dreams, 342;
of prophecies, 343-347
Ionia, Dress in, 12;
Shaving in, 72
Ionic and Doric costumes, Differences between, 22-30
Iphicrates, Shoes named after, 55;
re-introduces the sword into the Greek army, 475
Ismenus, The sacred water of the, 137
Isocrates, 128;
lecturing at Olympia, 364;
Factory of the father of, 529
Isthmian games, The, their similarity to the Olympic, 370;
Prizes and recitations at, 370
Javelin-throwing, 278, 279, 282, 478
Javelins, Hunting with, 196, 475;
in war, 476
Jewel caskets, 164
Judges at Olympic games, 358
Judgment of Paris, The, 159
Judicial duties, 195
Jugglers, 218
Jumping, 116, 121;
Varieties of, 265;
Dumb-bell used in, 266, 267;
Leaping-poles in, 268;
Spring-boards in, 269;
Distances covered in, 269, 270;
at Olympia, 353, 360
Jurymen, 195
Kerameikos, The, 377
Kerchiefs for the hair, 76, 77
Kisses in the worship of gods, 329
Kitchen, The, 183
Kite-flying, 93
Kladeos, The, 121
Knees, the, Exercises in bending, 299
“Knuckle-bones”, 97, 194, 224;
Mode of playing with, 225
Kolotes, Table of, at Olympia, 362
_Kolpos_, The, 11, 28, 30, 33
Laconian marriage custom, 144
Ladas, The runner, 271
Lady’s maid, 162
Laertes, 55, 145, 176
Laïs, 172
Lament, Funeral, 246
Lance, The, 472, 476, 480
Laws of Lycurgus, 100
Laying-out a corpse, 246, 249
Leaping-poles, 268
Leather tunics, 49
Lectures at Olympic Festivals, 364
Legends told to children, 88
Legitimation of children, 81
Lenaea, Festival of, 384
Leto, Sacrifice at Pythian games to, 367
Libations, Daily, 328;
as bloodless sacrifices, 335;
at the sacrifice of animals, 338
Linen garments, 22, 29, 47, 497
Lions, 196, 197
“Liturgies,” The, 275, 375, 418
Lots, Drawing, at Olympia, 360
Love, Idea of, in “New Attic Comedy,” 134;
in _Aphrodite Urania_, and _Aphrodite Pandemos_, of, 134.
Love-charms, 95
Lunch in Athens, 191
Lycabettos, The, at Athens, 119
Lyceum, The, at Athens, 119, 127
Lycurgus, Laws of, 100
Lye, as a substitute for soap, 188
Lyre, the, Instruction in, 107, 112;
played at banquets, 215;
an invention of Hermes, 307;
Construction of, 307-309;
Manner of playing, 311
Lysander, 532
Lysias, lecturing at Olympia, 364;
owner of a shield factory, 529
Lysippus, the _Apoxyomenos_ of, 285
Machinery in the Greek theatre, 409-411
Madness, Methods supposed to cure, 331
Maenads, The, 390
Magic, Antidotes to, 84;
in curing disease, 243
Magna Graecia, Lunch in, 191;
Luxurious living in, 206
Manuring the ground, 494
“Market of Hippodamus,” 180
Market-place, The, 190, 514
Marriage, entered into early by girls, 92, 136;
Tirades of Aristophanes and Euripides against, 134;
a matter of contract between fathers or guardians, 135;
Bride’s dowry at, 135;
Homeric custom of bridegroom bringing presents at, 135;
Engagement prior to, 136;
Favourite month and days for, 136;
Ceremonies of, 137;
Banquet at a, 138;
Dress of bride and bridegroom at, 138, 139;
Bridal procession at, 139;
Singing and torches at, 140, 141;
Gifts and congratulations after, 142;
Monumental representations of, 143, 144;
Laconian custom of, 144;
Laws of Lycurgus respecting, 146;
Grounds for dissolution of, 148, 149;
Symbolical customs at, 140, 141
Masks, theatrical, Material of, 425;
Designs of, 426;
Three kinds of, 426, 428;
for different sexes, ages, phases of character, and moods of mind, 429;
for mythological characters, 430
Massage in gymnasia, 123, 285
Match-makers, 135
Mattock, The, 493
_Maza_, 208
Meals, in Sparta, 177, 178;
in Athens, 191, 194;
in the evening, 202;
Reclining at, 205;
Simplicity of, in
Athens, 206;
The various dishes at, 206, 207
Meat, Varieties of, 206
Medical schools of Cos and Cnidus, 235, 239
Medical students, 236
Medusae, The, 88
Meeting-halls, 179
Megalopolis, Theatre of, 402
Memnon, Figure of death of, 469
Menander, Shaven face of, 73
Menecrates, 237
Merchants, 197, 512, 517
Metal-founders, 504
Milo, 304
Military expeditions, 198
(_See, also_, War)
Military training of _ephebi_, 124, 126, 127;
of lower classes, 176, 455
Miracle, Love of, in connection with the healing art, 239
Mirrors, 162, 163
Money-changers, 190, 516
Money systems, 513
Monuments, Drapery of, 9
_Morra_, The game of, 227
Mortgages, 516, 517
Mountebanks, 243
Moustache, The, 72
Mules and asses, 496
Murderers, Curse on, 251
Muses, The, 335
Music, Compulsory instruction in Sparta in, 101;
Instruction at Attic schools in, 111-113;
at a symposium, 212;
Branches and instruments of, 306-320;
after religious ceremonies, 350;
at Pythian games, 366;
of the stage, 413-421
Musical contests, 449
Musical dialogues, 416
Muslin garments, 49
Mycenae, Discoveries at, 3;
Gold masks at, 72
Myron’s statue of Ladas, 271;
of Discobolus, 277
Mythology taught in Attic schools, 110
Myths, Religious, 348
Nails, Cutting the, 189
Naming children, 83, 84
Nausicaa on the sea-shore, 146, 15
Nemean games, 371
“New Attic Comedy,” The, 134
Nissen on life at Athens, 181
Nobles, Daily life of, 175, 176;
in the heroic period, 451
Nurseries, 85
Nurses, children’s, Duties of, 85
Oath taken by _ephebi_, 117;
of Hippocrates, 236;
taken by athletes, 360
Obedience to elders in Sparta, 100
Oculists, 238
Odysseus, The pilos of, 59;
Fidelity of, 145;
playing at quoits, 275;
Ship of, 482
“Odyssey,” The, Description of Nausicaa in, 156;
Quoit-throwing mentioned in, 275
“Oedipus at Colonus,” 436
Oils, Sweet-scented, for the hair, 74;
for the body, 162;
for a corpse, 245;
used by runners, 271;
used by wrestlers, 284;
supplied to foreign countries, 494
Oinopides, 364
Olives, 494, 495
Olympia, Arrangements of gymnasia at, 120;
Wrestling school of, 121
Olympic Festival, the, Chronology of, 351;
Mythic origin of, 352;
Persons excluded from, 352, 353;
Contests at, 353-359;
Embassies, and sacrifice to Zeus at, 359;
Swearing of competitors at, 360;
Drawing of lots by competitors and prayer to Zeus Moiragetes at, 360;
Order of competitions at, 361;
Distribution of prizes at, 362;
Sacrifices at, 362, 363;
Banquets at, 363;
Recitations, art exhibitions, and official announcements at, 364;
Representatives of all classes at, 365;
Fair connected with, 366
Olympic games, 274, 304, 352-359
Omens, Interpretation of, 340
Oracles, The, 341;
of Apollo, 342;
uttered by Pythia, 343;
at various places, 343-346;
Questions to, 344
Orations, Funeral, 255
Orchestra of theatres, 398, 403
Orestes, Purification of, 330
Ornaments for the hair, 65, 68, 71, 77;
of bride, 138
Paean, The, 214
_Paidagogos_, Duties of a, 102, 116;
his bad influence, 103;
on the stage, 436
Painting school of Sicyon, 113
Paintings, The chiton in, 4;
Folds of dress in, 9;
Representations of daily life in, 19;
at Olympia, 364
Palm branch, The, 362
Pamphilus, 113
Panathenaea, Festivals of the, 124, 151;
The lesser and greater, 372;
Contests at the, 372-375;
Pyrrhic war dance, 374;
Muster of men at, 374, 375;
Torch-race at, 376;
Procession at, 376;
Judges at, 378
_Pancratium_, The, 116, 123, 296;
its importance as a mode of fighting, 297;
at Olympia, 353
Pandora, Box of, 233
Pantomimic dancing, 217
Papyrus in schools, 109
Parabasis, The, 414
Paris, The chiton of, 11;
The himation of, 15;
The hair of, 64, 163
Parthenon marbles, Female drapery of the, 2;
Hats in, 56;
Walking-sticks in, 64;
Head-dresses in, 76
Patroclus, Funeral games in honour of, 290, 357;
his arm bandaged by Achilles, 464
Pausanias, 239;
his allusion to the Hippodrome, 356
Peasants 493, 494, 495
Pedlars, 513, 514
Peisistratus, 372
Peitho invoked at weddings, 137
Peleus and Thetis, 143
Peloponnesus, the, Soldiers from, 459;
Handicrafts in, 501
“Peltasts,” The, 478
Penelope, 145;
at the loom, 153, 154;
Wooers of, 176
Penestae, The, 522
_Pentathlum_, The, 116, 123, 297, 298, 353
Peplos, the, Shape and mode of wearing, 20, 21;
The Homeric supposed to be identical with the Doric, 21, 22;
of Athenian women, 22;
on vase pictures, 22, 23
Pergamum, School of, 128
Pericles, Dress of the age of, 2;
Beard of, 73;
and Aspasia, 172;
Immorality of the age of, 174;
and the theatre, 445
“Perioiki,” The, 454
Peronatris (robe), The, 43
Persephone, 381
Petasos (hat), 56, 57, 59;
of women, 61
Phaeacians, The, 176
Phayllus, Jumping feat of, 269
Pheidias, Costume of the age of, 37;
his descendants as temple-servants, 328
Pheidippides, The mother of, 98
_Pheiditia_, 177
Philosophy, Schools of, 127, 128
Philtres, 331
Phocylides in Attic schools, 110
Phoenicians, the, Drapery among, 9;
Dishonesty of, 510
Phorminx, The, taught in Attic schools, 112, 312
Phryne, 172
“Phylarchs,” The, 457
Physicians, and the treatment of infants, 80;
their early connection with priests, 234;
Guild of, 235;
their apprentices, 235;
Two classes of, 236;
Complaints against, 237;
Salaries of public, 238;
as specialists, 238;
their methods of treatment, 238
Physiognomy, Fortunes told from, 347
Picnics, 204
Pilgrimages, to shrines, 198;
of invalids to medical sanctuaries, 239
Pindar, Odes of, 363
Pipe, The, used as the double flute, 316
_Plagiaulos_, The, 320
Plague, Great, in camp of the Greeks, 233
Plaiting the hair, 66, 67
Plato, on the care of children, 87;
recommends fencing, 124;
teaching at the Academy, 127;
on the education of girls, 130;
supposed to have invented water clocks, 186;
The “Symposium” of, 204, 214;
simplicity of his meals, 206;
on music at symposia, 216;
his opinion of work, 490
Plays of Greek stage, of three kinds, 411;
Tragic, 412-414;
Comic, 414, 415;
Satyric, 415, 416
Plough, The, 493, 495
Plutus, his recovery from blindness, 240
Podalirius, 234
Poets at Olympic festival, 364, 365
_Polenta_, 208
Police of Athens, 180, 525, 526
Polycrates, 238
Polydamas, 304
Polygnotus, his paintings of women, 76
Pomades, 64, 72, 74
Porridge, 207, 208
Poseidippus, Shaven face of, 73
Poseidon, Dress of, 19;
Sacrificial offering of horses to, 336
Pot Market, The, 513
Poultry, 206
Pratinas, 415
Praxiteles, Statue of Phryne by, 172
Prayer, offered by priests, 326;
Times for offering, 328;
for special occasions, 328;
Attitude in, 328;
Qualifications to ensure the efficacy of, 329;
at the utterance of oracles, 343;
to Zeus Moiragetes, 360
Presents, Bridal, 142
Priam, Figure of, 4
Priestesses, Qualifications of, 325;
with the gift of prophecy, 343, 344
Priests, Costume of, 4;
Practice of healing art by, 238;
their office, and gradual increase of their influence, 324;
of both sexes, 325;
Qualifications of, 325;
Modes of appointing, 327;
their duties, 326;
their privileges and distinguishing dress, 327;
their attendants, 327
Prizes at Olympic festival, 362;
of poets and actors, 449
Prodicus, Discourses at Olympia of, 364
Prophecy and divination, 341-348
(_See, also_, Oracles)
“Protagonist,” or chief actor, 405
Ptolemy Philopater, Ship of, 486
Public houses, 197
Purification, after childbirth, 84;
before offering prayer, 329;
by fire, smoke, and the sea-leek, 330;
of Orestes, 330
Pyrrhic war dance, 374
Pythia, utterer of oracles, 343;
the Great and the Lesser, 366
Pythian games, The musical competition at, 366;
Sacrifices and the _Pythian Nomos_ at, 367;
Gymnastic and Equestrian contests at, 368;
The Amphictyons at, 369;
Expenses of, and prizes at, 369;
Recitations and offerings at, 370
_Pythian Nomos_, The, 367
Quackery, 243
_Quadrigae_, The, 452
Quail-fighting, 228
Quince, The, 141
Quintain, Striking at the, 296
Quoits, 121, 275, 277, 278
Racing, Various kinds of, 270, 273
“Rape of Helen, The,” 9
Razors, 188
Reading and writing at Sparta, 101;
at Athens, 108-110
Recitations at Olympic festivals, 364
Reclining at meals, 205
Reeds for writing, 109
Regattas, 126, 377
Registration of new-born children, 143
Reliefs, Representations of daily life in, 19
Religious festivals, 195
Religious myths, 348
Religious worship, 323-348;
chiefly in the hands of laymen in Homeric times, 323;
The two forms of, 328;
its cheerfulness, 349
Resin wine, 211
Rhapsodists, Competition between, 372
Rhetoric, 128
Rhodes, 228;
Slingers of, 478
Riders, The chlamys of, 18
Riding, Instruction in, 124, 125
Riding races, 353
Riddles, 214, 219, 220
Road-making, 198
Robbers, 200, 201
Rope-pulling, 299
Rougeing, Practice of, 165, 166
Rowers, 482-486
Running, The course for, 270;
Speed attained in, 271;
Starting-signal for, and method adopted
for making the limbs flexible in, 271;
Mode of, 272, 273;
at Olympia, 353
Sacrifice at a birth-festival, 84;
at weddings, 136, 137;
a common occurrence, 203;
of swine and sucking-pigs, 330;
object of, 331;
the idea underlying, 332;
variety of gifts offered in, 332, 333;
bloody and bloodless, 334, 335;
ceremonies observed in, 337;
for discovering the will of the gods by interpretation of signs, 340;
at the utterance of oracles, 343;
time of offering, 349;
at Olympia, 363;
The Epidaurian, 379;
before war, 456
Sailors, 481, 483-486
_Salone_, The, 190
_Sambuca_, The, 313
Sandals worn by men and women, 50;
how made, 51;
Children chastised with, 98;
removed at banquets, 205
Satyric drama, 415, 442, 444
Satyrs, 333
Sauces, 207
Sausages, 206
Scarf, The, 11;
of Paris, 12
Scenery in the Greek theatre, 407-409
Schools of Athens, 102-132;
Masters and teachers of, 104;
Furniture of, 104, 108;
Fees of, 104;
Corporal punishment in, 105;
Hours of tuition in, 106;
Holidays in, 106;
Representation by Duris of teaching in, 106;
System of tuition in, 108-115;
Text-books in, 110;
Instruction in music in, 111-113;
Geometry in, 114, 127;
Time of opening, 188
Schools of philosophy, 127, 128
Science, Travelling for purposes of, 198
“Scolia,” The, 215
“Scourge-bearers” of Sparta, 100
Sculptors, 501
Scythe, The, 493
Seafaring, 481-488
See-saw, 95
Seers, or interpreters, Connection with the priests, 325
Segesta, Theatre of, 396
Sewing, 130
“Shadow-pointers,” 184, 185
Shaving, 72, 73
Shawls, 42
Sheep-rearing, 496, 498
Shields, 469-471, 480
Ships, Mode of navigating, 481;
Construction of, 482-488
Shirt, The, 20
Shoemakers, 502, 503, 504
Shoes, Various designs of, 52, 54, 55
Shopkeepers, 190, 197
Sicily, 190, 191;
Luxurious living in, 206
Sicyon, Painting school of, 113
Sieges, Modes of conducting, 480, 481
Sieves used for prophecy, 347
Signs, Interpretation of, 346, 347
Silk garments, 49
Silphium, 514
Simonides, 216
Singers, Travelling, 198
Singing at weddings, 140, 141;
at the baths, 194;
at a symposium, 214
Skins, Clothes made of, 8, 49
Slavery interwoven with the life of antiquity, 519;
regarded as a necessity of nature, 519;
of captives taken in war, 519, 520;
foreigners sold to, 521;
Solon’s legislation against, 521;
one of the causes of the fall of Greece, 532
Slaves, 78;
entrusted with the education of children, 98;
employed in writing, 109;
fetching water, 151;
as ladies’ maids, 162;
Sleeping apartments of, 182, 525;
sent to market, 191;
at the baths, 194;
as porters, 181, 204;
taught the healing art, 237, 528;
at a funeral, 250;
at the theatre, 447;
Captives of war becoming, 452;
The Helot class of, 454, 522;
in agriculture, 490, 494;
Markets for, 520, 521;
Prices paid for, 521;
their condition and treatment, 523;
their characters, 524;
Masters’ rights over, 524;
Dress of, 524;
their food, 525;
working on their own account and purchasing their freedom, 525;
as hangmen, gaolers, &c., 525;
Dwellings of, 525;
Protection of, 526;
Torture of, 527;
Various classes of, 528;
in factories, 529;
their liberation, 530, 531;
their numbers in Greece, 532
Sleeves of chitons, 4, 11;
of women’s chitons, 21, 29, 31, 39, 41
Sling, The, 477
Slippers, 54, 56
Smoke offerings, 335
Snow-water for cooling wine, 213
Soap, Substitutes for, 188
Social life among Spartan men, 179
Socrates, 49, 50;
Wealth of, 183;
visiting shops, 190;
Ablutions of, 188;
after the symposium, 232;
said to have taken lessons in dancing, 321;
wishing to offer some of his hemlock to the gods, 335;
represented on the stage, 428;
on idleness, 491
Soldiers, Skins as the dress of, 8;
The chlamys of, 18;
of Sparta, 454-456;
of Athens, 456-460;
hired, 458;
Payment of, 459
Solon, Oath for _ephebi_ composed by, 117;
Symbolical marriage custom ordained by, 141;
Travels of, 198;
on funeral laments, 248;
on the garments of a corpse, 251;
on military service, 456;
his legislation against the slavery of foreigners, 521
Song in praise of the murderers of Hipparchus, 215
Songs, Drinking, 215;
of victory, at Olympic festivals, 363;
on the stage, 416
Sophists, The, 127;
at the Feast of Pitchers, 387
Sophocles, Figure of, in the Lateran, 217;
Beard of, 73;
his account of the funeral games in honour of Patroclus, 357;
Tetralogies of, 412;
Chorus and dialogue of, 413;
Satyric dramas of, 415;
contest with Aeschylus, 449
Sparta, Dress of male population of, 12;
Wearing of shoes forbidden in, 49;
Mode of wearing the hair in, 71;
Hardening infants in, 80, 82;
System of education in, 99-102;
Clothing and discipline of boys in, 100;
Indifference to pain in, 100;
Study of music in, 101, 113;
Gymnastic exercises in, 101, 132;
High reputation of women of, 132;
Domestic relations at, 146;
Daily life at, 175-179;
Opinion of work in, 490;
Handicrafts in, 501
“Spartiates,” The, 454, 455
Spear, Throwing the, 121, 124, 281, 282, 353;
of soldiers, 472
Spinning, 130, 152-154
Spring-boards, 268, 269
Spring-weights, 268
Spurs, 480
Stadion, The, 362, 365
Stage of the Greek theatre, 404-411
Statues, Representations of daily life in, 19
Stelai, Decoration of, 258-262
Stirrups, 480
_Stoa Poikile_, The, 127, 378
Stockings, Substitutes for, 55
Stoics, The, 127
Stones used in war, 477, 478
Strabo, 239
Streets of Athens, 179, 180
Stringed instruments, 306-314
Strophion, The,
Studniczka, on the shape of the peplos, 21
Styx, 245
Squares, Public, 180
Street of Tripods, 390
Suburbs of Athens, 180
Sucking-pigs offered in sacrifice, 330
Suckling infants, 81
Sun-dials, 185
Sunshades, 61-63, 152, 376
Superintendents of schools at Athens, 102
Superstitions customs at death and burial, 243-264
Swaddling clothes, 80
Swimming, Practice of, 126
Swine offered in sacrifice, 330, 360;
Rearing of, 497
Swings, 95
Sword, The, 473-475;
the “Lacedaemonian,” 475, 480
Sword-dance, 217
Sympathetic cures, 243
_Symposium_, The, 204, 209;
Proceedings at, 209;
Games and riddles at, 219-230;
Regulations at, 213;
Music at, 214;
sometimes became an orgy, 216;
its ending, 230
Syracuse, Theatre of, 396
_Syrinx_, The, 320
_Syssitia_, 177
“Table-merchants,” 516
Tables, 202, 205, 209
Tablets for writing, 108, 109
Tambourines, 320
Tanagra, 228
“Taxiarchs,” The, 457
Temple-sweepers, 327
Temples, Medical, 239-243
Temples, Religious, regarded as the dwellings of the gods, 324
Ten Thousand, the, Expedition of, 458
Terra-cottas, Women’s dress in, 43;
Head-coverings in, 61;
Playing games in, 223, 226
_Thalamus_, The, 141
“Thaumaturgists,” 217
Theatre, The, Origin of, 392;
Daylight performances in, 394;
Auditorium, stage and orchestra of, 396;
of Dionysus, of Syracuse, and of Segesta, 396;
Plan and structure of, 398;
Situation and seats of, 399;
Seats of honour in, 400;
Gangways and staircases in, 401;
Arcades and size of, 402;
of Ephesus, and of Megalopolis, 402;
The thymele of orchestra in, 403;
Entrances to orchestra in, 404;
Decoration of proscenium in, 404;
Stage doors of, 405;
Scenery of, 406, 407;
Various uses of the orchestra in, 407;
Revolving pieces of scenery in, 408;
Machinery of, 409;
Gods in, 410;
Plays acted in, 411-421;
Actors of, 421-432;
Masks used in, 425-432;
Costumes
of performers in, 432-444;
Admission of the public to, 444-448;
Prizes of actors in, 449
Theocritus, Allusions to women’s dress by, 43;
Alcmene’s song to her children in, 85;
Epithalamium of Helen in, 141;
his allusion to the women at the Festival of Adonis, 152, 390
Theognis, in Attic schools, 110;
Song by, 215
_Thermae_, The, of the Roman Empire, 192
Thesmophoria, The, 151, 382, 383
_Thesmophoriazusae_, The, of Aristophanes, 170
Thessaly, and the origination of the chlamys, 17;
Luxury in, 206;
Slingers of, 478;
Horse-rearing in, 496
“Thetes,” The, 456
Tholia, The, 61
_Tholos_ buildings, 253
Threshing, 493
Throwing the javelin, 278, 279, 282;
quoits, 121, 275, 277, 278;
the spear, 121, 124, 281, 282
Thucydides, his allusion to male dress, 12;
allusion to dressing the hair, 68
Thymele, The, 403
Time, Measurement of, 183
Tolls, 201, 502
Tombs, 254;
Inscriptions and designs on, 258-262
Torch-race, The, 274, 275, 376
Torches, Bridal, 139, 140
Tortoise, The, as a symbol of domestic life, 151;
Lyre of Hermes constructed out of a, 307
Torture of slaves, 527
Torturers, 525
Towns, Life in, 177
“Towns, Game of,” 223
Toys, 89-93
Trades (_See_ Handicrafts, &c.)
Tradesmen, Contempt for, 508, 509;
Dishonesty of, 510
Tragedies, 411-414, 430
Trainers of youth in Sparta, 99
Travelling, 197-201
Tribes, at Athens, 143;
of Greece in heroic period, 451;
in later centuries, 453, 454
_Trigonon_, The, 313
Trousers, 20
Trumpets, 320
Tumulus, 253
Tunics, 49
Tyndareus, The chiton of, 11
Umpires at Olympic games, 358, 359
Urns, 255
Usury, 517
Vase painter, Workshop of a, 506
Vase paintings, The chiton in, 4;
Representations of daily life in, 19;
Female dress in, 22, 28, 30;
Drapery in, 33, 34;
Coloured patterns in, 45;
_Ephebi_ racing on horseback in, 125;
Bridal procession in, 144;
Representations of women in, 153-159, 164, 167;
Drinking scenes in, 230;
Charioteers in, 451
Vaults for the dead, 253, 254
Vegetables, 207, 208
Vines, 494
Visiting, 194
Vitruvius, his description of a gymnasium, 120
Wail, Funeral, 248
Walking-sticks, 63, 64
War, Authorities on the subject of, 450;
Part taken by nobles in, 451;
Charioteers in, 451, 452;
Arms used in, 452, 460-480;
Cavalry in, 452, 479;
Infantry in, 452;
The closed phalanx in, 452;
Captives taken in, 452;
Modes in heroic age of, 452;
regarded as a festival, 455;
Sacrifice before entering upon, 456;
Sieges, 480, 481
Washing clothes, 156, 157;
at wells, 159
Water, Holy, 137;
sprinkled after death, 244, 255;
in the temples, 329;
its use at the time of sacrifice, 337
Water clocks, 185-187
Weaning, 85
Weaving, 130, 152
Wedding banquets, 138
(_See, also_, Marriage)
Weights and measures, False, 510
Wind instruments, 314-320
Wine, forbidden to women, 170;
Drinking, 178, 202, 209;
mixed with water, 210;
Varieties of, 210;
used in the game of cottabus, 221;
offered in sacrifice to gods, 335;
at the Anthesterian festival, 385
Witchcraft, Protection from, 331
Witches, 88
Wives, their admission among the clansmen, 142;
their honourable position at Sparta, 146;
their subordinate position among the Athenians, 147;
Infidelity of, 148;
of poorer citizens, 150;
Advice for, 166, 167
Women, Dress of, 20-49;
Head-coverings of, 60-63;
Head-dress of, 74-77;
suckling their children, 81;
their part in the Amphidromia, 83, 84;
purification after childbirth, 84;
amusing their children, 88;
their high reputation in Sparta, 132;
their position in relation to men and in the household, 145;
their important position in heroic times, 145;
their household duties, 146;
as wives, 146-149;
their apartments, 150;
water from the wells, 151;
attended by slaves, 151, 182;
their seclusion, 151;
their few public appearances, 151, 152;
their weaving and spinning, 152-154;
Vase painting representations of, 155, 164, 167;
washing clothes, 156, 157;
at their toilet, 157, 169;
Baths for, 159, 162;
anointing the body, 162;
Maids of, 162;
rougeing, dyeing the hair, &c., 165, 166;
Inferiority of the Athenian to the Spartan, 170;
addicted to intemperance, 170;
dining, 178, 203;
sitting at windows, 182;
at funerals, 245, 246, 251;
at a sacrificial ceremony, 338;
forbidden to witness the Olympic games, 366;
at Eleusinian festivals, 380;
at the festival of Demeter, 382;
at night celebrations of Dionysus, 390;
at the theatre, 447;
as slaves, 521, 523
Woollen clothing, 11, 47, 497
Work, how regarded by Doric and other races, 490;
Hesiod’s opinion of, 490;
encouraged by the tyrants, 490;
Opinion of Socrates of, 491;
Depreciation of, 499, 500
Workmen, Dress of, 12, 19, 188;
travelling, 198;
Citizens’ contempt for, 498;
Hired, 506;
Wages of, 508
Workshops, 190, 192, 502-506
Wreaths, given to guests at a symposium, 209;
on the dead, 245;
on tombs, 262;
of priests, 327;
at Olympic games, 361, 362
Wrestling, Technical expressions of, 284;
Preparations for, 284;
The process of cleansing after, 285;
Two principal methods of, 285;
represented in the Florentine marble group, 286;
Tricks or feints in, 288;
Superintendents of, 288, 289;
its thorough development into an art, 290;
at Olympia, 353
Wrestling school, The, 115;
its management, 116;
Method and object of instruction in, 116, 282;
of Olympia, 121;
of Ephesus and Alexandria Troas, 121
Xenophon’s _Oikonomikos_, Allusion to, 130, 166;
description of symposia, 214, 217, 220
Youths, Dress of, 18;
Hair of, 69;
Beards of, 74
(_See, also_, Boys)
Zeus, as represented in works of art, 19;
Beard of, 73;
witness to the oath taken by _ephebi_, 118;
invoked at weddings, 137;
protector of strangers, 199;
statue by Pheidias, 328;
Oracle of, 344;
Sacrifice at Olympic festival to, 359;
Appeal from olive-growers to, 495
Zeus Ammon, Oracle of, 345
Zeus _Herkeios_, Altar to, 181, 358
Zeus Moiragetes, Prayer to, 360
Zeus-Nemeios, Sanctuary of, 371
Zeus Soter, Libations to, 212
Zeus Trophonius, Oracle of, 345
PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] Translated by S. C. Calverley.
[B] Translated by J. Hookham Frere.
[C] Translated by S. C. Calverley.
[D] Nissen.--“Pompeianische Studien.”
[E] Callistratus, translated by Elton.
[F] Translated by T. J. Arnold.
[G] Compare an essay by Raoul Lemaître, “Sur la disposition des rameurs
sur la trière antique,” in the “Revue Archéologique” for 1883, pp. 89
and fol. His conclusions, however, differ from Graser’s. The question
of the arrangement of oars is still an open one.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks" ***
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