A History of Greece, from the earliest times to the destruction of Corinth, B.C. 146, mainly based upon that of Connop Thirlwall, etc

Front matter

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Preface

Within the last fifty years more has been done by both English and foreign scholars to elucidate the History of Greece than at any former period since the revival of learning ; and the results of all these labours are two English works on the History of Greece such as no other nation can boast of. For although the Germans possess in their literature a countless number of treatises and disser tations upon almost every subject connected with Greek antiquity, yet they seem to lack either the will or the power to produce some one great work combining the treasures dug out by the numberless workers in the quar ries of Greek lore, and exhibiting to the modern student a complete picture of the Greek nation. This task, re quiring, perhaps, more practical knowledge of free political institutions than continental scholars generally can be expected to possess, has been left to English scholars, A

PREFACE.

. and has been executed by Bishop Thirlwall and Mr. Grote in a manner which throws all previous attempts of a similar nature completely into the shade. Under such circumstances, it appeared desirable that the results arrived at in the voluminous works of these authors should be made available for educational purposes. The History of Greece is taught, more or less, in all schools and colleges which profess to give a liberal education ; and as by far the greater number of young students want either the means to procure or the time to study the great works on this subject, it has been thought advisable to prepare a manual containing, within a reasonable compass, an accu rate and complete outline of the subject, and not unworthy to serve as an introduction to the masterpieces of classical historical literature produced in our own age and country.

With this view the present work has been undertaken. It is mainly based upon Bishop Thirlwall's Greek History, especially in the first part, down to the account of the Pelo ponnesian war. As this portion of the bishop's work enters less into the minute details of the subject, it was possible, and was at the same time thought expedient, to preserve, to a considerable extent, the form and diction of Dr. Thirl wall's work, of which the first half of this manual is, there fore, in every sense, an abridgment. But of the affairs of Greece from the Peloponnesian war the bishop's work con tains such a detailed account that, although the period over which it extends is not quite three centuries, it occupies six volumes out of the eight of which the whole history consists. Here, therefore, the process of abridging could not be conveniently adopted, and it became necessary to proceed more freely ; especially as it was not requisite that the later portions of the History of Greece should

PREFACE.

. V be treated, in this manual, with that minuteness which it seemed desirable to preserve in the accounts of the earlier and more brilliant period of Greek History, which ends at the time when the kings of Macedonia began to in terfere in, and to exercise influence upon, the affairs of Greece ; for this reason, the narrative of events subsequent to the time of Philip is more brief than that which relates to the preceding period ; and as, moreover, the history of Macedonia and of her conquests in the East does not, properly speaking, form part of the History of Greece, it is introduced in the present work only so far as is necessary to enable the student to understand the main subject. In conclusion, the author would fain indulge a hope that this manual may meet with the same kind and indulgent reception which has been accorded to his little work on Roman History.

His most ardent desire is, that it may contribute towards keeping alive love for, and admiration of, a people which, although it is the first we meet with at the dawn of European history, still stands pre-eminent in all matters connected with literature and the arts, and to whose spiritual influence all civilised nations owe a vast debt of gratitude. L. SCHMITZ. Edinburgh, Oct. 1850. A desire having been expressed that the present manual should furnish a somewhat more complete view of the VI

PREFACE.

. history of literature and the arts among the Greeks, the author has added six supplementary chapters devoted exclusively to a rapid survey of these subjects, and hopes that this addition will increase the usefulness of the book. The illustrations introduced in this edition are copies from the antique ; those representing scenes memorable in the history of Greece are taken from Sir William Gell's original sketches, now in the British Museum, to the Trustees of which the Author's best thanks are due for their permission to make free use of that valuable collection. The coins also were drawn from the originals in the British Museum. AV signifies gold ; AE, silver ; Æ, brass. Edinburgh, May, 1856, Dionysus returning from India, received as a guest by Icarms. (A bai-relief in tlie Britiesle Museum.) Head ofthe youthful Dionysus in the style of Praxiteles. (From the Museum ofthe Capitol at Borne.) CONTENTS. Page Introduction i

Chapter I

Greece and its earliest Inhabitants 5 CHAP. II. Foreign Settlers in Greece 14 CHAP. III. The Hellenic Nation and its Extension 19 CHAP. IV. The Heroic Age of Greece 71 CHAP. V. The Government, Manners, Religion, Knowledge, and Arts of the Greeks in the Heroic Age - - - - - 45 CHAP. VI. The Return of the Heracleids, and Foundation of the Doric States 63 CHAP. VII. The Legislation of Lycurgus 74 CHAP. VIII. The Messenian Wars and Affairs of Sparta down to the Sixth Century before Christ - 90 CHAP. IX. National Institutions and Forms of Government - CONTENTS. VIII Page 112 141 161 171 189 208 227 242 254 266 279 288 299 CHAP. X. Civil History of Attica to the Expulsion of the Pisistratids CHAP. XI. The Colonies of the Greeks, and the Progress of Art and Literature from the Homeric Age to the Persian War - CHAP. XII.

Affairs of the Asiatic Greeks to the Year E.C. 521 CHAP. XIII. From the Accession of Darius Hystaspis, b. c. 521, to the Battle of Marathon, B.C. 490 - - - - CHAP. XIV. From the Battle of Marathon to the Battle of Salamis CHAP. XV. From the Battle of Salamis to the End of the Persian Invasion CHAP. XVI. From the Commencement of the Athenian Maritime Ascendancy to the Thirty Years' Truce between Athens and Sparta CHAP. XVII. From the Commencement of the Thirty Years' Truce to the Renewal of Hostilities between Athens and Corinth, with a general View of the Administration of Pericles CHAP. XVIIL Causes and Occasions of the Peloponnesian War - CHAP. XIX. From the Commencement of the Peloponnesian War to the End of the Third Year ...... CHAP. XX. Fourth and Fifth Years ofthe Peloponnesian War CHAP. XXI.

From the Beginning of the Sixth Year of the Peloponnesian War to the general Pacification of Sicily .... CHAP. XXII. From the general Pacification of Sicily to the Peace of Nicias CONTENTS. IX Page 311 CHAP. XXIIL From the Peace of Nicias to the Conquest of Melos CHAP. XXIV. The Sicilian Expedition before the Arrival of Gylippus in Sicily - 319 CHAP. XXV. The Sicilian Expedition, from the Arrival of Gylippus to its Close 333 CHAP. XXVI. From the Close of the Sicilian Expedition to the Restoration of Alcibiades ----... 342 CHAP. XXVII. From the Return of Alcibiades to Athens to the End of the Peloponnesian War 356 CHAP. XXVIII. From the End of the Peloponnesian War to the Re-establishment of Democracy at Athens ----- 363 CHAP. XXIX. Retrospective Survey of the Internal Condition of Greece during the Peloponnesian War - 368 CHAP. XXX.

From the Expedition of Cyrus the Younger to the Peace of Antalcidas ------- 382 CHAP. XXXL From the Peace of Antalcidas to the Death of Epaminondas 396 CHAP. XXXII. From the Death of Epaminondas to the Battle of Chaeroneia 413 CHAP. XXXIII. From the Battle of Chaeroneia to the Death of Alexander 432 CHAP. XXXIV. From the Death of Alexander to ihe Time of the Achaean League 442 CHAP. XXXV. The Achaean and Aetolian Leagues down to the Battle of Sellasia 458 CHAP. XXXVI. From the Battle of Sellasia to the Destruction of Corinth 467 a CONTENTS. X SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS. CHAP. XXXVIL Page The Language and Lyric Poetry of the Greeks - 482 CHAP. XXXVIII. The Greek Drama - - - - - -493 CHAP. XXXIX. Historical Literature ------ 502 CHAP. XL. Oratory - - - - - - - - 509 CHAP. XLI. Philosophy - - - - - . - 513 CHAP. XLII.

The Arts among the Greeks ----- 520 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE ----.. 535 IlJDEX - 549 List of Greek Words and Phrases ... 5g5 List of Greek Words and Phrases (From a Pompeiem PejeeLeteiig.) A Volume, showing the Mode in which Books were written. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Page A3tragalizontes, or Plavers at Knucklebones . 140 Plan of Athens ' n, Central Statues from the Western Pediment of the Temple of Athene, at Aegina . . Hi Coin of Miletus . . . . 160 Amazon with the Pelta Lunata and Bipennis (double axe) . ib. '. Croesus on the Funeral Pile . 161 Sardis 164 Bas-relief representation of Cvrus the Great, upon a Square Pillar at Mourg-aub, the ancient Pasargadae . . . .169 Head of Paris .... 170 Darius passing Judgment upon Prisoners . . . .171 Bas-relief of a Greek Warrior, found near Marathon . . 1S8 The Plain and Tumulus of Marathon 189 Persian Head-dress . . . 206 Greek Woman's Head-dress . ib.

Persian Dignitary . . . 207 View of the Islands Salamis and Aegina .... 208 Painted Gieek Vases. — 1. and 2. From Athens. 3. From Corinth. 4. The celebrated Meidias Vase from Magna Graecia. 5. From Etruria . . . 225 Primitive Mode of pressing the Juice out of Gi-apes . . 226 Portion of a Ship . . . 227 West Front of the Parthenon restored 241 Bust of Pericles .... 242 Bust of Aspasia .... 252 Two Views of the Aspis, or large circular Greek Shield . . 253 Restoration of the West Front of Temple of Athene, at Aegina . 254 Choragic Monument of Lysicrates . . . Frontispiece Athenian Coin of an early Period iii Dionysus, returning from India, received as a Guest by Icarius ..... vi Head of the youthful Dionysus . vii From a Pompeian Painting . x A Volume, snowing the Mode in which Books were written . xi Olympian Zeus .... 1 Sitting Figure of Athene . . 4 Entrance to the Treasury of Atreus, at Mycenae . . 5 Lion-Gate, at Mycenae.

The Plain of Argos and Gulf of Nauplia to the right . . 13 Coin of Tbebae, in Boeotia. . 14 Specimen of early Greek Sculpture 18 Temple of Theseus, at Athens . 19 Metope from Selinus, representing Hercules carrying theCercopes, or two Thieves of Ephesus 29 Paris conveying Helen to Troy . 30 Battle between the Gods and Giants 31 Plain of Troy . . . .44 Electra ib. Hei-o in War Chariot . . 45 Zeus and Hera in a chariot, attended by Urania, Calliope, and the Horae or Seasons . 62 Daedalus at work . . . ib. Coin of Heraeleia, in Lucania . 63 Plain of Sparta . . . .73 Cyclopean Arcade of Tiryns . 74 Coin of Argos . . . .90 Mount Ithome . . . .102 War Chariot .... ib. Coin of Delphi . . . .103 Circe giving the cup to Ulysses LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XII Page showing the Position of votive Tripods in the public Street . 441 Coin of Antigonus . . . 442 View of Corinth, showing the Remains of the ancientTemple immediately below the Acrocorinthus .... 456 Figure of a Youth dressed in the Chiton and Chlamys . . 457 Coin of Sicyon .... 458 Coin of Megalopolis . . . 466 Coin of Epidauros, with the Monogram of the Achaean Confederacy on the Reverse . . 467 Temple Ruin at Corinth . . 481 Bust of Homer . . . .482 Female swinging . . . 492 Scene from a Greek Comedy . 493 Mask, with Wig and Bonnet . 497 Masks 501 An Agricultural Instrument . ib.

Bust of Thucydides . . .502 Bust of Demosthenes . . 509 Bust of Aristotle . . .513 Group of Physicians and Astronomei's . . . . .519 Western View of Athenian Acropolis ..... 520 Doric and Corinthian Capitals . 522 Corinthian Capital . . . ib. North-west View of Erechtheum, restored . . . .523 Sculptor's Shop, with workmen employed in polishing the Statue of a Warrior. Tools and Implements hanging in the background .... 524 Central Parts of the Frieze of the Parthenon at Athens, the woi'k of Phidias . . . to face 525 Statue of Amazon . . . 526 Bacchus and Ariadne, attended by Nymphs and Satyrs . . 527 Central Figures of the Niobe Group at Florence . . . 529 A Modeller . . . .532 Coin of Hadrian, with Statue of seated Jupiter holding a Victory 533 From Pompeian Painting . . 534 From Pompeian Painting . . 535 Female with Lyre . . . 547 Cyclopes at work . . . 548 Hippo-camp ... 549 Rustic clothed in the Exomis . 564 Pantomimists .... 565 Cymbal-player .... 566 Page Present State of the Parthenon . 265 Coins of Plataeae . . . 266 Group of the Fates . . . 278 Seated Youth .... ib.

Tombs on the Plains of Plataeae 279 Mytilene 287 Coin of Messene . . . 288 View of Navarino, the ancient Pvlos 298 Coin of Amphipolis . . .299 Statue of Theseus . . .309 Caryatid Portico forming the Cecropium of the Erechtheum at Athens . . . .310 Group from the Western Frieze of the Parthenon . . .311 Ancient Drinking-vessel, called Mastix 318 Coin of Syracuse . . . 319 View of Syracuse . . . 325 Plan of Syracuse . . . 326 Coin of Himera .... 332 Part of Bronze Statue of a Satyr ib. Metopes from the South Side of the Parthenon . . .333 Bustof Alcibiades . . .341 Coin of Chios .... 342 Harbours of Athens . . . 354 Cupids making Wreaths and Garlands .... 355 Coin of Andros .... 356 View of Eleusis .... 362 Eros ib. Coin of Sanios .... 363 Phyle 366 Athenian Horseman wearing the Petasus and Chlamys . . 367 The Temple of Nike Apteros at Athens, restored . . . 368 Bust of Socrates . . .380 Funeral Feast .... 381 Coin of Aegina . . . 382 Horologium of Andronicus at Athens 394 Grove, Altar, and Statue of Diana 395 Female Centaur playing the Double Flute . . .396 Greek Warrior .... 412 View of Chaeroneia . . . 430 Niobe 431 Bronze Statue of Alexander on Bucephalus .... 432 Mosaic representing the Battle between Alexander and Darius .... to face 438 Bas-relief from the Villa Albani, ' "- .np. H duu-i" Jim' thratd J* ~ - - :.'. ., >,.... London.. Xony'nan.& Co. Olympian. Zeus.

Introduction

. At the very threshold of European history, before any other nation of our continent is known even by name, we meet in its south-eastern portion with a people which presents to us mankind in its beautiful and poetical infancy, and gradually rises to the full vigour and restless intellectual activity of early manhood. Much beyond this state it never proceeded, for its career was cut short by internal dissensions and the all-absorbing power of Rome. The history of Greece in her best days, therefore, is the history of European mankind in the age of its youth, when all its mental and physical powers displayed a vigour, activity, and fertility which will never cease to awaken the admiration of those who know how to appreciate the noblest attributes of humanity. To dwell upon and study such a history is as delightful, refreshing, and invigorating, as that exercise of the imagination when, in times of trouble and adversity, we try to forget the actual world by which we are surrounded, and betake ourselves to the fair regions of our youth, so full of poetry, beauty, and happiness.

But it is not pleasure and recreation only that we seek and find in the history of Greece ; its pages, like those of the history of all civilised nations, abound in wholesome and useful lessons for states as well as for individuals, especially in regard to everything con nected with the cultivation of intellect and taste. We there hold communion with a people which not only was inspired with a HISTORY OF GREECE. [Introd. glowing love of its country and its liberty, but has produced in the arts, in poetry, in oratory, and in philosophy, the noblest and sublimest works to which the human mind has hitherto given birth, and which have ever been, and probably always will be, the high est models for study and imitation. A nation in which all these excellencies attained so great a degree of perfection and were so harmoniously blended together, has existed only once in the his tory of the world ; and the fairest flower of humanity is assuredly entitled to claim the deepest interest and the most earnest attention of those who aspire to what is highest in man, and do not allow the merely physical wants of our nature to engross their whole being.

Although the Greek nation has long since departed from the scene of history, yet its glory is immortalised by the deeds of its heroes, the writings of its poets and sages, and by the works of its artists, which still excite the admiration of those who are most competent to judge of their beauties, and still exercise their influence upon the best literary and artistic productions of our own time. The interest inspired by the history of Greece is very different from that which we feel when studying the history of Rome. In the latter there is a unity from beginning to end, the city of Rome always forming the centre, as it were, around which all the events of Roman history are grouped, and upon which they always have a more or less direct bearing. The history of Greece presents no such unity, except in a few isolated cases.

Greece, small as it was, consisted of almost as many independent states as it contained cities, so that, properly speaking, a history of Greece is almost an impossibility; the history of many of its numerous little states having come down to us in so fragmentary a condition, that we catch a glimpse at their internal affairs, or hear of their doings, only now and then, when they come in contact with one or other of the leading states. What, therefore, is generally called the history of Greece, is in reality not much more than the history of Athens and Sparta. During a short period, Thebes also emerges from its condition of comparative obscurity ; but the other states occupy a prominent place only in proportion as they are connected with Athens and Sparta, between which cities the supremacy in Greece was divided, and on which the other states were more or less dependent.

This want of unity, however, is sufficiently com pensated for by the variety in social and political institutions, as well as in literature, to which the peculiar circumstances of Greece naturally gave rise ; for, each town or tribe being left to itself and following the bent of its own genius and inclination, a freedom of development was allowed in every particular state, of which there is no example in any other nation. Greece, therefore, is a little world by itself, in which the attentive observer has opportunities Introd.] HISTORY OF GREECE. 3 of seeing all the varieties and shades of difference that exist in a great nation developed in such a manner as to keep each tribe distinct, and yet so far united with the rest as to form with them but one great family. Some persons believe that the history of Rome is more practically useful than that of Greece ; and reasons in support of this opinion are certainly not wanting, especially as Rome and her institutions may, in a more direct manner, be regarded as the basis upon which most of our social and political institutions have been reared, and of which they are, in fact, further developments.

But in every thing that ennobles man — mentally, morally, and aesthetically, the history of Greece possesses numerous examples of the most striking kind ; and it may be safely asserted that human life, in all the variety of its manifestations, is nowhere more completely exhibited than in the history of the Greek states. If, further, the importance of the history of a nation is to be estimated by the influence which it has exercised upon contemporary nations and upon posterity, and if we allow intellectual influence a higher place than that which is the result of military conquest, then the history of no other nation can compete in usefulness and interest with that of Greece. Greece did not conquer the world by the sword, indeed ; but she subdued it by the superiority of her genius in art and literature, and has thereby acquired an empire more vast and more enduring than that which was established by the arms of the Romans, who, themselves, cheerfully owned that the Greeks were their masters in all the nobler achievements of the human mind.

The Greeks extended and communicated to other nations the blessings of civilised life by means of peaceful colonisation along the shores ofthe Mediterranean and the Black Sea, in Asia, Africa, Sicily, Southern Italy, Spain, and Gaul ; while the conquests of Alexander spread Greek culture and literature from the Mediterranean to the Indus : so that, about the beginning of the Christian era, every man of rank and education, from the Indus to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, was familiar with the language and literature of Greece. Providence seems to have chosen this as one of the great means for facilitating the extension of Christianity ; inasmuch as the documents of the Christian religion, being composed in Greek, thus became accessible at once to all educated persons throughout the civilised world.

In studying the history of Greece, we go back to the perennial spring from which all truly great men in all subsequent ages have deeply drunk. Persons unacquainted with the noble productions of the Greek mind may sneer at our enthusiastic admiration ; but it is more than a mere consolation to know that the greatest poets, philosophers, orators, and artists, of all ages and countries, have b HISTORY OF GREECE. [Introd. willingly and numbly acknowledged their obligations to the Greeks, from whose teachings and examples they have derived great and powerful assistance in the production of their greatest and sublimest works. The history of Greece is so rich in everything that can claim our admiration, esteem, and affection, that we can not help approaching it with a feeling of joy and delight. The political existence of Greece ceased at the time when the Romans became the rulers of the country, but its intellectual sovereignty survived even the fall of Rome in the fifth century of the Christian era; nay, a faint shadow of Greek independence continued to exist in the Byzantine empire down to the middle of the fifteenth century ; and although the real spirit of ancient Greece had disappeared from the trifling and dissolute capital of the eastern or Greek empire, still a veneration for the great minds and masters of antiquity was kept alive there, and, after the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks, was communicated by the exiles whom that event drove forth from their native land to the people of south-western Europe.

There the seed fell upon a fertile soil : a love of the noble and beautiful in art and literature was its first fruit ; and the sources of learning being now thrown open, the darkness which had been hanging over Europe for a thousand years was soon dispelled. The revival of letters, which then commenced, was the beginning of a new era in the history of Europe ; the free spirit of Greece rose from its tomb, drove away the mists of ignorance, broke the chains of superstition, emboldened the mind of man to assert its right of independent thought, and thus opened that career of intellectual life and activity which is the pride and glory of modern times. Sitting Figure oi Athene. (Fit m a very ancient stamp discovered on the Acropolis at Athens ) Entrance to trie Treasury of Atreus, at Mycenae, (From Sir William 6 ell.]

CHAPTER I. GREECE AND ITS EARLIEST INHABITANTS.

Greece forms the south-eastern extremity of Europe. It is situ ated between the thirty-sixth and fortieth degree of northern latitude, and its whole extent is considerably less than the small kingdom of Portugal. In form, Greece is distinguished among the countries of Europe by the same features which distinguish Europe itself from the other continents ; that is, by the great range of its coast compared with the extent of its surface, exceeding in the former respect the whole of Spain and Portugal. Greece is a peninsula, which projects from the main trunk of Europe, grows more and more finely articulated as it advances towards the south, and terminates in the peninsula of Peloponnesus, which resembles an outspread mulberry-leaf, whence its modern name Morea.* The position of Greece between the two neighbouring continents, and opposite one of the most fertile regions of Africa, presented * Me;--;*'** signifies a mulberry tree.

B _ [CllAP. 1. 6 to human activity more advantages than any other country on earth ; for the surrounding sea afforded the most convenient com munication with the civilised nations of the ancient world, and the numerous islands scattered over it offered agreeable and commo dious resting-places to the sailor who navigated it. In addition to this, Greece abounded in excellent harbours and spacious bays ; it was watered by numerous rivers, and, being in the enjoyment of a serene and delightful climate, though the winter was often very severe, it was a country no less rich than beautiful. Its pro ductions were as various as its aspects, some parts being more fertile in grain, wine, olives, and many valuable fruits, while others afforded abundant pastures. In precious metals the country was, perhaps fortunately, poor ; but plenty of iron and copper was found in various districts : so that the land provided its inhabitants with everything required for the perfect development as well of their physical as of their intellectual powers.

This land was called by its own sons Hellas, for which we have adopted the Roman name Greece (Graecia). The word Hellas, that is, the land of the Hellenes, however, did not at all times apply to the same extent of country; according to some*, it was originally the name of a town or district in the south of Thessaly, which was afterwards called Phthiotis. From that territory the name is said to have gradually extended to the whole of Thessaly. But, according to others, the most ancient Greeks were the Selli (2e;\Xeii*='E/\\oi*="£XX7)^fe=*), who dwelt in and about Dodona f, bearing the name of Graeci (rpancci).} The Greeks themselves traced their national name to a mythical hero, Hellen, just as the Graeci derived theirs from a hero, Graecus, who is called a son of Thessalus, while Thessalus is said to have founded Dodona.