Home / Albums / Ancient / Ancient Greece 92
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Image 9251
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The Greeks were not naturally of a warlike disposition, and their peculiarly jealous temperament prevented the various states and cities from combining and forming a great nation. Their energetic character and great intellectuality saved them, however, when Darius, King of Persia, invaded Greece in 490 B. C.
By that time the Greeks had raised and trained an army of great excellence. No especial inventiveness seems to have been exercised, but the equipments of the men, their organization, their armor, their weapons and their discipline had been brought to a standard exceedingly high. All these advantages were needed; for the Persians were a warlike people, their King Darius was an ambitious and successful conqueror, and the number of Persians that invaded Greece was far greater than the number that Greece could raise to fight them.
Had the Greeks been destitute of invention they would have followed the most obvious course, that of shutting themselves up inside the protection of the walls of Athens. Had they done this, the Persians would have surrounded the city, shut them off from supplies from outside, and slowly but surely forced them to surrender.
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We must realize, of course, that the Greeks were much indebted to the Ægeans; for discoveries about the shores and islands of the Ægean Sea show that long before the advent of the Greeks they used tools and weapons of rough and then of polished stone, and later of copper and tin and bronze; that they lived on farms and in villages and cities, and were governed by monarchs who dwelt in palaces adorned with paintings and fine carvings, and filled with court gentlemen and ladies who wore jewelry and fine clothing. Exquisite pottery was used, decorated with taste and skill; ivory was carved and gems were engraved, and articles were made of silver and bronze and gold.
As early as the sixth century B. C., the Greeks made things more beautiful than had ever been made before. One almost feels like saying that the Greeks invented beauty. Such a declaration would be absurd of course: but it seems to be a fact that the Greeks had a conception of beauty that was wholly original with them, and that was not only finer than that which any other people had ever had before, but finer than any other people have had since.
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From their camp on a hill above the plain of Marathon, the Greeks looked down upon the vast army of the Persians. For several days no battle was fought, the Persians being unable to attack the Athenians without danger as they were on the hill.
At length Miltiades, whom the other nine generals were willing to follow, resolved to wait no longer. He ordered his men to advance at a sharp run down the hill and to charge the enemy.
When they had started, the soldiers could not stop themselves. Quicker and quicker they ran, until, when they reached the plain, they crashed into the Persian army with tremendous force.
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A rumour that he was dead reached the Macedonians, and they hastened to the palace, begging to be allowed to see their king once more.
Alexander was not dead, but he was too weak to speak, as one by one the soldiers were permitted to walk quietly past his bed. With an effort he looked at them as they passed, and feebly raised his hand in farewell.
‘After I am gone will you ever find a king worthy of such heroes as these?’ he murmured as they slowly filed out of the room.
Then he drew his signet ring from his finger and gave it to an officer, saying that he left his kingdom ‘to the best man.’ So the great king passed away at the age of thirty-three.
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But at length the queen dried her tears and called to Eurycleia to come wash the feet of the stranger, who was of the same age as her master.
The old woman answered, ‘Gladly will I wash his feet, for many strangers travel-worn have ere now come hither, but I say that I have never seen any so like another as this stranger is like Odysseus, in fashion, in voice, and in feet.’
Then the king feared lest his old nurse should know him, and he turned his face from the hearth. But she, as she tended him, saw a scar on the spot where a boar had wounded him long years before, and she knew her master had come home.
Tears well-nigh choked her, yet she touched his chin lightly and said, ‘Yea, verily, thou art Odysseus, my dear child.’
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Then an ugly passion, named jealousy, awoke in the heart of the god, for he too loved the little hunter Hyacinthus, and would fain have been in Apollo’s place.
Zephyrus tarried a while to watch the friends. Once as Apollo flung his disc high into the air, the Wind-god sent a gust from the south which blew the quoit aside. He meant only to annoy Apollo, but Hyacinthus was standing by, so that the quoit struck him violently on the forehead.
The lad fell to the ground, and soon he was faint from loss of blood.
In vain Apollo tried to staunch the wound; nothing he could do was of any use. Little by little the boy’s strength ebbed away, and the Sun-god knew that the lad would never hunt or play again on earth. Hyacinthus was dead.
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For two years, from 409 b.c. to 407 b.c., Alcibiades stayed at the Hellespont retaking cities which had thrown off their allegiance to Athens and joined Sparta. Then feeling that now he might return with glory, he set sail for Athens.
Plutarch tells us that as Alcibiades drew near to the Piræus he was afraid to venture on shore, until he saw friends waiting to welcome him:
‘As soon as he was landed the multitude who came out to meet him scarcely seemed so much as to see any of the other captains, but came in throngs about Alcibiades and saluted him with loud acclamations, and still followed him; those who could press near him crowned him with garlands, and they who could not come up so close, yet stayed to behold him afar off, and the old men pointed him out and showed him to the young ones.’
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The great god Pan, protector of the shepherds and their flocks, was half man, half goat. Every one loved this strange god, who yet ofttimes startled mortals by his wild and wilful ways. When to-day a sudden, needless fear overtakes a crowd, and we say a panic has fallen upon it, we are using a word which we learned from the name of this old pagan god.
Down by the streams the great god Pan was sometimes seen to wander—
‘What was he doing, the great god Pan,
Down in the reeds by the river?
Spreading ruin and scattering ban,
Splashing and paddling with hoofs of a goat,
And breaking the golden lilies afloat,
With the dragon-fly on the river.
‘He tore out a reed, the great god Pan,
From the deep cool bank of the river,’
and then sitting down he ‘hacked and hewed, as a great god can,’ at the slender reed. He made it hollow, and notched out holes, and lo! there was a flute ready for his use.
Sweet, piercing sweet was the music of Pan’s pipe as the god placed his mouth upon the holes.
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The figure of the goddess [Athene], fashioned by the magic hands of the sculptor Pheidias, was a colossal one. Calm, majestic, with a smile upon her face, she stood in her wondrous temple, clad in a robe of gold.
On her head she wore a helmet, in her right hand she held fast a little golden figure of the goddess of victory, while her left lay upon her shield. At her feet a snake lay coiled.
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Meantime the Persian ships were driven into the narrow strait. Ship dashed against ship till the Persian dead strewed the deep ‘like flowers.’ When evening fell, two hundred Persian ships had been destroyed and the Greeks had won the great sea-battle of Salamis. The glory of the victory was due to Themistocles. There might indeed have been no battle at Salamis had he not tricked both the Persian king and the Greek admirals.
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Solon, the wise lawgiver of Athens, was a descendant of King Codrus. His father had given away most of his wealth to help his city or his countrymen, so Solon became a merchant, as the sons of noblemen often did in these days of long ago. To increase his business, Solon journeyed through many of the states of Greece as well as to Asia. Wherever he went he studied the laws and manners of the people, just as Lycurgus the lawgiver of Sparta had done.
Solon was not only a merchant, he was also a poet, and because he was both wise and learned he was counted one of the seven sages of Greece.
When Solon returned from one of his journeys about 593 b.c., he was made an archon and asked to reform the laws.
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Achilles set sail with the other chiefs for Troy, so it seemed as though the city would be taken by his help, as the oracle foretold. With him Achilles took his well-loved friend Patroclus.
For nine long years was the city of Troy besieged, and all for the sake of Helen the beautiful Queen of Sparta. Often as the years passed, she would stand upon the walls of Troy to look at the brave warriors of Hellas, to wonder when they would take the city. But when nine years had passed, no breach had yet been made in the walls.
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A glance had been enough to show her that her skill was as nothing before the wonder and the beauty of Athene’s work.
Too late the maiden repented that she had defied the goddess. In her despair she seized a rope and tied it round her neck to hang herself.
But the goddess saw what Arachne meant to do, and at once she changed her into a spider, bidding her from henceforth never cease to spin.
And so when you see a spider weaving its beautiful embroidery on a dewy morning in the garden, or when you find a delicate web in your lumber-room, you will remember how Athene punished poor foolish Arachne in the days of old.
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So at length the Athenian was brought into the presence of Artaxerxes, and after having prostrated himself he stood silent before the king.
‘Who art thou?’ asked Artaxerxes.
‘O king,’ answered the exile, ‘I am Themistocles the Athenian, driven into banishment by the Greeks. I come with a mind suited to my present calamities; prepared alike for favours and for anger. If you save me you will save your suppliant; if otherwise, you will destroy an enemy of the Greeks.’
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In the Olympian temple, in later days, there was a marvellous statue of Zeus in gold and ivory, wrought by the genius of Pheidias, the greatest sculptor of Greece.
The games were open to all, and spectators as well as competitors flocked to Olympia from every state in Greece. To the Greeks these games were part of their religion; they were rites pleasing, so they believed, to the gods.
Should there be war between any of the Greek States at the time of the games, all hostile acts were forbidden in Olympia. Until the festival was over, those who had been in arms, one against another, might meet in safety and in peace. Twice or thrice an armed force made its way into the sacred territory of Elis to interfere with the games. This to the Greeks was sacrilege.
In the earliest times the games lasted only for one day, and a simple foot-race was the only event. But soon the festival came to last for five days, for there were now, not only foot-races, but wrestling, boxing, racing in armour, and above all else chariot races. In these races it was not the driver who, if successful, won the wreath of olive, but the owner of the chariot.
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Image 7265
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Suddenly he felt some one touch his arm, and looking up he saw a very old man who had been in the assembly, and had heard him speak. He had seen how disappointed Demosthenes was as he left the hall, and he had determined to encourage him. So first he praised the crestfallen orator, saying that his speech had reminded him of the great orator Pericles, and then he upbraided the young man for being so easily discouraged by the laughter of the people.
Demosthenes allowed himself to be comforted and made up his mind to try again, thinking that perhaps after all he would be able to make the people listen to him. But in spite of all his efforts he could not hold their attention, and he left the assembly, hiding his face in his cloak that none might see his sorrow.
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A moment later the order was given, and the Macedonians rushed upon the great hosts of the enemy.
Darius thought that his war-chariots would cause deadly havoc among his enemies, for scythes were fastened to the wheels to mow down all who came within reach.
But the Macedonian archers drew their bows and sped their arrows among the charioteers, while the strongest seized the reins of the horses, and pulled the drivers from their seats. Then the soldiers opened wide their ranks so that those chariots that still had drivers rattled harmlessly past them.
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But it proved impossible to land. Again and again the Spartan admiral made the attempt, but each time he was forced to withdraw, lest his ships should be dashed upon the rocks.
Brasidas refused to give in, and he bade his men wreck their vessels rather than be beaten back. ‘Be not sparing of timber,’ he cried, ‘for the enemy has built a fortress in your country. Perish the ships and force a landing.’
Spurred on by his words, the men drove their ship upon the beach, while Brasidas stood fearlessly on the gangway ready to leap upon the shore. But the Athenians saw the bold figure too well, and he became a target for every arrow.
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For thirty days Socrates was in prison, and he spent the time in talking to his friends just as he had been used to do in the market-place.
One of his disciples, named Crito, bribed the jailer to allow his prisoner to escape, but Socrates refused to flee. He did not fear death, but faced it calmly as he had faced life.
On the day before the sentence was carried out, he talked quietly to his disciples of the life to which he was going, for he believed that his soul, which was his real self, would live after he had laid aside his body as a garment.
When the cup of hemlock, a poisoned draught, was brought to him, his friends wept, but he took the cup in his hand, and drank the contents as though it were a draught of wine.
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So for six glad months each year Demeter rejoiced, for her daughter was by her side, and ever it was spring and summer while Persephone dwelt on earth. But when the time came for her to return to Hades, Demeter grew ever cold and sad, and the earth too became weary and grey. It was autumn and winter in the world until Persephone returned once more.
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One day the guards saw the babe on his mother’s knee. Here was the grandson about whom the king had hoped that he would never be born.
In great alarm they hastened to the palace to tell the king the strange tidings. Acrisius was so frightened when he heard their story that he flew into a passion, and vowed that both Danae and Perseus, as her little son was named, should perish. So he ordered the guards to carry the mother and her babe to the seashore, and to send them adrift on the waters in an empty boat.
For two days and two nights the boat was tossed hither and thither by the winds and the waves, while Danae, in sore dismay but with a brave heart, clasped her golden-haired boy tight in her arms.
The child slept sound in the frail bark, while his mother cried to the gods to bring her and her treasure into a safe haven.
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Image 7256
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The peplos was the chief garment of the Achaean women of the early Archaic Period (circa 1200-600 B.C.).
In shape it was a rectangular piece of material, often heavily embroidered and consequently of a solid texture.
It was put on in the manner of the Doric chiton, but being made of more substantial stuff it was wrapped tightly round the figure without folds, girded at the waist and open up one side, the top part falling back over the chest and back.
It was fastened on the shoulders, and often down the side,by large pins.
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The following excerpt from Homer's Odyssey, XXIV. 225, gives
details of the costume worn by peasants of an earlier period, and this
description applies equally to the dress of peasants between the years
600 and 146 B.C.
He was clothed in a filthy chiton, patched and unseemly, with clouted leggings of ox-hide bound about his legs, against the scratches of the thorns, and long sleeves over his hands by reason of the brambles, and on his head he wore a goatskin cap.
"Sleeves " did not mean arm-coverings in the way the term is generally understood, but were pieces of hide tied or laced round the forearm, wrist and hand, leaving the fingers free, with possibly a hole for the thumb. This was the first Glove.
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The Himation was not exclusively a feminine garment; it was also
worn by men. It was an oblong piece of material, woven with a border,
and in dimensions approximately eighteen feet by six feet.
During the sixth century of the Classic Period, it was often the sole
garment worn.
How to wear it. It was draped over the left arm, with one end hanging in front, the rest of the material being drawn across the back,
round the body on the right side, and over the left shoulder again.
As civilisation progressed, it was deemed necessary by ordinary
men to add an under-garment—either the chiton or the kolobus.
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The figure represents a man of this particular epoch (400-146 B.C.) wearing the kolobus ornamented with bands of embroidery.
It is girded at the waist, and a himation of small dimensions is draped over the left shoulder, ready for the other end to be thrown over it.
He wears the pilos and his hair has been allowed to grow longer than heretofore, in accordance with the new fashion of this age.
If this young man had desired to be in the height of fashion, he
would have had long close-fitting sleeves added to his kolobus.
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The later chiton. Approximately at the beginning of the fifth century B.C., the chiton was made on the same principle as the women's Ionic chiton using wider material; and was bound or worked at the top edge,
with the portion covering the upper arms slightly gathered. This part was buttoned or clasped back to front, and. later on sometimes sewn together, to form a sleeve. It was girded at the waist and under
the arms.
It eventually became customary to sew up the open side, thus making the garment a cylinder in shape.
The figure on left is a young man wearing a crinkled chiton under the chlamys. His long hair is twisted up and banded. He carries his petasos in his hand.
The figure on right represents a young man dressed in accordance with the fashion of the fifth century B.C., but his hair is of the sixth and fifth centuries. The lyre is a development of the more primitive instrument of an earlier Age.
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The early chiton. At the beginning of the sixth century B.C. men
followed the example of the women by adopting the Ionic chiton for
general use. The masculine variety was a shortened version of the original worn by the women, and reached to just above the knees. In its early stage (sixth century B.C.) it was no more than a rectangular piece of linen, or wool, folded round the body and fastened on each shoulder by buttons or brooches, and round the waist by a girdle; or it could be girded under the arms. It was worn open down one side, and these two edges were usually finished off with a fringe, probably the raw edges left in the weaving.
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The Age of Pericles and down to the year 338 B
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Hair dressed with a wave on the temples was the most important
feature of hairdressing at the beginning of this period, and during the
first two centuries the elaborate stiff waving had the effect of a scalloped edge {left picture).
On top of these waves, a series of stiff curls, pointing downwards,
was often arranged.
Another style in vogue at the same time was the dressing of the front
hair to form a coronet of circular curls, all round the head from ear to ear {middle picture). The side ringlets, "braided tresses," were still retained, coming from behind the ears, and brought forward on to the shoulders, and the back portion (left picture) was allowed to hang down behind in waves or ringlets. Above this was tied a band, or fillet, of ribbon or metal, also encircling the head behind the row of waves or curls. Late in the sixth century the fillet became a little wider in the band, and was more upstanding on the head, forming a coronet that was often richly ornamented {right picture), and this was the early form of the stephane.
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From this time onward another garment, distinct in itself, came into
general use, and remained until the end of the Classic Greek Period.
This was the himation, an essential part of a Greek woman's
costume, and indispensable with the Ionic chiton. It was often worn in
the house, and always out of doors. In shape it resembled a shawl, and
was an oblong piece of woollen or linen material, twelve to fifteen
feet long, and in breadth about equal to the height of the wearer.
352 visits
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The Doric Chiton, 550 B.C. {circa)-A.D. 100
About the same time, or shortly after the introduction of the Ionic
chiton, a variation of the peplos was adapted under the name of the Doric chiton. It was worn simultaneously with the Ionic chiton, even
to the end of the first century A.D., as may be seen on many vase paintings and pieces of sculpture.
It was made of fine woollen material and woven complete in itself
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The top part. The crinkled Ionic chiton was shaped
like the original garment, but made of even thinner material, almost
transparent, for the limbs could be seen through it. It was necessarily
thinner, as more material was required in its width.
It is seen on statues, the top part being crinkled in some way, in
zig-zag or wavy lines, to about the hip level, where it is turned under
and secured by an invisible waist-belt. It was fastened by buttons or
clasps, or sewn as described earlier, to form sleeves.
The skirt part was not crinkled, but, being very full, it hung in
many flat folds, which gave a zig-zag effect at the bottom edge.
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The costume of these people consisted practically of only two garments for men and women alike—nothing more than rectangular pieces of material—but the manner of wearing them required care, management and perfect taste.
These garments were called by the Greeks:
THE CHITON and THE HIMATION, but are
commonly known to us as "The Tunic" and "The Mantle."
The last six centuries B.C. and the nineteenth and twentieth centuries A.D. share a distinction in the history of costume, as being the
only periods in which women have dominated the fashions.
The women were compelled by law to change their attire, as it was found that the large pins by which the earlier "peplos"* was fastened proved dangerous weapons in the hands of infuriated women, whereas the Ionic chiton generally required no pins.
855 visits
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A drawing made from the Pandora Vase, dated
460 B.C., in the Ashmolean Museum, and is given as an example of the
treatment adopted by Greek artists in delineating the following garments
It represents Zeus (on the left), Hermes and Hercules, wearing respectively the himation, chlamys, and kolobus. Pandora wears the Ionic
crinkled chiton, and a small himation, which is nothing more than a
veil, over an elaborate stephane. Eros is holding her girdle.
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Reducing Dislocated Shoulder
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Reducing Dislocated Jaw
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Sargus vulgaris
In Attica, was early developed a characteristic and closely accurate type of representation of marine forms, and this attained a wider vogue in Southern Italy in the fourth century. From the latter period a number of dishes and vases have come down to us bearing a large variety of fish forms, portrayed with an exactness that is interesting in view of the attention to marine creatures in the surviving literature of Aristotelian origin
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Crenilabrus mediterraneus.
Uranoscopus scaber?
In Attica, too, was early developed a characteristic and closely accurate type of representation of marine forms, and this attained a wider vogue in Southern Italy in the fourth century. From the latter period a number of dishes and vases have come down to us bearing a large variety of fish forms, portrayed with an exactness that is interesting in view of the attention to marine creatures in the surviving literature of Aristotelian origin
216 visits
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Lioness and young from an Ionian vase of the sixth century b. c. found at Caere in Southern Etruria (Louvre, Salle E, No. 298), from Le Dessin des Animaux en Grèce d’après les vases peints, by J. Morin, Paris (Renouard), 1911. The animal is drawing itself up to attack its hunters. The scanty mane, the form of the paws, the udders, and the dentition are all heavily though accurately represented.
489 visits
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The basic principle of life, in the Galenic physiology, is a spirit, anima or pneuma, drawn from the general world-soul in the act of respiration. It enters the body through the rough artery (τραχεῖα ἀρτηρία, arteria aspera of mediaeval notation), the organ known to our nomenclature as the trachea. From this trachea the pneuma passes to the lung and then, through the vein-like artery (ἀρτηρία φλεβώδης, arteria venalis of mediaeval writers, the pulmonary vein of our nomenclature), to the left ventricle. Here it will be best to leave it for a moment and trace the vascular system along a different route.
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A kylix from the Berlin Museum of about 490 b. c. It bears the inscription ΣΟΣΙΑΣ ΕΠΟΙΗΣΕΝ, Sosias made (me), and represents Achilles bandaging Patroclus, the names of the two heroes being written round the margin. The painter is Euphronios, and the work is regarded as the masterpiece of that great artist. The left upper arm of Patroclus is injured, and Achilles is bandaging it with a two-rolled bandage, which he is trying to bring down to extend over the elbow. The treatment of the hands, a department in which Euphronios excelled, is particularly fine. Achilles was not a trained surgeon, and it will be observed, from the position of the two tails of the bandage, that he will have some difficulty when it comes to its final fastening!
450 visits
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A Greek Clinic of 400 BC
In the centre sits a physician holding a lancet and bleeding a patient from the median vein at the bend of the right elbow into a large open basin. Above and behind the physician are suspended three cupping vessels. To the right sits another patient awaiting his turn; his left arm is bandaged in the region of the biceps. The figure beyond him smells a flower, perhaps as a preservative against infection. Behind the physician stands a man leaning on a staff; he is wounded in the left leg, which is bandaged. By his side stands a dwarfish figure with disproportionately large head, whose body exhibits deformities typical of the developmental disease now known as Achondroplasia; in addition to these deformities we note that his body is hairy and the bridge of his nose sunken; on his back he carries a hare which is almost as tall as himself. Talking to the dwarf is a man leaning on a long staff, who has the remains of a bandage round his chest.
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Their education inculcated the practice of immorality. All ideas of modesty were by a deliberate public training obliterated from their minds. Scourged with the whip when young, taught to wrestle, box, and race naked before assemblages of men, their wantonness and licentiousness passed every bound. Marriage, indeed, was an institution of the state; but no man could call his wife his own.
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This Doric chiton is often seen on statues and paintings of Greek goddesses. The shoulders and breast part were usually surmounted by the "AEgis," a sort of scaled cape-cuirass. Athena is generally represented wearing it
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Men's Hairstyles - Classic Greece
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Hippocrates
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Two other men with names greatly celebrated among the ancients may be referred to here, as representatives of what may be termed the Natural History group of sciences. One of them was a contemporary of Plato, the other was a pupil of Aristotle. The first is the famous physician HIPPOCRATES B.C. 470-375), to whom is attributed the foundation of medicine as a science. The healing of wounds and the cure of diseases is an art, and as such must have been practised in some form at a period coeval with the existence of mankind. The successful practice of this art depends largely upon knowledge of the causes, symptoms, and course of diseases, and upon a knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the human body.
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PLATO (B.C. 427 -374), whose name is so illustrious in philosophy has directly and indirectly largely influenced the course of intellectual development and scientific thought. Before Plato had become the disciple of Socrates, he had been a student of the philosophY of Heraclitus, one of whose prominent doctrines was that all things are in a state of ceaseless change, so that, for example, no one could ever be twice on the same river, inasmuch as the water is ever changing. About the age of twenty Plato became a disciple of Socrates, and continued so until the death of the latter, nine years afterwards. Plato then visited various countries, as Egypt, Persia, Sicily, and Italy. On returning to Athens he established his renowned school of philosophy amid the groves of Academus, near Athens; and this place has given a common title to schools of art, learning, and science throughout the world. Plato lived to an advanced age and left behind him many writings, now esteemed amongst the most precious legacies that antiquity has bequeathed to us.
It was the practice of Socrates to constantly seek for definitions of justice, beauty, and so on, and this of course implied that he thought that in some things at least there was something permanent. Plato managed in his famous doctrine of Ideas to reconcile and combine the conflicting views of Heraclitus and of Socrates. This doctrine gave rise aftenvards to endless disputations, which for the most part diverted men's minds from the observation- of nature.
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Grown up men and women did not dance together, but the youth of both sexes joined in the Hormŏs or chain dance and the Gěrănŏs, or crane. The Gěrănŏs, originally from Delos, is said to have been originated by Theseus in memory of his escape from the labyrinth of Crete It was a hand-in-hand dance alternately of males and females. The dance was led by the representative of Theseus playing the lyre.
639 visits
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Panathenaeac dance, about the 4th century B.C.
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Dancing Bacchante. From a vase in the British Museum.
According to some authorities, one of the most primitive of the first class, attributed to Phrygian origin, was the Aloenes, danced to the Phrygian flute by the priests of Cybele in honour of her daughter Ceres. The dances ultimately celebrated in her cult were numerous: such as the Anthema, the Bookolos, the Epicredros, and many others, some rustic for labourers, others of shepherds, etc. Every locality seems to have had a dance of its own. Dances in honour of Venus were common, she was the patroness of proper and decent dancing; on the contrary, those in honour of Dionysius or Bacchus degenerated into revelry and obscenity.
651 visits
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Amongst the earliest representations that are comprehensible, we have certain Egyptian paintings and some of these exhibit postures that evidently had even then a settled meaning, and were a phrase in the sentences of the art. Not only were they settled at such an early period (B.C. 3000) but they appear to have been accepted and handed down to succeeding generations, and what is remarkable in some countries, even to our own times.
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Image 4282
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Greek merchant ship
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At this point, it is worth pausing to consider in detail the war galley which the Phœnicians had developed and which they handed down to the Greeks at this turning point in the world's history. The bireme and the trireme were adopted by the Greeks, apparently without alteration, save that at Salamis the Greek galleys were said to have been more strongly built and to have presented a lower freeboard than those of the Phœnicians.
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The single flute was called monaulos, and the double one diaulos. A diaulos, which was found in a tomb at Athens, is in the British museum. The wood of which it is made seems to be cedar, and the tubes are fifteen inches in length. Each tube has a separate mouth-piece and six finger-holes, five of which are at the upper side and one is underneath.
918 visits
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The Greeks had lyres of various kinds, more or less differing in construction, form, and size, and distinguished by different names; such as lyra, 30kithara, chelys, phorminx, etc. Lyra appears to have implied instruments of this class in general, and also the lyre with a body oval at the base and held upon the lap or in the arms of the performer; while the kithara had a square base and was held against the breast. These distinctions have, however, not been satisfactorily ascertained. The chelys was a small lyre with the body made of the shell of a tortoise, or of wood in imitation of the tortoise. The phorminx was a large lyre; and, like the kithara, was used at an early period singly, for accompanying recitations. It is recorded that the kithara was employed for solo performances as early as B.C. 700.
729 visits
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The flute, aulos, of which there were many varieties, was a highly popular instrument, and differed in construction from the flutes and pipes of the ancient Egyptians. Instead of being blown through a hole at the side near the top it was held like a flageolet, and a vibrating reed was inserted into the mouth-piece, so that it might be more properly described as a kind of oboe or clarionet. The Greeks were accustomed to designate by the name of aulos all wind instruments of the flute and oboe kind, some of which were constructed like the flageolet or like our antiquated flûte à bec.
834 visits
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The representation of Polyhymnia with a harp, depicted on a splendid Greek vase now in the Munich museum, may be noted as an exceptional instance. This valuable relic dates from the time of Alexander the great. The instrument resembles in construction as well as in shape the Assyrian harp, and has thirteen strings. Polyhymnia is touching them with both hands, using the right hand for the treble and the left for the bass. She is seated, holding the instrument in her lap. Even the little tuning-pegs, which in number are not in accordance with the strings, are placed on the sound-board at the upper part of the frame, exactly as on the Assyrian harp. If then we have here the Greek harp, it was more likely an importation from Asia than from Egypt. In short, as far as can be ascertained, the most complete of the Greek instruments appear to be of Asiatic origin.
1173 visits
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Lady's Dress in the days of Greece
504 visits
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Women’s Head-dress
819 visits
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Vase-painting—Ionic Dress
804 visits
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Vase-painting—Dress with two Overfold
719 visits
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Vase-painting
776 visits
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Vase-painting in the Polygnotan Style
813 visits
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Vase-painting from Lucania
806 visits
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Vase-painting by Hieron
790 visits
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Vase-painting by Falerii
829 visits
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Vase-painting by Euxitheos
838 visits
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Vase-painting by Euphronios
753 visits
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Vase-painting by Brygos
769 visits
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The Doric Himation
773 visits
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The Chlamys and Petasos
793 visits
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The snake goddess and her votary from Knossos have, in addition, a kind of apron reaching almost to the knees in front and behind, and rising to the hips at the sides. The costume is completed by the addition of a high hat or turban.
Looking at the snake goddess more in detail, we find that the jacket is cut away into a V-shape from the neck to the waist, leaving both the breasts quite bare; the two edges are laced across below the breast, the laces being fastened in a series of bows. The jacket is covered with an elaborate volute pattern, the apron with spots and bordered with a “guilloche.”
791 visits
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Men’s Head-dress—Archaic
798 visits
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From the François Vase
934 visits
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Alexander the Great
(silver coin of Lysimachus, 321-281 B.C.)
635 visits
