A Day in Old Athens Part 21

With his sacred knife he cuts a lock of hair from the victims head and casts it on the fire. Promptly now the helper comes forward to complete the sacrifice. Phormion and his friends are a little anxious. Will the lamb take fright, hang back, and have to be dragged to its unwilling death? The clever attendant has cared for that. A sweet truss of dried clover is lying just under the altar. The lamb starts forward, bleating joyously. As it bows its head[*] as if consenting to its fate the priest stabs it dexterously in the neck with his keen blade. The helper claps a bowl under the neck to catch the spurting blood. A flute player in readiness, but hitherto silent, suddenly strikes up a keen blast to drown the dying moans of the animal. Hardly has the lamb ceased to struggle before the priest and the helper have begun to cut it up then and there. Certain bits of the fat and small pieces from each limb are laid upon the altar, and promptly consumed. These are the G.o.ddess's peculiar portion, and the credulous at least believe that she, though unseen, is present to eat thereof; certainly the sniff of the burning meat is grateful to her divine nostrils. The priest and the helpers are busy taking off the hide and securing the best joint--these are their "fees" for professional services.

All the rest will be duly gathered up by Phormion's body servant and borne home,--for Phormion will give a fine feast on "sacred mutton" that night.[+]

[*]If a larger animal--an ox--failed to bow its head auspiciously, the omen could be rectified by suddenly splashing a little water in the ears.

[+]As already suggested (section 159) a sacrifice (public, or, if on a large scale, private) was about the only occasion on which Athenians tasted beef, pork, or mutton.

Meantime, while the G.o.ddess's portion burns, Phormion approaches the altar, bearing a shallow cup of unmixed wine, and flings it upon the flame.

"Be propitious, O Lady," he cries, "and receive this my drink offering."[*]

[*]The original intention of this libation at the sacrifice was very clearly to provide the G.o.ds with wine to "wash down" their meat.

The sacrifice is now completed. The priest a.s.sures Phormion that the entrails of the victim foretokened every possible favor in future athletic contests--and this, and his insinuating smile, win him a silver drachma to supplement his share of the lamb. Phormion readjusts the chaplet upon his own head, and turns towards the Parthenon. After the sacrifice will come the prayer.

196. The Interior of the Parthenon and the Great Image of Athena.--The whole Acropolis is the home of Athena. The other G.o.ds harbored thereon are only her inferior guests. Upon the Acropolis the dread G.o.ddess displays her many aspects. In the Erechtheum we worship her as Athena Polias, the ancient guardian of the hearths and homes of the city. In the giant Promachus, we see her the leader in war,--the awful queen who went with her fosterlings to the deadly grappling at Marathon and at Salamis; in the little temple of "Wingless Victory"[*] we see her as Athena the Victorious, triumphant over Barbarian and h.e.l.lenic foe; but in the Parthenon we adore in her purest conception--the virgin queen, now chaste and clam, her battles over, the pure, high incarnations of all "the beautiful and the good" that may possess spirit and mind,--the sovran intellect, in short, purged of all carnal, earthy pa.s.sion. It is meet that such a G.o.ddess should inhabit such a dwelling as the Parthenon.[+]

[*]The term "Wingless Victory" (Nike Apteros) has reference to a special type and aspect of Athena, not to the G.o.ddess Nike (Victory) pure and simple.

[+]There was still another aspect in which Athena was worshipped on the Acropolis. She had a sacred place ("temenos"), though without a temple, sacred to her as Athena Ergane--Athena Protectress of the Arts.

Phormion pa.s.ses under the eastern porch, and does not forget (despite the purification before the sacrifice) to dip the whisk broom, lying by the door, in the brazen laver of holy water and again to sprinkle himself. He pa.s.ses out of the dazzling sunlight into a chamber that seems at first to be lost in a vast, impenetrable gloom. He pauses and gazes upward; above him, as little by little his eyes get their adjustment, a faint pearly light seems streaming downward. It is coming through the translucent marble slabs of the roof of the great temple.[*] Then out of the gloom gleam shapes, objects,--a face. He catches the glitter of great jewels and of ma.s.sy gold, as parts of the rich garments and armor of some vast image. He distinguishes at length a statue,--the form of a woman, nearly forty feet in height. Her left wrist rests upon a mighty shield; her right hand holds a winged "Victory," itself of nigh human size. Upon her breast is the awful aegis, the especial breastplate of the high G.o.ds. Around the foot of her shield coils a serpent.

Upon her head is a might helmet. And all the time that these things are becoming manifest, evermore clearly one beholds the majestic face,--sweetness without weakness, intellectuality without coldness, strength mingled justly with compa.s.sion. This is the Athena Parthenos, the handiwork of Phidias.[+]

[*]This seems to be the most reasonable way to a.s.sume that the "cella" of the Parthenon was lighted, in view of the danger, in case of open skylights, of damage to the holy image by wind and rain.

[+]Of this statue no doubt there could be said what Dion Chrysostomos said of the equally famous "Zeus" erected by Phidias at Olympia.

"The man most depressed with woes, forgot his ills whilst gazing on this statue, so much light and beauty had Phidias infused within it." Besides the descriptions in the ancient writers we get a clear idea of the general type of the Athena Parthenos from recently discovered statuettes, especially the "Varvakeion" model (401/2 inches high). This last is cold and lifeless as a work of art, but fairly accurate as to details. [Note from Brett: In 2001, this remains the best statue ever found representing Athena Parthenos and a detailed a.n.a.lysis of the effect of the original statue on the populous can be found at http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/CC96/lapatin.htm.

The statuette itself is currently in the Athens Museum.]

We will not heap up description. What boots it to tell that the arms and vesture of this "chryselephantine" statue are of pure gold; that the flesh portions are of gleaming ivory; that Phidias has wrought the whole so n.o.bly together that this material, too sumptuous for common artists, becomes under his a.s.sembling the perfect substance for the manifestation of deity?

...Awestruck by the vision, though often he has seen it, Phormion stands long in reverent silence. Then at length, casting a pinch of incense upon the brazier, constantly smoking before the statue, he utters his simple prayer.

197. Greek Prayers.--Greek prayers are usually very pragmatic.

"Who," asks Cicero, who can speak for both Greeks and Romans in this particular, "ever thanked the G.o.ds that he was a good man? Men are thankful for riches, honor, safety.... We beg of the sovran G.o.d [only] what makes us safe, sound, rich and prosperous."[*]

Phormion is simply a very average, healthy, handsome young Athenian.

While he prays he stretches his hands on high, as is fitting to a deity of Olympus.[+] His pet.i.tion runs much as follows:--

"Athena, Queen of the aegis, by whatever name thou lovest best,[&]

give ear.

"Inasmuch as thou dids't heed my vow, and grant me fair glory at Mantinea, bear witness I have been not ungrateful. I have offered to thee a white sheep, spotless and undefiled. And now I have it in my mind to attempt the pentathlon at the next Isthmia at Corinth.

Grant me victory even in that; and not one sheep but five, all as good as this to-day, shall smoke upon thine altar. Grant also unto me, my kinsmen and all my friends, health, riches and fair renown."

[*]Cicero, "De Nat. Deor," ii. 36.

[+]In praying to a deity of the lower world the hands would be held down. A Greek almost NEVER knelt, even in prayer. He would have counted it degrading.

[&]This formula would be put in, lest some favorite epithet of the divinity be omitted.

A pagan prayer surely; and there is a still more pagan epilogue.

Phormion has an enemy, who is not forgotten.

"And oh! gracious, sovran Athena, blast my enemy Xenon, who strove to trip me foully in the foot race. May his wife be childless or bear him only monsters; may his whole house perish; may all his wealth take flight; may his friends forsake him; may war soon cut him off, or may he die amid impoverished, dishonored old age. If this my sacrifice has found favor in thy sight, may all these evils come upon him unceasingly. And so will I adore the and sacrifice unto thee all my life."[*]

[*]Often a curse would become a real subst.i.tute for a prayer; e.g.

at Athens, against a rascally and traitorous general, a solemn public curse would be p.r.o.nounced at evening by all the priests and priestesses of the city, each shaking in the air a red cloth in token of the b.l.o.o.d.y death to which the offender was devoted.

The curse then is a most proper part of a Greek prayer! Phormion is not conscious of blasphemy. He merely follows invariable custom.

It is useless to expect "Christian sentiments" in the fourth century B.C., yet perhaps an age should be judged not by its average, but by its best. Athenians can utter n.o.bler prayers than those of the type of Phormion. Xenophon makes his model young householder Ishomenus pray n.o.bly "that I may enjoy health and strength of body, the respect of my fellow citizens, honorable safety in times of war, and wealth honestly increased."[*]

[*]Xenophon, "The Economist," xi, p. 8.

There is a simple little prayer also which seems to be a favorite with the farmers. Its honest directness carries its own message.

"Rain, rain, dear Zeus, upon the fields of the Athenians and the plains."[*]

[*]It was quoted later to us by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who adds, "In truth, we ought not to pray at all, or we ought to pray in this simple and n.o.ble fashion."

Higher still ascends the prayer of Socrates, when he begs for "the good" merely, leaving it to the wise G.o.ds to determine what "the good" for him may be; and in one prayer, which Plato puts in Socrates's mouth, almost all the best of Greek ideals and morality seems uttered. It is spoken not on the Acropolis, but beside the Ilissus at the close of the delightful walk and chat related in the "Ph?drus."

"Beloved Pan, and all ye other G.o.ds who haunt this place, give me the beauty of the inward soul, and may the outward and the inward man be joined in perfect harmony. May I reckon the wise to be wealthy, and may I have such a quant.i.ty of gold as none but the temperate can carry. Anything more?--That prayer, I think, is enough for me."

Phormion and his party are descending to the city to spend the evening in honest mirth and feasting, but we are fain to linger, watching the slow course of the shadows as they stretch across the Attic hills. Sea, sky, plain, mountains, and city are all before us, but we will not spend words upon them now. Only for the buildings, wrought by Pericles and his might peers, we will speak out our admiration. We will gladly confirm the words Plutarch shall some day say of them, "Unimpaired by time, their appearance retains the fragrance of freshness, as though they had been inspired by an eternally blooming life and a never aging soul."[*]

[*]Plutarch wrote this probably after 100 A.D., when the Parthenon had stood for about five and half centuries.

Chapter XXI. The Great Festivals of Athens.

198. The Frequent Festivals at Athens.--Surely our "Day in Athens"

has been spent from morn till night several times over, so much there is to see and tell. Yet he would be remiss who left the city of Athena before witnessing at least several of the great public festivals which are the city's n.o.ble pride. There are a prodigious number of religions festivals in Athens.[*] They take the place of the later "Christian Sabbath" and probably create a somewhat equal number of rest days during the year, although at more irregular intervals. They are far from being "Scotch Sundays,"[+] however.

On them the semi-riotous "joy of life" which is part of the Greek nature finds its fullest, ofttimes its wildest, expression. They are days of merriment, athletic sports, great civic spectacles, chorals, public dances.[&] To complete our picture of Athens we must tarry for a swift cursory glance upon at least three of these fete days of the city of Pericles, Sophocles, and Phidias.

[*]In Gulick ("Life of the Ancient Greeks," pp. 304-310) there is a valuable list of Attic festivals. The Athenians had over thirty important religious festivals, several of them, e.g., the Thesmorphoria (celebrated by the women in honor of Demeter), extending over a number of days.

[+][NOTE from Brett: A "Scotch Sunday" refers to the practice of the Sabbath day in Scotland. During the Sabbath day (at the time of the author of this work) in Scotland no activity goes on except for Church. There is no travel, no telecommunication, no cooking, not allowed to read the newspaper, etc. A "Scotch Sunday" therefore, represents a day of religious austerity.]

[&]It is needless to point out that to the Greeks, as to many other ancient peoples,--for example, the Hebrews,--DANCING often had a religious significance and might be a regular part of the worship of the G.o.ds.