Ruins of Ancient Cities Part 30

[40] The district of Argol is first received colonies, who introduced civilisation into Greece. It has been reckoned the cradle of the Greeks, the theatre of events, which distinguished their earliest annals, and the country which produced their first heroes and artists. It was accordingly in the temple of Juno at Argos where the Doric order first rose to a marked eminence, and became the model for the magnificent edifices afterwards erected in the other cities, states, and islands.--CIVIL ARCHITECTURE.

[41] Rollin; Rees; Clarke; La Martine.

[42] Chardin; Cartwright; Ouseley.

[43] Every nation had a great zeal for their G.o.ds. "Among us," says Cicero, "it is very common to see temples robbed, and statues carried off; but it was never known, that any person in Egypt ever abused a crocodile; for its inhabitants would have suffered the most extreme torments, rather than be guilty of such sacrilege." It was death for any person to kill one of these animals voluntarily.

[44] Herodotus; Rollin; Savary; Belzoni; Rees.

[45] Strabo; Rees; Porter

[46] For the loves of Chosroes and Shirene, see D'Herbelot, and the Oriental collections.

[47] Rees; Sir Robert Ker Porter.

[48] Brewster.

[49] The Attic stater was a gold coin weighing two drachms.

[50] Brewster.

[51] Dodwell.

[52] Diogenes, and Hermias; Eulalicus, and Priscian; Damaschius; Isidore, and Simplicius.

[53] Anon.

[54] Hence Shakspeare, confounding dates, talks of Theseus, "Duke of Athens."

[55] Quin's Voyage down the Danube.

[56] Dodwell.

[57] Hobhouse.

[58] Dodwell.

[59] Clarke.

[60] Dodwell.

[61] Clarke.

[62] Hobhouse, p. 343.

[63] Clarke.

[64] Clarke.

[65] The theatre of the ancients was divided into three princ.i.p.al parts; each of which had its peculiar appellation. The division for the actors was called in general the _scene_, or _stage_; that for the spectators was particularly termed the _theatre_, which must have been of vast extent, as at Athens it was capable of containing above thirty thousand persons; and the _orchestra_, which, amongst the Greeks, was the place a.s.signed for the pantomimes and dancers, though at Rome it was appropriated to the senators and vestal virgins.

The theatre was of a semicircular form on one side, and square on the other. The s.p.a.ce contained within the semicircle was allotted to the spectators, and had seats placed one above another to the top of the building. The square part, in the front of it, was the actors' division; and in the interval, between both, was the orchestra.

The great theatres had three rows of porticoes, raised one upon another, which formed the body of the edifice, and at the same time three different stories for the seats. From the highest of those porticoes the women saw the representation, covered from the weather. The rest of the theatre was uncovered, and all the business of the stage was performed in the open air.

[66] Boindin; Rollin.

[67] Plutarch, in his inquiry whether the Athenians were more eminent in the arts of war or in the arts of peace, severely censures their insatiable fondness for diversions. He a.s.serts, that the money, idly thrown away upon the representation of the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides alone, amounted to a much greater sum than had been expended in all their wars against the Persians, in defence of their liberty and common safety. That judicious philosopher and historian, to the eternal infamy of the Athenians, records a severe but sensible reflection of a Lacedaemonian, who happened to be present at these diversions. The generous Spartan, trained up in a state where public virtue still continued to be the object of public applause, could not behold the ridiculous a.s.siduity of the Choragi, or magistrates who presided at the public shows, and the immense sums which they lavished in the decorations of a new tragedy, without indignation. He therefore frankly told the Athenians, that they were highly criminal in wasting so much time, and giving that serious attention to trifles, which ought to be dedicated to the affairs of the public. That it was still more criminal to throw away upon such baubles as the decorations of a theatre, that money which ought to be applied to the equipment of their fleet, or the support of their army. That diversions ought to be treated merely as diversions, and might serve to relax the mind at our idle hours, or when over a bottle; if any kind of utility could arise from such trifling pleasures. But to see the Athenians make the duty, they owed to their country, give way to their pa.s.sion for the entertainments of the theatre, and to waste unprofitably that Footnote: time and money upon such frivolous diversions, which ought to be appropriated to the affairs and the necessities of the state, appeared to him to be the height of infatuation."--MONTAGUE.

[68] He bequeathed to every Athenian a sum nearly equivalent to 3_l._ of our money.

[69] The funeral of Herodes Atticus must have afforded one of the most affecting solemnities of which history makes mention. He was seventy-six years old when he died; and in the instructions which he left for his interment, he desired to be buried at Marathon, where he was born; but the Athenians insisted upon possessing his remains; and they caused the youth of their city to bear him to the Stadium Panathenaic.u.m, which he had built; all the people accompanying, and pouring forth lamentations as for a deceased parent.--CLARKE.

[70] Clarke.

[71] Dodwell.

[72] Sandwich.

[73] Clarke.

[74] Lord Sandwich.

[75] Sandwich.

[76] Hobhouse.

[77] Wheler.

[78] Dodwell.

[79] Clarke.

[80] Clarke.

[81] Dodwell.

[82] Dodwell.

[83] Idem.

[84] Rollin.

[85] "It is generally supposed," continues Mr. Williams, "the marble temples are white; but, with the exception of the temple of Minerva at Cape Colonna, (which is built of Parian marble,) this is not the case.

The marble of Pentelicus, with which all the temples at Athens were built, throws out an oxide of iron of the richest yellow, and this certainly makes them infinitely more picturesque than if they were purely white."

[86] "The two princ.i.p.al statues among the Elgin marbles are those of Theseus, the Athenian hero, and a rec.u.mbent figure, supposed to be the river-G.o.d Ilissus (numbered in the Synopsis 93 and 99). They are executed in a style of extraordinary breadth and grandeur. Theseus is represented half reclined on a rock, covered with the skin of a lion, and appears to be resting after some mighty labour. The figure of the Ilissus is less robust: all his contours flow in lines of undulating elegance. But in both these statues, that which chiefly strikes us, in spite of the dilapidations which they have suffered, is the vitality which seems to pervade them. In these, not only the office and appearance of the muscles, whether in action or at rest, but the bearings of the skeleton, are expressed with an accuracy which could only have resulted from the most profound science, added to an acute and perpetual observation of nature. The statue of the Ilissus is especially remarkable for its graceful flexibility; and we would observe, without going too technically into the subject, how different is the indentation, formed by the lower line of the ribs in this figure, so admirably expressing its position, from that geometrical arch by which this part of the body is designated in the ordinary antique statues, and which is so rarely accommodated to the action represented. The principle, pointed out in this instance, may be traced throughout the Elgin marbles, in which true art is never superseded by conventional style. We believe that in the opinion of the majority of connoisseurs, the statue of Theseus is considered superior to that of the Ilissus.

Canova, however, preferred the latter; and Raffaelle, who imported designs from Greece, has adapted this figure to that of the fallen Commander, in his picture of Heliodorus. It is well known that the Ilissus was a small stream which ran along the south side of the plain of Athens. The statue in which it is here personified occupied the left angle of the west pediment of the Parthenon, and that of Theseus was placed opposite to it on the east pediment next to the horses of Hyperion."