80 THE SPLENDOUR OP GREECE 



The country was full of different tribes, the chiefs 

 of which now became the kings of so many peoples. 

 There were the Spartans in the south, who clung to 

 the institution of royalty and had drastic discipline 

 for military purposes. There were seven or eight 

 other sections of what we call the Greek race, but for 

 the purpose of this small work we shall have to 

 confine out attention to Attica, of which Athens was 

 the capital. 



There used to be a good deal of rhetorical specula- 

 tion about the reasons why the Athenians came to 

 play so brilliant a part in the civilization of Europe. 

 Some talked about their beautiful blue sky and soft 

 green hills and the blue waters of the Mediterranean 

 within sight ; as if the sunshine and blue waters and 

 flower-decked hills were not the same to-day. Others 

 made much of " the genius of the Athenians for 

 culture "; which is equal to saying that the Athenians 

 did great things because they were capable of doing 

 them. The real explanation lies in what we may 

 broadly call the economic conditions. We must 

 remember that there had been, not two hundred 

 miles away, a civilization of an advanced character 

 fifteen hundred years before Athens was fully civilized, 

 and that the first artists and thinkers of Greece were 

 not at Athens, but on the coast of Asia Minor, and 

 were plainly inspired by Cretan, Egyptian, and 

 Phoenician civilization. 



There were good reasons why Athens was parti- 

 cularly open to receive culture from Asia Minor. 

 The district was fairly sheltered from the north by 

 mountains, and it had not been so much trodden 

 down by the northern invaders. Some think that 

 the older Cretan-Greek civilization survived there 



