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ATHENS. 



ATHENS. 



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buted to adorn the public worship of the state and to humanise the 

 citizens. Nor must we omit to notice the progress which the dramatic 

 art made during this period. Tragedy, if not indigenous in Athens, 

 which however seems most probable, found there at least its most 

 complete development. ^Eschylus, who had fought at Marathon and 

 Salamirf, infused into his compositions all the energy of a warrior. 

 Sophocles and Euripides laboured to improve and perfect the drama 

 by a more elaborate plot, and by giving it more of a moral and 

 philosophical character. The great Dionysiac Theatre, which was pro- 

 bably commenced early enough to witness the tragedies of jEschylus, 

 was formed expressly for the exhibition of the drama. Comedy also, 

 said to be of Sicilian origin (but perhaps rather of Greek Megaric 

 birth), found a home in Athens, where Eupolis, Cratinus, Aristophanes, 

 and others of the old comedy, while they tried to amuse the people 

 and secure the honours of the prize, often made their pieces the 

 vehicles of political opinions, of personal satire, and sometimes 

 of the coarsest invective and abuse. Besides the drama, history, 

 philosophy, and eloquence, though they may not have been of Attic 

 origin, took root during this period, and became almost her exclusive 

 property. 



The Peloponnesian war, which commenced B.C. 431, forms an 

 important period in Athenian history, and requires a separate con- 

 sideration. Athens commenced the contest with all the advantages 

 of long experience in warfare, a powerful navy, a large revenue, and 

 numerous subject or allied states. Sparta at the head of the Pelo- 

 ponnesian confederation, and the most powerful military state in 

 Greece, was urged both by national hatred and by fear of future 

 danger to attempt to crush the increasing power of her rival. The 

 war in its origin and still more in its progress was a war both of 

 national and political animosities : the Dorians with Sparta at their 

 head, and the aristocratic principle, were matched against the Athe- 

 nians, the head of the Ionian nation, and the great advocates of 

 democratic forms. The defeat of the Athenians by Lysander at 

 ^Egospotami on the Hellespont prepared the way for the blockade 

 of Athens, which surrendered to the Spartans B.C. 404. The Long 

 Walls and the fortifications of the Peiraeus were demolished to the 

 sound of musical instruments ; and the Athenians, whose surrender 

 had been hastened by the extremities of famine, even consented " to 

 give up all their ships except twelve ; to consider the same people 

 their friends and enemies who were the friends and enemies of the 

 Lacedaemonians ; and to follow the Lacedaemonians by sea and by 

 land, wherever they might choose to lead." (Xen. ' Hellen.' ii. 2.) 



Athens chiefly through the arts of Theramenes an Athenian who 

 transacted the business of the surrender with the Spartans was 

 placed under the control of thirty men, who are generally called the 

 Thirty Tyrants. They were nominally appointed to frame a new 

 constitution (' Hellen.' ii. 3), which they never did, but directed the 

 senate (f}ov\ty and all functionaries according to their sole pleasure. 

 Union did not long continue among the members of this body. 

 Critias having quarrelled with his colleague Theramenes, accused him 

 before the senate, who were awed into submission to the desperate 

 measures of Critias by the sight of a body of men armed with daggers. 

 Theramenes was compelled to drink poison, and the measures of the 

 Thirty became still more oppressive and cruel. But Thrasybulus, an 

 Athenian exile, by his vigour and prudence brought about a counter- 

 revolution after defeating the Thirty at the Peiraeus, and restored the 

 constitutional forms of the Athenian state (B.C. 403), which had 

 endured eight months of almost unparalleled tyranny. 



The subsequent events of Athenian history to the time of Philip 

 and Demosthenes require only a short notice here. Intrigue on the 

 part of Persia, and still more dissatisfaction at the Spartan supremacy, 

 united Corinth, Athens, Thebes, and other cities against the 

 Lacedaemonians. Agesilaus was called from Asia to restore the 

 fortunes of his country. The battle of Coroneia (B.C. 394), though it 

 might be a victory to the Spartans, did not leave them in the un- 

 disputed possession of their supremacy by land ; and the battle of 

 Cnidus was fatal to their dominion by sea. Conon, an Athenian 

 commander who had escaped from the disastrous results of the 

 battle of jEgospotami, fled to Evagoras king of Crete, where he 

 stayed till a favourable opportunity placed him at the head of a 

 combined Greek and Persian fleet. About the same time as the battle 

 of Coroneia he entirely destroyed the Lacedaemonian fleet under the 

 command of Pisander, off Cnidus in Asia Minor. This event restored 

 the naval supremacy of Athens. Conon appeared before the Peiraeus 

 with the fleet which the Persian satrap Pharnabazus entrusted to 

 him, and a sum of money for rebuilding the walls. To Conon belongs 

 the glory of restoring, after a victory over his enemies, the bulwarks 

 of Athflna (Demosth. 'Leptin.' cap. 16), which Themistocles had first 

 erected by deceiving the Lacedaemonians. The peace of Antalcidas 

 (B.C. 387 or 386) marks an epoch in the general history of Greece, 

 though the real efficiency of it for promoting peace was just as 

 worthless as if it had never been made. 



The period to the battle of Mantineia (B.C. 362) is one of little 

 interest for Athenian history. Thebes, hitherto a second-rate power 

 among the states of European Greece, contended under Pelopidas and 

 K[>;uiiinondas with the Spartans for the supremacy of Greece. Athens 

 during this period played an unimportant part, though her naval 

 luperiority still protected her against the Lacedaemonians, and made 



her assistance of some weight in the balance. In B.C. 376 Chabrias 

 defeated Pollis, the Lacedaemonian commander, who was cruising 

 about ^Egina, Ceos, and Andros, with the view of stopping the 

 Athenian grain ships with their supplies of corn, which were waiting 

 at Geracstos in Eubcea ; and Timotheus gained another naval victory 

 over the Lacedsemonians in the eame year. 



The result of the wars between Thebes and Sparta was that there 

 remained no state in Southern Greece which possessed a decided 

 political superiority. Athens still powerful by sea, was detested by 

 the dependent towns and islands for the oppressive exactions made 

 both by the state itself and by the commanders of the fleets. Cos, 

 Rhodes, Chios, and Byzantium united in a league (B.C. 358) ; Chabrias 

 fell in an attack on Chios (B.C. 357), and an attempt to reduce 

 Byzantium also failed. This which is sometimes called the Social 

 War lasted three years. But at this time a northern power, 

 Macedonia, which hitherto had exercised comparatively little influence 

 south of the straits of Thermopylae, gradually began to mingle directly 

 in the affairs of Greece. The Holy war, or Phocian war, as it is also 

 called, which arose from apparently small beginnings, brought the 

 Athenians who joined the Phocians into a contest with the Thebans 

 and their allies, who professed to carry into effect the decrees of the 

 Amphictyons (B.C. 356). A long and bloody war which ensued was 

 favourable to the views of Philip of Macedon, who after setting his 

 foot firmly in Thessaly, soon got an influence in the Amphictyonic 

 council, and thus gained the opportunity of forming a party in Athens, 

 and putting an end to the war (B.C. 346), which had lasted ten years. 

 The history of Athens, during the period of Philip, requires careful 

 study. The victory of Chaeroneia (B.C. 338), in which the Athenians 

 and Thebans with their allies were defeated by Philip, completely 

 established the Macedonian supremacy in Greece. In a public 

 assembly at Corinth, Philip was chosen generalissimo of the Greek 

 nation in the intended war against Persia ; and after his assassination 

 (B.C. 336), the same honour was conferred on his son Alexander, who 

 carried into effect that which his father had designed. 



From the age of Pericles to the time of Alexander, Athens though 

 almost constantly engaged in wars had not neglected to cultivate 

 those arts which have associated her name with the history of 

 civilisation. Her public buildings were continually increasing in 

 number and magnificence, which was mainly due to Lycurgus the 

 orator, the son of Lycophron, who built the Panathenaic Stadium, 

 and provided for the security of the city by the magazines on the 

 Acropolis, and by the dockyards in the Peiraeus. He is said also to 

 have completed the great Dionysiac Theatre, and to have repaired the 

 Odeium of Pericles. Oratory and the dramatic art attained their 

 highest eminence, and the philosophers and historians of Athens 

 acquired an almost unrivalled celebrity. 



The political history of Athens during and after the age of 

 Alexander is of little importance. The city was often involved in 

 the revolutions and movements of the Macedonian kingdom ; but on 

 the whole it enjoyed internal tranquillity to the time of the Roman 

 occupation of Greece, which it owed chiefly to the control exereii>3d 

 by the various rulers of Macedonia. Soon after the death of Alexander 

 the Lamian war broke out, in which the city showed almost the last 

 feeble spark of that military spirit which once led it to triumph over 

 the armies of the east. The result of the campaign was the occupation 

 of Munychia by a Macedonian garrison (B.C. 322) ; and the death of 

 Phocion, which took place soon after, left Athens without a represen- 

 tative of her ancient statesmen. 



Cassander having got possession of Athens (B.C. 317), appointed 

 Demetrius of Phalerum, supported by a Macedonian garrison, the 

 governor of the city. During ten years Demetrius secured to Athens, 

 if not prosperity, at least peace ; under him Philo the architect added 

 a portico to the great temple at Eleusis, and built the large arsenal in 

 the Peiraeus. Under his administration the character of the 

 Athenians sunk still lower ; and public morals, perhaps never pure in 

 Athens, at least since the days of Pericles, became prepared for the 

 excesses of Demetrius Poliorcetes, who found the corrupted 

 Athenians ready to anticipate his most extravagant wishes and demands. 

 Demetrius the Phalerian was expelled (B.C. 307), and the forms of the 

 constitution were for a time revived. 



Demetrius Poliorcetes was a soldier, a man of talent, and a lover 

 of pleasure. During his second residence at Athens (B.C. 301), he 

 received the honours which were due only to the gods ; temples were 

 erected to his mistresses ; nor did the abode of the Virgin-Goddess 

 herself on the Acropolis escape desecration from the unbridled 

 licentiousness of this second Alcibiades (Plutarch, ' Demetr.' 23, 24). 

 Antigonus Gonatas got possession of Athens for a short time (Pausan. 

 3, 6) B.C. 269. 



During the wars between the last Philip of Macedonia and the 

 Romans, the Athenians, together with Attalus king of Pergamus, 

 took the part of the foreign invaders. Athens though weak in the 

 field was still strong within her walls ; the Macedonian king attacked 

 both the Peiraeus and the city before the Romans could come to their 

 assistance (B.C. 200) ; but failing in his object he turned his vengeance 

 against the suburbs, and the numerous beautiful temples which 

 adorned the Attic plain. "Not content (Livy, xxxi. 26) with 

 destroying the temples and statues, he broke in pieces the very 

 marble of which they were built." There can be no doubt that the 



