GREECE 



2002 



GREECE 



always of inferior birth or intelligence. All 

 captives of war were made slaves, and many 

 debtors became the chattels of their creditors. 

 In general, the slaves were fairly well treated, 

 and sometimes a man of decided intelligence, 

 like Aesop (see AESOP'S FABLES, subhead Aesop), 

 held a position of honor in the household. This 



was not true at Sparta, where most of the serfs 

 were terribly oppressed, and where there was 

 constant fear of their revolting. 



History. The history of the ancient Greeks 

 is told in the heading History, below. The de- 

 tailed stories of ATHENS and SPARTA are related 

 under those titles. 



Modern Greece 



The People. The English poet Byron, who 

 loved Greece better than his native land, wrote 

 sadly, 



The isles of Greece, the isles of Greece, 

 Where burning Sappho loved and sung ; 



Where grew the arts of war and peace, 

 Where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung ! 



Eternal summer gilds them yet. 



But all except their sun is set. 



Anyone who takes up the study of modern 

 Greece after studying its ancient history feels 

 a touch of the same sadness. When the Greeks 

 lost their freedom and became subject to Rome 

 in 146 B. c., they seemed to lose many of 

 their best qualities also. That independence 

 and vigor which seem so characteristic of dwell- 

 ers in mountainous country disappeared, and 

 the Greeks became a fawning, treacherous 

 people, utterly untrustworthy in business deal- 

 ings. The old love for beauty degenerated to 

 a large extent into a fondness for display; and 

 the contempt for manual labor,, which was 

 permissible enough when there was a large 

 body of slaves, manifested itself in an over- 

 whelming desire for easy official positions. 

 Since Greece threw off the yoke of Turkey, 

 however, there has been a remarkable change 

 for the better, and under the influence of the 

 freer institutions the higher qualities of the 

 ancient Greeks are being reborn in these mod- 

 ern descendants. The present population of 

 Greece has a very small foreign element, and 

 the Albanians, who make up by far the largest 

 part of the non-Greek population, are gradually 

 becoming absorbed. Over 300,000 Greeks have 

 within the last generation emigrated to the 

 United States, and the money which they send 

 or carry back to their old homes has been a 

 real asset to the country. 



Industries. Greece is primarily an agricul- 

 tural country, and about one-fourth of the 

 land is under cultivation. The farmer is con- 

 fronted with many drawbacks, however, for 

 while the climate is subtropical and would 

 make possible the growing of many kinds of 

 crops, the soil is thin and the rainfall is very 



light in the summer months. Because there is 

 more rain in the western mountains than on 

 the eastern plains, the farms are more numer- 

 ous among the mountains, curious as that may 

 seem. Marshy 

 stretches are be- 

 ing drained and 

 dry places irri- 

 gated, and thus 

 the cultivable 

 area is being 

 steadily in- 

 creased. 



Chief Crops. COMPARATIVE AREAS 

 The most distinctive crop, as well as one of 

 the most important, is the small, seedless 

 grape known as the currant, because it is most 

 successfully grown in the neighborhood of Cor- 

 inth. This is not the little tart fruit known in 

 America as the currant, but a true grape, which 

 is either dried or made into wine of an in- 

 ferior quality. All over Greece is to be seen 

 the dusty gray-green of the olive trees which 

 for so many centuries have been of importance 

 in the life of Greek farmers. So important are 

 they that the Turks during their domination 

 could think of no better way of punishing in- 

 surrection than by cutting down the olive 

 trees. To-day there are about 15,000,000 trees 

 in the country, and each tree produces nearly 

 ten pounds of oil annually. 



Wheat, too, is one of the chief crops, but 

 with their primitive methods the peasants are 

 not able to raise enough to supply the home 

 demand, and the cereal is imported in large 

 quantities. Since vegetables form the staple 

 diet of the people, huge gardens are numerous, 

 and in every grassy place are to be seen herds 

 of sheep and goats, from whose milk cheese 

 is made. Almost no butter is used, olive oil 

 largely taking its place. 



Mining. Greece is not rich in minerals, and 

 those which it has are not easily mined because 

 of the entire absence of coal. Near Athens 

 there are lead mines of large size, and from 

 the ore considerable silver is taken. Heaps of 



