476 
Greece. The inhabitants of Greece, though possessing a mari- 
1" time country, surrounded with islands, and provided 
Navigation. with excellent harbours, were extremely slow in avail- 
ing themselves of these advantages ; and made little 
progress in navigation and commerce, till after the ex- 
pedition of Xerxes into Pel nesus. After the ex- 
ample of Athens, especially in the course of the Pelo- 
ponnesian war, the other states at length directed their 
attention to the maintenance of a navy ; but chiefly for 
the purposes of warfare. The voyage of Alexander’s 
fleet from Patala to Susa, after sailing down the Indus, 
was the first instance of Greeks navigating the ocean ; 
and, previous to that expedition, they were entirely con- 
fined to the waters of the Mediterranean. 
Excepting Corinth and Athens, it was principally in 
the smaller states, such as Megara, Sicyon, Cos, and 
Cnidus, (which possessed not sufficient political influ- 
ence to interfere in the general affairs of Greece,) that 
the arts of commerce were most sedulously prosecuted. 
Athens, however,was the great seat of commercial views, 
where every circumstance favoured the acquisition, and 
encouraged the expenditure of wealth. Its port, Pi+ 
reeus, was then the centre of the traffic of those times, 
and there every commodity was to be found in abun- 
dance. 
The fine arts appear to have attracted earlier atten- 
tion in Greece, than the more useful occupations ; and 
some of the ancient medals, long prior in date to the 
oldest historians, exhibit a chasteness and grandeur of 
design, both in architecture and sculpture, for which 
it is difficult to account. 
The customs and circumstances of the Grecian states 
tended directly to encourage the progress of these arts. 
Three public buildings were indispensible in eve 
city ; a temple, a theatre, and a gymnasium, to which 
were afterwards added the baths, and portico or place 
of shelter for walking and conversing. In larger towns 
these edifices were soon multiplied, especially those for 
the service of religion ; and every city almost forming 
a distinct community or nation, each required to pos- 
Commerce. 
Fine arts, 
sess these different buildings within its own walls, and_ 
Architec- 
ture. 
strove to surpass its neighbours in the solidity and 
beauty of its public structures. The exertions of the 
Greek artists in this at once useful and ornamental 
study, are not therefore very wonderful ; but, when it 
is considered, that its first architects derived their skill 
from those of Egypt and Persia, and that the Dorie 
order, the foundation of all the rest, and the source of 
pure taste to all the architecture of Greece, was actually 
the most ancient, it is not easy to conceive by what ac- 
cidental or intended principle of the art, a beautiful 
simplicity, so opposite to the enormous masses of the 
Egyptians, and cumbrous ornaments of the Asiatics, 
should have been so happily introduced ; unless we as- 
cribe it to the mere circumstance of necessity (the ori- 
gin of so many human improvements) which obliged 
the early architects of that country to work with wood- 
én materials: (See Civin Arcurrecture, vol. vi. p. 
529.) But in whatever way we may account for the 
rise of Grecian architecture, its principles have recei- 
ved the approbation of every enlightened people in 
modern times 3 and its raha the Donte, Tone, 
and Corinthian, still continue to form the invariable 
standard of good taste in the art. * 
The same causes which rendered the skill of the 
architect so much in request, equally tended to encou- 
rage the labours of the painter and sculptor ; and it is 
Sculpture. 
® See an examigation into the grounds of this preference in the Rev. Mr Alison’s Essay on Taste, vol. ii- p. 156. 
GREECE. | 
a remarkable circumstance, that, in the most turbulent | 
perieds of Grecian history, the fine arts received the 
most distinguished patronage, and made the most rapid 
progress. At Athens, particularly, the genius of Greece 
was nourished by Pisistratus, and brought to perfecs 
tion by Pericles. The most eminent se 
times were Phidias, Alcamenes, and Myron, of Athens ; 
Polycletes and Lysippus, of Sicyon; Praxiteles and 
Scopas of Paros; and many of the ancient statues 
which have escaped the ravages of time, furnish —_ 
testimony of the progress which had been made in 
art. See Drawine and Scutrrurs. ae y 
Of the state of painting among the Greeks, many ex- Paintin 
in oil. 
im 
shade ; and many eae of ancient Mosaic, still 
served, are not much admired as performances in paint~ 
ing. Both in painting and statuary, the Greek artists 
produced representations of the human form, which 
could ly be called natural. By taking collective 
views of the species, and studying accu the phy- 
sical constitution of the body of man, they combined 
its various and scattered excellencies in one figure, and 
thus exhibited, what nature never does, a model of abs 
stract and ideal perfection.» Among the celebrated ~ — 
painters may be mentioned Polygnotus, who received 
the thanks of the Amphictyonic assembly for his paint~ _ 
ing of the Trojan war, placed in one of the of 
Athens ; Apollodorus, who is supposed to have invents 
ed the art of painting in clear-obscure; Zeuxis, who 
displayed himself at the Olympic games, dressed in ~ 
le and gold, and, having become wealthy, gave his 
a bey bape: ‘ 
works as presents, because he said they were above all 
price; Parrhasius, who insolently presented himself to 
ublic ewe a eae 4 old upon er head; 
amphilus, the first who appli principles of science 
to hie art; Timanthes, who sere het eaconeeel ; 
painting of the sacrifice of Iphigenia; Apelles, who 
Penoeed his works to public view, that he might derive 
improvement from the remarks of passengers; and 
Protogenes, the rival of Apelles, who censured the ex- 
treme minuteness of his contemporary, by saying, that 
«« he knew not when to lay down his pencil.” 1 ot ae 
Few things are more remarkable in the manners of ygucic 
the ancient Greeks, than the great i which 
they attached to the musical art, which, in many of the 
ted and recommended’ by the 
etic and warlike, are ‘a 
understood to have much of their from 
the poetry and’sentiments with which they were com- 
bined. 
The honours and rewards lavished upon those who 
excelled in the fine arts, were doubtless one age = 
cause of the improvement which they reached ; 
often were they carried to a hurtful excess, exhausting 
the wealth which was wanted for the support of the 
state, and engrossing the rewards which were due te — 
more essential services, 
= 
4 
