GLIMPSES OF ANCIENT GREEK LIFE.
[1.] “Alcmæonid,” alc-meˈo-nid. One of the tribe of the Alcmæonidæ, a noble family of Athens. It received its name from Alcmæon, a great-grandson of Nestor. The story of the sacrilege brought upon the family by Megacles is given on page 11 of “Brief History of Greece.” Clisthenes was their most famous member in after years.
[2.] “Recouped,” re-koopˈed. Recompensed.
[3.] “Leech.” The word comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for healer, physician, but in this sense is now almost obsolete.
[4.] “A-gesˌi-laˈus.” “Cle-omˈe-nes.” See “Brief History of Greece.”
[5.] “Oligarchies,” olˈi-garchˌies. Governments in the control of a few persons.
[6.] “Cyrene,” cy-reˈne. A maritime city in Northern Africa, founded by a Greek colony; beautiful for situation, and of great mercantile importance. “It was built on a high terrace of the Cyrenæan table-land, about nine miles from the coast of Appolonia, which became its port. The road which connected the city with the harbor, a vast necropolis, and ruins of streets, temples, theaters, tombs, and remnants of art, are still visible. The site of the ancient city has been identified with the modern Grennah.”
[7.] “Æginetan,” æg-i-neˈtan. Pertaining to the island and city of Ægina.
[8.] “Dicasts.” The dicasts in ancient Athens exercised the functions of our jurymen, rather than of the judges of courts.
[9.] “Arˈte-mon.” Said to have been from Clazomenæ. He was an engineer, and to him was attributed the invention of the testudo and the battering ram. In the siege of Samos he was employed by Pericles.
[10.] “Anˈax-agˌo-ras.” (B. C. 500-428.) An Ionian philosopher, a native of Clazomenæ. When a young man he went to Athens, where he became the teacher of Pericles, Euripides and others. See “Brief History of Greece,” page 62.
[11.] “Ic-tiˈnus.” A Grecian architect who lived about 450 B. C. He was the architect of the great temple of Minerva, on the Acropolis, and of that of Apollo Epicurius, in Arcadia.
[12.] “Pol-yg-noˈtus.” (460?-430? B. C.) A painter, whose native home was Thasos, but who afterward became a citizen of Athens, where he was employed by Cimon to ornament the temple of Theseus. “He is styled ‘The Homer of painting,’ because he treated his subjects in an epic rather than a dramatic spirit. He had imagination in the highest degree. In allusion to the ideal character and moral expression of his works, Aristotle calls him an ethic painter. The same critic says, in another passage, ‘Polygnotus represented men better than they are (superior to nature).’ Among his works were the ‘Capture of Troy,’ and the ‘Visit of Ulysses to the Lower World.’”
[13.] “Ma-chaˈon Pod-a-lirˈi-us.” A son of Æsculapius, celebrated among the Greeks for his ability as a physician; he is said to have gone to the Trojan war with thirty ships; he acted as a surgeon as well as serving in battle. He is mentioned by some writers as one of the heroes who were concealed in the wooden horse.