NOTES FOR “MATTINA”
No. 1, Kyra. A title of respect or a prefix before the name, used to old women of the people. You would say “Kyra Sophoula” or “Kyra Calliope” if the women were old or elderly, instead of plain “Sophoula” or “Calliope.” It corresponds I fancy to “Dame” which was used in England in the middle ages, or even I think they sometimes used “Goody.”
Kyr is the masculine equivalent for old men. Sometimes “Barba” meaning “uncle” colloquially is instead, as it is with you in the South I think for old negroes.
Kyria is simply “Mrs.” or “Madame” and is used either before the name as, “Kyria Dragoumis” for instance; or alone if you do not use the name as, “Yes, Kyria” for “Oui, Madame.”
No. 2, Monastery Road. The Monastery on the hills in Poros is an old one of the Byzantine epoch restored about a hundred years ago. It has a beautiful little chapel with a wonderfully carved wooden “templon” (the screen which separates the altar from the body of the church). There are a few old monks left but not many.
No. 3, Sponge-divers. Some Greeks earn their living by diving for sponges. The best sponges in Greece are found in Hydra, but the sponge-captains often take their divers to the north coast of Africa.
No. 4, The Naval School of Poros is for sailors, not for officers (the Naval School for the latter is quite near Piræus). The sailors come to the School in Poros for the first six months of their service, and after they are well drilled they are drafted on to the war ships. There is a high grade officer as Director of the School, and younger officers are in residence to drill the men.
No. 5, The “Great Week” means the Holy Week before Easter.
No. 6, Methana. A little village on the sea (Saronic Gulf) known for its natural sulphur springs. People suffering from rheumatism and eczema, etc., go there for baths.
No. 7, Ægina. The well-known island sixteen miles from Athens in the Gulf of Ægina. It was a very celebrated place in the ancient days of Greece. The population now of 10,000 was then 600,000. Ægina contributed thirty warships to the battle of Salamis against the Persians. There are the ruins now of a temple to Venus and those of one to the Pentelic Jupiter.
No. 8, Piræus. The port of Athens: population about 27,000: five miles to the southwest of the city, to which it used to be joined in antiquity by the famous Long Walls built by Themistocles and Pericles.
No. 9, Phalerum. One of the three ports of ancient Athens, about three miles from the city; it is now a much frequented seaside resort, with hotels, and private villas. In the hot summer days, people go down from Athens, morning and evening, for sea baths.
No. 10, The Theseum. A temple consecrated in 470 B. C. in Athens, to Theseus, the national hero of Attica. In ancient days it often served as a sanctuary for slaves. It is situated on a low hill, northeast of the Acropolis, and is a fine monument in very good preservation. It is a peripteric, hexastyle temple, in Pentelic marble. Any children wanting to know more about Theseus, have only to read “The Minotaur,” in Hawthorne’s Tanglewood Tales.
No. 11, Monastiraki. One of the stations of the Athens Piræus railway line.
No. 12, Drachma. Worth one franc; about 20 cents in American money.
No. 13, Oke. A measure of weight equal in English weight to 2 lbs., 12 oz.
No. 14, Lepton. The one-hundredth part of the drachma: one centime. The smallest coin in Greek money is of five lepta.
No. 15, Kiphissia. A country place about half an hour by train from Athens: takes its name from the ancient river Kephissos or Kiphissos: a very wooded, pretty, green place full of hotels and country houses, much cooler than Athens in the summer, and consequently much frequented.
No. 16, The Kolonaki. A small square in Athens, behind the Kiphissia Road; the little bootblacks congregate there a good deal.
No. 17, The Zappion. A large handsome building in the ancient style of architecture, built originally for exhibition purposes by two rich brothers called Zappa (hence its name), situated on a height, and commanding perhaps the most beautiful view in the whole world, certainly in Europe. It comprises the columns of the temple of Olympic Jupiter in the foreground, the Acropolis to the right, the Stadium to the left, and in the distance Phalerum, the sea, and Salamis. The Zappion terrace and gardens are a very favorite walking place for children, babies, and their nurses.
No. 18, Acropolis. The immortal Rock bearing the Parthenon, the Propylæa, the Erechtheum,—It is an isolated rock of oval form, inaccessible except from the west. It is entered to-day by the famous “Porte Beulé”. There is too much to be said about the Acropolis, I can only quote Rennell Rodd, that perfect modern singer of Greece:—
“Here wrought the strong creator and he laid
The marble on the limestone in the crag,
Morticed the sure foundations line to line
And arc to arc repeating as it grew;
Veiling the secret of its strength in grace,
Till like a marble flower in blue Greek air
Perfect it rose, an afterworld’s despair.”
No. 19, Stadium. The stadium was in ancient days the oblong foot-race course of the length of one stadium (equivalent to about 606 English feet), hence its name. The present Stadium in Athens was restored in marble for the Olympic Games of 1896.
No. 20, The Plaka. A populous quarter in Athens inhabited mostly by the poorer classes.
No. 21, Aubergines. An aubergine is a vegetable belonging to the family of cucumbers and vegetable marrows. It is of a rich dark purple colour when ripe. “Aubergine” is the English name for this vegetable, and is always used by cooks and greengrocers in England. In America it is called egg-plant.
No. 22, Moussaka. This is a dish made of slices of aubergines, mincemeat, butter, eggs, etc.
No. 23, Pastas. Rich cakes, or portions of cake, made of almond paste, or of sponge cake sandwiched with jam, or cream, and iced over with chocolate, or with various coloured icings. They are sold at all confectioners, and often eaten at the shops between meals, or bought to serve as a dessert course. They are like the French “petits fours,” only larger.
No. 24, Nauplia. Sea town of Argolis in the Peloponnesus: about 10,000 inhabitants. It was the capital of modern Greece until 1834.
No. 25, The Palamidi. A large prison at Nauplia.
No. 26, “Manitsa” means “little mother.” A diminutive of “Mana” which means “mother” in peasant Greek.
No. 27, Loukoumi. A kind of sweetmeat made of starch and sugar, which in England they call “Turkish delight.” It is principally made in Constantinople, and in Syra.
No. 28, Caique. A long narrow boat.
No. 29, Touloumi means really a skin-bag; so that “touloumi” cheese is a sort of white Greek cheese, so called because it is transported in bags of skin from place to place.