If it has ever had an existence, Greek independence may be properly dated from the deposition of the Bavarian dynasty. In December, 1862, a committee appointed by the provisional government ordered the election of a new king. The national assembly shortly after met at Athens, and, having first confirmed the deposition of Otho, of those proposed as candidates for the vacant throne by the European powers, Prince Alfred of England was elected by an immense majority on the first ballot. This choice of a scion of the freest and most stable of the constitutional monarchies of Europe, was an expression of the desire and the resolve of the Greek people to secure as full political and civil liberties as was possible for them under a monarchical government. But Prince Alfred was held ineligible in consequence of a clause in the protocol of the protecting powers, which declared that the government of Greece should not be confided to a prince chosen from the reigning families of those states. Thereupon, in March, 1863, Prince George of Denmark, the present king, was unanimously elected by the assembly, and his election was confirmed by the great powers in the following July. There is every reason to suppose that England assumed the honor of choosing Prince George. On the withdrawal of Prince Alfred she expressed her willingness to abandon her protectorate of the Ionian Islands, and cede them to Greece, provided a king were chosen to whom the English government could not object. The Ionian Islands were ceded to Greece within two months after the accession of King George; and Mr. Tuckerman relates that, "when Prince Christian, King of Denmark, was in London, attending the marriage of his daughter to the Prince of Wales, Lord John Russell discovered the second son of Prince Christian in the uniform of a midshipman, and suggested his name as the successor of Otho."
King George took the constitutional oath in October, 1863. In 1866 the revolution in Crete, or Candia, broke out, and, owing to Greek sympathy with the insurrectionists, thousands of whom found an asylum in Greece, grave complications arose between Greece and Turkey, which were only settled by a conference of the great powers in 1869. By the treaty with the Porte in 1832 the boundary line of Greece had been settled in an arbitrary manner, by running it from the Gulf of Volo along the chain of the Othrys Mountains to the Gulf of Arta—by which Greece was deprived of the high fertile plains of Thessaly and Epirus, the largest and richest of classical Greece. At the close of the late Russian-Turkish war, however, the boundary line was changed by the powers so as to include within the kingdom a large portion of those ancient possessions; but this change occasioned serious conflicts between the government and the people of the annexed districts, and difficulties also arose with Turkey in consequence. But these were finally settled by an amendment to the treaty, passed in 1881."
With the exceptions just noted, no important events have disturbed the peace of Greece since the accession of King George. In him the country has a ruler of capacity, who is in great measure his own adviser, and who comprehends the chief wish of his subjects, "that Greece shall govern Greece." As MR. TUCKERMAN has said of him, "Unlike his predecessor, he is a Greek by sympathy of language and ideas. He feels the popular pulse and tries to keep time with it, not more as a matter of policy than from national sympathy; and his hands are comparatively free of the impediment of those foreign ministerial counselors who, each struggling for supremacy, united only in checking the political advancement of the kingdom." It was no fault of the Greek people that, under King Otho, Greece failed to make the internal advancement that was expected of her on her escape from Moslem tyranny. It was the fault of the government; for, when a better government came, there was a corresponding change in the inner life of the people; and at the present time, with the freest of constitutional monarchies, and under the guidance of a ruler so sympathetic, competent, and popular, redeemed Greece is making rapid strides in intellectual and material progress. Of this progress we have the following account by a prominent American divine, a recent visitor to that country:
Progress in Modern Greece.
[Footnote: Rev. Joseph Cook, in the New York Independent, February, 1883.
"You lean over the parapet of the Acropolis, on the side toward the modern city, and look in vain for the print of that Venetian leprous scandal and that Turkish hoof which for six hundred years trod Greece into the slime. In the long bondage to the barbarian, the Hellenic spirit was weakened, but not broken. The Greek, with his fine texture, loathes the stolid, opaque temperament of the polygamistic Turk. Intermarriages between the races are very few. The Greek race is not extinct. In many rural populations in Greece the modern Hellenic blood is as pure as the ancient. Only Hellenic blood explains Hellenic countenances, yet easily found; the Hellenic language, yet wonderfully incorrupt; and the Hellenic spirit, omnipresent in liberated Greece. Fifty years ago not a book could be bought at Athens. To-day one in eighteen of the whole population of Greece is in school. In 1881 thirteen very tall factory chimney-stacks could be counted in the Piræ'us, not one of which was there in 1873. It is pathetic to find Greece at last opening, on the Acropolis and in the heart of Athens, national museums for the sacred remnants of her own ancient art, which have been pillaged hitherto for the enrichment of the museums of all Western Europe. During sixty years of independence the Hellenic spirit has doubled the population of Greece, increased her revenues five hundred per cent., extended telegraphic communication over the kingdom, enlarged the fleet from four hundred and forty to five thousand vessels, opened eight ports, founded eleven new cities, restored forty ruined towns, changed Athens from a hamlet of hovels to a city of seventy thousand inhabitants, and planted there a royal palace, a legislative chamber, ten type-foundries, forty printing establishments, twenty newspapers, an astronomical observatory, and a university with eighty professors and fifteen hundred students. After little more than half a century of independence, the Hellenic spirit devotes a larger percentage of public revenue to purposes of instruction than France, Italy, England, Germany, or even the United States. Modern Greece, sixty years ago a slave and a beggar, to-day, by the confession of the most merciless statisticians, stands at the head of the list of self-educated nations."
[INDEX.]
[Names in CAPITALS denote authors to whom prominent reference is made, or from whom selections are taken.]
Aby'dos. Xerxes and his army at.
Acade'mla, or Ac-a-deme'. A public garden or grove, the resort of the philosophers at Athens.
Acarna'ni-a, description of; aids Athens.
Achæ'ans, the; origin of.
Achæ'an League, the.
Achæ'us, son of Xuthus, and ancestor of the Achæans.
Acha'ia, description of. Name given to Greece by the Romans.
Achelo'us, the river, described.
Ach'eron, the river; described.
Acheru'sia (she-a), the lake, described.
Achil'les, accompanies expedition to Troy; contends with Agamemnon, and withdrawn; refuses to enter the contest, puts his armor on Patroclus, and the armor is lost; description of his new armor; he enters the fight; encounters Æneas, who escapes; kills Hector; delivers the body to Priam; death of.
Acri'si-us (she-us), King of Argos.
Acrop'olis, the Athenian; seizure of, by Cylon; by Pisistratus; by the Persians; famous structures of; its splendors in the time of Pericles; injury to, inflicted by the Venetians.
Actæ'on, the fable of.
Adme'tus, King of Pheræ.
Æge'an Sea.
Ægi'na, island of; war of, with Athens.
Æ'gos-pot'ami. Defeat of Athenians at.
Æmo'nia, same as Hæmonia, an early name of Thessaly.
Æne'as, a Trojan hero, and subject of Virgil's Æne'id; wounded, and put to flight by Diomed; fights for the body of Patroclus; encounters Achilles, and is preserved by Neptune; account of his escape from Troy.
Æne'id, the.
Æo'lians, the; colonies of.
Æ'olus, progenitor of the Æolians.
ÆS'CHI-NES, the orator; prosecutes Demosthenes; exile of; oratory of. Extracts from: The Death of Darius; Oration against Ctesiphon.
ÆS'CHYLUS, poet and tragedian. Life and works of. Extracts from: Punishment of Prometheus; Retributive justice of the gods; The taking of an oath; The name "Helen"; Beacon fires from Troy to Argos; Battle of Salamis; Murder of Agamemnon.
Æscula'pius, god of the healing art. Shrine of.
Æ'son, King of Iolcus.
Æt'na, a city in Sicily, founded by Hiero.
Æto'lia.
Agamem'non, King of Mycenæ; commands the expedition against Troy; contends with Achilles; demands restoration of Helen; return to Greece and is murdered.
Agamemnon, the. Extracts from.
Aganip'pe, fountain of.
Ag'athon, a tragedian.
Agesan'dros, a Rhodian sculptor.
Agesila'us, King of Sparta. Defeats the Persians at Sardis.
A'gis, King of Sparta.
Agrigen'tum, in Sicily.
A'jax. Goes with the Greeks to Troy; fights for the body of Patroclus; his death.
AKENSIDE, MARK.—Character of Solon; of Pisistratus, and his usurpation; Alcræs; Anacreon; Melpomene.
ALAMANNI, LUIGI.—Flight of Xerxes.
ALCÆ'US, a lyric poet.—Life and writings of. Extracts from: The spoils of war; Sappho.
ALCÆ'US, of Messene.—Epigrams of, on Philip V.
Alcestis, the.
Alcibi'ades. Artifices of; retires to Sparta; intrigues of, against Athens; is condemned to death, but escapes; is recalled to Athens; is banished; death of.
Alcin'o-us, King. Gardens of.
"Al'ciphron, or the Minute Philosopher".
ALC'MAN, a lyric poet.—Life and writings of.
Alexander the Great. Quells revolt of the Grecian states; invades Asia; defeats Darius; further conquests of; feast of, at Persepolis; invades India; dies at Babylon; career, character, and burial of; wars that followed his death.
Alexandria, in Egypt. Founded by Alexander.
Alex'is, a comic poet.
ALISON, ARCHIBALD.-Earthquake at Sparta, and Spartan heroism.
Alphe'us, river. Legends of.
A'mor, son of Venus, and god of love.
Amphic'tyon, Amphicty'ones, and Amphictyon'ic Council.
Amphip'olis, in Thrace.
Amphis'sa, town of.
Amy'clæ, town of.
Anab'asis, the.
ANAC'REON, a lyric poet.—Life and writings of.
An'akim, a giant of Palestine.
Anaxag'oras, the philosopher; attacks upon, at Athens; life, works, and death of.
Anaximan'der, the philosopher.
Anaxim'enes, the philosopher.
Anchi'ses, father of Æne'as.
Androm'a-che, wife of Hector. Lamentation of, over Hector's body.
An'gelo, Michael.
ANONYMOUS.—Tomb of Leonidas; Queen Archidamia.
Antæ'us, son of Neptune and Terra. Encounter with Hercules.
Antal'cidas, the peace of.
Anthe'la, village of.
ANTHON, CHARLES, LL.D.—Apelles and Protogenes.
Antig'o-ne, the.
Antig'onus, one of Alexander's generals; conquests and death of.
Antig'onus II., a king of Macedon.—War of, with Phyrrus; becomes master of Greece, and death of.
Antil'ochus (in the Iliad).
Anti'ochus, King of Syria.
ANTIP'ATER, of Sidon.—Extracts from: The birthplace of Homer; Sappho; Desolation of Corinth; The painting of Venus rising from the sea.
Antip'ater, one of Alexander's generals. Is given command of Macedon and Greece; suppresses a Spartan revolt; the Athenian revolt; is given part of Macedonia and Greece; death of.
Antiph'anes, a comic poet.
An'tiphon, orator and rhetorician.
An'tium (an'she-um); a city of Italy.
An'tonines, the. Treatment of Greece by.
An'ytus, the accuser of Socrates.
Apel'les, an Ionian painter; anecdote of.
Aphrodi'te. (See Venus.)
Apollo, the god of archery, etc.; aids the Trojans; character of; conflict of, with Python.
Apollo Bel've-dere, statue of.
Apollodo'rus, of Athens, a painter.
Apollo'nia, town in Illyria.
Ap'pius Claudius, the Roman consul.
Arach'ne, tower of.
Arbe'la. Battle of.
Arca'dia and Arcadians. Arcadians assist Messenia; assist Thebes in war with Sparta.
Archidami'a, Queen of Sparta.
Archela'us, King of Macedon.
Archida'mus, King of Sparta.
Archil'ochus, lyric poet.
Archime'des, the Syracusan; Cicero visits the tomb of.
Architecture.—First period. Second period. Third period.
Ar'chons. Institution of, in Athens.
Areop'agus, or Hill of Mars. Court of; changes in power of.
A'res (same as Mars).
Arethu'sa, fountain of.
A're-us, King of Sparta.
Ar'gives, the.
Ar'go, the ship.
Argol'ic Gulf.
Ar'golis.
Argonau'tic expedition, the.
Ar'gos, city of.
Ari'on, the poet.
Aristi'des, the Athenian general and statesman. At Marathon; rise of, in Athenian affairs; banishment of, and return to fight at Salamis; leadership and death of.
Aristi'des, a painter.
Aristoc'rates, King of Arcadia.
Aristode'mus, one of the Heraclidæ.
Aristogi'ton. Conspiracy of, against the Pisistratidæ, and death of; tribute to.
Aristom'enes, a Messenian leader.
ARISTOPH'ANES, the comic poet. Life and works of. Extracts from: The Wasps; Cleon the Demagogue; The Clouds; The Birds.
Aristot'le, the philosopher. Life and works of.
ARNOLD, EDWIN.—The Academia.
Ar'ta, Gulf of.
Artaba'nus, uncle of Xerxes.
Artapher'nes, Persian governor of Lydia.
Artaxerx'es Longim'anus.
Artaxerxes Mne'mon.
Ar'temis. (See Diana.)
Artemis'ia (she-a), Queen of Carin.
Artemis'ium. Naval conflict at.
Arts. (See Literature.)
As'cra. Birthplace of Hesiod.
A'sius (a'she-us). A marshy place near the river Ca-ys'ter, in Asia Minor.
Aso'pus, the river, in Bœotia.
Aspa'sia (she-a). Attacks upon.
Asty'anax, Hector's son. Fate of.
A'te, goddess of revenge.
Athe'na. (See Minerva.)
Athenodo'rus, a Rhodian sculptor.
Athens, and the Athenians; founding of the city; early history of; legislation of Draco and Solon; usurpation of Pisistratus; birth of democracy at; battle of Marathon; affairs of, under Aristides and Themistocles; war of, with Ægina, and settlement of; abandonment of city; successes of, at Artemisium and Salamis; at Platæa; empire of Athens; Athens rebuilt; affairs of, under Cimon; at battle of Eurymedon; jealousy of Sparta against; affairs of, under Pericles; changes in Constitution of; war of, with Sparta; reverses of, in Egypt, decline of, and thirty years' truce of, with Sparta; the "Age of Pericles"; war of, with Sparta; the plague at; violates the Peace of Nicias; Sicilian expedition of; war of, with Sparta, and revolt of allies; reverses and humiliation of; fall of Athens; the rule of the Tyrants; lead of, in intellectual progress; literature and art of; adornment of; glory of; alliance of, with Sparta; engages in the Sacred War; leads against Macedon; censured by Demosthenes; allies of, defeated by Philip; first open rupture with Macedon; alliance of, with Thebes, and defeat at Chæronea; revolt of, against Alexander; captured by Antigonus; late architecture, sculpture, and painting of; immortal influence of; the Duchy of Athens; captured by Turks and Venetians; revolution at, against Otho.
A'thos, Mount, in Macedonia.
Atos'sa, mother of Xerxes.
Atri'dæ, the. A term meaning "sons of Atreus," and applied by Homer to Agamemnon and Menelaus.
Attica.
"Attic Wasp," the.
Augustus, the Roman emperor.
Au'lis, on the Euripus.
Auso'nian, or Au'sones. An ancient race of Italy.
Aver'nus, lake of.
Babylon.
Bacchus, god of vintage or wine; theatre of.
Bel'i-des, a surname given to daughters of Belus.
Beller'ophon, son of Glaucus.
BENJAMIN, S. G. W.—Revolution against Otho.
Bes'sus, satrap of Bactria.
Bias, one of the Seven Sages.
Birds, the.
BLACKIE, J. STUART.—Value of Greek fables. Fancies of the Greek mind. Legend of Pandora. Prometheus. Story of Tantalus. The founding of Athens. Pythagoras. Legends of Marathon. Xerxes and the battle of Salamis.
Bœo'tla.
Boz-zar'ls, Marco.—Bravery and death of. Constantine Bozzaris, and Noto Bozzaris.
Bras'idas, the Spartan.
Brazen Age, the.
British Quarterly Review.—The choice of Otho; and Greece under his rule.
Bria're-us (or Bri'a-reus).
BROUGHAM, LORD.—Demosthenes' Oration on the Crown. The style of Demosthenes. The doctrine of Plato.
BROWNE, R. W.—Thucydides and Herodotus. Aristotle.
BULWER, EDW. LYTTON.—Merits of a "Tyranny." The battle of Platæa, and importance of. Xerxes at Sardis. Earthquake, and revolt of Helots at Sparta. Changes in Athenian Constitution, Oratory of Pericles. The Drama. Adornment of Athens.
BURLINGAME, EDW. L.—Roman treatment of Greece.
BYRON, LORD.—Dodona. Parnassus. Allusions to Attica. The Corinthian rock. The Isles of Greece. The dead at Thermopylæ. Xerxes at Salamis. Deathless renown of Greek heroes. The Athenian prisoners at Syracuse. The revenge of Orestes. Alexander's career. Siege and fall of Corinth. Greece under Moslem rule. Views of Greek independence.
Byzan'tium (she-um).