The Turk and his lost provinces

by William Eleroy Curtis

The Acropolis of Athens is the most famous hill in the universe. The columns of the Parthenon are familiar to all the world. They are the remains of the most majestic monument ever erected by human hands, and did it ever occur to you that it was intended for the honor and the worship of a woman? The lord mayor of an Irish city, in accepting the honor of an election, declared that if it had not been for his mother he would not have stood before his constituents that day. We might all pay a similar tribute to Eve, yet no monument has ever been erected to her memory, and the place of her burial has been forgotten, if anybody ever knew where it was. Three graves of Adam are pointed out to tourists in the East, but not even one of Eve.

We estimate the Greeks of the age of Pericles as having reached the highest degree of development in intellect, philosophy and wisdom. We teach our children their precepts. Our students of medicine, art, science and theology must study them in preparation for their life-work. It is a popular belief that the summit of human culture was reached at the period of the building of the Parthenon. Yet the ancient Greeks believed that the source of their learning, wisdom and strength was a woman, and to her they raised that matchless tribute, the admiration of all ages, the most perfect example of architecture ever conceived, and in it they not only worshiped a woman, Athena, but made sacrifices to one whom they had deified. Its ruined columns stand to-day as a testimonial to womanhood. An old friend used to say that the best rule he ever found in life was, “When in doubt, do as your wife tells you,” and for his authority he might have referred to the ancient Greeks.

The Acropolis is a mighty rock which rises five hundred feet in what was the center of ancient Athens, when that city had 200,000 population. On all sides but one the walls are perpendicular. Toward the west there is a slope by which the summit is reached by a winding roadway. In ancient times there was a series of stairways, and the Propylaea, or gateway, was as remarkable as the temples at the top. There was also a road for chariots, and we can see the ruts made by the wheels in the pavements. The Acropolis is visible from a long distance. It looms up in majesty as the city is approached from all directions, and the columns of the Parthenon are dwarfed by its height. The first effect, therefore, upon strangers is disappointing. The ruins are not as grand as they expected, and they feel a little sorry that they came, but familiarity breeds respect in this instance. The columns grow larger and grander and more beautiful every time you look at them, and those who have had the privilege of visiting the Acropolis by moonlight will retain an impression that cannot be effaced from their memory by anything else that may remain for their enjoyment. Age and the salt air from the sea have given the marble a rusty color, which detracts from its purity, but gives it a tone of richness and ripeness entirely appropriate to a ruin. You would not like to see a ruin of pure white marble. It would look incongruous, although you can imagine how beautiful the Parthenon and the surrounding buildings must have been when they were fresh and new.

The temple to Athena (Minerva) and the surrounding buildings were destroyed when the Venetians bombarded Athens to drive out the Turks. The latter, who held the city, intrenched themselves on the Acropolis and concealed their store of powder in the Parthenon. The Acropolis, therefore, became the target for the Venetian artillerymen, and on Friday, September 26, 1687, a German lieutenant fired a bomb which fell into the magazine and was followed by an explosion which destroyed forever the most glorious architectural triumph of men. Three hundred Turkish soldiers lost their lives in the explosion and their commander, having no ammunition, was compelled to surrender three days later. No attempt was ever made to restore the building. On the contrary, the Acropolis has been plundered century after century for building-material, and for works of art. Some of the finest of the marbles were burned to make lime for the masonry in building modern Athens, and Lord Elgin, the British minister to Greece, in the earlier part of the last century, removed the most beautiful and valuable of the sculptures, which are now exhibited in the British Museum, under the name of “The Elgin Marbles.” Within late years much care has been taken in protecting and preserving the treasures that remain, and the Grecian government is exceedingly anxious to recover the works of art which have been taken from the Acropolis to foreign lands. On several occasions during the last half-century overtures have been made to the British government to restore the Elgin marbles, but they have met with no favorable response. Mr. Gladstone gave the Ionian Islands back to Greece when he was prime minister and received the gratitude of a nation. The Athenians would be equally grateful if King Edward would return to them the sculptures which once decorated the temple of Minerva, and were taken away with the authority of the Turkish government, and not with the consent of Greece.

It is difficult to avoid moralizing about the Acropolis. I do not know of any other place on earth, unless it be Bethlehem, Jerusalem, or St. Peter’s at Rome, or Westminster Abbey in London, which furnishes such food for thought. The columns of the Parthenon are older than anything in Rome except the obelisk in the center of the Piazza del Popolo, and older than anything in London except a similar obelisk that stands on the Thames embankment. Both of those were transplanted from the soil in which the Pharaohs originally erected them, to show how Christian nations sometimes despoil the heathen. It is an old trick. Rome is filled with objects of art of which her emperors robbed the Athenians. The Parthenon has had a varied experience. It was first a temple to the Goddess of Wisdom; for several hundred years it was a church for the worship of a Jewish peasant; and at the time of its destruction it had been for centuries a mosque dedicated to a camel-driver.

The most important incident that has occurred upon the Acropolis in recent times, and it has a personal interest for us, was the discovery in 1900 by Mr. Eugene P. Andrews of Oswego, New York, then a student at the American School of Classical Studies and now an instructor at Cornell University, of an inscription to Nero upon the architrave of the Parthenon, which had been unknown for a dozen centuries. It was a great achievement, one of the most notable events in modern archeology. He thought that certain small holes in the marble must have served some useful purpose, and so he let himself down from the top by a rope ladder similar to those that sailors use, and discovered that they had once been occupied by nails which supported brass letters. By taking a series of impressions with damp wrapping-paper, he secured a diagram, from which he was able to trace the Greek letters, and the inscription, which had never been suspected, was announced to the scholars of the world by Professor Richardson, the director of the American school.

The American Archeological Institute has a school in Athens similar to that in Rome, which was founded several years later. The object is to furnish American scholars an opportunity to study art, archeology, ancient history, literature and the classic languages upon the ground and in the atmosphere in which they were developed.

He who would the poet understand
Most read him in the poet’s land.

I may not have the quotation exact, but that is the idea. In addition to the branches of study I have named, the students hear lectures on Greek law, religion, philosophy and upon all subjects dealing with the institutions, the social life and the industrial activity of the ancients. They are conducted about the country to various points of historic and archeological interest, such as Thebes, Delphi, Olympia, Mycenae, Sparta and Thessaly, and are allowed to tread in the footsteps of the old philosophers. They hear lectures in the museums, which are illustrated by object-lessons. The museums of Athens are particularly rich in relics of the archaic period of Greece—before the Persian war, 480 B.C.—and the director gives that branch his special attention. Other members of the faculty lecture on history, poetry, politics and kindred subjects. The students also have the advantage of similar institutions founded by the English, French, German and Austrian governments. All the national schools of archeology are affiliated, and each has its special line of investigation, selected after a consultation, in order that they may not interfere with or duplicate the work of each other. The American school is the strongest of all, the French next, then the German, and last the English. The German school, however, is particularly fortunate in having for its director Dr. Doerpfeld, who succeeded Dr. Schliemann in the archeological work at Troy. The students of one school are admitted to the lectures of the others and also have the use of their libraries. Most of them are fitting themselves for instructors in Greek and archeology, and nearly all of the graduates since the school was founded in 1882 now occupy chairs in the faculties of American colleges and universities.

The present director is Professor Richardson, who was graduated from Yale in the class of ’69, and was for a long time professor of Greek language and literature at Dartmouth College. He has been at Athens since 1893. Each year an assistant is selected from one of the contributing colleges. Professor Thomas Day Seymour, of Yale, was chairman of the Managing Committee of the school for fourteen years, but recently has been succeeded by Professor Wheeler, of Columbia. Part of its income is precarious, consisting of contributions from various colleges and private individuals, and if they should withdraw it would leave the institution without funds. There ought to be a larger endowment, so as to secure permanency. At present the endowment amounts to about $65,000. The society owns a fine building, well adapted to its purposes, and a considerable area of ground which may be found available in the future. Among the most generous donors for excavations is Colonel Hay, secretary of state, who has recently placed a considerable sum of money in the hands of the trustees, to be used as a foundation for the library in memory of his son, the late Adelbert Stone Hay. There is no limit to the number of students. Anyone is received who has had a thorough classical training at an American college. It is important that applicants should gain as great command as possible of the German, French and modern Greek languages before entering the school in order that they may enjoy the full benefit of their opportunities. The tuition fee is nominal, and the cost of living at Athens is anything that one may choose to make it. At the large hotels board and lodging can be obtained for $14 a week and upward, and at the smaller hotels and in private families, from $5 and upward. Six fellowships with stipends of $600 each, and one with a stipend of $1,000, will be awarded annually, upon competitive examination, to bachelors of art of the universities and colleges of the United States, and may be extended for two years, upon the recommendation of the faculty, to students in the Schools of Classical Studies at Athens and in Rome, and in the School of Oriental Study in Palestine—all under the general care of the Archeological Institute of America.