The Turk and his lost provinces

by William Eleroy Curtis

Phaleron, the summer-resort of the Athenians upon the bay, where there are several hotels and bathing establishments and a little villa for the pleasure of the royal family, is the place where Demosthenes used to go to practice speaking. It was there, according to the legend, that he picked up pebbles and put them under his tongue to prevent him from stammering.

Near by are two tombs hewn in the living rock, accessible at low tide but often submerged by the sea. One of them is popularly believed to be the tomb of Themistocles, one of the greatest men of ancient Greece, who persuaded his fellow citizens to devote the proceeds of the silver mine of Laurion to the construction of a naval fleet, which made Athens for a time preëminent upon the sea. But this fleet did not last very long, and Athens absolutely had her ships taken from her at the close of the fifth century B.C.

Across the bay is the island of Salamis, the scene of one of the most famous sea battles in all history, when Xerxes, King of Persia, witnessed the destruction of his fleet of one thousand vessels from a rocky promontory which projects into the bay. The point is called “the throne of Xerxes.” The poet Aeschylus was on one of the ships and distinguished himself in the battle. Eight years later, in March, 472, his tragedy, based upon it, was performed in the theater of Dionysus at Athens.

Socrates was born in Athens in the year 469 B.C. He was originally a sculptor, but abandoned art and became an astrologer. He afterwards taught in the market-place, surrounded by his students and disciples, and it was to them that he delivered the opinions which brought him into collision with the authorities, and particularly the priests. The trial of Socrates was similar to that of Christ. Both were accused of sedition, of denying the gods, of introducing a new religion, of corrupting the minds of the youth and disturbing the tranquillity of the people. Socrates was arraigned for this crime before the courts, as Christ was before the Sanhedrin. Both admitted the truth of the charge, while they denied the criminality. The answer of Socrates to his accusers was almost the same as that of Jesus before Pilate, four hundred years later. He was convicted, however, and condemned to die. Owing to a superstition about putting men to death during a festival, the execution of his sentence was postponed, and in the meantime he drank his cup of hemlock juice. Near the Areopagus are two chambers about sixteen feet square, hewn in the side of a rocky cliff. They are divided by a partition with a narrow door and are protected by gratings of iron bars, like the cage of a wild beast. The guide-book calls them “the prison of Socrates,” and it is generally understood among the people that he was imprisoned and died there, but there is no evidence to sustain such a supposition.

TEMPLE OF THESEUS, ATHENS

Demosthenes had a country home on the other side of Mount Hymettus, which is as famous for its honey to-day as it was two thousand years ago. The wild flowers that grow in the soil of that mountain contain an unusual amount of saccharine and give a flavor to the honey which is not found in that made elsewhere. The ancient Greeks considered it a great luxury, and it still sustains its reputation and is sold to-day in all the markets of Europe for high prices. Tourists buy it at the hotels and curiosity-shops of Athens.

Demosthenes was the son of a rich furniture-dealer, and was a statesman, lawyer, orator and patriot. He lived nearly a century after Socrates, and in the year 322 B.C., when the Macedonians secured control of the government, fled from Athens across the sea into the Peloponnesus. There he was followed by an officer of the police with a warrant for his arrest. Demosthenes was prepared for him and received him in the temple of Poseidon in Calauria. Rather than suffer the humiliation of trial and imprisonment, he decided to take his own life. Suspecting such an intention, the authorities ordered the police officials to take precautions to prevent suicide, and they watched him very closely. After the arrest was made Demosthenes asked the officers to allow him to write a note to his family, and sat down at his desk to do so. It was noticed that he frequently moistened the tip of his pen with his lips, and when the note was finished he fell lifeless from his seat. The ink had been poisoned.

The field of Marathon, where the great battle with the Persians was fought in 490 B.C., about twenty-five miles from Athens, is marked by a great mound, under which the bones of the slain were buried.

Tanagra, where, in 455 B.C., the Athenians first measured strength and valor with the Spartans, is a little further north and has been one of the most prolific sources of satisfaction to archeologists. From the graves around it have come those charming figurines in painted terra-cotta that are so highly prized by collectors. The quantity of figures discovered there during the excavations has been so great that fine examples are now to be found in nearly every museum, and tourists can purchase for a small sum imitations largely made up of the fragments, which are quite as pretty as the genuine.