. A smaller history of Greece, from the earliest times to the Roman conquest. y belong to the Heroic age, and still excitethe wonder of the beholder. Commerce, however, was little cul-tivated, and was not much esteemed. It was deemed more honour-able for a man to enrich himself by robbery and piracy than bythe arts of peace. Coined money is not mentioned in the poemsof Homer. Whether the Greeks were acquainted at this earlyperiod with the art of writing is a question which has given riseto much dispute, and must remain undetermined; but poetry wascultivated with success, though yet confined to
. A smaller history of Greece, from the earliest times to the Roman conquest. y belong to the Heroic age, and still excitethe wonder of the beholder. Commerce, however, was little cul-tivated, and was not much esteemed. It was deemed more honour-able for a man to enrich himself by robbery and piracy than bythe arts of peace. Coined money is not mentioned in the poemsof Homer. Whether the Greeks were acquainted at this earlyperiod with the art of writing is a question which has given riseto much dispute, and must remain undetermined; but poetry wascultivated with success, though yet confined to epic strains, or thenarration of the exploits and adventures of the Heroic chiefs. Thebard sung his own song, and was always received with welcomeand honour in the palaces of the nobles. In the battles, as depicted by Homer, the chiefs are the onlyimportant combatants, while the people are an almost useless mass,frequently put to rout by the prowess of a single hero. The chiefis mounted in a war chariot, and stands by the side of his charioteer,who is frequently a Greek chariot Head of Olympian Zeus (Jupiter) CHAPTER III. GENERAL SURVEY OF THE GREEK PEOPLE NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. The Greeks, as we have already seen, were divided into manyindependent communities, but several causes bound them togetheras one people. Of these the most important were community ofblood and language—community of religious rites and festivals—and community of manners and character. All the Greeks were descended from the same ancestor andspoke the same language. They all described men and citieswhich were not Grecian by the term Barbarian. This word haspassed into our own language, but with a very different idea; forthe Greeks applied it indiscriminately to every foreigner, to thecivilized inhabitants of Egypt and Persia, as well as to the rudetribes of Scythia and Gaul. The second bond of union was a community of religious rites andfestivals. From the earliest times the Greeks appear to h
Size: 1975px × 1265px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, bookidsmallerhisto, bookyear1864
