Chapter I. The Physical Setting of Athens.
1. The Importance of Athens in Greek History.—To
three ancient nations the men of the twentieth century
owe an incalculable debt. To the Jews we owe
most of our notions of religion; to the Romans we
owe traditions and examples in law, administration,
and the general management of human affairs which
still keep their influence and value; and finally,
to the Greeks we owe nearly all our ideas as to the
fundamentals of art, literature, and philosophy, in
fact, of almost the whole of our intellectual life.
These Greeks, however, our histories promptly teach
us, did not form a single unified nation. They
lived in many “city-states” of more or
less importance, and some of the largest of these
contributed very little directly to our civilization.
Sparta, for example, has left us some noble lessons
in simple living and devoted patriotism, but hardly
a single great poet, and certainly never a philosopher
or sculptor. When we examine closely, we see
that the civilized life of Greece, during the centuries
when she was accomplishing the most, was peculiarly
centered at Athens. Without Athens, Greek history
would lose three quarters of its significance, and
modern life and thought would become infinitely the
poorer.
2. Why the Social Life of Athens is so Significant.—Because,
then, the contributions of Athens to our own life are
so important, because they touch (as a Greek would
say) upon almost every side of “the true, the
beautiful, and the good,” it is obvious that
the outward conditions under which this Athenian genius
developed deserve our respectful attention.
For assuredly such personages as Sophocles, Plato,
and Phidias were not isolated creatures, who developed
their genius apart from, or in spite of, the life about
them, but rather were the ripe products of a society,
which in its excellences and weaknesses presents some
of the most interesting pictures and examples in the
world. To understand the Athenian civilization
and genius it is not enough to know the outward history
of the times, the wars, the laws, and the lawmakers.
We must see Athens as the average man saw it and
lived in it from day to day, and then perhaps
we can partially understand how it was that during
the brief but wonderful era of Athenian freedom and
prosperity[*], Athens was able to produce so many
men of commanding genius as to win for her a place
in the history of civilization which she can never
lose.
[*]That era may be assumed to begin with the battle
of Marathon (490 B.C.), and it certainly ended in
322 B.C., when Athens passed decisively under the
power of Macedonia; although since the battle of Cheroneia
(338 B.C.) she had done little more than keep her
liberty on sufferance.
