DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0257
224 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
and the monarch was a trembling fugitive. Some of the states had joined the
Persian king; others, too feeble to share in the victories, had stood by; but
Athens had been in the front of the conflict, and came rapidly to enjoy a position
which enabled her to dispute with Sparta the leadership of the Hellenic cities
after the Persian war. Comparative peace now long prevailed, when thank-
offerings were executed by the people of Greece at their great shrines. A
colossal Poseidon was put up on the isthmus of Corinth, consecrated by the
victors of Plataiai. A figure eighteen feet high, carrying in her hand a ship's
prow, was consecrated at the Delphic shrine, in honor of the naval victories
at Salamis and Artemision. A colossal Zeus was put up in Olympia; and a
colossal bronze tripod, borne on the coils of snakes, was offered at the shrine
at Delphi, in honor of Plataiai. A part of these coils, with the names of the
sharers in the victories engraved upon them, now stands in the Atmeidan at
Constantinople ; and a piece of one of the serpents' heads, a masterly work of
archaic precision, in the little-known museum of St. Irene in the same city. In
state, Miltiades, Aristeides, Themistocles, and Kimon now made the history of
Athens that of Greece, and brought it close upon the time of the great Pericles
(459 B.C). The wise rule of that statesman, and the unhappy civil war which
broke out in 430 B.C., raging until near the close of the century, give us the
remainder of the historical background of this greatest period in Greek history,
against-which its art stands out in harmonious relief. To the military glories
of this age was added that of poetry; and how sublime the names that meet us !
The lyric poet Pindar aroused to religious fever by his odes during the earliest
quarter of the century, and consecrated numerous and costly gifts to the gods,
standing witnesses of his devotion. But not in the Peloponnesos or Bceotia
was poetic song the sweetest and strongest. In Athens it meets us a loud
chorus, in which many voices mingle. Craggy yEschylos, of a noble Attic
family, takes the lead in age, and with true Attic spirit is more proud to have
been one of the warriors of Marathon than the creator of sublime dramas.
His younger contemporary, Sophocles, who in the blooming beauty of youth
led the rhythmic dance at the celebration of the victory of Salamis, continued,
till 405 B.C. to picture to the Athenians a world of highest and noblest thought
in dramas of perfect form. At the ripe age of ninety he was laid away to rest
in Colonos, honored by the people, and, as story says, by the great god Dionysus
himself. Euripides, about fifteen years Sophocles' junior, completes this trio
of Attic poets in the fifth century; but his works belong in spirit to the time
that followed the Peloponnesian war, so full were they of passion and pathos.
But our picture of the poetic activity of this time would be incomplete did we
not call to mind the merry comedy, originating in the festivities of Dionysos,
and taking its scenes, not from the higher regions of poetic myth, but from
every-day life. Here we see the master Cratinos, followed by his still greater
scholar Aristophanes, who give us many priceless glimpses of that day, and the
and the monarch was a trembling fugitive. Some of the states had joined the
Persian king; others, too feeble to share in the victories, had stood by; but
Athens had been in the front of the conflict, and came rapidly to enjoy a position
which enabled her to dispute with Sparta the leadership of the Hellenic cities
after the Persian war. Comparative peace now long prevailed, when thank-
offerings were executed by the people of Greece at their great shrines. A
colossal Poseidon was put up on the isthmus of Corinth, consecrated by the
victors of Plataiai. A figure eighteen feet high, carrying in her hand a ship's
prow, was consecrated at the Delphic shrine, in honor of the naval victories
at Salamis and Artemision. A colossal Zeus was put up in Olympia; and a
colossal bronze tripod, borne on the coils of snakes, was offered at the shrine
at Delphi, in honor of Plataiai. A part of these coils, with the names of the
sharers in the victories engraved upon them, now stands in the Atmeidan at
Constantinople ; and a piece of one of the serpents' heads, a masterly work of
archaic precision, in the little-known museum of St. Irene in the same city. In
state, Miltiades, Aristeides, Themistocles, and Kimon now made the history of
Athens that of Greece, and brought it close upon the time of the great Pericles
(459 B.C). The wise rule of that statesman, and the unhappy civil war which
broke out in 430 B.C., raging until near the close of the century, give us the
remainder of the historical background of this greatest period in Greek history,
against-which its art stands out in harmonious relief. To the military glories
of this age was added that of poetry; and how sublime the names that meet us !
The lyric poet Pindar aroused to religious fever by his odes during the earliest
quarter of the century, and consecrated numerous and costly gifts to the gods,
standing witnesses of his devotion. But not in the Peloponnesos or Bceotia
was poetic song the sweetest and strongest. In Athens it meets us a loud
chorus, in which many voices mingle. Craggy yEschylos, of a noble Attic
family, takes the lead in age, and with true Attic spirit is more proud to have
been one of the warriors of Marathon than the creator of sublime dramas.
His younger contemporary, Sophocles, who in the blooming beauty of youth
led the rhythmic dance at the celebration of the victory of Salamis, continued,
till 405 B.C. to picture to the Athenians a world of highest and noblest thought
in dramas of perfect form. At the ripe age of ninety he was laid away to rest
in Colonos, honored by the people, and, as story says, by the great god Dionysus
himself. Euripides, about fifteen years Sophocles' junior, completes this trio
of Attic poets in the fifth century; but his works belong in spirit to the time
that followed the Peloponnesian war, so full were they of passion and pathos.
But our picture of the poetic activity of this time would be incomplete did we
not call to mind the merry comedy, originating in the festivities of Dionysos,
and taking its scenes, not from the higher regions of poetic myth, but from
every-day life. Here we see the master Cratinos, followed by his still greater
scholar Aristophanes, who give us many priceless glimpses of that day, and the