DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0579
GREAT CHANGES IN SOCIETY. 543
decrees preserved show the life in these cities.10?2 But how brief are the
accounts given of the way in which they were laid out, of their temples, palaces,
and theatres, and of the wealth of statuary and of relief which adorned them!
The stories of the splendor of Alexandria and of Antioch, of the palaces and
triumphal arches there to be seen, of the sacred images in the groves, of the
costly pictures and statues in the private apartments, are tantalizing in their
meagreness. And yet by gleanings from the poets, and inferences from the
imitative art of the Roman age, many features in the tremendous art activity
of these Hellenistic times had been traced even before excavations unearthed
actual monuments. I073 Looking, as it were, through a thick veil, the practised
eye had read, in the familiar forms of Roman art, indications of originals from
this time. So it had been shown that the Pompeian wall-paintings, and much
of Roman sculpture, are but an echo of that lost world of art. But the veil
is now lifted. In the marbles from Pergamon and from Samothrake, and in
bronzes from many different sites, we, have at last eloquent witnesses, at first
hand, from this wonderful period, while, no doubt, much would still reward the
faithful and self-sacrificing excavator.
In looking across the broad plains of history, we see, then, in this Hellenis-
tic age, stormy elements in wild commotion, sweeping over the landscape, and
a strange, rushing life, leaving far behind the quiet simplicity and unconscious
spontaneity of earlier days. Did Art, then, pass untouched through all these
vicissitudes ? or did her garments catch the storm-wind, and answer back to the
tempest, and did her face reflect the sunshine and the gloom of this period ?
If we may judge from existing remains, sculpture seems now to have well-
nigh deserted its old home in Athens and the Peloponnesos. One of the strik-
rng features of this age was its mercantile activity and material prosperity,
developed under the patronage of wise rulers, in spite of the political fermenta-
tion. The Greeks now had the world opened up to them, and, indeed, were
forced to seek in this greater world an outlet for their highly developed and
varied powers, which could no longer be confined by narrow territorial limits.
Sometimes as thrifty tradesmen or bold adventurers; again, as travellers, phy-
sicians, sculptors, and artists ; often as hireling soldiery, — Greeks were met
with everywhere, from the Indies in the East, to Massilia (modern Marseilles) in
the West. This wider field and intenser activity made life more complex, and
doubtless, in many respects, more akin to our modern civilization, than that
which had characterized the quieter, more purely Hellenic society of older days.
The stirring tempests and ever-changing scenes through which the age passed,
stimulated thought and criticism ; and scientific life flourished as never before.
Historical and archaeological research, and the sciences of grammar and of
astronomy, as well as of philosophy, were developed to a rare degree. The
great libraries at Alexandria and at Pergamon are clear witnesses to this liter-
ary and scientific activity. Anatomy was raised, by men like Erasistratos, to
decrees preserved show the life in these cities.10?2 But how brief are the
accounts given of the way in which they were laid out, of their temples, palaces,
and theatres, and of the wealth of statuary and of relief which adorned them!
The stories of the splendor of Alexandria and of Antioch, of the palaces and
triumphal arches there to be seen, of the sacred images in the groves, of the
costly pictures and statues in the private apartments, are tantalizing in their
meagreness. And yet by gleanings from the poets, and inferences from the
imitative art of the Roman age, many features in the tremendous art activity
of these Hellenistic times had been traced even before excavations unearthed
actual monuments. I073 Looking, as it were, through a thick veil, the practised
eye had read, in the familiar forms of Roman art, indications of originals from
this time. So it had been shown that the Pompeian wall-paintings, and much
of Roman sculpture, are but an echo of that lost world of art. But the veil
is now lifted. In the marbles from Pergamon and from Samothrake, and in
bronzes from many different sites, we, have at last eloquent witnesses, at first
hand, from this wonderful period, while, no doubt, much would still reward the
faithful and self-sacrificing excavator.
In looking across the broad plains of history, we see, then, in this Hellenis-
tic age, stormy elements in wild commotion, sweeping over the landscape, and
a strange, rushing life, leaving far behind the quiet simplicity and unconscious
spontaneity of earlier days. Did Art, then, pass untouched through all these
vicissitudes ? or did her garments catch the storm-wind, and answer back to the
tempest, and did her face reflect the sunshine and the gloom of this period ?
If we may judge from existing remains, sculpture seems now to have well-
nigh deserted its old home in Athens and the Peloponnesos. One of the strik-
rng features of this age was its mercantile activity and material prosperity,
developed under the patronage of wise rulers, in spite of the political fermenta-
tion. The Greeks now had the world opened up to them, and, indeed, were
forced to seek in this greater world an outlet for their highly developed and
varied powers, which could no longer be confined by narrow territorial limits.
Sometimes as thrifty tradesmen or bold adventurers; again, as travellers, phy-
sicians, sculptors, and artists ; often as hireling soldiery, — Greeks were met
with everywhere, from the Indies in the East, to Massilia (modern Marseilles) in
the West. This wider field and intenser activity made life more complex, and
doubtless, in many respects, more akin to our modern civilization, than that
which had characterized the quieter, more purely Hellenic society of older days.
The stirring tempests and ever-changing scenes through which the age passed,
stimulated thought and criticism ; and scientific life flourished as never before.
Historical and archaeological research, and the sciences of grammar and of
astronomy, as well as of philosophy, were developed to a rare degree. The
great libraries at Alexandria and at Pergamon are clear witnesses to this liter-
ary and scientific activity. Anatomy was raised, by men like Erasistratos, to