Book IV. Domestic Institutions, Arts, And Literature Of The Dorians.

2. The dwellings of the Dorians were plain and simple. By a law of Lycurgus the doors of every house were to be fashioned only with the saw, and the ceiling with the axe;1226 not that the legislator intended [pg 266] to abolish altogether the science of architecture, but merely to restrain it to its proper objects, viz., temples and public buildings, and to prevent it from purveying to private luxury. The kings of Greece in Homer's time lived not only in spacious, but also richly ornamented houses, the walls of which glittered with brass, silver, gold, amber, and ivory; but no such splendour was seen in the dwellings of the Heraclide princes. The palace of the two kings of Sparta was said to have been built by Aristodemus at the taking of the town; here Agesilaus lived after the manner of his ancestors; the doors even in his time being, according to Xenophon's somewhat exaggerated expression, those of the original building.1227 Hence Leotychidas the elder (490 B.C.) asked his host at Corinth (which city had early risen to riches and luxury), on seeing the ceiling ornamented with sunken panels (φατνώματα), “whether the trees in Corinth were naturally four-cornered.”1228 The houses at Sparta, however, notwithstanding their rude structure, were probably spacious and commodious; in front there was generally a court-yard, separated by a wall from the street,1229 and containing a large portico. The towns of Peloponnesus were for the most part irregularly built, whereas the Ionians had early learnt to lay out their streets in straight lines,1230 a custom which Hippodamus [pg 267] of Miletus succeeded in spreading over the rest of Greece. It was probably this architect who in the year 445 B.C. laid out the plan of Thurii1231 in exact squares, with streets at right angles;1232 and the same who in his old age built the city of Rhodes (407 B.C.), the plan of which was designed with such perfect symmetry, that, according to the expression of the astonished ancients, it seemed like one house.1233

3. The principles of Lycurgus, however, we repeat did not in the least degree retard the progress of real architecture. Indeed we know that in the embellishment of their sacred edifices the Dorians employed a style of building which they themselves invented, from the strict principles of which they never deviated, and which at the same time they took the utmost care to bring to perfection. That they were in strictness the original inventors of this style of architecture has been first satisfactorily proved by the remarkable discoveries of modern times, which have laid open to us the monuments of the unknown ages of Greece in all their strange peculiarities. The treasury of Atreus is indeed the only example now extant of a class of buildings doubtless once very numerous;1234 but its paraboloidal construction distinguishes [pg 268] it as well from the later Grecian as the oriental style of architecture. Near this structure some fragments of columns have been discovered by modern travellers,1235 remarkable both for the variety of their forms and the richness of their ornaments; still the spot on which they were found, as well as their singular shape, leave no doubt that they belong to the same unknown period. They consist, first, of the base of a fluted column, with a plinth, and also a torus of elliptical outline, decorated with an alternation of projecting and receding compartments, the former of which have in some cases an ornament of spiral lines; secondly, a fragment of the shaft of a column of bronze-coloured marble, similarly ornamented with compartments; thirdly, a very small fragment of a capital; and, lastly, a tablet of white marble, with a species of ornament in imitation of shells. There are in the British Museum two tablets of light green and dark red marble, both taken from the treasury of Atreus, which have the spiral lines above mentioned, and are worked very elaborately, though without mathematical precision.1236 We have given this description of a style of architecture, not strictly belonging to our subject, in order to direct the reader's attention to these most remarkable remains of Grecian sculpture, which [pg 269] are quite sufficient to convince us that the building to which they belong, thus adorned with party-coloured stones, and probably covered in the interior with plates of bronze, may be reckoned as the monument of a time when a semi-barbarous style of architecture prevailed throughout Greece.

4. In direct contrast with the above is the simple unornamented character and unobtrusive grandeur of the style unanimously called by the ancients the Doric.1237 It appears certain that the first hints of this order were borrowed from buildings constructed of wood, a fact which I cannot reconcile with the supposition of a foreign origin. For we should thus lose sight altogether of the gradual and regular progress by which it advanced to maturity, and suppose that the improvements of foreign artificers, with their peculiar principles, and those of native architects, looking only to the original structure of wood, were blended, or rather violently confused together. Could anything be more natural than that the long surface of the principal beams should be imitated in stone, that the cross-beams with the Doric triglyph should be laid over these, the intervals or metopes being by degrees covered with marble, whilst the cornice, in imitation [pg 270] of carpenters' work, was allowed to project in bold relief? The roof perhaps was for some time allowed to end in a slope on each side; Corinth was the first place where the front and hind part were finished off with a pediment; the tympanum being adorned with statues of ancient clay-work.1238 Such was the origin of the Doric temple, of which early models have been preserved in the Doric towns of Corinth and Pæstum, in Ægina, and the Doric colonies of Sicily.

We cannot however suppose it to have been the opinion of the historian of ancient architecture,1239 that the artistical character of the Doric architecture may be satisfactorily derived from wooden buildings. It is the essence of this art to connect, by the varieties of form and proportion, a peculiar association of ideas with works intended merely for purposes of necessity. The Doric character, in short, created the Doric architecture. In the temples of this order the weight to be supported is intentionally increased, and the architrave, frieze, and cornice, of unusual depth; but the columns are proportionably strong, and placed very close to each other; so that, in contemplating the structure, our astonishment at the weight supported is mingled with pleasure at the security imparted by the strength of the columns underneath. This impression of firmness and solidity is increased by the rapid tapering of the column, its conical shape giving it an appearance of strength; while the diminution beginning immediately at the base, and the straight line not being, as in other orders, softened by the interposition of the swelling, gives a severity of character to the order.

1. The next point which we have to consider is the mode of clothing in use among the Dorians; in which a peculiar taste was displayed; an ancient decorum and simplicity, equally removed from the splendour of Asiatics and the uncleanliness of barbarians. At the same time, however, they paid considerable attention to their personal appearance, although their manners did not require the body to be studiously and completely covered. A Dorian was the first who [pg 272] in the lists of Olympia threw off the heavy girdle, which the wrestlers of Homer had worn in common with those of barbarous countries, and ran naked to the goal;1240 in fact a display of the naked form, when all covering was useless, and indeed inconvenient, was altogether in harmony with the Doric character. This reminds us of the nakedness of the Spartan young women, even in the time of Athenian civilization, [pg 273] which custom gave rise to the joke, that “the Spartans showed foreigners their virgins naked.”1241 On this subject, however, it is necessary that we should enter into greater detail.

2. In the first place these words direct our attention to the different modes of life of the married and unmarried women among the Dorians. Modern manners, derived from the age of chivalry, carefully withdraw young women from all impressions calculated to inflame the passions; while married women are more exposed to intercourse with men. But, according to the colder notions of the Greeks, which are seen most clearly among the Dorians, the unmarried lived more in public than the married women; who attended more to the care of their family; and hence the former alone practised music and athletic exercises; the latter being occupied only with their household affairs.1242 This explains why at Sparta unmarried women appeared with their faces uncovered, while the married only went out in veils;1243 and it was common to see the former walking in the streets with young men,1244 which was certainly not permitted to the others; and so also at Sparta,1245 in Crete,1246 and at Olympia, virgins were permitted to be spectators of the gymnastic contests, and married women only were excluded;1247 the reverse [pg 274] of which was the case in Ionia, where the unmarried women were usually shut up in the interior of the houses.1248

This different position in society was also marked by the dress, which was lighter and less strict among the unmarried women; for it is these alone who are charged with exposure of their persons. This charge of the Athenians was, however, caused by a strange forgetfulness of ancient custom; for after the mode of treatment of their women had become precisely similar to that of the eastern nations, the ancient Greek usage appeared to them unnatural;1249 and the dress of the Doric women caused in their minds the same notions as the German dress in those of the Romans; of which Tacitus says, “the German women wear the arms naked up to the shoulders, and even the next part of the breast is uncovered; notwithstanding which they never break the marriage vow.”

3. On the dress of the Spartans I need only, after the labours of former writers,1250 make the following remarks. The chief, or indeed the only garment of the Doric virgin is by ancient writers sometimes called himation,1251 sometimes chiton: the former more correctly, [pg 275] as appears from works of art; and the latter word was used metaphorically, from the resemblance of the himation to the linen chiton of the Ionians. This garment of woollen stuff was without sleeves, and fastened over both shoulders by clasps (πόρπαι, περόναι), which were often of considerable size;1252 while the Ionic women wore sleeves of greater or less length.1253 This chiton was only joined together on one side, while on the other it was left partly open or slit up (σχιστὸς χίτων1254); probably it could be fastened with clasps, or opened wider, so as to admit a freer motion of the limbs, so that the two skirts (πτέρυγες) flew open; whence Ibycus called the Spartan women φαινομηρίδες.1255 This garment was also worn without a girdle; when it hung down to the calves of the legs.1256

In one of these different fashions, according to her object and business, the virgin of Sparta, generally without the himation,1257 wore a single garment, and appeared even in the company of men without any further covering. Thus Periander the Corinthian1258 was seized with love for the beautiful Melissa at Epidaurus, when he saw her dressed, after the Peloponnesian manner, in her chiton, without any upper garment, as she was giving out wine to the labourers.1259 In this [pg 277] costume the Doric virgins might be seen dancing at their places of exercise and in the chorus.1260 The married women, however, never appeared without an upper garment; which probably was not essentially different from the himation of the men: thus, for example, the wife of Phocion, who lived in the Doric manner, according to the account of Plutarch, often went out in the himation of her husband.

4. This leads us to consider the costume of the men, the chief parts of which we will describe generally, before we speak of them in detail. These then are, first, the chiton, a woollen shirt without sleeves, worn by all the Greeks and Italians, the only dress of boys;1261 since it was not till after the increase of luxury in Athens that they began to dress young boys in the himation.1262 Secondly, the himation, called in Homer χλαῖνα.1263 a square piece of cloth, sometimes rounded off at the corners, which was commonly thrown over the left, and behind under the right arm, and the end was again brought back over the left shoulder.1264 Thirdly, the chlamys (Θετταλικὰ πτέρα), of Macedonian and Thessalian origin,1265 an oblong piece of [pg 278] cloth, of which the two lower ends came forward, and were fastened with a clasp upon the right shoulder; so that it left that arm free. This latter dress is never mentioned in the poems of Homer. Sappho was the first among the Greek poets who spoke of it.1266 It was not therefore till after her time that its use was extended over Greece Proper, first as the dress of horsemen, and young men in general, and then as a military cloak; under which character it was introduced into Sparta.1267 The earliest painted vases, however, always represent the warriors in the himation, which is commonly without folds, and drawn close to the body.1268

Thucydides1269 says of the Lacedæmonians, that “they were the first to adopt a simpler mode of dress:” a statement which is founded on a peculiar notion of this historian, that the loose linen garments, which were still worn by old-fashioned people at Athens in the time of Aristophanes, were the original Greek dress; whereas we know with tolerable certainty that this dress was brought over to Athens by the Ionians of Asia.1270 The Athenians again laid this aside at the time of the Peloponnesian war, and returned to the thin clothing of the ancient Greeks; with the exception of the women, who had formerly at Athens worn the Doric costume, but now retained the Ionic dress with long sleeves, wide folds, and trailing hem, which was generally of linen. Thucydides, however, is so [pg 279] far right, that the Lacedæmonians were distinguished among all the Greeks for their scanty and simple clothing: thus the Lacedæmonian habit,1271 the τρίβων,1272 was of thick cloth and small size,1273 which the youths1274 of Sparta were bound by custom to wear the whole year through without any other clothes;1275 and to which older men (for example, those Athenians who aped the Lacedæmonian manners) sometimes voluntarily submitted.

5. As at Athens the style of dress indicated the rank and station of the wearer, so also the Doric manners were clearly expressed in the arrangement of the clothes. Thus, for example, it was generally recognised in Greece that holding the arms within the cloak was a sign of modesty;1276 and hence the Spartan youths, like the Roman in the first year of their manhood, appeared always in the street with both hands under their cloak and their eyes cast down, “resembling statues,” says Xenophon,1277 “in their silence, and in the immoveability of their eyes, [pg 280] and more modest than virgins in the bridal chamber.” In the same manner the youths of lower Italy, in which there were many Doric cities, are frequently represented on vases, with the arms folded under the cloak, which is indicated by the large fold across the breast.1278

In other respects equality1279 and simplicity were the prevailing rule. Manufacturers of ointment were excluded from Sparta, as being corrupters of oil: dyers, because they deprived the wool of its beautiful white colour.1280 “Deceitful are ointments, and deceitful are dyes,” is the Spartan expression for this idea.1281 Even in the cities which had early departed from the Doric customs, there were frequent and strict prohibitions against expensiveness of female attire, prostitutes alone being wisely excepted.1282 As in Sparta the beard was considered as the ornament of a man,1283 and as a sign of freedom (to which the symbolical [pg 281] edict of the ephors to shave the beard refers),1284 so also at Byzantium and Rhodes shaving was prohibited by ancient, but constantly neglected, laws.1285 The custom of carrying sticks (in Doric σκυτάλαι) was common to the Spartans,1286 with the Dorians of lower Italy.1287

6. The Doric customs were not, however, hostile to the beauty of personal appearance; but the beauty at which they aimed was of a severe kind, and remote from all feminine tenderness. The Spartan from his youth upwards1288 preserved, in order to distinguish him from slaves and mechanics,1289 according to ancient usage,1290 the hair of his head uncut,1291 which indeed, if not properly arranged, might frequently give him a squalid appearance. It seems that both men and women tied the hair in a knot over the crown of the head;1292 [pg 282] while, according to the Ionic custom, which in this respect resembled that of the barbarians, it was divided into locks, and connected over the forehead with golden clasps in the shape of grasshoppers.1293 On their heads the Lacedæmonians wore hats with broad brims, which were sometimes also used in war, though probably only by the light-armed soldiers.1294 The manner in which they arranged and adorned their hair for battle was remarked above.1295

That most of the Doric states, and particularly the colonies, degenerated from this noble and beautiful simplicity, does not require to be proved. The splendour of Rhodes was proverbial, nor was any dress more effeminate than the transparent and loose robe of Tarentum;1296 and the Sicilian garments, which Lysander or Archidamus received as a present from Dionysius, he rejected as unfit for his daughters.1297

Among the accompaniments of the toilette may be mentioned the baths; with respect to which it may be remarked, that the Lacedæmonian custom only admitted of two kinds; viz., the cold daily baths in the Eurotas (which also formed a part of the regimen of king Agesilaus1298), and from time to time a dry sudorific bath.1299 But the weakening of the body by warm or tepid baths was strictly prohibited.1300

1. With respect to the food and meals of the Dorians, we will only mention those points which are connected with some historical or moral fact, since we have already considered this subject in connexion with the economy of the state.

In the first place, the adherence of the Dorians to ancient Greek usages is visible in their custom of eating together, or of the syssitia. For these public [pg 284] tables were not only in use among the Dorians (with whom, besides in Crete and Sparta, they also existed at Megara in the time of Theognis,1301 and at Corinth in the time of Periander),1302 but they had also once been a national custom among the Œnotrians1303 and their kinsmen the Arcadians, particularly at Phigalia;1304 and among the Greeks of Homer the princes at least eat together, and at the cost of the community; a custom which was retained by the Prytanes at Athens, Rhodes, and elsewhere. In particular, the public tables of Sparta have in many points a great resemblance to the Homeric banquets (δαῖτες)1305; only that all the Spartans were in a certain manner considered as princes. The Spartans, however, so far departed from the ancient custom, that at the time of Alcman they lay1306 at table; while the Dorians of Crete always sat,1307 like the heroes of Homer and the [pg 285] early Romans, according to the ancient European usage, which was entirely supplanted among the early Greeks by the oriental custom introduced by the Ionians.

2. With regard to the food, it is probable that in Sparta much had been retained from ancient usage, and that the rest had been from its first origin peculiar to the nation. The profession of cook at Sparta was, as we have already remarked, hereditary,1308 and consequently they had no inducement to vie with one another in the delicacy and luxury of their dishes: they cooked the black broth, as their ancestors had done before them. It was likewise more difficult to make dishes of various ingredients, on account of the division of the different departments of cookery; for instance, some cooks were only allowed to dress flesh, others to make broth,1309 &c. The bakers, whose trade also was hereditary, generally baked nothing but barley-bread (ἄλφιτα);1310 wheaten bread was only eaten at the dessert of the public tables, when presented by liberal individuals.1311 The latter kind of bread was originally scarce in Greece, whither it was introduced chiefly from Sicily;1312 in which country they had also a particular [pg 286] kind of Doric wheaten bread, of coarser meal than was common elsewhere.1313 The chief dish of meat at the public tables was the black broth (μέλας ζωμὸς);1314 also pork,1315 the meat being subjected to stricter regulations than any other kind of food.1316 Poultry and game were generally eaten after dinner: beef, pork, and kid, were chiefly supplied by the sacrifices, which upon the whole were an exception to the Phiditia.1317 Their mode of drinking was also that of the ancient Greeks; which, as far as I am aware, is only mentioned in Homer. Before each person was placed a cup, which was filled by the cup-bearer with mixed wine, when it had been emptied; the wine was however never passed round, and no person drank to another; which were Lydian customs introduced by the Ionians.1318 Both in Sparta and Crete it was forbidden by law to drink to intoxication;1319 and no persons were lighted home except old men of sixty.1320

3. But a still more beautiful feature in the Doric character is the friendly community of their public tables, founded upon the close union of the company [pg 287] of the tables (ἑταιρία in Crete);1321 into which fresh members were admitted by unanimous election (by ballot).1322 Whether a preference was shown to kinsmen is uncertain; the syssitia indeed, as divisions of the state, were founded upon a supposed relationship, that is, the connexion of houses;1323 but here we are speaking of smaller societies, consisting of about fifteen men. A company of this kind was a small state in itself,1324 arranged upon aristocratical principles,1325 although the equality was not interrupted by the privileges of any individuals. The ties of this friendly union were however drawn still closer by the constant intercourse of giving and taking, which enriched the scanty meal with the more palatable after-meal (ἐπάϊκλον) or dessert, which no one was permitted to purchase:1326 from which the κοπὶς should be distinguished, a sacrificial feast, which individuals furnished [pg 288] on stated occasions, and invited to it any friends whom they wished, and particularly the kings.1327 The phiditia were not, however, considered a scanty and disagreeable meal, until thrown in the shade by the refinements of modern luxury; for they had originally been intended to increase the comforts of the partakers. The conversation, indeed, turned chiefly upon public affairs:1328 but laughter and jocularity were not prohibited.1329 Every person was encouraged to speak by the general confidence, and there were frequent songs, as Alcman says that “at the banquets and drinking entertainments of the men, it was fit for the guests to sing the pæan.”1330 Nor was the appellation φειδίτια, that is, the spare, or scanty meals, of any antiquity, and the Spartans received it from abroad:1331 by whom, as well as in Crete, they were once called ἀνδρεῖα, or the meals of men.1332 For the men alone were admitted to them: the youths and boys ate in their own divisions, whilst the small children were allowed to eat at the public tables, and both in Crete and Sparta they sat on low stools near their fathers' chairs, and received a half share without any vegetables (ἀβαμβάκευστα).1333 The [pg 289] women were never admitted to the syssitia of the men: both at Sparta and in Crete the rule was, that they ate at home;1334 in the latter state, however, a woman had the care of the tables of the men.1335 The Cretans were distinguished by their great hospitality: for every two tables of the citizens there was always one for foreigners; and when two cities were in close alliance with one another, their citizens mutually enjoyed the right of frequenting the public tables of the other state.1336

4. This temperance and simplicity, which was longest preserved in Crete and Sparta, were considered by the ancients as characterizing generally the whole Doric race, and a simple mode of cookery was called Doric;1337 although many cities of that race, such as [pg 290] Tarentum, Syracuse,1338 and Agrigentum,1339 entirely abandoned the severe and sober habits of their race; and having once broken through the bonds of ancient custom, gave themselves up with the less restraint to every kind of luxury and indulgence.1340