Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-01-21
AsHTABULA OHIO, FRIDAY JANUARY 21, 1876
GLE FOREIGE CORRESPONDENTS,

CUE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE.
8 The Piraeus was he best of the
three ports'used by the commercial
fleet of ancient Athens, and it was
the only arsenal for the powerful
navy which the Athenians once own
: ed. The other harbors are abandon
ed now, but the Piraeus, though
somewhat small for the movements
of the large and bulky ships of the
/; present time; is still an excellent and
safe harbor, and is frequently visit
ed by steamers of all nations trading
in the Mediterranean, aud has a large
coasting trade carried on in the old
fashioned ships, III which the Greeks
sailed for Troy, and in which Ulys-
ses spent so many years beating
about among the islands of these
narrow seas. The modern town
which stands on the shores of the
bay-is growing fast enough, and is
probably equal III niagnifcence TO
the ancient suberb of Athens which
stood here, for the Greeks never
cared to build stately warehouses or
stores, but reserved their luxury for
more elevated purposes.
Around the town are some rem-
nants of The long walls by which the
town was fortified, and connected
with Athens, but there are no ruins
of any Importance here, and even the
hill where Xerxes sat and watched
the destruction of his feet, at Sala-
mis-, is unmarked by any monument.
The only railway in Greece carries
passenger, to Athens in half an hour.
The active Greeks of the old days |
would have scorned to patronize such |
an institution, and would have walk
ed the six miles without fatigue, but
the modern Greeks are probably la
zier than any other people i'll Europe
and walk no better than the Ital-
ians.
Therailroad passes through wide
plain, between the bare mountains
and the bright blue sea. Almost
half of the level ground is planted
with vines and olive trees, but the
rest is bare and stony, with patches
of stubble and scattered bushes. =
There are no green meadows and lux
uriant forests. The pale gray foil
age of the olive orchard hardly of
fers any contrast with the bare rocks
of adjacent hills
Trf,a ,,,nYnho,-c |
high or very steep, but the clearness
of the sir, the magnificent sweep of
the sea, with its bays and islands,
and the clearly outlined masses of
the mountain ranges, which the set
ting sun stained with shades of vio-
let and crimson, which I never saw
before. made the view from any of
the hills around Athens something to
be remembered.
The modern city of Athens has
nothing interesting about it, but it
wonld pass for respectable pro-
vincial town, if not contrasted too
closely with the noblest remains of
antiquity. +
There are few old buildings in
the Byzantine style of architecture,
and some of the churches might be
interesting, in another place, but the
town, as whole, was built and de-
signed by Roman architects. The
ordinary buildings of stone or brick,
covered with stucco, line the strait,
commonplace streets, and the at
tempts to recall the classical memo
ries by placing pillared portieo of !
marble in front of afour-story build
ing covered with yellow stucco, only
show the shabbiness of modern arch g
itecture.
The king lives in barrack-like I
palace, fronting a square with ter G
raced garden and band-stand- I
around which the well dressed peo-
pie of the city crowd, to listen to the
music, ON Sunday evenings. Most
of the loungers, here, wear the ordi-
nary European dress, but some of
the best looking men wear the Al G
banian or national costume-a large {
red cap, tight braided jacket, with S
broad, open sleeves, white kilt or S
petticoat, made of much pleated cot e
ton cloth, and falling a little above b
the knees, tight, red or blue trousers, f
and high, dark blue leggings, with h
pointed shoes, terminating in tas- 0
sci. Some Of the men are tall and d
well built, with bristling moustaches, il
and black hair, but the women are f
ugly, and only a few of d
them have sense enough TO dress pic C
The costumes. worn are b
of Mahometan origin, and il
the present inhabitants are very far n
from being Of the pure Hellenic v
blood. The spoken language is cor a
rupted into a form of speech which t
no amount of classical learning will d
make intelligible, but the latest wri- g
ters in the newspapers try to initiate d
The style of the ancients, and are said n
10 write very well. 1t was all Greek Il
TO me, however. f;
1t is time to leave the dult Of the fl
streets of this dull town, a
and go up to the Acropolis-the hill n
upon which the city was founded by G.
Jecrops, and the temples of the gods b
srected by Pericles 1900 years la d
er. Its sides are steep and rocky, e
md the site of the Parthenoa, on its z
summit, is 40 feet above the sea- II
The great entrance, long walled up b
1y the Turks, has recently been un- T
masked, but it is not opened for foot p
f
The Propylaca, the structure now 81
tanding at the head of the great fl
marble stair-case,is fearfully shatter- h
ID, but enough remains to show its o
simplicity. The Parthenon, p
he great temple of Minerva, is the is
yrandest ruin in the world. 1t stood el
almost perfect 200 years ago, but b
Venetian shell dropping into Turk tc
sh powder-magizine shattered it, n
md the two bombardments, early in O.
he century, helped to wreck it. p,
Lord e gin carried ali the sculp- in
'ures to London, and they are now al
he most valued relics in the British CT