The National tribune., 1889-08-29

with Etruscan brightness The gold jewelry
was interesting to me, and / wondered Rs
| looked what fair Greek dame had worn the
massive gold earrings, and whether the fine
| gold rings with their tops of gold as large as
an old copper cent had not belonged to Alcibi-
AIDES the Extravagsnt and in some way had
| gotten into these tombs. There were gold
| bracelets for putting around the arm above the
elbow, and there were other bracelets of heavy
strands of gold. twisted, anyone Of which would
have been worth the price of good horse. There
were pans of gold fragments which had drop
ped to pieces through the grinding of the ruins.
| There were dozens of big gold buttons and a
large number of strips of gold plate of wedge
shape about four inches wide and nearly two
feet in length. remember statue of goats
head which had its horns plated with gold, and
| in one case there was shown 200 small round
plates of gold which were found in a single
tomb Much Of the gold jewelry and the gold
plate, such as cups and vases, were of the same
patterns which you will find In the finest of
iewelry stores to-day, and / noted the gold
bracelets with snakes heads at the ends, which
also saw at the Egyptian Museum at Cairo,
and which were worn by the bon ton girls OF
Egypt long before Cleopatra put them on to
charm Antony and Cesar. In the center of this
room there is tomb under glass which shows
just how the graves were when they were open
Gu Two Skeletons lie III pieces on the gTaNeI,
and gold OF all description is scattered around
them. One Of the gold masks has a skull still
sticking TO it, and shnbone in another case
has gold greave upon it. The people who
could carry so much treasure into their tombs
must have been people of wealth, and work
msnship like that seen here is found only amid
refinement aud under fine roofs.
You experience the same feeling when you
tina hall and antpr tba vpnnHaFful rnilaat.
ion of vases. There are hundreds of them, of
all sizes and of the most beautiful shapes all
of which are decorated with paintings of terra
Gotta red upon rich brown ground. These
represent the stories and fables of antiquity,
and the work is wonderfully lifelike. Here on
a vase is Sappho reading her poems to her
friends. There Is another on which Hercules
guaffs wine out of goblet. and here is the
arming Of Achilles for battle All of Tooke's
Pantheon and half Of the stories of Plutarch
are pictured on these vases, and the work is as
fresh now as when the Greeks made it. There
are metal hand-mirrors by the dozens, which
show us that the pretty girls of old Greece
were quite as fond of tho glass as are our Amer
can bellies, and the needles, the combs and the
household utensils show US that the Greeks
were much the same after all as we are, aud
that human nature was human nature 90 odd
confines ago.
There is no better place to study old Greece
than right here in Athens. You get the spirit
of the aucients in trsmping through the hills
among which they lived. and on the Acropois
above the city stand, the finest ruins of ancien.
times. The Acropolis is on the very edge of
new Athens, and the houses of the city climb
mp the base of its sides. It is a steep, rocky
hill, which rises almost straight out of the
plain on which Athens is built to hight of
200 feet. Ii appears to be one solid rock Of rosy
red marble, with here and there bit of grass
or blood-red poppy peeping out of its crevices.
At the top there Is q plateau containing from
10 to Is acres. and upon this are the ruins of
the greatest buildings of Greece and what are
considered TO have been the most beautiful
buildings Of the world. Who has not read of
the PaTthenon, aud who has any idea OF il who
has not seen its ruins2 doubt whether there
is one. IL IS almost impossible to describe il.
Imagine q forest OF great marble columns
which stand on a round marble floor the area
of which is nearly an acre. Let each column
be MS big around as the largest cart-wheel you
have ever seen, and let il rise upward for SO
feet in the most symmetrical form Of beauty.
Let il be fiutcd and let its capitals rich in their
plain Doric grace, uphold a wall Of marble,
around which runs IA frieze OF the most won
dcrful sculptures in the world and you have
merely the skeleton Of the building. The in
terror contains other columns, aud even in its
ruins the whole building has a wonderful
beauty. You see IL for miles around Athens.
and il is the first thing you look for in coming
70 Athens from tbs sea. At present there are
large number OF columns remaining. The
wall at one end is almost intact, save the frieze
which was carried off by ord Rlgiu aud which
is now to be seen ia the British Museum at Lon.
don. All around il are broken columns OF mar
bic, pieces OF capitals aud bits Of marble fricze
and there is scattered over this plateau enough
stone TO build whole square of fine houses
Here and there you see the remains OF a tenn
pie. and on the edge OF the hill nearest Athens
there IS temple the poFiico OF which is upheld
by statues OF Greek maidens In marble All the
rains have the rich color of age The columns
OF the ParthenOn are Of yellow and white, and
they turn 20 silver and gold under the rays Of
the setting sun. They form the greatest sight
ia Athens, aud the ruins are daily visited By
tourists from all parts OF the world Excava-
tons are still going on, and found gangs OF
men working on several parts Of the hill.
The view from the Aesopolis is worth noting.
You can sec from the steps Of the Parthenon
the sea where Xerxes watched the battle Of
SalafDis, aud all around are the mountains and
plains made historic by their connection with
Greek poetry. Over there TO the right Is the
hill IN which Socrates was imprisoned and
where 10 is said he took poison: and on that
rocky bluff at your feet is the ground on which
81. Paul stood aud preached against the Athe.
mans. On that spot Lyclrgus stood, and there
was the Court Of the Areopagus, where were
held the Greek courts which determined cues
tions OF life and death. The ParthcBon itself
is the embodiment Of history, and through
these columns the greatest characters Of Greek
history moved. Here was the great statue of
Athena. 80 feet high, and of ivory and solid
gold. The gold in it alone was worth moro
than $4,000, and its sculptor was the great
Phidias. who built the Parthenon, when Peri
cles was King. several hundreds Of years before
Christ was born.
The Greeks Of to-day. though they are proud
Of the Partbenon and their ruins, have little Of
the artistic tastes OF their fathers. IL Is in
deed questioned by many as 10 whether they
have much Of the ancient Greek blood left ia
VI
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