The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-04-29
THE EARTHQUAKE IN GREECE.

The earthquakes which are occurring in
Greece are repetitions of phenomena
which have been frequent through the
historic period. Thebes. which was badly
shaken up last week, was nearly destroyed
forty years age, and every house in Corinth
was knocked down in 1858. Along the
whole line of the present disturbance
from Athens to Thermopy'e earthquakes
have been common; one of them enlarged
the famous pass which Leonidas held with
his 800 Spartans. so at the present time an
armv can march through it in order of
battle. There is evidently line OF weak
ness running northwestwardly from the
head of the Gulf of Megara to the Gulf Of
Vol0. and al intervals subterranean cor
vulsi0ns change the face of nature.
Unless the shocks should continue and
the cente of seismic disturbance should
be tran sferred to Athens archaeology will
not suffer much by the earthquake simply
because all the remains of ancient Greece
north of Attiea disappeared long ago. No
portion of the ancient Hellas would repay
the traveller more richly than Thebss if its
ruins survived. There was a time when
the city Of Epaminondas and Pindar Wed
with Athens itself. 1t was here that
Cadmus taught the alphabet, that Her.
cnles performed his twelve labors AID
Odipus endured the curse of inexorable
fate. Here was the great wall with its
seven gates which according to the legend
repealed the attacks Of enemies for 1000
years. Even in the second century of our
era, long after the destruction of the place
by the Macedonians, there were fine
,lu1 80
and splendid collection of statues The
chronicle of the fathers relates that st.
Luke's body was taken there for inter-
ment in the vault of church which is still
standing. This building ana one aqueduct
which probably persisted last week are
about the only remains Of antiquity iu tn e
BGOtian capital; the traveller finds moth
ng there but a dirty town of some $500
people in which there is nothing to refresh
the eye or feed the imagination. The earth
quake cannot have done much damage be-
cause all possible damage had been done
already.
Near Thebes is little village called
Daphne, where a festival in honor of
Apollo used to be kept every nine years.
and where the church of Saint Constan-
Byzantine archtecture-was erected in The
fifth or sixth century. The church is said
TO have been destroyed last week. What
damage was done at Castri. which occupies
the site Of the ancient oracle of Delphi, is
not yet known. The place was badly
shaken up the earthquake of 1870, but the
excavations conducted partly by the
French and partly by the Armenian school
at Athens were not Interrupted. 1t was
then feared that another earthquake
might bring down the steep wall of Mount
Parrassus. in whose shadow the ancient
temple and the modern village was erected.
Such an accident would close the contro-
versy between the villagers and the sx-
plorers over land, but at the same lime 1t
might bury the precious treasures of ar
tiquity beyond hope of excavation.
A town which is said to have been de-
strOyed is Atalanta. which owes its name
TO the famous huntress, who, according to
one account, was Meleager's friend, and.
according to another. was won in a foot
race by Hippomenes. She was the cham
MON Splinter of Der day, and according to
Saetonius the Emperor Tberius had an
interesting picture of her in his gallery of
beauties. She died In the course of time,
but the town named after her managed to
live through history and middle ages and
figured quite prominently in the annals
of the Turkish wars in Greece. 1t is now
said to be buried under a mass CT debris
A long course of volcanic catastrophes
has metamorphosed the face Of the Beo-
tia of which we read In the history of
Greece. Banditti have taken the place of
classic heroes; the plains OF Marathon was
the spot on which Lord Muncaster and bis
party was so thoroughly bbed. and it was
in the mountains which the gods loved
that the survivors Of the party were shot.
Thermopylae is still famous, but not for
deeds of valor. In the pass excellent hot
springs have been found which are fire.
quented by visitors from Athens and Con-
stantinople. People do not all lose their
lives there as the Spartans did; the springs
are said. on the contrary, TO be in certain
oil d iac ractnrarS of Iifo