Gangs of young men from respectable families prowled the streets of Athens, looking for trouble. One such gang called themselves the Ithyphalloi (the Erect Phalluses); another, the Triballoi, named after a wild Thracian tribe, used to eat food set out for the goddess Hecate and the pigs’ testicles offered to the gods as a purification before the assembly met (Demosthenes Against Conon 14, 39).
It is the responsibility of the King Archon to set up on both banks of the Ilissus a notice prohibiting the soaking of animal skins in the river upstream from the shrine of Heracles, as well as the tanning of hides and the throwing of waste material into the river (Greek Inscriptions 13 1.257, a fragmentary marble slab found southeast of the Acropolis in the 1920s). This environmental ordinance is datable to sometime between 450 and 420 B.C. and possibly had some effect, if we may judge by the famously idyllic opening of Plato’s Phaedrus (which has a dramatic date just a few years later), in which Socrates and Phaedrus come to sit beside the “delightfully pure and clear” stream of the Ilissus.
A graffito of a wild Thracian.
But any improvement will not have been permanent; commenting on the Collection of Rivers by the 3rd-century B.C. scholar-poet Callimachus, Strabo observes that he says that he laughs at the notion of a poet writing that the Athenian girls “draw pure liquid from the Eridanus,” a stream that even cattle would keep away from (Geography 9.1.19).
When Socrates’s friends were going along the Hermcarvers’ street by the law courts, they met with a large herd of pigs all covered in mud and jostling each other because there were so many of them. There was nowhere to stand aside, so some of the men were knocked over and others were spattered with mud (Plutarch On the Spirit of Socrates 580e). Socrates himself had been warned by his “spirit” not to go that route.
Diogenes the Cynic was famous for living in a terra-cotta jar, but he was not the only one: because of housing shortages, the people who came into Athens from the countryside during the Peloponnesian War lived in jars and in caves (Scholion to Aristophanes Knights 792).
The market officials must ensure that the broad streets traversed by the processions in honor of Zeus the Savior and Dionysus are leveled and cleared as well as possible (Greek Inscriptions 22 380). Leveling and clearing presumably consisted of removing deep strata of detritus and garbage.
The Athenians awarded Choerilus of Samos a gold coin for each line of his poem celebrating their victory over Xerxes (Suda s.v. Choerilus; for a different tale about Choerilus, see p. 77).
The Athenians gave Pindar a gift of ten thousand drachmas for one line of poetry in praise of Athens (Isocrates The Exchange of Property 166). In what may be another version of this same incident, an anonymous Life of Pindar reports that the Thebans fined Pindar for writing, “O splendid and great-citied Athens,” and that the Athenians paid the fine on his behalf.
Herodotus received a gift of ten talents from the Athenians for flattering them in his Histories (Plutarch On Herodotus’s Spitefulness 26).
Demosthenes paid Isaeus ten thousand drachmas for private lessons in public speaking (Plutarch Lives of the Ten Orators 839f).
Demosthenes paid the actor Neoptolemus ten thousand drachmas for training him in voice control (Plutarch Lives of the Ten Orators 844f).
Demosthenes declined to pay the prostitute Lais ten thousand drachmas to sleep with him, remarking as he turned away in shock at her exorbitant demand, “I don’t buy regret at such a high price” (Aulus Gellius Attic Nights 1.8).
Aristotle is credited with writing treatises on the constitution of 158 states. All the others are lost, but the Athenian Constitution, doubtfully ascribed to him, survives almost complete on a papyrus published in 1891. It lists the following duties of the city administrators:
• Two drachmas is to be the maximum amount charged for the hire of a female musician. If two people wish to hire the same girl, they are to cast lots for her.
• They must ensure that waste collectors dump sewage at least one mile from the city walls.
• They must prevent the blocking of streets by houses that are built too far out or by balconies extending over them.
• They are responsible for the removal of the bodies of those who die in the streets, employing public slaves for the purpose.
• They must ensure that drains in the upper stories of buildings do not discharge straight into the street, and that house doors do not open outward.
All Greek house doors used to open outward. This is an inference from comedy, where people knock on the door and make a noise when they are about to come out, so that people passing by or standing outside can hear them and not be surprised when the door opens out into the street (Plutarch Life of Publicola 20).
When Themistocles was exiled, much of his property was taken across to Asia by his friends. The amount discovered and put into the public treasury was one hundred talents according to Theopompus or eighty talents according to Theophrastus, even though Themistocles had property worth no more than three talents when he first entered politics (Plutarch Life of Themistocles 25).
There are about seven thousand surviving votes for the banishment of an individual from Athens for ten years, written mostly on broken pottery (ostraca). Ostraca usually contain just the name of the person, sometimes with his father’s name, and perhaps also the name of his deme (village or parish). An ostracon against Pericles’s father, Xanthippus, who was ostracized in 484 B.C., runs to a whole elegiac couplet: This ostracon declares that Xanthippus, son of Ariphron, is the most unjust of the corrupt officials. Other ostraca attempt to be witty:
• Megacles, son of Hippocrates, and his horse as well.
• Cimon, get out, and take your sister with you.
• Themistocles, son of Neocles, κατάπυγος [catapygos, bugger; the Athenians called the middle finger the buggery finger (Pollux Onomasticon 2.184)].
• I ostracize Hunger, son of noble parents may also be facetious, but it is reminiscent of the ritual cry at the ceremony known as “Driving out Famine”: people strike one of their household slaves with wands of agnus castus and drive him out the door while chanting “Out with Hunger, in with Wealth and Health!” (Plutarch Table Talk 693f).
When the Athenians were intent on ostracizing him, Aristides was approached by an illiterate countryman, who asked him to write “Aristides” on his ostracon. “Do you know Aristides?” he asked. The man said no, but explained that he was irritated at constantly hearing him called “The Just.” Aristides said nothing; he merely wrote his name on the ostracon and gave it back (Plutarch Sayings of Kings and Commanders 186b). Despite his reputation for justice (he was left in charge of the spoils won from the Persians at Marathon, while the rest of the army rushed back to defend Athens), Aristides was ostracized in the 480s.
Three ostraca against Themistocles (all actually spelled “Themisthocles”) and one against Hippocrates.
Despite the fame of the institution, it seems that only about ten men were ever ostracized from Athens. There were similar processes in other poleis. In Syracuse, it was known as petalismus (from πέταλον [petalon, “leaf”]), votes being written on olive leaves. The Athenian Council wrote preliminary (“straw”) votes on leaves (Aeschines Against Timarchus 111).
When a man from the obscure island of Seriphos told Themistocles that he owed his fame not to his own merits but to his city, Themistocles replied, “What you say is true: if I had been from Seriphos, I’d not have become famous, but neither would you, if you had been an Athenian” (Plutarch Life of Themistocles 18). Seriphos was notoriously insignificant: Stratonicus the lyre-player asked his host on Seriphos which crimes were punished with exile. When he was told that those found guilty of fraud were sent into exile, he said, “Well then, why don’t you commit fraud, so as to escape from this confinement?” (Plutarch On Exile 602a).
An owl armed like Athena.
A group of sixty joke-tellers used to meet in the temple of Heracles in the deme of Diomeia, and they were known in Athens
as “The Sixty.” … Such was their reputation for entertainment that Philip of Macedon sent them a talent so that they would write down their jokes and send them to him (Athenaeus Wise Men at Dinner 614d).
Alcibiades had a wonderfully fine big dog that he had bought for a very high price. He cut off its beautiful tail. When his friends protested and told him that the whole city was upset about the dog and was voicing its disgust at him, he laughed and said, “That’s just what I intended. I want the Athenians to chatter about this, so that they don’t say anything worse about me” (Plutarch Life of Alcibiades 9).
If anyone were to say that the Athenians were born neither to be at peace themselves nor to allow others to be at peace, he would only be speaking the truth (Thucydides History 1.70). This opinion is expressed by ambassadors from Corinth hoping to conclude an alliance with Sparta against Athens just before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War.
VII
SPARTA
Whenever mention is made of the Spartans, none of them can hide how much he relishes the prospect of even eating them raw
(Xenophon Hellenica 3.3, referring to the slaves and others suppressed by the Spartans).
Because they do not trust the helots, their slave population, the Spartans confiscate the handles of their shields when they are not away on campaign. They have also devised locks for their doors that they think are strong enough to withstand any attempt by the helots to break in (Critias frg. 37).
The Spartans used to force the helots to drink large quantities of undiluted wine, and then they brought them into the mess halls to show the young men what drunkenness meant. They also made them sing and dance in a demeaning and ridiculous fashion (Plutarch Life of Lycurgus 28).
To maintain control of the helots, the Spartans used to send specially selected young warriors, the crypteia [secret police], out into the countryside to murder any of them that they found going about at night. Sometimes the crypteia went into the fields during the day and killed any helot who was particularly sturdy and fit. Thucydides [History 4.80] records that the Spartans picked out about two thousand helots whom they set free as a reward for their bravery and took them in procession around the sanctuaries with garlands on their heads; soon afterward, however, they all disappeared, and no one ever found out how they were done away with (Plutarch Life of Lycurgus 28).
An earthquake of unprecedented severity shook Laconia [in 464 B.C.], breaking off mountain peaks and destroying all but five houses in Sparta. King Archidamus understood the danger that was yet to come. He saw the citizens trying to salvage their valuables and had the trumpet give the signal for an enemy attack, to make them all rally to him immediately with their weapons. That and that alone saved Sparta in this crisis, for the helots came rushing from all over the countryside to put an end to the Spartan survivors (Plutarch Life of Cimon 16).
There was a law in Sparta against having an unmanly complexion or being overweight, since the one indicated effeminacy, the other laziness. It was required by law that the young men should stand naked in public before the Ephors every ten days. They were commended if their bodies looked solid and strong, well honed with exercise. But, if any of their limbs were soft and flabby, pudgy with fat accrued through sluggishness, they were beaten and censured. Cooks in Sparta were skilled exclusively in preparing meat. Any cook who had any further expertise was driven out of the city, as a rite of purification to ensure against sickness (Aelian Miscellaneous History 14.7).
When two brothers were quarreling, the Spartan Ephors fined their father for allowing his sons to wrangle (Plutarch Sayings of the Spartans 233f).
Every year in Sparta, boys are flogged with whips for a whole day on the altar of Artemis. They are frequently whipped to death, but they endure it cheerfully and proudly, competing with one another to see who can withstand the greatest number of strokes. The winner is held in particularly high regard (Plutarch Spartan Customs 239d).
It is said that a Spartan refused a lavish bribe to lose a wrestling match at the Olympic Games and defeated his opponent after a hard struggle. Someone asked him what good his victory was to him, and he replied with a laugh, “I shall be positioned in front of our king when I fight our enemies” (Plutarch Lycurgus 22).
In the other Greek states, a soldier who behaves as a coward is called a coward, but is not otherwise stigmatized. In Sparta, on the other hand:
• Everyone is ashamed to have a coward share his mess-table.
• Everyone is ashamed to wrestle with him in the gymnasium.
• He is often left unpicked when teams are being chosen for ball games.
• In choral dances, he is driven out to the least commendable positions.
• He has to make way for others on the street.
• He has to give up his seat even to younger men.
• He has to maintain his female relatives at home, bearing the blame for their not finding a husband.
• He himself cannot find a wife and has to pay the fine for not marrying.
• If he goes about looking cheerful, like those who have not been convicted of cowardice, he has to bear the blows of his betters.
(Xenophon Constitution of Sparta 9.4)
Plutarch adds to this list of sanctions against cowards that such men are required to go around unkempt, wearing cloaks with patches of dyed cloth, and with one side of their beards shaved off (Life of Agesilaus 30).
To ensure against greed in Sparta, Lycurgus completely devalued all gold and silver coinage, ruling that iron alone should be used instead. Moreover, he gave only a slight value to a great weight and volume of iron, so that an amount worth very little would require a large room to store it and a team of oxen to transport it. This currency law removed many injustices from Sparta, for who would steal, or take as a bribe, something that he could not hide or enjoy possessing? The iron bars could not even be chopped into smaller pieces, for they were made brittle and hard to work by being dipped in vinegar when red-hot (Plutarch Life of Lycurgus 9). The coin at the beginning of this chapter is Spartan, but from the 1st century B.C., when the traditional way of life was entirely gone.
After the Battle of Plataea, the Spartan helots were ordered to collect the plunder from the Persian camp. They stole many items and sold them to the Aeginetans. This laid the foundation for Aegina’s great prosperity, for they bought the gold from the unwitting helots as if it were merely brass (Herodotus Histories 9.80).
Bibasis was a Spartan dancing contest, for girls as well as for boys. Dancers had to jump up and touch their buttocks with their feet. The jumps were counted. An inscription for one girl reads, “I managed one thousand jumps in the bibasis, more than any other girl” (Pollux Onomasticon 4.102).
On the wedding night a Spartan bride’s female attendant cropped her hair, dressed her in a man’s clothes, and left her alone on a low couch in her dark bedroom. Her husband came stealthily to her from his military quarters, taking extreme care not to be caught with his wife. This would go on for a long time, and some Spartans even became fathers before seeing their wives in the daylight (Plutarch Life of Lycurgus 15).
King Aristodemus of Sparta died just after his wife, Argeia, had given birth to twin sons. It was customary for a king’s eldest son to succeed him, but it was impossible to distinguish which was the elder, since they were so alike. The Spartans asked their mother, but she said that even she could not tell them apart—she actually knew perfectly well, but wanted both of the boys to be kings…. A Messenian called Panites suggested that they watch Argeia, to see which child she washed and fed first. If she followed the same routine every time, they would have the information they needed. But if she washed them and fed them in no set order, then it would be clear that she had no idea which was the elder. She did not know why she was being watched, and they found that she consistently favored one baby when she fed and washed them. So the child she favored was taken away and reared at public expense as being the elder twin (Herodotus Histories 6.52).
The Spar
tans, inhabiting Laconia, were famous for the laconic brevity with which they expressed themselves:
An Athenian was mocking the Spartan swords for being so short, saying that jugglers in the theaters could swallow them easily. The Spartan king, Agis, replied, “Yes, but we can reach our enemies with these daggers of ours.” Likewise, what Spartans say may be brief, but it goes straight to the point and catches the listener’s attention (Plutarch Life of Lycurgus 19).
Exiles from Samos came to Sparta and asked the officials for help. Since they were in desperate need, they made a long speech. When they had finished, the Spartans said they had forgotten the first part of what they said and could not understand the rest. The Samians tried again, bringing in a sack and saying simply, “the sack needs flour.” The Spartans said that saying “the sack” was superfluous, but they did agree to help them (Herodotus Histories 3.46).
When someone was looking at a picture of Spartans being slaughtered by Athenians and said, “How brave the Athenians are,” a Spartan retorted, “In the picture” (Plutarch Sayings of the Spartans 232f).
A Cabinet Of Greek Curiosities Page 7