Athens, of the pedestals and inscriptions are found scattered in different quarters, and often half buried in the earth.

Inhabitants of Athens.

The Pnyx, or place for the assembly of the people, which lies near the Areopagus, is still nearly in its original condition. In it are still seen the pulpit for the orators cut out in the rock; the seats of the secretaries, who drew up the decrees; and, in the two angles, those of the officers, who imposed silence, and published the result of the public deliberations. Niches are also seen, where were placed the offerings of those who obtained from the people either favour or acquittal. Awful sensations are inspired by the view of this once grand and busy scene, whence issued those schemes, which changed so often the face of the ancient world.

We may still trace the area of the Stadium, built by Herodes Atticus entirely of white marble, and on which the Athenian youth were employed in those gymnastic exercises so much valued by the Greeks. The site of the Lyceum is discoverable by a number of loose stones scattered about. A modern house and garden now cover the site of the Academy. Within its precincts the walks of the Peripatetics may yet be traced; and many olive trees remain, of a most venerable antiquity.

The long walls are entirely demolished; but their foundations may still be traced under the shrubs which cover the plain. The Piræus, another Athens, retains scarcely a memorial of its ancient greatness. Only a few scattered fragments of columns are found in it, as well as in the two neighbouring harbours of Munychia and Phalerum. A few small craft now frequent his famed port, for the accommodation of which there is a paltry custom-house.

Athens contains now from eight to ten thousand inhabitants, one-fourth of whom are Turks, and the rest Greeks. The latter enjoy a milder lot, than in most other places subject to Turkish dominion. They have had recourse to an expedient not very honourable, that of chusing for their protector the Kislar Aga, or chief of the black eunuchs, to whom they pay a tribute of thirty thousand crowns. They have been known also to rise and inflict bloody vengeance on their oppressors. They are distinguished both by address, and by a spirit of liberty, rarely now observable among their countrymen. Even some forms of their ancient constitution are still preserved.. Chan

By far the most recent and accurate survey of Athens, is that made by Lord Elgin, during his embassy at Constantinople. The detailed result will, we trust, in some form or other, be given to the public; in the meantime, the following notice may be interesting:

mains of

Even before leaving England, Lord Elgin had un- Exertions derstood, that the most acceptable service which he of Lord Elcould render to the arts, would be to procure casts gin to recoof the most interesting remains of sculpture and ar- ver the rechitecture, which still existed in Athens. But the Athenian expense of engaging artists from this country was sculpture too great for an individual to undertake, and an ap- and archi plication for assistance from government proved in- tecture. effectual. In Sicily, however, where he touched on his passage to Constantinople, he was more fortunate: To the most eminent artist of that island, the troubled state of Italy enabled him to add others, of very uncommon abilities, from Rome. In this manner he engaged six artists; one general painter, one figure painter, two formatori for the making of the casts, and two architects. With these Lord Elgin, after much difficulty, obtained from the Turkish government permission to proceed to Athens. They spent three years there, mutually assisting and controuling the operations of each other, and taking measurements and representations of every object which seemed deserving of attention.

The measurements have been made in the utmost detail, and with extreme care and minuteness. From the rough drafts, plans, elevations, and finished drawings of the most remarkable objects have been executed. In these, all the sculpture has been restored, with uncommon taste and ability. The bas reliefs, besides, on the different temples, have been drawn, with perfect accuracy, in their present state of mutilation and decay. Most of these bas reliefs, and all the characteristic architectural features in the diffe rent monuments now remaining at Athens, have been moulded; and the casts and moulds being conveyed to London, are now in his lordship's possession. Picturesque views of Athens, as well as various parts of Greece, have been taken by one of the most eminent painters of Europe.

Besides these models and representations, Lord Elgin collected also numerous pieces of Athenian sculpture in statues, reliefs, capitals, cornices, friezes, &c. The advantages which he possessed enabled him to accumulate a greater collection of these than exists elsewhere in Europe. In making this collection, he was strongly animated by seeing the destruction into which these remains were sinking, through the influence of Turkish barbarism. Some statues in the posticum of the Parthenon had been poundeddown for mortar, on account of their affording the whitest marble within reach; and this mortar was em

Athens. ployed in the construction of miserable huts. Even without any such object, the Turks were in the habit of climbing up the walls, and amusing themselves with defacing the precious remains of sculpture with which they were adorned. We have already seen the disaster which befel the Parthenon, in consequence of its being converted into a powder magazine; yet this had not prevented the Turks from turning the Erectheum to the same use. One temple, which Stuart found in tolerable preservation, had, since his time, been destroyed so completely, that his Lordship could with difficulty distinguish where it had stood.

By these operations, Lord Elgin has, as it were, transported Athens to London, and has formed a school of Grecian art, to which there does not, at present, exist a parallel.

All the histories of Greece treat copiously of Athens. Athens; both ancient, as Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon; and modern, as Rollin, Gillies, Mitford, &c. See Xenophon de Republica Atheniensium. A number of elaborate tracts by Meursius, de Regi bus Atticis, de Fortuna Attica, de Republica Atheniensium, &c.; all which Gronovius has inserted in his Thesaurus. Young's History of Athens. Drummond on the Government of Athens. The modern state of Athens was described, in 1676, by Wheeler and Spon; and, more recently, in 1765, by Chandler, in his Travels in Greece. Messrs Stuart and Revett, who travelled about the same time with the last, have published the Ruins of Athens, with magnificent plates. The most recent account is by Scrofani, a Sicilian, of whose accuracy, however, we entertain serious doubts. (P)

Atherina

Athleta.

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ATHERINA, a genus of fishes belonging to the order of Abdominales, in the division of bony fishes. See ICHTHYOLOGY. (ƒ)

ATHERSTONE, a market-town in the parish of Mancetter, in Warwickshire. There is here a manufactory of hats, ribbands, and shaloons, and the cotton trade has been lately introduced. Number of houses 546. Population 2650, of whom 748 are employed in trade. Distance from Warwick 23 miles. (j)

ATHINI, the modern name of Athens. ATHLETE, among the ancients, persons who the ancients, persons who were trained to feats of strength and agility. In times when national safety depended more on muscular exertion, than on the delicate management of warlike machines, vigour and activity of body were the qualities of chief consideration. Accordingly, in those stages of society denominated savage, the great est hero is generally the most robust individual; and the breadth of his breast, the magnitude of his limbs, and the swiftness of his career, are, in the songs of the bards, no less the topics of panegyric, than are his martial atchievements. Hence arose, in different countries, independently of the love of pastime, various customs and institutions tending to the developement of the bodily powers. The Greeks surpassed all nations in their attention to this circumstance; for, though the Romans had also, in the days of their simplicity, their racers and wrestlers, they forsook, in process of time, these harmless and manly sports, for the inhuman exhibition of gladiatorial combats, and the fights of wild beasts.

The athletic exercises of the Greeks were all originally subservient to the formation of the soldier, and calculated to produce a race of men alike distinguished for symmetry of form, hardiness of constitution, and corporeal power. We will not take it upon us to say, that the Greeks were, in these respects, the very first in the world; but whether we judge from the form and attitude of the Grecian figure as displayed in the ancient statues, or from the tremen

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dous onset of the Grecian warrior in the day of battle, we are equally entitled to draw the conclusion, that this system of exercises was not without its effect.

These sports were for a long time practised by the people, without the aid of professional instruction: but a little before the age of Plato, they assumed a scientific appearance, when regular professors started up, who made it their exclusive business to practise the athle tie arts. The excessive encouragement bestowed on these masters, was only in proportion to the value at-tached by the Greeks to their employment. Excellence in this department was the chief ambition of the youth, as it opened for them a passage to the first of mortal honours; for not only was a conqueror in the Olympic games in many cases supported in splendour during the remainder of his life; but he received an honorary crown; his name was immortalized in public songs; statues were erected to his memory; his victory was an æra in the annals of his country; and, in the earlier periods, was sometimes worshipped as a god. For these reasons, the athletic arts were ranked by the Greeks among those denominated liberal. It was long the ambition of kings and princes to excel in them; and no pains or expenses were spared for the possible attainment of such high distinction. But after the institution of regular establishments for these exercises, the original intention was soon forgotten. Maintained in luxury at the public expense, and therefore not very respectable for their morals, the athletæ degenerated into mere prize-fighters; their arts, hitherto accounted liberal, and ranked among the noblest accomplishments, gradually suffered in the general estimation; and their habits of body and mind, instead of promoting the military character, rendered them much inferior, in that respect, to the ordinary citizens. Thus, by mistaking the means for the end, the Greeks in a great measure defeated the purpose of the institution: for, though the games were now carried to much greater perfection, and were still accessible to as many as inclined; yet they

Athletæ.

Athlete. necessarily became, at last, more a matter of exhibition than of practice; since few could hope to succeed, or wish to embark, in a contest with regular bullies. The training and habits now acquired, were not those of men qualified for enduring every privation, and every species of exertion in the field; but of performing idle feats in one situation at home. During the best periods of Greece, all the youth were regularly trained to the exercises of the palastra. In every town there was a gymnasium, or school, for these and other branches of juvenile education, supported at the public charge, and furnished with baths, courts, race-grounds, and every other convenience. To these seminaries, the youth repaired at a very early period; for we find, that even in the great games, at which all Greece appeared, boys of 12 years of age obtained prizes. The discipline to which these were subjected, would naturally be suited to their tender age; but those who were more advanced, and, particularly, who intended to signalize themselves at any of the public exhibitions, underwent a course of training, admirably well calculated for the şinewy contest. This preparation, which sometimes occupied a space of ten months, was extremely rigorous; and, being prescribed by law, was indispensible. The outlines of it are given by Horace :

Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam,
Multa tulit fecitque puer; sudavit et alsit,
Abstinuit Venere et Baccho.

Epictetus also, in the following passage, takes notice of the preparatory discipline. You must conform to rule, eat against your will, abstain from dainties: you must necessarily be exercised at the appointed hour, in heat and in cold; you must drink no cold water, and sometimes no wine. In short, you must give yourself up to the superintendant as to a physician, and then turn out to the contest. Here it is not unfrequent to dislocate an arm, to sprain an ancle, to swallow a quantity of dust, to be flogged into the bargain, and after all to be vanquished."

The diet of the professed athletæ, in Italy as well as Greece, was strictly attended to. In the more early ages, they were fed on new cheese, dried figs, and boiled grain. At length, one Pythagoras, the master of a gymnasium, introduced the use of animal food, having observed that it gave more firmness and body to the muscles. Pork, either roasted or broiled, was the favourite dish for this purpose; and was found of so nutritious a quality, according to Galen, that the athlete who intermitted the use of it but for one day, were sensible the next of a material diminution of their vigour. Their breakfast consisted of a little dry bread, which was always unleavened; and their principal meal, which was after their exercises, consisted principally of animal food: and this, on some occasions, they were forced to devour in prodigious quantities. As a dry diet was considered of essential importance to the strength and solidity of the muscular system, their drink, consisting of warm water, or of a thick luscious kind of wine, was administered in very sparing quantities. The method of feeding, however, admitted of considerable varia tions, adapted to the particular case of the pupil; for,

as a racer and a boxer required different qualifications, Athletæ. so also the whole of their regimen was somewhat different.

The athleta were allowed as much sleep as they chose, since this was thought conducive to that ro tundity of body which they deemed so necessary. In the morning they went occasionally into the cold bath, for the purpose of bracing their sinews: and, after their exercises were over, they were immersed in a tepid bath, where they were carefully scrubbed with the strygil: they were then dried with towels, and anointed with oil. After this, they took their principal meal, and engaged in no more exercise that day.

Their medical treatment was simple, though rather peculiar. Glysters were sometimes administered, when the appetite seemed to flag: but the favourite remedy for this was an emetic, which was thought to be less debilitating than cathartics. The finger or a feather served, by tickling the fauces, to excite vomiting. Sexual intercourse was strictly prohibited, as peculiarly detrimental to strength; and plates of lead were applied at night to the groins, to repress improper affections. Their backs, too, were occasionally scourged, till the blood flowed: this was intended both for habituating the patient to bear the acutest pain, and as an antidote against plethora, to which these men were peculiarly liable.

The athlete were daily exercised, for many hours, in every species of exertion; and, to the eternal re proach of Grecian delicacy, in a state of complete nudity. There were, indeed, female athlete, and these, according to all accounts, were decently dressed, and contended in classes by themselves; though, if we may believe Ovid, both these formalities were dispensed with in ancient Sparta. Paris writes thus to Helen:

More tuæ gentis nitidâ dum nuda palæstrâ

Ludis: et es nudis fœmina mista viris.

The male champions originally wore a small scarf round the middle, which, in after times, was laid aside as an incumbrance: there are some authors, however, who deny this, and assert, that the covering was always retained, except perhaps in the case of wrestling. The excellence of the Grecian sculpture has been attributed, and probably with justice, to these naked exhibitions, where every muscle and sinew was displayed in every possible variety of action. But what was this advantage, when compared with the horrid effects which we know to have been produced on the minds and on the conduct of the spectators?

The exercises to which these men were trained were of the most laborious and hardy description. It is not our intention here to enter into a detail of all the amusements and arrangements practised in the ancient shows; this will be done with more propriety under some other title, as GLADIATOR, OLYMPIC GAMES, &c. We shall here, therefore, restrict ourselves to a short account of those exercises properly denominated athletic, and which were not only practised in every gymnasium, but exhibited in public, on innumerable occasions, in every town and district of Greece. These then consisted of the following kinds:

Ist, Leaping. Those who contended in this ancient sport had weights attached to their bodies, to give a greater momentum to their exertion, and to swing them forward. The weight was sometimes attached to the head, or shoulders, but generally carried in the hand, when it had holes for the admission of the fingers. We are not informed that height was aimed at in the leap, which was directed to a hole, or ditch, in the ground; and into this it was sometimes the grand object to alight.

2d, The Foot-Race.-Swiftness of foot was one of the most enviable qualities in the eyes of the ancients. Homer uniformly ascribes it to his great hero Achilles, and elsewhere praises it as one of the most valuable endowments of nature:

No greater glory can be e'er attain'd,

Than what strong hands or nimble feet have gain'd.

David praises Saul and Jonathan on the same prin ciple: they were swifter than eagles." Those who professed this sport had short buskins, or sandals, to protect their feet; and they sometimes ran in complete armour. They are said to have found means to contract, by the actual cautery, the size of the spleen, which was deemed an impediment to velocity. The perfection to which some of the champions attained in this game, is described by the Greek bards with the most poetical extravagance. In an epigram in the Anthologia, the racer is feigned to have become invisible from his excessive swiftness, and to have only reappeared when he halted at the end of his course.

3d, Darting. The instrument generally employed here was a javelin, or pole. These were discharged sometimes from the naked hand, and sometimes with the help of a thong tied about the middle of the weapon. This exercise also included archery, and perhaps slinging.

4th, Quoiting, or throwing the Disc.-Here the instrument was a heavy mass of stone, brass, or iron. It was taken up in one hand, between the thumb and fingers; was thrown under the arm like our common quoit; and being, in general, exceedingly smooth, and convex on both sides, was grasped and retained with considerable difficulty. In this game, as in our putting-stone, there was but one disc to a company; and the contest was, not as in our quoits, who should hit a particular object, but who should throw to the greatest distance.

5th, Wrestling.-Previously to this exercise, which was carried to the utmost perfection by the Greeks, the naked combatants were rubbed all over with oil, or with a composition called ceroma, consisting of oil, wax, and dust. This, while it secured the skin, by making it soft and pliant, and also prevented excessive perspiration, occasioned, at the same time, a degree of lubricity, which greatly increased the difficulty and the variety of the contest. To correct, however, in some degree this inconvenience, the champions rolled themselves in the dust of the palæstra. When they were people of condition, they used odoriferous anguents instead of oil, and were sprinkled with a fine sand, or dry earth, brought from Egypt and Italy. In wrestling, every stratagem was allow

ed for throwing down the antagonist: such as trip- Athleta. ping up his heels, twining round his limbs, and squeezing his ribs together; but kicking and boxing were strictly prohibited. A victory was obtained by giving three falls; but if, in falling, the vanquished drew down his opponent along with him, the contest was either begun anew, or continued on the ground, when he who got uppermost was the conqueror.

6th, The Pentathlon.-In addition to the five simple exercises which we have now shortly described, there was another called five-games, consisting of all these in close succession, in the order in which they are mentioned in the following line:

Αλμα, ποδωκείην, δίσκον, ακοντα, παλην.

The leap, race, disc, the dart, and wrestling play, Some authors believe boxing to have been sometimes introduced into the pentathlon, and that this was a name for a series of any five games. This opinion, however, is not generally adopted. As a peculiar course of training was necessary for this game, a pentathlete seldom succeeded in any of the simple contests of which it was composed. It is spoken of by the ancients as being a very tedious and difficult contest.

7th, The Castus.-The games of which we have hitherto treated were common to all Greece; but the two sports which follow were prohibited by the Lacedemonians, not, however, on account of their cruelty, but by reason of a condition imposed upon the vanquished, that they must declare themselves worsted. This ignominious confession was deemed inconsistent with the Spartan character. The first of these exercises was what we may term boxing, a game which, in its original state among the Greeks, was, like that practised among ourselves, a contest of bare fists; but which, by gradual improvements, and the introduction of the cæstus, assumed an aspect peculiarly frightful. In this advanced stage of the science, the fingers and hand were wound up in thongs of raw bull-hide, which were sometimes continued up to the elbow; and to this offensive and defensive contrivance were often added pieces of lead or iron; so that the human hand was thus converted into a species of hammer. In the first edition of Dryden's Virgil, there is a print representing the cæstus in a different manner; for there each of the combatants holds by the end a long tapering bag of leather, supposed to be stuffed with lead or iron; and, with these massy sacks, in the form of a Hercules's club, the heroes are belabouring each other with alternate strokes. The armed glove, however, seems to be the true idea of the cæstus, which, when wielded by a brawny arm, must have produced dreadful devastation in the physiognomy of the antagonist. To close up an eye, or derange a little the structure of the nose, were in those days but trifling exploits,-when men got their jaws demolished at a single blow, their ears torn off their heads, and every frontal protuberance converted into a depression. The heroes in this contest, it is true, wore a stiff cap to protect their heads, and were generally swelled, by feeding, to an enormous size, for the purpose of shielding their bones from injury; but, with all these precau

This victor, glorious in his olive wreath,

Had once eyes, eye-brows, nose, and ears, and teeth;
"But turning castus-champion to his cost,
These, and (still worse) his heritage he lost :
For by his brother sued, disown'd at last,
Confronted with his picture he was cast.

8th, The Pancratium.-This name, which may be literally translated all-fights, was applied to a game, compounded, at pleasure, of almost all the possible modes of annoyance which two naked men, without weapons, could exercise towards each other. In this exercise, boxing and wrestling were the most prominent features, accompanied, however, with an infinite number of subordinate varieties, as kicking, elbow ing, rolling on the ground, throttling, scratching, and squeezing. In short, the combatants were turned out, in a complete state of nature, only lubricated with oil, to avail themselves freely of all their proper resources, and to exert every joint, muscle, and limb, for the defeat of their antagonists. To this great freedom of choice, indeed, there were a very few humane exceptions. Thus they were not allowed to put out an eye, as is frequently done in the American pancratium; nor to bite off the flesh, which they pressed between their teeth; nor to strike under the ribs with the ends of their fingers; nor, in short, to kill their adversaries designedly. There was a pancratiast named Sostratus, who was successful near twenty times in the public games. His method, the most humane on record, was this: he always seized the fingers of his antagonist, crushed them into one bloody mass, and thus obliged him to resign the palm! See Hom. I. 1. xxiii.; Virg. Æn. 1. v. Pausan. 1. vi. viii. et passim.; Epict. Enchir. c. 29.; Calius Rhodig. Ant. Lect.; Potter's Antiq. v. i.; West's Dissert.; and Sir John Sinclair's Code of Health, v. ii. (E)

ATHLONE, a town of Ireland, situated partly in the county of Westmeath, and partly in the county of Roscommon. It stands on the river Shannon, which separates the counties, over which there is a long bridge with many arches. On the bridge are several ill executed figures and inscriptions, celebrating the success of Queen Elizabeth, and giving an account of the execution of the rebels. Athlone was long the residence of the lord presidents of Connaught, who kept their courts of justice in it. The castle was built by King John, on a round hill like a Danish fort, on the Roscommon side of the river. Notwithstanding the advantageous situation of Athlone for trade, it is still in a poor and ruinous state. W. Long. 7° 49', N. Lat. 53° 21′ 30′′. See Beaufort's Memoir of a Map of Ireland. (j)

ATHOL, a mountainous district in the north of Perthshire in Scotland. See PERTHSHIRE. (w) ATHOR, or ATHYR, the name of one of the divinities of the Egyptians, signifying Night, to whom they erected temples. (j)

ATHOS, a mountain of Macedonia, famous in ancient history and poetry. It is situated between the Strymonic and Singitic gulfs, on a mountainous promontory, which is connected with the continent

The promontory stretches a great way out into the Ægean-Sea, and occasions a long and dangerous circumnavigation. Of the numerous mountains of which this peninsula is composed, Athos proudly towers above all the rest: its conical summit, at times white with snow, is seen by the mariner at the distance of 100 miles; and, though the cold is excessive, it is adorned with plants and trees, chiefly of the fir kind, which climb up its steep sides to a great elevation.

Marvellous stories have been told by the ancients of this celebrated mountain. Unfortunately that portion of Strabo's excellent work is lost, in which he had occasion to describe Athos, and which is poorly supplied by a dry epitome. According to Mela, its height was such as to reach above the clouds. Others have affirmed that it was six miles high, that it soared beyond the regions of rain and tempest, and that ashes, left on its top, continued dry and undisturbed. But the most wonderful story of all is that of the projection of its shadow, which was reported to extend, at the summer solstice, as far as Lemnos, an island, according to Pliny, 87 miles off, or, according to modern calculation, about 30. It is said that a brazen cow was erected at the termination of the shadow, in the market-place of Myrina, the principal town of Lemnos, with this inscription:

Αθων καλυπτει πλευρας Λημνίας βοος.

i. e. "Athos covers the side of the Lemnian cow." Modern travellers are not agreed about the real height of this mountain. Some make it two miles in perpendicular height; while others reduce its extreme elevation to about 3300 feet. The truth is, that no accurate measurement has yet been made.

Athos, if we may believe the ancient historians, opposed considerable resistance to the power of Xerxes, on his march to Greece. A part of that monarch's fleet having suffered shipwreck off the Athose promontory, he resolved to prevent similar accidents for the future, by cutting a channel through the mountain, sufficient to admit two gallies abreast, each of three banks of oars. By this operation, several cities are said to have been separated from the continent, as Olophyxus, Dion, Thysus, Acrothoon, and Cleone; whence we may conclude that this rugged peninsula was well peopled in ancient times. The Greek writers ascribe the most capricious conduct to the Persian king. Thus, according to these authorities, Xerxes, on making his bridge of boats across the Hellespont, ordered a quantity of fetters to be thrown into the sea, as symbols of the subjection of that stormy element; and on its rebelling against his authority, by throwing his boats into confusion, he rebuked it in an angry speech, which began thus: "Thou salt and bitter water." On the present occasion, the same mad tyrant sent a letter to the mountain, couched in the following language. "Athos, thou proud and aspiring mountain, that liftest up thy head to the skies, I advise thee not to be so audacious as to put rocks and stones in the way of my workmen if thou opposest me thus, I will cut thee entirely down, and throw thee headlong into the sea." But these accounts can hardly be credited. If Xerxes really made a canal across the isthmus, it