In the
'Acharnians' Theorus is mentioned as an ambassador, who had returned from
the King of Persia.
'Acharnians' Theorus is mentioned as an ambassador, who had returned from
the King of Persia.
Aristophanes
[70] These were the opening lines of poems by Cratinus, often sung at
festivities.
[71] A poet, successful at the Olympic games, and in old age reduced to
extreme misery.
[72] The place of honour in the Dionysiac Theatre, reserved for
distinguished citizens.
[73] A Comic Poet, who was elegant but cold; he had at first played as an
actor in the pieces of Cratinus.
[74] Besides the oarsmen and the pilot, there was on the Grecian vessels
a sailor, who stood at the prow to look out for rocks, and another, who
observed the direction of the wind.
[75] Two promontories, one in Attica, the other in Euboea, on which
temples to Posidon were erected.
[76] An Athenian general, who had gained several naval victories. He had
contributed to the success of the expedition to Samos (Thucydides, Book
I), and had recently beaten a Peloponnesian fleet (Thucydides, Book II).
[77] At the Panathenaea, a festival held every fourth year, a peplus, or
sail, was carried with pomp to the Acropolis. On this various
mythological scenes, having reference to Athene, were embroidered--her
exploits against the giants, her fight with Posidon concerning the name
to be given to Athens, etc. It had also become customary to add the names
and the deeds of such citizens as had deserved well of their country.
[78] Cleaenetus had passed a law to limit the number of citizens to be
fed at the Prytaneum; it may be supposed, that those, who aspired to this
distinction, sought to conciliate Cleaenetus in their favour.
[79] The Chorus of Knights, not being able to sing their own praises,
feign to divert these to their chargers.
[80] A horse branded with the obsolete letter [Greek: san]--[Symbol:
Letter 'san'], as a mark of breed or high quality.
[81] Crab was no doubt a nickname given to the Corinthians on account of
the position of their city on an isthmus between two seas.
In the
'Acharnians' Theorus is mentioned as an ambassador, who had returned from
the King of Persia.
[82] The Senate was a body composed of five hundred members, elected
annually like the magistrates from the three first classes to the
exclusion of the fourth, the Thetes, which was composed of the poorest
citizens.
[83] The [Greek: moth_on], a rough, boisterous, obscene dance.
[84] At the festival of the Pyanepsia, held in honour of Athene as the
protectress of Theseus in his fight with the Minotaur, the children
carried olive branches in procession, round which strips of linen were
wound; they were then fastened up over the entrances of each house.
[85] On which the citizens sat in the Public Assembly in the Pnyx to hear
the orators. In the centre of the semicircular space the tribune stood, a
square block of stone, [Greek: B_ema], and from this the people were
addressed.
[86] Lysicles was a dealer in sheep, who had wielded great power in
Athens after the death of Pericles. Cynna and Salabaccha were two
celebrated courtesans.
[87] Place of interment for those who died for the country.
[88] Seated on the banks for the rowers.
[89] Assassin of the tyrant Hippias, the son of Pisistratus. His memory
was held in great honour at Athens.
[90] Driven out by the invasions of the Peloponnesians, the people of the
outlying districts had been obliged to seek refuge within the walls of
Athens, where they were lodged wherever they could find room.
[91] A verse borrowed from Euripides' lost play of 'Telephus. '
[92] Themistocles joined the Piraeus to Athens by the construction of the
Long Walls.
[93] Which were caught off the Piraeus.