[440] Queen of Halicarnassus, in Caria; an ally of the Persian King
Xerxes in his invasion of Greece; she fought gallantly at the battle of
Salamis.
Xerxes in his invasion of Greece; she fought gallantly at the battle of
Salamis.
Aristophanes
Their statues stood in the Agora or Public
Market-Square.
[434] That is, the three obols paid for attendance as a Heliast at the
High Court.
[435] See above, under note 3 [433. Transcriber. ].
[436] The origin of the name was this: in ancient days a tame bear
consecrated to Artemis, the huntress goddess, it seems, devoured a young
girl, whose brothers killed the offender. Artemis was angered and sent a
terrible pestilence upon the city, which only ceased when, by direction
of the oracle, a company of maidens was dedicated to the deity, to act
the part of she-bears in the festivities held annually in her honour at
the _Brauronia_, her festival so named from the deme of Brauron in
Attica.
[437] The Basket-Bearers, Canephoroi, at Athens were the maidens who,
clad in flowing robes, carried in baskets on their heads the sacred
implements and paraphernalia in procession at the celebrations in honour
of Demeter, Dionysus and Athene.
[438] A treasure formed by voluntary contributions at the time of the
Persian Wars; by Aristophanes' day it had all been dissipated, through
the influence of successive demagogues, in distributions and gifts to the
public under various pretexts.
[439] A town and fortress of Southern Attica, in the neighbourhood of
Marathon, occupied by the Alcmaeonidae--the noble family or clan at
Athens banished from the city in 595 B. C. , restored 560, but again
expelled by Pisistratus--in the course of their contest with that Tyrant.
Returning to Athens on the death of Hippias (510 B. C. ), they united with
the democracy, and the then head of the family, Cleisthenes, gave a new
constitution to the city.
[440] Queen of Halicarnassus, in Caria; an ally of the Persian King
Xerxes in his invasion of Greece; she fought gallantly at the battle of
Salamis.
[441] A _double entendre_--with allusion to the posture in sexual
intercourse known among the Greeks as [Greek: hippos], in Latin 'equus,'
the horse, where the woman mounts the man in reversal of the ordinary
position.
[442] Micon, a famous Athenian painter, decorated the walls of the
Poecile Stoa, or Painted Porch, at Athens with a series of frescoes
representing the battles of the Amazons with Theseus and the Athenians.
[443] To avenge itself on the eagle, the beetle threw the former's eggs
out of the nest and broke them. See the Fables of Aesop.
[444] Keeper of a house of ill fame apparently.
[445] "As chaste as Melanion" was a Greek proverb. Who Melanion was is
unknown.
[446] Myronides and Phormio were famous Athenian generals. The former was
celebrated for his conquest of all Boeotia, except Thebes, in 458 B. C. ;
the latter, with a fleet of twenty triremes, equipped at his own cost,
defeated a Lacedaemonian fleet of forty-seven sail, in 429.
[447] Timon, the misanthrope; he was an Athenian and a contemporary of
Aristophanes. Disgusted by the ingratitude of his fellow-citizens and
sickened with repeated disappointments, he retired altogether from
society, admitting no one, it is said, to his intimacy except the
brilliant young statesman Alcibiades.
[448] A spring so named within the precincts of the Acropolis.
[449] The comic poets delighted in introducing Heracles (Hercules) on the
stage as an insatiable glutton, whom the other characters were for ever
tantalizing by promising toothsome dishes and then making him wait
indefinitely for their arrival.
Market-Square.
[434] That is, the three obols paid for attendance as a Heliast at the
High Court.
[435] See above, under note 3 [433. Transcriber. ].
[436] The origin of the name was this: in ancient days a tame bear
consecrated to Artemis, the huntress goddess, it seems, devoured a young
girl, whose brothers killed the offender. Artemis was angered and sent a
terrible pestilence upon the city, which only ceased when, by direction
of the oracle, a company of maidens was dedicated to the deity, to act
the part of she-bears in the festivities held annually in her honour at
the _Brauronia_, her festival so named from the deme of Brauron in
Attica.
[437] The Basket-Bearers, Canephoroi, at Athens were the maidens who,
clad in flowing robes, carried in baskets on their heads the sacred
implements and paraphernalia in procession at the celebrations in honour
of Demeter, Dionysus and Athene.
[438] A treasure formed by voluntary contributions at the time of the
Persian Wars; by Aristophanes' day it had all been dissipated, through
the influence of successive demagogues, in distributions and gifts to the
public under various pretexts.
[439] A town and fortress of Southern Attica, in the neighbourhood of
Marathon, occupied by the Alcmaeonidae--the noble family or clan at
Athens banished from the city in 595 B. C. , restored 560, but again
expelled by Pisistratus--in the course of their contest with that Tyrant.
Returning to Athens on the death of Hippias (510 B. C. ), they united with
the democracy, and the then head of the family, Cleisthenes, gave a new
constitution to the city.
[440] Queen of Halicarnassus, in Caria; an ally of the Persian King
Xerxes in his invasion of Greece; she fought gallantly at the battle of
Salamis.
[441] A _double entendre_--with allusion to the posture in sexual
intercourse known among the Greeks as [Greek: hippos], in Latin 'equus,'
the horse, where the woman mounts the man in reversal of the ordinary
position.
[442] Micon, a famous Athenian painter, decorated the walls of the
Poecile Stoa, or Painted Porch, at Athens with a series of frescoes
representing the battles of the Amazons with Theseus and the Athenians.
[443] To avenge itself on the eagle, the beetle threw the former's eggs
out of the nest and broke them. See the Fables of Aesop.
[444] Keeper of a house of ill fame apparently.
[445] "As chaste as Melanion" was a Greek proverb. Who Melanion was is
unknown.
[446] Myronides and Phormio were famous Athenian generals. The former was
celebrated for his conquest of all Boeotia, except Thebes, in 458 B. C. ;
the latter, with a fleet of twenty triremes, equipped at his own cost,
defeated a Lacedaemonian fleet of forty-seven sail, in 429.
[447] Timon, the misanthrope; he was an Athenian and a contemporary of
Aristophanes. Disgusted by the ingratitude of his fellow-citizens and
sickened with repeated disappointments, he retired altogether from
society, admitting no one, it is said, to his intimacy except the
brilliant young statesman Alcibiades.
[448] A spring so named within the precincts of the Acropolis.
[449] The comic poets delighted in introducing Heracles (Hercules) on the
stage as an insatiable glutton, whom the other characters were for ever
tantalizing by promising toothsome dishes and then making him wait
indefinitely for their arrival.
