THE WARS OF THE GREEK CITIES. The Athenians had done the most in winning the victory over the Persians, and therefore Athens was for many years the most powerful city in Greece. The Spartans were always jealous of the Athenians, and in less than a century after the victory of Marathon they conquered and humbled Athens. The worst faults of the Greeks were such jealousies and the desire to lord it over one another. Greek history is full of wars of city against city, Sparta against Athens, Corinth against Athens, and Thebes against Sparta. In these wars many heroic deeds were done, of which we like to read, but it is more important for us to understand how the Greeks lived. QUESTIONS 1. What ancient cities still exist? Find them on the map. (For each difficult name find the pronunciation in the index.) 2. What things do we find in the ruins of ancient cities which tell us how the people lived? 3. From what country did most of our words come in the beginning? Why are they now called English? What peoples used the word geography before we did? About how many words do we get from the Greeks, and how many from the Romans? 4. Which people became famous earlier, the Greeks or the Romans? Point out on the map the peninsula where each lived. 5. Why do we like to remember the brave deeds of the Greeks? 6. Find the city of Athens on the map. Find Sparta. Where was Marathon? What city won glory at Marathon? 7. What were the worst faults of the Greeks? EXERCISES 1. Collect pictures of ruined cities in Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, from illustrated papers, magazines, or advertising folders. Collect postal cards giving such pictures. 2. Choose the best one of the Greek stories mentioned in Chapter II, and tell it. 3. Find out how differently soldiers now are clothed and armed from the way the Greek soldiers were. 4. Find out why a long distance run is now called a "Marathon." CHAPTER III HOW THE GREEKS LIVED THE GREEK CITIES. The Greeks lived in cities so much of the time that we do not often think of them as ever living in the country. The reason for this was that their government and everything else important was carried on in the city. The cities were usually surrounded by high, thick stone walls, which made them safe from sudden attack. Within or beside the city there was often a lofty hill, which we should call a fort or citadel, but which they called the upper city or acropolis. There the people lived at first when they were few in number, and thither they fled if the walls of their city were broken down by enemies. In Athens such a hill rose two hundred feet above the plain. Its top was a thousand feet long, and all the sides except one were steep cliffs. On it the Athenians built their most beautiful temples.