He therefore destroyed the prytanea, the senate house, and the
magistracy of each individual township, built one common prytaneum and
senate house for them all on the site of the present acropolis, called
the city Athens, and instituted the Panathenaic festival common to all
of them. He also instituted a festival for the resident aliens, on the
sixteenth of the month, Hecatombaion, which is still kept up. And
having, according to his promise, laid down his sovereign power, he
arranged the new constitution under the auspices of the gods; for he
made inquiry at Delphi as to how he should deal with the city, and
received the following answer:
"Thou son of AEgeus and of Pittheus' maid,
My father hath within thy city laid
The bounds of many cities; weigh not down
Thy soul with thought; the bladder cannot drown."
The same thing they say was afterward prophesied by the Sibyl concerning
the city, in these words:
"The bladder may be dipped, but cannot drown."
Wishing still further to increase the number of his citizens, he invited
all strangers to come and share equal privileges, and they say that the
words now used, "Come hither all ye peoples," was the proclamation then
used by Theseus, establishing as it were a commonwealth of all nations.
But he did not permit his state to fall into the disorder which this
influx of all kinds of people would probably have produced, but divided
the people into three classes, of Eupatridae or nobles, Geomori or
farmers, Demiurgi or artisans.
To the Eupatridae he assigned the care of religious rites, the supply of
magistrates for the city, and the interpretation of the laws and customs
sacred or profane; yet he placed them on an equality with the other
citizens, thinking that the nobles would always excel in dignity, the
farmers in usefulness, and the artisans in numbers. Aristotle tells us
that he was the first who inclined to democracy, and gave up the title
of king; and Homer seems to confirm this view by speaking of the people
of the Athenians alone of all the states mentioned in his catalogue of
ships.
Theseus also struck money with the figure of a bull, either alluding to
the bull of Marathon, or Taurus, Minos' general, or else to encourage
farming among the citizens. Hence, they say, came the words, "worth
ten," or "worth a hundred oxen." He permanently annexed Megara to
Attica, and set up the famous pillar on the Isthmus, on which he wrote
the distinction between the countries in two trimeter lines, of which
the one looking east says,
"This is not Peloponnesus, but Ionia,
and the one looking west says,
"This is Peloponnesus, not Ionia."
And also he instituted games there, in emulation of Heracles; that, just
as Heracles had ordained that the Greeks should celebrate the Olympic
games in honor of Zeus, so by Theseus' appointment they should celebrate
the Isthmian games in honor of Poseidon.
THE FORMATION OF THE CASTES IN INDIA
B.C. 1200
GUSTAVE LE BON[23] W.W. HUNTER
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account