by SOPHIA

HARVATI FEI{TOl,f illusrrated by IOSEPH LOW

BOOK TO BEGIN ON

by S OPHTA

HARVATI FENTON

illustrated bY I

SEPH LOW

Holt, Rinehart and

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inston

BW YORK CHICAGO
SAN F RAN CIS CO

F'i'rl

fiilL-[S CITY

SCI{COL LIBRARY

FOR MY HUSBAND

@ 1969 by Sophia Harvati Fenton.

Illustrations Copyright@ 1969 by loseph Low.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce

Text Copyright

this book or portions thereof in any form.

Published simultaneously inCanada by Holt,
Rinehart andWinston ol Canada, Limited.
SBN: 03 -07 2430-9 (Trade)
sBN.. 03 -08 r 49 8-7 ( H LE)
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number:76-80321
Printed in the United States ol America

First Edition

'H

Did you know that you speak Greek?

When you say history, geography, arithmetic, my-thology, hero, you are using Greek words.
You see Greek temples all around you. Many government buildings and many banks with columns are copies
of Greek buildings.
When you vote for the president of the United States,
or even for the president of your class, you are doing
something started by the Greeks.
When you take pride in our democrac!, you must also
know that it is a kind of government that was first created
by the Greeks . Democracy comes from the Greek word
that means the citizens are the masters of their country.

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MEDITERRANEAN
SEA
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Where did all this come from?

It comes from Greece, a small country in the southeastern corner of EuroPe.
Greece is a peninsula because it is connected with
Europe on one side and on all its other sides it is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea.
The whole country is made up of mountains, a few
small plains, and manY islands.
Thousands of years ago there lived on this peninsula
that we now call Greece, men who used tools made of
stone. Because of this we call them Stone Age men'
Stone Age men lived in many other parts of the world.

They were hunters.

They came to Greece from the north and from the east
as they moved from place to place searching for food'
Hundreds of years passed. Then the Stone Age men
made a great discovery. while cutting rocks for their implements they found metals in them. They melted two of
these metals, tin and copper, together. The result was an
even stronger metal: bronze.

They were now Bronze Age men because they used

bronze to make their tools and weapons' The new imple-

A floor plan ol the

palace at Knossos

ments were stronger, better, and easier to make than the

old clumsy stone ones. Life became easier' It was a big
step forward.
Of all the Bronze Age men who inhabited Greece, the

most important were the Cretans.

we know all that we do about them because interested
people (calted archaeologists) went digging on the island
of Crete and uncovered the palace of King Minos at
Knossos (Nos-us).
This palace was also known as the Labyrinth, because
it was so enormous and had countless rooms and passages. It also had baths and a perfect drainage system'

The walls of the palace were painted with pictures of

birds, flowers, wild animals, and tall slender princes'

The Cretans built ships. They went trading as far as

Egypt and the coast of Asia. The people there knew a
greatdeal about such things as mathematics and the stars
and building and ships. They had even discovered how

to read and write.

So, when the Cretans sailed back to their island, they

brought not only riches with them. They also brought

back knowledge.
When the Cretans needed to keep lists of the goods
they traded, they wrote with tiny lines on clay tablets'
Many of these were found in the palace at Knossos'

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An example ol Minoan writing

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The cretans were already rich and powerful when a

new race descended from the North: the Achaeans
(Ah-kay-ans). This was in 2000 s'c'
The Achaeans swarmed over the mainland of Greece'
destroying villages and fields. Finally they settled there
and we call them the first Greeks'
The Achaeans met the cretans and learned from them.
They built ships and traded with the people of the East'
sailors
as well as with the Cretans' They became good
Their
and shrewd merchants. Their kingdoms prospered'
kings were strong.

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The Achaeans had many chiefs. Each took a part of

Greece as his kingdom.
The most powerful of all the kings was proud Agarremnon. His kingdom, Mycenae (My-see-nee), lay in
:he Peloponnesus (Pel-o-pah-r?e-sus ), in the southern part
,-.f the country.
All the Achaean kings built their palaces on hilltops
:urrouflded by huge stone walls. The common people
iir.ed around the palace and worked in the fields. When
r neighbor king invaded their kingdom, they moved in.ide the walls for protection while the warriors rode out
ttr battle in their chariots.

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than the Cretans'

Soon the Achaeans became stronger
Around 1400 n.c. they conquered them'

followed, the Greeks ceased to be

a sea

people' Theywere

nowfarmers.TheirontoolsthattheDoriansbrought

were Greeks.

They all spoke the same language. They worshiped

the same gods. They had the same customs. And they all
joined at certain times to honor their gods with athletic
games.

So, when a Greek traveled through the different citystates, he felt at home. He could speak his own language

and he could listen, wherever he went, to the storytellers

reciting the tales of their gods and the deeds of their

ancestors.

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The storytellers recited their poems to the accompaniment of a lyre. The poems the Greeks loved most were
the lliad and the Odyssey (Od-i-see). They believed that
the blind poet Homer had made them up.
The lliad was the tale of the war fought by the Greeks
under the leadership of Agamemnon, King of Mycenae,
against the rich city of Troy in Asia Minor.

The Ody,s.tey recounted the adventures of Odysseus

(O-dis-ee-us), the King of Ithaca, on his ten-year journey
home after the defeat of Troy. It also told how he outri'itted the witch Circe (Sir-see), who turned men into
pigs; how he overcame all the other perils and monsters
he met on the voyage; and how at last he reached Ithaca
in time to outsmart the suitors who wanted to marry his

u'ife, Penelope, and steal his kingdom.

The Greeks learned these poems by heart. They were
ri'ritten down 2500 years ago, when the Greek alphabet
u'as formed. We still read these great poems today.
The Greeks worshiped many gods. These gods, they
said, lived on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain of
Greece.
Zeus was the father of gods and men. Athena, his wise
daughter, was the Goddess of Learning. Poseidon (Pos-

ey'e-don) ruled the sea. Apollo was the God of Music

and Light.
The Greeks saw their gods as very human. Although
they were immortal and powerful, they still behaved like
people. They were jealous, they quarreled among themselves, and they had many adventures.

And each god helped men in a different way.

Apollo also gave advice to people. His temple on
Mount Parnassus was famous as the Oracle of Delphi
(Del-fye).
The priestess of the temple answered all the questions
that were put to the god Apollo. But she spoke in mysterious words. The priests of the temple explained them.
These priests were very wise men, who knew what was
going on everylvhere. So they gave sensible advice to
questions like, "How can the Greeks defeat the Persian
invaders?" arLd, "Should one city-state declare war on
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The Greek city-states often fought among themselves

because they wanted more land and more power. But
they knew that every war was disastrous for both sides.
Once a year twelve of the city-states decided to send
representatives to Delphi to discuss their disagreements.
-\nd so, with the sensible advice of the priests of Apollo,
they often settled their quarrels without war.
Thus, their meeting at Delphi was a kind of United
\ations, which is the organization we have today to preserve international peace.

At Olympia, in the Peloponnesus, stood a great temple to Zeus. There, every four years, the Greeks celebrated the Olympic Games, honoring the Father of Gods
and Men.

Athletes came to Olympia from all over Greece. On

this holy occasion any war between the city-states ceased'
The first day was spent worshiping the gods. Then the
huge stadium was packed with spectators. Chariot racing was the most thrilling of the sports, but running,
jumping, wrestling, discus- and javelin-throwing were the
most important.

Every winner was given a prize of wild olive leaves.

Even today, we celebrate the Olympic Games every
four years in different parts of the world.

By 800 n.c. Greeks were trading all over the Mediterranean Sea. At that time Greeks began to leave their
cities. Some went away because the cities were overcrowded and life was not easy for them. some left because they did not like their government'
These Greeks settled in colonies around the Black sea
and on the coasts of Africa, Spain, France, and Italy'
so many Greek cities were built in Southern Italy and in
Sicily that this region was called Magna Grecia-Great
Greece.

In 500 n.c., Greece was threatened by slavery' First

Darius, then Xerxes (zurk-seez), the great kings of Persia, invaded the country with a vast army and with hundreds of warshiPs.
Then, the two most powerful Greek city-states, Sparta
and Athens, joined forces to save Greece. The Greeks
drove back the Persian army at Marathon in 490 s.c.
Then at Salamis, in 480 n.c., they destroyed the Persian
fleet.

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The small Greek army defeated the bigger Persian

was and were
forces because they knew what freedom
readytodiefree.ThePersiansoldiershadnevertasted
freedom at all.
If Greece had been enslaved by the Persians, great
been given
works of art and science would never have

to the world.
was a mili
Sparta, in the center of the Peloponnesus'
tary state. Its kings were also its generals'

When the boys of Sparta were seven years old they

',r ere sent to live in camps. They spent the day in physical
:rercise. They slept without blankets and wore only a
.reht garment throughout the year. They learned some
:eading and writing.
The girls received almost the same severe training.
Spartan has become a word for this way of life.
Sparta had an unbeatable army, but gave the world
no artists, no scientists, no thinkers.

Athens,intheplainofAttica,wasbuiltaroundahill'
of the godthe famous Acropolis. It was the beloved city
dess Athena'

was ruled by kings' Around 1000 n'c'

famthe kings were replaced by nine men from important
of them, however' were cruel to the people'

At first, Athens

ilies. Many

wisest man
594 s.c. the Athenians asked Solon, the
among them, to write laws'

In

Solondeclaredthateverycitizenhadtherighttoelect
therulersofhiscity,andtobeelectedhimselfinhisturn.
Andsodemocracy,whichmeansthatthecitizensrule
through elected leaders, was born'

Itwasthefirsttimeinthehistoryoftheworldthat
thecitizenshadthepowerovertheircity'insteadofbeining governed by a tyrant-dictator or a few powerful
dividuals.

minds were open'

Because the Athenians felt free, their

They were eager to learn everything'

Every morning the men went to the agora. This was

the marketplace at the foot of the Acropolis. Everyone
gathered there: merchants, sailors, bankers, peasants,
politicians, and wise teachers, called philosophers-lovers
of wisdom.
The agora was not only the place for shopping and
trading. It was also the place to meet people from all
over the world. There you could learn the news, argue
about politics, and listen to the philosophers, who were
trying to explain what everything meant. No wonder the
-\thenians spent most of their time in such a lively and
exciting place.

their minds and

The Athenians believed in developing
bodies equallY.

when he was six years

An Athenian boy went to school
only schools were private
old. Girls stayed home' The
writing, arithmetic,
the boys rearned reading,
ones, where

Homer's Poems' and music'

he studied
If an Athenian boy wanted to rearn more,
as philosophers'
with the great teachers, known
the greatest and the finest
Socrates (Sock-ra-tees) was
must try to know himself.
teacher of all. A man, he said,
and understand other
Only then can he become better
people.

the physical side of

The Gymnasium took care of

Athenian education'
the Athenians were not
As a result of their training,
great thinkers and artists'
only excellent soldiers' but

Athens' most brilliant period is known as the Golden

^\ge of Pericles. Pericles, who was elected president for
many years, was a great man. He called on all the talented and most highly educated people in the city to
help him.
They all worked together and transformed Athens. We
could even say that they formed the Western world's way
of life.

be beautiful' They
The Athenians wanted their city to
to the goddess Athena'
built the Parthenon , a greattemple
famous sculptor' decorated
on the Acropolis. Phidias, the
temple to Victory' Covit. They also put up a lovely small
and statues' the Acropolis
ered with magnificent temples
Attica'
gleamed under the clear sky of
long walls' enclosThey also fortified their city with
(Pre-ree-us) ' Their maging Athens and its port, Piraeus
( fry-reems ) manned with
'
nificent warships, the triremes
an attack
from
city
the
three banks of oars, defended

by

sea.

put on their best clothes'

Every March the Athenians
and crowded into the opentunics and chitons ( kye-tons ) '
(Die-o-nye-ses) at the foot of the
'
air theater of Dionysus
festival'
dramatic
the
Acropolis, to attend
in the morning and
The performances started early
All the parts were taken by
went on for three whore days.
male actors, wearing masks'
plays of Aeschylus
The audie,,t"' ""-ioyed the serious
(Yoo-rip-i-dees)'
(Ess-kill-us), Sophocles, and Euripides
of Aristophanes (Ar-r-stof'
They roared at the comedies
ah-nees).

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Athens reached a peak of glory. Then the Athenians

became too proud.
After the war with the Persians, many Greek states
had formed an alliance, with Athens as their leader. But
now the Athenians wanted even more power. They
treated their allies as though they were servants.
The Spartans were also ambitious. They could not bear
to see Athens so mighty.
In 431 n.c., Sparta and Athens began the Peloponnesian War. It lasted for twenty-seven years.
Sparta won. But both states were so exhausted by the

fighting that no power or pride was really left in Greece.

In 335 n.c. Alexander the Great led the Macedonians

(Mas-i-doft-ne-ans) down from the north. He easily conquered all the divided city-states. Under him, Greece was
united for the first time.

Alexander led his unbeatable army of Macedonians

and Greeks as far east as India and as far south as Egypt'
He claimed that he wanted to teach the barbarian peoples
the Greek way of life: to cherish freedom and to hold

their heads high in pride.

Alexander died young, at thirty-three. We do not know
if he really would have carried through with this noble
program, or if he was merely a great general.

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In146s.c.theRomans,fromthewest,tookoverallof
Greece.

of the
Byzantium, a Greek colony, became the capital
later
eastern half of the Roman Empire' Byzantium
adoptedandhelpedspreadthenewreligion,Christianity.

Thecolony'snamewaschangedtoConstantinople'and
center'
for centuries itwas a brilliant Greek and Christian

Ina.p.l453theTurks,whowerenotChristians'came
from Asia and conquered Constantinople and all of
Greece.
For 400 years the Greek people lived under the Turks'

Theyhadlosttheirfreedom,butnottheirprideandtheir
hope. Their songs tell how they fought against despair'
"Mother," says a young boy in one of them' "I can no
go up to the
longer bear to be a slave, without pride' I will
mountains and be a fighter for freedom!"

Inspiteoftheirslavery,theGreeksdidnotforgettheir
languageandtheirreligion'Atnight,thechildrenwent

This
to secret places to learn the Bible and Greek history.
was the "secret School."

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On the 25th of March, 1821, the Greeks revolted

against the Turks. They fought for eight years. In 1829
Greece was once more a free country, although many
parts were still held bY the Turks.
John Kapodistrias (Ka-po-thee-stree-es), a Greek, was
the first governor. After his death, England, Russia, and
France, who had helped the Greeks in their struggle,
chose kings for the new country from the royal families

of Europe.
Nauplia (No-plee-a), not far from Agamemnon's Mycenae, was the first capital. In 1833 Athens was also freed
from the Turks. It had become a poor village. But for the
Greeks it still remained a symbol of their past glory. And
so, in 1834, Athens was made the capital of Greece' It

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still is.
And the Greeks celebrate the 25th of March as their
Independence DaY.
Greeks enjoyed their freedom

for about 130 years

while they worked hard to rebuild their country. From

l94O to 1944, along with all the democratic countries of
Europe and the united States, they fought the Italians
and the Germans.

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First the Italians sent a note ordering Greece to surrender. "No!" said the Greeks. They went up to the north,
to Mount Pindus, to fight for freedom once again. They
were a small army, with few weapons. Even so, they won
the first victory of World War II for the Allies.
But the Germans attacked with their great war machine, and Greece once more experienced bitter slavery.

or by
Nowadays, when you go to Athens by boat
the rooftops
plane, the first thing you see emerging above
Parthenon'
ot ,t r city is the Acropolis, crowned with the
the
The Greeks always loved their Acropolis' During
had been
War of Independence' in 1821, the Acropolis

turned into a fortress by the Turks' While the

were smashing
were attacking it, they saw that the Turks
themarblecolumnsofthetempleinordertousethemetal
insidethemforbullets.AbandofGreekwarriorsclimbed
said"'we
up to the gates. "If you spare the temples"'they
*itl gin" you bullets." These bullets were to be used to
that
kill them, but they did not care' What mattered was
the Parthenon would be saved'
are
Athens today is a large, modern city' The streets
or just walkfilted with people going about their business'
Greeks

pleasant'
ing, because the weather is usually very
love
Athenians, like all Greeks' are full of life' They
caf6s' talking
sitting with their friends at the sidewalk

abouteverythingunderthesun.Liketheirancestors,they
is going on all over
are eagerto learn, and to know what
the world.

They are especially fond of talking about

politics, because they are proud of their country and they care about what happens to it.

ot
to
are times when it is easy
there
Athens
modern
In
to have lived in the time of
imagine what it was like

Pericles'

(;oncert hall of Herod

EverY summer' in the open-alr
see the
are held' People go to
Atticus, dramatic festivals
first performed for the ancient
very same plays that were
of Dionysus'
Greeks in the nearby theater
with bright floodlights' It
At night, the Acropolis is lit
city'
great white ship above the
seems to float like a

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But Greece is not only Athens' Buses, planes, boats'

to
or trains can take you to the north, or to the south' or
Sparta'
the islands. Crete is still there' So are Olympia and
Over Delphi the eagles fly as they always did'

In all these places the Greeks live and work. They welcome visitors. Hospitality is a sacred thing to them. They
have not lost the tradition of their ancestors, who believed
that a guest was an honor to their house sent by Zeus.

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is especially exciting to be in Greece at Easter time.

Easter is even more important

to the Greeks than

Christmas.
No one misses the Resurrection Mass on Saturday. At
midnight the priest comes out of the church, calling out

"Christ is risen!" Cannons are fired. People kiss their

friends, repeating, "Truly, He is risen!" It is a moment of
great joy, for the Greeks understand the true meaning of
resurrection. Greece died so many times, and each time
rose from slavery. For the Greeks, Christ's resurrection
is also a symbol of life and freedom.
Then, holding their candles carefully, so that the light
will not go out, they go home for a late supper with brightred Easter eggs.

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Life, for Greek children, is not very difterent from that

of American children. They go to school. Some get jobs
after they finish elementary school or high school' Some
go on to college.
They play the same games and dress the same way'
Many of them have ancient names: Pericles, Socrates,
Penelope.

They learn Greek history, but also the history of other

countries.
And children in other countries study the Greek way
of life. The ancient Greeks, like us, wanted to make a
better life for everyone, with freedom for all and respect
for each other. They taught the world these values, along

with the word democracY.

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ABour rHE AUTHon: A native of Greece, Sophia Harvati

now lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, Holt
author Edward Fenton. Aside from her writing, Mrs.
Fenton is a distinguished Greek child psychologist and
educator.

ABour rHE ARTIST: One of the foremost graphic artists

and illustrators, Joseph Low's distinctive style has won
him awards and honors from such groups as the American
Institute of Graphic Arts, the Society of Illustrators, and
the Art Directors Club. An alumnus of the University
of Illinois and the Art Students League, Mr. Low now
divides his time among magazine illustration, the operation of his own Eden Hill Press, and the illustration of
books and book jackets. Married and the father of two
daughters, Mr. Low lives in South Norwalk, Connecticut.

ABour rHE BooK: In order to approximate the feeling of

early Greek vase paintings, Mr. Low worked with brush
and tempera on coated paper, scratching white lines into
the tempera as the vase painters did on the fired clay of
their pots. His drawings for the later periods were made
with a bamboo pen and tempera on paper. Both the text
and display type are set in linotype Times Roman. The
book is printed by offset.

HOLT
LIBRARY