Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/129

 Athens in the Age of Pericles 81 they taught mathematics and astronomy, and the young men of Athens for the first time began to learn a little natural science. When a father of that day found in the hands of his son a book by one of the great Sophists which began with a statement ques- tioning the existence of the gods, the new teachings seemed im- pious. The old-fashioned citizen could at least vote for the banishment of such impious teachers and burning of their books. 121. Progress in Science and Medicine. Science had begun to be cultivated in the Ionian cities before the Persian wars ( 96). In southern Italy a celebrated philosopher, Pythagoras, founded a school of philosophy and carried on the study of geometry. Among the sciences medicine, perhaps, made the most progress. In the first place, the Greek physicians rejected the older belief that disease was caused by evil demons and endeavored to find the natural causes of the ailment. To do this they sought to understand the organs of the body. They discovered that the brain was the organ of thought, but the arterial system, the circu- lation of the blood, and the nervous system were still entirely unknown. The greatest physician of the time was Hippocrates, who became the founder of scientific medicine. 122. Progress in History- Writing ; Herodotus. Just at the close of Pericles' life the historian Herodotus, a great traveler, who had long been engaged on a history of the world, finally published his famous work. The story was so told that the glorious leadership of Athens would be clear to all Greeks and they would see that to her they owed their deliverance from Persia. Throughout Greece it created a deep impression, and so tremendous was its effect on the Athenians that they voted Herod- otus a reward of ten talents some twelve thousand dollars. II. ART AND LITERATURE 123. Phidias and the Parthenon. The Greeks now began to produce wonderful painters and architects, and sculptors such as the world had never seen. It is they who, with the writers, have made Athens famous through the centuries since Pericles began