Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/69

 ATHENS 57 which saw the whole of Greece reduced to a Roman province, under the name of Achaia. Under the Romans Athens was prosperous and respected. Her schools of eloquence and phi- losophy were open to the civilized world, and the sons of distinguished Roman citizens were sent there to complete their education. Her splendid temples remained uninjured ; the magnificence of the city had been increased by the liberality of foreign potentates. Athens occasionally suffered during the civil wars. She took part with Mithridates, and was be- sieged and captured by Sulla, who destroyed the long walls and the fortifications, annihilated the commerce of Piraaus, and left the city crip- pled in all her resources. The groves of the academy and the lyceum were cut down, and columns were carried off from the temple of Olympian Zeus to adorn some public building at Rome. The establishment of the empire made but little difference in the condition of Athens, and she continued the centre of the world of literature and art down to the com- mencement of the Christian era. St. Paul vis- ited the city, and delivered his discourse on Mars Hill, probably about the middle of the 1st century. The emperor Hadrian, in the first part of the 2d century, finished the temple of Olympian Zeus, established a public library, and built a pantheon and gymnasium. Marcus Aurelius increased the number of the Athe- nian schools and the salaries of the teachers. About the middle of the 3d century the Goths, crossing the Hellespont and ^Egean, descended upon Attica. Athens made a brave defence under the inspiration of the scholar and phi- losopher Dexippus, and suffered but little from the invasion before the enemy were driven back. In A. D. 258, a few years before the arrival of the Goths, the walls, which had been in a ruinous condition since the siege of Sylla, were repaired by Valerian. In 396 Alaric advanced upon Athens ; but. not willing to undergo the delay of a siege, he accepted the hospitalities of the magistrates, and retired, leaving the city and Attica unharmed. For more than 100 years after this Athens enjoyed great prosperity as the chief seat of learning and culture ; and we hear of her principally through the many learned men of the time who received their education in the city. In the 5th century the beautiful Athenais, daugh- ter of the Athenian philosopher Leontius, be- came a Christian, was baptized at Constanti- nople under the name of Eudocia, married the emperor Theodosius II., and did much by the influence of her example, and by building churches, to promote Christianity in Athens, the local government having recently author- ized, by direction of an imperial rescript, the public recognition of Christianity there. The temple of Olympian Zeus was consecrated to Christ the Saviour ; the Parthenon to the Holy Wisdom (St. Sophia), afterward chang- ing the designation to the Panagia and the Mother of God ; and the temple of Theseus to St. George of Cappadocia. After Justinian in the 6th century had broken up the schools, we scarcely hear of the city for nearly 400 years. In the 12th century Athens was taken and plundered by Roger, king of Sicily. The fourth crusade again brought the name of Athens to the notice of Europe. Greece was parcelled out among the Frankish princes after the capture of Constantinople in 1204. Otho de la Roche was made duke of Athens in 1205, and four successors of his family held the dukedom till 1308. Walter de Brienne succeeded, and was overthrown by the Grand Catalan company, whose aid he had invoked. A duke of the Sicilian branch of the house of Aragon was invested with the dignity by the Catalans, and in this line the dukedom re- mained till near the end of the 14th cen- tury. Six dukes of the Florentine family of Acciajuoli followed, ruling Athens till 1456. The ducal court of Athens was one of the most brilliant in Europe. In 1456, when it was captured by Mohammed II., Athens ap- pears to have been prosperous, and the num- ber of its inhabitants is said to have exceeded 50,000. In 1467 the Venetians went to war with the Turks, and, invading Greece with a powerful fleet, landed at Piraeus, and expelled the Turks from Athens after a bloody battle. Athens remained under the Venetians till 1470, when the sultan entered Greece with a large army and retook the city. He placed Athens under a waywode, who held his office from the chief eunuch of the harem. The external affairs of the city were managed by the waywode ; a cadi, or judge, decided the controversies be- tween the Ottomans, without interfering in those of the Christians. The garrison on the Acropolis was under the command of the Turk- ish disdar. The proper municipal affairs of the city were managed by magistrates elected from the principal families by the people, and called by the ancient name of archons. This form of administration remained unchanged from 1470 to 1687. In the latter year Mo- rosini, the Venetian admiral, having gained brilliant victories in the war between the republic and Turkey, captured Athens, and obliged most of the Turks to leave the city. But an epidemic sickness and a fresh muster of the Turks compelled him to withdraw in March, 1688. A large number of the citizens fled, some to Salamis, ^Egina, and other islands, some to Corinth, some to Nauplia, and others I to Cephalonia. The city remained deserted till the following year, when the Turks en- tered it and committed a large part of the houses to the flames. The Athenians, how- ever, began gradually to return. The sultan granted them a free pardon, and remitted the tribute for three years. From 1690 to 1754 the Athenians lived quietly, under a political organization essentially the same as that al- ready described. Between 1754 and 1777 Athens was frequently harassed by Albanian incursions. In the latter year a battle was