Page:The Book of the Courtier.djvu/667

 NOTES TO THE THIRD BOOK OF THE COURTIER Note 331, page 171. Achaia, here used as synonymous with Greece, was the name given to that country when conquered by the Romans and made a province. Olympia was not in Achaia proper, but in the adjoining district of Elis, some forty miles south of the modern Patras. The site has been thor- oughly excavated by German archaeologists, the most noted discovery being that of the " Hermes " of Praxiteles and the " Victory " of Paeonius. Note 332, page 172. That is to say, nude. According to the familiar Greek myth, Eris (goddess of discord), to avenge her exclusion from the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis, threw among the wedding guests a golden apple inscribed "To the Fairest." A dispute arising between Aphrodite, Hera and Athena concerning the apple, Zeus appointed the shepherd Paris to decide their claims. The prize having been awarded to Aphrodite, she aided Paris to carry off the beautiful Helen of Sparta, and thus gave rise to the Trojan War. Note 333, page 173. The Order of St. Michael was instituted in August 1469, by Louis XI of France, and was highly esteemed down to Castiglione's time, but later suffered in estimation, owing to the freedom with which mem- bership was bestowed. Francis I wore the insignia of the order at the battle of Pavia, 1525. Note 334, page 173. The Order of the Garter was instituted by Edward III of England in 1344. He assigned to its use the chapel (at Windsor) of St. George, who was its patron saint. Duke Guidobaldo of Urbino having, like his father, been made a knight of the order, Castiglione went to England in 1506 to receive the insignia on the duke's behalf. Note 335, page 173. The Order of the Golden Fleece was instituted by Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy (paternal grandfather of Charles V's paternal grandmother) in 1429 in honour of his third marriage, to Elizabeth of Portugal. Its badge, a golden ram, is shown in our portraits of Charles V and his grand- father Maximilian I. Note 336, page 173. The king of Persia at this time was Ismail Sufi I, (born 1480; died 1524). He was descended from a family of noted piety, whose peculiar beliefs became the origin of the national Persian faith. Having been proclaimed shah in 1499, after nearly a century of disorderly government by the successors of Timur the Tartar, he spent most of his reign in enlarging and assuring his dominions, and founded the dynasty that was to rule Persia 387