ANCIENT ATHENS

Evening Star, Issue 19273, 11 June 1926, Page 10

ANCIENT ATHENS

CONDITIONS OF LIVING INTERESTING LECTURE Last night in the Y.M.O.A. Hall Professor T. H. Adams, M.A., delivered an interesting and instructive lantern lecture on the subject of ‘ Life in Ancient Athens,’ The speaker said That such a lecture would naturally lead people to expect views of the great buildings on the Acropolis; but as these were fairly well known he intended to illustrate " other aspects of ancient Greek life. There was what could almost he called a squalid magnificence about the conditions in which the Athenians lived. Someone ■ had said that they showed the artistic temperament in action, and that was a happy characterisation of them; They threw themselves heart and soul into what appealed to them as, the highest things; for instance, the building of great temples and other edifices that have remained the-wonder and despair of the world ever since. But had not one farsighted ruler in the sixth century, n.c., imposed a water supply on the city, it was doubtful whether it would have had one until the Romans took it under their sway. They were content to have streets that were narrow, crooked, dirty, and unlighted, and to do without sewers, without the semblance of a sanitation system. Then came the war, with its overcrowding of tho city, and tho disastrous plague that ignored the magnificence and descended upon the squalor, decimated the citizens, and started the great city irretrievably on her downward course to final min and overthrow. Therein the ancient Athenian was fatally _ wrong; hut ho had not merely a negative, but a positive lesson to teach us—namely, that civilisation does not consist in material comfort alone. It wa.s easy to picture the lack of railways and telephones, gas and electricity, even tea and tobacco. But their houses had no drains, their beds no sheets and no springs, and a description of their clothing also made it clear that they could teach us how to bo civilised, though uncomfortable. Not that they despised honest manual toil; on the contrary, they rightly drew, no distinction between a trade or craft and a profession. Menial occupations to them had been described as such as made one sit for long periods in a cramped and unhealthy position—for example, office clerks, miners, university professors, and factory Lands. Whatever work was monotonous or irksome thej’ had done, if possible, by slaves; otherwise it remained undone. But healthy manual toil the Athenian did not shirk, and he lived frugally on two meals a day, consisting of such dishes a.s could be prepared liom corn and olive oil and honey and wine. Views were shown to illustrate the athletic life and national games of tire G.eeks, and the lecturer explained how the nude male figure in sculpture inevitably arose from the great athletic festivals where the contestants all ran simply a.s Nature had clothed them. Numerous illustrations were given of various public buildings, the market place, the site of the Athenian Assembly, and the ancient cemetery, with its tombstones, whoso art revealed the astonishingly cultivated taste of the Athenian middle classes. An interesting statuette of Socrates, recently discovered at Alexandria, was shown, photographed from four different angles, and finally the Greek theatre was loliy described and illustrated.

At intervals during the lecture illustrative readings from the comedies of Aristophanes were effectively given by the members of the Play-reading Circle of tho Otago Women’s Club. Tho characters had been well chosen, and the tasteful reading of Mrs C. Mackie Begg, Mrs Wakefield Holmes, Mias Hutton, and Mias Rene Aslin lent a pleasing variety to tho lecture.

On tho motion of the Hon. G. M. Thomson, M.L.C., Professor Adams and the readers wore accorded a l.carty vote of thanks.