Narrative of a Journey in the Morea |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
afterwards Alpheus Amyclæ Anastasio ancient antiquity appearance Arcadia archons arrived ascended Athens beautiful called castle church cogia bashi cypresses Delli Demetri derveni descended dinner distance dragoman English Eurotas exist feet formed fortress Giannettachi glen Greece Greek hill honour horses host hour imagined inhabitants inscriptions Italian Ithome janissary journey Kalamata Kalpaki Kastro Lacedæmon Leondari lodging Mahometans Maina Mainiotes Mantinea marble means Megalopolis ment Messenia Mistra Modon Morea morning Mount mountains Mustapha Navarino neighbours observed occasion Orchomenos Pasha passed Pausanias person Philiatra Phonia piastres plain port present probably produced remains rendered river road rock ruins scarcely seemed seen side situation sort Sparta species spot stones stranger Stymphalus summit Taygetus Tegea temple thing tion told tower town traveller Tripolitza tumulus Turkey Turkish Turks usual Vaivode valley vestiges village walls whole Zanè
Popular passages
Page vii - Sphakteria recalls the etymology of its name. The island, which is 3 m. in length, has been separated, towards its southern extremity, into three or four parts by the violence of the waves, so that, in calm weather, boats may pass from the open sea into the port by means of the channels so formed. On one of the detached rocks is the tomb of the Turkish santon before mentioned. Sphakteria is said to be the scene of Lord Byron's ' Corsair,' and was long famous as a resort of pirates.
Page 16 - The town was built on the southern declivity, and was surrounded with a wall, which, allowing for the natural irregularities of the soil, represented a triangle, with the castle at the apex, — a form observed in many of the ancient cities of Greece. The...
Page 202 - ... who are supposed to be the victims of despotism. Whether, for instance, the annual spoliation of a pasha or two, who assuredly deserve it, is half so great a public nuisance as that sort of pretended liberty which is the boast of Geneva, where every member of the community acts as a jealous spy upon his neighbour ; watches him out of the town ; closes the gates upon him if he is a minute...
Page 318 - ... seats were divided into three cinctions, of which the breadths ascending were 20 feet for the lowest, 23 feet for the next, and 40 for the highest. Above this was a space only 13 feet wide, and behind that, the last, which might have been a portico, was 32 feet deep. The upper surface of each seat was divided into two portions, of which a sinking, one foot four inches in breadth, received the feet of the person who occupied the seat above, and a space only one foot one inch in width was left...
Page 320 - ... present soil. It might be a school, and on these steps persons might have been disposed as in a theatre ; at all events, this is almost the only relic of ancient Sparta ; and it appears as if it would afford a variety of curious information, and possibly inscriptions or sculptures, to any one who should undertake the excavation of it, when such a work shall become again feasible. The hill of the theatre, being the highest, has been esteemed the citadel of Sparta; the still higher elevation on...
Page 104 - A person who has a quarrel with another, collects a pile of stones, and curses his unconscious foe as many times as there are stones in the heap. It is the duty of every Christian to add at least one pebble as he passes by, so that the curses in a frequented road became innumerable. A Greek who should travel on one of our English roads, would imagine the whole population at war ; and in Italy, where the heaps are larger, and generally occupy the whole of the best part of the road, he would be disposed...
Page 370 - Pkeneos of history was evidently placed upon an insulated hill, southeast of the modern town, where the ruins of the whole circuit of the wall are visible.
Page 299 - Greek expedition, on foot, on horseback, or hi a boat, this most awkward veneration for hoary locks, yet exists, as in the history of ancient Sparta ; and the consequences of the fatal prejudice are in every case delay, and in many, danger. A Greek boat has always some old, obstinate, and ignorant monster on board, whose only merit consists in being unwilling to learn more than his grandfather knew before him ; and his fears and idleness are among the most provoking impediments to the voyage.
Page 313 - Mount Taygetus here begins to assume a more imposing aspect, rising in bolder masses to a far greater elevation than the surrounding branches, and then producing a forest of pines, above which the peaks of St. Elias are seen, covered with snow. On passing the hills, Mistra presents itself in all its magnificence, so well displayed on the sides of its lofty rock, that every house is visible, rising in gradation one above the other, to the grey towers of the citadel on its summit ; the city, probably...
Page 187 - ... unhappy climate of Greece, would seem to be as unfavourable to religion as to liberty. He says : ' All hope of reform in the practices of the Greek church is out of the question; for no Greek exists, who would not rather become a Turk, than admit one improvement from any other community of Christians.. ....It would be easier to convert the whole interior of Africa to the true faith, than one single Greek to the religion of the New Testament.