100.  The Glorious View from the Hill of Munychia.—­These are the chief points in the harbors; but the view from Munychia is most extensive.  Almost everything in sight has its legend or its story in sober history.  Ten miles away to the southward rise the red rocky hills of Aegina, Athens’ old island enemy; and the tawny headlands of the Argolic coasts are visible yet farther across he horizon.  Again as we follow the purplish ridge of Mount Aegaleos as it runs down the Attic coast to westward, we come to a headland then to a belt of azure water, about a mile wide, then the reddish hills of an irregular island.  Every idler on the citadel can tell us all the story.  On that headland on a certain fateful morning sat Xerxes, lord of the Persians, with his sword-hands and mighty men about him and his ships before him, to look down on the naval spectacle and see how his slaves would fight.  The island beyond is “holy Salamis,” and in this narrow strip of water has been the battle which saved the life of Hellas.  Every position in the contest seems clearly in sight, even the insignificant islet of Psytteleia, where Aristeides had landed his men after the battle, and massacred the Persions stationed there “to cut off the Greeks who tried to escape.”

The water is indescribably blue, matching the azure of the sky.  Ships of all kinds under sails or oars are moving lightly over the havens and the open Saronic bay.  It is matchless spectacle—­albeit very peaceful.  We now descend to the Peireus proper and examine the merchant shipping and wharves, leaving the navy yards and the fighting triremes till later.

101.  The Town of Peireus.—­The Peireus has all the life of the Athenian Agora many times multiplied.  Everywhere there is work and bustle.  Aristophanes has long since described the impression it makes on strangers,[*]—­sailors clamoring for pay, rations being served out, figureheads being burnished, men trafficking for corn, for onions, for leeks, for figs,—­“wreaths, anchovies, flute girls, blackened eyes, the hammering of oars from the dock yards, the fitting of rowlocks, boatswains’ pipes, fifes, and whistling.”  There is such confusion one can hardly analyze one’s surroundings.  However, we soon discover the Peireus has certain advantages over Athens itself.  The streets are much wider and are quite straight,[+] crossing at right angles, unlike the crooked alleys of old Athens which seem nothing but built-up cow trails.  Down at the water front of the main harbor ("the Peireus” harbor to distinguish it from Zea and Munychia) we find about one third, nearest the entrance passage and called the Cantharus, reserved for the use of the war navy.  This section is the famous “Emporium,” which is such a repository of foreign wares that Isocrates boasts that here one can easily buy all those things which it is extremely hard to purchase anywhere else in Hellas.  Along the shore run five great stoas or colonnades, all used by the traders for different