A Manual of Ancient History Part 13

Smaller but remarkable places; Nemea, Cynuria, Troezen.

6. Achaia, originally Ionia, called likewise aegialus, comprises the north coast. Length, 56 geog. miles: breadth, from 12-24. It contains twelve cities, of which Dyme, Patrae, and Pellene are the most important.

7. The little country of Sicyonia, 16 geog. miles long, 8 broad, with the cities of Sicyon and Phlius.

8. The small territory of Corinth, of the same extent as the foregoing, adjoining the isthmus which connects Peloponnesus with the main land.

City: Corinth, originally Ephyra, with the ports of Lechaeum and Cenchreae; the former on the Corinthian, the latter on the Saronic gulf.

The Greek islands may be divided into three cla.s.ses; those which lie immediately off the coasts, those which are collected in groups, and those which lie separate in the open sea.

1. Islands off the coasts. Off the west coast in the Ionian sea: Corcyra, opposite Epirus, 32 geog. miles long, from 8-16 broad. City: Corcyra. A Corinthian colony. Opposite Acarnania; Leucadia, with the city and headland of Leucas.--Cephalonia or Same, originally Scheria, with the cities of Same and Cephalonia. In the neighbourhood lies the small island of Ithaca.--Opposite Elis: Zacynthus. Off the south coast: Cythera, with a town of the same name. Off the east coast, in the Saronic gulf: aegina and Salamis. Opposite Boeotia, from which it is separated by the strait named Euripus, Euboea, the most extensive of all; 76 geog. miles long, from 12-16 geog. miles broad. Cities: Oreus, with the headland of Artemisium on the north, in the centre Chalcis, Eretria. Off Thessaly, Scyathus and Halonesus. Farther north, Thasus, Imbrus, Samothrace, and Lemnos.

2. Cl.u.s.ters of islands in the aegaean sea: the Cyclades and Sporades; the former of which comprise the western, the latter the eastern islands of the Archipelago. The most important among them are, Andros, Delos, Paros, Naxos, Melos, all with cities of the same names.

3. The more extensive separate islands: 1. Crete, 140 geog. miles long, from 24-40 broad. Mountain: Ida. Cities: Cydonia, Gortyna, Cnossus. 2.

Cyprus, 120 geog. miles long, from 20-80 broad. Cities: Salamis, Paphos, Citium, and several smaller places.

Concerning the princ.i.p.al Greek islands off the coast of Asia Minor, see above, p. 18.

# FR. CARL. HERM. KRUSE, _Geographico-Antiquarian delineation of ancient Greece and its colonies, with reference to modern discoveries_. Ill.u.s.trated with maps and plates: first part, 1825.

General Geography: second part, first division, 1826. Second division, 1827. Special Geography of Central Greece. A most minute and careful description of Greece, founded on modern discoveries.

FIRST PERIOD.

_The most ancient traditional history, down to the Trojan war, about B. C. 1200._

Sources: On the formation and progress of history among the Greeks.

Preliminary enquiry into the peculiarities of Grecian mythology in a historical point of view, as comprising the most ancient history of the national tribes and heroes. A history rich in itself, on account of the number of tribes and their leaders; but embellished and altered in various ways by the poets, particularly the great early epic writers, and afterwards by the tragedians.--First advance of history from tradition, wrought by the logographi, especially those of the Ionian cities, Hecataeus, Pherecydes, etc.

until HERODOTUS, so justly called the Father of History, raised it at once to such a lofty pitch of eminence. (Compare # _The historical Art of the Greeks considered in its Rise and Progress, by_ G. F. CREUZER; 1803.) Nevertheless, in Herodotus, and even later writers, history continued to savour of its origin; and so far as the realm of tradition extended, even Theopompus and Ephorus felt no disinclination to borrow their materials from mythologists or poets. It need scarcely be observed, that in this first period the history is merely traditional.

Among the moderns, the English have most successfully treated the subject of Grecian history: the princ.i.p.al works are:

JOHN GILLIES, _The History of Ancient Greece, its colonies and conquests, from the earliest accounts till the division of the Macedonian empire in the east, including the history of literature, philosophy, and the fine arts_. London, 1786, 2 vols. 4to. and

WILLIAM MITFORD, _The History of Greece_. London, 1784, 4 vols.

4to. Several new editions have since appeared. Translated into German, Jena, 1800, sqq. by _H. L. Eichstadt_. Mitford is perhaps superior in learning, copiousness, and solidity, but he certainly is greatly surpa.s.sed by Gillies in genius and taste, and more especially in a proper conception of the spirit of antiquity. [Few English critics will here coincide with our author.]

DE PAUW, _Recherches sur les Grecs_, 1701, 2 vols. 8vo. Replete with partial views and hypotheses.

# HEEREN, _Researches into the politics, intercourse, and trade of the most celebrated nations of antiquity_: 3 vols. 1st part, 4th edit. 1826. [Translated into English, Oxford, 1830, 8vo.]

Many important enquiries on various portions of Grecian history and antiquities will be found in the great collection:

GRONOVII, _Thesaurus Antiquitatum Graecarum_, 12 vols. folio.

Others are contained in the transactions of different learned societies; particularly in

_Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions et des Belles Lettres_, Paris, 1709, sqq. 49 vols. 4to.

_Commentarii_, (4 vols.) _Commentarii novi_, (8 vols.) _Commentationes_, (16 vols.) and _Commentationes recentiores Societatis Scientiarum Gotting._ (5 vols.)

1. Although Greece was originally inhabited by several insignificant races, two princ.i.p.al tribes claim our attention, the _Pelasgi_ and the _h.e.l.lenes_. Both probably were of Asiatic origin; but the difference of their language characterized them as different tribes. The Pelasgi were the first that extended their dominion in Greece.

First seat of the Pelasgians in the Peloponnesus, under Inachus, about B. C. 1800. According to their own traditions, they made their first appearance in this quarter as uncultivated savages; they must, however, at an early period, have made some progress towards civilization, since the most ancient states, Argos and Sicyon, owed their origin to them; and to them, perhaps, with great probability, are attributed the remains of those most ancient monuments generally termed _cyclopian_.--Extension of this tribe towards the north, particularly over Attica; settlement in Thessaly under their leaders Achaeus, Phthius, and Pelasgus; here they learned to apply themselves to agriculture, and remained for a hundred and fifty successive years; about 1700-1500.

2. The h.e.l.lenes,--subsequently so called from h.e.l.len, one of their chieftains,--originally the weaker of the two tribes, make their first appearance in Phocis, near Parna.s.sus, under king Deucalion; from whence they are driven by a flood. They migrate into Thessaly, and drive out the Pelasgi from that territory.--The h.e.l.lenes soon after this become the most powerful race; and spreading over Greece, expel the Pelasgi from almost every part. The latter tribe maintain their ground only in Arcadia, and the land of Dodona; some of them migrate to Italy, others to Crete, and various islands.

3. The h.e.l.lenic tribe is subdivided into four princ.i.p.al branches, the _aeolians_, _Ionians_, _Dorians_, and _Achaeans_, which continue afterwards to be distinguished and separated by many peculiarities of speech, customs, and political government. These four tribes, although they must not be considered as comprising all the slender ramifications of the nation, are derived by tradition from Deucalion's immediate posterity; with whose personal history, therefore, the history of the tribes themselves and their migrations is interwoven.

This derivation of the tribes will be better understood by an inspection of the following genealogical table:

DEUCALION.

| h.e.l.lEN.

|--------------------|--------------------| DORUS. XUTHUS. aeOLUS.

| |---------|-------------| | DORIANS. | | aeOLIANS.

ACHaeUS. ION.

| | ACHaeANS. IONIANS.

4. The gradual spread of the various branches of the h.e.l.lenic tribe over Greece was effected by several migrations, between B. C. 1500-1300; after which they preserved the settlements they had already obtained until the later migration of the Dorians and Heraclidae, about 1100.

_Princ.i.p.al data for the history of the separate tribes in this period._

1. aeOLUS follows his father h.e.l.len into Phthiotis, which consequently remains the seat of the aeolians; they spread from thence over western Greece, Acarnania, aetolia, Phocis, Locris, Elis in the Peloponnesus, and likewise over the western islands.

2. DORUS follows his father into Estiaeotis, the most ancient seat of the Dorians. They are driven from thence after the death of Dorus by the Perrhaebi; spread over Macedonia and Crete; part of the tribe return, cross mount Oeta, and settle in the Tetrapolis Dorica, afterwards called Doris, where they remain until they migrate into Peloponnesus, under the guidance of the Heraclidae; about 1100. (See below, p. 127).

3. XUTHUS, expelled by his brothers, migrates to Athens, where he marries Creusa, daughter of Erectheus, by whom he has sons, Ion and Achaeus. Ion and his tribe, driven out of Athens, settle in that part of Peloponnesus called aegialus, a name which by them was converted into Ionia, and in later times exchanged for Achaia. The Achaeans preserve their footing in Laconia and Argos, until the time of the Dorian migration.

# L. D. HUELLMAN, _Early Grecian History_, 1814. Rich in original views and conjectures, beyond which the early history of nations seldom extends.

# D. C. OTFRIED MUELLER, _History of the h.e.l.lenic Tribes and Cities_, 1820, vol. 1. containing, _Orchomenus and the Minyae_; vols. 2, 3, containing the _Dorians_, 1825.

5. Besides these original inhabitants, colonies at the same early period came into Greece from civilized countries, from Egypt, Phoenicia, and Mysia. The settlements of these strangers occurred probably between B.

C. 1600-1400.

Establishment in Attica of the colony of Cecrops, from Sais in Egypt, about 1550; in Argos, of the colony of Danaus, likewise from Egypt, about 1500.--The colony of Cadmus, from Phoenicia, settles in Boeotia about 1550.--The colony of Pelops, from Mysia, settles in Argos about 1400.

6. The mythology of the h.e.l.lenes proves beyond a doubt, that they were at first savages, like the Pelasgi since they had to learn even the use of fire from Prometheus; yet it is equally clear that they must, even in the earliest period, particularly from 1300-1200, when they had ceased to migrate, have made the first important steps towards the attainment of a certain degree of civilization. About the time of the Trojan war they appear to have been still barbarians, though no longer savages.

7. The origin and progress of this national organization, and the influence wrought upon it by settlers from foreign countries, are difficult subjects to determine. If we allow that Cecrops was the first who introduced marriage in Attica, and that agriculture and the cultivation of the olive were discovered in that country, it unquestionably follows, that the h.e.l.lenes were indebted to strangers for the foundation of domestic civilization. And when we consider that the families which subsequently held sway were descended directly from the most powerful of these strangers, their lasting influence can hardly be a matter of doubt. It must, however, be observed, that what the Greeks borrowed from foreigners they previously stamped with their own peculiar character, so that it became, as it were, the original property of the nation. The question, therefore, is deprived of much of the importance which it a.s.sumes at the first glance.

8. The case was the same with regard to all branches of intellectual civilization, particularly religion. That many deities and religious rites were introduced into Greece from Egypt, Asia, and Thrace, and generally through Crete, hardly admits of a doubt; but they did not therefore remain Egyptian, Asiatic, or Thracian; they became Grecian G.o.ds. Hence it appears that the investigation of those relations can hardly lead to any important conclusion. It is a fact, however, of the highest importance, that whatever G.o.ds the Greeks adopted, no separate order of priesthood was established among them, still less any caste laying claim to the exclusive possession of knowledge. Several traces, nevertheless, make it probable, that many of the most ancient sanctuaries were settlements of Egyptian, Phoenician, or Cretan priests, who imported with them their own peculiar forms of worship. And notwithstanding this worship consisted merely of outward ceremonies, many ideas and inst.i.tutions which were attached to it, became, in this manner, the common property of the nation.

9. It was princ.i.p.ally, therefore, by religion, that the rude mind became in some degree polished. But it was the ancient minstrels, ([Greek: aoido],) Orpheus, Linus, etc., who, by disseminating religious principles, contributed so much towards abolishing revenge, and with it the perpetual state of warfare which had hitherto distracted the country. These it was who in their mysteries contrived in some measure to impress the narrow circle of the initiated with the advantages resulting from a civilized life.