Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

38

HISTORY OF GREECE.

which at length united a group of islands, once | feelings: it seems to have been viewed as an
at some distance from the shore, with each audacious Titanian effort of barbarian power;
other, and with the continent. The fertile land and when Nero actually began it, having open-
thus gained became the theatre of many con- ed the trench with his own hands, the belief of
flicts between the bordering tribes; and the in- the country people may probably have concur-
undations of the river probably gave rise to the red with the aversion of the prætorian workmen,
Ætolian legend, according to which Hercules to raise the rumour of howling spectres, and
had wrestled with the Achelous for the hand of springs of blood, by which they are said to have
their king's daughter Dejanira. Another fer- been interrupted.* Pliny notices the disastrous
tile plain was similarly formed by the Evenus, fate of all who had conceived the project; f and
the second in size of the Ætolian rivers, which, Pausanias observes, that Alexander had been
oracle, in similar attempts to do violence to the
descending from the side of Eta, parted the baffled, and the Cnidians stopped by the Delphic
ancient districts of Pleuron and Calydon.
works of God.‡

Acarnania, lying between the lower part of
the Achelous, which took its rise in Pindus be-
yond the limits of Greece, and the Ionian Sea,
was, like Etolia, a mountainous land, but its
hills, still clothed with thick forests, are less
lofty and rugged. The valleys of both countries
contain some extensive lakes, surrounded by
rich pastures. Northward of Acarnania, on the
Ambracian Gulf, lay the territory of the semi-
barbarous Amphilochians, and that of Ambracia,
which met the southern confines of Epirus. A
peninsula, called Leucas, from the white cliff
celebrated in ancient fable for the cure of des-
perate love, once projected from the western
coast of Acarnania, but was afterward severed
from the mainland by a narrow channel opened
Southward of it, a
by its Corinthian colonists.
cluster of islands, including Ithaca, Cephallenia,
and Zacynthus, cover the opposite shores of
Acarnania and Peloponnesus.

The face of Peloponnesus presents outlines At first sight, the whole land appears somewhat more intricate than those of Northern Greece. one pile of mountains, which, towards the northwest, where it reaches its greatest height, forms a compact mass, pressing close upon the Gulf of Corinth. On the western coast it recedes farther from the sea; towards the centre, is pierced more and more by little hollows; and on the south and east, is broken by three great gulfs, and the valleys opening into them, which suggested to the ancients the form of a plane leaf, to illustrate that of the peninsula. On closer inspection, the highest summits of this pile, Thus with their connecting ridges, may be observed to form an irregular ring, which separates the central region, Arcadia, from the rest. bounds it on the east, is connected, by a chain the range of Artemisium, and Parthenium, which of highlands running from east to west, with the northern extremity of Taygetus; this, again, is linked with the Lycean and Nomian Mountains, which form the western frontier, and stretch on towards Pholoe, which meets the great northern barrier, including Olenus, Scollis, Erymanthus, Aroanius, and Cyllene. The territories which skirt the three principal gulfs are likewise enclosed by lofty ranges, ending in bold promontories, and exhibit each a peculiar character. The northern and western sides contain no such prominent landmarks; and the states which possessed them were separated by artificial rather than by natural limits.

The mountains which encircle Arcadia are so connected as to afford a passage for its waters

We observed that the Onean range, which extends over the greater part of the territory of Megara, terminates in the Isthmus; and this is true for a general and distant survey. The Isthmus, however, is not exactly level. The roots of the Onean Mountains are continued along the eastern coast in a line of low cliffs, till they meet another range, which seems to have borne the same name, at the opposite exThis is an important tremity of the Isthmus.* feature in the face of the country: the Isthmus, at its narrowest part, between the inlets of Schanus and Lechaum, is only between three and four miles broad; and along this line, hence called the Diolcus, or Draughtway, vessels were often transported from sea to sea, to avoid the delay and danger which attended the circum-only by one opening, the defile (below Caritena, navigation of Peloponnesus. Yet it seems not to have been before the Macedonian period that the narrowness of the intervening space suggested the project of uniting the two seas by means of a canal. It was entertained for a tine by Demetrius Poliorcetes; but he is said to have been deterred by the reports of his engineers, who were persuaded that the surface of the Corinthian Gulf was so much higher than the Saronic, that a channel cut between them would be useless from the rapidity of the current, and might even endanger the safety of Ægina and the neighbouring isles. Three centuries later, the dictator Cæsar formed the same plan, and was perhaps only prevented from acThe complishing it by his untimely death. above-mentioned inequality of the ground would always render this undertaking very laborious and expensive. But the work was of a nature rather to shock than to interest genuine Greek

* Leake, iii., p. 311.

or Brenthe) through which the Alpheus descends
to the Western Sea. This is the principal fea-
eastern part of Arcadia. On the west, a num-
ture which distinguishes the western from the
ber of valleys open into the basin of the Alphe-
us, bringing down tributaries, some of which
are considerable rivers, as the Ladon, and the
Erymanthus, which flow from the northern
mountains; and several ancient towns in this
region were built on heights near the confluence
of the neighbouring streams: as Cleitor, Psophis,
Methydrium, Brenthe, Gortys, and Heraa. On the
other hand, the eastern portion of Arcadia is in-
tersected by lower ridges, which completely en-
close a great number of little plains, so that the
streams which fall into them find no visible out-
let. Such are the plains of Asea, Pallantium,
Hence a great part of the coun-
Tegea, Mantinea, Orchomenus, Alea, Stymphalus,
and Pheneus.
† ii., 1, 5.
try would be covered with stagnant pools, and
† N. H., iv., 5.
*Dio Cass., lxiii., 16.

its air generally infected by noxious vapours, the ancients for its luxuriant fertility. The do-
did not the inland rivers and lakes find means minions of Corinth, which also extended beyond
of escaping through chasms and subterraneous the Isthmus, meeting those of Megara a little
channels, not uncommon in limestone mount- south of the Scironian Rocks, occupied a con-
ains, but which perhaps nowhere occur so fre- siderable portion of Argolis. The two cities,
quently, within an equally narrow compass, as Sicyon and Corinth, were similarly situated,
in Arcadia. So the Aroanius, even after Her- both commanding important passes into the in-
cules had cut a canal to guide its course into terior of the peninsula.* The hill which was
the Lake of Pheneus, would have encroached on the site of Sicyon, probably in the earliest as well
the surrounding plain, if it had not been receiv- as the latest period of its history, rose near the
ed by a vast gap at the foot of a mountain, openings of two ravines or valleys, those of the
through which it descends to rise again, under Helisson and the Asopus. The latter river de-
the more celebrated name of the Ladon. So scended from the plains of Phlius and Orneæ,
the waters collected in the plain of Mantinea, The lofty and precipitous rock, called the Acro-
at the western foot of Mount Artemisium, gush corinthus, on which stood the citadel of Corinth,
up out of the sea near the eastern coast. So though, being, commanded by a neighbouring
the Lake of Stymphalus disgorges itself into a height, it is of no great value for the purpo-
chasm, from which it issues again in the plain ses of modern warfare, was in ancient times
of Argos as the Erasinus. The Alpheus, above an impregnable fortress, and a point of the high-
all, is a Protean stream, and acts at home a est importance, both for the protection of the
wonderful prelude to his fabled submarine ad- Isthmus, and of the pass which led up to the
ventures. According to a general, and appa-plain of Cleone, and thence to that of Nemea.
rently a well-grounded belief, it is the same riv- From the vale of Orneæ a rugged road crossed
er which, springing from several sources on the the mountains into the plain of Argos. But the
western side of Mount Parnon, sinks under more frequented approach from the north was
ground at the foot of Mount Cresium, and rises the narrow, rocky glen of the Tretus, the fa-
again in the plain of Asea, where it is thought bled haunt of the Nemean lion, which branch-
to mingle with the principal source of the Euro-ed off to Cleona and Nemea. A third pass, a
tas.* In this case,
both are once more swal- little to the east of these, called the Contopo-
lowed by the earth, and, after parting below its reia, or staff-road, was accessible only to foot-
surface, reappear-the one in the plain of Me- passengers. †
galopolis, the other in the north of Laconia. The plain of Argos, which is bounded on three
Many of the Arcadian legends were filled with sides by lofty mountains, but open to the sea,
the mythical history of these natural wonders, is, for Greece, and especially for Peloponnesus,
and with the changes wrought by the opening of considerable extent, being ten or twelve miles
or the obstruction of the subterraneous water-in length, and four or five in width. But the
courses. The land was a fit theatre for the la-western side is lower than the eastern, and is
bours of Hercules; and its peculiar features
sufficiently explain the worship of the earth-
shaking Poseidon, and his struggles with the
offended Demeter. The mountains were cloth-
ed with forests, which abounded with game:
the bear was frequently found in them, even in
the days of Pausanias; and it is probable that
they may have afforded attraction for tribes of
bunters or shepherds, while few of the plains
were in a state to repay the labours of the hus-
bandmen. In later times, the Arcadians, ac-
cording to their countryman Polybius, enjoyed
a high reputation among the Greeks for hospi-
tality, kindness, and piety; but he ascribes
these qualities to the success of their social in-
stitutions, in counteracting the natural tenden-
cy of a rugged climate, which, while it inured
them to toil and hardship, disposed their char-lated rock of Nauplia, at the foot of which lay
acter to an excess of harshness.

watered by a number of streams, in which the
upper side is singularly deficient. In very an-
cient times the lower level was injured by ex-
cess of moisture, as it is at this day; and hence,
perhaps, Argos, which lay on the western side,
notwithstanding its advantageous position and
the strength of its citadel, flourished less for a
time than Mycena and Tiryns, which were sit-
uate to the east, where the plain is now barren
through drought. A great mass of Argive le-
gends owed its origin to these local features,
and especially to the marsh of Lerna and the
fathomless Alcyonian pool, which bordered the
western shore of the gulf, where popular tradi-
tion placed one of the monsters overpowered
by the strength of Hercules. On the eastern
side the Argolic plain was bounded by the insu-

the port of Argos, not a very commodious shel-
ter even for the ancient shipping; its road ap-
pears to be much better adapted to a modern
fleet.

The other great divisions of Peloponnesus are Argolis, Laconia, Messenia, Elis, and Achaia. Argolis, when the name is taken in its largest sense, as the part of Peloponnesus which is The peninsula which parted the Saronic from bounded on the land side by Arcadia, Achaia, the Argolic Gulf, and which was sometimes and Laconia, comprehends several districts, called the Acté of Argolis, is almost wholly ocwhich, during the period of the independence cupied by a chain of hills, which, in the northof Greece, were never united under one govern and loftiest part, bore the name of Mount ernment, but were considered, for the purpose of description, as one region by the later geographers. It begins on the western side with the little territory of Sicyon, which, besides some inland valleys, shared with Corinth a small maritime plain, which was proverbial among

[blocks in formation]

Arachnæum. The territory of Corinth extended
along the eastern coast, till, near the harbour
called Peiraus, it met the confines of Epidaurus,
which, besides a few small maritime plains, pos-
sessed some little inland valleys, one of which
was in great part dedicated to the worship of

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

Esculapius. Midway between the Epidaurian | resents the aspect of a valley enclosed by the coast and that of Attica lay the mountainous lofty cliffs in which the mountains here abruptly island of Ægina, with several others of smaller terminate on each side of the Eurotas. When, size and note. Southward of Epidaurus, the however, the poet added, that the land containterritory of Trazen stretched round Cape Scyl-ed a large tract of arable, but of laborious tillæum, the southeastern point of the Acté. It lage, he may have had, not the plain onlyincluded a fertile maritime plain, in front of though, except near the banks of the river, its which was the noble port called Pogon, shel- soil is said to be poor-but the highlands in tered by the high rocky peninsula of Methana, view. For both Parnon and Taygetus, more and by the islands of Hiera and Calaurea, now especially towards the north, include many genunited by a narrow sandbank under the name tle slopes and high valleys, which well repay of Poro. West of Cape Scyllæum, the city of cultivation. On the western side, in particular, Hermioné, once the capital of an independent the lofty rocks which bound the Spartan plain state, occupied a small peninsula facing the support a comparatively level region, which is islands of Hydrea and Tiparenus,* which have not much less productive than the vale below. become more celebrated in modern times than The ridge of Taygetus, beginning in the north they are in ancient story. On the western side from the basin of the Alpheus, which separates of the Acté, Asiné, and its little territory inter- it from the opposite chain of Manalus, rises to vened between the borders of Hermioné and its greatest height towards the centre, where it Argos. is distinguished by five conspicuous peaks, often The range of the Artemisian and Parthenian capped with snow,* and gradually declines tomountains, which separated Argolis from Ar-wards the south, while its sides become more cadia, was only crossed by three natural passes: and more steep and rugged. After sinking to one, called Trochus, leading into the plain of its lowest level, it rises again in the rocky penTegea; and two, called Prinus and Climar, lead-insula of Tænarus,† the southernmost extremity ing into that of Mantinea. This same range of Greece and of Europe. was continued into Laconia, where it took the name of Parnon, and terminated at Cape Malea. The mountains, as they advance towards the south, press more and more abruptly on the eastern coast. Near the opening of the Argolic Gulf, the little district of Cynuria, lying on the frontiers of Argos and Sparta, was once an object of obstinate struggles between the neighbouring states, but during the best part of Grecian history belonged to Laconia.

The character which the poet ascribes to Laconia-that it is a country difficult of access to an enemy-is one which most properly belongs to it, and is of great historical importance. On the northern and the eastern sides there are only two natural passes by which the plain of Sparta can be invaded :‡ the one opening from the upper vale of the Eurotas; the other, from that of the Enus, in which a road leading from Arcadia by the western side of Parnon, and another crossing the same mountain from Argos through Cynuria, meet at Sellasia. On the west, Taygetus forms an almost insurmountable barrier. It is, indeed, traversed by a track, which, beginning near the head of the Messenian Gulf, enters the plain near Sparta, through a narrow defile, at the foot of lofty and precipitous rocks. But this pass appears to be so difficult, that the simplest precautions must always have been sufficient to secure it. At the mouth of the Laconian Gulf, the island of Cythera, containing excellent harbours, was a valuable appendage, or a formidable neighbour, to Laconia.

A long valley, running southward to the sea, and the mountains which border it on three sides, composed the territory of Laconia. It was traversed in its whole length by the Eurotas, and bounded by the range of Parnon on the east, and by that of Taygetus on the west. Three different regions may be distinguished in the basin of the Eurotas. That which may be called the Upper Vale, from the source of the river to its junction with the Enus, a little above the site of Sparta, is narrowly confined between Taygetus and the rugged highlands which connect it with Parnon, and which are probably the district once called Sciritis.† At Sparta the valley is so contracted by the oppo- The chain of Taygetus separates the Lacosite hills as to leave room for little more than nian Gulf from the Messenian, which runs up the channel of the Eurotas, but, immediately much higher into the land. It is not, however, after, it opens into the great Laconian plain. the direct northern continuation of this chain This plain, however, does not extend without that forms the eastern boundary of Messenia ; interruption to the sea, but is again contracted bnt a western branch, which is parted from it into a narrow ravine, by a projection of Tayge-by the Arcadian valley of Cromi. At the nortus, which separates the Vale of Sparta from thern foot of these mountains begins the Mesthe maritime plain of Helos, at the head of the senian plain, which, like the basin of the EuroLaconian Gulf. It is to the middle region, the tas below Sparta, is divided into two distinct heart of Laconia, that most of the ancient epi-districts, by a ridge which crosses nearly its thets and descriptions relating to the general character of the country properly apply. The Vale of Sparta is Homer's hollow Lacedæmon, which Euripides farther describes as girt with mountains, rugged and difficult of entrance for a hostile power. The epithet hollow fitly rep

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

whole width from the eastern side. The upper of these districts, which is separated from Arcadia by a part of the Lycæan chain, and is bounded towards the west by the ridge of Ithome, the scene of over-memorable struggles, was the plain of Stenyclerus, a tract not peculiarly rich, but very important for the protection and

Hence the name Pentedactylon, the ridge of the five fingers, or knuckles. † See Leake, i., p. 301. Ibid., iii., p. 26. Leake, 1., p. 388. Gell, Journey, p. 190.

rupted on the seaside by the insulated promontory of Chalonatas. The rich pastures on the banks of the Elean Peneus were celebrated in the earliest legends; and an ancient channel, which is still seen stretching across them to the sea, may be the same into which Hercules was believed to have turned the river, to cleanse the stable of Augeas.

command of the country, as the principal passes, not only from the north, but from the east and west, fall into it. The lower part of the Messenian plain, which spreads round the head of the gulf, was a region celebrated in poetry and history for its exuberant fertility; sometimes designated by the title of Macaria, or the Blessed, watered by many streams, among the rest by the clear and full Pamisus. It was, no doubt, of this delightful vale that Euripides meant to be understood when, contrasting Messenia with Laconia, he described the excellence of the Messenian soil as too great for words to reach. But Messenia, in general, appears to contain a larger proportion of cultivable ground than Laconia. The plain of Stenyclerus is separated by the plain of Ithomé from another long valley, which stretches to the sea. Far ther westward, the country is broken into hill and dale by ranges of no great height, terminated towards the south by that of Temathia, and towards the west by that of Egaleum, which borders the coast, leaving room only for a few narrow levels at its foot. The climate of Messenia was also extolled by the ancients, in contrast with that of Laconia, as temperately soft; a praise which seems to have been applied to the lower Messenian plain, but which travellers from the north are hardly able to understand. When the necessary deduction has been made The western coast is marked by the deep Bay for the inequalities of its surface, Greece may, of Pylus, which has become celebrated in mod- perhaps, be properly considered as a land, on ern history under the name of Navarino-the the whole, not less rich than beautiful. And it only perfect harbour of Peloponnesus; but bet-probably had a better claim to this character in ter adapted for the shelter of a modern fleet than of the ancient vessels.

A little south of Cape Araxus, the River Larisus was the common boundary of Elis and Achaia. On the western side of Achaia, between Cape Araxus and the straits of the Corinthian Gulf, the high mountains which occupied the confines of Achaia and Arcadia leave some comparatively broad plains open to the sea. But on the Corinthian Gulf they either descend abruptly on the shore, or are separated from it only by narrow levels. These small maritime plains, and the slopes immediately above them, are, however, for the most part, highly fertile; and the soil is peculiarly adapted to some kinds of produce.' They are watered by streams issuing from the heart of the mountains, through deep and narrow gorges, which are the only approaches by which the country can be invaded from the south. The coast is deficient in harbours, which abound on the opposite side of the gulf.

the days of its youthful freshness and vigour. Its productions were various as its aspect; and The River Neda, rising in Arcadia, and flow- if other regions were more fertile in grain and ing through a deep and savage glen, at the foot more favourable to the cultivation of the vine, of a range of hills, connected with Ægaleum, few surpassed it in the growth of the olive, and and including Mount Eira-a name of kindred of other valuable fruits. Its hills afforded abunglory with Ithomé-was the limit of Messenia dant pastures: its waters and forests teemed to the north, and separated it from Elis, or the with life. In the precious metals it was, perElean territory, according to the largest extent haps fortunately, poor; the silver mines of Lauincluded in later times under that name. But rium were a singular exception; but the Pelothe district immediately north of the Neda was ponnesian Mountains, especially in Laconia and properly called Triphylia. It consisted of a hill Argolis, as well as those of Euboea, contained country, bounded by the vale of the Alpheus on rich veins of iron and copper, as well as prethe east, and linking the range of Lyceum with cious quarries. The marble of Pentelicus was that of Pholoe. The Triphylian Hills never re- nearly equalled in fineness by that of the Isle cede from the coast so as to leave more than of Paros, and that of Carystus in Euboea. The a very narrow strip of maritime plain. One of Grecian woods still excite the admiration of the most conspicuous features of this, as in travellers, as they did in the days of Pausanias, general of a great part of the Elean coast, is, by trees of extraordinary size. Even the hills that it is lined by a series of lagoons, parted of Attica are said to have been once clothed from the sea by narrow sandbanks, and fed with forests;† and the present scantiness of its partly by land-springs, but more frequently by streams may be owing, in a great measure, to the waves which break over in stormy weather. the loss of the shades which once sheltered It is not easy to determine at what point of the them. Herodotus observes, that, of all councoast Triphylia met the confines of Pisatis, or tries in the world, Greece enjoyed the most the territory of Pisa. It seems clear, however, happily-tempered seasons. But it seems diffithat, during the period of her independence, cult to speak generally of the climate of a counPisa possessed the whole of the lower vale of try, in which each district has its own, deterthe Alpheus, including the celebrated plain of mined by an infinite variety of local circumOlympia, on the right bank of the river, on stances. Both in Northern Greece and in Pelwhich the ancient city of Pisa itself stood. oponnesus the snow remains long on the highNorth of the Alpheus, Pisatis included a portion er ridges; and even in Attica the winters are of the skirts of Mount Pholoe, and a maritime often severe. On the other hand, the heat of plain, bounded by a low ridge, ending in Cape the summer is tempered, in exposed situations, Ictkys, which separated it from the Elean terri- by the strong breezes from the northwest (the tory, properly so called. This was the tract Etesian winds), which prevail during that seaknown by the name of the Hollow Elis, consist- son in the Grecian seas; and it is possible that ing chiefly of a broad level, extending north*The currant-vine appears to thrive here better than in ward as far as Cape Araxus, and only inter- any other part of Greece. † Plato, Critias, p. 111. VOL. I-F

CHAPTER II.

Herodotus may have had their refreshing influ- | reasonably awaken a suspicion that they were ence chiefly in view. mere fictions, which did not even spring out of Greece lies in a volcanic zone, which extends any popular belief, but were founded on an opinfrom the Caspian-if it does not extend still far-ion which prevailed in the Alexandrian period ther east to the Azores, and from the 45th to of Greek literature among the learned, and the 35th degree of latitude,* the greater part of which was adopted in its full extent by the elder the world known to the Greeks. Though no Pliny. Thus, we find Callimachus speaking traces of volcanic eruptions appear to have been generally of islands as formed of the fragments discovered in Greece, history is full of the ef- which Poseidon had severed with his trident fects produced there by volcanic agency; and from the mountains.* Pliny is more explicit : permanent indications of its physical character he does not hesitate to deliver, as a notorious were scattered over its surface, in the hot fact, that nature had torn Sicily from Italy; springs of Thermopyla, Træzen, Ædepsus, and Cyprus from Syria; Euboea from Boeotia ;† and, other places. The sea between Peloponnesus again, Atalanté, Macris, and Ceos,‡ from Eubœa; and Crete has been, down to modern times, the and that the sea had not only burst through the scene of surprising changes wrought by the straits of the Bosporus, the Hellespont, Rhium, same forces; and not long before the Christian and Leucas-though in this last instance the era, a new hill was thrown up on the coast near channel was notoriously artificial-but that it Trozen, no less suddenly than the islands near had taken the place of the land in the Propontis, Thera were raised out of the sea.t Earth- and in the gulfs of Corinth and Ambracia. We quakes, accompanied by the rending of mount-may, perhaps, most safely conclude, not that ains, the sinking of land into the sea, by tem- these late writers had access to any better inporary inundations, and other disasters, have in formation than we now possess on this subject, all ages been familiar to Greece, more especi- but that they were less afraid of raising a great ally to Peloponnesus. And hence some atten- pile of conjecture on a very slender basis of tion seems to be due to the numerous legends facts. and traditions which describe convulsions of the same kind as occurring still more frequently, and with still more important consequences, in a period preceding connected history; and which may be thought to point to a state of elemental warfare, which must have subsided before the region which was its theatre could have been fitted for the habitation of man. Such an origin we might be inclined to assign to that class of legends which related to struggles between Poseidon and other deities for the possession of several districts; as his contests with Athené (Minerva) for Athens and Træzen; with the same goddess, or with Heré (Juno), for Argos, where he was said, according to one account, to have dried up the springs, and, according to another, to have laid the plain under water with Apollo for the isthmus of Corinth. We might be led to put a like interpretation on the poetical traditions, which spoke of a period when several of the islands between Greece and Asia, as Delos and Anaphe,¶ and even Rhodes, ** and Cyprus,†† were yet covered by the sea, out of which they rose at the bidding of some god. And still greater weight may seem to belong to a tradition preserved by the priests of Samothrace, an island famous for its ancient mystic worship, who told of a great convulsion, which had burst the barriers that once separated the Euxine from the Ægean, and had opened the channels of the Bosporus and the Hellespont. ‡‡ It would not be difficult to connect this tradition with a poetical legend, in which Poseidon was said to have struck the land called Lycaonia, or Lyctonia, with his tri-ple to pursue it, even where we are conscious dent, and to have scattered its fragments, as islands, over the sea. But the vast magnitude of the changes described by these legends may

[blocks in formation]

THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF GREECE. ALL we know about the earliest inhabitants of Greece is derived from the accounts of the Greeks themselves. These accounts relate to a period preceding the introduction of letters, and to races more or less foreign to that which finally gave its name to the country. On such subjects tradition must be either vague and general, or filled with legendary and poetical details. And, therefore, we cannot wonder that, in the present case, our curiosity is in many respects entirely disappointed, and that the information transmitted to us is in part scanty and imperfect, in part obscure and confused. If we only listen to the unanimous testimony of the ancients, we find that the whole amount of our knowledge shrinks into a very narrow compass: if we venture beyond this limit, we pass into a boundless field of conjecture, where every step must be made on disputable ground, and all the light we can obtain serves less to guide than to perplex us. There are, however, several questions relating to the original population of Greece which it may be fit to ask, though we cannot hope for a completely satisfactory answer, if for no other purpose, at least to ascertain the extent of our knowledge. This is the main end we propose in the following inquiry; but we shall not scru

that it cannot lead to any certain result, so far as we see any grounds to determine our opinion on the most interesting points of a dark and intricate subject.

The people whom we call Greeks-the Hellenes were not, at least under this name, the first inhabitants of Greece. Many names have been recorded of races that preceded them there, which they, in later times, considered as

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »