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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/78451-0.txt b/78451-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ff3cfd --- /dev/null +++ b/78451-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10501 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78451 *** + + + + +LECTURES ON ANCIENT ETHNOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY. + + + + + LECTURES + ON + ANCIENT ETHNOGRAPHY + AND GEOGRAPHY, + + COMPRISING + GREECE AND HER COLONIES, EPIRUS, MACEDONIA, + ILLYRICUM, ITALY, GAUL, SPAIN, BRITAIN, + THE NORTH OF AFRICA, ETC. + + BY + B. G. NIEBUHR. + + TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN EDITION OF DR. ISLER, BY + DR. LEONHARD SCHMITZ, F.R.S.E. + RECTOR OF THE HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH; + WITH ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS FROM HIS OWN MS. NOTES. + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + VOL. I. + + LONDON: + WALTON AND MABERLY, + UPPER GOWER STREET, AND IVY LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW. + M.DCCC.LIII. + + LONDON: + PRINTED BY J. WERTHEIMER AND CO., + CIRCUS PLACE, FINSBURY CIRCUS. + + + + +TO THE RIGHT REVEREND + +CONNOP THIRLWALL, D.D., + +LORD BISHOP OF ST. DAVIDS, + +ETC., ETC. + + +MY DEAR LORD, + +Independently of your merits as a profound historian and an inquirer into +the institutions and languages of the Ancient World, whereby you have +given a fresh impulse and a new life to the scholarship of this country, +I cannot, as a pupil of the illustrious Niebuhr, call to mind what you +have done to make British scholars familiar with his labours without a +sense of deep gratitude. This feeling is heightened by the unvarying +friendship with which you have honoured me during the last sixteen years, +and which I have always found ready and willing to assist, in whatever +circumstances it was appealed to. The very idea of publishing any of the +Lectures of Niebuhr would, perhaps, never have occurred to me, had it +not been suggested by your Lordship. Some fifteen years ago, when you +inspected my MS. notes of the Lectures on Ancient, and especially on +Greek, History, you at once perceived their value, and urged on me the +desirableness of their publication. With a natural timidity I at first +shrank from so arduous and responsible an undertaking; and it was not +till I found that no one else would venture upon it, that I resolved to +do my best to carry out your suggestion and to rescue those precious +remains from oblivion. It is now pretty generally admitted that these +Lectures are doing some service to the study of classical antiquity, +and it affords me the greatest satisfaction to have this opportunity +of publicly acknowledging that, in the first instance, the public is +indebted to your Lordship for whatever benefit their publication has +conferred upon the students of ancient history. My own humble but +conscientious labour, in bringing them before the British public, will +be amply rewarded, if the manner in which I have executed my task +should meet with your approbation. With this hope I beg your Lordship’s +acceptance of the present volumes as a small tribute to your genius and +learning, and as a token of the veneration and gratitude with which + + I shall ever remain, + My dear Lord, + Your’s faithfully and sincerely, + + L. SCHMITZ. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The Lectures here offered to the English public were delivered by +Niebuhr in the university of Bonn during the winter of 1827-28, and were +published by Dr. Isler at Berlin in 1851. The German editor, in a short +preface, remarks, that for a time he hesitated as to the propriety of +publishing the present course of Lectures unabridged, because from its +very nature the historian had been obliged here to treat of many topics +which are discussed in the Lectures already published. But a regard for +those readers who may not be possessed of the volumes containing the +other courses of Lectures, and at the same time a desire to keep each +course complete in itself, induced him to give the lectures uncurtailed +and as complete as he found them in the MS. notes. It must also be borne +in mind that Niebuhr, delivering his discourses extempore, cannot be said +exactly to have repeated what he had said on previous occasions; but +that, generally, the statements made in one course of Lectures rather +supplement and complete those put forth at another time. + +The relation in which the present English version stands to the German +original is precisely the same as that described in my Preface to the +“Lectures on Ancient History”; but the present volumes differ from the +previous ones in so far as they do not appear in the _form_ of Lectures. +This is owing to the fact that the division into Lectures is not marked +either in the German edition or in any of the sets of notes which I +had opportunities of collating. The want of such a division, in this +instance, is perhaps scarcely to be regretted, because the subject itself +renders division and subdivision absolutely necessary; and if the merely +accidental division into Lectures had been added, it would frequently +disturb rather than assist the reader. + +Many of the localities and countries here described have been more fully +explored since the delivery of these Lectures, and much information +might accordingly have been added in notes; but I have thought it right +to adhere to the principle which I have followed in the publication of +the Lectures on Ancient and on Roman History, as it is not my object +to furnish complete treatises on these subjects, but to preserve and +bring before the public the views and opinions of a man who still stands +unrivalled as an historical inquirer. + + L. S. + +_Edinburgh, October, 1853._ + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL. I. + + + PAGE + + Preliminary observations 1 + + History of ancient Ethnography and Geography 4 + + Ancient authorities and introductory remarks 11 + + GREECE. + + Greece in general 24 + + Peloponnesus 26 + + The Homeric Catalogue 31 + + Divisions of Peloponnesus 33 + + Argolis, Argos 37 + + Aegina 54 + + Laconia 56 + + Cythera 63 + + Messene 64 + + Arcadia 70 + + Elis 77 + + Achaia 79 + + GREECE BEYOND PELOPONNESUS. + + Attica and Megaris 84 + + Megaris 87 + + Attica 90 + + Athens 93 + + Acropolis, Κιμώνειον τεῖχος, Πελασγικόν, Propylaea 97 + + The Theatre, Agora, Buleuterium, Prytaneum 98 + + The Pnyx, Museum, the New Town, Olympieum 99 + + Academia, Lyceum, Cynosarges 99 + + Piraeeus, Munychia 100 + + The Long Walls 102 + + Population of Athens 107 + + Salamis 111 + + Boeotia 113 + + The Locrian Tribes 123 + + Phocis 126 + + Doris 134 + + Aetolia 136 + + Acarnania 147 + + The Cephallenian Islands 153 + + Thessaly 155 + + Peraebia (Magnesia) 168 + + Achaia (Phthiotis) 170 + + Melians and Malians 171 + + The Dolopians 172 + + Euboea 175 + + Northern islands, Sciathos, Scopelos, Scyros 180 + + Peparethos, Halonnesos, Lemnos and Imbros 181 + + Samothrace, Thasos 182 + + The Cyclades 183 + + Delos 184 + + Paros, Siphnos, Seriphos 186 + + Ceos, Andros, Tenos, Syros, Rhenea, Myconos, Naxos 187 + + Melos, Thera 189 + + Ios, Amorgos, Crete 190 + + Carpathos, Astypalaea, Nisyros 195 + + Rhodes 196 + + Dorian Tripolis in Asia Minor 203 + + Ionia 204 + + Samos 209 + + Chios 213 + + Panionium 215 + + Aeolis 215 + + Lesbos 218 + + Magnesia on the Maeander 220 + + The Kingdom of Pergamus 221 + + Greek Settlements in Macedonia and Thrace 224 + + Chersonesus Thracica 234 + + Chersonesus Taurica 244 + + The north coast of Asia Minor 248 + + Epirus 251 + + Thesprotia 256 + + The Suliots 258 + + The Chaonians 260 + + The Molottians 261 + + The Atintanians 269 + + The Pelagonians 269 + + The Orestians 269 + + The Parauaeans 269 + + The Amphilochians 269 + + The Agraeans 270 + + Corcyra 272 + + Macedonia 275 + + Athamania 280, _n._ + + Macedonia prima 281 + + Emathia 286 + + Pieria 288 + + The Bottiaeans 288 + + The Paeonians 288, 296 + + Mygdonia 288 + + The Edonians 288 + + The Agrianians 296 + + Illyricum 297 + + The Amantians 306 + + The Bulliones 306 + + The Dessaretans 309 + + The Autariatae 309 + + Migrations of Nations 310 + + Ardyaeans and Parthinians 311 + + Dalmatia 312 + + Pharos 314 + + Corcyra Melaena 314 + + Melite 314 + + + + +LECTURES + +ON + +ANCIENT ETHNOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY. + + +All history resolves itself into a knowledge of the circumstances in the +midst of which events occur, and of the events themselves; in an abstract +point of view, the two are conveniently kept apart, although concretely +they can never appear separated. A history which does not enter into the +development of circumstances at all, and altogether pre-supposes them +to be known, is scarcely conceivable, unless indeed it were written for +contemporaries alone. Nevertheless, however, the one side or the other +predominates, according to the predilection of the individual historian. +Livy gives scarcely anything but the narration of events; earlier +historians were fond of occupying themselves with the description of +circumstances, and the more ancient the historian the more striking is +this peculiarity. Thucydides, the greatest of all historians, whenever +he has an opportunity, as in his description of nations, dwells upon +the representation of circumstances. In the earliest times, therefore, +ethnography and chorography were always the principal objects of +attention, while subsequently this tendency decreased more and more, and +the narration of events alone was attended to. The two, however, ought +not to be separated, for without a knowledge of the circumstances in the +midst of which events take place, the study of history is altogether +useless. The mere knowledge of a country, however, is not sufficient; +the peculiarities of its inhabitants, its products and the like, must +be well known to the student; and without this history has no life. On +the other hand, we are often unable to picture to ourselves even modern +European nations from a mere narrative of events, unless we have at the +same time some insight into their manners and customs. But the history +of ancient nations more particularly cannot be understood without a +knowledge of the circumstances arising from the peculiarities of their +countries. Philological knowledge is the _conditio sine qua non_; but +were a man ever so great a philologer, unless he be at the same time +acquainted with the ancient constitutions, the political divisions, and +the soil and climate of the countries, his ability to interpret the +ancient authors would be nothing but “a sounding brass and a tinkling +cymbal”; he would be in the same condition in which we find the wretched +grammarians of old. + +A knowledge of the ancients may exist in an endless variety of degrees; +a perfect knowledge is altogether unattainable. The time which separates +us from them cannot be removed; but the difference of space presents +no such insurmountable difficulty. The soil and the atmosphere of the +classic countries have something so peculiar, and so utterly foreign to +us, that to obtain a perfect familiarity with the ancient classics, it is +necessary to know those countries and live in them, for unless we have +seen them with our own eyes, we easily form erroneous notions; and this +is required more particularly of him who wishes to understand the Latin +poets. But still, even if a person cannot actually visit the countries, +he may supply the defect, in a great measure, by a loving and diligent +study. To initiate you into this, and at the same time to indicate to +you those facts which are absolutely certain as points to start from, is +the object of these Lectures. I shall give positive results which you +may receive with confidence, and which I have arrived at by diligent +and laborious research: they chiefly refer to changes of nations and +countries, but at the same time topography shall not be excluded. + +It is easy to perceive that this department of knowledge may be treated +in various ways, for there are histories in which every thing that +happened at the same period, is related synchronistically, while we may +also look at events from the point of view of one particular nation. The +same difference exists in ethnography and chorography. In the present +Lectures it is my intention to give information about the classical +nations of antiquity, and about the whole range of nations which are +connected with them either by literature or by history, but I do not +mean to treat of all the nations of antiquity in the widest sense of +the term. I shall speak of the East and of Africa only so far as they +come within the reach of the Greeks and Romans; I shall not touch upon +the non-classical nations, though they are now better known from native +accounts. I shall notice the migrations in Africa and those of the +Scythians, as well as the Bactrian empire and other eastern countries. +Of India I shall not speak according to Indian authorities, which were +unknown to the ancients, but I shall follow the accounts furnished by the +Greeks. Scandinavia will, for the most part, be dealt with in the same +manner; the Finnian nations will be passed over altogether, as well as +those parts of Africa which do not come in contact with the classical +nations. + +The time, which for us forms the boundary between antiquity and the +middle ages, cannot be determined with absolute precision; ancient +and middle-age history cannot, in their whole extent, be separated by +a straight line; the line undulates without any definite law. With +some nations it falls at an earlier, and with others at a later time, +according as their countries were taken possession of by barbarous +tribes at an earlier or later period. For most European nations, the +migration of nations forms the line of demarcation, and the immigration +of the Franks, Suevi, Vandals, Burgundians and others forms the close +of antiquity, while in the eastern empire it lasted till the Arab +conquest. It is but seldom that in this respect we shall be apparently +inconsistent, when, for example, we describe the condition of Rome and +Ravenna during the period of the exarchate; for in point of fact, these +two cities down to the restoration of the western empire, belong to +ancient, and not to mediaeval history. Such lines of demarcation cannot +be slavishly adhered to without pedantry. + +We may further raise the question, as to whether the geographical +knowledge of the ancients, that is, an examination of their notions +about the earth, its parts and its inhabitants should come within our +sphere. In so far as their notions were erroneous, such discussions would +be tedious and disagreeable; and they form no part of our objective +consideration of ethnography and chorography. This science, however, +the creation of Voss, is a very essential part of the propaedeutics +to a right understanding of the ancient authors: it belongs, in a +subjective point of view, to the history of geography, and the gradual +extension of geographical knowledge. We shall take into our consideration +only those parts of that science which have a direct bearing upon our +object, by shewing us the condition of the countries at the time, and +the connections and relations among peoples distant from one another. +Whoever treats of geography as a science, that is, whoever intends to +give a history of geography, must dwell upon these points; but then he +cannot confine himself to the Greeks and Romans, he must at the same time +discuss the geographical knowledge of the Arabs, Scandinavians, and other +nations. + +The history of ancient geography and ethnography after the revival +of letters, is the same as that of all other studies connected with +the investigation of antiquity. After the restoration of learning, +all information about ancient geography was sought exclusively in the +ancient authors; the whole of the middle ages had added nothing to it; +whatever advances were made, proceeded from practical men, and not from +the learned. The consequence of this state of things was the unfortunate +separation of dead learning from practical life: the knowledge of the +learned had its root in their books, and was thereby spoiled in its very +beginning; it is true, all erudition is based on books, but it must be +amalgamated with practical knowledge. To transfer that which was handed +down in books to the actual, visible world was a very difficult task, +and the acquisition of practical experience was no part of a scholar’s +business. This state of things remained the prevailing evil until the +17th century; and during that period, the ἰδιῶται were much more learned +than the λόγιοι. The first attempts of geographers consisted of lifeless +compilations from ancient books; and only that which was not found in +them was sparingly derived from the actual and living knowledge. The most +striking example of this kind is Raphael Volaterranus, in that part of +his Encyclopaedia, in which he treats of geography; for in describing the +countries of Europe, which had become entirely changed, he copies Pliny +and Mela, and it is not till they cease to furnish him with information, +that he borrows a few things from the actual knowledge of his time. +Although he lived at Rome, he describes it as it had been a thousand +years before him. In the East, and especially at Constantinople, the maps +of Ptolemy were used throughout the middle ages—whether the same was +the case in Italy, I cannot decide; the earliest Italian maps are not +older than the fifteenth century. The maps of Ptolemy were then brought +over to the western countries; and from them the learned formed some +sort of notion of the geographical and ethnographical knowledge of the +ancients. But as early as the thirteenth century—the Arabs had done so +even before—the Venetians, Genoese, and Catalanians had become acquainted +with the Greek and Arabic maps, and it was these unlearned men that, +in extending geographical knowledge, took these maps as their basis, +and remodelled them into new and practical maps, especially sea-charts, +which they had so much improved. But this was unknown to the scholars +of the fifteenth century; and even in the sixteenth, their ignorance is +almost inconceivable. It was not till the seventeenth century that the +nations of western Europe arrived at the age of maturity; that century +checked this irrational philological tendency, and for a time, philology +itself; it gave a different direction to scholarship, and thus laid the +foundation of our modern philology. The time had now come, when a living +account of ancient geography based on autopsy could be undertaken. + +The first work of eminence was the production of a German, Philip Cluver, +on Italy, Sicily, and Germany; it ranks very high, though all its parts +are not equal in value, the _Germania_ being very considerably inferior +to the two others. The _Italia_ and _Sicilia_ must be regarded as one +work; what he has done for these countries is excellent, and nearly all +the passages of the ancients referring to them have been fully collected +by him. When we are told, that he collected the materials for his work in +the space of eighteen months, we must probably understand this to mean, +that, after having previously read through all the ancient authors, he +collected in his mature age his reminiscences within the short period +alluded to. He was professor in the university of Leyden; and the states +general of Holland, which were usually very active in their support of +learned men, granted him permission for a journey to Italy, and at the +same time allowed him the enjoyment of his salary.[1] He had great tact +in discovering and remembering localities; he knew how to see things with +his own eyes, and at the same time had a clear intellect in examining +things impartially. His reputation is firmly established, his work is +immortal among scholars, it will always be great and classical, and +there is but very little that can be added to it. But he did not rightly +understand the ethnography and history of the Italian nations, nor did he +sufficiently attend to the stages through which ancient history passes, +and by which the nations ascend as by the steps of a ladder. Ancient +history becomes confused by the supposition that no event is historical, +which is not recorded in the extant ancient authors. Such a view can +be entertained only by timid minds. There are often manifest gaps in +history, which are not noticed by the ancients, because they themselves +did not perceive them, or because they did not find them pointed out in +earlier writers. Even the great Perizonius combats such narrow views; and +it is for this reason that Cluver’s accounts of nations are often full +of mistakes. This is the defect in his excellent work, but its details +are not the less valuable on that account. He did not live long enough to +revise his work, for he did not attain an advanced age. + +His example was followed by a no less distinguished man, who attempted to +compose a chorography of Greece, which was even far more difficult than +that of Italy. This undertaking was the more laborious, because there +were scarcely any preparatory works that could be made use of; for Italy +had been visited before, and the travels of Baptista Alberti furnished +Cluver with a very good foundation. The maps of Greece, which were then +in use, were very wretched; those of Ptolemy are badly projected, and +only a few countries are treated with any degree of minuteness. In the +middle ages, Greece was very little visited by Europeans, so that during +that period it was almost as unknown as Ethiopia is now; and a geography +of Greece was therefore a want that was seriously felt. Paulmier de +Grentemesnil (Palmerius), a French nobleman of Normandy, undertook a +journey to Greece. He, together with the two brothers Valois, closes +the glorious array of the great French philologers, who combined the +knowledge of language with that of things. Unfortunately he did not +complete his work, because he had planned it on too grand a scale: his +scheme also embraced Illyricum and Macedonia, and he completed only +his account of these two countries, together with that of Epirus and +Acarnania. He, too, has left much that requires to be rectified, but this +does not detract from his greatness. The idea of continuing the work has +occurred to no one, though at present there are men who possess all the +qualifications for such a task. However, the completion of the work in +the form given to it by its author is now no longer a desideratum. + +In the reign of Louis XIV, when a friendly intercourse with the Ottoman +Porte commenced, and when the relations with it became more intimate, +Greece was first visited by French travellers; maps were then drawn, +which were not indeed quite accurate, but still tolerably good. Thus +De la Guilletiere described Peloponnesus, but his work, which contains +many a valuable observation, has no maps. The first real journey of +discovery to Greece was that undertaken by Spon and Wheler; light was +afterwards thrown upon the geography of Peloponnesus, about the end of +the 17th century, by the campaigns of the Venetian admiral Morosini, +who, for the purpose of his military operations against the Porte, +caused charts and plans to be made of several places by Coronelli; the +struggle for the possession of Candia also was beneficial. Then followed +the excellent travels of Tournefort; some natives of Greece likewise +collected important materials for a description of their country: thus +the archbishop of Janina, known under the name of Meletias, gave a +description of Greece. Yet the materials brought together were never +wrought out in the manner in which Palmerius would have done it. + +Italy and Greece therefore are the only countries which were at all +made the subjects of any learned inquiries. In the meantime books of +travels, which combined ancient and modern geography, also furnished +many materials to increase the knowledge of other countries. Much was +gained by the voyages of the English to India: Egypt was thus brought +to light; and Syria and some of the countries of Asia Minor were laid +open, by Richard Pococke; and many a discovery was made accidentally +during the active intercourse with those countries. The travels of Shaw +are an excellent work for the ethnography of northern Africa, especially +Numidia and the Roman province of Africa: he did for those countries what +Cluver and Paulmier before him had done for others. During the eighteenth +century, the great D’Anville, one of the most brilliant geniuses I know, +without writing many books, contributed, by his maps, more than any other +man to advance geographical knowledge at a gigantic rate. I cannot allow +any opportunity to pass without avowing my admiration of that man’s +greatness: by the light he has thrown upon ancient geography, he has +acquired as much merit in historical philology as in ancient history. +Major Rennell, who is still alive, has undeservedly been placed by the +side of D’Anville; he has done much that is invaluable, he is diligent +and indefatigable in collecting materials; but there is one point in +which he differs from D’Anville, and in which he is far inferior to him. +D’Anville possessed a peculiar power of divination and of estimating +the value of his materials; he was not only extremely industrious in +collecting them, but knew how to value each point most correctly, and +how to use and combine his matter in the most sagacious manner, always +clearly distinguishing between what he knew and what he did not know; +while Major Rennell, on the other hand, has spoiled his best materials +by his scrupulous attempts to reconcile what is incorrect with what is +correct. D’Anville’s _Mémoire sur la Mer Rouge_, for example, is the most +excellent chart of the Arabian Gulf. All the earlier ones were copied +from the ancient Venetian ones; but all at once D’Anville furnished an +accurate, detailed, and astronomically correct description of the coasts, +islands, and countries, which he had compiled from the most different and +wretched materials, furnished by Portuguese, Turkish, and other maps. He +discerned with the most marvellous tact which statements were entitled to +belief and which not. Any one knowing what geography was before the time +of D’Anville, cannot sufficiently admire him. Two of his works, that on +ancient and modern Egypt and that on Gaul, are particularly excellent; +his little manual is of less value. But the whole series of maps in his +Atlas of the ancient world will be unsurpassed, until another D’Anville +arises who shall draw his maps according to the improved geographical +knowledge we now possess. Southern Italy is not yet perfect in his map; +but whenever his representations are incomplete, he himself points it +out; as, for example, in his map of Epirus, which country has now become +much better known in consequence of several military officers of learning +having resided in it. After D’Anville’s death, Barbié du Bocage unjustly +made several alterations in his maps, but in subsequent editions he has +withdrawn them. + +Chorography thus made constant progress, but ethnography did not keep +pace with it. The German work of Mannert, which is extensively used +and has acquired great celebrity, arose out of the materials then +accumulated; the author has worked at it for a period of more than thirty +years, and new and improved editions of the first volumes were published +before the whole was completed. It contains many valuable materials, but +they are by no means wrought out as they should be. The author commenced +his work with very slender scholarship, such as it was at the time, and +without extensive reading. These disadvantages became the more dangerous, +because he was not sufficiently conscious of them, and because he wrote +with animation and interest: he has no survey of his subject, he wants +the real historical tact, and has not read the ancients thoroughly. He +has made many hasty combinations, without sufficient foundation. If any +one wished to review the work, mistakes might be discovered in great +numbers. Thus, _e.g._, he sets up the hypothesis, that the Herodotus who +during the insurrection against Persia was sent as ambassador from Ionia +to Greece, was the same as the historian, without considering that, in +this case, he must have been at least ninety years old when he began to +write his history, and accordingly must have lived at least to the age of +one hundred and twenty years. The maps of Reichardt are thoroughly bad[2]. + +A work on ancient topography is still a desideratum, and one of the +many tasks which a good scholar might undertake; every year in our time +furnishes means to make it more complete. + + +ANCIENT AUTHORITIES AND INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. + +Ancient chorography is not, like Roman antiquities, a department of +knowledge created by modern philology; the ancient authorities for it are +not inconsiderable, for they not only furnish the materials, but the work +of Strabo, for example, is an ample digest of them. The Greeks in general +took an intense interest in geography, and were in this respect quite +different from the Romans; there is no nation that could have done more +and that actually did less for geography than the Romans; they shewed a +perfect indifference in regard to the knowledge of their immense empire. +If we except the Germania of Tacitus, and a few passages in Caesar +about Britain and Germany, which are indeed excellent, Latin literature +furnishes nothing. Pomponius Mela and Pliny give only abridged summaries +of the knowledge possessed by their contemporaries. We know the extent of +Latin literature so perfectly as to be able to assert, that nothing of +importance is lost; the Romans never had a great chorographical work like +that which Strabo wrote for the Greeks. + +But even before Strabo, the Greeks had great works of this kind; nay, +their earliest work in prose, of which we have any knowledge (if +we except the genealogies of Pherecydes, Acusilaus and others, the +simplicity of which is almost beyond our conception), the γῆς περίοδος +of Hecataeus the Milesian, was devoted to chorography. Its character is +not accurately described by any of the ancient authors, but we know +that the titles of his works were “Asia” and “Europe;” and we know from +Stephanus of Byzantium, that he mentioned an immense number of towns and +nations, though probably not in a systematic manner. He seems to have +connected separate narratives with one another, but his real objects were +chorography and ethnography, and not history, whence he is scarcely ever +quoted as an authority on historical matters. It is true, however, that +he did not entirely exclude historical events; it is very possible also +that he may have spoken of the revolt of the Ionians under Aristagoras, +in which he himself had acted so unfortunate a part; and there can be +little doubt that incidentally he also mentioned the history of the +countries of which he was treating. + +Descriptions or γῆς περίοδοι of this kind probably existed in Greece +in great numbers; they were written in a lively manner to afford +entertainment, and for such persons as wished to gain information about +the earth and its inhabitants. But there also existed another kind +of descriptions intended for the practical guidance of merchants and +sailors; these men who had no ambition to investigate the interior of +countries, could not but feel an interest in the descriptions of the +coasts. As navigation was chiefly coasting, the want of such descriptions +was felt, men being anxious to know in what manner town followed after +town, harbour after harbour, and promontory after promontory. These +are the περίπλοι: the most ancient is that by Scylax of Caryanda, a +contemporary of Philip of Macedonia, as I have shewn by incontrovertible +arguments[3]. Besides this description of the Mediterranean, there were +others of the Euxine and the Erythraean Sea, which were composed at a +much later period. Throughout the middle ages, these and similar περίπλοι +were used, and the modern Greeks still have guides similar to those of +their ancestors of old. Even till very recent times, sailors who confined +themselves to the navigation of the Mediterranean, made use of what +are called _Portolani del Mare_, which, previously to the invention of +printing, were circulated in manuscript. The ancients accordingly had two +kinds of materials, descriptions of coasts and descriptions of countries. + +After the time of Hecataeus, 150 years passed away before a real +geography was written by Eratosthenes, whose object was to furnish +a scientific chorography. In Herodotus chorography and history are +combined, both are equally his object. He rarely combats Hecataeus, and +not by name, but he often attacks his system, being conscious that he +can give more accurate information. His work shows us the limits of the +science in his time. + +It is a very interesting inquiry—first undertaken and carried out +in an admirable manner by J. H. Voss—to trace the different notions +entertained by the ancients about the form of the earth, and to examine +their geographical knowledge at the different periods. His merits in +this respect will never be forgotten; but the more I, for my own part, +look with reverence and gratitude upon his inquiries as real models, the +more do I consider myself entitled to make a few observations regarding +the mistakes into which he has fallen. The first is his supposition, +that a thing which is not mentioned by an author, although it is not +opposed to his other statements, must be regarded as if it had been +unknown to him; but the fact is, that authors often knew things without +mentioning them. If Aristotle, during his walks in Piraeeus, a place +frequented by men from all parts of the world, questioned the ναύκληροι, +he might have written a geography, which would excite our astonishment, +as it is excited by his history of animals: the fact that he chanced +not to write a geography does not entitle us to draw a conclusion as to +his knowledge of countries and nations. It is this manner of viewing +things that gave rise to the opinion, that the Greeks knew nothing about +Rome; but there can be no doubt that even Hecataeus spoke of Rome; he +was however not much read,[4] and hence we cannot infer that Rome was +unknown to the Greeks. This inference, however, that a man is ignorant +of a thing, because he does not mention it, is common even in earlier +times. The second mistake of Voss is that he considers the opinions of +a great writer as the standard of the knowledge of his age. This may +indeed be said of Eratosthenes, whose works were in the hands of all who +wished to gain information; and Eratosthenes, moreover, stands already +within the sphere of what may be called a learned or literary period; but +before his time circumstances were very different. We can form a clear +notion of this, if we contemplate nations which have not yet arrived at +definite notions about geography. Eastern people, for example, never +have any scruples about geography; I am acquainted with Asiatics and +others, with whom I have conversed much about ethnography, and who had +never had a geographical book in their hands; they scarcely ever possess +any broad geographical views, but are deeply interested in it; the one +has a knowledge of one thing, and another of another. There is indeed +a certain average amount of knowledge, which every individual may be +supposed to possess, but apart from this, the knowledge of persons who in +other respects are equally well educated, is very different according to +the circumstances in which they are placed. Every inhabitant of Tripoli +and Morocco knows of Bournou, but many are ignorant of everything beyond +its name, and few are acquainted with the interior. In like manner the +knowledge possessed by the learned in ancient Greece was of a very +different kind from that diffused among the people, and every one might +for himself acquire a certain range of knowledge. Some persons who had +travelled in distant lands possessed an extensive knowledge of countries, +and those anxious to learn derived their information from them. It is +therefore generally impossible to say how much geographical knowledge +an otherwise well educated man may have possessed. That which in later +times was to be found in books which were generally read, was known also +to every well-read Greek. But the living knowledge among the people +was far more extensive Herodotus became acquainted in Scythia with +people who had made distant journeys, or had heard accounts from others +extending as far as the Ural mountains; and in like manner, others who +visited Massilia might have obtained equally accurate information from +people that visited Britain; such knowledge, however, was not generally +diffused, but was possessed only by navigators and some others. All +knowledge was purely practical, until some curious inquirer in some much +frequented port collected the scattered information, put together all the +περίοδοι and περίπλοι, and thus formed a geography. Eratosthenes lived +in a large port town, and possessing an extensive library, he was the +first to draw up a general ethnography; before he wrote his work, the +geographical knowledge of one man was immensely different from that of +another. + +The early Greeks and Asiatics entertained the notion that the earth was +a circular plain, floating in the middle between heaven above and the +nether world below. And this was the most natural conception: where +there is no cause for assuming any other form, the circular is the most +probable. The notion of Homer evidently is, that the plain is somewhat +depressed in the centre, forming a basin in which the waters of the +Mediterranean are collected, and that the world-river Oceanus flows round +the upper edge of the plain. This opinion prevailed for a long time; it +was entertained by Hecataeus as well as by Homer. + +Another notion was, that warmth and cold were not to be explained by +the relation of the sun to the earth alone. To this the ancients were +led by the observations, so natural in the south, on the nature of the +winds, which are altogether of a different character from our winds; +their character cannot be traced to topographical causes. We in the north +consider winds as currents of air which bring warmth or cold, according +to the different quarters from which they blow; but a person who has +lived in the south, or has conversed with southern people about the +matter, knows that the winds there have something quite unaccountable. +In order to explain the different peculiarities of the north winds at +Rome (due north, north-west, and north-east), one must assume essentially +different characters in them in regard to the dispersing of clouds, to +brightness of the sky, to the moisture, the effect on the thermometer, +&c. In like manner the three south winds have their peculiarities. It +cannot be explained why the east wind, which blows across the land, +produces rain at Rome, while the west wind, which comes from the sea, +is mild and for the most part dry. Such differences also exist in +Greece, and this led the ancients into speculations. They conceived the +winds to be distinct powers, with original properties which belonged to +them alone. The peculiarities of the winds as described by Pliny may +be recognised even now; I have, however, observed at Rome, that they +have shifted a few points of the compass further west. I am personally +firmly convinced of this; in the present state of physical science one +need not fear to be laughed at, as about 40 years ago: I have mentioned +the subject to several natural philosophers, and requested them to +investigate it. + +Before the rise of mathematical and physical geography, which Aristotle +understood perfectly, though he did not work it out for others, and down +to the time of Eratosthenes, the notion of the ancients was, that the +north wind, which was so disagreeable to them, came from mount Haemus; +to this belief they were probably led by the fact, that they heard of +terrific winds blowing on the coast of Thrace—the Greeks told one another +things about those winds, which made their hair stand on ends;—they +were further told, that in the more northern countries, in Bulgaria, +Wallachia, and in general on the northern slopes of mount Haemus, +the violence of the winds was not to be compared with what it was in +Macedonia and Thrace. Those mountains, therefore, were regarded by them +as the abode of Boreas, and the countries beyond them were believed to +be mild and lovely; in this belief they were confirmed by the stories +about the paradise-like climate in Wallachia. They did not take into +consideration the height of the mountains, and conceived that countries +were milder, the further they were removed from Boreas: the countries +beyond Haemus were, in their opinion, protected against the Scirocco, +which was the most troublesome to them. This is the simple and childlike +story about the Hyperboreans. Herodotus thinks that, if they really did +exist, there must also be Hypernotians, and this would be quite correct, +if Notus had been believed, like Boreas, to dwell in a mountain; but the +fact is, that Notus was conceived to roam over the endless sandy deserts +of Africa which extend to the ends of the earth. + +The maps which existed among the Greeks at a very early period, were made +in accordance with these notions. Herodotus’ account of Aristagoras, who +laid a map before Cleomenes, king of Sparta, is certainly authentic. We +may regard Hecataeus as the author of a map, on which the measures which +Herodotus made use of, were already indicated. As the Hebrews regarded +Jerusalem, so the Greeks considered Greece, and more especially Delphi +and mount Olympus, which lie about the same degree of longitude, as the +centre of the earth. When Herodotus went to Scythia, and there learned +how many days the merchants who traded with the savage nations, had to +travel to the Ural mountain, and when, on the other hand, he heard at +Massilia how near it was from that city to the Garonne and the ocean, +he naturally extended the form of the inhabited earth in different +directions and to different points so far, that his conception did not +at all harmonize with that of the circular plain. On the one hand, he +found at Massilia, that the world-surrounding ocean was not very far from +the Mediterranean, while on the other side it was at an immeasurable +distance, so that in the south and west it was nearer to Delphi than +in the north and east; hence he says, “I smile at those who conceive +the earth to be circular, as if it were made by a turner, and to be +surrounded by the ocean.” His tendency was quite different from that +of his predecessors: it was the peculiarity of his nature minutely to +examine the details, and not to be uneasy, if he did not find in the +whole of his conception a place for every particular point. Some men +feel the necessity of conceiving all things together as one whole, they +cannot understand the parts otherwise than as portions of the whole, and +in the part they even see the whole foreshadowed; but others, who are of +an empirical nature, are the most fit persons to prosecute inquiries; +they form distinct notions of details, distinguish that which they cannot +yet comprehend, and discern the places where they must add something for +the purpose of filling up a gap; they place one detail by the side of +another, and put them in relation with each other, but are unconcerned +about the place which every particular point occupies in the whole +system. If they do reach the height from which they can command a general +view, they survey accurately, but if not, they are aoristic. The latter +might be called atomists, and the former dynamists. Herodotus belongs to +the atomists, and in this respect my father bears a great resemblance +to him; the highest perfection is implied in a complete combination of +the idea of the whole with the most sober investigation of details, and +this perfection we find in d’Anville. While, however, Herodotus wants +to get rid of arbitrary outlines and fancies, he himself unconsciously +invents some definite form in his own mind, though he does not set it +forth externally. Hence, as I have shewn in the transactions of the +Berlin Academy[5], he conceives the Ister and the Nile to flow parallel +but in opposite directions, and according to him, the Ister flows from +north to south into the Euxine, just as the Nile flows from the south +into the Mediterranean; in like manner the Indus and Araxes, according +to him, flow from west to east, and the latter river, as conceived by +him, is almost entirely fictitious. Geography, therefore, at that time +was not universally known; its changeableness and accidental character +is no where more obvious than in Herodotus himself. His notion of the +course of the Nile is, that above the first cataract it flows from west +to east, and that near Elephantine it turns round; and yet he might +without difficulty have informed himself of the true state of the case. +From an inscription found near the cataract among the ruins of the +temple at Ipsambul, and which belongs to some Ionians and Carians, who +had gone into those parts either as soldiers or as ostrich-hunters[6], +it is clear that those Greeks went far beyond the cataracts, and were +very well aware that the Nile flowed from the south. Another proof is +furnished by the Attic orators: when Alexander had crossed the frontier +mountains of India, Aeschines[7] conceived that he had advanced as far as +the polar circle. Such expressions about the polar circles do not occur +in Herodotus, for he does not know that the earth is a globe; this notion +was probably first formed in the East, whence Eudoxus, the astronomer, +received it in forming his sphaera, even before the time of Aristotle; +and many of the expressions referring to it may have found their way into +the language of ordinary life. At Athens all this was very confused, +and many men, according to their own experience, formed individually +very different notions of the geography of the earth. But as Scylax was +accurate in regard to the East, so others were well informed about other +parts; and at Massilia, _e.g._, much was known about the north from +the voyages of Pytheas and others. For a long time people did not know +what conception to form of the sea beyond Massilia; at Athens many, in +the time of Plato, still believed that the ocean commenced on the west +of Italy: but Polybius is already well acquainted with the road from +Narbonne to the Ligeris, and thence to Britain. We must, therefore, not +believe that this country was unknown to the Romans until the conquests +of Caesar, and that it had no place in the maps of Eratosthenes. + +Such was the reputation which Strabo enjoyed among the later Greeks, +that he was always simply called _the_ geographer (Eustathius never +quotes him by any other name), just as Aristotle was simply styled _the_ +philosopher. It is well known that he was a native of Amasia or Amasea, +in a distant part of Pontus, and although his birth-place was not a +Greek town, he seems to have belonged to a Greek family. He was born in +the reign of Augustus, and wrote under Tiberius. We see, from his work, +that he was one of those men who have not chosen their pursuit with a +due regard to their real natural talents: for by profession he was a +speculative philosopher, a Stoic, while in reality he had a genuine +historical mind, and a true historical tact. He composed two great +works, one of which has perished in such an inconceivable manner, that +I very much doubt whether it was ever published. It was a continuation +of Polybius which he wrote, because he was dissatisfied with that +of Posidonius, and the task was one for which he was most eminently +qualified. His geography is an excellent work, and considering the loss +of that of Eratosthenes, it is invaluable, for he was a man of great +judgment; but unfortunately it has not come down to us quite entire. +Until a late period of the middle ages, it existed only in a single +manuscript, which is probably now at Paris; its outward damages seem to +indicate that it is the source from which all the later MSS. were taken. +It is a remarkable fact, that several such MSS. of Greek authors, from +which all others are derived, are still in existence, so that it is +superfluous to collate the others. I may mention, for example, Athenaeus +and the orator Aristides; the MS. of the latter is at Florence, the +library of which city appears to have been particularly rich in such +original MSS., and it is possible, that they were obtained directly from +Constantinople. Eustathius and Stephanus of Byzantium still had complete +copies of Strabo. This geographer has done all that his materials enabled +him to do: the whole of geography, so far as it was known in his time, is +laid down in his book, and that not only the contemporary geography, but +also that of earlier ages with especial reference to the illustration of +the poets, particularly Homer, whence from the very beginning we often +meet with digressions, which do not seem to us to be in exact proportion +to the whole work. We may assert that until the fourth and fifth century, +the geography of the Romans did not extend beyond what had been known +to Strabo; he did not indeed possess the information about Germany and +Britain, which we find in Tacitus; but, generally speaking, we may say +that, with few exceptions, geography during several centuries made no +progress. In Ptolemy we see that the knowledge of the East, especially of +India, had been advanced and extended by merchants, while in Strabo the +knowledge about those countries is rather limited, commerce not having +extended to them till a later period. The knowledge of the Romans about +Egypt, though they had ruled over it for upwards of fifty years, was +still very scanty. Strabo is altogether unmathematical, and Eratosthenes +was farther advanced in this respect, so far indeed as it was possible +for him, though he too, in regard to longitudes, was often satisfied with +mere guesses, which sometimes entirely displaced the right point of view. +All that Strabo knows on these points is derived from Eratosthenes, whose +measurements were still highly imperfect. The division of the heavens +into 360 degrees is very ancient, while that of the earth is of a very +late date, Marinus of Tyre, who lived shortly before Ptolemy, being the +first to introduce it into his maps. One great drawback in Strabo is an +ungenerous hostility towards the great Eratosthenes; the cause of this +desire to quarrel is unknown, and his censure is often very foolish. + +Since the time that Bochart derived the name of Europe from the +Phoenician ערב, it has been generally assumed by all intelligent +inquirers, that the name of our part of the world actually owes its +origin to some Phoenician division of the countries of the earth; it is +also well known that Europa is called a daughter of the Phoenician king +Agenor. Owing to the ill-use which Bochart often makes of Phoenician +etymologies, this one too has been disputed, but it is only those who +throw away the wheat with the chaff that reject his derivation of the +name Europe. Homer seems to have divided the earth into two parts, viz., +πρὸς ἠῶ τ’ ἠέλιόν τε, and πρὸς ζόφον, but his not mentioning other parts +may be merely accidental, and I should therefore not like to adopt Voss’ +opinion, that Homer knew of no other division. The division, according to +the quarters of the world, into Europe, Asia, Libya and Hesperia, seems +to have been very ancient and general among the Greeks. Eratosthenes +made the division according to the four great nations, which is less +convenient, as these nations become mixed and amalgamated with one other. +The opinion that Asia derived its name from the Asian marshes in Lydia +appears to me unsatisfactory; for it was not customary with the Greeks +first to use a name in a limited sense and afterwards to extend it in +the manner in which the Latins[8] gave the name Italia to the smallest +portion of the country, and afterwards extended it instead of applying it +to the whole country at once. Libya is evidently a Phoenician name, as is +clear from Lilybaeum, which signifies “opposite to Libya,”—a name which +the Carthaginians would not have given to a place unless they had called +Africa Libya. The opinion which regards Hesperia as a fourth part of the +world is only a hypothesis, but it is a fact that the name was applied to +the whole of western Europe. Afterwards it was united with Europe, just +as Libya was for a time treated as a part of Asia, though afterwards it +was again regarded as a separate part of the world, while Hesperia has +ever since been considered as only a portion of Europe. + +The boundaries of Europe accordingly likewise differed at different +times. The most ancient mention of the name of Europe in Greek literature +occurs in the hymn on Apollo (v. 251), where it is used in a very +peculiar way: in the north, Europe is quite indefinitely separated from +the barbarous countries, and seems to comprise only Greece exclusive +of Peloponnesus, the islands, Macedonia, Illyricum and Italy. The poet +accordingly applies the name to all the countries north of Peloponnesus. +In Aristotle’s Politics the name is again used in quite a singular way: +after having previously spoken of Asia, he mentions Europe as opposed to +Greece. There may have been many more such designations, but they never +acquired any great importance. + +The river Phasis was probably the boundary between Europe and Asia at an +early period: this remark of Voss appears to me to have a high degree of +probability; in Herodotus, as we may see from his description of Scythia, +the Tanais forms the boundary, but he entertains erroneous notions +about its course, for he conceives that one-half of it flows from the +north to the south. This boundary afterwards remained, as in Scylax of +Caryanda and Eratosthenes, and in like manner the pillars of Heracles +were commonly supposed to form the southern boundary between Europe and +Libya. In regard to Asia and Libya, there existed various views as to +how they should be divided; for a time, probably ever since the days of +Hecataeus, they were regarded as separated by the Nile; in opposition to +this Herodotus remarks, that by such a division Egypt was torn to pieces, +and he justly asks to which of the two parts the Delta is to belong. The +Arabian Gulf forms the true and natural boundary, and this is the view +which was adopted even by Eratosthenes. + + + + +GREECE. + + +The geography of Greece presents great difficulties at the very outset. +Hellas is not a country with natural boundaries; and the application +of the name varies at different times. The ancients did not take it in +the same sense in which we do; with them the names of countries are so +intimately connected with those of the nations inhabiting them, that +they called Hellas all the countries inhabited by Hellenes, including +the Siceliot and Italiot towns as well as the colonies in Asia Minor, +as far as Iberia and Scythia. The country to the east and south of +Ambracia, until the time of the Romans, was not simply called Ἑλλάς, but +ἡ συνεχὴς Ἑλλάς. This designation, however, so peculiar to the whole mode +of thinking of the ancients, is too national, and for us inconvenient, +and we unhesitatingly apply the name of Greece to the country called by +the ancients ἡ συνεχὴς Ἑλλάς. It extends beyond the natural boundary of +Mount Oeta and the Aetolian mountains which are connected with Oeta, +because Thessaly must necessarily be included. We must choose the most +convenient designation; and if in this we differ from the ancients, it is +a necessary deviation made for the purpose of making ourselves understood. + +The only countries which have natural boundaries are first Peloponnesus, +and secondly those parts which are separated from Thessaly by mountains. +But these boundaries are only partial, and the natural limits of the +whole country ought to be extended as far as the north of Thrace, so +as to include that country together with Macedonia and Illyricum as +far as Mount Scardus, and the heights which separate Illyricum and +Macedonia from Servia. But only a portion of this extensive territory +was inhabited by Greeks. Originally it was one united country, being +inhabited by the race of the Pelasgians, while in the historical times +the Hellenes became separated from them; but how this nation arose is +one of the most mysterious points in history. All we can do is carefully +to distinguish between Pelasgians and Hellenes, although there was a +relationship between the two, which is perfectly obscure to us. In +the historical period the whole is already in a state of confusion. +The Hellenic nation, like that of the Latins in Italy, seems to have +proceeded from a small centre; but how this came to pass is a question +involved in impenetrable darkness. A nation calling itself Σελλοί, Ἑλλοί, +Ἕλληνες, is said to have inhabited the highest mountains of Epirus, +and thence to have spread over the whole country which was inhabited +by Pelasgians. This nation was called by its neighbours by the name of +Γραικοί which however was never employed by the nation itself. + +The divisions of Greece are partly natural and partly accidental; +natural is that into Thessaly, Peloponnesus, and the country between the +two. This last, however, has no common name, that of _Hellas proprie +sic dicta_ is quite wrong, because it takes no notice of the islands +and colonies. The question as to whether Greece in the earliest times +had any common name or not, was discussed even by Strabo and others. +My opinion is, that the Homeric names cannot be doubted; during the +period represented by Homer, Argos is the name of the country from the +coast of Peloponnesus as far as the frontiers of Macedonia, and we may +therefore draw a distinction between Hellas and Argos. But that name +lasted only till the development of the Hellenic character.[9] The name +Ἀργεῖοι, applies to the Greeks, who had not yet separated themselves as +Hellenes; and Δαναοί seems to be the name of the Pelasgian inhabitants of +Peloponnesus. When we read in Thucydides that at the time of the Iliad, +Greeks and barbarians were not yet separated, the expression may be +variously interpreted; his opinion probably is, that in those times many +parts of Greece were inhabited by nations, such as Caucones, Leleges, and +others, which were not assimilated to the Greeks, but were distinct in +language and manners; still, however, they are comprised under the name +of Argives, i.e., Pelasgians, for Ἀργεῖοι is not a Hellenic name. The +name Ἀχαιοί is not Hellenic either, and it must be remarked in general, +that Hellenes and Pelasgians were not yet distinguished from each other, +but were vaguely comprised under one name. + +In the earliest times two of those natural divisions, Peloponnesus and +Thessaly, though perfectly independent of each other, appear to have +been of primary importance. We shall first direct our attention to +Peloponnesus, as the purest Greek country, and the only one which forms +a moral and naturally united community, and shows a vigorous nation, not +only because it contained the seats and dominions of the ancient kings, +but because for a long time after, Peloponnesians possessed the supremacy +over the rest of Greece. + + +PELOPONNESUS. + +The name Peloponnesus is singular; it is very ancient, and occurs as +early as the Homeric hymn on Apollo. There can be no doubt that it has +some reference either to a people or to some ruler; how far it may +contain an allusion to the Pelasgians, is a question concerning which +nothing can be said with certainty. Where names differ so widely, a +healthy philology demands that we should abstain from any dangerous +attempt. If we employ a rational method of exegesis, we cannot doubt +that the Atreids were also called Pelopids, and that previously to the +immigration of the Heracleids and Dorians into the peninsula, there +existed an historical dynasty under that name. But whether Pelops is +the historical ancestor of that race, or some kind of hero, whether +he is different from the Pelasgus in the “Supplices” of Aeschylus, +who, according to different genealogies in the Arcadian traditions, +is sometimes called the first man, and sometimes a son of Zeus, are +questions about which, if we judge soberly and thoughtfully, we can say +nothing. The opinion prevalent in the time of the tragedians, that Pelops +was a Phrygian, belongs to a much later period, in which the Trojans too +were regarded as Phrygians, which according to the views of the epic +poems they never could be. + +Another very ancient name, which the Greeks regard as the earlier and +native name, is Ἀπία, for there can be no doubt that it is a proper name, +though some Alexandrians declared it to be an adjective; ἐξ ἀπίης γῆς +does not signify “from a distant,” or “waterless country” (from πίνω), +but from the country of Apia. Those who are anxious to manufacture +history out of etymologies, may find in this name various allusions as, +for example, to the Opicans, but they are all equally hazardous. In +general etymology is necessary; but we cannot be sufficiently on our +guard not to fall into quibbles and fancies. Not to neglect the later +times, I will at once notice the subsequent change of the name into +Morea (ὁ Μορέας). This too has given rise to various etymologies: it is +a very common opinion among the modern Greeks, that the name Morea is +derived from the shape of the country; as the ancients often compared it +to the leaf of a plane tree, so the moderns compare it to the leaf of a +mulberry tree (_mora_), according to which the name would be of Italian +origin. But I am convinced that, at the time when the Bulgarians ruled in +Greece, and when the Slavonians, being pushed onward by them, inundated +Peloponnesus, the country, being the maritime province of the Bulgarian +kingdom, was called Morea from _more_ (the Slavonian word for _sea_), and +consequently, the name originally was in all probability not confined +to Peloponnesus. In the time of the Achaean league, the Romans called +it Achaia, from one of its provinces,—a name, which in fact wholly and +properly belongs to Peloponnesus, until it was extended to the rest of +Greece. + +Peloponnesus, in a physical point of view, is a very remarkable country: +it rests upon a volcanic foundation; and although our history knows +nothing of any eruptions, still we hear of formidable earthquakes. The +island of Thera, in the Greek Archipelago, is the central point from +which a volcanic chain extends below the sea to Peloponnesus, and as far +as Epirus and Thesprotia, while on the other side, it proceeds to Sicily, +Ischia and Mount Vesuvius. Hence earthquakes were very frequent and +eventful occurrences in the physical history of the peninsula. When you +come down from the precipitous heights of Arcadia, or from the opposite +heights of Parnassus and Helicon, you at once see that the country +falls off, and has been formed by the ground sinking in consequence +of this volcanic nature; and I have no doubt that the Corinthian Gulf +was likewise the effect of such causes, for the land on both sides +of it breaks down abruptly. The range of Taygetus, of which Taenarus +forms the southern extremity, is particularly renowned for its internal +convulsions; the most fearful ravages are nowhere so frequent as there, +and about the time of the 80th Olympiad, in particular, the earth was +there in violent agitation: whether this is still the character of that +district, I do not know. The Peloponnesian coast of the Corinthian Gulf +is another scene of earthquakes; there Helice and Bura were swallowed up +by the earth, and as far as history can be traced, one town after another +was destroyed by convulsions of the earth, whence Ποσειδῶν Ἐνοσίχθων was +specially worshipped there, and on Mount Taenarus. Those earthquakes give +rise to lakes discharging their waters through subterraneous canals, +which at times are filled up, and at others are opened again; hence +the lakes are of varying extent, as for example, the Stymphalian lake +in Arcadia. Another effect is, that several rivers of Peloponnesus are +interrupted in their course: they sometimes continue it under ground, as, +for example, the Ladon, while at other times they change their beds, or +disappear entirely in caverns or lakes. Hence also the quantity of water +in some districts is different at different times; this was the case +especially in Argolis, which in the days of Aristotle had lost all its +waters. + +The peninsula of Peloponnesus is properly a system of mountains of very +different kinds; those by which it is connected with the main land +of Greece, the Geranean and Oenean mountains, are of very different +formation from the rest: they are more rugged and barren, and have little +or no vegetation; those in the interior of the peninsula display the +most luxuriant vegetation, and are far more fertile than the mountains +of Italy. Few countries are equal to Peloponnesus in the abundance and +beauty of its vegetation, which in spite of all devastations always +revives with youthful vigour. Its mountains, although they contain +districts without water, are on the whole abundantly supplied with +it, especially in Arcadia, and it is this circumstance that makes the +vegetation so splendid. I have been told by persons who had been in +Arcadia, that no country on earth can compete with it in beauty on +account of the forms of its mountains, its trees, etc., and the most +magnificent Alpine vegetation is not richer than that of Arcadia. +The highest points of the peninsula are the mountains which separate +the maritime country of Achaia from Arcadia, in the neighbourhood of +Stymphalus. In the ravines of those mountains snow is found even in +summer, though not on the tops of the mountains, and there is not one +mountain in all the peninsula, which is capped with snow. All Arcadia +is a conglomeration of mountains, which, even with the assistance of +maps can hardly be divided into their elements; whence it is a vain and +useless attempt to fix the definite names which are mentioned by the +ancients. We cannot, for example, define Mount Maenalus, and what is +generally described as the site of Erymanthus, is only conjectural. All +we can say, is that Maenalus was perhaps the central, and Lycaeus the +southern range of Arcadian mountains. All these mountains and rivers +now have different names: a proof that the Slavonians entirely changed +the ancient population. The traveller asks in vain where the Alpheus +is; Mount Taygetus is now called Pentadactylon, and all the other names +are barbarous. Taygetus is very high, but not quite so high as the +highest Arcadian mountains; the name belongs to the whole range from the +frontiers of Arcadia down to Cape Taenarus, now Cape Matapan. + +Peloponnesus has but few plains which do not almost deserve the name of +valleys: those of Elis and Argos—perhaps that of Sicyon also, though it +is not quite plain—are the only ones which deserve special notice. Elis +is a plain, encircled by a range of hills which are not high; Argos is +properly still more spacious and less enclosed, though the mountains +of Corinth are continued along the Acte. The district of Calamata, in +Messenia, is a real valley, the work of the river Pamisus; and Laconia, +along the Eurotas is a real river-valley. All these valleys are of +extraordinary fertility, and the only barren portions of Peloponnesus +are about Corinth, where the ground is very rocky, and the district in +Argolis between ancient Mycenae, Epidaurus and Troezen; the plain of +Sicyon is undulating and capable of cultivation. Achaia, on the northern +slope of the Arcadian mountains is less hilly, if we except Cape Rhion; +it has only low hills, but considerable valleys along the rivers. + +Wherever in Peloponnesus the plough can be applied, the soil rewards the +labour; the trees are magnificent, and most of them are fruit trees. The +heights are rich in chesnuts and eatable acorns; the olive tree grows +admirably in Peloponnesus, and for it the peninsula seems specially +created; it is found upon all the lower hills, and extends even high up +into the mountains; hence, the cultivation of olives was the principal +object of agriculture; the vine was not so much cultivated, though many +districts produce good wine. When Peloponnesus was thickly peopled, +it did not produce grain sufficient for its inhabitants, whence corn +had to be imported from Sicily, and this necessity easily explains the +settlements in Sicily and Italy. The Arcadian Alps afford very excellent +pasturage, and although the Arcadian shepherd little answers to the ideas +which were entertained of him some seventy or eighty years ago, yet the +inhabitants, a strong and robust race of men, are still chiefly occupied +in sheep breeding. Mutton is still eaten there in great quantity as in +the East, while beef is a luxury. Cattle-breeding was also carried on on +mount Taygetus, in Laconia, but with this difference, that the shepherds +in Arcadia were free men, while those in Laconia were serfs. + +The political division of Peloponnesus, or the geography of the +population, as might be expected, was different at different periods, +from the age of the poetical mythus down to that of the decay of +ancient life. If I wanted to confine myself to the intermediate or +really classical period, I should render an accurate survey a matter +of considerable difficulty, as I should constantly have to refer to +earlier and later states of things. I shall therefore notice the +different divisions of Peloponnesus from the earliest times, beginning +with the mythical geography so far as it is mentioned with any degree of +certainty, and then pass on to that of the historical period. We shall +accordingly commence with the survey given by Homer in the second book of +the Iliad. + +The Homeric Catalogue is a very remarkable document: it is a very +ancient historical piece of composition, drawn up in the verse most +favourable to being remembered, and in which the ancients preserved all +their traditions; but it is quite foreign to poetry. Few subjects of the +Iliad have engaged the attention of the learned in the same degree as +this Catalogue; it was not Strabo alone that took it on every occasion +as the text of his book, as we see from his work itself, but a number +of other writers had done the same thing before him. But our point of +view is different from that which was taken about the time of Ephorus. +We see that there was a time when the Catalogue was regarded as a +historical document, as a conscientious, careful, and learned account of +the state of Greece at the time of the Trojan war. I have no doubt that +this opinion was the prevailing one at the time of Ephorus, who was a +contemporary of Demosthenes and Philip of Macedonia; that it was regarded +in this light at an earlier period, is attested by the statement, +that in the time of Solon, the Athenians and Megarians endeavoured to +establish their claims to the possession of Salamis by appealing to the +Catalogue, a fact which at least proves its early historical authority, +even though the story should not be true. But since we have arrived at +more unbiassed views about Homer, and no longer bind ourselves to the +superstition of his undoubted authenticity—an advantage which, though +it may possibly be abused, should never again be abandoned—our point of +view in judging of this part of the Homeric poems is likewise changed. +We find in this Catalogue several statements which are irreconcilable +with each other, which refer to different times, and betray a different +origin. Thus we meet, for example, with the Heracleido-Doric colonies in +Rhodes and the neighbouring islands of Cos and Syme, while according to +our traditions those settlements are of a more recent date than those +of the Ionians in those parts, and probably the most recent of all, +which even if it were not attested by tradition, would in itself be more +credible. Here we have an evident interpolation, introduced in a Doric +or Rhodian recension, which itself, however, is comparatively speaking, +very ancient. We are naturally tempted to trace the geography laid down +in the Catalogue to a definite period: but this is impossible without +falling into contradictions; all we can say is, that the author of the +Catalogue intended to describe Greece, its inhabitants and towns, as +they were before the Doric migration, when the boundaries were indeed +very different from what they were during the period subsequent to that +migration. But although this intention of the author is manifest, yet it +is not accurately carried out, and is opposed to other traditions. Such a +contradiction occurs most strikingly in regard to the Ionians. The later +country of Achaia on the Corinthian Gulf is said, in our traditions, to +have been inhabited by Ionians, until the Achaeans, being expelled by +the Heracleids from Argos and Mycenae, went to Aegialos, displaced the +Ionians and established themselves in their country; in the Catalogue, +on the other hand, we find a tradition which is irreconcilable with this +account, the truth of which I must leave undecided. + +Peloponnesus, in Homer—the name itself does not occur in his poems—is +divided into six parts, as in later times, but in a different manner. +The two principal parts are the kingdoms of the Atreids, that of Mycenae +and that of Sparta: then follows the country of Diomedes and Sthenelus; +the country of the Arcadians, that of the Epeans, and lastly that of +the kings of Pylos of the house of the Nelids. The distribution of the +countries is as follows:— + +1st. The kingdom of Menelaus comprises the whole of Laconia, probably +extending very far into Messene; it is possible that some verses of the +Catalogue are lost, or that several towns were not mentioned at all. + +2. The realm of Agamemnon, besides its capital of Mycenae with its +territory, comprises Corinth, Sicyon and the whole of northern Achaia. + +3. The dominion of the Persids, Diomedes and Sthenelus, embraces Argos, +Tiryns and the Acte, together with Aegina. + +4. Arcadia has the same boundaries as afterwards, except that Triphylia +does not belong to it. + +5. The kingdom of Nestor consists of western Messene, Triphylia, and the +south of Elis as far as the Alpheus. + +6. The country of the Epeans in the north of Elis. + +The later province of Argolis thus contained the kingdom of Diomedes and +a portion of that of Agamemnon; the kingdom of the Epeans afterwards +becomes Elis, but includes a part of the Pylian kingdom. + +The historical importance which we can attach to this division is +extremely small. We might indulge in speculations about the causes which +may have led the author of the Catalogue to make this division, and there +is much that might seem to recommend such speculations. It would not be +difficult to show that this Catalogue was composed at Sparta and belonged +to what is called the Lycurgian recension, because it assigns favourable +boundaries to Sparta and unfavourable ones to Argos, but this would +certainly be an abuse of historical speculation. + +With the Homeric division, we may compare another ante-Doric division +of which traces have come down to us;[10] it differs greatly from the +Homeric, and in all essential points agrees with that which became +established in consequence of the Doric migration. Aegialos, afterwards +called Achaia, is described as the country of the Ionians with its twelve +towns; the remainder of the empire of Agamemnon and that of Diomedes +already form one whole; Triphylia is separated from the Pylian kingdom +of the Nelids and added to Arcadia, and the remainder of the kingdom of +Nestor is united with that of Menelaus. + +In regard to the division of Argolis Proper there are some difficulties. +Homer says:— + + Οἳ δ’ Ἄργος τ’ εἶχον Τίρυνθά τε τειχιόεσσαν. + +The ancients are of opinion that Diomedes and Sthenelus ruled at Argos, +and that Argos along with Tiryns was their capital. The historical +explanations in the Scholiasts and Eustathius are extremely poor; +still, however, among what are called the Little Scholia, we find Argos +in this line explained to mean Peloponnesus, and this opens quite a +different view from that commonly entertained. It is inconceivable that +Argos and Mycenae, the two capitals of two kingdoms, should have been +only forty-three stadia, scarcely five English miles, distant from each +other; and it is an equally unaccountable fact that scarcely anything is +mentioned about Argos in the ancient legends. The above verse, therefore, +must probably be taken as a general beginning of the description of +Peloponnesus, to which is added a special account of the kingdom of +Tiryns, as a reference to what afterwards follows:— + + Νῦν δ’ αὖ τοὺς ὅσσοι τὸ Πελασγικὸν Ἄργος ἔναιον, + +which is the designation of Thessaly. Argos, even in the opinion of many +ancients, was only the name of a country. I am convinced, therefore, +that, in the early times, it was nothing but the name of the country, and +that, as the name of the city, it is of later origin. Just as Corinth was +in reality newly built by the Dorians, and ought not, therefore, to be +mentioned here, so Argos also was founded by Dorian settlers at a time +when Mycenae and Tiryns had already fallen from their former eminence. +Throughout all mythology, Tiryns alone is the capital of Diomedes and +Sthenelus, and Mycenae that of the Atreids; these two cities alone +are mentioned, no third ever occurs, and Argos is not spoken of until +the Doric migration and conquest. In this manner it is clear that the +tragedians, who, however, generally were not learned men, do not deserve +the reproach which the Alexandrian grammarians made against them; as, for +example, that Sophocles confounded Argos and Mycenae. Mycenae, before +the existence of Argos, was a true Argos[11], the capital of the whole +country, though by no means identical with the later Argos.[12] In this +manner the outlines of those kingdoms acquire a more suitable shape: the +Acte, or the eastern part of Argolis, was distinct from Argos Proper +even at that time, just as it was afterwards; the capitals, Tiryns and +Mycenae, were still near enough to each other. When, accordingly, the +grammarians found such contradictions as in Sophocles, they endeavoured +to mediate by means of more recent myths, or even by inventing new ones, +and that often in the most singular manner. The whole story, for example, +how Diomedes was forced to go to Italy, and how Sthenelus gave up his +kingdom, arose only from the circumstance, that in later and seemingly +better historical authorities, the statement was found that the capital +of Tiryns was united with the kingdom of Agamemnon; and the difficulty +of accounting for the manner in which that kingdom had disappeared, was +removed by a fiction. + +Through the immigration of the Heracleids, Peloponnesus acquired a new +form: the countries and their inhabitants became changed; in Arcadia +alone the ancient population remained the same; all other parts received +either new inhabitants or new rulers. During that period there arose +the three great Doric kingdoms of Messene, Sparta, and Argos, and the +Aetolian kingdom of Elis; and Aegialea, which had been an Ionian country, +became Achaean. This state of things remains the foundation of geography +till after the Macedonian period, when it became completely changed; but +although the principal divisions remained until that period, yet their +boundaries underwent considerable modifications, which will be explained +in the account of each particular country. The three Doric kingdoms in +particular did not preserve the same boundaries, for Messene perished, +and was united with Laconia; Argolis had originally a much greater extent +in the south, but afterwards its frontier in that direction was narrowed, +while, on the other side, the three or four cities on the Acte, as well +as Corinth, Phlius, and Sicyon, also became separated from it. In this +manner Argos, the greatest of those three kingdoms, extending from Malea +to Sicyon, and containing one-third of all Peloponnesus, was greatly +reduced. Afterwards Messene again rose from its ruins, Argos extended +its frontier towards Sparta, Arcadia regained what it had lost, though +the towns remained separate, and the boundaries of Achaia were again +widened, until its name extended over all Peloponnesus. + + +ARGOLIS, ARGOS. + +Argos, as I said before, was originally the largest of the three Doric +states. The fact that Lacedaemon afterwards appears as the first state +of Peloponnesus, is only owing to the good fortune and the pride of the +Lacedaemonians, and to the circumstance that they retained their royal +dynasty, while the others, especially Argos, lost theirs, in consequence +of which the unity of their state was broken. But Argos never recognised +the pretensions of Sparta, and this struggling against what was an actual +fact, did great harm to Argos, and led it to form most hateful alliances +against the rest of the Greeks. + +In the subsequent dismemberment of the Argive empire, we find the +elements of its origin, which, in the two other Doric states, are indeed +likewise visible, but produce the opposite effect. In all the three +Doric states, the principle of the constitution is that of feudalism, +a term which may be offensive to some, because it is not usually +applied to the affairs of early Greece. These kingdoms were divided +into several principalities, where Dorian chiefs had settled as vassal +princes with a colony, or ruled over the ancient Achaean inhabitants; in +some instances they were ancient Achaean principalities, whose rulers +maintained themselves by submitting to the power of the Dorians. The +number of such principalities seems to have been particularly great in +Argolis, in consequence of which the country could afterwards be divided +into so many separate towns. As such we find the two ancient capitals, +Mycenae and Tiryns, Corinth, Sicyon, Troezen, Hermione, and Epidaurus, +for even these smaller towns of the Acte had formerly had their own +vassal princes, as is attested by the unanimous mythical accounts of +their kings, especially in the case of Troezen and Epidaurus. It was +essentially the same relation as that between the Lombard kings and their +dukes; a parallel to the case of native princes occurs in the fact, +that the Frankish kings, at the beginning of the middle ages, sometimes +appointed Gauls and Romans as their vassal princes in Italy. The same +system occurs in Laconia: the ruling tribe and the chief king settled +in one town, but there existed six principalities. These constitutions, +however, in their development, took quite opposite directions. In +Laconia, as in France, the vassal princes disappear, and all the country +becomes united under one government; while in Argos, as in Germany, the +union is broken up into small principalities. Corinth, for example, +which, before the Doric conquest, cannot be regarded as an independent +state, is known to have risen to the rank of a state through the Dorians, +and Prumnis, the father of Bacchis,[13] was the first Doric prince there. +In like manner we know, from scanty notices of Ephorus, Scymnus, and +others, that Doric chiefs were the founders of dynasties at Troezen and +Epidaurus: Mycenae and Tiryns alone continued to exist as native Achaean +states under the supremacy of the king of Argos. This kingdom of Argos +was weaker than, for example, that of the Franks, for the Heracleids were +only commanders in war, whose power was by no means unlimited; each tribe +had its own king, and accordingly the three Doric tribes had three. It +is clear that such a distribution of the country could not remain free +from disturbances; hence the power of the kings of Argos could not last +long, and a conflict necessarily arose as soon as one of them ventured +to step beyond the bounds of his prerogatives. This was done by Pheidon, +who ruled first as king, and afterwards as tyrant. He was indeed still +ruler of all Argolis, but after him the state broke up into its parts. +Several vassal princes then usurped the sovereignty, and for a time there +existed in Argolis partly principalities and partly aristocracies. But +Argos thereby became so weak as to be unable to defend the western coast +of the Argolic gulf as far as Malea against Lacedaemon; Cythera also +was lost, and not even the territory of Thyrea could be maintained. At +the same time the Spartans extended their dominion farther and farther; +the nominal dependence of Corinth and Sicyon had ceased long before, as +well as that of the towns in the Acte and of Aegina, which had likewise +belonged to Argos. Here we have another evidence showing that the Homeric +Catalogue was composed after the Doric period, for it represents Aegina +as belonging to the eastern part of Argos; Aegina was naturally foreign +to Argos, and became connected with it only as a Doric colony. + +The country about Argos is a plain, fully deserving the name πολυδίψιον +Ἄργος which it bears in Homer, for in the autumn it usually has no water +at all. This is the natural consequence of the physical structure of +Peloponnesus. In the interior of Arcadia the waters accumulate, and there +are in that part large natural reservoirs, as, for example, the lake of +Mantinea, which discharges its waters through passages in the mountains +which separate Arcadia from Argolis, into the plain of Argos. These +passages, however, are not always open, nay, people in the Morea assert, +that the waters find their way through them only once in five years, +and then plentifully supply the rivers and springs of Argolis. This +alleged regularity is probably fabulous. But on the whole, the territory +of Argolis, in its widest extent, as far as the northern slope of the +hills, is scantily supplied with water; in the neighbourhood of Sicyon +there are some small streams, whence the plain there is rich and fertile. +The whole of the central part of Argolis, however, that is, the hills +between Mycenae and Tiryns on the one side, and the towns of the Acte on +the other, which are traversed by the pass of Tretos, consists of very +barren and rocky heights, which admit to some extent of the cultivation +of olives only in the lower valleys. Argos, therefore, when confined to +Mycenae and Tiryns, was but a weak state, a circumstance which, together +with the recollection of its former greatness, placed it, in later times, +in a false position. + +The city of ARGOS, as I have already stated, was not founded till after +the time of the Doric immigration; but its castle Larissa (Larissa is the +Pelasgian name for castle) was older, and was situated on a considerable +height; we may even now discern the Cyclopian walls described by +Pausanias. The city had a great circumference, and was built around +the castle of Larissa, stretching from that hill through a plain, and +up another hill. It was not strongly fortified, nor is its natural +position of any particular strength. Argos is one of those cities which +did not suffer much from the calamities of Greece, if we except the one +devastation by the Spartans under Cleomenes before the period of the +Persian war. But it decayed, and appears to have suffered particularly +during the war of Pyrrhus. Pausanias does not say, whether the Romans, +after the destruction of Corinth, visited Argos in the same way, but +the verse of Virgil[14] (_Eruet ille Argos_) leads us to believe that +they did. Under the Roman emperors, it sank so low as to be obliged +to petition the emperor Julian to exempt it from its contribution to +the Isthmian games. In the middle ages, during the tenth and eleventh +centuries, Argos was a considerable manufacturing town, and was +particularly distinguished for the manufacture of silk. Afterwards it +was destroyed by Robert Guiscard, and then a second time by the Turks. +Subsequently a colony of Albanese established itself there, and last year +(1826) it was completely reduced to ashes. + +MYCENAE, at a distance of forty-three stadia from Argos, was situated +on a hill; at the time when Greece was most flourishing, Mycenae was no +more than a name, for after the Persian wars, the town, together with +Tiryns was completely destroyed by the Argives. The inhabitants of the +two towns had availed themselves of the Persian war for the purpose +of gaining their independence, by sending a small band to assist the +Greeks at Plataeae. The Argives, who took no part in the Persian war, +afterwards punished them for it, while the other Greeks, contrary to +their promise, did nothing to prevent it; and the two places became the +victims of an inconsiderate act. The ruins of Mycenae and Tiryns, which +still exist, are about the same as those seen by Pausanias: they are +the grandest Cyclopian structures in southern Europe. The lion-gate of +Mycenae, constructed of huge blocks of stone, with its pointed arch and +the two rudely carved lions above it, may still be seen. These remains, +as well as those of Orchomenos are striking proofs, that the greatness of +the ante-Doric period, which is immortalised in the works of the poets, +is not a mere dream. The circumference of the walls of Mycenae is still +considerable, and the city was well suited to be the residence of the +king of kings. + +TIRYNS, in the earliest times the rival of Mycenae, as is frequently +intimated in the mythical stories, has likewise left traces of extensive +walls, justifying the epithet τειχιόεσσα, which it bears in the Iliad. It +was situated on the eminence above Nauplia, which, no doubt, was once the +port of Tiryns. + +Within the territory of Argolis, there were two small states, which as +late as the Persian war enjoyed a kind of political existence, but stood +in the same relation to Argos, Mycenae, and Tiryns, as Winterthur does to +Zurich, or the towns of Aargau to Berne. They were, in a certain sense, +republics; but could enter into no negotiations with foreign powers +without the sanction of Argos. I allude to CLEONAE, an Argive state, +and ORNEAE, which Herodotus calls a Cynurian state. The CYNURIANS, whom +we also meet with in Thyrea and in the Dryopian territory, are a real +mystery. It is said that they were Dryopians, perhaps a non-Dorian +people, but accompanying the Dorians in their migrations; we may perhaps +compare them with certain bands of Saxons, who accompanied the Lombards +to Italy and settled in Parma and Modena. In like manner, we find +Bulgarians in the principality of Beneventum; and there are distinct +traditions, that Aetolians accompanied the Dorians. + +The whole peninsula to the east of the Argolic gulf was, in the best +age of Greece, commonly called ACTE, which must be borne in mind, +especially by the readers of Thucydides; the earlier commentators have +often misunderstood this name. We have no term exactly corresponding to +the Greek Acte; it is more than peninsula, which is a very indefinite +term, nor is it the same as chersonesus. The Greeks would not call Italy +or Spain a chersonesus, but they would apply to them the term of Acte. +A chersonesus is a peninsula, connected with the main land by a very +narrow isthmus, whereas Acte is a country, the greater part of which is +coast-land. Such was the case with Attica; which was originally called +Acte, a name which is often used as a proper name, especially by Latin +poets, who even formed from it an adjective, as _Actaea tellus_, which is +unknown to the Greeks. + +This Acte contained two, or we may even say three, considerable Doric +cities, and one whose origin is unknown. The two most ancient places +are EPIDAURUS and TROEZEN; HERMIONE arose somewhat later; and at a +still later period, though we do not know when, was built the town of +HALIAE, which is not marked in our maps, not even in that of D’Anville. +Troezen and Epidaurus appear, in the Greek traditions, among the most +ancient places; we find them mentioned along with Eïonae[15], and they +are certainly more ancient than the Doric migration. In Scymnus[16], +indeed, the Doric chiefs appear as founders, though the traditions of +Troezen went back to Pelops; but this only alludes to the fact, that a +new order of things began at the time of the Dorian conquest. All those +towns, in developing their constitutions, passed through the same process +as Rome and other cities: they begin with an aristocracy of conquerors, +under whom the original inhabitants occupy the position of clients, or +_penestae_; but afterwards the latter become free, the conquered rise to +the rank of a _demos_, the ancient aristocracy gradually dies away, and +the subject country people gain the ascendancy. In the case of Epidaurus, +we have the proof in the tradition about the Artyni and Conipodes, the +former of whom were Dorians, and the latter the Achaean country people. +All these places of the Acte were maritime towns; whereas Argos never +had any navy and was quite a stranger to the sea. The Greeks are almost +everywhere born sailors, even in their Italian colonies; and so it has +ever been down to the present day. The Italian, on the other hand, is +born for agriculture; no real Italian is a navigator, for Venice is +inhabited by Slavonians, and Genoa by Ligurians who do not belong to +the race of true Italians; the Greek colonists in Italy, as at Naples, +are fishermen, and often carry their fish to Rome from a distance of +several hundred miles. Those places of the Acte, if we bear in mind the +small extent of their dominion, had a considerable number of galleys; +at Salamis their number, which was not small, does great honour to the +patriotism of the people, and we can easily see that their power was not +insignificant. + +HERMIONE is also called Hermion, and we cannot say which of the two names +is the older one; in Thucydides we only find the ethnic name of the +people when they come forward with others; for in the place itself no +occurrence is mentioned. + +HALIAE, situated between Hermion and Nauplia, arose from a settlement +of fishermen, whence the ethnic name Ἁλιῆς or Ἁλιεῖς in Thucydides and +Scylax. The place has been overlooked, because most geographers were +but indifferent Greek scholars, and because the Latin translation of +Thucydides renders Ἁλιῆς by _piscatores_. + +These four towns still existed in the time of Philip of Macedonia, +and were well disposed towards Athens, exerting themselves on its +behalf, according to their feeble powers, in the Lamian war. Haliae is +afterwards no longer mentioned, and the others became members of the +Achaean confederacy. The temple of Asclepios, about four miles from the +town of Epidaurus, was celebrated as a place to which pilgrimages were +undertaken; and in times of distress, this circumstance furnished to the +impoverished Epidaurians the means of living. + +Opposite to Troezen is the island of CALAURIA, where Demosthenes died a +free man in the temple of Poseidon, an asylum for all Greece, but which +was not respected by the Macedonians. + +Not far from the coast of the Acte are the islands of TIPARENOS and +HYDREA (Speizza and Hydra), which in antiquity were quite insignificant, +but have become important in our own age. The latter of them has +preserved its name. Hydrea does not even appear to have had a town, but +its harbour was used in antiquity.[17] + +CORINTH is, under this name, not an ancient place; its original name was +Ephyra, and the greatness of Corinth belongs to the later or historical +period. There is not a single important tradition of the early times that +refers to Corinth, and it is quite manifest that only in later times +legends were transferred to Corinth. The situation of ACROCORINTHUS is +such, that from the remotest period the inhabitants of the country must +have used it as a stronghold, as the Isthmus itself is a strong natural +fortification for the defence of Peloponnesus, and was afterwards the +boundary between the Ionians and the peninsula. According to tradition, +Acrocorinthus was in the possession of the Achaeans, and was taken by the +Dorians only after a protracted blockade. + +Corinth is perhaps the first of all Greek towns that became great and +wealthy through commerce. There are only two places which in the earliest +times deserve to be noticed as commercial towns, namely, Corinth and +Crissa; after the destruction of Crissa, Aegina, though more as a country +of sailors, stepped into its place. These last two towns carried on +commerce chiefly by sea, while Corinth gave itself up more to traffic by +land. Its situation was most favourable for commerce, being distant, on +the one hand, twelve stadia from Lechaeon and the Corinthian Gulf, and, +on the other, forty stadia[18] from Cenchreae and the Saronic Gulf. +The place for the Isthmian games was in the neighbourhood of Corinth, +on the Isthmus, which is there forty stadia in breadth. But the most +important point at Corinth was Acrocorinthus, a rock which according to +Strabo, rose perpendicularly to the height of three and a-half stadia, +or 2,100 feet: this statement seems to be based upon actual measurement; +at present it is impossible to measure it on account of the jealousy of +the Turks. The rock is inaccessible on the side of the country, and +below it was situated the city of Corinth, in the form of a trapezium; +the town was about five miles in circumference, and one of the largest +cities of Greece: Athens was not larger. It was built on hills and in +the intervening valleys, and surrounded by a strong wall. Towards the +city Acrocorinthus was open, but there was only one gate communicating +with it. On the top of it a wall ran round its precipitous sides; and the +remains of these walls have even in our days been seen from a distance. +It was altogether impregnable, at least in the ancient mode of warfare; +it was taken once by famine, and twice by surprise. At present it is +no longer so strong, and on one side it can be reached by guns from a +neighbouring hill. + +In the Homeric Catalogue, Corinth is called ἀφνειός; it was wealthy +even under the Bacchiads, and under Cypselus and his son; its commerce, +however, was at different times disturbed by the navy of Athens, and +this is one of the earliest examples of commercial jealousy. Corinth +was greater by its land commerce than as a maritime power; but still it +had a navy, and founded numerous and splendid colonies, as Syracuse, +Corcyra, Ambracia, Leucas, and a number of towns on the western coast of +Greece, partly with, and partly without the co-operation of Corcyra. But +the planting of these colonies belongs to the period of the Corinthian +aristocracy and tyrannis; during its democratic government, the city lost +its bold spirit of enterprise and its warlike character, just as was the +case at Florence. From the amount of contingents furnished by Corinth in +times of war, it is clear that it was populous, though not in proportion +to its extent. But the Corinthians never shewed themselves noble; +as early as the Persian wars they displayed malice and envy towards +Athens; and Plutarch is unjust in blaming Herodotus for speaking against +Corinth. The Corinthians were the chief instigators of the undertakings +against Athens, which afterwards they had reason to repent, when Sparta +exercised her power with an utter disregard of every one else; the +Corinthians then brought about a reaction to ruin Sparta, which, by +the wretched manner in which she had used her supremacy, brought upon +herself a heavy responsibility with her contemporaries no less than +with posterity. During the Macedonian period Corinth is mentioned only +as a wealthy commercial city; in the troublous times, when the Greeks +were involved in maritime wars, when Illyrians and Etruscans rendered +the sea about Malea and Taenarus (which were inhabited by the ancestors +of the Mainots) unsafe, and when the Cretans also carried on piracy, +people preferred going to Corinth, instead of sailing round Peloponnesus; +the continuity of the voyage was sacrificed, and the merchandise was +conveyed to Lechaeon, and thence to Corfu and Illyricum.[19] Corinth +thus became a principal staple of commerce. The different phases of the +commerce of the Corinthians may be traced _a priori_ from its historical +relations. Corinth rose and sank; the time of its highest prosperity +was that in which Athens, like modern Venice, was in a state of utter +decay, about Olymp. 180, in the reign of Antigonus Gonatas. All commerce +then became concentrated at Corinth, just as the whole commerce of the +Adriatic has in modern times become concentrated at Trieste. Though it +was under the supremacy of Macedonia, the city became very wealthy, and +was in comfortable circumstances. A Macedonian garrison was quartered in +Acrocorinthus. Corinth, however, was not only a commercial place, but +also had manufactures, which had been transferred thither from Athens, +on account of its more favourable situation. The χαλκὸς Κορινθιακὸς is +neither more nor less than works in bronze, which were made there with +particular elegance; its alleged origin at the burning of the city is a +silly story, as has long been universally acknowledged. + +After the Peloponnesian war, the Corinthians were opposed to Sparta for +wishing to introduce an oligarchical form of government among them. This +attempt of Sparta to make Corinth aristocratic was foolish, and could +not but fail, for the city was essentially democratic, and not the soil +in which an aristocracy could succeed. During the reign of Philip of +Macedonia, Corinth was one of those ill-disposed places which attacked +the Athenians in every possible way for the purpose of increasing its own +commerce by their ruin; but afterwards, during the Lamian war, it appears +vacillating, and receives a Macedonian garrison. It is surprising to +find that subsequently Corinth became a separate Macedonian principality +under Craterus, the step-brother of Antigonus Gonatas, and his son +Alexander.[20] Afterwards, Aratus, who took Acrocorinthus by surprise, +drew the city into the Achaean confederacy; and twenty years later he +delivered it up to the Macedonians as the price for the assistance +furnished him by Antigonus Doson against Cleomenes. It now remained for +twenty-four years in the hands of the Macedonians, until it was evacuated +according to the terms of the peace between Philip and the Romans. For +fifty years it was then at the head of the Achaean league, and this +was the period of its greatest wealth, for Athens was decayed, Aegina +annihilated, and all relations were changed. The life in Greece at that +time was quite different from what it had been in the age of Thucydides: +it was extremely prosaic, and every one was bent upon becoming rich by +commerce, and upon enjoying the good things of this life. Throughout its +existence Corinth had been distinguished for its manufactures, industry, +wealth, splendid buildings, and everything that riches can afford; and +its manufactures were no less celebrated than the English are at the +present day. But during the whole period that it was in the enjoyment +of republican institutions, that is, ever since the reign of Periander, +Corinth never produced a single man of genius, either as an author or +as an orator. Timoleon is, perhaps, the only eminent statesman that +was born at Corinth. We may observe, in general, that very few places +have a share in the literary glory of Greece. The arts of painting, +sculpture, and architecture flourished at Corinth, and treasures of art +were accumulated there in great numbers, which shows that these arts +may flourish, even where that is wanting which is the highest in man. +A beautiful dirge on Corinth by Antipater is contained in the Greek +Anthology.[21] + +The destruction of Corinth is a painful event, and excites our horror, +although the Corinthians have no claim upon our affection: the barbarity +of Mummius was far worse than that of Alaric, its second destroyer. For a +period of one hundred years the city lay in ruins, until it was restored +by Julius Caesar; but the colony was one of freedmen, and for centuries +afterwards it remained a Latin town, of which many coins with Roman +names, and the inscription _Colonia Laus Iuli Corinthus_, have come down +to us. Pausanias says, that, although it was the centre of Greece, it +was yet a foreign city with a foreign population. It was, comparatively +speaking, a small place without any important buildings;[22] but, like +all Italian towns, it had a forum, and the temples all around the place, +which had been destroyed by the savage Mummius, lay in ruins. In the +middle ages, at the time of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Corinth was of +some importance as a manufacturing town; it was taken by Robert Guiscard +under the last despots of Peloponnesus. When in 1204 the peninsula came +into the hands of the Franks, it had sunk very low, and was sinking still +more during the repeated wars, ever since 1460, down to its conquest +by the Turks under Amurath II., until at length, ten years ago (1817), +even the village of Corinth (called Cordos by the Turks) was completely +reduced to ashes. Its two harbours are entirely filled up with sand, and +unfit for large vessels, so that the sources of the prosperity of Corinth +seem to be dried up for ever. At present, when ships sail to Europe, +they steer round Peloponnesus, and no one can think of Corinth as an +intermediate staple of commerce. + +Julius Caesar, properly speaking, had restored Corinth only to gratify +his own feelings, but he ought to have peopled it with Greeks; it would, +however, have been impossible to make it a great city. Delos had taken +its place in commerce, the sea had become unsafe in parts, Greece was +desolate and deserted, commerce had altogether taken a different route, +the great commercial roads had taken other directions, and the chief +places were in Egypt, Syria, and on the Euxine; Alexandria and Italy were +now the central points; and it was impossible for Corinth to rise again. +Its whole prosperity now depended upon the productiveness of its olive +plantations, and even very recently a person might walk for hours among +olive trees, which grow there wild; but few parts of its territory are +fit for agriculture. + +A misunderstanding may easily arise in regard to the well _Pirene_: it +is not situated below the rock, but on the acropolis, though not on the +summit of it. At the foot of the rock there is another spring, which was +believed to be connected with Pirene by subterraneous passages. + +Several small places in the territory of Corinth do not deserve the name +of towns. _Tenea_ was a hamlet which enjoyed the favour of the Romans +and was not destroyed, but even obtained a portion of the Corinthian +territory. _Lechaeon_ was connected with Corinth by means of two long +walls (σκέλη), but not so _Cenchreae_. + +The fabulous tradition about SICYON, which by a strange accident has +been made a part of Greek history, ascribes to the kings of that city +a greater age than to those of any other people. This tradition became +incorporated with the tables of Africanus, from which it was taken by +Eusebius and Hieronymus, and has thus passed into modern works. These +alleged ages deserve absolutely no consideration; the very name of Sicyon +is of recent origin, and its ancient name Mecone occurs in Hesiod’s +Theogony: in the Homeric Catalogue it is already called Sicyon. + +Even at an early period, Sicyon was a great and considerable town, and +furnished important contingents to the common expeditions, e.g., to +Plataeae. Its territory is one of the most fertile districts in the north +of Peloponnesus; it consists of low, pleasant hills which descend down to +the sea; it has neither plains nor rough mountains. It is particularly +distinguished for its olives, which were very highly valued by the +ancients; even now they are thought much of, though they have lost much +of their former excellence, for olive trees degenerate very easily, and +from this we see how even trees may change in a general catastrophe. The +acropolis of Sicyon was situated on a comparatively high hill; while +the city lay at a considerable distance from it in a plain towards the +sea, whence its situation was not naturally strong, but its walls and +fortifications protected it; hence its conquest by Demetrius Poliorcetes +after a long siege gained for him great honours. This conquest is spoken +of in Plautus’ “Miles Gloriosus,” which circumstance enables us to fix +the age of the Greek original, which must have been composed after Olymp. +122. After the conquest, Demetrius induced the inhabitants, who were +obliged to receive a Macedonian garrison, to settle on the top of the +hill. + +Sicyon was celebrated for its school of painting. If we may form a +judgment of this school from the time at which it arose—for a trustworthy +history of the progress of art does not exist—it belongs to that period +when the skill and talent of individuals created a new era in art, but +when real art had already lost its free development; it was a learned +school, perhaps resembling that of Bologna in the time of the Caracci, +and flourished during the Macedonian period until the commencement of the +reign of Antigonus Gonatas; afterwards, in the time of Aratus, it was +already extinct, and we hear only of paintings of deceased masters. + +Sicyon is also remarkable as a place which was at an early time, and for +a long period, governed by tyrants. Its first tyrants were Orthagoras +and his family; for when the ancient aristocracy fell in its struggles +with the democracy, the leaders of the democrats usurped the tyrannis. +In the time of Philip and Alexander, it likewise had several tyrants, +whose rule you may regard as an interlude, if you like. But it had also +military tyrants, as in the time of Demetrius Poliorcetes, when one +family established itself as such, until Aratus delivered the city. +Aratus himself is considered by Strabo in the light of a tyrant; but this +is unfair, if we consider the mild manner in which he managed affairs, +and the odium which attaches to the name, though it is not altogether +incorrect in as much as Aratus personally was actually more powerful +than the magistrates and the laws. At the time when the Achaean league +was broken up by the Romans, Sicyon too suffered very much; in the days +of Pausanias, however much he may try to conceal it, Sicyon was only a +village, though it still possessed some great buildings, but others lay +in ruins or had crumbled away. Afterwards, so far as I know, it is no +longer mentioned in history. At present the site of ancient Sicyon is +occupied by the village of Wasiliki. + +PHLIUS, situated between Sicyon and Argos[23], had, like Sicyon, arisen +out of the Argive kingdom. In the Homeric Catalogue it does not bear +this name, but is called Ἀραιθυρέη. The town was situated in a beautiful +valley between the ranges of hills which stretch from the north of +Arcadia to the Isthmus and the Onean and Geranian mountains, but are here +considerably extended. Phlius has no great reputation in the history of +Greece; it was less important than Sicyon, though it was an independent +place as early as the Persian wars. From Xenophon’s Hellenica, it is +evident that in his time Phlius was very populous, if we may judge from +the number of hoplites and of the emigrants during the disturbances. But +afterwards it sank and shared the general fate of Greece, so that perhaps +the great population in the time of Xenophon may have been accidental, +owing to the distracted state of Argos. The ethnic name is _Phliasius_, +for which Cicero in one of his letters writes _Phliuntius_; but when +reminded of the error by his friend, he apologises, by saying that he had +allowed himself to be misled by a false analogy.[24] + +AEGINA, though not in Peloponnesus, belongs to it more than to any +other country out of Peloponnesus. According to the statement which +makes its circumference largest, it amounted only to 180 stadia, or +about twenty-two English miles; it is therefore probably much smaller +than it is generally drawn in our maps, and its importance is to us a +real mystery, seeing that as a maritime power it was not only equal +but superior to Athens. Yet the mystery may perhaps be solved. Hydra +and Spezzia are barren rocks, which Aegina is not; they are also +smaller than Aegina, and yet their maritime pursuits procured them a +population of several thousands; the soil of the small state of Ragusa +is rocky, and produces no more corn than is required for a few months, +and yet Ragusa as a republic kept many hundred ships, and even during +the present revolution it has had many ships, some of which were well +armed. When, however, we read of an Aeginetan fleet of from seventy to +eighty galleys, each of which required about 200 marines, we cannot +suppress our astonishment. Still more surprising is the statement of +Athenaeus, that the island once had 470,000 slaves, for which he refers +to no less an authority than Aristotle. There must be some error here, +or else Athenaeus had misunderstood Aristotle, for the statement is +absolutely impossible. The highest prosperity of Aegina belongs to a +period when slavery did not yet prevail very much in Greece; and at +other times, as I shall show presently, Aegina was by no means populous. +We may indeed well understand that the island, which at an early period +had a democratic form of government, may have had a navy more powerful +than that of Athens before the time of Themistocles, as Athens had so +long been governed by its great aristocratic landowners. During the +period between the Pisistratids and the Persian wars, the struggle +for the supremacy was carried on between Athens and Aegina with great +exasperation and varying success, until Themistocles decided it by +inducing Athens to apply all her energy to her navy, to make Phaleros a +good harbour, and to build an imposing fleet. During the period between +the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, the Athenians had the upper hand and +subdued the Aeginetans; at the commencement of the Peloponnesian war, the +Athenians expelled the inhabitants of Aegina from their island, because +they did not trust them, and the Lacedaemonians gave up Cythera (Cerigo) +to them.[25] The fact that they maintained and supported themselves there +is a proof that their number was very small. After the Peloponnesian war +they were led back, but although Athens was so much reduced, Aegina never +recovered its former importance. During the first war between Philip and +the Romans, P. Sulpicius took Aegina, and reduced the whole population +to slavery, from which they were afterwards ransomed by the kindness of +their friends on the mainland.[26] Afterwards it fell into the hands of +the kings of Pergamus; but we do not know whether it remained under their +dominion until the overthrow of the Achaean confederacy. Aegina is one of +those places whose destruction Serv. Sulpicius laments in his consolatory +letter to Cicero. It seems to have been during such a devastation that +the temple of Zeus Hellenios perished, among the ruins of which were +found the celebrated Aegina marbles, which are at present in the museum +of Munich. + + +LACONIA. + +Laconia was of different extent at different times. Laconia, in the reign +of Aristodemus and his sons, or the country such as it was originally at +the time of the Heracleid conquest, was very far from being as large as +the land afterwards bearing the same name; it was not even as large as +the Laconia in Strabo or Pausanias, but perhaps similar to what it was +during the Macedonian period, especially after the death of Nabis, when +the fate of Lacedaemon had been determined by the Achaeans. The Heracleid +Laconia, therefore, at the first distribution of the peninsula, could +hardly be compared with the Heracleid Argos. + +As regards the origin of the kingdom of Sparta, the tradition that +Eurysthenes and Procles were twin-sons of Aristodemus, is altogether +mythical.[27] Any one familiar with the spirit of ancient legendary +history, can clearly see the process through which the narrative has +passed. Both Herodotus and a fragment of Alcaeus have preserved the +statement, that, according to the common tradition, Aristodemus himself +reigned at Sparta and died there. But later writers represent him as +having died before he arrived with the Heracleids in Peloponnesus, being +killed by Apollo at Pytho. The fact is, that as his name was not found +among those of the Doric chiefs, tradition made him the father of the +two kings, for as Argos had three, so Sparta had two kings corresponding +with the two highest among the phylae; and the two Spartan kings are +nothing but the heads of the two γένη of the Eurypontids and Agiads, +belonging to two different phylae; one of them is designated as the οἰκίη +ὑποδεεστέρη, because it belonged to the less noble phyle; whence we +cannot be surprised at their not being called Eurysthenids and Proclids. +Aristodemus is merely a mythical name, signifying that his descendants +are the noblest among their people. The conquerors of Sparta, on their +arrival, are said to have found Tisamenus, the son of Orestes. Those +who looked upon this tradition as a piece of genuine history, felt that +it was difficult to see, how the son of Orestes had come from Mycenae +to Sparta; and the ancients extricated themselves by the story, that +Orestes, succeeded to the throne of Menelaus by marrying Hermione—a +story which is unknown to the author of the first part of the Odyssey, +for he speaks of Megapenthes, a son of Menelaus, which again is only +an expression of the general idea, that the house of Menelaus ended in +sorrow. There can be no doubt that the most ancient form of the tradition +is this, that Temenus, the Doric king of Argos, possessed the same +supremacy over the sons of Aristodemus at Sparta, and over Cresphontes +in Messene, as had in former times been exercised by the king of Mycenae +over the whole of Achaean Peloponnesus. But Spartan pride, at an early +time, endeavoured to cast this humiliating tradition into the shade. +Hence also the statement that Cresphontes drew lots, as to whether he +should obtain Laconia or Messene, Argos being altogether out of the +question. + +It is only from a fragment of Ephorus in Strabo, that we know anything +about the feudal principalities of the Dorians in Laconia. This piece +of information once hung upon a thread, and was nearly destroyed by a +mutilation of the passage in the manuscript from which all the others are +derived; if the book were lost, or but a little more mutilated, we should +know absolutely nothing about this feudal system—so much our knowledge +of the most important circumstances often depends upon a mere accident. +Hence it is quite legitimate, in case of such information being wanting, +to supply the deficiency with rational boldness, in accordance with the +general principles of historical development. Now, according to Ephorus, +the Dorian kings divided Laconia into six principalities. The first was +Sparta, where they themselves exercised the supremacy over the other +principalities, just as the Capetingian kings of Paris and Orleans, who +ruled over the country as far as Orleans (Isle de France) as a distinct +principality, and were recognised as kings in the rest of France, but in +such a manner that their vassals again, within their own territories, +were true princes or kings. In regard to the other principalities, Strabo +(p. 424, D)[28] says, that _Amyclae_, at a distance of about five miles +from Sparta, was given to the Achaean who, by his faithless counsel, had +induced the Achaean king of the time to capitulate and quit his country; +he is elsewhere called Philonomus.[29] The text of Strabo is here much +mutilated; there is one line of which the greater part is legible, and +of the next only a few words. I am convinced, however, that I have +discovered the meaning, namely, that the remaining four kingdoms were +_Las_, _Helos_, _Aepys_, and _Pherae_, the two last of which subsequently +belonged to Messene.[30] These five states then stood to Sparta in the +relation of isopolity, and their citizens might exercise the Spartan +franchise; but the sovereignty in all foreign relations belonged to +Sparta, so that the Spartan conquest at that time imposed no heavy yoke +upon the feudal principalities. This relation was altered by Agis I.[31] +The Spartan Dorians broke through the relation of these isopolite states +in such a manner as boldly to deprive them of their rights, to depose +the kings, and reduce the inhabitants to the condition of περίοικοι, in +which they remained indeed free, but became dependent and lost the right +of exercising the Spartan franchise. The people of Helos refused to +submit to these terms, in consequence of which their town was destroyed +by the Spartans.[32] The Homeric Catalogue mentions some other places +in Laconia, as _Bryseae_ and _Messe_, of which afterwards not a trace +occurs, and which may have been destroyed at that time. Many towns +probably perished before the Spartans were masters of one-fourth of the +whole country. + +The geographical relations of Laconia are likewise extremely obscure; +but I have very little doubt that if a person were without bias and +carefully to distinguish the different periods, he might arrive at more +satisfactory results than have as yet been gained. + +The name LACEDAEMON was, in antiquity, not applied to the city but to the +country, especially the valley of the Eurotas. In the Catalogue, it is +clearly distinguished from Sparta. + + Οἳ δ’ εἶχον κοίλην Λακεδαίμονα κητώεσσαν + Φᾶρίν τε Σπάρτην τε— + +The Alexandrian grammarians rightly say that the κοίλη Λακεδαίμων refers +to the valley of Lacedaemon, just like κοίλη Ἦλις. Sparta, on the other +hand, always remained the proper name of the city, and it is only in +later writers, such as Polybius, that Lacedaemon is used as the name of +the city; wherever it occurs in this sense in earlier authors, it must be +regarded as an exception to the rule. + +The middle of the south of Peloponnesus, from Arcadia downwards, is +formed by Mount TAYGETUS (now Pentedactylon), which ends in Cape +Taenarus. This mountain, as I have already observed, is the seat of +frequent volcanic commotions. Porphyry, the stone of which it consists, +is found most commonly in volcanic mountains; the green serpentine, +likewise peculiar to Taygetus, is found there in great masses, whence we +meet in Roman poets with the expressions, _metalla Taygeti_, _metalla +Laconica_, _virides lapides Taygeti_; _Taygeti virent metalla_. Mount +Taygetus is full of caverns; the most important are those near Taenarus +(now Cape Matapan), whence the legend that the entrance to the lower +world was there. Just as this mountain runs between the rivers Pamisus +and Eurotas, so another runs between the Eurotas and the Argolic Gulf; +the latter is of no less importance, though lower than Taygetus, and +terminates in Cape Malea. Taygetus is wild, and large tracts on its top +are incapable of cultivation; but in its lower parts it has fertile +valleys. The valley of the Eurotas (now Vasilipotamos), is broad and +beautiful, and the river itself, both in length and depth, is the most +important in all Peloponnesus. + +SPARTA, situated on the Eurotas, was a royal city from the earliest +times; according to tradition, it was the residence of Menelaus, and +afterwards of the Heracleid kings. From its beginning down to the +Macedonian period, it remained an open place; but, like all other Greek +cities, it had an acropolis, whence the expression which is applied to +Sparta as well as to other places, that it was inhabited κωμηδόν, does +not exclude the existence of an ἀκρόπολις. On the heights of Epirus, too, +traces of Cyclopian walls and earthen ramparts have been discovered, +although it was inhabited κωμηδόν, which shows that towns thus described +were not surrounded by walls, but built round a fortified central +point. In this condition Sparta remained until the Macedonian period. +For a long time the Spartans, no doubt, lived in their open city, as it +were unconsciously, but afterwards the feeling of their own greatness +and security told them that it was not worth while to build walls. When +however they were visited by the Macedonians, Sparta was surrounded +with walls which remained until the city was united with the Achaean +confederacy, when they had to be pulled down again. + +The houses at Sparta were built in an irregular and poor manner, almost +all being made of clay; such was indeed the case in other Greek towns +also, but at Sparta it was pre-eminently so, and the city appears +to have had no regular streets at all. There were, however, a few +notable buildings, though they cannot exactly be called magnificent. +Under the dominion of the Romans, Sparta was the most important city +in Peloponnesus, for during the Achaean war it had joined the Romans, +and had thereby afforded them a welcome pretext for destroying Achaia. +Ancient Sparta seems to have perished at an early part of the middle +ages, when the unfortunate Peloponnesus was ravaged by the Slavonians. +The building of the town of _Misitra_ is ascribed to a prince of the +family of the Palaeologi, but the probable fact is that he only restored +it. There are few places of which so scanty ruins are discoverable as of +Sparta. _Limnae_ was a suburb of Sparta. + +About five miles from it was situated AMYCLAE, which was older than the +Doric conquest, and was respected by the Spartans. + +Little can be said about the other places in Laconia. GYTHEION was the +ἐπίνειον of Sparta even during the maritime supremacy of Athens, and +remained what it then was as long as Sparta occurs in ancient history; +but it is not by any means a particularly good harbour. + +It is not worth while to enumerate the places along the coast, for we +can say nothing about them, absolutely nothing being known except their +sites. The most important among them is EPIDAURUS, surnamed LIMERA (now +Monembasia or Napoli di Malvasia), to distinguish it from other towns +of the same name, with a very beautiful and safe harbour, which was +especially protected by a rock within it; on it was built the citadel, +which from its natural position was extremely strong. But Epidaurus was +too far from Sparta, and too much separated from it by mountains ever to +become its port town. + +SELLASIA, in the interior of the country, situated between Tegea and +Sparta, in a pass where mount Taygetus and the other range of mountains +come close together, was a place of great historical reputation. It was +important as a military post, for it was occupied by Cleomenes in the +war against the Macedonians and Achaeans, and he there suffered his +unfortunate defeat. It seems at all times to have belonged to Lacedaemon. +But the case of PELLANA, BELEMINA, and other places between Megalopolis +and Sparta was different; they originally belonged to Arcadia, just as +Epidaurus Limera, Prasiae and others belonged to Argos, to which in the +end they were restored. Such change in the boundaries of Laconia took +place in the time of Philip of Macedonia, in consequence of a decision +which he made at Corinth after the battle of Chaeronea. Such at least +must be our inference, for we afterwards find the Achaeans and Argives, +without any war, in the possession of those parts, so that the Spartans +must either have ceded them of their own accord, or the Achaeans and +Argives were put in possession of them by force. However much, therefore, +the Spartans may boast of never having stooped under the power of +Macedonia, it is nothing but one of the many untruths they have uttered. + +The district about Taenarus and the coast-country from the borders of +Messenia to Malea, afterwards bore the name of _Eleutherolacones_. This +tract of country is mentioned by Strabo and Pausanias with praise, and it +is said to have contained eighteen towns, the inhabitants of which were +designated by that name, because they had made themselves independent of +the supremacy of Sparta. Strabo refers the origin of this emancipation +to Augustus, but it probably arose from other circumstances. When T. +Quinctius Flamininus entered Laconia, and Nabis indulged in several acts +of insolence, the Romans, believing it dangerous to wage war against him, +connived at it; meantime he committed all possible cruelties against the +unfortunate Peloponnesians, and insulted the Romans into the bargain: +in short, he carried matters so far, that Flamininus, contrary to his +own inclinations, was forced to punish him; and although Flamininus was +unwilling, utterly to annihilate him, yet Nabis was afterwards unable to +recover himself. The consuls then proceeded to the towns on the coast +(the modern Maina, as far as Malea, now St. Angelo), which renounced +Nabis, and were constituted by the Romans as free and independent +towns. If afterwards, when the Achaean confederacy was broken up, they +were restored to Sparta, and remained subject to it until the time of +Augustus, the Romans must have given them up at that time; and Strabo’s +expression can refer only to a second constitution. But on the whole, +those towns were insignificant. + +The island of CYTHERA (Cerigo) is separated from Laconia by a channel of +the sea; in antiquity it was the same as it is now, a rugged, volcanic +island, presenting a dismal aspect on account of its dark, burned rocks. +Aesthetic historians, anxious to have a more beautiful place for the +temple of Cytherea, have described the island as a paradise, and supposed +that a devastating change had taken place at a later period. But not +a trace of this is found among the ancients. The island was thinly +peopled. When the Athenians had expelled the Aeginetans from the island, +the Spartans gave up Cythera to them, and from this, as I have already +observed, we may infer that, as the island contained but little fertile +land, the number of Aeginetans must have been small. If, therefore, +Aegina once actually had an enormous population, it can have been owing +only to some accidental circumstance, as was the case with Pisa at the +time of the conquest of Sardinia.[33] + +The real central point of the volcanic mountain-range of Peloponnesus and +of the Archipelago, is the island of THERA; one branch of the volcanic +range proceeds from Thera northward in the direction of Lemnos; another +turns to the East towards Rhodes and the coast of Ionia, whence the +frequent earthquakes in those parts. The whole district from Delos to +Lemnos, thence to the Asiatic coast, and thence again to Thera, forms as +it were a circle. + +The ancients imagined that Laconia once contained within its boundaries +39,000 farms; but this statement is not well authenticated. The greater +part of the country as far as the sea was agricultural land in the +possession of the Spartans, and cultivated by their serfs or helots. + + +MESSENE, MESSENIA, MESSENIACA. + +The third of the Dorian kingdoms is Messene, Messenia, or Messeniaca, +for all these three names are applied to the kingdom of Cresphontes. The +boundaries in the mythical age cannot be accurately defined, but so far +as we can see, they were about the same as in the Macedonian period; +it perhaps extended to the very top of Taygetus and the sources of the +Pamisus. Although it was likewise a mountainous country, yet owing to the +splendid valley of the Pamisus (valley of Calamata), which is one of the +richest in the world, and to other fertile coast-districts, it enjoyed +the reputation of being a particularly wealthy country, whence, according +to tradition, it was so much the object of the cupidity of Cresphontes, +when lots were drawn for Lacedaemon and Messene, that he used a false +lot. At present the country is in an unspeakably miserable condition. The +name Messene is said originally to have belonged to the country only, and +not to a city. + +Messene, too, originally consisted of one sovereign principality +and several dependent ones, the Achaean princes being in a relation +of dependence on the Dorian kings. But while at Sparta the ancient +inhabitants were deprived of the actual exercise of their rights, they +rose in Messene to a condition of equality with their Dorian conquerors, +and the latter became amalgamated with the ancient inhabitants into +one compact nation. The two states also differed in other respects: +Sparta was ruled by two kings, while in Messene a Heracleid monarchy +was established. The early history of Messene is as uncertain as that +of the Roman kings; the traditions about the destruction of the kingdom +are anything but authentic, and we cannot fix the time of that event +within a hundred years. This observation is too important not to be +repeated in this place. The colony of Messenians which is said to have +been established at Zancle, is probably nothing but an inference from +the subsequent name of that place; for the foundation of that colony, if +we assign it to the time in which alone it can be conceived to have been +established, would be separated by more than a century from the events +in Messene, to which it is said to owe its origin. The only historical +fact is, that the last Messenian war belongs to the period about Olymp. +80; some towns were then reduced to the condition of perioeci, but the +great body of the country people became helots, and the land was divided +among the Spartans. The war ended with the capitulation of the helots, +who had withdrawn to the citadel of Ithome, whence the besieged obtained +a free departure to Naupactus; in this latter place they afterwards +lived under the protection of Athens. The chronology of the early history +of Greece is so uncertain, that, although we are here speaking of the +period subsequent to the Persian wars, the exact year in which the last +Messenian war was brought to a close cannot be determined; its outbreak +is known to belong to about Olymp. 80, as at that time Taygetus was +shaken by a violent earthquake. The war lasted at least ten years. From +that time till about the battle of Leuctra, a period of about eighty +years, Messene remained for the most part a wilderness, as the Morea was +under the dominion of the Turks, even during the time that it had already +somewhat recovered (1670-1680). In this condition, the country was found +by the Athenian fleet which, during the Peloponnesian war, appeared +before Sphacteria; the ancient towns lay in ruins. It was a well-deserved +punishment for Sparta’s tyranny and cruelty, that this was the very point +at which the Athenians entered the Spartan dominion and established +themselves about Pylos. + +After the battle of Leuctra, Epaminondas collected all those who gave +themselves out to be descendants of the ancient Messenians; and they were +joined by numbers of Arcadians, Boeotians, perioeci of Sparta, and helots +who had shaken off the Spartan yoke, and he led them back into Messene. +This restoration of Messene was unquestionably just, and Sparta had well +deserved the infliction; but for Greece it was an unfortunate event, +for in the circumstances of the time, when the danger was threatening +from Macedonia, the only thing which might have saved Greece, was +concentration and strengthening, but by no means a going back to the +ancient times. Hence Macedonia declared in favour of Messene, as well +as of Argolis and Arcadia, for the purpose of weakening Sparta. Had the +latter been able to renew and consolidate itself, as was subsequently +attempted by Cleomenes, and had it been joined by all the Peloponnesians, +Greece might still have defied Macedonia for centuries, and all the +subsequent scenes of misery would not have occurred. + +At the time of its restoration, Messene was not at once made so large a +state as it originally was, and as it subsequently became again through +the mediation of Macedonia. We still have an accidental statement +in Scylax of Caryanda respecting the extent of Messene during this +intermediate period between the Boeotian restoration and the later +extension under Philip of Macedonia, which we know from Strabo and +Pausanias. The influence of Epaminondas was brief, he established only +the town of Messene itself, with which were connected the western coast +and the valley of the Pamisus, but not quite as far as the sea. The +towns, however, which had been built by the Spartans, as Asine, Methone, +and others, were still in the hands of the Spartans, and inhabited by +Dryopians, ancient subjects of Argos, who had declared themselves in +favour of Sparta. Afterwards, when the boundaries of Messenia were +extended, these towns also became Messenian, standing, however, not in +a relation of dependence but in that of isopolity. The Messenian people +during the Macedonian period, therefore, was quite a different nation +from what it had been before. Some descendants of the ancient Messenians +were perhaps still living in the interior; they may have returned from +Naupactus, and from other parts of the world over which they had been +scattered. On the sea-coast, there were a few Boeotian and Argive +colonies, and also some Laconian perioeci and a number of helots, who had +emigrated from Laconia and established themselves there. It was natural +enough for the Messenians to represent themselves in a different light; +they took into consideration only the pure germs of their origin, and to +them they referred the story of Aristomenes; but ethnographers ought not +to have imitated them, for the Messenians were a new people. + +The PAMISUS, the river of Messenia, is only a few miles in length, but +carries a great mass of water, being probably fed by subterraneous +tributaries from Arcadia. + +MESSENE was situated about ten English miles from the sea, its situation +is very justly compared with that of Corinth; for it, too, had its ἄκρα +upon an inaccessible rock (ITHOME) surrounded by a wall, which connected +it with the lower town. The remains of these walls belong to the grandest +of all the remnants of Greek antiquity; they consist of blocks of five +feet in length and two and a half in breadth, and these are placed in +such a manner as to turn their smaller side outward. It is very doubtful +whether this wall was constructed in the time of Epaminondas, or whether +it is a relic of an earlier period; even the ancients observed that the +towers at the corners were a later addition; and modern travellers state, +that this observation is evidently correct. Hence it is conjectured, +that the towers were built in the time of Epaminondas; but that the +fortification itself belongs to an earlier period. It can hardly be +believed that, in the age of Epaminondas, such a style of building should +have continued to be employed, since Megalopolis, in the building of +which a whole people exerted itself, did not possess such walls. Messene +and Corinth were the strongest points in Peloponnesus; and whoever was in +possession of them, could control the whole peninsula. The cause of the +great strength of Ithome was the circumstance that, like Acrocorinthus, +the rock had a well furnishing an abundant supply of water, which was +wanting in many other Greek acropoleis, as, for example, in that of +Athens. + +A town Messene did not exist before the time of Epaminondas. Some years +ago a French antiquary asserted that Messene was more ancient, but this +cannot be proved. Ithome, on the other hand, appears in the traditions of +the earliest times; and during the first Messenian war, it was the centre +of the country; that fortress, containing the temple of Zeus Ithomatas, +was the place of refuge of the Messenians; there the treaty with the +Lacedaemonians was concluded; and in the war of Aristomenes, too, it +appears in the same light and under the same circumstances. + +All that is related about the first Messenian wars, attests the fearful +devastation which must then have taken place. Even as early as the +Peloponnesian war, we no longer find any traces of the many towns that +are mentioned, and which must be regarded as historical (for names of +towns are not invented), such as Stenyclaros, Andania, Aepy, Pedasos, +and many others. In the east of Messenia, a few places survived, and +for a time belonged to Laconia, but the western part of the country +was completely devastated. In the Homeric Catalogue[34] we find only a +few places in the west; in the east we have Cardamyle and Pherae, and +Cyparissia is the only town in the west that remained, being mentioned +in the Periplus and elsewhere, as a very good harbour for small vessels. +The little modern town of Arcadia is not far from the site of the ancient +Cyparissia: the country around it is very fertile. + +CORONE (now Coron) was built, according to an account which appears +credible to me, at the time of the Boeotian interference, and named after +Coronea in Boeotia, from which town it also appears to have received +settlers. + +ASINE was built by the Spartans at the time of the destruction of +Messene, and was peopled by Nauplians.[35] + +METHONE (Madon) is likewise of late origin. + +In the Catalogue, all western Messenia belongs to the kingdom of +Nestor, and the _Pylos_ in the Odyssey, where Telemachus visits Nestor, +cannot be the Triphylian, as Strabo thinks, but must be the Messenian +on the sea-coast; we have to look for it in the vicinity of Navarino. +_Sphacteria_ formed the harbour of Pylos, and that island has in our days +again attracted the eyes of the world.[36] It is remarkable in antiquity +from the circumstance that the Spartans, inconsiderately enough, occupied +it with 300 of their own citizens, and that these men were cut off and +compelled to surrender by the Athenians, who had taken helots into their +service, and were thus enabled to bring about negotiations for peace. +Pylos is still called Pylo; Navarino is situated on the other side of the +splendid gulf, where it is broadest, while ancient Pylos was situated +at the point where the passage between the mainland and Sphacteria is +quite narrow. We recognise the devastations caused by the Spartans in +those districts from the excellent description given by Thucydides of the +attack upon Pylos. + +The boundaries of Messenia, as I have already mentioned, were fixed by +Philip of Macedonia. The Spartans for a long time refused to recognise +the independence of the country, but such obstinate resistance against +actual circumstances ruins a state, and this was the cause of the ever +increasing weakness of Sparta. The Messenians themselves likewise acted a +sorry part in Peloponnesus, and their continued hostility against Sparta +is very singular. They brought much misery upon the peninsula, and they +themselves at times had to pay dearly for it; they received the last +Philip at Ithome, and were on the point of becoming for ever the slaves +of Macedonia. They were always jealous of the ruling power, at first +of Sparta, and afterwards of the Achaeans: their constant opposition +led to nothing but false steps, for they were too weak to carry out any +independent policy. + + +ARCADIA. + +The frontiers of Arcadia, on the side of Laconia, as I have already +observed, were at first contracted, but afterwards extended again; in +like manner, the boundary line between Elis was changed on account of +the varying possession of Triphylia. The Triphylians regarded themselves +as real Arcadians, but were always an object of ambition to the Eleans, +by whom they were several times overpowered. They were a remnant of the +former state of Pisa, which, if we may express an opinion at all on so +obscure a subject, must itself be regarded as originally Arcadian. + +The nature of the country has already been described in general terms; +a minute description of the complicated mountains, would give you no +definite view, but only confound you. According to the general belief +of the Greeks, the Arcadians[37] were the most ancient inhabitants of +Peloponnesus, that is, Pelasgians: in the history of nations, Arcadia +is regarded as the original seat of the Greek Pelasgians. The Arcadian +traditions are the only ones in Greece, that go back to the creation of +man, and their Azan necessarily reminds us of Adam; but whether they +had a similar tradition, or whether the resemblance of the names is +only accidental, is a question which I cannot venture to decide. They +considered themselves, however, as autochthons in the strictest sense of +the term; though this belief referred to the rulers rather than to the +whole nation. While the adjoining countries changed either their rulers +or their inhabitants, the population of Arcadia remained quite intact. +In the most ancient traditions we hear of no important towns, but we +know three races, the _Azanes_ (Ἀζῆνες in Herodotus), the _Maenalii_ and +_Parrhasii_; whether, however, they are to be regarded only as three +tribes, or as three distinct nations, I cannot say. Greek history, at the +time of the Messenian wars, speaks indeed of Arcadia as one entire state, +under a single head, but such is not the case in the Homeric Catalogue; +it is probable that they formed one whole only through the relation of +isopolity. Afterwards, about the 40th Olymp., we find the first traces +of towns, the importance of which, however, cannot be determined. In a +war with Sparta, the inhabitants of Tegea appear as a separate state +of Tegeatans, and they must have had the supremacy among the Arcadians, +for otherwise we cannot explain how they could have claimed at Plataeae +the supreme command of the whole army, on the ground of their being the +most ancient Greeks, in opposition to the Dorians, who had immigrated. +How Arcadia was divided among its three peoples, is unknown. It is +surprising that, previous to the foundation of Megalopolis, the whole +of southern Arcadia, which formed nearly one-half of the whole country, +appears to have contained no towns of importance, owing to which very +circumstance Megalopolis became conspicuous. All the more important towns +were situated on the eastern frontier; near the northern boundary there +also were towns, which afterwards appear as small states, but the towns +themselves, though strong from their natural position, were unimportant. +But this was the fate of all Greek nations, where they were not grouped +round a common centre: the division increased more and more, and single +towns rose by their favourable position, and isolated themselves from the +Κοινόν. The most ancient and most important town of Arcadia was in the +east. + +This was TEGEA, situated on the frontier of Laconia. In contemporary +history its territory is small, and the town decayed; but from what is +related about Tegea, we can see, that it was once a great city, which +afterwards lost its power. The Arcadian districts united with Laconia, +had probably been taken for the most part from Tegea, whence the Laconian +frontier passed so near by Tegea. In the Persian wars it was still great +and populous, if we may trust the numbers in Herodotus, which, however, +we are hardly justified in doing, especially in his account of the +campaign of Plataeae. I do not mean to say that he intended to deceive, +but I consider his numbers to be very uncritical; he was probably not +correctly informed. We must make a distinction between his ethnographical +and geographical inquiries, and his historical criticism, for in the +latter he took matters too lightly. His statements about the numbers +of Spartans must be received with particular caution, for in regard to +Sparta he was ill informed. + +MANTINEA is much more celebrated; it was a large and respectable city, +which both during and after the Peloponnesian war, acted with energy +and independence, and without any regard to the rest of the Arcadians. +After the peace of Nicias, the Mantineans, together with the Argives +and Eleans, joined the coalition which was brought about with such +skill by Alcibiades among the Peloponnesians with the view of drawing +them away from Sparta. Thirty years later, they were punished for this +by the Spartans: Agis appeared before them demanding that they should +destroy their city and disperse in villages. They refused, and Mantinea +experienced the same fate which Milan, in the middle ages, suffered +at the hands of Frederic Barbarossa, for it was demolished, and its +inhabitants distributed among five villages. After the battle of Leuctra +it was restored; and owing to the fertility of its territory, it remained +a flourishing city for a period of 150 years, that is, down to Olymp. +139, 2, when, during the war of Cleomenes, it was taken by the Achaeans +and Antigonus Doson, because it had thrown itself into the arms of +Cleomenes. I will not excuse its conduct on that occasion any more than +the general morality of the Greeks during that period; but its fate was +fearful. The town was completely destroyed, and afterwards a new one was +built on its site, by Antigonus, under the name Antigonea. Officially the +name Mantinea then ceased, but in common life it still continued, and +Polybius calls it by its ancient name; but on coins struck at the time +of the destruction of Corinth, the inhabitants are called Ἀντιγονεῖς. +Hadrian, who was fond of playing in Greek matters, restored the ancient +name. Mantinea is celebrated on account of three great battles, which +had more or less influence in deciding the destiny of Greece: 1. the +one during the peace of Nicias, in which the Spartans gained a victory +over the coalition of the Peloponnesians; 2. the battle of the Boeotians +against the united Athenians and Spartans, in which Epaminondas fell; 3. +the battle of Agis against Antipater, in the unfortunate attempt (Olymp. +112, 2) to restore the liberty of Peloponnesus, while Alexander was +engaged in Asia. To these we may add a fourth, the battle of Philopoemen +against Machanidas, tyrant of Sparta. The cause of so many battles lies +in the importance of the site of the town, in a military point of view, +for it is situated in a fertile plain suited for great manoeuvres, on the +other side of the passes leading from Arcadia into Argolis, and commands +the road which leads by Orchomenos to Corinth. + +ORCHOMENOS cannot be compared in importance with the two towns just +mentioned; it, too, had an independent political existence as a city at +an early period, and was distinct from the three Arcadian peoples. + +The fourth town on the eastern frontier is STYMPHALUS, a small place in +the extreme corner of the territory of Phlius and Argos. It was situated +in a hollow among mountains, on the border of a lake, with subterraneous +outlets. Tradition ascribed the construction of these passages to the +heroic age, and apparently with great justice. This is one of the many +traces which show that Greece must have had a history which went back +much farther than the current history, and which is so unintelligible +to us, just because we join the poetical traditions of those nations +directly to the historical ages. Such is the case, for example, with +the Minyans, who are so utterly mysterious to us; but it would be mere +infatuation to deny that they once were a great historical people; their +subjugation of Thebes, and the numerous other traditions, have a real +historical foundation, as is still attested by the ruins of the Boeotian +Orchomenos, and by the tunnel carrying off the water of lake Copais. The +lake itself may be of volcanic origin; but the tunnel, at all events, has +at least been completed by the hand of man. The same is the case with +lake Stymphalus, the carrying off of the water from which is ascribed in +tradition to Heracles. + +Some of the northern towns, as _Pheneos_, _Psophis_, and _Cynaetha_, are +ancient but insignificant. + +MEGALOPOLIS was the most recent among the Arcadian towns, for it was +built after the expedition of Epaminondas. He, like many others, saw +the great defect of separate and isolated peoples, whose strength was +broken, and he was bent upon forming and enlarging several central points +which, in the end, necessarily led to a complete division. Hence he +conceived the idea of uniting all the Arcadians against the Spartans, +for it was not yet clear at the time that Sparta had permanently fallen +in the battle of Leuctra. The new city was built by the Arcadians +themselves, under the direction of Epaminondas. These late occurrences +are enveloped in strange obscurity, for we do not know whether it was +intended also to draw the great Arcadian towns, Mantinea, etc., into +this κοινὸν βουλευτήριον; this intention, however, was pre-supposed, +and hence the undertaking was generally disliked. People looked upon +it with distrust; the form prescribed to them was disapproved of, and +even if it had not been insisted on, the spirit of independence of those +people seemed to suffer in the undertaking. The form, moreover, in which +it was intended to carry out the plan seems to have been extremely +absurd. The undertaking had been announced as something grand, yet it +proved to be ill-devised and useless, and did not by any means succeed +as well as had been anticipated. The circumference of Megalopolis was +only about five English miles, and in this space it was contemplated +to crowd together the inhabitants of more than thirty places, and no +one seems to have perceived that such a scheme could not succeed. The +Arcadians were country people (αὐτουργοί), whose fields were not tilled +by slaves; they would have been obliged to carry on their rustic pursuits +at a great distance, which, as they had to live in the city, with civic +institutions, was a matter of impossibility. Epaminondas was indeed a +great man, but this scheme does him no credit; taking all in all, I do +not think that he was as great a man as he is generally believed to have +been. The population dispersed, and the coercion employed was felt to +be more galling than the Spartan dominion, against which the whole plan +was directed. Hence Megalopolis remained the union of only a portion of +Arcadia. It had to fight against the Spartans at an early time, and, +therefore, threw itself into the arms of Philip, who endeavoured to +protect it by a strong frontier on the side of Sparta. After the time of +Alexander, in the war of Polysperchon, it suffered severely, and had to +sustain a vigorous siege; but the greatest misfortune was its capture +by Cleomenes, from which it never recovered. Cleomenes took the town +by surprise, because the walls were too extensive for the population, +and, therefore, could not be defended; the inhabitants partly fled, and +others were put to the sword. From that time Megalopolis, notwithstanding +its circumference, had no more importance than an ordinary town of +the Achaean confederacy, and was afterwards almost entirely deserted. +Polybius was a native of Megalopolis, and although he did all he could +to save his native city, it seems yet to have suffered greatly from +the Romans after the destruction of Corinth, and then it was justly +said Ἐρημία μεγάλη ’στὶν ἡ Μεγάλη πόλις; in the days of Strabo it was +completely reduced to the rank of a village. As it had been built at +a late period, Megalopolis, like all the towns which arose under the +Macedonian dominion, had no great buildings, whence no ruins of it are +found. + +I might mention also _Phigalea_, _Melaeniae_, and other towns, but it is +hardly worth while. Phigalea has become celebrated through the well-known +sculptures, which are excellent in their way, and belong to the period of +archaic art, that is, to the period of the Persian wars and a short time +after; they were found in the ruins of a temple, and are now in England. + + +ELIS. + +The name Elis is of more recent date than the Trojan times; the town +of that name was a recent structure, and the population also is not +ancient. The most northern part of Elis was inhabited during the Trojan +times by the _Epeans_; the middle part, _Pisatis_, extended as far as +the Alpheus, and the country south of that river belonged to the Pylian +kingdom of Nestor. This division continued to exist at a later period. +The Doric name for Elis was Alis, and we should, properly speaking, adopt +this pronunciation, which occurs in Plautus’ Prologue to the “Captivi” +(_vendidit in Alide_), and upon all ancient monuments. On coins we find +ϜΑΛΕΙΩΝ, which by a strange mistake has been referred to the Faliscans, +until at length some English scholar, I think it was Knight, explained it +rightly, the nature of the digamma having become clear. The Pisatans were +probably Arcadians. Respecting Triphylia, between Pisatis and Messenia, +there are strange traditions: in the most ancient of them it is said +to have been inhabited by Caucones, itself a mysterious name, which is +described by some as signifying a race of Carians; according to others, +the country was inhabited by Minyans, who, though they are traced to the +Minyans in Lemnos, are perhaps nothing else but Pelasgians, that is, a +people likewise belonging to the Arcadians. Afterwards Triphylia always +was a part of the ἔθνος Ἀρκαδικόν, although the Arcadians were never +united under one strategus. The Epeans were expelled by the Aetolians; +the Aetolian Oxylus is said to have accompanied the Dorian Heracleids, to +have guided them by way of Naupactus into Achaia, and to have received +Elis as a reward for this service. This tradition must be left to stand +on its own grounds: certain it is at least that Elis was Aetolian, as the +three states were Dorian; but the name of the Aetolians had a different +meaning in the early times from that which we attach to it at a later +period, and of which I shall speak hereafter. + +The history of Elis may be well put together from different +documents.[38] The Aetolians ruled in the city as an oligarchy, and even +as late as the Peloponnesian war the city appears as sovereign, and +the perioeci as subjects; in Aristotle’s Politics, the Aetolian γένη +are still described as a body of oligarchs. But this state of things +was probably altered even in the course of the Peloponnesian war: the +oligarchy was reduced in numbers, and was unable to maintain itself; the +commonalty, on the other hand, acquired consistency, and the old citizens +were united with the country population. Thus Elis became a compact +state, acquiring the extent which we see in our maps, and all the free +inhabitants of the country became Eleans. They were divided into twelve +tribes, four of which were afterwards lost, together with a portion of +the country. Further particulars will be mentioned in connection with the +several towns. Elis had coal mines which were worked, but according to +Theophrastus, the smiths preferred the Massilian coal. + +The original Elis, then, after the Doric migration, comprised only the +country of the Epeans; its capital, _Elis_, was founded by the Aetolians. +This town, like the Eleans in general, does not act a brilliant part in +history; but it was not insignificant, and was situated in a very fertile +and thickly peopled valley, the κοίλη Ἠλις. There is only one other town +in Elis proper, _Cyllene_, the ἐπίνειον for the small fleet of Elis, +standing to the capital in the relation of perioeci, similar to that +subsisting between Lausanne and Berne. + +For a considerable period, Elis was the most peaceable and most +undisturbed country in Greece, and was chiefly inhabited by small landed +proprietors. Polybius too mentions the long peace, but we cannot say +precisely during what period it prevailed, and, at all events, must not +extend it too long. The Eleans were involved in the Peloponnesian war +no less than all the other Greek states; in earlier times they had +even been conquerors. _Pisa_, situated on the Alpheus, enjoyed great +reputation in ancient times, but was destroyed by the Eleans at an early +period (about Olymp. 90), and its territory was incorporated with that of +Elis. This secured to the Eleans the prostasia at the Olympic games. + +All maps have the same mistake, representing _Olympia_ as a town; it was +nothing but a place containing the temple of the Olympian Zeus and the +localities required for the games, a stadium, theatre, and the like. +There never were Olympian citizens, nor a βουλή or a δῆμος; and there +exists no ethnic name formed from Olympia. There may have been some inns +for strangers, but with the exception of the season of the games, the +place was never visited. + +TRIPHYLIA, in the corner between Pisatis, Messenia and Arcadia, was the +third part of the country, though it did not always belong to the Elean +territory. Its capital was _Lepreon_, but it contained a number of small +towns besides, one of which was _Scillus_, where the Spartans gave a +house to Xenophon. Triphylia was repeatedly taken by the Arcadians, as +in Olymp. 102, when they attempted by force to assume the management of +the Olympic games. But as early as Olymp. 96, it had been seized by the +Spartans, and for a time remained under their protection. Scylax (Olymp. +106) calls it a part of Arcadia, but afterwards it was again in the +possession of the Eleans, until in Olymp. 140 it fell into the hands of +Philip III. of Macedonia, who, when his policy required it, gave it up to +the Achaeans. + + +ACHAIA. + +Previous to the Doric migration, Achaia was called Ionia, and as +such was divided into twelve towns. All the Ionians, it is said, +emigrated on the invasion of the Achaeans, who had obtained from the +Lacedaemonians a free departure from Laconia—an account which appears +to me very problematical, but which I cannot remove by substituting a +better one. On that occasion the Achaeans are reported to have become +possessed of the twelve towns. The intentional and artificial character +of this division is obvious: when people meet together with a view to +satisfy their natural wants, we never find such exact calculations. The +Waldstädte in Switzerland were originally three in number, but this +number increased more and more, until it amounted to thirteen. The United +States of North America have increased from thirteen to twenty-four, +and they will increase still more. A design similar to that in Achaia +appears in the Doric part of Asia Minor, where we find the number six, +and among the Romans we find three tribes and thirty curiae. The Doric +immigration corresponds with what we find in Laconia and Messene, and it +was probably the same in Argolis. In the same manner arose the twelve +Achaean towns, according to a designed division among the Ionians, and +the same was preserved under the Achaeans. _Helice_, on the coast of the +Corinthian gulf, was the capital of the Ionians, but whether it occupied +the same rank under the Achaeans for any length of time, is unknown. +Helice and _Olenos_ are two of the twelve towns which occur in the list +of the Achaean towns, and besides them the following ten are mentioned: +_Patrae_, _Dyme_, _Pharae_, _Tritaea_, _Leontion_, _Aegira_, _Pellene_, +_Aegion_, _Bura_, and _Cerynea_.[39] We here meet with a difficulty: +how is it, that we have the differing lists in Strabo and Pausanias, +in which, besides these towns, _Aegae_ and _Rhypes_ are mentioned? +The solution of the mystery is this: for the very reason, for which +originally twelve towns had been instituted, attempts were made, when +two towns perished to supplement the number by introducing two others; +hence these last are sometimes mentioned, and sometimes not, the writers +themselves not being clear about the matter. + +The whole coast sinks rapidly down towards the Corinthian gulf, which +itself seems to have been formed by a sinking of the whole ground, +which is further indicated by the abrupt descent of the mountains that +come down from Arcadia; the props which once supported the ground must +have given way. That part of the country is still the seat of violent +subterraneous fire, whence Helice was regarded as one of the principal +seats of Ποσειδῶν Ἐνοσίχθων, who however could not save it from +destruction. Whether Olenos, as Polybius states, likewise perished by an +earthquake, or whether he is mistaken on this point, cannot be decided. +It certainly was not swallowed up by the sea, like Helice, which sank +down with the coast and all its buildings, for ruins of it were seen at +a late period. It is very probable, that if the site of Helice could be +ascertained, very important antiquities might be brought to light by +diving. Eratosthenes was informed on the spot, that, according to the +belief of the neighbouring people, the place had not been destroyed by a +shock, but that it had simply sunk; they related that a statue which had +formerly stood in the market place, was still standing upright in the +sea, and that fishermen took care not to entangle their nets in it. + +These twelve towns formed a league or confederacy under a common +strategus, and of all the Greek confederacies this lasted the longest; +but the union was so loose that in the Peloponnesian war Pellene alone +joined Sparta, while all the other towns remained neutral, and for a time +were even allied with Athens. Afterwards, however, all the Achaeans were +in alliance with the Lacedaemonians, though then again Pellene acted +independently and by itself. Even at a later period, under Philip and +Alexander—the time referred to in the speech περὶ τῶν πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον +ξυνθηκῶν, which is printed among those of Demosthenes, but is undoubtedly +the work of Hyperides—Pellene still stood aloof. The dissolution of the +Achaean state was then very manifest, and lasted, according to Polybius, +until Olymp. 126, when the three westernmost towns again formed an +alliance among themselves. As early as the reign of Antigonus Gonatas, +Achaia, though then a poor and weak country, had formed itself into one +state, and that even before Aratus had delivered Sicyon. At the time +when this Achaean confederation rose from its tomb, the real seat of +government was at Aegion, and Pellene lost its former importance, which +may have been partly the consequence of the ravages made during the war +of Demetrius Poliorcetes. Aegion became the new rallying point, probably +on account of its situation on the Corinthian gulf; hence it acquired an +importance which it had never had before. _Pellene_ was situated on a +hill of considerable height, the termination of the northern range of the +Arcadian mountains, and was accordingly a strong place. + +In later times, _Patrae_ was of greater importance as a commercial town; +in the earliest ages it is not mentioned as a place of any consequence, +though its harbour is beautiful. It acquired its importance, which it +retained until its destruction in our own days, at the time when Pompey +established a colony there, which was increased by Augustus. Pompey +restored it as a maritime town, for it had been destroyed in the Achaean +war. He compelled some of the Asiatic pirates to settle there, and +Augustus made it a Roman colony, whence, like Corinth, it issued coins +with Latin inscriptions. Throughout the middle ages, under Constantine +Porphyrogenitus, as well as under the Frankish and Venetian dominion, +Patrae was the most flourishing city in all Peloponnesus. The other +places are too unimportant to engage our attention. + +The coast of Achaia bore the peculiar name of Aegialos. What is said of +it in the Homeric Catalogue, remained essentially the same after the +destructive immigrations; hence its case was quite different from that +of other countries of Peloponnesus, especially the coast of Messenia, +where nothing remained except Cyparissia. Its topography also underwent +scarcely any change on account of the uniformity of its history: thus the +course of events is often marked in the geography of a country. + + + + +GREECE BEYOND PELOPONNESUS. + + +ATTICA AND MEGARIS. + +ATTICA and MEGARIS, if we look at their physical features, form but one +country, and in this light they were viewed in the earliest times of +which we still have the traditions. The tradition that all this country, +from the Isthmus as far as the coast opposite to Euboea, was formerly +called Ionia, and inhabited by Ionians, cannot be reconciled with the +other, that the Ionians, when expelled from Achaia, went to Attica, and +that through them Attica was changed into Ionia. If we wish to form any +clear notion at all about the matter, it will probably be most correct +to suppose, that originally both coasts, Aegialos and Attica, as well +as the whole of the intervening country, Sicyon, Corinth, etc., were +inhabited by one and the same Pelasgian branch, that is, by Ionians. This +hypothesis gives consistency to the geography of those countries, and we +obtain a definite idea of them, which has at least great probability in +its favour. The column said to have been erected in the time of Theseus, +with the strange inscriptions— + + Τάδ’ ἐστὶ Πελοπόννησος οὐκ Ἰωνιά, + + and + + Τάδ’ οὐχὶ Πελοπόννησος ἀλλ’ Ἰωνία, + +is an invention of a comparatively very late period. When Attica and +Megaris are taken as one country, it is designated by the name of Ἀκτή. +This, however, is not a proper name, but, as we have seen before, an +appellative designating a country running out into the sea, without +being united with the main land by means of an isthmus. I consider this +name to be very ancient, because there can be no doubt that Ἀττικὴ was +formed from Ἀκτικὴ on the same principle on which the Italian language +substitutes _tt_ for the Latin _ct_. In the earliest traditions, however, +the country has several names, the exact meaning and age of which we are +unable to ascertain, but which, though they are preserved only in late +writers, mostly Alexandrian poets, we ought not to disregard, for these +authors fondly adopted those very things which were rare, and which were +preserved only in ancient poems. The country, to mention one example, was +also called _Mopsopia_, a name of which we can say absolutely nothing, +though the country certainly bore it at one time. However, even though +the Acte formed one whole, it does not follow by any means that it also +formed one state. + +Much may be conjectured respecting the early history of Attica, if we rid +ourselves of the later traditions about Cecrops and the Pandionids, which +were transferred from the Atthids to the works of the Alexandrians, and +have been handed down by them to our time,—if, I say, we rid ourselves +of them so far as not to regard them altogether as history, and, on the +other hand, not to indulge in too artificial and subtle explanations, +but so as to take only certain facts which are clearly implied in the +stories, and to let these speak for themselves. One tradition about the +Acte, in which it extends as far as the Isthmus, is, that it was divided +by the Pandionids into four states; and why should not this have been the +case? Another division refers apparently to Attica, in the narrower sense +of the name. I allude to that ascribed to Cecrops; here, too, we have +a kind of tetrapolis, and thus far it agrees with the earlier division +though the detail is different, for according to it Attica consisted +of twelve (3 × 4) states. We accordingly find in Attica an historical +trace of a division into twelve, like that of the Ionian Aegialos; it +was also historically remembered, that these towns became united in +Athens. The boundaries of Attica, as an Athenian state, stand in relation +to those of Megaris, which, however, were changeable, and were moved +sometimes forward and sometimes backward. At the time when Megaris was +an extensive country, and Attica small, Salamis belonged to the former. +Other changes in the Athenian possessions occur on the Boeotian side. But +there certainly is some gap in our history of Attica, which we can hardly +wonder at, seeing that the political history of the Greeks in general +is very fragmentary. What I mean is this: in very ancient times all +Attica did not form one state, and the boundary must have been altered +in some sense, so that during the time after Cleisthenes, the country +districts, formerly occupied by perioeci, obtained the full franchise, +as was the case, for example, with Salamis. Herodotus attests, that, in +his topical division of Attica into ten phylae, Cleisthenes gave to every +phyle ten demi. But at a later time Attica contained 174 demi. Strabo is +not the man to write down such a statement thoughtlessly; and moreover +the correctness of the number may be calculated from inscriptions and +grammarians, especially from Harpocration. It is, therefore, probable +that, as at Rome, when its territory was extended, the towns which +received the full franchise, were constituted as new local tribes, so +also at Athens new demi were formed under similar circumstances, without +there being any change in the number of the phylae. We might also explain +the change by the supposition that at first Cleisthenes allowed the +ancient γένη to continue, so that the φυλαὶ τοπικαί originally did not +contain the Eupatrids and the demi together; but afterwards, and even +before the Persian wars, this constitution was so altered, as to change +the most distinguished among the ancient γένη, of which only very few +remained, into separate demi, and incorporate them with the phylae, in +order to prevent their sinking into utter insignificance, and especially +their losing the right of voting. Thus the Butadae are mentioned both as +a γένος and as a δῆμος. Within such a γένος, which had become a δῆμος, +the real descendants of the ancient race were distinguished, by the +addition ἐτεο, from those who had become members of the same demos by +accident. This is the sense in which we have probably to understand the +often-mentioned Eteobutadae. + + +MEGARIS. + +I shall treat of Megaris very briefly. It is that part of the Cecropian +Acte which was taken possession of by the Dorians when they extended +their dominion beyond Peloponnesus, in the hope of subduing all Attica, +which was then very weak. If we look at it within the limits which it +had at the time of the Peloponnesian war, it was as thoroughly Doric +as any part of Peloponnesus, and even in its dialect, notwithstanding +the probably small number of immigrants who, perhaps, formed only a +military colony. The town of MEGARA was, according to all appearances, +built by the Dorians; previously there existed no Megara. The version of +the passage in Homer, with which the Megarians opposed the proof of the +Athenians, does not mention Megara, but only Polichna, Nisaea, Tripodes, +and Aegirussa.[40] It was not an important town, and its whole territory +was small; if, however, we credit Herodotus’ account of their contingent +in the battle of Plataeae, it must have been extremely populous. + +NISAEA, the port of Megara, was older than the city, and is connected in +the traditions of the poets with Nisus and his daughter Scylla or Ciris; +and when the poets in this fable mention Megara, it must be regarded as +mere prolepsis. The Megarians were a maritime people, but not of great +importance; they had a small fleet at Nisaea, which was rather more +than a mile from the city, and was connected with it by two long walls +(σκέλη); the city itself was situated on a hill. The long walls were +built by the Athenians after the Persian wars, when they were masters of +Megaris. _Pagae_ or _Pegae_ was another town of Megaris on the Corinthian +Gulf, and contained a ship-wharf; it likewise had some ships, and was +strongly fortified. + +The history of Megaris is not uninteresting; it is, in fact, that of +all the Greek peoples. In the earliest times it was governed by an +aristocracy, or rather oligarchy; then the demos rose, and the old +inhabitants, oppressed by the conquerors, were led by a man of the +highest rank, who set himself up as tyrant. This man was Theagenes. The +period of the overthrow of the aristocracy in all the states of Greece +and the rising of tyrants falls between Olymp. 30 and 70, a period which +may be likened to the 15th century in the middle ages. These τυραννίδες +were of a very different character from those of later times; they always +belonged to the first families, and were mere usurpations, without the +odiousness which generally attaches to the name. Their rule accordingly +was by no means hated, as it is when the tyrannis is the result of +general anarchy, or of the degeneracy of liberty. The ancient tyrannides +arose from a natural want, and from the consciousness that the state +could no longer be governed in the way in which it had been done before; +they were not cruel, because the sovereignty was not claimed by more than +one, so that there was no cause for making him bloodthirsty. If we bear +in mind this ancient meaning of the name, we cannot view the tyrannis in +an odious light. The tyrannis of later times is very different, for it no +longer helps to develop, but rules with cruelty over a mass which cannot +control itself. The later these tyrants are the worse they are; and the +worst of all are those after the time of Alexander, such as Aristodemus +of Elis, Agathocles and Apollonius of Cassandrea. After the fall of +Theagenes, the democracy ceased, and Megara, notwithstanding its Doric +character, was governed by an oligarchy, just as Corinth after the fall +of the Cypselids. During the Persian wars it was a flourishing state, but +afterwards it became involved in disputes with its powerful neighbours, +the Athenians; and by all kinds of insults offered to them, it drew +upon itself their anger; this was senseless, as it always is when the +weaker provokes the stronger. The Spartans undertook the Peloponnesian +war ostensibly to protect the Megarians, but Megara fared ill in that +war. Previously, the Athenians had left them alone, but they now made +frequent inroads into their country, and cruelly ravaged it; and the +marches of the Peloponnesians through it seem to have completely ruined +it. Afterwards it was a place of no importance. Its situation, which, +if Peloponnesus had formed one state, might have made it an excellent +bulwark, appears to have always exposed it to ravages. It was taken +and destroyed by Demetrius Poliorcetes; Antigonus Gonatas carried on a +severe war against the country, to obtain in it a place for a Macedonian +garrison. Such a garrison was at that time the most fearful scourge +for a Greek town; it generally consisted of barbarians, such as Gauls, +Thracians, or Getae, who conducted themselves entirely according to their +own discretion, and against whom it was impossible for any individual +to protect his property, unless the governor took pity upon him, as was +the case at Athens, which had the good fortune of having in Antigonus +Gonatas a humane commander. Hence Megara, like the other places, was in +a wretched condition. During the first great period of the Achaeans, +Megara, together with Corinth, became free again; but afterwards it was +so insignificant, that it is not even mentioned as to whether, when +Corinth became Macedonian, Megara experienced the same fate or not: it +had probably joined Boeotia. Before the battle on the Isthmus, the Romans +again destroyed everything that was still standing. Ser. Sulpicius, in +his consolatory letter to Cicero, mentions Megara, too, as one of the +“corpses of towns” which he saw on the Saronic gulf; according to Strabo, +however, it still existed in his time ἀμῶς γέ πως, though it had sunk +very low: it still contained some ancient buildings and temples, and +among them, within the ring-walls, a small Population. The devastation of +Greece under the Romans can scarcely be conceived too fearful: Pausanias +misleads us on this point; the true description is furnished by Dion +Chrysostomus, who states, that a person might travel about in Arcadia +and Thessaly for a whole day without seeing a human being, except a few +shepherds. My belief is, that in the time of Pausanias, Peloponnesus, +with the exception of a few districts, had no more inhabitants than +previously to the Venetian conquest in the year 1650. + +Megara was important in a military point of view; two roads led thence +to Corinth: the one, running along the sea-coast, and by the Scironian +rocks, was very dangerous, for it passed between the precipitous rock and +the shore, and formed a pass which no one would ever attempt to storm; +the other led across the Oneian mountain, right through the middle of the +country, towards the Isthmus. + + +ATTICA. + +We shall consider Attica according to the extent it had at the time of +the Peloponnesian war. Salamis, and many places on the Boeotian frontier, +were evidently added to it at an earlier period, but its boundaries were +reduced again during the Macedonian times: under Cassander, Salamis and +Eleusis were separated from Attica, they received Macedonian garrisons, +and formed small communities under Macedonian supremacy. To this period +belong the coins with the inscriptions ΣΑΛΑΜΙΝΙΩΝ, ΣΑΛΑ; ΕΛΕΥΣΙΝΙΩΝ, +ΕΛΕΥ, or ΕΛ; but the particulars cannot be clearly ascertained. + +The people of Attica are called Ἀθηναῖοι in their relation to the state, +and Ἀττικοί in relation to their manners, customs, and dialect; but the +name for an Athenian woman is Ἀττική, and Ἀθηναία in this sense, is +either affectation or said in joke. + +The whole territory of Attica is a thoroughly mountainous country, +like Megaris, with one considerable plain on one side and another on +the opposite side. The length of the Acte from the Isthmus to Sunion, +including Megaris, measured 680 stadia, or about 90 English miles, +of which less than one-third belonged to Megaris. Some of the hills +are off-shoots of those of Megaris, but, in reality, they are only +continuations of the Boeotian chain of Cithaeron. All form, in truth, +only one mountain range, which proceeds from the Boeotian and Megarian +frontiers in the form of a semicircle behind Athens, and extends as far +as Sunion. All these hills consist of a kind of limestone, which in +Hymettus and Pentelicus becomes the most excellent marble. This marble +is white with greenish veins, of smaller grain and less white than the +Parian, and resembles the Carystian. At the extreme end of these hills, +above Sunion, are the silver mines of _Laurion_. These mines, which are +a great physical curiosity, were very productive, and were worked in +very ancient times; but they became exhausted during the period from the +time of the Gracchi, when they were still vigorously worked, to that of +Strabo, when the produce was not worth the labour, and when only the +ancient offal, which had been thrown away in better times, was smelted. +At present they have entirely disappeared, just like the gold mines near +Philippi. All names in Attica are classical. The most remarkable among +the hills are those already mentioned, _Hymettus_ and _Pentelicus_, on +account of their marble quarries: they seem to have been the first of +which the marble was wrought into statues, perhaps about Olymp. 50 or +60. The use of bronze for such purposes is easier and more natural, and +hence more ancient. The other hills are _Parnes_ and _Brilessus_, the +former of which was a wooded mountain. Hymettus and Pentelicus may +still be clearly identified, in consequence of the marble quarries, and +Hymettus in consequence of its honey, which is still excellent. Such +means of identification do not occur in the case of Parnes and Brilessus; +and although these, too, are unhesitatingly named by modern travellers, +yet all is arbitrary. All the Attic hills are at present barren; but in +ancient times some were well wooded, as we may infer from the charcoal +manufactures near Acharnae, mentioned by Aristophanes; but the greater +part of them were not, like our hills, clad with heather, but with thyme, +marjoram, and other aromatic herbs. The fact that Hymettus, even in +antiquity, had no trees, may be inferred from the circumstance, that it +was the habitation of bees, and the place in which their breeding was +attended to. + +Attica was well known to the ancients themselves as a country that was +not fertile, and where the rocky ground was covered only with a very +thin crust of soil (λεπτόγεων in Thucydides); it had two plains of a +very different character, the one that of Eleusis and Thria (τὸ Θριάσιον +πεδίον), which was fertile, whence Eleusis was justly the seat of the +worship of Demeter; the other was the plain of Marathon, which was not +fertile, and is at present deserted; it was covered only with wild fennel +and such like herbs, nor was it as flat as the Thriasian plain. + +Attica has little water, and is poor in rivers and springs; Athens +itself had only one good spring. The rivers are so insignificant that +in any other country they would not be mentioned at all; but in Attica +everything has a general interest and cannot be forgotten, so that the +Cephisus and Ilisus, though only small rivulets, are better known than +the Oxus and Jaxartes. The Cephisus does not even reach the sea; it flows +in a western and the Ilisus in an eastern direction. I spell both names +with a single _s_, which is the ancient Greek orthography found in the +good MSS. of Aristophanes and Plato, and in inscriptions. The spelling +Κηφισσός and Ἰλισσός, however, likewise became common in antiquity, and +was that generally received by the Romans; and when a Roman uses a single +_s_, it must be regarded as his special choice. + +The circumference of ATHENS was much changed in the course of time. +According to the traditions, it was at first small like all the towns +in Attica, when the lower hills all around were thinly peopled. The arx +of Athens, we are told by Thucydides, was called the πόλις, though more +probably ἄστυ;[41] for everywhere πόλις and ἄστυ seem to stand in the +same relation to each other as _civitas_ stands to _urbs_ or _oppidum_. +As _civitas_, in good Latinity, is never used of the buildings, so πόλις +in Greece, even at an early time signified the body of citizens, and ἄστυ +the place they inhabited. In the most ancient times the ἄκραι alone were +fortified in all parts of Greece, the places below them were inhabited +κωμηδόν; such was the case in the Pelasgian times at Athens, and also at +Sparta. When the town was surrounded with walls cannot be ascertained, +but it was probably as early as the time of the Pisistratidae; that +κύκλος, however, must have been feeble and unimportant, for if the town +had been strong, we cannot conceive why the citizens, on the approach +of the Persians, abandoned it without any thought of being able to +defend it. After the evacuation of Attica, Themistocles restored the +walls, and gave them a much greater circumference. This is, properly +speaking, not mentioned anywhere expressly by the ancients[42], but has +long ago been assumed by the moderns from the context of the narrative +and from the circumstances of the case, and that too with full justice: +matters happened in a similar way at Cologne, Nürnberg, Frankfort and +Florence. In building walls the ancients sometimes followed the lines +of the suburbs, which were surrounded by palisades; but sometimes the +circumference was made larger than was really needed, and such may have +been the case at Athens. But what was the circumference of Athens? The +walls of Themistocles cannot be traced with the same accuracy as the +agger of Serv. Tullius at Rome. In the time of Pausanias they were +still standing; they had been built by Themistocles in a very hurried +manner, but still of such strength that their complete disappearance is +a mystery. I have no doubt that the foundations might be discovered if +it were possible to make excavations. All we know about the subject is +the statement of Thucydides, that the city was forty-three stadia in +circumference, exclusive of the empty space between the two long walls. +This empty space is estimated in different ways, but there can be no +doubt that it occupied only a few stadia, for there was no necessity +for keeping those walls far asunder. Fauvel, who resided several years +in Athens, declares that he cannot make out that the circumference of +Athens was so large, and therefore assumes the passage of Thucydides to +be corrupt. But his supposition cannot be admitted, for Dionysius of +Halicarnassus states that the Rome of Serv. Tullius was about equal to +the ancient ἄστυ: now the circumference of the agger of Serv. Tullius, +with a small exception, is perfectly ascertained, and extends about five +English miles, which perfectly agrees with the statement of Thucydides. +But the topography of Athens is everywhere full of perplexities.[43] + +PIRAEEUS was a second city. Its site is certain, but the detail of its +topography cannot be determined. I do, indeed, believe that a person +living on the spot with the privilege of making excavations, might +discover some things, but never as much as at Rome, where we have the +numerous documents, and where so many remains still exist. From the +drawings of Piraeeus, which I have seen, the statements of the ancients +cannot be explained; the line of coast has become very much altered, +the harbour is filled with sand, and one or two of the ports seem to +have completely disappeared; the ancient bays are at present marshes and +morasses, which have no connection with the sea, and the outline of the +coast is evidently changed. Piraeeus had separate fortifications, and +was connected with the city by the μακρὰ σκέλη, which were constructed, +not by Themistocles, but by Pericles. These fortifications are drawn +in Barthélemy’s _Voyages du Jeune Anacharsis_, by Barbié du Bocage, +with apparent accuracy, but they must be used with caution, and not as +exact topographical drawings: they are not intended to give accurate and +definite local views, but only to furnish the readers with a picture +which is not essentially wrong, and which they may retain in their minds +to form a living conception of ancient history. But the picture is not +free from faults; one of them, e.g., is that Phalerus is drawn within the +walls, which is not supported by a single ancient testimony; Phalerus was +on the side of one of the walls, which was hence called the Phalerean. + +Many circumstances have conspired to render the topography of Athens +difficult. In the first place, we have no description of the city like +that furnished by the Regionarii in regard to Rome; in the second place, +the historians mention, indeed, particular buildings at Athens, but +without stating their relative position to one another; the buildings, +with few exceptions, were situated on a plain surface, the several +eminences in the ἄστυ having for the most part no buildings. Hence the +descriptions cannot be as exact as at Rome, where the hills afforded an +easy means of stating the site of buildings and the direction of streets. +The many buildings, moreover, some of which existed even in the middle +ages, and most of which can even now be recognised in their ruins, are +a great assistance in determining the topography of Rome; the study of +these combined with that of the ancient topographical documents enables +us to ascertain a great many points, and thus to trace the history of +the city with great accuracy. If a person makes himself acquainted with +modern Rome, tracing it back to its origin, and if, in addition to this, +he endeavours to understand the ritual and the roads taken by certain +processions, along which the ancient buildings are mentioned, he has +already gained a considerable step in advance. The Itineraries of the +seventh century are likewise a source of information on topography. In +this way a person first comes to the Rome of the middle ages, and thence +to ancient Rome. But the city of Athens has completely disappeared; +some isolated ancient buildings do indeed exist, to which certain names +are given, which are in some cases correct, but in others doubtful. +From the middle ages, too, scarcely any thing but walls remain; Athens +was several times destroyed and completely deserted; even the churches +were demolished, and where anything of them remains, it does not lead +us back to ancient buildings. Pausanias, who is our only authority, is +an extremely confused writer, and the most different hypotheses may be +based upon his statements. He proceeds from Piraeeus to the Ceramicus, +thence to the Agora, and further on to the Acropolis; but what road he +took it is impossible to make out. The accounts of the moderns of the +sites of the ancient buildings are likewise extremely contradictory, and +can scarcely be otherwise, considering their short stay on the spot. +Stuart was there longest, but his whole object was to make architectural +drawings. Fauvel’s and Stuart’s statements, for example, respecting +the Areopagus, are in direct contradiction with each other. As matters +now stand, a person may find his way on the Acropolis, and perhaps +also determine the hill of the Museum; but otherwise nothing can be +identified, neither the Areopagus nor the Pnyx. The city of Hadrian can +be recognised by its gate. That emperor was a strange, wrong-headed man: +though a Spaniard by birth, he was enamoured with everything Greek, but +his whole tendency was not ancient Greek; he was in fact a Greek sophist +of his own age: he dressed himself in the Greek fashion, and allowed +his beard to grow in the Greek fashion, although the Romans had adopted +the custom of shaving themselves even before the time of Hannibal. He +was ambitious to shine among the Greeks as a Greek, and built several +gigantic temples, as for example, the Olympieum, of which many ruins +still exist. In like manner, he built an entirely new city by the side of +ancient Athens, although the space occupied by the latter was no doubt +deserted. The gate of this new city with two inscriptions still exists: +ΑΙΔ ΕΙΣ ΑΘΗΝΑΙ ΘΗΣΕΩΣ, Η ΠΡΙΝ ΠΟΛΙΣ, and ΑΙΔ ΕΙΣ ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΟΥΧΙ ΘΗΣΕΩΣ +ΠΟΛΙΣ. All the other points in our plans, for example the site of the +Ceramicus in that of Barbié du Bocage and others, are mere attempts to +give something tangible. + +The Acropolis was the ornament of Athens; it was situated on a steep +rock, though scarcely 200 feet high, and surrounded with walls, that on +one side being called the Κιμώνειον τεῖχος; and that on the other, the +Πελασγικὸν τεῖχος. Why Cimon should have made additional fortifications +to the Acropolis, especially in the days of the democracy, is to me a +mystery; and I am almost inclined to suspect that the accounts about it +must be explained in a different manner, and that some earlier Cimon is +meant. Pericles constructed a flight of steps leading up the Acropolis +under a portico, and at the entrance he built the Propylaea, of which +now scarcely the site is discernible. The present fortifications of the +Acropolis with double walls, were made in the middle ages, at the time +of the French dukes and of the Catalani in the thirteenth and fourteenth +centuries, and in their construction many of the ancient remains were +destroyed. The Propylaea were the triumph of Greek architecture. The +chief buildings on the Acropolis were three temples, two of Athena, +which must accordingly not be confounded with each other, namely, the +Parthenon, and the temple of Athena Polias, in which was preserved +the ancient image which had fallen from heaven (ξόανον, εἴδωλον), and +thirdly, the temple of Erechtheus, which during the last unfortunate +siege has been entirely destroyed; the same was probably the fate of +the Parthenon also.[44] All these temples were erected in the age of +Pericles, and were built in the Doric style, while the Propylaea were +Ionic. The Acropolis also contained the treasury of the republic: it was +the Capitol of Athens, and fully as strong as that of Rome. + +A place, concerning the site of which there can be no doubt, is the +theatre, which can still be distinctly seen: it leans against the +Acropolis, the rock itself forming its back wall. This is the sacred +spot, where Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Aristophanes, produced their works; +there the Athenian people crowned its great men for their merit; and +there a golden wreath was given to Demosthenes for his faithful advice. + +The site of the Agora, on the other hand, cannot be determined within a +hundred paces; and I do not know in what direction to place it. In it was +the _Bouleuterion_ of the Council of the Five Hundred, the _Prytaneion_ +or Tholos, and the altars, which more than anything else show that the +Athenians were animated by a different spirit from that of the other +Greeks. I allude to the Βωμὸς Ἐλέους and the Βωμὸς Αἰδοῦς, that is, the +altar of Mercy and of Modesty. These altars are characteristic, and shew +the amiable nature of the Athenians: that people did not conceive mercy +and modesty as demonlike ghosts, nor did they view them abstractedly like +the Romans; they declared by those altars, that they had established +mercy and the dread of everything that is vulgar, as rules to guide +their own conduct. And it was not in vain that they had raised mercy +to the rank of a divinity: he who found mercy nowhere, experienced it +at Athens during the period of her power. With all their faults, and +notwithstanding many acts that make our hearts bleed, the Athenians were +the most amiable among the Greeks; and we cannot help asking: was there +ever a powerful republic, completely left to itself, which restrained +itself so much by its aversion against what is bad? They also had an +altar of Report and Impulse (ὁρμή) to preserve their good report, and to +prevent their being carried away by impulse. + +The Pnyx was the hill where the popular assemblies were held, but it +cannot possibly have contained the whole body of the people. + +The hill of the Museum was regarded as the strongest point of the city +next to the Acropolis, and after the Lamian war it was occupied by a +Macedonian garrison, though previously it had not been a place of any +importance. The account of the deliverance of Athens by Olympiodorus, +shows that the Museum was not a real fort, but only an inaccessible post +capable of containing a considerable body of troops. What was the real +nature of the place, and what made it so strong, are questions to which +no definite answers can be given. + +The new town was the strange scheme of Hadrian, who planned buildings +the splendour of which was to eclipse that of the ancient ones; but the +Olympieum was not completed.[45] Soon after Hadrian, Herodes Atticus, +whose life has been written by Philostratus, constructed at Athens a +whole stadium of Pentelic marble; his wealth is said to have been immense +and almost fabulous, and his grandfather is reported to have found a +treasure of Athena. Although the Pentelic marble was obtained in the +vicinity of Athens, yet such a building erected by a private person was +an amazing undertaking. The buildings of Hadrian and this stadium are +still discernible in their ruins. + +In the vicinity of Athens there were three gymnasia, the Academy, a park +with trees and buildings in which gymnastic exercises were carried on; +the Lyceum and the Cynosarges served similar purposes, but their sites +cannot be determined. + +Previous to the time of Themistocles, Piraeeus was a scarcely inhabited +coast district; its natural advantages were neglected, because this +port was farther off than that of Phalerus, the latter being two or +three miles nearer the city; the few galleys which Athens possessed, and +most of which had no decks, were in Phalerus. Themistocles, with the +keen eye of a great man, selected Piraeeus as the site of a new town, +and his intention was to induce the Athenians to abandon their city +altogether and to settle in Piraeeus, which he intended to surround with +walls of immense height and to fortify in such a manner as to render it +impregnable by the arts of war as they were at the time. The wall, which +was actually built, had only half the height to which he intended to +raise it, and yet, until the time of Sulla, it defied every attack upon +it. The thought of abandoning the place in which the citizens had lived +honourably for centuries, was too painful to their feelings to be carried +into effect. After the battle on the Hellespont, in the Peloponnesian +war, such fortifications of Piraeeus could, after all, not have saved +Athens, though at other times they would have been of great advantage, +and might, perhaps, have exercised an influence upon the course of the +Peloponnesian war. The second great plan, the building of the μακρὰ +σκέλη, partly supplied this advantage, which they might have enjoyed at +less expense. + +The circumference of Piraeeus was nearly seven English miles: its nature +and topography are the great problem for archaeologists. We can indeed +conceive that, as we read in the ancients, it had three large harbours, +but two of them are now choked up. Such deposits of sand are frequent in +those parts of the coasts of the Mediterranean, where the current is not +very strong. + +The most difficult, nay, almost impossible, problem, is that of +determining the site of _Munychia_. It is described as a peninsula almost +surrounded by the sea, near Piraeeus, and as connected with the main land +only by a narrow isthmus; it is further said to have been a very strong +post; but as yet we have no correct drawing of it, and no description or +statement leads us to the discovery of the site of Munychia; though we +might fancy that such an eminence could not be mistaken. Strabo describes +the place in the above manner, and beyond that we know nothing of it. If +a person, intimately acquainted with the ancients, were to examine the +localities, he might perhaps make some discoveries. Piraeeus was built +along the shore, and surrounded on the landside by the great wall of +Themistocles; but whether Munychia was situated within that wall, or was +built against it like a citadel, no one can say: our topographers always +regard it as a part of Piraeeus, but there can be no doubt, that the +historians always distinguish the two places. + +Piraeeus was a considerable town attracting all the wealth and commerce +of Athens; it was a new place, having arisen after the Persian war; +it had previously been a mere village, a δῆμος. This new town was +constructed according to a regular plan, while Athens, with the +exception of its public places, was an ugly city, with narrow, crooked, +and angular streets; the private dwellings were insignificant, almost +like our peasant houses, with walls of clay, or wicker-work covered +with clay; the house of Pulytion alone, which appeared like a palace, +formed an exception.[46] Hence the Greek term for a thief, τοιχώρυχος, +signifies one that breaks through a wall. Hence also we find no such +ruins at Athens as at Rome, where the houses were built of bricks and +puzzolano, at Syracuse, or any other Greek town. Piraeeus was planned +by the Milesian architect Hippodamus in the time of Pericles, and it is +possible that it may have had far more beautiful houses than Athens; the +foundation of that town forms an era in the building of cities, which +henceforth were always laid out according to definite plans. In Italy +the streets of all towns were, from the earliest times, built according +to certain schemes; Rome alone formed an exception in consequence of +the haste with which it was restored after the Gallic conflagration. +The arsenal (νεώσοικοι) was a curious edifice: each galley had its +separate place, in which everything necessary for its outfit was kept +in readiness. In modern times, the arsenal of Venice was similarly +constructed, probably on the model of that of Constantinople. Piraeeus +had two ἀγοραί, a theatre, and everything that was required of an +independent town. It was the residence of merchants, mostly metoeci, and +of the lower classes of the free citizens who gained their living by all +kinds of trades connected with maritime affairs. The nobles who, without +privileges, yet exercised a sort of power, and the ancient families, +preserving their character, lived in the city, and not in the country. +Hence the decided political colour of the city; οἱ ἐν ἄστει signifying +the oligarchical faction, whose rallying point at the time of the Thirty +Tyrants was in the city, while the democrats lived in the country and in +the port town. + +Piraeeus was connected with the city by the μακρά σκέλη, which must not +be regarded by any means as a work of Themistocles, for they were built +during the administration of Cimon and Pericles; of the fortifications of +Piraeeus, too, only the smallest part was executed by Themistocles. One +of these walls was forty and the other thirty-five stadia in length, but +neither was as high as those of Piraeeus; the space between them cannot +be regarded as a suburb, nor did it form a road, but consisted rather of +open fields protected by the walls, so that in times of war as well as +in those of most profound peace, Athens could receive all its supplies +from the sea; but it was necessary in time of war to guard the walls. +The space on both sides was principally occupied as burying grounds. +After the Peloponnesian war, the Athenians were compelled to demolish +on each side a portion of the wall of from ten to twelve stadia; but +the Lacedaemonians were still more bent upon pulling down the walls of +Piraeeus; it is true that not the whole of these latter were demolished, +but still so large a portion of them, that on the return of Thrasybulus +and his comrades from Phyle, Piraeeus appears as an open place. Athens +itself retained its walls. The works which were executed by Conon, +after the battle of Cnidus, with Persian money, contributed, among +other things, to restore the fortifications of Piraeeus: he succeeded +in accomplishing this with the treasures of the Persian king, and with +the supply of workmen and money furnished by the maritime Greeks, such +as the Corinthians and Boeotians, the same who, ten years before, had +madly demanded the destruction of Athens. It is uncertain, however, +whether the walls of Piraeeus restored by Conon were as enormous as +those of Themistocles described by Thucydides. The rebuilding of the +long walls occupied a longer time, for Athens did not possess the means +of completing them speedily; in the time of king Philip, however, they +were evidently restored. During the regency of Antipater, a Macedonian +garrison was quartered in Piraeeus and Munychia, and if I am not +mistaken, in the Museum also, just as under Demetrius Poliorcetes. At +a time which it is impossible to determine, the long walls were again +destroyed, and were not restored before the war of Antigonus Gonatas +(Olymp. 127)[47], so that they must have been destroyed either by +Antigonus himself[48], or even by Demetrius Poliorcetes, when he entered +the city a second time and placed a garrison in the Museum. For the fact +that at that time there was no communication between Piraeeus and the +city, is clear from the circumstance, that during the siege of Antigonus, +when famine was raging most fearfully, it was not he that commanded the +sea, but the fleet of Alexandria. This fleet, however, did not venture +to land, so that no provisions could be conveyed into the city, and the +Macedonians must have been encamped between Athens and Piraeeus, though +the latter place was not in their hands. In the last war against Philip +III., Olymp. 145 (U.C. 551), the long walls, according to Livy, lay in +ruins. So also during the unfortunate siege of Athens by Sulla, U.C. +666; he besieged the κύκλος of the city, and Piraeeus: the city was in +the hands of the tyrant Aristion, Piraeeus in those of the troops of +Mithridates, and Sulla was encamped between the two. It was a time of +the most fearful misery, and those in Piraeeus scarcely ever succeeded +in introducing provisions into the city, whence it is clear, that the +walls could not then have been restored, which, considering the decay and +wretchedness of the city, was in fact impossible. The numerous drachmae +and tetradrachmae, consisting of copper with a thin coat of silver, +belong to this period of decay; they are ancient, and of a peculiar +coinage; the Athenians probably employed copper for the same reason for +which paper has been used in modern times. Charles XII. of Sweden, too, +once ordered copper coins to be issued. This is a proof of the great +decay of Athens; even Xenophon says, that the city was full of unoccupied +building grounds: it was not worth while to rebuild the houses; they +were abandoned and allowed to crumble to pieces; the places were left as +waste-land, and grass grew upon them. The state of the city resembled +that of many towns in the East, as for example, Ispahan. Its whole +outline, however, still remained the same during the siege of Sulla, and +the splendid buildings were still uninjured, while the people lived in +the greatest misery, and were very much reduced in numbers. The vessels +dedicated in the temples, though they were still exhibited as the ancient +originals, were probably counterfeited, the real gold and silver having +been exchanged for other metals, just as the French at Loretto took away +the precious stones, and filled their places with glass. We still possess +the inventories of the precious treasures, which the Athenian curators +handed over to their successors in office, and which belong to the +Macedonian period; but during the subsequent times, there certainly was +no longer any trace of them. As Aristion refused to surrender, Sulla took +the city by storm and raged like Mummius against Corinth and the unhappy +Achaeans: the Romans murdered every one that came in their way; a great +number who had taken refuge in the Ceramicus, had their lives spared, but +every tenth man among them was put to death. On that occasion a part of +the city was consumed by fire. + +But Piraeeus suffered still more severely; it was destroyed by Sulla +quite intentionally, for he set fire to the arsenal (ὁπλοθήκη) and the +νεώσοικοι, in which there were spaces for 400 galleys. Athens was in a +state of the deepest distress: the survivors received, what the Romans +in their official language called freedom, that is, they were allowed to +choose their own magistrates, and had jurisdiction in criminal cases. But +the city was like a wilderness, though it always retained the remembrance +of earlier times. The people did not indeed forget the fearful calamities +they had experienced, but in that happy climate man enjoys the present; +the scenes of terror gradually ceased to be thought of, men soon +assembled again, and Athens became one of the most delightful places to +live in, to which Romans of education and rank, such as Atticus, withdrew +from the political turmoils of the time, and cheered their life in a +world of ideas and in dreams of the olden times. Under the emperors, +Athens recovered several islands which it had formerly possessed, as +Scyros, Lemnos, and Imbros, which to some extent enabled it to exist. +In the reign of Hadrian the Ilisus flowed with gold; Herodes Atticus +was indeed an acquisition for which the city had to pay dearly, for his +vanity made him an unbearable and arrogant man, though he was withal +empty-headed; but still it was a period of relative prosperity. The +philosophical school of Athens acquired more consistency under Hadrian; +it was a kind of university, where especially dialectics and speculative +philosophy were pursued; but the exact sciences and grammar were less +attended to. A residence there was still very beneficial to young men, +for the ancient serene spirit of its inhabitants still survived in +certain beautiful traits; men loved to dwell there; it was still the soil +and the atmosphere of Athens, the vicinity of the monuments of classical +antiquity, and with all its degeneracy Athens still preserved a shadow of +its ancient urbanity. + +This prosperity received a fearful shock under Decius after the middle +of the third century, when the Goths, like a devastating torrent, spread +over the coast of Asia and Greece from the Black Sea. Athens was now +ransacked for plunder and partly burnt, and many took refuge in Piraeeus. +After this calamity was over, the people returned. We do not know +what was the condition of domestic life at this period, but Libanius, +Himerius, and S. Basilius[49] give us an interesting picture of another +aspect of life at the time: from the mode of life of the young men who +then studied at Athens, we see how insignificant the city was, how the +people derived their means of subsistence solely from the university +and a little traffic in the produce of the country, such as honey and +olives. Justinian abolished the schools, and Athens thereby lost its +last resources. Henceforth nothing can be said of Athens for a period of +seven hundred years; this only may be gathered from all the circumstances +of the times, that the transition to Christianity took place gradually, +without any shock or violent dissensions, and in a very different way +from that which we witness at Rome, where the collision between what was +established and that which was struggling into existence was of a very +violent character. At Rome the tombs of Christians and Pagans are always +separate in the catacombs, and afterwards the bodies of Christians alone +were deposited in them; but at Athens, where the tombs are in layers one +above another, the Pagan ones are below, and above them those of the +Christians, while on some of them we find a mixture of Christian and +non-Christian emblems. Previous to the 13th century, not the slightest +mention of Athens occurs. When the Franks had destroyed the eastern +empire (1204), a Frenchman of the name of Otto de la Roche, as a vassal +of the Emperor of Constantinople, founded a principality under the title +of Grand-Duke (μέγας Δούξ), the seat of which was Attica and Boeotia. His +family, however, became extinct, and by marriage the possession passed +into the hands of the Briennes; this family possessed a considerable +principality there, and governed unhappy Greece with the extreme severity +of feudalism. The great company of the Catalani appeared in the 14th +century, conquered the country, expelled the French dukes, and, like +their predecessors, fortified the Acropolis of Athens. The many remains +of buildings which do not bear the impress of antiquity, seem to belong +to this period; it is surprising, however, that in Greece there are no +buildings of the time after Justinian. There now followed the period +when the Italians, the Neris and Acciajuolis, were in possession of the +duchy; a descendant of the latter lived even recently as a common peasant +in Attica. The Franks had completely become Greeks, but still remained +Roman Catholics, and in possession of Athens, until it was conquered +by Mahmood II. The feudal character which the city sometimes bears in +modern authors, as for example the fact that in Boccaccio and Shakespere, +Theseus is called Duke of Athens, arises from its being governed by dukes +at that time. Subsequently Athens was alternately Venetian and Turkish +until 1687, when unfortunately it was conquered by the Venetians, who +on that occasion destroyed the temple of Theseus. The Turks in 1690 +re-conquered it, and destroyed the Christian population. After this it +was uninhabited for a period of thirty years, till about 1720. Its most +recent fate is but too well known to us all. + +The question as to the population of Athens, which so naturally presents +itself to us, cannot be answered at all. The statements we have +respecting the number of citizens are not limited to the inhabitants +of the city, but comprise the whole territory of Attica, there being +no perioeci. We have several statements. Herodotus mentions 30,000 +Athenian citizens, which seems to be the number of the ἔφηβοι, about +the time of the Peloponnesian war: if, according to this, we calculate +the population in the usual proportion, it consisted of about 120,000 +souls. But the numbers fluctuate very much. Afterwards, in the time +of Philip, the mean average is 20,000; but besides them there were +the metoeci and the slaves, the former amounting, in the Peloponnesian +war, to about 10,000: of the slaves we know nothing at all. Athenaeus +has preserved the extraordinary statement—Ctesicles is mentioned as +the authority for it—that in the census of Demetrius Phalereus it was +found that Athens contained 21,000 citizens, 10,000 metoeci, and 400,000 +slaves. This last number is something quite incredible, however strange +it may seem to doubt a statement apparently so official. As regards the +number of citizens and metoeci, who included strangers, country people +standing under a patronus, and emancipated slaves, we have no reason to +doubt its correctness, for they agree with all the earlier accounts; +but it is impossible to see how there could have been such a large +number of slaves: how could they have found employment? It is impossible +to conceive it, if we assume the commerce and industry of Attica to +have been ever so great, especially at that period. The proportion is +not, indeed, as enormous as that between the blacks and the whites in +the West Indies; but this is altogether a different state of things. +Wherever domestic slavery exists, as in Italy, Greece, and the East, +the number of slaves is always smaller than that of free men. It must +further be observed, that all the numbers of slaves in Athenaeus seem +to be exaggerated. I have already drawn your attention to the case of +Aegina; at Corinth, where the number is said to have amounted to nearly +half a million, it is almost ridiculous. If the number were correct, +very different and more brilliant results would have been achieved; for +at a time like that succeeding the Peloponnesian war, when in quite +desperate circumstances it was resolved to raise the metoeci to the rank +of citizens, and to set the slaves free, a formidable host of soldiers +would have come forward at once, and the Athenian army would have been +increased by at least 100,000 men. Such a population, in a country like +Attica, would have perished of hunger, for the country certainly never +produced as much as 150,000 inhabitants required in six months in the +shape of bread alone, not to mention times of war. It is possible that +a combination may be found, by which this strange statement obtained +credence among the Greeks; but I am convinced, that moderns who have +based their conclusions upon it are altogether in error. + +But even if we were able to ascertain the whole population of Attica, +that of the city cannot be discovered, for there is nothing which might +guide us as a standard. We do not know whether the houses were built +close together, whether they were surrounded by large courts, etc., +though I believe that the former was the case. The houses were not six or +seven stories high, as was the case at Rome in the time of Augustus, and +in the three principal streets of Carthage; they generally had only one, +or at the utmost two stories, and a house of the latter kind was a very +respectable one in Greece. But in consequence of this, the houses must +have occupied a larger space than those of Rome. The probability is, that +the population of Athens was far below 100,000 souls. + +Piraeeus, at different times, had its own civic magistrates; when they +acquired higher authority, it gave rise to different divisions, as at the +period of the Thirty Tyrants, when there were ten men in Piraeeus and +eleven at Athens.[50] + +The only important town in Attica, besides Athens, was ELEUSIS, and in +Latin authors sometimes _Eleusina_,[51] as we find _Crotona_ together +with _Croton_. Able men have thought it necessary to correct such +forms; but they are instances which show that the flection of the +modern languages derived from the Latin, in which the oblique cases are +used as the nominative, was even then not uncommon in the language of +ordinary life. Eleusis was remarkable for its temple of Demeter, and +tradition related that in ancient times it had formed a state independent +of Athens. We cannot form an opinion as to its size, but it must have +been well fortified, as it was not laid waste by the Spartans during +their invasions at the time of the Peloponnesian war. Under Cassander, +Demetrius Poliorcetes, and probably also under Antigonus Gonatas, it was +severed from Athens, but afterwards, we do not know when, it was again +added to it. + +RHAMNUS, known through its temple of Nemesis, was situated on the coast; +it seems to have had some importance as a small town. All these places +are called δῆμοι, and not πόλεις, because they did not form civic +communities, having no independent political existence, but were only +parts of the Athenian state. It does not follow, however, from this that +some of them may not have been places of considerable extent. + +The temple of Athena Sunias, of which ruins are still extant, stood on +Cape SUNION (Cape Colonna). + +On the eastern coast we find MARATHON, which is remarkable only on +account of the battle-field in its neighbourhood. Its plain is not as +level nor as fruitful as that of Eleusis; its surface is only not quite +so rocky as in other parts of Attica, and covered with small hills. Among +these hills, which are still visible, many are no doubt artificial, and +are the tumuli under which the Persians and their attendants were buried. +Sometimes arms and slings are still found there, some of which must have +belonged to the barbarians and others to the Greeks. + +The interior of Attica contained several large places. The most important +among them was ACHARNAE, whose population in the Peloponnesian war, +as described by Thucydides, is almost incredible. If his statement +is correct, the place must have had a considerable territory. Its +inhabitants were charcoal-burners, and carried on other similar +occupations. + +At a distance of seventy stadia from Athens there may still be seen on a +hill the walls of the fort of PHYLE, which are almost uninjured. It was +not a town, but only a hill surrounded with a wall (τεῖχος) within which +in time of war the inhabitants of the surrounding country sought shelter +for themselves and their property. It was taken by Thrasybulus. A second +important frontier fortress was OENOE, and a third PANACTON, all of which +were built especially against the inroads of the Boeotians. + +DECELEA, within sight of Athens, and situated on a hill, was an ancient +and fortified place, of which, during the Peloponnesian war, the +Spartans, on the advice of Alcibiades, took possession. They fortified +it, for the purpose of having a safe place, from which they might lay +waste the country around. + +The island of SALAMIS, a prize of long struggles with the Megarians, +must be regarded as belonging to Attica, though not to its territory, +in the proper sense of the term. I must here mention the pleasant story +of the law which is said to have forbidden to renew the discussion +about the war, and of the feigned madness of Solon, who re-kindled the +war that had been given up long since. This is so manifest a fable, +that one cannot help wondering how it can ever have passed as history. +According to another tradition, the Athenians and Megarians must have +pleaded their case before judges, for they are said to have appealed to +the Homeric text of the Βοιωτία: the Athenian version made out that Ajax +of Salamis had joined the Athenians, while the Megarians showed that he +had been ruler of Salamis and the country of Megara. This difference +is a remarkable fact for the criticism of the text of Homer, for it +shows how changeable and pliable it still was at that time, the Βοιωτία +being recited in different ways in different places. At the time of the +Persian war, Salamis belonged to Athens; it formed a separate demos, and +constituted part of a phyle. Leon is always called the Salaminian; but +its relation was somewhat different from that of the other demi, for +the chief place of the island, which was likewise called Salamis, is +mentioned as a town, although the island itself is spoken of as only a +single demos: the relation of the Roman municipium consisted there in +the fullest enjoyment of the franchise. Afterwards it was severed from +Attica, probably by Antipater; and there are numerous inscriptions, in +which it is mentioned as a state with its own peculiar organisation, just +as Piraeeus, in the Macedonian period, appears with its own archons, its +council, etc., everything being an imitation on a small scale of the +state of Athens. Subsequently, Salamis was again united with Athens. + +_Cranaë_, the island of Helena, is insignificant. + +The Ἀθηναῖοι Βοιωτοί of ELEUTHERAE and OROPUS, were not united with +Attica in the same manner as Salamis; both were Boeotian towns, which had +renounced the supremacy of the Boeotians, and placed themselves under +that of Athens. Eleutherae had, perhaps, originally been Athenian, and +had subsequently been taken by the Boeotians. In regard to the relation +subsisting between this place and Athens, we may assume that it was the +same as that between the Plataeans and Athenians, that is, that its +inhabitants were citizens, but ineligible to certain offices. Oropus, on +the other hand, was entirely subject to Athens; its importance to the +Athenians can be fully understood only on the supposition that it had +a small harbour, by which the communication with Chalcis and Euboea in +general was kept up. Even before the Peloponnesian war, Oropus, which +seems to have preferred the dominion of the Athenians, belonged to them, +and after the war, too, it was recovered by them; subsequently, it was +taken by a tyrant of Eretria, and then again by the Boeotians after the +battle of Chaeronea. Philip, who did everything to please the Athenians, +if they would but allow him to take his own course, strangely restored +the place to Athens, although the Boeotians claimed it. Afterwards it +was, no doubt, again taken from the Athenians by Antipater, and during +the latter part of the Macedonian period it again belonged to Athens. The +manner in which the Athenians, in the time of their distress, ill-used +the unfortunate town, was one of the causes that led to the outbreak of +the Achaean war. Afterwards it is no longer spoken of; it was destroyed, +and not a trace of it is now to be seen: the modern Oropo does not occupy +the same site.[52] + + +BOEOTIA. + +According to tradition, the Boeotians were a wandering people; they +are said first to have been driven by the Cadmeans into the Thessalian +valley of Arne, which therefore cannot well have been as small as it +is drawn in our maps; and afterwards they returned from Thessaly to +Boeotia. This narrative shows essentially the same paralogism which so +often occurs in the history of ancient nations: wherever two nations +of the same stock appear in different places, they are connected with +each other by means of migrations to and fro. If the Boeotians and +the ancient Thessalians belonged to the same race, one tradition may +have stated that the Boeotians migrated into Thessaly, and another, +that they proceeded from Thessaly to Boeotia; both statements combined +produce the before-mentioned result. I do not mean to say that during +the immigration of the Emathians into Thessaly, the Boeotians did not +go to Boeotia; but if this should be the case, still I cannot imagine +that they should previously have been driven into Thessaly. The early +history of Boeotia is mysterious and confused; ancient tribes are there +mentioned under the strangest and altogether un-Hellenic names, as for +example, the Aones, the Hyes, or Hyantes, who are said to have been +Thracians. The tradition that there existed a Phoenician settlement at +Thebes, is in my opinion more historical: the name Cadmus is Phoenician, +and according to all appearance seems to be the representative of the +Phoenician colony which was established at Thebes. This trace is too +distinct to allow of anything being said against it. In times which +lie beyond the history of Greece, the Phoenicians had settlements in +the Greek islands, as in Cythera, Thasos, the Cyclades, and many other +parts of the country; it is therefore not difficult to believe that they +should also have formed a settlement at Thebes, though some miles distant +from the sea. Besides this ancient Phoenician colony, there existed in +Boeotia the ancient kingdom of the Minyans of Orchomenos, the existence +of which is certain, and is loudly attested even at the present day by +the indestructible ruins of Orchomenos, which are as gigantic as those +of Tiryns and Mycenae. I am quite disposed to ascribe these structures +to the Minyans, concerning whom we still possess mythical traditions, as +well as the enormous works by which lake Copais was drained; those who +built Orchomenos were a mighty people like that which constructed the +tunnel of Alba and the buildings of ancient Rome. But the beginnings of +Boeotian history are hidden in impenetrable darkness; and the fall of +Orchomenos, although in the Homeric Catalogue the city is still distinct +from Boeotia, belongs to so early a period, that fable describes it as +the work of Heracles. In the Heracleia there is the legend that Thebes +paid tribute to Orchomenos, and that Heracles reversed the relation. +These are, no doubt, the fundamental outlines of a true history: and the +stories of the wars for the possession of Thebes are likewise symbolical, +and personified indications of actual wars which devastated Boeotia. I +allude to both the earlier war and that of the Epigoni in which Thebes +was laid waste, but we cannot arrive at any historical detail. The real +history of Thebes does not begin till the time of the Persian wars; in +the case of Athens and Sparta, we know many things before that period, +though they may be doubtful and falsified; but our information about +Thebes does not begin until the time I have just mentioned. + +We then find Thebes standing in the same relation to Boeotia in which +Alba stood to the early, and Rome to the later Latium; Thebes and Boeotia +form two connected masses, of which the great city was originally, +both in right and in might, equal to the collective body of Boeotians; +but it then aimed at a supremacy which in all essential points it +actually gained, except over a few places. The Boeotarchs were the +common magistrates for all Boeotia; their number is uncertain; but in +some instances it amounts to eleven. They seem originally to have been +elected in common, six by the Thebans and six by the Boeotians;[53] +but afterwards Thebes assumed to itself the right of appointing them, +and raised only Thebans to the office. This struggle is the nucleus of +Boeotian history from the time of the Persian wars down to the battle +of Leuctra. After that battle, most of the Boeotian towns submitted to +Thebes. Thespiae and Plataeae alone did not stoop; and being powerful +towns, they joined Athens, a step which was unfortunate for both places. +The Plataeans went to Athens and were received there; but they returned +and were expelled a second time, so that in the Macedonian period +Plataeae was quite a desolate place, in which there was only one temple +and a few inns. + +So long as Sparta had not overthrown Athens, she supported the claims of +Thebes, but afterwards declared herself in favour of the autonomy of +the Boeotian towns; hence the unexpected seizure of the Cadmea, after +which Thebes rose with its well-known energy. From that moment until +the battle of Leuctra matters were in utter confusion. At first when +the Thebans shook off the Spartan yoke, they were joined by the other +Boeotians; but when the latter did not obtain equal rights, the struggle +began afresh, and in the end the Boeotians were obliged to submit. It +was not till Thebes had been destroyed by Alexander, that a relation of +perfect equality was restored; the city rebuilt by Cassander was without +importance, and the whole country henceforth plays a subordinate and +miserable part in the history of Greece. + +Boeotia, in its whole political and geographical extent between the +Crissaean gulf and the Euboean channel, is surrounded on all sides by +mountains. Mount HELICON proceeds from Parnassus in a direction parallel +with the Crissaean gulf; and the mountains coming from Oeta and the +country of the Locrians, extend along the sea as far as the frontier of +Attica. Between these latter mountains, which have different names, and +Helicon, we have mount CITHAERON, so conspicuous in the traditions of the +ancients and in their tragedies, as Boeotia in general is an important +part of the classic soil in legendary poetry. Helicon is considerably +smaller than Parnassus, nor is it as wild; it is rather what the Swiss +call a “tame mountain,” covered with wood and prolific herbs even at +its top; it is a beautiful mountain, and we cannot wonder that it was +dedicated to the Muses. The mountains branching off from those of Locris +are not so high as Helicon, and on the whole capable of cultivation. +Cithaeron was a woody mountain, but it is difficult to say, whether this +was the natural result of its physical constitution, or whether it was +the consequence of its situation between two nations that were hostile to +each other. + +The only river within this country that finds its way to the sea, is the +ASOPUS, which flowing between Thebes and Plataeae empties itself into the +Euboean sea. A larger river, the Phocian CEPHISUS, discharges itself +into lake Copais. Boeotia has two large lakes, which communicated with +each other, the lake COPAIS and the lake of HALIARTUS. The former was, +in ancient times, a lake of very large extent; as it had no outlet to +prevent the excessive accumulation of water, a tunnel was constructed +to carry off the surplus; and this tunnel was probably built by the +Minyans for the purpose of reclaiming the land for cultivation. In the +time of Alexander, the tunnel was partly destroyed by an earthquake; +but the attempt to clear it was found to be beyond the strength of all +the Boeotians. As the lake had now no longer any outlet, we naturally +expect that it should have again acquired its former extent; but it is +surprising to find, that although nothing was ever done to drain it, it +forms only a large marsh filled with reeds, and a few stagnant pools here +and there. This must be the result of some revolution in the bowels of +the earth, of which we know nothing; either other subterraneous outlets +were opened, or the supplies of water to the lake were diminished. The +lake of Haliartus[54] is connected with lake Copais, but has an outlet +towards the sea. + +Lake Copais is surrounded by a magnificent plain, which, however, like +other soils that are too rich, is unhealthy, and now forms the valley +of Livadia: the ancients regarded it as belonging partly to Haliartus. +Another plain is that of Thebes, which, though not as level as the other, +is yet a very fertile and beautiful district. Boeotia is altogether +a rich country; its waters abound in fish, its plains yield abundant +corn, its hills are covered with olives, and in the neighbourhood of +Anthedon excellent wine is produced. The Boeotians themselves, on the +other hand, had the reputation of being dull and rude (_pingue sub +aëre nati_). Nevertheless, however, the country produced Pindar; before +him, Corinna; and, in later times, Plutarch, of whom we may justly say +μωμήσεταί τις μᾶλλον ἢ μιμήσεται. He now no longer enjoys the same +reputation as in former times, but notwithstanding all the charges +that may be brought against him, he is an extremely amiable man and a +pleasing author, and his writings are rich outpourings of plain wisdom; +they contain no profound speculations, but are the lively productions +of an extremely ingenious and well-read man. In his moral treatises he +shows himself to be possessed of great depth of feeling. Pindar is one +of those authors of whom we may say, that it is a man’s own fault if he +takes no pleasure in him. What Quinctilian says of Cicero, may be applied +also to Pindar: the more he pleases us, the farther we are advanced. +Among the active statesmen of Boeotia, Epaminondas and Pelopidas are +preeminent, especially the former, whose personal character is entitled +to high esteem; considering the wretchedness of the time in which they +lived, they were truly extraordinary men; but their misfortune was, that +they belonged to a state, the rise of which necessarily involved the +downfall of Greece. Subsequently, during the Macedonian period, which is +described by Polybius, the Boeotians are the most senseless, the most +powerless, and characterless of all the Greeks, and share the misfortune +of the Achaeans: when their policy had become quite miserable, they threw +themselves into relations in which they could not but perish. + +THEBES consisted of the upper town (Καδμεία) and the lower town. The acra +had a considerable circumference, though not as it appears in the plan +of Barbié du Bocage in St. Croix’ work on the historians of Alexander +the Great; that plan is thoroughly misleading, for its author imagines +that the acra was situated in the centre of the city, and that the lower +town was built concentrically around it. According to the description +of the siege by the Macedonians, given by Diodorus and Arrian, this is +impossible: one side of the acra unquestionably faced the open fields, +and only about two-thirds or three-fourths of it were surrounded by the +lower town. The acropolis was called Καδμεία, but the ancients gave +it the name of Thebes, so that in the Homeric Catalogue, the city of +Thebes below the then destroyed Cadmea was called Ὑποθῆβαι. The seven +gates which have become so renowned from the tragedy of Aeschylus, and +the Phoenissae of Euripides, existed in the Cadmea: the gates of the +lower town may not have corresponded with them, or may have been made to +correspond in later times. + +Thebes continued to increase until Olymp. 111, 2, when it was destroyed +by Alexander. The city is said to have had a circumference of 80 stadia, +that is, ten English miles; but this is incredible: all we know about the +fate of the city shows that it is impossible, or else we are not allowed +to draw any conclusion from the circumference of a Greek city as to its +population; for Diodorus expressly states, that the number of all the +prisoners, after the capture of Thebes, was 30,000, including every age +and sex, and probably also every rank, free men, metoeci, and slaves. +I have already expressed my opinion concerning the foolish supposition +about the enormous number of slaves. I admit the possibility, that at +Athens, especially in the city, the number of slaves was greater than +that of free men; I admit this with special reference to the anecdote, +that the proposal made at Athens, that slaves should wear a particular +kind of dress, was rejected for the purpose of preventing their seeing +how great their numbers were. But the same reason would have been valid +if the number of slaves had been less. The Attic peasant was αὐτουργός, +he certainly had no slaves, and the majority of the Athenians were +altogether too poor to be able to keep such numbers of slaves. If their +numbers had been as excessive as is stated, the institutions at Athens +would have been quite different. + +The Cadmea is said to have been built by Cadmus, to have been destroyed +by the Epigoni, and to have remained in ruins until the Boeotians +returning from Arne restored it. In the Homeric Catalogue, Boeotia is +inhabited by Boeotians, but according to other accounts, the Boeotians +were then still dwelling in Arne, and the country was lying waste—again +a sign that the Catalogue does not agree with the other traditions. +Thebes then was a great city till Olymp. 111, 2; afterwards it lay in +ruins for a period of sixteen years, until it was restored by Cassander +from hatred of Alexander and his family. The territory of the city had +been given by Alexander to the Boeotians. Cassander carried out the +restoration notwithstanding the opposition of the other towns; but it +was only an insignificant place, and never gained the ascendancy though +it was the seat of the government and the capital of the country. At a +later period, however, it was visited by misfortune after misfortune. In +the Achaean war, U.C. 608, it was taken by the Romans, and though it was +not destroyed, it received a deadly shock. During the Mithridatic war, of +which Boeotia was the scene, it was entirely ruined, so that Pausanias +saw only a village within the precincts of the ancient Cadmea; the old +city contained only a few remains of temples amid heaps of rubbish. + +It is difficult to enumerate the other towns of Boeotia in any definite +order; we shall be guided by the locality and proceed from Plataeae to +the left towards Tanagra. Mythology knows many places in ancient Boeotia +which are not mentioned in the historical ages; some of them must have +perished, and others were united with the territories of larger towns, as +for example, Erythrae, Scolos, Hyle, etc. + +PLATAEAE will ever be memorable on account of the battle in which the +destruction of the Persian army and the liberation of Greece were +completed; the account of this battle in Herodotus, however, is more +poetical than historical; its whole course was different, and the forces +were not by any means as formidable; but we know nothing better, and his +narrative is so beautiful that we gladly accept it as a poem. Certain +it is, however, that the Greeks under Pausanias destroyed the army of +the Persians. During that war, Thebes, owing to the influence of its +aristocracy, acted a disgraceful part. Plataeae and Thespiae maintained +themselves against the arrogance of Thebes, and found sympathy among +the other Greeks; and in this manner Plataeae in particular formed a +small independent democratic state under the protection of Athens until +the time of the Peloponnesian war, which the Thebans commenced with +the treacherous attack during the night, which led to the destruction +of Plataeae. The account of this occurrence shows us the smallness of +Greek towns; the population of Greece is generally estimated too high, +a mistake into which we may easily be led by the statements of the +ancients. Subsequently Plataeae was restored; but after the battle of +Leuctra it was again destroyed by the Thebans. The inhabitants then +withdrew to Athens, and when the restoration of their town was sanctioned +by Alexander, a small number only returned, and formed a village with a +few temples which preserved the remembrance of better days, especially +the temple of Zeus Eleutherios. Dicaearchus gives us a most vivid picture +of what Plataeae was in later times. + +THESPIAE, near mount Helicon, was on the whole an insignificant place, +and became still more so when, after the battle of Leuctra, it was +destroyed by the Thebans. At the time of the Macedonian supremacy it +was restored, and acquired great reputation on account of the Eros of +Praxiteles, which secured to the place its existence, for it was visited +by strangers from all parts, who came to see that work of art. In like +manner some small places in Italy were celebrated for a single picture. +Otherwise Thespiae was a deserted and decayed place. + +LEUCTRA was situated in the territory of Thespiae; there the numerical +superiority of the Spartans was overpowered by the military skill of the +Thebans. + +HALIARTUS on the lake is known from the battle which was gained there by +Lysander over the allies. In the war with Perseus it was destroyed by the +Romans, and as the Athenians had been unable to obtain its preservation, +they made the unbecoming request that the Romans should give them the +territory. The Romans with a Machiavellistic policy sometimes gave away +such districts for the purpose of fostering divisions and animosities. + +CORONEA, CHAERONEA, and LEBADEA formed a triangle on the frontier. The +last of these was an important place under the Byzantine empire, but less +so in earlier times. It belonged to Haliartus. Coronea is remarkable in +the war of Agesilaus against the allies, and Chaeronea on account of +the battle of Philip, which decided the fate of Greece; 250 years later +Sulla gained a battle there against the general of Mithridates, who had +foolishly established himself in Greece. + +ORCHOMENOS, of which I have already spoken, was situated on the very +borders of Boeotia; in the historical ages it was an insignificant place, +called in Aeolic Erchomenos, as we find in inscriptions and coins. +Coins bearing the inscription ΕΡΧ belong to this place; in former times +antiquaries were greatly puzzled by them. In its neighbourhood was also +found the Orchomenian inscription, first published by Melitios, which is +the largest and purest of all the Aeolian monuments. + +COPAE is remarkable only as the place from which lake Copais derives its +name. + +ANTHEDON is celebrated for its excellent muscat wine. MYCALESSUS, which +was destroyed in the Peloponnesian war, was situated in its vicinity. + +TANAGRA was situated on the Asopus, near Oropus; it is known through the +defeat of the Athenians under Tolmidas before the fourteen years’ truce, +which preceded the Peloponnesian war. + +DELION, situated on the Euripus, must be noticed, on account of the +battle which the Athenians lost against the Boeotians during the +Peloponnesian war. The place is also mentioned in mythical history: for +the 1,000 ships of the Achaeans, destined to sail against Troy, were +detained there by a calm, until the sacrifice of Iphigenia. + + +THE LOCRIAN TRIBES. + +Proceeding from the Boeotian frontier towards Thessaly, we arrive among +the Locrian tribes—the Epicnemidian and Opuntian Locrians in the east, +and the Ozolian in the south-west. They are very puzzling, as, in +general, there is no lack of mysterious points in the history of the +Greek nations. The ancient tradition is that they were Leleges, who are +described as a branch of the Carians: this is a point which must leave +as we find it. It is surprising to meet with them on both seas, the +Euboean and the Crissaean, the coast of the latter being occupied by the +Ozolae, the larger tribe. Between the two we have the Phocians, and among +the heights of Oeta and at the foot of mount Parnassus, the Dorians. My +directing your attention to this probably leads you to guess my opinion, +which is this: the manifest fact of these tribes being torn asunder, +as is clear from a mere glance at the map, is probably the result of +immigration. As, according to tradition, the Boeotians immigrated from +abroad, and as the empire of the Minyans fell, so it happens in all +migrations of nations: one people pushes another onward—the Goths are +expelled by the Huns, the Huns again by other nations, and so we are +led back to the interior of Asia. Hence I regard the Locrians as the +ancient inhabitants of the whole country from one sea to the other, and +as severed and torn asunder by the immigration of the Boeotians, while +the latter may have been pushed on by the Phocians, these again by the +Dorians, and the Dorians, lastly, by the Thessalians. Respecting these +migrations we can only form conjectures; but the more we consider +them in connection with one another, the more we become convinced, how +little we know about the ancient history of Greece: we are much better +acquainted with the settlements on the coast of Asia. + +We shall unite the three Locrian tribes, the Ozolae, Epicnemidii, +and Opuntii; the country of the Ozolian Locrians was by far the most +extensive. Their principal town, situated at the foot of the Aetolian +mountains, in the west of Phocis, was AMPHISSA, not far from Delphi; it +was a regular town, while the other places along the shore were, like +those of Aetolia, only κῶμαι. The Ozolian Locrians formed together an +ἔθνος, in which Amphissa possessed the supremacy, though in several +circumstances it stood by itself. At the time of the Peloponnesian war, +there were, besides Amphissa, many Ozolian tribes, extending from that +town to cape Rhion, at the entrance of the Crissaean gulf. The only +notice of them occurs in Thucydides, when he describes the campaign +of Demosthenes in those parts. The places are insignificant, and not +worth mentioning; the ἔθνος appears in a state of complete dissolution. +NAUPACTUS, the modern Lepanto,[55] is the only place worthy of note. +It is prominent in the Greek mythus as the place where the Heracleids +built the ships, with which they sailed over to Peloponnesus, whence +its name was traced to that event. During the period of the great +activity of Athens after the Persian war, under Cimon and Pericles, +it was taken by the Athenians, probably by accident, as Gibraltar was +taken by the English, who did not see its importance till afterwards. +Thus Naupactus, with its excellent harbour, became an important point to +command the Crissaean gulf. There they received the insurgent perioeci +and helots, who, after the earthquake in Olymp. 79. 2, at the time of +king Archidamus, endeavoured to separate Messene from Laconia, and, +when failing in this, capitulated for a free departure. After the +Peloponnesian war, the Spartans again expelled them from Naupactus, for +they were implacable, and never laid aside their hatred; Naupactus was +restored to the Locrians. At a later period, when the Aetolians rose, +the town belonged to them; in the Macedonian times, the whole coast of +the Locrians, perhaps Amphissa itself included, was united with Aetolia; +there is even an inscription, according to which the Aetolians had the +superintendence of the Delphic oracle. The Locrians of Opus and Cnemis +were at that time governed by Macedonia. + +The Ozolian Locrians, according to Thucydides, completely resembled, in +their rude manners, the Acarnanians, Aetolians, and Epirots; even in +times of peace they were always armed with a sword, which, however, must +not be conceived as a long sword for war, but as an Albanese knife. This +σιδηροφορεῖν had fallen into disuse with the other Greeks, as soon as +they had attained a certain degree of civilisation. + +The Locrians on the Euripus formed two states, that of OPUS and that +of CNEMIS. In the east of Epicnemidian Locris is mount (the town of?) +NARYX, whence the Locrians are called _Narycii_. Virgil has been much +censured by the ancients for calling the Locrians in Italy _Narycii_, +but it appears that he regarded all the Locrians, and consequently +those in Italy also, as belonging to one and the same race. Opus was, +comparatively speaking, an important town, though it was small. During +the first war which the Romans, allied with the Aetolians, carried on +against Philip, the son of Demetrius, Opus was taken and laid waste by +the Roman fleet and king Attalus. + + +PHOCIS. + +Phocis in our maps embraces Delphi, but as far as we can trace history +backwards, Delphi is separate from Phocis. I will not venture any +conjectures as to whether the Delphians were a different people, but +politically they did not belong to the Phocians. The history of Phocis +begins at the time of the Persian wars; and thenceforth until the +Peloponnesian war, the Phocians are constantly seen endeavouring to +unite Delphi with their country, in which at times they succeeded; +the Spartans, however, took it from them, and left Delphi in a state +of independence. Afterwards the two states were again united, but our +authorities on this subject are very scanty. Herodotus contains tolerably +certain indications, that the Delphians formed an independent state by +themselves; wherever Thucydides takes notice of the rest of Greece, his +information is very trustworthy;[56] besides him we have only Xenophon +and Diodorus Siculus; even these two do not enable us to fix the time +of the union; but it is very probable that it did not take place before +the Sacred war, for the chastisement was inflicted upon the Phocians +alone, the Delphians being on the side of the allies. It is impossible to +follow the traces any farther. Delphi stood to the Phocians in a relation +similar to that in which Thebes stood to the Boeotians, Alba to the +other Latin towns, and afterwards Rome to all the Latins, only with this +difference, that in this division there existed not only no unity, but +no connection at all. If there ever existed an alliance between Delphi +and the Phocians, it certainly ceased at an early period, and was never +permanently renewed. + +It is possible that Delphi may have been a remnant of the ancient +mysterious state of Cirrha, which was foreign to the Phocians. Many +moderns relate a great many things about that state—the forms CIRRHA and +CRISSA are only dialectic differences of the same name—as, for example, +about its connection with Crete and the like. I confess that I know +nothing of all this; the existence of the town alone is beyond doubt. +Cirrha was a great commercial place on the Corinthian gulf, and against +it a general religious war of the united Greeks was carried on in the +early historical times, apparently about Olymp. 40 and 50. In that war +the town was taken and destroyed. These events alone are historical, all +the rest is mythical. The observation of these and similar circumstances +is of importance, to prove how late our history of Greece commences. +There is no necessity for pushing everything mysterious back beyond the +commencement of the Olympiads, for even great events belonging to the +period between that era and the Persian wars are buried in obscurity. +We need not, therefore, push the great changes of early history back +into remote antiquity as is commonly done; it is a mere delusion to +believe that the space for changes in antiquity must be so very large. To +mention an example, the time from the commencement of the Olympiads to +the legislation of Solon is a period of 200 years, and the period from +the Persian wars until the age of Pyrrhus is of the same length; and +what immense changes did Greece experience during this latter period! +An expedient equally illogical is the readiness with which certain +critics distinguish, when they have to deal with different traditions +about a person or a thing, and assume two persons or things of the same +name. The late Professor Heyne, whose merits I readily acknowledge, was +labouring under this delusion, for he invented, e.g., a double Minos, +an idea which never occurred to any ancient writer. Minos is not an +historical personage, the years of whose reign can be stated. Another +bad expedient is to divide different accounts of the same subject, which +do not agree with each other, so as to treat them as separate events. +The Doric tradition and several ancient authors, and among them even +Timaeus, stated that Lycurgus founded the Olympic games; now as Lycurgus, +according to the calculation of generations, belongs to a period far +beyond the time of the Olympiads, it was assumed that the Olympic games +were instituted at two different times, first by Lycurgus, and when +afterwards they fell into oblivion, they were restored by Coroebus. But +Lycurgus is probably no historical person at all, as was believed even at +the time after Alexander; it is impossible to assign him to any period: +the intention was to fill up the period subsequent to the migration of +the Heracleids, but in attempting this the ancients went too far back, +by making three generations amount to a century; in order to remove the +incorrectness, one account was then changed into two. Whoever tries to +harmonise these statements falls into inextricable difficulties. + +DELPHI, previously called Pytho (Πυθοῖ ἐν ἠγαθέῃ, as Homer has it), was +situated at the foot of _biceps Parnassus_. This mount Parnassus extends +from the mountains which separate Thessaly from Phocis (they are likewise +called Parnassus, and reaching a considerable height, join Pindus on +the one side and Oeta on the other), as far as the Gulf of Cirrha. Its +highest peak is near Delphi; it then turns to the south-east, and becomes +less and less wild where it passes into Helicon. The situation of Delphi +cannot be mistaken, notwithstanding the scanty accounts we have of it: +above it there rose a twofold rock, which during the greater part of the +year was covered with snow; it rises in two peaks, between which there is +a considerable chasm; towards the sea it turns in the form of a theatre, +within which Delphi was situated. It was built high up on the slope of +the mountain, like many towns of the ancient Latins, so that the upper +streets were higher than the roofs of the houses below, and a man might +from an upper street step upon the roof of a house below. Delphi was not +fortified and had no walls, but it was nevertheless difficult of access, +foot-paths only leading up, which it was easy to defend; no real acra +is mentioned. About the size of the town nothing can be said; the ruins +are too unimportant; it is scarcely possible to recognise the temple of +Apollo, and I do not believe that the statements of travellers on this +point are altogether trustworthy. Delphi was in all its relations a +mysterious place; the question as to the nature of the προμαντεία, and a +number of others cannot easily be answered. The well Castalia may still +be recognised by its icy coldness. The chasms in the rock of which the +ancients speak, and from which the intoxicating vapours rose, have never +been discovered; it is possible, however, that by careful examinations +they may yet be found, though it is not unlikely that they may have been +closed by earthquakes, as they owed their origin to them. I readily +believe that vapours may have risen from the earth, which produced +a certain intoxication or inspiration; I also consider it possible +that there may have been a time when the Pythia believed that she was +inspired, and when even those consulting the oracle were convinced that +they consulted the god himself; but subsequently, and during the greater +part of the period of which we know anything, neither the people nor the +priests believed in it, and the Pythia was a mere improvisatrice. Such +things, however, rarely begin as impositions; and how it can have been +that originally there was no imposition, no one is able to say on mere +reflection. + +Delphi was under the protection of the Amphictyons, who once in every +year assembled there, and a second time at Thermopylae. It seems to have +stood as directly under the protection of the senate of the Amphictyons, +as Washington, in a very anomalous manner, stands under the municipal +administration of the congress of the United States of North America. + +I have here mentioned the Amphictyony, for the purpose of noticing +some results at which I have arrived respecting its misunderstood +constitution. In former times it was generally regarded as a federative +government, and this opinion is still prevalent in France, where it is +said, that the seven United States of Holland and the United States of +North America are Amphictyonies; but an Amphictyony and a federative +government are by no means identical, for a confederation forms a +political whole with one head directing its foreign relations. An +Amphictyony is indeed a union of nations, but of quite a peculiar kind, +to which nothing corresponding is found either in the middle ages or +in modern times. Under this name twelve nations were united, who sent +deputies twice every year, in the spring to Delphi, and in the autumn to +Thermopylae. These meetings were attended by deputies from every people, +each of which had one vote.[57] But not only deputies went thither: the +citizens of all the peoples also might appear if they chose, and they +too formed an Ἀμφικτυονικόν; those who thus came of their own accord, +voted in a body, each people having only one vote, so that all the +Dorians, and all the Ionians respectively voted together. In all the +transactions among Greeks a βουλή and an ἐκκλησία were necessary; the +former consisted at these gatherings of the deputies, and the latter of +the αὐταγγελτοί. This constitution points to something very different +from what we know about the later condition of Greece: the division was +made simply according to nations, and without any regard to political +importance; all had the same right, nay tribes which were subject to the +Thessalians voted on an equality with the Thessalians themselves. The +connection with the temple of Delphi is undeniable; the nations were +united together, all standing for one and one for all, for the purpose of +protecting the integrity of the sanctuary; nearly all the most ancient +instances of their activity have this for their object, as in the war of +Cirrha and down to the one occurring in Olymp. 125, which is mentioned +by Justin.[58] Another statement, which probably refers to very ancient +times, seems surprising to us. There the legislations of the various +states were confirmed, just as at Rome the auspices seemed to express +the will of the gods; but the Delphic oracle appears, above all things, +to have had the power of watching over the exercise of humanity in the +wars among the Greeks. And this is the point where the character of the +Greeks shows itself most nobly. The Amphictyons did not by any means +prevent war, but they made laws regulating the manner in which it should +be conducted; there were laws, which no one was allowed to violate in +any war; and it is possible that the expression ὁ κοινὸς τῶν Ἑλλήνων +νόμος refers to them. It was ordained, _e.g._, that the Greeks should not +carry on among themselves any internecine war, that the inhabitants of +a Greek town should not be sold as slaves, that fruit-trees should not +be cut down,[59] and that the supply of water should not be cut off from +any town. All these laws originated in the Delphic Amphictyony, and were +maintained without being written. We must carefully bear in mind, that +they could not possibly prevent every outrage; but their express object +was that war should be carried in a humane manner. The fact that England +insists upon abolishing the slave trade, leads to smuggling those unhappy +creatures, who are, in consequence of this, treated with all imaginable +cruelty. In like manner an interdict forbidding war in Greece would have +been of no avail, and hence it was better to inflict heavy penalties +upon acts of inhumanity. These rules were not indeed always observed, +the nature of man does not admit of it; but even if they were violated +as often as they were observed, we still must own that they were in the +highest degree salutary. + +The Phocians are unimportant in Greek history, and are mentioned only +in connection with their misfortunes, first in the wars which they had +to wage against the Thessalians,—for the Thessalians, after completing +the conquest of Haemonia, also endeavoured to subdue Phocis, and its +inhabitants had great difficulty in warding them off,—and afterwards in +the Sacred War. The twenty-two Phocian towns, which were destroyed by +Philip, were probably for the most part insignificant places. We are +perfectly ignorant as to the relations subsisting among them, but they +did not form a political community, with a common magistracy, a common +commander in war, and the like; not a trace of such institutions is to +be found. It is, in general, one of the most puzzling problems to state +what were the bonds which kept an ἔθνος together: to acquire the name of +an ἔθνος, no political band was needed; a co-operation for common objects +is generally produced spontaneously through the power of circumstances. +There are, however, traces to show, that in early times the Phocians +formed a closer union among themselves. The case of their leaders in the +Sacred War was of a different kind: they are generally called στρατηγοί, +but sometimes also τύραννοι; Philomelus and Onomarchus were, in fact, not +lawful magistrates; the circumstance that being elected in a lawful form, +they were at the head of a numerous army of mercenaries, gave them a +power which was limited by no laws, and was, therefore, formidable indeed. + +The only important place in Phocis was ELATEA, which was either spared +in an inconceivable manner by Philip, or was soon afterwards restored +on account of its excellent situation, and attained a high degree of +prosperity; for during the Macedonian period it is mentioned as a +considerable place, notwithstanding the general decay of the Greek +towns; and in the same light it appears in Livy’s account of the Roman +wars. It was situated in the rich valley of the Cephisus, which widens +towards Boeotia, and this may have contributed to its prosperity. The +valley formed a pass; and an enemy even after forcing his way through +Thermopylae had difficulties at Elatea, which was the key to Boeotia; +hence when Philip occupied Elatea by a garrison, this act created at +Athens the consternation which is so graphically described by Demosthenes. + +ANTICYRA, also, had a kind of importance; and after the destruction of +Cirrha, it was the real port of Phocis, whence a small trade was kept +up with the gulf of Corinth. In the first war of the Romans against +Philip, Anticyra was destroyed by the fleet which, under the command of +Sulpicius, cruised along the coasts of Greece, and laid waste so many +thinly-peopled places. + +The well-known war called “The Sacred” has received that name quite +improperly; it had been stirred up by the Thessalians and Boeotians +to the misfortune of the Phocians, who were driven to despair and an +infuriated defence, just like the Hussites in the 15th century; and the +Phocians ravaged all the countries around, as the Hussites from Bohemia +spread devastation far and wide in Bavaria, Franconia, and Saxony. They +were completely outlawed, so that no quarter was given to any one; the +dead were treated as accursed, and the wounded were run through with +spears or nailed on crosses: the rage was quite savage and unpardonable. +The Phocians were driven to such extremities, as to seize upon the +sacred treasures of the Delphic temple, which enabled them to carry +on the war for eight years, until Philip came forward as the champion +of the Amphictyons, and, after the withdrawal of the Athenian troops +from Thermopylae, advanced with irresistible force. The commanders of +the Phocians were unskilful and faithless men, and the nation, losing +courage, laid down its arms. Their fate was terrible, though it was +called mercy: Philip granted to the troops a free departure; all the +towns were destroyed, and their walls demolished; all arms and horses +were taken; the inhabitants dispersed in villages, and, in a condition +of servitude, placed under the supremacy of the temple of Delphi, which +itself stood under the supremacy of Macedonia. They were obliged to +pay an annual tribute to the temple, to refund the treasures; but +they seem to have neglected this duty, or the money was pocketed by +the Macedonians, for Brennus found no gold at Delphi, but only works +in bronze. This is again a remarkable instance of the uncertainty of +history, even at so late a period: some say that Brennus did not enter +Delphi at all, while other historians state that he was at Delphi and +plundered it, but that he found little to take. However, the Phocians +showed great valour; they withdrew into the highest mountains, and thence +made great havoc among the formidable host of Gauls, especially during +their retreat. For this reason it was resolved to make amends for what +had been done: they were again admitted into the Amphictyony, and allowed +to restore their towns; but, like the Locrians, Chalcis, and Corinth, +they remained under the supremacy of Macedonia, and when the Romans +appeared, they did not belong to Greece, but were Macedonian subjects. +Afterwards, they also shared the last two calamities of Greece: the +flight of Critolaus from Thermopylae led the Romans through Phocis, and +on that occasion the country was ravaged by the conquerors, and Elatea +had to suffer severely; lastly, the campaign of Archelaus, who had his +head-quarters at Chaeronea, also extended to Phocis, which for this +reason was then completely devastated by Sulla. + + +DORIS. + +Doris was that district where the highest parts of Parnassus extend +towards Pindus. Its towns formed the Doric tetrapolis, or rather +tripolis, for the names of only three places are certain, viz., BOION, +CYTINION, and ERINEOS, and they are described by the Greeks themselves +as very small places (πολίχνια). The general Greek tradition is, that +the Dorians who conquered Peloponnesus came from these three towns; +but this is impossible. It is true no traveller has yet visited that +district, but we are able to determine at least its extent, which is not +as large as that of the Swiss canton of Uri; and as the latter has about +12,000 inhabitants, we may be sure that Doris had not by far as many, +for the country in those parts of Parnassus is extremely mountainous, +and contains only few valleys that are inhabitable to Alpine shepherds. +The Dorians must at one time have occupied a far more extensive country: +the little district of Doris stands in the same relation to the former +seats of the Dorians, as the present district of Angeln in the duchy of +Schleswig stands to the extensive countries once occupied by the ancient +Angli. We should be forming a very erroneous estimate, if we were to +calculate the number of Angli who invaded Britain from the district at +present bearing their name. After the emigration of the great body of +the Dorians, the little country of Doris retained their name, while the +earlier Doris may perhaps have embraced all Phocis and other neighbouring +countries. According to the express testimony of Herodotus,[60] they +had formerly dwelt on mount Pindus, and had migrated from north to +south. The little tribe maintained itself in the impassable mountains, +but we do not know how; it may have been by alliances. They boasted +of their pure Doric origin, and regarded themselves as the μητρόπολις +of the Peloponnesians, though the latter were mixed with the earlier +inhabitants of the peninsula. The Peloponnesians, however, showed them +the respect and attachment which everywhere in Greece colonists used to +show to their mother country. The Dorians were often involved in wars +with the Phocians, and even before the Peloponnesian war they had once +been subdued by them, but a Spartan army quickly coming to their rescue, +chastised the Phocians, and restored the Dorians to freedom. + +It is quite uncertain what afterwards became of the little people. During +the period when the administration of Greece was in the hands of the +Romans, the Dorians are not mentioned at all; so that they must have been +united either with the Phocians, or, which is not improbable, with the +Aetolians. If that part of Greece should ever become accessible, much may +be discovered that is of importance for ancient history and geography; +with the exception of the coasts, scarcely anything is accurately known; +the upper countries of Parnassus have scarcely been visited at all, and +our maps are arbitrary. It will hardly be possible ever to ascertain the +sites of the towns from the want of inscriptions. Beyond the mountains of +Doris there is a grand Alpine country. + + +AETOLIA. + +In the later history of Greece, the Aetolians are a people of the highest +importance, and so they are in the earliest traditions, but during the +best period of the Greeks, they sink completely into the background. +Their peculiarity is very perplexing to the inquiring historian. We +find them mentioned in the Homeric Catalogue, and in the legends of +Calydon and Pleuron, and there can be no doubt as to their being a Greek +people, for the Curetes as well as the Aetolians themselves are called +Greeks. Thucydides too[61] considers them in this light, though only +conditionally; he calls them Ἠπειρωτικὸν ἔθνος, and where he mentions +their separate tribes, they appear as different from all the other +Greeks; he speaks of their language being unintelligible (ἀγνωστότατοι +γλῶσσαν), which is a strong expression with Athenians who, like all +Greeks, were very tolerant in regard to dialects. The Laconian dialect +was quite as different from the Attic, as the Swiss German is from the +Low German, and the Athenians scarcely understood one third of it. The +Aetolian dialect, accordingly, seems to have already become so barbarous, +as to require great attention to guess the meaning when it was spoken. +In these circumstances, therefore, the Aetolians appear as non-Greeks, +and still more so in Polybius, who says that most of the Aetolians +were barbarians. In one passage, Thucydides also classes them with the +barbarians, when he states that they, like the Acarnanians, went about in +time of peace armed with knives (σιδηροφορεῖν); he also asserts that they +were ὠμόφαγοι. Such statements appear to us extremely strange, and seem +to suggest a degree of barbarism similar to that of the Abyssinians; but +a French traveller has given an excellent explanation of the matter. The +inhabitants of those countries are to this day shepherds, for agriculture +is scarcely possible there. They kill their cattle, and sometimes cook +the meat, but they also smoke it for the purpose of keeping it, and such +smoked meat they eat raw, which is not done in the other parts of Greece. +Sometimes also they act like the savages in America: they cut the meat +into very thin slices, dry it in the air, and then eat it. + +As far back as we can trace history, we always find the AETOLIANS and +CURETES as two nations dwelling by the side of each other in the south of +Aetolia: such is the case in the Iliad. Afterwards the Curetes disappear, +and all the country is occupied by the Aetolians alone. But that country +is only a very small portion of what is subsequently called Aetolia, for +it embraced only the district of Pleuron and Calydon, about the Evenus. +These two towns play as prominent a part in the legends as Mycenae and +Tiryns, and Oeneus and Meleager are as familiar to you as Agamemnon and +Menelaus. This was Aetolia proper, and a truly Hellenic country: from +it proceeded the emigration of Oxylus, which must not be viewed as if +Oxylus had served the Heracleids as a guide and joined them; but the +Aetolian migration to which Elis owed its origin, was an occurrence +quite distinct from the migration of the Dorians into the other parts +of Peloponnesus. The Aetolians farther inland were subsequently joined +by other Pelasgian tribes of Epirus. As early as the Peloponnesian war, +Aetolia was a country of considerable extent, and Thucydides mentions the +Bomians, Ophians (Ophionians), and Eurytanians, as its greatest tribes; +but these names are uncertain, at least the first two. Within these +limits the Aetolians were united during the Peloponnesian war. Their +union may be conceived as a relation of isopolity, in which each nation +formed an independent community, but on certain emergencies they united +and acted as one state. They seem to have met in common sanctuaries, and +to have mutually had the perfect right of isopolity, a connection which +was however extremely loose, and did not oblige the several members to +join one another in offensive operations. In the Peloponnesian war, the +Aetolians resisted the Athenians; they were hostile to Naupactus and +allied with Ampracia[62]; but beyond their own territory they were weak, +and the expedition of the Athenians into Aetolia did the country much +harm. The Aetolians showed themselves equally independent towards the +Spartans, for when the latter, after the battle of Leuctra, wanted to +interfere in their affairs, they were repulsed by the Aetolians. They did +not, however, rise to any importance till after the death of Alexander. +During the latter part of his life, they took Oeniadae, expelled its +inhabitants, and colonised the place anew. Alexander, whose fate was +that of all other conquerors, did not know in the end whither to turn; +he conceived the unfortunate idea of interfering, from Babylon, in the +affairs of Greece, and of coming forward as mediator. Whether it was +that he actually wished to restore peace, or whether he had any other +motives, in short he issued a proclamation ordering the Greeks to restore +all φυγάδες in the widest sense of the term; and the order was even +made retrospective, so as to embrace the φυγάδες who had been in exile +for many years, and in many cases, as in that of Oeniadae, the φυγάδες +consisted of the entire population of a town. This measure, perhaps +adopted with a good intention, threw the firebrand of war into Greece. +All were in consternation, because it was expected that the exiles would +return with their old pretensions, and that the tranquillity which had +only just been restored, would be disturbed again. The Athenians were +exasperated because the amnesty was in favour of many who had been exiled +as traitors and partisans of Macedonia, and whose banishment they had +effected with great determination, and under circumstances which rendered +the recall scarcely possible. The Aetolians were called upon to evacuate +Oeniadae, and this led them to ally themselves with the Athenians in +the Lamian war, and to display the greatest perseverance. When the +allied army in Thessaly was broken and the Athenians were disabled, the +Aetolians alone held out, resisting the great power of the Macedonians, a +perseverance which ever after remained the great object of their national +pride. All the Macedonian forces under Polysperchon and Antipater now +turned against them: with moveable columns they entered the country, +and carried on a very cruel war, devastating the country in the same +fearful manner as the barbarians did in Peloponnesus, and as the French +have frequently done in modern times: they advanced gradually chasing +the whole population before them, and all who fell into their hands were +either murdered or sold as slaves; all the cultivation of the country +was destroyed, towns were reduced to ashes, and all trees rooted out. In +this manner, they drove the inhabitants from one valley into another, and +into the highest mountains, where they maintained themselves. But here +they would have perished from cold, hunger and snow, had not a change of +circumstances produced a diversion in their favour: the feuds among the +Macedonian generals in Asia saved them. Antipater, who envied Perdiccas +for his power, thought it advisable for the present to conclude a truce +with the Aetolians, with the intention of completing the devastation of +their country afterwards. But God disposed things differently. Amid the +perplexities in Asia, Antipater forgot the Aetolians, and the war was +not resumed. They now returned from their mountains, and this forms the +commencement of a new era in their history. + +Several of the nations of Greece had, even as early as that time, begun +to feel an instinctive want of uniting with each other for the purpose +of increasing their strength. Such had been the case in Arcadia and +Thessaly (where Jason of Pherae fostered the feeling) before, and it +was now awakened among several other nations. From this time forward +two political terms acquired importance in history; the relations they +designate were not indeed new, but their import in an extended sense +was. At an earlier period, I mean at the time of the Peloponnesian war, +this tendency to unite had shown itself at Olynthus on the coast of +Thrace, where the Chalcidian and Bottian towns, which until then had +stood isolated, united with that city which had become great; and thus +they became καθάπερ δῆμος. This is the relation called by later writers +ἰσοπολιτεία[63], which two towns established between each other, as +was the case in Switzerland and in the league of the Swabian towns; in +former times it had been called πολιτεία. A citizen of such a place was +entitled to take up his abode in the other, without becoming a mere +resident alien; the ancient Italian law was of the same kind. There can +be no doubt that in earlier times the Aetolian tribes were united only by +the relation of a common πολιτεία; but they did not form one state, the +establishment of which, with one common strategus and one common council +(ἀπόκλητοι), belongs to a much later period; it was probably not till +after the war with Antipater that the Aetolian state was constituted; but +we do not know much about its origin. + +The relation of συμπολιτεία was different; it is very necessary to +distinguish the two, and great attention is required not to confound +them. Sympolity was the relation subsisting between Rome and its +_municipia_, it was the connection of one place with another on a footing +of inequality; the citizens of the subordinate state had not the same +rights with those of the chief state, their advantage consisting in +the close alliance with a powerful head, but they had no share in the +election of magistrates (_civitas sine suffragio_), and the relation was +altogether one-sided. Isopolite states, on the other hand, generally +stood to each other in a relation of perfect equality, and were quite +independent in their transactions with foreign countries; it is only in +a very few instances that in later times we find them in a subordinate +relation to a chief state. Sympolite states could not, on their own +responsibility, enter into negociations with foreign countries, as had +been the case of isopolite states only in earlier times. It may perhaps +be assumed that all sympolite places were at one time in the relation of +isopolity, and that their citizens were entitled to the general franchise +in every one of the allied states. Isopolity, therefore, may have existed +with several states, which among themselves had no isopolity, as, for +example, the Hernicans were in a relation of isopolity with the Romans +and also with the Samnites. + +At that time the Aetolians increased their connections in both ways, and +many distant towns joined them and became Aetolians. Of this we have +evident proofs in inscriptions, in which the Aetolians grant to the +inhabitants of such places letters of safety against robbery, as for +example to the inhabitants of Crete, Carthaea in the island of Ceos, +and others, ὡς ὄντων Αἰτωλῶν. Others, seeking the direct protection of +the Aetolians, entered the relation of sympolity; but this must not be +understood, as if they had taken upon themselves duties as subjects +towards the Aetolians; the towns were too distant; but if they did, the +great distance at least prevented the relation from becoming oppressive. +In the case of isopolity a town could not claim to be protected by the +more powerful one. Aetolia thus extended chiefly through the relation of +sympolity, and Cephallenia, _e.g._, joined it. In the earlier times, and +down to the sixth century of Rome, Olymp. 135, we can trace the extension +only with difficulty; we cannot indeed doubt that the Aetolians extended +beyond their own frontiers, but we are unable to say how or how far. The +newly added part was called Αἰτωλία ἐπίκτητος, but it is wrongly marked +in our maps, for the part beyond the Aetolian mountains, on the coast of +Locris, belongs to ancient Aetolia. + +The first accession gained by the Aetolians consisted in the alliance +with Alexander of Epirus, the son of Pyrrhus (not to be confounded +with Alexander the Molottian, the brother of Olympias), against the +Acarnanians. On his unfortunate death, Pyrrhus had left to his son +a still splendid empire. The two allies divided Acarnania between +themselves, and from this time a large portion of that country belongs +to Aetolia, especially Stratos, a very important town, the ruins of +which still attest its former greatness. I cannot say, whether the +acquisition of Naupactus and perhaps the whole country of the Ozolian +Locrians belongs to this or to a later period; but Naupactus certainly +was united with Aetolia, for about Olymp. 140, a strategus is mentioned +who was a native of that town. During the decay of the Macedonian empire, +that is, in the latter years of Antigonus Gonatas, the Aetolians greatly +extended their empire; a part of Phocis appears to have been in their +hands, and in alliance with the Achaeans they carried on a successful war +against his son Demetrius, the father of the last Philip; they conquered +Phthiotis and a part of Thessaly proper which then became united with +them partly by isopolity, and partly by sympolity. The nations on this +side of Thermopylae, the Trachinians and Aenianians, became so completely +incorporated with them, that Heraclea even was one of their chief cities. +At the same time they extended their power in Epirus, after the Epirots +had murdered the last member of the royal family of the Aeacidae; they +did not, however, confine themselves to that country, but also took +possession of Cephallenia, Zacynthus and probably Ithaca also, nay, +they even crossed over into Peloponnesus. Elis stood in the relation of +isopolity, and several places in western Arcadia, as Phigalea, Heraea, +Psophis and others, were connected with them by sympolity. Many towns +also stood to them in the relation of isopolity, even the Athenians did +so for a time. Aetolia reached the highest point of its power about +Olymp. 140, where Polybius commences his history: that was the time of +the outbreak of the social war, which the last Philip, in conjunction +with the Achaeans, carried on against the Aetolians, who then lost their +possessions in Thessaly and Phthiotis. But they were still very powerful, +ruling over the country as far as the Spercheus, over the greater part of +Acarnania, and Cephallenia, besides being on terms of isopolity with many +places. Afterwards, in the second Philippic war, they lost still more, +but we know nothing definite about it. In the third war of the Romans +against Philip, which ended in the battle of Cynoscephalae, they again +recovered many places, but the Romans, contrary to the compact entered +into, deprived them of some which belonged to them. The claims they then +made led to the war with Antiochus, in which they lost Cephallenia, +Heraclea, and other places. They now lived in a state of nominal +independence, for they did not, like the Achaeans, form a Roman province; +but in point of fact they were dependent upon the Romans, though they +did not lose their autonomy, that is their own political constitution +and jurisdiction. Their frontiers were very much narrowed, though their +territory was still greater than it had ever been during the best period +of Greek history. Such is a brief sketch of the various vicissitudes of +that remarkable people. + +It is difficult to say how we should judge of the character of the +Aetolians; it is not easy to arrive at a clear and precise result. But +it is a point beyond all dispute that at the period during which we know +them, they show a great resemblance in character to the Greek Clephths: +they never were a regularly organised people with a civil constitution; +their state was only of a military character, and their whole government +was military; in the interior, there must necessarily have been great +anarchy. Alexander is the only Aetolian whose name occurs in the whole +range of Greek literature, and he lived at Alexandria; but he deserves +no more to be despised than Callimachus. It is a well-founded charge +that the Aetolians were faithless, so that treaties concluded with them +were not safe,—hence the disgraceful attack upon the Pamboeotians,—that +they disregarded the public law established among the Greeks, which +ordained that in the midst of war a truce should be observed during the +celebration of the national games. In war they indulged in devastation +and robbery, the latter always being the principal motive of their +undertakings. It must also be said, to their disgrace, that in regular +and open battles they were good for nothing. Their cavalry was excellent, +which, considering the nature of their country, is rather surprising; but +they never formed a regular phalanx, and their peltasts were no better +than the most ordinary ones; if these latter had been well trained, they +might have become very efficient, but they never went beyond the first +steps of military training. + +In geography we treat of Aetolia within its ancient boundaries, and +without regard to its later acquisitions. Aetolia has the largest river +in Greece within Mount Oeta and Thermopylae: I allude to the ACHELOUS, +which for Greece is a very considerable river, though in other countries +it would not be so. Its sources are in Mount Pindus, and it is properly +a χειμάῤῥους, for although it has always water, yet in winter, during +the rainy season, and in spring, after the melting of the snow in the +mountains, it is much larger. During these latter seasons of πλήμμυρα it +is a mighty river, whereas in summer it may be forded in several places +without danger. Where it comes forth from the Dolopian mountains, its +bed is very broad and covered with gravel, over which it flows in many +arms; at Stratos it is divided, at the season of high water, into seven +arms, and in summer perhaps into three or four, which flow between high +islands. Its modern name is Aspropotamo, the white river, perhaps from +the white mud which during the rainy season it carries with it, and not +from its clear water as is commonly supposed. In summer its water is +clear, but in spring it is θολερός or muddy, whence it formed a Delta +which was constantly increasing. The ECHINADES were islands at the mouth +of the river, but owing to the continual deposits they are now parts of +the main land; in like manner Ravenna, in the time of the Roman emperors, +was surrounded by the sea, whereas at present it is a few miles distant +from it. Such alluvial land as that formed by the Achelous is in modern +Greek called βάλτος. A little to the side of the mouth of the river, +we have the town of Oeniadae, whose position was as strong as that of +Missolunghi, which is situated in the same lagoons, but somewhat more +towards the cape and the river Evenus. + +In the ancient Greek legends, the Achelous is celebrated on account of +the contest with Heracles, in which the river-god metamorphosed himself +into a bull, and Heracles broke one of his horns. Some very silly +allegorical explanations of this mythus have been proposed. + +EVENUS, the second river of Aetolia, is much smaller, and flows from the +north; it discharges its waters at the point where the Achelous formed +its deposits. It is in itself not of much consequence, but the country +about its mouth, that is, the district of CALYDON and PLEURON, is the +ancient and original Aetolia, which is called Aeolis by Thucydides, and +perhaps also by Herodotus. This certainly is an ancient and remarkable +name, though for our history it is a matter of indifference. Calydon and +Pleuron are among the most ancient towns in Greek history, but in later +times they were decayed and insignificant, and in the days of Strabo they +were completely destroyed. Modern travellers assure us that they have +discovered the Cyclopian walls of both towns, but I cannot say whether +they are right: their site is indicated with tolerable precision by the +ancients; it was not very far inland. + +Respecting DULICHION, which occurs in the Odyssey, nothing can be +ascertained. The opinion of modern geographers, that it was an ancient +Delta, and afterwards disappeared in consequence of further deposits, +is erroneous. The modern Greeks are probably no less mistaken in their +belief that it was swallowed up by the earth; the sand-banks are in a +different place. It is possible that Dulichion may have been the coast of +Acarnania, which the Homeric poet, who was not altogether well informed +about the western countries, erroneously called an island. + +THERMON, the later capital of the Aetolians in Polybius, was situated in +the interior. The building of this place pre-supposes that Aetolia at +the time was a more extensive country, so that the more ancient towns +were situated too near the frontier. Its site cannot be mistaken. No +traveller has yet visited it, and I do not believe that any considerable +ruins are to be found unless excavations be made; inscriptions do not +exist there any more than in Epirus. It was about three miles distant +from the great lake, which is situated in the centre of Aetolia in a +hollow surrounded by mountains, and separates the waters of the Achelous +and Evenus. This lake, which is upwards of twenty-five English miles in +length and tolerably broad, now consists of several smaller lakes, which +are connected by marshes. Polybius calls it TRICHONIS, and it forms the +receptacle for the waters which flow from the neighbouring mountains and +are not carried off by the Evenus. Thermon was not fortified, but was an +open place like Sparta; Philip, the son of Demetrius, ravaged it twice, +without the Aetolians attempting to defend it. It was there that the +Aetolian people assembled and held their general diets: the hot springs +were another and still more direct temptation to build the place. Aetolia +is, in general, rich in hot sulphureous springs, and I here remind you +of what I said on a former occasion respecting the volcanic veins which +extend from the Corinthian gulf to Epirus, and especially to Thesprotia. +The account of Polybius does not enable us to say whether it was a +large city, but I am inclined to believe that it was not very important +as a town. It contained a temple of Apollo, government-buildings, and +extensive halls, probably adorned with works of art and other costly +decorations, being destined as places of meeting for the Παναιτώλιον. +These public buildings were set on fire by Philip. After this first +conflagration, they were restored by the inhabitants, but ten or twelve +years later they were destroyed a second time, and afterwards the place +is no longer mentioned. + +The walls of the other towns noticed by Polybius still show that they +must have been very strong places; they were of considerable extent, but +as there are no inscriptions, it is very difficult to determine their +names, and it cannot be done without acting in an arbitrary manner. + +According to Polybius, the Aetolians were joined by nations which +Thucydides still distinguishes from them; some of them are pure +Epirot tribes, such as the Amphilochians and Agraeans. I shall speak +of them afterwards when I come to Epirus, to which they belong, both +ethnographically and geographically. They were probably the first that +joined the Aetolians, although in the time of Pyrrhus they still belonged +to Epirus, to which they had been ceded by Macedonia. + + +ACARNANIA. + +Acarnania is the country on the western bank of the Achelous. The +earliest notices of the Acarnanians in Thucydides down to those of the +latest times, exhibit them in constant collision with the more powerful +Aetolians, who endeavoured to unite them with themselves, and, as they +resisted, tried to destroy them. They are not mentioned in the Homeric +Catalogue; they regarded themselves as the youngest among the Greek +peoples, and set it forth as a merit of their own, that they had taken no +part in the expedition against the Trojans, the ancestors of the Romans. +But we must not infer too much from this: it is certain that at the time +when the Catalogue was composed, the interior, or principal part, of the +country was inhabited by Epirots, that is, Pelasgians, while the coast +was, in my opinion, occupied by Greeks. The people over whom Odysseus +ruled were certainly not confined to the little island of Ithaca; they +extended far and wide, and their common name was Cephallenians, which +also embraced those who lived on the ἤπειρος, that is, in Acarnania, on +the coast near the Echinades, in Leucas, and in the Echinades themselves. +In the ante-historic times they are mentioned under the name of the +Taphians, who afterwards disappear, but seem to have equalled the Minyans +in greatness and power. Whether, on the destruction of the empire of +Odysseus, the Cephallenians and Arcananians separated, whether they +gained strength to extend their dominion towards the interior, or whether +a Hellenic immigration peopled the country, are questions on which we +cannot decide. The last, however, is the most probable, and is supported +by the mythus about Alcmaeon, who is said to have gone to the Echinades; +but, however this may be, in the earliest times they are not mentioned +under the name Acarnanians. Herodotus speaks of Acarnanians (Ἀκαρνὴν +ἀνήρ) even before the time of the Persian wars, in which they took no +more part than the Aetolians: their distance seems to have separated them +from the rest of the Greeks, so as to prevent their having any share +in their doings. Afterwards, in the Peloponnesian war, they sided with +the Ionians against the Dorians, being the allies of the Athenians from +hatred of the Corinthians, who had established themselves on the coast +of Acarnania, had there founded the colonies of Leucas, Anactorion, +Alyzia, and the powerful town of Ambracia on the opposite coast, and were +severely oppressive to the Acarnanians. This induced the latter to seek +the assistance of the Athenians, which was effective, also, against the +Aetolians, and brought on the war against them. The Aetolians themselves +thereby became connected with the Ambraciots and the Dorians. + +In this condition the Acarnanians remained until the time of the +Macedonian supremacy; but when the Macedonian empire gained consistency, +the Acarnanians thoughtlessly placed themselves under its protection. +Philip favored them greatly, and assigned to them Oeniadae, which had +previously belonged to the Achaeans, and also Leucas; whether the +latter place remained in their possession or not, we do not know. Fresh +hostilities now arose with the Aetolians, who were enemies of the +Macedonians. The severest blow was inflicted upon the Acarnanians in the +reign of Alexander of Epirus, the son of Pyrrhus, for their country was +divided between him and the Aetolians. The latter retained the possession +of the principal towns which they received; but at the time of the +disputes about the succession among the Aeacidae, the Epirot dominion +was shaken off, and the Acarnanians again threw themselves into the arms +of Macedonia. We must distinguish Acarnania in its earlier and in its +later condition: Acarnania in Polybius is considerably reduced on the +east near the Achelous, for it there possessed only Oeniadae, but on the +coast it was increased through the Corinthian colonies. In this condition +it remained, until, in the war between the Romans and Macedonians, its +population, having sided with the latter, had to suffer greatly. Leucas +was taken and separated from Acarnania. But although the Acarnanians +were pardoned by the Romans, they thenceforward completely disappear in +history. + +The country forms no contrasts, and has no deep valleys with lakes like +Aetolia; it has no high mountains, but is a fertile hilly country, with +alluvial soil, though not to any great extent, on the coast and the +Achelous: the soil is throughout light and good. As regards the political +constitution of the Acarnanians, even Polybius speaks of the κοινὸν τῶν +Ἀκαρνάνων, so that they must have formed a regularly organised state, no +doubt with a common strategus. As far as their manners are concerned, the +same historian classes them among the less civilised tribes, for they +went about in arms. They did not, like the Aetolians, consist of tribes +that were essentially foreign to each other, but of kindred settlers in +towns. Nations which, like the Aetolians, are destined by nature to lead +a pastoral life, cannot have any important settlements in towns any more +than the little cantons of Switzerland; but Acarnania is a thoroughly +agricultural country, producing corn and olives, and towns accordingly +arose from the nature of circumstances; pastoral life prevailed only in +the mountains. These towns had no separate existence independently of +the common government of the state; each of them had no doubt its own +municipal freedom, but in their relation to foreign countries, they were +dependent. This is implied in the term τὸ κοινόν, Latin, _commune_. + +In the Peloponnesian war, STRATOS was the capital of the country, but it +was taken by the Aetolians, to whom it belonged in the time of Polybius. +Its walls are still preserved, and they not only show that, as Thucydides +says, it was the largest town of Acarnania, but absolutely a large town +of an astonishing circumference. But these countries are so different +from those of the intellectual Greeks, that no ruins are found attesting +the existence of splendid buildings. Stratos is the only one among the +genuine Acarnanian towns, that deserves to be noticed. + +OENIADAE, at the mouth of the Achelous, is often mentioned as an Achaean +town, and its true character is therefore a real puzzle. Xenophon calls +it Achaean, and Scylax of Caryanda applies the name Ἀχαιοί and Ἀχαία to +the whole coast from Cape Rhion as far as the Achelous, so that not only +Oeniadae, but the other coast-towns, as for example, the little Chalcis, +were connected with the Achaeans. Afterwards Oeniadae was taken by the +Aetolians; it recovered indeed its independence, but was then conquered +by the Acarnanians, and finally taken from them by the Romans. Whether on +this last occasion the Achaeans again established their claims, cannot +be ascertained. It is not impossible that it may have been an Achaean +colony, as we find another in Zacynthos. + +The Corinthian colonies, the most remarkable of which were LEUCAS, +ANACTORION, ALYZIA, and ACTION, were separated from Acarnania proper at +an early period. + +LEUCAS, according to the opinion of the Alexandrian grammarians, who +are great authorities in these matters, is mentioned in the Odyssey +and the Homeric Catalogue under the name of NERITON, and was at that +time still inhabited by Cephallenians. At a later period it was a Doric +settlement of Corinth, when this latter city founded colonies on the +Ambracian gulf, in Corcyra, and other islands, with a care which shows +that it intended to establish its maritime supremacy in those parts. +Those settlements belong partly to the period of the Bacchiadae, and +partly to that of Cypselus and Periander. Leucas was formerly connected +with the mainland by an isthmus, which was cut through by the Corinthians +when they established themselves there. Afterwards the isthmus was +sometimes restored and sometimes broken through; and these changes +frequently occur, even in the middle ages, for the rivers which flow +into the Ambracian gulf, carry with them as much mud as the Achelous, +and as Leucas was situated close to the shore, and was separated from +the mainland only by a very narrow channel, the mud there accumulated +by the current which is very strong in that part. This isthmus was very +inconvenient to the navigation of the Leucadians to the Ambracian gulf, +as they had to sail round the whole promontory; nothing therefore is more +natural than that the canal should have been re-opened from time to time. +The opinion of those who imagine that the isthmus was an artificially +constructed causeway is absurd, though it is quite conceivable that at +the time when the isthmus was uninterrupted, a road may have been made +upon it; but this has quite a different meaning. The name Leucas has a +double nominative, Leucas and Leucata, of which so many instances occur +in Latin in the case of Greek proper names,[64] as Croton and Crotona, +Ancon and Ancona, the latter of which is the genuine Latin form. It is +said that ὁ Λευκάτας was the rock of Leucas; but there is no foundation +for this, it is a mere expedient to get over a difficulty. On Cape Leucas +stood the temple of Apollo, and from its precipitous cliff Sappho and +others are said to have leapt into the sea because their passionate love +was not returned. + +ANACTORION was a very small and insignificant place, as we see from the +notices about it during the Peloponnesian war, for it furnished only one +trireme. + +ACTION can scarcely be called a town, and is remarkable only for the +battle fought there, and the temple of Apollo. + +ALYZIA was likewise unimportant, and deserves to be noticed only as +a Corinthian colony, and as an example of the manner in which the +Corinthians detached the coast from Acarnania. + +By the side of Action, on the spot afterwards occupied by Prevesa, +there arose NICOPOLIS, which was built by Augustus as a monument of his +victory. The Greek population was then so reduced, and the violence of +the Roman generals so truly oriental, that Augustus transplanted to +Nicopolis the nation of the Aetolians and most of the Acarnanians; for +I have no doubt that, to a certain extent, this was really the case. +Owing to its situation, the place was during the middle ages regarded +as a fortress, and new buildings were erected, whence the ancient ones +have for the most part disappeared. The ruins of Nicopolis however +are extensive, for Augustus adorned it with splendid buildings. The +Byzantine emperors defended it for a long time against the conquests of +the Bulgarians, who had subdued a great part of Epirus and the adjoining +countries of Greece. We cannot say at what time the name Nicopolis +disappears; in the tenth century it still existed, and is mentioned by +Constantine Porphyrogenitus. + + +THE CEPHALLENIAN ISLANDS. + +Under this name, following the example of the Alexandrian grammarians, +we comprise those islands which in Homer form the empire of Odysseus, +namely, Ithaca, Cephallenia or Same, and Zacynthos; I have already +intimated that I have nothing to say about Dulichion. This empire of +Odysseus entirely disappears in our history. If we had Ephorus or ample +extracts from his work, we should be able to proceed more safely. The +Greeks had ancient records about many places and subjects connected with +their early history, as we see from Thucydides, but they cannot be called +history; Ephorus, however, anxiously endeavoured to collect them all, and +all that is quoted from them, is excellent. After the time of the Odyssey +those islands are scarcely mentioned at all. Cephallenia is noticed in +a passing remark at the time of the Peloponnesian war, Zacynthos too +is mentioned once, and in the war of the Romans and Aetolians they are +brought forward more particularly; Ithaca, on the other hand, does not +occur at all in ancient history. Mythology says, that after Odysseus +was slain by Telegonus, his own son by Circe, Telemachus and Penelope +quitted the island from fear of the vengeance of the relations of the +suitors. This statement when translated into history, means, that the +empire was completely broken up, and the dynasty of Odysseus disappeared. + +As to ITHACA, we do not even know what was the name of its town; near the +port distinct traces of a town and Cyclopian walls are still visible; +and a modern English traveller, Sir William Gell, I do not know whether +in joke or in earnest, states that they are the remains of the palace of +Odysseus. It cannot be ascertained whether the island existed by itself, +or whether it was connected with Cephallenia. + +CEPHALLENIA had four towns which are mentioned at the time of the +Peloponnesian war under the names of Pale, Cranii, Same, and Proni; they +were quite independent of one another and allied with Athens. In later +times we find them in the relation of sympolity with the Aetolians. The +name Cephallenia is of more recent origin, the island being, in early +times, called Same. During the Aetolian war, the Romans completely +subdued it on account of its situation, which was favourable to +navigation. Its inhabitants were notorious as pirates even in very early +times. + +ZACYNTHOS (the Z must be pronounced as softly as possible), the +southernmost of these islands, is entirely of a volcanic nature, and +remarkable for its springs of naphtha; it has suffered much from +earthquakes, which have continued even in modern times. Otherwise it is a +real paradise, and must have been the same in antiquity: its fertility, +beauty, and climate are almost fabulous. During the Peloponnesian war, +it was taken by the Athenians; it is mentioned at that time as an +Achaean colony, so that the Achaeans must have established themselves +there as they did at Oeniadae, and thus extended the boundaries of their +own country. Afterwards it fell into the hands of the Macedonians, and +ultimately into those of the Romans. The Achaeans wanted to unite it +again with Peloponnesus, but Flamininus resisted them; but whether they, +nevertheless, carried their plan, is unknown, for all information is +wanting. + + +THESSALY. + +The name Thessaly is used in two senses: in its proper sense, for +example in Scylax, it comprises the country of the ruling tribes of the +Thessalians dwelling within their natural boundaries, a circumstance of +which no notice at all is taken in our maps and geographical manuals. +In this sense Thessaly touches upon the sea only by a line of coast +thirty stadia in length, and the remaining coast which we are in the +habit of calling Thessalian, does not belong to it. In the ordinary or +wider sense, in which the name can be proved to have been used even +by Herodotus, Thessaly extended as far as the Aenianians and Malians, +perhaps even as far as the Dolopians, in the south. The tribes inhabiting +it, the Phthiotans, the Magnetes, Peraebi, and others, were subjects of +the Thessalians, and in so far the use of the name which comprises them +also is well founded, for they belonged to the state of the Thessalians. + +In its narrower sense, Thessaly is the valley of the Peneus, which +is said, in Herodotus, to have once been one continuous lake, but +afterwards discharged its waters into the sea by breaking through the +heights between Ossa and Olympus. This clearly shews that the tradition +applies to the valley of the Peneus alone, for the valley south of mount +Othrys, for example, could not have been inundated, whereas the fertile +plains of Pherae about lake Boebeis as far as the Pagasaean gulf, from +which it is separated only by a few hills, may very easily have been +inundated. The statement, therefore, is evidently correct; its truth +may even now be seen, and the ancients judged correctly. However, to +refer the draining, which cannot have been the work of human hands, but +must have been effected by revolutions of the earth, to the historical +ages is a mistake, because we are accustomed to compress the events of +many centuries within the small space of our historical knowledge. The +opposite mistake consists in assuming, within the sphere of history, +longer intervals than really exist. The duration of a century seems to be +very short, but if we examine it more minutely, it is a long period for +historical changes. If, for example, we look at Germany and our ancestors +150 or 160 years ago, how different do we find them from ourselves in +their mode of living, in their ideas, their occupations, and maxims, and +that too in the highest as well as in the lowest classes of society! +People have imagined that Rome, from the time of Servius Tullius to that +of Cicero, remained in its forms essentially the same; but this is quite +impossible, and the difference must have been enormous. Even when we look +at nations which seem to admit of no change, for example, the Hindoos, +great differences are still manifest at different times: life is ever +changeable. I do not believe that this remark is superfluous; it is very +important to the historian to have it always present before his mind; it +is impossible successfully to treat of ancient history without a thorough +knowledge of modern history. + +In its wider sense, Thessaly presents the immense contrasts of the +excellent plain (τὸ Θεσσαλικὸν πεδίον) and the mountains. On its western +side, we have mount PINDUS (now Mezzowo, probably a Wallachian name), the +highest of all the Greek mountains, which has only very few passes; that +of Gomphi, leading from Epirus into Thessaly, is the most convenient, +and very easy to defend, on account of the nature of the country. On the +south of the Peneus we have mount OTHRYS, a tame mountain, to use a Swiss +expression, which is, indeed, covered with wood, but is, nevertheless, +capable of being cultivated, and is used in some parts as pasture to a +very great height; it is a smiling and beautiful mountain, with excellent +underwood, whereas the higher parts of Pindus produce only firs. Pindus, +consisting only of rocks and forests, is a lofty mountain, and a +continuation of the great Illyrian SCARDUS, which extends from the Julian +Alps in Carniola, through Bosnia and Dalmatia, as far as Constantinople, +rising higher and higher, until, on the coast near Scutari, it reaches +its highest point, and forms its real central knot. Although Scardus is +not covered with snow all the year round, it is, at any rate, very close +to the region of perpetual snow; its ravines and summits are covered +with it during the greater part of the year. The mountain then suddenly +sinks down, and geographically, though not ethnographically, separates +Illyricum from Macedonia, and runs out into Pindus and Othrys. At this +point Pindus begins, which is joined in the east by mount Othrys. The +Dolopian and Aetolian mountains, for which no general names are mentioned +by the ancients, run parallel with mount Othrys, and mount Parnassus is +an off-shoot of them. On the southern frontier of Thessaly, in its widest +sense, we meet with mount OETA, which is not so much a mountain as a +series of separate hills; the name Oeta is not applicable to it in the +interior of the country; the pass of Thermopylae runs between its foot +and the Euboean sea. Oeta is a sublime mountain, and renowned in Greek +mythology on account of the death of Heracles. + +In the north of the valley of the Peneus, a range of very high mountains, +some of which are not distinguished by particular names, extends towards +Olympus; a part of them is called by Livy _montes Cambunii_, but we +have no distinct information as to the extent to which this name is +applicable, though from our maps it would seem as if we had. These +mountains issue from the high ranges which, on the extreme borders of +Thessaly, in its widest sense, proceed from Macedonia, and form another +ramification of the Illyrian Scardus, terminating in mount OLYMPUS, which +towers far above the clouds, and is always covered with snow. Every +one knows that Olympus is the abode of the Homeric gods; but it is not +so generally known, that the Roman poets, Ennius, Virgil, and others, +when applying the name Olympus to the vault of heaven, confound Greek +mythology and Roman theology. The Greeks conceived the gods as dwelling +on the top of the mountain, while the Romans imagined that they lived +beyond the heavenly vault, whence Ennius has the expression _maxima porta +Olympi_, a conception quite foreign to the Greeks. I shall hereafter +explain why the Greeks called this mountain the centre of the earth, and +that, too, before Delphi was described in these terms; for it is strange +indeed, Olympus being properly beyond the boundaries of Greece. + +Mount OSSA, opposite to Olympus, is not quite so high; the river Peneus +flows between these two mountains through the valley of Tempe into the +sea. This valley, τὰ Θεσσαλικὰ Τέμπη, was celebrated in antiquity for its +beauty. The ancients, on the whole, do not often speak of the beauties of +nature, for they are not sentimental; and if they do so, it is always in +reference to pleasing and smiling scenery. The description of Tempe in +Aelian, taken from Theopompus, is perhaps the most accurate we have in +any ancient writer. Dodwell also describes it as equally wonderful; it is +from four to five miles in length, and forms not a smooth and splendid +district with a luxuriant vegetation, but majestic scenery, resembling, +for example, that on the Eisak between Botzen and Brixen in the Tyrol, +or that grand scenery in the valley of the Inn: its beauty is manly and +sublime. + +Mount PELION extends to the south-east of Ossa, and is one of the most +beautiful mountains in the world: it is lovely and fertile up to its +top; it is covered with chesnut-trees, and is probably the place from +which they have spread over the world, for their nuts are called _nuces +Castaneae_, from the town of Castanea on the Pagasaean gulf. Among the +Greek botanists, Pelion is celebrated for its richness in medicinal +plants, and for the variety of its trees. Previously to the present +wretched state of the country, many large villages existed about mount +Pelion; it was the happiest district; its inhabitants enjoyed great +privileges, and as they were very industrious and under the special +protection of the sultans to whom the district belonged as a fief, +they were enabled to pay a large tribute, but lived in the interior +quite undisturbed and without suffering any ill usage. Their excellent +warehouses, which were known also to German merchants, are now entirely +destroyed, although the inhabitants have not risen against the Porte. + +This is the physical outline of the mountains. Phthiotis is an entirely +mountainous country between Othrys, the Euboean sea and the gulf of +Iolcus; but the mountains are not high. The remaining part of Thessaly is +not absolutely a plain, for the mountains rise gradually, and the country +is intersected by ranges of hills. Thessaly has two gulfs, that near +Thermopylae called Μαλιακός or Πυλαϊκός, and the Παγασητικός or Ἰωλκίτης. + +I shall now proceed to consider the population. According to the most +ancient traditions, Thessaly was inhabited by all kinds of people of +quite different names. The poets are fond of applying to the country, +in the ancient mythical period, the name AEMONIA, which in those times +is not an inappropriate name for Thessaly.[65] Among its earliest +inhabitants, we have mention of the LAPITHAE, who dwelt on mount Pelion, +I do not exactly know where, and are said to have expelled the CENTAURI. +It is quite clear that the Greeks, in their mythology, conceived the +Centaurs only as mythical beings; the explanation of a race of men living +on horseback, is of late origin, and altogether uncertain; such a race, +moreover, belongs to a plain and not to the mountains. + +The only river, besides the Peneus, which is of any historical +importance, is the SPERCHIUS or SPERCHEUS in the south, which falls +into the Euboean sea about four miles north of Thermopylae. Of poetical +interest are the APIDANUS and the ANAURUS near Iolcus, on the banks of +which Jason is said to have lost his shoe. In the west, in the territory +of Pherae, we may notice lake Boebeis. + +The Thessalians are regarded as an Epirot people, that is, as +Thesprotians, who, under their chief Thessalus, conquered Aemonia. Along +with the Lapithae, it is said, Aeolian tribes occupied the country, +Boeotians living in the valley of Arne, and others elsewhere. Thessaly is +sometimes also regarded as the real Αἰολίς. It is impossible to ascertain +the true history of the Thesprotians, for our accounts of them directly +contradict each other. Thessalians are said to have migrated from +Dodona into Thessaly, and Peraebi again are reported to have penetrated +from Thessaly into the mountains of Epirus, whence it is probable that +here too the identity of the nations gave rise to the traditions about +immigration. I do not mean to deny the immigration, but our accounts +of it are completely devoid of authenticity. I lay, however, great +stress upon the fact, that Thessalians and Pelasgians are synonymous +in the ancient poems and genealogies, which are known to us, at least +substantially, from the scholiasts on Apollonius Rhodius and the Iliad. +This is a grand discovery, and one from which new treasures are still to +be gathered: the Alexandrian school always deserves to be spoken of with +the greatest respect; the statements contained in these scholia make up +for the loss of the poetical lays. At Cyzicus Thessalians and Pelasgians +are mentioned; in Lemnos we find Thessalian Minyans, and the Pelasgians +of Ravenna and Agylla are likewise called Thessalians. Somewhat later +genealogists, as Hellanicus in his Phoronis, account for the Pelasgians +dwelling in the most distant countries by emigration from Thessaly under +Pelasgus and his son[66] Nanas, which is to us only a hint. But the +statement that the Thessalians in the valley of Thessaly were foreign +immigrants, is credible on account of their internal constitution and +their system of servitude, which suggests the subjugation of the ancient +population. A system of servitude so fully developed as in the Wendish +parts of Germany, occurs nowhere in Greece except in Thessaly; I do not +mean to say, that it did not exist in many other parts also, for traces +of it are found in the notes of Ruhnkenius on Timaeus. In Greece proper +helotism is well known; at Athens it never existed, though we find it +in Ionia, Chios, Argos, Crete, Syracuse, and Magna Graecia; but it was +nowhere so permanent as in Thessaly, where it continued down to the time +of the Romans. Its name is πενεστεία, which expresses both the body of +the serfs and the relation in which they lived; it does not seem to have +originally been the name of a nation, but must probably be derived, as +was done by the ancients, from πένομαι, and πένης, a poor man.[67] + +There existed in Thessaly a number of towns forming independent states +by themselves; but that at the same time they were united by political +bonds, is evident partly from the coins with the inscription κοινὸν +Θεσσαλῶν, and partly from the fact, that in the πεντηκοντετηρίς, before +the outbreak of the Peloponnesian war, kings of Thessaly, such as Orestes +and Echecratides, are mentioned. We must, therefore, infer, that Thessaly +formed one state; but at times the inhabitants of Larissa, Pharsalus, +Pherae, and Cranon appear as citizens of independent towns, whence we may +conclude that the bonds which connected them were extremely loose. + +Thessaly, in its narrower sense, was divided into four parts, Phthiotis, +Hestiaeotis, Thessaliotis, and Pelasgiotis. The principal passage on +this subject is Strabo, ix. p. 430, _b._ and _c._; which, however, +as printed in our editions, is senseless, and the beginning alone +is correct. I will, therefore, mention to you the emendation I have +made, for even the unrivalled Casaubonus was mistaken here. Instead +of καλούμενοι δὲ Πελασγιῶται, we must read, in accordance with the +MSS. cited by Casaubonus, καλούμενοι δὲ _Θεσσαλιῶται_; and immediately +after this we must read, συνάπτοντες ἤδη τοῖς κάτω Μακεδόσι, καὶ οἱ +_Πελασγιῶται_ ἐφεξῆς τὰ μέχρι Μαγνητικῆς παραλίας ἐκπληροῦντες χωρία, so +that Πελασγιῶται is restored in the latter passage. Strabo, however, here +confounds Phthiotis, the country of the Phthiotian Achaeans, with that +part of Thessaly which the Thessalians had separated from the ancient +Phthia and united with Thessaly. Phthia, in the sense of the Achaean +country, is never any other than the district between the Malian gulf and +the valley of the Peneus; but if we take it as the portion of Thessaly +which the Thessalians had torn from it, and incorporated with their own +country, it cannot have extended down to the gulf. Thessaly embraced the +land from Pharsalus as far as Hestiaeotis, that is, as far as the upper +part of the valley of the Peneus, in the neighbourhood of Tricca. The +extent of Phthia was not rightly understood by the ancients themselves in +their explanation of Homer. The passage in the Βοιωτία:— + + Νῦν αὖ τοὺς ὅσσοι τὸ Πελασγικὸν Ἄργος ἔναιον + οἵ τ’ Ἄλον, οἵ τ’ Ἀλόπην, οἵ τε Τρηχῖν’ ἐνέμοντο, + οἵ τ’ εἶχον Φθίην ἠδ’ Ἑλλάδα καλλιγυναῖκα, + +reads entirely as if Phthia and Hellas were towns. This fancy, for +it is nothing but a fancy, took a firm hold even of the Alexandrian +grammarians; but the verses must be transposed, οἵ τ’ εἶχον must follow +directly after the line beginning with Νῦν αὖ. Both Hellas and Phthia are +countries, and stand in apposition to the Pelasgian Argos. + +This division into four parts applies only to Thessaly in the narrower +sense, and is not so much of geographical interest, as it is of real +political importance: there must at one time have existed four real +Thessalian states standing to one another in the relation of isopolity, +like the Romans and Hernicans, and the Samnite nations among one another. +But this point, like all that concerns Thessaly, is involved in very +great obscurity. This much, however, is certain, that the division was +restored under Philip of Macedonia, who, for the purpose of breaking +the power of Thessaly cut it up into four different states, just as +afterwards the Romans did with Macedonia, and as, in 1812, Napoleon, +while making the Poles believe that he was restoring their state, +divided their country into three parts, in order to prevent its rising, +at a great distance from him, to the rank of a powerful state. This is +the tetrarchy of which Theopompus in Harpocration gives the well known +explanation. Demosthenes (_Philip._ ii. p. 71, ed. Reiske), however, +states that Philip divided Thessaly into decadarchies: this reading +occurs indeed in all the MSS., but they are of little authority, as all +of them are founded upon a single recension, and are perhaps derived +from one original manuscript. From Harpocration, too, an author of the +second century, we see that in his time this reading already existed, +and puzzled him as well as other archaeologists. It is historically +certain, that the Lacedaemonians, in every town that became subject to +them, established a decadarchy, as at first they did at Athens, though +they there increased the number to thirty; but how we have to view the +statement in regard to Thessaly, is, as Harpocration admits, a matter +of doubt. The explanation, however, is not so very difficult. The +δεκαδαρχίαι in the second Philippic are, if we examine the context, quite +the same as the tetrarchies in the third (p. 117). The fault arose from +the compendious mode of writing: Δ in ancient Greek writing has, as a +number, a double meaning; according to the common Phoenician practice it +signified _four_, and according to the Attic system of writing _ten_. +In nearly all the earlier inscriptions, where it occurs as a number, +Δ signifies _ten_, as Π signifies _fifty_; when, therefore, Δ with +a line (Δʹ) occurred before ἀρχία (ΔʹΑΡΧΙΑ), the reader knew that it +indicated a number, but he made it either _ten_ or _four_, according as +he imagined that he had before him an Attic or a common number; and if he +was familiar with the Lacedaemonian decadarchy, he read in this passage +also δεκαδαρχία. This division into tetrarchies, then, existed in the +Macedonian period, but we do not know how long. + +I will now put together the few fragments of Thessalian history which +have come down to us. The family of the Aleuadae, a Heracleid family, +was the most celebrated of all, and ruled at Larissa; it formed an +oligarchy even within the ruling nation; at the time of the Persian +wars it was so powerful as to be in possession of the whole government, +and it is probable that the Thessalian kings mentioned by Thucydides +belonged to it. The Scopadae were another great and noble family at +Pharsalus. The nobility of Thessaly, like that of the Sarmatians +and that of the middle ages, were numerous, whence the best part of +the Thessalian armies consisted of horsemen; they scarcely had any +infantry at all; a Thessalian phalanx does not occur anywhere, and +peltasts are not mentioned till later times. Notwithstanding the +state of dissolution in which we find Thessaly, there still existed a +bond among the different states, which embraced even the neighbouring +nations, the Magnetes, the Achaeans of Phthia, and the Peraebians; it +is possible that the Thessalians, may have ruled over the tribes which +touched upon their borders, but the latter were never really subdued by +them, and the Peraebians seem to have been under the direct supremacy +of Larissa. About thirty or forty years after the Peloponnesian war, +when the disorganisation had increased, the town of Pherae, which had +formerly been insignificant, rose into importance, and Jason, a man of +great parts, came forward there as tyrant, and was elected dictator by +the whole of Thessaly under the title of ταγός, in which capacity he +ruled over Thessaly and even over the countries dependent on it. He +was succeeded by his brothers, and then by his nephew Alexander; but +his dynasty, like those of all usurpers in Greece, passed away, and +afterwards Thessaly was in a state of greater dissolution than ever. The +Aleuadae now renewed their claims, but the Thessalians happened at the +time, in common with the Boeotians, to be involved in the unfortunate +war against the Phocians, and Magnesia on that occasion recovered its +independence. In these circumstances, Philip of Macedonia appeared among +them under the mask of a friend, pretending that he would assist them, +that he would subdue the Phocians, and reduce Magnesia to obedience; he +was accordingly appointed tagus, and intrusted with the administration +of their revenues arising from port dues and the tribute of their +dependencies. Philip abused this ridiculous confidence, which was in +reality an act of treason of the Thessalians against themselves, and put +himself in permanent possession of the common domain of which he had +undertaken the management, especially the Thessalian port of Pagasae, +from which the revenues were very large. Thessaly, which was now divided +into four parts, henceforth belonged to the crown of Macedonia. Very +feeble attempts only were made by the Thessalians to recover their +independence: in the Lamian war they endeavoured in vain to shake off the +yoke, and the same was attempted in the subsequent wars against Cassander +and Demetrius Poliorcetes. Thessaly, in the narrower sense, however, +remained subject to Macedonia until the second Roman war of Philip. Under +Antigonus Gonatas and Demetrius, the father of Philip, the Aetolians +gained Achaia Phthiotis, which thus became separated. Philip recovered +indeed a portion of it (Olymp. 140), but the greater part remained in +the hands of the Aetolians, who even conquered parts of Thessaly Proper, +such as Pharsalus, which, though it was recovered by the Macedonians, yet +remained for a time in the hands of the Aetolians. Thessaly, however, +even in its connection with Macedonia, continued to form a state by +itself, with the exception of Magnesia, which was regarded as part of +Μακεδονία ἐπίκτητος, and where Demetrius Poliorcetes built the great +fortress of Demetrias, which often served the Macedonian kings as a +place of residence; it was very strong, and possessed a military port +with arsenals for both the land army and the navy. When the Romans +took Greece from Macedonia, Thessaly, as far as Mount Olympus and the +Cambunian mountains, was separated from Macedonia, and obtained autonomy. +It now formed a separate state, probably including the Peraebians and the +Achaean Phthiotians; but Magnesia, which remained separate, surrendered +to Antiochus, and afterwards remained in the possession of Philip, who +had conquered it together with Demetrias, and with the sanction of the +Romans retained it, a fact which has often been overlooked. Many believe +that Philip was confined within the boundaries of Macedonia; but this is +erroneous; his dominion extended over several other countries besides, +for he was rewarded by the Romans with possessions, which afterwards they +took from him. The fasti of the Thessalian strategi have come down to us +in the Armenian translation of Eusebius; and from them we learn that the +strategi were appointed for the whole of Thessaly in common, that Larissa +not only had no privileges, but that they were sometimes chosen from +smaller places, nay even from districts, as Phthiotis and Orestis, which +had formerly been subject to Thessaly. One strategus belonged to Argos, +which must have been Argos in Orestis, and not the Amphilochian Argos. +During the war against Perseus, the Thessalians were in disgrace with the +Romans; whether at that time they lost their autonomy cannot be proved +with any degree of probability. In the war of the Pseudo-Philip, one part +of the Thessalians joined him; but the history of that war is so obscure, +that we cannot say whether they were independent or not. They seem, +however, to have had, or at least to have recovered, a kind of autonomy, +for during the war between Caesar and Pompey, the Thessalians appear as +a state or κοινόν with a strategus (_praetor_). The Achaeans then had no +common strategus, and this accordingly appears to prove the autonomy of +the Thessalians. After this their history cannot be traced. + +After the description I have already given of the physical features of +Thessaly in the narrowest sense of the name, I have only to add a few +remarks on some other points. + +LARISSA was the most important town of Thessaly both in antiquity and the +middle ages; and it is so still. Its situation is extremely favourable, +the district around it being unusually fertile. Neither Larissa nor any +other Thessalian town has a distinct history. + +PHERAE, next to Larissa the greatest town, was situated in the plain +towards the bay; it was not indeed as great as Larissa, but still a +respectable town, and is renowned in mythology for the story of Admetus; +in the historical times, Jason and his family gave a certain celebrity to +it. + +PHARSALUS, remarkable for the ever memorable battle which decided the +fate of Rome, belonged for a time to the Aetolians. + +TRICCA, a town of which considerable ruins still exist, was celebrated +for the worship of Asclepius. At least twenty other Thessalian places are +mentioned, but I will not detain you with an enumeration of their names, +as they are not sufficiently known. + +PAGASAE was the sea-port of Thessaly. The country, in its narrower sense, +extended only thirty stadia along the sea-coast, beginning with the gulf +of Pagasae or Iolcos; the Thessalians, therefore, had no fleet, though +they may have had a few ships to keep up their commerce by sea. Pagasae +had been united with their country for the sake of commerce; in the +earlier times it is mentioned on several occasions, but it disappears +during the Macedonian period, as Demetrius Poliorcetes transplanted all +the inhabitants of the towns in that neighbourhood to his new fortress of +Demetrias. + +PERAEBIA, one of the three countries subject to Thessaly, extended along +the foot of mount Olympus towards Macedonia; its mountainous parts were +for a time independent, but afterwards surrendered to Thessaly; they did +so, however, on more favourable terms than the Aeolian inhabitants of the +plains; for, though they lost their political independence, they did not +become serfs. The inhabitants were Epirots of the tribe of the Peraebians +dwelling in the neighbourhood of Dodona. + +The MAGNETES also belonged to the race of the Pelasgians. The Greek form +of their name is Magnetes, though we are accustomed to say Magnesians, +which is in reality incorrect. Their country embraced the whole coast +of Thessaly from mount Ossa and the mouth of the Peneus down to the sea +which separates Thessaly from Euboea, and the bay of Iolcos. The whole +of mount Pelion belonged to Magnesia, which has few harbours on its +coast, the most important being that in the bay of Iolcos. In the map of +D’Anville and others of an earlier date, a considerable town of the name +of Magnesia is marked near the end of the promontory; but this town never +existed, it is a mere blunder, arising from a misunderstood passage of +Apollonius Rhodius, who, in describing the voyage of the ship Argo along +the coast, mentions Magnesia in such a manner that a person who is not +a scholar might mistake it for a town. Scylax and Herodotus, who give a +very accurate enumeration of the towns on that coast in their natural +succession, do not mention one of the name of Magnesia, which they apply +to the country alone. In Demosthenes, too, Magnesia is not a town. + +According to their genealogy, the Magnetes belonged to the Pelasgians, +but of their history nothing is known. In very early times, however, they +also occur in Asia, either because they had emigrated thither, or because +the Pelasgian races in Meonia bore the same name: and why should not the +Magnetes in Europe have undertaken voyages from their coast to the East? + +IOLCOS on the Anaurus in Magnesia, is the place from which the Argonautic +expedition is said to have sailed. In the ancient story it appears as an +important place of the Minyans, but afterwards it was only a very small +town, which subsequently disappears altogether. + +But instead of it there arose DEMETRIAS, on the modern bay of Volo, a +splendid harbour in the neighbourhood of Iolcos: this town is one of +those creations which shew the practical and keen eye of its founder. +We have seen that the establishment of Megalopolis was an unsuccessful +undertaking; Demetrias was a rude, immoral, detested, and odious man, +but of uncommon ability, which he shewed in his great discoveries in +mechanics and in the art of engineering; the same talent was manifested +here also, for he chose a spot which had been neglected for centuries +for the purpose of founding a capital of Greece, which he intended to +govern as a kingdom. The fact that his son, Antigonus Gonatas, was +enabled to maintain himself as king, without having a definite kingdom, +was owing to Demetrias, for it was his place of residence, and his whole +strength lay there; it became the capital of Magnesia which was governed +by Macedonia as a province in a manner which is somewhat strange to +us; for under those despotisms, small countries often had a republican +form of government, in which the kings interfered but seldom. In like +manner, the small islands of the Archipelago, before the outbreak of +the present war, were governed by Constantinople: when a Turkish vessel +appeared, the people trembled, the magistrates were called out, and if +the commander was so minded, he put them to death. The relations in the +Macedonian empire were of a similar kind; the provinces were bound to +pay tribute and furnish troops, but otherwise they lived quite under +democratic institutions; and when a king founded a city like Antioch or +Alexandria, it received a mixed population of Greeks and Macedonians, +and a republican municipal constitution. Demetrias, as I have already +said, became the capital of Magnesia, when after the war of Philip the +country became free, but it then threw itself into the arms of Antiochus. +As a punishment for this, the Romans allowed it again to be subdued +by Macedonia, and we find Perseus still in possession of it. We are +perfectly ignorant as to the manner in which the Romans decided the fate +of Magnesia and Demetrias because the last book of Livy has come down to +us incomplete; it is not probable that they incorporated it with Thessaly +or with Macedonia; it is more likely that, on account of the strength +of Demetrias, they reserved for themselves the supremacy over it, and +occupied it by a garrison. + +The third dependent state was ACHAIA (Phthiotis). We are surprised to +find this name here again; and the ancients unhesitatingly assume that +emigrants from Peloponnesus had come to these parts, for which there +is no authority at all. A thoughtful ethnographer is content with the +observation that people of the same name lived in both countries, and +that accordingly they were of the same origin, but he refrains from the +attempt to explain the particular manner in which they were connected. +Achaia formed a state under Thessalian supremacy, and it may have been +somewhat more or less important than Brescia, Verona, or Padua under the +supremacy of Venice. Brescia, _e.g._, was governed by a senate of forty +persons, consisting of its own nobility; but the town was obliged to pay +a certain tribute to Venice. The territory of Brescia again consisted of +smaller states under the supremacy of Brescia. The government of Brescia +in regard to the administration of justice, was subject to Venice, to +which an appeal was open in criminal cases, and which, when appealed +to, sent commissioners (_proveditore_) to re-examine the case. These +gradations of dependence are quite obscure to us, and we cannot see our +way clearly in them. We are apt to think only of a government from above, +which makes the laws, but such was not the case in antiquity nor in the +middle ages. Thus previously to the year 1798 there existed within the +papal dominions several places, which stood indeed under the protection +of the popes, but had their own laws, and even carried into execution +sentences of death without the sanction of the sovereign. A person making +himself familiar with the variety of the Swiss constitutions is going +through an excellent course of preparation for a profound knowledge of +ancient history. + +The case of Achaia was precisely the same: it had the administration of +its internal affairs, but no political independence; it was not allowed +to carry on war on its own account, but was obliged to serve in the +armies of Thessaly, and to pay a certain tribute according to the terms +of its capitulation, and in extraordinary cases even more. + +THEBE, the only important town of Phthiotis, was one of the strongest +fortresses of Greece, being well fortified both by nature and by art. +For a time it belonged, like the rest of Phthiotis, to the Aetolians, +but was taken from them by Philip, and was one of the places out of +which the Aetolians wanted to cheat the Romans, although the latter had +well-founded claims to it. Hence their exasperation was natural enough, +but the manner in which they gave vent to their rage and fury was +senseless. + +The MELIANS, a little people, dwelt on the Sperchius in the corner of +the gulf called Μαλιακός or Πυλιακὸς κόλπος. It is strange to find a +distinction made there between the Malians and Melians, though the +difference appears to be only one of dialect. They are in reality +but one people, and that too a very small one; the doubts cannot be +satisfactorily solved. TRACHIS, the capital of the Melians, plays +a prominent part in poetry for being the seat of Ceyx, and in the +Heracleiae it was a place of great importance. In the time of the +Peloponnesian war, the Lacedaemonians established there the colony +of Heraclea; it was a Doric place and had Doric νόμιμα, although its +population was a mass of people driven together from all quarters, but +it had Spartan oecistae, that is, commanders who made the laws and +established the constitution. This town of Heraclea maintained itself +down to the latest times; during the Macedonico-Aetolian period, it +belonged to Aetolia, and was called Ἡρακλεία ἡ ἐπὶ Τραχῖνι, but often +simply Ἡρακλεία. It was taken by the Romans after the defeat of Antiochus. + +The OETAEANS, likewise a very small people, lived in mount Oeta; they are +generally overlooked in our geographical books and maps. But although +they were a small people, they enjoyed perfect political independence, +just like Jersey, with its 1,800 inhabitants previously to the +revolution. They occur as an independent people even in Herodotus and +Thucydides; but we know nothing further about them, for afterwards they +disappear. + +The AENIANIANS, a somewhat more important people, dwelt above the +Melians and Oetaeans, but more to the west; they are called Αἰνιᾶνες +in Thucydides, Xenophon and others, but Herodotus calls them Ἐνιῆνες. +This is the most ancient instance of the Attic αι being expressed in +another dialect by ε, which is the modern Greek pronunciation of αι. +The termination αν is Pelasgic, and also appears in Italy as _ans_ or +_as_. The Aenianians, like the Melians, do not seem to have been among +the subjects of Thessaly; for Aristotle, in speaking of the internal +commotions among the Thessalian subjects does not mention them. Their +small capital, HYPATA, occurs in the wars of the Romans and Aetolians, +and is also interesting, from the circumstance of its being the scene +of the romance of Apuleius, who considers it as belonging to Thessaly. +The Thessalian women were believed to be skilled in witchcraft; but this +belief referred more particularly to the women of Hypata, and in this +respect they are spoken of by Apuleius. + + +THE DOLOPIANS. + +There remains one people, the Dolopians, who in the earliest history +of Greece are scarcely mentioned at all. They must have occupied a +very extensive country, but it was of an Alpine character, and embraced +the part where mount Pindus turns round towards the Aetolian frontier: +there they must have lived in the valleys in scattered villages. They +are mentioned in the Iliad as by no means foreign to the Greeks, any +more than Dodona in the Catalogue; but still the poet of the Iliad can +scarcely have regarded them as real Hellenes: their name is one of those +by which a branch of the multiform and undefinable race of the Pelasgians +was designated. The passage in which Thucydides says (i. 2), that in +the Iliad Hellenes and barbarians were not distinguished, and which +refers to such nations as the Dolopians, must be understood to mean, +that Homer mentioned as Hellenic, nations which Thucydides in a strict +sense included among the barbarians, for the Homeric geography is based +more upon geographical masses than upon the identity of nationality, the +latter of which is more carefully attended to by Thucydides. Such also +is the meaning of Strabo. Scyros is called Dolopian, and the inhabitants +of Euboea and the neighbouring Cyclades are called Dryopians, who in +point of origin are the same nation as the Dolopians. Here again we need +not have recourse to a migration, which would have had to traverse the +mountains and the territories of so many nations: the Dolopians on the +Achelous and the Dryopians in the Aegean are names of the same nation, in +the same manner in which we find Thessalians in Italy and in Greece. + +The Dolopians are not mentioned in history except in a passage of +Thucydides, where he says that the Achelous flows from mount Pindus +through the country of the Dolopians, and in Xenophon’s Hellenica, where +we find that they were governed by Jason of Pherae. Afterwards they +appear alternately under the supremacy of Macedonia and the Aetolians, +until in the end Philip, in his war against the Aetolians and Antiochus, +again subdued them. In this condition they are found in the war of +Perseus, afterwards they disappear in the general catastrophe of Greece. + +We have now passed through Greece from the southernmost point of +Peloponnesus as far as mount Olympus, the Thessalian mountains and +Tempe.[68] In casting our eyes back upon Greece, it is surprising to +find how few of those nations share in the great renown of the Greeks +in literature and the arts. In the earliest times poetry was the +common property of all rather than of individuals: epic poetry was +chiefly cultivated among the Ionians in Asia Minor; lyric poetry among +the Aeolians, in Lesbos, Boeotia, Sicily, and Magna Graecia (Himera, +Rhegium), and afterwards also among the Dorians; dramatic poetry +was in reality confined to Athens. After Pindar, no part of Greece, +except Athens, produced poets, prose writers, and orators, until the +latest times again wrought a change; for then, after the real life and +flourishing period of the arts had already disappeared, there came +forward Polybius, a most respectable author indeed, though not beyond +the point which we ourselves may attain. The renown in the plastic arts +was shared by Corinth and Sicyon, at an earlier period also by Boeotia +and Aegina, and in a less degree by Argos. Thessaly is a perfectly rude +country, in which genius has created nothing. + +I shall now pass on to the Greek islands, first to Euboea, next to the +islands in the Aegean, and then to Tenedos and Lesbos, whose whole +character is Asiatic, the Cyclades, Crete, and the Sporades. I shall +then discuss the Ionic, Doric, and Aeolic settlements in Asia Minor, the +colonies on the coast of Thrace, on the Euxine, and on the southern coast +of Asia Minor. Of most of the islands very little can be said. + + +EUBOEA. + +Euboea, the largest island in the Aegean, is situated close to the +continent of Greece. This island is often mentioned, especially by later +poets, Callimachus, Apollonius Rhodius (with his scholiast), and others +under antiquated names. Such names, however, are not to be overlooked, +for they are not fictitious or arbitrary designations, but must be dealt +with cautiously, and neither too much nor too little importance ought +to be attributed to them. But we must above all things be on our guard +against drawing too hasty conclusions from them, as is done by a certain +school of philologers, who from names and a few facts draw inferences +which are repulsive to a strict philologer, especially when he considers +that there is so much that is clear and true, if they would but take the +trouble to search for it. Thus, e.g., it is not an unimportant statement, +that Euboea was formerly called Macris, which contains an allusion to +the Pelasgian Macrians on the Propontis, who are mentioned by Apollonius +Rhodius; Corcyra also is said to have been called Macris. Such things +must be known to us, as they were known to the Alexandrian grammarians. +Dionysius Thrax[69] mentions emendation and the interpretation of the +writings of antiquity as the objects of a grammarian and philologer: a +noble object, which you, too, must set before yourselves. Whoever wants +to be a grammarian, sets before himself a high aim, which requires a +knowledge of antiquity, of mythology, legends and traditions; in short, +he must know everything that was known to Apollonius, Eratosthenes, and +the grammarians of the second Alexandrian school. A philologer must +strive to become master of all the legends and traditions to such a +degree as to be able, after a moment’s thought, to give an account of +what he finds in a poet. This knowledge also comprises that which is +found in isolated notices of the scholiasts. + +In the Homeric Catalogue, Euboea belongs to the group of Argive states, +but Abantes also dwell in the island. Respecting the origin of these +Abantes nothing can be ascertained. Afterwards we find the island +divided into five states, three of which are called Ionic and regarded +as Ionic colonies; the fourth is Dryopian, and the fifth, Hestiaean, +both evidently of the same race as the ancient inhabitants of Thessaly +about mount Pindus, that is, Pelasgian. CHALCIS and ERETRIA are said to +have been founded by Ionians from Athens; the former was situated on the +Euripus, the latter, to the south-east of it. In the early history of +Greece, between Olymp. 20 and 40, a period which is so much neglected, +both places were of great importance. It is perfectly clear that, though +we cannot explain how, they possessed a power far superior to that +of Athens at the same time; the great power of the Colophonians also +belongs to that period of which the history is lost to us. We only know +accidentally, that those two states carried on a long, protracted, and +fierce war against each other, in which nearly all the states of Greece +joined either the one or the other of them. This shows but too plainly +how little the history of Greece is known. + +Both cities founded an endless number of colonies, and Chalcis more +particularly on the Thracian coast (the Chalcidian towns in Epithrace), +in Sicily and Italy (Cumae, Himera, Zancle, Catana, Naxos, Rhegium, and +others). It cannot be supposed, that these numerous colonies contained +an efflux of population commensurate with the size of the place, but +only oecistae went out with a fleet under the protection of Chalcis, and +a multitude of people then assembled from all parts of Greece, who were +in want of a home; the Chalcidians however were the leaders, and the +colony, out of gratitude, formed the noblest phyle from the Chalcidian +oecistae, who made the laws. These colonies are another great proof of +the deficiency of our knowledge of that stirring period, and show how +much we should know, if we possessed Ephorus or only the portion of +the work of Diodorus from the sixth to the tenth book. Our information +is principally derived from Strabo and Heraclides Ponticus. The last +occurrence in which Chalcis appears as a great state, is related by +Herodotus, and belongs to the period subsequent to the expulsion of the +Pisistratids. The Chalcidians, in conjunction with the Boeotians, carried +on war against Athens, but were defeated. The numbers mentioned by +Herodotus on that occasion show to what extent precision is lost and how +delusive accounts become, even within the space of a century. But certain +it is, that Chalcis was conquered by Athens, and that cleruchi were sent +to it, of whom, however, subsequently not a trace appears, whence it must +be supposed that they had been expelled. The Eretrians are mentioned as +being in alliance with Athens; hence we may perhaps assume, that this +alliance had existed even in the early times, when Chalcis and Eretria +were at war with each other. During the Persian war, Chalcis was not a +place of much consequence, and afterwards still less so. + +Eretria sent out colonies to Corcyra even before the Corinthians, +also to Ischia near Naples, and had its share in the colonisation +of Naples itself. It maintained its power longer than Chalcis, and +during the insurrection of Aristagoras, it had spirit enough to carry +out the expedition against Sardes; but in the campaigns of Datis it +was completely (ἄρδην) destroyed, and its inhabitants carried away as +slaves into Persia; there the king of the barbarians assigned to them +habitations in the distant interior of Bactria. The new Eretria, built +under the protection of Athens, remained unimportant. + +CARYSTOS, the third town, is renowned for the beautiful striped marble +found in its neighbourhood; it is white, with greenish veins, and occurs +in large strata. The Italians, from its resemblance to the layers of +an onion, call it _cipollino_. Mineralogy, metallurgy, and technology +are studies which no philologer ought to neglect; they are extremely +instructive to him. + +STYRA was quite insignificant; it is called Dryopian, that is, the +ancient inhabitants remained there. It was situated on the southern +extremity of the island. + +HISTIAEA, on the north-eastern point of Euboea, had a Pelasgian +population. In the time of Pericles, it was subdued by the Athenians; +all Euboea had then renounced the connection with Athens, but was +re-conquered; the Histiaeans were overpowered, and an Athenian colony +was established among them. Athenian colonists are otherwise rarely +mentioned, and wherever they occur, the expression is generally not to +be taken in its proper sense, Ionian colonists alone being mostly meant +by it. The new colony was called OREOS, and was founded for the purpose +of keeping Euboea in obedience, and of preventing it from keeping up a +connection with the northern part of the sea. These colonists, as well as +the Attic inhabitants of Lemnos and Scyros, appear to have been expelled +after the Peloponnesian war; whether they returned, is not known, but +Oreos continued to exist as a town. In the maritime war of the Romans and +Macedonians, it was ravaged and completely destroyed, so that it never +recovered again. + +The most interesting physical phenomenon connected with Euboea is the +EURIPUS, the channel between Boeotia and Euboea; the sea there had its +tides every day, but in a very irregular manner. This was a great puzzle +to the natural philosophers among the Greeks, and would be so still, were +it not that that part of Europe is so much withdrawn from the observation +of the inquirer. The south-east of Euboea presents a rocky and dangerous +coast; it may be said in general, that Euboea has no harbours, and the +greater part of its coast is _infamis duris naufragiis_; the Capharean +rocks deserve to be noticed in particular, for, according to tradition, +the Greek fleet, on its return from Troy, was dashed against them, +and Ajax, the son of Oileus, perished there. The northern part of this +harbourless coast is called the κοῖλα of Euboea. + +CHALCIS, about whose ancient greatness I have already spoken, was +situated to the north of the neck of land (στενά), which separates the +northern from the southern portion of the island. It was for the most +part deserted as early as the time of Dicaearchus; its walls enclosed +a space of upwards of five miles in circumference, but the place was +comparatively desolate. The Macedonian rulers soon made themselves +masters of it for the purpose of keeping Greece in subjection. In +the newly-discovered fragments of his work, Polybius speaks of an +insurrection of Chalcis against Macedonia, of which the consequence was, +that a Macedonian garrison was placed in the town. I have not yet been +able to find out in which war this occurrence took place, though it was +probably in the Lamian war, or perhaps at a later time, under Demetrius +Poliorcetes. From the time of this Demetrius, the island was in the +hands of the Macedonians, though not always as a part of the Macedonian +empire. Under Antigonus Gonatas, his brother Craterus, and, after him, +his son Alexander, were princes of Euboea. At a later period it was +again dependent on Macedonia. In the war of Philip, Chalcis suffered +severely during a predatory expedition of the Romans, for it was taken +by surprise, plundered, and reduced to ashes. After this it rose again, +for it was always easy for those Greek towns to be restored, if their +public buildings were not destroyed, because the private dwellings were +of a very humble nature and could easily be rebuilt. The city then became +the head quarters of Antiochus. Such things were not forgotten by the +Romans, for their hatred was implacable; they did indeed restore Chalcis +to independence, because they had not yet gained as firm a footing in +those parts as afterwards; but when Corinth had been taken, Chalcis was +one of the towns which, according to the decision of the _decem legati_, +were destroyed. It was not till several centuries later that it was +partially restored; and its situation is so favourable, that, in the +course of time, when the earlier circumstances had been forgotten, a new +town again rose there under the name of Egribos, from which the modern +name Negroponte has been formed. + +The four or five towns of Euboea, which had formerly been separate +states, had each quite a distinct history of its own; but afterwards +when the Greek nations united in larger masses, they, too, like the +Phocians, are mentioned as a κοινόν, and that, too, as early as the time +of Flamininus; they brought about their own ruin by taking part in the +unfortunate Achaean war. + +Let us now pass on to the northern islands. The nearest to the Thessalian +coast, to the north of Oreos, are SCIATHOS and SCOPELOS, which were no +doubt Dolopian islands; but nothing particular can be said about them. + +SCYROS is interesting on account of the legends about the youth of +Achilles, about Lycomedes and Deïdameia. Theseus, too, is said to have +been buried there, and his remains were brought thence to Athens by +Cimon. The island remained in the possession of the Pelasgian Dolopians, +its ancient inhabitants, until the time when Cimon established an +Athenian cleruchia there, that is, a number of Athenian citizens obtained +each a certain amount of land, as it were by a lottery. They accordingly +became landed proprietors there, but might dwell in Scyros or remain +at Athens, if they pleased; in the former case, they did not form an +independent state, but only a community under the laws of Athens. Such +was the case at Aegina, Naxos, Samos, Melos, Lesbos, and elsewhere. +This was the system adopted during the period of the supremacy and +tyrannical sway of Athens, and was one of the means of enriching the +multitude. Sycros, Lemnos and Imbros in particular became in this manner +so completely Athenian, that those who dwelt there, though they had an +independent administration, yet did not form a state, but were members +of the Attic phylae, and belonged to the number of Athenian citizens. +In the Peloponnesian war, the Lacedaemonians expelled the Athenian +cleruchi from Scyros and other places, but after the battle of Naxos +they were restored. After the peace with Philip, these islands, and +especially Scyros, remained under the protection of Athens, at least they +were restored to it; even when Rome decided the fate of Greece, Scyros +preserved its connection with Athens, and continued to do so until the +time of Augustus, and probably even much longer. + +The small island of PEPARETHOS, not far from Scyros, was celebrated for +its wine. + +HALONNESOS owes all its importance to the fact, that it was the occasion +of the beautiful speech of Demosthenes. It had been taken by the tyrant +of Pherae, and the dispute was as to the terms on which it was to be +restored to Athens. Otherwise both these small islands shared the fate of +Scyros. + +LEMNOS and IMBROS have both the same political history as Scyros. Lemnos, +however, is much more interesting to us, on account of its volcanic +nature, whence it was sacred to Hephaestus. It is essentially a volcanic +island, and the ancients speak of a volcanic mountain having existed +there down to the commencement of the historical period, which, however, +has now been extinct for upwards of 2000 years. Volcanic productions, +as terra sigillata and meerschaum, and several volcanic springs, are of +frequent occurrence there. The beautiful fragments of the Philoctetes of +Attius, which Hermann has collected and emended, refer to that island. It +contained two towns, _Hephaestia_ and _Myrina_. According to tradition, +it was inhabited by Pelasgians, who are also called Tyrrhenians; they +are said to have first migrated to Athens, and thence to Lemnos. There +is probably no more foundation for the belief that Tyrrhenians migrated +to Lemnos, than that they went to the Asiatic coast of Aeolia. Lemnos +was taken by the Athenians at the time when they founded their colony +in Chersonesus; it was taken from them by Antipater, but after being +restored to them, they lost it again. Respecting Imbros, nothing +particular need be said. + +SAMOTHRACE is celebrated in the ancient legends for the worship and +the mysteries of the Cabiri, whence it has been much discussed by the +moderns: the unfortunate passion to solve all difficulties which cannot +be solved, has also extended to Samothrace. Whether and when it received +a Greek colony, is not stated by any Greek author. The remark, that +it was a Samian colony, seems to have been made merely on account of +its name; but it appears to have been a hellenised Pelasgo-Tyrrhenian +settlement. The Samothracians had traditions going as far back as the +time when the Hellespont and the Bosporus had not yet burst their +chains, and when the Aegean was not yet a sea, which it became when the +Pontus broke through its barriers. But these are mere speculations. The +island was important as a connecting link among ancient nations, and I +am convinced that it was the focus from which a great number of ancient +traditions proceeded. It seems to have been a resort of pilgrims, like +Mecca, or at least a place where the Pelasgians from the most different +parts of the world met, and which they regarded as the real centre of +their religion. It would be very interesting to know more particulars +about the history of the island, but this does not justify the attempts +to build castles in the air out of insufficient data. + +THASOS, the northernmost of these islands, had a Parian colony, and, +as Paros was inhabited by Ionians, it was an Ionian colony. Before the +Greeks took possession of it, it was like Cythera, one of the many +settlements of the Phoenicians, whence in Cythera the worship of Mylitta, +and in Thasos that of Melkarth, continued to exist. We must conceive, +that in the very earliest times the Phoenicians were established on the +coasts of Greece in settlements as numerous as in the historical ages +were those on the African and Spanish coasts and in Cythera. Thasos has +quarries of beautiful marble, but is not suited to the growth of corn, +and is not a fertile island, whence it is ill spoken of by Archilochus. +But Thasian wine was much esteemed. The island had also silver mines, +which had been worked even by the Phoenicians, and it possessed still +richer ones on the opposite coast of Thrace. + +For a time Thasos was powerful and wealthy in consequence of its mines +and its commerce; and by this wealth the Thasians established their +influence among the sea-faring nations. But when they were forced to +submit to the Athenian supremacy, they found it difficult to live in that +state of dependence, and twenty years after the Persian, and thirty years +before the Peloponnesian war, they revolted, but were subdued by the +Athenians. From that time Thasos began to decay. + +All these maritime places, though their lands were barren, had a numerous +population as long as their navigation was flourishing; but as soon +as the current of commerce turned in other directions, the population +decreased with extraordinary rapidity. Such was the case at Chalcis and +Aegina, and also in Thasos. + + +THE CYCLADES. + +It is very convenient in treating of such a multitude of islands to +consider them in certain groups, which is a great assistance to the +memory. It is no trifling matter to impress upon one’s mind geography in +such a manner as to know it completely, and it was a happy idea to divide +the southern islands of the Aegean into Cyclades and Sporades. + +The Cyclades are twelve in number, and in the early times no doubt formed +one confederacy, of which, however, we know no particulars. But traces +of such a union occur in the Homeric hymn on Apollo. Delos was the +centre. These islands, according to Thucydides, were partly inhabited +by Phoenicians, but for the most part by Carians. He proves this in the +case of Delos in an excellent manner by the fact, that the arms found +in the newly opened tombs were Carian. However, these islands were not +altogether Carian; for we find that in later times the inhabitants of +Cythnos were Dryopians. This is stated by Herodotus, and the Dryopians, +as we have seen, were Pelasgians. In this case, we cannot think at all of +a migration; the Dryopians were a remnant of the Pelasgians.[70] + +The names of the twelve islands, going round the circle in a +north-western direction are:—CEOS, CYTHNOS, SERIPHOS, SIPHNOS, PAROS, +NAXOS, DELOS, RHENEA, MYCONOS, SYROS, TENOS, and ANDROS. Delos was the +smallest, but at the same time the most illustrious among them. The +notion of the ancients was, that it formed the centre, round which +the others were grouped in a circle, and that hence they were called +Cyclades. But this is erroneous, for Delos rather forms the circle +together with the others. In the earliest times, it was the seat of a +common panegyris for the twelve islands and of ancient agones, as we see +from the hymn on Apollo, of which the first part at least is so ancient +that its composition may be regarded as contemporaneous with that of the +Iliad and Odyssey. The dissolution of that union is one of the mysteries +of ancient Greek history. + +The ancient names of Delos are ASTERIA and OGYGIA. The statement that it +was at one time a floating island, is of course fabulous, but it is not +improbable that it may have been raised above the sea by volcanic agency. + +Wherever we meet with notices of the Cyclades in the historical times, +they are at first all independent of one another; with the exception +of Cythnos, all received Ionian colonists from Athens, whence we there +find the relation of masters and serfs, as for example at Naxos, where +Lygdamis was tyrant. Wherever we have a trace of history, we catch a +glimpse, as it were in the twilight, of an oligarchical relation. After +the Persian wars, the Cyclades came under the supremacy of Athens, for +each by itself was too weak: even Miltiades had tried to subdue Paros +and Naxos, and afterwards the plan succeeded. Naxos, which revolted, +received a cleruchia. Delos was changed by the Athenians into a national +sanctuary; the ancient inhabitants were expelled, and a colony was sent +thither. In obedience to the command of an oracle, the Athenians dug up +all the dead bodies in the island, and conveyed them to Rhenea; but even +for many years previously it had not been allowed to bury any one there. +Although the islands were fertile, yet they were powerless, and after +the battle of Naxos, again acknowledged the supremacy of Athens. In the +Macedonian period, Delos alone seems to have remained in the hands of the +Athenians, and after the war of Perseus, it was given back to them by +the Romans; whether the Romans had a right to do so, I know not. During +the Roman period, Delos, which had formerly been venerable for religious +reasons, acquired a different kind of importance: it became the place of +the greatest fair in those parts, being the entrepot between Alexandria +and the towns on the Euxine; it was resorted to by merchants from the +most distant countries, and even by the Romans so far as they carried +on their commerce from Puteoli. To Athens it was of great importance +on account of its harbour dues. It was also a central point for the +slave-trade, and on one occasion 10,000 slaves are said to have been sold +there in one day. From this fact some modern authors have made out, that +this was the number of slaves sold there every day all the year round. +At a later time Delos lost this importance; the piracy of the Cilicians +and Cretans seems to have inflicted on Delos a deadly blow, and in the +time of Augustus and Strabo it had lost its commercial importance, trade +having taken a different direction. + +PAROS is celebrated for its white marble, the most beautiful for purposes +of sculpture: the Carrara marble which enjoys a great reputation, is of +a much inferior kind, containing more lime, while the Parian is more +like crystal and precious stone, nor has it the disagreeable suggary +whiteness of the Carrara marble, which becomes a little yellowish only by +exposure to the air. Opposite to Paros is the small island of Antiparos, +remarkable for its grotto with its stalactites, the most celebrated in +the world, though the ancients do not mention it. In early times, the +town of Paros was one of the most enterprising, and, in a commercial +point of view, one of the most important places; besides the island +itself, the Parians had colonies extending far into the interior of the +Adriatic, and the town of Paros there is said to have been of Parian +origin; they also took part in the establishment of a colony on the +Liris. Archilochus, one of the greatest poets of Greece, was a native +of Paros. Some Greeks whose judgment is of great weight, placed him by +the side of Homer: and legendary stories say, that the gods were so +favourably disposed towards him as to order Corax, who had murdered him, +to quit their sanctuary and not to return to it, until he had propitiated +the shade of the poet. Paros also possesses an excellent harbour, suited +even to great ships of war; but it is little noticed in ancient history. +It may be said in general that those islands were rich in harbours. + +SIPHNOS, remarkable in a mineralogical point of view, is not far distant +from Paros; previous to the Persian period, it had silver mines, through +which it became wealthy; but when they were exhausted, it sank into the +greatest wretchedness, for it is a barren island. + +The neighbouring SERĪPHOS (not Serĭphos) is still more barren, being a +mere rock; it acts a prominent part in the mythus about Perseus. The +Romans in after-times banished their criminals to Seriphos and Cythnos. + +CEOS, not far from Attica, was beautiful and populous; it contained +four towns, of which I will mention _Carthaea_ and _Iulis_. The latter +was the birth-place of Bacchylides, and probably also of his uncle, +the elder Simonides. The site of Carthaea has been ascertained only in +modern times by Bröndstedt and Haller of Nürnberg, who caused excavations +to be made there and found ruins and inscriptions. I only trust that +these inscriptions may not prove to be forgeries; for a friend at Athens +sent me them long before they were known in Europe, having probably +been copied by some Greek; but those people are too unscrupulous about +truth, and you cannot trust them. These inscriptions, however, are very +important; a few only belong to the early period during which Athens was +free; most of them were made in the Macedonian and Aetolian times. I have +supplemented the deficiencies, and Bröndstedt has published them with my +emendations and additions, without even intimating that they are only +probable conjectures, and he has altered the mistakes in writing without +informing his readers as to whether they occur on the stones or not. This +is a violation of historical fidelity. The ancient traditions about Ceos +contain strange stories. The moral purity and the severity of the Ceans +are much praised, and in the descriptions of manners in the comedies of +Menander, they are spoken of in the highest terms. The other statement, +that they killed their old men, in order to save them from the miseries +of decrepitude, is, I hope, founded on some confusion, or is limited to +one particular instance. The land is fertile. + +ANDROS and TENOS are large and fertile, but have no history. + +SYROS is remarkable as the birth-place of the philosopher Pherecydes, the +instructor of Pythagoras. + +On the one side of Delos was the island of RHENEA, and on the other that +of MYCONOS; the former is insignificant, but Myconos is somewhat larger. + +NAXOS is the most splendid of all the Cyclades, and was justly regarded +as the favourite isle of Dionysus. Its form is like that of most volcanic +islands in the south sea, rising from the waters like a cone: it is a +mountain with broad sloping sides, and fertile to its very top; it does +not indeed produce corn all the way up, but it is clad with vines and +olive groves. The island is a real paradise, and even at this day one of +the most flourishing in the Archipelago. Its summit was crowned with a +temple of Zeus, though the island itself was sacred to Dionysus. In the +early times it was powerful, especially during the age of Pisistratus; +at the period of transition, it fell into the hands of Lygdamis, who +protected the demos against the aristocracy; he became a usurper, but +was a mild ruler, and beneficial to his subjects. During the Persian +period, Naxos was still important and rich, but soon after came under +the supremacy of Athens. It then revolted, but was subdued and received +cleruchi, who however were expelled after the Peloponnesian war. During +the period which then followed, nothing is known about Naxos. When the +power of the Macedonians in Egypt was at its height, that is, in the +reigns of Philadelphus and Euergetes, all the Cyclades were governed +by the kings of Alexandria. After the fourth king, when the empire +was decaying, those islands had no ruler and no protection, for which +reason they endeavoured to enter into the relation of sympolity with the +Aetolians as early as the time of Euergetes, and those who did not form +this relation were infested by Aetolian and Illyrian pirates. + +These are the Cyclades as we find them enumerated by Scylax, a highly +respectable authority. But wherever a whole consists of a definite number +of parts, the same number not unfrequently embraces different parts at +different times, new parts being introduced in place of earlier ones; if +you remember this, it will help you out of many an historical labyrinth. +Such also was the case with the twelve Cyclades; they were not the same +at all times, but the southern islands, which are not included by the +ancients, were regarded as belonging to them at a time which cannot now +be defined, so that some must have been omitted, which, accordingly, had +either abandoned the connection or were forgotten on account of their +insignificance. The same is the case with the twelve Achaean towns, and +the seven hills of Rome, two of which are sometimes regarded as one, so +that a new one is added. In this manner we have four more small islands, +which are classed among the Cyclades, for which we must suppose that +others, such as Seriphos and Rhenea, were omitted from the list. Delos, +however, was always regarded as the centre, whence the phrase was, “Delos +and the Cyclades.” The number twelve might thus be kept up in a variety +of ways. The four islands before alluded to are _Melos_ and _Thera_, +which were Doric, and _Ios_ and _Amorgos_, which were Ionic; Scylax +includes them all among the Sporades. + +MELOS was a Lacedaemonian colony, but during the Peloponnesian war it +was conquered by the Athenians at the instigation of Alcibiades. The +discussion of this subject in Thucydides is an ever-memorable masterpiece +of the development of conflicting opinions; the transaction itself is +a stain upon Athenian history; fortunately the number of such stains +is but small. The inhabitants of Melos were sold as slaves; after the +Peloponnesian war the island was indeed restored, but it remained +insignificant. It is a beautiful volcanic island with hot sulphureous +springs and the like, and contains much fertile land. Its modern name +is Milo. The ruins of the theatre excite our astonishment, especially +considering that it was a Doric place; they are evidence of a numerous +and wealthy population. The excellent torso of Aphrodite, which is now in +Paris, was found in Melos. + +THERA, according to tradition, was colonised in the very earliest times +by the guardian of the kings Eurysthenes and Procles, belonging to the +family of the Labdacidae. This account, however, is purely mythical; it +reads very pleasantly in Herodotus, but has not the least historical +foundation. This much only we see from the whole series of Dorian +colonies, that they belong to a period, when most of the Dorians, with +the exception of Corinth and Aegina, had no maritime power, while Sparta +must still have possessed a navy, since without it the colonies could not +have subsisted. The most important point in the history of Thera is, that +it became the metropolis of Cyrene, which reflected its lustre upon it. +Thera had formerly been a Phoenician colony, and the name of Membliaros, +whose family resided there, is entirely Phoenician. The island is +particularly remarkable in a physical point of view; historically it +is of no importance. There is not a spot on the earth that is so much +subject to earthquakes as Thera; hence new islands have been formed in +its vicinity at different periods. The ancients mention an island of the +name of Hiera, which was raised up by volcanic agency, and in this manner +three new islands have appeared there, the last of which rose up in the +year 1707. This, accordingly, is one of the points where the fire burning +in the bowels of the earth shows its direct agency. The name of Anaphe, a +small island in the vicinity, also alludes to this. + +IOS is known from the very ancient tradition, that Homer was buried +there. It was an Ionian colony,like AMORGOS, which was celebrated for its +textures, for the _vestes Amorginae_ were prized as highly as the _Coae_; +it is very probable that cotton may have been cultivated there, but it is +possible also that it was imported from Egypt and Syria. + + +CRETE. + +The antiquities of Crete are as much a mystery to us as those of ancient +Boeotia and several other countries. Minos is to us a mere name, but +we may believe the statement of Thucydides, that the recollection of +Crete having once ruled over the Cyclades was connected with the +period represented by Minos. But what connection there existed between +Minos and the later Cretans, is a question about which we know nothing +at all. He can scarcely have been a Greek, and the subsequent Greek +population of Crete has no more to do with him than the Tyrrhenians +have with the Etruscans. I am convinced that he was connected only +with the Eteocretans, as is clearly stated by Herodotus. These earlier +Cretans probably continued to live in the island as subjects of the +later inhabitants, and only two of their towns, Praesos and Polichna, +maintained their independence. All the other towns of Crete are Dorian, +Argive, or in general Peloponnesian colonies. What are called the laws of +Minos, unquestionably belong to the Greek immigrants, and if the question +be raised, as to whether the Spartans obtained their laws from Crete, I +do not hesitate for a moment to assert, that the laws of both nations are +originally Doric, and that the Dorian immigrants introduced them among +the Cretans; though the later inhabitants boasted of having preserved the +ancient laws of the conquered original inhabitants. I believe no more in +the historical personality of Minos than I do in that of Lycurgus. We +must not, however, imagine, that the subsequent Cretans were an entirely +new population, for they were in fact only the ruling party. If we +compare the history of different nations we find several instances of +conquerors adopting the name of the conquered people: thus the Spanish +tyrants of Mexico called themselves children of Montezuma; in Peru this +is still more common, though nearly all the Peruvians are hybrids. In +like manner the Dorian conquerors did not go to Crete with their wives +and children, but the later population was descended on the mother’s side +from the ancient Cretans. Those whom we call Ionians, were descended in +the same manner from the Carians. + +I cannot say much that is satisfactory about Crete; in my opinion, this +is another of those points in regard to which a sober inquirer must be +content with very few results. I feel it my duty to caution you against +all those Ogygian inquiries in ancient Greek history; they are very +often no inquiries at all, but mere gossip about notions taken up at +random and vaguely conceived—things which rouse the indignation of a +genuine philologer. I cannot accordingly, in the case of Crete, go back +to the earliest times, simply because we have no information. Cnosos +and Cydon, according to some obscure account, were Argive colonies; of +Lyctos it is certain that it was a Dorian colony, though neither time nor +circumstances are mentioned; respecting most of the towns, no information +at all has come down to us. The statement in the Odyssey,[71] where Crete +is spoken of accidentally, is very singular; it does not afford us much +assistance, but only leads us to the conclusion, that all the statements +in the Odyssey are much more recent than those in the Iliad, and that the +conclusion of the Odyssey is even of much later origin than the rest: the +part I allude to must have been composed at a time which we cannot place +farther back than the commencement of the Olympiads. Odysseus there says, +that he comes from Crete, which was inhabited by the Dorians, Pelasgians, +Cydonians, and Eteocretans. The Eteocretans are here mentioned as the +most ancient inhabitants; next come the Cydonians, without any remark +being made as to their nationality; the Pelasgians are otherwise not +mentioned at all in those parts; and the Dorians, of course, are the +later immigrants from Peloponnesus. Another and more probable statement, +in Herodotus, is, that the Cretans were either Carians or Lycians, or +Carians mixed with Lycians. These nations, whom we regard as barbarous, +are said to have emigrated from Crete, which implies nothing beyond the +fact that they belonged to the same race. The ancient inhabitants, as I +have already said, afterwards appear partly in subject places, and partly +as serfs in the larger towns. + +At no period of our history did Crete form one connected state; it +consisted of a number of independent towns which, tradition says, +amounted to one hundred; this is at least a proof of a very dense +population. + +The Eteocratans, as a nation, disappear in history, without there being +any definite mention of the immigration of their later rulers, and +stories were invented in ancient times to account for this disappearance. +According to one tradition, all the old Cretans, with the exception of +two tribes, emigrated, in order to avenge the death of Minos, and all +perished; while, according to another, they were all carried off by a +plague, which occurred after the Trojan war. But all this is foolish. + +Crete is a large island, presenting a grave, and not an Ionian aspect, +but in many parts it is rich and fertile. The great woody mountain +Ida (Ἴδη is the Ionian name of a woody mountain) extends through the +whole length of the island. Mythology describes this mountain as the +birth-place of Zeus, and the other statement that he was born on mount +Ida near Troy arose only from a confusion. The Cretan Ida is covered with +most magnificent forests, and furnishes not only timber for shipbuilding, +but is also rich in medicinal herbs. The coast contains a number of the +most fertile plains. All the promontories of Crete are branches issuing +from mount Ida. + +In the historical times, the number of Cretan towns, if we gather the +names from the different writers, amounts to thirty. How many of them +were sovereign and how many subject, is a question which can be answered +only approximately. + +The greatest towns were CNOSOS (better than Cnossos) and GORTYN, or in +Latin poets Gortyna, like Cortona and Ancona. The Latin language does +not recognise the termination _on_, whence in names of male persons the +Greek ων is shortened into a single _o_; hence the Romans in the earlier +times did not say _Solon_, but _Solo_, and the editors of Cicero should +always write the name in this manner. In later times this practice was +forgotten; and Pliny has Hieron and Solon; but names of towns are +generally lengthened by the addition of _a_. Both Cnosos and Gortyn +were very ancient Cretan towns, but were taken possession of by later +settlers. The magnitude of the ruins of Gortyn, situated on a beautiful +table land, points to a brilliant period, which must have been a very +early one. Near them is the labyrinth, the construction of which is +ascribed to Minos; it is however not fabulous, but a mighty palace-like +building of the heroic age. CYDONIA reminds us of the people of the same +name in the Odyssey. LYCTOS is expressly mentioned as a Spartan colony. + +I point out these places to you because they are of some historical +importance; I might add a great many others, but they are only empty +names. + +During the Peloponnesian war, when all Greece was divided between Athens +and Sparta, the Cretans sided with neither. There are a tolerable number +of Cretan monuments with inscriptions, belonging to the period of the +power of the Aetolians; they are for the most part treaties by which they +were admitted by the Aetolians into the relation of sympolity. + +The Cretan towns are spoken of, especially by Aristotle, as if all of +them had had one common constitution (πολιτεία Κρητῶν). Every Cretan +town, even the subject places, seems according to the constitution to +have been equal to the largest; all had a close aristocracy and ruling +houses (a patriciate), and this proves that the country had at one time +been conquered. Their highest magistrates, eligible only from among the +_gentes_, were called κόσμοι; they were five in number, and possessed +despotic power; they seem to have been elected annually. Insurrection +was lawful in Crete, as in Poland, for when the oppression became too +severe, the nobles refused obedience to the magistrates, and elected +new ones. The greatest anarchy was thus legalised, and this was the +consequence of a constitution, which had in itself no organic protection: +a proof of the barbarous character of the people. The Cretans were the +worst of all the Greek nations; they were an object of detestation and +indignation. You remember the expression of St. Paul, in the Epistle +to Titus; their character gave rise to the verb κρητίζειν. Polybius +confirms this judgment with an undisguised hatred of the Cretans, +a hatred which is even stronger than that of the Aetolians. In his +time they were completely devoid of all sense of honour; treason and +faithlessness towards their superiors being no disgrace among them. Thus +they treacherously delivered up the unfortunate Achaeus who had revolted +against Antiochus; they shewed, in fact, all the degeneracy which we now +find among the unhappy Greeks in their enslavement. The Cretans, however, +had no foreign tyranny as a palliation, for no part of Greece remained +so free from foreign oppression, and they never were under the supremacy +of Macedonia, except in the reign of the last Philip, who was chosen +by them as arbitrator; he had, however, no garrison in the island, but +exercised only his personal influence. Crete then remained independent, +and the Romans were altogether indifferent about it. But the pirates of +the Asiatic coasts established themselves among them, and the Cretans +even took part in the trade, whence in A.U.C., 685 they were conquered by +the Romans. In the earlier times they sold their services as mercenaries, +serving as light-armed troops and forming a peculiar kind of infantry. +At their conquest by the Romans, they were chastised, and many of their +towns were destroyed. After this they are no longer mentioned in Roman +history, so that we cannot even say to what province they belonged. It is +only occasionally, when disturbances broke out, that a praetor was sent +to them. + +CARPATHOS is situated in the north-east of Crete, towards Rhodes; in the +same direction we have ASTYPALAEA and NISYROS. All three were Dorian +settlements; Carpathos in the end came under the supremacy of Rhodes. + + +RHODES. + +Rhodes was a state of which the Greeks, in the last period of their +history had reason to be proud; its peculiarity was its freedom from all +that for which otherwise the Greeks are justly censured. Its character +is honesty, conscientiousness, and thoughtful prudence, like that of the +Dutch republics, the Swiss cantons, and the free cities of the German +empire in their best times; nor was literary and intellectual culture +foreign to the Rhodians. Their greatest prosperity belongs to the time +when the sun of Greek intellect had already set; but they still had, +comparatively speaking, a happy period. + +Rhodes was an ancient Dorian settlement, but it is foolish to suppose +that it existed even before the time of the Trojan war, as is stated in +the Homeric Catalogue in the account about Tlepolemus, for at that time +the Dorians did not inhabit any country from which they could have sent +a colony to Rhodes. The reason of the interpolation is apparent.[72] +The true tradition probably is that the Dorians went thither after the +conquest of Peloponnesus; but this too is very obscure, for the period +subsequent to the Doric migration is not clearer to us than that which +preceded it. + +Rhodes had three towns which formed the three tribes in the island; this +is expressed in a passage of the Catalogue: τριχθὰ δὲ ᾤκηθεν καταφυλαδόν; +these towns were LINDOS, IALYSOS, and CAMIROS. The soil of the island +is excellent, and the country being equally adapted for agriculture +and navigation, we find both from early times. Hence its power had a +much more secure basis than, e.g., that of the Aeginetans, who had no +agriculture at all, for agriculture is the only foundation of permanent +happiness. Until the time of the Peloponnesian war those three towns +remained in the same condition; they formed together one state, which, +however, was without a common centre. During the war, the Rhodians +distinguished themselves by their prudence, remaining faithful to Athens, +and not allowing themselves, like the Naxians and others, to be drawn +into unfortunate insurrections; but when Athens abused her power and the +Lacedaemonians were gaining the upper hand, the Rhodians, accommodating +themselves to the change of circumstances, joined the latter, and that +the more readily because they were Dorians. Henceforth a consciousness +was awakened in them, that they might raise themselves to a higher +position, and they determined to remove from their small towns into one +great city. They accordingly founded the city of RHODES on the splendid +harbour which the first settlers had overlooked. This place now became +the centre of the country, and the other towns καθάπερ δῆμοι, but were +not destroyed, and even at this day we hear of villages called Lindo +and Camiro. The earliest inhabitants were undoubtedly Carians, who, on +receiving a Dorian aristocracy, became at first serfs, but afterwards +rose to the rank of free communities; the productive commerce rendered +it impossible for the aristocracy to maintain itself for any great +length of time. There then followed a period of internal discord, of +which only obscure accounts have come down to us. After the war, which +was occasioned by the expedition of Cyrus the younger, and in which they +joined the Lacedaemonians, they fell, in consequence of their internal +divisions, into the hands of the Carian dynasty of Mausolus. The younger +Artemisia, the wife of Mausolus, who resided at Halicarnassus, was +enabled, by the factions in the island, to take possession of it. One of +the first youthful productions of Demosthenes refers to this event. In +this manner, Rhodes was for a time connected, through Halicarnassus, with +the Persian empire; according to the peace of Antalcidas, this ought not +to have been, but that peace was observed only where it was advantageous +to the Persians. Before Rhodes came under the rule of Artemisia, it +had, in conjunction with Chios and Byzantium, taken part in the Social +war against Athens, from which we see that the Rhodians were anxious +to throw off the dominion of the Athenians and to establish a maritime +power of their own. There now rose among them the family of Mentor and +Memnon, which acquired unprecedented influence at the court of Persia; +they governed Rhodes nominally as satraps, but in point of fact, as +sovereigns, as in the fifteenth century the Medici governed Florence. +But they fell with the Persian empire. Both were Greeks, but barbarised +in their sentiments and possessing all the passions of barbarians; they +had, however, the advantage of Greek intelligence and culture. Memnon, +especially, was a distinguished man, and his death alone rendered the +success of Alexander’s undertaking possible, and but for this event, it +would appear in history as foolhardiness: that which now appears as great +and is considered as great, would be looked upon as foolish; Memnon would +have cut off Alexander’s return from Persia, and his fate would have been +like that of Charles XII. in the Ukraine; nay Memnon would have attacked +him in Macedonia and overthrown his power in Greece. I will not decide +as to whether this would have been better for the Greeks. After Memnon’s +death, Rhodes also submitted to the Macedonians, and it would seem that +a republican party there was anxious to bring about this connection with +Macedonia. Rhodes now openly showed itself to be what it really was, +viz., the connecting link between Europe and Asia, for Tyre was destroyed +and Alexandria had not yet risen to greatness. The commerce between +the two continents was thus established at Rhodes, which became great +soon after Alexander’s death, twenty-eight years after that of Memnon +(Olymp. 119). Its siege by Demetrius Poliorcetes is the grandest thing in +ancient history: it is as bold as it is distressing and elevating. The +inhabitants of a single little island, or rather a small city, had the +courage not to allow themselves to be intimidated by the ruler of Asia +Minor and Syria, who poured his fleets and his armies upon them, and what +is still more, employed against them all the strength of his talent; +they resisted him so boldly and so gloriously, that he was obliged to +grant them an honourable peace. Rhodes, however, suffered severely on +that occasion, and the whole island was fearfully ravaged; but it soon +recovered; and, owing to the great confidence which it inspired, and to +the obligation which the Egyptian king Ptolemy incurred towards it, the +island rose so much in the esteem and respect of all, that, comparatively +speaking, it stood as high as Athens did after the Persian wars. From +this time, Rhodes, notwithstanding the general confusion, became powerful +and respected, not through good fortune, but through the industry and +exertions of its inhabitants. It was they who destroyed the Etruscan +pirates, and their squadrons sailed as far as the Aegean, securing the +freedom of navigation for the good of all Greece. As commerce increased +more and more at Alexandria, and as Egypt was not a country fit for +shipbuilding, the Rhodians became the freighters for the greater part +of the ancient world. Such nations are universal benefactors, and all +are concerned in the preservation of their navigation. This accounts +for the fact, that at the time when Rhodes suffered from inundations +and earthquakes, nations and princes vied with one another in helping +and benefitting them. For the good luck which favoured Rhodes did not +remain unmixed, for it had to sustain many serious calamities. The city +was built in the form of a theatre, but in such a manner that towards +the harbour it was protected by a lofty and strong wall. Once during the +Macedonian period, when a heavy fall of rain had inundated nearly the +whole city, the swollen streams poured down upon it, without finding +an outlet into the sea, until in the end they fortunately threw down +the mighty wall, and thus ran off. This is one of the most fearful +events in Greek history, and was the consequence of an earthquake. The +earthquakes by which Rhodes has been visited have been terrible. About +the end of Olymp. 138, or at the beginning of Olymp. 139, in the reign +of Euergetes, it was almost wholly destroyed by an earthquake, during +which the Colossus was overthrown, which was never set up again. In the +time of Antoninus Pius, the city was visited by the earthquake, which +reduced nearly all the towns on the Asiatic coast to heaps of ruins, and +in which Rhodes lost its last splendour, its whole fleet, its arsenals, +its trophies and monuments: on that occasion it was thoroughly destroyed. +It was then, of course, not restored to what it had been; its navigation +henceforth was insignificant, and agriculture formed the principal +occupation of its inhabitants. + +Rhodes preserved not only its political independence, but also its great +importance throughout the Macedonian period. At the time when all the +other Greek states were quite servile, and got on only by manoeuvring, +the Rhodians stood forth as a princely people, whose friendship was +courted by kings, and whose enmity was dreaded. While their state was in +this illustrious position, they formed connections with the Romans; they +seem to have entered into friendly relations with them as early as the +fifth century, not long after Alexander’s death, probably on the occasion +of their proceedings against the Etruscan pirates, because both nations +aimed at the same objects, but the Rhodians—and this is a proof of their +great prudence—never concluded a formal treaty with the Romans; their +fleet co-operated with that of Rome, but they undertook no obligations. +Their assistance in the war against Antiochus was liberally rewarded +by the Romans who gave them Caria and Lycia. But the Romans afterwards +harboured ill-feelings towards them, because in their relations with Rome +they shewed a spirit of independence and no servility; hence in the war +against Perseus the Romans tried to interpret every step taken by them +as hostile towards themselves. The Rhodians, it is true, did not wish +for the downfall of Perseus, they no doubt wanted to have an equipoise +in those parts against the Romans, and some men of influence may have +secretly espoused the cause of Perseus; the Romans, moreover, had even +before that time taken back a part of the presents they had made to +them; they had hurt their feelings and so much offended them, that the +Rhodians believed the Romans to be hostile towards them; but they never +really did anything that could be laid to their charge. After the fall of +Perseus, many Romans were impatient to destroy Rhodes; but Cato, though +otherwise not favourably disposed towards the Greeks, was actuated by +such respect for their conduct, that he exerted his whole influence with +the senate to save them. They retained their independence, but became +allies of Rome and lost their subjects; still, however, they shewed +prudence, they were free, and had no Roman commander over them. Eighty +years later, the Mithridatic war afforded the Romans an opportunity of +congratulating themselves for having followed the advice of Cato; for +the Rhodians held out faithfully and heroically against Mithridates, +and did not allow themselves to be prevailed upon by the Thessalians to +enter into an alliance with the king. For this the Romans again rewarded +them with territories. After the murder of Caesar, Cassius who was +unworthy to be the associate of Brutus, took possession of the town of +Rhodes, and treated it very harshly and cruelly. The Rhodians, however, +continued to enjoy their freedom and the esteem of the nations until the +time of Antoninus Pius. At this period we find, from a speech of Aelius +Aristides, that they possessed autonomy, and criminal jurisdiction, +and the neighbouring islands as well as the Caunians on the continent +recognised as subjects their supremacy. Aristides, in order to cheer them +after the terrible earthquake, reminds them of the beautiful story of a +Rhodian sailor whose ship perished in a storm, but who clung to the helm +to the last, and sunk with the words: “I call upon thee, Poseidon, as my +witness, that the ship went down standing upright.” + +The arts and literature also were cherished at Rhodes, though in the +earlier times there are not many Rhodian names that can be called +great. Cleobulus of Lindos is mentioned as one of the seven sages. But +Apollonius is a poet who certainly ought not to be despised; we read +his work with pleasure and can learn much from it, though he cannot +be compared with Callimachus who lived before him. The wealth of the +Rhodians and their taste for the beautiful and magnificent gave great +encouragement to the arts. When oratory had died away at Athens, and all +vital energy had withdrawn from that city, it took refuge in Rhodes; it +had indeed already assumed the character of old age, but still at a time +when in Greece proper no good speech was heard, when in the towns of +Mysia and Caria literature had degenerated into mere bombast, a _sanum +loquendi genus_ was preserved in Rhodes, which is no small praise, though +the _sanum_ was sometimes a _siccum_. + +The constitution of Rhodes is difficult to make out. The part of Cicero’s +work, “De Re Publica,” where he spoke of it, is wanting, so that we can +form only conjectures; but it would lead me too far to explain them here. +Certain it is, that Rhodes, by the peculiarity of its institutions, was +so far democratic, that all its citizens took an active part in the +administration, and a large number of them in the council. The manner in +which this was done is the obscure point. The magistrates, as Polybius +says, had very great powers, both the _strategi_ and the _nauarchi_. +There existed an _arcanum imperii_, of which the Athenian constitution +knows nothing, and to which the Roman state alone presents something +analogous: in certain circumstances the nauarchus had the power to +conclude treaties, which, however, it would seem were valid only during +his term of office, the state not being bound by them for the future. +This arose from the fact of the Rhodian fleet being generally very far +away from home. Owing to this peculiarity of the constitution, things +required by the force of circumstances might be done even contrary to the +letter of the law. The republic contrived to make excellent use of this +expedient, whenever it wished to enter into a relation without making it +permanent. The nauarchus was a kind of plenipotentiary representative of +Rhodes with foreign nations. + +The language of the Rhodians was Doric. Cicero went to Rhodes to +cultivate his intellect, and under the first Roman emperors the young +Roman nobles very frequently resorted to Rhodes as they had formerly done +to Athens. + +According to the Homeric Catalogue the Rhodians dwelt τριχθὰ καταφυλαδόν. +When at a later time the phylae appear in the city, they occupy different +districts. The Dorians, to whom the division into three was natural, were +also in possession of the opposite mainland. This division was the reason +why they did not attach to themselves places which were situated at some +distance, such as Phaselis. Halicarnassus, Cos, and Cnidos formed the +second Dorian triad by the side of the Rhodian. + +Among these three places, HALICARNASSUS is particularly interesting to +us as the birth-place of Herodotus. It is strange, however, that he +wrote his work in the Ionic dialect, and that, too, in such perfection. +Although Halicarnassus was excluded by the Dorians, it lost nothing of +its prosperity, nor of its peculiarly Greek character. It was deprived +of its freedom like the other Greek towns on the coast of Asia Minor, +but it is doubtful whether after the expedition of Xerxes it recovered +it, or whether it remained in perpetual dependence upon Persia. Certain +it is, that it was the seat of the Carian dynasty, which established +itself there, and attached itself to Persia: it was the residence of +Mausolus, and afterwards of his widow Artemisia, who there built the +famous mausoleum to him. But this Carian family did not introduce +barbarous customs at Halicarnassus; for its members spoke Greek, received +a Greek education, and had a taste for the beauties of Greek art. But +the misfortune was, that through its splendour the city became too large +and too influential; it was strongly fortified, thoroughly devoted to +the interests of Persia, and one of the chief stations of the Persian +forces; for which reason it offered an obstinate defence during the siege +of Alexander, who ravaged it in such a manner that it never recovered +from the blow, but ever after remained an insignificant place. This +defence of Halicarnassus was very brilliant, for there still existed men +inspired with a love of freedom, and actively opposed to the dominion of +Macedonia. Ephialtes, the friend of Demosthenes, who everywhere tried to +thwart Alexander, there fought against him and was killed. + +CNIDOS was situated on a peninsula which was wholly occupied by the +town; the Cnidians once strangely wished to cut through the isthmus +which connected it with the main land. The Aphrodite of Praxiteles shed +a peculiar lustre over the place, and attracted many strangers, but was +afterwards carried away by the Romans. + +COS is the third Dorian place in Asia Minor; it was at once a town and +an island, and possessed a considerable navy down to the time of the +Romans, though it was not to be compared with that of the Rhodians. In +the earlier times it was allied with Rhodes, and remained for a long time +in a state of independence. It contained a celebrated temple of Asclepius +and the family of the Asclepiadae, who regarded Asclepius as their +ancestor. + +Rhodes and the opposite continent accordingly had together six Dorian +towns, as there were six feudal principalities in Peloponnesus. Let us +now pass on from Doris to + + +IONIA. + +According to the universal tradition of the Greeks, Ionia was a +δωδεκάπολις, established by Neleus and Androclus, the sons of Codrus, +who, after their father’s death, when the royal dignity ceased, emigrated +from Athens to Asia Minor. These Ionians, on their arrival, found the +coast occupied partly by Carians and partly by Meonians, while Chios and +Samos were inhabited by Pelasgians. We must not conceive these colonies +as purely Greek in their origin in the same manner as the inhabitants +of the states of North America are purely English and German. Herodotus +himself says, that four dialects were spoken among the Ionians, and, +what is very important, that the Ionians did not go across with their +wives and children, but as soldiers; that they conquered the country, and +married the captive women, as the Spaniards did in what were afterwards +the Spanish colonies of America. But as the Greeks, Carians, and +Meonians, although differing from one another, still belonged to the same +race, their mixture was no longer discernible in the features and forms +of the body of their descendants, and thus the New-Ionians could not be +distinguished from the ancient and original ones. The ancient population +had not withdrawn as in the states of North America, but remained in the +country as subjects. Such was the case especially in Chios: there is an +ancient story according to which slavery took its origin in that island; +and this is quite natural, for the old Ionians established themselves +there, and the ancient inhabitants not being able to get out of the +island, were reduced by the new settlers to a state of servitude; and for +this reason a completely aristocratic constitution was developed: the +towns were the rulers, and the rural population were their subjects. The +same may be supposed to have been the case in other islands as well as +on the continent. But whether on this account servitude was more ancient +there, than, for example, the _penestia_ in Thessaly, cannot be decided. + +The division into twelve states here likewise suggests the existence +of some regulating power, which, however, cannot be historically +demonstrated, and in regard to which we must be on our guard against mere +fancies. We know from Herodotus, that in the earliest times the Ionians +had kings. The country appears to us remarkable for its misfortunes at an +earlier period than any other Greek state, if we except Messene; and this +misfortune arose from the extension of the Lydians, a conquering nation +from the interior of Asia Minor. This people, conjointly with the Mysians +and Carians, expelled the Meonians, for this must be understood when we +read that the dynasty of the Mermnadae (that of Gyges) supplanted that +of the Heracleidae (that of Candaules). When these Lydians immigrated +with the fresh power of conquerors, they subdued the Ionian cities; first +(Olymp. 25) Colophon, which, according to unequivocal indications, was at +that time the capital of Ionia. In regard to the greatness of Colophon, +the Greek authors, whose works have come down to us, contain only vague +traditions; but allusion to it is made in the newly discovered fragments +from the beginning of the Margites and in the Paroemiographi (Κολοφῶνα +ἐπιθεῖναι); the city is said to have been so powerful, that upon its +decision everything depended. It was not indeed destroyed by the Lydians, +but reduced to a place of no importance. One of the obscure statements +is, that about the beginning of the Olympiads, Colophon carried on an +obstinate war against Erythrae. + +Ionia does not form a compact country, it is only a strip of land, and +whatever, therefore, is to be said about its chorography, refers also to +the neighbouring countries, especially Lydia. + +The MAEANDER discharges itself into the sea in the south, near Miletus; +it is a very muddy river like all others in Ionia, and hence it alone has +filled up the whole bay of Miletus, which was several miles in breadth, +but the cleaning out of which has been neglected for thousands of years. +Accordingly the island of Lade, which Herodotus mentions there, is now +only a hill rising in the midst of marshy meadows. Such is the nature +of all the rivers of that coast, and the most beautiful countries have +thereby been changed into pestilential swamps. In the north, a range of +mountains, extending from mount Taurus to the coast opposite to Chios, +forms the peninsula on which the towns of Clazomenae and Erythrae are +situated. Chios itself is a continuation of those mountains, separated +from the rest by the sea. What Herodotus says of the nature of Ionia, +holds good also of the greater part of Aeolis: it is the pearl of +creation. The present marshes, which have been formed by the deposits +of the rivers in consequence of the neglect of barbarous ages, form the +only exceptions. Nowhere in all the world is the splendour of a southern +climate more thoroughly felt than there; nowhere are the seasons so +healthy, and yet the country suffers neither from excessive heat nor +drought; and nowhere are fruits, such as grapes, figs, and pomegranates, +produced in such perfection. The Scirocco is unknown there (though it +exists in Rhodes), but the mildest west winds prevail, and the south +winds are not in the least injurious, while at Rome they are very much +so. Hence we cannot wonder, that, during the period of the weakness +of the states in western Asia, Ionia attained to such prosperity and +greatness. + +While Colophon is important to us only in legendary history, MILETUS +is the most illustrious city on the Ionian coast during the period of +accredited history. It was itself a great place, and also founded a great +number of colonies, which are said to have amounted to eighty. As the +maritime states of Greece in their colonisation, as it were, divided the +different seas among each other, so that Corinth chose the Adriatic, +Chalcis and Eretria the seas about Sicily, and Athens the Hellespont, so +we find the Milesians in the Euxine sea. There they founded Cyzicus, from +which they exercised their power over the greater part of the Propontis; +they then established themselves on all the coasts of the Euxine, and +thereby opened to themselves inexhaustible sources of wealth. The +commerce in those parts was certainly the most lucrative, and must have +yielded them immense riches. The Doric town of Byzantium might have shut +them out from the sea, but the Milesians had already become too powerful +through their colonies. The large rivers and the shallow sea yielded +them the fish which are so necessary for a Greek, and they also were the +means of conveying the supplies of corn from the Crimea, the Ukraine, +and the Dnieper, that is, from the country which now contains the great +corn-market of Odessa. But the inhabitants of those coasts not only sold +their own products, but purchased Greek merchandise with native gold +from the country of the Arimaspae, where at present gold mines are again +worked,—a fact which corroborates the tradition in Herodotus. They took +in exchange wine, Greek woollen cloth, Egyptian linen, Persian robes, +and many other costly things. Owing to this double commerce, Miletus was +wealthy and great during the time of the Lydian kings, and remained so +during the first period of the Persian dominion. Then it was plunged into +the deepest misery by misfortunes which succeeded one another in rapid +succession. Miletus had been obliged to submit to the Lydian kings, but +their rule seems to have been limited to the exacting of tribute, and +not to have disturbed its autonomy—a relation like that in which Ragusa +stood to the Turkish empire, to which it paid tribute, though otherwise +it enjoyed many advantages and privileges. This was the period of the +greatest prosperity of Miletus. It submitted to the Persians without +vehement opposition. Afterwards Aristagoras allowed himself to be tempted +by Histiaeus to induce Miletus to rise against the overwhelming power of +Persia. This insurrection was commenced without deliberation, and carried +out without a well digested design and without character: the city was +taken, and its inhabitants carried into Persia as slaves. This event +was the subject of the historical drama (Μιλήτου ἅλωσις) of Phrynichus. +Afterwards the city was again taken by Alexander, and thenceforth +remained an insignificant place; its harbour may have been filled up at +an early period. + +Miletus was the original home of the Ionian philosophy: Thales, +Anaximenes, and Anaximander were born there; it was also the native +city of Arctinus, the greatest among the cyclic poets. During the Roman +period it is often mentioned on account of the woollen cloths which were +manufactured there; when Strabo wrote, it still existed indeed, but as a +place of no importance at all. + +In its neighbourhood, and within the boundaries of ancient Caria, were +situated the two towns of MYUS and PRIENE, the latter of which is known +as the birth-place of Bias, who wisely advised the Ionians to unite into +one state, that they might be able to resist the barbarians. + +The promontory of MYCALE is in the neighbourhood of Priene, opposite to +Samos; it is a branch proceeding from mount Taurus. There the Athenians, +under Xanthippus, gained a victory over the Phoenician fleet of the +Persians, on the same day on which the battle of Plataeae was won; +whereby the independence of the Greeks, and especially of their Asiatic +colonies, was established. + +SAMOS is great in history, and, like Miletus, was for a time mistress of +the sea, but its greatness passed away early and quickly. Pythagoras, +according to tradition, was a Samian, though little reliance can be +placed upon it: Creophilus, the poet of the Οἰχαλίας ἅλωσις, too, is +called a Samian, and tradition describes him as a son-in-law of Homer. +The island was particularly celebrated at the time of Polycrates, who +ruled far and wide over the sea and the islands. After him his brother +Syloson attempted with a Persian army to conquer the island: the +expedition inflicted the first blow upon it, for the Persians carried off +a large number of its inhabitants as slaves. Samos then became connected +with Athens, but shortly before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian war +it rose against the supremacy of Athens, and being re-conquered after a +siege of ten months was severely chastised, and a portion of the island +became subject to Athens. During the latter period of the Peloponnesian +war, Samos was the head quarters of the Athenian fleet in that part of +the sea, and the scene of fearful disturbances caused by the aristocratic +or Spartan party as well as by the democratic or Athenian. Although +weakened, the Samians afterwards took part in the social war of Rhodes, +Chios, Cos, and Byzantium against Athens. I have not been able to make +out anything about the part which Samos took in that war, except that +the island was conquered and received cleruchi (Olymp. 108); it was a +lucrative possession to the Athenians, and therefore of importance to +them. After the battle of Chaeronea, Philip left them in the possession +of Samos, that they might not be driven to extremes and throw themselves +into the arms of Persia, the affairs of which were then managed by the +brave Memnon. But after the Lamian war the island was taken from them, +and restored to the Samians. Under Ptolemy Philadelphus and Euergetes, +a division of the Egyptian fleet was stationed near Samos. The most +interesting object in the island was the Heraeon, the temple of Hera, +which was rich in the finest works of art, such as statues by Myron, +Polycletus, and Praxiteles. + +The island of Samos is very fertile, and was celebrated as such in +antiquity. It is strange that the wine of Samos was thought bad by the +ancients, for it is now valued very highly; no person from our northern +countries would consider the wine of Chios bad either. + +The nearest city on the coast was EPHESUS, in antiquity celebrated for +its temple of Artemis, as Samos was for that of Hera. During the great +period of Grecian history, it is mentioned as a distinguished city, and +in the early times it was rich in great men: it was the native place of +the philosopher Heraclitus, the iambic poet Hipponax, and of Apelles and +Parrhasius. But notwithstanding its famous temple of Artemis, Ephesus was +not of great political importance: it was situated on the Caÿstrus, which +is very muddy, and has now changed the whole district into a pestilential +marsh. Attalus of Pergamus was well disposed towards the city, and caused +a pier to be built there, making the entrance of the harbour quite wide, +while towards the interior, it grew narrower and narrower, in order that +the current might become stronger; but his plan was ill calculated, for +the current became weaker, and the harbour was more and more filled +with mud, and only a roadstead remained. Ephesus was situated in three +different places: the most ancient town is almost mythical; the second, +near the temple, existed until the time of the successors of Alexander; +and the third, lastly, which was built by Lysimachus close to the sea, +was at a considerable distance from the temple, and the inhabitants of +the old town were forced to remove to it. This New-Ephesus was for a +long time the capital of Ionia, and was increasing even as late as the +time of Augustus and Tiberius; it was an emporium for the whole country +far and wide, though it had no longer a harbour. It was commonly the +residence of the Roman governor. The origin of Ephesus, like that of most +of the Ionian towns, is mythical. Artemis is a genuine Greek goddess, +but her temple at Ephesus was specially revered by the Persians, as +eastern nations often shewed a partiality towards foreign religions: +they altered the ceremonial of the temple, and the employment of eunuchs +in its service is of Persian origin. The temple was also known as an +asylum: whoever in times of danger wished to protect his property, might +deposit it, as we learn from Xenophon’s Anabasis,[73] in the treasury of +the temple of Ephesus, whence he might afterwards take it back without +loss. This sanctity of the temple also continued, after its restoration, +during the Macedonian period and under the Romans. In the time of the +Macedonian dominion, the city was one of high rank. When, under Ptolemy +Euergetes, the coasts of Ionia and Thrace were in the possession of the +Egyptians, the Egyptian governor had his seat at Ephesus. Antiochus Theos +and Antiochus the Great also resided there, whence we must infer that the +city contained a palace. John the Evangelist lived and died there. + +In the neighbourhood of Ephesus, there were several small towns, one of +which was LEBEDOS, which, in the time of Horace, was quite desolate, and +more deserted than Gabii and Fidenae, for its inhabitants had been driven +by Lysimachus to Ephesus, when he rebuilt that city: still, however, +Horace wished to be able to spend his whole life there. + +TEOS was the native place of Anacreon, and in other respects, too, of +comparative importance, as it sent out colonies, such as Abdera. It was +situated upon the isthmus. + +COLOPHON was situated between Ephesus and Lebedos. I have already spoken +of its ancient greatness. We there meet with the incomparable poet +Mimnermus, the loss of whose productions is to us the most deplorable +in ancient literature, and who composed his splendid poetry at a time +when the rest of Greece was still slumbering. Thucydides, and Aristotle +in his politics, mention _Notion_ as the port of Colophon. This place +owed its origin to a feud among the citizens of Colophon, in which the +democratic party seceded and settled on the sea-coast. At the time of the +Peloponnesian war, an implacable enmity existed between the two. + +ERYTHRAE on the gulf of Chios, which separates this island from the +continent, was in ancient times the seat of a Sibyl. At an early period +it carried on protracted wars with Colophon, which shows that it must +have been a powerful state. + +CLAZOMENAE was situated on an island,[74] whence in the peace of +Antalcidas it became independent of Persia. Otherwise it is of no +political importance, nor did it found any colonies. It was the +birth-place of Anaxagoras. + +PHOCAEA was very far removed from the other towns, Smyrna being situated +between them, though the latter did not become an Ionian city until a +later period. Phocaea refused to submit to Cyrus, and was, therefore, +besieged and finally taken by his general Harpagus. Its inhabitants, +however, had escaped to their ships; a great number of them wished to +emigrate, but some returned to Phocaea and submitted to the Persians, +while others founded Elea in Oenotria. Before this time, the Phocaeans +were among the boldest navigators; they visited more especially the +coasts of the western seas, Baetica, Tartessus, and the south of Gaul. In +the latter country they founded Massilia, which afterwards established +other colonies partly by itself, and partly in conjunction with the +Phocaeans. The foundation of Massilia has sometimes, but unjustly been +connected with the emigration in the time of Cyrus. Phocaea recovered to +some extent, and continued to exist down to the middle ages, for it was +situated in a fertile territory; but its navigation passed into the hands +of the Smyrnaeans. + +CHIOS is one of the most splendid islands in the world, for with the +exception of a few desert and rough districts, it combines all the +blessings of Ionia: it has excellent wine, and its soil produces in fact +everything that agriculture demands of it; it had a beautiful harbour, +and its inhabitants have at all times been active and enterprising men. +Before the time of the Peloponnesian war, they showed wisdom in their +relation to Athens, and took no part in the senseless insurrections of +Samos and other islands, but conscientiously adhered to the treaties with +Athens and remained quiet, whence they were treated by the Athenians with +great respect. While the other towns had to pay money as contributions +towards the Athenian fleet, Chios and Lesbos still retained their navy; +Lesbos lost its fleet in consequence of its thoughtless revolt in the +Peloponnesian war, but Chios remained faithful to Athens till after the +Sicilian disaster. The Chians then wanted to place themselves at the +head of an Ionian maritime confederation, which, however, was never +realised. Afterwards they headed the the Social war (Olymp. 106). During +the Macedonian period the Chians behaved with great prudence, and, like +the Rhodians, preserved their republican independence. This state of +things remained until the war of Mithridates, when they supported him, +and were punished by the Romans in consequence. But the island soon +recovered again. The great renown of Chios arose out of the belief, +that Homer was a native of the island, and had lived there, because a +_genos_ of Homerids existed there until a late period. In my opinion, +Homer is a mythical hero; the genos of the Homerids must be viewed in +the same light as all such γένη, e.g., that of the Asclepiadae and +Butadae; a common origin of such a genos from one ancestor is altogether +out of the question.[75] The author of a great portion of the Homeric +poems, especially of the ground-work of our present Iliad, seems to have +belonged to Smyrna; the testimony of those who call him Melesigenes is, +in my opinion, entitled to the best consideration, although the author of +the Hymn on Apollo calls himself a Chian. + +About SMYRNA wonderful stories were current in antiquity. According to +one of them, it was originally an Ionian settlement, and, considering its +situation between Ephesus and Phocaea, this is most probable; afterwards +it is stated to have passed into the hands of the Aeolians, from whom +it was taken again, according to Herodotus, by the Ionians. It is then +scarcely mentioned at all until after the time of Alexander. Antigonus +the one-eyed in reality built Smyrna anew; nearly all that is related +about its early history is legendary. Its site was so happily chosen, +that among all the towns on that coast it was the most imperishable, +and continually increased. Its harbour is very excellent, but had been +overlooked in an unaccountable manner ever since its destruction by +the Lydians. It was, particularly during the period that Ephesus was +governed by Egypt, that Smyrna, being under the dominion of Syria, +rose to eminence. During the unfortunate times of the Roman wars, the +Smyrnaeans behaved with great prudence, as we see particularly from their +treaty with the Magnesians. Under the Romans, and that even under the +first emperors, Smyrna, alternately with Ephesus, was often the seat +of the proconsul. The Romans procured its admission into the Ionian +confederacy as the thirteenth town. According to the ancient notions, the +Ionians would not have ventured to go beyond the sacred and established +number, and in case of emergency, they would have incorporated a +smaller town with a larger one, e.g., Lebedos with Ephesus or Colophon; +but those scruples were then easily got over, and hence we now find +thirteen Ionian towns mentioned in inscriptions, coins, etc. In like +manner, Athens, in later times, had thirteen tribes, and a senate of +the corresponding number of 650. Smyrna was often destroyed, once in a +very fearful manner by Tamerlane, but it soon recovered. The correct +orthography of the name, both with the Greeks and the Romans, is Zmyrna, +in the same manner as they wrote Zmaragdos. + +The meetings of the twelve Ionian towns took place at a spot called +_Panionium_, below the promontory of Mycale, which formed about the +central point among them. These meetings gave rise to a permanent town +with a prytaneum, in which the meetings were held. This union among the +Ionians was not of a political nature, though it seems to have been the +original intention that it should be; but the autonomy of the individual +states did not permit this, and hence Panionium was only a place for +agones. + +There were several more small towns in Ionia, which I will pass over +here. Mount Mimas, a branch of mount Taurus, rises precipitously above +Erythrae (ἠνεμόεις Μίμας in Homer). + + +AEOLIS. + +The number of Aeolian towns in Asia Minor and the neighbouring islands +amounted to thirty, but they formed several separate groups. One of +these groups, the real Αἰολὶς δωδεκάπολις, had Cyme for its capital. +There was also an Αἰολὶς ἐν Ἴδῃ in the interior of the country, which +probably included Tenedos and Hecatonnesoi. Lesbos contained six towns. +These Aeolian towns (the name is applied in its most proper sense to the +first group or the dodecapolis) cannot, generally speaking, be compared +in importance with the Ionian and Dorian settlements; they were μικρὰ +πολίχνια; Smyrna’s importance belongs to the time when it had ceased to +be Aeolian. It would lead me too far here to enumerate all the Aeolian +towns whose names are mentioned only by one author or another, for they +are otherwise unimportant; hence I shall notice only the most celebrated, +and in point of fact there are only two out of the eleven (after the +separation of Smyrna) that deserve to be noticed. + +The first is CYME, with the surname _Phriconis_, which cannot be +explained. The foundation of this place is assigned to an extremely +early period, the report being, that it was built soon after the Trojan +war. But not too much value must be attached to this tradition, any +more than to most of the things belonging to the time anterior to the +beginning of the Olympiads. Cyme is always spoken of as the greatest and +most important among the Aeolian towns, but history does not justify +this reputation, for the place nowhere appears possessed of power or +influence. The historian Ephorus, who was born there, sheds considerable +lustre upon it; the loss of his work is irreparable, and perhaps the +most serious that we have to lament in ancient history. He cheerfully +took the greatest pains to investigate the obscure periods of antiquity, +and must be regarded as the first critical inquirer into the early +history of Greece. He thoroughly deserves the respect paid to him by +his contemporaries, although his style, according to the testimony of +Isocrates, was dry and inferior to that of Theopompus: perhaps we should +judge differently of him if we had his work. The opinion that Hesiod was +a native of Cyme, seems to be a gross delusion, the origin of which, +however, is not clear to me. + +We must also notice GRYNEON with its celebrated temple of Apollo, who is +for this reason called _Gryneus_ by Virgil and Ovid. + +TEMNOS remained a somewhat important place even in later times. The other +towns are quite insignificant. + +The whole history of these Aeolian colonies is involved in singular +obscurity. Penthilus, a son of Orestes, is said to have first settled +with Aeolians in Lesbos, and Gras, his son or grand-son, is reported to +have founded Cyme on the mainland; he was worshipped there as archegetes, +which, however, means nothing else, than that the foundation was ascribed +to Orestes himself. Gras here is probably nothing but the eponymus to +_Graecus_, standing to the _Graeci_ in the same relation as Helen does +to the Hellenes. The matter is so obscure that we ought to approach it +with the utmost caution; I for my part cannot understand how Agamemnon’s +grand-son should have gone into that country with such a miscellaneous +race as the Aeolians, and with a colony which is said to have consisted +chiefly of Thessalian Aeolians. I am much more inclined to believe, that +after the Trojan war the race of the Pelopids or Agamemnonids remained +behind as rulers in those parts; and this is not improbable in itself, +since the fact of the Trojan war certainly cannot be doubted: the +poetical account of Helen, of the siege, and the wooden-horse, is not +historical, but the war and its final issue cannot be denied. I suppose, +therefore, that Greeks under the Agamemnonids remained behind in the +conquered Teucrian country. If this be so, we here have another instance +of that change of the poles of a tradition, to which I have repeatedly +drawn your attention: Pelops is transferred from Phrygia to Peloponnesus, +and the Pelopids from Peloponnesus to Asia. But the chief point is this, +we must regard the Greek inhabitants of that coast as a people of the +same race as the western Hellenes, as in fact even in tradition all the +country was originally Pelasgian, whence at a later period it likewise +became identical with the Hellenic countries. The barbarous tribes on +that coast, the Mysians, Lydians and Carians, did not arrive until a +latter time. But we must not go too far in tracing this origin of the +Aeolian colonies. + +The northern part of Aeolis embraced the πολίχνια ἐν Ἴδῃ, in what was +properly the Teucrian country; and to it belonged Abydos, Tenedos, and +Hecatonnesoi. Although these towns were Greek, yet they were viewed +by the ancients in a very different light. Some of them play rather a +prominent part in the later wars of the Greeks, as for example SCEPSIS, +the native place of the grammarian Demetrius, an historical commentator +of Homer; the town is mentioned in Xenophon’s Hellenica. We must here +also mention the Aeolian ILION, which arose after the destruction of +ancient Ilion. ASSOS was situated at the foot of mount Ida, shut in +between the mountains and the sea; some mysterious ruins of it are still +extant. ABYDOS stood on the narrowest part of the Hellespont, where it is +only seven stadia, about one mile, in breadth. TENEDOS was flourishing +in consequence of its situation at the entrance of the Hellespont; it +was a commercial place, populous and industrial, and derived advantages +from its situation even as late as the time of the Romans. The town in +Hecatonnesoi is mentioned only by Herodotus. + +That this part of Aeolis was likewise a dodecapolis, is indeed no more +than a conjecture, for we cannot make out the names of all the towns; but +it is at least very probable partly from analogy, and partly from the +words of Strabo; for out of the number of the thirty towns which he calls +Aeolian, twelve belong to the southern dodecapolis and six to Lesbos. + +LESBOS is the pearl of the Aeolian race; in the Trojan times it is +called Pelasgian, but in such a manner that the Pelasgian Macar in Homer +is an Aeolian.[76] Lesbos is a blessed country, and excellent for the +cultivation of the vine and grain, like Chios; it is only wanting in +mastix, and its wine too is somewhat inferior to that of Chios; it has, +however, no rough districts like Chios, but only pleasing hills and +numerous plains, many excellent harbours, and bays entering far into the +country. It had originally six towns, among which, however, _Arisba_ was +destroyed at an early period by the Methymnaeans; its name reminds us of +the town on the mainland known from Homer; it had disappeared as early +as the time of Herodotus. Among the remaining five, two are towns of +importance, Mitylene and Methymna; the three others are Pyrrha, Eresos, +and Antissa. + +MITYLENE: the orthography of this name is very uncertain; on coins and +inscriptions we find Mytilana,[77] while in Greek MSS. and even in +more recent Latin inscriptions, it is invariably written Mitylene. The +former is in all probability the more ancient mode of spelling, yet +it is difficult to introduce it into printed books. Mitylene rose to +the rank of one of the greatest and most splendid cities, and Alcaeus +called it ἁ μεγάλα Μιτυλάνα. No place in Greece has produced greater +geniuses, for Alcaeus and Sappho are among the most excellent lyric poets +in Greek literature. The history of Alcaeus is connected with that of +his time, for he fought in behalf of the liberty of his country against +usurpation. There, as everywhere else, members of the order of the nobles +set themselves up as tyrants, and the demos, supported by Pittacus, rose +against these δυναστεῖαι. Alcaeus, belonging to the aristocracy, was +opposed to Pittacus, whom he unjustly attacked for his low birth and his +usurpation, for Pittacus laid down his dictatorial power as soon as he +had given laws to the state. Mitylene, being an insular city, together +with the other towns spontaneously submitted to the Persians. Under the +Pisistratids, the Mityleneans carried on war with the Athenians for the +possession of Sigeum on the Hellespont, and afterwards took part in the +insurrection of the Ionians in Asia Minor. After the battle of Salamis, +they asserted their independence of Persia, and placed themselves under +the protection of Athens. During the Peloponnesian war, they at first +yielded to circumstances, but then allowed themselves, by Spartan +influence, to be led to insurrection. Paches reduced the city, and +Cleon wanted to raze it to the ground; a decree was passed that all its +inhabitants should be made slaves and the country laid waste; but the +city narrowly escaped the most frightful devastation; and cleruchi were +sent into the island to whom the inhabitants had to pay tribute. At the +end of the war, the Mityleneans joined Sparta, and in the Macedonian +period they were allied with Byzantium, Chios, and Cos against Athens, +and throughout the time of the Macedonian ascendancy maintained their +republican independence. In the reign of Mithridates they were mad enough +to take part in the murder of the Romans, and shewed on that occasion +greater cruelty than any other people. After a long resistance on the +part of its inhabitants, the Romans took the city, destroyed it, and sold +its citizens as slaves; it was, however, restored through the influence +of Theophanes, the favourite of Pompey. Mitylene had a double harbour. + +METHYMNA was the only Lesbian town that did not take part in the revolt +against Athens, for which reason it was favoured by the Athenians. +Otherwise little is to be said of this place, except that Arion, the +dithyrambic poet, was born there. + +ERESOS, or ERESSOS, was, according to some, the birth-place of Sappho. +This, however, is a doubtful point, but certain it is, that Theophrastus, +the last genuine Greek classic, was a native of Eresos. + +The two Asiatic towns of the name of MAGNESIA, the one on the Maeander, +and the other at the foot of mount Sipylus, have this in common, that +their origin is not accounted for in any of the Greek traditions about +the migrations into Asia. It is a surprising phenomenon, that a people +like the Magnetes should have settled there, far away from the coast and +from the other Greek towns. But if we bear in mind, that the Magnetes +decidedly belong to the Pelasgian race, and that in other parts of that +portion of Asia, too, Thessalian Pelasgians occur, we can scarcely +entertain a doubt, that the two Magnesias in Asia must be regarded as +remnants of a Pelasgian population in those districts. In the earliest +Graeco-Asiatic history, both towns act a prominent part; but we know +nothing definite about their fate; one of them, it is uncertain which, +is said to have been destroyed during the great migration of the +Cimmerians or Treres. Afterwards, during the period of the earliest +Ionian traditions, the Magnesians were powerful through their cavalry. +Magnesia, near mount Sipylus, was a considerable town as late as the +time of the Macedonian and Syrian dominion, and in the war of Antiochus +against his brother, it was allied with Smyrna and displayed great vigour +and valour. + +This may suffice about the Greek settlements in western Asia from Cnidos +to the Propontis. Cyprus is isolated, and does not properly belong to the +Greek nation; I shall have occasion to speak of it hereafter, as well as +of the Greek settlements in Phrygia. + + +THE KINGDOM OF PERGAMUS. + +On the same coast, we meet with the city of PERGAMUS, the origin of +which is similar to that of Antioch and Alexandria, though Pergamus, +in language and manners, was more completely hellenised than Antioch +ever could be, because of the predominance of the Syriac population, +which was deeply interested in the preservation of its own language. The +extent of the ruins still attests the ancient splendour of the place. +When Alexander was conquering western Asia, and even during the time +when his successor Lysimachus governed those parts, Pergamus was not +a town, but only a castle on a precipitous rock, celebrated for its +strength; the rock is called στροβιλοειδής, from its resemblance to +a pine-cone. After the battle of Ipsus, when Lysimachus had obtained +Phrygia on the Hellespont and Lydia, he deposited in that castle his +treasures, amounting, it is said, to 9,000 talents, about £1,935,000. +During the later years of this unhappy prince, when, owing to the +intrigues of his second wife Arsinoë, who wished to secure the throne to +her own children, the Furies entered his house, and when he commenced +persecuting his children by his first wife, and even ordered Agathocles +to be put to death, there arose such a commotion in his dominions, that +many parts refused obedience to him, and the whole kingdom fell into a +state of disorganisation. Seleucus Nicator attacked it, and Philetaerus, +the governor of Pergamus, declared himself independent, and opened the +gates to Seleucus. Philetaerus had for a long time been in possession +of what had been intrusted to his care, and at first probably with +honest intentions towards the house of Lysimachus. But when the whole +family of the latter had become extinct, Philetaerus remained the ruler +of the country. He was succeeded by his brother Eumenes as dynastes, a +title which was then commonly given to those who would in former times +have been called tyrants. With the assistance of Gallic mercenaries, he +extended his dominions towards Syria, defeated Antiochus Soter, the son +of Seleucus Nicator, and founded a regular principality. His son Attalus +assumed the title of king, though he had but a small kingdom. But he +extended it, and although it was at first reduced by the Romans, they +afterwards favoured and raised him to the rank of king of Asia. + +The city of PERGAMUS, or PERGAMUM (for both forms occur, the Greeks +commonly preferring Πέργαμον, and the Romans _Pergamus_), arose under +the successor of Philetaerus, at the foot of the rock on which the +castle continued to exist. The city seems to have been an open place; +the inhabitants probably felt the inconvenience of a fortified town, +and owing to the progress which the art of besieging had then made, not +much confidence was placed in the protection of walls. The city was +beautiful and wealthy, and remained prosperous until the Pergamenian +dynasty became extinct, and the kingdom was made over to the Romans as a +province. During the rebellion of Aristonicus, the city suffered but was +not destroyed; thenceforth, however, it became deserted and dull, though +it still remained a respectable provincial city. During the period of +its kings, literature was flourishing at Pergamus, and there existed a +rivalry between it and Alexandria, as well as between their grammatical +and poetical schools: but those of Pergamus were not able to equal their +rivals. They must, however, be mentioned with respect, especially the +grammatical school, and Pergamus during the best period took an active +part in grammatical studies. Nicander belongs to the Pergamenian school; +he is indeed a poet of an inferior order, but still ought not to be +despised. Julius Caesar transferred the library of Pergamus to Alexandria +as a compensation for the one destroyed by fire in the latter place. +It is strange that even a man like Caesar was not free from a certain +barbarism, and that he did not carry those literary treasures to Rome. + +ATARNEUS, in the neighbourhood of Pergamus, had formerly belonged to the +Chians, who possessed several places on the mainland; they had received +it from the Persians as a reward for the treachery of a deserter. It +was a Mysian town, but subsequently became hellenised, though without +receiving a Greek colony: such places must be carefully distinguished +from real Greek towns. It was very strongly fortified, and afterwards +made itself independent of Chios. In later times we find Hermias as an +independent prince of Atarneus; his daughter Pythias was married to +Aristotle, who himself lived with him for three years. + + +GREEK SETTLEMENTS IN MACEDONIA AND THRACE. + +We shall now proceed on the north of mount Olympus along the coast of +the Aegean to consider the Greek colonies there. The συνεχὴς Ἑλλάς, +according to Dicaearchus, who has hitherto been our guide, extends as far +as mount Olympus. He has indeed some doubts as to whether Thessaly should +be included, but he decides after all in the affirmative, because Greek +was spoken in Thessaly. Thessaly was evidently a hellenised country, +just like the east of Germany, where formerly Wendish was spoken, while +now pure German prevails, though rivers and mountains still have names +which are completely Wendish. This hellenisation, however, did not +extend beyond the boundaries of Thessaly; it scarcely reached as far as +Peraebia, which was partly Macedonian and partly Thracian, the country +beyond Olympus being inhabited by Macedonian and Thracian tribes. In the +Homeric Catalogue, Thessaly extends beyond the Axius, a most beautiful +river, as far as Pieria, which was regarded as part of ancient Thrace. + +PIERIA forms the slope of the range of mountains of which Olympus, at +the mouth of the Peneus, is the highest peak, rising to the height of +the snow-line; this charming coast country extends from mount Olympus +as far as the Thermaic gulf. The most important among the several +Greek towns along this coast were PYDNA and METHONE, which are called +Chalcidian. It is very surprising to find, that the whole coast, from +the foot of mount Olympus to the Strymon, though not continuously, +yet for the greater part, is occupied by Greek, and, if we except the +Dorian Potidaea, by Ionian towns, which are called Chalcidian, whence +Thucydides’ expression, Χαλκιδῆς ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης. If the population of all +these towns had come from Chalcis in Euboea alone, that city, nay the +whole of Euboea, would have been drained; we must assume that there was +only a nucleus of Chalcidian _ctistae_, who brought with them Chalcidian +νόμιμα and took possession of the places; all the rest consisted of +adventurers from all parts of Greece. Those towns were for the most part +μικρὰ πολίσματα. Until the time of Philip, when Macedonia was a small and +weak state, though more weak than small, they had in the most wonderful +manner contrived to remain independent of Macedonia. The places on the +western coast of the Thermaic gulf had no political connexion with those +on the eastern side. In the reigns of Perdiccas and Archelaus, Pydna and +Methone seem to have been allied with Macedonia, but only for a time; it +is possible that they may have paid a tribute as a recognition, but they +were free towns. Little can be said of them: Methone was conquered and +destroyed by Philip, and Pydna was taken and changed into a Macedonian +town. More about this will be said when I come to speak of Macedonia. + +Proceeding from the coast of Pieria along that of Emathia and Bottiaea, +we meet with several towns of which it is doubtful whether they were +Chalcidian or Bottiaean: Therma, subsequently called Thessalonica, +appears to have been Chalcidian, but I shall say more about this when I +come to Macedonia. + +AENEA on the promontory where the smaller and larger Thermaic gulfs +separate, is called by Herodotus a Greek town, but seems to have +originally been Pelasgian and to have afterwards become hellenised. +Farther on the Greek towns are more closely together, though nearly all +of them are without historical importance, whence I shall not enter upon +an enumeration of them. + +The Bottiaeans, who, at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, rose +against the Athenians, were a Pelasgian people, akin to the Greeks, like +the Epirots and Thessalians, but not Greek. I shall say more of them +hereafter. If you will understand the first book of Thucydides, you must +have a thoroughly clear notion about them, which the early commentators +had not. The Bottians and Bottiaeans must be distinguished. + +From the projecting Acte of Macedonia, three peninsulas run out into +the sea: the easternmost contains mount ATHOS, which extends in a +south-eastern direction, and is highest at the point where it reaches +the sea; this mountain must be conceived to extend below the sea, first +to Lemnos and thence to mount Ida. PALLENE, the western peninsula, forms +the eastern shore of the Thermaic gulf, and is connected with the Acte by +a narrow isthmus. The middle peninsula is called SITHONIA. The interior +of the broad Acte was never inhabited by Greeks, but only by barbarians, +except a few isolated points, such as Apollonia. Sithonia itself was +likewise occupied by barbarians, and Μιξέλληνες existed only here and +there. Pallene, on the other hand, was thoroughly Greek. This country is +one of the most fertile in all Europe; it was also, like Campania, called +_Phlegra_, a name implying a volcanic district of immense fertility. +The use of manure in Pallene would be injurious and cause the wheat to +shoot up too high. There are districts in that peninsula where tobacco, +which otherwise exhausts the most fertile soil, is grown in ordinary +corn-fields; but if it were not for the tobacco, everything would be +overgrown with weeds, and it would require great labour to destroy them. +Wheat there grows to a height of from five to six feet, and it is nothing +uncommon to see it rise even to seven or eight feet. Hence that country +was a χώρα περιμάχητος. Potidaea, one of the _faces malorum_ of the +Peloponnesian war, was situated on the isthmus of Pallene. Potidaea and +Syracuse, the two ill-fated places that brought ruin on Greece in this +war, were colonies of Corinth. + +The towns on this coast are called τὰ πολίσματα τὰ ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης, or πόλεις +Χαλκιδικαὶ ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης. It is only in an improper sense that we speak of +a country of the name of Chalcidice; wherever that name occurs, it is +incorrect and belongs to a late period. We must not, however, believe +that none but Chalcidian towns existed there; they only formed the +majority; the towns were not even all Greek. Besides the Dorian Potidaea, +there existed Andrian and Eretrian towns, though they were few in number. +But the Hellenic character was communicated to the neighbouring tribes, +not only to the Bottiaeans and Pelasgians of mount Athos, but also to the +Thracians, so that in the time of Philip many places are called Greek, +which at an earlier period did not bear that name. The thirty-two Greek +places on the Thracian coast, so often mentioned by Demosthenes, which +were conquered and destroyed by Philip, cannot be taken as Greek towns +in the strict sense of the term, but there were among them some which +are called by Thucydides δίγλωττοι. I must here notice an error which is +found in most maps, and even in those of D’Anville; namely, Chalcis is +marked as a large town in that district, though not a trace of it occurs +in our authors. It is a mere invention from the name of the Chalcidian +towns, and is based on no better authority than the alleged town of +Magnesia in Thessaly. + +POTIDAEA, a Corinthian and the only Doric settlement in that part, is +one of those places, the situation of which is so fortunate, that in +spite of all calamities they always recover. It was conquered by the +Athenians and received cleruchi, who were no doubt expelled by Lysander +like the cleruchi in all the other places; it would appear, however, +that the ancient Corinthian inhabitants who had been scattered in all +directions, scarcely returned at all, and the few who did return became +subjects of Olynthus, with which they afterwards formed a relation of +sympolity. During this period, therefore, Potidaea was insignificant, +and was conquered by the Athenians at the time when they recovered their +maritime power; it was then probably re-conquered by the Olynthians, +and finally came into the permanent possession of Macedonia. It may then +have been destroyed, but it was restored from its ruins by Cassander, and +called CASSANDREA,[78] under which name it was one of the most important +Macedonian cities, and at times was the capital of the whole empire. The +foundation of Cassandrea and the enlargement of Thessalonica shew that +Cassander had a quick eye in discovering the appropriate sites of towns. +It is a remarkable fact that these cities, although for a considerable +time the kings resided in them, still were tolerably independent +republics under the supremacy of the very kings who had founded them. +Under Ptolemy Ceraunus and Lysimachus, Cassandrea was one of the capitals +of Macedonia. After the death of the former, it was separated from +Macedonia, and fell into the hands of the terrible tyrant, Apollodorus. +During the wars of the Romans it was an important city, and maintained +that rank throughout the middle ages down to modern times; six years +ago (1822) it was destroyed, but it will undoubtedly recover from this +calamity also. + +Among the six towns in Pallene, only MENDE and SCIONE, which were +destroyed in a fearful manner by the Athenians, deserve to be mentioned. +This is one of the cases in which we cannot say that the Athenians did +not abuse their excessive power. + +OLYNTHUS, situated on a hill beyond the isthmus, about five miles north +of Potidaea, is one of those places which, however familiar their names +may be to the reader of Demosthenes, are yet historically very obscure; +information about them does not readily present itself to us, and it is +only with difficulty that we can gather their history. Olynthus is one +of the little Chalcidian places, which are mentioned at the beginning of +the Peloponnesian war. During that war, when the Chalcidians rose against +Athens, they formed the determination, for the purpose of being better +able to defend themselves, to give up their old and indefensible towns, +and to unite in one place, to form a συνοικισμός, in which undertaking +they were supported by Perdiccas and Brasidas. In this manner Olynthus +became a large town, a new city being formed around the old place and +the acra. It speedily rose to great power, and had scarcely existed +fifty years, when we hear it spoken of as ruling far and wide over the +neighbouring country. The expedition of Brasidas had overthrown the +supremacy of Athens in those parts, and the Macedonian towns were yet +too weak to be able to avail themselves of this opportunity: hence a +great power was there imperceptibly developed. The old towns were reduced +to the rank of demi. They did not limit themselves to the pedantry of +admitting only Greeks, but received Bottiaeans, Macedonians, and other +neighbouring tribes into their alliance, and this is the first great +example of a sympolity. + +After Olymp. 100, Xenophon, in his _Hellenica_,[79] mentions the fact, +that the Olynthians were already ruling over a great part of Macedonia; +they were even in possession of Pella, and their eastern neighbours, the +Apolloniats and Acanthians, being attacked by them, applied to Sparta +for assistance. The whole of the northern country was independent of +Olynthus, but we do not know whether the towns of the middle peninsula +were so likewise: the peninsula of mount Athos was, with few exceptions, +quite barbarous, and the eastern coast of Sithonia was likewise inhabited +by Thracians and Tyrrhenians, who, however, in the time of Scylax of +Caryanda, had already adopted the Greek language, whence he includes +them among the Greeks. Olynthus was the centre of all that country, +owing to the great extension of its power. During the disputes about +the succession in Macedonia, one town after another was ceded to it +as a reward for its decisions. Those towns accordingly applied to the +Spartans who sent them assistance for the purpose of weakening Olynthus +before it should be too late. This expedition, however, failed, and the +Olynthians maintained themselves. It was at that time that the Cadmea +had been treacherously seized by the Spartans, and thus the expedition +gave the Thebans and Boeotians an opportunity to shake off the Spartan +yoke. Further accounts are now wanting—so scantily is the history of +Greece known to us! Yet, if we steadily look at the circumstances of +the time, we may discover at least so much as to be able to fill up the +principal gaps. At the time when Philip came forward, Olynthus was still +a powerful city, ruling far and wide, though we do not know how far its +dominion extended eastward; it was one of the first cities, and is called +by Demosthenes a πόλις μυρίανδρος. But its conduct in history does not +appear honourable; the Olynthians were quite infatuated and foolish, and +without any idea of the danger threatening from Macedonia, which was then +governed by a man who knew how to make use of them. For the purpose of +obtaining some petty, miserable advantages, they allied themselves with +Philip, and when he cast off the mask and was evidently aiming at their +destruction, they were seized with the greatest terror and despair; and +then, when it was too late, imploringly prostrated themselves at the feet +of the Athenians, and begged their pardon. The Athenians, forgetting +everything, immediately supported them on the advice of Demosthenes, but +through the detestable treachery of Eurycrates and Lasthenes the city +was delivered up to Philip. He could not possibly allow Olynthus quietly +to continue its existence, but consistently with the principles of his +diabolical policy, he was obliged to destroy it, that he might rise +higher: he acquired a beautiful country and a large revenue; he ruled +without any formidable neighbours, and was thus enabled to mature his +cherished scheme of marching against Hellas. Olynthus was never restored. + +The only Greek town in the middle peninsula was TORONE, on the western +coast of the Toronean gulf; the towns on the eastern coast and in the +interior were Thracian. Sithonia (Σιθωνία), the name of this peninsula, +is sometimes used by Latin poets for Thrace, but the _o_ is made short, +the ear of the early Roman writers probably not catching the name +correctly. + +The whole of the interior of the northern part of the peninsula +containing mount Athos is a hilly country with few plains; even its +isthmus is hilly, but then the ground rises higher and higher till it +reaches the top of mount Athos, the height of which has not yet been +measured. This peninsula was inhabited by barbarians, that is, by +Thracians and Tyrrhenians of Lemnos and Imbros, mixed with Greeks, whence +they were δίγλωττοι, just as, previously to the reduction of Greece, both +Greek and Romaic were spoken, e.g. by the Albanese at Castri (Delphi) and +Marathon. + +ACANTHUS, an Andrian colony, was situated on the gulf near the isthmus; +it is remarkable on account of the canal which Xerxes caused to be dug +near it—a senseless undertaking worthy of a barbarian. + +East from mount Athos the Greek towns are found at greater intervals from +one another. APOLLONIA (there are at least a dozen towns of this name), +an important city, maintained its independence of Olynthus. Near it was +situated STAGIRA, the birth-place of Aristotle, which was destroyed by +Philip, but was restored in consequence of the entreaties of Aristotle. + +The district then following is now called the country of SERES, a town +situated at the mouth of the Strymon, and mentioned in the middle ages +under the name of _Serrae_; it is an important place, but did not exist +in antiquity. The river Strymon was, for a time, regarded as the boundary +of Macedonia, but it belongs, properly speaking, to Paeonia. The country +about its mouth, like that of Pella and Pallene, is one of the most +productive districts, and particularly fit for the growth of cotton and +tobacco, whence it was a χώρα περιμάχητος at an early period. It was as +important to the Greeks as the ports of the Baltic are to the Dutch and +English. + +EION, an ancient Greek town at the mouth of the Strymon, was probably a +factory of Thasos. From it Athens and the other maritime cities obtained +the timber for shipbuilding, which was brought down the river in rafts. +Cyprus, however, also furnished timber. Eion was a very strong place; +it was long in possession of the Persians, and Boges maintained himself +there long after the great forces of Xerxes had been defeated at Mycale +and Plataeae; it was afterwards delivered by Cimon. In former times the +Milesians had attempted to establish themselves in those parts, and now +the Athenians did the same, at first without success, as the Thracians +destroyed their colony. But in a second attempt they were more fortunate. +They established themselves near the mouth of the river Strymon, about +five miles from Eion, and founded the genuine Attic colony of AMPHIPOLIS. +It derived its name from the fact of its being situated on both banks of +the river and being surrounded by two arms of it; the city was planned +with great skill, and built on an excellent site, which nature itself had +destined to be a great commercial place, like Riga. The Athenians treated +it with especial favour: it was not founded like other places which +merely received cleruchi, or, according to the Roman fashion, did not +possess municipal jurisdiction, but was a true colonial town, and, to a +certain extent, independent of the supremacy of Athens. But the Thracians +were dangerous neighbours, especially the Edonians; and in order to +defend themselves against them, the colonists admitted Chalcidians +as their fellow-citizens, who soon formed the majority, because the +Chalcidian towns were not far distant, and because Amphipolis offered +more attractions than other places. The Amphipolitans exported timber, +corn, tar, pitch, iron, and other Thracian products: it was a necessary +mart for the Paeonians and other neighbouring nations. At the time of +the Peloponnesian war, when the exasperation between the Athenians and +Chalcidians had risen very high, the latter succeeded in treacherously +overpowering the Attic colony, and in securing the assistance of Sparta. +Brasidas defended it against Cleon, and fell in the battle, but the +possession of the town was nevertheless for a long time withheld from the +Athenians, and Amphipolis henceforth remained a Chalcidian town. In the +time of Timoleon, when the maritime power of Athens was again extended, +Amphipolis was obliged to acknowledge her supremacy, but soon renounced +it again, and the Athenians being then in an unwarlike condition were +unable to re-conquer it. The possession of Amphipolis then became one +of the baits by means of which Philip for a long time deceived the +Athenians; but he took it for himself, and thenceforth, as long as the +Macedonian empire existed, it remained one of its chief towns. Early +in the middle ages (in the seventh century), it was destroyed by the +Slavonians and other barbarians, and never recovered. The town of Seres +stepped into its place. + +The towns of ABDERA and MARONEA, both Ionian colonies of Teos, were +situated on the coast of Thrace proper. Abdera is celebrated from the +tradition about the silliness of its inhabitants, which has been carried +to the height of absurdity in the romance of Wieland. These stories have +almost made us forget, that Democritus, one of the greatest geniuses +of Greece, was a native of Abdera. Maronea was an ancient seat of the +worship of Bacchus, for the southern coast of Thrace is one of the +countries in which the nobler kinds of wine were produced at a very early +period. + +AENOS, an Aeolian town, was situated at the mouth of the river Hebrus. +All these countries afterwards belonged for a time to the kingdom of +Egypt. If my intention of editing Polybius conjointly with Bekker should +ever be realised, I contemplate adding a map of that coast. + +The CHERSONESUS, which, between forty and fifty miles in length, extends +between the κόλπος μέλας and the Hellespont, is connected with Thrace by +an isthmus of about five miles in breadth, and was formerly a Thracian +country, whence its name of _Chersonesus Thracica_. Such it appears in +the cyclic poems, and the faithless tyrant, to whom Hecuba entrusts +her son, is placed in this peninsula; but in the course of time Greeks +settled there, and hence arose the colonies of _Sestos_, _Eleus_ (Ἐλεοῦς, +Ἐλαιοῦς), and _Alopeconnesus_ on the coast of the Hellespont; but all +of them, with the exception of Sestos, were unimportant. The interior +contained the Thracian country of the Doloncians. When these latter were +attacked by the Thracian tribes, they, in common with the Greek towns, +applied to Athens for protection, for Athens was then already rising, +and fought with the Mityleneans for the possession of Sigeon. At that +time, the Athenians under Miltiades took possession of Chersonesus, and +protected it by a line of fortifications against the Thracians, on which +occasion they must have founded Cardia. The Thracians who formerly dwelt +there, now became allies and subjects, in which relation they remained +until the extension of the power of Persia. We must not imagine that the +first taking possession of Chersonesus was not the work of Pisistratus; +the tendency to refer to the people that which was done by the tyrants +alone, is one of the later republican vanities. Yet it does not follow, +that Athens at that time had a consolidated dominion over Chersonesus, +unless indeed it was broken after the expulsion of the Pisistratids. + +It contained twelve towns. The wall of Miltiades was long preserved, +though it was often broken through and restored. Near it was CARDIA, +according to tradition, an ancient Greek town, which only received new +strength through Miltiades. It was destroyed by Lysimachus, perhaps not +in anger, but, as was often done by the rulers of that time, for the +purpose of enriching a favourite town with inhabitants. Thus Mahomed I., +in order to raise Constantinople, transplanted to it many thousands of +Christian Armenians and other people. For Lysimachus founded LYSIMACHIA +by the side of Cardia, and this no doubt became his capital, though this +is nowhere expressly mentioned, for it is in the spirit of the times; +think only of Alexandria, Antioch, Demetrias, and Cassandrea! Lysimachia +was great and splendid; it was afterwards under the dominion of Syria; +in the wars between Seleucus Callinicus and Ptolemy Euergetes it passed +from the hands of the Syrians into those of the Egyptians. The latter +either set the town free, or it emancipated itself, and entered the +relation of sympolity with the Aetolians. As the latter were unable to +protect it, it was destroyed at the time of the Philippic war by the +Thracians, for the Thracian tribes were then very powerful and tyrannical +towards the Greeks. Being poorly restored by Antiochus the Great, it +thenceforth was little more than a name, until in the end it disappears +altogether. Cardia produced the historian Hieronymus, who wrote a history +of the successors of Alexander and their descendants (Epigoni); he was +an historian of great value, an able man, and a companion of Eumenes. +The latter, too, was a native of Cardia, a man of a better kind than the +other generals of Alexander; he was the only non-Macedonian who raised +himself to the rank of a prince; he had a real enthusiasm for the house +of Alexander, of which not a trace is to be found in any of the others. + +All the remaining places were either Athenian or Ionian, and +Alopeconnesus and Sestos alone are called Aeolian. Sestos is celebrated +through the legend of Hero, and in history on account of the long siege +which the Persians sustained there even after the battle of Mycale. This +is the site of the ancient Dardanelles; the Hellespont there is only +seven stadia in breadth. + +I ought to have mentioned ABYDOS on the opposite coast, when speaking +of Aeolis. It is renowned for its desperate defence against Philip, the +son of Demetrius, and Antiochus, in their war against young Ptolemy. It +is inconceivable what made the people of Abydos so determined not to +exchange one master for another: they made away with themselves in order +not to fall into the hands of Philip. + +At a later time, CALLIPOLIS (now Gallipoli) arose in the neighbourhood of +Sestos; it was an important town under the Byzantine emperors, and even +as early as the reign of Justinian. In antiquity it was so insignificant, +that it may be doubted as to whether it really existed. + +The Chersonesus appears gradually to have become completely hellenised, +although the Thracians were otherwise very obstinate. They entirely +disappeared there, either because they quitted the peninsula or because +they became amalgamated with the Greeks, for in the time of Philip all +the people were Greek, and from the time of Timotheus onward, for a +period of several years, the country was completely Athenian. But as +the Athenians sent cleruchi into it, the Thracians revolted: hence the +interference of Philip, who took possession of the peninsula. This was +the occasion of Demosthenes’ speech, περὶ τῶν ἐν Χερσονήσῳ. + +We shall now proceed along the Thracian coast as far as the mouth of the +Pontus, and then cross over to the coast of Asia. The sea between the +Hellespont and the Bosporus was called _Propontis_. The continuous line +of coast of this sea never was entirely in the hands of the Greeks, but +they possessed the most important points. On the Thracian coast, between +Chersonesus and Perinthus, they had but few places, but the whole of +the Bosporus was in their hands. The most important of these places is +Perinthus; but before we come to it there are several smaller ones, which +I will pass over. + +PERINTHUS, a Samian colony, if we consider the course of the history of +Samos, cannot have been founded after the time of the Persian war, and +must probably be assigned to the time of Polycrates. This is a point +which is self-evident, though no writer mentions it. The town is rarely +noticed in history, and is remarkable only on account of the siege of +Philip in Olymp. 109, when it was saved by the energetic assistance of +Athens, which was afforded to it on the proposal of Demosthenes. + +The Byzantine colony of SELYMBRIA (_bria_ with the Thracians signified a +town, as in Mesembria) was situated between Perinthus and Byzantium. + +BYZANTIUM, a colony of the Megarians, was situated between the Propontis, +the Bosporus, and the bay called _Ceras_. Under the Byzantine emperors, +this bay was called the Golden Horn (τὸ χρυσοῦν κέρας), and is situated +between Pera and Constantinople, forming the great port of the city +extending about five miles into the country; a river empties itself into +its μυχός. It is not known at what time the Megarians were powerful +enough to found such a colony, but, according to all accounts, it was +at an early period, perhaps during the tyrannis of Theagenes, or even +earlier. Megara probably acted only as mediator for the efflux of the +surplus population of the Dorians, for itself was too small. The original +name of Byzantium was Βύζας, of which the most distinct traces occur +in the antiquities of Constantinople, as you may see in Codinus, _De +originibus Constantinopolitanis_, a work which contains some important +matters concerning mythology; but its language is miserably bad. All +traditions go back to a hero Byzas, who is said to be the founder of +the place, and is represented on coins, just as Taras in the case of +Tarentum. A still older form was no doubt Βύζανς, like _Antians_, +_Romans_, _Campans_, _ans_ being a genuine Pelasgian ending. The +πολιτικὸν is Βυζάντιος, the citizens are called Βυζάντιοι, and the city +τὸ Βυζάντιον (supply πόλισμα) in Thucydides.[80] In the earlier writers, +such as Herodotus, οἱ Βυζάντιοι is far more common, for instead of the +names of places with the unusual terminations _as_ (_ans_) and _us_ +(_uns_), the names of the citizens are generally employed, as Λεοντῖνοι +in Sicily from Λεοῦς, which does not occur at all. Such forms are used +even where topically the place alone is meant. In like manner, we find +in the middle ages _Tusculana_ or _Tusculanum_ (supply _civitas_ or +_oppidum_), _Lanuvina_ or _Lanuvinum_; and many of these things have +descended to our own times, as _Palestrina_ for _Praenestina_. The +Romans called the city _Byzantium_, and from it they formed the new +adjective _Byzantinus_, which remained indeed foreign to the Greeks, but +is the only correct form in later times, when Byzantium was restored +under the name of Constantinople. + +I have made these observations, because even a grammarian like my dear +friend Buttmann[81] has been mistaken on this point. In order to decide +such questions, it is necessary to make investigations and to search +even in the inelegant corners of the literature of the fifth and sixth +centuries, and to be as familiar with it, as were Joseph Scaliger and J. +F. Gronovius. In our time scholars move within too narrow limits; but we +ought not to be satisfied with a knowledge of the elegant literature, but +must go down to the middle ages; there are many points in the language, +which receive the necessary light only from mediaeval writings.[82] +Buttmann is right so far as the classical period is concerned.[83] + +Byzantium was destined by nature to be one of the most important cities; +and it was so much designed to become a large place, that the oracle +commanding the settlers to establish themselves opposite to the coast of +the Blind, said nothing but the plain truth. Chalcedon on the opposite +coast was probably a Megarian settlement, but founded from Byzantium +at its very earliest period, and not 150 years before the foundation of +Byzantium by the Megarians. Byzantium controls the Bosporus and the whole +of the Euxine, and it is inconceivable how the Greeks could settle on the +Pontus, without previously taking possession of Byzantium. Its harbour +is extremely safe and fit for the largest vessels; and even on the south +side of the city, ships may anchor in the Propontis with great safety +and without being exposed to the winds. The current from the Black Sea +through the Hellespont affords a safety of defence, which is of great +importance in case of an attack from the west, and that even without any +necessity of fortifying the pass of Sestos. The climate is extremely +healthy, the situation most beautiful, and the country all around the +most fertile in the world. Not to leave unnoticed what is apparently +accidental, I may mention that the sea there abounds in fish, which are +a great advantage to those countries. The Black Sea is in general very +rich in fish, and from it, from the Palus Maeotis, from the Don and +Dniepr, large shoals of fish proceed annually through the Bosporus and +the Hellespont towards the Aegean Sea; but the current always throws +a great many into the harbour of Byzantium, where they find no outlet +and are caught with the greatest facility, especially tunny fish and +anchovies. When the Ionian cities became weaker, the Byzantians, availing +themselves of their situation, levied a toll upon ships passing through +the Bosporus, but were unable permanently to exact it, and became in +consequence involved in serious wars. + +Byzantium was conquered by a Persian general of Darius, and for a time +was nothing but a Persian fortress: the Greek inhabitants of the place +then dispersed, but the whole of the Bosporus and the country on the +other side of the Ceras as far as Selymbria, consisted of Byzantian +προάστεια. The circumference of the ancient city was not great, occupying +only about double the space of the present Seraglio. During the +Macedonian period, Byzantium, with extraordinary skill, preserved its +independence. In Olymp. 106, it undertook, in conjunction with Rhodes, +Chios, and Mitylene, the Social war against Athens. Under Lysimachus, +it appears to have formally maintained its political existence, paying +homage to him only by presents, and thus throughout all changes it +remained free until the time of the Romans. In the age of Cicero, +for example, Byzantium, as we see from his speech against Piso, was +a completely free city and in alliance with the Romans. As commerce +was constantly increasing in the Roman empire, Byzantium also rose in +prosperity, as is clear from certain statements of Tacitus. In the war of +Pescennius Niger against Septimius Severus, Byzantium stood out against +a desperate siege which lasted for three years; Niger had no hope of +conquering Severus and the West, and this seems to have suggested to +him the idea of dividing the empire, and of maintaining himself in the +East, of which Byzantium was to be the capital. When the city was taken, +Severus destroyed it completely, a piece of revenge which was otherwise +opposed to the character of that prudent emperor. The unfortunate +consequence was, that those seas were now thrown open to the barbarians. +The Goths, without any obstacle, penetrated into the Propontis, +overpowered the _claustra_ of the Hellespont, and spread over Greece. At +length Constantine restored Byzantium under the name of Constantinople; +he saw the necessity of founding a strong capital there, if he was to +maintain himself in the East. This determination of Constantine has been +censured, and the course of events seems to justify the censure; but +people overlook the fact that, if Constantine had not acted as he did, +the East would have been conquered first and much earlier, that part of +the empire being then much more in danger than the West. The Goths were +on the Danube, and the Huns were pressing on from the East, while the +Germans had been completely overpowered by the victories of Aurelian and +Probus; and in Gaul, too, not a man thought of making war against Rome. +The fact that afterwards circumstances turned out differently is no proof +that Constantine was wrong. Had not Constantinople been so strong a +place at that time, the eastern empire would have been lost. + +The gradual extension of Constantinople is a subject which would lead me +too far; but if, after I have given you the topography of Rome, there he +still time left, I shall add that of Constantinople. + +Let us now proceed to the southern coast of the Propontis. I will only +state in general, that the whole of the Asiatic side of the Hellespont, +as far as the entrance into the Propontis was completely covered with +Greek towns, nearly all of which, like Lampsacus and Dardanus, were +Aeolian; a few only were Ionian. But CYZICUS, on the south coast of +the Propontis, was a town which enjoyed great celebrity both in the +earlier and the somewhat later periods of antiquity. It is a disputed +point whether originally it was situated on a peninsula connected with +the mainland by a narrow neck, or whether it was in reality an island +which was artificially connected with the opposite coast by means of a +causeway. It was a Milesian colony, protected against the barbarians +by its isolated position, and it acquired importance at first by +agriculture, and afterwards by navigation and commerce. It is mentioned +by Thucydides and Xenophon, but its real greatness belongs to the +Macedonian period, when, to judge from its ruins and the vast number +of coins found there, it must have been a very large and wealthy city. +It is historically important on account of the siege during which its +inhabitants defended themselves bravely, resolutely, and heroically, +against Mithridates; the Romans rewarded them for it with distinctions +and favours of every kind; and Cyzicus, under the Romans, continued to be +a considerable city. It seems to have been destroyed during the Gothic +invasion in the third century; under the Byzantine emperors it was only a +small provincial town. + +There were several other little Greek colonies on the same coast, such +as _Cios_, _Astacos_, and others, which were subsequently conquered by +the Bithynian kings, in consequence of which their names were changed. I +shall say more of them when I come to speak of Bithynia. + +CHALCEDON, opposite to Byzantium, was according to tradition older than +it; it may have existed before, but certainly not as a Greek town. It is +likewise said to have been a Megarian colony; but it never was of any +historical importance. On coins it is called Καλχεδών, but in many MSS. +we find Καλχηδών, whence it is often confounded with Καρχηδών. + +The Greek towns on the Thracian coast from the Bosporus onwards are +in themselves of no historical importance. MESEMBRIA was built by the +Byzantians at the time when, during the Ionian war, their own city had +been taken by the Persians. Nearly all settlements in those parts were +Ionian colonies sent out by Miletus, with the exception of CALATIS which +was a Dorian colony of Heraclea; but APOLLONIA and all places further on +as far as the Borysthenes are Milesian. All these towns as far as Olbia, +as I said before, are of no importance in history, if we except Tomi, +which derives its interest from the fact that Ovid lived there in exile. + +TOMI is also called Τομεῖς, which is another instance of the variety +of adjectives. Τομεύς (Τομεῖς) is an adjective, from which is formed +Τομείτης, and from it again the Latin _Tomitanus_, so that we have three +forms of the ethnic name. The description which Ovid, in his Tristia, +gives of his sufferings in that place, as well as the Βορυσθενιτικὸς +of Dion Chrysostomus, is of historical interest, because it furnishes +us a picture of the mode of life in that country. Those distant Greeks +maintained themselves as Greeks down to the times of the Romans, but they +had enough intercourse with the barbarians to adopt many of their manners +and customs, nay, even some peculiarities of language, so that they +really were Μιξέλληνες. + +The coast of Thrace as far as mount Haemus is beautiful, but in the north +of Haemus as far as the Ister, it is inhospitable, for it is rocky, and +the country a mere steppe. North of the Ister as far as the Crimea, the +coast, though high, is a perfect steppe; the country is flat and often +well adapted for agriculture, but unfit for trees, because the soil which +is often very fertile is only a few feet deep, and rests upon a stony +stratum of ochre, which destroys the roots of trees. + +The coast to the north of the Ister as far as the Dniepr or the town of +Tyras is called Γετῶν ἐρημία, either because it had been a desert at all +times, or because it had been changed into a wilderness. At the mouth of +the Dniepr, TYRAS, near Akermann, was the only town, and probably even +this was only a factory. ODESSOS, which must not be confounded with the +distant Odessa, was situated near the Ister. I will remark here by the +way, that the name Odessa has been quite unreasonably adopted from the +ancient town Odessos. + +The ancient city of OLBIA, once, as its name indicates, a wealthy town, +was situated between Odessa and Oczakow; it was also termed _Borysthenis_ +or _Borysthenopolis_, but the city is generally called Olbia, while its +inhabitants are spoken of under the names of Βορυσθενοπολῖται, Ὄλβιοι, +and Ὀλβιοπολῖται. It was a great emporium for the Greek corn trade +with the countries about the Dniepr. That trade was carried on from +two points, first from the Ukraine and the Dniepr, and secondly from +Phanagoria, the Cimmerian Bosporus, the Don, and the Taurian Chersonesus. +As apparently unimportant circumstances often supply the place of +historical information, so the decay of Olbia justifies the inference +that the commerce of the Dniepr, to which Olbia owed its greatness, must +have been destroyed, and that too in consequence of the invasion of those +countries by the Gauls on the one hand, and by the Sarmatians on the +other. Agriculture must have been ruined, and nomadic tribes appear to +have settled there. The Bosporanian towns retained their importance, but +Olbia was insignificant compared with what it had been, and never rose +again. When a place, after its destruction, continues to be inhabited, +the stones and especially marble, are ill preserved: Olbia had received +its death-blow, and though it continued for a time to be inhabited by +the Greeks, it was afterwards completely destroyed by the barbarians, and +never restored. Innumerable inscriptions are thus buried in the ground, +from which we can gather information about the condition of Olbia; one of +them[84] refers to the period preceding the appearance of the Sarmatae. +From Dion Chrysostomus, we know that in Caesar’s time the Sarmatae +came across the Dniepr, and took and destroyed Olbia. In his own time +Olbia was a thinly inhabited and decayed place of large circumference. +Afterwards it is no longer mentioned. From Herodotus, who himself visited +the place, we can best see how great it was in his time. + +From Olbia, we proceed to the Crimea, the _Chersonesus Taurica_, in +modern times sometimes called _Tauris_,—a name of which it has been +justly remarked, that it was unknown to the ancients, but it does not +follow that we too should not use it; only in writing Latin we should +not employ it, but follow the practice of the ancients. The correct name +is Ταυρική; and Ταυρίς, though correctly formed, does not occur, but +the country was called from its inhabitants Ταῦροι, whence Ἰφιγένεια +ἐν Ταύροις, and not _in Tauride_. This Taurian Chersonesus consists of +two halves which are separated nearly equally by a diagonal running +from north-west to south-east. The southern half has an excellent range +of hills, whereas the other is a steppe. The former was inhabited by +Taurians, the latter by Scythians; the Taurians were, as Herodotus says, +foreign to the Scythians. The Greeks formed settlements on the coast of +the Taurian country, and also on the Cimmerian Bosporus. + +The great town called CHERSONESUS was situated on the promontory of a +small island, as the isthmus could easily be defended by fortifications; +it had an excellent harbour, for which reason it had been chosen as the +site of a colony. The town was a colony of Heraclea in Bithynia, whose +greatness belongs to the period previous to the Mithridatic wars; its +vicissitudes are manifold; it must have been founded after the time of +Herodotus, as he does not mention it. The passage in which he speaks of +those countries, shows that he would have noticed it, if it had existed. +But whenever it may have been founded, it became important at an early +period, and was known under the name of Ἡρακλεία ἐν Χερσονήσῳ, or simply +Χερσόνησος. In consequence of attacks from barbarous tribes, it was +obliged to place itself under the protection of Mithridates Eupator. +This was the beginning of happy times for the Greeks in those parts; the +whole of the Crimea was united under one government, and the barbarians +were excluded by fortifications on the isthmus. The kings of Bosporus, +descendants of Mithridates, governed the peninsula as a splendid little +kingdom under the protection of the Romans, who never introduced their +provincial institutions there, but were satisfied with the recognition +of their supremacy and presents. Under this government the Chersonesus +retained its importance, and when the kingdom of Bosporus was broken up, +Chersonesus, which now assumed the name of _Cherson_, became a republic. +As such it existed not only in the reign of Justinian, when the Romans +protected the inhabitants as their allies and in that of the descendants +of Heraclius, but even afterwards under Constantine Porphyrogenitus (see +his detailed article Χερσῶν in the work _De Administrando Imperio_). +The constitution of this republic cannot be satisfactorily ascertained, +but its magistrates were called πρωτεύοντες. The place was then still +Greek, and Greek was spoken there, and national chronicles were kept in +the Greek language, which the author of the work just mentioned made +use of. Afterwards the peninsula was taken by the Russians under their +prince Wladimir, the first great conqueror who aimed at the possession +of Greece. The town was not indeed destroyed on that occasion, but many +things of value were carried away, as for example, the bronze gates of +the churches. Soon after, the Chazars and other barbarians came and +took possession of the town, which then disappears from history. In +1784, when the Russians took the Crimea, the town no longer existed, but +only extensive ruins. Regular and systematic excavations might have led +to important discoveries, but the Russians built a harbour for their +navy; everything was rudely demolished for the purpose of using it as +building material; all the iron was torn away, and the bricks employed +elsewhere, so that at present not a trace appears of what forty years ago +promised certain reward for suitable exertion. Inscriptions, as far as I +know, have not been found; but a large number of coins of the Byzantine +period have been brought to light, from which we see that the town, like +Venice, even then had its own right of coinage under the protection of +Constantinople. + +Larger or smaller Greek settlements existed near most of the harbours. +THEODOSIA or THEUDOSIA in the neighbourhood of Kaffa, formed the western +frontier of the kingdom of Bosporus. At present the name Theodosia (in +Russian, Feodosia), has been transferred to Kaffa, but I believe that +those are right who consider this transference to be without foundation. + +PHANAGORIA, in the eastern part of the Crimea, was situated on an +eminence, and was the chief Greek city in those parts. Although the +antiquities there have been destroyed in a barbarous manner, the place +still is an inexhaustible mine, and the remains show a degree of beauty +which excites our astonishment; the Bosporan coins are beautiful, and +the vases, statues, and the like are exquisite. Phanagoria was a very +ancient Greek colony of Miletus; it rose to greatness at an early period, +and was governed by a γένος bearing the name of Archaeanactidae, so that +its form of government was at first aristocratic. The Archaeanactidae +were probably succeeded by a democracy, and this by a tyrannis. Among +the tyrants, Leucon is of some interest to us, because Demosthenes, in +his speech against Leptines, speaks of an honorary right conferred upon +him for having done service to Athens. He was succeeded by Satyrus and +others, who completely undermined the republican constitution, which was +perhaps not suited to those countries. The Greek inhabitants were really +much indebted to those princes for preserving their wealth and happiness +in the midst of impetuous barbarians. Their names show distinct traces +of a connection with Persia; thus we often meet with the name Parysades, +which is nothing else than Perisades, the son of a fairy (Peri); +according to the Greek pronunciation the resemblance is stronger than +according to ours. + +The kingdom of Bosporus embraced the whole of the eastern Crimea as +far as Theodosia, and the opposite island of _Taman_, _Tamacan_, or, +as Strabo calls it _Tamyrace_. It formed settlements also on the Palus +Maeotis and on the Euxine. In the time of Mithridates Eupator, it was +governed by king Parysades, who, being unable to check the invading +Sarmatae, surrendered his kingdom to Mithridates; the latter then +undertook an expedition into the Crimea, partly for the purpose of +extending his empire, and partly for that of training his army for the +war against the Romans. As long as he lived, Bosporus was his province; +it then passed into the hands of his family, which, like himself, had +become completely hellenized, though they were of Persian origin. We can +trace the names of the princes down to the fourth century from their +coins, the later ones of which show on one side the head of the reigning +emperor of Rome, and on the other that of the Bosporan king. + +I cannot at this moment give you an accurate account of the towns in the +island of Taman, but they were without importance. The town of TANAIS, +which may have been very ancient, was situated at the mouth of the river +Tanais. + +This small kingdom, ever since the time of Mithridates, comprised the +whole of the Crimea; across the isthmus, a line of fortifications had +been constructed to defend the Crimea against the northern barbarians. + +An ancient Περίπλους περὶ Πόντον Εὔξεινον, the beginning of which is +lost, is a compilation from the earlier Greek Περίπλοι and from the work +of Scymnus of Chios, and contains the distances. But it is very doubtful +when it was composed; I believe that it is a late production, perhaps of +the time of Justinian, or even later, for all the distances are given in +stadia and Roman miles, and the town of Chersonesus is called Cherson. + +Greek towns existed not only there, on the coast south of mount Kuban, +about the promontory of mount Caucasus, but even in the easternmost +corner of the Black Sea. On the eastern coast we find COLCHIS, which +exported the products of those parts, which are extremely wealthy, and +form one of the most fertile countries in the world. In the upper part +it contains wide and beautiful valleys, but the land is too high and not +as rich as in Mingrelia. DIOSCURIA, a port town on a gulf, PHASIS, and +several other places on the south coast of the Euxine, were likewise +founded by Greek colonists. + +If we proceed further west in this direction, we come first to TRAPEZUS, +a place well known from Xenophon’s Anabasis, to which it owes its +celebrity; afterwards it is not prominent again, until the time when a +dynasty of the Comneni established itself there, which even survived +the fall of the empire of Constantinople. In the earlier times it is +not very important. It did not belong to Cappadocia, but was situated +in the country now occupied by the Lazes, a people speaking a peculiar +Caucasian language. At Trapezus, the Greek language has maintained itself +among the Christians, while otherwise it is almost extinct in Asia Minor. +The statement made in the oral traditions of the Greeks, that the Doric +dialect was spoken there, is very doubtful. + +AMISOS, a Milesian colony[85] on the Euxine, the birth-place of Strabo, +was an important Greek town in Cappadocia proper. It is strange that such +a distant corner of the Greek world should have given birth to a Strabo; +the number of faults that can be pointed out in his Greek diction is +very small, and even these may be only dialectical; otherwise he writes +excellently, for he thinks correctly; the loss of his history is ever to +be lamented, for it was assuredly a first-rate work. + +The whole country of Trapezus rests on rough Armenian mountains; it is a +beautiful country, and to us northern people it would appear excellent, +but it is, nevertheless, very different from the blessed fields of Asia +Minor. The district containing Amisos and Sinope, on the other hand, +is a paradise; its fertility even in antiquity reached a height which +we can scarcely imagine in an ideal land, and such is the whole of the +north coast of Asia Minor as far as Constantinople. The winters, however, +are comparatively severe; the south winds from the Armenian mountains +are indeed bracing, but do not much impede the growth of the most +exquisite fruit of the south. All Greek towns in that part were free and +independent, until the kings of Pontus became powerful and subdued them +all, even Amisos. + +SINOPE, north-west of the mouth of the Halys, and geographically within +the boundaries of Paphlagonia, was in ancient times the greatest Greek +town in those parts. Its site is one of those which must be noticed on +account of its great excellence; it was situated on a peninsula connected +with the main land by a narrow isthmus; the coast in the neighbourhood +is rocky, so that foreign ships cannot easily land. The peninsula was +of considerable extent, so that the town embraced large districts, +which were used by the inhabitants as gardens, vineyards, and fields, +and which in time of war furnished means of subsistence. The tunny +fish from the sea of Azow arrive there first, and the Sinopians have +the first advantage; these fish always pass along the coast, and in the +end, as I have already remarked, go into the harbour of Byzantium. The +advantages of its situation made the town great and prosperous, and its +inhabitants maintained their independence till towards the end of the +Hannibalian war, when Pharnaces, king of Pontus, took possession of it. +From that time it was the capital of Pontus; the kings resided in it, and +Mithridates Eupator adorned it with splendid buildings of every kind. It +was then conquered by Lucullus, and though it was not destroyed, its fate +was terrible. Under the Romans it was again a wealthy provincial town of +considerable importance. + +The Greek towns CYTOROS, CROMNA, TION, and SESAMOS anciently existed on +the west of Sinope. Amastris, a daughter of a brother of the last Darius, +and the wife of Dionysius of Heraclea (she was afterwards married to +Lysimachus), united all these towns into one, which she called AMASTRIS, +and which became Greek, although she herself was a barbarian. Tion +afterwards revived as a separate town. + +HERACLEA, a colony of Megara, and consequently a Dorian place, was +founded at an early period in the country of the Mariandynians, who +afterwards became the serfs of the Heracleotae, and stood to them in the +same relation as the Helots did to the Spartans. The city ruled over an +extensive and fertile country, took an active part in the navigation of +the Black Sea, and founded the town of Chersonesus. During the Persian +dominion it maintained its independence, and the satraps were unable +to exercise much influence upon it. The later history of Heraclea is +the same as that of all other towns, of which the constitution was not +modified according to the exigencies of the time: the ancient forms +could not be maintained, and the town fell into the hands of tyrants, +who governed it uninterruptedly until the Macedonian period. Several +of these tyrants were extremely mild, as, for example, Clearchus in the +time of Plato, whose mind was cultivated by the study of philosophy, and +several members of his family afterwards reigned in the same spirit. +Amastris, too, ruled there for a long time, and through her the town +became subject to Lysimachus. Afterwards a republican constitution was +again established there, and remained until the time of the Romans. +Heraclea was allied with Rome at an early period, and was favoured by +her; but in the war against Mithridates, Heraclea unfortunately declared +itself in his favour, in consequence of which it was taken and cruelly +treated by Cotta, and the Romans even sent a colony to it, a measure +which otherwise they never adopted in those countries. Thenceforth it +always remained a considerable town, as is still attested by its ruins. +We know the history of Heraclea from the extracts made by Photius from +the local history of Memnon, whose work was based on that of Nymphis. + + +EPIRUS. + +Epirus is one of the few names which, being originally adjectives, have +by accident become proper names. Ἤπειρος, as is well known, occurs in +the Odyssey as opposed to the Cephallenian islands. In this sense the +meaning of the name is almost of indefinite extent, but afterwards, +and ever since the Macedonian period, a definite usage, of which +traces are found even before, became established; such a trace occurs +particularly in Xenophon’s Hellenica, where the name Epirus is applied +to the country north of the Ambracian gulf. But in the earlier times, +and even in Thucydides, it comprises a tract of country of far greater +extent, at least as far as the entrance to the Corinthian gulf; nay, it +even reaches beyond, embracing Aetolia and the country of the Ozolian +Locrians. This indefiniteness arises from the fact, that the towns in +those districts were so far removed from the other Greeks, and were +accordingly very little known to them. In all great nations consisting +of many tribes, some of which form the real centre, there are others +which are scarcely noticed at all; and such also was the case with the +Greeks in those parts, as well as in Apulia in Italy. This is proved +by the colonization of those coasts, which I have already mentioned, +just as if they had been inhabited by barbarians; I need only recall +to your recollection the colonies of Anactorium, Leucas, Alyzia on the +Acarnanian coast, and Chalcis on the Aetolian. Those nations were even +more foreign to the Greeks than the Thessalians, so that the Aetolians +and Acarnanians did not belong to the Amphictyonic league, though it +included even Malians, Dolopians, Aenianians, Magnetes, and others. These +are antiquarian points, to which we must direct our attention, in order +to obtain a clear and distinct view. + +We shall speak of Epirus in its narrower sense. Its new and narrower +frontiers were formed especially at the time when the great Pyrrhus +became king of Epirus, and when the kingdom founded by him gained +consistency. In later times it was of a still more limited extent. As +those tribes, when they did speak Greek, spoke in the Doric dialect, +they called themselves Ἀπειρῶται, as we see from their coins, both +regal and republican. This form also remained the most familiar to +the Romans, and has been preserved down to our own time in the word +_apricots_ (_mala Apirotica_); in like manner, we find in Plautus _Alis_ +and _Alii_ for _Elis_ and _Elii_. Later writers indeed used _Epirus_ +and _Epiroticus_, but these are changes of the literary language, while +the genuine and more ancient form continued to be used in the popular +and spoken language. The Epirots must also have had a real national +name of their own; and this name has been preserved by Mnaseas, a pupil +of Aristarchus, in a scholion on the Odyssey. It was Siceli, like that +of the Oenotrians in Italy, and of the inhabitants of Sicily. I have +published a short essay on this subject in the _Rheinisches Museum_,[86] +and have shown that the Siceli mentioned in the Odyssey must be those of +Epirus, that the ancient grammarian is perfectly right in this respect, +and that for this reason the last rhapsody of the Odyssey is of quite a +different origin from the rest. Satisfactory results in the higher kind +of criticism, regarding the age of authors, may be arrived at in many +cases either by mere grammatical, or by mere historical philology, but +it is infinitely better if both can be combined, and such is the case +here, the one supporting the other. Bentley’s investigations on the +Epistles of Phalaris and the Fables of Aesop are models of inquiries, in +which historical and grammatical philology go hand in hand. Much that is +excellent has already been done for the Homeric poems; but there is still +much to be removed, and all the details must be treated of in connection +with one another. I am not speaking here of that which has already been +done by Wolf. + +The name Siceli, as I said before, is ancient; but how long it was in +actual use is a different question. The correctness of the statement, +however, cannot be doubted. Another statement, from Theopompus, a writer +who notwithstanding many faults contains much that is instructive, +declares the Epirots to be Pelasgians. As regards the Pelasgian nations, +I think I may refer you to what I have said elsewhere;[87] I will defer +the discussion of this subject until I have made more progress in these +Lectures; I should like here to explain my views, but the time would +thereby become too short for the task I have proposed to myself. I will +therefore compress what I have to say in few words. The Pelasgians were +a race distinct from the Hellenes, but sprung from the same root as +they, and essentially and nearly allied to them. The difference was not +distinctly understood in the earliest times, whence many nations are +called by one author Hellenes, and by another Pelasgians. The statement +that the Hellenes in the Iliad are not yet mentioned by a common name, +that Hellenes and non-Hellenes were first properly distinguished by +Thucydides, refers to the difference existing between the Hellenes +and Pelasgians. Thus, e.g., Dodona in the Homeric Catalogue is called +Hellenic, and Herodotus calls the Molottians and Thesprotians Hellenes, +and so also the Epirots, as he was guided by their religion. But +Thucydides, who judged from the language of a nation, considers the +Epirots as different from the Hellenes, nay, he expressly calls them +barbarians. We understand by Epirots the nations extending from the +frontier of Illyricum as far as upper Macedonia (without as yet deciding +upon the name Macedonia), and then along mount Pindus as far as the +Achelous. To these nations we shall apply the name Epirots. I will first +mention what points they have in common, and then determine which of them +are to be regarded as Epirots and which not. These nations, at least +their educated classes, had so far adopted the Greek language, as to +employ it everywhere in public and written transactions. This accounts +for Polybius always distinctly including them among the Greeks; and +he does so even in regard to those who lived beyond the boundaries of +Epirus fixed by Pyrrhus: though on one occasion he makes Philip, the son +of Demetrius, say of the Aetolians, that they ought not to boast too +much of their Hellenic character, nor to distinguish the Macedonians +from the Hellenes, since the greater part of them were descended from +non-Hellenes and barbarians. And the nations there spoken of were Epirot +tribes. In this manner, Polybius somewhat contradicts himself. But it +is only critics fond of hair-splitting that can attach any weight to +such a contradiction; an author like Polybius, even without scrupulously +weighing his words, can not mislead a sensible reader. + +Epirus, with the exception of the district on the Ambracian gulf, is +altogether a mountainous country. The mountains coming down from the +north rise, as in Illyricum, between the district of the Drino and the +frontier of Epirus, where they remove considerably from the coast, so +that this part consists of low hills on the coast, and of undulating +river districts of great extent. The mountains which separate Macedonia +and Illyricum, and which there form such gigantic masses, extend in the +south towards the sea, and hence constitute the boundary between Epirus +and the country, from which the Illyrians on their progress towards the +south, were unable to expel the native tribes. The CERAUNIAN mountains, +running parallel with the coast of Corfu, extend into the Adriatic Sea, +and end in a promontory without having any continuation in Italy. The +opposite mountains in Calabria (the modern Terra di Lecce) form a high +plateau of limestone, whereas on the east of the Adriatic they consist +partly of slate and partly of primary rocks. In the east of Epirus, +PINDUS extends in a series of parallel ranges, and rises to its greatest +height in those very parts, its summit separating Epirus and Thessaly. +The mountains there are in a high degree volcanic, whence the name +Ceraunian, for it is literally a perpetually thundering mountain. The +ancients knew very well, what modern natural philosophers for a time +disbelieved, that thunder-storms may arise from the earth as well as +from the atmosphere; and the former is the case especially in volcanic +districts. Aristotle and Pliny knew this quite well, but about fifty +years ago it was unknown to our natural philosophers. Even at times when +there is no volcanic eruption of mount Vesuvius, not only subterraneous +but real thunder is often heard, and a person looking without prejudice +may see flashes of lightning issuing from the volcano. Hence those +mountains are described as seats of lightning. Those terrible mountains, +_infames scopuli Acroceraunia_, fully deserve this name, because they +form a rocky and harbourless coast. The scirocco, the destructive south +wind, dashes the ships against those rocks, and there is no port far +and wide in which they might take refuge. That part of the Adriatic is +still notorious for numerous shipwrecks. Another circumstance which makes +it dangerous, and which was known to the ancients, but of which moderns +are ignorant, is the Syrtes. The accounts of the ancients about them +are by no means fabulous: they are dangerous on account of the currents +which flow straightway into both the larger and the lesser Syrtis; if a +sailor gets into them, he knows not where he is, and during a north wind +it is impossible for him to work his way against it and the Syrtes. The +ancients understanding this, sailed closer to the coast; at present, when +sailors keep more to the middle, there is less danger. If the countries +east of the Adriatic should ever become the seat of commerce and exports, +shipwrecks would again be very common. There are two currents, the one +a continuation of that from the Black Sea, meets that from the Adriatic +in the south-west of Malea; they then move on diagonally in a curve, +and thus enter the Syrtes. The current from the Adriatic increases the +danger of the Ceraunia. From the head of the Ceraunia, the inhospitable +coast extends a considerable distance till opposite Corfu. The heights +then extend inland towards Pindus, and the southern districts present +fertile hills covered with cork-oaks; these hills are lower, and only a +few lofty peaks rise out of them, which are very difficult of access. +The country about the Ambracian gulf, to a very considerable extent, is +mostly alluvial land (in modern Greek βάλτος). The marshes, now called +Valtos, are formed by the sea, the Arachthus, and the other rivers; they +are constantly increasing, yet the increase amounts to less than what is +lost at the mouth of the Achelous. + +THESPROTIA, the southern and lower country, is the true seat of +subterraneous commotions, whence in antiquity it was the land of terrors, +and was believed to be connected with the dismal regions of the lower +world: in the autumn, scarcely a day passes on which the ground does +not tremble under the feet of its inhabitants. From the Acherusian lake +(the lake of Janina) a river issues, which is soon lost in the earth, +but afterwards re-appears and discharges its waters into the sea. This +re-appearance was naturally enough doubted by the ancients, and is a +disputed point even now, though I for one have no hesitation in saying +that it is the same river. This river is the ACHERON or STYX (for in +some accounts the two are the same); these are the muddy waters of the +lower world, for the soil of Thesprotia is loose and rich, and the rivers +are heavy with mud; hence the country is wonderfully fertile, and a +real storehouse of grain for Europe, but it is unhealthy, and, with the +exception of the mountainous parts, the water is bad. + +That country was until very recently a _terra incognita_ to Europeans; +the ancients mention very few towns in it, and their descriptions are +unsatisfactory. Before the year 1798, when the Ionian islands came into +the hands of the French, no European traveller had ever visited the +interior of Epirus. It was, therefore, an unknown country, the interior +was a complete blank in geographical maps, and the rivers were drawn at +random. D’Anville complains of the total want of information, and with +his slender means he accomplished all that could be accomplished, but he +himself says, that he drew his map of the country with great uncertainty. +He did not know, e.g., the site of the lake of Janina, and imagined that +it was somewhere near the coast. The geography of Melitios, archbishop of +Janina, contains a very respectable description of Epirus; it was written +at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and from it the excellent +Barbié du Bocage made the first comparatively correct map of Epirus, +which accompanies Barthélemy’s _Voyage du jeune Anacharsis_. Afterwards +the country was much visited by French and English officers, and +Vaudoncourt and the English consul[88] ... have immensely increased our +knowledge of the country, so that now it is perfectly well known, and the +obscurity in which many of the statements of the ancients were involved +is now sufficiently removed; our present maps of Epirus, too, are quite +satisfactory. The first map of this kind was one of the Turkish empire by +a modern Greek, which was published at Trieste; it was made for Greeks, +and in the modern Greek language; I received it with great pleasure, and +Epirus appeared in it in quite a new light. + +The exploits of the Suliots have made Epirus hallowed ground to every +one who is not devoid of human feeling and sympathy. Their deeds of +valour described in the history of Major Perrevos, and in the excellent +abridgment of Fauriel, a Frenchman, surpass everything that is related +in epic poetry, and transfer us from our artificial age, so thoroughly +devoid of character, into an age of heroes. They are among the most +remarkable people of our time: their sufferings have stirred up our +keenest sympathy; to them we are indebted for the delight of having +witnessed a heroic age, while our own life has become so uniformly +European, that everything has assumed a general and vague character; the +Suliots will have an interest for all succeeding ages. The Epirots, on +the testimony of Thucydides, were formerly considered as barbarians, with +the exception of Pyrrhus, and I myself have looked upon them in the same +light; but they are now dear to us, and we honour them. For this reason, +I shall here enter more into detail than elsewhere, and perhaps more than +the relative importance of the country requires. + +A country so near to a mighty internal power of the unfathomable earth +may be expected to be distinguished for extraordinary fertility. Few +parts of Greece have an _honos montium et silvarum_ like that of Epirus; +it contains the most beautiful mountains, covered only in a few places +with fir-wood, but for the most part with the most splendid foliage. The +fertility in the valleys is almost fabulous. The fuller’s earth in the +country of the Stymphaeans contains traces of volcanic decomposition. +But the animal creation too is very rich: the Molottian dogs are the +strongest in all Greece; the herds of cattle appear to have reached +their perfection in antiquity by careful breeding, for at present they +are much inferior. The flourishing farms resembling those of Switzerland +have perished under the dominion of barbarians; in Buthroton alone they +still are equally good. The horses are small, robust, and strong, but not +lasting. + +Epirus was full of small tribes; fourteen or fifteen are enumerated, +some which occupied large, and others small districts; I shall speak +only of the more important among them. The most prominent in what may be +termed the history of Epirus Proper, are the CHAONIANS, THESPROTIANS, and +MOLOTTIANS, to which I may add the AMPHILOCHIANS and ORESTIANS, both of +which are to some extent beyond the boundaries of Epirus in its narrower +sense. In the earliest times they did not form a definite union, but +in one part of the country some tribes had a predominating influence +at an early period, first the Chaonians, then the Thesprotians, and in +the historical times the Molottians. We must not, however, imagine that +these tribes subjugated the others, or reduced them to the condition of +perioeci; but their relation resembled that of the free allies of Rome, +and they recognised the majesty of the ruling people only by presents +and fidelity. Several of these tribes had a regal government (the most +ancient among all the Greek and kindred nations) down to very late times. +One member of a γένος was either elected by the people, or enjoyed +a hereditary right to the throne. This sacred hereditary principle +continued for a long period; to it those tribes owed their importance +in later times, and without it they never would have had the power and +influence with which they afterwards appear in history. When all forms +had become obsolete and effete, those nations which still adhered to +the hereditary regal power, were enjoying a great advantage. This was +the only reason why Sparta maintained itself so long: when its royal +family perished, the Spartans, too, were lost. We find, however, in +Epirus the same stages of development as among other nations, and royalty +was succeeded by the dominion of the γένη. Traces of this occur in +Thucydides; in speaking of the Chaonians, he mentions an ἀρχικὸν γένος, +and I think I have found distinct evidence that the Καμπυλίδαι were this +ruling γένος. + +The CHAONIANS occupied the extreme north-west of the country, in and +about the Ceraunian mountains, which is now inhabited by the Cimariots. +They were, no doubt, the same as the Chonians in southern Italy, and of +Pelasgic origin. Although they are said in the earliest times to have +enjoyed a kind of supremacy, yet the Thesprotians are very conspicuous in +the most ancient Greek records, because their country contained in its +high mountains the oracle of DODONA, the centre of the public religion +of the Pelasgians, as Samothrace, in the east, was the centre of their +mysteries. The Greeks, as a kindred nation, were not excluded from +either. Dodona must not be conceived as an important town; many inquiries +have been made in Epirus to ascertain its site, but traces of a real +town have not been found anywhere, and Epirus in general was inhabited +only κωμηδόν, and not κατὰ πόλεις. The place, however, where Dodona +stood has been discovered with some degree of certainty: the summit of +a hill or mountain surrounded by Cyclopian walls, so that its sides are +quite precipitous, is commonly supposed to be the site. The mountains of +Epirus were no more fortified than Suli; whereas the idea of a πόλις is +a place surrounded by a wall. The hill of Dodona was the κρησφύγετον, +that is, the place to which, in times of war, women, children, old men, +and moveable property were conveyed for the sake of safety. The sanctuary +was situated in an ancient and immense oak-forest on mount Tmarus; but +from a statement in Servius, we learn that this sanctuary was disturbed +by Illyrian robbers. The passage of Servius is corrupt, and I have +emended it, because it is of great interest in regard to Greek history. +Our knowledge of Dodona is extremely defective; it was situated beyond +the sphere of Greek culture, so that it is always mentioned only by the +way, just as is the case with Delphi. What should we know of Delphi, +had not Pausanias left us a description of it? The article in Stephanus +Byzantinus contains the most important information about Dodona; and more +may be elicited from it than has yet been done; the article has not yet +been made quite clear. Bells, or pieces of metal, which were struck with +hammers, seem to have been suspended from the trees around the sanctuary. +Wagons in ancient times were likewise provided with pieces of metal or +bells, in order that in the narrow streets timely warning might be given +to others to make room; such things are still found among the antiquities +of Herculaneum. + +In the time of the Peloponnesian war, the Thesprotians were without +kings, but the MOLOTTIANS had a regal government; the fact of their race +being traced to Achilles was only an accommodation to Greek legends, and +they did not call the hero Achilles, but Aspetus.[89] Their genealogies +are very obscure. They regarded themselves as Pelasgians, and traced +their ancestors back to the flood of Deucalion. They were insignificant +until the time of their king, Tharyps,[90] who was said to have been +educated at Athens, and introduced among them, at the time of the +Peloponnesian war, Greek manners and culture, Greek gymnasia, buildings, +language, etc., and gave them the Hellenic unction. From this time onward +the Molottians rose, though slowly, to importance, and gradually became +the predominating people in Epirus, in which they were assisted by +various circumstances. The extent of the power of the Molottian kings, +whose right was based upon their γένος, was not greater than that of the +kings of the Greek tribes, or of the German chiefs before the migration +of nations. But just like these latter, they had absolute power over +conquered tribes, and the same Molottian kings, who in their own country +were in reality no more than magistrates, and to whom the people might +lawfully refuse obedience, ruled over the neighbouring Epirot tribes +and the Greek cities under their dominion with unlimited power. In like +manner, king Clovis was limited in his power over the Franks, but was +a complete despot in regard to the Roman provincials. When, therefore, +such a people made conquests, the king, notwithstanding the letter of +the constitution (if we may use this term here for something which was +not written), became absolute master of the conquered. Such was the +case of Alexander, and such also was that of Pyrrhus, who was further +strengthened by the splendour of his victories. The Spartan kings, too, +would have liked to make themselves absolute masters of the perioeci, but +the Ephors stepped in to prevent it. + +Down to the time of Philip, who, while the succession was disputed, +raised Alexander, his brother-in-law, the son of Neoptolemus, and +brother of Olympias, to the throne, the Molottians had as yet little +extended their power. But Philip gave Alexander the territory called +Cassiopea containing three Greek towns; at that time the Thesprotians +also came under the power of the Molottians. But notwithstanding this, +the Molottian kings were obliged every year, at Passaro, the capital of +their country, to promise on oath, that they would obey the laws of the +land, and the people in return took a corresponding oath. Alexander, +the son of Neoptolemus, may have extended his dominion a little in the +west, he may even have made the Chaonians[91] his subjects; but I cannot +decide these points, though it is probable that he penetrated into the +northern parts. Ambracia which, geographically speaking, belongs to +Epirus, is likewise mentioned as dependent upon the Epirots; and so +also the Parauaeans and Amphilochians with their large towns; Philip +possessed only the fortresses, Ambracia and the Amphilochian Argos, by +means of which he kept his foot on the neck of the Epirots, for he took +good care not to promote the independence of his brother-in-law, just as +Napoleon kept his brothers in constant dependence on himself. For this +reason he left Epirus as a state open on all sides, and put himself in +possession of the principal fortresses without which the country could +offer no resistance; it accordingly consisted of the beautiful western +districts, while the eastern parts were under the dominion of Macedonia. +In this condition things remained for a period of about forty years, +until Pyrrhus established his supremacy and independence, and united the +whole country under his sceptre. The earlier and more careful writers, +e.g., the Attic orators, do not even call Alexander king of Epirus, but +Alexander the Molottian: Justin and Livy call him king of Epirus, an +inaccuracy with which we must neither charge Trogus, whose work Justin +abridged, nor Livy, though the former might have been more careful; but +Livy was not much concerned about the history of that country. + +I will not here enter into the detail as to how Pyrrhus fled from +his country, how he returned, and what were his misfortunes. He +availed himself with great adroitness, nay even with cunning, of the +circumstances of the time to take vengeance on his arch-enemies, the +house of Cassander, which from his infancy had wronged him in every +possible way. He avenged his own house and Alexander of Macedonia not +only as an instrument of heaven, but at the same time following the +impulse of his own heart. Alexander[92] was seen by his contemporaries +in all his hideousness, while posterity saw him in the light of an +undeserved glory. This glory, however, belonged to him in so far as +great things were accomplished by him. He found in his contemporaries +a miserable race; his war against Persia was only a struggle against +a rotten empire; and as he attacked it vigorously, great things, of +course, were done and great things were destroyed. His greatest deed was +the foundation of Alexandria, and yet, if we judge soberly, the hurried +Hellenisation was only injurious to true Hellenism. The beautiful still +continued to linger among the Greeks, and was uncorrupted; but when the +Lydians, Carians, Syrians, and others, became Hellenised, when they +appeared as Greeks and wrote Greek, the little of Hellenism, which still +stood forth in broad outlines, perished. I may here mention another great +historical instance, but I beg you will not misunderstand me: previous to +the time of Constantine, Christianity had been spreading in consequence +of the conviction of its truth; but the fact that he compelled whole +provinces to profess it with their lips, without the belief having taken +root in their hearts, was followed by evil consequences. All mighty +changes in the world, which take place with extraordinary rapidity, are +injurious. Such also was the influence of Alexander. Still, however, +we must not be unjust, and we must understand how a spirited youth like +Pyrrhus, with a deep poetical mind, idealised Alexander; he was an +instrument of vengeance upon Cassander and his family, the detestable +diadochi. Pyrrhus is one of the most splendid, noble, and amiable +characters in all history. Often have I, when a young man, exclaimed in +full enthusiasm with Hesiod: εἰ μετ’ ἐκείνοις ἐγενόμην! at such times one +has the feeling, that one would be greater by coming in contact with such +men. I have collected much about the history of Pyrrhus, and I know him +thoroughly; I hope one day to represent him in his true light and in his +indescribable splendour.[93] To be great as a general is certainly one +of the highest distinctions in the world: he was not always quite just, +but always noble and generous, far from petty egotism, and free from +everything that degrades man; he had a full, large, and warm heart; he +looked upon his country not as a domain, but loved his people with his +whole soul. Dear as Roman history is to me, I must nevertheless assign a +higher place to the two greatest enemies of Rome, Pyrrhus and Hannibal. + +Pyrrhus, as I said before, availed himself of the circumstances of the +time for the purpose of gaining the eastern part of Epirus for his +country. The sons of Cassander were obliged to cede to him Orestis, +Parauaea, Ambracia, and Amphilochia, and the Epirots now, being masters +of their country in its full extent, showed themselves as a great and +powerful people. But this greatness did not become consolidated, too +great demands were made upon the strength of the people, and they lost +their best blood in the wars. Still, however, Alexander, the son of +Pyrrhus, not only preserved the extent of his kingdom,[94] but added +Acarnania to it; and this continued to constitute the kingdom of Epirus +for a period of about fifty years. Pyrrhus made Ambracia his capital, and +adorned it with splendid temples and palaces; Alexander kept it as such, +and he, too, was a very distinguished man. After his death, when the +government came into the hands of minors, and his house became extinct +by a series of the greatest calamities, the state also broke to pieces. +Ambracia, the Amphilochian Argos, and eastern Epirus, were lost, and +threw themselves into the arms of the Aetolians. After about A.U.C. 515 +we hear of an Epirot republic under strategi; this republic embraced only +western Epirus, and was still of considerable extent, but internally it +was weak, and was visited by the most fearful misfortunes. The Romans +admitted the Epirots as their allies, but I am convinced that they never +forgot that Pyrrhus had frightened them, that he had advanced as far as +Praeneste, and that after the gates of that town had been thrown open +to him, he had seen the towers of Rome. This was the reason why, after +their war against Perseus, they treacherously wreaked their hoarded and +terrible vengeance upon the unhappy country, just as the English under +William III. extirpated in one massacre the clan of the Mac Gregors, the +English officers, on a given signal, murdering their hosts and letting +in the soldiers. The Roman legions under Aemilius Paullus were quartered +upon the Epirots, who had previously been ordered to deliver up all +their arms, and their gold and silver, and then, on an appointed day, a +fearful massacre was made throughout the country among the Molottians, +Thesprotians, Chaonians, etc. From that time Epirus remained under the +Romans, who confiscated the country like a conquered domain, and Epirus +with its splendid Alps was, like the interior of Sicily, let as pasture +land. Hence the fact that Atticus, as is stated by Varro, possessed +such large herds at Buthroton. From such a devastation the country was +unable to recover, and remained a wilderness. In the middle ages, and +perhaps even before, the Illyrians (now Albanese) pushed forward from +the north and spread over Epirus, being themselves pressed by Slavonian +tribes, so that even now the greater part of the population is Illyrian +and Slavonian; they occupy the whole of the western country and are +δίγλωττοι. Slavonian tribes also entered Epirus and settled about the +lake of Janina; a small part only is inhabited by Greeks, and the heights +of Pindus are occupied by Wallachians, some of whom are descendants of +the ancient Pelasgian tribes, but are to some extent Latinised. The +country beyond mount Tmarus is inhabited by Bulgarians. + +Among the Epirots proper, as I have already stated, there were no towns +surrounded with walls; those which are found, are either of later origin, +or Greek colonies on the coast. The only place in the interior, where +ruins of Grecian buildings (baths, theatres, and temples) are found, +though without any inscriptions, is in the country of the Molottians, +about fifteen miles from the Ambracian gulf; the ruins are very +extensive, but belong to a late period. There can be no doubt that this +is the site of an important city, but what city it was, can only be +conjectured, as the ancients do not mention a single town in Epirus. The +supposition that it was the town of PASSARO appears to me very probable. +It is mentioned twice as the principal place of the Epirots, once in +Plutarch’s life of Pyrrhus, as the place where the kings and the people +took their mutual oaths, and a second time in Livy as the locality where +the Epirots assembled. When the country was a republic, it must have +had a capital, but it cannot have been Ambracia, since this town was +separated and belonged to the Aetolians. + +PHOENICE was another important town on the Adriatic; at the time of the +Epirot republic it was considerable, and continued to be so till late +in the middle ages; whence many ruins are found there belonging to the +Byzantine period. + +Among the other towns, I may mention ORICOS, a port in the bay at the +foot of the Acroceraunia, and of Hellenic origin. + +Pyrrhus built several places, such as ANTIGONIA (Antigónia, according +to the Macedonian pronunciation), named after his wife Antigone, by the +side of the passes leading from Illyricum. You will remember my saying, +that Illyricum, from the Aöus, till far up into the mountains, is a +hilly country. The στενὰ τῆς Ἀντιγονείας (_claustra Epiri_) lead from +thence into the mountains of Epirus. The spot is of great importance +in the wars of Pyrrhus and his son Alexander against Macedonia; and in +universal history, these _claustra_ are celebrated in the expedition of +the Romans against Philip of Macedonia. After the Romans had endeavoured +in vain, with the Aetolians their allies, to advance into Macedonia +through Illyricum and across the Candauian mountains, in order to attack +the Macedonians, they marched through Epirus. Philip opposed them for a +long time; but it has been proved that all passes are invincible to those +only who make a direct attack upon them; they present no difficulty to +any one who does not mind spending some time in marching round them. This +the Romans did. The Macedonian army then retreated, being compelled to +abandon Epirus. Argyrocastro at present occupies nearly the same site. +BERENICE also was built by Pyrrhus, and he named it after his great +patroness, Berenice, the wife of Ptolemy Soter, and the mother of his own +wife Antigone. + +I cannot refrain here from making a short grammatical observation. +We generally speak of Molossians, and the Roman authors, too, said +_Molossi_, but the Greeks said Μολοττοί, which is the genuine ancient +pronunciation and not an Atticism. As people in later times imagined that +it was only an Attic form, they changed the name into _Molossi_. From +Lucian’s _Judicium Vocalium_, however, we see, that ττ was essentially +Thessalian, and the Thessalians were only Hellenised Epirots. Aristotle, +who never Atticizes, always writes ὁ τῶν Μολοττῶν βασιλεύς. + +I have as yet mentioned to you only three tribes, and I might add many +more, but will notice only the most important. In the north we have the +ATINTANIANS on the slope of the Epirot mountains towards Illyricum. They +were, properly speaking, not so completely subdued by the Illyrians as +the Hyllians and Pelagonians who lived farther north, but they were +subject only ἐς φόρου ἀπαγωγήν. The Atintanians were the first people +that yielded obedience to the Romans on their crossing the Adriatic. + +Next follow the PELAGONIANS, who likewise dwelt in those parts, and +maintained themselves only with difficulty. Beyond the lofty Epirot +mountains, north-west of Pindus, we meet with the ORESTIANS, a true +Epirot people; in the expedition against Ambracia, they were united with +the other Epirot tribes, the Atintanians, Thesprotians, Molottians, and +others. The name Ἄργος Ὀρεστικὸν shews their Pelasgian origin. They were +subdued by the Macedonians, and became part of Μακεδονία ἐπίκτητος. The +Romans again separated them from it, and in order not to stand isolated, +they appear to have joined the Thessalians, for as among the Thessalian +strategi one is mentioned who was a native of Argos, it seems to me that +this must be referred to the Orestian Argos. + +Coming down from the country of the Orestians and ascending the heights +of Tmarus, between the beautiful lake of Janina and mount Tmarus +(sometimes called Tomarus, the same mountain, of which Callimachus speaks +so beautifully), and then descending the river Arachthus, which flows +into the Ambracian gulf, we pass through the country of the PARAUAEANS +and STYMPHAEA (_Tymphaea_). All these small mountain tribes were included +in Μακεδονία ἐπίκτητος during the period from the time of Philip to that +of Pyrrhus. Still further down in the plain, we have the AMPHILOCHIANS +in the very μυχὸς of the Ambracian gulf; they were an ἔθνος βαρβαρικόν, +that is, of Pelasgian origin, but some μιγάδες Ἕλληνες lived among them, +whence they were outwardly Hellenised, as their coins shew. Their town +of ARGOS was a considerable city, and hostile to the Ambracians who had +attempted to colonise it. It is connected with Argos in Peloponnesus in +the legends about Amphilochus, but we must not infer from this, that it +was a colony from Argos, or a Greek city at all. The AGRAEANS on the +Achelous, in the time of Alexander, son of Pyrrhus, were probably, like +the Amphilochians, connected by sympolity with the Aetolians, who were +just then at the height of their power. + +AMBRACIA or AMPRACIA. The latter is the diplomatic orthography in +Thucydides, and on all coins and inscriptions, for here we again meet +with inscriptions, it being a Doric city; in Aetolia and the interior of +Epirus none are found at all. Polybius and all the Latins write Ambracia, +which is again a proof, showing the agreement between the pronunciation +there and the modern Greek, in which the π after μ is pronounced softly; +hence in inscriptions μ is used instead of ν, if it is intended that +the following π should be softened. The accusative of πόλις, e.g., was +pronounced βόλιν, whence it was written εἰς τὴμ πόλιν. Ambracia was the +largest city in those parts, and had been founded by the Corinthians in +the time of Periander, the Cypselid. It became extremely great even at +an early period, but in the Peloponnesian war it suffered a defeat near +Olpae, from which it did not recover for a long time. Afterwards it lost +its historical importance, as its inhabitants allied themselves with +barbarians: it renounced the general Greek idea of reducing barbarians +to dependence, because it was content to live in that fertile country +within its own boundaries. Philip subdued it by intrigues; after his +death it revolted, but as it was Alexander’s interest quickly to pacify +the restless Greeks, it received tolerable terms, though it continued +to have a Macedonian garrison for forty years longer. During the Lamian +war it again revolted, but again without success. The son of Cassander, +seeking aid against his brother, ceded Ambracia as a part of Μακεδονία +ἐπίκτητος to Pyrrhus, who now transferred his residence to it and adorned +it. The ruins which still exist at Rogus, belong, no doubt, for the most +part, to this later period. After the dissolution of the Epirot kingdom, +Ambracia became Aetolian, and remained so until, after the war against +Antiochus, the Romans conquered the Aetolians. It then sustained one of +the most remarkable sieges, and by their manful defence, its inhabitants +gained the advantage of being able to conclude a peace before they were +conquered by force; the city was not ravaged, but many works of art, +with which Pyrrhus had embellished it, were carried off to Italy. The +statement in Ovid’s Ibis, that the remains of Pyrrhus were dragged from +a tomb at Ambracia and scattered about, renders it probable that this +was done by the Romans out of revenge—a terribly unworthy revenge upon +a great hero.[95] It is possible, however, that this may have been done +during the disgraceful madness of the nation in its rebellions against +the successors of Pyrrhus. Afterwards the name of Ambracia disappears; +its acropolis has now for a considerable time been called Rogus. + +BUTHROTON or BUTHROTOS, a Greek colony, was regarded as a Trojan town, +founded by Helenus: it was to the Romans what Calais is to us, for to +it they sailed across the sea from Tarentum, Hydruntum, Brundusium, and +other ports. It was the place of residence of Atticus, a man in whom much +may be censured, though he was of an extremely amiable character; he +lived at an unhappy time, according to the rules of a philosophy which he +considered to be the most suitable. He had there his large estate and his +Alpine farm. + +The district CASSIOPEA is of little importance. + +We are now in the neighbourhood of one of the most illustrious Greek +islands, I mean + + +CORCYRA. + +The difference between the more ancient form, Cercyra and the later +Corcyra, is purely dialectical; the Attics always have Cercyra, while +later writers, as Polybius, and the Romans always say Corcyra. The +history of this island goes back to that which is dearest to a scholar, +for what could be dearer to him than the Odyssey? In the account of +the reception of Odysseus, among the Phaeacians, we see how distant +this island was to the Greeks in Ionia, and how they knew it only by +report. It was then certainly not yet colonised by Greeks, and the +ancient inhabitants were Liburnians. In the second edition of the first +volume of my Roman History, I have shown that the Liburnians were not an +Illyrian people, but belonged to the ancient Pelasgian race. _Scheria_ +was an ancient and genuine name of the island. We will not inquire into +the origin of the name Corcyra, because such inquiries lead to nothing. +Other names are _Drepane_ and _Macris_; all these ancient names must +be known in order to understand the poets; and they are also useful in +writing poetry in the ancient languages, for it would be unfortunate, if +that custom should become entirely extinct; even if among hundreds of +attempts that are made, only a few have any poetical value, still it is +an excellent exercise for those who wish to cultivate their minds; it +leads to a great familiarity with the ancient writers, and a critical +understanding of the poets. + +The first Greeks who settled in the island, were Eretrians, and this +event belongs to the period when Chalcis and Eretria were rivals at sea. +As Chalcis directed its attention to the coast of Thrace and Sicily, so +Eretria, though it was much weaker, partly looked to the same countries +and partly to the Ionian and Adriatic seas, and hence they may have been +led to settle in Corcyra. They were established there for a considerable +time without destroying the ancient inhabitants, until the Corinthians +sent a colony thither, either during the latter period of the Bacchiads, +or in the first years of the reign of Cypselus. This colony grew +incredibly prosperous; the ancient inhabitants were made perioeci, and +the Eretrians, as troublesome neighbours, seem to have been expelled, +although the Corinthian colony was, no doubt, only small. + +The greatness to which Corcyra now rose, is best attested by the colonies +which it founded on the Adriatic, such as Epidamnus and Apollonia, the +latter of which it established in conjunction with Corinth. How these +colonies led to disputes between the haughty Corcyra and its mother-city, +and how Corcyra was affected by them, is described in Thucydides, and it +is unnecessary for me to repeat it, my intention being to relate only +that which has to be gleaned from various authors. In the same Thucydides +you may read of the convulsions and internal horrors to which that war +led, and which finally ruined the island itself. After the Peloponnesian +war, the Corcyraeans are not mentioned again until Olymp. 101, in the +time of Timotheus, when the Athenians recovered their supremacy, though +it was of a different kind from the earlier one; the fleets of Athens +then again appeared in several seas, and Corcyra joined her. The island +now showed incredible weakness, but how it became so reduced, is a +question about which history leaves us in the dark. Afterwards, owing to +its fortunate position, it remained unassailed for a long time until +the period of Demetrius Poliorcetes. Cassander made an attempt to take +the island, but failed. Cleonymus, the Spartan prince and adventurer, +who went to Italy and entered the service of the Tarentines, conquered +it, and established himself there for a time; but he was expelled by +Agathocles, from whom it passed into the hands of Pyrrhus, and afterwards +into those of Demetrius; but after his fall, it appears to have again +been under the supremacy of Pyrrhus. Afterwards it was independent +indeed, but in such a state of weakness as to be unable to repel the +Illyrians, who, under their queen Teuta, made a descent upon the island. +The Corcyraeans, therefore, placed themselves under the protection of +Rome, and were thus delivered from the Illyrians. They now formed a +_libera civitas_, probably also _immunis_, and down to the latest times +it was altogether impossible for them to rid themselves of the dominion +of the Romans. In the middle ages they became subject to the Normans in +Sicily under Robert Guiscard; they were next conquered by the Byzantine +emperor, Manuel Comnenus, and then by the Venetians, under whose dominion +they remained until the most recent times. The modern Greek name is Αἱ +Κορφοί (pronounce _hai Corfi_), that is, the summits (αἱ κορυφαί), and +refers either to the peaks of mountains or to the acra. The name Corcyra +is unknown to the modern Greeks, and was so even in the middle ages to +such an extent, that in a Greek Menologium (in the _Acta Sanctorum_) we +find the legend of a Greek princess Corcyra, the daughter of a king, who +is said to have reigned in Corfu in the time of the emperor Claudius, or +even Tiberius; and she is reported to have died the death of a martyr for +the Christian religion. It would seem that here we still catch a glimpse +of the popular tradition about Nausicaa. + +The island is traversed in its whole length by a mountain, which runs +parallel with the Chaonian mountain, and is also of the same structure. +It is evident that this mountain is a continuation of those of Epirus, +and that the sea between Corcyra and Epirus has been formed by some +gigantic revolution of the earth in those parts. The mountain is of +considerable height, but not so high as to be wild, nature has rather +destined the island to be a country for the cultivation of trees and +olives, but it is not ἀρόσιμος, and does not produce as much grain as is +required by its inhabitants. The oil is excellent, and the wine, which is +good, was valued also in antiquity. + +The town of Corfu does not stand on the site of the ancient Corcyra, but +several miles from it; at the time of the Peloponnesian war, the ancient +town, as we learn from Thucydides, was very large and beautiful. + +I might easily say a great deal more about Corcyra, as it is now so +frequently visited; but I must proceed. + + +MACEDONIA. + +The first questions that have to be answered are:—What nation were the +Macedonians? To what race did they belong? How far can they be regarded +as Greeks, and how far not? I still remember the time of the very +uncritical treatment of ancient history, when, in spite of the express +testimony of the ancients, no one would have dreamed of doubting that +both the Epirots and Macedonians ought to be regarded as Greeks; this +belief was so firmly rooted, that the great Palmerius even thought +Illyricum a Greek country. Afterwards, however, disputes arose as to the +nationality of the Macedonians. Critics at first went to the opposite +extreme, and from a passage in the Epitome of Strabo, it was inferred, +that the Macedonians were Illyrians. The subject has been discussed in +an excellent little treatise by C. O. Müller of Göttingen. The matter +may perhaps be determined still more accurately by entering into minute +investigations. The extent of country to which we generally apply the +name of Macedonia, embraces later enlargements; in its narrowest sense, +it was but a very small country with a peculiar population. Macedonia +is the country of the Macedonians, just as Italy is the country of the +Itali. The boundaries of the original kingdom of Macedonia and their +gradual extension have been described nearly forty years ago by Gatterer, +an excellent man, whose merits are no longer as fully appreciated in +Germany as they ought to be. His ancient history, owing to the large +scale on which he undertook it, has great defects; but he commenced +it at a time when the way was altogether unprepared by preliminary +inquiries, and when so much was still unexplained; his history of the +eastern nations, therefore, could not be otherwise than imperfect. But +this should not prevent us from acknowledging his very great merits. His +smaller essays, especially that on Macedonia and Thrace, are extremely +valuable; they are printed in the Transactions of the Royal Society of +Göttingen, where maps also are added, in which he shows the gradual +extension of Macedonia. + +Macedonia, in its most proper sense, did not touch upon the sea. We have +to distinguish two parts, viz., UPPER MACEDONIA, inhabited by the people +about the western range of mountains, extending from the north as far +as Pindus, and LOWER MACEDONIA, about the rivers which flow into the +Axius, in the earlier times, however, not extending to the Axius itself, +but only as far as Pella. From this district the Macedonians extended +themselves, and partly repressed the ancient inhabitants. The whole +of the sea-coast was occupied by other tribes, which are mentioned by +Thucydides in the excellent episode on the expedition of the Thracians +against Macedonia. The word ἐκβάλλειν which he uses in regard to the +ancient inhabitants, must not be taken literally, or in the sense in +which the Persians drove together and carried away the Eretrians—such +a thing was, generally speaking, never done by the ancient nations—but +a great part of the original inhabitants were subdued. The original +Macedonians in the west, therefore, embrace the Lyncestians, Elimiotans, +Pelagonians, and what are called the real Macedonians dwelling about +Edessa or Aegeae; the inhabitants of Emathia, Pieria, Bottia, and +Mygdonia on the east of the Axius and towards the Strymon, were conquered +countries, or, if at a later period their inhabitants were Macedonians, +they had become so in the course of time. These original Μακεδόνες or +Μακηδόνες are mentioned by all the ancient poets and in the fragments +of epic poetry; they dwelt among tribes which we regard as Pelasgian, +and were connected with the Magnetes, Magnes and Macedon being called +brothers. None of the Macedonian words we know are Greek, though some +are akin to it, but at the same time, they show decidedly barbarous +peculiarities. When Strabo says that a great portion of the Macedonians +were Illyrians, because they had the same customs, the same costume, +the same method of cutting the hair, the same language and the like, +we must take this to apply to tribes occupying parts of Macedonia in +the extended sense, and dwelling in the western half, just as a large +part of eastern Macedonia was inhabited by Thracians, some of whom were +free, while others had been subdued by the Macedonians: at the time when +the Macedonian kingdom became consolidated, they were still unmixed +Thracians. If we understand the passage of Strabo in this manner, it +presents no difficulty. We often weigh the words of ancient authors +too scrupulously; I admit, that on the whole they wrote with far more +care than we do, but if we consider without prejudice so many passages +containing errors, we must own that their heads too were not always +equally clear, and we must also bear in mind that they dictated their +works, whence much that is surprising to us, is only mis-written. Many +a faulty or corrupt construction may have originated with the scribes, +but sometimes the authors themselves, with their immense stores of +thought, may have dictated somewhat confusedly. I once found a passage +in Pliny written so confusedly, that at first I thought a transposition +of the words necessary; but when I commenced making the emendation, the +thought flashed upon me, that Pliny might have dictated wrongly, perhaps +inserting a clause and not finishing it; as the clause stands, it is +quite out of place. + +Macedonia proper consisted of several small states. The LYNCESTIANS and +ELIMIOTANS had their own rulers called kings, and so also the people +of EDESSA or AEGEAE. The two former, like the Epirots, remained within +their boundaries without spreading themselves; but those in the plain +gradually overpowered the kings of the other tribes, and expelled their +royal families. The history of Lower Macedonia is important, that of +Upper Macedonia is not, for nothing remarkable can be related of the +Lyncestians, Elimiotans, and Pelagonians. Lower Macedonia is great in +the history of the world: its kings called themselves Heracleids, and +traced their descent to the Temenids of Argos. How far the ancient and +simple tradition may have been misunderstood, can only be conjectured; +but the probability is, that the Argos here mentioned is not the Argos +in Peloponnesus, but the Pelasgian Argos in Thessaly, which was situated +in the neighbourhood of Macedonia. Later persons only half-learned +erroneously connected this with the Peloponnesian Argos, and accordingly +the story of the Temenids is probably of recent origin, the ancient +tradition stating only that they were Heracleids from Argos. Respecting +the royal family, there were two different legends; according to the one, +the kings were descended from Caranus, and according to the other from +Perdiccas. There can be no doubt that the latter is only a symbolical +representation of the national constitution; for the founders of the +monarchy, Perdiccas and his two brothers, are the archegetae of three +tribes. + +This kingdom had acquired considerable power even before the outbreak of +the Persian war; after that war, during which Amyntas had been obliged to +submit, affairs were for a time stagnating; Perdiccas at the beginning of +the Peloponnesian war was but a very contemptible enemy of the Athenians. +After the Peloponnesian war, too, Macedonia was so powerless and so much +inferior to Olynthus, that this city was enabled to take from it all +the country about the Thermaic gulf. Amyntas, the father of Philip, was +pressed extremely hard by the Illyrians, and was on the point of giving +up his country altogether: he implored the assistance of the Thebans, +and sent them his son as a hostage. These circumstances render it all +the more wonderful, that Philip raised his kingdom in so extraordinary a +manner: a greater contrast can hardly exist. Terrible as the history of +Philip is to every friend of Greece, it must nevertheless be owned that +he was an extraordinary man. In the very first year of his reign he laid +the foundation of the greatness of a state which was almost annihilated. +Although only twenty-four years old, he ascended the throne with mature +thoughts, and immediately set about carrying them into effect, not +scrupulous as to what means were most desirable, but only thinking how +he could make the best use of those at his command. And he did this +with uncommon surety and adroitness. He was quite aware that he lacked +the means of overcoming the Greek tactic by a higher one, as the Romans +did; he therefore endeavoured to overpower them with greater masses, +and in this he was successful. He did not, however, confine himself to +this course, but, like the Italian and Spanish courts of the sixteenth +century, became powerful by means of cunning, intrigues, faithlessness +and bribery. His plans, though favoured by the circumstances of the +time, would have been checked by great and towering difficulties, if he +had not carried them out by infamous means; he could not have destroyed +Olynthus, to mention one example, had he not deceived the Olynthians and +hired traitors in the place. At Philip’s death, Macedonia was already a +compact empire; its boundaries had been extended into Thrace as far as +Perinthus, and the Greek coast and the Greek towns belonged to it. The +Odrysian princes maintained themselves in the mountains of the interior, +in the neighbourhood of Adrianople. Thessaly had chosen Philip as its +protector, and the towns of eastern Epirus, Ambracia and Amphilochia, had +Macedonian garrisons. Every one knows in what manner Alexander extended +this empire. After his death, a new Macedonian kingdom arose under +the dynasty of Antipater, which, however, no longer embraced Thrace, +for that country then belonged to the dynasty of Lysimachus. We know +nothing about the boundaries of Macedonia and Thrace at that time; it +may have been the Strymon or the Nestus; we have nothing but the scanty +information in Diodorus. Afterwards Lysimachus united the two states, +and Ptolemy Ceraunus appears still to have possessed the greater part +of the empire of Lysimachus in Thrace. Then follows the great invasion +of the Gauls, who made themselves masters of the whole of the northern +parts, until they established themselves in Thrace and Upper Macedonia. +Antigonus Gonatas restored Upper Macedonia and extended it as far as +the river Nestus, and Magnesia also belonged to it, though Thessaly was +only under the protection of Macedonia, just as Napoleon distinguished +between France and Italy.[96] We now have to draw a distinction between +Macedonia proper and Μακεδονία ἐπίκτητος. The latter comprised all the +country east of the river Strymon, that is, Magnesia, Orestis, and +probably also several small tribes in the Thessalian mountains, though +not the peninsulas of Pallene, Sithonia, and Athos, which were again +regarded as parts of Macedonia proper. Philip III. lost Magnesia and +Orestis, which fell into the hands of the Romans; but he recovered the +former, and for a time was in possession of the country of the Dolopians +and Athamanians.[97] This was the extent of Macedonia at the time +when the Romans conquered Perseus. They now separated Magnesia, and +divided the remaining country into four parts. Livy has here translated +Polybius somewhat hastily, but on the whole he has stated the division +rightly; the editions, however, are faulty, on account of the Vienna +MS.; criticism has yet much to do here, for the passage contains several +obscurities. These four districts would not interest us at all, were +it not that they are important in a numismatic point of view; we have +an extraordinary number of tetradrachmae belonging to them, although +the division into four districts did not exist longer than about twenty +years. The Roman governors, even after the abolition of autonomy, in +consequence of the revolt of the Pseudo-Philip, must have continued to +coin money with the same matrices, or else the barbarians, who otherwise +imitated Greek coins in quite a ridiculous manner and with numerous +faults, must in this instance have employed Greek die-cutters for the +purpose of imitation; this may have been the case, for example, with the +Gauls and other nations. + +_Macedonia prima_, Μακεδόνων ἡ πρώτη (so on coins, and not Μακεδονία ἡ +πρώτη), is the country on the east of the river Strymon as far as the +Nestus, comprising the towns of the interior on the eastern bank of the +Nestus. The Romans divided the country in such a manner as to make rivers +the boundaries, in order to tear the races to pieces, the same as was +done in modern times, when what are called the natural boundaries began +to be talked of.[98] By this process the Romans produced that state +of dissolution, which was the object of their policy. They further +abolished the _commercia_, that is, no one was allowed to have property +in another district, in order that people of different parts might +become entirely estranged from one another; the ἐπιγαμία, lastly, was +probably likewise prohibited. The result is the strongest refutation of +the doctrine, that rivers form the natural boundaries. Mountains are +the true barriers between nations; think, e.g., of the Alps in Wallis, +which separate Germany from Italy; for, although on one side or the other +there may be a little village of people from the opposite side, still +the inhabitants are distinctly marked by their language, manners, and +mode of dress. Now in Macedonia prima, Greeks, Thracians, Paeonians, +Macedonians, and others, were jumbled together as one nation; the second +division again contained Greeks, many Paeonians, a few Thracians, and +some Macedonians; the third consisted almost wholly of Macedonians and +some Greeks; while the fourth contained many Macedonians, but at the +same time a great number of Gauls and Illyrians. The first division of +Macedonia, as I remarked before, was on the east of the river Strymon, +bounded on the east by the river Nestus, though some parts beyond it also +were included. The second, with its capital of Thessalonica, extended +between the rivers Strymon and Axius, along the entire length of these +rivers. The country west of the Axius was again divided into two parts, +forming the third division, which comprised Lower Macedonia and Pieria +with the capital of Pella; and the fourth comprising Elimiotis, Lyncestis +and the Illyrian and Gallic districts belonging to it. The whole of +the Chalcidian Acte, the coast of which was occupied by Greeks, was +thus included in Macedonia. These are the four parts into which, in all +probability, Macedonia was divided when it was a Roman province, and in +which it continued to enjoy some kind of existence. This we must infer +from the number of coins; those belonging to Macedonia prima are far more +numerous than those of all the Macedonian kings together. + +In the Epitome of Strabo, the name Macedonia is used in a very singular +sense, for it is made to include Illyricum. He considers Macedonia as +a parallelogram, of which mount Scardus forms the northern, and the +river Hebrus the eastern side; in the south is the _via Egnatia_, a line +drawn from Epidamnus to Thessalonica. This outline excludes southern +Macedonia, and embraces many countries which do not belong to it. He may +have regarded this as the extent of the Roman province; but it never +had such boundaries. No one can say what his thoughts were; but it is +possible that he made a mistake in copying. We know, on the contrary, +that Thessaly was added to Macedonia as part of the province. When I come +to the survey of the Roman state, I shall speak of the boundaries and the +differences of the provinces at different times, a subject which must not +be overlooked, because on this point great errors still prevail. + +The extent which Macedonia acquired under the Antigonids,[99] (that +is, from the time of Antigonus Gonatas and his successors until the +reign of Perseus, a period of about a hundred years), with tolerably +natural boundaries, embraced the countries as far as the ridge of the +high mountains, but Orestis, though situated beyond the chain of these +mountains, also belonged to it. The geography of these countries has as +yet been very little inquired into by Europeans, whence the maps are +still as confused as they were about fifty or sixty years ago. No modern +traveller, as far as I know, has yet visited all the countries on the +side of Skupi (Uskup?) and the high mountains. The notices contained in +the ancients of these countries, cannot be applied with certainty, the +names of the mountains being too indefinite; those countries are quite +beyond the reach of classical literature, and we know mounts Orbelos and +Rhodope scarcely more than by name. These north-western mountains may be +most correctly conceived as a western continuation of mount Haemus, which +is itself a continuation of the Alps. The Alps pass through Carniola +close by the Adriatic, and enter into southern Bosnia; another branch +runs through Styria to the north; on the borders of Hungary its breadth +is not great, and it forms a hilly country until it disappears in the +great plain of Slavonia and Lower Hungary; but in Bosnia the mountains +again extend as far as the Save. All Bosnia and Servia is a mountainous +country, while Slavonia opposite has rich and fertile plains and but +few mountains. In the neighbourhood of Belgrade, the mountains approach +the Danube, extend again, and occupy nearly the whole space between the +Danube and the Adriatic; they then, shutting in the Danube, extend to the +territory of Widdin, retreat into the splendid country of the Bulgarians, +and there leave an extensive and extremely fertile space between the +river and mount Haemus. From Illyricum and Dalmatia the mountains +proceed, so as to form a hilly country in the neighbourhood of Scutari. +Between the Drino and mount Haemus, Scardus is the highest point on the +road from Ragusa to Constantinople. The Macedonian dominion extended +to this point; here dwelt the Dardanians, the north-western people of +Macedonia. The mountains then following are probably Scomios and Orbelos, +which seem to be parts of the mountains proceeding from Haemus. Rhodope, +a mountain between the Strymon and Nestus, is probably a branch of mount +Haemus. Pangaeos seems to be a southern continuation and extremity of +Rhodope. + +The whole of the Thracian mountains running parallel with the sea between +the Strymon and Nestus are rich in gold and silver mines. They were taken +possession of at an early time by the neighbouring nations, especially +the Thasians, and it appears that the Phoenicians, at a very remote +period, also had settlements on the southern coast. Afterwards many +Greeks established themselves there, and Thucydides, e.g., is known to +have possessed a mine in those parts. The richest mines were in mount +Pangaeos, but the other mountains as far as Haemus also contain many +precious metals. I know for certain, that Bosnia and the mountains near +Skupi also contain silver mines, which are known but not worked. Should +those countries ever pass from the hands of barbarians, and come under +the dominion of Europeans, it will be seen that the ores of precious +metals extend even much further. The silver mines were worked even before +the Peloponnesian war, under Alexander I., the son of Amyntas; but where +they existed is uncertain. The gold mines of Pangaeos were first worked, +but not vigorously, by the Athenian Callistratus,[100] but afterwards +by Philip with great industry: he is said to have annually derived from +them 1000 talents; they existed in the neighbourhood of Crenidas, where +afterwards the mountain-city of Philippi was built. + +In the west, a mountain branches off from Scardus, which we know under +the name of the CANDAUIAN (not CANDAVIAN, according to a passage in +Polybius) mountains; the name is familiar to us from the unfortunate +expedition of P. Sulpicius Galba; it forms the boundary between upper +Macedonia, parts of which are situated in the valleys of the mountain, +and Illyricum. This is a cold mountain, not that the more northern ones +are not still colder, but the latter were thinly, and the former thickly +peopled. According to the accounts of travellers, those mountains must +be very cold and ungenial. But as soon as you come to the part where the +mountains descend towards the sea, and where the rivers empty themselves +into it, the climate becomes all the more splendid, and the valleys more +lovely and mild: the whole country changes into the most beautiful plains +with smiling hills. + +Macedonia thus forms the greater part of a circle, of whose periphery +about one-third is cut off by a line from mount Olympus to the river +Nestus. + +The AXIUS, οὗ κάλλιστον ὕδωρ ἐπικίδναται αἶαν, is the most important +river of Macedonia, though it flows beyond the real country of Macedonia +in its narrowest sense. In its upper course it is a rapid torrent; +further down it becomes muddy, whence its water is, in point of fact, +not particularly excellent. For this reason, attempts were made even +in antiquity to emend Homer, because it was thought impossible that he +should have made any mistake at all. Connected with the Axius were the +LUDIAS and the HALIACMON, a beautiful river descending from the western +mountains. The STRYMON is altogether a Thracian river, and is called so +by the poets; its banks, at least in later times, are more particularly +the seats of the Thracians, but at an earlier period Paeonians also dwelt +there. The Strymon is a mighty river without any fords, whence it was +crossed only by bridges, as at Amphipolis. The NESTUS has nothing that is +particularly remarkable. + +Gulfs to be noticed are:—the Pierian, and the gulf of Therma or +Thessalonica; the Toronaean, the Strymonian, and Singitian gulf. + +The hilly districts of Macedonia produce everything that is grown in +those southern countries; they are among the most fertile parts of the +earth, especially in the neighbourhood of Thessalonica and Pella; such +also is the narrow Pierian country, from Olympus as far as the sea: it +is a real garden. At present the chief products there are cotton and +tobacco, which of course did not grow there in ancient times, though +cotton may have been cultivated during the later Macedonian and the Roman +period in some islands of the Aegean. + +Having spoken of the Macedonians inhabiting the western country, we +now proceed to MACEDONIA PROPER, also called EMATHIA, with its capital +Aegeae. I have no doubt that you will be convinced, that what I am going +to bring forward as a hypothesis, is not said lightly nor without full +persuasion, or that such a persuasion has been arrived at without much +labour. It is my opinion, that the Thracians did not spread themselves +in those countries until a later period: the Pelasgian race which we +find in Asia as far as Bithynia and the Maeander, undoubtedly once +occupied the whole of the southern coast. To that period we have to +refer much of what is related about the Thracians, as for example, the +tradition about Orpheus, who is conceived to have dwelt in Pieria, on +the slope of Olympus, near the well Pimplea. It is opposed to all our +feelings, and it can have no historical meaning to conceive him as a +Thracian; but the matter becomes intelligible, if we suppose that the +Thracians immigrated into those countries at a later period, and that +the recollections connected with the places which fell into the hands +of the Thracians, were transferred to this people. Mount Olympus was +considered as the seat and centre of the gods, because it was situated, +in a measure, in the midst of the great Pelasgian nation, which we must +conceive to have extended farther northward. It is not likely that the +Greeks should have assigned to their gods a habitation at the extreme +end of their father-land. We must therefore suppose that the Thracians +spread over these countries from the Strymon and Nestus. Now, as in the +west, we find the Macedonians as a Pelasgian people, so we meet in the +central part, about the Axius and Strymon, the Paeonians, whom Herodotus +expressly mentions among the Teucrian Trojans, who were as much a +Pelasgian people as the Siceli. The statement of Herodotus that they were +ἄποικοι τῶν Τευκρῶν, means nothing else than that they and the Teucrians +belonged to the same race. I consider these Paeonians to have been a +remnant of the ancient inhabitants, who maintained themselves against the +invading Thracians. Before the Macedonian kings, the so-called Temenids, +established their kingdom, the Thracians occupied the country down to the +borders of Thessaly, not only as far as the river Strymon, but also the +country on the west of it: the Crestonaean, Crossaean, Mygdonian, and +Pierian countries were in fact all inhabited by Thracians, before the +Macedonians of Aegeae spread over those parts. This gradual conquest of +Mygdonia and Pieria belongs to a period previous to the Persian wars, +certainly that of Pieria, and it is highly probable that the conquest of +Mygdonia also belongs to the same period. Perdiccas was extending his +empire as early as the time of the Peloponnesian war, but it was as yet +ill consolidated. Archelaus did most, he first fortified towns, made +roads, and prepared Macedonia for that career which it completed under +Philip; still, however, after the death of the latter, the state of +Macedonia was powerless. But Archelaus, nevertheless, has the merit of +having laid the foundation. + +The name PIERIA is sufficiently familiar to us from the poets. It is odd +enough that the country, which was afterwards inhabited by the barbarous +Thracians, and at a still later period by the Macedonians, who after +all were always an ἄμουσον ἔθνος, should in the remotest ages have been +the seat of the Muses, who are hence called _Pierides_, and from the +wells of the country, _Pimpleides_, _Libethrides_ (_Pimplei dulcis_, +in Horace: Λειβηθρίδες). The BOTTIAEANS, a kindred people, dwelt east +of the Macedonians proper; being expelled by the Macedonians from the +neighbourhood of Pella, originally a Bottiaean place, they went to the +Chalcidians, to whom they were no doubt welcome, as they must have +preferred a kindred people in their neighbourhood to the Thracians. Then +follow the PAEONIANS about the Axius and Strymon, who were pushed away +from the coast into the interior. Herodotus relates that during the +expedition of Darius Hystaspis, the nations dwelling about the Strymon +as far as the sea, were carried away by the Persians, and received +settlements in Phrygia: these are the Paeonians of the lower districts, +and their country was thereupon taken possession of by the Thracians. +Hence it cannot be surprising that afterwards no Paeonians were found +there. MYGDONIA, the lower country, east of the Axius, about the Thermaic +gulf, was, previously to the extension of the Macedonians, inhabited by +Thracian Edonians. The EDONIANS are remarkable on account of the many +allusions to them in the Latin poets, especially in reference to the +worship of Bacchus (_Non sanius ego Bacchabor Edonis_, says Horace). This +worship is, in a certain sense, Thracian, especially in regard to women, +and existed by the side of the Phrygian. Following the narrow tract of +land along the coast, we first arrive in the most southern province, +_Pieria_; next follows _Bottiaeis_, with Pella, as far as the Axius; +then _Mygdonia_ along the coast, beginning with the cape forming the +entrance to the bay of Thessalonica, and extending to the town of Aenea; +the country, from this point to the neighbourhood of Potidaea, is called +_Crossaea_, and had an ancient Thracian population. During the subsequent +extension of the Macedonians, those nations were not expelled, nor did +they become serfs, but were only reduced to the condition of subjects. + +All this is correctly indicated in the maps of D’Anville and Barbié du +Bocage; but Anthemus is erroneously marked in all maps, for, instead of a +country, it is put down as a town. It is a district of small extent, but +plays a prominent part in the history of Olynthus. + +The capital of Pieria was DION, a native Macedonian town, not Greek, +but adorned with beautiful buildings, prosperous and handsome, until +it was destroyed by the Aetolians on a predatory excursion. PYDNA and +METHONE, both Greek towns, were situated to the north of it. Pydna was +the first conquest of Philip; both towns had until then preserved their +independence, which is a proof of the great weakness of the Macedonian +kings. Philip is said to have destroyed them both; in regard to Methone +this is certain, for during its siege he lost one eye, and for this +reason gave vent to his barbarous rage against the town; but Pydna, if +it was destroyed, must have been restored, for it is mentioned under the +later Macedonian kings; in history it is remarkable especially on account +of the decisive battle fought there, in which Perseus lost his kingdom +and his crown. + +The real EMATHIA is in the interior of Macedonia.[101] This lower +Macedonia, in its proper sense, below the slopes of the Candauian +mountains, does not extend to the sea, from which it is separated by +Pieria and a narrow strip of the ancient Bottia. This was ancient +Macedonia proper, the kingdom of the ancestors of Alexander, and +contained the ancient Macedonian capital of AEGEAE,[102] which was the +residence of the kings before the reign of Philip. There is a story about +the name of this town, according to which it is derived from αἶγες: the +founder of the Macedonian kingdom is said to have conquered the town by +following, during a thunder-storm, close behind a herd of goats, and +thus entering the open gates with a small band of followers. The royal +sepulchres existed there as late as the time of Pyrrhus, but the Gauls +in his army plundered them. When at Rome, I heard a very vague report: +an English traveller, it was said, had discovered in 1819 or 1820, by +excavations, the tombs of Macedonian kings; but Aegeae was not mentioned +in the report. The person who told me this, was too ignorant to invent +such a thing; but whether there is any truth in it, I do not know; I have +never heard anything more about it. This place has two names, EDESSA +and Aegeae; the former has been transferred to several other places, and +above all to the very ancient town of Roha in Mesopotamia. It is with +these places as it is with Boston, which in England is an insignificant +town, while the Boston in America is a great city. In like manner, Edessa +in Syria is far more important than Edessa in Macedonia. The names of +many other Greek and Macedonian places, as Beroea, Cyrrhos, Chalcis, +Amphipolis, and others were similarly transferred to places in Syria. +Even names of Macedonian districts re-appear there. This shows a peculiar +attachment to Macedonia, and characterises the sentiments of the founder +of the Syrian empire. If we compare Seleucus with Ptolemy Soter, the +former is far more attached to Macedonia; in Egypt we find nothing of the +kind, everything there beginning anew. + +BEROEA (now Veria) is the second place in Emathia; its name-sake in Syria +was far more important, but both still exist. Beroea was a flourishing +place throughout the middle ages, and continued to be a wealthy town +until its present destruction. Edessa is at present only a village. + +Whenever the ancient seat of the Macedonian kings is mentioned, when +you read in Thucydides of Perdiccas and Archelaus (the latter is spoken +of also by Plato as a prince who drew to his court the wits and talents +from Athens, just as German princes formerly invited Frenchmen), and +even when Amyntas, Philip’s father, is spoken of, you must always +conceive them as residing at Aegeae. Philip was the first to make +PELLA on the Ludias great; it was previously a small Bottiaean place, +which was conquered by the Macedonians, when they drove the Bottiaeans +into Chalcidice; Herodotus calls it a πολίχνιον. The district lost its +name Bottiaeis, which in Herodotus it still bears, and became part of +Macedonia. Philip, who, like Peter the Great, from the moment of his +accession, set about raising the kingdom from its obscurity, took the +first step towards this object in transferring his residence from the +distant Aegeae to Pella, which was near enough to the sea to carry +on commerce. The rivers in that part of the country, especially the +Ludias, were then navigable, but they are now filled up with sand. Pella, +however, was not so near the sea as to enable the Athenians to take it +by surprise in a maritime expedition. Its situation on a hill surrounded +by waters (τόπος χερσονησοειδής) was very strong. It was now quickly +changed into a considerable city, though we must not conceive it to have +been very large. Had Alexander not become estranged from Macedonia, +it would probably have risen to still greater importance; but it +remained the capital of an empire which was at all events considerable. +Antipater lived there as regent of Macedonia in his barbarous and cynic +simplicity, the picture of an Albanese or Illyrian chief in his affected +wretchedness: he had a disgust for regal splendour, and his government +certainly added nothing to the beauty of Pella. He appeared in public as +a common Macedonian soldier, wrapped up in his cloak (τρίβων), wearing +the καυσία (the Illyrian cap), and a stick. Cassander spent less of his +time at Pella than at Thessalonica and Cassandrea; but the Antigonids +resided there, and from the time of Antigonus Gonatas till that of +Perseus, a period of nearly a century, Pella remained the capital, and +was a splendid town, though not to be compared with the great cities +of Antioch and Alexandria. After the wars of Perseus, the Romans took +it without resistance, and carried off a large number of works of art, +with which Alexander had adorned the city; the masterworks of Lysippus, +which were erected at Pella, were carried away by Aemilius Paullus. Dion +Chrysostomus,[103] in his very excellent Tarsian oration, says that +Pella was a heap of ruins. The destruction must have taken place either +after the war of the Pseudo-Philip (of whom we scarcely know anything, +except a few traits occurring in the newly-discovered ἐκλογαὶ περὶ γνωμῶν +published by Mai), or about sixty years later, during the campaigns of +Archelaus and Taxilas, the generals of Mithridates. It is afterwards +not mentioned again. Pella is one of the places which I have often +suggested to travellers as a place where excavations ought to be made, +and where undoubtedly a rich harvest might be made. Felix Beaujour, the +late consul-general at Salonichi, states in his excellent description +of Macedonia, that the whole district is covered with ruins, a proof +that no excavations have been made there for many years. Certain it is, +that the Romans did not carry away everything, that works of art of the +most exquisite kind, nay perhaps even works of Lysippus himself, might +be discovered there; inscriptions, too, may exist there, although, as I +have already remarked, inscriptions are not found in any other part of +Macedonia. + +THESSALONICA, the ancient Chalcidian _Therma_, in the innermost recess +of the Thermaic gulf, greatly impeded by its excellent situation the +further growth of Pella, even when the latter was still the capital +of the Antigonids. Cassander founded the new city, and, according to +the custom of the time, made it great by compelling the inhabitants of +the neighbouring towns to remove to it (συνοικισμός). Such a plan was +afterwards often resorted to in the East, and such also was the method +adopted by Peter the Great in the foundation of St. Petersburgh: he +ordered people to be summoned from other parts of his dominions; as +they arrived even before the houses were finished, they were obliged to +build huts for themselves and died from disease; the survivors became +beggars. In antiquity, when towns were not so far distant from one +another, the process was easier. Thessalonica had agricultural citizens; +and Cassander named it after his wife, the daughter of Philip; by this +marriage he intended to make his children legitimate in the eyes of +the Macedonians, as he himself was looked upon as a usurper, and was +subsequently treated as such. But his family perished in a miserable +manner. The idea of founding a city there was a happy one, for there are +few places on the Mediterranean that have such a beautiful situation. How +often was Thessalonica destroyed! and yet it always recovered, because +it was the natural emporium of the rich products of Macedonia; it has an +excellent harbour, and no marshes, and is accordingly a healthy place. +The town quickly rose into importance, and remained so under the Romans +and throughout the middle ages, in spite of many severe calamities. It +was taken by the Bulgarians, and afterwards by the Turks; but so long as +nature does not change, Thessalonica will remain wealthy and prosperous. +It was the capital of Mygdonia, which had formerly been inhabited by the +Thracian Edonians. It is well known that a Christian community was formed +there at a very early period. + +I have already spoken of the projecting Acte ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης, and I will not +here repeat what I have said; I shall only observe, that CASSANDREA, the +second great city founded by Cassander, was probably his capital, and +built on the site of the ancient Potidaea, on the isthmus of Pallene; we +know little about it, and much is only matter of conjecture. + +AMPHIPOLIS, which was subdued by the Athenians during the period between +the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, was situated on both sides of the +river Strymon; it was previously called Ἐννέα ὁδοί. During the Macedonian +period it was of great importance, being the capital of Μακεδόνων πρώτη. +Although built at a distance of about five miles from the sea, it was +a sea-port, and ships sailed up the Strymon. This was the great place +for the extensive trade in timber, for the timber of Macedonia was +exported not only to Athens, but Ionia, Chios, and in later times even to +Alexandria. It was conveyed down the Strymon in rafts. + +The mountain-city of PHILIPPI, the neighbourhood of which contained the +large gold mines, was situated between the Strymon and the Nestus. Its +previous name was _Crenidas_, and the new town was built by Philip. +There, as in Thessalonica, a Christian congregation existed at an early +period. The place is celebrated for the battle which decided the fate +of Rome. As the mines ceased to be worked, it afterwards fell into +decay. How long they continued to be worked, and whether they were still +productive in the time of the Antigonids, cannot be ascertained. The +fact that they still were worked, and continued to be worked until the +overthrow of the Macedonian kingdom, cannot be doubted; but whether they +repaid the expenses, is another question. Gold mines nowhere remain +equally productive; but their working is continued, because people always +hope to discover richer veins. They were most productive in the time of +Philip. Athens, too, continued working her mines almost to the seventh +century of Rome, but was afterwards obliged to give it up. The Romans +forbade the Macedonians the digging after precious metals, in consequence +of which Philippi necessarily decayed: but we see from the epistle of the +apostle Paul, that it still remained an active and industrial town. It +was situated on the outskirts of mount Pangaeos; its neighbourhood was +fertile, and it may have maintained itself by an extensive territory. + +The interior between the Strymon and Nestus, with the exception of a few +Greek towns, was occupied by Thracians. The AGRIANIANS alone, about the +Strymon, are considered as Paeonians. Their importance consists in the +fact that, in the wars of Alexander, they are mentioned as a distinct +corps, and as belonging neither to the phalanx nor to the peltasts, which +is not the case with any other Macedonian tribe. It is impossible now +to determine, whether this arose perhaps from their being allies and +enjoying special privileges, or from their having a peculiar kind of +armour, which it was thought advisable to retain. + +The PAEONIANS, according to Herodotus, extended as far as the mouth of +the Strymon and about lake Prasias, which is now unknown, because the +geography of Macedonia has received so little light from travellers; its +existence, however, cannot be doubted, although it is somewhat fabulously +described. The Paeonians who, according to Herodotus, were carried by +the Persians into Asia, are those who lived about the lower parts of +the Strymon, and not the upper Paeonians. In Thucydides and Livy (from +Polybius), we find Paeonians on both sides of the Axius, and in regard +to them the Romans made an exception[104], those on the west of the +Axius being included in Macedonia Secunda. The passage of Livy[105] here +alluded to must be emended, and instead of _Vettiorum_[106] we must read +_Bottiorum_. Concerning these Paeonians, I can mention to you only a +few points. In the time of Cassander and Pyrrhus, it was probably this +people, on both banks of the Axius and as far as the Strymon, that had in +the person of Audoleon an independent prince, whose daughter was married +to Pyrrhus (he was also married to an Illyrian princess, for polygamy was +then prevalent). There still exist coins of this Audoleon, though they +are very rare; I possess one which was dug up at Tivoli; it was difficult +to recognise it, but I succeeded in reading the characters. Afterwards we +hear no more of Paeonian kings, so that their importance must have been +only transitory; but certain it is, that during the troublous times of +Macedonia, that is, in the reign of Cassander, the principality of the +Paeonians did exist, and that afterwards it disappeared. If we want to +supplement history from other circumstances, we may say, that it must +have been incorporated with Macedonia by Antigonus Gonatas, for Antigonus +Doson carried on war even with the Dardanians who dwelt beyond the +Paeonians. + +The Greeks (Strabo and Dion Cassius) assume that the Paeonians +and Pannonians were people of the same stock; in Strabo this is +the prevailing opinion, and at that time the truth could still be +ascertained; nor is the opinion at all improbable, if we suppose that +the Illyrians immigrated at a later period. But _neque probare, neque +refellere in animo est_. Gauls, under Brennus, also penetrated far +into the west of Upper Macedonia; they were afterwards subdued, but +not expelled, and were retained by the Macedonian kings as very useful +soldiers. + +I shall now pass on to Illyricum, whence we shall afterwards proceed +to Italy. I shall then speak of the western countries within the Roman +empire, and thence pass on to the East. Although the northern countries +are important to us, yet in an account of the ancient nations, no +complete description of them can be given, which must be reserved for the +particular histories of the northern countries; still, however, I shall +not pass them over. + + +ILLYRICUM. + +Illyricum is a somewhat embarrassing name. We sometimes say Illyria, a +form for which there is no authority at all; the Greek name is Ἰλλυρίς, +and the Latin _Illyricum_. The more ancient writers always employ the +name of the people, οἱ Ἰλλύριοι, ἐν Ἰλλυρίοις, _in Illyricis_, while +_Illyricum_ does not occur till the time of the later emperors. But with +this preliminary remark, I shall not scruple to use the name. + +The Illyrians are one of the very great nations of antiquity, and are +mentioned as early as the time of Herodotus. The Roman Illyricum was of +very different extent from the Illyris or οἱ Ἰλλύριοι of the Greeks, +and was itself not the same at all times, for at first it was not as +extensive as afterwards. At a later period, when it was a _praefectura_, +it was one of the four great divisions of the Roman empire, governed by a +_Praefectus Praetorio_, and included even Greece. At a somewhat earlier +time, when we also meet with the designation _Illyricus limes_, e.g., +in the “Scriptores Historiae Augustae,” it comprises Illyricum proper, +Pannonia, Noricum, and Vindelicia. The name Illyricum, in this extent, is +one of the artificial and political ones, which arise when out of a given +number of names one is selected as a make-shift, but has no historical +association. The Greeks use the name in a much narrower sense, but +even with them, it is not always applied in the same manner. The later +immigration of the Gauls disturbed the Illyrians in their habitations; +and inaccurate writers, like Appian, frequently mix Gallic and Illyrian +nations together. For this very reason, the ethnography of those nations +is most obscure. Our accounts are scanty; and those we have, cannot be +referred with certainty to their different periods, because the Gallic +immigration changed every thing. If we compare the Periplus of Scylax +and that of Scymnus of Chios, which is taken from Theopompus or perhaps +from Timaeus, with the later descriptions of the coasts in Strabo and +the Roman historians, it is impossible to make them harmonise. I cannot, +therefore, give you a distinct notion of this vast country, which extends +from the frontier of Epirus to that of Pannonia, and stretches even into +modern Austria; a clear geographical view is unattainable. Still many +points can be discerned, and _Est quadam prodire tenus, si non datur +ultra_. + +No one has ever asked whether anything can be discovered regarding the +history of the Illyrians; no one has ever thought of enquiring into it. +But Herodotus alludes to traditions of that country, apparently as if +they were well known, and he speaks of an expedition of the Illyrians +and Encheleans, who invaded Greece and plundered the temple of Delphi. +According to another tradition, Cadmus and Hermione, quitting Thebes, +went to the Encheleans and died there. These are again, as elsewhere, +two countries which are put in connexion by migrations in opposite +directions. This allusion to a great expedition with an enormous army, +leads us to pay attention also to some other facts, as for example, +that the Liburnians, in the innermost μυχὸς of the Adriatic, were quite +different from the Illyrians, and are mentioned in relations, in which +elsewhere we find the Pelasgians on the coast of Italy; further, among +the Illyrians in the neighbourhood of Ragusa, there dwelt a people called +HYLLII, who are said, by the compilers of legendary history, to have +originally been Greeks, and to have become barbarians (ἐκβαρβαρωθῆναι); +lastly, the coast of Dalmatia was inhabited by Pelagonians, whom we also +find among the Macedonians and Epirots. Accordingly we here meet with +remnants of a Pelasgian population, which survived after the immigration +of the great race of the Illyrians. Among these latter are included also +the Breunians and Genaunians in Tyrol, and the Iapydes on the northern +side of the Alps, in the modern Carniola, and further on beyond the Alps. +We may, therefore, look upon it as almost an historical fact, that they +were a people that immigrated from the north, conquered the Dalmatian +mountains, and penetrated as far as the heights of Epirus, which formed a +barrier to their further progress. + +The descriptions we have of the manners of the Illyrians, prove that they +were—half savages would be too strong a term—at least very rude: they +tattooed themselves, and were pirates[107] at the time when the power +of Athens had sunk, and when Corcyra, and in fact all Greece was broken +down. They were divided into numerous tribes. In the earlier times kings +are nowhere mentioned, that might be regarded as kings of all Illyricum, +or of a great part of the Illyrian tribes: the Illyrians seem rather to +have had a democratic constitution. In their wars with Macedonia previous +to the time of Philip, an Illyrian king is not mentioned anywhere. In +the reign of Philip, Theopompus speaks of one Bardylis who from a robber +raised himself to the rank of an independent prince, but who is noted for +his personal character as a robber rather than as a prince. It is unknown +whether the subsequent princes of Illyricum were descendants of his; but +certain it is, that we can trace the kings far back till the time after +the death of Alexander, that is, to Admetus the Taulantian. During the +childhood of Pyrrhus, again we meet with Glaucias, also a Taulantian. +It is impossible to determine the extent of Illyricum at the time it +came in contact with the Romans; the few statements about it in Polybius +pre-suppose a knowledge which we do not possess, and cannot supply; +but the Illyrians seem to have had considerable power at that time. +They never were closely united among one another, not even under their +kings, of whom a whole series is now known: Pleuratus, Agron and his +widow Teuta, Pinnes, Scerdilaïdas, Pleuratus, and Genthius, under whom +the kingdom was destroyed, because he allowed himself to be prevailed +upon by Perseus to share his fate. This kingdom of the Illyrians cannot +have extended far north; it embraced the Parthinians, perhaps also +the Ardyaeans, the Taulantians, Bulionians,[108] Dessaretans, and +the southern tribes which were afterwards under the dominion of Rome, +probably also belonged to it. The residence of the kings, at least in +later times, was at Scodra, the modern Scutari. The Illyrians were +robbers both by land and by sea, until the Romans in the first war +against them, between the time of the first Punic and the Cisalpine wars, +put an end to their proceedings; but before that time they roved over +Epirus and Greece, laying waste the country with great cruelty; and at +sea, they ventured even into the Aegean, plundering all the Greek coasts, +and especially the defenceless Cyclades. The tactics, the ships of war, +and the battle order of the Illyrians, however, were excellent: they were +not phalangites, but fought with short spears and light javelins; their +chief weapon, however, was the μάχαιρα, or the Albanese knife. With this +they fought as peltasts (with light shields), but not as ψιλοί; they +rather formed a middle class between the phalangites and ψιλοί. In this +respect they differed from the Romans, and were infinitely inferior to +them. + +The Illyrians are unquestionably the ancestors of the modern Albanese or +Arnauts. This opinion was expressed long ago, but has been disturbed in a +very strange way by objections; the one, that this people could not have +maintained itself among so many other nations, during great immigration, +is worth nothing. This objection gave rise to the belief that the +Albanese were an Asiatic people. Their language is quite peculiar and +akin to no other, neither to the Celtic, as I formerly believed, nor to +any other. In the earlier times, it is true, Celts did enter Illyricum, +and so did afterwards the Bulgarians and other nations, whence it cannot +be denied that northern and Asiatic nations did establish themselves in +the country. But I have discovered a proof which clearly shows, that +the modern Albanese are the same people as the ancient Illyrians. The +name of the town of Dimalon, the strongest among the Illyrian places, +with two acras on two heights, connected by a wall, as described by +Polybius, shows this; the Albanese still call it so. Now I have found in +several glossaries, that the word _mal_ signifies a hill, and _di_ two, +so that _dimal_ is a double hill. This proof is quite convincing. The +origin and nationality of the Illyrians have given rise to the oddest +conjectures. As the Dalmatian Slavonians have adopted the name Illyrians, +the Slavonian language spoken in Dalmatia, especially at Ragusa, is +likewise called Illyrian, and this designation has acquired general +currency. In the sixteenth century, about the time of the reformation, +a Slavonian Bible was printed at Tübingen, and called Illyrian. This +opinion is firmly rooted among the learned in Carniola, and we even find +it entertained by the excellent Kopitar, librarian at Vienna, and a very +distinguished man, who possesses great discernment and very extensive +knowledge; but he cannot get over the notion, that the ancient Illyrians +were Slavonians. This is, as it were, an article of the religious creed +of the Slavonians, just as the modern Greeks fancy that their language +is identical with the most ancient Greek. Wherever this singular opinion +has once become established, an angel from heaven would not be able to +upset it; learned men show an obstinacy on this point, which is really a +psychological curiosity. This opinion goes so far with them, that they +look upon St. Jerome, who was an Illyrian, as a Slavonian, and ascribe +to him the Slavonian translation of the Bible; for the same reason, they +call the artificial Glagolitian alphabet, which is derived from the +Cyrillian, invented in the ninth century, likewise Slavonian. Cyrillus +and Methodius, the apostles of the Slavonian nations, must have been +eminent men, for, with a wonderfully fine feeling for their language, +they invented an alphabet, as well defined and complete as possible; +this is the modern Servian alphabet, which is the foundation of that of +all the Slavonic languages. The Russian alphabet is the most complete +I know, unless the oriental languages form an exception; but I do not +understand them any more than the Sanscrit. When the Roman see wanted +to press the Latin language upon the Illyrians, they did not use the +Roman alphabet, but devised a new one, the Glagolitian (from _glagol_, +language), the same which is still used by the Albanese. This matter was +made by the Church of Rome the subject of a strange transaction: she was +willing to allow the use of the new alphabet, on condition that divine +worship should be conducted in the Latin tongue.[109] This happened under +Pope John XII. or John XIV., about the year 1000;[110] at the same time +books were brought forward, which were asserted to be productions of +St. Jerome. This is still firmly believed; and in the Vatican library +you may see St. Jerome represented as the inventor of writing with the +Slavonic alphabet. All kinds of etymologies of Illyrian words have +been pressed into the service to confirm that opinion; but they are so +irrational, that it is painful to see intelligent men so fettered by +hereditary prejudices about national honour. They attempt, e.g., to +derive the name Salona in Dalmatia from Slavona, “a place of honour.” I +have often wished that the passion of etymologising could be altogether +suppressed, for among a hundred etymologies you scarcely find one that +is good; people are easily satisfied, instead of entering into a healthy +and thorough inquiry. You will become convinced, that the Illyrians are +not Slavonians, when you consider the Sarmatae; for you will then see at +how late a period these nations came into Europe; in the meantime you may +rely upon what I have said, for it is the result of long researches. As I +am not unacquainted with the Slavonian languages,[111] I have been able +myself to study the Slavonian authorities. Among all the places within +the whole extent of Illyricum, there is not one whose name is properly +derived from the Slavonic. Whoever understands Slavonic, cannot possibly +be mistaken in a Slavonic word; the Slavonic languages are so marked +and characteristic, that no word can be disguised. In Frioul, which was +once inhabited by Slavonians, in the eastern half of Germany, and in the +greater part of the circle of Upper Saxony, places occur everywhere, the +etymology of which instantly strikes those who understand Slavonic. Many +years ago, I publicly discussed the migrations of the Slavonians, from +the age of Herodotus down to the great migration of nations, and I shall +soon publish the discussion.[112] + +When reading Pliny and Strabo on Illyricum, we see that their knowledge +as to its boundaries is as uncertain as our own. Appian, who undertook, +I know not on what authority, to give a national genealogy of the +Illyrians, got so confounded either through his own fault, or the +fault of his authority, that he jumbled together Illyrians, Gauls, +Paeonians, and Thracians in a most absurd manner. I think it my duty to +tell you, that he is no authority at all. In regard to some nations we +are in the greatest difficulty, and are unable to assert anything with +certainty. The Dardanians were probably Illyrians; but the Scordiscans +were undoubtedly Gauls. The Liburnians were certainly different from +the Illyrians; but I shall say more of them when I have done with the +Illyrians. + +In speaking of the Macedonian mountains, I have already directed your +attention to the connexion of that whole range of mountains with +the Alps. The Illyrian range of mountains, which traverses Dalmatia +and branches off in Carniola from the Julian Alps, and then, at a +considerable distance from the sea, stretches towards Venetia, approaches +the sea beyond Aquileia, in the neighbourhood of Trieste, and forms +Istria; it passes through Istria as a mighty and lofty mountain, +though it does not reach the snow line, then traversing Dalmatia, which +it separates from Bosnia, it extends into Albania. It is altogether a +limestone mountain, and like all mountains of this kind, it is very much +broken up; hence the numbers of promontories and islands off the coast +of Dalmatia. This mountain is all full of petrifactions and extremely +interesting in a geological and geognostic point of view; it is also +well suited for cultivation, and very fertile, but uninhabited, and +accordingly for the most part covered with wood to its very tops. It runs +from west to east, with a small range towards the south-east, then in a +somewhat more southern direction into Macedonia, and is separated from +the sea by the hilly country of Albania. Dalmatia is not at all volcanic, +whereas in Southern Illyricum or Albania we have a continuation of the +volcanic nature of Epirus, whence in the neighbourhood of Apollonia on +the Aous we find hot springs of asphalt. I take this opportunity of +recalling to your mind the passage of Strabo, which contains the words +πηγαὶ χλιαροῦ ἀσφάλτου: the MSS. have καὶ ἀσφάλτου, but the καὶ has been +thrown out by editors. I believe that by some mistake ὕδατος is omitted, +and that we must read: πηγαὶ χλιαροῦ ὕδατος καὶ ἀσφάλτου. Innumerable +emendations have yet to be made in Strabo, and it is to be regretted, +that his work has not yet found an editor possessing a thorough knowledge +of the Greek language, for Casaubonus edited it with too much haste. +In the above passage no one has remembered the fact that ἄσφαλτος is +feminine, and that accordingly Strabo could not have said χλιαροῦ +ἀσφάλτου. + +The accounts of the Greeks respecting the Illyrians are very different +from the later ones of the Romans. The Greeks, e.g., mention the Manians, +Nestians, Hyllians, and, on the south of Lissos, the Taulantians as the +most important among the Illyrian nations; but during the time of the +Romans they do not occur at all, although Dalmatia acts a considerable +part in history: in their place Dalmatians are mentioned all along the +coast, whose name does not occur at all in the geography of the Greeks. +Thus the Taulantians are not spoken of in the wars against Teuta, +Demetrius of Pharos, and afterwards in the first war against Philip, +although Apollonia and Epidamnus act a very prominent part; in their +stead we hear of Ardyaeans and Parthinians. Whether these latter did not +exist during the Greek period under these names, is a question which I +will not decide. In early times the Alemannians and Franks do not occur +under these names, and the other nations which do occur, are different +from them; this justifies the inference, that several of the latter +united into one people: in the same manner the Taulantians may either +have divided themselves, or other tribes may have united under that +name. I say this to prevent your falling into the mistake of believing +that all these statements refer to the same period. It is this error +which has made of the topography of Rome such a chaos, that no man can +find his way out of it, unless he takes the trouble of commencing the +investigations afresh from the very beginning: in this manner alone he +can find his way, for in Roman topography buildings are mentioned by the +side of one another, which are separated by four or five centuries. It is +evident, that the mighty invasion of the Gauls threw the whole country +of Illyricum and all its tribes into confusion, in consequence of which +the Scordiscans permanently established themselves in Sirmia (Slavonia), +Servia, and Bosnia, and expelled the Triballians, so that other nations +penetrated into Upper Macedonia, partly subduing and partly expelling its +inhabitants, who then formed settlements in Thrace. This great convulsion +accounts for the difference between the earlier and later condition of +Illyricum. + +I shall begin in the south. Next to the frontier of Chaonia we find the +small town of AMANTIA and the people of the _Amantians_ and _Bullians_ +(_Bulliones_). They are mentioned in Caesar’s _Bellum Civile_, iii. 40, +a work which throws great light upon the geography of Illyricum, and +the borders of Macedonia and Thessaly. We then have the TAULANTIANS, who +occupied the country north of the Aous as far as Epidamnus. The river +AÖUS, also called AEAS, flowing down from the ridge of the Macedonian +mountains towards the Adriatic, is one of the most important rivers +of southern Macedonia. As an instance of the great confusion and +perplexity which one false statement of an ancient author may produce, +I will mention the following fact:—Hecataeus had stated that the rivers +Inachus and Aöus sprang from one mountain near Argos Amphilochicum, +and that then they flowed in different directions. This remark, which +Strabo found and copied, has produced the greatest confusion in the +geography of Epirus, and scholars have been at the greatest pains to +clear it up. Pouqueville, a man whom I greatly esteem, but who is not a +philologer,[113] in consequence of the above statement, confounds the +Inachus and the Arachthus, and mistakes the ruins of Ambracia for those +of Argos Amphilochicum. The cause of the error no doubt lies in Hecataeus. + +APOLLONIA was a colony established by the Corcyraeans and Corinthians +conjointly. I have said that the nature of the country is volcanic; +Strabo, Antigonus Carystius, and the Pseudo-Aristotle, in the work +Θαυμάσια ἀκούσματα, state that near the neighbouring Nymphaeon the earth +was burning, that there existed springs of earth-pitch and hot water, and +that flames were seen at night, as is the case at Pietramala. Apollonia +maintained its freedom in the midst of the Epirot towns, though it was no +doubt under the protection of Macedonia. In the year 522, when the Romans +first appeared on that coast, it was still an independent Greek town, but +had at an early time gained the favour of its powerful western neighbours +by sending an embassy to them. The Romans delivered the town from a +siege of the Illyrians, and from that time it was a humble place under +the supremacy of Rome. Such towns, as far as depended on the Roman senate +and people, were very favourably treated, and were very well off, unless +they had the misfortune of being ruled by a governor like Piso, who is +described by Cicero. Apollonia, probably, enjoyed a great reputation, +and became for the neighbouring nations, and even for the Italians, +who endeavoured to Hellenise everything, a seat of Greek culture and +education, just as Lausanne and Geneva are for those who believe French +culture to be the best, and are visited even by princes. Thus Augustus, +at the time of the murder of Caesar, was living at Apollonia for the +purpose of learning to speak Greek. + +The Taulantians, who afterwards no longer occur in history, dwelt between +Apollonia and Epidamnus. + +EPIDAMNUS or DYRRHACHIUM. The latter name was, according to tradition, +adopted by the Romans to avoid the ominous meaning of the former, +_quasi in damnum ituri_, in case of the senate ordering the legions to +cross over to it. I imagine that, if the Romans had felt the necessity +of changing the name, they would have substituted a syllable, as they +did in changing Maleventum into Beneventum; but they would not have +completely altered it. In Thucydides and the other Attic writers, the +place is always called simply Epidamnus, but the native name must have +been Dyrrhachium, for it bears this name on innumerable non-Roman coins. +Epidamnus was the _causa contingens_ of the Peloponnesian war; it usually +happens, that a thing, when called forth by the force of circumstances, +must in the end come to pass, and this town only lent its name as the +occasion. This is beautifully expressed by Polybius where he explains +the true cause of the Punic wars and their apparent occasion. Epidamnus +was likewise taken by the Romans under their protection, and surrendered +to them, after having previously been compelled to acknowledge the +supremacy of the Illyrian kings. I have already mentioned that a vast +number of coins are found there. It is a well-known observation, that +about twenty years ago a person travelling through the Rhenish provinces, +found French crowns to be the current coin; and in like manner Illyrian +quinarii (half-drachmae) were the current coin at Rome for a long time; +according to Pliny, they had been introduced at Rome as merchandise, and +afterwards _victoriatae_ were substituted for them. But Pliny, as is so +often the case with him, takes the matter rather lightly and hastily. +The Illyrian half-drachmae were probably somewhat inferior to the double +sestertii of the Romans, and at the same time were convenient as a simple +coin. But the Romans very rationally now made a similar coin, and thereby +got completely rid of the Illyrian. Those Illyrian coins also have the +name of a magistrate, which explains a statement of Aristotle, who says +that Epidamnus contrary to the custom of other Greek towns, had a single +dictator or praetor. During the middle ages, in the time of the Comneni +and the Norman kings, Dyrrhachium acted a very prominent part, but at +present it is decayed, though it still possesses the advantages of its +happy situation on a narrow isthmus, which almost forms a promontory. + +In the interior, near the Macedonian frontier, there is a considerable +lake from which the Drino issues. In the same part we find, ever since +the middle ages, the town of ACHRIDA, which was the capital of the +Bulgarian empire at the time when it extended from the Black Sea as far +as the interior of Aetolia, and comprised southern Illyricum, Epirus, +Acarnania, Aetolia, and a part of Thessaly. It has been thought that +this town is the ancient _Lychnidos_. During the Roman period the +_Dessaretans_ dwelt there; the neighbouring country was occupied by the +_Autariatans_, who are said to have been driven from their country in +the time of Cassander, when they removed as fugitives with their women +and children into Macedonia. According to the story, which we read in +Justin, they were compelled to quit their country, because the frogs +had increased there to an intolerable extent. In the common editions +of Justin, however, we read, owing to a blunder of the transcriber, +_Abderitae_ instead of _Autariatae_, from which Wieland has made the +lengthy and absurd story, that the people of Abdera delighted in breeding +frogs, and that in the end they were driven by these animals out of their +own country. Little as has yet been done by criticism for Justin, still +it is sufficiently clear, that he is speaking of the Autariatae, and +not of the Abderitae. Diodorus of Sicily quite plainly relates the true +history of this expulsion of the Autariatae; but they were not all driven +from their country; some of them remained behind, and became subjects of +the Gauls, for we find Autariatae under the banner of the Gauls during +their expedition against Delphi. But after that time they disappear, and +in this disappearance the Greeks saw their punishment by the deity. + +The mention of this expedition leads me to speak of a subject, which +requires special explanation in order to avoid misunderstandings. You +here have a national emigration with women and children, and this is +most commonly the case with emigrating nations: a part of the nation +sets out with all it possesses, and the part remaining behind comes +under the dominion of the invaders. Emigrations are very rarely +spontaneous, most of them are undertaken by the pressure and compulsion +of other nations; pastoral tribes and those living on the chase alone +form exceptions, as we see in the case of all the inhabitants of the +steppes in Asia, who, in consequence of their mode of living, with all +their property undertook long expeditions into countries many hundred +miles off: witness the Scythians, who according to Herodotus took with +them all they possessed on innumerable wagons, the Mongole and Tartar +tribes, and the Huns. When a people immigrates, it very rarely happens +that all the ancient inhabitants quit the country, most of them remain +behind and submit to their new masters. But this is not by any means +always a matter of choice. When a conquering people advances, under the +hoofs of whose horses all life is destroyed, as was the case with the +Huns and the hordes of Jinghis Khan, which burnt and murdered every +thing before them (and the Gauls on their expedition into Greece did +not act otherwise), every one who finds a place of safety, or hopes to +find one, takes to flight. When the poor inhabitants of la Vendée fled +from the armies of the Convention, the whole population crossed the +Loire, carrying their women and children before them, and whoever could +move broke up, and whoever was able carried his feebler relatives with +him, so that the whole country was deserted. They met with opposition, +and their migration could not proceed farther: if there had been small +tribes on the frontiers of France, unable to offer them any resistance, +the Vendéeans would have broken through, and sought a place to settle +in. Such also was the case in most of the migrations of antiquity, as +well as in the great migration of nations during the fourth and fifth +centuries; and the Gallic and Sarmatian migrations were certainly not +less important than they. When the Goths had been defeated by the Huns in +Dacia on the Dniestr, they crossed the Danube in a body, and implored the +Romans to receive and protect them in their empire; and their requests +were granted. There are, however, a few instances of non-nomadic nations +emigrating in a body without being pressed in any way. The most striking +instance is that of the Helvetii, in the time of Caesar, a case which no +one can doubt, and which is literally true: they emigrated, having been +seduced by evil advisers, and even destroyed their own towns in the hope +of conquering a country in which they might live as lords and nobles, and +where they hoped to have vassals that would till the ground for them. + +The ARDYAEANS and PARTHINIANS dwelt north of the Autariatae, though not +at the same time, but only during the Roman period. These tribes, the +Illyrians and Atintanians, had been subdued by the Romans in the first +Illyrian war, and were again reduced to obedience in the second. Agron +and his widow Teuta had ruled as far as the borders of Epirus; but the +Romans took from them southern Illyricum and the islands of Issa and +Pharos. Then Philip also took a part of the same country, I allude to the +district of the Atintanians; but the Romans left that of the Parthinians +to Pleurates, the king of the Illyrians. How far the Illyrian kingdom +extended in the north, we cannot say; but the southern frontier, previous +to the time when the Romans gave away the Parthinians, was the mouth of +the Drino, which flows by Scodra and issues from lake Labeatis. + +SCODRA was the capital of the kingdom; its situation is very favorable, +mild, and pleasing; the country around is capable of every cultivation; +it is a _locus apricus_, accessible to the mild winds from the south, and +protected against the north winds. + +LISSOS, situated at the mouth of the Drino, was fixed upon by the Romans +as the border-town of the Illyrians in the south, and beyond it they were +not allowed to sail with their armed ships. This must be regarded as a +great blessing for Greece, which was thereby delivered from Illyrian +pirates. + +DALMATIA, in the north-west, consists partly of the mainland and partly +of a countless number of islands near the coast, some of which are mere +rocks, while others are capable of cultivation. On this coast there are +at least two Greek colonies—a third is doubtful—the islands of ISSA and +PHAROS. The latter known through Demetrius of Pharos, the shameless +intriguer, is said to have been a colony of Paros. Issa was colonised +by Dionysius of Syracuse who, at the time of his greatest prosperity, +contemplated to establish a power on the Adriatic, whence he also sent +a colony to Adria, in the country of the Veneti; it is possible that +the Greek colony of Heraclea, on the Liburnian coast, must likewise be +ascribed to him. + +The country of the Dalmatians (more correctly Dalmatans) extends from +Illyricum, in the Greek sense of the term, as far as the frontier of +the Liburnians, who inhabited the whole of the north of what was once +Venetian Dalmatia. The name Dalmatia is unknown to the Greeks, and +is applied to the country in which they place the Hyllians, Nestians, +and Manians. The inhabitants were no doubt under the dominion of the +Illyrian kings; after the reduction of the Illyrians by the Romans, +Dalmatia, too, was unquestionably intended to come under the supremacy +of Rome, and a few maritime towns actually seem to have done so, but the +interior, if it did fall into the hands of the Romans, appears soon to +have thrown off the yoke. It was not till the year 640, that Metullus +permanently subdued those coast countries, after the Romans had waged +war against them for a long time. Thenceforth the neighbouring country +of the Liburnians was a distinct Roman province; the southern districts +of Dalmatia being occasionally under the control of the proconsul or +propraetor of Macedonia; the northern parts do not appear to have had +a Roman _imperium_, except when legions were stationed there. This was +frequently the case, until the Scordiscans were conquered: when after +their destruction peace was established, and when, after the time of +Sulla, the province of Gaul was formed, those countries belonged to the +_imperium_ of the governor who had the administration of Gaul, as we see +in the case of Julius Caesar. + +The most important town in Dalmatia was SALONA or SALONAE (_Salonae +longae_, in Lucan, the place probably consisting of one long street +along the coast); it was the seat of a Roman _conventus_, that is, the +Roman citizens resident in the province formed a rustic community, +which had its administration at Salona. This is the real meaning of a +_conventus civium Romanorum_, which is left obscure in our manuals on +Roman antiquities, though it is perfectly clear from Cicero’s speeches +against Verres, from Caesar’s _Bellum Civile_ and _Africanum_, and also +from the _Bellum Hispaniense_. Salona gradually became a genuine Roman +city; but it owes its greatest celebrity to the fact that Diocletian, +after resigning the imperial dignity, took up his abode there and built +a palace, which extended into the modern town of Spalatro, and is an +example of the decay of taste in the arts at that time, as much as the +Thermae of Diocletian at Rome; the palace is not more beautiful than the +edifices built in the time of Charlemagne; marble and costly materials +of every kind were lavished on it, and such outward ornaments then +constituted almost all that was left of art. The ruins of this palace +have been described by Englishmen. + +About other places in Dalmatia nothing can be said, for they are of +no historical importance. The islands have already been spoken of. +PHAROS produced Demetrius, whose villany and faithlessness are very +characteristic of that age; he was only half a Greek, or rather a +barbarian. He spent a great part of his life at the court of the +barbarian queen, Teuta, and afterwards he went to that of Philip of +Macedonia. The traits related of this man are terrible. Pharos is called +Greek, but we must not imagine that its inhabitants were of pure Greek +blood or had Greek manners, and Greek modes of life; they were Μιξέλληνες +as in other similar places. + +CORCYRA MELAENA, the modern Curzola, cannot with certainty be called a +Greek colony. + +MELITE may be noticed here because, according to some, it was the island +where St. Paul, on his voyage to Rome, suffered shipwreck. But this is +improbable, St. Luke would probably have been more explicit about it, and +St. Paul would have crossed from thence to Ancona or some other port in +the neighbourhood. We must in all probability refer the event to Malta, +which was likewise called Melite. + +I now pass over the Iapydes, Istrians, Liburnians, Carnians and +Venetians, as I intend to return to these nations from the West and from +Noricum. + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[1] “The first journey of this kind was undertaken in the sixteenth +century, by George Fabricius, but it produced only very insignificant +results.” + +[2] The MS. notes contain very little about these maps, but what I +recollect Niebuhr to have said agrees in the main with the opinion +expressed in the _Lectures on Rom. Hist._ vol. iii. p. xciv., except that +in the present Lectures he treated the matter more with ridicule, saying, +e.g., that such men are immortalised even by having their portraits +engraved on copper (in some Geographical Journal).—ED. + +[3] See _Kleine Schriften_, vol. i. p. 105, foll. + +[4] “It would be an interesting philological problem to show, how certain +books gradually disappeared and ceased to be read.” + +[5] See _Klein. Schrift._, vol. i. p. 132, foll. + +[6] “It is written on white stone, and belongs to the time of +Psammetichus II., that is, about the end of the Peloponnesian war. +The λόφοι in Aristotle probably signify ostrich-feathers.” See _Corp. +Inscript. Graec._, vol. iii. fasc. 2. n. 5126. I owe this reference to +the kindness of the late Professor Franz.—ED. + +[7] _In Ctesiph._ 77 (p. 140, 9 ed. Dindorf). + +[8] The word “Latins” is only my conjecture. In all the MS. notes, the +words are directly opposed to what the lecturer intended to prove; whence +we may perhaps suppose, that Niebuhr himself made a _lapsus linguae_.—ED. + +[9] Comp. _Lectures on Anc. Hist._, vol. i. p. 200. + +[10] See Paus. vii. 1. + +[11] _Lect. on Anc. Hist._, vol. i. p. 204. + +[12] Ibid., vol. i. p. 232. + +[13] Paus. ii. 4, § 4. + +[14] _Aen._ vi. 838. + +[15] This name has been substituted by me from the Iliad, ii. 561, +for one which occurs only in a single set of notes, and is altogether +mis-written.—ED. + +[16] Verse 533. + +[17] “The part of Laconia, which forms the western coast of the Argolic +gulf, but which, by the division of Philip of Macedonia was restored to +Argos, will be spoken of when I come to describe Laconia.” + +[18] “A stadium measures 600 Greek feet, and eight stadia make a Roman +mile; 606 feet and 9 inches English are equal to a stadium. This is a +well known fact, requiring no proof. But it is a very debatable question, +as to whether the ancients, when reckoning by stadia, always adopted +the measure of the Olympian stadium, or whether we have sometimes to +understand others. The latter opinion has been very generally spread +by the moderns, especially in consequence of an error committed by +the excellent D’Anville. It very often occurs, that the distances +mentioned by the ancients are irreconcilable with modern measurements; +whence it has been inferred that sometimes different stadia must be +meant, and the statement that the Pythian stadium was shorter than +the Olympian, appeared to support this supposition. But there is no +other hypothesis which has been set forth equally often, and is yet so +devoid of all foundation: the ancient writers do not furnish a single +passage in support of the assertion; an endless confusion, moreover, +would be introduced into all statements, if we were to suppose that +the ancients reckoned according to different stadia without informing +their readers of it. Wherever the stadia mentioned are irreconcilable +with correct measurements, the cause is no other but either an error in +our calculation, or some inaccuracy in the statements of the ancients, +which arose in a very natural manner; for the high-roads in Greece were, +not like those of the Romans, made in a straight line, but had various +turnings, because they had been gradually formed out of the common paths +across the fields. In some instances, on the other hand, it has been +found that, where the ancients were charged with inaccuracy, too much +confidence has been placed in modern travellers, so that the statements +of the ancients are, after all, not as inaccurate as some have supposed. + +“A question of the highest importance in history and geography is that +concerning the proportion which the side of the pyramid bears to the +measured degree of the earth and to the Egyptian cubit—a question to +which French mathematicians, who were no scholars, have first directed +attention. These numbers are such exact multiples of one another, that we +must either assume the most marvellous coincidence, or else an artificial +calculation. The immortal Laplace set great value upon this discovery, +and inferred from it that the elements of mathematical geography were +known at a very early time. When the new French system of measures was +introduced, the measure of a degree was taken as the standard, and thus +the framers of the new system arrived at the same foundation as the +ancients. When a degree of latitude was measured in Egypt, the result +was perfectly safe; but the French wanted to establish a measure for +the whole world, and in this case it is illegitimate to make use of the +degree of latitude, for though in a metre the inaccuracy was not great, +yet it was so in larger measures. The ancients proceeded from degrees +which were not too large, and could be measured with accuracy. Now the +degree is a multiple of the Greek stadium, as it is of the Egyptian +measure: 600 Greek feet make a stadium, 600 stadia make an equatorial +degree, that is, 360,000 Greek feet make a degree; and this system of +measurement is derived from Egypt. As the Egyptian foot was larger than +an ordinary human foot, the Greeks invented the fable, that the foot of +Heracles had been taken as the standard in measuring the stadium. The +pace of the Romans is likewise an ideal measure, for it is the thousandth +part of one seventy-fifth of a degree.” + +[19] “Much has been written, and much nonsense too, about the history of +commerce. One must first be acquainted with commerce, and the course it +takes, before attempting to write about it. The subject is not foreign to +me, but I have no time to work it out.” + +[20] See _Kleine Schrift._, vol. i. p. 225, note. + +[21] Anthol. Palat. ix. 151. + +[22] “Herodes Atticus restored the theatre which had been destroyed by +Mummius; and this building, together with the Odeum and gymnasium, was +seen by Pausanias.” + +[23] One MS. has _Ornae_ instead of Argos.—ED. + +[24] “We include Megaris among those countries which lie beyond +Peloponnesus, though it belongs to Argolis, if this latter name be taken +in its widest sense.” + +[25] Compare Thucyd. iv. 57. + +[26] Polyb. ix. 42. + +[27] Compare _Lect. on Anc. Hist._, vol. i. p. 185, foll., and p. 231. + +[28] This reference was given by Niebuhr himself, and as all the good +MSS. agree in the number, there can be no doubt that the notes are +correct; but I do not know to what edition it refers. According to +Casaubon’s edition, it is p. 364, foll., and Alm. p. 560, foll.—ED. + +[29] Strab. viii. p. 365, ed. Casaub. + +[30] The restoration of this passage from the notes has been particularly +difficult. From the _Lect. on Anc. Hist._, vol. i. p. 234, it seems clear +that Niebuhr had somewhere publicly expressed his opinion on the passage +of Strabo above referred to; but I do not know where he has done so, and +I have not been able to avail myself of anything except the notes taken +in the lecture-room, some of which are very good. I am firmly persuaded +that Niebuhr uttered the words as they are given in the text, though his +opinion differs from that now generally adopted, which is based upon the +restoration of the text of Strabo, partially the work of C. O. Müller +(_Dor._ vol. i. p. 110). The name Aepys seems to be based upon _Iliad_, +ii. 592, and that of Pherae upon the original text of Strabo himself.--ED. + +[31] “Whether the list of the Spartan kings is correct or not, I do not +know; their number may be historical, but the years of their reigns are +very uncertain. Agis has quite the appearance of an historical personage.” + +[32] “The derivation of the name Εἵλωτες, from Ἕλος, is extremely +uncertain. Helos was certainly destroyed, but I cannot see how Εἵλωτες +could have been formed from Ἕλος. I cannot imagine that a neuter name in +ος should form its ethnic name in ως, nor do I know any instance in which +an initial ε is changed into ει.” + +[33] The words _of Sardinia_ have been inserted by conjecture. The MS. +containing the clause _as was the case_, &c., has the words _by the +Saracens_. But it is well known, that in the eleventh century, that is, +about the time of the conquest of Sardinia, Pisa had 150,000 inhabitants, +whereas at present it scarcely has the tenth part of that number.—ED. + +[34] This should probably be “the Homeric poems.” Cardamyle is mentioned, +Iliad ix. 150, among the seven towns which Agamemnon offers to give to +Achilles.—ED. + +[35] Herod. viii. 73, calls them Dryopians; so also Pausanias and +Strabo.—ED. + +[36] The 20th of October, 1827. + +[37] “Their name, from its termination άς, reminds us of Italian ethnic +names, such as _Antias_ and the like; but in the former the α is short.” + +[38] See _Hist. of Rome_, vol. i. p. 418, n. 975, vol. ii. p. 317; _Lect. +on Rom. Hist._ vol. i. p. 203, n. 4; 3rd edit. + +[39] This list is given from Polybius, ii. 41; Niebuhr here forgot that +_Aegae_ and _Rhypes_ had been mentioned even by Herodotus, i. 145, who +omits Leontion and Cerynea. This requires the statement in the text to be +modified, though it does not affect the explanation given by Niebuhr.—ED. + +[40] Strab. ix. p. 394, c. Instead of the verse Στῆσε δ’ ἄγων ἵν’ Ἀθηναίων +ἵσταντο φάλαγγες, the Megarians read Αἴας δ’ ἐκ Σαλαμῖνος ἄγεν νέας, ἔκ +τε Πολίχνης, Ἔκ τ’ Αἰγειρούσσης, Νισαίης τε Τριπόδων τε.—ED. + +[41] The statement of Thucydides is confirmed by the document of the +official treaty about the fifty years’ peace of Nicias in Thucyd. v. 18: +στήλας δὲ στῆσαι—ἐν Ἀθήναις ἐν πόλει.—ED. + +[42] Niebuhr here overlooks Thucyd. i. 93: μείζων γὰρ ὁ περίβολος πανταχῆ +ἐξήχθη τῆς πόλεως.—ED. + +[43] The reader must bear in mind, that all Niebuhr says about the +topography of Athens was said before any of the numerous recent +investigations of this subject had been commenced.—ED. + +[44] “The temple of Theseus was destroyed as early as 1687; the Turks +had a powder magazine there, and the Venetians were barbarous enough to +bombard it; one front of it is left standing.” + +[45] Dion Cassius, lxix. 16, however, says ἐξεποίησε.—ED. + +[46] Aeschin. Socr. _Eryx._ c. 7 and 24.—ED. + +[47] “This war is a memorable occurrence on account of the misfortunes of +men who had deserved a better fate.” (See _Kleine Schrift._ vol. i. p. +451, foll.) + +[48] Comp. _Kleine Schrift._ l. c., p. 458, note 10.—ED. + +[49] “_Basílius_, not _Basilīus_, for at that time Greek was spoken only +according to accent.” + +[50] “The seventh among the Platonic letters was no doubt written soon +after the time of Plato and before the death of Alexander; it is written +in the vivid style of one who knew things from hearsay, but had not +witnessed them himself.” (Comp. Ulrich, _Die Eilfmänner in Athen_, p. +258, note 3.) + +[51] Cic. _De Nat. Deor._ i. 42. + +[52] This statement is not the same in all the MSS., whence the text +cannot be regarded as quite certain.—ED. + +[53] These numbers, though not agreeing with what precedes, occur in +all the MSS. We must therefore probably suppose, that Niebuhr in his +thorough-going view of the symmetry of numerical relations in antiquity, +regarded the _eleven_ Boeotarchs as the remnant of the earlier number +twelve, and divided this latter into two equal halves; but I cannot +at this moment say on what this division is based. The statement that +afterwards the Boeotarchs were exclusively Thebans, occurs in a set of +notes, which do not seem to be quite trustworthy.—ED. + +[54] I have no doubt that Niebuhr here meant Lake Hylice, although I do +not know that it is connected with Lake Copais. Respecting its outlet +into the Euripus, see Müller, _Orchom._ p. 38, 2nd edit., who doubts its +existence. The name of “lake of Haliartus” belongs only to the part of +lake Copais near Haliartus.—ED. + +[55] “Lépanto, not Lepánto, according to the modern Greek pronunciation, +just as Sífanto (the modern name for the island of Siphnos), Táranto, +Ótranto. This originally Greek accent differs from that of Italian names.” + +[56] The MSS. give nothing but these words, which are evidently +defective, and must be supplemented from Thucyd. i. 112, iv. 118, v. 18. +Compare Boeckh, _Publ. Econ. of Athens_, p. 161. foll. 2nd. edit.—ED. + +[57] This statement can only be regarded as an inaccurate expression of +the right possessed by every people to vote at the Amphictyonic council, +for it is well known that each nation had two votes. Comp. _Lect. on Anc. +Hist._ vol. i. p. 244, fol.—ED. + +[58] xxiv. 1. + +[59] “The reason for this is, that the olive-tree requires many years to +grow and bear fruit.” + +[60] i. 56. + +[61] i. 5, iii. 94. + +[62] “Ampracia is the more ancient orthography, and not Ambracia.” + +[63] “_Landrecht_, as it was called in the middle ages; _Burgrecht_ is +something different, referring to the individual who has the right of +becoming a citizen of a place.” + +[64] “It would be an excellent subject for an essay to collect the +differences in the names of nations and places among the Greeks and +Romans; it would be very important in the critical treatment of ancient +authors, as the old Latin forms have often been misunderstood.” + +[65] “MSS. and editions of Latin poets frequently have _Haemonia_, but I +cannot venture to decide as to whether it is right or wrong. The Greeks +have generally Αἰμονία, and rarely Αἱμονία; in like manner Αἶμος is more +common than Αἷμος, and it is doubtful whether the former is not a change +made by editors.” + +[66] Dionys. Hal. _Ant._ i. 28, calls him a great great-grand-son. + +[67] In some MSS. the following words are here added: “Such also +was the case in the Netherlands, in the official language of the +fifteenth century.” It is possible that Niebuhr may have alluded to the +_Geuses_.—ED. + +[68] “We ought to say _the_ Tempe as a plural, for the Greek is τὰ Τέμπη, +and signifies a glen or a pass.” + +[69] In one MS., which however is interpolated in some parts, we find +the following statement: “Dositheus Magister, the most ancient Latin +grammarian, whose works we possess complete (?), imitated Dionysius +Thrax.”—ED. + +[70] “Whether Dryopians and Dolopians be the same name cannot be proved, +although it is possible. I do not like the attempts to prove such things; +people easily believe that they arrive at positive results, and accustom +themselves to play with names. This is unfortunately the case in Germany +so much, that we cannot be sufficiently on our guard against it. It is +quite a different thing to examine what was the generic name of a great +nation.” + +[71] xix. 175. + +[72] See above, p. 33. + +[73] v. 3, § 6. + +[74] In one MS. I find “On the slip of land extending into the sea +opposite Chios”; one main part of the town was afterwards in the +island.—ED. + +[75] Comp. _Lect. on Rom. Hist._, vol. i. p. 70, fol. 3rd edit. + +[76] Μάκαρος ἕδος Αἰολίωνος, _Hymn in Apoll._ 37. + +[77] “Athens too is written with ε on the drachmae of later times (ΑΘΕ).” +The connexion between this remark and the statement in the text is not +clear.—ED. + +[78] “During the Macedonian period and afterwards this name certainly was +never pronounced otherwise than Cassándrea.” + +[79] “Xenophon’s _Hellenica_ is one of the most corrupt among ancient +works; the text is in a very bad condition, and requires a most thorough +critical revision; the history itself, though bad, is indispensable to +us. In the fifth book, he states that Olynthus had 800 hoplites and an +equal number of peltasts, but this is impossible. It has been proposed +to read 8000, but this is too much, and is, moreover, not plausible, as +the numbers were written in the characters of the alphabet. Demosthenes +speaks of 5000 hoplites; his expression πόλις μυρίανδρος only signifies a +large town in general.” + +[80] In Thucydides i. 94 and 128, we have Βυζάντιον without the +article.—ED. + +[81] _Ausführl. Griech. Gram._, vol. ii. p. 428, foll. 2nd edit. + +[82] “Thus we find mention of a Roman Church _S. Agnolo in Pescivendolo_ +in an ancient chronicle [in the _Beschreib. der Stadt Rom_, iii. 3, +p. 468, this is referred to the history of Cola di Rienzi, which was +formerly ascribed to Fortefiocca], and that church is now called +_S. Angelo in Pescaria_; there must have been a fish-market in the +neighbourhood. _Piscivendulus_ is unquestionably an ancient Latin word, +in which the termination _ulus_ is purely an adjective termination +without the meaning of a diminutive, as we sometimes find in Plautus.” +[One otherwise very good MS. here has the word _nuculendulus_, for which +I am unable to restore the correct word, unless _nucifrangibula_ (Plaut. +_Bacch._ iv. 2, 16) be meant]. + +[83] Niebuhr has discussed this same subject in an advertisement +about the progress of the edition of the _Corpus Scriptorum Historiae +Byzantinae_, which was published in the 4th vol. of the _Rhein. Museum_, +and was directed against Professor Heinrich, who had censured the form +_Byzantinae_.—ED. + +[84] The inscription of Protogenes; see _Kleine Schrift._, vol. i. p. +382, foll.—ED. + +[85] “In consequence of the numerous Milesian colonies on the Euxine, M. +Von Köppen has brought forward the strange hypothesis, that the Milesians +were a nation on the coast of the Euxine, who founded the colony of +Miletus. Being a native of Russia, he perhaps wanted to gratify his +Russian patriotism, by assigning a Russian origin to so important a Greek +city.” + +[86] Reprinted in _Kleine Schriften_, vol. ii. p. 224. + +[87] _Hist. of Rome_, vol. i. p. 25, foll. + +[88] The name is wanting, and I am unable to supply it.—ED. + +[89] _Hist. of Rome_, vol. iii. p. 456. + +[90] “Others call him Tharypas or Tharypos. If we examine this name +carefully, we find already a trace of the change, seen in the modern +Greek, of an oblique case into the nominative, as ὁ πατέρος—it is one +of the many traces which shew that, properly speaking, Epirot and +Macedonian forms constitute the foundation of modern Greek, and that the +latter is not the same as the popular language of the ancient Greeks, as +is commonly imagined by the modern Greeks. My dear friend, Count Capo +d’Istria, is not free from this prejudice, though he admits that, e.g., +at Athens a different dialect was spoken. The Italians in the middle +ages, especially Aretinus, entertained a similar opinion; they maintained +that Cicero spoke Italian, that Latin was only the language of the +learned, an artificial and improved Italian; and that Latin was indeed +written, but that the people spoke Italian. But the Greeks confound the +circumstances, and pretend to know more than is generally true. Many +proofs, for example, may be adduced that a kind of modern Greek was +spoken at Alexandria in the time of the first emperors; but that language +was derived from the Epirot, Macedonian and Thessalian dialects; it is +pure Greek, but at the same time has many peculiarities, many of which +have passed into the Latin language. Thus _Areus_, the name of the +Spartan king, is written _Areas_ in Livy, which, therefore, should not be +altered, but is quite correct; in the same manner we have _Crotona_ for +_Croton_, and in German _Mailand_ for Milano.” + +[91] One MS. here has “the Ambracians and Chaonians;” the probable +reading is, “the Thesprotians and Chaonians,” according to the +geographical succession. The apparent contradiction in the statement that +Ambracia was dependent on Epirus and at the same time in the power of +Philip, must be understood of successive periods, the former being the +earlier, and the latter the subsequent condition. Comp. _Hist. of Rome_, +vol. iii. p. 165.—ED. + +[92] Comp. _Lect. on Ancient Hist._ vol. ii. p. 346.—ED. + +[93] Comp. _Hist. of Rome_, vol. iii. p. 457, foll.; _Lect. on Rom. +Hist._ vol. i. p. 421 foll. 3rd edit. + +[94] “The whole of this part of history is still obscure; I mean the +period from the death of Alexander until the time of Polybius. If God +spares my life, I contemplate writing this history as a supplement to +ancient history.” + +[95] “I have here mentioned the Ibis, on account of this historical +fact, which is not the only one in that poem. I recommend its study to +any scholar who wishes to ascertain whether he is thoroughly conversant +with poetical mythology and ancient history. One of the most difficult +problems is to explain the allusions; there is not much poetry in it, but +a great deal of wit. We admire Jean Paul, on account of his allusions +and of his wit, but we speak slightingly of the wit of the Alexandrians, +though they, and especially Callimachus, ought not to be despised. We are +not sufficiently familiar with them; it is also true that there are few +poetical geniuses among them: Callimachus is not without talent (witness, +for example, the _Lavacrum Palladis_); Apollonius Rhodius is indeed a +feeble mind, but the loss of Philotas is much to be lamented. Although +Propertius equals neither Callimachus nor Philetas, still even he is +excellent; he, too, may be used as a means of self-examination.” + +[96] See Niebuhr’s _Gesch. des Zeitalters der Revolution_, vol. ii. p. +281. + +[97] “I ought to have spoken of ATHAMANIA before, but not having any +maps before me as guides, I forgot it. It was situated between Molottis +and Thessaly, and was a small Epirot principality. In the earliest times +it was not important, but subsequently it became remarkable, because +it maintained its independence of Epirus as well as of Aetolia. Their +king, Amynander, was early allied with the Romans, but then went over +to the Aetolians. This brought great distress upon the country, though +it was afterwards pardoned by the Romans and was restored to its former +condition.” + +[98] “In like manner the Romans abolished the _concilia populorum_ in +Italy.” + +[99] “This name, though formed according to good analogy, is not used +by the ancients; but I do not see why we should not employ it upon the +analogy of others.” + +[100] This is the name in all the MSS., though there can be no doubt that +Callias is meant.—ED. + +[101] “It deserves to be noted that in several of the later Latin +poets the genuine usage in the application of rare names disappears. +The beginning of Lucan is no doubt known even to those who are unable +to work their way through the whole; in explaining it we may assume +two possibilities: he either intended to compose a poem on the whole +Civil war down to the battle of Philippi, or he unwittingly confounded +Macedonia and Thessaly. If he wanted to use such a poetical name, he +ought to have said _Bella per_ AEMONIOS _plus quam civilia campos_.” + +[102] “Not _Aegae_, as you find in most maps and in modern editions of +ancient authors. In the older editions the name is correctly given, +Αἰγαῖαι, pronounced according to the modern Greek Αἰγέαι, and the +inhabitants are called Αἰγεεῖς. Moderns have unfortunately taken it into +their heads that this is a mistake, and have unceremoniously altered it +without saying anything about it: as the altered form was found in the +maps of D’Anville and Barbié du Bocage, it was thought to be the correct +one.” + +[103] “I take this opportunity of saying a few words about this not +sufficiently valued author. There are writers whose works are read, +without their containing any substance, and without their being at all +comparable to others, merely because they have once got a name. Others +deserving of respect are now neglected, while formerly they were studied. +Dion Chrysostomus is one of these latter. He is indeed sophistical, +but there is among his works a whole series of thoroughly beautiful +orations, showing great intellect, which is, after all, the main thing. +Sidonius Apollinaris’ Latinity is very rustic; but he is a man of talent; +so also Libanius, although he is already too sophistical. Others, as +Aelius Aristides, who are so devoid of talent and so absurd, that we +feel inclined at once to throw their works among the rubbish, are placed +on an equality with the former. To the same class belong Themistius and +Fronto, the latter of whom does nothing but pile up words. In regard to +talented writers, we must not allow ourselves to be prejudiced by the +fact that they belong to a late period. The language of Dion Chrysostomus +is very good; it is a fine imitation of Attic Greek, and this is not only +my opinion, but the judgment of Valckenaer, Hemsterhuys, Ruhnkenius, and +others; his style is like that of Xenophon, who, after all, is read and +studied in schools only on account of his language.” + +[104] Namely in their division of the country according to what are +called the natural boundaries. See above, p. 282.—ED. + +[105] xlv. 29. + +[106] xlv. 30. + +[107] “The _lembi_ were privateers of the Illyrians with one very large +lateen sail; they were probably very quick boats, able to sail very +sharply with the wind, and requiring a strong crew and bold sailors. +They were the same ships as those called by the Romans _Liburnicae_, +which more and more supplanted the place of triremes, quadriremes, and +quinqueremes.” + +[108] This name is not quite certain; I have supplied it from Pliny; the +MS. notes having some such name as _Voelnii_.—ED. + +[109] Niebuhr probably meant to say—“in the Slavonian tongue but +according to the Roman rites.”—ED. + +[110] More correctly: under Innocent IV., A.D. 1248. See Dobrowsky, +_Glagolitica_, p. 16. + +[111] According to a letter of his father, dated Dec. 1807, Niebuhr +understood Russian, Slavonic, Polish, Bohemian, and also Illyrian. See +_Life and Letters of B. G. Niebuhr_, vol. i. p. 27.—ED. + +[112] It is published in _Kleine Histor. u. Philol. Schriften_, vol. i. +p. 352, foll.—ED. + +[113] “If a man is not a thorough philologer, he cannot enter upon the +study of ancient history at all; to do so without an intimate familiarity +with philology would be the same as if a man were to write about Germany +from French authorities.” + + +END OF VOL. I. + +J. WERTHEIMER AND CO., PRINTERS, FINSBURY CIRCUS. + + + + +WORKS PRINTED FOR WALTON AND MABERLY. + +UPPER GOWER STREET, AND IVY LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW. + + +NIEBUHR’S LECTURES ON ANCIENT HISTORY. + +Comprising the History of the Asiatic Nations, the Egyptians, Greeks, +Carthaginians, and Macedonians. Translated from the German by Dr. L. +SCHMITZ. With additions from MSS. in the exclusive possession of the +Editor. 3 vols. 8vo. £1 11_s._ 6_d._ + +The reader will find brief but graphic accounts of the Assyrians, +Babylonians, Persians, Egyptians, and other Eastern nations; and in each +case Niebuhr, before entering upon the history itself, gives a critical +analysis of the authorities on which our knowledge is based. The history +of Greece and other European countries is treated more minutely, and +occupies more than half of the whole work. Literature, the arts, and +the social and political conditions of the people, are described more +graphically and minutely than in many other more voluminous works. +In reference to Babylonia, Assyria, and Egypt, it is particularly +interesting to notice, how clearly the historian foresaw and anticipated +all the great discoveries which have since been made in those countries. +A thousand points in the history of ancient nations, which have hitherto +been either overlooked or accepted without inquiry, are here treated with +sound criticism and placed in their true light. + + +NIEBUHR’S LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF ROME. + +From the earliest times to the Fall of the Western Empire. Edited by Dr. +SCHMITZ. Second Edition, enlarged and greatly improved. Three volumes, +8vo. Portrait. £1 4_s._ cloth. + +⁂ _The present Edition of Niebuhr’s Lectures on Roman History contains +every word and statement that is to be found in the German Edition of Dr. +Isler, with which it has been compared throughout. But as Dr. Schmitz, +in preparing his edition, was in possession of some valuable sets of MS. +Notes, which were inaccessible to Dr. Isler, the present work contains +a variety of remarks and observations as made by Niebuhr, which do not +occur in the German Edition, or any mere translation of the German. +Almost every page of the present work contains some interesting remark of +the Roman historian, which is not to be found in the German Edition._ + +These Lectures form a history of Rome from the earliest stages to the +overthrow of the Western Empire. Their subjects are concurrent (up to +the first Punic war) with those of Niebuhr’s great work “The History of +Rome,” and comprehend discussions on the sources of Roman history, with +the criticism and analysis of those materials. The Lectures differ from +the History, in presenting a more popular and familiar exposition of +the various topics of investigation, which are treated in the History +in a more severe style. They may be used, either as an introduction to +Niebuhr’s Theories, or as a running commentary on his History. + +The last two volumes are an indispensable SEQUEL to Niebuhr’s _History of +Rome_, from the point where that History terminates. + + +NIEBUHR’S HISTORY OF ROME. + +From the earliest times to the First Punic War. Translated by BISHOP +THIRLWALL, ARCHDEACON HARE, Dr. SMITH, and Dr. SCHMITZ. New and Cheaper +Edition, 3 vols. 8vo. £1 16_s._ + +“It is a work,” says the _Edinburgh Review_, “which of all that have +appeared in our age, is the best fitted to excite men of learning +to intellectual activity; from which the most accomplished scholar +may gather fresh stores of knowledge; to which the most experienced +politician may resort for theoretical and practical instruction; and +which no person can read, as it ought to be read, without feeling the +better and more generous sentiments of his common human nature enlivened +and strengthened.” + + +A HISTORY OF ROME. + +From the earliest times to the Death of Commodus, A.D. 192. By Dr. L. +SCHMITZ, Rector of the High School of Edinburgh, Editor of “Niebuhr’s +Lectures.” New Edition. One thick volume, 12mo. 7_s._ 6_d._ cloth. + +The immense progress made in investigating Roman history and antiquities +within the last thirty or forty years, having materially altered the +whole complexion of that study, has rendered indispensable a new manual, +for the use of schools, removing the old errors and misconceptions which +have long since been exposed and exploded by scholars. This compendium +is designed to supply the want, by condensing and selecting out of a +voluminous mass of detail, that which is necessary to give rather a vivid +picture of the leading epochs of the history, than a minute narrative +of the particulars recorded in the authorities. The author has availed +himself of all the important works on the whole Roman history, or +portions of it, which have appeared since Niebuhr gave a new life and new +impulse to the subject. A copious Table of Chronology and Indexes are +added. + + +QUESTIONS ON SCHMITZ’S HISTORY OF ROME. + +By JOHN ROBSON, B.A. 12mo. 2_s._ cloth. + +It has been justly objected to school-books, written in the form of +question and answer, that, as they may be completely learned by an +unintelligent exercise of memory, they fail in drawing forth the more +active powers of the mind. It is far otherwise with questions to which +the pupil must find the answers for himself; as, by this mode of +interrogation he is compelled to exert his intellect in considering the +subject of the text on which he is questioned. He is thus prevented from +reading cursorily and remembering vaguely; he can no longer have the +appearance of knowledge without its reality; and if he learns his lesson +at all, he must learn it well. + +This book consists of several thousand questions, with indications +of the pages where the answers are to be looked for. Every important +circumstance mentioned in the history is involved in the questions, which +are arranged, as far as possible, in a complete and uninterrupted series. +The answers are not always obvious, the learner being occasionally +expected to elicit them by drawing inferences from the facts stated in +the history; and it is recommended that he should be encouraged, in all +cases, to give the answers rather in his own words than in those of the +author. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78451 *** diff --git a/78451-h/78451-h.htm b/78451-h/78451-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cecadb8 --- /dev/null +++ b/78451-h/78451-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13078 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + Lectures on ancient ethnography and geography, volume 1 of 2 | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +a { + text-decoration: none; +} + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +h2.nobreak { + page-break-before: avoid; +} + +hr.chap { + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + clear: both; + width: 65%; + margin-left: 17.5%; + margin-right: 17.5%; +} + +div.chapter { + page-break-before: always; +} + +p { + margin-top: 0.5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; + text-indent: 1em; +} + +table { + margin: 1em auto 1em auto; + max-width: 30em; + border-collapse: collapse; +} + +td { + padding-left: 2.25em; + padding-right: 0.25em; + vertical-align: top; + text-indent: -2em; + text-align: justify; +} + +.in1 { + padding-left: 4.25em; +} + +.tdc { + text-align: center; + padding: 0.75em 0.25em 0.5em 0.25em; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.tdpg { + vertical-align: bottom; + text-align: right; + white-space: nowrap; +} + +.center { + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.footnotes { + margin-top: 1em; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.footnote { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 0.9em; +} + +.footnote .label { + position: absolute; + right: 84%; + text-align: right; +} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none; +} + +.gesperrt { + letter-spacing: 0.2em; + margin-right: -0.2em; + font-style: normal; +} + +.hanging { + padding-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em; +} + +.larger { + font-size: 150%; +} + +.noindent { + text-indent: 0; +} + +.pagenum { + position: absolute; + right: 4%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; +} + +.poetry-container { + text-align: center; +} + +.poetry { + display: inline-block; + text-align: left; +} + +.poetry .stanza { + margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; +} + +.poetry .verse { + padding-left: 3em; +} + +.poetry .indent0 { + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.right { + text-align: right; +} + +.smaller { + font-size: 80%; +} + +.smcap { + font-variant: small-caps; + font-style: normal; +} + +.allsmcap { + font-variant: small-caps; + font-style: normal; + text-transform: lowercase; +} + +.titlepage { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 3em; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.x-ebookmaker img { + max-width: 100%; + width: auto; + height: auto; +} + +.x-ebookmaker .poetry { + display: block; + margin-left: 1.5em; +} + +.x-ebookmaker .gesperrt { + font-style: italic; + margin-right: 0; + letter-spacing: 0; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78451 ***</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_i">[i]</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage">LECTURES<br> +<span class="smaller">ON</span><br> +<span class="larger">ANCIENT ETHNOGRAPHY AND<br> +GEOGRAPHY.</span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ii">[ii]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iii">[iii]</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage">LECTURES<br> +<span class="smaller">ON</span><br> +<span class="larger">ANCIENT ETHNOGRAPHY AND<br> +GEOGRAPHY,</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">COMPRISING</span><br> +GREECE AND HER COLONIES, EPIRUS, MACEDONIA,<br> +ILLYRICUM, ITALY, GAUL, SPAIN, BRITAIN,<br> +THE NORTH OF AFRICA, ETC.</p> + +<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br> +<span class="larger">B. G. NIEBUHR.</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN EDITION OF DR. ISLER, BY</span><br> +DR. LEONHARD SCHMITZ, F.R.S.E.<br> +<span class="smaller">RECTOR OF THE HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH;<br> +WITH ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS FROM HIS OWN MS. NOTES.</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">IN TWO VOLUMES.</span><br> +VOL. I.</p> + +<p class="titlepage">LONDON:<br> +WALTON AND MABERLY,<br> +<span class="smaller">UPPER GOWER STREET, AND IVY LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW.<br> +M.DCCC.LIII.</span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iv">[iv]</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage smaller">LONDON:<br> +PRINTED BY J. WERTHEIMER AND CO.,<br> +CIRCUS PLACE, FINSBURY CIRCUS.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[v]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="DEDICATION"><span class="smaller">TO THE RIGHT REVEREND</span><br> +CONNOP THIRLWALL, D.D.,<br> +<span class="smaller">LORD BISHOP OF ST. DAVIDS,<br> +ETC., ETC.</span></h2> + +</div> + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">My Dear Lord</span>,</p> + +<p>Independently of your merits as a profound historian and an +inquirer into the institutions and languages of the Ancient +World, whereby you have given a fresh impulse and a new +life to the scholarship of this country, I cannot, as a pupil +of the illustrious Niebuhr, call to mind what you have done +to make British scholars familiar with his labours without +a sense of deep gratitude. This feeling is heightened +by the unvarying friendship with which you have honoured +me during the last sixteen years, and which I have always +found ready and willing to assist, in whatever circumstances +it was appealed to. The very idea of publishing any of the +Lectures of Niebuhr would, perhaps, never have occurred to +me, had it not been suggested by your Lordship. Some +fifteen years ago, when you inspected my MS. notes of +the Lectures on Ancient, and especially on Greek, History, +you at once perceived their value, and urged on me the +desirableness of their publication. With a natural timidity +I at first shrank from so arduous and responsible an +undertaking; and it was not till I found that no one else +would venture upon it, that I resolved to do my best to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[vi]</span>carry out your suggestion and to rescue those precious +remains from oblivion. It is now pretty generally admitted +that these Lectures are doing some service to the study of +classical antiquity, and it affords me the greatest satisfaction +to have this opportunity of publicly acknowledging that, +in the first instance, the public is indebted to your +Lordship for whatever benefit their publication has conferred +upon the students of ancient history. My own +humble but conscientious labour, in bringing them before +the British public, will be amply rewarded, if the manner +in which I have executed my task should meet with your +approbation. With this hope I beg your Lordship’s acceptance +of the present volumes as a small tribute to your +genius and learning, and as a token of the veneration and +gratitude with which I shall ever remain,</p> + +<p class="center">My dear Lord,<br> +Your’s faithfully and sincerely,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">L. Schmitz</span>.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[vii]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACE">PREFACE.</h2> + +</div> + +<p>The Lectures here offered to the English public were +delivered by Niebuhr in the university of Bonn during +the winter of 1827-28, and were published by Dr. Isler +at Berlin in 1851. The German editor, in a short preface, +remarks, that for a time he hesitated as to the propriety of +publishing the present course of Lectures unabridged, because +from its very nature the historian had been obliged here to +treat of many topics which are discussed in the Lectures +already published. But a regard for those readers who +may not be possessed of the volumes containing the other +courses of Lectures, and at the same time a desire to keep +each course complete in itself, induced him to give the +lectures uncurtailed and as complete as he found them in +the MS. notes. It must also be borne in mind that Niebuhr, +delivering his discourses extempore, cannot be said exactly +to have repeated what he had said on previous occasions; +but that, generally, the statements made in one course of +Lectures rather supplement and complete those put forth +at another time.</p> + +<p>The relation in which the present English version stands +to the German original is precisely the same as that +described in my Preface to the “Lectures on Ancient +History”; but the present volumes differ from the previous +ones in so far as they do not appear in the <i>form</i> of Lectures. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[viii]</span>This is owing to the fact that the division into Lectures +is not marked either in the German edition or in any of the +sets of notes which I had opportunities of collating. The +want of such a division, in this instance, is perhaps scarcely +to be regretted, because the subject itself renders division +and subdivision absolutely necessary; and if the merely +accidental division into Lectures had been added, it would +frequently disturb rather than assist the reader.</p> + +<p>Many of the localities and countries here described have +been more fully explored since the delivery of these Lectures, +and much information might accordingly have been +added in notes; but I have thought it right to adhere to +the principle which I have followed in the publication of +the Lectures on Ancient and on Roman History, as it is +not my object to furnish complete treatises on these +subjects, but to preserve and bring before the public the +views and opinions of a man who still stands unrivalled as +an historical inquirer.</p> + +<p class="right">L. S.</p> + +<p><i>Edinburgh, October, 1853.</i></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[ix]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS OF VOL. I.</h2> + +</div> + +<table> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="tdpg smaller">PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Preliminary observations</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>History of ancient Ethnography and Geography</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Ancient authorities and introductory remarks</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Ancient_Authorities_and_Introductory_Remarks">11</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="tdc"><a href="#GREECE">GREECE.</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Greece in general</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Peloponnesus</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Peloponnesus">26</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Homeric Catalogue</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Divisions of Peloponnesus</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Argolis, Argos</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Argolis_Argos">37</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Aegina</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Laconia</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Laconia">56</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cythera</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Messene</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Messene_Messenia_Messeniaca">64</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Arcadia</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Arcadia">70</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Elis</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Elis">77</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Achaia</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Achaia">79</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="tdc"><a href="#GREECE_BEYOND_PELOPONNESUS">GREECE + BEYOND PELOPONNESUS.</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Attica and Megaris</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Attica_and_Megaris">84</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Megaris</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Megaris">87</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Attica</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Attica">90</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="in1">Athens</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="in1">Acropolis, Κιμώνειον τεῖχος, Πελασγικόν, Propylaea</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="in1">The Theatre, Agora, Buleuterium, Prytaneum</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="in1">The Pnyx, Museum, the New Town, Olympieum</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="in1">Academia, Lyceum, Cynosarges</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="in1">Piraeeus, Munychia</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="in1">The Long Walls</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="in1">Population of Athens</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Salamis</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Boeotia</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Boeotia">113</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Locrian Tribes</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#The_Locrian_Tribes">123</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[x]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Phocis</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Phocis">126</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Doris</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Doris">134</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Aetolia</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Aetolia">136</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Acarnania</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Acarnania">147</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Cephallenian Islands</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#The_Cephallenian_Islands">153</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Thessaly</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Thessaly">155</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Peraebia (Magnesia)</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Achaia (Phthiotis)</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_170">170</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Melians and Malians</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Dolopians</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#The_Dolopians">172</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Euboea</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Euboea">175</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Northern islands, Sciathos, Scopelos, Scyros</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_180">180</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Peparethos, Halonnesos, Lemnos and Imbros</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Samothrace, Thasos</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Cyclades</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#The_Cyclades">183</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Delos</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Paros, Siphnos, Seriphos</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Ceos, Andros, Tenos, Syros, Rhenea, Myconos, Naxos</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_187">187</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Melos, Thera</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Ios, Amorgos, Crete</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Crete">190</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Carpathos, Astypalaea, Nisyros</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Rhodes</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Rhodes">196</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Dorian Tripolis in Asia Minor</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_203">203</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Ionia</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Ionia">204</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Samos</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Chios</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Panionium</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_215">215</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Aeolis</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Aeolis">215</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Lesbos</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Magnesia on the Maeander</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_220">220</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Kingdom of Pergamus</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#The_Kingdom_of_Pergamus">221</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Greek Settlements in Macedonia and Thrace</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Greek_Settlements_in_Macedonia_and_Thrace">224</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Chersonesus Thracica</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_234">234</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Chersonesus Taurica</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The north coast of Asia Minor</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_248">248</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Epirus</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Epirus">251</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Thesprotia</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_256">256</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Suliots</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_258">258</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Chaonians</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Molottians</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Atintanians</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Pelagonians</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Orestians</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Parauaeans</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Amphilochians</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Agraeans</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_270">270</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">[xi]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Corcyra</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Corcyra">272</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Macedonia</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Macedonia">275</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Athamania</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_280">280, <i>n.</i></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Macedonia prima</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_281">281</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Emathia</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_286">286</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Pieria</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Bottiaeans</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Paeonians</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Mygdonia</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Edonians</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Agrianians</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_296">296</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Illyricum</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Illyricum">297</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Amantians</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_306">306</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Bulliones</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_306">306</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Dessaretans</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_309">309</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Autariatae</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_309">309</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Migrations of Nations</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_310">310</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Ardyaeans and Parthinians</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_311">311</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Dalmatia</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_312">312</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Pharos</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_314">314</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Corcyra Melaena</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_314">314</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Melite</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Page_314">314</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span></p> + +<h1><span class="smaller">LECTURES<br> +<span class="smaller">ON</span></span><br> +ANCIENT ETHNOGRAPHY AND<br> +GEOGRAPHY.</h1> + +</div> + +<p>All history resolves itself into a knowledge of the circumstances +in the midst of which events occur, and of the +events themselves; in an abstract point of view, the two +are conveniently kept apart, although concretely they can +never appear separated. A history which does not enter +into the development of circumstances at all, and altogether +pre-supposes them to be known, is scarcely conceivable, unless +indeed it were written for contemporaries alone. Nevertheless, +however, the one side or the other predominates, +according to the predilection of the individual historian. +Livy gives scarcely anything but the narration of events; +earlier historians were fond of occupying themselves with +the description of circumstances, and the more ancient the +historian the more striking is this peculiarity. Thucydides, +the greatest of all historians, whenever he has an opportunity, +as in his description of nations, dwells upon the representation +of circumstances. In the earliest times, therefore, +ethnography and chorography were always the principal +objects of attention, while subsequently this tendency decreased +more and more, and the narration of events alone +was attended to. The two, however, ought not to be separated, +for without a knowledge of the circumstances in the +midst of which events take place, the study of history is +altogether useless. The mere knowledge of a country, however, +is not sufficient; the peculiarities of its inhabitants, its +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span>products and the like, must be well known to the student; +and without this history has no life. On the other hand, +we are often unable to picture to ourselves even modern +European nations from a mere narrative of events, unless +we have at the same time some insight into their manners +and customs. But the history of ancient nations more particularly +cannot be understood without a knowledge of the +circumstances arising from the peculiarities of their countries. +Philological knowledge is the <i>conditio sine qua non</i>; +but were a man ever so great a philologer, unless he be at +the same time acquainted with the ancient constitutions, the +political divisions, and the soil and climate of the countries, +his ability to interpret the ancient authors would be nothing +but “a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal”; he would +be in the same condition in which we find the wretched +grammarians of old.</p> + +<p>A knowledge of the ancients may exist in an endless +variety of degrees; a perfect knowledge is altogether unattainable. +The time which separates us from them cannot +be removed; but the difference of space presents no such +insurmountable difficulty. The soil and the atmosphere of +the classic countries have something so peculiar, and so +utterly foreign to us, that to obtain a perfect familiarity +with the ancient classics, it is necessary to know those countries +and live in them, for unless we have seen them with +our own eyes, we easily form erroneous notions; and this is +required more particularly of him who wishes to understand +the Latin poets. But still, even if a person cannot actually +visit the countries, he may supply the defect, in a great +measure, by a loving and diligent study. To initiate you +into this, and at the same time to indicate to you those facts +which are absolutely certain as points to start from, is the +object of these Lectures. I shall give positive results which +you may receive with confidence, and which I have arrived +at by diligent and laborious research: they chiefly refer to +changes of nations and countries, but at the same time topography +shall not be excluded.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span></p> + +<p>It is easy to perceive that this department of knowledge +may be treated in various ways, for there are histories in +which every thing that happened at the same period, is +related synchronistically, while we may also look at events +from the point of view of one particular nation. The same +difference exists in ethnography and chorography. In the +present Lectures it is my intention to give information +about the classical nations of antiquity, and about the whole +range of nations which are connected with them either by +literature or by history, but I do not mean to treat of all +the nations of antiquity in the widest sense of the term. I +shall speak of the East and of Africa only so far as they +come within the reach of the Greeks and Romans; I shall +not touch upon the non-classical nations, though they are +now better known from native accounts. I shall notice the +migrations in Africa and those of the Scythians, as well as +the Bactrian empire and other eastern countries. Of India +I shall not speak according to Indian authorities, which were +unknown to the ancients, but I shall follow the accounts +furnished by the Greeks. Scandinavia will, for the most +part, be dealt with in the same manner; the Finnian nations +will be passed over altogether, as well as those parts of Africa +which do not come in contact with the classical nations.</p> + +<p>The time, which for us forms the boundary between +antiquity and the middle ages, cannot be determined with +absolute precision; ancient and middle-age history cannot, +in their whole extent, be separated by a straight line; the +line undulates without any definite law. With some nations +it falls at an earlier, and with others at a later time, according +as their countries were taken possession of by barbarous +tribes at an earlier or later period. For most European +nations, the migration of nations forms the line of demarcation, +and the immigration of the Franks, Suevi, Vandals, +Burgundians and others forms the close of antiquity, while +in the eastern empire it lasted till the Arab conquest. It is +but seldom that in this respect we shall be apparently inconsistent, +when, for example, we describe the condition of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span>Rome and Ravenna during the period of the exarchate; for +in point of fact, these two cities down to the restoration of +the western empire, belong to ancient, and not to mediaeval +history. Such lines of demarcation cannot be slavishly adhered +to without pedantry.</p> + +<p>We may further raise the question, as to whether the +geographical knowledge of the ancients, that is, an examination +of their notions about the earth, its parts and its inhabitants +should come within our sphere. In so far as their +notions were erroneous, such discussions would be tedious +and disagreeable; and they form no part of our objective +consideration of ethnography and chorography. This +science, however, the creation of Voss, is a very essential +part of the propaedeutics to a right understanding of the +ancient authors: it belongs, in a subjective point of view, +to the history of geography, and the gradual extension of +geographical knowledge. We shall take into our consideration +only those parts of that science which have a +direct bearing upon our object, by shewing us the condition +of the countries at the time, and the connections and relations +among peoples distant from one another. Whoever +treats of geography as a science, that is, whoever intends to +give a history of geography, must dwell upon these points; +but then he cannot confine himself to the Greeks and Romans, +he must at the same time discuss the geographical +knowledge of the Arabs, Scandinavians, and other nations.</p> + +<p>The history of ancient geography and ethnography after +the revival of letters, is the same as that of all other studies +connected with the investigation of antiquity. After the +restoration of learning, all information about ancient +geography was sought exclusively in the ancient authors; +the whole of the middle ages had added nothing to it; +whatever advances were made, proceeded from practical +men, and not from the learned. The consequence of this +state of things was the unfortunate separation of dead +learning from practical life: the knowledge of the learned +had its root in their books, and was thereby spoiled in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span>its very beginning; it is true, all erudition is based on +books, but it must be amalgamated with practical knowledge. +To transfer that which was handed down in books +to the actual, visible world was a very difficult task, and the +acquisition of practical experience was no part of a scholar’s +business. This state of things remained the prevailing evil +until the 17th century; and during that period, the ἰδιῶται +were much more learned than the λόγιοι. The first attempts +of geographers consisted of lifeless compilations from ancient +books; and only that which was not found in them +was sparingly derived from the actual and living knowledge. +The most striking example of this kind is Raphael +Volaterranus, in that part of his Encyclopaedia, in which +he treats of geography; for in describing the countries of +Europe, which had become entirely changed, he copies +Pliny and Mela, and it is not till they cease to furnish him +with information, that he borrows a few things from the +actual knowledge of his time. Although he lived at Rome, +he describes it as it had been a thousand years before him. +In the East, and especially at Constantinople, the maps +of Ptolemy were used throughout the middle ages—whether +the same was the case in Italy, I cannot decide; +the earliest Italian maps are not older than the fifteenth +century. The maps of Ptolemy were then brought +over to the western countries; and from them the +learned formed some sort of notion of the geographical and +ethnographical knowledge of the ancients. But as early as +the thirteenth century—the Arabs had done so even before—the +Venetians, Genoese, and Catalanians had become acquainted +with the Greek and Arabic maps, and it was these +unlearned men that, in extending geographical knowledge, +took these maps as their basis, and remodelled them into +new and practical maps, especially sea-charts, which they had +so much improved. But this was unknown to the scholars +of the fifteenth century; and even in the sixteenth, their +ignorance is almost inconceivable. It was not till the +seventeenth century that the nations of western Europe +arrived at the age of maturity; that century checked this +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span>irrational philological tendency, and for a time, philology +itself; it gave a different direction to scholarship, and thus +laid the foundation of our modern philology. The time +had now come, when a living account of ancient geography +based on autopsy could be undertaken.</p> + +<p>The first work of eminence was the production of a +German, Philip Cluver, on Italy, Sicily, and Germany; it +ranks very high, though all its parts are not equal in value, +the <i>Germania</i> being very considerably inferior to the two +others. The <i>Italia</i> and <i>Sicilia</i> must be regarded as one +work; what he has done for these countries is excellent, and +nearly all the passages of the ancients referring to them +have been fully collected by him. When we are told, +that he collected the materials for his work in the space of +eighteen months, we must probably understand this to mean, +that, after having previously read through all the ancient +authors, he collected in his mature age his reminiscences +within the short period alluded to. He was professor in +the university of Leyden; and the states general of Holland, +which were usually very active in their support of learned +men, granted him permission for a journey to Italy, and at +the same time allowed him the enjoyment of his salary.⁠<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +He had great tact in discovering and remembering localities; +he knew how to see things with his own eyes, and at the +same time had a clear intellect in examining things impartially. +His reputation is firmly established, his work is +immortal among scholars, it will always be great and classical, +and there is but very little that can be added to it. +But he did not rightly understand the ethnography and +history of the Italian nations, nor did he sufficiently attend +to the stages through which ancient history passes, and +by which the nations ascend as by the steps of a ladder. +Ancient history becomes confused by the supposition that +no event is historical, which is not recorded in the extant +ancient authors. Such a view can be entertained only by +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span>timid minds. There are often manifest gaps in history, +which are not noticed by the ancients, because they +themselves did not perceive them, or because they did not +find them pointed out in earlier writers. Even the great +Perizonius combats such narrow views; and it is for this +reason that Cluver’s accounts of nations are often full of +mistakes. This is the defect in his excellent work, but +its details are not the less valuable on that account. He +did not live long enough to revise his work, for he did not +attain an advanced age.</p> + +<p>His example was followed by a no less distinguished man, +who attempted to compose a chorography of Greece, which +was even far more difficult than that of Italy. This undertaking +was the more laborious, because there were scarcely +any preparatory works that could be made use of; for Italy +had been visited before, and the travels of Baptista Alberti +furnished Cluver with a very good foundation. The maps +of Greece, which were then in use, were very wretched; +those of Ptolemy are badly projected, and only a few +countries are treated with any degree of minuteness. In +the middle ages, Greece was very little visited by Europeans, +so that during that period it was almost as unknown as +Ethiopia is now; and a geography of Greece was therefore +a want that was seriously felt. Paulmier de Grentemesnil +(Palmerius), a French nobleman of Normandy, undertook +a journey to Greece. He, together with the two brothers Valois, +closes the glorious array of the great French philologers, +who combined the knowledge of language with that of +things. Unfortunately he did not complete his work, because +he had planned it on too grand a scale: his scheme also +embraced Illyricum and Macedonia, and he completed only +his account of these two countries, together with that of +Epirus and Acarnania. He, too, has left much that requires +to be rectified, but this does not detract from his greatness. +The idea of continuing the work has occurred to no one, +though at present there are men who possess all the qualifications +for such a task. However, the completion of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span>work in the form given to it by its author is now no longer +a desideratum.</p> + +<p>In the reign of Louis XIV, when a friendly intercourse +with the Ottoman Porte commenced, and when the relations +with it became more intimate, Greece was first visited +by French travellers; maps were then drawn, which were +not indeed quite accurate, but still tolerably good. Thus +De la Guilletiere described Peloponnesus, but his work, +which contains many a valuable observation, has no maps. +The first real journey of discovery to Greece was that +undertaken by Spon and Wheler; light was afterwards +thrown upon the geography of Peloponnesus, about the +end of the 17th century, by the campaigns of the Venetian +admiral Morosini, who, for the purpose of his military +operations against the Porte, caused charts and plans to be +made of several places by Coronelli; the struggle for the +possession of Candia also was beneficial. Then followed the +excellent travels of Tournefort; some natives of Greece +likewise collected important materials for a description of +their country: thus the archbishop of Janina, known under +the name of Meletias, gave a description of Greece. Yet +the materials brought together were never wrought out in +the manner in which Palmerius would have done it.</p> + +<p>Italy and Greece therefore are the only countries which +were at all made the subjects of any learned inquiries. In +the meantime books of travels, which combined ancient and +modern geography, also furnished many materials to increase +the knowledge of other countries. Much was gained +by the voyages of the English to India: Egypt was thus +brought to light; and Syria and some of the countries of +Asia Minor were laid open, by Richard Pococke; and many +a discovery was made accidentally during the active intercourse +with those countries. The travels of Shaw are an +excellent work for the ethnography of northern Africa, +especially Numidia and the Roman province of Africa: he +did for those countries what Cluver and Paulmier before +him had done for others. During the eighteenth century, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span>the great D’Anville, one of the most brilliant geniuses I +know, without writing many books, contributed, by his +maps, more than any other man to advance geographical +knowledge at a gigantic rate. I cannot allow any opportunity +to pass without avowing my admiration of that +man’s greatness: by the light he has thrown upon ancient +geography, he has acquired as much merit in historical +philology as in ancient history. Major Rennell, who is +still alive, has undeservedly been placed by the side of +D’Anville; he has done much that is invaluable, he is diligent +and indefatigable in collecting materials; but there is +one point in which he differs from D’Anville, and in which +he is far inferior to him. D’Anville possessed a peculiar +power of divination and of estimating the value of his +materials; he was not only extremely industrious in collecting +them, but knew how to value each point most correctly, +and how to use and combine his matter in the most +sagacious manner, always clearly distinguishing between +what he knew and what he did not know; while Major +Rennell, on the other hand, has spoiled his best materials +by his scrupulous attempts to reconcile what is incorrect +with what is correct. D’Anville’s <i>Mémoire sur la Mer Rouge</i>, +for example, is the most excellent chart of the Arabian +Gulf. All the earlier ones were copied from the ancient +Venetian ones; but all at once D’Anville furnished an +accurate, detailed, and astronomically correct description of +the coasts, islands, and countries, which he had compiled +from the most different and wretched materials, furnished by +Portuguese, Turkish, and other maps. He discerned with +the most marvellous tact which statements were entitled to +belief and which not. Any one knowing what geography +was before the time of D’Anville, cannot sufficiently admire +him. Two of his works, that on ancient and modern +Egypt and that on Gaul, are particularly excellent; his +little manual is of less value. But the whole series of maps +in his Atlas of the ancient world will be unsurpassed, until +another D’Anville arises who shall draw his maps according +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span>to the improved geographical knowledge we now possess. +Southern Italy is not yet perfect in his map; but whenever +his representations are incomplete, he himself points it out; +as, for example, in his map of Epirus, which country has +now become much better known in consequence of several +military officers of learning having resided in it. After +D’Anville’s death, Barbié du Bocage unjustly made several +alterations in his maps, but in subsequent editions he has +withdrawn them.</p> + +<p>Chorography thus made constant progress, but ethnography +did not keep pace with it. The German work of +Mannert, which is extensively used and has acquired great +celebrity, arose out of the materials then accumulated; the +author has worked at it for a period of more than thirty +years, and new and improved editions of the first volumes +were published before the whole was completed. It contains +many valuable materials, but they are by no means +wrought out as they should be. The author commenced +his work with very slender scholarship, such as it was at +the time, and without extensive reading. These disadvantages +became the more dangerous, because he was not +sufficiently conscious of them, and because he wrote with +animation and interest: he has no survey of his subject, he +wants the real historical tact, and has not read the ancients +thoroughly. He has made many hasty combinations, without +sufficient foundation. If any one wished to review the +work, mistakes might be discovered in great numbers. +Thus, <i>e.g.</i>, he sets up the hypothesis, that the Herodotus +who during the insurrection against Persia was sent as ambassador +from Ionia to Greece, was the same as the historian, +without considering that, in this case, he must have +been at least ninety years old when he began to write his +history, and accordingly must have lived at least to the age +of one hundred and twenty years. The maps of Reichardt +are thoroughly bad⁠<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>⁠.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span></p> + +<p>A work on ancient topography is still a desideratum, and +one of the many tasks which a good scholar might undertake; +every year in our time furnishes means to make it +more complete.</p> + +<h2 id="Ancient_Authorities_and_Introductory_Remarks"><span class="smcap">Ancient Authorities and Introductory Remarks.</span></h2> + +<p>Ancient chorography is not, like Roman antiquities, a +department of knowledge created by modern philology; +the ancient authorities for it are not inconsiderable, for they +not only furnish the materials, but the work of Strabo, +for example, is an ample digest of them. The Greeks in +general took an intense interest in geography, and were in +this respect quite different from the Romans; there is no +nation that could have done more and that actually did +less for geography than the Romans; they shewed a perfect +indifference in regard to the knowledge of their immense +empire. If we except the Germania of Tacitus, and a few +passages in Caesar about Britain and Germany, which are +indeed excellent, Latin literature furnishes nothing. Pomponius +Mela and Pliny give only abridged summaries of +the knowledge possessed by their contemporaries. We +know the extent of Latin literature so perfectly as to be +able to assert, that nothing of importance is lost; the +Romans never had a great chorographical work like that +which Strabo wrote for the Greeks.</p> + +<p>But even before Strabo, the Greeks had great works of +this kind; nay, their earliest work in prose, of which we +have any knowledge (if we except the genealogies of +Pherecydes, Acusilaus and others, the simplicity of which +is almost beyond our conception), the γῆς περίοδος of +Hecataeus the Milesian, was devoted to chorography. Its +character is not accurately described by any of the ancient +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>authors, but we know that the titles of his works were +“Asia” and “Europe;” and we know from Stephanus of +Byzantium, that he mentioned an immense number of +towns and nations, though probably not in a systematic +manner. He seems to have connected separate narratives +with one another, but his real objects were chorography +and ethnography, and not history, whence he is scarcely +ever quoted as an authority on historical matters. It is +true, however, that he did not entirely exclude historical +events; it is very possible also that he may have spoken of +the revolt of the Ionians under Aristagoras, in which he +himself had acted so unfortunate a part; and there can be +little doubt that incidentally he also mentioned the history +of the countries of which he was treating.</p> + +<p>Descriptions or γῆς περίοδοι of this kind probably existed +in Greece in great numbers; they were written in a lively +manner to afford entertainment, and for such persons as +wished to gain information about the earth and its inhabitants. +But there also existed another kind of descriptions +intended for the practical guidance of merchants and +sailors; these men who had no ambition to investigate the +interior of countries, could not but feel an interest in the +descriptions of the coasts. As navigation was chiefly +coasting, the want of such descriptions was felt, men being +anxious to know in what manner town followed after town, +harbour after harbour, and promontory after promontory. +These are the περίπλοι: the most ancient is that by Scylax +of Caryanda, a contemporary of Philip of Macedonia, as I +have shewn by incontrovertible arguments⁠<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>⁠. Besides this +description of the Mediterranean, there were others of the +Euxine and the Erythraean Sea, which were composed at +a much later period. Throughout the middle ages, these +and similar περίπλοι were used, and the modern Greeks +still have guides similar to those of their ancestors of old. +Even till very recent times, sailors who confined themselves +to the navigation of the Mediterranean, made use of what +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span>are called <i>Portolani del Mare</i>, which, previously to the +invention of printing, were circulated in manuscript. The +ancients accordingly had two kinds of materials, descriptions +of coasts and descriptions of countries.</p> + +<p>After the time of Hecataeus, 150 years passed away +before a real geography was written by Eratosthenes, +whose object was to furnish a scientific chorography. In +Herodotus chorography and history are combined, both are +equally his object. He rarely combats Hecataeus, and not +by name, but he often attacks his system, being conscious +that he can give more accurate information. His work +shows us the limits of the science in his time.</p> + +<p>It is a very interesting inquiry—first undertaken and carried +out in an admirable manner by J. H. Voss—to trace +the different notions entertained by the ancients about the +form of the earth, and to examine their geographical knowledge +at the different periods. His merits in this respect +will never be forgotten; but the more I, for my own part, +look with reverence and gratitude upon his inquiries as real +models, the more do I consider myself entitled to make a +few observations regarding the mistakes into which he has +fallen. The first is his supposition, that a thing which is +not mentioned by an author, although it is not opposed to +his other statements, must be regarded as if it had been +unknown to him; but the fact is, that authors often +knew things without mentioning them. If Aristotle, during +his walks in Piraeeus, a place frequented by men from all +parts of the world, questioned the ναύκληροι, he might +have written a geography, which would excite our astonishment, +as it is excited by his history of animals: the fact +that he chanced not to write a geography does not entitle +us to draw a conclusion as to his knowledge of countries and +nations. It is this manner of viewing things that gave rise +to the opinion, that the Greeks knew nothing about Rome; +but there can be no doubt that even Hecataeus spoke of +Rome; he was however not much read,⁠<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> and hence we cannot +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span>infer that Rome was unknown to the Greeks. This inference, +however, that a man is ignorant of a thing, because +he does not mention it, is common even in earlier times. +The second mistake of Voss is that he considers the opinions +of a great writer as the standard of the knowledge of his +age. This may indeed be said of Eratosthenes, whose works +were in the hands of all who wished to gain information; +and Eratosthenes, moreover, stands already within the sphere +of what may be called a learned or literary period; but before +his time circumstances were very different. We can +form a clear notion of this, if we contemplate nations which +have not yet arrived at definite notions about geography. +Eastern people, for example, never have any scruples about +geography; I am acquainted with Asiatics and others, with +whom I have conversed much about ethnography, and who +had never had a geographical book in their hands; they +scarcely ever possess any broad geographical views, but are +deeply interested in it; the one has a knowledge of one +thing, and another of another. There is indeed a certain +average amount of knowledge, which every individual may +be supposed to possess, but apart from this, the knowledge +of persons who in other respects are equally well educated, +is very different according to the circumstances in which +they are placed. Every inhabitant of Tripoli and Morocco +knows of Bournou, but many are ignorant of everything +beyond its name, and few are acquainted with the interior. +In like manner the knowledge possessed by the learned in +ancient Greece was of a very different kind from that diffused +among the people, and every one might for himself +acquire a certain range of knowledge. Some persons who +had travelled in distant lands possessed an extensive knowledge +of countries, and those anxious to learn derived +their information from them. It is therefore generally impossible +to say how much geographical knowledge an otherwise +well educated man may have possessed. That which in +later times was to be found in books which were generally +read, was known also to every well-read Greek. But the +living knowledge among the people was far more extensive +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span>Herodotus became acquainted in Scythia with people who +had made distant journeys, or had heard accounts from +others extending as far as the Ural mountains; and in like +manner, others who visited Massilia might have obtained +equally accurate information from people that visited Britain; +such knowledge, however, was not generally diffused, +but was possessed only by navigators and some others. All +knowledge was purely practical, until some curious inquirer +in some much frequented port collected the scattered information, +put together all the περίοδοι and περίπλοι, and thus +formed a geography. Eratosthenes lived in a large port +town, and possessing an extensive library, he was the first +to draw up a general ethnography; before he wrote his +work, the geographical knowledge of one man was immensely +different from that of another.</p> + +<p>The early Greeks and Asiatics entertained the notion +that the earth was a circular plain, floating in the middle +between heaven above and the nether world below. And +this was the most natural conception: where there is no +cause for assuming any other form, the circular is the most +probable. The notion of Homer evidently is, that the plain +is somewhat depressed in the centre, forming a basin in +which the waters of the Mediterranean are collected, and +that the world-river Oceanus flows round the upper edge +of the plain. This opinion prevailed for a long time; it +was entertained by Hecataeus as well as by Homer.</p> + +<p>Another notion was, that warmth and cold were not to +be explained by the relation of the sun to the earth alone. +To this the ancients were led by the observations, so natural +in the south, on the nature of the winds, which are +altogether of a different character from our winds; their +character cannot be traced to topographical causes. We in +the north consider winds as currents of air which bring +warmth or cold, according to the different quarters from +which they blow; but a person who has lived in the south, +or has conversed with southern people about the matter, +knows that the winds there have something quite unaccountable. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span>In order to explain the different peculiarities +of the north winds at Rome (due north, north-west, and +north-east), one must assume essentially different characters +in them in regard to the dispersing of clouds, to brightness +of the sky, to the moisture, the effect on the thermometer, +&c. In like manner the three south winds have +their peculiarities. It cannot be explained why the east +wind, which blows across the land, produces rain at Rome, +while the west wind, which comes from the sea, is mild and +for the most part dry. Such differences also exist in Greece, +and this led the ancients into speculations. They conceived +the winds to be distinct powers, with original properties +which belonged to them alone. The peculiarities of the +winds as described by Pliny may be recognised even now; +I have, however, observed at Rome, that they have shifted +a few points of the compass further west. I am personally +firmly convinced of this; in the present state of physical +science one need not fear to be laughed at, as about 40 years +ago: I have mentioned the subject to several natural philosophers, +and requested them to investigate it.</p> + +<p>Before the rise of mathematical and physical geography, +which Aristotle understood perfectly, though he did not +work it out for others, and down to the time of Eratosthenes, +the notion of the ancients was, that the north wind, +which was so disagreeable to them, came from mount +Haemus; to this belief they were probably led by the fact, +that they heard of terrific winds blowing on the coast of +Thrace—the Greeks told one another things about those +winds, which made their hair stand on ends;—they were +further told, that in the more northern countries, in Bulgaria, +Wallachia, and in general on the northern slopes of +mount Haemus, the violence of the winds was not to be +compared with what it was in Macedonia and Thrace. +Those mountains, therefore, were regarded by them as the +abode of Boreas, and the countries beyond them were believed +to be mild and lovely; in this belief they were confirmed +by the stories about the paradise-like climate in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span>Wallachia. They did not take into consideration the +height of the mountains, and conceived that countries +were milder, the further they were removed from Boreas: +the countries beyond Haemus were, in their opinion, +protected against the Scirocco, which was the most +troublesome to them. This is the simple and childlike +story about the Hyperboreans. Herodotus thinks that, if +they really did exist, there must also be Hypernotians, and +this would be quite correct, if Notus had been believed, +like Boreas, to dwell in a mountain; but the fact is, that +Notus was conceived to roam over the endless sandy deserts +of Africa which extend to the ends of the earth.</p> + +<p>The maps which existed among the Greeks at a very +early period, were made in accordance with these notions. +Herodotus’ account of Aristagoras, who laid a map before +Cleomenes, king of Sparta, is certainly authentic. We +may regard Hecataeus as the author of a map, on which +the measures which Herodotus made use of, were already +indicated. As the Hebrews regarded Jerusalem, so the +Greeks considered Greece, and more especially Delphi +and mount Olympus, which lie about the same degree +of longitude, as the centre of the earth. When Herodotus +went to Scythia, and there learned how many +days the merchants who traded with the savage nations, +had to travel to the Ural mountain, and when, on the other +hand, he heard at Massilia how near it was from that city +to the Garonne and the ocean, he naturally extended the +form of the inhabited earth in different directions and to +different points so far, that his conception did not at all +harmonize with that of the circular plain. On the one +hand, he found at Massilia, that the world-surrounding +ocean was not very far from the Mediterranean, while on +the other side it was at an immeasurable distance, so that in +the south and west it was nearer to Delphi than in the +north and east; hence he says, “I smile at those who conceive +the earth to be circular, as if it were made by a +turner, and to be surrounded by the ocean.” His tendency +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span>was quite different from that of his predecessors: it was the +peculiarity of his nature minutely to examine the details, +and not to be uneasy, if he did not find in the whole of his +conception a place for every particular point. Some men +feel the necessity of conceiving all things together as one +whole, they cannot understand the parts otherwise than as +portions of the whole, and in the part they even see the +whole foreshadowed; but others, who are of an empirical +nature, are the most fit persons to prosecute inquiries; they +form distinct notions of details, distinguish that which +they cannot yet comprehend, and discern the places where +they must add something for the purpose of filling up a +gap; they place one detail by the side of another, and put +them in relation with each other, but are unconcerned +about the place which every particular point occupies in the +whole system. If they do reach the height from which +they can command a general view, they survey accurately, +but if not, they are aoristic. The latter might be called +atomists, and the former dynamists. Herodotus belongs +to the atomists, and in this respect my father bears a great +resemblance to him; the highest perfection is implied in a +complete combination of the idea of the whole with the +most sober investigation of details, and this perfection +we find in d’Anville. While, however, Herodotus wants +to get rid of arbitrary outlines and fancies, he himself +unconsciously invents some definite form in his own mind, +though he does not set it forth externally. Hence, as I +have shewn in the transactions of the Berlin Academy⁠<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>⁠, +he conceives the Ister and the Nile to flow parallel but in +opposite directions, and according to him, the Ister flows +from north to south into the Euxine, just as the Nile +flows from the south into the Mediterranean; in like +manner the Indus and Araxes, according to him, flow from +west to east, and the latter river, as conceived by him, is +almost entirely fictitious. Geography, therefore, at that +time was not universally known; its changeableness and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span>accidental character is no where more obvious than in +Herodotus himself. His notion of the course of the Nile +is, that above the first cataract it flows from west to east, +and that near Elephantine it turns round; and yet he +might without difficulty have informed himself of the +true state of the case. From an inscription found near the +cataract among the ruins of the temple at Ipsambul, and +which belongs to some Ionians and Carians, who had gone +into those parts either as soldiers or as ostrich-hunters⁠<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>⁠, it is +clear that those Greeks went far beyond the cataracts, and +were very well aware that the Nile flowed from the south. +Another proof is furnished by the Attic orators: when +Alexander had crossed the frontier mountains of India, +Aeschines⁠<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> conceived that he had advanced as far as the +polar circle. Such expressions about the polar circles do +not occur in Herodotus, for he does not know that the earth +is a globe; this notion was probably first formed in the +East, whence Eudoxus, the astronomer, received it in +forming his sphaera, even before the time of Aristotle; +and many of the expressions referring to it may have +found their way into the language of ordinary life. At +Athens all this was very confused, and many men, according +to their own experience, formed individually very +different notions of the geography of the earth. But as +Scylax was accurate in regard to the East, so others were +well informed about other parts; and at Massilia, <i>e.g.</i>, much +was known about the north from the voyages of Pytheas +and others. For a long time people did not know what +conception to form of the sea beyond Massilia; at Athens +many, in the time of Plato, still believed that the ocean commenced +on the west of Italy: but Polybius is already well +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span>acquainted with the road from Narbonne to the Ligeris, +and thence to Britain. We must, therefore, not believe that +this country was unknown to the Romans until the conquests +of Caesar, and that it had no place in the maps of +Eratosthenes.</p> + +<p>Such was the reputation which Strabo enjoyed among +the later Greeks, that he was always simply called <i>the</i> +geographer (Eustathius never quotes him by any other +name), just as Aristotle was simply styled <i>the</i> philosopher. +It is well known that he was a native of Amasia or Amasea, +in a distant part of Pontus, and although his birth-place +was not a Greek town, he seems to have belonged to a +Greek family. He was born in the reign of Augustus, +and wrote under Tiberius. We see, from his work, that +he was one of those men who have not chosen their pursuit +with a due regard to their real natural talents: for by profession +he was a speculative philosopher, a Stoic, while in +reality he had a genuine historical mind, and a true historical +tact. He composed two great works, one of which +has perished in such an inconceivable manner, that I very +much doubt whether it was ever published. It was a continuation +of Polybius which he wrote, because he was dissatisfied +with that of Posidonius, and the task was one for +which he was most eminently qualified. His geography is +an excellent work, and considering the loss of that of +Eratosthenes, it is invaluable, for he was a man of great judgment; +but unfortunately it has not come down to us quite +entire. Until a late period of the middle ages, it existed only +in a single manuscript, which is probably now at Paris; its +outward damages seem to indicate that it is the source +from which all the later MSS. were taken. It is a remarkable +fact, that several such MSS. of Greek authors, from +which all others are derived, are still in existence, so that +it is superfluous to collate the others. I may mention, for +example, Athenaeus and the orator Aristides; the MS. +of the latter is at Florence, the library of which city +appears to have been particularly rich in such original +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span>MSS., and it is possible, that they were obtained directly +from Constantinople. Eustathius and Stephanus of +Byzantium still had complete copies of Strabo. This +geographer has done all that his materials enabled him to +do: the whole of geography, so far as it was known in +his time, is laid down in his book, and that not only the +contemporary geography, but also that of earlier ages with +especial reference to the illustration of the poets, particularly +Homer, whence from the very beginning we often meet +with digressions, which do not seem to us to be in exact proportion +to the whole work. We may assert that until the +fourth and fifth century, the geography of the Romans did +not extend beyond what had been known to Strabo; he +did not indeed possess the information about Germany and +Britain, which we find in Tacitus; but, generally speaking, +we may say that, with few exceptions, geography during +several centuries made no progress. In Ptolemy we see +that the knowledge of the East, especially of India, had +been advanced and extended by merchants, while in Strabo +the knowledge about those countries is rather limited, commerce +not having extended to them till a later period. +The knowledge of the Romans about Egypt, though +they had ruled over it for upwards of fifty years, was still +very scanty. Strabo is altogether unmathematical, and +Eratosthenes was farther advanced in this respect, so far +indeed as it was possible for him, though he too, in regard +to longitudes, was often satisfied with mere guesses, which +sometimes entirely displaced the right point of view. All +that Strabo knows on these points is derived from Eratosthenes, +whose measurements were still highly imperfect. +The division of the heavens into 360 degrees is very +ancient, while that of the earth is of a very late date, +Marinus of Tyre, who lived shortly before Ptolemy, being +the first to introduce it into his maps. One great drawback +in Strabo is an ungenerous hostility towards the great +Eratosthenes; the cause of this desire to quarrel is unknown, +and his censure is often very foolish.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span></p> + +<p>Since the time that Bochart derived the name of Europe +from the Phoenician ערב, it has been generally assumed by +all intelligent inquirers, that the name of our part of the +world actually owes its origin to some Phoenician division +of the countries of the earth; it is also well known that +Europa is called a daughter of the Phoenician king Agenor. +Owing to the ill-use which Bochart often makes of Phoenician +etymologies, this one too has been disputed, but it is +only those who throw away the wheat with the chaff that +reject his derivation of the name Europe. Homer seems +to have divided the earth into two parts, viz., πρὸς ἠῶ +τ’ ἠέλιόν τε, and πρὸς ζόφον, but his not mentioning +other parts may be merely accidental, and I should therefore +not like to adopt Voss’ opinion, that Homer knew of +no other division. The division, according to the quarters +of the world, into Europe, Asia, Libya and Hesperia, +seems to have been very ancient and general among +the Greeks. Eratosthenes made the division according to +the four great nations, which is less convenient, as these +nations become mixed and amalgamated with one other. +The opinion that Asia derived its name from the Asian +marshes in Lydia appears to me unsatisfactory; for it was +not customary with the Greeks first to use a name in a +limited sense and afterwards to extend it in the manner in +which the Latins⁠<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> gave the name Italia to the smallest +portion of the country, and afterwards extended it instead +of applying it to the whole country at once. Libya is +evidently a Phoenician name, as is clear from Lilybaeum, +which signifies “opposite to Libya,”—a name which the +Carthaginians would not have given to a place unless they +had called Africa Libya. The opinion which regards +Hesperia as a fourth part of the world is only a hypothesis, +but it is a fact that the name was applied to the whole of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span>western Europe. Afterwards it was united with Europe, +just as Libya was for a time treated as a part of Asia, +though afterwards it was again regarded as a separate part +of the world, while Hesperia has ever since been considered +as only a portion of Europe.</p> + +<p>The boundaries of Europe accordingly likewise differed +at different times. The most ancient mention of the name +of Europe in Greek literature occurs in the hymn on +Apollo (v. 251), where it is used in a very peculiar way: in +the north, Europe is quite indefinitely separated from the +barbarous countries, and seems to comprise only Greece +exclusive of Peloponnesus, the islands, Macedonia, Illyricum +and Italy. The poet accordingly applies the name to all +the countries north of Peloponnesus. In Aristotle’s +Politics the name is again used in quite a singular way: +after having previously spoken of Asia, he mentions Europe +as opposed to Greece. There may have been many +more such designations, but they never acquired any great +importance.</p> + +<p>The river Phasis was probably the boundary between +Europe and Asia at an early period: this remark of Voss +appears to me to have a high degree of probability; in +Herodotus, as we may see from his description of Scythia, +the Tanais forms the boundary, but he entertains erroneous +notions about its course, for he conceives that one-half of it +flows from the north to the south. This boundary afterwards +remained, as in Scylax of Caryanda and Eratosthenes, +and in like manner the pillars of Heracles were commonly +supposed to form the southern boundary between Europe +and Libya. In regard to Asia and Libya, there existed +various views as to how they should be divided; for a +time, probably ever since the days of Hecataeus, they +were regarded as separated by the Nile; in opposition to +this Herodotus remarks, that by such a division Egypt was +torn to pieces, and he justly asks to which of the two +parts the Delta is to belong. The Arabian Gulf forms the +true and natural boundary, and this is the view which was +adopted even by Eratosthenes.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="GREECE">GREECE.</h2> + +</div> + +<p>The geography of Greece presents great difficulties at the +very outset. Hellas is not a country with natural boundaries; +and the application of the name varies at different +times. The ancients did not take it in the same sense in +which we do; with them the names of countries are so +intimately connected with those of the nations inhabiting +them, that they called Hellas all the countries inhabited +by Hellenes, including the Siceliot and Italiot towns as +well as the colonies in Asia Minor, as far as Iberia and +Scythia. The country to the east and south of Ambracia, +until the time of the Romans, was not simply called Ἑλλάς, +but ἡ συνεχὴς Ἑλλάς. This designation, however, so +peculiar to the whole mode of thinking of the ancients, is +too national, and for us inconvenient, and we unhesitatingly +apply the name of Greece to the country called by the ancients +ἡ συνεχὴς Ἑλλάς. It extends beyond the natural +boundary of Mount Oeta and the Aetolian mountains which +are connected with Oeta, because Thessaly must necessarily +be included. We must choose the most convenient designation; +and if in this we differ from the ancients, it is a +necessary deviation made for the purpose of making +ourselves understood.</p> + +<p>The only countries which have natural boundaries are +first Peloponnesus, and secondly those parts which are +separated from Thessaly by mountains. But these boundaries +are only partial, and the natural limits of the +whole country ought to be extended as far as the north +of Thrace, so as to include that country together with +Macedonia and Illyricum as far as Mount Scardus, and +the heights which separate Illyricum and Macedonia from +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span>Servia. But only a portion of this extensive territory was +inhabited by Greeks. Originally it was one united country, +being inhabited by the race of the Pelasgians, while in +the historical times the Hellenes became separated from +them; but how this nation arose is one of the most +mysterious points in history. All we can do is carefully +to distinguish between Pelasgians and Hellenes, although +there was a relationship between the two, which is +perfectly obscure to us. In the historical period the +whole is already in a state of confusion. The Hellenic +nation, like that of the Latins in Italy, seems to have proceeded +from a small centre; but how this came to pass is +a question involved in impenetrable darkness. A nation +calling itself Σελλοί, Ἑλλοί, Ἕλληνες, is said to have +inhabited the highest mountains of Epirus, and thence to +have spread over the whole country which was inhabited +by Pelasgians. This nation was called by its neighbours +by the name of Γραικοί which however was never employed +by the nation itself.</p> + +<p>The divisions of Greece are partly natural and partly +accidental; natural is that into Thessaly, Peloponnesus, +and the country between the two. This last, however, has +no common name, that of <i>Hellas proprie sic dicta</i> is quite +wrong, because it takes no notice of the islands and +colonies. The question as to whether Greece in the earliest +times had any common name or not, was discussed even by +Strabo and others. My opinion is, that the Homeric +names cannot be doubted; during the period represented +by Homer, Argos is the name of the country from the +coast of Peloponnesus as far as the frontiers of Macedonia, +and we may therefore draw a distinction between Hellas and +Argos. But that name lasted only till the development of +the Hellenic character.⁠<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> The name Ἀργεῖοι, applies to the +Greeks, who had not yet separated themselves as Hellenes; +and Δαναοί seems to be the name of the Pelasgian inhabitants +of Peloponnesus. When we read in Thucydides +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span>that at the time of the Iliad, Greeks and barbarians were +not yet separated, the expression may be variously interpreted; +his opinion probably is, that in those times many +parts of Greece were inhabited by nations, such as +Caucones, Leleges, and others, which were not assimilated +to the Greeks, but were distinct in language and manners; +still, however, they are comprised under the name of +Argives, i.e., Pelasgians, for Ἀργεῖοι is not a Hellenic name. +The name Ἀχαιοί is not Hellenic either, and it must be +remarked in general, that Hellenes and Pelasgians were not +yet distinguished from each other, but were vaguely comprised +under one name.</p> + +<p>In the earliest times two of those natural divisions, +Peloponnesus and Thessaly, though perfectly independent +of each other, appear to have been of primary importance. +We shall first direct our attention to Peloponnesus, as the +purest Greek country, and the only one which forms a +moral and naturally united community, and shows a +vigorous nation, not only because it contained the seats +and dominions of the ancient kings, but because for a long +time after, Peloponnesians possessed the supremacy over +the rest of Greece.</p> + +<h3 id="Peloponnesus"><span class="smcap">Peloponnesus.</span></h3> + +<p>The name Peloponnesus is singular; it is very ancient, +and occurs as early as the Homeric hymn on Apollo. There +can be no doubt that it has some reference either to a +people or to some ruler; how far it may contain an allusion +to the Pelasgians, is a question concerning which nothing +can be said with certainty. Where names differ so widely, +a healthy philology demands that we should abstain from +any dangerous attempt. If we employ a rational method +of exegesis, we cannot doubt that the Atreids were also +called Pelopids, and that previously to the immigration +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span>of the Heracleids and Dorians into the peninsula, there +existed an historical dynasty under that name. But +whether Pelops is the historical ancestor of that race, or +some kind of hero, whether he is different from the +Pelasgus in the “Supplices” of Aeschylus, who, according +to different genealogies in the Arcadian traditions, is +sometimes called the first man, and sometimes a son of +Zeus, are questions about which, if we judge soberly and +thoughtfully, we can say nothing. The opinion prevalent +in the time of the tragedians, that Pelops was a Phrygian, +belongs to a much later period, in which the Trojans too +were regarded as Phrygians, which according to the views +of the epic poems they never could be.</p> + +<p>Another very ancient name, which the Greeks regard +as the earlier and native name, is Ἀπία, for there can +be no doubt that it is a proper name, though some Alexandrians +declared it to be an adjective; ἐξ ἀπίης γῆς does +not signify “from a distant,” or “waterless country” (from +πίνω), but from the country of Apia. Those who are anxious +to manufacture history out of etymologies, may find in this +name various allusions as, for example, to the Opicans, +but they are all equally hazardous. In general etymology is +necessary; but we cannot be sufficiently on our guard not to +fall into quibbles and fancies. Not to neglect the later +times, I will at once notice the subsequent change of the +name into Morea (ὁ Μορέας). This too has given rise to +various etymologies: it is a very common opinion among +the modern Greeks, that the name Morea is derived from +the shape of the country; as the ancients often compared it +to the leaf of a plane tree, so the moderns compare it to the +leaf of a mulberry tree (<i>mora</i>), according to which the name +would be of Italian origin. But I am convinced that, at +the time when the Bulgarians ruled in Greece, and when +the Slavonians, being pushed onward by them, inundated +Peloponnesus, the country, being the maritime province of +the Bulgarian kingdom, was called Morea from <i>more</i> (the +Slavonian word for <i>sea</i>), and consequently, the name originally +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span>was in all probability not confined to Peloponnesus. +In the time of the Achaean league, the Romans called it +Achaia, from one of its provinces,—a name, which in fact +wholly and properly belongs to Peloponnesus, until it was +extended to the rest of Greece.</p> + +<p>Peloponnesus, in a physical point of view, is a very remarkable +country: it rests upon a volcanic foundation; and +although our history knows nothing of any eruptions, still +we hear of formidable earthquakes. The island of Thera, in +the Greek Archipelago, is the central point from which a +volcanic chain extends below the sea to Peloponnesus, and as +far as Epirus and Thesprotia, while on the other side, it proceeds +to Sicily, Ischia and Mount Vesuvius. Hence earthquakes +were very frequent and eventful occurrences in the +physical history of the peninsula. When you come down +from the precipitous heights of Arcadia, or from the opposite +heights of Parnassus and Helicon, you at once see +that the country falls off, and has been formed by the +ground sinking in consequence of this volcanic nature; and +I have no doubt that the Corinthian Gulf was likewise +the effect of such causes, for the land on both sides of +it breaks down abruptly. The range of Taygetus, of which +Taenarus forms the southern extremity, is particularly +renowned for its internal convulsions; the most fearful +ravages are nowhere so frequent as there, and about the +time of the 80th Olympiad, in particular, the earth was +there in violent agitation: whether this is still the character +of that district, I do not know. The Peloponnesian +coast of the Corinthian Gulf is another scene of earthquakes; +there Helice and Bura were swallowed up by +the earth, and as far as history can be traced, one town +after another was destroyed by convulsions of the earth, +whence Ποσειδῶν Ἐνοσίχθων was specially worshipped +there, and on Mount Taenarus. Those earthquakes give +rise to lakes discharging their waters through subterraneous +canals, which at times are filled up, and at others are opened +again; hence the lakes are of varying extent, as for example, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span>the Stymphalian lake in Arcadia. Another effect is, +that several rivers of Peloponnesus are interrupted in their +course: they sometimes continue it under ground, as, for +example, the Ladon, while at other times they change +their beds, or disappear entirely in caverns or lakes. Hence +also the quantity of water in some districts is different at +different times; this was the case especially in Argolis, +which in the days of Aristotle had lost all its waters.</p> + +<p>The peninsula of Peloponnesus is properly a system of +mountains of very different kinds; those by which it is +connected with the main land of Greece, the Geranean and +Oenean mountains, are of very different formation from the +rest: they are more rugged and barren, and have little or +no vegetation; those in the interior of the peninsula display +the most luxuriant vegetation, and are far more fertile than +the mountains of Italy. Few countries are equal to Peloponnesus +in the abundance and beauty of its vegetation, which +in spite of all devastations always revives with youthful +vigour. Its mountains, although they contain districts +without water, are on the whole abundantly supplied with +it, especially in Arcadia, and it is this circumstance that +makes the vegetation so splendid. I have been told by +persons who had been in Arcadia, that no country on earth +can compete with it in beauty on account of the forms of its +mountains, its trees, etc., and the most magnificent Alpine +vegetation is not richer than that of Arcadia. The highest +points of the peninsula are the mountains which separate +the maritime country of Achaia from Arcadia, in the neighbourhood +of Stymphalus. In the ravines of those mountains +snow is found even in summer, though not on the +tops of the mountains, and there is not one mountain in +all the peninsula, which is capped with snow. All +Arcadia is a conglomeration of mountains, which, even +with the assistance of maps can hardly be divided into their +elements; whence it is a vain and useless attempt to fix the +definite names which are mentioned by the ancients. We +cannot, for example, define Mount Maenalus, and what is +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span>generally described as the site of Erymanthus, is only +conjectural. All we can say, is that Maenalus was +perhaps the central, and Lycaeus the southern range of +Arcadian mountains. All these mountains and rivers now +have different names: a proof that the Slavonians entirely +changed the ancient population. The traveller asks in vain +where the Alpheus is; Mount Taygetus is now called +Pentadactylon, and all the other names are barbarous. +Taygetus is very high, but not quite so high as the highest +Arcadian mountains; the name belongs to the whole range +from the frontiers of Arcadia down to Cape Taenarus, now +Cape Matapan.</p> + +<p>Peloponnesus has but few plains which do not almost +deserve the name of valleys: those of Elis and Argos—perhaps +that of Sicyon also, though it is not quite plain—are +the only ones which deserve special notice. Elis is a plain, +encircled by a range of hills which are not high; Argos is +properly still more spacious and less enclosed, though the +mountains of Corinth are continued along the Acte. The +district of Calamata, in Messenia, is a real valley, the work +of the river Pamisus; and Laconia, along the Eurotas is a +real river-valley. All these valleys are of extraordinary +fertility, and the only barren portions of Peloponnesus are +about Corinth, where the ground is very rocky, and the +district in Argolis between ancient Mycenae, Epidaurus +and Troezen; the plain of Sicyon is undulating and capable +of cultivation. Achaia, on the northern slope of the +Arcadian mountains is less hilly, if we except Cape Rhion; +it has only low hills, but considerable valleys along the +rivers.</p> + +<p>Wherever in Peloponnesus the plough can be applied, +the soil rewards the labour; the trees are magnificent, +and most of them are fruit trees. The heights are rich in +chesnuts and eatable acorns; the olive tree grows admirably +in Peloponnesus, and for it the peninsula seems specially +created; it is found upon all the lower hills, and extends even +high up into the mountains; hence, the cultivation of olives +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span>was the principal object of agriculture; the vine was not +so much cultivated, though many districts produce good +wine. When Peloponnesus was thickly peopled, it did +not produce grain sufficient for its inhabitants, whence +corn had to be imported from Sicily, and this necessity +easily explains the settlements in Sicily and Italy. The +Arcadian Alps afford very excellent pasturage, and although +the Arcadian shepherd little answers to the ideas which +were entertained of him some seventy or eighty years ago, +yet the inhabitants, a strong and robust race of men, are +still chiefly occupied in sheep breeding. Mutton is still +eaten there in great quantity as in the East, while beef is +a luxury. Cattle-breeding was also carried on on mount +Taygetus, in Laconia, but with this difference, that the +shepherds in Arcadia were free men, while those in Laconia +were serfs.</p> + +<p>The political division of Peloponnesus, or the geography +of the population, as might be expected, was different at +different periods, from the age of the poetical mythus +down to that of the decay of ancient life. If I wanted to +confine myself to the intermediate or really classical period, +I should render an accurate survey a matter of considerable +difficulty, as I should constantly have to refer to earlier +and later states of things. I shall therefore notice the +different divisions of Peloponnesus from the earliest times, +beginning with the mythical geography so far as it is +mentioned with any degree of certainty, and then pass +on to that of the historical period. We shall accordingly +commence with the survey given by Homer in the +second book of the Iliad.</p> + +<p>The Homeric Catalogue is a very remarkable document: +it is a very ancient historical piece of composition, drawn +up in the verse most favourable to being remembered, and +in which the ancients preserved all their traditions; but it is +quite foreign to poetry. Few subjects of the Iliad have +engaged the attention of the learned in the same degree as +this Catalogue; it was not Strabo alone that took it on every +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span>occasion as the text of his book, as we see from his work +itself, but a number of other writers had done the same +thing before him. But our point of view is different from +that which was taken about the time of Ephorus. We +see that there was a time when the Catalogue was regarded +as a historical document, as a conscientious, careful, and +learned account of the state of Greece at the time of the +Trojan war. I have no doubt that this opinion was the +prevailing one at the time of Ephorus, who was a contemporary +of Demosthenes and Philip of Macedonia; that +it was regarded in this light at an earlier period, is attested +by the statement, that in the time of Solon, the Athenians +and Megarians endeavoured to establish their claims to the +possession of Salamis by appealing to the Catalogue, a fact +which at least proves its early historical authority, even +though the story should not be true. But since we have +arrived at more unbiassed views about Homer, and no longer +bind ourselves to the superstition of his undoubted authenticity—an +advantage which, though it may possibly be +abused, should never again be abandoned—our point of view +in judging of this part of the Homeric poems is likewise +changed. We find in this Catalogue several statements +which are irreconcilable with each other, which refer to +different times, and betray a different origin. Thus we meet, +for example, with the Heracleido-Doric colonies in Rhodes +and the neighbouring islands of Cos and Syme, while +according to our traditions those settlements are of a more +recent date than those of the Ionians in those parts, and +probably the most recent of all, which even if it were not +attested by tradition, would in itself be more credible. +Here we have an evident interpolation, introduced in a +Doric or Rhodian recension, which itself, however, is comparatively +speaking, very ancient. We are naturally +tempted to trace the geography laid down in the Catalogue +to a definite period: but this is impossible without falling +into contradictions; all we can say is, that the author of +the Catalogue intended to describe Greece, its inhabitants +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span>and towns, as they were before the Doric migration, when +the boundaries were indeed very different from what they +were during the period subsequent to that migration. But +although this intention of the author is manifest, yet it is +not accurately carried out, and is opposed to other traditions. +Such a contradiction occurs most strikingly in +regard to the Ionians. The later country of Achaia on the +Corinthian Gulf is said, in our traditions, to have been +inhabited by Ionians, until the Achaeans, being expelled +by the Heracleids from Argos and Mycenae, went to +Aegialos, displaced the Ionians and established themselves +in their country; in the Catalogue, on the other hand, we +find a tradition which is irreconcilable with this account, +the truth of which I must leave undecided.</p> + +<p>Peloponnesus, in Homer—the name itself does not +occur in his poems—is divided into six parts, as in later +times, but in a different manner. The two principal parts +are the kingdoms of the Atreids, that of Mycenae and that +of Sparta: then follows the country of Diomedes and +Sthenelus; the country of the Arcadians, that of the +Epeans, and lastly that of the kings of Pylos of the house +of the Nelids. The distribution of the countries is as +follows:—</p> + +<p>1st. The kingdom of Menelaus comprises the whole of +Laconia, probably extending very far into Messene; it is +possible that some verses of the Catalogue are lost, or that +several towns were not mentioned at all.</p> + +<p>2. The realm of Agamemnon, besides its capital of +Mycenae with its territory, comprises Corinth, Sicyon and +the whole of northern Achaia.</p> + +<p>3. The dominion of the Persids, Diomedes and Sthenelus, +embraces Argos, Tiryns and the Acte, together with +Aegina.</p> + +<p>4. Arcadia has the same boundaries as afterwards, except +that Triphylia does not belong to it.</p> + +<p>5. The kingdom of Nestor consists of western Messene, +Triphylia, and the south of Elis as far as the Alpheus.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span></p> + +<p>6. The country of the Epeans in the north of Elis.</p> + +<p>The later province of Argolis thus contained the kingdom +of Diomedes and a portion of that of Agamemnon; +the kingdom of the Epeans afterwards becomes Elis, but +includes a part of the Pylian kingdom.</p> + +<p>The historical importance which we can attach to this +division is extremely small. We might indulge in speculations +about the causes which may have led the author +of the Catalogue to make this division, and there is much +that might seem to recommend such speculations. It +would not be difficult to show that this Catalogue was composed +at Sparta and belonged to what is called the +Lycurgian recension, because it assigns favourable boundaries +to Sparta and unfavourable ones to Argos, but this +would certainly be an abuse of historical speculation.</p> + +<p>With the Homeric division, we may compare another +ante-Doric division of which traces have come down to us;⁠<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> +it differs greatly from the Homeric, and in all essential +points agrees with that which became established in consequence +of the Doric migration. Aegialos, afterwards +called Achaia, is described as the country of the Ionians +with its twelve towns; the remainder of the empire of +Agamemnon and that of Diomedes already form one whole; +Triphylia is separated from the Pylian kingdom of the Nelids +and added to Arcadia, and the remainder of the kingdom +of Nestor is united with that of Menelaus.</p> + +<p>In regard to the division of Argolis Proper there are +some difficulties. Homer says:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Οἳ δ’ Ἄργος τ’ εἶχον Τίρυνθά τε τειχιόεσσαν.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The ancients are of opinion that Diomedes and Sthenelus +ruled at Argos, and that Argos along with Tiryns was their +capital. The historical explanations in the Scholiasts and +Eustathius are extremely poor; still, however, among +what are called the Little Scholia, we find Argos in this +line explained to mean Peloponnesus, and this opens quite +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span>a different view from that commonly entertained. It is +inconceivable that Argos and Mycenae, the two capitals +of two kingdoms, should have been only forty-three stadia, +scarcely five English miles, distant from each other; and it +is an equally unaccountable fact that scarcely anything is +mentioned about Argos in the ancient legends. The above +verse, therefore, must probably be taken as a general beginning +of the description of Peloponnesus, to which is added +a special account of the kingdom of Tiryns, as a reference +to what afterwards follows:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Νῦν δ’ αὖ τοὺς ὅσσοι τὸ Πελασγικὸν Ἄργος ἔναιον,</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">which is the designation of Thessaly. Argos, even in the +opinion of many ancients, was only the name of a country. +I am convinced, therefore, that, in the early times, it was +nothing but the name of the country, and that, as the name +of the city, it is of later origin. Just as Corinth was in +reality newly built by the Dorians, and ought not, therefore, +to be mentioned here, so Argos also was founded by +Dorian settlers at a time when Mycenae and Tiryns had +already fallen from their former eminence. Throughout +all mythology, Tiryns alone is the capital of Diomedes and +Sthenelus, and Mycenae that of the Atreids; these two +cities alone are mentioned, no third ever occurs, and Argos +is not spoken of until the Doric migration and conquest. +In this manner it is clear that the tragedians, who, however, +generally were not learned men, do not deserve the reproach +which the Alexandrian grammarians made against them; as, +for example, that Sophocles confounded Argos and Mycenae. +Mycenae, before the existence of Argos, was a true Argos⁠<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a>⁠, +the capital of the whole country, though by no means +identical with the later Argos.⁠<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> In this manner the +outlines of those kingdoms acquire a more suitable shape: +the Acte, or the eastern part of Argolis, was distinct +from Argos Proper even at that time, just as it was afterwards; +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span>the capitals, Tiryns and Mycenae, were still near +enough to each other. When, accordingly, the grammarians +found such contradictions as in Sophocles, they endeavoured +to mediate by means of more recent myths, or even by +inventing new ones, and that often in the most singular +manner. The whole story, for example, how Diomedes +was forced to go to Italy, and how Sthenelus gave up his +kingdom, arose only from the circumstance, that in later +and seemingly better historical authorities, the statement +was found that the capital of Tiryns was united with the +kingdom of Agamemnon; and the difficulty of accounting +for the manner in which that kingdom had disappeared, +was removed by a fiction.</p> + +<p>Through the immigration of the Heracleids, Peloponnesus +acquired a new form: the countries and their inhabitants +became changed; in Arcadia alone the ancient +population remained the same; all other parts received +either new inhabitants or new rulers. During that period +there arose the three great Doric kingdoms of Messene, +Sparta, and Argos, and the Aetolian kingdom of Elis; and +Aegialea, which had been an Ionian country, became +Achaean. This state of things remains the foundation of +geography till after the Macedonian period, when it became +completely changed; but although the principal divisions +remained until that period, yet their boundaries underwent +considerable modifications, which will be explained in the +account of each particular country. The three Doric kingdoms +in particular did not preserve the same boundaries, +for Messene perished, and was united with Laconia; Argolis +had originally a much greater extent in the south, but +afterwards its frontier in that direction was narrowed, while, +on the other side, the three or four cities on the Acte, as +well as Corinth, Phlius, and Sicyon, also became separated +from it. In this manner Argos, the greatest of those three +kingdoms, extending from Malea to Sicyon, and containing +one-third of all Peloponnesus, was greatly reduced. Afterwards +Messene again rose from its ruins, Argos extended +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span>its frontier towards Sparta, Arcadia regained what it had +lost, though the towns remained separate, and the boundaries +of Achaia were again widened, until its name extended +over all Peloponnesus.</p> + +<h3 id="Argolis_Argos"><span class="smcap">Argolis, Argos.</span></h3> + +<p>Argos, as I said before, was originally the largest of the +three Doric states. The fact that Lacedaemon afterwards +appears as the first state of Peloponnesus, is only owing to +the good fortune and the pride of the Lacedaemonians, and +to the circumstance that they retained their royal dynasty, +while the others, especially Argos, lost theirs, in consequence +of which the unity of their state was broken. But Argos +never recognised the pretensions of Sparta, and this struggling +against what was an actual fact, did great harm to +Argos, and led it to form most hateful alliances against the +rest of the Greeks.</p> + +<p>In the subsequent dismemberment of the Argive empire, +we find the elements of its origin, which, in the two other +Doric states, are indeed likewise visible, but produce the +opposite effect. In all the three Doric states, the principle +of the constitution is that of feudalism, a term which may +be offensive to some, because it is not usually applied to +the affairs of early Greece. These kingdoms were divided +into several principalities, where Dorian chiefs had settled +as vassal princes with a colony, or ruled over the ancient +Achaean inhabitants; in some instances they were ancient +Achaean principalities, whose rulers maintained themselves +by submitting to the power of the Dorians. The number +of such principalities seems to have been particularly great +in Argolis, in consequence of which the country could afterwards +be divided into so many separate towns. As such +we find the two ancient capitals, Mycenae and Tiryns, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span>Corinth, Sicyon, Troezen, Hermione, and Epidaurus, for +even these smaller towns of the Acte had formerly had +their own vassal princes, as is attested by the unanimous +mythical accounts of their kings, especially in the case of +Troezen and Epidaurus. It was essentially the same relation +as that between the Lombard kings and their dukes; a +parallel to the case of native princes occurs in the fact, that +the Frankish kings, at the beginning of the middle ages, +sometimes appointed Gauls and Romans as their vassal +princes in Italy. The same system occurs in Laconia: the +ruling tribe and the chief king settled in one town, but +there existed six principalities. These constitutions, however, +in their development, took quite opposite directions. +In Laconia, as in France, the vassal princes disappear, and all +the country becomes united under one government; while +in Argos, as in Germany, the union is broken up into small +principalities. Corinth, for example, which, before the +Doric conquest, cannot be regarded as an independent state, +is known to have risen to the rank of a state through the +Dorians, and Prumnis, the father of Bacchis,⁠<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> was the first +Doric prince there. In like manner we know, from scanty +notices of Ephorus, Scymnus, and others, that Doric chiefs +were the founders of dynasties at Troezen and Epidaurus: +Mycenae and Tiryns alone continued to exist as native +Achaean states under the supremacy of the king of Argos. +This kingdom of Argos was weaker than, for example, that of +the Franks, for the Heracleids were only commanders in war, +whose power was by no means unlimited; each tribe had +its own king, and accordingly the three Doric tribes had +three. It is clear that such a distribution of the country +could not remain free from disturbances; hence the power +of the kings of Argos could not last long, and a conflict +necessarily arose as soon as one of them ventured to step +beyond the bounds of his prerogatives. This was done by +Pheidon, who ruled first as king, and afterwards as tyrant. +He was indeed still ruler of all Argolis, but after him the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span>state broke up into its parts. Several vassal princes then +usurped the sovereignty, and for a time there existed in +Argolis partly principalities and partly aristocracies. But +Argos thereby became so weak as to be unable to defend +the western coast of the Argolic gulf as far as Malea against +Lacedaemon; Cythera also was lost, and not even the +territory of Thyrea could be maintained. At the same +time the Spartans extended their dominion farther and +farther; the nominal dependence of Corinth and Sicyon +had ceased long before, as well as that of the towns in the +Acte and of Aegina, which had likewise belonged to Argos. +Here we have another evidence showing that the Homeric +Catalogue was composed after the Doric period, for it represents +Aegina as belonging to the eastern part of Argos; +Aegina was naturally foreign to Argos, and became connected +with it only as a Doric colony.</p> + +<p>The country about Argos is a plain, fully deserving +the name πολυδίψιον Ἄργος which it bears in Homer, for +in the autumn it usually has no water at all. This is the +natural consequence of the physical structure of Peloponnesus. +In the interior of Arcadia the waters accumulate, +and there are in that part large natural reservoirs, +as, for example, the lake of Mantinea, which discharges its +waters through passages in the mountains which separate +Arcadia from Argolis, into the plain of Argos. These +passages, however, are not always open, nay, people in the +Morea assert, that the waters find their way through them +only once in five years, and then plentifully supply the +rivers and springs of Argolis. This alleged regularity is +probably fabulous. But on the whole, the territory of Argolis, +in its widest extent, as far as the northern slope of the +hills, is scantily supplied with water; in the neighbourhood +of Sicyon there are some small streams, whence the plain +there is rich and fertile. The whole of the central part of +Argolis, however, that is, the hills between Mycenae and +Tiryns on the one side, and the towns of the Acte on the +other, which are traversed by the pass of Tretos, consists +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span>of very barren and rocky heights, which admit to +some extent of the cultivation of olives only in the lower +valleys. Argos, therefore, when confined to Mycenae and +Tiryns, was but a weak state, a circumstance which, together +with the recollection of its former greatness, placed +it, in later times, in a false position.</p> + +<p>The city of <span class="smcap">Argos</span>, as I have already stated, was not +founded till after the time of the Doric immigration; but +its castle Larissa (Larissa is the Pelasgian name for castle) +was older, and was situated on a considerable height; we +may even now discern the Cyclopian walls described by +Pausanias. The city had a great circumference, and was +built around the castle of Larissa, stretching from that hill +through a plain, and up another hill. It was not strongly +fortified, nor is its natural position of any particular strength. +Argos is one of those cities which did not suffer much +from the calamities of Greece, if we except the one devastation +by the Spartans under Cleomenes before the period +of the Persian war. But it decayed, and appears to have +suffered particularly during the war of Pyrrhus. Pausanias +does not say, whether the Romans, after the destruction of +Corinth, visited Argos in the same way, but the verse of +Virgil⁠<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> (<i>Eruet ille Argos</i>) leads us to believe that they did. +Under the Roman emperors, it sank so low as to be obliged +to petition the emperor Julian to exempt it from its contribution +to the Isthmian games. In the middle ages, +during the tenth and eleventh centuries, Argos was a considerable +manufacturing town, and was particularly distinguished +for the manufacture of silk. Afterwards it was +destroyed by Robert Guiscard, and then a second time by +the Turks. Subsequently a colony of Albanese established +itself there, and last year (1826) it was completely reduced +to ashes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mycenae</span>, at a distance of forty-three stadia from Argos, +was situated on a hill; at the time when Greece was most +flourishing, Mycenae was no more than a name, for after +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span>the Persian wars, the town, together with Tiryns was +completely destroyed by the Argives. The inhabitants of +the two towns had availed themselves of the Persian war +for the purpose of gaining their independence, by sending +a small band to assist the Greeks at Plataeae. The Argives, +who took no part in the Persian war, afterwards punished +them for it, while the other Greeks, contrary to their promise, +did nothing to prevent it; and the two places became +the victims of an inconsiderate act. The ruins of Mycenae +and Tiryns, which still exist, are about the same as those +seen by Pausanias: they are the grandest Cyclopian structures +in southern Europe. The lion-gate of Mycenae, constructed +of huge blocks of stone, with its pointed arch and +the two rudely carved lions above it, may still be seen. +These remains, as well as those of Orchomenos are striking +proofs, that the greatness of the ante-Doric period, which is +immortalised in the works of the poets, is not a mere dream. +The circumference of the walls of Mycenae is still considerable, +and the city was well suited to be the residence of +the king of kings.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tiryns</span>, in the earliest times the rival of Mycenae, as is +frequently intimated in the mythical stories, has likewise left +traces of extensive walls, justifying the epithet τειχιόεσσα, +which it bears in the Iliad. It was situated on the eminence +above Nauplia, which, no doubt, was once the port of +Tiryns.</p> + +<p>Within the territory of Argolis, there were two small +states, which as late as the Persian war enjoyed a kind of +political existence, but stood in the same relation to Argos, +Mycenae, and Tiryns, as Winterthur does to Zurich, or the +towns of Aargau to Berne. They were, in a certain sense, +republics; but could enter into no negotiations with +foreign powers without the sanction of Argos. I allude to +<span class="smcap">Cleonae</span>, an Argive state, and <span class="smcap">Orneae</span>, which Herodotus +calls a Cynurian state. The <span class="smcap">Cynurians</span>, whom we also +meet with in Thyrea and in the Dryopian territory, are a +real mystery. It is said that they were Dryopians, perhaps +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span>a non-Dorian people, but accompanying the Dorians in +their migrations; we may perhaps compare them with certain +bands of Saxons, who accompanied the Lombards to +Italy and settled in Parma and Modena. In like manner, +we find Bulgarians in the principality of Beneventum; +and there are distinct traditions, that Aetolians accompanied +the Dorians.</p> + +<p>The whole peninsula to the east of the Argolic gulf +was, in the best age of Greece, commonly called <span class="smcap">Acte</span>, +which must be borne in mind, especially by the readers +of Thucydides; the earlier commentators have often +misunderstood this name. We have no term exactly corresponding +to the Greek Acte; it is more than peninsula, +which is a very indefinite term, nor is it the same as +chersonesus. The Greeks would not call Italy or Spain +a chersonesus, but they would apply to them the term of +Acte. A chersonesus is a peninsula, connected with the +main land by a very narrow isthmus, whereas Acte is a +country, the greater part of which is coast-land. Such +was the case with Attica; which was originally called Acte, +a name which is often used as a proper name, especially by +Latin poets, who even formed from it an adjective, as +<i>Actaea tellus</i>, which is unknown to the Greeks.</p> + +<p>This Acte contained two, or we may even say three, considerable +Doric cities, and one whose origin is unknown. +The two most ancient places are <span class="smcap">Epidaurus</span> and <span class="smcap">Troezen</span>; +<span class="smcap">Hermione</span> arose somewhat later; and at a still later period, +though we do not know when, was built the town of +<span class="smcap">Haliae</span>, which is not marked in our maps, not even in that +of D’Anville. Troezen and Epidaurus appear, in the Greek +traditions, among the most ancient places; we find them +mentioned along with Eïonae⁠<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a>⁠, and they are certainly more +ancient than the Doric migration. In Scymnus⁠<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a>⁠, indeed, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span>the Doric chiefs appear as founders, though the traditions +of Troezen went back to Pelops; but this only alludes to +the fact, that a new order of things began at the time of +the Dorian conquest. All those towns, in developing their +constitutions, passed through the same process as Rome +and other cities: they begin with an aristocracy of conquerors, +under whom the original inhabitants occupy the +position of clients, or <i>penestae</i>; but afterwards the latter +become free, the conquered rise to the rank of a <i>demos</i>, the +ancient aristocracy gradually dies away, and the subject +country people gain the ascendancy. In the case of Epidaurus, +we have the proof in the tradition about the Artyni +and Conipodes, the former of whom were Dorians, and the +latter the Achaean country people. All these places of the +Acte were maritime towns; whereas Argos never had any +navy and was quite a stranger to the sea. The Greeks +are almost everywhere born sailors, even in their Italian +colonies; and so it has ever been down to the present +day. The Italian, on the other hand, is born for agriculture; +no real Italian is a navigator, for Venice is inhabited +by Slavonians, and Genoa by Ligurians who do not +belong to the race of true Italians; the Greek colonists +in Italy, as at Naples, are fishermen, and often carry +their fish to Rome from a distance of several hundred +miles. Those places of the Acte, if we bear in mind +the small extent of their dominion, had a considerable +number of galleys; at Salamis their number, which was +not small, does great honour to the patriotism of the +people, and we can easily see that their power was not +insignificant.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hermione</span> is also called Hermion, and we cannot say +which of the two names is the older one; in Thucydides we +only find the ethnic name of the people when they come +forward with others; for in the place itself no occurrence +is mentioned.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Haliae</span>, situated between Hermion and Nauplia, arose +from a settlement of fishermen, whence the ethnic name +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span>Ἁλιῆς or Ἁλιεῖς in Thucydides and Scylax. The place +has been overlooked, because most geographers were +but indifferent Greek scholars, and because the Latin +translation of Thucydides renders Ἁλιῆς by <i>piscatores</i>.</p> + +<p>These four towns still existed in the time of Philip of +Macedonia, and were well disposed towards Athens, exerting +themselves on its behalf, according to their feeble +powers, in the Lamian war. Haliae is afterwards no longer +mentioned, and the others became members of the Achaean +confederacy. The temple of Asclepios, about four miles +from the town of Epidaurus, was celebrated as a place to +which pilgrimages were undertaken; and in times of +distress, this circumstance furnished to the impoverished +Epidaurians the means of living.</p> + +<p>Opposite to Troezen is the island of <span class="smcap">Calauria</span>, where +Demosthenes died a free man in the temple of Poseidon, +an asylum for all Greece, but which was not respected by +the Macedonians.</p> + +<p>Not far from the coast of the Acte are the islands of +<span class="smcap">Tiparenos</span> and <span class="smcap">Hydrea</span> (Speizza and Hydra), which in +antiquity were quite insignificant, but have become important +in our own age. The latter of them has preserved +its name. Hydrea does not even appear to have had a +town, but its harbour was used in antiquity.⁠<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a>⁠</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corinth</span> is, under this name, not an ancient place; its +original name was Ephyra, and the greatness of Corinth +belongs to the later or historical period. There is not a +single important tradition of the early times that refers to +Corinth, and it is quite manifest that only in later times +legends were transferred to Corinth. The situation of +<span class="smcap">Acrocorinthus</span> is such, that from the remotest period +the inhabitants of the country must have used it as a stronghold, +as the Isthmus itself is a strong natural fortification +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span>for the defence of Peloponnesus, and was afterwards the +boundary between the Ionians and the peninsula. According +to tradition, Acrocorinthus was in the possession of the +Achaeans, and was taken by the Dorians only after a protracted +blockade.</p> + +<p>Corinth is perhaps the first of all Greek towns that +became great and wealthy through commerce. There are +only two places which in the earliest times deserve to be +noticed as commercial towns, namely, Corinth and Crissa; +after the destruction of Crissa, Aegina, though more as +a country of sailors, stepped into its place. These last two +towns carried on commerce chiefly by sea, while Corinth +gave itself up more to traffic by land. Its situation was +most favourable for commerce, being distant, on the one +hand, twelve stadia from Lechaeon and the Corinthian +Gulf, and, on the other, forty stadia⁠<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> from Cenchreae and the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span>Saronic Gulf. The place for the Isthmian games was in +the neighbourhood of Corinth, on the Isthmus, which is +there forty stadia in breadth. But the most important +point at Corinth was Acrocorinthus, a rock which according +to Strabo, rose perpendicularly to the height of three +and a-half stadia, or 2,100 feet: this statement seems to be +based upon actual measurement; at present it is impossible +to measure it on account of the jealousy of the Turks. The +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span>rock is inaccessible on the side of the country, and below +it was situated the city of Corinth, in the form of a +trapezium; the town was about five miles in circumference, +and one of the largest cities of Greece: Athens was not +larger. It was built on hills and in the intervening valleys, +and surrounded by a strong wall. Towards the city Acrocorinthus +was open, but there was only one gate communicating +with it. On the top of it a wall ran round its +precipitous sides; and the remains of these walls have even +in our days been seen from a distance. It was altogether +impregnable, at least in the ancient mode of warfare; it was +taken once by famine, and twice by surprise. At present +it is no longer so strong, and on one side it can be reached +by guns from a neighbouring hill.</p> + +<p>In the Homeric Catalogue, Corinth is called ἀφνειός; it +was wealthy even under the Bacchiads, and under Cypselus +and his son; its commerce, however, was at different times +disturbed by the navy of Athens, and this is one of the +earliest examples of commercial jealousy. Corinth was +greater by its land commerce than as a maritime power; +but still it had a navy, and founded numerous and splendid +colonies, as Syracuse, Corcyra, Ambracia, Leucas, and a +number of towns on the western coast of Greece, partly +with, and partly without the co-operation of Corcyra. But +the planting of these colonies belongs to the period of the +Corinthian aristocracy and tyrannis; during its democratic +government, the city lost its bold spirit of enterprise and +its warlike character, just as was the case at Florence. +From the amount of contingents furnished by Corinth in +times of war, it is clear that it was populous, though not in +proportion to its extent. But the Corinthians never shewed +themselves noble; as early as the Persian wars they displayed +malice and envy towards Athens; and Plutarch is +unjust in blaming Herodotus for speaking against Corinth. +The Corinthians were the chief instigators of the undertakings +against Athens, which afterwards they had reason +to repent, when Sparta exercised her power with an utter +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span>disregard of every one else; the Corinthians then brought +about a reaction to ruin Sparta, which, by the wretched +manner in which she had used her supremacy, brought upon +herself a heavy responsibility with her contemporaries no +less than with posterity. During the Macedonian period +Corinth is mentioned only as a wealthy commercial city; in +the troublous times, when the Greeks were involved in +maritime wars, when Illyrians and Etruscans rendered the +sea about Malea and Taenarus (which were inhabited by +the ancestors of the Mainots) unsafe, and when the Cretans +also carried on piracy, people preferred going to Corinth, +instead of sailing round Peloponnesus; the continuity of +the voyage was sacrificed, and the merchandise was conveyed +to Lechaeon, and thence to Corfu and Illyricum.⁠<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> +Corinth thus became a principal staple of commerce. The +different phases of the commerce of the Corinthians may +be traced <i>a priori</i> from its historical relations. Corinth +rose and sank; the time of its highest prosperity was that +in which Athens, like modern Venice, was in a state of +utter decay, about Olymp. 180, in the reign of Antigonus +Gonatas. All commerce then became concentrated at +Corinth, just as the whole commerce of the Adriatic has in +modern times become concentrated at Trieste. Though it +was under the supremacy of Macedonia, the city became +very wealthy, and was in comfortable circumstances. A +Macedonian garrison was quartered in Acrocorinthus. +Corinth, however, was not only a commercial place, but +also had manufactures, which had been transferred thither +from Athens, on account of its more favourable situation. +The χαλκὸς Κορινθιακὸς is neither more nor less than works +in bronze, which were made there with particular elegance; +its alleged origin at the burning of the city is a silly story, +as has long been universally acknowledged.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span></p> + +<p>After the Peloponnesian war, the Corinthians were opposed +to Sparta for wishing to introduce an oligarchical +form of government among them. This attempt of Sparta +to make Corinth aristocratic was foolish, and could not but +fail, for the city was essentially democratic, and not the soil +in which an aristocracy could succeed. During the reign +of Philip of Macedonia, Corinth was one of those ill-disposed +places which attacked the Athenians in every possible way +for the purpose of increasing its own commerce by their +ruin; but afterwards, during the Lamian war, it appears +vacillating, and receives a Macedonian garrison. It is surprising +to find that subsequently Corinth became a separate +Macedonian principality under Craterus, the step-brother +of Antigonus Gonatas, and his son Alexander.⁠<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> +Afterwards, Aratus, who took Acrocorinthus by surprise, +drew the city into the Achaean confederacy; and twenty +years later he delivered it up to the Macedonians as the price +for the assistance furnished him by Antigonus Doson against +Cleomenes. It now remained for twenty-four years in the +hands of the Macedonians, until it was evacuated according +to the terms of the peace between Philip and the Romans. +For fifty years it was then at the head of the Achaean +league, and this was the period of its greatest wealth, for +Athens was decayed, Aegina annihilated, and all relations +were changed. The life in Greece at that time was quite +different from what it had been in the age of Thucydides: it +was extremely prosaic, and every one was bent upon becoming +rich by commerce, and upon enjoying the good things of +this life. Throughout its existence Corinth had been distinguished +for its manufactures, industry, wealth, splendid +buildings, and everything that riches can afford; and its +manufactures were no less celebrated than the English are +at the present day. But during the whole period that it was +in the enjoyment of republican institutions, that is, ever since +the reign of Periander, Corinth never produced a single +man of genius, either as an author or as an orator. Timoleon +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span>is, perhaps, the only eminent statesman that was born at +Corinth. We may observe, in general, that very few places +have a share in the literary glory of Greece. The arts of +painting, sculpture, and architecture flourished at Corinth, +and treasures of art were accumulated there in great numbers, +which shows that these arts may flourish, even where +that is wanting which is the highest in man. A beautiful +dirge on Corinth by Antipater is contained in the Greek +Anthology.⁠<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a>⁠</p> + +<p>The destruction of Corinth is a painful event, and excites +our horror, although the Corinthians have no claim upon +our affection: the barbarity of Mummius was far worse than +that of Alaric, its second destroyer. For a period of one +hundred years the city lay in ruins, until it was restored by +Julius Caesar; but the colony was one of freedmen, and for +centuries afterwards it remained a Latin town, of which many +coins with Roman names, and the inscription <i>Colonia Laus +Iuli Corinthus</i>, have come down to us. Pausanias says, that, +although it was the centre of Greece, it was yet a foreign +city with a foreign population. It was, comparatively +speaking, a small place without any important buildings;⁠<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> +but, like all Italian towns, it had a forum, and the temples +all around the place, which had been destroyed by the +savage Mummius, lay in ruins. In the middle ages, at the +time of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Corinth was of some +importance as a manufacturing town; it was taken by +Robert Guiscard under the last despots of Peloponnesus. +When in 1204 the peninsula came into the hands of the +Franks, it had sunk very low, and was sinking still more +during the repeated wars, ever since 1460, down to its conquest +by the Turks under Amurath II., until at length, ten +years ago (1817), even the village of Corinth (called Cordos +by the Turks) was completely reduced to ashes. Its two +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span>harbours are entirely filled up with sand, and unfit for large +vessels, so that the sources of the prosperity of Corinth seem +to be dried up for ever. At present, when ships sail to +Europe, they steer round Peloponnesus, and no one can +think of Corinth as an intermediate staple of commerce.</p> + +<p>Julius Caesar, properly speaking, had restored Corinth +only to gratify his own feelings, but he ought to have +peopled it with Greeks; it would, however, have been impossible +to make it a great city. Delos had taken its +place in commerce, the sea had become unsafe in parts, +Greece was desolate and deserted, commerce had altogether +taken a different route, the great commercial roads had +taken other directions, and the chief places were in Egypt, +Syria, and on the Euxine; Alexandria and Italy were now +the central points; and it was impossible for Corinth to rise +again. Its whole prosperity now depended upon the productiveness +of its olive plantations, and even very recently a person +might walk for hours among olive trees, which grow there +wild; but few parts of its territory are fit for agriculture.</p> + +<p>A misunderstanding may easily arise in regard to the well +<i>Pirene</i>: it is not situated below the rock, but on the acropolis, +though not on the summit of it. At the foot of the +rock there is another spring, which was believed to be connected +with Pirene by subterraneous passages.</p> + +<p>Several small places in the territory of Corinth do not +deserve the name of towns. <i>Tenea</i> was a hamlet which +enjoyed the favour of the Romans and was not destroyed, +but even obtained a portion of the Corinthian territory. +<i>Lechaeon</i> was connected with Corinth by means of two +long walls (σκέλη), but not so <i>Cenchreae</i>.</p> + +<p>The fabulous tradition about <span class="smcap">Sicyon</span>, which by a strange +accident has been made a part of Greek history, ascribes to +the kings of that city a greater age than to those of any +other people. This tradition became incorporated with the +tables of Africanus, from which it was taken by Eusebius +and Hieronymus, and has thus passed into modern works. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span>These alleged ages deserve absolutely no consideration; +the very name of Sicyon is of recent origin, and its ancient +name Mecone occurs in Hesiod’s Theogony: in the Homeric +Catalogue it is already called Sicyon.</p> + +<p>Even at an early period, Sicyon was a great and considerable +town, and furnished important contingents to the +common expeditions, e.g., to Plataeae. Its territory is one +of the most fertile districts in the north of Peloponnesus; +it consists of low, pleasant hills which descend down to +the sea; it has neither plains nor rough mountains. It is +particularly distinguished for its olives, which were very +highly valued by the ancients; even now they are thought +much of, though they have lost much of their former +excellence, for olive trees degenerate very easily, and from +this we see how even trees may change in a general +catastrophe. The acropolis of Sicyon was situated on a +comparatively high hill; while the city lay at a considerable +distance from it in a plain towards the sea, whence its +situation was not naturally strong, but its walls and +fortifications protected it; hence its conquest by Demetrius +Poliorcetes after a long siege gained for him great honours. +This conquest is spoken of in Plautus’ “Miles Gloriosus,” +which circumstance enables us to fix the age of the Greek +original, which must have been composed after Olymp. 122. +After the conquest, Demetrius induced the inhabitants, who +were obliged to receive a Macedonian garrison, to settle on +the top of the hill.</p> + +<p>Sicyon was celebrated for its school of painting. If we +may form a judgment of this school from the time at +which it arose—for a trustworthy history of the progress +of art does not exist—it belongs to that period when the +skill and talent of individuals created a new era in art, +but when real art had already lost its free development; +it was a learned school, perhaps resembling that of Bologna +in the time of the Caracci, and flourished during the Macedonian +period until the commencement of the reign of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span>Antigonus Gonatas; afterwards, in the time of Aratus, it +was already extinct, and we hear only of paintings of +deceased masters.</p> + +<p>Sicyon is also remarkable as a place which was at an +early time, and for a long period, governed by tyrants. Its +first tyrants were Orthagoras and his family; for when the +ancient aristocracy fell in its struggles with the democracy, +the leaders of the democrats usurped the tyrannis. In the +time of Philip and Alexander, it likewise had several +tyrants, whose rule you may regard as an interlude, if you +like. But it had also military tyrants, as in the time of +Demetrius Poliorcetes, when one family established itself +as such, until Aratus delivered the city. Aratus himself +is considered by Strabo in the light of a tyrant; but this +is unfair, if we consider the mild manner in which he +managed affairs, and the odium which attaches to the name, +though it is not altogether incorrect in as much as Aratus +personally was actually more powerful than the magistrates +and the laws. At the time when the Achaean league was +broken up by the Romans, Sicyon too suffered very much; +in the days of Pausanias, however much he may try to +conceal it, Sicyon was only a village, though it still +possessed some great buildings, but others lay in ruins or +had crumbled away. Afterwards, so far as I know, it is +no longer mentioned in history. At present the site of +ancient Sicyon is occupied by the village of Wasiliki.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phlius</span>, situated between Sicyon and Argos⁠<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a>⁠, had, like +Sicyon, arisen out of the Argive kingdom. In the Homeric +Catalogue it does not bear this name, but is called +Ἀραιθυρέη. The town was situated in a beautiful valley +between the ranges of hills which stretch from the north of +Arcadia to the Isthmus and the Onean and Geranian mountains, +but are here considerably extended. Phlius has no +great reputation in the history of Greece; it was less important +than Sicyon, though it was an independent place as early +as the Persian wars. From Xenophon’s Hellenica, it is +evident that in his time Phlius was very populous, if we +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span>may judge from the number of hoplites and of the emigrants +during the disturbances. But afterwards it sank and +shared the general fate of Greece, so that perhaps the great +population in the time of Xenophon may have been accidental, +owing to the distracted state of Argos. The ethnic +name is <i>Phliasius</i>, for which Cicero in one of his letters +writes <i>Phliuntius</i>; but when reminded of the error by his +friend, he apologises, by saying that he had allowed +himself to be misled by a false analogy.⁠<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a>⁠</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aegina</span>, though not in Peloponnesus, belongs to it more +than to any other country out of Peloponnesus. According +to the statement which makes its circumference largest, it +amounted only to 180 stadia, or about twenty-two English +miles; it is therefore probably much smaller than it is +generally drawn in our maps, and its importance is to us +a real mystery, seeing that as a maritime power it was +not only equal but superior to Athens. Yet the mystery +may perhaps be solved. Hydra and Spezzia are barren +rocks, which Aegina is not; they are also smaller than +Aegina, and yet their maritime pursuits procured them +a population of several thousands; the soil of the small +state of Ragusa is rocky, and produces no more corn than is +required for a few months, and yet Ragusa as a republic +kept many hundred ships, and even during the present +revolution it has had many ships, some of which were well +armed. When, however, we read of an Aeginetan fleet +of from seventy to eighty galleys, each of which required +about 200 marines, we cannot suppress our astonishment. +Still more surprising is the statement of Athenaeus, that +the island once had 470,000 slaves, for which he refers to +no less an authority than Aristotle. There must be some +error here, or else Athenaeus had misunderstood Aristotle, +for the statement is absolutely impossible. The highest +prosperity of Aegina belongs to a period when slavery did +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span>not yet prevail very much in Greece; and at other times, +as I shall show presently, Aegina was by no means populous. +We may indeed well understand that the island, +which at an early period had a democratic form of government, +may have had a navy more powerful than that of +Athens before the time of Themistocles, as Athens had so +long been governed by its great aristocratic landowners. +During the period between the Pisistratids and the Persian +wars, the struggle for the supremacy was carried on between +Athens and Aegina with great exasperation and varying +success, until Themistocles decided it by inducing Athens +to apply all her energy to her navy, to make Phaleros +a good harbour, and to build an imposing fleet. During +the period between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, +the Athenians had the upper hand and subdued the +Aeginetans; at the commencement of the Peloponnesian +war, the Athenians expelled the inhabitants of Aegina +from their island, because they did not trust them, and the +Lacedaemonians gave up Cythera (Cerigo) to them.⁠<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> The +fact that they maintained and supported themselves +there is a proof that their number was very small. After +the Peloponnesian war they were led back, but although +Athens was so much reduced, Aegina never recovered its +former importance. During the first war between Philip +and the Romans, P. Sulpicius took Aegina, and reduced the +whole population to slavery, from which they were afterwards +ransomed by the kindness of their friends on the +mainland.⁠<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> Afterwards it fell into the hands of the kings +of Pergamus; but we do not know whether it remained +under their dominion until the overthrow of the Achaean +confederacy. Aegina is one of those places whose destruction +Serv. Sulpicius laments in his consolatory letter to +Cicero. It seems to have been during such a devastation +that the temple of Zeus Hellenios perished, among the +ruins of which were found the celebrated Aegina marbles, +which are at present in the museum of Munich.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span></p> + +<h3 id="Laconia"><span class="smcap">Laconia.</span></h3> + +<p>Laconia was of different extent at different times. Laconia, +in the reign of Aristodemus and his sons, or the country +such as it was originally at the time of the Heracleid +conquest, was very far from being as large as the land afterwards +bearing the same name; it was not even as large as the +Laconia in Strabo or Pausanias, but perhaps similar to what +it was during the Macedonian period, especially after the +death of Nabis, when the fate of Lacedaemon had been +determined by the Achaeans. The Heracleid Laconia, therefore, +at the first distribution of the peninsula, could hardly +be compared with the Heracleid Argos.</p> + +<p>As regards the origin of the kingdom of Sparta, the tradition +that Eurysthenes and Procles were twin-sons of +Aristodemus, is altogether mythical.⁠<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> Any one familiar +with the spirit of ancient legendary history, can clearly see +the process through which the narrative has passed. Both +Herodotus and a fragment of Alcaeus have preserved the +statement, that, according to the common tradition, Aristodemus +himself reigned at Sparta and died there. But later +writers represent him as having died before he arrived with +the Heracleids in Peloponnesus, being killed by Apollo at +Pytho. The fact is, that as his name was not found among +those of the Doric chiefs, tradition made him the father +of the two kings, for as Argos had three, so Sparta had +two kings corresponding with the two highest among +the phylae; and the two Spartan kings are nothing but the +heads of the two γένη of the Eurypontids and Agiads, +belonging to two different phylae; one of them is designated +as the οἰκίη ὑποδεεστέρη, because it belonged to the +less noble phyle; whence we cannot be surprised at their +not being called Eurysthenids and Proclids. Aristodemus +is merely a mythical name, signifying that his descendants +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span>are the noblest among their people. The conquerors of +Sparta, on their arrival, are said to have found Tisamenus, the +son of Orestes. Those who looked upon this tradition as a +piece of genuine history, felt that it was difficult to see, how +the son of Orestes had come from Mycenae to Sparta; and the +ancients extricated themselves by the story, that Orestes, succeeded +to the throne of Menelaus by marrying Hermione—a +story which is unknown to the author of the first part of +the Odyssey, for he speaks of Megapenthes, a son of Menelaus, +which again is only an expression of the general idea, +that the house of Menelaus ended in sorrow. There can be +no doubt that the most ancient form of the tradition is this, +that Temenus, the Doric king of Argos, possessed the same +supremacy over the sons of Aristodemus at Sparta, and over +Cresphontes in Messene, as had in former times been exercised +by the king of Mycenae over the whole of +Achaean Peloponnesus. But Spartan pride, at an early +time, endeavoured to cast this humiliating tradition into +the shade. Hence also the statement that Cresphontes drew +lots, as to whether he should obtain Laconia or Messene, +Argos being altogether out of the question.</p> + +<p>It is only from a fragment of Ephorus in Strabo, that we +know anything about the feudal principalities of the +Dorians in Laconia. This piece of information once hung +upon a thread, and was nearly destroyed by a mutilation of +the passage in the manuscript from which all the others are +derived; if the book were lost, or but a little more mutilated, +we should know absolutely nothing about this feudal +system—so much our knowledge of the most important +circumstances often depends upon a mere accident. Hence it +is quite legitimate, in case of such information being wanting, +to supply the deficiency with rational boldness, in accordance +with the general principles of historical development. +Now, according to Ephorus, the Dorian kings divided +Laconia into six principalities. The first was Sparta, where +they themselves exercised the supremacy over the other +principalities, just as the Capetingian kings of Paris and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span>Orleans, who ruled over the country as far as Orleans (Isle +de France) as a distinct principality, and were recognised as +kings in the rest of France, but in such a manner that their +vassals again, within their own territories, were true princes +or kings. In regard to the other principalities, Strabo +(p. 424, D)⁠<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> says, that <i>Amyclae</i>, at a distance of about five +miles from Sparta, was given to the Achaean who, by his +faithless counsel, had induced the Achaean king of the +time to capitulate and quit his country; he is elsewhere +called Philonomus.⁠<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> The text of Strabo is here much +mutilated; there is one line of which the greater part is +legible, and of the next only a few words. I am convinced, +however, that I have discovered the meaning, namely, that +the remaining four kingdoms were <i>Las</i>, <i>Helos</i>, <i>Aepys</i>, +and <i>Pherae</i>, the two last of which subsequently belonged to +Messene.⁠<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> These five states then stood to Sparta in the +relation of isopolity, and their citizens might exercise the +Spartan franchise; but the sovereignty in all foreign relations +belonged to Sparta, so that the Spartan conquest at +that time imposed no heavy yoke upon the feudal principalities. +This relation was altered by Agis I.⁠<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> The Spartan +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span>Dorians broke through the relation of these isopolite +states in such a manner as boldly to deprive them of their +rights, to depose the kings, and reduce the inhabitants to +the condition of περίοικοι, in which they remained indeed +free, but became dependent and lost the right of exercising +the Spartan franchise. The people of Helos refused to +submit to these terms, in consequence of which their town +was destroyed by the Spartans.⁠<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> The Homeric Catalogue +mentions some other places in Laconia, as <i>Bryseae</i> and +<i>Messe</i>, of which afterwards not a trace occurs, and which +may have been destroyed at that time. Many towns probably +perished before the Spartans were masters of one-fourth +of the whole country.</p> + +<p>The geographical relations of Laconia are likewise +extremely obscure; but I have very little doubt that if a +person were without bias and carefully to distinguish the +different periods, he might arrive at more satisfactory results +than have as yet been gained.</p> + +<p>The name <span class="smcap">Lacedaemon</span> was, in antiquity, not applied +to the city but to the country, especially the valley of the +Eurotas. In the Catalogue, it is clearly distinguished from +Sparta.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Οἳ δ’ εἶχον κοίλην Λακεδαίμονα κητώεσσαν</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Φᾶρίν τε Σπάρτην τε—</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">The Alexandrian grammarians rightly say that the κοίλη +Λακεδαίμων refers to the valley of Lacedaemon, just +like κοίλη Ἦλις. Sparta, on the other hand, always +remained the proper name of the city, and it is only in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span>later writers, such as Polybius, that Lacedaemon is used as +the name of the city; wherever it occurs in this sense in +earlier authors, it must be regarded as an exception to the +rule.</p> + +<p>The middle of the south of Peloponnesus, from Arcadia +downwards, is formed by Mount <span class="smcap">Taygetus</span> (now Pentedactylon), +which ends in Cape Taenarus. This mountain, +as I have already observed, is the seat of frequent +volcanic commotions. Porphyry, the stone of which it +consists, is found most commonly in volcanic mountains; +the green serpentine, likewise peculiar to Taygetus, is found +there in great masses, whence we meet in Roman poets +with the expressions, <i>metalla Taygeti</i>, <i>metalla Laconica</i>, +<i>virides lapides Taygeti</i>; <i>Taygeti virent metalla</i>. Mount +Taygetus is full of caverns; the most important are those +near Taenarus (now Cape Matapan), whence the legend +that the entrance to the lower world was there. Just as +this mountain runs between the rivers Pamisus and Eurotas, +so another runs between the Eurotas and the Argolic Gulf; +the latter is of no less importance, though lower than Taygetus, +and terminates in Cape Malea. Taygetus is wild, and large +tracts on its top are incapable of cultivation; but in its +lower parts it has fertile valleys. The valley of the Eurotas +(now Vasilipotamos), is broad and beautiful, and the river +itself, both in length and depth, is the most important in all +Peloponnesus.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sparta</span>, situated on the Eurotas, was a royal city +from the earliest times; according to tradition, it was the +residence of Menelaus, and afterwards of the Heracleid +kings. From its beginning down to the Macedonian period, +it remained an open place; but, like all other Greek cities, +it had an acropolis, whence the expression which is applied +to Sparta as well as to other places, that it was inhabited +κωμηδόν, does not exclude the existence of an ἀκρόπολις. On +the heights of Epirus, too, traces of Cyclopian walls and +earthen ramparts have been discovered, although it was inhabited +κωμηδόν, which shows that towns thus described were +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>not surrounded by walls, but built round a fortified central +point. In this condition Sparta remained until the Macedonian +period. For a long time the Spartans, no doubt, +lived in their open city, as it were unconsciously, but afterwards +the feeling of their own greatness and security told +them that it was not worth while to build walls. When +however they were visited by the Macedonians, Sparta was +surrounded with walls which remained until the city was +united with the Achaean confederacy, when they had to +be pulled down again.</p> + +<p>The houses at Sparta were built in an irregular and +poor manner, almost all being made of clay; such was +indeed the case in other Greek towns also, but at Sparta it +was pre-eminently so, and the city appears to have had no +regular streets at all. There were, however, a few notable +buildings, though they cannot exactly be called magnificent. +Under the dominion of the Romans, Sparta was +the most important city in Peloponnesus, for during the +Achaean war it had joined the Romans, and had thereby +afforded them a welcome pretext for destroying Achaia. +Ancient Sparta seems to have perished at an early part of +the middle ages, when the unfortunate Peloponnesus was +ravaged by the Slavonians. The building of the town of +<i>Misitra</i> is ascribed to a prince of the family of the Palaeologi, +but the probable fact is that he only restored it. There are +few places of which so scanty ruins are discoverable as of +Sparta. <i>Limnae</i> was a suburb of Sparta.</p> + +<p>About five miles from it was situated <span class="smcap">Amyclae</span>, which +was older than the Doric conquest, and was respected by +the Spartans.</p> + +<p>Little can be said about the other places in Laconia. +<span class="smcap">Gytheion</span> was the ἐπίνειον of Sparta even during the +maritime supremacy of Athens, and remained what it then +was as long as Sparta occurs in ancient history; but it is +not by any means a particularly good harbour.</p> + +<p>It is not worth while to enumerate the places along the +coast, for we can say nothing about them, absolutely nothing +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span>being known except their sites. The most important among +them is <span class="smcap">Epidaurus</span>, surnamed <span class="smcap">Limera</span> (now Monembasia +or Napoli di Malvasia), to distinguish it from other towns +of the same name, with a very beautiful and safe harbour, +which was especially protected by a rock within it; on it +was built the citadel, which from its natural position was +extremely strong. But Epidaurus was too far from Sparta, +and too much separated from it by mountains ever to +become its port town.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sellasia</span>, in the interior of the country, situated between +Tegea and Sparta, in a pass where mount Taygetus and +the other range of mountains come close together, was a place +of great historical reputation. It was important as a military +post, for it was occupied by Cleomenes in the war against +the Macedonians and Achaeans, and he there suffered his +unfortunate defeat. It seems at all times to have belonged +to Lacedaemon. But the case of <span class="smcap">Pellana</span>, <span class="smcap">Belemina</span>, +and other places between Megalopolis and Sparta was +different; they originally belonged to Arcadia, just as +Epidaurus Limera, Prasiae and others belonged to Argos, +to which in the end they were restored. Such change in +the boundaries of Laconia took place in the time of Philip +of Macedonia, in consequence of a decision which he made +at Corinth after the battle of Chaeronea. Such at least +must be our inference, for we afterwards find the Achaeans +and Argives, without any war, in the possession of those parts, +so that the Spartans must either have ceded them of their +own accord, or the Achaeans and Argives were put in possession +of them by force. However much, therefore, the Spartans +may boast of never having stooped under the power of +Macedonia, it is nothing but one of the many untruths +they have uttered.</p> + +<p>The district about Taenarus and the coast-country from +the borders of Messenia to Malea, afterwards bore the name +of <i>Eleutherolacones</i>. This tract of country is mentioned +by Strabo and Pausanias with praise, and it is said to have +contained eighteen towns, the inhabitants of which were +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span>designated by that name, because they had made themselves +independent of the supremacy of Sparta. Strabo +refers the origin of this emancipation to Augustus, but it +probably arose from other circumstances. When T. Quinctius +Flamininus entered Laconia, and Nabis indulged in +several acts of insolence, the Romans, believing it dangerous +to wage war against him, connived at it; meantime he +committed all possible cruelties against the unfortunate +Peloponnesians, and insulted the Romans into the bargain: +in short, he carried matters so far, that Flamininus, contrary +to his own inclinations, was forced to punish him; +and although Flamininus was unwilling, utterly to annihilate +him, yet Nabis was afterwards unable to recover himself. +The consuls then proceeded to the towns on the coast +(the modern Maina, as far as Malea, now St. Angelo), +which renounced Nabis, and were constituted by the +Romans as free and independent towns. If afterwards, +when the Achaean confederacy was broken up, they were +restored to Sparta, and remained subject to it until the +time of Augustus, the Romans must have given them up at +that time; and Strabo’s expression can refer only to a second +constitution. But on the whole, those towns were insignificant.</p> + +<p>The island of <span class="smcap">Cythera</span> (Cerigo) is separated from +Laconia by a channel of the sea; in antiquity it was the +same as it is now, a rugged, volcanic island, presenting a +dismal aspect on account of its dark, burned rocks. Aesthetic +historians, anxious to have a more beautiful place for +the temple of Cytherea, have described the island as a +paradise, and supposed that a devastating change had taken +place at a later period. But not a trace of this is found +among the ancients. The island was thinly peopled. When +the Athenians had expelled the Aeginetans from the island, +the Spartans gave up Cythera to them, and from this, as I +have already observed, we may infer that, as the island +contained but little fertile land, the number of Aeginetans +must have been small. If, therefore, Aegina once actually +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span>had an enormous population, it can have been owing only +to some accidental circumstance, as was the case with Pisa +at the time of the conquest of Sardinia.⁠<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a>⁠</p> + +<p>The real central point of the volcanic mountain-range of +Peloponnesus and of the Archipelago, is the island of +<span class="smcap">Thera</span>; one branch of the volcanic range proceeds from +Thera northward in the direction of Lemnos; another +turns to the East towards Rhodes and the coast of Ionia, +whence the frequent earthquakes in those parts. The whole +district from Delos to Lemnos, thence to the Asiatic coast, +and thence again to Thera, forms as it were a circle.</p> + +<p>The ancients imagined that Laconia once contained +within its boundaries 39,000 farms; but this statement is +not well authenticated. The greater part of the country +as far as the sea was agricultural land in the possession of +the Spartans, and cultivated by their serfs or helots.</p> + +<h3 id="Messene_Messenia_Messeniaca"><span class="smcap">Messene, Messenia, Messeniaca.</span></h3> + +<p>The third of the Dorian kingdoms is Messene, Messenia, +or Messeniaca, for all these three names are applied to the +kingdom of Cresphontes. The boundaries in the mythical +age cannot be accurately defined, but so far as we can see, +they were about the same as in the Macedonian period; it +perhaps extended to the very top of Taygetus and the +sources of the Pamisus. Although it was likewise a mountainous +country, yet owing to the splendid valley of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span>Pamisus (valley of Calamata), which is one of the richest in +the world, and to other fertile coast-districts, it enjoyed the +reputation of being a particularly wealthy country, whence, +according to tradition, it was so much the object of the +cupidity of Cresphontes, when lots were drawn for Lacedaemon +and Messene, that he used a false lot. At present +the country is in an unspeakably miserable condition. The +name Messene is said originally to have belonged to the +country only, and not to a city.</p> + +<p>Messene, too, originally consisted of one sovereign principality +and several dependent ones, the Achaean princes +being in a relation of dependence on the Dorian kings. But +while at Sparta the ancient inhabitants were deprived of +the actual exercise of their rights, they rose in Messene to +a condition of equality with their Dorian conquerors, and +the latter became amalgamated with the ancient inhabitants +into one compact nation. The two states also differed in +other respects: Sparta was ruled by two kings, while in +Messene a Heracleid monarchy was established. The early +history of Messene is as uncertain as that of the Roman +kings; the traditions about the destruction of the kingdom +are anything but authentic, and we cannot fix the time of +that event within a hundred years. This observation is too +important not to be repeated in this place. The colony +of Messenians which is said to have been established at +Zancle, is probably nothing but an inference from the subsequent +name of that place; for the foundation of that +colony, if we assign it to the time in which alone it can be +conceived to have been established, would be separated by +more than a century from the events in Messene, to which +it is said to owe its origin. The only historical fact is, that the +last Messenian war belongs to the period about Olymp. 80; +some towns were then reduced to the condition of perioeci, +but the great body of the country people became helots, and +the land was divided among the Spartans. The war ended +with the capitulation of the helots, who had withdrawn to +the citadel of Ithome, whence the besieged obtained a free +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span>departure to Naupactus; in this latter place they afterwards +lived under the protection of Athens. The chronology of the +early history of Greece is so uncertain, that, although we are +here speaking of the period subsequent to the Persian wars, +the exact year in which the last Messenian war was brought +to a close cannot be determined; its outbreak is known to +belong to about Olymp. 80, as at that time Taygetus was +shaken by a violent earthquake. The war lasted at least ten +years. From that time till about the battle of Leuctra, a +period of about eighty years, Messene remained for the most +part a wilderness, as the Morea was under the dominion of +the Turks, even during the time that it had already somewhat +recovered (1670-1680). In this condition, the country was +found by the Athenian fleet which, during the Peloponnesian +war, appeared before Sphacteria; the ancient towns lay in +ruins. It was a well-deserved punishment for Sparta’s +tyranny and cruelty, that this was the very point at which +the Athenians entered the Spartan dominion and established +themselves about Pylos.</p> + +<p>After the battle of Leuctra, Epaminondas collected all +those who gave themselves out to be descendants of the +ancient Messenians; and they were joined by numbers of +Arcadians, Boeotians, perioeci of Sparta, and helots who +had shaken off the Spartan yoke, and he led them back into +Messene. This restoration of Messene was unquestionably +just, and Sparta had well deserved the infliction; but for +Greece it was an unfortunate event, for in the circumstances +of the time, when the danger was threatening from Macedonia, +the only thing which might have saved Greece, was +concentration and strengthening, but by no means a going +back to the ancient times. Hence Macedonia declared in +favour of Messene, as well as of Argolis and Arcadia, for the +purpose of weakening Sparta. Had the latter been able to +renew and consolidate itself, as was subsequently attempted by +Cleomenes, and had it been joined by all the Peloponnesians, +Greece might still have defied Macedonia for centuries, and +all the subsequent scenes of misery would not have occurred.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span></p> + +<p>At the time of its restoration, Messene was not at once +made so large a state as it originally was, and as it subsequently +became again through the mediation of Macedonia. +We still have an accidental statement in Scylax of Caryanda +respecting the extent of Messene during this intermediate +period between the Boeotian restoration and the later +extension under Philip of Macedonia, which we know from +Strabo and Pausanias. The influence of Epaminondas was +brief, he established only the town of Messene itself, with +which were connected the western coast and the valley of +the Pamisus, but not quite as far as the sea. The towns, +however, which had been built by the Spartans, as Asine, +Methone, and others, were still in the hands of the Spartans, +and inhabited by Dryopians, ancient subjects of Argos, +who had declared themselves in favour of Sparta. Afterwards, +when the boundaries of Messenia were extended, +these towns also became Messenian, standing, however, not +in a relation of dependence but in that of isopolity. The +Messenian people during the Macedonian period, therefore, +was quite a different nation from what it had been before. +Some descendants of the ancient Messenians were perhaps +still living in the interior; they may have returned from +Naupactus, and from other parts of the world over which +they had been scattered. On the sea-coast, there were a few +Boeotian and Argive colonies, and also some Laconian +perioeci and a number of helots, who had emigrated from +Laconia and established themselves there. It was natural +enough for the Messenians to represent themselves in a +different light; they took into consideration only the pure +germs of their origin, and to them they referred the story +of Aristomenes; but ethnographers ought not to have +imitated them, for the Messenians were a new people.</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Pamisus</span>, the river of Messenia, is only a few miles +in length, but carries a great mass of water, being probably +fed by subterraneous tributaries from Arcadia.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Messene</span> was situated about ten English miles from the +sea, its situation is very justly compared with that of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span>Corinth; for it, too, had its ἄκρα upon an inaccessible rock +(<span class="smcap">Ithome</span>) surrounded by a wall, which connected it with +the lower town. The remains of these walls belong to +the grandest of all the remnants of Greek antiquity; +they consist of blocks of five feet in length and two +and a half in breadth, and these are placed in such a +manner as to turn their smaller side outward. It is very +doubtful whether this wall was constructed in the time of +Epaminondas, or whether it is a relic of an earlier period; +even the ancients observed that the towers at the corners +were a later addition; and modern travellers state, that this +observation is evidently correct. Hence it is conjectured, +that the towers were built in the time of Epaminondas; but +that the fortification itself belongs to an earlier period. It can +hardly be believed that, in the age of Epaminondas, such a +style of building should have continued to be employed, +since Megalopolis, in the building of which a whole people +exerted itself, did not possess such walls. Messene and +Corinth were the strongest points in Peloponnesus; and +whoever was in possession of them, could control the whole +peninsula. The cause of the great strength of Ithome was +the circumstance that, like Acrocorinthus, the rock had a +well furnishing an abundant supply of water, which was +wanting in many other Greek acropoleis, as, for example, +in that of Athens.</p> + +<p>A town Messene did not exist before the time of Epaminondas. +Some years ago a French antiquary asserted that +Messene was more ancient, but this cannot be proved. +Ithome, on the other hand, appears in the traditions of the +earliest times; and during the first Messenian war, it was the +centre of the country; that fortress, containing the temple +of Zeus Ithomatas, was the place of refuge of the Messenians; +there the treaty with the Lacedaemonians was +concluded; and in the war of Aristomenes, too, it appears +in the same light and under the same circumstances.</p> + +<p>All that is related about the first Messenian wars, attests +the fearful devastation which must then have taken place. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span>Even as early as the Peloponnesian war, we no longer find +any traces of the many towns that are mentioned, and +which must be regarded as historical (for names of towns +are not invented), such as Stenyclaros, Andania, Aepy, +Pedasos, and many others. In the east of Messenia, a few +places survived, and for a time belonged to Laconia, but +the western part of the country was completely devastated. +In the Homeric Catalogue⁠<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> we find only a few places in the +west; in the east we have Cardamyle and Pherae, and Cyparissia +is the only town in the west that remained, being mentioned +in the Periplus and elsewhere, as a very good harbour +for small vessels. The little modern town of Arcadia is not +far from the site of the ancient Cyparissia: the country +around it is very fertile.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corone</span> (now Coron) was built, according to an account +which appears credible to me, at the time of the Boeotian +interference, and named after Coronea in Boeotia, from +which town it also appears to have received settlers.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Asine</span> was built by the Spartans at the time of the +destruction of Messene, and was peopled by Nauplians.⁠<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a>⁠</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Methone</span> (Madon) is likewise of late origin.</p> + +<p>In the Catalogue, all western Messenia belongs to the +kingdom of Nestor, and the <i>Pylos</i> in the Odyssey, where +Telemachus visits Nestor, cannot be the Triphylian, as +Strabo thinks, but must be the Messenian on the sea-coast; +we have to look for it in the vicinity of Navarino. <i>Sphacteria</i> +formed the harbour of Pylos, and that island has in our +days again attracted the eyes of the world.⁠<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> It is remarkable +in antiquity from the circumstance that the Spartans, +inconsiderately enough, occupied it with 300 of their own +citizens, and that these men were cut off and compelled to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span>surrender by the Athenians, who had taken helots into their +service, and were thus enabled to bring about negotiations +for peace. Pylos is still called Pylo; Navarino is situated +on the other side of the splendid gulf, where it is broadest, +while ancient Pylos was situated at the point where the +passage between the mainland and Sphacteria is quite +narrow. We recognise the devastations caused by the +Spartans in those districts from the excellent description +given by Thucydides of the attack upon Pylos.</p> + +<p>The boundaries of Messenia, as I have already mentioned, +were fixed by Philip of Macedonia. The Spartans for a +long time refused to recognise the independence of the +country, but such obstinate resistance against actual circumstances +ruins a state, and this was the cause of the ever +increasing weakness of Sparta. The Messenians themselves +likewise acted a sorry part in Peloponnesus, and their continued +hostility against Sparta is very singular. They +brought much misery upon the peninsula, and they themselves +at times had to pay dearly for it; they received the +last Philip at Ithome, and were on the point of becoming +for ever the slaves of Macedonia. They were always jealous +of the ruling power, at first of Sparta, and afterwards of the +Achaeans: their constant opposition led to nothing but +false steps, for they were too weak to carry out any independent +policy.</p> + +<h3 id="Arcadia"><span class="smcap">Arcadia.</span></h3> + +<p>The frontiers of Arcadia, on the side of Laconia, as I +have already observed, were at first contracted, but afterwards +extended again; in like manner, the boundary line +between Elis was changed on account of the varying possession +of Triphylia. The Triphylians regarded themselves +as real Arcadians, but were always an object of ambition to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span>the Eleans, by whom they were several times overpowered. +They were a remnant of the former state of Pisa, which, if +we may express an opinion at all on so obscure a subject, +must itself be regarded as originally Arcadian.</p> + +<p>The nature of the country has already been described in +general terms; a minute description of the complicated +mountains, would give you no definite view, but only confound +you. According to the general belief of the Greeks, +the Arcadians⁠<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> were the most ancient inhabitants of Peloponnesus, +that is, Pelasgians: in the history of nations, +Arcadia is regarded as the original seat of the Greek Pelasgians. +The Arcadian traditions are the only ones in Greece, +that go back to the creation of man, and their Azan +necessarily reminds us of Adam; but whether they had a +similar tradition, or whether the resemblance of the names +is only accidental, is a question which I cannot venture to +decide. They considered themselves, however, as autochthons +in the strictest sense of the term; though this belief referred +to the rulers rather than to the whole nation. While the +adjoining countries changed either their rulers or their +inhabitants, the population of Arcadia remained quite intact. +In the most ancient traditions we hear of no important towns, +but we know three races, the <i>Azanes</i> (Ἀζῆνες in Herodotus), +the <i>Maenalii</i> and <i>Parrhasii</i>; whether, however, they are to +be regarded only as three tribes, or as three distinct nations, +I cannot say. Greek history, at the time of the Messenian +wars, speaks indeed of Arcadia as one entire state, under +a single head, but such is not the case in the Homeric +Catalogue; it is probable that they formed one whole only +through the relation of isopolity. Afterwards, about the +40th Olymp., we find the first traces of towns, the importance +of which, however, cannot be determined. In a war +with Sparta, the inhabitants of Tegea appear as a separate +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span>state of Tegeatans, and they must have had the supremacy +among the Arcadians, for otherwise we cannot explain +how they could have claimed at Plataeae the supreme +command of the whole army, on the ground of their being +the most ancient Greeks, in opposition to the Dorians, who +had immigrated. How Arcadia was divided among its +three peoples, is unknown. It is surprising that, previous +to the foundation of Megalopolis, the whole of southern +Arcadia, which formed nearly one-half of the whole country, +appears to have contained no towns of importance, owing +to which very circumstance Megalopolis became conspicuous. +All the more important towns were situated on the eastern +frontier; near the northern boundary there also were towns, +which afterwards appear as small states, but the towns themselves, +though strong from their natural position, were +unimportant. But this was the fate of all Greek nations, +where they were not grouped round a common centre: the +division increased more and more, and single towns rose +by their favourable position, and isolated themselves from +the Κοινόν. The most ancient and most important town +of Arcadia was in the east.</p> + +<p>This was <span class="smcap">Tegea</span>, situated on the frontier of Laconia. In +contemporary history its territory is small, and the town +decayed; but from what is related about Tegea, we can see, +that it was once a great city, which afterwards lost its power. +The Arcadian districts united with Laconia, had probably +been taken for the most part from Tegea, whence the +Laconian frontier passed so near by Tegea. In the Persian +wars it was still great and populous, if we may trust the +numbers in Herodotus, which, however, we are hardly +justified in doing, especially in his account of the campaign +of Plataeae. I do not mean to say that he intended to +deceive, but I consider his numbers to be very uncritical; +he was probably not correctly informed. We must make a +distinction between his ethnographical and geographical inquiries, +and his historical criticism, for in the latter he took +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span>matters too lightly. His statements about the numbers of +Spartans must be received with particular caution, for in +regard to Sparta he was ill informed.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mantinea</span> is much more celebrated; it was a large and +respectable city, which both during and after the Peloponnesian +war, acted with energy and independence, and without +any regard to the rest of the Arcadians. After the +peace of Nicias, the Mantineans, together with the Argives +and Eleans, joined the coalition which was brought about +with such skill by Alcibiades among the Peloponnesians +with the view of drawing them away from Sparta. Thirty +years later, they were punished for this by the Spartans: +Agis appeared before them demanding that they should +destroy their city and disperse in villages. They refused, +and Mantinea experienced the same fate which Milan, in the +middle ages, suffered at the hands of Frederic Barbarossa, +for it was demolished, and its inhabitants distributed among +five villages. After the battle of Leuctra it was restored; +and owing to the fertility of its territory, it remained a +flourishing city for a period of 150 years, that is, down to +Olymp. 139, 2, when, during the war of Cleomenes, it was +taken by the Achaeans and Antigonus Doson, because it +had thrown itself into the arms of Cleomenes. I will not +excuse its conduct on that occasion any more than the +general morality of the Greeks during that period; but its +fate was fearful. The town was completely destroyed, and +afterwards a new one was built on its site, by Antigonus, +under the name Antigonea. Officially the name Mantinea +then ceased, but in common life it still continued, and +Polybius calls it by its ancient name; but on coins struck at +the time of the destruction of Corinth, the inhabitants are +called Ἀντιγονεῖς. Hadrian, who was fond of playing in +Greek matters, restored the ancient name. Mantinea is +celebrated on account of three great battles, which had +more or less influence in deciding the destiny of Greece: +1. the one during the peace of Nicias, in which the Spartans +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span>gained a victory over the coalition of the Peloponnesians; +2. the battle of the Boeotians against the united +Athenians and Spartans, in which Epaminondas fell; 3. the +battle of Agis against Antipater, in the unfortunate attempt +(Olymp. 112, 2) to restore the liberty of Peloponnesus, +while Alexander was engaged in Asia. To these we may +add a fourth, the battle of Philopoemen against Machanidas, +tyrant of Sparta. The cause of so many battles lies in the +importance of the site of the town, in a military point of +view, for it is situated in a fertile plain suited for great manoeuvres, +on the other side of the passes leading from Arcadia +into Argolis, and commands the road which leads by +Orchomenos to Corinth.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Orchomenos</span> cannot be compared in importance with +the two towns just mentioned; it, too, had an independent +political existence as a city at an early period, and was +distinct from the three Arcadian peoples.</p> + +<p>The fourth town on the eastern frontier is <span class="smcap">Stymphalus</span>, +a small place in the extreme corner of the territory of Phlius +and Argos. It was situated in a hollow among mountains, +on the border of a lake, with subterraneous outlets. Tradition +ascribed the construction of these passages to the +heroic age, and apparently with great justice. This is one +of the many traces which show that Greece must have had +a history which went back much farther than the current +history, and which is so unintelligible to us, just because we +join the poetical traditions of those nations directly to the +historical ages. Such is the case, for example, with the +Minyans, who are so utterly mysterious to us; but it would +be mere infatuation to deny that they once were a great +historical people; their subjugation of Thebes, and the numerous +other traditions, have a real historical foundation, +as is still attested by the ruins of the Boeotian Orchomenos, +and by the tunnel carrying off the water of lake Copais. +The lake itself may be of volcanic origin; but the tunnel, +at all events, has at least been completed by the hand of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span>man. The same is the case with lake Stymphalus, the +carrying off of the water from which is ascribed in tradition +to Heracles.</p> + +<p>Some of the northern towns, as <i>Pheneos</i>, <i>Psophis</i>, and +<i>Cynaetha</i>, are ancient but insignificant.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Megalopolis</span> was the most recent among the Arcadian +towns, for it was built after the expedition of Epaminondas. +He, like many others, saw the great defect of separate and +isolated peoples, whose strength was broken, and he was bent +upon forming and enlarging several central points which, +in the end, necessarily led to a complete division. Hence he +conceived the idea of uniting all the Arcadians against the +Spartans, for it was not yet clear at the time that Sparta +had permanently fallen in the battle of Leuctra. The new +city was built by the Arcadians themselves, under the +direction of Epaminondas. These late occurrences are enveloped +in strange obscurity, for we do not know whether +it was intended also to draw the great Arcadian towns, +Mantinea, etc., into this κοινὸν βουλευτήριον; this intention, +however, was pre-supposed, and hence the undertaking was +generally disliked. People looked upon it with distrust; +the form prescribed to them was disapproved of, and even +if it had not been insisted on, the spirit of independence of +those people seemed to suffer in the undertaking. The +form, moreover, in which it was intended to carry out the +plan seems to have been extremely absurd. The undertaking +had been announced as something grand, yet it +proved to be ill-devised and useless, and did not by any means +succeed as well as had been anticipated. The circumference +of Megalopolis was only about five English miles, and in +this space it was contemplated to crowd together the inhabitants +of more than thirty places, and no one seems to have +perceived that such a scheme could not succeed. The +Arcadians were country people (αὐτουργοί), whose fields +were not tilled by slaves; they would have been obliged to +carry on their rustic pursuits at a great distance, which, as +they had to live in the city, with civic institutions, was a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span>matter of impossibility. Epaminondas was indeed a great +man, but this scheme does him no credit; taking all in all, +I do not think that he was as great a man as he is generally +believed to have been. The population dispersed, and the +coercion employed was felt to be more galling than the Spartan +dominion, against which the whole plan was directed. +Hence Megalopolis remained the union of only a portion +of Arcadia. It had to fight against the Spartans at an +early time, and, therefore, threw itself into the arms of +Philip, who endeavoured to protect it by a strong frontier +on the side of Sparta. After the time of Alexander, in the +war of Polysperchon, it suffered severely, and had to sustain +a vigorous siege; but the greatest misfortune was its capture +by Cleomenes, from which it never recovered. Cleomenes +took the town by surprise, because the walls were too extensive +for the population, and, therefore, could not be +defended; the inhabitants partly fled, and others were put +to the sword. From that time Megalopolis, notwithstanding +its circumference, had no more importance than an ordinary +town of the Achaean confederacy, and was afterwards almost +entirely deserted. Polybius was a native of Megalopolis, and +although he did all he could to save his native city, it seems yet +to have suffered greatly from the Romans after the destruction +of Corinth, and then it was justly said Ἐρημία μεγάλη +’στὶν ἡ Μεγάλη πόλις; in the days of Strabo it was completely +reduced to the rank of a village. As it had been +built at a late period, Megalopolis, like all the towns which +arose under the Macedonian dominion, had no great buildings, +whence no ruins of it are found.</p> + +<p>I might mention also <i>Phigalea</i>, <i>Melaeniae</i>, and other +towns, but it is hardly worth while. Phigalea has become +celebrated through the well-known sculptures, which are +excellent in their way, and belong to the period of archaic +art, that is, to the period of the Persian wars and a short +time after; they were found in the ruins of a temple, and +are now in England.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span></p> + +<h3 id="Elis"><span class="smcap">Elis.</span></h3> + +<p>The name Elis is of more recent date than the Trojan +times; the town of that name was a recent structure, and +the population also is not ancient. The most northern part +of Elis was inhabited during the Trojan times by the +<i>Epeans</i>; the middle part, <i>Pisatis</i>, extended as far as the +Alpheus, and the country south of that river belonged to +the Pylian kingdom of Nestor. This division continued to +exist at a later period. The Doric name for Elis was Alis, +and we should, properly speaking, adopt this pronunciation, +which occurs in Plautus’ Prologue to the “Captivi” (<i>vendidit +in Alide</i>), and upon all ancient monuments. On coins we +find ϜΑΛΕΙΩΝ, which by a strange mistake has been +referred to the Faliscans, until at length some English +scholar, I think it was Knight, explained it rightly, the +nature of the digamma having become clear. The Pisatans +were probably Arcadians. Respecting Triphylia, between +Pisatis and Messenia, there are strange traditions: in the most +ancient of them it is said to have been inhabited by Caucones, +itself a mysterious name, which is described by some as +signifying a race of Carians; according to others, the country +was inhabited by Minyans, who, though they are traced to +the Minyans in Lemnos, are perhaps nothing else but Pelasgians, +that is, a people likewise belonging to the Arcadians. +Afterwards Triphylia always was a part of the ἔθνος +Ἀρκαδικόν, although the Arcadians were never united under +one strategus. The Epeans were expelled by the Aetolians; +the Aetolian Oxylus is said to have accompanied the Dorian +Heracleids, to have guided them by way of Naupactus into +Achaia, and to have received Elis as a reward for this service. +This tradition must be left to stand on its own grounds: +certain it is at least that Elis was Aetolian, as the three states +were Dorian; but the name of the Aetolians had a different +meaning in the early times from that which we attach to it +at a later period, and of which I shall speak hereafter.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span></p> + +<p>The history of Elis may be well put together from +different documents.⁠<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> The Aetolians ruled in the city as an +oligarchy, and even as late as the Peloponnesian war the +city appears as sovereign, and the perioeci as subjects; in +Aristotle’s Politics, the Aetolian γένη are still described as a +body of oligarchs. But this state of things was probably +altered even in the course of the Peloponnesian war: the oligarchy +was reduced in numbers, and was unable to maintain +itself; the commonalty, on the other hand, acquired consistency, +and the old citizens were united with the country +population. Thus Elis became a compact state, acquiring +the extent which we see in our maps, and all the free +inhabitants of the country became Eleans. They were +divided into twelve tribes, four of which were afterwards lost, +together with a portion of the country. Further particulars +will be mentioned in connection with the several towns. +Elis had coal mines which were worked, but according to +Theophrastus, the smiths preferred the Massilian coal.</p> + +<p>The original Elis, then, after the Doric migration, comprised +only the country of the Epeans; its capital, <i>Elis</i>, +was founded by the Aetolians. This town, like the Eleans +in general, does not act a brilliant part in history; but it +was not insignificant, and was situated in a very fertile and +thickly peopled valley, the κοίλη Ἠλις. There is only one +other town in Elis proper, <i>Cyllene</i>, the ἐπίνειον for the small +fleet of Elis, standing to the capital in the relation of +perioeci, similar to that subsisting between Lausanne and +Berne.</p> + +<p>For a considerable period, Elis was the most peaceable +and most undisturbed country in Greece, and was chiefly +inhabited by small landed proprietors. Polybius too mentions +the long peace, but we cannot say precisely during +what period it prevailed, and, at all events, must not extend +it too long. The Eleans were involved in the Peloponnesian +war no less than all the other Greek states; in earlier times +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span>they had even been conquerors. <i>Pisa</i>, situated on the +Alpheus, enjoyed great reputation in ancient times, but was +destroyed by the Eleans at an early period (about Olymp. 90), +and its territory was incorporated with that of Elis. This +secured to the Eleans the prostasia at the Olympic games.</p> + +<p>All maps have the same mistake, representing <i>Olympia</i> as +a town; it was nothing but a place containing the temple +of the Olympian Zeus and the localities required for the +games, a stadium, theatre, and the like. There never +were Olympian citizens, nor a βουλή or a δῆμος; and there +exists no ethnic name formed from Olympia. There may +have been some inns for strangers, but with the exception of +the season of the games, the place was never visited.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Triphylia</span>, in the corner between Pisatis, Messenia and +Arcadia, was the third part of the country, though it did +not always belong to the Elean territory. Its capital was +<i>Lepreon</i>, but it contained a number of small towns besides, +one of which was <i>Scillus</i>, where the Spartans gave a house +to Xenophon. Triphylia was repeatedly taken by the +Arcadians, as in Olymp. 102, when they attempted by force +to assume the management of the Olympic games. But as +early as Olymp. 96, it had been seized by the Spartans, and +for a time remained under their protection. Scylax +(Olymp. 106) calls it a part of Arcadia, but afterwards it +was again in the possession of the Eleans, until in Olymp. +140 it fell into the hands of Philip III. of Macedonia, who, +when his policy required it, gave it up to the Achaeans.</p> + +<h3 id="Achaia"><span class="smcap">Achaia.</span></h3> + +<p>Previous to the Doric migration, Achaia was called +Ionia, and as such was divided into twelve towns. All the +Ionians, it is said, emigrated on the invasion of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span>Achaeans, who had obtained from the Lacedaemonians a +free departure from Laconia—an account which appears to +me very problematical, but which I cannot remove by substituting +a better one. On that occasion the Achaeans are +reported to have become possessed of the twelve towns. +The intentional and artificial character of this division +is obvious: when people meet together with a view to +satisfy their natural wants, we never find such exact calculations. +The Waldstädte in Switzerland were originally +three in number, but this number increased more and more, +until it amounted to thirteen. The United States of North +America have increased from thirteen to twenty-four, and +they will increase still more. A design similar to that in +Achaia appears in the Doric part of Asia Minor, where we +find the number six, and among the Romans we find three +tribes and thirty curiae. The Doric immigration corresponds +with what we find in Laconia and Messene, and it +was probably the same in Argolis. In the same manner +arose the twelve Achaean towns, according to a designed +division among the Ionians, and the same was preserved +under the Achaeans. <i>Helice</i>, on the coast of the Corinthian +gulf, was the capital of the Ionians, but whether it occupied +the same rank under the Achaeans for any length of time, +is unknown. Helice and <i>Olenos</i> are two of the twelve +towns which occur in the list of the Achaean towns, and +besides them the following ten are mentioned: <i>Patrae</i>, +<i>Dyme</i>, <i>Pharae</i>, <i>Tritaea</i>, <i>Leontion</i>, <i>Aegira</i>, <i>Pellene</i>, <i>Aegion</i>, +<i>Bura</i>, and <i>Cerynea</i>.⁠<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> We here meet with a difficulty: how +is it, that we have the differing lists in Strabo and +Pausanias, in which, besides these towns, <i>Aegae</i> and <i>Rhypes</i> +are mentioned? The solution of the mystery is this: for +the very reason, for which originally twelve towns had been +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span>instituted, attempts were made, when two towns perished +to supplement the number by introducing two others; +hence these last are sometimes mentioned, and sometimes +not, the writers themselves not being clear about the +matter.</p> + +<p>The whole coast sinks rapidly down towards the Corinthian +gulf, which itself seems to have been formed by a +sinking of the whole ground, which is further indicated by +the abrupt descent of the mountains that come down from +Arcadia; the props which once supported the ground must +have given way. That part of the country is still the seat +of violent subterraneous fire, whence Helice was regarded as +one of the principal seats of Ποσειδῶν Ἐνοσίχθων, who however +could not save it from destruction. Whether Olenos, +as Polybius states, likewise perished by an earthquake, or +whether he is mistaken on this point, cannot be decided. It +certainly was not swallowed up by the sea, like Helice, which +sank down with the coast and all its buildings, for ruins of it +were seen at a late period. It is very probable, that if the +site of Helice could be ascertained, very important antiquities +might be brought to light by diving. Eratosthenes was +informed on the spot, that, according to the belief of the +neighbouring people, the place had not been destroyed by +a shock, but that it had simply sunk; they related that a +statue which had formerly stood in the market place, was +still standing upright in the sea, and that fishermen took +care not to entangle their nets in it.</p> + +<p>These twelve towns formed a league or confederacy under +a common strategus, and of all the Greek confederacies this +lasted the longest; but the union was so loose that in the +Peloponnesian war Pellene alone joined Sparta, while all the +other towns remained neutral, and for a time were even allied +with Athens. Afterwards, however, all the Achaeans were +in alliance with the Lacedaemonians, though then again +Pellene acted independently and by itself. Even at a later +period, under Philip and Alexander—the time referred to in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span>the speech περὶ τῶν πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον ξυνθηκῶν, which is +printed among those of Demosthenes, but is undoubtedly +the work of Hyperides—Pellene still stood aloof. The +dissolution of the Achaean state was then very manifest, and +lasted, according to Polybius, until Olymp. 126, when the +three westernmost towns again formed an alliance among +themselves. As early as the reign of Antigonus Gonatas, +Achaia, though then a poor and weak country, had formed +itself into one state, and that even before Aratus had delivered +Sicyon. At the time when this Achaean confederation rose +from its tomb, the real seat of government was at Aegion, +and Pellene lost its former importance, which may have been +partly the consequence of the ravages made during the war of +Demetrius Poliorcetes. Aegion became the new rallying +point, probably on account of its situation on the Corinthian +gulf; hence it acquired an importance which it had never had +before. <i>Pellene</i> was situated on a hill of considerable height, +the termination of the northern range of the Arcadian +mountains, and was accordingly a strong place.</p> + +<p>In later times, <i>Patrae</i> was of greater importance as a +commercial town; in the earliest ages it is not mentioned +as a place of any consequence, though its harbour is beautiful. +It acquired its importance, which it retained until its +destruction in our own days, at the time when Pompey established +a colony there, which was increased by Augustus. +Pompey restored it as a maritime town, for it had been +destroyed in the Achaean war. He compelled some of the +Asiatic pirates to settle there, and Augustus made it a Roman +colony, whence, like Corinth, it issued coins with Latin +inscriptions. Throughout the middle ages, under Constantine +Porphyrogenitus, as well as under the Frankish and Venetian +dominion, Patrae was the most flourishing city in all +Peloponnesus. The other places are too unimportant to +engage our attention.</p> + +<p>The coast of Achaia bore the peculiar name of Aegialos. +What is said of it in the Homeric Catalogue, remained +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span>essentially the same after the destructive immigrations; +hence its case was quite different from that of other countries +of Peloponnesus, especially the coast of Messenia, +where nothing remained except Cyparissia. Its topography +also underwent scarcely any change on account of the uniformity +of its history: thus the course of events is often +marked in the geography of a country.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="GREECE_BEYOND_PELOPONNESUS">GREECE BEYOND PELOPONNESUS.</h2> + +</div> + +<h3 id="Attica_and_Megaris"><span class="smcap">Attica and Megaris.</span></h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Attica</span> and <span class="smcap">Megaris</span>, if we look at their physical features, +form but one country, and in this light they were viewed in +the earliest times of which we still have the traditions. +The tradition that all this country, from the Isthmus as +far as the coast opposite to Euboea, was formerly called +Ionia, and inhabited by Ionians, cannot be reconciled +with the other, that the Ionians, when expelled from +Achaia, went to Attica, and that through them Attica +was changed into Ionia. If we wish to form any clear +notion at all about the matter, it will probably be most +correct to suppose, that originally both coasts, Aegialos and +Attica, as well as the whole of the intervening country, +Sicyon, Corinth, etc., were inhabited by one and the same +Pelasgian branch, that is, by Ionians. This hypothesis +gives consistency to the geography of those countries, and +we obtain a definite idea of them, which has at least great +probability in its favour. The column said to have been +erected in the time of Theseus, with the strange inscriptions—</p> + +<p class="center">Τάδ’ ἐστὶ Πελοπόννησος οὐκ Ἰωνιά,</p> + +<p class="center">and</p> + +<p class="center">Τάδ’ οὐχὶ Πελοπόννησος ἀλλ’ Ἰωνία,</p> + +<p class="noindent">is an invention of a comparatively very late period. When +Attica and Megaris are taken as one country, it is designated +by the name of Ἀκτή. This, however, is not a +proper name, but, as we have seen before, an appellative +designating a country running out into the sea, without +being united with the main land by means of an isthmus. I +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span>consider this name to be very ancient, because there can be +no doubt that Ἀττικὴ was formed from Ἀκτικὴ on the same +principle on which the Italian language substitutes <i>tt</i> for the +Latin <i>ct</i>. In the earliest traditions, however, the country has +several names, the exact meaning and age of which we are +unable to ascertain, but which, though they are preserved only +in late writers, mostly Alexandrian poets, we ought not to +disregard, for these authors fondly adopted those very things +which were rare, and which were preserved only in ancient +poems. The country, to mention one example, was also +called <i>Mopsopia</i>, a name of which we can say absolutely +nothing, though the country certainly bore it at one time. +However, even though the Acte formed one whole, it does +not follow by any means that it also formed one state.</p> + +<p>Much may be conjectured respecting the early history of +Attica, if we rid ourselves of the later traditions about +Cecrops and the Pandionids, which were transferred from +the Atthids to the works of the Alexandrians, and have +been handed down by them to our time,—if, I say, we rid +ourselves of them so far as not to regard them altogether +as history, and, on the other hand, not to indulge in too +artificial and subtle explanations, but so as to take only +certain facts which are clearly implied in the stories, and to +let these speak for themselves. One tradition about the +Acte, in which it extends as far as the Isthmus, is, that it +was divided by the Pandionids into four states; and why +should not this have been the case? Another division refers +apparently to Attica, in the narrower sense of the name. I +allude to that ascribed to Cecrops; here, too, we have a +kind of tetrapolis, and thus far it agrees with the earlier +division though the detail is different, for according to it +Attica consisted of twelve (3 × 4) states. We accordingly +find in Attica an historical trace of a division into twelve, +like that of the Ionian Aegialos; it was also historically +remembered, that these towns became united in Athens. +The boundaries of Attica, as an Athenian state, stand in +relation to those of Megaris, which, however, were changeable, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span>and were moved sometimes forward and sometimes +backward. At the time when Megaris was an extensive +country, and Attica small, Salamis belonged to the former. +Other changes in the Athenian possessions occur on the +Boeotian side. But there certainly is some gap in our +history of Attica, which we can hardly wonder at, seeing +that the political history of the Greeks in general is very +fragmentary. What I mean is this: in very ancient times +all Attica did not form one state, and the boundary must +have been altered in some sense, so that during the time +after Cleisthenes, the country districts, formerly occupied +by perioeci, obtained the full franchise, as was the case, for +example, with Salamis. Herodotus attests, that, in his +topical division of Attica into ten phylae, Cleisthenes gave +to every phyle ten demi. But at a later time Attica contained +174 demi. Strabo is not the man to write down +such a statement thoughtlessly; and moreover the correctness +of the number may be calculated from inscriptions and +grammarians, especially from Harpocration. It is, therefore, +probable that, as at Rome, when its territory was extended, +the towns which received the full franchise, were constituted +as new local tribes, so also at Athens new demi were formed +under similar circumstances, without there being any change +in the number of the phylae. We might also explain the +change by the supposition that at first Cleisthenes allowed +the ancient γένη to continue, so that the φυλαὶ τοπικαί +originally did not contain the Eupatrids and the demi +together; but afterwards, and even before the Persian +wars, this constitution was so altered, as to change the +most distinguished among the ancient γένη, of which +only very few remained, into separate demi, and incorporate +them with the phylae, in order to prevent their sinking +into utter insignificance, and especially their losing the +right of voting. Thus the Butadae are mentioned both as a +γένος and as a δῆμος. Within such a γένος, which had +become a δῆμος, the real descendants of the ancient race +were distinguished, by the addition ἐτεο, from those who +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span>had become members of the same demos by accident. This +is the sense in which we have probably to understand the +often-mentioned Eteobutadae.</p> + +<h3 id="Megaris"><span class="smcap">Megaris.</span></h3> + +<p>I shall treat of Megaris very briefly. It is that part of the +Cecropian Acte which was taken possession of by the Dorians +when they extended their dominion beyond Peloponnesus, in +the hope of subduing all Attica, which was then very weak. +If we look at it within the limits which it had at the time +of the Peloponnesian war, it was as thoroughly Doric +as any part of Peloponnesus, and even in its dialect, +notwithstanding the probably small number of immigrants +who, perhaps, formed only a military colony. The town of +<span class="smcap">Megara</span> was, according to all appearances, built by the +Dorians; previously there existed no Megara. The version +of the passage in Homer, with which the Megarians opposed +the proof of the Athenians, does not mention Megara, but +only Polichna, Nisaea, Tripodes, and Aegirussa.⁠<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> It was +not an important town, and its whole territory was small; +if, however, we credit Herodotus’ account of their contingent +in the battle of Plataeae, it must have been extremely +populous.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Nisaea</span>, the port of Megara, was older than the city, +and is connected in the traditions of the poets with Nisus +and his daughter Scylla or Ciris; and when the poets in +this fable mention Megara, it must be regarded as mere +prolepsis. The Megarians were a maritime people, but not +of great importance; they had a small fleet at Nisaea, which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span>was rather more than a mile from the city, and was connected +with it by two long walls (σκέλη); the city itself +was situated on a hill. The long walls were built by the +Athenians after the Persian wars, when they were masters +of Megaris. <i>Pagae</i> or <i>Pegae</i> was another town of Megaris +on the Corinthian Gulf, and contained a ship-wharf; it +likewise had some ships, and was strongly fortified.</p> + +<p>The history of Megaris is not uninteresting; it is, in fact, +that of all the Greek peoples. In the earliest times it was +governed by an aristocracy, or rather oligarchy; then the +demos rose, and the old inhabitants, oppressed by the conquerors, +were led by a man of the highest rank, who set +himself up as tyrant. This man was Theagenes. The +period of the overthrow of the aristocracy in all the states +of Greece and the rising of tyrants falls between Olymp. 30 +and 70, a period which may be likened to the 15th century +in the middle ages. These τυραννίδες were of a very +different character from those of later times; they always +belonged to the first families, and were mere usurpations, +without the odiousness which generally attaches to the +name. Their rule accordingly was by no means hated, as +it is when the tyrannis is the result of general anarchy, or +of the degeneracy of liberty. The ancient tyrannides arose +from a natural want, and from the consciousness that the +state could no longer be governed in the way in which it +had been done before; they were not cruel, because the +sovereignty was not claimed by more than one, so that +there was no cause for making him bloodthirsty. If we +bear in mind this ancient meaning of the name, we cannot +view the tyrannis in an odious light. The tyrannis of +later times is very different, for it no longer helps to develop, +but rules with cruelty over a mass which cannot +control itself. The later these tyrants are the worse they +are; and the worst of all are those after the time of Alexander, +such as Aristodemus of Elis, Agathocles and Apollonius +of Cassandrea. After the fall of Theagenes, the +democracy ceased, and Megara, notwithstanding its Doric +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span>character, was governed by an oligarchy, just as Corinth +after the fall of the Cypselids. During the Persian wars it +was a flourishing state, but afterwards it became involved in +disputes with its powerful neighbours, the Athenians; and +by all kinds of insults offered to them, it drew upon itself +their anger; this was senseless, as it always is when the weaker +provokes the stronger. The Spartans undertook the Peloponnesian +war ostensibly to protect the Megarians, but Megara +fared ill in that war. Previously, the Athenians had left +them alone, but they now made frequent inroads into their +country, and cruelly ravaged it; and the marches of the +Peloponnesians through it seem to have completely ruined +it. Afterwards it was a place of no importance. Its situation, +which, if Peloponnesus had formed one state, might +have made it an excellent bulwark, appears to have always +exposed it to ravages. It was taken and destroyed by +Demetrius Poliorcetes; Antigonus Gonatas carried on a +severe war against the country, to obtain in it a place for a +Macedonian garrison. Such a garrison was at that time the +most fearful scourge for a Greek town; it generally consisted +of barbarians, such as Gauls, Thracians, or Getae, +who conducted themselves entirely according to their own +discretion, and against whom it was impossible for any individual +to protect his property, unless the governor took +pity upon him, as was the case at Athens, which had the +good fortune of having in Antigonus Gonatas a humane +commander. Hence Megara, like the other places, was in +a wretched condition. During the first great period of the +Achaeans, Megara, together with Corinth, became free +again; but afterwards it was so insignificant, that it is not +even mentioned as to whether, when Corinth became Macedonian, +Megara experienced the same fate or not: it had +probably joined Boeotia. Before the battle on the Isthmus, +the Romans again destroyed everything that was still standing. +Ser. Sulpicius, in his consolatory letter to Cicero, +mentions Megara, too, as one of the “corpses of towns” which +he saw on the Saronic gulf; according to Strabo, however, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span>it still existed in his time ἀμῶς γέ πως, though it had sunk +very low: it still contained some ancient buildings and +temples, and among them, within the ring-walls, a small +Population. The devastation of Greece under the Romans +can scarcely be conceived too fearful: Pausanias misleads us +on this point; the true description is furnished by Dion +Chrysostomus, who states, that a person might travel about +in Arcadia and Thessaly for a whole day without seeing a +human being, except a few shepherds. My belief is, that +in the time of Pausanias, Peloponnesus, with the exception +of a few districts, had no more inhabitants than previously +to the Venetian conquest in the year 1650.</p> + +<p>Megara was important in a military point of view; two +roads led thence to Corinth: the one, running along the +sea-coast, and by the Scironian rocks, was very dangerous, +for it passed between the precipitous rock and the shore, +and formed a pass which no one would ever attempt to +storm; the other led across the Oneian mountain, right +through the middle of the country, towards the Isthmus.</p> + +<h3 id="Attica"><span class="smcap">Attica.</span></h3> + +<p>We shall consider Attica according to the extent it had +at the time of the Peloponnesian war. Salamis, and many +places on the Boeotian frontier, were evidently added to it +at an earlier period, but its boundaries were reduced again +during the Macedonian times: under Cassander, Salamis +and Eleusis were separated from Attica, they received +Macedonian garrisons, and formed small communities under +Macedonian supremacy. To this period belong the coins +with the inscriptions ΣΑΛΑΜΙΝΙΩΝ, ΣΑΛΑ; ΕΛΕΥΣΙΝΙΩΝ, +ΕΛΕΥ, or ΕΛ; but the particulars cannot be +clearly ascertained.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span></p> + +<p>The people of Attica are called Ἀθηναῖοι in their relation +to the state, and Ἀττικοί in relation to their manners, customs, +and dialect; but the name for an Athenian woman is +Ἀττική, and Ἀθηναία in this sense, is either affectation or +said in joke.</p> + +<p>The whole territory of Attica is a thoroughly mountainous +country, like Megaris, with one considerable plain +on one side and another on the opposite side. The length +of the Acte from the Isthmus to Sunion, including Megaris, +measured 680 stadia, or about 90 English miles, of which +less than one-third belonged to Megaris. Some of the hills +are off-shoots of those of Megaris, but, in reality, they are +only continuations of the Boeotian chain of Cithaeron. +All form, in truth, only one mountain range, which proceeds +from the Boeotian and Megarian frontiers in the form +of a semicircle behind Athens, and extends as far as Sunion. +All these hills consist of a kind of limestone, which in +Hymettus and Pentelicus becomes the most excellent marble. +This marble is white with greenish veins, of smaller grain +and less white than the Parian, and resembles the Carystian. +At the extreme end of these hills, above Sunion, are the +silver mines of <i>Laurion</i>. These mines, which are a great +physical curiosity, were very productive, and were worked +in very ancient times; but they became exhausted during +the period from the time of the Gracchi, when they were +still vigorously worked, to that of Strabo, when the produce +was not worth the labour, and when only the ancient offal, +which had been thrown away in better times, was smelted. +At present they have entirely disappeared, just like the +gold mines near Philippi. All names in Attica are classical. +The most remarkable among the hills are those already +mentioned, <i>Hymettus</i> and <i>Pentelicus</i>, on account of their +marble quarries: they seem to have been the first of which +the marble was wrought into statues, perhaps about Olymp. +50 or 60. The use of bronze for such purposes is easier +and more natural, and hence more ancient. The other hills +are <i>Parnes</i> and <i>Brilessus</i>, the former of which was a wooded +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span>mountain. Hymettus and Pentelicus may still be clearly identified, +in consequence of the marble quarries, and Hymettus +in consequence of its honey, which is still excellent. Such +means of identification do not occur in the case of Parnes +and Brilessus; and although these, too, are unhesitatingly +named by modern travellers, yet all is arbitrary. All the +Attic hills are at present barren; but in ancient times some +were well wooded, as we may infer from the charcoal manufactures +near Acharnae, mentioned by Aristophanes; but +the greater part of them were not, like our hills, clad with +heather, but with thyme, marjoram, and other aromatic +herbs. The fact that Hymettus, even in antiquity, had no +trees, may be inferred from the circumstance, that it was +the habitation of bees, and the place in which their +breeding was attended to.</p> + +<p>Attica was well known to the ancients themselves as a +country that was not fertile, and where the rocky ground +was covered only with a very thin crust of soil (λεπτόγεων +in Thucydides); it had two plains of a very different +character, the one that of Eleusis and Thria (τὸ Θριάσιον +πεδίον), which was fertile, whence Eleusis was justly the +seat of the worship of Demeter; the other was the plain +of Marathon, which was not fertile, and is at present +deserted; it was covered only with wild fennel and such +like herbs, nor was it as flat as the Thriasian plain.</p> + +<p>Attica has little water, and is poor in rivers and springs; +Athens itself had only one good spring. The rivers are +so insignificant that in any other country they would not +be mentioned at all; but in Attica everything has a +general interest and cannot be forgotten, so that the +Cephisus and Ilisus, though only small rivulets, are better +known than the Oxus and Jaxartes. The Cephisus does +not even reach the sea; it flows in a western and the Ilisus +in an eastern direction. I spell both names with a +single <i>s</i>, which is the ancient Greek orthography found +in the good MSS. of Aristophanes and Plato, and in +inscriptions. The spelling Κηφισσός and Ἰλισσός, however, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span>likewise became common in antiquity, and was that +generally received by the Romans; and when a Roman +uses a single <i>s</i>, it must be regarded as his special choice.</p> + +<p>The circumference of <span class="smcap">Athens</span> was much changed in +the course of time. According to the traditions, it was at +first small like all the towns in Attica, when the lower +hills all around were thinly peopled. The arx of Athens, +we are told by Thucydides, was called the πόλις, +though more probably ἄστυ;⁠<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> for everywhere πόλις and +ἄστυ seem to stand in the same relation to each other +as <i>civitas</i> stands to <i>urbs</i> or <i>oppidum</i>. As <i>civitas</i>, in good +Latinity, is never used of the buildings, so πόλις in +Greece, even at an early time signified the body of citizens, +and ἄστυ the place they inhabited. In the most ancient +times the ἄκραι alone were fortified in all parts of Greece, +the places below them were inhabited κωμηδόν; such was +the case in the Pelasgian times at Athens, and also at +Sparta. When the town was surrounded with walls cannot +be ascertained, but it was probably as early as the time +of the Pisistratidae; that κύκλος, however, must have been +feeble and unimportant, for if the town had been strong, +we cannot conceive why the citizens, on the approach of +the Persians, abandoned it without any thought of being +able to defend it. After the evacuation of Attica, +Themistocles restored the walls, and gave them a much +greater circumference. This is, properly speaking, not +mentioned anywhere expressly by the ancients⁠<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a>⁠, but has +long ago been assumed by the moderns from the context +of the narrative and from the circumstances of the case, and +that too with full justice: matters happened in a similar +way at Cologne, Nürnberg, Frankfort and Florence. +In building walls the ancients sometimes followed the +lines of the suburbs, which were surrounded by +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span>palisades; but sometimes the circumference was made +larger than was really needed, and such may have been +the case at Athens. But what was the circumference of +Athens? The walls of Themistocles cannot be traced +with the same accuracy as the agger of Serv. Tullius at +Rome. In the time of Pausanias they were still standing; +they had been built by Themistocles in a very hurried +manner, but still of such strength that their complete +disappearance is a mystery. I have no doubt that the +foundations might be discovered if it were possible to +make excavations. All we know about the subject is the +statement of Thucydides, that the city was forty-three +stadia in circumference, exclusive of the empty space +between the two long walls. This empty space is estimated +in different ways, but there can be no doubt that it occupied +only a few stadia, for there was no necessity for keeping +those walls far asunder. Fauvel, who resided several years +in Athens, declares that he cannot make out that the circumference +of Athens was so large, and therefore assumes +the passage of Thucydides to be corrupt. But his supposition +cannot be admitted, for Dionysius of Halicarnassus +states that the Rome of Serv. Tullius was about equal to the +ancient ἄστυ: now the circumference of the agger of Serv. +Tullius, with a small exception, is perfectly ascertained, +and extends about five English miles, which perfectly +agrees with the statement of Thucydides. But the topography +of Athens is everywhere full of perplexities.⁠<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a>⁠</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Piraeeus</span> was a second city. Its site is certain, +but the detail of its topography cannot be determined. +I do, indeed, believe that a person living on the spot +with the privilege of making excavations, might discover +some things, but never as much as at Rome, where we +have the numerous documents, and where so many remains +still exist. From the drawings of Piraeeus, which I have +seen, the statements of the ancients cannot be explained; +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span>the line of coast has become very much altered, the +harbour is filled with sand, and one or two of the ports +seem to have completely disappeared; the ancient bays are +at present marshes and morasses, which have no connection +with the sea, and the outline of the coast is evidently +changed. Piraeeus had separate fortifications, and was +connected with the city by the μακρὰ σκέλη, which were +constructed, not by Themistocles, but by Pericles. These +fortifications are drawn in Barthélemy’s <i>Voyages du Jeune +Anacharsis</i>, by Barbié du Bocage, with apparent accuracy, +but they must be used with caution, and not as exact +topographical drawings: they are not intended to give +accurate and definite local views, but only to furnish the +readers with a picture which is not essentially wrong, and +which they may retain in their minds to form a living +conception of ancient history. But the picture is not +free from faults; one of them, e.g., is that Phalerus is +drawn within the walls, which is not supported by a single +ancient testimony; Phalerus was on the side of one of +the walls, which was hence called the Phalerean.</p> + +<p>Many circumstances have conspired to render the topography +of Athens difficult. In the first place, we have +no description of the city like that furnished by the +Regionarii in regard to Rome; in the second place, the +historians mention, indeed, particular buildings at Athens, +but without stating their relative position to one another; +the buildings, with few exceptions, were situated on a +plain surface, the several eminences in the ἄστυ having +for the most part no buildings. Hence the descriptions +cannot be as exact as at Rome, where the hills afforded +an easy means of stating the site of buildings and the +direction of streets. The many buildings, moreover, some +of which existed even in the middle ages, and most of +which can even now be recognised in their ruins, are a +great assistance in determining the topography of Rome; +the study of these combined with that of the ancient +topographical documents enables us to ascertain a great +many points, and thus to trace the history of the city +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span>with great accuracy. If a person makes himself acquainted +with modern Rome, tracing it back to its origin, and if, +in addition to this, he endeavours to understand the ritual +and the roads taken by certain processions, along which +the ancient buildings are mentioned, he has already gained +a considerable step in advance. The Itineraries of the +seventh century are likewise a source of information on +topography. In this way a person first comes to the +Rome of the middle ages, and thence to ancient Rome. +But the city of Athens has completely disappeared; some +isolated ancient buildings do indeed exist, to which certain +names are given, which are in some cases correct, but +in others doubtful. From the middle ages, too, scarcely +any thing but walls remain; Athens was several times +destroyed and completely deserted; even the churches +were demolished, and where anything of them remains, +it does not lead us back to ancient buildings. Pausanias, +who is our only authority, is an extremely confused +writer, and the most different hypotheses may be based +upon his statements. He proceeds from Piraeeus to the +Ceramicus, thence to the Agora, and further on to +the Acropolis; but what road he took it is impossible +to make out. The accounts of the moderns of the +sites of the ancient buildings are likewise extremely contradictory, +and can scarcely be otherwise, considering +their short stay on the spot. Stuart was there longest, +but his whole object was to make architectural drawings. +Fauvel’s and Stuart’s statements, for example, respecting +the Areopagus, are in direct contradiction with each other. +As matters now stand, a person may find his way on the +Acropolis, and perhaps also determine the hill of the +Museum; but otherwise nothing can be identified, neither +the Areopagus nor the Pnyx. The city of Hadrian can +be recognised by its gate. That emperor was a strange, +wrong-headed man: though a Spaniard by birth, he was +enamoured with everything Greek, but his whole tendency +was not ancient Greek; he was in fact a Greek sophist of +his own age: he dressed himself in the Greek fashion, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span>allowed his beard to grow in the Greek fashion, although +the Romans had adopted the custom of shaving themselves +even before the time of Hannibal. He was ambitious to +shine among the Greeks as a Greek, and built several +gigantic temples, as for example, the Olympieum, of which +many ruins still exist. In like manner, he built an entirely +new city by the side of ancient Athens, although the space +occupied by the latter was no doubt deserted. The gate +of this new city with two inscriptions still exists: ΑΙΔ +ΕΙΣ ΑΘΗΝΑΙ ΘΗΣΕΩΣ, Η ΠΡΙΝ ΠΟΛΙΣ, and ΑΙΔ +ΕΙΣ ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΟΥΧΙ ΘΗΣΕΩΣ ΠΟΛΙΣ. +All the other points in our plans, for example the site of +the Ceramicus in that of Barbié du Bocage and others, +are mere attempts to give something tangible.</p> + +<p>The Acropolis was the ornament of Athens; it was situated +on a steep rock, though scarcely 200 feet high, and +surrounded with walls, that on one side being called the +Κιμώνειον τεῖχος; and that on the other, the Πελασγικὸν +τεῖχος. Why Cimon should have made additional fortifications +to the Acropolis, especially in the days of the +democracy, is to me a mystery; and I am almost inclined +to suspect that the accounts about it must be explained in a +different manner, and that some earlier Cimon is meant. +Pericles constructed a flight of steps leading up the Acropolis +under a portico, and at the entrance he built the +Propylaea, of which now scarcely the site is discernible. +The present fortifications of the Acropolis with double walls, +were made in the middle ages, at the time of the French +dukes and of the Catalani in the thirteenth and fourteenth +centuries, and in their construction many of the ancient remains +were destroyed. The Propylaea were the triumph of +Greek architecture. The chief buildings on the Acropolis were +three temples, two of Athena, which must accordingly not be +confounded with each other, namely, the Parthenon, and the +temple of Athena Polias, in which was preserved the ancient +image which had fallen from heaven (ξόανον, εἴδωλον), and +thirdly, the temple of Erechtheus, which during the last +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span>unfortunate siege has been entirely destroyed; the same was +probably the fate of the Parthenon also.⁠<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> All these temples +were erected in the age of Pericles, and were built in the +Doric style, while the Propylaea were Ionic. The Acropolis +also contained the treasury of the republic: it was the +Capitol of Athens, and fully as strong as that of Rome.</p> + +<p>A place, concerning the site of which there can be no +doubt, is the theatre, which can still be distinctly seen: it +leans against the Acropolis, the rock itself forming its back +wall. This is the sacred spot, where Aeschylus, Sophocles, +and Aristophanes, produced their works; there the Athenian +people crowned its great men for their merit; and there a +golden wreath was given to Demosthenes for his faithful +advice.</p> + +<p>The site of the Agora, on the other hand, cannot be determined +within a hundred paces; and I do not know in +what direction to place it. In it was the <i>Bouleuterion</i> of +the Council of the Five Hundred, the <i>Prytaneion</i> or Tholos, +and the altars, which more than anything else show that +the Athenians were animated by a different spirit from that +of the other Greeks. I allude to the Βωμὸς Ἐλέους and the +Βωμὸς Αἰδοῦς, that is, the altar of Mercy and of Modesty. +These altars are characteristic, and shew the amiable nature +of the Athenians: that people did not conceive mercy and +modesty as demonlike ghosts, nor did they view them +abstractedly like the Romans; they declared by those altars, +that they had established mercy and the dread of everything +that is vulgar, as rules to guide their own conduct. +And it was not in vain that they had raised mercy to the +rank of a divinity: he who found mercy nowhere, experienced +it at Athens during the period of her power. +With all their faults, and notwithstanding many acts that +make our hearts bleed, the Athenians were the most amiable +among the Greeks; and we cannot help asking: was there +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span>ever a powerful republic, completely left to itself, which +restrained itself so much by its aversion against what is +bad? They also had an altar of Report and Impulse (ὁρμή) +to preserve their good report, and to prevent their being +carried away by impulse.</p> + +<p>The Pnyx was the hill where the popular assemblies were +held, but it cannot possibly have contained the whole body +of the people.</p> + +<p>The hill of the Museum was regarded as the strongest +point of the city next to the Acropolis, and after the Lamian +war it was occupied by a Macedonian garrison, though previously +it had not been a place of any importance. The +account of the deliverance of Athens by Olympiodorus, +shows that the Museum was not a real fort, but only an +inaccessible post capable of containing a considerable body +of troops. What was the real nature of the place, and +what made it so strong, are questions to which no definite +answers can be given.</p> + +<p>The new town was the strange scheme of Hadrian, who +planned buildings the splendour of which was to eclipse that +of the ancient ones; but the Olympieum was not completed.⁠<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> +Soon after Hadrian, Herodes Atticus, whose life has been +written by Philostratus, constructed at Athens a whole +stadium of Pentelic marble; his wealth is said to have +been immense and almost fabulous, and his grandfather is +reported to have found a treasure of Athena. Although the +Pentelic marble was obtained in the vicinity of Athens, yet +such a building erected by a private person was an amazing +undertaking. The buildings of Hadrian and this stadium +are still discernible in their ruins.</p> + +<p>In the vicinity of Athens there were three gymnasia, the +Academy, a park with trees and buildings in which gymnastic +exercises were carried on; the Lyceum and the +Cynosarges served similar purposes, but their sites cannot be +determined.</p> + +<p>Previous to the time of Themistocles, Piraeeus was a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span>scarcely inhabited coast district; its natural advantages were +neglected, because this port was farther off than that of +Phalerus, the latter being two or three miles nearer the +city; the few galleys which Athens possessed, and most of +which had no decks, were in Phalerus. Themistocles, with +the keen eye of a great man, selected Piraeeus as the site +of a new town, and his intention was to induce the Athenians +to abandon their city altogether and to settle in Piraeeus, +which he intended to surround with walls of immense +height and to fortify in such a manner as to render it impregnable +by the arts of war as they were at the time. The +wall, which was actually built, had only half the height +to which he intended to raise it, and yet, until the time of +Sulla, it defied every attack upon it. The thought of +abandoning the place in which the citizens had lived +honourably for centuries, was too painful to their feelings +to be carried into effect. After the battle on the Hellespont, +in the Peloponnesian war, such fortifications of Piraeeus +could, after all, not have saved Athens, though at other +times they would have been of great advantage, and might, +perhaps, have exercised an influence upon the course of the +Peloponnesian war. The second great plan, the building +of the μακρὰ σκέλη, partly supplied this advantage, which +they might have enjoyed at less expense.</p> + +<p>The circumference of Piraeeus was nearly seven English +miles: its nature and topography are the great problem for +archaeologists. We can indeed conceive that, as we read +in the ancients, it had three large harbours, but two of them +are now choked up. Such deposits of sand are frequent +in those parts of the coasts of the Mediterranean, where the +current is not very strong.</p> + +<p>The most difficult, nay, almost impossible, problem, is that +of determining the site of <i>Munychia</i>. It is described as a peninsula +almost surrounded by the sea, near Piraeeus, and as +connected with the main land only by a narrow isthmus; +it is further said to have been a very strong post; but as yet +we have no correct drawing of it, and no description or +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span>statement leads us to the discovery of the site of Munychia; +though we might fancy that such an eminence could not be +mistaken. Strabo describes the place in the above manner, +and beyond that we know nothing of it. If a person, +intimately acquainted with the ancients, were to examine +the localities, he might perhaps make some discoveries. +Piraeeus was built along the shore, and surrounded on the +landside by the great wall of Themistocles; but whether +Munychia was situated within that wall, or was built against +it like a citadel, no one can say: our topographers always +regard it as a part of Piraeeus, but there can be no doubt, +that the historians always distinguish the two places.</p> + +<p>Piraeeus was a considerable town attracting all the wealth +and commerce of Athens; it was a new place, having arisen +after the Persian war; it had previously been a mere village, +a δῆμος. This new town was constructed according to a +regular plan, while Athens, with the exception of its public +places, was an ugly city, with narrow, crooked, and angular +streets; the private dwellings were insignificant, almost like +our peasant houses, with walls of clay, or wicker-work +covered with clay; the house of Pulytion alone, which +appeared like a palace, formed an exception.⁠<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> Hence the +Greek term for a thief, τοιχώρυχος, signifies one that breaks +through a wall. Hence also we find no such ruins at +Athens as at Rome, where the houses were built of bricks and +puzzolano, at Syracuse, or any other Greek town. Piraeeus +was planned by the Milesian architect Hippodamus in the time +of Pericles, and it is possible that it may have had far more +beautiful houses than Athens; the foundation of that town +forms an era in the building of cities, which henceforth +were always laid out according to definite plans. In Italy +the streets of all towns were, from the earliest times, built +according to certain schemes; Rome alone formed an exception +in consequence of the haste with which it was restored +after the Gallic conflagration. The arsenal (νεώσοικοι) was +a curious edifice: each galley had its separate place, in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span>which everything necessary for its outfit was kept in readiness. +In modern times, the arsenal of Venice was similarly +constructed, probably on the model of that of Constantinople. +Piraeeus had two ἀγοραί, a theatre, and everything +that was required of an independent town. It was +the residence of merchants, mostly metoeci, and of the +lower classes of the free citizens who gained their living by +all kinds of trades connected with maritime affairs. The +nobles who, without privileges, yet exercised a sort of +power, and the ancient families, preserving their character, +lived in the city, and not in the country. Hence the +decided political colour of the city; οἱ ἐν ἄστει signifying the +oligarchical faction, whose rallying point at the time of the +Thirty Tyrants was in the city, while the democrats lived in +the country and in the port town.</p> + +<p>Piraeeus was connected with the city by the μακρά σκέλη, +which must not be regarded by any means as a work of +Themistocles, for they were built during the administration +of Cimon and Pericles; of the fortifications of Piraeeus, too, +only the smallest part was executed by Themistocles. One +of these walls was forty and the other thirty-five stadia in +length, but neither was as high as those of Piraeeus; the +space between them cannot be regarded as a suburb, nor did +it form a road, but consisted rather of open fields protected +by the walls, so that in times of war as well as in those of most +profound peace, Athens could receive all its supplies from the +sea; but it was necessary in time of war to guard the walls. +The space on both sides was principally occupied as burying +grounds. After the Peloponnesian war, the Athenians were +compelled to demolish on each side a portion of the wall of +from ten to twelve stadia; but the Lacedaemonians were +still more bent upon pulling down the walls of Piraeeus; it +is true that not the whole of these latter were demolished, +but still so large a portion of them, that on the return of +Thrasybulus and his comrades from Phyle, Piraeeus appears +as an open place. Athens itself retained its walls. The +works which were executed by Conon, after the battle of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span>Cnidus, with Persian money, contributed, among other things, +to restore the fortifications of Piraeeus: he succeeded in accomplishing +this with the treasures of the Persian king, and +with the supply of workmen and money furnished by the +maritime Greeks, such as the Corinthians and Boeotians, the +same who, ten years before, had madly demanded the destruction +of Athens. It is uncertain, however, whether the +walls of Piraeeus restored by Conon were as enormous as those +of Themistocles described by Thucydides. The rebuilding +of the long walls occupied a longer time, for Athens did not +possess the means of completing them speedily; in the time +of king Philip, however, they were evidently restored. +During the regency of Antipater, a Macedonian garrison +was quartered in Piraeeus and Munychia, and if I am not +mistaken, in the Museum also, just as under Demetrius +Poliorcetes. At a time which it is impossible to determine, +the long walls were again destroyed, and were not restored +before the war of Antigonus Gonatas (Olymp. 127)⁠<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a>⁠, so that +they must have been destroyed either by Antigonus himself⁠<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a>⁠, +or even by Demetrius Poliorcetes, when he entered the city +a second time and placed a garrison in the Museum. For the +fact that at that time there was no communication between +Piraeeus and the city, is clear from the circumstance, that +during the siege of Antigonus, when famine was raging most +fearfully, it was not he that commanded the sea, but the fleet +of Alexandria. This fleet, however, did not venture to land, +so that no provisions could be conveyed into the city, and +the Macedonians must have been encamped between Athens +and Piraeeus, though the latter place was not in their hands. +In the last war against Philip III., Olymp. 145 (<span class="allsmcap">U.C.</span> 551), +the long walls, according to Livy, lay in ruins. So also +during the unfortunate siege of Athens by Sulla, <span class="allsmcap">U.C.</span> 666; +he besieged the κύκλος of the city, and Piraeeus: the city +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span>was in the hands of the tyrant Aristion, Piraeeus in those +of the troops of Mithridates, and Sulla was encamped +between the two. It was a time of the most fearful misery, +and those in Piraeeus scarcely ever succeeded in introducing +provisions into the city, whence it is clear, that the walls +could not then have been restored, which, considering the +decay and wretchedness of the city, was in fact impossible. +The numerous drachmae and tetradrachmae, consisting of +copper with a thin coat of silver, belong to this period of +decay; they are ancient, and of a peculiar coinage; the +Athenians probably employed copper for the same reason +for which paper has been used in modern times. Charles XII. +of Sweden, too, once ordered copper coins to be issued. +This is a proof of the great decay of Athens; even Xenophon +says, that the city was full of unoccupied building +grounds: it was not worth while to rebuild the houses; +they were abandoned and allowed to crumble to pieces; the +places were left as waste-land, and grass grew upon them. +The state of the city resembled that of many towns in the +East, as for example, Ispahan. Its whole outline, however, still +remained the same during the siege of Sulla, and the splendid +buildings were still uninjured, while the people lived in the +greatest misery, and were very much reduced in numbers. +The vessels dedicated in the temples, though they were still +exhibited as the ancient originals, were probably counterfeited, +the real gold and silver having been exchanged for +other metals, just as the French at Loretto took away the +precious stones, and filled their places with glass. We still +possess the inventories of the precious treasures, which the +Athenian curators handed over to their successors in office, +and which belong to the Macedonian period; but during the +subsequent times, there certainly was no longer any trace of +them. As Aristion refused to surrender, Sulla took the city +by storm and raged like Mummius against Corinth and the +unhappy Achaeans: the Romans murdered every one that +came in their way; a great number who had taken refuge +in the Ceramicus, had their lives spared, but every tenth +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span>man among them was put to death. On that occasion a +part of the city was consumed by fire.</p> + +<p>But Piraeeus suffered still more severely; it was destroyed +by Sulla quite intentionally, for he set fire to the arsenal (ὁπλοθήκη) +and the νεώσοικοι, in which there were spaces for 400 +galleys. Athens was in a state of the deepest distress: the +survivors received, what the Romans in their official language +called freedom, that is, they were allowed to choose their +own magistrates, and had jurisdiction in criminal cases. But +the city was like a wilderness, though it always retained the +remembrance of earlier times. The people did not indeed +forget the fearful calamities they had experienced, but in +that happy climate man enjoys the present; the scenes of +terror gradually ceased to be thought of, men soon assembled +again, and Athens became one of the most delightful places +to live in, to which Romans of education and rank, such as +Atticus, withdrew from the political turmoils of the time, +and cheered their life in a world of ideas and in dreams of the +olden times. Under the emperors, Athens recovered several +islands which it had formerly possessed, as Scyros, Lemnos, +and Imbros, which to some extent enabled it to exist. In +the reign of Hadrian the Ilisus flowed with gold; Herodes +Atticus was indeed an acquisition for which the city had to +pay dearly, for his vanity made him an unbearable and arrogant +man, though he was withal empty-headed; but still +it was a period of relative prosperity. The philosophical +school of Athens acquired more consistency under Hadrian; +it was a kind of university, where especially dialectics and +speculative philosophy were pursued; but the exact sciences +and grammar were less attended to. A residence there was +still very beneficial to young men, for the ancient serene +spirit of its inhabitants still survived in certain beautiful +traits; men loved to dwell there; it was still the soil and +the atmosphere of Athens, the vicinity of the monuments +of classical antiquity, and with all its degeneracy Athens +still preserved a shadow of its ancient urbanity.</p> + +<p>This prosperity received a fearful shock under Decius after +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span>the middle of the third century, when the Goths, like a devastating +torrent, spread over the coast of Asia and Greece from +the Black Sea. Athens was now ransacked for plunder and +partly burnt, and many took refuge in Piraeeus. After this +calamity was over, the people returned. We do not know +what was the condition of domestic life at this period, but +Libanius, Himerius, and S. Basilius⁠<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> give us an interesting +picture of another aspect of life at the time: from the +mode of life of the young men who then studied at Athens, +we see how insignificant the city was, how the people +derived their means of subsistence solely from the university +and a little traffic in the produce of the country, such +as honey and olives. Justinian abolished the schools, and +Athens thereby lost its last resources. Henceforth nothing +can be said of Athens for a period of seven hundred years; +this only may be gathered from all the circumstances of the +times, that the transition to Christianity took place +gradually, without any shock or violent dissensions, and in +a very different way from that which we witness at Rome, +where the collision between what was established and that +which was struggling into existence was of a very violent +character. At Rome the tombs of Christians and Pagans +are always separate in the catacombs, and afterwards the +bodies of Christians alone were deposited in them; but at +Athens, where the tombs are in layers one above another, +the Pagan ones are below, and above them those of the +Christians, while on some of them we find a mixture of +Christian and non-Christian emblems. Previous to the +13th century, not the slightest mention of Athens occurs. +When the Franks had destroyed the eastern empire (1204), +a Frenchman of the name of Otto de la Roche, as a vassal +of the Emperor of Constantinople, founded a principality +under the title of Grand-Duke (μέγας Δούξ), the seat of +which was Attica and Boeotia. His family, however, +became extinct, and by marriage the possession passed into +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span>the hands of the Briennes; this family possessed a considerable +principality there, and governed unhappy Greece with +the extreme severity of feudalism. The great company of the +Catalani appeared in the 14th century, conquered the +country, expelled the French dukes, and, like their predecessors, +fortified the Acropolis of Athens. The many +remains of buildings which do not bear the impress of +antiquity, seem to belong to this period; it is surprising, +however, that in Greece there are no buildings of the time +after Justinian. There now followed the period when the +Italians, the Neris and Acciajuolis, were in possession of +the duchy; a descendant of the latter lived even recently +as a common peasant in Attica. The Franks had completely +become Greeks, but still remained Roman Catholics, +and in possession of Athens, until it was conquered by +Mahmood II. The feudal character which the city sometimes +bears in modern authors, as for example the fact +that in Boccaccio and Shakespere, Theseus is called Duke +of Athens, arises from its being governed by dukes at that +time. Subsequently Athens was alternately Venetian and +Turkish until 1687, when unfortunately it was conquered +by the Venetians, who on that occasion destroyed the +temple of Theseus. The Turks in 1690 re-conquered it, +and destroyed the Christian population. After this it was +uninhabited for a period of thirty years, till about 1720. +Its most recent fate is but too well known to us all.</p> + +<p>The question as to the population of Athens, which so +naturally presents itself to us, cannot be answered at all. +The statements we have respecting the number of citizens +are not limited to the inhabitants of the city, but comprise +the whole territory of Attica, there being no perioeci. +We have several statements. Herodotus mentions 30,000 +Athenian citizens, which seems to be the number of the +ἔφηβοι, about the time of the Peloponnesian war: if, +according to this, we calculate the population in the usual +proportion, it consisted of about 120,000 souls. But the +numbers fluctuate very much. Afterwards, in the time of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span>Philip, the mean average is 20,000; but besides them there +were the metoeci and the slaves, the former amounting, in +the Peloponnesian war, to about 10,000: of the slaves we +know nothing at all. Athenaeus has preserved the extraordinary +statement—Ctesicles is mentioned as the authority +for it—that in the census of Demetrius Phalereus it +was found that Athens contained 21,000 citizens, 10,000 +metoeci, and 400,000 slaves. This last number is something +quite incredible, however strange it may seem to +doubt a statement apparently so official. As regards the +number of citizens and metoeci, who included strangers, +country people standing under a patronus, and emancipated +slaves, we have no reason to doubt its correctness, for they +agree with all the earlier accounts; but it is impossible to +see how there could have been such a large number of +slaves: how could they have found employment? It is impossible +to conceive it, if we assume the commerce and +industry of Attica to have been ever so great, especially at +that period. The proportion is not, indeed, as enormous as +that between the blacks and the whites in the West Indies; +but this is altogether a different state of things. Wherever +domestic slavery exists, as in Italy, Greece, and the East, +the number of slaves is always smaller than that of free +men. It must further be observed, that all the numbers of +slaves in Athenaeus seem to be exaggerated. I have already +drawn your attention to the case of Aegina; at +Corinth, where the number is said to have amounted to +nearly half a million, it is almost ridiculous. If the number +were correct, very different and more brilliant results would +have been achieved; for at a time like that succeeding +the Peloponnesian war, when in quite desperate circumstances +it was resolved to raise the metoeci to the rank +of citizens, and to set the slaves free, a formidable host of +soldiers would have come forward at once, and the Athenian +army would have been increased by at least 100,000 men. +Such a population, in a country like Attica, would have +perished of hunger, for the country certainly never produced +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span>as much as 150,000 inhabitants required in six +months in the shape of bread alone, not to mention times +of war. It is possible that a combination may be found, +by which this strange statement obtained credence among +the Greeks; but I am convinced, that moderns who have +based their conclusions upon it are altogether in error.</p> + +<p>But even if we were able to ascertain the whole population +of Attica, that of the city cannot be discovered, for +there is nothing which might guide us as a standard. We +do not know whether the houses were built close together, +whether they were surrounded by large courts, etc., though +I believe that the former was the case. The houses were +not six or seven stories high, as was the case at Rome in +the time of Augustus, and in the three principal streets of +Carthage; they generally had only one, or at the utmost +two stories, and a house of the latter kind was a very +respectable one in Greece. But in consequence of this, the +houses must have occupied a larger space than those of +Rome. The probability is, that the population of Athens +was far below 100,000 souls.</p> + +<p>Piraeeus, at different times, had its own civic magistrates; +when they acquired higher authority, it gave rise to different +divisions, as at the period of the Thirty Tyrants, +when there were ten men in Piraeeus and eleven at Athens.⁠<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a>⁠</p> + +<p>The only important town in Attica, besides Athens, was +<span class="smcap">Eleusis</span>, and in Latin authors sometimes <i>Eleusina</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> as we +find <i>Crotona</i> together with <i>Croton</i>. Able men have thought +it necessary to correct such forms; but they are instances +which show that the flection of the modern languages +derived from the Latin, in which the oblique cases are used +as the nominative, was even then not uncommon in the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span>language of ordinary life. Eleusis was remarkable for its +temple of Demeter, and tradition related that in ancient +times it had formed a state independent of Athens. We +cannot form an opinion as to its size, but it must have been +well fortified, as it was not laid waste by the Spartans +during their invasions at the time of the Peloponnesian war. +Under Cassander, Demetrius Poliorcetes, and probably also +under Antigonus Gonatas, it was severed from Athens, but +afterwards, we do not know when, it was again added to it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rhamnus</span>, known through its temple of Nemesis, was +situated on the coast; it seems to have had some importance +as a small town. All these places are called δῆμοι, and not +πόλεις, because they did not form civic communities, having +no independent political existence, but were only parts of the +Athenian state. It does not follow, however, from this that +some of them may not have been places of considerable extent.</p> + +<p>The temple of Athena Sunias, of which ruins are still +extant, stood on Cape <span class="smcap">Sunion</span> (Cape Colonna).</p> + +<p>On the eastern coast we find <span class="smcap">Marathon</span>, which is remarkable +only on account of the battle-field in its neighbourhood. +Its plain is not as level nor as fruitful as that of +Eleusis; its surface is only not quite so rocky as in other parts +of Attica, and covered with small hills. Among these hills, +which are still visible, many are no doubt artificial, and are +the tumuli under which the Persians and their attendants +were buried. Sometimes arms and slings are still found +there, some of which must have belonged to the barbarians +and others to the Greeks.</p> + +<p>The interior of Attica contained several large places. +The most important among them was <span class="smcap">Acharnae</span>, whose +population in the Peloponnesian war, as described by Thucydides, +is almost incredible. If his statement is correct, the +place must have had a considerable territory. Its inhabitants +were charcoal-burners, and carried on other similar +occupations.</p> + +<p>At a distance of seventy stadia from Athens there may still +be seen on a hill the walls of the fort of <span class="smcap">Phyle</span>, which are +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span>almost uninjured. It was not a town, but only a hill surrounded +with a wall (τεῖχος) within which in time of war +the inhabitants of the surrounding country sought shelter for +themselves and their property. It was taken by Thrasybulus. +A second important frontier fortress was <span class="smcap">Oenoe</span>, +and a third <span class="smcap">Panacton</span>, all of which were built especially +against the inroads of the Boeotians.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Decelea</span>, within sight of Athens, and situated on a +hill, was an ancient and fortified place, of which, during +the Peloponnesian war, the Spartans, on the advice of +Alcibiades, took possession. They fortified it, for the +purpose of having a safe place, from which they might lay +waste the country around.</p> + +<p>The island of <span class="smcap">Salamis</span>, a prize of long struggles with +the Megarians, must be regarded as belonging to Attica, +though not to its territory, in the proper sense of the term. +I must here mention the pleasant story of the law which is +said to have forbidden to renew the discussion about the +war, and of the feigned madness of Solon, who re-kindled +the war that had been given up long since. This is so +manifest a fable, that one cannot help wondering how it +can ever have passed as history. According to another +tradition, the Athenians and Megarians must have pleaded +their case before judges, for they are said to have appealed +to the Homeric text of the Βοιωτία: the Athenian version +made out that Ajax of Salamis had joined the Athenians, +while the Megarians showed that he had been ruler of +Salamis and the country of Megara. This difference is a +remarkable fact for the criticism of the text of Homer, for +it shows how changeable and pliable it still was at that time, +the Βοιωτία being recited in different ways in different +places. At the time of the Persian war, Salamis belonged +to Athens; it formed a separate demos, and constituted +part of a phyle. Leon is always called the Salaminian; +but its relation was somewhat different from that of the +other demi, for the chief place of the island, which was +likewise called Salamis, is mentioned as a town, although +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span>the island itself is spoken of as only a single demos: the +relation of the Roman municipium consisted there in the +fullest enjoyment of the franchise. Afterwards it was +severed from Attica, probably by Antipater; and there are +numerous inscriptions, in which it is mentioned as a state +with its own peculiar organisation, just as Piraeeus, in the +Macedonian period, appears with its own archons, its council, +etc., everything being an imitation on a small scale of the +state of Athens. Subsequently, Salamis was again united +with Athens.</p> + +<p><i>Cranaë</i>, the island of Helena, is insignificant.</p> + +<p>The Ἀθηναῖοι Βοιωτοί of <span class="smcap">Eleutherae</span> and <span class="smcap">Oropus</span>, +were not united with Attica in the same manner as Salamis; +both were Boeotian towns, which had renounced the supremacy +of the Boeotians, and placed themselves under that of +Athens. Eleutherae had, perhaps, originally been Athenian, +and had subsequently been taken by the Boeotians. In +regard to the relation subsisting between this place and +Athens, we may assume that it was the same as that between +the Plataeans and Athenians, that is, that its inhabitants +were citizens, but ineligible to certain offices. Oropus, +on the other hand, was entirely subject to Athens; its importance +to the Athenians can be fully understood only on the +supposition that it had a small harbour, by which the communication +with Chalcis and Euboea in general was kept +up. Even before the Peloponnesian war, Oropus, which +seems to have preferred the dominion of the Athenians, +belonged to them, and after the war, too, it was recovered +by them; subsequently, it was taken by a tyrant of +Eretria, and then again by the Boeotians after the battle of +Chaeronea. Philip, who did everything to please the +Athenians, if they would but allow him to take his own +course, strangely restored the place to Athens, although +the Boeotians claimed it. Afterwards it was, no doubt, +again taken from the Athenians by Antipater, and during +the latter part of the Macedonian period it again belonged +to Athens. The manner in which the Athenians, in the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span>time of their distress, ill-used the unfortunate town, was +one of the causes that led to the outbreak of the Achaean +war. Afterwards it is no longer spoken of; it was destroyed, +and not a trace of it is now to be seen: the modern Oropo +does not occupy the same site.⁠<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a>⁠</p> + +<h3 id="Boeotia"><span class="smcap">Boeotia.</span></h3> + +<p>According to tradition, the Boeotians were a wandering +people; they are said first to have been driven by the +Cadmeans into the Thessalian valley of Arne, which therefore +cannot well have been as small as it is drawn in +our maps; and afterwards they returned from Thessaly to +Boeotia. This narrative shows essentially the same paralogism +which so often occurs in the history of ancient +nations: wherever two nations of the same stock appear in +different places, they are connected with each other by +means of migrations to and fro. If the Boeotians and the +ancient Thessalians belonged to the same race, one tradition +may have stated that the Boeotians migrated into +Thessaly, and another, that they proceeded from Thessaly +to Boeotia; both statements combined produce the before-mentioned +result. I do not mean to say that during the +immigration of the Emathians into Thessaly, the Boeotians +did not go to Boeotia; but if this should be the case, +still I cannot imagine that they should previously have +been driven into Thessaly. The early history of Boeotia +is mysterious and confused; ancient tribes are there +mentioned under the strangest and altogether un-Hellenic +names, as for example, the Aones, the Hyes, or Hyantes, +who are said to have been Thracians. The tradition that +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span>there existed a Phoenician settlement at Thebes, is in my +opinion more historical: the name Cadmus is Phoenician, +and according to all appearance seems to be the representative +of the Phoenician colony which was established +at Thebes. This trace is too distinct to allow of anything +being said against it. In times which lie beyond the +history of Greece, the Phoenicians had settlements in the +Greek islands, as in Cythera, Thasos, the Cyclades, and +many other parts of the country; it is therefore not +difficult to believe that they should also have formed a +settlement at Thebes, though some miles distant from the +sea. Besides this ancient Phoenician colony, there existed +in Boeotia the ancient kingdom of the Minyans of +Orchomenos, the existence of which is certain, and is +loudly attested even at the present day by the indestructible +ruins of Orchomenos, which are as gigantic as those of +Tiryns and Mycenae. I am quite disposed to ascribe +these structures to the Minyans, concerning whom we still +possess mythical traditions, as well as the enormous +works by which lake Copais was drained; those who +built Orchomenos were a mighty people like that which +constructed the tunnel of Alba and the buildings of ancient +Rome. But the beginnings of Boeotian history are hidden +in impenetrable darkness; and the fall of Orchomenos, +although in the Homeric Catalogue the city is still distinct +from Boeotia, belongs to so early a period, that fable +describes it as the work of Heracles. In the Heracleia +there is the legend that Thebes paid tribute to Orchomenos, +and that Heracles reversed the relation. These are, +no doubt, the fundamental outlines of a true history: and +the stories of the wars for the possession of Thebes are +likewise symbolical, and personified indications of actual +wars which devastated Boeotia. I allude to both the +earlier war and that of the Epigoni in which Thebes +was laid waste, but we cannot arrive at any historical +detail. The real history of Thebes does not begin till +the time of the Persian wars; in the case of Athens and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>Sparta, we know many things before that period, though +they may be doubtful and falsified; but our information +about Thebes does not begin until the time I have just +mentioned.</p> + +<p>We then find Thebes standing in the same relation to +Boeotia in which Alba stood to the early, and Rome to the +later Latium; Thebes and Boeotia form two connected +masses, of which the great city was originally, both in right +and in might, equal to the collective body of Boeotians; +but it then aimed at a supremacy which in all essential +points it actually gained, except over a few places. The +Boeotarchs were the common magistrates for all Boeotia; +their number is uncertain; but in some instances it amounts +to eleven. They seem originally to have been elected in +common, six by the Thebans and six by the Boeotians;⁠<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> +but afterwards Thebes assumed to itself the right of +appointing them, and raised only Thebans to the office. +This struggle is the nucleus of Boeotian history from the +time of the Persian wars down to the battle of Leuctra. +After that battle, most of the Boeotian towns submitted to +Thebes. Thespiae and Plataeae alone did not stoop; and +being powerful towns, they joined Athens, a step which was +unfortunate for both places. The Plataeans went to Athens +and were received there; but they returned and were +expelled a second time, so that in the Macedonian period +Plataeae was quite a desolate place, in which there was +only one temple and a few inns.</p> + +<p>So long as Sparta had not overthrown Athens, she +supported the claims of Thebes, but afterwards declared +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span>herself in favour of the autonomy of the Boeotian towns; +hence the unexpected seizure of the Cadmea, after which +Thebes rose with its well-known energy. From that +moment until the battle of Leuctra matters were in utter +confusion. At first when the Thebans shook off the +Spartan yoke, they were joined by the other Boeotians; +but when the latter did not obtain equal rights, the struggle +began afresh, and in the end the Boeotians were obliged to +submit. It was not till Thebes had been destroyed by +Alexander, that a relation of perfect equality was restored; +the city rebuilt by Cassander was without importance, and +the whole country henceforth plays a subordinate and +miserable part in the history of Greece.</p> + +<p>Boeotia, in its whole political and geographical extent +between the Crissaean gulf and the Euboean channel, is +surrounded on all sides by mountains. Mount <span class="smcap">Helicon</span> proceeds +from Parnassus in a direction parallel with the Crissaean +gulf; and the mountains coming from Oeta and the country +of the Locrians, extend along the sea as far as the frontier +of Attica. Between these latter mountains, which have +different names, and Helicon, we have mount <span class="smcap">Cithaeron</span>, +so conspicuous in the traditions of the ancients and in +their tragedies, as Boeotia in general is an important part of +the classic soil in legendary poetry. Helicon is considerably +smaller than Parnassus, nor is it as wild; it is rather +what the Swiss call a “tame mountain,” covered with wood +and prolific herbs even at its top; it is a beautiful mountain, +and we cannot wonder that it was dedicated to the Muses. +The mountains branching off from those of Locris are not +so high as Helicon, and on the whole capable of cultivation. +Cithaeron was a woody mountain, but it is difficult to say, +whether this was the natural result of its physical constitution, +or whether it was the consequence of its situation +between two nations that were hostile to each other.</p> + +<p>The only river within this country that finds its way to +the sea, is the <span class="smcap">Asopus</span>, which flowing between Thebes and +Plataeae empties itself into the Euboean sea. A larger +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span>river, the Phocian <span class="smcap">Cephisus</span>, discharges itself into lake +Copais. Boeotia has two large lakes, which communicated +with each other, the lake <span class="smcap">Copais</span> and the lake of +<span class="smcap">Haliartus</span>. The former was, in ancient times, a lake +of very large extent; as it had no outlet to prevent the +excessive accumulation of water, a tunnel was constructed +to carry off the surplus; and this tunnel was probably +built by the Minyans for the purpose of reclaiming +the land for cultivation. In the time of Alexander, +the tunnel was partly destroyed by an earthquake; +but the attempt to clear it was found to be beyond the +strength of all the Boeotians. As the lake had now no +longer any outlet, we naturally expect that it should have +again acquired its former extent; but it is surprising to find, +that although nothing was ever done to drain it, it forms +only a large marsh filled with reeds, and a few stagnant +pools here and there. This must be the result of some +revolution in the bowels of the earth, of which we know +nothing; either other subterraneous outlets were opened, or +the supplies of water to the lake were diminished. The +lake of Haliartus⁠<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> is connected with lake Copais, but has +an outlet towards the sea.</p> + +<p>Lake Copais is surrounded by a magnificent plain, which, +however, like other soils that are too rich, is unhealthy, and +now forms the valley of Livadia: the ancients regarded it +as belonging partly to Haliartus. Another plain is that of +Thebes, which, though not as level as the other, is yet a +very fertile and beautiful district. Boeotia is altogether a +rich country; its waters abound in fish, its plains yield +abundant corn, its hills are covered with olives, and in the +neighbourhood of Anthedon excellent wine is produced. +The Boeotians themselves, on the other hand, had the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span>reputation of being dull and rude (<i>pingue sub aëre nati</i>). +Nevertheless, however, the country produced Pindar; before +him, Corinna; and, in later times, Plutarch, of whom we +may justly say μωμήσεταί τις μᾶλλον ἢ μιμήσεται. He +now no longer enjoys the same reputation as in former +times, but notwithstanding all the charges that may be +brought against him, he is an extremely amiable man and +a pleasing author, and his writings are rich outpourings of +plain wisdom; they contain no profound speculations, but are +the lively productions of an extremely ingenious and well-read +man. In his moral treatises he shows himself to be possessed +of great depth of feeling. Pindar is one of those authors +of whom we may say, that it is a man’s own fault if he takes +no pleasure in him. What Quinctilian says of Cicero, may be +applied also to Pindar: the more he pleases us, the farther +we are advanced. Among the active statesmen of Boeotia, +Epaminondas and Pelopidas are preeminent, especially the +former, whose personal character is entitled to high esteem; +considering the wretchedness of the time in which they +lived, they were truly extraordinary men; but their misfortune +was, that they belonged to a state, the rise of which +necessarily involved the downfall of Greece. Subsequently, +during the Macedonian period, which is described by Polybius, +the Boeotians are the most senseless, the most powerless, +and characterless of all the Greeks, and share the misfortune +of the Achaeans: when their policy had become quite +miserable, they threw themselves into relations in which +they could not but perish.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thebes</span> consisted of the upper town (Καδμεία) and the +lower town. The acra had a considerable circumference, +though not as it appears in the plan of Barbié du Bocage in +St. Croix’ work on the historians of Alexander the Great; +that plan is thoroughly misleading, for its author imagines that +the acra was situated in the centre of the city, and that the +lower town was built concentrically around it. According +to the description of the siege by the Macedonians, given by +Diodorus and Arrian, this is impossible: one side of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span>acra unquestionably faced the open fields, and only about +two-thirds or three-fourths of it were surrounded by the +lower town. The acropolis was called Καδμεία, but the +ancients gave it the name of Thebes, so that in the Homeric +Catalogue, the city of Thebes below the then destroyed +Cadmea was called Ὑποθῆβαι. The seven gates which have +become so renowned from the tragedy of Aeschylus, and +the Phoenissae of Euripides, existed in the Cadmea: the gates +of the lower town may not have corresponded with them, +or may have been made to correspond in later times.</p> + +<p>Thebes continued to increase until Olymp. 111, 2, when +it was destroyed by Alexander. The city is said to have +had a circumference of 80 stadia, that is, ten English miles; +but this is incredible: all we know about the fate of the +city shows that it is impossible, or else we are not allowed +to draw any conclusion from the circumference of a Greek city +as to its population; for Diodorus expressly states, that the +number of all the prisoners, after the capture of Thebes, +was 30,000, including every age and sex, and probably also +every rank, free men, metoeci, and slaves. I have already +expressed my opinion concerning the foolish supposition +about the enormous number of slaves. I admit the possibility, +that at Athens, especially in the city, the number of +slaves was greater than that of free men; I admit this +with special reference to the anecdote, that the proposal +made at Athens, that slaves should wear a particular kind +of dress, was rejected for the purpose of preventing their +seeing how great their numbers were. But the same +reason would have been valid if the number of slaves +had been less. The Attic peasant was αὐτουργός, he +certainly had no slaves, and the majority of the Athenians +were altogether too poor to be able to keep such numbers +of slaves. If their numbers had been as excessive as is +stated, the institutions at Athens would have been quite +different.</p> + +<p>The Cadmea is said to have been built by Cadmus, to +have been destroyed by the Epigoni, and to have remained +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span>in ruins until the Boeotians returning from Arne restored +it. In the Homeric Catalogue, Boeotia is inhabited by +Boeotians, but according to other accounts, the Boeotians +were then still dwelling in Arne, and the country was +lying waste—again a sign that the Catalogue does not +agree with the other traditions. Thebes then was a great +city till Olymp. 111, 2; afterwards it lay in ruins for a period +of sixteen years, until it was restored by Cassander from +hatred of Alexander and his family. The territory of +the city had been given by Alexander to the Boeotians. +Cassander carried out the restoration notwithstanding the +opposition of the other towns; but it was only an insignificant +place, and never gained the ascendancy though it +was the seat of the government and the capital of the country. +At a later period, however, it was visited by misfortune +after misfortune. In the Achaean war, <span class="allsmcap">U.C.</span> 608, it was +taken by the Romans, and though it was not destroyed, it +received a deadly shock. During the Mithridatic war, of +which Boeotia was the scene, it was entirely ruined, so +that Pausanias saw only a village within the precincts of +the ancient Cadmea; the old city contained only a few +remains of temples amid heaps of rubbish.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to enumerate the other towns of Boeotia +in any definite order; we shall be guided by the locality +and proceed from Plataeae to the left towards Tanagra. +Mythology knows many places in ancient Boeotia which +are not mentioned in the historical ages; some of them +must have perished, and others were united with the +territories of larger towns, as for example, Erythrae, +Scolos, Hyle, etc.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Plataeae</span> will ever be memorable on account of the +battle in which the destruction of the Persian army and +the liberation of Greece were completed; the account of +this battle in Herodotus, however, is more poetical than +historical; its whole course was different, and the forces +were not by any means as formidable; but we know +nothing better, and his narrative is so beautiful that we +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span>gladly accept it as a poem. Certain it is, however, that +the Greeks under Pausanias destroyed the army of the +Persians. During that war, Thebes, owing to the influence +of its aristocracy, acted a disgraceful part. Plataeae and +Thespiae maintained themselves against the arrogance of +Thebes, and found sympathy among the other Greeks; and +in this manner Plataeae in particular formed a small +independent democratic state under the protection of +Athens until the time of the Peloponnesian war, which the +Thebans commenced with the treacherous attack during +the night, which led to the destruction of Plataeae. The +account of this occurrence shows us the smallness of Greek +towns; the population of Greece is generally estimated too +high, a mistake into which we may easily be led by the +statements of the ancients. Subsequently Plataeae was +restored; but after the battle of Leuctra it was again +destroyed by the Thebans. The inhabitants then withdrew +to Athens, and when the restoration of their town +was sanctioned by Alexander, a small number only returned, +and formed a village with a few temples which +preserved the remembrance of better days, especially the +temple of Zeus Eleutherios. Dicaearchus gives us a most +vivid picture of what Plataeae was in later times.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thespiae</span>, near mount Helicon, was on the whole an +insignificant place, and became still more so when, after +the battle of Leuctra, it was destroyed by the Thebans. +At the time of the Macedonian supremacy it was restored, +and acquired great reputation on account of the Eros of +Praxiteles, which secured to the place its existence, for it +was visited by strangers from all parts, who came to see +that work of art. In like manner some small places in +Italy were celebrated for a single picture. Otherwise +Thespiae was a deserted and decayed place.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Leuctra</span> was situated in the territory of Thespiae; +there the numerical superiority of the Spartans was overpowered +by the military skill of the Thebans.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Haliartus</span> on the lake is known from the battle which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span>was gained there by Lysander over the allies. In the war +with Perseus it was destroyed by the Romans, and as the +Athenians had been unable to obtain its preservation, they +made the unbecoming request that the Romans should give +them the territory. The Romans with a Machiavellistic +policy sometimes gave away such districts for the purpose of +fostering divisions and animosities.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Coronea</span>, <span class="smcap">Chaeronea</span>, and <span class="smcap">Lebadea</span> formed a triangle +on the frontier. The last of these was an important +place under the Byzantine empire, but less so in earlier times. +It belonged to Haliartus. Coronea is remarkable in the +war of Agesilaus against the allies, and Chaeronea on account +of the battle of Philip, which decided the fate of +Greece; 250 years later Sulla gained a battle there against +the general of Mithridates, who had foolishly established +himself in Greece.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Orchomenos</span>, of which I have already spoken, was +situated on the very borders of Boeotia; in the historical +ages it was an insignificant place, called in Aeolic Erchomenos, +as we find in inscriptions and coins. Coins bearing +the inscription ΕΡΧ belong to this place; in former times +antiquaries were greatly puzzled by them. In its neighbourhood +was also found the Orchomenian inscription, first published +by Melitios, which is the largest and purest of all the +Aeolian monuments.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Copae</span> is remarkable only as the place from which lake +Copais derives its name.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Anthedon</span> is celebrated for its excellent muscat wine. +<span class="smcap">Mycalessus</span>, which was destroyed in the Peloponnesian +war, was situated in its vicinity.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tanagra</span> was situated on the Asopus, near Oropus; it +is known through the defeat of the Athenians under Tolmidas +before the fourteen years’ truce, which preceded the +Peloponnesian war.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Delion</span>, situated on the Euripus, must be noticed, on +account of the battle which the Athenians lost against the +Boeotians during the Peloponnesian war. The place is also +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span>mentioned in mythical history: for the 1,000 ships of the +Achaeans, destined to sail against Troy, were detained there +by a calm, until the sacrifice of Iphigenia.</p> + +<h3 id="The_Locrian_Tribes"><span class="smcap">The Locrian Tribes.</span></h3> + +<p>Proceeding from the Boeotian frontier towards Thessaly, +we arrive among the Locrian tribes—the Epicnemidian and +Opuntian Locrians in the east, and the Ozolian in the south-west. +They are very puzzling, as, in general, there is no +lack of mysterious points in the history of the Greek nations. +The ancient tradition is that they were Leleges, who are described +as a branch of the Carians: this is a point which +must leave as we find it. It is surprising to meet with them +on both seas, the Euboean and the Crissaean, the coast of +the latter being occupied by the Ozolae, the larger tribe. +Between the two we have the Phocians, and among the +heights of Oeta and at the foot of mount Parnassus, the Dorians. +My directing your attention to this probably leads you +to guess my opinion, which is this: the manifest fact +of these tribes being torn asunder, as is clear from a +mere glance at the map, is probably the result of immigration. +As, according to tradition, the Boeotians +immigrated from abroad, and as the empire of the Minyans +fell, so it happens in all migrations of nations: one people +pushes another onward—the Goths are expelled by the Huns, +the Huns again by other nations, and so we are led back +to the interior of Asia. Hence I regard the Locrians as +the ancient inhabitants of the whole country from one sea +to the other, and as severed and torn asunder by the immigration +of the Boeotians, while the latter may have been +pushed on by the Phocians, these again by the Dorians, and +the Dorians, lastly, by the Thessalians. Respecting these +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span>migrations we can only form conjectures; but the more we +consider them in connection with one another, the more we +become convinced, how little we know about the ancient +history of Greece: we are much better acquainted with the +settlements on the coast of Asia.</p> + +<p>We shall unite the three Locrian tribes, the Ozolae, +Epicnemidii, and Opuntii; the country of the Ozolian +Locrians was by far the most extensive. Their principal +town, situated at the foot of the Aetolian mountains, in the +west of Phocis, was <span class="smcap">Amphissa</span>, not far from Delphi; it +was a regular town, while the other places along the shore +were, like those of Aetolia, only κῶμαι. The Ozolian +Locrians formed together an ἔθνος, in which Amphissa +possessed the supremacy, though in several circumstances it +stood by itself. At the time of the Peloponnesian war, +there were, besides Amphissa, many Ozolian tribes, extending +from that town to cape Rhion, at the entrance of the +Crissaean gulf. The only notice of them occurs in Thucydides, +when he describes the campaign of Demosthenes in +those parts. The places are insignificant, and not worth +mentioning; the ἔθνος appears in a state of complete dissolution. +<span class="smcap">Naupactus</span>, the modern Lepanto,⁠<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> is the only +place worthy of note. It is prominent in the Greek mythus +as the place where the Heracleids built the ships, with +which they sailed over to Peloponnesus, whence its name +was traced to that event. During the period of the great +activity of Athens after the Persian war, under Cimon and +Pericles, it was taken by the Athenians, probably by accident, +as Gibraltar was taken by the English, who did not +see its importance till afterwards. Thus Naupactus, with +its excellent harbour, became an important point to command +the Crissaean gulf. There they received the insurgent +perioeci and helots, who, after the earthquake in Olymp. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span>79. 2, at the time of king Archidamus, endeavoured to +separate Messene from Laconia, and, when failing in this, +capitulated for a free departure. After the Peloponnesian +war, the Spartans again expelled them from Naupactus, +for they were implacable, and never laid aside their +hatred; Naupactus was restored to the Locrians. At a later +period, when the Aetolians rose, the town belonged to them; +in the Macedonian times, the whole coast of the Locrians, +perhaps Amphissa itself included, was united with Aetolia; +there is even an inscription, according to which the Aetolians +had the superintendence of the Delphic oracle. The +Locrians of Opus and Cnemis were at that time governed +by Macedonia.</p> + +<p>The Ozolian Locrians, according to Thucydides, completely +resembled, in their rude manners, the Acarnanians, +Aetolians, and Epirots; even in times of peace they were +always armed with a sword, which, however, must not be +conceived as a long sword for war, but as an Albanese +knife. This σιδηροφορεῖν had fallen into disuse with the +other Greeks, as soon as they had attained a certain degree +of civilisation.</p> + +<p>The Locrians on the Euripus formed two states, that of +<span class="smcap">Opus</span> and that of <span class="smcap">Cnemis</span>. In the east of Epicnemidian +Locris is mount (the town of?) <span class="smcap">Naryx</span>, whence the Locrians +are called <i>Narycii</i>. Virgil has been much censured by the +ancients for calling the Locrians in Italy <i>Narycii</i>, but it +appears that he regarded all the Locrians, and consequently +those in Italy also, as belonging to one and the same race. Opus +was, comparatively speaking, an important town, though it +was small. During the first war which the Romans, allied +with the Aetolians, carried on against Philip, the son of +Demetrius, Opus was taken and laid waste by the Roman +fleet and king Attalus.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span></p> + +<h3 id="Phocis"><span class="smcap">Phocis.</span></h3> + +<p>Phocis in our maps embraces Delphi, but as far as we +can trace history backwards, Delphi is separate from Phocis. +I will not venture any conjectures as to whether the Delphians +were a different people, but politically they did not +belong to the Phocians. The history of Phocis begins at +the time of the Persian wars; and thenceforth until the +Peloponnesian war, the Phocians are constantly seen endeavouring +to unite Delphi with their country, in which at +times they succeeded; the Spartans, however, took it from +them, and left Delphi in a state of independence. Afterwards +the two states were again united, but our authorities +on this subject are very scanty. Herodotus contains tolerably +certain indications, that the Delphians formed an +independent state by themselves; wherever Thucydides +takes notice of the rest of Greece, his information is very +trustworthy;⁠<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> besides him we have only Xenophon and +Diodorus Siculus; even these two do not enable us to fix +the time of the union; but it is very probable that it did +not take place before the Sacred war, for the chastisement +was inflicted upon the Phocians alone, the Delphians being +on the side of the allies. It is impossible to follow the +traces any farther. Delphi stood to the Phocians in a relation +similar to that in which Thebes stood to the Boeotians, +Alba to the other Latin towns, and afterwards Rome to +all the Latins, only with this difference, that in this division +there existed not only no unity, but no connection at all. +If there ever existed an alliance between Delphi and the +Phocians, it certainly ceased at an early period, and was +never permanently renewed.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span></p> + +<p>It is possible that Delphi may have been a remnant of the +ancient mysterious state of Cirrha, which was foreign to the +Phocians. Many moderns relate a great many things about +that state—the forms <span class="smcap">Cirrha</span> and <span class="smcap">Crissa</span> are only dialectic +differences of the same name—as, for example, about its +connection with Crete and the like. I confess that I know +nothing of all this; the existence of the town alone is +beyond doubt. Cirrha was a great commercial place on the +Corinthian gulf, and against it a general religious war of +the united Greeks was carried on in the early historical +times, apparently about Olymp. 40 and 50. In that war +the town was taken and destroyed. These events alone are +historical, all the rest is mythical. The observation of these +and similar circumstances is of importance, to prove how late +our history of Greece commences. There is no necessity +for pushing everything mysterious back beyond the commencement +of the Olympiads, for even great events belonging +to the period between that era and the Persian wars are +buried in obscurity. We need not, therefore, push the +great changes of early history back into remote antiquity +as is commonly done; it is a mere delusion to +believe that the space for changes in antiquity must be +so very large. To mention an example, the time from the +commencement of the Olympiads to the legislation of Solon +is a period of 200 years, and the period from the Persian +wars until the age of Pyrrhus is of the same length; and +what immense changes did Greece experience during this +latter period! An expedient equally illogical is the readiness +with which certain critics distinguish, when they have +to deal with different traditions about a person or a thing, +and assume two persons or things of the same name. The +late Professor Heyne, whose merits I readily acknowledge, +was labouring under this delusion, for he invented, e.g., a +double Minos, an idea which never occurred to any ancient +writer. Minos is not an historical personage, the years of +whose reign can be stated. Another bad expedient is to +divide different accounts of the same subject, which do not +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span>agree with each other, so as to treat them as separate events. +The Doric tradition and several ancient authors, and among +them even Timaeus, stated that Lycurgus founded the +Olympic games; now as Lycurgus, according to the calculation +of generations, belongs to a period far beyond the +time of the Olympiads, it was assumed that the Olympic +games were instituted at two different times, first by Lycurgus, +and when afterwards they fell into oblivion, they were +restored by Coroebus. But Lycurgus is probably no +historical person at all, as was believed even at the time +after Alexander; it is impossible to assign him to any +period: the intention was to fill up the period subsequent +to the migration of the Heracleids, but in attempting this +the ancients went too far back, by making three generations +amount to a century; in order to remove the incorrectness, +one account was then changed into two. Whoever +tries to harmonise these statements falls into inextricable +difficulties.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Delphi</span>, previously called Pytho (Πυθοῖ ἐν ἠγαθέῃ, as +Homer has it), was situated at the foot of <i>biceps Parnassus</i>. +This mount Parnassus extends from the mountains which +separate Thessaly from Phocis (they are likewise called +Parnassus, and reaching a considerable height, join Pindus +on the one side and Oeta on the other), as far as the Gulf of +Cirrha. Its highest peak is near Delphi; it then turns to the +south-east, and becomes less and less wild where it passes +into Helicon. The situation of Delphi cannot be mistaken, +notwithstanding the scanty accounts we have of it: above +it there rose a twofold rock, which during the greater part +of the year was covered with snow; it rises in two peaks, +between which there is a considerable chasm; towards the +sea it turns in the form of a theatre, within which Delphi +was situated. It was built high up on the slope of the +mountain, like many towns of the ancient Latins, so +that the upper streets were higher than the roofs of the +houses below, and a man might from an upper street step +upon the roof of a house below. Delphi was not fortified +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span>and had no walls, but it was nevertheless difficult of access, +foot-paths only leading up, which it was easy to defend; no +real acra is mentioned. About the size of the town nothing +can be said; the ruins are too unimportant; it is scarcely +possible to recognise the temple of Apollo, and I do not +believe that the statements of travellers on this point are +altogether trustworthy. Delphi was in all its relations a +mysterious place; the question as to the nature of the +προμαντεία, and a number of others cannot easily be answered. +The well Castalia may still be recognised by +its icy coldness. The chasms in the rock of which the +ancients speak, and from which the intoxicating vapours +rose, have never been discovered; it is possible, however, +that by careful examinations they may yet be found, though +it is not unlikely that they may have been closed by earthquakes, +as they owed their origin to them. I readily believe +that vapours may have risen from the earth, which produced +a certain intoxication or inspiration; I also consider it possible +that there may have been a time when the Pythia +believed that she was inspired, and when even those consulting +the oracle were convinced that they consulted the +god himself; but subsequently, and during the greater part +of the period of which we know anything, neither the people +nor the priests believed in it, and the Pythia was a mere +improvisatrice. Such things, however, rarely begin as impositions; +and how it can have been that originally there +was no imposition, no one is able to say on mere reflection.</p> + +<p>Delphi was under the protection of the Amphictyons, +who once in every year assembled there, and a second time +at Thermopylae. It seems to have stood as directly under +the protection of the senate of the Amphictyons, as Washington, +in a very anomalous manner, stands under the +municipal administration of the congress of the United +States of North America.</p> + +<p>I have here mentioned the Amphictyony, for the purpose +of noticing some results at which I have arrived respecting its +misunderstood constitution. In former times it was generally +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span>regarded as a federative government, and this opinion is still +prevalent in France, where it is said, that the seven United +States of Holland and the United States of North America +are Amphictyonies; but an Amphictyony and a federative +government are by no means identical, for a confederation +forms a political whole with one head directing its foreign +relations. An Amphictyony is indeed a union of nations, but +of quite a peculiar kind, to which nothing corresponding is +found either in the middle ages or in modern times. Under +this name twelve nations were united, who sent deputies +twice every year, in the spring to Delphi, and in the autumn +to Thermopylae. These meetings were attended by deputies +from every people, each of which had one vote.⁠<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> But +not only deputies went thither: the citizens of all the peoples +also might appear if they chose, and they too formed an +Ἀμφικτυονικόν; those who thus came of their own accord, +voted in a body, each people having only one vote, so that +all the Dorians, and all the Ionians respectively voted together. +In all the transactions among Greeks a βουλή and +an ἐκκλησία were necessary; the former consisted at these +gatherings of the deputies, and the latter of the αὐταγγελτοί. +This constitution points to something very different from +what we know about the later condition of Greece: the +division was made simply according to nations, and without +any regard to political importance; all had the same right, +nay tribes which were subject to the Thessalians voted on +an equality with the Thessalians themselves. The connection +with the temple of Delphi is undeniable; the nations +were united together, all standing for one and one for all, +for the purpose of protecting the integrity of the sanctuary; +nearly all the most ancient instances of their activity +have this for their object, as in the war of Cirrha and +down to the one occurring in Olymp. 125, which is +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span>mentioned by Justin.⁠<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> Another statement, which probably +refers to very ancient times, seems surprising to us. +There the legislations of the various states were confirmed, +just as at Rome the auspices seemed to express the will of +the gods; but the Delphic oracle appears, above all things, +to have had the power of watching over the exercise of +humanity in the wars among the Greeks. And this is the +point where the character of the Greeks shows itself most +nobly. The Amphictyons did not by any means prevent +war, but they made laws regulating the manner in which +it should be conducted; there were laws, which no one +was allowed to violate in any war; and it is possible +that the expression ὁ κοινὸς τῶν Ἑλλήνων νόμος refers to +them. It was ordained, <i>e.g.</i>, that the Greeks should +not carry on among themselves any internecine war, that +the inhabitants of a Greek town should not be sold as +slaves, that fruit-trees should not be cut down,⁠<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> and that the +supply of water should not be cut off from any town. All +these laws originated in the Delphic Amphictyony, and +were maintained without being written. We must carefully +bear in mind, that they could not possibly prevent every +outrage; but their express object was that war should +be carried in a humane manner. The fact that England +insists upon abolishing the slave trade, leads to smuggling +those unhappy creatures, who are, in consequence of this, +treated with all imaginable cruelty. In like manner an +interdict forbidding war in Greece would have been of no +avail, and hence it was better to inflict heavy penalties +upon acts of inhumanity. These rules were not indeed +always observed, the nature of man does not admit of it; +but even if they were violated as often as they were observed, +we still must own that they were in the highest +degree salutary.</p> + +<p>The Phocians are unimportant in Greek history, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span>are mentioned only in connection with their misfortunes, +first in the wars which they had to wage against the +Thessalians,—for the Thessalians, after completing the conquest +of Haemonia, also endeavoured to subdue Phocis, and +its inhabitants had great difficulty in warding them off,—and +afterwards in the Sacred War. The twenty-two Phocian +towns, which were destroyed by Philip, were probably for +the most part insignificant places. We are perfectly +ignorant as to the relations subsisting among them, but they +did not form a political community, with a common magistracy, +a common commander in war, and the like; not a +trace of such institutions is to be found. It is, in general, +one of the most puzzling problems to state what were the +bonds which kept an ἔθνος together: to acquire the name +of an ἔθνος, no political band was needed; a co-operation +for common objects is generally produced spontaneously +through the power of circumstances. There are, however, +traces to show, that in early times the Phocians formed a +closer union among themselves. The case of their leaders +in the Sacred War was of a different kind: they are generally +called στρατηγοί, but sometimes also τύραννοι; Philomelus +and Onomarchus were, in fact, not lawful magistrates; +the circumstance that being elected in a lawful form, they +were at the head of a numerous army of mercenaries, gave +them a power which was limited by no laws, and was, +therefore, formidable indeed.</p> + +<p>The only important place in Phocis was <span class="smcap">Elatea</span>, which +was either spared in an inconceivable manner by Philip, or +was soon afterwards restored on account of its excellent situation, +and attained a high degree of prosperity; for during the +Macedonian period it is mentioned as a considerable place, +notwithstanding the general decay of the Greek towns; and +in the same light it appears in Livy’s account of the Roman +wars. It was situated in the rich valley of the Cephisus, +which widens towards Boeotia, and this may have contributed +to its prosperity. The valley formed a pass; and +an enemy even after forcing his way through Thermopylae +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span>had difficulties at Elatea, which was the key to +Boeotia; hence when Philip occupied Elatea by a garrison, +this act created at Athens the consternation which is so +graphically described by Demosthenes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Anticyra</span>, also, had a kind of importance; and after +the destruction of Cirrha, it was the real port of Phocis, +whence a small trade was kept up with the gulf of Corinth. +In the first war of the Romans against Philip, Anticyra +was destroyed by the fleet which, under the command of +Sulpicius, cruised along the coasts of Greece, and laid +waste so many thinly-peopled places.</p> + +<p>The well-known war called “The Sacred” has received +that name quite improperly; it had been stirred up by the +Thessalians and Boeotians to the misfortune of the Phocians, +who were driven to despair and an infuriated defence, +just like the Hussites in the 15th century; and the Phocians +ravaged all the countries around, as the Hussites from +Bohemia spread devastation far and wide in Bavaria, Franconia, +and Saxony. They were completely outlawed, so +that no quarter was given to any one; the dead were treated +as accursed, and the wounded were run through with spears +or nailed on crosses: the rage was quite savage and unpardonable. +The Phocians were driven to such extremities, +as to seize upon the sacred treasures of the Delphic temple, +which enabled them to carry on the war for eight years, +until Philip came forward as the champion of the Amphictyons, +and, after the withdrawal of the Athenian troops +from Thermopylae, advanced with irresistible force. The +commanders of the Phocians were unskilful and faithless +men, and the nation, losing courage, laid down its arms. +Their fate was terrible, though it was called mercy: Philip +granted to the troops a free departure; all the towns were +destroyed, and their walls demolished; all arms and horses +were taken; the inhabitants dispersed in villages, and, in a +condition of servitude, placed under the supremacy of the +temple of Delphi, which itself stood under the supremacy +of Macedonia. They were obliged to pay an annual tribute +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span>to the temple, to refund the treasures; but they seem to +have neglected this duty, or the money was pocketed by +the Macedonians, for Brennus found no gold at Delphi, but +only works in bronze. This is again a remarkable instance +of the uncertainty of history, even at so late a period: +some say that Brennus did not enter Delphi at all, while +other historians state that he was at Delphi and plundered +it, but that he found little to take. However, the Phocians +showed great valour; they withdrew into the highest mountains, +and thence made great havoc among the formidable +host of Gauls, especially during their retreat. For this +reason it was resolved to make amends for what had been +done: they were again admitted into the Amphictyony, and +allowed to restore their towns; but, like the Locrians, +Chalcis, and Corinth, they remained under the supremacy +of Macedonia, and when the Romans appeared, they did +not belong to Greece, but were Macedonian subjects. +Afterwards, they also shared the last two calamities of +Greece: the flight of Critolaus from Thermopylae led the +Romans through Phocis, and on that occasion the country +was ravaged by the conquerors, and Elatea had to suffer +severely; lastly, the campaign of Archelaus, who had his +head-quarters at Chaeronea, also extended to Phocis, which +for this reason was then completely devastated by Sulla.</p> + +<h3 id="Doris"><span class="smcap">Doris.</span></h3> + +<p>Doris was that district where the highest parts of Parnassus +extend towards Pindus. Its towns formed the Doric +tetrapolis, or rather tripolis, for the names of only three +places are certain, viz., <span class="smcap">Boion</span>, <span class="smcap">Cytinion</span>, and <span class="smcap">Erineos</span>, +and they are described by the Greeks themselves as very +small places (πολίχνια). The general Greek tradition is, +that the Dorians who conquered Peloponnesus came from +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span>these three towns; but this is impossible. It is true no +traveller has yet visited that district, but we are able to +determine at least its extent, which is not as large as that +of the Swiss canton of Uri; and as the latter has about +12,000 inhabitants, we may be sure that Doris had not by +far as many, for the country in those parts of Parnassus is +extremely mountainous, and contains only few valleys that +are inhabitable to Alpine shepherds. The Dorians must at +one time have occupied a far more extensive country: the +little district of Doris stands in the same relation to the +former seats of the Dorians, as the present district of +Angeln in the duchy of Schleswig stands to the extensive +countries once occupied by the ancient Angli. We should +be forming a very erroneous estimate, if we were to calculate +the number of Angli who invaded Britain from the +district at present bearing their name. After the emigration +of the great body of the Dorians, the little country of +Doris retained their name, while the earlier Doris may +perhaps have embraced all Phocis and other neighbouring +countries. According to the express testimony of Herodotus,⁠<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> +they had formerly dwelt on mount Pindus, and had +migrated from north to south. The little tribe maintained +itself in the impassable mountains, but we do not know +how; it may have been by alliances. They boasted of +their pure Doric origin, and regarded themselves as the +μητρόπολις of the Peloponnesians, though the latter were +mixed with the earlier inhabitants of the peninsula. The +Peloponnesians, however, showed them the respect and +attachment which everywhere in Greece colonists used to +show to their mother country. The Dorians were often +involved in wars with the Phocians, and even before the +Peloponnesian war they had once been subdued by them, +but a Spartan army quickly coming to their rescue, chastised +the Phocians, and restored the Dorians to freedom.</p> + +<p>It is quite uncertain what afterwards became of the little +people. During the period when the administration of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span>Greece was in the hands of the Romans, the Dorians are +not mentioned at all; so that they must have been united +either with the Phocians, or, which is not improbable, with +the Aetolians. If that part of Greece should ever become +accessible, much may be discovered that is of importance +for ancient history and geography; with the exception of +the coasts, scarcely anything is accurately known; the +upper countries of Parnassus have scarcely been visited at +all, and our maps are arbitrary. It will hardly be possible +ever to ascertain the sites of the towns from the want of +inscriptions. Beyond the mountains of Doris there is a +grand Alpine country.</p> + +<h3 id="Aetolia"><span class="smcap">Aetolia.</span></h3> + +<p>In the later history of Greece, the Aetolians are a people +of the highest importance, and so they are in the earliest +traditions, but during the best period of the Greeks, they +sink completely into the background. Their peculiarity +is very perplexing to the inquiring historian. We find +them mentioned in the Homeric Catalogue, and in the +legends of Calydon and Pleuron, and there can be no doubt +as to their being a Greek people, for the Curetes as well as +the Aetolians themselves are called Greeks. Thucydides +too⁠<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> considers them in this light, though only conditionally; +he calls them Ἠπειρωτικὸν ἔθνος, and where he mentions +their separate tribes, they appear as different from all the +other Greeks; he speaks of their language being unintelligible +(ἀγνωστότατοι γλῶσσαν), which is a strong expression +with Athenians who, like all Greeks, were very +tolerant in regard to dialects. The Laconian dialect was +quite as different from the Attic, as the Swiss German is +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span>from the Low German, and the Athenians scarcely understood +one third of it. The Aetolian dialect, accordingly, +seems to have already become so barbarous, as to require +great attention to guess the meaning when it was spoken. +In these circumstances, therefore, the Aetolians appear as +non-Greeks, and still more so in Polybius, who says that +most of the Aetolians were barbarians. In one passage, +Thucydides also classes them with the barbarians, when he +states that they, like the Acarnanians, went about in time of +peace armed with knives (σιδηροφορεῖν); he also asserts that +they were ὠμόφαγοι. Such statements appear to us extremely +strange, and seem to suggest a degree of barbarism similar +to that of the Abyssinians; but a French traveller has given +an excellent explanation of the matter. The inhabitants of +those countries are to this day shepherds, for agriculture is +scarcely possible there. They kill their cattle, and sometimes +cook the meat, but they also smoke it for the purpose of +keeping it, and such smoked meat they eat raw, which is +not done in the other parts of Greece. Sometimes also +they act like the savages in America: they cut the meat +into very thin slices, dry it in the air, and then eat it.</p> + +<p>As far back as we can trace history, we always find the +<span class="smcap">Aetolians</span> and <span class="smcap">Curetes</span> as two nations dwelling by the +side of each other in the south of Aetolia: such is the case +in the Iliad. Afterwards the Curetes disappear, and all the +country is occupied by the Aetolians alone. But that +country is only a very small portion of what is subsequently +called Aetolia, for it embraced only the district of Pleuron +and Calydon, about the Evenus. These two towns play as +prominent a part in the legends as Mycenae and Tiryns, and +Oeneus and Meleager are as familiar to you as Agamemnon +and Menelaus. This was Aetolia proper, and a truly +Hellenic country: from it proceeded the emigration of +Oxylus, which must not be viewed as if Oxylus had served +the Heracleids as a guide and joined them; but the Aetolian +migration to which Elis owed its origin, was an occurrence +quite distinct from the migration of the Dorians into the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span>other parts of Peloponnesus. The Aetolians farther inland +were subsequently joined by other Pelasgian tribes of Epirus. +As early as the Peloponnesian war, Aetolia was a country +of considerable extent, and Thucydides mentions the Bomians, +Ophians (Ophionians), and Eurytanians, as its greatest +tribes; but these names are uncertain, at least the first two. +Within these limits the Aetolians were united during the +Peloponnesian war. Their union may be conceived as a +relation of isopolity, in which each nation formed an independent +community, but on certain emergencies they united +and acted as one state. They seem to have met in common +sanctuaries, and to have mutually had the perfect right of +isopolity, a connection which was however extremely loose, +and did not oblige the several members to join one another +in offensive operations. In the Peloponnesian war, the +Aetolians resisted the Athenians; they were hostile to +Naupactus and allied with Ampracia⁠<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a>⁠; but beyond their +own territory they were weak, and the expedition of the +Athenians into Aetolia did the country much harm. The +Aetolians showed themselves equally independent towards +the Spartans, for when the latter, after the battle of Leuctra, +wanted to interfere in their affairs, they were repulsed by +the Aetolians. They did not, however, rise to any importance +till after the death of Alexander. During the latter +part of his life, they took Oeniadae, expelled its inhabitants, +and colonised the place anew. Alexander, whose fate was +that of all other conquerors, did not know in the end +whither to turn; he conceived the unfortunate idea of interfering, +from Babylon, in the affairs of Greece, and of coming +forward as mediator. Whether it was that he actually +wished to restore peace, or whether he had any other +motives, in short he issued a proclamation ordering the +Greeks to restore all φυγάδες in the widest sense of the +term; and the order was even made retrospective, so as to +embrace the φυγάδες who had been in exile for many years, +and in many cases, as in that of Oeniadae, the φυγάδες +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span>consisted of the entire population of a town. This measure, +perhaps adopted with a good intention, threw the firebrand +of war into Greece. All were in consternation, because it +was expected that the exiles would return with their old +pretensions, and that the tranquillity which had only just +been restored, would be disturbed again. The Athenians +were exasperated because the amnesty was in favour of many +who had been exiled as traitors and partisans of Macedonia, +and whose banishment they had effected with great +determination, and under circumstances which rendered the +recall scarcely possible. The Aetolians were called upon to +evacuate Oeniadae, and this led them to ally themselves with +the Athenians in the Lamian war, and to display the +greatest perseverance. When the allied army in Thessaly +was broken and the Athenians were disabled, the Aetolians +alone held out, resisting the great power of the Macedonians, +a perseverance which ever after remained the great +object of their national pride. All the Macedonian forces +under Polysperchon and Antipater now turned against +them: with moveable columns they entered the country, +and carried on a very cruel war, devastating the country in +the same fearful manner as the barbarians did in Peloponnesus, +and as the French have frequently done in modern +times: they advanced gradually chasing the whole population +before them, and all who fell into their hands were +either murdered or sold as slaves; all the cultivation of the +country was destroyed, towns were reduced to ashes, and +all trees rooted out. In this manner, they drove the +inhabitants from one valley into another, and into the +highest mountains, where they maintained themselves. But +here they would have perished from cold, hunger and snow, +had not a change of circumstances produced a diversion in +their favour: the feuds among the Macedonian generals in +Asia saved them. Antipater, who envied Perdiccas for his +power, thought it advisable for the present to conclude a +truce with the Aetolians, with the intention of completing +the devastation of their country afterwards. But God +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span>disposed things differently. Amid the perplexities in Asia, +Antipater forgot the Aetolians, and the war was not resumed. +They now returned from their mountains, and this +forms the commencement of a new era in their history.</p> + +<p>Several of the nations of Greece had, even as early as +that time, begun to feel an instinctive want of uniting with +each other for the purpose of increasing their strength. +Such had been the case in Arcadia and Thessaly (where +Jason of Pherae fostered the feeling) before, and it was now +awakened among several other nations. From this time +forward two political terms acquired importance in history; +the relations they designate were not indeed new, but their +import in an extended sense was. At an earlier period, I mean +at the time of the Peloponnesian war, this tendency to unite +had shown itself at Olynthus on the coast of Thrace, where +the Chalcidian and Bottian towns, which until then had +stood isolated, united with that city which had become great; +and thus they became καθάπερ δῆμος. This is the relation +called by later writers ἰσοπολιτεία⁠<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a>⁠, which two towns +established between each other, as was the case in Switzerland +and in the league of the Swabian towns; in former +times it had been called πολιτεία. A citizen of such a place +was entitled to take up his abode in the other, without +becoming a mere resident alien; the ancient Italian law was +of the same kind. There can be no doubt that in earlier +times the Aetolian tribes were united only by the relation +of a common πολιτεία; but they did not form one state, +the establishment of which, with one common strategus +and one common council (ἀπόκλητοι), belongs to a much +later period; it was probably not till after the war with +Antipater that the Aetolian state was constituted; but we +do not know much about its origin.</p> + +<p>The relation of συμπολιτεία was different; it is very necessary +to distinguish the two, and great attention is required +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span>not to confound them. Sympolity was the relation subsisting +between Rome and its <i>municipia</i>, it was the connection +of one place with another on a footing of inequality; the +citizens of the subordinate state had not the same rights +with those of the chief state, their advantage consisting in +the close alliance with a powerful head, but they had no +share in the election of magistrates (<i>civitas sine suffragio</i>), +and the relation was altogether one-sided. Isopolite states, +on the other hand, generally stood to each other in a relation +of perfect equality, and were quite independent in their +transactions with foreign countries; it is only in a very few +instances that in later times we find them in a subordinate +relation to a chief state. Sympolite states could not, on +their own responsibility, enter into negociations with foreign +countries, as had been the case of isopolite states only in +earlier times. It may perhaps be assumed that all sympolite +places were at one time in the relation of isopolity, and +that their citizens were entitled to the general franchise in +every one of the allied states. Isopolity, therefore, may +have existed with several states, which among themselves +had no isopolity, as, for example, the Hernicans were in a +relation of isopolity with the Romans and also with the +Samnites.</p> + +<p>At that time the Aetolians increased their connections in +both ways, and many distant towns joined them and became +Aetolians. Of this we have evident proofs in inscriptions, +in which the Aetolians grant to the inhabitants of +such places letters of safety against robbery, as for example +to the inhabitants of Crete, Carthaea in the island of Ceos, +and others, ὡς ὄντων Αἰτωλῶν. Others, seeking the direct +protection of the Aetolians, entered the relation of sympolity; +but this must not be understood, as if they had taken upon +themselves duties as subjects towards the Aetolians; the +towns were too distant; but if they did, the great distance +at least prevented the relation from becoming oppressive. +In the case of isopolity a town could not claim to be protected +by the more powerful one. Aetolia thus extended +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span>chiefly through the relation of sympolity, and Cephallenia, +<i>e.g.</i>, joined it. In the earlier times, and down to the sixth +century of Rome, Olymp. 135, we can trace the extension +only with difficulty; we cannot indeed doubt that the +Aetolians extended beyond their own frontiers, but we are +unable to say how or how far. The newly added part was +called Αἰτωλία ἐπίκτητος, but it is wrongly marked in our +maps, for the part beyond the Aetolian mountains, on the +coast of Locris, belongs to ancient Aetolia.</p> + +<p>The first accession gained by the Aetolians consisted in +the alliance with Alexander of Epirus, the son of Pyrrhus +(not to be confounded with Alexander the Molottian, the +brother of Olympias), against the Acarnanians. On his +unfortunate death, Pyrrhus had left to his son a still splendid +empire. The two allies divided Acarnania between themselves, +and from this time a large portion of that country +belongs to Aetolia, especially Stratos, a very important +town, the ruins of which still attest its former greatness. I +cannot say, whether the acquisition of Naupactus and perhaps +the whole country of the Ozolian Locrians belongs to +this or to a later period; but Naupactus certainly was united +with Aetolia, for about Olymp. 140, a strategus is mentioned +who was a native of that town. During the decay of +the Macedonian empire, that is, in the latter years of Antigonus +Gonatas, the Aetolians greatly extended their empire; +a part of Phocis appears to have been in their hands, and +in alliance with the Achaeans they carried on a successful +war against his son Demetrius, the father of the last Philip; +they conquered Phthiotis and a part of Thessaly proper +which then became united with them partly by isopolity, +and partly by sympolity. The nations on this side of +Thermopylae, the Trachinians and Aenianians, became +so completely incorporated with them, that Heraclea even +was one of their chief cities. At the same time they +extended their power in Epirus, after the Epirots had +murdered the last member of the royal family of the +Aeacidae; they did not, however, confine themselves to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span>that country, but also took possession of Cephallenia, Zacynthus +and probably Ithaca also, nay, they even crossed +over into Peloponnesus. Elis stood in the relation of +isopolity, and several places in western Arcadia, as Phigalea, +Heraea, Psophis and others, were connected with them by +sympolity. Many towns also stood to them in the relation +of isopolity, even the Athenians did so for a time. Aetolia +reached the highest point of its power about Olymp. 140, +where Polybius commences his history: that was the time +of the outbreak of the social war, which the last Philip, in +conjunction with the Achaeans, carried on against the +Aetolians, who then lost their possessions in Thessaly and +Phthiotis. But they were still very powerful, ruling over +the country as far as the Spercheus, over the greater part of +Acarnania, and Cephallenia, besides being on terms of +isopolity with many places. Afterwards, in the second +Philippic war, they lost still more, but we know nothing +definite about it. In the third war of the Romans against +Philip, which ended in the battle of Cynoscephalae, they +again recovered many places, but the Romans, contrary to +the compact entered into, deprived them of some which +belonged to them. The claims they then made led to the +war with Antiochus, in which they lost Cephallenia, +Heraclea, and other places. They now lived in a state of +nominal independence, for they did not, like the Achaeans, +form a Roman province; but in point of fact they were +dependent upon the Romans, though they did not lose their +autonomy, that is their own political constitution and jurisdiction. +Their frontiers were very much narrowed, though +their territory was still greater than it had ever been during +the best period of Greek history. Such is a brief sketch of +the various vicissitudes of that remarkable people.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to say how we should judge of the character +of the Aetolians; it is not easy to arrive at a clear and precise +result. But it is a point beyond all dispute that at the +period during which we know them, they show a great +resemblance in character to the Greek Clephths: they never +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span>were a regularly organised people with a civil constitution; +their state was only of a military character, and their whole +government was military; in the interior, there must necessarily +have been great anarchy. Alexander is the only +Aetolian whose name occurs in the whole range of Greek +literature, and he lived at Alexandria; but he deserves no +more to be despised than Callimachus. It is a well-founded +charge that the Aetolians were faithless, so that treaties +concluded with them were not safe,—hence the disgraceful +attack upon the Pamboeotians,—that they disregarded the +public law established among the Greeks, which ordained +that in the midst of war a truce should be observed during +the celebration of the national games. In war they indulged +in devastation and robbery, the latter always being +the principal motive of their undertakings. It must also +be said, to their disgrace, that in regular and open battles +they were good for nothing. Their cavalry was excellent, +which, considering the nature of their country, is rather surprising; +but they never formed a regular phalanx, and their +peltasts were no better than the most ordinary ones; if these +latter had been well trained, they might have become very +efficient, but they never went beyond the first steps of +military training.</p> + +<p>In geography we treat of Aetolia within its ancient +boundaries, and without regard to its later acquisitions. +Aetolia has the largest river in Greece within Mount Oeta +and Thermopylae: I allude to the <span class="smcap">Achelous</span>, which for +Greece is a very considerable river, though in other countries +it would not be so. Its sources are in Mount Pindus, and it +is properly a χειμάῤῥους, for although it has always water, +yet in winter, during the rainy season, and in spring, after +the melting of the snow in the mountains, it is much larger. +During these latter seasons of πλήμμυρα it is a mighty +river, whereas in summer it may be forded in several places +without danger. Where it comes forth from the Dolopian +mountains, its bed is very broad and covered with gravel, +over which it flows in many arms; at Stratos it is divided, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span>at the season of high water, into seven arms, and in summer +perhaps into three or four, which flow between high islands. +Its modern name is Aspropotamo, the white river, perhaps +from the white mud which during the rainy season it carries +with it, and not from its clear water as is commonly supposed. +In summer its water is clear, but in spring it is +θολερός or muddy, whence it formed a Delta which was +constantly increasing. The <span class="smcap">Echinades</span> were islands at the +mouth of the river, but owing to the continual deposits they +are now parts of the main land; in like manner Ravenna, in +the time of the Roman emperors, was surrounded by the +sea, whereas at present it is a few miles distant from +it. Such alluvial land as that formed by the Achelous +is in modern Greek called βάλτος. A little to the side of +the mouth of the river, we have the town of Oeniadae, whose +position was as strong as that of Missolunghi, which is +situated in the same lagoons, but somewhat more towards +the cape and the river Evenus.</p> + +<p>In the ancient Greek legends, the Achelous is celebrated +on account of the contest with Heracles, in which the river-god +metamorphosed himself into a bull, and Heracles broke +one of his horns. Some very silly allegorical explanations +of this mythus have been proposed.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Evenus</span>, the second river of Aetolia, is much smaller, +and flows from the north; it discharges its waters at the +point where the Achelous formed its deposits. It is in +itself not of much consequence, but the country about its +mouth, that is, the district of <span class="smcap">Calydon</span> and <span class="smcap">Pleuron</span>, is +the ancient and original Aetolia, which is called Aeolis by +Thucydides, and perhaps also by Herodotus. This certainly +is an ancient and remarkable name, though for our history +it is a matter of indifference. Calydon and Pleuron are +among the most ancient towns in Greek history, but in +later times they were decayed and insignificant, and in the +days of Strabo they were completely destroyed. Modern +travellers assure us that they have discovered the Cyclopian +walls of both towns, but I cannot say whether they are +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span>right: their site is indicated with tolerable precision by +the ancients; it was not very far inland.</p> + +<p>Respecting <span class="smcap">Dulichion</span>, which occurs in the Odyssey, +nothing can be ascertained. The opinion of modern +geographers, that it was an ancient Delta, and afterwards +disappeared in consequence of further deposits, is erroneous. +The modern Greeks are probably no less mistaken in their +belief that it was swallowed up by the earth; the sand-banks +are in a different place. It is possible that Dulichion may +have been the coast of Acarnania, which the Homeric poet, +who was not altogether well informed about the western +countries, erroneously called an island.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thermon</span>, the later capital of the Aetolians in Polybius, +was situated in the interior. The building of this place +pre-supposes that Aetolia at the time was a more extensive +country, so that the more ancient towns were situated too +near the frontier. Its site cannot be mistaken. No traveller +has yet visited it, and I do not believe that any +considerable ruins are to be found unless excavations be +made; inscriptions do not exist there any more than in +Epirus. It was about three miles distant from the great +lake, which is situated in the centre of Aetolia in a hollow +surrounded by mountains, and separates the waters of the +Achelous and Evenus. This lake, which is upwards of +twenty-five English miles in length and tolerably broad, +now consists of several smaller lakes, which are connected +by marshes. Polybius calls it <span class="smcap">Trichonis</span>, and it forms the +receptacle for the waters which flow from the neighbouring +mountains and are not carried off by the Evenus. Thermon +was not fortified, but was an open place like Sparta; Philip, +the son of Demetrius, ravaged it twice, without the Aetolians +attempting to defend it. It was there that the Aetolian +people assembled and held their general diets: the hot +springs were another and still more direct temptation to +build the place. Aetolia is, in general, rich in hot sulphureous +springs, and I here remind you of what I said on a +former occasion respecting the volcanic veins which extend +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span>from the Corinthian gulf to Epirus, and especially to Thesprotia. +The account of Polybius does not enable us +to say whether it was a large city, but I am inclined to +believe that it was not very important as a town. It contained +a temple of Apollo, government-buildings, and extensive +halls, probably adorned with works of art and other +costly decorations, being destined as places of meeting for +the Παναιτώλιον. These public buildings were set on fire +by Philip. After this first conflagration, they were restored +by the inhabitants, but ten or twelve years later they were +destroyed a second time, and afterwards the place is no +longer mentioned.</p> + +<p>The walls of the other towns noticed by Polybius still +show that they must have been very strong places; they +were of considerable extent, but as there are no inscriptions, +it is very difficult to determine their names, and it cannot +be done without acting in an arbitrary manner.</p> + +<p>According to Polybius, the Aetolians were joined by +nations which Thucydides still distinguishes from them; +some of them are pure Epirot tribes, such as the Amphilochians +and Agraeans. I shall speak of them afterwards +when I come to Epirus, to which they belong, both ethnographically +and geographically. They were probably the +first that joined the Aetolians, although in the time of +Pyrrhus they still belonged to Epirus, to which they had +been ceded by Macedonia.</p> + +<h3 id="Acarnania"><span class="smcap">Acarnania.</span></h3> + +<p>Acarnania is the country on the western bank of the +Achelous. The earliest notices of the Acarnanians in +Thucydides down to those of the latest times, exhibit them +in constant collision with the more powerful Aetolians, who +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span>endeavoured to unite them with themselves, and, as they +resisted, tried to destroy them. They are not mentioned in +the Homeric Catalogue; they regarded themselves as the +youngest among the Greek peoples, and set it forth as a merit +of their own, that they had taken no part in the expedition +against the Trojans, the ancestors of the Romans. But we +must not infer too much from this: it is certain that at the +time when the Catalogue was composed, the interior, or +principal part, of the country was inhabited by Epirots, +that is, Pelasgians, while the coast was, in my opinion, +occupied by Greeks. The people over whom Odysseus +ruled were certainly not confined to the little island of +Ithaca; they extended far and wide, and their common +name was Cephallenians, which also embraced those who +lived on the ἤπειρος, that is, in Acarnania, on the coast +near the Echinades, in Leucas, and in the Echinades themselves. +In the ante-historic times they are mentioned under +the name of the Taphians, who afterwards disappear, but +seem to have equalled the Minyans in greatness and power. +Whether, on the destruction of the empire of Odysseus, the +Cephallenians and Arcananians separated, whether they +gained strength to extend their dominion towards the interior, +or whether a Hellenic immigration peopled the +country, are questions on which we cannot decide. The +last, however, is the most probable, and is supported by the +mythus about Alcmaeon, who is said to have gone to the +Echinades; but, however this may be, in the earliest times +they are not mentioned under the name Acarnanians. +Herodotus speaks of Acarnanians (Ἀκαρνὴν ἀνήρ) even +before the time of the Persian wars, in which they took no +more part than the Aetolians: their distance seems to have +separated them from the rest of the Greeks, so as to prevent +their having any share in their doings. Afterwards, in the +Peloponnesian war, they sided with the Ionians against the +Dorians, being the allies of the Athenians from hatred of +the Corinthians, who had established themselves on the coast +of Acarnania, had there founded the colonies of Leucas, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span>Anactorion, Alyzia, and the powerful town of Ambracia +on the opposite coast, and were severely oppressive to the +Acarnanians. This induced the latter to seek the assistance +of the Athenians, which was effective, also, against the +Aetolians, and brought on the war against them. The +Aetolians themselves thereby became connected with the +Ambraciots and the Dorians.</p> + +<p>In this condition the Acarnanians remained until the time +of the Macedonian supremacy; but when the Macedonian +empire gained consistency, the Acarnanians thoughtlessly +placed themselves under its protection. Philip favored +them greatly, and assigned to them Oeniadae, which had previously +belonged to the Achaeans, and also Leucas; whether +the latter place remained in their possession or not, we do +not know. Fresh hostilities now arose with the Aetolians, +who were enemies of the Macedonians. The severest blow +was inflicted upon the Acarnanians in the reign of Alexander +of Epirus, the son of Pyrrhus, for their country was divided +between him and the Aetolians. The latter retained the +possession of the principal towns which they received; but +at the time of the disputes about the succession among the +Aeacidae, the Epirot dominion was shaken off, and the +Acarnanians again threw themselves into the arms of +Macedonia. We must distinguish Acarnania in its earlier +and in its later condition: Acarnania in Polybius is considerably +reduced on the east near the Achelous, for it there +possessed only Oeniadae, but on the coast it was increased +through the Corinthian colonies. In this condition it +remained, until, in the war between the Romans and Macedonians, +its population, having sided with the latter, had +to suffer greatly. Leucas was taken and separated from +Acarnania. But although the Acarnanians were pardoned +by the Romans, they thenceforward completely disappear +in history.</p> + +<p>The country forms no contrasts, and has no deep valleys +with lakes like Aetolia; it has no high mountains, but is a +fertile hilly country, with alluvial soil, though not to any +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span>great extent, on the coast and the Achelous: the soil is +throughout light and good. As regards the political constitution +of the Acarnanians, even Polybius speaks of the κοινὸν +τῶν Ἀκαρνάνων, so that they must have formed a regularly +organised state, no doubt with a common strategus. As far +as their manners are concerned, the same historian classes +them among the less civilised tribes, for they went about in +arms. They did not, like the Aetolians, consist of tribes +that were essentially foreign to each other, but of kindred +settlers in towns. Nations which, like the Aetolians, are +destined by nature to lead a pastoral life, cannot have any +important settlements in towns any more than the little +cantons of Switzerland; but Acarnania is a thoroughly +agricultural country, producing corn and olives, and towns +accordingly arose from the nature of circumstances; pastoral +life prevailed only in the mountains. These towns +had no separate existence independently of the common +government of the state; each of them had no doubt its +own municipal freedom, but in their relation to foreign +countries, they were dependent. This is implied in the +term τὸ κοινόν, Latin, <i>commune</i>.</p> + +<p>In the Peloponnesian war, <span class="smcap">Stratos</span> was the capital of +the country, but it was taken by the Aetolians, to whom it +belonged in the time of Polybius. Its walls are still preserved, +and they not only show that, as Thucydides says, it +was the largest town of Acarnania, but absolutely a large +town of an astonishing circumference. But these countries +are so different from those of the intellectual Greeks, that +no ruins are found attesting the existence of splendid +buildings. Stratos is the only one among the genuine +Acarnanian towns, that deserves to be noticed.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oeniadae</span>, at the mouth of the Achelous, is often mentioned +as an Achaean town, and its true character is therefore +a real puzzle. Xenophon calls it Achaean, and Scylax of Caryanda +applies the name Ἀχαιοί and Ἀχαία to the whole coast +from Cape Rhion as far as the Achelous, so that not only +Oeniadae, but the other coast-towns, as for example, the little +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span>Chalcis, were connected with the Achaeans. Afterwards +Oeniadae was taken by the Aetolians; it recovered indeed +its independence, but was then conquered by the Acarnanians, +and finally taken from them by the Romans. Whether +on this last occasion the Achaeans again established their +claims, cannot be ascertained. It is not impossible that it +may have been an Achaean colony, as we find another in +Zacynthos.</p> + +<p>The Corinthian colonies, the most remarkable of which +were <span class="smcap">Leucas</span>, <span class="smcap">Anactorion</span>, <span class="smcap">Alyzia</span>, and <span class="smcap">Action</span>, were +separated from Acarnania proper at an early period.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Leucas</span>, according to the opinion of the Alexandrian +grammarians, who are great authorities in these matters, is +mentioned in the Odyssey and the Homeric Catalogue +under the name of <span class="smcap">Neriton</span>, and was at that time still +inhabited by Cephallenians. At a later period it was a +Doric settlement of Corinth, when this latter city founded +colonies on the Ambracian gulf, in Corcyra, and other +islands, with a care which shows that it intended to establish +its maritime supremacy in those parts. Those settlements +belong partly to the period of the Bacchiadae, and partly +to that of Cypselus and Periander. Leucas was formerly +connected with the mainland by an isthmus, which was +cut through by the Corinthians when they established +themselves there. Afterwards the isthmus was sometimes +restored and sometimes broken through; and these +changes frequently occur, even in the middle ages, for +the rivers which flow into the Ambracian gulf, carry +with them as much mud as the Achelous, and as Leucas +was situated close to the shore, and was separated from +the mainland only by a very narrow channel, the mud +there accumulated by the current which is very strong in +that part. This isthmus was very inconvenient to the navigation +of the Leucadians to the Ambracian gulf, as they +had to sail round the whole promontory; nothing therefore +is more natural than that the canal should have been +re-opened from time to time. The opinion of those who +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span>imagine that the isthmus was an artificially constructed +causeway is absurd, though it is quite conceivable that at +the time when the isthmus was uninterrupted, a road may +have been made upon it; but this has quite a different +meaning. The name Leucas has a double nominative, +Leucas and Leucata, of which so many instances occur in +Latin in the case of Greek proper names,⁠<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> as Croton and +Crotona, Ancon and Ancona, the latter of which is the +genuine Latin form. It is said that ὁ Λευκάτας was the +rock of Leucas; but there is no foundation for this, it is a +mere expedient to get over a difficulty. On Cape Leucas +stood the temple of Apollo, and from its precipitous cliff +Sappho and others are said to have leapt into the sea because +their passionate love was not returned.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Anactorion</span> was a very small and insignificant place, as +we see from the notices about it during the Peloponnesian +war, for it furnished only one trireme.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Action</span> can scarcely be called a town, and is remarkable +only for the battle fought there, and the temple of +Apollo.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alyzia</span> was likewise unimportant, and deserves to be +noticed only as a Corinthian colony, and as an example of +the manner in which the Corinthians detached the coast +from Acarnania.</p> + +<p>By the side of Action, on the spot afterwards occupied +by Prevesa, there arose <span class="smcap">Nicopolis</span>, which was built by +Augustus as a monument of his victory. The Greek +population was then so reduced, and the violence of the +Roman generals so truly oriental, that Augustus transplanted +to Nicopolis the nation of the Aetolians and most +of the Acarnanians; for I have no doubt that, to a certain +extent, this was really the case. Owing to its situation, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span>the place was during the middle ages regarded as a fortress, +and new buildings were erected, whence the ancient ones +have for the most part disappeared. The ruins of Nicopolis +however are extensive, for Augustus adorned it with +splendid buildings. The Byzantine emperors defended it +for a long time against the conquests of the Bulgarians, +who had subdued a great part of Epirus and the adjoining +countries of Greece. We cannot say at what time the +name Nicopolis disappears; in the tenth century it still +existed, and is mentioned by Constantine Porphyrogenitus.</p> + +<h3 id="The_Cephallenian_Islands"><span class="smcap">The Cephallenian Islands.</span></h3> + +<p>Under this name, following the example of the Alexandrian +grammarians, we comprise those islands which in Homer +form the empire of Odysseus, namely, Ithaca, Cephallenia +or Same, and Zacynthos; I have already intimated that I +have nothing to say about Dulichion. This empire of Odysseus +entirely disappears in our history. If we had Ephorus +or ample extracts from his work, we should be able to proceed +more safely. The Greeks had ancient records about many +places and subjects connected with their early history, as +we see from Thucydides, but they cannot be called history; +Ephorus, however, anxiously endeavoured to collect them +all, and all that is quoted from them, is excellent. After +the time of the Odyssey those islands are scarcely mentioned +at all. Cephallenia is noticed in a passing remark +at the time of the Peloponnesian war, Zacynthos too is +mentioned once, and in the war of the Romans and Aetolians +they are brought forward more particularly; Ithaca, +on the other hand, does not occur at all in ancient history. +Mythology says, that after Odysseus was slain by Telegonus, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span>his own son by Circe, Telemachus and Penelope quitted the +island from fear of the vengeance of the relations of the +suitors. This statement when translated into history, +means, that the empire was completely broken up, and the +dynasty of Odysseus disappeared.</p> + +<p>As to <span class="smcap">Ithaca</span>, we do not even know what was the name +of its town; near the port distinct traces of a town and +Cyclopian walls are still visible; and a modern English +traveller, Sir William Gell, I do not know whether in joke +or in earnest, states that they are the remains of the palace +of Odysseus. It cannot be ascertained whether the island +existed by itself, or whether it was connected with Cephallenia.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cephallenia</span> had four towns which are mentioned at +the time of the Peloponnesian war under the names of +Pale, Cranii, Same, and Proni; they were quite independent +of one another and allied with Athens. In later times we +find them in the relation of sympolity with the Aetolians. +The name Cephallenia is of more recent origin, the island +being, in early times, called Same. During the Aetolian +war, the Romans completely subdued it on account of +its situation, which was favourable to navigation. Its +inhabitants were notorious as pirates even in very early +times.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zacynthos</span> (the Z must be pronounced as softly as +possible), the southernmost of these islands, is entirely of +a volcanic nature, and remarkable for its springs of naphtha; +it has suffered much from earthquakes, which have continued +even in modern times. Otherwise it is a real paradise, and +must have been the same in antiquity: its fertility, beauty, +and climate are almost fabulous. During the Peloponnesian +war, it was taken by the Athenians; it is mentioned at that +time as an Achaean colony, so that the Achaeans must have +established themselves there as they did at Oeniadae, and +thus extended the boundaries of their own country. Afterwards +it fell into the hands of the Macedonians, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span>ultimately into those of the Romans. The Achaeans wanted +to unite it again with Peloponnesus, but Flamininus resisted +them; but whether they, nevertheless, carried their plan, is +unknown, for all information is wanting.</p> + +<h3 id="Thessaly"><span class="smcap">Thessaly.</span></h3> + +<p>The name Thessaly is used in two senses: in its proper +sense, for example in Scylax, it comprises the country of +the ruling tribes of the Thessalians dwelling within their +natural boundaries, a circumstance of which no notice at all +is taken in our maps and geographical manuals. In this +sense Thessaly touches upon the sea only by a line of coast +thirty stadia in length, and the remaining coast which we +are in the habit of calling Thessalian, does not belong to it. +In the ordinary or wider sense, in which the name can be +proved to have been used even by Herodotus, Thessaly extended +as far as the Aenianians and Malians, perhaps even +as far as the Dolopians, in the south. The tribes inhabiting +it, the Phthiotans, the Magnetes, Peraebi, and others, were +subjects of the Thessalians, and in so far the use of the name +which comprises them also is well founded, for they belonged +to the state of the Thessalians.</p> + +<p>In its narrower sense, Thessaly is the valley of the +Peneus, which is said, in Herodotus, to have once been +one continuous lake, but afterwards discharged its waters +into the sea by breaking through the heights between Ossa +and Olympus. This clearly shews that the tradition applies +to the valley of the Peneus alone, for the valley south +of mount Othrys, for example, could not have been +inundated, whereas the fertile plains of Pherae about lake +Boebeis as far as the Pagasaean gulf, from which it is separated +only by a few hills, may very easily have been +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span>inundated. The statement, therefore, is evidently correct; +its truth may even now be seen, and the ancients judged +correctly. However, to refer the draining, which cannot +have been the work of human hands, but must have been +effected by revolutions of the earth, to the historical ages +is a mistake, because we are accustomed to compress the +events of many centuries within the small space of our historical +knowledge. The opposite mistake consists in assuming, +within the sphere of history, longer intervals than really +exist. The duration of a century seems to be very short, +but if we examine it more minutely, it is a long period for +historical changes. If, for example, we look at Germany +and our ancestors 150 or 160 years ago, how different do +we find them from ourselves in their mode of living, in +their ideas, their occupations, and maxims, and that too in +the highest as well as in the lowest classes of society! +People have imagined that Rome, from the time of Servius +Tullius to that of Cicero, remained in its forms essentially +the same; but this is quite impossible, and the difference +must have been enormous. Even when we look at nations +which seem to admit of no change, for example, the Hindoos, +great differences are still manifest at different times: life is +ever changeable. I do not believe that this remark is +superfluous; it is very important to the historian to have it +always present before his mind; it is impossible successfully +to treat of ancient history without a thorough knowledge of +modern history.</p> + +<p>In its wider sense, Thessaly presents the immense contrasts +of the excellent plain (τὸ Θεσσαλικὸν πεδίον) and the +mountains. On its western side, we have mount <span class="smcap">Pindus</span> +(now Mezzowo, probably a Wallachian name), the highest +of all the Greek mountains, which has only very few passes; +that of Gomphi, leading from Epirus into Thessaly, is the +most convenient, and very easy to defend, on account of the +nature of the country. On the south of the Peneus we +have mount <span class="smcap">Othrys</span>, a tame mountain, to use a Swiss +expression, which is, indeed, covered with wood, but is, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span>nevertheless, capable of being cultivated, and is used in +some parts as pasture to a very great height; it is a smiling +and beautiful mountain, with excellent underwood, whereas +the higher parts of Pindus produce only firs. Pindus, consisting +only of rocks and forests, is a lofty mountain, and a +continuation of the great Illyrian <span class="smcap">Scardus</span>, which extends +from the Julian Alps in Carniola, through Bosnia and Dalmatia, +as far as Constantinople, rising higher and higher, +until, on the coast near Scutari, it reaches its highest point, +and forms its real central knot. Although Scardus is not +covered with snow all the year round, it is, at any rate, very +close to the region of perpetual snow; its ravines and summits +are covered with it during the greater part of the year. +The mountain then suddenly sinks down, and geographically, +though not ethnographically, separates Illyricum from Macedonia, +and runs out into Pindus and Othrys. At this +point Pindus begins, which is joined in the east by mount +Othrys. The Dolopian and Aetolian mountains, for which +no general names are mentioned by the ancients, run +parallel with mount Othrys, and mount Parnassus is an off-shoot +of them. On the southern frontier of Thessaly, in +its widest sense, we meet with mount <span class="smcap">Oeta</span>, which is not +so much a mountain as a series of separate hills; the name +Oeta is not applicable to it in the interior of the country; +the pass of Thermopylae runs between its foot and the +Euboean sea. Oeta is a sublime mountain, and renowned +in Greek mythology on account of the death of Heracles.</p> + +<p>In the north of the valley of the Peneus, a range of very +high mountains, some of which are not distinguished by +particular names, extends towards Olympus; a part of them +is called by Livy <i>montes Cambunii</i>, but we have no distinct +information as to the extent to which this name is applicable, +though from our maps it would seem as if we had. +These mountains issue from the high ranges which, on the +extreme borders of Thessaly, in its widest sense, proceed +from Macedonia, and form another ramification of the +Illyrian Scardus, terminating in mount <span class="smcap">Olympus</span>, which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span>towers far above the clouds, and is always covered with +snow. Every one knows that Olympus is the abode of the +Homeric gods; but it is not so generally known, that the +Roman poets, Ennius, Virgil, and others, when applying +the name Olympus to the vault of heaven, confound Greek +mythology and Roman theology. The Greeks conceived +the gods as dwelling on the top of the mountain, while the +Romans imagined that they lived beyond the heavenly +vault, whence Ennius has the expression <i>maxima porta +Olympi</i>, a conception quite foreign to the Greeks. I shall +hereafter explain why the Greeks called this mountain the +centre of the earth, and that, too, before Delphi was +described in these terms; for it is strange indeed, Olympus +being properly beyond the boundaries of Greece.</p> + +<p>Mount <span class="smcap">Ossa</span>, opposite to Olympus, is not quite so high; +the river Peneus flows between these two mountains +through the valley of Tempe into the sea. This valley, +τὰ Θεσσαλικὰ Τέμπη, was celebrated in antiquity for its +beauty. The ancients, on the whole, do not often speak of +the beauties of nature, for they are not sentimental; and if +they do so, it is always in reference to pleasing and smiling +scenery. The description of Tempe in Aelian, taken from +Theopompus, is perhaps the most accurate we have in any +ancient writer. Dodwell also describes it as equally wonderful; +it is from four to five miles in length, and forms not a +smooth and splendid district with a luxuriant vegetation, +but majestic scenery, resembling, for example, that on +the Eisak between Botzen and Brixen in the Tyrol, or +that grand scenery in the valley of the Inn: its beauty is +manly and sublime.</p> + +<p>Mount <span class="smcap">Pelion</span> extends to the south-east of Ossa, and is +one of the most beautiful mountains in the world: it is +lovely and fertile up to its top; it is covered with chesnut-trees, +and is probably the place from which they have spread +over the world, for their nuts are called <i>nuces Castaneae</i>, +from the town of Castanea on the Pagasaean gulf. Among +the Greek botanists, Pelion is celebrated for its richness +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span>in medicinal plants, and for the variety of its trees. +Previously to the present wretched state of the country, +many large villages existed about mount Pelion; it was +the happiest district; its inhabitants enjoyed great privileges, +and as they were very industrious and under the +special protection of the sultans to whom the district +belonged as a fief, they were enabled to pay a large tribute, +but lived in the interior quite undisturbed and without +suffering any ill usage. Their excellent warehouses, which +were known also to German merchants, are now entirely +destroyed, although the inhabitants have not risen against +the Porte.</p> + +<p>This is the physical outline of the mountains. Phthiotis +is an entirely mountainous country between Othrys, the +Euboean sea and the gulf of Iolcus; but the mountains +are not high. The remaining part of Thessaly is not +absolutely a plain, for the mountains rise gradually, and +the country is intersected by ranges of hills. Thessaly has +two gulfs, that near Thermopylae called Μαλιακός or +Πυλαϊκός, and the Παγασητικός or Ἰωλκίτης.</p> + +<p>I shall now proceed to consider the population. According +to the most ancient traditions, Thessaly was inhabited by +all kinds of people of quite different names. The poets +are fond of applying to the country, in the ancient mythical +period, the name <span class="smcap">Aemonia</span>, which in those times is not an +inappropriate name for Thessaly.⁠<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> Among its earliest +inhabitants, we have mention of the <span class="smcap">Lapithae</span>, who +dwelt on mount Pelion, I do not exactly know where, and +are said to have expelled the <span class="smcap">Centauri</span>. It is quite +clear that the Greeks, in their mythology, conceived the +Centaurs only as mythical beings; the explanation of a race +of men living on horseback, is of late origin, and altogether +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span>uncertain; such a race, moreover, belongs to a plain and +not to the mountains.</p> + +<p>The only river, besides the Peneus, which is of any +historical importance, is the <span class="smcap">Sperchius</span> or <span class="smcap">Spercheus</span> in +the south, which falls into the Euboean sea about four +miles north of Thermopylae. Of poetical interest are the +<span class="smcap">Apidanus</span> and the <span class="smcap">Anaurus</span> near Iolcus, on the banks of +which Jason is said to have lost his shoe. In the west, in +the territory of Pherae, we may notice lake Boebeis.</p> + +<p>The Thessalians are regarded as an Epirot people, that is, +as Thesprotians, who, under their chief Thessalus, conquered +Aemonia. Along with the Lapithae, it is said, Aeolian +tribes occupied the country, Boeotians living in the valley +of Arne, and others elsewhere. Thessaly is sometimes also +regarded as the real Αἰολίς. It is impossible to ascertain +the true history of the Thesprotians, for our accounts of +them directly contradict each other. Thessalians are said +to have migrated from Dodona into Thessaly, and Peraebi +again are reported to have penetrated from Thessaly into +the mountains of Epirus, whence it is probable that here +too the identity of the nations gave rise to the traditions +about immigration. I do not mean to deny the immigration, +but our accounts of it are completely devoid of +authenticity. I lay, however, great stress upon the fact, that +Thessalians and Pelasgians are synonymous in the ancient +poems and genealogies, which are known to us, at least +substantially, from the scholiasts on Apollonius Rhodius and +the Iliad. This is a grand discovery, and one from which +new treasures are still to be gathered: the Alexandrian +school always deserves to be spoken of with the greatest +respect; the statements contained in these scholia make up +for the loss of the poetical lays. At Cyzicus Thessalians +and Pelasgians are mentioned; in Lemnos we find Thessalian +Minyans, and the Pelasgians of Ravenna and Agylla +are likewise called Thessalians. Somewhat later genealogists, +as Hellanicus in his Phoronis, account for the Pelasgians +dwelling in the most distant countries by emigration from +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span>Thessaly under Pelasgus and his son⁠<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> Nanas, which is to us +only a hint. But the statement that the Thessalians in the +valley of Thessaly were foreign immigrants, is credible on +account of their internal constitution and their system of +servitude, which suggests the subjugation of the ancient +population. A system of servitude so fully developed as in +the Wendish parts of Germany, occurs nowhere in Greece +except in Thessaly; I do not mean to say, that it did not +exist in many other parts also, for traces of it are found in +the notes of Ruhnkenius on Timaeus. In Greece proper +helotism is well known; at Athens it never existed, though +we find it in Ionia, Chios, Argos, Crete, Syracuse, and +Magna Graecia; but it was nowhere so permanent as in +Thessaly, where it continued down to the time of the +Romans. Its name is πενεστεία, which expresses both the +body of the serfs and the relation in which they lived; it +does not seem to have originally been the name of a nation, +but must probably be derived, as was done by the ancients, +from πένομαι, and πένης, a poor man.⁠<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a>⁠</p> + +<p>There existed in Thessaly a number of towns forming +independent states by themselves; but that at the same +time they were united by political bonds, is evident partly +from the coins with the inscription κοινὸν Θεσσαλῶν, and +partly from the fact, that in the πεντηκοντετηρίς, before the +outbreak of the Peloponnesian war, kings of Thessaly, such +as Orestes and Echecratides, are mentioned. We must, therefore, +infer, that Thessaly formed one state; but at times the +inhabitants of Larissa, Pharsalus, Pherae, and Cranon appear +as citizens of independent towns, whence we may conclude +that the bonds which connected them were extremely loose.</p> + +<p>Thessaly, in its narrower sense, was divided into four +parts, Phthiotis, Hestiaeotis, Thessaliotis, and Pelasgiotis. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span>The principal passage on this subject is Strabo, ix. p. 430, +<i>b.</i> and <i>c.</i>; which, however, as printed in our editions, +is senseless, and the beginning alone is correct. I will, +therefore, mention to you the emendation I have made, for +even the unrivalled Casaubonus was mistaken here. Instead +of καλούμενοι δὲ Πελασγιῶται, we must read, in accordance +with the MSS. cited by Casaubonus, καλούμενοι δὲ <em class="gesperrt">Θεσσαλιῶται</em>; +and immediately after this we must read, +συνάπτοντες ἤδη τοῖς κάτω Μακεδόσι, καὶ οἱ <em class="gesperrt">Πελασγιῶται</em> +ἐφεξῆς τὰ μέχρι Μαγνητικῆς παραλίας ἐκπληροῦντες +χωρία, so that Πελασγιῶται is restored in the latter +passage. Strabo, however, here confounds Phthiotis, the +country of the Phthiotian Achaeans, with that part of +Thessaly which the Thessalians had separated from the +ancient Phthia and united with Thessaly. Phthia, in the +sense of the Achaean country, is never any other than the +district between the Malian gulf and the valley of the +Peneus; but if we take it as the portion of Thessaly which +the Thessalians had torn from it, and incorporated with +their own country, it cannot have extended down to the +gulf. Thessaly embraced the land from Pharsalus as far as +Hestiaeotis, that is, as far as the upper part of the valley of +the Peneus, in the neighbourhood of Tricca. The extent +of Phthia was not rightly understood by the ancients themselves +in their explanation of Homer. The passage in the +Βοιωτία:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Νῦν αὖ τοὺς ὅσσοι τὸ Πελασγικὸν Ἄργος ἔναιον</div> + <div class="verse indent0">οἵ τ’ Ἄλον, οἵ τ’ Ἀλόπην, οἵ τε Τρηχῖν’ ἐνέμοντο,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">οἵ τ’ εἶχον Φθίην ἠδ’ Ἑλλάδα καλλιγυναῖκα,</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">reads entirely as if Phthia and Hellas were towns. This +fancy, for it is nothing but a fancy, took a firm hold even +of the Alexandrian grammarians; but the verses must be +transposed, οἵ τ’ εἶχον must follow directly after the line +beginning with Νῦν αὖ. Both Hellas and Phthia are +countries, and stand in apposition to the Pelasgian Argos.</p> + +<p>This division into four parts applies only to Thessaly in +the narrower sense, and is not so much of geographical +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span>interest, as it is of real political importance: there must at +one time have existed four real Thessalian states standing +to one another in the relation of isopolity, like the Romans +and Hernicans, and the Samnite nations among one another. +But this point, like all that concerns Thessaly, is involved +in very great obscurity. This much, however, is certain, +that the division was restored under Philip of Macedonia, +who, for the purpose of breaking the power of Thessaly +cut it up into four different states, just as afterwards the +Romans did with Macedonia, and as, in 1812, Napoleon, +while making the Poles believe that he was restoring their +state, divided their country into three parts, in order to +prevent its rising, at a great distance from him, to the rank +of a powerful state. This is the tetrarchy of which Theopompus +in Harpocration gives the well known explanation. +Demosthenes (<i>Philip.</i> ii. p. 71, ed. Reiske), however, states +that Philip divided Thessaly into decadarchies: this reading +occurs indeed in all the MSS., but they are of little authority, +as all of them are founded upon a single recension, +and are perhaps derived from one original manuscript. +From Harpocration, too, an author of the second century, +we see that in his time this reading already existed, and +puzzled him as well as other archaeologists. It is historically +certain, that the Lacedaemonians, in every town that +became subject to them, established a decadarchy, as at first +they did at Athens, though they there increased the number +to thirty; but how we have to view the statement in regard +to Thessaly, is, as Harpocration admits, a matter of doubt. +The explanation, however, is not so very difficult. The +δεκαδαρχίαι in the second Philippic are, if we examine the +context, quite the same as the tetrarchies in the third (p. 117). +The fault arose from the compendious mode of writing: +Δ in ancient Greek writing has, as a number, a double +meaning; according to the common Phoenician practice it +signified <i>four</i>, and according to the Attic system of writing +<i>ten</i>. In nearly all the earlier inscriptions, where it occurs +as a number, Δ signifies <i>ten</i>, as Π signifies <i>fifty</i>; when, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span>therefore, Δ with a line (Δʹ) occurred before ἀρχία +(ΔʹΑΡΧΙΑ), the reader knew that it indicated a number, +but he made it either <i>ten</i> or <i>four</i>, according as he imagined +that he had before him an Attic or a common number; +and if he was familiar with the Lacedaemonian decadarchy, +he read in this passage also δεκαδαρχία. This division into +tetrarchies, then, existed in the Macedonian period, but +we do not know how long.</p> + +<p>I will now put together the few fragments of Thessalian +history which have come down to us. The family of the +Aleuadae, a Heracleid family, was the most celebrated of +all, and ruled at Larissa; it formed an oligarchy even +within the ruling nation; at the time of the Persian +wars it was so powerful as to be in possession of the +whole government, and it is probable that the Thessalian +kings mentioned by Thucydides belonged to it. The +Scopadae were another great and noble family at Pharsalus. +The nobility of Thessaly, like that of the Sarmatians and +that of the middle ages, were numerous, whence the best +part of the Thessalian armies consisted of horsemen; they +scarcely had any infantry at all; a Thessalian phalanx does +not occur anywhere, and peltasts are not mentioned till +later times. Notwithstanding the state of dissolution in +which we find Thessaly, there still existed a bond among +the different states, which embraced even the neighbouring +nations, the Magnetes, the Achaeans of Phthia, and the +Peraebians; it is possible that the Thessalians, may have +ruled over the tribes which touched upon their borders, but +the latter were never really subdued by them, and the +Peraebians seem to have been under the direct supremacy +of Larissa. About thirty or forty years after the Peloponnesian +war, when the disorganisation had increased, the +town of Pherae, which had formerly been insignificant, +rose into importance, and Jason, a man of great parts, came +forward there as tyrant, and was elected dictator by the +whole of Thessaly under the title of ταγός, in which +capacity he ruled over Thessaly and even over the countries +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span>dependent on it. He was succeeded by his brothers, and +then by his nephew Alexander; but his dynasty, like those +of all usurpers in Greece, passed away, and afterwards +Thessaly was in a state of greater dissolution than ever. +The Aleuadae now renewed their claims, but the Thessalians +happened at the time, in common with the Boeotians, +to be involved in the unfortunate war against the Phocians, +and Magnesia on that occasion recovered its independence. +In these circumstances, Philip of Macedonia +appeared among them under the mask of a friend, pretending +that he would assist them, that he would subdue +the Phocians, and reduce Magnesia to obedience; he was +accordingly appointed tagus, and intrusted with the administration +of their revenues arising from port dues and +the tribute of their dependencies. Philip abused this +ridiculous confidence, which was in reality an act of treason +of the Thessalians against themselves, and put himself +in permanent possession of the common domain of which +he had undertaken the management, especially the Thessalian +port of Pagasae, from which the revenues were very +large. Thessaly, which was now divided into four parts, +henceforth belonged to the crown of Macedonia. Very +feeble attempts only were made by the Thessalians to +recover their independence: in the Lamian war they endeavoured +in vain to shake off the yoke, and the same was +attempted in the subsequent wars against Cassander and +Demetrius Poliorcetes. Thessaly, in the narrower sense, +however, remained subject to Macedonia until the second +Roman war of Philip. Under Antigonus Gonatas and +Demetrius, the father of Philip, the Aetolians gained +Achaia Phthiotis, which thus became separated. Philip +recovered indeed a portion of it (Olymp. 140), but the +greater part remained in the hands of the Aetolians, who +even conquered parts of Thessaly Proper, such as Pharsalus, +which, though it was recovered by the Macedonians, yet +remained for a time in the hands of the Aetolians. Thessaly, +however, even in its connection with Macedonia, continued +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span>to form a state by itself, with the exception of Magnesia, +which was regarded as part of Μακεδονία ἐπίκτητος, and +where Demetrius Poliorcetes built the great fortress of +Demetrias, which often served the Macedonian kings as a +place of residence; it was very strong, and possessed a +military port with arsenals for both the land army and the +navy. When the Romans took Greece from Macedonia, +Thessaly, as far as Mount Olympus and the Cambunian +mountains, was separated from Macedonia, and obtained +autonomy. It now formed a separate state, probably including +the Peraebians and the Achaean Phthiotians; but +Magnesia, which remained separate, surrendered to Antiochus, +and afterwards remained in the possession of Philip, +who had conquered it together with Demetrias, and with +the sanction of the Romans retained it, a fact which has +often been overlooked. Many believe that Philip was confined +within the boundaries of Macedonia; but this is +erroneous; his dominion extended over several other countries +besides, for he was rewarded by the Romans with +possessions, which afterwards they took from him. The +fasti of the Thessalian strategi have come down to us in +the Armenian translation of Eusebius; and from them we +learn that the strategi were appointed for the whole of +Thessaly in common, that Larissa not only had no privileges, +but that they were sometimes chosen from smaller +places, nay even from districts, as Phthiotis and Orestis, +which had formerly been subject to Thessaly. One strategus +belonged to Argos, which must have been Argos in Orestis, +and not the Amphilochian Argos. During the war against +Perseus, the Thessalians were in disgrace with the Romans; +whether at that time they lost their autonomy cannot be +proved with any degree of probability. In the war of the +Pseudo-Philip, one part of the Thessalians joined him; but +the history of that war is so obscure, that we cannot say +whether they were independent or not. They seem, however, +to have had, or at least to have recovered, a kind +of autonomy, for during the war between Caesar and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span>Pompey, the Thessalians appear as a state or κοινόν with a +strategus (<i>praetor</i>). The Achaeans then had no common +strategus, and this accordingly appears to prove the autonomy +of the Thessalians. After this their history cannot +be traced.</p> + +<p>After the description I have already given of the physical +features of Thessaly in the narrowest sense of the name, I +have only to add a few remarks on some other points.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Larissa</span> was the most important town of Thessaly both +in antiquity and the middle ages; and it is so still. Its +situation is extremely favourable, the district around it +being unusually fertile. Neither Larissa nor any other +Thessalian town has a distinct history.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pherae</span>, next to Larissa the greatest town, was situated +in the plain towards the bay; it was not indeed as great as +Larissa, but still a respectable town, and is renowned in +mythology for the story of Admetus; in the historical +times, Jason and his family gave a certain celebrity to it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pharsalus</span>, remarkable for the ever memorable battle +which decided the fate of Rome, belonged for a time to +the Aetolians.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tricca</span>, a town of which considerable ruins still exist, +was celebrated for the worship of Asclepius. At least +twenty other Thessalian places are mentioned, but I will +not detain you with an enumeration of their names, as +they are not sufficiently known.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pagasae</span> was the sea-port of Thessaly. The country, +in its narrower sense, extended only thirty stadia along the +sea-coast, beginning with the gulf of Pagasae or Iolcos; the +Thessalians, therefore, had no fleet, though they may have +had a few ships to keep up their commerce by sea. Pagasae +had been united with their country for the sake of commerce; +in the earlier times it is mentioned on several +occasions, but it disappears during the Macedonian period, as +Demetrius Poliorcetes transplanted all the inhabitants of +the towns in that neighbourhood to his new fortress of +Demetrias.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Peraebia</span>, one of the three countries subject to Thessaly, +extended along the foot of mount Olympus towards +Macedonia; its mountainous parts were for a time independent, +but afterwards surrendered to Thessaly; they did +so, however, on more favourable terms than the Aeolian +inhabitants of the plains; for, though they lost their political +independence, they did not become serfs. The inhabitants +were Epirots of the tribe of the Peraebians dwelling in the +neighbourhood of Dodona.</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Magnetes</span> also belonged to the race of the Pelasgians. +The Greek form of their name is Magnetes, though +we are accustomed to say Magnesians, which is in reality +incorrect. Their country embraced the whole coast of +Thessaly from mount Ossa and the mouth of the Peneus +down to the sea which separates Thessaly from Euboea, +and the bay of Iolcos. The whole of mount Pelion belonged +to Magnesia, which has few harbours on its coast, +the most important being that in the bay of Iolcos. In +the map of D’Anville and others of an earlier date, a +considerable town of the name of Magnesia is marked near +the end of the promontory; but this town never existed, it +is a mere blunder, arising from a misunderstood passage of +Apollonius Rhodius, who, in describing the voyage of the +ship Argo along the coast, mentions Magnesia in such a +manner that a person who is not a scholar might mistake it +for a town. Scylax and Herodotus, who give a very accurate +enumeration of the towns on that coast in their natural +succession, do not mention one of the name of Magnesia, +which they apply to the country alone. In Demosthenes, +too, Magnesia is not a town.</p> + +<p>According to their genealogy, the Magnetes belonged +to the Pelasgians, but of their history nothing is known. +In very early times, however, they also occur in Asia, either +because they had emigrated thither, or because the Pelasgian +races in Meonia bore the same name: and why should +not the Magnetes in Europe have undertaken voyages from +their coast to the East?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Iolcos</span> on the Anaurus in Magnesia, is the place from +which the Argonautic expedition is said to have sailed. +In the ancient story it appears as an important place of the +Minyans, but afterwards it was only a very small town, +which subsequently disappears altogether.</p> + +<p>But instead of it there arose <span class="smcap">Demetrias</span>, on the modern +bay of Volo, a splendid harbour in the neighbourhood of +Iolcos: this town is one of those creations which shew the +practical and keen eye of its founder. We have seen that the +establishment of Megalopolis was an unsuccessful undertaking; +Demetrias was a rude, immoral, detested, and odious +man, but of uncommon ability, which he shewed in his +great discoveries in mechanics and in the art of engineering; +the same talent was manifested here also, for he chose a +spot which had been neglected for centuries for the purpose +of founding a capital of Greece, which he intended to +govern as a kingdom. The fact that his son, Antigonus +Gonatas, was enabled to maintain himself as king, without +having a definite kingdom, was owing to Demetrias, for it +was his place of residence, and his whole strength lay there; +it became the capital of Magnesia which was governed by +Macedonia as a province in a manner which is somewhat +strange to us; for under those despotisms, small countries +often had a republican form of government, in which the +kings interfered but seldom. In like manner, the small +islands of the Archipelago, before the outbreak of the +present war, were governed by Constantinople: when a +Turkish vessel appeared, the people trembled, the magistrates +were called out, and if the commander was so minded, +he put them to death. The relations in the Macedonian +empire were of a similar kind; the provinces were bound to +pay tribute and furnish troops, but otherwise they lived quite +under democratic institutions; and when a king founded +a city like Antioch or Alexandria, it received a mixed population +of Greeks and Macedonians, and a republican municipal +constitution. Demetrias, as I have already said, +became the capital of Magnesia, when after the war of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span>Philip the country became free, but it then threw itself into +the arms of Antiochus. As a punishment for this, the Romans +allowed it again to be subdued by Macedonia, and we find +Perseus still in possession of it. We are perfectly ignorant +as to the manner in which the Romans decided the fate of +Magnesia and Demetrias because the last book of Livy has +come down to us incomplete; it is not probable that they +incorporated it with Thessaly or with Macedonia; it is more +likely that, on account of the strength of Demetrias, they +reserved for themselves the supremacy over it, and occupied +it by a garrison.</p> + +<p>The third dependent state was <span class="smcap">Achaia</span> (Phthiotis). We +are surprised to find this name here again; and the ancients +unhesitatingly assume that emigrants from Peloponnesus +had come to these parts, for which there is no authority at +all. A thoughtful ethnographer is content with the observation +that people of the same name lived in both countries, +and that accordingly they were of the same origin, but he +refrains from the attempt to explain the particular manner +in which they were connected. Achaia formed a state +under Thessalian supremacy, and it may have been somewhat +more or less important than Brescia, Verona, or +Padua under the supremacy of Venice. Brescia, <i>e.g.</i>, was +governed by a senate of forty persons, consisting of its own +nobility; but the town was obliged to pay a certain tribute +to Venice. The territory of Brescia again consisted of +smaller states under the supremacy of Brescia. The government +of Brescia in regard to the administration of justice, +was subject to Venice, to which an appeal was open in +criminal cases, and which, when appealed to, sent commissioners +(<i>proveditore</i>) to re-examine the case. These gradations +of dependence are quite obscure to us, and we cannot +see our way clearly in them. We are apt to think only of a +government from above, which makes the laws, but such +was not the case in antiquity nor in the middle ages. Thus +previously to the year 1798 there existed within the papal +dominions several places, which stood indeed under the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span>protection of the popes, but had their own laws, and even +carried into execution sentences of death without the sanction +of the sovereign. A person making himself familiar +with the variety of the Swiss constitutions is going through +an excellent course of preparation for a profound knowledge +of ancient history.</p> + +<p>The case of Achaia was precisely the same: it had the +administration of its internal affairs, but no political independence; +it was not allowed to carry on war on its own +account, but was obliged to serve in the armies of Thessaly, +and to pay a certain tribute according to the terms of its +capitulation, and in extraordinary cases even more.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thebe</span>, the only important town of Phthiotis, was one +of the strongest fortresses of Greece, being well fortified +both by nature and by art. For a time it belonged, like +the rest of Phthiotis, to the Aetolians, but was taken from +them by Philip, and was one of the places out of which +the Aetolians wanted to cheat the Romans, although the +latter had well-founded claims to it. Hence their exasperation +was natural enough, but the manner in which they +gave vent to their rage and fury was senseless.</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Melians</span>, a little people, dwelt on the Sperchius +in the corner of the gulf called Μαλιακός or Πυλιακὸς +κόλπος. It is strange to find a distinction made there +between the Malians and Melians, though the difference +appears to be only one of dialect. They are in reality but +one people, and that too a very small one; the doubts cannot +be satisfactorily solved. <span class="smcap">Trachis</span>, the capital of the +Melians, plays a prominent part in poetry for being +the seat of Ceyx, and in the Heracleiae it was a place +of great importance. In the time of the Peloponnesian +war, the Lacedaemonians established there the colony of +Heraclea; it was a Doric place and had Doric νόμιμα, +although its population was a mass of people driven together +from all quarters, but it had Spartan oecistae, that is, commanders +who made the laws and established the constitution. +This town of Heraclea maintained itself down to the latest +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span>times; during the Macedonico-Aetolian period, it belonged +to Aetolia, and was called Ἡρακλεία ἡ ἐπὶ Τραχῖνι, but +often simply Ἡρακλεία. It was taken by the Romans after +the defeat of Antiochus.</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Oetaeans</span>, likewise a very small people, lived in +mount Oeta; they are generally overlooked in our geographical +books and maps. But although they were a small +people, they enjoyed perfect political independence, just +like Jersey, with its 1,800 inhabitants previously to the +revolution. They occur as an independent people even in +Herodotus and Thucydides; but we know nothing further +about them, for afterwards they disappear.</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Aenianians</span>, a somewhat more important people, +dwelt above the Melians and Oetaeans, but more to the west; +they are called Αἰνιᾶνες in Thucydides, Xenophon and others, +but Herodotus calls them Ἐνιῆνες. This is the most ancient +instance of the Attic αι being expressed in another dialect +by ε, which is the modern Greek pronunciation of αι. The +termination αν is Pelasgic, and also appears in Italy as <i>ans</i> +or <i>as</i>. The Aenianians, like the Melians, do not seem to +have been among the subjects of Thessaly; for Aristotle, in +speaking of the internal commotions among the Thessalian +subjects does not mention them. Their small capital, +<span class="smcap">Hypata</span>, occurs in the wars of the Romans and Aetolians, +and is also interesting, from the circumstance of its being +the scene of the romance of Apuleius, who considers it as +belonging to Thessaly. The Thessalian women were believed +to be skilled in witchcraft; but this belief referred more +particularly to the women of Hypata, and in this respect +they are spoken of by Apuleius.</p> + +<h3 id="The_Dolopians"><span class="smcap">The Dolopians.</span></h3> + +<p>There remains one people, the Dolopians, who in the +earliest history of Greece are scarcely mentioned at all. They +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span>must have occupied a very extensive country, but it was of +an Alpine character, and embraced the part where mount +Pindus turns round towards the Aetolian frontier: there +they must have lived in the valleys in scattered villages. +They are mentioned in the Iliad as by no means foreign to +the Greeks, any more than Dodona in the Catalogue; but +still the poet of the Iliad can scarcely have regarded them +as real Hellenes: their name is one of those by which a +branch of the multiform and undefinable race of the Pelasgians +was designated. The passage in which Thucydides +says (i. 2), that in the Iliad Hellenes and barbarians were +not distinguished, and which refers to such nations as the +Dolopians, must be understood to mean, that Homer mentioned +as Hellenic, nations which Thucydides in a strict +sense included among the barbarians, for the Homeric +geography is based more upon geographical masses than +upon the identity of nationality, the latter of which is more +carefully attended to by Thucydides. Such also is the +meaning of Strabo. Scyros is called Dolopian, and the +inhabitants of Euboea and the neighbouring Cyclades are +called Dryopians, who in point of origin are the same +nation as the Dolopians. Here again we need not have +recourse to a migration, which would have had to traverse +the mountains and the territories of so many nations: the +Dolopians on the Achelous and the Dryopians in the Aegean +are names of the same nation, in the same manner in which +we find Thessalians in Italy and in Greece.</p> + +<p>The Dolopians are not mentioned in history except in a +passage of Thucydides, where he says that the Achelous +flows from mount Pindus through the country of the +Dolopians, and in Xenophon’s Hellenica, where we find +that they were governed by Jason of Pherae. Afterwards +they appear alternately under the supremacy of Macedonia +and the Aetolians, until in the end Philip, in his war +against the Aetolians and Antiochus, again subdued them. +In this condition they are found in the war of Perseus, afterwards +they disappear in the general catastrophe of Greece.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span></p> + +<p>We have now passed through Greece from the southernmost +point of Peloponnesus as far as mount Olympus, the +Thessalian mountains and Tempe.⁠<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> In casting our eyes +back upon Greece, it is surprising to find how few of those +nations share in the great renown of the Greeks in literature +and the arts. In the earliest times poetry was the common +property of all rather than of individuals: epic poetry was +chiefly cultivated among the Ionians in Asia Minor; lyric +poetry among the Aeolians, in Lesbos, Boeotia, Sicily, and +Magna Graecia (Himera, Rhegium), and afterwards also +among the Dorians; dramatic poetry was in reality confined +to Athens. After Pindar, no part of Greece, except Athens, +produced poets, prose writers, and orators, until the latest +times again wrought a change; for then, after the real life +and flourishing period of the arts had already disappeared, +there came forward Polybius, a most respectable author +indeed, though not beyond the point which we ourselves +may attain. The renown in the plastic arts was shared by +Corinth and Sicyon, at an earlier period also by Boeotia +and Aegina, and in a less degree by Argos. Thessaly +is a perfectly rude country, in which genius has created +nothing.</p> + +<p>I shall now pass on to the Greek islands, first to Euboea, +next to the islands in the Aegean, and then to Tenedos and +Lesbos, whose whole character is Asiatic, the Cyclades, +Crete, and the Sporades. I shall then discuss the Ionic, +Doric, and Aeolic settlements in Asia Minor, the colonies +on the coast of Thrace, on the Euxine, and on the southern +coast of Asia Minor. Of most of the islands very little can +be said.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span></p> + +<h3 id="Euboea"><span class="smcap">Euboea.</span></h3> + +<p>Euboea, the largest island in the Aegean, is situated close +to the continent of Greece. This island is often mentioned, +especially by later poets, Callimachus, Apollonius Rhodius +(with his scholiast), and others under antiquated names. +Such names, however, are not to be overlooked, for they are +not fictitious or arbitrary designations, but must be dealt +with cautiously, and neither too much nor too little importance +ought to be attributed to them. But we must above +all things be on our guard against drawing too hasty conclusions +from them, as is done by a certain school of philologers, +who from names and a few facts draw inferences which are +repulsive to a strict philologer, especially when he considers +that there is so much that is clear and true, if they would +but take the trouble to search for it. Thus, e.g., it is not an +unimportant statement, that Euboea was formerly called +Macris, which contains an allusion to the Pelasgian Macrians +on the Propontis, who are mentioned by Apollonius Rhodius; +Corcyra also is said to have been called Macris. Such +things must be known to us, as they were known to the +Alexandrian grammarians. Dionysius Thrax⁠<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> mentions +emendation and the interpretation of the writings of antiquity +as the objects of a grammarian and philologer: a +noble object, which you, too, must set before yourselves. +Whoever wants to be a grammarian, sets before himself a +high aim, which requires a knowledge of antiquity, of +mythology, legends and traditions; in short, he must know +everything that was known to Apollonius, Eratosthenes, +and the grammarians of the second Alexandrian school. A +philologer must strive to become master of all the legends +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span>and traditions to such a degree as to be able, after a moment’s +thought, to give an account of what he finds in a +poet. This knowledge also comprises that which is found +in isolated notices of the scholiasts.</p> + +<p>In the Homeric Catalogue, Euboea belongs to the group +of Argive states, but Abantes also dwell in the island. +Respecting the origin of these Abantes nothing can be +ascertained. Afterwards we find the island divided into +five states, three of which are called Ionic and regarded as +Ionic colonies; the fourth is Dryopian, and the fifth, Hestiaean, +both evidently of the same race as the ancient inhabitants +of Thessaly about mount Pindus, that is, Pelasgian. +<span class="smcap">Chalcis</span> and <span class="smcap">Eretria</span> are said to have been founded by +Ionians from Athens; the former was situated on the Euripus, +the latter, to the south-east of it. In the early history of +Greece, between Olymp. 20 and 40, a period which is so +much neglected, both places were of great importance. It +is perfectly clear that, though we cannot explain how, they +possessed a power far superior to that of Athens at the same +time; the great power of the Colophonians also belongs to +that period of which the history is lost to us. We only +know accidentally, that those two states carried on a long, +protracted, and fierce war against each other, in which +nearly all the states of Greece joined either the one or the +other of them. This shows but too plainly how little the +history of Greece is known.</p> + +<p>Both cities founded an endless number of colonies, and +Chalcis more particularly on the Thracian coast (the Chalcidian +towns in Epithrace), in Sicily and Italy (Cumae, +Himera, Zancle, Catana, Naxos, Rhegium, and others). It +cannot be supposed, that these numerous colonies contained +an efflux of population commensurate with the +size of the place, but only oecistae went out with a fleet +under the protection of Chalcis, and a multitude of people +then assembled from all parts of Greece, who were in want +of a home; the Chalcidians however were the leaders, and the +colony, out of gratitude, formed the noblest phyle from the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span>Chalcidian oecistae, who made the laws. These colonies +are another great proof of the deficiency of our knowledge +of that stirring period, and show how much we should +know, if we possessed Ephorus or only the portion of the +work of Diodorus from the sixth to the tenth book. Our +information is principally derived from Strabo and Heraclides +Ponticus. The last occurrence in which Chalcis +appears as a great state, is related by Herodotus, and belongs +to the period subsequent to the expulsion of the Pisistratids. +The Chalcidians, in conjunction with the Boeotians, carried +on war against Athens, but were defeated. The numbers +mentioned by Herodotus on that occasion show to what +extent precision is lost and how delusive accounts become, +even within the space of a century. But certain it is, that +Chalcis was conquered by Athens, and that cleruchi were +sent to it, of whom, however, subsequently not a trace +appears, whence it must be supposed that they had been +expelled. The Eretrians are mentioned as being in alliance +with Athens; hence we may perhaps assume, that this +alliance had existed even in the early times, when Chalcis +and Eretria were at war with each other. During the +Persian war, Chalcis was not a place of much consequence, +and afterwards still less so.</p> + +<p>Eretria sent out colonies to Corcyra even before the +Corinthians, also to Ischia near Naples, and had its share +in the colonisation of Naples itself. It maintained its power +longer than Chalcis, and during the insurrection of Aristagoras, +it had spirit enough to carry out the expedition +against Sardes; but in the campaigns of Datis it was completely +(ἄρδην) destroyed, and its inhabitants carried away +as slaves into Persia; there the king of the barbarians +assigned to them habitations in the distant interior of +Bactria. The new Eretria, built under the protection of +Athens, remained unimportant.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Carystos</span>, the third town, is renowned for the beautiful +striped marble found in its neighbourhood; it is white, with +greenish veins, and occurs in large strata. The Italians, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span>from its resemblance to the layers of an onion, call it +<i>cipollino</i>. Mineralogy, metallurgy, and technology are +studies which no philologer ought to neglect; they are +extremely instructive to him.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Styra</span> was quite insignificant; it is called Dryopian, +that is, the ancient inhabitants remained there. It was +situated on the southern extremity of the island.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Histiaea</span>, on the north-eastern point of Euboea, had a +Pelasgian population. In the time of Pericles, it was subdued +by the Athenians; all Euboea had then renounced the +connection with Athens, but was re-conquered; the Histiaeans +were overpowered, and an Athenian colony was +established among them. Athenian colonists are otherwise +rarely mentioned, and wherever they occur, the expression +is generally not to be taken in its proper sense, Ionian +colonists alone being mostly meant by it. The new colony +was called <span class="smcap">Oreos</span>, and was founded for the purpose of +keeping Euboea in obedience, and of preventing it from +keeping up a connection with the northern part of the +sea. These colonists, as well as the Attic inhabitants of +Lemnos and Scyros, appear to have been expelled after the +Peloponnesian war; whether they returned, is not known, +but Oreos continued to exist as a town. In the maritime +war of the Romans and Macedonians, it was ravaged and +completely destroyed, so that it never recovered again.</p> + +<p>The most interesting physical phenomenon connected +with Euboea is the <span class="smcap">Euripus</span>, the channel between Boeotia +and Euboea; the sea there had its tides every day, but in +a very irregular manner. This was a great puzzle to the +natural philosophers among the Greeks, and would be so +still, were it not that that part of Europe is so much withdrawn +from the observation of the inquirer. The south-east +of Euboea presents a rocky and dangerous coast; it +may be said in general, that Euboea has no harbours, +and the greater part of its coast is <i>infamis duris naufragiis</i>; +the Capharean rocks deserve to be noticed in particular, +for, according to tradition, the Greek fleet, on its return +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span>from Troy, was dashed against them, and Ajax, the son +of Oileus, perished there. The northern part of this harbourless +coast is called the κοῖλα of Euboea.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Chalcis</span>, about whose ancient greatness I have already +spoken, was situated to the north of the neck of land +(στενά), which separates the northern from the southern +portion of the island. It was for the most part deserted as +early as the time of Dicaearchus; its walls enclosed a space +of upwards of five miles in circumference, but the place +was comparatively desolate. The Macedonian rulers soon +made themselves masters of it for the purpose of keeping +Greece in subjection. In the newly-discovered fragments +of his work, Polybius speaks of an insurrection of Chalcis +against Macedonia, of which the consequence was, that +a Macedonian garrison was placed in the town. I have not +yet been able to find out in which war this occurrence took +place, though it was probably in the Lamian war, or perhaps +at a later time, under Demetrius Poliorcetes. From the +time of this Demetrius, the island was in the hands of the +Macedonians, though not always as a part of the Macedonian +empire. Under Antigonus Gonatas, his brother +Craterus, and, after him, his son Alexander, were princes +of Euboea. At a later period it was again dependent on +Macedonia. In the war of Philip, Chalcis suffered severely +during a predatory expedition of the Romans, for it was +taken by surprise, plundered, and reduced to ashes. After +this it rose again, for it was always easy for those Greek +towns to be restored, if their public buildings were not +destroyed, because the private dwellings were of a very +humble nature and could easily be rebuilt. The city then +became the head quarters of Antiochus. Such things were +not forgotten by the Romans, for their hatred was implacable; +they did indeed restore Chalcis to independence, +because they had not yet gained as firm a footing in those +parts as afterwards; but when Corinth had been taken, +Chalcis was one of the towns which, according to the +decision of the <i>decem legati</i>, were destroyed. It was not till +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span>several centuries later that it was partially restored; and +its situation is so favourable, that, in the course of time, +when the earlier circumstances had been forgotten, a new +town again rose there under the name of Egribos, from +which the modern name Negroponte has been formed.</p> + +<p>The four or five towns of Euboea, which had formerly +been separate states, had each quite a distinct history of its +own; but afterwards when the Greek nations united in +larger masses, they, too, like the Phocians, are mentioned +as a κοινόν, and that, too, as early as the time of Flamininus; +they brought about their own ruin by taking part in the +unfortunate Achaean war.</p> + +<p>Let us now pass on to the northern islands. The nearest +to the Thessalian coast, to the north of Oreos, are <span class="smcap">Sciathos</span> +and <span class="smcap">Scopelos</span>, which were no doubt Dolopian islands; but +nothing particular can be said about them.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Scyros</span> is interesting on account of the legends about +the youth of Achilles, about Lycomedes and Deïdameia. +Theseus, too, is said to have been buried there, and his +remains were brought thence to Athens by Cimon. The +island remained in the possession of the Pelasgian Dolopians, +its ancient inhabitants, until the time when Cimon +established an Athenian cleruchia there, that is, a number of +Athenian citizens obtained each a certain amount of land, +as it were by a lottery. They accordingly became landed +proprietors there, but might dwell in Scyros or remain at +Athens, if they pleased; in the former case, they did not +form an independent state, but only a community under the +laws of Athens. Such was the case at Aegina, Naxos, +Samos, Melos, Lesbos, and elsewhere. This was the system +adopted during the period of the supremacy and tyrannical +sway of Athens, and was one of the means of enriching the +multitude. Sycros, Lemnos and Imbros in particular +became in this manner so completely Athenian, that those +who dwelt there, though they had an independent administration, +yet did not form a state, but were members of the +Attic phylae, and belonged to the number of Athenian +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span>citizens. In the Peloponnesian war, the Lacedaemonians +expelled the Athenian cleruchi from Scyros and other places, +but after the battle of Naxos they were restored. After the +peace with Philip, these islands, and especially Scyros, +remained under the protection of Athens, at least they were +restored to it; even when Rome decided the fate of Greece, +Scyros preserved its connection with Athens, and continued +to do so until the time of Augustus, and probably even +much longer.</p> + +<p>The small island of <span class="smcap">Peparethos</span>, not far from Scyros, +was celebrated for its wine.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Halonnesos</span> owes all its importance to the fact, that +it was the occasion of the beautiful speech of Demosthenes. +It had been taken by the tyrant of Pherae, and the dispute +was as to the terms on which it was to be restored to +Athens. Otherwise both these small islands shared the fate +of Scyros.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lemnos</span> and <span class="smcap">Imbros</span> have both the same political +history as Scyros. Lemnos, however, is much more interesting +to us, on account of its volcanic nature, whence +it was sacred to Hephaestus. It is essentially a volcanic +island, and the ancients speak of a volcanic mountain +having existed there down to the commencement of the +historical period, which, however, has now been extinct +for upwards of 2000 years. Volcanic productions, as terra +sigillata and meerschaum, and several volcanic springs, are +of frequent occurrence there. The beautiful fragments of +the Philoctetes of Attius, which Hermann has collected and +emended, refer to that island. It contained two towns, +<i>Hephaestia</i> and <i>Myrina</i>. According to tradition, it was +inhabited by Pelasgians, who are also called Tyrrhenians; +they are said to have first migrated to Athens, and thence +to Lemnos. There is probably no more foundation +for the belief that Tyrrhenians migrated to Lemnos, than +that they went to the Asiatic coast of Aeolia. Lemnos was +taken by the Athenians at the time when they founded +their colony in Chersonesus; it was taken from them by +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span>Antipater, but after being restored to them, they lost it +again. Respecting Imbros, nothing particular need be said.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Samothrace</span> is celebrated in the ancient legends for +the worship and the mysteries of the Cabiri, whence it has +been much discussed by the moderns: the unfortunate +passion to solve all difficulties which cannot be solved, has +also extended to Samothrace. Whether and when it received +a Greek colony, is not stated by any Greek author. +The remark, that it was a Samian colony, seems to have +been made merely on account of its name; but it appears +to have been a hellenised Pelasgo-Tyrrhenian settlement. +The Samothracians had traditions going as far back as the +time when the Hellespont and the Bosporus had not yet +burst their chains, and when the Aegean was not yet a sea, +which it became when the Pontus broke through its barriers. +But these are mere speculations. The island was +important as a connecting link among ancient nations, and +I am convinced that it was the focus from which a great +number of ancient traditions proceeded. It seems to have +been a resort of pilgrims, like Mecca, or at least a place +where the Pelasgians from the most different parts of the +world met, and which they regarded as the real centre of +their religion. It would be very interesting to know more +particulars about the history of the island, but this does not +justify the attempts to build castles in the air out of insufficient +data.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thasos</span>, the northernmost of these islands, had a Parian +colony, and, as Paros was inhabited by Ionians, it was an +Ionian colony. Before the Greeks took possession of it, it +was like Cythera, one of the many settlements of the +Phoenicians, whence in Cythera the worship of Mylitta, +and in Thasos that of Melkarth, continued to exist. We +must conceive, that in the very earliest times the Phoenicians +were established on the coasts of Greece in settlements +as numerous as in the historical ages were those on the +African and Spanish coasts and in Cythera. Thasos has +quarries of beautiful marble, but is not suited to the growth +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span>of corn, and is not a fertile island, whence it is ill spoken +of by Archilochus. But Thasian wine was much esteemed. +The island had also silver mines, which had been worked +even by the Phoenicians, and it possessed still richer ones +on the opposite coast of Thrace.</p> + +<p>For a time Thasos was powerful and wealthy in consequence +of its mines and its commerce; and by this wealth +the Thasians established their influence among the sea-faring +nations. But when they were forced to submit to +the Athenian supremacy, they found it difficult to live in +that state of dependence, and twenty years after the Persian, +and thirty years before the Peloponnesian war, they revolted, +but were subdued by the Athenians. From that time +Thasos began to decay.</p> + +<p>All these maritime places, though their lands were barren, +had a numerous population as long as their navigation was +flourishing; but as soon as the current of commerce turned +in other directions, the population decreased with extraordinary +rapidity. Such was the case at Chalcis and Aegina, +and also in Thasos.</p> + +<h3 id="The_Cyclades"><span class="smcap">The Cyclades.</span></h3> + +<p>It is very convenient in treating of such a multitude of +islands to consider them in certain groups, which is a great +assistance to the memory. It is no trifling matter to impress +upon one’s mind geography in such a manner as to know it +completely, and it was a happy idea to divide the southern +islands of the Aegean into Cyclades and Sporades.</p> + +<p>The Cyclades are twelve in number, and in the early +times no doubt formed one confederacy, of which, however, +we know no particulars. But traces of such a union occur +in the Homeric hymn on Apollo. Delos was the centre. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span>These islands, according to Thucydides, were partly inhabited +by Phoenicians, but for the most part by Carians. +He proves this in the case of Delos in an excellent manner +by the fact, that the arms found in the newly opened tombs +were Carian. However, these islands were not altogether +Carian; for we find that in later times the inhabitants +of Cythnos were Dryopians. This is stated by Herodotus, +and the Dryopians, as we have seen, were Pelasgians. In +this case, we cannot think at all of a migration; the +Dryopians were a remnant of the Pelasgians.⁠<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a>⁠</p> + +<p>The names of the twelve islands, going round the circle +in a north-western direction are:—<span class="smcap">Ceos</span>, <span class="smcap">Cythnos</span>, <span class="smcap">Seriphos</span>, +<span class="smcap">Siphnos</span>, <span class="smcap">Paros</span>, <span class="smcap">Naxos</span>, <span class="smcap">Delos</span>, <span class="smcap">Rhenea</span>, + <span class="smcap">Myconos</span>, +<span class="smcap">Syros</span>, <span class="smcap">Tenos</span>, and <span class="smcap">Andros</span>. Delos was the +smallest, but at the same time the most illustrious among +them. The notion of the ancients was, that it formed the +centre, round which the others were grouped in a circle, and +that hence they were called Cyclades. But this is erroneous, +for Delos rather forms the circle together with the others. In +the earliest times, it was the seat of a common panegyris +for the twelve islands and of ancient agones, as we see from +the hymn on Apollo, of which the first part at least is so +ancient that its composition may be regarded as contemporaneous +with that of the Iliad and Odyssey. The dissolution +of that union is one of the mysteries of ancient Greek +history.</p> + +<p>The ancient names of Delos are <span class="smcap">Asteria</span> and <span class="smcap">Ogygia</span>. +The statement that it was at one time a floating island, is +of course fabulous, but it is not improbable that it may have +been raised above the sea by volcanic agency.</p> + +<p>Wherever we meet with notices of the Cyclades in the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span>historical times, they are at first all independent of one +another; with the exception of Cythnos, all received Ionian +colonists from Athens, whence we there find the relation of +masters and serfs, as for example at Naxos, where Lygdamis +was tyrant. Wherever we have a trace of history, we catch +a glimpse, as it were in the twilight, of an oligarchical relation. +After the Persian wars, the Cyclades came under the +supremacy of Athens, for each by itself was too weak: even +Miltiades had tried to subdue Paros and Naxos, and afterwards +the plan succeeded. Naxos, which revolted, received +a cleruchia. Delos was changed by the Athenians into a +national sanctuary; the ancient inhabitants were expelled, +and a colony was sent thither. In obedience to the command +of an oracle, the Athenians dug up all the dead bodies in +the island, and conveyed them to Rhenea; but even for many +years previously it had not been allowed to bury any one +there. Although the islands were fertile, yet they were +powerless, and after the battle of Naxos, again acknowledged +the supremacy of Athens. In the Macedonian period, +Delos alone seems to have remained in the hands of the +Athenians, and after the war of Perseus, it was given back +to them by the Romans; whether the Romans had a right +to do so, I know not. During the Roman period, Delos, +which had formerly been venerable for religious reasons, +acquired a different kind of importance: it became the place +of the greatest fair in those parts, being the entrepot between +Alexandria and the towns on the Euxine; it was resorted +to by merchants from the most distant countries, and even by +the Romans so far as they carried on their commerce from +Puteoli. To Athens it was of great importance on account +of its harbour dues. It was also a central point for the +slave-trade, and on one occasion 10,000 slaves are said to +have been sold there in one day. From this fact some +modern authors have made out, that this was the number of +slaves sold there every day all the year round. At a later +time Delos lost this importance; the piracy of the Cilicians +and Cretans seems to have inflicted on Delos a deadly blow, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span>and in the time of Augustus and Strabo it had lost its +commercial importance, trade having taken a different +direction.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Paros</span> is celebrated for its white marble, the most beautiful +for purposes of sculpture: the Carrara marble which +enjoys a great reputation, is of a much inferior kind, containing +more lime, while the Parian is more like crystal and +precious stone, nor has it the disagreeable suggary whiteness +of the Carrara marble, which becomes a little yellowish +only by exposure to the air. Opposite to Paros is the small +island of Antiparos, remarkable for its grotto with its stalactites, +the most celebrated in the world, though the ancients +do not mention it. In early times, the town of Paros was one +of the most enterprising, and, in a commercial point of view, +one of the most important places; besides the island itself, the +Parians had colonies extending far into the interior of the +Adriatic, and the town of Paros there is said to have been +of Parian origin; they also took part in the establishment of a +colony on the Liris. Archilochus, one of the greatest poets +of Greece, was a native of Paros. Some Greeks whose +judgment is of great weight, placed him by the side of +Homer: and legendary stories say, that the gods were so +favourably disposed towards him as to order Corax, who +had murdered him, to quit their sanctuary and not to return +to it, until he had propitiated the shade of the poet. Paros +also possesses an excellent harbour, suited even to great +ships of war; but it is little noticed in ancient history. It may +be said in general that those islands were rich in harbours.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Siphnos</span>, remarkable in a mineralogical point of view, +is not far distant from Paros; previous to the Persian +period, it had silver mines, through which it became +wealthy; but when they were exhausted, it sank into the +greatest wretchedness, for it is a barren island.</p> + +<p>The neighbouring <span class="smcap">Serīphos</span> (not Serĭphos) is still more +barren, being a mere rock; it acts a prominent part in the +mythus about Perseus. The Romans in after-times banished +their criminals to Seriphos and Cythnos.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ceos</span>, not far from Attica, was beautiful and populous; +it contained four towns, of which I will mention <i>Carthaea</i> +and <i>Iulis</i>. The latter was the birth-place of Bacchylides, +and probably also of his uncle, the elder Simonides. The +site of Carthaea has been ascertained only in modern times +by Bröndstedt and Haller of Nürnberg, who caused excavations +to be made there and found ruins and inscriptions. I +only trust that these inscriptions may not prove to be forgeries; +for a friend at Athens sent me them long before +they were known in Europe, having probably been copied +by some Greek; but those people are too unscrupulous about +truth, and you cannot trust them. These inscriptions, +however, are very important; a few only belong to the +early period during which Athens was free; most of them +were made in the Macedonian and Aetolian times. I have +supplemented the deficiencies, and Bröndstedt has published +them with my emendations and additions, without even +intimating that they are only probable conjectures, and he +has altered the mistakes in writing without informing his +readers as to whether they occur on the stones or not. This +is a violation of historical fidelity. The ancient traditions +about Ceos contain strange stories. The moral purity and +the severity of the Ceans are much praised, and in the +descriptions of manners in the comedies of Menander, they +are spoken of in the highest terms. The other statement, +that they killed their old men, in order to save them from +the miseries of decrepitude, is, I hope, founded on some +confusion, or is limited to one particular instance. The land +is fertile.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Andros</span> and <span class="smcap">Tenos</span> are large and fertile, but have no +history.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Syros</span> is remarkable as the birth-place of the philosopher +Pherecydes, the instructor of Pythagoras.</p> + +<p>On the one side of Delos was the island of <span class="smcap">Rhenea</span>, and +on the other that of <span class="smcap">Myconos</span>; the former is insignificant, +but Myconos is somewhat larger.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Naxos</span> is the most splendid of all the Cyclades, and was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span>justly regarded as the favourite isle of Dionysus. Its form +is like that of most volcanic islands in the south sea, rising +from the waters like a cone: it is a mountain with broad +sloping sides, and fertile to its very top; it does not indeed +produce corn all the way up, but it is clad with vines and +olive groves. The island is a real paradise, and even at this +day one of the most flourishing in the Archipelago. Its +summit was crowned with a temple of Zeus, though the +island itself was sacred to Dionysus. In the early times it +was powerful, especially during the age of Pisistratus; at +the period of transition, it fell into the hands of Lygdamis, +who protected the demos against the aristocracy; he became +a usurper, but was a mild ruler, and beneficial to his subjects. +During the Persian period, Naxos was still important +and rich, but soon after came under the supremacy of Athens. +It then revolted, but was subdued and received cleruchi, +who however were expelled after the Peloponnesian war. +During the period which then followed, nothing is known +about Naxos. When the power of the Macedonians in +Egypt was at its height, that is, in the reigns of Philadelphus +and Euergetes, all the Cyclades were governed by the +kings of Alexandria. After the fourth king, when the empire +was decaying, those islands had no ruler and no protection, +for which reason they endeavoured to enter into the +relation of sympolity with the Aetolians as early as the +time of Euergetes, and those who did not form this relation +were infested by Aetolian and Illyrian pirates.</p> + +<p>These are the Cyclades as we find them enumerated by +Scylax, a highly respectable authority. But wherever a whole +consists of a definite number of parts, the same number not +unfrequently embraces different parts at different times, new +parts being introduced in place of earlier ones; if you remember +this, it will help you out of many an historical labyrinth. +Such also was the case with the twelve Cyclades; they were not +the same at all times, but the southern islands, which are not +included by the ancients, were regarded as belonging to them +at a time which cannot now be defined, so that some must have +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span>been omitted, which, accordingly, had either abandoned the +connection or were forgotten on account of their insignificance. +The same is the case with the twelve Achaean towns, +and the seven hills of Rome, two of which are sometimes +regarded as one, so that a new one is added. In this manner +we have four more small islands, which are classed +among the Cyclades, for which we must suppose that +others, such as Seriphos and Rhenea, were omitted from the +list. Delos, however, was always regarded as the centre, +whence the phrase was, “Delos and the Cyclades.” The +number twelve might thus be kept up in a variety of ways. +The four islands before alluded to are <i>Melos</i> and <i>Thera</i>, +which were Doric, and <i>Ios</i> and <i>Amorgos</i>, which were +Ionic; Scylax includes them all among the Sporades.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Melos</span> was a Lacedaemonian colony, but during the +Peloponnesian war it was conquered by the Athenians at +the instigation of Alcibiades. The discussion of this subject +in Thucydides is an ever-memorable masterpiece of the +development of conflicting opinions; the transaction itself +is a stain upon Athenian history; fortunately the number of +such stains is but small. The inhabitants of Melos were +sold as slaves; after the Peloponnesian war the island was +indeed restored, but it remained insignificant. It is a +beautiful volcanic island with hot sulphureous springs and +the like, and contains much fertile land. Its modern name +is Milo. The ruins of the theatre excite our astonishment, +especially considering that it was a Doric place; they are +evidence of a numerous and wealthy population. The +excellent torso of Aphrodite, which is now in Paris, was +found in Melos.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thera</span>, according to tradition, was colonised in the +very earliest times by the guardian of the kings Eurysthenes +and Procles, belonging to the family of the Labdacidae. +This account, however, is purely mythical; it reads very +pleasantly in Herodotus, but has not the least historical +foundation. This much only we see from the whole series +of Dorian colonies, that they belong to a period, when most +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span>of the Dorians, with the exception of Corinth and Aegina, +had no maritime power, while Sparta must still have +possessed a navy, since without it the colonies could not +have subsisted. The most important point in the history of +Thera is, that it became the metropolis of Cyrene, which +reflected its lustre upon it. Thera had formerly been a +Phoenician colony, and the name of Membliaros, whose +family resided there, is entirely Phoenician. The island is +particularly remarkable in a physical point of view; historically +it is of no importance. There is not a spot on +the earth that is so much subject to earthquakes as Thera; +hence new islands have been formed in its vicinity at different +periods. The ancients mention an island of the name +of Hiera, which was raised up by volcanic agency, and in +this manner three new islands have appeared there, the +last of which rose up in the year 1707. This, accordingly, +is one of the points where the fire burning in the +bowels of the earth shows its direct agency. The name +of Anaphe, a small island in the vicinity, also alludes to +this.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ios</span> is known from the very ancient tradition, that Homer +was buried there. It was an Ionian colony,like <span class="smcap">Amorgos</span>, +which was celebrated for its textures, for the <i>vestes Amorginae</i> +were prized as highly as the <i>Coae</i>; it is very probable +that cotton may have been cultivated there, but it is possible +also that it was imported from Egypt and Syria.</p> + +<h3 id="Crete"><span class="smcap">Crete.</span></h3> + +<p>The antiquities of Crete are as much a mystery to us as +those of ancient Boeotia and several other countries. Minos +is to us a mere name, but we may believe the statement of +Thucydides, that the recollection of Crete having once ruled +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span>over the Cyclades was connected with the period represented +by Minos. But what connection there existed +between Minos and the later Cretans, is a question about +which we know nothing at all. He can scarcely have been +a Greek, and the subsequent Greek population of Crete has +no more to do with him than the Tyrrhenians have with +the Etruscans. I am convinced that he was connected only +with the Eteocretans, as is clearly stated by Herodotus. +These earlier Cretans probably continued to live in the +island as subjects of the later inhabitants, and only two of +their towns, Praesos and Polichna, maintained their independence. +All the other towns of Crete are Dorian, Argive, +or in general Peloponnesian colonies. What are called the +laws of Minos, unquestionably belong to the Greek immigrants, +and if the question be raised, as to whether the +Spartans obtained their laws from Crete, I do not hesitate +for a moment to assert, that the laws of both nations are +originally Doric, and that the Dorian immigrants introduced +them among the Cretans; though the later inhabitants +boasted of having preserved the ancient laws of the conquered +original inhabitants. I believe no more in the +historical personality of Minos than I do in that of Lycurgus. +We must not, however, imagine, that the subsequent +Cretans were an entirely new population, for they were in +fact only the ruling party. If we compare the history of +different nations we find several instances of conquerors +adopting the name of the conquered people: thus the +Spanish tyrants of Mexico called themselves children of +Montezuma; in Peru this is still more common, though +nearly all the Peruvians are hybrids. In like manner +the Dorian conquerors did not go to Crete with their wives +and children, but the later population was descended on the +mother’s side from the ancient Cretans. Those whom we +call Ionians, were descended in the same manner from the +Carians.</p> + +<p>I cannot say much that is satisfactory about Crete; in +my opinion, this is another of those points in regard to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span>which a sober inquirer must be content with very few +results. I feel it my duty to caution you against all those +Ogygian inquiries in ancient Greek history; they are very +often no inquiries at all, but mere gossip about notions +taken up at random and vaguely conceived—things which +rouse the indignation of a genuine philologer. I cannot +accordingly, in the case of Crete, go back to the earliest +times, simply because we have no information. Cnosos and +Cydon, according to some obscure account, were Argive +colonies; of Lyctos it is certain that it was a Dorian colony, +though neither time nor circumstances are mentioned; +respecting most of the towns, no information at all has +come down to us. The statement in the Odyssey,⁠<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> where +Crete is spoken of accidentally, is very singular; it does +not afford us much assistance, but only leads us to the +conclusion, that all the statements in the Odyssey are much +more recent than those in the Iliad, and that the conclusion +of the Odyssey is even of much later origin than the rest: +the part I allude to must have been composed at a time +which we cannot place farther back than the commencement +of the Olympiads. Odysseus there says, that he comes +from Crete, which was inhabited by the Dorians, Pelasgians, +Cydonians, and Eteocretans. The Eteocretans are here +mentioned as the most ancient inhabitants; next come the +Cydonians, without any remark being made as to their nationality; +the Pelasgians are otherwise not mentioned at all in +those parts; and the Dorians, of course, are the later immigrants +from Peloponnesus. Another and more probable +statement, in Herodotus, is, that the Cretans were either +Carians or Lycians, or Carians mixed with Lycians. These +nations, whom we regard as barbarous, are said to have +emigrated from Crete, which implies nothing beyond the +fact that they belonged to the same race. The ancient +inhabitants, as I have already said, afterwards appear partly +in subject places, and partly as serfs in the larger towns.</p> + +<p>At no period of our history did Crete form one connected +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span>state; it consisted of a number of independent towns which, +tradition says, amounted to one hundred; this is at least a +proof of a very dense population.</p> + +<p>The Eteocratans, as a nation, disappear in history, without +there being any definite mention of the immigration of +their later rulers, and stories were invented in ancient times +to account for this disappearance. According to one tradition, +all the old Cretans, with the exception of two tribes, +emigrated, in order to avenge the death of Minos, and all +perished; while, according to another, they were all carried +off by a plague, which occurred after the Trojan war. But +all this is foolish.</p> + +<p>Crete is a large island, presenting a grave, and not +an Ionian aspect, but in many parts it is rich and fertile. +The great woody mountain Ida (Ἴδη is the Ionian name of +a woody mountain) extends through the whole length of +the island. Mythology describes this mountain as the +birth-place of Zeus, and the other statement that he was +born on mount Ida near Troy arose only from a confusion. +The Cretan Ida is covered with most magnificent forests, +and furnishes not only timber for shipbuilding, but is also +rich in medicinal herbs. The coast contains a number of +the most fertile plains. All the promontories of Crete are +branches issuing from mount Ida.</p> + +<p>In the historical times, the number of Cretan towns, +if we gather the names from the different writers, amounts +to thirty. How many of them were sovereign and how +many subject, is a question which can be answered only +approximately.</p> + +<p>The greatest towns were <span class="smcap">Cnosos</span> (better than Cnossos) +and <span class="smcap">Gortyn</span>, or in Latin poets Gortyna, like Cortona and +Ancona. The Latin language does not recognise the termination +<i>on</i>, whence in names of male persons the Greek +ων is shortened into a single <i>o</i>; hence the Romans in the +earlier times did not say <i>Solon</i>, but <i>Solo</i>, and the editors of +Cicero should always write the name in this manner. In +later times this practice was forgotten; and Pliny has Hieron +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span>and Solon; but names of towns are generally lengthened +by the addition of <i>a</i>. Both Cnosos and Gortyn were very +ancient Cretan towns, but were taken possession of by later +settlers. The magnitude of the ruins of Gortyn, situated +on a beautiful table land, points to a brilliant period, which +must have been a very early one. Near them is the labyrinth, +the construction of which is ascribed to Minos; it is +however not fabulous, but a mighty palace-like building of +the heroic age. <span class="smcap">Cydonia</span> reminds us of the people of the +same name in the Odyssey. <span class="smcap">Lyctos</span> is expressly mentioned +as a Spartan colony.</p> + +<p>I point out these places to you because they are of some +historical importance; I might add a great many others, +but they are only empty names.</p> + +<p>During the Peloponnesian war, when all Greece was +divided between Athens and Sparta, the Cretans sided +with neither. There are a tolerable number of Cretan +monuments with inscriptions, belonging to the period of +the power of the Aetolians; they are for the most part +treaties by which they were admitted by the Aetolians into +the relation of sympolity.</p> + +<p>The Cretan towns are spoken of, especially by Aristotle, +as if all of them had had one common constitution +(πολιτεία Κρητῶν). Every Cretan town, even the subject +places, seems according to the constitution to have been equal +to the largest; all had a close aristocracy and ruling houses (a +patriciate), and this proves that the country had at one +time been conquered. Their highest magistrates, eligible only +from among the <i>gentes</i>, were called κόσμοι; they were five +in number, and possessed despotic power; they seem to have +been elected annually. Insurrection was lawful in Crete, as +in Poland, for when the oppression became too severe, the +nobles refused obedience to the magistrates, and elected new +ones. The greatest anarchy was thus legalised, and this +was the consequence of a constitution, which had in itself +no organic protection: a proof of the barbarous character of +the people. The Cretans were the worst of all the Greek +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span>nations; they were an object of detestation and indignation. +You remember the expression of St. Paul, in the Epistle to +Titus; their character gave rise to the verb κρητίζειν. Polybius +confirms this judgment with an undisguised hatred of the +Cretans, a hatred which is even stronger than that of the +Aetolians. In his time they were completely devoid of all +sense of honour; treason and faithlessness towards their +superiors being no disgrace among them. Thus they +treacherously delivered up the unfortunate Achaeus who +had revolted against Antiochus; they shewed, in fact, all the +degeneracy which we now find among the unhappy Greeks +in their enslavement. The Cretans, however, had no +foreign tyranny as a palliation, for no part of Greece remained +so free from foreign oppression, and they never were +under the supremacy of Macedonia, except in the reign of +the last Philip, who was chosen by them as arbitrator; he +had, however, no garrison in the island, but exercised only +his personal influence. Crete then remained independent, +and the Romans were altogether indifferent about it. But +the pirates of the Asiatic coasts established themselves among +them, and the Cretans even took part in the trade, whence in +<span class="allsmcap">A.U.C.</span>, 685 they were conquered by the Romans. In the +earlier times they sold their services as mercenaries, serving +as light-armed troops and forming a peculiar kind of +infantry. At their conquest by the Romans, they were +chastised, and many of their towns were destroyed. After +this they are no longer mentioned in Roman history, so that +we cannot even say to what province they belonged. It is +only occasionally, when disturbances broke out, that a +praetor was sent to them.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Carpathos</span> is situated in the north-east of Crete, towards +Rhodes; in the same direction we have <span class="smcap">Astypalaea</span> and +<span class="smcap">Nisyros</span>. All three were Dorian settlements; Carpathos +in the end came under the supremacy of Rhodes.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span></p> + +<h3 id="Rhodes"><span class="smcap">Rhodes.</span></h3> + +<p>Rhodes was a state of which the Greeks, in the last period +of their history had reason to be proud; its peculiarity was +its freedom from all that for which otherwise the Greeks +are justly censured. Its character is honesty, conscientiousness, +and thoughtful prudence, like that of the Dutch +republics, the Swiss cantons, and the free cities of the +German empire in their best times; nor was literary and +intellectual culture foreign to the Rhodians. Their greatest +prosperity belongs to the time when the sun of Greek +intellect had already set; but they still had, comparatively +speaking, a happy period.</p> + +<p>Rhodes was an ancient Dorian settlement, but it is foolish +to suppose that it existed even before the time of the Trojan +war, as is stated in the Homeric Catalogue in the account +about Tlepolemus, for at that time the Dorians did not +inhabit any country from which they could have sent a +colony to Rhodes. The reason of the interpolation is +apparent.⁠<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> The true tradition probably is that the Dorians +went thither after the conquest of Peloponnesus; but this +too is very obscure, for the period subsequent to the Doric +migration is not clearer to us than that which preceded it.</p> + +<p>Rhodes had three towns which formed the three tribes in +the island; this is expressed in a passage of the Catalogue: +τριχθὰ δὲ ᾤκηθεν καταφυλαδόν; these towns were <span class="smcap">Lindos</span>, +<span class="smcap">Ialysos</span>, and <span class="smcap">Camiros</span>. The soil of the island is excellent, +and the country being equally adapted for agriculture and +navigation, we find both from early times. Hence its power +had a much more secure basis than, e.g., that of the Aeginetans, +who had no agriculture at all, for agriculture is the +only foundation of permanent happiness. Until the time of +the Peloponnesian war those three towns remained in the +same condition; they formed together one state, which, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span>however, was without a common centre. During the war, +the Rhodians distinguished themselves by their prudence, +remaining faithful to Athens, and not allowing themselves, +like the Naxians and others, to be drawn into unfortunate +insurrections; but when Athens abused her power and the +Lacedaemonians were gaining the upper hand, the Rhodians, +accommodating themselves to the change of circumstances, +joined the latter, and that the more readily because they +were Dorians. Henceforth a consciousness was awakened in +them, that they might raise themselves to a higher position, +and they determined to remove from their small towns into +one great city. They accordingly founded the city of +<span class="smcap">Rhodes</span> on the splendid harbour which the first settlers +had overlooked. This place now became the centre of the +country, and the other towns καθάπερ δῆμοι, but were not +destroyed, and even at this day we hear of villages called +Lindo and Camiro. The earliest inhabitants were undoubtedly +Carians, who, on receiving a Dorian aristocracy, +became at first serfs, but afterwards rose to the rank of free +communities; the productive commerce rendered it impossible +for the aristocracy to maintain itself for any great length +of time. There then followed a period of internal discord, +of which only obscure accounts have come down to us. +After the war, which was occasioned by the expedition of +Cyrus the younger, and in which they joined the Lacedaemonians, +they fell, in consequence of their internal divisions, +into the hands of the Carian dynasty of Mausolus. The +younger Artemisia, the wife of Mausolus, who resided at +Halicarnassus, was enabled, by the factions in the island, to +take possession of it. One of the first youthful productions +of Demosthenes refers to this event. In this manner, Rhodes +was for a time connected, through Halicarnassus, with the +Persian empire; according to the peace of Antalcidas, this +ought not to have been, but that peace was observed only +where it was advantageous to the Persians. Before Rhodes +came under the rule of Artemisia, it had, in conjunction +with Chios and Byzantium, taken part in the Social war +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span>against Athens, from which we see that the Rhodians were +anxious to throw off the dominion of the Athenians and to +establish a maritime power of their own. There now rose +among them the family of Mentor and Memnon, which +acquired unprecedented influence at the court of Persia; +they governed Rhodes nominally as satraps, but in point of +fact, as sovereigns, as in the fifteenth century the Medici +governed Florence. But they fell with the Persian empire. +Both were Greeks, but barbarised in their sentiments and +possessing all the passions of barbarians; they had, however, +the advantage of Greek intelligence and culture. Memnon, +especially, was a distinguished man, and his death alone +rendered the success of Alexander’s undertaking possible, +and but for this event, it would appear in history as foolhardiness: +that which now appears as great and is considered +as great, would be looked upon as foolish; Memnon would +have cut off Alexander’s return from Persia, and his fate +would have been like that of Charles XII. in the Ukraine; +nay Memnon would have attacked him in Macedonia and +overthrown his power in Greece. I will not decide as to +whether this would have been better for the Greeks. After +Memnon’s death, Rhodes also submitted to the Macedonians, +and it would seem that a republican party there was anxious +to bring about this connection with Macedonia. Rhodes +now openly showed itself to be what it really was, viz., the +connecting link between Europe and Asia, for Tyre was +destroyed and Alexandria had not yet risen to greatness. +The commerce between the two continents was thus established +at Rhodes, which became great soon after Alexander’s +death, twenty-eight years after that of Memnon (Olymp. +119). Its siege by Demetrius Poliorcetes is the grandest +thing in ancient history: it is as bold as it is distressing +and elevating. The inhabitants of a single little island, or +rather a small city, had the courage not to allow themselves +to be intimidated by the ruler of Asia Minor and Syria, +who poured his fleets and his armies upon them, and what +is still more, employed against them all the strength of his +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span>talent; they resisted him so boldly and so gloriously, that +he was obliged to grant them an honourable peace. Rhodes, +however, suffered severely on that occasion, and the whole +island was fearfully ravaged; but it soon recovered; and, +owing to the great confidence which it inspired, and to the +obligation which the Egyptian king Ptolemy incurred +towards it, the island rose so much in the esteem and respect +of all, that, comparatively speaking, it stood as high as +Athens did after the Persian wars. From this time, Rhodes, +notwithstanding the general confusion, became powerful +and respected, not through good fortune, but through the +industry and exertions of its inhabitants. It was they who +destroyed the Etruscan pirates, and their squadrons sailed +as far as the Aegean, securing the freedom of navigation +for the good of all Greece. As commerce increased more +and more at Alexandria, and as Egypt was not a country fit +for shipbuilding, the Rhodians became the freighters for +the greater part of the ancient world. Such nations are +universal benefactors, and all are concerned in the preservation +of their navigation. This accounts for the fact, that +at the time when Rhodes suffered from inundations and +earthquakes, nations and princes vied with one another in +helping and benefitting them. For the good luck which +favoured Rhodes did not remain unmixed, for it had to +sustain many serious calamities. The city was built in the +form of a theatre, but in such a manner that towards the +harbour it was protected by a lofty and strong wall. Once +during the Macedonian period, when a heavy fall of +rain had inundated nearly the whole city, the swollen +streams poured down upon it, without finding an outlet +into the sea, until in the end they fortunately threw down +the mighty wall, and thus ran off. This is one of the most +fearful events in Greek history, and was the consequence of +an earthquake. The earthquakes by which Rhodes has +been visited have been terrible. About the end of Olymp. +138, or at the beginning of Olymp. 139, in the reign of +Euergetes, it was almost wholly destroyed by an earthquake, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span>during which the Colossus was overthrown, which was never +set up again. In the time of Antoninus Pius, the city was +visited by the earthquake, which reduced nearly all the towns +on the Asiatic coast to heaps of ruins, and in which Rhodes +lost its last splendour, its whole fleet, its arsenals, its trophies +and monuments: on that occasion it was thoroughly destroyed. +It was then, of course, not restored to what it had been; its +navigation henceforth was insignificant, and agriculture +formed the principal occupation of its inhabitants.</p> + +<p>Rhodes preserved not only its political independence, but +also its great importance throughout the Macedonian period. +At the time when all the other Greek states were quite +servile, and got on only by manoeuvring, the Rhodians +stood forth as a princely people, whose friendship was +courted by kings, and whose enmity was dreaded. While +their state was in this illustrious position, they formed connections +with the Romans; they seem to have entered into +friendly relations with them as early as the fifth century, not +long after Alexander’s death, probably on the occasion of their +proceedings against the Etruscan pirates, because both +nations aimed at the same objects, but the Rhodians—and +this is a proof of their great prudence—never concluded a +formal treaty with the Romans; their fleet co-operated with +that of Rome, but they undertook no obligations. Their +assistance in the war against Antiochus was liberally +rewarded by the Romans who gave them Caria and Lycia. +But the Romans afterwards harboured ill-feelings towards +them, because in their relations with Rome they shewed a +spirit of independence and no servility; hence in the war +against Perseus the Romans tried to interpret every step +taken by them as hostile towards themselves. The Rhodians, +it is true, did not wish for the downfall of Perseus, they no +doubt wanted to have an equipoise in those parts against the +Romans, and some men of influence may have secretly +espoused the cause of Perseus; the Romans, moreover, had +even before that time taken back a part of the presents they +had made to them; they had hurt their feelings and so much +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span>offended them, that the Rhodians believed the Romans to +be hostile towards them; but they never really did anything +that could be laid to their charge. After the fall of Perseus, +many Romans were impatient to destroy Rhodes; but Cato, +though otherwise not favourably disposed towards the +Greeks, was actuated by such respect for their conduct, +that he exerted his whole influence with the senate to save +them. They retained their independence, but became allies +of Rome and lost their subjects; still, however, they shewed +prudence, they were free, and had no Roman commander +over them. Eighty years later, the Mithridatic war afforded +the Romans an opportunity of congratulating themselves for +having followed the advice of Cato; for the Rhodians held +out faithfully and heroically against Mithridates, and did +not allow themselves to be prevailed upon by the Thessalians +to enter into an alliance with the king. For this the +Romans again rewarded them with territories. After the +murder of Caesar, Cassius who was unworthy to be the +associate of Brutus, took possession of the town of Rhodes, +and treated it very harshly and cruelly. The Rhodians, +however, continued to enjoy their freedom and the esteem of +the nations until the time of Antoninus Pius. At this period +we find, from a speech of Aelius Aristides, that they possessed +autonomy, and criminal jurisdiction, and the neighbouring +islands as well as the Caunians on the continent recognised +as subjects their supremacy. Aristides, in order to cheer +them after the terrible earthquake, reminds them of the +beautiful story of a Rhodian sailor whose ship perished in a +storm, but who clung to the helm to the last, and sunk with +the words: “I call upon thee, Poseidon, as my witness, that +the ship went down standing upright.”</p> + +<p>The arts and literature also were cherished at Rhodes, +though in the earlier times there are not many Rhodian +names that can be called great. Cleobulus of Lindos is +mentioned as one of the seven sages. But Apollonius is a +poet who certainly ought not to be despised; we read his +work with pleasure and can learn much from it, though he +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span>cannot be compared with Callimachus who lived before +him. The wealth of the Rhodians and their taste for the +beautiful and magnificent gave great encouragement to the +arts. When oratory had died away at Athens, and all vital +energy had withdrawn from that city, it took refuge in +Rhodes; it had indeed already assumed the character of old +age, but still at a time when in Greece proper no good +speech was heard, when in the towns of Mysia and Caria +literature had degenerated into mere bombast, a <i>sanum +loquendi genus</i> was preserved in Rhodes, which is no small +praise, though the <i>sanum</i> was sometimes a <i>siccum</i>.</p> + +<p>The constitution of Rhodes is difficult to make out. The +part of Cicero’s work, “De Re Publica,” where he spoke of +it, is wanting, so that we can form only conjectures; but it +would lead me too far to explain them here. Certain it is, +that Rhodes, by the peculiarity of its institutions, was so +far democratic, that all its citizens took an active part in the +administration, and a large number of them in the council. +The manner in which this was done is the obscure point. The +magistrates, as Polybius says, had very great powers, both +the <i>strategi</i> and the <i>nauarchi</i>. There existed an <i>arcanum +imperii</i>, of which the Athenian constitution knows nothing, +and to which the Roman state alone presents something +analogous: in certain circumstances the nauarchus had the +power to conclude treaties, which, however, it would seem +were valid only during his term of office, the state not being +bound by them for the future. This arose from the fact of +the Rhodian fleet being generally very far away from home. +Owing to this peculiarity of the constitution, things required +by the force of circumstances might be done even contrary +to the letter of the law. The republic contrived to make +excellent use of this expedient, whenever it wished to enter +into a relation without making it permanent. The nauarchus +was a kind of plenipotentiary representative of Rhodes with +foreign nations.</p> + +<p>The language of the Rhodians was Doric. Cicero went +to Rhodes to cultivate his intellect, and under the first +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span>Roman emperors the young Roman nobles very frequently +resorted to Rhodes as they had formerly done to Athens.</p> + +<p>According to the Homeric Catalogue the Rhodians dwelt +τριχθὰ καταφυλαδόν. When at a later time the phylae +appear in the city, they occupy different districts. The +Dorians, to whom the division into three was natural, were +also in possession of the opposite mainland. This division +was the reason why they did not attach to themselves places +which were situated at some distance, such as Phaselis. +Halicarnassus, Cos, and Cnidos formed the second Dorian +triad by the side of the Rhodian.</p> + +<p>Among these three places, <span class="smcap">Halicarnassus</span> is particularly +interesting to us as the birth-place of Herodotus. +It is strange, however, that he wrote his work in the Ionic +dialect, and that, too, in such perfection. Although Halicarnassus +was excluded by the Dorians, it lost nothing of its +prosperity, nor of its peculiarly Greek character. It was deprived +of its freedom like the other Greek towns on the coast of +Asia Minor, but it is doubtful whether after the expedition +of Xerxes it recovered it, or whether it remained in perpetual +dependence upon Persia. Certain it is, that it was +the seat of the Carian dynasty, which established itself +there, and attached itself to Persia: it was the residence of +Mausolus, and afterwards of his widow Artemisia, who +there built the famous mausoleum to him. But this Carian +family did not introduce barbarous customs at Halicarnassus; +for its members spoke Greek, received a Greek +education, and had a taste for the beauties of Greek art. +But the misfortune was, that through its splendour the city +became too large and too influential; it was strongly fortified, +thoroughly devoted to the interests of Persia, and one of +the chief stations of the Persian forces; for which reason it +offered an obstinate defence during the siege of Alexander, +who ravaged it in such a manner that it never recovered +from the blow, but ever after remained an insignificant +place. This defence of Halicarnassus was very brilliant, +for there still existed men inspired with a love of freedom, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span>and actively opposed to the dominion of Macedonia. +Ephialtes, the friend of Demosthenes, who everywhere tried +to thwart Alexander, there fought against him and was +killed.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cnidos</span> was situated on a peninsula which was wholly +occupied by the town; the Cnidians once strangely wished to +cut through the isthmus which connected it with the main +land. The Aphrodite of Praxiteles shed a peculiar lustre +over the place, and attracted many strangers, but was afterwards +carried away by the Romans.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cos</span> is the third Dorian place in Asia Minor; it was at +once a town and an island, and possessed a considerable +navy down to the time of the Romans, though it was not +to be compared with that of the Rhodians. In the earlier +times it was allied with Rhodes, and remained for a long +time in a state of independence. It contained a celebrated +temple of Asclepius and the family of the Asclepiadae, +who regarded Asclepius as their ancestor.</p> + +<p>Rhodes and the opposite continent accordingly had together +six Dorian towns, as there were six feudal principalities +in Peloponnesus. Let us now pass on from Doris +to</p> + +<h3 id="Ionia"><span class="smcap">Ionia.</span></h3> + +<p>According to the universal tradition of the Greeks, Ionia +was a δωδεκάπολις, established by Neleus and Androclus, +the sons of Codrus, who, after their father’s death, when +the royal dignity ceased, emigrated from Athens to Asia +Minor. These Ionians, on their arrival, found the coast +occupied partly by Carians and partly by Meonians, while +Chios and Samos were inhabited by Pelasgians. We must +not conceive these colonies as purely Greek in their origin +in the same manner as the inhabitants of the states of +North America are purely English and German. Herodotus +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span>himself says, that four dialects were spoken among +the Ionians, and, what is very important, that the Ionians +did not go across with their wives and children, but as +soldiers; that they conquered the country, and married the +captive women, as the Spaniards did in what were afterwards +the Spanish colonies of America. But as the Greeks, +Carians, and Meonians, although differing from one another, +still belonged to the same race, their mixture was no longer +discernible in the features and forms of the body of their +descendants, and thus the New-Ionians could not be distinguished +from the ancient and original ones. The ancient +population had not withdrawn as in the states of North +America, but remained in the country as subjects. Such +was the case especially in Chios: there is an ancient story +according to which slavery took its origin in that island; +and this is quite natural, for the old Ionians established +themselves there, and the ancient inhabitants not being +able to get out of the island, were reduced by the new +settlers to a state of servitude; and for this reason a completely +aristocratic constitution was developed: the towns +were the rulers, and the rural population were their subjects. +The same may be supposed to have been the case in +other islands as well as on the continent. But whether on +this account servitude was more ancient there, than, for +example, the <i>penestia</i> in Thessaly, cannot be decided.</p> + +<p>The division into twelve states here likewise suggests +the existence of some regulating power, which, however, +cannot be historically demonstrated, and in regard to which +we must be on our guard against mere fancies. We know +from Herodotus, that in the earliest times the Ionians had +kings. The country appears to us remarkable for its misfortunes +at an earlier period than any other Greek state, if +we except Messene; and this misfortune arose from the +extension of the Lydians, a conquering nation from the +interior of Asia Minor. This people, conjointly with the +Mysians and Carians, expelled the Meonians, for this must +be understood when we read that the dynasty of the Mermnadae +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span>(that of Gyges) supplanted that of the Heracleidae +(that of Candaules). When these Lydians immigrated +with the fresh power of conquerors, they subdued the +Ionian cities; first (Olymp. 25) Colophon, which, according +to unequivocal indications, was at that time the capital of +Ionia. In regard to the greatness of Colophon, the Greek +authors, whose works have come down to us, contain only +vague traditions; but allusion to it is made in the newly +discovered fragments from the beginning of the Margites +and in the Paroemiographi (Κολοφῶνα ἐπιθεῖναι); the city is +said to have been so powerful, that upon its decision everything +depended. It was not indeed destroyed by the +Lydians, but reduced to a place of no importance. One of +the obscure statements is, that about the beginning of the +Olympiads, Colophon carried on an obstinate war against +Erythrae.</p> + +<p>Ionia does not form a compact country, it is only a strip +of land, and whatever, therefore, is to be said about its +chorography, refers also to the neighbouring countries, +especially Lydia.</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Maeander</span> discharges itself into the sea in the +south, near Miletus; it is a very muddy river like all others +in Ionia, and hence it alone has filled up the whole bay of +Miletus, which was several miles in breadth, but the cleaning +out of which has been neglected for thousands of years. +Accordingly the island of Lade, which Herodotus mentions +there, is now only a hill rising in the midst of marshy +meadows. Such is the nature of all the rivers of that coast, +and the most beautiful countries have thereby been changed +into pestilential swamps. In the north, a range of mountains, +extending from mount Taurus to the coast opposite +to Chios, forms the peninsula on which the towns of Clazomenae +and Erythrae are situated. Chios itself is a continuation +of those mountains, separated from the rest by the +sea. What Herodotus says of the nature of Ionia, holds +good also of the greater part of Aeolis: it is the pearl of +creation. The present marshes, which have been formed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span>by the deposits of the rivers in consequence of the neglect +of barbarous ages, form the only exceptions. Nowhere in +all the world is the splendour of a southern climate more +thoroughly felt than there; nowhere are the seasons so +healthy, and yet the country suffers neither from excessive +heat nor drought; and nowhere are fruits, such as grapes, figs, +and pomegranates, produced in such perfection. The Scirocco +is unknown there (though it exists in Rhodes), but the +mildest west winds prevail, and the south winds are not in +the least injurious, while at Rome they are very much so. +Hence we cannot wonder, that, during the period of the +weakness of the states in western Asia, Ionia attained to +such prosperity and greatness.</p> + +<p>While Colophon is important to us only in legendary +history, <span class="smcap">Miletus</span> is the most illustrious city on the Ionian +coast during the period of accredited history. It was itself +a great place, and also founded a great number of colonies, +which are said to have amounted to eighty. As the maritime +states of Greece in their colonisation, as it were, divided +the different seas among each other, so that Corinth chose +the Adriatic, Chalcis and Eretria the seas about Sicily, and +Athens the Hellespont, so we find the Milesians in the +Euxine sea. There they founded Cyzicus, from which they +exercised their power over the greater part of the Propontis; +they then established themselves on all the coasts of +the Euxine, and thereby opened to themselves inexhaustible +sources of wealth. The commerce in those parts was certainly +the most lucrative, and must have yielded them +immense riches. The Doric town of Byzantium might +have shut them out from the sea, but the Milesians had +already become too powerful through their colonies. The +large rivers and the shallow sea yielded them the fish which +are so necessary for a Greek, and they also were the means +of conveying the supplies of corn from the Crimea, the +Ukraine, and the Dnieper, that is, from the country which +now contains the great corn-market of Odessa. But the +inhabitants of those coasts not only sold their own products, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span>but purchased Greek merchandise with native gold from +the country of the Arimaspae, where at present gold mines +are again worked,—a fact which corroborates the tradition +in Herodotus. They took in exchange wine, Greek woollen +cloth, Egyptian linen, Persian robes, and many other costly +things. Owing to this double commerce, Miletus was +wealthy and great during the time of the Lydian kings, +and remained so during the first period of the Persian +dominion. Then it was plunged into the deepest misery +by misfortunes which succeeded one another in rapid succession. +Miletus had been obliged to submit to the Lydian +kings, but their rule seems to have been limited to the +exacting of tribute, and not to have disturbed its autonomy—a +relation like that in which Ragusa stood to the +Turkish empire, to which it paid tribute, though otherwise +it enjoyed many advantages and privileges. This was the +period of the greatest prosperity of Miletus. It submitted +to the Persians without vehement opposition. Afterwards +Aristagoras allowed himself to be tempted by Histiaeus to +induce Miletus to rise against the overwhelming power of +Persia. This insurrection was commenced without deliberation, +and carried out without a well digested design and +without character: the city was taken, and its inhabitants +carried into Persia as slaves. This event was the subject of +the historical drama (Μιλήτου ἅλωσις) of Phrynichus. +Afterwards the city was again taken by Alexander, and +thenceforth remained an insignificant place; its harbour +may have been filled up at an early period.</p> + +<p>Miletus was the original home of the Ionian philosophy: +Thales, Anaximenes, and Anaximander were born there; +it was also the native city of Arctinus, the greatest among +the cyclic poets. During the Roman period it is often +mentioned on account of the woollen cloths which were +manufactured there; when Strabo wrote, it still existed +indeed, but as a place of no importance at all.</p> + +<p>In its neighbourhood, and within the boundaries of +ancient Caria, were situated the two towns of <span class="smcap">Myus</span> and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span><span class="smcap">Priene</span>, the latter of which is known as the birth-place of +Bias, who wisely advised the Ionians to unite into one state, +that they might be able to resist the barbarians.</p> + +<p>The promontory of <span class="smcap">Mycale</span> is in the neighbourhood of +Priene, opposite to Samos; it is a branch proceeding from +mount Taurus. There the Athenians, under Xanthippus, +gained a victory over the Phoenician fleet of the Persians, +on the same day on which the battle of Plataeae was won; +whereby the independence of the Greeks, and especially of +their Asiatic colonies, was established.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Samos</span> is great in history, and, like Miletus, was for a +time mistress of the sea, but its greatness passed away early +and quickly. Pythagoras, according to tradition, was a +Samian, though little reliance can be placed upon it: Creophilus, +the poet of the Οἰχαλίας ἅλωσις, too, is called a +Samian, and tradition describes him as a son-in-law of +Homer. The island was particularly celebrated at the time +of Polycrates, who ruled far and wide over the sea and the +islands. After him his brother Syloson attempted with a +Persian army to conquer the island: the expedition inflicted +the first blow upon it, for the Persians carried off a large +number of its inhabitants as slaves. Samos then became +connected with Athens, but shortly before the outbreak of +the Peloponnesian war it rose against the supremacy of +Athens, and being re-conquered after a siege of ten months +was severely chastised, and a portion of the island became +subject to Athens. During the latter period of the Peloponnesian +war, Samos was the head quarters of the Athenian +fleet in that part of the sea, and the scene of fearful disturbances +caused by the aristocratic or Spartan party +as well as by the democratic or Athenian. Although +weakened, the Samians afterwards took part in the social +war of Rhodes, Chios, Cos, and Byzantium against Athens. +I have not been able to make out anything about the part +which Samos took in that war, except that the island was +conquered and received cleruchi (Olymp. 108); it was a +lucrative possession to the Athenians, and therefore of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span>importance to them. After the battle of Chaeronea, Philip +left them in the possession of Samos, that they might not +be driven to extremes and throw themselves into the arms +of Persia, the affairs of which were then managed by the +brave Memnon. But after the Lamian war the island was +taken from them, and restored to the Samians. Under +Ptolemy Philadelphus and Euergetes, a division of the +Egyptian fleet was stationed near Samos. The most interesting +object in the island was the Heraeon, the temple +of Hera, which was rich in the finest works of art, such as +statues by Myron, Polycletus, and Praxiteles.</p> + +<p>The island of Samos is very fertile, and was celebrated as +such in antiquity. It is strange that the wine of Samos was +thought bad by the ancients, for it is now valued very +highly; no person from our northern countries would consider +the wine of Chios bad either.</p> + +<p>The nearest city on the coast was <span class="smcap">Ephesus</span>, in antiquity +celebrated for its temple of Artemis, as Samos was for that +of Hera. During the great period of Grecian history, it is +mentioned as a distinguished city, and in the early times it +was rich in great men: it was the native place of the +philosopher Heraclitus, the iambic poet Hipponax, and of +Apelles and Parrhasius. But notwithstanding its famous +temple of Artemis, Ephesus was not of great political importance: +it was situated on the Caÿstrus, which is very +muddy, and has now changed the whole district into a pestilential +marsh. Attalus of Pergamus was well disposed +towards the city, and caused a pier to be built there, making +the entrance of the harbour quite wide, while towards the +interior, it grew narrower and narrower, in order that the +current might become stronger; but his plan was ill calculated, +for the current became weaker, and the harbour was more +and more filled with mud, and only a roadstead remained. +Ephesus was situated in three different places: the most +ancient town is almost mythical; the second, near the temple, +existed until the time of the successors of Alexander; +and the third, lastly, which was built by Lysimachus close +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span>to the sea, was at a considerable distance from the temple, +and the inhabitants of the old town were forced to remove +to it. This New-Ephesus was for a long time the capital +of Ionia, and was increasing even as late as the time of +Augustus and Tiberius; it was an emporium for the whole +country far and wide, though it had no longer a harbour. +It was commonly the residence of the Roman governor. +The origin of Ephesus, like that of most of the Ionian towns, +is mythical. Artemis is a genuine Greek goddess, but her +temple at Ephesus was specially revered by the Persians, as +eastern nations often shewed a partiality towards foreign +religions: they altered the ceremonial of the temple, and +the employment of eunuchs in its service is of Persian +origin. The temple was also known as an asylum: whoever +in times of danger wished to protect his property, +might deposit it, as we learn from Xenophon’s Anabasis,⁠<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> +in the treasury of the temple of Ephesus, whence he might +afterwards take it back without loss. This sanctity of the +temple also continued, after its restoration, during the Macedonian +period and under the Romans. In the time of +the Macedonian dominion, the city was one of high rank. +When, under Ptolemy Euergetes, the coasts of Ionia and +Thrace were in the possession of the Egyptians, the Egyptian +governor had his seat at Ephesus. Antiochus Theos +and Antiochus the Great also resided there, whence we +must infer that the city contained a palace. John the +Evangelist lived and died there.</p> + +<p>In the neighbourhood of Ephesus, there were several small +towns, one of which was <span class="smcap">Lebedos</span>, which, in the time of +Horace, was quite desolate, and more deserted than Gabii +and Fidenae, for its inhabitants had been driven by Lysimachus +to Ephesus, when he rebuilt that city: still, +however, Horace wished to be able to spend his whole life +there.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Teos</span> was the native place of Anacreon, and in other +respects, too, of comparative importance, as it sent out +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span>colonies, such as Abdera. It was situated upon the +isthmus.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Colophon</span> was situated between Ephesus and Lebedos. +I have already spoken of its ancient greatness. We there +meet with the incomparable poet Mimnermus, the loss of +whose productions is to us the most deplorable in ancient +literature, and who composed his splendid poetry at a time +when the rest of Greece was still slumbering. Thucydides, +and Aristotle in his politics, mention <i>Notion</i> as the port of +Colophon. This place owed its origin to a feud among the +citizens of Colophon, in which the democratic party seceded +and settled on the sea-coast. At the time of the Peloponnesian +war, an implacable enmity existed between the two.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Erythrae</span> on the gulf of Chios, which separates this +island from the continent, was in ancient times the seat of a +Sibyl. At an early period it carried on protracted wars +with Colophon, which shows that it must have been a +powerful state.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Clazomenae</span> was situated on an island,⁠<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> whence in the +peace of Antalcidas it became independent of Persia. Otherwise +it is of no political importance, nor did it found any +colonies. It was the birth-place of Anaxagoras.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phocaea</span> was very far removed from the other towns, +Smyrna being situated between them, though the latter did +not become an Ionian city until a later period. Phocaea +refused to submit to Cyrus, and was, therefore, besieged and +finally taken by his general Harpagus. Its inhabitants, +however, had escaped to their ships; a great number of +them wished to emigrate, but some returned to Phocaea and +submitted to the Persians, while others founded Elea in +Oenotria. Before this time, the Phocaeans were among the +boldest navigators; they visited more especially the coasts +of the western seas, Baetica, Tartessus, and the south of +Gaul. In the latter country they founded Massilia, which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span>afterwards established other colonies partly by itself, and +partly in conjunction with the Phocaeans. The foundation +of Massilia has sometimes, but unjustly been connected with +the emigration in the time of Cyrus. Phocaea recovered +to some extent, and continued to exist down to the middle +ages, for it was situated in a fertile territory; but its navigation +passed into the hands of the Smyrnaeans.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Chios</span> is one of the most splendid islands in the world, +for with the exception of a few desert and rough districts, +it combines all the blessings of Ionia: it has excellent wine, +and its soil produces in fact everything that agriculture +demands of it; it had a beautiful harbour, and its inhabitants +have at all times been active and enterprising men. +Before the time of the Peloponnesian war, they showed +wisdom in their relation to Athens, and took no part in the +senseless insurrections of Samos and other islands, but conscientiously +adhered to the treaties with Athens and remained +quiet, whence they were treated by the Athenians +with great respect. While the other towns had to pay +money as contributions towards the Athenian fleet, Chios +and Lesbos still retained their navy; Lesbos lost its fleet in +consequence of its thoughtless revolt in the Peloponnesian +war, but Chios remained faithful to Athens till after the +Sicilian disaster. The Chians then wanted to place themselves +at the head of an Ionian maritime confederation, which, +however, was never realised. Afterwards they headed the +the Social war (Olymp. 106). During the Macedonian +period the Chians behaved with great prudence, and, like +the Rhodians, preserved their republican independence. +This state of things remained until the war of Mithridates, +when they supported him, and were punished by the Romans +in consequence. But the island soon recovered again. The +great renown of Chios arose out of the belief, that Homer +was a native of the island, and had lived there, because a +<i>genos</i> of Homerids existed there until a late period. In +my opinion, Homer is a mythical hero; the genos of the +Homerids must be viewed in the same light as all such +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span>γένη, e.g., that of the Asclepiadae and Butadae; a common +origin of such a genos from one ancestor is altogether out +of the question.⁠<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> The author of a great portion of the +Homeric poems, especially of the ground-work of our +present Iliad, seems to have belonged to Smyrna; the +testimony of those who call him Melesigenes is, in my +opinion, entitled to the best consideration, although the +author of the Hymn on Apollo calls himself a Chian.</p> + +<p>About <span class="smcap">Smyrna</span> wonderful stories were current in antiquity. +According to one of them, it was originally an +Ionian settlement, and, considering its situation between +Ephesus and Phocaea, this is most probable; afterwards it +is stated to have passed into the hands of the Aeolians, from +whom it was taken again, according to Herodotus, by the +Ionians. It is then scarcely mentioned at all until after the +time of Alexander. Antigonus the one-eyed in reality +built Smyrna anew; nearly all that is related about its early +history is legendary. Its site was so happily chosen, that +among all the towns on that coast it was the most imperishable, +and continually increased. Its harbour is very excellent, +but had been overlooked in an unaccountable manner +ever since its destruction by the Lydians. It was, particularly +during the period that Ephesus was governed by +Egypt, that Smyrna, being under the dominion of Syria, +rose to eminence. During the unfortunate times of the +Roman wars, the Smyrnaeans behaved with great prudence, +as we see particularly from their treaty with the Magnesians. +Under the Romans, and that even under the first emperors, +Smyrna, alternately with Ephesus, was often the seat of the +proconsul. The Romans procured its admission into the +Ionian confederacy as the thirteenth town. According to +the ancient notions, the Ionians would not have ventured +to go beyond the sacred and established number, and in +case of emergency, they would have incorporated a smaller +town with a larger one, e.g., Lebedos with Ephesus or +Colophon; but those scruples were then easily got over, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span>hence we now find thirteen Ionian towns mentioned in +inscriptions, coins, etc. In like manner, Athens, in later +times, had thirteen tribes, and a senate of the corresponding +number of 650. Smyrna was often destroyed, once in a +very fearful manner by Tamerlane, but it soon recovered. +The correct orthography of the name, both with the Greeks +and the Romans, is Zmyrna, in the same manner as they +wrote Zmaragdos.</p> + +<p>The meetings of the twelve Ionian towns took place at a +spot called <i>Panionium</i>, below the promontory of Mycale, +which formed about the central point among them. These +meetings gave rise to a permanent town with a prytaneum, +in which the meetings were held. This union among +the Ionians was not of a political nature, though it seems +to have been the original intention that it should be; but +the autonomy of the individual states did not permit this, +and hence Panionium was only a place for agones.</p> + +<p>There were several more small towns in Ionia, which I +will pass over here. Mount Mimas, a branch of mount +Taurus, rises precipitously above Erythrae (ἠνεμόεις Μίμας +in Homer).</p> + +<h3 id="Aeolis"><span class="smcap">Aeolis.</span></h3> + +<p>The number of Aeolian towns in Asia Minor and the +neighbouring islands amounted to thirty, but they formed +several separate groups. One of these groups, the real +Αἰολὶς δωδεκάπολις, had Cyme for its capital. There was +also an Αἰολὶς ἐν Ἴδῃ in the interior of the country, which +probably included Tenedos and Hecatonnesoi. Lesbos +contained six towns. These Aeolian towns (the name is +applied in its most proper sense to the first group or the +dodecapolis) cannot, generally speaking, be compared in +importance with the Ionian and Dorian settlements; they +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span>were μικρὰ πολίχνια; Smyrna’s importance belongs to the +time when it had ceased to be Aeolian. It would lead me +too far here to enumerate all the Aeolian towns whose +names are mentioned only by one author or another, for +they are otherwise unimportant; hence I shall notice only +the most celebrated, and in point of fact there are only two +out of the eleven (after the separation of Smyrna) that +deserve to be noticed.</p> + +<p>The first is <span class="smcap">Cyme</span>, with the surname <i>Phriconis</i>, which +cannot be explained. The foundation of this place is +assigned to an extremely early period, the report being, +that it was built soon after the Trojan war. But not too +much value must be attached to this tradition, any more +than to most of the things belonging to the time anterior to +the beginning of the Olympiads. Cyme is always spoken +of as the greatest and most important among the Aeolian +towns, but history does not justify this reputation, for the +place nowhere appears possessed of power or influence. +The historian Ephorus, who was born there, sheds considerable +lustre upon it; the loss of his work is irreparable, and +perhaps the most serious that we have to lament in ancient +history. He cheerfully took the greatest pains to investigate +the obscure periods of antiquity, and must be regarded +as the first critical inquirer into the early history of Greece. +He thoroughly deserves the respect paid to him by his contemporaries, +although his style, according to the testimony +of Isocrates, was dry and inferior to that of Theopompus: +perhaps we should judge differently of him if we had his +work. The opinion that Hesiod was a native of Cyme, +seems to be a gross delusion, the origin of which, however, +is not clear to me.</p> + +<p>We must also notice <span class="smcap">Gryneon</span> with its celebrated temple +of Apollo, who is for this reason called <i>Gryneus</i> by Virgil +and Ovid.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Temnos</span> remained a somewhat important place even in +later times. The other towns are quite insignificant.</p> + +<p>The whole history of these Aeolian colonies is involved +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span>in singular obscurity. Penthilus, a son of Orestes, is said +to have first settled with Aeolians in Lesbos, and Gras, his +son or grand-son, is reported to have founded Cyme on the +mainland; he was worshipped there as archegetes, which, +however, means nothing else, than that the foundation was +ascribed to Orestes himself. Gras here is probably nothing +but the eponymus to <i>Graecus</i>, standing to the <i>Graeci</i> in +the same relation as Helen does to the Hellenes. The +matter is so obscure that we ought to approach it with the +utmost caution; I for my part cannot understand how +Agamemnon’s grand-son should have gone into that country +with such a miscellaneous race as the Aeolians, and with a +colony which is said to have consisted chiefly of Thessalian +Aeolians. I am much more inclined to believe, that after +the Trojan war the race of the Pelopids or Agamemnonids +remained behind as rulers in those parts; and this is not +improbable in itself, since the fact of the Trojan war certainly +cannot be doubted: the poetical account of Helen, of +the siege, and the wooden-horse, is not historical, but the +war and its final issue cannot be denied. I suppose, therefore, +that Greeks under the Agamemnonids remained behind +in the conquered Teucrian country. If this be so, we +here have another instance of that change of the poles of a +tradition, to which I have repeatedly drawn your attention: +Pelops is transferred from Phrygia to Peloponnesus, and the +Pelopids from Peloponnesus to Asia. But the chief point +is this, we must regard the Greek inhabitants of that coast +as a people of the same race as the western Hellenes, as in +fact even in tradition all the country was originally Pelasgian, +whence at a later period it likewise became identical +with the Hellenic countries. The barbarous tribes on that +coast, the Mysians, Lydians and Carians, did not arrive +until a latter time. But we must not go too far in tracing +this origin of the Aeolian colonies.</p> + +<p>The northern part of Aeolis embraced the πολίχνια ἐν +Ἴδῃ, in what was properly the Teucrian country; and to +it belonged Abydos, Tenedos, and Hecatonnesoi. Although +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span>these towns were Greek, yet they were viewed by the +ancients in a very different light. Some of them play +rather a prominent part in the later wars of the Greeks, +as for example <span class="smcap">Scepsis</span>, the native place of the grammarian +Demetrius, an historical commentator of Homer; the town +is mentioned in Xenophon’s Hellenica. We must here also +mention the Aeolian <span class="smcap">Ilion</span>, which arose after the destruction +of ancient Ilion. <span class="smcap">Assos</span> was situated at the foot of +mount Ida, shut in between the mountains and the sea; +some mysterious ruins of it are still extant. <span class="smcap">Abydos</span> stood +on the narrowest part of the Hellespont, where it is only +seven stadia, about one mile, in breadth. <span class="smcap">Tenedos</span> was +flourishing in consequence of its situation at the entrance of +the Hellespont; it was a commercial place, populous and +industrial, and derived advantages from its situation even +as late as the time of the Romans. The town in Hecatonnesoi +is mentioned only by Herodotus.</p> + +<p>That this part of Aeolis was likewise a dodecapolis, is +indeed no more than a conjecture, for we cannot make out +the names of all the towns; but it is at least very probable +partly from analogy, and partly from the words of Strabo; +for out of the number of the thirty towns which he calls +Aeolian, twelve belong to the southern dodecapolis and six +to Lesbos.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lesbos</span> is the pearl of the Aeolian race; in the Trojan +times it is called Pelasgian, but in such a manner that the +Pelasgian Macar in Homer is an Aeolian.⁠<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> Lesbos is a +blessed country, and excellent for the cultivation of the vine +and grain, like Chios; it is only wanting in mastix, and its +wine too is somewhat inferior to that of Chios; it has, however, +no rough districts like Chios, but only pleasing hills +and numerous plains, many excellent harbours, and bays +entering far into the country. It had originally six towns, +among which, however, <i>Arisba</i> was destroyed at an early +period by the Methymnaeans; its name reminds us of the town +on the mainland known from Homer; it had disappeared as +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span>early as the time of Herodotus. Among the remaining +five, two are towns of importance, Mitylene and Methymna; +the three others are Pyrrha, Eresos, and Antissa.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mitylene</span>: the orthography of this name is very uncertain; +on coins and inscriptions we find Mytilana,⁠<a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> while in +Greek MSS. and even in more recent Latin inscriptions, it is +invariably written Mitylene. The former is in all probability +the more ancient mode of spelling, yet it is difficult to +introduce it into printed books. Mitylene rose to the rank +of one of the greatest and most splendid cities, and Alcaeus +called it ἁ μεγάλα Μιτυλάνα. No place in Greece has +produced greater geniuses, for Alcaeus and Sappho are +among the most excellent lyric poets in Greek literature. +The history of Alcaeus is connected with that of his time, +for he fought in behalf of the liberty of his country against +usurpation. There, as everywhere else, members of the order +of the nobles set themselves up as tyrants, and the demos, +supported by Pittacus, rose against these δυναστεῖαι. Alcaeus, +belonging to the aristocracy, was opposed to Pittacus, +whom he unjustly attacked for his low birth and his usurpation, +for Pittacus laid down his dictatorial power as soon +as he had given laws to the state. Mitylene, being an +insular city, together with the other towns spontaneously +submitted to the Persians. Under the Pisistratids, the +Mityleneans carried on war with the Athenians for the +possession of Sigeum on the Hellespont, and afterwards +took part in the insurrection of the Ionians in Asia Minor. +After the battle of Salamis, they asserted their independence +of Persia, and placed themselves under the protection +of Athens. During the Peloponnesian war, they at first +yielded to circumstances, but then allowed themselves, by +Spartan influence, to be led to insurrection. Paches reduced +the city, and Cleon wanted to raze it to the ground; a +decree was passed that all its inhabitants should be made +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span>slaves and the country laid waste; but the city narrowly +escaped the most frightful devastation; and cleruchi were sent +into the island to whom the inhabitants had to pay tribute. +At the end of the war, the Mityleneans joined Sparta, and +in the Macedonian period they were allied with Byzantium, +Chios, and Cos against Athens, and throughout the time of +the Macedonian ascendancy maintained their republican +independence. In the reign of Mithridates they were mad +enough to take part in the murder of the Romans, and +shewed on that occasion greater cruelty than any other people. +After a long resistance on the part of its inhabitants, the +Romans took the city, destroyed it, and sold its citizens as +slaves; it was, however, restored through the influence of +Theophanes, the favourite of Pompey. Mitylene had a +double harbour.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Methymna</span> was the only Lesbian town that did not take +part in the revolt against Athens, for which reason it was +favoured by the Athenians. Otherwise little is to be said of this +place, except that Arion, the dithyrambic poet, was born there.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Eresos</span>, or <span class="smcap">Eressos</span>, was, according to some, the birth-place +of Sappho. This, however, is a doubtful point, but +certain it is, that Theophrastus, the last genuine Greek +classic, was a native of Eresos.</p> + +<p>The two Asiatic towns of the name of <span class="smcap">Magnesia</span>, the one +on the Maeander, and the other at the foot of mount Sipylus, +have this in common, that their origin is not accounted for +in any of the Greek traditions about the migrations into +Asia. It is a surprising phenomenon, that a people like the +Magnetes should have settled there, far away from the coast +and from the other Greek towns. But if we bear in mind, +that the Magnetes decidedly belong to the Pelasgian race, +and that in other parts of that portion of Asia, too, Thessalian +Pelasgians occur, we can scarcely entertain a doubt, +that the two Magnesias in Asia must be regarded as remnants +of a Pelasgian population in those districts. In the +earliest Graeco-Asiatic history, both towns act a prominent +part; but we know nothing definite about their fate; one +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span>of them, it is uncertain which, is said to have been destroyed +during the great migration of the Cimmerians or Treres. +Afterwards, during the period of the earliest Ionian traditions, +the Magnesians were powerful through their cavalry. +Magnesia, near mount Sipylus, was a considerable town as +late as the time of the Macedonian and Syrian dominion, +and in the war of Antiochus against his brother, it was +allied with Smyrna and displayed great vigour and valour.</p> + +<p>This may suffice about the Greek settlements in western +Asia from Cnidos to the Propontis. Cyprus is isolated, and +does not properly belong to the Greek nation; I shall have +occasion to speak of it hereafter, as well as of the Greek +settlements in Phrygia.</p> + +<h3 id="The_Kingdom_of_Pergamus"><span class="smcap">The Kingdom of Pergamus.</span></h3> + +<p>On the same coast, we meet with the city of <span class="smcap">Pergamus</span>, +the origin of which is similar to that of Antioch and +Alexandria, though Pergamus, in language and manners, +was more completely hellenised than Antioch ever could +be, because of the predominance of the Syriac population, +which was deeply interested in the preservation of its own +language. The extent of the ruins still attests the ancient +splendour of the place. When Alexander was conquering +western Asia, and even during the time when his successor +Lysimachus governed those parts, Pergamus was not a +town, but only a castle on a precipitous rock, celebrated +for its strength; the rock is called στροβιλοειδής, from its +resemblance to a pine-cone. After the battle of Ipsus, +when Lysimachus had obtained Phrygia on the Hellespont +and Lydia, he deposited in that castle his treasures, amounting, +it is said, to 9,000 talents, about £1,935,000. During +the later years of this unhappy prince, when, owing to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span>the intrigues of his second wife Arsinoë, who wished +to secure the throne to her own children, the Furies entered +his house, and when he commenced persecuting his +children by his first wife, and even ordered Agathocles +to be put to death, there arose such a commotion in his +dominions, that many parts refused obedience to him, and +the whole kingdom fell into a state of disorganisation. +Seleucus Nicator attacked it, and Philetaerus, the governor +of Pergamus, declared himself independent, and opened +the gates to Seleucus. Philetaerus had for a long time +been in possession of what had been intrusted to his care, +and at first probably with honest intentions towards the +house of Lysimachus. But when the whole family of the +latter had become extinct, Philetaerus remained the ruler +of the country. He was succeeded by his brother Eumenes +as dynastes, a title which was then commonly given to those +who would in former times have been called tyrants. With +the assistance of Gallic mercenaries, he extended his dominions +towards Syria, defeated Antiochus Soter, the son of +Seleucus Nicator, and founded a regular principality. His +son Attalus assumed the title of king, though he had but a +small kingdom. But he extended it, and although it was +at first reduced by the Romans, they afterwards favoured +and raised him to the rank of king of Asia.</p> + +<p>The city of <span class="smcap">Pergamus</span>, or <span class="smcap">Pergamum</span> (for both forms +occur, the Greeks commonly preferring Πέργαμον, and the +Romans <i>Pergamus</i>), arose under the successor of Philetaerus, +at the foot of the rock on which the castle continued +to exist. The city seems to have been an open place; the +inhabitants probably felt the inconvenience of a fortified +town, and owing to the progress which the art of besieging +had then made, not much confidence was placed in the +protection of walls. The city was beautiful and wealthy, and +remained prosperous until the Pergamenian dynasty became +extinct, and the kingdom was made over to the Romans as +a province. During the rebellion of Aristonicus, the city +suffered but was not destroyed; thenceforth, however, it +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span>became deserted and dull, though it still remained a respectable +provincial city. During the period of its kings, +literature was flourishing at Pergamus, and there existed a +rivalry between it and Alexandria, as well as between their +grammatical and poetical schools: but those of Pergamus +were not able to equal their rivals. They must, however, be +mentioned with respect, especially the grammatical school, +and Pergamus during the best period took an active part in +grammatical studies. Nicander belongs to the Pergamenian +school; he is indeed a poet of an inferior order, but still +ought not to be despised. Julius Caesar transferred the +library of Pergamus to Alexandria as a compensation for +the one destroyed by fire in the latter place. It is strange +that even a man like Caesar was not free from a certain +barbarism, and that he did not carry those literary treasures +to Rome.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Atarneus</span>, in the neighbourhood of Pergamus, had +formerly belonged to the Chians, who possessed several +places on the mainland; they had received it from the Persians +as a reward for the treachery of a deserter. It was a +Mysian town, but subsequently became hellenised, though +without receiving a Greek colony: such places must be +carefully distinguished from real Greek towns. It was +very strongly fortified, and afterwards made itself independent +of Chios. In later times we find Hermias as an +independent prince of Atarneus; his daughter Pythias was +married to Aristotle, who himself lived with him for three +years.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span></p> + +<h3 id="Greek_Settlements_in_Macedonia_and_Thrace"><span class="smcap">Greek Settlements in Macedonia and Thrace.</span></h3> + +<p>We shall now proceed on the north of mount Olympus +along the coast of the Aegean to consider the Greek +colonies there. The συνεχὴς Ἑλλάς, according to Dicaearchus, +who has hitherto been our guide, extends as far as +mount Olympus. He has indeed some doubts as to whether +Thessaly should be included, but he decides after all in +the affirmative, because Greek was spoken in Thessaly. +Thessaly was evidently a hellenised country, just like the +east of Germany, where formerly Wendish was spoken, +while now pure German prevails, though rivers and mountains +still have names which are completely Wendish. This +hellenisation, however, did not extend beyond the boundaries +of Thessaly; it scarcely reached as far as Peraebia, +which was partly Macedonian and partly Thracian, the +country beyond Olympus being inhabited by Macedonian +and Thracian tribes. In the Homeric Catalogue, Thessaly +extends beyond the Axius, a most beautiful river, as far as +Pieria, which was regarded as part of ancient Thrace.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pieria</span> forms the slope of the range of mountains of which +Olympus, at the mouth of the Peneus, is the highest peak, +rising to the height of the snow-line; this charming coast +country extends from mount Olympus as far as the Thermaic +gulf. The most important among the several Greek +towns along this coast were <span class="smcap">Pydna</span> and <span class="smcap">Methone</span>, which +are called Chalcidian. It is very surprising to find, that the +whole coast, from the foot of mount Olympus to the Strymon, +though not continuously, yet for the greater part, is occupied +by Greek, and, if we except the Dorian Potidaea, by Ionian +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span>towns, which are called Chalcidian, whence Thucydides’ +expression, Χαλκιδῆς ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης. If the population of +all these towns had come from Chalcis in Euboea alone, that +city, nay the whole of Euboea, would have been drained; +we must assume that there was only a nucleus of Chalcidian +<i>ctistae</i>, who brought with them Chalcidian νόμιμα and took +possession of the places; all the rest consisted of adventurers +from all parts of Greece. Those towns were for the most +part μικρὰ πολίσματα. Until the time of Philip, when +Macedonia was a small and weak state, though more +weak than small, they had in the most wonderful manner +contrived to remain independent of Macedonia. The places +on the western coast of the Thermaic gulf had no political +connexion with those on the eastern side. In the reigns of +Perdiccas and Archelaus, Pydna and Methone seem to have +been allied with Macedonia, but only for a time; it is possible +that they may have paid a tribute as a recognition, +but they were free towns. Little can be said of them: +Methone was conquered and destroyed by Philip, and +Pydna was taken and changed into a Macedonian town. +More about this will be said when I come to speak of +Macedonia.</p> + +<p>Proceeding from the coast of Pieria along that of Emathia +and Bottiaea, we meet with several towns of which it +is doubtful whether they were Chalcidian or Bottiaean: +Therma, subsequently called Thessalonica, appears to have +been Chalcidian, but I shall say more about this when I +come to Macedonia.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aenea</span> on the promontory where the smaller and larger +Thermaic gulfs separate, is called by Herodotus a Greek town, +but seems to have originally been Pelasgian and to have +afterwards become hellenised. Farther on the Greek towns +are more closely together, though nearly all of them are +without historical importance, whence I shall not enter +upon an enumeration of them.</p> + +<p>The Bottiaeans, who, at the beginning of the Peloponnesian +war, rose against the Athenians, were a Pelasgian +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span>people, akin to the Greeks, like the Epirots and Thessalians, +but not Greek. I shall say more of them hereafter. If you +will understand the first book of Thucydides, you must have +a thoroughly clear notion about them, which the early +commentators had not. The Bottians and Bottiaeans must +be distinguished.</p> + +<p>From the projecting Acte of Macedonia, three peninsulas +run out into the sea: the easternmost contains mount <span class="smcap">Athos</span>, +which extends in a south-eastern direction, and is highest +at the point where it reaches the sea; this mountain must +be conceived to extend below the sea, first to Lemnos +and thence to mount Ida. <span class="smcap">Pallene</span>, the western peninsula, +forms the eastern shore of the Thermaic gulf, and +is connected with the Acte by a narrow isthmus. The +middle peninsula is called <span class="smcap">Sithonia</span>. The interior of +the broad Acte was never inhabited by Greeks, but only +by barbarians, except a few isolated points, such as Apollonia. +Sithonia itself was likewise occupied by barbarians, +and Μιξέλληνες existed only here and there. Pallene, on +the other hand, was thoroughly Greek. This country is +one of the most fertile in all Europe; it was also, like +Campania, called <i>Phlegra</i>, a name implying a volcanic +district of immense fertility. The use of manure in Pallene +would be injurious and cause the wheat to shoot up too +high. There are districts in that peninsula where tobacco, +which otherwise exhausts the most fertile soil, is grown +in ordinary corn-fields; but if it were not for the tobacco, +everything would be overgrown with weeds, and it would +require great labour to destroy them. Wheat there grows +to a height of from five to six feet, and it is nothing uncommon +to see it rise even to seven or eight feet. Hence +that country was a χώρα περιμάχητος. Potidaea, one of +the <i>faces malorum</i> of the Peloponnesian war, was situated +on the isthmus of Pallene. Potidaea and Syracuse, the two +ill-fated places that brought ruin on Greece in this war, +were colonies of Corinth.</p> + +<p>The towns on this coast are called τὰ πολίσματα τὰ ἐπὶ +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span>Θρᾴκης, or πόλεις Χαλκιδικαὶ ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης. It is only in +an improper sense that we speak of a country of the name +of Chalcidice; wherever that name occurs, it is incorrect +and belongs to a late period. We must not, however, +believe that none but Chalcidian towns existed there; they +only formed the majority; the towns were not even all +Greek. Besides the Dorian Potidaea, there existed Andrian +and Eretrian towns, though they were few in number. But +the Hellenic character was communicated to the neighbouring +tribes, not only to the Bottiaeans and Pelasgians of +mount Athos, but also to the Thracians, so that in the time +of Philip many places are called Greek, which at an earlier +period did not bear that name. The thirty-two Greek +places on the Thracian coast, so often mentioned by Demosthenes, +which were conquered and destroyed by Philip, +cannot be taken as Greek towns in the strict sense of the +term, but there were among them some which are called by +Thucydides δίγλωττοι. I must here notice an error which +is found in most maps, and even in those of D’Anville; +namely, Chalcis is marked as a large town in that district, +though not a trace of it occurs in our authors. It is a +mere invention from the name of the Chalcidian towns, +and is based on no better authority than the alleged town +of Magnesia in Thessaly.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Potidaea</span>, a Corinthian and the only Doric settlement +in that part, is one of those places, the situation of which +is so fortunate, that in spite of all calamities they always +recover. It was conquered by the Athenians and received +cleruchi, who were no doubt expelled by Lysander like the +cleruchi in all the other places; it would appear, however, +that the ancient Corinthian inhabitants who had been +scattered in all directions, scarcely returned at all, and the +few who did return became subjects of Olynthus, with which +they afterwards formed a relation of sympolity. During this +period, therefore, Potidaea was insignificant, and was conquered +by the Athenians at the time when they recovered +their maritime power; it was then probably re-conquered +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span>by the Olynthians, and finally came into the permanent +possession of Macedonia. It may then have been destroyed, +but it was restored from its ruins by Cassander, and called +<span class="smcap">Cassandrea</span>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> under which name it was one of the most +important Macedonian cities, and at times was the capital +of the whole empire. The foundation of Cassandrea and +the enlargement of Thessalonica shew that Cassander had a +quick eye in discovering the appropriate sites of towns. It +is a remarkable fact that these cities, although for a considerable +time the kings resided in them, still were tolerably +independent republics under the supremacy of the very kings +who had founded them. Under Ptolemy Ceraunus and +Lysimachus, Cassandrea was one of the capitals of Macedonia. +After the death of the former, it was separated from +Macedonia, and fell into the hands of the terrible tyrant, +Apollodorus. During the wars of the Romans it was an +important city, and maintained that rank throughout the +middle ages down to modern times; six years ago (1822) +it was destroyed, but it will undoubtedly recover from this +calamity also.</p> + +<p>Among the six towns in Pallene, only <span class="smcap">Mende</span> and +<span class="smcap">Scione</span>, which were destroyed in a fearful manner by the +Athenians, deserve to be mentioned. This is one of the +cases in which we cannot say that the Athenians did not +abuse their excessive power.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Olynthus</span>, situated on a hill beyond the isthmus, about +five miles north of Potidaea, is one of those places which, +however familiar their names may be to the reader of +Demosthenes, are yet historically very obscure; information +about them does not readily present itself to us, and it is only +with difficulty that we can gather their history. Olynthus is +one of the little Chalcidian places, which are mentioned at +the beginning of the Peloponnesian war. During that war, +when the Chalcidians rose against Athens, they formed the +determination, for the purpose of being better able to defend +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span>themselves, to give up their old and indefensible towns, +and to unite in one place, to form a συνοικισμός, in which +undertaking they were supported by Perdiccas and Brasidas. +In this manner Olynthus became a large town, a new +city being formed around the old place and the acra. It +speedily rose to great power, and had scarcely existed fifty +years, when we hear it spoken of as ruling far and wide over +the neighbouring country. The expedition of Brasidas had +overthrown the supremacy of Athens in those parts, and +the Macedonian towns were yet too weak to be able to avail +themselves of this opportunity: hence a great power was +there imperceptibly developed. The old towns were reduced +to the rank of demi. They did not limit themselves to the +pedantry of admitting only Greeks, but received Bottiaeans, +Macedonians, and other neighbouring tribes into their +alliance, and this is the first great example of a sympolity.</p> + +<p>After Olymp. 100, Xenophon, in his <i>Hellenica</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> mentions +the fact, that the Olynthians were already ruling over +a great part of Macedonia; they were even in possession of +Pella, and their eastern neighbours, the Apolloniats and +Acanthians, being attacked by them, applied to Sparta for +assistance. The whole of the northern country was independent +of Olynthus, but we do not know whether the +towns of the middle peninsula were so likewise: the peninsula +of mount Athos was, with few exceptions, quite +barbarous, and the eastern coast of Sithonia was likewise +inhabited by Thracians and Tyrrhenians, who, however, +in the time of Scylax of Caryanda, had already adopted the +Greek language, whence he includes them among the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span>Greeks. Olynthus was the centre of all that country, +owing to the great extension of its power. During the +disputes about the succession in Macedonia, one town after +another was ceded to it as a reward for its decisions. Those +towns accordingly applied to the Spartans who sent them +assistance for the purpose of weakening Olynthus before it +should be too late. This expedition, however, failed, and +the Olynthians maintained themselves. It was at that +time that the Cadmea had been treacherously seized by +the Spartans, and thus the expedition gave the Thebans +and Boeotians an opportunity to shake off the Spartan yoke. +Further accounts are now wanting—so scantily is the +history of Greece known to us! Yet, if we steadily look at +the circumstances of the time, we may discover at least so +much as to be able to fill up the principal gaps. At the +time when Philip came forward, Olynthus was still a powerful +city, ruling far and wide, though we do not know how +far its dominion extended eastward; it was one of the first +cities, and is called by Demosthenes a πόλις μυρίανδρος. +But its conduct in history does not appear honourable; the +Olynthians were quite infatuated and foolish, and without +any idea of the danger threatening from Macedonia, which +was then governed by a man who knew how to make use +of them. For the purpose of obtaining some petty, +miserable advantages, they allied themselves with Philip, +and when he cast off the mask and was evidently aiming at +their destruction, they were seized with the greatest terror +and despair; and then, when it was too late, imploringly +prostrated themselves at the feet of the Athenians, and +begged their pardon. The Athenians, forgetting everything, +immediately supported them on the advice of +Demosthenes, but through the detestable treachery of +Eurycrates and Lasthenes the city was delivered up to +Philip. He could not possibly allow Olynthus quietly to +continue its existence, but consistently with the principles +of his diabolical policy, he was obliged to destroy it, that +he might rise higher: he acquired a beautiful country +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span>and a large revenue; he ruled without any formidable +neighbours, and was thus enabled to mature his cherished +scheme of marching against Hellas. Olynthus was never +restored.</p> + +<p>The only Greek town in the middle peninsula was +<span class="smcap">Torone</span>, on the western coast of the Toronean gulf; the +towns on the eastern coast and in the interior were +Thracian. Sithonia (Σιθωνία), the name of this peninsula, +is sometimes used by Latin poets for Thrace, but the <i>o</i> is +made short, the ear of the early Roman writers probably +not catching the name correctly.</p> + +<p>The whole of the interior of the northern part of the +peninsula containing mount Athos is a hilly country with +few plains; even its isthmus is hilly, but then the ground +rises higher and higher till it reaches the top of mount +Athos, the height of which has not yet been measured. This +peninsula was inhabited by barbarians, that is, by Thracians +and Tyrrhenians of Lemnos and Imbros, mixed with Greeks, +whence they were δίγλωττοι, just as, previously to the +reduction of Greece, both Greek and Romaic were spoken, +e.g. by the Albanese at Castri (Delphi) and Marathon.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Acanthus</span>, an Andrian colony, was situated on the gulf +near the isthmus; it is remarkable on account of the canal +which Xerxes caused to be dug near it—a senseless undertaking +worthy of a barbarian.</p> + +<p>East from mount Athos the Greek towns are found at +greater intervals from one another. <span class="smcap">Apollonia</span> (there +are at least a dozen towns of this name), an important +city, maintained its independence of Olynthus. Near it +was situated <span class="smcap">Stagira</span>, the birth-place of Aristotle, which +was destroyed by Philip, but was restored in consequence +of the entreaties of Aristotle.</p> + +<p>The district then following is now called the country of +<span class="smcap">Seres</span>, a town situated at the mouth of the Strymon, and +mentioned in the middle ages under the name of <i>Serrae</i>; +it is an important place, but did not exist in antiquity. +The river Strymon was, for a time, regarded as the boundary +of Macedonia, but it belongs, properly speaking, to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span>Paeonia. The country about its mouth, like that of Pella +and Pallene, is one of the most productive districts, and +particularly fit for the growth of cotton and tobacco, +whence it was a χώρα περιμάχητος at an early period. It +was as important to the Greeks as the ports of the Baltic +are to the Dutch and English.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Eion</span>, an ancient Greek town at the mouth of the +Strymon, was probably a factory of Thasos. From it +Athens and the other maritime cities obtained the timber +for shipbuilding, which was brought down the river in +rafts. Cyprus, however, also furnished timber. Eion was +a very strong place; it was long in possession of the Persians, +and Boges maintained himself there long after the +great forces of Xerxes had been defeated at Mycale and +Plataeae; it was afterwards delivered by Cimon. In former +times the Milesians had attempted to establish themselves +in those parts, and now the Athenians did the same, at +first without success, as the Thracians destroyed their +colony. But in a second attempt they were more fortunate. +They established themselves near the mouth of the +river Strymon, about five miles from Eion, and founded the +genuine Attic colony of <span class="smcap">Amphipolis</span>. It derived its name +from the fact of its being situated on both banks of the +river and being surrounded by two arms of it; the city was +planned with great skill, and built on an excellent site, +which nature itself had destined to be a great commercial +place, like Riga. The Athenians treated it with especial +favour: it was not founded like other places which merely +received cleruchi, or, according to the Roman fashion, did +not possess municipal jurisdiction, but was a true colonial +town, and, to a certain extent, independent of the supremacy +of Athens. But the Thracians were dangerous +neighbours, especially the Edonians; and in order to defend +themselves against them, the colonists admitted Chalcidians +as their fellow-citizens, who soon formed the majority, +because the Chalcidian towns were not far distant, and +because Amphipolis offered more attractions than other +places. The Amphipolitans exported timber, corn, tar, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span>pitch, iron, and other Thracian products: it was a necessary +mart for the Paeonians and other neighbouring nations. +At the time of the Peloponnesian war, when the exasperation +between the Athenians and Chalcidians had risen +very high, the latter succeeded in treacherously overpowering +the Attic colony, and in securing the assistance of +Sparta. Brasidas defended it against Cleon, and fell in the +battle, but the possession of the town was nevertheless for +a long time withheld from the Athenians, and Amphipolis +henceforth remained a Chalcidian town. In the time of +Timoleon, when the maritime power of Athens was again +extended, Amphipolis was obliged to acknowledge her +supremacy, but soon renounced it again, and the Athenians +being then in an unwarlike condition were unable to +re-conquer it. The possession of Amphipolis then became +one of the baits by means of which Philip for a long time +deceived the Athenians; but he took it for himself, and +thenceforth, as long as the Macedonian empire existed, it +remained one of its chief towns. Early in the middle +ages (in the seventh century), it was destroyed by the +Slavonians and other barbarians, and never recovered. +The town of Seres stepped into its place.</p> + +<p>The towns of <span class="smcap">Abdera</span> and <span class="smcap">Maronea</span>, both Ionian +colonies of Teos, were situated on the coast of Thrace +proper. Abdera is celebrated from the tradition about +the silliness of its inhabitants, which has been carried to +the height of absurdity in the romance of Wieland. These +stories have almost made us forget, that Democritus, one of +the greatest geniuses of Greece, was a native of Abdera. +Maronea was an ancient seat of the worship of Bacchus, +for the southern coast of Thrace is one of the countries in +which the nobler kinds of wine were produced at a very +early period.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aenos</span>, an Aeolian town, was situated at the mouth of +the river Hebrus. All these countries afterwards belonged +for a time to the kingdom of Egypt. If my intention of +editing Polybius conjointly with Bekker should ever be +realised, I contemplate adding a map of that coast.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span></p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Chersonesus</span>, which, between forty and fifty +miles in length, extends between the κόλπος μέλας and the +Hellespont, is connected with Thrace by an isthmus of +about five miles in breadth, and was formerly a Thracian +country, whence its name of <i>Chersonesus Thracica</i>. Such it +appears in the cyclic poems, and the faithless tyrant, to +whom Hecuba entrusts her son, is placed in this peninsula; +but in the course of time Greeks settled there, and hence +arose the colonies of <i>Sestos</i>, <i>Eleus</i> (Ἐλεοῦς, Ἐλαιοῦς), +and <i>Alopeconnesus</i> on the coast of the Hellespont; but all +of them, with the exception of Sestos, were unimportant. +The interior contained the Thracian country of the Doloncians. +When these latter were attacked by the Thracian +tribes, they, in common with the Greek towns, applied to +Athens for protection, for Athens was then already rising, +and fought with the Mityleneans for the possession of +Sigeon. At that time, the Athenians under Miltiades took +possession of Chersonesus, and protected it by a line of fortifications +against the Thracians, on which occasion they must +have founded Cardia. The Thracians who formerly dwelt +there, now became allies and subjects, in which relation +they remained until the extension of the power of Persia. +We must not imagine that the first taking possession of +Chersonesus was not the work of Pisistratus; the tendency +to refer to the people that which was done by the tyrants +alone, is one of the later republican vanities. Yet it does +not follow, that Athens at that time had a consolidated +dominion over Chersonesus, unless indeed it was broken +after the expulsion of the Pisistratids.</p> + +<p>It contained twelve towns. The wall of Miltiades was +long preserved, though it was often broken through and +restored. Near it was <span class="smcap">Cardia</span>, according to tradition, an ancient +Greek town, which only received new strength through +Miltiades. It was destroyed by Lysimachus, perhaps not in +anger, but, as was often done by the rulers of that time, for +the purpose of enriching a favourite town with inhabitants. +Thus Mahomed I., in order to raise Constantinople, transplanted +to it many thousands of Christian Armenians and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span>other people. For Lysimachus founded <span class="smcap">Lysimachia</span> by +the side of Cardia, and this no doubt became his capital, +though this is nowhere expressly mentioned, for it is in the +spirit of the times; think only of Alexandria, Antioch, +Demetrias, and Cassandrea! Lysimachia was great and +splendid; it was afterwards under the dominion of Syria; +in the wars between Seleucus Callinicus and Ptolemy +Euergetes it passed from the hands of the Syrians into +those of the Egyptians. The latter either set the town +free, or it emancipated itself, and entered the relation of +sympolity with the Aetolians. As the latter were unable +to protect it, it was destroyed at the time of the Philippic +war by the Thracians, for the Thracian tribes were then +very powerful and tyrannical towards the Greeks. Being +poorly restored by Antiochus the Great, it thenceforth was +little more than a name, until in the end it disappears +altogether. Cardia produced the historian Hieronymus, +who wrote a history of the successors of Alexander and +their descendants (Epigoni); he was an historian of great +value, an able man, and a companion of Eumenes. The +latter, too, was a native of Cardia, a man of a better kind +than the other generals of Alexander; he was the only +non-Macedonian who raised himself to the rank of a prince; +he had a real enthusiasm for the house of Alexander, of +which not a trace is to be found in any of the others.</p> + +<p>All the remaining places were either Athenian or Ionian, +and Alopeconnesus and Sestos alone are called Aeolian. +Sestos is celebrated through the legend of Hero, and in +history on account of the long siege which the Persians +sustained there even after the battle of Mycale. This is +the site of the ancient Dardanelles; the Hellespont there +is only seven stadia in breadth.</p> + +<p>I ought to have mentioned <span class="smcap">Abydos</span> on the opposite +coast, when speaking of Aeolis. It is renowned for its +desperate defence against Philip, the son of Demetrius, +and Antiochus, in their war against young Ptolemy. It +is inconceivable what made the people of Abydos so determined +not to exchange one master for another: they made +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span>away with themselves in order not to fall into the hands of +Philip.</p> + +<p>At a later time, <span class="smcap">Callipolis</span> (now Gallipoli) arose in +the neighbourhood of Sestos; it was an important town +under the Byzantine emperors, and even as early as the +reign of Justinian. In antiquity it was so insignificant, +that it may be doubted as to whether it really existed.</p> + +<p>The Chersonesus appears gradually to have become completely +hellenised, although the Thracians were otherwise +very obstinate. They entirely disappeared there, either +because they quitted the peninsula or because they became +amalgamated with the Greeks, for in the time of Philip all +the people were Greek, and from the time of Timotheus +onward, for a period of several years, the country was +completely Athenian. But as the Athenians sent cleruchi +into it, the Thracians revolted: hence the interference of +Philip, who took possession of the peninsula. This was the +occasion of Demosthenes’ speech, περὶ τῶν ἐν Χερσονήσῳ.</p> + +<p>We shall now proceed along the Thracian coast as far as +the mouth of the Pontus, and then cross over to the coast +of Asia. The sea between the Hellespont and the Bosporus +was called <i>Propontis</i>. The continuous line of coast of this +sea never was entirely in the hands of the Greeks, but +they possessed the most important points. On the Thracian +coast, between Chersonesus and Perinthus, they had but +few places, but the whole of the Bosporus was in their +hands. The most important of these places is Perinthus; +but before we come to it there are several smaller ones, +which I will pass over.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Perinthus</span>, a Samian colony, if we consider the course +of the history of Samos, cannot have been founded after +the time of the Persian war, and must probably be assigned +to the time of Polycrates. This is a point which is self-evident, +though no writer mentions it. The town is rarely +noticed in history, and is remarkable only on account +of the siege of Philip in Olymp. 109, when it was saved +by the energetic assistance of Athens, which was afforded +to it on the proposal of Demosthenes.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span></p> + +<p>The Byzantine colony of <span class="smcap">Selymbria</span> (<i>bria</i> with the +Thracians signified a town, as in Mesembria) was situated +between Perinthus and Byzantium.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Byzantium</span>, a colony of the Megarians, was situated +between the Propontis, the Bosporus, and the bay called +<i>Ceras</i>. Under the Byzantine emperors, this bay was called +the Golden Horn (τὸ χρυσοῦν κέρας), and is situated between +Pera and Constantinople, forming the great port of the city +extending about five miles into the country; a river empties +itself into its μυχός. It is not known at what time the +Megarians were powerful enough to found such a colony, +but, according to all accounts, it was at an early period, +perhaps during the tyrannis of Theagenes, or even earlier. +Megara probably acted only as mediator for the efflux of +the surplus population of the Dorians, for itself was too +small. The original name of Byzantium was Βύζας, of +which the most distinct traces occur in the antiquities of +Constantinople, as you may see in Codinus, <i>De originibus +Constantinopolitanis</i>, a work which contains some important +matters concerning mythology; but its language is miserably +bad. All traditions go back to a hero Byzas, who is said +to be the founder of the place, and is represented on coins, +just as Taras in the case of Tarentum. A still older form +was no doubt Βύζανς, like <i>Antians</i>, <i>Romans</i>, <i>Campans</i>, <i>ans</i> +being a genuine Pelasgian ending. The πολιτικὸν is +Βυζάντιος, the citizens are called Βυζάντιοι, and the city +τὸ Βυζάντιον (supply πόλισμα) in Thucydides.⁠<a id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> In the +earlier writers, such as Herodotus, οἱ Βυζάντιοι is far more +common, for instead of the names of places with the unusual +terminations <i>as</i> (<i>ans</i>) and <i>us</i> (<i>uns</i>), the names of the citizens +are generally employed, as Λεοντῖνοι in Sicily from Λεοῦς, +which does not occur at all. Such forms are used even +where topically the place alone is meant. In like manner, +we find in the middle ages <i>Tusculana</i> or <i>Tusculanum</i> (supply +<i>civitas</i> or <i>oppidum</i>), <i>Lanuvina</i> or <i>Lanuvinum</i>; and many of +these things have descended to our own times, as <i>Palestrina</i> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span>for <i>Praenestina</i>. The Romans called the city <i>Byzantium</i>, +and from it they formed the new adjective <i>Byzantinus</i>, +which remained indeed foreign to the Greeks, but is the +only correct form in later times, when Byzantium was +restored under the name of Constantinople.</p> + +<p>I have made these observations, because even a grammarian +like my dear friend Buttmann⁠<a id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> has been mistaken +on this point. In order to decide such questions, it is +necessary to make investigations and to search even in the +inelegant corners of the literature of the fifth and sixth centuries, +and to be as familiar with it, as were Joseph Scaliger and +J. F. Gronovius. In our time scholars move within too narrow +limits; but we ought not to be satisfied with a knowledge of +the elegant literature, but must go down to the middle ages; +there are many points in the language, which receive the +necessary light only from mediaeval writings.⁠<a id="FNanchor_82" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> Buttmann is +right so far as the classical period is concerned.⁠<a id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a>⁠</p> + +<p>Byzantium was destined by nature to be one of the most +important cities; and it was so much designed to become a +large place, that the oracle commanding the settlers to +establish themselves opposite to the coast of the Blind, said +nothing but the plain truth. Chalcedon on the opposite +coast was probably a Megarian settlement, but founded from +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span>Byzantium at its very earliest period, and not 150 years +before the foundation of Byzantium by the Megarians. +Byzantium controls the Bosporus and the whole of the +Euxine, and it is inconceivable how the Greeks could settle +on the Pontus, without previously taking possession of +Byzantium. Its harbour is extremely safe and fit for the +largest vessels; and even on the south side of the city, +ships may anchor in the Propontis with great safety and +without being exposed to the winds. The current from +the Black Sea through the Hellespont affords a safety of +defence, which is of great importance in case of an attack +from the west, and that even without any necessity of fortifying +the pass of Sestos. The climate is extremely healthy, +the situation most beautiful, and the country all around the +most fertile in the world. Not to leave unnoticed what is +apparently accidental, I may mention that the sea there +abounds in fish, which are a great advantage to those +countries. The Black Sea is in general very rich in fish, +and from it, from the Palus Maeotis, from the Don and +Dniepr, large shoals of fish proceed annually through the +Bosporus and the Hellespont towards the Aegean Sea; but +the current always throws a great many into the harbour +of Byzantium, where they find no outlet and are caught +with the greatest facility, especially tunny fish and anchovies. +When the Ionian cities became weaker, the Byzantians, +availing themselves of their situation, levied a toll upon +ships passing through the Bosporus, but were unable permanently +to exact it, and became in consequence involved +in serious wars.</p> + +<p>Byzantium was conquered by a Persian general of Darius, +and for a time was nothing but a Persian fortress: the +Greek inhabitants of the place then dispersed, but the whole +of the Bosporus and the country on the other side of the +Ceras as far as Selymbria, consisted of Byzantian προάστεια. +The circumference of the ancient city was not great, occupying +only about double the space of the present Seraglio. +During the Macedonian period, Byzantium, with extraordinary +skill, preserved its independence. In Olymp. 106, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span>it undertook, in conjunction with Rhodes, Chios, and +Mitylene, the Social war against Athens. Under Lysimachus, +it appears to have formally maintained its political +existence, paying homage to him only by presents, and thus +throughout all changes it remained free until the time of +the Romans. In the age of Cicero, for example, Byzantium, +as we see from his speech against Piso, was a completely +free city and in alliance with the Romans. As commerce +was constantly increasing in the Roman empire, Byzantium +also rose in prosperity, as is clear from certain statements of +Tacitus. In the war of Pescennius Niger against Septimius +Severus, Byzantium stood out against a desperate siege +which lasted for three years; Niger had no hope of conquering +Severus and the West, and this seems to have +suggested to him the idea of dividing the empire, and of +maintaining himself in the East, of which Byzantium was +to be the capital. When the city was taken, Severus +destroyed it completely, a piece of revenge which was otherwise +opposed to the character of that prudent emperor. +The unfortunate consequence was, that those seas were now +thrown open to the barbarians. The Goths, without any +obstacle, penetrated into the Propontis, overpowered the +<i>claustra</i> of the Hellespont, and spread over Greece. At +length Constantine restored Byzantium under the name of +Constantinople; he saw the necessity of founding a strong +capital there, if he was to maintain himself in the East. +This determination of Constantine has been censured, and +the course of events seems to justify the censure; but people +overlook the fact that, if Constantine had not acted as he +did, the East would have been conquered first and much +earlier, that part of the empire being then much more in +danger than the West. The Goths were on the Danube, +and the Huns were pressing on from the East, while the +Germans had been completely overpowered by the victories +of Aurelian and Probus; and in Gaul, too, not a man +thought of making war against Rome. The fact that +afterwards circumstances turned out differently is no proof +that Constantine was wrong. Had not Constantinople been +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span>so strong a place at that time, the eastern empire would have +been lost.</p> + +<p>The gradual extension of Constantinople is a subject +which would lead me too far; but if, after I have given +you the topography of Rome, there he still time left, I shall +add that of Constantinople.</p> + +<p>Let us now proceed to the southern coast of the Propontis. +I will only state in general, that the whole of the Asiatic +side of the Hellespont, as far as the entrance into the +Propontis was completely covered with Greek towns, nearly +all of which, like Lampsacus and Dardanus, were Aeolian; +a few only were Ionian. But <span class="smcap">Cyzicus</span>, on the south coast +of the Propontis, was a town which enjoyed great celebrity +both in the earlier and the somewhat later periods of +antiquity. It is a disputed point whether originally it was +situated on a peninsula connected with the mainland by a +narrow neck, or whether it was in reality an island which +was artificially connected with the opposite coast by means +of a causeway. It was a Milesian colony, protected against +the barbarians by its isolated position, and it acquired +importance at first by agriculture, and afterwards by navigation +and commerce. It is mentioned by Thucydides and +Xenophon, but its real greatness belongs to the Macedonian +period, when, to judge from its ruins and the vast number +of coins found there, it must have been a very large and +wealthy city. It is historically important on account of the +siege during which its inhabitants defended themselves +bravely, resolutely, and heroically, against Mithridates; the +Romans rewarded them for it with distinctions and favours +of every kind; and Cyzicus, under the Romans, continued +to be a considerable city. It seems to have been destroyed +during the Gothic invasion in the third century; under the +Byzantine emperors it was only a small provincial town.</p> + +<p>There were several other little Greek colonies on the same +coast, such as <i>Cios</i>, <i>Astacos</i>, and others, which were subsequently +conquered by the Bithynian kings, in consequence +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span>of which their names were changed. I shall say more of +them when I come to speak of Bithynia.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Chalcedon</span>, opposite to Byzantium, was according to +tradition older than it; it may have existed before, but certainly +not as a Greek town. It is likewise said to have been a Megarian +colony; but it never was of any historical importance. +On coins it is called Καλχεδών, but in many MSS. we find +Καλχηδών, whence it is often confounded with Καρχηδών.</p> + +<p>The Greek towns on the Thracian coast from the Bosporus +onwards are in themselves of no historical importance. +<span class="smcap">Mesembria</span> was built by the Byzantians at the time when, +during the Ionian war, their own city had been taken by +the Persians. Nearly all settlements in those parts were +Ionian colonies sent out by Miletus, with the exception of +<span class="smcap">Calatis</span> which was a Dorian colony of Heraclea; but +<span class="smcap">Apollonia</span> and all places further on as far as the Borysthenes +are Milesian. All these towns as far as Olbia, as +I said before, are of no importance in history, if we except +Tomi, which derives its interest from the fact that Ovid +lived there in exile.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tomi</span> is also called Τομεῖς, which is another instance of +the variety of adjectives. Τομεύς (Τομεῖς) is an adjective, +from which is formed Τομείτης, and from it again the +Latin <i>Tomitanus</i>, so that we have three forms of the ethnic +name. The description which Ovid, in his Tristia, gives of his +sufferings in that place, as well as the Βορυσθενιτικὸς of Dion +Chrysostomus, is of historical interest, because it furnishes us +a picture of the mode of life in that country. Those distant +Greeks maintained themselves as Greeks down to the times +of the Romans, but they had enough intercourse with the +barbarians to adopt many of their manners and customs, +nay, even some peculiarities of language, so that they really +were Μιξέλληνες.</p> + +<p>The coast of Thrace as far as mount Haemus is beautiful, +but in the north of Haemus as far as the Ister, it is inhospitable, +for it is rocky, and the country a mere steppe. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span>North of the Ister as far as the Crimea, the coast, though +high, is a perfect steppe; the country is flat and often well +adapted for agriculture, but unfit for trees, because the soil +which is often very fertile is only a few feet deep, and rests +upon a stony stratum of ochre, which destroys the roots of +trees.</p> + +<p>The coast to the north of the Ister as far as the Dniepr +or the town of Tyras is called Γετῶν ἐρημία, either because +it had been a desert at all times, or because it had been +changed into a wilderness. At the mouth of the Dniepr, +<span class="smcap">Tyras</span>, near Akermann, was the only town, and probably +even this was only a factory. <span class="smcap">Odessos</span>, which must not be +confounded with the distant Odessa, was situated near the Ister. +I will remark here by the way, that the name Odessa has been +quite unreasonably adopted from the ancient town Odessos.</p> + +<p>The ancient city of <span class="smcap">Olbia</span>, once, as its name indicates, a +wealthy town, was situated between Odessa and Oczakow; +it was also termed <i>Borysthenis</i> or <i>Borysthenopolis</i>, but the +city is generally called Olbia, while its inhabitants are +spoken of under the names of Βορυσθενοπολῖται, Ὄλβιοι, +and Ὀλβιοπολῖται. It was a great emporium for the Greek +corn trade with the countries about the Dniepr. That +trade was carried on from two points, first from the Ukraine +and the Dniepr, and secondly from Phanagoria, the Cimmerian +Bosporus, the Don, and the Taurian Chersonesus. +As apparently unimportant circumstances often supply the +place of historical information, so the decay of Olbia justifies +the inference that the commerce of the Dniepr, to which Olbia +owed its greatness, must have been destroyed, and that too in +consequence of the invasion of those countries by the Gauls on +the one hand, and by the Sarmatians on the other. Agriculture +must have been ruined, and nomadic tribes appear +to have settled there. The Bosporanian towns retained +their importance, but Olbia was insignificant compared with +what it had been, and never rose again. When a place, after +its destruction, continues to be inhabited, the stones and +especially marble, are ill preserved: Olbia had received its +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span>death-blow, and though it continued for a time to be inhabited +by the Greeks, it was afterwards completely destroyed by +the barbarians, and never restored. Innumerable inscriptions +are thus buried in the ground, from which we can +gather information about the condition of Olbia; one of +them⁠<a id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> refers to the period preceding the appearance of the +Sarmatae. From Dion Chrysostomus, we know that in +Caesar’s time the Sarmatae came across the Dniepr, and +took and destroyed Olbia. In his own time Olbia was a +thinly inhabited and decayed place of large circumference. +Afterwards it is no longer mentioned. From Herodotus, +who himself visited the place, we can best see how great +it was in his time.</p> + +<p>From Olbia, we proceed to the Crimea, the <i>Chersonesus +Taurica</i>, in modern times sometimes called <i>Tauris</i>,—a +name of which it has been justly remarked, that it was +unknown to the ancients, but it does not follow that we too +should not use it; only in writing Latin we should not +employ it, but follow the practice of the ancients. The +correct name is Ταυρική; and Ταυρίς, though correctly +formed, does not occur, but the country was called from its +inhabitants Ταῦροι, whence Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Ταύροις, and not +<i>in Tauride</i>. This Taurian Chersonesus consists of two halves +which are separated nearly equally by a diagonal running +from north-west to south-east. The southern half has an +excellent range of hills, whereas the other is a steppe. +The former was inhabited by Taurians, the latter by +Scythians; the Taurians were, as Herodotus says, foreign +to the Scythians. The Greeks formed settlements on the +coast of the Taurian country, and also on the Cimmerian +Bosporus.</p> + +<p>The great town called <span class="smcap">Chersonesus</span> was situated on the +promontory of a small island, as the isthmus could easily be +defended by fortifications; it had an excellent harbour, for +which reason it had been chosen as the site of a colony. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span>The town was a colony of Heraclea in Bithynia, whose +greatness belongs to the period previous to the Mithridatic +wars; its vicissitudes are manifold; it must have been founded +after the time of Herodotus, as he does not mention it. The +passage in which he speaks of those countries, shows that +he would have noticed it, if it had existed. But whenever +it may have been founded, it became important at an early +period, and was known under the name of Ἡρακλεία ἐν +Χερσονήσῳ, or simply Χερσόνησος. In consequence of +attacks from barbarous tribes, it was obliged to place itself +under the protection of Mithridates Eupator. This was the +beginning of happy times for the Greeks in those parts; the +whole of the Crimea was united under one government, +and the barbarians were excluded by fortifications on the +isthmus. The kings of Bosporus, descendants of Mithridates, +governed the peninsula as a splendid little kingdom under +the protection of the Romans, who never introduced their +provincial institutions there, but were satisfied with the +recognition of their supremacy and presents. Under this +government the Chersonesus retained its importance, and +when the kingdom of Bosporus was broken up, Chersonesus, +which now assumed the name of <i>Cherson</i>, became a republic. +As such it existed not only in the reign of Justinian, +when the Romans protected the inhabitants as their allies and +in that of the descendants of Heraclius, but even afterwards +under Constantine Porphyrogenitus (see his detailed +article Χερσῶν in the work <i>De Administrando Imperio</i>). +The constitution of this republic cannot be satisfactorily +ascertained, but its magistrates were called πρωτεύοντες. +The place was then still Greek, and Greek was spoken there, +and national chronicles were kept in the Greek language, +which the author of the work just mentioned made use of. +Afterwards the peninsula was taken by the Russians under +their prince Wladimir, the first great conqueror who aimed +at the possession of Greece. The town was not indeed +destroyed on that occasion, but many things of value were +carried away, as for example, the bronze gates of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span>churches. Soon after, the Chazars and other barbarians +came and took possession of the town, which then disappears +from history. In 1784, when the Russians took the +Crimea, the town no longer existed, but only extensive +ruins. Regular and systematic excavations might have led +to important discoveries, but the Russians built a harbour +for their navy; everything was rudely demolished for the +purpose of using it as building material; all the iron was +torn away, and the bricks employed elsewhere, so that at +present not a trace appears of what forty years ago promised +certain reward for suitable exertion. Inscriptions, as far as +I know, have not been found; but a large number of coins +of the Byzantine period have been brought to light, from +which we see that the town, like Venice, even then had its +own right of coinage under the protection of Constantinople.</p> + +<p>Larger or smaller Greek settlements existed near most of +the harbours. <span class="smcap">Theodosia</span> or <span class="smcap">Theudosia</span> in the neighbourhood +of Kaffa, formed the western frontier of the +kingdom of Bosporus. At present the name Theodosia (in +Russian, Feodosia), has been transferred to Kaffa, but I +believe that those are right who consider this transference +to be without foundation.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phanagoria</span>, in the eastern part of the Crimea, was +situated on an eminence, and was the chief Greek city in those +parts. Although the antiquities there have been destroyed +in a barbarous manner, the place still is an inexhaustible +mine, and the remains show a degree of beauty which +excites our astonishment; the Bosporan coins are beautiful, +and the vases, statues, and the like are exquisite. Phanagoria +was a very ancient Greek colony of Miletus; it rose to +greatness at an early period, and was governed by a γένος +bearing the name of Archaeanactidae, so that its form of +government was at first aristocratic. The Archaeanactidae +were probably succeeded by a democracy, and this by a +tyrannis. Among the tyrants, Leucon is of some interest +to us, because Demosthenes, in his speech against Leptines, +speaks of an honorary right conferred upon him for having +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span>done service to Athens. He was succeeded by Satyrus and +others, who completely undermined the republican constitution, +which was perhaps not suited to those countries. +The Greek inhabitants were really much indebted to those +princes for preserving their wealth and happiness in the +midst of impetuous barbarians. Their names show distinct +traces of a connection with Persia; thus we often meet +with the name Parysades, which is nothing else than +Perisades, the son of a fairy (Peri); according to the +Greek pronunciation the resemblance is stronger than +according to ours.</p> + +<p>The kingdom of Bosporus embraced the whole of the +eastern Crimea as far as Theodosia, and the opposite island +of <i>Taman</i>, <i>Tamacan</i>, or, as Strabo calls it <i>Tamyrace</i>. It +formed settlements also on the Palus Maeotis and on the +Euxine. In the time of Mithridates Eupator, it was +governed by king Parysades, who, being unable to check +the invading Sarmatae, surrendered his kingdom to Mithridates; +the latter then undertook an expedition into +the Crimea, partly for the purpose of extending his empire, +and partly for that of training his army for the war against +the Romans. As long as he lived, Bosporus was his province; +it then passed into the hands of his family, which, +like himself, had become completely hellenized, though +they were of Persian origin. We can trace the names of +the princes down to the fourth century from their coins, +the later ones of which show on one side the head of the +reigning emperor of Rome, and on the other that of the +Bosporan king.</p> + +<p>I cannot at this moment give you an accurate account +of the towns in the island of Taman, but they were +without importance. The town of <span class="smcap">Tanais</span>, which may +have been very ancient, was situated at the mouth of the +river Tanais.</p> + +<p>This small kingdom, ever since the time of Mithridates, +comprised the whole of the Crimea; across the isthmus, a line +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span>of fortifications had been constructed to defend the Crimea +against the northern barbarians.</p> + +<p>An ancient Περίπλους περὶ Πόντον Εὔξεινον, the beginning +of which is lost, is a compilation from the earlier Greek +Περίπλοι and from the work of Scymnus of Chios, and +contains the distances. But it is very doubtful when it was +composed; I believe that it is a late production, perhaps of +the time of Justinian, or even later, for all the distances are +given in stadia and Roman miles, and the town of Chersonesus +is called Cherson.</p> + +<p>Greek towns existed not only there, on the coast south of +mount Kuban, about the promontory of mount Caucasus, +but even in the easternmost corner of the Black Sea. On +the eastern coast we find <span class="smcap">Colchis</span>, which exported the +products of those parts, which are extremely wealthy, +and form one of the most fertile countries in the world. In +the upper part it contains wide and beautiful valleys, but +the land is too high and not as rich as in Mingrelia. +<span class="smcap">Dioscuria</span>, a port town on a gulf, <span class="smcap">Phasis</span>, and several +other places on the south coast of the Euxine, were likewise +founded by Greek colonists.</p> + +<p>If we proceed further west in this direction, we come first +to <span class="smcap">Trapezus</span>, a place well known from Xenophon’s Anabasis, +to which it owes its celebrity; afterwards it is not +prominent again, until the time when a dynasty of the +Comneni established itself there, which even survived the +fall of the empire of Constantinople. In the earlier times +it is not very important. It did not belong to Cappadocia, +but was situated in the country now occupied by the Lazes, +a people speaking a peculiar Caucasian language. At +Trapezus, the Greek language has maintained itself among +the Christians, while otherwise it is almost extinct in Asia +Minor. The statement made in the oral traditions of the +Greeks, that the Doric dialect was spoken there, is very +doubtful.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Amisos</span>, a Milesian colony⁠<a id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> on the Euxine, the birth-place +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span>of Strabo, was an important Greek town in Cappadocia +proper. It is strange that such a distant corner of +the Greek world should have given birth to a Strabo; the +number of faults that can be pointed out in his Greek +diction is very small, and even these may be only dialectical; +otherwise he writes excellently, for he thinks correctly; +the loss of his history is ever to be lamented, for it was +assuredly a first-rate work.</p> + +<p>The whole country of Trapezus rests on rough Armenian +mountains; it is a beautiful country, and to us northern people +it would appear excellent, but it is, nevertheless, very different +from the blessed fields of Asia Minor. The district containing +Amisos and Sinope, on the other hand, is a paradise; +its fertility even in antiquity reached a height which +we can scarcely imagine in an ideal land, and such is the +whole of the north coast of Asia Minor as far as Constantinople. +The winters, however, are comparatively severe; +the south winds from the Armenian mountains are indeed +bracing, but do not much impede the growth of the most +exquisite fruit of the south. All Greek towns in that part +were free and independent, until the kings of Pontus +became powerful and subdued them all, even Amisos.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sinope</span>, north-west of the mouth of the Halys, and +geographically within the boundaries of Paphlagonia, was +in ancient times the greatest Greek town in those parts. +Its site is one of those which must be noticed on account of +its great excellence; it was situated on a peninsula connected +with the main land by a narrow isthmus; the coast in the +neighbourhood is rocky, so that foreign ships cannot easily +land. The peninsula was of considerable extent, so that the +town embraced large districts, which were used by the +inhabitants as gardens, vineyards, and fields, and which in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[250]</span>time of war furnished means of subsistence. The tunny +fish from the sea of Azow arrive there first, and the Sinopians +have the first advantage; these fish always pass along +the coast, and in the end, as I have already remarked, go +into the harbour of Byzantium. The advantages of its +situation made the town great and prosperous, and its +inhabitants maintained their independence till towards the +end of the Hannibalian war, when Pharnaces, king of +Pontus, took possession of it. From that time it was the +capital of Pontus; the kings resided in it, and Mithridates +Eupator adorned it with splendid buildings of every kind. +It was then conquered by Lucullus, and though it was +not destroyed, its fate was terrible. Under the Romans +it was again a wealthy provincial town of considerable +importance.</p> + +<p>The Greek towns <span class="smcap">Cytoros</span>, <span class="smcap">Cromna</span>, <span class="smcap">Tion</span>, and <span class="smcap">Sesamos</span> +anciently existed on the west of Sinope. Amastris, a +daughter of a brother of the last Darius, and the wife of +Dionysius of Heraclea (she was afterwards married to Lysimachus), +united all these towns into one, which she called +<span class="smcap">Amastris</span>, and which became Greek, although she herself +was a barbarian. Tion afterwards revived as a separate +town.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Heraclea</span>, a colony of Megara, and consequently a +Dorian place, was founded at an early period in the country +of the Mariandynians, who afterwards became the serfs of +the Heracleotae, and stood to them in the same relation as the +Helots did to the Spartans. The city ruled over an extensive +and fertile country, took an active part in the navigation of +the Black Sea, and founded the town of Chersonesus. +During the Persian dominion it maintained its independence, +and the satraps were unable to exercise much influence upon +it. The later history of Heraclea is the same as that of all +other towns, of which the constitution was not modified +according to the exigencies of the time: the ancient forms +could not be maintained, and the town fell into the hands of +tyrants, who governed it uninterruptedly until the Macedonian +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span>period. Several of these tyrants were extremely +mild, as, for example, Clearchus in the time of Plato, whose +mind was cultivated by the study of philosophy, and several +members of his family afterwards reigned in the same spirit. +Amastris, too, ruled there for a long time, and through her +the town became subject to Lysimachus. Afterwards a republican +constitution was again established there, and remained +until the time of the Romans. Heraclea was allied with Rome +at an early period, and was favoured by her; but in the +war against Mithridates, Heraclea unfortunately declared +itself in his favour, in consequence of which it was taken +and cruelly treated by Cotta, and the Romans even sent +a colony to it, a measure which otherwise they never +adopted in those countries. Thenceforth it always remained +a considerable town, as is still attested by its ruins. We +know the history of Heraclea from the extracts made by +Photius from the local history of Memnon, whose work was +based on that of Nymphis.</p> + +<h3 id="Epirus"><span class="smcap">Epirus.</span></h3> + +<p>Epirus is one of the few names which, being originally +adjectives, have by accident become proper names. +Ἤπειρος, as is well known, occurs in the Odyssey as +opposed to the Cephallenian islands. In this sense the +meaning of the name is almost of indefinite extent, but +afterwards, and ever since the Macedonian period, a definite +usage, of which traces are found even before, became +established; such a trace occurs particularly in Xenophon’s +Hellenica, where the name Epirus is applied to the country +north of the Ambracian gulf. But in the earlier times, +and even in Thucydides, it comprises a tract of country of +far greater extent, at least as far as the entrance to the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span>Corinthian gulf; nay, it even reaches beyond, embracing +Aetolia and the country of the Ozolian Locrians. This +indefiniteness arises from the fact, that the towns in those +districts were so far removed from the other Greeks, and were +accordingly very little known to them. In all great nations +consisting of many tribes, some of which form the real +centre, there are others which are scarcely noticed at all; +and such also was the case with the Greeks in those parts, +as well as in Apulia in Italy. This is proved by the colonization +of those coasts, which I have already mentioned, just +as if they had been inhabited by barbarians; I need only +recall to your recollection the colonies of Anactorium, Leucas, +Alyzia on the Acarnanian coast, and Chalcis on the Aetolian. +Those nations were even more foreign to the Greeks than +the Thessalians, so that the Aetolians and Acarnanians did +not belong to the Amphictyonic league, though it included +even Malians, Dolopians, Aenianians, Magnetes, and others. +These are antiquarian points, to which we must direct our +attention, in order to obtain a clear and distinct view.</p> + +<p>We shall speak of Epirus in its narrower sense. Its new +and narrower frontiers were formed especially at the time +when the great Pyrrhus became king of Epirus, and when +the kingdom founded by him gained consistency. In later +times it was of a still more limited extent. As those +tribes, when they did speak Greek, spoke in the Doric +dialect, they called themselves Ἀπειρῶται, as we see from +their coins, both regal and republican. This form also +remained the most familiar to the Romans, and has been +preserved down to our own time in the word <i>apricots</i> (<i>mala +Apirotica</i>); in like manner, we find in Plautus <i>Alis</i> and +<i>Alii</i> for <i>Elis</i> and <i>Elii</i>. Later writers indeed used <i>Epirus</i> and +<i>Epiroticus</i>, but these are changes of the literary language, +while the genuine and more ancient form continued to be +used in the popular and spoken language. The Epirots must +also have had a real national name of their own; and this +name has been preserved by Mnaseas, a pupil of Aristarchus, +in a scholion on the Odyssey. It was Siceli, like that of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[253]</span>the Oenotrians in Italy, and of the inhabitants of Sicily. +I have published a short essay on this subject in the +<i>Rheinisches Museum</i>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> and have shown that the Siceli mentioned +in the Odyssey must be those of Epirus, that the +ancient grammarian is perfectly right in this respect, and +that for this reason the last rhapsody of the Odyssey is of +quite a different origin from the rest. Satisfactory results +in the higher kind of criticism, regarding the age of authors, +may be arrived at in many cases either by mere grammatical, +or by mere historical philology, but it is infinitely +better if both can be combined, and such is the case here, +the one supporting the other. Bentley’s investigations +on the Epistles of Phalaris and the Fables of Aesop are +models of inquiries, in which historical and grammatical +philology go hand in hand. Much that is excellent has +already been done for the Homeric poems; but there is +still much to be removed, and all the details must be treated +of in connection with one another. I am not speaking +here of that which has already been done by Wolf.</p> + +<p>The name Siceli, as I said before, is ancient; but how +long it was in actual use is a different question. The correctness +of the statement, however, cannot be doubted. +Another statement, from Theopompus, a writer who notwithstanding +many faults contains much that is instructive, +declares the Epirots to be Pelasgians. As regards the +Pelasgian nations, I think I may refer you to what I have +said elsewhere;⁠<a id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> I will defer the discussion of this subject +until I have made more progress in these Lectures; I should +like here to explain my views, but the time would thereby +become too short for the task I have proposed to myself. +I will therefore compress what I have to say in few +words. The Pelasgians were a race distinct from the +Hellenes, but sprung from the same root as they, and +essentially and nearly allied to them. The difference was +not distinctly understood in the earliest times, whence many +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[254]</span>nations are called by one author Hellenes, and by another +Pelasgians. The statement that the Hellenes in the Iliad +are not yet mentioned by a common name, that Hellenes +and non-Hellenes were first properly distinguished by +Thucydides, refers to the difference existing between the +Hellenes and Pelasgians. Thus, e.g., Dodona in the Homeric +Catalogue is called Hellenic, and Herodotus calls the +Molottians and Thesprotians Hellenes, and so also the +Epirots, as he was guided by their religion. But Thucydides, +who judged from the language of a nation, considers +the Epirots as different from the Hellenes, nay, he expressly +calls them barbarians. We understand by Epirots the +nations extending from the frontier of Illyricum as far +as upper Macedonia (without as yet deciding upon the +name Macedonia), and then along mount Pindus as far as +the Achelous. To these nations we shall apply the name +Epirots. I will first mention what points they have in +common, and then determine which of them are to be +regarded as Epirots and which not. These nations, at least +their educated classes, had so far adopted the Greek language, +as to employ it everywhere in public and written +transactions. This accounts for Polybius always distinctly +including them among the Greeks; and he does so even in +regard to those who lived beyond the boundaries of Epirus +fixed by Pyrrhus: though on one occasion he makes +Philip, the son of Demetrius, say of the Aetolians, that +they ought not to boast too much of their Hellenic character, +nor to distinguish the Macedonians from the Hellenes, +since the greater part of them were descended from non-Hellenes +and barbarians. And the nations there spoken of +were Epirot tribes. In this manner, Polybius somewhat +contradicts himself. But it is only critics fond of hair-splitting +that can attach any weight to such a contradiction; +an author like Polybius, even without scrupulously weighing +his words, can not mislead a sensible reader.</p> + +<p>Epirus, with the exception of the district on the Ambracian +gulf, is altogether a mountainous country. The +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span>mountains coming down from the north rise, as in Illyricum, +between the district of the Drino and the frontier +of Epirus, where they remove considerably from the coast, +so that this part consists of low hills on the coast, and of +undulating river districts of great extent. The mountains +which separate Macedonia and Illyricum, and which there +form such gigantic masses, extend in the south towards the +sea, and hence constitute the boundary between Epirus and +the country, from which the Illyrians on their progress +towards the south, were unable to expel the native tribes. +The <span class="smcap">Ceraunian</span> mountains, running parallel with the +coast of Corfu, extend into the Adriatic Sea, and end in a +promontory without having any continuation in Italy. +The opposite mountains in Calabria (the modern Terra di +Lecce) form a high plateau of limestone, whereas on the +east of the Adriatic they consist partly of slate and partly +of primary rocks. In the east of Epirus, <span class="smcap">Pindus</span> extends +in a series of parallel ranges, and rises to its greatest height +in those very parts, its summit separating Epirus and +Thessaly. The mountains there are in a high degree volcanic, +whence the name Ceraunian, for it is literally a perpetually +thundering mountain. The ancients knew very well, what +modern natural philosophers for a time disbelieved, that +thunder-storms may arise from the earth as well as from the +atmosphere; and the former is the case especially in volcanic +districts. Aristotle and Pliny knew this quite well, but +about fifty years ago it was unknown to our natural philosophers. +Even at times when there is no volcanic eruption +of mount Vesuvius, not only subterraneous but real thunder +is often heard, and a person looking without prejudice may +see flashes of lightning issuing from the volcano. Hence +those mountains are described as seats of lightning. Those +terrible mountains, <i>infames scopuli Acroceraunia</i>, fully deserve +this name, because they form a rocky and harbourless +coast. The scirocco, the destructive south wind, dashes +the ships against those rocks, and there is no port far and +wide in which they might take refuge. That part of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[256]</span>the Adriatic is still notorious for numerous shipwrecks. +Another circumstance which makes it dangerous, and which +was known to the ancients, but of which moderns are +ignorant, is the Syrtes. The accounts of the ancients about +them are by no means fabulous: they are dangerous on +account of the currents which flow straightway into both +the larger and the lesser Syrtis; if a sailor gets into them, +he knows not where he is, and during a north wind it is +impossible for him to work his way against it and the Syrtes. +The ancients understanding this, sailed closer to the coast; at +present, when sailors keep more to the middle, there is less +danger. If the countries east of the Adriatic should ever +become the seat of commerce and exports, shipwrecks would +again be very common. There are two currents, the one a +continuation of that from the Black Sea, meets that from the +Adriatic in the south-west of Malea; they then move on +diagonally in a curve, and thus enter the Syrtes. The +current from the Adriatic increases the danger of the +Ceraunia. From the head of the Ceraunia, the inhospitable +coast extends a considerable distance till opposite Corfu. +The heights then extend inland towards Pindus, and the +southern districts present fertile hills covered with cork-oaks; +these hills are lower, and only a few lofty peaks +rise out of them, which are very difficult of access. The +country about the Ambracian gulf, to a very considerable +extent, is mostly alluvial land (in modern Greek βάλτος). +The marshes, now called Valtos, are formed by the sea, +the Arachthus, and the other rivers; they are constantly +increasing, yet the increase amounts to less than what is +lost at the mouth of the Achelous.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thesprotia</span>, the southern and lower country, is the +true seat of subterraneous commotions, whence in antiquity +it was the land of terrors, and was believed to be connected +with the dismal regions of the lower world: in the autumn, +scarcely a day passes on which the ground does not tremble +under the feet of its inhabitants. From the Acherusian +lake (the lake of Janina) a river issues, which is soon lost +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[257]</span>in the earth, but afterwards re-appears and discharges its +waters into the sea. This re-appearance was naturally +enough doubted by the ancients, and is a disputed point +even now, though I for one have no hesitation in saying +that it is the same river. This river is the <span class="smcap">Acheron</span> or +<span class="smcap">Styx</span> (for in some accounts the two are the same); these +are the muddy waters of the lower world, for the soil of +Thesprotia is loose and rich, and the rivers are heavy with +mud; hence the country is wonderfully fertile, and a real +storehouse of grain for Europe, but it is unhealthy, and, +with the exception of the mountainous parts, the water is +bad.</p> + +<p>That country was until very recently a <i>terra incognita</i> +to Europeans; the ancients mention very few towns in it, +and their descriptions are unsatisfactory. Before the year +1798, when the Ionian islands came into the hands of the +French, no European traveller had ever visited the interior +of Epirus. It was, therefore, an unknown country, the +interior was a complete blank in geographical maps, and the +rivers were drawn at random. D’Anville complains of the +total want of information, and with his slender means he accomplished +all that could be accomplished, but he himself says, +that he drew his map of the country with great uncertainty. +He did not know, e.g., the site of the lake of Janina, and imagined +that it was somewhere near the coast. The geography +of Melitios, archbishop of Janina, contains a very respectable +description of Epirus; it was written at the beginning of +the eighteenth century, and from it the excellent Barbié +du Bocage made the first comparatively correct map of +Epirus, which accompanies Barthélemy’s <i>Voyage du jeune +Anacharsis</i>. Afterwards the country was much visited by +French and English officers, and Vaudoncourt and the +English consul⁠<a id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> ... have immensely increased our knowledge +of the country, so that now it is perfectly well known, and +the obscurity in which many of the statements of the +ancients were involved is now sufficiently removed; our +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[258]</span>present maps of Epirus, too, are quite satisfactory. The +first map of this kind was one of the Turkish empire by a +modern Greek, which was published at Trieste; it was +made for Greeks, and in the modern Greek language; I +received it with great pleasure, and Epirus appeared in it +in quite a new light.</p> + +<p>The exploits of the Suliots have made Epirus hallowed +ground to every one who is not devoid of human feeling +and sympathy. Their deeds of valour described in the +history of Major Perrevos, and in the excellent abridgment +of Fauriel, a Frenchman, surpass everything that is related +in epic poetry, and transfer us from our artificial age, so +thoroughly devoid of character, into an age of heroes. +They are among the most remarkable people of our time: +their sufferings have stirred up our keenest sympathy; +to them we are indebted for the delight of having witnessed +a heroic age, while our own life has become so uniformly +European, that everything has assumed a general and +vague character; the Suliots will have an interest for all +succeeding ages. The Epirots, on the testimony of Thucydides, +were formerly considered as barbarians, with the +exception of Pyrrhus, and I myself have looked upon +them in the same light; but they are now dear to us, and +we honour them. For this reason, I shall here enter more +into detail than elsewhere, and perhaps more than the +relative importance of the country requires.</p> + +<p>A country so near to a mighty internal power of the +unfathomable earth may be expected to be distinguished +for extraordinary fertility. Few parts of Greece have an +<i>honos montium et silvarum</i> like that of Epirus; it contains +the most beautiful mountains, covered only in a few places +with fir-wood, but for the most part with the most splendid +foliage. The fertility in the valleys is almost fabulous. +The fuller’s earth in the country of the Stymphaeans +contains traces of volcanic decomposition. But the animal +creation too is very rich: the Molottian dogs are the +strongest in all Greece; the herds of cattle appear to have +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[259]</span>reached their perfection in antiquity by careful breeding, +for at present they are much inferior. The flourishing +farms resembling those of Switzerland have perished under +the dominion of barbarians; in Buthroton alone they still +are equally good. The horses are small, robust, and strong, +but not lasting.</p> + +<p>Epirus was full of small tribes; fourteen or fifteen are +enumerated, some which occupied large, and others small districts; +I shall speak only of the more important among them. +The most prominent in what may be termed the history of +Epirus Proper, are the <span class="smcap">Chaonians</span>, <span class="smcap">Thesprotians</span>, and +<span class="smcap">Molottians</span>, to which I may add the <span class="smcap">Amphilochians</span> +and <span class="smcap">Orestians</span>, both of which are to some extent beyond the +boundaries of Epirus in its narrower sense. In the earliest +times they did not form a definite union, but in one part of +the country some tribes had a predominating influence at +an early period, first the Chaonians, then the Thesprotians, +and in the historical times the Molottians. We must not, +however, imagine that these tribes subjugated the others, +or reduced them to the condition of perioeci; but their +relation resembled that of the free allies of Rome, and they +recognised the majesty of the ruling people only by presents +and fidelity. Several of these tribes had a regal government +(the most ancient among all the Greek and kindred nations) +down to very late times. One member of a γένος was +either elected by the people, or enjoyed a hereditary right +to the throne. This sacred hereditary principle continued +for a long period; to it those tribes owed their importance +in later times, and without it they never would have had +the power and influence with which they afterwards +appear in history. When all forms had become obsolete +and effete, those nations which still adhered to the hereditary +regal power, were enjoying a great advantage. This +was the only reason why Sparta maintained itself so long: +when its royal family perished, the Spartans, too, were +lost. We find, however, in Epirus the same stages of +development as among other nations, and royalty was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[260]</span>succeeded by the dominion of the γένη. Traces of this +occur in Thucydides; in speaking of the Chaonians, he +mentions an ἀρχικὸν γένος, and I think I have found distinct +evidence that the Καμπυλίδαι were this ruling γένος.</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Chaonians</span> occupied the extreme north-west of +the country, in and about the Ceraunian mountains, which +is now inhabited by the Cimariots. They were, no doubt, +the same as the Chonians in southern Italy, and of Pelasgic +origin. Although they are said in the earliest times to +have enjoyed a kind of supremacy, yet the Thesprotians +are very conspicuous in the most ancient Greek records, +because their country contained in its high mountains the +oracle of <span class="smcap">Dodona</span>, the centre of the public religion of the +Pelasgians, as Samothrace, in the east, was the centre of +their mysteries. The Greeks, as a kindred nation, were +not excluded from either. Dodona must not be conceived +as an important town; many inquiries have been made in +Epirus to ascertain its site, but traces of a real town have not +been found anywhere, and Epirus in general was inhabited +only κωμηδόν, and not κατὰ πόλεις. The place, however, +where Dodona stood has been discovered with some degree +of certainty: the summit of a hill or mountain surrounded +by Cyclopian walls, so that its sides are quite precipitous, +is commonly supposed to be the site. The mountains of +Epirus were no more fortified than Suli; whereas the idea +of a πόλις is a place surrounded by a wall. The hill +of Dodona was the κρησφύγετον, that is, the place to +which, in times of war, women, children, old men, +and moveable property were conveyed for the sake of +safety. The sanctuary was situated in an ancient and +immense oak-forest on mount Tmarus; but from a statement +in Servius, we learn that this sanctuary was disturbed +by Illyrian robbers. The passage of Servius is corrupt, +and I have emended it, because it is of great interest in +regard to Greek history. Our knowledge of Dodona is +extremely defective; it was situated beyond the sphere of +Greek culture, so that it is always mentioned only by the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[261]</span>way, just as is the case with Delphi. What should we +know of Delphi, had not Pausanias left us a description of +it? The article in Stephanus Byzantinus contains the most +important information about Dodona; and more may be +elicited from it than has yet been done; the article has not +yet been made quite clear. Bells, or pieces of metal, which +were struck with hammers, seem to have been suspended +from the trees around the sanctuary. Wagons in ancient +times were likewise provided with pieces of metal or bells, +in order that in the narrow streets timely warning might be +given to others to make room; such things are still found +among the antiquities of Herculaneum.</p> + +<p>In the time of the Peloponnesian war, the Thesprotians +were without kings, but the <span class="smcap">Molottians</span> had a regal government; +the fact of their race being traced to Achilles +was only an accommodation to Greek legends, and they did +not call the hero Achilles, but Aspetus.⁠<a id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> Their genealogies +are very obscure. They regarded themselves as Pelasgians, +and traced their ancestors back to the flood of Deucalion. +They were insignificant until the time of their king, +Tharyps,⁠<a id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> who was said to have been educated at Athens, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span>and introduced among them, at the time of the Peloponnesian +war, Greek manners and culture, Greek +gymnasia, buildings, language, etc., and gave them the +Hellenic unction. From this time onward the Molottians +rose, though slowly, to importance, and gradually became +the predominating people in Epirus, in which they were +assisted by various circumstances. The extent of the power +of the Molottian kings, whose right was based upon their +γένος, was not greater than that of the kings of the Greek +tribes, or of the German chiefs before the migration of +nations. But just like these latter, they had absolute power +over conquered tribes, and the same Molottian kings, who +in their own country were in reality no more than magistrates, +and to whom the people might lawfully refuse +obedience, ruled over the neighbouring Epirot tribes and +the Greek cities under their dominion with unlimited power. +In like manner, king Clovis was limited in his power +over the Franks, but was a complete despot in regard to +the Roman provincials. When, therefore, such a people +made conquests, the king, notwithstanding the letter of the +constitution (if we may use this term here for something +which was not written), became absolute master of the +conquered. Such was the case of Alexander, and such +also was that of Pyrrhus, who was further strengthened by +the splendour of his victories. The Spartan kings, too, +would have liked to make themselves absolute masters of +the perioeci, but the Ephors stepped in to prevent it.</p> + +<p>Down to the time of Philip, who, while the succession +was disputed, raised Alexander, his brother-in-law, the son +of Neoptolemus, and brother of Olympias, to the throne, the +Molottians had as yet little extended their power. But Philip +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span>gave Alexander the territory called Cassiopea containing +three Greek towns; at that time the Thesprotians also came +under the power of the Molottians. But notwithstanding +this, the Molottian kings were obliged every year, at +Passaro, the capital of their country, to promise on oath, +that they would obey the laws of the land, and the people +in return took a corresponding oath. Alexander, the son +of Neoptolemus, may have extended his dominion a little in +the west, he may even have made the Chaonians⁠<a id="FNanchor_91" href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> his +subjects; but I cannot decide these points, though it is +probable that he penetrated into the northern parts. Ambracia +which, geographically speaking, belongs to Epirus, +is likewise mentioned as dependent upon the Epirots; and +so also the Parauaeans and Amphilochians with their large +towns; Philip possessed only the fortresses, Ambracia and the +Amphilochian Argos, by means of which he kept his foot on +the neck of the Epirots, for he took good care not to promote +the independence of his brother-in-law, just as Napoleon +kept his brothers in constant dependence on himself. For +this reason he left Epirus as a state open on all sides, and +put himself in possession of the principal fortresses without +which the country could offer no resistance; it accordingly +consisted of the beautiful western districts, while the eastern +parts were under the dominion of Macedonia. In this condition +things remained for a period of about forty years, +until Pyrrhus established his supremacy and independence, +and united the whole country under his sceptre. The +earlier and more careful writers, e.g., the Attic orators, do +not even call Alexander king of Epirus, but Alexander the +Molottian: Justin and Livy call him king of Epirus, an +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[264]</span>inaccuracy with which we must neither charge Trogus, whose +work Justin abridged, nor Livy, though the former might +have been more careful; but Livy was not much concerned +about the history of that country.</p> + +<p>I will not here enter into the detail as to how Pyrrhus +fled from his country, how he returned, and what were his +misfortunes. He availed himself with great adroitness, nay +even with cunning, of the circumstances of the time to +take vengeance on his arch-enemies, the house of Cassander, +which from his infancy had wronged him in every possible +way. He avenged his own house and Alexander of Macedonia +not only as an instrument of heaven, but at the +same time following the impulse of his own heart. Alexander⁠<a id="FNanchor_92" href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> +was seen by his contemporaries in all his hideousness, +while posterity saw him in the light of an undeserved +glory. This glory, however, belonged to him in so far as +great things were accomplished by him. He found in his +contemporaries a miserable race; his war against Persia +was only a struggle against a rotten empire; and as he +attacked it vigorously, great things, of course, were done +and great things were destroyed. His greatest deed was +the foundation of Alexandria, and yet, if we judge soberly, +the hurried Hellenisation was only injurious to true Hellenism. +The beautiful still continued to linger among the +Greeks, and was uncorrupted; but when the Lydians, Carians, +Syrians, and others, became Hellenised, when they appeared +as Greeks and wrote Greek, the little of Hellenism, which +still stood forth in broad outlines, perished. I may here +mention another great historical instance, but I beg you will +not misunderstand me: previous to the time of Constantine, +Christianity had been spreading in consequence of the +conviction of its truth; but the fact that he compelled whole +provinces to profess it with their lips, without the belief +having taken root in their hearts, was followed by evil +consequences. All mighty changes in the world, which +take place with extraordinary rapidity, are injurious. Such +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[265]</span>also was the influence of Alexander. Still, however, we +must not be unjust, and we must understand how a spirited +youth like Pyrrhus, with a deep poetical mind, idealised +Alexander; he was an instrument of vengeance upon +Cassander and his family, the detestable diadochi. Pyrrhus +is one of the most splendid, noble, and amiable characters +in all history. Often have I, when a young man, exclaimed +in full enthusiasm with Hesiod: εἰ μετ’ ἐκείνοις ἐγενόμην! +at such times one has the feeling, that one would be greater +by coming in contact with such men. I have collected +much about the history of Pyrrhus, and I know him +thoroughly; I hope one day to represent him in his true +light and in his indescribable splendour.⁠<a id="FNanchor_93" href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> To be great as a +general is certainly one of the highest distinctions in the +world: he was not always quite just, but always noble and +generous, far from petty egotism, and free from everything +that degrades man; he had a full, large, and warm heart; +he looked upon his country not as a domain, but loved his +people with his whole soul. Dear as Roman history is to +me, I must nevertheless assign a higher place to the two +greatest enemies of Rome, Pyrrhus and Hannibal.</p> + +<p>Pyrrhus, as I said before, availed himself of the circumstances +of the time for the purpose of gaining the eastern +part of Epirus for his country. The sons of Cassander were +obliged to cede to him Orestis, Parauaea, Ambracia, and +Amphilochia, and the Epirots now, being masters of their +country in its full extent, showed themselves as a great and +powerful people. But this greatness did not become consolidated, +too great demands were made upon the strength +of the people, and they lost their best blood in the wars. +Still, however, Alexander, the son of Pyrrhus, not only +preserved the extent of his kingdom,⁠<a id="FNanchor_94" href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> but added Acarnania +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[266]</span>to it; and this continued to constitute the kingdom of +Epirus for a period of about fifty years. Pyrrhus made +Ambracia his capital, and adorned it with splendid temples +and palaces; Alexander kept it as such, and he, too, was a +very distinguished man. After his death, when the government +came into the hands of minors, and his house became +extinct by a series of the greatest calamities, the state also +broke to pieces. Ambracia, the Amphilochian Argos, and +eastern Epirus, were lost, and threw themselves into the +arms of the Aetolians. After about <span class="allsmcap">A.U.C.</span> 515 we hear +of an Epirot republic under strategi; this republic embraced +only western Epirus, and was still of considerable +extent, but internally it was weak, and was visited by the +most fearful misfortunes. The Romans admitted the +Epirots as their allies, but I am convinced that they never +forgot that Pyrrhus had frightened them, that he had +advanced as far as Praeneste, and that after the gates of +that town had been thrown open to him, he had seen the +towers of Rome. This was the reason why, after their +war against Perseus, they treacherously wreaked their +hoarded and terrible vengeance upon the unhappy country, +just as the English under William III. extirpated in one +massacre the clan of the Mac Gregors, the English officers, +on a given signal, murdering their hosts and letting in the +soldiers. The Roman legions under Aemilius Paullus were +quartered upon the Epirots, who had previously been +ordered to deliver up all their arms, and their gold and +silver, and then, on an appointed day, a fearful massacre +was made throughout the country among the Molottians, +Thesprotians, Chaonians, etc. From that time Epirus +remained under the Romans, who confiscated the country +like a conquered domain, and Epirus with its splendid +Alps was, like the interior of Sicily, let as pasture +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[267]</span>land. Hence the fact that Atticus, as is stated by Varro, +possessed such large herds at Buthroton. From such a +devastation the country was unable to recover, and +remained a wilderness. In the middle ages, and perhaps +even before, the Illyrians (now Albanese) pushed forward +from the north and spread over Epirus, being themselves +pressed by Slavonian tribes, so that even now the greater +part of the population is Illyrian and Slavonian; they +occupy the whole of the western country and are δίγλωττοι. +Slavonian tribes also entered Epirus and settled about the +lake of Janina; a small part only is inhabited by Greeks, +and the heights of Pindus are occupied by Wallachians, +some of whom are descendants of the ancient Pelasgian +tribes, but are to some extent Latinised. The country +beyond mount Tmarus is inhabited by Bulgarians.</p> + +<p>Among the Epirots proper, as I have already stated, +there were no towns surrounded with walls; those which +are found, are either of later origin, or Greek colonies on +the coast. The only place in the interior, where ruins of +Grecian buildings (baths, theatres, and temples) are found, +though without any inscriptions, is in the country of the +Molottians, about fifteen miles from the Ambracian gulf; the +ruins are very extensive, but belong to a late period. There +can be no doubt that this is the site of an important +city, but what city it was, can only be conjectured, as the +ancients do not mention a single town in Epirus. The supposition +that it was the town of <span class="smcap">Passaro</span> appears to me very +probable. It is mentioned twice as the principal place of +the Epirots, once in Plutarch’s life of Pyrrhus, as the +place where the kings and the people took their mutual +oaths, and a second time in Livy as the locality where the +Epirots assembled. When the country was a republic, it +must have had a capital, but it cannot have been Ambracia, +since this town was separated and belonged to the Aetolians.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phoenice</span> was another important town on the Adriatic; +at the time of the Epirot republic it was considerable, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[268]</span>continued to be so till late in the middle ages; whence many +ruins are found there belonging to the Byzantine period.</p> + +<p>Among the other towns, I may mention <span class="smcap">Oricos</span>, a port +in the bay at the foot of the Acroceraunia, and of Hellenic +origin.</p> + +<p>Pyrrhus built several places, such as <span class="smcap">Antigonia</span> (Antigónia, +according to the Macedonian pronunciation), named +after his wife Antigone, by the side of the passes leading +from Illyricum. You will remember my saying, that +Illyricum, from the Aöus, till far up into the mountains, is +a hilly country. The στενὰ τῆς Ἀντιγονείας (<i>claustra +Epiri</i>) lead from thence into the mountains of Epirus. +The spot is of great importance in the wars of Pyrrhus and +his son Alexander against Macedonia; and in universal +history, these <i>claustra</i> are celebrated in the expedition of +the Romans against Philip of Macedonia. After the +Romans had endeavoured in vain, with the Aetolians their +allies, to advance into Macedonia through Illyricum and +across the Candauian mountains, in order to attack the Macedonians, +they marched through Epirus. Philip opposed them +for a long time; but it has been proved that all passes are +invincible to those only who make a direct attack upon them; +they present no difficulty to any one who does not mind spending +some time in marching round them. This the Romans +did. The Macedonian army then retreated, being compelled +to abandon Epirus. Argyrocastro at present occupies +nearly the same site. <span class="smcap">Berenice</span> also was built by Pyrrhus, +and he named it after his great patroness, Berenice, the wife +of Ptolemy Soter, and the mother of his own wife Antigone.</p> + +<p>I cannot refrain here from making a short grammatical +observation. We generally speak of Molossians, and the +Roman authors, too, said <i>Molossi</i>, but the Greeks said +Μολοττοί, which is the genuine ancient pronunciation and +not an Atticism. As people in later times imagined that it +was only an Attic form, they changed the name into +<i>Molossi</i>. From Lucian’s <i>Judicium Vocalium</i>, however, we +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[269]</span>see, that ττ was essentially Thessalian, and the Thessalians +were only Hellenised Epirots. Aristotle, who never Atticizes, +always writes ὁ τῶν Μολοττῶν βασιλεύς.</p> + +<p>I have as yet mentioned to you only three tribes, and I +might add many more, but will notice only the most +important. In the north we have the <span class="smcap">Atintanians</span> on the +slope of the Epirot mountains towards Illyricum. They +were, properly speaking, not so completely subdued by the +Illyrians as the Hyllians and Pelagonians who lived farther +north, but they were subject only ἐς φόρου ἀπαγωγήν. +The Atintanians were the first people that yielded obedience +to the Romans on their crossing the Adriatic.</p> + +<p>Next follow the <span class="smcap">Pelagonians</span>, who likewise dwelt in +those parts, and maintained themselves only with difficulty. +Beyond the lofty Epirot mountains, north-west of Pindus, +we meet with the <span class="smcap">Orestians</span>, a true Epirot people; in the +expedition against Ambracia, they were united with the +other Epirot tribes, the Atintanians, Thesprotians, Molottians, +and others. The name Ἄργος Ὀρεστικὸν shews their +Pelasgian origin. They were subdued by the Macedonians, +and became part of Μακεδονία ἐπίκτητος. The Romans +again separated them from it, and in order not to stand +isolated, they appear to have joined the Thessalians, for +as among the Thessalian strategi one is mentioned who was +a native of Argos, it seems to me that this must be referred +to the Orestian Argos.</p> + +<p>Coming down from the country of the Orestians and +ascending the heights of Tmarus, between the beautiful +lake of Janina and mount Tmarus (sometimes called +Tomarus, the same mountain, of which Callimachus speaks +so beautifully), and then descending the river Arachthus, +which flows into the Ambracian gulf, we pass through the +country of the <span class="smcap">Parauaeans</span> and <span class="smcap">Stymphaea</span> (<i>Tymphaea</i>). +All these small mountain tribes were included in Μακεδονία +ἐπίκτητος during the period from the time of Philip to that +of Pyrrhus. Still further down in the plain, we have the +<span class="smcap">Amphilochians</span> in the very μυχὸς of the Ambracian gulf; +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[270]</span>they were an ἔθνος βαρβαρικόν, that is, of Pelasgian origin, +but some μιγάδες Ἕλληνες lived among them, whence they +were outwardly Hellenised, as their coins shew. Their +town of <span class="smcap">Argos</span> was a considerable city, and hostile to +the Ambracians who had attempted to colonise it. It is +connected with Argos in Peloponnesus in the legends about +Amphilochus, but we must not infer from this, that it was +a colony from Argos, or a Greek city at all. The <span class="smcap">Agraeans</span> +on the Achelous, in the time of Alexander, son of Pyrrhus, +were probably, like the Amphilochians, connected by sympolity +with the Aetolians, who were just then at the +height of their power.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ambracia</span> or <span class="smcap">Ampracia</span>. The latter is the diplomatic +orthography in Thucydides, and on all coins and inscriptions, +for here we again meet with inscriptions, it being a Doric +city; in Aetolia and the interior of Epirus none are found +at all. Polybius and all the Latins write Ambracia, which +is again a proof, showing the agreement between the pronunciation +there and the modern Greek, in which the π +after μ is pronounced softly; hence in inscriptions μ is used +instead of ν, if it is intended that the following π should be +softened. The accusative of πόλις, e.g., was pronounced +βόλιν, whence it was written εἰς τὴμ πόλιν. Ambracia +was the largest city in those parts, and had been founded +by the Corinthians in the time of Periander, the Cypselid. +It became extremely great even at an early period, but in +the Peloponnesian war it suffered a defeat near Olpae, from +which it did not recover for a long time. Afterwards it lost +its historical importance, as its inhabitants allied themselves +with barbarians: it renounced the general Greek idea of +reducing barbarians to dependence, because it was content to +live in that fertile country within its own boundaries. Philip +subdued it by intrigues; after his death it revolted, but as +it was Alexander’s interest quickly to pacify the restless +Greeks, it received tolerable terms, though it continued +to have a Macedonian garrison for forty years longer. +During the Lamian war it again revolted, but again without +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[271]</span>success. The son of Cassander, seeking aid against his +brother, ceded Ambracia as a part of Μακεδονία ἐπίκτητος +to Pyrrhus, who now transferred his residence to it and +adorned it. The ruins which still exist at Rogus, belong, +no doubt, for the most part, to this later period. After the +dissolution of the Epirot kingdom, Ambracia became +Aetolian, and remained so until, after the war against +Antiochus, the Romans conquered the Aetolians. It then +sustained one of the most remarkable sieges, and by their +manful defence, its inhabitants gained the advantage of +being able to conclude a peace before they were conquered +by force; the city was not ravaged, but many works of art, +with which Pyrrhus had embellished it, were carried off to +Italy. The statement in Ovid’s Ibis, that the remains of +Pyrrhus were dragged from a tomb at Ambracia and scattered +about, renders it probable that this was done by the +Romans out of revenge—a terribly unworthy revenge upon +a great hero.⁠<a id="FNanchor_95" href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> It is possible, however, that this may have +been done during the disgraceful madness of the nation in +its rebellions against the successors of Pyrrhus. Afterwards +the name of Ambracia disappears; its acropolis has now for +a considerable time been called Rogus.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Buthroton</span> or <span class="smcap">Buthrotos</span>, a Greek colony, was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[272]</span>regarded as a Trojan town, founded by Helenus: it was to the +Romans what Calais is to us, for to it they sailed across the sea +from Tarentum, Hydruntum, Brundusium, and other ports. +It was the place of residence of Atticus, a man in whom +much may be censured, though he was of an extremely +amiable character; he lived at an unhappy time, according +to the rules of a philosophy which he considered to be the +most suitable. He had there his large estate and his Alpine +farm.</p> + +<p>The district <span class="smcap">Cassiopea</span> is of little importance.</p> + +<p>We are now in the neighbourhood of one of the most +illustrious Greek islands, I mean</p> + +<h3 id="Corcyra"><span class="smcap">Corcyra.</span></h3> + +<p>The difference between the more ancient form, Cercyra +and the later Corcyra, is purely dialectical; the Attics +always have Cercyra, while later writers, as Polybius, and +the Romans always say Corcyra. The history of this +island goes back to that which is dearest to a scholar, for +what could be dearer to him than the Odyssey? In the +account of the reception of Odysseus, among the Phaeacians, +we see how distant this island was to the Greeks in Ionia, +and how they knew it only by report. It was then certainly +not yet colonised by Greeks, and the ancient inhabitants +were Liburnians. In the second edition of the first +volume of my Roman History, I have shown that the +Liburnians were not an Illyrian people, but belonged to the +ancient Pelasgian race. <i>Scheria</i> was an ancient and genuine +name of the island. We will not inquire into the origin of +the name Corcyra, because such inquiries lead to nothing. +Other names are <i>Drepane</i> and <i>Macris</i>; all these ancient +names must be known in order to understand the poets; and +they are also useful in writing poetry in the ancient languages, +for it would be unfortunate, if that custom should +become entirely extinct; even if among hundreds of attempts +that are made, only a few have any poetical value, still it is +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[273]</span>an excellent exercise for those who wish to cultivate their +minds; it leads to a great familiarity with the ancient +writers, and a critical understanding of the poets.</p> + +<p>The first Greeks who settled in the island, were Eretrians, +and this event belongs to the period when Chalcis +and Eretria were rivals at sea. As Chalcis directed its +attention to the coast of Thrace and Sicily, so Eretria, +though it was much weaker, partly looked to the same countries +and partly to the Ionian and Adriatic seas, and hence +they may have been led to settle in Corcyra. They were +established there for a considerable time without destroying +the ancient inhabitants, until the Corinthians sent a colony +thither, either during the latter period of the Bacchiads, or +in the first years of the reign of Cypselus. This colony +grew incredibly prosperous; the ancient inhabitants were +made perioeci, and the Eretrians, as troublesome neighbours, +seem to have been expelled, although the Corinthian +colony was, no doubt, only small.</p> + +<p>The greatness to which Corcyra now rose, is best attested +by the colonies which it founded on the Adriatic, such as +Epidamnus and Apollonia, the latter of which it established +in conjunction with Corinth. How these colonies led to +disputes between the haughty Corcyra and its mother-city, +and how Corcyra was affected by them, is described in +Thucydides, and it is unnecessary for me to repeat it, +my intention being to relate only that which has to be +gleaned from various authors. In the same Thucydides you +may read of the convulsions and internal horrors to which +that war led, and which finally ruined the island itself. +After the Peloponnesian war, the Corcyraeans are not mentioned +again until Olymp. 101, in the time of Timotheus, +when the Athenians recovered their supremacy, though it +was of a different kind from the earlier one; the fleets of +Athens then again appeared in several seas, and Corcyra +joined her. The island now showed incredible weakness, but +how it became so reduced, is a question about which history +leaves us in the dark. Afterwards, owing to its fortunate +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[274]</span>position, it remained unassailed for a long time until the +period of Demetrius Poliorcetes. Cassander made an attempt +to take the island, but failed. Cleonymus, the Spartan +prince and adventurer, who went to Italy and entered the +service of the Tarentines, conquered it, and established himself +there for a time; but he was expelled by Agathocles, +from whom it passed into the hands of Pyrrhus, and afterwards +into those of Demetrius; but after his fall, it appears +to have again been under the supremacy of Pyrrhus. Afterwards +it was independent indeed, but in such a state of +weakness as to be unable to repel the Illyrians, who, +under their queen Teuta, made a descent upon the island. +The Corcyraeans, therefore, placed themselves under the +protection of Rome, and were thus delivered from the +Illyrians. They now formed a <i>libera civitas</i>, probably also +<i>immunis</i>, and down to the latest times it was altogether +impossible for them to rid themselves of the dominion of the +Romans. In the middle ages they became subject to the +Normans in Sicily under Robert Guiscard; they were next +conquered by the Byzantine emperor, Manuel Comnenus, +and then by the Venetians, under whose dominion they +remained until the most recent times. The modern Greek +name is Αἱ Κορφοί (pronounce <i>hai Corfi</i>), that is, the +summits (αἱ κορυφαί), and refers either to the peaks of +mountains or to the acra. The name Corcyra is unknown +to the modern Greeks, and was so even in the middle ages +to such an extent, that in a Greek Menologium (in the +<i>Acta Sanctorum</i>) we find the legend of a Greek princess +Corcyra, the daughter of a king, who is said to have reigned +in Corfu in the time of the emperor Claudius, or even +Tiberius; and she is reported to have died the death of a +martyr for the Christian religion. It would seem that here +we still catch a glimpse of the popular tradition about +Nausicaa.</p> + +<p>The island is traversed in its whole length by a mountain, +which runs parallel with the Chaonian mountain, and is +also of the same structure. It is evident that this mountain +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[275]</span>is a continuation of those of Epirus, and that the sea between +Corcyra and Epirus has been formed by some gigantic +revolution of the earth in those parts. The mountain is +of considerable height, but not so high as to be wild, +nature has rather destined the island to be a country for the +cultivation of trees and olives, but it is not ἀρόσιμος, and +does not produce as much grain as is required by its inhabitants. +The oil is excellent, and the wine, which is +good, was valued also in antiquity.</p> + +<p>The town of Corfu does not stand on the site of the +ancient Corcyra, but several miles from it; at the time of +the Peloponnesian war, the ancient town, as we learn from +Thucydides, was very large and beautiful.</p> + +<p>I might easily say a great deal more about Corcyra, as +it is now so frequently visited; but I must proceed.</p> + +<h3 id="Macedonia"><span class="smcap">Macedonia.</span></h3> + +<p>The first questions that have to be answered are:—What nation +were the Macedonians? To what race did they belong? +How far can they be regarded as Greeks, and how far not? +I still remember the time of the very uncritical treatment +of ancient history, when, in spite of the express testimony +of the ancients, no one would have dreamed of doubting +that both the Epirots and Macedonians ought to be regarded +as Greeks; this belief was so firmly rooted, that the great +Palmerius even thought Illyricum a Greek country. Afterwards, +however, disputes arose as to the nationality of the +Macedonians. Critics at first went to the opposite extreme, +and from a passage in the Epitome of Strabo, it was +inferred, that the Macedonians were Illyrians. The subject +has been discussed in an excellent little treatise by +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[276]</span>C. O. Müller of Göttingen. The matter may perhaps be +determined still more accurately by entering into minute +investigations. The extent of country to which we generally +apply the name of Macedonia, embraces later enlargements; +in its narrowest sense, it was but a very small +country with a peculiar population. Macedonia is the +country of the Macedonians, just as Italy is the country of +the Itali. The boundaries of the original kingdom of +Macedonia and their gradual extension have been described +nearly forty years ago by Gatterer, an excellent man, whose +merits are no longer as fully appreciated in Germany as +they ought to be. His ancient history, owing to the large +scale on which he undertook it, has great defects; but he +commenced it at a time when the way was altogether +unprepared by preliminary inquiries, and when so much +was still unexplained; his history of the eastern nations, +therefore, could not be otherwise than imperfect. But this +should not prevent us from acknowledging his very great +merits. His smaller essays, especially that on Macedonia +and Thrace, are extremely valuable; they are printed in +the Transactions of the Royal Society of Göttingen, where +maps also are added, in which he shows the gradual extension +of Macedonia.</p> + +<p>Macedonia, in its most proper sense, did not touch upon +the sea. We have to distinguish two parts, viz., <span class="smcap">Upper +Macedonia</span>, inhabited by the people about the western +range of mountains, extending from the north as far as +Pindus, and <span class="smcap">Lower Macedonia</span>, about the rivers which +flow into the Axius, in the earlier times, however, not +extending to the Axius itself, but only as far as Pella. +From this district the Macedonians extended themselves, +and partly repressed the ancient inhabitants. The whole of +the sea-coast was occupied by other tribes, which are mentioned +by Thucydides in the excellent episode on the +expedition of the Thracians against Macedonia. The word +ἐκβάλλειν which he uses in regard to the ancient inhabitants, +must not be taken literally, or in the sense in which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[277]</span>the Persians drove together and carried away the Eretrians—such +a thing was, generally speaking, never done by the +ancient nations—but a great part of the original inhabitants +were subdued. The original Macedonians in the west, +therefore, embrace the Lyncestians, Elimiotans, Pelagonians, +and what are called the real Macedonians dwelling about +Edessa or Aegeae; the inhabitants of Emathia, Pieria, +Bottia, and Mygdonia on the east of the Axius and towards +the Strymon, were conquered countries, or, if at a later +period their inhabitants were Macedonians, they had become +so in the course of time. These original Μακεδόνες +or Μακηδόνες are mentioned by all the ancient poets and +in the fragments of epic poetry; they dwelt among tribes +which we regard as Pelasgian, and were connected with +the Magnetes, Magnes and Macedon being called brothers. +None of the Macedonian words we know are Greek, though +some are akin to it, but at the same time, they show decidedly +barbarous peculiarities. When Strabo says that a +great portion of the Macedonians were Illyrians, because they +had the same customs, the same costume, the same method +of cutting the hair, the same language and the like, we +must take this to apply to tribes occupying parts of Macedonia +in the extended sense, and dwelling in the western +half, just as a large part of eastern Macedonia was inhabited +by Thracians, some of whom were free, while others +had been subdued by the Macedonians: at the time when +the Macedonian kingdom became consolidated, they were +still unmixed Thracians. If we understand the passage of +Strabo in this manner, it presents no difficulty. We often +weigh the words of ancient authors too scrupulously; I +admit, that on the whole they wrote with far more care +than we do, but if we consider without prejudice so many +passages containing errors, we must own that their heads +too were not always equally clear, and we must also bear +in mind that they dictated their works, whence much that +is surprising to us, is only mis-written. Many a faulty or +corrupt construction may have originated with the scribes, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[278]</span>but sometimes the authors themselves, with their immense +stores of thought, may have dictated somewhat confusedly. +I once found a passage in Pliny written so confusedly, that +at first I thought a transposition of the words necessary; +but when I commenced making the emendation, the +thought flashed upon me, that Pliny might have dictated +wrongly, perhaps inserting a clause and not finishing it; +as the clause stands, it is quite out of place.</p> + +<p>Macedonia proper consisted of several small states. The +<span class="smcap">Lyncestians</span> and <span class="smcap">Elimiotans</span> had their own rulers called +kings, and so also the people of <span class="smcap">Edessa</span> or <span class="smcap">Aegeae</span>. The +two former, like the Epirots, remained within their boundaries +without spreading themselves; but those in the plain +gradually overpowered the kings of the other tribes, and +expelled their royal families. The history of Lower Macedonia +is important, that of Upper Macedonia is not, for +nothing remarkable can be related of the Lyncestians, +Elimiotans, and Pelagonians. Lower Macedonia is great +in the history of the world: its kings called themselves +Heracleids, and traced their descent to the Temenids of +Argos. How far the ancient and simple tradition may +have been misunderstood, can only be conjectured; but the +probability is, that the Argos here mentioned is not the +Argos in Peloponnesus, but the Pelasgian Argos in Thessaly, +which was situated in the neighbourhood of Macedonia. +Later persons only half-learned erroneously connected this +with the Peloponnesian Argos, and accordingly the story of +the Temenids is probably of recent origin, the ancient tradition +stating only that they were Heracleids from Argos. +Respecting the royal family, there were two different +legends; according to the one, the kings were descended +from Caranus, and according to the other from Perdiccas. +There can be no doubt that the latter is only a symbolical +representation of the national constitution; for the founders +of the monarchy, Perdiccas and his two brothers, are the +archegetae of three tribes.</p> + +<p>This kingdom had acquired considerable power even +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[279]</span>before the outbreak of the Persian war; after that war, +during which Amyntas had been obliged to submit, affairs +were for a time stagnating; Perdiccas at the beginning of +the Peloponnesian war was but a very contemptible enemy +of the Athenians. After the Peloponnesian war, too, +Macedonia was so powerless and so much inferior to +Olynthus, that this city was enabled to take from it all the +country about the Thermaic gulf. Amyntas, the father +of Philip, was pressed extremely hard by the Illyrians, +and was on the point of giving up his country altogether: +he implored the assistance of the Thebans, and sent them +his son as a hostage. These circumstances render it all the +more wonderful, that Philip raised his kingdom in so +extraordinary a manner: a greater contrast can hardly exist. +Terrible as the history of Philip is to every friend of +Greece, it must nevertheless be owned that he was an extraordinary +man. In the very first year of his reign he +laid the foundation of the greatness of a state which was +almost annihilated. Although only twenty-four years old, +he ascended the throne with mature thoughts, and immediately +set about carrying them into effect, not scrupulous as +to what means were most desirable, but only thinking how +he could make the best use of those at his command. And +he did this with uncommon surety and adroitness. He was +quite aware that he lacked the means of overcoming the +Greek tactic by a higher one, as the Romans did; he +therefore endeavoured to overpower them with greater +masses, and in this he was successful. He did not, however, +confine himself to this course, but, like the Italian and +Spanish courts of the sixteenth century, became powerful +by means of cunning, intrigues, faithlessness and bribery. +His plans, though favoured by the circumstances of the +time, would have been checked by great and towering +difficulties, if he had not carried them out by infamous +means; he could not have destroyed Olynthus, to mention +one example, had he not deceived the Olynthians and hired +traitors in the place. At Philip’s death, Macedonia was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[280]</span>already a compact empire; its boundaries had been extended +into Thrace as far as Perinthus, and the Greek coast and +the Greek towns belonged to it. The Odrysian princes +maintained themselves in the mountains of the interior, in +the neighbourhood of Adrianople. Thessaly had chosen +Philip as its protector, and the towns of eastern Epirus, +Ambracia and Amphilochia, had Macedonian garrisons. +Every one knows in what manner Alexander extended this +empire. After his death, a new Macedonian kingdom arose +under the dynasty of Antipater, which, however, no longer +embraced Thrace, for that country then belonged to the +dynasty of Lysimachus. We know nothing about the +boundaries of Macedonia and Thrace at that time; it may +have been the Strymon or the Nestus; we have nothing but +the scanty information in Diodorus. Afterwards Lysimachus +united the two states, and Ptolemy Ceraunus appears +still to have possessed the greater part of the empire of +Lysimachus in Thrace. Then follows the great invasion of +the Gauls, who made themselves masters of the whole of +the northern parts, until they established themselves in +Thrace and Upper Macedonia. Antigonus Gonatas restored +Upper Macedonia and extended it as far as the river Nestus, +and Magnesia also belonged to it, though Thessaly was +only under the protection of Macedonia, just as Napoleon +distinguished between France and Italy.⁠<a id="FNanchor_96" href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> We now have +to draw a distinction between Macedonia proper and Μακεδονία +ἐπίκτητος. The latter comprised all the country +east of the river Strymon, that is, Magnesia, Orestis, and +probably also several small tribes in the Thessalian mountains, +though not the peninsulas of Pallene, Sithonia, and +Athos, which were again regarded as parts of Macedonia +proper. Philip III. lost Magnesia and Orestis, which fell +into the hands of the Romans; but he recovered the former, +and for a time was in possession of the country of the +Dolopians and Athamanians.⁠<a id="FNanchor_97" href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> This was the extent of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[281]</span>Macedonia at the time when the Romans conquered Perseus. +They now separated Magnesia, and divided the remaining +country into four parts. Livy has here translated Polybius +somewhat hastily, but on the whole he has stated the +division rightly; the editions, however, are faulty, on account +of the Vienna MS.; criticism has yet much to do here, +for the passage contains several obscurities. These four +districts would not interest us at all, were it not that they +are important in a numismatic point of view; we have an +extraordinary number of tetradrachmae belonging to them, +although the division into four districts did not exist longer +than about twenty years. The Roman governors, even after +the abolition of autonomy, in consequence of the revolt of +the Pseudo-Philip, must have continued to coin money with +the same matrices, or else the barbarians, who otherwise +imitated Greek coins in quite a ridiculous manner and with +numerous faults, must in this instance have employed Greek +die-cutters for the purpose of imitation; this may have been +the case, for example, with the Gauls and other nations.</p> + +<p><i>Macedonia prima</i>, Μακεδόνων ἡ πρώτη (so on coins, and not +Μακεδονία ἡ πρώτη), is the country on the east of the river +Strymon as far as the Nestus, comprising the towns of the +interior on the eastern bank of the Nestus. The Romans +divided the country in such a manner as to make rivers the +boundaries, in order to tear the races to pieces, the same +as was done in modern times, when what are called the +natural boundaries began to be talked of.⁠<a id="FNanchor_98" href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> By this process +the Romans produced that state of dissolution, which was the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[282]</span>object of their policy. They further abolished the <i>commercia</i>, +that is, no one was allowed to have property in +another district, in order that people of different parts +might become entirely estranged from one another; the +ἐπιγαμία, lastly, was probably likewise prohibited. The +result is the strongest refutation of the doctrine, that rivers +form the natural boundaries. Mountains are the true +barriers between nations; think, e.g., of the Alps in Wallis, +which separate Germany from Italy; for, although on one +side or the other there may be a little village of people +from the opposite side, still the inhabitants are distinctly +marked by their language, manners, and mode of dress. +Now in Macedonia prima, Greeks, Thracians, Paeonians, +Macedonians, and others, were jumbled together as one +nation; the second division again contained Greeks, many +Paeonians, a few Thracians, and some Macedonians; the +third consisted almost wholly of Macedonians and some +Greeks; while the fourth contained many Macedonians, but +at the same time a great number of Gauls and Illyrians. +The first division of Macedonia, as I remarked before, was +on the east of the river Strymon, bounded on the east by +the river Nestus, though some parts beyond it also were +included. The second, with its capital of Thessalonica, +extended between the rivers Strymon and Axius, along the +entire length of these rivers. The country west of the +Axius was again divided into two parts, forming the third +division, which comprised Lower Macedonia and Pieria +with the capital of Pella; and the fourth comprising Elimiotis, +Lyncestis and the Illyrian and Gallic districts belonging +to it. The whole of the Chalcidian Acte, the coast +of which was occupied by Greeks, was thus included in +Macedonia. These are the four parts into which, in all +probability, Macedonia was divided when it was a Roman +province, and in which it continued to enjoy some kind of +existence. This we must infer from the number of coins; +those belonging to Macedonia prima are far more numerous +than those of all the Macedonian kings together.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[283]</span></p> + +<p>In the Epitome of Strabo, the name Macedonia is used +in a very singular sense, for it is made to include Illyricum. +He considers Macedonia as a parallelogram, of which mount +Scardus forms the northern, and the river Hebrus the +eastern side; in the south is the <i>via Egnatia</i>, a line drawn +from Epidamnus to Thessalonica. This outline excludes +southern Macedonia, and embraces many countries which +do not belong to it. He may have regarded this as the +extent of the Roman province; but it never had such +boundaries. No one can say what his thoughts were; but +it is possible that he made a mistake in copying. We +know, on the contrary, that Thessaly was added to Macedonia +as part of the province. When I come to the survey +of the Roman state, I shall speak of the boundaries and the +differences of the provinces at different times, a subject +which must not be overlooked, because on this point great +errors still prevail.</p> + +<p>The extent which Macedonia acquired under the Antigonids,⁠<a id="FNanchor_99" href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> +(that is, from the time of Antigonus Gonatas and +his successors until the reign of Perseus, a period of about a +hundred years), with tolerably natural boundaries, embraced +the countries as far as the ridge of the high mountains, but +Orestis, though situated beyond the chain of these mountains, +also belonged to it. The geography of these countries has +as yet been very little inquired into by Europeans, whence +the maps are still as confused as they were about fifty or +sixty years ago. No modern traveller, as far as I know, +has yet visited all the countries on the side of Skupi +(Uskup?) and the high mountains. The notices contained +in the ancients of these countries, cannot be applied with +certainty, the names of the mountains being too indefinite; +those countries are quite beyond the reach of classical literature, +and we know mounts Orbelos and Rhodope scarcely +more than by name. These north-western mountains +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[284]</span>may be most correctly conceived as a western continuation +of mount Haemus, which is itself a continuation of the Alps. +The Alps pass through Carniola close by the Adriatic, +and enter into southern Bosnia; another branch runs +through Styria to the north; on the borders of Hungary +its breadth is not great, and it forms a hilly country until +it disappears in the great plain of Slavonia and Lower +Hungary; but in Bosnia the mountains again extend as far as +the Save. All Bosnia and Servia is a mountainous country, +while Slavonia opposite has rich and fertile plains and but +few mountains. In the neighbourhood of Belgrade, the +mountains approach the Danube, extend again, and occupy +nearly the whole space between the Danube and the +Adriatic; they then, shutting in the Danube, extend to +the territory of Widdin, retreat into the splendid country +of the Bulgarians, and there leave an extensive and extremely +fertile space between the river and mount Haemus. +From Illyricum and Dalmatia the mountains proceed, +so as to form a hilly country in the neighbourhood of +Scutari. Between the Drino and mount Haemus, Scardus +is the highest point on the road from Ragusa to Constantinople. +The Macedonian dominion extended to this point; +here dwelt the Dardanians, the north-western people of +Macedonia. The mountains then following are probably +Scomios and Orbelos, which seem to be parts of the mountains +proceeding from Haemus. Rhodope, a mountain +between the Strymon and Nestus, is probably a branch of +mount Haemus. Pangaeos seems to be a southern continuation +and extremity of Rhodope.</p> + +<p>The whole of the Thracian mountains running parallel +with the sea between the Strymon and Nestus are rich in +gold and silver mines. They were taken possession of +at an early time by the neighbouring nations, especially +the Thasians, and it appears that the Phoenicians, at a very +remote period, also had settlements on the southern coast. +Afterwards many Greeks established themselves there, and +Thucydides, e.g., is known to have possessed a mine in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[285]</span>those parts. The richest mines were in mount Pangaeos, +but the other mountains as far as Haemus also contain +many precious metals. I know for certain, that Bosnia +and the mountains near Skupi also contain silver mines, +which are known but not worked. Should those countries +ever pass from the hands of barbarians, and come under +the dominion of Europeans, it will be seen that the ores +of precious metals extend even much further. The silver +mines were worked even before the Peloponnesian war, +under Alexander I., the son of Amyntas; but where they +existed is uncertain. The gold mines of Pangaeos were +first worked, but not vigorously, by the Athenian Callistratus,⁠<a id="FNanchor_100" href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> +but afterwards by Philip with great industry: he +is said to have annually derived from them 1000 talents; +they existed in the neighbourhood of Crenidas, where +afterwards the mountain-city of Philippi was built.</p> + +<p>In the west, a mountain branches off from Scardus, which +we know under the name of the <span class="smcap">Candauian</span> (not <span class="smcap">Candavian</span>, +according to a passage in Polybius) mountains; +the name is familiar to us from the unfortunate expedition +of P. Sulpicius Galba; it forms the boundary between +upper Macedonia, parts of which are situated in the valleys +of the mountain, and Illyricum. This is a cold mountain, not +that the more northern ones are not still colder, but the latter +were thinly, and the former thickly peopled. According +to the accounts of travellers, those mountains must be very +cold and ungenial. But as soon as you come to the part +where the mountains descend towards the sea, and where +the rivers empty themselves into it, the climate becomes all +the more splendid, and the valleys more lovely and mild: +the whole country changes into the most beautiful plains +with smiling hills.</p> + +<p>Macedonia thus forms the greater part of a circle, of +whose periphery about one-third is cut off by a line from +mount Olympus to the river Nestus.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[286]</span></p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Axius</span>, οὗ κάλλιστον ὕδωρ ἐπικίδναται αἶαν, is the +most important river of Macedonia, though it flows beyond +the real country of Macedonia in its narrowest sense. In +its upper course it is a rapid torrent; further down it becomes +muddy, whence its water is, in point of fact, not +particularly excellent. For this reason, attempts were +made even in antiquity to emend Homer, because it was +thought impossible that he should have made any mistake +at all. Connected with the Axius were the <span class="smcap">Ludias</span> and +the <span class="smcap">Haliacmon</span>, a beautiful river descending from the +western mountains. The <span class="smcap">Strymon</span> is altogether a Thracian +river, and is called so by the poets; its banks, at least in +later times, are more particularly the seats of the Thracians, +but at an earlier period Paeonians also dwelt there. The +Strymon is a mighty river without any fords, whence it +was crossed only by bridges, as at Amphipolis. The <span class="smcap">Nestus</span> +has nothing that is particularly remarkable.</p> + +<p>Gulfs to be noticed are:—the Pierian, and the gulf of +Therma or Thessalonica; the Toronaean, the Strymonian, +and Singitian gulf.</p> + +<p>The hilly districts of Macedonia produce everything that +is grown in those southern countries; they are among the +most fertile parts of the earth, especially in the neighbourhood +of Thessalonica and Pella; such also is the narrow +Pierian country, from Olympus as far as the sea: it is a real +garden. At present the chief products there are cotton and +tobacco, which of course did not grow there in ancient times, +though cotton may have been cultivated during the later +Macedonian and the Roman period in some islands of the +Aegean.</p> + +<p>Having spoken of the Macedonians inhabiting the +western country, we now proceed to <span class="smcap">Macedonia proper</span>, +also called <span class="smcap">Emathia</span>, with its capital Aegeae. I have no +doubt that you will be convinced, that what I am going to +bring forward as a hypothesis, is not said lightly nor +without full persuasion, or that such a persuasion has been +arrived at without much labour. It is my opinion, that the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[287]</span>Thracians did not spread themselves in those countries until +a later period: the Pelasgian race which we find in Asia as +far as Bithynia and the Maeander, undoubtedly once occupied +the whole of the southern coast. To that period we +have to refer much of what is related about the Thracians, +as for example, the tradition about Orpheus, who is conceived +to have dwelt in Pieria, on the slope of Olympus, +near the well Pimplea. It is opposed to all our feelings, +and it can have no historical meaning to conceive him as a +Thracian; but the matter becomes intelligible, if we suppose +that the Thracians immigrated into those countries at a +later period, and that the recollections connected with the +places which fell into the hands of the Thracians, were +transferred to this people. Mount Olympus was considered +as the seat and centre of the gods, because it was situated, +in a measure, in the midst of the great Pelasgian nation, +which we must conceive to have extended farther northward. +It is not likely that the Greeks should have assigned +to their gods a habitation at the extreme end of their +father-land. We must therefore suppose that the Thracians +spread over these countries from the Strymon and Nestus. +Now, as in the west, we find the Macedonians as a Pelasgian +people, so we meet in the central part, about the Axius +and Strymon, the Paeonians, whom Herodotus expressly +mentions among the Teucrian Trojans, who were as much +a Pelasgian people as the Siceli. The statement of Herodotus +that they were ἄποικοι τῶν Τευκρῶν, means nothing +else than that they and the Teucrians belonged to the same +race. I consider these Paeonians to have been a remnant of +the ancient inhabitants, who maintained themselves against +the invading Thracians. Before the Macedonian kings, the +so-called Temenids, established their kingdom, the Thracians +occupied the country down to the borders of Thessaly, +not only as far as the river Strymon, but also the country +on the west of it: the Crestonaean, Crossaean, Mygdonian, +and Pierian countries were in fact all inhabited by Thracians, +before the Macedonians of Aegeae spread over those parts. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[288]</span>This gradual conquest of Mygdonia and Pieria belongs to +a period previous to the Persian wars, certainly that of +Pieria, and it is highly probable that the conquest of +Mygdonia also belongs to the same period. Perdiccas was +extending his empire as early as the time of the Peloponnesian +war, but it was as yet ill consolidated. Archelaus did +most, he first fortified towns, made roads, and prepared +Macedonia for that career which it completed under Philip; +still, however, after the death of the latter, the state of +Macedonia was powerless. But Archelaus, nevertheless, +has the merit of having laid the foundation.</p> + +<p>The name <span class="smcap">Pieria</span> is sufficiently familiar to us from the +poets. It is odd enough that the country, which was afterwards +inhabited by the barbarous Thracians, and at a still +later period by the Macedonians, who after all were always +an ἄμουσον ἔθνος, should in the remotest ages have been +the seat of the Muses, who are hence called <i>Pierides</i>, and +from the wells of the country, <i>Pimpleides</i>, <i>Libethrides</i> (<i>Pimplei +dulcis</i>, in Horace: Λειβηθρίδες). The <span class="smcap">Bottiaeans</span>, a +kindred people, dwelt east of the Macedonians proper; being +expelled by the Macedonians from the neighbourhood of +Pella, originally a Bottiaean place, they went to the Chalcidians, +to whom they were no doubt welcome, as they must +have preferred a kindred people in their neighbourhood to +the Thracians. Then follow the <span class="smcap">Paeonians</span> about the +Axius and Strymon, who were pushed away from the +coast into the interior. Herodotus relates that during +the expedition of Darius Hystaspis, the nations dwelling +about the Strymon as far as the sea, were carried away +by the Persians, and received settlements in Phrygia: these +are the Paeonians of the lower districts, and their country +was thereupon taken possession of by the Thracians. Hence +it cannot be surprising that afterwards no Paeonians were +found there. <span class="smcap">Mygdonia</span>, the lower country, east of the +Axius, about the Thermaic gulf, was, previously to the extension +of the Macedonians, inhabited by Thracian Edonians. +The <span class="smcap">Edonians</span> are remarkable on account of the many +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[289]</span>allusions to them in the Latin poets, especially in reference +to the worship of Bacchus (<i>Non sanius ego Bacchabor Edonis</i>, +says Horace). This worship is, in a certain sense, Thracian, +especially in regard to women, and existed by the side of +the Phrygian. Following the narrow tract of land along +the coast, we first arrive in the most southern province, +<i>Pieria</i>; next follows <i>Bottiaeis</i>, with Pella, as far as the +Axius; then <i>Mygdonia</i> along the coast, beginning with the +cape forming the entrance to the bay of Thessalonica, and +extending to the town of Aenea; the country, from this +point to the neighbourhood of Potidaea, is called <i>Crossaea</i>, +and had an ancient Thracian population. During the subsequent +extension of the Macedonians, those nations were +not expelled, nor did they become serfs, but were only +reduced to the condition of subjects.</p> + +<p>All this is correctly indicated in the maps of D’Anville +and Barbié du Bocage; but Anthemus is erroneously +marked in all maps, for, instead of a country, it is put +down as a town. It is a district of small extent, but plays +a prominent part in the history of Olynthus.</p> + +<p>The capital of Pieria was <span class="smcap">Dion</span>, a native Macedonian +town, not Greek, but adorned with beautiful buildings, +prosperous and handsome, until it was destroyed by the +Aetolians on a predatory excursion. <span class="smcap">Pydna</span> and <span class="smcap">Methone</span>, +both Greek towns, were situated to the north of it. +Pydna was the first conquest of Philip; both towns had +until then preserved their independence, which is a proof +of the great weakness of the Macedonian kings. Philip is +said to have destroyed them both; in regard to Methone +this is certain, for during its siege he lost one eye, and +for this reason gave vent to his barbarous rage against the +town; but Pydna, if it was destroyed, must have been +restored, for it is mentioned under the later Macedonian +kings; in history it is remarkable especially on account of +the decisive battle fought there, in which Perseus lost his +kingdom and his crown.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[290]</span></p> + +<p>The real <span class="smcap">Emathia</span> is in the interior of Macedonia.⁠<a id="FNanchor_101" href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> +This lower Macedonia, in its proper sense, below the +slopes of the Candauian mountains, does not extend to +the sea, from which it is separated by Pieria and a narrow +strip of the ancient Bottia. This was ancient Macedonia +proper, the kingdom of the ancestors of Alexander, and +contained the ancient Macedonian capital of <span class="smcap">Aegeae</span>,⁠<a id="FNanchor_102" href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> +which was the residence of the kings before the reign of +Philip. There is a story about the name of this town, +according to which it is derived from αἶγες: the founder of +the Macedonian kingdom is said to have conquered the +town by following, during a thunder-storm, close behind a +herd of goats, and thus entering the open gates with a small +band of followers. The royal sepulchres existed there as +late as the time of Pyrrhus, but the Gauls in his army +plundered them. When at Rome, I heard a very vague +report: an English traveller, it was said, had discovered in +1819 or 1820, by excavations, the tombs of Macedonian +kings; but Aegeae was not mentioned in the report. The +person who told me this, was too ignorant to invent such a +thing; but whether there is any truth in it, I do not know; +I have never heard anything more about it. This place +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[291]</span>has two names, <span class="smcap">Edessa</span> and Aegeae; the former has been +transferred to several other places, and above all to the +very ancient town of Roha in Mesopotamia. It is with +these places as it is with Boston, which in England is an +insignificant town, while the Boston in America is a great +city. In like manner, Edessa in Syria is far more important +than Edessa in Macedonia. The names of many other +Greek and Macedonian places, as Beroea, Cyrrhos, Chalcis, +Amphipolis, and others were similarly transferred to places +in Syria. Even names of Macedonian districts re-appear +there. This shows a peculiar attachment to Macedonia, +and characterises the sentiments of the founder of the Syrian +empire. If we compare Seleucus with Ptolemy Soter, the +former is far more attached to Macedonia; in Egypt we +find nothing of the kind, everything there beginning anew.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Beroea</span> (now Veria) is the second place in Emathia; +its name-sake in Syria was far more important, but both +still exist. Beroea was a flourishing place throughout the +middle ages, and continued to be a wealthy town until +its present destruction. Edessa is at present only a village.</p> + +<p>Whenever the ancient seat of the Macedonian kings is +mentioned, when you read in Thucydides of Perdiccas and +Archelaus (the latter is spoken of also by Plato as a prince +who drew to his court the wits and talents from Athens, +just as German princes formerly invited Frenchmen), +and even when Amyntas, Philip’s father, is spoken of, you +must always conceive them as residing at Aegeae. Philip +was the first to make <span class="smcap">Pella</span> on the Ludias great; it was +previously a small Bottiaean place, which was conquered +by the Macedonians, when they drove the Bottiaeans into +Chalcidice; Herodotus calls it a πολίχνιον. The district +lost its name Bottiaeis, which in Herodotus it still bears, +and became part of Macedonia. Philip, who, like Peter +the Great, from the moment of his accession, set about +raising the kingdom from its obscurity, took the first step +towards this object in transferring his residence from the +distant Aegeae to Pella, which was near enough to the sea +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">[292]</span>to carry on commerce. The rivers in that part of the +country, especially the Ludias, were then navigable, but +they are now filled up with sand. Pella, however, was not +so near the sea as to enable the Athenians to take it by surprise +in a maritime expedition. Its situation on a hill surrounded +by waters (τόπος χερσονησοειδής) was very strong. +It was now quickly changed into a considerable city, though +we must not conceive it to have been very large. Had +Alexander not become estranged from Macedonia, it would +probably have risen to still greater importance; but it +remained the capital of an empire which was at all events +considerable. Antipater lived there as regent of Macedonia +in his barbarous and cynic simplicity, the picture of +an Albanese or Illyrian chief in his affected wretchedness: +he had a disgust for regal splendour, and his government +certainly added nothing to the beauty of Pella. He appeared +in public as a common Macedonian soldier, wrapped up +in his cloak (τρίβων), wearing the καυσία (the Illyrian cap), +and a stick. Cassander spent less of his time at Pella than at +Thessalonica and Cassandrea; but the Antigonids resided +there, and from the time of Antigonus Gonatas till that of +Perseus, a period of nearly a century, Pella remained the +capital, and was a splendid town, though not to be compared +with the great cities of Antioch and Alexandria. +After the wars of Perseus, the Romans took it without +resistance, and carried off a large number of works of art, +with which Alexander had adorned the city; the masterworks +of Lysippus, which were erected at Pella, were carried +away by Aemilius Paullus. Dion Chrysostomus,⁠<a id="FNanchor_103" href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> in his +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">[293]</span>very excellent Tarsian oration, says that Pella was a heap +of ruins. The destruction must have taken place either +after the war of the Pseudo-Philip (of whom we scarcely +know anything, except a few traits occurring in the newly-discovered +ἐκλογαὶ περὶ γνωμῶν published by Mai), or +about sixty years later, during the campaigns of Archelaus +and Taxilas, the generals of Mithridates. It is afterwards +not mentioned again. Pella is one of the places which I +have often suggested to travellers as a place where excavations +ought to be made, and where undoubtedly a rich harvest +might be made. Felix Beaujour, the late consul-general at +Salonichi, states in his excellent description of Macedonia, +that the whole district is covered with ruins, a proof that +no excavations have been made there for many years. +Certain it is, that the Romans did not carry away everything, +that works of art of the most exquisite kind, nay +perhaps even works of Lysippus himself, might be discovered +there; inscriptions, too, may exist there, although, +as I have already remarked, inscriptions are not found +in any other part of Macedonia.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thessalonica</span>, the ancient Chalcidian <i>Therma</i>, in the +innermost recess of the Thermaic gulf, greatly impeded +by its excellent situation the further growth of Pella, even +when the latter was still the capital of the Antigonids. +Cassander founded the new city, and, according to the custom +of the time, made it great by compelling the inhabitants of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[294]</span>the neighbouring towns to remove to it (συνοικισμός). +Such a plan was afterwards often resorted to in the East, and +such also was the method adopted by Peter the Great in the +foundation of St. Petersburgh: he ordered people to be summoned +from other parts of his dominions; as they arrived even +before the houses were finished, they were obliged to build huts +for themselves and died from disease; the survivors became +beggars. In antiquity, when towns were not so far distant +from one another, the process was easier. Thessalonica had +agricultural citizens; and Cassander named it after his wife, +the daughter of Philip; by this marriage he intended to +make his children legitimate in the eyes of the Macedonians, +as he himself was looked upon as a usurper, and was +subsequently treated as such. But his family perished in a +miserable manner. The idea of founding a city there was +a happy one, for there are few places on the Mediterranean +that have such a beautiful situation. How often was Thessalonica +destroyed! and yet it always recovered, because it +was the natural emporium of the rich products of Macedonia; +it has an excellent harbour, and no marshes, and is +accordingly a healthy place. The town quickly rose into +importance, and remained so under the Romans and throughout +the middle ages, in spite of many severe calamities. +It was taken by the Bulgarians, and afterwards by the +Turks; but so long as nature does not change, Thessalonica +will remain wealthy and prosperous. It was the capital of +Mygdonia, which had formerly been inhabited by the +Thracian Edonians. It is well known that a Christian +community was formed there at a very early period.</p> + +<p>I have already spoken of the projecting Acte ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης, +and I will not here repeat what I have said; I shall only +observe, that <span class="smcap">Cassandrea</span>, the second great city founded by +Cassander, was probably his capital, and built on the site of +the ancient Potidaea, on the isthmus of Pallene; we know +little about it, and much is only matter of conjecture.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Amphipolis</span>, which was subdued by the Athenians +during the period between the Persian and Peloponnesian +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[295]</span>wars, was situated on both sides of the river Strymon; it was +previously called Ἐννέα ὁδοί. During the Macedonian +period it was of great importance, being the capital of +Μακεδόνων πρώτη. Although built at a distance of about +five miles from the sea, it was a sea-port, and ships sailed +up the Strymon. This was the great place for the extensive +trade in timber, for the timber of Macedonia was exported +not only to Athens, but Ionia, Chios, and in later times +even to Alexandria. It was conveyed down the Strymon +in rafts.</p> + +<p>The mountain-city of <span class="smcap">Philippi</span>, the neighbourhood of +which contained the large gold mines, was situated between +the Strymon and the Nestus. Its previous name was +<i>Crenidas</i>, and the new town was built by Philip. There, +as in Thessalonica, a Christian congregation existed at an +early period. The place is celebrated for the battle which +decided the fate of Rome. As the mines ceased to be +worked, it afterwards fell into decay. How long they continued +to be worked, and whether they were still productive +in the time of the Antigonids, cannot be ascertained. The +fact that they still were worked, and continued to be worked +until the overthrow of the Macedonian kingdom, cannot be +doubted; but whether they repaid the expenses, is another +question. Gold mines nowhere remain equally productive; +but their working is continued, because people always hope +to discover richer veins. They were most productive in the +time of Philip. Athens, too, continued working her mines +almost to the seventh century of Rome, but was afterwards +obliged to give it up. The Romans forbade the Macedonians +the digging after precious metals, in consequence +of which Philippi necessarily decayed: but we see from the +epistle of the apostle Paul, that it still remained an active +and industrial town. It was situated on the outskirts of +mount Pangaeos; its neighbourhood was fertile, and it may +have maintained itself by an extensive territory.</p> + +<p>The interior between the Strymon and Nestus, with the +exception of a few Greek towns, was occupied by Thracians. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">[296]</span>The <span class="smcap">Agrianians</span> alone, about the Strymon, are considered +as Paeonians. Their importance consists in the fact that, +in the wars of Alexander, they are mentioned as a distinct +corps, and as belonging neither to the phalanx nor to the +peltasts, which is not the case with any other Macedonian +tribe. It is impossible now to determine, whether this arose +perhaps from their being allies and enjoying special privileges, +or from their having a peculiar kind of armour, +which it was thought advisable to retain.</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Paeonians</span>, according to Herodotus, extended as far +as the mouth of the Strymon and about lake Prasias, which +is now unknown, because the geography of Macedonia +has received so little light from travellers; its existence, +however, cannot be doubted, although it is somewhat +fabulously described. The Paeonians who, according to +Herodotus, were carried by the Persians into Asia, are those +who lived about the lower parts of the Strymon, and not +the upper Paeonians. In Thucydides and Livy (from +Polybius), we find Paeonians on both sides of the Axius, +and in regard to them the Romans made an exception⁠<a id="FNanchor_104" href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a>⁠, +those on the west of the Axius being included in Macedonia +Secunda. The passage of Livy⁠<a id="FNanchor_105" href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> here alluded to must be +emended, and instead of <i>Vettiorum</i>⁠<a id="FNanchor_106" href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> we must read <i>Bottiorum</i>. +Concerning these Paeonians, I can mention to you only a +few points. In the time of Cassander and Pyrrhus, it was +probably this people, on both banks of the Axius and as +far as the Strymon, that had in the person of Audoleon an +independent prince, whose daughter was married to Pyrrhus +(he was also married to an Illyrian princess, for polygamy +was then prevalent). There still exist coins of this Audoleon, +though they are very rare; I possess one which was dug +up at Tivoli; it was difficult to recognise it, but I succeeded +in reading the characters. Afterwards we hear no more +of Paeonian kings, so that their importance must have been +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[297]</span>only transitory; but certain it is, that during the troublous +times of Macedonia, that is, in the reign of Cassander, the +principality of the Paeonians did exist, and that afterwards it +disappeared. If we want to supplement history from other +circumstances, we may say, that it must have been incorporated +with Macedonia by Antigonus Gonatas, for Antigonus +Doson carried on war even with the Dardanians who +dwelt beyond the Paeonians.</p> + +<p>The Greeks (Strabo and Dion Cassius) assume that the +Paeonians and Pannonians were people of the same stock; +in Strabo this is the prevailing opinion, and at that time +the truth could still be ascertained; nor is the opinion at all +improbable, if we suppose that the Illyrians immigrated at +a later period. But <i>neque probare, neque refellere in animo +est</i>. Gauls, under Brennus, also penetrated far into the +west of Upper Macedonia; they were afterwards subdued, +but not expelled, and were retained by the Macedonian +kings as very useful soldiers.</p> + +<p>I shall now pass on to Illyricum, whence we shall afterwards +proceed to Italy. I shall then speak of the western countries +within the Roman empire, and thence pass on to the East. +Although the northern countries are important to us, yet +in an account of the ancient nations, no complete description +of them can be given, which must be reserved for the +particular histories of the northern countries; still, however, +I shall not pass them over.</p> + +<h3 id="Illyricum"><span class="smcap">Illyricum.</span></h3> + +<p>Illyricum is a somewhat embarrassing name. We +sometimes say Illyria, a form for which there is no +authority at all; the Greek name is Ἰλλυρίς, and the Latin +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">[298]</span><i>Illyricum</i>. The more ancient writers always employ the +name of the people, οἱ Ἰλλύριοι, ἐν Ἰλλυρίοις, <i>in Illyricis</i>, +while <i>Illyricum</i> does not occur till the time of the later +emperors. But with this preliminary remark, I shall not +scruple to use the name.</p> + +<p>The Illyrians are one of the very great nations of antiquity, +and are mentioned as early as the time of Herodotus. +The Roman Illyricum was of very different extent from +the Illyris or οἱ Ἰλλύριοι of the Greeks, and was itself not +the same at all times, for at first it was not as extensive as +afterwards. At a later period, when it was a <i>praefectura</i>, +it was one of the four great divisions of the Roman empire, +governed by a <i>Praefectus Praetorio</i>, and included even +Greece. At a somewhat earlier time, when we also meet +with the designation <i>Illyricus limes</i>, e.g., in the “Scriptores +Historiae Augustae,” it comprises Illyricum proper, Pannonia, +Noricum, and Vindelicia. The name Illyricum, in +this extent, is one of the artificial and political ones, which +arise when out of a given number of names one is selected +as a make-shift, but has no historical association. The +Greeks use the name in a much narrower sense, but even +with them, it is not always applied in the same manner. +The later immigration of the Gauls disturbed the Illyrians +in their habitations; and inaccurate writers, like Appian, +frequently mix Gallic and Illyrian nations together. For +this very reason, the ethnography of those nations is +most obscure. Our accounts are scanty; and those we +have, cannot be referred with certainty to their different +periods, because the Gallic immigration changed every +thing. If we compare the Periplus of Scylax and that of +Scymnus of Chios, which is taken from Theopompus or +perhaps from Timaeus, with the later descriptions of the +coasts in Strabo and the Roman historians, it is impossible +to make them harmonise. I cannot, therefore, give you a +distinct notion of this vast country, which extends from the +frontier of Epirus to that of Pannonia, and stretches even +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[299]</span>into modern Austria; a clear geographical view is unattainable. +Still many points can be discerned, and <i>Est +quadam prodire tenus, si non datur ultra</i>.</p> + +<p>No one has ever asked whether anything can be discovered +regarding the history of the Illyrians; no one +has ever thought of enquiring into it. But Herodotus +alludes to traditions of that country, apparently as if they +were well known, and he speaks of an expedition of the +Illyrians and Encheleans, who invaded Greece and plundered +the temple of Delphi. According to another tradition, +Cadmus and Hermione, quitting Thebes, went to the +Encheleans and died there. These are again, as elsewhere, +two countries which are put in connexion by migrations +in opposite directions. This allusion to a great expedition +with an enormous army, leads us to pay attention also to +some other facts, as for example, that the Liburnians, in the +innermost μυχὸς of the Adriatic, were quite different from the +Illyrians, and are mentioned in relations, in which elsewhere +we find the Pelasgians on the coast of Italy; further, among +the Illyrians in the neighbourhood of Ragusa, there dwelt +a people called <span class="smcap">Hyllii</span>, who are said, by the compilers of +legendary history, to have originally been Greeks, and to have +become barbarians (ἐκβαρβαρωθῆναι); lastly, the coast of Dalmatia +was inhabited by Pelagonians, whom we also find among +the Macedonians and Epirots. Accordingly we here meet +with remnants of a Pelasgian population, which survived +after the immigration of the great race of the Illyrians. +Among these latter are included also the Breunians and +Genaunians in Tyrol, and the Iapydes on the northern +side of the Alps, in the modern Carniola, and further on +beyond the Alps. We may, therefore, look upon it as almost +an historical fact, that they were a people that immigrated +from the north, conquered the Dalmatian mountains, +and penetrated as far as the heights of Epirus, which +formed a barrier to their further progress.</p> + +<p>The descriptions we have of the manners of the Illyrians, +prove that they were—half savages would be too strong a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[300]</span>term—at least very rude: they tattooed themselves, and +were pirates⁠<a id="FNanchor_107" href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> at the time when the power of Athens had +sunk, and when Corcyra, and in fact all Greece was broken +down. They were divided into numerous tribes. In the +earlier times kings are nowhere mentioned, that might be +regarded as kings of all Illyricum, or of a great part of the +Illyrian tribes: the Illyrians seem rather to have had a +democratic constitution. In their wars with Macedonia +previous to the time of Philip, an Illyrian king is not mentioned +anywhere. In the reign of Philip, Theopompus +speaks of one Bardylis who from a robber raised himself +to the rank of an independent prince, but who is noted for +his personal character as a robber rather than as a prince. +It is unknown whether the subsequent princes of Illyricum +were descendants of his; but certain it is, that we can trace +the kings far back till the time after the death of Alexander, +that is, to Admetus the Taulantian. During the childhood +of Pyrrhus, again we meet with Glaucias, also a +Taulantian. It is impossible to determine the extent of +Illyricum at the time it came in contact with the Romans; +the few statements about it in Polybius pre-suppose a knowledge +which we do not possess, and cannot supply; but the +Illyrians seem to have had considerable power at that time. +They never were closely united among one another, not +even under their kings, of whom a whole series is now +known: Pleuratus, Agron and his widow Teuta, Pinnes, +Scerdilaïdas, Pleuratus, and Genthius, under whom the +kingdom was destroyed, because he allowed himself to be +prevailed upon by Perseus to share his fate. This kingdom +of the Illyrians cannot have extended far north; it embraced +the Parthinians, perhaps also the Ardyaeans, the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">[301]</span>Taulantians, Bulionians,⁠<a id="FNanchor_108" href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> Dessaretans, and the southern +tribes which were afterwards under the dominion of Rome, +probably also belonged to it. The residence of the kings, +at least in later times, was at Scodra, the modern Scutari. +The Illyrians were robbers both by land and by sea, until +the Romans in the first war against them, between the +time of the first Punic and the Cisalpine wars, put an end +to their proceedings; but before that time they roved over +Epirus and Greece, laying waste the country with great +cruelty; and at sea, they ventured even into the Aegean, +plundering all the Greek coasts, and especially the +defenceless Cyclades. The tactics, the ships of war, and +the battle order of the Illyrians, however, were excellent: +they were not phalangites, but fought with short spears and +light javelins; their chief weapon, however, was the μάχαιρα, +or the Albanese knife. With this they fought as peltasts +(with light shields), but not as ψιλοί; they rather formed +a middle class between the phalangites and ψιλοί. In this +respect they differed from the Romans, and were infinitely +inferior to them.</p> + +<p>The Illyrians are unquestionably the ancestors of the +modern Albanese or Arnauts. This opinion was expressed +long ago, but has been disturbed in a very strange +way by objections; the one, that this people could not +have maintained itself among so many other nations, during +great immigration, is worth nothing. This objection gave +rise to the belief that the Albanese were an Asiatic people. +Their language is quite peculiar and akin to no other, neither +to the Celtic, as I formerly believed, nor to any other. In the +earlier times, it is true, Celts did enter Illyricum, and so did +afterwards the Bulgarians and other nations, whence it cannot +be denied that northern and Asiatic nations did establish +themselves in the country. But I have discovered a proof +which clearly shows, that the modern Albanese are the +same people as the ancient Illyrians. The name of the +town of Dimalon, the strongest among the Illyrian places, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">[302]</span>with two acras on two heights, connected by a wall, +as described by Polybius, shows this; the Albanese still +call it so. Now I have found in several glossaries, that +the word <i>mal</i> signifies a hill, and <i>di</i> two, so that <i>dimal</i> is +a double hill. This proof is quite convincing. The origin +and nationality of the Illyrians have given rise to the +oddest conjectures. As the Dalmatian Slavonians have +adopted the name Illyrians, the Slavonian language spoken +in Dalmatia, especially at Ragusa, is likewise called Illyrian, +and this designation has acquired general currency. +In the sixteenth century, about the time of the reformation, +a Slavonian Bible was printed at Tübingen, and called +Illyrian. This opinion is firmly rooted among the learned +in Carniola, and we even find it entertained by the excellent +Kopitar, librarian at Vienna, and a very distinguished man, +who possesses great discernment and very extensive knowledge; +but he cannot get over the notion, that the ancient +Illyrians were Slavonians. This is, as it were, an article +of the religious creed of the Slavonians, just as the modern +Greeks fancy that their language is identical with the most +ancient Greek. Wherever this singular opinion has once +become established, an angel from heaven would not be +able to upset it; learned men show an obstinacy on this +point, which is really a psychological curiosity. This +opinion goes so far with them, that they look upon St. +Jerome, who was an Illyrian, as a Slavonian, and ascribe +to him the Slavonian translation of the Bible; for the same +reason, they call the artificial Glagolitian alphabet, which +is derived from the Cyrillian, invented in the ninth century, +likewise Slavonian. Cyrillus and Methodius, the apostles +of the Slavonian nations, must have been eminent men, +for, with a wonderfully fine feeling for their language, +they invented an alphabet, as well defined and complete as +possible; this is the modern Servian alphabet, which is the +foundation of that of all the Slavonic languages. The +Russian alphabet is the most complete I know, unless the +oriental languages form an exception; but I do not understand +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">[303]</span>them any more than the Sanscrit. When the Roman +see wanted to press the Latin language upon the Illyrians, +they did not use the Roman alphabet, but devised a new +one, the Glagolitian (from <i>glagol</i>, language), the same which +is still used by the Albanese. This matter was made by +the Church of Rome the subject of a strange transaction: +she was willing to allow the use of the new alphabet, on +condition that divine worship should be conducted in +the Latin tongue.⁠<a id="FNanchor_109" href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> This happened under Pope John XII. +or John XIV., about the year 1000;⁠<a id="FNanchor_110" href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> at the same time +books were brought forward, which were asserted to be +productions of St. Jerome. This is still firmly believed; and +in the Vatican library you may see St. Jerome represented +as the inventor of writing with the Slavonic alphabet. All +kinds of etymologies of Illyrian words have been pressed +into the service to confirm that opinion; but they are so irrational, +that it is painful to see intelligent men so fettered +by hereditary prejudices about national honour. They +attempt, e.g., to derive the name Salona in Dalmatia from +Slavona, “a place of honour.” I have often wished that +the passion of etymologising could be altogether suppressed, +for among a hundred etymologies you scarcely find one +that is good; people are easily satisfied, instead of entering +into a healthy and thorough inquiry. You will become +convinced, that the Illyrians are not Slavonians, when you +consider the Sarmatae; for you will then see at how late a +period these nations came into Europe; in the meantime +you may rely upon what I have said, for it is the result of +long researches. As I am not unacquainted with the +Slavonian languages,⁠<a id="FNanchor_111" href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> I have been able myself to study the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">[304]</span>Slavonian authorities. Among all the places within the +whole extent of Illyricum, there is not one whose name is +properly derived from the Slavonic. Whoever understands +Slavonic, cannot possibly be mistaken in a Slavonic word; +the Slavonic languages are so marked and characteristic, +that no word can be disguised. In Frioul, which was once +inhabited by Slavonians, in the eastern half of Germany, +and in the greater part of the circle of Upper Saxony, +places occur everywhere, the etymology of which instantly +strikes those who understand Slavonic. Many years ago, +I publicly discussed the migrations of the Slavonians, +from the age of Herodotus down to the great migration of +nations, and I shall soon publish the discussion.⁠<a id="FNanchor_112" href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a>⁠</p> + +<p>When reading Pliny and Strabo on Illyricum, we see +that their knowledge as to its boundaries is as uncertain as +our own. Appian, who undertook, I know not on what +authority, to give a national genealogy of the Illyrians, +got so confounded either through his own fault, or the +fault of his authority, that he jumbled together Illyrians, +Gauls, Paeonians, and Thracians in a most absurd manner. +I think it my duty to tell you, that he is no authority +at all. In regard to some nations we are in the greatest +difficulty, and are unable to assert anything with certainty. +The Dardanians were probably Illyrians; but the Scordiscans +were undoubtedly Gauls. The Liburnians were certainly +different from the Illyrians; but I shall say more of +them when I have done with the Illyrians.</p> + +<p>In speaking of the Macedonian mountains, I have already +directed your attention to the connexion of that whole range +of mountains with the Alps. The Illyrian range of mountains, +which traverses Dalmatia and branches off in Carniola +from the Julian Alps, and then, at a considerable distance +from the sea, stretches towards Venetia, approaches the sea +beyond Aquileia, in the neighbourhood of Trieste, and +forms Istria; it passes through Istria as a mighty and lofty +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">[305]</span>mountain, though it does not reach the snow line, then +traversing Dalmatia, which it separates from Bosnia, it extends +into Albania. It is altogether a limestone mountain, and +like all mountains of this kind, it is very much broken up; +hence the numbers of promontories and islands off the coast +of Dalmatia. This mountain is all full of petrifactions and +extremely interesting in a geological and geognostic point of +view; it is also well suited for cultivation, and very fertile, +but uninhabited, and accordingly for the most part covered +with wood to its very tops. It runs from west to east, with +a small range towards the south-east, then in a somewhat +more southern direction into Macedonia, and is separated +from the sea by the hilly country of Albania. Dalmatia is +not at all volcanic, whereas in Southern Illyricum or +Albania we have a continuation of the volcanic nature of +Epirus, whence in the neighbourhood of Apollonia on the +Aous we find hot springs of asphalt. I take this opportunity +of recalling to your mind the passage of Strabo, +which contains the words πηγαὶ χλιαροῦ ἀσφάλτου: the +MSS. have καὶ ἀσφάλτου, but the καὶ has been thrown out +by editors. I believe that by some mistake ὕδατος is omitted, +and that we must read: πηγαὶ χλιαροῦ ὕδατος καὶ ἀσφάλτου. +Innumerable emendations have yet to be made in Strabo, and +it is to be regretted, that his work has not yet found an editor +possessing a thorough knowledge of the Greek language, +for Casaubonus edited it with too much haste. In the +above passage no one has remembered the fact that ἄσφαλτος +is feminine, and that accordingly Strabo could not have +said χλιαροῦ ἀσφάλτου.</p> + +<p>The accounts of the Greeks respecting the Illyrians are +very different from the later ones of the Romans. The +Greeks, e.g., mention the Manians, Nestians, Hyllians, and, +on the south of Lissos, the Taulantians as the most important +among the Illyrian nations; but during the time of the +Romans they do not occur at all, although Dalmatia acts a +considerable part in history: in their place Dalmatians are +mentioned all along the coast, whose name does not occur +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">[306]</span>at all in the geography of the Greeks. Thus the Taulantians +are not spoken of in the wars against Teuta, Demetrius +of Pharos, and afterwards in the first war against Philip, +although Apollonia and Epidamnus act a very prominent +part; in their stead we hear of Ardyaeans and Parthinians. +Whether these latter did not exist during the Greek period +under these names, is a question which I will not decide. +In early times the Alemannians and Franks do not occur +under these names, and the other nations which do occur, +are different from them; this justifies the inference, that +several of the latter united into one people: in the same +manner the Taulantians may either have divided themselves, +or other tribes may have united under that +name. I say this to prevent your falling into the mistake +of believing that all these statements refer to the same +period. It is this error which has made of the +topography of Rome such a chaos, that no man can find +his way out of it, unless he takes the trouble of commencing +the investigations afresh from the very beginning: +in this manner alone he can find his way, for in +Roman topography buildings are mentioned by the side of +one another, which are separated by four or five centuries. +It is evident, that the mighty invasion of the +Gauls threw the whole country of Illyricum and all its +tribes into confusion, in consequence of which the +Scordiscans permanently established themselves in Sirmia +(Slavonia), Servia, and Bosnia, and expelled the Triballians, +so that other nations penetrated into Upper +Macedonia, partly subduing and partly expelling its inhabitants, +who then formed settlements in Thrace. This great +convulsion accounts for the difference between the earlier +and later condition of Illyricum.</p> + +<p>I shall begin in the south. Next to the frontier of +Chaonia we find the small town of <span class="smcap">Amantia</span> and the +people of the <i>Amantians</i> and <i>Bullians</i> (<i>Bulliones</i>). They +are mentioned in Caesar’s <i>Bellum Civile</i>, iii. 40, a work +which throws great light upon the geography of Illyricum, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">[307]</span>and the borders of Macedonia and Thessaly. We then +have the <span class="smcap">Taulantians</span>, who occupied the country north +of the Aous as far as Epidamnus. The river <span class="smcap">Aöus</span>, also +called <span class="smcap">Aeas</span>, flowing down from the ridge of the Macedonian +mountains towards the Adriatic, is one of the most +important rivers of southern Macedonia. As an instance of +the great confusion and perplexity which one false statement +of an ancient author may produce, I will mention the +following fact:—Hecataeus had stated that the rivers Inachus +and Aöus sprang from one mountain near Argos +Amphilochicum, and that then they flowed in different +directions. This remark, which Strabo found and copied, +has produced the greatest confusion in the geography of +Epirus, and scholars have been at the greatest pains to clear +it up. Pouqueville, a man whom I greatly esteem, but who +is not a philologer,⁠<a id="FNanchor_113" href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> in consequence of the above statement, +confounds the Inachus and the Arachthus, and mistakes +the ruins of Ambracia for those of Argos Amphilochicum. +The cause of the error no doubt lies in Hecataeus.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Apollonia</span> was a colony established by the Corcyraeans +and Corinthians conjointly. I have said that the nature of +the country is volcanic; Strabo, Antigonus Carystius, and +the Pseudo-Aristotle, in the work Θαυμάσια ἀκούσματα, +state that near the neighbouring Nymphaeon the earth was +burning, that there existed springs of earth-pitch and hot +water, and that flames were seen at night, as is the case at +Pietramala. Apollonia maintained its freedom in the midst +of the Epirot towns, though it was no doubt under the +protection of Macedonia. In the year 522, when the +Romans first appeared on that coast, it was still an independent +Greek town, but had at an early time gained the +favour of its powerful western neighbours by sending an +embassy to them. The Romans delivered the town from a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">[308]</span>siege of the Illyrians, and from that time it was a humble +place under the supremacy of Rome. Such towns, as far +as depended on the Roman senate and people, were very +favourably treated, and were very well off, unless they had +the misfortune of being ruled by a governor like Piso, who +is described by Cicero. Apollonia, probably, enjoyed a +great reputation, and became for the neighbouring nations, +and even for the Italians, who endeavoured to Hellenise +everything, a seat of Greek culture and education, just as +Lausanne and Geneva are for those who believe French +culture to be the best, and are visited even by princes. +Thus Augustus, at the time of the murder of Caesar, was +living at Apollonia for the purpose of learning to speak +Greek.</p> + +<p>The Taulantians, who afterwards no longer occur in +history, dwelt between Apollonia and Epidamnus.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Epidamnus</span> or <span class="smcap">Dyrrhachium</span>. The latter name was, +according to tradition, adopted by the Romans to avoid the +ominous meaning of the former, <i>quasi in damnum ituri</i>, in +case of the senate ordering the legions to cross over to it. +I imagine that, if the Romans had felt the necessity of +changing the name, they would have substituted a syllable, +as they did in changing Maleventum into Beneventum; +but they would not have completely altered it. In Thucydides +and the other Attic writers, the place is always called +simply Epidamnus, but the native name must have been +Dyrrhachium, for it bears this name on innumerable non-Roman +coins. Epidamnus was the <i>causa contingens</i> of +the Peloponnesian war; it usually happens, that a thing, +when called forth by the force of circumstances, must in +the end come to pass, and this town only lent its name as +the occasion. This is beautifully expressed by Polybius +where he explains the true cause of the Punic wars and their +apparent occasion. Epidamnus was likewise taken by the +Romans under their protection, and surrendered to them, +after having previously been compelled to acknowledge the +supremacy of the Illyrian kings. I have already mentioned +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">[309]</span>that a vast number of coins are found there. It is a well-known +observation, that about twenty years ago a person +travelling through the Rhenish provinces, found French +crowns to be the current coin; and in like manner Illyrian +quinarii (half-drachmae) were the current coin at Rome for +a long time; according to Pliny, they had been introduced +at Rome as merchandise, and afterwards <i>victoriatae</i> were +substituted for them. But Pliny, as is so often the case +with him, takes the matter rather lightly and hastily. The +Illyrian half-drachmae were probably somewhat inferior to +the double sestertii of the Romans, and at the same time +were convenient as a simple coin. But the Romans very +rationally now made a similar coin, and thereby got completely +rid of the Illyrian. Those Illyrian coins also have +the name of a magistrate, which explains a statement of +Aristotle, who says that Epidamnus contrary to the custom +of other Greek towns, had a single dictator or praetor. +During the middle ages, in the time of the Comneni and +the Norman kings, Dyrrhachium acted a very prominent +part, but at present it is decayed, though it still possesses +the advantages of its happy situation on a narrow isthmus, +which almost forms a promontory.</p> + +<p>In the interior, near the Macedonian frontier, there is a considerable +lake from which the Drino issues. In the same part +we find, ever since the middle ages, the town of <span class="smcap">Achrida</span>, +which was the capital of the Bulgarian empire at the time +when it extended from the Black Sea as far as the interior of +Aetolia, and comprised southern Illyricum, Epirus, Acarnania, +Aetolia, and a part of Thessaly. It has been thought +that this town is the ancient <i>Lychnidos</i>. During the +Roman period the <i>Dessaretans</i> dwelt there; the neighbouring +country was occupied by the <i>Autariatans</i>, who are said +to have been driven from their country in the time of +Cassander, when they removed as fugitives with their +women and children into Macedonia. According to the +story, which we read in Justin, they were compelled to quit +their country, because the frogs had increased there to an +intolerable extent. In the common editions of Justin, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">[310]</span>however, we read, owing to a blunder of the transcriber, +<i>Abderitae</i> instead of <i>Autariatae</i>, from which Wieland has +made the lengthy and absurd story, that the people of +Abdera delighted in breeding frogs, and that in the end +they were driven by these animals out of their own country. +Little as has yet been done by criticism for Justin, still +it is sufficiently clear, that he is speaking of the Autariatae, +and not of the Abderitae. Diodorus of Sicily quite plainly +relates the true history of this expulsion of the Autariatae; +but they were not all driven from their country; some of +them remained behind, and became subjects of the Gauls, +for we find Autariatae under the banner of the Gauls during +their expedition against Delphi. But after that time they +disappear, and in this disappearance the Greeks saw their +punishment by the deity.</p> + +<p>The mention of this expedition leads me to speak of a +subject, which requires special explanation in order to +avoid misunderstandings. You here have a national emigration +with women and children, and this is most commonly +the case with emigrating nations: a part of the nation +sets out with all it possesses, and the part remaining behind +comes under the dominion of the invaders. Emigrations +are very rarely spontaneous, most of them are undertaken +by the pressure and compulsion of other nations; +pastoral tribes and those living on the chase alone form +exceptions, as we see in the case of all the inhabitants of the +steppes in Asia, who, in consequence of their mode of +living, with all their property undertook long expeditions +into countries many hundred miles off: witness the Scythians, +who according to Herodotus took with them all they +possessed on innumerable wagons, the Mongole and Tartar +tribes, and the Huns. When a people immigrates, it very +rarely happens that all the ancient inhabitants quit the +country, most of them remain behind and submit to their +new masters. But this is not by any means always a matter +of choice. When a conquering people advances, under the +hoofs of whose horses all life is destroyed, as was the case +with the Huns and the hordes of Jinghis Khan, which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">[311]</span>burnt and murdered every thing before them (and the +Gauls on their expedition into Greece did not act otherwise), +every one who finds a place of safety, or hopes to +find one, takes to flight. When the poor inhabitants of +la Vendée fled from the armies of the Convention, the +whole population crossed the Loire, carrying their women +and children before them, and whoever could move broke +up, and whoever was able carried his feebler relatives with +him, so that the whole country was deserted. They met +with opposition, and their migration could not proceed +farther: if there had been small tribes on the frontiers of +France, unable to offer them any resistance, the Vendéeans +would have broken through, and sought a place to settle +in. Such also was the case in most of the migrations of +antiquity, as well as in the great migration of nations during +the fourth and fifth centuries; and the Gallic and Sarmatian +migrations were certainly not less important than they. +When the Goths had been defeated by the Huns in Dacia +on the Dniestr, they crossed the Danube in a body, and implored +the Romans to receive and protect them in their empire; +and their requests were granted. There are, however, a +few instances of non-nomadic nations emigrating in a body +without being pressed in any way. The most striking +instance is that of the Helvetii, in the time of Caesar, a +case which no one can doubt, and which is literally true: +they emigrated, having been seduced by evil advisers, and +even destroyed their own towns in the hope of conquering +a country in which they might live as lords and nobles, and +where they hoped to have vassals that would till the ground +for them.</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Ardyaeans</span> and <span class="smcap">Parthinians</span> dwelt north of the +Autariatae, though not at the same time, but only during +the Roman period. These tribes, the Illyrians and Atintanians, +had been subdued by the Romans in the first +Illyrian war, and were again reduced to obedience in the +second. Agron and his widow Teuta had ruled as far as +the borders of Epirus; but the Romans took from them +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">[312]</span>southern Illyricum and the islands of Issa and Pharos. +Then Philip also took a part of the same country, I allude +to the district of the Atintanians; but the Romans left +that of the Parthinians to Pleurates, the king of the Illyrians. +How far the Illyrian kingdom extended in the +north, we cannot say; but the southern frontier, previous to +the time when the Romans gave away the Parthinians, was +the mouth of the Drino, which flows by Scodra and issues +from lake Labeatis.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Scodra</span> was the capital of the kingdom; its situation +is very favorable, mild, and pleasing; the country around +is capable of every cultivation; it is a <i>locus apricus</i>, accessible +to the mild winds from the south, and protected against the +north winds.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lissos</span>, situated at the mouth of the Drino, was fixed +upon by the Romans as the border-town of the Illyrians in +the south, and beyond it they were not allowed to sail with +their armed ships. This must be regarded as a great blessing +for Greece, which was thereby delivered from Illyrian +pirates.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dalmatia</span>, in the north-west, consists partly of the +mainland and partly of a countless number of islands near +the coast, some of which are mere rocks, while others are +capable of cultivation. On this coast there are at least two +Greek colonies—a third is doubtful—the islands of <span class="smcap">Issa</span> +and <span class="smcap">Pharos</span>. The latter known through Demetrius of +Pharos, the shameless intriguer, is said to have been a colony +of Paros. Issa was colonised by Dionysius of Syracuse who, +at the time of his greatest prosperity, contemplated to +establish a power on the Adriatic, whence he also sent a +colony to Adria, in the country of the Veneti; it is possible +that the Greek colony of Heraclea, on the Liburnian coast, +must likewise be ascribed to him.</p> + +<p>The country of the Dalmatians (more correctly Dalmatans) +extends from Illyricum, in the Greek sense of the +term, as far as the frontier of the Liburnians, who inhabited +the whole of the north of what was once Venetian +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">[313]</span>Dalmatia. The name Dalmatia is unknown to the Greeks, +and is applied to the country in which they place +the Hyllians, Nestians, and Manians. The inhabitants +were no doubt under the dominion of the Illyrian +kings; after the reduction of the Illyrians by the Romans, +Dalmatia, too, was unquestionably intended to come under +the supremacy of Rome, and a few maritime towns +actually seem to have done so, but the interior, if it did +fall into the hands of the Romans, appears soon to have +thrown off the yoke. It was not till the year 640, that +Metullus permanently subdued those coast countries, after +the Romans had waged war against them for a long time. +Thenceforth the neighbouring country of the Liburnians +was a distinct Roman province; the southern districts of +Dalmatia being occasionally under the control of the proconsul +or propraetor of Macedonia; the northern parts do +not appear to have had a Roman <i>imperium</i>, except when +legions were stationed there. This was frequently the case, +until the Scordiscans were conquered: when after their +destruction peace was established, and when, after the time +of Sulla, the province of Gaul was formed, those countries +belonged to the <i>imperium</i> of the governor who had the +administration of Gaul, as we see in the case of Julius +Caesar.</p> + +<p>The most important town in Dalmatia was <span class="smcap">Salona</span> or +<span class="smcap">Salonae</span> (<i>Salonae longae</i>, in Lucan, the place probably +consisting of one long street along the coast); it was the +seat of a Roman <i>conventus</i>, that is, the Roman citizens +resident in the province formed a rustic community, which +had its administration at Salona. This is the real meaning of +a <i>conventus civium Romanorum</i>, which is left obscure in our +manuals on Roman antiquities, though it is perfectly clear +from Cicero’s speeches against Verres, from Caesar’s <i>Bellum +Civile</i> and <i>Africanum</i>, and also from the <i>Bellum Hispaniense</i>. +Salona gradually became a genuine Roman city; but it +owes its greatest celebrity to the fact that Diocletian, after +resigning the imperial dignity, took up his abode there and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">[314]</span>built a palace, which extended into the modern town of +Spalatro, and is an example of the decay of taste in the +arts at that time, as much as the Thermae of Diocletian +at Rome; the palace is not more beautiful than the edifices +built in the time of Charlemagne; marble and costly materials +of every kind were lavished on it, and such outward +ornaments then constituted almost all that was left of art. +The ruins of this palace have been described by Englishmen.</p> + +<p>About other places in Dalmatia nothing can be said, for +they are of no historical importance. The islands have +already been spoken of. <span class="smcap">Pharos</span> produced Demetrius, +whose villany and faithlessness are very characteristic of +that age; he was only half a Greek, or rather a barbarian. +He spent a great part of his life at the court of the barbarian +queen, Teuta, and afterwards he went to that of +Philip of Macedonia. The traits related of this man are +terrible. Pharos is called Greek, but we must not imagine +that its inhabitants were of pure Greek blood or had Greek +manners, and Greek modes of life; they were Μιξέλληνες +as in other similar places.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corcyra Melaena</span>, the modern Curzola, cannot with +certainty be called a Greek colony.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Melite</span> may be noticed here because, according to some, +it was the island where St. Paul, on his voyage to Rome, +suffered shipwreck. But this is improbable, St. Luke +would probably have been more explicit about it, and St. +Paul would have crossed from thence to Ancona or some +other port in the neighbourhood. We must in all probability +refer the event to Malta, which was likewise called +Melite.</p> + +<p>I now pass over the Iapydes, Istrians, Liburnians, Carnians +and Venetians, as I intend to return to these nations +from the West and from Noricum.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES</h2> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> “The first journey of this kind was undertaken in the sixteenth +century, by George Fabricius, but it produced only very insignificant +results.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> The MS. notes contain very little about these maps, but what I +recollect Niebuhr to have said agrees in the main with the opinion +expressed in the <i>Lectures on Rom. Hist.</i> vol. iii. p. xciv., except that +in the present Lectures he treated the matter more with ridicule, +saying, e.g., that such men are immortalised even by having their +portraits engraved on copper (in some Geographical Journal).—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> See <i>Kleine Schriften</i>, vol. i. p. 105, foll.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> “It would be an interesting philological problem to show, how +certain books gradually disappeared and ceased to be read.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> See <i>Klein. Schrift.</i>, vol. i. p. 132, foll.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> “It is written on white stone, and belongs to the time of Psammetichus +II., that is, about the end of the Peloponnesian war. The +λόφοι in Aristotle probably signify ostrich-feathers.” See <i>Corp. +Inscript. Graec.</i>, vol. iii. fasc. 2. n. 5126. I owe this reference to the +kindness of the late Professor Franz.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> <i>In Ctesiph.</i> 77 (p. 140, 9 ed. Dindorf).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> The word “Latins” is only my conjecture. In all the MS. +notes, the words are directly opposed to what the lecturer intended +to prove; whence we may perhaps suppose, that Niebuhr himself +made a <i>lapsus linguae</i>.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> Comp. <i>Lectures on Anc. Hist.</i>, vol. i. p. 200.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> See Paus. vii. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> <i>Lect. on Anc. Hist.</i>, vol. i. p. 204.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> Ibid., vol. i. p. 232.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> Paus. ii. 4, § 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> <i>Aen.</i> vi. 838.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> This name has been substituted by me from the Iliad, ii. 561, for +one which occurs only in a single set of notes, and is altogether +mis-written.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> Verse 533.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> “The part of Laconia, which forms the western coast of the +Argolic gulf, but which, by the division of Philip of Macedonia +was restored to Argos, will be spoken of when I come to describe +Laconia.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> “A stadium measures 600 Greek feet, and eight stadia make a +Roman mile; 606 feet and 9 inches English are equal to a stadium. +This is a well known fact, requiring no proof. But it is a very debatable +question, as to whether the ancients, when reckoning by stadia, +always adopted the measure of the Olympian stadium, or whether +we have sometimes to understand others. The latter opinion has +been very generally spread by the moderns, especially in consequence +of an error committed by the excellent D’Anville. It very +often occurs, that the distances mentioned by the ancients are +irreconcilable with modern measurements; whence it has been inferred +that sometimes different stadia must be meant, and the +statement that the Pythian stadium was shorter than the Olympian, +appeared to support this supposition. But there is no other hypothesis +which has been set forth equally often, and is yet so devoid +of all foundation: the ancient writers do not furnish a single passage +in support of the assertion; an endless confusion, moreover, +would be introduced into all statements, if we were to suppose +that the ancients reckoned according to different stadia without +informing their readers of it. Wherever the stadia mentioned are +irreconcilable with correct measurements, the cause is no other but +either an error in our calculation, or some inaccuracy in the statements +of the ancients, which arose in a very natural manner; for +the high-roads in Greece were, not like those of the Romans, made +in a straight line, but had various turnings, because they had been +gradually formed out of the common paths across the fields. In +some instances, on the other hand, it has been found that, where +the ancients were charged with inaccuracy, too much confidence +has been placed in modern travellers, so that the statements of the +ancients are, after all, not as inaccurate as some have supposed.</p> + +<p>“A question of the highest importance in history and geography +is that concerning the proportion which the side of the pyramid +bears to the measured degree of the earth and to the Egyptian +cubit—a question to which French mathematicians, who were no +scholars, have first directed attention. These numbers are such +exact multiples of one another, that we must either assume the +most marvellous coincidence, or else an artificial calculation. The +immortal Laplace set great value upon this discovery, and inferred +from it that the elements of mathematical geography were known +at a very early time. When the new French system of measures +was introduced, the measure of a degree was taken as the standard, +and thus the framers of the new system arrived at the same foundation +as the ancients. When a degree of latitude was measured in +Egypt, the result was perfectly safe; but the French wanted to +establish a measure for the whole world, and in this case it is illegitimate +to make use of the degree of latitude, for though in a metre +the inaccuracy was not great, yet it was so in larger measures. +The ancients proceeded from degrees which were not too large, and +could be measured with accuracy. Now the degree is a multiple of +the Greek stadium, as it is of the Egyptian measure: 600 Greek +feet make a stadium, 600 stadia make an equatorial degree, that is, +360,000 Greek feet make a degree; and this system of measurement +is derived from Egypt. As the Egyptian foot was larger than an +ordinary human foot, the Greeks invented the fable, that the foot +of Heracles had been taken as the standard in measuring the +stadium. The pace of the Romans is likewise an ideal measure, for +it is the thousandth part of one seventy-fifth of a degree.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> “Much has been written, and much nonsense too, about the +history of commerce. One must first be acquainted with commerce, +and the course it takes, before attempting to write about it. The +subject is not foreign to me, but I have no time to work it out.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> See <i>Kleine Schrift.</i>, vol. i. p. 225, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> Anthol. Palat. ix. 151.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> “Herodes Atticus restored the theatre which had been destroyed +by Mummius; and this building, together with the Odeum and +gymnasium, was seen by Pausanias.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> One MS. has <i>Ornae</i> instead of Argos.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> “We include Megaris among those countries which lie beyond +Peloponnesus, though it belongs to Argolis, if this latter name be +taken in its widest sense.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> Compare Thucyd. iv. 57.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> Polyb. ix. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> Compare <i>Lect. on Anc. Hist.</i>, vol. i. p. 185, foll., and p. 231.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> This reference was given by Niebuhr himself, and as all the +good MSS. agree in the number, there can be no doubt that the +notes are correct; but I do not know to what edition it refers. +According to Casaubon’s edition, it is p. 364, foll., and Alm. p. 560, foll.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> Strab. viii. p. 365, ed. Casaub.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> The restoration of this passage from the notes has been particularly +difficult. From the <i>Lect. on Anc. Hist.</i>, vol. i. p. 234, it seems clear +that Niebuhr had somewhere publicly expressed his opinion on the +passage of Strabo above referred to; but I do not know where he has +done so, and I have not been able to avail myself of anything except +the notes taken in the lecture-room, some of which are very +good. I am firmly persuaded that Niebuhr uttered the words +as they are given in the text, though his opinion differs from that +now generally adopted, which is based upon the restoration of the +text of Strabo, partially the work of C. O. Müller (<i>Dor.</i> vol. i. p. 110). +The name Aepys seems to be based upon <i>Iliad</i>, ii. 592, and that of +Pherae upon the original text of Strabo himself.-<span class="smcap">-Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> “Whether the list of the Spartan kings is correct or not, I do +not know; their number may be historical, but the years of their +reigns are very uncertain. Agis has quite the appearance of an +historical personage.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> “The derivation of the name Εἵλωτες, from Ἕλος, is extremely +uncertain. Helos was certainly destroyed, but I cannot see how +Εἵλωτες could have been formed from Ἕλος. I cannot imagine that +a neuter name in ος should form its ethnic name in ως, nor do I +know any instance in which an initial ε is changed into ει.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> The words <i>of Sardinia</i> have been inserted by conjecture. The +MS. containing the clause <i>as was the case</i>, &c., has the words <i>by the +Saracens</i>. But it is well known, that in the eleventh century, that +is, about the time of the conquest of Sardinia, Pisa had 150,000 inhabitants, +whereas at present it scarcely has the tenth part of that +number.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> This should probably be “the Homeric poems.” Cardamyle is +mentioned, Iliad ix. 150, among the seven towns which Agamemnon +offers to give to Achilles.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> Herod. viii. 73, calls them Dryopians; so also Pausanias and +Strabo.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> The 20th of October, 1827.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> “Their name, from its termination άς, reminds us of Italian +ethnic names, such as <i>Antias</i> and the like; but in the former the α +is short.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> See <i>Hist. of Rome</i>, vol. i. p. 418, n. 975, vol. ii. p. 317; <i>Lect. on +Rom. Hist.</i> vol. i. p. 203, n. 4; 3rd edit.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> This list is given from Polybius, ii. 41; Niebuhr here forgot +that <i>Aegae</i> and <i>Rhypes</i> had been mentioned even by Herodotus, +i. 145, who omits Leontion and Cerynea. This requires the statement +in the text to be modified, though it does not affect the explanation +given by Niebuhr.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> Strab. ix. p. 394, c. Instead of the verse Στῆσε δ’ ἄγων ἵν’ Ἀθηναίων +ἵσταντο φάλαγγες, the Megarians read Αἴας δ’ ἐκ Σαλαμῖνος ἄγεν νέας, +ἔκ τε Πολίχνης, Ἔκ τ’ Αἰγειρούσσης, Νισαίης τε Τριπόδων τε.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> The statement of Thucydides is confirmed by the document of +the official treaty about the fifty years’ peace of Nicias in Thucyd. +v. 18: στήλας δὲ στῆσαι—ἐν Ἀθήναις ἐν πόλει.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> Niebuhr here overlooks Thucyd. i. 93: μείζων γὰρ ὁ περίβολος +πανταχῆ ἐξήχθη τῆς πόλεως.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> The reader must bear in mind, that all Niebuhr says about the +topography of Athens was said before any of the numerous recent +investigations of this subject had been commenced.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">[44]</a> “The temple of Theseus was destroyed as early as 1687; the +Turks had a powder magazine there, and the Venetians were barbarous +enough to bombard it; one front of it is left standing.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">[45]</a> Dion Cassius, lxix. 16, however, says ἐξεποίησε.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">[46]</a> Aeschin. Socr. <i>Eryx.</i> c. 7 and 24.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">[47]</a> “This war is a memorable occurrence on account of the misfortunes +of men who had deserved a better fate.” (See <i>Kleine Schrift.</i> +vol. i. p. 451, foll.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">[48]</a> Comp. <i>Kleine Schrift.</i> l. c., p. 458, note 10.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">[49]</a> “<i>Basílius</i>, not <i>Basilīus</i>, for at that time Greek was spoken only +according to accent.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">[50]</a> “The seventh among the Platonic letters was no doubt written +soon after the time of Plato and before the death of Alexander; it +is written in the vivid style of one who knew things from hearsay, +but had not witnessed them himself.” (Comp. Ulrich, <i>Die Eilfmänner +in Athen</i>, p. 258, note 3.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">[51]</a> Cic. <i>De Nat. Deor.</i> i. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">[52]</a> This statement is not the same in all the MSS., whence the text +cannot be regarded as quite certain.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">[53]</a> These numbers, though not agreeing with what precedes, occur +in all the MSS. We must therefore probably suppose, that Niebuhr +in his thorough-going view of the symmetry of numerical relations +in antiquity, regarded the <i>eleven</i> Boeotarchs as the remnant of the +earlier number twelve, and divided this latter into two equal halves; +but I cannot at this moment say on what this division is based. +The statement that afterwards the Boeotarchs were exclusively +Thebans, occurs in a set of notes, which do not seem to be quite +trustworthy.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">[54]</a> I have no doubt that Niebuhr here meant Lake Hylice, although +I do not know that it is connected with Lake Copais. Respecting its +outlet into the Euripus, see Müller, <i>Orchom.</i> p. 38, 2nd edit., who +doubts its existence. The name of “lake of Haliartus” belongs only +to the part of lake Copais near Haliartus.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">[55]</a> “Lépanto, not Lepánto, according to the modern Greek pronunciation, +just as Sífanto (the modern name for the island of Siphnos), +Táranto, Ótranto. This originally Greek accent differs from that of +Italian names.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">[56]</a> The MSS. give nothing but these words, which are evidently +defective, and must be supplemented from Thucyd. i. 112, iv. 118, +v. 18. Compare Boeckh, <i>Publ. Econ. of Athens</i>, p. 161. foll. 2nd. edit.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">[57]</a> This statement can only be regarded as an inaccurate expression +of the right possessed by every people to vote at the Amphictyonic +council, for it is well known that each nation had two votes. +Comp. <i>Lect. on Anc. Hist.</i> vol. i. p. 244, fol.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">[58]</a> xxiv. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">[59]</a> “The reason for this is, that the olive-tree requires many years +to grow and bear fruit.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">[60]</a> i. 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="label">[61]</a> i. 5, iii. 94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="label">[62]</a> “Ampracia is the more ancient orthography, and not Ambracia.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="label">[63]</a> “<i>Landrecht</i>, as it was called in the middle ages; <i>Burgrecht</i> is +something different, referring to the individual who has the right +of becoming a citizen of a place.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="label">[64]</a> “It would be an excellent subject for an essay to collect the +differences in the names of nations and places among the Greeks +and Romans; it would be very important in the critical treatment +of ancient authors, as the old Latin forms have often been misunderstood.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="label">[65]</a> “MSS. and editions of Latin poets frequently have <i>Haemonia</i>, +but I cannot venture to decide as to whether it is right or wrong. +The Greeks have generally Αἰμονία, and rarely Αἱμονία; in like +manner Αἶμος is more common than Αἷμος, and it is doubtful +whether the former is not a change made by editors.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="label">[66]</a> Dionys. Hal. <i>Ant.</i> i. 28, calls him a great great-grand-son.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="label">[67]</a> In some MSS. the following words are here added: “Such also +was the case in the Netherlands, in the official language of the +fifteenth century.” It is possible that Niebuhr may have alluded +to the <i>Geuses</i>.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="label">[68]</a> “We ought to say <i>the</i> Tempe as a plural, for the Greek is τὰ +Τέμπη, and signifies a glen or a pass.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="label">[69]</a> In one MS., which however is interpolated in some parts, we +find the following statement: “Dositheus Magister, the most ancient +Latin grammarian, whose works we possess complete (?), imitated +Dionysius Thrax.”—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="label">[70]</a> “Whether Dryopians and Dolopians be the same name cannot +be proved, although it is possible. I do not like the attempts to +prove such things; people easily believe that they arrive at positive +results, and accustom themselves to play with names. This is +unfortunately the case in Germany so much, that we cannot be +sufficiently on our guard against it. It is quite a different thing to +examine what was the generic name of a great nation.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="label">[71]</a> xix. 175.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="label">[72]</a> See above, p. <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="label">[73]</a> v. 3, § 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="label">[74]</a> In one MS. I find “On the slip of land extending into the sea +opposite Chios”; one main part of the town was afterwards in the +island.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="label">[75]</a> Comp. <i>Lect. on Rom. Hist.</i>, vol. i. p. 70, fol. 3rd edit.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="label">[76]</a> Μάκαρος ἕδος Αἰολίωνος, <i>Hymn in Apoll.</i> 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77" class="label">[77]</a> “Athens too is written with ε on the drachmae of later times +(ΑΘΕ).” The connexion between this remark and the statement in +the text is not clear.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78" class="label">[78]</a> “During the Macedonian period and afterwards this name +certainly was never pronounced otherwise than Cassándrea.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79" class="label">[79]</a> “Xenophon’s <i>Hellenica</i> is one of the most corrupt among ancient +works; the text is in a very bad condition, and requires a most thorough +critical revision; the history itself, though bad, is indispensable +to us. In the fifth book, he states that Olynthus had 800 hoplites and +an equal number of peltasts, but this is impossible. It has been +proposed to read 8000, but this is too much, and is, moreover, not +plausible, as the numbers were written in the characters of the +alphabet. Demosthenes speaks of 5000 hoplites; his expression +πόλις μυρίανδρος only signifies a large town in general.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80" class="label">[80]</a> In Thucydides i. 94 and 128, we have Βυζάντιον without the +article.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81" class="label">[81]</a> <i>Ausführl. Griech. Gram.</i>, vol. ii. p. 428, foll. 2nd edit.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82" class="label">[82]</a> “Thus we find mention of a Roman Church <i>S. Agnolo in +Pescivendolo</i> in an ancient chronicle [in the <i>Beschreib. der Stadt Rom</i>, +iii. 3, p. 468, this is referred to the history of Cola di Rienzi, which +was formerly ascribed to Fortefiocca], and that church is now called +<i>S. Angelo in Pescaria</i>; there must have been a fish-market in the +neighbourhood. <i>Piscivendulus</i> is unquestionably an ancient Latin +word, in which the termination <i>ulus</i> is purely an adjective termination +without the meaning of a diminutive, as we sometimes find +in Plautus.” [One otherwise very good MS. here has the word +<i>nuculendulus</i>, for which I am unable to restore the correct word, +unless <i>nucifrangibula</i> (Plaut. <i>Bacch.</i> iv. 2, 16) be meant].</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83" class="label">[83]</a> Niebuhr has discussed this same subject in an advertisement +about the progress of the edition of the <i>Corpus Scriptorum Historiae +Byzantinae</i>, which was published in the 4th vol. of the <i>Rhein. +Museum</i>, and was directed against Professor Heinrich, who had censured +the form <i>Byzantinae</i>.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84" class="label">[84]</a> The inscription of Protogenes; see <i>Kleine Schrift.</i>, vol. i. p. 382, +foll.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85" class="label">[85]</a> “In consequence of the numerous Milesian colonies on the +Euxine, M. Von Köppen has brought forward the strange hypothesis, +that the Milesians were a nation on the coast of the Euxine, who +founded the colony of Miletus. Being a native of Russia, he perhaps +wanted to gratify his Russian patriotism, by assigning a Russian +origin to so important a Greek city.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86" class="label">[86]</a> Reprinted in <i>Kleine Schriften</i>, vol. ii. p. 224.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87" class="label">[87]</a> <i>Hist. of Rome</i>, vol. i. p. 25, foll.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88" class="label">[88]</a> The name is wanting, and I am unable to supply it.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89" class="label">[89]</a> <i>Hist. of Rome</i>, vol. iii. p. 456.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90" class="label">[90]</a> “Others call him Tharypas or Tharypos. If we examine this +name carefully, we find already a trace of the change, seen in the +modern Greek, of an oblique case into the nominative, as ὁ πατέρος—it +is one of the many traces which shew that, properly speaking, +Epirot and Macedonian forms constitute the foundation of modern +Greek, and that the latter is not the same as the popular language +of the ancient Greeks, as is commonly imagined by the modern +Greeks. My dear friend, Count Capo d’Istria, is not free from this +prejudice, though he admits that, e.g., at Athens a different dialect +was spoken. The Italians in the middle ages, especially Aretinus, +entertained a similar opinion; they maintained that Cicero spoke +Italian, that Latin was only the language of the learned, an artificial +and improved Italian; and that Latin was indeed written, but that +the people spoke Italian. But the Greeks confound the circumstances, +and pretend to know more than is generally true. Many proofs, for +example, may be adduced that a kind of modern Greek was spoken at +Alexandria in the time of the first emperors; but that language was +derived from the Epirot, Macedonian and Thessalian dialects; it is +pure Greek, but at the same time has many peculiarities, many of +which have passed into the Latin language. Thus <i>Areus</i>, the name +of the Spartan king, is written <i>Areas</i> in Livy, which, therefore, should +not be altered, but is quite correct; in the same manner we have +<i>Crotona</i> for <i>Croton</i>, and in German <i>Mailand</i> for Milano.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_91" href="#FNanchor_91" class="label">[91]</a> One MS. here has “the Ambracians and Chaonians;” the probable +reading is, “the Thesprotians and Chaonians,” according to +the geographical succession. The apparent contradiction in the +statement that Ambracia was dependent on Epirus and at the same +time in the power of Philip, must be understood of successive +periods, the former being the earlier, and the latter the subsequent +condition. Comp. <i>Hist. of Rome</i>, vol. iii. p. 165.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_92" href="#FNanchor_92" class="label">[92]</a> Comp. <i>Lect. on Ancient Hist.</i> vol. ii. p. 346.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_93" href="#FNanchor_93" class="label">[93]</a> Comp. <i>Hist. of Rome</i>, vol. iii. p. 457, foll.; <i>Lect. on Rom. Hist.</i> +vol. i. p. 421 foll. 3rd edit.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_94" href="#FNanchor_94" class="label">[94]</a> “The whole of this part of history is still obscure; I mean the +period from the death of Alexander until the time of Polybius. If +God spares my life, I contemplate writing this history as a supplement +to ancient history.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_95" href="#FNanchor_95" class="label">[95]</a> “I have here mentioned the Ibis, on account of this historical +fact, which is not the only one in that poem. I recommend its +study to any scholar who wishes to ascertain whether he is thoroughly +conversant with poetical mythology and ancient history. +One of the most difficult problems is to explain the allusions; there +is not much poetry in it, but a great deal of wit. We admire Jean +Paul, on account of his allusions and of his wit, but we speak +slightingly of the wit of the Alexandrians, though they, and especially +Callimachus, ought not to be despised. We are not sufficiently +familiar with them; it is also true that there are few poetical +geniuses among them: Callimachus is not without talent (witness, +for example, the <i>Lavacrum Palladis</i>); Apollonius Rhodius +is indeed a feeble mind, but the loss of Philotas is much to be +lamented. Although Propertius equals neither Callimachus nor +Philetas, still even he is excellent; he, too, may be used as a means +of self-examination.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_96" href="#FNanchor_96" class="label">[96]</a> See Niebuhr’s <i>Gesch. des Zeitalters der Revolution</i>, vol. ii. p. 281.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_97" href="#FNanchor_97" class="label">[97]</a> “I ought to have spoken of <span class="smcap">Athamania</span> before, but not having +any maps before me as guides, I forgot it. It was situated between +Molottis and Thessaly, and was a small Epirot principality. In the +earliest times it was not important, but subsequently it became +remarkable, because it maintained its independence of Epirus as +well as of Aetolia. Their king, Amynander, was early allied with +the Romans, but then went over to the Aetolians. This brought +great distress upon the country, though it was afterwards pardoned +by the Romans and was restored to its former condition.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_98" href="#FNanchor_98" class="label">[98]</a> “In like manner the Romans abolished the <i>concilia populorum</i> +in Italy.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_99" href="#FNanchor_99" class="label">[99]</a> “This name, though formed according to good analogy, is not +used by the ancients; but I do not see why we should not employ +it upon the analogy of others.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_100" href="#FNanchor_100" class="label">[100]</a> This is the name in all the MSS., though there can be no doubt +that Callias is meant.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_101" href="#FNanchor_101" class="label">[101]</a> “It deserves to be noted that in several of the later Latin poets +the genuine usage in the application of rare names disappears. The +beginning of Lucan is no doubt known even to those who are unable +to work their way through the whole; in explaining it we may assume +two possibilities: he either intended to compose a poem on the +whole Civil war down to the battle of Philippi, or he unwittingly +confounded Macedonia and Thessaly. If he wanted to use such a +poetical name, he ought to have said <i>Bella per</i> <span class="smcap">Aemonios</span> <i>plus quam +civilia campos</i>.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_102" href="#FNanchor_102" class="label">[102]</a> “Not <i>Aegae</i>, as you find in most maps and in modern editions +of ancient authors. In the older editions the name is correctly +given, Αἰγαῖαι, pronounced according to the modern Greek Αἰγέαι, +and the inhabitants are called Αἰγεεῖς. Moderns have unfortunately +taken it into their heads that this is a mistake, and have unceremoniously +altered it without saying anything about it: as the altered +form was found in the maps of D’Anville and Barbié du Bocage, it +was thought to be the correct one.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_103" href="#FNanchor_103" class="label">[103]</a> “I take this opportunity of saying a few words about this not +sufficiently valued author. There are writers whose works are read, +without their containing any substance, and without their being at +all comparable to others, merely because they have once got a name. +Others deserving of respect are now neglected, while formerly they +were studied. Dion Chrysostomus is one of these latter. He is indeed +sophistical, but there is among his works a whole series of +thoroughly beautiful orations, showing great intellect, which is, after +all, the main thing. Sidonius Apollinaris’ Latinity is very rustic; but +he is a man of talent; so also Libanius, although he is already too +sophistical. Others, as Aelius Aristides, who are so devoid of talent +and so absurd, that we feel inclined at once to throw their works +among the rubbish, are placed on an equality with the former. To the +same class belong Themistius and Fronto, the latter of whom does +nothing but pile up words. In regard to talented writers, we must not +allow ourselves to be prejudiced by the fact that they belong to a late +period. The language of Dion Chrysostomus is very good; it is a fine +imitation of Attic Greek, and this is not only my opinion, but the +judgment of Valckenaer, Hemsterhuys, Ruhnkenius, and others; +his style is like that of Xenophon, who, after all, is read and studied +in schools only on account of his language.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_104" href="#FNanchor_104" class="label">[104]</a> Namely in their division of the country according to what are +called the natural boundaries. See above, p. <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_105" href="#FNanchor_105" class="label">[105]</a> xlv. 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_106" href="#FNanchor_106" class="label">[106]</a> xlv. 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_107" href="#FNanchor_107" class="label">[107]</a> “The <i>lembi</i> were privateers of the Illyrians with one very large +lateen sail; they were probably very quick boats, able to sail very +sharply with the wind, and requiring a strong crew and bold sailors. +They were the same ships as those called by the Romans <i>Liburnicae</i>, +which more and more supplanted the place of triremes, quadriremes, +and quinqueremes.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_108" href="#FNanchor_108" class="label">[108]</a> This name is not quite certain; I have supplied it from Pliny; +the MS. notes having some such name as <i>Voelnii</i>.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_109" href="#FNanchor_109" class="label">[109]</a> Niebuhr probably meant to say—“in the Slavonian tongue but +according to the Roman rites.”—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_110" href="#FNanchor_110" class="label">[110]</a> More correctly: under Innocent IV., <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 1248. See Dobrowsky, +<i>Glagolitica</i>, p. 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_111" href="#FNanchor_111" class="label">[111]</a> According to a letter of his father, dated Dec. 1807, Niebuhr +understood Russian, Slavonic, Polish, Bohemian, and also Illyrian. +See <i>Life and Letters of B. G. Niebuhr</i>, vol. i. p. 27.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_112" href="#FNanchor_112" class="label">[112]</a> It is published in <i>Kleine Histor. u. Philol. Schriften</i>, vol. i. p. 352, +foll.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_113" href="#FNanchor_113" class="label">[113]</a> “If a man is not a thorough philologer, he cannot enter upon +the study of ancient history at all; to do so without an intimate +familiarity with philology would be the same as if a man were to +write about Germany from French authorities.”</p></div> + +</div> + +<p class="titlepage">END OF VOL. I.</p> + +<p class="center smaller">J. WERTHEIMER AND CO., PRINTERS, FINSBURY CIRCUS.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2 class="nobreak"><span class="smaller">WORKS PRINTED FOR</span><br> +WALTON AND MABERLY.<br> +<span class="smaller allsmcap">UPPER GOWER STREET, AND IVY LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW.</span></h2> + +</div> + +<h3>NIEBUHR’S LECTURES ON ANCIENT HISTORY.</h3> + +<p class="hanging">Comprising the History of the Asiatic Nations, the Egyptians, Greeks, +Carthaginians, and Macedonians. Translated from the German +by Dr. <span class="smcap">L. Schmitz</span>. With additions from MSS. in the +exclusive possession of the Editor. 3 vols. 8vo. £1 11<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p>The reader will find brief but graphic accounts of the Assyrians, +Babylonians, Persians, Egyptians, and other Eastern nations; and in +each case Niebuhr, before entering upon the history itself, gives a +critical analysis of the authorities on which our knowledge is based. +The history of Greece and other European countries is treated more +minutely, and occupies more than half of the whole work. Literature, +the arts, and the social and political conditions of the people, are described +more graphically and minutely than in many other more voluminous +works. In reference to Babylonia, Assyria, and Egypt, it is +particularly interesting to notice, how clearly the historian foresaw and +anticipated all the great discoveries which have since been made in +those countries. A thousand points in the history of ancient nations, +which have hitherto been either overlooked or accepted without inquiry, +are here treated with sound criticism and placed in their true light.</p> + +<h3>NIEBUHR’S LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF ROME.</h3> + +<p class="hanging">From the earliest times to the Fall of the Western Empire. Edited +by Dr. <span class="smcap">Schmitz</span>. Second Edition, enlarged and greatly improved. +Three volumes, 8vo. Portrait. £1 4<i>s.</i> cloth.</p> + +<p>⁂ <i>The present Edition of Niebuhr’s Lectures on Roman History contains +every word and statement that is to be found in the German Edition of Dr. Isler, +with which it has been compared throughout. But as Dr. Schmitz, in preparing +his edition, was in possession of some valuable sets of MS. Notes, which were inaccessible +to Dr. Isler, the present work contains a variety of remarks and observations +as made by Niebuhr, which do not occur in the German Edition, or any +mere translation of the German. Almost every page of the present work contains +some interesting remark of the Roman historian, which is not to be found in the +German Edition.</i></p> + +<p>These Lectures form a history of Rome from the earliest stages to the +overthrow of the Western Empire. Their subjects are concurrent (up +to the first Punic war) with those of Niebuhr’s great work “The History +of Rome,” and comprehend discussions on the sources of Roman +history, with the criticism and analysis of those materials. The Lectures +differ from the History, in presenting a more popular and familiar +exposition of the various topics of investigation, which are treated in the +History in a more severe style. They may be used, either as an introduction +to Niebuhr’s Theories, or as a running commentary on his History.</p> + +<p>The last two volumes are an indispensable <span class="smcap">Sequel</span> to Niebuhr’s +<i>History of Rome</i>, from the point where that History terminates.</p> + +<h3>NIEBUHR’S HISTORY OF ROME.</h3> + +<p class="hanging">From the earliest times to the First Punic War. Translated by +<span class="smcap">Bishop Thirlwall</span>, <span class="smcap">Archdeacon Hare</span>, Dr. <span class="smcap">Smith</span>, and +Dr. <span class="smcap">Schmitz</span>. New and Cheaper Edition, 3 vols. 8vo. £1 16<i>s.</i></p> + +<p>“It is a work,” says the <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, “which of all that have +appeared in our age, is the best fitted to excite men of learning to intellectual +activity; from which the most accomplished scholar may gather +fresh stores of knowledge; to which the most experienced politician +may resort for theoretical and practical instruction; and which no +person can read, as it ought to be read, without feeling the better and +more generous sentiments of his common human nature enlivened and +strengthened.”</p> + +<h3>A HISTORY OF ROME.</h3> + +<p class="hanging">From the earliest times to the Death of Commodus, <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 192. By +Dr. <span class="smcap">L. Schmitz</span>, Rector of the High School of Edinburgh, +Editor of “Niebuhr’s Lectures.” New Edition. One thick +volume, 12mo. 7<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> cloth.</p> + +<p>The immense progress made in investigating Roman history and antiquities +within the last thirty or forty years, having materially altered the +whole complexion of that study, has rendered indispensable a new +manual, for the use of schools, removing the old errors and misconceptions +which have long since been exposed and exploded by scholars. +This compendium is designed to supply the want, by condensing and +selecting out of a voluminous mass of detail, that which is necessary to +give rather a vivid picture of the leading epochs of the history, than a +minute narrative of the particulars recorded in the authorities. The +author has availed himself of all the important works on the whole Roman +history, or portions of it, which have appeared since Niebuhr gave +a new life and new impulse to the subject. A copious Table of Chronology +and Indexes are added.</p> + +<h3>QUESTIONS ON SCHMITZ’S HISTORY OF ROME.</h3> + +<p class="center">By <span class="smcap">John Robson</span>, B.A. 12mo. 2<i>s.</i> cloth.</p> + +<p>It has been justly objected to school-books, written in the form of +question and answer, that, as they may be completely learned by an +unintelligent exercise of memory, they fail in drawing forth the more +active powers of the mind. It is far otherwise with questions to which +the pupil must find the answers for himself; as, by this mode of interrogation +he is compelled to exert his intellect in considering the subject +of the text on which he is questioned. He is thus prevented from +reading cursorily and remembering vaguely; he can no longer have the +appearance of knowledge without its reality; and if he learns his +lesson at all, he must learn it well.</p> + +<p>This book consists of several thousand questions, with indications of +the pages where the answers are to be looked for. Every important circumstance +mentioned in the history is involved in the questions, which +are arranged, as far as possible, in a complete and uninterrupted series. +The answers are not always obvious, the learner being occasionally expected +to elicit them by drawing inferences from the facts stated in +the history; and it is recommended that he should be encouraged, in +all cases, to give the answers rather in his own words than in those of +the author.</p> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78451 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/78451-h/images/cover.jpg b/78451-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8663e3e --- /dev/null +++ b/78451-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c72794 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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