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+*** 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 ***