were the original settlements of the Iazyges Metanastæ, and above them were the Roxolani; beyond these were the Hamaxobii, between the Borysthenes and Tanais, and, still further, the Borussi. On the confines of the Ourai mountains were the Agrippæi, Arimaspi, and Arimphæi, of whom nothing was known to the antients beyond the merest fable. The borders of the Euxine, from the Ister to the Borysthenes, were called by the antients Parva Scythia, and by the moderns Little Tartary. Beyond the Borysthenes was the Chersonesus Taurica (which keeps its name in the city of Cherson), so called from the Tauri, a Scythian nation, who conquered it from its antient possessors the Cimmerii. This was the scene of the Iphigenia in Tauris of Euripides. The narrow strait which joins the Palus Mæotis, or Sea of Azov, to the Pontus Euxinus, was called the Cimmerian Bosphorus. The principal city here was Panticapæum, a Greek colony, called also Bosphorus, now Kerche. The extreme southern point of this Chersonesus was Criu Metopon, the Ram's Forehead, nearly opposite to Sinope, in Asia Minor.

CHAP. IX.

GRÆCIA ANTIQUA.

A. G., Plates X. XI. XII.

THE name Græcia was not used by the Greeks themselves. They called themselves generally Hellenes; and their country Hellas. From this generic name the Macedonians and Epirotes were jealously excluded: it was with some hesitation that the Acarnanians, Ætolians, and Thessalians, were included under it, though among these last lay the original seat of the little tribe of Hellenes, from whom it was actually derived. Homer mentions the Hellenes once only, and then as a specific tribe of Greeks; when he speaks of the Greeks collectively, he calls them Achæi (Lat. Achivi), Danai, and Argæi (Lat. Argivi), names which also belong properly to particular tribes. He calls them also Pelasgi, from a small tribe in Thessaly; but this name is given by the historians to the race, which possessed the Grecian peninsula before its occupation by the Hellenes. The Hellenes were divided into four principal families, the Dores, Iones, Eoles, and Achæi; or, according to the mythical story, Hellen, king of Phthia, had four descendants, Dorus, Ion, Eolus, and Achæus, from whom the various tribes of Greece took their names.

* Though the term Græcia was sufficiently familiar to the Romans in writing and conversation, it was not legally recognised; the northern part of the country being comprised in the province of Macedonia after the defeat of Perseus, the last king of Macedon, by Paulus Æmilius, B. C. 168, and the remainder under that of Achæa, after the capture of Corinth by Mummius, B. C. 145.

The chief seat of the Ionians was Attica; the Dorians settled in the Peloponnesus, particularly in Laconia; the Eolians occupied Ætolia, Phocis, Boeotia, and parts of Thessaly; the Achæans were for the most part confined to the northern shore of the Peloponnesus. The old Pelasgic population continued to exist in many parts, especially in Arcadia and Thessaly. From hence the Hellenic races sent forth numerous colonies, and occupied the islands in the surrounding seas, the coasts of Thrace and Asia Minor, the south of Italy (hence called by the Romans Magna Græcia), Sicily, and some points on the coast of Africa.

The Cambunian mountains, which separate Thessaly from Macedonia, and the ridge of Pindus, which divides it from Epirus, trace the northern boundary of Greece from the Promontory of Dotion to the Ambracian Gulf. The peninsula south of this line, which is about equal in size to Portugal or Ireland, is divided into two not very unequal portions, connected by the narrow strip of land known as the Isthmus of Corinth. The northern part is known by no general name; but the southern is called the Peloponnesus, or Island of Pelops, the son of Tantalus, who is represented as its king. By the poets it is called by its more antient appellations of Ægialea, Apia, and Pelasgia, also from the names of its mythical sovereigns. In size it is something less than Sicily, and larger than Wales. In shape it has been likened to a plane leaf, or to the palm of the hand. Its modern name, Morea, was probably given to it from the cultivation of the mulberry, morus, introduced by the Venetians, in the middle ages, for supplying silk-worms.

The Peloponnesus is separated from Northern Greece by the Sinus Saronicus, to the east, and the Sinus Corinthiacus to the west, of the isthmus. It is indented by three other principal gulfs, the Sinus Argolicus, Laconicus, and

F

Messeniacus. Its central district, called Arcadia, is nearly square in shape, being confined by four mountain ridges, through the westernmost of which the river Alpheus makes its way. These mountains send forth spurs in various directions, which separate Laconia from Messenia to the south, Messenia from Elis to the west, Elis from Achaia to the north-west, Argolis from Achaia to the north-east, and Argolis from Laconia to the east.

Between the Sinus Saronicus and Sinus Argolicus is Argolis, forming a peninsula the centre of which is occupied by Mons Arachnæus, a range terminating in the Promontory of Scyllæum. Upon this mountain was one of the beacons or fire-telegraphs by which Agamemnon announced the capture of Troy the same night that it was taken.* The only river which it will be necessary to mention is the Inachus, which flows into the head of the Argolic Gulf. Upon this river was the city of Argos, giving name to the whole province, and still called Argo. Its Acropolis was called Larissa. About five miles north of Argos was Mycenæ, near Krabati, the royal city of Agamemnon ; north-west of which was Nemea, celebrated for the Nemean games, in honour of Archemorus, who was there killed by a serpent, and for the victory of Hercules over the Nemean lion. East of this was Cleona. To the east of Argos lay Midea, the birth-place of Alcmena, the mother of Hercules, and Tiryns, or Tirynthus, a favourite residence of Hercules, who is thence called Tirynthius. Still east, on the coast of the Sinus Saronicus, is Epidaurus, celebrated for the worship of Æsculapius; and below it, not far from the peninsula of Methana, is Trozen or Trazene, now Damala, the reputed birth-place of Theseus, and scene of the Hippolytus of Euripides. Off the Scyllæan Promontory lies the little island of Calauria

* See Eschylus, Agam. 309.

sacred to Neptune, where Demosthenes poisoned himself. Near the southernmost point of this peninsula is the city of Hermione, now Castri, whence the adjacent bay was called the Sinus Hermionicus. Returning to the head of the Gulf of Argolis, and not far distant from Argos and Mycenae, was Nauplia (now Napoli), the naval station of the Argives. Proceeding round the shore of this gulf, we next come to Lerna, celebrated for the destruction of the Lernean Hydra by Hercules; and farther inland, towards the confines of Arcadia, was Cenchreæ.* Near the borders of Argolis and Laconia was Thyrea, the subject of a contest between 300 Spartans and as many Argives, wherein only two Argives and one Spartan survived.†

Laconia occupied the south-eastern angle of the Peloponnesus. It was separated from Messenia by Mons Taygetus, and was traversed by Mons Parnon and the ranges of Mons Zarex on the eastern coast. Between these was the valley of the Eurotas. It terminates southward in two forks, the Promontories of Malea (Malio) and Tænarum (Matapan). Its famous capital, Lacedæmon or Sparta, now Paleo-Castro, lay on the river Eurotas, near the modern Misitra. To the north was Sellasia, a frontier town, commanding the principal pass from Laconia into Argolis; and a little to the south was Amycle, now Sclavocorio. Here Castor and Pollux were said to have been born, and Apollo was worshipped with peculiar solemnities. Amycle was nicknamed tacitæ, or the silent §, either

*See Esch. Prom. Vinctus, 676. Kɛpxveías pέos.

† Herod. I. 82.

The caverns in Mount Tænarus were one of the fabled entrances to the infernal regions.

Tænarias etiam fauces, alta ostia Ditis.

§ Tacitis regnavit Amyclis.

Virg. Georg. IV. 467.

Sic Amyclas, cum tacerent, perdidit silentium.

Virg. Æn. X. 564.

Auctor Pervigil. Vener.