Argolis was used as a collective term to signify the territories of several independent states. Of these the most important were Corinth and Sicyon, near the eastern extremity of the Corinthian gulf, and Argos, situated at the head of the Argolic gulf, in a plain ten or twelve miles in length and from four to five in breadth. The remainder of Argolis consisted of a rocky peninsula between the Saronic and Argolic gulfs, containing at its eastern extremity the territories of Epidaurus, Trozen, and Hermione. Laconia and Messenia occupied the whole of the south of Peloponnesus from sea to sea. They were separated by the lofty range of Taygetus, running from north to south and terminating in the promontory of Tænarum (now Cape Matapan), the southernmost point of Greece and Europe. Along the eastern side of Laconia the range of Mount Parnon extends from north to south parallel to that of Taygetus, and terminates in the promontory of Malea. Between these two ranges is the valley of the Eurotas, in which Sparta stood, and which south of this city opens out into a plain of considerable extent towards the Laconian gulf. Messenia in like manner was drained by the Pamisus, whose plain is still more extensive and fertile than that of the Eurotas. Elis was the region between the western barrier of Arcadia and the Ionian sea. It is covered to a great extent with the offshoots of the Arcadian mountains, but contains several plains. In the centre of the country is the memorable plain of Olympia, through which the Alpheus flows, and in which the city of Pisa stood. § 11. The numerous islands which line the Grecian shores were occupied in historical times by the Grecian race. Of these the most important was Euboea, ninety miles in length, stretching along the coasts of Boeotia and Attica. Through it ran from north to south a long chain of mountains, which may be regarded as a continuation of the range of Ossa and Pelion. South of Euboea was the group of islands called the Cyclades, lying round Delos as a centre; and east of these were the Sporades, near the Asiatic coast. South of these groups lay the two large islands of Crete and Rhodes. In the Saronic gulf between Attica and Argolis were the celebrated islands of Salamis and Egina, the former reckoned as part of Attica, and the latter long the rival and eye-sore of Athens. Off the western coast of Greece, in the Ionian sea, we find Corcyra opposite Epirus, Cephallenia and Ithaca opposite Acarnania, and Zacynthus near the coast of Elis in Peloponnesus. Cythera was separated by a narrow channel from the southern extremity of Laconia. § 12. The physical features of the country exercised an important influence upon the political destinies of the people. Greece is one of the most mountainous countries of Europe. Its surface is occupied by a number of small plains either entirely surrounded by limestone mountains or open only to the sea. Mountains, not rivers, have in all ages proved the greatest barriers to intercourse between neighbouring tribes. This was the case in Greece, and thus the very nature of the land tended to produce that large number of independent states which is one of the most striking phænomena in Grecian history. Each of the principal Grecian cities was founded in one of the small plains already described; and as the mountains which separated it from its neighbours were lofty and rugged, it grew up in solitary independence, and formed its own character before it could be affected by any external influence. The mountainous nature of the country also protected it from foreign invasion, as well as rendered it difficult for one section of the Grecian race to subdue the rest. The vale of Tempe between Mounts Ossa and Olympus, the pass of Thermopyla between northern and central Greece, the passes over Mount Citharon between Boeotia and Attica, and those over the Geranean and Onean mountains on either side of the Isthmus, could easily be defended by a handful of resolute men against vastly superior numbers. But, while the Grecian states were separated from their nearest neighbours by their mountains, the sea afforded them easy intercourse with one another and with the rest of the world. One of the most striking peculiarities of the geography of Greece is the wonderful extent of its sea coast. In this respect it has the advantage over every other country of Europe. Although its surface is not so great as that of Portugal, its line of coast exceeds that of the whole peninsula of Portugal and Spain. Not only is it surrounded by the sea on every side except on its northern frontier, but its coast is also broken by a number of bays and gulfs running far into the land. Thus almost every Grecian state had ready and easy access to the sea, and Arcadia was almost the only political division that did not possess some territory upon the coast. § 13. Of all natural objects the mountains and the sea have ever been the most powerful instruments in moulding the intellectual character of a people. The Greeks were both mountaineers and mariners, and as such they possessed the susceptibility to external impressions, the love of freedom, and the spirit of adventure, which have always characterized, more or less, the inhabitants of mountainous and maritime districts. The poetical beauty of the Grecian mountains has often called forth the admiration of modern travellers. Their craggy, broken forms and rich silvery colour give to the Grecian landscape a peculiar charm, and justify the description of the poet Gray, when he speaks of Greece as a land, "Where each old poetic mountain Inspiration breathes around." The beauty of the scenery is still further enhanced by the gorgeous atmosphere in which every object is bathed. To a native of the northern latitudes of Europe nothing is more striking in the Grecian climate than the transparent clearness of the air and the brilliant colouring of the sky. When Euripides represents the Athenians as "Ever delicately marching Through most pellucid air," he is guilty of no poetical exaggeration, and the violet colour which the Roman poet assigns to the hills of Hymettust is literally true. § 14. Greece is deficient in a regular supply of water. During the autumnal and winter months the rain, which falls in large quantities, fills the crevices in the limestone of the hills and is carried off by torrents. In summer rain is almost unknown and the beds of the torrents full of water in the winter then become ravines, perfectly dry and overgrown with shrubs. Even the rivers, which are partly supplied by springs, dwindle in the summer into very insignificant streams. None of the Grecian rivers are navigable, and the Achelous, which is the most considerable of all, has a course of only 130 miles. The chief productions of Greece in ancient times were wheat, barley, flax, wine, and oil. The hills afforded excellent pasture for cattle, and in antiquity were covered with forests, though they are at present nearly destitute of wood. In almost every part of Greece there were rich veins of marble, affording materials for the architect and the sculptor, such as hardly any other country in the world possesses. The limestone, of which most of its mountains is composed, is well adapted for military architecture; and it is to this hard and intractable stone that we owe those massive polygonal walls, of which the remains still crown the summits of so many Grecian hills. Laurium near the southern extremity of Attica yielded a considerable quantity of silver, but otherwise Greece was poor in the precious metals. * ἀεὶ διὰ λαμπροτάτου βαίνοντες ἁβρῶς αἰθέρος.—Eurip. Med. 829. "Est prope purpureos colles florentis Hymetti Iron was found in the range of Taygetus in Laconia, and copper as well as iron near Chalcis in Euboea. § 15. The climate of Greece appears to have been more healthy in ancient times than it is at present. The malaria which now poisons the atmosphere in the summer months, could not have existed to the same extent when the land was more thickly peopled and more carefully cultivated. Owing to the inequalities of its surface, to its lofty mountains and depressed valleys, the climate varies greatly in different districts. In the highlands in the interior the winter is often long and rigorous, the snow lying upon the ground till late in the spring, while in the lowlands open to the sea, severe weather is almost unknown. The rigour of winter is frequently experienced in the highlands of Mantinea and Tegea in the month of March, while at the same time the genial warmth of spring is felt in the plains of Argos and Laconia, and almost the heat of summer in the low grounds at the head of the Messenian gulf. To this difference in climate the ancients attributed the difference in the intellectual character of the natives of various districts. Thus the dulness of the Bootians was ascribed to the dampness and thickness of their atmosphere, while the dry and clear air of Attica was supposed to sharpen the faculties of its inhabitants. § 1. Legendary character of early Grecian history. § 2. Legends of the Greeks respecting their origin. § 3. The Hellenes and their diffusion in Greece. § 4. Connexion of the Hellenes with the Indo-European stem. § 5. The Pelasgians. §6. Foreign settlers in Greece. § 7. Egyptian colonies of Cecrops and Danaus. § 8. Phrygian colony of Pelops. § 9. Phoenician colony of Cadmus. § 1. THE clouds which envelope the early history of Greece are lighted up by the brilliant hues of Grecian fable; but the reader must carefully guard against believing in the reality of the personages or of the events commemorated by these beautiful legends. Some of them, it is true, probably sprang out of events which actually occurred, and may therefore contain a kernel of historical truth; but we have no means of distinguishing between what is true and what is false, between the historical facts and their subsequent embellishments. Till events are recorded in written documents, no materials exist for a trustworthy history; and it was not till the epoch known by the name of the |