The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race Volume I Part 1

The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race.

Vol. 1.

by Karl Otfried Muller.

INTRODUCTION.

-- 1. Origin of the Dorians in the North of Greece. -- 2. Northern boundary of Greece. -- 3. The Macedonians. -- 4. The Thessalians. -- 5. Diffusion of the Illyrians in Western Greece. -- 6. The Phrygians. -- 7. The Thracians. -- 8. The h.e.l.lenes, Achaeans, Minyans, Ionians, and Dorians. -- 9. The Hylleans. -- 10. Relation of the above nations to the Pelasgians. -- 11. Difference between the Pelasgic and h.e.l.lenic religions. -- 12. Early language of Greece, and its chief dialects.

1. The Dorians derived their origin from those districts in which the Grecian nation bordered towards the north upon numerous and dissimilar races of barbarians. As to the tribes which dwelt beyond these boundaries we are indeed wholly dest.i.tute of information; nor is there the slightest trace of any memorial or tradition that the Greeks originally came from those quarters. On these frontiers, however, the events took place which effected an entire alteration in the internal condition of the whole Grecian people, and here were given many of those impulses, of which the effects were so long and generally experienced. The prevailing character of the events in question, was a perpetual pressing forward of the barbarous races, particularly of the Illyrians, into more southern districts; yet Greece, although hara.s.sed, confined, nay even compelled to abandon part of her territory, never attempted to make a united resistance to their encroachments. The cause of this negligence probably was, that all her views being turned to the south, no attention whatever was paid to the above quarters.

2. To begin then by laying down a boundary line (which may be afterwards modified for the sake of greater accuracy), we shall suppose this to be the mountain ridge, which stretches from Olympus to the west as far as the Acroceraunian mountains (comprehending the Cambunian ridge and mount Lacmon), and in the middle comes in contact with the Pindus chain, which stretches in a direction from north to south. The western part of this chain separates the furthest Grecian tribes from the great Illyrian nation, which extended back as far as the Celts in the south of Germany.

Every clue respecting the connexion, peculiarities, and original language of this people must be interesting, and the dialects of the Albanians, especially of those who inhabit the mountains where the original customs and language have been preserved in greater purity, will afford materials for inquiry.(2) For our present purpose it will be sufficient to state, that they formed the northern boundary of the Grecian nation, from which they were distinguished both by their language and customs.

3. In the fas.h.i.+on of wearing the mantle and dressing the hair,(3) and also in their dialect, the MACEDONIANS bore a great resemblance to the Illyrians; whence it is evident that the Macedonians belonged to the Illyrian nation.(4) Notwithstanding which, there can be no doubt that the Greeks were aboriginal(5) inhabitants of this district. The plains of Emathia, the most beautiful district of the country, were occupied by the Pelasgians,(6) who, according to Herodotus, also possessed Creston above Chalcidice, to which place they had come from Thessaliotis.(7) Hence the Macedonian dialect was full of Greek radical words. And that these had not been introduced by the royal family (which was h.e.l.lenic by descent or adoption of manners) is evident from the fact, that many signs of the most simple ideas (which no language ever borrows from another) were the same in both, as well as from the circ.u.mstance that these words do not appear in their Greek form, but have been modified according to a native dialect.(8) In the Macedonian dialect there occur grammatical forms which are commonly called aeolic,(9) together with many Arcadian(10) and Thessalian(11) words: and what perhaps is still more decisive, several words, which, though not to be found in the Greek, have been preserved in the Latin language.(12) There does not appear to be any peculiar affinity with the Doric dialect: hence we do not give much credit to the otherwise unsupported a.s.sertion of Herodotus, of an original ident.i.ty of the Doric and Macednian (Macedonian) nations. In other authors Macednus is called the son of Lycaon, from whom the Arcadians were said to be descended;(13) or Macedon is the brother of Magnes, or a son of aeolus, according to Hesiod and h.e.l.lanicus,(14) which are merely various attempts to form a genealogical connexion between this semi-barbarian race, and the rest of the Greek nation.(15)

4. The THESSALIANS, as well as the Macedonians, were, as it appears, an Illyrian race, who subdued a native Greek population; but in this case the body of the interlopers was smaller, while the numbers and civilization of the aboriginal inhabitants were considerable. Hence the Thessalians resembled the Greeks more than any of the northern races with which they were connected: hence their language in particular was almost purely Grecian, and indeed bore perhaps a greater affinity to the language of the ancient epic poets than any other dialect.(16) But the chief peculiarities of this nation with which we are acquainted were not of a Grecian character. Of this their national dress,(17) which consisted in part of the flat and broad-brimmed hat ?a?s?a and the chlamys (which last was common to both nations, but was unknown to the Greeks of Homer's time, and indeed long afterwards,(18) until adopted as the costume of the equestrian order at Athens), is a sufficient example. The Thessalians, moreover, were beyond a doubt the first to introduce into Greece the use of cavalry. More important distinctions however than that first alleged are perhaps to be found in their impetuous and pa.s.sionate character, and the low state of their intelligence. The taste for the arts shown by the wealthy house of the Scopadae proves no more that such was the disposition of the whole people, than the existence of the same qualities in Archelaus argues their prevalence in Macedonia. This is sufficient to distinguish them from the race of the Greeks, so highly endowed by nature. We are therefore induced to conjecture that this nation, which a short time before the expedition of the Heraclidae, migrated from Thesprotia, and indeed from the territory of Ephyra (Cichyrus) into the plain of the Peneus, had originally come from Illyria. On the other hand indeed, many points of similarity in the customs of the Thessalians and Dorians might be brought forward. Thus for example, the love for the male s.e.x (that usage peculiar to the Dorians) was also common among the Illyrians, and the objects of affection were, as at Sparta, called ??ta?;(19) the women also, as amongst the Dorians, were addressed by the t.i.tle of _ladies_ (d?sp???a?), a t.i.tle uncommon in Greece, and expressive of the estimation in which they were held.(20) A great freedom in the manners of the female s.e.x was nevertheless customary among the Illyrians, who in this respect bore a nearer resemblance to the northern nations.(21) Upon the whole, however, these migrations from the north had the effect of disseminating among the Greeks manners and inst.i.tutions which were entirely unknown to their ancestors, as represented by Homer.

5. We will now proceed to inquire what was the extent of territory gained by the Illyrians in the west of Greece. Great part of Epirus had in early times been inhabited by Pelasgians,(22) to which race the inhabitants of Dodona are likewise affirmed by the best authorities to have belonged, as well as the whole nation of Thesprotians;(23) also the Chaonians at the foot of the Acroceraunian mountains,(24) and the Chones, notrians, and Peucetians on the opposite coast of Italy, are said to have been of this race.(25) The ancient buildings, inst.i.tutions, and religious wors.h.i.+p of the Epirots, are also manifestly of Pelasgic origin. We suppose always that the Pelasgians were Greeks, and spoke the Grecian language: an opinion in support of which we will on this occasion only adduce a few arguments. It must then be borne in mind, that all the races whose migrations took place at a late period, such as the Achaeans, Ionians, Dorians, were not (the last in particular) sufficiently powerful or numerous to effect a complete change in the customs of a barbarous population;(26) that many districts, Arcadia and Perrhaebia, for instance, remained entirely Pelasgic, without being inhabited by any nation not of Grecian origin; that the most ancient names, either of Grecian places or mentioned in their traditions, belonged indeed to a different era of the dialect, but not to another language; that finally, the great similarity between the Latin and Greek can only be explained by supposing the Pelasgic language to have formed the connecting link. Now the nations of Epirus were almost reduced to a complete state of barbarism by the operation of causes, which could only have had their origin in Illyria;(27) and in the historic age, the Ambracian bay was the boundary of Greece. In later times, more than half of aetolia ceased to be Grecian, and without doubt adopted the manners and language of the Illyrians;(28) from which point the Athamanes, an Epirot and Illyrian nation, pressed into the south of Thessaly.(29) Migrations and predatory expeditions, such as the Encheleans had undertaken in the fabulous times, continued without intermission to repress and keep down the genuine population of Greece.

6. The Illyrians were in these ancient times also bounded on the east by the Phrygians and Thracians, as well as by the Pelasgians. The PHRYGIANS were at this time the immediate neighbours of the Macedonians in Lebaea, by whom they were called Brygians (????e?, ??????, ????e?);(30) they dwelt at the foot of the snowy Bermius, where the fabulous rose-gardens of king Midas were situated, while walking in which the wise Silenus was said to have been taken prisoner. They also fought from this place (as the Telegonia of Eugammon related)(31) with the Thesprotians of Epirus. At no great distance from hence were the Mygdonians, the people nearest related to the Phrygians. According to Xanthus, this nation did not migrate to Asia until after the Trojan war.(32) But, in the first place, the Cretan traditions begin with religious rites and fables, which appear from the most ancient testimonies to have been derived from Phrygians of Asia;(33) and, secondly, the Armenians, who were beyond a doubt of a kindred race to the Phrygians,(34) were considered as an aboriginal nation in their own territory.(35) It will therefore be sufficient to recognise the same race of men in Armenia, Asia Minor, and at the foot of mount Bermius, without supposing that all the Armenians and Phrygians emigrated from the latter settlement on the Macedonian coast. The intermediate s.p.a.ce between Illyria and Asia, a district across which numerous nations migrated in ancient times, was peopled irregularly from so many sides, that the national uniformity which seems to have once existed in those parts was speedily deranged. The most important doc.u.ments respecting the connexion between the Phrygian and other nations are the traces that remain of its dialect.

It was well known in Plato's time that many primitive words of the Grecian language were to be recognised with a slight alteration in the Phrygian, such as p??, ?d??, ????;(36) and the great similarity of grammatical structure which the Armenian now displays with the Greek, must be referred to this original connexion.(37) The Phrygians in Asia must, however, have been intermixed with Syrians, who not only established themselves on the right bank of the Halys, but on the left also in Lycaonia,(38) and as far as Lycia,(39) and accordingly adopted much of the Syrian language and religion.(40) Their enthusiastic and frantic ceremonies had doubtless always formed part of their religion: these they had in common with their immediate neighbours the Thracians: but the ancient Greeks appear to have been almost entirely unacquainted with such rites.

7. The THRACIANS, who settled in Pieria at the foot of mount Olympus, and from thence came down to mount Helicon, as being the originators of the wors.h.i.+p of Dionysus and the Muses, and the fathers of Grecian poetry,(41) are a nation of the highest importance in the history of civilization. We cannot but suppose that they spoke a dialect very similar to the Greek, since otherwise they could not have had any considerable influence upon the latter people. They were in all probability derived originally from the country called Thrace in later times, where the Bessians, a tribe of the nation of the Satrae,(42) at the foot of Mount Pangaeum, presided over the oracle of Dionysus. Whether the whole of the populous races of Edones, Odomantians, Odrysians, Treres, &c. are to be considered as identical with the Thracians in Pieria, or whether it is not more probable that these barbarous nations(43) received from the Greeks their general name of Thracians, with which they had been familiar from early times, are questions which I shall not attempt to determine. Into these nations, however, a large number of Paeonians subsequently penetrated, who had pa.s.sed over at the time of a very ancient migration of the Teucrians, together with the Mysians.(44) To this Paeonian race the Pelagonians, on the banks of the Axius, belonged; who also advanced into Thessaly, as will be shown hereafter. Of the Teucrians, however, we know nothing, excepting that in concert with (Pelasgic) Dardanians they founded the city of Troy,-where the language in use was probably allied to the Grecian, and distinct from the Phrygian.(45)

8. Now it is within the mountainous barriers above described that we must look for the origin of the nations which in the heroic mythology are always represented as possessing dominion and power, and are always contrasted with an aboriginal population. These, in my opinion, were northern branches of the Grecian nation, which had overrun and subdued the Greeks who dwelt further south. The most ancient abode of the h.e.l.lENES Proper (who in mythology are merely a small nation in Phthia(46)) was situated, according to Aristotle, in Epirus, near Dodona, to whose G.o.d Achilles(47) prays, as being the ancient protector of his family. In all probability the ACHaeANS, the ruling nation both of Thessaly and of Peloponnesus, in the mythical times, were of the same race and origin as the h.e.l.lenes. The MINYANS, Phlegyans, Lapithae, and aeolians of Corinth and Salmone, came originally from the districts above Pieria, on the frontiers of Macedonia, where the very ancient Orchomenus, Minya, and Salmonia or Halmopia were situated.(48) Nor is there less obscurity with regard to the northern settlements of the IONIANS; they appear, as it were, to have fallen from heaven into Attica and aegialea: they were not, however, by any means identical with the aboriginal inhabitants of these districts, and had, perhaps, detached themselves from some northern, probably Achaean, race.(49) Lastly, the DORIANS are mentioned in ancient legends and poems as established in one extremity of the great mountain-chain of Upper Greece, viz. at the foot of Olympus; there are, however, reasons for supposing, that at an earlier period they had dwelt at its other northern extremity, at the furthest limit of the Grecian nation.

9. We now turn our attention to the singular nation of the HYLLEANS (???e??, ?????), which is supposed to have dwelt in Illyria, but is in many respects connected in a remarkable manner with the Dorians. The real place of its abode can hardly be laid down; as the Hylleans are never mentioned in any historical narrative, but always in mythical legends; and they appear to have been known to the geographers only from mythological writers. Yet they are generally placed in the islands of Melita and Black-Corcyra, to the south of Liburnia.(50) Now the name of the Hylleans agrees strikingly with that of the first and most n.o.ble tribe of the Dorians. Besides which, it is stated, that, though dwelling among Illyrian races, these Hylleans were nevertheless genuine _Greeks_. Moreover they, as well as the Doric Hylleans, were supposed to have sprung from Hyllus, a son of Hercules, whom that hero begot upon Melite, the daughter of aegaeus:(51) here the name aegaeus refers to a river in Corcyra, Melite to the island just mentioned. Apollo was the chief G.o.d of the Dorians; and so likewise these Hylleans were said to have concealed under the earth, as the sign of inviolable sanct.i.ty, that instrument of such importance in the religion of Apollo, a tripod.(52) The country of the Hylleans is described as a large peninsula, and compared to Peloponnesus: it is said to have contained fifteen cities, which, however, had not a more real existence than the peninsula as large as Peloponnesus on the Illyrian coast. How all these statements are to be understood is hard to say. It appears, however, that they can only be reconciled as follows: the Doric Hylleans had a tradition, that they came originally from these northern districts, which then bordered on the Illyrians, and were afterwards occupied by that people; and there still remained in those parts some members of their tribe, some other Hylleans. This notion of Greek Hylleans in the very north of Greece, who also were descended from Hercules, and also wors.h.i.+pped Apollo, was taken up and embellished by the poets; although it is not likely that any one had really ever seen these Hylleans and visited their country. Like the Hyperboreans, they existed merely in tradition and imagination. It is possible also that the Corcyraeans, in whose island there was an "_Hyllaean_" harbour,(53) may have contributed to the formation of these legends, as is shown by some circ.u.mstances pointed out above; but it cannot be supposed that the whole tradition arose from Corcyraean colonies.

10. Here we might conclude our remarks on this subject, did not the following important question deserve some consideration. What relation can we suppose to have existed between the races which migrated into those northern districts, and the native tribes, and what between the different races of Greece itself? All inquiries on this subject lead us back to the Pelasgians, who although not found in every part of ancient Greece (for tradition makes so wide a distinction between them and many other nations, that no confusion ever takes place),(54) yet occur almost universally wherever early civilization, ancient settlements, and wors.h.i.+ps of peculiar sanct.i.ty and importance existed. And in fact there is no doubt that most of the ancient religions of Greece owed their origin to this race. The Zeus and Dione of Dodona; Zeus and Here of Argos; Hephaestus and Athene of Athens; Demeter and Cora of Eleusis; Hermes and Artemis of Arcadia, together with Cadmus and the Cabiri of Thebes, cannot properly be referred to any other origin. We must therefore attribute to that nation an excessive readiness in creating and metamorphosing objects of religious wors.h.i.+p, so that the same fundamental conceptions were variously developed in different places; a variety which was chiefly caused by the arbitrary neglect of, or adherence to, particular parts of the same legend. In many places also we may recognise the sameness of character which pervaded the different wors.h.i.+ps of the above G.o.ds; everywhere we see manifested in symbols, names, rites, and legends, a uniformity of ideas and feelings.

The religions introduced from Phrygia and Thrace, such as that of the Cretan Zeus and Dionysus or Bacchus, may be easily distinguished by their more enthusiastic character from the native Pelasgic wors.h.i.+p. The Phnician and Egyptian religions lay at a great distance from the early Greeks, were almost unknown even where they existed in the immediate neighbourhood, were almost unintelligible when the Greeks attempted to learn them, and repugnant to their nature when understood. On the whole, the Pelasgic wors.h.i.+p appears to form part of a simple elementary religion, which easily represented the various forms produced by the changes of nature in different climates and seasons, and which abounded in expressive signs for all the shades of feeling which these phenomena awakened.

11. On the other hand, the religion of the northern races (who as being of h.e.l.lenic descent are put in contrast with the Pelasgians) had in early times taken a more moral turn, to which their political relations had doubtless contributed. The heroic life (which is no fiction of the poets), the fondness for vigorous and active exertion, the disinclination to the harmless occupations of husbandry, which is so remarkably seen in the conquering race of the h.e.l.lenes, necessarily awakened and cherished an entirely different train of religious feeling. Hence the Zeus h.e.l.lanius of aeacus, the Zeus Laphystius of Athamas, and, finally, the Doric Zeus, whose son is Apollo, the prophet and warrior,(55) are rather representations of the moral order and harmony of the universe, after the ancient method, than of the creative powers of nature. I do not however deny, that there was a time when these different views had not as yet taken a separate direction. Thus it may be shown, that the Apollo Lyceus of the Dorians conveyed nearly the same notions as the Zeus Lycaeus of the Arcadians, although the wors.h.i.+p of either deity was developed independently of that of the other. Thus also certain ancient Arcadian and Doric customs had, in their main features, a considerable affinity. The points of resemblance in these different wors.h.i.+ps can be only perceived by comparison: tradition presents, at the very first outset, an innumerable collection of discordant forms of wors.h.i.+p belonging to the several races, but without explaining to us how they came to be thus separated. For these different rites were not united into a whole until they had been first divided; and both by the connexion of wors.h.i.+ps and by the influence of poetry new combinations were introduced, which differed essentially from those of an earlier date.

12. The language of the ancient Grecian race (which, together with its religion, forms the most ancient record of its history) must, if we may judge from the varieties of dialect and from a comparison with the Latin language, have been very perfect in its structure, and rich and expressive in its flexions and formations; though much of this was polished off by the Greeks of later ages: in early times, distinctness and precision in marking the primitive words and the inflections being more attended to than facility of utterance. Wherever the ancient forms had been preserved, they sounded foreign and uncouth to more modern ears; and the language of later times was greatly softened, in comparison with the Latin. But the peculiarities of the pure Doric dialect are (wherever they were not owing to a faithful preservation of archaic forms) actual deviations from the original dialect, and consequently they do not occur in Latin; they bear, if I may be allowed the expression, a _northern_ character. The use of the article, which did not exist in the Latin language or in that of epic poetry, can be ascribed to no other cause than to immigrations of new tribes, and especially to that of the Dorians. Its introduction must, as in the Romance languages, be almost considered as the sign of a great revolution. The peculiarities of the Doric dialect must have existed before the period of the migrations; since thus only can it be explained how peculiar forms of the Doric dialect were common to Crete, Argos, and Sparta: the same is also true of the dialects which are generally considered as subdivisions of the aeolic; the only reason for the resemblance of the language of Lesbos to that of Botia being, that Botians migrated at that period to Lesbos. The peculiarities of the Ionic dialect may, on the other hand, be viewed in great part as deviations caused by the genial climate of Asia;(56) for the language of the Attic race, to which the Ionians were most nearly related, could hardly have differed so widely from that of the colonies of Athens, if the latter had not been greatly changed.(57)

BOOK I. HISTORY OF THE DORIC RACE, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE END OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR.

Chapter I.

-- 1. Earliest Settlement of the Dorians in Thessaly. -- 2.

Description of the Vale of Tempe. -- 3. Of the Pa.s.ses of Olympus. -- 4. And of Hestiaeotis. -- 5. The Perrhaebians. -- 6. The Lapithae. -- 7.

Limits of the Territory in Thessaly occupied by the Dorians. -- 8.

Contents of the Epic Poem aegimius. -- 9. Doric Migration from Thessaly to Crete. -- 10. Relation of the Dorians to the Macedonians.

1. "From early times the Dorians and Ionians were the chief races of the Grecian nation; the latter of Pelasgic, the former of h.e.l.lenic origin; the latter an aboriginal people, the former a people much addicted to wandering. For the former, when under the dominion of Deucalion, dwelt in Phthiotis; and in the time of Dorus, the son of h.e.l.len, they inhabited the country at the foot of Ossa and Olympus, which was called Hestiaeotis.

Afterwards, however, being driven from Hestiaeotis by the Cadmeans, they dwelt under mount Pindus, and were called the Macednian nation. From thence they again migrated to Dryopis; and having pa.s.sed from Dryopis into Peloponnesus, they were called the Doric race."(58)

This connected account cannot be considered as derived immediately from ancient tradition; but can only be viewed as an attempt of the father of history to arrange and reconcile various legends. Nor indeed is it difficult to discover and examine the steps of the argument which led him to this conclusion. It is clear that he considers the genealogy of h.e.l.len,(59) viz. that he was the son of Deucalion and father of Dorus, Xuthus, and aeolus, as an historical fact; although it is at least more recent than the poems of Homer, where the name of h.e.l.lenes does not include these races, but is the appellation of a single nation in Phthiotis: and that his object is to establish the position, that the Dorians were the genuine h.e.l.lenes. Now since Deucalion, the father of h.e.l.len and grandfather of Dorus, was supposed to have dwelt in Phthiotis,(60) Herodotus represents the Dorians as also coming from Phthiotis; although the people meant in these legends by the names of Deucalion and h.e.l.len were the real ancient h.e.l.lenes, the Myrmidons,(61) who were afterwards under the dominion of the aeacidae,(62) and are entirely distinct from the Dorians. Dorus was next represented as succeeding h.e.l.len as king of the same people; and then, since the name of Dorus was in these fabulous accounts connected with Hestiaeotis, he infers that the Dorians went thither from Phthiotis. But the modern mythologist must of course abandon this whole deduction as unfounded; and he can only adopt the datum from which the historian started; namely, that, according to ancient tradition, "Dorus dwelt at the foot of Olympus and Ossa." Here then the real fact presents itself to us. The chain of Olympus, the divider of nations, whose lofty summit is still called by the inhabitants the _celestial mansion_, is the place in which the Dorians first appear in the history of Greece.

2. The mountain-valley, which in later times bore the name of Thessaly, was bounded to the west by Pindus, to the south by Othrys, to the east by Pelion and Ossa, and to the north by Olympus, under which name the ancient writers, for example Herodotus, also include the chain which in after-times (probably from an Illyrian word)(63) was called the Cambunian mount. The course of the Peneus is so situated as to divide the open plain to the south, the ancient Pelasgic Argos, from the mountainous district to the north; towards the north-east it breaks through the mountain-ridge, dividing Ossa from Olympus; here too the river creeps under the loftier heights of mount Olympus;(64) so that the path pa.s.ses along the side of the more rugged and precipitous Ossa. This ravine was known by the ancient generic name of _Tempea_ or _Tempe_ (the _cut_, from t???), and has been often poetically described, but seldom sufficiently considered as bearing upon the history of Greece.(65)

Before entering the pa.s.s, the traveller crosses a small round valley, agreeably situated; at the end of which on the left hand, where the mountains approach one another on both sides, was the ancient fortress of Gonnus (or Gonni), distant 160 stadia from Larissa, the chief city of the plain.(66) From this point the mountains close upon one another more rapidly, until they rise on both sides of the glen in two rocky parapets, forming a gully, where in many places a path has been hewn along the river. About the middle of this path there stands now, upon a bold projection of Ossa, a fortress of Roman construction called Horaeo-Castro, covering also a cross glen of that mountain: it was there probably that the strong-hold Gonnocondylum stood; which appears to have taken its name from the "windings" of the valley.(67) Not far from this spot is the narrowest part of the ravine, hardly 100 feet in width: which is stated in an inscription to have been fortified by L. Ca.s.sius Longinus, the proconsul and partisan of J. Caesar; but, without the aid of fortification, a few armed men would probably have been able to stop the progress of a force many times their number. The region has nothing beautiful or agreeable in its appearance, but presents rather a look of savage wildness: the perpendicular ma.s.ses of rock of the same kind of stone appear, as it were, to have been rent asunder, and are without any covering of trees or gra.s.s; the blackness of the shadows in the deep hollow, and the dull echoes, increase the gloominess of the impression: beneath bubble the silver waters of the Peneus (??????d????).(68) Not far from this narrow pa.s.sage the defile opens towards the sea, to which the Peneus flows through marshes; and from hence may be seen the smiling country of Pieria, on the eastern side of Olympus, particularly the plains of Phila, Heracleum, and Leibethrum, which lead onwards to the southern parts of Macedonia.

3. This is the only road between Thessaly and the northern districts, which pa.s.ses in its whole length along a valley; all the others are mountain-pa.s.ses. Such was the other road to Macedonia, which crossed mount Olympus (?s??? ???p???).(69) This road, too, begins at the strongly-fortified city of Gonnus, the key of the country towards the north; and it then goes along the southern side of Olympus, till it reaches the cities of Azorum and Doliche. Between these two towns is a place where three ways met.(70) The chief road pa.s.ses in a northerly direction over the summit of the Cambunian chain to the Macedonian highlands; and it was here that Xerxes set fire to the woods in order to open a pa.s.sage for his army, which the Greeks had expected along the more practicable way through Pieria and the valley of Tempe; and it was often in the Roman wars traversed by large armies.(71) From the south of Olympus two difficult mountain roads led over the heights of Olympus, connecting Northern Thessaly with Pieria. The one avoided the valley of Tempe, as it pa.s.sed by the fortress of Lapathus to the north of that defile,(72) then along the small lake of Ascurias, whence there was a view of the town of Dium on the sea-coast, at the distance of 96 stadia; after which it descended into the plains of Pieria. We should, however, more particularly notice the other road, taking a more northern direction, and pa.s.sing over the lofty sides of Olympus, where formerly there stood the castle of Petra, and the temple of the Pythian Apollo, commonly called Pythium, together with a village of the same name,(73) the height of which Xenagoras, by a geometrical measurement, ascertained to be 6096 Grecian feet.(74) From this point there was a mountain-pa.s.s leading down to the coast to Heracleum and Phila in Pieria, and another way led along the ridge of Olympus by difficult and dangerous pa.s.sages, as far as Upper Macedonia.(75)

These mountain-pa.s.ses and defiles have not been explored by any modern traveller; but it was important for our subject to discover their position from the writings of the ancients. Not only did Perseus and aemilius Paulus here contend for the fate of Macedonia, but it was in this region that the Greek nations of the heroic age disputed the possession of the fertile Thessaly. There was once a time when through these pa.s.ses the nations pressed down, to whose lot the finest parts of Greece were once to fall; here every step was gained with labour, while the sons of the mountain inured themselves to hards.h.i.+ps in their incessant wars. Of the numerous citadels which in these districts cover every important point, the greater number were probably built at a very early period. Thus there were three fortresses(76) to defend the pa.s.s of Olympus, or the road from Gonnus to Azorum and Doliche, which two places, together with Pythium on the mountain, were comprehended under the name of the Pelagonian Tripolis.(77)

4. The highlands which border on Macedonia are so rarely mentioned in Grecian history, that we find in them few names of places, while in the valley of the Peneus there were always some traditional and historical memorials extant. For although the northern mountains were not dest.i.tute of fountains, gra.s.sy slopes, and fertile pastures, still the nations continually pressed downward to the fertile lands of the valley. In this plain Gonnus and Elatea are succeeded by Mopsium upon the right, and Gyrton and Phalanna on the left of the stream; and soon afterwards Larissa stood in the midst of the open country,(78) which had been once deposited from the stagnant waters of the Peneus, and being constantly irrigated, always produced a plentiful crop. To the west of Larissa, in a narrower part of the valley, where the hills approach the river more from the north side, there stood, 40 stadia from Larissa, the town of Argura,(79) and at the same distance again the fort of Atrax; on the northern bank of the river were the celebrated city of Pelinna(80) and the castle of Pharcedon;(81) higher up on the left bank, where the mountains on the north begin to recede and form another plain, was the ancient city of Tricca.(82) Between Tricca and Pelinna stood, as it appears, the city of chalia, so celebrated in mythology; the ruins of which have been perhaps discovered by a traveller in some ancient walls of ma.s.sive structure,(83) of which Pouqueville saw many in this district. If now we follow the Peneus, which runs from the north-west, higher up the stream than Tricca, we come to the mountain district of Hestiaeotis. At about three and a half hours from Tricca(84) is now situated the convent Meteora, whose name alludes to its singular situation upon lofty columns of rock:(85) from which place there were two ways, one leading higher up the Peneus in a westerly direction to Epirus, and the other pa.s.sing through Stymphaea to Elimiotis in Macedonia,(86) This was about the situation of the ancient fortress of Gomphi, which was near Pindus, and not very far from the sources of the Peneus.(87) It is, indeed, probable that the name G?f??

expresses the _wedge-shaped_ form of these rocks. According to Strabo, Gomphi (in the north-west), Tricca (in the south-west), Pelinna (in the north-east), and the more recent city of Metropolis (in the south-east), formed a square of fortresses, in the middle of which was the ancient Ithome; which Homer, from the steepness of the rock on which it stood, calls the _precipitous_ (???a??essa or ???a??essa).(88) From Meteora the Peneus may be followed in a northerly direction to its origin from two small streams; whence there was a path which wound over the high chain of Pindus, and thus reached the country of Epirus. This was in ancient times the road which connected the two countries, and there still remain on it several Cyclopian walls, the strongholds of former ages.

5. There had dwelt in the valley of the Peneus from the earliest times a Pelasgic nation, which offered up thanks to the G.o.ds for the possession of so fruitful a territory at the festival of Peloria.(89) Their habits were doubtless adapted to the nature of the country, which has still the same effect on the modern inhabitants; those who dwell near the river being of a soft and peaceable disposition, while the mountaineers are of a stronger and freer turn of mind.(90) Larissa was the ancient capital of this nation.(91) But at a very early time the primitive inhabitants were either expelled or reduced to subjection, by more northern tribes.(92) Those who had retired into the mountains became the PERRHaeBIAN nation, and always retained a certain degree of independence. In the Homeric catalogue the Perrhaebians are mentioned as dwelling on the hill Cyphus under Olympus, and on the banks of the t.i.taresius, which, flowing along the western edge of Olympus, is distinguished by its clear and therefore dark-coloured stream, from the muddy and white waters of the Peneus.(93) At the present day the inhabitants of its banks are remarkable for their healthy complexion, while the Peneus is surrounded by a sickly population.(94) The ancients however were reminded by the t.i.taresius of the Styx and of the infernal regions, not from any natural circ.u.mstance, but because both among these Perrhaebians and the h.e.l.lopian Pelasgians the name and wors.h.i.+p of Dodona had been established.(95) Accordingly there seems to have been in both places a ????p?pe???, or oracle of the dead. The prince of these Perrhaebians was called Guneus. So much may be gathered from the pa.s.sage in Homer. Afterwards, in historical times, we find the Perrhaebians having extended their limits to the Cambunian mountains, the pa.s.s of Tempe, and the Peneus; and reaching to the west beyond the chain of Pindus.(96) Gonnus and Atrax were likewise Perrhaebian towns.(97) The Perrhaebians maintained themselves in the mountains, even when the Thessalians had seized upon the plain, not indeed as an independent, but still as a separate, and, until the Macedonian supremacy, as an Amphictyonic nation.

6. The plain on either side of the Peneus was however occupied by the LAPITHae, a race which derived its origin from Almopia in Macedonia, and was at least very nearly connected with the Minyans and aeolians of Ephyra.(98) If it be allowed to speak of this heroic race, of superhuman strength and courage, in the same terms as of a real nation, we should say that the towns Elatea, Gyrton, Mopsium, Larissa, Atrax, chalia, Ithome, and Tricca, were under their dominion. Our reason is, that the Lapithae, Elatus, Caeneus, Mopsus, Coronus, Eurytus and Hippodameia, were considered by popular tradition as inhabitants of the above towns; a belief indicated by the names of several of these heroes. The two last of these towns were the native places of the Asclepiadae, whom the genealogical and other legends always represent as connected with the Lapithae. In Homer the inhabitants of Tricca, Ithome, and chalia are represented as following the sons of aesculapius; those of Argissa, Gyrton, Orthe, Elone, and Oloosson are headed by the descendants of the Lapithae. Now from the researches mentioned by Strabo, it would seem that Orthe was the fortress of Phalanna, Argissa the town Argura, both on the river Peneus; Elone was a small town on mount Olympus, as also Oloosson;(99) and it appears that the Homeric catalogue agrees well enough with the other traditions, and supposes the Lapithae to have occupied the valley of the Peneus, with some parts of the mountainous country to the north.

7. Thus much it was necessary to premise, in order to give a faithful description of the spot in which the Dorians first make their appearance in the traditions of Greece. They bordered on the Lapithae, but inhabited the mountain district of Hestiaeotis, according to Herodotus,(100) instead of the champaign country, like the latter race. Yet the same pa.s.sage of that author implies that Tempe was within the territory of Hestiaeotis, and belonged at that time to the Dorians; we shall see hereafter how much this account is confirmed by the altar of the Pythian Apollo in this valley.(101) It will moreover be rendered probable that the Pythium above mentioned was situated on the mountain heights. Hence we may well suppose the whole Tripolis to have at one time belonged to the Dorians; since even Azorium was not always inhabited by Illyrian Pelagones, but had once been held by the h.e.l.lenes.(102) It is also probable that Cyphus, a town said to have belonged to the Perrhaebians, was under the dominion of the Dorians; since this race possessed in their second settlement a town called Acyphas.(103) It is remarkable that no direct and positive account of any Doric town in this district has been preserved, a circ.u.mstance to be attributed to the loss of the epic poem of aegimius.

8. This poem, written in the Hesiodean tone (although the author probably lived about the 30th Olympiad, 660 B.C. in the last period of epic poetry),(104) celebrated the most ancient exploits of the Doric race. Thus it sung how aegimius, the Doric prince, whilst engaged in a difficult and dangerous war with the Lapithae, called to his a.s.sistance the wandering Hercules, and by the promise of a third part of the territory obtained his alliance; by which means the enemies were beaten, their prince slain, and the disputed territory conquered.(105) The name of the poem is a sufficient proof that such would have been its contents.(106) Probably the heroes of Iolcus and the Phthiotans were also introduced as allies of the Lapithae, and at least the adventures of Phrixus and Achilles.(107) The scene of the second book was Euba, the name of which island was there derived from the cow Io;(108) the attack of Hercules upon the Euban town of chalia also formed, as I conjecture, part of the subject. aegimius was, however, supposed to reign in Hestiaeotis, merely because the Dorians bordered in this direction upon the Lapithae; he was easily carried over to the second settlements of the race under mount ta.(109) This hero is in general the mythical progenitor and hero of the Doric nation; hence Pindar called the customs and laws of that people "the ordinances of aegimius."(110) Nevertheless only two tribes of the Dorians are stated to be descended from him, viz. the Dymanes and Pamphylians; the third and most distinguished, viz. the Hylleans, was supposed to be descended from Hyllus the son of Hercules, and adopted by aegimius. And as the land in the Doric states was equally divided between these three tribes, Hercules was fabled to have received for his descendants a third part of the territory, which belonged of right to the Hylleans. This triple division of the land was expressly mentioned by the epic poet, who used the word t??????e? to express that the Dorians had obtained and shared among themselves, at a distance from their native country (chiefly in Peloponnesus),(111) a territory apportioned into three parts. An examination of the opinion, that the first race was distinguished from the other two as of different origin, will be found in a following chapter.(112)

We must also refer our reader to the investigation of the wors.h.i.+p of Apollo, and the mythology of Hercules, in the second book, since from these alone can be collected the internal history of the Doric race during its earliest period.

9. One event which, even if it had not been noticed by tradition, would still have been felt and recognised from the effects it produced, is the migration of the Dorians from the district of Olympus to Crete. It is, indeed, a wonderful migration, being from one end of the Grecian world to the other, and it presents a striking anomaly in the history of the ancient colonies. We must suppose that the Dorians, whilst in their first settlements, excluded from the plain, and pressed by want, or restless from inactivity, constructed piratical canoes, manned these frail and narrow barks with soldiers, who themselves worked at the oars, and thus being changed from mountaineers into seamen-the Normans of Greece-set sail for the distant island of Crete. The earliest trace of the migration in question is found in the Odyssey, in which poem it is mentioned that the _thrice-divided_ Dorians formed a part of the population of Crete.(113) Andron states, even with geographical accuracy, that these Dorians came to Crete from Hestiaeotis, at that time called Doris, under Tectaphus, the son of Dorus, together with Achaeans and some Pelasgians who had remained in Thessaly.(114) According to Dicaearchus, the Dorians migrated to Crete from Pelasgiotis;(115) by which is meant the same district as that called by Andron Hestiaeotis, since Pelasgiotis and Hestiaeotis bordered on each other in the vicinity of Tempe. Again, Diodorus affirms that Asterius king of Crete, the adopted father of Minos, the legislator, was the son of Tectamus (Teutamus).(116) The essential parts of these statements are rendered certain by two proofs: the first of these is, that the wors.h.i.+p of Apollo was practised in Crete with precisely the same ceremonies as at Tempe, and connected with many of the same traditions; the second is, the very remote period at which the principles of the Doric const.i.tution were systematized and established in Crete, so that they afterwards became a model and standard for other states of that race. This gives us the fullest right to consider Minos of Cnosus as a Dorian. We may a.s.sert, with still more reason, that the name of Minos indicates a period in which the Doric invaders united a part of the island into one state, and, by extending their power over the Cyclades and many maritime districts, obtained, according to the expression of Herodotus, Thucydides, and Aristotle, the dominion of the sea. To discredit this Doric migration would be to reject the simple explanation of many facts recorded in later history. At the same time, however, we do not mean to throw any doubt upon the later migrations from Peloponnesus, when it had already fallen under the power of the Dorians.(117) We only a.s.sert that these took place at too late a period to account for many unquestionable facts. The portion of Crete first occupied by the Dorians was, according to Staphylus, the eastern coast;(118) or, to speak more accurately, the eastern side of the north coast. Here stood the Minoan town of Cnosus, with its harbour Heracleum and colony Apollonia. From this point the dominion, customs, and wors.h.i.+p of the Dorians were at a very early period extended over the districts inhabited by the Eteocretans, Pelasgians, and Cydonians; and, with the help of later migrations, pervaded the whole island.(119) And although the different dialects could still be distinguished at the time of Homer,(120) yet in later times the Doric appears to have been universally adopted.(121)

10. We now return to the pa.s.sage of Herodotus, of which a part has been already quoted; "When however the Dorians were driven out by the Cadmeans, they dwelt under Mount Pindus, and were called the Macednian nation." In this pa.s.sage the author alludes to the legend, that the Cadmeans, being expelled from Thebes by the Argives, fled to the Encheleans of Illyria, where they bordered upon h.o.m.ole, a Magnesian mountain near the valley of Tempe. In this settlement they would certainly be in the neighbourhood of the Dorians. But we should bear in mind how perplexed is the fable which we have before us.(122) The predatory excursion of the Encheleans to Phocis and Botia appears to admit of no doubt, as it was noticed by a Delphian oracle of tolerable antiquity, and by the tradition of the Thebans. The same horde may in its pa.s.sage have also disturbed the Dorians in their settlements; but it is no less wonderful, that fugitive Thebans should have voluntarily taken refuge with the Encheleans in Illyria, than that this latter nation should have driven the Dorians from their settlements. It may be true that some northern hordes expelled the Dorians from mount Olympus, since at a later period we find the Paeonian (Teucrian) race of the Pelagones, who had descended from the Axius,(123) and made themselves masters of the Tripolis, Azorum, Doliche, and Pythium, in possession of their ancient settlements.

As to the statement of Herodotus, that the Macednians, or ancient Macedonians (who in his lifetime inhabited the territory between the rivers Haliacmon and Lydias, from the mountains to the coast),(124) were derived from the Dorians when dwelling under mount Pindus, he probably followed some accounts of the Macedonians, who, not satisfied with establis.h.i.+ng the Doric origin of their royal family, wished to claim the same honour for the whole nation: but there does not appear to be any historical foundation for this statement. For the Macedonians, as was above remarked, were indeed for the most part Greeks, but neither their language or customs authorize us to consider them as Dorians.(125)

Chapter II.

-- 1. Migration of the Dorians from Thessaly to the Valley of ta and Parna.s.sus. -- 2. District of ta. -- 3. Limits of Doris. -- 4.

The Dryopians. -- 5. The Malians. -- 6. The aenianes.