1. “From early times the Dorians and Ionians were the chief races of the Grecian nation; the latter of Pelasgic, the former of Hellenic 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 Hellen, they inhabited the country at the foot of Ossa and Olympus, which was called Hestiæotis. Afterwards, however, being driven from Hestiæotis by the Cadmeans, they dwelt under mount Pindus, and were called the Macednian nation. From thence they again migrated to Dryopis; and having passed 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 Hellen,59 viz. that he was the son of Deucalion and father of Dorus, Xuthus, and Æolus, as an historical fact; although it is at least more recent than the poems of Homer, where the name of Hellenes 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 Hellenes. Now since Deucalion, the father of Hellen 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 Hellen were the real ancient Hellenes, the Myrmidons,61 who were afterwards under the dominion of the Æacidæ,62 and are entirely distinct from the Dorians. Dorus was next represented as succeeding Hellen as king of the same people; and then, since the name of Dorus was [pg 021] in these fabulous accounts connected with Hestiæotis, 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 passes 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 τέμνω), and has been often poetically described, but seldom sufficiently considered as bearing upon the history of Greece.65

Before entering the pass, 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 Horæo-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. Cassius Longinus, the proconsul and partisan of J. Cæsar; 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 masses of rock of the same kind of stone appear, as it were, to have been [pg 023] rent asunder, and are without any covering of trees or grass; 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 (ἀργυροδίνης).68 Not far from this narrow passage 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 passes in its whole length along a valley; all the others are mountain-passes. Such was the other road to Macedonia, which crossed mount Olympus (ἐσβολὴ Ὀλυμπική).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 passes 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 passage 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 [pg 024] Northern Thessaly with Pieria. The one avoided the valley of Tempe, as it passed 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 passing 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-pass leading down to the coast to Heracleum and Phila in Pieria, and another way led along the ridge of Olympus by difficult and dangerous passages, as far as Upper Macedonia.75

These mountain-passes 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 Æmilius Paulus here contend for the fate of Macedonia, [pg 025] 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 passes 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 hardships 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 fortresses76 to defend the pass 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 destitute of fountains, grassy 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 [pg 026] 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 Pelinna80 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 Œchalia, so celebrated in mythology; the ruins of which have been perhaps discovered by a traveller in some ancient walls of massive 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 Hestiæotis. At about three and a half hours from Tricca84 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 [pg 027] westerly direction to Epirus, and the other passing through Stymphæa 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 Γόμφοι 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 (κλωμακόεσσα or κλιμακόεσσα).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 gods for the possession of so fruitful a territory at the festival of Peloria.89 Their habits were [pg 028] 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 Perrhæbian nation, and always retained a certain degree of independence. In the Homeric catalogue the Perrhæbians are mentioned as dwelling on the hill Cyphus under Olympus, and on the banks of the Titaresius, 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 Titaresius of the Styx and of the infernal regions, not from any natural circumstance, but because both among these Perrhæbians and the Hellopian Pelasgians the name and worship of Dodona had been established.95 Accordingly there seems to have been in both places a Ψυχοπομπεῖον, or oracle of the dead. The prince of [pg 029] these Perrhæbians was called Guneus. So much may be gathered from the passage in Homer. Afterwards, in historical times, we find the Perrhæbians having extended their limits to the Cambunian mountains, the pass of Tempe, and the Peneus; and reaching to the west beyond the chain of Pindus.96 Gonnus and Atrax were likewise Perrhæbian towns.97 The Perrhæbians 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 Lapithæ, a race which derived its origin from Almopia in Macedonia, and was at least very nearly connected with the Minyans and Æolians 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, Œchalia, Ithome, and Tricca, were under their dominion. Our reason is, that the Lapithæ, Elatus, Cæneus, 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 Asclepiadæ, whom the genealogical and other legends always represent as connected with the Lapithæ. In Homer the inhabitants of Tricca, Ithome, and Œchalia are represented as following the sons of Æsculapius; those of Argissa, Gyrton, Orthe, Elone, and Oloosson are headed by the descendants of [pg 030] the Lapithæ. 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 Lapithæ 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 Lapithæ, but inhabited the mountain district of Hestiæotis, according to Herodotus,100 instead of the champaign country, like the latter race. Yet the same passage of that author implies that Tempe was within the territory of Hestiæotis, 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 [pg 031] once been held by the Hellenes.102 It is also probable that Cyphus, a town said to have belonged to the Perrhæbians, 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 circumstance to be attributed to the loss of the epic poem of Ægimius.

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 Ægimius, the Doric prince, whilst engaged in a difficult and dangerous war with the Lapithæ, called to his assistance 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 [pg 032] 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 Lapithæ, and at least the adventures of Phrixus and Achilles.107 The scene of the second book was Eubœa, the name of which island was there derived from the cow Io;108 the attack of Hercules upon the Eubœan town of Œchalia also formed, as I conjecture, part of the subject. Ægimius was, however, supposed to reign in Hestiæotis, merely because the Dorians bordered in this direction upon the Lapithæ; he was easily carried over to the second settlements of the race under mount Œta.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 Ægimius.”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 [pg 033] by Ægimius. 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 τριχάϊκες 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 [pg 034] of the worship 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 Hestiæotis, at that time called Doris, under Tectaphus, the son of Dorus, together with Achæans and some Pelasgians who had remained in Thessaly.114 According to Dicæarchus, the Dorians migrated to Crete from Pelasgiotis;115 by which is [pg 035] meant the same district as that called by Andron Hestiæotis, since Pelasgiotis and Hestiæotis 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 worship 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 constitution 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 assert, 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 assert that [pg 036] 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 worship 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 passage 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 passage 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 Homolè, a Magnesian mountain near the valley of Tempe. In this settlement they would certainly be in the neighbourhood [pg 037] 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 Bœotia 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 passage 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 Pæonian (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 establishing the [pg 038] 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

Following the plain of Phocis, which lies between mounts Œta and Parnassus, and is watered by the Cephisus, we presently find the mountains approaching each other from both sides, and contracting the valley of the river. The last towns of Phocis in this direction are, Amphicæa, Tithronium and Drymæa, still to be [pg 039] recognised in ruins, and places bearing the name of Palæocastro.126 Proceeding thence westward to the higher country, we soon arrive at the sources of the river Cephisus, which cannot be mistaken, since it immediately forms a stream of considerable size. The Cephisus indeed rises not in Œta but in Parnassus, and runs first to the north-east, in order to make a bend afterwards to the south-east.127 The situation is particularly indicated by the ancient citadel of a town, situated close to the source, upon a steep projection of Parnassus; this place must be recognised as Lilæa. The scenery around is of a grand and bold description. Twenty stadia from hence was situated Charadra, where a mountain-torrent joined the Cephisus. But the river Pindus, which falls into the Cephisus not far from Lilæa, comes down from a much greater elevation. These valleys, lying to the north-west of Lilæa,128 constitute the proper district of Doris, little described in detail by the ancients, and never till a short time since visited by modern travellers. The steep citadel, about an hour and a half's distance from Lilæa, situated upon a projection of Parnassus near the village of Mariolatis, is perhaps Bœum. The ancient walls in the valley towards the west near Stagni must be set [pg 040] down as the fortress of Cytinium.129 Erineus should probably be sought for in the defiles of Œta, nearer the sources of the stream just mentioned.130 Near Œta was situated Acyphas,131 probably the same as the city of Pindus132 above Erineus, and of the same name as the river; both which names the Dorians had brought with them from their early settlements. This corner of land, placed under the chief mountain-chain of Greece, and hanging over the plains which extend from thence, was bounded by the upper districts of Ætolia, by the territory of the Ozolian Locrians, Phocis, and southern Thessaly.133 From Cytinium a mountain-path led along the side of Parnassus to the country of the Locrians:134 this also has been explored by modern travellers. This pass made the small stronghold of Cytinium so important as a military post, that Philip of Macedon, when he invaded Northern Greece before the battle of Chæronea, immediately occupied Elatea and Cytinium135, evidently as a key to the [pg 041] western districts. From Delphi another mountain-path (which was reckoned by an ancient traveller at 180 stadia136) crossed over in the direction of Lilæa. The modern road to the north, from the valley of Pindus, likewise goes along a mountain-pass through the defiles and ravines of Œta, to the opposite side of the valley of the Spercheus, now called Hellada.137 If this was passable in ancient times, it formed the communication between Doris and the country of the Malians.

2. Mount Œta stretches in a westerly direction for the length of 200 stadia towards the Malian bay, which it reaches at Thermopylæ. It separates Doris, Phocis, and the Epicnemidian Locrians from the valley of the Spercheus. The passes connected with it are, first, the one just mentioned: secondly, another from Phocis to the rocky glen of Trachinia;138 and, lastly, that of Thermopylæ, together with the upper path, made famous by the battle with the Persians. The pass of Thermopylæ is formed on one side by the steep declivity of the mountain, and on the other by a deep and impassable salt-marsh: these in the narrowest part are only 60 paces distant from each other:139 in the middle arise the hot sulphurous springs, which gave the name to the defile. At no great distance from these lies the little plain of Anthela, breaking into two narrow parts of the pass. At the northern entrance of the passage there are still the ruins of a wall, which has perhaps [pg 042] served as a barrier against the invasions of Thessalian, Persian, and Roman armies. Near this spot the brook Asopus rises from the side of the mountain. At the southern end of the pass was the small town of Alpenus, its whole length being about five miles. From Thermopylæ the paved and raised military road leads northward over the Spercheus to Thessaly, southward by Alpenus, Scarpheia, and Thronium, and from thence to Elatea, and thus to the land of Phocis.

Although the broken and precipitous form of both mountain and valley rendered the chain of Œta little suited for human habitation, yet there was in ancient times a considerable number of cities reaching in a line from the Doric Tetrapolis, as far as the sea. Amphanæa must have been built upon mount Œta, but in the direction of Trachinia; so that, with a little latitude of expression, it was considered as in Thessaly.140 Rhoduntia and Teichius were fortified heights on the road over mount Œta.141 Phricium was situated near Thermopylæ on the Locrian side; from this place some colonists went to the Æolian Cume, and Larissa Phriconis.142 On the other side, upon the slope of the mountain above the valley of the small streams Melas and Dyras, lay Trachis. Heraclea was situated six stadia from the ancient Trachis.143 Not far from hence Ægoneia was probably situated.144

3. Having now marked out the topography of this district by traces, which, although not as clear as could be wished, are yet perfectly accurate, we will next proceed to inquire concerning the small native tribes which [pg 043] at different periods settled in these parts, and particularly concerning the Dorians themselves. Doris, in the limited meaning of the term, was the valley of the river Pindus. Whenever the Doric Tripolis is mentioned, the three cities meant are Bœum, Cytinium, and Erineus;145 which last place, as being the most considerable, appears to have been also called Dorium:146 but when writers speak of a Tetrapolis, Acyphas (or Pindus) is added as a fourth town.147 This is the country which Dorus the son of Hellen is said to have inhabited, when he brought together his nation on the side of Parnassus;148 a tradition which totally loses sight of the more ancient settlements of the Doric race. It appears, however, that the Dorians, whilst confined within these limits, did not rest content with the possession of this narrow valley, but occupied several places along mount Œta, of which Amphanæa was one.149 An unknown writer150 named six Doric [pg 044] towns,—viz., Erineus, Cytinium, Bœum, Lilæum, Carphæa and Dryope: of which, by Lilæum is meant the town of Lilæa, by Carphæa probably Tarphe near Thermopylæ,151 and by Dryope the country which had once belonged to the Dryopians. There was therefore probably a time when the heights near the sources of the Cephisus, and a narrow strip of land along mount Œta, as far as the sea, were in the possession of the Dorians. Nay this was even partly the case in the Persian war; for even at that time Doris stretched in a narrow tongue of land thirty stadia broad, between the Malians and Phoceans, nearly as far as Thermopylæ:152 Scylax also mentions the Dorians as inhabitants of the sea-coast.153 This district, however, near mount Œta is that which the Dryopians had formerly inhabited (as may be shown from a passage of Herodotus)154, before they were entirely dispossessed by the Dorians, their neighbours in the Tetrapolis. Thus, by means of this geographical investigation we have arrived at an historical event. It seems probable that the Dorians, having moved by slow degrees from Hestiæotis to mount Œta, first gained possession of the furthest extremity of the mountain-valley, and thence [pg 045] gradually spread towards the coast over the land of the Dryopians. This race indeed generally did not press all at once, but passed slowly into districts which had been seized by some part of them at an earlier period.155

4. The Dryopians (the fragments of whose history we here introduce) are an aboriginal nation, which may be called Pelasgic, since Aristotle and others assign to them an Arcadian origin.156 Their affinity with the Arcadians is confirmed by the worship paid by them to Demeter Chthonia, to Cora Melibœa, and Hades Clymenus: which bore a great resemblance to those of Phigaleia, Thelpusa, and other towns in Arcadia.157 Their territory bordered upon that of the Malians, so that they extended into the valley of the Spercheus beyond Œta, and in the other direction as far as Parnassus;158 to the east their settlements reached to Thermopylæ.159 Their expulsion is related [pg 046] in a manner entirely mythical, being connected with the propagation of the worship of Apollo (which is intimately allied with the migrations of the Dorians), and also with the adventures of Hercules; but when a clue to this method of narration is once discovered, it will be found to be equally, or perhaps more, instructive, and to convey much fuller information than a bare historical narrative. In the present instance, the Pythian Apollo is represented as the god to whom the vanquished Dryopians are sent as slaves, and who despatches them to Peloponnesus;160 and Hercules, in conjunction with the Trachinians, subdues and consecrates them to Apollo, or assigns to them settlements in Argolis, but allots their land to the Dorians or Malians.161

From this tradition we might perhaps infer that the Dryopians accompanied the Dorians in their migration to Peloponnesus, and settled there with them. But the situation of the places belonging to the Dryopians makes it necessary to seek some other explanation; for the colonies of this race lie scattered over so many coasts and islands, that they can only have been planted by single expeditions over the sea. In Argolis, for instance, they built Hermione, Asine, and Eion (Halieis), upon projecting headlands and [pg 047] promontories; in Eubœa, Styra and Carystus belonged to them;162 among the islands they had settlements in Cythnos163 and perhaps Myconos; they had also penetrated as far as Ionia and Cyprus.164 Hence it must be inferred that the Dryopians, harassed or dislodged by their neighbours, dispersed in various directions over the sea. It is, however, historically certain that a great part of the Dryopians were consecrated as a subject people to the Pythian Apollo (an usage of ancient times, of which there are many instances), and that for a long time they served as such; for even in the fragmentary history of the destruction of Crissa (Olymp. 47, 590 B.C.), we find Craugallidæ mentioned together with the Crissæans,165 which was a name of the Dryopians derived from a fabulous ancestor.166 The condition of the subjects of temples, and consequently of these Craugallidæ, will be treated of at large in another place.167

5. But the Dorians, though hostile to their neighbours the Dryopians, were on friendly terms with the Malians. This people dwelt in the valley of the Spercheus, enclosed on all sides by rocky mountains, and open only in the direction of the sea; they were divided into the inhabitants of the coast, the Sacerdotal, and the Trachinians.168 The second of these classes [pg 048] probably dwelt near to the Amphictyonic temple at Thermopylæ, the third on the rocky declivities of mount Œta. These are the people who were in such close alliance with the Dorians, that Diodorus speaks of Trachis as the mother-town of Lacedæmon.169 The friendship between Ceyx and Hercules, together with that of his sons, is the mythical expression for this connexion. The Malians were always a warlike people, those persons only who had served as hoplites being admitted to a share in the government.170 Their country was however chiefly famous for its slingers and darters.171

6. In after-times there came into these districts a nation which the ancient traditions of the country do not recognise, viz. the Hellenic Ænianes or Œtæans; the latter name denoting the region in which that nation was settled, the former their race;172 although I do not assert that the fourteen Œtæan communities173 constituted the entire nation of the Ænianes. For they also dwelt on the banks of the Inachus, and about the sources of the Spercheus, near the city of Hypata.174 In early times they had inhabited the inland parts of Thessaly, and about the end of the fabulous period they descended into those settlements, from which in later times they were dislodged by the Illyrian Athamanes.175 Although the Ænianes did not disavow a certain dependence on the Delphian oracle, and though they [pg 049] adopted among their traditions the fables respecting Hercules, anciently prevalent in their new settlements,176 yet on account of their geographical position they lived in opposition and hostility to the Malians and Dorians;177 who, as Strabo states, had been deprived by them of a part of their territory.178 Nay more, it is probable that the emigration of the Dorians which conquered Peloponnesus, was in some way or other connected with the arrival of the Ænianes in this region. There was an ancient enmity between the Lacedæmonians and the Œtæans.179 It was chiefly on this account that Sparta founded the town of Heraclea in the country of Trachinia; which would doubtless have caused the revival of an important Doric power in this part of Greece, had not the jealousy of the Thessalians and Dolopians, and even of the Malians themselves, been awakened at its first establishment.

Thus much concerning the situation of the Dorians in their settlements near mount Œta. The subject however is not yet exhausted; for we have still to trace the origin of the great influence which the establishment of the Dorians at Lycorea upon Parnassus had on the religion of Delphi (for that Lycorea was a Doric town will be made probable hereafter), as well as to treat of the Amphictyonic league, in the founding of which a very large share doubtless belonged to the Dorians: but the discussion of both these points must be deferred to the second book.180

As to the colonies of the Doric cities near mount Parnassus, Bulis on the frontiers of Phocis and Bœotia, [pg 050] on the Crissæan gulf, was probably founded from thence at the time of the Doric migration.181