1. The most important, and the most fertile in consequences, of all the migrations of Grecian races, and which continued even to the latest periods to exert its influence upon the Greek character, was the expedition of the Dorians into Peloponnesus. It is however so completely enveloped in fables, and these were formed at a very early period in so connected a manner, that it is useless to examine it in detail, without first endeavouring to separate the component parts.
The traditionary name of this expedition is “the Return of the descendants of Hercules.”182 Hercules, [pg 051] the son of Zeus is (even in the Iliad), both by birth and destiny, the hereditary prince of Tiryns and Mycenæ, and ruler of the surrounding nations.183 But through some evil chance Eurystheus obtained the precedency, and the son of Zeus was compelled to serve him. Nevertheless he is represented as having bequeathed to his descendants his claims to the dominion of Peloponnesus, which they afterwards made good in conjunction with the Dorians; Hercules having also performed such actions in behalf of this race, that his descendants were always entitled to the possession of one-third of the territory. The heroic life of Hercules was therefore the mythical title, through which the Dorians were made to appear, not as unjustly invading, but merely as reconquering, a country which had belonged to their princes in former times. Hence Hercules is reported to have made war with some degree of propriety, and subdued the principal countries of the Doric race (except his native country Argos), Lacedæmon and the Messenian Pylus, to have established the national festival at Olympia, and even to have laid the foundation of the most distant colonies. To esteem as real these conquests and settlements, these mythical forerunners of real history, is incompatible with a clear view of these matters; and we could scarce seriously ask even the most credulous, how, at a time when sieges were in the highest degree tedious, Hercules could have stormed and taken so many fortresses, surrounded with almost impregnable walls?184
A severer criticism enjoins us to trace the mythical narrative to its centre, and attempt to ascertain whether the sovereign race of the Dorians did really spring from the early sovereigns of Mycenæ; such [pg 052] being not only the epic account, but also the tradition countenanced in Sparta itself. Tyrtæus said, in his poem called the Eunomia, “Zeus himself gave this territory (Laconia) to the race of Hercules; united with whom we (the Dorians) left the stormy Erineus, and reached the wide island of Pelops.”185 And a still more important proof is the reply of king Cleomenes, mentioned by Herodotus, who, when forbidden by the priestess in the Acropolis of Athens to enter the temple, as being a Dorian, answered, “I am no Dorian, but an Achæan,” referring to his descent from Hercules.186 From this it would appear that there was amongst the Dorians an Achæan phratria, to which the kings of Argos, Sparta, and Messenia, and the founders and rulers of Corinth, Sicyon, Epidaurus, Ægina, Rhodes, Cos, &c., belonged; and which, in conjunction with the Dorians, only recovered by conquest its hereditary rights.187
2. It is certainly hazardous at once to reject an extensive and connected system of heroic traditions, for the sake of establishing in its place a conjecture which sacrifices reports recognised by ages prior to historical information, and celebrated by the earliest poets, to a mere theory of historical probability. We [pg 053] must, however, recollect that mythical legends present in general merely the views and opinions of nations on the origin of their actual condition; these opinions being at the same time more often directed and determined by religious and other notions, especially by a certain feeling of justice, than by real tradition, and therefore they frequently conceal, rather than express, historical truth. The following remarks, partly deduced from inquiries which will follow, may serve to contrast with each other the characteristics of history and mythology.
In the first place, if we consider the narrative in question as a plain historical statement, and consequently suppose the Heraclidæ to have been expatriated Achæans, the same supposition must be extended to the whole tribe of Hylleans. For Hyllus, the representative of the Hylleans, is called the son of Hercules; and it was with reference to that tribe that the third part of the territory was secured to the descendants of Hercules: hence also Pindar calls the Dorians universally the descendants of Hercules and Ægimius.188 In this case, then, the Pamphylians and Dymanes would alone remain as Dorians proper. It is, however, by no means probable, that, if the most distinguished part of the Doric people had been of Achæan descent, the difference between the language, religion, and customs of these two races would have been so strongly and precisely marked.
In the second place, everything that is related concerning the exploits of Hercules in the north of [pg 054] Greece refers exclusively to the history of the Dorians; and conversely all the actions of the Doric race in their earlier settlements are mythically represented under the person of Hercules. Now this cannot be accounted for by supposing that there was only a temporary connexion between this hero and the Doric race.
Lastly, if we compare as much of the fables concerning Hercules related below as refers to the Dorians, with those current among the ancient Argives, and if we separate in mind the links by which the epic poets gave them an apparent historical connexion, we shall find no real resemblance between the two. The worship of Apollo, which can in almost every case be shown to have been the real motive which actuated the Dorians, was wholly foreign to the Argives. If then an Achæan tribe did arrive amongst the Dorians, bringing with it the story of Hercules, or a hero so called, this latter people must have applied and developed his mythology in a manner wholly different from those to whom they owed it. And after all, we should be obliged to suppose that long before their irruption into Peloponnesus, these Heraclidæ had been so intermixed with the Dorians, that their traditions were formed entirely according to the disposition of that race, since Hercules in Thessaly is represented as a complete Dorian. Here, however, we are again at variance with the fable, which represents the Heraclidæ as having fled to the Dorians a short time only before their entry into Peloponnesus.
Thus we are continually met with contradictions, and never enabled to obtain a clear view of the question, unless we assent to the proposition that [pg 055] Hercules, from a very remote period, was both a Dorian and Peloponnesian hero, and particularly the hero of the Hyllean tribe, which in the earliest settlements of the Dorians had probably united itself with two other small nations, the Heraclidæ being the hereditary princes of the Doric race. The story of the Heraclidæ being descended from the Argive Hercules, who performed the commands of Eurystheus, was not invented till after Peloponnesus had been introduced into the tradition.
3. There is hardly any part of the traditional history of Greece whose real sources are so little known to us as the expedition of the Heraclidæ. No one can fail to perceive that it possesses the same mythical character as the Trojan war; and yet we are deprived of that which renders the examination of a mythical narrative so instructive, viz. the traditional lore scattered in such abundance throughout the ancient epic poems. This event, however, early as it was, lay without the range of the epic poetry; and therefore, whenever circumstances connected with it were mentioned, they must have been introduced either accidentally or in reference to some other subject. In no one large class of epic poems was this event treated at length, neither by the cyclic poets, nor the authors of the Νόστοι. In the Ἠοῖαι attributed to Hesiod, it appears only to have been alluded to in a few short passages.189 Herodotus nevertheless mentions [pg 056] poets who related the migration of the Heraclidæ and Dorians into Laconia.190 Perhaps these belonged to the class who carried on the mythical fables genealogically, as Cinæthon the Laconian, and also Asius, who celebrated the descent of Hercules, and appears, from the character of his poems, to have also commemorated his descendants.191 Or they may have been the historical poets, such as Eumelus the Corinthian, although those alluded to by Herodotus cannot have composed a separate poetical history (as the former did of Corinth); since they would doubtless have followed the national tradition of Sparta; and this, with respect to the first princes of the Heraclidæ, differed from the accounts of all the poets with which Herodotus was acquainted, and was not the general tradition of Greece.192 And doubtless many such local traditions were preserved amongst particular nations, concerning an event which for a long time determined the condition of Peloponnesus. Thus the Tegeatans193 celebrated the combat of Echemus their general with Hyllus. Whether the early historians collected these accounts from oral record, or whether they derived them from the poets above mentioned (although the latter is more in their manner), cannot be determined; [pg 057] for there are only extant two fragments of these writers concerning the Heraclidæ, one of Hecatæus, the other of Pherecydes, which connect immediately with the death of Hercules, and therefore do not prove that these authors wrote any continuous account of the history of this migration. The early tradition received a fuller development in the Attic drama; but it was unavoidably represented in a very partial view. The Heraclidæ of Æschylus, and the Iolaus of Sophocles might, like the Heraclidæ of Euripides, have had on the whole the tendency to celebrate those merits which the Athenians are made to commend in Herodotus,194 even before the battle of Platæa, viz., their good offices towards the Heraclidæ, at the time when they took refuge in Attica. The last-named tragedian, in his Temenidæ, Archelaus, and Cresphontes, went further into the history of the Doric states, and descended lower into the historical period, than any poet before his time; his reason having, perhaps, been, the exhaustion of the legitimate mythical materials.195 Now these Attic tragedians manifestly took for their basis the narrative given by Apollodorus, himself an Athenian, as may be shown by some particular circumstances. Perhaps Ephorus rested more upon the earlier poets and historians, as far as we are acquainted with their statements; but his narrative, even if it were extant, could, no more than those of the former, be considered as proceeding from a critical examination; since, in the first place, from a total misapprehension of the character of tradition, he forced everything into history, and then endeavoured to restore the deficiencies of [pg 058] oral narrative by probable reasoning; of the fallaciousness of which method we will bring forward some proofs.
4. After what has been said, we will forbear to apologize for merely offering a few remarks on the origin and meaning of the traditions which concern the Doric migration, instead of endeavouring to give a history of that event. And, indeed, we might bring forward some most marvellous legends, but on that very account the better fitted to convince every one what is the nature of the ground on which we stand.
In the Ἠοῖαι attributed to Hesiod, it was stated that Polycaon the son of Butes, whose name represents the ancient (i.e. Lelegean) population of Messene, married Euæchme (Εὐαίχμη, viz. celebrated for the spear) the daughter of Hyllus, and grand-daughter of Hercules. In this simple and unpretending manner the early tradition conveyed the idea that the Hylleans and Dorians had, by the power of the spear, made themselves masters of Messene, and united themselves with the original inhabitants.196
In the Laconian village of Abia, there was a temple of Hercules, which was said to have been built by Abia the nurse of Glenus, the brother of Hyllus.197 It was, therefore, supposed that Hyllus and Glenus themselves came to Laconia. Pausanias endeavours to [pg 059] reconcile the local tradition with the received history, and assumes that Abia had fled hither after the death of Hyllus; which, however, is inconsistent with the common account that Peloponnesus was in the hands of the enemy, and that the battle in which Hyllus fell was at the Isthmus. We come now to the common relation of the order of events.
5. According to this account, the Heraclidæ, after the death of their father, were in Trachis with their host Ceyx, who generously protected them for a time, but was afterwards forced, by the threats of Eurystheus, to refuse them any longer refuge; Ceyx, according to Hecatæus,198 was compelled to say to them, “I have not the power to assist you; withdraw therefore to another nation;” and upon this they sought an asylum in Attica. Those early historians, however, who stated that Hercules died as king in Mycenæ, gave an entirely different account of this circumstance, viz., that Eurystheus, after the death of Hercules, expelled his sons, and again usurped the dominion,199 and they fled in consequence to Attica.
At Athens they sat as suppliants at the altar of Pity, received the protection of Theseus or Demophon, dwelt in the Tetrapolis,200 and fought, together with the Athenians, under the command of Hyllus [pg 060] and Iolaus (to whose prayers the gods had granted a second youth), at the pass of Sciron, a battle against Eurystheus; Macaria (probably an entirely symbolical being, but here the daughter of Hercules) having previously offered herself as an expiatory sacrifice. In this action they conquered the Argive king, whom Alcmene with womanish vengeance put to death, and whose tomb the Athenians showed before the temple of the Pallenian Minerva.201 This is the [pg 061] fable so much celebrated by the tragedians and orators, a locus communis as it were, which the Athenians sometimes even mentioned in their decrees,202 or wherever it served to show how poorly the Peloponnesians had requited their ancient benefactors. What credit a Lacedæmonian would have given to these stories, we know not; Pindar certainly knew nothing of them, for he states that Iolaus had near Thebes received a momentary renewal of youthful vigour for the purpose of putting to death Eurystheus, after which he immediately expired, and was buried by the Thebans in the family tomb of Amphitryon.203 In this account Eurystheus is represented as having been conquered in the neighbourhood of Thebes, and in consequence by a Theban army. It is not however necessary to esteem the Athenian tradition as altogether groundless, and purposely invented: it was probably founded on some actual event, and afterwards modified and embellished. The connecting link was without doubt the temple of Hercules in Attica. It was natural that, if the Athenians worshipped that hero, they should wish to have had the merit of protecting his descendants. Hence the sons of Hercules were said to have dwelt in the Tetrapolis at Marathon, where was the chief temple of Hercules in Attica, and in the neighbourhood of which flowed the fountain Macaria, represented as a daughter of that hero. It was on this account, as is reported, that the entire Tetrapolis was during the Peloponnesian war spared by the Lacedæmonians. Many circumstances, [pg 062] which will hereafter be brought forward, seem to show that an union and intercourse subsisted between the Dorians of Peloponnesus and some of the northern towns of Attica,204 the foundation of which appears to have been laid in the times of the Doric migration, by a settlement of Dorians and Bœotians in these towns. But this settlement had doubtless, when those fables were invented, been already lost in the mass of the Athenian people.
6. After this battle, won by the aid of the Athenians, the Heraclidæ are said (and with good reason, as they were assisted by the Athenians) to have obtained possession of all Peloponnesus, and to have ruled undisturbed for one year (or some fixed period); at the expiration of which, a pestilence (like a tragical catastrophe) drove them back again to Attica. The mythologists make use of this time to send Tlepolemus the Heraclide to Rhodes, in order that he may arrive there before the Trojan war. Of all this, however, Pherecydes could have known nothing, as he relates that Hyllus, having conquered Eurystheus, went to Thebes,205 without subduing Peloponnesus, and there with the other Heraclidæ formed a settlement near the gate of Electra, a circumstance which we shall advert to hereafter.206 In Peloponnesus, however, according to the traditions chronologically arranged, Eurystheus was succeeded by the Pelopidæ, who accordingly appear as the expellers of the legitimate sovereigns of the race of Perseus.207 Whether [pg 063] any such circumstance was known to the early poets is very much to be doubted; but it is at least clear, that in this case we are not in possession of the real tradition itself, but of scientific combinations of it. Against these new sovereigns were directed the expeditions of the Heraclidæ, of which it is generally stated that there were three. The account given of them follows the general idea of an entire dependence of the Dorians on the Delphian oracle;208 but the misconception of its injunctions, which embarrasses and perplexes the whole question, may, we think, be attributed entirely to the invention of the Athenians. The oracle mentioned the third fruit, and the narrow passage by sea (στενυγρὰ), as the time and way of the promised return, which the Athenians falsely interpreted to mean the third year, and the Isthmus of Corinth. But the account given in Apollodorus, nearly falling into Iambic or Trochaic metre, leaves no doubt that he took his account of the oracle from the Attic tragedians,209 as was remarked above. Deceived by these predictions, Hyllus forced his way into Peloponnesus in the third year, and found at the Isthmus the Arcadians, Ionians, and Achæans of the peninsula already assembled. In a single combat with Echemus the son of Aëropus, the prince of Tegea, Hyllus fell, [pg 064] and was buried in Megara; upon which the Heraclidæ promised not to renew the attempt for fifty or one hundred years from that time.210 Here every one will recognise the battle of the Tegeate with the Hyllean as an ancient tradition. But in the arrangement, by which it was contrived that the expeditions of the Heraclidæ should not be placed during the Trojan war and the youth of Orestes, we do not hesitate to suspect the industry of ancient systematic mythologists.
7. When the Heraclidæ had been once separated from the Dorians as belonging to a different race, and Hyllus set down as only the adopted son of the Doric king, it immediately became a matter of doubt at what time the junction of the Dorians and Heraclidæ in one expedition should be fixed. Sometimes the Dorians are represented as joining the Heraclidæ before the first, sometimes before the second, sometimes before the third expedition; by one writer as setting out from Hestiæotis, and by another from Parnassus.211 There were doubtless no real traditional grounds for any one report; and still less any sufficient to place the name Hyllus, and the events connected with it, at any fixed epoch. Hence also Hyllus is at one time called the contemporary of Atreus, and at another of Orestes;212 Pamphylus and Dymas are stated to have lived from the time of Hercules to the conquest of Peloponnesus.213 Nor is there any absurdity in this, inasmuch as they are the collective names of races which existed throughout [pg 065] this whole period. The descendants of Hyllus, however, are no longer races, but, as it appears, real persons; viz., his son Cleodæus,214 and his grandson Aristomachus. These names stood at the head of the genealogy of the Heraclidæ; as, for example, of the kings of Sparta; and they can hardly have been mere creations of fancy. From their succession is probably calculated the celebrated epoch of the expedition of the Heraclidæ, viz., 80 years after the Trojan war, which was without doubt determined by the early historians, since Thucydides was acquainted with it. The Alexandrine critics generally adopted it, as we know expressly of Eratosthenes, Crates, and Apollodorus.215 But all that is recounted of the expeditions of these two princes, however small in amount,216 cannot have been acknowledged by those who, like Herodotus, and probably all the early writers, stated the armistice after the death of Hyllus as lasting 100 years.217
8. At length Apollo himself opens the eyes of the Heraclidæ to the meaning of the oracle. It was not across the Isthmus, but over the Straits of Rhium, that they were to cross into Peloponnesus, and after the third generation had died away. They therefore first sailed from Naupactus, to the Molycrian promontory (Antirrhium), and thence to Rhium in Peloponnesus, which was only five stadia distant.218 That the Dorians [pg 066] actually came on that side into Peloponnesus, is a statement which may be looked on as certain; agreeing (as it does) with the fact that the countries near the Isthmus were the last to which the Dorians penetrated. The name Naupactus implies the existence of ship-building there in early times;219 and there was a tradition that the Heraclidæ passed over on rafts, imitations of which were afterwards publicly exposed at a festival, and called Στεμματιαῖα, i.e. crowned with garlands.220 This festival was doubtless the Carnea, since the Carnean Apollo was worshipped at Sparta under the name of Stemmatias. Now it is also stated that the Acarnanian soothsayer Carnus (who was reported to have founded the worship of the Carnean Apollo) was killed at the time of this expedition by Hippotes the son of Phylas, for which reason the Heraclidæ offered expiatory sacrifices to his memory.221 We see from this that some rites of a peculiar worship of Apollo were observed at this passage, which were probably for the most part of an expiatory nature. Now I have shown elsewhere, that the Carnean or Hyacinthian worship of [pg 067] the Ægidæ originated at Thebes, and prevailed in Peloponnesus before the arrival of the Dorians, particularly at Amyclæ:222 consequently, that prevalent near the straits of Naupactus might have been another, probably an Acarnanian223 branch of the religion of Apollo, which was afterwards incorporated in the Carnean festival; a supposition which, if admitted, would enable us to explain many statements of ancient authors. The religious rites and festivals are in fact often so intermingled and confused together, that it is necessary to trace their component parts to many and distant sources.
9. At their passage from Naupactus the Dorians stood in great need of the friendship and assistance of the native races, the Ozolian Locrians and Ætolians. The Locrians occupied Naupactus in early times;224 the Ætolians were their immediate neighbours, and their powerful city of Calydon was the mistress of the region. The Locrians are said to have aided the Dorians in their passage, by deceiving the Peloponnesians with false beacons;225 and we shall meet hereafter with traces of a lasting amity between the Locrians and Sparta. A most singular, but, doubtless for that very reason, a most ancient dress, has been given by mythology to the union of the Dorians and Ætolians. This connexion, which was indispensable for the passage from Naupactus, is also found implied in other legends, the general [pg 068] character of tradition being to express the same thing in various ways. Of these we may mention the marriage of Hercules with Deianira, the daughter of Œneus the Calydonian.226 At this time the Dorians were ordered by the oracle to seek a person with three eyes for a leader. This person they recognised in Oxylus the Ætolian, who either sat upon a horse, himself having one eye, or rode upon a one-eyed mule. Difficult as it is to rest satisfied with this interpretation of the oracle, so casual a circumstance having no connexion with the general course of events, yet it appears impossible to discover the true meaning of the word τριόφθαλμος.227 In all probability this expression for the whole Ætolian race was only delivered in a mythical shape, and the sorry explanation was not invented until a late period.228 The family of Oxylus is stated to have come from Calydon; so that the Ætolians (who in later times made themselves masters of Elis) appear to have come for the most part from that place.229 There existed, however, an ancient alliance and affinity between the inhabitants of Elis, the Epeans, and the Ætolians who dwelt on the farther side of the Corinthian gulf; and Oxylus himself was said to have originally belonged to Elis;230 hence it does not appear that there was any actual war between these two states, but only that the Ætolians were received by the Eleans, and admitted to [pg 069] the rights of citizenship;231 and at the same time the same honours were permitted to the heroes and heroines of the Ætolians as to their own.232
10. The systematised tradition next makes mention of a battle which took place between the united force of Peloponnesus, under the command of Tisamenus, the grandson of Agamemnon, and the sons of Aristomachus; in which the latter were victorious, and Peloponnesus fell into their possession. According as it suits the object of the narrator, this engagement is either represented to have been both by sea and land, and to have taken place at the passage,233 or after the march through Arcadia. We may fairly suppose that it was inferred merely on probable grounds that a battle must have been fought by Tisamenus, whom the tradition represented as prince of the Achæans at the capture of Ægialea.234 Many traditions agree in stating that the Heraclidæ at that time took the road through Arcadia; Oxylus is said to have led them by this way, [pg 070] that they might not be envious of his fertile territory of Elis;235 Cresphontes is moreover stated to have been the brother-in-law of Cypselus king of Arcadia, who had his royal seat at Basilis, on the Alpheus, in the country of the Parrhasians.236
11. Next comes the division of Peloponnesus among the three brothers Temenus, Cresphontes, and Aristodamus, or his sons. We have to thank the tragedians alone for the invention and embellishment of this fable;237 that it contains little or no truth is at once evident; for it was not till long after this time that the Dorians possessed the larger part of Peloponnesus;238 and a division of lands not yet conquered is without example in Grecian history. At the same time it is related that, upon the altars whereon the brothers sacrificed to their grandfather Zeus, there was found a frog for Argos, a snake for Sparta, and a fox for Messenia. It seems however probable that these are mere symbols, by which the inventors (perhaps the hostile Athenians) [pg 071] attempted to represent the character of those nations. For it cannot be supposed that national arms or ensigns are meant; unless indeed we give credit to the pretended discovery of Fourmont, who affirms that he found in the temple of the Amyclæan Apollo a shield with the inscription of Teleclus as general (βάγος), with a snake in the middle; and another of Anaxidamus, with a snake and two foxes.239 But he has represented the shield of so extraordinary a form, with sharp ends, and indentures on the sides, that the fraud is at once open to detection; and consequently the supposition that the snake was the armorial bearing of Sparta remains entirely unfounded.240
12. Although we cannot here give a complete account of the great revolution which the irruption of the Dorians universally produced in the condition of the different races of Greece,241 it may nevertheless be remarked, that a very large portion of the Achæans, who originally came from Phthia, retired to the northern coast of Peloponnesus, and compelled the Ionians to pass over to Attica. The reduction of the principal fortress of this country, the Posidonian Helice, is ascribed to Tisamenus; and that Helice was in fact the abode of the most distinguished families of the Achæan nation is evident from the legend, that Oxylus the Ætolian, at the command of the oracle, shared the dominion [pg 072] with Agorius, a Pelopid, who was descended from Penthilus the son of Orestes, and dwelt at Helice.242 The chronological difficulty of Oxylus being called the cotemporary of a grandson of Penthilus is not of much importance. At Helice was also shown the tomb of Tisamenus, whose supposed ashes the Spartans (doubtless with the idea of thus making amends for the injustice of his expulsion) afterwards brought to their city, as they also did the corpse of Orestes at Tegea.243 But hereupon follows a series of migrations to Æolis in Asia, which was founded in later times, in which the numbers of the Achæan race predominated. Although Orestes is called a leader of the first expedition,244 he probably is only put for his descendants: Penthilus also is perhaps put only for that part of his descendants who went with the colony to Lesbos and Æolis. For all the Penthilidæ did not go; we find indeed Penthilidæ in Mitylene;245 and others at Helice, as we have just seen. Pisander, a Laconian Achæan, is also mentioned as having gone with the expedition of Orestes; and there were men of his family in Tenedos at the time of Pindar.246
1. So wonderful is the physical organization of Greece, that each of its parts has received its peculiar destination and a distinct character; it is like a body whose members are different in form, but between which a mutual connexion and dependence necessarily exists. The northern districts as far as Thessaly are the nutritive organs which from time to time introduced fresh and vigorous supplies: as we approach the south, its structure assumes a more marked and decided form, and is impressed with more peculiar features. Attica and the islands may be considered as extremities, which, as it were, served as the active instruments for the body of Greece, and by which it was kept in constant connexion with others; while Peloponnesus, on the other hand, seems formed for a state of life, occupied more with its own than external concerns, and whose interests and feelings centred in itself. As it was the extremity of Greece, there also appeared to be an end set by nature to all change of place and habitation; and hence the character of the Peloponnesians was firm, steady, and exclusive. With good reason therefore was the region where these principles predominated considered by the Greeks as the centre and acropolis247 [pg 074] of their countries; and those who possessed it were universally acknowledged to rank as first in Greece.
2. This character of Peloponnesus will become more evident, if we examine the peculiar nature of its mountain-chains. Though the Isthmus of Corinth connected the peninsula with the continent by a narrow neck of land, yet it was not traversed in its whole length by any continuous chain of mountains; the Œnean hills being entirely separated from the mountains of Peloponnesus.248 The principal elevations in Peloponnesus form very nearly a circle, the circumference of which passes over the mountains of Pholoë, Lampe, Aroanius, Cyllene, Artemisium, Parthenium, and Parnon; then over Boreum, and from thence up to the northern rise of mount Taygetus, and finally over mount Lycaon along the river Alpheus. The highest ridge appears to be that part of Cyllene which looks to Parnon: the height of Cyllene, according to the statement of Dicæarchus,249 was not quite 15 stadia; according to another measurement, it was nine stadia wanting 80 feet;250 a considerable height, when it is remembered that the sea is near, and that Peloponnesus is the last link of the great chain, which runs down from the north of Macedonia. But the eastern plains also, for instance that of Tegea, are at a great height [pg 075] above the sea, and are often covered with snow late in the spring.251 Now from the circle of mountains which has been pointed out, all the rivers of any note take their rise; and from it all the mountainous ranges diverge, which form the many headlands and points of Peloponnesus. The interior part of the country however has only one opening towards the western sea, through which all its waters flow out united in the Alpheus. The peculiar character of this inland tract is also increased by the circumstance of its being intersected by some lower secondary chains of hills, which compel the waters of the valleys nearest to the great chains either to form lakes, or to seek a vent by subterraneous passages.252 Hence it is that in the mountainous district in the north-east of Peloponnesus many streams disappear, and again emerge from the earth. This region is Arcadia; a country consisting of ridges of hills and elevated plains, and of deep and narrow valleys, with streams flowing through channels formed by precipitous rocks; a country so manifestly separated by nature from the rest of Peloponnesus, that, although not politically united, it was always considered in the light of a single community. Its climate was extremely cold; the atmosphere dense, particularly in the mountains to the north:253 the effect which this had on the character and dispositions of the inhabitants has been described in a masterly manner by Polybius, himself a native of Arcadia.
3. Laconia is formed by two mountain-chains [pg 076] running immediately from Arcadia, and enclosing the river Eurotas, whose source is separated from that of an Arcadian stream by a very trifling elevation. The Eurotas is, for some way below the city of Sparta, a rapid mountain-stream; then, after forming a cascade, it stagnates into a morass; but lower down it passes over a firm soil in a gentle and direct course.254 Near the town of Sparta rocks and hills approach the banks on both sides, and almost entirely shut in the river both above and below the town:255 this enclosed plain is without doubt the “hollow Lacedæmon” of Homer.256 Here the narrowness of the valley, and the heights of Taygetus, projecting above in a lofty parapet, increase the heat of summer, both by concentrating the sun-beams, as it were, into a focus, and by presenting a barrier to the cool sea-breezes;257 whilst in winter the cold is doubly violent. The same natural circumstances produce violent storms of rain, and the numerous mountain-torrents frequently cause inundations in the narrow valleys.258 The mountains, although running in connected chains, are yet very much interrupted; their broken and rugged forms were by the ancients attributed to earthquakes;259 one of which caused so great consternation at Sparta a short time before the war with the Helots. The country is not however destitute of plains; that indeed along the lower part of the Eurotas is one of the finest in Greece, [pg 077] stretching towards the south, and protected by mountains from the north wind: moreover, the maritime district, surrounded by rocks, from Malea to Epidaurus Limera (Malvasia), is extremely fertile.260 Nor are the valleys on the frontiers of Messenia less productive; towards the promontory of Tænarum however the soil continually becomes harder, drier, and more ferruginous. The error of supposing that this country was nearly a desert appears from the very large number of its vegetable productions mentioned by Theophrastus and others: Alcman and Theognis also celebrate its wines: vines were planted up to the very summit of mount Taygetus, and laboriously watered from fountains in forests of plane-trees;261 the country was in this respect able to provide for its own wants. But the most valuable product, in the estimation of the new inhabitants, was doubtless the iron of the mountains.262 More fortunate still was the situation of the country for purposes of defence, the interior of Laconia being only accessible from Arcadia, Argolis, and Messenia by narrow passes and mountain-roads; and the most fertile part is the least exposed to the inroads of enemies from those quarters: the want of harbours263 likewise contributes to the natural isolation of Laconia from other lands. Euripides has on the whole very successfully seized the peculiar character of the country in the following lines, and contrasted it with the more favoured territory of Messenia:264
[pg 078]For along the banks of the Pamisus (which, notwithstanding the shortness of its course, is one of the broadest rivers in Peloponnesus), down to the Messenian bay, there runs a large and beautiful valley, justly called Macaria, or “The Happy,” and well worth the artifice by which Cresphontes is said to have obtained it. To the north, more in the direction of Arcadia, lies the plain of Stenyclarus, surrounded by a hilly barrier. The western part of the country is more mountainous, though without any such heights as mount Taygetus; towards the river Neda, on the frontiers of Arcadia, the country assumes a character of the wildest and most romantic beauty.
4. Argolis is formed by a ridge of hills which branches from Mount Cyllene and Parthenium in Arcadia, and is connected with it by a mountain-chain, very much broken, and abounding in ravines and [pg 079] caverns (hence called Τρητὸν);265 through which runs the celebrated Contoporia,266 a road cut out, as it were, between walls of rock, connecting Argos with Corinth. By similar passes Cleonæ, Nemea, and Phlius, more to the south, and eastwards Mycenæ, Tiryns, and Epidaurus, were connected; and this natural division into many small districts had a considerable effect upon the political state of Argos. The southern part of this chain ends in a plain, at the opening of which, and near the pass just alluded to, was situated Mycenæ, and in a wider part of it the city of Argos. The nature of this anciently cultivated plain is very remarkable; it was, as is evident, gradually formed by the torrents which constantly filled up the bay between the mountains; and hence it was originally little else than fen and morass.267 Inachus, “the stream,” and Melia, the daughter of Oceanus, “the damp valley” (where ash-trees, μελίαι, grow), were called the parents of the ancient Argives; and the epithet “thirsty” (πολυδίψιον Ἄργος), which is applied to Argos in ancient poems, refers only to the scarcity of spring-water in the neighbourhood of the town. Yet, notwithstanding the rugged nature of the rest of Argolis, there are, both in the interior and near the sea, here and there, small plains, which by the fertility of their soil attract and encourage the husbandman; the south-eastern coast slopes regularly down to the sea. To the north of the mountain-ridge which bounded Argolis, extending from the Isthmus [pg 080] as far as a narrow pass on the boundaries of Achaia, there is a beautiful, and in ancient times highly-celebrated plain, in which Corinth and Sicyon were situated.268 With respect to the progress of civilization at Argos, it is important to know that the mountains between that town and Corinth contain copper:269 accordingly, in the former town the forging of metals appears to have been early introduced; and hence arose the ancient celebrity of the Argive shields.270 But no precious metal has been ever found in any part of Peloponnesus: a circumstance which greatly tended to direct the attention of its inhabitants to agriculture and war, rather than commerce and manufactures.
5. That region which was in later times called Achaia, is only a narrow tract of land along the coast, lying upon the slope of the northern mountain-range of Arcadia. Hence most of the Achæan cities are situated on hills above the sea, and some few in enclosed valleys. The sources of the numerous streams by which the country is watered lie almost without exception in Arcadia, whose frontiers here reach beyond the water-line.
But the lowest slope of Peloponnesus, and the most gradual inclination to the sea, is on the western side; and it is in this quarter that we find the largest extent of champaign country in the peninsula, which, being surrounded by the chain beginning from mounts Scollis and Pholoë, was hence called the Hollow Elis. It was a most happy circumstance that these wide [pg 081] plains enjoyed an almost uninterrupted state of peace. Towards the coast the soil becomes sandy; a broad line of sand stretches along the sea nearly as far as the Triphylian Pylos, which from this circumstance is so frequently spoken of by Homer as “the sandy.”271 As this tract of country is very little raised above the level of the sea, a number of small lakes or lagoons have been formed, which extend along the greatest part of the coast, and are sometimes connected with one another, sometimes with the sea. Such being the nature of the country, the river Alpheus runs gently between low chains of hills and through small valleys into the sea. Towards the south the country becomes more mountainous, and approaches more to the character of Arcadia.
6. If now we picture to ourselves this singular country before the improvements of art and agriculture, it presents to the mind a very extraordinary appearance. The waters of Arcadia are evidently more calculated to fill up the deep ravines and hollows of that country, or to produce irregular inundations, than to fertilise the soil by quiet and gentle streams. The valleys of Stymphalus, Pheneus, Orchomenus, and Caphyæ in Arcadia required canals, dams, &c., before they could be used for the purposes of husbandry. One part of the plain of Argos was carefully drained, in order to prevent it becoming a part of the marshes of Lerna. In the lower part of the course of the Eurotas it was necessary to use some artificial means for confining the river: and that this care was at some time bestowed on it, is evident from the remains of quays,272 which give to the river the appearance [pg 082] of a canal. The ancient Nestorian Pylus was situated on a river (Anigrus), which even now, when it overflows, makes the country a very unhealthy place of residence; and no traveller can pass a night at Lerna without danger. Thus in many parts of Peloponnesus it was necessary, not merely for the use of the soil, but even for the sake of health and safety, to regulate nature by the exertions of art. At the present time, from the inactivity of the natives, the inevitable consequence of oppression, so bad an atmosphere prevails in some parts of the country, that, instead of producing, as formerly, a vigorous and healthy race, one sickly generation follows another to the grave. And that improvements of this kind were begun in the earliest periods, is evident from the fact, that the traces of primitive cities are discovered in those very valleys which had most need of human labour.273 This induction is also confirmed by the evidence of many traditions. The scanty accounts respecting the earliest times of Sparta relate, that Myles, the son of the earth-born Lelex, built mills, and ground corn at Alesiæ; and that he had a son named Eurotas, who conducted the water stagnating in the level plain into the sea by a canal, which was afterwards called by his name.274 Indeed the situation of Sparta seems to imply that the standing water was first drained off:275 nay, even in later times, it was possible, by stopping the course of the river, to lay most of the country between Sparta and the opposite heights under water.276
[pg 083]7. The consideration of these natural circumstances and traditions obliges us to suppose that the races which were looked on as the ancient inhabitants of Peloponnesus (the Pelasgians in the east and north, and the Leleges in the south and west) were the first who brought the land to that state of cultivation in which it afterwards remained in this and other parts of Greece. And perhaps it was these two nations alone to whom the care of husbandry, cattle, and everything connected with the products of the soil, belonged through all times and changes. For, in the first place, the numbers of the invading Achæans, Ionians, and afterwards of the Dorians, were very inconsiderable, as compared with the whole population of Peloponnesus; and, secondly, these races conquered the people as well as the country, and enjoyed an independent and easy life by retaining both in their possession: so that, whatever tribe might obtain the sovereign power, the former nations always constituted the mass of the population. By means of these usurpations agriculture was kept in a constant state of dependence and obscurity, so that we seldom hear of the improvement of the country, which is a necessary part of the husbandman's business. Agriculture was, however, always followed with great energy and success. For in the time of the Peloponnesian war, when the population of Peloponnesus must have been very great, it produced more corn than it consumed, and there was a constant export from Laconia and Arcadia downwards to the coast of Corinth.277
8. It is not with a view of founding any calculation upon them, but merely of giving a general idea of the numerical force of a Greek tribe (which many would [pg 084] suppose to be a large nation), that I offer the following remarks. At the flourishing period of the Doric power, about the time of the Persian war, Sparta, which had then conquered Messenia, contained 8000 families, Argos above 6000; while in Sicyon, Corinth, Phlius, Epidaurus, and Ægina, the Dorians were not so numerous, the constitution being even more oligarchical in those states. Although in the colonies, where they were less confined by want of sufficient space, and by the severity of the laws, the inhabitants multiplied very rapidly, yet the number of original colonists, as many of them as were Dorians, was very small. Now since in the states of Peloponnesus, even after they had been firmly established, the number of inhabitants, particularly of Dorians, never, from several causes, much increased,278 it seems probable that at the time of their first irruption the whole number of their males was not above 20,000.279 Nor were the earlier settlements of Achæans and Ionians more considerable. For the Ionians, as is evident from their traditions, appear as a military race in Attica, and probably formed, though perhaps together with many families of a different origin, one, and certainly the least, of four tribes (the ὅπλητες280). The arrival of the Achæans is represented in ancient traditions in the following simple manner: “Archander and Architeles, the sons of Achæus, having been driven from Phthiotis, came to Argos and Lacedæmon.”281 Their names signify “the ruler,” and “the chief governor.” [pg 085] Certainly the Achæans did not come to till the ground; as is also evident from the fact that, when dislodged by the Dorians, and driven to the northern coast, they took possession of Patræ, dwelt only in the town, and did not disperse themselves into the smaller villages.282
It seems pretty certain that the Dorians migrated together with their wives and children. The Spartans would not have bestowed so much attention as they did on women of a different race; and all the domestic institutions of the Dorians would have been formed in a manner very unlike that which really obtained. This circumstance alone completely distinguishes the migration of the Dorians from that of the Ionians, who having, according to Herodotus, sailed from Attica without any women, took native Carian women for wives, or rather for slaves, who, according to the same writer, did not even dare to address their husbands by their proper names. And this was probably the case with all the early settlements beyond the sea, since the form of the ancient Greek galley hardly admitted of the transport of women.
9. It would have been less difficult to explain by what superiority the Dorians conquered Peloponnesus, had they gained it in open battle. For, since it appears, that Homer describes the mode of combat in use among the ancient Achæans, the method of fighting with lines of heavy armed men, drawn up in close and regular order, must have been introduced into Peloponnesus by the Dorians; amongst whom Tyrtæus describes it as established. And it is evident that the chariots and darts of the Homeric heroes could never have prevailed against the charge of a deep and compact body armed with long lances. But it is more difficult still to comprehend [pg 086] how the Dorians could have entered those inaccessible fortifications, of which Peloponnesus was full; since their nation never was skilful in the art of besieging, and main force was here of no avail. How, I ask, did they storm the citadel of Acro-Corinthus, that Gibraltar of Peloponnesus?283 how the Argive Larissa, and similar fortresses? On these points, however, some accounts have been preserved with regard to the conquest of Argos and Corinth, which, from their agreement with each other, and with the circumstances of the places, must pass as credible historical memorials. From these we learn that the Dorians always endeavoured to fortify some post at a short distance from the ancient stronghold; and from thence ravaged the country by constant incursions, and, kept up this system of vexation and petty attack, until the defenders either hazarded a battle, or surrendered their city. Thus at a late period the places were still shown from whence Temenus and Aletes had carried on contests of this nature with success.284 And even in historical times this mode of waging war in an enemy's country (called ἐπιτειχισμὸς τῃ χώρᾳ) was not unfrequently employed against places, which could not be directly attacked.285