Hercules and Bull. (From a bas-relief in the Vatican.)

CHAPTER IV.

RETURN OF THE HERACLIDÆ INTO PELOPONNESUS, AND FOUNDATION OF THE EARLIEST GREEK COLONIES.

§1. The mythical character of the narrative of these events. § 2. Migration of the Boeotians from Thessaly into Boeotia. §3. Conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians. 84. The legendary account of this event. The invasion. § 5. The legendary account continued. The division of Peloponnesus among the conquerors. § 6. Remarks upon the legendary account. §7. Foundation of the Greek colonies in Asia Minor. 88. The Æolic colonies. § 9. The Ionic colonies. § 10. The Doric colonies. § 11. Colonization of Crete by the Dorians. § 12. Conclusion of the Mythical age.

§ 1. At the commencement of Grecian history in the first Olympiad we find the greater part of Peloponnesus occupied by tribes of Dorian conquerors, and the western shores of Asia Minor covered by Greek colonies. The time at which these settlements were made is quite uncertain. They belong to a period long antecedent to all historical records, and were known to the Greeks of a later age by tradition alone. The accounts given of them are evidently fabulous, but at the same time these stories are founded upon a basis of historical truth. That Peloponnesus was at some early period conquered by the Dorians, and that Greek colonies were planted in Asia, are facts which admit of no dis

much esteemed. It was deemed more honourable for a man to enrich himself by robbery and piracy than by the arts of peace. The trade of the Mediterranean was then exclusively in the hands of the Phoenicians, who exchanged the commodities of the East for the landed produce and slaves of the Greek chiefs. Commerce was carried on by barter; for coined money is not meňtioned in the poems of Homer. Statuary was already cultivated in this age, as we see from the remains of Mycenæ, already mentioned; and although no paintings are spoken of in Homer, yet his descriptions of the works of embroidery prove that his contemporaries must have been acquainted with the art of design. Whether the Greeks were acquainted at this early period with the art of writing is a question that has given rise to much dispute, and which will demand our attention when we come to speak of the origin of the Homeric poems. Poetry, however, was cultivated with success, though yet confined to epic strains, or the narration of the exploits and adventures of the Heroic chiefs. The bard sung his own song, and was always received with welcome and honor in the palaces of the nobles.

§ 9. In the state of society already described, men had not yet begun to study those phænomena of nature which form the basis of the physical sciences. They conceived the earth to be a plane surface surrounded by an ever-flowing river called Oceanus, from which every other river and sea derived their waters. The sky was regarded as a solid vault supported by Atlas, who kept heaven and earth asunder. Their geographical knowledge was confined to the shores of Greece and Asia Minor and the principal islands of the Ægean sea. Beyond these limits all was uncertain and obscure. Italy appears to have been unknown to Homer, and Sicily he peoples with the fabulous Cyclops. Libya, Egypt, and Phoenicia were known only by vague hearsay, while the Euxine is not mentioned at all.

§ 10. In the battles of the Heroic age, as depicted in the poems of Homer, the chiefs are the only important combatants, while the people are introduced as an almost useless mass, frequently put to rout by the prowess of a single hero. The chief is mounted in a war-chariot drawn by two horses, and stands by the side of his charioteer, who is frequently a friend. He carries into battle two long spears, and wears a long sword and a short dagger; his person is protected by shield, helmet, breast-plate, and greaves. In the wars, as in the political system, of the Heroic age, the chiefs are every thing and the people nothing.

Hercules and Bull. (From a bas-relief in the Vatican.)

CHAPTER IV.

RETURN OF THE HERACLIDÆ INTO PELOPONNESUS, AND FOUNDATION OF THE EARLIEST GREEK COLONIES.

§1. The mythical character of the narrative of these events. § 2. Migration of the Baotians from Thessaly into Boeotia. § 3. Conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians. § 4. The legendary account of this event. The invasion. § 5. The legendary account continued. The division of Peloponnesus among the conquerors. § 6. Remarks upon the legendary account. §7. Foundation of the Greek colonies in Asia Minor. 88. The Eolic colonies. § 9. The Ionic colonies. § 10. The Doric colonies. § 11. Colonization of Crete by the Dorians. § 12. Conclusion of the Mythical age.

§ 1. At the commencement of Grecian history in the first Olympiad we find the greater part of Peloponnesus occupied by tribes of Dorian conquerors, and the western shores of Asia Minor covered by Greek colonies. The time at which these settlements were made is quite uncertain. They belong to a period long antecedent to all historical records, and were known to the Greeks of a later age by tradition alone. The accounts given of them are evidently fabulous, but at the same time these stories are founded upon a basis of historical truth. That Peloponnesus was at some early period conquered by the Dorians, and that Greek colonies were planted in Asia, are facts which admit of no dis

pute; but whether the conquest of Peloponnesus and the colonization of Asia Minor took place in the manner and at the time described by the ancient legends, is a very different question. These legends are not entitled to more credit than those of Hercules and Theseus, although they are proved in these particular cases to have been fashioned out of real events; for, as we have already said, it is impossible to separate the historical facts from the subsequent embellishments.

§ 2. Before relating the conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians, we must say a few words respecting an earlier, though less celebrated migration, namely, that of the Baotians from Thessaly into Boeotia. The Thessalians were a rude and uncivilized race, who originally dwelt in the district of Epirus called Thesprotia, from which they migrated into the country named after them, Thessaly. These Thessalian conquerors either subdued or expelled the original inhabitants of the country. The Baotians, who inhabited the fertile district of Æolis, in the centre of Thessaly, wandered southwards into the country called after them Boeotia, where they drove out in their turn the ancient inhabitants of the land. According to mythical chronology this event happened in 1124 B.C., or sixty years after the fall of Troy. §3. The conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians is said to have taken place twenty years after the expulsion of the Bootians from Thessaly, and was accordingly placed in 1104 B.C. We have already seen that these dates are of no historical value; and the Dorian conquest of Peloponnesus probably took place after the time of Homer, since neither in the Iliad nor in the Odyssey do we find any traces of Dorians in Peloponnesus. The Dorians were a warlike tribe in northern Greece, who had frequently changed their homes, and who at length settled in a mountainous district between Thessaly, Locris, and Phocis. They now appear for the first time in Grecian history. They had no share in the glories of the Heroic age; their name does not occur in the Iliad, and they are only once mentioned in the Odyssey as a small portion of the many tribes of Crete: but they were destined to form in historical times one of the most important elements of the Greek nation. Issuing from their mountain-fastnesses, they overran the greater part of Peloponnesus, destroyed the ancient Achæan monarchies, and expelled or reduced to subjection the original inhabitants of the land, of which they became the undisputed masters. This brief statement contains all that we know for certain respecting this celebrated event. We now proceed to give the mythical account.

§ 4. The Dorians were led to the conquest of Peloponnesus by the Heraclidæ, or descendants of the mighty hero Hercules.

Hence this migration is called the Return of the Heraclidæ. The children of Hercules had long been fugitives upon the earth. They had made many attempts to regain possession of the dominions in the Peloponnesus, of which their great sire had been deprived by Eurystheus, but hitherto without success. In their last attempt Hyllus, the son of Hercules, had perished in single combat with Echemus of Tegea; and the Heraclidæ had become bound by a solemn compact to renounce their enterprise for a hundred years. This period had now expired; and the greatgrandsons of Hyllus-Temenus, Cresphontes, and Aristodemusresolved to make a fresh attempt to recover their birthright. They were assisted in the enterprise by the Dorians. This people espoused their cause in consequence of the aid which Hercules himself had rendered to the Dorian king, Ægimius, when the latter was hard pressed in a contest with the Lapithæ. The invaders were warned by an oracle not to enter Peloponnesus by the Isthmus of Corinth, but across the mouth of the Corinthian gulf. The inhabitants of the northern coast of the gulf were favourable to their enterprise. Oxylus, king of the Etolians, became their guide; and the Ozolian Locrians granted them a port for building their fleet, from which memorable circumstance the harbour was soon afterwards called Naupactus.* Here Aristodemus was struck with lightning and died, leaving twin sons, Eurysthenes and Procles; but his remaining brothers crossed over the gulf in safety, landed in Achaia, and marched against Tisamenus, son of Orestes, then the most powerful monarch in Peloponnesus. A single battle decided the contest. Tisamenus was defeated, and retired with a portion of his Achæan subjects to the northern coast of Peloponnesus, then occupied by the Ionians. He expelled the Ionians, and took possession of the country, which continued henceforth to be inhabited by the Achæans, and to be called after them. The Ionians withdrew to Attica, and the greater part of them afterwards emigrated to Asia Minor. § 5. The Heraclidæ and the Dorians now divided between them the dominions of Tisamenus and of the other Achæan princes. The kingdom of Elis was given to Oxylus as a recompense for his services as their guide; and it was agreed that Temenus, Cresphontes, and the infant sons of Aristodemus should draw lots for Argos, Sparta, and Messenia. Argos fell to Temenus, Sparta to the sons of Aristodemus, and Messenia to Cresphontes.

The settlement of the conquerors in their new territories is said to have been made with scarcely any opposition. The Epeans, who inhabited Elis, submitted to Oxylus and his EtoFrom vaus, "a ship," and the root ray, which occurs in "fasten," build."

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