134 Natural-Historical Collections. 



were the fifst civilized of all the Greek tribes. It was by them that the wor- 

 ship of Apollo and the cultivation of the arts were introduced. 



The Greek religion partook, at its commencement, of the Indian and Egyptian 

 religions, from which it originated. The island of Samothrace, in which the 

 most ancient mysteries were established, had divinities whose names still indicate 

 the metaphysical ideas which were attached to them. In Thrace, the part of the 

 continent nearest to that island, Orpheus instituted religious forms, which resem- 

 ble those of the east. The influence of Cecrops, however, prevailed, and pure 

 anthropomorphism was generally established. 



This Orpheus was a priest and a poet at the same time. There are attributed 

 to him a collection of hymns, and some works in which are found details respect- 

 ing plants and stones, but only considered in their relation to theurgy. Nearly at 

 the same epoch, Chiron, it is said, studied their properties with the view of apply- 

 ing them to medicine. 



Chiron and Orpheus are reckoned among the heroes who, under the name of 

 Argonauts, went to Colchis to the conquest of the golden fleece. It is probable 

 that this expedition is not the representation of a single fact, but rather the ex- 

 pression of the commerce which was established by way of the Black Sea with 

 the tribes of the Caucasus. Even Orpheus and Chiron might be nothing else 

 than the poetical representation of the first efforts for the cultivation of the neces- 

 sary arts. Be this as it may, the family of the Asclepiadee, which began to be 

 noted about this period, that is about 1300 years before Christ, made real efforts 

 for the advancement of civilization. 



A century after, the famous Trojan war took place, in which was displayed a 

 struggle between the Europeans and Asiatics. The poems of Homer, which were 

 written about the year 950, that is to say, about 200 years after the event, show 

 us that the arts at this epoch were already considerably advanced, those of forg- 

 ing and tempering the metals, polishing and gilding armour, manufacturing 

 cloth, dyeing with brilliant colours, being successfully practised. Sculpture and 

 painting had also been invented. 



The Iliad and Odyssey contain some moral maxims ; but no traces of a philo- 

 sophical, nor even of a strictly religious doctrine, are seen in them. The gods 

 are only men, more beautiful and stronger, but stiU vulnerable, and differing from 

 other men only in possessing the faculty of concealing themselves from the view, 

 and ascending in the air. 



The comparisons with natural objects, which occur so frequently in the verses 

 of Homer, show that at this period correct observations had been made on the 

 manners of animals. When that poet compares a hero, pursued by common 

 warriors, to a lion assailed by jackals, the representation which he gives of the 

 habits of the latter is as correct as brilliant. 



Hesiod may be considered as the contemporary of Homer, for his two works 

 bear the impress of the same epoch. In his Theogony, we see mythological an- 

 thropomorphism in aU its purity. In the history of the giants and Titans, there 

 are hardly perceived a few traces of pantheism. In his book of Days aud Hours, 

 Hesiod inculcates upon men the necessity of labour, and gives them some rules 

 calculated for their guidance. He speaks of the cultivation of wheat, of the time 

 proper for tilling and sowing, &c. It is to be remarked, that he always indicates 

 the time proper for these operations by the heliacal rising of a star, which proves 

 that if the lunar year was already established in Greece, it was at least little used 

 in domestic life, its mode of division necessarily rendering it inconvenient. He- 

 siod, in his book, names a certain number of plants, and describes their pro- 

 perties. 



Such was the state of knowledge in Greece, in the ninth century before our 

 era. 



It was during the time that elapsed between the Trojan war and the birth of 

 Homer and Hesiod, that the colonies which directed themselves towards the 

 coasts of Asia Minor went forth. Their emigration took place in consequence of 



