CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



inhabitants of (Jrchomenos to aid the natural out- 

 lets, and the bed of the lake had then been a rich 

 plain. But this tunnel was choked up before 

 history begins. 



The only large river in Greece is the Achelous, 

 now Aspropotamo, which, rising on the western 

 declivities of Pindus, flows south-west into the 

 Ionian Sea at the mouth of the Corinthian Gulf. 

 Alpheius, the chief river of Peloponnesus, after 

 disappearing more than once in subterranean pas- 

 sages among the limestone valleys of Arcadia, 

 flows west into the Ionian Sea. 



The cultivable portion of Greece is small, being 

 . considerably less than half the surface,* and con- 

 fined to the valleys and strips of level land on the 

 coasts. Yet the diluvial and alluvial soil collected 

 in many of the valleys and troughs of the hills is 

 of singular fertility. The richest tracts in modern, 

 as in ancient times, are in the basins of the Peneus 

 in Thessaly, of the Cephissus in Bceotia, of the 

 Achelous in ^Etolia, and the Alpheius in Elis. 

 The greatest hinderance to the fertility of Greece 

 is the deficiency of water. Abundance of rain falls 

 in the autumn and winter months, but little or 

 none during summer. The naked limestone rocks 

 that chiefly compose the mountains retain little of 

 the rain, and there are very few springs. This 

 evil is greatly increased in modern times by the 

 destruction of the forests that once clothed the 

 mountains. 



The climate of Greece is one of the most de- 

 lightful in the world, having a bright sun and 

 cloudless sky, without any very oppressive heat 

 The principal vegetable productions in ancient 

 times were wheat, barley, flax, with the vine and 

 olive ; but the country was, and is, more pastoral 

 than agricultural. It is not rich in metallic minerals, 

 though the mines of Attica were wrought for silver, 

 lead, and copper. 



The chief political divisions of Greece during 

 the historic period were the following : In Pelopon- 

 nesus Arcadia in the centre, surrounded by its 

 mountain boundary ; on the north, Achaia ; east, 

 Argolis ; south, Laconia and Messenia ; and west, 

 Elis. The territories of Corinth and Megara 

 occupied the isthmus ; south-east lay Attica ; 

 north-west of Attica, Bceotia ; next Phocis, chiefly 

 occupied by the heights of Parnassus ; Doris ; 

 Locris, on the channel of Euboea ; and Ozolian 

 Locris, on the Gulf of Corinth. West of the 

 central range lay ^Etolia and Acarnania, separated 

 by the river Achelous. The chief Hellenic state 

 north of Mount CEta and Thermopylae was Thes- 

 saly ; Macedonia was not, till a late period, con- 

 sidered as belonging to Hellas. Intimately con- 

 nected with Greece, and forming part of it, are 

 a multitude of islands. The long, lofty, and naked 

 backbone of Eubcea appears as a prolongation of 

 the Ossa and Othrys mountains. Further south 

 is the group which was called the Cyclades, and 

 to the east of these the Sporades, near the coast 

 of Asia. To the south of these groups lie two 

 large islands Crete and Rhodes ; and off the 

 southern coast of Laconia, the island of Cythera. 

 Between Attica and Argolis was the Saronic Gulf, 

 containing the celebrated island of Salamis, which 

 was reckoned part of Attica : here, too, was JEgina, 

 its hated rival. In the Ionian Sea were Corcyra, 

 opposite Epeirus ; Ithaca and Cephallenia, opposite 



* The surface of modern Greece is stated at 12 million English 

 acres. 



Acarnania ; and Zacynthus, near the coast of 

 Elis. 



Such is a brief description of Hellas Proper. 

 But the Greek race had planted numerous colonies 

 on the coasts of Asia Minor, of Africa, Italy, Sicily, 

 and other parts of the Mediterranean ; and wher- 

 ever the Hellenic tongue was spoken and Hellenic 

 ideas and usages prevailed, that was considered 

 as forming part of Hellas, no less than Athens or 

 Sparta. The history of Greece, then, must em- 

 brace these colonies. 



THE HELLENES, OR PEOPLE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 



The configuration of Hellas, as described above, 

 was peculiarly calculated to foster a large number 

 of independent communities, separated from each 

 other by mountain-chains, but open to foreign 

 intercourse by the sea, which was accessible to 

 almost every state of Greece. Accordingly, we 

 find that each of the principal cities was founded 

 in one of the small plains or valleys we have 

 described, and grew up in solitary independence 

 of all the world besides. 



To a modern reader, accustomed to large polit- 

 ical aggregations, it requires a certain mental 

 effort to suppose a time when even the smallest 

 town clung so tenaciously to its right of self-legis- 

 lation ; nevertheless, this multiplicity of self-govern- 

 ing cities was a phenomenon common to ancient 

 Europe, and placed it in singular contrast with the 

 extensive monarchies of Asia; but it appears more 

 marked among the Greeks than anywhere else ; 

 and doubtless they owed it to the multitude of in- 

 sulating boundaries which the configuration of 

 their country presented. 



Though politically disunited, the inhabitants of 

 Greece had some intimate bonds of union. They 

 were, according to their own belief, all of one 

 blood, boasting their descent from one common 

 ancestor, H ELLEN, after whom they called them- 

 selves Hellenes, while they stigmatised every other 

 people as barbarians. They all spoke the same 

 language, though broken into numerous dialects ; 

 and, whatever might be the diversity of their 

 manners or character, there were some important 

 points in which they resembled each other, while 

 they differed from the most celebrated of the sur- 

 rounding nations. Polygamy, the selling of chil- 

 dren into slavery, the deliberate mutilation of the 

 person, and the immolation of human victims to 

 the gods, generally prevailed among the contem- 

 poraneous Egyptians, Carthaginians, Persians, and 

 Thracians ; but such practices were utterly abhor- 

 rent to the Hellenic mind. On the other hand, the 

 cultivation of gymnastic exercises by public contests 

 was common to all the Hellenes, but unknown, so 

 far as appears, to any of their neighbours. 



This people were united, likewise, by a com- 

 munity of religion and literature. They wor- 

 shipped the same gods, and held sacred the same 

 localities. They had a common stock of legends, 

 maxims, and metaphors, embodied in the works of 

 Homer and other early poets, which were familiar 

 to all, and acknowledged by all as the standards 

 of literary language. So also the councils called 

 Amphictyonies, and the games known to us as 

 the Olympic, the Pythian, the Nemean, and the 

 Isthmian, presented opportunities of mutual inter- 

 course to brethren habitually isolated from each 

 other. 



