HISTORY OF GREECE. 



By what circumstances, or out of what elements, 

 this Hellenic family was formed, we know not. 

 There were indeed traditions of Pelasgi, Leleges, 

 Curetes, and other peoples, as previous inhabitants 

 of Greece, but the whole is without evidence, and 

 belongs to legend rather than history. 



As little do we know of the foreign influences 

 which were brought to bear on them. The legends 

 tell of colonies led from Egypt and Asia into 

 Greece. One colony is said to have been founded 

 at Thebes, in Bceotia, by Cadmus, a Phoenician, 

 from whom the Greeks learned the art of writing. 

 Doubtless, the use of letters was derived from the 

 Phoenicians ; but with this exception there is little 

 trace of the impress of any of these nations in the 

 earliest Greeks. 



The religious and historic legends, or myths, as 

 they are called, to which we have referred as the 



common property of all the Hellenes, and the 

 festivals which drew so many of them together at 

 certain seasons, exercised so great an influence 

 on the character and history of this remarkable 

 people, that they demand more special notice. 



THE GODS OF GREECE. 



The legendary history of Greece begins with a 

 history of the gods, whom it represents as both 

 pre-existent and superior to men ; and it gradually 

 descends first to heroes, then to the ordinary race 

 of human beings. 



The numerous gods of ancient Greece were 

 conceived after the model of human nature, but 

 not on the same scale. They had the same appe- 

 tites, passions, and affections that disturb the soul 

 of man, but were at the same time invested with 



Pluto and Proserpina, with the dog Cerberus. 



Chronos. 



Jupiter. 



immensely greater powers, and gifted with immor- 

 tality. Beings thus imagined were peculiarly suit- 

 able subjects for adventure and narrative ; and the 

 inventive fancy of the Greeks had full play in the 

 fabrication of legends illustrative of their respec- 

 tive characters and attributes. 



The earliest mythical events are the proceedings 

 of certain gigantic agents the collision of certain 

 terrific forces, which were ultimately reduced 

 under the more orderly government of Zeus or 

 Jupiter, with whom begins a new dynasty, and a 

 different order of beings. 



Neptune. 



Zeus divided the sovereignty of the universe 

 with his two brothers Poseidon (Neptune) and 

 Hades (Pluto). He retained for himself the aether 

 and the atmosphere, together with the general 

 presiding function. Poseidon obtained the sea, 

 while Hades ruled the world of shades. These 

 deities, with their sisters and divine progeny, com- 

 prehended the gods worshipped by the early 



Apollo. 



Greeks. Twelve were especially called the great 

 Olympic gods, being supposed to dwell on the 

 heights of Mount Olympus, and to form the divine 

 agora, or council of the gods, which was held 

 there. 



(i.) Zeus or Jupiter, the chief of the gods, is 

 said to have been the son of Chronos, one of the 

 Titans, who sprang from Uranus and Ge (the 



