CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



it may be observed that slavery prevailed univer- 

 sally, the bond being much more numerous than 

 the free. Where a conquering race had subju- 

 gated the previous inhabitants, the country popu- 

 lation were in a state of serfdom, cultivating the 

 soil for the benefit of the citizens. Such were the 

 helots of Laconia, whose servitude was rendered 

 more galling by the feeling that they were fellow- 

 Greeks with their masters. 



Early Greek Colonies in Asia and the Islands of the jEgxan. 



The legendary history places the settlement of 

 these colonies about three centuries before the 

 First Olympiad. With the opening of authentic 

 history, the whole coast of Asia Minor, from the 

 Propontis southward to Lycia, together with the 

 islands in the yEgaean, was occupied by a succes- 

 sion of Greek cities greatly in advance of the 

 mother-country, both in wealth and civilisation. 

 The cities on the northern portion of the coast 

 and the island of Lesbos were inhabited by ALolic 

 Greeks ; Dorians occupied the southern portion ; 

 and in the middle were the Ionic colonies, com- 

 prehending the islands of Chios, Samos, and the 

 Cyclades. The Ionic colonies were called by the 

 collective name of Ionia, and it was among them 

 that Greek poetry, painting, philosophy, and 

 history were first cultivated. 



Between the years 700 and 530 B.C. the maritime 

 activity of the colonial Greeks made immense 

 progress ; and the ships of Miletus, Phocaea, and 

 Samos gradually spread over all those waters of 

 the Levant that had once been exclusively occupied 

 by the Phoenicians. 



About the year 650 B.C. a band of lonians and 

 Carians were taken into the service of Psammeti- 

 chus, and materially aided him in obtaining the 

 throne. The consequence was that Egypt was 

 thrown open to the Greeks for permanent and 

 friendly intercourse. The Greek mind thus be- 

 came enlarged by the wide field of observation 

 presented ; papyrus, the only writing material 

 then known, came into general use, to aid the 

 progress of literature ; and the fine arts made 

 immense advances, probably from the Greeks 

 obtaining from their new friends the knowledge 

 of various technical processes, for want of which 

 their genius had been cramped. 



At the time the Greek colonies first settled in 

 Asia Minor, the native populations seem to have 

 been too disunited and feeble to oppose or interfere 

 with them ; but when the neighbouring monarchy 

 of Lydia had acquired strength, the want of con- 

 federation among the Greek cities made them an 

 easy prey, and accordingly Croesus, the last king 

 of Lydia (560-546 B.C.), subdued them one by one, 

 and rendered them tributary, without, however, 

 interfering with their self-government. Their 

 further history connects itself with the Persian 

 invasion. 



Sicilian Colonies. 



The Greek colonies to the west of the mother- 

 country were, with one exception, formed within 

 the historic period. The exception was Cumae, 

 on the Italian coast, northward from Naples, said 

 to have been planted more than 1000 B.C. by 

 colonists from ALolia. in Asia Minor, and from 

 Chalcis in Eubcea. From 700 to 500 B.C. it was 

 the first city of Italy, but was subdued by the 



90 



Samnites in 420 B.C. The first Sicilian colony 

 was formed at Naxos 735 B.C. and the afterwards 

 mighty Syracuse in the following year. Of 

 the other Greek cities, Gela and Agrigentum 

 were the most important. Phalaris was tyrant 

 of Agrigentum about 570 B.c. and has left a 

 name infamous for cruelty. One of his punish- 

 ments was to shut up his victims in a red- 

 hot brazen bull, the inventor of the instrument 

 being the first to suffer by it. Gelon, despot of 

 Gela, having seized Syracuse (485 B.C.), raised it 

 to an unwonted pitch of wealth and prosperity,, 

 and wielded a power such as no Greek had ever 

 possessed. When Greece was menaced with 

 invasion by Xerxes, the Athenians and Lacedae- 

 monians sent to beg his assistance, which was- 

 refused. In the same year (480 B.C.) that Xerxes 

 invaded Greece, the Carthaginians under Hamil- 

 car invaded Sicily with an immense army, com- 

 posed of various nations, and were defeated at 

 Himera by Gelon ; 150,000 of the invaders are 

 said to have fallen. Gelon was succeeded (478 

 B.C.) by his brother Hieron, a munificent patron 

 of poets and philosophers, but more despotic in 

 his government than his brother had been. His 

 aid being invoked by Cumae against the Etruscans, 

 he gained a great victory (474 B.C.) over the fleet of 

 the latter, and effectually broke their naval power. 



Contemporarily with the colonisation of Sicily, 

 the coasts of Southern Italy from Passtum to 

 Tarentum became studded with flourishing Greek 

 cities, so that this part of the peninsula was known 

 as Magna Graecia. The native tribes, called 

 CEnotrians, as well as their kindred, the Sikels of 

 Sicily, seem to have all belonged to the great 

 family of nations known as Pelasgian, of which 

 the Greeks themselves were a branch, so that 

 they readily amalgamated with the colonists, and 

 became partially Hellenised. 



The earliest as well as the most prosperous of 

 these cities were Sybaris and Croton, both Achaean 

 settlements (720 and 710 B.C.), and situated on the 

 Gulf of Tarentum. The walls of Sybaris were 

 fifty stadia, or nearly six miles in circumference ; 

 those of Croton were little less than twelve ; and 

 both enjoyed an extensive dominion from sea to 

 sea across the peninsula, dividing between them 

 the whole length of the Tarentine coast. 



It was during the sixth century B.C that these 

 cities reached the maximum of their power. They 

 even surpassed the prosperous cities of Sicily ; 

 while their luxury, organisation, industry, and 

 political power formed a striking contrast with 

 Hellas Proper, which had poverty for a foster- 

 sister. A Sybarite has become a proverb for 

 luxury and effeminacy. The habits of the Cro- 

 tonians were more active, and they furnished 

 numerous victors at the Olympic games. The 

 celebrated philosopher Pythagoras made Croton 

 his residence (540 B.C.), where he introduced a 

 system of mystic and ascetic observances, and 

 induced multitudes to abandon their luxurious 

 mode of living, and practise purity and self-denial. 

 A contest having arisen between Croton and 

 Sybaris, it ended in the total defeat of the Syba- 

 rites, and the demolition of their city, 510 B.C. 

 From this time, the Greek cities began to decline. 



These have been noted as among the first and. 

 most important of the early colonies of Greece ; 

 but similar establishments studded all the shores 

 of the Mediterranean, which thus became a kind 



c 



