431 



ARGENTON-SUR-CREUSE. 



ARGOS. 



182 



through the Argentine Provinces, 1853; Surveying Voyages of the 

 Adventure and Beagle ; Capt. Robert Fitzroy, R. N., Sailing Directions 

 for South America, second edition, published by order of the Hoard of 

 Admiralty, 1851 ; Capt. L. B. Mackinnon, R.N., Steam Warfare on the 

 Parana; Darwins's Geology of South America; Journal of Researches, 

 etc. ; Miers, Travels in Chile and La Plata ; Beaumont's Travels in 

 Buenos Ayres, <kc.; Andrews, Journey from Buenos Ayres, <tc., to 

 Santiago in Chile, <tc. , Temple's Travels in various Parts of Peru ; 

 Caldcleugh'a Travels in South America; An Account of the United 

 Provinces of Bio de la Plata, by Ignacio Nunez ; Pedro de Angeli's 

 Coleccion de Obras y Documentos, <kc. ; London Geographical Journal, 

 and Transactions of Geological Society, various volumes, &c.) 



ARGENTON-SUR-CREUSE. [INDBE.] 



A'HGOLIS during the period of Greek independence meant the 

 territory of the city of Argos, but under the Romans it had a more 

 extended sense and comprised the whole peninsula in the north-east 

 of the Peloponnesus between the Argolic and Saronic gulfs. It was 

 bounded N. by the territories of Corinth and Sicyon ; E. by the 

 Saronic Gulf; S. by the Myrtoan Sea and the Argofic Gulf; and W. 

 by Arcadia, from which it was separated by mountains named 

 Artemiium and Parthenium from their highest summits, between 

 5000 and 6000 feet high. Pausanias (viii. 6) mentions several passes 

 from the plain of Argolis into Arcadia, two of which were respectively 

 i. vi -r the ranges of Parthenium and Artemisium. Argolis lies between 

 37 12' and 37 46' N. lat., and extended from 22 32' to 23 33' E. long. 

 Its greatest length, measured in a straight line along its western frontier 

 from Laconia to Corinthia, was nearly 38 miles, and the peninsular 

 part of it varied from 25 to 11 miles in breadth. Mr. Clinton 

 calculates (' Fasti Hell.' L 385) its area at 1059 square miles. 



Argolis is traversed by a ridge of mountains which run nearly in a 

 continued line through the peninsula, from Cyllene on its western 

 frontier eastward to Cape Scyllocuin, now Skyllo ; these mountains 

 are intersected by deep valleys, through which flow rivulets, generally 

 dry during summer. Arachnseum is the ancient name of part of this 

 range, which was crossed on the road from Argos to Epidaurus. The 

 valleys are most numerous and of greatest breadth on the southern 

 side of this ridge, but none of them are of any great extent. The 

 coast is of an irregular shape, with numerous indentations, and it is 

 generally low. The only good harbour is Nauplia, the port of Argos, 

 and now called Napoli di Romania ; it is situated at the head of the 

 Argolic Gulf, or gulf of Napoli. 



The site of Argos was 3 miles from the sea in the south-west part 

 of the province, 6 miles S. from Mycenae. Its territory properly 

 called Argolis or Argeia had an area of 524 square miles, being 

 considerably less than the Roman Argolis. On the eastern coast 

 were the three independent republics, Epidaurus, now Pidhavro ; 

 Troezen, now Damala ; and Hermione. On the north were the terri- 

 tories of the cities of Phlius and Cleonae. The only other city of 

 importance in Argolis was Tiryns, the mythological birth-place of 

 H'T'-ules. The district of Cynuria, which was long a subject of 

 contention between Argos and Sparta, lay on the west side of the 

 Argolic Gulf, on the borders of the two states. (Thucyd. ii., 26., iv. 56, 

 tc.) It was finally adjudged to the Argeii by the Romans. 



The plain of Argos screened by the Arachnaean and Arcadian 

 mountains and open only towards the Argolic Gulf, is one of the 

 largest plains in the Peloponnesus, being about 12 miles long and 5 

 miles wide. It consists of two inclined planes which intersect in the 

 water-line of the river Inachus. Of these the eastern one is higher 

 than the western, and so deficient in water as to justify the epithet of 

 ' very thirsty ' by which the plain of Argos is characterised by Homer. 

 The western plain is well watered and towards its southern extremity 

 marshy ; in ancient times it was well drained and fertile. In the 

 southern part of this western side of the plain was the marsh of 

 Lerna which is connected with the fable of the destruction of the 

 Hydra by Hercules a myth most probably representing the successful 

 efforts of the ancient inhabitants in draining the marshy soil and 

 bringing it into cultivation. The Inachus (Bernitza) flows south- 

 westward from its source in Mount Artemisium into the head of the 

 Argolic Gulf. A little east of Argos it received on the right the 

 Charadrus (Xeria), which as well as the Inachus is generally dry in 

 summer. The Erasmus (Kephalari) crosses the south-west of the 

 plain into the Argolic Gulf. It issues in large streams from a cavern 

 under Mount Chaon, and is of considerable size. It is the only river of 

 tin- plain which is never dry. Its waters drive a great number of 

 .mills. 



There are several ancient remains in Argolis, at Argos, Mycenae, and 

 Tiryns, consisting chiefly of cyclopean or polygonal walls. The site of 

 the Heraeum, or temple of the Achaean Juno, which was one of the 

 most magnificent in Greece, was discovered in 1831 to the right of the 

 road between Argos and Mycenae, and about 6 miles from the former 

 and 2 miles from the latter. Near the ruins are massive cyclopean sub- 

 structions belonging to a utill more ancient temple which was destroyed 

 by fire B.C. 423. Near the Erasmus, on the road from Argos to Tegea, 

 arc remains of a pyramid, built in an irregular polygonal style with 

 ive blocks of stone without cement. There are remains of 

 .Hi" i her pyramid on the road between Nauplia and Epidaunis; and 

 there was a third between Argos and Tiryns. No pyramids are found 

 in any other part of Greece, and their being found here is strongly 



GEOO. DIY. VOL. I. 



corroborative of the ancient tradition of an Egyptian colony led by 

 Danaus having settled in Argolis. 



The name Argolis still lives in the geography of Greece. The 

 greater part of the ancient Argolis, united to the territory of Corinth, 

 forms a Nomos, or department, of the modern kingdom of Greece. 

 Nauplia and Corinth are the chief towns. 



ARGONNE, a district in France, on the frontier of the ancient 

 provinces of Lorraine and Champagne, and extending into each of 

 them. It comprised the greater part of the range of hills that 

 separate the basin of the Meuse from that of the Aisne, the valley of 

 the Aire, and the valley of the Upper Aisne, to some distance west of 

 St.-Me'nehould. It now forms part of the arrondissement of Sedan, in 

 the department of Ardennes, the north-western part of the department 

 of Meuse, and the north-eastern part of the department of Marne. 

 From the most ancient times the greater part of the Argonno country 

 was covered with forests, of which a considerable portion still remains 

 and is called the forest of Argonne. In the intervals and void spaces 

 of the forest, towns and villages have been built. The inhabitants 

 of these cultivate the lands in their neighbourhood. Cattle and 

 wood (which is abundant) furnish the chief articles of trade. St.- 

 Me'n^hould was the capital of the Argonne, and among its other towns 

 are Clermont, Varennes, Beaumont, and GrandprcS. 



In the Argonne hills are several defiles or narrow passes which are 

 important in a military point of view. The principal are those of ChSne- 

 Populeux, Crois-aux-Bois, and Grandpre' between Sedan and Varennes. 

 The country of Argonne was the scene of the important military opera- 

 tions of Dumouriez in 1792, previous to the battle of Valmy, when the 

 new levies of republican France triumphed over the disciplined forces 

 of Prussia and Austria, led by the Duke of Brunswick. 



ARGOS, called Argi by the Romans, the most ancient city of the 

 Peloponnesus, the chief city of Argolis, was situated on a level plain 

 at the foot of a hill 900 feet high, called Larissa, on which was ita 

 citadel and a temple of Jupiter, a little west of the Inachus, between 

 which and the city the river or torrent Charadrus flowed. It stood 

 about 3 miles from the head of the Argolic Gulf, 6 miles S. from 

 Mycenae, and 5 miles N.W. from ita port Nauplia. On the Larissa 

 are the ruins of a castle which was erected on the walls of the ancient 

 Acropolis. These ancient parts of the structure are built in the 

 polygonal style ; but on the sides and at the base of the hill are 

 considerable vestiges of other still more ancient walls of massive 

 cyclopean structure. The earliest known inhabitants of Argos were 

 Pelasgi. In the mythic age it was governed by kings, of whom 

 Inachus was the first ; or, according to other accounts, he was the 

 river-god, and his son Phoroneus was the first king. (Paus. ii. 16.) 

 Danaus, from Egypt, afterwards founded a new dynasty by wresting 

 the sovereign power from Gelanor, the tenth in descent from Phoro- 

 neus. From Danaus the Argives and the Greeks generally were 

 called Danai. Argos lost ito rank as chief city of Argolis after the 

 building of Mycenae by Perseus, son of Danae and grandson of 

 Acrisius. According to Homer the city of Argos belonged to tho 

 kingdom of Diomedes, and not to that of Agamemnon, who however 

 seems to have enjoyed a kind of sovereign power over the whole penin- 

 sula. Under Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, Argos again became the 

 metropolis of Argolis. Tisamenus, the son of Orestes, was slair in 

 battle on the return of the Heraclidae, and his kingdom fell to the 

 lot of Temenus ; and Argos became the first state in the Peloponnesus. 



Silver Coin of Argos. Brit. Mus. 



Under Pheidon, a lineal descendant of Temenus, in the 8th Olympiad 

 (747 B.C.), the power of Argos appears for a time at least to have 

 acquired a considerable extension. Pheidon subdued Corinth aud 

 Elis, and in the year just named seized upon the presidency of the 

 Olympic games ; but he was subsequently defeated by the Eleans, 

 aided by the Spartans. From this time the power of Argos gradually 

 declined, and after many struggles with Sparta about the possession 

 of the district of Cynuria or Thyreatis, lost all title to pre-eminence after 

 the battle of Tiryns, in which 6000 Argive citizens were slain by the 

 Spartans led by their king Cleomenes, a few years before the Persian 

 invasion of Greece. After the loss of so many citizens the slaves 

 found no difficulty in seizing the government, and are said to have 

 retained it till the sons of their masters had grown up, when they 

 were again expelled from the city. ( Herod, vi. 83.) It was probably 

 on this account that the Argeians took no part in the Persian war 

 B.C. 480, though many much less creditable reasons for their conduct 

 were afloat in Greece at the time. ( Herod, vii. 148-152.) Soon 

 after the Persian wars the monarchical form of government seems to 

 have been abolished, and a republic was established. In B.C. 468 we 

 find them at war with the inhabitants of Mycenae, who had refused to 

 acknowledge the supremacy of Argos, and had been supported for 

 many years in their independence by the Spartans. Mycenso fell, and 

 it never again rose from its ruins. (Diod. Sic. xi. 65.). 



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