﻿87 



OKEECE, KINGDOM OF. 



OREECE. KINGDOM OF. 



M 



(Epirua) aad TrikhnU (Theasaly) ; and elaewher* by tha Me'litvrnincin 

 8«a, which i* knowa on the Mat •■ tha JBmua, utd on the wo«t lui the 

 loniao Se«. The following table ihow* the area, principal diTiaioni, 

 and population of tha kingdom : — 



Namea. 



OapiUU. 



Ana in 



Enit. 8q. 



MUaa. 



Population 

 in 18ftS. 



Nonhrrs Onme (Rellaa). 

 1. AtUca and Biratia . . . 



5. Phoda and Phlhiotla . . 

 •. JEtoUa and Acamania 



PfloponnMUft. 

 4. AnrolU and Corinth . . 

 ft. AehaU and Elts ... 



6. AreadU 



T. Miaiinla 



t. Laeonka 



Ulanda. 



•. EuboaandNorthSporadea 



10. Crcladea 



Atbnia . . . .) 

 Lamte (Zeitan) . \ 

 MnoloBKhi . . ) 



Kauplla . . .^ 

 Patraa .... 

 TripoUtxa . . . S 

 KalamaU . , . 

 SparU ... .J 



Cbaleia .... 

 HeraopoUa {Bjn) 



6,811 



lO.lftO 

 I.ISS 



68,17S 

 80,696 

 98,060 



r 106,16] ' 



116.7«7 



i 116,711 



98,169 



(, 66,899 



/ 64,821 

 \ 1S4,8S6 



Total 





is,t» 



990,673 







Surface, Hydrography, CommHnictUiont. — The physical features of 

 Qraeoe are broadly distinguished in the three great dinsiona noticed 

 above. As a whole the country ia charaoteriscMi by its irre^arity of 

 form, its extremely broken outline Hud surface, and the remnrkabln 

 extent of its coast-line ; it being in this last reepect, as han been well 

 remarked, "distinguished among European countries by the same 

 character which distinguishes Europe itself from the other continents. 

 [aee Eubopb, toL ii. col. 981] — the great range of its const compared 

 with the extent of its surface ; so that while in the latter respect it is 

 considerably leas than Portugal, in the former it exceeds the whole 

 Pyrenean peninsula." (Thirlwall, ' Hist, of Greece,' c. 1.) The inte- 

 rior of the continent is mountainous ; the plains, which are small and 

 narrow, are for the most part along the sea-shore or by the mouths of 

 riven, except such as are mere basins inclosed by lofty hills. On these 

 plains are the sites of the great cities of antiquity and the most flou- 

 rishing towns of modem times. 



Northern Greece, which is bounded S. by the Gulf of Corinth, 

 inelndea the ancient territories of Acamania and .lEtolia, which are 

 distinguished by the name of Western Greece, and those of Dorix, 

 Phocis, Boeotia, Attica, Megaris, the country of the Locri Opuutii, and 

 the Talley of the Sperchius, which constitute the division called 

 Eastern Greece. The phjrsical description of the country will be 

 found under the heads Aoarhakia, .^tolia, Attica, Boeotia, Phocis, 

 &c The country is in great part mountainous. The principal range 

 is that of (Eta, which, beginning on the east on the coast of the 

 channel of Eubisa, runs nearly due west across the country, joins the 

 group of Mount Tymphresttu in iEtolia, and ia only separated from 

 the moimtains of Acamania and Epinu by the Talley of the Aspro- 

 potamoa. Offsets from the range of CEta connect it on the south with 

 the ridge of Pamaaaiis in Phocis, and with the mountains that border 

 the northern coast of the Gulf of Corinth, whilst to the south-east are 

 the ridges of Helicon, Citbnron, and Pames, the last of which sepa- 

 rates Bootia firom Attica. 



The second great diTision of the kingdom of Greece is the peninsula 

 of the Peloponneaos, or Mores. A general description of its physical 

 geography is giTen under Morka, aynd more specific notices undrr the 

 respectiTa heMs Acbaa, Arcadia, Abooub, Corinth, Elib, Laconica, 

 ho. The interior of the Peloponnesus forms an elevated table-land, 

 tnversed by numerous ridees of hills, which inclose spacious basins, 

 soma of which are occupied by marshes and small lakes. The princi- 

 pal ridge of mountains is that known to the ancients as the Eryman- 

 Vbnt, Lampe, and Cyllene. The highest summita of the Morca, 

 Taygatoa in the south, and Cyllene in the north, are about 5000 feet 

 aboTS the aea-lereL The principal plains are those of Elis, Inachus, 

 and Atgoa. The perennial rivers are the Alpheus, Eurotaa, Pamisus, 

 and Penena. 



The third great division of Greece consists of the islands in the 

 iEgean Sea, including the Cycladea and the Sporades, besides the 

 laiip island of Eubcen. The inbnbited islands, besides Eubcaa, are 

 distributed as follows : — I. The We<tt<'ra Sporades — Hydra, Specia, 

 Jilgina, Poros, Salamia, Angiatra. 2. The Northern Sporades— 

 Soopelos, Kbilidromi, Skiathoa, Skyros. 8. The Northern Cyelades — 

 Aadroa, S5ea, Thermia, Tino, Mikoni, Syra. 4. The Central Cyelades— 

 Haxoa, nuros and Antiparos, Hiphnos or Siphanto, Seriphos, Milo, 

 Kimoloa, Poliksndro, Sikino, Nio, Amorgo. 6. The Southern Cycla- 

 dw — Saatnrin, Anaphi, AatypalasL CandU, or Crete, Chios, Samos, 

 Lsaboa, and the other islands near tha coast of Asia Minor, still 

 Moof to Turkey. The physical geography of this division 

 b givsD under ARCHirELAOo, (voL i. ooL 443—6), Cavdia, and 

 Emma. 



G reece contains do navigable rivers; and few which possess a 

 perennial stream of any considerable aim. Most of the streams are 

 indeed little more than moantain torrents, and many even of the 



larger become nearly dnr in summer. The Achelous is still sa in 

 Homer's time the King of the Rivers of Greece. I AcuxLOUS.] The 

 other more important strsama — at the preaeut day perhapa most 

 interesting for their rlassinal aaaoeiationa— are the Cephissus, Ilisaua, 

 ACHSRON, Sperchius, Alpheios, Pamisus, Inachus, Eurotas, &o. ; they 

 are noticed, where distinguished by small capitals, under their titles, 

 in other oases under the various headings to which references have 

 already been giTen. The want of navigable rivers is to a great extent 

 supplied by the numerous gulfs and inlets of the aea, which on every 

 aide deeply indent the coast, and afford tmusual facilities for com- 

 mercial intercourse, while they add greatly to the picturesqueneaa of 

 the scenery. The chief of theae inlets is the extensive Gulf of 

 Corinth, which being surroimded, except at its month, by lofty moun- 

 tains has the appearance of an extensive inland lake, the scenery 

 being of the very finest kind. The other large gulfs are those of 

 Ambracia, or Arta, Volo, Kgina, Argos, or Nauplia, Kolokythi, Koron, 

 ftc. The largest of the lakes ia that of Copais, or TopoUas [Bcbotia] ; 

 the other larger lakes are those of Apokuro, or 'Trichonis, Yalto, 

 Lykuria, &a, but most of the lakes are little better than marshes, and 

 many of them are quite dry in the summer. There are no canala. 



According to Murray's ' Hand-book for Greece,' " The only roads 

 practicable for carriages in the whole ooimtiy are that from the 

 Pineua to Athenn, that from Athens to Thebes — ^passing through 

 EHeusis and a gorge of Mount Citlueron, that from Eleusts to Megara, 

 that from Argos to Nauplia, and a few others for a short distance 

 round Athens." The Greeks have almost entirely neglected tha 

 making or even maintaining of roada. The paTed causeways in 

 various parts of Greece were the work of Tenetiana or Turks. 



Otology, Mineralogy, de. — The ranges of CEta, Paraasaua, and Helicon 

 are composed of compact gray-limestone, and this may be regarded 

 as the characteristic rock of the country. In the Hndus range the 

 prevalent rocks are of the primitive and metamorphio formations, as 

 granite, serpentine covered with a yellowish-green steatite, mica-schist, 

 &a The calcareous rocks contain much silex. Tertiary formations 

 abounding in fossil shells prevail along the shores of the Pelopon- 

 nesua Over the whole of Greece are traces of volcanic agency. 

 Caverns and fissures, from which sulphureous and other mephitic 

 vapours arise, occur in various places ; their use in ancient times for 

 religious purposes, as at Delphi, will be remembered. Hot and cold 

 mineral springs are numerous. Many minerals are found in Greece, 

 but the quantity of any of them now obtained is very small. Gold, 

 silver, and lead, have b«en found in Attica, in the islands of Seriphos 

 and Siphnon, and one or two other places, and though now not worked 

 to any extent are, according to Thiersch, far from exhausted. Antimony, 

 zinc, cobalt, manganese, copper, sulphur, &c., are also found. Iron 

 occurs in Kubcea, Scyros, and Laconics ; coal is likewise found in consider- 

 able seams in those places, and also in Klis. Many very beautiful kinds 

 of marble occur in various places, including the fine white Pentclic 

 marble of the ancient sculptors, and the red and green marbles of the 

 Peloponnesus. Porphyry and gypsum are also quarried. 



Climate, Soil, Production*. — 'I'he climate of Greece is probably mora 

 varied than in any other country of the same extent in Europe. Sir 

 W. Oell illustrates this variety by obserTing, that in the month of 

 Marah he left Kalamdta, on the shore of Measenia, in a summer of its 

 own, found spring in Sparta, and winter at Tripolitza, on the upland 

 plain of Arcadia. Again while in the month of September the heat 

 is intense in Argos, the winter is setting in on the neighbouring moun- 

 tains of the Peloponnesua Along the coast the winters an short, 

 but the cold is intense : in Athens the winters are confined to January 

 and February. In the interior the wintera are longer : the mountains 

 are capped with snow in NoTember, and it does not melt from them 

 till June. The spring and autumn are rainy, but the atmosphere ia 

 delightfully clear and fresh. The summers are generally long and 

 very warm ; but the " long long summer " of Greece, celebrated by 

 poets and travellers, appears to have gained its fame from a peculiarity 

 of the climate of Attica, where the atmosphere is drier and the tem- 

 perature milder than elsewhere, and where during spring and autumn 

 as well as summer there is almost undisturbed as well as neariy 

 unequalled purity of air, and brilliant blueness of sky. In the plains 

 the mean temperature of the year is about 62° Fahr. : at Athens the 

 thermometer frequently rises in summer to 100° Fahr. In Attica the 

 harvest is usually in May ; in other |>arts of Greece in June. Violent 

 storms occur fi<equently in spring and autumn. Slight shocks of 

 earthquakes are not uncommon. Malaria, inducing intermittent 

 fevern, aometimea prevails along the shores, and by the swampy lakes, 

 but elsewhere the country is generally healthy. 



In its vegetation Greece resembles for the most part the provinces 

 of southern Italy. The vine, olive, flg, orange, pomegranate, with 

 similar fruits ; nearly all the cereals ; cotton and tobacco, and the 

 myrtle, cypreaa and similar evergreens, grow luxuriantly in the plains 

 and lower slopes of the mountains. Above 1600 feet is the region of 

 the beech, chestnut, white fir, pine, and other forest trees. From about 

 3000 to 6000 feet the pine alone flourishes. The pine ia foimd some 

 600 feet higher, but above that is a sub-alpine region, where only a 

 few wild plants grow. 



The fine forests with which the mountains were once clothed have 

 been for the most part entirely destroyed, in great measure by the 

 careleaneas or wanton rapacity of the inhabitants themselves, and 



