GREECE, 
the year by 12 revolutions 
of the moon, reckoning the 
months to consist of 29 and $0 days alternately. But, 
in of time, they le: to fix the seasons 
more correctly by the rising and setting of the stars ; 
and had them in constellations, much in the 
Same manner, and with the same names as at the present 
day. They considered internal diseases as inflicted by the 
~ immediate hand of the Deity, and as therefore beyond 
the reach of human skill. Their medical art was thus 
restricted to the practice of surgery, which was held in 
high esteem; but which seems to have extended no 
farther than the extraction of a weapon, or any other 
extraneous from a wound, and the application of 
a few simples to stop a hamorrhagé, or to assuage in- 
flammation. | Their architecture was more improved 
than most other arts ; and Homer speaks of houses built 
‘of polished stone, with large and numerous apartments. 
‘Other mechanic arts were not exercised as distinct 
trades; and even princes were frequently their own 
is. Ornamental works, however, in metals, 
wood, &c. were not uncommon in those days; but the 
part of the trinkets and more luxurious utensils 
‘ain use among the early Greeks appear to have been pro- 
‘cured from the Phenician merchants. ‘Their principal 
‘study, and most constant practice, was the art of war; 
‘and they seem to have improved considerably u 
‘that tumultuary warfare, which is genetally practised 
__. among barbarous nations; “Their infantry were com- 
_. monly heavily armed-with helmet, breastplates, greaves, 
and shield; and were regularly drawn up in close ranks 
or phalanges, marching in steady silence under their 
respective leaders. Cavalry were not yet employed in 
their battles; but chariots were generally used ‘by the 
chiefs, as the means of conveying them more rapidly 
‘along the line, and of annoying more effectually a fly- 
fing army. The skirmishing of the commanders, how- 
ever, in front of the troops, and their mixing with the 
‘soldiers in the heat of the fight, left little room for the 
“exercise of generalship ; and their fashion of stopping 
dn the midst of the action to strip the slain, sufficiently 
amarks their want of military discipline and skill. Th 
bomen with much sirllarity: sleeping under their 
, or sheltering themselves with huts; and gene- 
fally fortified their post, when exposed to the attack of 
» apowerful enemy; but, though a sraall guard might be 
at anout-post, they were unacquainted with the 
, rtanit precaution of stationing and relieving a line 
‘of sentinels. In the’ war, courage was re- 
garded as the highest virtue; and ‘the mammers of the 
eatly Greeks were decidedly batbarous. Quarter was 
‘rarely granted to a fallen enemy ; ‘and the capture of a 
“city was'succeeded by the massacre of all the men who 
ewere able\to bear arms, and by the captivity of the 
‘women'and children. The spirit of hospitality, how- 
-ever, was generally diffused, and tended often to allevi- 
‘ate'the miseries of military devastation. Women ap- 
, a8 well as men, to have united the highest rank 
with the humblest ions, but evidently enjoyed a 
greater degree of influence and freedom, than has been 
usual in subsequent ages among oriental nations. There 
» thas been supposed to exist, a striking resemblance be- 
_ ‘tween the manners and sentiments of the Greeks in the 
heroic age, and those of the Gothic nations of Europe, 
‘except that the latter displaye more generosity in war, 
~and gentleness towards th 
cient prototypes. 
The immediately succeeding the Trojan war, 
affords few lights to history, and is even involved in 
deeper obscurity than the heroic age. Supposing Ho- 
female sex, than their an- 
‘ 
463 
mer to have lived within a century, or rather half a 
century of the Trojan war, his works may be allowed 
to supply a tolerable record of the previous events best 
authenticated by tradition, and of the most important 
occurrences which took place during his own life. His 
history terminates with the accession of Orestes to the 
throne of Argos ; and total darkness thenceforth rests 
upon ‘the historian’s path, relieved only by a few un- 
certain glimmerings, till the first Persian invasion of 
Greece, About 80 years after the destruction of Troy, 
a great revolution took place, which dissipated ancient 
traditions, stopped the progress of civilization, and 
changed ‘the governments, and even the population, 
of most of the Grecian states. The descendants and 
partizans of the celebrated Hercules had found a 
in Doris from the persecutions of Eurystheus 
Greece. 
y— 
> Invasion be 
Hei 
but had never ceased to prefer their claims to the the Hera- 
kingdom of Argos, and even to the dominion of all clides. 
Peloponnesus. Twice had they attempted, without 
success, to make their way through the isthmus, But, 
at length, the great grand-son of Hyllus, the old. 
est son of Hercules, crossed the Corinthian gulf with a 
powerful armament, and speedily overran the whole 
peninsula, with the exception of Arcadia and Achaia, 
where Tisamenus, son of Orestes, made a resolute and 
. successful stand. All the rest of the conquered coun- 
Was divided among the princes of the Heraclides, 
and their allies from Doris and A®tolia ; and the greater 
part of the old inhabitants either emigrated from the 
oppressions to which they were subjected, or were re- 
duced by the invaders to a state of servitude. A new 
distinction of the Grecian people was the consequence 
of this revolution. The Pelasgian name, whith had New dis- 
ailed on the continent, and the Lelegian in the tinctions of 
islands, had, at an early period, but for reasons not clear- 
ly ascertained, given place to the Holian and Ionian ; the 
latter designation being applied principally to Attica 
with its colonies, and the former to all the rest of Greece, 
both within and without the peninsula. Out of these 
two, four distinctions of the Grecian people arose, after 
the irruption of the Heraclides. In all the immediate 
establishments and distant colonies of these invaders, the 
Doric name and dialect prevailed. The Athenians rose 
to such pre-eminence, as to give rise to a new designa- 
tion, namely, tlie Atti¢. Excepting them and the Me- 
gatians, who retained tlie Doric name, all the other 
Greeks, without the isthmus, claimed olic origin ; 
and the Ionian name and dialect was retained only by 
those Ionians who had migrated to Asia and the islands. 
Except in the rugged province of Arcadia, nothing re- 
mained me yete iy and the Dorian imvaders brought 
every thing back to that rader state, in which they had 
lived among their native mountains. Disputes soon 
tion of the conquered countries. Internal dissensions, 
occasionéd by their turbulent subjects, were continually 
raging in their respective governments. The enter- 
prising Arcadians seldom suffered them to rest from 
external hostilities. And, by all these concurring 
causes, Peloponnesus was rapidly falling back into that 
state of anarchy and barbarism, in which it had been 
before the time of Pelops and Hercules. Nothing tend- 
ed ‘so ‘effectually to resist this tendency to disunion 
and turbulence, as the revival and regular establish- 
ment of the public games, by Iphitus, sovereign of Elis. 
These athletic games, as 1s evident from the writ- 
the Grecian 
people. 
Period of 
arose among these’ allied princes, respecting the parti- nce dogg 
Revival of 
ings of Homer, had been occasionally celebrated under public 
the superintendence of different princes ; wd at the ganes. 
funerals of eminent men, maby traditions ‘prevailed, 
BU. 776. 
