On the Ancient HELLE NE S. 133 



fequence, the Greeks employed a word derived from the ori- 

 ental name of that element, to fignify the beginning, and Ceres 

 was the fame deity with Tellus, or the earth. In Greek, the 

 word Tgc&vs, nearly the fame with grai or grau, flgnifies an old 

 woman. Indeed, grai and grau are actually the fame ; for the 

 ancient Greek alphabet had no upfilon. The words Tgatot and 

 Tguixo^ according to this deduction, imported the original inha- 

 bitants of Greece, and was applied to them by the Pelafgi, in 

 order to exhibit this very character. Every body knows, that 

 the mythologifts of Greece made no fcruple to forge imaginary 

 perfonages, upon every occafion, when they found themfelves 

 embarrafled in tracing out the progenitors of a nation. Thus, 

 according to them, Medeus was the father of the Medes, Per- 

 seus of the Perfians, Phoenix of the Phoenicians, Syr us of 

 the Syrians, &c. According to the fame arrangement, Graius, 

 if he was not the father of the Greeks, was at leaft the father 

 of their Gentile name. Hellen, Ion, Dorus, iEoLUS, 

 Achjeus, were beings of the like equivocal generation. 



However far and wide the term Hellas came to be diffufed 

 afterwards, it was at firft confined to one fmall city of Theffaly. 

 It lay in Phthiotis, a fmall diftrict of that country, toward the 

 fouth. According to Strabo, fome were of opinion, that 

 Phthia, Hellas, and Achaia, were the fame. <&§ia,v t&, ol pzv> 

 rqv uuTfiv mui rq "EXkctfti xut Ayjxia. *. And a little after, he 

 adds : — " Now thofe who fay fo, fliew you, about fixty ftadia 

 " from their city, the ruins of a city which they believe to 

 " have been Hellas, and near it two fountains, the one called 

 " Mefieis and the other Hyperiea." He goes on to inform us, 

 " that the people of Melitsea alleged, that Hellas being (ituated 

 " on a low ground beyond the Enipeus, the inhabitants, pro- 

 " bably on account of the unhealthinefs of the fituation, de- 

 " ferted it, and went over to their city f. The author of the 

 Brevia Scholia on the Iliad is of the fame opinion. " Not in- 



" deed: 

 * Strabo, p. 431. f p. 4 ji, 



