134 0n the Ancient HELLENES, 



" deed all the ThefTalians, but only thofe who dwelt in the 

 " city of Hellas *." Thus it appears, that the ThefTalian Hel- 

 las was a very ancient city of the fmall diftrict of Theffaly 

 called Phthiotis, and that lay in the neighbourhood of the river 

 Enipeus. 



But the Hellas juft now defcribed was by no means the ori- 

 ginal one called by that name. We learn from Aristotle the 

 following circumftances f : " For this deluge, fays he, happened 

 " chiefly about the diftrict of the ancient Hellenes, and that 

 " near the city Hellas. Now, that city lay near Dodona, on 

 " the Achelous ; for this river hath often changed its name. 

 " The Selli inhabited that canton. Thefe were at that time 

 " called Graci, and now are denominated Hellenes." Here then 

 we have difcovered the original Hellas, the refidence of the 

 Selli or Helli, who were firft called Helladians, then TgaiKoi, and 

 laft of all Hellenes. Thefe Helli or Selli were the original Hel- 

 lenes. From them the Gentile name, that afterwards became fo 

 famous over a great part of the world, was derived, and not 

 from Hellen, the fictitious fon of Deucalion. 



Let us now fee who thefe Helli or Selli were who dwelt 

 about the ThefTalian Hellas, and from whom, we hope to make 

 it appear, that the later Hdlenes were denominated. Strabo, 

 in his defcription of Epire, gives the following account of that 

 remarkable people %. " Now, concerning Dodona, that the 

 " people who dwelt about the temple were Barbarians, even 

 " Homer himfelf has inferred from the peculiar aufterities of 

 their manner of living § : 'They Jleep, fays he, on the bare 



* ground 



* Ad Iliad, vs.. 437. 



+ K.ci yap aroj ttiji rot 'Eaajjuxdh tyzmo pxhtirra x. t. >.. Meteor, lib. i. cap. ult. 



% FlEg' h £»Sm%s *. t. *• Lib. vii. p. 328. 



\ Iliad, xvi. 233. Soph. Trach. 1180. 



a 



