>I36 On the Ancient HELLENES* 



very people under whofe protection, and by whofe permiffion, 

 they had formed their original eftablifhment at Dodona. This 

 detail acquires farther confirmation, when it is confidered, that 

 the city which they built in Phthiotis was called Hellas, after the 

 name of their metropolis, in the neighbourhood of Dodona. In- 

 deed, it is highly probable, that there was a Dodona in ThefTaly 

 as well as in Epire. This was the opinion of Philoxenus, a 

 very ancient writer, quoted by Stephanus Byzantinus *, 

 though the author laft quoted condemns that opinion. As 

 Philoxenus was much more ancient than the Byzantine, the 

 probability is, that truth lies on his fide. We therefore con- 

 clude, that the ThefTalian Hellas was built by a colony of emi- 

 grants from the city of that name near Dodona in Thefprotia, 

 a diftrict of Epire. 



The inhabitants of Hellas and its neighbourhood were call- 

 ed Hellenes. Accordingly, Strabo actually fo denominates 

 the inhabitants of that city. E* fa rqg 'EXXocfag ev ravuvu x^ia 

 zzipzvriSy etg rqv Iuvtuv f^STOix,fi<rcci rug 'EXXjjvccg "j*. I know that the 

 Greeks afcribe the building of this city to Hellen, the fon of 

 Deucalion ; but had this been the cafe, the city, according to 

 the idiom of the Greek language, muft have been denominated 

 Hellenia, and not Hellas. 



These Hellenes, in procefs of time, extended themfelves 

 over all the fouth part of ThefTaly. Herodotus is clearly of 

 opinion, that the Hellenes were a Pelafgic tribe. Speaking of 

 the Pelafgi and thefe people, he exprefTes himfelf in the follow- 

 ing manner : — To fa 'EXXyvixov [zSvog] yXua-trn fjav, evsi re gygvsro, 

 astnorz 7Tj avrri diu%gurui, cog ey,oi xurc&cpcuvtroii etvui, wxoar^ia-^ev fisv- 

 toi ano m TliXacyiKx, sov uoSsveg, cctq trftiftgx rto rt;v ctgfflv ogftwfASvovy 

 uv%t)T<x,t zg srAjj^o?, tuv zSrvzw koWwv paXisu •x^otTTLiyuMKorw avru xcti 

 uXXuv e^vsuv, (3a,gfiag&>v cvyym ug fa/], ug spot r& faxsi £. As this paf- 

 fage is of more than ordinary importance, I fhall fubjoin a li- 

 i teral 



* In voc Dodona. f P. 432, J Lib. i. cap. 58. 



