823 GREECE. 
peninfiila, Gomiminicat'mg with Achaia by the ifrlimus divided only by a narrow extfent of fea from Egypt and 
of Corinth, a neck of land about fix miles broad ; the Syria, and (itiiate within reach of thbfe parts of the 
l/lands made the fixtli divifion.—See tlte article Geo- ealt which were anciently mod: flourifliing and popu- 
GRAPHY, p. 376 of this volume, and the correfpondent lous, naturally invited the vifits of travellers, and at- 
Ivlap of Gr^^c:a Antioua. tratted the efiablifitment of foreign colonies. Thefe 
The climate of Greece was peculiarly favourable, foreign colonies were conducted by Cecrops and Danaus, 
Fqually exempted frpm the rigorous cold which afflicts Egyptians who, about 1556 years before Chrift, refpec- 
the inliabitants nearer to the poles, and from the fultry tively fettled in Athens and Argos ; Cadmus, a Pheni'- 
heat by wl'.ich thofe within the torrid zone are opprefTed, cian, who founded Thebes in Boeotia ; and Pelops, a 
it abounded with every influence propitious to the liu- Phrvgian, whofe defeendants, intermarrying with thofe 
man race. The air was falubrious, healtliful. and uni- of })anaus kin" of Araos. and Tvndareus kimt of La- 
formly temperate ; invigorating without chilnefs, and 
mild without etfeminacy. The foil correfponded with 
the climate. It produced, in extraordinary plenty, not 
only all the neceifaries, but likewife mofi: of the luxu¬ 
ries, of life. The foftnefs, purity, and happy tempera¬ 
ture, of this climate, mufi, without quefiion, have had 
a powerful influer.ee upon thofe who were there born 
and educated. In fait, no country on earth ever exhi¬ 
bited the human form adorned with more exquilite 
beauty, nor the human mind animated with feelings at 
once more jull, more delicate, or more benign. 
PRIMITIVE HISTORY. 
It is extremely to be lamented, that the origin of fo 
refined a peop le, in that remote age of the world, fliould 
be involved in fo much oblcurity and doubt. It may 
be remarked, in Thucydides’s introduCfion to his hif- 
tory of the Peloponnelian war, how little correct infor¬ 
mation could be obtained by that diligent inquirer into 
the antiquities of his own country. If we admit the 
common chronology, there is realbn to believe that the 
fcattcred fragments of Grecian hillory were preierved 
during tliirteen centuries by oral tradition. The tales 
or rhaplodies of the or bards, vvere lucceeded by 
ti, d'e of the Cyclic poets, of whom an account is given 
in Cafauboii ad Athenteum, 1 . vii. c. 4. Yet the tra¬ 
ditions of the Greeks agree with the authentic records 
of facred hiftory, in reprefenting the countries after¬ 
wards known by the names of Thrace, Macedon, and 
Greece, as peopled at an earlier period than any other 
portion of the weftern world. The louthern corner of 
Europe, comprehended between the thirty-fixth and 
forty-firfl: degrees of latitude, bordering on Epii us and 
Macedonia towards the north, and on other tides fur- 
rounded by the fea, -was inhabited^ above eighteen cen¬ 
turies before the Chriftian era, by many I'mall tribes of 
hunters and Iliepherds, among whom tlie Pelalgi and 
Tlellenes were the moll numerous and powerful. The 
barbarous Pelafgi venerated Inachus as their founder ; 
the humane Hellenes refpedted Deucalion. From his 
fon Hellen, they derived their general appellation, 
which originally denoted a fmall tribe in Thcll'aly ; and 
from Dorns, Eolus, and Ion, his more remote del'cend- 
ants, they were dilcriminated by the names of Dorians, 
Eolians, "and loniaiis. The Dorians took polfellion of 
tliat mountainous difiridt of Greece, afterwards called 
Doris ; -the lonians, tvliofe name was finally loft in the 
more illiviirious appellation of Athenians, lettled. in 
.Attica ; .and the Eolians pmopled Elis and Arcadia, tlte 
weftern and inland regions ofi tlue Peioponnefus. At 
the diftance of twelve centuries, abfeure traces of the 
Pelalgi occurred in.feveral Grecian cities ; a diftridl of 
'1 hedaly always letained their name ; their colonies 
continued, in ttie fifth century before Chrift, to inhabit 
tlie fouthern eqaft of Italy and the Ihores of the Helle- 
fpont ; and in thole widely leparated countries, their 
ancient affinity was recogniled in the uniformity of their 
rude dialect and barbarous manners, extremely didiini- 
lar to the cuftoms and language of their Grecian neigh- 
hours. 
Greece, even in this early ftate, was not left to be 
fiowly civilized by the progreftive ingenuity of tlie Hel¬ 
lenic tribes. .The happy pofition of a coiimry, which-, 
forming as it were the frontier of Europe wjtfi Afie, is 
i 
cedatmon or'Sparta, acquired in the perfbnof Agamem¬ 
non fo powerful an afcendancy over the Peioponnefus. 
The family of Deucalion ftill reigned in Theflaly ; but 
Thebes, Athens, Argos, and Sparta, which were long 
regarded as the principal cities of Greece, thus fell un¬ 
der the dominion of four foreign lines of princes, wliofe 
exploits and misfortunes are immortalized by the firft 
and nobleft produdlions of Grecian literature ; the vvrit- 
ings of Homer and Pindar. 
The Phenicians being confidered as the principal na¬ 
vigators and merchants of the ancient world, it is corn- 
moniy believed that the example of the Phenician co¬ 
lonies firll taught the Greeks to brave the dangers of 
the fea, and to maintain a commercial intercourfe with 
each other, as well as with foreign nations. But it is 
fufficient to throw a glance on the geography of Greece, 
to perceive how naturally commerce, without foreign 
aid, might Itave arifen fpontaneoufiy in tiint highly-fa¬ 
voured country. The continent itfelf, waflied on three 
fidcs by the fea, is furrounded by innumerable illands, 
abounding in excellent harbours. The variety of Ibils 
and productions is greater, perhaps, than in any otlier 
part of the Vvorld of an equal extent. All tlie Ihores 
of the Mediterranean, comprehending tlie moft beauti¬ 
ful, and anciently the moft flourifliing, part of t^ie 
eartli, are more accefilble to Greece than to any neigh¬ 
bouring country. Yet it appears from the light of hif- 
tory, that the Greeks did not early avail thenifelves of 
their fortunate fituation, or of the fuppoled lefTons of 
their Phenician inftruftors. At length, however, the 
northern diftridts of Theflaly having greatly I'lifl'ered 
by invalion, the petty princes of that province entered 
into a confederacy for tlieir mutual defence. They af- 
fembled at Tltermopylae, a place then governed by 
Amphidlyon ; whence arole the AmphiByonk council. 
The advantages whicli the confederates derived from 
this meafure, were foon perceived by their neighbours. 
The central ftates gradually acceded to their alliance ; 
and, about the middle of the fourteenth century before 
Chrift, Acrifius king of Argos, and other princes of the 
Peloponnel'iis, were admitted to iliare the benefits and 
fecurity of fo ufeful an aflbeiation. This eftablilliip.ent 
of the Amphieftyons naturally brought together the 
cliiefs moft (iiftingui.died by birth and bravery. Glory 
and emulation prompted them to arms, and revenge di¬ 
rected thole arms agaiult the barbarians. Jafbn, Ad- 
metus, aiid other chieftains of Theflaly, having equip¬ 
ped a Iniall fleefin the neighbouring harbour or lolcus, 
and particularly the fliip Argo, of lupcrior fize to any 
before known, were animated with a defire to vi/it fo¬ 
reign lands, and to plant colonies in thofe parts that ap¬ 
peared moft delightful, in order to retort on their inha¬ 
bitants the injuries which Greece had fulFered from 
ftrangers. The princes of the north having proclaimed 
this fpirited defign, the ftandard of enterprife was Ipee-' 
diiy furrounded by the flower of the Grecian youth, 
who eagerly embraced this opportunity to fignalize their 
valour. Peleus, Tydeus, Telamon, and the fathers of 
thofe heroic chiefs, who, in the fucceeding age, ftione 
with diltinguillied lultre in the plains of Troy, are num¬ 
bered among the leaders of the Argonautic expedition, 
which took place in the year 1263 before Chrift. 
Tiiefe adventures, however, have been o.ver-much 
domed by the fictions of poetry, to be the proper fub- 
jeCls 
