833 
G R E 
tant and difficult enterprifes, and animated and fiip- 
ported them under every peril during the ten years’ 
fiege of Troy. 
, Before we notice the incidents of this celebrated fiege, 
it may be proper to take a ffiort view of the ftrengtli 
and refoiirces of the two nations, who were fo eager to 
plunge tliemfelves into a conflict, that totally deffroyed 
the one, and proved extremely ruinous to the other. 
Exclufive of the provinces of Epirus and Macedonia, 
the continental polleflions of the Greeks were nearly 
equal to Scotland in extent, but marked with bolder 
features, and blelfed with a warmer I'un. In its length, 
the whole country is almoil equally divided by two op- 
pofite gulphs, compreffing between them a mountainous 
neck of land, to the breadth of only five miles, into 
the peninfula of Peloponnefus, aitd tb.e territory ex¬ 
tending northwards, from the extremity of the Corin¬ 
thian iffhmus to the fouthern frontier of Macedonia. 
■ The Peloponnefus, an hundred and fixty miles in length, 
and fcarcely one hundred in breadth, is every where in¬ 
terfered by mountains, particularly the towering ridges 
of Zarex and Taygetus. During the flourifliing ages 
of Greece, this imall peninfula contained feven inde¬ 
pendent communities of unequal power and fame, which 
ranked in the following order : The comparatively 
large and highly diverfified territory of Laconia ; the 
fruitful vale of Argos ; the extenfive coafl; of Achaia ; 
the narrow but commercial iflhmus of Corinth ; the 
central ajul .mountainous region of Arcadia-; together 
with the moie level countries of Elis and Melfenia, 
vvhicli are better adapted to tillage than any other pro¬ 
vinces of the Peloponnefus. The Grecian poffeflions 
beyond the Corinthian iffhmus were more conliderable, 
extending above two hundred miles from eaft to weft, 
and one hundred and fifty from north to fouth. They 
were natiually divided by the towering ridges of Olym¬ 
pus, Pindus, Oeta, and Offii, into nine feparate pro-, 
vinces ; which, during tl.e celebrated ages of Grecian 
freedom, were occupied by nine independent republics. 
They comprdiended the extenfive and fertile plains of 
Theffaly and Boeotia, both of which were, in early 
times, mucli expofed to inundations ; and the latter, 
abounding in fubterranean caverns, was peculiarly fub- 
jeiSt to earthquakes ; the lefs fertile, but more fecure, 
territory of Attica ; the weftern provinces of jEtolia 
and Acarnania, encompafl'ed on one fide by dangerous 
feas, and confined on the other by alnioff impaffable 
mountains ; and the four fmall rocky diffridls of Phocis, 
Doris, Locris, and Megara. 
It has been obferved, that thefe names and divifions, 
which remained to the lateff times, are accurately 
marke-d by Homer, wliofe poems continued, through 
fucceeding ages, to be the llandard to which neigh¬ 
bouring communities appealed in adjuffing their boun- 
dtiries. This obfervation, however, muff be qualified 
by two exceptions. During the Trojan war, the exten. 
five province of Theffaly lent forth above a fourth part 
of the whole Grecian ffrength, and was divided among 
many warlike leaders. Jt might naturally be expected, 
while agriculture and pafturage were the principal oc¬ 
cupations fiibfervient to Jiuinan life, that a country 
abounding in plaint and meadows fliould excel in popu¬ 
lation and in power. When commerce, navigation, and 
the mechanic arts, enriched and adorned the middle 
and fouthern divifions of Greece, the northern diffrift 
of Theffaly loft its ancient pre-eminence. The fecond 
exception arole from the extenfive power of the houfe 
of Pelops, which had acquired dominion over the north¬ 
ern and eaffern parts of the Peloponnefus, formerly con¬ 
taining leveral independent principalities; and, after 
the misfortunes of Agamemnon and his family, was 
again divided into the republics of Sparta, Argos, Co- 
rir.th, and Achaia. From this idea of tim country, it 
will not appear remarkable, tliat, in an age when every 
citizen was a loldier, Greece Ihould have railed an army 
VoL. Vlll. No. 548. 
E C E. 
of an luindred and two thoufand men. The Acarna- 
nians alone, for reafons unknown, fent no forces to Troy. 
But the continent was aflifted by the efforts of Crete, 
of Rhodes, and of many fmaller iflands, which were' 
fubjefc only to their refpeftive princes, or governed by 
the wide-extended dominion of Agamemnon. The 
veffels colledfed for tranfporting thefe forces to Afia 
amounted to twelve hundred fail. They were equipped 
at little expence, being moved by only one bank of 
oars, and entirely unprovided with decks. Their com¬ 
plement varied in different veffels ; fome containing an 
hundred and twenty, others only fifty, men, who appear 
to have been equally trained to the military art, and 
the rude fimplipity of ancient navigation. 
The celebrated kingdom of Priam, againft which this 
armiment was direcicd, occupied'the eaffern banks of 
the Hellefpoiit, the fouthern coaff of the Propontis, 
and the northern fhores of the AEgean Sea. From the 
river Efepus to the promontory of Leftum, the Trojan 
dominions extended in length two hundred miles; but 
their breadth was lefs conliderable, being compreffed 
between three feas, and the lofty ridges of mount Ida. 
This picfurefque country, which excelled Greece in 
fruitfulnefs, was diffinguifhed by the epithet of Helle- 
fpontian, from the large inland province which bore the 
name of Phrygia. It was planted, according to tradi¬ 
tion, by a Grecian colony, about two hundred years be¬ 
fore the Trojan war. 
From the prevalence of the Grecian language and 
cuftoms on the one hand, and the name of the country 
on the other, it has been fuppofed that the Trojans 
were a mingled race of Greeks and Phrygians, collected 
by Dardanus, the fifth anceffor in degree to old Priam. 
This adventurer, whofe parentage Homer leaves uncer¬ 
tain, by calling him fon of Jupiter, founded a city on 
one of the weltern branches of mount Ida, commanding 
a beautiful and fertile plain, watered by the rivers Si- 
mois and Scamander. The new fettlement flouriflied 
under his fon EriCthonius, who, by the judicious ma¬ 
nagement of his mares and ftallions, fupplied the neigh¬ 
bouring kingdoms with horfes of a fuperior breed. His 
fucceflbr, Tros, communicated his name to the terri¬ 
tory, which was often called Troas, and to the cele¬ 
brated city Ilion, which his fon Ilus, having removed 
liis refidence from the mountain, built on the adjoining- 
plain. Laomedon, the fucceffbr of Ilus, fortified the 
town of Ilion, or Troy, with walls ot fucli uncommon 
ffrength, that, in the language of tlie times, they were 
faid to be the vvorkof the gods. ‘V\Hiether he detrauded 
his auxiliaries of tlieir promifed rewards and facrifices, 
or fupplied the expence of this undertaking by cle- 
fpoiliiig their facred Ihrines, it is certain tliat the guilt 
of Laomedon was believed to entail calamity on his 
defeendants. Flis Ion Priam, liowever, long enjoyed 
the choiceft gifts of fortune before he was overtaken by 
the vengeance of heaven. Having attained extreme 
old age in the undiffurbed poH'effion of his th.rone, he 
was furrounded by a numerous and flouriffiing tami!)-, 
beloved by his iubjeCts, and relpecled by his neigii- 
bours : yet this amiable prince was deltined to feel the 
lharpeft pangs of human milery. 
Hereditary feuds had long lubfiffed between the an- 
ceffors of Priam and thofe of Agamemnon, when the 
latter quitted their effablilhmeius in Afia, to leek new 
fettlcments in Greece. Tlie unnatural infult offered 
to Ganymede, a beautiful Trojan youth, by Tantalus 
father of Pelops, was retorted on Menelaus, the fourth 
in defeent from that prince, by the rape and detention 
of his queen, the celebrated Helen. Paris, the ill-fated 
fon of Pri.im, was the author of this new injury. Helen 
was tlie daughter of Tyndareus king of Sparta. Tlie 
high honours of her family were adorned by the gene¬ 
rous magnanimity of her brothers, Caffor and Poiy- 
deuces, whofe exploits Ihone confpiciious in all tlie mi¬ 
litary e.xpeditioiis of tiiat gallant age. But U.e .uvave 
lO C luffre 
