Part 9 (1/2)
These various sections, or provinces, or states, into which Greece was divided, claim a short notice.
(M287) The largest and most northerly State was Epirus, containing four thousand two hundred and sixty square miles, bounded on the north by Macedonia, on the east by Thessaly, on the south by Acarnania, and on the west by the Ionian Sea. Though mountainous, it was fertile, and produced excellent cattle and horses. Of the interesting places of Epirus, memorable in history, ranks first Dodona, celebrated for its oracle, the most ancient in Greece, and only inferior to that of Delphi. It was founded by the Pelasgi before the Trojan war and was dedicated to Jupiter.
The temple was surrounded by a grove of oak, but the oracles were latterly delivered by the murmuring of fountains. On the west of Epirus is the island of Corcyra (Corfu), famous for the s.h.i.+pwreck of Ulysses, and for the gardens of Aleinous, and for having given rise to the Peloponnesian war. Epirus is also distinguished as the country over which Pyrrhus ruled.
The Acheron, supposed to communicate with the infernal regions, was one of its rivers.
(M288) West of Epirus was Thessaly, and next to it in size, containing four thousand two hundred and sixty square miles. It was a plain inclosed by mountains; next to Botia, the most fertile of all the States of Greece, abounding in oil, wine, and corn, and yet one of the weakest and most insignificant politically. The people were rich, but perfidious. The river Peneus flowed through the entire extent of the country, and near its mouth was the vale of Tempe, the most beautiful valley in Greece, guarded by four strong fortresses.
(M289) At some distance from the mouth of the Peneus was Larissa, the city of Achilles, and the general capital of the Pelasgi. At the southern extremity of the lake Caelas, the largest in Thessaly, was Pherae, one of the most ancient cities in Greece, and near it was the fountain of Hyperia. In the southern part of Thessaly was Pharsalia, the battle-ground between Caesar and Pompey, and near it was Pyrrha, formerly called h.e.l.las, where was the tomb of h.e.l.len, son of Deucalion, whose descendants, aeolus, Dorus and Ion, are said to have given name to the three nations, aeolians, Dorians, and Ionians, Still further south, between the inaccessible cliffs of Mount ta and the marshes which skirt the Maliaeus Bay, were the defiles of Thermopylae, where Leonidas and three hundred heroes died defending the pa.s.s, against the army of Xerxes, and which in one place was only twenty-five feet wide, so that, in so narrow a defile, the Spartans were able to withstand for three days the whole power of Persia. In this famous pa.s.s the Amphictyonic council met annually to deliberate on the common affairs of all the States.
(M290) South of Epirus, on the Ionian Sea, and west of aetolia, was Acarnania, occupied by a barbarous people before the Pelasgi settled in it. It had no historic fame, except as furnis.h.i.+ng on its waters a place for the decisive battle which Augustus gained over Antony, at Actium, and for the islands on the coast, one of which, Ithaca, a rugged and mountainous island, was the residence of Ulysses.
(M291) aetolia, to the east of Acarnania, and south of Thessaly, and separated from Achaia by the Corinthian Gulf, contained nine hundred and thirty square miles. Its princ.i.p.al city was Thermon, considered impregnable, at which were held splendid games and festivals. The aetolians were little known in the palmy days of Athens and Sparta, except as a hardy race, but covetous and faithless.
(M292) Doris was a small tract to the east of aetolia, inhabited by one of the most ancient of the Greek tribes-the Dorians, called so from Dorus, son of Deucalion, and originally inhabited that part of Thessaly in which were the mountains of Olympus and Ossa. From this section they were driven by the Cadmeans. Doris was the abode of the Heraclidae when exiled from the Peloponnesus, and which was given to Hyllas, the son of Hercules, in grat.i.tude by aegiminius, the king, who was reinstated by the hero in his dispossessed dominion.
(M293) Locri Ozolae was another small State, south of Doris, from which it is separated by the range of the Parna.s.sus situated on the Corinthian Gulf, the most important city of which was Salona, surrounded on all sides by hills. Naupactus was also a considerable place, known in the Middle Ages as Lepanto, where was fought one of the decisive naval battles of the world, in which the Turks were defeated by the Venetians. It contained three hundred and fifty square miles.
(M294) Phocis was directly to the east, bounded on the north by Doris and the Locri Epicnemidii, and south by the Corinthian Gulf. This State embraced six hundred and ten square miles. The Phocians are known in history from the sacred or Phocian war, which broke out in 357 B.C., in consequence of refusing to pay a fine imposed by the Amphictyonic council.
The Thebans and Locrians carried on this war successfully, joined by Philip of Macedon, who thus paved the way for the sovereignty of Greece.
One among the most noted places was Crissa, famed for the Pythian games, and Delphi, renowned for its oracle sacred to Apollo. The priestess, Pythia, sat on a sacred tripod over the mouth of a cave, and p.r.o.nounced her oracles in verse or prose. Those who consulted her made rich presents, from which Delphi became vastly enriched. Above Delphi towers Parna.s.sus, the highest mountain in central Greece, near whose summit was the supposed residence of Deucalion.
(M295) Botia was the richest State in Greece, so far as fertility of soil can make a State rich. It was bounded on the north by the territory of the Locri, on the west by Phocis, on the south by Attica, and on the east by the Euban Sea. It contained about one thousand square miles. Its inhabitants were famed for their stolidity, and yet it furnished Hesiod, Pindar, Corinna, and Plutarch to the immortal catalogue of names. Its men, if stupid, were brave, and its women were handsome. It was originally inhabited by barbarous tribes, all connected with the Leleges. In its southwestern part was the famous Helicon, famed as the seat of Apollo and the Muses, and on the southern border was Mount Cithaeron, to the north of which was Platea, where the Persians were defeated by the confederate Greeks under Pausanias. Botia contained the largest lake in Greece-Copaias, famed for eels. On the borders of this lake was Coronea, where the Thebans were defeated by the Spartans. To the north of Coronea was Chaeronea, where was fought the great battle with Philip, which subverted the liberties of Greece. To the north of the river aesopus, a sluggish stream, was Thebes, the capital of Botia, founded by Cadmus, whose great generals, Epaminondas and Pelopidas, made it, for a time, one of the great powers of Greece.
(M296) The most famous province of Greece was Attica, bounded on the north by the mountains Cithaeron and Parnes, on the west by the bay of Saronicus, on the east by the Myrtoum Sea. It contained but seven hundred square miles. It derived its name from Atthis, a daughter of Cranaus; but its earliest name was Cecropia, from its king, Cecrops. It was divided, in the time of Cecrops, into four tribes. On its western extremity, on the sh.o.r.es of the Saronic Gulf, stood Eleusis, the scene of the Eleusinian mysteries, the most famous of all the religious ceremonials of Greece, sacred to Ceres, and celebrated every four years, and lasting for nine days.
Opposite to Eleusis was Salamis, the birthplace of Ajax, Teucer, and Solon. There the Persian fleet of Xerxes was defeated by the Athenians.
The capital, Athens, founded by Cecrops, 1556 B.C., received its name from the G.o.ddess Neith, an Egyptian deity, known by the Greeks as Athena, or Minerva. Its population, in the time of Pericles, was one hundred and twenty thousand. The southernmost point of Attica was Sunium, sacred to Minerva; Marathon, the scene of the most brilliant victory which the Athenians ever fought, was in the eastern part of Attica. To the southeast of Athens was Mount Hymettus, celebrated for its flowers and honey.
Between Hymettus and Marathon was Mount Pentelicus, famed for its marbles.
(M297) Megaris, another small State, was at the west of Attica, between the Corinthian and the Saronican gulfs. Its chief city, Megara, was a considerable place, defended by two citadels on the hills above it. It was celebrated as the seat of the Megaric school of philosophy, founded by Euclid.
(M298) The largest of the Grecian States was the famous peninsula known as the Peloponnesus, entirely surrounded by water, except the isthmus of Corinth, four geographical miles wide. On the west was the Ionian Sea; on the east the Saronic Gulf and the Myrtoum Sea; on the north the Corinthian Gulf. It contained six thousand seven hundred and forty-five square miles.
It was divided into several States. It was said to be left by Hercules on his death to the Heraclidae, which they, with the a.s.sistance of the Dorians, ultimately succeeded in regaining, about eighty years after the Trojan war.
Of the six States into which the Peloponnesus was divided, Achaia was the northernmost, and was celebrated for the Achaean league, composed of its princ.i.p.al cities, as well us Corinth, Sicyon, Phlius, Arcadia, Argolis, Laconia, Megaris, and other cities and States.
(M299) Southwest of Achaia was Elis, on the Ionian Sea, in which stood Olympia, where the Olympic games were celebrated every four years, inst.i.tuted by Hercules.
(M300) Arcadia occupied the centre of the Peloponnesus, surrounded on all sides by lofty mountains-a rich and pastoral country, producing fine horses and a.s.ses. It was the favorite residence of Pan, the G.o.d of shepherds, and its people were famed for their love of liberty and music.
(M301) Argolis was the eastern portion of the Peloponnesus, watered by the Saronic Gulf, whose original inhabitants were Pelasgi. It boasted of the cities of Argos and Mycenae, the former of which was the oldest city of Greece. Agamemnon reigned at Mycenae, the most powerful of the kings of Greece during the Trojan war.
(M302) Laconia, at the southeastern extremity of the peninsula, was the largest and most important of the States of the Peloponnesus. It was rugged and mountainous, but its people were brave and n.o.ble. Its largest city, Sparta, for several generations controlled the fortune of Greece, the most warlike of the Grecian cities.
(M303) Messenia was the southwestern part of the peninsula-mountainous, but well watered, and abounding in pasture. It was early coveted by the Lacedaemonians, inhabitants of Laconia, and was subjugated in a series of famous wars, called the Messenian.