obtained their tin, he candidly assures us he knew EUROPE. nothing at all. CHAP. I. Region lower course route over Northward of the lower course of the Ister was Scythia, and the bordering nations of the Agathyrsi, north of the Neuri, Androphagi, Melanchlaeni, Sauromatae, Bu- of the Ister. dini, and Geloni, all of which together occupied the region eastward of the Theiss, and stretched beyond the Tanais or Don. In the centre of the Scythian sea-coast, at the mouth of the river Borysthenes, or Dnieper, was the Greek port of Olbia, near the site of the modern Cherson.2 From Olbia a caravan route Caravan led northward into the interior, and then eastward, the Ural. over the Ural chain to the feet of the Altai mountains. The nations traversed by this route are described by Herodotus, who apparently obtained his information from travellers who had performed the journey. Beyond these regions were the gold-finding griffins, the one-eyed Arimaspi, the men with goat's feet, and those who slept for six months at a time, of whom Herodotus had heard some traditions, or rather caravan stories, which seem to the modern geographer to refer to Tartary and Siberia. towards The frontiers of Europe in this direction were Nations on formed by the river Araxes or Jaxartes, (now named the frontier the Sirr-deria,) the Caspian Sea, the river Phasis Asia. or Rhion, and the Euxine; accordingly the continent included the Massagetae of the Khirgis steppe and the nations of Mount Caucasus. south of the Returning to the Ister and crossing to the south- Nations. ern bank, we find the nations of Thrace, Illyria, lower course Macedonia, and Greece. This is the most important of the Ister. region in the historical geography of Europe. Thrace is cut in two by the Haemus, or Balkan range, which runs from east to west. From the centre of this range a large branch runs towards the south under the name of Pindus, and throws out arms on every side, until at length it loses itself among the ramifi should doubtless have had some peculiarly interesting account of the ancient inhabitants of our island. 1 iii. 115. 2 For further account with references, see Europe, chap. viii. EUROPE. cations of Greece. The stem of Pindus thus cut off CHAP. I. the Illyrian tribes on the west from Thrace and Macedonia on the east, whilst the two latter nations were separated from each other by an arm which Herodotus calls Mount Dysorum. Lower down a second arm of Pindus, known as the Cambunian range, but called Mount Olympus by Herodotus, formed the northern barrier of Greece; and beyond this point minor arms spread through the Greek peninsula, separating it into the various nations, which we shall find necessary to survey at considerable length in a separate chapter. Seas of Europe. Pontus Euxinus. Palus Propontis. Of the seas which Herodotus considered as belonging to Europe, he describes the Pontus Euxinus, the Palus Macotis, the Propontis, (with the Bosphorus and Hellespont,) the Caspian, the Adriatic, and the Ionian; and of these he himself measured the extent of the Pontus, the Propontis, the Bosphorus, and the Hellespont. The Pontus Euxinus (or Black Sea) is a sea worthy to behold, and of all seas the most wonderfully formed. Its extreme length, from its mouth at the Bosphorus to the river Phasis, (or Rhion,) is 11,100 stadia; and its breadth, in the widest part, from Sindica to Themiscyra on the river Thermodon, is 3300 stadia. The former is a sail of nine days and eight nights; and the latter a sail of three days and two nights. A day's sail is reckoned at 70,000 orgyae, and the night's sail at 60,000 orgyae.1 The Palus Maeotis (or Sea of Azoff) flows into the Euxine, and is sometimes called the mother of the Pontus Euxinus. Herodotus names it Maectis, and erroneously supposed it to be not much smaller than the Pontus,' but he does not appear to have explored its waters, nor does he give any measurements of its extent. The Propontis (or Sea of Marmora) is joined to the Pontus Euxinus by the Bosphorus, and flows into the Aegean through the Hellespont (or modern Dar 1iv. 85, 86. Comp. Appendix II. on the Measurements of Length used by Herodotus. 2 iv, 86, CHAP. I. danelles). Herodotus calculated the Bosphorus to EUROPE. be 120 stadia long and 4 stadia wide; the Propontis to be 1400 stadia long and 500 stadia wide; and the Hellespont to be 400 stadia long and 7 stadia wide.1 The Caspian is unconnected with any other sea, Caspian. and lies to the east of Mount Caucasus. Herodotus calculated its length to be a 15 days' voyage in a boat with oars, and its breadth to be an 8 days' voyage.2 Niebuhr reckons the one day's voyage with oars as equal to the one day's journey by land, or 200 stadia. According to this calculation, the Caspian would be 3000 stadia long and 1600 stadia broad.* 5 The Gulf of Adria (or Adriatic Sea) is mentioned Adriatic. several times by Herodotus, and evidently referred to the long narrow arm of the Mediterranean, which runs up to the eastward of the Italian peninsula. Also the Ionian Sea or Gulf, by which was intended Ionian. the sea between Greece and Sicily. 1 iv. 85, 86. 2 i. 202, 203. 3 iv. 101. Reducing these stadia to English miles, the result would be that Herodotus supposed the Caspian to be 375 miles long and 200 miles broad. Herodotus was not much mistaken in its average breadth, but the length of the Caspian from north to south is upwards of 650 miles. See Appendix II., on Measurements used by Herodotus. 5 i. 163; iv. 33. • vi. 127; vii. 20. EUROPE. Hellas of nification. CHAPTER II. GREECE, OR HELLAS. Hellas of Herodotus, its wide signification.-European Greece, general description. Pindus range running southward from the Balkan. Eastern arms, Olympus and Othrys.-Western arm to the Ceraunian mountains.-Ossa and Pelion.-Northern limits.-Mount Oeta.-Thermopylae. — Parnassus. - Cithaeron. - Parnes. -- Oenean mountains.Mountains of the Peloponnesus.-General face of the country.-Herodotus's account of Hellas: its central position.-Fertilized by rain.Subject to storms and earthquakes.-Lions.-Sillikyprion.-Character of the people.-Temples.-Markets.-Trade.-Miscellaneous notices.— Art of writing.-Obscurities in the history of the people.-Herodotus's account.- Hellas anciently called Pelasgia, and peopled by Pelasgians and other tribes.-Character of the Pelasgians.-Mythical origin of the Hellenes. Dorian wanderings.-Invasion of the Peloponnesus by the Heracleids.-Achaeans unknown: Aeolians and Ionians considered as Pelasgians. In historical times inhabitants all called Hellenes. THE name of Hellas in the history of Herodotus, CHAP. II. bears a very different signification from the Greece of later times. It included every territory or disHerodotus, trict inhabited by Hellenes, or containing an Hellenic its wide sig city, whether in Europe, Asia, or Libya, or on the islands of the Mediterranean or Aegean. Thus Amasis is said to have dedicated offerings in Hellas, for he sent presents to Cyrene on the coast of Libya, to Lindus in Rhodes, and to the island of Samos.1 Again, Herodotus tells us that the physicians of Crotona in Italy were the best in all Hellas, and those of Cyrene were the second. In the present division of our work, however, we purpose confining ourselves to a consideration of Greece proper, or that part of the Hellas of Herodotus which was included in the European continent; and we shall treat of all the islands in a separate chapter, and leave the Greek 1 ii. 182. 2 iii. 131. Compare also vii. 157, where Gelon is said to possess no small part of Hellas, since he was master of Syracuse. |