Tribes of Dolopes, EUROPE. salians in surrendering to him at once, as he had CHAP. IV. only to dam up the Peneus, and the whole country would be inundated.' The lofty heights of Ossa and Olympus were visible at Therma, and Xerxes beheld the mouth of the Peneus with great astonishment." Herodotus mentions the following tribes who ocThessalians cupied the country, viz. the Thessalians, Dolopes, Enienes, Magnetes, Malians, Perrhaebi, and AchaeMagnetes, ans of Phthiotis, which last he seemed to consider Perrhaebi, as scarcely belonging to Thessaly Proper. The of Phthiotis Thessalians originally came from Thesprotia in Epirus to settle in the Aeolian territory, which they still possessed in the time of Herodotus. The Enienes dwelt upon the banks of the river Spercheius." The following diagram will show the position of the tribes occupying Thessaly and Epirus. Enienes, Malians, Achaeans Pass of Of the various districts Herodotus notices Phthiotis and Histiaeotis, anciently occupied by the Hellenes; Thessaliotis, anciently occupied by the Pelasgi;8 Magnesia; and Malis.10 11 Two passes led from 1 vii. 129. 6 vii. 198. 2 vii. 128. 3 vii. 132. 4 vii. 196. 5 vii. 176. 8 i. 57. 9 vii. 183. 10 vii. 198. 11 Malis, like Achaia of Phthiotis, was also scarcely regarded by our author as belonging to Thessaly Proper. The river Spercheius is not Macedonia into Thessaly. First that of Olympus, EUROPE. which led from Lower Macedonia into the vale of CHAP. IV. Tempe,' up the outlet between Olympus and Ossa, through which the river Peneus flows. Secondly, 2 that by the city of Gonnus, which led from Upper Pass of Macedonia through the country of the Perrhaebi.34 Gonnus. Xerxes entered Thessaly by this latter pass, as he was informed that it was the safest way; but he first employed a third of his army, then encamped in Pieria, in clearing the road." 8 9 The following places in Thessaly are mentioned Topography by Herodotus. Iofcus, which the Thessalians offered Iolcus. to Hippias, who however did not accept it." Gon- Gonnus. nus, by the pass through which Xerxes entered Thessaly. Meliboea, and the places called Ipni or Meliboca. Ovens, on the coast in the neighbourhood of Mount Pelion, where 400 Persian ships were dashed to pieces by a Hellespontine gale. The Ovens were probably concealed crags or breakers. Alos in Alos. Achaia, where there was a sanctuary of the Laphystian Zeus, with the mythus of the curse of the descendants of Athamas, and a prytaneum called Leitum." Larissa, the native place of the Aleuadae." Larissa. Lastly, Casthanaca and the acte Sepias in Magnesia.12 Casthanaca. Ameinocles, who possessed some lands near Sepias, was enriched by the great treasures, including many drinking vessels of gold and silver, which were thrown on shore after the shipwreck of the Persian 10 included in the description of the celebrated Thessalian rivers, whilst the account of Malis itself is given in the description of Thermopylae. 1 The lovely scenery of this beautiful and romantic valley has been too often described to require much repetition here. The whole glen is rather less than five miles long, and opens gradually to the east into a spacious plain stretching to the shore of the Thermaic Gulf. On each side the rocks rise precipitously from the bed of the Peneus, and in some places only leave room between them for the stream; and the road, which at the narrowest point is cut in the rock, might in the opinion of the ancients be defended by ten men against a host. See Thirlwall's Greece. 2 vii. 172, 173. 3 vii. 173. This defile passed by the village of Pythium at the north-east extremity of the range of Olympus. It was also crossed by Brasidas in the eighth year of the Peloponnesian war. Thucyd. iv. 78. 5 vii. 128. 9 vii. 188. 6 vii. 131. 7 v. 94. 8 vii. 128, 173. 12 vii. 183, 188. EUROPE. fleet. All the coast belonged to Thetis and the CHAP. IV. other Nereids, because Peleus had carried that goddess away from thence.' Culf of X. EPIRUS. Scattered notices in The Gulf of Magnesia is also mentioned. It ran up to Pegasae. On it was a place called Aphetae, where Heracles was abandoned by the Argonauts. The Persian fleet moored here after the storm.2 Xerxes got up a match at Aphetae with his own horses for the purpose of trying the Thessalian cavalry, which he was told were the best in all Hellas. On this occasion the horses of Thessaly proved far superior to all the others." X. EPIRUS, or "the mainland," the country between Thessaly and the sea, is not mentioned under this Herodotus. comprehensive heading, but the following scattered notices of this region are to be found in Herodotus. Thesprotians. Thesprotians dwelt on the river Acheron, where there was an oracle of the dead [where those who consulted called up the spirits of the dead and offered sacrifices to the gods of the lower world]. The Thessalians formerly lived here, either before the Thesprotians, or else as a branch of the same Molossians. people. From the Molossians came Alcon to con test for the hand of the daughter of Cleisthenes of Epidamnus. Sicyon. On the Ionian Gulf was the city of Epi damnus, from which place Amphinestus also came Ambraciots to Sicyon.' The Ampraciotae, or Ambraciots, bordered Thesprotia and the river Acheron on the 8 eastern side. They sent seven ships to Salamis.' Apollonia. The city of Apollonia was situated on the Ionian Gulf. Here a flock of sheep were kept sacred to Helios. By day they grazed near the river that flows from Mount Lacmon through Apollonia, and discharges itself into the sca near the port of Oricus. At night they were folded in a cavern at some distance from the city, and watched by eminent citizens, who were appointed every year for the office." Oracle at Above all, Herodotus mentions the celebrated oracle of Zeus at Dodona," which was the oldest in 1 vii. 190, 191. 2 vii. 193. 3 vii. 196. 4 v. 92. 10 ix. 92, 93. 5 vii. 176. 11 i. 46. its origin. dition. Herodotus. Hellas. Two different traditions were told of its EUROPE. origin; one by the Aegyptians and the other by the CHAP. IV. Greeks. The priests of Zeus at the Aegyptian Acgyptian Thebes told Herodotus that two holy women, or tradition of priestesses, were carried away from that city by certain Phoenicians, who afterwards sold one of them in Libya and the other in Hellas; and these women were the first who established oracles in these two countries. On the other hand, the prophetesses of Greek traDodona said, that two wild black pigeons flew from Thebes, one to Libya and the other to Dodona, and that this last one perched on an oak tree, and commanded in a human voice, that the oracle to Zeus should be established there. It was Herodotus's Opinion of opinion, that if the Phoenicians did really carry away the women, that the one in question was sold to some Thesprotians in that country, which in his time was called Hellas, but was originally named Pelasgia; and that here the woman erected a temple to Zeus under an oak in memory of the one she had left at Thebes. Further, that the woman was called a dove, because at first she spoke a foreign tongue, which must have sounded like the chattering of birds; and also a black dove, because of the dark colour of her Aegyptian complexion; and that when she began to speak the language of the country, it was said that the black dove spoke with a human voice. Oracles were delivered in Thebes and Dodona in a very similar manner.' Such then is the geography of the Hellas of Herodotus; we shall now proceed in a separate chapter to develope and explain his knowledge of the islands. 1 ii. 54-57. CHAPTER V. EUROPE. CHAP. V. Distribu tion of the islands. Islands in the Ionian Sea. THE ISLANDS. Distribution of the Islands.-ISLANDS IN THE IONIAN SEA.-Corcyra. -Leucas.-Cephallenia. Zacynthus.-ISLANDS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.-Cyrnus.-Sardo.-Sicily. Topography of Sicily: Syracuse, Camarina, Gela, Megara, Zancle, Eryx country, Egestaea, Selinus, Minoa, Mactorium, Inycus, Callipolis, Naxos, Leontini, Himera, Agrigentum, Hybla, Camicus, river Elorus, Cithera.-Crete, its history. Topography of Crete: Cydonia, Cnossus, Itanus, Axus.-Carpathus.-Rhodes.-Cyprus. Topography of Cyprus: Paphos, Soli, Curium, Amathus, Salamis, Key of Cyprus.-ISLANDS OF THE AEGEAN, or Grecian Archipelago, general description.—I. The Cyclades.-Delos, the centre; its sacred character; sanctuary of Artemis; banqueting-hall of the Ceians; grave of the two Hyperborean virgins, Hyperoche and Laodice; grave of two other Hyperborean virgins, Opis and Arge.-Islands round Delos, viz. Rhenea, Myconus, Tenos, Andros, Scyros, Čeos, Cythnos, Seriphus, Siphnos, Melos, Paros, Naxos.-II. The Sporades, viz. Thera, Telos, Cos, Leros.-III. Other islands of the Aegean.-Samos.-The aqueduct; the mole; the temple of Hera and its curiosities, viz. the great brazen mixing-vessels, two wooden statues of Amasis, picture of the Bosphorus bridge, furniture of Polycrates, linen corselet of Amasis, brazen vessel on a tripod: description of the city of Samos; curious festival observed by the Samians; flourishing condition of Samos under Polycrates; Samians in Libya; artistic skill of the Samians; their dialect, etc.-Lade.-Chios.-Topography of Chios: Chios, Caucasa, Coeli, Polichne: notices of the Chians. Lesbos.-Hecatonnesi.-Tenedos.-Lemnos, atrocities committed there.-Imbros.—Samothrace.—Thasos, its valuable mines.-Sciathus. -Euboea.-Topography of Euboea: Eretria, Chalcis, Styra, Geraestus, Carystus, Histiaeotis; description of the beach of Artemisium; Coela, Cape Cephareus, mountains, the Abantes.-Salamis.-Psyttalea.-Aegina, its trade and shipping.-Hydrea.—Belbina. THE Islands pertaining to the geography of Herodotus we have included, for the sake of clearness, in a single chapter under the division of Europe, though many of them lay off the Asiatic coast. They are divisible into three classes, namely, those in the Ionian Sea, those in the Mediterranean, and those in the Aegean, which last are usually known by the name of the Grecian Archipelago. THE ISLANDS IN THE IONIAN SEA mentioned by our |