the researches of Rennell, Niebuhr, Leake, Cramer, Kiepert, Thirlwall, Grote, Müller, Chesney, Ainsworth, Hamilton, Rich, Porter, Heeren, Rawlinson, Cooley, Wilkinson, Vyse and Perring, Kenrick, Long, Hoskins, and Belzoni; the classical and geographical dictionaries edited by Dr. W. Smith, the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, and some valuable articles in the different Cyclopaedias, and the Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews. The works of other authors might likewise be named as having been referred to; but the student who wishes to go over the ground by the aid of original authorities, will find the above amply sufficient for his purpose.'

In

The author's larger maps of Greece and the Ancient World, are intended, like his letter-press, to illustrate Herodotus by the light of modern discovery. The outlines have been drawn in accordance with actual geography, and every reasonable effort has been made to fix approximate positions for the nations which Herodotus has described. addition to these, a novelty has been introduced in the shape of historical map diagrams. In various parts of the present work the author has employed straight lines, such as could be produced by the printer's brass rule, as the easiest method for giving a general idea of continents and regions, and for placing the several countries within arbitrary, but

1 A valuable manual of modern geography has been recently published by Mr. William Hughes, (London: Longman and Co.,) and is the only one which contains all the more important results of recent geographical researches within a moderate compass. The author has much pleasure in stating this fact, as he has derived much benefit from Mr. Hughes's experience in preparing the maps of Greece and of the World, in illustration of Herodotus, which are included in the present volume.

sharply defined, boundaries. In these diagrams it has of course been necessary to sacrifice strict correctness of detail, for the sake of a clear and bold mapping out of races and peoples; and it is hoped that they will not only assist the reader in retaining in his memory the relative positions of the more confusing localities, but also enable him to refer to the larger maps with greater ease and interest. Indeed, whatever objections may be made to their rough simplicity, the author feels satisfied that they will generally convey his meaning with far greater precision than the most elaborate description. For instance, every scholar has experienced the difficulty of comprehending and of explaining the relative position of the Peloponnesian races, both before and after the Dorian invasion; and yet by a reference to the diagrams on pages 35-37, the reader will find them plainly mapped out in a way which requires no study, and scarcely any explanation.

It may possibly be regarded as an omission, that whilst the author has pointed out in the letter-press all the geographical mistakes of Herodotus, he has not thought proper to represent those errors by means of a distorted map. It is true that previous geographers, including Ukert, Niebuhr, Bobrik, and almost every writer on Herodotean geography, have endeavoured, with more or less success, to construct maps according to the imperfect data supplied by Herodotus himself. Bobrik especially has drawn an entire series of maps, in strict accordance with Herodotus's apparent views and measurements, omitting all reference to later geographical researches, and adopting the Greek orthography and characters

in the writing of the proper names. So far there

can be no doubt but that Bobrik has been more successful than Niebuhr, or any other of his predecessors, in representing Herodotus's peculiar notions; and a small map of the World, embodying his results, will be found in a section of the larger map of the World in the present volume. But at the same time it must be remarked that all such efforts are necessarily incomplete and unsatisfactory. The hydrographer may represent in a sharply defined map all the loose observations of Herodotus concerning the bearings of different places, all the historian's incorrect measurements, and all the errors of his copyists; but no geographer can map out with any certainty those immense regions, and long coast lines, with which Herodotus was undoubtedly acquainted, but of which he furnishes us with no measurements or available descriptions. In Bobrik's Atlas, Greece is strangely distorted, because Herodotus apparently supposed that Megara was farther to the west than Delphi.' The river Araxes is drawn in the most extraordinary manner in order to reconcile all Herodotus's statements, which however evidently apply to different streams bearing a generic name. The neck of Asia Minor is painfully throttled, because Herodotus happened to say that a well-girt man could walk across it in five days; and yet will any geographer assert that Herodotus was ignorant of the real

1

1 Herodotus merely observes that Megara was the farthest point towards the west which was ever reached by the Persians, (ix. 14,) whilst in another place he mentions the expedition against Delphi, (viii. 35— 37,) which is still farther to the west; but it is evident that Herodotus is not alluding to the relative positions of Delphi and Megara, but to the general course of the Persian invaders.

breadth of that portion of the peninsula? Western Europe and Southern Africa are mere fanciful sketches, which indeed they must be, for Herodotus could know nothing of the coast, and in fact was not at all sure that there was a coast to Southern Africa at all.

But in truth Herodotus was more of an historian than a geographer. His world was not a mere chart of coast-lines and land-marks, but a vast picture crowded with living men. Hellas, her countless cities and her thousand isles. Young Athens with her restless fleets; haughty Sparta with her soldier citizens; luxurious Corinth with her crowded marts ; fair Ionia with her blue skies and impassioned bards. Long processions to national temples. Young men with gleaming arms; noble maidens laden with flowers; rich sacrifices, pious hymns, and choral dances. Immense gatherings to national festivals. Horse and chariot races; contests of poets, musicians, and athletae; olive crowns, and Pindaric songs. The holy mysteries of the venerable Eleusinia; the extravagant orgies of the boisterous and drunken Dionysia. The spacious theatre open to the sky. The stately tragedy, and the satirical comedy; the trained chorus, and the crowded audience. These were the mere centre of his world. Far away to the beaming sunrise he saw the vast empire of the Great King, a hundred nations swayed by a single sceptre. Shushan, the throne of Xerxes and Ahasuerus. Nineveh, with her winged bulls, her painted palaces, and her sculptured halls. Babylon, with her lofty towers, her stupendous walls, her gorgeous temples, and her brazen gates. Regions

of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Far away to the setting sun he could see in his mind's eye the fabled Pillars of Heracles, the exhaustless riches of Tartessus, the mysterious Gades, and the dim Cassiterides. Behind him were the wild Thracians of the Balkan, with their tattooed bodies and bloody suttees. The nomade Scythians of the Russian steppes, maddened with strong wine or intoxicating smoke; drinking from human skulls, scalping captives, or sacrificing living men to remorseless deities. Still farther on to the distant interior, merchant caravans reached the verge of the homes of griffins, but returned laden with barbaric gold. Before him, to the hot south, the ancient valley of the Nile stretched on like a panorama. The land of hoary Aegypt, and the shadowy realms of Aethiopia and Meroe. Massy pyramids and colossal temples; antique writings and splendid festivals; adoration of animals, and profound mysteries touching death and the soul, and the under-world; solemn prayers to everlasting and unapproachable deities. Haughty priests, contemptuous as princes, but covetous of gold and offerings. A people strange and mysterious as the gloom of midnight, yet loving wine and feasting, wild mirth and lawless jesting. The black Aethiopians of the burning zone; the fountain of the sun and the crystal sepulchres. From thence he caught faint glimpses of mighty Atlas and bright Hesperides, of fair Cyrene and jealous Carthage, of desert hordes and verdant oases. Such are a few of the scenes which that bold artist must depict, who seeks to represent the ancient world, ad mentem Herodoti.