which was the city of Argos, called also Hippium, famous for the temple of Juno; Nemea, Mycena, Nauplia, Trazene, and Epidaurus, wherein was the temple of Esculapius. GREECE, properly so called. The principal parts of this country were ETOLIA, in which were the cities of Chalcis, Calydon, and Olenus. DORIS. The LOCRI OZOLE. Naupactus, now called Lepanto, famous for the defeat of the Turks in 1571. PHOCIS. Anticyra. Delphi, at the foot of mount Parnassus, famous for the oracles delivered there. In this country also was mount Helicon. BEOTIA. Mount Citharon. Orchomenus. Thespia. Charonæa, illustrious as being Plutarch's native country. Platææ, famous for the defeat of Mardonius. Thebes, Aulis, famous for its port, from whence the Grecian army set sail for the siege of Troy. Leuctra, celebrated for the victory of Epaminondas. ATTICA. Megara. Eleusis. Decelia. Marathon, where Miltiades defeated the Persian army. Athens, whose ports were Piræus, Munychia, and Phalerus. The mountain Hymettus, famous for its excellent honey. LOCRIS. THESSALY. The most remarkable towns of this province were, Gomphi, Pharsalia, near which Julius Cæsar defeated Pompey. Magnesia. Methone, at the siege of which Philip lost his eye. Thermopylæ, a narrow strait, famous for the vigorous resistance of 300 Spartans against Xerxes's numerous army, and for their glorious defeat. Phthia. Thebes. Larissa. Demetrias. The delightful valleys of Tempe, near the banks of the river Peneus. Olympus, Pelion, and Ossa, three mountains celebrated in fabulous story for the battle of the giants. MACEDONIA. I shall mention only a few of the principal towns. of this country. Epidamnus, or Dyrrachium, now called Durazzo. Apollonia. Pella, the capital of the country, and the native place of Philip, and of his son Alexander the Great. Egæ. Edessa. Pallene. Olynthus, from whence the Olynthiacs of Demosthenes took their name. Torone. Acanthus. Thessalonica, now called Salonichi. Stagira, the place of Aristotle's birth. Amphipolis. Philippi, famous for the victory gained there by Augustus and Antony over Brutus and Cassius. Scotussa. Mount Athos; and the Diver Strymon. The Grecian Isles. There is a great number of islands contiguous to Greece, that are very famous in history. In the Ionian sea, Corcyra, with a town of the same name, now called Corfu. Cephalene and Zacynthus, now Cephalonia and Zante. Ithaca, the country of Ulysses, and Dulichium. Near the promontory Malea, over-against Laconia, is Cythera. In the Saronic gulf, are Ægina, and Salamis, so famous for the sea-fight between Xerxes and the Grecians. Between Greece and Asia lie the Sporades; and the Cyclades, the most noted of which are Andros, Delos, and Paros, whence the finest marble was dug. Higher up in the Egean sea is Eubœa, now Negropont, separated from the main land by a small arm of the sea, called Euripus. The most remarkable city of this isle was Chalcis. Towards the north is Scyrus, and a good deal higher Lemnos, now called Stalimene; and still farther, Samothrace. Lower down is Lesbos, whose principal city was Mitylene, from whence the isle has since taken the name of Metelin. Chios, now Scio, renowned for excellent wine; and, lastly, Samos. Some of these last-mentioned isles are reckoned to belong to Asia. The island of Crete, or Candia, is the largest of all the islands contiguous to Greece. It has to the north the gean sea, or the Archipelago; and to the south the African ocean. Its principal towns were, Gortyna, Cydon, Gnossus; its mountains, Dicte, Ida, and Corycus. Its labyrinth is famous over all the world. The Grecians had colonies in most of these isles. They had likewise settlements in Sicily, and in part of Italy towards Calabria, which places are for that reason called Græcia Magna.* But their grand settlement was in Asia Minor, and particularly in Eolis, Ionia, and Doris. The principal towns of Æolis are Cumæ, Phocæa, Elea. Of Ionia, Smyrna, Clazomena, Teos, Lebedus, Colophon, and Ephesus. Of Doris, Halicarnassus and Cnidos. They had also a great number of colonies dispersed up and down in different parts of the world, whereof I shall give some account as occasion shall offer. ARTICLE II. Division of the Grecian History into four several ages. The Grecian history may be divided into four different ages, marked out by so many memorable epochas, all which together include the space of 2154 years. The first age extends from the foundation of the several petty kingdoms of Greece (beginning with that of Sicyon, which is the most ancient) to the siege of Troy, and comprehends about 1000 years, namely, from the year of the world 1820 to the year 2820. The second extends from the taking of Troy to the reign of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, at which period the Grecian history begins to be intermixed with that of the Persians, and contains the space of 663 years, from the year of the world 2820 to the year 3483. The third extends from the beginning of the reign of Darius to the death of Alexander the Great, which is the finest part of the Grecian history, and takes in the term of 198 years, from the year of the world 3483 to the year 3681. The fourth and last age commences from the death of Alexander, at which time the Grecians began to decline, and continues to their final subjection by the Romans. The epocha of the utter ruin and downfall of the Greeks may be dated, partly from the taking and destruction of Corinth by the consul L. Mummius, in 3858, partly from the extinction of the kingdom of the Seleucidæ in Asia by Pompey, in the year of the world 3939, and of the kingdom of the Lagidæ in Egypt by Augustus, anno mun. 3974. This last age includes in all 293 years. Of these four ages, I shall in this place only touch upon the first two, in a very succinct manner, just to give the reader some general notion of that obscure period; because those times, at least a great part of them, have more of fable in them than of real history, and are wrapt up in such darkness and obscurity, as are very hard, if not impossible, to penetrate; and I have often declared already, that such a dark and laborious inquiry, though very useful for those that are anxious to make deep researches into history, does not come within the plan of my design. ARTICLE III. The primitive origin of the Grecians. In order to arrive at any certainty with respect to the first origin of the Grecian nations, we must necessarily have recourse to the accounts we have of it in Holy Scripture. Javan or Iion (for in the Hebrew the same letters differently pointed form these two different names,*) the son of Japheth, and grandson of Noah, was certainly the father of all those nations that went under the general denomination of Greeks, though he has been looked upon as the father of the Ionians only, which were but one particular nation of Greeks. But the Hebrews, the Chaldeans, Arabians, and others, give no other appellation to the whole body of the Grecian nations, than that of Ionians. And for this reason, Alexander, in the predictions of Daniel,† is mentioned under the name of the king of Javan.‡ Javan had four sons, Elishah, Tarshish, Chittim, and Dodanim. As Javan was the original father of the Grecians in general, without doubt his four sons were the heads and founders of the chief tribes and principal branches of that nation, which became in succeeding ages so renowned for arts and arms. Elishah is the same as Ellas, as it is rendered in the Chaldee translation, and the word "Eaanves, which was used as the common appellation of the whole people, in the same manner as the word "Exxas was of the whole country, has no other derivation. The very ancient city of Elis, in Peloponnesus, the Elysian fields, the river Elissus, or Ilissus, have long retained the marks of their being * Gen. x. 2. † Dan. viii. 21. Hircus caprarum rex Græciæ; in the Hebrew rex Javan. Gen. x. 4. derived from Elishah, and have contributed more to preserve his memory, than the historians themselves of the nation, who were inquisitive after foreign affairs, and but little acquainted with their own original; as they had little or no knowledge of the true religion, and did not carry their inquiries so high. Upon which account, they themselves derived the words Hellenes and Iones from another fountain, as we shall see in the sequel; for I think myself obliged to give some account of their opinions also in this respect. Tarshish was the second son of Javan. He settled, as his brethren did, in some part of Greece, perhaps in Achaia, or the neighbouring provinces, as Elishah did in Peloponnesus. It is not to be doubted but that Chittim was the father of the Macedonians, according to the authority of the first book of the Maccabees,* in the beginning of which it is said, that Alexander, the son of Philip the Macedonian, went out of his country, which was that of Cetthim,† [or Chittim,] to make war against Darius, king of Persia. And in the eighth chapter, speaking of the Romans and their victories over the last kings of Macedonia, Philip and Perseus, the two last-mentioned princes are called kings of the Chittims. Dodanim. It is very probable, that Thessaly and Epirus were the portion of the fourth son of Javan. The impious worship of Jupiter of Dodona, as well as the city Dodona! itself, are proofs that some remembrance of Dodanim had remained with the people, who derived their first establishment and origin from him. This is all that can be said with any certainty concerning the origin of the Grecian nations. The Holy Scripture, whose design is not so satisfy our curiosity, but to nourish and improve our piety, after scattering these few rays of light, leaves us in utter darkness concerning the rest of their history: which therefore can be collected only from profane authors. • If we may believe Pliny,|| the Grecians were so called from the name of an ancient king, of whom they had but a very uncertain tradition. Homer, in his poems, calls them Hellenes, Danai, Argives, and Achaians. It is observable, that the word Græcus is not once used in Virgil. The exceeding rusticity of the first Grecians would appear incredible, if we could call in question the testimony of their own historians upon that point. But a people so vain of their origin as to adorn it by fiction and fables, would never think of inventing any thing in its disparagement. Who would imagine that the people, T to whom the world is indebted for all her knowledge in literature and the sciences, should be descended from mere savages, who knew no other law than force, were ignorant even of agriculture, and fed † Egressus de terrâ Cethim. *1 Mace. i. 1. Philippum et Perseum Cetheorum regem. Ver. 5. Ο Δωδώνη ἀπὸ Δωδώνου τοῦ Διὸς καὶ Εὐρώπης. Stephanus. on herbs and roots like the brute beasts? And yet this appears plainly to be the case, from the divine honours they decreed to the person who first taught them to feed upon acorns as a more delicate and wholesome nourishment than herbs. There was still a great distance from this first improvement to a state of urbanity and politeness. Nor did they indeed arrive at the latter, till after a long process of time. The weakest were not the last to understand the necessity of living together in society, in order to defend themselves against violence and oppression. At first they built single houses at a distance from one another; the number of which insensibly increasing, formed in time towns and cities. But the bare living together in society was not sufficient to polish such a people. Egypt and Phoenicia had the honour of doing this. Both these nations contributed to instruct and civilize the Grecians,† by the colonies they sent among them. The latter taught them navigation, writing, and commerce; the former, the knowledge of their laws and polity, gave them a taste for arts and sciences, and initiated them into her mysteries. Greece, in her infant state, was exposed to great commotions and frequent revolutions; because, as the people had no settled correspondence, and no superior power to give laws to the rest, every thing was determined by force and violence. The strongest invaded the lands of their neighbours, which they thought more fertile and delightful than their own, and dispossessed the lawful owners, who were obliged to seek new settlements elsewhere. As Attica was a dry and barren country, its inhabitants had not the same invasions and outrages to fear, and therefore consequently kept themselves in possession of their ancient territories; for which reason they took the name of airóxoves, that is, men born in the country where they lived, to distinguish themselves from the rest of the nations, that had almost all transplanted themselves from place to place. Such were in general the first beginnings of Greece. We must now enter into a more particular detail, and give a brief account of the establishment of the several different states whereof the whole country consisted. ARTICLE IV. The different states into which Greece was divided. In those early times kingdoms were but inconsiderable, and of very small extent, the title of kingdom being often given to a single city, with a few leagues of land depending upon it. A. M. 1915. SICYON. The most ancient kingdom of Greece was Ant. J. C. 2089. that of Sicyon; whose beginning is placed by Eusebius 1313 years before the first Olympiad. Its duration is believed to have been 1000 years. * Pelasgus. Herod. 1. ii. c. 58. l. v. c. 58-60. Plin. l. v. c. 12. 1. vii. c. 56, |