GREECE, ANCIENT. The name of Gracia originated in Italy, and was probably derived from Pelasgian colonies, who, coming from Epirus, and calling themselves Grecians, from Græcus, the son of their ancestor, Thessalus, occasioned the application of this name to all the people who spoke the same language with them. In earlier times, e. g., in the time of Homer, Greece had no general name among the natives. It afterwards received the name of Hellas, and still later, after the country was conquered by the Romans, the name of Achaia, under which Macedonia and Epirus were not included. The Grecian tribes were so widely dispersed, that it is difficult to determine, with precision, the limits of Greece, properly so called. The name was sometimes applied only to that country which was surrounded on three sides by the Mediterranean sea, was separated from Macedonia by the Cambunian mountains, and contained about 42,000 square miles; sometimes it was taken in a wider sense, including Macedonia and Epirus, having mount Hæmus and the Egean and Ionian seas for its boundaries, and comprising the islands of these two seas. Greece consists partly of continental, and partly of insular regions. A chain of mountains, extending from the Ambracian gulf, in the west, to Thermopyla, on the east, separates Northern Greece from Southern. The climate is alternately severe or mild, as the mountains or valleys predominate, but it is agreeable and healthy. People are not unfrequently found here, whose age is over 100 years. The soil of the valleys and plains is favorable to the growth of the finest tropical fruits, while the summits of the high

mountains are covered with the plants of the polar regions. In Athens, the thermometer very seldom falls below the freezing point, or rises above 25° Reaumur (88 Fahrenheit). In the islands, every evening, at a particular hour, a gentle sea breeze sets in, which tempers the heat of the day. But in the plains of Thessaly, which lie 1200 feet above the level of the sea, and more especially in the mountains of Arcadia, the winter is as severe as in England. The fruits of the soil are as abundant as they are various. Even where it is not adapted for the purposes of husbandry, it produces thyme, marjoram, and a number of aromatic herbs, which afford a rich pasturage. Greece produces eight kinds of corn and ten kinds of olives. It is, perhaps, the native country of the grape, particularly of the small sort, from which the currants of commerce are made. The name of these is a corruption of Corinth, the chief plantation having formerly been on the isthmus of this name. There are 40 kinds of Grecian grapes known. The honey of this country is very famous. (See Hymettus.) Greece produces all the necessaries of life, and there is no country whose coast is so well supplied with bays and harbors for commerce. The main land is now divided into Northern Greece, Middle Greece, Greece Proper, or Hellas, in its narrower sense, and the Peloponnesus (Morea). I. Northern Greece includes, 1. Thessaly (q. v.) (now Janna); 2. Epirus (q. v.) (now Albania); 3. Macedonia (now Macedonia, or Filiba-Vilajeti), accounted a part of Greece from the time of Philip and Alexander, and making a link in the chain between Greece and Thrace, of which, in earlier times, Mace

donia made a part. II. Middle Greece, or Hellas (now Livadia), contains, 1. Acarnania, inhabited by a rough and warlike people, with no remarkable rivers or mountains; 2. Ætolia (q. v.); 3. Doris, or Doris Tetrapolis (formerly Dryopolis); 4. Locris (q. v.), with the pass of Thermopyla; 5. Phocis, watered by the Cephissus, and containing mount Parnassus, under which lay Delphi (q. v.); 6. Bœotia (q. v.); 7. Attica (q. v.); 8. Megaris, with the city of Megara, the smallest of all the Grecian states. III. The peninsula of the Peloponnesus, to which the isthmus of Corinth led through Megaris, contained, 1. the territory of Corinth (q. v.), with the city of the same name, called, in earlier times, Ephyra; 2. the small territory of Sicyon, with the ancient city of the same name; 3. Achaia, anciently called Egialos, and, afterwards, Ionia, contained 12 cities on the coast which stretched along the Corinthian gulf to the river Melas; 4. Elis, divided into two parts by the river Alpheus, stretched from Achaia, south-west, to the sea-coast; it contained the celebrated cities of Cyllene and Olympia (q. v.); 5. Messenia, with the river Pamisus, extending from the southern part of Elis along the sea to the extremity of the continent, with the city of Messene, and the frontier towns of Ithome and Ira; 6. Laconia, Laconica, Lacedæmon, a mountainous country traversed by the Taygetus, and watered by the Eurotas, bounded on three sides by the Messenian, the Laconian and the Argolic gulfs; Sparta (q. v.) was the capital; 7. Argolis (q. v.); 8. Arcadia (q. v.). The islands which belong to Greece, lie, I. in the Ionian sea, on the west and south of the main land. 1. Corcyra (Corfu); 2. Cephalonia; 3. Asteris; 4. Ithaca (Teaki); 5. Zacynthus (Zante: St. Maura is the ancient peninsula of Leucadia, formerly connected with the main land of Acarnania); 6. Cythera (Cerigo); 7. the group of islands in the Argolic gulf; 8. the island of Pelops, near the territory of Trazene, and, not far off, Sphæria, Calauria (Poros); 9. Egina; 10. Salamis (Coluri), and many surrounding islands; 11. Crete (Candia). II. In the Ægean sea, now called the Archipelago, on the south and east sides of the main land, lie, 1. Carpathos (Scarpanto); 2. Rhodes; 3. Cyprus; 4. the Cyclades, i. e., Delos, and the surrounding islands on the west; and, 5. the Sporades, i. e., those scattered over the eastern Archipelago. To the Cyclades belong Delos (Sdilli), Rhenua, Miconos, Tenos

(Tine), Andros, Gyaros, Ceos (Zia), Syros, Cythnus (Thermia), Seriphos, Siphnos, Cimolis (Argentiere), Melos (Milo), Thera (Santorin), Ios, where Homer is said to have been buried, Naxos (in more ancient times, Dia), Paros (Paria), &c. To the Sporades belong Cos (Stanchio, Stingo), Parmacusa, Patmos (Palmo, Palmosa), Samos, Chios (Scio), with many smaller surrounding islands, Lesbos (Mitylene), the surrounding islands called Hecatonnysoi, i. e., the hundred islands, Tenedos (Bogdscha, Adassi), Lemnos (Stalimene), Imbros (Lembro), Samothrace, Thasos, and, nearer the Grecian coast, Scyros and Eubœa (Negropont). Ancient Macedonia was, in its interior, rough, woody and barren, and produced wine, oil and fruit-trees only on the coast. The same is true of Epirus. But Thessaly was a fruitful and well watered country, and produced the finest horses. Baotia was likewise fruitful, and abounded in fine herds of cattle. The soil of Locris was moderately good; that of Doris was more fruitful, and that of Phocis still more so, producing, in abundance, good wine, fine oil and madder. The rough mountains of Ætolia were neither suited to pasturage nor to agriculture. Acarnania, the sea-coast of Attica, and the mountainous parts of Megaris, were as little remarkable for fertility as Achaia. Argolis had a fruitful soil; and in Laconia, Messenia and Elis, both agriculture and pasturage flourished. Arcadia was a mountainous country, well adapted for the raising of flocks. The Grecian islands lie under a fortunate sky, and are most of them very rich in wine and in wild and cultivated fruits.*

rian Account of Ancient Greece and its Colonies, *See Hellas, or a Geographical and Antiquawith a View of the Modern Discoveries made in that Country, by F. K. G. Kruse, professor (Leipsic, 1826), two volumes, with an Atlas. A Journal of a Tour through Greece and Albania of Ancient Greece, particularly in a military (Berlin, 1826), contains very satisfactory accounts point of view. Gell and Dodwell have written on the geography, topography and history of Greece in ancient and modern times, with the well's companion, Pomardi, has given some adwritings of the ancients in their hands. Dodditional information (Rome, 1820), Chandler, Stuart, Revett, have given accurate descriptions of the remains of the architecture and sculpture of the ancient Greeks. Spohn and Wheeler, Le Turner have furnished accurate accounts of parts Chevalier, Choiseul-Gouffier, and Clark and of the country previously little known. See also Horner's Picture of Grecian Antiquities, or an Account of the most celebrated Places and most important Works of Art of Ancient Greece, (Zurich, 1824, et seq.). The journals of Hughes, Holland, Vaudoncourt, Leake, Douglas, Castellan, and also Galt's Letters from the Le

The History of Greece is divided into three principal periods-the periods of its rise, its power, and its fall. The first extends from the origin of the people, about 1800 years B. C., to Lycurgus, 875 years B. C.; the second extends from that time to the conquest of Greece by the Romans, 146 B. C.; the third shows us the Greeks as a conquered people, constantly on the decline, until at length, about A. D. 300, the old Grecian states were swallowed up in the Byzantine empire. According to tradition, the Pelasgi, under Inachus, were the first people who wandered into Greece. They dwelt in caves in the earth, supporting themselves on wild fruits, and eating the flesh of their conquered enemies, until Phoroneus, who is called king of Argos, began to introduce civilization among them. Pelasgus in Arcadia, and Egialeus in Achaia, endeavored at the same time to civilize their savage subjects. The Cyclopean walls are their work. (See Cyclopean Works.) Small kingdoms arose; e. g., Sparta and Athens. Some barbarous tribes received names from the three brothers, Achæus, Pelasgus and Pythius, who led colonies from Arcadia to Thessaly, and also from Thessalus and Græcus (the sons of Pelasgus), and others. Deucalion's flood, 1514 B. C., and the emigration of a new people from Asia, the Hellenes, produced great changes. The Hellenes spread themselves over Greece, and drove out the Pelasgi, or mingled with them. Their name became the general name of the Greeks. Greece now raised itself from its savage state, and improved still more rapidly after the arrival of some Phoenician and Egyptian colonies. About 60 years after the flood of Deucalion, Cadmus, the Phonician, settled in Thebes, and introduced a knowledge of the alphabet. Ceres, from Sicily, and Triptolemus, from Eleusis, taught the nation agriculture, and Bacvant, contain good observations on the manners and customs of Modern Greece, and the islands of the Archipelago. The principal work, however, is that of Pouqueville (formerly French consul-general near Ali Pacha) Voy. dans la Grèce (Paris, 1820, six volumes). Iken's Hellenion, &c., contains information on the history of the cultivation of the modern Greeks. Gell, in his Narrative of a Journey in the Morea (London, 1823), maintains that the Greeks do not possess such cultivation as to be worthy of freedom. The contrary opinion is maintained by Ed. Blaquiere, in his Report on the present State of the Greek Confederation, &c. (London, 1823). P. O. Bronsted's Voyages dans la Grèce accompagnés de Recherches Archéologiques (Paris, 1826, engravings), is a valuable work. (For a list of works on the Greek revolution, see the close of that division of this article, in which it is treated.)

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chus planted the vine. The Egyptian fugitive Danaus came to Argos, and Cecrops to Attica. Now began the heroic age, to which Hercules, Jason, Pirithous and Theseus belong, and that of the old bards and sages, as Thamyris, Amphion, Orpheus, Linus, Musæus, Chiron and many others. A warlike spirit filled the whole nation, so that every quarrel called all the heroes of Greece to arms, as, for instance, the war against Thebes, and the Trojan war, 1200 years B. C., which latter forms one of the principal epochs in the history of Greece. This war deprived many kingdoms of their princes, and produced a general confusion, of which the Heraclide took advantage, 80 years after the destruction of Troy, to possess themselves of the Peloponnesus. They drove out the Ionians and Achæans, who took refuge in Attica. But, not finding here sufficient room, Neleus (1044) led an Ionian colony to Asia Minor, where a colony of Æolians, from the Peloponnesus, had already settled, and was followed, 80 years after, by a colony of Dorians. In other states republics were founded, viz., in Phocis, in Thebes, and in the Asiatic colonies, and at length also in Athens and many other places; so that, for the next 400 years, all the southern part of Greece was for the most part occupied by republics. Their prosperity and the fineness of the climate, in the mean time, made the Asiatic colonies the mother of the arts and of learning. They gave birth to the songs of Homer and Hesiod. There commerce, navigation and law flourished. Greece, however, still retained its ancient simplicity of manners, and was unacquainted with luxury. If the population of any state became too numerous, colonies were sent out; for example, in the 7th and 8th centuries, the powerful colonies of Rhegium, Syracuse, Sybaris, Crotona, Tarentum, Gela, Locris and Messena were planted in Sicily and the southern part of Italy. (See Magna Gracia.) The small independent states of Greece needed a common bond of union. This bond was found in the temple of Delphi, the Amphictyonic council, and the solemn games, among which the Olympic were the most distinguished, the institution, or rather revival of which, 776 B. C., furnished the Greeks with a chronological era. (See Epoch.) From this time, Athens and Sparta began to surpass the other states of Greece in power and importance. At the time of the Persian war, Greece had already made important advances in civilization. Besides the art