52 V. ILLYRICUM, ILLYRIS, rarely ILLYRIA,— DALMATIA, CONSISTED chiefly of a stripe of sea-coast of various breadth, between the Hadriatic on one side, and on the other a chain of Mountains, called successively Albi, Babii, and Scardus or Scodrus, which runs parallel with that Sea, and is connected with the Alps on the west side, and with Mount Hamus on the east. ILLYRICUM lay between Lat. 42° and 45° 30 N. and Long. 14° and 20° E. Its N. W. limit being the little river Arsia, it may be said to extend S. E. to the confines of Epirus. Its chief divisions were Liburnia and Dalmatia, the former noted for the light galleys (Liburnae1 sc. naves) which it furnished to the imperial fleets, the latter for its chief town Salona, which the Emperor Diocletian made his place of retreat after his abdication. The ruins of his palace are still seen at Spalatro, three miles distant from the town. Having reached the river Aōus, and come in sight of the infames scopulos Acroceraunia, we find ourselves at last on the soil of that country in which it may be said with the least poetical exaggeration, that "Not a mountain rears its head unsung." 1 Ibis Liburnis inter alta navium, Amice, propugnacula, Paratus omne Caesaris periculum Subire, Maecenas, tuo.-HOR. EPOD. 1. 1. VI. GRAECIA vel HELLAS. Haec cuncta Graecia, quae famâ, quae glorià, quae doctrinâ, quae plurimis artibus, quae etiam imperio et bellicâ virtute, floruit, parvum quendam locum in Europa tenet semperque tenuit.— Cic. pro FLACCo, 27. GRAECIA (apud Romanos),-(apud Graecos ipsos) HELLAS-ados, are terms which, taken in their widest acceptation, comprehend PELOPONNESUS, GRAECIA PROPRIA, THESSALIA, EPIRUS, and MACEDONIA. Add to the last the contiguous country of THRACIA, of which the coast at least was planted thick with Greek colonies, and we shall have a portion of the earth's surface (contained within the parallels of Lat. 36° and 41° North, and the lines of Long. 37° and 47° East), which may be contemplated as a triangular space, having the mountain chain of Haemus for its base, the coast lines of the Aegean and Ionian seas for its sides, and Cape Taenarus (Matapan) the Southern extremity of the Peloponnesus, for its apex. This triangular space is nearly bisected by the chain. of PINDUS1 and its adjuncts, which constitute the water-shed of the whole country, separating the rivers on the Eastern side, which flow into the Ae 1 Of this mountain-range it may be said with still more propriety than of Oeta, which Livy is speaking of, Id jugum, sicut Apennini jugo Italia dividitur, ita mediam Graeciam dirimit.'— XXXVI. c. 15. gean, from those on the Western, which flow into the Ionian Sea. We shall take the six Sections of Ancient Greece in the order just enumerated, proceeding from the south northward. I. PELOPONNESUS2-MOREA. THE leaf-shaped peninsula so called is almost entirely covered with mountainous elevations and the well-watered valleys between them. This is particularly the case with the central region ARCADIA, which, on this account, was assigned to the god of shepherds, 'Pan ovium custos,' and is identified 2 Homer calls it "the Apian land," as when Nestor says, καὶ μὲν τοῖσιν ἐγὼ μεθομίλεον ἐκ Πυλου ἐλθὼν, Τηλόθεν ἐξ ̓Απίης γαίης · καλεσαντο γὰρ ἀυτόι.—IL. A. 269. The modern name Morea cannot be derived, as is commonly thought, from Morus, a Mulberry tree, to the leaf of which the peninsula bears no resemblance. Even the accurate D'Anville countenances this blunder, and from him it has been copied into most of our geographical treatises. Speaking of the Peloponnesus, he says, "La figure fort échancrée par plusieurs golfes l'a fait comparer à une feuille, et c'est d'après celle du meurier que le nom de Morée lui est donné." 99* But Strabo and all ancient geographers remark its likeness to the leaf, not of the Morus, but of the Platanus. "Platani folio similis," says Pliny," propter angulosos recessus.-NAT. HIST. IV. 4. And whether the platanus be the Oriental Plane, or our Sycamore, the resemblance to the leaf of either is striking. * D'Anville, Géogr. Anc. Abrégée, Vol. 1. p. 371. Paris Ed. 1768. in our language with images of pastoral life and rural simplicity.* 6 Among the MOUNTAINS, the most noted were, 1. Cyllene, reputed by ancients and moderns to be the highest of them all, and fabled to have been the birth-place of Mercury, and his stepping-stone, when, acting in his character of 'Deorum nuncius,' he started from, or 'lighted on the heaven-kissing hill.' 2. Lycaeus, and 3. Maenălus, both favourite haunts of Pan. 4. Täygetus, the resort of Spartan maidens (Virginibus bacchata Lacaenis'), a range of mountains now called, from its five peaks, Pentedactylon (evte, quinque, and daxtoλos, digitus), which runs from N. to S., till it terminates at the bluff promontory of Taenărus (Matapan, from μετшлov), the Southern point of Greece, where Virgil places 'Pana Deum pecoris veteres coluisse feruntur Altaque Cyllene, Parrhasiaeque nives.-OV. FAST. II. 271. Unguibus Arcadiae volucres Stymphala colentes.-Luc. v. 31. 5 Some recent measurements have ascertained that one of the five Peaks of Mt Täygetus is a few feet higher than Cyllene. 6 quem candida Maia Cyllenae gelido conceptum vertice fudit.-AEN. VIII. 138. enixa jugo cupressiferae Cyllenes Aetherium volucri qui pede carpit iter. (i. e. Mercurium.) Arcades hunc, Ladonque rapax et Maenalus ingens Rite colunt, Lunâ credita terra prior.-Ov. FAST. v. 87. 7 Ipse nemus linquens patrium saltusque Lycaei, Pan! ovium custos, tua si tibi Maenala curae, Adsis, O Tegeæe favens.-GEORG. I. 16. one of the approaches to the infernal regions. 5. Stymphalus, a mountain, town, and lake, where dwelt the voracious birds Stymphalides, that fed on human flesh, the destruction of which was one of the twelve labours of Hercules. 6. Erymanthus, the haunt of the boar, to destroy which was another of the prescribed labours of Hercules." The chief RIVERS of Peloponnesus were the two following :—1. ALPHEUS, by much the largest and longest. On its right bank, not a great way from the embouchure, was the Town of Pisa, and near it, the Plain of Olympia, where the most famous of the Greek games were celebrated the first month of every fifth year; a period of time which was called an Olympiad, and formed the basis of Greek chronology. Here also was the sacred grove Altis, planted by Hercules and adorned with the renowned statue of Jupiter by Phidias. The Alpheus, in its course, disappears under ground for a time, which gave rise to the fiction of the river-god making his way under the sea to meet his Arethusa in the Sicilian island Ortygia.10 The Alpheus is joined, on the right side, by the Helisson, on which was Megalopolis, 9 10 8 Taenarias etiam fauces, alta ostia Ditis.-GEO. iv. 467. And Horace, OD. 1. 34. says Sedes. invisi horrida Taenari Herculeo vulgatos robore montes, Monstriferumque Erymanthon et aerisonum Stymphalon.— That renowned flood, so often sung, Divine Alpheus, who, by secret sluice, STAT. TH. IV. 29. Stole under seas to meet his Arethuse.-MILT. ARCAD. 21. |