inscriptions we find Mytilana,[77] while in Greek MSS. and even in
more recent Latin inscriptions, it is invariably written Mitylene. The
former is in all probability the more ancient mode of spelling, yet
it is difficult to introduce it into printed books. Mitylene rose to
the rank of one of the greatest and most splendid cities, and Alcaeus
called it ἁ μεγάλα Μιτυλάνα. No place in Greece has produced greater
geniuses, for Alcaeus and Sappho are among the most excellent lyric poets
in Greek literature. The history of Alcaeus is connected with that of
his time, for he fought in behalf of the liberty of his country against
usurpation. There, as everywhere else, members of the order of the nobles
set themselves up as tyrants, and the demos, supported by Pittacus, rose
against these δυναστεῖαι. Alcaeus, belonging to the aristocracy, was
opposed to Pittacus, whom he unjustly attacked for his low birth and his
usurpation, for Pittacus laid down his dictatorial power as soon as he
had given laws to the state. Mitylene, being an insular city, together
with the other towns spontaneously submitted to the Persians. Under the
Pisistratids, the Mityleneans carried on war with the Athenians for the
possession of Sigeum on the Hellespont, and afterwards took part in the
insurrection of the Ionians in Asia Minor. After the battle of Salamis,
they asserted their independence of Persia, and placed themselves under
the protection of Athens. During the Peloponnesian war, they at first
yielded to circumstances, but then allowed themselves, by Spartan
influence, to be led to insurrection. Paches reduced the city, and
Cleon wanted to raze it to the ground; a decree was passed that all its
inhabitants should be made slaves and the country laid waste; but the
city narrowly escaped the most frightful devastation; and cleruchi were
sent into the island to whom the inhabitants had to pay tribute. At the
end of the war, the Mityleneans joined Sparta, and in the Macedonian
period they were allied with Byzantium, Chios, and Cos against Athens,
and throughout the time of the Macedonian ascendancy maintained their
republican independence. In the reign of Mithridates they were mad enough
to take part in the murder of the Romans, and shewed on that occasion
greater cruelty than any other people. After a long resistance on the
part of its inhabitants, the Romans took the city, destroyed it, and sold
its citizens as slaves; it was, however, restored through the influence
of Theophanes, the favourite of Pompey. Mitylene had a double harbour.
METHYMNA was the only Lesbian town that did not take part in the revolt
against Athens, for which reason it was favoured by the Athenians.
Otherwise little is to be said of this place, except that Arion, the
dithyrambic poet, was born there.
ERESOS, or ERESSOS, was, according to some, the birth-place of Sappho.
This, however, is a doubtful point, but certain it is, that Theophrastus,
the last genuine Greek classic, was a native of Eresos.
The two Asiatic towns of the name of MAGNESIA, the one on the Maeander,
and the other at the foot of mount Sipylus, have this in common, that
their origin is not accounted for in any of the Greek traditions about
the migrations into Asia. It is a surprising phenomenon, that a people
like the Magnetes should have settled there, far away from the coast and
from the other Greek towns. But if we bear in mind, that the Magnetes
decidedly belong to the Pelasgian race, and that in other parts of that
portion of Asia, too, Thessalian Pelasgians occur, we can scarcely
entertain a doubt, that the two Magnesias in Asia must be regarded as
remnants of a Pelasgian population in those districts. In the earliest
Graeco-Asiatic history, both towns act a prominent part; but we know
nothing definite about their fate; one of them, it is uncertain which,
is said to have been destroyed during the great migration of the
Cimmerians or Treres. Afterwards, during the period of the earliest
Ionian traditions, the Magnesians were powerful through their cavalry.
Magnesia, near mount Sipylus, was a considerable town as late as the
time of the Macedonian and Syrian dominion, and in the war of Antiochus
against his brother, it was allied with Smyrna and displayed great vigour
and valour.
This may suffice about the Greek settlements in western Asia from Cnidos
to the Propontis. Cyprus is isolated, and does not properly belong to the
Greek nation; I shall have occasion to speak of it hereafter, as well as
of the Greek settlements in Phrygia.
THE KINGDOM OF PERGAMUS.
On the same coast, we meet with the city of PERGAMUS, the origin of
which is similar to that of Antioch and Alexandria, though Pergamus,
in language and manners, was more completely hellenised than Antioch
ever could be, because of the predominance of the Syriac population,
which was deeply interested in the preservation of its own language. The
extent of the ruins still attests the ancient splendour of the place.
When Alexander was conquering western Asia, and even during the time
when his successor Lysimachus governed those parts, Pergamus was not
a town, but only a castle on a precipitous rock, celebrated for its
strength; the rock is called στροβιλοειδής, from its resemblance to
a pine-cone. After the battle of Ipsus, when Lysimachus had obtained
Phrygia on the Hellespont and Lydia, he deposited in that castle his
treasures, amounting, it is said, to 9,000 talents, about £1,935,000.
During the later years of this unhappy prince, when, owing to the
intrigues of his second wife Arsinoë, who wished to secure the throne to
her own children, the Furies entered his house, and when he commenced
persecuting his children by his first wife, and even ordered Agathocles
to be put to death, there arose such a commotion in his dominions, that
many parts refused obedience to him, and the whole kingdom fell into a
state of disorganisation. Seleucus Nicator attacked it, and Philetaerus,
the governor of Pergamus, declared himself independent, and opened the
gates to Seleucus. Philetaerus had for a long time been in possession
of what had been intrusted to his care, and at first probably with
honest intentions towards the house of Lysimachus. But when the whole
family of the latter had become extinct, Philetaerus remained the ruler
of the country. He was succeeded by his brother Eumenes as dynastes, a
title which was then commonly given to those who would in former times
have been called tyrants. With the assistance of Gallic mercenaries, he
extended his dominions towards Syria, defeated Antiochus Soter, the son
of Seleucus Nicator, and founded a regular principality. His son Attalus
assumed the title of king, though he had but a small kingdom. But he
extended it, and although it was at first reduced by the Romans, they
afterwards favoured and raised him to the rank of king of Asia.
The city of PERGAMUS, or PERGAMUM (for both forms occur, the Greeks
commonly preferring Πέργαμον, and the Romans _Pergamus_), arose under
the successor of Philetaerus, at the foot of the rock on which the
castle continued to exist. The city seems to have been an open place;
the inhabitants probably felt the inconvenience of a fortified town,
and owing to the progress which the art of besieging had then made, not
much confidence was placed in the protection of walls. The city was
beautiful and wealthy, and remained prosperous until the Pergamenian
dynasty became extinct, and the kingdom was made over to the Romans as a
province. During the rebellion of Aristonicus, the city suffered but was
not destroyed; thenceforth, however, it became deserted and dull, though
it still remained a respectable provincial city. During the period of
its kings, literature was flourishing at Pergamus, and there existed a
rivalry between it and Alexandria, as well as between their grammatical
and poetical schools: but those of Pergamus were not able to equal their
rivals. They must, however, be mentioned with respect, especially the
grammatical school, and Pergamus during the best period took an active
part in grammatical studies. Nicander belongs to the Pergamenian school;
he is indeed a poet of an inferior order, but still ought not to be
despised. Julius Caesar transferred the library of Pergamus to Alexandria
as a compensation for the one destroyed by fire in the latter place.
It is strange that even a man like Caesar was not free from a certain
barbarism, and that he did not carry those literary treasures to Rome.
ATARNEUS, in the neighbourhood of Pergamus, had formerly belonged to the
Chians, who possessed several places on the mainland; they had received
it from the Persians as a reward for the treachery of a deserter. It
was a Mysian town, but subsequently became hellenised, though without
receiving a Greek colony: such places must be carefully distinguished
from real Greek towns. It was very strongly fortified, and afterwards
made itself independent of Chios. In later times we find Hermias as an
independent prince of Atarneus; his daughter Pythias was married to
Aristotle, who himself lived with him for three years.
GREEK SETTLEMENTS IN MACEDONIA AND THRACE.
We shall now proceed on the north of mount Olympus along the coast of
the Aegean to consider the Greek colonies there. The συνεχὴς Ἑλλάς,
according to Dicaearchus, who has hitherto been our guide, extends as far
as mount Olympus. He has indeed some doubts as to whether Thessaly should
be included, but he decides after all in the affirmative, because Greek
was spoken in Thessaly. Thessaly was evidently a hellenised country,
just like the east of Germany, where formerly Wendish was spoken, while
now pure German prevails, though rivers and mountains still have names
which are completely Wendish. This hellenisation, however, did not
extend beyond the boundaries of Thessaly; it scarcely reached as far as
Peraebia, which was partly Macedonian and partly Thracian, the country
beyond Olympus being inhabited by Macedonian and Thracian tribes. In the
Homeric Catalogue, Thessaly extends beyond the Axius, a most beautiful
river, as far as Pieria, which was regarded as part of ancient Thrace.
PIERIA forms the slope of the range of mountains of which Olympus, at
the mouth of the Peneus, is the highest peak, rising to the height of
the snow-line; this charming coast country extends from mount Olympus
as far as the Thermaic gulf. The most important among the several
Greek towns along this coast were PYDNA and METHONE, which are called
Chalcidian. It is very surprising to find, that the whole coast, from
the foot of mount Olympus to the Strymon, though not continuously,
yet for the greater part, is occupied by Greek, and, if we except the
Dorian Potidaea, by Ionian towns, which are called Chalcidian, whence
Thucydides’ expression, Χαλκιδῆς ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης. If the population of all
these towns had come from Chalcis in Euboea alone, that city, nay the
whole of Euboea, would have been drained; we must assume that there was
only a nucleus of Chalcidian _ctistae_, who brought with them Chalcidian
νόμιμα and took possession of the places; all the rest consisted of
adventurers from all parts of Greece. Those towns were for the most part
μικρὰ πολίσματα. Until the time of Philip, when Macedonia was a small and
weak state, though more weak than small, they had in the most wonderful
manner contrived to remain independent of Macedonia. The places on the
western coast of the Thermaic gulf had no political connexion with those
on the eastern side. In the reigns of Perdiccas and Archelaus, Pydna and
Methone seem to have been allied with Macedonia, but only for a time; it
is possible that they may have paid a tribute as a recognition, but they
were free towns. Little can be said of them: Methone was conquered and
destroyed by Philip, and Pydna was taken and changed into a Macedonian
town. More about this will be said when I come to speak of Macedonia.
Proceeding from the coast of Pieria along that of Emathia and Bottiaea,
we meet with several towns of which it is doubtful whether they were
Chalcidian or Bottiaean: Therma, subsequently called Thessalonica,
appears to have been Chalcidian, but I shall say more about this when I
come to Macedonia.
AENEA on the promontory where the smaller and larger Thermaic gulfs
separate, is called by Herodotus a Greek town, but seems to have
originally been Pelasgian and to have afterwards become hellenised.
Farther on the Greek towns are more closely together, though nearly all
of them are without historical importance, whence I shall not enter upon
an enumeration of them.
The Bottiaeans, who, at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, rose
against the Athenians, were a Pelasgian people, akin to the Greeks, like
the Epirots and Thessalians, but not Greek. I shall say more of them
hereafter. If you will understand the first book of Thucydides, you must
have a thoroughly clear notion about them, which the early commentators
had not. The Bottians and Bottiaeans must be distinguished.
From the projecting Acte of Macedonia, three peninsulas run out into
the sea: the easternmost contains mount ATHOS, which extends in a
south-eastern direction, and is highest at the point where it reaches
the sea; this mountain must be conceived to extend below the sea, first
to Lemnos and thence to mount Ida. PALLENE, the western peninsula, forms
the eastern shore of the Thermaic gulf, and is connected with the Acte by
a narrow isthmus. The middle peninsula is called SITHONIA. The interior
of the broad Acte was never inhabited by Greeks, but only by barbarians,
except a few isolated points, such as Apollonia. Sithonia itself was
likewise occupied by barbarians, and Μιξέλληνες existed only here and
there. Pallene, on the other hand, was thoroughly Greek. This country is
one of the most fertile in all Europe; it was also, like Campania, called
_Phlegra_, a name implying a volcanic district of immense fertility.
The use of manure in Pallene would be injurious and cause the wheat to
shoot up too high. There are districts in that peninsula where tobacco,
which otherwise exhausts the most fertile soil, is grown in ordinary
corn-fields; but if it were not for the tobacco, everything would be
overgrown with weeds, and it would require great labour to destroy them.
Wheat there grows to a height of from five to six feet, and it is nothing
uncommon to see it rise even to seven or eight feet. Hence that country
was a χώρα περιμάχητος. Potidaea, one of the _faces malorum_ of the
Peloponnesian war, was situated on the isthmus of Pallene. Potidaea and
Syracuse, the two ill-fated places that brought ruin on Greece in this
war, were colonies of Corinth.
The towns on this coast are called τὰ πολίσματα τὰ ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης, or πόλεις
Χαλκιδικαὶ ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης. It is only in an improper sense that we speak of
a country of the name of Chalcidice; wherever that name occurs, it is
incorrect and belongs to a late period. We must not, however, believe
that none but Chalcidian towns existed there; they only formed the
majority; the towns were not even all Greek. Besides the Dorian Potidaea,
there existed Andrian and Eretrian towns, though they were few in number.
But the Hellenic character was communicated to the neighbouring tribes,
not only to the Bottiaeans and Pelasgians of mount Athos, but also to the
Thracians, so that in the time of Philip many places are called Greek,
which at an earlier period did not bear that name. The thirty-two Greek
places on the Thracian coast, so often mentioned by Demosthenes, which
were conquered and destroyed by Philip, cannot be taken as Greek towns
in the strict sense of the term, but there were among them some which
are called by Thucydides δίγλωττοι. I must here notice an error which is
found in most maps, and even in those of D’Anville; namely, Chalcis is
marked as a large town in that district, though not a trace of it occurs
in our authors. It is a mere invention from the name of the Chalcidian
towns, and is based on no better authority than the alleged town of
Magnesia in Thessaly.
POTIDAEA, a Corinthian and the only Doric settlement in that part, is
one of those places, the situation of which is so fortunate, that in
spite of all calamities they always recover. It was conquered by the
Athenians and received cleruchi, who were no doubt expelled by Lysander
like the cleruchi in all the other places; it would appear, however,
that the ancient Corinthian inhabitants who had been scattered in all
directions, scarcely returned at all, and the few who did return became
subjects of Olynthus, with which they afterwards formed a relation of
sympolity. During this period, therefore, Potidaea was insignificant,
and was conquered by the Athenians at the time when they recovered their
maritime power; it was then probably re-conquered by the Olynthians,
and finally came into the permanent possession of Macedonia. It may then
have been destroyed, but it was restored from its ruins by Cassander, and
called CASSANDREA,[78] under which name it was one of the most important
Macedonian cities, and at times was the capital of the whole empire. The
foundation of Cassandrea and the enlargement of Thessalonica shew that
Cassander had a quick eye in discovering the appropriate sites of towns.
It is a remarkable fact that these cities, although for a considerable
time the kings resided in them, still were tolerably independent
republics under the supremacy of the very kings who had founded them.
Under Ptolemy Ceraunus and Lysimachus, Cassandrea was one of the capitals
of Macedonia. After the death of the former, it was separated from
Macedonia, and fell into the hands of the terrible tyrant, Apollodorus.
During the wars of the Romans it was an important city, and maintained
that rank throughout the middle ages down to modern times; six years
ago (1822) it was destroyed, but it will undoubtedly recover from this
calamity also.
Among the six towns in Pallene, only MENDE and SCIONE, which were
destroyed in a fearful manner by the Athenians, deserve to be mentioned.
This is one of the cases in which we cannot say that the Athenians did
not abuse their excessive power.
OLYNTHUS, situated on a hill beyond the isthmus, about five miles north
of Potidaea, is one of those places which, however familiar their names
may be to the reader of Demosthenes, are yet historically very obscure;
information about them does not readily present itself to us, and it is
only with difficulty that we can gather their history. Olynthus is one
of the little Chalcidian places, which are mentioned at the beginning of
the Peloponnesian war. During that war, when the Chalcidians rose against
Athens, they formed the determination, for the purpose of being better
able to defend themselves, to give up their old and indefensible towns,
and to unite in one place, to form a συνοικισμός, in which undertaking
they were supported by Perdiccas and Brasidas. In this manner Olynthus
became a large town, a new city being formed around the old place and
the acra. It speedily rose to great power, and had scarcely existed
fifty years, when we hear it spoken of as ruling far and wide over the
neighbouring country. The expedition of Brasidas had overthrown the
supremacy of Athens in those parts, and the Macedonian towns were yet
too weak to be able to avail themselves of this opportunity: hence a
great power was there imperceptibly developed. The old towns were reduced
to the rank of demi. They did not limit themselves to the pedantry of
admitting only Greeks, but received Bottiaeans, Macedonians, and other
neighbouring tribes into their alliance, and this is the first great
example of a sympolity.
After Olymp. 100, Xenophon, in his _Hellenica_,[79] mentions the fact,
that the Olynthians were already ruling over a great part of Macedonia;
they were even in possession of Pella, and their eastern neighbours, the
Apolloniats and Acanthians, being attacked by them, applied to Sparta
for assistance. The whole of the northern country was independent of
Olynthus, but we do not know whether the towns of the middle peninsula
were so likewise: the peninsula of mount Athos was, with few exceptions,
quite barbarous, and the eastern coast of Sithonia was likewise inhabited
by Thracians and Tyrrhenians, who, however, in the time of Scylax of
Caryanda, had already adopted the Greek language, whence he includes
them among the Greeks. Olynthus was the centre of all that country,
owing to the great extension of its power. During the disputes about
the succession in Macedonia, one town after another was ceded to it
as a reward for its decisions. Those towns accordingly applied to the
Spartans who sent them assistance for the purpose of weakening Olynthus
before it should be too late. This expedition, however, failed, and the
Olynthians maintained themselves. It was at that time that the Cadmea
had been treacherously seized by the Spartans, and thus the expedition
gave the Thebans and Boeotians an opportunity to shake off the Spartan
yoke. Further accounts are now wanting—so scantily is the history of
Greece known to us! Yet, if we steadily look at the circumstances of
the time, we may discover at least so much as to be able to fill up the
principal gaps. At the time when Philip came forward, Olynthus was still
a powerful city, ruling far and wide, though we do not know how far its
dominion extended eastward; it was one of the first cities, and is called
by Demosthenes a πόλις μυρίανδρος. But its conduct in history does not
appear honourable; the Olynthians were quite infatuated and foolish, and
without any idea of the danger threatening from Macedonia, which was then
governed by a man who knew how to make use of them. For the purpose of
obtaining some petty, miserable advantages, they allied themselves with
Philip, and when he cast off the mask and was evidently aiming at their
destruction, they were seized with the greatest terror and despair; and
then, when it was too late, imploringly prostrated themselves at the feet
of the Athenians, and begged their pardon. The Athenians, forgetting
everything, immediately supported them on the advice of Demosthenes, but
through the detestable treachery of Eurycrates and Lasthenes the city
was delivered up to Philip. He could not possibly allow Olynthus quietly
to continue its existence, but consistently with the principles of his
diabolical policy, he was obliged to destroy it, that he might rise
higher: he acquired a beautiful country and a large revenue; he ruled
without any formidable neighbours, and was thus enabled to mature his
cherished scheme of marching against Hellas. Olynthus was never restored.
The only Greek town in the middle peninsula was TORONE, on the western
coast of the Toronean gulf; the towns on the eastern coast and in the
interior were Thracian. Sithonia (Σιθωνία), the name of this peninsula,
is sometimes used by Latin poets for Thrace, but the _o_ is made short,
the ear of the early Roman writers probably not catching the name
correctly.
The whole of the interior of the northern part of the peninsula
containing mount Athos is a hilly country with few plains; even its
isthmus is hilly, but then the ground rises higher and higher till it
reaches the top of mount Athos, the height of which has not yet been
measured. This peninsula was inhabited by barbarians, that is, by
Thracians and Tyrrhenians of Lemnos and Imbros, mixed with Greeks, whence
they were δίγλωττοι, just as, previously to the reduction of Greece, both
Greek and Romaic were spoken, e.g. by the Albanese at Castri (Delphi) and
Marathon.
ACANTHUS, an Andrian colony, was situated on the gulf near the isthmus;
it is remarkable on account of the canal which Xerxes caused to be dug
near it—a senseless undertaking worthy of a barbarian.
East from mount Athos the Greek towns are found at greater intervals from
one another. APOLLONIA (there are at least a dozen towns of this name),
an important city, maintained its independence of Olynthus. Near it was
situated STAGIRA, the birth-place of Aristotle, which was destroyed by
Philip, but was restored in consequence of the entreaties of Aristotle.