Part 5

MYCENAE, at a distance of forty-three stadia from Argos, was situated on a hill; at the time when Greece was most flourishing, Mycenae was no more than a name, for after the Persian wars, the town, together with Tiryns was completely destroyed by the Argives. The inhabitants of the two towns had availed themselves of the Persian war for the purpose of gaining their independence, by sending a small band to assist the Greeks at Plataeae. The Argives, who took no part in the Persian war, afterwards punished them for it, while the other Greeks, contrary to their promise, did nothing to prevent it; and the two places became the victims of an inconsiderate act. The ruins of Mycenae and Tiryns, which still exist, are about the same as those seen by Pausanias: they are the grandest Cyclopian structures in southern Europe. The lion-gate of Mycenae, constructed of huge blocks of stone, with its pointed arch and the two rudely carved lions above it, may still be seen. These remains, as well as those of Orchomenos are striking proofs, that the greatness of the ante-Doric period, which is immortalised in the works of the poets, is not a mere dream. The circumference of the walls of Mycenae is still considerable, and the city was well suited to be the residence of the king of kings.

TIRYNS, in the earliest times the rival of Mycenae, as is frequently intimated in the mythical stories, has likewise left traces of extensive walls, justifying the epithet τειχιόεσσα, which it bears in the Iliad. It was situated on the eminence above Nauplia, which, no doubt, was once the port of Tiryns.

Within the territory of Argolis, there were two small states, which as late as the Persian war enjoyed a kind of political existence, but stood in the same relation to Argos, Mycenae, and Tiryns, as Winterthur does to Zurich, or the towns of Aargau to Berne. They were, in a certain sense, republics; but could enter into no negotiations with foreign powers without the sanction of Argos. I allude to CLEONAE, an Argive state, and ORNEAE, which Herodotus calls a Cynurian state. The CYNURIANS, whom we also meet with in Thyrea and in the Dryopian territory, are a real mystery. It is said that they were Dryopians, perhaps a non-Dorian people, but accompanying the Dorians in their migrations; we may perhaps compare them with certain bands of Saxons, who accompanied the Lombards to Italy and settled in Parma and Modena. In like manner, we find Bulgarians in the principality of Beneventum; and there are distinct traditions, that Aetolians accompanied the Dorians.

The whole peninsula to the east of the Argolic gulf was, in the best age of Greece, commonly called ACTE, which must be borne in mind, especially by the readers of Thucydides; the earlier commentators have often misunderstood this name. We have no term exactly corresponding to the Greek Acte; it is more than peninsula, which is a very indefinite term, nor is it the same as chersonesus. The Greeks would not call Italy or Spain a chersonesus, but they would apply to them the term of Acte. A chersonesus is a peninsula, connected with the main land by a very narrow isthmus, whereas Acte is a country, the greater part of which is coast-land. Such was the case with Attica; which was originally called Acte, a name which is often used as a proper name, especially by Latin poets, who even formed from it an adjective, as _Actaea tellus_, which is unknown to the Greeks.

This Acte contained two, or we may even say three, considerable Doric cities, and one whose origin is unknown. The two most ancient places are EPIDAURUS and TROEZEN; HERMIONE arose somewhat later; and at a still later period, though we do not know when, was built the town of HALIAE, which is not marked in our maps, not even in that of D’Anville. Troezen and Epidaurus appear, in the Greek traditions, among the most ancient places; we find them mentioned along with Eïonae[15], and they are certainly more ancient than the Doric migration. In Scymnus[16], indeed, the Doric chiefs appear as founders, though the traditions of Troezen went back to Pelops; but this only alludes to the fact, that a new order of things began at the time of the Dorian conquest. All those towns, in developing their constitutions, passed through the same process as Rome and other cities: they begin with an aristocracy of conquerors, under whom the original inhabitants occupy the position of clients, or _penestae_; but afterwards the latter become free, the conquered rise to the rank of a _demos_, the ancient aristocracy gradually dies away, and the subject country people gain the ascendancy. In the case of Epidaurus, we have the proof in the tradition about the Artyni and Conipodes, the former of whom were Dorians, and the latter the Achaean country people. All these places of the Acte were maritime towns; whereas Argos never had any navy and was quite a stranger to the sea. The Greeks are almost everywhere born sailors, even in their Italian colonies; and so it has ever been down to the present day. The Italian, on the other hand, is born for agriculture; no real Italian is a navigator, for Venice is inhabited by Slavonians, and Genoa by Ligurians who do not belong to the race of true Italians; the Greek colonists in Italy, as at Naples, are fishermen, and often carry their fish to Rome from a distance of several hundred miles. Those places of the Acte, if we bear in mind the small extent of their dominion, had a considerable number of galleys; at Salamis their number, which was not small, does great honour to the patriotism of the people, and we can easily see that their power was not insignificant.

HERMIONE is also called Hermion, and we cannot say which of the two names is the older one; in Thucydides we only find the ethnic name of the people when they come forward with others; for in the place itself no occurrence is mentioned.

HALIAE, situated between Hermion and Nauplia, arose from a settlement of fishermen, whence the ethnic name Ἁλιῆς or Ἁλιεῖς in Thucydides and Scylax. The place has been overlooked, because most geographers were but indifferent Greek scholars, and because the Latin translation of Thucydides renders Ἁλιῆς by _piscatores_.

These four towns still existed in the time of Philip of Macedonia, and were well disposed towards Athens, exerting themselves on its behalf, according to their feeble powers, in the Lamian war. Haliae is afterwards no longer mentioned, and the others became members of the Achaean confederacy. The temple of Asclepios, about four miles from the town of Epidaurus, was celebrated as a place to which pilgrimages were undertaken; and in times of distress, this circumstance furnished to the impoverished Epidaurians the means of living.

Opposite to Troezen is the island of CALAURIA, where Demosthenes died a free man in the temple of Poseidon, an asylum for all Greece, but which was not respected by the Macedonians.

Not far from the coast of the Acte are the islands of TIPARENOS and HYDREA (Speizza and Hydra), which in antiquity were quite insignificant, but have become important in our own age. The latter of them has preserved its name. Hydrea does not even appear to have had a town, but its harbour was used in antiquity.[17]

CORINTH is, under this name, not an ancient place; its original name was Ephyra, and the greatness of Corinth belongs to the later or historical period. There is not a single important tradition of the early times that refers to Corinth, and it is quite manifest that only in later times legends were transferred to Corinth. The situation of ACROCORINTHUS is such, that from the remotest period the inhabitants of the country must have used it as a stronghold, as the Isthmus itself is a strong natural fortification for the defence of Peloponnesus, and was afterwards the boundary between the Ionians and the peninsula. According to tradition, Acrocorinthus was in the possession of the Achaeans, and was taken by the Dorians only after a protracted blockade.

Corinth is perhaps the first of all Greek towns that became great and wealthy through commerce. There are only two places which in the earliest times deserve to be noticed as commercial towns, namely, Corinth and Crissa; after the destruction of Crissa, Aegina, though more as a country of sailors, stepped into its place. These last two towns carried on commerce chiefly by sea, while Corinth gave itself up more to traffic by land. Its situation was most favourable for commerce, being distant, on the one hand, twelve stadia from Lechaeon and the Corinthian Gulf, and, on the other, forty stadia[18] from Cenchreae and the Saronic Gulf. The place for the Isthmian games was in the neighbourhood of Corinth, on the Isthmus, which is there forty stadia in breadth. But the most important point at Corinth was Acrocorinthus, a rock which according to Strabo, rose perpendicularly to the height of three and a-half stadia, or 2,100 feet: this statement seems to be based upon actual measurement; at present it is impossible to measure it on account of the jealousy of the Turks. The rock is inaccessible on the side of the country, and below it was situated the city of Corinth, in the form of a trapezium; the town was about five miles in circumference, and one of the largest cities of Greece: Athens was not larger. It was built on hills and in the intervening valleys, and surrounded by a strong wall. Towards the city Acrocorinthus was open, but there was only one gate communicating with it. On the top of it a wall ran round its precipitous sides; and the remains of these walls have even in our days been seen from a distance. It was altogether impregnable, at least in the ancient mode of warfare; it was taken once by famine, and twice by surprise. At present it is no longer so strong, and on one side it can be reached by guns from a neighbouring hill.

In the Homeric Catalogue, Corinth is called ἀφνειός; it was wealthy even under the Bacchiads, and under Cypselus and his son; its commerce, however, was at different times disturbed by the navy of Athens, and this is one of the earliest examples of commercial jealousy. Corinth was greater by its land commerce than as a maritime power; but still it had a navy, and founded numerous and splendid colonies, as Syracuse, Corcyra, Ambracia, Leucas, and a number of towns on the western coast of Greece, partly with, and partly without the co-operation of Corcyra. But the planting of these colonies belongs to the period of the Corinthian aristocracy and tyrannis; during its democratic government, the city lost its bold spirit of enterprise and its warlike character, just as was the case at Florence. From the amount of contingents furnished by Corinth in times of war, it is clear that it was populous, though not in proportion to its extent. But the Corinthians never shewed themselves noble; as early as the Persian wars they displayed malice and envy towards Athens; and Plutarch is unjust in blaming Herodotus for speaking against Corinth. The Corinthians were the chief instigators of the undertakings against Athens, which afterwards they had reason to repent, when Sparta exercised her power with an utter disregard of every one else; the Corinthians then brought about a reaction to ruin Sparta, which, by the wretched manner in which she had used her supremacy, brought upon herself a heavy responsibility with her contemporaries no less than with posterity. During the Macedonian period Corinth is mentioned only as a wealthy commercial city; in the troublous times, when the Greeks were involved in maritime wars, when Illyrians and Etruscans rendered the sea about Malea and Taenarus (which were inhabited by the ancestors of the Mainots) unsafe, and when the Cretans also carried on piracy, people preferred going to Corinth, instead of sailing round Peloponnesus; the continuity of the voyage was sacrificed, and the merchandise was conveyed to Lechaeon, and thence to Corfu and Illyricum.[19] Corinth thus became a principal staple of commerce. The different phases of the commerce of the Corinthians may be traced _a priori_ from its historical relations. Corinth rose and sank; the time of its highest prosperity was that in which Athens, like modern Venice, was in a state of utter decay, about Olymp. 180, in the reign of Antigonus Gonatas. All commerce then became concentrated at Corinth, just as the whole commerce of the Adriatic has in modern times become concentrated at Trieste. Though it was under the supremacy of Macedonia, the city became very wealthy, and was in comfortable circumstances. A Macedonian garrison was quartered in Acrocorinthus. Corinth, however, was not only a commercial place, but also had manufactures, which had been transferred thither from Athens, on account of its more favourable situation. The χαλκὸς Κορινθιακὸς is neither more nor less than works in bronze, which were made there with particular elegance; its alleged origin at the burning of the city is a silly story, as has long been universally acknowledged.

After the Peloponnesian war, the Corinthians were opposed to Sparta for wishing to introduce an oligarchical form of government among them. This attempt of Sparta to make Corinth aristocratic was foolish, and could not but fail, for the city was essentially democratic, and not the soil in which an aristocracy could succeed. During the reign of Philip of Macedonia, Corinth was one of those ill-disposed places which attacked the Athenians in every possible way for the purpose of increasing its own commerce by their ruin; but afterwards, during the Lamian war, it appears vacillating, and receives a Macedonian garrison. It is surprising to find that subsequently Corinth became a separate Macedonian principality under Craterus, the step-brother of Antigonus Gonatas, and his son Alexander.[20] Afterwards, Aratus, who took Acrocorinthus by surprise, drew the city into the Achaean confederacy; and twenty years later he delivered it up to the Macedonians as the price for the assistance furnished him by Antigonus Doson against Cleomenes. It now remained for twenty-four years in the hands of the Macedonians, until it was evacuated according to the terms of the peace between Philip and the Romans. For fifty years it was then at the head of the Achaean league, and this was the period of its greatest wealth, for Athens was decayed, Aegina annihilated, and all relations were changed. The life in Greece at that time was quite different from what it had been in the age of Thucydides: it was extremely prosaic, and every one was bent upon becoming rich by commerce, and upon enjoying the good things of this life. Throughout its existence Corinth had been distinguished for its manufactures, industry, wealth, splendid buildings, and everything that riches can afford; and its manufactures were no less celebrated than the English are at the present day. But during the whole period that it was in the enjoyment of republican institutions, that is, ever since the reign of Periander, Corinth never produced a single man of genius, either as an author or as an orator. Timoleon is, perhaps, the only eminent statesman that was born at Corinth. We may observe, in general, that very few places have a share in the literary glory of Greece. The arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture flourished at Corinth, and treasures of art were accumulated there in great numbers, which shows that these arts may flourish, even where that is wanting which is the highest in man. A beautiful dirge on Corinth by Antipater is contained in the Greek Anthology.[21]

The destruction of Corinth is a painful event, and excites our horror, although the Corinthians have no claim upon our affection: the barbarity of Mummius was far worse than that of Alaric, its second destroyer. For a period of one hundred years the city lay in ruins, until it was restored by Julius Caesar; but the colony was one of freedmen, and for centuries afterwards it remained a Latin town, of which many coins with Roman names, and the inscription _Colonia Laus Iuli Corinthus_, have come down to us. Pausanias says, that, although it was the centre of Greece, it was yet a foreign city with a foreign population. It was, comparatively speaking, a small place without any important buildings;[22] but, like all Italian towns, it had a forum, and the temples all around the place, which had been destroyed by the savage Mummius, lay in ruins. In the middle ages, at the time of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Corinth was of some importance as a manufacturing town; it was taken by Robert Guiscard under the last despots of Peloponnesus. When in 1204 the peninsula came into the hands of the Franks, it had sunk very low, and was sinking still more during the repeated wars, ever since 1460, down to its conquest by the Turks under Amurath II., until at length, ten years ago (1817), even the village of Corinth (called Cordos by the Turks) was completely reduced to ashes. Its two harbours are entirely filled up with sand, and unfit for large vessels, so that the sources of the prosperity of Corinth seem to be dried up for ever. At present, when ships sail to Europe, they steer round Peloponnesus, and no one can think of Corinth as an intermediate staple of commerce.

Julius Caesar, properly speaking, had restored Corinth only to gratify his own feelings, but he ought to have peopled it with Greeks; it would, however, have been impossible to make it a great city. Delos had taken its place in commerce, the sea had become unsafe in parts, Greece was desolate and deserted, commerce had altogether taken a different route, the great commercial roads had taken other directions, and the chief places were in Egypt, Syria, and on the Euxine; Alexandria and Italy were now the central points; and it was impossible for Corinth to rise again. Its whole prosperity now depended upon the productiveness of its olive plantations, and even very recently a person might walk for hours among olive trees, which grow there wild; but few parts of its territory are fit for agriculture.

A misunderstanding may easily arise in regard to the well _Pirene_: it is not situated below the rock, but on the acropolis, though not on the summit of it. At the foot of the rock there is another spring, which was believed to be connected with Pirene by subterraneous passages.

Several small places in the territory of Corinth do not deserve the name of towns. _Tenea_ was a hamlet which enjoyed the favour of the Romans and was not destroyed, but even obtained a portion of the Corinthian territory. _Lechaeon_ was connected with Corinth by means of two long walls (σκέλη), but not so _Cenchreae_.

The fabulous tradition about SICYON, which by a strange accident has been made a part of Greek history, ascribes to the kings of that city a greater age than to those of any other people. This tradition became incorporated with the tables of Africanus, from which it was taken by Eusebius and Hieronymus, and has thus passed into modern works. These alleged ages deserve absolutely no consideration; the very name of Sicyon is of recent origin, and its ancient name Mecone occurs in Hesiod’s Theogony: in the Homeric Catalogue it is already called Sicyon.

Even at an early period, Sicyon was a great and considerable town, and furnished important contingents to the common expeditions, e.g., to Plataeae. Its territory is one of the most fertile districts in the north of Peloponnesus; it consists of low, pleasant hills which descend down to the sea; it has neither plains nor rough mountains. It is particularly distinguished for its olives, which were very highly valued by the ancients; even now they are thought much of, though they have lost much of their former excellence, for olive trees degenerate very easily, and from this we see how even trees may change in a general catastrophe. The acropolis of Sicyon was situated on a comparatively high hill; while the city lay at a considerable distance from it in a plain towards the sea, whence its situation was not naturally strong, but its walls and fortifications protected it; hence its conquest by Demetrius Poliorcetes after a long siege gained for him great honours. This conquest is spoken of in Plautus’ “Miles Gloriosus,” which circumstance enables us to fix the age of the Greek original, which must have been composed after Olymp. 122. After the conquest, Demetrius induced the inhabitants, who were obliged to receive a Macedonian garrison, to settle on the top of the hill.

Sicyon was celebrated for its school of painting. If we may form a judgment of this school from the time at which it arose—for a trustworthy history of the progress of art does not exist—it belongs to that period when the skill and talent of individuals created a new era in art, but when real art had already lost its free development; it was a learned school, perhaps resembling that of Bologna in the time of the Caracci, and flourished during the Macedonian period until the commencement of the reign of Antigonus Gonatas; afterwards, in the time of Aratus, it was already extinct, and we hear only of paintings of deceased masters.

Sicyon is also remarkable as a place which was at an early time, and for a long period, governed by tyrants. Its first tyrants were Orthagoras and his family; for when the ancient aristocracy fell in its struggles with the democracy, the leaders of the democrats usurped the tyrannis. In the time of Philip and Alexander, it likewise had several tyrants, whose rule you may regard as an interlude, if you like. But it had also military tyrants, as in the time of Demetrius Poliorcetes, when one family established itself as such, until Aratus delivered the city. Aratus himself is considered by Strabo in the light of a tyrant; but this is unfair, if we consider the mild manner in which he managed affairs, and the odium which attaches to the name, though it is not altogether incorrect in as much as Aratus personally was actually more powerful than the magistrates and the laws. At the time when the Achaean league was broken up by the Romans, Sicyon too suffered very much; in the days of Pausanias, however much he may try to conceal it, Sicyon was only a village, though it still possessed some great buildings, but others lay in ruins or had crumbled away. Afterwards, so far as I know, it is no longer mentioned in history. At present the site of ancient Sicyon is occupied by the village of Wasiliki.

PHLIUS, situated between Sicyon and Argos[23], had, like Sicyon, arisen out of the Argive kingdom. In the Homeric Catalogue it does not bear this name, but is called Ἀραιθυρέη. The town was situated in a beautiful valley between the ranges of hills which stretch from the north of Arcadia to the Isthmus and the Onean and Geranian mountains, but are here considerably extended. Phlius has no great reputation in the history of Greece; it was less important than Sicyon, though it was an independent place as early as the Persian wars. From Xenophon’s Hellenica, it is evident that in his time Phlius was very populous, if we may judge from the number of hoplites and of the emigrants during the disturbances. But afterwards it sank and shared the general fate of Greece, so that perhaps the great population in the time of Xenophon may have been accidental, owing to the distracted state of Argos. The ethnic name is _Phliasius_, for which Cicero in one of his letters writes _Phliuntius_; but when reminded of the error by his friend, he apologises, by saying that he had allowed himself to be misled by a false analogy.[24]