The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, Vol. 1 of 2

by Karl Otfried Müller

Chapter II.

§ 1. Migration of the Dorians from Thessaly to the Valley of Œta and Parnassus. § 2. District of Œta. § 3. Limits of Doris. § 4. The Dryopians. § 5. The Malians. § 6. The Ænianes.

1. “From thence,” Herodotus proceeds to relate, “the race of the Dorians migrated to Dryopis, afterwards called Doris, or the Doric Tetrapolis.” Here also it will be necessary to give some illustration of the geography of the country; beginning at Thermopylæ (the point at which mount Œta comes in contact with the sea) to the broken ridge where it is swallowed up in Parnassus, and both ranges are lost in the mountains of Pindus, and where this latter, the grand chain of Greece, is separated and branches off in different directions.

Following the plain of Phocis, which lies between mounts Œta and Parnassus, and is watered by the Cephisus, we presently find the mountains approaching each other from both sides, and contracting the valley of the river. The last towns of Phocis in this direction are, Amphicæa, Tithronium and Drymæa, still to be [pg 039] recognised in ruins, and places bearing the name of Palæocastro.[126] Proceeding thence westward to the higher country, we soon arrive at the sources of the river Cephisus, which cannot be mistaken, since it immediately forms a stream of considerable size. The Cephisus indeed rises not in Œta but in Parnassus, and runs first to the north-east, in order to make a bend afterwards to the south-east.[127] The situation is particularly indicated by the ancient citadel of a town, situated close to the source, upon a steep projection of Parnassus; this place must be recognised as Lilæa. The scenery around is of a grand and bold description. Twenty stadia from hence was situated Charadra, where a mountain-torrent joined the Cephisus. But the river Pindus, which falls into the Cephisus not far from Lilæa, comes down from a much greater elevation. These valleys, lying to the north-west of Lilæa,[128] constitute the proper district of Doris, little described in detail by the ancients, and never till a short time since visited by modern travellers. The steep citadel, about an hour and a half's distance from Lilæa, situated upon a projection of Parnassus near the village of Mariolatis, is perhaps Bœum. The ancient walls in the valley towards the west near Stagni must be set [pg 040] down as the fortress of Cytinium.[129] Erineus should probably be sought for in the defiles of Œta, nearer the sources of the stream just mentioned.[130] Near Œta was situated Acyphas,[131] probably the same as the city of Pindus[132] above Erineus, and of the same name as the river; both which names the Dorians had brought with them from their early settlements. This corner of land, placed under the chief mountain-chain of Greece, and hanging over the plains which extend from thence, was bounded by the upper districts of Ætolia, by the territory of the Ozolian Locrians, Phocis, and southern Thessaly.[133] From Cytinium a mountain-path led along the side of Parnassus to the country of the Locrians:[134] this also has been explored by modern travellers. This pass made the small stronghold of Cytinium so important as a military post, that Philip of Macedon, when he invaded Northern Greece before the battle of Chæronea, immediately occupied Elatea and Cytinium[135], evidently as a key to the [pg 041] western districts. From Delphi another mountain-path (which was reckoned by an ancient traveller at 180 stadia[136]) crossed over in the direction of Lilæa. The modern road to the north, from the valley of Pindus, likewise goes along a mountain-pass through the defiles and ravines of Œta, to the opposite side of the valley of the Spercheus, now called Hellada.[137] If this was passable in ancient times, it formed the communication between Doris and the country of the Malians.

2. Mount Œta stretches in a westerly direction for the length of 200 stadia towards the Malian bay, which it reaches at Thermopylæ. It separates Doris, Phocis, and the Epicnemidian Locrians from the valley of the Spercheus. The passes connected with it are, first, the one just mentioned: secondly, another from Phocis to the rocky glen of Trachinia;[138] and, lastly, that of Thermopylæ, together with the upper path, made famous by the battle with the Persians. The pass of Thermopylæ is formed on one side by the steep declivity of the mountain, and on the other by a deep and impassable salt-marsh: these in the narrowest part are only 60 paces distant from each other:[139] in the middle arise the hot sulphurous springs, which gave the name to the defile. At no great distance from these lies the little plain of Anthela, breaking into two narrow parts of the pass. At the northern entrance of the passage there are still the ruins of a wall, which has perhaps [pg 042] served as a barrier against the invasions of Thessalian, Persian, and Roman armies. Near this spot the brook Asopus rises from the side of the mountain. At the southern end of the pass was the small town of Alpenus, its whole length being about five miles. From Thermopylæ the paved and raised military road leads northward over the Spercheus to Thessaly, southward by Alpenus, Scarpheia, and Thronium, and from thence to Elatea, and thus to the land of Phocis.

Although the broken and precipitous form of both mountain and valley rendered the chain of Œta little suited for human habitation, yet there was in ancient times a considerable number of cities reaching in a line from the Doric Tetrapolis, as far as the sea. Amphanæa must have been built upon mount Œta, but in the direction of Trachinia; so that, with a little latitude of expression, it was considered as in Thessaly.[140] Rhoduntia and Teichius were fortified heights on the road over mount Œta.[141] Phricium was situated near Thermopylæ on the Locrian side; from this place some colonists went to the Æolian Cume, and Larissa Phriconis.[142] On the other side, upon the slope of the mountain above the valley of the small streams Melas and Dyras, lay Trachis. Heraclea was situated six stadia from the ancient Trachis.[143] Not far from hence Ægoneia was probably situated.[144]

3. Having now marked out the topography of this district by traces, which, although not as clear as could be wished, are yet perfectly accurate, we will next proceed to inquire concerning the small native tribes which [pg 043] at different periods settled in these parts, and particularly concerning the Dorians themselves. Doris, in the limited meaning of the term, was the valley of the river Pindus. Whenever the Doric Tripolis is mentioned, the three cities meant are Bœum, Cytinium, and Erineus;[145] which last place, as being the most considerable, appears to have been also called Dorium:[146] but when writers speak of a Tetrapolis, Acyphas (or Pindus) is added as a fourth town.[147] This is the country which Dorus the son of Hellen is said to have inhabited, when he brought together his nation on the side of Parnassus;[148] a tradition which totally loses sight of the more ancient settlements of the Doric race. It appears, however, that the Dorians, whilst confined within these limits, did not rest content with the possession of this narrow valley, but occupied several places along mount Œta, of which Amphanæa was one.[149] An unknown writer[150] named six Doric [pg 044] towns,—viz., Erineus, Cytinium, Bœum, Lilæum, Carphæa and Dryope: of which, by Lilæum is meant the town of Lilæa, by Carphæa probably Tarphe near Thermopylæ,[151] and by Dryope the country which had once belonged to the Dryopians. There was therefore probably a time when the heights near the sources of the Cephisus, and a narrow strip of land along mount Œta, as far as the sea, were in the possession of the Dorians. Nay this was even partly the case in the Persian war; for even at that time Doris stretched in a narrow tongue of land thirty stadia broad, between the Malians and Phoceans, nearly as far as Thermopylæ:[152] Scylax also mentions the Dorians as inhabitants of the sea-coast.[153] This district, however, near mount Œta is that which the Dryopians had formerly inhabited (as may be shown from a passage of Herodotus)[154], before they were entirely dispossessed by the Dorians, their neighbours in the Tetrapolis. Thus, by means of this geographical investigation we have arrived at an historical event. It seems probable that the Dorians, having moved by slow degrees from Hestiæotis to mount Œta, first gained possession of the furthest extremity of the mountain-valley, and thence [pg 045] gradually spread towards the coast over the land of the Dryopians. This race indeed generally did not press all at once, but passed slowly into districts which had been seized by some part of them at an earlier period.[155]

4. The Dryopians (the fragments of whose history we here introduce) are an aboriginal nation, which may be called Pelasgic, since Aristotle and others assign to them an Arcadian origin.[156] Their affinity with the Arcadians is confirmed by the worship paid by them to Demeter Chthonia, to Cora Melibœa, and Hades Clymenus: which bore a great resemblance to those of Phigaleia, Thelpusa, and other towns in Arcadia.[157] Their territory bordered upon that of the Malians, so that they extended into the valley of the Spercheus beyond Œta, and in the other direction as far as Parnassus;[158] to the east their settlements reached to Thermopylæ.[159] Their expulsion is related [pg 046] in a manner entirely mythical, being connected with the propagation of the worship of Apollo (which is intimately allied with the migrations of the Dorians), and also with the adventures of Hercules; but when a clue to this method of narration is once discovered, it will be found to be equally, or perhaps more, instructive, and to convey much fuller information than a bare historical narrative. In the present instance, the Pythian Apollo is represented as the god to whom the vanquished Dryopians are sent as slaves, and who despatches them to Peloponnesus;[160] and Hercules, in conjunction with the Trachinians, subdues and consecrates them to Apollo, or assigns to them settlements in Argolis, but allots their land to the Dorians or Malians.[161]

From this tradition we might perhaps infer that the Dryopians accompanied the Dorians in their migration to Peloponnesus, and settled there with them. But the situation of the places belonging to the Dryopians makes it necessary to seek some other explanation; for the colonies of this race lie scattered over so many coasts and islands, that they can only have been planted by single expeditions over the sea. In Argolis, for instance, they built Hermione, Asine, and Eion (Halieis), upon projecting headlands and [pg 047] promontories; in Eubœa, Styra and Carystus belonged to them;[162] among the islands they had settlements in Cythnos[163] and perhaps Myconos; they had also penetrated as far as Ionia and Cyprus.[164] Hence it must be inferred that the Dryopians, harassed or dislodged by their neighbours, dispersed in various directions over the sea. It is, however, historically certain that a great part of the Dryopians were consecrated as a subject people to the Pythian Apollo (an usage of ancient times, of which there are many instances), and that for a long time they served as such; for even in the fragmentary history of the destruction of Crissa (Olymp. 47, 590 B.C.), we find Craugallidæ mentioned together with the Crissæans,[165] which was a name of the Dryopians derived from a fabulous ancestor.[166] The condition of the subjects of temples, and consequently of these Craugallidæ, will be treated of at large in another place.[167]

5. But the Dorians, though hostile to their neighbours the Dryopians, were on friendly terms with the Malians. This people dwelt in the valley of the Spercheus, enclosed on all sides by rocky mountains, and open only in the direction of the sea; they were divided into the inhabitants of the coast, the Sacerdotal, and the Trachinians.[168] The second of these classes [pg 048] probably dwelt near to the Amphictyonic temple at Thermopylæ, the third on the rocky declivities of mount Œta. These are the people who were in such close alliance with the Dorians, that Diodorus speaks of Trachis as the mother-town of Lacedæmon.[169] The friendship between Ceyx and Hercules, together with that of his sons, is the mythical expression for this connexion. The Malians were always a warlike people, those persons only who had served as hoplites being admitted to a share in the government.[170] Their country was however chiefly famous for its slingers and darters.[171]

6. In after-times there came into these districts a nation which the ancient traditions of the country do not recognise, viz. the Hellenic Ænianes or Œtæans; the latter name denoting the region in which that nation was settled, the former their race;[172] although I do not assert that the fourteen Œtæan communities[173] constituted the entire nation of the Ænianes. For they also dwelt on the banks of the Inachus, and about the sources of the Spercheus, near the city of Hypata.[174] In early times they had inhabited the inland parts of Thessaly, and about the end of the fabulous period they descended into those settlements, from which in later times they were dislodged by the Illyrian Athamanes.[175] Although the Ænianes did not disavow a certain dependence on the Delphian oracle, and though they [pg 049] adopted among their traditions the fables respecting Hercules, anciently prevalent in their new settlements,[176] yet on account of their geographical position they lived in opposition and hostility to the Malians and Dorians;[177] who, as Strabo states, had been deprived by them of a part of their territory.[178] Nay more, it is probable that the emigration of the Dorians which conquered Peloponnesus, was in some way or other connected with the arrival of the Ænianes in this region. There was an ancient enmity between the Lacedæmonians and the Œtæans.[179] It was chiefly on this account that Sparta founded the town of Heraclea in the country of Trachinia; which would doubtless have caused the revival of an important Doric power in this part of Greece, had not the jealousy of the Thessalians and Dolopians, and even of the Malians themselves, been awakened at its first establishment.

Thus much concerning the situation of the Dorians in their settlements near mount Œta. The subject however is not yet exhausted; for we have still to trace the origin of the great influence which the establishment of the Dorians at Lycorea upon Parnassus had on the religion of Delphi (for that Lycorea was a Doric town will be made probable hereafter), as well as to treat of the Amphictyonic league, in the founding of which a very large share doubtless belonged to the Dorians: but the discussion of both these points must be deferred to the second book.[180]

As to the colonies of the Doric cities near mount Parnassus, Bulis on the frontiers of Phocis and Bœotia, [pg 050] on the Crissæan gulf, was probably founded from thence at the time of the Doric migration.[181]