SECOND PERIOD.
From the Trojan war to the breaking out of the Persian war, B. C. 1200—500.
Sources. On no portion of the Grecian history is our information so scanty as upon this long period, in which we can be hardly said to have more than a general knowledge of many of the most important events. As in the foregoing period, its commencement is but a traditional and poetical history. It was not till towards the end of it that the use of writing became common among the Greeks; add to which the period itself was not rife in great national undertakings, such as might afford appropriate materials for the poet or historian. Besides the scattered information which may be gathered from Herodotus, Plutarch, Strabo, and above all from the introduction to Thucydides's history, Pausanias must not be forgotten; who, in his description of Greece, has preserved an abundance of most valuable documents relating to the separate histories of the minor states. The Books of Diodorus belonging to this period are lost.
† Fr. Wilhelm Tittmann, Delineation of the Grecian Forms of Government, 1822. An industrious collection of all the information we possess respecting this subject.
† W. Wachsmuth, Grecian Antiquities with regard to Politics, 4 vols. An excellent work.
1. History of the Hellenic states within Greece.
Return of the Heraclidæ:
about B. C. 1100.
1. The Trojan war was followed by a very stormy period, in consequence of the many disorders prevalent in the ruling families, especially in that of Pelops. But more violent commotions soon arose, caused by the attempts of the rude tribes of the north, particularly of the Dorians combined with the Ætolians, who, under the guidance of the descendants of Hercules, exiled from Argos, strove to obtain possession of Peloponnesus. Those commotions shook Greece during a whole century, and as the seats of most of the Hellenic tribes were then changed, the consequences were lasting and important.
First unsuccessful attempt under Hyllus, son of Hercules, about 1180.—Repeated attempts, until at last the claims of the Heraclidæ are made good by the grandsons of Hyllus, viz. Telephus and Cresphontes, together with Eurysthenes and Procles, sons of their brother Aristodemus, 1100.
Consequences of that great revolution.