[255] The Suppliants is hardly to be reckoned as a heroic play. It is referred to a time many generations before the siege of Troy and all the characters appear to be personifications of nationalities. Regarding the epic Danais little information seems to be obtainable.
[256] The Ion and Bacchai are perhaps rather to be regarded as pre-heroic; the former deals with a story which apparently belongs to the same type as Aeschylus' Suppliants.
αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῦτο γένος κατὰ γαῖα κάλυψεν,
αὖτις ἔτ' ἄλλο τέταρτον ἐπὶ χθονὶ πουλυβοτείρῃ
Ζεὺς Κρονίδης ποίησε δικαιότερον καὶ ἄρειον,
ἀνδρῶν ἡρώων θεῖον γένος, οἳ καλέονται
ἡμίθεοι, προτέρη γενέη κατ' ἀπείρονα γαῖαν.
καὶ τοὺς μὲν πόλεμός τε κακὸς καὶ φύλοπις αἰνὴ
τοὺς μὲν ὑφ' ἑπταπύλῳ Θήβῃ, Καδμηΐδι γαίῃ,
ὤλεσε μαρναμένους μήλων ἕνεκ' Οἰδιπόδαο,
τοὺς δὲ καὶ ἐν νήεσσιν ὑπὲρ μέγα λαῖτμα θαλάσσης
ἐς Τροίην ἀγαγὼν Ἑλένης ἕνεκ' ἠϋκόμοιο. κ.τ.λ.
In this passage the word ἥρως seems to have already begun to acquire its later meaning, viz. a distinguished man of the past (generally of the Heroic Age) who was honoured with worship, though not as a god. For such worship Teutonic records naturally furnish few parallels, since most of the Teutonic peoples became Christian either during the Heroic Age itself or soon after. We may compare however what Jordanes (cap. 13) says of the Goths: proceres suos, quorum quasi fortuna uincebant, non puros homines sed semideos, id est Ansis, uocauerunt. In Old Norse the name æsir (*ansīz) is applied only to the gods (Othin, Thor, etc.); but we do hear occasionally of worship paid to heroes of the Heroic Age, as well as to distinguished persons of later times. An instance of the former (in the case of Hrólfr Kraki) occurs in Yngl. S. 41.
[258] In the Nostoi after the departure from Troy some of the Achaeans (Calchas, Leonteus and Polypoites) were made to arrive at Colophon. The story of Calchas' contest with Mopsos perhaps comes from the same source.
[259] Once also, together with Ἀχαιοί (Il. II 684), as a name for the subjects of Achilles, or rather Peleus. Ἑλλάς is used sometimes for a place or district in Peleus' kingdom, sometimes apparently in a wider sense.
[260] He states (I 57) that in his time they inhabited Placia and Scylace, on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara, and Κρηστῶνα πόλιν, probably in the Chalcidian peninsula (though some scholars emend this name to Κρότωνα, i.e. Cortona in Tuscany). Down to the fifth century they are said to have also occupied Lemnos and Imbros (IV 145, V 26, VI 138 ff.), and in early times Samothrace (II 51), while their name was preserved at Antandros, in the Gulf of Adramyttion (VII 42). Later writers speak of the Pelasgoi as having formerly inhabited many other regions. Into the difficult problems connected with this name we need not enter here; for the most recent and perhaps fullest discussion of the subject reference may be made to Prof. Myres' paper in the Journ. Hell. St. 1907, p. 170 ff. As regards the etymology analogies indicate that Πελασγοί represents an earlier form *Pelag-skoi. If this is a Greek word the most probable meaning is 'people of the sea' (though another explanation has been proposed; cf. Kretschmer, Glotta I 16 f.). But it may really be a national name (cf. Πελάγονες). In that case we may note that the use of the suffix -sko- in national names is Indo-European, though not Greek.
[261] Meyer, S.-B. d. Akad. zu Berlin, 1908, p. 18.
[262] Into the linguistic affinities of these various peoples we need not enter here. It will be sufficient to notice that the Thracian and Phrygian languages are commonly believed to have belonged to the eastern division of the Indo-European group. Certainly this is the case with the language of the Armenians, who according to Herodotus (VII 73) were an offshoot (ἄποικοι) of the Phrygians. The evidence of the Phrygian inscriptions themselves is unfortunately somewhat ambiguous. To the same eastern division belonged the ancient Illyrian languages, if the present dialects of Albania are descended from them. On the other hand the languages of the indigenous peoples throughout Asia Minor and the Aegean area are commonly believed to have been non-Indo-European. Yet Prof. Conway (British School at Athens, Ann. VIII, p. 141 ff.) holds that the inscriptions of Praisos belonged to a language of this group. If this should turn out to be the case with the earlier Cretan inscriptions current views as to the early history of the Indo-European languages would require considerable modification.