HELLADIANS,
AND THEIR ORIGIN;
In order to obviate some Objections.
As I have mentioned that the Helladians came from Egypt, and the east; it may be proper to obviate an objection which may be made, to the account I give; as if it were contradictory to the tenor of the scriptures, as they are in general understood. Greece, and the islands of Greece, are continually supposed, from the account given by Moses[[568]], to have been peopled by the sons of Japhet; and there is scarce any body, either antient or modern, who has touched upon this subject, but has imagined Javan to have been the same as Ion, the son of Xuth, from whom the Ionians were descended. This latter point I shall not controvert at present. In respect to the former, the account given in the scriptures is undoubtedly most true. The sons of Japhet did people the isles of the Gentiles; by which is meant the regions of Greece and Europe, separated in great measure from the Asiatic continent by the intervention of the sea. They certainly were the first inhabitants of those countries. But the Helladians, though by family Ionians, were not of this race. They came afterwards; and all their best writers agree, that when their ancestors made their way into these provinces, they were possessed by a prior people. Who these were is no where uniformly said: only they agree to term them in general Βαρβαροι, or a rude, uncivilized people. As my system depends greatly upon this point; to take away every prejudice to my opinion, I will in some degree anticipate, what I shall hereafter more fully prove. I accordingly submit to the reader the following evidences; which are comparatively few, if we consider what might be brought to this purpose. These are to shew, that the Helladians were of a different race from the sons of Japhet: and that the country, when they came to it, was in the possession of another people: which people they distinguished from themselves by the title of Βαρβαροι.
Ἑκαταιος μεν ουν ὁ Μιλησιος περι της Πελοποννησου φησιν, ὁτι προ των Ἑλληνων ῳκησαν αυτην Βαρβαροι· σχεδον δε τι και ἡ συμπασα Ἑλλας κατοικια Βαρβαρων ὑπηρξατο το παλαιον. Strabo. l. 7. p. 321.
Εισι δε ἡμων αρχαιοτεροι Βαρβαροι. Plato in Cratylo. vol. 1. p. 425.
Παλαι της νυν καλουμενης Ἑλλαδος Βαρβαροι τα πολλα ῳκησαν. Pausanias. l. 1. p. 100.
Αρκαδιαν Βαρβαροι ῳκησαν. Scholia Apollonii Rhod. l. 3. v. 461.
Diodorus mentions, Αθηναιους—αποικους Σαϊτων των εξ Αιγυπτου. l. 1. p. 24.
Again—Γενομεναι δε και των ἡγεμονων τινας Αιγυπτιους παρα τοις Αθηναιοις. ibidem.