Before entering the pass, the traveller crosses a small round valley, agreeably situated; at the end of which on the left hand, where the mountains approach one another on both sides, was the ancient fortress of Gonnus (or Gonni), distant 160 stadia from Larissa, the chief city of the plain.[66] From this point the mountains close upon one another more rapidly, until they rise on both sides of the glen in two rocky parapets, forming a gully, where in many places a path has been hewn along the river. About the middle of this path there stands now, upon a bold projection of Ossa, a fortress of Roman construction called Horæo-Castro, covering also a cross glen of that mountain: it was there probably that the strong-hold Gonnocondylum stood; which appears to have taken its name from the “windings” of the valley.[67] Not far from this spot is the narrowest part of the ravine, hardly 100 feet in width: which is stated in an inscription to have been fortified by L. Cassius Longinus, the proconsul and partisan of J. Cæsar; but, without the aid of fortification, a few armed men would probably have been able to stop the progress of a force many times their number. The region has nothing beautiful or agreeable in its appearance, but presents rather a look of savage wildness: the perpendicular masses of rock of the same kind of stone appear, as it were, to have been [pg 023] rent asunder, and are without any covering of trees or grass; the blackness of the shadows in the deep hollow, and the dull echoes, increase the gloominess of the impression: beneath bubble the silver waters of the Peneus (ἀργυροδίνης).[68] Not far from this narrow passage the defile opens towards the sea, to which the Peneus flows through marshes; and from hence may be seen the smiling country of Pieria, on the eastern side of Olympus, particularly the plains of Phila, Heracleum, and Leibethrum, which lead onwards to the southern parts of Macedonia.
3. This is the only road between Thessaly and the northern districts, which passes in its whole length along a valley; all the others are mountain-passes. Such was the other road to Macedonia, which crossed mount Olympus (ἐσβολὴ Ὀλυμπική).[69] This road, too, begins at the strongly-fortified city of Gonnus, the key of the country towards the north; and it then goes along the southern side of Olympus, till it reaches the cities of Azorum and Doliche. Between these two towns is a place where three ways met.[70] The chief road passes in a northerly direction over the summit of the Cambunian chain to the Macedonian highlands; and it was here that Xerxes set fire to the woods in order to open a passage for his army, which the Greeks had expected along the more practicable way through Pieria and the valley of Tempe; and it was often in the Roman wars traversed by large armies.[71] From the south of Olympus two difficult mountain roads led over the heights of Olympus, connecting [pg 024] Northern Thessaly with Pieria. The one avoided the valley of Tempe, as it passed by the fortress of Lapathus to the north of that defile,[72] then along the small lake of Ascurias, whence there was a view of the town of Dium on the sea-coast, at the distance of 96 stadia; after which it descended into the plains of Pieria. We should, however, more particularly notice the other road, taking a more northern direction, and passing over the lofty sides of Olympus, where formerly there stood the castle of Petra, and the temple of the Pythian Apollo, commonly called Pythium, together with a village of the same name,[73] the height of which Xenagoras, by a geometrical measurement, ascertained to be 6096 Grecian feet.[74] From this point there was a mountain-pass leading down to the coast to Heracleum and Phila in Pieria, and another way led along the ridge of Olympus by difficult and dangerous passages, as far as Upper Macedonia.[75]
These mountain-passes and defiles have not been explored by any modern traveller; but it was important for our subject to discover their position from the writings of the ancients. Not only did Perseus and Æmilius Paulus here contend for the fate of Macedonia, [pg 025] but it was in this region that the Greek nations of the heroic age disputed the possession of the fertile Thessaly. There was once a time when through these passes the nations pressed down, to whose lot the finest parts of Greece were once to fall; here every step was gained with labour, while the sons of the mountain inured themselves to hardships in their incessant wars. Of the numerous citadels which in these districts cover every important point, the greater number were probably built at a very early period. Thus there were three fortresses[76] to defend the pass of Olympus, or the road from Gonnus to Azorum and Doliche, which two places, together with Pythium on the mountain, were comprehended under the name of the Pelagonian Tripolis.[77]
4. The highlands which border on Macedonia are so rarely mentioned in Grecian history, that we find in them few names of places, while in the valley of the Peneus there were always some traditional and historical memorials extant. For although the northern mountains were not destitute of fountains, grassy slopes, and fertile pastures, still the nations continually pressed downward to the fertile lands of the valley. In this plain Gonnus and Elatea are succeeded by Mopsium upon the right, and Gyrton and Phalanna on the left of the stream; and soon afterwards Larissa stood in the midst of the open country,[78] which had been once deposited from the stagnant waters of the Peneus, and being constantly irrigated, always produced a [pg 026] plentiful crop. To the west of Larissa, in a narrower part of the valley, where the hills approach the river more from the north side, there stood, 40 stadia from Larissa, the town of Argura,[79] and at the same distance again the fort of Atrax; on the northern bank of the river were the celebrated city of Pelinna[80] and the castle of Pharcedon;[81] higher up on the left bank, where the mountains on the north begin to recede and form another plain, was the ancient city of Tricca.[82] Between Tricca and Pelinna stood, as it appears, the city of Œchalia, so celebrated in mythology; the ruins of which have been perhaps discovered by a traveller in some ancient walls of massive structure,[83] of which Pouqueville saw many in this district. If now we follow the Peneus, which runs from the north-west, higher up the stream than Tricca, we come to the mountain district of Hestiæotis. At about three and a half hours from Tricca[84] is now situated the convent Meteora, whose name alludes to its singular situation upon lofty columns of rock:[85] from which place there were two ways, one leading higher up the Peneus in a [pg 027] westerly direction to Epirus, and the other passing through Stymphæa to Elimiotis in Macedonia,[86] This was about the situation of the ancient fortress of Gomphi, which was near Pindus, and not very far from the sources of the Peneus.[87] It is, indeed, probable that the name Γόμφοι expresses the wedge-shaped form of these rocks. According to Strabo, Gomphi (in the north-west), Tricca (in the south-west), Pelinna (in the north-east), and the more recent city of Metropolis (in the south-east), formed a square of fortresses, in the middle of which was the ancient Ithome; which Homer, from the steepness of the rock on which it stood, calls the precipitous (κλωμακόεσσα or κλιμακόεσσα).[88] From Meteora the Peneus may be followed in a northerly direction to its origin from two small streams; whence there was a path which wound over the high chain of Pindus, and thus reached the country of Epirus. This was in ancient times the road which connected the two countries, and there still remain on it several Cyclopian walls, the strongholds of former ages.
5. There had dwelt in the valley of the Peneus from the earliest times a Pelasgic nation, which offered up thanks to the gods for the possession of so fruitful a territory at the festival of Peloria.[89] Their habits were [pg 028] doubtless adapted to the nature of the country, which has still the same effect on the modern inhabitants; those who dwell near the river being of a soft and peaceable disposition, while the mountaineers are of a stronger and freer turn of mind.[90] Larissa was the ancient capital of this nation.[91] But at a very early time the primitive inhabitants were either expelled or reduced to subjection, by more northern tribes.[92] Those who had retired into the mountains became the Perrhæbian nation, and always retained a certain degree of independence. In the Homeric catalogue the Perrhæbians are mentioned as dwelling on the hill Cyphus under Olympus, and on the banks of the Titaresius, which, flowing along the western edge of Olympus, is distinguished by its clear and therefore dark-coloured stream, from the muddy and white waters of the Peneus.[93] At the present day the inhabitants of its banks are remarkable for their healthy complexion, while the Peneus is surrounded by a sickly population.[94] The ancients however were reminded by the Titaresius of the Styx and of the infernal regions, not from any natural circumstance, but because both among these Perrhæbians and the Hellopian Pelasgians the name and worship of Dodona had been established.[95] Accordingly there seems to have been in both places a Ψυχοπομπεῖον, or oracle of the dead. The prince of [pg 029] these Perrhæbians was called Guneus. So much may be gathered from the passage in Homer. Afterwards, in historical times, we find the Perrhæbians having extended their limits to the Cambunian mountains, the pass of Tempe, and the Peneus; and reaching to the west beyond the chain of Pindus.[96] Gonnus and Atrax were likewise Perrhæbian towns.[97] The Perrhæbians maintained themselves in the mountains, even when the Thessalians had seized upon the plain, not indeed as an independent, but still as a separate, and, until the Macedonian supremacy, as an Amphictyonic nation.
6. The plain on either side of the Peneus was however occupied by the Lapithæ, a race which derived its origin from Almopia in Macedonia, and was at least very nearly connected with the Minyans and Æolians of Ephyra.[98] If it be allowed to speak of this heroic race, of superhuman strength and courage, in the same terms as of a real nation, we should say that the towns Elatea, Gyrton, Mopsium, Larissa, Atrax, Œchalia, Ithome, and Tricca, were under their dominion. Our reason is, that the Lapithæ, Elatus, Cæneus, Mopsus, Coronus, Eurytus and Hippodameia, were considered by popular tradition as inhabitants of the above towns; a belief indicated by the names of several of these heroes. The two last of these towns were the native places of the Asclepiadæ, whom the genealogical and other legends always represent as connected with the Lapithæ. In Homer the inhabitants of Tricca, Ithome, and Œchalia are represented as following the sons of Æsculapius; those of Argissa, Gyrton, Orthe, Elone, and Oloosson are headed by the descendants of [pg 030] the Lapithæ. Now from the researches mentioned by Strabo, it would seem that Orthe was the fortress of Phalanna, Argissa the town Argura, both on the river Peneus; Elone was a small town on mount Olympus, as also Oloosson;[99] and it appears that the Homeric catalogue agrees well enough with the other traditions, and supposes the Lapithæ to have occupied the valley of the Peneus, with some parts of the mountainous country to the north.
7. Thus much it was necessary to premise, in order to give a faithful description of the spot in which the Dorians first make their appearance in the traditions of Greece. They bordered on the Lapithæ, but inhabited the mountain district of Hestiæotis, according to Herodotus,[100] instead of the champaign country, like the latter race. Yet the same passage of that author implies that Tempe was within the territory of Hestiæotis, and belonged at that time to the Dorians; we shall see hereafter how much this account is confirmed by the altar of the Pythian Apollo in this valley.[101] It will moreover be rendered probable that the Pythium above mentioned was situated on the mountain heights. Hence we may well suppose the whole Tripolis to have at one time belonged to the Dorians; since even Azorium was not always inhabited by Illyrian Pelagones, but had [pg 031] once been held by the Hellenes.[102] It is also probable that Cyphus, a town said to have belonged to the Perrhæbians, was under the dominion of the Dorians; since this race possessed in their second settlement a town called Acyphas.[103] It is remarkable that no direct and positive account of any Doric town in this district has been preserved, a circumstance to be attributed to the loss of the epic poem of Ægimius.
8. This poem, written in the Hesiodean tone (although the author probably lived about the 30th Olympiad, 660 B.C. in the last period of epic poetry),[104] celebrated the most ancient exploits of the Doric race. Thus it sung how Ægimius, the Doric prince, whilst engaged in a difficult and dangerous war with the Lapithæ, called to his assistance the wandering Hercules, and by the promise of a third part of the territory obtained his alliance; by which means the enemies were beaten, their prince slain, and the disputed territory conquered.[105] The name of the poem [pg 032] is a sufficient proof that such would have been its contents.[106] Probably the heroes of Iolcus and the Phthiotans were also introduced as allies of the Lapithæ, and at least the adventures of Phrixus and Achilles.[107] The scene of the second book was Eubœa, the name of which island was there derived from the cow Io;[108] the attack of Hercules upon the Eubœan town of Œchalia also formed, as I conjecture, part of the subject. Ægimius was, however, supposed to reign in Hestiæotis, merely because the Dorians bordered in this direction upon the Lapithæ; he was easily carried over to the second settlements of the race under mount Œta.[109] This hero is in general the mythical progenitor and hero of the Doric nation; hence Pindar called the customs and laws of that people “the ordinances of Ægimius.”[110] Nevertheless only two tribes of the Dorians are stated to be descended from him, viz. the Dymanes and Pamphylians; the third and most distinguished, viz. the Hylleans, was supposed to be descended from Hyllus the son of Hercules, and adopted [pg 033] by Ægimius. And as the land in the Doric states was equally divided between these three tribes, Hercules was fabled to have received for his descendants a third part of the territory, which belonged of right to the Hylleans. This triple division of the land was expressly mentioned by the epic poet, who used the word τριχάϊκες to express that the Dorians had obtained and shared among themselves, at a distance from their native country (chiefly in Peloponnesus),[111] a territory apportioned into three parts. An examination of the opinion, that the first race was distinguished from the other two as of different origin, will be found in a following chapter.[112]
We must also refer our reader to the investigation [pg 034] of the worship of Apollo, and the mythology of Hercules, in the second book, since from these alone can be collected the internal history of the Doric race during its earliest period.
9. One event which, even if it had not been noticed by tradition, would still have been felt and recognised from the effects it produced, is the migration of the Dorians from the district of Olympus to Crete. It is, indeed, a wonderful migration, being from one end of the Grecian world to the other, and it presents a striking anomaly in the history of the ancient colonies. We must suppose that the Dorians, whilst in their first settlements, excluded from the plain, and pressed by want, or restless from inactivity, constructed piratical canoes, manned these frail and narrow barks with soldiers, who themselves worked at the oars, and thus being changed from mountaineers into seamen—the Normans of Greece—set sail for the distant island of Crete. The earliest trace of the migration in question is found in the Odyssey, in which poem it is mentioned that the thrice-divided Dorians formed a part of the population of Crete.[113] Andron states, even with geographical accuracy, that these Dorians came to Crete from Hestiæotis, at that time called Doris, under Tectaphus, the son of Dorus, together with Achæans and some Pelasgians who had remained in Thessaly.[114] According to Dicæarchus, the Dorians migrated to Crete from Pelasgiotis;[115] by which is [pg 035] meant the same district as that called by Andron Hestiæotis, since Pelasgiotis and Hestiæotis bordered on each other in the vicinity of Tempe. Again, Diodorus affirms that Asterius king of Crete, the adopted father of Minos, the legislator, was the son of Tectamus (Teutamus).[116] The essential parts of these statements are rendered certain by two proofs: the first of these is, that the worship of Apollo was practised in Crete with precisely the same ceremonies as at Tempe, and connected with many of the same traditions; the second is, the very remote period at which the principles of the Doric constitution were systematized and established in Crete, so that they afterwards became a model and standard for other states of that race. This gives us the fullest right to consider Minos of Cnosus as a Dorian. We may assert, with still more reason, that the name of Minos indicates a period in which the Doric invaders united a part of the island into one state, and, by extending their power over the Cyclades and many maritime districts, obtained, according to the expression of Herodotus, Thucydides, and Aristotle, the dominion of the sea. To discredit this Doric migration would be to reject the simple explanation of many facts recorded in later history. At the same time, however, we do not mean to throw any doubt upon the later migrations from Peloponnesus, when it had already fallen under the power of the Dorians.[117] We only assert that [pg 036] these took place at too late a period to account for many unquestionable facts. The portion of Crete first occupied by the Dorians was, according to Staphylus, the eastern coast;[118] or, to speak more accurately, the eastern side of the north coast. Here stood the Minoan town of Cnosus, with its harbour Heracleum and colony Apollonia. From this point the dominion, customs, and worship of the Dorians were at a very early period extended over the districts inhabited by the Eteocretans, Pelasgians, and Cydonians; and, with the help of later migrations, pervaded the whole island.[119] And although the different dialects could still be distinguished at the time of Homer,[120] yet in later times the Doric appears to have been universally adopted.[121]