The Phrygians first taught us the use of the chariot with four wheels;[1405] the Carthaginians the arts of merchandize,[1406] and Eumolpus, the Athenian,[1407] the cultivation of the vine, and of trees in general. Staphylus, the son of Silenus,[1408] was the first to mix water with wine; olive-oil and the oil-press, as also honey, we owe to Aristæus, the Athenian;[1409] the use of oxen and the plough to Buzyges, the Athenian,[1410] or, according to other accounts, to Triptolemus.[1411]
The Egyptians were the first who established a monarchical government, and the Athenians, after the time of Theseus, a democracy. Phalaris,[1412] of Agrigentum, was the first tyrant[1413] that existed; the Lacedæmonians were the introducers of slavery;[1414] and the first capital punishment inflicted was ordered by the Areiopagus.[1415] The first battles were fought by the Africans against the Egyptians, with clubs, which they are in the habit of calling phalangæ. Prœtus and Acrisius[1416] were the first to use shields, in their contests with each other; or, as some say, Chalcus, the son of Athamas. Midias, the Messenian, invented the coat of mail, and the Lacedæmonians the helmet, the sword, and the spear.[1417] Greaves and crests were first used by the Carians; Scythes, the son of Jupiter, it is said, invented the bow and arrows, though some say that arrows were invented by Perses, the son of Perseus.[1418] Lances were invented by the Ætolians; the javelin, with the thong[1419] attached, by Ætolus,[1420] the son of Mars; the spear of the light infantry[1421] by Tyrrhenus; the dart[1422] by Penthesilea, the Amazon; the axe by Pisæus; the hunting-spear, and the scorpion to hurl missiles, by the Cretans;[1423] the catapulta, the balista,[1424] and the sling, by the Syrophœnicians.[1425] Pisæus, the Tyrrhenian, was the first to invent the brazen trumpet,[1426] and Artemon, of Clazomenæ, the use of the testudo.[1427] The battering-horse, for the destruction of walls, which is at the present day styled the “ram,” was invented by Epeus, at Troy.[1428] Bellerophon was the first who mounted the horse;[1429] bridles and saddles for the horse were invented by Pelethronius.[1430] The Thessalians, who are called Centauri, and who dwell along Mount Pelion, were the first to fight on horse-back. The people of Phrygia were the first who used chariots with two horses; Erichthonius first used four.[1431] Palamedes, during the Trojan war, was the first who marshalled an army, and invented watchwords,[1432] signals, and the use of sentinels. Sinon, at the same period, invented the art of correspondence by signals. Lycaon was the first to think of making a truce, and Theseus a treaty of alliance.
The art of divination by means of birds[1433] we owe to Car, from whom Caria derives its name; Orpheus extended it to other animals. Delphus taught us the art of divining by the inspection of entrails; Amphiaraüs[1434] divination by fire; and Tiresias, the Theban, presages from the entrails of birds. We owe to Amphictyon[1435] the interpretation of portents and of dreams, and to Atlas,[1436] the son of Libya, the art of astrology, or else, according to other accounts, to the Egyptians or the Assyrians. Anaximander,[1437] the Milesian, invented the astronomical sphere; and Æolus, the son of Hellen, gave us the theory of the winds.
Amphion was the inventor of music;[1438] Pan, the son of Mercury, the music of the reed, and the flute with the single pipe; Midas, the Phrygian,[1439] the transverse flute;[1440] and Marsyas, of the same country, the double-pipe.[1441] Amphion invented the Lydian measures in music; Thamyris the Thracian, the Dorian, and Marsyas the Phrygian, the Phrygian style.[1442] Amphion, or, according to some accounts, Orpheus, and according to others, Linus, invented the lyre.[1443] Terpander, adding three to the former four, increased the number of strings to seven; Simonides added an eighth, and Timotheus a ninth.[1444] Thamyris was the first who played on the lyre, without the accompaniment of the voice; and Amphion, or, as some say, Linus, was the first who accompanied it with the voice. Terpander was the first who composed songs expressly for the lyre; and Ardalus, the Trœzenian, was the first who taught us how to combine the voice with the music of the pipe.[1445] The Curetes taught us the dance in armour,[1446] and Pyrrhus, the Pyrrhic dance, both of them in Crete.
We are indebted to the Pythian oracle for the first heroic verse.[1447] A very considerable question has arisen, as to what was the origin of poetry; it is well known to have existed before the Trojan war. Pherecydes of Scyros, in the time of King Cyrus, was the first to write in prose, and Cadmus, the Milesian, was the first historian.[1448]
Lycaon[1449] first instituted gymnastic games, in Arcadia; Acastus funereal games,[1450] at Iolcos;[1451] and, after him, Theseus instituted them at the Isthmus.[1452] Hercules first instituted the athletic contests at Olympia.[1453] Pythus invented the game of ball.[1454] Painting was invented in Egypt by Gyges, the Lydian,[1455] or, according to Aristotle, in Greece, by Euchir, a kinsman[1456] of Dædalus; according to Theophrastus, again, it was invented by Polygnotus, the Athenian.
Danaüs was the first who passed over in a ship from Egypt to Greece.[1457] Before his time, they used to sail on rafts,[1458] which had been invented by King Erythras,[1459] to pass from one island to another in the Red Sea. There are some writers to be found, who are of opinion that they were first thought of by the Mysians and the Trojans, for the purpose of crossing the Hellespont into Thrace. Even at the present day, they are made in the British ocean, of wicker-work covered with hides;[1460] on the Nile they are made of papyrus, rushes, and reeds.
We learn from Philostephanus, that Jason was the first person who sailed in a long vessel;[1461] Hegesias says it was Paralus, Ctesias,[1462] Semiramis,[1463] and Archemachus, Ægæon. According to Damastes,[1464] the Erythræi[1465] were the first to construct vessels with two banks of oars; according to Thucydides,[1466] Aminocles, the Corinthian, first constructed them with three banks of oars; according to Aristotle, the Carthaginians, those with four banks; according to Mnesigiton, the people of Salamis, those with five banks;[1467] and, according to Xenagoras, the Syracusans, those with six; those above six, as far as ten, Mnesigiton says were first constructed by Alexander the Great. From Philostephanus, we learn that Ptolemy Soter made them as high as twelve banks; Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, with fifteen; Ptolemy Philadelphus, with thirty; and Ptolemy Philopater, who was surnamed Tryphon, with forty.[1468] Hippus, the Tyrian, was the first who invented merchant-ships; the Cyrenians, the pinnace; the Phœnicians, the passage-boat; the Rhodians, the skiff; and the Cyprians, the cutter.[1469]