The Greek writers and people called their land Hellas, the term meaning all territory in which their own people, the Hellenes, were settled. Hellas included not only the Greek peninsula, but many of the islands of the Ægean Sea, and the coast settlements and colonies above referred to. The peninsula, much indented by bays, was broken up into many small divisions, connected by the sea. There were numerous mountains in ridges, offshoots, and groups; there were plains, valleys and small rivers. All was diversified. The position and conformation of the country undoubtedly helped to render the Greeks the earliest civilized people in Europe, both by developing, in a life of struggle with nature on land and sea, their special and innate character, and by bringing them into contact with the older civilizations, in Egypt and Phœnicia, on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. The mountains that divided the country into small isolated districts had a great political importance in giving rise to many separate and independent states, the rivalries and conflicts of which favored the working-out of political problems and the growth of political freedom.
GREAT DIVISIONS OF
GREECE
Greece naturally divides itself into Northern, Central and Southern. Northern Greece contained two principal countries, Thessalia and Epirus, though the Greeks themselves did not regard the inhabitants of Epirus (the Epirots) as being of real Hellenic race. It was only in later times that Macedonia, north of Thessalia, was considered a part of Hellas.
Central Greece had nine separate states, the most important of which was Attica, the peninsula jutting out southeastward, and renowned forever through its possession of the city of Athens.
Southern Greece, or the Peloponnesus (meaning “island of Pelops,” a mythical king), contained seven principal states, Laconia being the most important, and sharing the fame of Attica because it contained the city of Sparta.
THE FAMOUS GRECIAN
ISLANDS
The largest of the islands on the coast was Eubœa, about ninety miles in length, noted for good pasturage and corn. On the west coast was the group known to modern geography as the “Ionian Isles.” To the south lay Crete, one hundred and sixty miles in length, noted for the skill of its archers. In the Ægean Sea were the two groups called the Cyclades and Sporades. The Cyclades (or “circling isles,” the chief being Delos) are clearly shown upon the [map]. The Sporades (or “scattered isles”) lay to the east off the southwest coast of Asia Minor. Northward in the Ægean, in mid-sea, or on the Asiatic coast, were Lemnos, Scyros, Lesbos, Chios and Samos.
THE EFFECT OF
GREEK COLONIZATION
The establishment of so many colonies in countries pre-eminently favored by nature in productions and climate, and so situated as to prompt the inhabitants to navigation and commerce, gave a great impulse to the civilization of the Hellenic race, and may be regarded as the main cause of its rapid progress.