MILITARY* ANNALS OF GREECE ^ T ^ WILLIAM L.SNYDER 40' 38* 36° 20' 22' LRr/ o c, 5^ CorcjrraN LZ>odondO Cephajtenia S' .Cythera 22' CotTRlGHT, 1915, BT ElCHAKD Q. BaDGEE All Rights Reserved The Gokham Press, Boston, U. S. A. CONTENTS Preliminary Observations . . . v I. Geography of Ancient Hellas and Adja- cent Countries ..... 1 II. Primitive Inhabitants of Pre-historic HeUas — Antiquity of Man - — Table of Early Chronology .... 6 III. Homer 30 IV. Homeric and Biblical Literature — Was the Hellenic Bard Ignorant of the Sub- lime Poetry of the Old Testament.'' . 45 V. Sparta — Lycurgus — The Achasan and Dorian Supremacy in the Peloponnesus 68 VI. Sparta — Laws and Institutions — The Rhetra of Lycurgus . . . .85 VII. The Amphictyonic Council — Its Influence Among the Hellenese — Lack of Polit- ical Unity the Cause of the Downfall of Greece — The Religion of the Greeks, their Games and Festivals . 104 VIII. Athenian Jurisprudence — Laws and Constitutions of Solon . . . 122 IX. Usurpation of the Pisistratidse — The Constitution of Clisthenes . . .140 X. Persians Under Darius — His Afi'airs in Asia — Scythia and the Scyths . . 161 XL Persians in Europe Under Darius — The Scythian Expedition on the Danube, B.C. 513 172 XII. Ionian Wars — Burning of Sardis — Military Operations on Coasts of Asia Minor — Battle of Lade . . . 185 CONTENTS CHAPTER XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. First Persian War — Marathon . 206 Miltiades 229 Second Persian War — Invasion of Xerxes — Advisability of the Expe- dition — Dream of Xerxes — De- parture from Sardis Second Persian War — March of Xer- xes from Asia — Crossing the Helles- pont — Review at Doriscus — Col- loquy with Demaratus Second Persian War — Numerical Strength of the Army of Xerxes — Herodotus and His Critics . Second Persian War — Preparations in Greece to Receive the Army of Invasion ...... Advance of Xerxes Through Thrace, Macedonia and the Vale of Tempe . Thermopylae ..... Artemisium ..... Advance of Xerxes from Thermopylffi to Athens — Attempt to Sack the Temple of Delphi — Fall of Athens — Traditions as to Salamis — Ora- cles and Prophecies .... 339 256 274 301 309 314 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS jUR knowledge of the Persian Wars is derived chiefly from Herodotus. Fortunately for posterity the writings of the first great his- torian have escaped the ravages of time. After the lapse of centuries, we may read his charming account of the manners, customs and tradi- tions of the nations of antiquity, and also concerning the wars and conquests embraced in their military annals. The attempt of Asia, under the control of a single individual, to reduce to slavery the free cities of Hellas, presents one of the most fascinating stories in recorded history. It. is difficult to realize the extent of the power of Cyrus and Cambyses, of Darius and Xerxes, who ruled the eastern world, when we remember that without ex- ception all within their vast dominions were abject slaves. At the request of Haman, Ahasuerus (Arta- xerxes) issued a decree " to: destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish all Jews, both young and old, little chil- dren and women in one day." At the request of Queen Esther the decree was reversed, and at the king's com- mand, Haman and the entire race of Agag perished. It is now reasonably certain, that the Amestris of He- rodotus was the Vashti of Esther. The writings of Herodotus are the source from which, to a very large extent, modem historians derive the facts concerning the early history of the Hellenic people, and more especially with regard to the Persian Wars; as Thucydides is the principle source of our in- VI PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS formation concerning the Peloponnesian War and the causes which led to it. The accuracy of the events recorded by Herodotus with regard to the Persian Wars is now generally con- ceded. His account of the forces of Xerxes which were reviewed at Doriskus, on the plains of Thrace in the valley of the Hebrus, has been questioned by some eminent scholars. Their criticism is confined chiefly to the numbers which Herodotus says the Persian monarch led on his expedition to enslave Hellas. Among his critics the ablest are Rawlinson, Grote and Heeran, all of them accomplished scholars and historians. One circumstance with regard to their criticism is difficult to explain. Professor Heeran, in his work entitled "Commerce of the Ancient World," ^ sustains the ac- curacy of the account of the forces of Xerxes. The author believes that there was a muster roll of these forces to which Herodotus had access. On the other hand, Mr. Grote contends that there never was any muster roll, while Canon Rawlinson assumes that there must have been a muster roll and Herodotus must have seen it. In this connection Mr. Grote, after referring to the numbers of the Persian hosts, observes : " So stands the prodigious estimate of his army, the whole strength of the eastern world, in clear and express fig- ures of Herodotus. . . . To admit this overwhelming total, or anything near it, is obviously impossible, yet the disparaging remarks it has drawn upon Herodotus are no way merited." ^ Canon Rawlinson on the other hand declares that it can scarcely be doubted that the numbers given are con- siderably beyond the truth. He then gives his estimate as to what he thinks Herodotus should have stated with regard to* the strength of Xerxes' army. And yet • Part 1, Sec. 1, pp. 162, 558, Sd Edition. 'Grote Hist. Greece, Vol. 5, p. 35. PEELIMINAUY OBSERVATIONS VU Mr. Rawlinson is one of the fairest critics of the great historian, and says that the figures he gives are ac- curate; they contain no arithmetical errors, but he challenges the correctness of the results. Yet neither Mr, Grote nor Canon Rawlinson have advanced any facts, or produced any evidence whatever to sustain their conclusions. Dogmatic denial, without more, amounts to noth- ing, except the personal views of the individual making the denial. When the historian presents facts in chronological sequence, and supports his narrative with abundant corroborative details, he has made a prima facie case. When the critic says I don't credit the story, his declaration proves nothing. It is a mere conclusion without evidence to support it. In order to discredit history, evidence must be produced to war- rant the conclusion that the narrative is incorrect or without foundation. It is true that the writings of Herodotus are interspersed with legend and fable, and stories current in his time. But he is always careful to discriminate as to the facts of history, as distin- guished from matters which deal with gossip and legend. For example, he tells a story of how Scyllias of Scyone, described as the best diver of his time, de- serted the Persians and joined the Greeks at Artemi- sium. How he escaped, he says, he cannot certainly afBrm, and wondered whether the account concerning it was true, because it was said " that having plunged into the sea at Aphetse, he never rose until he reached Artemisium, having passed, this distance through the sea, as near as can be, eighty stadia (more than seven miles). Many other things are related of this man that are very like falsehood, and some that are true. If, however, I may give my opinion of this matter, it is that he came to Artemisium in a boat." ^ Yet some ^ Herod, viii, 8, Vm PRELIMINAEY OBSEEVATIONS who delight to indulge in caustic criticism, do not give Herodotus credit for his frank avowal that he does not believe the story. In reaching a just conclusion as to the accuracy of the strength of the army of Xerxes certain facts must be taken into consideration. In this connection we may ask what was the population of the vast domain over which Xerxes exercised absolute authority. His em- pire was the most extensive the world had ever seen. Oyer all the inhabitants within its borders his juris- diction was supreme. His power extended to their property not only, but to their lives. Without excep- tion, there was not a free man in his dominions. In one sense, they were not subjects, they were abject bondmen, chattels, slaves. If we could estimate the total population of the Persian Empire in that age, we would be able more readily to appreciate the truth as to the number of fighting men, recruited from forty-six nations in Asia and Africa. The population of these countries including Europe was calculated in 1890 by Wagner, a celebrated Ger- man geographer, as follows: Asia, 875,000,000; Africa, 170,000,000; Europe, 392,000,000. In all, 1,437,000,000. According to the book of Esther, the kingdom of Ahasuerus embraced one hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia. Herodotus does not give the number of provinces in the empire of Xerxes, but refers to the forces drawn from forty-six nations within his realm.-' The form of government of the Spartan oligarchy, as revealed in the rhetra of Lycurgus, the constitution of Solon and the modification of his laws by Clisthenes, ' For a discussion as to the numerical strength of the army of Xerxes, see Chapter XVII, page 374. PEELIMINAUY OBSERVATIONS IX who established the ten Attic tribes, are interesting features and necessary to an understanding of the character of the Hellenic people. They derived their military ideals from- the poems of Homer, whose works are discussed. Homer was endeared to the Greeks, as the poetical books of the Old Testament were to the Israelites. In this connection the chapter on Biblical and Homeric Literature will interest. From Homer, also, Alexander the Great, who believed himself to be a direct lineal descendant of Achilles, derived the in- spiration which prompted him to conquer the world. Sketches of the eminent men who contributed to make Athens the most interesting city of antiquity are neces- sary, also, to a study of the Military Annals of Greece. Wm. L. Snyder. New York, November, 1914. MILITARY ANNALS OF GREECE CHAPTER I GEOGRAPHY OF ANCIENT HELLAS AND ADJACENT COUNTRIES [ XTENDING from the southern rim of Eu- rope three peninsulas project into the Medi- terranean. The Iberian, the most westerly, embracing Spain and Portugal; the middle, Italy; and the most easterly and smallest of the three, Greece, known to the ancients as Hellas. One thing which impresses itself upon the mind of the student is the narrow limits embraced in the geograph- ical outlines of this land, which has filled the world with its fame. If the Hellenic peninsula, excluding Thessaly and Epirus, were projected on a horizontal plane, between parallel lines, without regard to its indented coast and crooked shore line, it would rest within almost a per- fect square, which would measure one hundred and fifty- five miles across from east to west, and one hundred and eighty-five miles in length from north to south. In other words the territory embracing the confines of an- cient Hellas could be placed within a parallelogram, one hundred and fifty -five miles in breadth, and one hun- dred and eighty-five miles in length on either side. Hellas, thus defined, includes the country south of Thessaly and Epirus, including the peninsula, south of 2 MILITARY ANNALS OF GKEECE the gulf of Corinth, designated the Peloponnesus, Hivided geographically as Central and Southern Greece, lying between the thirty-ninth parallel and a line thirty-five minutes north of the thirty-sixth par- allel, north latitude. Central Greece is bounded on the south by the gulf of Corinth, the Corinthian isthmus, and the Saronic Gulf; by Epirus and Thessaly on the north; by the ^gean sea on the east, and the Ionian on the west. The states within this territory are Acarnania, iEtolia, Locris, Phocis and Boeotia, all forming the northern boundary of the gulf of Corinth; Malis, Locris, and Doris, the latter being the smallest of all, and the only state which does not border on the sea; Megara, which joins the isthmus of Corinth, and Attica which forms a peninsula jutting into the ^gean sea which washes the eastern shores and the Saronic gulf on the south and west. The island of Euboea, also, separated from Locris, Boeotia, and Attica by the crooked channel of Euboea, forms part of the territory of Central Greece. The four principal cities in Euboea are Histisea on the north, Carystus on the south, and Eretria and Chal- cis on the Euripus or narrow part of the channel in the centre. In Attica is Athens and the sacred town of Eleusis. In Boeotia is Thebes, Tanagra, Delium, Plataea, Charonea (the birthplace of Plutarch), Co- ronea and Orchomenus (distinguished from a town of the same name in Arcadia). Delphi and Crissa are in Phocis ; Naupactus is in Locris on the gulf of Corinth, as distinguished from Locris on the gulf of Malis. Heraclea, Stratus, Thyrrheum and Anactorium are in Acarnania, as is also the peninsula of Actium, mem- orable in Roman times as the locality of the naval en- gagement which sealed the fate of Antony and Cleo- patra. Thermopylae is in Locris on the gulf of Malis. Megara is on the isthmus in Megara. GEOGEAPHY OF ANCIENT HELIOS 3 Southern Greece, or the Peloponnesian peninsula, embraces six states. On the north are Achaia, Argolis and Elis ; Arcadia is in the centre. The southern part of the peninsula embraces Laconia on the east and Messenia on the west. Patras is in Achaia. Olympia, Elis and Pylos are in Elis. Corinth, Sicyone, Argos, Mycene, Tiiyns, Nauplia, Epidaurus and Troezen are in Argolis. Mantinea, Tegea, Orchomenus and Mega- lopolis are in Arcadia. In Laconia is the lovely hoUow Lacedsemon (Sparta), Amyclae and Prasias. In Messene is the capital bearing the same name. Pherae (the modern Calamata), Mount Ithome, and the Boar's Grave, famous in the Messenian Wars. On its western coast is the bay of Pylos (now the bay of Navarino) and the island of Sphacteria, on which Cleon captured the flower of the Spartan army in the first decade of the Peloponnesian War. Greece is all mountains, gulfs and bays. It is said that no place in Greece is more than forty miles from the sea. The island of Salamis, in the Saronic Gulf, is a chain of hills or low mountains. The Attic plain is surrounded by a chain of mountains called respectively Pames, Pentellicus and Hymettus. The Citheron range forms its boundary with Boeotia. Mount Icarius and the Gerania Mountains cover Megara. The prin- cipal mountains in Laconia which form in part the val- ley of the Eurotas are the Taygetus and Parnon ranges, but the entire Peloponnesus is covered with mountains. It is said that Arcadia is perhaps the most mountainous of its six states. Central Greece also is aU mountains. Delphi is on Mount Parnassus. Heli- con, the seat of the muses, is in Bceotia; Mount CEta forms the wall on the gulf of Malis, at the foot of which, between its base and the sea, is the pass of Ther- mopylae, where Leonidas perished. Euboea is covered with mountains. The famed Olympus, Ossa and Pelion are in Thessaly. The notable rivers are the Eurotas 4 MILITAEY ANNALS OF GEEECE and the Alpheus in Peloponnesus, the Cephissus in At- tica, the Achelous, which forms the boundary between Acarnania and ^tolia, the Euenus in the latter state, the Asopus in Boeotia, the Cephissus in Northern Locris and the Sperchius in Malis. Greece has the most sinuous, irregular and crooked shore line of any country in the world, occasioned by the fact that its shores are everywhere indented with gulfs and bays innumerable. The peninsula is almost cut in two, by the gulf of Corinth on the west and the Saronic gulf on the east. Other indenting seas are the gulfs of Argolis, Laconia, Messenia, Cyparissius, Pa- tras (Lepanto), Ambracicus, Malis, Pagasasus, and the channel of Euboea. The width of the isthmus of Corinth at its narrow point is a little more than four miles. A canal has been cut across this neck, joining the gulf of Corinth with the Saronic gulf, and the Peloponnesus, since the construction of this waterway is no longer a peninsula, but an island. The contiguous territory on the north, besides Epirus and Thessaly, is the peninsula of Magensia, which forms the eastern boundary of that state, and Dolopes, which in like manner forms part of the south- ern boundary of both Epirus and Thessaly. In the latter state the river Peneus flows in a north- easterly direction across the country into the Therraaic gulf, or sea of Thrace. About fifteen miles from its mouth it enters the valley between the mountain ranges of Ossa and Olympus. This picturesque territory, known as the Vale of Tempe, has inspired poetic fancy on account of its varied scenery, which includes some of the most charming and beautiful landscapes in Northern Hellas. The Vale of Tempe is the only opening into Thes- saly through which an army can pass with its equip- ment and baggage. The walls of the mountains and the narrow defiles rendered it important from a military GEOGRAPHY OF ANCtENT HELLAS 5 standpoint. It is seventy-six miles north of the pass of Thermopylffi, which forms the gateway into Locris and Central Greece. The contiguous territory on the north is Macedonia, from which projects into the ^gean or sea of Thrace the three-pronged Chalcidian peninsula. To the east stretches ancient Thrace, extending from the eastern borders of Macedonia to the Propontis (sea of Mar- mora) and the Euxine (Black sea). The iEgean separates Hellas from Asia Minor, in which are located the states of the Asiatic Greeks, namely, ^olis, Ionia and Caria. Among its principal cities were Halicar- nassus, the birthplace of Herodotus, Miletus, Priene, Magnesia, Ephesus, Smyrna and Phocjea. South of the Hellespont and north of Lesbos was Troas, in which was Ilium, where Priam established his kingdom. It may be observed that prior to the Balkan War Macedonia and Thrace were embraced in the Empire of Turkey as well as Asia Minor. Part of the territory known in antiquity as Epirus and lUyria are now in the states of Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro and Servia. The states of Bulgaria, Roumania and Eastern Roumelia were earlier known as Thrace, and north of the Ister ^ (Danube), the country was designated Scythia. CHAPTER II PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS OF PRE -HISTORIC HELLAS — ANTIQUITY OF MAN— TABLE OF EARLY CHRONOLOGY ITH the possible exception of the Israelites, who trace their genealogy direct to Adam, the supposed father of the human race, what knowledge we have concerning the people who first inhabited the Grecian pen- insula, like our knowledge with respect to the primitive inhabitants of every country on the globe, rests upon tradition, upon legend and fable. The theory obtains, among modern scholars, that as early as B. C. 3000, which according to the Hebrew chronology would ante-date the flood, the date of which is presumed to be B. C. 24<38, emigrants from Western Asia came into Europe, and overspread the Balkan peninsula. Part of this foreign population, it is said, centuries later, pushed southward, overran the Hellenic peninsula, and settled in Epirus, Thessaly, Central Greece and the Peloponnesus. For want of a better name, these newcomers are designated Pelasgians, whose genesis, and ethnological position is extremely uncertain. They are usually spoken of as a nomadic race, composed of shepherds and hunters. We are told that they dwelt in tents, or huts, from which the smoke escaped through a hole at the top, and were divided into tribes, and that from these tribes were descended the Hellenic race. The contribution of the Hellenes to art, poetry, and philosophy, which distinguished them from other nations of antiquity, and which has been 6 PEIMITIVE INHABITANTS OF GEEECE / preserved to us, attest the learning, the culture and the genius of this remarkable people. This theory with regard to the Pelasgians as pro- genitors of the Hellenes is full of difficulties. Whom did the Pelasgi find when they advanced through the passes of the Gerania mountains in Megara, crossed the isthmus of Corinth, and reached the plains of Argos, in the Peloponnesus. Who were the inhabitants that dwelt in the land when the Pelasgi entered it. There was a civilization in Argohs, which must have flourished long before the days of Agamemnon and the Trojan War, and long prior to the immigration of the barbarous hordes from the north. The remains of this early civilization can be seen to-day among ruined walls, crumbling arches and empty tombs, at Argos, Mycenas and Orchomenus, to which we shall refer pres- ently. Can it be said that the Pelasgi were the first in- habitants of the Peloponnesus, and were driven out by the builders who erected the palaces, the arched gal- leries, casements, chambers, and the " bee-hive tombs " in Argolis and Arcadia? If so, these civilized people were post-Pelasgian. It is obvious that this theory cannot obtain, because the Pelasgi were barbarians, ignorant of the art of war, and unable to construct en- gines for purposes of assault necessary to dislodge an enemy entrenched behind fortifications and walls, which were, in some instances, more than fifty feet thick. The builders of Tiryns and Mycenae brought their civilization perhaps from Mesopotamia, perhaps from Egypt. Others contend that the earliest civiliza- tion of mankind existed in Babylonia and Western Asia, not in Egypt. But this surmise is mere speculation. For want of a better name, the Greeks called the masonry in the plain of Argos, Cyclopean, the work of the Cyclops, a legendary race of giants, who, it was supposed, were the early inhabitants of the country. 8 MILITAKY ANNALS OF GREECE The traveler who visits the plain of Argos, will wander through the ruins of the acropolis at Tiryns and then journey to Mycenae. There is little left of ancient Argos, save the seats of the theatre on the hill- side, near the modem railway station, which retains the name of the old city. At Tiryns, he will climb the eminence on which once stood a great palace, and note the walls of Cyclopean masonry, the remains of which still rise many feet above the base of the acropolis. This wall is constructed of tremendous blocks of rough stone, but from the appearance of the wall it is obvious that no cement or mortar was used in its construction. When he descends by the stone staircase from the ground floor of the palace, which once crowned the summit of the acropolis, to what must have been a sort of terrace or approach to the upper walls, he will enter a long hall, built of huge stones, constructed similar to the outer wall without mortar, the ceiling being of stones forming a sort of arched roof. The outer side of this stone hall is pierced by openings which lead into chambers, all perfectly constructed of blocks of un- polished stone. At Mycenae, he will find an acropolis or hill, some- what higher than that of Tiryns, on the top of which stood the palace of Atreus, and his son Agamemnon. The entrance to the remains of the ruins is through the Lyons' Gate, which is centuries old. These lions are carved in stone, represented as standing on either side of a pillar over the entrance, placed on the lintel above the gateway, their forepaws resting against the base of the pillar or column. Here, too, as at Tiryns, can be seen the so-called Cyclopean masonry, the stone galleries, chambers and subterranean passages, believed by archasologists to have been constructed by a people who inhabited the region no one knows how long before the time of Agamemnon. Near the citadel of Mycenae, the visitor M'ill be shown what are known as the beehive ANCIENT AUCHITECTURE 9 tombs, above referred to. These ancient repositories of the dead excite the wonder of the traveler because they were undoubtedly the work of a race whose origin is lost in remote antiquity. Some believe that this archaic people came from Western Asia, and employed burial customs similar to those practised in primitive Baby- lonia. These bee hive or dome-tombs vary in size. There is usually an entrance or vestibule from which you enter the enclosure. The principal tomb at MycenaB is fifty feet in height from the floor to the apex of the dome. It is constructed of blocks of stone, laid in circles, each circle smaller than the one below on which it rests. All these circles gradually converge tiU the top is reached. You stand in the centre be- neath a cone-shaped dome, rising symmetrically above your head. The style of architecture demonstrates that the people, whoever they were, who built these struc- tures, were acquainted with the principle of the arch. The tomb referred to is believed by some to have been used as the treasury of Atreus, the father of Agamem- non. But doubtless it was built centuries before his time. There are also in Argolis bridges of this massive Cyclopean masonry, spanning streams, running their tortuous course to the sea, over which roads are con- structed. One of these bridges near Epidaurus is in a perfect state of preservation to-day. It is built in the form of an arch, constructed of huge rough blocks of stone laid together without mortar. As we stand and contemplate these perfect remains of remote antiquity, they seem to mock us with the inquiry, who constructed us ; to what branch of the human family did our crea- tors belong; in what age did they flourish and whence came they; who taught them to construct these stu- pendous walls and arches and domes? Were they Cy- clopean or Pelasgian, or were they here long before either.'' These questions remain unanswered, nor have lO MILITAB.Y ANNALS OF GREECE the modern scholars and sages sufficient data with which to solve them. We must, therefore, content ourselves with an in- quiry as to the Pelasgi and the primitive tribes of Hellas. In this connection it is interesting to note the observa- tions of the learned Canon Rawlinson in regard to the Pelasgians. He argues that a single homogeneous people ethnically connected, was spread " at the earliest period to which history carries us back, over the whole or by far the greater part of the two peninsulas reach- ing from the shores of the ^gean to the borders of Liguria." He says it is even doubtful whether we ought not to class with them the Phrygians, the Carians and the Lydians. He is, however, unable to determine the exact position of the Pelasgians in this ethnic group. He says the Leleges, Curetes, Caucones, Do- lopes, Dryopes, Bceotians and Thracians " are rather to be regarded as tribes parallel to the Pelasgic than a division of it." He argues further that the skill of the Pelasgi in fortifications was justly celebrated, and is inclined to the opinion that the Cyclopean masonry at Tiryns and Mycense are Pelasgian. In support of this theory he says that the unwarlike character of the Pelasgians led them " from the first to trust to walls for their defense against the enemies who assailed them on all sides." As to their destiny he believes they were absorbed in Asia Minor by the Carians, Lydians and Phrygians, while in Italy they were reduced by them to the condition of serfs, and in Hellas by the races more or less nearly akin to them.^ Of course all this is theory and speculation, but if Canon Rawlinson's argument is sound the Pelasgi were not nomads, eking out an existence as hunters and shepherds, but were a civilized people who built the * Rawlinson's Herodotus, Appendix to Book VI, Essay II, THE PELASGIANS H luxurious palaces which were erected in the early cen- turies at Tiryns and Mycenae. To rank the Pelasgi as a civilized people, acquainted with art and luxury, seems to be entirely repugnant to all the accounts we have concerning them from the ancient writers. It would seem also, if Canon Rawlinson is correct in his theory, that a homogeneous race, ethnically con- nected, spread over western Asia, and the Balkan and Italian peninsulas ; that conditions existed there in pre- historic times similar to conditions which simultaneously existed on the continent of North America. On this western hemisphere in the territory extending from the Atlantic to the Allegheny Mountains and the Great Lakes, the early explorers found a homogeneous people, ethnically connected, divided into the great nations known as the Algonquin and the Iroquois. They must have lived from remote antiquity in the primitive and savage state, in which they were discovered by Euro- pean navigators, a little more than four centuries ago. We speak of the Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas and Mohawks, as Iroquois; and of the Otta- was, Ojibways, Pequots, Pottawotomies, Sac and Fox Narragansetts, and many others north of the St. Law- rence, as Algonquins. If the analogy is worth anything, then it would be safe to assume that the word Pelasgian was not the name of a tribe, but was a generic term, as Iroquois and Algonquin are generic terms intended to embrace people attached to many tribes. If this view is cor- rect, the-Leleges, Curetes, Dolopes, Dryopes, Boeotians and many others were tribes, belonging to the great Pelasgian Confederacy, and the Pelasgi were not a mere tribe or branch belonging to a separate ethnic group. One plausible theory advanced is that the Hellenes and the Pelasgi were contemporaneous people. That the latter first came in collision with the former in 12 MIUTAaY ANNALS OF GREECE Thessaly. The Hellenes claimed their descent from Helen, son of Deucalion, who survived the deluge, just as the Israelites claim their descent from a branch of the family of Noah, who likewise survived the flood. The progeny of Deucalion first made their appear- ance in Hellas, in Phocis, at the foot of Mount Par- nassus, for as the ark of Noah, after the waters sub- sided, is said to have rested on the summit of Ararat, so the Greeks declare the ark of Deucalion rested on the summit of Parnassus. In the early history of every people, the tradition of a flood seems to be universal. The similarity between the account of the deluge re- corded in Genesis, with that among the early people of Hellas is marked. Noah, the son of Lamech, we are told, survived the human race, after its destruction, and was the second father of mankind. The Grecian legends confer upon Deucalion, King of Thessaly, son of Prometheus and Pandora, the distinction which the Hebrew records cout fer upon Noah. Zeus (who corresponds to the Jehovah of the Hebrews and the Jupiter of the Romans) covered the earth with a deluge, by way of punishment for the impiety of the human race. Deucalion constructed a ship, in which he saved himself and Pyrrha, his wife, who are the progenitors of the second race of men on the globe. The ark of Noah reposed, after tlie waters subsided on Mount Ararat in Armenia. The ship of Deucalion rested on the top of Mount Parnas- sus in Phocis, midway between the Gulf of Corinth and the gulf of Malis, from the summit of which, on a clear day may be seen the famous pass of Thermopylae. The story of Deucalion is also analogous to the He- brew record as to his children, from whom the races of mankind descended. We are told in Genesis that the sons of Noah, who went forth from the ark (B. C. 2348), were Shem, Ham and Japheth. Ham is the DEUCALION AND HIS DESCENDANTS 13 father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah, and of them was the whole earth overspread. The Hellenic account is that Deucalion had three sons, Dorus, Xuthus and tEoIus, and from these was the whole earth peopled. The descendants of Dorus are known as the Dorians, of JEolus as ^olians. No de- scendants from Xuthus bear his name, but are known by the names of his two sons. Ion and Achaeus, and their descendants, who are known as lonians and Achasans. Helen Deuc alion (Hellenes) Dorus (Dorians) Xuthus 1 ^olus (Cohans) Achaeus (Achaeans) Ion (lonians) The ^olians went forth from Thessaly and migrated to the south of Greece, as far as the Gulf of Corinth. They crossed the JEgean also, and settled on the coasts of Asia Minor, and on the islands of Lesbos and Tene- dos. The Dorians went forth from Macedonia into the Peloponnesus, and settled in Laconia, Argolis and Messenia. They also migrated among the Cyclades, and founded colonies on the island of Crete. The lonians, known later as Athenians, the brightest and most enterprising of all the descendants of Deucalion, were mariners, and engaged in commerce and explora- tion. They peopled with their colonies the islands near the eastern shores of the ^gean, south of Tenedos, and north of Crete. The Achasans dwelt in Thessaly before they settled Achaia in the Peloponnesus. They were hunters, shepherds and warriors. Achilles, the most conspicuous hero of the Trojan War, was of Achasan blood, bom in Phthiotis, in Thessaly. 14 MIUTABY ANNALS OF GEEECB No accuracy, however, attaches to this division of the Aryan family, who first occupied Greece and the islands of the ^gean Sea, because when the Dorians, ^oHans and lonians migrated to the south, they found the land already inhabited by the Pelasgians, who doubtless had inhabited it for centuries prior to the Hellenic migrations. And there seems to be no ques- tion but that the Pelasgians, wherever they came from, upon their advent into Greece, found the land peopled by tribes whom the Pelasgians must have subjugated or expelled. But as has already been shown, the builders of Mycenae and Tiryns were a superior race, if indeed they were ante-Pelasgian, and their defeat or extermination by the Pelasgi seems wholly improbable. Indeed, the latest authorities on the subject of an- thropology and archasology claim that tribes, of whose history and genesis we know nothing, inhabited the globe for ages prior to the existence of that people, whom we, for convenience, designate historic man. Herodotus ^ was puzzled to account for the Pelasgi. From what he himself knew, concerning the language and habits of the remnants of the race which were still living in certain parts of Greece, in his day, he in- dulged in the conjecture that the original Pelasgians did not speak Greek, but used a barbarous language. He then concludes that if Greek was not the language of the Pelasgians, then the Attic race must have changed their language and used Greek, when they took the name of Hellenese, because in another part of his history, he affirms positively that the Attic race was Pelasgian. But he says also that this conclusion is based on speculation and conjecture. In another pas- sage * he declares that when the Pelasgians possessed what is now called Greece, the Athenians were Pelas- • Herod, i, 57. ' Herod, vili, 44. lONIANS AND ATHENIANS 15 gians and went by the name of Cranai. During the reign of Cecrops, they were surnamed Cecropidae, but when Erechtheus succeeded to the government, they changed their name for that of Athenians, and when Ion, son of Xuthus, became their leader, from him they were called lonians. Herodotus declares also * that the Pelasgians drove those descendants of the Ar- gonauts, who had settled on the island of Lemnos, from their homes, and took possession. They were not at that time living in harmony with the lonians and Athe- nians, but were at war with the latter. To satisfy their vengeance, " they laid an ambuscade for ^the Athenian women," who were then engaged celebrating the festival of Diana, in Brauron," ^ seized them, and took them captives to Lemnos and there kept them as concubines. Nor did the Athenians get possession of the island of Lemnos till many years afterwards, when Miltiades, son of Cimon, was governor of the Thracian Chersonese, and took it from the Pelasgians. This Miltiades was the father of the hero of Marathon, and grandfather of the illustrious Cimon, one of the greatest of the naval commanders of Athens. The Pelasgians, no doubt, inhabited the Grecian pen- insula long prior to the Dorian migration. They were there in the Homeric age, a period so remote, that it is not possible for authentic history to penetrate. In the second book of the Hiad, in which is given a cata- logue of the ships which conveyed the Greek mariners to the plains of Troy, and the cities and lands from whence they came, the Pelasgians were in the Pelopon- nese. After referring to Ajax, who led twelve ships from Salamis, and to Mycenae, the well-built city, and wealthy Corinth, whose vessels were commanded by King Agamemnon, and to many others, the poet refers to the Pelasgians, who were then in the Peloponnese. 'Herod, iv, 145. « Herod, vi, 138. 1 6 MILITARY ANNALS OF GUEECE " But now [O muse, recount] those, as many as in- habited Pelasgian Argos." Herodotus, also, referring to 'the tribes and people who contributed to the vast army of Xerxes, speaking of those from that part of Asia Minor, and the islands along its coast settled by lonians, part of whom he in- fers came from the Peloponnese, refers to their Pelas- gian origin. Here is the passage. " The lonians as long as they inhabited that part of the Peloponnesus which is now called Achaia, and before Danaus and Xuthus arrived in the Peloponnesus, as the Greeks say, were called Pelasgian ^gialees ; but lonians, from Ion, son of Xuthus." ^ We have quoted from Herodotus because he is the earliest secular historian, and lived at a time when descendants of these ancient people were stiU dwelling in parts of Greece, which had been visited by Herodotus and with whom he came in contact. From his account, and by reason of the reference in Homer to " Pelasgian Argos," it might seem that the Pelasgians were ab- original ante-Hellenic inhabitants of Greece, and were either driven out by the later migration of Dorians, jEolians and lonians, or were intermarried and mingled with them in some localities. But this theory as to in- termarriage and amalgamation is wholly improbable, for the reason that the remnant of the Pelasgi, who su?:vived their ancestors, and lived in the days of Herodotus, did not speak Greek, but a barbarous tongue, in the language of their pre-historic ancestors, and were, in the fifth century B. C, distinguished from the artistic and polished Hellenes, by their rude dia- lect and barbarous manners. With regard to the Pelasgi, Mr. Grote observes, that there is no sufficient historical evidence as to their genesis, or origin, their manners or customs which war- ^ Herod, vii, 94, EARLY COLONIES ly rants their classification, except in the period of legend and tradition. We have no trustworthy information respecting them. " Where such is the case," says Mr. Grote, " we may, without impropriety, apply the re- mark of Herodotus, respecting one of the theories to explain the inundation of the Nile, that the man who carries up his history into the invisible world, passes out of the range of criticism." Greece, however, so tradition tells us, did not remain isolated. Navigation and commerce brought immi- grants to its shores. One of the earliest colonies came with Cecrops from Sais in Egypt. They settled in Attica. Danaus and his companions came from Egypt, also, and were received into Argos. A colony of Phoe- nicians was led by Cadmus. They made their way in Beotia and founded Thebes. From Mysia in Asia on the southern shores of the Black sea, came a colony led by Pelops. The influence of the immigrants was so great that the name of their leader became identified with the southern peninsula of Greece. He became the ancestor of a race of Kings, who ruled for years in the Peloponnesus. These migrations, however, are pre- historic, and their undertakings and activities, like those of the Pelasgi, belong to the period of tradition. They were not, however, barbarous people, but came from the most learned and refined nations of antiquity. This is especially true of Egypt and Phoenicia. From the latter the Greeks learned their letters and the use of the alphabet. Herodotus, however, is not satisfied with the tradi- tions and materials to which he had access to account for the Pelasgi, and Mr. Grote, as has been pointed out, observes that there is no sufiicient historical evi- dence as to their genesis, or origin, except such as brings them within the pale of legend and tradition. It is certain, however, that the Hellenes became the dominant race in the Greek peninsula, and were such i8 MILITARY ANNALS OF GEEECE when authentic history begins. Whatever may be said as to the theories of the early ante-Hellenic people, it is clear that the Hellenese were of Dorian, ^olian and Ionian origin, and were the ingenious and intellectual race, which made historic Greece. The Hebrew account of the dispersion of the races of mankind, however, is more authentic and satisfactory than anything which has come down to us, at least with regard to the distribution of the early races and sub- races on the continent of Europe and part of the con- tinents of Asia and Africa. But many difficulties re- main. After the speech of all people had been con- founded on the plains of Shinar, in the region about the tower of Babel, they separated B. C. 2234!. Those speaking the same language formed themselves into a great body and sought out new lands. The descendants of Japheth embraced seven distinct families, sprung from the seven sons of this son of Noah. They are col- lectively denominated the Aryan or Indo-European race, among whom are the Hellenes, or Greeks. Their gene- alogy is given in the tenth chapter of Genesis. These are the seven sons: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras. From Javan, the fourth son of Japheth, sprung the Hellenes. Professor Raw- linson says that the Jafones embraced the lonians, who were Grecian people. The Israelites who traded on the eastern coast of what they termed the Sea of Tarshish (the Mediterranean) and along the southern shores of Asia Minor, the island of Kattim or Chittim (island of Cyprus) and also among the islands of the ^gean sea, traded with the Grecians. The divisions of the family of Javan is also given presumably by Moses, and the contiguous territory into which they migrated and in which they dwelt. " The sons of Javan," says Moses,^ " Elishah and Tar- ' Gen. X, 4. DESCENDANTS OF JAPHBTH 19 shish, Kittim and Dodanira. By these were the Isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands, everyone after his tongue, after their families, in their nations." The Isles of the Gentiles, here referred to, embraced not only islands but lands bordering on the sea, where ports were established and commerce flourished. It is even claimed that this comprehensive term embraced not only the coasts of the Mediterranean, but the Euxine and the Caspian also. This claim may be sup- ported by a passage in Herodotus in which he refers to the Tabareni, and the Moschi,^ descendants of Tu- bal, near the Caspian and Black Seas. Tiras and his descendants, it was believed, inhabited Thrace, and their progeny was a fierce and barbarous race. Descendants of Elishah, son of Javan and grandson of Japheth, embraced the people known as -^olians, who inhabited certain islands in the ^gean sea, on the west coast of Asia Minor. The shell fish from which was obtained the famous purple dye — the Tyrian pur- ple — were found on these island coasts, and are re- ferred to in the Old -Testament in the Lamentation of Ezekiel, over the doom pronounced by him, B. C. 586, against Tyre (Ezek. xxvii, 7 et seq.). See Fenton's translation post page 22. Tarshish, with his descendants, it is believed, mi- grated to the west to Tartessus in Spain, and dwelt along the coasts of the Iberian peninsula. Kittim was supposed to have occupied Kittim, the island of Cyprus, and to have built Kitium, on the southeast coast, the city known as Citium, besieged by Cimon (B. C. 449) in his last campaign against the Persians and their allies. His people are said also to have dwelt in the islands of the Cyclades, in the .^Egean Sea. Dodanim's progeny are believed to be the Darda- nians, who dwelt in Asia Minor, where Priam established •Herod, iii, 94; vii, 78. 20 MIUTARY ANNALS OF GKEECE his empire and built Troy, immortalized by Homer, and to have dwelt also in the island of Rhodes. Javan and all his sons, therefore, were said to be progenitors of the Greeks. In this connection we may refer to a mythical coun- try, an island in the Atlantic Ocean, known as Plato's legendary continent of Atlantis, in which some claim were located the Elysian fields. This region of Greek legend, it is said, was some time in the remote past, in- habited by a powerful people who were finally con- quered by the Athenians thousands of years before the time of Solon. No Greek writer makes any mention of this lost continent of Atlantis until the time of Plato. That distinguished pupil of Socrates and preceptor of Aristotle in his " Timaeus " and " Critias " is author- ity for the legend. He declares that an Egyptian priest disclosed to Solon, the lawgiver of Athens, the story of the valor of his countrymen who overthrew the inhabitants of the lost continent. This mythical land, Solon was told, was in the Western Sea, beyond Mount Atlas, over against the Pillars of Hercules. It was said that it was greater in extent than Libya and Asia Minor combined, was located in the ocean, and from it other islands and another continent could be reached, of which the Mediterranean or sea of Tar- shish was but the harbor. It was further claimed that the hitherland within the Pillars of Hercules, embraced in the Empire of Atlantis, extended to Egypt and Tyrrhenia. The military power of this vast continent was ar- rayed against Egypt and against Hellas, and all the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, and threat- ened their existence. The armies of Atlantis invaded the territory on the shores of the Mediterranean. But when the soldiers of other nations failed, and even the Hellenes, with the single exception of the Athenians, gave way, the latter performed deeds of prodigious LEGEND OE ATLANTIS 21 valor that filled the world with their fame, and drove the invaders back into their own dominions beyond the Pillars and liberated the countries whose existence had been threatened. The legend further declares that after this victory over the most powerful foe in the western world, there was an extensive earthquake, and the Hellenes were swallowed up and annihiliated and the great island of Atlantis disappeared and was swallowed up beneath the waves of the sea of Atlas, the western ocean beyond Mount Atlas, on the northern coast of Africa. Some writers give this in explanation of the shallows which are found off the west coast of Africa north of the equator. After centuries of fruitless effort to establish the whereabouts of this mythical island of Atlantis, Leo Frobenius, a German explorer, in January, 1911, claimed to have discovered incontestable evidence that the lost continent of Atlantis was not an island but a region in Togo or Togoland, in Guinea, between Da- homy and Ashantee in Western Africa, close to the equator. His proof is based on the fact that he found in the locality indicated, the head of a man carved in bronze, of superior workmanship, on which was en- graved the insignia of Poseidon, whom the Greeks wor- shipped as god of the sea, and whom the Romans called Neptune. The legend further associates the god Neptune with the founding of Atlantis. The head is not solid bronze, but hoUow, indicating the superior skill of the workmen who produced it, and wholly un- like anything that the natives of Guinea or Dahomy or Ashantee could possibly have constructed. Frobe- nius further declares that the features are of " faultless mold, finely traced, and of slightly Mongolian type." As to what other and further proofs this enterprising explorer has to establish his claim to having discovered the mythical land of Atlantis, we are not informed. It 22 MILITARY ANNALS OF GEEECE can scarcely be assumed, however, that the discovery in Guinea of a bronze head of Poseidon is sufficient without more, to establish the authenticity of a legend, which for centuries has been classed among the enter- taining fables of the writers of antiquity. The doom of Tyre pronounced by the prophet Eze- kiel, above referred to, was uttered more than two and a half centuries after Homer's time, if we may adopt the chronology assigned by Herodotus, who declares that Homer flourished about four hundred years before his day. Herodotus flourished B. C. 450, having been born B. C. 484<. He did not survive the Peloponnesian War, and died probably about B. C. 429. The lan- guage used by the prophet, however (Ezekiel, xxvii), is instructive in connection with the reference made to the geography of lands, countries and cities of which Tyre formed the commercial centre, and the nations and cities with whom it traded, and corroborates the theory as to the locality of some of the countries carrying on trade with the sons of Javan, who were identified with the Hellenes. Ezekiel foretells the doom of the great city of the Phoenicians, in the following poem,'^ which is given in part, as translated by Professor Farrar Fenton, from the Hebrew and Chaldee. "You, who reside at the ports of the sea, — Who trade with the Peoples of numerous isles. Thus says the Almighty Jehovah to Tzur, You boast — ' I am perfect in beauty ! ' Your bounds are the heart of the ocean. You builders have finished your charms ! " They built you with cypress from Senir, For your decks they used Lebanon cedar. And they took it to form your high masts, — ■ Bashan's oak trees supplied you with oars. Your benches were ivory and box from Kithim, 'Ezek., Chap, xxvii. EZEKIEL FOEETELIS DOOM OP TYEE 23 Your gay flag was fine linen of Egypt, Your sails were rich purple from Alishah's Isles! " You traded with Tharshish for all kinds of wealth. For silver, for iron, for tin, and for lead; They purchased your mercantile wares. Javan, Thubal, and Meshek all traded with you. Giving bodies of men, and bronze goods for your stores. The House of Togramah with horses and cliargerg, And mules have all purchased your goods. " Sons of Dedan dealt with you, and many Isles traded. Handing ebony, ivory, in change for your cash. And Aram bought much of your factory products ; — With emeralds, and purple, and muslin, and lace. And coral, and rubies, they paid for your wares. Judah, and Israel's land were your dealers; For fine wheat, and balms, and for honey and oil, — And marbles, they purchased from you. " Damask purchased much that you made. With the rich wine of Helbon, and whitest of wool. Dan and Javan bought cloth in your markets; They sold you wrought iron, and cassia and spices; Dedan sold you rich saddles for riding; The Arabs and princes of Kedar dealt with you, — Lambs, sheep, and line goats were their goods. The merchants of Sheba and Ramah were traders. With the best of all spices, and all precious gems. And gold which they paid for your wares. " Haran, and Kanah, and Aden, with all Sheba's merchants, And Ashur and Kilmad were trading. They bought of you fine purple fabrics. And laces, and braids of mixed hues, And Cables well twisted, and cedars they purchased. " Ships of Tarshish transported your trade, And extended your power in the heart of the seas. But your sailors have brought you to breakers; The eastern wind wrecks in the midst of the sea; Your bullion, your cargoes, your merchants, and seamen. And captains, constructors, shipbuilders and brokers, With all the bold warriors about you. With all those collected within you will fall. In the depth of the sea on the day when you fall! 24 MIUTAE.Y ANNALS OP GREECE "At the sound of the shriek of your pilots, The breakers will tremble; — All who handle the ropes will descend from their ships, The sea-captains and sailors will stand on the land. And will send up their cries and will bitterly shriek. Cast dust on their heads, and wiU roll on the sand-hills. And strip themselves for you, and clothe them in sacks, And weep with soul-anguish and bitterly grieve. And raising their wail, they wiU chant over you, — " ' Oh! Who was like Tzur in the midst of the waters? Many nations were fed by your trade on the seas! By your great wealth and trafBc and kingdoms grew rich. Now the breakers have wrecked in the trough of the sea ! Your cargo and crew sink with you to its bed ! All dwelling in islands are stupefied at you! And their monarchs quivering have terrified looks ! The mercantile nations scream at you in terror, — " You were," — but you never shall rise up again.' " It may be profitable to inquire into the chronology of the events which transpired during the childhood of the race when the world was young. Historical events of a country should be studied, not from a standpoint of isolation, but in connection with contemporaneous history, which adds materially to human interest. The conduct of those who guided the movements of men and nations must be judged in view of all the facts which go to make up the historical setting, and in their proper perspective. The question involving the antiquity of man, presents a problem which has not yet been entirely solved. His- tory begins with an age of myth and fable. The ob- servation is of universal application that oral tradition always precedes written history. There is no longer any question that man inhabited the globe thousands of years before the dawn of history. It was peopled for ages before the birth of civilization, that is before the advent of what we may term historic man, as dis- tinguished from the men of the Stone Age, whose bodies were covered with hair; who used fire, made bows and ANTiaUITY or PMTDOWN SKULL 2$ arrows, and weapons of stone and flint with which to protect themselves from wild beasts, and to carry on rude and desultory intestine wars. Late in 1912 a skull was found in England by Charles Dawson, a geologist, at Plitdown common, about seven miles north of Folkestone. The anthropologists on ex- amining it, became intensely interested, and after ma- ture deliberation proclaimed their belief, that the Plit- down skull was that of an individual of the Pliocene age, who lived on this planet 500,000 years ago. This conclusion was based on the hypothesis as to the an- tiquity of the strata in which the skull was found. " Lime deposits," it was said, " in caves in which similar skulls and bones have been discovered, were under sta- lagmite, which forming at the present rate, would take at least 600,000 years to complete the formation. Flint tools have also been found in that formation, estimated to be from 20,000 to 500,000 years old." So stands the record. In view of this verdict by men eminent in this branch of scientific investigation, the world is mute. The or- dinary mortal has no means of refuting this dogmatic declaration, as to the archaic existence of prehistoric man. This Plitdown skull had one-half of the lower jaw and two teeth intact. It was restored by the head of the Geological Department of the South Kensington Museum. The work was done with plaster of paris casts, and teeth of a gorilla were placed in the lower jaw. But members of the Royal Anthropological In- stitute of Great Britain contend that the skull had not been properly restored. This assumption was based upon the theory that it was not the skull of a gorilla, but that of a man of low type. They contended that it had the prognathous, or square jaw of the gorilla, but that it also had the skull development to show that it was higher than the ape. The claim is, that a being in the line of human descent from half a million years 26 MIUTAEY ANNALS OF GREECE ago, would have teeth, resembling the human being of to-day, just as closely, and no more closely, than the anthropoid ape of that period, would have teeth re- sembling the ape of to-day. This late " find," it is now claimed, affords new and convincing proof of the rela- tion of man to the anthropoid ape. There has been no claim advanced, thus far, how- ever, that this prehistoric man was endowed with an intellect, or with a soul, clothed with the heritage of immortality. The better opinion seems to prevail among a class of scientists, that what we term civiliza- tion was introduced by men who appeared as strangers among beings who had inhabited the world for ages. In other words, the analogy used by the Apostle Paul accords with the discoveries of modern science. He ar- gues that in the order of things there is the natural man and the spiritual man, and declares that that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterwards that which is spiritual. We are jus- tified in applying this reasoning to the natural man, the untutored and unlettered savage, as distinguished from intellectual man. The declaration in Genesis is not repugnant to the theory that there were men in the world ages before Adam. The conclusion is justified that the account of the creation in Genesis indicates, in the Adam of the Scriptures, the advent of intellectual man into the world, as distinguished from the primitive inhabitants of the Pliocene age. Adam was endowed with intellect, with soul or spirit, when the Almighty breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Then it was that man became " a living soul." Thus the discoveries of science justify the conclusion that historic man is not coeval with the early geological periods of creation. His origin is assigned to what is termed the human period, which is comparatively recent. His presence on the globe is revealed by the rude imple- ments and weapons of stone, metal or bone which he tabu; op cheonology 27 used. These afford some proof of his antiquity. This proof, however, is not conclusive, but suggests some basis for the classification of the periods which reveal traces of man, designated as the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. These periods indicate also the general order of succession in the formative ages of the world's creation, because the belief is general that man used stone long before he understood the use of metals. Archbishop Usher, in his scheme of Biblical chronol- ogy, argues that Adam was created in Eden forty cen- turies before the birth of Christ. His views on this point cannot be sustained on the assumption that Adam was the first of the human species to inhabit the globe. The chronology of Usher, however, is useful in support of the contention of some modern theologians, that the Adam of Genesis relates to the advent of the historic or intellectual man as distinguished from the primitive man of the Stone Age. For these reasons we may use the date given by Archbishop Usher as a starting-point in the following chronological table commencing with the advent of his- toric man. It has been compiled from authentic sources, the result of the prodigious labors of scholars and archaeologists, covering years of research and es- pecially biblical scholars, and students of the Old Testa- ment. While we cannot expect such a table to be abso- lutely acurate it is doubtless approximately correct. B. C. 4004. The date assigned by Archbishop Usher to indicate the creation of Adam. It may suggest the advent of historic man into the world as distinguished from a prehistoric people, covered with hair, who used flre and carved rude pictures on the rocks. See lupra. " 3074. Death of Adam. " 2349. The Deluge and destruction of the human race, save only Noah and his family. « 9900 i Py''»™''J* constructed in Egypt. " 2247. Birth of Abraham, the father of the Israelitish race. 28 MIUTARY ANNALS OF GEEECE ' B. C. 1921. Abraham journeyed westward from Ur, of the Chal- dees, into Canaan. " 1920. Abraham driven by famine, journeyed into Egypt. " 1898. Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed. " 1898. Isaac bom. " 1857. Abraham died. " 1837. Birth of the patriarch Jacob. " 1732. Isaac died. " 1729. Joseph sold as a slave by his brethren into Egypt. " 1706. Joseph, a favorite in the Court of Pharaoh, at the height of his prosperity. " 1689. Jacob died in Egypt. " 1688. Approximate date of death of Joseph. " 1635. Moses born in Egypt. " 1500. Job dwelt in the land of Uz. " 1491. Period of the ten plagues visited upon Pharaoh in Egypt. " 1491. Moses, having slain an Egyptian taskmaster, flees from Egypt. " 1491. Moses leads the children of Israel from the land of bondage, across the Red Sea, into the Wilderness. " 1451. Moses died on Pisgah, in sight of Canaan. " 1324. ) Rameses II, greatest of the Pharaohs, reigns in « 1253. J Egypt. " 1184. End of the Trojan War, and destruction of Troy. " 1095. Saul chosen King of Israel. " 10S6. David fights with the giant Goliath and slays him. " 1056. Saul kills himself at the battle of Gilboa. " 1056. David made King of Judah. " 1015. Death of King David. " 1015. Solomon succeeds to the throne of David, his father. " 992. Queen of Sheba visits Solomon at Jerusalem. " 975. Death of King Solomon. " 975. ) Rehoboam and " 955. ( Jeroboam reign in Israel. " 955. Abijam reigns in Judah. " 930. Nadab reigns in Israel. " 925. Ahab reigns in Israel. " 897. Ahab slain at Ramoth Gilead. " 897. Jehoshaphat reigns. " 895. Jehoram reigns in Israel. " 884. Jehu reigns in Judah. " 856. Jehoahaz reigns in Israel. " 850. Homer flourishes. Homeric poems composed. " 839. Amaziah reigns in Judah. f Ahaz "j " 740. -! Hezekiah and > reign in Israel. ( Hoshea J " 740. Samaria taken by Sennacherib and the Jews car- ried into captivity. " 723. Sennacherib besieges Jerusalem. TABLE or CHKONOLOGT 29 B. C. 710. Sennacherib's army of 185,000 men destroyed by a miracle before Jerusalem. " 698. Manasseh "j and V reign in Israel. " 641. Josiah J " 699. Nebuchadnezzar takes the city of Jerusalem and carries the Jews into captivity to Babylon. " S38. Babylon taken by Cyrus the Great. " S37. Cyrus died while on a military expedition near Chi- nese Tartary; succeeded by his son Cambyses. " 535. Cambyses at the head of a vast army conquers Egypt. " 592j Cambyses died on his return from Egypt. " 522. Smerdis usurps the throne of Persia. " 522. Smerdis slain. Darius, son of Hystaspes, ascends the throne of Persia. " 512. Darius leads an expedition into Europe, crosses the Danube (the Ister), and invades Scythia. Retreats into Thrace, conquers Macedonia. " 500. Sardis, the capital of Lydia, burned by the lonians and Athenians. Ionian War continues. " 492. Darius, in revenge for the burning of Sardis, sends an expedition to invade Greece. His fleet lost oflF Mount Athos. " 490. Darius tits out a new expedition under Datis and Artaphernes to invade Greece. His army defeated at Marathon. " 484. Herodotus born. " 486. Darius died. His son Xerxes succeeds to the throne of Persia. " 480. Xerxes with the greatest army ever assembled, in- vades Greece. His fleet defeated at Salamis. " 480. Euripides born at Salamis the day the battle was fotaght. " 479. Mardonius remains in Greece after the flight of Xerxes. His army defeated at Platsea. " 479. The Persians defeated at Mycald in Asia Minor. " 431. Peloponnesian War begun by the surprise at Platsea. " 404. Peloponnesian War ends. CHAPTER ni HOMER I HE first military annals of Hellas were writ- ten in poetry and are contained in the Iliad. The Hellenic heroes portrayed by Homer contended on the plains of Troy, and the story of that memorable contest for the de- struction of the kingdom of Priam is embalmed in the greatest epic ever written. In that struggle gods mingled with mortals, and enabled them to perform the wonderful feats of arms, which it was the ambition of their descendants to emulate. The Iliad and the Odys- sey were the Bible of the Greeks, and from its pages they imbibed their inspiration. It would be impossible to estimate the influence of the poems of Homer in connection with the martial achievements of the Greeks. Their military annals represent a series of the most remarkable campaigns in history. In emulation of the heroes, whose deeds of valor Homer paints in vivid colors, the armies and navies of Greece were inspired to contend with the armies of Persia, and beat back the myriaxls of Darius and Xerxes at Marathon and Salamis, at Plataea and Mycale, and to prosecute against the most formidable empire in the world, a war of expulsion, which drove the Persians from Europe and the .^gean and the Greek cities of Asia Minor. Miltiades and Themisto- cles, Leonidas and Cimon are names to conjure with. Alexander was stimulated in his ambition to conquer the world by the example of Achilles on the plains of Troy, from whom, through his mother, he claimed direct lin- 30 WHO WAS HOMEa 31 cage. The poems of Homer stand unrivalled in litera- ture, and the example set by the heroes of the Iliad and the Odyssey, enabled Greece to secure her inde- pendence, to subdue the empire of Asia, and to estab- lish for all mankind the lasting benefits derived' from Greek letters, philosophy and art, as a noble heritage to posterity, the influence of which, on' the destinies of the world, is inestimable. The Greek poets of antiquity stand first in the order of intellectual superiority. In view of the grand im- agery, the charm, the variety and wealth of color that abounds in the epics of Homer, it may be safely said that human genius has never soared higher on the wings of fancy. What can surpass the divine conception which prompted the early poets of Greece to write with the imperishable stars on the sable robes of night, the achievements of their heroes. What they have written in the sky is enduring as earth, stable as the heavens. As the stars are imperishable, the sublime conception of the Greek poets is likewise immortal. We look into the dome of heaven, and read there the names of the heroes who sailed with Jason to the confines of the world for the golden fleece, and who contended with the aid of the gods in feats of arms. Castor and Pollux and the ship Argo in which they sailed. Behold also as representing the gods, Arcturus and his sons, and Orion the mighty hunter. Nobody knows who Homer was, or when or where he lived. All authentic information as to his identity or personality has perished beyond hope of recovery. Homer, then, as to his individuality, remains a riddle, which the genius of modern scholarship has been unable to solve. Professor Symonds, in his " Study of the Greek Poets," admirably expresses the idea as to the existence of Homer when he says : " Some Homer did exist. Some great single poet intervened beyond the lost chaos of legendary material and the cosmos of 32 MILITARY ANNALS OF GREECE artistic beauty which we now possess." As to the unity of Homer, Professor Symonds is equally clear. The theory that a body 6f editors called together T)y Pisis- tratus " gave its immortal outline to the colossus of the Iliad, and wove the magic web of the Odyssey," he considers as absolutely ridiculous, and absurd. His views in this regard are supported by modern scholars, who reject entirely the theory of many Homers, ad- vanced late in the eighteenth century (1795) by Pro- fessor Wolf in his celebrated Prolegomena. There was mythology long before Homer. Who taught the Greeks mythology.? Who taught them that Zeus was supreme god of the universe ; that in admira- tion of their brotherly love, he set Castor and Pollux in the sky as the constellation which the Romans called Gemini, or the morning and evening star? What is back of Homer.'' The Greeks spoke a wonderful lan- guage, the most musical, euphonious and expressivp ever used among men. From what soil sprung the flowers of poetry which formed in poetic fancy the legends and ideals of the Greeks. These Hellenes, who- ever they were, in the childhood of the race, before the existence of literature of which we have any knowl- edge, save the sublime religious poetry and litera- ture of the Israelites, expressed themselves in poetry. Speech in song, seems to have been first in order, be- cause poetry precedes philosophy and history. The universe, in their eyes, was a poem. On the subject of Greek myths. Professor Symonds says, that when myth- ology took form among the Greeks they spoke of the sun as a shepherd, and the clouds were his sheep ; or an archer, and the sunbeams were his arrows. The sea was a husky voiced and turbulent old man, who shook the earth in his anger, and had the white-maned billows of the deep for horses. Spring was a youth, beloved like Hyacinthus, by the sun, or like Adonis, by the queen of beauty. Thus they conceived the world and nature, CONSTEI-LATIONS OF HOMER 33 and the tales they told about them has preserved the substance of their intellectual activity. Their thoughts were spoken in poetry, and invested with an imperish- able form of art. Zeus was originally the open sky, Pallas the dawn, Phoebus and Artemis the sun and the moon. AU was God, and their religion was expressed in pantheism and mythology. " Men thought in pic- tures and recorded their impression of the world in stories. The powers of nature were conceived as per- sons, and dignified with superhuman attributes." The knowledge of the physical universe as Homer knew it, and all that was known concerning it in the Homeric age, was circumscribed within narrow limits. The Chaldeans diligently studied the heavens, and be- lieved in the magic influence of the stars. They had marked out an imaginary path in the sky, in which they believed moved the sun, moon and certain particular stars and constellations. This path they divided into twelve signs, the signs of the Zodiac, to correspond with the appearance of the moon, which became full- orbed twelve times each year. These phenomena gave to the Chaldeans the idea of the divisions of time. Thus the Circle of the Zodiac and some of the constellations were known before Homer was bom. The Pleiades and the Hyades and the great star figure of Orion were familiar to Homer, as they were to the early inhabitants of Mesopotamia, and to the Hebrews. Job, who dwelt in the land of Uz fifteen hundred years before the Christian era-, was familiar with the astronomy of his day. In devout adoration he declares, concerning the power of Jehovah, " Which maketh Arcturus, Orion and Pleiades, And the chambers of the south." ^ He listened to the challenge of the Almighty concern- ing his own weakness : Vob ix, 9, 34 MILITAB.Y ANNALS OF GEEECE " Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, Or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? KnowBst thou the ordinances of heaven? Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? " '■ Of these constellations Homer sings when he de- scribes Vulcan moulding the shield of Achilles : " Thereon were figur'd earth, and sky, and sea. The ever-circling sun, and fuU-orb'd moon, ' And all the signs that crown the vault of Heav'n; Pleiads and Hyads, and Orion's might. And Arctos call'd the Wain, who wheels on high His circling course, and on Orion waits; Sole star that never bathes in th' ocean wave." ' The knowledge of the ancients, however, concerning the earth and the solar system, was comparatively noth- ing. They had no conception of the fact that the earth was a globe, or that it was one of eight planets held in their orbits by fixed laws of gravitation, and gov- erned in their revolutions about the sun by what the scientists call the centrifugal and centripetal forces. In the days of Homer, the Greeks believed the earth to be a horizontal circular plane, about the outer edges of which flowed a copious river, never disturbed by storms or tides, a never failing source which supplied abundantly the seas and rivers of the earth. This steady flood around the confines of the world the an- cients called the ocean, on the extreme outer edges of which was the entrance to the under-world, a land of gloom_ and shadow. Over this great circular plane, with its seas and rivers, its mountains and valleys, and covering it like an immense dome of azure, was the sky, whose blue rim rested at every point on the outer circle of the ocean, • Job xxxviii, 31, 33. ' The Iliad, by Earl of Derby, Book xviii, fi4S-S51. homer's would 35 forming a vast concave of ether, the centre arch sup- ported by Atlas. In this firmament dwelt the gods, over whose assemblies Zeus presided. He was the su- preme deity who ruled the destinies of gods and men, and ordained the law of heaven and earth. In the centre of the earth, the Greeks in their primi- tive geography located Mount Olympus, on whose many-peaked summit the gods convened in council ; from whence they visited the earth, and took part in the affairs of mortals. On the side of Parnassus, at the foot of the twin peaks, not far from Helicon, was the temple of Delphi, in which the oracle or Pythia, the priestess of the temple, received communications directly from the gods. The circular plane of the earth was indented with bays, and crossed by the sea (the Mediterranean) which extended to the ^gean and thence through the Helles- pont and the Bosphorus to the Euxine, or Black Sea. Its inhabitants were Hellenes. Its remote confines was a terra incognita, a land of mystery and enchantment. To the mind of the Greek these remote parts of the earth presented an enigma and a riddle, which could only be solved with the help of the gods. These regions of mystery were fiUed with giants and monsters, ser- pents and dragons, and enchantresses ; and beasts, part human, part animal; part bird or part reptile. These horrid monsters usually guarded fair maidens, rich treasures, or captive heroes. Other unknown parts were believed to be lands of perpetual summer and eternal bhss. In the far north of Homer's world dwelt the Hyper- boreans in a land of perpetual summer, which was sepa- rated from Thrace on the extreme north by a chain of lofty mountains, whose peaks were covered with snow. These rugged mountains were pierced with gloomy caverns, the home of the north winds, the severe blasts of winter. They issued from their dens and covered 36 MIHTAET ANNALS OF GEEECB the mountain peaks with snow, and congealed the rivers of the north. None could pierce the abode of the winds, and favored by the gods, they were exempt from dis- ease and old age, and relieved from the toils of war. In the far south, beyond the confines of Ethiopia, dwelt the pigmies. On the coasts of Libya were the Lotos- eaters, in the dreamy atmosphere which seemed always afternoon, and " all around the coast the languid air did swoon." They, were a happy people frequently visited by the gods, from Olympus, who shared 'their feasts and banquets. In the far west, were the Elysian plains, where dwelt the fair-haired B-hadamanthus. To these fields of enchantment, the fortunate mortals be- loved of the gods were translated to enjoy an immor- tality of bliss. They were not permitted to taste of death or enter the gloomy shades of the under-world. Off these shores were the Fortunate Islands, or the Islands of the Blessed, where everlasting spring abides. Between the land of the Lotos-eaters and the plains of Elysium, separated from them by broad plains and lofty mountains, dwelt the Cyclops, the giants and monsters of antiquity, whose deeds of violence and murder made all the coasts dangerous to the lost mariner. To the west of Elysium were the gardens of Hesperus, where father Hesper's lovely daughters guarded the golden apples — " Hesper, the dragon and sisters three " — the hallowed fruit given by Juno to Jupiter on their wedding day. Beyond these gardens, on the borders of an unknown sea, was the Island of Circe, by whose enchanted wand the sailors of Ulysses were turned to swine. Across the world, Helios, the sun, in his flaming chariot with four milk-white steeds made his daily jour- ney through the arch of heaven, coming up out of the ocean beyond Colchis, and the mountains of Caucasus,- in the far east the chariot of the sun was driven, until at evening it disappeared behind the western sea, when SHIELD OF ACHILLES 37 Night, with sable wing, began her rule, and the moon and stars shone forth. Such was Homer's world. Such he depicts on the huge and massive shield which Vulcan divinely wrought for famed Achilles. On it, with cunning skill, he wrought a representation of the heavens crowned with its constellations, the Pleiades, the Hyades, Orion and the Great Bear. The moon also, and the stars about her like a swarm of golden bees. These were engraved in the boss or central circle. On the outer circle or circumference, was wrought in burnished silver the stream of the ocean, whose steady flow surrounds the earth, and keeps full its seas and rivers. The inter- mediate circle contained pictures of the social and ma- terial world, a varied panorama of the arts and pur- suits of man, in war and in peace. In one compart- ment is shown a city in time of peace. In the streets processions sang nuptial songs to celebrate the wed- ding feasts. Flutes and lyres made music for the dan- cers, while women at their doors stood and admired. Then strife arose between two men contending for a fine, the price of one who had been slain. Then follows the trial, and both men were called for sentence, where the elders sat upon polished stones in a sacred circle. The pleaders were heard, and sentence voted. Two talents of gold, the amount of the fine and the sub- ject of the litigation, lies on the ground before the judges. Then is carved upon the shield a city in time of war, besieged by hostile armies, and Homer describes the scene as only Homer can ; a bloody battle, an ambuscade at the watering place by the river's side, the dead and wounded, and the contest of each for the bodies of the slain. Another scene represents agricultural life; a broad and fallow field in which are many ploughmen, to each of whom the master gave a goblet of rich wine, as 38 MILITAEY ANNALS OF GEEECE dark behind the plough, the ridges lay " like real fur- rows, though engraved in gold." The fields of wheat are shown, and the reapers with their sickles, and the binders tying fast the sheaves, and behind them the boys, the gleaners. The servants of the master are seen preparing a roasted ox beneath an oak, while the maids knead for the reapers the whitp meal. Then is the scene of the vintage. The vineyard, the vines and clusters all in gold on rows of silver stakes, and the hedge round it. In the midst of those gather- ing the fruit in baskets, the peasant youth plays his lyre for the dancers. Then is shown another pastoral scene. A herd of beeves coming lowing from their stalls to seek their pasture by the murmuring stream among the reeds. The herdsmen with their dogs follow. Two lions are seen who attack a bull among the foremost cattle. The shepherds, with their dogs, in vain seek to rescue the prey of the lions, who lap their crimson blood. Another pastoral scene is engraved upon the shield, showing a broad pasture and pleasant glade, the white sheep, the shepherds and their huts in the meadows. The final scene upon this wondrous shield represents the Pyrrhic dance, invented by Daedalus, in Gnossus, for fair-haired Ariadne. The young men with their swords of gold and belts of silver. The alluring virgins, hold- ing the wrists of their companions, clad in linen robes adorned with perfumed garlands. Such is the wonderful shield of Achilles, as described in the Iliad, embracing an epitome of the world of Homer. In his poems he celebrates the wealth of Egyp- tian Thebes, and the arts of Sidon, but says nothing of Susa, or Persepolis, of Ecbatana, or Babylon, of which he doubtless knew nothing. The eastern con- fines of Homer's world embraced lower Egypt, Phoenicia, Phrygia and the plains of Troy, at the foot of Mount Ida. The far East was doubtless an unknown THE UNITY OP HOMEB 39 region in the Homeric age, which is prehistoric, an age of legend and fable, of poetry and romance. The inquiry which presents itself, and which remains unanswered is, who was Homer, and when did he live. As to his identity, we have no authentic or reliable evidence. As to the physical existence of some Homer, however, there can be no possible doubt. It is certain that the individual who wrote the epics associated with the name of Homer, lived, and that he composed the Iliad, and almost certainly the Odyssey, although very learned scholars have labored ingeniously to rob him of the authorship of the latter. As to the unity of Homer, there are some things that would seem to indicate beyond doubt that one individual produced the poems. The argument that the greatest productions of antiquity are the work of many authors, is based upon the hypothesis that at the remote period when the poems were written many literary men lived, and that they were all endowed with the highest possible intellectual attainments. As has been observed, the individuality of Homer remains a riddle. No one knows who he was or where he lived. As to the authorship of the Homeric poems, or as it is termed, " the unity of Homer," a great con- troversy has arisen in recent years. It was not until the close of the eighteenth century (A. D. 1795) that Professor Wolf disturbed the literary world by the pub- lication of his learned and elaborate argument, in which the great German scholar seeks to show that many authors contributed to the Iliad and the Odyssey, and thereby unsettled the belief of some as to the unity of Homer. Volumes have been written on the subject, which it would be impossible to analyze or review, within the limits of this chapter. One of the arguments advanced by those who still deny the unity of Homer, is based upon the great length of the poems. The argument proceeds upon 40 MIMTAEY ANNALS OF GREECE the assumption that in the Homeric age, writing, as we understand the art, was unknown. There is no positive evidence to warrant the assumption. But the contention that, because of the extreme length of the poems, it would have been impossible to transmit them through the agency of human memory, if carried to its logical conclusion, would argue Homer and his poems out of existence. If they could be preserved only by means of human memory, and if they were too extensive for the memory to retain, it would seem to follow, that for the reason stated, they never were preserved, and hence that they do not exist. If such a poem as the Iliad, by reason of its great length, could not have been retained in the memory of the bard, or the rhapsodist, or of any individual, and if there was no means, then devised of reducing it to some intelligible written form, the poem must of necessity have perished, long before the days of Pisistratus, who, it is claimed, first caused the poems, associated with the name of Homer, to be collected, and reduced to writing. The fact that we have the poems would seem to furnish a complete an- swer to this argument. They are still in existence and are read daily in our schools and universities, and are admired by men and women of letters and refined tastes, just as they were by the men of learning in Athens in the days of Pisistratus. The position of those controversialists who contend that writing was not discovered in Hellas in the Ho- meric age, seems untenable also, when we consider the elaborate and complex tissue of myth and fable em- braced in the mythology which embodied the religious conception of the Greeks, with which we are made ac- quainted to some extent in the Homeric poems. If the contention is correct that the art of writing in some form, was unknown, when the Iliad was composed, it fol- lows, as has been observed, that the only medium for the preservation of poetry and history was the human THEORIES ADVANCED 4I memory. Then how was it possible to retain in the memory the elaborate system of theology, the volumi- nous and ingenious Hellenic theogony, which has been preserved to posterity and which the author of the Iliad had mastered. How could the complicated, ex- tensive and harmonious account of the innumerable deities, the demigods and nymphs and satyrs contained in the Hellenic pantheism, have survived the centuries of remote antiquity in the absence of some process by which it could have been preserved without the aid of memory alone .P The argument of those who claim that writing was not discovered in Homer's day, and that the human mind had not then conceived a scheme or device, by which thoughts could be transferred to some physical substance, from which they could be read or reproduced at pleasure, is not strengthened by the theory that the poems were carried piecemeal in many memories. The advocates who deny the unity of Homer assume that there were professional bards or rhapsodists in those days, who respectively recited parts of the poems. This assumption, however, can rest upon no other theory than that some person had memorized the entire Iliad, and the Odyssey also, if you please, and doled it out in parts to traveling minstrels. As it is asserted that no one mind was capable of retaining so much, there could have been no general source to whom the rhapsodist could apply for part of the poem. The only other possible theory is the supposition which the advocates who deny unity have advanced, namely, independent authorship. In other words, they assert one mind did not conceive the poems. They were conceived by many minds. The assumption does violence to the beauty and harmony which prevails throughout the poems. If we adopt the theory of divided authorship we must assume that in that remote age many literary men lived, and that they were all endowed with the highest possible 42 MIMTAEY ANNALS OF GREECE intellectual attainments. A balre statement of the proposition carries with it its own refutation. Concededly the work of Homer is the work of a com- manding genius. The Iliad embraces, it is said, twenty- seven rhapsodies, just as Byron's Don Juan embraces fifteen cantos, and his Childe Harold fourteen. These twenty-seven rhapsodies were collected and arranged, and fill out the Iliad, as we have it. To say that these rhapsodies are the work of as many different minds, is to assert that in the dawn of antiquity, there were many poets, and that every poet was a commanding genius, and that each was equally intellectually endowed. The achievements accomplished in the world of letters teachies us that such a proposition is not tenable. Genius such as inspired the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, was conferred upon but few mortals. Nothing in pro- fane literature surpasses the great epic written not less than eight hundred years before the Christian era. No mind in all the intervening centuries has produced any- thing quite like the Greek poems. Homer stands alone, conspicuous in the ocean of time that links the pre- historic past with the present. He had no model. He had no imitators. The only poetry of equal beauty and sublimity of which we have any knowledge is of an entirely different character. It embraces the sacred poetry of David and that of the author of the book of Job and of some other poetical books of the Old Testament. Of these, assuming that they were written before Homer's time, it is safe to say that the Greek poet had no knowledge. There is no archaic literature known to us, to which Homer seems to have had access, or from which he derived his inspira- tion, or which afforded suggestions which he could elaborate in his works. To argue that twenty-seven such geniuses, as Homer admittedly was, existed contemporaneously, or even in the Homeric age, or within any reasonable propinquity. BK. BENTLEY's THEOB.T 43 seems contrary to all human experience. The world, it is true, has produced many great men of command- ing genius, many great poets, orators and philosophers, wonderfully endowed, but all have their distinguishing characteristics, and no two are alike, although there are resemblances among them. To assert with positive deliberation that there were many Homers because the Iliad may be divided into parts, just as any poem may be divisible into parts, just as a book, for convenience, is divided into chapters, would, upon the same assump- tion, furnish the basis for an argument that there were twenty-seven Shakespeares because there were twenty- seven of his immortal plays, or as many Miltons as there are books in Paradise Lost. The idea is too re- mote from probability to be seriously entertained. The subjects embraced in the Homeric poems relate to the Trojan War and the wanderings of Ulysses. Professor Wolf boldly declares, in substance, that these themes formed the subject of numerous epic ballads. He argues that the various productions on the same subject happened to fit into one another or to harmon- ize in such a way that it was a comparatively easy mat- ter for the scholars assembled by Pisistratus to join them into the two great masterpieces known as the Iliad and the Odyssey. The idea had already been ad- vanced by Dr. Bentley that Homer wrote a sequence of songs and rhapsodies to be sung by himself at festivals and public gatherings, and that he composed the Iliad for men and the Odyssey for women, and that these songs and ballads were collected and published 500 years after his death. It is clear that Dr. Bentley be- lieved in the unity of Homer. Professor Wolf, however, thinks that Bentley was incorrect in ascribing the authorship of the poems to Homer, and declares the authors were numerous. His argument assumes too much. The idea that many great poets may have written upon the same subject is pos- 44 MILITARY ANNALS OF GEEECE sible. But to assert that all who wrote were great poets, and that there was such uniformity and similarity in the thought and expression which pervaded all these various productions that, when pieced together, they formed a harmonious whole of unsurpassed beauty and excellence, presents a coincidence so remarkable as to be wholly unworthy of credit. Homer sings of the wrath of Achilles. The struggle in the civil war which in- volved the supremacy of the American union involved the most stupendous struggle of modern times. That great contest also formed the subject of ballads and poems innumerable. Could any number of these be col- lected and woven into a great poem entitled, " The Wrath of the Southrons ? " Could all the lays and ballads and hymns composed concerning the " Thirty Years' War " be collected so as to form an epic, entitled " The Wrath of the Dissenters," or " The Jealousy of the Papacy," or " The Wrath of Wallenstein .? " Nevertheless, enthusiastic supporters of the fallacy of professor Wolf have attempted to disintegrate the Iliad, in an attempt to discover the various independent poems of which they claim it is composed, thus subject- ing the synthetical labors of the scholars convened by Pisistratus to aJi analytical process which fails abso- lutely to support their contention. The weight of probability sustains the assumption that the scholars of Pisistratus eliminated to a great extent, from the Homeric poems whatever interpola- tions or spurious matter had been introduced from time to time, and restored the poems to their original form, and preserved them to posterity in their original harmony and beauty. CHAPTER IV HOMERIC AND BIBLICAL LITERATURE — WAS THE HELLENIC BARD IGNORANT OF THE SUBLIME POETRY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT? [HERE is one phase of the Homeric question which, so far as I have been able to discover, has not been discussed. The question which presents itself to the student who seeks to ascertain the genesis of letters and the au- thorship of the literature which first attracted the at- tention of mankind is, was Homer, the greatest literary figure of antiquity, ignorant of the sublime poetry con- tained in the sacred literature of the Israelites, which was composed centuries before he wrote his wonderful poems? A negative answer to this inquiry seems to be the only response warranted by the evidence. Among the countless millions of people who inhabited the globe in the early period of its history, there were but two races, and only two, from whom sprung men of sufficiently exalted intellect, who were able to produce a literature destined to survive forever. These were the Israelites and the Hellenese or Greeks. It seems to be universally conceded that this Hebraic and Grecian literature is the best of its kind in the •world of letters. It is also the oldest, so old in fact that although we may be reasonably certain of the age, we cannot with precision fix the exact century when it was written. When the book of Job was composed no one can tell. When the first chapter of Genesis or the Pentateuch were written no one can tell. When the Iliad or the Odyssey were written no one can teU. The 45 46 MILITARY ANNALS OF GKEBCE poetical books of ancient scripture, for grandeur, elo- quence and sublimity stand unrivalled, and the poems depicting the wrath of Achilles and the wanderings of Ulysses, for rich imagery, wealth of simile and poetic beauty, have never been excelled. Yet it seems clear, as will be shown presently, that the Greek author, for we do not subscribe to the doctrine of many Homers, remained all his life in ignorance of the existence of the literature of the early books of the Old Testament. He seems never to have heard of Moses, of David or of Solomon, though the latter died more than a century before Homer was born. If Moses wrote the Pentateuch (except the last chapter of Deu- teronomy, giving an account of his death), that won- derful compilation of the history of the Israelites, which begins with a poetic account of the creation, had been already in existence at least six centuries before Homer's time, assuming that his birth occurred about the middle of the ninth century B. C. The most eminent biblical scholars fix the time of the death of Moses in the year 1451 B. C. Why is it that a great intellect like that possessed by Homer, never knew of the existence or became familiar with the only literature in the world, which for beauty and excellence could alone compare with his own marvelous compositions? In seeking an answer to this inquiry it cannot be said that the Greeks and the Israel- ites never came in contact. There can be no doubt that many Greeks, not only men of letters, but merchants and mariners, traveled in Palestine, and were familiar, in a measure at least, with their laws and cus- toms. . Lycurgus, the lawgiver of Sparta, was said to have been contemporaneous with Homer. Indeed some wri- ters claim that he was acquainted with the blind poet. It is recorded of Lycurgus, who was of royal lineage, that he traveled all over the known world, and spent SOLOMON, AND HIEAM KING OF TYRE 47 ten years in investigating the laws and customs of the various civilized people of that age, for the express pur- pose of gaining sufficient information and knowledge to enable him to prepare a proper code of laws for Sparta. He is said to have visited Crete, Ionia, Egypt, Iberia, Libya and India. Can there be any doubt but that he visited Babylonia and Syria, which embraces Phoenicia and Palestine. Greeks from Asia Minor, Herodotus tells us (i, 163), discovered the Adriatic, and Iberia (Spain), and Tartessus. This latter city is known also as Tarshish on the river Boetis (now the Guadalquivir) near the site of the modern Cadiz. Tar- shish, it is believed, was settled by Phoenicians. If this view is correct, it was a trading-port visited regularly by the ships of Solomon more than a century before Homer was born. Solomon made a treaty with Hiram, King of Tyre, one of the principal cities of Phoenicia, whereby he obtained from the latter cedar trees and fir trees, and gold and silver. Hiram also built the lavers, the shovels and the basins for Solomon's temple. Josephus says that Solomon also married one of the daughters of Hiram. He built also a navy which was manned by Phoenician sailors furnished by Hiram (1 Kings, ix, 27). The navy of Hiram and the navy of Solomon were accustomed to visit Tarshish once in three years. Tarshish was discovered long before the time of Solomon. It may have been settled by the sons of Gomer shortly after the flood. Among the latter, mentioned in the tenth chapter of Genesis, are Elishah and Tarshish, Kittim (who doubtless dwelt in Citium in the island of Cyprus) and Dodanim. David, in the forty-eighth Psalm, in describing the power of the Almighty declares " thou breakest the ships of Tar- shish with an east wind." David also was on very friendly terms with Hiram (2 Sam. v, 11). These references are given to show the close relations which existed between the Israelites or the Jews, and 48 MILITAKY ANNALS OF GEEECE the Phcenicians or Canaanites, more than a century be- fore the time of Homer. The commercial dealings of the Phoenicians, Greeks and Israelites will be fully dis- cussed presently. The richest stores of Hebrew litera- ture were in existence when Rehoboam became King of Israel B. C. 975, after his father Solomon had reigned forty years. The latter contributed largely to the sacred writings of the Jews. He was the author of the book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solo- mon. These writings had become part of the sacred Hebrew literature at least one hundred and twenty-five years (B. C. 975, given as the time when Solomon died) before Homer flourished. There can be no doubt that the Tartessus of Herodo- tus was the Tarshish of Ezekiel ; that it was in the At- lantic beyond the Pillars of Hercules, in Iberia, now Spain, on the Boetis, now the Guadalquivir. The Greek historian, speaking of Tartessus, says (i, 163), that " the Phocaeans were the first of the Greeks who per- formed long voyages, and it was they who made the Greeks acquainted with the Adriatic, and with Tyr- rhenia, with Iberia, and the city of Tartessus." In speaking of the expedition of Aryandes against Libya, shortly after the Scythian expedition of Darius, He- rodotus says (iv, 152) that a Samian vessel, on its way to Egypt, was carried out of its course by a terrific gale from the east and was driven past the Pillars of Hercules, " and at last by some special guiding provi- dence reached Tartessus." It seems equally clear that this Tartessus was the Tarshish of Ezekiel, who was contemporaneous with Solon, because the products of the country mentioned by the prophet answer the de- scription of the products of Spain. In his lament over Tyre, written early in the sixth century (B. C. 588), the prophet refers to the wealth and commercial im- portance of the greatest city in Phoenicia. He says (xxvii, 12), " Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of NAVIES OP HIRAM AND SOLOMON 49 the multitude of all kind of riches ; with silver, iron, tin and lead, they traded in thy fairs." The Tarshish referred to in the book of Kings, in connection with the navy of Hiram, in the reign of King Solomon, does not correspond with the Tarshish re- ferred to by the prophet Ezekiel, if we are to judge by the nature of the cargo brought to Tyre and Jerusalem by these Israelites and Phoenician merchantmen. With regard to the ships of Solomon the record declares (1 Kings, X, 22), " For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish, with the navy of Hiram ; once in three years came the navy of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks." The record further declares that gold for the temple of Solomon was brought by the Phoenician ships of Hiram from Ophir. The ships brought also precious stones and Almug trees, from which exude medicinal gums, very precious and very fragrant. The queen of Sheba in Ethiopia (now Abyssinia) contributed to Solomon, for the deco- ration of his costly and magnificent temple, one hundred and twenty talents of gold, and vast stores of spices and precious stones. It seems very clear, from what is said of the char- acter of the cargo brought by these merchantmen, by the navy of Tarshish, namely, gold, ivory, apes and pea- cocks, that they brought these things not from Spain, but from Arabian, Indian and African ports. The navy of Tarshish, from the language used, seems to indicate in this connection the character of the ships in the navy, not necessarily the particular port which the ships visited. In other words the navy was said to con- sist of Tarshish ships, that is, ships built especially for long voyages. The ships, in which Phoenicians traded with the distant port of Tarshish in Spain, were neces- sarily constructed, as to size, strength and durability, in such a manner as to be able to make a voyage of five thousand miles, being about the distance from Tyre to ^d MlLiTAE* ANNAI/S 6t CEEECE Tarshish, including the return trip. Hence Tarshish ships, as the words are used in the first book of Kings (x, 22), mean ships constructed after the strongest and most durable model, fit to make a voyage to Tarshish. The passage might, therefore, be rendered, " For the king (Solomon) had at sea, a navy of Tarshish ships, with the navy of Hiram." But the record discloses the further fact that while these Tarshish ships brought gold from Ophir, gums and spices from Arabia, and peacocks from India, they went also to Tarshish. The journey to that distant port, it will be observed, consumed three years. In the second book of Chronicles, is this declaration : " For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; every three years once came the ships of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks." (2 Chron. ix, 21.) This appears also from what is said concerning Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, who reigned about B. C. 896, and his dealings with Ahazlah, King of Israel. "And he (Jehoshaphat) joined himself with him (Ahaziah) to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they made the ships at Ezion-gaber." (2 Chron. xx, 36.) The record shows also that " Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they went not, for the ships were broken (lost in a storm) at Ezion- geber." (1 Kings, xxii, 48.) The Mediterranean, also, through which the ships sailed on their voyages to and from Tarshish, was called the sea of Tarshish. From these accounts in the Hebrew Scriptures it is clear that the rendezvous of the ships and navies of the Israelites was not anywhere on the east coast of the Mediterranean. Jerusalem, the capital of David and Solomon, was nearly forty miles inland, in the valley of Cedron, in Judea, or the ancient Kingdom of Judah, the land of Canaan. Its nearest neighbors on the south were Edomites and Moabites. Its nearest seaport to THE LAND OF OPHIR S^ the south was Ezion-geber, in the land of Edom, on the most northern extremity of the gulf of Akaba, an arm of the Red Sea, extending north, and forming the east- em boundary of the Sinaitic peninsula, the western boundary being the gulf of Suez, also an arm of the Red Sea. Between these two gulfs or horns of the Red Sea is the peninsula of Sinai, and the wilderness of Paran, through which the children of Israel wandered, after their escape from Egypt under the intrepid leadership of Moses. The distance from Jerusalem to Ezion-geber was about one hundred and fifty miles al- most due south. From these accounts we must assume that merchant- men in Solomon's time and in Jehoshaphat's time brought cargoes from all parts of the then known world. They brought merchandise from ports in Arabia, and from ports in Malabar, along the west coast of India. They brought gold from Ophir. Where was Ophir.'' Some scholars locate it in Arabia, near the present Aden, on the Straits of Bab-el-Man- deb, on the Red Sea, others assert that the Ophir of Solomon's time was on the east coast of Africa, on what is now known as Mozambique channel, in the neighbor- hood of the modem district of Sofala. Some contend that this land of Ophir, though remote from what we now designate Abyssinia, may have formed part of the dominions of the queen of Sheba. However this may be, it is highly probable that these ships of Tarshish not only sailed as far south as Mozambique channel, from which they brought ivory and gold, but that they sailed the entire length of the African continent, the ancient Libya, doubled its southern cape, now known as the Cape of Good Hope, sailed north in the Atlantic, along its west coast, to Tarshish in Spain, and thence east to Tyre, or Ezion-geber, a voyage which consumed a period of three years. This view is supported by certain statements by Herodotus, to which we shall 52 MILITARY ANNALS OF GREECE refer presently, corresponding, as to time and distance, with the biblical account. The objection to this theory, that the ancients doubled the cape of Good Hope, and reached Tarshish, sailing north along the west coast of Africa, is obvious. How could the navy of Hiram and the navy of Solomon and of Jehoshaphat possibly have sailed from Ezion- geber at the extremity of the gulf of Akaba, an arm of the Red Sea, to Tarshish in Spain. Their vessels might sail southeast through the Red Sea through what are now known as the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb into the Gulf of Aden, and thence into the sea of Erythraeum, now known as the Indian Ocean, to Malabar, on the west coast of India, and along the east coast of Africa to Ophir. But they ask how could these ships saU into the Mediterranean, or into the Atlantic. The objection rests upon the assumption, first, that all land south of Ethiopia was a terra incognita; that the Phoenicians in the time of David and Solomon never ventured far south, and consequently knew nothing of the Cape at the extremity of the continent, now known as the Cape of Good Hope ; and second, that there was no canal extending across the isthmus of Suez from the Gulf of Suez to the eastern waters of the Nile Delta, and thence through the Nile, to a port on the Mediter- ranean, as there is to-day. In the light of modem in- vestigation, it seems that both of these assumptions are erroneous. There is abundant evidence of the fact that there was a canal across the isthmus of Suez, nearly three centuries before the time of David. Archseologists assert positively that this canal was constructed by the Kings of Egypt, Seti I and Rameses II, about B. C. 1350-1300, extending from the Pelusiac branch of the Nile Delta to lake Timsah, and thence to the gulf of Suez or the Red Sea. The mouth of this most easterly tributary of the Nile is not far from the site of the present Port Said, on the Mediterranean. If these CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF AFEICA S3 archaBologists and engineers are correct, and they claim there is abundant evidence disclosed by modern French surveys to sustain their contention, then the ships of Solomon and Jehoshaphat could have sailed directly from Ezion-geber through the Red Sea and the ancient Suez canal, into the Mediterranean, and thence west through the gates of Hercules into the Atlantic, to Tarshish, on the southern coast of Spain, and thence back again through the Mediterranean. They could also have sailed round the Cape of Good Hope, assum- ing that the statements of Herodotus in that regard are correct, and north past the gates of Hercules, or straits of Gibraltar, to Tarshish, in the south of Spain, and thence east through these straits, through the Medi- terranean, directly to Tyre, or down the eastern branch of the Nile Delta through the canal across the isthmus of Suez, constructed by Seti I and Rameses II, into the Red Sea and thence through the Gulf of Akaba to Ezion-geber in the land of Edom. According to the biblical record, and the account of Herodotus, the j our- ney either way would consume a period of three years. With regard to the circumnavigation of the African continent, the ancient Libya in remote antiquity, Herodotus observes (iv, 4)2), that it was well known in his day that Libya was washed on all sides by the sea, except so much of it as borders on or is connected with Asia. This was proved by Neco, King of Egypt, who, when he had ceased digging the canal leading from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf, sent " a number of ships manned by Phoenicians with orders to make for the Pillars of Hercules, and return to Egypt, through them, and by the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians took their departure from Egypt, by way of the Eryth- raean Sea (the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb and the Indian Ocean) and so sailed into the southern ocean. . . . Two whole years went by, and it was not until the 54 MlUtAEf ANNALS OF GEEECE third year that they doubled the Pillars of Hercules, and made good their voyage home." The Carthaginians mentioned by Herodotus were not the only navigators who doubled the Cape of Good Hope at a very early period. Pliny declares that Hanno, a Carthaginian, long before the time of Neco, went round it, sailing through the Pillars of Hercules, touching on the southern coast of Spain (doubtless at Tarshish), navigated along the west coast of Africa around the Cape, and returned through the Arabian Gulf (Red Sea). Referring to the ancient canal across the isthmus of Suez, Herodotus (ii, 158) observes that Neco, King of Egypt, was the first to attempt the construction of the canal to the Red Sea. The Neco here referred to, was the son of Psammetichus, who reigned about two cen- turies before the time of Herodotus. Modern scholars declare, upon undoubted testimony, that the canal was originally constructed by Seti I and his grandson, Rameses H, the greatest of the Pharaohs, who reigned a century after the death of Moses, whose achievements are engraved in the temples of Kamak and Luxor. The work of Neco, it is believed, was directed to cleaning out and repairing the ancient canal of Rameses, which had become partly choked up and obstructed by the drifting sands during the intervening centuries. Herodotus says that this work begun by Neco was afterward completed by Darius Hystaspes, father of Xerxes. The latter, it will be remembered, was de- feated by Themistocles in the straits of Salamis. He says the length of the canal was " four days' journey, and the width such as to admit of two triremes being rowed along it abreast. The water in the canal was supplied from the Nile, the eastern tributary of which the canal leaves a little above the city of Bubastis, near Patumus, the Arabian town, being continued thence until it joins the Red Sea. At first it is carried along AUCIEilT SUEZ CAUAt 55 the Arabian side of the Egyptian plain, as far as the chain of hills opposite Memphis, whereby the plain is bounded, and in which lie the great stone quarries. Here it skirts the base of the hiUs, running in a direc- tion from west to east ; after which it turns and enters a narrow pass, trending southward from this point until it enters the Arabian Gulf. From the northern sea (Mediterranean) to that which is called the Southern or Erythraean, the shortest and quickest passage, which is from Mount Casius, the boundary between Egypt and Syria to the Gulf of Arabia is a distance of exactly one thousand furlongs." * The work, as conducted, occasioned appalling mortality, which indicates the cruelty of the Egyptian taskmasters of that age. Herodotus declares that of the laborers who did the excavating one hundred and twenty thousand perished during the period occupied in the work. This convincing testimony justifies the conclusion, that the countries of the ancient world, bordering on the Mediterranean and the Euxine, on the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, as well as on the Atlantic, where it washes the shoulders of the continents of Europe and Africa, known by the archaic designations, Mauretania and Lusitania, and their contiguous territory, were not locked countries. These seas and oceans were open seas. The people of antiquity were merchants and traders, navigators and explorers, and carried on their com- merce and established their colonies on the remote frontiers of the then known world. These authorities are sufficient to establish the propo- sition that the people of Hellas, of Egypt and of Syria, which embraces both Phoenicia and Palestine, came in contact with each other as merchants and traders. It is evident that in the time of Homer, Lycurgus visited H,000 stades is about 114 English miles, at 600 Greek feet to the stadium. 56 MILITAEY ANNAIiS OF GEEECE all these countries in pursuit of knowledge. What was open to Lycurgus was open to Homer. We will show presently that four centuries later, this intercourse among the nations of antiquity continued. Practically all the countries of the then known world were visited by Herodotus, who has given us vivid descriptions of what he saw and heard in his day and generation. We now proceed to a discussion of the second branch, namely, the literature of the ancient world, as it existed in Homer's day. First, let us consider their alphabet, and means of communication among these early people. The Phoenicians, as has been observed, were among the most conspicuous merchants and mariners of antiquity. They sustained very close relations with the Israelites, and established treaty relations with David and Solomon. Beyond question these treaties were in writing. The Greek alphabet, the same which doubtless Homer used in composing his great productions, was of Phoenician origin. The earliest forms of the letters of this alphabet ( a\