8

land of Shinar. The Greeks represented this person as a feminine, and made her the daughter of Inachus. They supposed her travels to commence from Argos; and then described her as proceeding in a retrograde direction towards the east. The line of her procedure may be seen in the Prometheus of Eschylus: which account, if we change the order of the rout, and collate it with other histories, will be found in great measure consonant to the truth. It contains a description of the Iönim abovementioned; who, at various times, and in differentbodies, betook themselves very early to countries far remote. One part of their travel is about Ararat and Caucasus; and what were afterwards called the Gordiæan mountains. In these parts the ark rested and here the expedition should commence. The like story was told by the Syrians of Astarte; by the Egyptians of Isis." They were all three one and the same personage; and their histories of the same purport. Quæ autem de Iside ejusque erroribus Ægyptii, eadem ferè de Astarte Phonices, de Iöne Græci fabulantur. The Greeks for the most part, and particularly the Athenians, pretended to be autoxloves, the original inhabitants of their country but they had innumerable evidences to

8

By the travels of lö from Argus is signified the journeying of mankind from the ark.

• Marshami Can. Chron. Sæc. 1.

p. 42.

contradict this notion; and to shew, that they were by no means the first, who were seized of those parts. Their best historians ingenuously own, that the whole region, called Hellas, was originally occupied by a people of another race, whom they styled 10 Bagbago: that their own ancestors came under different denominations, which they took from their mode of worship. Among others were the Iönim, called in after times Ionians. They were supposed to have been led by one Iön, the son of Zeuth, styled by the Greeks Xuthus: but what was alluded to under the notion of that person, may be found from the history given of him. Tatian imagines, that he came into Greece about the time of Acrisius, when Pelops also arrived: δε Ακρίσιον ἡ Πελοπος απο Φρυγίας διαβασις, και Ιώνος εις τας Αθήνας αφιξις. This arrival of Ion was a mer morable æra among the Grecians; and always esteemed subsequent to the first peopling of the country. Iön in the play of Euripides is men

12

II

κατα

10 Σχεδόν δε τι και ἡ σύμπασα Ελλας κατοικια Βαρβαρων ύπήρξε το παλαιον. Strabo. l. 7. p. 494. Παλαι γαρ της νυν καλεμένης Ελλαδος Βαρβαροι τα πολλα ῴκησαν. Pausan. 1. 1. p. 100. Αρκαδίαν ΒαςCapo wenoar. Schol. in Appollon. Rhod. 1. 4. v. 264. H♪ Βοιωτια προτερον μεν ὑπο Βαρβαρων ῳκειτο. Strabo. l. 9. p. 615. See further evidences in Vol. I. p. 187, of this work: and p. 225. See also the treatise inscribed Cadmus. Vol. II.

"Tatian. p. 274,

12 Clem. Alexandr. Strom. 1, 1, p. 381. Herodot. 1. 7. c. 94,

tioned as the son of Xuthus, but claimed by Apollo, as his offspring. In reality, both Xuthus and Apollo, as well as Dionusus and Osiris, were titles of the same person. Xuthus tells his son, that he shall give him the name of Iön, or Iöne, from his meeting him fortunately, as he came out of the temple of the Deity;

He likewise in another place mentions, that his son was called Iön from an auspicious encounter:

It is true, the poet would fain make the name of Grecian etymology, and deduce it from the word LOUT, to which it had no relation. The truth he so far accedes to, as to own that it had a reference to something auspicious; and that it signified an omen, or token of good fortune. There are some other remarkable circumstances, which are mentioned of this Iön. He was exposed in an Ark; and in the Ark said to have been crowned, not with laurel, as

13 Euripid. Iön. v. 661.

14 Ibid. v. 802.

we might expect the reputed son of Apollo to have been ornamented, but with olive :

15 Στέφανον Ελαιας αμφέθηκα σοι τοτε.

From these two, Xuthus and his son Ion, the Dorians, Achæans, and Ionians were said to be descended. Hence Apollo is made to prophesy in this manner of these nations to come, addressing himself to Creusa :

It has been a prevailing notion, that the Ionians were of the family of Javan. His sons certainly settled in Greece; but they were the original inhabitants: whereas the Dorians and Ionians confessedly succeeded to a country, which had been in the possession of others. They were therefore a

15 Euripid. Iön. v. 1434.

16 Ibid. v.-1587.

different people, notwithstanding the similitude, which may subsist between the two names. There is a remarkable passage in the Chronicon Paschale, which determines very satisfactorily the history of the Ionians. The author says, that according to the most genuine accounts, they were a colony brought by Iönan from Babylonia. This Iönan was one of those, who had been engaged in the building of Babel, at the time, when the language of mankind was confounded. 17 Ιωνες δε τέτων (Ελληνων) αρχηγοι γεγενηνται, ὡς ὁ ακριβης εχει λόγος, απο τε Ιωναν, ένος ανδρος των τον Πυργον οικοδομησαντων, ὅτε αι γλωσσαι διεμερίσθησαν των ανθρωπων. He moreover says, that the Hellenes in general were denominated amo sλaias, from the olive. It is very certain, that some of the Hellenes, and especially the 18 Athenians, were styled Säitæ : not from the city Säis, as is commonly supposed;

17 Chron.Pasch. p. 49.

18 The Athenians brought the rites of Damater from Egypt to Eleusis; which was possessed by a different race. Others say, * that they were introduced by Eumolpus. Κατοικησαι δε την Ελευ σινα ίσορεσι πρώτον μεν τις αυτοχθονας, ειτα Θρακας τες μετ' Ευμολπι παραγενομένες προς βοηθειαν εις τον κατ' Ερεχθέως πολεμον. Τινες δε φασι και τον Ευμολπον έυρειν την μυησιν την συντελεμενην κατ' ενιαυτον εν Ελευσινι Δημητρί και Κόρη. Acusilaus apud Natal. Com. 1. 5. c. 14. p. 279. The Eumolpida were originally from Egypt, and brought these rites from that country. Diodorus Sic. 1. 1. p. 25.