Defcription of the Country of ATTICA, and of the other Divifions of GRÆCIA PROPRIA.

THE chief mountains in Attica were, HYMETTUS, near Athens, famous for producing honey, Paufan. i. 32.; Horat. od. ii. 6. 14.; Sat. ii. 2. 15. therefore compared to Hybla in Sicily, Sil. xiv. 2co.; Martial. vii. 87. 8. alfo for producing marble*, Strab. ix. 399.; Plin. xxxvi. 3. & 5. xvii. 1. PENTELICUS, likewife famous for its marble quarries, Paufan. ii. 32.; Strab. ib.; Cic. Att. i. 8.-LAURIUS, V. -ium, near the promontory of Sunum, where were filver mines, whence the Athenians derived a confiderable revenue, Thucydid. ii. 55. vi. 91. and which Themistocles prevailed on them to appropriate to the building of fhips, Plutarch. in vita ejus, p. 113.; Herodot. vii. 144. Thefe mines had failed in the time of Strabo, ibid.; fo Paufanias fays, i. 1. —— The other mountains were, Brileffus, giăleus, Icariu, Lycabettus, Plin. iv. 7. and Parnes or Parnethus, all of them fruitful in timber and olives, fome of them in wine, Stat. Theb. xii. 620.

About ten miles north-east of Athens ftood MARATHON, famous for the defeat of the Perfians by Miltiades, Strab. ix. 399 A foldier ran from the field of battle to carry the news to Athens, but was fo fpent when he reached the place, that, having uttered thefe words, Xapete, xaipoμer. Rejoice, we are conquerors, he fell down and expired, Plutarch. de gloria Athen, 7. Those who fell in the battle had small columns erected over their tombs, with their names infcribed, Paufan. i. 32. Near Marathon was a marfh, where many of the Perfians, being entangled in their flight, were flain, Ib.; most of them retreated to their fhips, feveral of which fell into the power of the Athenians t, Heredot. vi. 115.

Sixty ftadia, or feven miles and a half north of Marathon, on the fouth arm of the Euripus, ftood the village or town

Hence trobes Hymettie, cross beams or pieces of Hymettian marble, Horat. ii. 18. 3 Some take trabes for beams of wood from Hymettus; but Pliny alfo has trabes ex marmore, xxxvi. 8. f. 14.

On this occafion the bravery of one Cynegyrus is particularly extolled, who, having feized a fhip with both his hands, and they being cut off, took hold of it with his teeth, Jufin. ii. 9.; but Herodotus takes no notice of the latter circumftance, vi 114. A fimilar inftance is recorded of one Icilius at Marfeilles, Suet. Jul. 68.

Rhamnus,

LEN

Rhamnus, near which was a temple of NEMESIS, the avenger of infolence, (exfe verba fuperba Dea,) hence called RHAMNUSIA, Ovid. Trift. v. 8. 9. and in it a ftatue of that goddess, made by Phidias out of a block of Parian marble, which the Perfians had brought to erect as a trophy of their victory over the Athenians, fo confident were they of fuccefs *, Paufan. i. 33.

About an hundred ftadia, or twelve miles and a half northeaft from Athens, was the ftrong fort PHYLE, the first place feized on by Thrafybulus with only thirty men, when he freed Athens from the thirty tyrants, who had been set over that city by Lyfander, Diodor. xiv. 32.; Nep. in Thrafb. 2.

Weft from this, and only fixty ftadia from Athens, was ACHARNÆ, the chief borough (nuos, pagus,) of Attica, where the tyrants encamped when they marched against Thrafybulus, Diodor. ib. and where formerly the Lacedæmonians, under their king Archidămus, encamped, when they made an irruption into Attica, at the beginning of the Peloponnefian war, Thucydid. ii. 19. &c.

Weft from Athens, and fouth-weft from Acharne, was ELEUSIS, v. -in, towards Magura, famous for the celebration of the myfteries of Ceres, Cic. Nat. D. i. 42. Spartian. in Hadriano, 13. whence the town is called CEREALIS ELEUSIN, Ovid. ep. 4. 67. and the goddefs herfelf, ELEUSINIA MATER, Virg. G. i. 163. Here was a temple of Triptolemus, the favourite of Ceres, whom that goddefs taught agriculture, Paufan. i. 38. The plain between Eleufis and Acharna was called CECROPIA, Thucydid. ii. 19. The boundary between Attica and Bococia was mount CITHARON, Paufan. ib.

Among the boroughs (du) of Attica were, Erchia, the birth-place of Xenophon, Laert. ii. 48. and Gargettus, the birth-place of Epicurus, Id. x. i. whence he is called fenior GARGETTIUS, Stat. Silv. i. 3. 94.

On the road to Euboea, about one hundred and twenty ftadia from Athens, and the fame diítance from the confines of Boeotia, ftood the fortrefs of De CELIA, which the Spartans, by the advice of Alcibiades, fortified to diftrefs Athens in the Peloponnefian war, Nep. in Alcib. 4. vifible all the way from Athens, Thucyd. vii. 19.

On the confines of Boeotia, near the Euripus, and not far from the mouth of the river Asopus, flood OROPUS, which

Phidias did not infcribe his own name on this ftatue, but that of Agoracr tus of Paros, his scholar and favourite, Plin. xxxvi. 5.

Strabo

Strabo places in Boeotia, ix. 391. and Livy in Attica, xlv. 27. About twelve ftadia, or one mile and a half from it, was the temple of Amphiaraus, the famous foothfayer, (argivus AuGUR,) Horat. od. iii. 16. 11. on the fpot where he was faid to have been fwallowed up by an earthquake, Strab. ib. 399.; Diodor. iv. 65. Here was an oracle, which those who confulted were obliged to abftain from wine for three days, and from all forts of food for twenty-four hours, Philoftrat. in vit. Apollonii, ii. 37. The other ceremonies are defcribed, Paufan. i. 34. Twenty ftadia from Orōpus was the harbour Delphinium, oppofite to Eretria in Euboea, the paffage to which is forty ftadia, Strab. ix. 403.

II. MEGARIS, a small country at the top of the Saronic gulf, on the north, feparating Attica from the territories of Corinth, included by fome in Attica, Plin. iv. 7.. 11. but by moft diftinguished from it, Strab. ix. pr.

The chief city was MEGAKA, -a, or plur. -orum, fituate on a rifing ground, eighteen ftadia from its harbour, called NISEA, from Nifus, the fon of Pandion, king of Mægara, its founder, Paufan. i. 39. which stood on the gulph, and was connected with Megara by a double wall, Strab. ix. 391. which the Megarenfes having recovered from the Athenians, after being poffeffed by that people for fome time, levelled with the ground, Thucyd. i. 67. iv. 109. On the fide of Corinth, the first town was Crommyon, fometimes poffeffed by the Megarenfes, and fometimes by the Corinthians, Ib. 390. & Thucyd. iv. 42. only one hundred and twenty ftadia from Corinth, Ib. 45. Next to it was a rugged ridge, called the Scironian rocks, from one SCIRON, a noted robber, flain by Thefeus, Plutarch. in Thef. feven miles in length, Plin. iv. 7. f. 11. along which the road from Attica to Peloponnefus ran, Strab. ix. 391.

The other towns of Mægaris, Page and Ægisthěna, were inconfiderable, Paufan. i. 44.

The people of Megăra had twenty galleys at the battle of Salamis, Herodot. viii. 45. and three hundred men at the battle. of Plata, Id. ix. 28. After this they were frequently engaged in war with the Athenians, Thucyd. ii. 31. iv. 66. &c. Diodor. xii. 5. 44. & 66. xiii. 65. This was the cafe in the time of Socrates; but notwithstanding, EUCLID, a native of Mægara, who had attended that philofopher before the war broke out, ufed fometimes afterwards to come to Athens at the hazard of his life. He fet out in the evening, disguised in

the

the dress of a woman, and having spent the night with Socrates, departed before day-break. The distance was twenty

miles, Gell. vi. 10.

III. BOOTIA extended on the weft of Attica and Mægăris, from the Euripus to the Corinthian gulph. It was a fertile country, but covered with a thick air, which was fuppofed to render the inhabitants dull, Cic. de Fato, 4.; Divinat. i. 36. whence Boeotum in craffo jurares aere natum, Horat. ep. ii. 1. 244.; fo Juvenal. x. 50. The Boeotians attended more to the improvement of bodily ftrength than to the cultivation of the mind, Nep. in Alcib. 11.; Strab. ix. 401. There were, however, many ingenious men produced in this country.

The capital of Boeotia was THEBÆ, v. Thebe, Thebes, built by CADMUS the Phoenician, Paufan. ix. 5. who first introduced letters into Greece, Herodot. v. 58. from whom the citadel was called Cadmea, Nep. Pelopid. 1. furrounded with walls forty-three ft.dia in circumference, having feven gates, hence called Heptapylos, Paufan. ib. & 8.; Juvenal xiii. 26. the native place of Bacchus and Hercules, Plin. iv. 7. f. 12. of Pindar, Pelopidas, and Epaminondas; fituate on the river Ifmenus, Paufan. ix. 10. (celer Ifmēnos, Ovid. Met. ii. 244.)

The inhabitants of Thebes, as of Athens, were divided into three claffes; citizens, naturalised foreigners, and flaves, Diodor. xvii.

There were frequent contests between the favourers of oligarchy and democracy, Thucyd. iii. 62. The expofing of children, ufual in other parts of Greece, was prohibited at Thebes, Ælian. ii. 7.

The Thebans were long defpifed by the other Græcian flates, for having bafely joined the Perfians when they invaded Greece, Herodot. vii. 233. For this they were feverely punished by Paufanias, Herodat. ix. 85. Afterwards, being jealous of the Athenians, and fearing their refentment, they formed an alliance with the Lacedæmonians, to whom they were of great fervice in the Peloponnefian war, Thucydid. But, after its conclufion, the Lacedaemonians, finding a favourable opportunity, reduced Thebes under their dominion, established in it their favourite form of government, aristocracy, and placed a garrifon in the citadel. It was freed by the valour and conduct of Pelopidas, Nep. Pel. 1.

Under Pelopidas and Epaminondas, Thebes was the most powerful city in Greece. It was deftroyed by Alexander; above fix thoufand were flain, and thirty thousand made prison

crs

ers and fold as flaves, Diodor. xvii. 14. Twenty years after it was rebuilt by Caffander, Diodor. xix. 54.; Paufan. ix. 6. & 7. In the time of Strabo it was nothing but an inconfiderable village, ix. 402.

The chief mountains of Bocotia are, HELICON and PIMPLA, on the confines of Phocis, facred to the Mufes. On the confines of Megáris is mount CITHARON, on which the Bacche performed the orgies or facred rites of Bacchus, Virg. Æn. iv. 302. There are in Becotia feveral fountains, often mentioned by the poets as facred to the Mufes, DIRCE at Thebes, whence Pindar is called Direaus cygnus, the Dircean fwan, Horat. od. iv. 2. 25. AGANIPPE, V. -is, -idis, and Hippocrene, at the foot of mount Helicon, Ovid. Faft. v. 7.; Plin. iv. 7. and the small river Permeffus, v. -is, -idis.

About feventy ftadia fouth from Thebes, Thucyd. ii. 5. ftood PLATEA, v. -a, at the foot of mount Citheron, on the eaft fide of the river Asõpus, Strab. ix. 412. which, running through a beautiful plain, joins the Ifmenus a little below Thebes, Ib. 408. and after running a confiderable way flows into the Euripus. - Near Platea, Mardonius, with an army of three hundred thousand Perfians, was defeated and flain by the Lacedæmonians under Paufanias, and the Athenians under Ariftides, Ib. 412.; Herodot. ix. 15.-77.

Platea was founded by the Thebans, Thucyd. iii. 61. but having revolted from them and joined the Athenians, Ib. it was attacked by the Lacedæmonians and Thebans in the Peloponnefian war; and being taken, after a moft obftinate refiftance, was deftroyed, and the citizens put to the fword †, b. 68.

Weft from Platea flood LEUCTRA, famous for the defeat of the Lacedæmonians by Epaminondas, the most dreadful they ever received, whereby they loft the pre-eminence among the Græcian ftates, which they never afterwards recovered, Strab. ix. 414.; Diodor. xv. 55. & 55. near the lake COPAIS, fo

*The Mufes are hence called Helciniales, Perf. procm. 4.; Lucret. iii. 1050. and Pimpleides, ling. Fimpleis; vocat. Pimplei, Horat. od. i. 26. 9. The common reading here is Pimpla.

In the temple of Diana at Platea was the monument of one Eu.bidas, a citizen of the place, who, when the Grecks, after the departure of the Pera fians, were commanded by the Oracle of Delphi to extinguifh all the fires in their temples, as having been polluted by the barbarians, and to fetch new fire from Delphi for facred purpofes, went from Platea to Delphi, took fome fire from the altar, and returned the fame day to Platea before fun-fet; having travelled one thoufand ftadia, or one hundred and twenty-five miles, on foot, but expired a few minutes after his arrival, Pl.tarıb. in driflid. p. 331. The Greeks poffeffed unconsmen agility in running, being trained to it from their infancy, Plin. vii. 20. and in molt towns couriers were maintained by the pu blic, Herodot. vi. 105. &c.

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