Archæologia Graca: OR, THE ANTIQUITIES A OF GREE CE Воок I. CHA P. I. Of the State of Athens till Cecrops. LL Ages have had a great Esteem and Veneration for Antiquity; and not only of Men, but of Families, Cities, and Countries, the most Ancient have always been accounted the moft Honourable. Hence arofe one of the first and most universal Disputes that ever troubled Mankind; almost every Nation, whofe first Original was not very manifeft, pretending to have been of an equal Duration with the Earth it felf. Thus the Egyptians, Scythians, and Phrygians phanfied themselves to be the firft Race of Mankind, and the Arcadians boasted that they were portavo, or before the Moon. The want of Letters did not a little contribute to these Opinions; for almoft every Colony and Plantation wanting means whereby to preferve the Memory of their Ancestors, and deliver them down to Pofterity, in a few Generations forgot their Mother-Nation, and thought they had inhabited their own Country from the beginning of the World. Vol. I B Out Our Athenians too had their Share in this Vanity, and made as great and loud Pretenfions to Antiquity, as the best of their Neighbours; they gave out that they were produc'd at the fame time with the Sun, a and affumed to themselves the honourable Name (for fo they thought it) of Aurozones, which word fignifies Perfons produc'd out of the fame Soil that they inhabit: For it was an old Opinion, and almost every where received among the Vulgar, that in the beginning of the World, Men, like Plants, were by fome ftrange prolifick Virtue produc'd out of the fertile Womb of one common Mother, Earth; and therefore the Ancients generally called themselves Tv, Sons of the Earth, as Hefychius informs us; alluding to the fame Original, the Athenians fometimes ftiled themselves rélyes, Grafhoppers; and fome of them wore Grafhoppers of Gold, binding them in their Hair, as Badges of Honour, and Marks to diftinguish them from others of later Duration, and lefs noble Extraction, because those Infects were believ'd to be generated out of the Ground; Virgil has mention'd this Custom in his Poem entituled Ciris. Ergo omnis taro refidebat cura capillo, Wherefore she did, as was her constant Care, Mr. Fo. Abell of Linc. Coll. Without doubt the Athenians were a very ancient Nation, and it may be, the first that ever inhabited that Country; for when Theffaly, and Peloponnefus, and almost all the fertile Regions of Greece chang'd their old Mafters every Year, the Barrennefs of their Soil fecur'd them from foreign Invafions. Greece at that time had no constant and settled Inhabitants, but there were continual Removes, the ftronger always difpoffeffing the weaker; and therefore they liv'd, as we say, from Hand to Mouth, and provided no more than what was neceffary for present Suftenance, expecting every Day when fome more powerful Nation fhould come and difplace them as they had lately done their Predeceffors Amidst all these Troubles and Tumults, Attica lay fecure and unmolested, being protected from foreign Enemies, by means of a craggy and unfruitful Soil, that could not afford Fuel for Contention; and fecur'd from intestine and civil Broils, by the quiet and peaceable Difpofitions of its Inhabitants; for in thofe Golden Days no Affectation of Supremacy, nor any Sparks of Ambition had fired Men's Minds, but every one liv'd full of Content and Satisfaction in the enjoyment of an equal fhare of Land, and other Neceffaries, with the reft of his Neighbours. The ufual Attendants of a long and uninterrupted Peace are Riches and Plenty; but in thofe Days, when Men liv'd upon the Products of a Menander Rhetor. Iliad. 2 b`In voce Taywek. Thucyd, ibid. Thucydides lib. I. Euftathius ad their own Soil, and had not found out the way of supplying their Wants by Traffick, the cafe was quite contrary, and Peace was only the Mother of Poverty and Scarcenefs, producing a great many new Mouths to confume, but affording no new Supplies to fatisfy them. This was foon experienc'd by the Athenians; for in a few Ages they were increas'd to fuch a Number, that their Country being not only unfruitful, but confin'd within very narrow Bounds, was no longer able to furnish them with neceffary Provifions. This forced them to contrive fome means to disburthen it, and therefore they fent out Colonies to provide new Habitations, which spread themselves in the feveral parts of Greece. This fending forth of Colonies was very frequent in the first Ages of the World, and feveral Inftances there are of it in later Times, efpecially amongst the Gauls and Scythians, who often left their native Countries in vaft Bodies, and like general Inundations, overturn'd all before them. Meurfus reckons to the number of forty Plantations peopled by Athenians; but amongst them all, there was none fo remarkable as that in Afia the Lefs, which they call'd by the Name of their native Country, Ionia. For the primitive Athenians were named Iones, and Iaones; and hence it came to pass, that there was a very near Affinity between the Attick and old Ionick Dialect, as Euftathius obferves. And though the Athenians thought fit to lay afide their ancient Name, yet it was not altogether out of ufe in Thefeus's Reign, as appears from the Pillar erected by him in the Ifthmus, to fhew the Bounds of the Athenians on the one fide, and the Peloponnefians on the other; on the Eaft-fide of which was this Infcription, This is not Peloponnefus, but Ionia. And on the South-fide this, This is not Ionia, but Peloponnefus. This Name is thought to have been given them from Javas, which bears a near refemblance to law; and much nearer, if (as Grammarians tell us) the Ancient Greeks pronounc'd the Letter a broad like the Diphthong au, as in our English word All, and fo Sir George Wheeler reports the modern Greeks do at this Day. This Javan was the fourth Son of Japheth, and is faid to have come into Greece after the Confufion of Babel, and feated himself in Attica. And this Report receiveth no small Confirmation from the Divine Writings, where the Name of Javan is in feveral places put for Greece. Two Inftances we have in Daniel; And when I am gone forth, behold the Prince of Græcia fhall come. And again; He fhall ftir up all against the Realm of Græcia. Where though the Vulgar Tranflations render it not Javan, yet that is the Word in the Original. And again in Ifaiah; And I will fend thofe that escape of them to the Nations in the Sea, in Italy, and in Greece. Where the Ti e Herodot, lib. I. Strabo Geogr. lib. IX, Efchylus Penfis, tarch. Thefeo. 1 Cap. XI. v. 2. 1 Cap. X. v. 20, B 2 Our Athenians too had their Share in this Vanity, and made as great and loud Pretenfions to Antiquity, as the best of their Neighbours; they gave out that they were produc'd at the fame time with the Sun, a and affumed to themselves the honourable Name (for fo they thought it) of Aurozones, which word fignifies Perfons produc'd out of the fame Soil that they inhabit: For it was an old Opinion, and almoft every where received among the Vulgar, that in the beginning of the World, Men, like Plants, were by fome ftrange prolifick Virtue produc'd out of the fertile Womb of one common Mother, Earth; and therefore the Ancients generally called themselves ravis, Sons of the Earth, as Hefychius informs us; alluding to the fame Original, the Athenians fometimes ftiled themselves rélyes, Grafhoppers; and fome of them wore Grafhoppers of Gold, binding them in their Hair, as Badges of Honour, and Marks to diftinguish them from others of later Duration, and lefs noble Extraction, because those Infects were believ'd to be generated out of the Ground; Virgil has mention'd this Custom in his Poem entituled Ciris. Ergo omnis taro refidebat cura capillo, Wherefore she did, as was her constant Care, Mr. Jo. Abell of Linc. Coll. Without doubt the Athenians were a very ancient Nation, and it may be, the first that ever inhabited that Country; for when Theffaly, and Peloponnefus, and almost all the fertile Regions of Greece chang'd their old Masters every Year, the Barrenness of their Soil fecur'd them from foreign Invafions. Greece at that time had no conftant and fettled Inhabitants, but there were continual Removes, the ftronger always difpoffeffing the weaker; and therefore they liv'd, as we fay, from Hand to Mouth, and provided no more than what was neceffary for prefent Suf tenance, expecting every Day when fome more powerful Nation fhould come and difplace them as they had lately done their Predeceffors Amidst all these Troubles and Tumults, Attica lay fecure and unmolefted, being protected from foreign Enemies, by means of a craggy and unfruitful Soil, that could not afford Fuel for Contention; and fecur'd from inteftine and civil Broils, by the quiet and peaceable Difpofitions of its Inhabitants; for in thofe Golden Days no Affectation of Supremacy, nor any Sparks of Ambition had fired Men's Minds, but every one full of Content and Satisfaction in the enjoyment of an equal fhare of Land, and other Neceffaries, with the reft of his Neighbours. liv'd The ufual Attendants of a long and uninterrupted Peace are Riches and Plenty; but in thofe Days, when Men liv'd upon the Products of a Menander Rhetor. Iliad. 2. Thucyd, ibid. In voce Tay. Thucydides lib. 1. Enftathius ad their own Soil, and had not found out the way of supplying their Wants by Traffick, the cafe was quite contrary, and Peace was only the Mother of Poverty and Scarcenefs, producing a great many new Mouths to confume, but affording no new Supplies to fatisfy them. This was foon experienc'd by the Athenians; for in a few Ages they were increas'd to fuch a Number, that their Country being not only unfruitful, but confin'd within very narrow Bounds, was no longer able to furnish them with neceffary Provifions. This forced them to contrive fome means to disburthen it, and therefore they fent out Colonies to provide new Habitations, which spread themselves in the feveral parts of Greece. This fending forth of Colonies was very frequent in the first Ages of the World, and feveral Inftances there are of it in later Times, especially amongst the Gauls and Scythians, who often left their native Countries in vaft Bodies, and like general Inundations, overturn'd all before them. Meurfius reckons to the number of forty Plantations peopled by Athenians; but amongst them all, there was none fo remarkable as that in Afia the Lefs, which they call'd by the Name of their native Country, Ionia. For the primitive Athenians were named Iones, and Iaones; and hence it came to pass, that there was a very near Affinity between the Attick and old Ionick Dialect, as Euftathius obferves. And though the Athenians thought fit to lay afide their ancient Name, yet it was not altogether out of ufe in Thefeus's Reign, as appears from the Pillar erected by him in the Ifthmus, to fhew the Bounds of the Athenians on the one fide, and the Peloponnefians on the other; on the Eaft-fide of which was this Infcription%, This is not Peloponnefus, but Ionia. And on the South-fide this, This is not Ionia, but Peloponnefus. This Name is thought to have been given them from Jevan, which bears a near refemblance to law; and much nearer, if (as Grammarians tell us) the Ancient Greeks pronounc'd the Letter a broad like the Diphthong au, as in our English word All, and fo Sir George Wheeler reports the modern Greeks do at this Day. This Javan was the fourth Son of Japheth, and is faid to have come into Greece after the Confufion of Babel, and feated himself in Attica. And this Report receiveth no fmall Confirmation from the Divine Writings, where the Name of Javan is in feveral places put for Greece. Two Inftances we have in Daniel; And when I am gone forth, behold the Prince of Græcia fhall come. And again; He fall fir up all against the Realm of Græcia. Where though the Vulgar Tranflations render it not Javan, yet that is the Word in the Original. And again in Ifaiah; And I will fend thofe that efcape of them to the Nations in the Sea, in Italy, and in Greece. Where the T Herodot, lib. 1. Strabo Geogr. lib. IX. Æfchylns Perlis. f Iliad. d. arch, Thefeo. Cap. X. v. 29, 1 Cap. XI. v. 2. B z 8 Pins garine |