Archæologiæ Græcæ, or, The antiquities of Greece by John Potter ...

CHAPTER I. Of the State of Athens till Cecrops.

ALL Ages have had a great esteem and veneration for An∣tiquity; and not only of Men, but of Families, Cities, and Countries, the most Ancient have always been accounted the most Honourable. Hence arose one of the first and most Universal Disputes that ever troubled Mankind; almost every Nation, whose first Original was not very Manifest, pretending to have been of an equal Duration with the Earth it self. Thus the Aegyptians, Scythians, and Phrygians phansied themselves to be the first race of Man∣kind, and the Arcadians boasted that they were 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or before the Moon. The want of Letters did not a little contribute to these Opi∣nions, for almost every Colony and Plantation, wanting means whereby to preserve the memory of their Ancestors, and deliver them down to Posterity, in a few Generations forgot their Mother-Nation, and thought they had inhabited their own Countrey from the begin∣ning of the World.

Our Athenians too had their share in this Vanity, and made as great and loud pretensions to Antiquity, as the best of their Neighbours; they gave out that they were produc'd at the same time with the Sun (a) 1.1, and assumed to themselves the Honourable Name (for so they thought it) of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which word signifies Persons produc'd out of the same soil, that they inhabit: For it was an old Opinion, and almost every where receiv'd among the Vulgar, that in the begin∣ning of the World, Men, like Plants, were by some strange Prolifick Virtue produc'd out of the Fertile Womb of one common Mother, Earth; and therefore the Ancients generally called themselves 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Sons of the Earth, as Hesychius informs us (b) 1.2. Alluding to the same Original, the Athenians would sometimes stile themselves 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Grashoppers; and some of them wore Grashoppers of Gold, binding them in their Hair as Badges of Honour, and marks to distinguish them from others of later Duration, and less Noble extraction, because those Insects were believ'd to be generated out of the Ground (c) 1.3: Virgil has mention'd this custom in his Poem entitul'd Ciris,

Ergo omnis caro residebat cura capillo, Aurea solemni comptum quem fibula ritu Cecropiae tereti nectebat dente cicadae.

Wherefore she did, as was her constant Care, With Grashoppers adorn her comely Hair, Brac'd with a Golden Buckle Attick-wise.

Mr. Io. Abell of Linc. Coll.

Without doubt the Athenians were a very ancient Nation, and it may be the first and only one that ever inhabited that Countrey; for when Thessaly, and Peloponnesus, and almost all the fertile Regions of Greece chang'd their old Masters every Year, the barrenness of their Soil secur'd them from Forreign Invasions. Greece at that time had no con∣stant and settl'd Inhabitants, but there were continual Removes, the stronger always dispossessing the weaker; and therefore they liv'd, as we say, from Hand to Mouth, and provided no more than what was necessary for present Sustenance, expecting every Day when some more powerfull Nation should come and displace them, as they had lately done their Predecessors (d) 1.4. Amidst all these troubles and tumults, At∣tica lay secure and unmolested, being protected from Forreign Ene∣mies by means of a craggy and unfruitful Soil, that could not afford Fuel for contention; and secur'd from intestine and civil Broils, by the quiet and peaceable Dispositions of it's Inhabitants; for in those Golden-Days no affectation of Supremacy, nor any Sparks of Ambi∣tion had fired Men's minds, but every one liv'd full of content and satisfaction in the enjoyment of an equal share of Land, and other Necessaries with the rest of his Neighbours.

The usual Attendants of a long and uninterrupted Peace are Riches and Plenty, but in those Days when Men liv'd upon the products of their own Soil, and had not found out the way of supplying their wants by Traffick, the case was quite contrary, and Peace was only the Mother of Poverty and Scarceness, producing a great many new Mouths to consume, but affording no new Supplies to satisfie them. This was soon experienc'd by the Athenians, for in a few Ages they were increas'd to such a number, that their Countrey being not only un∣fruitfull, but confin'd within very narrow bounds, was no longer able to furnish them with necessary Provisions. This forced them to contrive some means to disburthen it, and therefore they sent out Co∣lonies to provide new Habitations, which spread themselves in the se∣veral parts of Greece.

This sending forth of Colonies was very frequent in the first Ages of the World, and several instances there are of it in later Times, espe∣cially amongst the Gauls, and Scythians, who often left their Native-Countries in vast Bodies, and, like general inundations, overturn'd all before them. Meursius reckons to the number of forty Plantations peopl'd by Athenians; but amongst them all, there was none so re∣markable as that in Asia the Lesse, which they call'd by the Name of their Native-Countrey, Ionia. For the primitive Athenians were nam'd Iones, and Iaones (a) 1.5; and hence it came to pass, that there was a very near Affinity between the Attick, and old Ionick Dialect, as Eu∣stathius observes (b) 1.6. And tho' the Athenians thought fit to lay aside their Ancient Name, yet it was not altogether out of use in Theseus's Reign, as appears from the Pillar erected by him in the Isthmus, to shew the Bounds of the Athenians on the one side, and the Peloponnesians on the other; on the East-side of which was this Inscription (c) 1.7,

This is not Peloponnesus, but Ionia.

And on the South-side this,

This is not Ionia, but Peloponnesus.

This Name is thought to have been given them by Iavan, which bears a near resemblance to 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and much the nearer, if (as Grammarians tell us) the Ancient Greeks pronounc'd the letter 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 broad, like the Dipthong 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as in our English word All, and so Sr. George Wheeler re∣ports the Modern Greeks do at this Day. This Iavan was the fourth Son of Iapheth, and is said to have come into Greece after the confu∣sion of Babel, and seated himself in Attica. And this Report recei∣veth no small confirmation from the Divine Writings, where the Name of Iavan is in several places put for Greece. Two instances we have in Daniel (d) 1.8; And when I am gone forth, behold the Prince of Grae∣cia shall come. And again (e) 1.9; He shall stir up all against the Realm of Graecia. Where tho' the Vulgar Translations render it not Iavan, yet (as Mr. Rous hath observ'd) that is the Word in the Original. And

again in Isaiah; And I will send those that escape of them to the Na∣tions in the Sea, in Italy and in Greece. Where Sr. Walter Raleigh hath taken notice, that the Tigurine Version, with that of Geneva, retains the Hebrew words, and useth the Names of Tubal and Iavan, instead of Italy and Greece. But the Grecians themselves having no knowledge of their true Ancestor, make this Name to be of much later date, and derive it from Ion, the Son of Xuthus. This Xuthus (as Pausanias re∣ports) having robb'd his Father Deucalion of his Treasure, convey'd himself together with his ill-gotten Wealth into A••tica, which was at that time govern'd by Erectheus, who Courteously entertain'd him, and gave him his Daught••r in ••arriag••, by whom h•• had two Sons, Ion and Achaeus, the former of which gave his Na••e to the Io∣nians, the latter to the Achaeans. It is not improbable that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 himself might r••ceive his Name from Iavan; it being a Custom observable in the Histories of all Times, to keep up the Ancient Name of a Fore-Father, especially such as had bee•• eminent in the Times he liv'd in, by reviving it in some of the 〈…〉〈…〉 his Pos••erity

From the first Peopling of 〈…〉〈…〉 the time o•• King Ogyges, we have no Account of any thin•• 〈…〉〈…〉 th••re; only ••lato (a) 1.10 re∣ports, they had a Tradition, that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Athenian Power and Gl••ry were very great in those Days; that they were exc••••l••••tly skill'd both in Civil and Military Affairs, were gov••r••'d by the J••st••st and most Equi∣table Laws, and liv'd in far great••r Spl••nd••r, than they had ••••••iv'd to in his Time. But of the Transaction•• of these, and th•• following A∣ges, till Theseus, or the Trojan War, littl•• or nothing of C••••t••inty must be expected; partly, because of th•• want o•• Record••, in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and il∣literate Ages; partly, by reason of th•• v••st distance o•• Time, wherein those Records they had (is they had any) w••r•• lo••t and d••••tr••y'd; and partly, thro' the Pride and Vain-gl•••• 〈…〉〈…〉, that out of an affectation of being though•• 〈…〉〈…〉 some Divine Original, industriously conceal'd their Pe••igr••e••, and obscur'd their Ancient Histories w••••h idle T••les, and Poetical Fictions. And to use the words of Plutarch (b) 1.11; As Historian•• in th••ir Geographical Descriptions o•• Countr••ys, c••oud into the farthest part of their Maps those things they have no knowledge of, with some such remarks in the Margin, as these; All beyond is nothing but dry and desart Sands, or Scythian Cold, or a Frozen Sea; so it may very well be said of those things that are so far remov'd from our Age; All beyond is no••hing but Monstrous and Tragical Fictions, there the Poets, and there the Inventors of Fables dwell; nor is there to be expected any thing that de∣serves credit, or that car••i••s in it any appearance of Truth.

However I must not omit what is reported concerning Ogyges, or O∣gygus, whom som•• will have, to have been King of Thebes, some of Aegypt, some of Arcadia, but others of Attica, which is said to have been called after his Name, Ogygia (c) 1.12. He is reported to have been a very Potent Prince, and the Founder of several Cities, particularly

of Eleusis, and Pausanias tells us farther, that he was Father to the He∣roe Eleusis, from whom that City receiv'd it's Name. He is said to have been Contemporary with the Patriarch Iacob; about the Sixty-seventh Year of whose Age he is suppos'd to have been Born (a) 1.13, others bring him as low as Moses (b) 1.14. His Reign is the utmost Period that the Grecian Stories, or Traditions ever pretended to reach to, and there∣fore when they would express the great Antiquity of any thing, they call it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, of which we have a great many instances in several of the Ancient Writers, but I shall only give you one out of Nicander's Theriaca,

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

And in allusion to the great Power, he is suppos'd to have been possess'd of, they call any thing Great or Potent, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as two Learned Grammarians inform us. Hesychius, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Suidas, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. And therefore 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 are great and insupportable Evils; and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in Philo, extreme Folly and Stupidity. He reign'd two and thirty Years (for so Cedrenus computes them) in full Power and Prosperity, and Bless'd with the Affluence of all Things, that Fortune can bestow upon her greatest Favourites; but the conclusion of his Life was no less deplorable, than the former part of it had been prosperous, for in the midst of all his En∣joyments he was surpriz'd with a sudden and terrible Inundation, that overwhelm'd not Attica only, but all Achaia too, in one Common Destruction.

There is frequent mention made in Ancient Authors of several Kings, that Reign'd in Attica, between the Ogygian Flood and Cecrops the first. As of Porphyrion, concerning whom the Athmonians, a People in Attica, have a Tradition, that he Erected a Temple to Venus 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in their Burrough (c) 1.15. Also of Colaenus (d) 1.16; and of Periphas, who is describ'd by Antoninus Liberalis, (e) 1.17 to have been a very Vertuous Prince, and at last Metamorphos'd into an Eagle. Isaac Tzetzes in his Comment upon Lycophron speaks of one Draco, out of whose Teeth he tells us, it was reported that Cecrops sprung, and this reason some give for his being call'd 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Lastly, to mention no more, Pausanias and Stephanus speak of Actaeus, or Actaeon, from whom some will have Attica to have been call'd Acte; and this Name frequently occurs in the Poets, particularly in Lycophron, a Studious affecter of Antiquated Names, and Obsolete Words,

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

But small Credit is to be given to these reports, for we are assured by Philochorus, an Author of no less Credit, than Antiquity, as he is quo∣ted by Africanus, that Attica was so much wasted by the Ogygian De∣luge, and it's Inhabitans reduc'd to so small a Number, that they liv'd an Hundred and Ninety Years from the Time of Ogyges to Cecrops,

without any King at all; and Eusebius concurs with him in this O∣pinion f 1.18.

Notes

• (a) 1.1

  Menander rhetor.
• (b) 1.2

  In voce 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• (c) 1.3

  Th••cydides lib. 1. Eustathius ad Iliad. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• (d) 1.4

  Thucyd. ibid.
• (a) 1.5

  Herodot. lib. I. Strabo Geogr. lib. IX. Aeschylus Persis.
• (b) 1.6

  Iliad. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• (c) 1.7

  Plutarch. Theseo.
• (d) 1.8

  Cap. X. v. XX
• (e) 1.9

  Cap. XI. v. II.
• (a) 1.10

  Tima••.
• (b) 1.11

  Thes••o.
• (c) 1.12

  Stephanus Byzantin. de Urb. & Pop.
• (a) 1.13

  Hieronym. Chronic. Euseb.
• (b) 1.14

  Iustin. Mart Orat ad Gent••s.
• (c) 1.15

  Pau∣sa••••as.
• (d) 1.16

  Idem.
• (e) 1.17

  Metamorphos. VI.
• f 1.18

  Ch••onico.