It is generally admitted that letters. were introduced into Greece from Phoenicia by Cadmus, the founder or Thebes, at the lowest calculation 1045 years before Christ ; but it is equally ascertained, that the use of writing had not be come common till more than 400 years after his time ; and nothing, in the whole histm v of the ancient Greeks, is more difficult to be explained then the high state of excellence, which the language had attained in the days of I lesiod and Homer, while so little of it could have been ret'uced to writing. In the absence of letters, poetry seems to have been invented, or at least to have been oliginally employed for the assistance of memory. Laws, among the early Greeks, were always promulgated in verse, and frequent ly sung in public. Morality was taught, and history related in the same manner. All, who wished either to instruct or amuse their fellow-citizens, were thus necessarily poets ; and they who possessed so important a talent, were consi dered as sacred characters,. favoured and inspired by the gods. The first poetry of the Greeks was uniformly ac companied mith music, and both• stringed and wind instru mentioned by homer. But, there are no means of ascertaining its peculiar features ; and, however pow erful may have been its effects, it appears to have been ex tremely simple and ina•tificial in its composition. Their agriculture appears to have been carried on with consider able regularity ; and the practice of manuring, as well as ploughing and sowing, is expressly mentioned by Homer. Wine was made from the vine, and oil from the olive; but the principal source of wealth was found in pasturage ; and cattle were made, in place of coin, the usual measure of the value of commodities. Commerce was chiefly carried on by an exchange of articles ; and the foreign trade of the Grecian cities was principally in the hands of the Phenici ans. There were Greeks, indeed, in the days of Homer, who pursued a kind of coasting traffic among themselves ; but the profession of a merchant for-gain was not held in much estimation, and was less respected than even that of pirate. Their navigation was very imperfect ; and they used oars more frequently than sails. Their ships had no decks; and the largest that went to Troy, contained only 120 men. Anchors were unknown ; and the vessels, when in port, were either moored to large stones on the shore, or were actually drawn out of the water upon the beach. The early in short, were rather boatmen than sea men ; and, indeed, to this day, the skill of the navigator is of little avail in their narrow and tempestuous seas. They had little knowledge of astronomy ; and marked the length of the year by 12 revolutions of the moon, reckoning the months to consist of 29 and SO days alternately. But, in progress of time, they learned to fix the seasons more cor rectly by the rising and setting of the stars ; and had ar ranged them in constellations, much in the same manner, and with the same names as at the present day. They considered internal diseases as inflicted by the immediate hand of the Deity, and as therefore beyond the reach of hu man skill. Their medical art was thus restricted to the practice of surgery, which was held in high esteem ; but which seems to have extended no farther than the extrac tion of a weapon, or any other extraneous body, from a wound, and the application of a few simples to stop a hm morrhag-e, or to assuage inflammation. Their architec ture was more improved than most other arts; and Homer speaks of houses built of polished stone, with large and numerous apartments. Other mechanic arts were not ex ercised as distinct trades ; and even princes were frequent ly their own carpenters. Ornamental works, however, in metals, wood, Sec. were not uncommon in those days ; but the greater part the trinkets and more luxurious uten sils in use among the early Greeks appear to have been procured from the Phenician merchants. Their principal study, and most constant practice, was the art of war ; and they seem to have improved considerably upon that tumul tuary warfare, which is generally practised among barba rous nations. Their infantry were commonly heavily arm ed with helmet, breastplates, greaves, and shield ; and were regularly drawn up in close ranks or phalanxes, march ing in steady silence under their respective leaders. Ca valry were not yet employed in their battles ; but chariots were generally used by the chiefs, as the means of con veying them more rapidly along the line, and of annoying more effectually a flying army. The skirmishing of the com manders, however, in front of the troops, and their mixing with the soldiers in the heat of the fight, left little room for the exercise of generalship ; and their fashion of stopping in the midst of the action to strip the slain, sufficiently marks their want of military discipline and skill. They en camped with much regularity, sleeping under their cloaks, or sheltering themselves with huts ; and generally fortified their post, when exposed to the attack of a powerful enc ,my ; but, though a small guard might be placed at an out post, they were unacquainted with the important precau tion of stationing and relieving a line of sentinels. In the frequency of war, courage was regarded as the highest virtue ; and the manners of the early Greeks were deci dedly barbarous. Quarter was rarely granted to a fallen enemy ; and the capture of a city was succeeded by the massacre of all the men who were able to bear arms, and by the captivity of the women and children. The spirit of hospitality, however, was generally diffused, and tended often to alleviate the miseries of military devastation. Wo men appear, as well as men, to have united the highest rank with the humblest occupations, but evidently enjoyed a greater degree of influence and freedom, than has been usual in subsequent ages among oriental nations. There has been supposed to exist, a striking resemblance between the manners and sentiments of the Greeks in the heroic -age, and those of the Gothic nations of Europe, except that the latter displayed more generosity in war, and gen tleness towards the female sex, than their ancient pro totypes.
The period immediately succeeding the Trojan war, affords few lights to history, and is even involved in deep er obscurity than the heroic age. Supposing Homer to have lived within a century, or rather half a century of the Trojan war, his works may be allowed to supply a tolera ble record of the previous events best authenticated by tradition, and of the most important occurrences which took place during his own life. His history terminates with the accession of Orestes to the throne of Argos; and total darkness thenceforth rests upon the historian's path, relieved only by a few uncertain glimmerings, till the first Persian invasion of Greece. About 80 years after the de struction of Troy, a great revolution took place, which dis sipated ancient traditions, stopped the progress of civiliza tion,and changed the governments, and even the population, of most of the Grecian states. The descendants and par tizans of the celebrated Hercules had found a refuge in Doris from the persecutions of Eurystheus ; but had never ceased to prefer their claims to the kingdom of Argos, and even to the dominion of all Peloponnesus. Twice had they attempted, without success, to make their way through the isthmus. But, at length, the great grand-son of Hyllus, the oldest son of Hercules, crossed the Corinthian gulf with a powerful armament, and speedily overran the whole peninsula, with the exception of Arcadia and Achaia, where Tisamenus, son of Orestes, made a resolute and successful stand. All the rest of the conquered country was divided among the princes of the Heraclides, and their allies from Doris and .tEtolia; and the greater part of the old inhabitants either emigrated from the oppressions to which they were subjected, or were reduced by the in vaders to a state of servitude. A new distinction of the Grecian people was the consequence of this revolution.
The Pelasgian name, which had prevailed on the continent, and the Lelegian in the islands, had, at an early period, but for reasons not clearly ascertained, given place to the hlo Han and Ionian ; the latter designation being applied prin cipally to Attica with its colonies, and the former to all the rest of Greece, both within and without the peninsula. Out of these two, four distinctions of the Grecian people arose, alter the irruption of the Heraclides. In all the immediate establishments and distant colonies of these invaders, the Doric name and dialect prevailed. The Athenians rose to such pre-eminence, as to give rise to a new designation, namely, the Attic. Excepting them and the Megarians, who retained the Doric name, all the other Greeks, without the isthmus, claimed .Eolic•origin; and the Ionian name and dialect was retained only by those Ionians who had migrated to Asia and the islands. Ex cept in the rugged province of Arcadia, nothing remained unaltered ; and the Dorian invaders brought -every thing back to that ruder state, in which they had lived among their native mountains. Disputes soon arose among these allied princes, respecting the partition of the conquered countries. Internal dissensions, occasioned by their turbu lent subjects, were continually raging in their respective governments. The enterprising Arcadians seldom suffer ed them to rest from external hostilities. And, by all these concurring causes, Peloponncsus was rapidly falling back into that state of anarchy and barbarism, in which it had been before the time of Pelops and Hercules. Nothing tended so effectually to resist this tendency to disunion and turbulence, as the revival and regular establishment of the public games, by Iphitus, sovereign of Elis. These ath letic games, as is evident from the writings of Homer, had been occasionally celebrated, under the superintendence • of different princes ; and at the funerals of eminent men, many traditions prevailed, that Eleia in Peloponnesus had frequently been the chosen scene of these contests, and the resort of princes from various parts of Greece. Iphitus, therefore, having procured a favourable response from the oracle at Delphi, established a regular festival for that pur pose, to be held every four years at Olympia, in the terri tory of Elis. Solemn sacrifices were to be offered to Ju piter and Hercules, and games. celebrated in honour of these divinities. In these games, all Greeks were free to pat take ; and, for a certain period, before their commence ment, as well as after their conclusion, a general armistice was ordained to take place. The territory of Eleia, par ticularly, was to be at all times counted sacred, and secur ed from every hostile encroachment. This Olympian meeting, instituted about half a century after the return of the Heraclides, served as a common capital to the Grecian people, and contributed more effectually than could possi bly have been anticipated, to the advancement of arts, science, and civilization, in all the different states. A gene-. ral revolution in the government of every state, began about the same period to take place, from causes very imperfect ly known. The republican spirit, which seems to have existed in all of them, even under their early monarchical constitutions, acquired so much strength, that, in a few ages, monarchy was every where abolished, and the name of tyrant applied to all who attempted its support, even under the mildest form. For a sketch of the peculiar political institutions, and separate history of the several states of Greece, we must refer ta their respective names, which form distinct articles in this work, especially to ATHENS and LACEDEMON ; and shall, at present, restrict our attention to those more extensive events which affected the Grecian people in general. The first important occur rence of this description, which communicated a new and powerful spring to the genius of the Greeks, and greatly influenced their future progress in every path of art and science, was the unparalleled struggle, which they so long and successfully maintained with the whole power of the Persian empire. See OLYMPIC GAMES.