Soil, Productions, Etc.— Greece was in an cient times more fertile than it is now, which is accounted for by the fact that the forests have been to a large extent cleared away, the springs thus dried up, and the soil deprived of mois ture. The most fertile districts were Thessaly, Bceotia and some parts of the Peloponnesus; the least fertile Attica and Arcadia. The prin cipal objects of cultivation were the vine and the olive, but flax and the commoner cereals were also cultivated more or less. Among the domestic animals were horses, asses, mules, oxen, swine, sheep, goats and dogs. Swine were very numerous everywhere and mules were much used in the Peloponnesus; but there were comparatively few horses, as the moun. Iambus character of the country was not con ducive to their being reared; the best horses of Greece were reared in Thessaly. Bears, boars and wolves are mentioned among the wild ani mals anciently found in Greece, and it may per haps be inferred from the legend of the Nemean lion that even lions at one time existed in this country. Herodotus, indeed, expressly states that lions were found between the Nestus in Thrace and the Achelous in Acarnania.
Climate.-- The climate of ancient Greece is highly commended by ancient Greek writers, as by Herodotus, Hippocrates and Aristotle, on which account it seems fair to infer that the malaria which now infests the air in summer did not then prevail to the same extent, a cir cumstance that is easily accounted for by the fact that in those times the country was more thickly populated and better cultivated. In re spect of temperature the same differences re sulting from the inequalities of the surface must have existed then as exist now, long and severe winters being experienced in the high lands of the interior, while the lowlands, ex posed to the sea, enjoyed warm and genial weather all the year round.
History.— Greece has never at any period formed a single and independent state. As long as it remained independent it was divided into a number of separate states, and during the only period when it was administered as a single territory it was subject to a foreign Power. A general sketch of the history of an cient Greece must therefore touch only upon those leading events which belong to the com mon history of the Greek states, or which at least affected the Greek people as a whole, even although they may belong more especially to the history of an individual state.
The earliest inhabitants of Greece of whom anything is known are called by Greek writers Pelasgians. The ethnological affinities of these have often been discussed, but the most recent authorities believe that they were an Indo Germanic or Aryan people. They occupied Greece before the influx of Ionians, ,Eolians and Dorians. They seem to have been agricul
tural in pursuits, dwelt along the fertile valleys, built strong cities, walls of the so-called ov,ol o pean masonry, and among their most famous seats were Dodona in Epirus, Thessaly, Orcho menos in Bceotia, Mycene in Argolis, Sicyon, etc.
In religion they abhorred both polytheism and anthropomorphism. Their name afterward became changed to Hellenes and under this appellation they amalgamated with the Ionians, the Achwans, the rEolians and the Dorians. The early relations of Greece with the East are perhaps reflected in the legends of Oriental colonists — Cadmus, Pelops, Cecrops, etc.— who settled in Greece in very remote times. The reality of an early connection between Greece and the East is established by the fact that' the Greeks derived the greater part of their alpha bet from the Phoenicians.
The Hellenes, or Greeks properly so called, entering the country probably from the north west, subdued and partly displaced the Pelas gians. They are usually represented as having been divided into four chief tribes— the )Eolians, occupying the northern parts of Greece (Thessaly, Becotia, etc.) ; the Dorians, occupying originally only the small region in the neighbor hood of Mount (Eta; the Achmsns, occupying the greater part of the Peloponnesus; and the Ionians, occupying the northern strip of the Peloponnesus and Attica. The middle part of the Peloponnesus was still mainly inhabited by a Pelasgic population. The warlike and enter prising character of these Hellenic invaders is evidenced by the poetic legends of their achieve ments in the heroic ages, such as the tale of the Trojan War, of Theseus, of Jason and the Argo nuts, etc. From all these we may gather at least that the Hellenes early distinguished themselves by building towns, making long voy ages, planting distant settlements and carrying on foreign wars. As in later times, they were divided into numerous states, each consisting of a single city with the surrounding territory. These states were governed by kings who were the heads of the supreme families and who traced their descent from Zeus. By the side of the kings stood the heads of the other leading families of the state, who in Homer are also called kings and likewise boasted of a descent from Zeus. In the public market-place (agora), where all the affairs of the state were trans acted, these subordinate kings gave their opin ions on every subject of deliberation and ad vised the supreme ruler as to the course he should pursue, but beyond that they had no au thority. Their influence, however, was very great, especially where the rightful head of the state did not possess the abilities of a ruler.