PELAS'GIANS (Lat. Pelasgi, from Gk. De 2aayol, J lasgoi, of uncertain etymology). The name of a people dwelling in Greece in early times, used with very different meanings at dif ferent times. In the earliest Greek writings, the fonierie poems, the Pelasgians seem to be the inhabitants of Pelasgian Argos and the fertile valley of the Peneus around Larissa in Thessaly, and the Zeus of Dodona is also called Pelasgian. In a somewhat late part of the Iliad they appear among the allies of the Trojans, thereby causing much trouble to ancient and modern commenta tors. As there is no other trace of their existence in Asia Minor, very possibly the poet, knowing of enmity between the Achaeans of Phthiotis and their northern neighbors, thought of the latter as coming from Thessaly to Troy. in the Odyssey they are once mentioned as one of the tribes in Crete. Nothing in the epic indicates that they are of other race than the Greeks. Like the other tribes of Thessaly, they seem to have been con quered by the Thessalians, and probably largely reduced to Penestw, though their old territory was known in historical times as Pelasgiotis. Tra dition, however, told of the former state of their King, Pelasgus, son of the earth. This seems the slender basis on which the extensive and contra dictory legend of the Pclasgians grew up. In Ilesiod we find Pelasgus transferred to Arcadia, whose people also claimed to be autot•hthones, though it must be said that Pelasgians do not appear as a race in any early Arcadian legend. The epithet Pelasgian was transferred to Argos in Pcloponnesus, and now we find there also a King Pelasgus prepared to receive Danaus and his daughters. Herodoths has decided that the old name of Greece was Pelasgia, and that the Pelas gians preceded the Hellenes; naturally, since Hel leties could not well exist before Hellen and his three sons. while many Greek genealogies traced descent from different sources. Further confu sion was invited by the transformation of the Athenian name for the old fortification of the Acropolis, Pelargicon, into Pelasgieon; whence it followed that Pelasgians had lived in Attica. Moreover. Ileeatams, who seems to have made this transformation, also identified the Tyrrhe nians of Lemnos with Pelasgians, and brought them from Attica to the island. As the Etrus cans were also Tyrrhenians. it followed that they were Pelasgians. and so the race appeared in Italy. This identification also converted Pelas glans into barbarians, for every one knew that the Tyrrhenians were not (;reek. Thus toward
the end of the fifth century n.c., apparently by Ilellaniens, the legend was fully developed that they were the original inhabitants of Greece. driven from Peloponnesus to Thessaly by the Daimons. and scattered to the four winds by the HeHelms. It has been well said that in general the Pelasgians only appear in a land in order to be driven out. From this conception of the Pelas glans naturally arose the theory that to them were due the great works of the early days. and the mighty walls that some called Cyclopean were by others termed Pelasgian. In recent years it has become very common to employ the term Pelas gian to designate the pre-Aryan population of Greece and Italy, to whom is attributed the pne Alycemeatt civilization; not. of course. with the implication that this population formed one great people. hut rather as a convenient collective name for more or less closely related tribes. This use may be criticised as easily leading to the belief that it rests on ancient authority, and not on modern speculation. Of late they have been brought into special prominence by the theory that to them is due the entire Mycenaean civiliza tion; that they were invaded and conquered by the Achteans, a fair-haired tribe akin to the Celts. who became a ruling class. and to whom is due the Homeric civilization. The dark-haired Pelas gians gradually absorbed their conquerors, as has been the ease in other invasions of these lands by blond northern races. The theory uses large ly. if uncritically, the ancient authorities. but has not won general acceptance.
The literature on this question is very volu minous. The more important discussions. to 1889, are collected in Hermann's Lehrbuch der yriechisrlica intiquittiten. 6th ed. by Thumser (Freiburg. 1`889). Consult also Busolt, Gritch ische (,rseltichte, i. (2d ed., Gotha. 1893). For the ancient statements. consult S. Bruck, claw leterrs dc Prla.swis Tradiderint (11reAlan, 188-11, and especially the thorough examination by E. Meyer in his Porseh ti gen r (then Gesehiehtr. i. (Halle. 1892). who has shown how largely they consist of guesses. The new theory is presented in 1lidgeway's Early .1 /r of Greece (Cambridge. 19f11 et seq.). It is discussed in Hall's Ohicst Ciri/ ivition of Greece and Philadelphia, 1901). and by J. C. Myres, in ClasRical Review.
xvi. (London. 1 902).