Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/173

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The Mediterrmiean World a7id the Early Greeks 133 Attica under the control of Athens. Both of these states, of course, made various endeavors at expansion, as we shall see. Loose groups of city-states elsewhere, as in Thessaly, arose here and there, but these alliances did not prove stable or permanent. Although no political union into a single Greek nation was Motives possible, religion and commerce furnished motives toward inti- °^^^^ ""^°" mate relationships. In order that all might have a voice in the management of great temples or holy places revered by all the Greeks, the different city-states concerned formed several religious Religious councils, called " amphictyonies," in the membership of which each °""^' ^ state had representatives. The most notable of these were the council for the control of the Olympic Games, another for the famous sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi, and also the council for the great annual feast of Apollo in the Island of Delos. For the adjustment of trade between the states there were only Trade the most primitive arrangements. A stranger sojourning abroad had no legal rights in a foreign city, and could only secure pro- tection by appealing to the old desert custom of " hospitality," after he had been received by a friendly citizen as a guest. For the reception of a foreigner who might have no friend to be his host, a citizen was sometimes appointed to act as official host representing the city. A sentiment of unity also arose under the Language influence of the Homeric songs (p. 142) with which every Greek toward" unity was familiar — a common inheritance depicting all the Greeks united against the Asiatic city of Troy (Fig. 71). Such influences as these led the Greeks to regard themselves Barbarians as a distinct body of people closely bound together by ties of race, language, customs, common traditions, religion, and trade. They called all men not of Greek blood " barbarians," a word not originally a term of reproach for the non-Greeks. Then the Greek sense of unity found expression in the first all-inclusive term for themselves. They gradually came to call themselves " Hellenes," and found pleasure in the belief that they had all descended from a common ancestor called Hellen. But it should be clearly understood that this new designation did not