188 GREECE movements occurred. The authentic history and chronology of Greece commence with the beginning of the Olympiads, 776 B. 0. At this period we find Greece divided into a num- ber of small states, under separate govern- ments, united into confederacies for permanent or occasional objects, but with no central gov- ernment to control the whole. The Grecian world was, however, bound together by lan- guage, blood, common religious rites and fes- tivals, social institutions and laws, which dis- tinguished it from the barbarian nations and races about it. The language was divided into dialects, but with sufficient resemblance to each other to be easily understood by all. In the religious systems, particular deities were specially worshipped by particular tribes and at particular places, but the general principles were everywhere the same. Religious rites were periodically celebrated, at festivals in which associations of neighboring states par- ticipated, under the general name of amphic- tyonies, or at the great national games. The amphictyonic council, held alternately at Del- phi and at Thermopylae, was partly political and partly religious. The Olympic, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian festivals tended strongly to keep alive the sentiment of Hellenic unity. The establishment of oracles, enjoying authority over the Hellenic world, was another bond of union. Notwithstanding these national ties, the several states of Greece could never be brought into a voluntary political union under a govern- ment having the right and power to interfere with the cherished autonomy of each individual state. Excepting in great crises of their his- tory, such as, in the legendary times, the Trojan war, and in historical times the Persian inva- sion, their patriotism was local, and they never acted for a common object. Indeed, they had no common designation, as Thucydides truly re- marks, until gradually the name of the Hellenes supplanted the rest. In the early historical times the Dorians had become masters of the E. and 8. parts of the Peloponnesus by invasion and conquest from the north. At the beginning of the Olympiads, Sparta, afterward the leading Doric state, was of inconsiderable importance, and her territory hardly more than the valley of the Eurotas ; but her military and civil in- stitutions, as established by the constitution of Lycurgus, gradually raised the state to a foremost place among the commonwealths of Greece. The date of the Spartan lawgiver is doubtful, but it is generally placed within the century preceding the era of the Olympiads. His ordinances, called rhetrce, wrought great changes in the constitution of society, and produced results that acted powerfully on the course of Greek history. (See LYOUEOUS, and SPABTA.) Sparta became the mistress of the greater part of the Peloponnesus by subduing the Messenians, Arcadians, and Argives. The two wars against the Messenians were the most important and obstinate ; they have also a special literary interest, on account of the poems of TyrtaBus. The first Messenian war grew out of private quarrels. It occurred about 743 B. C., and, having lasted about 20 years, ended with the complete subjection of the Messenians, who were compelled to abandon their country, and were reduced to the condi- tion of helots or slaves. About 38 years later (685), the Messenians, under the lead of the heroic Aristomenes, took up arms, and were sup- ported by the Argives, Arcadians, Sicyonians, and Pisatans ; while the Corinthians lent aid to Sparta. At first the fortunes of war were adverse to the Spartans ; but though they suf- fered several bloody defeats from Aristomenes, they persevered until the Messenians became a second time the serfs of the Spartans (668). In the course of the following century the Spartans extended their conquests over the greater part of Arcadia, and annexed the large Argive territory of Cynuria. In the middle of the 6th century B. C. Sparta had become the most powerful of the states of Greece. She was distinguished politically from the others by retaining the form of a royal government, roy- alty having become extinct everywhere else at an early period of the Olympic era. In some of the states the king became an archon for life ; in others the royal house was set aside, and one of the nobles selected, under the title of prytanis, or president, and holding office for a limited time. This was substantially a change from monarchy to oligarchy, since the powers of government were limited to the members of the old nobility, who possessed the greater part of the land. These oligarchies were over- thrown in many of the Greek states by the rise to power of able and ambitious men, called by the Greeks tyrants. The early significance of this word was limited to the irregular methods by which power was attained, and not extend- ed to the severity with which it was adminis- tered. Though the actual government of the tyrants was oppressive for the most part, yet some of them were among the wisest men and the best rulers of the Greeks. The period of the tyrannies was about 150 years, from 650 to 500. The most celebrated of these rulers were the tyrants of Sicyon, whose rule lasted 100 years, ending with Clisthenes (560) ; those of Corinth, beginning with Cypselus, including the great Periander, and ending with Psam- metichus, about 581 ; and Theagenes, tyrant of Megara. A similar political condition prevailed in most of the other Grecian states in the 7th and 6th centuries. In Athens, in the legendary period, the kingly power terminated with Co- drus, and was succeeded by the office of archon, at first limited to the royal family and held for life, then held for ten years, and finally thrown open to the whole body of the nobles, the number of archons increased to nine, and the period of office reduced to one year. With this last change the authentic history of Athens commences, about 683 B. C. (See ATHENS.) The legislation of Draco dates about 624, and the archonship and legislation of Solon 594.
