1. Although Greece was originally inhabited by several insignificant races, two principal tribes claim our attention, the _Pelasgi_ and the _Hellenes_. Both probably were of Asiatic origin; but the difference of their language characterized them as different tribes. The Pelasgi were the first that extended their dominion in Greece. First seat of the Pelasgians in the Peloponnesus, under Inachus, about B. C. 1800. According to their own traditions, they made their first appearance in this quarter as uncultivated savages; they must, however, at an early period, have made some progress towards civilization, since the most ancient states, Argos and Sicyon, owed their origin to them; and to them, perhaps, with great probability, are attributed the remains of those most ancient monuments generally termed _cyclopian_.--Extension of this tribe towards the north, particularly over Attica; settlement in Thessaly under their leaders Achaeus, Phthius, and Pelasgus; here they learned to apply themselves to agriculture, and remained for a hundred and fifty successive years; about 1700-1500. 2. The Hellenes,--subsequently so called from Hellen, one of their chieftains,--originally the weaker of the two tribes, make their first appearance in Phocis, near Parnassus, under king Deucalion; from whence they are driven by a flood. They migrate into Thessaly, and drive out the Pelasgi from that territory.--The Hellenes soon after this become the most powerful race; and spreading over Greece, expel the Pelasgi from almost every part. The latter tribe maintain their ground only in Arcadia, and the land of Dodona; some of them migrate to Italy, others to Crete, and various islands. 3. The Hellenic tribe is subdivided into four principal branches, the _Aeolians_, _Ionians_, _Dorians_, and _Achaeans_, which continue afterwards to be distinguished and separated by many peculiarities of speech, customs, and political government. These four tribes, although they must not be considered as comprising all the slender ramifications of the nation, are derived by tradition from Deucalion's immediate posterity; with whose personal history, therefore, the history of the tribes themselves and their migrations is interwoven. This derivation of the tribes will be better understood by an inspection of the following genealogical table: DEUCALION. | HELLEN. |--------------------|--------------------| DORUS. XUTHUS. AEOLUS. | |---------|-------------| | DORIANS. | | AEOLIANS. ACHAEUS. ION. | | ACHAEANS. IONIANS.