The nature of the country has already been described in general terms; a minute description of the complicated mountains, would give you no definite view, but only confound you. According to the general belief of the Greeks, the Arcadians[37] were the most ancient inhabitants of Peloponnesus, that is, Pelasgians: in the history of nations, Arcadia is regarded as the original seat of the Greek Pelasgians. The Arcadian traditions are the only ones in Greece, that go back to the creation of man, and their Azan necessarily reminds us of Adam; but whether they had a similar tradition, or whether the resemblance of the names is only accidental, is a question which I cannot venture to decide. They considered themselves, however, as autochthons in the strictest sense of the term; though this belief referred to the rulers rather than to the whole nation. While the adjoining countries changed either their rulers or their inhabitants, the population of Arcadia remained quite intact. In the most ancient traditions we hear of no important towns, but we know three races, the _Azanes_ (Ἀζῆνες in Herodotus), the _Maenalii_ and _Parrhasii_; whether, however, they are to be regarded only as three tribes, or as three distinct nations, I cannot say. Greek history, at the time of the Messenian wars, speaks indeed of Arcadia as one entire state, under a single head, but such is not the case in the Homeric Catalogue; it is probable that they formed one whole only through the relation of isopolity. Afterwards, about the 40th Olymp., we find the first traces of towns, the importance of which, however, cannot be determined. In a war with Sparta, the inhabitants of Tegea appear as a separate state of Tegeatans, and they must have had the supremacy among the Arcadians, for otherwise we cannot explain how they could have claimed at Plataeae the supreme command of the whole army, on the ground of their being the most ancient Greeks, in opposition to the Dorians, who had immigrated. How Arcadia was divided among its three peoples, is unknown. It is surprising that, previous to the foundation of Megalopolis, the whole of southern Arcadia, which formed nearly one-half of the whole country, appears to have contained no towns of importance, owing to which very circumstance Megalopolis became conspicuous. All the more important towns were situated on the eastern frontier; near the northern boundary there also were towns, which afterwards appear as small states, but the towns themselves, though strong from their natural position, were unimportant. But this was the fate of all Greek nations, where they were not grouped round a common centre: the division increased more and more, and single towns rose by their favourable position, and isolated themselves from the Κοινόν. The most ancient and most important town of Arcadia was in the east.