2. _Argonauts_ were described as a band of heroes, who, through perilous and unknown seas, sailed from Iolcos in Thessaly, in the ship "Argo," to Colchis, whence they brought away the golden fleece which had been stolen, and which they found nailed to an oak, and guarded by a sleepless dragon. _Jason_, the leader, was accompanied on his return by the enchantress, _Medea_, who had aided him. She, in order to delay their pursuers, killed her brother _Absyrtus_, and threw his body, piece by piece, into the sea. Her subsequent story involves various other tragic events. 3. The most noted of the legends is the story of the Trojan war. The deeds of the heroes of this war are the subject of the _Iliad_. _Paris_, son of Priam, king of _Ilios_ (Troy), in Asia Minor, carried off _Helen_, the wife of _Menelaus_, king of Sparta. To recover her, the Greeks united in an expedition against Troy, which they took after a siege of ten years. Agamemnon, Achilles, Odysseus (Ulysses), Ajax son of Telamon, and Ajax son of Oileus, Diomedes, and Nestor were among the chiefs on the Greek side. Troy had its allies. The "Odyssey" relates to the long journey of _Odysseus_ on his return to Ithaca, his home. That there was an ancient city, Troy, is certain. A conflict between the Greeks and a kindred people there, is probable. Not unlikely, there was a military expedition of Grecian tribes. Every thing beyond this is either plainly myth, or incapable of verification. UNIONS OF TRIBES.--During the period when the Greek population was dispersing itself in the districts which its different fractions occupied in the historic ages, there arose unions among tribes near one another, for religious purposes. They preceded treaties and alliances of the ordinary kind. Such tribes agreed to celebrate, in common, certain solemn festivals. Deputies of these tribes met at stated intervals to look after the temple and the lands pertaining to it. Out of these unions, there grew stipulations relative to the mode of conducting war and other matters of common interest. Treaties of peace and of mutual defense might follow. Thus arose combinations of states, in which one state, the strongest, would have the _hegemony_, or lead. This became an established characteristic of Greek political life. It was a system of federal unions under the headship of the most powerful member of the confederacy. When such a union was formed, it established a common worship or festival. THE DELPHIC AMPHICTYONY.--In the north of Greece, there was formed, in early times, a great religious union. It was composed of twelve tribes banded together for the worship of _Apollo_ at _Delphi_, and to guard his temple. It was called the Delphic Amphictyony, or "League of Neighbors." The members of this body agreed not to destroy one another's towns in war, and not to cut off running water from a town which they were besieging.