Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age, Vol. 1 of 3: I. Prolegomena II. Achæis; or, the Ethnology of the Greek RacesGladstone, W. E. (William Ewart)
History
Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age, Vol. 1 of 3: I. Prolegomena II. Achæis; or, the Ethnology of the Greek Races
Gladstone, W. E. (William Ewart)
Civilization, Homeric; Epic poetry, Greek -- History and criticism; Homer
Upon our finding, as we find, the Pelasgian name in certain apparent
relations with others, such as Leleges and Caucones, it appears more
reasonable to presume a relationship between them, than the reverse:
for nothing can be more improbable than the simultaneous presence at
that early period of a multitude of races, radically distinct from each
other, and yet diffused intermixedly over the same country upon equal
terms, and if there was a relationship, it would most probably be that
of subdivision, under which Leleges and Caucones might be branches of
the widely spread Pelasgian family.
This opinion is supported, not only by presumptions, but by much
indirect evidence. It is indisputable that various names were applied,
by the custom of the Homeric age, to the same people, and at the
same period. The poet calls the inhabitants of Elis both Elians and
Epeans. The people of Ithaca are Ithacesians (Ἰθακήσιοι), but there
are also Ἀχαιοί[270], and in the Catalogue they are included under
the Cephallenians[271]. The Dolopians in the speech of Phœnix[272]
are included under the Phthians; and are also within the scope of the
other names applied by the Catalogue to the followers of Achilles, who
were called by the name of Myrmidons, or of Hellens, or of Achæans. Of
these the first seems to be the denomination, which the ruling race
of that particular district had brought with it into the country. The
third probably belongs to the Myrmidons, as members of that tribe, of
Hellic origin, which at the time predominated in Greece generally.
The second, as we shall find, was the common name for all Greek tribes
of that origin, and was the name which ultimately gained a complete
ascendancy in the country. Of the five nations of Crete in the
Seventeenth Odyssey[273], either all or several are probably included
in the Κρῆτες of the Second Iliad[274]. Nay, we may now declare it
to be at least highly probable[275], that the Ionian name was a
sub-designation of the Pelasgians. Thus we have abundant instances of
plurality in the designations of tribes. On the whole, we shall do best
to assume that the names in question of Leleges and Caucones indicated
Pelasgian subdivision. The inquiry is, however, one of ethnical
antiquarianism only; these names are historically insignificant, for,
apart from the Pelasgian, they carry no distinctive character or
special function in reference to Greece.
_Erratum._--I have inadvertently, in p. 103, rendered κητώεσσαν ‘full
of wild beasts.’ It ought to have been translated ‘deep-sunken.’ See
Buttmann’s Lexilogus, _in voc._
FOOTNOTES:
[126] Il. ii. 681-5.
[127] Hermann Gr. Staats-alt. sect. 12.
[128] Il. ii. 841.
[129] Inf. sect. viii.
[130] Il. xiii. 686, et seqq.
[131] So Strabo, p. 221.
[132] The discussion is reviewed in Cramer’s Greece, vol. i. 115.
[133] Il. ii. 750.
[134] Od. xiv. 327; xix. 296.
[135] Cramer’s Ancient Greece, i. 353.
[136] Cramer’s Greece, i. 370.
[137] Hesiod ap. Strab. vii. 327.
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