We can well imagine that the arrival in such a community of one or two northern barbarians, rough and rude, but strong and honest, would have been like a breath of fresh air entering a stuffy room. The tyrant would have welcomed a man who could put down highwaymen or lead his mercenaries to battle. He would, perhaps, have made him chief of his police or generalissimo of the town forces, and, as the hero restored law and order and kept the populace quiet, he would have promised him much reward, including perhaps his daughter’s hand. All would have gone well until the tyrant, with the instinct of the Prospector to make a bargain and to get something for nothing, endeavoured, like Laomedon of Troy, to cheat his Nordic ally or to offer him a base substitute for promises made. The Nordic, as incapable of understanding such double-dealing as of thus acting himself, would quite naturally have been incensed. We can picture him accusing the tyrant of dishonesty and ejecting him from his palace, when he would have fallen a speedy victim to the anger of his subjects. The hero would have placed himself upon the vacant throne with the help and goodwill of the people, who had admired his strength, courage and fair dealing. Lastly, he would, perhaps, have married the daughter of his predecessor, not so much from romantic motives as to establish more completely his right to the throne, for, despite what has been written to the contrary, some form of matrilinear succession seems to have obtained in Minoan Greece.[372] The Greek legends referring to the early heroes are full of such details, and the above imaginary sketch may be taken as a composite picture of the kind of events which took place, in all probability, in many a city of pre-Hellenic Greece, as the leaf-shaped swords first made their appearance. We have, hitherto, taken it for granted that these “Achæan” intruders were Nordic, and our reasons have been mainly the presence of the swords, the northern character of their palaces and the fact that such enterprises are in keeping with the subsequent behaviour of Nordic adventurers. But the identification, perhaps, requires further proof. The Nordics as we know were tall, fair and long-headed; how does this agree with what we know of the “Achæan” heroes and their forbears? The whole tenour of the legends, attributing to them deeds requiring strength and endurance, certainly suggests that the heroes were considered in later days to have been above the average in stature. That they were fair-haired has been taken for granted by many writers.[373] It has been suggested, however, that the fact that Menelaus was called fair, signifies that he was in this respect an exception to the rule, and that the others were as dark as the majority of modern Greeks. Moreover, it has been pointed out that ξανθὀς may only mean brown, and that Menelaus had brown hair.[374]