The valleys and lake basins of Eastern Greece, and more especially its position between the Gulf of Corinth, the Ægean Sea, and the channel of Eubœa, which almost convert it into a peninsula, sufficiently account for the prosperity of that country. With its cities of Thebes, Athens, and Megara, it is essentially a land of historical reminiscences. The contrast between the two most important districts of this region—Bœotia and Attica—is very striking. The first of these is an inland basin, the waters of which are collected into lakes, where mists accumulate, and a rich vegetation springs forth from a fat alluvial soil. Attica, on the other hand, is arid. A thin layer of mould covers the terraces of its rocky slopes; its valleys open out into the sea; the summits of its mountains rise into an azure sky; and the blue waters of the Ægean wash their base. Had the Greeks been fearful of the sea; had they confined themselves, as in the earliest {54} ages, to the cultivation of the soil, Bœotia, no doubt, would have retained the preponderance which it enjoyed in the time of the Minyæ of wealthy Orchomenus. But the progress of navigation and the allurements of commerce, which proved irresistible to the Greeks, were bound by degrees to transfer the lead to the men of Attica. The city of Athens, which arose in the midst of the largest plain of this peninsula, therefore occupied a position which assured to it a grand future. [Illustration: Fig. 15.—THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS.] The choice of Athens as the modern capital of Greece has been much criticized. Times have changed, no doubt, and the natural centres of commerce have become shifted, in consequence of the migrations of nations. Corinth, on the isthmus joining continental Greece to the Peloponnesus, and commanding two seas, undoubtedly deserved the preference. Its facilities for communicating with Constantinople and the Greek maritime districts still under the rule of the Osmanli, on the one hand, and with the western world, from which now proceed all civilising impulses, on the other, are certainly greater than those of Athens. If Greece, instead of a small centralised kingdom, had become a federal republic, which would have been more in accordance with her genius and traditions, there is no doubt that other towns of Greece, more favourably situated than Athens for establishing rapid communications with the rest of Europe, would soon have surpassed that town in population and commercial wealth. Athens, however, has grown upon its plain, and, by the construction of a railway, it has become even {55} a maritime city, as in ancient days, when its triple walls joined it to the ports of the Piræus and Phalerum. [Illustration: Fig. 16.—ATHENS AND ITS LONG WALLS. According to Kiepert and Schmidt. Scale 1 : 114,000.]