Of these islands Corfu is the most Northerly, lying opposite Butrinto and the mouth of the R. Calamas; a few miles below it, off Parga, lies the little island of Paxo. Santa Maura, Ithaca, Cephallonia, and Zante, follow each other in succession to the Southward, the three first lying opposite the coast of the ancient Acarnania, on the continent of Greece, and the last opposite the Westernmost point of the ancient Elis in the Peloponnesus. Cerigo is entirely detached from the group; it lies more than 120 miles to the S. E. of Zante, off the Southernmost point of Greece, and indeed of the whole continent of Europe. 86. The Ionian Islands, after having repeatedly changed masters during the middle ages, fell at last into the possession of the Venetians, and were committed to the charge of an Italian governor. The Italian language was consequently introduced into the public acts, and amongst the upper classes, but Greek continues to be spoken by the lower orders, especially by the peasantry. The islands remained under the sway of Venice till they were seized upon by the French, at the close of the last century: but the naval superiority of the English gradually freed them from the yoke of the latter people, and in the final arrangements made at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, it was agreed that the Ionian Republic should be put under the protection of Great Britain. A constitution for this small state was soon afterwards drawn up and ratified by the British Government, which vested the representative power in a senate of 29 representatives, portioned out according to the population of each island: the number assigned to each is given in the preceding table. No one can be a member of this representative body, or hold a public office of any consequence, without belonging to the class of gentry; this advantage is understood to be possessed by whoever can afford to live on his income, whose commercial dealings are respectable, or who is looked up to by his countrymen for his attainments in education, or aptitude for political business. The established religion of the State is that of the Greek Church, but the Italian settlers are Roman Catholics. 87. Corfu, the Northernmost and first in rank of the Seven Islands, is the second in size amongst them, containing five square miles less than Cephallonia: it is a very important island, and is considered the key of the Adriatic. It's chief town is Corfu, situated on the Eastern side of the island opposite the coast of Albania, from which it is only five miles distant: it is neither large nor well built, but is so strongly fortified, that it is comparatively impregnable. It is the seat of government of the whole republic, the place of assembly for the senate, and the residence of the Lord High Commissioner appointed by the British to watch over the interests of the state. A few years since a university was established here under the auspices of the protecting Power, when Greeks of the first ability were nominated to the different chairs. Cephallonia is the largest of all the Ionian Islands, and contains 225 square miles: it's chief town Argostoli, situated on a promontory on the Southern side of the island, is a place of very little consequence. Zante is the third in size amongst the Seven Islands; it's chief town, likewise called Zante, stands on the Eastern shores of the island, about ten miles distant from the most Western point of the Peloponnesus, and is chiefly remarkable as being the most populous place in the whole state. CHAPTER XVIII. CRETA ET INSULE MARIS ÆGEI. INSULE MARIS ÆGEI. 1. The Mare Ægæum, now called the Archipelago, is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, separating Europe from Asia, and was accounted by the ancients so stormy and dangerous to sailors ', as to give rise to the proverb τὸν Αἰγαῖον πλεῖ. It is bounded on the W. by Greece, on the N. by Macedonia and Thrace, on the E. by Asia Minor, and on the S. by Crete, which, as it were, locks it's entrance on that side. It's length from N. to S. is 340 miles, and it's average width about 140. The islands of the Ægæan Sea are presumed to be mentioned in the Scriptures as the Isles of Elishah, a name which they derived from Elishah, the son of Javan, and grandson of Japhet. 2. The origin of the word gæum is involved in considerable doubt. Some derive it from the Greek word aiyeç capra, owing to it's many islands appearing at a distance like goats, or from it's frequent storms, which the Dorians called by the same name: others from Æga, queen of the Amazons, or from Ægeus, father of Theseus, both of whom perished in it: and others again from the town Egæ, on the Western coast of Euboea, or from the rock Ex, which is said to have suddenly emerged from the sea between Tenos and Chios. It is doubted also, whether the modern name Archipelago is derived from Egio, or Agio-Pelago; the former being a corruption of it's ancient appellation, and the latter arising from the number of religious houses at the foot of M'. Athos: the term Archipelago is now singularly mis-applied to a group of islands instead of to a sea. The Phoenicians, Persians, Carians, Greeks, and Romans, all of whom aspired to be masters of the sea, colonized at various times some of the Ægæan Islands, and seized upon others; several of them preserved their rights and immunities under the Roman yoke till the time of Vespasian, who reduced the whole of them into the form of a province. 3. To the S. of Thrace are the islands of Thasos, Samothrace, Imbros, and Lemnos.-Thasos Thaso, a few miles to the S. of Abdera, and opposite the mouth of Nestus fl., was also called Æria and Chryse; it is about 40 miles in circumference, and was remarkable for it's fertility, it's mines of gold and silver, as well as for it's beautiful wine and marble. The Phoenicians first colonized it, but some Parians afterwards settled there at the command of an oracle: it received the name of Thasos from the son of Agenor, who is said to have retired hither when despairing to find his sister Europa. It's chief town was Thasos Thaso.-Samothrace Samothraki, to the E. of Thasos, and opposite the mouth of the R. Hebrus, once bore the names Leucosia, Melite, Electris, Dardania, &c.; but is stated to have been named Samos by a colony from the Ionian island of that name, and to have received the epithet Thracia by way of distinction. It is about 25 miles in circuit, and was said to be one of those islands which were inundated by the sudden overflow of the waters of the Euxine, when forcing their way into the Mediterranean. The original inhabitants were probably Thracians, and appear to have been afterwards joined by Pelasgi, Samians, and Phoenicians. Samothrace derived it's chief celebrity from the mysteries of Cybele and her Corybantes 5, as well as from the Cabiric worship which was intimately connected with them; all mysteries were supposed to have originated in this island, whence it received the surname of Sacred, and became an inviolable asylum for criminals. In it was the mountain Saoce, whence Homer represents Neptune as contemplating the fight before Troy.-Imbros Imbro, about 40 miles in circumference, lies to the S. E. of the preceding island, and about midway between 3 Sunt Thasiæ vites, sunt et Mareotides albæ :-Virg. Georg. II. 91. Aristoph. Plut. 1020. 4 Threïciamque Samum, quæ nunc Samothracia fertur. Virg. Æn. VII. 208. Homer sometimes calls it simply Samos, at other times the Thracian Samos: Μεσσηγὺς δὲ Σάμου τε καὶ Ιμβρου παιπαλοέσσης. ΙΙ. Ω. 78. Hymn. in Apoll. 34. it and the Hellespont; it was sacred to the Cabiri, to Ceres and Mercury, the last deity being there worshipped by the name of Imbramus. 4. The fertile island of Lemnos 9 Lemnos, or Stalimene, is seventy-five miles in circuit; it is equidistant from M'. Athos and the Hellespont, being thirty-five miles from each. It was formerly called Athalia, Hypsipyle 10 from a Lemnian queen of that name, and Dipolis from it's two chief towns. These were Hephæstia Cochino, on the Eastern side of the island, and Myrina Lemnos, on the Western: in the forum of the latter was the famous staute of the ox, made by Myron, on which the ancients affirm Mt. Athos threw a shadow at the time of the solstice 11. In the North Eastern part of the island was Mosychlos Mons, the smithy of Vulcan, and the place where he is stated to have fallen when kicked out of heaven 12; near it were the promontories Hermæum 13 Blava, and Chryse. Off the latter cape lay the island of Chryse, celebrated as the abode of Philoctetes during his misfortunes, as some authors relate 14; it has been completely swallowed up by the sea. There was a famous labyrinth in Lemnos, said to be more extensive and remarkable than those of Egypt and 9 Ακτὴ μὲν ἥδε τῆς περιῤῥύτου χθονός Dos tibi Lemnos erit, terra ingeniosa colenti. Soph. Philoct. 1. Ovid. Heroid. VI. 117. In the time of the Trojan war, wine was exported from Lemnos to the camp of the Greeks for barter: Νῆες δ ̓ ἐκ Λήμνοιο παρέστασαν, οἶνον ἄγουσαι, 10 Vulcanum tellus Hypsipylæa colit. 11 See p. 334, not. 92, supra. Hom. Il. Η. 467. Ovid. Fast. III. 82. 12 "Ηδη γάρ με καὶ ἄλλοτ ̓ ἀλεξέμεναι μεμαῶτα, 18 Πολλὰ δὲ φωνῆς τῆς ἡμετέρας Hom. Il. Α. 590. Soph. Philoct. 1459. 14 Homer (Il. B. 721) places the scene in Lemnos itself, as does also Ovid (Met. XIII. 313.) Crete. The original inhabitants of the island were Thracians, who were succeeded by the Minyæ, or descendants of the Argonauts; these were afterwards expelled by the TyrrheniPelasgi. It was rendered infamous by the massacre committed by the Lemnian women on all the male inhabitants of the island 15, and by the indignity which the Pelasgi perpetrated on some women, whom they had carried away from Brauron in Attica, after their expulsion thence, and whom with their children they finally murdered: these two horrible transactions are said by Herodotus to have induced the Greeks to call every atrocious crime Lemnian. It was reduced under the power of Athens by Miltiades, the son of Cimon 16. 5. Between Lemnos and the South Eastern extremity of Thessaly are several small islands. Amongst these we may mention Neæ Agioi Strati; Peparethus 17 Piperi, called formerly Evænus, colonized by the Cretans, and famous for it's good oil and wine; Gerontia Jura; Solimnia Pelagonisi; Scandila Scangero; Eudemia Sarakino; and Halonesus Selidromi, about which the Athenians and Philip of Macedon went to war; it was at one time inhabited by women alone, who having murdered all the men, continued to defend themselves against an invasion. Nearer the coast lie Scopelus Scopelo, and Sciathus 18 Skiatho: the latter, which was only two miles from the shores of Thessaly, was originally inhabited by the Pelasgi, and subsequently by the Euboeans; produced good wine, and once possessed a town of some size, which was destroyed by Philip, the last Macedonian king of that name, to prevent it's falling into the hands of Attalus and the Romans. 6. The Island of Euboea, stretching along the coast of Locris, Boeotia, and Attica, is said to have derived it's name from the passage of Io, who here gave birth to Epaphus; it was anciently called Macris from the word pakpòs longus, owing to it's great length, and Abantia, from it's inhabitants 15 To which Ovid alludes: Lemniasin gladios in mea fata dabo. De Ar. Am. III, 672. Lemniadesque viros nimium quoque vincere norunt : Heroid. VI. 53. 16 To this account Herodotus (VI. 139) adds, that the Pelasgi, after these atrocities, finding the earth and all their possessions cursed with sterility, sent a deputation to Delphi to obtain relief. The Pythian commanded them to render such satisfaction to the Athenians as they should require, upon which they went to Athens engaging to submit to whatever should be proposed. The Athenians demanded the surrender of Lemnos in the highest state of cultivation; this the Pelasgi refused, declaring that they would only deliver up their island to them when one of their vessels should in a single day make it's passage to Lemnos from the Athenian territory with a Northern wind. Many years afterwards, when the Thracian Chersonese had fallen under the power of Athens, Miltiades passed thence to Lemnos, and instantly commanded the Pelasgi to quit the island as they had promised; with this the Hephæstians complied, but the Myrinæi, not allowing the Chersonese to be Attica, were only reduced by a siege. 17 Αἰγαί τ' Εἰρεσίαι τε, καὶ ἀγχιάλη Πεπάρηθος, Hom. Hymn. in Apoll. 32. nitidæque ferax Peparethos olivæ, Ovid. Met. VII. 470. Apoll. Argon. A. 583. 18 Φαίνετο δ' είναλίη Σκίαθος, φαίνοντο δ' ἄπωθεν Πειρεσιαὶ F F |