Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/134

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
There was a problem when proofreading this page.
102
HISTORY OF GREECE.

this designation is in no way applicable to the confined district between Parnassus and Œta, which alone is known by the name of Doris, and its inhabitants by that of Dôrians, in the historical ages. In the view of the author of this genealogy, the Dorians Are the original occupants of the large range of territory north of the Corinthian Gulf, comprising Ætolia, Phokis, and the territory of the Ozolian Lokrians. And this farther harmonizes with the other legend noticed by Apollodôrus, when he states that Ætolus, son of Endymion, having been forced to expatriate from Peloponnêsus, crossed into the Kurêtid territory,[1] and was there hospitably received by Dôrus, Laodokus and Polypoetês, sons of Apollo and Phthia. He slew his hosts, acquired the territory, and gave to it the name of Ætôlia: his son Pleurôn maried Xanthippê, daughter of Dôrus; while his other son, Kalydon, marries Æoliti, daughter of Amythaôn. Here again we have the name of Dôrus, or the Dôrians, connected with the tract subsequently termed Ætôlia. That Dôrus should in one place be called the son of Apollo and Phthia, and in another place the son of Hellên by a nymph, will surprise no one accustomed to the fluctuating personal nomenclature of these old legends: moreover the name of Phthia is easy to reconcile with that of Hellên, as both are identified with the same portion of Thessaly, even from the days of the Iliad.

This story, that the Dorians were at one time the occupants, or the chief occupants, of the range of territory between the river Achelous and the northern shore of the Corinthian Gulf, is at least more suitable to the facts attested by historical evidence than the legends given in Herodotus, who represents the Dôrians as originally in the Phthiôtid; then as passing under Dôrus, the son of Hellên, into the Histiaeôtid, under the mountains of Ossa and Olympus; next, as driven by the Kadmeians into the regions of Pindus; from thence passing into the Dryopid territory, on Mount Œta; lastly, from thence into Peloponnesus.[2] The received


  1. Apollod. i. 7, 6. (Symbol missingGreek characters) Again, i. 8, I. (Symbol missingGreek characters) (son of Ætolus) (Symbol missingGreek characters)
  2. Herod, i. 50.