Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1205

 TIIRACIA. manifest that at this early period, when there was scarcely any intercourse between different nations, or knowledge of fi)reio;ii tongues, poets who sang in an unintelligible language could not have had more influence on the mental development of the people than the twittering of birds." Jliiller therefore concludes that the Thracians of the ante-historical era, and those of subsequent times, belonged to distinct races. " When we come to trace more precisely the country of these Thracian bards, we find that the traditions refer to Pieria, the district to the east of the Olympus range, to the north of Thessaly, and the south of Emathia or Macedonia: in Pieria likewise was Leibethra, where the Muses are said to have sung the lament over the to!nb of Orpheus : the ancient poets, moreover, always make Pieria, not Thrace, the native place of the Muses, which last Homer clearly distinguishes from Pieria. (//. xiv. 226.) It was not until the Pierians were pressed in their own territory by the early Macedonian princes that some of them crossed the Strymon into Thrace Proper, where Herodotus (vii. 112) mentions the castles of the Pierians at the time of the expedition of Xerxes. It is, however, quite conceivable that in early times, either on ac- count of their close vicinity, or because all the north was comiirehended under one name, the Pierians might, in Southern Greece, have been called Thra- cians. These Pierians, from the intellectual relations which they maintained with theGreeks, appear to be a Grecian race; which supposition is also confirmed by the Greek names of their places, rivers, fountains, &c., although it is probable that, situated on the limits of the Greek nation, they may have borrowed largely from neighbouring tribes. (See Mliller's Dorians, vol. i. pp. 472. 488, .501.)" After refer- ring to the accounts of the Thracians in Southern Greece, Mliller adds: " From what has been said, it appears sufhciently clear that these Pierians or Thracians, dwelling about Helicon and Parnassus in the vicinity of Attica, are chiefly signified when a Thracian origin is ascribed to the mythical bards of Attica." Colonel Mure, -after referring to the foregoing view, which he designates as " plausible," goes on as follows: "But the case admits of anoth.er, and perhaps more satisfactory explanation. It is certain that, in the mythical geography, a tract of country on tbe frontiers of Boeotia and Phocis, comprehend- ing Mount Parnassus and Helicon, bore the name of Thrace. [See the etymology, ante.^ In this re- gion the popular mythology also lays the scene of several of the most celebra'.ed adventures, the heroes of which are called Thracians." The author then applies this explanation to the stories of Tereus and Procne, and of Lycurgus, '' king of Thrace;" and proceeds thus : " Pausanias makes the ' Thracian ' bard Thamyris virtually a Phocian. He assigns Jiini for m -'ther a nymph of Parnassus called Argiofie. His father, Philammon, is described as a native of the .same region, son of Apollo, by the nymph Chioiie, and brother of Autolycus, its cele- brated robber chieftain. The divine grandsire is obviously here but a figure of his own sacred region ; the grandmother Cliione, as her name bears, of its snow. Others call the latter lieroinc Leuconoe. The names of these heroines are all so many varied modes of typit'ying the same 'snow-white' Par- nassus. This view of the ' Thracian ' character of these sages becomes the more jilausible, if it be re- membered that the region of Central (jreecc, in whivh TIIRACIA, 1181 the Hellenic Thrace was situated, is that from which first or chiefly, the seeds of elementary culture were propagated throughout the nation. Here tradition places the first introduction of the alphabet. Here were also the principal seats of Apollo and the Muses. In the heart of the same region was situated the Minyean Orclionienos, the temple of the Graces, rivalling Thebes herself in the splendour of her princes and zeal for the promotion of art. Among the early masters of poetry or music, not vulgarly styled Thra- cians, the most illustrious, Amphion and Linus, are Boeotians. Nor was this region of Central Greece less favoured in respect of its religious institutions. It was not only the favourite seat of Apollo, the Muses, and the Graces, but the native country of the Uionysiac rites, zeal for the propagation of which is a characteristic of the Tliracian sages." (//«<. of Lang, and Lit. of Ant. Greece, i. pp. 1.50 — 153; cf. Niebuhr, Led. on Ethnog. and Geog. i. p. 287.) In thus entirely disconnecting these early " Thra- cians," from tho.se of later times, we have the autho- rity of Thucydides (ii. 29), who, in speaking of Teres, the father of Sitalces, remarks : " This Teres had no connection whatever with Tereus, who married Procne, daughter of Pandion of Athens ; they did not even belong to the same Thrace. Tereus dwelt at Daulia, a city of the country now called Phocis, and which was then occupied by the Thracians." And he proceeds to show that it was not likely that Pandion would form an alliance with any one who lived so far from Athens as the country of the Odrysae.* The consideration of the ethnological relations of the early Thracians hardly falls within the scope of this article ; but since identity of name has often caused them to be confounded with the historical in- habitants of Thrace, it may be desirable briefly to discuss the subject in this place. The view which seems to the present writer to be best supported by the evidence, and to explain most satisfactorily the ancient authors, is that which re- gards the mythical Thracians as luenibers of the widely extended race to which the name of Pelasgians is usually given. It is clear from Homer that a close connection existed between the people of Southern Thrace and theTrojans, whowere probably Pelasgians, and who are at the same time represented by him as agreeing, in language, religion, and other important respects, with tlie Greeks. Again, Homer mentions among the auxiliaries of Priam, the Caucones, who are named along with the Pelasgians (//. x. 429), and the Cicones {II. ii. 846). These two names bear so close a resemblance to each other as to sug- gest the probability of the cognate origin of the tribes so designated. Now the Cicones were un- doubtedly Thracians {Odgs. is. 39, seqq.) ; wliile as to the Caucones, Strabo (xii. p. 542) informs us that they occupied part of the coast of Bithynia, ami were regarded by some as Scythians, by others as Mace- donians, by others again as Pelasgian.s. It will be remembered that Caucones are mentioned by him (vii. p. 321) among the earliest inliabitants of Pe- loponnesus. Another noticeable fact is, lliat in tliu passage of Strabo already ((uoted (ix. Ji. 401 ), he re- jtresents the Thracians and Pelasgiann as acting in poets, fall into the error of making Tereus an inha- bitant of Thrace Proper ; and Pliny (iv. IS) even mentions the castle there in which the crime of Tereus was perpetrated 1
 * Yet subsequent prose writers, to say nothing of