Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/206

 190 ARCADL/L nesoB, was bounded on the E. by Aigolis, on the N. by Achaia, on the W. by Elis, and on the S. by Messenia and Laconia. Next to Laccnia it was the lai^Gst country in Peloponnesus ; its greatest length was aboat 50 miles, its breadth varied from 35 to 41 miles, and its area was about 1700 square miles. It was sorroanded on all sides by a ring of moon- tuns, forming a kind of natural waU, which sepa- rated it from the other Peloponnesian states ; and it was also traverBSd, in its interior, by Tarious ranges of mountains in all directions. Arcadia has been aptly called the Switzerland of Greece. The western and eastern parts of Arcadia differed considerably in their physical features. In the western region the mountuns were wild, high, and bleak, closely piled upon one another, and possessing vallies of small extent and of little fertility. The mountains were covered with forests and abounded in game ; and even in the time of Paosanias (viii. 23. § 9), not only wild boars, but even bears were found in them. It was drained by the Alpheius and its tributary streams. This part of Arcadia was thinly populated, and iis inhabitants were reckoned among the rudest of the Greeks. They obtained their subsistence by hunting, and the rear- ing and feeding of cattle. On the other hand, the eastern rc^;ion is inter- sected by mountains of lower elevation, between which there are several small and fertile plains, pro- ducing com, oil, and wine. These plams are so completely inclosed by mountains, that the streams which flow into them from the mountains only find outlets for their waters by natural chasms in the rocks, which are not tmcommon in limestone moun- tains. Many of these streams, after disappearing beneath the ground, rise again after a greater or less interval These chasms in the mountains were called (4p€$fM by the Arcadians (Strab. p. 389), and are termed katavdthra by the modem Greeks. (Leake, Morta, vol. iii. p. 55.) In these plains, enclosed by mountains, were situated almost all the chief cities of Arcadia, — Tegea, Mantineia, Qrchome- nus, Stymphalus, and Pheneus, whose territories extoided along the whole eastern frontier of Ar- cadia, from the borders of Laconia to those of Scyon and Pellene, in Achaia. Of all the productions of Arcadia the best known were its asses, which were in request in every part of Greece. (Varr. R. R. ii. 1. § 14; Plin. viii. 43. s. 68; Plant. Atin. ii. 2. 67 ; Strab. p. 388; Pers. iii. 9, " Arcadiae pecuaria rtidert credas.") The principal mountains in Arcadia were : on the N. Cyllene, in the NE. comer of the country, the highest point in the Peloponnesus (7788 feet), which runs in a westerly direction, forming the boundary be- tween Achaia and Elis, and was known under the names of Crathis, Aroanius, and Erymanthus. On the W. Lampeia and Pholoe, both of them a southern continuation of Erymanthus, and the other mountains separating Arcadia frnm Elis, but the names of which are not preserved. On the £. Lyrceins, Ar- temisium, ParUienium, and the range of mountains separating Arcadia from Argotis, and connected with the northern extremity of Taygetns. fn the S. Maenalus and Lycaeus. Of these mountains an ac- count is given under their respective names. The chief river of Arcadia, which is also the principal river of the Peloponnesus, is the Alpheius. It rises near the southern frontier, flows in a north- westerly direction, and receives many tributaries. [ Alfueius.3 Besides these, the Styx, EuROTiVS, ARCADIA. and Erashtus, also rise in Arcadia. Of the nnine- rous small lakes (m the eastern frontier the most im- portant was Stymphalus, near the town of that name. [Stthfhalus.] The Arcadians regarded themselves as- the nmt ancient inhabitants of Greece, and called themselves TpofftKrivoij as laying claim to an antiquity higher than that of the moon, though some modem mriten interpret this epithet differently. (Apoll. Shod. vr. 264 ; Lucian, de A§trol c. 26 ; SchoL adArittoph. Nub, 397 ; Heyne, De Artadibus bma aniiqmribiu, in Optueukij vol ii. pp. 333 — 355.) They derived their name from an eponymous ancestor iocss, the son of Zeus, though his genealogy is given difioentlj by difierent writers. (^DicL o/Biogr. art. Arau.) The Greek writers call them indigenous (ovroxM- F€5), or Pelasgians, and Pelasgns is said to hive been thdr first sovereign. Herodotus says that the Arcadians and Cynurians were the only two pcc^les in Pelopopnesus who had never changed thdr abodes ; and we know that Arcadia was iiihslttted by the same race from the earliest times of whidi we have any historical records. (Herod, viii. 73, and i. 146, 'ApKuHfs TlfXcuryoi ; Xen. Hell, vii 1. § 23 ; Dem. de Fait, Leg. § 261 ; Pans. viiL 1 ; Strab. p. 338.) Shut up within their mcMmtains the Arcadians experienced fewer changes than most of the inhabitants of Greece. They are represented as a people simple in their habits, and moderate in their desires ; and, according to the testimony of their countxyman Polybius, they retained down to lus time a high reputation among the Greeks for hosptality, kindness, and piety. He ascribes these excellencies to their social institutions, and especially to their cultivation of music, which was sappofied to oountoact the harshness of character which their rugged country had a tendency to produce ; and he attributes the savage character of the inhabitaots of Cynaetha to their neglect of music. (PoL iv. 20, 21.) We know frt>m other authorities that miuie fonned an important part of their education; and they were celebrated throughout antiquity both for their love of music and for the success with which they cultivated it (C(xnp. e. g. Vixig. Ed. x. 32.) The lyre is said to have been invented in thdr country by Hermes. The syrinx, also, which was the musical instrument of shepherds, was the io* vention of Pan, the tntelaiy god of Arcadia. The simplicity of the Arcadian chuacter was exaggerated by the Koman poets into an ideal excellenoe ; and its shepherds were represented as living in a state of innocence and virtue. But they did not possess an equal reputation for intelligence, as is shown by the provwbial expressiims, Arcadid aeiwtt, Arca- dioae awree, &c. : a blockhead is caUed by Juvenal (vu. 160) Arcadicutjuveim. The Arcadians were a strong and hardy race of mountaineers ; and, like the Swiss in modem Europe, they constantly sen'ed as mercenaries. (Athen. L p. 27 ; Thuc viL 57.) The religion of the Arcadians was such as might have been expected from a nation of shepherds and huntsmen. Hermes was originally an Arcadian di- vinity, sud to have been bom on Mt. Cyllene, and brought up on Mt. Acacesius ; but the deity whom they most worshipped was Ms son Pan, the great guardian of flocks £uid shepherds. Another ancient Arcadian divinity was Artemis, who presided over the chase, and who appears to have h&en originally a different goddess from Artemis, the sister of Apollo, though the two were afterwards confounded. {Did. of Biog. art. Jlrtoww.) The worship of i