Page:Greece from the Coming of the Hellenes to AD. 14.djvu/108



first interruption to the independent development of Hellenic life occurred in Asia Minor, and as it led to the chief political service of the European Greeks—the rolling back of the invasions from the East—and greatly changed the mutual relations of the Hellenic states themselves, it is necessary to get a clear view of this event.

We have seen in the seventh century B.C. that it was in the Greek cities of Asia—the Æolian colonies of the north-west and the Ionian colonies of the south-west—that Hellenic life seemed most active and vigorous. This was shown by the extraordinary activity in sending out fresh colonies, in the outburst of literature, and in the frequency of political movement and change. It was in these cities, it seemed at one time, that the Greeks were to work out their