Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/123

 102 Primitive Gkeece: Mycenian Art. where in earlier days Smyrna, built by other hands than theirs, had given it the name which it still preserves. They had been preceded by the Leleges on a spot which Nature itself seemed to have marked beforehand as the site of a great centre.* On this side the ^EoHans moved hardly beyond the mouth of the Meles, for when they reached this point in their southward advance, they were met by lonians in quiet possession of the other side of the stream. Whilst the iEolians went round through Thracia and loitered in the Troad, which they subdued, the lonians, though later at starting, were first to reach their goal on the central coast of Asia. Many were the points of departure ; some had put out from the roadsteads of Peloponnesus, most however had weighed anchor in the havens of Attica, and struck eastward across the Cyclades. These were largely inhabited by lonians, whose numbers must have been swelled, in places, by many a family which the ships landed and dropped along their route. The main body however pursued its path to the great islands of Samos and Chios ; then they dispersed on the line of coast comprised between the Hermus and Mseander. Here, on the islands and the continent, the new-comers met, both on the headlands ruling the bays' entrance, and in the lowlands watered by copious streams, folk nearly related to them and speaking the same language. These cannot have treated as enemies the lonians, who thus returned to their ancient home ; it must have been an easy matter to come to an understanding, by giving a share to the newly-arrived population which brought to the older inhabitants a useful and strong reinforcement. Strife, on terra fimna, only occurred on such points as were inhabited by Lydian populations, the small priestly state, for example, which had constituted itself at the mouth of the Cayster. There was here a temple to the moon-goddess, who personified the creative force of nature in the eyes of Asiatics, but whom the Greeks called ^ Strabo. On the origin of Smyrna, consult Beitrage zur Geschichte und Topographic Kleinastens (Ephesos^ Pergamoriy Smyrna, Sardes), in Verbindung mit deii Herrn * Major Regely, Baurath Adler, Dr. Hirschfeld, und Dr. Gelzer, herausgegeben von Ernst Curtius {Abhandlungen), This collection contains a useful dissertation by Hirschfeld entitled: Alt Smyrna^ accompanied by two plates. A study bearing the title: La ville de Smyme et son orateur jEUus Aristide, by Andr^ Cherbuliez, which unfortunately was never finished, will repay perusal. The author was the father of Victor, the celebrated writer who began his career by a work on "the horse of Phidias.