Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/18

 2 HISTORY OF GREECE. the valor of the invaders as to a powerful body of new allies. The Herakleids reappear as leaders and companions of the Dorians, a northerly section of th^ Greek name, who now first come into importance, poor, indeed, in mythical renown, since they are never noticed in the Iliad, and only once casually mentioned in the Odyssey, as a fraction among the many-tongued inhabitants of Krete, but destined to form one of the grand and predomi- nant elements throughout all the career of historical Hellas. The son of Hyllus Kleodocus as well as his grandson Aristomachus, were now dead, and the lineage of Herakles was represented by the three sons of the latter, Temenus, Kres- phontes, and Aristodemus, and under their conduct the Dorians penetrated into the peninsula. The mythical account traced back this intimate union between the Herakleids and the Dorians to a prior war, in which Herakles himself had rendered inestimable aid to the Dorian king ^Egimius, when the latter was hard pressed in a contest with the Lapithae. Herakles defeated the Lapithas, and slew their king Koronus ; in return for which JEgimius assigned to his deliverer one third part of his whole territory, and adopted Hyllus as his son. Herakles desired that the territory thus made over might be held in reserve until a time should come when his descendants might stand in need of it ; and that time did come, after the death of Hyllus, (see Chap. V.) Some of the Herakleids then found shelter at Trikorythus in Attica, but the remainder, turning their steps towards JEgimius, solicited from him the allotment of land which had been promised to their val- iant progenitor. JEgimius received them according to his engage- ment, and assigned to them the stipulated third portion of his territory :' and from this moment the Herakleids and Dorians 1 Diodor. iv. 37-60 ; Apollodor. ii. 7, 7 ; Ephorus ap Steph. Byz. Fragm. 10, ed. Marx. The Doric institutions are called by Pindar TE&pot Ar/ipiov Au/jtKct (Pyth. i. 124). There existed an nncicnt epic poem, now lost, but cited on some few occa- sions by authors still preserved, under the title A.lyi/M0f ; the authorship being sometimes ascribed to Hesiod, sometimes to Kerkops (Athenas. xi. p. 503) The few fragments which remain do not enable us to make out the schem* of it, inasmuch as they embrace different mythical incidents lying very wide of each other, 16, the Argonauts, PClcus, ard Thetis, etc. But the namt