Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/315

 EARLIEST HISTORICAL VIEW OF PELOPONNESUS. 290 of powerful Doric cities conterminous to each other, and begin ning at the isthmus of Corinth. First came Megara, stretching across the isthmus from sea to sea, and occupying the high and rugged mountain-ridge called Geraneia ; next Corinth, with its strong and conspicuous acropolis, and its territory including Mount Oneion as well as the portion of the isthmus at once most level and narrowest, which divided its two harbors called Le- chaeum and Kenchreae. "Westward of Corinth, along the Corin- thian gulf, stood Sikyon, with a plain of uncommon fertility, between the two towns : southward of Sikyon and Corinth were Phlius and Kleonae, both conterminous, as well as Corinth, with Argos and the Argolic peninsula. The inmost bend of the Argolie gulf, including a considerable space of flat and marshy ground adjoining to the sea, was possessed by Argos ; the Ar- golic peninsula was divided by Argos with the Doric cities of Epidaurus and Trrczen, and the Dryopian city of Hermione, the latter possessing the south-western corner. Proceeding south- ward along the western coast of the gulf, and passing over the little river called Tanos, the traveller found himself in the do- minion of Sparta, which comprised the entire southern region of the peninsula from its eastern to its western sea, where the river Keda flows into the latter. He first passed from Argos across the difficult mountain range called Parnon (which bounds to the west the southern portion of Argolis), until he found himself in the valley of the river CEnus, which he followed until it joined the Eurotas. In the larger valley of the Eurotas, far removed from the sea, and accessible only through the most impracticable mountain roads, lay the five unwalled, unadorned, adjoining villages, which bore collectively the formidable name of Sparta. The whole valley of the Eurotas, from Skiritis and Beleminatis at the border of Arcadia, to the Laconian gulf, expanding in several parts into fertile plain, especially near to its mouth, where the towns of Gythium and Helos were found, belonged to Sparta ; together with the cold and high mountain ringe to the eastward, which projects into the promontory of Malea, and the still loftier chain of Taygetus to the westward, which ends in the promontory of Tsenarus. On the other side of Taygetus, on the banks of the river Pamisus, which there flows into the Messeiwn gulf, lay the plain of Messene, the richest land in th