Page:History of Greece Vol III.djvu/179

 EUBCEA.-CYCLADES. 163 CHAPTER XII. EUB(EA. CYCLADES. AMONG the Ionic portion of Hellas are to be i-eckcned (besides Athens) Euboca, and the numerous group of islands included be- tween the southernmost Euboean promontory, the eastern coast of Peloponnesus, and the north-western coast of Krete. Of these islands some are to be considered as outlying prolongations, in a south-easterly direction, of the mountain-system of Attica ; other?, of that of Euboea ; while a certain number of them lie apart from either system, and seem referable to a volcanic origin. 1 To the first class belong Keos, Kythnus, Seriphus, Pholegandrus, Sikinus, Gyarus, Syra, Faros, and Antiparos ; to the second class, Andros, Tenos, Mykonos, Delos, Naxos, Amorgos ; to the third class, Kimolus, Melos, Thera. These islands passed amongst the an- cients by the general name of the Cyclades and the Sporades : the former denomination being commonly understood to comprise those which immediately surrounded the sacred island of Delos, the latter being given to those which lay more scattered and apart. But the names are not applied with uniformity or steadi- ness even in ancient times : at present, the whole group are usu ally known by the title of Cyclades. The population of these islands was called Ionic, with the ex- ception of Styra and Karystus in the southern part of Euboea, and the island of Kythnus, which were peopled by dryopes, 2 the same tribe as those who have been already remarked in the Ar- golic peninsula ; and with the exception also of Melos and Thera, which were colonies from Sparta. The island of Euboea, long and narrow like Krete, and exhibit- ing a continuous backbone of lofty mountains from north-west to >uth-east, is separated from Bceotia at one point by a strait so narrow (celebrated in antiquity under the name of tho Euripus), 1 See Fiedler, Reisen (lurch Griechenland, vol. ii, p. 87.
 * Hercdot. viii, 46 ; Thucyd. vii, 57.