Page:History of Greece Vol III.djvu/222

 206 HISTORY OF GREECE. there, seemingly both in the valley of the Hermus and in that of the Kaister : even in the time of Herodotus, there were Pelasgian settlements at Plakia and Skylake on the Propontis, westward of Kyzikus : and O. Miiller would even trace the Tyrrhenian Pelas- gians to Tyrrha, an inland town of Lydia, from whence he imag- ines, though without much probability, the name Tyrrhenian to be derived. One important fact to remark, in respect to the native popula- tion of Asia Minor at the first opening of this history, is, that they were not aggregated into great kingdoms or confeder- ations, nor even into any large or populous cities, but distrib- uted into many inconsiderable tribes, so as to present no over- whelming resistance, and threaten no formidable danger, to the successive bodies of Greek emigrants. The only exception to this is, the Lydian monarchy of Sardis, the real strength of which begins with Gyges and the dynasty of the Mermnada?, about 700 B. c. Though the increasing force of this kingdom ultimately extinguished the independence of the Greeks in Asia, it seems to have noway impeded their development, as it stood when they first arrived, and for a long time afterwards. Nor were either Karians or Mysians united under any one king, so as to possess facilities for aggression or conquest. As far as can be made out from our scanty data, it appears that all the nations of Asia Minor west of the river Halys, were, in a large sense, of kindred race with each other, as well as with the Thracians on the European side of the Bosphorus and Hel- lespont. East of the Halys dwelt the people of Syro- Arabian or Semitic race, Assyrians, Syrians, and Kappadokians, as well as Kilikians, Pamphylians, and Solymi, along its upper course and farther southward to the Pamphylian sea. West- ward of the Halys, the languages were not Semitic, but belonging to a totally different family, 1 cognate, yet distinct one from an- 1 Hcrodot. i, 72 ; Heeren, Idccn iiber den Verkehr der Altcn Welt, part i abth. i, pp. 142-145. It may be remarked, however, that the Armenians, east- ward of the Halys, are treated by Herodotus as colonists from the Phrygians (vii, 73) : Stephanus Byz. says the same, v, 'Appevia, adding also, Kal ry fuvfi TroAAu pvyiovai. The more careful researches of n odern linguists after much groundless assertion on the part of those whc preceded them, have shown that the Armenian language belongs in its structure to the Indo