Page:History of Greece Vol III.djvu/297

 WEALTH OF TARTESSUS. 8] of' Messina. 1 There can be little doubt that the progress of tht Phokceans was very slow, and the foundation of Massalia (Mar- seilles), one of the most remote of all Greek colonies, may for a time have absorbed their attention : moreover, they had to pick up information as they Avent on, and the voyage was one of dis- covery in the strict sense of the word. The time at which they reached Tartessus may seemingly be placed between 570- 560 B. c. They made themselves so acceptable to Arganthonius, king of Tartessus, or at least king of part of that region, that he urged them to relinquish their city of Phokaea and estab- lish themselves in his territory, offering to them any site which they chose to occupy. Though they declined this tempting offer, yet he still continued anxious to aid them against dangers at home, and gave them a large donation of money, whereby they were enabled at a critical moment to complete their fortifi cations. Arganthonius died shortly afterwards, having lived, we are told, to the extraordinary age of one hundred and twenty years, of which he had reigned eighty. The Phokaeans had probably reason to repent of their refusal, since in no very long time their town was taken by the Persians, half their citizens became ex- iles, and were obliged to seek a precarious abode in Corsica, in place of the advantageous settlement which old Arganthonius had offered to them in Tartessus. 2 By such steps did the Greeks gradually track out the lines of Phenician commerce in the Mediterranean, and accomplish that vast improvement in their geographical knowledge, the circum- navigation of what Eratosthenes and Strabo termed " our sea," as distinguished from the external ocean. 3 Little practical ad- vantage, however, was derived from the discovery, which was only made during the last years of Ionian independence. The Ionian cities became subjects of Persia, and Phokaea especially, was crippled and half-depopulated in the struggle. Had the period of Ionian enterprise been prolonged, we should probably have heard of other Greek settlements in Iberia and Tartessus, over and above Emporia and Rhadus, formed by the Massaliots 1 Ephorus, Frngm. 52, cd. Marx ; Strabo, vi, p. 267.
 * Herodot. i, 165.
 * 'H $' ty/uuc tfuAauaa I Strabo) ; n/o-Je r7/f i?a/ld-r^f (Herod, iv, 41)