Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/10

 2 STRABO. CASAUB. 333. they exist at present, but as they existed anciently, and the greater part of which have been rendered obscure by time. We must however undertake this inquiry as far as we are able, beginning from the point where our description ended. It ended with an account of the Epirotic and Illyrian nations on the west and north, and of Macedonia as far as Byzantium on the east. After the Epirotae and Illyrii follow the Acarnanes, 1 the .^Etoli, the Locri-Ozolse, then the Phoca3enses and Breoti, Grecian nations. Opposite to these on the other side of the strait is Peloponnesus, which comprises the Gulf of Corinth, 2 interposed between, and determining the figure of the latter, from which it also receives its own. Next to Macedonia 3 are the Thessalians, 4 extending as far as the Malienses, 5 and the other nations, situated on both sides of the isthmus. 2. There are many Greek tribes, but the chief people are equal in number to the Greek dialects with which we are acquainted, namely, four. Of these, the Ionic is the same as the ancient Attic ; (for lones was the former name of the in- habitants of Attica ; from thence came the lones who settled in Asia, 6 and use the dialect now called Ionic ;) the Doric was the same as the JEolic dialect, for all the people on the other side of the isthmus except the Athenians, the Megareans, and the Dorians about Parnassus, are even now called -ZEolians ; it is probable that the Dorians, from their being a small nation, and occupying a most rugged country, and from want of intercourse [with the ^Eolians], no longer resemble that people either in language or customs, and, although of the same race, have lost all appearance of affinity. It was the same with the Athenians, who inhabiting a rugged country with a light soil, escaped the ravages of invaders. As they always occupied the same territory, and no enemy attempted to expel them, nor had any desire to take possession of it them- selves, on this account they were, according to Thucydides, regarded as Autochthones, or an indigenous race. This was 1 The territory of the Acarnanes is still called Carnia, south of the Gulf of Arta. The rest of the countries mentioned by Strabo no longer retain the ancient divisions, Bosotia is the modern Livadhia. G. 2 The Gulf of Lepanto. 3 Makedunea. 4 The ancient Thessaly is the modern Vlakea. 5 The neighbourhood of the Gulf of 'Zeitun the ancient Maliac Gulf. 6 In Asia Minor, and founded the cities Miletus, Smyrna, Phocaea, &c.