Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/120

The People. 99 This defeat stopped their advance, but not for long. After an interval of perhaps a hundred years, the invasion was happily accomplished by another route, that which were wont to follow the iEolian tribes of Western Hellas, closely related to clans of the same descent, having their seats in JEVis. After having turned Parnassus, and borne down whatever resistance they met in JEtoViB,, the Dorians crossed on rafts, near Nau- pactus, the bay which here is a mere inlet of the sea, and then penetrated inland. They first marched upon Argolis, the primitive home of the hero whose heirs their leaders pretended to be. But all reminiscences of the varying fortune which had attended the long struggle waged by the inhabitants against the intruders were forgotten. In some parts the Achaeans compounded with the invaders, and divided the land with them without striking a blow ; such was the case at Phthiotis ; ^ elsewhere they stood out for their own. Many of their strongholds, Tiryns, Mycenae, and Argos for example, were strong enough to check an enemy with no experience of siege-warfare, for it often became necessary to invest the place before final surrender. Innate energy and perseverance finally gave the Dorians lordship over the whole of the western and southern coasts of Peloponnesus, from Megara to Messenia. But they neither ventured into the valleys of Arcadia nor on the table-lands, which continued in the hands of the Pelasgians ; nor did they penetrate into -^lis, where the inhabitants maintained themselves. In regard to the body of Achaeans which had not accepted the supremacy of the triumphant invaders, it fell back on that piece of the northern coast where, up to that time, had lived peaceful Ionian populations, settled in the dodecapolis or twelve towns which rose here in succession, and had formed themselves into a federation having as religious centre the temple of Poseidon at Helik^. These towns fell one after another, and the territory which had previously been known as ^Egialieis or strand, received the name of Achaia at the hands of its new lords. The vast majority of the lonians took shelter in Attica ; and in the peaceful inhabitants of Marathon they recognized people of the same kith and kin. Other Ionian detachments found there a retreat covered by the ramparts of Cithaeron and Parnes, and from that time forth the Ionic element was supreme in Attica. 1 Pausanias.