Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/98

The People. t^j they had set up in connection with their factories did not disappear with them. Some few families of artisans elected to remain in a place in which they were known and sure of a market for their wares, rather than join in the exodus of their countrymen. As a Greek city, Corinth continued the fabrication of potteries, for which there was a great demand in many parts of the world ; she kept the secret of the purple dye ; and her rich fabrics, tapestries, and broideries were justly prized. We are still on the track of the Phoenicians, if from Corinth we cross over to the Bay of -^gina. They gave the name of Salamis, which we have already met in Cyprus, to an island off the coast of Attica, which it preserves to this day. In it may be recognized the Semitic word shalam, *' peace " ; passing to the Greeks, who have no equivalent for the English sound sh^ it easily became Salam, Under this denomination were meant localities to which full liberty of traffic was guaranteed by formal agreements. On the mainland, in Attica, the sole instance of Oriental interference is found in the legend of Cecrops, who was supposed to have come from Egypt. The basin which later became Pirseus was still surrounded by morasses of considerable extent, which parted it from the plain; besides, the peninsular situation of Attica did not hold out the shortest routes by which foreign exports might be conveniently dispatched inland. Whereas purple fishers and traders alike, after crossing the Archipelago, were glad enough to find the Euripaean channel, into which they could run in their ships and make long stays. Euboea was full of forests, and the murex was plentiful at the approaches of the headlands of the Magnesian peninsula; along the Anthedon shores sponges could be had for the picking. Cereals of all kinds found an easy market in such countries as Thessaly and Bceotia ; which, thanks to qualities inherent to their soil, drew people very early to themselves, and caused the occupiers to become rich. The Spercheiis and Peneiis unlocked the fairest lands of Hellas. Towards the middle of the strait, near Hyria and Aulis, a narrow swelling of the ground, hardly to be dignified by the name of hill, rises like a screen in front of the low stretches of Boeotia ; the ridge is broken at stated intervals towards the top, thus allowing a passage for mules which long usage has turned into paths. It would appear that the Phoenicians, attracted by this fertile plain with its thick layer of