DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4593#0292
268 THE ISLES AND SHRINES OF GREECE
setts, Vermont, Georgia, and Ohio. The central
magnet which, added to the charms of Greece, drew
these twenty-seven atoms from two continents, was the
personality of Dr. Dorpfeld. The babel of tongues
found a peaceful resolution in the German language,
especially when he spoke it. Nearly all the members
of the party were classical professors, teachers, stu-
dents, or curators of museums, but diplomacy was
represented by the Servian minister. As a part of
the journey was to be made by rail and by carriage,
a few ladies accompanied us as far as Mycenae. The
itinerary of the expedition covered thirteen days,
from March 25 to April 6, and included all the most
important points between Athens and Olympia.
The history of Greece is clearer when you have
studied its geography and seen how natural bound-
aries of mountain or water perpetuated tribal divi-
sions and furnished obstacles to political unity. The
narrow isthmus which joins Attica and the Pelopon-
nesus was a barrier or a highway according to the
mood in which the ancients happened to look at it.
It was a highway for the landsman and a barrier for
the sailor. It permitted an easy passage of hostile
troops, but as it was only three and a half to four
miles wide it was not difficult to throw across it the
Isthmian wall, which furnished a military barrier
where nature had failed to build one. On the other
hand, this narrow strip of land was a provoking
barrier between the Corinthian and the Saronic gulfs;
and if this ligament binding the peninsulas were cut,
the divided waters would flow together and the Pelo-
ponnesus become an island. So the Greeks tried first
to put up a wall of separation between the rival lands,
setts, Vermont, Georgia, and Ohio. The central
magnet which, added to the charms of Greece, drew
these twenty-seven atoms from two continents, was the
personality of Dr. Dorpfeld. The babel of tongues
found a peaceful resolution in the German language,
especially when he spoke it. Nearly all the members
of the party were classical professors, teachers, stu-
dents, or curators of museums, but diplomacy was
represented by the Servian minister. As a part of
the journey was to be made by rail and by carriage,
a few ladies accompanied us as far as Mycenae. The
itinerary of the expedition covered thirteen days,
from March 25 to April 6, and included all the most
important points between Athens and Olympia.
The history of Greece is clearer when you have
studied its geography and seen how natural bound-
aries of mountain or water perpetuated tribal divi-
sions and furnished obstacles to political unity. The
narrow isthmus which joins Attica and the Pelopon-
nesus was a barrier or a highway according to the
mood in which the ancients happened to look at it.
It was a highway for the landsman and a barrier for
the sailor. It permitted an easy passage of hostile
troops, but as it was only three and a half to four
miles wide it was not difficult to throw across it the
Isthmian wall, which furnished a military barrier
where nature had failed to build one. On the other
hand, this narrow strip of land was a provoking
barrier between the Corinthian and the Saronic gulfs;
and if this ligament binding the peninsulas were cut,
the divided waters would flow together and the Pelo-
ponnesus become an island. So the Greeks tried first
to put up a wall of separation between the rival lands,