DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5625#0166
142
Survey of the Ancient World
256. Greek
colonies in
the East —
southern Asia
Minor,
Cyprus, and
Africa
257. Dis-
covery of
the West
258. Greek
colonies in
the West —
southern
Italy
259. Sicily
and the
Far West
merchants were not only trafficking with the northern ^5igean'
but their vessels had penetrated the great northern sea, which
they called the " Pontus," known to us as the Black Sea (see
map, p. 140). Before 600 B.C. they girdled the Black Sea
with their towns and settlements, reaching the broad grain-
fields along the lower Danube and the iron mines of the old
Hittite country (§ 206 and map, p. 56).
In the East, along the southern coasts of Asia Minor, Greek
expansion was stopped by the Assyrian Sennacherib (§ i2°)'
The Greek colonies of Cyprus (see map, p. 140) long re'
mained the easternmost outposts of the Greek world. In tne
South they found a friendly reception in Egypt, and west ot
the Delta also they eventually founded Cyrene (map, p. 14°)'
It was the unknown West, however, which became the
America of the early Greek colonists. Looking westward fr0111
the western coast of Greece the seamen could discover the
shores of the heel of Italy, "only fifty miles distant. When they
had once crossed to it, they coasted around Sicily and far int0
the West. Here was a new world. Although the Phoenicia^
were already there (§ 227), its discovery was as momentous f°r
the Greeks as that of America for later Europe (see rnap>
p. 140).
By 750 B.C. their colonies appeared in this new Western
world, and within a century they fringed southern Italy fronl
the heel to a point well above the instep north of NapleS'
Hence this region of southern Italy came to be known aS
" Great Greece " (see map, p. 256). As the Greeks were by thlS
time superior in civilization to all the other dwellers in
Italy-
the civilized history of that great peninsula begins with the settle
ment of the Greeks there. They were the first to bring int°
Italy such things as writing, literature, architecture, and art
(§§ 500-505 and headpiece, p. 254).
The Greek colonists crossed over also to Sicily (see Plate' ■
p. 144), where they drove out the Phoenician trading p°sts
except at the western end of the island; there the Phoenician5
Survey of the Ancient World
256. Greek
colonies in
the East —
southern Asia
Minor,
Cyprus, and
Africa
257. Dis-
covery of
the West
258. Greek
colonies in
the West —
southern
Italy
259. Sicily
and the
Far West
merchants were not only trafficking with the northern ^5igean'
but their vessels had penetrated the great northern sea, which
they called the " Pontus," known to us as the Black Sea (see
map, p. 140). Before 600 B.C. they girdled the Black Sea
with their towns and settlements, reaching the broad grain-
fields along the lower Danube and the iron mines of the old
Hittite country (§ 206 and map, p. 56).
In the East, along the southern coasts of Asia Minor, Greek
expansion was stopped by the Assyrian Sennacherib (§ i2°)'
The Greek colonies of Cyprus (see map, p. 140) long re'
mained the easternmost outposts of the Greek world. In tne
South they found a friendly reception in Egypt, and west ot
the Delta also they eventually founded Cyrene (map, p. 14°)'
It was the unknown West, however, which became the
America of the early Greek colonists. Looking westward fr0111
the western coast of Greece the seamen could discover the
shores of the heel of Italy, "only fifty miles distant. When they
had once crossed to it, they coasted around Sicily and far int0
the West. Here was a new world. Although the Phoenicia^
were already there (§ 227), its discovery was as momentous f°r
the Greeks as that of America for later Europe (see rnap>
p. 140).
By 750 B.C. their colonies appeared in this new Western
world, and within a century they fringed southern Italy fronl
the heel to a point well above the instep north of NapleS'
Hence this region of southern Italy came to be known aS
" Great Greece " (see map, p. 256). As the Greeks were by thlS
time superior in civilization to all the other dwellers in
Italy-
the civilized history of that great peninsula begins with the settle
ment of the Greeks there. They were the first to bring int°
Italy such things as writing, literature, architecture, and art
(§§ 500-505 and headpiece, p. 254).
The Greek colonists crossed over also to Sicily (see Plate' ■
p. 144), where they drove out the Phoenician trading p°sts
except at the western end of the island; there the Phoenician5