DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2532#0107
86
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
is misled by the ambiguous use of the term "Argos." lie himself felt, what has been felt often in
the writing of this very book, that it is important and difficult to make clear whether one is using
the term " Argos " to mean the district or country or the city. lie labored under this difficulty
himself at the outset of his description in the fifth chapter of the fifth book, and he carefully
weighs Homer's use of the term to show that it was used, not only for the district, but also for
the Peloponnesus, — nay, the whole of Hellas.1 But he at once lapses into this error which he
tries to avoid when, further on,2 he says : " And I think that the reputation of this city brought
it about that both Pelasgians and Danaans, as well as the Argives themselves, were named after it.
And for that, the Greeks as well." And a few lines below he quotes those passages from Homer
in which the term " Argos " is used to include Sparta and Corinth and islands. No doubt he finds
it difficult 3 to understand how the city of Argos could be called parched and waterless, with its
river flowing by it, and considers the tale a figment of the poets ; for he cannot see how the tra-
dition of the sinking of wells associated with Danaus, which turned, in the words of Euripides,
the waterless (dvuSpoi') Argos into a plain rich in water (e&jSpov), applied to the district on the
other side of the Inachus, made fertile at this very day by a like system of wells.
For Strabo the history of the district begins with the Danaans, whom he associates exclusively
with the city of Argos and Mycenae. " When the descendants of Danaus," he says,4 " received the
inheritance of his sway in Argos, and there mixed with them the Amythaonidae, originating in
Pisatis and Triphylia, one would not wonder that, kinsmen as they were, they divided the district
into two kingdoms : at first, in such a way that the two sovereign cities in those kingdoms were to
be seen situated close to one another at a distance of less than fifty stadia, — namely, the cities of
Argos and Mycenae, — and that the Heraeum, standing towards Mycenae, was the sanctuary com-
mon to both of them." It will be seen that he has entirely omitted any mention of Tiryns. He
then summarizes the history of the district in the following terms : " Originally, then, Argos was
the more predominant, after that Mycenae, which received considerable impulse through the immi-
gration of the Pelopidae to it. For after all had joined the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon, as being
the older, received the sovereignty, and, by the aid of good fortune and ability combined, added a
large district of the country to the possessions which he had before received. And, in particular,
he added the Argolic district to the Mycenaean. Thus Menelaus had the Laconian district; while
Mycenae and the country as far as Corinth and Sicyon, and the land which at that time was called
the land of the Ionians and Aegaleans, fell to the share of Agamemnon. We are told that, after
the Trojan war, Agamemnon's rule came to an end, and Mycenae was humbled : and this was
especially so after the return of the Heraclidae. For the Heraclidae occupied Peloponnesus, and
expelled the former rulers ; so that those who held Argos also held Mycenae, now united with
Argos. But in after years Mycenae was destroyed by the Argives, so that now not a trace of the
city of the Mycenaeans is to be found [?]. Seeing that such has been the fate of Mycenae, one
ought not to wonder if some of the places catalogued under Argos are no longer in existence."
And thus Strabo leads over to his short account of the " deserted " Tiryns and Midea.
It has been necessary to quote this passage in full, because it makes clear that the researches of
Strabo do not lead him further back than the Danaans, since he is restricted to the Homeric poems
as his supreme guide. We may also point to the change of locution, the moment his Homeric
information ceases with the downfall of the house of Atreus as bearing upon this question.
For, without warning, he passes from the direct statement to quotation in using the infinitive
(TaTravu>6rjvai), which lie has not used before, and which he does not apply afterwards when he
comes to the inroad of the Dorians.
NOTE B (See page 12).
Our primary interest in the ancient remains of this important site and their history need not
debar us from dwelling for a moment upon the supreme beauty of the natural scenery. Indeed,
the primary claim to archaeological and historical interest which the country of Greece naturally
309. " VIII. G. 4 and 5, 370.
1 Cf. end of Till. 6.
2 VIII. C. 0, 371.
3 VIII. G. 4 and 5,
4 VIII. G. 10, 372.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
is misled by the ambiguous use of the term "Argos." lie himself felt, what has been felt often in
the writing of this very book, that it is important and difficult to make clear whether one is using
the term " Argos " to mean the district or country or the city. lie labored under this difficulty
himself at the outset of his description in the fifth chapter of the fifth book, and he carefully
weighs Homer's use of the term to show that it was used, not only for the district, but also for
the Peloponnesus, — nay, the whole of Hellas.1 But he at once lapses into this error which he
tries to avoid when, further on,2 he says : " And I think that the reputation of this city brought
it about that both Pelasgians and Danaans, as well as the Argives themselves, were named after it.
And for that, the Greeks as well." And a few lines below he quotes those passages from Homer
in which the term " Argos " is used to include Sparta and Corinth and islands. No doubt he finds
it difficult 3 to understand how the city of Argos could be called parched and waterless, with its
river flowing by it, and considers the tale a figment of the poets ; for he cannot see how the tra-
dition of the sinking of wells associated with Danaus, which turned, in the words of Euripides,
the waterless (dvuSpoi') Argos into a plain rich in water (e&jSpov), applied to the district on the
other side of the Inachus, made fertile at this very day by a like system of wells.
For Strabo the history of the district begins with the Danaans, whom he associates exclusively
with the city of Argos and Mycenae. " When the descendants of Danaus," he says,4 " received the
inheritance of his sway in Argos, and there mixed with them the Amythaonidae, originating in
Pisatis and Triphylia, one would not wonder that, kinsmen as they were, they divided the district
into two kingdoms : at first, in such a way that the two sovereign cities in those kingdoms were to
be seen situated close to one another at a distance of less than fifty stadia, — namely, the cities of
Argos and Mycenae, — and that the Heraeum, standing towards Mycenae, was the sanctuary com-
mon to both of them." It will be seen that he has entirely omitted any mention of Tiryns. He
then summarizes the history of the district in the following terms : " Originally, then, Argos was
the more predominant, after that Mycenae, which received considerable impulse through the immi-
gration of the Pelopidae to it. For after all had joined the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon, as being
the older, received the sovereignty, and, by the aid of good fortune and ability combined, added a
large district of the country to the possessions which he had before received. And, in particular,
he added the Argolic district to the Mycenaean. Thus Menelaus had the Laconian district; while
Mycenae and the country as far as Corinth and Sicyon, and the land which at that time was called
the land of the Ionians and Aegaleans, fell to the share of Agamemnon. We are told that, after
the Trojan war, Agamemnon's rule came to an end, and Mycenae was humbled : and this was
especially so after the return of the Heraclidae. For the Heraclidae occupied Peloponnesus, and
expelled the former rulers ; so that those who held Argos also held Mycenae, now united with
Argos. But in after years Mycenae was destroyed by the Argives, so that now not a trace of the
city of the Mycenaeans is to be found [?]. Seeing that such has been the fate of Mycenae, one
ought not to wonder if some of the places catalogued under Argos are no longer in existence."
And thus Strabo leads over to his short account of the " deserted " Tiryns and Midea.
It has been necessary to quote this passage in full, because it makes clear that the researches of
Strabo do not lead him further back than the Danaans, since he is restricted to the Homeric poems
as his supreme guide. We may also point to the change of locution, the moment his Homeric
information ceases with the downfall of the house of Atreus as bearing upon this question.
For, without warning, he passes from the direct statement to quotation in using the infinitive
(TaTravu>6rjvai), which lie has not used before, and which he does not apply afterwards when he
comes to the inroad of the Dorians.
NOTE B (See page 12).
Our primary interest in the ancient remains of this important site and their history need not
debar us from dwelling for a moment upon the supreme beauty of the natural scenery. Indeed,
the primary claim to archaeological and historical interest which the country of Greece naturally
309. " VIII. G. 4 and 5, 370.
1 Cf. end of Till. 6.
2 VIII. C. 0, 371.
3 VIII. G. 4 and 5,
4 VIII. G. 10, 372.