to Athens; Ogyges reigned in Attica about A. M. 2244," " and the descendants of Telchin, third king of Sicyon, went and settled in the island Rhodes A. M. 2284. Prometheus lived about A. M. 2840. He was fabulously reported to have made men, because he was a very wise man, and new formed the ignorant by his precepts and instructions; we have no certain account in what part of Greece he lived. Callithyia was the first priestess of Juno at Argos, A. M. 2381.* Atlas lived about A. M. 2385; he was a most excellent astronomer for the times he lived in, and his great skill this way occasioned it to be said of him in after-ages, that he supported the heavens. He lived near Tanagra a city upon the river Ismenus in Boeotia, near to which place his posterity were said to be found, by the writers of after-ages. Homer supposes Calypso a descendant of this Atlas, who detained Ulysses, to be queen of an island," το Όθι τ' ομφαλος επι θαλασσης Νησος δενδρήεσσα • i. e. of the island Atalanta, near the Sinus Meliacus in the Euripus, over-against Opus, a city of Boeotia. u Wells' map of the mid parts of ancient Greece. * See Strabo Geograph. 1. 1. c. 9. The reader will, I am sensible, find but little certainty of the situation of Calypso's island. Solon gave an account, that there was a The several kingdoms which were raised in the other parts of Greece, began not much before or after Cecrops came to Attica. Pelasgus was the first king of Arcadia, and his son Lycaon was contemporary with Cecrops. Actaus, whom Cecrops succeeded, was the first king of Attica. Athlius, the first king of Elis, was the grandson of Deucalion; and therefore later than Cecrops. Ephyre daughter of Oceanus is said to have first governed the Corinthians; but we know nothing more of her than her name. The Corinthian history must begin from Marathon, who was the son of Epopeus, and planted a colony in this country. Epopeus lived about the time of Cadmus; for he fought with, and wounded Nycteus, who was guardian to Labdacus the grandson of Cadmus; therefore Marathon the son of Epopeus must come to Corinth many years later than Cadmus came into Greece. Phocus, the first king of Phocis, b C really such a place when Homer wrote, but that it is since his time sunk in the sea, i. e. he could not tell where to find it. Some writers place it near to Egypt. All I can offer for my supposed situation of it, is, the island Atalanta in the Euripus hits Homer's description exactly, ομφαλός εσι θαλασσης, better than any other island supposed to be the place, and it lies near the country where Pausanias informs us that Atlas the father of Calypso lived; and Ulysses' voyages as described by Homer may be well reconciled with this position of it. Pausanias in Arcadicis. a Id. in Eliacis. e Id. in Corinthiacis, c. 6. b Id. in Atticis. Id. in Corinthiacis. d Pausanias in Phocidis. was five descents younger than Marathon; for Ornytion was father of Phocus, Sisyphus was father of Ornytion; Sisyphus succeeded Jason and Medea in the kingdom of Corinth, and Jason and Medea succeeded Corinthus the son of Marathon; so that the inhabitants of Phocis became a people, several generations later than Cadmus. Lelex formed the Lacedemonians much earlier; for Menelaus, who warred at Troy, was their eleventh king, so that Lelex reigned about the time of Cecrops. The Messenians lived at first in little neighbourhoods, but at the death of Lelex the first king of Sparta, Polycaon one of his sons became king of this country. These were the first beginnings of the several kingdoms of Greece; and before the persons I have mentioned formed them for society, the inhabitants of the several parts of it lived a wandering life, reaping such fruits of the earth as grew spontaneously, each father managing his own family or little company; and having little or no acquaintance with one another, like the cyclops in Homer; or, where most civilized, like the men of Laish, they dwelt careless after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure, and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame e Id. in Corinthiacis c. 4. h Id. in Laconicis.. Homer Odyss. 9. v. 108. f Id. ibid. g Id. ibid. c. 3. i Id. in Messeniacis. Ούτε φυτεύεσι χερσι φυτον, ετ αρούσιν, in any thing: and they had no business with any man. Most writers, who have mentioned either Ogyges or Deucalion, have recorded that a deluge happened in each of their kingdoms. Attica, they say, was overflowed in the reign of Ogyges, and Thessaly in the reign of Deucalion. It is most reasonable however to think, that there were no extraordinary floods in either of these countries in the times of Deucalion or Ogyges; but that what the heathen writers offer about these supposed deluges, were only such hints as came down to their hands respecting the universal deluge in the days of Noah. Attica, in which Ogyges' flood is supposed to have happened, is so high situated, that it is hard to suppose any inundation of waters here, unless the greatest part of the world were drowned at the same time. Its rivers are but few, and even the largest of them almost without water in summer time;' and its hills are so many, that it cannot well be conceived how its inhabitants should perish in a deluge particularly confined to this country. Hieronymus in his Latin version of Eusebius' Chronicon, seems to have been sensible that no such flood could be well supposed to have happened in Attica; and therefore removes the story into Egypt," supposing Egypt to have suffered a deluge in the time of Ogyges' reign. But the most 'Strabo Georgr. lib. 9. p. 400. m His words are, Diluvium Ægypti hoc tempore fuit, quod factum est sub Ogyge. learned dean Prideaux remarks from Suidas, and Hesychius, that the Greek used the word (yvysov) Ogygian, proverbially, to signify any thing which happened in the most ancient times. Therefore by the Flood of Ogyges they meant, not any particular deluge, which overflowed his or any other single country; but only some very ancient flood, which happened in the most early times, and such was the flood of Noah. The Greek chronology of the early ages was very imperfect; they had some hints, that there had been an universal deluge; they apprehended nothing to be more ancient than the times of Ogyges, and therefore they called this deluge by his name; not intending hereby to hint that it happened precisely in his days, but only intimating that it had been in the most early times. As to Deucalion's flood, Cedrenus and Johannes Antiochenus were of opinion, that Deucalion left his people a written history of the universal deluge; and that their posterity many ages after his death, supposed his account to be a relation of what happened in the time when he lived; and so they called the flood, which he treated of, by his name. But to this it is very justly objected, that letters were not in use in Greece so early as Deucalion's days; so that it is not to be supposed, that he could leave any memoirs or inscriptions of what had happened before his time; but then a small correction of what is hinted "Not. Historic, ad Chronic. Marm. • Suidas in Voc. Byvyiov. P Hesych. in 'nyvyion. Prideaux in Notis Historicis ad Chron. Marm. Ep. 1. |
