Thus much concerning the situation of the Dorians in their settlements near mount Œta. The subject however is not yet exhausted; for we have still to trace the origin of the great influence which the establishment of the Dorians at Lycorea upon Parnassus had on the religion of Delphi (for that Lycorea was a Doric town will be made probable hereafter), as well as to treat of the Amphictyonic league, in the founding of which a very large share doubtless belonged to the Dorians: but the discussion of both these points must be deferred to the second book.(180)
As to the colonies of the Doric cities near mount Parnassus, Bulis on the frontiers of Phocis and Bœotia, on the Crissæan gulf, was probably founded from thence at the time of the Doric migration.(181)
§ 1. Migration of the Dorians into Peloponnesus represented as the return of the descendants of Hercules. § 2. Improbability of the common account. § 3. Sources of the common account. § 4. Legends inconsistent with the common account. § 5. Common account. The Heraclidæ fly from Trachis to Attica, and are assisted by the Athenians against Eurystheus. § 6. Expeditions of the Heraclidæ into Peloponnesus. § 7. Junction of the Heraclidæ with the Dorians. § 8. The Heraclidæ pass into Peloponnesus by Rhium. § 9. Connexion of the Dorians with the Locrians and Ætolians. § 10. Tisamenus and the Peloponnesians defeated by the Dorians. § 11. Partition of Peloponnesus. § 12. Immediate consequences of the immigration of the Dorians.
1. The most important, and the most fertile in consequences, of all the migrations of Grecian races, and which continued even to the latest periods to exert its influence upon the Greek character, was the expedition of the Dorians into Peloponnesus. It is however so completely enveloped in fables, and these were formed at a very early period in so connected a manner, that it is useless to examine it in detail, without first endeavouring to separate the component parts.
The traditionary name of this expedition is “_the Return of the descendants of Hercules_.”(182) Hercules, the son of Zeus is (even in the Iliad), both by birth and destiny, the hereditary prince of Tiryns and Mycenæ, and ruler of the surrounding nations.(183) But through some evil chance Eurystheus obtained the precedency, and the son of Zeus was compelled to serve him. Nevertheless he is represented as having bequeathed to his descendants his claims to the dominion of Peloponnesus, which they afterwards made good in conjunction with the Dorians; Hercules having also performed such actions in behalf of this race, that his descendants were always entitled to the possession of one-third of the territory. The heroic life of Hercules was therefore the mythical title, through which the Dorians were made to appear, not as unjustly invading, but merely as reconquering, a country which had belonged to their princes in former times. Hence Hercules is reported to have made war with some degree of propriety, and subdued the principal countries of the Doric race (except his native country Argos), Lacedæmon and the Messenian Pylus, to have established the national festival at Olympia, and even to have laid the foundation of the most distant colonies. To esteem as real these conquests and settlements, these mythical forerunners of real history, is incompatible with a clear view of these matters; and we could scarce seriously ask even the most credulous, how, at a time when sieges were in the highest degree tedious, Hercules could have stormed and taken so many fortresses, surrounded with almost impregnable walls?(184)