4. The DRYOPIANS (the fragments of whose history we here introduce) are an aboriginal nation, which may be called Pelasgic, since Aristotle and others assign to them an Arcadian origin.(156) Their affinity with the Arcadians is confirmed by the worship paid by them to Demeter Chthonia, to Cora Melibœa, and Hades Clymenus: which bore a great resemblance to those of Phigaleia, Thelpusa, and other towns in Arcadia.(157) Their territory bordered upon that of the Malians, so that they extended into the valley of the Spercheus beyond Œta, and in the other direction as far as Parnassus;(158) to the east their settlements reached to Thermopylæ.(159) Their expulsion is related in a manner entirely mythical, being connected with the propagation of the worship of Apollo (which is intimately allied with the migrations of the Dorians), and also with the adventures of Hercules; but when a clue to this method of narration is once discovered, it will be found to be equally, or perhaps more, instructive, and to convey much fuller information than a bare historical narrative. In the present instance, the Pythian Apollo is represented as the god to whom the vanquished Dryopians are sent as slaves, and who despatches them to Peloponnesus;(160) and Hercules, in conjunction with the Trachinians, subdues and consecrates them to Apollo, or assigns to them settlements in Argolis, but allots their land to the Dorians or Malians.(161)
From this tradition we might perhaps infer that the Dryopians accompanied the Dorians in their migration to Peloponnesus, and settled there with them. But the situation of the places belonging to the Dryopians makes it necessary to seek some other explanation; for the colonies of this race lie scattered over so many coasts and islands, that they can only have been planted by single expeditions over the sea. In Argolis, for instance, they built Hermione, Asine, and Eion (Halieis), upon projecting headlands and promontories; in Eubœa, Styra and Carystus belonged to them;(162) among the islands they had settlements in Cythnos(163) and perhaps Myconos; they had also penetrated as far as Ionia and Cyprus.(164) Hence it must be inferred that the Dryopians, harassed or dislodged by their neighbours, dispersed in various directions over the sea. It is, however, _historically_ certain that a great part of the Dryopians were consecrated as a subject people to the Pythian Apollo (an usage of ancient times, of which there are many instances), and that for a long time they served as such; for even in the fragmentary history of the destruction of Crissa (Olymp. 47, 590 B.C.), we find _Craugallidæ_ mentioned together with the Crissæans,(165) which was a name of the Dryopians derived from a fabulous ancestor.(166) The condition of the subjects of temples, and consequently of these Craugallidæ, will be treated of at large in another place.(167)