=4.= Central Greece was occupied by eleven states: At´tica, Meg´aris, Bœo´tia, Malis, Ænia´nia, eastern and western Locris, Phocis, Doris, Æto´lia, and Ac´arna´nia. Between Ætolia and Doris, Mount Pindus divides into two branches. One of these runs south-easterly into Attica, and comprises the noted summits of Parnas´sus, Hel´icon, Cithæ´ron, and Hymet´tus; the other turns to the southward, and reaches the sea near the entrance of the Corinthian Gulf.
Attica is a triangular peninsula, having two sides washed by the sea and its base united to the land. Protected by its mountain barriers of Cithæron and Par´nes, it suffered less from war in early times than other parts of the country; and the olive, its chief production, became for all ages a symbol of peace.
=5.= Southern Greece contained eleven countries: Cor´inth, Sicyo´nia, Acha´ia, E´lis, Arca´dia, Messe´nia, Laco´nia, Ar´golis, Epidau´ria, Trœze´nia, and Hermi´onis.
The territory of Corinth occupied the isthmus between the Corinthian and Saronic gulfs; and by its two ports, Lechæ´um and Cen´chreae, carried on an extensive commerce both with the eastern and western seas. Thus admirably situated, Corinth, the chief city, was noted for its wealth even in the time of Homer.
Sicyonia was considered the oldest state in Greece, and Argolis next. The ruins of Tir´yns and Myce´næ, in the latter, existed long before the beginning of authentic history.
Elis was the Holy Land of the Helle´nes. Every foot of its territory was sacred to Zeus, and it was sacrilege to bear arms within its limits. Thus it was at peace when all Greece beside was at war; and though its wealth surpassed that of all the neighboring states, its capital remained unwalled.
Arcadia, the Switzerland of the Peloponnesus, was the only Grecian state without a sea-coast. Its wild, precipitous rocks were clothed in gloomy forests, and buried during a great part of the year in fogs and snows. Its people were rustic and illiterate; they worshiped Pan, the god of shepherds and hunters, but if they returned empty-handed from the chase, they expressed their disgust by pricking or scourging his image.
Messenia occupied the south-western corner of Greece, and encircled a gulf to which it gave its name. Laconia embraced the other two promontories in which the Peloponnesus terminates, together with a larger tract to the northward. It consisted mainly of a long valley bounded by two high ranges, whence it was sometimes called _Hollow_ La´cedæ´mon. Down the center of the vale flowed the Euro´tas, whose sources were in the steep recesses of Mount Tay´getus. Sparta, the capital, was the only important town. It lay on the Eurotas about twenty miles from the sea, inclosed by an amphitheater of mountains which shut out cooling winds and concentrated the sun’s rays, so as to produce intense heat in summer.