ETYMOLOGICAL NOTE. Hellas. The name first applied to a city and district of Thessaly, over which Hellen, son of Deucalion, was king. It was, however, afterwards extended to the northern portion of Greece. Morea derives its name either from the fancied resemblance of the shape of the country to which it is applied, to that of the leaf of a mulberry-tree, or from these trees growing in great abundance here, moros being the Greek for a mulberry-leaf. Thermopyla. So designated in allusion to the hot baths or springs in the neighbourhood, from the Greek thermos, hot, and pulæ, gates. Attica has had two important etymologies advanced for its explanation:1. Some affirm that it is derived from Atthis, daughter of Cranaus, one of the first kings of Attica; 2. While others say that it was so called in allusion to its maritime position. Prior to its receiving this name, Attica was called Mopsopia, from Mopsus, one of its kings. It was also known as Cecropia, or the kingdom of Cecrops, another of its early kings. Beotia, or Boeotia. From the Greek bous, an ox; Cadmus, it is reported, having been led by an ox to the spot where he built the city. Some, however, derive it from Bootus, the son of Itonus. Negropont was anciently called Macris, from the Greek makros, long, on account of its great length. The modern term Negropont is arrived at by a series of corruptions from Euripus, the name applied to the modern Gulf of Negropont. Euripus is deduced from the Greek particle eu, well, and ripto, to dart, from the rapidity of its current. Some, however, affirm that Negropont means the dark bridge, pont (from the Latin pons) being the French for a bridge, the bridge alluded to connecting the island with the continent. Nauplia, or Napoli di Romania, is, like Naples, a contracted form of Neapolis, the new city. Corinth was so designated from Corinthus, a son of Jove. Achaia was first known as Egialus, which referred to its maritime position. Arcadia, the nome, took its name from Arcas (a descendant of Pelasgus), who taught the people the art of weaving, as also that of making bread. It had been previously called Drymotis, or the woody region, from drus (Greek), an oak, the district to which it is applied having been famous for its large number of oak-trees. The Cyclades form as it were, a circle or ring around Paros, kuklos being the Greek word for circle. The Sporades, that portion of Greece including the scattered islands, are intermingled with the Cyclades, and derive their name from the Greek sporos, scattered. Peloponnesus was the name given by the ancients to the peninsula of Greece. It signifies the island of Pelops, from the Greek nesos, an island, and Pelops, who, having married Hippodamia, daughter of the king of Pisa, in Elis, ultimately became so powerful that his name was imparted to the Greek peninsula. Anterior to this it was called Apia, from Apis, a son of Apollo, and Pelasgia, from the Pelasgi. INTERNAL COMMUNICATION. There are neither any railroads nor canals in Greece; and the only road worthy the name is that which extends from Athens to Piræus, its port. The other roads, which are of the most wretched description, are infested by bands of robbers. In the mountainous districts the transport of both goods and passengers is effected by means of horses and mules. PRINCIPAL GREEK WRITERS IN LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. POETRY.-Homer, Hesiod, Tyrtæus, Sappho, Anacreon, Pindar, Eschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. HISTORY.-Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Polybius, Diodorus Siculus, Diogenes, Laertius, and Plutarch. ORATORY.-Empedocles, Gorgias, Isocrates, Demosthenes, Æschines, Hermogenes, and Longinus. PHILOSOPHY.-Thales of Miletus, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Democritus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Zeno, and Plotinus. MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY.- Eudoxus, Euclid, Eratosthenes, Archimedes, Apollonius, Hipparchus, Ptolemy, Diocles Proclus, Isidorus, and Diophantus. GEOGRAPHY.-Posidonius, and Strabo. MEDICINE. -Esculapius, Hippocrates, Herophilus, and Galen. FINE ARTS.-Agetadas, Myron, Phidias, Polycletus, Polyguotus, Apelles, and Aristides. MINOR NOTES. EXPORTS AND IMPORTS.-The exports are chiefly raw produce, as cotton, corn, currants, and other fruits, silk, olive-oil, tobacco, wool, honey, wax, gum, and valonia bark. Imports:-Manufactured goods and colonial produce (as sugar, coffee, &c.) from Western Europe; and flax, timber, rice, drugs, and other articles from the Turkish provinces in Europe and Asia. The commercial intercourse maintained by Constantinople is very great, as is also that with Trieste, Leghorn, and other ports of the Mediterranean. The mercantile marine in 1856 was very considerable, consisting of 5,052 vessels, with an aggregate burden of 295,000 tons, and 30,000 men. LANGUAGE. The language of modern Greece, which bears a great resemblance to the ancient Greek tongue, is called the Romaic. The Albanians speak the language of their Illyrian progenitors with great purity, whom they likewise closely follow in regard to national dress and manners. RELIGION.-The Greeks proper and the Albanians belong to the Greek or Eastern Church, which separated from the Romish or Western Church in 862 A.D. Other sects, however, exist, and are fairly tolerated, although all attempts at proselytism from the Greek Church are strictly prohibited. In the year 1845 there were (besides 25,000 Romanists and 3,000 Protestants) attached to the national church 974,000, with 2,123 priests and deacons; 138 convents, with 1,646 monks; and 4 nunneries, with 151 nuns. EDUCATION is at present in a very backward condition, though great efforts are being made to raise it. Every village possesses its school, every town its gymnasium, and Athens its university, with 40 professors and 600 students. There are also many normal, polytechnic, and naval schools, and the educational establishments in the kingdom contain in the aggregate 58,674 pupils, taught by 989 professors or teachers. "The literary activity of Greece," says Dr. Clyde, "is unexampled. Prior to 1821 it had not a single newspaper, or even a printing-press; now there are about 30 periodicals of one kind and another in Athens alone. This, however, is due to Athens being the literary capital, not only of Greece, but of the Greeks everywhere. The books published are chiefly translations and compilations from the French, German, and English. In Athens alone there are now a score of printing establishments, besides others in Syra, Nauplia, Patras, Tripolitza, and Chalcis. Books and newspapers are printed in modern Greek, which differs little from the Greek of the New Testament."-School Geography. ARMY AND NAVY.-The army, in 1857, consisted of 9,686 officers and men, and 687 horses; and the navy, in the same year, of two corvettes, a steam-ship, and twenty-three small vessels, which carried 149 guns. In 1857 the PUBLIC DEBT amounted to £8,250,000; the REVENUE to 23,000,000 drachms, or £835,625 sterling; and the EXPENDITURE to £753,000. |