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== Ancient literary evidence == [[File:Pelasgian presence in ancient texts (English).svg|thumb|Map of Pelasgians and Pelasgus.]] Literary analysis has been ongoing since [[classical Greece]], when the writers of those times read previous works on the subject. No definitive answers were ever forthcoming by this method; it rather served to better define the problems. The method perhaps reached a peak in the [[Victorian era]] when new methods of systematic comparison began to be applied in [[philology]]. Typical of the era is the study by [[William Ewart Gladstone]], who was a trained classicist.<ref>{{harvnb|Gladstone|1858}}. The Pelasgians are covered especially in Volume I.</ref> Unless further ancient texts come to light, advances on the subject cannot be made. Therefore the most likely source of progress regarding the Pelasgians continues to be archaeology and related sciences. === The term "Pelasgians" in ancient sources === The definition of the term ''Pelasgians'' in ancient sources was fluid. The Pelasgians were variously described by ancient authors as [[Greeks|Greek]], semi-Greek, [[Barbarian|non-Greek]] and [[Pre-Greek substrate|pre-Greek]].{{Sfn|Lambright|2022|p=2, 31, 106-110}} There are no ''[[Emic and etic|emic]]'' perspectives of Pelasgian identity.{{Sfn|Lambright|2022|p=106}} According to an analysis by historian Tristn Lambright of [[Jacksonville State University]]: {{quote|text=While defining Greek identity in terms of collectivity or superiority{{nbs}}... Greek writers always had the option to resort to traditions about Pelasgian ancestors to emphasize the shared legacy of all Greeks as descendants of the autochthonous Pelasgians. By contrast, if the definition of Greek identity was parsed in terms of opposition, Greek writers could employ discourses about the alterity and barbarity of the Pelasgians to underline the distinction between Greek and non-Greek peoples. Consistently, however, Pelasgians appear in Greek literature as links to the Greeks' distant past. In this way, the Pelasgians enabled Greek writers to trace the historical roots of Greek identity, to explain the development of contemporary cultural conditions, and to promote Greek political projects in various political contexts.{{sfn|Lambright|2022|p=109}}}} === Poets === ==== Homer ==== [[File:Thessaly Plain.jpg|thumb|250px|Plain of [[Thessaly]], to the west of classical [[Pelasgiotis]], but in the original range of the Pelasgians. The [[Pindus Mountains]] are visible in the background. The river is the [[Pineios River (Thessaly)|Peneus]].]] In the ''[[Iliad]]'', there were Pelasgians on both sides of the [[Trojan War]].{{sfn|Gruen|2011|p=241}} In the section known as the ''[[Catalogue of Trojans]]'', they are mentioned between the [[Hellespont]]ine cities and the [[Thracians]] of Southeastern Europe (i.e.,{{nbs}}on the [[Hellespont]]ine border of [[Thrace]]).<ref>Homer. ''Iliad'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D2%3Acard%3D819 2.840–2.843]. The camp at [[Troy]] is mentioned in ''Iliad'', 10.428–10.429.</ref> Homer calls their town or district "Larisa"<ref>Not the same as the [[Larissa]] in [[Thessaly]], Greece. Many towns bearing the same (or similar) name existed. This specific "Larisa" seems to have been located in [[Asia]]. See: {{harvnb|Gruen|2011|p=241}}</ref> and characterises it as fertile, and its inhabitants as celebrated for their spearsmanship. He records their chiefs as [[Hippothous]] and [[Pylaeus]], sons of Lethus, son of [[Teutamides]].<ref>Homer. ''Iliad'' 2.806–12, 17.320–57 (transl. [[Robert Fitzgerald]]). See: {{harvnb|Gruen|2011|p=241}}</ref> The ''Iliad'' also refers to the camp at [[Greece]], specifically at "[[Argos Pelasgikon]]",<ref>Homer. ''Iliad'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D2%3Acard%3D653 2.681–2.684.]</ref>{{sfn|Gruen|2011|p=241}} which is most likely to be the [[plain of Thessaly]],<ref>The location is never explicitly given. Gladstone shows, by process of elimination, that it must be in the north of Thessaly. ({{harvnb|Gladstone|1858|pp=100–105}}.)</ref> and to "Pelasgic [[Zeus]]", living in and ruling over [[Dodona]].<ref>Homer. ''Iliad'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D16%3Acard%3D200 16.233–16.235.]</ref> Additionally, according to the ''Iliad'', Pelasgians were camping out on the shore together with the following tribes: <blockquote>Towards the sea lie the [[Carians]] and the [[Paeonians]], with curved bows, and the [[Leleges]] and [[Caucones]], and the goodly Pelasgi.<ref>Homer. ''Iliad'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.%20Il.%2010.428&lang=original 10.428].</ref></blockquote> In the ''[[Odyssey]]'', they appear among the inhabitants of [[Crete]].{{sfn|Gruen|2011|p=241}} [[Odysseus]], affecting to be Cretan himself, instances Pelasgians among the tribes in the ninety cities of [[Crete]], {{qi|language mixing with language side by side}}.<ref>Homer. ''Odyssey'', 19.175–19.177 ([[Robert Fagles]]'s translation).</ref> Last on his list, Homer distinguishes them from other ethnicities on the island: "Cretans proper", Achaeans, Cydonians (of the city of [[Kydonia|Cydonia]]/modern [[Chania]]), Dorians, and "noble Pelasgians".<ref>Homer. ''Odyssey'', Book 19 (T.E. Lawrence's translation).</ref> ==== Hesiod ==== [[Hesiod]], in a fragment known from [[Strabo]], calls Dodona, identified by reference to "the [[oak]]", the "seat of Pelasgians",<ref>Hesiod, fr. 319 M–W = Strabo. ''Geography'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/7G*.html#ref458 7.7.10].</ref> thus explaining why Homer, in referring to Zeus as he ruled over Dodona, did ''not'' style him "''Dodonic''" but ''Pelasgic'' Zeus. He mentions also that [[Pelasgus]] (Greek: Πελασγός, the [[eponymous]] ancestor of the Pelasgians) was the father of [[Lycaon (king of Arcadia)|King Lycaon]] of [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]].<ref>Hesiod. ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'', fr. 161 = Strabo. ''Geography'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/5B*.html#ref88 5.2.4]</ref> ==== Asius of Samos ==== [[Asius of Samos]] ({{langx|grc|Ἄσιος ὁ Σάμιος}}) describes [[Pelasgus]] as the first man, born of the earth.{{Sfn|Prichard|1841|p=489}} This account features centrally in the construction of an enduring autochthonous Arcadian identity into the [[Classical Greece|Classical period]].{{sfn|Lambright|2022|p=39}} In a fragment quoted by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], Asius describes the foundational hero of the Greek ethnic groups as {{qi|godlike Pelasgus [whom the] black earth gave up}}.{{sfn|Lambright|2022|p=33}} ==== Aeschylus ==== [[Aeschylus]] incorporates all the territories that the Archaic tradition identifies as Pelasgian, including [[Thessaly]] (the region of Homer's Pelasgian Argos), [[Dodona]] (the seat of Homer's Pelasgian Zeus), and [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]] (the region ruled by autochthonous [[Pelasgus]]'s son [[Lycaon (king of Arcadia)|Lycaon]]) into an Argive-Pelasgian kingdom ruled by Pelasgus. This affirms the ancient Greek origins of the Pelasgians as well as their widespread settlements throughout [[Central Greece (geographic region)|central Greece]] and the [[Peloponnese]].{{sfn|Lambright|2022|pp=80-81}} In Aeschylus's play, ''[[The Suppliants (Aeschylus)|The Suppliants]]'', the [[Danaus|Danaids]] fleeing from [[Egypt]] seek asylum from King Pelasgus of Argos, which he says is on the [[Struma (river)|Strymon]], including [[Perrhaebia]] in the north, the Thessalian Dodona and the slopes of the [[Pindus]] mountains on the west and the shores of the sea on the east;<ref>Aeschylus. ''The Suppliants'', Lines 249–259.</ref> that is, a territory including but somewhat larger than classical [[Pelasgiotis]]. The southern boundary is not mentioned; however, Apis is said to have come to Argos from [[Naupactus]] "across" (''peras''),<ref>Aeschylus. ''The Suppliants'', Lines 262–263.</ref> implying that Argos includes all of east Greece from the north of Thessaly to the Peloponnesian Argos, where the Danaids are probably to be conceived as having landed. He claims to rule the Pelasgians and to be the {{qi|child of Palaichthon (or 'ancient earth') whom the earth brought forth}}. The Danaids call the country the "Apian hills" and claim that it understands the ''karbana audan''<ref>Aeschylus. ''The Suppliants'', Lines 128–129.</ref> ([[accusative case]], and in the Dorian dialect), which many translate as "barbarian speech" but Karba (where the ''Karbanoi'' live) is in fact a non-Greek word. They claim to descend from ancestors in ancient Argos even though they are of a "dark race" (''melanthes{{nbs}}... genos'').<ref>Aeschylus. ''The Suppliants'', Lines 154–155.</ref> Pelasgus admits that the land was once called Apia but compares them to the women of [[Libya]] and [[Egypt]] and wants to know how they can be from Argos on which they cite descent from [[Io (mythology)|Io]].<ref>Aeschylus. ''The Suppliants'', Lines 279–281.</ref> According to Strabo, Aeschylus's ''Suppliants'' defines the original homeland of the Pelasgians as the region around [[Mycenae]].<ref name=":0" /> ==== Sophocles and Euripides ==== Sophocles and Euripides affirm the Greek origins of the Pelasgians while highlighting their relationship to the [[Danaids]], a relationship introduced and explored in depth in [[Aeschylus]]'s ''[[The Suppliants (Aeschylus)|Suppliants]]''.{{sfn|Lambright|2022|pp=80-81}} [[Sophocles]] presents Inachus, in a fragment of a missing play entitled ''Inachus'',{{Sfn|Sophocles|Dindorf|1849|loc=Fragment 256 (p. 352)}} as the elder in the lands of Argos, the [[Hera]]n hills and among the Tyrsenoi Pelasgoi, an unusual hyphenated noun construction, "Tyrsenians-Pelasgians". Interpretation is open, even though translators typically make a decision, but Tyrsenians may well be the ethnonym ''[[Tyrrhenoi]]''. [[Euripides]] uses the term for the inhabitants of [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] in his ''[[Orestes (play)|Orestes]]''<ref>Euripides. ''Orestes'', Lines 857 and 933.</ref> and ''[[The Phoenician Women (play)|The Phoenician Women]]''.<ref>Euripides. ''The Phoenician Women'', Line 107.</ref> In a lost play entitled ''Archelaus'', he says that [[Danaus]], on coming to reside in the city of [[Inachus]] (Argos), formulated a law whereby the Pelasgians were now to be called [[Danaans]].<ref name=":0" /> ==== Ovid ==== The [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] poet [[Ovid]] describes the Greeks of the Trojan War as Pelasgians in his ''[[Metamorphoses]]'':<ref>Ovid. ''Metamorphoses'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D12%3Acard%3D1 12.1].</ref> {{quote|Sadly his father, Priam, mourned for him, not knowing that young Aesacus had assumed wings on his shoulders, and was yet alive. Then also Hector with his brothers made complete but unavailing sacrifice, upon a tomb which bore his carved name. Paris was absent. But soon afterwards, he brought into that land a ravished wife, Helen, the cause of a disastrous war, together with a thousand ships, and all the great Pelasgian nation. [...] Here, when a sacrifice had been prepared to [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jove]], according to the custom of their land, and when the ancient altar glowed with fire, the Greeks observed an azure colored snake crawling up in a plane tree near the place where they had just begun their sacrifice. Among the highest branches was a nest, with twice four birds—and those the serpent seized together with the mother-bird as she was fluttering round her loss. And every bird the serpent buried in his greedy maw. All stood amazed: but Calchas, who perceived the truth, exclaimed, "Rejoice Pelasgian men, for we shall conquer; Troy will fall; although the toil of war must long continue—so the nine birds equal nine long years of war." And while he prophesied, the serpent, coiled about the tree, was transformed to a stone, curled crooked as a snake.}} === Historians === ==== Hecataeus of Miletus ==== [[Hecataeus of Miletus]] in a fragment from ''Genealogiai'' states that the ''genos'' ("clan") descending from [[Deucalion]] ruled [[Thessaly]] and that it was called "Pelasgia" from king Pelasgus.{{Sfn|Hecataeus of Miletus|Klausen|1831|loc=Fragment 224 (p. 140)}} A second fragment states that Pelasgus was the son of [[Zeus]] and [[Niobe]] and that his son [[Lycaon (king of Arcadia)|Lycaon]] founded a dynasty of kings of [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]].{{Sfn|Hecataeus of Miletus|Klausen|1831|loc=Fragment 375 (p. 157)}} ==== Acusilaus ==== A fragment from the writings of [[Acusilaus]] asserts that the [[Peloponnesus|Peloponnesians]] were called "Pelasgians" after Pelasgus, a son of [[Zeus]] and [[Niobe]].<ref>Mentioned in Pseudo-[[Apollodorus of Athens|Apollodorus]], ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' 2.1.</ref> ==== Hellanicus ==== [[File:Kastro larissa 1.JPG|thumb|250 px|Larisa of Argos.]] [[Hellanicus of Lesbos]] concerns himself with one word in one line of the ''[[Iliad]]'', "pasture-land of horses", applied to Argos in the [[Peloponnesus]].<ref>Hellanicus fr. 36, Fowler, [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=173 p. 173] (apud Scholia (T+) ''Iliad'' 3.75b); cf. Hellanicus fr. 7, Sturtz, [https://books.google.com/books?id=VpZbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA49 pp. 49–51]; Homer. ''Iliad'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+3.75&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134 3.75].</ref> According to Hellanicus, from [[Pelasgus]] and his wife [[Menippe (mythology)|Menippe]] came a line of kings: [[Phrastor|Phrastōr]], [[Amyntor (mythology)|Amyntōr]], [[Teutamides]] and Nanas (kings of Pelasgiotis in Thessaly).<ref>[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], ''[[Roman Antiquities]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/1B*.html#28 1.28.3] (citing [[Hellanicus of Lesbos|Hellanicus]], ''[[Phoronis (Hellanicus)|Phoronis]]'') = Hellanicus fr. 4, Fowler, [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=156 pp. 156–157]; cf. Hellanicus fr. 76, Sturtz, [https://books.google.com/books?id=VpZbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA108 pp. 108–109].</ref> During Nanas's reign, the Pelasgians were driven out by the Greeks and departed for Italy. They landed at the mouth of the [[Po River]], near the Etruscan city of [[Spina]], then took the inland city "Crotona" (''Κρότωνα''), and from there colonized [[Tyrrhenia]]. The inference is that Hellanicus believed the Pelasgians of Thessaly (and indirectly of the Peloponnese) to have been the ancestors of the [[Etruscans]].{{Sfn|Briquel|2013|p=47}} ==== Herodotus ==== In the ''Histories'', the Greek historian [[Herodotus]] of [[Halicarnassus]] made many references to the Pelasgians. In Book 1, the Pelasgians are mentioned within the context of [[Croesus]] seeking to learn who the strongest Greeks were to befriend them.<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D56 1.56.]</ref> Afterwards, Herodotus ambivalently classified the Pelasgian language as "[[Barbarians|barbarian]]" though he thought of the Pelasgians to have been essentially Greek. Herodotus also discussed various areas inhabited (or previously inhabited) by Pelasgians/Pelasgian-speakers along with their different neighbors/co-residents:<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories'', 1.57. ({{harvnb|Herodotus|Strassler|2009|p=32}}.)</ref>{{Sfn|Georges|1994|p=134: "Herodotus, like other Greeks, instinctively imagined the non-Dorian inhabitants of 'ancient' Greece—Achaeans, Argives, Danaans, Ionians, Pelasgians, Cadmeans, Lapiths, and all the rest of the races of myth and epic—to be essentially "Greek" and ancestral to themselves, as Aeschylus imagined the Pelasgian Argives in the Supplices [...]"}} {{quote|I am unable to state with certainty what language the Pelasgians spoke, but we could consider the speech of the Pelasgians who still exist in settlements above Tyrrhenia in the city of Kreston, formerly neighbors to the Dorians who at that time lived in the land now called Thessaliotis; also the Pelasgians who once lived with the Athenians and then settled Plakia and Skylake in the Hellespont; and along with those who lived with all the other communities and were once Pelasgian but changed their names. If one can judge by this evidence, the Pelasgians spoke a barbarian language. And so, if the Pelasgian language was spoken in all these places, the people of Attica being originally Pelasgian, must have learned a new language when they became Hellenes. As a matter of fact, the people of Krestonia and Plakia no longer speak the same language, which shows that they continue to use the dialect they brought with them when they migrated to those lands.}} Furthermore, Herodotus discussed the relationship between the Pelasgians and the (other) Greeks,<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories'', 1.56–1.58. ({{harvnb|Herodotus|Strassler|2009|pp=32–33}}.)</ref>{{Sfn|Georges|1994|p=131: "Herodotus argues near the very beginning of his work that most of the people who later became Hellenes were Pelasgians, and that these Pelasgians were barbarians and spoke a barbarian language. From these Pelasgians Herodotus derives the descent of the Ionians, as well as that of all the other Greeks of the present day who are not Dorians (1.56.3–58) [...]"}} which, according to Pericles Georges, reflected the {{qi|rivalry within Greece itself between [...] Dorian Sparta and Ionian Athens.}}{{Sfn|Georges|1994|pp=129–130}} Specifically, Herodotus stated that the Hellenes separated from the Pelasgians with the former group surpassing the latter group numerically:<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories'', 1.58. ({{harvnb|Herodotus|Strassler|2009|p=33}}.)</ref> {{quote|As for the Hellenes, it seems obvious to me that ever since they came into existence they have always used the same language. They were weak at first, when they were separated from the Pelasgians, but they grew from a small group into a multitude, especially when many peoples, including other barbarians in great numbers, had joined them. Moreover, I do not think the Pelasgian, who remained barbarians, ever grew appreciably in number or power.}} In Book 2, Herodotus alluded to the Pelasgians as inhabitants of [[Samothrace]], an island located just north of Troy, before coming to Attica.<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=2.51.0 2.51]. The text allows two interpretations, that Pelasgians were indigenous there or that they had been resettled by Athens.</ref> Moreover, Herodotus wrote that the Pelasgians simply called their gods ''theoi'' prior to naming them on the grounds that the gods established all affairs in their order (''thentes''); the author also stated that the gods of the Pelasgians were the [[Cabeiri]].<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D51 2.51.]</ref> Later, Herodotus stated that the entire territory of Greece (i.e., ''Hellas'') was initially called "Pelasgia".<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D56 2.56.]</ref> In Book 5, Herodotus mentioned the Pelasgians as inhabitants of the islands of [[Lemnos]] and [[Imbros]].<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=5.26.1 5.26].</ref> [[File:Jean Benner, Athéniennes surprises par des Pélages de Lemnos.jpg|thumb|''Athenian Women Surprised by the Pelasgians of Lemnos'', [[Jean Benner]], {{c.|1876}}]] In Book 6, the Pelasgians of Lemnos were originally Hellespontine Pelasgians who had been living in Athens but whom the [[Athens|Athenians]] resettled on Lemnos and then found it necessary to reconquer the island.<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories'', 6.137–6.140.</ref> This expulsion of (non-Athenian) Pelasgians from Athens may reflect, according to the historian Robert Buck, {{qi|a dim memory of forwarding of refugees, closely akin to the Athenians in speech and custom, to the Ionian colonies}}.<ref>{{harvnb|Buck|1979|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5Ada2TbJWM0C&pg=PA79 79]}}.</ref> Also, Herodotus wrote that the Pelasgians on the island of Lemnos opposite Troy once kidnapped the Hellenic women of Athens for wives, but the Athenian wives created a crisis by teaching their children {{qi|the language of Attica}} instead of the Pelasgian.<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D138 6.138.]</ref> In Book 7, Herodotus mentioned {{qi|the Pelasgian city of [[Antandrus]]}}<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=7.42.1 7.42].</ref> and wrote about the Ionian inhabitants of {{qi|the land now called Achaea}} (i.e., northwestern Peloponnese) being {{qi|called, according to the Greek account, Aegialean Pelasgi, or Pelasgi of the Sea Shore}}; afterwards, they were called ''Ionians''.<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D94%3Asection%3D1 7.94].</ref> Moreover, Herodotus mentioned that the Aegean islanders {{qi|were a Pelasgian race, who in later times took the name Ionians}} and that the [[Aeolians]], according to the Hellenes, were known anciently as "Pelasgians."<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories'', 7.95. ({{harvnb|Herodotus|Strassler|2009|p=533}}.)</ref> In Book 8, Herodotus mentioned that the Pelasgians of Athens were previously called ''Cranai''.<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126&query=section%3D%233768&word=Pelasgians 8.44].</ref> ==== Thucydides ==== In the ''[[History of the Peloponnesian War]]'', the Greek historian [[Thucydides]] wrote about the Pelasgians stating that:<ref>Thucydides. ''History of the Peloponnesian War'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.perseus-eng3:1.3 1.3.2].</ref> {{quote|Before the time of [[Hellen]], son of [[Deucalion]] [...] the country went by the names of the different tribes, in particular of the Pelasgian. It was not till Hellen and his sons grew strong in [[Phthia|Phthiotis]], and were invited as allies into the other cities, that one by one they gradually acquired from the connection the name of [[Hellenes]]; though a long time elapsed before that name could fasten itself upon all.}} The author regards the Athenians as having lived in scattered independent settlements in [[Attica]]; but at some time after [[Theseus]], they changed residence to [[Athens]], which was already populated. A plot of land below the Acropolis was called "Pelasgian" and was regarded as cursed, but the Athenians settled there anyway.<ref>Thucydides. ''History of the Peloponnesian War'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.perseus-eng3:2.16 2.16–2.17.1].</ref> In connection with the campaign against [[Amphipolis]], Thucydides mentions that several settlements on the promontory of [[Mount Athos|Actē]] were home to:<ref>Thucydides. ''History of the Peloponnesian War'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.perseus-eng3:4.109 4.109.4].</ref> {{quote|[...] mixed barbarian races speaking the two languages. There is also a small [[Chalcidice|Chalcidian]] element; but the greater number are Tyrrheno-Pelasgians once settled in [[Lemnos]] and Athens, and Bisaltians, Crestonians and Eonians; the towns all being small ones.}} ==== Ephorus ==== The historian [[Ephorus]], building on a fragment from Hesiod that attests to a tradition of an aboriginal Pelasgian people in Arcadia, developed a theory of the Pelasgians as a people living a {{qi|military way of life}} (''stratiōtikon bion'') {{qi|and that, in converting many peoples to the same mode of life, they imparted their name to all}}, meaning "all of Hellas". They colonized Crete and extended their rule over Epirus, Thessaly and by implication over wherever else the ancient authors said they were, beginning with Homer. The Peloponnese was called "Pelasgia".<ref name=":0">Strabo. ''Geography'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D4 5.2.4].</ref> ==== Dionysius of Halicarnassus ==== In the ''Roman Antiquities'', [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] in several pages gives a synoptic interpretation of the Pelasgians based on the sources available to him then, concluding that Pelasgians were Greek:<ref name="Dionysius1.17">Dionysius of Halicarnassus. ''Roman Antiquities'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/1B*.html#17 1.17].</ref> {{quote|Afterwards some of the Pelasgians who inhabited Thessaly, as it is now called, being obliged to leave their country, settled among the Aborigines and jointly with them made war upon the Sicels. It is possible that the Aborigines received them partly in the hope of gaining their assistance, but I believe it was chiefly on account of their kinship; for the Pelasgians, too, were a Greek nation originally from the Peloponnesus [...]}} He goes on to add that the nation wandered a great deal.<ref name="Dionysius1.17" /> They were originally natives of "Achaean Argos" descended from Pelasgus, the son of Zeus and Niobe.<ref name="Dionysius1.17" /> They migrated from there to Haemonia (later called Thessaly), where they {{qi|drove out the barbarian inhabitants}} and divided the country into Phthiotis, Achaia, and Pelasgiotis, named after Achaeus, Phthius and Pelasgus, {{qi|the sons of Larissa and Poseidon.}}<ref name="Dionysius1.17" /> Subsequently, {{qi|about the sixth generation they were driven out by the [[Curetes (tribe)|Curetes]] and [[Leleges]], who are now called [[Aetolia]]ns and [[Locris|Locrians]]}}.<ref name="Dionysius1.17" /> From there, the Pelasgians dispersed to [[Crete]], the [[Cyclades]], Histaeotis, [[Boeotia]], [[Phocis]], [[Euboea]], the coast along the [[Hellespont]] and the islands, especially [[Lesbos]], which had been colonized by [[Macar]] son of [[Crinacus]].<ref name="Dionysius1.18">Dionysius of Halicarnassus. ''Roman Antiquities'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/1B*.html#18 1.18].</ref> Most went to Dodona and eventually being driven from there to Italy (then called Saturnia), they landed at [[Spina]] at the mouth of the [[Po River]].<ref name="Dionysius1.18" /> Still others crossed the [[Apennine Mountains]] to [[Umbria]] and being driven from there went to the country of the Aborigines where they consented to a treaty and settled at [[Velia]].<ref name="Dionysius1.19">Dionysius of Halicarnassus. ''Roman Antiquities'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/1B*.html#19 1.19].</ref> They and the Aborigenes took over Umbria but were dispossessed by the [[Tyrrhenians]].<ref name="Dionysius1.19" /> The author then continues to detail the tribulations of the Pelasgians and then goes on to the Tyrrhenians, whom he is careful to distinguish from the Pelasgians.<ref>Dionysius of Halicarnassus. ''Roman Antiquities'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/1B*.html#19 1.19–1.20].</ref> === Geographers === ==== Pausanias ==== In his ''[[Description of Greece]]'', [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] mentions the [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadians]] who state that [[Pelasgus]] (along with his followers) was the first inhabitant of their land.<ref>Pausanias. ''Description of Greece'', [http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias8A.html 8.1.4].</ref> Upon becoming king, Pelasgus invented [[huts]], sheep-skin coats, and a diet consisting of [[acorn]]s while governing the land named after him, "Pelasgia".<ref>Pausanias. ''Description of Greece'', [http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias8A.html 8.1.5] and [http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias8A.html 8.1.6].</ref> When [[Arcas]] became king, Pelasgia was renamed "[[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]]" and its inhabitants (the Pelasgians) were renamed "Arcadians".<ref>Pausanias. ''Description of Greece'', [http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias8A.html 8.4.1].</ref> Pausanias also mentions the Pelasgians as responsible for creating a wooden image of [[Orpheus]] in a sanctuary of [[Demeter]] at Therae,<ref>Pausanias. ''Description of Greece'', [http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias3B.html 3.20.5].</ref> as well as expelling the [[Minyans]] and [[Lacedaemonians]] from Lemnos.<ref>Pausanias. ''Description of Greece'', [http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias7A.html 7.2.2].</ref> ==== Strabo ==== [[Strabo]] dedicates a section of his ''[[Geographica|Geography]]'' to the Pelasgians, relating both his own opinions and those of prior writers. He begins by stating:<ref name=":0" /> {{quote|Almost every one is agreed that the Pelasgi were an ancient race spread throughout the whole of Greece, but especially in the country of the Æolians near to Thessaly.}} He defines Pelasgian Argos as being {{qi|between the outlets of the [[Peneus]] River and [[Thermopylae]] as far as the mountainous country of Pindus}} and states that it took its name from Pelasgian rule. He includes also the tribes of [[Epirus]] as Pelasgians (based on the opinions of "many"). [[Lesbos]] is named Pelasgian. [[Caere]] was settled by Pelasgians from Thessaly, who called it by its former name, "Agylla". Pelasgians also settled around the mouth of the [[Tiber River]] in Italy at [[Pyrgi]] and a few other settlements under a king, Maleos.<ref>Strabo. ''Geography'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D8 5.2.8.]</ref>
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