also called Casos, are found in the in was formerly called after it the Carpathian Sea. The coast is generally steep terior of the island, at the village of and inaccessible; and the island con- Polin (a diminutive instead of Пóλov sists, for the most part, of lofty and or Пid). The ancient port-town bare mountains, full of ravines and was at Emporeion, where there are also hollows. The highest summit, in the some ruins of sepulchral chambers, and centre of the island, is called Lastos, other traces of antiquity. No autonoand is about 4000 feet in height. mous coins have been discovered in Carpathos is written Karabos by Casos, which was probably always deHomer, who mentions it along with pendent on either Cos or Rhodes. In Nisyros, Casos, and Cos (Il., ii. 676). the southern part of the island there is It was always a Doric country, depen- a small and fertile plain, surrounded dent on Rhodes, for no autonomous by mountains, called Argos, a name coins of Carpathos have been disco- which it has retained from the most vered, while Rhodian coins are com- ancient times. We find also an Argos monly found in the island. It appears in Calymna and Nisyros. Before the to have been well-peopled in antiquity, Greek revolution Casos contained a and, according to Strabo, contained population of 12,000, of whom 3000 four towns. The site of Arcesine has were able to carry arms. During the been identified by Ross with Arkássa, three first years of the war, the ships situated on a promontory on the W. of this little island, whose very existcoast; while Posidium was situated ence was unknown in western Europe, upon a corresponding cape upon the blockaded the Mahommedan towns of E. side of the island, and is now called Crete, and inflicted considerable damage Posin (Hory for Пoridov). There are on the Turks. The Pasha of Egypt at ruins of an ancient town upon a rock, length determined on crushing the Sókastron, off the western coast, and Casians; and on June 18, 1824, a squaof another town upon the islet Saría, dron of forty-five vessels, with a body which is 10 miles in circumference, and of troops on board, surrounded the is separated by a narrow strait from island. The Moslems effected a landing the northern extremity of Carpathos. during the following night, and the The ruins in Saría, which are now island was speedily reduced, but withcalled Palatia, may possibly be those out the indiscriminate slaughter of of Nisyros, a town mentioned by Strabo Chios and Psara. About 500 Casians (compare the names Zagía and Nirugía). fell in action, and 2000 women and At the present day Carpathos num- children were dragged into slavery.* bers about 5000 inhabitants, who are After this catastrophe, the island was dispersed in several villages, and pay a nearly deserted for some years, the resmall tribute to the Pasha of Rhodes. maining inhabitants having taken reAgriculture is much neglected, the fuge in Greece; but a large portion of natives applying themselves rather to them has now returned. They are commerce. Many of them are em- nominally subject to the Pasha of ployed as carpenters and workers in Rhodes, but are virtually independent, wood, a trade of which they seem pecu- and most of their ships sail under the liarly fond. Greek flag. When Ross visited the island in 1843, he found a population of 5000, possessing 75 large merchant vessels, and extensively engaged in the general commerce of the Mediterranean. Since that period the islanders have continued to increase in numbers and in prosperity. 22. CASOS (CASO). Casos is situated between Carpathos and Crete, and is mentioned by Homer (Il., ii. 676). It consists of a single ridge of mountains of considerable height. Off the N. and W. sides there are several rocks and islets. Some remains of the ancient town, which was * See "Gordon's History of the Greek Revolution," book iv. chap. ii. 23. CRETE (CANDIA). I. History; actual condition; population, &c. II. Excursions through the island. great contrast. Since the Grecian islands formed from the earliest times steppingstones by which the migratory population of Europe and Asia have crossed over to either continent, it has been I. This island is known among its assumed that Phoenician and other coloown inhabitants only by its Greek ap-nies settled in Crete, and were the pellation of Crete. The Saracenic parents of the early civilisation of the Khandar, applied to the principal city island. Homer speaks of its hundred (called by the Greeks Miyaλo-Karpov, i.e. Greatcastle), became with the Venetian writers Candia, and hence that name has been vulgarly given to the whole island. We may here observe that it is doubtful whether there are any genuine autonomous coins of Crete still extant; several of the Imperial period exist, with the epigraph KOINON KPHTON, and types referring to the legendary history of the island. Eckhel, vol. ii. p. 300. Crete is nearly equidistant from Europe, Asia, and Africa, but it has always been reckoned as part of Europe. Its length from E. to W. is about 160 miles: its breadth is very unequal, being in the widest part nearly 40 miles, and in the narrowest only 6 miles. The whole island may be considered a prolongation of that mountain chain which breasts the waters at Cape Malea, with the island of Cythera interposed. The geological formation resembles that of the Hellenic peninsula; a continuous mass of high-land runs through the whole length, about the middle of which Mount Ida, terminating in three lofty peaks, rises to the height of 7674 feet; to the W. it was connected with the ridge called the White Mountains (Auxà "Ogn, or in Romaic "Aorga Bouvá), whose snow-clad summits and bold and beautiful outlines are visible in clear weather from the southern shores of the Peloponnesus. The rivers of Crete are numerous, but are little more than mountain torrents, and are for the most part dry in summer. The country was celebrated in antiquity for its fertility and salubrity. The cycle of myths connected with Minos and his family threw a splendour over Crete, to which its estrangement from the rest of Hellas during the historic period presents a cities (Il., ii. 649); and Minos was said to have extended his maritime empire over the Egean. The Dorians appear in Crete during the heroic period, and afterwards formed the ruling class in the independent republics into which the island was subdivided, reducing to subjection the former Pelasgian inhabitants. Of these states Cnossos and Gortyna were the most important, and exercised a kind of supremacy over the rest. There appears to have existed in Crete a class of serfs called Mywa, analogous to the Helots at Sparta. The social and political system of the island was certainly Dorian, and many of the ancients supposed that the Spartan constitution was borrowed from Crete. The chief magistrates in the cities were the Cosmi, ten in number, chosen from certain families; there was also a Senate (Ispovría); and a Popular Assembly (Exxλnoia), which, however, had very little power until a late period. But, on the whole, the analogy between the communities of Crete and Sparta is one rather of form than of spirit. The most remarkable resemblance consisted in the custom of the public messes (Zurritα), while there is a marked difference in the want of that rigid private training and military discipline which characterized the Spartan Government. The character of the old Cretan warriors comes out strongly in the famous drinkingsong of Hybrias; they had a high reputation as light troops and archers, and served as mercenaries both in Greek and Barbarian armies.* The island stood aloof collectively *For a vivid sketch of the ancient Cretan in stitutions, see Thirlwall's "History of Greece," chap. vii. Cf. Aristotle, Polit. ii. 10. Höck (Kreta, Göttingen, 1829) is a writer of great merit and research, who has accumulated much curious information on this subject. both in the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. The several states, though at constant feud with each other, when assailed by foreign enemies laid aside their private quarrels, in defence of their common country, to which they gave the affectionate title of mother-land (unrgis), a term peculiar to the Cretans. At a later period, the power of the aristocracies was overthrown and a democratical form of government everywhere established. The ancient Doric customs likewise disappeared, and the people became degenerate in their morals and character. The historian Polybius accuses them of numerous vices, and St. Paul, quoting the Cretan poet Epimenides, describes them as always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies" (Titus i. 12). Their internal disorders had become so violent that they were under the necessity of summoning Philip IV. of Macedon as a mediator, whose command was all-powerful (Polyb., vii. 12). Finally in B.C. 67, Crete was conquered by the Romans under Q. Metellus, who received in consequence the surname of Creticus. Subsequently Crete and Cyrene were united as a single Roman Province. Under Constantine a division took place, and in A.D. 823 the Saracens wrested the island from the Lower Empire. In A.D. 961, after a memorable struggle of ten months, Crete was recovered to the Byzantine Emperors by Nicephorus Phocas. After the taking of Constantinople by the Franks, Baldwin I. gave the island to Boniface, Marquis of Montferrat, who sold it in A.D. 1204 to the Venetians, and it became the first of the three subject kingdoms whose flags waved over the piazza of St. Mark. In spite of frequent attacks from the Mahommedans and incessant revolts of the Greek inhabitants, who here as elsewhere preferred Moslem to Latin masters, Venice retained her hold on this magnificent island until A.D. 1669, when it was reduced by the Turks after a twenty-four years' war. The insurrection in Greece of 1821 was followed by a rising in Crete, which deserved, and would doubtless have attained, a successful issue, had not the Allies confirmed in 1830 the gift of the island by the Sultan to Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, in requital for his great services during the war. Before the outbreak of the Greek Revolution, Crete was the worst governed and most oppressed province of the Turkish Empire. Since it has belonged to Egypt, notwithstanding the devastation of the war and the harsh rule of its Pashas, some amelioration has been experienced; but the Cretans still sigh to be united to Greece, or to be taken under the protection of some Christian Power, a destiny to which their ancient fame, and their sacrifices in the cause of freedom, give them a well-founded claim. Gordon (book i. chap. 6) has given a description of Crete at the outbreak of the Greek Revolution :-" Crete is indeed the garden of Greece, and were it thoroughly civilized and cultivated, would produce in vast abundance corn, wine, oil, silk, wool, honey, and wax. In the state, however, to which this superb island was reduced, grain, silk, and cotton were imported from other provinces, and its exports consisted only in a large quantity of oil (the staple commodity), wine of fair quality, excellent soap, and cheese of Sphakia, much esteemed in the Levant. The land is stocked with game, the sea with fine fish; fruit is plentiful and of a delicious flavour; its valleys are adorned with a variety of flowers and aromatic shrubs, and with groves of myrtle, orange, lemon, pomegranate, and almond trees, as well as interminable forests of olives. The southern coast is destitute of ports, and has scarcely any safe roadsteads; but on the northern side are several excellent and capacious harbours. There is something peculiar in the appearance and disposition of its inhabitants; they are taller than the other natives of Greece, strong, active, and especially remarkable for agility and swiftness; daring, vindictive, venal, rapacious, and unwilling to submit to the restraints of law and order: they retain, in short, those distinctive characteristics of the old Cretans, which caused their mercenary troops to be so much esteemed, |