Travels in Greece, Palestine, Egypt, and Barbary, during the years 1806 and 1807 ... Translated ... by Frederic Shoberl. Second edition

Preface

TO THE FIRST EDITION. If I were to assert that these Travels were not in tended to see the light ; that I give them to the public with regret, and as it were in spite of myself, I should tell the truth, and probably nobody would believe me. My tour was not undertaken with the intention of writing it ; I had a very different design, and this design I have accomplished in " the Martyrs." I went in quest of images, and nothing more. I could not behold Sparta, Athens, Jerusalem, without making some re flections. Those reflections could not be introduced into the subject of an epopee ; they were left in the journal which I kept of my tour, and it is these that I now submit to the public. I must, therefore, request the reader to consider this work rather as memoirs of a year of my life, than as a book of travels.

I pretend not to tread in the steps of a Chardin, a Tavernier, a Chandler, a Mungo Park, a Humboldt ; or to be thoroughly acquainted with people, through whose country I have merely passed. A moment is sufficient for a landscape-painter to sketch a tree, to take a view, to draw a ruin ; but whole years are too short for the study of men and manners, and for the profound investigation of the arts and sciences. I am, nevertheless, fully aware of the respect that is due to the public, and it would be wrong to imagine that I am here ushering into the world a work that has cost me no pains, no researches, no labour : it will be

PREFACE.

. IV seen, on the contrary, that I have scrupulously fulfilled my duties as a writer. Had I done nothing but deter mine the site of Lacedæmon, discover a new tomb at Mycenæ, and ascertain the situation of the ports of Carthage, still I should deserve the gratitude of travellers. In a work of this nature I have often been obliged to pass from the most serious reflections to the most familiar circumstances : now indulging my reveries among the ruins of Greece, now returning to the cares incident to the traveller, my style has necessarily followed the train of my ideas and the change in my situation. All readers, therefore, will not be pleased with the same passages ; some will seek my sentiments only, while others will prefer my adventures : these will feel them selves obliged to me for the positive information I have communicated respecting a great number of objects ; those again will be tired of the observations on the arts, the study of monuments, and the historical digressions.

For the rest, it is the man, much more than the author, that will be discovered throughout; I am continually speaking of myself, and I spoke, as I thought, in se curity, for I had no intention of publishing these Me moirs. But, as I have nothing in my heart that I am ashamed to display to all the world, I have made no retrenchment from my original notes. The object which I have in view will be accomplished, if the reader perceives a perfect sincerity from the beginning of the work to the end. A traveller is a kind of historian ; it is his duty to give a faithful account of what he has seen or heard ; he should invent nothing, but then he must omit nothing ; and, whatever may be his private opinions, he should never suffer them to bias him to such a degree as to suppress or to distort the truth. CONTENTS 'IF THE FIRST VOLUME.

Chapter I

Motives for Travelling — Milan — Venice— Trieste — Embarkation for the Morea — Aspect of the Mediterranean Sea — A Storm — Fano, or Calypso's Island — Sunset — Effect of Climate on Taste — Corfu — Cefalonia — St. Maura — Zante — Modon — The Aga — Banditti — The Author Lands — History of Modon — Departure — Order of March — Journey to Coron . . 51

Chapter II

Mount Temathea — Turkish Cemetery — Coron — Its History and present State — The River Pamisus — Nissi — Ruins of Messene — Ruined Villages — River Balyra — A Courteous Turk — Dangerous Defile — A Kan — Site of Megalopolis — Greek Songs — Adventure with two Turkish Officers — Tripolizza — Interview with the Pacha — Ruins of a Greek Convent — Dese. ; Country ..... 73

Chapter III

The first Kan of Laconia — Misitra — Ibrahim Bey — His sick Child — A Turkish Breakfast — Conversation with a Minister of the Law — The Stranger's Apartment — Amyclæ — Parori — Fountains — Return to Misitra — Description of the Town — VI CONTENTS. View from the Battlements of the Castle — Situation of Sparta — Inquiries on that subject — Visit to the Archbishop— His Library— The Bazar .... 95

Chapter IV

Palæochori, Ruius of ancient Sparta — Sensations on beholding them — Temple of Minerva — View from the Hill of the Citadel — The River Eurotas — Search for the Tomb of Leonidas — Earliest Accounts of the Ruins of Sparta — Bivouac on the bank ofthe Eurotas — Village of St. Paul — Tragic Event — Singular Conduct of a Greek Peasants — The Guide loses the Way — Dangerous Situation — Marsh of Lerne — Fever— Argos — M. Avramiotti — Supposed Tomb of Agamemnon — Ruins of Mycenæ — Arrival at Corinth . . . 117

Chapter V

Corinth — Present State — Historical Recollections — Journey to Megara — Mount Oneius — Inhumanity of a Turkish Officer — Mount Gerania — Megara — Knowledge of Medicine attributed to the Franks — The Author's Visit to a Patient — Tailless Fowls — Mount Kerato Pyrgo — Conversation with a Greek — Temple of Eleusis — Salamis — Supper at Eleusis — View of Athens — The River Cephisus — Arrival at Athens . 141

Chapter VI

Writers on Athens — M. Fauvel, the French Consul — His House — Dinner — News of Athens — Walk through the City — The Areopagus — The Pnyx — Hill of the Museum — Monument of Philopappus — Migration of Storks — The Citadel — Edifices of Athens — Temple of Minerva — Character of Grecian Architecture — Destruction of the Edifices of Athens by the Moderns — Lord Elgin and the Parthenon — View from the Citadel — Memorials of Travel — The Stadium — The Ilissus — Remarkable Columns — Women of Athens — The Harbours of the Phalereus, Munychia, and Piræus — Supposed Tomb of Themistocles — Solitude of the Piræus — Nature of that Port . 165

Chapter VII

Village of Angelo Kipous — Wood of Olive Trees — Academus — Tombs of illustrious Athenians — Ruins of Theatres — Cruel Exhibitions of Gladiators — Tower of the Winds The Lantern of Demosthenes— French Missionaries at Athens— Father Babin's Description of the Parthenon — Preparations for leaving Athens — A Traveller's Reverie — Village of Keratia — The Author attacked by Fever — He embarks for Cape Sunium— Sites of Greek Edifices —Temple of Cape Sunium— CONTENTS. vii Reflections on the state of Greece— Causes of its Decline — Character of the Modern Greeks — Character of the Turks — Departure from Cape Sunium . . . 197

Chapter I

Islands of the Archipelago — Zea — M. Pengali and his Family — Eminent Natives of Zea, the ancient Ceo3 — Its Commerce — A Wedding — Tino — Embarkation for Smyrna — View of the Cyclades — Chio — Smyrna — Choiseul's Account ofthe City — Farewell Visit to the Author's Interpreter — Kan of Menemen —The River Hermus — Ruins of Cyme and Neon Tychos — Homer's Residence there — A Caravan . . 232

Chapter II

Pergamus — Somma — Altercation with the Guide — Kircagach — Reception of the Author by the Governor and his Attendants — His complaint against the Guide — Decision of the Governor — Kelembe — Inn of Emir Capi — Souseverl^ — The Granicus — Victory of Alexander — His Character — Mikalitza — EmharkationforConstantinople — Descent of theRiver — Scene at its Mouth — Arrival at Constantinople — Galata — Pera — Attentions of General Sebastiani — Reflections on Constantinople ...... 254

Part III. — Rhodes, Jaffa, Bethlehem, And The Dead Sea

CHAPTER I.

Embarkation with Greek Pilgrims for Palestine — Scene on Board — Greek Psalmody — Sea of Marmora — The Dardanelles — Plain of Troy — Greek Dance — Tchesm6 — John, the new Interpreter — Rhodes — Its History — Appearance of the Town — The Port — Commerce and Manufactures of the Island — Character of the Greeks as Sailors — A Supper on Deck — Ignorance of the Ship's Situation — Swallows — Cyprus — Description ofthe Island in Telemachus — View of Mount Carmel — Coast of Palestine —Arrival at Jaffa . . . . 277

CHAPTER II.

Landing of the Pilgrims — The Hospital of the Fathers — The Author's Reception there — Hardships endured by the Monks CONTENTS. VIII — Sea of Tyre — Advice of the Rector — History of Jaffa, the ancient Joppa — Departure from Jaffa — Plain of Sharon — Tower ofthe Forty Martyrs — Rama — Aspect of the Town — Moun tains of Judea — Scene near the Village of St. Jeremiah — Arab Boys performing the European Military Exercise — Desert Country — First sight of Jerusalem — Camp of the Pacha of Damascus — Entry into Jerusalem — Convent of the Latin Fathers — St. Francis's Day — Preparations for an Excursion to the Jordan — Rama — Bethlehem . . . 301

Chapter III

History of Bethlehem — The Convent — The Church — The Subterranean Church, the place of our Saviour's Nativity — The Manger — Sepulchre of the Innocents — Grotto of St. Jerome — Scenery about Bethlehem — Father Clement — Grotto of the Shepherds — Camps of Bedouins — Frays with them — Convent of St. Saba — Valley of the Jordan — The River — The Dead Sea — Analysis of its Water — Description of the Dead Sea — The Destroyed Cities — Marvellous Properties attributed to the Waters of this Lake — The Tree of Sodom and its Apple — The Jordan — Origin of its Name — Apprehended attack of Arabs — Jericho — Ali Aga — Elisha's Spring — Character of the Arabs — Return to Jerusalem ....

Introduction

. FIRST MEMOIR. I shall divide this Introduction into two Memoirs ; in the first I shall take up the history of Sparta and Athens, at about the age of Augustus, and bring it down to the present time. In the second I shall inquire into the authenticity of the religious traditions relative to Jerusalem. Spon, Wheeler, Fanelli, Chandler, and Leroi have, it is true, treated of the fortunes of Greece in the middle ages ; but the picture drawn by those writers is far frpm being a finished one. They have contented them selves with general facts, and not taken the trouble to dispel the confusion which pervades the history of the Byzantine empire ; they were moreover ignorant of the existence of some Travels in the Levant. While I avail mvself of their labours, I shall endeavour to supply their omissions.

As to the history of Jerusalem, it is involved in no obscurity in the barbarous ages ; we never lose sight of the holy citv. But when the pilgrims tell you : " We repaired to the tomb of Jesus Christ; we entered the grotto where the Redeemer of the world sweated blood," &c. an VOL. I. B

INTRODUCTION.

. incredulous reader might imagine that the pilgrims were misled by uncertain traditions. Now this is the point which I purpose to discuss in the second memoir of this Introduction. I now proceed to the history of Sparta and Athens. When the Romans began to make their appearance in the East, Athens declared itself their enemy, and Sparta b.c. a?. Fiut. followed their fortunes. Sylla burned the in syi. Appian. piræus and Munychia ; he plundered the city of Cecrops, and made such a slaughter of its citizens, that, as Plutarch informs us, their blood filled the whole Ceramicus, and ran out at the doors. b.c 87. In the civil wars of Rome, the Athenians espoused the cause of Pompey, which they looked upon as the cause of Liberty ; the Lacedæmonians adhered to Cæsar, who was too generous to revenge himself on b.c. 47. cœs.

Athens. Sparta, faithful to the memory of dIoii Appian!1' Cæsar, fought at the battle of Philippi against Brit. ™ ' Brutus, who had promised the pillage of e. c. i4. Lacedæmon to his soldiers in case they were b. c. 4i. piut. victorious. The Athenians erected statues 'nAnlto Brutus, attached themselves to Anthony, b. c. ai. veil, and were punished by Augustus. Four sum. ui Aug.10' years before the death of that prince, they revolted against him. a. d. 25. nt. Athens was free during the reign of Tiberius. Liv. An. 4. Sparta pleaded at Rome, and lost a petty cause against the Messenians, formerly its slaves. The contested point was the possession of the temple of Diana Linmatis, that very Diana whose festival was the occasion of the Messenian wars. Pe s«. orb. - If we suppose Strabo to have lived during the reign of Tiberius, the description of Sparta and Athens by that geographer must refer to the time of which we are now speaking. a. d. is.

Tacit. When Germanicus visited Athens, out of Ann. i. 2. respect to its former glory, he divested him self of the insignia of power, and was preceded by only a single lictor.

INTRODUCTION.

. Pomponius Mela wrote about the time of A.JX«.Desu. the Emperor Claudius. He merely mentions Athens in his description of the coast of Attica. Nero visited Greece, but he went neither a.d.ct.xi-pmi. to Athens nor to Lacedæmon. Vespasian reduced Achaia to a Roman a.d. 79. Dio. province, and gave it a proconsul for its governor. Pliny the elder, a favourite of Vespasian and Titus, wrote, in the time of those princes, concerning various monuments of Greece. Apollonius of Tyanæa found the laws of a.d. 91. Lycurgus still in force at Lacedæmon during vit' the reign of Domitian. Nerva favoured the Athenians. The monu- A D.97 Eulr ments of Herodes Atticus and the description Vict Di0 of Pausanias are nearly of this period. Pliny the younger, under Trajan, exhorts a. d. 115. Pun. Maximus, proconsul of Achaia, to govern Athens and Greece with equity.

Adrian rebuilt the monuments of Athens, *■ D- '»*• D><> i 1 , i e T ,".1 Spart. Eustb. completed the temple ot Jupiter Olympus, erected a new city near the ancient one, and caused the arts, sciences, and letters, to flourish once more in Greece. Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius loaded a. n. 176" Athens with favours. The latter in particular ap"° was solicitous to restore the Academy to its ancient splendour ; he increased the number of the professors of philosophy, eloquence, and civil law, and fixed it at thirteen ; two platonic, two peripatetic, two stoic, two epicurean, two professors of civil law, and one prefect of vouth. Lucian, who lived at that time, says that Athens swarmed with long beards, mantles, staves, and wallets. The Polyhistor of Solinus appeared towards the conclusion of this century. Solinus describes several of the monuments of Greece. He has not copied Pliny the naturalist so closely as he has thought fit to assert. b

INTRODUCTION.

. a. d. 194. Hero- Severus deprived Athens of part of its dian span. Dio. pr;vi]eges as a punishment for having de clared in favour of Pescennius Niger. ad. 2i4. Sparta having fallen into obscurity, while Herodian. Athens yet attracted the notice of the world, deserved the disgraceful esteem of Caracalla, who had in his army a battalion of Lacedæmonians, and a guard of Spartans about his persons. a. d. 260. The Scythians having invaded Macedonia, Trebeii.zo,,. jn tne t;me 0{ tne Emperor Gallienus, laid siege to Thessalonica. The terrified Athenians rebuilt in haste the walls which Sylla had demolished. a.d 26i. Some years afterwards, the Heruli pillaged Trebeii. Sparta, Corinth, and Argos. Athens was saved by the valour of one of its citizens, named Dexip pus, equallv renowned in the career of letters and of arms. chandi Trav.

The archonship was abolished about this time, and the stratigos, the inspector of the agora or market, became the first magistrate of Athens. a. d. 269. zon. During the reign of Claudius II. this city was taken by the Goths : they would have burned the libraries, but one of the barbarians opposed the design : " Let us," said he, " preserve the books, which render the Greeks so easy a conquest, and extinguish in them the love of glory." Cleodemus, an Athenian, who had escaped the calamity of his country, collected some troops, attacked the Goths, killed a great number, and dispersed the rest, thus proving to the barbarians that science is not incompatible with courage. a. d. 323. Athens speedily recovered from this disaster, for we find it soon afterwards offering honours to Constantine and receiving thanks from him.

This prince conferred on the governor of Attica the title of grand duke • a title which, being usurped by one family, at length became hereditary, and transformed the republic of Solon into a Gothic principality. Pita, Bishop of Athens, was present at the Council of Nice.

INTRODUCTION.

. Constantius, the successor of Constantine, a. d. 337. after the decease of his brothers Constantine SI? Zo and Constans, made a present of several islands to the city of Athens. Julian, educated among the philosophers a. d. 354. zos. of the Portico, did not quit Athens without ad'AtiienUlGreg: shedding tears. Gregory, Cyril, Basil, and operBaadCB?bl Chrysostom, imbibed their sacred eloquence Pat' in the birth-place of Demosthenes. During the reign of Theodosius the Great, ,"}„ °, "'hands the Goths ravaged Epire and Thessaly. They 'asc"vmB* were preparing to pass into Greece, but were prevented by Theodore, general of the Achaians. Athens, out of gratitude, erected a statue to her deliverer. Honorius and Arcadius held the reins of a. d. 395. zos. empire when Alaric penetrated into Greece.

Zosimus relates, that the conqueror, as he approached Athens, perceived Minerva in a menacing attitude on the top of the citadel, and Achilles standing before the ramparts. Alaric, if we are to believe the same his torian, did not sack a city which was thus protected by heroes and by gods. But this story has too much of the air of a fable. Synesius, who lived much nearer to the event than Zosimus, compares Athens burned Syll. Ep 0p by the Goths to a victim consumed by the on,ni F"- «* flames, and of which nothing but the bones are left. The Jupiter of Phidias is supposed to have Chandi. Trav. perished in this invasion of the barbarians. Corinth, Argos, the cities of Arcadia, Elis, and Laconia, shared the same fate as Athens. " Sparta, so renowned," continues Zosimus, " could not be saved: it was abandoned by its citizens and betrayed by its chiefs, the base ministers of the unjust and dissolute tyrants who then governed the state."

Stilico, when he marched to drive Alaric out of the Peloponnese, completed the devastation of that unfortu nate country. Athenais, daughter of Leontius the philo- A D „3 Zlm sopher, known by the name of Eudocia, was lnTh- "

INTRODUCTION.

. born at Athens, and became the wife of Theodosius the younger.* a. d. 430. pro- While Leontius held the reins of the VMdideiib.'ll: eastern empire, Genseric made a fresh incur c- 5- ciriTi intr. Achaia Prnr*nnin<; rlnps not inform c- 5 sion into Achaia. Procopius does not inform us how Sparta and Athens fared in this new invasion. a. ii ;27. Proc. The same historian describes, in his Secret Cj 18- TJictr»rT7 thp ravno-pe nf" flip Vinrrmnans in ttSp c- '*• History, the ravages of the barbarians in the following terms: "Since Justinian has governed the empire, Thrace, the Chersonesus, Greece, and the whole country lying between Constantinople and the Gulph of Ionia, have been yearly ravaged by the Antes, the Sclavonians, and the Huns. More than two hundred thousand Romans have been killed or made prisoners by the barbarians in each invasion, and the countries which I have mentioned are become like the deserts of Scythia."

Justinian caused the walls of Athens to be repaired, and towers to be built on the Isthmus of Corinth. In the list of towns embellished or fortified by this prince, proc. dc Edif. Procopius has not included Lacedæmon. It lib. i. c. 2. js remarked, that the emperors of the East had a Laconian, or, according to the pronunciation then introduced, a Tzaconian guard ; the soldiers composing cod. curop. aP. it were armed with pikes, and wore a kind of By2. script. cuirass, adorned with the figures of lions ; they were dressed in a short wide coat of woollen cloth, and had a hood to cover the head. The commander of these men was called Stratopedarcha. * Historians have not paid attention to chronological order, and have misplaced the marriage of Eudocia, by making it ante rior to the taking of Athens by Alaric.

Zonaras says, that Eudocia, driven from home by her brothers, Valerius and Gene sius, was obliged to seek refuge at Constantinople. Valerius and Genesius lived peaceably in their native country, and Eudocia procured their elevation to dignities of the empire. Is not all this history of the marriage and family of Eudocia a proof that Athens was not so great a sufferer by the invasion of Alaric as Synesius asserts, and that Zosimus may be right, at least in regard to the fact ?

INTRODUCTION.

. The eastern empire having been divided into governments, styled Themata, Lacedæmon became the appan age of the brothers, or eldest sons of the emperor. The princes of Sparta assumed the title of Despots ; their wives were denominated Des pcenes, and the government Despotship. The despot resided at Sparta or Corinth.* Here commences the long silence of history, concerning the most celebrated regions of the universe. Spon and Chandler lose sight of Athens for seven hundred years, " either," as Spon observes, fom"2.Voy' " on account of the defectiveness of history, which is brief and obscure in those ages, or because fortune granted it a long repose." We may, however, discover some traces of Sparta and Athens during this long interval. The first mention we find of Athens is in ™«>pb. \\ Theophylactus Simocattus, the historian of script. the Emperor Mauritius.

He speaks of the Muses " who shine at Athens in their most superb dresses," A D. 590. which proves that, about the year 590, Athens was still the abode of the Muses. The anonymous geographer of Ravenna, a Gothic writer, who probably lived in the U4t seventh century, names Athens thrice in his geography ; a work of which we have as yet but an illexecuted abridgment by Galateus. Under Michael III. the Sclavonians overran Greece. Theoctistus defeated and drove i°>p them to the extremity of the Peloponnese. Two hordes of these people, the Ezerites and the Milinges, settled to the east and west of Taygetus, called at that time Pentadactyle. Notwitstanding what we are told by Constantine Porphyrogenitus, these Sclavonians were the ancestors of the Mainottes, who are not descended * This title of despot is not, however, peculiar to Sparta, and we find despots of the East, of Thessaly, &c, which produces very great confusion in history.

INTRODUCTION.

. from the ancient Spartans, as some yet maintain, with out knowing that this is but a ridiculous opinion broached by the last mentioned writer.* It was doubt less these Sclavonians that changed the name of Amyclæ into that of Sclabochorion. a d 915. We read in Leo the Grammarian, that the Leo. Vit. Const. .... „ _ . l l . '■ 2 inhabitants of Greece, no longer able to en dure the oppressions of Chases, the son of Job and pre fect of Achaia, stoned him in a church at Athens during the reign of Constantine VII. a. d. 1081. Under Alexis Comnenus, some time before c5mn*!'b" '7. the Crusades, we find the Turks ravaging the Archipelago and all the western coasts. Ann^coSii;. I11 an engagement between the Pisans and i u. c.9. tae Greeks> a count, a native of the Pelopon nese, distinguished himself by his valour about the year 1 085 : so that this country had not yet received the name of the Morea. a. d. 1085 Epire and Thessaly were the theatre of the comn itbn'4, s, wars of Alexis Comnenus, Robert and Bo ic. gijcus. hemond : and their history throws no light on that of Greece, properly so called.

The first cru saders also passed through Constantinople without pene trating into Achaia. But, during the reign of Manuel Comnenus, who succeeded Alexis, the kings of Sicily, the Venetians, the Pisans, and other western nations, invaded Attica and the Peloponnese. Roger I., king of a d mo Sicily, removed Athenian artisans skilled in the cultivation of silk to Palermo. It was about this time that the Peloponnese changed its name Meet. m.t. f°r that of the Morea; at least I find the Baid c. i. latter made use of by Nicetas, the historian. It is probable that as silk-worms began to multiplv in the east, a more extensive cultivation of the mulberry was found necessary. The Peloponnese derived its new The opinion of Pauw, who makes the Mainottes the descend ants not of the Spartans, but of Laconians set at liberty by the Romans, is not grounded on any historic probability.

INTRODUCTION.

. appellation from the tree which furnished it with a new source of wealth. Roger made himself master of Corfu, $.D"t0 ° meet Auu Thebes, and Corinth, and had the boldness, comn.i. s. c i. says Nicetas, to attack towns situated farther up the country. But, according to the historians of a.d 1140. Venice, those republicans assisted the Empe- Coro" p " ror of the East, defeated Roger, and prevented him from taking Corinth. It was on account of this service that, two centuries afterwards, they asserted a claim to Corinth and the Peloponnese. The travels of Benjamin of Tudela, in AD '"'■. • a Itiner. Benj Greece, must be placed about the year 1 070. Tudei. He visited Patras, Corinth, and Thebes. In the latter citv he found two thousand Jews engaged in the manu facture of silks and the dying of purple.

Eustathius was then bishop of Thessalonica. Letters must consequently have been still cultivated with suc cess in their native land, since this Eustathius is the celebrated commentator on Homer. The French, headed by Boniface, Marquis A,.n >?<>;: ,, e T Nicet in Hald of Montferrat, and Baldwin, Count of Flanders ; and the Venetians, under the conduct of Dandolo, drove Alexis from Constantinople, and re placed Isaac Angelus on the throne. It was not long before they seized the crown for themselves. Baldwin obtained the empire, and the Marquis of Montferrat was declared King of Thessalonica. About this time a petty tyrant of the £'«'■ in Baid Morea, named Sgure, a native of Napoli di Romania, laid siege to Athens, but was repulsed by the Archbishop, Michael Choniates, brother to Nicetas. the historian.

This prelate composed a poem, in which he compared the Athens of Pericles with the Athens of the twelfth century. Some verses of this manuscript , poem are yet extant in the Imperial Library at Paris. Some time afterwards, Athens opened her Meet in Baid. gates to the Marquis of Montferrat, who "' conferred the investiture of the lordship of Thebes and b

INTRODUCTION.

. Athens on Otho de la Roche. Otho's successors as sumed the title of Dukes of Athens and Grand-Sires of Thebes. According to Nicetas, the Marquis of Mont ferrat extended his conquests to the farthest extremity of the Morea, and made himself master of Argos and Corinth, but was unable to reduce the castle of the latter city, defended by Leo Sgure. vine-Hard. While Boniface was following up his suc- DuShje Hi" cesses, a squall drove some more Frenchmen Const. i.b. i. into Modon. Geoffrey deVille Hardouin, who commanded them, and was on his return from the Holy Land, joined the Marquis de Montferrat, then engaged in the siege of Napoli ; and, being well received by Boni face, undertook, with William de Champlite, the con quest of the Morea. Their success was equal to their hopes ; all the towns surrendered to the two knights, except Lacedæmon, where reigned a tyrant named Leo Nicei. in Bald.

Chamaretus. Soon afterwards, the Morea TX7QU itiwoti ni-» tvi tVio Vonotione +r\ wnrim itwas given up to the Venetians, to whom it was ceded by the terms of a general treaty, concluded at Constantinople, between the crusaders. The Genoese pirate, Leo Scutrano, made himself master D°edneist "Je for a moment of Coron and Modon, but was soon driven out of those places by the Venetians. a d 1210. William de Champlite assumed the title of Ducange Hist. , ■ , I const lib. 2 prince of Achaia. At his death, William de Ville Hardouin inherited the possessions of his friend, and became Prince of Achaia and the Morea. a. d. 1214 The origin of the Ottomon empire dates SS1,oSi.I,E»J.' fr°m about the time of which we are treating. b ' Solyman Shah issued about the year 1214 from the deserts of the Oguzian Tartars, and advanced towards Asia Minor.

Demetrius Cantemer, who has given us a history of the Turks from the original au thors, is more worthy of credit than Paul Jovius and the Greek writers, who often confound the Saracens with the Turks. The Marquis of Monferrat having been killed, his