  GREEK EMIGRANTS OR COLONISTS When the Atlantic was unknown. One of the most important things done by the men of Ancient Times was to explore the coasts and lands of Europe and to make settlements wherever they went. At first they knew little of the western and northern parts of Europe. Herodotus, a Greek whom we call the "Father of History," and who was a great traveler, said, "Though I have taken vast pains, I have never been able to get an assurance from any eye-witness that there is any sea on the further side of Europe." By the "further side" he meant "western," and his remark shows that he did not know of the Atlantic Ocean. He understood that tin and amber came from the "Tin Islands," which he called the "ends of the earth." As tin came from England, it is plain that he had heard a little of that island.
Greek Emigrants. Long before Athens became a great and beautiful city the Greeks had begun to make settlements on distant shores. Those who lived on the western coast of Asia Minor, as well as those who lived where the kingdom of Greece is now, sent out colonists or emigrants. The Greek colonies were very important, because by them the ancient civilized world was made larger, just as by the settlement of America the modern world was doubled in size. The colonists sailed away from home for the same reasons which led our forefathers to leave England and Europe for America. They either hoped to find it easier in a new land to make a living and obtain property, or they did not like the way their city was ruled, and being unable to change this, resolved to build elsewhere a city which they could manage as they pleased. How they located a New City. There were several different lands to which they could go, just as the European of to-day may sail for the United States or South America or Australia. They could attempt to settle on the shores of the Black Sea, or cross over to northern Africa, or try to reach Italy and the more distant coasts of what are now France and Spain. In order to choose wisely, they generally asked the advice of the priests of their god Apollo at his temple at Delphi. These priests knew more about good places for settlements than most other persons, because travelers from everywhere came to Delphi and the priests were wise enough to inquire about all parts of the world.
The story is told that one group of emigrants was advised to locate their new colony opposite the "city of the blind." They discovered that these words meant that an earlier band of emigrants had passed by the wonderful harbor of the present city of Constantinople and had settled instead on the other shore of the Bosphorus. Taught by the oracle they chose the better place and began to build the city of Byzantium, which later became Constantinople. Mother and Daughter Cities. Solemn ceremonies took place when colonists departed. They carried with them fire from the hearth of the mother city in order to light a similar fire on their new hearth, for every city had its hearthstone and on it a fire that was never quenched. The ties between the mother and the daughter city were close, and the enemies of one were the enemies of the other. He who wished to visit the colony usually went to the mother city to find a ship bound thither. Where the Settlements were made. When the Greek sailors first entered the Black Sea, they thought it a boundless ocean, and called it the Pontus, a word which means "The Main." Until that time they had been accustomed to sail only from island to island in the Aegean Sea. After a while they made settlements all around the shores of the Black Sea, and in later times Athens drew from this region her supply of grain. Still more important settlements were made in Sicily and southern Italy, for it was through these settlements that some of the things the Greeks knew, like the art of writing, were taught to the Italian tribes and to the Romans. Dangers of the Voyage. At first Greek sailors feared the dangers of the western Mediterranean as much as those of the Black Sea. They imagined that the huge, misshapen, and dreadful monsters Scylla and Charybdis lurked in the Straits of Messina waiting to seize and swallow the unlucky passer-by. On the slopes of Mount Aetna dwelt, they thought, hideous, one-eyed giants, the Cyclops, who fed their fierce appetites with the quivering flesh of many captives.
Greeks in the West. Greek Colonies as Centers of Civilization. The Greeks in these colonies traded with the natives whose villages were near by, and many of the natives learned to live like the Greeks. In this way the Greeks became teachers of civilization, and the Greek world, which at first was made up of cities on the shores of the Aegean Sea, was spread from place to place along the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea.
Greek Ships. The ships of the Greeks were very different from modern vessels. Of course they were not driven by steam, nor did they rely as much on sails as modern sailing ships do. They had sails, but were driven forward mostly by their oars. The trireme, or ordinary war-ship, had its oars arranged in three banks, fifty men rowing at once. After these had rowed several hours, or a "watch," another fifty took their places, and finally a third fifty, so that the ships could be rowed at high speed all the time. With the aid of its two sails a trireme is said to have gone one hundred and fifty miles in a day and a night. These boats were about one hundred and twenty feet long and fifteen feet wide. They could be rowed in shallow water, but were not high enough to ride heavy seas safely. They had a sharp beak, which, driven against an enemy's ship, would break in its sides. The Greek grain ships and freight boats were heavier and more capable of enduring rough weather.
Alexander the Great, King of Macedon from 336 to 323 B.C. Greek ways of living were also carried eastward as well as westward. The enlargement of the Greek world in this direction was due to Alexander the Great, the most skilful soldier and the ablest leader of men among all the Greeks. Alexander was king of Macedon, and like the earlier Greeks he regarded the Persians as his enemies, and made war upon them. After conquering the Persians he marched across western Asia until he had reached the Indus River in India. He was a builder of cities as well as a conqueror. He founded seventy cities, and sixteen of them were named for him. The most important was the Alexandria which is still the chief seaport of Egypt. Greek became the language commonly spoken throughout the lands near the eastern Mediterranean. This is the reason why in later times the New Testament was written in Greek. Alexandria. Of this Greek world Athens ceased to be the center and Alexandria took its place. At Alexandria there was a great library which contained over five hundred thousand volumes or rolls. There also was the museum or university, in which many learned men were at work. The best known of these men was Euclid, who perfected the mathematics which we call geometry, and Ptolemy, whose ideas about geography and the shape and size of the globe Columbus carefully studied before he set out on his great voyage. Alexandria was also a center of trade and commerce. From Alexandria, because its ships were the first foreign ships to be admitted to a Roman port, the Romans gained their liking for many of the beautiful things which the Greeks made.
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