Chapter 1 - Page 2

resembling each other in their
foundation, are found in the Greek and Roman authors in several
different forms. To understand these stories, we will here first acquaint
ourselves with the ideas of the structure of the universe, which
the poets and others held, and which will form the scenery, so to
speak, of the narratives. The Greek poets believed the earth to be flat and circular, their
own country occupying the middle of it, the central point being
either Mount Olympus, the abode of the gods, or Delphi, so famous
for its oracle. The circular disk of the earth was crossed from west to east, and
divided into two equal parts by the SEA, as they called the
Mediterranean, and its continuation the Euxine. Around the earth flowed the RIVER OCEAN, its course being from
south to north on the western side of the earth, and in a
contrary direction on the eastern side. It flowed in a steady,
equable current, unvexed by storm or tempest. The sea, and all
the rivers on earth, received their waters from it. The northern portion of the earth was supposed to be inhabited by
a happy race named the Hyperboreans [this word means "who live
beyond the north" from the word "hyper," beyond, and boreas, the
north wind], dwelling in everlasting bliss and spring beyond the
lofty mountains whose caverns were supposed to send forth the
piercing blasts of the north wind, which chilled the people of
Hellas (Greece). Their country was inaccessible by land or sea.
They lived exempt from disease or old age, from toils and
warfare. Moore has given us the "Song of a Hyperborean,"
beginning "I come from a land in the sun-bright deep,
Where golden gardens glow,
Where the winds of the north, becalmed in sleep,
Their conch-shells never blow." On the south side of the earth, close to the stream of Ocean,
dwelt a people happy and virtuous as the Hyperboreans. They were
named the AEthiopians. The gods favored them so highly that they
were wont to leave at times their Olympian abodes, and go to
share their sacrifices and banquets. On the western margin of the earth, by the stream of Ocean, lay a
happy place named the Elysian Plain, whither mortals favored by
the gods were transported without tasting of death, to enjoy an
immortality of bliss. This happy region was also called the
"fortunate fields," and the "Isles of the Blessed." We thus see that the Greeks of the early ages knew little of any
real people except those to the east and south of their own
country, or near the coast of the Mediterranean. Their
imagination meantime peopled the western portion of this sea with
giants, monsters, and enchantresses; while they placed around the
disk of the earth, which they probably regarded as of no great
width, nations enjoying the peculiar favor of the