The bronze age and the Celtic world - Universal History Library

io6 THE BRONZE AGE AND THE CELTIC WORLD
Now the presence of these leaf-shaped swords in pre-Dorian Greece seems to
postulate the presence of intruders from the Danube basin ; the paucity of their
number, all the more striking when we consider the extent of the excavations carried
out in Greek lands, seems to indicate that these intruders were few. These swords had
been, as we have seen, invented by the Nordic steppe-folk in Central Europe, and may
sometimes have been used by their Alpine subjects. But for a few strangers to intrude
into a foreign land needs on their part considerable courage and the spirit of adventure,
features which we have found characteristic of the Nordic steppe-folk, and conspicuously
lacking among the Alpines. We may, therefore, take it for granted that these intruders,
who introduced the leaf-shaped swords into Greek lands, were of Nordic type and
temperament.
The heroes of the Trojan War, as Ridgeway has pointed out, were newcomers
to the land.^ In most cases their grandfathers are mentioned, seldom a great-
grandfather, unless it is to state that he was a god. Sometimes even the
grandfather was a deity, as in the case of Polypoites, but usually when this is so we
have reason for believing that the hero, like Nestor, the grandson of Poseidon, was an
old man. The earliest ancestor was sometimes Zeus, but usually the pedigree is not
actually traced to the divine forefather. In a large number of cases, especially of the
minor heroes, they are said to be of the stock of Ares. Dr. Hall has suggested that
Ares and his mistress Hera were the chief deities of these northern invaders.^
We hear very little in the lUad of these first human ancestors of the " Achaeans,"
nor has later Greek legend much more to say about most of them. We have, however,
various stories of heroes, arriving alone hke Theseus, Perseus, Herakles, and Peleus,
or perhaps accompanied by one friend hke Amphitryon, at some Greek city. The
hero is weU received by the king of the city, and often relieves him of some difficulty,
whether it be the repulse of a hostile attack, as in the case of Theseus and the Pallantids,
or Amphitryon and the Telebceans, the punishment of robbers, such as Periphates,
Sinis, Sciron, Cercyon or Damastes, or the slaying of wild beasts like the Cromyon sow
the Marathon bull, the Cadmeian fox, or the various monsters slain by Herakles. The
king honours the visitor, the princess, like Ariadne, Comoetho or Polsmiela, falls in love
7 Ridgeway (1901) 339. 8 Hall (1913) 520 fn.