The bronze age and the Celtic world - Universal History Library

GREEK LANDS AND THE BASIS OF CHRONOLOGY iii
We can well imagine that the arrival in such a community of one or two northern
barbarians, rough and rude, but strong and honest, would have been Uke a breath of
fresh air entering a stuffy room. The tyrant would have welcomed a man who could
put down highwaymen or lead his mercenaries to battle. He would, perhaps, have
made him chief of his poUce or generahssimo of the town forces, and, as the hero restored
law and order and kept the populace quiet, he would have promised him much reward,
including perhaps his daughter's hand. All would have gone well until the tyrant, with
the instinct of the Prospector to make a bargain and to get something for nothing,
endeavoured, like Laomedon of Troy, to cheat his Nordic ally or to offer him a base
substitute for promises made.
The Nordic, as incapable of understanding such double-dealing as of thus acting
himself, would quite naturally have been incensed. We can picture him accusing the
tyrant of dishonesty and ejecting him from his palace, when he would have fallen a
speedy victim to the anger of his subjects. The hero would have placed himself upon
the vacant throne with the help and goodwill of the people, who had admired his strength,
courage and fair dealing. Lastly, he would, perhaps, have married the daughter of his
predecessor, not so much from romantic motives as to establish more completely his right
to the throne, for, despite what has been written to the contrary, some form of matrilinear
succession seems to have obtained in Minoan Greece."
The Greek legends referring to the early heroes are full of such details, and the
above imaginary sketch may be taken as a composite picture of the kind of events
which took place, in all probability, in many a city of pre-Hellenic Greece, as the leaf-shaped
swords first made their appearance.
We have, hitherto, taken it for granted that these " Achaean " intruders were
Nordic, and our reasons have been mainly the presence of the swords, the northern
character of their palaces and the fact that such enterprises are in keeping with the
subsequent behaviour of Nordic adventurers. But the identification, perhaps, requires
further proof. The Nordics as we know were tall, fair and long-headed ; how does
this agree with what we know of the " Achaean " heroes and their forbears ?
The whole tenour of the legends, attributing to them deeds requiring strength
and endurance, certainly suggests that the heroes were considered in later days to have
M App. II.