The legendary period culminates in the tale of Troy, which belongs to a period prior to the Dorian conquest presented in the Herakleid legend; the tale of Troy itself remaining the common heritage of the Greek peoples, and having an actual basis in historical fact.  The events, however, are of less importance than the picture of an actual historical, political, and social system, corresponding, not to the supposed date of the Trojan war, but to the date of the composition of the Homeric poems.  Later ages regarded the myths themselves with a good deal of scepticism, and were often disposed to rationalise them, or to find for them an allegorical interpretation.  The myths of other European peoples have undergone a somewhat similar treatment.

Greece proper, that is, the European territory occupied by the Hellenic peoples, has a very extensive coast-line, covers the islands of the AEgean, and is so mountainous on the mainland that communication between one point and another is not easy.  This facilitated the system which isolated communities, compelling each one to develop and perfect its own separate organisation; so that Greece became, not a state, but a congerie of single separate city states—­small territories centering in the city, although in some cases the village system was not centralised into the city system.  On the other hand, the Hellenes very definitely recognised their common affinity, looked on themselves as a distinct aggregate, and very emphatically differentiated that entire aggregate from the non-Hellenes, whom they designated as “barbarians.”

Of these states, the first to come into view—­post-Homerically—­is Sparta, the head of the Dorian communities, governed under the laws and discipline attributed to Lycurgus, with its special peculiarity of the dual kingship designed to make a pure despotism impossible.  The government lay and remained in the hands of the conquering Spartan race—­as for a time with the Normans in England—­which formed a close oligarchy, while within the oligarchical body the organisation was democratic and communistic.  For Sparta, the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. were characterised by the two Messenian wars; and we note that while the Hellenes generally recognised her headship, Argos claimed a titular right to that position.  As a general rule, the primitive monarchical system portrayed in the Homeric poems was displaced in the Greek cities by an oligarchical government, which in turn was overthrown by an irregular despotism called tyrannis, primarily established by a professed popular leader, who maintained his supremacy by mercenary troops.  One after another these usurping dynasties were again ejected in favour either of a restored oligarchy or of a democracy.  Sparta, where the power of the dual kingship was extremely limited, was the only state where the legitimate kingship survived.  Corinth attained her highest power Under the despot Periander, son of Cypselus.  Of