Note 1290 — Chapter XV

Hall notes (p. 73) that "it is to the Thesprotian invasion, which displaced the Achaians, that, in all probability, the general introduction of iron into Greece is to be assigned. The invaders came ultimately from the Danube region, where iron was probably first used in Europe, whereas their kindred, the Achaians, had possibly already lived in Thessaly in the Stone Age, and derived the knowledge of metal from the Aegeans. The speedy victory of the new-comers over the older Aryan inhabitants of Northern Greece may be ascribed to their possession of iron weapons." Ridgeway, however, has little difficulty in proving that the Achaeans themselves were tall fair Celts from Central Europe. The Early Age of Greece, 1901, especially chap. IV., "Whence came the Acheans?" The question is dealt with from a different point of view by J. L. Myres, in The Dawn of History, 1911, chap. IX., "The Coming of the North," tracing the invasion from the Eurasian steppes.