So  constant  indeed  were  the  offers  of  the  Ionians  to  help
the  Medes  against  the  Lydians,  that  the  word  to  Medise
became  a  technical  term,  used  by  Herodotus  even  after
the  Medes  had  been  absorbed  under  the  Persian
monarchy  of  Cyrus  and  his  heirs.  In  these  quarrels  and
serving  in  these  armies,  many  Greek  soldiers  entered
not  only  Sardis  but  Ecbatarm  and  Babylon,  Tyre  and
Sidon,  Memphis  and  Thebes,  and  we  may  be  sure  that
the  Greek  inscription  cut  by  them  on  the  leg  of  the
colossus  at  Abu  Simbel  (about  600  B.  C. )  was  by  no
means  a  record  of  their  earliest  visit  to  these  far  distant
lands. f  It  is  to  be  noted  also  that  these  mercenaries
were  not  mere  paupers,  or  adventurers  such  as  those
who  now  accept  "  the  queen's  shilling  "  for  want  of  hope
or  sustenance,  but  often  exiled  aristocrats,  ambitious
marauders  like  the  followers  of  Cortes  and  Pizarro,  or  of
Drake  or  Frobisher,  who  combined  love  of  strange
experiences  with  the  chance  of  making  a  rapid  and
amazing  fortune.
Thus  the  Hellenic  people  not  only  came  to  cover  a  spread  of  Greek

,  r     i-  .1/^1  1        ,1         civilization  and

larger  area  of  diverse  country,  the  Greek  peninsula,  the  enterprise  east
whole   coast   of    Asia    Minor    from    the    Hellespont    to
Mount  Taurus,  and  all  the  intervening  islands  down  to

*  This  was  in  Syria  and  Palestine  in  200  B.  C.  "  Greek  Life  and  Thought,"
page  494.
fl  have  mvself  found  traces  of  very  old  Greek  writing  on  a  temple  over
against  Wadi  Haifa  in  Nubia,  higher  up  the  Nile  than  Abu  Simbel.
74  -A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization.
