Arcadia

Arcadia, the central and highest part of the Peloponnesus, was in length about 50 miles, in breadth about 40. According to Pausanias, it derived its name from the eponymous hero Arcas, the son of Callisto. Next to Laconia, Arcadia was the largest country in the Peloponnesus. It was girt round by a ring of mountains, which cut off to a large extent its communication with the rest of the peninsula. Mountains also intersected it in different directions. The western part of what was anciently Arcadia is wild, bleak, and rugged; the eastern is more fertile. The loftiest peak in Arcadia—the loftiest also in the Peloponnesus—is Mount Cyllene, in the north-east (7787 feet). The chief river is the Alpheus (q.v.). The modern province of Arcadia has an area of 2020 sq. m., and a pop. (1879) of 148,905. Originally Arcadia was named Pelasgia, after its first inhabitants, the Pelasgi. Subsequently, it was divided into several small states, which formed a confederation. Of these, the chief were Mantinea, Tegea, Orchomenos, Pheneus, and Psophis. The inhabitants, engaged chiefly in tending cattle and in hunting among the wild highlands, remained long in a state of barbarism. They were passionately fond of music and dancing, and were especially devoted to the worship of Pan and Artemis. Arcadia became both to ancient and modern poets the land of peace, innocence, and patriarchal manners; but the Arcadian shepherds of modern pastoral poetry harmonise but indifferently with the barbarous hill-men of ancient Arcadia.