DORIANS, a people of Greece, who derived their origin from those districts in which the Grecian nation bordered towards the north upon numerous and dissimilar races of barbarians. According to Herodotus, they were from early times one of the chief races of that nation, which, in fact, was composed of Dorians and Ionians; the one of Hellenic and the other of Pelasgic origin, the former a migratory and the latter an aboriginal race. In this definition it is assumed that the Pelasgi were Greeks and spoke the Grecian language in its elder form; an opinion in support of which many arguments might easily be produced. But all the races whose migrations took place at a comparatively late period, such as the Achaeans, Ionians, and Dorians, particularly the last, were not sufficiently numerous or powerful to effect a complete change in the customs of a barbarous population: many districts, as Arcadia and Perrhaebia, remained entirely Pelasgic, without being inhabited by any nation not of Grecian origin: the most ancient names either of Grecian places, or those mentioned in the traditions of the Grecian race, belonged indeed to a different era of the dialect, but not to a different language: and, lastly, the great similarity between the Latin and the Greek can only be explained by supposing the Pelasgic language to have formed the connecting link. The Dorians are mentioned in ancient legends and poems as having been established in one extremity of the great mountain chain of Upper Greece, namely, at the foot of Mount Olympus; but there are, nevertheless, many reasons for supposing that, at a period still earlier than that to which these monuments refer, they dwelt at its other extremity, reaching to the farthest limit of the Grecian nation. Indeed the Doric Hylleans had a tradition that they came originally from those northern districts which bordered on the Illyrians, and were afterwards occupied by that people; a tradition, we may observe, which many facts and circumstances unite to confirm, or at least to render highly probable. Be this as it may, however, the earliest ascertained seat of the Dorians was the district of Mount Olympus. But, either from a restless and wandering disposition, or impelled by the pressure of some northern hordes, they seem to have migrated from this district into Crete, that is, from one end of the Grecian world to the other; thus presenting a striking anomaly in the history of the ancient colonies. The earliest trace of this circumstance is found in the Odyssey, where it is mentioned that the “thrice divided” (τg∕^α∕xis) Dorians formed part of the population of Crete. Though originally inhabiting a mountainous region, they appear, in course of time, to have become, as it were, the Normans of Greece, and to have sought settlements wherever they could find them. But the most important, and the most fertile in consequences, of all the migrations of the Grecian races, and that which continued even to the latest period to exert its influence upon the Greek character, was the expedition of the Dorians into the Peloponnesus. This circumstance is mentioned by Herodotus, who states that, under Deucalion, they dwelt in Phthiotis, and in the time of Dorus, the son of Helen, inhabited the country at the foot of Ossa and Olympus, called Hestiacotis; [7:8:117]that, afterwards, being driven from Hestiacotis by the Kad-means, they dwelt under Mount Pindus, and were called the Macednian nation; that thence they again migrated to Dryopis, and from Dryopis passed into the Peloponnesus, where they were cŭlled the Doric race. The traditionary name of the expedition in question is “the Return of the descendants of Hercules,” who are admitted to have been of Doric origin; and, in process of time, successive conquests were effected by them in the Peloponnesus, until the whole of that country was at length subdued and occupied by the Dorians. Argos was captured by this people; Sicyon was conquered from Argos, Phlius from Sicyon, and Cleonae from Argus. The Dorians expelled the Ionians from Epidaurus, and afterwards reduced Aegina and Troezen; they appear also to have made themselves masters of Corinth and Megara; and, under Aristodemus, they conquered Laconia, which soon afterwards rose into great importance among the states of Greece. In due time, Doric colonies from Argos, Epidaurus, and Troezen established themselves on the south-west coast of Asia Minor; and other colonies of the same race also settled in different parts of the same country, where, at a very early period, we find them forming a league against the Ionians, whom they had either encroached upon or expelled. In fact, there is nothing so remarkable in the history of this remarkable race as its extraordinary propagation and diffusion. In course of time it spread itself on all sides, from Greece to Asia Minor, Byzantium, Syracuse, and the country which sweeps round the Gulf of Tarentum, including the territory afterwards known by the name of Magna Graecia, with Crotona, Locri, and Lyctus, to say nothing of Chalcis, Solium, Ambracia, Anactorium, Leucadia, Corcyra, Epidamnus, Apollonia, Potidaea, Chalcedon, Trogilus, Thap-sos, Selinus, and other places, which it conquered or colonized. It is remarkable that, wherever any portion of Doric invaders or settlers proceeded, they not only carried along with them, but gave a permanent ascendancy to the peculiarities and characteristics of their race. Their religion, their laws, their literature, their manners, and in short all that distinguished them as a separate people, appear to have taken root wherever they pitched their tents; and it is by the vestiges which still remain of their migrations, settlements, and power, that we are enabled to trace with some degree of certainty events which either took place before the commencement of authentic history r , or in regard to which history, tradition, and even fable, are alike silent. The limits of this article, however, preclude our entering into details, which in fact would require volumes for their full development and illustration. We shall therefore confine ourselves to some general remarks on the character of the Dorians, deduced from the masterly analytical investigations of Professor Müller in his History and Antiquities of the Doric Race ; a work not more distinguished for its almost boundless erudition, than for the critical sagacity and philosophic spirit which is displayed in it throughout.

And the first peculiarity in the Doric character which we shall notice, is the tendency which it exhibited to produce uniformity and unity. Every individual was destined to remain within those limits which were prescribed by the will of the whole; every one was bound to obey in his own place. All the smaller associations were regulated on the same principle; there was a gradation of power, but never independent equality. The Dorians, also, had little inclination to admit the customs of others, and a strong desire to disconnect themselves from foreigners; their instinct seems to have been to adhere scrupulously to their own national habits, and to preserve that distinct individuality of national character which appears to have given them so decided an ascendency over all the races amongst which they intermingled or settled. They loved independence, and knew well how to maintain and defend it. A calm and steady courage was the natural quality of the Dorians; and though they sometimes yielded to the impetuosity of excitable and enthusiastic enemies, their fortitude and pertinacity commonly secured them the"victory, and almost always prevented defeat from degenerating into disaster. As they were not ready to receive, neither were they prone to communicate, outward impressions; and hence, both in their poetry and prose, the narrative is often concealed by expressions of the feeling, and tinged as it were with the hue and colour of the mind. They endeavoured always to condense and concentrate their thoughts, which was the cause of the great brevity and obscurity of their language; and as their attention was turned to the past rather than the future, they cherished an ardent attachment to the usages and manners of their forefathers, as embodied and preserved in their actual institutions. Hence the Dorians preserved most rigidly, and represented most truly, the customs of the ancient Greeks. They were not a stationary, far less a retrograding people; but the advances which they made were slow, and all their changes imperceptible.

With the desire to attain uniformity, for which the Dorians were distinguished, there was also combined in their character another remarkable peculiarity; namely, a love for measure and proportion. Their works of art are conspicuously marked by this attention to singleness of effect; and every thing discordant or useless was pruned off with an unsparing hand. Their moral system also prescribed the observance of the proper medium in all things; and it was in this that the temperance which so distinguished them consisted; it was the synonyme, not of abstinence, but of moderation. One great object of the worship of Apollo, which the Dorians introduced into Greece, was to maintain undisturbed the balance of the mind, and to remove every thing calculated to disquiet the thoughts, inflame the passions, or overcloud the serenity of the soul. The nature of this singular race seems to have required an equal and regular harmony; and for this reason dissonances, even if combined into harmony, were by no means suited to their taste. The national song was doubtless not remarkable for soft or pleasing melody; and the general accent of the language had the tone aζ>d character of command, without any of that delicacy or flexibility which are required in Elysian airs or Lydian measures. But the Dorians were contented with themselves, and with the powers to which they owed their existence and their happiness; in almost every sense, they were a self-concentred race, living in themselves and for themselves; they looked not to future, but to present existence, and they loved their own laws, religion, institutions, manners, customs, literature, and arts, too much to envy those of other nations, or even to desire to imitate them. Man was the chief and almost only object which attracted their attention. This feeling may be detected in their religion, which was always unconnected with the worship of any natural object, and originated solely from their own reflections and conceptions; and to the same source may perhaps be traced their aversion to mechanical and agricultural labour, a feeling which belongs and is indeed natural to minds of a contemplative turn. In a word, the whole Doric race bears the stamp and character of the male sex among nations; the desire of assistance and connection, of novelty and curiosity, the characteristics of the weaker sex, being directly opposed to the nature of the Dorians, which, from first to last, was marked by severe simplicity, inflexible independence, subdued strength, and unquenchable nationality. (See Müller’s History and Antiquities of the Doric Race i English translation, Oxford, 1830, 2 vols. 8vo.) (a.) [7:8:118]