The Greek language has strong affinities to the ancient Persian and Sanscrit, showing conclusively that the Aryac tribes whose descendants developed these tongues dwelt in eastern Europe between the Slavonic peoples on the north and the proto-Hellenes on the south. At a later date, that is, about 1500 B. C., numerous Phenician colonists occupied the shores of Greece, constructing the so-called “Cyclopean” walls, and leaving a lasting impression, both on the language and culture of the Aryac population.[103] Greek civilization undoubtedly derived its early inspiration from Semitic and Hamitic sources, and nearly thirty per cent. of the Greek roots are non-Aryac, proving a large admixture of foreign thought and blood at some remote epoch.
The ancient Greek physical type was rather Slavonic than Celtic. The skull was long (about 76), the forehead high, the nose narrow and straight (the “Grecian nose”), the face oval and orthognathic, the complexion fair, the hair blonde or chestnut, and the eyes blue or grey.[104] The highest bodily symmetry of the human species was reached among them, and its proportions were perpetuated for all time in the noble products of Greek plastic art.
The modern Greeks have undergone extensive commingling with Slavonians, Turks, Bulgarians, etc., so that the ancient type is no longer common, and the population is generally darker in complexion, and the skull more globular than in classic ages.
At a very remote epoch the Hellenic peoples occupied southern Italy (Magna Grecia), Sicily, portions of southern France and the regions on both shores of the Hellespont, their easternmost colonies extending quite into Syria. During the middle ages the establishment of the capital of the eastern empire at Constantinople, gave to Greek a position in the east equal to that of Latin in the west. Crushed out, first by the Romans and next by Mongolian hordes, within this century the Hellenic peoples are rapidly regaining a prominent position. Their settlements in Asia Minor are displacing the Turks, and in all the cities of the Levant they form one of the most active elements of the population.
In certain mental endowments, the Hellenic peoples won a position far ahead of all others. The sense of artistic form was possessed by them in a superlative degree; for the highest philosophic thought they showed an aptitude unparalleled in the annals of the race; in mathematics and mechanics, in poetry and the drama, in architecture and in literature, they created models of such perfection that the later generations of other nations have been content to do little more than imitate them. To this day that culture which is properly called the highest, must be based on a long and loving study of Greek art and thought.