Peloponnēsus

, a celebrated peninsula which comprehends the most southern parts of Greece. It received its name from Pelops, who settled there, as the name indicates ( πηλοπος νησος , the island of Pelops ). It had been called before Argia , Pelasgia , and Argolis , and in its form, it has been observed by the moderns, highly to resemble the leaf of the plane tree. Its present name is Morea , which seems to be derived either from the Greek word μορεα , or the Latin mor us , which signifies a mulberry tree , which is found there in great abundance. The ancient Peloponnesus was divided into six different provinces, Me enia, Laconia, Elis, Arcadia, Achaia propria, and Argolis, to which some add Sicyon. These provinces all bordered on the sea-shore, except Arcadia. The Peloponnesus was conquered, some time after the Trojan war, by the Heraclidæ or descendants of Hercules, who had been forcibly expelled from it. The inhabitants of this peninsula rendered themselves illustrious, like the rest of the Greeks, by their genius, their fondne for the fine arts, the cultivation of learning, and the profe ion of arms, but in nothing more than by a celebrated war, which they carried on against Athens and her allies for 27 years, and which from them received the name of the Peloponnesian war. See: Peloponnesiacum bellum . The Peloponnesus scarce extended 200 miles in length, and 140 in breadth, and about 563 miles in circumference. It was separated from Greece by the narrow isthmus of Corinth, which, as being only five miles broad, Demetrius, Cæsar, Nero, and some others, attempted in vain to cut, to make a communication between the bay of Corinth, and the Saronic us sinus. Strabo , bk. 8 .— Thucydides. — Diodorus , bk. 12 , . — Pausanias , bk. 3 , ch. 21 ; bk. 8 , ch. 1 .— Mela , bk. 2 , ch. 3 .— Pliny , bk. 4 , ch. 6 .— Hero dot us , bk. 8 , ch. 40 .