Pelasgians

Pelasgians, name applied to the early inhabitants of ancient Greece. In the epic poems of Homer, the Pelasgians are mentioned as the inhabitants of several locations in Greece including the ancient city of Dodona in eastern Epirus, southeastern Thrace, Árgos, the Pelopónnisos (Peloponnesus), and Crete (Kríti). Later writers placed them in Asia Minor. Some modern scholars regard them as the pre-Indo-European inhabitants of Greece, originally from eastern Thessaly (Thessalia) in the northern part of the country; others regard them as the common ancestors of the Greeks and the Italians. More recently the term Pelasgian has been employed to designate the builders of the so-called Cyclopean architecture. Some scholars believe that the Pelasgians were responsible for the development of the Mycenaean civilization; this theory, however, has not won general acceptance.