I SHALL divide this Introduction into two Memoirs; in the first I shall take up the history of Sparta and Athens, at about the age of Augustus, and bring it down to the present time. In the second I shall inquire into the authenticity of the religious traditions relative to Jerusalem.
Spon, Wheeler, Fanelli, Chandler, and Leroi have, it is true, treated of the fortunes of Greece in the middle ages; but the picture drawn by those writers is far from being a finished one. They have contented themselves with general facts, and not taken the trouble to dispel the confusion which pervades the history of the Byzantine empire; they were moreover ignorant of the existence of some Travels in the Levant. While I avail myself of their labours, I shall endeavour to supply their omissions.
As to the history of Jerusalem, it is involved in no obscurity in the barbarous ages; we never lose sight of the holy city. But when the pilgrims tell you: We repaired to the tomb of Jesus Christ; we entered the grotto where the Redeemer of the world sweated blood," &c. an