the great mound of Alyattes upon a lofty base, the work, according to
Herodotus,[1545] of the people of the city, the greatest part of it
being executed by young women. He says that they all prostituted
themselves; according to some writers the sepulchre is the monument of a
courtesan.
Some historians say, that Coloë is an artificial lake, designed to
receive the superabundant waters of the rivers when they are full and
overflow.
Hypæpa[1546] is a city situated on the descent from Tmolus to the plain
of the Caÿster.
8. Callisthenes says that Sardes was taken first by Cimmerians, then by
Treres and Lycians, which Callinus also, the elegiac poet, testifies,
and that it was last captured in the time of Cyrus and Crœsus. When
Callinus says that the incursion of the Cimmerians when they took Sardes
was directed against the Esioneis, the Scepsian (Demetrius) supposes the
Asioneis to be called by him Esioneis, according to the Ionian dialect;
for perhaps Meonia, he says, was called Asia, as Homer describes the
country, “in the Asian meadows about the streams of Caÿstrius.”[1547]
The city, on account of the fertility of the country, was afterwards
restored, so as to be a considerable place, and was inferior to none of
its neighbours; lately it has lost a great part of its buildings by
earthquakes. But Sardes, and many other cities which participated in
this calamity about the same time, have been repaired by the provident
care and beneficence of Tiberius the present emperor.
9. The distinguished natives of Sardes were two orators of the same name
and family, the Diodori; the elder of whom was called Zonas, who had
pleaded the cause of Asia in many suits. But at the time of the invasion
of Mithridates the king, he was accused of occasioning the revolt of the
cities from him, but in his defence he cleared himself of the charge.
The younger Diodorus was my friend; there exist of his [CAS. 628]
historical writings, odes, and poems of other kinds, which very much
resemble the style of the ancients.
Xanthus, the ancient historian, is said to be a Lydian, but whether of
Sardes I do not know.
10. After the Lydians are the Mysians, and a city Philadelphia, subject
to constant earthquakes. The walls of the houses are incessantly
opening, and sometimes one, sometimes another, part of the city is
experiencing some damage. The majority of people (for few persons live
in the city) pass their lives in the country, employing themselves in
agriculture and cultivating a good soil. Yet it is surprising that there
should be even a few persons so much attached to a place where their
dwellings are insecure; but one may marvel more at those who founded the
city.
11. Next is the tract of country called the Catacecaumene, extending 500
stadia in length, and in breadth 400. It is uncertain whether it should
be called Mysia or Meonia, for it has both names. The whole country is
devoid of trees, excepting vines, from which is obtained the
Catacecaumenite wine; it is not inferior in quality to any of the kinds
in repute. The surface of the plains is covered with ashes, but the
hilly and rocky part is black, as if it were the effect of combustion.
This, as some persons imagine, was the effect of thunderbolts and of
fiery tempests, nor do they hesitate to make it the scene of the fable
of Typhon. Xanthus even says that a certain Arimus was king of these
parts. But it is unreasonable to suppose that so large a tract of
country was all at once consumed by lightning and fiery meteors; it is
more natural to suppose that the effect was produced by fire generated
in the soil, the sources of which are now exhausted. There are to be
seen three pits, which are called Physæ, or breathing holes, situated at
the distance of 40 stadia from each other. Above are rugged hills, which
probably consist of masses of matter thrown up by blasts of air (from
the pits).
That ground of this kind should be well adapted to vines, may be
conceived from the nature of the country Catana,[1548] which was a mass
of cinders, but which now produces excellent wine, and in large
quantities.
Some persons, in allusion to such countries as these, wittily observe
that Bacchus is properly called Pyrigenes, or fire-born.
12. The places situated next to these towards the south, and extending
to Mount Taurus, are so intermixed, that parts of Phrygia, Lydia, Caria,
and Mysia running into one another are difficult to be distinguished.
The Romans have contributed not a little to produce this confusion, by
not dividing the people according to tribes, but following another
principle have arranged them according to jurisdictions, in which they
have appointed days for holding courts and administering justice.
The Tmolus is a well compacted mass of mountain,[1549] of moderate
circumference, and its boundaries are within Lydia itself. The Mesogis
begins, according to Theopompus, from Celænæ,[1550] and extends on the
opposite side as far as Mycale,[1551] so that Phrygians occupy one part,
towards Celænæ and Apameia; Mysians and Lydians another; Carians and
Ionians a third part.
So also the rivers, and particularly the Mæander, are the actual
boundaries of some nations, but take their course through the middle of
others, rendering accurate distinction between them difficult.
The same may be said of plains, which are found on each side of a
mountainous range and on each side of a river. Our attention however is
not required to obtain the same degree of accuracy as a surveyor, but
only to give such descriptions as have been transmitted to us by our
predecessors.
13. Contiguous on the east to the plain of Caÿster, which lies between
the Mesogis and Tmolus, is the plain Cilbianum. It is extensive, well
inhabited, and fertile. Then follows the Hyrcanian plain, a name given
by the Persians, who brought colonists from Hyrcania (the plain of
Cyrus, in like manner, had its name from the Persians). Next is the
Peltine plain, belonging to the Phrygians, and the Cillanian and the
Tabenian plains, the latter of which contains small towns, inhabited by
a mixed population of Phrygians, with a portion of Pisidians. The plains
have their names from the towns.
14. After crossing the Mesogis, situated between the Carians[1552] and
[CAS. 629] the district of Nysa,[1553] which is a tract of country
beyond the Mæander, extending as far as the Cibyratis and Cabalis, we
meet with cities. Near the Mesogis, opposite Laodicea,[1554] is
Hierapolis,[1555] where are hot springs, and the Plutonium, both of
which have some singular properties. The water of the springs is so
easily consolidated and becomes stone, that if it is conducted through
water-courses dams are formed consisting of a single piece of stone.
The Plutonium, situated below a small brow of the overhanging mountain,
is an opening of sufficient size to admit a man, but there is a descent
to a great depth. In front is a quadrilateral railing, about half a
plethrum in circumference. This space is filled with a cloudy and dark
vapour, so dense that the bottom can scarcely be discerned. To those who
approach round the railing the air is innoxious, for in calm weather it
is free from the cloud which then continues within the enclosure. But
animals which enter within the railing die instantly. Even bulls, when
brought within it, fall down and are taken out dead. We have ourselves
thrown in sparrows, which immediately fell down lifeless. The
Galli,[1556] who are eunuchs, enter the enclosure with impunity,
approach even the opening or mouth, bend down over it, and descend into
it to a certain depth, restraining their breath during the time, for we
perceived by their countenance signs of some suffocating feeling. This
exemption may be common to all eunuchs, or it may be confined to the
eunuchs employed about the temple, or it may be the effect of divine
care, as is probable in the case of persons inspired by the deity, or it
may perhaps be procured by those who are in possession of certain
antidotes.
The conversion of water into stone is said to be the property of certain
rivers in Laodiceia, although the water is fit for the purpose of
drinking. The water at Hierapolis is peculiarly adapted for the dyeing
of wool. Substances dyed with “the roots,”[1557] rival in colour those
dyed with the coccus, or the marine purple. There is such an abundance
of water, that there are natural baths in every part of the city.
15. After Hierapolis are the parts beyond the Mæander. Those about
Laodiceia and Aphrodisias,[1558] and those extending to Carura, have
been already described. The places which succeed are Antiocheia[1559] on
the Mæander, now belonging to Caria, on the west; on the south are
Cibyra the Great,[1560] Sinda,[1561] and Cabalis, as far as Mount Taurus
and Lycia.
Antiocheia is a city of moderate size situated on the banks of the
Mæander, at the side towards Phrygia. There is a bridge over the river.
A large tract of country, all of which is fertile, on each side of the
river, belongs to the city. It produces in the greatest abundance the
fig of Antioch, as it is called, which is dried. It is also called
Triphyllus. This place also is subject to shocks of earthquakes.
A native of this city was Diotrephes, a celebrated sophist; his disciple
was Hybreas, the greatest orator of our times.
16. The Cabaleis, it is said, were Solymi. The hill situated above the
Termessian fortress is called Solymus, and the Termessians themselves
Solymi. Near these places is the rampart of Bellerophon and the
sepulchre of Peisandrus his son, who fell in the battle against the
Solymi. This account agrees with the words of the poet. Of Bellerophon
he speaks thus,
“he fought a second time with the brave Solymi;”[1562]
and of his son,
“Mars, unsated with war, killed Peisandrus his son fighting
with the Solymi.”[1563]
Termessus is a Pisidian city situated very near and immediately above
Cibyra.
17. The Cibyratæ are said to be descendants of the Lydians who occupied
the territory Cabalis. The city was afterwards in the possession of the
Pisidians, a bordering nation, who occupied it, and transferred it to
another place, very strongly fortified, the circuit of which was about
100 stadia. It flourished in consequence of the excellence of its laws.
The villages belonging to it extended from Pisidia, and the bordering
territory Milyas, as far as Lycia and the country opposite to Rhodes.
Upon the [CAS. 631] union of the three bordering cities, Bubon,[1564]
Balbura,[1565] and Œnoanda,[1566] the confederation was called
Tetrapolis; each city had one vote, except Cibyra, which had two, for it
could equip 30,000 foot soldiers and 2000 horse. It was always governed
by tyrants, but they ruled with moderation. The tyrannical government
terminated in the time of Moagetes. It was overthrown by Murena, who
annexed Balbura and Bubon to the Lycians. Nevertheless the Cibyratic
district is reckoned among the largest jurisdictions in Asia.
The Cibyratæ used four languages, the Pisidic, that of Solymi, the
Greek, and the Lydian, but of the latter no traces are now to be found
in Lydia.
At Cibyra there is practised the peculiar art of carving with ease
ornamental work in iron.
Milya is the mountain-range extending from the defiles near Termessus,
and the passage through them to the parts within the Taurus towards
Isinda, as far as Sagalassus and the country of Apameia.
END OF VOL. II.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The ancient Tanais.
[2] These words are interpolated. _Casaubon._
[3] λιμένες, περίπλοι, περίοδοι γῆς.
[4] The territory of the Acarnanes is still called Carnia, south of the
Gulf of Arta. The rest of the countries mentioned by Strabo no longer
retain the ancient divisions, Bœotia is the modern Livadhia. _G._
[5] The Gulf of Lepanto.
[6] Makedunea.
[7] The ancient Thessaly is the modern Vlakea.
[8] The neighbourhood of the Gulf of Zeitun--the ancient Maliac Gulf.
[9] In Asia Minor, and founded the cities Miletus, Smyrna, Phocæa, &c.
[10] The word Ægialus (Αἰγιαλὸς) signifies sea-shore. The name was given
to this part of the Peloponnesus (afterwards called Achaia) from the
towns being situated generally along the coast. Others, however, give a
different explanation to the word.
[11] 1113 before the Christian era. _G._
[12] Taking the reverse order in which these peninsulas are described,
the fifth and last contains all the rest, the fourth all but the
difference between the fourth and fifth, and so on in order until we
come to the Peloponnesus, properly so called, which is thus the least of
the peninsulas. Strabo himself seems to admit the term peninsula to be
improperly applied to these subdivisions, by first describing Greece to
be divided into two great bodies, viz. that within and that without the
Isthmus of Corinth.
[13] For the same reason, at a subsequent period, it obtained the name
of Morea, in Greek (Μορέα) which signifies mulberry, a species or
variety of which tree bears leaves divided into five lobes--equal in
number to the five principal capes of the Peloponnesus. See book ii. ch.
i. 30.
[14] Cape Papa.
[15] Zante.
[16] Cephalonia.
[17] Theaki.
[18] Cape Matapan.
[19] Basilico.
[20] Gulf of Coron.
[21] Gulf of Colochina.
[22] Gulf of Napoli.
[23] Gulf of Castri.
[24] Gulf of Egina.
[25] Fidari.
[26] Aspro-potamo.
[27] Drepano.
[28] Castle of Roumelia.
[29] Patras.
[30] Vostitza.
[31] The words in brackets are inserted according to the suggestion of
Groskurd. The Gulf of Corinth is, in other passages, called by Strabo
the Crissæan Gulf.
[32] Od. xv. 298.
[33] Il. v. 545.
[34] Od. iii. 4.
[35] Igliaco.
[36] Chiarenza, in ruins.
[37] Cape Tornese.
[38] Il. ii. 650.
[39] Il. xv. 531.
[40] Od. i. 261.
[41] Od. ii. 328.
[42] Il. xi. 738.
[43] I read οἱ καὶ, as Meineke suggests, but the whole passage from
“there is” to “Ephyra,” is, as he also remarks, probably an
interpolation. Strabo has already enumerated four cities of the name of
Ephyra, viz. the Eliac, the Thesprotic, the Corinthian, and the
Thessalian; yet here two others are presented to our notice, the
Sicyonian and the Ætolian, of which Strabo makes no mention in his
account of Ætolia and Sicyonia.
[44] Il. xxiv. 78.
[45] Il. ii. 730.
[46] Il. ii. 591.
[47] This is supposed to be the modern Navarino. The Coryphasium is
Mount St. Nicholas. _G._
[48] Κοίλη Ἦλις, or Cœle-Elis.
[49] Il. ii. 615.
[50] Il. xxiii. 630.
[51] Od. i. 344.
[52] Od. ii. 496.
[53] Il. ix. 529.
[54] Il. ii. 625.
[55] Il. ii. 756.
[56] This passage in brackets is an interpolation to explain the
subsequent inquiry who the Caucones were. _Kramer._
[57] Il. iii. 636.
[58] Book vii. ch. vii. 2.
[59] Il. vii. 135.
[60] This passage is transposed from the following section, as proposed
by Groskurd.
[61] θρύον, the meaning of this word is uncertain; Meyer in his
“Botanische erklarung” of Strabo does not attempt to explain it.
[62] Od. iii. 4.
[63] Book xii. c. 3, 4. Little, however, can be obtained of their
history, which is buried in the same obscurity as the Pelasgi and
Leleges.
[64] This passage is an interpolation by the same hand probably as that
in s. 11. _Cramer._
[65] Dardanus was the son of Jupiter and Electra, one of the seven
daughters of Atlas, surnamed Atlantides.
[66] Il. ii. 591.
[67] Il. ii. 721.
[68] Hercules, after killing the Hydra, dipped the arrows which he
afterwards made use of against the Centaurs, in gall of this monster.
Pausanias, however, speaks of one Centaur only, Chiron, or, according to
others, Polenor, who washed his wounds in the Anigrus.
[69] The daughters of Prœtus. According to Apollodorus, Melampus cured
them of madness, probably the effect of a disease of the skin.
[70] Alphi, Lepra alphoides. Leuce, white tetter or common leprosy.
Leichen, a cutaneous disease tending to leprosy.
[71] The position of Pylus of Messenia is uncertain. D’Anville places it
at New Navarino. Barbié de Bocage at Old Navarino. See also Ernst
Curtius, Peloponnesus.
[72] Il. vii. 133.
[73] Il. ix. 153.
[74] Some MSS. have 120 stadia.
[75] Il. ii. 591.
[76] Il. xi. 710.
[77] A marsh.
[78] The sea-shore.
[79] Il. xi. 710.
[80] Il. ii. 697.
[81] Il. ii. 584.
[82] In the discussion which follows, Strabo endeavours to prove, that
the Pylus of Nestor is the Pylus of Triphylia, and not the Pylus of
Messenia.
[83] Od. xv. 295.
[84] Od. iv. 671; xv. 298.
[85] Il. xi. 677.
[86] Il. xi. 681.
[87] Il. xi. 756.
[88] Il. xi. 697.
[89] Il. i. 528.
[90] Il. viii. 199.
[91] Probably an interpolation.
[92] The establishment of the Olympic games is connected with many
legends, and is involved in much obscurity. See Smith, Greek and Roman
Antiq.
[93] 776 B. C.
[94] Il. xi. 677.
[95] An interpolation. _K._
[96] Od. ii. 238.
[97] An interpolation. _Meineke._
[98] An interpolation. _Groskurd._
[99] The text of Homer gives the name of Pharis.
[100] Il. ix. 150.
[101] Il. ii. 582.
[102] Thucydides, b. iv. ch. 2. The expedition was under the command of
Eurymedon and Sophocles. Stratocles being at the time archon at Athens.
[103] Thucydides, b. iv. ch. 38. The number was 292.
[104] Strivali.
[105] According to Pausanias, Mothone, or Methone, was the Pedasus of
Homer. It is the modern Modon.
[106] Cape Gallo. The Gulf of Messenia is now the Gulf of Coron.
[107] The name Thyrides, the little gates, is probably derived from the
fable which placed the entrance of the infernal regions at Tænarum, Cape
Matapan.
[108] For Cinæthium I read Cænepolis, as suggested by Falconer, and
approved by Coray.
[109] Vitulo.
[110] Scardamula.
[111] As Strabo remarks, in b. x., that the temple was built by Nestor
on his return from Troy, Falconer suggests that it might have derived
its name from the river Nedon, near Gerenia, the birth-place of Nestor.
[112] In the island of Cos.
[113] According to Pausanias, Gerenia is the Enope of Homer.
[114] Hira in the time of Pausanias was called Abia (Palæochora?). Some
interpreters of Homer were misled by the name of a mountain, Ira, near
Megalopolis, and placed there a city of the same name, but Hira was on
the sea-coast.
[115] Æpys, αἰπύς, lofty.
[116] The Pirnatza.
[117] So called from its fertility.
[118] In the text 250, σν, an error probably arising from the repetition
of the preceding final letter.
[119] The Pamisus above mentioned was never called the Amathus. There
were three rivers of this name, one near the Triphyliac Pylus, which was
also called Amathus; a second at Leuctrum of Laconia; and a third near
Messene.
[120] The ruins of Messene are now near the place called Mauromathia.
[121] Mount Vulkano.
[122] The first war dates from the year B. C. 743, and continued 20
years. The second, beginning from 682 B. C., lasted 14 years; the third
concluded in the year 456 B. C., with the capture of Ithome, which was
the citadel or fort of Messene. _Diod. Sic._ lib. xv. c. 66.
[123] The Messenians, driven from Ithome at the end of the third war,
settled at Naupactus, which was given to them as a place of refuge by
the Athenians, after the expulsion of the Locri-Ozolæ. It is probable
that Strabo considers as a fourth war that which took place in the 94th
Olympiad, when the Messenians were driven from Naupactus by the
Lacedæmonians and compelled to abandon Greece entirely.
[124] Leake supposes Amyclæ to have been situated between Iklavokhori
and Sparta, on the hill of Agia Kyriaki, half a mile from the Eurotas.
At this place he discovered on an imperfect inscription the letters ΑΜΥ
following a proper name, and leaving little doubt that the incomplete
word was ΑΜΥΚΛΑΙΟΥ. See _Smith_.
[125] Cape Matapan.
[126] The Ass’s Jaw. It is detached from the continent, and is now the
island of Servi.
[127] Cerigo.
[128] 750 stadia. _Groskurd._
[129] By others written in the singular number, Malea, now C. St.
Angelo.
[130] The site of Gythium is identified as between Marathonisi and
Trinissa.
[131] The Iri, or Vasili Potamo.
[132] Il. ii. 584.
[133] Rupina, or Castel Rampano. The plain of Leuce is traversed by the
river Mario-revina.
[134] The site of Asopus appears, according to the ruins indicated in
the Austrian map, to have been situated a little to the north of Rupina.
[135] κρῖ, δῶ, μάψ, for κριθή, δῶμα, μαψίδιον.
[136] Il. xix. 392.
[137] Probably an interpolation.
[138] The text here is very corrupt.
[139] 1090 B. C.
[140] Od. iii. 249, 251.
[141] His character is discreditably spoken of by Josephus, Antiq. b.
xvi. c. 10. and Bell. Jud. b. i. c. 26.
[142] The cities of the Eleuthero-Lacones were at first 24 in number; in
the time of Pausanias 18 only. They were kindly treated by Augustus, but
subsequently they were excluded from the coast to prevent communication
with strangers. Pausanias, b. iii. c. 21.
[143] From hence to the end of the section the text is corrupt. See
Groskurd for an attempt to amend the text of the last sentence, which is
here not translated.
[144] This quotation, as also the one which follows, are from a tragedy
of Euripides, now lost.
[145] The Pirnatza.
[146] Κῆτος. Some are of opinion that the epithet was applied to
Lacedæmon, because fish of the cetaceous tribe frequented the coast of
Laconia.
[147] Il. i. 268.
[148] This may have taken place a little before the third Messenian war,
B. C. 464, when an earthquake destroyed all the houses in Sparta, with
the exception of five. Diod. Sic. b. xv. c. 66; Pliny, b. ii. c. 79.
[149] Pliny, b. xxxvi. c. 18, speaks of the black marble of Tænarus.
[150] Od. xxi. 13.
[151] Eustathius informs us that, according to some writers, Sparta and
Lacedæmon were the names of the two principal quarters of the city; and
adds that the comic poet, Cratinus, gave the name of Sparta to the whole
of Laconia.
[152] Od. iii. 488.
[153] Cheramidi.
[154] Od. iii. 487.
[155] Od. ii. 359.
[156] The text to the end of the section is very corrupt. The following
is a translation of the text as proposed to be amended by Groskurd. The
epithet of Lacedæmon, hollow, cannot properly be applied to the country,
for this peculiarity of the city does not with any propriety agree with
the epithets given to the country; unless we suppose the epithet to be a
poetical licence. For, as has been before remarked, it must be concluded
from the words of the poet himself, that Messene was then a part of
Laconia, and subject to Menelaus. It would then be a contradiction (in
Homer) not to join Messene, which took part in the expedition, with
Laconia or the Pylus under Nestor, nor to place by itself in the
Catalogue, as though it had no part in the expedition.
[157] Skylli.
[158] The islands about Delos.
[159] The form thus given to the Gulf of Hermione bears no resemblance
to modern maps.
[160] Pausanias calls it Epidelium, now S. Angelo.
[161] The ruins are a little to the north of Monembasia, Malvasia, or
Nauplia de Malvasia.
[162] Cerigo.
[163] The ruins are on the bay of Rheontas.
[164] Toniki, or Agenitzi.
[165] Napoli di Romagna. Nauplius, to avenge the death of his son
Palamedes, was the cause of many Greeks perishing on their return from
Troy at Cape Caphareus in Eubœa, famous for its dangerous rocks. The
modern Greeks give to this promontory the name of Ξυλοφάγος,
(Xylophagos,) or devourer of vessels. Italian navigators call it Capo
d’Oro, which in spite of its apparent signification, Golden Cape, is
probably a transformation of the Greek word Caphareus.
[166] Strabo confounds Nauplius, son of Clytoreus, and father of
Palamedes, with Nauplius, son of Neptune and Amymone, and one of the
ancestors of Palamedes.
[167] Fornos.
[168] Castri.
[169] Damala.
[170] I. Poros.
[171] A place near the ruins of Epidaurus preserves the name Pedauro.
_G._
[172] Scheno.
[173] Il. iv. 52.
[174] Il. ii. 559.
[175] Il. i. 30.
[176] Il. ii. 681.
[177] Il. ix. 141.
[178] Od. iii. 251.
[179] Od. xviii. 245.
[180] Book i. 3.
[181] Il. ii. 684.
[182] Od. i. 344.
[183] Od. xv. 80.
[184] Il. iv. 171.
[185] Sophocles, El. 10.
[186] Il. ii. 193.
[187] Od. ii. 376.
[188] Il. i. 3.
[189] Probably an interpolation. _Meineke._
[190] The Planitza.
[191] Il. vi. 623.
[192] Il. vi. 152.
[193] Od. i. 344.
[194] Il. ii. 108.
[195] About 1283, B. C.
[196] About 1190, B. C.
[197] Not strictly correct, as in the time of Pausanias, who lived about
150 years after Strabo, a large portion of the walls surrounding Mycenæ
still existed. Even in modern times traces are still to be found.
[198] Il. ii. 559.
[199] From γαστὴρ, the belly, χεὶρ the hand.
[200] Poseidon, or Neptune. This god, after a dispute with Minerva
respecting this place, held by order of Jupiter, divided possession of
it with her. Hence the ancient coins of Trœzen bear the trident and head
of Minerva.
[201] Πώγων, pogon or beard. Probably the name is derived from the form
of the harbour. Hence the proverb, “Go to Trœzen,” (πλεύσειας εἰς
Τροιζῆνα,) addressed to those who had little or no beard.
[202] Plutarch, Life of Demosthenes.
[203] Pidauro.
[204] Methana is the modern name.
[205] Thucyd. b. ii. c. 34. Methone is the reading of all manuscripts
and editions.
[206] Herodotus, b. v. c. 83, and b. viii. c. 93.
[207] This colony must have been posterior to that of the Samians, the
first founders of Cydonia.
[208] Il. ii. 496.
[209] Il. ii. 559.
[210] Il. ii. 497.
[211] Il. ii. 632.
[212] Thucyd. ii. 27; iv. 56.
[213] A place not known.
[214] Probably interpolated.
[215] Il. ii. 569.
[216] Tricorythus in place of Corinth is the suggestion of _Coray_.
[217] Iph. Taur. 508 _et seq._
[218] Orest. 98, 101, 1246.
[219] Οὐ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς ἐς Κόρινθον ἔσθ’ ὁ πλοῦς, which Horace has
elegantly Latinized, Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum.
[220] ἱστοὺς--distaffs; also, masts and sailors.
[221] Strabo here gives the name of Crissæan Gulf to the eastern half of
the Gulf of Corinth.
[222] Of or belonging to asses.
[223] The remains of an ancient place at the distance of about a mile
after crossing the Erasinus, (Kephalari,) are probably those of
Cenchreæ. _Smith._
[224] Crommyon was distant 120 stadia from Corinth, (Thuc. iv. 45,) and
appears to have therefore occupied the site of the ruins near the chapel
of St. Theodorus. The village of Kineta, which many modern travellers
suppose to correspond to Crommyon, is much farther from Corinth than 120
stadia. _Smith._
[225] According to Pausanias, the Teneates derive their origin from the
Trojans taken captive at the island of Tenedos. On their arrival in
Peloponnesus, Tenea was assigned to them as a habitation by Agamemnon.
[226] B. C. 146.
[227] Aristeides of Thebes, a contemporary of Alexander the Great. At a
public sale of the spoils of Corinth, King Attalus offered so large a
price for the painting of Bacchus, that Mummius, although ignorant of
art, was attracted by the enormity of the price offered, withdrew the
picture, in spite of the protestations of Attalus, and sent it to Rome.
[228] This story forms the subject of the Trachiniæ of Sophocles.
[229] Mummius was so ignorant of the arts, that he threatened those who
were intrusted with the care of conveying to Rome the pictures and
statues taken at Corinth, to have them replaced by new ones at their
expense, in case they should be so unfortunate as to lose them.
[230] The plastic art was invented at Sicyon by Dibutades; according to
others, at the island of Samos, by Rœcus and Theodorus. From Greece it
was carried into Etruria by Demaratus, who was accompanied by Eucheir
and Eugrammus, plastic artists, and by the painter Cleophantus of
Corinth, B. C. 663. See b. v. c. ii. § 2.
[231] Il. ii. 571.
[232] The ruins are situated below the monastery Kesra.
[233] Vasilika.
[234] Ægialus was the most ancient name of Achaia, and was given to it
on account of the greater number of cities being situated upon the
coast. The Sicyonians, however, asserted that the name was derived from
one of their kings named Ægialeus.
[235] The story is narrated differently in Pausanias, b. vii. c. 1.
[236] About 1044 B. C.
[237] The twelve cities were Phocæa, Erythræ, Clazomenæ, Teos, Lebedos,
Colophon, Ephesus, Priene, Myus, Miletus, and Samos and Chios in the
neighbouring islands. See b. xiv. c. i. § 3. This account of the
expulsion of the Ionians from Peloponnesus is taken from Polybius, b.
ii. c. 41, and b. iv. c. 1.
[238] And Lacedæmonians, adds Polybius, b. ii. c. 39.
[239] Patras and Paleocastro.
[240] This festival, Panionium, or assembly of all the Ionians, was
celebrated at Mycale, or at Priene at the base of Mount Mycale, opposite
the island of Samos, in a place sacred to Neptune. The Ionians had a
temple also at Miletus and another at Teos, both consecrated to the
Heliconian Neptune. Herod. i. 148. Pausanias, b. vii. c. 24.
[241] Il. xx. 403.
[242] The birth of Homer was later than the establishment of the Ionians
in Asia Minor, according to the best authors. Aristotle makes him
contemporary with the Ionian migration, 140 years after the Trojan war.
[243] Ælian, De Naturâ Anim. b. ii. c. 19, and Pausanias, b. vii. c. 24,
25, give an account of this catastrophe, which was preceded by an
earthquake, and was equally destructive to the city Bura. B. C. 373.
[244] The Syngathus Hippocampus of Linnæus, from ἵππος, a horse, and
κάμπη, a caterpillar. It obtained its name from the supposed resemblance
of its head to a horse and of its tail to a caterpillar. From this is
derived the fiction of sea-monsters in attendance upon the marine
deities. It is, however, but a small animal, abundant in the
Mediterranean. The head, especially when dried, is like that of a horse.
Pliny, b. xxxii. c. 9--11. Ælian, De Nat. Anim. b. xiv. c. 20.
[245] This distinguished man was elected general of the Achæan League,
B. C. 245.
[246] The expulsion of the Carthaginians from Sicily took place 241 B.
C. The war of the Romans against the Cisalpine Gauls commenced 224 B.
C., when the Romans passed the Po for the first time.
[247] Text abbreviated by the copyist.
[248] Il. ii. 576.
[249] Il. ii. 639.
[250] Il. viii. 203.
[251] Il. xiii. 21, 34.
[252] Κράθις--κραθῆναι The Acrata. The site of Ægæ is probably the Khan
of Acrata. _Smith._
[253] From the heights on which it was situated, descends a small river,
(the Crius,) which discharges itself into the sea near Cape Augo-Campos.
[254] Vostitza.
[255] Leake places the port of Ægeira at Maura-Litharia, the Black
Rocks, on the left of which on the summit of a hill are some vestiges of
an ancient city, which must have been Ægeira.
[256] Phœn. 163.
[257] See above, § 3.
[258] Anab. v. 3. 8.
[259] Castel di Morea.
[260] Castel di Rumeli.
[261] Sunset.
[262] Gossellin suggests that the name Stratos was derived from a spot
called the Tomb of Sostratus, held in veneration by the inhabitants of
Dyme.
[263] The Risso or Mana.
[264] From the fountain Dirce, and the rivers Asopus, Inachus, and
Simoïs.
[265] Cape Papa.
[266] Now bears the name of Zyria; its height, as determined by the
French commission, is 7788 feet above the level of the sea. _Smith._
[267] The Arcadians called themselves Autochthones, indigenous, and also
Proseleni, born before the moon; hence Ovid speaking of them says, “Lunâ
gens prior illa fuit.”
[268] B. C. 371.
[269] Mauro vuni.
[270] Mintha.
[271] Partheni.
[272] Called Katavothra by modern Greeks.
[273] The Landona.
[274] The Carbonaro.
[275] The Kephalari.
[276] The following section is corrupt in the original; it is translated
according to the corrections proposed by _Kramer_, _Gossellin_, &c.
[277] The peninsulas described by Strabo, are:
1. The Peloponnesus, properly so called, bounded by the Isthmus of
Corinth.
2. The peninsula bounded by a line drawn from Pagæ to Nisæa, and
including the above.
3. The peninsula bounded by a line drawn from the recess of the Crissæan
Gulf, properly so called, (the Bay of Salona,) to Thermopylæ, and
includes the two first.
4. The peninsula bounded by a line drawn from the Ambracic Gulf to
Thermopylæ and the Maliac Gulf, and includes the three former.
5. The peninsula bounded by a line drawn from the Ambracic Gulf to the
recess of the Thermaic Gulf, and contains the former four peninsulas.
[278] These words are transposed from after the word Epicnemidii, as
suggested by Cramer.
[279] The Crissæan Gulf, properly so called, is the modern Bay of
Salona. But probably Strabo (or rather Eudoxus, whose testimony he
alleges) intended to comprehend, under the denomination of Crissæan, the
whole gulf, more commonly called Corinthian by the ancients, that is,
the gulf which commenced at the strait between Rhium and Antirrhium, and
of which the Crissæan Gulf was only a portion. The text in the above
passage is very corrupt.
[280] From Sunium to the Isthmus.
[281] Libadostani.
[282] N. W. by W., 1/4 W.
[283] Literally, “by legs on each side.” Nisæa was united to Megara, as
the Piræus to Athens, by two long walls.
[284] Il. ii. 546.
[285] Il. xiii. 685.
[286] See note to vol. i. page 329.
[287] This place is unknown.
[288] From a lost tragedy of Sophocles.
[289] Probably interpolated.
[290] Il. ii. 557.
[291] Il. xiii. 681.
[292] Il. iv. 327.
[293] Il. iv. 273.
[294] Il. iii. 230.
[295] Il. ii. 557.
[296] These horns, according to Wheler, are two pointed rocks on the
summit of the mountain situated between Eleusis and Megara. On one of
these rocks is a tower, called by the modern Greeks Cerata or
Kerata-Pyrga.
[297] Lepsina.
[298] Σηκὸς.
[299] κατεσκεύασεν.
[300] ἐποίησε. Ictinus was also the architect of the temple of Apollo
Epicurius near Phigalia in Arcadia.
[301] Thria.
[302] Scaramandra; from the height above Ægaleos, Xerxes witnessed the
battle of Salamis.
[303] Megala Kyra, Micra Kyra.
[304] τὸ ἄστυ, the Asty, was the upper town, in opposition to the lower
town, of Piræus. See Smith’s Dictionary for a very able and interesting
article, _Athenæ_; also Kiepert’s _Atlas von Hellas_.
[305] Sylla took Athens, after a long and obstinate siege, on the 1st
March, B. C. 86. The city was given up to rapine and plunder.
[306] Strabo thus accounts for his meagre description of the public
buildings at Athens, for which, otherwise, he seems to have had no
inclination.
[307] Hegesias was an artist of great celebrity, and a contemporary of
Pheidias. The statues of Castor and Pollux by Hegesias, are supposed by
Winkelman to be the same as those which now stand on the stairs leading
to the Capitol, but this is very doubtful. _Smith._
[308] In the Erechtheium.
[309] The Heroum, or temple dedicated to the daughters of Leos, who were
offered up by their father as victims to appease the wrath of Minerva in
a time of pestilence. The position of the temple is doubtfully placed by
Smith below the Areiopagus.
[310] The well-known temple of Theseus being the best preserved of all
the monuments of Greece.
[311] An eminent geographer. He made extensive journeys through Greece
to collect materials for his geographical works, and as a collector of
inscriptions on votive offerings and columns, he was one of the earlier
contributors to the Greek Anthology. _Smith._
[312] The Odeium was a kind of theatre erected by Pericles in the
Ceramic quarter of the city, for the purpose of holding musical
meetings. The roof, supported by columns, was constructed out of the
wreck of the Persian fleet conquered at Salamis. There was also the
Odeium of Regilla, but this was built in the time of the Antonines.
[313] The country was called Actica from Actæos. _Parian Chronicle._
[314] Demetrius Phalereus was driven from Athens, 307 B. C., whence he
retired to Thebes. The death of Casander took place 298 B. C.
[315] Aratus, the Achæan general, 245 B. C., drove from Attica the
Lacedæmonian garrisons, and restored liberty to the Athenians.
[316] B. C. 87.
[317] C. Halikes.
[318] Falkadi.
[319] Elisa.
[320] Raphti.
[321] Il. iii. 443.
[322] Macronisi.
[323] Negropont.
[324] From C. Colonna to C. Mantelo.
[325] Smith gives an alphabetical list of 160 demi.
[326] Monte San Giorgio.
[327] As Mount Hymettus was always celebrated for producing the best
honey, it would appear from this passage that there were silver mines in
it. It appears however that the Athenians had failed to discover silver
in Hymettus. It is not impossible that Strabo has adopted literally some
proverb or saying of the miners, such as, “Ours is the best honey.”
[328] In the following description of Greece, Strabo employs the term
belts or bands ταινίας for the territory intercepted between the lines
forming the peninsulas. See note, chap. i. § 1, of this book.
[329] About 67 yards. See also b. x. ch. i. § 8.
[330] Leuctra and Mantineia.
[331] The Thebans, who were formerly the allies of the Macedonians, were
opposed to Philip of Macedon at the battle of Chæroneia. On the
accession to the throne of Alexander, the city was destroyed, B. C. 335;
6000 of the inhabitants were killed, and 30,000 sold as slaves. The city
was rebuilt, B. C. 316, by Casander. Pausanias, ix. 7. The ravages
committed by Sylla in the war against Mithridates, which completed the
final ruin of Thebes, must have been fresh in the memory of Strabo.
[332] Hieros Limen.
[333] New Eretria stood at Paleocastro, and old Eretria at Vathy.
[334] Dramesi.
[335] Athenæus, v. 15.
[336] Livy states (xlv. 27) that Aulis was distant three miles from
Chalcis; by Homer (Il. ii. 303) it is called Αὐλὶς πετρήεσσα. About
three miles south of Chalcis, on the Bœotian coast, are two bays,
separated from each other by a rocky peninsula: the northern is small
and winding, the southern spreads out at the end of a channel into a
large circular basin. The latter harbour, as well as a village situated
a mile to the southward of it, is called _Vathy_, a name evidently
derived from βαθὺς λιμὴν. We may therefore conclude that Aulis was
situated on the rocky peninsula between these two bays. _Leake_ and
_Smith_.
[337] See above, c. ii. § 2.
[338] διῳκοδόμηται δ’ εἰς αὐτοὺς σῦριγξ The passage does not give a
clear explanation of the fact. Livy, b. xxviii. c. 6.
[339] Thucydides, b. ii. ch. 23, says that Graia is on the road leading
from Oropus to Athens.
[340] In modern maps a modern town, Skoimandri, is laid down near the
ruins of Tanagra. Pausanias, b. ix. ch. 20, informs us why Tanagra was
called both Poimandria and Graia. Tanagra was the daughter of Æolus and
wife of Poimandrus; she arrived at such an extreme old age, as to
receive the title of Graia, the Old.
[341] Argyrokastro.
[342] The exact site of Harma is uncertain. Leake supposes it to have
occupied the important pass on the road from Thebes to Chalcis, leading
to the maritime plain. Pausanias, b. ix. ch. 19, says that it obtained
its name from the chariot of Amphiaraus having disappeared there.
[343] We should perhaps read Harma, says _Kramer_; but in that case
Tanagra of Bœotia would be upon the right hand. The reading Argos is a
manifest error, and the whole passage is corrupt.
[344] Il. ii. 508.
[345] Leake supposes Ægæ to have stood near Limni. Strabo, below, ch.
vii. § 4, says that probably the Ægæan Sea had its name from this place.
[346] Of this place, although mentioned by Thucydides, b. iii. ch. 89,
very little is known, in consequence no doubt of its having almost
entirely disappeared by an earthquake, which took place about 426 or 425
years B. C.
[347] Ktypa-vuna.
[348] Near Anthedon was a place called the Leap of Glaucus, where he
threw himself into the sea. Pausanias, ix. 22. The ruins of Anthedon are
situated 1-1/2 mile from _Lukisi_. _Smith._
[349] This passage is very corrupt.
[350] The sites of these places are unknown.
[351] Mauro-potamos.
[352] Lake of Livadhia.
[353] Κώπη, an oar.
[354] That is, by natural or artificial subterraneous channels.
[355] Mauroneri.
[356] Pliny, b. xvi. c. 36.
[357] Il. ii. 503.
[358] There were several rivers of this name. See below, c. iii. § 16.
[359] Il. ii. 523.
[360] See below, ch. iii. § 15. Elateia is represented by the modern
village of Elefta.
[361] See ch. ii. § 26.
[362] It is impossible to make any exact statement respecting its
extent, since it varied so much at different times of the year and in
different seasons. On the northern and eastern sides its extent is
limited by a range of heights, but on the opposite quarter there is no
such natural boundary to its size. _Smith_, v. _Bœotia_, which contains
also a useful map from Forschamer’s _Hellenica_ of the Basin of the
Copais.
[363] There appears to be no modern lake in the position assigned to
Trephea by _Kiepert_. Kramer suggests the omission here of the word
Trephea.
[364] Il. v. 708.
[365] Makaris.
[366] Il. xx. 385.
[367] Thiva.
[368] Il. ii. 500.
[369] Il. vii. 221.
[370] The text is in a very imperfect state. The section is translated
as proposed to be emended by _Kramer_.
[371] Morikios.
[372] Kalyvi.
[373] Mount Elatea.
[374] There is some doubt respecting the modern name of Thespiæ; the
Austrian map places the ruins near Erimokastro.
[375] Placing Ascra at Pyrgaki, there is little doubt that Aganippe,
whence the Muses were called Aganippides, is the fountain which issues
from the left bank of the torrent flowing midway between Paleopanaghea
and Pyrgaki. Around this fountain Leake observed numerous square blocks,
and in the neighbouring fields stones and remains of habitations. The
position of the Grove of the Muses is fixed at St. Nicholas, by an
inscription which Leake discovered there relating to the Museia, or the
games of the Muses, which were celebrated there under the presidency of
the Thespians. Paus. b. ix. c. 31. In the time of Pausanias the Grove of
the Muses contained a larger number of statues than any other place in
Bœotia, and this writer has given an account of many of them. The
statues of the Muses were removed by Constantine from this place to his
new capital, where they were destroyed by fire, in A. D. 404. _Smith._
[376] Works and Days, 639.
[377] This is a mistake, since the loftiest summit of Helicon is barely
5000 feet high, whilst that of Parnassus is upwards of 8000 feet.
_Smith._ Helicon is a range of mountains with several summits, of which
the loftiest is a round mountain now called Paleovuni. _Smith._ The
Austrian map gives the modern name Zagora to Helicon.
[378] Twenty stadia from the Grove of the Muses was the fountain
Hippocrene, which was said to have been produced by the horse Pegasus
striking the ground with his foot. Paus. b. ix. ch. 31. Hippocrene was
probably at Makariotissa, which is noted for a fine spring of water.
_Smith._ The Austrian map places it at Kukuva. Leibethrum, or
Leibethreium, is described by Pausanias as distant 40 stadia from
Coroneia, and is therefore probably the mount Zagora. _Smith._
[379] Il. ii. 499.
[380] The remains of Haliartus are situated upon a hill about a mile
from the village of Mazi, on the road from Thebes to Lebadeia, and at
the distance of about 15 miles from either place. Although the walls of
the town are scarcely anywhere traceable, its extent is marked on the
east and west by two small rivers, of which that to the west issues from
the foot of the hill of Mazi, the eastern, called the Kafalari, has its
origin in Mount Helicon. The stream on the western side of the city is
the one called Hoplites by Plutarch, where Lysander fell in battle with
the Thebans, B. C. 395, and is apparently the same as the Lophis of
Pausanias. The stream on the eastern side, the Kafalari, is formed by
the union of two rivulets, which appear to be the Permessus and Olmeius,
which are described by Strabo as flowing from Helicon, and after their
union entering the Lake Copais, near Haliartus. _Smith._
[381] It was celebrated for the worship of Athena, who is hence called
Alalcomeneis in Homer. The temple of the goddess stood at a little
distance from the town, on the Triton, a small stream flowing into the
Lake Copais. The modern village Sulinari is the site of Alalcomenæ.
_Smith._
[382] Phœnicium, or Sphingium, now called Faga, the mountain between the
Lakes Copais and Hylica, connecting Mount Ptoum with the range of
Helicon. Forchamer supposes that Phœnicium and Sphingium are the names
of two different mountains, separated from one another by the small
plain of the stream _Daulos_; but the name of Pœnicium rests only on the
authority of Strabo, and it is probably a corruption of Phicium. Φίξ is
the Æolic form of Σφίγξ, (Hes. Theog. 326,) and therefore there can be
no doubt that Phicium and Sphingium are two different forms of the same
name. _Smith._
[383] Il. ii. 502.
[384] It was still in existence in the time of Pausanias; the modern
village Topolia occupies the site.
[385] Leake conjectures that there is an error in the text, and that
for Θεσπιῶν we ought to read Θισβῶν, since there is only one spot in
the ten miles between Platæa and Thespiæ where any town is likely to
have stood, and that was occupied by Leuctra. See _Smith_.
[386] It was here that the Athenians under Tolmides were defeated by the
Bœotians in B. C. 447; in consequence of which defeat the Athenians lost
the sovereignty which they had for some years exercised over Bœotia. The
plain of Coroneia was also the scene of the victory gained by Agesilaus
over the Thebans and their allies in B. C. 394.
[387] Pausanias, b. ix. 33, mentions the Heroum of Lysander in
Haliartus, and some ruined temples, which had been burnt by the
Persians, and had been purposely left in that state. _Smith._
[388] Leake identifies Glisas with the ruins on the bank of the torrent
Platanaki, above which rises the mountain Siamata, the ancient Hypatus.
[389] The following is the original of this corrupt passage. Kramer
suggests that the words γ. δ. have been introduced from the margin into
the text.
γεώλοφα καλεῖται δρί[* * * ᾧ ὑποπ]ίπται τὸ
Ἀόνιον καλούμενον πεδίον ὃ διατείνει * *
* * * * ἀπὸ τοῦ Ὑπάτου ὄρους.
Pausanias, b. ix. ch. 19, makes mention of a tumulus covered with trees,
near the ruins of Glisas or Glissas, which was the burial-place of
Ægialus and his companions, and also of other tumuli. These were
probably the γεώλοφα δρία, woody hillocks. The obscurity, however, still
remains.
[390] Il. ii. 505.
[391] The three summits of Ptoum bear the names of Palea, Stranitza, and
Skroponeri.
[392] The ruins are situated at a short distance south of Kardhitza. The
site of Cierium, the modern village Mataranga, was first discovered by
Leake, who identifies it with Arne, and supposes, with much probability,
that the name Arne may have been disused by the Thessalian conquerors,
because it was of Bœotian origin, and that the new appellation may have
been taken from the neighbouring river Curalius or Cuarius.
[393] Il. ii. 507.
[394] Il. v. 43.
[395] Sulinari.
[396] Il. iv. 8.
[397] Petra.
[398] Kapurna.
[399] Scripu.
[400] On the 7th of August, B. C. 338. Of the details of this battle we
have no account. The site of the monument is marked by a tumulus about a
mile or a little more from the Khan of Kapurna, on the right side of the
road towards Orchomenus. A few years ago (according to Mure) the mound
of earth was excavated and a colossal lion discovered, deeply imbedded
in its interior. See _Smith_.
[401] Livadhia.
[402] Lefka.
[403] See below, ch. v. § 15.
[404] Il. ix. 381.
[405] Euripides, Phœn. 422.
[406] Probably an interpolation.
[407] Leake places it at Tzamali, but Forchammer with more probability
at Avro-Kastro.
[408] Εὐδείελος.
[409] Scripu.
[410] Bogdana.
[411] Aspra-Spitia.
[412] Kastri.
[413] Daulia.
[414] It is a continuation of the ridge of Œta.
[415] La Punta.
[416] Od. viii. 75.
[417] Aspra Spitia.
[418] At the mouth of the Spercheius.
[419] The ruins are near Chryso.
[420] Apparently an interpolation. _Groskurd._
[421] ἀφήτωρ.
[422] Il. ix. 404.
[423] A conjecture by Kramer.
[424] Pausanias, b. x. c. 5, speaks of a temple of Apollo at Delphi,
which was supposed to have been constructed by bees, with their combs
and wings.
[425] Of which Spintharus the Corinthian was the architect. Pausanias,
b. x. c. 5.
[426] Κιθαρῳδοὶ, played on the cithara, accompanying it with words.
[427] Κιθαρισταὶ, played on the cithara alone.
[428] μέλος.
[429] νόμος.
[430] σύριγξ.
[431] Groskurd and Meineke propose emendations of the text of this
passage. The translation is rather a paraphrase.
[432] Probably, says _Palmer_, the expression is derived from ἵε παίε, O
strike, or ἵε παῖ, O youth.
[433] Aspra-Spitia.
[434] ὄπισθεν, “behind it,” but Marathus is on the opposite side of the
bay. The ruins are indicated in modern maps.
[435] The bay of Metochi d’Hagia.
[436] Zagora.
[437] This place is represented in the Austrian map by ruins near
Exarcho. But how does Strabo place “not far from” the Crisæan Gulf, Abæ,
which was certainly near Hyampolis, on the borders of the Locri
Epicnemidii? It is on the authority of this passage only that
geographers have placed a second Abæ behind Ambrysus, at the foot of
Parnassus.
[438] Distomo?
[439] Daulia.
[440] Il. ii. 519.
[441] Od. vii. 324.
[442] ἄνεμος, the wind.
[443] The Look-out.
[444] 457, B. C.
[445] This place was destroyed in the Persian war; no remains existed in
the time of Pausanias.
[446] The ruins are situated on the east of Turkochorio, made a free
state by the Romans. Pausanias, b. x. ch. 34.
[447] Demos. pro Coronâ, B. C. 338.
[448] Il. ii. 523.
[449] The quotation is from a lost poem.
[450] Conjectures of Groskurd, and approved by Kramer.
[451] Meineke supposes these words to be an interpolation, because no
mention is made by other writers, nor by Strabo himself, in his
enumeration of the rivers in Argolis, of the existence of a river called
Cephissus at Argos.
[452] Polina.
[453] Dyrrachium, now Durazzo.
[454] The site appears to have been to the south-east of the modern town
Neochorio.
[455] From hence to the close of the paragraph the text is very corrupt;
the restorations are due to the conjectures of Du Theil, Groskurd, and
Kramer.
[456] Schedius, according to Homer, Il. ii. 517, and Il. xvii. 306, was
one of the chiefs of the Phocians.
[457] The ruins of Opus are indicated as existing between Talanti and
the sea.
[458] A portion of the ridge of Œta, on the north-west of Talanti, now
Chlomos.
[459] A monument, or cenotaph, common to many persons.
[460] The site is marked by a tower called Paleopyrgo, near the modern
Lebanitis.
[461] Mentioned by Athenæus, b. iii. Hot springs were generally sacred
to Hercules.
[462] Diodorus Siculus asserts that it was separated from the continent
by an earthquake; but statements of this kind were commonly and hastily
made, where the natural appearances were favourable to them.
[463] Il. xxiii. 85.
[464] Il. xviii. 326.
[465] The ruins have been discovered by Gell on an insulated hill, near
the sea-shore.
[466] Paleocastro, in Marmara, near Romani.
[467] A conjecture by Groskurd.
[468] βῆσσαι and νάπη, wooded hollows.
[469] In the island of Lesbos.
[470] Il. ii. 535.
[471] Salona, or Lampeni.
[472] Lepanto.
[473] Castel de Roumeli.
[474] Il. ii. 640.
[475] From ὀζεῖν, to smell.
[476] Maurolimne.
[477] The site is unknown.
[478] Near Dervend-Elapha.
[479] The Hellada.
[480] B. vii. c. 198, and c. 200.
[481] Translated according to Kramer’s proposed emendation. Demetrias,
according to Leake, occupies the southern or maritime face of a height
called Goritza, which projects from the coast of Magnesia between 2 and
3 miles to the southward of the middle of Volo. Pausanias, b. vii. c. 7,
says that Philip called Chalcis, Corinth, and Magnesia in Thessaly, the
“Keys of Greece.” Livy, b. xxxii. c. 37.
[482] C. Lithada.
[483] The Salambria.
[484] This paragraph is translated as proposed by Meineke, who has
followed the suggestions of _Du Theil_, _Groskurd_, and _Kramer_, in
correcting the text.
[485] G. of Zeitun.
[486] The ten states or dynasties mentioned by Homer were those of, 1.
Achilles. 2. Protesilaüs. 3. Eumelus. 4. Philoctetes. 5. Podalirius and
Machaon. 6. Eurypylus. 7. Polypœtes. 8. Guneus. 9. Prothoüs. These are
named in the Catalogue in the 2nd Book of the Iliad; the 10th, Dolopia,
of which Phœnix was chief, in Il. xvi. 196.
[487] Il. ii. 681.
[488] Il. ix. 480.
[489] Il. ix. 443.
[490] Il. ii. 683.
[491] Il. ix. 498.
[492] Il. ix. 395.
[493] The Vlacho.
[494] Part of the range of Mount Gura.
[495] Satalda. The plain of Pharsalia is to the north.
[496] The Gura.
[497] Il. ii. 683.
[498] Il. xiii. 685.
[499] Il. xiii. 693, 699.
[500] Il. ii. 682.
[501] ὁ Ἅλος, or ἡ Ἅλος.
[502] Armyrus.
[503] Hence Virgil, Geor. 3, calls Apollo, Pastor ab Amphryso.
[504] Isdin or Zeitun.
[505] Il. ix. 484.
[506] Il. ii. 744.
[507] Above S. Theodoro.
[508] Il. ii. 695.
[509] πήγνυμι, to fasten.
[510] ἀφετήριον, a starting-place.
[511] Karlas.
[512] Velestina.
[513] Trikeri.
[514] Sciathos.
[515] Scopelo?
[516] Selidromi?
[517] Scyros.
[518] Il. ii. 729.
[519] Tricala.
[520] The ruins are pointed out to the south of Stagus Kalabak.
[521] Il. ii. 734.
[522] Il. ix. 447.
[523] Il. x. 226.
[524] Il. ix. 424.
[525] τίτανος, chalk.
[526] Tcheritchiano.
[527] Il. ii. 738.
[528] Meineke suggests the reading μεταξύ, between, instead of μέχρι, as
far as.
[529] The words after Perrhæbi, εἰς τὴν ἐν τῇ μεσογαίᾳ ποταμίαν, into
the country in the interior lying along the river, are omitted, as
suggested by Meineke.
[530] Il. ii. 744.
[531] Groskurd suggests the insertion here of Messembria or Odessus.
Kramer is inclined to adopt the latter.
[532] Il. ii. 748.
[533] Or Pelasgiotis. _Groskurd._
[534] Il. ii. 754.
[535] Il. ii. 756.
[536] Il. xiii. 301.
[537] In the middle ages Eubœa was called Egripo, a corruption of
Euripus, the name of the town built upon the ruins of Chalcis. The
Venetians, who obtained possession of the island upon the dismemberment
of the Byzantine empire by the Latins, called it Negropont, probably a
corruption of _Egripo_ and _Ponte_, a bridge. _Smith._
[538] This expression is obscure; probably it may mean that Eubœa is not
equal in length to the coast comprehended between Sunium and the
southern limits of Thessaly.
[539] C. Lithada. The mountain Lithada above the cape, rises to the
height of 2837 feet above the sea.
[540] C. Mantelo.
[541] The real length of the island from N. to S. is about 90 miles, its
extreme breadth is 30 miles, but in one part it is not more than 4 miles
across. See _Smith_ art. Eubœa.
[542] Cape Mantelo.
[543] Strabo is the only ancient author who describes a place of this
name as existing in Eubœa. Kiepert and the Austrian map agree in giving
the name Petaliæ, which may here be meant, to the Spili islands.
[544] ἀντίπορθμος.
[545] Eubœa has various names. Formerly (says Pliny, b. iv. c. 12) it
was called Chalcedontis or Macris, according to Dionysius and Ephorus;
Macra, according to Aristides; Chalcis, from brass being there first
discovered, according to Callidemus; Abantias, according to Menæchmus;
and Asopis by the poets in general.
[546] The narrow channel between the island and the mainland.
[547] Il. ii. 536, 542.
[548] From Abas, great grandson of Erectheus.
[549] From Eubœa, daughter of the river Asopus and mistress of Neptune.
[550] From εὖ, well, and βοῦς, a cow. The ancient coins of the island
bear the head of an ox.
[551] Mount St. Elias, 4748 feet above the level of the sea. Bochart
derives the name from an eastern word signifying “narrow.”
[552] At the base of Ploko Vuno.
[553] Mount Galzades, celebrated for producing medicinal plants.
Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. b. ix. c. 15 and 20.
[554] Dipso, according to Kiepert.
[555] Philipp. iii.
[556] Not the town named Histiæa-Oreus, which was on the sea-coast.
[557] Livy, b. xxxi. c. 46.
[558] διὰ τὸ ὀρείους εἶναι.
[559] Kiepert accordingly places Dium near the modern Jaitra, but the
Austrian map places it to the N. E. of Ploko Vuno.
[560] Castel Rosso. The landing-place of the Persian expedition under
Datis and Artaphernes, B. C. 490. Herod. b. vi. c. 99.
[561] Sturæ.
[562] The ruins are indicated as existing opposite the Spili islands.
[563] λίθος φύεται.
[564] τῇ τῶν λίνων πλύσει.
[565] C. Mantelo.
[566] Od. iii. 177.
[567] As this statement is unsupported by any other authority, Meineke
suggests that the word Arabians (Ἄραβες οἱ) is an error for Aradii
(Ἀράδιοι).
[568] Repub. b. iv. c. 3.
[569] According to the Scholiast in Apollon. Rhod. Argon, b. i. v. 77,
Canethus was a mountain on the Bœotian side of the Euripus.
[570] B. i. c. iii. § 16.
[571] B. ix. c. ii. § 13.
[572] Il. ii. 640.
[573] Od. xv. 295.
[574] ἐνιαυτόν for αὐτόν. _Meineke._
[575] Near Palæo-castro.
[576] Herod. b. iii. c. 149, and b. vi. c. 101.
[577] A common practice of the Dorians.
[578] B. viii. c. iii. § 6.
[579] In Thessaly.
[580] Negropont. It was one of the three cities which Philip of Macedon
called the chains of Greece. Brass (χαλκὸς) was said to have been first
found there.
[581] He retired there B. C. 322.
[582] δόρυ.
[583] κοντὸς.
[584] ἡ σάρισσα καὶ ὁ ὑσσὸς Probably an interpolation. _Groskurd._
[585] μάχην τὴν σταδίαν.
[586] συστάδην.
[587] ἐκ χειρός.
[588] Il. ii. 543.
[589] Il. xix. 389.
[590] Od. viii. 229.
[591] Il. iv. 469.
[592] Il. xiii. 713, 716.
[593] B. vi. c. i. § 13.
[594] B. viii. c. vii. § 1.
[595] The Aspro-potamo.
[596] G. of Arta.
[597] B. viii. c. iii. § 11.
[598] B. ix. c. v. § 10.
[599] B. viii. c. ii. § 3.
[600] The promontory bears the name C. Madonna, and the ruins of
Anactorium are pointed out as existing at the bottom of the small bay of
Prevesa. The modern town, Azio, which is not the ancient Actium, is near
these ruins.
[601] Near Lepenu.
[602] Correction by Groskurd. Trigardon is given in the Austrian map as
the ancient site of Œniadæ, but this position does not agree with the
text.
[603] Porto-fico according to D’Anville.
[604] Kandili, opposite the island Kalamo.
[605] Santa Maura.
[606] Neochori.
[607] Arta, but the Austrian map gives Rogus as the site.
[608] This is an error either of the author or in the text. Groskurd
proposes to read Antirrhium (Castel Rumeli) in place of Anactorium.
Kramer proposes to follow Tzschucke, and to exchange the positions of
the words Stratus and Alyzia in the text.
[609] There has been some dispute respecting the site of Calydon. Leake
supposes the ruins which he discovered at Kurtaga, or Kortaga, to the
west of the Evenus, (Fidari,) to be those of Calydon.
[610] Lepanto.
[611] Leake supposes it to have stood in the plain of Marathia, opposite
the island Trissonia.
[612] M. Coraca.
[613] M. Zigos.
[614] Xerolimne.
[615] Kaki-scala.
[616] Varassova.
[617] Santa Maura.
[618] Theaki.
[619] Cephalonia.
[620] Od. xxiv. 376.
[621] Il. ii. 633.
[622] I follow the proposed reading, ἅλμα for ἀλλὰ.
[623] Du Theil says, Strabo should have said “a daughter of Pterelas who
was in love with Cephalus.” See below, § 14.
[624] Il. ii. 631.
[625] Il. ii. 625.
[626] Il. ii. 615.
[627] Il. ii. 536.
[628] Il. viii. 173.
[629] Il. ii. 633.
[630] Od. xiv. 100.
[631] Od. iv. 671.
[632] Od. i. 246.
[633] Od. xvi. 249.
[634] Od. xv. 366.
[635] Il. ii. 632.
[636] Od. ix. 21.
[637] Od. iii. 81.
[638] Probably interpolated. _Kramer._
[639] Od. ix. 25.
[640] Od. xiv. 1.
[641] εὐδείελος is the reading of the text, but the reading in Homer is
ἱππήλατος, adapted for horses, and thus translated by Horace, Epist.
lib. I. vii. 41, Non est aptus equis Ithacæ locus.
[642] Od. iv. 607.
[643] Od. ix. 26.
[644] Il. xii. 239.
[645] Od. x. 190.
[646] For the explanation of _climate_, see book ii. ch. i. § 20, but in
this passage the word has a different sense, and implies the division of
the heavens into north, south, east, and west. The idea of Strabo seems
to be that of a straight line drawn from east to west, dividing the
celestial horizon into two parts, the one northern, (or arctic,) the
other southern. The sun in its course from east to west continues always
as regards us in the southern portion. _Gossellin._
[647] οὐδ’ ὅπου ἀρχή.
[648] So in the text, but there is manifestly an error.
[649] Od. i. 181.
[650] I. Meganisi.
[651] Il. xv. 519.
[652] Il. ii. 631.
[653] Od. i. 246.
[654] C. Tornese.
[655] Monte Nero.
[656] We may hence conjecture that Cephallenia in the time of Homer was
divided into two parts, Dulichium and Samé. It may explain at least the
uncertainty of the ancients respecting the position of Dulichium.
Pausanias, b. vi. c. 15, speaking of the Paleis says, that formerly they
were called Dulichii; and Hesychius, that Dulichium is a city of
Cephallenia.
[657] Situated near the modern capital Argostoli.
[658] Probably the site of the ruins in the harbour of Viscardo.
[659] I. Dascaglio.
[660] Od. iv. 846.
[661] Il. xiii. 12.
[662] Il. xxiv. 753.
[663] Il. xxiv. 78.
[664] In the Valle d’Alessandro, in Cephalonia, there is still a place
called Samo.
[665] Il. xxiv. 752.
[666] Σάμοι.
[667] Il. xiii. 13.
[668] Zante.
[669] 3600 stadia? see b. xvii. c. iii. § 20.
[670] Curzolari, Oxia, Petala, &c.
[671] Od. xv. 298.
[672] C. Papa.
[673] Sophocles, Trachiniæ, v. 9.
[674] Il. ii. 628.
[675] Not identified.
[676] Gossellin remarks the double error committed by Winkelman, who, on
the authority of this passage, states that the Hercules (not the Labours
of Hercules) of Lysippus was transferred to Rome in the time of Nero,
long after this Book was written.
[677] Dragomestre.
[678] The lake Xerolimne.
[679] Kramer proposes the transposition of the sentence within brackets
to the beginning of the paragraph.
[680] Il. ii. 639.
[681] M. Zigos.
[682] Angelo Castron.
[683] Near Mauro Mati.
[684] See c. ii. § 3, Epictetus.
[685] Od. ii. 52.
[686] Od. xv. 16.
[687] Il. xiv. 116.
[688] Il. ix. 525.
[689] B. ix. c. iii. § 11.
[690] As distinguished from geography. See b. i. c. i. § 16, note⁵⁷.
[691] The author of a work in several books on Eubœa. Athenæus, b. vi.
c. 18.
[692] The unshorn.
[693] From Acarnan, son of Alcmæon. Thucyd. b. ii. c. 102. But the hero
from whom the Curetes obtained their name is not mentioned.
[694] The position of this mountain is not determined.
[695] Œneus and his children were themselves Porthaonidæ. Œneus had
possession only of Calydon, his brother Agrius and his children had a
part of Pleuronia. Thestius, cousin-german of Œneus and of Agrius,
received as his portion the remainder of Pleuronia and transmitted it to
his children, (the Thestiadæ,) who probably succeeded in gaining
possession of the whole country. The Porthaonidæ of the branch of
Agrius, were Thersites, Onchestus, Prothous, Celeulor, Lycopeüs, and
Melanippus. _Apollodorus_, b. i. c. 7, 8.
[696] Il. xiv. 117.
[697] Il. ix. 544.
[698] Il. ix. 525.
[699] “Cette digression est curieuse, sans doute * * * * Plusieurs
critiques ont fait de ce morceau l’objet de leur étude; néanmoins il
demeure hérissé de difficultés, et dernièrement M. Heyne (quel juge!) a
prononcé que tout y restait à éclaircir.” _Du Theil._
The myths relating to the Curetes abound with different statements and
confusion. The following are the only points to be borne in mind. The
Curetes belong to the most ancient times of Greece, and probably are to
be counted among the first inhabitants of Phrygia. They were the authors
and expositors of certain religious rites, which they celebrated with
dances. According to mythology they played a part at the birth of
Jupiter. They were sometimes called Idæan Dactyli. Hence their name was
given to the ministers of the worship of the Great Mother among the
Phrygians, which was celebrated with a kind of religious frenzy. The
Curetes were also called Corybantes. Hence also arose the confusion
between the religious rites observed in Crete, Phrygia, and Samothrace.
Again, on the other hand, the Curetes have been mistaken for an Ætolian
people, bearing the same name. Heyne, Not. ad Virgil. Æn. iii. 130.
Religion. et Sacror. cum furore peract. Orig. Comm. Soc. R. Scient.
Gotting. vol. viii. Dupuis, origin de tous les cultes, tom. 2. Sainte
Croix Mém. pour servir à la religion Secrète, &c., Job. Guberleth. Diss.
philol. de Myster. deorum Cabir. 1703. Frèret. Recher. pour servir à
l’histoire des Cyclopes, &c. Acad. des Inscript. &c., vol. xxiii. His.
pag. 27. 1749.
[700] τοσαύτη ποικιλία, will bear also to be translated, id tantum
varietatis, “this difference only,” as Groskurd observes.
[701] M. de Saint Croix (Recherches sur les Mystères, &c. sect. 2, page
25) is mistaken in asserting that “Strabo clearly refutes the statements
of those who believed that the Cabeiri, Dactyli, Curetes, Corybantes,
and Telchines, were not only the same kind of persons, but even separate
members of the same family.” It appears to me, on the contrary, that
this was the opinion adopted by our author. _Du Theil._
[702] προσθεὶς τὸν οἰκεῖον τῇ ἱστορίᾳ φυσικὸν λόγον. rationem naturalem,
utpote congruentum huc, historiæ adjiciens. _Xylander._ Or paraphrased,
“The history of this people will receive additional and a fitting
illustration by a reference to physical facts,” such as the manner of
wearing their hair, tonsure, &c.
[703] ἑλκεχίτωνας. The words καὶ κρώβυλον καὶ τέττιγα ἐμπλεχθῆναι
appear, according to Berkel. ad Steph. p. 74, to be here wanting, “and
to bind the hair in the form of the Crobulus and ornamented with a
grasshopper.” The hair over the forehead of the Apollo Belvidere is an
example of the crobulus.
[704] Herod. vii. 208.
[705] κουρὰν τριχός.
[706] κόραις καὶ κόροις.
[707] Strabo therefore considered the 193, 194, 195 verses of Il. xix.
as authentic. Heyne was inclined to consider them as an interpolation,
in which he is supported by other critics.
[708] Il. xix. 248. The text is probably mutilated, and Strabo may have
quoted the verses in Homer in which Merion is represented as dancing in
armour. Il. xvi. 617.
[709] Kramer suspects this passage to be an interpolation.
[710] The reading in the text is τὸν δ’ ὄντως νοῦν. The translation
adopts Meineke’s reading, νοοῦντα.
[711] Quam præclare philosophatus sit Strabo, me non monente,
unusquisque assequitur; præclarius, utique, quam illi, qui ex nostro
ritu religioso omnem hilaritatem exulare voluere. _Heyne_, Virg. iii.
130.
[712] The original, as Du Theil observes, is singularly obscure, ἀλλ’ ἡ
φύσις, ἡ τῶν παιδευμάτων, ἐξεταζέσθω, τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐνθένδε ἔχουσα.
[713] Following the reading suggested by Groskurd.
[714] This word appears here misplaced.
[715] The chain of mountains extending from the sources of the Sagaris
(the Zagari) to the Propontis was called Dindymene.
[716] Sipuli Dagh.
[717] Possene.
[718] This name is not derived from any place.
[719] διὰ τὸ ὅμορον, for διά τε Ὅμηρον. _Meineke._
[720] The literal translation has been preserved in the text for the
sake of the argument. The following is Potter’s translation, in which,
however, great liberty is taken with the original.
“To whom the mysteries of the gods are known,
By these his life he sanctifies,
And, deep imbibed their chaste and cleaning lore,
Hallows his soul for converse with the skies.
Enraptur’d ranging the wild mountains o’er,
The mighty mother’s orgies leading,
He his head with ivy shading,
His light spear wreath’d with ivy twine,
To Bacchus holds the rites divine.
Haste then, ye Bacchæ, haste,
Attend your god, the son of heaven’s high king.
From Phrygia’s mountains wild and waste
To beauteous-structur’d Greece your Bacchus bring
* * * * *
O ye Curetes, friendly band,
You, the blest natives of Crete’s sacred land,
Who tread those groves, which, dark’ning round,
O’er infant Jove their shelt’ring branches spread,
The Corybantes in their caves profound,
The triple crest high waving on their head,
This timbrel framed, whilst clear and high
Swelled the Bacchic symphony.
The Phrygian pipe attemp’ring sweet,
Their voices to respondence meet,
And placed in Rhea’s hands.
The frantic satyrs to the rites advance,
The Bacchæ join the festive bands,
And raptur’d lead the Trieteric dance.”
[721] There were several mountains bearing the name of Olympus. 1. In
Thessaly. 2. In Peloponnesus. 3. Of Ida. 4. In Mysia. 5. In Crete.
[722] San Dimitri.
[723] Od. iii. 144.
[724] Adopting Kramer’s suggestion of παραδοὺς τὰ for παραδόντα.
[725] Bendis, Diana of the Thracians; among the Athenians there was a
festival called Bendideia.
[726] Athenæus, b. xi. c. 8. Æschylus in the Edoni (a fragment) calls
cymbals cotylæ.
[727] Probably from a passage in the Erectheus, a lost play of
Euripides.
[728] Nablas and Sambyce are Syriac words. Athenæus, b. iv. c. 24.
[729] The invention of Anacreon, according to Neanthus Cyzicenus.
[730] Athenæus, b. xiv. c. 8, 9.
[731] See above, ch. iii. § 1, 6, 8.
[732] κουροτροφήσαντες.
[733] κουρῆτες.
[734] Who were the Prasians of Rhodes I confess I cannot say. _Palmer._
[735] From whence Strabo does not inform us.
[736] The Scholiast of Apollonius remarks that it was formerly called
Leucosia, afterwards Samos from a certain Saiis, and Samothrace when it
came into possession of the Thracians. It had also the name of Dardania.
[737] The true origin of the word, according to Casaubon, is to be found
in the Hebrew word Cabir, signifying powerful. Tobias Gutberlethus, De
mysteriis deorum Cabirotum.
[738] M. Sitia.
[739] Places unknown.
[740] In the plain of Troy.
[741] According to the Scholiast on Apollonius Rhod., Arg. 5, 917
persons were initiated into the mysteries of the Cabeiri in Samothrace.
The Cabeiri were four in number; Axieros, Axiokersa, Axiokersos, and
Casmilos. Axieros corresponded to Demeter or Ceres, Axiokersa to
Persephone or Proserpine, Axiokersos to Hades or Pluto, and Casmilos to
Hermes or Mercury. See Ueber die Gottheiten von Samothrace, T. W. I.
Schelling, 1815; and the Classical Journal, vol. xiv. p. 59.
[742] Herod. iii. 37.
[743] Probably a temple of Apollo Smintheus.
[744] Corybissa, Eureïs, and Æthaloeïs are unknown.
[745] They were called Curetes because they were boys, and κουρῆτες μὲν
ἀπὸ τοῦ κόρους εἶναι καλούμενοι. Groskurd suspects these or similar
words to have followed “Corybantes.”
[746] Od. viii. 250.
[747] i. e. toes.
[748] In a lost play, The Deaf Satyrs.
[749] In hoc quoque dissentio, sapientes fuisse, qui ferri metalla et
æris invenerunt, cum incendio silvarum adusta tellus, in summo venas
jacentes liquefacta fudisset. Seneca, Epist. 90.
[750] Diodorus Siculus, b. v., says that they obtained the name from
being equal in number to the ten fingers or toes (Dactyli).
[751] Groskurd proposes Corybantes for these latter Idæan Dactyli.
[752] The common European name Candia is unknown in the island; the
Saracenic “Kandax,” Megalo Kastron, became with the Venetian writers
Candia; the word for a long time denoted only the principal city of the
island, which retained its ancient name in the chroniclers and in Dante,
Inferno xiv. 94. It is described by Strabo as lying between Cyrenaica
and that part of Hellas which extends from Sunium to Laconia, and
parallel in its length from W. to E. of these two points. The words
μέχρι Λακωνικῆς may be understood either of Malea or Tænarum; it is
probable that this geographer extended Crete as far as Tænarum, as from
other passages in his work (ii. c. v. § 20; viii. c. v. § 1) it would
appear that he considered it and the W. points of Crete as under the
same meridian. It is still more difficult to understand the position
assigned to Crete with regard to Cyrenaica (xvii. c. iii. § 22). Strabo
is far nearer the truth, though contradicting his former statements,
where he makes Cimarus, the N.W. promontory of Crete, 700 stadia from
Malea, and Cape Sammonium 1000 stadia from Rhodes, (ii. c. iv. § 3,)
which was one of the best ascertained points of ancient geography.
_Smith_, v. Crete.
[753] τῆς Ἑλλάδος τῆς ἀπὸ Σουνίου μέχρι Λακωνικῆς.
[754] Gossellin observes that the false position assigned to these
countries, and the contradiction perceptible in the measures in stadia,
given by Strabo, and above all the impossibility of reconciling them
upon one given plan, is a proof that the author consulted different
histories, and different maps, in which the distances were laid down in
stadia differing in length.
[755] The ruins are indicated as existing a little to the north of
Hagios Kurghianis, in the Austrian map.
[756] Cimarus is given in Kiepert, as the island Grabusa Agria, at the
extremity of Cape Buso, and also in the Austrian map. Kramer remarks
that the promontory Cimarus is mentioned by no other author. Corycus on
the other hand is placed by Strabo below, § 5, in these parts, although
the reading is suspicious, and in b. viii. c. v. § 1, and in b. xvii. c.
iii. § 22; but the reading again in this last reference is doubtful.
Cape Cimarus is now C. Buso or Grabusa.
[757] In b. ii. c. iv. § 3, it is written Salmonium, (c. Salamoni,) in
which passage Kramer has retained the spelling of the name, on the
ground that this form is to be found in Apollonius, Arg. 4, 1693, and
Dionys. Perieg. 110. Salmone in the Acts, xxvii. 7.
[758] C. Colonna.
[759] Not in the text of Kramer. Casaubon’s conjecture.
[760] The words of the text are, πλάτει δὲ ὑπὸ τὸ μέγεθος, which Meineke
translates, “Its width is not in proportion to its length.” Kramer says
that the preposition ὑπὸ suggests the omission of the words τετρακοσίων
or τριακοσίων που, and that the words τ. μ. are probably introduced from
the margin, and are otherwise inadmissible.
[761] It is impossible to say what words should fill up the hiatus in
the text, but probably something to this effect, ἀπὸ τῶν ἑσπερίων μερῶν
ἀρξαμένοις ἡ νῆσος πλατεῖά ἐστι. _Kramer._ Groskurd proposes ἡ νῆσος
αἰφνιδίως στενοχωρεῖ, the island suddenly narrows.
[762] On the bay of Armiro.
[763] Castel Franco. Acts of Apostles, xxvii. 12.
[764] Porto Trano. At the bottom of the bay of Mirabel.
[765] Near Lytto.
[766] Girapetra.
[767] By the islands of the Rhodians are meant Caso, Nisari, Scarpanto,
&c.
[768] Aspra-vuna, or Sfakia.
[769] Mt. Penta-Dactylon in the Morea.
[770] Psiloriti.
[771] From what point in the Cyrenaïca is not said. From b. viii. c.
iii. § 1, it would appear to be Phycus, (Ras al Sem,) but from b. xvii.
c. iii. § 20, it would seem to be Apollonias, (Marsa-susa,) the maritime
arsenal of the Cyrenæans, situated at about 170 stadia to the east of
Phycus, and 80 stadia to the west of Cyrene.
[772] C. Crio.
[773] Of 700 stadia to a degree. _Gossellin._
[774] Cerigo.
[775] The distance from Samonium (Cape Salamone) to Alexandria, in a
straight line, is about 5500 stadia of 1111-1/9 to the degree.
_Gossellin._
[776] Gossellin’s conjecture, for the number is wanting in the text.
[777] τριχάϊκες.
[778] Od. xix. 175.
[779] So also Diod. Sic. b. v.
[780] τριχάϊκας.
[781] τριλοφίας.
[782] τριχίνους.
[783] The ruins are situated at Makro Teikhos, to the south-east of
Candia, the modern capital.
[784] Il. ii. 646; Od. xix. 178. Hagius Dheka. Pashley.
[785] Near Jerami, in the Austrian map. Pashley places it at Khania.
[786] Lytto.
[787] Il. ii. 647.
[788] Cartero, a maritime town on the river of the same name.
[789] At the mouth of the Aposelemi.
[790] Now the Cartero.
[791] Pausanias, b. ix. c. 11, says that the ships of Minos were
unprovided with sails, which were the subsequent invention of Dædalus.
[792] Groskurd proposes to supply the hiatus in the text thus: Cnossus
[towards the north, inclining to the Ægæan sea, Phæstus turned towards
the south and the African sea, Cydonia in the western part of the
island] opposite.
[793] Od. xix. 178.
[794] Il. xiii. 450.
[795] The Cretan war was conducted by Q. Metellus, proconsul, who from
thence obtained the cognomen of Creticus.
[796] Il. ii. 646.
[797] Letima or Matala, Cape Theodosia.
[798] The Maloniti or Messara.
[799] On C. Lionda.
[800] Strabo must have confounded two totally distinct cities, (Priansus
and Prasus,) when he spoke of them under a common name, and assigned
them a single situation, both close to Mount Dikte, and at the same time
continuous with the Lebenians, whose city was three days’ journey from
the mountain. Pashley, Travels in Crete, vol. i. p. 290. Kramer does not
agree with Pashley, and, until further information shall be obtained,
rests upon the authority of Boeckh, C. I. No. 2556, who affirms that
there is some doubt about the name Priansus, which is only found on
coins and inscriptions; both Hoeck (v. Kreta I. p. 413) and Boeckh (C.
I. ii. p. 405) consider Priansus and Prasus as the same place.
[801] M. Sitia.
[802] Phæn. 33.
[803] Callim. Hymn to Diana, 195.
[804] Tityrus is the ridge of mountains which terminates in Cape Spada.
[805] Kisamos.
[806] See Pashley, Travels in Crete, vol. i. c. 4, who places Aptera at
Palæocastron, on the south of the bay of Siedh and Polyrrhenia, at the
Palæocastron, to the south of the Gulf of Kisamos.
[807] Hodyitra.
[808] Il. ii. 648.
[809] Episcopiano.
[810] Od. iii. 191.