Geography (Books 6-14)

1After the mouth of the Silaris one comes to Leucania, and to the temple of the Argoan Hera, built by Jason, and near by, within fifty stadia, to Poseidonia. Thence, sailing out past the gulf, one comes to Leucosia, an island, from which it is only a short voyage across to the continent. The island is named after one of the Sirens, who was cast ashore here after the Sirens had flung themselves, as the myth has it, into the depths of the sea. In front of the island lies that promontory†which is opposite the Sirenussae and with them forms the Poseidonian Gulf. On doubling this promontory one comes immediately to another gulf, in which there is a city which was called “Hyele” by the Phocaeans who founded it, and by others “Ele,” after a certain spring, but is called by the men of today “Elea.” This is the native city of Parmenides and Zeno, the Pythagorean philosophers. It is my opinion that not only through the influence of these men but also in still earlier times the city was well governed; and it was because of this good government that the people not only held their own against the Leucani and the Poseidoniatae, but even returned victorious, although they were inferior to them both in extent of territory and in population. At any rate, they are compelled, on account of the poverty of their soil, to busy themselves mostly with the sea and to establish factories for the salting of fish, and other such industries. According to Antiochus,†after the capture of Phocaea by Harpagus, the general of Cyrus, all the Phocaeans who could do so embarked with their entire families on their light boats and, under the leadership of Creontiades, sailed first to Cyrnus and Massalia, but when they were beaten off from those places founded Elea. Some, however, say that the city took its name from the River Elees.†It is about two hundred stadia distant from Poseidonia. After Elea comes the promontory of Palinurus. Off the territory of Elea are two islands, the Oenotrides, which have anchoring-places. After Palinurus comes Pyxus—a cape, harbor, and river, for all three have the same name. Pyxus was peopled with new settlers by Micythus, the ruler of the Messene in Sicily, but all the settlers except a few sailed away again. After Pyxus comes another gulf, and also Laüs—a river and city; it is the last of the Leucanian cities, lying only a short distance above the sea, is a colony of the Sybaritae, and the distance thither from Ele is four hundred stadia. The whole voyage along the coast of Leucania is six hundred and fifty stadia. Near Laüs is the hero-temple of Draco, one of the companions of Odysseus, in regard to which the following oracle was given out to the Italiotes:†Much people will one day perish about Laïan Draco.†And the oracle came true, for, deceived by it, the peoples†who made campaigns against Laüs, that is, the Greek inhabitants of Italy, met disaster at the hands of the Leucani.

2These, then, are the places on the Tyrrhenian seaboard that belong to the Leucani. As for the other sea, they could not reach it at first; in fact, the Greeks who held the Gulf of Tarentum were in control there. Before the Greeks came, however, the Leucani were as yet not even in existence, and the regions were occupied by the Chones and the Oenotri. But after the Samnitae had grown considerably in power, and had ejected the Chones and the Oenotri, and had settled a colony of Leucani in this portion of Italy, while at the same time the Greeks were holding possession of both seaboards as far as the Strait, the Greeks and the barbarians carried on war with one another for a long time. Then the tyrants of Sicily, and afterwards the Carthaginians, at one time at war with the Romans for the possession of Sicily and at another for the possession of Italy itself, maltreated all the peoples in this part of the world, but especially the Greeks. Later on, beginning from the time of the Trojan war, the Greeks had taken away from the earlier inhabitants much of the interior country also, and indeed had increased in power to such an extent that they called this part of Italy, together with Sicily, Magna Graecia. But today all parts of it, except Taras,†Rhegium, and Neapolis, have become completely barbarized,†and some parts have been taken and are held by the Leucani and the Brettii, and others by the Campani—that is, nominally by the Campani but in truth by the Romans, since the Campani themselves have become Romans. However, the man who busies himself with the description of the earth must needs speak, not only of the facts of the present, but also sometimes of the facts of the past, especially when they are notable. As for the Leucani, I have already spoken of those whose territory borders on the Tyrrhenian Sea, while those who hold the interior are the people who live above the Gulf of Tarentum. But the latter, and the Brettii, and the Samnitae themselves (the progenitors of these peoples) have so utterly deteriorated that it is difficult even to distinguish their several settlements; and the reason is that no common organization longer endures in any one of the separate tribes; and their characteristic differences in language, armor, dress, and the like, have completely disappeared; and, besides, their settlements, severally and in detail, are wholly without repute.

3Accordingly, without making distinctions between them, I shall only tell in a general way what I have learned about the peoples who live in the interior, I mean the Leucani and such of the Samnitae as are their next neighbors. Petelia, then, is regarded as the metropolis of the Chones, and has been rather populous down to the present day. It was founded by Philoctetes after he, as the result of a political quarrel, had fled from Meliboea. It has so strong a position by nature that the Samnitae once fortified it against the Thurii. And the old Crimissa, which is near the same regions, was also founded by Philoctetes. Apollodorus, in his work On Ships,†in mentioning Philoctetes, says that, according to some, when Philoctetes arrived at the territory of Croton, he colonized the promontory Crimissa, and, in the interior above it, the city Chone, from which the Chonians of that district took their name, and that some of his companions whom he had sent forth with Aegestes the Trojan to the region of Eryx in Sicily fortified Aegesta.†Moreover, Grumentum and Vertinae are in the interior, and so are Calasarna and some other small settlements, until we arrive at Venusia, a notable city; but I think that this city and those that follow in order after it as one goes towards Campania are Samnite cities. Beyond Thurii lies also the country that is called Tauriana. The Leucani are Samnite in race, but upon mastering the Poseidoniatae and their allies in war they took possession of their cities. At all other times, it is true, their government was democratic, but in times of war they were wont to choose a king from those who held magisterial offices. But now they are Romans.

4The seaboard that comes next after Leucania, as far as the Sicilian Strait and for a distance of thirteen hundred and fifty stadia, is occupied by the Brettii. According to Antiochus, in his treatise On Italy, this territory (and this is the territory which he says he is describing) was once called Italy, although in earlier times it was called Oenotria. And he designates as its boundaries, first, on the Tyrrhenian Sea, the same boundary that I have assigned to the country of the Brettii—the River Laüs; and secondly, on the Sicilian Sea, Metapontium. But as for the country of the Tarantini, which borders on Metapontium, he names it as outside of Italy, and calls its inhabitants Iapyges. And at a time more remote, according to him, the names “Italians” and “Oenotrians” were applied only to the people who lived this side the isthmus in the country that slopes toward the Sicilian Strait. The isthmus itself, one hundred and sixty stadia in width, lies between two gulfs—the Hipponiate (which Antiochus has called Napetine) and the Scylletic. The coasting-voyage round the country comprised between the isthmus and the Strait is two thousand stadia. But after that, he says, the name of “Italy” and that of the “Oenotrians” was further extended as far as the territory of Metapontium and that of Seiris, for, he adds, the Chones, a well-regulated Oenotrian tribe, had taken up their abode in these regions and had called the land Chone. Now Antiochus had spoken only in a rather simple and antiquated way, without making any distinctions between the Leucani and the Brettii. In the first place, Leucania lies between the Tyrrhenian and Sicilian coastlines,†the former coastline from the River Silaris as far as Laüs, and the latter, from Metapontium as far as Thurii; in the second place, on the mainland, from the country of the Samnitae as far as the isthmus which extends from Thurii to Cerilli (a city near Laüs), the isthmus is three hundred stadia in width. But the Brettii are situated beyond the Leucani; they live on a peninsula, but this peninsula includes another peninsula which has the isthmus that extends from Scylletium to the Hipponiate Gulf. The name of the tribe was given to it by the Leucani, for the Leucani call all revolters “brettii.” The Brettii revolted, so it is said (at first they merely tended flocks for the Leucani, and then, by reason of the indulgence of their masters, began to act as free men), at the time when Rio made his expedition against Dionysius and aroused all peoples against all others. So much, then, for my general description of the Leucani and the Brettii.

5The next city after Laüs belongs to Brettium, and is named Temesa, though the men of today call it Tempsa; it was founded by the Ausones, but later on was settled also by the Aetolians under the leadership of Thoas; but the Aetolians were ejected by the Brettii, and then the Brettii were crushed by Hannibal and by the Romans. Near Temesa, and thickly shaded with wild olive trees, is the hero-temple of Polites, one of the companions of Odysseus, who was treacherously slain by the barbarians, and for that reason became so exceedingly wroth against the country that, in accordance with an oracle, the people of the neighborhood collected tribute†for him; and hence, also, the popular saying applied to those who are merciless,†that they are “beset by the hero of Temesa.” But when the Epizephyrian Locrians captured the city, Euthymus, the pugilist, so the story goes, entered the lists against Polites, defeated him in the fight and forced him to release the natives from the tribute. People say that Homer has in mind this Temesa, not the Tamassus in Cyprus (the name is spelled both ways), when he says “to Temesa, in quest of copper.” And in fact copper mines are to be seen in the neighborhood, although now they have been abandoned. Near Temesa is Terina, which Hannibal destroyed, because he was unable to guard it, at the time when he had taken refuge in Brettium itself. Then comes Consentia, the metropolis of the Brettii; and a little above this city is Pandosia, a strong fortress, near which Alexander the Molossian†was killed. He, too, was deceived by the oracle†at Dodona, which bade him be on his guard against Acheron and Pandosia; for places which bore these names were pointed out to him in Thesprotia, but he came to his end here in Brettium. Now the fortress has three summits, and the River Acheron flows past it. And there was another oracle that helped to deceive him: Three-hilled Pandosia, much people shalt thou kill one day; for he thought that the oracle clearly meant the destruction of the enemy, not of his own people. It is said that Pandosia was once the capital of the Oenotrian Kings. After Consentia comes Hipponium, which was founded by the Locrians. Later on, the Brettii were in possession of Hipponium, but the Romans took it away from them and changed its name to Vibo Valentia. And because the country round about Hipponium has luxuriant meadows abounding in flowers, people have believed that Core†used to come hither from Sicily to gather flowers; and consequently it has become the custom among the women of Hipponium to gather flowers and to weave them into garlands, so that on festival days it is disgraceful to wear bought garlands. Hipponium has also a naval station, which was built long ago by Agathocles, the tyrant of the Siciliotes,†when he made himself master of the city. Thence one sails to the Harbor of Heracles,†which is the point where the headlands of Italy near the Strait begin to turn towards the west. And on this voyage one passes Medma, a city of the same Locrians aforementioned, which has the same name as a great fountain there, and possesses a naval station near by, called Emporium. Near it is also the Metaurus River, and a mooring-place bearing the same name. Off this coast lie the islands of the Liparaei, at a distance of two hundred stadia from the Strait. According to some, they are the islands of Aeolus, of whom the Poet makes mention in the Odyssey. They are seven in number and are all within view both from Sicily and from the continent near Medma. But I shall tell about them when I discuss Sicily. After the Metaurus River comes a second Metaurus.†Next after this river comes Scyllaeum, a lofty rock which forms a peninsula, its isthmus being low and affording access to ships on both sides. This isthmus Anaxilaüs, the tyrant of the Rhegini, fortified against the Tyrrheni, building a naval station there, and thus deprived the pirates of their passage through the strait. For Caenys,†too, is near by, being two hundred and fifty stadia distant from Medma; it is the last cape, and with the cape on the Sicilian side, Pelorias, forms the narrows of the Strait. Cape Pelorias is one of the three capes that make the island triangular, and it bends towards the summer sunrise,†just as Caenys bends towards the west, each one thus turning away from the other in the opposite direction. Now the length of the narrow passage of the Strait from Caenys as far as the Poseidonium,†or the Columna Rheginorum, is about six stadia, while the shortest passage across is slightly more; and the distance is one hundred stadia from the Columna to Rhegium, where the Strait begins to widen out, as one proceeds towards the east, towards the outer sea, the sea which is called the Sicilian Sea.

6Rhegium was founded by the Chalcidians who, it is said, in accordance with an oracle, were dedicated, one man out of every ten Chalcidians, to Apollo, because of a dearth of crops, but later on emigrated hither from Delphi, taking with them still others from their home. But according to Antiochus, the Zanclaeans sent for the Chalcidians and appointed Antimnestus their founder-in-chief.†To this colony also belonged the refugees of the Peloponnesian Messenians who had been defeated by the men of the opposing faction. These men were unwilling to be punished by the Lacedaemonians for the violation of the maidens†which took place at Limnae, though they were themselves guilty of the outrage done to the maidens, who had been sent there for a religious rite and had also killed those who came to their aid. So the refugees, after withdrawing to Macistus, sent a deputation to the oracle of the god to find fault with Apollo and Artemis if such was to be their fate in return for their trying to avenge those gods, and also to enquire how they, now utterly ruined, might be saved. Apollo bade them go forth with the Chalcidians to Rhegium, and to be grateful to his sister; for, he added, they were not ruined, but saved, inasmuch as they were surely not to perish along with their native land, which would be captured a little later by the Spartans. They obeyed; and therefore the rulers of the Rhegini down to Anaxilas†were always appointed from the stock of the Messenians. According to Antiochus, the Siceli and Morgetes had in early times inhabited the whole of this region, but later on, being ejected by the Oenotrians, had crossed over into Sicily. According to some, Morgantium also took its name from the Morgetes of Rhegium.†The city of Rhegium was once very powerful and had many dependencies in the neighborhood; and it was always a fortified outpost threatening the island, not only in earlier times but also recently, in our own times, when Sextus Pompeius caused Sicily to revolt. It was named Rhegium, either, as Aeschylus says, because of the calamity that had befallen this region, for, as both he and others state, Sicily was once “rent”†from the continent by earthquakes, “and so from this fact,” he adds, “it is called Rhegium.” They infer from the occurrences about Aetna and in other parts of Sicily, and in Lipara and in the islands about it, and also in the Pithecussae and the whole of the coast of the adjacent continent, that it is not unreasonable to suppose that the rending actually took place. Now at the present time the earth about the Strait, they say, is but seldom shaken by earthquakes, because the orifices there, through which the fire is blown up and the red-hot masses and the waters are ejected, are open. At that time, however, the fire that was smouldering beneath the earth, together with the wind, produced violent earthquakes, because the passages to the surface were all blocked up, and the regions thus heaved up yielded at last to the force of the blasts of wind, were rent asunder, and then received the sea that was on either side, both here and between the other islands in that region.†And, in fact, Prochyte and the Pithecussae are fragments broken off from the continent, as also Capreae, Leucosia, the Sirenes, and the Oenotrides. Again, there are islands which have arisen from the high seas, a thing that even now happens in many places; for it is more plausible that the islands in the high seas were heaved up from the deeps, whereas it is more reasonable to think that those lying off the promontories and separated merely by a strait from the mainland have been rent therefrom. However, the question which of the two explanations is true, whether Rhegium got its name on account of this or on account of its fame (for the Samnitae might have called it by the Latin word for “royal,” because their progenitors had shared in the government with the Romans and used the Latin language to a considerable extent), is open to investigation. Be this as it may, it was a famous city, and not only founded many cities but also produced many notable men, some notable for their excellence as statesmen and others for their learning; nevertheless, Dionysius†demolished it, they say, on the charge that when he asked for a girl in marriage they proffered the daughter of the public executioner;†but his son restored a part of the old city and called it Phoebia.†Now in the time of Pyrrhus the garrison of the Campani broke the treaty and destroyed most of the inhabitants, and shortly before the Marsic war much of the settlement was laid in ruins by earthquakes; but Augustus Caesar, after ejecting Pompeius from Sicily, seeing that the city was in want of population, gave it some men from his expeditionary forces as new settlers, and it is now fairly populous.

7As one sails from Rhegium towards the east, and at a distance of fifty stadia, one comes to Cape Leucopetra†(so called from its color), in which, it is said, the Apennine Mountain terminates. Then comes Heracleium, which is the last cape of Italy and inclines towards the south; for on doubling it one immediately sails with the southwest wind as far as Cape Iapygia, and then veers off, always more and more, towards the northwest in the direction of the Ionian Gulf.†After Heracleium comes a cape belonging to Locris, which is called Zephyrium; its harbor is exposed to the winds that blow from the west, and hence the name. Then comes the city Locri Epizephyrii,†a colony of the Locri who live on the Crisaean Gulf,†which was led out by Evanthes only a little while after the founding of Croton and Syracuse.†Ephorus is wrong in calling it a colony of the Locri Opuntii. However, they lived only three or four years at Zephyrium, and then moved the city to its present site, with the cooperation of Syracusans [for at the same time the latter, among whom...]†And at Zephyrium there is a spring, called Locria, where the Locri first pitched camp. The distance from Rhegium to Locri is six hundred stadia. The city is situated on the brow of a hill called Epopis.

8The Locri Epizephyrii are believed to have been the first people to use written laws. After they had lived under good laws for a very long time, Dionysius, on being banished from the country of the Syracusans,†abused them most lawlessly of all men. For he would sneak into the bed-chambers of the girls after they had been dressed up for their wedding, and lie with them before their marriage; and he would gather together the girls who were ripe for marriage, let loose doves with cropped wings upon them in the midst of the banquets, and then bid the girls waltz around unclad, and also bid some of them, shod with sandals that were not mates (one high and the other low), chase the doves around—all for the sheer indecency of it. However, he paid the penalty after he went back to Sicily again to resume his government; for the Locri broke up his garrison, set themselves free, and thus became masters of his wife and children. These children were his two daughters, and the younger of his two sons (who was already a lad), for the other, Apollocrates, was helping his father to effect his return to Sicily by force of arms. And although Dionysius—both himself and the Tarantini on his behalf—earnestly begged the Locri to release the prisoners on any terms they wished, they would not give them up; instead, they endured a siege and a devastation of their country. But they poured out most of their wrath upon his daughters, for they first made them prostitutes and then strangled them, and then, after burning their bodies, ground up the bones and sank them in the sea. Now Ephorus, in his mention of the written legislation of the Locri which was drawn up by Zaleucus from the Cretan, the Laconian, and the Areopagite usages, says that Zaleucus was among the first to make the following innovation—that whereas before his time it had been left to the judges to determine the penalties for the several crimes, he defined them in the laws, because he held that the opinions of the judges about the same crimes would not be the same, although they ought to be the same. And Ephorus goes on to commend Zaleucus for drawing up the laws on contracts in simpler language. And he says that the Thurii, who later on wished to excel the Locri in precision, became more famous, to be sure, but morally inferior; for, he adds, it is not those who in their laws guard against all the wiles of false accusers that have good laws, but those who abide by laws that are laid down in simple language. And Plato has said as much—that where there are very many laws, there are also very many lawsuits and corrupt practices, just as where there are many physicians, there are also likely to be many diseases.†

9The Halex River, which marks the boundary between the Rhegian and the Locrian territories, passes out through a deep ravine; and a peculiar thing happens there in connection with the grasshoppers, that although those on the Locrian bank sing, the others remain mute. As for the cause of this, it is conjectured that on the latter side the region is so densely shaded that the grasshoppers, being wet with dew, cannot expand their membranes, whereas those on the sunny side have dry and horn-like membranes and therefore can easily produce their song. And people used to show in Locri a statue of Eunomus, the cithara-bard, with a locust seated on the cithara. Timaeus says that Eunomus and Ariston of Rhegium were once contesting with each other at the Pythian games and fell to quarrelling about the casting of the lots;†so Ariston begged the Delphians to cooperate with him, for the reason that his ancestors belonged to the god and that the colony had been sent forth from there;†and although Eunomus said that the Rhegini had absolutely no right even to participate in the vocal contests, since in their country even the grasshoppers, the sweetest-voiced of all creatures, were mute, Ariston was none the less held in favor and hoped for the victory; and yet Eunomus gained the victory and set up the aforesaid image in his native land, because during the contest, when one of the chords broke, a grasshopper lit on his cithara and supplied the missing sound. The interior above these cities is held by the Brettii; here is the city Mamertium, and also the forest that produces the best pitch, the Brettian. This forest is called Sila, is both well wooded and well watered, and is seven hundred stadia in length.

10After Locri comes the Sagra, a river which has a feminine name. On its banks are the altars of the Dioscuri, near which ten thousand Locri, with Rhegini,†clashed with one hundred and thirty thousand Crotoniates and gained the victory—an occurrence which gave rise, it is said, to the proverb we use with incredulous people, “Truer than the result at Sagra.” And some have gone on to add the fable that the news of the result was reported on the same day†to the people at the Olympia when the games were in progress, and that the speed with which the news had come was afterwards verified. This misfortune of the Crotoniates is said to be the reason why their city did not endure much longer, so great was the multitude of men who fell in the battle. After the Sagra comes a city founded by the Achaeans, Caulonia, formerly called Aulonia, because of the glen which lies in front of it. It is deserted, however, for those who held it were driven out by the barbarians to Sicily and founded the Caulonia there. After this city comes Scylletium, a colony of the Athenians who were with Menestheus (and now called Scylacium).†Though the Crotoniates held it, Dionysius included it within the boundaries of the Locri. The Scylletic Gulf, which, with the Hipponiate Gulf forms the aforementioned isthmus, is named after the city. Dionysius undertook also to build a wall across the isthmus when he made war upon the Leucani, on the pretext, indeed, that it would afford security to the people inside the isthmus from the barbarians outside, but in truth because he wished to break the alliance which the Greeks had with one another, and thus command with impunity the people inside; but the people outside came in and prevented the undertaking.

11After Scylletium comes the territory of the Crotoniates, and three capes of the Iapyges; and after these, the Lacinium,†a temple of Hera, which at one time was rich and full of dedicated offerings. As for the distances by sea, writers give them without satisfactory clearness, except that, in a general way, Polybius gives the distance from the strait to Lacinium as two thousand three hundred stadia,†and the distance thence across to Cape Iapygia as seven hundred. This point is called the mouth of the Tarantine Gulf. As for the gulf itself, the distance around it by sea is of considerable length, two hundred and forty miles,†as the Chorographer†says, but Artemidorus says three hundred and eighty for a man well-girded, although he falls short of the real breadth of the mouth of the gulf by as much.†The gulf faces the winter-sunrise;†and it begins at Cape Lacinium, for, on doubling it, one immediately comes to the cities†of the Achaeans, which, except that of the Tarantini, no longer exist, and yet, because of the fame of some of them, are worthy of rather extended mention.

12The first city is Croton, within one hundred and fifty stadia from the Lacinium; and then comes the River Aesarus, and a harbor, and another river, the Neaethus. The Neaethus got its name, it is said, from what occurred there: Certain of the Achaeans who had strayed from the Trojan fleet put in there and disembarked for an inspection of the region, and when the Trojan women who were sailing with them learned that the boats were empty of men, they set fire to the boats, for they were weary of the voyage, so that the men remained there of necessity, although they at the same time noticed that the soil was very fertile. And immediately several other groups, on the strength of their racial kinship, came and imitated them, and thus arose many settlements, most of which took their names from the Trojans; and also a river, the Neaethus, took its appellation from the aforementioned occurrence.†According to Antiochus, when the god told the Achaeans to found Croton, Myscellus departed to inspect the place, but when he saw that Sybaris was already founded—having the same name as the river near by—he judged that Sybaris was better; at all events, he questioned the god again when he returned whether it would be better to found this instead of Croton, and the god replied to him (Myscellus†was a hunchback as it happened): “Myscellus, short of back, in searching else outside thy track, thou hunt’st for morsels only;’tis right that what one giveth thee thou do approve;”†and Myscellus came back and founded Croton, having as an associate Archias, the founder of Syracuse, who happened to sail up while on his way to found Syracuse.†The Iapyges used to live at Croton in earlier times, as Ephorus says. And the city is reputed to have cultivated warfare and athletics; at any rate, in one Olympian festival the seven men who took the lead over all others in the stadium-race were all Crotoniates, and therefore the saying “The last of the Crotoniates was the first among all other Greeks” seems reasonable. And this, it is said, is what gave rise to the other proverb, “more healthful than Croton,” the belief being that the place contains something that tends to health and bodily vigor, to judge by the multitude of its athletes. Accordingly, it had a very large number of Olympic victors, although it did not remain inhabited a long time, on account of the ruinous loss of its citizens who fell in such great numbers at the River Sagra. And its fame was increased by the large number of its Pythagorean philosophers, and by Milo, who was the most illustrious of athletes, and also a companion of Pythagoras, who spent a long time in the city. It is said that once, at the common mess of the philosophers, when a pillar began to give way, Milo slipped in under the burden and saved them all, and then drew himself from under it and escaped. And it is probably because he relied upon this same strength that he brought on himself the end of his life as reported by some writers; at any rate, the story is told that once, when he was travelling through a deep forest, he strayed rather far from the road, and then, on finding a large log cleft with wedges, thrust his hands and feet at the same time into the cleft and strained to split the log completely asunder; but he was only strong enough to make the wedges fall out, whereupon the two parts of the log instantly snapped together; and caught in such a trap as that, he became food for wild beasts.

13Next in order, at a distance of two hundred stadia, comes Sybaris, founded by the Achaeans; it is between two rivers, the Crathis and the Sybaris. Its founder was Is of Helice.†In early times this city was so superior in its good fortune that it ruled over four tribes in the neighborhood, had twenty- five subject cities, made the campaign against the Crotoniates with three hundred thousand men, and its inhabitants on the Crathis alone completely filled up a circuit of fifty stadia. However, by reason of luxury and insolence they were deprived of all their felicity by the Crotoniates within seventy days; for on taking the city these conducted the river over it and submerged it. Later on, the survivors, only a few, came together and were making it their home again, but in time these too were destroyed by Athenians and other Greeks, who, although they came there to live with them, conceived such a contempt for them that they not only slew them but removed the city to another place near by and named it Thurii, after a spring of that name. Now the Sybaris River makes the horses that drink from it timid, and therefore all herds are kept away from it; whereas the Crathis makes the hair of persons who bathe in it yellow or white, and besides it cures many afflictions. Now after the Thurii had prospered for a long time, they were enslaved by the Leucani, and when they were taken away from the Leucani by the Tarantini, they took refuge in Rome, and the Romans sent colonists to supplement them, since their population was reduced, and changed the name of the city to Copiae.

14After Thurii comes Lagaria, a stronghold, bounded by Epeius and the Phocaeans; thence comes the Lagaritan wine, which is sweet, mild, and extremely well thought of among physicians. That of Thurii, too, is one of the famous wines. Then comes the city Heracleia, a short distance above the sea; and two navigable rivers, the Aciris and the Siris. On the Siris there used to be a Trojan city of the same name, but in time, when Heracleia was colonized thence by the Tarantini, it became the port of the Heracleotes. It is Twenty-four stadia distant from Heracleia and about three hundred and thirty from Thurii. Writers produce as proof of its settlement by the Trojans the wooden image of the Trojan Athene which is set up there—the image that closed its eyes, the fable goes, when the suppliants were dragged away by the Ionians who captured the city; for these Ionians came there as colonists when in flight from the dominion of the Lydians, and by force took the city, which belonged to the Chones, and called it Polieium; and the image even now can be seen closing its eyes. It is a bold thing, to be sure, to tell such a fable and to say that the image not only closed its eyes (just as they say the image in Troy turned away at the time Cassandra was violated) but can also be seen closing its eyes; and yet it is much bolder to represent as brought from Troy all those images which the historians say were brought from there; for not only in the territory of Siris, but also at Rome, at Lavinium, and at Luceria, Athene is called “Trojan Athena,” as though brought from Troy. And further, the daring deed of the Trojan women is current in numerous places, and appears incredible, although it is possible. According to some, however, both Siris and the Sybaris which is on the Teuthras†were founded by the Rhodians. According to Antiochus, when the Tarantini were at war with the Thurii and their general Cleandridas, an exile from Lacedaemon, for the possession of the territory of Siris, they made a compromise and peopled Siris jointly, although it was adjudged the colony of the Tarantini; but later on it was called Heracleia, its site as well as its name being changed.

15Next in order comes Metapontium, which is one hundred and forty stadia from the naval station of Heracleia. It is said to have been founded by the Pylians who sailed from Troy with Nestor; and they so prospered from farming, it is said, that they dedicated a golden harvest†at Delphi. And writers produce as a sign of its having been founded by the Pylians the sacrifice to the shades of the sons of Neleus.†However, the city was wiped out by the Samnitae. According to Antiochus: Certain of the Achaeans were sent for by the Achaeans in Sybaris and resettled the place, then forsaken, but they were summoned only because of a hatred which the Achaeans who had been banished from Laconia had for the Tarantini, in order that the neighboring Tarantini might not pounce upon the place; there were two cities, but since, of the two, Metapontium was nearer†to Taras,†the newcomers were persuaded by the Sybarites to take Metapontium and hold it, for, if they held this, they would also hold the territory of Siris, whereas, if they turned to the territory of Siris, they would add Metapontium to the territory of the Tarantini, which latter was on the very flank of Metapontium; and when, later on, the Metapontians were at war with the Tarantini and the Oenotrians of the interior, a reconciliation was effected in regard to a portion of the land—that portion, indeed, which marked the boundary between the Italy of that time and Iapygia.†Here, too, the fabulous accounts place Metapontus,†and also Melanippe the prisoner and her son Boeotus.†In the opinion of Antiochus, the city Metapontium was first called Metabum and later on its name was slightly altered, and further, Melanippe was brought, not to Metabus, but to Dius, as is proved by a hero-temple of Metabus, and also by Asius the poet, when he says that Boeotus was brought forth “in the halls of Dius by shapely Melanippe,” meaning that Melanippe was brought to Dius, not to Metabus. But, as Ephorus says, the colonizer of Metapontium was Daulius, the tyrant of the Crisa which is near Delphi. And there is this further account, that the man who was sent by the Achaeans to help colonize it was Leucippus, and that after procuring the use of the place from the Tarantini for only a day and night he would not give it back, replying by day to those who asked it back that he had asked and taken it for the next night also, and by night that he had taken and asked it also for the next day. Next in order comes Taras and Iapygia; but before discussing them I shall, in accordance with my original purpose, give a general description of the islands that lie in front of Italy; for as from time to time I have named also the islands which neighbor upon the several tribes, so now, since I have traversed Oenotria from beginning to end, which alone the people of earlier times called Italy, it is right that I should preserve the same order in traversing Sicily and the islands round about it.

1Sicily is triangular in shape; and for this reason it was at first called “Trinacria,” though later the name was changed to the more euphonious “Thrinacis.” Its shape is defined by three capes: Pelorias, which with Caenys and Columna Rheginorum forms the strait, and Pachynus, which lies out towards the east and is washed by the Sicilian Sea, thus facing towards the Peloponnesus and the sea-passage to Crete, and, third, Lilybaeum, the cape that is next to Libya, thus facing at the same time towards Libya and the winter sunset. As for the sides which are marked off by the three capes, two of them are moderately concave, whereas the third, the one that reaches from Lilybaeum to Pelorias, is convex; and this last is the longest, being one thousand seven hundred stadia in length, as Poseidonius states, though he adds twenty stadia more. Of the other two sides, the one from Lilybaeum to Pachynus is longer than the other, and the one next to the strait and Italy, from Pelorias to Pachynus, is shortest, being about one thousand one hundred and thirty stadia long. And the distance round the island by sea, as declared by Poseidonius, is four thousand stadia. But in the Chorography the distances given are longer, marked off in sections and given in miles: from Pelorias to Mylae, twenty-five miles; the same from Mylae to Tyndaris; then to Agathyrnum thirty, and the same to Alaesa, and again the same to Cephaloedium, these being small towns; and eighteen to the River Himera,†which flows through the middle of Sicily; then to Panormus thirty-five, and thirty-two to the Emporium of the Aegestes,†and the rest of the way, to Lilybaeum, thirty-eight. Thence, on doubling Lilybaeum, to the adjacent side, to the Heracleium seventy-five miles, and to the Emporium of the Acragantini†twenty, and another twenty†to Camarina; and then to Pachynus fifty. Thence again along the third side: to Syracuse thirty-six, and to Catana sixty; then to Tauromenium thirty-three; and then to Messene thirty.†On foot, however, the distance from Pachynus to Pelorias is one hundred and sixty-eight miles, and from Messene to Lilybaeum by the Valerian Way two hundred and thirty-five. But some writers have spoken in a more general way, as, for example, Ephorus: “At any rate, the voyage round the island takes five days and nights.” Further, Poseidonius, in marking off the boundaries of the island by means of the “climata,”†puts Pelorias towards the north, Lilybaeum towards the south, and Pachynus towards the east. But since the “climata” are each divided off into parallelograms, necessarily the triangles that are inscribed (particularly those which are scalene and of which no side fits on any one of the sides of the parallelogram) cannot, because of their slant, be fitted to the “climata.”†However this may be, one might fairly say, in the case of the “climata” of Sicily, which is situated south of Italy, that Pelorias is the most northerly of the three corners; and therefore the side that joins Pelorias to Pachynus will lie out†towards the east, thus facing towards the north, and also will form the side that is on the strait. But this side must take a slight turn toward the winter sunrise, for the shore bends aside in this direction as one proceeds from Catana to Syracuse and Pachynus. Now the distance from Pachynus across to the mouth of the Alpheius†is four thousand stadia; but when Artemidorus says that it is four thousand six hundred stadia from Pachynus to Taenarum and one thousand one hundred and thirty from the Alpheius to the Pamisus, he seems to me to afford us reason for suspecting that his statement is not in agreement with that of the man who says that the distance to the Alpheius from Pachynus is four thousand stadia. Again, the side that extends from Pachynus to Lilybaeum, which is considerably farther west than Pelorias, should itself also be made to slant considerably from its southernmost point†towards the west, and should face at the same time towards the east and towards the south,†one part being washed by the Sicilian Sea and the other by the Libyan Sea that reaches from Carthaginia to the Syrtes. The shortest passage from Lilybaeum across to Libya in neighborhood of Carthage is one thousand five hundred stadia;†and on this passage, it is said, some man of sharp vision, from a look-out, used to report to the men in Lilybaeum the number of ships that were putting to sea from Carthage.†Again, the side that extends from Lilybaeum to Pelorias necessarily slants towards the east, and faces towards the region that is between the west and the north,†having Italy on the north and on the west the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Islands of Aeolus.

2The cities along the side that forms the Strait are, first, Messene, and then Tauromenium, Catana, and Syracuse; but those that were between Catana and Syracuse have disappeared—Naxus†and Megara;†and on this coast are the outlets of the Symaethus and all rivers that flow down from Aetna and have good harbors at their mouths; and here too is the promontory of Xiphonia. According to Ephorus these were the earliest Greek cities to be founded in Sicily, that is, in the tenth generation after the Trojan war; for before that time men were so afraid of the bands of Tyrrhenian pirates and the savagery of the barbarians in this region that they would not so much as sail thither for trafficking; but though Theocles, the Athenian, borne out of his course by the winds to Sicily, clearly perceived both the weakness of the peoples and the excellence of the soil, yet, when he went back, he could not persuade the Athenians, and hence took as partners a considerable number of Euboean Chalcidians and some Ionians and also some Dorians (most of whom were Megarians) and made the voyage; so the Chalcidians founded Naxus, whereas the Dorians founded Megara, which in earlier times had been called Hybla. The cities no longer exist, it is true, but the name of Hybla still endures, because of the excellence of the Hyblaean honey.

3As for the cities that still endure along the aforementioned side: Messene is situated in a gulf of Pelorias, which bends considerably towards the east and forms an armpit, so to speak; but though the distance across to Messene from Rhegium is only sixty stadia, it is much less from Columna. Messene was founded by the Messenians of the Peloponnesus, who named it after themselves, changing its name; for formerly it was called Zancle, on account of the crookedness of the coast (anything crooked was called “zanclion”),†having been founded formerly by the Naxians who lived near Catana. But the Mamertini, a tribe of the Campani, joined the colony later on. Now the Romans used it as a base of operations for their Sicilian war against the Carthaginians; and afterwards Pompeius Sextus,when at war with Augustus Caesar, kept his fleet together there, and when ejected from the island also made his escape thence. And in the ship-channel, only a short distance off the city, is to be seem Charybdis, a monstrous deep, into which the ships are easily drawn by the refluent currents of the strait and plunged prow-foremost along with a mighty eddying of the whirlpool; and when the ships are gulped down and broken to pieces, the wreckage is swept along to the Tauromenian shore, which, from this occurrence, is called Copria. The Mamertini prevailed to such an extent among the Messenii that they got control of the city; and the people are by all called mamertini rather than Messenii; and further, since the country is exceedingly productive of wine, the wine is called, not Messenian, but Mamertine, and it rivals the best of the Italian wines. The city is fairly populous, though Catana is still more so, and in fact has received Romans as inhabitants; but Tauromenium is less populous than either. Catana, moreover, was founded by the same Naxians, whereas Tauromenium was founded by the Zanclaeans of Hybla; but Catana lost its original inhabitants when Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse, established a different set of colonists there and called it Aetna instead of Catana. And Pindar too calls him the founder of Aetna when he say: “Attend to what I say to thee, O Father, whose name is that of the holy sacrifices,†founder of Aetna.” But at the death of Hiero the Catanaeans came back, ejected the inhabitants, and demolished the tomb of the tyrant. And the Aetnaeans, on withdrawing, took up their abode in a hilly district of Aetna called Innesa, and called the place, which is eighty stadia from Catana, Aetna, and declared Hiero its founder. Now the city of Aetna is situated in the interior about over Catana, and shares most in the devastation caused by the action of the craters;†in fact the streams of lava rush down very nearly as far as the territory of Catana; and here is the scene of the act of filial piety, so often recounted, of Amphinomus and Anapias, who lifted their parents on their shoulders and saved them from the doom that was rushing upon them. According to Poseidonius, when the mountain is in action, the fields of the Catanaeans are covered with ash-dust to a great depth. Now although the ash is an affliction at the time, it benefits the country in later times, for it renders it fertile and suited to the vine, the rest of the country not being equally productive of good wine; further, the roots produced by the fields that have been covered with ash-dust make the sheep so fat, it is said, that they choke; and this is why blood is drawn from their ears every four or five days†—a thing of which I have spoken before†as occurring near Erytheia. But when the lava changes to a solid, it turns the surface of the earth into stone to a considerable depth, so that quarrying is necessary on the part of any who wish to uncover the original surface; for when the mass of rock in the craters melts and then is thrown up, the liquid that is poured out over the top is black mud and flows down the mountain, and then, solidifying, becomes millstone, keeping the same color it had when in a liquid state. And ash is also produced when the stones are burnt, as from wood; therefore, just as wood-ashes nourish rue, so the ashes of Aetna, it is reasonable to suppose, have some quality that is peculiarly suited to the vine.

4Syracuse was founded by Archias, who sailed from Corinth about the same time that Naxus and Megara were colonized. It is said that Archias went to Delphi at the same time as Myscellus, and when they were consulting the oracle, the god asked them whether they chose wealth or health; now Archias chose wealth, and Myscellus health; accordingly, the god granted to the former to found Syracuse, and to the latter Croton. And it actually came to pass that the Crotoniates took up their abode in a city that was exceedingly healthful, as I have related, and that Syracuse fell into such exceptional wealth that the name of the Syracusans was spread abroad in a proverb applied to the excessively extravagant—”the tithe of the Syracusans would not be sufficient for them.” And when Archias, the story continues, was on his voyage to Sicily, he left Chersicrates, of the race of the Heracleidae, with a part of the expedition to help colonize what is now called Corcyra, but was formerly called Scheria; Chersicrates, however, ejected the Liburnians, who held possession of the island, and colonized it with new settlers, whereas Archias landed at Zephyrium, found that some Dorians who had quit the company of the founders of Megara and were on their way back home had arrived there from Sicily, took them up and in common with them founded Syracuse. And the city grew, both on account of the fertility of the soil and on account of the natural excellence of its harbors. Furthermore, the men of Syracuse proved to have the gift of leadership, with the result that when the Syracusans were ruled by tyrants they lorded it over the rest, and when set free themselves they set free those who were oppressed by the barbarians. As for these barbarians, some were native inhabitants, whereas others came over from the mainland. The Greeks would permit none of them to lay hold of the seaboard, but were not strong enough to keep them altogether away from the interior; indeed, to this day the Siceli, the Sicani, the Morgetes, and certain others have continued to live in the island, among whom there used to be Iberians, who, according to Ephorus, were said to be the first barbarian settlers of Sicily. Morgantium, it is reasonable to suppose, was settled by the Morgetes; it used to be a city, but now it does not exist. When the Carthaginians came over they did not cease to abuse both these people and the Greeks, but the Syracusans nevertheless held out. But the Romans later on ejected the Carthaginians and took Syracuse by siege. And in our own time, because Pompeius abused, not only the other cities, but Syracuse in particular, Augustus Caesar sent a colony and restored a considerable part of the old settlement; for in olden times it was a city of five towns,†with a wall of one hundred and eighty stadia. Now it was not at all necessary to fill out the whole of this circuit, but it was necessary, he thought, to build up in a better way only the part that was settled—the part adjacent to the Island of Ortygia which had a sufficient circuit to make a notable city. Ortygia is connected with the mainland, near which it lies, by a bridge, and has the fountain of Arethusa, which sends forth a river that empties immediately into the sea. People tell the mythical story that the river Arethusa is the Alpheius, which latter, they say, rises in the Peloponnesus, flows underground through the sea as far as Arethusa, and then empties thence once more into the sea. And the kind of evidence they adduce is as follows: a certain cup, they think, was thrown out into the river at Olympia and was discharged into the fountain; and again, the fountain was discolored as the result of the sacrifices of oxen at Olympia. Pindar follows these reports when he says: “O resting-place†august of Alpheius, Ortygia,†scion of famous Syracuse.” And in agreement with Pindar Timaeus the historian also declares the same thing. Now if the Alpheius fell into a pit before joining the sea, there would be some plausibility in the view that the stream extends underground from Olympia as far as Sicily, thereby preserving its potable water unmixed with the sea; but since the mouth of the river empties into the sea in full view, and since near this mouth, on the transit, there is no mouth†visible that swallows up the stream of the river (though even so the water could not remain fresh; yet it might, the greater part of it at least, if it sank into the underground channel),†the thing is absolutely impossible. For the water of Arethusa bears testimony against it, since it is potable; and that the stream of the river should hold together through so long a transit without being diffused with the seawater, that is, until it falls into the fancied underground passage, is utterly mythical. Indeed, we can scarcely believe this in the case of the Rhodanus, although its stream does hold together when it passes through a lake,†keeping its course visible; in this case, however, the distance is short and the lake does not rise in waves, whereas in case of the sea in question, where there are prodigious storms and surging waves, the tale is foreign to all plausibility. And the citing of the story of the cup only magnifies the falsehood, for a cup does not of itself readily follow the current of any stream, to say nothing of a stream that flows so great a distance and through such passages. Now there are many rivers in many parts of the world that flow underground, but not for such a distance; and even if this is possible, the stories aforesaid, at least, are impossible, and those concerning the river Inachus are like a myth: “For it flows from the heights of Pindus,” says Sophocles, “and from Lacmus,†from the land of the Perrhaebians, into the lands of the Amphilochians and Acarnanians, and mingles with the waters of Acheloüs,” and, a little below, he adds, “whence it cleaves the waves to Argos and comes to the people of Lyrceium.” Marvellous tales of this sort are stretched still further by those who make the Inopus cross over from the Nile to Delos. And Zoïlus†the rhetorician says in his Eulogy of the Tenedians that the Alpheius rises in Tenedos—the man who finds fault with Homer as a writer of myths! And Ibycus says that the Asopus in Sicyon rises in Phrygia. But the statement of Hecataeus is better, when he says that the lnachus among the Amphilochians, which flows from Lacmus, as does also the Aeas, is different from the river of Argos, and that it was named by Amphilochus, the man who called the city Argos Amphilochicum. Now Hecataeus says that this river does empty into the Acheloüs, but that the Aeas flows towards the west into Apollonia. On either side of the island of Ortygia is a large harbor; the larger of the two is eighty stadia in circuit. Caesar restored this city and also Catana; and so, in the same way, Centoripa, because it contributed much to the overthrow of Pompeius. Centoripa lies above Catana, bordering on the Aetnaean mountains, and on the Symaethus River, which flows into the territory of Catana.

5Of the remaining sides of Sicily, that which extends from Pachynus to Lilybaeum has been utterly deserted, although it preserves traces of the old settlements, among which was Camarina, a colony of the Syracusans; Acragas, however, which belongs to the Geloans, and its seaport, and also Lilybaeum still endure. For since this region was most exposed to attack on the part of Carthaginia, most of it was ruined by the long wars that arose one after another. The last and longest side is not populous either, but still it is fairly well peopled; in fact, Alaesa, Tyndaris, the Emporium of the Aegestes, and Cephaloedis†are all cities, and Panormus has also a Roman settlement. Aegestaea was founded, it is said, by those who crossed over with Philoctetes to the territory of Croton, as I have stated in my account of Italy; they were sent to Sicily by him along with Aegestes the Trojan.

6In the interior is Enna, where is the temple of Demeter, with only a few inhabitants; it is situated on a hill, and is wholly surrounded by broad plateaus that are tillable. It suffered most at the hands of Eunus†and his runaway slaves, who were besieged there and only with difficulty were dislodged by the Romans. The inhabitants of Catana and Tauromenium and also several other peoples suffered this same fate. Eryx, a lofty hill,†is also inhabited. It has a temple of Aphrodite that is held in exceptional honor, and in early times was full of female temple-slaves, who had been dedicated in fulfillment of vows not only by the people of Sicily but also by many people from abroad; but at the present time, just as the settlement itself,†so the temple is in want of men, and the multitude of temple-slaves has disappeared. In Rome, also, there is a reproduction of this goddess, I mean the temple before the Colline Gate†which is called that of Venus Erycina and is remarkable for its shrine and surrounding colonnade. But the rest of the settlements†as well as most of the interior have come into the possession of shepherds; for I do not know of any settled population still living in either Himera, or Gela, or Callipolis or Selinus or Euboea or several other places. Of these cities Himera was founded by the Zanclaeans of Mylae, Callipolis by the Naxians, Selinus by the Megarians of the Sicilian Megara, and Euboea by the Leontines.†Many of the barbarian cities, also, have been wiped out; for example Camici,†the royal residence of Cocalus,†at which Minos is said to have been murdered by treachery. The Romans, therefore, taking notice that the country was deserted, took possession of the mountains and most of the plains and then gave them over to horseherds, cowherds, and shepherds; and by these herdsmen the island was many times put in great danger, because, although at first they only turned to brigandage in a sporadic way, later they both assembled in great numbers and plundered the settlements, as, for example, when Eunus and his men took possession of Enna. And recently, in my own time, a certain Selurus, called the “son of Aetna,” was sent up to Rome because he had put himself at the head of an army and for a long time had overrun the regions round about Aetna with frequent raids; I saw him torn to pieces by wild beasts at an appointed combat of gladiators in the Forum; for he was placed on a lofty scaffold, as though on Aetna, and the scaffold was made suddenly to break up and collapse, and he himself was carried down with it into cages of wildbeasts—fragile cages that had been prepared beneath the scaffold for that purpose.

7As for the fertility of the country, why should I speak of it, since it is on the lips of all men, who declare that it is no whit inferior to that of Italy? And in the matter of grain, honey, saffron, and certain other products, one might call it even superior. There is, furthermore, its propinquity; for the island is a part of Italy, as it were, and readily and without great labor supplies Rome with everything it has, as though from the fields of Italy. And in fact it is called the storehouse of Rome, for everything it produces is brought hither except a few things that are consumed at home, and not the fruits only, but also cattle, hides, wool, and the like. Poseidonius says that Syracuse and Eryx are each situated like an acropolis by the sea, whereas Enna lies midway between the two above the encircling plains. The whole of the territory of Leontini, also, which likewise belonged to the Naxians of Sicily, has been devastated; for although they always shared with the Syracusans in their misfortunes, it was not always so with their good fortunes.†

8Near Centoripa is the town of Aetna, which was mentioned a little above, whose people entertain and conduct those who ascend the mountain; for the mountain-summit begins here. The upper districts are bare and ash-like and full of snow during the winter, whereas the lower are divided up by forests and plantations of every sort. The topmost parts of the mountain appear to undergo many changes because of the way the fire distributes itself, for at one time the fire concentrates in one crater, but at another time divides, while at one time the mountain sends forth lava, at another, flames and fiery smoke, and at still other times it also emits red-hot masses; and the inevitable result of these disturbances is that not only the underground passages, but also the orifices, sometimes rather numerous, which appear on the surface of the mountain all round, undergo changes at the same time. Be this as it may, those who recently made the ascent gave me the following account: They found at the top a level plain, about twenty stadia in circuit, enclosed by a rim of ashes the height of a house-wall, so that any who wished to proceed into the plain had to leap down from the wall; they saw in the center of the plain a mound†of the color of ashes, in this respect being like the surface of the plain as seen from above, and above the mound a perpendicular cloud rising straight up to a height of about two hundred feet, motionless (for it was a windless day) and resembling smoke; and two of the men had the hardihood to proceed into the plain, but because the sand they were walking on got hotter and deeper, they turned back, and so were unable to tell those who were observing from a distance anything more than what was already apparent. But they believed, from such a view as they had, that many of the current stories are mythical, and particularly those which some tell about Empedocles, that he leaped down into the crater and left behind, as a trace of the fate he suffered, one of the brazen sandals which he wore; for it was found, they say, a short distance outside the rim of the crater, as though it had been thrown up by the force of the fire. Indeed, the place is neither to be approached nor to be seen, according to my informants; and further, they surmised that nothing could be thrown down into it either, owing to the contrary blasts of the winds arising from the depths, and also owing to the heat, which, it is reasonable to suppose, meets one long before one comes near the mouth of the crater; but even if something should be thrown down into it, it would be destroyed before it could be thrown up in anything like the shape it had when first received; and although it is not unreasonable to assume that at times the blasts of the fire die down when at times the fuel is deficient, yet surely this would not last long enough to make possible the approach of man against so great a force. Aetna dominates more especially the seaboard in the region of the Strait and the territory of Catana, but also that in the region of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Liparaean Islands. Now although by night a brilliant light shines from the summit, by day it is covered with smoke and haze.

9Over against Aetna rise the Nebrodes Mountains,†which, though lower than Aetna, exceed it considerably in breadth. The whole island is hollow down beneath the ground, and full of streams and of fire, as is the case with the Tyrrhenian Sea, as far as the Cumaean country, as I have said before. At all events, the island has at many places springs of hot waters which spout up, of which those of Selinus and those of Himera are brackish, whereas those of Aegesta are potable. Near Acragas are lakes which, though they have the taste of seawater, are different in nature; for even people who cannot swim do not sink, but float on the surface like wood. The territory of the Palici has craters†that spout up water in a dome-like jet and receive it back again into the same recess. The cavern near Mataurus†contains an immense gallery through which a river flows invisible for a considerable distance, and then emerges to the surface, as is the case with the Orontes in Syria, which sinks into the chasm (called Charybdis) between Apameia and Antiocheia and rises again forty stadia away. Similar, too, are the cases both of the Tigris†in Mesopotamia and of the Nile in Libya, only a short distance from their sources. And the water in the territory of Stymphalus†first flows underground for two hundred stadia and then issues forth in Argeia as the Erasinus River; and again, the water near the Arcadian Asea is first forced below the surface and then, much later, emerges as both the Eurotas and the Alpheius; and hence the belief in a certain fabulous utterance, that if two wreaths be dedicated separately to each of the two rivers and thrown into the common stream, each will reappear, in accordance with the dedication, in the appropriate river. And I have already mentioned what is told about the Timavus River.

10Phenomena akin both to these and to those in Sicily are to be seen about the Liparaean Islands and Lipara itself. The islands are seven in number, but the largest is Lipara (a colony of the Cnidians), which, Thermessa excepted, lies nearest to Sicily. It was formerly called Meligunis; and it not only commanded a fleet, but for a long time resisted the incursions of the Tyrrheni, for it held in obedience all the Liparaean Islands, as they are now called, though by some they are called the Islands of Aeolus. Furthermore, it often adorned the temple of Apollo at Delphi with dedications from the first fruits of victory. It has also a fruitful soil, and a mine of styptic earth†that brings in revenues,†and hot springs, and fire blasts. Between Lipara and Sicily is Thermessa, which is now called Hiera of Hephaestus;†the whole island is rocky, desert, and fiery, and it has three fire blasts, rising from three openings which one might call craters. From the largest the flames carry up also red-hot masses, which have already choked up a considerable part of the Strait. From observation it has been believed that the flames, both here and on Aetna, are stimulated along with the winds and that when the winds cease the flames cease too. And this is not unreasonable, for the winds are begotten by the evaporations of the sea and after they have taken their beginning are fed thereby; and therefore it is not permissible for any who have any sort of insight into such matters to marvel if the fire too is kindled by a cognate fuel or disturbance. According to Polybius, one of the three craters has partially fallen in, whereas the others remain whole; and the largest has a circular rim five stadia in circuit, but it gradually contracts to a diameter of fifty feet; and the altitude of this crater above the level of the sea is a stadium, so that the crater is visible on windless days.†But if all this is to be believed, perhaps one should also believe the mythical story about Empedocles. Now if the south wind is about to blow, Polybius continues, a cloud-like mist pours down all round the island, so that not even Sicily is visible in the distance; and when the north wind is about to blow, pure flames rise aloft from the aforesaid crater and louder rumblings are sent forth; but the west wind holds a middle position, so to speak, between the two; but though the two other craters are like the first in kind, they fall short in the violence of their spoutings; accordingly, both the difference in the rumblings, and the place whence the spoutings and the flames and the fiery smoke begin, signify beforehand the wind that is going to blow again three days afterward; at all events, certain of the men in Liparae, when the weather made sailing impossible, predicted, he says, the wind that was to blow, and they were not mistaken; from this fact, then, it is clear that that saying of the Poet which is regarded as most mythical of all was not idly spoken, but that he hinted at the truth when he called Aeolus “steward of the winds.” However, I have already discussed these matters sufficiently.†It is the close attention of the Poet to vivid description, one might call it,... for both†are equally present in rhetorical composition and vivid description; at any rate, pleasure is common to both. But I shall return to the topic which follows that at which I digressed.

11Of Lipara, then, and Thermessa I have already spoken. As for Strongyle,†it is so called from its shape, and it too is fiery; it falls short in the violence of its flame, but excels in the brightness of its light; and this is where Aeolus lived, it is said. The fourth island is Didyme,†and it too is named after its shape. Of the remaining islands, Ericussa†and Phoenicussa†have been so called from their plants, and are given over to pasturage of flocks. The seventh is Euonymus,†which is farthest out in the high sea and is desert; it is so named because it is more to the left than the others, to those who sail from Lipara to Sicily.†Again, many times flames have been observed running over the surface of the sea round about the islands when some passage had been opened up from the cavities down in the depths of the earth and the fire had forced its way to the outside. Poseidonius says that within his own recollection,†one morning at daybreak about the time of the summer solstice, the sea between Hiera and Euonymus was seen raised to an enormous height, and by a sustained blast remained puffed up for a considerable time, and then subsided; and when those who had the hardihood to sail up to it saw dead fish driven by the current, and some of the men were stricken ill because of the heat and stench, they took flight; one of the boats, however, approaching more closely, lost some of its occupants and barely escaped to Lipara with the rest, who would at times become senseless like epileptics, and then afterwards would recur to their proper reasoning faculties; and many days later mud was seen forming on the surface of the sea, and in many places flames, smoke, and murky fire broke forth, but later the scum hardened and became as hard as mill-stone; and the governor of Sicily, Titus Flaminius,†reported the event to the Senate, and the Senate sent a deputation to offer propitiatory sacrifices, both in the islet†and in Liparae, to the gods both of the underworld and of the Sea. Now, according to the Chorographer,†the distance from Ericodes to Phoenicodes†is ten miles, and thence to Didyme thirty, and thence to the northern part of Lipara twenty-nine, and thence to Sicily nineteen, but from Strongyle sixteen. Off Pachynus lie Melita, whence come the little dogs called Melitaean, and Gaudos, both eighty-eight miles distant from the Cape. Cossura†lies off Lilybaeum, and off Aspis,†a Carthaginian city whose Latin name is Clupea; it lies midway between the two, and is the aforesaid distance†from either. Aegimurus, also, and other small islands lie off Sicily and Libya. So much for the islands.

1Now that I have traversed the regions of Old Italy†as far as Metapontium, I must speak of those that border on them. And Iapygia borders on them. The Greeks call it Messapia, also, but the natives, dividing it into two parts, call one part (that about the Iapygian Cape) the country of the Salentini, and the other the country of the Calabri. Above these latter, on the north, are the Peucetii and also those people who in the Greek language are called Daunii, but the natives give the name Apulia to the whole country that comes after that of the Calabri, though some of them, particularly the Peucetii, are called Poedicli also. Messapia forms a sort of peninsula, since it is enclosed by the isthmus that extends from Brentesium†as far as Taras, three hundred and ten stadia. And the voyage thither†around the Iapygian Cape is, all told, about four hundred†stadia. The distance from Metapontium is about two hundred and twenty stadia, and the voyage to it is towards the rising sun. But though the whole Tarantine Gulf, generally speaking, is harborless, yet at the city there is a very large and beautiful harbor, which is enclosed by a large bridge and is one hundred stadia in circumference. In that part of the harbor which lies towards the innermost recess,†the harbor, with the outer sea, forms an isthmus, and therefore the city is situated on a peninsula; and since the neck of land is low-lying, the ships are easily hauled overland from either side. The ground of the city, too, is low-lying, but still it is slightly elevated where the acropolis is. The old wall has a large circuit, but at the present time the greater part of the city—the part that is near the isthmus—has been forsaken, but the part that is near the mouth of the harbor, where the acropolis is, still endures and makes up a city of noteworthy size. And it has a very beautiful gymnasium, and also a spacious market-place, in which is situated the bronze colossus of Zeus, the largest in the world except the one that belongs to the Rhodians. Between the marketplace and the mouth of the harbor is the acropolis, which has but few remnants of the dedicated objects that in early times adorned it, for most of them were either destroyed by the Carthaginians when they took the city or carried off as booty by the Romans when they took the place by storm.†Among this booty is the Heracles in the Capitol, a colossal bronze statue, the work of Lysippus, dedicated by Maximus Fabius, who captured the city.

2In speaking of the founding of Taras, Antiochus says: After the Messenian war broke out, those of the Lacedaemonians who did not take part in the expedition were adjudged slaves and were named Helots,†and all children who were born in the time of the expedition were called Partheniae†and judicially deprived of the rights of citizenship, but they would not tolerate this, and since they were numerous formed a plot against the free citizens; and when the latter learned of the plot they sent secretly certain men who, through a pretence of friendship, were to report what manner of plot it was; among these was Phalanthus, who was reputed to be their champion, but he was not pleased, in general, with those who had been named to take part in the council. It was agreed, however, that the attack should be made at the Hyacinthian festival in the Amyclaeum†when the games were being celebrated, at the moment when Phalanthus should put on his leather cap (the free citizens were recognizable by their hair†); but when Phalanthus and his men had secretly reported the agreement, and when the games were in progress, the herald came forward and forbade Phalanthus to put on a leather cap; and when the plotters perceived that the plot had been revealed, some of them began to run away and others to beg for mercy; but they were bidden to be of good cheer and were given over to custody; Phalanthus, however, was sent to the temple of the god to consult with reference to founding a colony; and the god responded, “I give to thee Satyrium, both to take up thine abode in the rich land of Taras and to become a bane to the Iapygians.” Accordingly, the Partheniae went thither with Phalanthus, and they were welcomed by both the barbarians and the Cretans who had previously taken possession of the place. These latter, it is said, are the people who sailed with Minos to Sicily, and, after his death, which occurred at the home of Cocalus in Camici, set sail from Sicily; but on the voyage back they were driven out of their course to Taras, although later some of them went afoot around the Adrias as far as Macedonia and were called Bottiaeans. But all the people as far as Daunia, it is said, were called Iapyges, after Iapyx, who is said to have been the son of Daedalus by a Cretan woman and to have been the leader of the Cretans. The city of Taras, however, was named after some hero.

3But Ephorus describes the founding of the city thus: The Lacedaemonians were at war with the Messenians because the latter had killed their king Teleclus when he went to Messene to offer sacrifice, and they swore that they would not return home again until they either destroyed Messene or were all killed; and when they set out on the expedition, they left behind the youngest and the oldest of the citizens to guard the city; but later on, in the tenth year of the war, the Lacedaemonian women met together and sent certain of their own number to make complaint to their husbands that they were carrying on the war with the Messenians on unequal terms, for the Messenians, staying in their own country, were begetting children, whereas they, having abandoned their wives to widowhood, were on an expedition in the country of the enemy, and they complained that the fatherland was in danger of being in want of men; and the Lacedaemonians, both keeping their oath and at the same time bearing in mind the argument of the women, sent the men who were most vigorous and at the same time youngest, for they knew that these had not taken part in the oaths, because they were still children when they went out to war along with the men who were of military age; and they ordered them to cohabit with the maidens, every man with every maiden, thinking that thus the maidens would bear many more children; and when this was done, the children were named Partheniae. But as for Messene, it was captured after a war of nineteen years, as Tyrtaeus says: “About it they fought for nineteen years, relentlessly, with heart ever steadfast, did the fathers of our fathers, spearmen they; and in the twentieth the people forsook their fertile farms and fled from the great mountains of Ithome.” Now the Lacedaemonians divided up Messenia among themselves, but when they came on back home they would not honor the Partheniae with civic rights like the rest, on the ground that they had been born out of wedlock; and the Partheniae, leaguing with the Helots, formed a plot against the Lacedaemonians and agreed to raise a Laconian cap in the market-place as a signal for the attack. But though some of the Helots had revealed the plot, the Lacedaemonians decided that it would be difficult to make a counter-attack against them, for the Helots were not only numerous but were all of one mind, regarding themselves as virtually brothers of one another, and merely charged those who were about to raise the signal to go away from the marketplace. So the plotters, on learning that the undertaking had been betrayed, held back, and the Lacedaemonians persuaded them, through the influence of their fathers, to go forth and found a colony, and if the place they took possession of sufficed them, to stay there, but if not, to come on back and divide among themselves the fifth part of Messenia. And they, thus sent forth, found the Achaeans at war with the barbarians, took part in their perils, and founded Taras.

4At one time the Tarantini were exceedingly powerful, that is, when they enjoyed a democratic government; for they not only had acquired the largest fleet of all peoples in that part of the world but were wont to send forth an army of thirty thousand infantry, three thousand cavalry, and one thousand commanders of cavalry. Moreover, the Pythagorean philosophy was embraced by them, but especially by Archytas,†who presided over the city for a considerable time. But later, because of their prosperity, luxury prevailed to such an extent that the public festivals celebrated among them every year were more in number than the days of the year; and in consequence of this they also were poorly governed. One evidence of their bad policies is the fact that they employed foreign generals; for they sent for Alexander†the Molossian to lead them in their war against the Messapians and Leucanians, and, still before that, for Archidamus,†the son of Agesilaüs, and, later on, for Cleonymus,†and Agathocles,†and then for Pyrrhus,†at the time when they formed a league with him against the Romans. And yet even to those whom they called in they could not yield a ready obedience, and would set them at enmity. At all events, it was out of enmity that Alexander tried to transfer to Thurian territory the general festival assembly of all Greek peoples in that part of the world—the assembly which was wont to meet at Heracleia in Tarantine territory, and that he began to urge that a place for the meetings be fortified on the Acalandrus River. Furthermore, it is said that the unhappy end which befell him was the result of their ingratitude. Again, about the time of the wars with Hannibal, they were deprived of their freedom, although later they received a colony of Romans, and are now living at peace and better than before. In their war against the Messapians for the possession of Heracleia, they had the co-operation of the king of the Daunians and the king of the Peucetians.

5That part of the country of the Iapygians which comes next is fine, though in an unexpected way; for although on the surface it appears rough, it is found to be deep-soiled when ploughed, and although it is rather lacking in water, it is manifestly none the less good for pasturage and for trees. The whole of this district was once extremely populous; and it also had thirteen cities; but now, with the exception of Taras and Brentesium, all of them are so worn out by war that they are merely small towns. The Salentini are said to be a colony of the Cretans. The temple of Athene, once so rich, is in their territory, as also the look-out-rock called Cape Iapygia, a huge rock which extends out into the sea towards the winter sunrise,†though it bends approximately towards the Lacinium, which rises opposite to it on the west and with it bars the mouth of the Tarantine Gulf. And with it the Ceraunian Mountains, likewise, bar the mouth of the Ionian Gulf; the passage across from it both to the Ceraunian Mountains and to the Lacinium is about seven hundred stadia. But the distance by sea from Taras around to Brentesium is as follows: First, to the small town of Baris, six hundred stadia; Baris is called by the people of today Veretum, is situated at the edge of the Salentine territory, and the trip thither from Taras is for the most part easier to make on foot than by sailing. Thence to Leuca eighty stadia; this, too, is a small town, and in it is to be seen a fountain of malodorous water; the mythical story is told that those of the Giants who survived at the Campanian Phlegra†and are called the Leuternian Giants were driven out by Heracles, and on fleeing hither for refuge were shrouded by Mother Earth, and the fountain gets its malodorous stream from the ichor of their bodies; and for this reason, also, the seaboard here is called Leuternia. Again, from Leuca to Hydrus,†a small town, one hundred and fifty stadia. Thence to Brentesium four hundred; and it is an equal distance to the island Sason, which is situated about midway of the distance across from Epeirus to Brentesium. And therefore those who cannot accomplish the straight voyage sail to the left of Sason and put in at Hydrus; and then, watching for a favorable wind, they hold their course towards the harbors of the Brentesini, although if they disembark, they go afoot by a shorter route by way of Rodiae,†a Greek city, where the poet Ennius was born. So then, the district one sails around in going from Taras to Brentesium resembles a peninsula, and the overland journey from Brentesium to Taras, which is only a one day’s journey for a man well-girt, forms the isthmus of the aforesaid peninsula; and this peninsula most people call by one general name Messapia, or Iapygia, or Calabria, or Salentina, although some divide it up, as I have said before. So much, then, for the towns on the seacoast.

6In the interior are Rodiae and Lupiae, and, slightly above the sea, Aletia; and at the middle of the isthmus, Uria, in which is still to be seen the palace of one of the chieftains. When Herodotus states that Hyria is in Iapygia and was founded by the Cretans who strayed from the fleet of Minos when on its way to Sicily, we must understand Hyria to be either Uria or Veretum. Brentesium, they say, was further colonized by the Cretans, whether by those who came over with Theseus from Cnossus or by those who set sail from Sicily with Iapyx (the story is told both ways), although they did not stay together there, it is said, but went off to Bottiaea.†Later on, however, when ruled by kings, the city lost much of its country to the Lacedaemonians who were under the leadership of Phalanthus; but still, when he was ejected from Taras, he was admitted by the Brentesini, and when he died was counted by them worthy of a splendid burial. Their country is better than that of the Tarantini, for, though the soil is thin, it produces good fruits, and its honey and wool are among those that are strongly commended. Brentesium is also better supplied with harbors; for here many harbors are closed in by one mouth; and they are sheltered from the waves, because bays are formed inside in such a way as to resemble in shape a stag’s horns;†and hence the name, for, along with the city, the place very much resembles a stag’s head, and in the Messapian language the head of the stag is called “brentesium.”†But the Tarantine harbor, because of its wide expanse, is not wholly sheltered from the waves; and besides there are some shallows in the innermost part of it.†

7In the case of those who sail across from Greece or Asia, the more direct route is to Brentesium, and, in fact, all who propose to go to Rome by land put into port here. There are two roads†from here: one, a mule-road through the countries of the Peucetii (who are called Poedicli), the Daunii, and the Samnitae as far as Beneventum; on this road is the city of Egnatia,†and then, Celia,†Netium, Canusium, and Herdonia. But the road by way of Taras, lying slightly to the left of the other, though as much as one day’s journey out of the way when one has made the circuit,†what is called the Appian Way, is better for carriages. On this road are the cities of Uria and Venusia, the former between Taras and Brentesium and the latter on the confines of the Samnitae and the Leucani. Both the roads from Brentesium meet near Beneventum and Campania. And the common road from here on, as far as Rome, is called the Appian Way, and passes through Caudium,†Calatia, Capua,†and Casilinum to Sinuessa. And the places from there on I have already mentioned. The total length of the road from Rome to Brentesium is three hundred and sixty miles. But there is also a third road, which runs from Rhegium through the countries of the Brettii, the Leucani, and the Samnitae into Campania, where it joins the Appian Way; it passes through the Apennine Mountains and it requires three or four days more than the road from Brentesium.

8The voyage from Brentesium to the opposite mainland is made either to the Ceraunian Mountains and those parts of the seaboard of Epeirus and of Greece which come next to them, or else to Epidamnus; the latter is longer than the former, for it is one thousand eight hundred stadia.†And yet the latter is the usual route, because the city has a good position with reference both to the tribes of the Illyrians and to those of the Macedonians. As one sails from Brentesium along the Adriatic seaboard, one comes to the city of Egnatia, which is the common stopping-place for people who are travelling either by sea or land to Barium; and the voyage is made with the south wind. The country of the Peucetii extends only thus far on the sea, but in the interior as far as Silvium.†All of it is rugged and mountainous, since it embraces a large portion of the Apennine Mountains; and it is thought to have admitted Arcadians as colonists. From Brentesium to Barium is about seven hundred stadia, and Taras is about an equal distance from each. The adjacent country is inhabited by the Daunii; and then come the Apuli, whose country extends as far as that of the Frentani. But since the terms “Peucetii” and “Daunii” are not at all used by the native inhabitants, except in early times, and since this country as a whole is now called Apulia, necessarily the boundaries of these tribes cannot be told to a nicety either, and for this reason neither should I myself make positive assertions about them.

9From Barium to the Aufidus River, on which is the Emporium of the Canusitae†is four hundred stadia and the voyage inland to Emporium is ninety. Near by is also Salapia, the seaport of the Argyrippini. For not far above the sea (in the plain, at all events) are situated two cities, Canusium and Argyrippa, which in earlier times were the largest of the Italiote cities, as is clear from the circuits of their walls. Now, however, Argyrippa is smaller; it was called Argos Hippium at first, then Argyrippa, and then by the present name Arpi. Both are said to have been founded by Diomedes. And as signs of the dominion of Diomedes in these regions are to be seen the Plain of Diomedes and many other things, among which are the old votive offerings in the temple of Athene at Luceria—a place which likewise was in ancient times a city of the Daunii, but is now reduced—and, in the sea near by, two islands that are called the Islands of Diomedes, of which one is inhabited, while the other, it is said, is desert; on the latter, according to certain narrators of myths, Diomedes was caused to disappear, and his companions were changed to birds, and to this day, in fact, remain tame and live a sort of human life, not only in their orderly ways but also in their tameness towards honorable men and in their flight from wicked and knavish men. But I have already mentioned the stories constantly told among the Heneti about this hero and the rites which are observed in his honor. It is thought that Sipus†also was founded by Diomedes, which is about one hundred and forty stadia distant from Salapia; at any rate it was named “Sepius” in Greek after the “sepia” that are cast ashore by the waves. Between Salapia and Sinus is a navigable river, and also a large lake that opens into the sea; and the merchandise from Sipus, particularly grain, is brought down on both. In Daunia, on a hill by the name of Drium, are to be seen two hero-temples: one, to Calchas, on the very summit, where those who consult the oracle sacrifice to his shade a black ram and sleep in the hide, and the other, to Podaleirius, down near the base of the hill, this temple being about one hundred stadia distant from the sea; and from it flows a stream which is a cure-all for diseases of animals. In front of this gulf is a promontory, Garganum, which extends towards the east for a distance of three hundred stadia into the high sea; doubling the headland, one comes to a small town, Urium, and off the headland are to be seen the Islands of Diomedes. This whole country produces everything in great quantity, and is excellent for horses and sheep; but though the wool is softer than the Tarantine, it is not so glossy. And the country is well sheltered, because the plains lie in hollows. According to some, Diomedes even tried to cut a canal as far as the sea, but left behind both this and the rest of his undertakings only half-finished, because he was summoned home and there ended his life. This is one account of him; but there is also a second, that he stayed here till the end of his life; and a third, the aforesaid mythical account, which tells of his disappearance in the island; and as a fourth one might set down the account of the Heneti, for they too tell a mythical story of how he in some way came to his end in their country, and they call it his apotheosis.

10Now the above distances are put down in accordance with the data of Artemidorus;†but according to the Chorographer,†the distances from Brentesium as far as Garganum amount to one hundred and sixty-five miles, whereas according to Artemidorus they amount to more; and thence to Ancona two hundred and fifty-four miles according to the former, whereas according to Artemidorus the distance to the Aesis River, which is near Ancona, is one thousand two hundred and fifty stadia, a much shorter distance. Polybius states that the distance from Iapygia has been marked out by miles, and that the distance to the city of Sena†is five hundred and sixty-two miles, and thence to Aquileia one hundred and seventy-eight. And they do not agree with the commonly accepted distance along the Illyrian coastline, from the Ceraunian Mountains to the recess of the Adrias, since they represent this latter coasting voyage as over six thousand stadia,†thus making it even longer than the former, although it is much shorter. However, every writer does not agree with every other, particularly about the distances, as I often say.†As for myself, where it is possible to reach a decision, I set forth my opinion, but where it is not, I think that I should make known the opinions of others. And when I have no opinion of theirs, there is no occasion for surprise if I too have passed something by, especially when one considers the character of my subject; for I would not pass by anything important, while as for little things, not only do they profit one but slightly if known, but their omission escapes unnoticed, and detracts not at all, or else not much, from the completeness of the work.

11The intervening space, immediately after Cape Garganum, is taken up by a deep gulf; the people who live around it are called by the special name of Apuli, although they speak the same language as the Daunii and the Peucetii, and do not differ from them in any other respect either, at the present time at least, although it is reasonable to suppose that in early times they differed and that this is the source of the three diverse names for them that are now prevalent. In earlier times this whole country was prosperous, but it was laid waste by Hannibal and the later wars. And here too occurred the battle of Cannae, in which the Romans and their allies suffered a very great loss of life. On the gulf is a lake; and above the lake, in the interior, is Teanum Apulum,†which has the same name as Teanum Sidicinum. At this point the breadth of Italy seems to be considerably contracted, since from here to the region of Dicaearcheia an isthmus is left of less than one thousand stadia from sea to sea. After the lake comes the voyage along the coast to the country of the Frentani and to Buca; and the distance from the lake either to Buca or to Cape Garganum is two hundred stadia. As for the places that come next after Buca, I have already mentioned them.

1Such, indeed, is the size and such the character of Italy. And while I have already mentioned many things which have caused the Romans at the present time to be exalted to so great a height, I shall now indicate the most important things. One is, that, like an island, Italy is securely guarded by the seas on all sides, except in a few regions, and even these are fortified by mountains that are hardly passable. A second is that along most of its coast it is harborless and that the harbors it does have are large and admirable. The former is useful in meeting attacks from the outside, while the latter is helpful in making counter-attacks and in promoting an abundant commerce. A third is that it is characterized by many differences of air and temperature, on which depend the greater variation, whether for better or for worse, in animals, plants, and, in short, everything that is useful for the support of life.†Its length extends from north to south, generally speaking, and Sicily counts as an addition to its length, already so great. Now mild temperature and harsh temperature of the air are judged by heat, cold, and their intermediates; and so from this it necessarily follows that what is now Italy, situated as it is between the two extremes and extending to such a length, shares very largely in the temperate zone and in a very large number of ways. And the following is still another advantage which has fallen to the lot of Italy; since the Apennine Mountains extend through the whole of its length and leave on both sides plains and hills which bear fine fruits, there is no part of it which does not enjoy the blessings of both mountain and plain. And add also to this the size and number of its rivers and its lakes, and, besides these, the fountains of water, both hot and cold, which in many places nature has provided as an aid to health, and then again its good supply of mines of all sorts. Neither can one worthily describe Italy’s abundant supply of fuel, and of food both for men and beast, and the excellence of its fruits. Further, since it lies intermediate between the largest races†on the one hand, and Greece and the best parts of Libya on the other, it not only is naturally well-suited to hegemony, because it surpasses the countries that surround it both in the valor of its people and in size, but also can easily avail itself of their services, because it is close to them.

2Now if I must add to my account of Italy a summary account also of the Romans who took possession of it and equipped it as a base of operations for the universal hegemony, let me add as follows: After the founding of Rome, the Romans wisely continued for many generations under the rule of kings. Afterwards, because the last Tarquinius was a bad ruler, they ejected him, framed a government which was a mixture of monarchy and aristocracy, and dealt with the Sabini and Latini as with partners. But since they did not always find either them or the other neighboring peoples well intentioned, they were forced, in a way, to enlarge their own country by the dismemberment of that of the others. And in this way, while they were advancing and increasing little by little, it came to pass, contrary to the expectation of all, that they suddenly lost their city,†although they also got it back contrary to expectation. This took place, as Polybius says, in the nineteenth year after the naval battle at Aegospotami, at the time of the Peace of Antalcidas.†After having rid themselves of these enemies, the Romans first made all the Latini their subjects; then stopped the Tyrrheni and the Celti who lived about the Padus from their wide and unrestrained licence; then fought down the Samnitae, and, after them, the Tarantini and Pyrrhus; and then at last also the remainder of what is now Italy, except the part that is about the Padus. And while this part was still in a state of war, the Romans crossed over to Sicily, and on taking it away from the Carthaginians came back again to attack the peoples who lived about the Padus; and it was while that war was still in progress that Hannibal invaded Italy. This latter is the second war that occurred against the Carthaginians; and not long afterwards occurred the third, in which Carthage was destroyed; and at the same time the Romans acquired, not only Libya, but also as much of Iberia as they had taken away from the Carthaginians. But the Greeks, the Macedonians, and those peoples in Asia who lived this side the Halys River and the Taurus Mountains joined the Carthaginians in a revolution, and therefore at the same time the Romans were led on to a conquest of these peoples, whose kings were Antiochus, Philip, and Perseus. Further, those of the Illyrians and Thracians who were neighbors to the Greeks and the Macedonians began to carry on war against the Romans and kept on warring until the Romans had subdued all the tribes this side the Ister and this side the Halys. And the Iberians, Celti, and all the remaining peoples which now give ear to the Romans had the same experience. As for Iberia, the Romans did not stop reducing it by force of arms until they had subdued the of it, first, by driving out the Nomantini,†and, later on, by destroying Viriathus and Sertorius, and, last of all, the Cantabri, who were subdued by Augustus Caesar. As for Celtica (I mean Celtica as a whole, both the Cisalpine and Transalpine, together with Liguria†), the Romans at first brought it over to their side only part by part, from time to time, but later the Deified Caesar, and afterwards Caesar Augustus, acquired it all at once in a general war. But at the present time the Romans are carrying on war against the Germans, setting out from the Celtic regions as the most appropriate base of operations, and have already glorified the fatherland with some triumphs over them. As for Libya, so much of it as did not belong to the Carthaginians was turned over to kings who were subject to the Romans, and, if they ever revolted, they were deposed. But at the present time Juba has been invested with the rule, not only of Maurusia, but also of many parts of the rest of Libya, because of his loyalty and his friendship for the Romans. And the case of Asia was like that of Libya. At the outset it was administered through the agency of kings who were subject to the Romans, but from that time on, when their line failed, as was the case with the Attalic, Syrian, Paphlagonian, Cappadocian, and Egyptian kings, or when they would revolt and afterwards be deposed, as was the case with Mithridates Eupator and the Egyptian Cleopatra, all parts of it this side the Phasis and the Euphrates, except certain parts of Arabia, have been subject to the Romans and the rulers appointed by them. As for the Armenians, and the peoples who are situated above Colchis, both Albanians†and Iberians,†they require the presence only of men to lead them, and are excellent subjects, but because the Romans are engrossed by other affairs, they make attempts at revolution—as is the case with all the peoples who live beyond the Ister in the neighborhood of the Euxine, except those in the region of the Bosporus and the Nomads, for the people of the Bosporus are in subjection, whereas the Nomads, on account of their lack of intercourse with others, are of no use for anything and only require watching. Also the remaining parts of Asia, generally speaking, belong to the Tent-dwellers and the Nomads, who are very distant peoples. But as for the Parthians, although they have a common border with the Romans and also are very powerful, they have nevertheless yielded so far to the preeminence of the Romans and of the rulers of our time that they have sent to Rome the trophies which they once set up as a memorial of their victory over the Romans, and, what is more, Phraates has entrusted to Augustus Caesar his children and also his children’s children, thus obsequiously making sure of Caesar’s friendship by giving hostages; and the Parthians of today have often gone to Rome in quest of a man to be their king,†and are now about ready to put their entire authority into the hands of the Romans. As for Italy itself, though it has often been torn by factions, at least since it has been under the Romans, and as for Rome itself, they have been prevented by the excellence of their form of government and of their rulers from proceeding too far in the ways of error and corruption. But it were a difficult thing to administer so great a dominion otherwise than by turning it over to one man, as to a father; at all events, never have the Romans and their allies thrived in such peace and plenty as that which was afforded them by Augustus Caesar, from the time he assumed the absolute authority, and is now being afforded them by his son and successor, Tiberius, who is making Augustus the model of his administration and decrees, as are his children, Germanicus and Drusus, who are assisting their father.

1Now that I have described Iberia and the Celtic and Italian tribes, along with the islands near by, it will be next in order to speak of the remaining parts of Europe, dividing them in the approved manner. The remaining parts are: first, those towards the east, being those which are across the Rhenus and extend as far as the Tanaïs and the mouth of Lake Maeotis,†and also all those regions lying between the Adrias and the regions on the left of the Pontic Sea that are shut off by the Ister and extend towards the south as far as Greece and the Propontis;†for this river divides very nearly the whole of the aforesaid land into two parts. It is the largest of the European rivers, at the outset flowing towards the south and then turning straight from the west towards the east and the Pontus. It rises in the western limits of Germany, as also near the recess of the Adriatic (at a distance from it of about one thousand stadia), and comes to an end at the Pontus not very far from the outlets of the Tyras and the Borysthenes, bending from its easterly course approximately towards the north. Now the parts that are beyond the Rhenus and Celtica are to the north of the Ister; these are the territories of the Galatic and the Germanic tribes, extending as far as the Bastarnians and the Tyregetans and the River Borysthenes. And the territories of all the tribes between this river and the Tanaïs and the mouth of Lake Maeotis extend up into the interior as far as the ocean†and are washed by the Pontic Sea. But both the Illyrian and the Thracian tribes, and all tribes of the Celtic or other peoples that are mingled with these, as far as Greece, are to the south of the Ister. But let me first describe the parts outside the Ister, for they are much simpler than those on the other side.

2Now the parts beyond the Rhenus, immediately after the country of the Celti, slope towards the east and are occupied by the Germans, who, though they vary slightly from the Celtic stock in that they are wilder, taller, and have yellower hair, are in all other respects similar, for in build, habits, and modes of life they are such as I have said the Celti are. And I also think that it was for this reason that the Romans assigned to them the name “Germani,” as though they wished to indicate thereby that they were “genuine” Galatae, for in the language of the Romans “germani” means “genuine.”†

3The first parts of this country are those that are next to the Rhenus, beginning at its source and extending a far as its outlet; and this stretch of river-land taken as a whole is approximately the breadth of the country on its western side. Some of the tribes of this river-land were transferred by the Romans to Celtica, whereas the others anticipated the Romans by migrating deep into the country, for instance, the Marsi; and only a few people, including a part of the Sugambri,†are left. After the people who live along the river come the other tribes that live between the Rhenus and the River Albis, and traverses no less territory than the former. Between the two are other navigable rivers also (among them the Amasias, on which Drusus won a naval victory over the Bructeri), which likewise flow from the south towards the north and the ocean; for the country is elevated towards the south and forms a mountain chain†that connects with the Alps and extends towards the east as though it were a part of the Alps; and in truth some declare that they actually are a part of the Alps, both because of their aforesaid position and of the fact that they produce the same timber; however, the country in this region does not rise to a sufficient height for that. Here, too, is the Hercynian Forest,†and also the tribes of the Suevi, some of which dwell inside the forest, as, for instance, the tribes of the Coldui,†in whose territory is Boihaemum,†the domain of Marabodus, the place whither he caused to migrate, not only several other peoples, but in particular the Marcomanni, his fellow-tribesmen; for after his return from Rome this man, who before had been only a private citizen, was placed in charge of the affairs of state, for, as a youth he had been at Rome and had enjoyed the favor of Augustus, and on his return he took the rulership and acquired, in addition to the peoples aforementioned, the Lugii (a large tribe), the Zumi, the Butones, the Mugilones, the Sibini,†and also the Semnones, a large tribe of the Suevi themselves. However, while some of the tribes of the Suevi dwell inside the forest, as I was saying, others dwell outside of it, and have a common boundary with the Getae.†Now as for the tribe of the Suevi,†it is the largest, for it extends from the Rhenus to the Albis; and a part of them even dwell on the far side of the Albis, as, for instance, the Hermondori and the Langobardi; and at the present time these latter, at least, have, to the last man, been driven in flight out of their country into the land on the far side of the river. It is a common characteristic of all the peoples in this part of the world†that they migrate with ease, because of the meagerness of their livelihood and because they do not till the soil or even store up food, but live in small huts that are merely temporary structures; and they live for the most part off their flocks, as the Nomads do, so that, in imitation of the Nomads, they load their household belongings on their wagons and with their beasts turn whithersoever they think best. But other German tribes are still more indigent. I mean the Cherusci, the Chatti, the Gamabrivii and the Chattuarii, and also, near the ocean, the Sugambri, the Chaubi, the Bructeri, and the Cimbri, and also the Cauci, the Caülci, the Campsiani, and several others. Both the Visurgis and the Lupias Rivers run in the same direction as the Amasias, the Lupias being about six hundred stadia distant from the Rhenus and flowing through the country of the Lesser Bructeri.†Germany has also the Salas River;†and it was between the Salas and the Rhenus that Drusus Germanicus, while he was successfully carrying on the war, came to his end.†He had subjugated, not only most of the tribes, but also the islands along the coast, among which is Burchanis,†which he took by siege.

4These tribes have become known through their wars with the Romans, in which they would either yield and then later revolt again, or else quit their settlements; and they would have been better known if Augustus had allowed his generals to cross the Albis in pursuit of those who emigrated thither. But as a matter of fact he supposed that he could conduct the war in hand more successfully if he should hold off from those outside the Albis, who were living in peace, and should not incite them to make common cause with the others in their enmity against him. It was the Sugambri, who live near the Rhenus, that began the war, Melo being their leader; and from that time on different peoples at different times would cause a breach, first growing powerful and then being put down, and then revolting again, betraying both the hostages they had given and their pledges of good faith. In dealing with these peoples distrust has been a great advantage, whereas those who have been trusted have done the greatest harm, as, for instance, the Cherusci and their subjects, in whose country three Roman legions, with their general Quintilius Varus, were destroyed by ambush in violation of the treaty. But they all paid the penalty, and afforded the younger Germanicus a most brilliant triumph†—that triumph in which their most famous men and women were led captive, I mean Segimuntus, son of Segestes and chieftain of the Cherusci,and his sister Thusnelda, the wife of Armenius, the man who at the time of the violation of the treaty against Quintilius Varus was commander-in-chief of the Cheruscan army and even to this day is keeping up the war, and Thusnelda’s three-year-old son Thumelicus; and also Sesithacus, the son of Segimerus and chieftain of the Cherusci, and Rhamis, his wife, and a daughter of Ucromirus chieftain of the Chatti, and Deudorix,†a Sugambrian, the son of Baetorix the brother of Melo. But Segestes, the father-in-law of Armenius, who even from the outset had opposed†the purpose of Armenius, and, taking advantage of an opportune time, had deserted him, was present as a guest of honor at the triumph over his loved ones. And Libes too, a priest of the Chatti, marched in the procession, as also other captives from the plundered tribes—the Caülci, Campsani, Bructeri, Usipi, Cherusci, Chatti, Chattuarii, Landi, Tubattii. Now the Rhenus is about three thousand stadia distant from the Albis, if one had straight roads to travel on, but as it is one must go by a circuitous route, which winds through a marshy country and forests.

5The Hercynian Forest is not only rather dense, but also has large trees, and comprises a large circuit within regions that are fortified by nature; in the center of it, however, lies a country (of which I have already spoken†) that is capable of affording an excellent livelihood. And near it are the sources of both the Ister and the Rhenus, as also the lake†between the two sources, and the marshes into which the Rhenus spreads. The perimeter of the lake is more than three hundred stadia, while the passage across it is nearly two hundred.†There is also an island in it which Tiberius used as a base of operations in his naval battle with the Vindelici. This lake is south of the sources of the Ister, as is also the Hercynian Forest, so that necessarily, in going from Celtica to the Hercynian Forest, one first crosses the lake and then the Ister, and from there on advances through more passable regions—plateaus—to the forest. Tiberius had proceeded only a day’s journey from the lake when he saw the sources of the Ister. The country of the Rhaeti adjoins the lake for only a short distance, whereas that of the Helvetii and the Vindelici, and also the desert of the Boii, adjoin the greater part of it. All the peoples as far as the Pannonii, but more especially the Helvetii and the Vindelici, inhabit plateaus. But the countries of the Rhaeti and the Norici extend as far as the passes over the Alps and verge toward Italy, a part thereof bordering on the country of the Insubri and a part on that of the Carni and the legions about Aquileia. And there is also another large forest, Gabreta;†it is on this side of the territory of the Suevi, whereas the Hercynian Forest, which is also held by them, is on the far side.

1As for the Cimbri, some things that are told about them are incorrect and others are extremely improbable. For instance, one could not accept such a reason for their having become a wandering and piratical folk as this—that while they were dwelling on a Peninsula they were driven out of their habitations by a great flood-tide; for in fact they still hold the country which they held in earlier times; and they sent as a present to Augustus the most sacred kettle†in their country, with a plea for his friendship and for an amnesty of their earlier offences, and when their petition was granted they set sail for home; and it is ridiculous to suppose that they departed from their homes because they were incensed on account of a phenomenon that is natural and eternal, occurring twice every day. And the assertion that an excessive flood-tide once occurred looks like a fabrication, for when the ocean is affected in this way it is subject to increases and diminutions, but these are regulated and periodical. And the man who said that the Cimbri took up arms against the flood-tides was not right, either; nor yet the statement that the Celti, as a training in the virtue of fearlessness, meekly abide the destruction of their homes by the tides and then rebuild them, and that they suffer a greater loss of life as the result of water than of war, as Ephorus says. Indeed, the regularity of the flood-tides and the fact that the part of the country subject to inundations was known should have precluded such absurdities; for since this phenomenon occurs twice every day, it is of course improbable that the Cimbri did not so much as once perceive that the reflux was natural and harmless, and that it occurred, not in their country alone, but in every country that was on the ocean. Neither is Cleitarchus right; for he says that the horsemen, on seeing the onset of the sea, rode away, and though in full flight came very near being cut off by the water. Now we know, in the first place, that the invasion of the tide does not rush on with such speed as that, but that the sea advances imperceptibly; and, secondly, that what takes place daily and is audible to all who are about to draw near it, even before they behold it, would not have been likely to prompt in them such terror that they would take to flight, as if it had occurred unexpectedly.

2Poseidonius is right in censuring the historians for these assertions, and his conjecture is not a bad one, that the Cimbri, being a piratical and wandering folk, made an expedition even as far as the region of Lake Maeotis, and that also the “Cimmerian” Bosporus†was named after them, being equivalent to “Cimbrian,” the Greeks naming the Cimbri “Cimmerii.” And he goes off to say that in earlier times the Boii dwelt in the Hercynian Forest, and that the Cimbri made a sally against this place, but on being repulsed by the Boii, went down to the Ister and the country of the Scordiscan Galatae,†then to the country of the Teuristae†and Taurisci (these, too, Galatae), and then to the country of the Helvetii—men rich in gold but peaceable; however, when the Helvetii saw that the wealth which the Cimbri had got from their robberies surpassed that of their own country, they, and particularly their tribes of Tigyreni and of Toygeni, were so excited that they sallied forth with the Cimbri. All, however, were subdued by the Romans, both the Cimbri themselves and those who had joined their expeditions, in part after they had crossed the Alps into Italy and in part while still on the other side of the Alps.

3Writers report a custom of the Cimbri to this effect: Their wives, who would accompany them on their expeditions, were attended by priestesses who were seers; these were grey-haired, clad in white, with flaxen cloaks fastened on with clasps, girt with girdles of bronze, and bare-footed; now sword in hand these priestesses would meet with the prisoners of war throughout the camp, and having first crowned them with wreaths would lead them to a brazen vessel of about twenty amphorae;†and they had a raised platform which the priestess would mount, and then, bending over the kettle, would cut the throat of each prisoner after he had been lifted up; and from the blood that poured forth into the vessel some of the priestesses would draw a prophecy, while still others would split open the body and from an inspection of the entrails would utter a prophecy of victory for their own people; and during the battles they would beat on the hides that were stretched over the wicker-bodies of the wagons and in this way produce an unearthly noise.

4Of the Germans, as I have said, those towards the north extend along the ocean;†and beginning at the outlets of the Rhenus, they are known as far as the Albis; and of these the best known are the Sugambri and the Cimbri; but those parts of the country beyond the Albis that are near the ocean are wholly unknown to us. For of the men of earlier times I know of no one who has made this voyage along the coast to the eastern parts that extend as far as the mouth†of the Caspian Sea; and the Romans have not yet advanced into the parts that are beyond the Albis; and likewise no one has made the journey by land either. However, it is clear from the “climata” and the parallel distances that if one travels longitudinally towards the east, one encounters the regions that are about the Borysthenes and that are to the north of the Pontus; but what is beyond Germany and what beyond the countries which are next after Germany—whether one should say the Bastarnae, as most writers suspect, or say that others lie in between, either the Iazyges, or the Roxolani,†or certain other of the wagon-dwellers—it is not easy to say; nor yet whether they extend as far as the ocean along its entire length, or whether any part is uninhabitable by reason of the cold or other cause, or whether even a different race of people, succeeding the Germans, is situated between the sea and the eastern Germans. And this same ignorance prevails also in regard to the rest of the peoples that come next in order on the north; for I know neither the Bastarnae, nor the Sauromatae, nor, in a word, any of the peoples who dwell above the Pontus, nor how far distant they are from the Atlantic Sea,†nor whether their countries border upon it.

1As for the southern part of Germany beyond the Albis, the portion which is just contiguous to that river is occupied by the Suevi; then immediately adjoining this is the land of the Getae, which, though narrow at first, stretching as it does along the Ister on its southern side and on the opposite side along the mountain-side of the Hercynian Forest (for the land of the Getae also embraces a part of the mountains), afterwards broadens out towards the north as far as the Tyregetae; but I cannot tell the precise boundaries. It is because of men’s ignorance of these regions that any heed has been given to those who created the mythical “Rhipaean Mountains” and “Hyperboreans,” and also to all those false statements made by Pytheas the Massalian regarding the country along the ocean, wherein he uses as a screen his scientific knowledge of astronomy and mathematics.†So then, those men should be disregarded; in fact, if even Sophocles, when in his role as a tragic poet he speaks of Oreithyia,†tells how she was snatched up by “Boreas” and carried “over the whole sea to the ends of the earth and to the sources of night and to the unfoldings of heaven and to the ancient garden of Phoebus,”††his story can have no bearing on the present inquiry, but should be disregarded, just as it is disregarded by Socrates in the Phaedrus.†But let us confine our narrative to what we have learned from history, both ancient and modern.

2Now the Greeks used to suppose that the Getae were Thracians; and the Getae lived on either side the Ister, as did also the Mysi, these also being Thracians and identical with the people who are now called Moesi; from these Mysi sprang also the Mysi who now live between the Lydians and the Phrygians and Trojans. And the Phrygians themselves are Brigians, a Thracian tribe, as are also the Mygdonians, the Bebricians, the Medobithynians,†the Bithynians, and the Thynians, and, I think, also the Mariandynians. These peoples, to be sure, have all utterly quitted Europe, but the Mysi have remained there. And Poseidonius seems to me to be correct in his conjecture that Homer designates the Mysi in Europe (I mean those in Thrace) when he says, “But back he turned his shining eyes, and looked far away towards the land of the horsetending Thracians, and of the Mysi, hand-to-hand fighters” for surely, if one should take Homer to mean the Mysi in Asia, the statement would not hang together. Indeed, when Zeus turns his eyes away from the Trojans towards the land of the Thracians, it would be the act of a man who confuses the continents and does not understand the poet’s phraseology to connect with Thrace the land of the Asiatic Mysi, who are not “far away,” but have a common boundary with the Troad and are situated behind it and on either side of it, and are separated from Thrace by the broad Hellespont; for “back he turned” generally†means “to the rear,” and he who transfers his gaze from the Trojans to the people who are either in the rear of the Trojans or on their flanks, does indeed transfer his gaze rather far, but not at all “to the rear.”†Again, the appended phrase†is testimony to this very view, because the poet connected with the Mysi the “Hippemolgi” and “Galactophagi” and “Abii,” who are indeed the wagon-dwelling Scythians and Sarmatians. For at the present time these tribes, as well as the Bastarnian tribes, are mingled with the Thracians (more indeed with those outside the Ister, but also with those inside). And mingled with them are also the Celtic tribes—the Boii, the Scordisci, and the Taurisci. However, the Scordisci are by some called “Scordistae”; and the Taurisci are called also “Ligurisci”†and “Tauristae.”†

3Poseidonius goes on to say of the Mysians that in accordance with their religion they abstain from eating any living thing, and therefore from their flocks as well; and that they use as food honey and milk and cheese, living a peaceable life, and for this reason are called both “god-fearing” and “capnobatae”;†and there are some of the Thracians who live apart from woman-kind; these are called “Ctistae,”†and because of the honor in which they are held, have been dedicated to the gods and live with freedom from every fear; accordingly, Homer speaks collectively of all these peoples as “proud Hippemolgi, Galactophagi and Abii, men most just,” but he calls them “Abii” more especially for this reason, that they live apart from women, since he thinks that a life which is bereft of woman is only half-complete (just as he thinks the “house of Protesilaüs” is only “half complete,” because it is so bereft); and he speaks of the Mysians as “hand-to-hand fighters” because they were indomitable, as is the case with all brave warriors; and Poseidonius adds that in the Thirteenth Book one should read “Moesi, hand-to-hand fighters” instead of “Mysi, hand-to-hand fighters.”

4However, it is perhaps superfluous to disturb the reading that has had approval for so many years; for it is much more credible that the people were called Mysi at first and that later their name was changed to what it is now. And as for the term “Abii,” one might interpret it as meaning those who are “without hearth:” and “live on wagons” quite as well as those who are “bereft”; for since, in general, injustices arise only in connection with contracts and a too high regard for property, so it is reasonable that those who, like the Abii, live cheaply, on slight resources, should have been called “most just.” In fact, the philosophers who put justice next to self-restraint strive above all things for frugality and personal independence; and consequently extreme self-restraint diverts some of them to the Cynical mode of life. But as for the statement that they live “bereft of women,” the poet suggests nothing of the sort, and particularly in the country of the Thracians and of those of their number who are Getae. And see the statement of Menander about them, which, as one may reasonably suppose, was not invented by him but taken from history: “All the Thracians, and most of all we Getae (for I too boast that I am of this stock) are not very continent;”†and a little below he sets down the proofs of their incontinence in their relations with women: “For every man of us marries ten or eleven women, and some, twelve or more; but if anyone meets death before he has married more than four or five, he is lamented among the people there as a wretch without bride and nuptial song.”†Indeed, these facts are confirmed by the other writers as well. Further, it is not reasonable to suppose that the same people regard as wretched a life without many women, and yet at the same time regard as pious and just a life that is wholly bereft of women. And of course to regard as “both god-fearing and capnobatae” those who are without women is very much opposed to the common notions on that subject; for all agree in regarding the women as the chief founders of religion, and it is the women who provoke the men to the more attentive worship of the gods, to festivals, and to supplications, and it is a rare thing for a man who lives by himself to be found addicted to these things. See again what the same poet says when he introduces as speaker the man who is vexed by the money spent by the women in connection with the sacrifices: “The gods are the undoing of us, especially us married men, for we must always be celebrating some festival;”†and again when he introduces the Woman-hater, who complains about these very things: “we used to sacrifice five times a day, and seven female attendants would beat the cymbals all round us, while others would cry out to the gods.”†So, then, the interpretation that the wifeless men of the Getae are in a special way reverential towards the gods is clearly contrary to reason, whereas the interpretation that zeal for religion is strong in this tribe, and that because of their reverence for the gods the people abstain from eating any living thing, is one which, both from what Poseidonius and from what the histories in general tell us, should not be disbelieved.

5In fact, it is said that a certain man of the Getae, Zamolxis by name, had been a slave to Pythagoras, and had learned some things about the heavenly bodies from him,†as also certain other things from the Egyptians, for in his wanderings he had gone even as far as Egypt; and when he came on back to his home-land he was eagerly courted by the rulers and the people of the tribe, because he could make predictions from the celestial signs; and at last he persuaded the king to take him as a partner in the government, on the ground that he was competent to report the will of the gods; and although at the outset he was only made a priest of the god who was most honored in their country, yet afterwards he was even addressed as god, and having taken possession of a certain cavernous place that was inaccessible to anyone else he spent his life there, only rarely meeting with any people outside except the king and his own attendants; and the king cooperated with him, because he saw that the people paid much more attention to himself than before, in the belief that the decrees which he promulgated were in accordance with the counsel of the gods. This custom persisted even down to our own time, because some man of that character was always to be found, who, though in fact only a counsellor to the king, was called god among the Getae. And the people took up the notion that the mountain†was sacred and they so call it, but its name is Cogaeonum,†like that of the river which flows past it. So, too, at the time when Byrebistas,†against whom already the Deified Caesar had prepared to make an expedition, was reigning over the Getae, the office in question was held by Decaeneus, and somehow or other the Pythagorean doctrine of abstention from eating any living thing still survived as taught by Zamolxis.

6Now although such difficulties as these might fairly be raised concerning what is found in the text of Homer about the Mysians and the “proud Hippemolgi,” yet what Apollodorus states in the preface to the Second Book of his work On Ships†can by no means be asserted; for he approves the declaration of Eratosthenes, that although both Homer and the other early authors knew the Greek places, they were decidedly unacquainted with those that were far away, since they had no experience either in making long journeys by land or in making voyages by sea. And in support of this Apollodorus says that Homer calls Aulis “rocky” (and so it is), and Eteonus “place of many ridges,” and Thisbe “haunt of doves,” and Haliartus “grassy,” but, he says, neither Homer nor the others knew the places that were far away. At any rate, he says, although about forty rivers now into the Pontus, Homer mentions not a single one of those that are the most famous, as, for example, the Ister, the Tanaïs, the Borysthenes, the Hypanis, the Phasis, the Thermodon, the Halys;†and, besides, he does not mention the Scythians, but invents certain “proud Hippemolgi” and “Galactophagi” and “Abii”; and as for the Paphlagonians of the interior, he reports what he has learned from those who have approached the regions afoot, but he is ignorant of the seaboard, and naturally so, for at that time this sea was not navigable, and was called Axine†because of its wintry storms and the ferocity of the tribes that lived around it, and particularly the Scythians, in that they sacrificed strangers, ate their flesh, and used their skulls as drinking-cups; but later it was called “Euxine,”†when the Ionians founded cities on the seaboard. And, likewise, Homer is also ignorant of the facts about Egypt and Libya, as, for example, about the risings of the Nile and the silting up of the sea, things which he nowhere mentions; neither does he mention the isthmus between the Erythraean and the Egyptian Seas, nor the regions of Arabia and Ethiopia and the ocean, unless one should give heed to Zeno the philosopher when he writes, “And I came to the Ethiopians and Sidonians and Arabians.”†But this ignorance in Homer’s case is not amazing, for those who have lived later than he have been ignorant of many things and have invented marvellous tales: Hesiod, when he speaks of “men who are half-dog,” of “long-headed men,” and of “Pygmies”; and Alcman, when he speaks of “web footed men”; and Aeschylus, when he speaks of “dog-headed men,” of “men with eyes in their breasts”, and of “one-eyed men” (in his Prometheus it is said†); and a host of other tales. From these men he proceeds against the historians who speak of the “Rhipaean Mountains,” and of “Mt. Ogyium,”†and of the settlement of the Gorgons and Hesperides, and of the “Land of Meropis”†in Theopompus,†and the “City of Cimmeris” in Hecataeus,†and the “Land of Panchaea” in Euhemerus,†and in Aristotle “the river-stones, which are formed of sand but are melted by the rains.”†And in Libya, Apollodorus continues, there is a “City of Dionysus” which it is impossible for the same man ever to find twice. He censures also those who speak of the Homeric wanderings of Odysseus as having been in the neighborhood of Sicily; for in that case, says he, one should go on and say that, although the wanderings took place there, the poet, for the sake of mythology, placed them out in Oceanus.†And, he adds, the writers in general can be pardoned, but Callimachus†cannot be pardoned at all, because he makes a pretence of being a scholar; for he calls Gaudos†the “Isle of Calypso” and Corcyra “Scheria.” And others he charges with falsifying about “Gerena,”†and “Aeacesium,”†and “Demus”†in Ithaca, and about “Pelethronium”†in Pelion, and about Glaucopium†in Athens. To these criticisms Apollodorus adds some petty ones of like sort and then stops, but he borrowed most of them from Eratosthenes, and as I have remarked before they are wrong. For while one must concede to Eratosthenes and Apollodorus that the later writers have shown themselves better acquainted with such matters than the men of early times, yet to proceed beyond all moderation as they do, and particularly in the case of Homer, is a thing for which, as it seems to me, one might justly rebuke them and make the reverse statement: that where they are ignorant themselves, there they reproach the poet with ignorance. However, what remains to be said on this subject meets with appropriate mention in my detailed descriptions of the several countries,†as also in my general description.†

7Just now I was discussing the Thracians, and the “Mysians, hand-to-hand fighters, and the proud Hippemolgi, Galactophagi, and Abii, men most just,”†because I wished to make a comparison between the statements made by Poseidonius and myself and those made by the two men in question. Take first the fact that the argument which they have attempted is contrary to the proposition which they set out to prove; for although they set out to prove that the men of earlier times were more ignorant of regions remote from Greece than the men of more recent times, they showed the reverse, not only in regard to regions remote, but also in regard to places in Greece itself. However, as I was saying, let me put off everything else and look to what is now before me: they†say that the poet through ignorance fails to mention the Scythians, or their savage dealings with strangers, in that they sacrifice them, eat their flesh, and use their skulls as drinking-cups, although it was on account of the Scythians that the Puntus was called “Axine,” but that he invents certain “proud Hippemolgi, Galactophagi, and Abii, men most just”—people that exist nowhere on earth, How, then, could they call the sea “Axine” if they did not know about the ferocity or about the people who were most ferocious? And these, of course, are the Scythians. And were the people who lived beyond the Mysians and Thracians and Getae not also “Hippemolgi,” not also “Galactophagi” and “Abii”?†In fact, even now†there are Wagon-dwellers and Nomads, so called, who live off their herds, and on milk and cheese, and particularly on cheese made from mare’s milk, and know nothing about storing up food or about peddling merchandise either, except the exchange of wares for wares. How, then, could the poet be ignorant of the Scythians if he called certain people “Hippemolgi and Galactophagi”? For that the people of his time were wont to call the Scythians “Hippemolgi,” Hesiod, too, is witness in the words cited by Eratosthenes: The Ethiopians, the Ligurians, and also the Scythians, Hippemolgi.”†Now wherein is it to be wondered at that, because of the widespread injustice connected with contracts in our country, Homer called “most just” and “proud” those who by no means spend their lives on contracts and money-getting but actually possess all things in common except sword and drinking-cup, and above all things have their wives and their children in common, in the Platonic way?†Aeschylus, too, is clearly pleading the cause of the poet when he says about the Scythians: “But the Scythians, law-abiding, eaters of cheese made of mare’s milk.”†And this assumption even now still persists among the Greeks; for we regard the Scythians the most straightforward of men and the least prone to mischief, as also far more frugal and independent of others than we are. And yet our mode of life has spread its change for the worse to almost all peoples, introducing amongst them luxury and sensual pleasures and, to satisfy these vices, base artifices that lead to innumerable acts of greed. So then, much wickedness of this sort has fallen on the barbarian peoples also, on the Nomads as well as the rest; for as the result of taking up a seafaring life they not only have become morally worse, indulging in the practice of piracy and of slaying strangers, but also, because of their intercourse with many peoples, have partaken of the luxury and the peddling habits of those peoples. But though these things seem to conduce strongly to gentleness of manner, they corrupt morals and introduce cunning instead of the straightforwardness which I just now mentioned.

8Those, however, who lived before our times, and particularly those who lived near the time of Homer, were—and among the Greeks were assumed to be—some such people as Homer describes. And see what Herodotus says concerning that king of the Scythians against whom Dareius made his expedition, and the message which the king sent back to him.†See also what Chrysippus†says concerning the kings of the Bosporus, the house of Leuco.†And not only the Persian letters†are full of references to that straightforwardness of which I am speaking but also the memoirs written by the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Indians. And it was on this account that Anacharsis,†Abaris,†and other men of the sort were in fair repute among the Greeks, because they displayed a nature characterized by complacency, frugality, and justice. But why should I speak of the men of olden times? For when Alexander, the son of Philip, on his expedition against the Thracians beyond the Haemus,†invaded the country of the Triballians†and saw that it extended as far as the Ister and the island of Peuce†in the Ister, and that the parts on the far side were held by the Getae, he went as far as that,†it is said, but could not disembark upon the island because of scarcity of boats (for Syrmus, the king of the Triballi had taken refuge there and resisted his attempts); he did, however, cross over to the country of the Getae, took their city, and returned with all speed to his home-land, after receiving gifts from the tribes in question and from Syrmus. And Ptolemaeus,†the son of Lagus,†says that on this expedition the Celti who lived about the Adriatic joined Alexander for the sake of establishing friendship and hospitality, and that the king received them kindly and asked them when drinking what it was that they most feared, thinking they would say himself, but that they replied they feared no one, unless it were that Heaven might fall on them, although indeed they added that they put above everything else the friendship of such a man as he. And the following are signs of the straightforwardness of the barbarians: first, the fact that Syrmus refused to consent to the debarkation upon the island and yet sent gifts and made a compact of friendship; and, secondly, that the Celti said that they feared no one, and yet valued above everything else the friendship of great men. Again, Dromichaetes was king of the Getae in the time of the successors of Alexander. Now he, when he captured Lysimachus†alive, who had made an expedition against him, first pointed out the poverty both of himself and of his tribe and likewise their independence of others, and then bade him not to carry on war with people of that sort but rather to deal with them as friends; and after saying this he first entertained him as a guest, and made a compact of friendship, and then released him. Moreover, Plato in his Republic thinks that those who would have a well-governed city should flee as far as possible from the sea, as being a thing that teaches wickedness, and should not live near it.†

9Ephorus, in the fourth book of his history, the book entitled Europe (for he made the circuit†of Europe as far as the Scythians), says towards the end that the modes of life both of the Sauromatae and of the other Scythians are unlike, for, whereas some are so cruel that they even eat human beings, others abstain from eating any living creature whatever. Now the other writers, he says, tell only about their savagery, because they know that the terrible and the marvellous are startling, but one should tell the opposite facts too and make them patterns of conduct, and he himself, therefore, will tell only about those who follow “most just” habits, for there are some of the Scythian Nomads who feed only on mare’s milk,†and excel all men in justice; and they are mentioned by the poets: by Homer, when he says that Zeus espies the land “of the Galactophagi and Abii, men most just,” and by Hesiod, in what is called his Circuit of the Earth,†when he says that Phineus is carried by the Storm Winds “to the land of the Galactophagi, who have their dwellings in wagons.”†Then Ephorus reasons out the cause as follows: since they are frugal in their ways of living and not money-getters, they not only are orderly towards one another, because they have all things in common, their wives, children, the whole of their kin and everything, but also remain invincible and unconquered by outsiders, because they have nothing to be enslaved for. And he cites Choerilus†also, who, in his The Crossing of the Pontoon-Bridge which was constructed by Dareius,†says, “the sheep-tending Sacae, of Scythian stock; but they used to live in wheat-producing Asia; however, they were colonists from the Nomads, law-abiding people.” And when he calls Anacharsis “wise,” Ephorus says that he belongs to this race, and that he was considered also one of Seven Wise Men because of his perfect self-control and good sense. And he goes on to tell the inventions of Anacharsis—the bellows, the two-fluked anchor and the potter’s wheel. These things I tell knowing full well that Ephorus himself does not tell the whole truth about everything; and particularly in his account of Anacharsis (for how could the wheel be his invention, if Homer, who lived in earlier times, knew of it? “As when a potter his wheel that fits in his hands,” and so on); but as for those other things, I tell them because I wish to make my point clear that there actually was a common report, which was believed by the men of both early and of later times, that a part of the Nomads, I mean those who had settled the farthest away from the rest of mankind, were “galactophagi,” “abii,” and “most just,” and that they were not an invention of Homer.

10It is but fair, too, to ask Apollodorus to account for the Mysians that are mentioned in the verses of Homer, whether he thinks that these too are inventions (when the poet says, “and the Mysians, hand-to-hand fighters and the proud Hippenlolgi”), or takes the poet to mean the Mysians in Asia. Now if he takes the poet to mean those in Asia, he will misinterpret him, as I have said before, but if he calls them an invention, meaning that there were no Mysians in Thrace, he will contradict the facts; for at any rate, even in our own times, Aelius Catus†transplanted from the country on the far side of the Ister into Thrace fifty thousand persons from among the Getae, a tribe with the same tongue as the Thracians. And they live there in Thrace now and are called “Moesi”—whether it be that their people of earlier times were so called and that in Asia the name was changed to “Mysi,” or (what is more apposite to history and the declaration of the poet) that in earlier times their people in Thrace were called “Mysi.” Enough, however, on this subject. I shall now go back to the next topic in the general description.

11As for the Getae, then, their early history must be left untold, but that which pertains to our own times is about as follows: Boerebistas†a Getan, on setting himself in authority over the tribe, restored the people, who had been reduced to an evil plight by numerous wars, and raised them to such a height through training, sobriety, and obedience to his commands that within only a few years he had established a great empire and subordinated to the Getae most of the neighboring peoples. And he began to be formidable even to the Romans, because he would cross the Ister with impunity and plunder Thrace as far as Macedonia and the Illyrian country; and he not only laid waste the country of the Celti who were intermingled†with the Thracians and the Illyrians, but actually caused the complete disappearance of the Boii†who were under the rule of Critasirus, and also of the Taurisci.†To help him secure the complete obedience of his tribe he had as his coadjutor Decaeneus, a wizard, a man who not only had wandered through Egypt, but also had thoroughly learned certain prognostics through which he would pretend to tell the divine will; and within a short time he was set up as god (as I said when relating the story of Zamolxis). The following is an indication of their complete obedience: they were persuaded to cut down their vines and to live without wine. However, certain men rose up against Boerebistas and he was deposed before the Romans sent an expedition against him; and those who succeeded him divided the empire into several parts. In fact, only recently, when Augustus Caesar sent an expedition against them, the number of parts into which the empire had been divided was five, though at the time of the insurrection it had been four. Such divisions, to be sure, are only temporary and vary with the times.

12But there is also another division of the country which has endured from early times, for some of the people are called Daci, whereas others are called Getae—Getae, those who incline towards the Pontus and the east, and Daci, those who incline in the opposite direction towards Germany and the sources of the Ister. The Daci, I think, were called Daï in early times; whence the slave names “Geta” and “Daüs”†which prevailed among the Attic people; for this is more probable than that “Daüs” is from those Scythians who are called “Daae,”†for they live far away in the neighborhood of Hyrcania, and it is not reasonable to suppose that slaves were brought into Attica from there; for the Attic people were wont either to call their slaves by the same names as those of the nations from which they were brought (as “Lydus” or “Syrus”), or addressed them by names that were prevalent in their countries (as “Manes”or else “Midas” for the Phrygian, or “Tibius” for the Paphlagonian). But though the tribe was raised to such a height by Boerebistas, it has been completely humbled by its own seditions and by the Romans; nevertheless, they are capable, even today, of sending forth an army of forty thousand men.

13The Marisus River flows through their country into the Danuvius,†on which the Romans used to convey their equipment for war; the “Danuvius” I say, for so they used to call the upper part of the river from near its sources on to the cataracts, I mean the part which in the main flows through the country, of the Daci, although they give the name “Ister” to the lower part, from the cataracts on to the Pontus, the part which flows past the country of the Getae. The language of the Daci is the same as that of the Getae. Among the Greeks, however, the Getae are better known because the migrations they make to either side of the Ister are continuous, and because they are intermingled with the Thracians and Mysians. And also the tribe of the Triballi, likewise Thracian, has had this same experience, for it has admitted migrations into this country, because the neighboring peoples force them to emigrate into the country of those who are weaker; that is, the Scythians and Bastarnians and Sauromatians on the far side of the river often prevail to the extent that they actually cross over to attack those whom they have already driven out, and some of them remain there, either in the islands or in Thrace, whereas those on the other side are generally overpowered by the Illyrians. Be that as it may, although the Getae and Daci once attained to very great power, so that they actually could send forth an expedition of two hundred thousand men, they now find themselves reduced to as few as forty thousand, and they have come close to the point of yielding obedience to the Romans, though as yet they are not absolutely submissive, because of the hopes which they base on the Germans, who are enemies to the Romans.

14In the intervening space, facing that part of the Pontic Sea which extends from the Ister to the Tyras, lies the Desert of the Getae, wholly flat and waterless, in which Dareius the son of Hystaspis was caught†on the occasion when he crossed the Ister to attack the Scythians and ran the risk of perishing from thirst, army and all; however, he belatedly realized his error and turned back. And, later on, Lysimachus, in his expedition against the Getae and King Dromichaetes, not only ran the risk but actually was captured alive; but he again came off safely, because he found the barbarian kind-hearted, as I said before.

15Near the outlets of the Ister River is a great island called Peuce;†and when the Bastarnians took possession of it they received the appellation of Peucini. There are still other islands which are much smaller; some of these are farther inland than Peuce, while others are near the sea, for the river has seven mouths. The largest of these mouths is what is called the Sacred Mouth,†on which one can sail inland a hundred and twenty stadia to Peuce. It was at the lower part of Peuce that Dareius made his pontoon-bridge, although the bridge could have been constructed at the upper part also. The Sacred Mouth is the first mouth on the left as one sails†into the Pontus; the others come in order thereafter as one sails along the coast towards the Tyras; and the distance from it to the seventh mouth is about three hundred stadia. Accordingly, small islands are formed between the mouths. Now the three mouths that come next in order after the Sacred Mouth are small, but the remaining mouths are much smaller than it, but larger than any one of the three. According to Ephorus, however, the Ister has only five months. Thence to the Tyras, a navigable river, the distance is nine hundred stadia. And in the interval are two large lakes one of them opening into the sea, so that it can also be used as a harbor, but the other mouthless.

16At the mouth†of the Tyras is what is called the Tower of Neoptolemus,†and also what is called the village of Hermonax.†And on sailing inland one hundred and forty stadia one comes to two cities, one on each side, Niconia†on the right and Ophiussa†on the left. But the people who live near the river speak of a city one hundred and twenty stadia inland.†Again, at a distance of five hundred stadia from the mouth is the island called Leuce,†which lies in the high sea and is sacred to Achilles.

17Then comes the Borysthenes River, which is navigable for a distance of six hundred stadia; and, near it, another river, the Hypanis, and off the mouth of the Borysthenes, an island†with a harbor. On sailing up the Borysthenes two hundred stadia one comes to a city of the same name as the river, but the same city is also called Olbia;†it is a great trading center and was founded by Milesians. Now the whole country that lies above the said seaboard between the Borysthenes and the Ister consists, first, of the Desert of the Getae; then the country of the Tyregetans;†and after it the country of the Iazygian Sarmatians and that of the people called the Basileians†and that of the Urgi,†who in general are nomads, though a few are interested also in farming; these people, it is said, dwell also along the Ister, often on both sides. In the interior dwell, first, those Bastarnians whose country borders on that of the Tyregetans and Germans—they also being, one might say, of Germanic stock; and they are divided up into several tribes, for a part of them are called Atmoni and Sidoni, while those who took possession of Peuce, the island in the Ister, are called “Peucini,” whereas the “Roxolani” (the most northerly of them all) roam the plains between the Tanaïs and the Borysthenes. In fact, the whole country towards the north from Germany as far as the Caspian Sea is, so far as we know it, a plain, but whether any people dwell beyond the Roxolani we do not know. Now the Roxolani, under the leadership of Tasius, carried on war even with the generals of Mithridates Eupator;†they came for the purpose of assisting Palacus,†the son of Scilurus, as his allies, and they had the reputation of being warlike; yet all barbarian races and light-armed peoples are weak when matched against a well-ordered and well-armed phalanx. At any rate, those people, about fifty thousand strong, could not hold out against the six thousand men arrayed with Diophantus, the general of Mithridates, and most of them were destroyed. They use helmets and corselets made of raw ox-hides, carry wicker shields, and have for weapons spears, bow, and sword; and most of the other barbarians are armed in this way. As for the Nomads, their tents, made of felt, are fastened on the wagons in which they spend their lives; and round about the tents are the herds which afford the milk, cheese, and meat on which they live; and they follow the grazing herds, from time to time moving to other places that have grass, living only in the marsh-meadows about Lake Maeotis in winter, but also in the plains in summer.

18The whole of the country has severe winters as far as the regions by the sea that are between the Borysthenes and the mouth of Lake Maeotis; but of the regions themselves that are by the sea the most northerly are the mouth of the Maeotis and, still more northerly, the mouth of the Borysthenes, and the recess of the Gulf of Tamyraces,†or Carcinites, which is the isthmus of the Great Chersonesus.†The coldness of these regions, albeit the people live in plains, is evident, for they do not breed asses, an animal that is very sensitive to cold; and as for their cattle, some are born without horns, while the horns of others are filed off, for this part of the animal is sensitive to cold; and the horses are small, whereas the sheep are large; and bronze water-jars burst and their contents freeze solid. But the severity of the frosts is most clearly evidenced by what takes place in the region of the mouth of Lake Maeotis: the waterway from Panticapaeum across to Phanagoria†is traversed by wagons, so that it is both ice and roadway. And fish that become caught in the ice are obtained by digging†with an implement called the “gangame,”†and particularly the antacaei,†which are about the size of dolphins.†It is said of Neoptolemus, the general of Mithridates, that in the same strait he overcame the barbarians in a naval engagement in summer and in a cavalry engagement in winter. And it is further said that the vine in the Bosporus region is buried during the winter, the people heaping quantities of earth upon it. And it is said that the heat too becomes severe, perhaps because the bodies of the people are unaccustomed to it, or perhaps because no winds blow on the plains at that time, or else because the air, by reason of its density, becomes superheated (like the effect of the parhelia†in the clouds). It appears that Ateas,†who waged war with Philip†the son of Amyntas, ruled over most of the barbarians in this part of the world.

19After the island that lies off the Borysthenes, and next towards the rising sun, one sails to the cape†of the Race Course of Achilles, which, though a treeless place, is called Alsos†and is sacred to Achilles. Then comes the Race Course of Achilles, a peninsula†that lies flat on the sea; it is a ribbon-like stretch of land, as much as one thousand stadia in length, extending towards the east; its maximum breadth is only two stadia, and its minimum only four plethra,†and it is only sixty stadia distant from the mainland that lies on either side of the neck. It is sandy,†and water may be had by digging. The neck of the isthmus is near the center of the peninsula and is about forty stadia wide. It terminates in a cape called Tamyrace, which has a mooring-place that faces the mainland. And after this cape comes the Carcinites Gulf. It is a very large gulf, reaching up towards the north as far as one thousand stadia; some say, however, that the distance to its recess is three times as much. The people there are called Taphrians. The gulf is also called Tamyrace, the same name as that of the cape.

1Here is the isthmus†which separates what is called Lake Sapra†from the sea; it is forty stadia in width and forms what is called the Tauric, or Scythian, Chersonese. Some, however, say that the breadth of the isthmus is three hundred and sixty stadia. But though Lake Sapra is said to be as much as four thousand stadia,†it is only a part, the western part, of Lake Maeotis, for it is connected with the latter by a wide mouth. It is very marshy and is scarcely navigable for sewn boats, for the winds readily uncover the shallow places and then cover them with water again, and therefore the marshes are impassable for the larger boats. The gulf†contains three small islands, and also some shoals and a few reefs along the coast.

2As one sails out of the gulf, one comes, on the left, to a small city and another harbor†belonging to the Chersonesites. For next in order as one sails along the coast is a great cape which projects towards the south and is a part of the Chersonesus as a whole;†and on this cape is situated a city of the Heracleotae, a colony of the Heracleotae who live on the Pontus,†and this place itself†is called Chersonesus,†being distant as one sails along the coast†four thousand four hundred stadia from the Tyras. In this city is the temple of the Parthenos, a certain deity;†and the cape†which is in front of the city, at a distance of one hundred stadia, is also named after this deity, for it is called the Parthenium, and it has a shrine and xoanon†of her. Between the city and the cape are three harbors. Then comes the Old Chersonesus, which has been razed to the ground; and after it comes a narrow-mouthed harbor, where, generally speaking, the Tauri, a Scythian tribe, used to assemble their bands of pirates in order to attack all who fled thither for refuge. It is called Symbolon Limen.†This harbor forms with another harbor called Ctenus Limen†an isthmus forty stadia in width; and this is the isthmus that encloses the Little Chersonesus, which, as I was saying, is a part of the Great Chersonesus and has on it the city of Chersonesus, which bears the same name as the peninsula.

3This city†was at first self-governing, but when it was sacked by the barbarians it was forced to choose Mithridates Eupator as protector. He was then leading an army against the barbarians who lived beyond the isthmus†as far as the Borysthenes and the Adrias;†this, however, was prepratory to a campaign against the Romans. So, then, in accordance with these hopes of his he gladly sent an army to Chersonesus, and at the same time carried on war against the Scythians, not only against Scilurus, but also the sons of Scilurus—Palacus and the rest—who, according to Poseidonius were fifty in number, but according to Apollonides†were eighty. At the same time, also, he not only subdued all these by force, but also established himself as lord of the Bosporus,†receiving the country as a voluntary gift from Parisades†who held sway over it. So from that time on down to the present the city of the Chersonesites has been subject to the potentates of the Bosporus. Again, Ctenus Limen is equidistant from the city of the Chersonesites and Symbolon Limen. And after Symbolon Limen, as far as the city Theodosia,†lies the Tauric seaboard, which is about one thousand stadia in length. It is rugged and mountainous, and is subject to furious storms from the north. And in front of it lies a promontory which extends far out towards the high sea and the south in the direction of Paphlagonia and the city Amastris; it is called Criumetopon.†And opposite it lies that promontory of the Paphlagonians, Carambis,†which, by means of the strait, which is contracted on both sides, divides the Euxine Pontus into two seas.†Now the distance from Carambis to the city of the Chersonesites is two thousand five hundred stadia,†but the number to Criumetopon is much less; at any rate, many who have sailed across the strait say that they have seen both promontories, on either side, at the same time.†In the mountainous district of the Taurians is also the mountain Trapezus,†which has the same name as the city†in the neighborhood of Tibarania and Colchis. And near the same mountainous district is also another mountain, Cimmerius,†so called because the Cimmerians once held sway in the Bosporus; and it is because of this fact that the whole of the strait†which extends to the mouth of Lake Maeotis is called the Cimmerian Bosporus.

4After the aforesaid mountainous district is the city Theodosia. It is situated in a fertile plain and has a harbor that can accommodate as many as a hundred ships; this harbor in earlier times was a boundary between the countries of the Bosporians and the Taurians. And the country that comes next after that of Theodosia is also fertile, as far as Panticapaeum. Panticapaeum is the metropolis of the Bosporians and is situated at the mouth of Lake Maeotis. The distance between Theodosia and Panticapaeum is about five hundred and thirty stadia; the district is everywhere productive of grain, and it contains villages, as well as a city called Nymphaeum, which possesses a good harbor. Panticapaeum is a hill inhabited on all sides in a circuit of twenty stadia. To the east it has a harbor, and docks for about thirty ships; and it also has an acropolis. It is a colony of the Milesians. For a long time it was ruled as a monarchy by the dynasty of Leuco, Satyrus, and Parisades, as were also all the neighboring settlements near the south of Lake Maeotis on both sides, until Parisades gave over the sovereignty to Mithridates. They were called tyrants, although most of them, beginning with Parisades and Leuco, proved to be equitable rulers. And Parisades was actually held in honor as god. The last†of these monarchs also bore the name Parisades, but he was unable to hold out against the barbarians, who kept exacting greater tribute than before, and he therefore gave over the sovereignty to Mithridates Eupator. But since the time of Mithridates the kingdom has been subject to the Romans. The greater part of it is situated in Europe, although a part of it is situated in Asia.†

5The mouth of Lake Maeotis is called the Cimmerian Bosporus. It is rather wide at first—about seventy stadia—and it is here that people cross over from the regions of Panticapaeum to Phanagoria, the nearest city of Asia; but it ends in a much narrower channel. This strait separates Asia from Europe; and so does the Tanaïs River, which is directly opposite and flows from the north into the lake and then into the mouth of it. The river has two outlets into the lake which are about sixty stadia distant from one another. There is also a city†which has the same name as the river, and next to Panticapaeum is the greatest emporium of the barbarians. On the left, as one sails into the Cimmerian Bosporus, is a little city, Myrmecium,†at a distance of twenty stadia from Panticapaeum. And twice this distance from Myrmecium is the village of Parthenium;†here the strait is narrowest—about twenty stadia—and on the opposite side, in Asia, is situated a village called Achilleium. Thence, if one sails straight to the Tanaïs and the islands near its outlets, the distance is two thousand two hundred stadia, but if one sails along the coast of Asia, the distance slightly exceeds this; if, however, one sails on the left as far as the Tanaïs, following the coast where the isthmus is situated, the distance is more than three times as much. Now the whole of the seaboard along this coast, I mean on the European side, is desert, but the seaboard on the right is not desert; and, according to report, the total circuit of the lake is nine thousand stadia. The Great Chersonesus is similar to the Peloponnesus both in shape and in size. It is held by the potentates†of the Bosporus, though the whole of it has been devastated by continuous wars. But in earlier times only a small part of it—that which is close to the mouth of Lake Maeotis and to Panticapaeum and extends as far as Theodosia—was held by the tyrants of the Bosporians, whereas most of it, as far as the isthmus and the Gulf of Carcinites, was held by the Taurians, a Scythian tribe. And the whole of this country, together with about all the country outside the isthmus as far as the Borysthenes, was called Little Scythia. But on account of the large number of people who left Little Scythia and crossed both the Tyras and the Ister and took up their abode in the land beyond, no small portion of Thrace as well came to be called Little Scythia; the Thracians giving way to them partly as the result of force and partly because of the bad quality of the land, for the greater part of the country is marshy.

6But the Chersonesus, except for the mountainous district that extends along the sea as far as Theodosia, is everywhere level and fertile, and in the production of grain it is extremely fortunate. At any rate, it yields thirty-fold if furrowed by any sort of a digging-instrument.†Further, the people of this region, together with those of the Asiatic districts round about Sindice, used to pay as tribute to Mithridates one hundred and eighty thousand medimni†and also two hundred talents of silver.†And in still earlier times the Greeks imported their supplies of grain from here, just as they imported their supplies of salt-fish from the lake. Leuco, it is said, once sent from Theodosia to Athens two million one hundred thousand medimni.†These same people used to be called Georgi,†in the literal sense of the term, because of the fact that the people who were situated beyond them were Nomads and lived not only on meats in general but also on the meat of horses, as also on cheese made from mare’s milk, on mare’s fresh milk, and on mare’s sour milk, which last, when prepared in a particular way, is much relished by them. And this is why the poet calls all the people in that part of the world “Galactophagi.”†Now although the Nomads are warriors rather than brigands, yet they go to war only for the sake of the tributes due them; for they turn over their land to any people who wish to till it, and are satisfied if they receive in return for the land the tribute they have assessed, which is a moderate one, assessed with a view, not to an abundance, but only to the daily necessities of life; but if the tenants do not pay, the Nomads go to war with them. And so it is that the poet calls these same men at the same time both “just” and “resourceless”; for if the tributes were paid regularly, they would never resort to war. But men who are confident that they are powerful enough either to ward off attacks easily or to prevent any invasion do not pay regularly; such was the case with Asander,†who, according to Hypsicrates,†walled off the isthmus of the Chersonesus which is near Lake Maeotis and is three hundred and sixty stadia in width, and set up ten towers for every stadium. But though the Georgi of this region are considered to be at the same time both more gentle and civilized, still, since they are money-getters and have to do with the sea, they do not hold aloof from acts of piracy, nor yet from any other such acts of injustice and greed.

7In addition to the places in the Chersonesus which I have enumerated, there were also the three forts which were built by Scilurus and his sons—the forts which they used as bases of operations against the generals of Mithridates—I mean Palacium, Chabum, and Neapolis.†There was also a Fort Eupatorium,†founded by Diophantus when he was leading the army for Mithridates. There is a cape about fifteen stadia distant from the wall of the Chersonesites;†it forms a very large gulf which inclines towards the city. And above this gulf is situated a lagoon†which has salt-works. And here, too, was the Ctenus Harbor. Now it was in order that they might hold out that the besieged generals of the king fortified the place, established a garrison on the cape aforesaid, and filled up that part of the mouth of the gulf which extends as far as the city, so that there was now an easy journey on foot and, in a way, one city instead of two. Consequently, they could more easily beat off the Scythians. But when the Scythians made their attack, near Ctenus, on the fortified wall that extends across the isthmus, and daily filled up the trench with straw, the generals of the king set fire by night to the part thus bridged by day, and held out until they finally prevailed over them. And today everything is subject to whatever kings of the Bosporians the Romans choose to set up.

8It is a peculiarity of the whole Scythian and Sarmatian race that they castrate their horses to make them easy to manage; for although the horses are small, they are exceedingly quick and hard to manage. As for game, there are deer and wild boars in the marshes, and wild asses and roe deer in the plains. Another peculiar thing is the fact that the eagle is not found in these regions. And among the quadrupeds there is what is called the “colos”;†it is between the deer and ram in size, is white, is swifter than they, and drinks through its nostrils into its head, and then from this storage supplies itself for several days, so that it can easily live in the waterless country. Such, then, is the nature of the whole of the country which is outside the Ister between the Rhenus and the Tanaïs Rivers as far as the Pontic Sea and Lake Maeotis.

1The remainder of Europe consists of the country which is between the Ister and the encircling sea, beginning at the recess of the Adriatic and extending as far as the Sacred Mouth of the Ister. In this country are Greece and the tribes of the Macedonians and of the Epeirotes, and all those tribes above them whose countries reach to the Ister and to the seas on either side, both the Adriatic and the Pontic—to the Adriatic, the Illyrian tribes, and to the other sea as far as the Propontis and the Hellespont, the Thracian tribes and whatever Scythian or Celtic tribes are intermingled†with them. But I must make my beginning at the Ister, speaking of the parts that come next in order after the regions which I have already encompassed in my description. These are the parts that border on Italy, on the Alps, and on the counties of the Germans, Dacians, and Getans. This country also might be divided into two parts, for, in a way, the Illyrian, Paeonian, and Thracian mountains are parallel to the Ister, thus completing what is almost a straight line that reaches from the Adrias as far as the Pontus; and to the north of this line are the parts that are between the Ister and the mountains, whereas to the south are Greece and the barbarian country which borders thereon and extends as far as the mountainous country. Now the mountain called Haemus is near the Pontus; it is the largest and highest of all mountains in that part of the world, and cleaves Thrace almost in the center. Polybius says that both seas are visible from the mountain, but this is untrue, for the distance to the Adrias is great and the things that obscure the view are many. On the other hand, almost the whole of Ardia†is near the Adrias. But Paeonia is in the middle, and the whole of it too is high country. Paeonia is bounded on either side, first, towards the Thracian parts, by Rhodope,†a mountain next in height to the Haemus, and secondly, on the other side, towards the north, by the Illyrian parts, both the country of the Autariatae and that of the Dardanians. So then, let me speak first of the Illyrian parts, which join the Ister and that part of the Alps which lies between Italy and Germany and begins at the lake†which is near the country of the Vindelici, Rhaeti, and Toenii.†

2A part of this country was laid waste by the Dacians when they subdued the Boii and Taurisci, Celtic tribes under the rule of Critasirus. They alleged that the country was theirs, although it was separated from theirs by the River Parisus,†which flows from the mountains to the Ister near the country of the Scordisci who are called Galatae, for these too†lived intermingled with the Illyrian and the Thracian tribes. But though the Dacians destroyed the Boii and Taurisci, they often used the Scordisci as allies. The remainder of the country in question is held by the Pannonii as far as Segestica and the Ister, on the north and east, although their territory extends still farther in the other directions. The city Segestica, belonging to the Pannonians, is at the confluence of several rivers, all of them navigable, and is naturally fitted to be a base of operations for making war against the Dacians; for it lies beneath that part of the Alps which extends as far as the country of the Iapodes, a tribe which is at the same time both Celtic and Illyrian. And thence, too, flow rivers which bring down into Segestica much merchandise both from other countries and from Italy. For if one passes over Mount Ocra†from Aquileia to Nauportus,†a settlement of the Taurisci, whither the wagons are brought, the distance is three hundred and fifty stadia, though some say five hundred. Now the Ocra is the lowest part of that portion of the Alps which extends from the country of the Rhaeti to that of the Iapodes. Then the mountains rise again, in the country of the Iapodes, and are called “Albian.” In like manner, also, there is a pass which leads over Ocra from Tergeste, a Carnic village, to a marsh called Lugeum.†Near Nauportus there is a river, the Corcoras, which receives the cargoes. Now this river empties into the Saus, and the Saus into the Dravus, and the Dravus into the Noarus†near Segestica. Immediately below Nauportus the Noarus is further increased in volume by the Colapis, which flows from the Albian Mountain through the country of the Iapodes and meets the Danuvius near the country of the Scordisci. The voyage on these rivers is, for the most part, towards the north. The road from Tergeste to the Danuvius is about one thousand two hundred stadia. Near Segestica, and on the road to Italy, are situated both Siscia,†a fort, and Sirmium.

3The tribes of the Pannonii are: the Breuci, the Andisetii, the Ditiones, the Peirustae, the Mazaei, and the Daesitiatae, whose leader is†Bato,†and also other small tribes of less significance which extend as far as Dalmatia and, as one goes south, almost as far as the land of the Ardiaei. The whole of the mountainous country that stretches alongside Pannonia from the recess of the Adriatic as far as the Rhizonic Gulf†and the land of the Ardiaei is Illyrian, falling as it does between the sea and the Pannonian tribes. But this†is about where I should begin my continuous geographical circuit—though first I shall repeat a little of what I have said before.†I was saying in my geographical circuit of Italy that the Istrians were the first people on the Illyrian seaboard; their country being a continuation of Italy and the country of the Carni; and it is for this reason that the present Roman rulers have advanced the boundary of Italy as far as Pola, an Istrian city. Now this boundary is about eight hundred stadia from the recess, and the distance from the promontory†in front of Pola to Ancona, if one keeps the Henetic country on the right, is the same. And the entire distance along the coast of Istria is one thousand three hundred stadia.

4Next in order comes the voyage of one thousand stadia along the coast of the country of the Iapodes; for the Iapodes are situated on the Albian Mountain, which is the last mountain of the Alps, is very lofty, and reaches down to the country of the Pannonians on one side and to the Adrias on the other. They are indeed a war-mad people, but they have been utterly worn out by Augustus. Their cities are Metulum,†Arupini,†Monetium, and Vendo.†Their lands are poor, the people living for the most part on spelt and millet. Their armor is Celtic, and they are tattooed like the rest of the Illyrians and the Miracians. After the voyage along the coast of the country of the Iapodes comes that along the coast of the country of the Liburni, the latter being five hundred stadia longer than the former; on this voyage is a river,†which is navigable inland for merchant-vessels as far as the country of the Dalmatians, and also a Liburnian city, Scardo.

5There are islands along the whole of the aforesaid seaboard: first, the Apsyrtides,†where Medeia is said to have killed her brother Apsyrtus who was pursuing her; and then, opposite the country of the Iapodes, Cyrictica, then the Liburnides,†about forty in number; then other islands, of which the best known are Issa, Tragurium (founded by the people of Issa), and Pharos (formerly Paros, founded by the Parians†), the native land of Demetrius†the Pharian. Then comes the seaboard of the Dalmatians, and also their sea-port, Salo.†This tribe is one of those which carried on war against the Romans for a long time; it had as many as fifty noteworthy settlements; and some of these were cities—Salo, Priamo, Ninia, and Sinotium (both the Old and the New), all of which were set on fire by Augustus. And there is Andretium, a fortified place; and also Dalmium†(whence the name of the tribe), which was once a large city, but because of the greed of the people Nasica†reduced it to a small city and made the plain a mere sheep pasture. The Dalmatians have the peculiar custom of making a redistribution of land every seven years; and that they make no use of coined money is peculiar to them as compared with the other peoples in that part of the world, although as compared with many other barbarian peoples it is common. And there is Mount Adrium, which cuts the Dalmatian country through the middle into two parts, one facing the sea and the other in the opposite direction. Then come the River Naro and the people who live about it—the Daorisi, the Ardiaei, and the Pleraei. An island called the Black Corcyra and also a city†founded by the Cnidians are close to the Pleraei, while Pharos (formerly called Paros, for it was founded by Parians) is close to the Ardiaei.

6The Ardiaei were called by the men of later times “Vardiaei.” Because they pestered the sea through their piratical bands, the Romans pushed them back from it into the interior and forced them to till the soil. But the country is rough and poor and not suited to a farming population, and therefore the tribe has been utterly ruined and in fact has almost been obliterated. And this is what befell the rest of the peoples in that part of the world; for those who were most powerful in earlier times were utterly humbled or were obliterated, as, for example, among the Galatae the Boii and the Scordistae, and among the Illyrians the Autariatae, Ardiaei, and Dardanii, and among the Thracians the Triballi; that is, they were reduced in warfare by one another at first and then later by the Macedonians and the Romans.

7Be this as it may, after the seaboard of the Ardiaei and the Pleraei come the Rhisonic Gulf, and the city Rhizo, and other small towns and also the River Drilo, which is navigable inland towards the east as far as the Dardanian country. This country borders on the Macedonian and the Paeonian tribes on the south, as do also the Autariatae and the Dassaretii—different peoples on different sides being contiguous to one another and to the Autariatae.†To the Dardaniatae belong also the Galabrii,†among whom is an ancient city,†and the Thunatae, whose country joins that of the Medi,†a Thracian tribe on the east. The Dardanians are so utterly wild that they dig caves beneath their dung-hills and live there, but still they care for music, always making use of musical instruments, both flutes and stringed instruments. However, these people live in the interior, and I shall mention them again later.

8After the Rhizonic Gulf comes the city of Lissus, and Acrolissus,†and Epidamnus, founded by the Corcyraeans, which is now called Dyrrachium, like the peninsula on which it is situated. Then comes the Apsus River; and then the Aoüs, on which is situated Apollonia, an exceedingly well-governed city, founded by the Corinthians and the Corcyraeans, and ten stadia distant from the river and sixty from the sea. The Aoüs is called “Aeas “†by Hecataeus, who says that both the Inachus and the Aeas flow from the same place, the region of Lacmus,†or rather from the same subterranean recess, the former towards the south into Argos and the latter towards the west and towards the Adrias. In the country of the Apolloniates is a place called Nymphaeum; it is a rock that gives forth fire; and beneath it flow springs of warm water and asphalt—probably because the clods of asphalt in the earth are burned by the fire. And near by, on a hill, is a mine of asphalt; and the part that is trenched is filled up again in the course of time, since, as Poseidonius says, the earth that is poured into the trenches changes to asphalt. He also speaks of the asphaltic vine-earth which is mined at the Pierian Seleuceia†as a cure for the infested vine; for, he says, if it is smeared on together with olive oil, it kills the insects†before they can mount the sprouts of the roots;†and, he adds, earth of this sort was also discovered in Rhodes when he was in office there as Prytanis,†but it required more olive oil. After Apollonia comes Bylliaca,†and Oricum and its seaport Panormus, and the Ceraunian Mountains, where the mouth of the Ionian Gulf†and the Adrias begins.

9Now the mouth is common to both, but the Ionian is different in that it is the name of the first part of this sea, whereas Adrias is the name of the inside part of the sea as far as the recess; at the present time, however, Adrias is also the name of the sea as a whole. According to Theopompus, the first name came from a man,†a native of Issa,†who once ruled over the region, whereas the Adrias was named after a river.†The distance from the country of the Liburnians to the Ceraunian Mountains is slightly more than two thousand stadia Theopompus states that the whole voyage from the recess takes six days, and that on foot the length of the Illyrian country is as much as thirty days, though in my opinion he makes the distance too great.†And he also says other things that are incredible: first, that the seas†are connected by a subterranean passage, from the fact that both Chian and Thasian pottery are found in the Naro River; secondly, that both seas are visible from a certain mountain;†and thirdly, when he puts down a certain one of the Liburnides islands as large enough to have a circuit of five hundred stadia;†and fourthly, that the Ister empties by one of its mouths into the Adrias. In Eratosthenes, also, are some false hearsay statements of this kind—“popular notions,”†as Polybius calls them when speaking of him and the other historians.

10Now the whole Illyrian seaboard is exceedingly well supplied with harbors, not only on the continuous coast itself but also in the neighboring islands, although the reverse is the case with that part of the Italian seaboard which lies opposite, since it is harborless. But both seaboards in like manner are sunny and good for fruits, for the olive and the vine flourish there, except, perhaps, in places here or there that are utterly rugged. But although the Illyrian seaboard is such, people in earlier times made but small account of it—perhaps in part owing to their ignorance of its fertility, though mostly because of the wildness of the inhabitants and their piratical habits. But the whole of the country situated above this is mountainous, cold, and subject to snows, especially the northerly part, so that there is a scarcity of the vine, not only on the heights but also on the levels. These latter are the mountain-plains occupied by the Pannonians; on the south they extend as far as the country of the Dalmatians and the Ardiaei, on the north they end at the Ister, while on the east they border on the country of the Scordisci, that is, on the country that extends along the mountains of the Macedonians and the Thracians.

11Now the Autariatae were once the largest and best tribe of the Illyrians. In earlier times they were continually at war with the Ardiaei over the salt-works on the common frontiers. The salt was made to crystallize out of water which in the spring-time flowed at the foot of a certain mountain-glen, for if they drew off the water and stowed it away for five days the salt would become thoroughly crystallized. They would agree to use the salt-works alternately, but would break the agreements and go to war. At one time when the Autariatae had subdued the Triballi, whose territory extended from that of the Agrianes as far as the Ister, a journey of fifteen days, they held sway also over the rest of the Thracians and the Illyrians; but they were overpowered, at first by the Scordisci, and later on by the Romans, who also subdued the Scordisci themselves, after these had been in power for a long time.

12The Scordisci lived along the Ister and were divided into two tribes called the Great Scordisci and the Little Scordisci. The former lived between two rivers that empty into the Ister—the Noarus, which flows past Segestica, and the Margus (by some called the Bargus), whereas the Little Scordisci lived on the far side of this river,†and their territory bordered on that of the Triballi and the Mysi. The Scordisci also held some of the islands; and they increased to such an extent that they advanced as far as the Illyrian, Paeonian, and Thracian mountains; accordingly, they also took possession of most of the islands in the Ister. And they also had two cities—Heorta and Capedunum.†After the country of the Scordisci, along the Ister, comes that of the Triballi and the Mysi (whom I have mentioned before),†and also the marshes of that part of what is called Little Scythia which is this side the Ister (these too I have mentioned). These people, as also the Crobyzi and what are called the Troglodytae, live above†the region round about Callatis,†Tomis, and Ister. Then come the peoples who live in the neighborhood of the Haemus Mountain and those who live at its base and extend as far as the Pontus—I mean the Coralli, the Bessi, and some of the Medi†and Dantheletae. Now these tribes are very brigandish themselves, but the Bessi, who inhabit the greater part of the Haemus Mountain, are called brigands even by the brigands. The Bessi live in huts and lead a wretched life; and their country borders on Mount Rhodope, on the country of the Paeonians, and on that of two Illyrian peoples—the Autariatae, and the Dardanians. Between these†and the Ardiaei are the Dassaretii, the Hybrianes,†and other insignificant tribes, which the Scordisci kept on ravaging until they had depopulated the country and made it full of trackless forests for a distance of several days’ journey.

1The remainder of the country between the Ister and the mountains on either side of Paeonia consists of that part of the Pontic seaboard which extends from the Sacred Mouth of the Ister as far as the mountainous country in the neighborhood of the Haemus and as far as the mouth at Byzantium. And just as, in traversing the Illyrian seaboard, I proceeded as far as the Ceraunian Mountains, because, although they fall outside the mountainous country of Illyria, they afford an appropriate limit, and just as I determined the positions of the tribes of the interior by these mountains, because I thought that marks†of this kind would be more significant as regards both the description at hand and what was to follow, so also in this case the seaboard, even though it falls beyond the mountain-line, will nevertheless end at an appropriate limit—the mouth of the Pontus—as regards both the description at hand and that which comes next in order. So, then, if one begins at the Sacred Mouth of the Ister and keeps the continuous seaboard on the right, one comes, at a distance of five hundred stadia, to a small town, Ister, founded by the Milesians; then, at a distance of two hundred and fifty stadia, to a second small town, Tomis; then, at two hundred and eighty stadia, to a city Callatis,†a colony of the Heracleotae; then, at one thousand three hundred stadia, to Apollonia, a colony of the Milesians. The greater part of Apollonia was founded on a certain isle, where there is a temple of Apollo, from which Marcus Lucullus carried off the colossal statue of Apollo, a work of Calamis,†which he set up in the Capitolium. In the interval between Callatis and Apollonia come also Bizone, of which a considerable part was engulfed by earthquakes, Cruni, Odessus, a colony of the Milesians, and Naulochus,†a small town of the Mesembriani. Then comes the Haemus Mountain, which reaches the sea here;†then Mesembria, a colony of the Megarians, formerly called “Menebria” (that is, “city of Menas,” because the name of its founder was Menas, while “bria” is the word for “city” in the Thracian language. In this way, also, the city of Selys is called Selybria†and Aenus was once called Poltyobria†). Then come Anchiale, a small town belonging to the Apolloniatae, and Apollonia itself. On this coast-line is Cape Tirizis, a stronghold, which Lysimachus†once used as a treasury. Again, from Apollonia to the Cyaneae the distance is about one thousand five hundred stadia; and in the interval are Thynias,†a territory belonging to the Apolloniatae (Anchiale, which also belongs to the Apolloniatae†), and also Phinopolis and Andriaca,†which border on Salmydessus.†Salmydessus is a desert and stony beach, harborless and wide open to the north winds, and in length extends as far as the Cyaneae, a distance of about seven hundred stadia; and all who are cast ashore on this beach are plundered by the Astae, a Thracian tribe who are situated above it. The Cyaneae†are two islets near the mouth of the Pontus, one close to Europe and the other to Asia; they are separated by a channel of about twenty stadia and are twenty stadia distant both from the temple of the Byzantines and from the temple of the Chalcedonians.†And this is the narrowest part of the mouth of the Euxine, for when one proceeds only ten stadia farther one comes to a headland which makes the strait only five stadia†in width, and then the strait opens to a greater width and begins to form the Propontis.

2Now the distance from the headland that makes the strait only five stadia wide to the harbor which is called “Under the Fig-tree “ is thirty-five stadia; and thence to the Horn of the Byzantines,†five stadia. The Horn, which is close to the wall of the Byzantines, is a gulf that extends approximately towards the west for a distance of sixty stadia; it resembles a stag’s horn,†for it is split into numerous gulfs—branches, as it were. The pelamydes†rush into these gulfs and are easily caught—because of their numbers, the force of the current that drives them together, and the narrowness of the gulfs; in fact, because of the narrowness of the area, they are even caught by hand. Now these fish are hatched in the marshes of Lake Maeotis, and when they have gained a little strength they rush out through the mouth of the lake in schools and move along the Asian shore as far as Trapezus and Pharnacia. It is here†that the catching of the fish first takes place, though the catch is not considerable, for the fish have not yet grown to their normal size. But when they reach Sinope, they are mature enough for catching and salting. Yet when once they touch the Cyaneae and pass by these, the creatures take such fright at a certain white rock which projects from the Chalcedonian shore that they forthwith turn to the opposite shore. There they are caught by the current, and since at the same time the region is so formed by nature as to turn the current of the sea there to Byzantium and the Horn at Byzantium, they naturally are driven together thither and thus afford the Byzantines and the Roman people considerable revenue. But the Chalcedonians, though situated near by, on the opposite shore, have no share in this abundance, because the pelamydes do not approach their harbors; hence the saying that Apollo, when the men who founded Byzantium at a time subsequent to the founding of Chalcedon†by the Megarians consulted the oracle, ordered them to “make their settlement opposite the blind,” thus calling the Chalcedonians “blind”, because, although they sailed the regions in question at an earlier time, they failed to take possession of the country on the far side, with all its wealth, and chose the poorer country. I have now carried my description as far as Byzantium, because a famous city, lying as it does very near to the mouth, marked a better-known limit to the coasting-voyage from the Ister. And above Byzantium is situated the tribe of the Astae, in whose territory is a city Calybe,†where Philip the son of Amyntas settled the most villainous people of his kingdom.†

1These alone, then, of all the tribes that are marked off by the Ister and by the Illyrian and Thracian mountains, deserve to be mentioned, occupying as they do the whole of the Adriatic seaboard beginning at the recess, and also the sea-board that is called “the left parts of the Pontus,” and extends from the Ister River as far as Byzantium. But there remain to be described the southerly parts of the aforesaid mountainous country and next thereafter the districts that are situated below them, among which are both Greece and the adjacent barbarian country as far as the mountains. Now Hecataeus of Miletus says of the Peloponnesus that before the time of the Greeks it was inhabited by barbarians. Yet one might say that in the ancient times the whole of Greece was a settlement of barbarians, if one reasons from the traditions themselves: Pelops†brought over peoples†from Phrygia to the Peloponnesus that received its name from him; and Danaüs†from Egypt; whereas the Dryopes, the Caucones, the Pelasgi, the Leleges, and other such peoples, apportioned among themselves the parts that are inside the isthmus—and also the parts outside, for Attica was once held by the Thracians who came with Eumolpus,†Daulis in Phocis by Tereus, Cadmeia†by the Phoenicians who came with Cadmus, and Boeotia itself by the Aones and Temmices and Hyantes. According to Pindar, “there was a time when the Boeotian tribe was called “Syes.”††Moreover, the barbarian origin of some is indicated by their names—Cecrops, Godrus, Aïclus, Cothus, Drymas, and Crinacus. And even to the present day the Thracians, Illyrians, and Epeirotes live on the flanks of the Greeks (though this was still more the case formerly than now); indeed most of the country that at the present time is indisputably Greece is held by the barbarians—Macedonia and certain parts of Thessaly by the Thracians, and the parts above Acarnania and Aetolia by the Thesproti, the Cassopaei, the Amphilochi, the Molossi, and the Athamanes—Epeirotic tribes.

2As for the Pelasgi, I have already discussed them. As for the Leleges, some conjecture that they are the same as the Carians, and others that they were only fellow-inhabitants and fellow-soldiers of these; and this, they say, is why, in the territory of Miletus, certain settlements are called settlements of the Leleges, and why, in many places in Caria, tombs of the Leleges and deserted forts, known as “Lelegian forts,” are so called. However, the whole of what is now called Ionia used to be inhabited by Carians and Leleges; but the Ionians themselves expelled them and took possession of the country, although in still earlier times the captors of Troy had driven the Leleges from the region about Ida that is near Pedasus and the Satnioïs River. So then, the very fact that the Leleges made common cause with the Carians might be considered a sign that they were barbarians. And Aristotle, in his Polities,†also clearly indicates that they led a wandering life, not only with the Carians, but also apart from them, and from earliest times; for instance, in the Polity of the Acarnanians he says that the Curetes held a part of the country, whereas the Leleges, and then the Teleboae, held the westerly part; and in the Polity of the Aetolians (and likewise in that of the Opuntii and the Megarians) he calls the Locri of today Leleges and says that they took possession of Boeotia too; again, in the Polity of the Leucadians he names a certain indigenous Lelex, and also Teleboas, the son of a daughter of Lelex, and twenty-two sons of Teleboas, some of whom, he says, dwelt in Leucas.†But in particular one might believe Hesiod when he says concerning them: “For verily Locrus was chieftain of the peoples of the Leleges, whom once Zeus the son of Cronus, who knoweth devices imperishable, gave to Deucalion—peoples†picked out of earth”;†for by his etymology†he seems to me to hint that from earliest times they were a collection of mixed peoples and that this was why the tribe disappeared. And the same might be said of the Caucones, since now they are nowhere to be found, although in earlier times they were settled in several places.

3Now although in earlier times the tribes in question were small, numerous, and obscure, still, because of the density of their population and because they lived each under its own king, it was not at all difficult to determine their boundaries; but now that most of the country has become depopulated and the settlements, particularly the cities, have disappeared from sight, it would do no good, even if one could determine their boundaries with strict accuracy, to do so, because of their obscurity and their disappearance. This process of disappearing began a long time ago, and has not yet entirely ceased in many regions because the people keep revolting; indeed, the Romans, after being set up as masters by the inhabitants, encamp in their very houses.†Be this as it may, Polybius says that Paulus,†after his subjection of Perseus and the Macedonians, destroyed seventy cities of the Epeirotes (most of which, he adds, belonged to the Molossi), and reduced to slavery one hundred and fifty thousand people. Nevertheless, I shall attempt, in so far as it is appropriate to my description and as my knowledge reaches, to traverse the several different parts, beginning at the seaboard of the Ionian Gulf—that is, where the voyage out of the Adrias ends.

4Of this seaboard, then, the first parts are those about Epidamnus and Apollonia. From Apollonia to Macedonia one travels the Egnatian Road, towards the east; it has been measured by Roman miles and marked by pillars as far as Cypsela and the Hebrus†River—a distance of five hundred and thirty-five miles. Now if one reckons as most people do, eight stadia to the mile, there would be four thousand two hundred and eighty stadia, whereas if one reckons as Polybius does, who adds two plethra, which is a third of a stadium, to the eight stadia, one must add one hundred and seventy-eight stadia—the third of the number of miles. And it so happens that travellers setting out from Apollonia and Epidamnus meet at an equal distance from the two places on the same road.†Now although the road as a whole is called the Egnatian Road, the first part of it is called the Road to Candavia (an Illyrian mountain) and passes through Lychnidus, a city, and Pylon, a place on the road which marks the boundary between the Illyrian country and Macedonia. From Pylon the road runs to Barnus†through Heracleia†and the country of the Lyncestae and that of the Eordi into Edessa and Pella†and as far as Thessaloniceia;†and the length of this road in miles, according to Polybius, is two hundred and sixty-seven. So then, in travelling this road from the region of Epidamnus and Apollonia, one has on the right the Epeirotic tribes whose coasts are washed by the Sicilian Sea and extend as far as the Ambracian Gulf,†and, on the left, the mountains of Illyrla, which I have already described in detail, and those tribes which live along them and extend as far as Macedonia and the country of the Paeonians. Then, beginning at the Ambracian Gulf, all the districts which, one after another, incline towards the east and stretch parallel to the Peloponnesus belong to Greece; they then leave the whole of the Peloponnesus on the right and project into the Aegaean Sea. But the districts which extend from the beginning of the Macedonian and the Paeonian mountains as far as the Strymon River are inhabited by the Macedonians, the Paeonians, and by some of the Thracian mountaineers; whereas the districts beyond the Strymon, extending as far as the mouth of the Pontus and the Haemus, all belong to the Thracians, except the seaboard. This seaboard is inhabited by Greeks, some being situated on the Propontis,†others on the Hellespont and the Gulf of Melas,†and others on the Aegaean. The Aegaean Sea washes Greece on two sides: first, the side that faces towards the east and stretches from Sunium,†towards the north as far as the Thermaean Gulf†and Thessaloniceia, a Macedonian city, which at the present time is more populous than any of the rest; and secondly, the side that faces towards the south, I mean the Macedonian country, extending from Thessaloniceia as far as the Strymon. Some, however, also assign to Macedonia the country that extends from the Strymon as far as the Nestus River, since Philip was so specially interested in these districts that he appropriated them to himself, and since he organized very large revenues from the mines and the other natural resources of the country. But from Sunium to the Peloponnesus lie the Myrtoan, the Cretan, and the Libyan Seas, together with their gulfs, as far as the Sicilian Sea; and this last fills out the Ambracian, the Corinthian, and the Crisaean†Gulfs.

5Now as for the Epeirotes, there are fourteen tribes of them, according to Theopompus, but of these the Chaones and the Molossi are the most famous, because of the fact that they once ruled over the whole of the Epeirote country—the Chaones earlier and later the Molossi; and the Molossi grew to still greater power, partly because of the kinship of their kings, who belonged to the family of the Aeacidae,†and partly because of the fact that the oracle at Dodona†was in their country, an oracle both ancient and renowned. Now the Chaones and the Thesproti and, next in order after these, the Cassopaei (these, too, are Thesproti) inhabit the seaboard which extends from the Ceraunian Mountains as far as the Ambracian Gulf, and they have a fertile country. The voyage, if one begins at the country of the Chaones and sails towards the rising sun and towards the Ambracian and Corinthian Gulfs, keeping the Ausonian Sea†on the right and Epeirus on the left, is one thousand three hundred stadia, that is, from the Ceraunian Mountains to the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. In this interval is Panormus, a large harbor at the center of the Ceraunian Mountains, and after these mountains one comes to Onchesmus,†another harbor, opposite which lie the western extremities of Corcyraea,†and then still another harbor, Cassiope,†from which the distance to Brentesium is one thousand seven hundred stadia. And the distance to Taras from another cape, which is farther south than Cassiope and is called Phalacrum,†is the same. After Onchesmus comes Poseidium,†and also Buthrotum (which is at the mouth of what is called Pelodes Harbor, is situated on a place that forms a peninsula, and has alien settlers consisting of Romans), and the Sybota.†The Sybota are small islands situated only a short distance from the mainland and opposite Leucimma, the eastern headland of Corcyraea. And there are still other small islands as one sails along this coast, but they are not worth mentioning. Then comes Gape Cheimerium, and also Glycys Limen,†into which the River Acheron†empties. The Acheron flows from the Acherusian Lake†and receives several rivers as tributaries, so that it sweetens the waters of the gulf. And also the Thyamis†flows near by. Cichyrus,†the Ephyra of former times, a city of the Thesprotians, lies above this gulf, whereas Phoenice lies above that gulf which is at Buthrotum. Near Cichyrus is Buchetium, a small town of the Cassopaeans, which is only a short distance above the sea; also Elatria, Pandosia, and Batiae, which are in the interior, though their territory reaches down as far as the gulf. Next in order after Glycys Limen come two other harbors—Comarus, the nearer and smaller of the two, which forms an isthmus of sixty stadia with the Ambracian Gulf, and Nicopolis, a city founded by Augustus Caesar, and the other, the more distant and larger and better of the two, which is near the mouth of the gulf and is about twelve stadia distant from Nicopolis.†

6Next comes the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. Although the mouth of this gulf is but slightly more than four stadia wide, the circumference is as much as three hundred stadia; and it has good harbors everywhere. That part of the country which is on the right as one sails in is inhabited by the Greek Acarnanians. Here too, near the mouth, is the sacred precinct of the Actian Apollo—a hill on which the temple stands; and at the foot of the hill is a plain which contains a sacred grove and a naval station, the naval station where Caesar dedicated as first fruits of his victory†the squadron of ten ships—from vessel with single bank of oars to vessel with ten; however, not only the boats, it is said, but also the boat-houses have been wiped out by fire. On the left of the mouth are Nicopolis and the country of the Epeirote Cassopaeans, which extends as far as the recess of the gulf near Ambracia. Ambracia lies only a short distance above the recess; it was founded by Gorgus, the son of Cypselus. The River Aratthus†flows past Ambracia; it is navigable inland for only a few stadia, from the sea to Ambracia, although it rises in Mount Tymphe and the Paroraea. Now this city enjoyed an exceptional prosperity in earlier times (at any rate the gulf was named after it), and it was adorned most of all by Pyrrhus, who made the place his royal residence. In later times, however, the Macedonians and the Romans, by their continuous wars, so completely reduced both this and the other Epeirote cities because of their disobedience that finally Augustus, seeing that the cities had utterly failed, settled what inhabitants were left in one city together the city on this gulf which was called by him Nicopolis; and he so named it after the victory which he won in the naval battle before the mouth of the gulf over Antonius and Cleopatra the queen of the Egyptians, who was also present at the fight. Nicopolis is populous, and its numbers are increasing daily, since it has not only a considerable territory and the adornment taken from the spoils of the battle, but also, in its suburbs, the thoroughly equipped sacred precinct—one part of it being in a sacred grove that contains a gymnasium and a stadium for the celebration of the quinquennial games,†the other part being on the hill that is sacred to Apollo and lies above the grove. These games—the Actia, sacred to Actian Apollo—have been designated as Olympian,†and they are superintended by the Lacedaemonians. The other settlements are dependencies of Nicopolis. In earlier times also the Actian Games were wont to be celebrated in honor of the god by the inhabitants of the surrounding country—games in which the prize was a wreath—but at the present time they have been set in greater honor by Caesar.

7After Ambracia comes Argos Amphilochicum, founded by Alcmaeon and his children. According to Ephorus, at any rate, Alcmaeon, after the expedition of the Epigoni against Thebes, on being invited by Diomedes, went with him into Aetolia and helped him acquire both this country and Acarnania; and when Agamemnon summoned them to the Trojan war, Diomedes went, but Alcmaeon stayed in Acarnania, founded Argos, and named it Amphilochicum after his brother; and he named the river which flows through the country into the Ambracian Gulf “Inachus,” after the river in the Argeian country. But according to Thucydides, Amphilochus himself, after his return from Troy, being displeased with the state of affairs at Argos, passed on into Acarnania, and on succeeding to his brother’s dominion founded the city that is named after him.

8The Amphilochians are Epeirotes; and so are the peoples who are situated above them and border on the Illyrian mountains, inhabiting a rugged country—I mean the Molossi, the Athamanes, the Aethices, the Tymphaei, the Orestae, and also the Paroraei and the Atintanes, some of them being nearer to the Macedonians and others to the Ionian Gulf. It is said that Orestes once took possession of Orestias—when is, exile on account of the murder of his mother—and left the country bearing his name; and that he also founded a city and called it Argos Oresticum. But the Illyrian tribes which are near the southern part of the mountainous country and those which are above the Ionian Gulf are intermingled with these peoples; for above Epidamnus and Apollonia as far as the Ceraunian Mountains dwell the Bylliones, the Taulantii, the Parthini, and the Brygi. Somewhere near by are also the silver mines of Damastium,†around which the Dyestae and the Encheleii (also called Sesarethii) together established their dominion; and near these people are also the Lyncestae, the territory Deuriopus, Pelagonian Tripolitis, the Eordi, Elimeia, and Eratyra. In earlier times these peoples were ruled separately, each by its own dynasty. For instance, it was the descendants of Cadmus and Harmonia who ruled over the Encheleii; and the scenes of the stories told about them are still pointed out there. These people, I say, were not ruled by men of native stock; and the Lyncestae became subject to Arrabaeus, who was of the stock of the Bacchiads (Eurydice, the mother of Philip, Amyntas’ son, was Arrabaeus’ daughter’s daughter and Sirra was his daughter); and again, of the Epeirotes, the Molossi became subject to Pyrrhus, the son of Neoptolemus the son of Achilles, and to his descendants, who were Thessalians. But the rest were ruled by men of native stock. Then, because one tribe or another was always getting the mastery over others, they all ended in the Macedonian empire, except a few who dwelt above the Ionian Gulf. And in fact the regions about Lyncus, Pelagonia, Orestias, and Elimeia, used to be called Upper Macedonia, though later on they were by some also called Free Macedonia. But some go so far as to call the whole of the country Macedonia, as far as Corcyra, at the same time stating as their reason that in tonsure, language, short cloak, and other things of the kind, the usages of the inhabitants are similar,†although, they add, some speak both languages. But when the empire of the Macedonians was broken up, they fell under the power of the Romans. And it is through the country of these tribes that the Egnatian Road runs, which begins at Epidamnus and Apollonia. Near the Road to Candavia are not only the lakes which are in the neighborhood of Lychnidus, on the shores of which are salt-fish establishments that are independent of other waters, but also a number of rivers, some emptying into the Ionian Gulf and others flowing in a southerly direction—I mean the Inachus, the Aratthus, the Acheloüs and the Evenus (formerly called the Lycormas); the Aratthus emptying into the Ambracian Gulf, the Inachus into the Acheloüs, the Acheloüs itself and the Evenus into the sea—the Acheloüs after traversing Acarnania and the Evenus after traversing Aetolia. But the Erigon, after receiving many streams from the Illyrian mountains and from the countries of the Lyncestae, Brygi, Deuriopes, and Pelagonians, empties into the Axius.

9In earlier times there were also cities among these tribes; at any rate, Pelagonia used to be called Tripolitis,†one of which was Azorus; and all the cities of the Deuriopes on the Erigon River were populous, among which were Bryanium, Alalcomenae, and Stubara. And Cydrae belonged to the Brygi, while Aeginium, on the border of Aethicia and Tricca, belonged to the Tymphaei. When one is already near to Macedonia and to Thessaly, and in the neighborhood of the Poeus and the Pindus Mountains, one comes to the country of the Aethices and to the sources of the Peneius River, the possession of which is disputed by the Tymphaei and those Thessalians who live at the foot of the Pindus, and to the city Oxineia, situated on the Ion River one hundred and twenty stadia from Azorus in Tripolitis. Near by are Alalcomenae, Aeginium, Europus, and the confluence of the Ion River with the Peneius. Now although in those earlier times, as I have said, all Epeirus and the Illyrian country were rugged and full of mountains, such as Tomarus and Polyanus and several others, still they were populous; but at the present time desolation prevails in most parts, while the parts that are still inhabited survive only in villages and in ruins. And even the oracle at Dodona,†like the rest, is virtually extinct.

10This oracle, according to Ephorus, was founded by the Pelasgi. And the Pelasgi are called the earliest of all peoples who have held dominion in Greece. And the poet speaks in this way: “O Lord Zeus, Dodonaean, Pelasgian”; and Hesiod: “He came to Dodona and the oak-tree, seat of the Pelasgi.”†The Pelasgi I have already discussed in my description of Tyrrhenia; and as for the people who lived in the neighborhood of the temple of Dodona, Homer too makes it perfectly clear from their mode of life, when he calls them “men with feet unwashen, men who sleep upon the ground,”†that they were barbarians; but whether one should call them “Helli,” as Pindar does, or “Selli,” as is conjectured to be the true reading in Homer, is a question to which the text, since it is doubtful, does not permit a positive answer. Philochorus says that the region round about Dodona, like Euboea, was called Hellopia, and that in fact Hesiod speaks of it in this way: “There is a land called Hellopia, with many a corn-field and with goodly meadows; on the edge of this land a city called Dodona hath been built.”†It is thought, Apollodorus says, that the land was so called from the marshes†around the temple; as for the poet, however, Apollodorus takes it for granted that he did not call the people who lived about the temple “Helli,” but “Selli,” since (Apollodorus adds) the poet also named a certain river Selleeïs. He names it, indeed, when he says, “From afar, out of Ephyra, from the River Selleeïs”†; however, as Demetrius of Scepsis says, the poet is not referring to the Ephyra among the Thesprotians, but to that among the Eleians, for the Selleeïs is among the Eleians, he adds, and there is no Selleeïs among the Thesprotians, nor yet among the Molossi. And as for the myths that are told about the oak-tree and the doves, and any other myths of the kind, although they, like those told about Delphi, are in part more appropriate to poetry, yet they also in part properly belong to the present geographical description.

11In ancient times, then, Dodona was under the rule of the Thesprotians; and so was Mount Tomarus,†or Tmarus (for it is called both ways), at the base of which the temple is situated. And both the tragic poets and Pindar have called Dodona “Thesprotian Dodona.” But later on it came under the rule of the Molossi. And it is after the Tomarus, people say, that those whom the poet calls interpreters of Zeus—whom he also calls “men with feet unwashen, men who sleep upon the ground”†—were called “tomouroi”; and in the Odyssey some so write the words of Amphinomus, when he counsels the wooers not to attack Telemachus until they inquire of Zeus: “If the tomouroi of great Zeus approve, I myself shall slay, and I shall bid all the rest to aid, whereas if god averts it, I bid you stop.” For it is better, they argue, to write “tomouroi” than “themistes”; at any rate, nowhere in the poet are the oracles called “themistes,” but it is the decrees, statutes, and laws that are so called; and the people have been called “tomouroi” because “tomouroi” is a contraction of “tomarouroi,” the equivalent of “tomarophylakes.”†Now although the more recent critics say “tomouroi,” yet in Homer one should interpret “themistes” (and also “boulai”) in a simpler way, though in a way that is a misuse of the term, as meaning those orders and decrees that are oracular, just as one also interprets “themistes” as meaning those that are made by law. For example, such is the case in the following: “to give ear to the decree of Zeus from the oak-tree of lofty foliage.

12At the outset, it is true, those who uttered the prophecies were men (this too perhaps the poet indicates, for he calls them “hypophetae,” and the prophets might be ranked among these), but later on three old women were designated as prophets, after Dione also had been designated as temple-associate of Zeus. Suidas,†however, in his desire to gratify the Thessalians with mythical stories, says that the temple was transferred from Thessaly, from the part of Pelasgia which is about Scotussa (and Scotussa does belong to the territory called Thessalia Pelasgiotis), and also that most of the women whose descendants are the prophetesses of today went along at the same time; and it is from this fact that Zeus was also called “Pelasgian.” But Cineas tells a story that is still more mythical...

1Cineas†says that there was a city in Thessaly,†and that an oak-tree and the oracle of Zeus were transferred from there to Epeirus.

1aIn earlier times the oracle was in the neighborhood of Scotussa, a city of Pelasgiotis; but when the tree was set on fire by certain people the oracle was transferred in accordance with an oracle which Apollo gave out at Dodona. However, he gave out the oracle, not through words, but through certain symbols, as was the case at the oracle of Zeus Ammon in Libya. Perhaps there was something exceptional about the flight of the three pigeons from which the priestesses were wont to make observations and to prophesy. It is further said that in the language of the Molossians and the Thesprotians old women are called “peliai” and old men “pelioi.” And perhaps the much talked of Peleiades were not birds, but three old women who busied themselves about the temple.

1bI mentioned Scotussa also in my discussion of Dodona and of the oracle in Thessaly, because the oracle was originally in the latter region.

1cAccording to the Geographer, a sacred oak tree is revered in Dodona, because it was thought to be the earliest plant created and the first to supply men with food. And the same writer also says in reference to the oracular doves there, as they are called, that the doves are observed for the purposes of augury, just as there were some seers who divined from ravens.

2Among the Thesprotians and the Molossians old women are called “peliai” and old men “pelioi,” as is also the case among the Macedonians; at any rate, those people call their dignitaries “peligones” (compare the “gerontes”†among the Laconians and the Massaliotes). And this, it is said, is the origin of the myth about the pigeons in the Dodonaean oak-tree.

3The proverbial phrase, “the copper vessel in Dodona,”†originated thus: In the temple was a copper vessel with a statue of a man situated above it and holding a copper scourge, dedicated by the Corcyraeans; the scourge was three-fold and wrought in chain fashion, with bones strung from it; and these bones, striking the copper vessel continuously when they were swung by the winds, would produce tones so long that anyone who measured the time from the beginning of the tone to the end could count to four hundred. Whence, also, the origin of the proverbial term, “the scourge of the Corcyraeans.”

4Paeonia is on the east of these tribes and on the west of the Thracian mountains, but it is situated on the north of the Macedonians; and, by the road that runs through the city Gortynium†and Stobi,†it affords a passage to...†(through which the Axius flows, and thus makes difficult the passage from Paeonia to Macedonia—just as the Peneius flows through Tempe and thus fortifies Macedonia on the side of Greece). And on the south Paeonia borders on the countries of the Autariatae, the Dardanii, and the Ardiaei; and it extends as far as the Strymon.

5The Haliacmon flows into the Thermaean Gulf.

6Orestis is of considerable extent, and has a large mountain which reaches as far as Mount Corax in Aetolia and Mount Parnassus, About this mountain dwell the Orestae themselves, the Tymphaei, and the Greeks outside the isthmus that are in the neighborhood of Parnassus, Oeta, and Pindus. As a whole the mountain is called by a general name, Boëum, but taken part by part it has many names. People say that from the highest peaks one can see both the Aegaean Sea and the Ambracian and Ionian Gulfs, but they exaggerate, I think. Mount Pteleum, also, is fairly high; it is situated around the Ambracian Gulf, extending on one side as far as the Corcyraean country and on the other to the sea at Leucas.

7Corcyra is proverbially derided as a joke because it was humbled by its many wars.

8Corcyra in early times enjoyed a happy lot and had a very large naval force, but was ruined by certain wars and tyrants. And later on, although it was set free by the Romans, it got no commendation, but instead, as an object of reproach, got a proverb: “Corcyra is free, dung where thou wilt.”

9There remain of Europe, first, Macedonia and the parts of Thrace that are contiguous to it and extend as far as Byzantium; secondly, Greece; and thirdly, the islands that are close by. Macedonia, of course, is a part of Greece, yet now, since I am following the nature and shape of the places geographically, I have decided to classify it apart from the rest of Greece and to join it with that part of Thrace which borders on it and extends as far as the mouth of the Euxine and the Propontis. Then, a little further on, Strabo mentions Cypsela and the Nebrus River, and also describes a sort of parallelogram in which the whole of Macedonia lies.

10Macedonia is bounded, first, on the west, by the coastline of the Adrias; secondly, on the east, by the meridian line which is parallel to this coastline and runs through the outlets of the Nebrus River and through the city Cypsela; thirdly, on the north, by the imaginary straight line which runs through the Bertiscus Mountain,†the Scardus,†the Orbelus,†the Rhodope,†and the Haemus;†for these mountains, beginning at the Adrias, extend on a straight line as far as the Euxine, thus forming towards the south a great peninsula which comprises Thrace together with Macedonia, Epeirus, and Achaea; and fourthly, on the south, by the Egnatian Road, which runs from the city Dyrrhachium towards the east as far as Thessaloniceia. And thus the shape of Macedonia is very nearly that of a parallelogram.

11What is now called Macedonia was in earlier times called Emathia. And it took its present name from Macedon, one of its early chieftains. And there was also a city Emathia close to the sea. Now a part of this country was taken and held by certain of the Epeirotes and the Illyrians, but most of it by the Bottiaei and the Thracians. The Bottiaei came from Brete originally, so it is said, along with Botton as chieftain. As for the Thracians, the Pieres inhabited Pieria and the region about Olympus; the Paeones, the region on both sides of the Axius River, which on that account is called Amphaxitis; the Edoni and Bisaltae, the rest of the country as far as the Strymon. Of these two peoples the latter are called Bisaltae alone, whereas a part of the Edoni are called Mygdones, a part Edones, and a part Sithones. But of all these tribes the Argeadae,†as they are called, established themselves as masters, and also the Chalcidians of Euboea; for the Chalcidians of Euboea also came over to the country of the Sithones and jointly peopled about thirty cities in it, although later on the majority of them were ejected and came together into one city, Olynthus; and they were named the Thracian Chalcidians.

11aThe ethnic†of Botteia†is spelled with the “i”,†according to Strabo in his Seventh Book. And the city is called after Botton the Cretan.†

11bAmphaxion. Two parts of speech.†A city. The ethnic of Amphaxion is Amphaxites.

12The Peneius forms the boundary between Lower Macedonia, or that part of Macedonia which is close to the sea, and Thessaly and Magnesia; the Haliacmon forms the boundary of Upper Macedonia; and the Haliacmon also, together with the Erigon and the Axius and another set of rivers, form the boundary of the Epeirotes and the Paeonians.

12aFor if, according to the Geographer, Macedonia stretches from the Thessalian Pelion and Peneius towards the interior as far as Paeonia and the Epeirote tribes, and if the Greeks had at Troy an allied force from Paeonia, it is difficult to conceive that an allied force came to the Trojans from the aforesaid more distant part of Paeonia.

13Of the Macedonian coastline, beginning at the recess of the Thermaean Gulf and at Thessaloniceia, there are two parts—one extending towards the south as far as Sunium and the other towards the east as far as the Thracian Chersonese, thus forming at the recess a sort of angle. Since Macedonia extends in both directions, I must begin with the part first mentioned. The first portion, then, of this part—I mean the region of Sunium—has above it Attica together with the Megarian country as far as the Crisaean Gulf; after this is that Boeotian coastline which faces Euboea, and above this coast-line lies the rest of Boeotia, extending in the direction of the west, parallel to Attica. And he says that the Egnatian Road, also, beginning at the Ionian Gulf, ends at Thessaloniceia.

14As for the ribbon-like stretches of land, he says, I shall first mark off the boundary of the peoples who live in the one which is beside the sea near the Peneius and the Haliacmon. Now the Peneius flows from the Pindus Mountain through the middle of Thessaly towards the east; and after it passes through the cities of the Lapithae and some cities of the Perrhaebians, it reaches Tempe, after having received the waters of several rivers, among which is the Europus, which the poet called Titaresius, since it has its sources in the Titarius Mountain; the Titarius Mountain joins Olympus, and thence Olympus begins to mark the boundary between Macedonia and Thessaly; for Tempo is a narrow glen between Olympus and Ossa, and from these narrows the Peneius flows for a distance of forty stadia with Olympus, the loftiest mountain in Macedonia, on the left, and with Ossa, near the outlets of the river, on the right. So then, Gyrton, the Perrhaebian and Magnetan city in which Peirithoüs and Ixion reigned, is situated near the outlets of the Peneius on the right; and the city of Crannon lies at a distance of as much as one hundred stadia from Gyrton; and writers say that when the poet says, “Verily these twain from Thrace” and what follows, he means by “Ephyri” the Crannonians and by “Phlegyae” the Gyrtonians. But Pieria is on the other side of the Peneius.

15The Peneius River rises in the Pindus Mountain and flows through Tempo and through the middle of Thessaly and of the countries of the Lapithae and the Perrhaebians, and also receives the waters of the Europus River, which Homer called Titaresius; it marks the boundary between Macedonia†on the north and Thessaly on the south. But the source-waters of the Europus rise in the Titarius Mountain, which is continuous with Olympus. And Olyunpus belongs to Macedonia, whereas Ossa and Pelion belong to Thessaly.

15aThe Peneius rises, according to the Geographer, in that part of the Pindus Mountain about which the Perrhaebians live.... And Strabo also makes the following statements concerning the Peneius: The Peneius rises in the Pindus; and leaving Tricca on the left it flows around Atrax and Larissa, and after receiving the rivers in Thessaly passes on through Tempe. And he says that the Peneius flows through the center of Thessaly, receiving many rivers, and that in its course it keeps Olympus on the left and Ossa on the right. And at its outlets, on the right, is a Magnetan city, Gyrton, in which Peirithoüs and Ixion reigned; and not far from Gyrton is a city Crannon, whose citizens were called by a different name, “Ephyri,” just’ as the citizens of Gyrton were called “Phlegyae.”

16Below the foot-hills of Olympus, along the Peneius River, lies Gyrton, the Perrhaebian and Magnetan city, in which Peirithoüs and Ixion ruled; and Crannon is at a distance of one hundred stadia from Gyrton, and writers say that when the poet says, “Verily these twain from Thrace,” he means by “Ephyri” the Crannonians and by “Phlegyae” the Gyrtonians.

16aThe city of Crannon is at a distance of one hundred stadia from Gyrton, according to Strabo.

16bHomolium, a city of Macedonia and Magnesia. Strabo in his Seventh Book.

16cI have said in my description of Macedonia that Homolium is close to Ossa and is where the Peneius, flowing through Tempe, begins to discharge its waters.†

16dThere were several different Ephyras, if indeed the Geographer counts as many as nine.†

16eHe (the Geographer) speaks of a city Gyrton, a Magnetan city near the outlets of the Peneius.

17The city Dium, in the foot-hills of Olympus, is not on the shore of the Thermaean Gulf, but is at a distance of as much as seven stadia from it. And the city Dium has a village near by, Pimpleia, where Orpheus lived.

18At the base of Olympus is a city Dium. And it has a village near by, Pimpleia. Here lived Orpheus, the Ciconian, it is said—a wizard who at first collected money from his music, together with his soothsaying and his celebration of the orgies connected with the mystic initiatory rites, but soon afterwards thought himself worthy of still greater things and procured for himself a throng of followers and power. Some, of course, received him willingly, but others, since they suspected a plot and violence, combined against him and killed him. And near here, also, is Leibethra.

19In the early times the soothsayers also practised music.

20After Dium come the outlets of the Haliacmon; then Pydna, Methone, Alorus, and the Erigon and Ludias Rivers. The Erigon flows from the country of the Triclari†through that of the Orestae and through Pellaea, leaves the city on the left,†and meets the Axius; the Ludias is navigable inland to Pella, a distance of one hundred and twenty stadia. Methone, which lies between the two cities, is about forty stadia from Pydna and seventy from Alorus. Alorus is in the inmost recess of the Thermaean Gulf, and it is called Thessaloniceia because of its fame.†Now Alorus is regarded as a Bottiaean city, whereas Pydna is regarded as a Pierian. Pella belongs to lower Macedonia, which the Bottiaei used to occupy; in early times the treasury of Macedonia was here. Philip enlarged it from a small city, because he was reared in it. It has a headland in what is called Lake Ludias; and it is from this lake that the Ludias River issues, and the lake itself is supplied by an offshoot of the Axius. The Axius empties between Chalastra and Therma; and on this river lies a fortified place which now is called Abydon, though Homer calls it Amydon, and says that the Paeonians went to the aid of Troy from there, “from afar, out of Amydon, from wide-flowing Axius.” The place was destroyed by the Argeadae.

20aAbydon, Abydonis; a place in Macedonia, according to Strabo.

21The Axius is a muddy stream; but Homer calls it “water most fair,” perhaps on account of the spring called Aea, which, since it empties purest water into the Axius, proves that the present current reading of the passage in the poet is faulty. After the Axius, at a distance of twenty stadia, is the Echedorus;†then, forty stadia farther on, Thessaloniceia, founded by Gassander, and also the Egnatian Road. Cassander named the city after his wife Thessalonice, daughter of Philip son of Amyntas, after he had razed to the ground the towns in Crusis and those on the Thermaean Gulf, about twenty-six in number, and had settled all the inhabitants together in one city; and this city is the metropolis of what is now Macedonia. Among those included in the settlement were Apollonia, Chalastra, Therma, Garescus, Aenea, and Cissus; and of these one might suspect that Cissus belonged to Cisses,†whom the poet mentions in speaking of Iphidamas, “whom Cisses reared.”

21aCrusis; a portion of Mygdonia. Strabo in his Seventh Book.

21bChalastra: a city of Thrace near the Thormaean Gulf—though Strabo, in his Seventh Book, calls it a city of Macedonia.

22After the city Dium comes the Haliacmon River, which empties into the Thermaean Gulf. And the part after this, the seaboard of the gulf towards the north as far as the Axius River, is called Pieria, in which is the city Pydna, now called Citrum. Then come the cities Methone and Alorus. Then the Rivers Erigon and Ludias; and from†Ludias to the city of Pella the river is navigable, a distance of one hundred and twenty stadia. Methone is forty stadia distant from Pydna and seventy stadia from Alorus. Now Pydna is a Pierian city, whereas Alorus is Bottiaean. Now it was in the plain before Pydna that the Romans defeated Perseus in war and destroyed the kingdom of the Macedonians, and it was in the plain before Methone that Philip the son of Amyntas, during the siege of the city, had the misfortune to have his right eye knocked out by a bolt from a catapult.

23As for Pella, though it was formerly small, Philip greatly enlarged it, because he was reared in it. It has a lake before it; and it is from this lake that the Ludias River flows, and the lake is supplied by an offshoot of the Axius. Then the Axius, dividing both Bottiaea and the land called Amphaxitis, and receiving the Erigon River, discharges its waters between Chalastra and Therma. And on the Anius River lies the place which Homer calls Amydon, saying that the Paeonians went to the aid of Troy from there, “from afar, out of Amydon, from wide-flowing Axius.” But since the Axius is muddy and since a certain spring rises in Amydon and mingles “water most fair” with it, therefore the next line, “Axius, whose water most fair is spread o’er Aea,”†is changed to read thus, “Axius, o’er which is spread Aea’s water most fair”; for it is not the “water most fair” of the Axius that is spread over the face of the earth, but that of the spring o’er the Axius.

23aIn the phrase’spread o’er Aiai,’ or ‘Aian,’†, some are of the opinion that ‘Aea’ means, not the earth, but a certain spring, as is clear from what the Geographer says, namely: the Amydon in Homer was later called Abydon, but it was destroyed; and there is a spring near Amydon called Aea, which empties purest water into the Axius; and this river, since it is filled from many rivers, flows muddy. Therefore, he says, the current reading, ‘Axius’s water most fair spreads o’er Aea,’ is faulty, because it is clearly not the water of the Axius that spread o’er the spring, but the reverse. Then the Geographer goes on somewhat gruffly to find fault with the opinion that Aea refers to the earth, and appears disposed to eject such diction from the Homeric poem altogether.

24After the Axius River comes Thessalonica, a city which in earlier times was called Therma. It was founded by Cassander, who named it after his wife, the daughter of Philip the son of Amyntas. And he transferred to it the towns in the surrounding country, as, for instance, Chalastra, Aeuea, Cissus, and also some others. And one might suspect that it was from this Cissus that Homer’s Iphidamas came, whose grandfather Cisseus “reared him,” Homer says, in Thrace, which now is called Macedonia.

25Mt. Bermium, also, is somewhere in this region; in earlier times it was occupied by Briges, a tribe of Thracians; some of these crossed over into Asia and their name was changed to Phryges. After Thessaloniceia come the remaining parts of the Thermaean Gulf as far as Canastraeum; this is a headland which forms a peninsula and rises opposite to Magnetis. The name of the peninsula is Pallene; and it has an isthmus five stadia in width, through which a canal is cut. On the isthmus is situated a city founded by the Corinthians, which in earlier times was called Potidaea, although later on it was called Cassandreia, after the same King Cassander, who restored it after it had been destroyed. The distance by sea around this peninsula is five hundred and seventy stadia. And further, writers say that in earlier times the giants lived here and that the country was named Phlegra; the stories of some are mythical, but the account of others is more plausible, for they tell of a certain barbarous and impious tribe which occupied the place but was broken up by Heracles when, after capturing Troy, be sailed back to his home-land. And here, too, the Trojan women were guilty of their crime, it is said, when they set the ships on fire in order that they might not be slaves to the wives of their captors.

25aThe Geographer points out that the Phrygians too were called Brigians.

26The city Beroea lies in the foot-hills of Mt. Bermium.

27The peninsula Pallene, on whose isthmus is situated the city formerly called Ptidaea and now Cassandreia, was called Phlegra in still earlier times. It used to be inhabited by the giants of whom the myths are told, an impious and lawless tribe, whom Heracles destroyed. It has four cities, Aphytis, Mende, Scione, Sane.

27aThe Scepsian apparently accepts the opinion neither of this man nor of those who suppose them to be the Halizoni near Pallene, whom I have mentioned in my description of Macedonia.

28Olynthus was seventy stadia distant from Potidaea.

29The naval station of Olynthus is Macyperna, on the Toronaean Gulf.

30Near Olynthus is a hollow place which is called Cantharolethron from what happens there; for when the insect called the Cantharos, which is found all over the country, touches that place, it dies.

31After Cassandreia, in order, comes the remainder of the seaboard of the Toronic Gulf, extending as far as Derrhis. Derrhis is a headland that rises opposite to Canastraeum and forms the gulf; and directly opposite Berrhis, towards the east, are the capes†of Athos; and between†is the Singitic Gulf, which is named after Singus, the ancient city that was on it, now in ruins. After this city comes Acanthus, a city situated on the isthmus of Athos; it was founded by the Andrii, and from it many call the gulf the Acanthian Gulf.

32Opposite Canastrum,†a cape of Pallene, is Derrhis, a headland near Cophus Harbor; and these two mark off the limits of the Toronaean Gulf. And towards the east, again, lies the cape of Athos, which marks off the limit of the Singitic Gulf. And so the gulfs of the Aegaean Sea lie in order, though at some distance from one another, towards the north, as follows: the Maliac, the Pagasitic, the Thermaean, the Toronaean, the Singitic, the Strymonic. The capes are, first, Poseidium, the one between the Maliac and the Pegasitic; secondly, the next one towards the north, Sepias; then the one on Pallene, Canastrum; then Derrhis; then come Nymphaeum, on Athos on the Singitic Gulf, and Acrathos, the cape that is on the Strymonic Gulf (Mt. Athos is between these two capes, and Lemnos is to the east of Mt. Athos); on the north, however, the limit of the Strymonic Gulf is marked by Neapolis.

33Acanthus, a city on the Singitic Gulf, is on the coast near the canal of Xerxes. Athos has five cities, Dium, Cleonae, Thyssus, Olophyxis, Acrothol; and Acrothol is near the crest of Athos. Mt. Athos is breast-shaped, has a very sharp crest, and is very high, since those who live on the crest see the sun rise three hours before it rises on the seaboard. And the distance by sea around the peninsula from the city Acanthus as far as Stageirus,†the city of Aristotle, is four hundred stadia. On this coast is a harbor, Caprus by name, and also an isle with the same name as the harbor. Then come the outlets of the Strymon; then Phagres, Galepsus, Apollonia, all cities; then the month of the Nestus, which is the boundary between Macedonia and Thrace as fixed by Philip and his son Alexander in their times. There is also another set of cities about the Strymonic Gulf, as, for instance, Myrcinus, Argilus, Drabescus, and Datum.†The last named has not only excellent and fruitful soil but also dock-yards and gold mines; and hence the proverb, “a Datum of good things,” like that other proverb, “spools of good things.”

34There are very many gold mines in Crenides, where the city Philippi†now is situated, near Mt. Pangaeum. And Mt. Pangaeum as well has gold and silver mines, as also the country across, and the country this side, the Strymon River as far as Paeonia. And it is further said that the people who plough the Paeonian land find nuggets of gold.

35Mt. Athos is high and breast-shaped; so high that on its crests the sun is up and the people are weary of ploughing by the time cock-crow†begins among the people who live on the shore. It was on this shore that Phamyris the Thracian reigned, who was a man of the same pursuits as Orpheus. Here, too, is to be seen a canal, in the neighborhood of Acanthus, where Xerxes dug a canal across Athos, it is said, and, by admitting the sea into the canal, brought his fleet across from the Strymonic Gulf through the isthmus. Demetrius of Scepsis, however, does not believe that this canal was navigable, for, he says, although as far as ten stadia the ground is deep-soiled and can be dug, and in fact a canal one plethrum in width has been dug, yet after that it is a flat rock, almost a stadium in length, which is too high and broad to admit of being quarried out through the whole of the distance as far as the sea; but even if it were dug thus far, certainly it could not be dug deep enough to make a navigable passage; this, he adds, is where Alexarchus, the son of Antipater,†laid the foundation of Uranopolis, with its circuit of thirty stadia. Some of the Pelasgi from Lemnos took up their abode on this peninsula, and they were divided into five cities, Cleonae, Olophyxis, Acrothoï, Dium, Thyssus. After Athos comes the Strymonic Gulf extending as far as the Nestus, the river which marks off the boundary of Macedonia as fixed by Philip and Alexander; to be accurate, however, there is a cape which with Athos forms the Strymonic Gulf, I mean the cape which has had on it a city called Apollonia.†The first city on this gulf after the harbor of the Acanthians is Stageira, the native city of Aristotle, now deserted; this too belongs to the Chalcidians and so do its harbor, Caprus, and an isle bearing the same name as the harbor. Then come the Strymon and the inland voyage of twenty stadia to Amphipolis. Amphipolis was founded by the Athenians and is situated in that place which is called Ennea Hodoi. Then come Galepsus and Apollonia, which were razed to the ground by Philip.

36From the Peneius, he says, to Pydna is one hundred and twenty stadia. Along the seaboard of the Strymon and the Dateni are, not only the city Neapolis, but also Datum†itself, with its fruitful plains, lake, rivers, dock-yards, and profitable gold mines; and hence the proverb, “a Datum of good things,” like that other proverb, “spools of good things.” Now the country that is on the far side of the Strymon, I mean that which is near the sea and those places that are in the neighborhood of Datum, is the country of the Odomantes and the Edoni and the Bisaltae, both those who are indigenous and those who crossed over from Macedonia, amongst whom Rhesus reigned. Above Amphipolis, however, and as far as the city Heracleia,†is the country of the Bisaltae, with its fruitful valley; this valley is divided into two parts by the Strymon, which has its source in the country of the Agrianes who live round about Rhodope; and alongside this country lies Parorbelia, a district of Macedonia, which has in its interior, along the valley that begins at Eidonene, the cities Callipolis, Orthopolis, Philippopolis, Garescus. If one goes up the Strymon, one comes to Berge;†it, too, is situated in the country of the Bisaltae, and is a village about two hundred stadia distant from Amphipolis. And if one goes from Heracleia towards the north and the narrows through which the Strymon flows, keeping the river on the right, one has Paeonia and the region round about Doberus,†Rhodope, and the Haemus Mountain on the left, whereas on the right one has the region round about the Haemus.†This side the Strymon are Scotussa, near the river itself, and Arethusa, near lake Bolbe.†Furthermore, the name Mygdones is applied especially to the people round about the lake. Not only the Axius flows out of the country of the Paeonians, but also the Strymon, for it flows out of the country of the Agrianes through that of the Medi and Sinti and empties into the parts that are between the Bisaltae and the Odomantes.

37The Strymon River rises in the country of the Agrianes who live round about Rhodope.

38Some represent the Paeonians as colonists from the Phrygians, while others represent them as independent founders. And it is said that Paeonia has extended as far as Pelagonia and Pieria; that Pelagonia was called Orestia in earlier times, that Asteropaeus, one of the leaders who made the expedition from Paeonia to Troy, was not without good reason called “son of Pelegon,” and that the Paeonians themselves were called Pelagonians.

39The Homeric “Asteropaeus son of Pelegon” was, as history tells us, from Paeonia in Macedonia; wherefore “son of Pelegon,” for the Paeonians were called Pelagonians.

40Since the “paeanismos”†of the Thracians is called “titanismos” by the Greeks, in imitation of the cry†uttered in paeans, the Titans too were called Pelagonians.

41It is clear that in early times, as now, the Paeonians occupied much of what is now Macedonia, so that they could not only lay siege to Perinthus but also bring under their power all Crestonia and Mygdonis and the country of the Agrianes as far as Pangaeurum. Philippi and the region about Philippi lie above that part of the seaboard of the Strymonic Gulf which extends from Galepsus as far as Nestus. In earlier times Pllilippi was called Crenides, and was only a small settlement, but it was enlarged after the defeat of Brutus and Cassius.†

42What is now the city Philippi was called Crenides in early times.

43Off this seaboard lie two islands, Lemnos and Thasos. And after the strait of Thasos one comes to Abdera and the scene of the myths connected with Abderus. It was inhabited by the Bistonian Thracians over whom Diomedes ruled. The Nestus River does not always remain in the same bed, but oftentimes floods the country. Then come Dicaea,†a city situated on a gulf, and a harbor. Above these lies the Bistonis, a lake which has a circuit of about two hundred stadia. It is said that, because this plain was altogether a hollow and lower than the sea, Heracles, since he was inferior in horse when he came to get the mares of Diomedes, dug a canal through the shore and let in the water of the sea upon the plain and thus mastered his adversaries. One is shown also the royal residence†of Diomedes, which, because of its naturally strong position and from what is actually the case, is called Cartera Come.†After the lake, which is midway between, come Xantheia,†Maroneia, and Ismarus, the cities of the Cicones. Ismarus, however, is now called Ismara; it is near Maroneia. And near here, also, Lake Ismaris sends forth its stream; this stream is called Odysseium. And here, too, are what are called the Thasiön Cephalae.†But the people situated in the interior are Sapaei.

44Topeira is near Abdera and Maroneia.

44aThe aforesaid Ismarus, in later times called Ismara, is, they say, a city of the Cicones; it is near Maroneia, where is also a lake, the stream of which is called Odysseium; here too is a hero-temple of Maron, as the Geographer records.

45The Sinti, a Thracian tribe, inhabit the island Lemnos; and from this fact Homer calls them Sinties, when he says, “where me the Sinties...”

45aLemnos: first settled by the Thracians who were called Sinties, according to Strabo.

46After the Nestus River, towards the east, is the city Abdera, named after Abderus, whom the horses of Diomedes devoured; then, near by, the city Picaea, above which lies a great lake, Bistonis; then the city Maroneia.

47Thrace as a whole consists of twenty-two tribes. But although it has been devastated to an exceptional degree, it can send into the field fifteen thousand cavalry and also two hundred thousand infantry. After Maroneis one comes to the city Orthagoria and to the region about Serrhium (a rough coastingvoyage) and to Tempyra, the little town of the Samothracians, and to Caracoma,†another little town, off which lies the island Samothrace, and to Imbros, which is not very far from Samothrace; Thasos, however, is more than twice as far from Samothrace as Imbros is. From Caracoma one comes to Doriscus, where Xerxes enumerated his army; then to the Hebrus, which is navigable inland to Cypsela, a distance of one hundred and twenty stadia. This, he says, was the boundary of the Macedonia which the Romans first took away from Perseus and afterwards from the Pseudo-Philip.†Now Paulus,†who captured Perseus, annexed the Epeirotic tribes to Macedonia, divided the country into four parts for purposes of administration, and apportioned one part to Amphipolis, another to Thessaloniceia, another to Pella, and another to the Pelagonians. Along the Hebrus live the Corpili, and, still farther up the river, the Brenae, and then, farthermost of all, the Bessi, for the river is navigable thus far. All these tribes are given to brigandage, but most of all the Bessi, who, He says, are neighbors to the Odrysae and the Sapaei. Bizye†was the royal residence of the Astae. The term “Odrysae” is applied by some to all the peoples living above the seaboard from the Hebrus and Cypsela as far as Odessus—the peoples over whom Amadocus, Cersobleptes, Berisades, Seuthes, and Cotys reigned as kings.

47aOdrysae: a tribe of Thrace; Strabo in his Seventh Book.

47bThe Geographer, in pointing out the great extent of Thrace, says also that Thrace as a whole consists of twenty-two tribes.

48The river in Thrace that is now called Rheginia used to be called Erigon.

49Iasion and Dardanus, two brothers, used to live in Samothrace. But when Iasion was struck by a thunderbolt because of his sin against Demeter, Dardanus sailed away from Samothrace, went and took up his abode at the foot of Mount Ida, calling the city Dardania, and taught the Trojans the Samothracian Mysteries. In earlier times, however, Samothrace was called Samos.

50Many writers have identified the gods that are worshipped in Samothrace with the Cabeiri, though they cannot say who the Cabeiri themselves are, just as the Cyrbantes and Corybantes, and likewise the Curetes and the Idaean Dactyli, are identified with them.

50aThis Thracian island, according to the Geographer, is called Samos because of its height; for “samoi,” he says, means “heights.”... And the Geographer says that in olden times Samians from Mycale settled in the island, which had been deserted because of a dearth of crops, and that in this way it was called Samos.... And the Geographer records also that in earlier times Samothrace was called Melite, as also that it was rich; for Cilician pirates, he says, secretly broke into the temple in Samothrace, robbed it, and carried off more than a thousand talents.

51Near the outlet of the Hebrus, which has two mouths, lies the city Aenus, on the Melas Gulf; it was founded by Mitylenaeans and Cumaeans, though in still earlier times by Alopeconnesians. Then comes Cape Sarpedon; then what is called the Thracian Chersonesus, which forms the Propontis and the Melas Gulf and the Hellespont; for it is a cape which projects towards the south-east, thus connecting Europe with Asia by the strait, seven stadia wide, which is between Abydus and Sestus, and thus having on the left the Propontis and on the right the Melas Gulf—so called, just as Herodotus and Eudoxus say, from the Melas River†which empties into it. But Herodotus, he says, states that this stream was not sufficient to supply the army of Xerxes. The aforesaid cape is closed in by an isthmus forty stadia wide. Now in the middle of the isthmus is situated the city Lysimacheia, named after the king who founded it; and on either side of it lies a city—on the Melas Gulf, Cardia, the largest of the cities on the Chersonesus, founded by Milesians and Clazomenians but later refounded by Athenians, and on the Propontis, Pactye. And after Cardia come Drabus and Limnae; then Alopeconnesus, in which the Melas Gulf comes approximately to an end; then the large headland, Mazusia; then, on a gulf, Eleus,†where is the temple of Protesilaus, opposite which, forty stadia distant, is Sigeium,†a headland of the Troad; and this is about the most southerly extremity of the Chersonesus, being slightly more than four hundred stadia from Cardia; and if one sails around the rest of the circuit, towards the other side of the isthmus, the distance is slightly more than this.

51aAenus; a city of Thrace, called Apsinthus. Strabo in his Seventh Book. The city Aenus is in the outlet of the Hebrus, which has two mouths, and was founded by Cumaeans; and it was so called because there was an Aenius River and also a village of the same name near Ossa.

52The Thracian Chersonesus forms three seas: the Propontis in the north, the Hellespont in the east, and the Melas Gulf in the south, into which empties the Melas River, which bears the same name as the gulf.

53On the isthmus of the Chersonesus are situated three cities: near the Melas Gulf, Cardia, and near the Propontis, Pactye, and near the middle, Lysimacheia. The length†of the isthmus is forty stadia.

54The name of the city Eleus is masculine; and perhaps also that of the city Trapesus.

55On this voyage along the coast of the Chersonesus after leaving Eleus, one comes first to the entrance which leads through the narrows into the Propontis; and this entrance is called the beginning of the Hellespont. And here is the cape called the Cynos-Sema;†though some call it Hecabe’s Sema, and in fact her tomb is pointed out after one has doubled the cape. Then one comes to Madytus, and to Cape Sestias, where the pontoon bridge of Xerxes was built; and, after these, to Sestus. The distance from Eleus to the place of the pontoon-bridge is one hundred and seventy stadia. After Sestus one comes to Aegospotami, eighty†stadia, a town which has been razed to the ground, where it is said, the stone†fell at the time of the Persian war. Then comes Callipolis, from which the distance across to Lampsacus in Asia is forty stadia; then Crithote, a little town which has been razed to the ground; then Pactye; then Macron Teichos,” Leuce Acte, Hieron Oros,†and Perinthus, founded by the Samians: then Selybria.†Above these places lies Silta;†and the Hieron Oros is revered by all the natives and is a sort of acropolis of the country. The Hieron Oros discharges asphalt into the sea, near the place where the Proconnesus,†only one hundred and twenty stadia distant, is nearest to the land; and the quarry of white marble in the Proconnesus is both large and excellent. After Selybria come the Rivers Athyras and Bathynias; and then, Byzantium and the places which come in order thereafter as far as the Cyanean Rocks.

55aAs for Sestus and the whole of the Chersonesus, I have already discussed them in my description of the regions of Thrace.

55bSestus, a colony of the Lesbians, as is also Madytus, as the Geographer says, is a Chersonesian city thirty stadia distant from Abydus, from harbor to harbor.

56The distance from Perinthus to Byzantium is six hundred and thirty stadia; but from the Hebrus and Cypsela to Byzantium, as far as the Cyanean Rocks, three thousand one hundred, as Artemidorus says; and the entire distance from the Ionian Gulf at Apollonia as far as Byzantium is seven thousand three hundred and twenty stadia, though Polybius adds one hundred and eighty more, since he adds a third of a stadium to the eight stadia in the mile. Demetrius of Scepsis, however, in his work On the Marshalling of the Trojan Forces†calls the distance from Perinthus to Byzantium six hundred stadia and the distance to Parium equal thereto; and he represents the Propontis as one thousand four hundred stadia in length and five hundred in breadth; while as for the Hellespont, he calls its narrowest breadth seven stadia and its length four hundred.

57There is no general agreement in the definition of the term “Hellespont”: in fact, there are several opinions concerning it. For some writers call “Hellespont” the whole of the Propontis; others, that part of the Propontis which is this side Perinthus; others go on to add that part of the outer sea which faces the Melas Gulf and the open waters of the Aegaean Sea, and these writers in turn each comprise different sections in their definitions, some the part from Sigeium to Lampsacus and Cysicus, or Parium, or Priapus, another going on to add the part which extends from Sigrium in the Lesbian Isle. And some do not shrink even from applying the name Hellespont to the whole of the high sea as far as the Myrtoan Sea, since, as Pindar†says in his hymns, those who were sailing with Heracles from Troy through Helle’s maidenly strait, on touching the Myrtoan Sea, ran back again to Cos, because Zephyrus blew contrary to their course. And in this way, also, they require that the whole of the Aegaean Sea as far as the Thermaean Gulf and the sea which is about Thessaly and Macedonia should be called Hellespont, invoking Homer also as witness; for Homer says, “thou shalt see, if thou dost wish and hast a care therefor, my ships sailing o’er the fishy Hellespont at very early morn”; but such an argument is refuted by those other lines, “the hero, son of Imbrasus, who, as we know, had come from Aenus,” but he was the leader of the Thracians,†“all who are shut in by strong-flowing Hellespont”; that is, Homer would represent those†who are situated next after these†as situated outside the Hellespont; that is, Aenus lies in what was formerly called Apsinthis, though now called Corpilice, whereas the country of the Cicones lies next thereafter towards the west.†

58Corpili: certain of the Thracians. Strabo, Seventh Book; their country is called Corpilice; for Aenus lies in what was formerly called Apsinthis, though now called Corpilice.

59Tetrachoritae: the Bessi, according to Strabo in his Seventh Book. These are also called Tetracomi.

60For he says in the Seventh Book of the same work†that he knew Poseidonius, the Stoic philosopher.†

1I began my description by going over all the western parts of Europe comprised between the inner and the outer sea;†and now that I have encompassed in my survey all the barbarian tribes in Europe as far as the Tanaïs and also a small part of Greece, Macedonia,†I now shall give an account of the remainder of the geography of Greece. This subject was first treated by Homer; and then, after him, by several others, some of whom have written special treatises entitled Harbours, or Coasting Voyages, or General Descriptions of the Earth, or the like; and in these is comprised also the description of Greece. Others have set forth the topography of the continents in separate parts of their general histories, for instance, Ephorus and Polybius. Still others have inserted certain things on this subject in their treatises on physics and mathematics, for instance, Poseidonius and Hipparchus. Now although the statements of the others are easy to pass judgment upon, yet those of Homer require critical inquiry, since he speaks poetically, and not of things as they now are, but of things as they were in antiquity, which for the most part have been obscured by time. Be this as it may, as far as I can I must undertake the inquiry; and I shall begin where I left off. My account ended, on the west and the north, with the tribes of the Epeirotes and of the Illyrians, and, on the east, with those of the Macedonians as far as Byzantium. After the Epeirotes and the Illyrians, then, come the following peoples of the Greeks: the Acarnanians, the Aetolians, and the Ozolian Locrians; and, next, the Phocians and Boeotians; and opposite these, across the arm of the sea, is the Peloponnesus, which with these encloses the Corinthian Gulf, and not only shapes the gulf but also is shaped by it; and after Macedonia, the Thessalians (extending as far as the Malians) and the countries of the rest of the peoples outside the Isthmus,†as also of those inside.

2There have been many tribes in Greece, but those which go back to the earliest times are only as many in number as the Greek dialects which we have learned to distinguish. But though the dialects themselves are four in number, we may say that the Ionic is the same as the ancient Attic, for the Attic people of ancient times were called Ionians, and from that stock sprang those Ionians who colonized Asia and used what is now called the Ionic speech; and we may say that the Doric dialect is the same as the Aeolic, for all the Greeks outside the Isthmus, except the Athenians and the Megarians and the Dorians who live about Parnassus, are to this day still called Aeolians. And it is reasonable to suppose that the Dorians too, since they were few in number and lived in a most rugged country, have, because of their lack of intercourse with others, changed their speech and their other customs to the extent that they are no longer a part of the same tribe as before. And this was precisely the case with the Athenians; that is, they lived in a country that was both thin-soiled and rugged, and for this reason, according to Thucydides, their country remained free from devastation, and they were regarded as an indigenous people, who always occupied the same country, since no one drove them out of their country or even desired to possess it. This, therefore, as one may suppose, was precisely the cause of their becoming different both in speech and in customs, albeit they were few in number. And just as the Aeolic element predominated in the parts outside the Isthmus, so too the people inside the Isthmus were in earlier times Aeolians; and then they became mixed with other peoples, since, in the first place, Ionians from Attica seized the Aegialus,†and, secondly, the Heracleidae brought back the Dorians, who founded both Megara and many of the cities of the Peloponnesus. The Ionians, however, were soon driven out again by the Achaeans, an Aeolic tribe; and so there were left in the Peloponnesus only the two tribes, the Aeolian and the Dorian. Now all the peoples who had less intercourse with the Dorians—as was the case with the Arcadians and with the Eleians, since the former were wholly mountaineers and had no share in the allotments of territory, while the latter were regarded as sacred to the Olympian Zeus and hence have long lived to themselves in peace, especially because they belonged to the Aeolic stock and had admitted the army which came back with Oxylus about the time of the return of the Heracleidae—these peoples, I say, spoke the Aeolic dialect, whereas the rest used a sort of mixture of the two, some leaning more to the Aeolic and some less. And, I might almost say, even now the people of each city speaks a different dialect, although, because of the predominance which has been gained by the Dorians, one and all are reputed to speak the Doric. Such, then, are the tribes of the Greeks, and such in general terms is their ethnographical division. Let me now take them separately, following the appropriate order, and tell about them.

3Ephorus says that, if one begins with the western parts, Acarnania is the beginning of Greece; for, he adds, Acarnania is the first to border on the tribes of the Epeirotes. But just as Ephorus, using the seacoast as his measuring-line, begins with Acarnania (for he decides in favor of the sea as a kind of guide in his description of places, because otherwise he might have represented parts that border on the land of the Macedonians and the Thessalians as the beginning), so it is proper that I too, following the natural character of the regions, should make the sea my counsellor. Now this sea, issuing forth out of the Sicilian Sea, on one side stretches to the Corinthian Gulf, and on the other forms a large peninsula, the Peloponnesus, which is closed by a narrow isthmus. Thus Greece consists of two very large bodies of land, the part inside the Isthmus, and the part outside, which extends through Pylae as far as the outlet of the Peneius (this latter is the Thessalian part of Greece);†but the part inside the Isthmus is both larger and more famous. I might almost say that the Peloponnesus is the acropolis of Greece as a whole;†for, apart from the splendor and power of the tribes that have lived in it, the very topography of Greece, diversified as it is by gulfs, many capes, and, what are the most significant, large peninsulas that follow one another in succession, suggests such hegemony for it. The first of the peninsulas is the Peloponnesus which is closed by an isthmus forty stadia in width. The second includes the first; and its isthmus extends in width from Pagae in Megaris to Nisaea, the naval station of the Megarians, the distance across being one hundred and twenty stadia from sea to sea. The third likewise includes the second; and its isthmus extends in width from the recess of the Crisaean Gulf as far as Thermopylae—the imaginary straight line, about five hundred and eight stadia in length, enclosing within the peninsula the whole of Boeotia and cutting obliquely Phocis and the country of the Epicnemidians.†The fourth is the peninsula whose isthmus extends from the Ambracian Gulf through Oeta†and Trachinia to the Maliac Gulf and Thermopylae—the isthmus being about eight hundred stadia in width. But there is another isthmus, more than one thousand stadia in width, extending from the same Ambracian Gulf through the countries of the Thessalians and the Macedonians to the recess of the Thermaean Gulf. So then, the succession of the peninsulas suggests a kind of order, and not a bad one, for me to follow in my description; and I should begin with the smallest, but most famous, of them.

1Now the Peloponnesus is like a leaf of a plane tree in shape, its length and breadth being almost equal, that is, about fourteen hundred stadia. Its length is reckoned from the west to the east, that is, from Chelonatas†through Olympia and Megalopolis to the Isthmus; and its width, from the south towards the north, that is, from Maleae through Arcadia to Aegium.†The perimeter, not following the sinuosities of the gulfs, is four thousand stadia, according to Polybius, although Artemidorus adds four hundred more;†but following the sinuosities of the gulfs, it is more than five thousand six hundred. The width of the Isthmus at the “Diolcus,”†where the ships are hauled overland from one sea to the other, is forty stadia, as I have already said.

2The western part of this peninsula is occupied by the Eleians and the Messenians, whose countries are washed by the Sicilian Sea. In addition, they also hold a part of the seacoast in both directions, for the Eleian country curves towards the north and the beginning of the Corinthian Gulf as far as Cape Araxus (opposite which, across the straits, lie Acarnania and the islands off its coast—Zacynthos, Cephallenia, Ithaca, and also the Echinades, among which is Dulichium), whereas the greater part of the Messenian country opens up towards the south and the Libyan Sea as far as what is called Thyrides,†near Taenarum. Next after the Eleian country comes the tribe of the Achaeans,†whose country faces towards the north and stretches along the Corinthian Gulf, ending at Sicyonia. Then come in succession Sicyon and Corinth, the territory of the latter extending as far as the Isthmus. After the Messenian country come the Laconian and the Argive, the latter also extending as far as the Isthmus. The gulfs on this coast are: first, the Messenian; second, the Laconian; third, the Argolic; fourth, the Hermionic; and fifth, the Saronic, by some called the Salaminiac. Of these gulfs the first two are filled by the Libyan Sea, and the others by the Cretan and Myrtoan Seas. Some, however, call the Saronic Gulf “Strait” or “Sea.” In the interior of the peninsula is Arcadia, which touches as next door neighbor the countries of all those other tribes.

3The Corinthian Gulf begins, on the one side, at the outlets of the Evenus (though some say at the outlets of the Acheloüs, the river that separates the Acarnanians and the Aetolians), and, on the other, at Araxus;†for here the shores on either side first draw notably nearer to one another; then in their advance they all but†meet at Rhium and Antirrhium, where they leave between them a strait only about five stadia in width. Rhium, belonging to the Achaeans, is a low-lying cape; it bends inwards (and it is in fact called “Sickle “).†It lies between Patrae and Aegium, and possesses a temple of Poseidon. Antirrhium is situated on the common boundary of Aetolia and Locris; and people call it Molycrian Rhium.†Then, from here, the shoreline on either side again draws moderately apart, and then, advancing into the Crisaean Gulf, it comes to an end there, being shut in by the westerly limits of Boeotia and Megaris.†The perimeter of the Corinthian Gulf if one measures from the Evenus to Araxus, is two thousand two hundred and thirty stadia; but if one measures from the Acheloüs, it is about a hundred stadia more. Now from the Acheloüs to the Evenus the coast is occupied by Acarnanians;†and thence to Antirrhium, by Aetolians; but the remaining coast, as far as the Isthmus, belongs to†the Phocians, the Boeotians and Megaris—a distance of one thousand one hundred and eighteen stadia. The sea from Antirrhium as far as the Isthmus†is called Alcyonian, it being a part of the Crisaean Gulf. Again, from the Isthmus to Araxus the distance is one thousand and thirty stadia. Such, then, in general terms, is the position and extent of the Peloponnesus, and of the land that lies opposite to it across the arm of the sea as far as the recess; and such, too, is the character of the gulf that lies between the two bodies of land. Now I shall describe each part in detail, beginning with the Eleian country.

1At the present time the whole of the seaboard that lies between the countries of the Achaeans and the Messenians, and extends inland to the Arcadian districts of Pholoë, of the Azanes, and of the Parrhasians, is called the Eleian country. But in early times this country was divided into several domains; and afterwards into two—that of the Epeians and that under the rule of Nestor the son of Neleus; just as Homer, too, states, when he calls the land of the Epeians by the name of “Elis” (“and passed goodly Elis, where the Epeians hold sway”), and the land under the rule of Nestor, “Pylus,” through which, he says, the Alpheius flows (“of the Alpheius, that floweth in wide stream through the land of the Pylians”). Of course Homer also knew of Pylus as a city (“and they reached Pylus, the well-built city of Nestor”), but the Alpheius does not flow through the city, nor past it either; in fact, another river flows past it, a river which some call “Pamisus” and others “Amathus” (whence, apparently, the epithet “Emathoëis” which has been applied to this Pylus), but the Alpheius flows through the Pylian country.

2What is now the city of Elis had not yet been founded in Homer’s time; in fact, the people of the country lived only in villages. And the country was called Coele†Elis from the fact in the case, for the most and best of it was “Coele.” It was only relatively late, after the Persian wars, that people came together from many communities into what is now the city of Elis. And I might almost say that, with only a few exceptions, the other Peloponnesian places named by the poet were also named by him, not as cities, but as countries, each country being composed of several communities, from which in later times the well-known cities were settled. For instance, in Arcadia, Mantineia was settled by Argive colonists from five communities; and Tegea from nine; and also Heraea from nine, either by Cleombrotus or by Cleonymus. And in the same way the city Aegium was made up of seven or eight communities; the city Patrae of seven; and the city Dyme of eight. And in this way the city Elis was also made up of the communities of the surrounding country (one of these... the Agriades).†The Peneius River flows through the city past the gymnasium. And the Eleians did not make this gymnasium until a long time after the districts that were under Nestor had passed into their possession.

3These districts were Pisatis (of which Olympia was a part), Triphylia, and the country of the Cauconians. The Triphylians†were so called from the fact that three tribes of people had come together in that country—that of the Epeians, who were there at the outset, and that of the Minyans, who later settled there, and that of the Eleians, who last dominated the country. But some name the Arcadians in the place of the Minyans, since the Arcadians had often disputed the possession of the country; and hence the same Pylus was called both Arcadian Pylus and Triphylian Pylus.†Homer calls this whole country as far as Messene “Pylus,” giving it the same name as the city. But Coele Elis was distinct from the places subject to Nestor, as is shown in the Catalogue of Ships by the names of the chieftains and of their abodes. I say this because I am comparing present conditions with those described by Homer; for we must needs institute this comparison because of the fame of the poet and because of our familiarity with him from our childhood, since all of us believe that we have not successfully treated any subject which we may have in hand until there remains in our treatment nothing that conflicts with what the poet says on the same subject, such confidence do we have in his words. Accordingly, I must give conditions as they now are, and then, citing the words of the poet, in so far as they bear on the matter, take them also into consideration.

4In the Eleian country, on the north, is a cape, Araxus, sixty stadia distant from Dyme, an Achaean city. This cape, then, I put down as the beginning of the seaboard of the Eleians. After this cape, as one proceeds towards the west, one comes to the naval station of the Eleians, Cyllene, from which there is a road leading inland to the present city Elis, a distance of one hundred and twenty stadia. Homer, too, mentions this Cyllene when he says, “Otus, a Cyllenian, a chief of the Epeians,” for he would not have represented a chieftain of the Epeians as being from the Arcadian mountain.†Cyllene is a village of moderate size; and it has the Asclepius made by Colotes—an ivory image that is wonderful to behold. After Cyllene one comes to the promontory Chelonatas, the most westerly point of the Peloponnesus. Off Chelonatas lies an isle, and also some shallows that are on the common boundary between Coele Elis and the country of the Pisatae; and from here the voyage to Cephallenia is not more than eighty stadia. Somewhere in this neighborhood, on the aforesaid boundary line, there also flows the River Elison or Elisa.

5It is between Chelonatas and Cyllene that the River Peneius empties; as also the River Sellëeis, which is mentioned by the poet and flows out of Pholoe. On the Sellëeis is situated a city Ephyra, which is to be distinguished from the Thesprotian, Thessalian, and Corinthian Ephyras;†it is a fourth Ephyra, and is situated on the road that leads to Lasion, being either the same city as Boenoa (for thus Oenoe is usually called), or else near that city, at a distance of one hundred and twenty stadia from the city of the Eleians. This, apparently, is the Ephyra which Homer calls the home of the mother of Tlepolemus the son of Heracles (for the expeditions of Heracles were in this region rather than in any of the other three) when he says, “whom he had brought out of Ephyra, from the River Sellëeis”.†and there is no River Sellëeis near the other Ephyras. Again, he says of the corselet of Meges: “this corselet Phyleus once brought out of Ephyra, from the River Sellëeis.” And thirdly, the man-slaying drugs: for Homer says that Odysseus came to Ephyra “in search of a man-slaying drug, that he might have wherewithal to smear his arrows”; and in speaking of Telemachus the wooers say: “or else he means to go to the fertile soil of Ephyra, that from there he may bring deadly drugs”; for Nestor, in his narrative of his war against the Epeians, introduces the daughter of Augeas, the king of the Epeians, as a mixer of drugs: “I was the first that slew a man, even the spearman Mulius; he was a son-in-law of Augeias, having married his eldest daughter, and she knew all drugs that are nourished by the wide earth.” But there is another River Sellëeis near Sicyon, and near the river a village Ephyra. And in the Agraean district of Aetolia there is a village Ephyra; its inhabitants are called Ephyri. And there are still other Ephyri, I mean the branch of the Perrhaebians who live near Macedonia (the Crannonians), as also those Thesprotian Ephyri of Cichyrus, which in earlier times was called Ephyra.

6Apollodorus, in teaching us how the poet is wont to distinguish between places of the same name, says that as the poet, in the case of Orchomenus, for instance, refers to the Arcadian Orchomenus as “abounding in flocks” and to the Boeotian Orchomenus as “Minyeian,” and refers to Samos as the Thracian Samos by connecting it with a neighboring island, “betwixt Samos and Imbros,” in order to distinguish it from Ionian Samos—so too, Apollodorus says, the poet distinguishes the Thesprotian Ephyra both by the word “distant” and by the phrase “from the River Sellëeis.” In this, however, Apollodorus is not in agreement with what Demetrius of Scepsis says, from whom he borrows most of his material; for Demetrius says that there is no River Sellëeis among the Thesprotians, but says that it is in the Eleian country and flows past the Ephyra there, as I have said before. In this statement, therefore, Apollodorus was in want of perception;†as also in his statement concerning Oechalia, because, although Oechalia is the name of not merely one city, he says that there is only one city of Eurytus the Oechalian, namely, the Thessalian Oechalia, in reference to which Homer says: “Those that held Oechalia, city of Eurytus the Oechalian.” What Oechalia, pray, was it from which Thamyris had set out when, near Dorium, the Muses “met Thamyris the Thracian and put a stop to his singing”? For Homer adds: “as he was on his way from Oechalia, from Eurytus the Oechalian.” For if it was the Thessalian Oechalia, Demetrius of Scepsis is wrong again when he says that it was a certain Arcadian Oechalia, which is now called Andania; but if Demetrius is right, Arcadian Oechalia was also called “city of Eurytus,” and therefore there was not merely one Oechalia; but Apollodorus says that there was one only.

7It was between the outlets of the Peneius and the Sellëeis, near the Scollium,†that Pylus was situated; not the city of Nestor, but another Pylus which has nothing in common with the Alpheius, nor with the Pamisus (or Amathus, if we should call it that). Yet there are some who do violence to Homer’s words, seeking to win for themselves the fame and noble lineage of Nestor; for, since history mentions three Pyluses in the Peloponnesus (as is stated in this verse: “There is a Pylus in front of Pylus; yea, and there is still another Pylus,”)†the Pylus in question, the Lepreatic Pylus in Triphylia and Pisatis, and a third, the Messenian Pylus near Coryphasium,†the inhabitants of each try to show that the Pylus in their own country is “emathoëis”†and declare that it is the native place of Nestor. However, most of the more recent writers, both historians and poets, say that Nestor was a Messenian, thus adding their support to the Pylus which has been preserved down to their own times. But the writers who follow the words of Homer more closely say that the Pylus of Nestor is the Pylus through whose territory the Alpheius flows. And the Alpheius flows through Pisatis and Triphylia. However, the writers from Coele Elis have not only supported their own Pylus with a similar zeal, but have also attached to it tokens of recognition,†pointing out a place called Gerenus, a river called Geron, and another river called Geranius, and then confidently asserting that Homer’s epithet for Nestor, “Gerenian,” was derived from these. But the Messenians have done the selfsame thing, and their argument appears at least more plausible; for they say that their own Gerena is better known, and that it was once a populous place. Such, then, is the present state of affairs as regards Coele Elis.

8But when the poet divides this country into four parts and also speaks of the leaders as four in number, his statement is not clear: “And they too that inhabited both Buprasium and goodly Elis, so much thereof as is enclosed by Hyrmine and Myrsinus on the borders, and by the Olenian Rock and Aleisium,—of these men, I say, there were four leaders, and ten swift ships followed each leader, and many Epeians embarked thereon.”†For when he speaks of both the Buprasians and the Eleians as Epeians but without going on and calling the Buprasians Eleians, it would seem that he is not dividing the Eleian country into four parts, but rather the country of the Epeians, which he had already divided into only two parts; and thus Buprasium would not be a part of Elis but rather of the country of the Epeians. For it is clear that he calls the Buprasians Epeians; “as when the Epeians were burying lord Amarynces at Buprasium.” But Buprasium now appears to have been a territory of the Eleian country, having in it a settlement of the same name, which was also a part of Elis.†And again, when he names the two together, saying “both Buprasium and goodly Elis,” and then divides the country into four parts, it seems as though he is classifying the four parts under the general designation “both Buprasium and goodly Elis.” It seems likely that at one time there was a considerable settlement by the name of Buprasium in the Eleian country which is no longer in existence (indeed, only that territory which is on the road that leads to Dyme from the present city of Elis is now so called); and one might suppose that at that time Buprasium had a certain preeminence as compared with Elis, just as the Epeians had in comparison with the Eleians; but later on the people were called Eleians instead of Epeians. And though Buprasium was a part of Elis, they say that Homer, by a sort of poetic figure, names the part with the whole, as for instance when he says: “throughout Hellas and mid-Argos,” and “throughout Hellas and Phthia,” and “the Curetes fought and the Aetolians,” and “the men of Dulichium and the holy Echinades,” for Dulichium is one of the Echinades. And more recent poets also use this figure; for instance, Hipponax, when he says: “to those who have eaten the bread of the Cyprians and the wheaten bread of the Amathusians,”†for the Amathusians are also Cyprians; and Alcman, when he says: “when she had left lovely Cypros and seagirt Paphos”†and Aeschylus,†when he says: “since thou dost possess the whole of Cypros and Paphos as thine allotment.”†But if Homer nowhere calls the Buprasians Eleians, I will say that there are many other facts also that he does not mention; yet this is no proof that they are not facts, but merely that he has not mentioned them.

9But Hecataeus of Miletus says that the Epeians are a different people from the Eleians; that, at any rate, the Epeians joined Heracles in his expedition against Augeas and helped him to destroy both Augeas and Elis. And he says, further, that Dyme is an Epeian and an Achaean city. However, the early historians say many things that are not true, because they were accustomed to falsehoods on account of the use of myths in their writings; and on this account, too, they do not agree with one another concerning the same things. Yet it is not incredible that the Epeians, even if they were once at variance with the Eleians and belonged to a different race, later became united with the Eleians as the result of prevailing over them, and with them formed one common state; and that they prevailed even as far as Dyme. For although the poet has not named Dyme, it is not unreasonable to suppose that in his time Dyme belonged to the Epeians, and later to the Ionians, or, if not to them, at all events to the Achaeans who took possession of their country. Of the four parts, inside which Buprasium is situated, only Hyrmine and Myrsinus belong to the Eleian country, whereas the remaining two are already on the frontiers of Pisatis, as some writers think.

10Now Hyrmine was a small town. It is no longer in existence, but near Cyllene there is a mountain promontory called Hormina or Hyrmina. Myrsinus is the present Myrtuntium, a settlement that extends down to the sea, and is situated on the road which runs from Dyme into Elis, and is seventy stadia distant from the city of the Eleians. The Olenian Rock is surmised to be what is now called Scollis;†for we are obliged to state what is merely probable, because both the places and the names have undergone changes, and because in many cases the poet does not make himself very clear. Scollis is a rocky mountain common to the territories of the Dymaeans, the Tritaeans, and the Eleians, and borders on another Arcadian mountain called Lampeia,†which is one hundred and thirty stadia distant from Elis, one hundred from Tritaea, and the same from Dyme; the last two are Achaean cities. Aleisium is the present Alesiaeum, a territory in the neighborhood of Amphidolis,†in which the people of the surrounding country hold a monthly market. It is situated on the mountain road that runs from Elis to Olympia. In earlier times it was a city of Pisatis, for the boundaries have varied at different times on account of the change of rulers. The poet also calls Aleisium “Hill of Aleisium,” when he says: “until we caused our horses to set foot on Buprasium, rich in wheat, and on the Olenian Rock, and of Aleisium where is the place called Hill”(we must interpret the words as a case of hyperbaton, that is, as equivalent to “and where is the place called Hill of Aleisium”). Some writers point also to a river Aleisius.

11Since certain people in Triphylia near Messenia are called Cauconians, and since Dyme also is called Cauconian by some writers, and since in the Dymaean territory between Dyme and Tritaea there is also a river which is called Caucon, in the feminine gender, writers raise the question whether there are not two different sets of Cauconians, one in the region of Triphylia, and the other in the region of Dyme, Elis, and the River Caucon. This river empties into another river which is called Teutheas, in the masculine gender; Teutheas has the same name as one of the little towns which were incorporated into Dyme, except that the name of this town, “Teuthea,” is in the feminine gender, and is spelled without the s and with the last syllable long. In this town is the temple of the Nemydian†Artemis. The Teutheas empties into the Acheloüs which flows by Dyme and has the same name as the Acarnanian river. It is also called the “Peirus”; by Hesiod, for instance, when he says: “he dwelt on the Olenian Rock along the banks of a river, wide Peirus.”Some change the reading to “Pierus,” wrongly. They raise that question about the Cauconians, they say, because, when Athene in the guise of Mentor, in the Odyssey says to Nestor, “but in the morning I will go to the great-hearted Cauconians, where a debt is due me, in no way new or small. But do thou send this man on his way with a chariot and with thy son, since he has come to thy house, and give him horses,”the poet seems to designate a certain territory in the country of the Epeians which was held by the Cauconians, these Cauconians being a different set from those in Triphylia and perhaps extending as far as the territory of Dyme. Indeed, one should not fail to inquire both into the origin of the epithet of Dyme, “Cauconian,” and into the origin of the name of the river “Caucon,” because the question who those Cauconians were to whom Athene says she is going in order to recover the debt offers a problem; for if we should interpret the poet as meaning the Cauconians in Triphylia near Lepreum, I do not see how his account can be plausible. Hence some read: “where a debt is due me in goodly Elis, no small one.” But this question will be investigated with clearer results when I describe the country that comes next after this, I mean Pisatis and Triphylia as far as the borders of the country of the Messenians.

12After Chelonatas comes the long seashore of the Pisatans; and then Cape Pheia. And there was also a small town called Pheia: “beside the walls of Pheia, about the streams of Iardanus,”for there is also a small river nearby. According to some, Pheia is the beginning of Pisatis. Off Pheia lie a little island and a harbor, from which the nearest distance from the sea to Olympia is one hundred and twenty stadia. Then comes another cape, Ichthys, which, like Chelonatas, projects for a considerable distance towards the west; and from it the distance to Cephallenia is again one hundred and twenty stadia. Then comes the mouth of the Alpheius, which is distant two hundred and eighty stadia from Chelonatas, and five hundred and forty five from Araxus. It flows from the same regions as the Eurotas, that is, from a place called Asea, a village in the territory of Megalopolis, where there are two springs near one another from which the rivers in question flow. They sink and flow beneath the earth for many stadia†and then rise again; and then they flow down, one into Laconia and the other into Pisatis. The stream of the Eurotas reappears where the district called Bleminatis begins, and then flows past Sparta itself, traverses a long glen near Helus (a place mentioned by the poet), and empties between Gythium, the naval station of Sparta, and Acraea. But the Alpheius, after receiving the waters of the Ladon, the Erymanthus, and other rivers of less significance, flows through Phrixa, Pisatis, and Triphylia past Olympia itself to the Sicilian Sea, into which it empties between Pheia and Epitalium. Near the outlet of the river is the sacred precinct of Artemis Alpheionia or Alpheiusa (for the epithet is spelled both ways), which is about eighty stadia distant from Olympia. An annual festival is also celebrated at Olympia in honor of this goddess as well as in honor of Artemis Elaphia and Artemis Daphnia. The whole country is full of temples of Artemis, Aphrodite, and the Nymphs, being situated in sacred precincts that are generally full of flowers because of the abundance of water. And there are also numerous shrines of Hermes on the roadsides, and temples of Poseidon on the capes. In the temple of Artemis Alpheionia are very famous paintings by two Corinthians, Cleanthes and Aregon: by Cleanthes the “Capture of Troy” and the “Birth of Athene,” and by Aregon the “Artemis Borne Aloft on a Griffin.”

13Then comes the mountain of Triphylia that separates Macistia from Pisatis; then another river called Chalcis, and a spring called Cruni, and a settlement called Chalcis, and, after these, Samicum, where is the most highly revered temple of the Samian Poseidon. About the temple is a sacred precinct full of wild olive trees. The people of Macistum used to have charge over it; and it was they, too, who used to proclaim the armistice day called “Samian.” But all the Triphylians contribute to the maintenance of the temple.

14In the general neighborhood of these temples, above the sea, at a distance of thirty stadia or slightly more, is situated the Triphylian Pylus, also called the Lepreatic Pylus, which Homer calls “emathöeis”†and transmits to posterity as the fatherland of Nestor, as one might infer from his words, whether it be that the river that flows past Pylus towards the north (now called Mamaüs, or Arcadicus) was called Amathus in earlier times, so that Pylus got its epithet “emathöeis” from “Amathus,” or that this river was called Pamisus, the same as two rivers in Messenia, and that the derivation of the epithet of the city is uncertain; for it is false, they say, that either the river or the country about it is “amathodes.” And also the temple of Athene Scilluntia at Scillus, in the neighborhood of Olympia near Phellon,†is one of the famous temples. Near Pylus, towards the east, is a mountain named after Minthe, who, according to myth, became the concubine of Hades, was trampled under foot by Core, and was transformed into garden-mint, the plant which some call Hedyosmos.†Furthermore, near the mountain is a precinct sacred to Hades, which is revered by the Macistians too,†and also a grove sacred to Demeter, which is situated above the Pylian plain. This plain is fertile; it borders on the sea and stretches along the whole distance between Samicum and the River Neda. But the shore of the sea is narrow and sandy, so that one could not refuse to believe that Pylus got its epithet “emathöeis” therefrom.

15Towards the north, on the borders of Pylus, were two little Triphylian cities, Hypana and Tympaneae; the former of these was incorporated into Elis, whereas the latter remained as it was. And further, two rivers flow near these places, the Dalion and the Acheron, both of them emptying into the Alpheius. The Acheron has been so named by virtue of its close relation to Hades; for, as we know, not only the temples of Demeter and Core have been held in very high honor there, but also those of Hades, perhaps because of “the contrariness of the soil,” to use the phrase of Demetrius of Scepsis. For while Triphylia brings forth good fruit, it breeds red-rust and produces rush; and therefore in this region it is often the case that instead of a large crop there is no crop at all.

16To the south of Pylus is Lepreum. This city, too, was situated above the sea, at a distance of forty stadia; and between Lepreum and the Annius†is the temple of the Samian Poseidon, at a distance of one hundred stadia from each. This is the temple at which the poet says Telemachus found the Pylians performing the sacrifice: “And they came to Pylus, the well-built city of Neleus; and the people were doing sacrifice on the seashore, slaying bulls that were black all over, to the dark-haired Earth-shaker.”Now it is indeed allowable for the poet even to fabricate what is not true, but when practicable he should adapt his words to what is true and preserve his narrative; but the more appropriate thing was to abstain from what was not true. The Lepreatans held a fertile territory; and that of the Cyparissians bordered on it. Both these districts were taken and held by the Cauconians; and so was the Macistus (by some called Platanistus). The name of the town is the same as that of the territory. It is said that there is a tomb of Caucon in the territory of Lepreum—whether Caucon was a progenitor of the tribe or one who for some other reason had the same name as the tribe.

17There are several accounts of the Cauconians; for it is said that, like the Pelasgians, they were an Arcadian tribe, and, again like the Pelasgians, that they were a wandering tribe. At any rate, the poet tells us that they came to Troy as allies of the Trojans. But he does not say whence they come, though they seem to have come from Paphlagonia; for in Paphlagonia there is a people called Cauconiatae whose territory borders on that of the Mariandyni, who are themselves Paphlagonians. But I shall speak of them at greater length when I come to my description of that region. At present I must add the following to my account of the Cauconians in Triphylia. Some say that the whole of what is. now called Eleia, from Messenia as far as Dyme, was called Cauconia. Antimachus, at any rate, calls all the inhabitants both Epeians and Cauconians. Others, however, say that the Cauconians did not occupy the whole of Eleia, but lived there in two separate divisions, one division in Triphylia near Messenia, and the other in Buprasis and Coele Elis near Dyme. And Aristotle has knowledge of their having been established at this latter place especially.†And in fact the last view agrees better with what Homer says, and furnishes a solution of the question asked above, for in this view it is assumed that Nestor lived in the Triphylian Pylus, and that the parts towards the south and east (that is, the parts that are contiguous to Messenia and the Laconian country) were subject to him; and these parts were held by the Cauconians, so that if one went by land from Pylus to Lacedaemon his journey necessarily must have been made through the territory of the Cauconians; and yet the temple of the Samian Poseidon and the mooring-place near it, where Telemachus landed, lie off towards the northwest. So then, if the Cauconians live only here, the account of the poet is not conserved; for instance, Athene, according to Sotades, bids Nestor to send Telemachus to Lacedaemon “with chariot and son” to the parts that lie towards the east, and yet she says that she herself will go to the ship to spend the night, towards the west, and back the same way she came, and she goes on to say that “in the morning” she will go “amongst the great-hearted Cauconians”to collect a debt, that is, she will go forward again. How, pray? For Nestor might have said: “But the Cauconians are my subjects and live near the road that people travel to Lacedaemon. Why, therefore, do you not travel with Telemachus and his companions instead of going back the same way you came?” And at the same time it would have been proper for one who was going to people subject to Nestor to collect a debt—”no small debt,” as she says—to request aid from Nestor, if there should be any unfairness (as is usually the case) in connection with the contract; but this she did not do. If, then, the Cauconians lived only there, the result would be absurd; but if some of the Cauconians had been separated from the rest and had gone to the regions near Dyme in Eleia, then Athene would be speaking of her journey thither, and there would no longer be anything incongruous either in her going down to the ship or in her withdrawing from the company of travellers, because their roads lay in opposite directions. And similarly, too, the puzzling questions raised in regard to Pylus may find an appropriate solution when, a little further on in my chorography, I reach the Messenian Pylus.

18A part of the inhabitants of Triphylia were called Paroreatae; they occupied mountains, in the neighborhood of Lepreum and Macistum, that reach down to the sea near the Samian Poseidium.

19At the base of these mountains, on the seaboard, are two caves. One is the cave of the nymphs called Anigriades; the other is the scene of the stories of the daughters of Atlas†and of the birth of Dardanus. And here, too, are the sacred precincts called the Ionaeum and the Eurycydeium. Samicum†is now only a fortress, though formerly there was also a city which was called Samus, perhaps because of its lofty situation; for they used to call lofty places “Samoi.” And perhaps Samicum was the acropolis of Arene, which the poet mentions in the Catalogue: “And those who dwelt in Pylus and lovely Arene.”For while they cannot with certainty discover Arene anywhere, they prefer to conjecture that this is its site; and the neighboring River Anigrus, formerly called Minyeius, gives no slight indication of the truth of the conjecture, for the poet says: “And there is a River Minyeius which falls into the sea near Arene.”Hom. Il. 11.722 For near the cave of the nymphs called Anigriades is a spring which makes the region that lies below it swampy and marshy. The greater part of the water is received by the Anigrus, a river so deep and so sluggish that it forms a marsh; and since the region is muddy, it emits an offensive odor for a distance of twenty stadia, and makes the fish unfit to eat.†In the mythical accounts, however, this is attributed by some writers to the fact that certain of the Centaurs here washed off the poison they got from the Hydra, and by others to the fact that Melampus used these cleansing waters for the purification of the Proetides.†The bathing-water from here cures leprosy, elephantiasis, and scabies. It is said, also, that the Alpheius was so named from its being a cure for leprosy. At any rate, since both the sluggishness of the Anigrus and the backwash from the sea give fixity rather than current to its waters, it was called the “Minyeius” in earlier times, so it is said, though some have perverted the name and made it “Minteius”†instead. But the word has other sources of derivation, either from the people who went forth with Chloris, the mother of Nestor, from the Minyeian Orchomenus, or from the Minyans, who, being descendants of the Argonauts, were first driven out of Lemnos into Lacedaemon, and thence into Triphylia, and took up their abode about Arene in the country which is now called Hypaesia, though it no longer has the settlements of the Minyans. Some of these Minyans sailed with Theras, the son of Autesion, who was a descendant of Polyneices, to the island which is situated between Cyrenaea and Crete (“Calliste its earlier name, but Thera its later,”†as Callimachus says), and founded Thera, the mother-city of Cyrene, and designated the island by the same name as the city.

20Between the Anigrus and the mountain from which it flows are to be seen the meadow and tomb of Iardanus, and also the Achaeae, which are abrupt cliffs of that same mountain above which, as I was saying, the city Samus was situated. However, Samus is not mentioned at all by the writers of the Circumnavigations—perhaps because it had long since been torn down and perhaps also because of its position; for the Poseidium is a sacred precinct, as I have said, near the sea, and above it is situated a lofty hill which is in front of the Samicum of today, on the site of which Samus once stood, and therefore Samus was not visible from the sea. Here, too, is a plain called Samicum; and from this one might get more conclusive proof that there was once a city called Samus. And further, the poem entitled Rhadine (of which Stesichorus is reputed to be the author), which begins, “Come, thou clear-voiced Muse, Erato, begin thy song, voicing to the tune of thy lovely lyre the strain of the children of Samus,”†refers to the children of the Samus in question; for Rhadine, who had been betrothed to a tyrant of Corinth, the author says, set sail from Samus (not meaning, of course, the Ionian Samus) while the west wind was blowing, and with the same wind her brother, he adds, went to Delphi as chief of an embassy; and her cousin, who was in love with her, set out for Corinth in his chariot to visit her. And the tyrant killed them both and sent their bodies away on a chariot, but repented, recalled the chariot, and buried their bodies.

21From this Pylus and Lepreum to the Messenian Pylus and Coryphasium (a fortress situated on the sea) and to the adjacent island Sphagia,†the distance is about four hundred stadia; from the Alpheius seven hundred and fifty; and from Chelonatas one thousand and thirty. In the intervening space are both the temple of the Macistian Heracles and the Acidon River. The Acidon flows past the tomb of Iardanus and past Chaa—a city that was once in existence near Lepreum, where is also the Aepasian Plain. It was for the possession of this Chaa, some say, that the war between the Arcadians and Pylians, of which Homer tells us, arose in a dispute; and they think that one should write, “Would that I were in the bloom of my youth, as when the Pylians and the Arcadians gathered together and fought at the swift-flowing Acidon, beside the walls of Chaa”—instead of “Celadon” and “Pheia”;†for this region, they say, is nearer than the other to the tomb of Iardanus and to the country of the Arcadians.

22Cyparissia is on the Triphylian Sea, and so are Pyrgi, and the Acidon and Neda Rivers.†At the present time the stream of the Neda is the boundary between Triphylia and Messenia (an impetuous stream that comes down from Lycaeus, an Arcadian mountain, out of a spring, which, according to the myth, Rhea, after she had given birth to Zeus, caused to break forth in order to have water to bathe in); and it flows past Phigalia, opposite the place where the Pyrgetans, last of the Triphylians, border on the Cyparissians, first of the Messenians; but in the early times the division between the two countries was different, so that some of the territories across the Neda were subject to Nestor—not only Cyparissëeis, but also some other parts on the far side. Just so, too, the poet prolongs the Pylian Sea as far as the seven cities which Agamemnon promised to Achilles: “and all are situated near the sea of sandy Pylus;”†for this phrase is equivalent to “near the Pylian Sea.”

23Be that as it may, next in order after sailing past Cyparissëeis towards the Messenian Pylus and Coryphasium one comes to Erana, which some wrongly think was in earlier times called Arene by the same name as the Pylian Arene, and also to Cape Platamodes, from which the distance to Coryphasium and to what is now called Pylus is one hundred stadia. Here, too, is a small island, Prote, and on it a town of the same name. Perhaps I would not be examining at such length things that are ancient, and would be content merely to tell in detail how things now are, if there were not connected with these matters legends that have been taught us from boyhood; and since different men say different things, I must act as arbiter. In general, it is the most famous, the oldest, and the most experienced men who are believed; and since it is Homer who has surpassed all others in these respects, I must likewise both inquire into his words and compare them with things as they now are, as I was saying a little while ago.

24I have already inquired into Homer’s words concerning Coele Elis and Buprasium. Concerning the country that was subject to Nestor, Homer speaks as follows: “And those who dwelt in Pylus and lovely Arene and Thryum, fording-place of the Alpheius, and well-built Aepy, and also those who were inhabitants of Cyparissëeis and Amphigeneia and Pteleus and Helus and Dorium, at which place the Muses met Thamyris the Thracian, and put a stop to his singing while he was on his way from Oechalia from Eurytus the Oechalian.”It is Pylus, then, with which our investigation is concerned, and about it we shall make inquiry presently. About Arene I have already spoken.†The city which the poet now calls Thryum he elsewhere calls Thryoessa: “There is a certain city, Thryoessa, a steep hill, far away on the Alpheius.”He calls it “fording-place of the Alpheius” because the river could be crossed on foot, as it seems, at this place. But it is now called Epitalium (a small place in Macistia). As for “well-built Aepy,” some raise the question which of the two words is the epithet and which is the city, and whether it is the Margalae of today, in Amphidolia. Now Margalae is not a natural stronghold, but another place is pointed out which is a natural stronghold, in Macistia. The man, therefore, who suspects that the latter place is meant by Homer calls the name of the city “Aepy”†from what is actually the case in nature (compare Helus, Aegialus, and several other names of places); whereas the man who suspects that “Margala” is meant does the reverse perhaps.†Thryum, or Thryoessa, they say, is Epitalium, because the whole of this country is full of rushes, particularly the rivers; and this is still more conspicuous at the fordable places of the stream. But perhaps, they say, Homer called the ford “Thryum” and called Epitalium “well-built Aepy”; for Epitalium is fortified by nature. And in fact he speaks of a “steep hill” in other places: “There is a certain city, Thryoessa, a steep hill, far away on the Alpheius, last city of sandy Pylus.”

25Cyparissëeis is in the neighborhood of the Macistia of earlier times (when Macistia still extended across the Neda), but it is no longer inhabited, as is also the case with Macistum. But there is another, the Messenian Cyparissia; it, too, is now called by the same name as the Macistian and in like manner, namely, Cyparissia, in the singular number and in the feminine gender,†whereas only the river is now called Cyparissëeis. And Amphigeneia, also, is in Macistia, in the neighborhood of the Hypsöeis River, where is the temple of Leto. Pteleum was a settlement of the colony from the Thessalian Pteleum, for, as Homer tells us, there was a Pteleum in Thessaly too: “and Antrum, near the sea, and grassy Pteleum;”but now it is a woody, uninhabited place, and is called Pteleasium. As for Helus, some call it a territory in the neighborhood of the Alpheius, while others go on to call it a city, as they do the Laconian Helus: “and Helus, a city near the sea;”but others call it a marsh,†the marsh in the neighborhood of Alorium, where is the temple of the Heleian Artemis, whose worship was under the management of the Arcadians, for this people had the priesthood. As for Dorium, some call it a mountain, while others call it a plain, but nothing is now to be seen; and yet by some the Aluris of today, or Alura, situated in what is called the Aulon of Messenia, is called Dorium. And somewhere in this region is also the Oechalia of Eurytus (the Andania of today, a small Arcadian town, with the same name as the towns in Thessaly and Euboea), whence, according to the poet, Thamyris the Thracian came to Dorium and was deprived of the art of singing.

26From these facts, then, it is clear that the country subject to Nestor, all of which the poet calls “land of the Pylians,” extends on each side of the Alpheius; but the Alpheius nowhere touches either Messenia or Coele Elis. For the fatherland of Nestor is in this country which we call Triphylian, or Arcadian, or Leprean, Pylus. And the truth is that, whereas the other places called Pylus are to be seen on the sea, this Pylus is more than thirty stadia above the sea—a fact that is also clear from the verses of Homer, for, in the first place, a messenger is sent to the boat after the companions of Telemachus to invite them to an entertainment, and, secondly, Telemachus on his return from Sparta does not permit Peisistratus to drive to the city, but urges him to turn aside towards the ship, knowing that the road towards the city is not the same as that towards the place of anchorage. And thus the return voyage of Telemachus might be spoken of appropriately in these words: “And they went past Cruni†and fair-flowing Chalcis.†And the sun set and all the ways grew dark; and the ship, rejoicing in the breeze of Zeus, drew near to Phea, and on past goodly Elis, where the Epeians hold sway.”Thus far, then, the voyage is towards the north, but thence it bends in the direction of the east. That is, the ship abandons the voyage that was set out upon at first and that led straight to Ithaca, because there the wooers had set the ambush “in the strait between Ithaca and rugged Samos.”“And thence again he steered for the islands that are thoai;”but by “thoai” the poet means the islands that are “pointed.”†These belong to the Echinades group and are near the beginning of the Corinthian Gulf and the outlets of the Acheloüs. Again, after passing by Ithaca far enough to put it south of him, Telemachus turns round towards the proper course between Acarnania and Ithaca and makes his landing on the other side of the island—not at the Cephallenian strait which was being guarded by the wooers.†

27At any rate, if one should conceive the notion that the Eleian Pylus is the Pylus of Nestor, the poet could not appropriately say that the ship, after putting to sea from there, was carried past Cruni and Chalcis before sunset, then drew near to Phea by night, and then sailed past Eleia; for these places are to the south of Eleia: first, Phea, then Chalcis, then Cruni, and then the Triphylian Pylus and Samicum. This, then, would be the voyage for one who is sailing towards the south from Eleian Pylus, whereas one who is sailing towards the north, where Ithaca is, leaves all these parts behind him, and also must sail past Eleia itself—and that before sunset, though the poet says after sunset. And further, if one should go on to make a second supposition, that the Messenian Pylus and Coryphasium are the beginning of the voyage from Nestor’s, the distance would be considerable and would require more time. At any rate, merely the distance to Triphylian Pylus and the Samian Poseidium is four hundred stadia; and the first part of the coasting-voyage is not “past Cruni and Chalcis” and Phea (names of obscure rivers, or rather creeks), but past the Neda; then past the Acidon; and then past the Alpheius and the intervening places. And on this supposition those other places should have been mentioned later, for the voyage was indeed made past them too.

28Furthermore, the detailed account which Nestor recites to Patroclus concerning the war that took place between the Pylians and the Eleians pleads for what I have been trying to prove, if one observes the verses of the poet. For in them the poet says that, since Heracles had ravaged the Pylian country to the extent that all the youth were slain and that of all the twelve sons of Neleus only Nestor, then in his earliest youth, had been left, and since the Epeians had conceived a contempt for Neleus because of his old age and lack of defenders, they began to treat the Pylians in an arrogant and wanton manner. So, in return for this treatment, Nestor gathered together all he could of the people of his homeland, made an attack, he says, upon Eleia, and herded together very much booty, “fifty herds of cattle, and as many flocks of sheep, and as many droves of swine,”and also as many herds of goats, and one hundred and fifty sorrel mares, most of them with foals beneath them. “And these,” he says, “we drove within Neleian Pylus, to the city, in the night,”meaning, first, that it was in the daytime that the driving away of the booty and the rout of those who came to the rescue took place (when he says he killed Itymoneus), and, secondly, that it was in the nighttime that the return took place, so that it was night when they arrived at the city. And while the Pylians were busied with the distribution of the booty and with offering sacrifice, the Epeians, on the third day, after assembling in numbers, both footmen and horsemen, came forth in their turn against the Pylians and encamped around Thryum, which is situated on the Alpheius River. And when the Pylians learned this, they forthwith set out to the rescue; they passed the night in the neighborhood of the Minyeius River near Arene, and thence arrived at the Alpheius “in open sky,” that is, at midday. And after they offered sacrifice to the gods and passed the night near the river, they joined battle at early dawn; and after the rout took place, they did not stop pursuing and slaying the enemy until they set foot on Buprasium “and on the Olenian Rock and where is the place called Hill of Aleisium, whence Athene turned the people back again;”and a little further on the poet says: “But the Achaeans drove back their swift horses from Buprasium to Pylus.”

29From all this, then, how could one suppose that either the Eleian or Messenian Pylus is meant? Not the Eleian Pylus, because, if this Pylus was being ravaged by Heracles, the country of the Epeians was being ravaged by him at the same time; but this is the Eleian country. How, pray, could a people whose country had been ravaged at the same time and were of the same stock, have acquired such arrogance and wantonness towards a people who had been wronged at the same time? And how could they overrun and plunder their own homeland? And how could both Augeas and Neleus be rulers of the same people at the same time if they were personal enemies? If to Neleus “a great debt was owing in goodly Elis. Four horses, prize-winners, with their chariots, had come to win prizes and were to run for a tripod; but these Augeas, lord of men, detained there, though he sent away the driver.”And if this is where Neleus lived, Nestor too must have lived there. How, pray, could the poet say of the Eleians and the Buprasians, “there were four rulers of them, and ten swift ships followed each man, and many Epeians embarked “?And the country, too, was divided into four parts; yet Nestor ruled over no one of these, but over them “that dwelt in Pylus and in lovely Arene,”and over the places that come after these as far as Messene. Again, how could the Epeians, who in their turn went forth to attack the Pylians, set out for the Alpheius and Thryum? And how, after the battle took place, after they were routed, could they flee towards Buprasium? And again, if it was the Messenian Pylus which Heracles had ravaged, how could a people so far distant as the Epeians act wantonly towards them, and how could the Epeians have been involved in numerous contracts with them and have defaulted these by cancelling them, so that the war resulted on that account? And how could Nestor, when he went forth to plunder the country, when he herded together booty consisting of both swine and cattle, none of which could travel fast or far, have accomplished a journey of more than one thousand stadia to that Pylus which is near Coryphasium? Yet on the third day they all came to Thryoessa and the River Alpeius to besiege the stronghold! And how could these places belong to those who were in power in Messenia, when they were held by Cauconians and Triphylians and Pisatans? And as for Gerena, or Gerenia (for the word is spelled both ways), perhaps some people named it that to suit a purpose, though it is also possible that the place was by chance so named. And, in general, since Messenia was classified†as subject to Menalaüs, as was also the Laconian country (as will be clear from what I shall say later), and since the Pamisus and the Nedon flow through Messenia, whereas the Alpheius nowhere touches it (the Alpheius “that floweth in broad stream through the land of the Pylians,”over which Nestor ruled), what plausibility could there be in an account which lands Nestor in a foreign realm and robs him of the cities that are attributed to him in the Catalogue,†and thus makes everything subject to Menelaüs?

30It remains for me to tell about Olympia, and how everything fell into the hands of the Eleians. The temple is in Pisatis, less than three hundred stadia distant from Elis. In front of the temple is situated a grove of wild olive trees, and the stadium is in this grove. Past the temple flows the Alpheius, which, rising in Arcadia, flows between the west and the south into the Triphylian Sea. At the outset the temple got fame on account of the oracle of the Olympian Zeus; and yet, after the oracle failed to respond, the glory of the temple persisted none the less, and it received all that increase of fame of which we know, on account both of the festal assembly and of the Olympian Games, in which the prize was a crown and which were regarded as sacred, the greatest games in the world. The temple was adorned by its numerous offerings, which were dedicated there from all parts of Greece. Among these was the Zeus of beaten gold dedicated by Cypselus the tyrant of Corinth. But the greatest of these was the image of Zeus made by Pheidias of Athens, son of Charmides; it was made of ivory, and it was so large that, although the temple was very large, the artist is thought to have missed the proper symmetry, for he showed Zeus seated but almost touching the roof with his head, thus making the impression that if Zeus arose and stood erect he would unroof the temple. Certain writers have recorded the measurements of the image, and Callimachus has set them forth in an iambic poem. Panaenus the painter, who was the nephew and collaborator of Pheidias, helped him greatly in decorating the image, particularly the garments, with colors. And many wonderful paintings, works of Panaenus, are also to be seen round the temple. It is related of Pheidias that, when Panaenus asked him after what model he was going to make the likeness of Zeus, he replied that he was going to make it after the likeness set forth by Homer in these words: “Cronion spoke, and nodded assent with his dark brows, and then the ambrosial locks flowed streaming from the lord’s immortal head, and he caused great Olympus to quake.”A noble description indeed, as appears not only from the “brows” but from the other details in the passage, because the poet provokes our imagination to conceive the picture of a mighty personage and a mighty power worthy of a Zeus, just as he does in the case of Hera, at the same time preserving what is appropriate in each; for of Hera he says, “she shook herself upon the throne, and caused lofty Olympus to quake.”What in her case occurred when she moved her whole body, resulted in the case of Zeus when he merely “nodded with his brows,” although his hair too was somewhat affected at the same time. This, too, is a graceful saying about the poet, that “he alone has seen, or else he alone has shown, the likenesses of the gods.” The Eleians above all others are to be credited both with the magnificence of the temple and with the honor in which it was held. In the times of the Trojan war, it is true, or even before those times, they were not a prosperous people, since they had been humbled by the Pylians, and also, later on, by Heracles when Augeas their king was overthrown. The evidence is this: The Eleians sent only forty ships to Troy, whereas the Pylians and Nestor sent ninety. But later on, after the return of the Heracleidae, the contrary was the case, for the Aetolians, having returned with the Heracleidae under the leadership of Oxylus, and on the strength of ancient kinship having taken up their abode with the Epeians, enlarged Coele Elis, and not only seized much of Pisatis but also got Olympia under their power. What is more, the Olympian Games are an invention of theirs; and it was they who celebrated the first Olympiads, for one should disregard the ancient stories both of the founding of the temple and of the establishment of the games—some alleging that it was Heracles, one of the Idaean Dactyli, who was the originator of both, and others, that it was Heracles the son of Alcmene and Zeus, who also was the first to contend in the games and win the victory; for such stories are told in many ways, and not much faith is to be put in them. It is nearer the truth to say that from the first Olympiad, in which the Eleian Coroebus won the stadium-race, until the twenty.sixth Olympiad, the Eleians had charge both of the temple and of the games. But in the times of the Trojan War, either there were no games in which the prize was a crown or else they were not famous, neither the Olympian nor any other of those that are now famous.†In the first place, Homer does not mention any of these, though he mentions another kind—funeral games.†And yet some think that he mentions the Olympian Games when he says that Augeas deprived the driver of “four horses, prize-winners, that had come to win prizes.” And they say that the Pisatans took no part in the Trojan War because they were regarded as sacred to Zeus. But neither was the Pisatis in which Olympia is situated subject to Augeas at that time, but only the Eleian country, nor were the Olympian Games celebrated even once in Eleia, but always in Olympia. And the games which I have just cited from Homer clearly took place in Elis, where the debt was owing: “for a debt was owing to him in goodly Elis, four horses, prize-winners.”And these were not games in which the prize was a crown (for the horses were to run for a tripod), as was the case at Olympia. After the twenty-sixth Olympiad, when they had got back their homeland, the Pisatans themselves went to celebrating the games because they saw that these were held in high esteem. But in later times Pisatis again fell into the power of the Eleians, and thus again the direction of the games fell to them. The Lacedaemonians also, after the last defeat of the Messenians, cooperated with the Eleians, who had been their allies in battle, whereas the Arcadians and the descendants of Nestor had done the opposite, having joined with the Messenians in war. And the Lacedaemonians cooperated with them so effectually that the whole country as far as Messene came to be called Eleia, and the name has persisted to this day, whereas, of the Pisatans, the Triphylians, and the Cauconians, not even a name has survived. Further, the Eleians settled the inhabitants of “sandy Pylus” itself in Lepreum,†to gratify the Lepreatans, who had been victorious in a war,†and they broke up many other settlements,†and also exacted tribute of as many a they saw inclined to act independently.

31Pisatis first became widely famous on account of its rulers, who were most powerful: they were Oenomaüs, and Pelops who succeeded him, and the numerous sons of the latter. And Salmoneus, too, is said to have reigned there; at any rate, one of the eight cities into which Pisatis is divided is called Salmone. So for these reasons, as well as on account of the temple at Olympia, the country has gained wide repute. But one should listen to the old accounts with reserve, knowing that they are not very commonly accepted; for the later writers hold new views about many things and even tell the opposite of the old accounts, as when they say that Augeas ruled over Pisatis, but Oenomaüs and Salmoneus over Eleia; and some writers combine the two tribes into one. But in general one should follow only what is commonly accepted. Indeed, the writers do not even agree as to the derivation of the name Pisatis; for some derive it from a city Pisa, which bears the same name as the spring; the spring, they say, was called “Pisa,” the equivalent of “pistra,” that is “potistra”;†and they point out the site of the city on a lofty place between Ossa and Olympus, two mountains that bear the same name as those in Thessaly. But some say that there was no city by the name of Pisa (for if there had been, it would have been one of the eight cities), but only a spring, now called Pisa, near Cicysium, the largest of the eight cities; and Stesichorus, they explain, uses the term “city” for the territory called Pisa, just as Homer calls Lesbos the “city of Macar”; so Euripides in his Ion, “there is Euboea, a neighboring city to Athens;” and in his Rhadamanthys, “who hold the Euboean land, a neighboring city;”†and Sophocles in his Mysians,†“The whole country, stranger, is called Asia, but the city of the Mysians is called Mysia.”†

32Salmone is situated near the spring of that name from which flows the Enipeus River. The river empties into the Alpheius, and is now called the Barnichius.†It is said that Tyro fell in love with Enipeus: “She loved a river, the divine Enipeus.” For there, it is said, her father Salmoneus reigned, just as Euripides also says in his Aeolus.†Some write the name of the river in Thessaly “Eniseus”; it flows from Mount Othrys, and receives the Apidanus, which flows down out of Pharsalus.†Near Salmone is Heracleia, which is also one of the eight cities; it is about forty stadia distant from Olympia and is situated on the Cytherius River, where is the temple of the Ioniades Nymphs, who have been believed to cure diseases with their waters.†Near Olympia is Arpina,†also one of the eight cities, through which†flows the River Parthenias,†on the road that leads up to Pheraea. Pheraea is in Arcadia, and it is situated above Dymaea and Buprasium and Elis, that is, to the north of Pisatis†Here, too, is Cicysium, one of the eight cities; and also Dyspontium, which is situated in a plain and on the road that leads from Elis to Olympia; but it was destroyed, and most of its inhabitants emigrated to Epidamnus and Apollonia. Pholoe, an Arcadian mountain, is also situated above Olympia, and very close to it, so that its foothills are in Pisatis. Both the whole of Pisatis and most parts of Triphylia border on Arcadia; and on this account most of the Pylian districts mentioned in the Catalogue are thought to be Arcadian; the well-informed, however, deny this, for they say that the Erymanthus, one of the rivers that empty into the Alpheius, forms a boundary of Arcadia and that the districts in question are situated outside that river.†

33Ephorus says that Aetolus, after he had been driven by Salmoneus, the king of the Epeians and the Pisatans, out of Eleia into Aetolia, named the country after himself and also united the cities there under one metropolis; and Oxylus, a descendant of Aetolus and a friend of Temenus and the Heracleidae who accompanied him, acted as their guide on their way back to the Peloponnesus, and apportioned among them that part of the country which was hostile to them, and in general made suggestions regarding the conquest of the country; and in return for all this he received as a favor the permission to return to Eleia, his ancestral land; and he collected an army and returned from Aetolia to attack the Epeians who were in possession of Elis; but when the Epeians met them with arms, and it was found that the two forces were evenly matched, Pyraechmes the Aetolian and Degmenus the Epeian, in accordance with an ancient custom of the Greeks, advanced to single combat. Degmenus was lightly armed with a bow, thinking that he would easily overcome a heavy-armed opponent at long range, but Pyraechmes armed himself with a sling and a bag of stones, after he had noticed his opponent’s ruse (as it happened, the sling had only recently been invented by the Aetolians); and since the sling had longer range, Degmenus fell, and the Aetolians drove out the Epeians and took possession of the land; and they also assumed the superintendence, then in the hands of the Achaeans, of the temple at Olympia; and because of the friendship of Oxylus with the Heracleidae, a sworn agreement was promptly made by all that Eleia should be sacred to Zeus, and that whoever invaded that country with arms should he under a curse, and that whoever did not defend it to the extent of his power should be likewise under a curse; consequently those who later founded the city of the Eleians left it without a wall, and those who go through the country itself with an army give up their arms and then get them back again after they have passed out of its borders; and Iphitus celebrated†the Olympian Games, the Eleians now being a sacred people; for these reasons the people flourished, for whereas the other peoples were always at war with one another, the Eleians alone had profound peace, not only they, but their alien residents as well, and so for this reason their country became the most populous of all; but Pheidon the Argive, who was the tenth in descent from Temenus and surpassed all men of his time in ability (whereby he not only recovered the whole inheritance of Temenus, which had been broken up into several parts, but also invented the measures called “Pheidonian,” and weights, and coinage struck from silver and other metals)—Pheidon, I say, in addition to all this, also attacked the cities that had been captured previously by Heracles, and claimed for himself the right to celebrate all the games that Heracles had instituted. And he said that the Olympian Games were among these; and so he invaded Eleia and celebrated the games himself, the Eleians, because of the Peace, having no arms wherewith to resist him, and all the others being under his domination; however, the Eleians did not record this celebration in their public register, but because of his action they also procured arms and began to defend themselves; and the Lacedaemonians cooperated with them, either because they envied them the prosperity which they had enjoyed on account of the peace, or because they thought that they would have them as allies in destroying the power of Pheidon, for he had deprived them of the hegemony over the Peloponnesus which they had formerly held; and the Eleians did help them to destroy the power of Pheidon, and the Lacedaemonians helped the Eleians to bring both Pisatis and Triphylia under their sway. The length of the voyage along the coast of the Eleia of today, not counting the sinuosities of the gulfs, is, all told, twelve hundred stadia.†So much for Eleia.

1Messenia borders on Eleia; and for the most part it inclines round towards the south and the Libyan Sea. Now in the time of the Trojan War this country was classed as subject to Menelaüs, since it was a part of Laconia, and it was called Messene, but the city now named Messene whose acropolis was Ithome, had not yet been founded;†but after the death of Menelaüs, when those who succeeded to the government of Laconia had become enfeebled, the Neleidae began to rule over Messenia. And indeed at the time of the return of the Heracleidae and of the division of the country which then took place, Melanthus was king of the Messenians, who were an autonomous people, although formerly they had been subject to Menelaüs. An indication of this is as follows: The seven cities which Agamemnon promised to give to Achilles were on the Messenian Gulf and the adjacent Asinaean Gulf, so called after the Messenian Asine;†these cities were “Cardamyle and Enope and grassy Hire and sacred Pherae and deep-meadowed Antheia and beautiful Aepeia and vine-clad Pedasus;”and surely Agamemnon would not have promised cities that belonged neither to himself nor to his brother. And the poet makes it clear that men from Pherae†did accompany Menelaüs on the expedition; and in the Laconian Catalogue he includes Oetylus,†which is situated on the Messenian Gulf. Messene†comes after Triphylia; and there is a cape which is common to both;†and after this cape come Cyparissia and Coryphasium. Above Coryphasium and the sea, at a distance of seven stadia, lies a mountain, Aegaleum.

2Now the ancient Messenian Pylus was a city at the foot of Aegaleum; but after this city was torn down some of its inhabitants took up their abode on Cape Coryphasium; and when the Athenians under the leadership of Eurymedon and Stratocles†were sailing on the second expedition to Sicily, they reconstructed the city as a fortress against the Lacedaemonians. Here, too, is the Messenian Cyparissia, and the island called Prote, and the island called Sphagia that lies off the coast near Pylus (the same is also called Sphacteria), on which the Lacedaemonians lost by capture three hundred of their own men, who were besieged and forced to surrender by the Athenians.†Opposite this seacoast of the Cyparissians, out in the high sea, lie two islands called Strophades; and they are distant, I should say, about four hundred stadia from the mainland, in the Libyan and Southern Sea. Thucydides says that this Pylus was the naval station of the Messenians. It is four hundred†stadia distant from Sparta.

3Next comes Methone. This, they say, is what the poet calls Pedasus,†one of the seven cities which Agamemnon promised to Achilles. It was here that Agrippa, during the war of Actium, after he had taken the place by an attack from the sea, put to death Bogus, the king of the Maurusians, who belonged to the faction of Antony.

4Adjacent to Methone†is Acritas, which is the beginning of the Messenian Gulf. But this is also called the Asinaean Gulf, from Asine, which is the first town on the gulf and bears the same name as the Hermionic town.†Asine, then, is the beginning of the gulf on the west, while the beginning on the east is formed by a place called Thyrides,†which borders on that part of the Laconia of today which is near Cynaethius and Taenarum.†Between Asine and Thyrides, beginning at Thyrides, one comes to Oetylus (by some called Baetylus†); then to Leuctrum, a colony of the Leuctri in Boeotia; then to Cardamyle, which is situated on a rock fortified by nature; then to Pherae, which borders on Thuria and Gerena, the place from which Nestor got his epithet “Gerenian,” it is said, because his life was saved there, as I have said before. In Gerenia is to be seen a temple of Triccaean Asclepius, a reproduction of the one in the Thessalian Tricca. It is said that Pelops, after he had given his sister Niobe in marriage to Amphion, founded Leuctrum, Charadra, and Thalami (now called Boeoti), bringing with him certain colonists from Boeotia. Near Pherae is the mouth of the Nedon River; it flows through Laconia and is a different river from the Neda. It†has a notable temple of Athena Nedusia. In Poeäessa,†also, there is a temple of Athena Nedusia, named after some place called Nedon, from which Teleclus is said to have colonized Poeäessa and Echeiae†and Tragium.

5Of the seven cities†which Agamemnon tendered to Achilles, I have already spoken about Cardamyle and Pherae and Pedasus. As for Enope, some say that it is Pellana,†others that it is some place near Cardamyle, and others that it is Gerenia. As for Hire, it is pointed out near the mountain that is near Megalopolis in Arcadia, on the road that leads to Andania, the city which, as I have said, the poet called Oechalia; but others say that what is now Mesola, which extends to the gulf between Taÿgetus and Messenia, is called Hire. And Aepeia is now called Thuria, which, as I have said, borders on Pharae; it is situated on a lofty hill, and hence the name.†From Thuria is derived the name of the Thuriates Gulf, on which there was but one city, Rhium by name, opposite Taenarum. And as for Antheia, some say that it is Thuria itself, and that Aepeia is Methone; but others say that of all the Messenian cities the epithet “deep-meadowed”†was most appropriately applied to the intervening Asine, in whose territory on the sea is a city called Corone;†moreover, according to some writers, it was Corone that the poet called Pedasus. “And all are close to the salt sea,”Cardamyle on it, Pharae only five stadia distant (with an anchoring place in summer), while the others are at varying distances from the sea.

6It is near Corone, at about the center of the gulf, that the river Pamisus empties. The river has on its right Corone and the cities that come in order after it (of these latter the farthermost towards the west are Pylus and Cyparissia, and between these is Erana, which some have wrongly thought to be the Arene of earlier time), and it has Thuria and Pharae on its left. It is the largest of the rivers inside the Isthmus, although it is no more than a hundred stadia in length from its sources, from which it flows with an abundance of water through the Messenian plain, that is, through Macaria, as it is called. The river stands at a distance of fifty†stadia from the present city of the Messenians. There is also another Pamisus, a small torrential stream, which flows near the Laconian Leuctrum; and it was over Leuctrum that the Messenians got into a dispute with the Lacedaemonians in the time of Philip. Of the Pamisus which some called the Amathus I have already spoken.

7According to Ephorus: When Cresphontes took Messenia, he divided it into five cities; and so, since Stenyclarus was situated in the center of this country, he designated it as a royal residence for himself, while as for the others—Pylus, Rhium, Mesola, and Hyameitis—he sent kings to them, after conferring on all the Messenians equal rights with the Dorians; but since this irritated the Dorians, he changed his mind, gave sanction to Stenyclarus alone as a city, and also gathered into it all the Dorians.

8The city of the Messenians is similar to Corinth; for above either city lies a high and precipitous mountain that is enclosed by a common†wall, so that it is used as an acropolis, the one mountain being called Ithome and the other Acrocorinthus. And so Demetrius of Pharos seems to have spoken aptly to Philip†the son of Demetrius when he advised him to lay hold of both these cities if he coveted the Peloponnesus,†“for if you hold both horns,” he said, “you will hold down the cow,” meaning by “horns” Ithome and Acrocorinthus, and by “cow” the Peloponnesus. And indeed it is because of their advantageous position that these cities have been objects of contention. Corinth was destroyed and rebuilt again by the Romans;†and Messene was destroyed by the Lacedaemonians but restored by the Thebans and afterward by Philip the son of Amyntas. The citadels, however, remained uninhabited.

9The temple of Artemis at Limnae, at which the Messenians are reputed to have outraged the maidens who had come to the sacrifice, is on the boundaries between Laconia and Messenia, where both peoples held assemblies and offered sacrifice in common; and they say that it was after the outraging of the maidens, when the Messenians refused to give satisfaction for the act, that the war took place. And it is after this Limnae, also, that the Limnaeum, the temple of Artemis in Sparta, has been named.

10Often, however, they went to war on account of the revolts of the Messenians. Tyrtaeus says in his poems that the first conquest of Messenia took place in the time of his fathers’ fathers; the second, at the time when the Messenians chose the Argives, Eleians, Pisatans, and Arcadians as allies and revolted—the Arcadians furnishing Aristocrates†the king of Orchomenus as general and the Pisatae furnishing Pantaleon the son of Omphalion; at this time, he says, he himself was the Lacedaemonian general in the war,†for in his elegy entitled Eunomia he says that he came from there: “For the son of Cronus, spouse of Hera of the beautiful crown, Zeus himself, hath given this city to the Heracleidae, in company with whom I left windy Erineus, and came to the broad island of Pelops.”††Therefore either these verses of the elegy must be denied authority or we must discredit Philochorus,†who says that Tyrtaeus was an Athenian from the deme of Aphidnae, and also Callisthenes and several other writers, who say that he came from Athens when the Lacedaemonians asked for him in accordance with an oracle which bade them to get a commander from the Athenians. So the second war was in the time of Tyrtaeus; but also a third and fourth war took place, they say, in which the Messenians were defeated.†The voyage round the coast of Messenia, following the sinuosities of the gulfs, is, all told, about eight hundred stadia in length.

11However, I am overstepping the bounds of moderation in recounting the numerous stories told about a country the most of which is now deserted; in fact, Laconia too is now short of population as compared with its large population in olden times, for outside of Sparta the remaining towns are only about thirty in number, whereas in olden times it was called, they say, “country of the hundred cities”; and it was on this account, they say, that they held annual festivals in which one hundred cattle were sacrificed.

1Be this as it may, after the Messenian Gulf comes the Laconian Gulf, lying between Taenarum†and Maleae, which bends slightly from the south towards the east; and Thyrides,†a precipitous rock exposed to the currents of the sea, is in the Messenian Gulf at a distance of one hundred and thirty stadia from Taenarum. Above Thyrides lies Taÿgetus; it is a lofty and steep mountain, only a short distance from the sea, and it connects in its northerly parts with the foothills of the Arcadian mountains in such a way that a glen is left in between, where Messenia borders on Laconia. Below Taÿgetus, in the interior, lies Sparta, and also Amyclae, where is the temple of Apollo,†and Pharis. Now the site of Sparta is in a rather hollow district,†although it includes mountains within its limits; yet no part of it is marshy, though in olden times the suburban part was marshy, and this part they called Limnae; and the temple of Dionysus in Limnae†stood on wet ground, though now its foundations rest on dry ground. In the bend of the seaboard one comes, first, to a headland that projects into the sea, Taenarum, with its temple of Poseidon situated in a grove; and secondly, near by, to the cavern†through which, according to the myth writers, Cerberus was brought up from Hades by Heracles. From here the passage towards the south across the sea to Phycus,†a cape in Cyrenaea, is three thousand stadia; and the passage towards the west to Pachynus,†the promontory of Sicily, is four thousand six hundred, though some say four thousand; and towards the east to Maleae, following the sinuosities of the gulfs, six hundred and seventy; and to Onugnathus,†a low-lying peninsula somewhat this side of Maleae, five hundred and twenty; off Onugnathus and opposite it, at a distance of forty stadia, lies Cythera, an island with a good harbor, containing a city of the same name, which Eurycles, the ruler of the Lacedaemonians in our times, seized as his private property; and round it lie several small islands, some near it and others slightly farther away; and to Corycus,†a cape in Crete, the shortest voyage is seven hundred stadia.†

2After Taenarum, on the voyage to Onugnathus and Maleae, one comes to the city Psamathus; then to Asine, and to Gythium, the seaport of Sparta, situated at a distance of two hundred and forty stadia from Sparta. The roadstead of the seaport was dug by the hand of man, so it is said. Then one comes to the Eurotas, which empties between Gythium and Acraea. Now for a time the voyage is along the shore, for about two hundred and forty stadia; then comes a marshy district situated above the gulf, and also a village called Helus.†In earlier times Helus was a city, just as Homer says: “And they that held Amyclae, and Helus, a city by the sea.”It is said to have been founded by Helius, a son of Perseus. And one comes also to a plain called Leuce;†then to a city Cyparissia, which is situated on a peninsula and has a harbor; then to Onugnathus, which has a harbor; then to the city Boea; and then to Maleae. And the distance from Onugnathus to Maleae is one hundred and fifty stadia; and there is also a city Asopus†in Laconia.

3They say that one of the places mentioned in Homer’s Catalogue,†Messe, is nowhere to be seen; and that Messoa was not a part of the country but of Sparta, as was the case with Limnaeum,†...†But some take “Messe” as an apocopated form of “Messene,” for, as I have said,†Messene too was a part of Laconia. As examples of apocope from the poet himself, writers cite “kri,” “do,” and “maps,”†and also the passage “the heroes Automedon and Alcimus,”for “Alcimedon”; then from Hesiod, who uses “bri” for “brithu” or “briaron”; and Sophocles and Ion, “rha” for “rhadion”; and Epicharmus, “li” for “lian,” and “Syraco” for “Syracuse”; and in Empedocles,†“ops” for “opsis”: “the ‘ops’ of both becomes one;”†and in Antimachus, “the sacred ‘ops’ of the Eleusinian Demeter,” and “alphi” for “alphiton”; and Euphorion even uses “hel” for “helos”; and in Philetas, “eri” for “erion”: “maidservants bring white ‘eri’†and put it in baskets;” and Aratus says “peda” for “pedalia”: “the ‘peda’ towards the wind”; and Simmias, “Dodo” for “Dodona.” As for the rest of the places listed by the poet, some have been destroyed; of others traces are still left; and of others the names have been changed, for example, Augeiae to Aegaeae;†for the Augeiae in Locris no longer exists at all. As for Las, the story goes, the Dioscuri†once captured it by siege, and it was from this fact that they got the appellation “Lapersae.”†And Sophocles says, “by the two Lapersae, I swear, by Eurotas third, by the gods in Argos and about Sparta.”†

4According to Ephorus: Eurysthenes and Procles, the Heracleidae, took possession of Laconia,†divided the country into six parts, and founded cities; now one of the divisions, Amyclae, they selected and gave to the man†who had betrayed Laconia to them and who had persuaded the ruler who was in possession of it to accept their terms and emigrate with the Achaeans to Ionia; Sparta they designated as a royal residence for themselves; to the other divisions they sent kings, and because of the sparsity of the population gave them permission to receive as fellow inhabitants any strangers who wished the privilege; and they used Las as a naval station because of its good harbor, and Aegys†as a base of operations against their enemies (for its territory†bordered on those of the surrounding peoples) and Pharis as a treasury, because it afforded security against outsiders;... but though the neighboring peoples, one and all, were subject to the Spartiatae, still they had equal rights, sharing both in the rights of citizenship and in the offices of state, and they were called Helots;†but Agis, the son of Eurysthenes, deprived them of the equality of rights and ordered them to pay tribute to Sparta; now all obeyed except the Heleians, the occupants of Helus, who, because they revolted, were forcibly reduced in a war, and were condemned to slavery, with the express reservation that no slaveholder should be permitted either to set them free or to sell them outside the borders of the country; and this war was called the War against the Helots. One may almost say that it was Agis and his associates who introduced the whole system of Helot-slavery that persisted until the supremacy of the Romans; for the Lacedaemonians held the Helots as state slaves in a way, having assigned to them certain settlements to live in and special services to perform.

5Concerning the government of the Laconians and the changes that took place among them, one might omit most things as well known, but there are certain things which it is perhaps worthwhile to mention. For instance, they say that the Achaeans of Phthiotis came down with Pelops into the Peloponnesus, took up their abode in Laconia, and so far excelled in bravery that the Peloponnesus, which now for many ages had been called Argos, came to be called Achaean Argos, and the name was applied not only in a general way to the Peloponnesus, but also in a specific way to Laconia; at any rate, the words of the poet, “Where was Menelaüs?”or was he not in Achaean Argos?”are interpreted by some thus: “or was he not in Laconia?” And at the time of the return of the Heracleidae, when Philonomus betrayed the country to the Dorians, the Achaeans emigrated from Laconia to the country of the Ionians, the country that still today is called Achaea. But I shall speak of them in my description of Achaea. Now the new possessors of Laconia restrained themselves at first, but after they turned over the government to Lycurgus they so far surpassed the rest that they alone of the Greeks ruled over both land and sea, and they continued ruling the Greeks until they were deprived of their hegemony, first by the Thebans, and immediately after them by the Macedonians. However, they did not wholly yield even to the Macedonians, but, preserving their autonomy, always kept up a struggle for the primacy both with the rest of the Greeks and with the kings of the Macedonians. And when the Macedonians had been overthrown by the Romans, the Lacedaemonians committed some slight offences against the praetors who were sent by the Romans, because at that time they were under the rule of tyrants and had a wretched government; but when they had recovered themselves, they were held in particular honor, and remained free, contributing to Rome nothing else but friendly services. But recently Eurycles has stirred up trouble among them, having apparently abused the friendship of Caesar unduly in order to maintain his authority over his subjects; but the trouble†quickly came to an end, Eurycles retiring to his fate,†and his son†being averse to any friendship of this kind.†And it also came to pass that the Eleuthero-Lacones†got a kind of republican constitution, since the Perioeci†and also the Helots, at the time when Sparta was under the rule of tyrants, were the first to attach themselves to the Romans. Now Hellanicus says that Eurysthenes and Procles drew up the constitution;†but Ephorus censures Hellanicus, saying that he has nowhere mentioned Lycurgus and that he ascribes the work of Lycurgus to persons who had nothing to do with it. At any rate, Ephorus continues, it is to Lycurgus alone that a temple has been erected and that annual sacrifices are offered, whereas Eurysthenes and Procles, although they were the founders, have not even been accorded the honor of having their respective descendants called Eurysthenidae and Procleidae; instead, the respective descendants are called Agidae, after Agis the son of Eurysthenes, and Eurypontidae, after Eurypon the son of Procles; for Agis and Eurypon reigned in an honorable way, whereas Eurysthenes and Procles welcomed foreigners and through these maintained their overlordship; and hence they were not even honored with the title of “archegetae,”†an honor which is always paid to founders; and further, Pausanias,†after he was banished because of the hatred of the Eurypontidae, the other royal house, and when he was in exile, prepared a discourse on the laws of Lycurgus, who belonged to the house that banished him,†in which he also tells the oracles that were given out to Lycurgus concerning most of the laws.

6Concerning the nature of the regions, both Laconia and Messenia, one should accept what Euripides says in the following passages: He says that Laconia has “much arable land but is not easy to cultivate, for it is hollow,†surrounded by mountains, rugged, and difficult for enemies to invade;” and that Messenia is “a land of fair fruitage and watered by innumerable streams, abounding in pasturage for cattle and sheep, being neither very wintry in the blasts of winter nor yet made too hot by the chariot of Helios;”†and a little below, in speaking of the lots which the Heracleidae cast for the country, he says that the first lot conferred “lordships over the land of Laconia, a poor country,”†and the second over Messenia, “whose fertility is greater than words can express;”†and Tyrtaeus speaks of it in the same manner. But one should not admit that the boundary between Laconia and Messenia is formed, as Euripides says, “by the Pamisus, which rushes into the sea,”†for it flows through the middle of Messenia, nowhere touching the present Laconia. Neither is he right when he says that to mariners Messenia is far away, for Messenia like Laconia lies on the sea; and he does not give the right boundary of Elis either, “and far away, after one crosses the river, lies Elis, the neighbor of Zeus;”†for if, on the one hand, he means the present Eleian country, which borders on Messenia, the Pamisus does not touch this country, any more than it does Laconia, for, as I have said, it flows through the middle of Messenia; or if, on the other hand, he means the old Coele Elis, he deviates much further from the truth; for after one crosses the Pamisus there is still a large part of Messenia to traverse, and then the whole of the territories of the Lepreatae and the Macistii, which they used to call Triphylia; and then come Pisatis and Olympia, and then, three hundred stadia farther on, Elis.

7Since some critics write†Lacedaemon “Ketoessan” and others “Kaietaessan,” the question is asked, how should we interpret “Ketoessa,” whether as derived from “Kete,”†or as meaning “large,”†which seems to be more plausible. And as for “Kaietaessan,” some interpret it as meaning “Kalaminthode,”†whereas others say that the clefts caused by earthquakes are called “Kaietoi,” and that from “Kaietoi” is derived “Kaietas,” the word among the Lacedaemonians for their “prison,” which is a sort of cavern. But some prefer to call such cavernous places “Kooi,” and whence, they add, comes the expression “’oreskoioi’ monsters.”†Laconia is subject to earthquakes, and in fact some writers record that certain peaks of Taÿgetus have been broken away. And there are quarries of very costly marble—the old quarries of Taenarian marble on Taenarum; and recently some men have opened a large quarry in Taÿgetus, being supported in their undertaking by the extravagance of the Romans.

8Homer makes it clear that both the country and the city are called by the same name, Lacedaemon (and when I say “country” I include Messenia with Laconia). For in speaking of the bows, when he says, “beautiful gifts which a friend had given him when he met him in Lacedaemon, even Iphitus the son of Eurytus,”and then adds, “these twain met one another in Messene in the home of Ortilochus,”Homer means the country of which Messenia was a part. Accordingly it made no difference to him whether he said “a friend had given him when he met him in Lacedaemon” or “these twain met in Messene.” For, that Pherae is the home of Ortilochus, is clear from this passage: “and they” (Telemachus and Peisistratus) “went to Pherae, the home of Diocles, son of Ortilochus;”and Pherae is in Messenia. But when Homer says that, after Telemachus and his companions set out from Pherae, they shook the yoke all day long, and then adds, “and the sun set, and they came to Hollow Lacedaemon ‘Ketoessan,’ and then drove to the palace of Menelaüs,”†we must interpret him as meaning the city; otherwise it will be obvious that the poet speaks of their arrival at Lacedaemon from Lacedaemon! And, besides, it is not probable that the residence of Menelaüs was not at Sparta, nor yet, if it were not there, that Telemachus would say, “for I would go both to Sparta and to Pylus.”But the fact that Homer uses the epithets of the country†is in disagreement with this view†unless, indeed, one is willing to attribute this to poetic license—as one should do, for it were better for Messene to be included with Laconia or with the Pylus that was subject to Nestor, and not to be set off by itself in the Calalogue as not even having a part in the expedition.

1After Maleae follows the Argolic Gulf, and then the Hermionic Gulf; the former stretches as far as Scyllaeum, facing approximately eastward and towards the Cyclades, while the latter is more to the east than the former and extends as far as Aegina and Epidauria. Now the first places on the Argolic Gulf are occupied by Laconians, and the rest by the Argives. Among the places belonging to the Laconians is Delium, which is sacred to Apollo and bears the same name as the place in Boeotia;†and also Minoa, a stronghold, which has the same name as the place in Megaris; and Epidaurus Limera,†as Artemidorus says. But Apollodorus observes that this Epidaurus Limera is near Cythera, and that, because it has a good harbor, it was called “Limenera,” which was abbreviated and contracted to “Limera,” so that its name has been changed. Immediately after sailing from Maleae the Laconian coast is rugged for a considerable distance, but still it affords anchoring places and harbors. The rest of the coast is well provided with harbors; and off the coast lie many small islands, but they are not worth mentioning.

2But to the Argives belongs Prasiae, and also Temenium, where Temenus was buried, and, still before Temenium, the district through which flows the river Lerne, as it is called, bearing the same name as the marsh in which is laid the scene of the myth of the Hydra. Temenium lies above the sea at a distance of twenty-six stadia from Argos; and from Argos to Heraeum the distance is forty stadia, and thence to Mycenae ten. After Temenium comes Nauplia, the naval station of the Argives: and the name is derived from the fact that the place is accessible to ships.†And it is on the basis of this name, it is said, that the myth of Nauplius and his sons has been fabricated by the more recent writers of myth, for Homer would not have failed to mention these, if Palamedes had displayed such wisdom and sagacity, and if he was unjustly and treacherously murdered, and if Nauplius wrought destruction to so many men at Cape Caphereus. But in addition to its fabulous character the genealogy of Nauplius is also wholly incorrect in respect to the times involved; for, granting that he was the son of Poseidon, how could a man who was still alive at the time of the Trojan war have been the son of Amymone?†Next after Nauplia one comes to the caverns and the labyrinths built in them, which are called Cyclopeian.

3Then come other places, and next after them the Hermionic Gulf; for, since Homer assigns this gulf also to Argeia, it is clear that I too should not overlook this section of the circuit. The gulf begins at the town of Asine.†Then come Hermione and Troezen; and, as one sails along the coast, one comes also to the island of Calauria, which has a circuit of one hundred and thirty stadia and is separated from the mainland by a strait four stadia wide.

4Then comes the Saronic Gulf; but some call it a sea and others a strait; and because of this it is also called the Saronic Sea. Saronic Gulf is the name given to the whole of the strait, stretching from the Hermionic Sea and from the sea that is at the Isthmus, that connects with both the Myrtoan and Cretan Seas. To the Saronic Gulf belong both Epidaurus and the island of Aegina that lies off Epidaurus; then Cenchreae, the easterly naval station of the Corinthians; then, after sailing forty-five stadia, one comes to Schoenus, a harbor. From Maleae thither the total distance is about eighteen hundred stadia. Near Schoenus is the “Diolcus,”†the narrowest part of the Isthmus, where is the temple of the Isthmian Poseidon. However, let us for the present postpone the discussion of these places, for they lie outside of Argeia, and let us resume again our description of those in Argeia.

5And in the first place let me mention in how many ways the term “Argos” is used by the poet, not only by itself but also with epithets, when he calls Argos “Achaean,” or “Iasian,” or “hippian,”†or “Pelasgian,” or “horse-pasturing.”†For, in the first place, the city is called Argos: “Argos and Sparta,”“and those who held Argos and Tiryns.”And, secondly, the Peloponnesus: “in our home in Argos,”for the city of Argos was not his home. And, thirdly, Greece as a whole; at any rate, he calls all Greeks Argives, just as he calls them Danaans and Achaeans. However, he differentiates identical names by epithets, calling Thessaly “Pelasgian Argos”: “Now all, moreover, who dwelt in Pelasgian Argos;” and calling the Peloponnesus “Achaean Argos.” “And if we should come to Achaean Argos,”“Or was he not in Achaean Argos?”And here he signifies that under a different designation the Peloponnesians were also called Achaeans in a special sense. And he calls the Peloponnesus “Iasian Argos”: “If all the Achaeans throughout Iasian Argos could see” Penelope, she would have still more wooers; for it is not probable that he meant the Greeks from all Greece, but only those that were near. But the epithets “horse-pasturing” and “hippian” he uses in a general sense.

6But critics are in dispute in regard to the terms “Hellas,” “Hellenes,” and “Panhellenes.” For Thucydides says that the poet nowhere speaks of barbarians, “because the Hellenes had not as yet been designated by a common distinctive name opposed to that of the barbarians.” And Apollodorus says that only the Greeks in Thessaly were called Hellenes: “and were called Myrmidons and Hellenes.” He says, however, that Hesiod and Archilochus already knew that all the Greeks were called, not only Hellenes, but also Panhellenes, for Hesiod, in speaking of the daughters of Proteus, says that the Panhellenes wooed them, and Archilochus says that “the woes of the Panhellenes centered upon Thasos.”†But others oppose this view, saying that the poet also speaks of barbarians, since he speaks of the Carians as men of barbarous speech, and of all the Greeks as Hellenes, “the man whose fame is wide throughout Hellas and mid-Agros,”and again, “If thou wishest to journey throughout Hellas and mid-Agros.”

7Now the city of the Argives is for the most part situated in a plain, but it has for a citadel the place called Larisa, a hill that is fairly well fortified and contains a temple of Zeus. And near the city flows the Inachus, a torrential river that has its sources in Lyrceius, the mountain that is near Cynuria in Arcadia.†But concerning the sources of which mythology tells us, they are fabrications of poets, as I have already said. And “waterless Argos” is also a fabrication, (“but the gods made Argos well watered “),†since the country lies in a hollow, and is traversed by rivers, and contains marshes and lakes, and since the city is well supplied with waters of many wells whose water level reaches the surface. So critics find the cause of the mistake in this verse: “And in utter shame would I return to πολυδίψιον†Argos.”πολυδίψιον either is used for πολυπόθητον, i.e., “much longed for.” or, omitting the δ, for πολυΐψιον, i.e., “very destructive.” in the sense of πολύφθορον,†as in the phrase of Sophocles, “and the πολύφθορον home of the Pelopidae there;” for the words προϊάψαι and ἰάψαι, and ἴψασθαι signify a kind of destruction or affliction: “Now he is merely making trial, but soon he will afflict†the sons of the Achaeans;”“mar†her fair flesh; ““untimely sent to Hades.”And besides, Homer does not mean the city of Argos (for it was not thither that Agamemnon was about to return), but the Peloponnesus, which certainly is not a “thirsty” land either. Moreover some critics, retaining the δ, interpret the word by the figure hyperbaton and as a case of synaloepha with the connective δέ,†so that the verse would read thus: “And in utter shame would I return πολὺ δ’ ἴψιον Ἄργος,” that is to say, “would I return πολυίψιον Ἄργοσδε,” where Ἄργοσδε stands for εἰς Ἄργος.

8Now one of the rivers that flows through Argeia is the Inachus, but there is another river in Argeia, the Erasinus. The latter has its source in Stymphalus in Arcadia, that is, in the lake there which is called the Stymphalian Lake, which mythology makes the home of the birds that were driven out by the arrows and drums of Heracles; and the birds themselves are called Stymphalides. And they say that the Erasinus sinks beneath the ground and then issues forth in Argeia and waters the plain. The Erasinus is also called the Arsinus. And another river of the same name flows from Arcadia to the coast near Bura; and there is another Erasinus in the territory of Eretria, and still another in Attica near Brauron. And a spring Amymone is also pointed out near Lerne. And Lake Lerne, the scene of the story of the Hydra, lies in Argeia and the Mycenaean territory; and on account of the cleansings that take place in it there arose a proverb, “A Lerne of ills.” Now writers agree that the county has plenty of water, and that, although the city itself lies in a waterless district, it has an abundance of wells. These wells they ascribe to the daughters of Danaüs, believing that they discovered them; and hence the utterance of this verse, “The daughters of Danaüs rendered Argos, which was waterless, Argos the well watered;”†but they add that four of the wells not only were designated as sacred but are especially revered, thus introducing the false notion that there is a lack of water where there is an abundance of it.

9The acropolis of the Argives is said to have been founded by Danaüs, who is reputed to have surpassed so much those who reigned in this region before him that, according to Euripides,“throughout Greece he laid down a law that all people hitherto named Pelasgians should be called Danaans.”†Moreover, his tomb is in the center of the marketplace of the Argives; and it is called Palinthus. And I think that it was the fame of this city that prepared the way, not only for the Pelasgians and the Danaans, as well as the Argives, to be named after it, but also for the rest of the Greeks; and so, too, the more recent writers speak of “Iasidae,” “Iasian Argos,” “Apia,” and “Apidones”; but Homer does not mention the “Apidones,” though he uses the word “apia,”†rather of a “distant” land. To prove that by Argos the poet means the Peloponnesus, we can add the following examples: “Argive Helen,”and “There is a city Ephyra in the inmost part of Argos,”and “mid Argos,”and “and that over many islands and all Argos he should be lord.”And in the more recent writers the plain, too, is called Argos, but not once in Homer. Yet they think that this is more especially a Macedonian or Thessalian usage.

10After the descendants of Danaüs succeeded to the reign in Argos, and the Amythaonides, who were emigrants from Pisatis and Triphylia, became associated with these, one should not be surprised if, being kindred, they at first so divided the country into two kingdoms that the two cities in them which held the hegemony were designated as the capitals, though situated near one another, at a distance of less than fifty stadia, I mean Argos and Mycenae, and that the Heraeum†near Mycenae was a temple common to both. In this temple†are the images made by Polycleitus,†in execution the most beautiful in the world, but in costliness and size inferior to those by Pheidias. Now at the outset Argos was the more powerful, but later Mycenae waxed more powerful on account of the removal thereto of the Pelopidae; for, when everything fell to the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon, being the elder, assumed the supreme power, and by a combination of good fortune and valor acquired much of the country in addition to the possessions he already had; and indeed he also added Laconia to the territory of Mycenae. Now Menelaüs came into possession of Laconia, but Agamemnon received Mycenae and the regions as far as Corinth and Sicyon and the country which at that time was called the country of the Ionians and Aegialians but later the country of the Achaeans. But after the Trojan times, when the empire of Agememnon had been broken up, it came to pass that Mycenae was reduced, and particularly after the return of the Heracleidae; for when these had taken possession of the Peloponnesus they expelled its former masters, so that those who held Argos also held Mycenae as a component part of one whole. But in later times Mycenae was razed to the ground by the Argives, so that today not even a trace of the city of the Mycenaeans is to be found. And since Mycenae has suffered such a fate, one should not be surprised if also some of the cities which are catalogued as subject to Argos have now disappeared. Now the Catalogue contains the following: “And those who held Argos, and Tiryns of the great walls, and Hermione and Asine that occupy a deep gulf, and Troezen and Eiones and vine-clad Epidaurus, and the youths of the Achaeans who held Aegina and Mases.”But of the cities just named I have already discussed Argos, and now I must discuss the others.

11Now it seems that Tiryns was used as a base of operations by Proetus, and was walled by him through the aid of the Cyclopes, who were seven in number, and were called “Bellyhands” because they got their food from their handicraft, and they came by invitation from Lycia. And perhaps the caverns near Nauplia and the works therein are named after them.†The acropolis, Licymna, is named after Licymnius, and it is about twelve stadia distant from Nauplia; but it is deserted, and so is the neighboring Midea, which is different from the Boeotian Midea; for the former is Mídea,†like Prónia,†while the latter is Midéa, like Tegéa. And bordering on Midea is Prosymna,...†this having a temple of Hera. But the Argives laid waste to most of the cities because of their disobedience; and of the inhabitants those from Tiryns migrated to Epidaurus, and those from...†to Halïeis, as it is called; but those from Asine (this is a village in Argeia near Nauplia) were transferred by the Lacedaemonians to Messenia, where is a town that bears the same name as the Argolic Asine; for the Lacedaemonians, says Theopompos, took possession of much territory that belonged to other peoples and settled there all who fled to them and were taken in. And the inhabitants of Nauplia also withdrew to Messenia.

12Hermione is one of the important cities; and its seaboard is held by the Halïeis, as they are called, men who busy themselves on the sea. And it is commonly reported that the descent to Hades in the country of the Hermionians is a short cut; and this is why they do not put passage money in the mouths of their dead.

13It is said that Asine too†was a habitation of the Dryopians—whether, being inhabitants of the regions of the Spercheius, they were settled here by the Arcadian Dryops,†as Aristotle has said, or whether they were driven by Heracles out of the part of Doris that is near Parnassus. As for the Scyllaeum in Hermione, they say that it was named after Scylla, the daughter of Nisus, who, they say, out of love for Minos betrayed Nisaea to him and was drowned in the sea by him, and was here cast ashore by the waves and buried. Eiones was a village, which was depopulated by the Mycenaeans and made into a naval station, but later it disappeared from sight and now is not even a naval station.

14Troezen is sacred to Poseidon, after whom it was once called Poseidonia. It is situated fifteen stadia above the sea, and it too is an important city. Off its harbor, Pogon by name, lies Calauria, an isle with a circuit of about one hundred and thirty stadia. Here was an asylum sacred to Poseidon; and they say that this god made an exchange with Leto, giving her Delos for Calauria, and also with Apollo, giving him Pytho for Taenarum. And Ephorus goes on to tell the oracle: “For thee it is the same thing to possess Delos or Calauria, most holy Pytho or windy Taenarum.”And there was also a kind of Amphictyonic League connected with this temple, a league of seven cities which shared in the sacrifice; they were Hermion,†Epidaurus, Aegina, Athens, Prasïeis, Nauplïeis, and Orchomenus Minyeius; however, the Argives paid dues for the Nauplians, and the Lacedaemonians for the Prasians. The worship of this god was so prevalent among the Greeks that even the Macedonians, whose power already extended as far as the temple, in a way preserved its inviolability, and were afraid to drag away the suppliants who fled for refuge to Calauria; indeed Archias, with soldiers, did not venture to do violence even to Demosthenes, although he had been ordered by Antipater to bring him alive, both him and all the other orators he could find that were under similar charges, but tried to persuade him; he could not persuade him, however, and Demosthenes forestalled him by suiciding with poison. Now Troezen and Pittheus, the sons of Pelops, came originally from Pisatis; and the former left behind him the city which was named after him, and the latter succeeded him and reigned as king. But Anthes, who previously had possession of the place, set sail and founded Halicarnassus; but concerning this I shall speak in my description of Caria and Troy.

15Epidaurus used to be called Epicarus, for Aristotle says that Carians took possession of it, as also of Hermione, but that after the return of the Heracleidae the Ionians who had accompanied the Heracleidae from the Attic Tetrapolis†to Argos took up their abode with these Carians.†Epidaurus, too, is an important city, and particularly because of the fame of Asclepius, who is believed to cure diseases of every kind and always has his temple full of the sick, and also of the votive tablets on which the treatments are recorded, just as at Cos and Tricce. The city lies in the recess of the Saronic Gulf, has a circular coast of fifteen stadia, and faces the summer risings of the sun. It is enclosed by high mountains which reach as far as the sea, so that on all sides it is naturally fitted for a stronghold. Between Troezen and Epidaurus there was a strong hold called Methana, and also a peninsula of the same name. In some copies of Thucydides the name is spelled “Methone,” the same as the Macedonian city in which Philip, in the siege, had his eye knocked out. And it is on this account, in the opinion of Demetrius of Scepsis, that some writers, being deceived, suppose that it was the Methone in the territory of Troezen against which the men sent by Agamemnon to collect sailors are said to have uttered the imprecation that its citizens might never cease from their wall-building, since, in his opinion, it was not these citizens that refused, but those of the Macedonian city, as Theopompus says; and it is not likely, he adds, that these citizens who were near to Agamemnon disobeyed him.

16Aegina is the name of a place in Epidauria; and it is also the name of an island lying off this part of the mainland—the Aegina of which the poet means to speak in the verses just cited; and it is on this account that some write “the island Aegina” instead of “who held Aegina,” thus distinguishing between places of the same name. Now what need have I to say that the island is one of the most famous? for it is said that both Aeacus and his subjects were from there. And this is the island that was once actually mistress of the sea and disputed with the Athenians for the prize of valor in the sea fight at Salamis at the time of the Persian War. The island is said to be one hundred and eighty stadia in circuit; and it has a city of the same name that faces southwest; and it is surrounded by Attica, Megaris, and the Peloponnesus as far is Epidaurus, being distant about one hundred stadia from each; and its eastern and southern sides are washed by the Myrtoan and Cretan Seas; and around it lie small islands, many of them near the mainland, though Belbina extends to the high sea. The country of Aegina is fertile at a depth below the surface, but rocky on the surface, and particularly the level part; and therefore the whole country is bare, although it is fairly productive of barley. It is said that the Aeginetans were called Myrmidons,—not as the myth has it, because, when a great famine occurred, the ants†became human beings in answer to a prayer of Aeacus, but because they excavated the earth after the manner of ants and spread the soil over the rocks, so as to have ground to till, and because they lived in the dugouts, refraining from the use of soil for bricks. Long ago Aegina was called Oenone, the same name as that of two demes†in Attica, one near Eleutherae, “to inhabit the plains that border on Oenone and Eleutherae;”†and another, one of the demes of the Marathonian Tetrapolis,†to which is applied the proverb, “To Oenone —the torrent.”†Aegina was colonized successively by the Argives, the Cretans, the Epidaurians, and the Dorians; but later the Athenians divided it by lot among settlers of their own; and then the Lacedaemonians took the island away from the Athenians and gave it back to its ancient settlers. And colonists were sent forth by the Aeginetans both to Cydonia in Crete and to the country of the Ombrici. Ephorus says that silver was first coined in Aegina, by Pheidon; for the island, he adds, became a merchant center, since, on account of the poverty of the soil, the people employed themselves at sea as merchants, and hence, he adds, petty wares were called “Aeginetan merchandise.”

17The poet mentions some places in the order in which they are actually situated; “and these dwelt in Hyria and Aulis,”“and those who held Argos and Tiryns, Hermione and Asine, Troezen and Eiones;”but at other times not in their actual order: “Schoenus and Scolus, Thespeia and Graea;”and he mentions the places on the mainland at the same time with the islands: “those who held Ithaca and dwelt in Crocyleia,”for Crocyleia is in the country of the Acarnanians. And so, also, he here connects Mases with Aegina, although it is in Argolis on the mainland. Homer does not name Thyreae, although the others often speak of it; and it was concerning Thyreae that a contest arose between the Argives and the Lacedaemonians, three hundred against three hundred; but the Lacedaemonians under the generalship of Othryadas won the victory. Thucydides says that this place is in Cynuria on the common border of Argeia and Laconia. And there are also Hysiae, a well-known place in Argolis, and Cenchreae, which lies on the road that leads from Tegea to Argos through Mt. Parthenius and Creopolus,†but Homer does not know them. Nor yet does he know Lyrceium†nor Orneae, which are villages in Argeia, the former bearing the same name as the mountain near it and the latter the same as the Orneae which is situated between Corinth and Sicyon.

18So then, of the cities in the Peloponnesus, Argos and Sparta prove to have been, and still are, the most famous; and, since they are much spoken of, there is all the less need for me to describe them at length, for if I did so I should seem to be repeating what has been said by all writers. Now in early times Argos was the more famous, but later and ever afterwards the Lacedaemonians excelled, and persisted in preserving their autonomy, except perhaps when they chanced to make some slight blunder.†Now the Argives did not, indeed, admit Pyrrhus into their city (in fact, he fell before the walls, when a certain old woman, as it seems, dropped a tile upon his head), but they became subject to other kings; and after they had joined the Achaean League they came, along with the Achaeans, under the dominion of Rome; and their city persists to this day second in rank after Sparta.

19But let me speak next of the places which are named in the Catalogue of Ships as subject to Mycenae and Menelaüs. The words of the poet are as follows: “And those who held Mycenae, well-built fortress, and wealthy Corinth and well-built Cleonae, and dwelt in Orneiae and lovely Araethyree and Sicyon, wherein Adrastus was king at the first; and those who held Hyperesie and steep Gonoessa and Pellene, and dwelt about Aegium and through all the Aegialus and about broad Helice.”†Now Mycenae is no longer in existence, but it was founded by Perseus, and Perseus was succeeded by Sthenelus, and Sthenelus by Eurystheus; and the same men ruled over Argos also. Now Eurystheus made an expedition to Marathon against Iolaüs and the sons of Heracles, with the aid of the Athenians, as the story goes, and fell in the battle, and his body was buried at Gargettus, except his head, which was cut off by Iolaüs, and was buried separately at Tricorynthus near the spring Marcaria below the wagon road. And the place is called “Eurystheus’ Head.” Then Mycenae fell to the Pelopidae who had set out from Pisatis, and then to the Heracleidae, who also held Argos. But after the naval battle at Salamis the Argives, along with the Cleonaeans and Tegeatans, came over and utterly destroyed Mycenae, and divided the country among themselves. Because of the nearness of the two cities to one another the writers of tragedy speak of them synonymously as though they were one city; and Euripides, even in the same drama, calls the same city, at one time Mycenae, at another Argos, as, for example, in his Iphigeneia†and his Orestes.†Cleonae is a town situated by the road that leads from Argos to Corinth, on a hill which is surrounded by dwellings on all sides and is well fortified, so that in my opinion Homer’s words, “well-built Cleonae,” were appropriate. And here too, between Cleonae and Phlius, are Nemea and the sacred precinct in which the Argives are wont to celebrate the Nemean Games, and the scene of the myth of the Nemean lion, and the village Bembina. Cleonae is one hundred and twenty stadia distant from Argos, and eighty from Corinth. I myself have beheld the settlement from Acrocorinthus.

20Corinth is called “wealthy” because of its commerce, since it is situated on the Isthmus and is master of two harbors, of which the one leads straight to Asia, and the other to Italy; and it makes easy the exchange of merchandise from both countries that are so far distant from each other. And just as in early times the Strait of Sicily was not easy to navigate, so also the high seas, and particularly the sea beyond Maleae, were not, on account of the contrary winds; and hence the proverb, “But when you double Maleae, forget your home.”Source unknown At any rate, it was a welcome alternative, for the merchants both from Italy and from Asia, to avoid the voyage to Maleae and to land their cargoes here. And also the duties on what by land was exported from the Peloponnesus and what was imported to it fell to those who held the keys. And to later times this remained ever so. But to the Corinthians of later times still greater advantages were added, for also the Isthmian Games, which were celebrated there, were wont to draw crowds of people. And the Bacchiadae, a rich and numerous and illustrious family, became tyrants of Corinth, and held their empire for nearly two hundred years, and without disturbance reaped the fruits of the commerce; and when Cypselus overthrew these, he himself became tyrant, and his house endured for three generations; and an evidence of the wealth of this house is the offering which Cypselus dedicated at Olympia, a huge statue of beaten gold.†Again, Demaratus, one of the men who had been in power at Corinth, fleeing from the seditions there, carried with him so much wealth from his home to Tyrrhenia that not only he himself became the ruler of the city that admitted him, but his son was made king of the Romans.†And the temple of Aphrodite was so rich that it owned more than a thousand temple slaves, courtesans, whom both men and women had dedicated to the goddess. And therefore it was also on account of these women that the city was crowded with people and grew rich; for instance, the ship captains freely squandered their money, and hence the proverb, “Not for every man is the voyage to Corinth.”Source unknown Moreover, it is recorded that a certain courtesan said to the woman who reproached her with the charge that she did not like to work or touch wool: “Yet, such as I am, in this short time I have taken down three webs.”†

21The situation of the city, as described by Hieronymus†and Eudoxus†and others, and from what I myself saw after the recent restoration of the city by the Romans, is about as follows: A lofty mountain with a perpendicular height of three stadia and one half, and an ascent of as much as thirty stadia, ends in a sharp peak; it is called Acrocorinthus, and its northern side is the steepest; and beneath it lies the city in a level, trapezium-shaped place†close to the very base of the Acrocorinthus. Now the circuit of the city itself used to be as much as forty stadia, and all of it that was unprotected by the mountain was enclosed by a wall; and even the mountain itself, the Acrocorinthus, used to be comprehended within the circuit of this wall wherever wall-building was possible, and when I went up the mountain the ruins of the encircling wall were plainly visible. And so the whole perimeter amounted to about eighty-five stadia. On its other sides the mountain is less steep, though here too it rises to a considerable height and is conspicuous all round. Now the summit has a small temple of Aphrodite; and below the summit is the spring Peirene, which, although it has no overflow, is always full of transparent, potable water. And they say that the spring at the base of the mountain is the joint result of pressure from this and other subterranean veins of water—a spring which flows out into the city in such quantity that it affords a fairly large supply of water. And there is a good supply of wells throughout the city, as also, they say, on the Acrocorinthus; but I myself did not see the latter wells. At any rate, when Euripides says, “I am come, having left Acrocorinthus that is washed on all sides, the sacred hill-city of Aphrodite,”†one should take “washed on all sides” as meaning in the depths of the mountain, since wells and subterranean pools extend through it, or else should assume that in early times Peirene was wont to rise over the surface and flow down the sides of the mountain.†And here, they say, Pegasus, a winged horse which sprang from the neck of the Gorgon Medusa when her head was cut off, was caught while drinking by Bellerophon. And the same horse, it is said, caused Hippu-crene†to spring up on Helicon when he struck with his hoof the rock that lay below that mountain. And at the foot of Peirene is the Sisypheium, which preserves no inconsiderable ruins of a certain temple, or royal palace, made of white marble. And from the summit, looking towards the north, one can view Parnassus and Helicon—lofty, snow-clad mountains—and the Crisaean Gulf, which lies at the foot of the two mountains and is surrounded by Phocis, Boeotia, and Megaris, and by the parts of Corinthia and Sicyonia which lie across the gulf opposite to Phocis, that is, towards the west.†And above all these countries†lie the Oneian Mountains,†as they are called, which extend as far as Boeotia and Cithaeron from the Sceironian Rocks,†that is, from the road that leads along these rocks towards Attica.

22The beginning of the seaboard on the two sides is, on the one side, Lechaeum, and, on the other, Cenchreae, a village and a harbor distant about seventy stadia from Corinth. Now this latter they use for the trade from Asia, but Lechaeum for that from Italy. Lechaeum lies beneath the city, and does not contain many residences; but long walls about twelve stadia in length have been built on both sides of the road that leads to Lechaeum. The shore that extends from here to Pagae in Megaris is washed by the Corinthian Gulf; it is concave, and with the shore on the other side, at Schoenus, which is near Cenchreae, it forms the “Diolcus.”†In the interval between Lechaeum and Pagae there used to be, in early times, the oracle of the Acraean Hera; and here, too, is Olmiae, the promontory that forms the gulf in which are situated Oenoe and Pagae, the latter a stronghold of the Megarians and Oenoe of the Corinthians. From Cenchreae one comes to Schoenus, where is the narrow part of the isthmus, I mean the “Diolcus”; and then one comes to Crommyonia. Off this shore lie the Saronic and Eleusinian Gulfs, which in a way are the same, and border on the Hermionic Gulf. On the Isthmus is also the temple of the Isthmian Poseidon, in the shade of a grove of pinetrees, where the Corinthians used to celebrate the Isthmian Games. Crommyon is a village in Corinthia, though in earlier times it was in Megaris; and in it is laid the scene of the myth of the Crommyonian sow, which, it is said, was the mother of the Caledonian boar; and, according to tradition, the destruction of this sow was one of the labors of Theseus. Tenea, also, is in Corinthia, and in it is a temple of the Teneatan Apollo; and it is said that most of the colonists who accompanied Archias, the leader of the colonists to Syracuse, set out from there, and that afterwards Tenea prospered more than the other settlements, and finally even had a government of its own, and, revolting from the Corinthians, joined the Romans, and endured after the destruction of Corinth. And mention is also made of an oracle that was given to a certain man from Asia,†who enquired whether it was better to change his home to Corinth: “Blest is Corinth, but Tenea for me.” But in ignorance some pervert this as follows: “but Tegea for me!” And it is said that Polybus reared Oedipus here. And it seems, also, that there is a kinship between the peoples of Tenedos and Tenea, through Tennes†the son of Cycnus, as Aristotle says;†and the similarity in the worship of Apollo among the two peoples affords strong indications of such kinship.

23The Corinthians, when they were subject to Philip, not only sided with him in his quarrel with the Romans, but individually behaved so contemptuously towards the Romans that certain persons ventured to pour down filth upon the Roman ambassadors when passing by their house. For this and other offences, however, they soon paid the penalty, for a considerable army was sent thither, and the city itself was razed to the ground by Leucius Mummius;†and the other countries as far as Macedonia became subject to the Romans, different commanders being sent into different countries; but the Sicyonians obtained most of the Corinthian country. Polybius, who speaks in a tone of pity of the events connected with the capture of Corinth, goes on to speak of the disregard shown by the army for the works of art and votive offerings; for he says that he was present and saw paintings that had been flung to the ground and saw the soldiers playing dice on these. Among the paintings he names that of Dionysus by Aristeides,†to which, according to some writers, the saying, “Nothing in comparison with the Dionysus,” referred;†and also the painting of Heracles in torture in the robe of Deianeira. Now I have not seen the latter, but I saw the Dionysus, a most beautiful work, on the walls of the temple of Ceres in Rome; but when recently the temple was burned, the painting perished with it. And I may almost say that the most and best of the other dedicatory offerings at Rome came from there; and the cities in the neighborhood of Rome also obtained some; for Mummius, being magnanimous rather than fond of art, as they say, readily shared with those who asked.†And when Leucullus built the Temple of Good Fortune and a portico, he asked Mummius for the use of the statues which he had, saying that he would adorn the temple with them until the dedication and then give them back. However, he did not give them back, but dedicated them to the goddess, and then bade Mummius to take them away if he wished. But Mummius took it lightly, for he cared nothing about them, so that he gained more repute than the man who dedicated them. Now after Corinth had remained deserted for a long time,†it was restored again, because of its favorable position, by the deified Caesar, who colonized it with people that belonged for the most part to the freedmen class. And when these were removing the ruins and at the same time digging open the graves, they found numbers of terra-cotta reliefs, and also many bronze vessels. And since they admired the workmanship they left no grave unransacked; so that, well supplied with such things and disposing of them at a high price, they filled Rome with Corinthian “mortuaries,” for thus they called the things taken from the graves, and in particular the earthenware. Now at the outset the earthenware was very highly prized, like the bronzes of Corinthian workmanship, but later they ceased to care much for them, since the supply of earthen vessels failed and most of them were not even well executed. The city of the Corinthians, then, was always great and wealthy, and it was well equipped with men skilled both in the affairs of state and in the craftsman’s arts; for both here and in Sicyon the arts of painting and modelling and all such arts of the craftsman flourished most. The city had territory, however, that was not very fertile, but rifted and rough; and from this fact all have called Corinth “beetling,” and use the proverb, “Corinth is both beetle-browed and full of hollows.”Source unknown

24Orneae is named after the river that flows past it. It is deserted now, although formerly it was well peopled, and had a temple of Priapus that was held in honor; and it was from Orneae that the Euphronius†who composed the Priapeia calls the god “Priapus the Orneatan.” Orneae is situated above the plain of the Sicyonians, but the country was possessed by the Argives. Araethyrea is the country which is now called Phliasia; and near the mountain Celossa†it had a city of the same name as the country; but the inhabitants later emigrated from here, and at a distance of thirty stadia founded a city which they called Phlius. A part of the mountain Celossa is Mt. Carneates, whence the Asopus takes its beginning—the river that flows past Sicyonia, and forms the Asopian country, which is a part of Sicyonia. There is also an Asopus that flows past Thebes and Plataea and Tanagra, and there is another in the Trachinian Heracleia that flows past a village which they call Parasopii, and there is a fourth in Paros. Phlius is situated in the center of a circle formed by Sicyonia, Argeia, Cleonae and Stymphalus. In Phlius and Sicyon the temple of Dia is held in honor; and Dia is their name for Hebe.

25In earlier times Sicyon was called Mecone, and in still earlier times Aegiali,†but Demetrius rebuilt it upon a hill strongly fortified by nature about twenty stadia (others say twelve) from the sea;†and the old settlement, which has a harbor, is a naval station. The River Nemea forms the boundary between Sicyonia and Corinthia. Sicyon was ruled by tyrants most of the time, but its tyrants were always reasonable men, among whom the most illustrious was Aratus,†who not only set the city free, but also ruled over the Achaeans, who voluntarily gave him the authority,†and he increased the league by adding to it both his native Sicyon and the other cities near it. But Hyperesia and the cities that come in their order after it, which the poet mentions,†and the Aegialus as far as Dyme and the boundaries of Eleia already belonged to the Achaeans.†

1In antiquity this country was under the mastery of the Ionians, who were sprung from the Athenians; and in antiquity it was called Aegialeia, and the inhabitants Aegialeians, but later it was called Ionia after the Ionians, just as Attica also was called Ionia†after Ion the son of Xuthus. They say that Hellen was the son of Deucalion, and that he was lord of the people between the Peneius and the Asopus in the region of Phthia and gave over his rule to the eldest of his sons, but that he sent the rest of them to different places outside, each to seek a settlement for himself. One of these sons, Dorus, united the Dorians about Parnassus into one state, and at his death left them named after himself; another, Xuthus, who had married the daughter of Erechtheus, founded the Tetrapolis of Attica, consisting of Oenoe, Marathon, Probalinthus, and Tricorynthus. One of the sons of Xuthus, Achaeus, who had committed involuntary manslaughter, fled to Lacedaemon and brought it about that the people there were called Achaeans; and Ion conquered the Thracians under Eumolpus, and thereby gained such high repute that the Athenians turned over their government to him. At first Ion divided the people into four tribes, but later into four occupations: four he designated as farmers, others as artisans, others as sacred officers, and a fourth group as the guards. And he made several regulations of this kind, and at his death left his own name to the country. But the country had then come to be so populous that the Athenians even sent forth a colony of Ionians to the Peloponnesus, and caused the country which they occupied to be called Ionia after themselves instead of Aegialus; and the men were divided into twelve cities and called Ionians instead of Aegialeians. But after the return of the Heracleidae they were driven out by the Achaeans and went back again to Athens; and from there they sent forth with the Codridae the Ionian colony to Asia, and these founded twelve cities on the seaboard of Caria and Lydia, thus dividing themselves into the same number of parts as the cities they had occupied in the Peloponnesus. Now the Achaeans were Phthiotae in race, but they lived in Lacedaemon; and when the Heracleidae prevailed, the Achaeans were won over by Tisamenus, the son of Orestes, as I have said before, attacked the Ionians, and proving themselves more powerful than the Ionians drove them out and took possession of the land themselves; and they kept the division of the country the same as it was when they received it. And they were so powerful that, although the Heracleidae, from whom they had revolted, held the rest of the Peloponnesus, still they held out against one and all, and named the country Achaea. Now from Tisamenus to Ogyges they continued under the rule of kings; then, under a democratic government, they became so famous for their constitutions that the Italiotes,†after the uprising against the Pythagoreians,†actually borrowed most of their usages from the Achaeans.†And after the battle at Leuctra the Thebans turned over to them the arbitration of the disputes which the cities had with one another; and later, when their league was dissolved by the Macedonians, they gradually recovered themselves. When Pyrrhus made his expedition to Italy, four cities came together and began a new league, among which were Patrae and Dyme;†and then they began to add some of the twelve cities, except Olenus and Helice, the former having refused to join and the latter having been wiped out by a wave from the sea.

2For the sea was raised by an earthquake and it submerged Helice, and also the temple of the Heliconian Poseidon, whom the Ionians worship even to this day, offering there†the Pan-Ionian sacrifices. And, as some suppose, Homer recalls this sacrifice when he says: “but he breathed out his spirit and bellowed, as when a dragged bull bellows round the altar of the Heliconian lord.”And they infer that the poet lived after the Ionian colonization, since he mentions the Pan-Ionian sacrifice, which the Ionians perform in honor of the Heliconian Poseidon in the country of the Prienians; for the Prienians themselves are also said to be from Helice; and indeed as king for this sacrifice they appoint a Prienian young man to superintend the sacred rites. But still more they base the supposition in question on what the poet says about the bull; for the lonians believe that they obtain omens in connection with this sacrifice only when the bull bellows while being sacrificed. But the opponents of the supposition apply the above-mentioned inferences concerning the bull and the sacrifice to Helice, on the ground that these were customary there and that the poet was merely comparing the rites that were celebrated there. Helice was submerged by the sea two years before the battle at Leuctra. And Eratosthenes says that he himself saw the place, and that the ferrymen say that there was a bronze Poseidon in the strait, standing erect, holding a hippo-campus in his hand, which was perilous for those who fished with nets. And Heracleides†says that the submersion took place by night in his time, and, although the city was twelve stadia distant from the sea, this whole district together with the city was hidden from sight; and two thousand men who had been sent by the Achaeans were unable to recover the dead bodies; and they divided the territory of Helice among the neighbors; and the submersion was the result of the anger of Poseidon, for the lonians who had been driven out of Helice sent men to ask the inhabitants of Helice particularly for the statue of Poseidon, or, if not that, for the model of the temple; and when the inhabitants refused to give either, the Ionians sent word to the general council of the Achaeans; but although the assembly voted favorably, yet even so the inhabitants of Helice refused to obey; and the submersion resulted the following winter; but the Achaeans later gave the model of the temple to the lonians. Hesiod mentions still another Helice, in Thessaly.

3Now for twenty†years the Achaeans continued to have a general secretary and two generals, elected annually; and with them a common council was convened at one place (it was called Amarium),†in which these, as did the Ionians before them, dealt with affairs of common interest; then they decided to elect only one general. And when Aratus was general he took the Acrocorinthus away from Antigonus†and added the city of Corinth to the Achaean League, just as he had added his native city; and he also took over the Megarians; and breaking up the tyrannies in the several cities he made the peoples who were thus set free members of the Achaean League. And he set the Peloponnesus free from its tyrannies, so that Argos, Hermion, Phlius, and Megalopolis, the largest city in Arcadia, were added to the League; and it was at this time that the League reached the height of its power. It was the time when the Romans, after their expulsion of the Carthaginians from Sicily, made their expedition against the Galatae who lived in the region of the Padus River. But although the Achaean League persisted rather firmly until the time of the generalship of Philopoemen, yet it was gradually dissolved, since by this time the Romans were in possession of the whole of Greece, and they did not deal with the several states in the same way, but wished to preserve some and to destroy others. Then he†tells the cause of his enlarging upon the subject of the Achaeans, saying that, although they increased in power to the point of surpassing even the Lacedaemonians, they are not as well known as they deserve to be.

4The order of the places in which the Achaeans settled, after dividing the country into twelve parts, is as follows:†First after Sicyon lies Pellene; then, second, Aegeira; third, Aegae, which has a temple of Poseidon; fourth, Bura; after Bura, Helice, whither the Ionians fled for refuge after they were conquered in battle by the Achaeans, and whence at last they were expelled; and, after Helice, Aegium and Rhypes and Patrae†and Pharae;†then Olenus, past which flows the Peirus, a large river; then Dyme and Tritaea.†Now the Ionians lived in villages, but the Achaeans founded cities; and to certain of these they later united others, transferring them from the other divisions, as, for example, Aegae to Aegeira (the inhabitants, however, were called Aegaeans), and Olenus to Dyme. Traces of the old settlement of the Olenians are shown between Patrae and Dyme; and here, too, is the notable temple of Asclepius, which is forty stadia distant from Dyme and eighty from Patrae. Of the same name as this Aegae is the Aegae in Euboea; and of the same name as Olenus is the settlement in Aetolia, this too preserving only traces of its former self. Now the poet does not mention the Olenus in Achaea, just as he does not mention several other inhabited places in the region of the Aegialus, although he speaks of them in a rather general way: “And through all the Aegialus and about broad Helice.”But he mentions the Aetolian Olenus, when he says: “those who dwelt in Pleuron and Olenus.”And he speaks of both places called Aegae: the Achaean Aegae, when he says, “yet they bring up gifts for thee into both Helice and Aegae”but when he says, “Aegae, where is his famous palace in the deeps of the mere,”“where Poseidon halted his horses,”it is better to take him as meaning the Aegae in Euboea, from which it is probable that also the Aegean Sea got its name; and here too the poet has placed the activities of Poseidon in connection with the Trojan War. Close to the Achaean Aegae flows the Crathis River, which is increased by the waters of two other rivers; and it gets its name from the fact that it is a mixture,†as does also the Crathis in Italy.

5Each of the twelve divisions consisted of seven or eight communities, so populous was the country. Pellene is situated sixty stadia above the sea, and it is a strong fortress. But there is also a village Pellene, from which come the Pellenic cloaks, which they were also wont to set up as prizes at the games; it lies between Aegium and Pellene. But Pellana is different from these two; it is a Laconian place, and its territory inclines, approximately, towards the territory of Megalopolis. Aegeira is situated on a hill. Bura, which was swallowed up in an, earthquake, is situated above the sea at a distance of about forty stadia; and they say that it was from the spring Sybaris in Bura that the river†in Italy got its name. Aega (for Aegae is also called thus) is now uninhabited, and the city†is in the possession of the people of Aegium. But Aegium has a considerable population. The story is told that Zeus was nursed by a goat there, just as Aratus says: “Sacred goat, which, in story, didst hold thy breast o’er Zeus;”†and he goes on to say that “the interpreters call her the Olenian goat of Zeus,”†thus clearly indicating that the place is near Olene. Here too is Ceraunia,†which is situated on a high rock. These places belong to the people of Aegium, and so does Helice, and the Amarium, where the Achaeans met to deliberate on affairs of common interest. And the Selinus River flows through the territory of Aegium; it bears the same name as the river that flows in Ephesus past the Artemisium, and also the river in the Eleia of today that flows past the plot of land which Xenophon says he bought for Artemis in accordance with an oracle.†And there is another Selinus; it flows past the territory of the Hyblaean Megarians,†whom the Carthaginians forced to migrate. As for the remaining cities, or divisions, of the Achaeans, one of them, Rhypes, is uninhabited, and the territory called Rhypis was held by the people of Aegium and the people of Pharae. Aeschylus, too, says somewhere: “Sacred Bura and thunder-smitten Rhypes.”†Myscellus, the founder of Croton, was from Rhypes. And Leuctrum too, a deme of Rhypes, belonged to the district of Rhypis. After Rhypes comes Patrae, a noteworthy city; between the two, however, is Rhium (also Antirrhium),†which is forty stadia distant from Patrae. And recently the Romans, after their victory at Actium, settled a considerable part of the army at Patrae; and it is exceptionally populous at present, since it is a Roman colony; and it has a fairly good anchoring-place. Next comes Dyme, a city without a harbor, the farthest of all towards the west, a fact from which it takes its name.†But in earlier times it was called Stratos. The boundary between it and the Eleian country, Buprasium, is formed by the Larisus River, which flows from a mountain. Some writers call this mountain Scollis, but Homer calls it the Olenian Rock. When Antimachus calls Dyme “Cauconian,” some interpret “Cauconian” as an epithet derived from the Cauconians, since the Cauconians extended as far as Dyme, as I have already said above, but others as derived from a River Caucon, just as Thebes is called “Dircaean” and “Asopian,” Argos “Inacheian,” and Troy “Simuntian.” But shortly before my time Dyme received as colonists a mixed group of people whom Pompey still had left over from the crowd of pirates, after he broke up all piracy and settled some of the pirates at Soli in Cilicia and others in other places—and in particular at Dyme. Phara borders on the territory of Dyme. The people of this Phara are called Phareis, but those of the Messenian city Pharaeatae; and in the territory of Phara is a spring Dirce which bears the same name as the spring at Thebes. But Olenus is deserted; it lies between Patrae and Dyme; and its territory is held by the people of Dyme. Then comes Araxus, the promontory of the Eleian country, one thousand and thirty stadia from the isthmus.

1Arcadia lies in the middle of the Peloponnesus; and most of the country which it includes is mountainous. The greatest mountain in it is Cyllene; at any rate some say that its perpendicular height is twenty stadia, though others say about fifteen. The Arcadian tribes—the Azanes, the Parrhasians, and other such peoples—are reputed to be the most ancient tribes of the Greeks. But on account of the complete devastation of the country it would be inappropriate to speak at length about these tribes; for the cities, which in earlier times had become famous, were wiped out by the continuous wars, and the tillers of the soil have been disappearing even since the times when most of the cities were united into what was called the “Great City.” But now the Great City itself has suffered the fate described by the comic poet: “The Great City is a great desert.”But there are ample pastures for cattle, particularly for horses and asses that are used as stallions. And the Arcadian breed of horses, like the Argolic and the Epidaurian, is most excellent. And the deserted lands of the Aetolians and Acarnanians are also well adapted to horse-raising—no less so than Thessaly.

2Now Mantineia was made famous by Epameinondas, who conquered the Lacedaemonians in the second battle, in which he himself lost his life. But Mantineia itself, as also Orchomenus, Heraea, Cleitor, Pheneus, Stymphalus, Maenalus, Methydrium, Caphyeis, and Cynaetha, no longer exist; or else traces or signs of them are scarcely to be seen. But Tegea still endures fairly well, and so does the temple of the Alean Athene; and the temple of Zeus Lycaeus situated near Mt. Lycaeum is also honored to a slight extent. But three of the cities mentioned by the poet, “Rhipe and Stratie, and windy Enispe,”are not only hard to find, but are of no use to any who find them, because they are deserted.

3Famous mountains, in addition to Cyllene, are Pholoe, Lycaeum, Maenalus, and the Parthenium, as it is called, which extends from the territory of Tegea down to the Argive country.

4I have already mentioned the marvellous circumstances pertaining to the Alpeius and the Eurotas, and also to the Erasinus, which now flows underground from the Stymphalian Lake,†and issues forth into the Argive country, although in earlier times it had no outlet, since the “berethra,” which the Arcadians call “zerethra,” were stopped up and did not admit of the waters being carried off so that the city of the Stymphalians is now fifty stadia†distant from the lake, although then it was situated on the lake. But the contrary was the case with the Ladon, since its stream was once checked because of the blocking up of its sources; for the “berethra” near Pheneus, through which it flowed, fell in as the result of an earthquake and checked the stream as far down into the depths of the earth as the veins which supplied its source. Thus some writers tell it. But Eratosthenes says that near Pheneus the river Anias,†as it is called, makes a lake of the region in front of the city and flows down into sink-holes, which are called “zerethra”; and when these are stopped up the water sometimes overflows into the plains, and when they are again opened up it rushes out of the plains all at once and empties into the Ladon and the Alpheius, so that even at Olympia the land around the temple was once inundated, while the lake was reduced; and the Erasinus, which flows past Stympllalus, sinks and flows beneath the mountain†and reappears in the Argive land; and it was on this account, also, that Iphicrates, when he was besieging Stymphalus and accomplishing nothing, tried to block up the sink with a large quantity of sponges with which he had supplied himself, but desisted when Zeus sent an omen from the sky. And near Pheneus is also the water of the Styx, as it is called—a small stream of deadly water which is held to be sacred. So much may be said concerning Arcadia.

5Polybius†states that the distance from Maleae towards the north as far as the Ister is about ten thousand stadia, but Artemidorus corrects the statement in an appropriate manner by saying that from Maleae to Aegium is a journey of fourteen hundred stadia, and thence to Cyrrha a voyage of two hundred, and thence through Heracleia to Thaumaci a journey of five hundred, and then to Larisa and the Peneius three hundred and forty, and then through Tempe to the outlets of the Peneius two hundred and forty, and then to Thessaloniceia six hundred and sixty, and thence through Eidomene and Stobi and Dardanii to the Ister three thousand two hundred. According to Artemidorus, therefore, the distance from the Ister to Maleae amounts to six thousand five hundred and forty stadia. The cause of this excess†is that he does not give the measurement of the shortest route, but of the chance route which one of the generals took. And it is not out of place, perhaps, to add also the colonizers, mentioned by Ephorus, of the peoples who settled in the Peloponnesus after the return of the Heracleidae: Aletes, the colonizer of Corinth, Phalces of Sicyon, Tisamenus of Achaea, Oxylus of Elis, Cresphontes of Messene, Eurysthenes and Procles of Lacedaemon, Temenus and Cissus of Argos, and Agaeus and Deïphontes of the region about Acte.†

1Now that I have completed my circuit of the Peloponnesus, which, as I have said, was the first and the smallest of the peninsulas of which Greece consists, it will be next in order to traverse those that are continuous with it. The second peninsula is the one that adds Megaris to the Peloponnesus,†so that Crommyon belongs to the Megarians and not to the Corinthians; the third is the one which, in addition to the second, comprises Attica and Boeotia and a part of Phocis and of the Epicnemidian Locrians. I must therefore describe these two. Eudoxus†says that if one should imagine a straight line drawn in an easterly direction from the Ceraunian Mountains to Sunium, the promontory of Attica, it would leave on the right, towards the south, the whole of the Peloponnesus, and on the left, towards the north, the continuous coastline from the Ceraunian Mountains to the Crisaean Gulf and Megaris, and the coastline of all Attica. And he believes that the shore which extends from Sunium to the Isthmus would not be so concave as to have a great bend, if to this shore were not added the districts continuous with the Isthmus which form the Hermionic Gulf and Acte; and, in the same way, he believes that the shore which extends from the Ceraunian Mountains to the Corinthian Gulf would not, viewed by itself alone, have so great a bend as to be concave like a gulf if Rhium and Antirrhium did not draw closely together and afford this appearance; and the same is true of the shores†that surround the recess of the gulf, where the sea in this region†comes to an end.

2Since this is the description given by Eudoxus, a mathematician and an expert both in geometrical figures and in “climata,”†and acquainted with these places, one must conceive of this side of Attica together with Megaris—the side extending from Sunium to the Isthmus—as concave, though only slightly so. Now here, at about the center of the aforesaid line, is the Peiraeus, the seaport of Athens. It is distant from Schoenus, at the Isthmus, about three hundred and fifty stadia, and from Sunium three hundred and thirty. The distance from the Peiraeus to Pagae also is nearly the same as to Schoenus, though the former is said to exceed the latter by ten stadia. After doubling Sunium one’s voyage is towards the north, but with an inclination towards the west.

3Acte†is washed by two seas; it is narrow at first, and then it widens out into the interior,†though none the less it takes a crescent-like bend towards Oropus in Boeotia, with the convex side towards the sea; and this is the second, the eastern side of Attica. Then comes the remaining side, which faces the north and extends from the Oropian country towards the west as far as Megaris—I mean the mountainous part of Attica, which has many names and separates Boeotia from Attica; so that, as I have said before,†Boeotia, since it has a sea on either side, becomes an isthmus of the third peninsula above-mentioned, an isthmus comprising within it the parts that lie towards the Peloponnesus, that is, Megaris and Attica. And it is on this account, they say, that the country which is now, by a slight change of letters, called Attica, was in ancient times called Acte and Actice,†because the greatest part of it lies below the mountains, stretches flat along the sea, is narrow, and has considerable length, projecting as far as Sunium. I shall therefore describe these sides, resuming again at that point of the seaboard where I left off.

4After Crommyon, and situated above Attica, are the Sceironian Rocks. They leave no room for a road along the sea, but the road from the Isthmus to Megara and Attica passes above them. However, the road approaches so close to the rocks that in many places it passes along the edge of precipices, because the mountain situated above them is both lofty and impracticable for roads. Here is the setting of the myth about Sceiron and the Pityocamptes,†the robbers who infested the above-mentioned mountainous country and were killed by Theseus. And the Athenians have given the name Sceiron to the Argestes, the violent wind that blows down on the travellers left†from the heights of this mountainous country. After the Sceironian Rocks one comes to Cape Minoa, which projects into the sea and forms the harbor at Nisaea. Nisaea is the naval station of the Megarians; it is eighteen stadia distant from the city and is joined to it on both sides by walls. The naval station, too, used to be called Minoa.

5In early times this country was held by the same Ionians who held Attica. Megara, however, had not yet been founded; and therefore the poet does not specifically mention this region, but when he calls all the people of Attica Athenians he includes these too under the general name, considering them Athenians. Thus, when he says in the Catalogue, “And those who held Athens, well-built city,”we must interpret him as meaning the people now called Megarians as well, and assume that these also had a part in the expedition. And the following is proof: In early times Attica was called Ionia and Ias; and when the poet says, “There the Boeotians and the Iaonians,”he means the Athenians; and Megaris was a part of this Ionia.

6Furthermore, since the Peloponnesians and Ionians were having frequent disputes about their boundaries, on which, among other places, Crommyonia was situated, they made an agreement and erected a pillar in the place agreed upon, near the Isthmus itself, with an inscription on the side facing the Peloponnesus reading: “This is Peloponnesus, not Ionia,” and on the side facing Megara, “This is not Peloponnesus, but Ionia.” And though the writers of the histories of The Land of Atthis are at variance on many things, they all agree on this (at least all writers who are worth mentioning), that Pandion had four sons, Aegeus, Lycus, Pallas, and the fourth, Nisus, and that when Attica was divided into four parts, Nisus obtained Megaris as his portion and founded Nisaea. Now, according to Philochorus,†his rule extended from the Isthmus to the Pythium,†but according to Andron,†only as far as Eleusis and the Thriasian Plain. Although different writers have stated the division into four parts in different ways, it suffices to take the following from Sophocles: Aegeus says that his father ordered him to depart to the shorelands, assigning to him as the eldest the best portion of this land; then to Lycus “he assigns Euboea’s garden that lies side by side therewith; and for Nisus he selects the neighboring land of Sceiron’s shore; and the southerly part of the land fell to this rugged Pallas, breeder of giants.”†These, then, are the proofs which writers use to show that Megaris was a part of Attica.

7But after the return of the Heracleidae and the partitioning of the country, it came to pass that many of the former inhabitants were driven out of their homelands into Attica by the Heracleidae and the Dorians who came back with them. Among these was Melanthus, the king of Messene. And he reigned also over the Athenians, by their consent, after his victory in single combat over Xanthus, the king of the Boeotians. But since Attica was now populous on account of the exiles, the Heracleidae became frightened, and at the instigation chiefly of the people of Corinth and the people of Messene—of the former because of their proximity and of the latter because Codrus, the son of Melanthus, was at that time king of Attica—they made an expedition against Attica. But being defeated in battle they retired from the whole of the land except the Megarian territory; this they occupied and not only founded the city Megara but also made its population Dorians instead of Ionians. And they also destroyed the pillar which was the boundary between the Ionians and the Peloponnesians.

8The city of the Megarians has experienced many changes, but nevertheless it has endured until the present time. It once even had schools of philosophers who were called the Megarian sect, these being the successors of Eucleides, the Socratic philosopher, a Megarian by birth, just as the Eleian sect, to which Pyrrhon belonged, were the successors of Phaedon the Eleian, who was also a Socratic philosopher, and just as the Eretrian sect were the successors of Menedemus the Eretrian. The country of the Megarians, like Attica, has rather poor soil, and the greater part of it is occupied by the Oneian Mountains, as they are called—a kind of ridge, which extends from the Sceironian Rocks to Boeotia and Cithaeron, and separates the sea at Nisaea from the Alcyonian Sea, as it is called, at Pagae.

9On the voyage from Nisaea to Attica one comes to five small islands. Then to Salamis, which is about seventy stadia in length, though some say eighty. It contains a city of the same name; the ancient city, now deserted, faces towards Aegina and the south wind (just as Aeschylus has said, “And Aegina here lies towards the blasts of the south wind”), but the city of today is situated on a gulf, on a peninsula-like place which borders on Attica. In early times it was called by different names, for example, “Sciras” and “Cychreia,” after certain heroes. It is from one of these heroes that Athena is called “Sciras,” and that a place in Attica is called “Scira,” and that a certain sacred rite is performed in honor of “Scirus,”†and that one of the months is called “Scirophorion.” And it is from the other hero that the serpent “Cychreides” took its name—the serpent which, according to Hesiod, was fostered by Cychreus and driven out by Eurylochus because it was damaging the island, and was welcomed to Eleusis by Demeter and made her attendant. And the island was also called Pityussa, from the tree.†But the fame of the island is due to the Aiacidae, who ruled over it, and particularly to Aias, the son of Telamon, and also to the fact that near this island Xerxes was defeated by the Greeks in a naval battle and fled to his homeland. And the Aeginetans also shared in the glory of this struggle, since they were neighbors and furnished a considerable fleet. And there is in Salamis a river Bocarus, which is now called Bocalia.

10At the present time the island is held by the Athenians, although in early times there was strife between them and the Megarians for its possession. Some say that it was Peisistratus, others Solon, who inserted in the Catalogue of Ships immediately after the verse, “and Aias brought twelve ships from Salamis,”the verse, “and, bringing them, halted them where the battalions of the Athenians were stationed,”Hom. Il. 2.558 and then used the poet as a witness that the island had belonged to the Athenians from the beginning. But the critics do not accept this interpretation, because many of the verses bear witness to the contrary. For why is Aias found in the last place in the ship-camp, not with the Athenians, but with the Thessalians under Protesilaüs? “Here were the ships of Aias and Protesilaüs.”And in the Visitation of the troops, Agamemnon “found Menestheus the charioteer, son of Peteos, standing still; and about him were the Athenians, masters of the battle-cry. And near by stood Odysseus of many wiles, and about him, at his side, the ranks of the Cephallenians.”And back again to Aias and the Salaminians, “he came to the Aïantes,”and near them, “Idomeneus on the other side,”not Menestheus. The Athenians, then, are reputed to have cited alleged testimony of this kind from Homer, and the Megarians to have replied with the following parody: “Aias brought ships from Salamis, from Polichne, from Aegeirussa, from Nisaea, and from Tripodes”; these four are Megarian places, and, of these, Tripodes is called Tripodiscium, near which the present marketplace of the Megarians is situated.

11Some say that Salamis is foreign to Attica, citing the fact that the priestess of Athena Polias does not touch the fresh cheese made in Attica, but eats only that which is brought from a foreign country, yet uses, among others, that from Salamis. Wrongly, for she eats cheese brought from the other islands that are admittedly attached to Attica, since those who began this custom considered as “foreign” any cheese that was imported by sea. But it seems that in early times the present Salamis was a separate state, and that Megara was a part of Attica. And it is on the seaboard opposite Salamis that the boundaries between the Megarian country and Atthis are situated—two mountains which are called Cerata.†

12Then one comes to the city Eleusis, in which is the temple of the Eleusinian Demeter, and the mystic chapel which was built by Ictinus, a chapel which is large enough to admit a crowd of spectators. This Ictinus also built the Parthenon on the Acropolis in honor of Athena, Pericles superintending the work. Eleusis is numbered among the demes.

13Then one comes to the Thriasian Plain, and the shore and deme bearing the same name. Then to Cape Amphiale and the quarry that lies above it, and to the passage to Salamis, about two stadia wide, across which Xerxes attempted to build a mole,†but was forestalled by the naval battle and the flight of the Persians. Here, too, are the Pharmacussae, two small islands, on the larger of which is to be seen the tomb of Circe.

14Above this shore is the mountain called Corydallus, and also the deme Corydalleis. Then one comes to the harbor Phoron, and to Psyttalia,†a small, deserted, rocky island, which some have called the eyesore of the Peiraeus. And near by, too, is Atalanta, which bears the same name as the island near Euboea and the Locrians, and another island similar to Psyttalia. Then one comes to the Peiraeus, which also is classed among the demes, and to Munychia.

15Munychia is a hill which forms a peninsula; and it is hollowed out and undermined†in many places, partly by nature and partly by the purpose of man, so that it admits of dwellings; and the entrance to it is by means of a narrow opening†And beneath the hill lie three harbors. Now in early times Munychia was walled, and covered with habitations in a manner similar to the city of the Rhodians,†including within the circuit of its walls both the Peiraeus and the harbors, which were full of ship-houses, among which was the arsenal, the work of Philon. And the naval station was sufficient for the four hundred ships, for no fewer than this the Athenians were wont to despatch on expeditions. With this wall were connected the “legs” that stretched down from the city; these were the long walls, forty stadia in length, which connected the city with the Peiraeus. But the numerous wars caused the ruin of the wall and of the fortress of Munychia, and reduced the Peiraeus to a small settlement, round the harbors and the temple of Zeus Soter. The small roofed colonnades of the temple have admirable paintings, the works of famous artists; and its open court has statues. The long walls, also, are torn down, having been destroyed at first by the Lacedaemonians, and later by the Romans, when Sulla took both the Peiraeus and the city by siege.

16The city itself is a rock situated in a plain and surrounded by dwellings. On the rock is the sacred precinct of Athena, comprising both the old temple of Athena Polias,†in which is the lamp that is never quenched,†and the Parthenon built by Ictinus, in which is the work in ivory by Pheidias, the Athena. However, if I once began to describe the multitude of things in this city that are lauded and proclaimed far and wide, I fear that I should go too far, and that my work would depart from the purpose I have in view. For the words of Hegesias†occur to me: “I see the acropolis, and the mark of the huge trident†there. I see Eleusis, and I have become an initiate into its sacred mysteries; yonder is the Leocorium, here is the Theseium; I am unable to point them all out one by one; for Attica is the possession of the gods, who seized it as a sanctuary for themselves, and of the ancestral heroes.” So this writer mentioned only one of the significant things on the acropolis; but Polemon the Periegete†wrote four books on the dedicatory offerings on the acropolis alone. Hegesias is proportionately brief in referring to the other parts of the city and to the country; and though he mentions Eleusis, one of the one hundred and seventy demes (or one hundred and seventy-four, as the number is given), he names none of the others.

17Most of the demes, if not all, have numerous stories of a character both mythical and historical connected with them; Aphidna, for example, has the rape of Helen by Theseus, the sacking of the place by the Dioscuri and their recovery of their sister; Marathon has the Persian battle; Rhamnus has the statue of Nemesis, which by some is called the work of Diodotus and by others of Agoracritus the Parian, a work which both in grandeur and in beauty is a great success and rivals the works of Pheidias; and so with Deceleia, the base of operations of the Peloponnesians in the Deceleian War; and Phyle, whence Thrasybulus brought the popular party back to the Peiraeus and then to the city. And so, also, in the case of several other demes there are many historical incidents to tell; and, further, the Leocorium and the Theseium have myths connected with them, and so has the Lyceium, and the Olympicum (the Olympium is the same thing), which the king†who dedicated it left half finished at his death. And in like manner also the Academia, and the gardens of the philosophers, and the Odeium, and the colonnade called “Poecile,”†and the temples in the city containing very many marvellous works of different artists.

18The account would be much longer if one should pass in review the early founders of the settlement, beginning with Cecrops; for all writers do not agree about them, as is shown even by the names. For instance, Actice, they say, was derived from Actaeon; and Atthis and Attica from Atthis, the son of Cranaüs, after whom the inhabitants were also called Cranaï; and Mopsopia from Mopsopus; and Ionia from Ion, the son of Xuthus; and Poseidonia and Athens from the gods after whom they were named. And, as has already been said, the race of the Pelasgi clearly sojourned here too, and on account of their wanderings were called “Pelargi.”†

19The greater men’s fondness for learning about things that are famous and the greater the number of men who have talked about them, the greater the censure, if one is not master of the historical facts. For example, in his Collection of the Rivers, Callimachus says that it makes him laugh if anyone makes bold to write that the Athenian virgins “draw pure liquid from the Eridanus,”†from which even cattle would hold aloof. Its sources are indeed existent now, with pure and potable water, as they say, outside the Gates of Diochares, as they are called, near the Lyceium;†but in earlier times there was also a fountain near by which was constructed by man, with abundant and excellent water; and even if the water is not so now, why should it be a thing to wonder at, if in early times the water was abundant and pure, and therefore also potable, but in later times underwent a change? However, it is not permitted me to linger over details, since they are so numerous, nor yet, on the other hand, to pass by them all in silence without even mentioning one or another of them in a summary way.

20It suffices, then, to add thus much: According to Philochorus, when the country was being devastated, both from the sea by the Carians, and from the land by the Boeotians, who were called Aonians, Cecrops first settled the multitude in twelve cities, the names of which were Cecropia, Tetrapolis, Epacria, Deceleia, Eleusis, Aphidna (also called Aphidnae, in the plural), Thoricus, Brauron, Cytherus, Sphettus, Cephisia.†And at a later time Theseus is said to have united the twelve into one city, that of today. Now in earlier times the Athenians were ruled by kings; and then they changed to a democracy; but tyrants assailed them, Peisistratus and his sons; and later an oligarchy arose, not only that of the four hundred, but also that of the thirty tyrants, who were set over them by the Lacedaemonians; of these they easily rid themselves, and preserved the democracy until the Roman conquest. For even though they were molested for a short time by the Macedonian kings, and were even forced to obey them, they at least kept the general type of their government the same. And some say that they were actually best governed at that time, during the ten years when Cassander reigned over the Macedonians. For although this man is reputed to have been rather tyrannical in his dealings with all others, yet he was kindly disposed towards the Athenians, once he had reduced the city to subjection; for he placed over the citizens Demetrius of Phalerum, one of the disciples of Theophrastus the philosopher, who not only did not destroy the democracy but even improved it, as is made clear in the Memoirs which Demetrius wrote concerning this government. But the envy and hatred felt for oligarchy was so strong that, after the death of Cassander, Demetrius was forced to flee to Egypt; and the statues of him, more than three hundred, were pulled down by the insurgents and melted, and some writers go on to say that they were made into chamber pots. Be that as it may, the Romans, seeing that the Athenians had a democratic government when they took them over, preserved their autonomy and liberty. But when the Mithridatic War came on, tyrants were placed over them, whomever the king wished. The most powerful of these, Aristion, who violently oppressed the city, was punished by Sulla the Roman commander when he took this city by siege, though he pardoned the city itself; and to this day it is free and held in honor among the Romans.

21After the Peiraeus comes the deme Phalereis, on the seaboard next to it; then Halimusii, Aexoneis, Alaeeis, Aexonici, and Anagyrasii. Then Thoreis, Lamptreis, Aegilieis, Anaphlystii, Ateneis. These are the demes as far as the cape of Sunium. Between the aforesaid demes is a long cape, the first cape after Aexoneis, Zoster; then another after Thoreis, I mean Astypalaea; off the former of these lies the island Phabra and off the latter the island Eleussa; and also opposite Aexonieis is Hydrussa. And in the neighborhood of Anaphlystus is also the shrine of Pan, and the temple of Aphrodite Colias, at which place, they say, were cast forth by the waves the last wreckage of the ships after the Persian naval battle near Salamis, the wreckage concerning which Apollo predicted “the women of Colias will cook food with the oars.” Off these places, too, is the island Belbina, at no great distance, and also the palisade of Patroclus. But most of these islands are uninhabited.

22On doubling the cape of Sunium one comes to Sunium, a noteworthy deme; then to Thoricus; then to a deme called Potamus, whose inhabitants are called Potamii; then to Prasia, to Steiria, to Brauron, where is the temple of the Artemis Brauronia, to Halae Araphenides, where is the temple of Artemis Tauropolus, to Myrrinus, to Probalinthus, and to Marathon, where Miltiades utterly destroyed the forces under Datis the Persian, without waiting for the Lacedaemonians, who came too late because they wanted the full moon. Here, too, is the scene of the myth of the Marathonian bull, which was slain by Theseus. After Marathon one comes to Tricorynthus; then to Rhamnus, the sanctuary of Nemesis; then to Psaphis, the land of the Oropians. In the neighborhood of Psaphis is the Amphiaraeium, an oracle once held in honor, where in his flight Amphiaraüs, as Sophocles says, “with four-horse chariot, armour and all, was received by a cleft that was made†in the Theban dust.”†Oropus has often been disputed territory; for it is situated on the common boundary of Attica and Boeotia. Off this coast are islands: off Thoricus and Sunium lies the island Helene; it is rugged and deserted, and in its length of about sixty stadia extends parallel to the coast. This island, they say, is mentioned by the poet where Alexander says to Helen: “Not even when first I snatched thee from lovely Lacedaemon and sailed with thee on the seafaring ships, and in the island Cranaë joined with thee in love and couch”; for he calls Cranaë the island now called Helene from the fact that the intercourse took place there. And after Helene comes Euboea, which lies off the next stretch of coast; it likewise is narrow and long and in length lies parallel to the mainland, like Helene. The voyage from Sunium to the southerly promontory of Euboea, which is called Leuce Acte, is three hundred stadia. However, I shall discuss Euboea later; but as for the demes in the interior of Attica, it would be tedious to recount them because of their great number.

23Of the mountains, those which are most famous are Hymettus, Brilessus, and Lycabettus; and also Parnes and Corydallus. Near the city are most excellent quarries of marble, the Hymettian and Pentelic. Hymettus also produces the best honey. The silver mines in Attica were originally valuable, but now they have failed. Moreover, those who worked them, when the mining yielded only meager returns, melted again the old refuse, or dross, and were still able to extract from it pure silver, since the workmen of earlier times had been unskillful in heating the ore in furnaces. But though the Attic honey is the best in the world, that in the country of the silver mines is said to be much the best of all, the kind which is called acapniston,†from the mode of its preparation.

24The rivers of Attica are the Cephissus, which has its source in the deme Trinemeis; it flows through the plain (hence the allusions to the “bridge” and the “bridge-railleries “†) and then through the legs of the walls which extend from the city to the Peiraeus; it empties into the Phaleric Gulf, being a torrential stream most of the time, although in summer it decreases and entirely gives out. And such is still more the case with the Ilissus, which flows from the other part of the city into the same coast, from the region above Agra†and the Lyceium, and from the fountain which is lauded by Plato in the Phaedrus. So much for Attica.

1Next in order is Boeotia; and when I discuss this country and the tribes that are continuous with it, I must, for the sake of clearness, call to mind what I have said before.†As I have said, the seaboard from Sunium to Thessaloniceia extends towards the north, slightly inclining towards the west and keeping the sea on the east; and that the parts above this seaboard lie towards the west—ribbon-like stretches of country extending parallel to one another through the whole country. The first of these parts is Attica together with Megaris—a ribbon-like stretch of country, having as its eastern side the seaboard from Sunium to Oropus and Boeotia, and as its western side the Isthmus and the Alcyonian Sea, which extends from Pagae to the boundaries of Boeotia near Creusa, and as its remaining two sides, the seaboard from Sunium to the Isthmus and the mountainous country approximately parallel thereto which separates Attica from Boeotia. The second of these parts is Boeotia, extending ribbon-like from the east towards the west, from the Euboean Sea to the sea at the Crisaean Gulf; and it is about equal in length to Attica or perhaps less; in the fertility of its soil, however, it is far superior.

2Ephorus declares that Boeotia is superior to the countries of the bordering tribes, not only in fertility of soil, but also because it alone has three seas and has a greater number of good harbors; in the Crisaean and Corinthian Gulfs it receives the products of Italy and Sicily and Libya, while in the part which faces Euboea, since its seaboard branches off on either side of the Euripus, on one side towards Aulis and the territory of Tanagra and on the other towards Salganeus and Anthedon, the sea stretches unbroken†in the one direction towards Egypt and Cyprus and the islands, and in the other direction towards Macedonia and the regions of the Propontis and the Hellespont. And he adds that Euboea has, in a way, been made a part of Boeotia by the Euripus, since the Euripus is so narrow and is spanned by a bridge to Euripus only two plethra†long. Now he praises the country on account of these things; and he says that it is naturally well suited to hegemony, but that those who were from time to time its leaders neglected careful training and education, and therefore, although they at times achieved success, they maintained it only for a short time, as is shown in the case of Epameinondas; for after he died the Thebans immediately lost the hegemony, having had only a taste of it; and that the cause of this was the fact that they belittled the value of learning and of intercourse with mankind, and cared for the military virtues alone. Ephorus should have added that these things are particularly useful in dealing with Greeks, although force is stronger than reason in dealing with the barbarians. And the Romans too, in ancient times, when carrying on war with savage tribes, needed no training of this kind, but from the time that they began to have dealings with more civilized tribes and races, they applied themselves to this training also, and so established themselves as lords of all.

3Be that as it may, Boeotia in earlier times was inhabited by barbarians, the Aones and the Temmices, who wandered thither from Sunium, and by the Leleges and the Hyantes. Then the Phoenicians occupied it, I mean the Phoenicians with Cadmus, the man who fortified the Cadmeia†and left the dominion to his descendants. Those Phoenicians founded Thebes in addition to the Cadmeia, and preserved their dominion, commanding most of the Boeotians until the expedition of the Epigoni. On this occasion they left Thebes for a short time, but came back again. And, in the same way, when they were ejected by the Thracians and the Pelasgians, they established their government in Thessaly along with the Arnaei for a long time, so that they were all called Boeotians. Then they returned to the homeland, at the time when the Aeolian fleet, near Aulis in Boeotia, was now ready to set sail, I mean the fleet which the sons of Orestes were despatching to Asia. After adding the Orchomenian country to Boeotia (for in earlier times the Orchomenians were not a part of the Boeotian community, nor did Homer enumerate them with the Boeotians, but as a separate people, for he called them Minyae), they, with the Orchomenians, drove out the Pelasgians to Athens (it was after these that a part of the city was named “Pelasgicon,” though they took up their abode below Hymettus), and the Thracians to Parnassus; and the Hyantes founded a city Hyas in Phocis.

4Ephorus says that the Thracians, after making a treaty with the Boeotians, attacked them by night when they, thinking that peace had been made, were encamping rather carelessly; and when the Boeotians frustrated the Thracians, at the same time making the charge that they were breaking the treaty, the Thracians asserted that they had not broken it, for the treaty said “by day,” whereas they had made the attack by night; whence arose the proverb, “Thracian pretense”; and the Pelasgians, when the war was still going on, went to consult the oracle, as did also the Boeotians. Now Ephorus is unable, he says, to tell the oracular response that was given to the Pelasgians, but the prophetess replied to the Boeotians that they would prosper if they committed sacrilege; and the messengers who were sent to consult the oracle, suspecting that the prophetess responded thus out of favor to the Pelasgians, because of her kinship with them (indeed, the temple also was from the beginning Pelasgian), seized the woman and threw her upon a burning pile, for they considered that, whether she had acted falsely or had not, they were right in either case, since, if she uttered a false oracle, she had her punishment, whereas, if she did not act falsely, they had only obeyed the order of the oracle. Now those in charge of the temple, he says, did not approve of putting to death without trial—and that too in the temple—the men who did this, and therefore they brought them to trial, and summoned them before the priestesses, who were also the prophetesses, being the two survivors of the three; but when the Boeotians said that it was nowhere lawful for women to act as judges, they chose an equal number of men in addition to the women. Now the men, he says, voted for acquittal, but the women for conviction, and since the votes cast were equal, those for acquittal prevailed; and in consequence of this prophecies are uttered at Dodona by men to Boeotians only; the prophetesses, however, explain the oracle to mean that the god ordered the Boeotians to steal the tripods†and take one of them to Dodona every year; and they actually do this, for they always†take down one of the dedicated tripods by night and cover it up with garments, and secretly, as it were, carry it to Dodona.

5After this the Boeotians cooperated with Penthilus and his followers in forming the Aeolian colony, sending with him most of their own people, so that it was also called a Boeotian colony. A long time afterwards the country was thoroughly devastated by the Persian war that took place near Plataeae. Then they recovered themselves to such an extent that the Thebans, having conquered the Lacedaemonians in two battles, laid claim to supremacy over the Greeks. But Epameinondas fell in the battle, and consequently they were disappointed in this hope; but still they went to war on behalf of the Greeks against the Phocians, who had robbed their common temple. And after suffering loss from this war, as also from the Macedonians when these attacked the Greeks,†they lost their city, which was razed to the ground by these same people, and then received it back from them when rebuilt.†From that time on the Thebans have fared worse and worse down to our own time, and Thebes today does not preserve the character even of a respectable village; and the like is true of other Boeotian cities, except Tanagra and Thespiae, which, as compared with Thebes, have held out fairly well.

6Next in order I must make a circuit of the country, beginning at that part of the coastline opposite Euboea which joins Attica. The beginning is Oropus, and the Sacred Harbor, which is called Delphinium, opposite which is the ancient Eretria in Euboea, the distance across being sixty stadia. After Delphinium, at a distance of twenty stadia, is Oropus; and opposite Oropus is the present Eretria, and to it the passage across the strait is forty stadia.

7Then one comes to Delium, the sanctuary of Apollo, which is a reproduction of that in Delos. It is a small town of the Tanagraeans, thirty stadia distant from Aulis. It was to this place that the Athenians, after their defeat in battle, made their headlong flight; and in the flight Socrates the philosopher, who was serving on foot, since his horse had got away from him, saw Xenophon the son of Gryllus lying on the ground, having fallen from his horse, and took him up on his shoulders and carried him in safety for many stadia, until the flight ceased.

8Then one comes to a large harbor, which is called Bathys Limen; then to Aulis, a rocky place and a village of the Tanagraeans. Its harbor is large enough for only fifty boats; and therefore it is reasonable to suppose that the naval station of the Greeks was in the large harbor. And near by, also, is the Euripus at Chalcis, to which the distance from Sunium is six hundred and seventy stadia; and over it is a bridge two plethra long,†as I have said; and a tower stands on each side, one on the side of Chalcis, and the other on the side of Boeotia; and tube-like passages have been constructed into the towers.†Concerning the refluent currents of the Euripus it is enough to say only thus much, that they are said to change seven times each day and night;†but the cause of the changes must be investigated elsewhere.

9Near the Euripus, upon a height, is situated a place called Salganeus. It is named after Salganeus, a Boeotian, who was buried there—the man who guided the Persians when they sailed into this channel from the Maliac Gulf. It is said that he was put to death before they reached the Euripus by Megabates, the commander of the fleet, because he was considered a villain, on the ground that he had deceitfully rushed the fleet into a blind alley of the sea, but that the barbarian, when he perceived that he himself was mistaken, not only repented, but deemed worthy of burial the man who had been put to death without cause.

10Near Oropus is a place called Graea, and also the temple of Amphiaraüs, and the monument of Narcissus the Eretrian, which is called “Sigelus’s,”†because people pass it in silence.†Some say that Graea is the same as Tanagra. The Poemandrian territory is the same as the Tanagraean;†and the Tanagraeans are also called Gephyraeans. The temple of Amphiaraüs was transferred hither in accordance with an oracle from the Theban Cnopia.

11Also Mycalessus, a village, is in the Tanagraean territory. It is situated on the road that leads from Thebes to Chalcis; and in the Boeotian dialect it is called Mycalettus. And Harma is likewise in the Tanagraean territory; it is a deserted village near Mycalettus, and received its name from the chariot of Amphiaraüs, and is a different place from the Harma in Attica, which is near Phylë, a deme of Attica bordering on Tanagra.†Here originated the proverb, “when the lightning flashes through Harma”; for those who are called the Pythaistae look in the general direction of Harma, in accordance with an oracle, and note any flash of lightning in that direction, and then, when they see the lightning flash, take the offering to Delphi.†They would keep watch for three months, for three days and nights each month, from the altar of Zeus Astrapaeus;†this altar is within the walls between the Pythium and the Olympium.†In regard to the Harma in Boeotia, some say that Amphiaraus fell in the battle out of his chariot near the place where his temple now is, and that the chariot was drawn empty to the place which bears the same name; others say that the chariot of Adrastus, when he was in flight, was smashed to pieces there, but that Adrastus safely escaped on Areion.†But Philochorus†says that Adrastus was saved by the inhabitants of the village, and that on this account they obtained equal rights of citizenship from the Argives.

12To anyone returning from Thebes to Argos,†Tanagra is on the left; and†... is situated on the right. And Hyria,†also, belongs to the Tanagraean territory now, though in earlier times it belonged to the Theban territory. Hyria is the scene of the myth of Hyrieus, and of the birth of Orion, of which Pindar speaks in his dithyrambs;†it is situated near Aulis. Some say that Hysiae is called Hyria, belonging to the Parasopian country†below Cithaeron, near Erythrae, in the interior, and that it is a colony of the Hyrieans and was founded by Nycteus, the father of Antiope. There is also a Hysiae in the Argive territory, a village; and its inhabitants are called Hysiatae. The Erythrae in Ionia is a colony of this Erythrae. And Heleon, also, is a village belonging to Tanagra, having been so named from the “hele.”

13After Salganeus one comes to Anthedon, a city with a harbor; and it is the last city on that part of the Boeotian seaboard which is opposite to Euboea, as the poet says, “Anthedon at the extremity.” As one proceeds a little farther, however, there are still two small towns belonging to the Boeotians: Larymna, near which the Cephissus empties, and, still farther on, Halae, which bears the same name as the Attic demes.†Opposite this seaboard is situated, it is said, the Aegae†in Euboea, in which is the temple of the Aegaean Poseidon, which I have mentioned before. The distance across the strait from Anthedon to Aegae is one hundred and twenty stadia, but from the other places it is much less. The temple is situated on a high mountain, where there was once a city. And Orobiae†also is near Aegae. In the Anthedonian territory is Mount Messapius,†named after Messapus, who, when he came into Iapygia, called the country Messapia. Here, too, is the scene of the myth of Glaucus, the Anthedonian, who is said to have changed into a sea-monster.†

14Near Anthedon, and belonging to Boeotia, is a place that is esteemed sacred, and contains traces of a city, Isus, as it is called, with the first syllable pronounced short. Some, however, think that the verse should be written, “sacred Isus and Anthedon at the extremity,” lengthening the first syllable by poetic licence on account of the meter,†instead of “sacred Nisa,”†for Nisa is nowhere to be seen in Boeotia, as Apollodorus says in his work On Ships; so that Nisa could not be the correct reading, unless by “Nisa” the poet means “Isus”; for there was a city Nisa bearing the same name in the territory of Megara, whose inhabitants emigrated to the foothills of Cithaeron, but it has now disappeared. Some, however, think that we should write “sacred Creusa,” taking the poet to mean the Creusa of today, the naval station of the Thespians, which is situated in the Crisaean Gulf; but others think that we should read “sacred Pharae.” Pharae is one of the “Four United Villages” in the neighborhood of Tanagra, which are: Heleon, Harma, Mycalessus, and Pharae. And still others write as follows: “sacred Nysa.” And Nysa is a village in Helicon.†Such, then, is the seaboard facing Euboea.

15The plains in the interior, which come next in order, are hollows, and are surrounded everywhere on the remaining sides†by mountains; by the mountains of Attica on the south, and on the north by the mountains of Phocis; and, on the west, Cithaeron inclines, obliquely, a little above the Crisaean Sea; it begins contiguous with the mountains of Megara and Attica, and then bends into the plains, terminating in the neighborhood of Thebes.

16Some of these plains are marshy, since rivers spread out over them, though other rivers fall into them and later find a way out; other plains are dried up, and on account of their fertility are tilled in all kinds of ways. But since the depths of the earth are full of caverns and holes, it has often happened that violent earthquakes have blocked up some of the passages, and also opened up others, some up to the surface of the earth and others through underground channels. The result for the waters, therefore, is that some of the streams flow through underground channels, whereas others flow on the surface of the earth, thus forming lakes and rivers. And when the channels in the depths of the earth are stopped up, it comes to pass that the lakes expand as far as the inhabited places, so that they swallow up both cities and districts, and that when the same channels, or others, are opened up, these cities and districts are uncovered; and that the same regions at one time are traversed in boats and at another on foot, and the same cities at one time are situated on the lake†and at another far away from it.

17One of two things has taken place: either the cities have remained unremoved, when the increase in the waters has been insufficient to overflow the dwellings because of their elevation, or else they have been abandoned and rebuilt elsewhere, when, being oftentimes endangered by their nearness to the lake, they have relieved themselves from fear by changing to districts farther away or higher up. And it follows that the cities thus rebuilt which have kept the same name, though at first called by names truly applying to them, derived from local circumstances, have names which no longer truly apply to them; for instance, it is probable that “Plataeae” was so called from the “blade”†of the oars, and “Plataeans” were those who made their living from rowing; but now, since they live far away from the lake, the name can no longer truly apply to them. Helos and Heleon and Heilesium were so called because they were situated near marshes;†but now the case is different with these places, since they have been rebuilt elsewhere, or else the lake has been greatly reduced because of outflows that later took place; for this is possible.

18This is best shown by the Cephissus, which fills lake Copais; for when the lake had increased so much that Copae†was in danger of being swallowed up (Copae is named by the poet, and from it the lake took its name), a rent in the earth, which was formed by the lake near Copae, opened up a subterranean channel†about thirty stadia in length and admitted the river; and then the river burst forth to the surface near Larymna in Locris; I mean the Upper Larymna, for there is another Larymna, which I have already mentioned, the Boeotian Larymna on the sea, to which the Romans annexed the Upper Larymna.†The place is called Anchoe;†and there is also a lake of the same name. And when it leaves this lake the Cephissus at last flows out to the sea. Now at that time, when the flooding of the lake ceased, there was also a cessation of danger to those who lived near it, except in the case of the cities which had already been swallowed up. And though the subterranean channels filled up again, Crates the mining engineer of Chalcis ceased clearing away the obstructions†because of party strife among the Boeotians, although, as he himself says in the letter to Alexander, many places had already been drained. Among these places, some writers suppose, was the ancient site of Orchomenus, and others, those of Eleusis and Athens on the Triton River.†These cities, it is said, were founded by Cecrops, when he ruled over Boeotia, then called Ogygia, but were later wiped out by inundations. And it is said that a fissure in the earth opened up near Orchomenus, also, and that it admitted the Melas River, which flowed through the territory of Hiliartus†and formed there the marsh which produces the reed that is used for flutes. But this river has completely disappeared, either because it is dispersed by the fissure into invisible channels or because it is used up beforehand by the marshes and lakes in the neighborhood of Haliartus, from which the poet calls the place “grassy,” when he says, “and grassy Haliartus.”

19Now these rivers flow down from the Phocian mountains, and among them the Cephissus, which takes its beginning at Lilaea, a Phocian city, as Homer says: “And those who held Lilaea, at the sources of Cephissus.” And flowing through Elateia, the largest of the cities of Phocis, and through Parapotamii and Phanoteus,†which are likewise Phocian towns, it goes on into Chaeroneia in Boeotia, and then through the territories of Orchomenus and Coroneia, and discharges into Lake Copais. And also the Permessus and the Olmeius, flowing from Helicon, meet one another and fall into the same Lake Copais near Haliartus; and also other streams empty into it. Now it is a large lake, having a circuit of three hundred and eighty stadia, but its outlets are nowhere to be seen, except for the fissure which admits the Cephissus, and for the marshes.

20Among the neighboring lakes are Lake Trephia†and the Cephissian Lake, which is also mentioned by the poet: “Who dwelt in Hyle, strongly intent upon wealth, on the shore of the Cephissian Lake.” For he does not mean Lake Copais, as some think, but lake Hylice (accented on the last syllable like lyricé), which is named after the village near by that is called Hyle (accented like lyra and thyra), not Hyde, as some write, “who dwelt in Hyde.” For Hyde is in Lydia, “below snowy Tmolus in the fertile land of Hyde,” whereas Hyle is in Boeotia; at any rate, the poet appends to the words, “on the shore of the Cephissian lake,” the words, “and near him dwelt the rest of the Boeotians.” For Lake Copais is large, and not in the territory of Thebes; whereas the other is small, and is filled from lake Copais through subterranean channels; and it is situated between Thebes and Anthedon. Homer, however, uses the word in the singular number, at one time making the first syllable long, as in the Catalogue, “and Hyle and Peteön, by poetic licence, and at another making it short, “who dwelt in Hyle,” and “Tychius..., by far the best of leatherworkers, who had his home in Hyle.” And certain critics are not correct in writing Hyde here, either; for Aias was not sending to fetch his shield from Lydia.

21These lakes suggest the order of the places that come next after them, so that nominally their positions are clearly determined, because the poet observes no order in naming the places, whether those that are worthy of mention or those that are not. But it is difficult, in naming so many places, most of them insignificant and situated in the interior, to avoid error in every case in the matter of their order. The seaboard, however, has a certain advantage with regard to this: the places there are better known; and, too, the sea more readily suggests the order of places. Therefore I, too, shall try to take my beginnings from the seaboard, although at present I shall disregard this intention, and following the poet shall make my enumeration of the places, adding everything taken from other writers, but omitted by him, that may be useful to us. He begins at Hyria and Aulis, concerning which I have already spoken.†

22Schoenus is a district of the Theban territory on the road that leads from Thebes to Anthedon, and is about fifty stadia distant from Thebes; and there is also a river Schoenus which flows through it.

23Scolus is a village in the Parasopian†country at the foot of Mount Cithaeron, a place that is rugged and hardly habitable; whence the proverb, “neither go to Scolus thyself nor follow another thither.” And this is also said to be the place from which Pentheus was brought when he was torn to pieces.†And there was another Scolus among the cities in the neighborhood of Olynthus bearing the same name as this village. And, as I have already said, there is also in the Trachinian Heracleia a village called Parasopii, past which flows a River Asopus; and in Sicyonia there is another Asopus River, and also the country Asopia, through which that Asopus flows; and there are also other rivers which bear this name.

24The name “Eteonus” was changed to “Scarphe,” and Scarphe too is in Parasopia; for the Asopus and the Ismenus flow through the plain which is in front of Thebes. And there is the spring called Dirce; and also Potniae, where is the scene of the myth of Glaucus of Potniae, who was torn to pieces by the Potnian mares near the city. Cithaeron, also, ends not far from Thebes. The Asopus flows past it, washing its foothills and causing the division of the Parasopii into several settlements; and all the settlements are subject to Thebes, though another set of writers say that Scolus, Eteonus, and Erythrae are in the territory of the Plataeans, for the river flows past Plataea, also, and empties near Tanagra. And in the territory of Thebes are also Therapnae and Teumessus, which latter Antimachus has adorned with praise in many verses,†although he enumerates goodly attributes which do not belong to it, as, for instance, “there is a windy little hill”; but the verses are well known.

25The “Thespiae” of today is by Antimachus spelled “Thespeia”; for there are many names of places which are used in both ways, both in the singular and in the plural, just as there are many which are used both in the masculine and in the feminine, whereas there are others which are used in either one or the other number only. Thespiae is a city near Mt. Helicon, lying somewhat to the south of it; and both it and Helicon are situated on the Crisaean Gulf. It has a seaport Creusa, also called Creusis. In the Thespian territory, in the part lying towards Helicon, is Ascre, the native city of Hesiod; it is situated on the right of Helicon,†on a high and rugged place, and is about forty stadia distant from Thespiae. This city Hesiod himself has satirized in verses which allude to his father, because at an earlier time his father changed his abode to this place from the Aeolian Cyme, saying: “And he settled near Helicon in a wretched village, Ascre, which is bad in winter, oppressive in summer, and pleasant at no time.” Helicon is contiguous to Phocis in its northerly parts, and to a slight extent also in its westerly parts, in the region of the last harbor belonging to Phocis, the harbor which, from the fact in the case, is called Mychus;†for, speaking generally, it is above this harbor of the Crisaean Gulf that Helicon and Ascre, and also Thespiae and its seaport Creusa, are situated. This is also considered the deepest recess of the Crisaean Gulf, and in general of the Corinthian Gulf. The length of the coastline from the harbor Mychus to Creusa is ninety stadia; and the length from Creusa as far as the promontory called Holmiae is one hundred and twenty; and hence Pagae and Oenoe, of which I have already spoken, are situated in the deepest recess of the gulf. Now Helicon, not far distant from Parnassus, rivals it both in height and in circuit; for both are rocky and covered with snow, and their circuit comprises no large extent of territory.†Here are the temple of the Muses and Hippu-crene and the cave of the nymphs called the Leibethrides; and from this fact one might infer that those who consecrated Helicon to the Muses were Thracians, the same who dedicated Pieris and Leibethrum and Pimpleia to the same goddesses. The Thracians used to be called Pieres, but, now that they have disappeared, the Macedonians hold these places. It has been said that Thracians once settled in this part of Boeotia, having overpowered the Boeotians, as did also Pelasgians and other barbarians. Now in earlier times Thespiae was well known because of the Eros of Praxiteles, which was sculptured by him and dedicated by Glycera the courtesan (she had received it as a gift from the artist) to the Thespians, since she was a native of the place. Now in earlier times travellers would go up to Thespeia, a city otherwise not worth seeing, to see the Eros; and at present it and Tanagra are the only Boeotian cities that still endure; but of all the rest only ruins and names are left.

26After Thespiae Homer names Graea and Mycalessus, concerning which I have already spoken. He likewise says concerning the rest:†“And those who lived about Harma and Heilesium and Erythrae, and those who held Eleon and Hyle and Peteon.” Peteon is a village in the Theban territory near the road to Anthedon. Ocalee is midway between Haliartus and Alalcomenium, thirty stadia distant from each; and a river bearing the same name flows past it. The Phocian Medeon is on the Crisaean Gulf, at a distance of one hundred and sixty stadia from Boeotia, whereas the Boeotian Medeon, which was named after it, is near Onchestus at the base of the mountain Phoenicius; and from this fact its name has been changed to Phoenicis. This mountain is also called a part of the Theban territory; but by some both Medeon and Ocalea are called a part of the territory of Haliartus.

27Homer then goes on to say: “Copae, and Eutresis, and Thisbe abounding in doves.” Concerning Copae I have already spoken. It lies towards the north on Lake Copais; and the others around the lake are these: Acraephiae, Phoenicis, Onchestus, Haliartus, Ocalea, Alalcomenae, Tilphusium, Coroneia. In early times, at least, the lake had no common name, but was called by different names corresponding to the several settlements lying on it, as, for instance, Copais from Copae, Haliartis from Haliartus, and so in the case of the rest of the settlements; but later the whole lake was called Copais, this name prevailing over all others; for the region of Copae forms the deepest recess of the lake. Pindar calls this lake Cephissis; at any rate, he places near it the spring Tilphossa, which flows at the foot of Mount Tilphossius near Haliartus and Alalcomenae, near which latter is the tomb of Teiresias; and here, too, is the temple of the Tilphossian Apollo.

28Next in order after Copae Homer names Eutresis, a small village of the Thespians, where Zethus and Amphion are said to have lived before they reigned over Thebes. Thisbe is now called Thisbae; the place is inhabited and is situated slightly above the sea, bordering on the territory of the Thespians and on that of Coroneia; and it, too, lies at the foot of Helicon on the south; and it has a seaport situated on a rocky place, which abounds in doves, in reference to which the poet says, “Thisbe abounding in doves.” From here to Sicyon is a voyage of one hundred and sixty stadia.

29Next Homer names Coroneia, Haliartus, Plataeae, and Glissas. Now Coroneia is situated on a height near Helicon. The Boeotians took possession of it on their return from the Thessalian Arne after the Trojan War, at which time they also occupied Orchomenus. And when they got the mastery of Coroneia, they built in the plain before the city the temple of the Itonian Athena, bearing the same name as the Thessalian temple; and they called the river which flowed past it Cuarius, giving it the same name as the Thessalian river. But Alcaeus calls it Coralius, when he says, “Athena, warrior queen, who dost keep watch o’er the cornfields of Coroneia before thy temple on the banks of the Coralius River.” Here, too, the Pamboeotian Festival used to be celebrated. And for some mystic reason, as they say, a statue of Hades†was dedicated along with that of Athena. Now the people in Coroneia are called Coronii, whereas those in the Messenian Coroneia are called Coronaeis.

30Haliartus is no longer in existence, having been razed to the ground in the war against Perseus; and the country is held by the Athenians, a gift from the Romans. It was situated in a narrow place, between the mountain situated above it and Lake Copais, near the Permessus and Olmeius Rivers and the marsh that produces the flute reed.

31Plataeae, which Homer speaks of in the singular number, is at the foot of Cithaeron, between it and Thebes, along the road that leads to Athens and Megara, on the confines of Attica and Megaris; for Eleutherae is near by, which some say belongs to Attica, others to Boeotia. I have already said that the Asopus flows past Plataeae. Here it was that the forces of the Greeks completely wiped out Mardonius and his three hundred thousand Persians; and they built a temple of Zeus Eleutherius, and instituted the athletic games in which the victor received a crown, calling them the Eleutheria. And tombs of those who died in the battle, erected at public expense, are still to be seen. In Sicyonia, also, there is a deme called Plataeae, the home of Mnasalces the poet:†“The tomb of Mnasalces the Plataean.”Homer speaks of Glissas, a settlement in the mountain Hypatus, which is in the Theban country near Teumessus and Cadmeia. The hillocks below which lies the Aonian Plain, as it is called, which extends from the Hypatus mountain to Thebes, are called “Dria.”†

32In these words of the poet, “and those who held Hypothebes,” some take him to mean some little city called Hypothebes, others Potniae; for Thebes, the latter say, was deserted because of the expedition of the Epigoni and had no part in the Trojan War. The former, however, say that the Thebans indeed had a part in the war, but that they were living in the level districts below Cadmeia†at that time, since they were unable to rebuild Cadmeia; and since Cadmeia was called Thebes, they add, the poet called the Thebans of that time “Hypothebans” instead of “people who live below Cadmeia.”

33Onchestus is where the Amphictyonic Council used to convene, in the territory of Haliartus near Lake Copais and the Teneric Plain; it is situated on a height, is bare of trees, and has a sacred Precinct of Poseidon, which is also bare of trees. But the poets embellish things, calling all sacred precincts “sacred groves,” even if they are bare of trees. Such, also, is the saying of Pindar concerning Apollo: “stirred, he traversed both land and sea, and halted on great lookouts above mountains, and whirled great stones, laying foundations of sacred groves.”††But Alcaeus is wrong, for just as he perverted the name of the River Cuarius, so he falsified the position of Onchestus, placing it near the extremities of Helicon, although it is at quite a distance from this mountain.

34The Teneric Plain is named after Tenerus. In myth he was the son of Apollo by Melia, and was a prophet of the oracle on the Ptoüs Mountain, which the same poet calls three-peaked: “and once he took possession of the three-peaked hollow of Ptoüs.”†And he calls Tenerus “temple minister, prophet, called by the same name as the plains.”†The Ptoüs lies above the Teneric Plain and Lake Copais near Acraephium. Both the oracle and the mountain belonged to the Thebans. And Acraephium itself also lies on a height. They say that this is called Arne by the poet, the same name as the Thessalian city.

35Some say that Arne too was swallowed up by the lake, as well as Mideia. Zenodotus, who writes “and those who possessed Ascre†rich in vineyards,” seems not to have read the statements of Hesiod concerning his native land, nor those of Eudoxus, who says much worse things concerning Ascre. For how could anyone believe that such a place was called “rich in vineyards” by the poet? Wrong, also, are those who write “Tarne” instead of “Arne”; for not a single place named Tarne is pointed out among the Boeotians, though there is one among the Lydians, and this the poet mentions: “Idomeneus then slew Phaestus, son of Borus the Maeonian, who came from fertile Tarne.” The remaining Boeotian cities concerning which it is worthwhile to make mention are: of those situated round the lake, Alalcomenae and Tilphossium, and, of the rest, Chaeroneia, Lebadeia, and Leuctra.

36Now as for Alalcomenae, the poet mentions it, but not in the Catalogue: “Argive Hera and Alalcomenian Athena.”It has an ancient temple of Athena which is held in great honor; and they say, at least, that the goddess was born there, just as Hera was born in Argos, and that it was because of this that the poet named them both in this way, as natives of these places. And it was because of this, perhaps, that he did not mention in the Catalogue the men of Alalcomenae, since, being sacred, they were excused from the expedition. And in fact the city always continued unravaged, although it was neither large nor situated in a secure position, but in a plain. But all peoples, since they revered the goddess, held aloof from any violence towards the inhabitants, so that when the Thebans, at the time of the expedition of the Epigonoi, left their city, they are said to have fled for refuge to Alalcomenae, and to Tilphossius, the mountain, a natural stronghold that lies above it; and at the base of this mountain is a spring called Tilphossa, and the monument of Teiresias, who died there at the time of the flight.

37Chaeroneia is near Orchomenus. It was here that Philip the son of Amyntas conquered the Athenians, Boeotians, and Corinthians in a great battle, and set himself up as lord of Greece. And here, too, are to be seen tombs of those who fell in the battle, tombs erected at public expense. And it was in the same region that the Romans so completely defeated the forces of Mithridates, many tens of thousands in number, that only a few escaped in safety to the sea and fled in their ships, whereas the rest either perished or were taken captive.

38At Lebadeia is situated an oracle of Trophonian Zeus. The oracle has a descent into the earth consisting of an underground chasm; and the person who consults the oracle descends into it himself. It is situated between Mt. Helicon and Chaeroneia, near Coroneia.

39Leuctra is the place where Epameinondas defeated the Lacedaemonians in a great battle and found a beginning of his overthrow of them; for after that time they were never again able to regain the hegemony of the Greeks which they formerly held, and especially because they also fared badly in the second clash near Mantineia. However, although they had suffered such reverses, they continued to avoid being subject to others until the Roman conquest. And among the Romans, also, they have continued to be held in honor because of the excellence of their government. This place is to be seen on the road that leads from Plataeae to Thespiae.

40Next the poet gives the catalogue of the Orchomenians, whom he separates from the Boeotian tribe. He calls Orchomenus “Minyeian,” after the tribe of the Minyae. They say that some of the Minyae emigrated from there to Iolcus, and that from this fact the Argonauts were called Minyae. Clearly it was in early times both a rich and very powerful city. Now to its wealth Homer also is a witness, for when enumerating the places that abounded in wealth he says: “Nor yet all that comes to Orchomenus†nor all that comes to Egyptian Thebes.”And of its power there is this proof, that the Thebans were wont to pay tribute to the Orchomenians and to Erginus their tyrant, who is said to have been put to death by Heracles. Eteocles, one of those who reigned as king at Orchomenus, who founded a temple of the Graces, was the first to display both wealth and power; for he honored these goddesses either because he was successful in receiving graces, or in giving them, or both. For necessarily, when he had become naturally inclined to kindly deeds, he began doing honor to these goddesses; and therefore he already possessed this power; but in addition he also had to have money, for neither could anyone give much if he did not have much, nor could anyone have much if he did not receive much. But if he has both together, he has the reciprocal giving and receiving; for the vessel that is at the same time being emptied and filled is always full for use; but he who gives and does not receive could not succeed in either, for he will stop giving because his treasury fails; also the givers will stop giving to him who receives only and grants no favours; and therefore he could not succeed in either way. And like things might be said concerning power. Apart from the common saying, “money is the most valuable thing to men, and it has the most power of all things among men,” we should look into the subject in detail. We say that kings have the greatest power; and on this account we call them potentates. They are potent in leading the multitudes whither they wish, through persuasion or force. Generally they persuade through kindness, for persuasion through words is not kingly; indeed, this belongs to the orator, whereas we call it kingly persuasion when kings win and attract men whither they wish by kindly deeds. They persuade men, it is true, through kindly deeds, but they force them by means of arms. Both these things may be bought with money; for he has the largest army who is able to support the largest, and he who possesses the most means is also able to show the most kindness. They say that the place now occupied by Lake Copais was formerly dry ground, and that it was tilled in all kinds of ways when it was subject to the Orchomenians, who lived near it. And this fact, accordingly, is adduced as an evidence of their wealth.

41Aspledon was by some called Spledon, without the first syllable. Then the name, both of it and of the country, was changed to Eudeielos, perhaps because, from its “evening” inclination,†it offered a special advantage peculiar to its inhabitants, especially the mildness of its winters; for the two ends of the day are coldest; and of these the evening is colder than the morning, for as night approaches the cold is more intense, and as night retires it abates. But the sun is a means of mitigating the cold. The place, therefore, that is warmed most by the sun at the coldest time is mildest in winter. Eudeielos is twenty stadia distant from Orchomenus. And the River Melas is between them.

42Above the Orchomenian territory lies Panopeus, a Phocian city, and also Hyampolis. And bordering on these is Opus, the metropolis of the Epicnemidian Locrians. Now in earlier times Orchomenus was situated on a plain, they say, but when the waters overflowed, the inhabitants migrated up to the mountain Acontius, which extends for a distance of sixty stadia to Parapotamii in Phocis. And they relate that the Achaeans in Pontus, as they are called, are a colony of Orchomenians who wandered there with Ialmenus after the capture of Troy. There was also an Orchomenus in the neighborhood of Carystus. Those who have written concerning the Ships†have supplied us well with such materials, and are the writers we follow when they say things appropriate to the purpose of our work.

1After Boeotia and Orchomenus one comes to Phocis; it stretches towards the north alongside Boeotia, nearly from sea to sea; it did so in early times, at least, for in those times Daphnus belonged to Phocis, splitting Locris into two parts and being placed by geographers midway between the Opuntian Gulf and the coast of the Epicnemidians. The country now belongs to the Locrians (the town has been razed to the ground), so that even here Phocis no longer extends as far as the Euboean Sea, though it does border on the Crisaean Gulf. For Crisa itself belongs to Phocis, being situated by the sea itself and so do Cirrha and Anticyra and the places which lie in the interior and contiguous to them near Parnassus—I mean Delphi, Cirphis, and Daulis—and Parnassus itself which belongs to Phocis and forms its boundary on its western side. In the same way as Phocis lies alongside Boeotia, so also Locris lies alongside Phocis on either side; for Locris is double, being divided into two parts by Parnassus, the part on the western side lying alongside Parnassus and occupying a part of it, and extending to the Crisaean Gulf, whereas the part on the side towards the east ends at the Euboean Sea. The Westerners†are called Locrians and Ozolae; and they have the star Hesperus engraved on their public seal. The other division of inhabitants is itself also divided, in a way, into two parts: the Opuntians, named after their metropolis, whose territory borders on Phocis and Boeotia, and the Epicnemidians, named after a mountain called Cnemis, who are next to the Oetaeans and Malians. In the middle between both, I mean the Westerners and the other division, is Parnassus, extending lengthwise into the northerly part of the country, from the region of Delphi as far as the junction of the Oetaean and the Aetolian mountains, and the country of the Dorians which lies in the middle between them. For again, just as Locris, being double, lies alongside Phocis, so also the country of the Oetaeans together with Aetolia and with certain places of the Dorian Tetrapolis, which lie in the middle between them, lie alongside either part of Locris and alongside Parnassus and the country of the Dorians. Immediately above these are the Thessalians, the northerly Aetolians, the Acarnanians, and some of the Epeirote and Macedonian tribes. As I was saying before, one should think of the aforementioned countries as ribbon-like stretches, so to speak, extending parallel to one another from the west towards the east. The whole of Parnassus is esteemed as sacred, since it has caves and other places that are held in honor and deemed holy. Of these the best known and most beautiful is Corycium, a cave of the nymphs bearing the same name as that in Cilicia. Of the sides of Parnassus, the western is occupied by the Ozolian Locrians and by some of the Dorians and by the Aetolians who live near the Aetolian mountain called Corax; whereas the other side is occupied by Phocians and by the majority of the Dorians, who occupy the Tetrapolis, which in a general way lies round Parnassus, but widens out in its parts that face the east. Now the long sides of each of the aforementioned countries and ribbon-like stretches are all parallel, one side being towards the north and the other towards the south; but as for the remaining sides, the western are not parallel to the eastern; neither are the two coastlines, where the countries of these tribes end, I mean that of the Crisaean Gulf as far as Actium and that facing Euboea as far as Thessaloniceia, parallel to one another. But one should conceive of the geometrical figures of these regions as though several lines were drawn in a triangle parallel to the base, for the figures thus marked off will be parallel to one another, and they will have their opposite long sides parallel, but as for the short sides this is no longer the case. This, then, is my rough sketch of the country that remains to be traversed and is next in order. Let me now describe each separate part in order, beginning with Phocis.

2Of Phocis two cities are the most famous, Delphi and Elateia. Delphi, because of the temple of the Pythian Apollo, and because of the oracle, which is ancient, since Agamemnon is said by the poet to have had an oracle given him from there; for the minstrel is introduced as singing “the quarrel of Odysseus and Achilles, son of Peleus, how once they strove..., and Agamemnon, lord of men, rejoiced at heart..., for thus Phoebus Apollo, in giving response to him at Pytho, had told him that it should be.”Delphi, I say, is famous because of these things, but Elateia, because it is the largest of all the cities there, and has the most advantageous position, because it is situated in the narrow passes and because he who holds this city holds the passes leading into Phocis and Boeotia. For, first, there are the Oetaean Mountains; and then those of the Locrians and Phocians, which are not everywhere passable to invaders from Thessaly, but have passes, both narrow and separated from one another, which are guarded by the adjacent cities; and the result is, that when these cities are captured, their captors master the passes also. But since the fame of the temple at Delphi has the priority of age, and since at the same time the position of its places suggests a natural beginning (for these are the most westerly parts of Phocis), I should begin my description there.

3As I have already said, Parnassus is situated on the western boundaries of Phocis. Of this mountain, then, the side towards the west is occupied by the Ozolian Locrians, whereas the southern is occupied by Delphi, a rocky place, theatre-like, having the oracle and the city on its summit, and filling a circuit of sixteen stadia. Situated above Delphi is Lycoreia, on which place, above the temple, the Delphians were established in earlier times. But now they live close to the temple, round the Castalian fountain. Situated in front of the city, toward the south, is Cirphis, a precipitous mountain, which leaves in the intervening space a ravine, through which flows the Pleistus River. Below Cirphis lies Cirrha, an ancient city, situated by the sea; and from it there is an ascent to Delphi of about eighty stadia. It is situated opposite Sicyon. In front of Cirrha lies the fertile Crisaean Plain; for again one comes next in order to another city, Crisa, from which the Crisaean Gulf is named. Then to Anticyra, bearing the same name as the city on the Maliac Gulf near Oeta. And, in truth, they say that it is in the latter region that the hellebore of fine quality is produced, though that produced in the former is better prepared, and on this account many people resort thither to be purged and cured; for in the Phocian Anticyra, they add, grows a sesame-like medicinal plant with which the Oetaean hellebore is prepared.

4Now Anticyra still endures, but Cirrha and Crisa have been destroyed, the former earlier, by the Crisaeans, and Crisa itself later, by Eurylochus the Thessalian, at the time of the Crisaean War. For the Crisaeans, already prosperous because of the duties levied on importations from Sicily and Italy, proceeded to impose harsh taxes on those who came to visit the temple,†even contrary to the decrees of the Amphictyons. And the same thing also happened in the case of the Amphissians, who belonged to the Ozolian Locrians. For these too, coming over, not only restored Crisa and proceeded to put under cultivation again the plain which had been consecrated by the Amphictyons, but were worse in their dealings with foreigners than the Crisaeans of old had been. Accordingly, the Amphictyons punished these too, and gave the territory back to the god: The temple, too, has been much neglected, though in earlier times it was held in exceedingly great honor. Clear proofs of this are the treasure houses, built both by peoples and by potentates, in which they deposited not only money which they had dedicated to the god, but also works of the best artists; and also the Pythian Games, and the great number of the recorded oracles.

5They say that the seat of the oracle is a cave that is hollowed out deep down in the earth, with a rather narrow mouth, from which arises breath that inspires a divine frenzy; and that over the mouth is placed a high tripod, mounting which the Pythian priestess receives the breath and then utters oracles in both verse and prose, though the latter too are put into verse by poets who are in the service of the temple. They say that the first to become Pythian priestess was Phemonoe; and that both the prophetess and the city were so called†from the word pythésthai,”†though the first syllable was lengthened, as in athanatos, akamatos, and diakonos.†Now the following is the idea which leads to the founding of cities and to the holding of common sanctuaries in high esteem: men came together by cities and by tribes, because they naturally tend to hold things in common, and at the same time because of their need of one another; and they met at the sacred places that were common to them for the same reasons, holding festivals and general assemblies; for everything of this kind tends to friendship, beginning with eating at the same table, drinking libations together, and lodging under the same roof; and the greater the number of the sojourners and the greater the number of the places whence they came, the greater was thought to be the use of their coming together.

6Now although the greatest share of honor was paid to this temple because of its oracle, since of all oracles in the world it had the repute of being the most truthful, yet the position of the place added something. For it is almost in the center of Greece taken as a whole, between the country inside the Isthmus and that outside it; and it was also believed to be in the center of the inhabited world, and people called it the navel of the earth, in addition fabricating a myth, which is told by Pindar, that the two eagles (some say crows) which had been set free by Zeus met there, one coming from the west and the other from the east. There is also a kind of navel to be seen in the temple; it is draped with fillets, and on it are the two likenesses of the birds of the myth.

7Such being the advantages of the site of Delphi, the people easily came together there, and especially those who lived near it. And indeed the Amphictyonic League was organized from the latter, both to deliberate concerning common affairs and to keep the superintendence of the temple more in common, because much money and many votive offerings were deposited there, requiring great vigilance and holiness. Now the facts of olden times are unknown, but among the names recorded Acrisius is reputed to have been the first to administer the Amphictyony and to determine the cities that were to have a part in the council and to give a vote to each city, to one city separately or to another jointly with a second or with several, and also to proclaim the Amphictyonic Rights—all the rights that cities have in their dealings with cities. Later there were several other administrations, until this organization, like that of the Achaeans, was dissolved. Now the first cities which came together are said to have been twelve, and each sent a Pylagoras,†the assembly convening twice a year, in spring and in late autumn; but later still more cities were added. They called the assembly Pylaea, both that of spring and that of late autumn, since they convened at Pylae, which is also called Thermopylae; and the Pylagorae sacrificed to Demeter. Now although at the outset only the people who lived near by had a share both in these things and in the oracle, later the people living at a distance also came and consulted the oracle and sent gifts and built treasure houses, as, for instance, Croesus, and his father Alyattes, and some of the Italiotes,†and the Sicilians.

8But wealth inspires envy, and is therefore difficult to guard, even if it is sacred. At present, certainly, the temple at Delphi is very poor, at least so far as money is concerned; but as for the votive offerings, although some of them have been carried off, most of them still remain. In earlier times the temple was very wealthy, as Homer states: “nor yet all the things which the stone threshold of the archer Phoebus Apollo enclosed in rocky Pytho.”The treasure houses clearly indicate its wealth, and also the plundering done by the Phocians, which kindled the Phocian War, or Sacred War, as it is called. Now this plundering took place in the time of Philip, the son of Amyntas, although writers have a notion of another and earlier plundering, in ancient times, in which the wealth mentioned by Homer was carried out of the temple. For, they add, not so much as a trace of it was saved down to those later times in which Onomarchus and his army, and Phaÿllus and his army,†robbed the temple; but the wealth then carried away was more recent than that mentioned by Homer; for there were deposited in treasure houses offerings dedicated from spoils of war, preserving inscriptions on which were included the names of those who dedicated them; for instance, Gyges, Croesus, the Sybarites, and the Spinetae who lived near the Adriatic, and so with the rest. And it would not be reasonable to suppose that the treasures of olden times were mixed up with these, as indeed is clearly indicated by other places that were ransacked by these men. Some, however, taking “aphetor”†to mean “treasure-house,” and “threshold of the aphetor” to mean “underground repository of the treasure-house,” say that that wealth was buried in the temple, and that Onomarchus and his army attempted to dig it up by night, but since great earthquakes took place they fled outside the temple and stopped their digging, and that their experience inspired all others with fear of making a similar attempt.

9Of the temples, the one “with wings” must be placed among the myths; the second is said to be the work of Trophonius and Agamedes; and the present temple was built by the Amphictyons. In the sacred precinct is to be seen the tomb of Neoptolemus, which was made in accordance with an oracle, Machaereus, a Delphian, having slain him because, according to the myth, he was asking the god for redress for the murder of his father; but according to all probability it was because he had attacked the temple. Branchus, who presided over the temple at Didyma, is called a descendant of Machaereus.

10As for the contests at Delphi, there was one in early times between citharoedes, who sang a paean in honor of the god; it was instituted by the Delphians. But after the Crisaean war, in the time of Eurylochus,†the Amphictyons instituted equestrian and gymnastic contests in which the prize was a crown, and called them Pythian Games. And to the citharoedes†they added both fluteplayers and citharists who played without singing, who were to render a certain melody which is called the Pythian Nome. There are five parts of it: angkrousis, ampeira, katakeleusmos, iambi and dactyli, and syringes. Now the melody was composed by Timosthenes, the admiral of the second Ptolemy, who also compiled The Harbours, a work in ten books;†and through this melody he means to celebrate the contest between Apollo and the dragon, setting forth the prelude as anakrousis, the first onset of the contest as ampeira, the contest itself as katakeleusmos, the triumph following the victory as iambus and dactylus, the rhythms being in two measures, one of which, the dactyl, is appropriate to hymns of praise, whereas the other, the iamb, is suited to reproaches (compare the word “iambize”), and the expiration of the dragon as syringes, since with syringes players imitated the dragon as breathing its last in hissings.

11Ephorus, whom I am using more than any other authority because, as Polybius, a noteworthy writer, testifies, he exercises great care in such matters, seems to me sometimes to do the opposite of what he intended, and at the outset promised, to do. At any rate, after censuring those who love to insert myths in the text of their histories, and after praising the truth, he adds to his account of this oracle a kind of solemn promise, saying that he regards the truth as best in all cases, but particularly on this subject; for it is absurd, he says, if we always follow such a method in dealing with every other subject, and yet, when speaking of the oracle which is the most truthful of all, go on to use the accounts that are so untrustworthy and false. Yet, though he says this, he adds forthwith that historians take it for granted that Apollo, with Themis, devised the oracle because he wished to help our race; and then, speaking of the helpfulness of it, he says that Apollo challenged men to gentleness and inculcated self control by giving out oracles to some, commanding them to do certain things and forbidding them to do other things, and by absolutely refusing admittance to other consultants. Men believe that Apollo directs all this, he says, some believing that the god himself assumes a bodily form, others that he transmits to human beings a knowledge of his own will.

12A little further on, when discussing who the Delphians were, he says that in olden times certain Parnassians who were called indigenous inhabited Parnassus; and that at this time Apollo, visiting the land, civilized the people by introducing cultivated fruits and cultured modes of life; and that when he set out from Athens to Delphi he went by the road which the Athenians now take when they conduct the Pythias;†and that when he arrived at the land of the Panopaeans he destroyed Tityus, a violent and lawless man who ruled there; and that the Parnassians joined him and informed him of another cruel man named Python and known as the Dragon, and that when Apollo shot at him with his arrows the Parnassians shouted “Hie Paean”†to encourage him (the origin, Ephorus adds, of the singing of the Paean which has been handed down as a custom for armies just before the clash of battle); and that the tent of Python was burnt by the Delphians at that time, just as they still burn it to this day in remembrance of what took place at that time. But what could be more mythical than Apollo shooting with arrows and punishing Tityuses and Pythons, and travelling from Athens to Delphi and visiting the whole earth? But if Ephorus did not take these stories for myths, by what right did he call the mythological Themis a woman, and the mythological Dragon a human being—unless he wished to confound the two types, history and myth? Similar to these statements are also those concerning the Aetolians; for after saying that from all time their country had been unravaged, he at one time says that Aeolians took up their abode there, having ejected the barbarians who were in possession of it, and at another time that Aetolus together with the Epeii from Elis took up their abode there, but that these were destroyed by the Aeolians, and that these latter were destroyed by Alcmaeon and Diomedes. But I return to the Phocians.

13On the seacoast after Anticyra, one comes first to a town called Opisthomarathus; then to a cape called Pharygium, where there is an anchoring-place; then to the harbor that is last, which, from the fact in the case, is called Mychus; and it lies below Helicon and Ascre. And the oracle of Abae is not far from this region, nor Ambrysus, nor Medeon,†which bears the same name as the Boeotian Medeon. Still farther in the interior, after Delphi, approximately towards the east, is a town Daulis, where Tereus the Thracian is said to have held sway (the scene of the mythical story of Philomela and Procne is laid there, though Thucydides†says at Megara). The place got its name from the thickets, for they call thickets “dauli.” Now Homer called it Daulis, but later writers call it Daulia. And “Cyparissus,” in the words “held Cyparissus,”is interpreted by writers in two ways, by some as bearing the same name as the tree,†and by others, by a slight change in the spelling, as a village below Lycoreia.†

14Panopeus, the Phanoteus of today, borders on the region of Lebadeia, and is the native land of Epeius. And the scene of the myth of Tityus is laid here. Homer says that the Phaeacians “led” Rhadamanthys into Euboea “to see Tityus, son of the Earth.” And a cave called Elarium is to be seen in the island, named after Elara the mother of Tityus; and also a hero-temple of Tityus, and certain honors which are paid to him. Near Lebadeia, also, is Trachin, a Phocian town, which bears the same name as the Oetaean city; and its inhabitants are called Trachinians.

15Anemoreia has been named from a circumstance connected with it: squalls of wind sweep down upon it from Catopterius, as it is called, a beetling cliff extending from Parnassus. This place was a boundary between Delphi and the Phocians when the Lacedaemonians caused the Delphians to revolt from the common organization of the Phocians,†and permitted them to form a separate State of their own. Some, however, call the place Anemoleia. And then one comes to Hyampolis (later called Hya by some), to which, as I have said,†the Hyantes were banished from Boeotia. This city is very far inland, near Parapotamii, and is not the same as Hyampeia on Parnassus; also far inland is Elateia, the largest city of the Phocians, which is unknown by Homer, for it is more recent than the Homeric age, and it is advantageously situated in that it commands the passes from Thessaly. Demosthenes clearly indicates the natural advantage of its position when he speaks of the commotion that suddenly took place at Athens when a messenger came to the Prytanes with the report that Elateia had been captured.†

16Parapotamii is a settlement on the Cephissus River near Phanoteus and Chaeroneia and Elateia. Theopompus says that this place is distant from Chaeroneia about forty stadia and marks the boundary of the territories of the Ambryseans, the Panopeans and the Daulians; and that it lies on a moderately high hill at the pass which leads from Boeotia into Phocis, between the mountains Parnassus and Hadylius, between which is left a tract of about five stadia divided by the Cephissus River, which affords a narrow pass on each side. The river, he continues, has its beginnings in the Phocian city Lilaea (just as Homer says, “and those who held Lilaea, at the fountains of Cephissus “), and empties into Lake Copais; and the mountain Hadylius extends over a distance of sixty stadia as far as the mountain Acontius, where Orchomenus is situated. And Hesiod, too, describes at considerable length the river and the course of its flow, saying that it flows through the whole of Phocis in a winding and serpentine course; “like a dragon it goes in tortuous courses out past Panopeus and through strong Glechon and through Orchomenus.”†The narrow pass in the neighborhood of Parapotamii, or Parapotamia (for the name is spelled both ways), was an object of contention in the Phocian war, since the enemy had here their only entrance into Phocis. There are, besides the Phocian Cephissus, the one at Athens, the one in Salamis, a fourth and a fifth in Sicyon and in Scyros, and a sixth in Argos, which has its sources in Mt. Lyrceius; and at Apollonia near Epidamnus there is a fountain near the gymnasium which is called Cephissus.

17Daphnus is now razed to the ground. It was at one time a city of Phocis, bordering on the Euboean Sea; it divided the Epicnemidian Locrians into two parts, one part in the direction of Boeotia, and the other facing Phocis, which at that time reached from sea to sea. And evidence of this is the Schedieium in Daphnus, which, they say, is the tomb of Schedius; but as I have said, Daphnus “split”†Locris on either side, so that the Epicnemidian and Opuntian Locrians nowhere bordered on one another; but in later times the place was included within the boundaries of the Opuntians. Concerning Phocis, however, I have said enough.

1Locris comes next in order, and therefore I must describe this country. It is divided into two parts: one part is that which is inhabited by the Locrians and faces Euboea; and, as I was saying, it was once split into two parts, one on either side of Daphnus. The Opuntians were named after their metropolis, and the Epicnemidians after a mountain called Cnemis. The rest of Locris is inhabited by the Western Locrians, who are also called Ozolian Locrians. They are separated from the Opuntians and the Epicnemidians by Parnassus, which is situated between them, and by the Tetrapolis of the Dorians. But I must begin with the Opuntians.

2Next, then, after Halae, where that part of the Boeotian coast which faces Euboea terminates, lies the Opuntian Gulf. Opus is the metropolis, as is clearly indicated by the inscription on the first of the five pillars in the neighborhood of Thermopylae, near the Polyandrium:†“Opöeis, metropolis of the Locrians of righteous laws, mourns for these who perished in defence of Greece against the Medes.” It is about fifteen stadia distant from the sea, and sixty from the seaport. Cynus is the seaport, a cape which forms the end of the Opuntian Gulf, the gulf being about forty stadia in extent. Between Opus and Cynus is a fertile plain; and Cynus lies opposite Aedepsus in Euboea, where are the hot waters of Heracles, and is separated from it by a strait one hundred and sixty stadia†wide. Deucalion is said to have lived in Cynus; and the grave of Pyrrha is to be seen there, though that of Deucalion is to be seen at Athens. Cynus is about fifty stadia distant from Mount Cnemis. The island Atalanta is also situated opposite Opus, and bears the same name as the island in front of Attica. It is said that a certain people in Eleia are also called Opuntians, but it is not worth while to mention them, except to say that they are reviving a kinship which exists between them and the Opuntians. Now Homer says that Patroclus was from Opus, and that after committing an involuntary murder he fled to Peleus, but that his father Menoetius remained in his native land; for thither Achilles says that he promised Menoetius to bring back Patroclus when Patroclus should return from the expedition. However, Menoetius was not king of the Opuntians, but Aias the Locrian, whose native land, as they say, was Narycus. They call the man who was slain by Patroclus “Aeanes”; and both a sacred precinct, the Aeaneium, and a spring, Aeanis, named after him, are to be seen.

3Next after Cynus, one comes to Alope and to Daphnus, which latter, as I said, is razed to the ground; and here there is a harbor which is about ninety stadia distant from Cynus, and one hundred and twenty stadia from Elateia, for one going on foot into the interior. We have now reached the Maliac Gulf, which is continuous with the Opuntian Gulf.

4After Daphnus one comes to Cnemides, a natural stronghold, about twenty stadia by sea; and opposite it, in Euboea, lies Cenaeum, a cape facing the west and the Maliac Gulf, and separated from it by a strait about twenty stadia in width. At this point we have now reached the territory of the Epicnemidian Locrians. Here, too, lying off the coast, are the three Lichades Islands, as they are called, named after Lichas; and there are also other islands along the coast, but I am purposely omitting them. After twenty stadia from Cnemides one comes to a harbor, above which, at an equal distance in the interior, lies Thronium. Then one comes to the Boagrius River, which flows past Thronium and empties into the sea. They also call it Manes. It is a winter stream, so that at times one can cross it dry-shod, though at other times it has a breadth of two plethra. After this one comes to Scarpheia, which is situated ten stadia above the sea, thirty stadia distant from Thronium, and slightly less from the harbor itself. Then one comes to Nicaea and Thermopylae.

5As for the remaining cities, it is not worthwhile to mention any of them except those which are mentioned by Homer. Calliarus is no longer inhabited, but is now a beautifully-tilled plain, and they so call it from what is the fact in the case.†Bessa, too, does not exist; it is a wooded place. Neither does Augeiae, whose territory is held by the Scarphians. Now this Bessa should be written with a double s (for it is named from its being a wooded place, being spelled the same way—like Nape†in the plain of Methymne, which Hellanicus ignorantly names Lape), whereas the deme in Attica, whose inhabitants are accordingly called Besaeeis, should be written with one s.

6Tarphe is situated on a height, at a distance of twenty stadia from Thronium; its territory is both fruitful and well-wooded, for already†this place had been named from its being thickly wooded. But it is now called Pharygae; and here is situated a temple of Pharygaean Hera, so called from the Hera in the Argive Pharygae; and, indeed, they say that they are colonists of the Argives.

7However, Homer does not mention the Western Locrians, or at least not in express words, but only in that he seems by contrast to distinguish these from those other Locrians of whom I have already spoken, when he says, “of the Locrians who dwell opposite sacred Euboea,” implying that there was a different set of Locrians. But they have not been much talked about by many others either. The cities they held were Amphissa and Naupactus; of these, Naupactus survives, near Antirrhium, and it was named from the shipbuilding†that was once carried on there, whether it was because the Heracleidae built their fleet there, or (as Ephorus says) because the Locrians had built ships there even before that time. It now belongs to the Aetolians, having been adjudged to them by Philip.

8Here, also, is Chalcis, which the poet mentions in the Aetolian Catalogue; it is below Calydon. Here, also, is the hill Taphiassus, on which are the tombs of Nessus and the other Centaurs, from whose putrefied bodies, they say, flows forth at the base of the hill the water which is malodorous and clotted; and it is on this account, they add, that the tribe is also called Ozolian.†Molycreia, an Aetolian town, is also near Antirrhium. The site of Amphissa is on the edge of the Crisaean Plain; it was razed to the ground by the Amphictyons, as I have said. And both Oeantheia and Eupalium belong to the Locrians. The whole voyage along the Locrian coast slightly exceeds two hundred stadia in length.

9There is a place named Alope, not only here and among the Epicnemidian Locrians, but also in Phthiotis. Now these†are colonists of the Epicnemidian Locrians, but the Epizephyrian Locrians are colonists of these.†

10The Aetolians border on the western Locrians; and the Aenianians who inhabit Mount Oeta border on the Epicnemidian Locrians; and in the middle between them are Dorians. Now these Dorians are the people who inhabited the Tetrapolis, which, they say, was the metropolis of all the Dorians; and the cities they held were Erineus, Boeum, Pindus and Cytinium. Pindus is situated above Erineus; and a river bearing the same name flows past it, emptying into the Cephissus not very far from Lilaea. By some, however, Pindus is called Acyphas. The king of these Dorians was Aegimius, who was driven from his throne, but was brought back again, as the story goes, by Heracles; accordingly, Aegimius requited the favor to Heracles after the latter’s death on Oeta; for he adopted Hyllus, the eldest of the sons of Heracles; and Hyllus and his descendants became his successors on the throne. From here it was that the Heracleidae set out on their return to the Peloponnesus.

11Now for a time the cities in question were held in respect, although they were small and had poor soil, but afterwards they were lightly esteemed. During the Phocian War and the domination of the Macedonians, Aetolians, and Athamanians—it is marvellous that even a trace of them passed to the Romans. And the Aenianians had the same experience, for they too were destroyed by the Aetolians and the Athamanians: by the Aetolians, when they waged war in conjunction with the Acarnanians, and were very powerful, and by the Athamanians, when they attained to distinction (the last of the Epeirotes to do so, the other peoples having by this time been worn out) and under their king Amynander had acquired power. These Athamanians kept possession of Oeta.

12This mountain extends from Thermopylae in the east to the Ambracian Gulf in the west; and, in a way, it cuts at right angles the mountainous country which extends from Parnassus to Pindus and to the barbarians who are situated beyond Pindus. Of this mountain, the part which verges towards Thermopylae is called Oeta; its length is two hundred stadia, and it is rugged and high; but it is highest at Thermopylae, for there it rises into a peak, and ends at the sea in sharp and abrupt precipices, though it leaves a narrow pass for invasions from Thessaly into the country of the Locrians.

13Now the pass is called not only “Pylae” and “Narrows,” but also “Thermopylae,” for there are hot waters near it that are held in honor as sacred to Heracles; and the mountain that lies above it is called Callidromus, but by some the remaining part of the mountain, which extends through Aetolia and Acarnania to the Ambracian Gulf, is also called Callidromus. Near Thermopylae, inside the narrows, are forts—Nicaea, towards the sea of the Locrians, and above it, Teichius and Heracleia, the latter in earlier times having been called Trachin, a settlement of Lacedaemonians. Heracleia is about six stadia distant from the old Trachin. Next one comes to Rhoduntia, a natural stronghold.

14These places are rendered difficult of access both by the ruggedness of the country and by the number of streams of water which here form ravines through which they flow. For besides the Spercheius, which flows past Anticyra, there is the Dyras River, which, they say, tried to quench the funeral pyre of Heralces, and also another†Melas, which is five stadia distant from Trachin. To the south of Trachin, according to Herodotus, there is a deep gorge through which the Asopus, bearing the same name as the aforesaid Asopus Rivers,†empties into the sea outside Pylae after receiving the Phoenix River, which meets it from the south and bears the name of the hero Phoenix, whose tomb is to be seen near it. The distance from the Asopus to Thermopylae is fifteen stadia.

15Now at that time these places were at the height of their fame when they held the mastery over the keys of the Narrows, and when there were struggles for the primacy between the peoples outside the Narrows and those inside them; for instance, Philip used to call Chalcis and Corinth “the fetters of Greece,” having Macedonia in view as his base of operations;†and the men of later times called, not only these, but also the city Demetrias “shackles,” for Demetrias commanded the passes round Tempe, since it held both Pelion and Ossa. But later, now that all peoples have been brought into subjection to a single power, everything is free from toll and open to all mankind.

16It was at these Narrows that Leonidas and his men, with a few who came from the neighborhood thereof, held out against all those forces of the Persians, until the barbarians, coming around the mountains through by-paths, cut them down. And today their Polyandrium†is to be seen, and pillars, and the oft-quoted inscription on the pillar of the Lacedaemonians, which is as follows: “Stranger, report to the Lacedaemonians that we lie here in obedience to their laws.”

17There is also a large harbor here, and a temple of Demeter, in which at the time of every Pylaean assembly the Amphictyons performed sacrificial rites. From the harbor to Heracleian Trachin the distance on foot is forty stadia, and by boat to Cenaeum seventy stadia. The Spercheius empties immediately outside Pylae. The distance to Pylae from the Euripus is five hundred and thirty stadia. And whereas Locris ends at Pylae, the parts outside Pylae towards the east and the Maliac Gulf belong to the Thessalians, and the parts towards the west belong to the Aetolians and the Acarnanians. As for the Athamanians, they are now extinct.

18Now the largest and most ancient composite part of the Greeks is that of the Thessalians, who have been described partly by Homer and partly by several others. The Aetolians Homer always speaks of under one name, classing cities, not tribes, under them, except the Curetes, who should be classified as Aetolians. But I must begin with Thessaly, omitting such things as are very old and mythical and for the most part not agreed upon, as I have already done in all other cases, and telling such things as seem to me appropriate to my purpose.

1Thessaly comprises, first, on the sea, the coast which extends from Thermopylae to the outlet of the Peneius River†and the extremities of Pelion, and faces the east and the northern extremities of Euboea. The parts that are near Euboea and Thermopylae are held by the Malians and the Achaean Phthiotae, and the parts near Pelion by the Magnetans. Let this side of Thessaly, then, be called the eastern or coastal side. As for the two sides†of Thessaly: on one side, beginning at Pelion and the Peneius,†Macedonia stretches towards the interior as far as Paeonia and the Epeirote tribes, and on the other side, beginning at Thermopylae, the Oetaean and Aetolian mountains lie parallel to Macedonia, bordering on the country of the Dorians and on Parnassus.†Let the former side, which borders on Macedonia, be called the northern side, and the latter the southern side. There remains the western side, which is surrounded by the Aetolians and Acarnanians and Amphilochians, and, of the Epeirotes, the Athamanians and Molossians and what was once called the land of the Aethices, or, in a word, the land about Pindus.†The land of Thessaly, as a whole, is a plain, except Pelion and Ossa. These mountains rise to a considerable height; they do not, however, enclose much territory in their circuits, but end in the plains.

2These plains are the middle parts of Thessaly, a country most blest, except so much of it as is subject to inundations by rivers. For the Peneius, which flows through the middle of it and receives many rivers, often overflows; and in olden times the plain formed a lake, according to report, being hemmed in by mountains on all sides except in the region of the seacoast; and there too the region was more elevated than the plains. But when a cleft was made by earthquakes at Tempe, as it is now called, and split off Ossa from Olympus, the Peneius poured out through it towards the sea and drained the country in question. But there remains, nevertheless, Lake Nessonis, which is a large lake, and Lake Boebeïs, which is smaller than the former and nearer to the seacoast.

3Such being its nature, Thessaly was divided into four parts. One part was called Phthiotis, another Hestiaeotis,†another Thessaliotis, and another Pelasgiotis. Phthiotis occupies the southern parts which extend alongside Oeta from the Maliac, or Pylaïc, Gulf as far as Dolopia and Pindus, and widen out as far as Pharsalus and the Thessalian plains. Hestiaeotis occupies the western parts and the parts between Pindus and Upper Macedonia. The remaining parts of Thessaly are held, first, by the people who live in the plains below Hestiaeotis (they are called Pelasgiotae and their country borders on Lower Macedonia), and, secondly, by the Thessaliotae next in order, who fill out the districts extending as far as the Magnetan seacoast. Here, too, there will be an enumeration of famous names of cities, and especially because of the poetry of Homer; only a few of the cities preserve their ancient dignity, but Larisa most of all.

4The poet, after dividing into ten parts, or dynasties,†the whole of the country which we now call Thessaly, and after adding certain parts both of the Oetaean and the Locrian countries, and likewise certain parts of the country now classed under Macedonia, intimates a fact which is common to, and true of, all countries, that whole regions and their several parts undergo changes in proportion to the power of those who hold sway.

5Now the first peoples he names in the Catalogue are those under Achilles, who occupied the southern side and were situated alongside Oeta and the Epicnemidian Locrians, “all who dwelt in the Pelasgian Argos and those who inhabited Alus and Alope and Trachin, and those who held Phthia and also Hellas the land of fair women, and were called Myrmidons and Hellenes and Achaeans.”with these he joins also the subjects of Phoenix, and makes the expedition common to both leaders. It is true that the poet nowhere mentions the Dolopian army in connection with the battles round Ilium, for he does not represent their leader Phoenix as going forth into the perils of battle either, any more than he does Nestor; yet others so state, as Pindar, for instance, who mentions Phoenix and then says, “who held a throng of Dolopians, bold in the use of the sling and bringing aid to the missiles of the Danaans, tamers of horses.”†This, in fact, is the interpretation which we must give to the Homeric passage according to the principle of silence, as the grammarians are wont to call it, for it would be ridiculous if the king Phoenix shared in the expedition (”I dwelt in the farthermost part of Phthia, being lord over the Dolopians”)†without his subjects being present; for if they were not present, he would not have been regarded as sharing in the expedition with Achilles, but only as following him in the capacity of a chief over a few men and as a speaker, perhaps as a counsellor. Homer’s verses†on this subject mean also to make this clear, for such is the import of the words, “to be a speaker of words and a doer of deeds.”Clearly, therefore, he means, as I have already said, that the forces under Achilles and Phoenix are the same. But the aforesaid statements concerning the places subject to Achilles are themselves under controversy. Some take the Pelasgian Argos as a Thessalian city once situated in the neighborhood of Larisa but now no longer existent; but others take it, not as a city, but as the plain of the Thessalians, which is referred to by this name because Abas, who brought a colony there from Argos, so named it.

6As for Phthia, some say that it is the same as Hellas and Achaea, and that these constitute the other, the southern, of the two parts into which Thessaly as a whole was divided; but others distinguish between Hellas and Achaea. The poet seems to make Phthia and Hellas two different things when he says, “and those who held Phthia and Hellas,”as though there were two, and when he says, “And then (I fled) far away through spacious Hellas, and I came to Phthia,”and, “There are many Achaean women throughout Hellas and Phthia.”So the poet makes them two, but he does not make it plain whether they are cities or countries. As for later authorities, some, speaking of Hellas as a country, say that it stretches from Palaepharsalus to Phthiotic Thebes. In this country also is the Thetideium,†near both Pharsaluses, both the old and the new; and they infer from the Thetideium that this country too is a part of that which was subject to Achilles. As for those, however, who speak of Hellas as a city, the Pharsalians point out at a distance of sixty stadia from their own city a city in ruins which they believe to be Hellas, and also two springs near it, Messeïs and Hypereia, whereas the Melitaeans say that Hellas was situated about ten stadia distant from themselves on the other side of the Enipeus, at the time when their own city was named Pyrrha, and that it was from Hellas, which was situated in a low-lying district, that the Hellenes migrated to their own city; and they cite as bearing witness to this the tomb of Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, situated in their marketplace. For it is related that Deucalion ruled over Phthia, and, in a word, over ThessaIy. The Enipeus, flowing from Othrys past Pharsalus, turns aside into the Apidanus, and the latter into the Peneius. Thus much, then, concerning the Hellenes.

7“Phthians” is the name given to those who were subject to Achilles and Protesilaüs and Philoctetes. And the poet is witness to this, for after mentioning in the Catalogue those who were subject to Achilles “and those who held Phthia,”he represents these, in the battle at the ships, as staying behind with Achilles in their ships and as being inactive, but those who were subject to Philoctetes as taking part in the battle, having Medon as “marshal,” and those who were subject to Protesilaüs as “marshalled by Podarces.” Concerning these, speaking in a general way, he says, “And there the Boeotians and Ionians with trailing tunics, the Locrians and Phthians and illustrious Epeians;”and, in a specific way, “and in front of the Phthians was Medon, and also Podarces steadfast in war. These in their armour, in front of the great-hearted Phthians, were fighting along with the Boeotians in defence of the ships.”†Perhaps the men with Eurypylus also were called Phthians, since their country indeed bordered on Phthia. Now, however, historians regard as belonging to Magnesia, not only the region round Ormenium, which belonged to the country that was subject to Eurypylus, but also the whole of the country that was subject to Philoctetes; but they regard the country that was subject to Protesilaüs as a part of Phthia, extending from Dolopia and Pindus as far as the Magnetan Sea; whereas the land subject to Peleus and Achilles, beginning at the Trachinian and Oetaean countries, is defined as extending in breadth as far as Antron, the city subject to Protesilaüs, the name of which is now spelled in the plural number. And the Maliac Gulf has about the same length.

8But as regards Halus and Alope, historians are thoroughly in doubt, suspecting that the poet does not mean the places so named which now are classed in the Phthiotic domain, but those among the Locrians, since the dominion of Achilles extended thus far, just as it also extended as far as Trachin and the Oetaean country; for there is both a Halus and a Halius on the seaboard of the Locrians, just as there is also an Alope. Some substitute Halius for Alope and write as follows: “and those who dwelt in Halus and in Halius and in Trachin.”The Phthiotic Halus is situated below the end of Othrys, a mountain situated to the north of Phthiotis, bordering on Mount Typhrestus and the country of the Dolopians, and extending from there to the region of the Maliac Gulf. Halus (either feminine or masculine, for the name is used in both genders) is about sixty stadia distant from Itonus.†It was Athamas who founded Halus, but in later times, after it had been wiped out, the Pharsalians colonized the place. It is situated above the Crocian Plain; and the Amphrysus River flows close to its walls. Below the Crocian Plain lies Phthiotic Thebes. Halus is called both Phthiotic and Achaean Halus, and it borders on the country of the Malians, as do also the spurs of Othrys Mountain. And just as the Phylace, which was subject to Protesilaüs, is in that part of Phthiotis which lies next to the country of the Malians, so also is Halus; it is about one hundred stadia distant from Thebes, and it is midway between Pharsalus and the Phthiotae. However, Philip took it away from the Phthiotae and assigned it to the Pharsalians. And so it comes to pass, as I have said before,†that the boundaries and the political organizations of tribes and places are always undergoing changes. So, also, Sophocles speaks of Trachinia as belonging to Phthiotis. And Artemidorus places Halus on the seaboard, as situated outside the Maliac Gulf, indeed, but as belonging to Phthiotis; for proceeding thence in the direction of the Peneius, he places Pteleum after Antron, and then Halus at a distance of one hundred and ten stadia from Pteleum. As for Trachin, I have already described it, and the poet mentions it by name.

9Since the poet often†mentions the Spercheius as a river of this country,†and since it has its sources in Typhrestus, the Dryopian mountain which in earlier times was called...,†and empties near Thermopylae and between it and Lamia, he plainly indicates that both the region inside the Gates, I mean in so far as it belonged to the Maliac Gulf, and the region outside the Gates, were subject to Achilles. The Spercheius is about thirty stadia distant from Lamia, which is situated above a certain plain that extends down to the Maliac Gulf. And he plainly indicates that the Spercheius was a river of this country, not only by the assertion of Achilles that he “fostered the growth of his hair as an offering to Spercheius,” but also by the fact that Menesthius, one of his commanders, was called the son of Spercheius and the sister of Achilles.†And it is reasonable to suppose that all the people, the subjects of Achilles and Patroclus, who had accompanied Peleus in his flight from Aegina, were called Myrmidons. And all the Phthiotae were called Achaeans.

10Historians enumerate the settlements in the Phthiotic domain that was subject to Achilles, and they begin with the Malians. They name several, and among them Phthiotic Thebes, Echinus, Lamia (near which the Lamian War arose between the Macedonians, under Antipater, and the Athenians, and in this war Leosthenes, a general of the Athenians, fell, and also Leonnatus, the comrade of king Alexander), and also Narthacium, Erineus, Coroneia (bearing the same name as the Boeotian city), Melitaea, Thaumaci, Proerna, Pharsalus, Eretria (bearing the same name as the Euboean city), and Paracheloïtae (this, too, bearing the same name as the Aetolian city), for here too, near Lamia, is a river Acheloüs, on whose banks live the Paracheloïtae. This country bordered, in its stretch towards the north, on the country of the most westerly of the Asclepiadae, and on the country of Eurypylus, and also on that of Protesilaüs, these countries inclining towards the east; and in its stretch towards the south, on the Oetaean country, which was divided into fourteen demes, and also Heracleia and Dryopis,†Dryopis having at one time been a tetrapolis, like Doris,†and regarded as the metropolis of the Dryopians who lived in the Peloponnesus. To the Oetaean country belong also Acyphas,†Parasopias,†Oeneiadae, and Anticyra, which bears the same name as the city among the Western Locrians. But I am speaking of these divisions of the country, not as having always remained the same, but as having undergone various changes. However, only the most significant divisions are particularly worthy of mention.

11As for the Dolopians, the poet himself says clearly enough that they were situated in the farthermost parts of Phthia, and that both these and the Phthiotae were under the same leader, Peleus; for “I dwelt,” he says, “in the farthermost part of Phthia, being lord over the Dolopians, whom Peleus gave me.”†The country borders on Pindus, and on the region round Pindus, most of which belongs to the Thessalians. For both on account of the fame and of the predominance of the Thessalians and the Macedonians, the countries of those Epeirotes who were their nearest neighbors were made, some willingly and the others unwillingly, parts of Thessaly or Macedonia; for instance, the Athamanes, the Aethices, and the Talares were made parts of Thessaly, and the Orestae, the Pelagonians, and the Elimiotae of Macedonia.

12The Pindus Mountain is large, having the country of the Macedonians on the north, the Perrhaebian immigrants on the west, the Dolopians on the south, and Hestiaeotis†on the east; and this last is a part of Thessaly. The Talares, a Molossian tribe, a branch of those who lived in the neighborhood of Mount Tomarus, lived on Mount Pindus itself, as did also the Aethices, amongst whom, the poet says, the Centaurs were driven†by Peirithoüs; but history now tells us that they are “extinct.” The term “extinct” is to be taken in one of two meanings; either the people vanished and their country has become utterly deserted, or else merely their ethnic name no longer exists and their political organization no longer remains what it was. When, therefore, any present political organization that survives from an earlier time is utterly insignificant, I hold that it is not worth mentioning, either itself or the new name it has taken; but when it affords a fair pretext for being mentioned, I must needs give an account of the change.

13It remains for me to tell the order of the places on the coast that were subject to Achilles, beginning at Thermopylae; for I have already spoken of the Locrian and the Oetaean countries. Thermopylae, then, is separated from Cenaeum by a strait seventy stadia wide; but, to one sailing along the coast beyond Pylae, it is about ten†stadia from the Spercheius; and thence to Phalara twenty stadia; and above Phalara, fifty stadia from the sea, is situated the city of the Lamians; and then next, after sailing fifty stadia along the coast, one comes to Echinus, which is situated above the sea; and in the interior from the next stretch of coast, twenty stadia distant from it, is Larisa Cremaste (it is also called Larisa Pelasgia).

14Then one comes to Myonnesus, a small island; and then to Antron, which was subject to Protesilaüs. So much, then, for the portion that was subject to Achilles. But since the poet, through naming both the leaders and the cities subject to them, has divided Thessaly into numerous well-known parts and arranged in order the whole circuit of it, I, following him again, as above, shall go on to complete the remainder of my geographical description of the country. Now he enumerates next in order after those who were subject to Achilles those who were subject to Protesilaüs; and these are also the people who come next in order after the stretch of coast which was subject to Achilles as far as Antron. Therefore, the territory that was subject to Protesilaüs is in the boundaries of the country that comes next in order, that is, it lies outside the Maliac Gulf, but still inside Phthiotis, though not inside the part of Phthiotis that was subject to Achilles. Now Phylace is near Phthiotic Thebes, which itself is subject to Protesilaüs. And Halus, also, and Larisa Cremaste, and Demetrium, are subject to him, all being situated to the east of the Othrys Mountain. Demetrium he speaks of as “sacred precinct of Demeter,” and calls it “Pyrasus.” Pyrasus was a city with a good harbor; at a distance of two stadia it had a sacred precinct and a holy temple, and was twenty stadia distant from Thebes. Thebes is situated above Pyrasus, but the Crocian Plain is situated in the interior back of Thebes near the end of Othrys; and it is through this plain that the Amphrysus flows. Above this river are the Itonus, where is the temple of the Itonian,†after which the temple in Boeotia is named, and the Cuarius Rivers. But I have already spoken of this river and of Arne in my description of Boeotia.†These places are in Thessaliotis, one of the four portions of all Thessaly, in which were not only the regions that were subject to Eurypylus, but also Phyllus, where is the temple of Phyllian Apollo, and Ichnae, where the Ichnaean Themis is held in honor. Cierus, also, was tributary to it, and so was the rest of that region as far as Athamania. Near Antron, in the Euboean strait, is a submarine reef called “Ass of Antron”; and then one comes to Pteleum and Halus; and then to the temple of Demeter; and to Pyrasus, which has been razed to the ground; and, above it, to Thebes; and then to Cape Pyrrha, and to two isles near it, one of which is called Pyrrha and the other Deucalion. And it is somewhere here that Phthiotis ends.

15Next the poet enumerates the peoples that were subject to Eumelus, that is, the adjacent seacoast, which from this point on belongs to Magnesia and the land of Pelasgiotis. Now Pherae is at the end of the Pelasgian plains on the side towards Magnesia; and these plains extend as far as Pelion, one hundred and sixty stadia. The seaport of Pherae is Pagasae, which is ninety stadia distant from Pherae and twenty from Iolcus. Iolcus has indeed been razed to the ground from early times, but it was from there that Pelias despatched Jason and the Argo. It was from the construction here of the ship†Argo, according to mythology, that the place was called Pagasae, though some believe, more plausibly, that this name was given the place from its fountains,†which are both numerous and of abundant flow. Nearby is Aphetae also, so named as being the “apheterium”†of the Argonauts. Iolcus is situated above the sea seven stadia from Demetrias. Demetrias, which is on the sea between Nelia and Pagasae, was founded by Demetrius Poliorcetes, who named it after himself, settling in it the inhabitants of the nearby towns, Nelia and Pagasae and Ormenium, and also Rhizus, Sepias, Olizon, Boebe, and Iolcus, which are now villages belonging to Demetrias. Furthermore, for a long time this was both a naval station and a royal residence for the kings of the Macedonians; and it held the mastery over both Tempe and the two mountains, Pelion and Ossa, as I have already said. At present it is reduced in power, but still it surpasses all the cities in Magnesia. Lake Boebeïs is near Pherae, and also borders on the foothills of Pelion and the frontiers of Magnesia; and Boebe is a place situated on the lake. Just as seditions and tyrannies destroyed Iolcus after its power had been greatly increased, so they reduced Pherae also, which had once been raised to greatness by its tyrants and was then destroyed along with them. Near Demetrias flows the Anaurus River; and the adjoining shore is also called Iolcus. Here, too, they used to hold the Pylaic Festal Assembly.†Artemidorus places the Pagasitic Gulf in the region subject to Philoctetes,farther away from Demetrias; and he says that the island Cicynethos and a town bearing the same name are in the gulf.

16The poet next enumerates the cities subject to Philoctetes. Now Methone is different from the Thracian Methone, which was razed to the ground by Philip. I have mentioned heretofore the change of the names of these places, and of certain places in the Peloponnesus.†And the other places enumerated by the poet are Thaumacia and Olizon and Meliboea, which are on the next stretch of seacoast. Off the country of the Magnetans lie numerous islands, but the only notable ones are Sciathos, Peparethos, and Icos, and also Halonnesos and Scyros, all having cities of the same name. But Scyros is the most notable, because of the family relation between Lycomedes and Achilles, and of the birth and nurture there of Neoptolemus the son of Achilles. In later times, when Philip had waxed powerful and saw that the Athenians dominated the sea and ruled over the islands, both these and the rest, he caused the islands that were near him to be most famous; for, since he was fighting for the hegemony, he always attacked those places which were close to him, and, just as he added to Macedonia most parts of the Magnetan country and of Thrace and of the rest of the land all round, so he also seized the islands off Magnesia and made those which were previously well-known to nobody objects of contention and hence well-known. Now Scyros is chiefly commended by the place it occupies in the ancient legends, but there are other things which cause it to be widely mentioned, as, for instance, the excellence of the Scyrian goats, and the quarries of the Scyrian variegated marble, which is comparable to the Carystian marble, and to the Docimaean or Synnadic, and to the Hierapolitic. For at Rome are to be seen monolithic columns and great slabs of the variegated marble; and with this marble the city is being adorned both at public and at private expense; and it has caused the quarries of white marble†to be of little worth.

17However, the poet, after proceeding thus far on the Magnetan seacoast, returns to Upper Thessaly; for, beginning at Dolopia and Pindus, he recounts the parts that stretch alongside Phthiotis, as far as Lower Thessaly: “And those who held Tricce and rocky Ithome.”These places belong in fact to Histiaeotis,†though in earlier times Histiaeotis was called Doris, as they say; but when the Perrhaebians took possession of it, who had already subdued Histiaeotis in Euboea and had forced its inhabitants to migrate to the mainland, they called the country Histiaeotis after these Histiaeans, because of the large number of these people who settled there. They call Histiaeotis and Dolopia Upper Thessaly, which is in a straight line with Upper Macedonia, as is Lower Thessaly with Lower Macedonia. Now Tricce, where is the earliest and most famous temple of Asclepius, borders on the country of the Dolopians and the regions round Pindus. Ithome, which is called by the same name as the Messenian city, ought not, they say, to be pronounced in this way, but without the first syllable; for thus, they add, it was called in earlier times, though now its name has been changed to Ithome. It is a stronghold and is in reality a heap of stones;†and it is situated between four strongholds, which lie in a square, as it were: Tricce, Metropolis, Pelinnaeum, and Gomphi. But Ithome belongs to the territory of the Metropolitans. Metropolis in earlier times was a joint settlement composed of three insignificant towns; but later several others were added to it, among which was Ithome. Now Callimachus, in his Iambics, says that, “of all the Aphrodites (for there was not merely one goddess of this name), Aphrodite Castnietis surpasses all in wisdom, since she alone accepts the sacrifice of swine.”†And surely he was very learned, if any other man was, and all his life, as he himself states, wished to recount these things.†But the writers of later times have discovered that not merely one Aphrodite, but several, have accepted this rite; and that among these was the Aphrodite at Metropolis, and that one of the cities included in the settlement transmitted to it the Onthurian rite.†Pharcadon, also, is in Histiaeotis; and the Peneius and the Curalius flow through its territory. Of these rivers, the Curalius flows past the temple of the Itonian Athena and empties into the Peneius; but the Peneius itself rises in Pindus, as I have already said,†and after leaving Tricce and Pelinnaeum and Pharcadon on the left flows past both Atrax and Larisa, and after receiving the rivers in Thessaliotis flows on through Tempe to its outlet. Historians place the Oechalia which is called the “city of Eurytus “ not only in this region, but also in Euboea and in Arcadia; and they give its name in different ways, as I have already said in my description of the Peloponnesus.†They inquire concerning these, and particularly in regard to what Oechalia it was that was captured by Heracles, and concerning what Oechalia was meant by the poet who wrote The Capture of Oechalia These places, then, were classed by Homer as subject to the Asclepiadae.

18Next he speaks of the country subject to Eurypylus: “and those who held the fountain Hypereia, and those who held Asterium and the white summits of Titanus.”Now at the present time Ormenium is called Orminium; it is a village situated at the foot of Pelion near the Pagasitic Gulf, one of the cities included in the settlement of Demetrias, as I have said. And Lake Boebeïs, also, must be near, since Boebe, as well as Ormenium itself, was one of the dependencies of Demetrias. Now Ormenium is distant by land twenty-seven stadia from Demetrias, whereas the site of Iolcus, which is situated on the road, is distant seven stadia from Demetrias and the remaining twenty stadia from Ormenium. The Scepsian†says that Phoenix was from Ormenium, and that he fled thence from his father Amyntor the son of Ormenus into Phthia to Peleus the king; for this place, he adds, was founded by Ormenus the son of Cercaphus the son of Aeolus; and he says that both Amyntor and Euaemon were sons of Ormenus, and that Phoenix was son of the former and Eurypylus of the latter, but that the succession to the throne, to which both had equal right, was kept for Eurypylus, inasmuch as Phoenix had gone away from his homeland. Furthermore, the Scepsian writes thus, “as when first I left Ormenium rich in flocks,”†instead of “I left Hellas, land of fair women.”But Crates makes Phoenix a Phocian, judging this from the helmet of Meges, which Odysseus used at the time of his night spying, concerning which the poet says, “Autolycus filched it from Eleon, from Amyntor the son of Ormenus, having broken into his close-built home.”For Eleon, he says, is a town of Parnassus; and Amyntor, son of Ormenus, means no other than the father of Phoenix; and Autolycus, who lived on Parnassus, must have broken into the house of a neighbor (as is the way of any housebreaker), and not into that of people far away. But the Scepsian says that there is no place called Eleon to be seen on Parnassus, though there is a place called Neon, founded in fact after the Trojan War, and also that housebreakings are not confined to neighbors only. And there are other arguments which one might give, but I hesitate to spend further time on this subject. Others write “from Heleon,”†but Heleon is a place in Tanagria, and this reading would increase the absurdity of the statement, “Then I fled afar off through Hellas and came to Phthia.”The fountain Hypereia is in the middle of the city of the Pheraeans, which belonged to Eumelus. It is absurd, therefore, to assign the fountain to Eurypylus. Titanus was named from the fact in the case there; for the region near Arne and Aphetae has white soil. Asterium, also, is not far from these.

19Continuous with this portion of Thessaly is the country of those who are called the subjects of Polypoetes: “And those who held Argissa and dwelt in Gyrtone, Orthe, and Elone and the white city Oloosson.”In earlier times the Perrhaebians inhabited this country, dwelling in the part near the sea and near the Peneius, extending as far as its outlet and Gyrton, a Perrhaebian city. Then the Lapiths humbled the Perrhaebians and thrust them back into the river country in the interior, and seized their country—I mean the Lapiths Ixion and his son Peirithoüs, the latter of whom also took possession of Pelion, forcing out the Centaurs, a wild folk, who had seized it. Now these “he thrust from Pelion and made them draw near to the Aethices,”and he gave over the plains to the Lapiths, though the Perrhaebians kept possession of some of them, those near Olympus, and also in some places lived completely intermingled with the Lapiths. Now Argissa, the present Argura, is situated on the Peneius; and forty stadia above it lies Atrax, which also is close to the river; and the Perrhaebians held the river country between the two places. Some have called Orthe the acropolis of the Phalannaeans; and Phalanna is a Perrhaebian city close to the Peneius near Tempe. Now the Perrhaebians, being overpowered by the Lapiths, for the most part emigrated to the mountainous country about Pindus and to the countries of the Athamaniam and Dolopians, but their country and all Perrhaebians who were left behind there were seized by the Larisaeans, who lived near the Peneius and were their neighbors and dwelt in the most fertile parts of the plains, though not in the very low region near the lake called Nessonis, into which the river, when it overflowed, would carry away a portion of the arable soil belonging to the Larisaeans. Later, however, they corrected this by means of embankments. The Larisaeans, then, kept possession of Perrhaebia and exacted tribute until Philip established himself as lord over the region. Larisa is also the name of a place on Ossa; another is Larisa Cremaste, by some called Pelasgia; and in Crete is a city Larisa, now joined to Hierapytna, whence the plain that lies below is now called Larisian Plain; and, in the Peloponnesus both Larisa, the citadel of the Argives, and the Larisus River, which is the boundary between the Eleian country and Dyme. Theopompus speaks of another city Larisa situated on the same common boundary; and in Asia is a Larisa Phryconis near Cyme; and also the Larisa near Hamaxitis in the Troad; and there is the Ephesian Larisa, and the Larisa in Syria; and there are Larisaean Rocks fifty stadia from Mitylene on the road to Methymne; and there is a Larisa in Attica; and a village Larisa thirty stadia distant from Tralleis, above the city, on the road which runs through Mesogis towards the Caÿster Plain near the temple of the Isodromian Mother, which in its topographical position and its goodly attributes is like Larisa Cremaste, for it has an abundance of water and of vineyards; and perhaps the Larisaean Zeus received his epithet from this place; and also on the left of the Pontus is a village called Larisa, between Naulochus and...,†near the end of Mount Haemus. And Oloosson, called “white” from the fact that its soil is a white clay, and Elone, and Gonnus are Perrhaebian cities. But Elone changed its name to Leimone, and is now in ruins. Both are situated below Olympus, not very far from the Europus River, which the poet calls the Titaresius.

20The poet next mentions both Titaresius and the Perrhaebians, when he says, “And Guneus led from Cyphus twenty-two ships. And there followed him the Enienians,†and the Perrhaebians steadfast in war, who had established their homes round wintry Dodona,†and dwelt in the fields about lovely Titaresius.”Now he speaks of these places as belonging to the Perrhaebians, places which fell into their possession as a part of Hestiaeotis.†And also the cities subject to Polypoetes were in part Perrhaebian. However, he assigned them to the Lapiths because the two peoples lived intermingled with one another, and also because, although the Lapiths held possession of the plains and the Perrhaebian element there were for the most part subject to the Lapiths, the Perrhaebians held possession of the more mountainous parts near Olympus and Tempe, as, for example, Cyphus, and Dodona, and the region about the Titaresius; this river rises in the Titarius Mountain, which connects with Olympus, and flows into the territory of Perrhaebia which is near Tempe, and somewhere in that neighborhood unites with the Peneius. Now the water of the Peneius is pure, but that of the Titaresius is oily, because of some substance or other, so that it does not mingle with that of the Peneius, “but runs over it on the top like oil.”Because of the fact that the two peoples lived intermingled, Simonides uses the terms Perrhaebians and Lapiths of all the Pelasgiotes who occupy the region about Gyrton and the outlets of the Peneius and Mount Ossa and Mount Pelion, and the region about Demetrias, and the region in the plain, I mean Larisa, Crannon, Scotussa, Mopsium, Atrax, and the region about Lake Nessonis and Lake Boebeïs. Of these places the poet mentions only a few, because the rest of them had not yet been settled, or else were only wretched settlements, on account of the inundations which took place at various times. Indeed, he does not mention Lake Nessonis either, but Lake Boebeïs only (though it is much smaller), because the latter alone persisted, whereas the former, in all probability, was at times filled at irregular intervals and at times gave out altogether. Scotussa I have already mentioned in my account of Dodona and of the oracle in Thessaly, saying that originally it was near this place. In the territory of Scotussa there is a place called Cynoscephalae,†near which Titus Quintius†and the Romans, along with the Aetolians, in a great battle conquered Philip the son of Demetrius, king of the Macedonians.

21Magnetis, also, has been treated by Homer in about the same way. For although he has already enumerated many of the places in Magnetis, none of these are called Magnetan by him except those two places, and even these are designated by him in a dim and indistinct way:†“who dwelt about Peneius and Pelion with its shaking foliage.”Assuredly, however, about the Peneius and Pelion lived those who held Gyrton, whom he had already named, as also those who held Ormenium, and several other Perrhaebian peoples; and yet farther away from Pelion there were still Magnetans, beginning with those subject to Eumelus, at least according to the writers of later times. These writers, however, on account of the continual migrations, changes of political administrations, and intermixture of tribes, seem to have confused both the names and the tribes, so that they sometimes present difficult questions for the writers of today. For example, this has proved true, in the first place, in the case of Crannon and Gyrton; for in earlier times the Gyrtonians were called “Phlegyae,” from Phlegyas, the brother of Ixion, and the Crannonians “Ephyri,” so that it is a difficult question who can be meant by the poet when he says, “Verily these twain, going forth from Thrace, arm themselves to pursue the Ephyri, or to pursue the great-hearted Phlegyae.”†

22Again, the same thing is true in the case of the Perrhaebians and Aenianians. For Homer connected the two, as living near one another; and in fact we are told by the writers of later times that for a long time the habitation of the Aenianians was in the Dotian Plain. This plain is near the Perrhaebia just mentioned above, and Ossa and Lake Boebeïs; and while it is situated in the middle of Thessaly, yet it is enclosed all round by hills of its own. Concerning this plain Hesiod has spoken thus: “Or as the unwedded virgin†who, dwelling on the holy Didyman Hills, in the Dotian Plain, in front of Amyrus, bathed her foot in Lake Boebeïs.”††Now as for the Aenianians, most of them were driven into Oeta by the Lapiths; and there too they became predominant, having taken away certain parts of the country from the Dorians and the Malians as far as Heracleia and Echinus, although some remained in the neighborhood of Cyphus, a Perrhaebian mountain which had a settlement of the same name. As for the Perrhaebians, some of them drew together round the western parts of Olympus and stayed there, being neighbors to the Macedonians, but the greater part of them were driven out of their country into the mountains round Athamania and Pindus. But today little or no trace of them is preserved. At any rate, the Magnetans mentioned last by the poet in the Thessalian Catalogue should be regarded as those inside Tempe, extending from the Peneius and Ossa as far as Pelion, and bordering on the Pieriotae in Macedonia, who held the country on the far side of the Peneius as far as the sea. Now Homolium, or Homole (for it is spelled both ways), should be assigned to the Magnetans; as I have said in my description of Macedonia,†it is close to Ossa, situated where the Peneius begins to discharge its waters through Tempe. And if one were to proceed as far as the seacoast nearest to Homolium, there is reason for assigning to them Rhizus and Erymnae, which were situated on that part of the seacoast which was subject to Philoctetes and on that which was subject to Eumelus. However, let this question remain undecided. And also the order of the places next thereafter as far as the Peneius is not plainly told by the poet; but since these places are without repute, neither should I myself regard the matter as of great importance. Cape Sepias, however, was afterwards celebrated both in tragedies and in hymns on account of the total destruction there of the Persian fleet. Sepias itself is a rocky cape, but between it and Casthanaea, a village situated at the foot of Pelion, is a beach where the fleet of Xerxes was lying in wait when, a violent east wind bursting forth, some of the ships were immediately driven high and dry on the beach and broken to pieces on the spot, and the others were carried along the coast to Ipni, one of the rugged places in the region of Pelion, or to Meliboea, or to Casthanaea, and destroyed. The whole voyage along the coast of Pelion is rough, a distance of about eighty stadia; and that along the coast of Ossa is equally long and rough. Between the two mountains is a gulf more than two hundred stadia in circuit, on which is Meliboea. The whole voyage along the coast from Demetrias to the Peneius, following the sinuosities of the gulfs, is more than one thousand stadia in length, and from the Sperchius eight hundred more, and from the Euripus two thousand three hundred and fifty. Hieronymus†declares that the plain country of Thessaly and Magnetis is three thousand stadia in circuit, and that it was inhabited by Pelasgians, and that these were driven out of their country by the Lapiths, and that the present Pelasgian Plain, as it is called, is that in which are situated Larisa, Gyrtone, Pherae, Mopsium, Boebeïs, Ossa, Homole, Pelion, and Magnetis. Mopsium is named, not after Mopsus, the son of Manto the daughter of Teiresias, but after Mopsus the Lapith who sailed with the Argonauts. But Mopsopus, after whom the Attic Mopsopia is named, is a different person.

23So much, then, for the several parts of Thessaly. But speaking of it as a whole, I may say that in earlier times it was called Pyrrhaea, after Pyrrha the wife of Deucalion, and Haemonia after Haemon, and Thessaly after Thessalus the son of Haemon. But some writers, dividing it into two parts, say that Deucalion obtained the portion towards the south and called it Pandora after his mother, and that the other part fell to Haemon, after whom it was called Haemonia, but that the former name was changed to Hellas, after Hellen the son of Deucalion, and the latter to Thessaly, after the son of Haemon. Some, however, say that descendants of Antiphus and Pheidippus, the sons of Thessalus the son of Heracles, invaded the country from Thesprotian Ephyra and named it after Thessalus, their own ancestor. And it has been said that the country too was once named Nessonis, like the lake, after Nesson the son of Thessalus.

1Since Euboea lies parallel to the whole of the coast from Sunium to Thessaly, with the exception of the ends on either side,†it would be appropriate to connect my description of the island with that of the parts already described before passing on to Aetolia and Acarnania, which are the remaining parts of Europe to be described.

2In its length, then, the island extends parallel to the coast for a distance of about one thousand two hundred stadia from Cenaeum to Geraestus, but its breadth is irregular and generally only about one hundred and fifty stadia. Now Cenaeum lies opposite to Thermopylae and, to a slight extent, to the region outside Thermopylae, whereas Geraestus and Petalia lie towards Sunium. Accordingly, the island lies across the strait and opposite Attica, Boeotia, Locris,and the Malians. Because of its narrowness and of the above-mentioned length, it was named Macris†by the ancients. It approaches closest to the mainland at Chalcis, where it juts out in a convex curve towards the region of Aulis in Boeotia and forms the Euripus. Concerning the Euripus I have already spoken rather at length, as also to a certain extent concerning the places which lie opposite one another across the strait, both on the mainland and on the island, on either side of the Euripus, that is, the regions both inside and outside†the Euripus. But if anything has been left out, I shall now explain more fully. And first, let me explain that the parts between Aulis and the region of Geraestus are called the Hollows of Euboea; for the coast bends inwards, but when it approaches Chalcis it forms a convex curve again towards the mainland.

3The island was called, not only Macris, but also Abantis; at any rate, the poet, although he names Euboea, never names its inhabitants “Euboeans,” but always “Abantes”: And those who held Euboea, the courage-breathing Abantes...And with him followed the Abantes. Aristotle†says that Thracians, setting out from the Phocian Aba, recolonized the island and renamed those who held it “Abantes.” Others derive the name from a hero,†just as they derive “Euboea” from a heroine.†But it may be, just as a certain cave on the coast which fronts the Aegaean, where Io is said to have given birth to Epaphus, is called Böos Aule, that the island got the name Euboea†from the same cause. The island was also called Oche; and the largest of its mountains bears the same name. And it was also named Ellopia, after Ellops the son of Ion. Some say that he was the brother of Aïclus and Cothus; and he is also said to have founded Ellopia, a place in Oria, as it is called, in Histiaeotis†near the mountain Telethrius, and to have added to his dominions Histiaea, Perias, Cerinthus, Aedepsus, and Orobia; in this last place was an oracle most averse to falsehood (it was an oracle of Apollo Selinuntius). The Ellopians migrated to Histiaea and enlarged the city, being forced to do so by Philistides the tyrant, after the battle of Leuctra. Demosthenes says that Philistides was set up by Philip as tyrant of the Oreitae too;†for thus in later times the Histiaeans were named, and the city was named Oreus instead of Histiaea. But according to some writers, Histiaea was colonized by Athenians from the deme of the Histiaeans, as Eretria was colonized from that of the Eretrians. Theopompus says that when Pericles overpowered Euboea the Histiaeans by agreement migrated to Macedonia, and that two thousand Athenians who formerly composed the deme of the Histiaeans came and took up their abode in Oreus.

4Oreus is situated at the foot of the mountain Telethrius in the Drymus, as it is called, on the River Callas, upon a high rock; and hence, perhaps, it was because the Ellopians who formerly inhabited it were mountaineers that the name Oreus†was assigned to the city. It is also thought that Orion was so named because he was reared there. Some writers say that the Oreitae had a city of their own, but because the Ellopians were making war on them they migrated and took up their abode with the Histiaeans; and that, although they became one city, they used both names, just as the same city is called both Lacedaemon and Sparta. As I have already said, Histiaeotis in Thessaly was also named after the Histiaeans who were carried off from here into the mainland by the Perrhaebians.

5Since Ellopia induced me to begin my description with Histiaea and Oreus, let me speak of the parts which border on these places. In the territory of this Oreus lies, not only Cenaeum, near Oreus, but also, near Cenaeun, Dium†and Athenae Diades, the latter founded by the Athenians and lying above that part of the strait where passage is taken across to Cynus; and Canae in Aeolis was colonized from Dium. Now these places are in the neighborhood of Histiaea; and so is Cerinthus, a small city by the sea; and near it is the Budorus River, which bears the same name as the mountain in Salamis which is close to Attica.

6Carystus is at the foot of the mountain Oche; and near it are Styra and Marmarium, in which latter are the quarry of the Carystian columns and a temple of Apollo Marmarinus; and from here there is a passage across the strait to Halae Araphenides. In Carystus is produced also the stone which is combed and woven, so that the woven material is made into towels, and, when these are soiled, they are thrown into fire and cleansed, just as linens are cleansed by washing. These places are said to have been settled by colonists from the Marathonian Tetrapolis and by Steirians. Styra was destroyed in the Malian war by Phaedrus, the general of the Athenians; but the country is held by the Eretrians. There is also a Carystus in the Laconian country, a place belonging to Aegys, towards Arcadia; whence the Carystian wine of which Alcman speaks.

7Geraestus is not named in the Catalogue of Ships, but still the poet mentions it elsewhere: and at night they landed at Geraestus.And he plainly indicates that the place is conveniently situated for those who are sailing across from Asia to Attica, since it comes near to Sunium. It has a temple of Poseidon, the most notable of those in that part of the world, and also a noteworthy settlement.

8After Geraestus one comes to Eretria, the greatest city in Euboea except Chalcis; and then to Chalcis, which in a way is the metropolis of the island, being situated on the Euripus itself. Both are said to have been founded by the Athenians before the Trojan War. And after the Trojan War, Aïclus and Cothus, setting out from Athens, settled inhabitants in them, the former in Eretria and the latter in Chalcis. There were also some Aeolians from the army of Penthilus†who remained in the island, and, in ancient times, some Arabians who had crossed over with Cadmus. Be this as it may, these cities grew exceptionally strong and even sent forth noteworthy colonies into Macedonia; for Eretria colonized the cities situated round Pallene and Athos, and Chalcis colonized the cities that were subject to Olynthus, which later were treated outrageously by Philip. And many places in Italy and Sicily are also Chalcidian. These colonies were sent out, as Aristotle†states, when the government of the Hippobatae, as it is called, was in power; for at the head of it were men chosen according to the value of their property, who ruled in an aristocratic manner. At the time of Alexander’s passage across,†the Chalcidians enlarged the circuit of the walls of their city, taking inside them both Canethus and the Euripus, and fortifying the bridge with towers and gates and a wall.†

9Above the city of the Chalcidians is situated the Lelantine Plain. In this plain are fountains of hot water suited to the cure of diseases, which were used by Cornelius Sulla, the Roman commander. And in this plain was also a remarkable mine which contained copper and iron together, a thing which is not reported as occurring elsewhere; now, however, both metals have given out, as in the case of the silver mines at Athens. The whole of Euboea is much subject to earthquakes, but particularly the part near the strait, which is also subject to blasts through subterranean passages, as are Boeotia and other places which I have already described rather at length. And it is said that the city which bore the same name as the island was swallowed up by reason of a disturbance of this kind. This city is also mentioned by Aeschylus in his Glaucus Pontius: Euboeïs, about the bending shore of Zeus Cenaeus, near the very tomb of wretched Lichas.†In Aetolia, also, there is a place called by the same name Chalcis: and Chalcis near the sea, and rocky Calydon,and in the present Eleian country: and they went past Cruni and rocky Chalcis,that is, Telemachus and his companions, when they were on their way back from Nestor’s to their homeland.

10As for Eretria, some say that it was colonized from Triphylian Macistus by Eretrieus, but others say from the Eretria at Athens, which now is a marketplace. There is also an Eretria near Pharsalus. In the Eretrian territory there was a city Tamynae, sacred to Apollo; and the temple, which is near the strait, is said to have been founded by Admetus, at whose house the god served as an hireling for a year. In earlier times Eretria was called Melaneïs and Arotria. The village Amarynthus, which is seven stadia distant from the walls, belongs to this city. Now the old city was razed to the ground by the Persians, who “netted” the people, as Herodotus†says, by means of their great numbers, the barbarians being spread about the walls (the foundations are still to be seen, and the place is called Old Eretria); but the Eretria of today was founded on it.†As for the power the Eretrians once had, this is evidenced by the pillar which they once set up in the temple of Artemis Amarynthia. It was inscribed thereon that they made their festal procession with three thousand heavy-armed soldiers, six hundred horsemen, and sixty chariots. And they ruled over the peoples of Andros, Teos, Ceos, and other islands. They received new settlers from Elis; hence, since they frequently used the letter r,†not only at the end of words, but also in the middle, they have been ridiculed by comic writers. There is also a village Oechalia in the Eretrian territory, the remains of the city which was destroyed by Heracles; it bears the same name as the Trachinian Oechalia and that near Tricce, and the Arcadian Oechalia, which the people of later times called Andania, and that in Aetolia in the neighborhood of the Eurytanians.

11Now at the present time Chalcis by common consent holds the leading position and is called the metropolis of the Euboeans; and Eretria is second. Yet even in earlier times these cities were held in great esteem, not only in war, but also in peace; indeed, they afforded philosophers a pleasant and undisturbed place of abode. This is evidenced by the school of the Eretrian philosophers, Menedemus and his disciples, which was established in Eretria, and also, still earlier, by the sojourn of Aristotle in Chalcis, where he also ended his days.

12Now in general these cities were in accord with one another, and when differences arose concerning the Lelantine Plain they did not so completely break off relations as to wage their wars in all respects according to the will of each, but they came to an agreement as to the conditions under which they were to conduct the fight. This fact, among others, is disclosed by a certain pillar in the Amarynthium, which forbids the use of long distance missiles.†In fact among all the customs of warfare and of the use of arms there neither is, nor has been, any single custom; for some use long distance missiles, as, for example, bowmen and slingers and javelin-throwers, whereas others use close-fighting arms, as, for example, those who use sword, or outstretched spear; for the spear is used in two ways, one in hand-to-hand combat and the other for hurling like a javelin; just as the pike serves both purposes, for it can be used both in close combat and as a missile for hurling, which is also true of the sarissa†and the hyssus.†

13The Euboeans excelled in “standing” combat, which is also called “close” and “hand-to-hand” combat; and they used their spears outstretched, as the poet says: spearmen eager with outstretched ashen spears to shatter corselets.Perhaps the javelins were of a different kind, such as probably was the “Pelian ashen spear,” which, as the poet says,Achilles alone knew how to hurl;and he who said,And the spear I hurl farther than any other man can shoot an arrow,means the javelin-spear. And those who fight in single combat are first introduced as using javelin-spears, and then as resorting to swords. And close fighters are not those who use the sword alone, but also the spear hand-to-hand, as the poet says: he pierced him with bronze-tipped polished spear, and loosed his limbs.Now he introduces the Euboeans as using this mode of fighting, but he says the contrary of the Locrians, thatthey cared not for the tolls of close combat,... but relying on bows and well-twisted slings of sheep’s wool they followed with him to Ilium.There is current, also, an oracle which was given out to the people of Aegium,Thessalian horse, Lacedemonian woman, and men who drink the water of sacred Arethusa,meaning that the Chalcidians are best of all, for Arethusa is in their territory.

14There are now two rivers in Euboea, the Cereus and the Neleus; and the sheep which drink from one of them turn white, and from the other black. A similar thing takes place in connection with the Crathis River, as I have said before.

15When the Euboeans were returning from Troy, some of them, after being driven out of their course to Illyria, set out for home through Macedonia, but remained in the neighborhood of Edessa, after aiding in war those who had received them hospitably; and they founded a city Euboe. There was also a Euboea in Sicily, which was founded by the Chalcidians of Sicily, but they were driven out of it by Gelon; and it became a stronghold of the Syracusans. In Corcyra, also, and in Lemnos, there were places called Euboea; and in the Argive country a hill of that name.

16Since the Aetolians, Acarnanians, and Athamanians (if these too are to be called Greeks) live to the west of the Thessalians and the Oetaeans, it remains for me to describe these three, in order that I may complete the circuit of Greece; I must also add the islands which lie nearest to Greece and are inhabited by the Greeks, so far as I have not already included them in my description.

1Now the Aetolians and the Acarnanians border on one another, having between them the Acheloüs River, which flows from the north and from Pindus on the south through the country of the Agraeans, an Aetolian tribe, and through that of the Amphilochians, the Acarnanians holding the western side of the river as far as that part of the Ambracian Gulf which is near Amphilochi and the temple of the Actian Apollo, but the Aetolians the eastern side as far as the Ozalian Locrians and Parnassus and the Oetaeans. Above the Acarnanians, in the interior and the parts towards the north, are situated the Amphilochians, and above these the Dolopians and Pindus, and above the Aetolians are the Perrhaebians and Athamanians and a part of the Aenianians who hold Oeta. The southern side, of Acarnania and Aetolia alike, is washed by the sea which forms the Corinthian Gulf, into which empties the Acheloüs River, which forms the boundary between the coast of the Aetolians and that of Acarnania. In earlier times the Acheloüs was called Thoas. The river which flows past Dyme bears the same name as this, as I have already said, and also the river near Lamia. I have already stated, also, that the Corinthian Gulf is said to begin at the mouth of this river.

2As for cities, those of the Acarnanians are Anactorium, which is situated on a peninsula near Actium and is a trading center of the Nicopolis of today, which was founded in our times;†Stratus, where one may sail up the Acheloüs River more than two hundred stadia; and Oeneiadae, which is also on the river—the old city, which is equidistant from the sea and from Stratus, being uninhabited, whereas that of today lies at a distance of about seventy stadia above the outlet of the river. There are also other cities, Palaerus, Alyzia, Leucas,†Argos Amphilochicum, and Ambracia, most of which, or rather all, have become dependencies of Nicopolis. Stratus is situated about midway of the road between Alyzia and Anactorium.†

3The cities of the Aetolians are Calydon and Pleuron, which are now indeed reduced, though in early times these settlements were an ornament to Greece. Further, Aetolia has come to be divided into two parts, one part being called Old Aetolia and the other Aetolia Epictetus.†The Old Aetolia was the seacoast extending from the Acheloüs to Calydon, reaching for a considerable distance into the interior, which is fertile and level; here in the interior lie Stratus and Trichonium, the latter having excellent soil. Aetolia Epictetus is the part which borders on the country of the Locrians in the direction of Naupactus and Eupalium, being a rather rugged and sterile country, and extends to the Oetaean country and to that of the Athamanians and to the mountains and tribes which are situated next beyond these towards the north.

4Aetolia also has a very large mountain, Corax, which borders on Oeta; and it has among the rest of its mountains, and more in the middle of the country than Corax, Aracynthus, near which New Pleuron was founded by the inhabitants of the Old, who abandoned their city, which had been situated near Calydon in a district both fertile and level, at the time when Demetrius, surnamed Aetolicus,†laid waste the country; above Molycreia are Taphiassus and Chalcis, rather high mountains, on which were situated the small cities Macynia and Chalcis, the latter bearing the same name as the mountain, though it is also called Hypochalcis. Near Old Pleuron is the mountain Curium, after which, as some have supposed, the Pleuronian Curetes were named.

5The Evenus River begins in the territory of those Bomians who live in the country of the Ophians, the Ophians being an Aetolian tribe (like the Eurytanians and Agraeans and Curetes and others), and flows at first, not through the Curetan country, which is the same as the Pleuronian, but through the more easterly country, past Chalcis and Calydon; and then, bending back towards the plains of Old Pleuron and changing its course to the west, it turns towards its outlets and the south. In earlier times it was called Lycormas. And there Nessus, it is said, who had been appointed ferryman, was killed by Heracles because he tried to violate Deïaneira when he was ferrying her across the river.

6The poet also names Olenus and Pylene as Aetolian cities. Of these, the former, which bears the same name as the Achaean city, was razed to the ground by the Aeolians; it was near New Pleuron, but the Acarnanians claimed possession of the territory. The other, Pylene, the Aeolians moved to higher ground, and also changed its name, calling it Proschium. Hellanicus does not know the history of these cities either, but mentions them as though they too were still in their early status; and among the early cities he names Macynia and Molycreia, which were founded even later than the return of the Heracleidae, almost everywhere in his writings displaying a most convenient carelessness.

7Upon the whole, then, this is what I have to say concerning the country of the Acarnanians and the Aetolians, but the following is also to be added concerning the seacoast and the islands which lie off it: Beginning at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf the first place which belongs to the Acarnanians is Actium. The temple of the Actian Apollo bears the same name, as also the cape which forms the mouth of the Gulf and has a harbor on the outer side. Anactorium, which is situated on the gulf, is forty stadia distant from the temple, whereas Leucas is two hundred and forty.

8In early times Leucas was a peninsula of Acarnania, but the poet calls it “shore of the mainland,”†using the term “mainland” for the country which is situated across from Ithaca and Cephallenia; and this country is Acarnania. And therefore, when he says, “shore of the mainland,” one should take it to mean “shore of Acarnania.” And to Leucas also belonged, not only Nericus, which Laertes says he took (verily I took Nericus, well-built citadel, shore of the mainland, when I was lord over the Cephallenians),but also the cities which Homer names in the Catalogue(and dwell in Crocyleia and rugged Aegilips).But the Corinthians sent by Cypselus†and Gorgus took possession of this shore and also advanced as far as the Ambracian Gulf; and both Ambracia and Anactorium were colonized at this time; and the Corinthians dug a canal through the isthmus of the peninsula and made Leucas an island; and they transferred Nericus to the place which, though once an isthmus, is now a strait spanned by a bridge, and they changed its name to Leucas, which was named, as I think, after Leucatas; for Leucatas is a rock of white color jutting out from Leucas into the sea and towards Cephallenia and therefore it took its name from its color.

9It contains the temple of Apollo Leucatas, and also the “Leap,” which was believed to put an end to the longings of love.Where Sappho is said to have been the first,as Menander says,when through frantic longing she was chasing the haughty Phaon, to fling herself with a leap from the far-seen rock, calling upon thee in prayer, O lord and master.Now although Menander says that Sappho was the first to take the leap, yet those who are better versed than he in antiquities say that it was Cephalus, who was in love with Pterelas the son of Deïoneus. It was an ancestral custom among the Leucadians, every year at the sacrifice performed in honor of Apollo, for some criminal to be flung from this rocky look-out for the sake of averting evil, wings and birds of all kinds being fastened to him, since by their fluttering they could lighten the leap, and also for a number of men, stationed all round below the rock in small fishing-boats, to take the victim in, and, when he had been taken on board,†to do all in their power to get him safely outside their borders. The author of the Alcmaeonis†says that Icarius, the father of Penelope, had two sons, Alyzeus and Leucadius, and that these two reigned over Acarnania with their father; accordingly, Ephorus thinks that the cities were named after these.

10But though at the present time only the people of the island Cephallenia are called Cephallenians, Homer so calls all who were subject to Odysseus, among whom are also the Acarnanians. For after saying,but Odysseus led the Cephallenians, who held Ithaca and Neritum with quivering foliage(Neritum being the famous mountain on this island, as also when he says,and those from Dulichium and the sacred Echinades,Dulichium itself being one of the Echinades; andthose who dwelt in Buprasium and Elis,Buprasium being in Elis; andthose who held Euboea and Chalcis and Eiretria,meaning that these cities were in Euboea; andTrojans and Lycians and Dardanians,meaning that the Lycians and Dardanians were Trojans)—however, after mentioning “Neritum, he says,and dwelt in Crocyleia and rugged Aegilips, and those who held Zacynthos and those who dwelt about Samos, and those who held the mainland and dwelt in the parts over against the islands.By “mainland,”†therefore, he means the parts over against the islands, wishing to include, along with Leucas, the rest of Acarnania as well,†concerning which he also speaks in this way,twelve herd on the mainland, and as many flocks of sheep,perhaps because Epeirotis extended thus far in early times and was called by the general name “mainland.” But by “Samos” he means the Cephallenia of today, as, when he says,in the strait between Ithaca and rugged Samos;for by the epithet he differentiates between the objects bearing the same name, thus making the name apply, not to the city, but to the island. For the island was a Tetrapolis,†and one of its four cities was the city called indifferently either Samos or Same, bearing the same name as the island. And when the poet says,for all the nobles who hold sway over the islands, Dulichium and Same and woody Zacynthos,he is evidently making an enumeration of the islands and calling “Same” that island which he had formerly called Samos. But Apollodorus,†when he says in one passage that ambiguity is removed by the epithet when the poet saysand rugged Samos,showing that he meant the island, and then, in another passage, says that one should copy the reading,Dulichium and Samos,instead of “Same,” plainly takes the position that the city was called “Same” or “Samos” indiscriminately, but the island “Samos” only; for that the city was called Same is clear, according to Apollodorus, from the fact that, in enumerating the wooers from the several cities, the poet†said,from Same came four and twenty men,and also from the statement concerning Ktimene,they then sent her to Same to wed.But this is open to argument, for the poet does not express himself distinctly concerning either Cephallenia or Ithaca and the other places near by; and consequently both the commentators and the historians are at variance with one another.

11For instance, when Homer says in regard to Ithaca,those who held Ithaca and Neritum with quivering foliage,he clearly indicates by the epithet that he means the mountain Neritum; and in other passages he expressly calls it a mountain;but I dwell in sunny Ithaca, wherein is a mountain, Neritum, with quivering leaves and conspicuous from afar.But whether by Ithaca he means the city or the island, is not clear, at least in the following verse,those who held Ithaca and Neritum;for if one takes the word in its proper sense, one would interpret it as meaning the city, just as though one should say “Athens and Lycabettus,” or “Rhodes and Atabyris,” or “Lacedaemon and Taÿgetus”; but if he takes it in a poetical sense the opposite is true. However, in the words,but I dwell in sunny Ithaca, wherein is a mountain, Neritum,his meaning is clear, for the mountain is in the island, not in the city. But when he says as follows,we have come from Ithaca below Neïum,it is not clear whether he means that Neïum is the same as Neritum or different, or whether it is a mountain or place. However, the critic who writes Nericum†instead of Neritum, or the reverse, is utterly mistaken; for the poet refers to the latter as “quivering with foliage,” but to the former as “well-built citadel,”†and to the latter as “in Ithaca,” but to the former as “shore of the mainland.”†

12The following verse also is thought to disclose a sort of contradiction: Now Ithaca itself lies chthamale, panypertate on the sea;†for chthamale means “low,” or “on the ground,” whereas panypertate means “high up,” as Homer indicates in several places when he calls Ithaca “rugged.”†And so when he refers to the road that leads from the harbor asrugged path up through the wooded place,and when he saysfor not one of the islands which lean upon the sea is eudeielos†or rich in meadows, and Ithaca surpasses them all.†Now although Homer’s phraseology presents incongruities of this kind, yet they are not poorly explained; for, in the first place, writers do not interpret chthamale as meaning “low-lying” here, but “lying near the mainland,” since it is very close to it, and, secondly, they do not interpret panypertate as meaning “highest,” but “highest towards the darkness,” that is, farthest removed towards the north beyond all the others; for this is what he means by “towards the darkness,” but the opposite by “towards the south,” as inbut the other islands lie aneuthe towards the dawn and the sun,for the word aneuthe is “at a distance,” or “apart,” implying that the other islands lie towards the south and farther away from the mainland, whereas Ithaca lies near the mainland and towards the north. That Homer refers in this way to the southerly region is clear also from these words,whether they go to the right, towards the dawn and the sun, or yet to the left towards the misty darkness,and still more clear from these words,my friends, lo, now we know not where is the place of darkness, nor of dawn, nor where the sun, that gives light to men, goes beneath the earth; nor where he rises.For it is indeed possible to interpret this as meaning the four “climata,”†if we interpret “the dawn” as meaning the southerly region (and this has some plausibility), but it is better to conceive of the region which is along the path of the sun as set opposite to the northerly region, for the poetic words are intended to signify a considerable change in the celestial phenomena,†not merely a temporary concealment of the “climata,” for necessarily concealment ensues every time the sky is clouded, whether by day or by night; but the celestial phenomena change to a greater extent as we travel farther and farther towards the south or in the opposite direction. Yet this travel causes a hiding, not of the western or eastern sky, but only of the southern or northern, and in fact this hiding takes place when the sky is clear; for the pole is the most northerly point of the sky, but since the pole moves and is sometimes at our zenith and sometimes below the earth, the arctic circles also change with it and in the course of such travels sometimes vanish with it,†so that you cannot know where the northern “clima” is, or even where it begins.†And if this is true, neither can you know the opposite “clima.” The circuit of Ithaca is about eighty stadia.†So much for Ithaca.

13As for Cephallenia, which is a Tetrapolis, the poet mentions by its present name neither it nor any of its cities except one, Same or Samos, which now no longer exists, though traces of it are to be seen midway of the passage to Ithaca; and its people are called Samaeans. The other three, however, survive even to this day in the little cities Paleis, Pronesus, and Cranii. And in our time Gaius Antonius, the uncle of Marcus Antonius, founded still another city, when, after his consulship, which he held with Cicero the orator, he went into exile, sojourned in Cephallenia, and held the whole island in subjection as though it were his private estate. However, before he could complete the settlement he obtained permission to return home,†and ended his days amid other affairs of greater importance.

14Some, however, have not hesitated to identify Cephallenia with Dulichium, and others with Taphos, calling the Cephallenians Taphians, and likewise Teleboans, and to say that Amphitryon made an expedition thither with Cephalus, the son of Deïoneus, whom, an exile from Athens, he had taken along with him, and that when Amphitryon seized the island he gave it over to Cephalus, and that the island was named after Cephalus and the cities after his children. But this is not in accordance with Homer; for the Cephallenians were subject to Odysseus and Laertes, whereas Taphos was subject to Mentes: I declare that I am Mentes the son of wise Anchialus, and I am lord over the oar loving Taphians.Taphos is now called Taphius. Neither is Hellanicus†in accord with Homer when he identifies Cephallenia with Dulichium, for Homer makes Dulichium and the remainder of the Echinades subject to Meges; and their inhabitants were Epeians, who had come there from Elis; and it is on this account that he calls Otus the Cylleniancomrade of Phyleides†and ruler of the high-hearted Epeians;but Odysseus led the high-hearted Cephallenians.According to Homer, therefore, neither is Cephallenia Dulichium nor is Dulichium a part of Cephallenia, as Andron†says; for the Epeians held possession of Dulichium, whereas the Cephallenians held possession of the whole of Cephallenia and were subject to Odysseus, whereas the Epeians were subject to Meges. Neither is Paleis called Dulichium by the poet, as Pherecydes writes. But that writer is most in opposition to Homer who identifies Cephallenia with Dulichium, if it be true that “fifty-two” of the suitors were “from Dulichium” and “twenty-four from Same”;†for in that case would not Homer say that fifty-two came from the island as a whole and a half of that number less two from a single one of its four cities? However, if one grants this, I shall ask what Homer can mean by “Same” in the passage,Dulichium and Same and woody Zacynthos.

15Cephallenia lies opposite Acarnania, at a distance of about fifty stadia from Leucatas (some say forty), and about one hundred and eighty from Chelonatas. It has a perimeter of about three hundred†stadia, is long, extending towards Eurus,†and is mountainous. The largest mountain upon it is Aenus, whereon is the temple of Zeus Aenesius; and where the island is narrowest it forms an isthmus so low-lying that it is often submerged from sea to sea. Both Paleis and Crannii are on the gulf near the narrows.

16Between Ithaca and Cephallenia is the small island Asteria (the poet calls it Asteris), which the Scepsian†says no longer remains such as the poet describes it,but in it are harbors safe for anchorage with entrances on either side;Apollodorus, however, says that it still remains so to this day, and mentions a town Alalcomenae upon it, situated on the isthmus itself.

17The poet also uses the name “Samos” for that Thrace which we now call Samothrace. And it is reasonable to suppose that he knows the Ionian Samos, for he also appears to know of the Ionian migration; otherwise he would not have differentiated between the places of the same name when referring to Samothrace, which he designates at one time by the epithet,high on the topmost summit of woody Samos, the Thracian,and at another time by connecting it with the islands near it,unto Samos and Imbros and inhospitable†Lemnos.And again,between Samos and rugged Imbros.He therefore knew the Ionian island, although he did not name it; in fact it was not called by the same name in earlier times, but Melampylus, then Anthemis, then Parthenia, from the River Parthenius, the name of which was changed to Imbrasus. Since, then, both Cephallenia and Samothrace were called Samos at the time of the Trojan War (for otherwise Hecabe would not be introduced as saying that he was for selling her children whom he might take captive “unto Samos and unto Imbros”),†and since the Ionian Samos had not yet been colonized, it plainly got its name from one of the islands which earlier bore the same name. Whence that other fact is also clear, that those writers contradict ancient history who say that colonists came from Samos after the Ionian migration and the arrival of Tembrion and named Samothrace Samos, since this story was fabricated by the Samians to enhance the glory of their island. Those writers are more plausible who say that the island came upon this name from the fact that lofty places are called “samoi,”for thence all Ida was plain to see, and plain to see were the city of Priam and the ships of the Achaeans But some say that the island was called Samos after the Saïi, the Thracians who inhabited it in earlier times, who also held the adjacent mainland, whether these Saïi were the same people as the Sapaeï or Sinti (the poet calls them Sinties) or a different tribe. The Saïi are mentioned by Archilochus: One of the Saïi robbed me of my shield, which, a blameless weapon, I left behind me beside a bush, against my will.†

18Of the islands classified as subject to Odysseus, Zacynthos remains to be described. It leans slightly more to the west of the Peloponnesus than Cephallenia and lies closer to the latter. The circuit of Zacynthos is one hundred and sixty stadia.†It is about sixty stadia distant from Cephallenia. It is indeed a woody island, but it is fertile; and its city, which bears the same name, is worthy of note. The distance thence to the Libyan Hesperides is three thousand three hundred stadia.

19To the east of Zacynthos and Cephallenia are situated the Echinades Islands, among which is Dulichium, now called Dolicha, and also what are called the Oxeiae, which the poet called Thoae.†Dolicha lies opposite Oeneiadae and the outlet of the Acheloüs, at a distance of one hundred stadia from Araxus, the promontory of the Eleians; the rest of the Echinades (they are several in number, all poor soiled and rugged) lie off the outlet of the Acheloüs, the farthermost being fifteen stadia distant and the nearest five. In earlier times they lay out in the high sea, but the silt brought down by the Acheloüs has already joined some of them to the mainland and will do the same to others. It was this silt which in early times caused the country called Paracheloïtis,†which the river overflows, to be a subject of dispute, since it was always confusing the designated boundaries between the Acarnanians and the Aetolians; for they would decide the dispute by arms, since they had no arbitrators, and the more powerful of the two would win the victory; and this is the cause of the fabrication of a certain myth, telling how Heracles defeated Acheloüs and, as the prize of his victory, won the hand of Deïaneira, the daughter of Oeneus, whom Sophocles represents as speaking as follows: For my suitor was a river-god, I mean Acheloüs, who would demand me of my father in three shapes, coming now as a bull in bodily form, now as a gleaming serpent in coils, now with trunk of man and front of ox.††Some writers add to the myth, saying that this was the horn of Amaltheia,†which Heracles broke off from Acheloüs and gave to Oeneus as a wedding gift. Others, conjecturing the truth from the myths, say that the Acheloüs, like the other rivers, was called “like a bull” from the roaring of its waters, and also from the the bendings of its streams, which were called Horns, and “like a serpent” because of its length and windings, and “with front of ox”†for the same reason that he was called “bull-faced”; and that Heracles, who in general was inclined to deeds of kindness, but especially for Oeneus, since he was to ally himself with him by marriage, regulated the irregular flow of the river by means of embankments and channels, and thus rendered a considerable part of Paracheloïtis dry, all to please Oeneus; and that this was the horn of Amaltheia. Now, as for the Echinades, or the Oxeiae, Homer says that they were ruled over in the time of the Trojan War by Meges,who was begotten by the knightly Phyleus, dear to Zeus, who once changed his abode to Dulichium because he was wroth with his father.His father was Augeas, the ruler of the Eleian country and the Epeians; and therefore the Epeians who set out for Dulichium with Phyleus held these islands.

20The islands of the Taphians, or, in earlier times, of the Teleboans, among which was Taphos,. now called Taphius, were distinct from the Echinades; not in the matter of distances (for they lie near them), but in that they are classified as under different commanders, Taphians and Teleboans.†Now in earlier times Amphitryon made an expedition against them with Cephalus the son of Deïoneus, an exile from Athens, and gave over their government to him, but the poet says that they were marshalled under Mentes, calling them pirates,†as indeed all the Teleboans are said to be pirates. So much, then, for the islands lying off Acarnania.

21Between Leucas and the Ambracian Gulf is a salt lake, called Myrtuntium. Next after Leucas one comes to Palaerus and Alyzia, cities of Acarnania; of these, Alyzia is fifteen stadia distant from the sea, where is a harbor sacred to Heracles and a sacred precinct. It is from this precinct that one of the commanders carried to Rome the “Labours of Heracles,” works of Lysippus, which were lying out of place where they were, because it was a deserted region. Then one comes to Cape Crithote, and the Echinades, and the city Astacus, which bears the same name as the city near Nicomedeia and Gulf Astacenus,†the name being used in the feminine gender. Crithote also bears the same name as one of the little cities in the Thracian Chersonesus.†All parts of the coast between these places have good harbors. Then one comes to Oeniadae and the Acheloüs; then to a lake of the Oeniadae, called Melite, which is thirty stadia in length and twenty in breadth; and to another lake, Cynia, which is twice the size of Melite, both in length and in breadth; and to a third, Uria, which is much smaller than those. Now Cynia empties into the sea, but the others lie about half a stadium above it. Then one comes to the Evenus, to which the distance from Actium is six hundred and seventy stadia. After the Evenus one comes to the mountain Chalcis, which Artemidorus has called Chalcia; then to Pleuron; then to the village Halicyrna, above which thirty stadia in the interior, lies Calydon; and near Calydon is the temple of the Laphrian Apollo. Then one comes to the mountain Taphiassus; then to the city Macynia; then to Molycreia and, near by, to Antirrhium, the boundary between Aetolia and Locris, to which the distance from the Evenus is about one hundred and twenty stadia. Artemidorus, indeed, does not give this account of the mountain, whether we call it Chalcis or Chalcia, since he places it between the Acheloüs and Pleuron, but Apollodorus, as I have said before, places both Chalcis and Taphiassus above Molycreia, and he also says that Calydon is situated between Pleuron and Chalcis. Perhaps, however, we should postulate two mountains, one near Pleuron called Chalcis, and the other near Molycreia called Chalcis. Near Calydon, also, is a lake, which is large and well supplied with fish; it is held by the Romans who live in Patrae.

22Apollodorus says that in the interior of Acarnania there is a people called Erysichaeans, who are mentioned by Alcman: nor yet an Erysichaean nor shepherd, but from the heights of Sardeis.†But Olenus, which Homer mentions in the Aetolian catalogue, was in Aetolia, though only traces of it are left, near Pleuron at the foot of Aracynthus. Near it, also, was Lysimachia; this, too, has disappeared; it was situated by the lake now called Lysimachia, in earlier times Hydra, between Pleuron and the city Arsinoe. In earlier times Arsinoe was only a village, and was called Conopa, but it was first founded as a city by Arsinoe, who was both wife and sister of Ptolemy the Second;†it was rather happily situated at the ford across the Acheloüs. Pylene has also suffered a fate similar to that of Olenus. When the poet calls Calydon both “steep” and “rocky,” one should interpret him as referring to the country; for, as I have said, they divided the country into two parts and assigned the mountainous part, or Epictetus,†to Calydon and the level country to Pleuron.

23At the present time both the Acarnanians and the Aetolians, like many of the other tribes, have been exhausted and reduced to impotence by their continual wars. However, for a very long time the Aetolians, together with the Acarnanians, stood firm, not only against the Macedonians and the other Greeks, but also finally against the Romans, when fighting for autonomy. But since they are often mentioned by Homer, as also both by the other poets and by historians, sometimes in words that are easy to interpret and about which there is no disagreement, and sometimes in words that are less intelligible (this has been shown in what I have already said about them), I should also add some of those older accounts which afford us a basis of fact to begin with, or are matters of doubt.

24For instance, in the case of Acarnania, Laertes and the Cephallenians acquired possession of it, as I have said; but as to what people held it before that time, many writers have indeed given an opinion, but since they do not agree in their statements, which have, however, a wide currency, there is left for me a word of arbitration concerning them. They say that the people who were called both Taphians and Teleboans lived in Acarnania in earlier times, and that their leader Cephalus, who had been set up by Amphitryon as master over the islands about Taphos, gained the mastery over this country too. And from this fact they go on to add the myth that Cephalus was the first to take the leap from Leucatas which became the custom, as I have said before. But the poet does not say that the Taphians were ruling the Acarnanians before the Cephallenians and Laertes came over, but only that they were friends to the Ithacans, and therefore, according to the poet, they either had not ruled over the region at all, or had yielded Acarnania to the Ithacans voluntarily, or had become joint occupants with them. It appears that also a colony from Lacedaemon settled in Acarnania, I mean Icarius, father of Penelope, and his followers; for in the Odyssey the poet represents both Icarius and the brothers of Penelope as living: who shrink from going to the house of her father, Icarius, that he himself may exact the bride-gifts for his daughter,and, concerning her brothers,for already her father and her brothers bid her marry Eurymachus;for, in the first place, it is improbable that they were living in Lacedaemon, since in that case Telemachus would not have lodged at the home of Menelaüs when he went to Lacedaemon, and, secondly, we have no tradition of their having lived elsewhere. But they say that Tyndareus and his brother Icarius, after being banished by Hippocoön from their homeland, went to Thestius, the ruler of the Pleuronians, and helped him to acquire possession of much of the country on the far side of the Acheloüs on condition that they should receive a share of it; that Tyndareus, however, went back home, having married Leda, the daughter of Thestius, whereas Icarius stayed on, keeping a portion of Acarnania, and by Polycaste, the daughter of Lygaeus, begot both Penelope and her brothers. Now I have already set forth that the Acarnanians were enumerated in the Catalogue of Ships,†that they took part in the expedition to Ilium, and that among these were named “those who lived on the’shore,’”†and alsothose who held the mainland and dwelt in parts opposite. But as yet neither had the mainland been named “Acarnania” nor the shore “Leucas.”

25Ephorus denies that they joined the Trojan expedition, for he says that Alcmaeon, the son of Amphiaraüs, made an expedition with Diomedes and the other Epigoni, and had brought to a successful issue the war against the Thebans, and then joined Diomedes and with him took vengeance upon the enemies of Oeneus, after which he himself, first giving over Aetolia to them,†passed into Acarnania and subdued it; and meanwhile Agamemnon attacked the Argives and easily prevailed over them, since the most of them had accompanied the army of Diomedes; but a little later, when the expedition against Troy confronted him, he conceived the fear that, when he was absent on the expedition, Diomedes and his army might come back home (and in fact it was reported that a great army had gathered round him) and seize the empire to which they had the best right, for one was the heir of Adrastus and the other of his father; and accordingly, after thinking this all over, Agamemnon invited them both to resume possession of Argos and to take part in the war; and although Diomedes was persuaded to take part in the expedition, Alcmaeon was vexed and refused to heed the invitation; and for this reason the Acarnanians alone refused to share in the expedition with the Greeks. And it was probably by following this account that the Acarnanians tricked the Romans, as they are said to have done, and obtained from them their autonomy, urging that they alone had had no part in the expedition against the ancestors of the Romans, for they were named neither in the Aetolian catalogue†nor separately, and in fact their name was not mentioned in the Epic poems at all.

26Ephorus, then, makes Acarnania subject to Alcmaeon even before the Trojan War; and he not only declares that the Amphilochian Argos was founded by him, but also says that Acarnania was named after Alcmaeon’s son Acarnan, and the Amphilochians after Alcmaeon’s brother Amphilochus; therefore his account is to be cast out amongst those contrary to Homeric history. But Thucydides and others say that Amphilochus, on his return from the Trojan expedition, was displeased with the state of affairs at Argos, and took up his abode in this country, some saying that he came by right of succession to the domain of his brother, others giving a different account. So much may be said of the Acarnanians specifically; I shall now speak of their history in a general way, in so far as their history is interwoven with that of the Aetolians, in so far as I have thought best to add to my previous narrative.

1As for the Curetes, some assign them to the Acarnanians, others to the Aetolians; and some assert that they originated in Crete, but others in Euboea; but since Homer mentions them, I should first investigate his account. It is thought that he means that they were Aetolians rather than Acarnanians, if indeed the sons of Porthaon wereAgrius and Melas, and, the third, Oeneus the knight;and they lived in Pleuron and steep Calydon.†These are both Aetolian cities, and are referred to in the Aetolian catalogue; and therefore, since, even according to the poet, the Curetes obviously lived in Pleuron, they would be Aetolians. Those writers who oppose this view are misled by Homer’s mode of expression when he says,the Curetes were fighting, and the Aetolians steadfast in battle, about the city of Calydon;for, they add, neither would he have spoken appropriately if he had said, “the Boeotians and the Thebans were fighting against one another”; or “the Argives and the Peloponnesians.” But, as I have shown heretofore,†this habit of expression not only is Homeric, but is much used by the other poets also. This interpretation, then, is easy to defend; but let those writers explain how the poet could catalogue the Pleuronians among the Aetolians if they were not Aetolians or at least of the same race.

2Ephorus,†after saying that the Aetolians were a race which had never become subject to any other people, but throughout all time of which there is any record had remained undevastated, both because of the ruggedness of their country and because of their training in warfare, says at the outset that the Curetes held possession of the whole country, but when Aetolus, the son of Endymion, arrived from Elis and overpowered them in war, the Curetes withdrew to what is now called Acarnania, whereas the Aetolians came back with Epeians and founded the earliest of the cities of Aetolia, and in the tenth generation after that Elis was settled by Oxylus the son of Haemon, who had crossed over from Aetolia. And he cites as evidence of all this two inscriptions, the one at Therma in Aetolia (where it is their ancestral custom to hold their elections of magistrates), engraved on the base of the statue of Aetolus: Founder of the country, once reared beside the eddies of the Alpheius, neighbor of the race-courses of Olympia, son of Endymion, this Aetolus has been set up by the Aetolians as a memorial of his valor to behold; and the other inscription in the marketplace of the Eleians on the statue of Oxylus: Aetolus once left this autochthonous people, and through many a toil with the spear took possession of the land of Curetis; but the tenth scion of the same stock, Oxylus, the son of Haemon, founded this city in early times.

3Now through these inscriptions Ephorus correctly signifies the kinship of the Eleians and Aetolians with one another, since both inscriptions agree, not merely as to the kinship of the two peoples, but also that each people was the founder of the other, through which he successfully convicts of falsehood those who assert that, while the Eleians were indeed colonists of the Aetolians, the Aetolians were not colonists of the Eleians. But here, too, Ephorus manifestly displays the same inconsistency in his writing and his pronouncements as in the case of the oracle at Delphi, which I have already set forth; for, after saying that Aetolia has been undevastated throughout all times of which there is any record, and after saying also that in the beginning the Curetes held possession of this country, he should have added as a corollary to what he had already said that the Curetes continued to hold possession of the Aetolian land down to his own time, for only thus could it have been rightly said that the land had been undevastated and that it had never come under the power of others; and yet, utterly forgetting his promise, he does not add this, but the contrary, that when Aetolus arrived from Elis and overpowered the Curetes in war, they withdrew into Acarnania. What else, pray, is specifically characteristic of a devastation than being overpowered in war and abandoning the country? And this is evidenced also by the inscription among the Eleians, for Aetolus, it says,through many a toil with the spear took possession of the land of Curetis.

4Perhaps, however, one might say that Ephorus means that Aetolia was undevastated from the time when it got this name, that is, after Aetolus arrived there; but Ephorus has deprived himself of the argument in support of this idea by saying in his next words that this, meaning the tribe of the Epeians, constituted the greatest part of the people who stayed on among the Aetolians, but that later, when Aeolians, who at the same time with Boeotians had been compelled to migrate from Thessaly, were intermingled with them, they in common with these held possession of the country. Is it credible, pray, that without war they invaded the country of a different people and divided it up with its possessors, when the latter had no need of such a partnership? Or, since this is not credible, is it credible that those who were overpowered by arms came out on an equality with the victors? What else, pray, is devastation than being overpowered by arms? Apollodorus, also, says that, according to history, the Hyantes left Boeotia and settled among the Aetolians. But Ephorus, as though he had achieved success in his argument, adds: “It is my wont to examine such matters as these with precision, whenever any matter is either altogether doubtful or falsely interpreted.”

5But though Ephorus is such, still he is better than others. And Polybius†himself, who praises him so earnestly, and says concerning the Greek histories that Eudoxus†indeed gave a good account, but Ephorus gave the best account of the foundings of cities, kinships, migrations, and original founders, “but I,” he says, shall show the facts as they now are, as regards both the position of places and the distances between them; for this is the most appropriate function of Chorography.†But assuredly you, Polybius, who introduce “popular notions”†concerning distances, not only in dealing with places outside of Greece, but also when treating Greece itself, must also submit to an accounting, not only to Poseidonius,†and to Apollodorus, but to several others as well. One should therefore pardon me as well, and not be vexed, if I make any mistakes when I borrow from such writers most of my historical material, but should rather be content if in the majority of cases I improve upon the accounts given by others, or if I add such facts as have elsewhere, owing to lack of knowledge, been left untold.

6Concerning the Curetes still further accounts, to the following effect, are given, some of them being more closely related to the history of the Aetolians and the Acarnanians, others more remotely. More closely related are such accounts as I have given before—that the Curetes were living in the country which is now called Aetolia, and that the Aetolians came with Aetolus and drove them into Acarnania; and also accounts of this kind, that, when Pleuronia was inhabited by the Curetes and was called Curetis, Aeolians made an invasion and took it away from them, and drove out its occupants. Archemachus the Euboean†says that the Curetes settled at Chalcis, but since they were continually at war for the Lelantine Plain and the enemy would catch them by the front hair and drag them down, he says, they let their hair grow long behind but cut short the part in front, and because of this they were called “Curetes,” from the cut of their hair,†and they then migrated to Aetolia, and, after taking possession of the region round Pleuron, called the people who lived on the far side of the Acheloüs “Acarnanians,” because they kept their heads “unshorn.”†But some say that each of the two tribes got its name from a hero; others, that the Curetes were named after the mountain Curium, which is situated about Pleuron, and also that this is an Aetolian tribe, like the Ophians and the Agraeans and the Eurytanians and several others. But, as I have already stated, when Aetolia was divided into two parts, the region round Calydon, they say, was in the possession of Oeneus, whereas a certain part of Pleuronia was in the possession of the sons of Porthaon, that is, Agrius and his followers, if it be true thatthey lived in Pleuron and steep Calydon;the mastery over Pleuronia, however, was held by Thestius (the father-in-law of Oeneus and father of Althaea), who was leader of the Curetes; but when war broke out between the sons of Thestius, on the one hand, and Oeneus and Meleager, on the other (about the hog’s head and skin,as the poet says, following the mythical story of the boar,†but in all probability about the possession of a part of the territory), according to the words of the poet,the Curetes were fighting, as also the Aetolians steadfast in battle.So much for the accounts which are more closely related.

7The accounts which are more remotely related, however, to the present subject, but are wrongly, on account of the identity of the names, brought into the same connection by the historians—I mean those accounts which, although they are called “Curetan History” and “History of the Curetes,” just as if they were the history of those Curetes who lived in Aetolia and Acarnania, not only are different from that history, but are more like the accounts of the Satyri, Sileni, Bacchae, and Tityri; for the Curetes, like these, are called genii or ministers of gods by those who have handed down to us the Cretan and the Phrygian traditions, which are interwoven with certain sacred rites, some mystical, the others connected in part with the rearing of the child Zeus in Crete and in part with the orgies in honor of the mother of the gods which are celebrated in Phrygia and in the region of the Trojan Ida. But the variation in these accounts is so small that, whereas some represent the Corybantes, the Cabeiri, the Idaean Dactyli, and the Telchines as identical with the Curetes, others represent them as all kinsmen of one another and differentiate only certain small matters in which they differ in respect to one another; but, roughly speaking and in general, they represent them, one and all, as a kind of inspired people and as subject to Bacchic frenzy, and, in the guise of ministers, as inspiring terror at the celebration of the sacred rites by means of war-dances, accompanied by uproar and noise and cymbals and drums and arms, and also by flute and outcry; and consequently these rites are in a way regarded as having a common relationship, I mean these and those of the Samothracians and those in Lemnos and in several other places, because the divine ministers are called the same. However, every investigation of this kind pertains to theology, and is not foreign to the speculation of the philosopher.

8But since also the historians, because of the identity of name of the Curetes, have classed together things that are unlike, neither should I myself shrink from discussing them at greater length, by way of digression, adding such account of their physical habits as is appropriate to history. And yet some historians even wish to assimilate their physical habits with those others, and perhaps there is something plausible in their undertaking. For instance, they say that the Curetes of Aetolia got this name because, like “girls,”†they wore women’s clothes, for, they add, there was a fashion of this kind among the Greeks, and the Ionians were called “tunic-trailing,”†and the soldiers of Leonidas were “dressing their hair”†when they were to go forth to battle, so that the Persians, it is said, conceived a contempt for them, though in the battle they marvelled at them. Speaking generally, the art of caring for the hair consists both in its nurture and in the way it is cut, and both are given special attention by “girls” and “youths”;†so that there are several ways in which it is easy to derive an etymology of the word “Curetes.” It is reasonable to suppose, also, that the war-dance was first introduced by persons who were trained in this particular way in the matter of hair and dress, these being called Curetes, and that this dance afforded a pretext to those also who were more warlike than the rest and spent their life under arms, so that they too came to be called by the same name, “Curetes “—I mean the Curetes in Euboea, Aetolia, and Acarnania. And indeed Homer applied this name to young soldiers,choose thou the noblest young men from all the Achaeans, and bring the gifts from the swift ship, all that we promised yesterday to Achilles”;and again,the young men of the Achaeans brought the gifts. So much for the etymology of the word “Curetes.” The war-dance was a soldiers’ dance; and this is plainly indicated both by the “Pyrrhic dance,”†and by “Pyrrichus,” who is said to be the founder of this kind of training for young men, as also by the treatises on military affairs.†

9But I must now investigate how it comes about that so many names have been used of one and the same thing, and the theological element contained in their history. Now this is common both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, to perform their sacred rites in connection with the relaxation of a festival, these rites being performed sometimes with religious frenzy, sometimes without it; sometimes with music, sometimes not; and sometimes in secret, sometimes openly. And it is in accordance with the dictates of nature that this should be so, for, in the first place, the relaxation draws the mind away from human occupations and turns the real mind towards that which is divine; and, secondly, the religious frenzy seems to afford a kind of divine inspiration and to be very like that of the soothsayer; and, thirdly, the secrecy with which the sacred rites are concealed induces reverence for the divine, since it imitates the nature of the divine, which is to avoid being perceived by our human senses; and, fourthly, music, which includes dancing as well as rhythm and melody, at the same time, by the delight it affords and by its artistic beauty, brings us in touch with the divine, and this for the following reason; for although it has been well said that human beings then act most like the gods when they are doing good to others, yet one might better say, when they are happy; and such happiness consists of rejoicing, celebrating festivals, pursuing philosophy, and engaging in music; for, if music is perverted when musicians turn their art to sensual delights at symposiums and in orchestric and scenic performances and the like, we should not lay the blame upon music itself, but should rather examine the nature of our system of education, since this is based on music.

10And on this account Plato, and even before his time the Pythagoreians, called philosophy music;†and they say that the universe is constituted in accordance with harmony,†assuming that every form of music is the work of the gods. And in this sense, also, the Muses are goddesses, and Apollo is leader of the Muses, and poetry as a whole is laudatory of the gods. And by the same course of reasoning they also attribute to music the upbuilding of morals, believing that everything which tends to correct the mind is close to the gods. Now most of the Greeks assigned to Dionysus, Apollo, Hecate, the Muses, and above all to Demeter, everything of an orgiastic or Bacchic or choral nature, as well as the mystic element in initiations; and they give the name “Iacchus” not only to Dionysus but also to the leader-in-chief of the mysteries, who is the genius of Demeter. And branch-bearing, choral dancing, and initiations are common elements in the worship of these gods. As for the Muses and Apollo, the Muses preside over the choruses, whereas Apollo presides both over these and the rites of divination. But all educated men, and especially the musicians, are ministers of the Muses; and both these and those who have to do with divination are ministers of Apollo; and the initiated and torch-bearers and hierophants, of Demeter; and the Sileni and Satyri and Bacchae, and also the Lenae and Thyiae and Mimallones and Naïdes and Nymphae and the beings called Tityri, of Dionysus.

11In Crete, not only these rites, but in particular those sacred to Zeus, were performed along with orgiastic worship and with the kind of ministers who were in the service of Dionysus, I mean the Satyri. These ministers they called “Curetes,” young men who executed movements in armour, accompanied by dancing, as they set forth the mythical story of the birth of Zeus; in this they introduced Cronus as accustomed to swallow his children immediately after their birth, and Rhea as trying to keep her travail secret and, when the child was born, to get it out of the way and save its life by every means in her power; and to accomplish this it is said that she took as helpers the Curetes, who, by surrounding the goddess with tambourines and similar noisy instruments and with war-dance and uproar, were supposed to strike terror into Cronus and without his knowledge to steal his child away; and that, according to tradition, Zeus was actually reared by them with the same diligence; consequently the Curetes, either because, being young, that is “youths,”†they performed this service, or because they “reared” Zeus “in his youth”†(for both explanations are given), were accorded this appellation, as if they were Satyrs, so to speak, in the service of Zeus. Such, then, were the Greeks in the matter of orgiastic worship.

12But as for the Berecyntes, a tribe of Phrygians, and the Phrygians in general, and those of the Trojans who live round Ida, they too hold Rhea in honor and worship her with orgies, calling her Mother of the gods and Agdistis and Phrygia the Great Goddess, and also, from the places where she is worshipped, Idaea and Dindymene and Sipylene and Pessinuntis and Cybele and Cybebe.†The Greeks use the same name “Curetes” for the ministers of the goddess, not taking the name, however, from the same mythical story,†but regarding them as a different set of “Curetes,” helpers as it were, analogous to the Satyri; and the same they also call Corybantes.

13The poets bear witness to such views as I have suggested. For instance, when Pindar, in the dithyramb which begins with these words,In earlier times there marched†the lay of the dithyrambs long drawn out,mentions the hymns sung in honor of Dionysus, both the ancient and the later ones, and then, passing on from these, says,To perform the prelude in thy honor, great Mother, the whirling of cymbals is at hand, and among them, also, the clanging of castanets, and the torch that blazeth beneath the tawny pine-trees,he bears witness to the common relationship between the rites exhibited in the worship of Dionysus among the Greeks and those in the worship of the Mother of the gods among the Phrygians, for he makes these rites closely akin to one another. And Euripides does likewise, in his Bacchae, citing the Lydian usages at the same time with those of Phrygia, because of their similarity: But ye who left Mt. Tmolus, fortress of Lydia, revel-band of mine, women whom I brought from the land of barbarians as my assistants and travelling companions, uplift the tambourines native to Phrygian cities, inventions of mine and mother Rhea.And again,happy he who, blest man, initiated in the mystic rites, is pure in his life,... who, preserving the righteous orgies of the great mother Cybele, and brandishing the thyrsus on high, and wreathed with ivy, doth worship Dionysus. Come, ye Bacchae, come, ye Bacchae, bringing down†Bromius,†god the child of god, out of the Phrygian mountains into the broad highways of Greece.And again, in the following verses he connects the Cretan usages also with the Phrygian: O thou hiding-bower†of the Curetes, and sacred haunts of Crete that gave birth to Zeus, where for me†the triple-crested†Corybantes†in their caverns invented this hide-stretched circlet,†and blent its Bacchic revelry with the high-pitched, sweet-sounding breath of Phrygian flutes, and in Rhea’s hands placed its resounding noise, to accompany the shouts of the Bacchae,†and from Mother Rhea frenzied Satyrs obtained it and joined it to the choral dances of the Trieterides,†in whom Dionysus takes delight. And in the Palamedes the Chorus says,†Thysa, daughter of Dionysus, who on Ida rejoices with his dear mother in the Iacchic revels of tambourines.

14And when they bring Seilenus and Marsyas and Olympus into one and the same connection, and make them the historical inventors of flutes, they again, a second time, connect the Dionysiac and the Phrygian rites; and they often in a confused manner drum on†Ida and Olympus as the same mountain. Now there are four peaks of Ida called Olympus, near Antandria; and there is also the Mysian Olympus, which indeed borders on Ida, but is not the same. At any rate, Sophocles, in his Polyxena, representing Menelaus as in haste to set sail from Troy, but Agamemnon as wishing to remain behind for a short time for the sake of propitiating Athena, introduces Menelaüs as saying,But do thou, here remaining, somewhere in the Idaean land collect flocks of Olympus and offer them in sacrifice.†

15They invented names appropriate to the flute, and to the noises made by castanets, cymbals, and drums, and to their acclamations and shouts of “ev-ah,” and stampings of the feet;†and they also invented some of the names by which to designate the ministers, choral dancers, and attendants upon the sacred rites, I mean “Cabeiri” and “Corybantes” and “Pans” and “Satyri” and “Tityri,” and they called the god “Bacchus,” and Rhea “Cybele” or “Cybebe” or “Dindymene” according to the places where she was worshipped. Sabazius also belongs to the Phrygian group and in a way is the child of the Mother, since he too transmitted the rites of Dionysus.†

16Also resembling these rites are the Cotytian and the Bendideian rites practiced among the Thracians, among whom the Orphic rites had their beginning. Now the Cotys who is worshipped among the Edonians, and also the instruments used in her rites, are mentioned by Aeschylus; for he says,O adorable Cotys among the Edonians, and ye who hold mountain-ranging†instruments;and he mentions immediately afterwards the attendants of Dionysus: one, holding in his hands the bombyces,†toilsome work of the turner’s chisel, fills full the fingered melody, the call that brings on frenzy, while another causes to resound the bronze-bound cotylae†and again,stringed instruments raise their shrill cry, and frightful mimickers from some place unseen bellow like bulls, and the semblance†of drums, as of subterranean thunder, rolls along, a terrifying sound;for these rites resemble the Phrygian rites, and it is at least not unlikely that, just as the Phrygians themselves were colonists from Thrace, so also their sacred rites were borrowed from there. Also when they identify Dionysus and the Edonian Lycurgus, they hint at the homogeneity of their sacred rites.

17From its melody and rhythm and instruments, all Thracian music has been considered to be Asiatic. And this is clear, first, from the places where the Muses have been worshipped, for Pieria and Olympus and Pimpla and Leibethrum were in ancient times Thracian places and mountains, though they are now held by the Macedonians; and again, Helicon was consecrated to the Muses by the Thracians who settled in Boeotia, the same who consecrated the cave of the nymphs called Leibethrides. And again, those who devoted their attention to the music of early times are called Thracians, I mean Orpheus, Musaeus, and Thamyris; and Eumolpus, too, got his name from there. And those writers who have consecrated the whole of Asia, as far as India, to Dionysus, derive the greater part of music from there. And one writer says, “striking the Asiatic cithara”; another calls flutes “Berecyntian” and “Phrygian”; and some of the instruments have been called by barbarian names, “nablas,” “sambyce,” “barbitos,” “magadis,” and several others.

18Just as in all other respects the Athenians continue to be hospitable to things foreign, so also in their worship of the gods; for they welcomed so many of the foreign rites that they were ridiculed therefore by comic writers; and among these were the Thracian and Phrygian rites. For instance, the Bendideian rites are mentioned by Plato,†and the Phrygian by Demosthenes, when he casts the reproach upon Aeschines’ mother and Aeschines himself that he was with her when she conducted initiations, that he joined her in leading the Dionysiac march, and that many a time he cried out “evoe saboe,” and “hyes attes, attes hyes”; for these words are in the ritual of Sabazius and the Mother.

19Further, one might also find, in addition to these facts concerning these genii and their various names, that they were called, not only ministers of gods, but also gods themselves. For instance, Hesiod says that five daughters were born to Hecaterus and the daughter of Phoroneus,from whom sprang the mountain-ranging nymphs, goddesses, and the breed of Satyrs, creatures worthless and unfit for work, and also the Curetes, sportive gods, dancers.†And the author of Phoronis†speaks of the Curetes as “flute-players” and “Phrygians”; and others as “earth-born” and “wearing brazen shields.” Some call the Corybantes, and not the Curetes, “Phrygians,” but the Curetes “Cretes,” and say that the Cretes were the first people to don brazen armour in Euboea, and that on this account they were also called “Chalcidians”;†still others say that the Corybantes, who came from Bactriana (some say from among the Colchians), were given as armed ministers to Rhea by the Titans. But in the Cretan accounts the Curetes are called “rearers of Zeus,” and “protectors of Zeus,” having been summoned from Phrygia to Crete by Rhea. Some say that, of the nine Telchines who lived in Rhodes, those who accompanied Rhea to Crete and “reared” Zeus “in his youth” were named “Curetes”; and that Cyrbas, a comrade of these, who was the founder of Hierapytna, afforded a pretext to the Prasians for saying among the Rhodians that the Corybantes were certain genii, sons of Athena and Helius. Further, some call the Corybantes sons of Cronus, but others say that the Corybantes were sons of Zeus and Calliope and were identical with the Cabeiri, and that these went off to Samothrace, which in earlier times was called Melite, and that their rites were mystical.

20But though the Scepsian,†who compiled these myths, does not accept the last statement, on the ground that no mystic story of the Cabeiri is told in Samothrace, still he cites also the opinion of Stesimbrotus the Thasian†that the sacred rites in Samothrace were performed in honor of the Cabeiri: and the Scepsian says that they were called Cabeiri after the mountain Cabeirus in Berecyntia. Some, however, believe that the Curetes were the same as the Corybantes and were ministers of Hecate. But the Scepsian again states, in opposition to the words of Euripides,†that the rites of Rhea were not sanctioned or in vogue in Crete, but only in Phrygia and the Troad, and that those who say otherwise are dealing in myths rather than in history, though perhaps the identity of the place-names contributed to their making this mistake. For instance, Ida is not only a Trojan, but also a Cretan, mountain; and Dicte is a place in Scepsia and also a mountain in Crete; and Pytna, after which the city Hierapytna was named, is a peak of Ida. And there is a Hippocorona in the territory of Adramyttium and a Hippocoronium in Crete. And Samonium is the eastern promontory of the island and a plain in the territory of Neandria and in that of the Alexandreians.

21Acusilaüs,†the Argive, calls Cadmilus the son of Cabeiro and Hephaestus, and Cadmilus the father of three Cabeiri, and these the fathers of the nymphs called Cabeirides. Pherecydes†says that nine Cyrbantes were sprung from Apollo and Rhetia, and that they took up their abode in Samothrace; and that three Cabeiri and three nymphs called Cabeirides were the children of Cabeiro, the daughter of Proteus, and Hephaestus, and that sacred rites were instituted in honor of each triad. Now it has so happened that the Cabeiri are most honored in Imbros and Lemnos, but they are also honored in separate cities of the Troad; their names, however, are kept secret. Herodotus says that there were temples of the Cabeiri in Memphis, as also of Hephaestus, but that Cambyses destroyed them. The places where these deities were worshipped are uninhabited, both the Corybanteium in Hamaxitia in the territory now belonging to the Alexandreians near Sminthium, and Corybissa in Scepsia in the neighborhood of the river Eurëeis and of the village which bears the same name and also of the winter torrent Aethalöeis. The Scepsian says that it is probable that the Curetes and the Corybantes were the same, being those who had been accepted as young men, or “youths,” for the war-dance in connection with the holy rites of the Mother of the gods, and also as “corybantes” from the fact that they “walked with a butting of their heads” in a dancing way.†These are called by the poet “betarmones”:†Come now, all ye that are the best ‘betarmones’ of the Phaeacians. And because the Corybantes are inclined to dancing and to religious frenzy, we say of those who are stirred with frenzy that they are “corybantising.”

22Some writers say that the name “Idaean Dactyli” was given to the first settlers of the lower slopes of Mt. Ida, for the lower slopes of mountains are called “feet,” and the summits “heads”; accordingly, the several extremities of Ida (all of which are sacred to the Mother of the gods) were called Dactyli.†Sophocles†thinks that the first male Dactyli were five in number, who were the first to discover and to work iron, as well as many other things which are useful for the purposes of life, and that their sisters were five in number, and that they were called Dactyli from their number. But different writers tell the myth in different ways, joining difficulty to difficulty; and both the names and numbers they use are different; and they name one of them “Celmis” and others “Damnameneus” and “Heracles” and “Acmon.” Some call them natives of Ida, others settlers; but all agree that iron was first worked by these on Ida; and all have assumed that they were wizards and attendants of the Mother of the gods, and that they lived in Phrygia about Ida; and they use the term Phrygia for the Troad because, after Troy was sacked, the Phrygians, whose territory bordered on the Troad, got the mastery over it. And they suspect that both the Curetes and the Corybantes were offspring of the Idaean Dactyli; at any rate, the first hundred men born in Crete were called Idaean Dactyli, they say, and as offspring of these were born nine Curetes, and each of these begot ten children who were called Idaean Dactyli.

23I have been led on to discuss these people rather at length, although I am not in the least fond of myths, because the facts in their case border on the province of theology. And theology as a whole must examine early opinions and myths, since the ancients expressed enigmatically the physical notions which they entertained concerning the facts and always added the mythical element to their accounts. Now it is not easy to solve with accuracy all the enigmas, but if the multitude of myths be set before us, some agreeing and others contradicting one another, one might be able more readily to conjecture out of them what the truth is. For instance, men probably speak in their myths about the “mountain-roaming” of religious zealots and of gods themselves, and about their “religious frenzies,” for the same reason that they are prompted to believe that the gods dwell in the skies and show forethought, among their other interests, for prognostication by signs. Now seeking for metals, and hunting, and searching for the things that are useful for the purposes of life, are manifestly closely related to mountain-roaming, whereas juggling and magic are closely related to religious frenzies, worship, and divination. And such also is devotion to the arts, in particular to the Dionysiac and Orphic arts. But enough on this subject.

1Since I have already described the islands of the Peloponnesus in detail, not only the others, but also those in the Corinthian Gulf and those in front of it, I must next discuss Crete (for it, too, belongs to the Peloponnesus) and any islands that are in the neighborhood of Crete. Among these are the Cyclades and the Sporades, some worthy of mention, others of less significance.

2But at present let me first discuss Crete.†Now although Eudoxus says that it is situated in the Aegaean Sea, one should not so state, but rather that it lies between Cyrenaea and that part of Greece which extends from Sunium to Laconia, stretching lengthwise parallel with these countries from west to east, and that it is washed on the north by the Aegaean and the Cretan Seas, and on the south by the Libyan Sea, which borders on the Aegyptian. As for its two extremities, the western is in the neighborhood of Phalasarna; it has a breadth of about two hundred stadia and is divided into two promontories (of these the southern is called Criumetopon,†the northern Cimarus), whereas the eastern is Samonium, which falls toward the east not much farther than Sunium.

3As for its size, Sosicrates, whose account of the island, according to Apollodorus, is exact, defines it as follows: In length, more than two thousand three hundred stadia, and in breadth,...,†so that its circuit, according to him, would amount to more than five thousand stadia; but Artemidorus says it is four thousand one hundred. Hieronymus†says that its length is two thousand stadia and its breadth irregular, and therefore might mean that the circuit is greater than Artemidorus says. For about a third of its length...;†and then comes an isthmus of about one hundred stadia, which, on the northern sea, has a settlement called Amphimalla, and, on the southern, Phoenix, belonging to the Lampians. The island is broadest near the middle. And from here the shores again converge to an isthmus narrower than the former, about sixty stadia in width, which extends from Minoa, city of the Lyctians, to Hierapytna and the Libyan Sea; the city is situated on the gulf. Then the island projects into a sharp promontory, Samonium, which slopes in the direction of Aegypt and the islands of the Rhodians.

4The island is mountainous and thickly wooded, but it has fruitful glens. Of the mountains, those towards the west are called Leuca; they do not fall short of Taÿgetus in height, extend in length about three hundred stadia, and form a ridge which terminates approximately at the narrows. In the middle, in the most spacious part of the island, is Mount Ida, loftiest of the mountains of Crete and circular in shape, with a circuit of six hundred stadia; and around it are the best cities. There are other mountains in Crete that are about as high as the Leuca, some terminating towards the south and others towards the east.

5The voyage from Cyrenaea to Criumetopon takes two days and nights, and the distance from Cimarus to Taenarum is seven hundred stadia,†Cythera lying between them; and the voyage from Samonium to Aegypt takes four days and nights, though some say three. Some state that this is a voyage of five thousand stadia, but others still less. Eratosthenes says that the distance from Cyrenaea to Criumetopon is two thousand, and from there to the Peloponnesus less...†

6But one tongue with others is mixed,the poet says;there dwell Achaeans, there Eteo-Cretans†proud of heart, there Cydonians and Dorians, too, of waving plumes, and goodly Pelasgians.†Of these peoples, according to Staphylus,†the Dorians occupy the part towards the east, the Cydonians the western part, the Eteo-Cretans the southern; and to these last belongs the town Prasus, where is the temple of the Dictaean Zeus; whereas the other peoples, since they were more powerful, dwelt in the plains. Now it is reasonable to suppose that the Eteo-Cretans and the Cydonians were autochthonous, and that the others were foreigners, who, according to Andron,†came from Thessaly, from the country which in earlier times was called Doris, but is now called Hestiaeotis; it was from this country that the Dorians who lived in the neighborhood of Parnassus set out, as he says, and founded Erineüs, Boeüm, and Cytinium, and hence by Homer†are called “trichaïces.”†However, writers do not accept the account of Andron at all, since he represents the Tetrapolis Doris as being a Tripolis,†and the metropolis of the Dorians as a mere colony of Thessalians; and they derive the meaning of “trichaïces” either from the “trilophia,”†or from the fact that the crests were “trichini.”

7There are several cities in Crete, but the greatest and most famous are three: Cnossus, Gortyna and Cydonia. The praises of Cnossus are hymned above the rest both by Homer, who calls it “great” and “the kingdom of Minos,”†and by the later poets. Furthermore, it continued for a long time to win the first honors; then it was humbled and deprived of many of its prerogatives, and its superior rank passed over to Gortyna and Lyctus; but later it again recovered its olden dignity as the metropolis. Cnossus is situated in a plain, its original circuit being thirty stadia, between the Lyctian and Gortynian territories, being two hundred stadia distant from Gortyna, and a hundred and twenty from Lyttus, which the poet named Lyctus.†Cnossus is twenty-five stadia from the northern sea, Gortyna is ninety from the Libyan Sea, and Lyctus itself is eighty from the Libyan. And Cnossus has Heracleium as its seaport.

8But Minos is said to have used as seaport Amnisus, where is the temple of Eileithuia.†In earlier times Cnossus was called Caeratus, bearing the same name as the river which flows past it. According to history, Minos was an excellent law-giver, and also the first to gain the mastery of the sea;†and he divided the island into three parts and founded a city in each part, Cnossus in the...†And it, too,†lies to the north. As Ephorus states, Minos was an emulator of a certain Rhadamanthys of early times, a man most just and bearing the same name as Minos’s brother, who is reputed to have been the first to civilize the island by establishing laws and by uniting cities under one city as metropolis and by setting up constitutions, alleging that he brought from Zeus the several decrees which he promulgated. So, in imitation of Rhadamanthys, Minos would go up every nine years,†as it appears, to the cave of Zeus, tarry there, and come back with commandments drawn up in writing, which he alleged were ordinances of Zeus; and it was for this reason that the poet says,there Minos reigned as king, who held converse with great Zeus every ninth year.†Such is the statement of Ephorus; but again the early writers have given a different account of Minos, which is contrary to that of Ephorus, saying that he was tyrannical, harsh, and an exactor of tribute, representing in tragedy the story of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth, and the adventures of Theseus and Daedalus.

9Now, as for these two accounts, it is hard to say which is true; and there is another subject that is not agreed upon by all, some saying that Minos was a foreigner, but others that he was a native of the island. The poet, however, seems rather to advocate the second view when he says,Zeus first begot Minos, guardian o’er Crete.In regard to Crete, writers agree that in ancient times it had good laws, and rendered the best of the Greeks its emulators, and in particular the Lacedaemonians, as is shown, for instance, by Plato†and also by Ephorus, who in his Europe†has described its constitution. But later it changed very much for the worse; for after the Tyrrhenians, who more than any other people ravaged Our Sea,†the Cretans succeeded to the business of piracy; their piracy was later destroyed by the Cilicians; but all piracy was broken up by the Romans, who reduced Crete by war and also the piratical strongholds of the Cilicians. And at the present time Cnossus has even a colony of Romans.

10So much for Cnossus, a city to which I myself am not alien, although, on account of man’s fortune and of the changes and issues therein, the bonds which at first connected me with the city have disappeared: Dorylaüs was a military expert and one of the friends of Mithridates Euergetes. He, because of his experience in military affairs, was appointed to enlist mercenaries, and often visited not only Greece and Thrace, but also the mercenaries of Crete, that is, before the Romans were yet in possession of the island and while the number of mercenary soldiers in the island, from whom the piratical bands were also wont to be recruited, was large. Now when Dorylaüs was sojourning there war happened to break out between the Cnossians and the Gortynians, and he was appointed general, finished the war successfully, and speedily won the greatest honors. But when, a little later, he learned that Euergetes, as the result of a plot, had been treacherously slain in Sinope by his closest associates, and heard that the succession had passed to his wife and young children, he despaired of the situation there and stayed on at Cnossus. There, by a Macetan woman, Sterope by name, he begot two sons, Lagetas and Stratarchas (the latter of whom l myself saw when he was an extremely old man), and also one daughter. Now Euergetes had two sons, one of whom, Mithridates, surnamed Eupator, succeeded to the rule when he was eleven years old. Dorylaüs, the son of Philetaerus, was his foster brother; and Philotaerus was a brother of Dorylaüs the military expert. And when the king Mithridates reached manhood, he was so infatuated with the companionship of his foster brother Dorylaüs that he not only conferred upon him the greatest honors, but also cared for his kinsmen and summoned those who lived at Cnossus. These were the household of Lagetas and his brother, their father having already died, and they themselves having reached manhood; and they quit Cnossus and went home. My mother’s mother was the sister of Lagetas. Now when Lagetas prospered, these others shared in his prosperity, but when he was ruined (for he was caught in the act of trying to cause the kingdom to revolt to the Romans, on the understanding that he was to be established at the head of the government), their fortunes were also ruined at the same time, and they were reduced to humility; and the bonds which connected them with the Cnossians, who themselves had undergone countless changes, fell into neglect. But enough for my account of Cnossus.

11After Cnossus, the city of the Gortynians seems to have ranked second in power; for when these two cooperated they held in subjection all the rest of the inhabitants, and when they had a quarrel there was dissension throughout the island. But Cydonia was the greatest addition to whichever side it attached itself. The city of the Gortynians also lies in a plain; and in ancient times, perhaps, it was walled, as Homer states,and well-walled Gortyn,but later it lost its walls from their very foundations, and has remained unwalled ever since; for although Ptolemy Philopator began to build a wall, he proceeded with it only about eighty†stadia; at any rate, it is worth mentioning that the settlement once filled out a circuit of about fifty stadia. It is ninety stadia distant from the Libyan Sea at Leben, which is its trading center; it also has another seaport, Matalum, from which it is a hundred and thirty stadia distant. The Lethaeus River flows through the whole of its territory.

12From Leben came Leucocomas and his lover Euxynthetus, the story of whom is told by Theophrastus in his treatise On Love. Of the tasks which Leucocomas assigned to Euxynthetus, one, he says, was this—to bring back his dog from Prasus. The country of the Prasians borders on that of the Lebenians, being seventy stadia distant from the sea and a hundred and eighty from Gortyn. As I have said, Prasus belonged to the Eteo-Cretans; and the temple of the Dictaean Zeus was there; for Dicte is near it, not “close to the Idaean Mountain,” as Aratus says,†for Dicte is a thousand stadia distant from Ida, being situated at that distance from it towards the rising sun, and a hundred from Samonium. Prasus was situated between Samonium and the Cherronesus, sixty stadia above the sea; it was razed to the ground by the Hierapytnians. And neither is Callimachus right, they say, when he says that Britomartis, in her flight from the violence of Minos, leaped from Dicte into fishermen’s “nets,” and that because of this she herself was called Dictynna by the Cydoniatae, and the mountain Dicte; for Cydonia is not in the neighborhood of these places at all, but lies near the western limits of the island. However, there is a mountain called Tityrus in Cydonia, on which is a temple, not the “Dictaean” temple, but the “Dictynnaean.”

13Cydonia is situated on the sea, facing Laconia, and is equidistant, about eight hundred stadia, from the two cities Cnossus and Gortyn, and is eighty stadia distant from Aptera, and forty from the sea in that region.†The seaport of Aptera is Cisamus. The territory.of the Polyrrhenians borders on that of the Cydoniatae towards the west, and the temple of Dictynna is in their territory. They are about thirty stadia distant from the sea, and sixty from Phalasarna. They lived in villages in earlier times; and then Achaeans and Laconians made a common settlement, building a wall round a place that was naturally strong and faced towards the south.

14Of the three cities that were united under one metropolis by Minos, the third, which was Phaestus, was razed to the ground by the Gortynians; it is sixty stadia distant from Gortyn, twenty from the sea, and forty from the seaport Matalum; and the country is held by those who razed it. Rhytium, also, together with Phaestus, belongs to the Gortynians: and Phaestus and Rhytium. Epimenides,†who performed the purifications by means of his verses, is said to have been from Phaestus. And Lissen also is in the Phaestian territory. Of Lyctus, which I have mentioned before, the seaport is Cherronesus, as it is called, where is the temple of Britomartis. But the Cities Miletus and Lycastus, which are catalogued along with Lyctus, no longer exist; and as for their territory, the Lyctians took one portion of it and the Cnossians the other, after they had razed the city to the ground.

15Since the poet speaks of Crete at one time as “possessing a hundred cities,” and also at another as “possessing ninety cities,”†Ephorus says that the ten were founded later than the others, after the Trojan War, by the Dorians who accompanied Althaemenes the Argive; he adds that it was Odysseus, however, who called it “Crete of the ninety cities.” Now this statement is plausible, but others say that the ten cities were razed to the ground by the enemies of Idomeneus.†However, in the first place, the poet does not say that Crete had one hundred cities at the time of the Trojan War, but rather in his own time (for he is speaking in his own person, although, if the statement was made by some person who was living at the time of the Trojan War, as is the case in the Odyssey, when Odysseus says “of the ninety cities,” then it would be well to interpret it accordingly). In the second place, if we should concede this,†the next statement†could not he maintained; for it is not likely that these cities were wiped out by the enemies of Idomeneus either during the expedition or after his return from Troy; for when the poet said,and all his companions Idomeneus brought to Crete, all who escaped from the war, and the sea robbed him of none,†he would also have mentioned this disaster; for of course Odysseus could not have known of the obliteration of the cities, since he came in contact with no Greeks either during his wanderings or later. And he who accompanied Idomeneus on the expedition to Troy and returned safely home at the same time could not have known what occurred in the homeland of Idomeneus either during the expedition or the return from Troy, nor yet even after the return; for if ldomeneus escaped with all his companions, he returned home strong, and therefore his enemies were not likely to be strong enough to take ten cities away from him. Such, then, is my description of the country of the Cretans.

16As for their constitution, which is described by Ephorus, it might suffice to tell in a cursory way its most important provisions. The lawgiver, he says, seems to take it for granted that liberty is a state’s greatest good, for this alone makes property belong specifically to those who have acquired it, whereas in a condition of slavery everything belongs to the rulers and not to the ruled; but those who have liberty must guard it; now harmony ensues when dissension, which is the result of greed and luxury, is removed; for when all citizens live a self-restrained and simple life there arises neither envy nor arrogance nor hatred towards those who are like them; and this is why the lawgiver commanded the boys to attend the “Troops,”†as they are called, and the full grown men to eat together at the public messes which they call the “Andreia,” so that the poorer, being fed at public expense, might be on an equality with the well-to-do; and in order that courage, and not cowardice, might prevail, he commanded that from boyhood they should grow up accustomed to arms and toils, so as to scorn heat, cold, marches over rugged and steep roads, and blows received in gymnasiums or regular battles; and that they should practise, not only archery, but also the war-dance, which was invented and made known by the Curetes at first, and later, also, by the man†who arranged the dance that was named after him, I mean the Pyrrhic dance, so that not even their sports were without a share in activities that were useful for warfare; and likewise that they should use in their songs the Cretic rhythms, which were very high pitched, and were invented by Thales, to whom they ascribe, not only their Paeans and other local songs, but also many of their institutions; and that they should use military dress and shoes; and that arms should be to them the most valuable of gifts.

17It is said by some writers, Ephorus continues, that most of the Cretan institutions are Laconian, but the truth is that they were invented by the Cretans and only perfected by the Spartans; and the Cretans, when their cities, and particularly that of the Cnossians, were devastated, neglected military affairs; but some of the institutions continued in use among the Lyctians, Gortynians, and certain other small cities to a greater extent than among the Cnossians; in fact, the institutions of the Lyctians are cited as evidence by those who represent the Laconian as older; for, they argue, being colonists, they preserve the customs of the mother city, since even on general grounds it is absurd to represent those who are better organized and governed as emulators of their inferiors; but this is not correct, Ephorus says, for, in the first place, one should not draw evidence as to antiquity from the present state of things, for both peoples have undergone a complete reversal; for instance, the Cretans in earlier times were masters of the sea, and hence the proverb, “The Cretan does not know the sea,” is applied to those who pretend not to know what they do know, although now the Cretans have lost their fleet; and, in the second place, it does not follow that, because some of the cities in Crete were Spartan colonies, they were under compulsion to keep to the Spartan institutions; at any rate, many colonial cities do not observe their ancestral customs, and many, also, of those in Crete that are not colonial have the same customs as the colonists.

18Lycurgus the Spartan law-giver, Ephorus continues, was five generations later than the Althaemenes who conducted the colony to Crete;†for historians say that Althaemenes was son of the Cissus who founded Argos about the same time when Procles was establishing Sparta as metropolis;†and Lycurgus, as is agreed by all, was sixth in descent from Procles; and copies are not earlier than their models, nor more recent things earlier than older things; not only the dancing which is customary among the Lacedaemonians, but also the rhythms and paeans that are sung according to law, and many other Spartan institutions, are called “Cretan” among the Lacedaemonians, as though they originated in Crete; and some of the public offices are not only administered in the same way as in Crete, but also have the same names, as, for instance, the office of the “Gerontes,”†and that of the “Hippeis”†(except that the “Hippeis” in Crete actually possessed horses, and from this fact it is inferred that the office of the “Hippeis” in Crete is older, for they preserve the true meaning of the appellation, whereas the Lacedaemonian “Hippeis” do not keep horses); but though the Ephors have the same functions as the Cretan Cosmi, they have been named differently; and the public messes are, even today, still called “Andreia” among the Cretans, but among the Spartans they ceased to be called by the same name as in earlier times;†at any rate, the following is found in Alcman: In feasts and festive gatherings, amongst the guests who partake of the Andreia,’tis meet to begin the paean†

19It is said by the Cretans, Ephorus continues, that Lycurgus came to them for the following reason: Polydectes was the elder brother of Lycurgus; when he died he left his wife pregnant; now for a time Lycurgus reigned in his brother’s place, but when a child was born he became the child’s guardian, since the office of king descended to the child, but some man, railing at Lycurgus, said that he knew for sure that Lycurgus would be king; and Lycurgus, suspecting that in consequence of such talk he himself might be falsely accused of plotting against the child, and fearing that, if by any chance the child should die, he himself might be blamed for it by his enemies, sailed away to Crete; this, then, is said to be the cause of his sojourn in Crete; and when he arrived he associated with Thales, a melic poet and an expert in lawgiving; and after learning from him the manner in which both Rhadamanthys in earlier times and Minos in later times published their laws to men as from Zeus, and after sojourning in Egypt also and learning among other things their institutions, and, according to some writers, after meeting Homer, who was living in Chios, he sailed back to his homeland, and found his brother’s son, Charilaüs the son of Polydectes, reigning as king; and then he set out to frame the laws, making visits to the god at Delphi, and bringing thence the god’s decrees, just as Minos and his house had brought their ordinances from the cave of Zeus, most of his being similar to theirs.

20The following are the most important provisions in the Cretan institutions as stated by Ephorus. In Crete all those who are selected out of the “Troop” of boys at the same time are forced to marry at the same time, although they do not take the girls whom they have married to their own homes immediately, but as soon as the girls are qualified to manage the affairs of the house. A girl’s dower, if she has brothers, is half of the brother’s portion. The children must learn, not only their letters, but also the songs prescribed in the laws and certain forms of music. Now those who are still younger are taken to the public messes, the “Andreia”; and they sit together on the ground as they eat their food, clad in shabby garments, the same both winter and summer, and they also wait on the men as well as on themselves. And those who eat together at the same mess join battle both with one another and with those from different messes. A boy director presides over each mess. But the older boys are taken to the “Troops”; and the most conspicuous and influential of the boys assemble the “Troops,” each collecting as many boys as he possibly can; the leader of each “Troop” is generally the father of the assembler, and he has authority to lead them forth to hunt and to run races, and to punish anyone who is disobedient; and they are fed at public expense; and on certain appointed days “Troop” contends with “Troop,” marching rhythmically into battle, to the tune of flute and lyre, as is their custom in actual war; and they actually bear marks of†the blows received, some inflicted by the hand, others by iron†weapons.

21They have a peculiar custom in regard to love affairs, for they win the objects of their love, not by persuasion, but by abduction; the lover tells the friends of the boy three or four days beforehand that he is going to make the abduction; but for the friends to conceal the boy, or not to let him go forth by the appointed road, is indeed a most disgraceful thing, a confession, as it were, that the boy is unworthy to obtain such a lover; and when they meet, if the abductor is the boy’s equal or superior in rank or other respects, the friends pursue him and lay hold of him, though only in a very gentle way, thus satisfying the custom; and after that they cheerfully turn the boy over to him to lead away; if, however, the abductor is unworthy, they take the boy away from him. And the pursuit does not end until the boy is taken to the “Andreium” of his abductor. They regard as a worthy object of love, not the boy who is exceptionally handsome, but the boy who is exceptionally manly and decorous. After giving the boy presents, the abductor takes him away to any place in the country he wishes; and those who were present at the abduction follow after them, and after feasting and hunting with them for two months (for it is not permitted to detain the boy for a longer time), they return to the city. The boy is released after receiving as presents a military habit, an ox, and a drinking-cup (these are the gifts required by law), and other things so numerous and costly that the friends, on account of the number of the expenses, make contributions thereto. Now the boy sacrifices the ox to Zeus and feasts those who returned with him; and then he makes known the facts about his intimacy with his lover, whether, perchance, it has pleased him or not, the law allowing him this privilege in order that, if any force was applied to him at the time of the abduction, he might be able at this feast to avenge himself and be rid of the lover. It is disgraceful for those who are handsome in appearance or descendants of illustrious ancestors to fail to obtain lovers, the presumption being that their character is responsible for such a fate. But the parastathentes†(for thus they call those who have been abducted) receive honors; for in both the dances and the races they have the positions of highest honor, and are allowed to dress in better clothes than the rest, that is, in the habit given them by their lovers; and not then only, but even after they have grown to manhood, they wear a distinctive dress, which is intended to make known the fact that each wearer has become “kleinos,” for they call the loved one “kleinos” and the lover “philetor.”†So much for their customs in regard to love affairs.

22The Cretans choose ten Archons. Concerning the matters of greatest importance they use as counsellors the “Gerontes,” as they are called. Those who have been thought worthy to hold the office of the “Cosmi” and are otherwise adjudged men of approved worth are appointed members of this Council. I have assumed that the constitution of the Cretans is worthy of description both on account of its peculiar character and on account of its fame. Not many, however, of these institutions endure, but the administration of affairs is carried on mostly by means of the decrees of the Romans, as is also the case in the other provinces.

1The islands near Crete are Thera, the metropolis of the Cyrenaeans, a colony of the Lacedaemonians, and, near Thera, Anaphe, where is the temple of the Aegletan Apollo. Callimachus speaks in one place as follows,Aegletan Anaphe, neighbor to Laconian Thera,†and in another, mentioning only Thera,mother of my fatherland, famed for its horses.†Thera is a long island, being two hundred stadia in perimeter; it lies opposite Dia,†an island near the Cnossian Heracleium,†but it is seven hundred stadia distant from Crete. Near it are both Anaphe and Therasia. One hundred stadia distant from the latter is the little island Ios, where, according to some writers, the poet Homer was buried. From Ios towards the west one comes to Sicinos and Lagusa and Pholegandros, which last Aratus calls “Iron” Island, because of its ruggedness. Near these is Cimolos, whence comes the Cimolian earth.†From Cimolos Siphnos is visible, in reference to which island, because of its worthlessness, people say “Siphnian knuckle-bone.”†And still nearer both to Cimolos and to Crete is Melos, which is more notable than these and is seven hundred stadia from the Hermionic promontory, the Scyllaeum, and almost the same distance from the Dictynnaeum. The Athenians once sent an expedition to Melos and slaughtered most of the inhabitants from youth upwards.†Now these islands are indeed in the Cretan Sea, but Delos itself and the Cyclades in its neighborhood and the Sporades which lie close to these, to which belong the aforesaid islands in the neighborhood of Crete, are rather in the Aegaean Sea.

2Now the city which belongs to Delos, as also the temple of Apollo, and the Letöum, are situated in a plain; and above the city lies Cynthus, a bare and rugged mountain; and a river named Inopus flows through the island—not a large river, for the island itself is small. From olden times, beginning with the times of the heroes, Delos has been revered because of its gods, for the myth is told that there Leto was delivered of her travail by the birth of Apollo and Artemis: for aforetime,says Pindar,it was tossed by the billows, by the blasts of all manner of winds,†but when the daughter of Coeüs in the frenzied pangs of childbirth set foot upon it, then did four pillars, resting on adamant, rise perpendicular from the roots of the earth, and on their capitals sustain the rock. And there she gave birth to, and beheld, her blessed offspring.†The neighboring islands, called the Cyclades, made it famous, since in its honor they would send at public expense sacred envoys, sacrifices, and choruses composed of virgins, and would celebrate great general festivals there.†

3Now at first the Cyclades are said to have been only twelve in number, but later several others were added. At any rate, Artemidorus enumerates fifteen, after saying of Helena that it stretches parallel to the coast from Thoricus to Sunium and is a long island, about sixty stadia in length; for it is from Helena, he says, that the Cyclades, as they are called, begin; and he names Ceos, the island nearest to Helena, and, after this island, Cythnos and Seriphos and Melos and Siphnos and Cimolos and Prepesinthos and Oliaros, and, in addition to these, Paros, Naxos, Syros, Myconos, Tenos, Andros, and Gyaros. Now I consider all of these among the twelve except Prepesinthos, Oliaros, and Gyaros. When our ship anchored at one of these, Gyaros, I saw a small village that was settled by fishermen; and when we sailed away we took on board one of the fishermen, who had been chosen to go from there to Caesar as ambassador (Caesar was at Corinth, on his way†to celebrate the Triumph alter the victory at Actium). While on the voyage he told enquirers that he had been sent as ambassador to request a reduction in their tribute; for, he said, they were paying one hundred and fifty drachmas when they could only with difficulty pay one hundred. Aratus also points out the poverty of the island in his CataleptonO Leto, shortly thou wilt pass by me, who am like either iron Pholegandros or worthless Gyaros.†

4Now although Delos had become so famous, yet the razing of Corinth to the ground by the Romans increased its fame still more; for the importers changed their business to Delos because they were attracted both by the immunity which the temple enjoyed and by the convenient situation of the harbor; for it is happily situated for those who are sailing from Italy and Greece to Asia. The general festival is a kind of commercial affair, and it was frequented by Romans more than by any other people, even when Corinth was still in existence.†And when the Athenians took the island they at the same time took good care of the importers as well as of the religious rites. But when the generals of Mithridates, and the tyrant†who caused it to revolt, visited Delos, they completely ruined it, and when the Romans again got the island, alter the king withdrew to his homeland, it was desolate; and it has remained in an impoverished condition until the present time. It is now held by the Athenians.

5Rheneia is a desert isle within four stadia from Delos, and there the Delians bury their dead;†for it is unlawful to bury, or even burn, a corpse in Delos itself, and it is unlawful even to keep a dog there. In earlier times it was called Ortygia.

6Ceos was at first a Tetrapolis, but only two cities are left, Iulis and Carthaea, into which the remaining two were incorporated, Poeëessa into Carthaea and Coressia into Iulis. Both Simonides the melic poet and his nephew Bacchylides were natives of Iulis, and also after their time Erasistratus the physician, and Ariston the peripatetic philosopher and emulator of Bion the Borysthenite. It is reputed that there was once a law among these people (it is mentioned by Menander,Phanias, the law of the Ceians is good, that he who is unable to live well should not live wretchedly), which appears to have ordered those who were over sixty years of age to drink hemlock, in order that the food might be sufficient for the rest. And it is said that once, when they were being besieged by the Athenians, they voted, setting a definite age, that the oldest among them should be put to death, but the Athenians raised the siege. The city lies on a mountain, about twenty-five stadia distant from the sea; and its seaport is the place on which Coressia was situated, which has not as great a population as even a village. Near Coressia, and also near Poeëessa, is a temple of Sminthian Apollo; and between the temple and the ruins of Poeëessa is the temple of Nedusian Athena, founded by Nestor when he was on his return from Troy. There is also a River Elixus in the neighborhood of Coressia.

7After Ceos one comes to Naxos and Andros, notable islands, and to Paros. Archilochus the poet was a native of Paros. Thasos was founded by the Parians, as also Parium, a city on the Propontis. Now the altar in this city is said to be a spectacle worth seeing, its sides being a stadium in length; and so is the Parian stone, as it is called, in Paros, the best for sculpture in marble.

8And there is Syros (the first syllable is pronounced long), where Pherecydes†the son of Babys was born. The Athenian Pherecydes is later than he.†The poet seems to mention this island, though he calls it Syria: There is an island called Syria, above Ortygia.

9And there is Myconos, beneath which, according to the myth, lie the last of the giants that were destroyed by Heracles. Whence the proverb, “all beneath Myconos alone,” applied to those who bring under one title even those things which are by nature separate. And further, some call bald men Myconians, from the fact that baldness is prevalent in the island.

10And there is Seriphos, the scene of the mythical story of Dictys, who with his net drew to land the chest in which were enclosed Perseus and his mother Danae, who had been sunk in the sea by Acrisius the father of Danae; for Perseus was reared there, it is said, and when he brought the Gorgon’s head there, he showed it to the Seriphians and turned them all into stone. This he did to avenge his mother, because Polydectes the king, with their cooperation, intended to marry his mother against her will. The island is so rocky that the comedians say that it was made thus by the Gorgon.

11Tenos has no large city, but it has the temple of Poseidon, a great temple in a sacred precinct outside the city, a spectacle worth seeing. In it have been built great banquet halls—an indication of the multitude of neighbors who congregate there and take part with the inhabitants of Tenos in celebrating the Poseidonian festival.

12And there is Amorgos, one of the Sporades, the home of Simonides the iambic poet; and also Lebinthos, and Leros: And so says Phocylides: ‘the Lerians are bad, not one, but every one, all except Procles; and Procles is a Lerian.’†For the natives of the island were reproached with being unprincipled.

13Nearby are both Patmos and the Corassiae; these are situated to the west of Icaria, and Icaria to the west of Samos. Now Icaria is deserted, though it has pastures, which are used by the Samians. But although it is such an isle as it is, still it is famous, and after it is named the sea that lies in front of it, in which are itself and Samos and Cos and the islands just mentioned—the Corassiae and Patmos and Leros. Famous, also, is the mountain in it, Cerceteus, more famous than the Ampelus, which is situated above the city of Samians.†The Icarian Sea connects with the Carpathian Sea on the south, and the Carpathian with the Aegyptian, and on the west with the Cretan and the Libyan.

14In the Carpathian Sea, also, are many of the Sporades, and in particular between Cos and Rhodes and Crete. Among these are Astypalaea, Telos, Chalcia, and those which Homer names in the Catalogue: And those who held the islands Nisyros and Crapathos and Casos and Cos, the city of Eurypylus, and the Calydnian Islands;†for, excepting Cos and Rhodes, which I shall discuss later,†I place them all among the Sporades, and in fact, even though they are near Asia and not Europe, I make mention of them here because my argument has somehow impelled me to include the Sporades with Crete and the Cyclades. But in my geographical description of Asia I shall add a description of such islands that lie close to it as are worthy of note, Cyprus, Rhodes, Cos, and those that lie on the seaboard next thereafter, Samos, Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos. But now I shall traverse the remainder of the Sporades that are worth mentioning.

15Now Astypalaea lies far out in the high sea and has a city. Telos extends alongside Cnidia, is long, high, narrow, has a perimeter of about one hundred and forty stadia, and has an anchoring-place. Chalcia is eighty stadia distant from Telos, four hundred from Carpathos, about twice as far from Astypalaea, and has also a settlement of the same name and a temple of Apollo and a harbor.

16Nisyros lies to the north of Telos, and is about sixty stadia distant both from it and from Cos. It is round and high and rocky, the rock being that of which millstones are made; at any rate, the neighboring peoples are well supplied with millstones from there. It has also a city of the same name and a harbor and hot springs and a temple of Poseidon. Its perimeter is eighty stadia. Close to it are also isles called Isles of the Nisyrians. They say that Nisyros is a fragment of Cos, and they add the myth that Poseidon, when he was pursuing one of the giants, Polybotes, broke off a fragment of Cos with his trident and hurled it upon him, and the missile became an island, Nisyros, with the giant lying beneath it. But some say that he lies beneath Cos.

17Carpathos, which the poet calls Crapathos, is high, and has a circuit of two hundred stadia. At first it was a Tetrapolis, and it had a renown which is worth noting; and it was from this fact that the sea got the name Carpathian. One of the cities was called Nisyros, the same name as that of the island of the Nisyrians. It lies opposite Leuce Acte in Libya, which is about one thousand stadia distant from Alexandreia and about four thousand from Carpathos.

18Casos is seventy stadia from Carpathos, and two hundred and fifty from Cape Samonium in Crete. It has a circuit of eighty stadia. In it there is also a city of the same name, and round it are several islands called Islands of the Casians.

19They say that the poet calls the Sporades “Calydnian Islands,” one of which, they say, is Calymna. But it is reasonable to suppose that, as the islands which are near, and subject to, Nisyros and Casos are called “Islands of the Nisyrians” and “Islands of the Casians,” so also those which lie round Calymna were called “Islands of the Calymnians”—Calymna at that time, perhaps, being called Calydna. But some say that there are only two Calydnian islands, Leros and Calymna, the two mentioned by the poet. The Scepsian†says that the name of the island was used in the plural, “Calymnae,” like “Athenae” and “Thebae”; but, he adds, the words of the poet should be interpreted as a case of hyperbaton, for he does not say, “Calydnian Islands,” but those who held the islands Nisyros and Crapathos and Casos and Cos, the city of Eurypylus, and Calydnae. Now all the honey produced in the islands is, for the most part, good, and rivals that of Attica, but the honey produced in the islands in question is exceptionally good, and in particular the Calymnian.

1Asia is adjacent to Europe, bordering thereon along the Tanaïs River. I must therefore describe this country next, first dividing it, for the sake of clearness, by means of certain natural boundaries. That is, I must do for Asia precisely what Eratosthenes did for the inhabited world as a whole.

2The Taurus forms a partition approximately through the middle of this continent, extending from the west towards the east, leaving one portion of it on the north and the other on the south. Of these portions, the Greeks call the one the “Cis-Tauran” Asia and the other “Trans-Tauran.” I have said this before,†but let me repeat it by way of reminder.

3Now the mountain has in many places as great a breadth as three thousand stadia, and a length as great as that of Asia itself, that is, about forty-five thousand stadia, reckoning from the coast opposite Rhodes to the eastern extremities of India and Scythia.

4It has been divided into many parts with many names, determined by boundaries that circumscribe areas both large and small. But since certain tribes are comprised within the vast width of the mountain, some rather insignificant, but others extremely well known (as, for instance, the Parthians, the Medes, the Armenians, a part of the Cappadocians, the Cilicians, and the Pisidians), those which lie for the most part in its northerly parts must be assigned there,†and those in its southern parts to the southern,†while those which are situated in the middle of the mountains should, because of the likeness of their climate, be assigned to the north, for the climate in the middle is cold, whereas that in the south is hot. Further, almost all the rivers that rise in the Taurus flow in contrary directions, that is, some into the northern region and others into the southern (they do so at first, at least, although later some of them bend towards the east or west), and they therefore are naturally helpful in our use of these mountains as boundaries in the two-fold division of Asia—just as the sea inside the Pillars,†which for the most part is approximately in a straight line with these mountains, has proved convenient in the forming of two continents, Europe and Libya, it being the noteworthy boundary between the two.

5As we pass from Europe to Asia in our geography, the northern division is the first of the two divisions to which we come; and therefore we must begin with this. Of this division the first portion is that in the region of the Tanaïs River, which I have taken as the boundary between Europe and Asia. This portion forms, in a way, a peninsula, for it is surrounded on the west by the Tanaïs River and Lake Maeotis as far as the Bosporus†and that part of the coast of the Euxine Sea which terminates at Colchis; and then on the north by the Ocean as far as the mouth of the Caspian Sea;†and then on the east by this same sea as far as the boundary between Albania and Armenia, where empty the rivers Cyrus and Araxes, the Araxes flowing through Armenia and the Cyrus through Iberia and Albania; and lastly, on the south by the tract of country which extends from the outlet of the Cyrus River to Colchis, which is about three thousand stadia from sea to sea, across the territory of the Albanians and the Iberians, and therefore is described as an isthmus. But those writers who have reduced the width of the isthmus as much as Cleitarchus†has, who says that it is subject to inundation from either sea, should not be considered even worthy of mention. Poseidonius states that the isthmus is fifteen hundred stadia across, as wide as the isthmus from Pelusium to the Red Sea. “And in my opinion,” he says, “the isthmus from Lake Maeotis to the Ocean does not differ much therefrom.”

6But I do not know how anyone can trust him concerning things that are uncertain if he has nothing plausible to say about them, when he reasons so illogically about things that are obvious; and this too, although he was a friend of Pompey, who made an expedition against the Iberians and the Albanians, from sea to sea on either side, both the Caspian and the Colchian Seas. At any rate, it is said that Pompey, upon arriving at Rhodes on his expedition against the pirates (immediately thereafter he was to set out against both Mithridates and the tribes which extended as far as the Caspian Sea), happened to attend one of the lectures of Poseidonius, and that when he went out he asked Poseidonius whether he had any orders to give, and that Poseidonius replied: Ever bravest be, and preeminent o’er others.Add to this that among other works he wrote also the history of Pompey. So for this reason he should have been more regardful of the truth.

7The second portion would be that beyond the Hyrcanian Sea, which we call the Caspian Sea, as far as the Scythians near India. The third portion would consist of the part which is adjacent to the isthmus above mentioned and of those parts of the region inside Taurus and nearest Europe which come next after this isthmus and the Caspian Gates, I mean Media and Armenia and Cappadocia and the intervening regions. The fourth portion is the land inside†the Halys River, and all the region in the Taurus itself and outside thereof which falls within the limits of the peninsula which is formed by the isthmus that separates the Pontic and the Cilician Seas. As for the other countries, I mean the Trans-Tauran, I place among them not only India, but also Ariana as far as the tribes that extend to the Persian Sea and the Arabian Gulf and the Nile and the Egyptian and Issic Seas.

1Of the portions thus divided, the first is inhabited, in the region toward the north and the ocean, by Scythian nomads and wagon-dwellers, and south of these, by Sarmatians, these too being Scythians, and by Aorsi and Siraci,†who extend towards the south as far as the Caucasian Mountains, some being nomads and others tent-dwellers and farmers. About Lake Maeotis live the Maeotae. And on the sea lies the Asiatic side of the Bosporus, or the Syndic territory. After this latter, one comes to the Achaei and the Zygi and the Heniochi, and also the Cercetae and the Macropogones. And above these are situated the narrow passes of the Phtheirophagi; and after the Heniochi the Colchian country, which lies at the foot of the Caucasian, or Moschian, Mountains. But since I have taken the Tanaïs River as the boundary between Europe and Asia, I shall begin my detailed description therewith.

2Now the Tanaïs flows from the northerly region—not, however, as most people think, in a course diametrically opposite to that of the Nile, but more to the east than the Nile—and like the Nile its sources are unknown. Yet a considerable part of the Nile is well known, since it traverses a country which is everywhere easily accessible and since it is navigable for a great distance inland. But as for the Tanaïs, although we know its outlets (they are two in number and are in the most northerly region of Lake Maeotis, being sixty stadia distant from one another), yet but little of the part that is beyond its outlets is known to us, because of the coldness and the poverty of the country. This poverty can indeed be endured by the indigenous peoples, who, in nomadic fashion, live on flesh and milk, but people from other tribes cannot stand it. And besides, the nomads, being disinclined to intercourse with any other people and being superior both in numbers and in might, have blocked off whatever parts of the country are passable, or whatever parts of the river happen to be navigable. This is what has caused some to assume that the Tanaïs has its sources in the Caucasian Mountains, flows in great volume towards the north, and then, making a bend, empties into Lake Maeotis (Theophanes of Mitylene†has the same opinion as these), and others to assume that it flows from the upper region of the Ister, although they produce no evidence of its flowing from so great a distance or from other “climata,” as though it were impossible for the river to flow both from a nearby source and from the north.

3On the river and the lake is an inhabited city bearing the same name, Tanaïs; it was founded by the Greeks who held the Bosporus. Recently, however, it was sacked by King Polemon†because it would not obey him. It was a common emporium, partly of the Asiatic and the European nomads, and partly of those who navigated the lake from the Bosporus, the former bringing slaves, hides, and such other things as nomads possess, and the latter giving in exchange clothing, wine, and the other things that belong to civilized life. At a distance of one hundred stadia off the emporium lies an island called Alopecia, a settlement of promiscuous people. There are also other small islands near by in the lake. The Tanaïs†is two thousand two hundred stadia distant from the mouth of Lake Maeotis by a direct voyage towards the north; but it is not much farther by a voyage along the coast.

4In the voyage along the coast, one comes first, at a distance of eight hundred stadia from Tanaïs, to the Greater Rhombites River, as it is called, where are made the greatest catches of the fish that are suitable for salting. Then, at a distance of eight hundred more, to the Lesser Rhombites and a cape, which latter also has fisheries, although they are smaller. The people who live about the Greater Rhombites have small islands as bases for their fishing; but the people who carry on the business at the Lesser Rhombites are the Maeotae themselves, for the Maeotae live along the whole of this coast; and though farmers, they are no less warlike than the nomads. They are divided into several tribes, those who live near the Tanaïs being rather ferocious, but those whose territory borders on the Bosporus being more tractable. It is six hundred stadia from the Lesser Rhombites to Tyrambe and the Anticeites River; then a hundred and twenty to the Cimmerian village, which is a place of departure for those who navigate the lake; and on this coast are said to be some look-out places†belonging to the Clazomenians.

5Cimmericum was in earlier times a city situated on a peninsula, and it closed the isthmus by means of a trench and a mound. The Cimmerians once possessed great power in the Bosporus, and this is why it was named Cimmerian Bosporus. These are the people who overran the country of those who lived in the interior on the right side of the Pontus as far as Ionia. However, these were driven out of the region by the Scythians; and then the Scythians were driven out by the Greeks who founded Panticapaeum and the other cities on the Bosporus.

6Then, twenty stadia distant, one comes to the village Achilleium, where is the temple of Achilles. Here is the narrowest passage across the mouth of Lake Maeotis, about twenty stadia or more; and on the opposite shore is a village, Myrmecium; and near by are Heracleium and Parthenium.

7Thence ninety stadia to the monument of Satyrus, which consists of a mound thrown up on a certain cape in memory of one of the illustrious potentates of the Bosporus.

8Near by is a village, Patraeus, from which the distance to a village Corocondame is one hundred and thirty stadia; and this village constitutes the limit of the Cimmerian Bosporus, as it is called. The Narrows at the mouth of the Maeotis are so called from the narrow passage at Achilleium and Myrmecium; they extend as far as Corocondame and the small village named Acra, which lies opposite to it in the land of the Panticapaeans, this village being separated from it by a strait seventy stadia wide; for the ice, also,†extends as far as this, the Maeotis being so frozen at the time of frosts that it can be crossed on foot. And these Narrows have good harbors everywhere.

9Above Corocondame lies a lake of considerable size, which derives its name, Corocondamitis, from that of the village. It empties into the sea at a distance of ten stadia from the village. A branch of the Anticeites empties into the lake and forms a kind of island which is surrounded by this lake and the Maeotis and the river. Some apply the name Hypanis to this river, just as they do to the river near the Borysthenes.

10Sailing into Lake Corocondamitis one comes to Phanagoreia, a noteworthy city, and to Cepi, and to Hermonassa, and to Apaturum, the sanctuary of Aphrodite. Of these, Phanagoreia and Cepi are situated on the island above-mentioned, on the left as one sails in, but the other cities are on the right, across the Hypanis, in the Syndic territory. There is also a place called Gorgipia in the Syndic territory, the royal residence of the Sindi, near the sea; and also a place called Aborace. All the people who are subject to the potentates of the Bosporus are called Bosporians; and Panticapaeum is the metropolis of the European Bosporians, while Phanagoreium (for the name of the city is also spelled thus) is the metropolis of the Asiatic Bosporians. Phanagoreia is reputed to be the emporium for the commodities that are brought down from the Maeotis and the barbarian country that lies above it, and Panticapaeum for those which are carried up thither from the sea. There is also in Phanagoreia a notable temple of Aphrodite Apaturus. Critics derive the etymology of the epithet of the goddess by adducing a certain myth, according to which the Giants attacked the goddess there; but she called upon Heracles for help and hid him in a cave, and then, admitting the Giants one by one, gave them over to Heracles to be murdered through “treachery”†

11Among the Maeotae are the Sindi themselves, Dandarii, Toreatae, Agri, and Arrechi, and also the Tarpetes, Obidiaceni, Sittaceni, Dosci, and several others. Among these belong also the Aspurgiani, who live between Phanagoreia and Gorgipia, within a stretch of five hundred stadia; these were attacked by King Polemon under a pretence of friendship, but they discovered his pretence, outgeneralled him, and taking him alive killed him. As for the Asiatic Maeotae in general, some of them were subjects of those who possessed the emporium on the Tanaïs, and the others of the Bosporians; but in those days different peoples at different times were wont to revolt. And often the rulers of the Bosporians held possession of the region as far as the Tanaïs, and particularly the latest rulers, Pharnaces, Asander, and Polemon. Pharnaces is said at one time actually to have conducted the Hypanis River over the country of the Dandarii through an old canal which he cleared out, and to have inundated the country.

12After the Sindic territory and Gorgipia, on the sea, one comes to the coast of the Achaei and the Zygi and the Heniochi, which for the most part is harborless and mountainous, being a part of the Caucasus. These peoples live by robberies at sea. Their boats are slender, narrow, and light, holding only about twenty-five people, though in rare cases they can hold thirty in all; the Greeks call them “camarae.”†They say that the Phthiotic Achaei in Jason’s crew settled in this Achaea, but the Laconians in Heniochia, the leaders of the latter being Rhecas†and Amphistratus, the “heniochi” of the Dioscuri,†and that in all probability the Heniochi were named after these. At any rate, by equipping fleets of “camarae” and sailing sometimes against merchant vessels and sometimes against a country or even a city, they hold the mastery of the sea. And they are sometimes assisted even by those who hold the Bosporus, the latter supplying them with mooring places, with market place, and with means of disposing of their booty. And since, when they return to their own land, they have no anchorage, they put the “camarae” on their shoulders and carry them to the forests where they live and where they till a poor soil. And they bring the “camarae” down to the shore again when the time for navigation comes. And they do the same thing in the countries of others, for they are well acquainted with wooded places; and in these they first hide their “camarae” and then themselves wander on foot night and day for the sake of kidnapping people. But they readily offer to release their captives for ransom, informing their relatives after they have put out to sea. Now in those places which are ruled by local chieftains the rulers go to the aid of those who are wronged, often attacking and bringing back the “camarae,” men and all. But the territory that is subject to the Romans affords but little aid, because of the negligence of the governors who are sent there.

13Such is the life of these people. They are governed by chieftains called “sceptuchi,”†but the “sceptuchi” themselves are subject to tyrants or kings. For instance, the Heniochi had four kings at the time when Mithridates Eupator,†in flight from the country of his ancestors to the Bosporus, passed through their country; and while he found this country passable, yet he despaired of going through that of the Zygi, both because of the ruggedness of it and because of the ferocity of the inhabitants; and only with difficulty could he go along the coast, most of the way marching on the edge of the sea, until he arrived at the country of the Achaei; and, welcomed by these, he completed his journey from Phasis, a journey not far short of four thousand stadia.

14Now the voyage from Corocondame is straight towards the east; and at a distance of one hundred and eighty stadia is the Sindic harbor and city; and then, at a distance of four hundred stadia, one comes to Bata, as it is called, a village and harbor, at which place Sinope on the south is thought to lie almost directly opposite this coast, just as Carambis has been referred to as opposite Criumetopon.†After Bata Artemidorus†mentions the coast of the Cercetae, with its mooring places and villages, extending thence about eight hundred and fifty stadia; and then the coast of the Achaei, five hundred stadia; and then that of the Heniochi, one thousand; and then Greater Pityus, extending three hundred and sixty stadia to Dioscurias. The more trustworthy historians of the Mithridatic wars name the Achaei first, then the Zygi, then the Heniochi, and then the Cercetae and Moschi and Colchi, and the Phtheirophagi who live above these three peoples, and the Soanes, and other small tribes that live in the neighborhood of the Caucasus. Now at first the coast, as I have said, stretches towards the east and faces the south, but from Bata it gradually takes a turn, and then faces the west and ends at Pityus and Dioscurias; for these places border on the above-mentioned coast of Colchis. After Dioscurias comes the remaining coast of Colchis and the adjacent coast of Trapezus, which makes a considerable bend, and then, extending approximately in a straight line, forms the righthand side of the Pontus, which faces the north. The whole of the coast of the Achaei and of the other peoples as far as Dioscurias and of the places that lie in a straight line towards the south in the interior lie at the foot of the Caucasus.

15This mountain lies above both seas, both the Pontic and the Caspian, and forms a wall across the isthmus that separates the two seas. It marks the boundary, on the south, of Albania and Iberia, and, on the north, of the plains of the Sarmatae. It is well wooded with all kinds of timber, and especially the kind suitable for shipbuilding. According to Eratosthenes, the Caucasus is called “Caspius” by the natives, the name being derived perhaps from the “Caspii.” Branches of it project towards the south; and these not only comprise the middle of Albania but also join the mountains of Armenia and the Moschian Mountains, as they are called, and also the Scydises and the Paryadres Mountains. All these are parts of the Taurus, which forms the southern side of Armenia,parts broken off, as it were, from that mountain on the north and projecting as far as the Caucasus and that part of the coast of the Euxine which stretches from Colchis to Themiscyra.

16Be this as it may, since Dioscurias is situated in such a gulf and occupies the most easterly point of the whole sea, it is called not only the recess of the Euxine, but also the “farthermost” voyage. And the proverbial verse,To Phasis, where for ships is the farthermost run,must be interpreted thus, not as though the author†of the iambic verse meant the river, much less the city of the same name situated on the river, but as meaning by a part of Colchis the whole of it, since from the river and the city of that name there is left a straight voyage into the recess of not less than six hundred stadia. The same Dioscurias is the beginning of the isthmus between the Caspian Sea and the Euxine, and also the common emporium of the tribes who are situated above it and in its vicinity; at any rate, seventy tribes come together in it, though others, who care nothing for the facts, actually say three hundred. All speak different languages because of the fact that, by reason of their obstinacy and ferocity, they live in scattered groups and without intercourse with one another. The greater part of them are Sarmatae, but they are all Caucasii. So much, then, for the region of Dioscurias.

17Further, the greater part of the remainder of Colchis is on the sea. Through it flows the Phasis, a large river having its sources in Armenia and receiving the waters of the Glaucus and the Hippus, which issue from the neighboring mountains. It is navigated as far as Sarapana, a fortress capable of admitting the population even of a city. From here people go by land to the Cyrus in four days by a wagon road. On the Phasis is situated a city bearing the same name, an emporium of the Colchi, which is protected on one side by the river, on another by a lake, and on another by the sea. Thence people go to Amisus and Sinope by sea (a voyage of two or three days), because the shores are soft and because of the outlets of the rivers. The country is excellent both in respect to its produce—except its honey, which is generally bitter—and in respect to every thing that pertains to shipbuilding; for it not only produces quantities of timber but also brings it down on rivers. And the people make linen in quantities, and hemp, wax, and pitch. Their linen industry has been famed far and wide; for they used to export linen to outside places; and some writers, wishing to show forth a kinship between the Colchians and the Egyptians, confirm their belief by this. Above the aforesaid rivers in the Moschian country lies the temple of Leucothea, founded by Phrixus, and the oracle of Phrixus, where a ram is never sacrificed; it was once rich, but it was robbed in our time by Pharnaces, and a little later by Mithridates of Pergamum. For when a country is devastated,things divine are in sickly plight and wont not even to be respected,says Euripides.

18The great fame this country had in early times is disclosed by the myths, which refer in an obscure way to the expedition of Jason as having proceeded as far even as Media, and also, before that time, to that of Phrixus. After this, when kings succeeded to power, the country being divided into “sceptuchies,”†they were only moderately prosperous; but when Mithridates Eupator†grew powerful, the country fell into his hands; and he would always send one of his friends as sub-governor or administrator of the country. Among these was Moaphernes, my mother’s uncle on her father’s side. And it was from this country that the king received most aid in the equipment of his naval forces. But when the power of Mithridates had been broken up, all the territory subject to him was also broken up and distributed among many persons. At last Polemon got Colchis; and since his death his wife Pythodoris has been in power, being queen, not only of the Colchians, but also of Trapezus and Pharnacia and of the barbarians who live above these places, concerning whom I shall speak later on. Now the Moschian country, in which is situated the temple,†is divided into three parts: one part is held by the Colchians, another by the Iberians, and another by the Armenians. There is also a small city in Iberia, the city of Phrixus, the present Ideëssa, well fortified, on the confines of Colchis. And near Dioscurias flows the Chares River.

19Among the tribes which come together at Dioscurias are the Phtheirophagi, who have received their name from their squalor and their filthiness. Near them are the Soanes, who are no less filthy, but superior to them in power,—indeed, one might almost say that they are foremost in courage and power. At any rate, they are masters of the peoples around them, and hold possession of the heights of the Caucasus above Dioscurias. They have a king and a council of three hundred men; and they assemble, according to report, an army of two hundred thousand; for the whole of the people are a fighting force, though unorganized. It is said that in their country gold is carried down by the mountain torrents, and that the barbarians obtain it by means of perforated troughs and fleecy skins, and that this is the origin of the myth of the golden fleece—unless they call them Iberians, by the same name as the western Iberians, from the gold mines in both countries. The Soanes use remarkable poisons for the points of their missiles; and even people who are not wounded by the poisoned missiles suffer from their odor. Now in general the tribes in the neighborhood of the Caucasus occupy barren and cramped territories, but the tribes of the Albanians and the Iberians, which occupy nearly all the isthmus above-mentioned, might also be called Caucasian tribes; and they possess territory that is fertile and capable of affording an exceedingly good livelihood.

1Furthermore, the greater part of Iberia is so well built up in respect to cities and farmsteads that their roofs are tiled, and their houses as well as their marketplaces and other public buildings are constructed with architectural skill.

2Parts of the country are surrounded by the Caucasian Mountains; for branches of these mountains, as I said before, project towards the south; they are fruitful, comprise the whole of Iberia, and border on both Armenia and Colchis. In the middle is a plain intersected by rivers, the largest being the Cyrus. This river has its beginning in Armenia, flows immediately into the plain above-mentioned, receives both the Aragus, which flows from the Caucasus, and other streams, and empties through a narrow valley into Albania; and between the valley and Armenia it flows in great volume through plains that have exceedingly good pasture, receives still more rivers, among which are the Alazonius, Sandobanes, Rhoetaces, and Chanes, all navigable, and empties into the Caspian Sea. It was formerly called Corus.

3Now the plain of the Iberians is inhabited by people who are rather inclined to farming and to peace, and they dress after both the Armenian and the Median fashion; but the major, or warlike, portion occupy the mountainous territory, living like the Scythians and the Sarmatians, of whom they are both neighbors and kinsmen; however, they engage also in farming. And they assemble many tens of thousands, both from their own people and from the Scythians and Sarmatians, whenever anything alarming occurs.

4There are four passes leading into their country; one through Sarapana, a Colchian stronghold, and through the narrow defiles there. Through these defiles the Phasis, which has been made passable by one hundred and twenty bridges because of the windings of its course, flows down into Colchis with rough and violent stream, the region being cut into ravines by many torrents at the time of the heavy rains. The Phasis rises in the mountains that lie above it, where it is supplied by many springs; and in the plains it receives still other rivers, among which are the Glaucus and the Hippus. Thus filled and having by now become navigable, it issues forth into the Pontus; and it has on its banks a city bearing the same name; and near it is a lake. Such, then, is the pass that leads from Colchis into Iberia, being shut in by rocks, by strongholds, and by rivers that run through ravines.

5From the country of the nomads on the north there is a difficult ascent into Iberia requiring three days’ travel; and after this ascent comes a narrow valley on the Aragus River, with a single file road requiring a four days’ journey. The end of the road is guarded by a fortress which is hard to capture. The pass leading from Albania into Iberia is at first hewn through rock, and then leads through a marsh formed by the River Alazonius, which falls from the Caucasus. The passes from Armenia into Iberia are the defiles on the Cyrus and those on the Aragus. For, before the two rivers meet, they have on their banks fortified cities that are situated upon rocks, these being about sixteen stadia distant from each other—I mean Harmozice on the Cyrus and Seusamora on the other river. These passes were used first by Pompey when he set out from the country of the Armenians, and afterwards by Canidius.†

6There are also†four castes among the inhabitants of Iberia. One, and the first of all, is that from which they appoint their kings, the appointee being both the nearest of kin to his predecessor and the eldest, whereas the second in line administers justice and commands the army. The second caste is that of the priests, who among other things attend to all matters of controversy with the neighboring peoples. The third is that of the soldiers and the farmers. And the fourth is that of the common people, who are slaves of the king and perform all the services that pertain to human livelihood. Their possessions are held in common by them according to families, although the eldest is ruler and steward of each estate. Such are the Iberians and their country.

1The Albanians are more inclined to the shepherd’s life than the Iberians and closer akin to the nomadic people, except that they are not ferocious; and for this reason they are only moderately warlike. They live between the Iberians and the Caspian Sea, their country bordering on the sea towards the east and on the country of the Iberians towards the west. Of the remaining sides the northern is protected by the Caucasian Mountains (for these mountains lie above the plains, though their parts next to the sea are generally called Ceraunian), whereas the southern side is formed by Armenia, which stretches alongside it; and much of Armenia consists of plains, though much of it is mountainous, like Cambysene, where the Armenians border on both the Iberians and the Albanians.

2The Cyrus, which flows through Albania, and the other rivers by which it is supplied, contribute to the excellent qualities of the land; and yet they thrust back the sea, for the silt, being carried forward in great quantities, fills the channel, and consequently even the adjacent isles are joined to the mainland and form shoals that are uneven and difficult to avoid; and their unevenness is made worse by the backwash of the flood tides. Moreover, they say that the outlet of the river is divided into twelve mouths, of which some are choked with silt, while the others are altogether shallow and leave not even a mooring place. At any rate, they add, although the shore is washed on all sides by the sea and the rivers for a distance of more than sixty stadia, every part of it is inaccessible; and the silt extends even as far as five hundred stadia, making the shore sandy. Near by is also the mouth of the Araxes, a turbulent stream that flows down from Armenia. But the silt which this river pushes before it, thus making the channel passable for its stream, is compensated for by the Cyrus.†

3Now perhaps a people of this kind have no need of a sea; indeed, they do not make appropriate use of their land either, which produces, not only every kind of fruit, even the most highly cultivated kind, but also every plant, for it bears even the evergreens. It receives not even slight attention, yetall things spring up for them without sowing and ploughing,according to those who have made expeditions there,†who describe the mode of life there as “Cyclopeian.” In many places, at any rate, they say, the land when sown only once produces two crops or even three, the first a crop of even fifty-fold, and that too without being ploughed between crops; and even when it is ploughed, it is not ploughed with an iron share, but with a wooden plough shaped by nature. The plain as a whole is better watered by its rivers and other waters than the Babylonian and the Egyptian plains; consequently it always keeps a grassy appearance, and therefore is also good for pasturage. In addition to this, the climate here is better than there. And the people never dig about the vines, although they prune them every fifth year;†the new vines begin to produce fruit the second year, and when mature they yield so much that the people leave a large part of the fruit on the branches. Also the cattle in their country thrive, both the tame and the wild.

4The inhabitants of this country are unusually handsome and large. And they are frank in their dealings, and not mercenary;†for they do not in general use coined money, nor do they know any number greater than one hundred, but carry on business by means of barter, and otherwise live an easy-going life. They are also unacquainted with accurate measures and weights, and they take no forethought for war or government or farming. But still they fight both on foot and on horseback, both in light armour and in full armour,†like the Armenians.

5They send forth a greater army than that of the Iberians; for they equip sixty thousand infantry and twenty-two thousand†horsemen, the number with which they risked their all against Pompey. Against outsiders the nomads join with the Albanians in war, just as they do with the Iberians, and for the same reasons; and besides, they often attack the people, and consequently prevent them from farming. The Albanians use javelins and bows; and they wear breastplates and large oblong shields, and helmets made of the skins of wild animals, similar to those worn by the Iberians. To the country of the Albanians belongs also the territory called Caspiane, which was named after the Caspian tribe, as was also the sea; but the tribe has now disappeared. The pass from Iberia into Albania leads through Cambysene, a waterless and rugged country, to the Alazonius River. Both the people and their dogs are surpassingly fond of hunting, engaging in it not so much because of their skill in it as because of their love for it.

6Their kings, also, are excellent. At the present time, indeed, one king rules all the tribes, but formerly the several tribes were ruled separately by kings of their own according to their several languages. They have twenty-six languages, because of the fact that they have no easy means of intercourse with one another. The country produces also certain of the deadly reptiles, and scorpions and phalangia.†Some of the phalangia cause people to die laughing, while others cause people to die weeping over the loss of their deceased kindred.

7As for gods, they honor Helius, Zeus, and Selene, but especially Selene; her temple is near Iberia. The office of priest is held by the man who, after the king, is held in highest honor; he has charge of the sacred land, which is extensive and well-populated, and also of the temple slaves, many of whom are subject to religious frenzy and utter prophecies. And any one of those who, becoming violently possessed, wanders alone in the forests, is by the priest arrested, bound with sacred fetters, and sumptuously maintained during that year, and then led forth to the sacrifice that is performed in honor of the goddess, and, being anointed, is sacrificed along with other victims. The sacrifice is performed as follows: Some person holding a sacred lance, with which it is the custom to sacrifice human victims, comes forward out of the crowd and strikes the victim through the side into the heart, he being not without experience in such a task; and when the victim falls, they draw auguries from his fall†and declare them before the public; and when the body is carried to a certain place, they all trample upon it, thus using it as a means of purification.

8The Albanians are surpassingly respectful to old age, not merely to their parents, but to all other old people. And when people die it is impious to be concerned about them or even to mention them. Indeed, they bury their money with them, and therefore live in poverty, having no patrimony. So much for the Albanians. It is said that Jason, together with Armenus the Thessalian, on his voyage to the country of the Colchians, pressed on from there as far as the Caspian Sea, and visited, not only Iberia and Albania, but also many parts of Armenia and Media, as both the Jasonia†and several other memorials testify. And it is said that Armenus was a native of Armenium, one of the cities on Lake Boebeïs between Pherae and Iarisa, and that his followers took up their abode in Acilisene and Syspiritis, occuping the country as far as Calachane and Adiabene; and indeed that he left Armenia named after himself.

1The Amazons, also, are said to live in the mountains above Albania. Now Theophanes,†who made the expedition with Pompey and was in the country of the Albanians, says that the Gelae and the Legae, Scythian people, live between the Amazons and the Albanians, and that the Mermadalis River flows there, midway between these people and the Amazons. But others, among whom are Metrodorus of Scepsis and Hypsicrates, who themselves, likewise, were not unacquainted with the region in question, say that the Amazons live on the borders of the Gargarians, in the northerly foothills of those parts of the Caucasian Mountains which are called Ceraunian; that the Amazons spend the rest of their time†off to themselves, performing their several individual tasks, such as ploughing, planting, pasturing cattle, and particularly in training horses, though the bravest engage mostly in hunting on horseback and practise warlike exercises; that the right breasts of all are seared when they are infants, so that they can easily use their right arm for every needed purpose, and especially that of throwing the javelin; that they also use bow and sagaris†and light shield, and make the skins of wild animals serve as helmets, clothing, and girdles; but that they have two special months in the spring in which they go up into the neighboring mountain which separates them and the Gargarians. The Gargarians also, in accordance with an ancient custom, go up thither to offer sacrifice with the Amazons and also to have intercourse with them for the sake of begetting children, doing this in secrecy and darkness, any Gargarian at random with any Amazon; and after making them pregnant they send them away; and the females that are born are retained by the Amazons themselves, but the males are taken to the Gargarians to be brought up; and each Gargarian to whom a child is brought adopts the child as his own, regarding the child as his son because of his uncertainty.

2The Mermodas†dashes down from the mountains through the country of the Amazons and through Siracene and the intervening desert and then empties into Lake Maeotis. It is said that the Gargarians went up from Themiscyra into this region with the Amazons, then revolted from them and in company with some Thracians and Euboeans who had wandered thus far carried on war against them, and that they later ended the war against them and made a compact on the conditions above-mentioned, that is, that they should have dealings with one another only in the matter of children, and that each people should live independent of the other.

3A peculiar thing has happened in the case of the account we have of the Amazons; for our accounts of other peoples keep a distinction between the mythical and the historical elements; for the things that are ancient and false and monstrous are called myths, but history wishes for the truth, whether ancient or recent, and contains no monstrous element, or else only rarely. But as regards the Amazons, the same stories are told now as in early times, though they are marvellous and beyond belief. For instance, who could believe that an army of women, or a city, or a tribe, could ever be organized without men, and not only be organized, but even make inroads upon the territory of other people, and not only overpower the peoples near them to the extent of advancing as far as what is now Ionia, but even send an expedition across the sea as far as Attica? For this is the same as saying that the men of those times were women and that the women were men. Nevertheless, even at the present time these very stories are told about the Amazons, and they intensify the peculiarity above-mentioned and our belief in the ancient accounts rather than those of the present time.

4At any rate, the founding of cities and the giving of names to them are ascribed to the Amazons, as, for instance, Ephesus and Smyrna and Cyme and Myrine; and so are tombs and other monuments; and Themiscyra and the plains about Thermodon and the mountains that lie above them are by all writers mentioned as having belonged to the Amazons; but they say that the Amazons were driven out of these places. Only a few writers make assertions as to where they are at the present time, but their assertions are without proof and beyond belief, as in the case of Thalestria, queen of the Amazons, with whom, they say, Alexander associated in Hyrcania and had intercourse for the sake of offspring; for this assertion is not generally accepted. Indeed, of the numerous historians, those who care most for the truth do not make the assertion, nor do those who are most trustworthy mention any such thing, nor do those who tell the story agree in their statements. Cleitarchus†says that Thalestria set out from the Caspian Gates and Thermodon and visited Alexander; but the distance from the Caspian country to Thermodon is more than six thousand stadia.

5The stories that have been spread far and wide with a view to glorifying Alexander are not accepted by all; and their fabricators were men who cared for flattery rather than truth. For instance: they transferred the Caucasus into the region of the Indian mountains and of the eastern sea which lies near those mountains from the mountains which lie above Colchis and the Euxine; for these are the mountains which the Greeks named Caucasus, which is more than thirty thousand stadia distant from India; and here it was that they laid the scene of the story of Prometheus and of his being put in bonds; for these were the farthermost mountains towards the east that were known to writers of that time. And the expedition of Dionysus and Heracles to the country of the Indians looks like a mythical story of later date, because Heracles is said to have released Prometheus one thousand years later. And although it was a more glorious thing for Alexander to subdue Asia as far as the Indian mountains than merely to the recess of the Euxine and to the Caucasus, yet the glory of the mountain, and its name, and the belief that Jason and his followers had accomplished the longest of all expeditions, reaching as far as the neighborhood of the Caucasus, and the tradition that Prometheus was bound at the ends of the earth on the Caucasus, led writers to suppose that they would be doing the king a favor if they transferred the name Caucasus to India.

6Now the highest parts of the real Caucasus are the most southerly—those next to Albania, Iberia, and the Colchians, and the Heniochians. They are inhabited by the peoples who, as I have said, assemble at Dioscurias; and they assemble there mostly in order to get salt. Of these tribes, some occupy the ridges of the mountains, while the others have their abodes in glens and live mostly on the flesh of wild animals, and on wild fruits and milk. The summits of the mountains are impassable in winter, but the people ascend them in summer by fastening to their feet broad shoes made of raw ox-hide, like drums, and furnished with spikes, on account of the snow and the ice. They descend with their loads by sliding down seated upon skins, as is the custom in Atropatian Media and on Mount Masius in Armenia; there, however, the people also fasten wooden discs furnished with spikes to the soles of their shoes. Such, then, are the heights of the Caucasus.

7As one descends into the foothills, the country inclines more towards the north, but its climate is milder, for there it borders on the plains of the Siraces. And here are also some Troglodytae, who, on account of the cold, live in caves; but even in their country there is plenty of barley. After the Troglodytae one comes to certain Chamaecoetae†and Polyphagi,†as they are called, and to the villages of the Eisadici, who are able to farm because they are not altogether exposed to the north.

8The next peoples to which one comes between Lake Maeotis and the Caspian Sea are nomads, the Nabiani and the Panxani, and then next the tribes of the Siraces and the Aorsi. The Aorsi and the Siraces are thought to be fugitives from the upper tribes of those names†and the Aorsi are more to the north than the Siraces. Now Abeacus, king of the Siraces, sent forth twenty thousand horsemen at the time when Pharnaces held the Bosporus; and Spadines, king of the Aorsi, two hundred thousand; but the upper Aorsi sent a still larger number, for they held dominion over more land, and, one may almost say, ruled over most of the Caspian coast; and consequently they could import on camels the Indian and Babylonian merchandise, receiving it in their turn from the Armenians and the Medes, and also, owing to their wealth, could wear golden ornaments. Now the Aorsi live along the Tanaïs, but the Siraces live along the Achardeüs, which flows from the Caucasus and empties into Lake Maeotis.

1The second†portion begins at the Caspian Sea, at which the first portion ends. The same sea is also called Hyrcanian. But I must first describe this sea and the tribes which live about it. This sea is the gulf which extends from the ocean†towards the south; it is rather narrow at its entrance, but it widens out as it advances inland, and especially in the region of its recess, where its width is approximately five thousand stadia. The length of the voyage from its entrance to its recess might be slightly more than that, since its entrance is approximately on the borders of the uninhabited world. Eratosthenes says that the circuit of this sea was known to the Greeks; that the part along the coast of the Albanians and the Cadusians is five thousand four hundred stadia; and that the part along the coast of the Anariaci and Mardi and Hyrcani to the mouth of the Oxus River is four thousand eight hundred, and thence to the Iaxartes, two thousand four hundred. But we must understand in a more general sense the accounts of this portion and the regions that lie so far removed, particularly in the matter of distances.

2On the right, as one sails into the Caspian Sea, are those Scythians, or Sarmatians, who live in the country contiguous to Europe between the Tanaïs River and this sea; the greater part of them are nomads, of whom I have already spoken. On the left are the eastern Scythians, also nomads, who extend as far as the Eastern Sea and India. Now all the peoples towards the north were by the ancient Greek historians given the general name “Scythians” or “Celtoscythians”; but the writers of still earlier times, making distinctions between them, called those who lived above the Euxine and the Ister and the Adriatic “Hyperboreans,” “Sauromatians,” and “Arimaspians,” and they called those who lived across the Caspian Sea in part “Sacians” and in part “Massagetans,” but they were unable to give any accurate account of them, although they reported a war between Cyrus†and the Massagetans. However, neither have the historians given an accurate and truthful account of these peoples, nor has much credit been given to the ancient history of the Persians or Medes or Syrians, on account of the credulity of the historians and their fondness for myths.

3For, seeing that those who were professedly writers of myths enjoyed repute, they thought that they too would make their writings pleasing if they told in the guise of history what they had never seen, nor even heard—or at least not from persons who knew the facts—with this object alone in view, to tell what afforded their hearers pleasure and amazement. One could more easily believe Hesiod and Homer in their stories of the heroes than Ctesias, Herodotus, Hellanicus,†and other writers of this kind.

4Neither is it easy to believe most of those who have written the history of Alexander; for these toy with facts, both because of the glory of Alexander and because his expedition reached the ends of Asia, far away from us; and statements about things that are far away are hard to refute. But the supremacy of the Romans and that of the Parthians has disclosed considerably more knowledge than that which had previously come down to us by tradition; for those who write about those distant regions tell a more trustworthy story than their predecessors, both of the places and of the tribes among which the activities took place, for they have looked into the matter more closely.

1Those nomads, however, who live along the coast on the left as one sails into the Caspian Sea are by the writers of today called Däae, I mean, those who are surnamed Aparni; then, in front of them, intervenes a desert country; and next comes Hyrcania, where the Caspian resembles an open sea to the point where it borders on the Median and Armenian mountains. The shape of these mountains is crescent-like along the foothills, which end at the sea and form the recess of the gulf. This side of the mountains, beginning at the sea, is inhabited as far as their heights for a short stretch by a part of the Albanians and the Armenians, but for the most part by Gelae, Cadusii, Amardi, Vitii, and Anariacae. They say that some of the Parrhasii took up their abode with the Anariacae, who, they say, are now called Parsii; and that the Aenianes built a walled city in the Vitian territory, which, they say, is called Aeniana; and that Greek armour, brazen vessels, and burial places are to be seen there; and that there is also a city Anariace there, in which, they say, is to be seen an oracle for sleepers,†and some other tribes that are more inclined to brigandage and war than to farming; but this is due to the ruggedness of the region. However, the greater part of the seaboard round the mountainous country is occupied by Cadusii, for a stretch of almost five thousand stadia, according to Patrocles,†who considers this sea almost equal to the Pontic Sea. Now these regions have poor soil.

2But Hyrcania is exceedingly fertile, extensive, and in general level; it is distinguished by notable cities, among which are Talabroce, Samariane, Carta, and the royal residence Tape, which, they say, is situated slightly above the sea and at a distance of one thousand four hundred stadia from the Caspian Gates. And because of its particular kind of prosperity writers go on to relate evidences thereof: the vine produces one metretes†of wine, and the fig-tree sixty medimni;†the grain grows up from the seed that falls from the stalk; bees have their hives in the trees, and honey drips from the leaves; and this is also the case in Matiane in Media, and in Sacasene and Araxene in Armenia. However, neither the country itself nor the sea that is named after it has received proper attention, the sea being both without vessels and unused. There are islands in this sea which could afford a livelihood, and, according to some writers, contain gold ore. The cause of this lack of attention was the fact that the first governors of the Hyrcanians, I mean the Medes and Persians, as also the last, I mean the Parthians, who were inferior to the former, were barbarians, and also the fact that the whole of the neighboring country was full of brigands and nomads and deserted regions. The Macedonians did indeed rule over the country for a short time, but they were so occupied with wars that they could not attend to their remote possessions. According to Aristobulus, Hyrcania, which is a wooded country, has the oak, but does not produce the torch-pine or fir or stone-pine, though India abounds in these trees. Nesaea, also, belongs to Hyrcania, though some writers set it down as an independent district.

3Hyrcania is traversed by the rivers Ochus and Oxus to their outlets into the sea; and of these, the Ochus flows also through Nesaea, but some say that the Ochus empties into the Oxus. Aristobulus†declares that the Oxus is the largest of the rivers he has seen in Asia, except those in India. And he further says that it is navigable (both he and Eratosthenes taking this statement from Patrocles)†and that large quantities of Indian wares are brought down on it to the Hyrcanian sea, and thence on that sea are transported to Albania and brought down on the Cyrus River and through the region that comes next after it to the Euxine. The Ochus is not mentioned at all by the ancient writers. Apollodorus, however, who wrote the Parthica, names it continually, implying that it flows very close to the country of the Parthians.

4Many false notions were also added to the account of this sea because of Alexander’s love of glory; for, since it was agreed by all that the Tanaïs separated Asia from Europe, and that the region between the sea and the Tanaïs, being a considerable part of Asia, had not fallen under the power of the Macedonians, it was resolved to manipulate the account of Alexander’s expedition so that in fame at least he might be credited with having conquered those parts of Asia too. They therefore united lake Maeotis, which receives the Tanaïs, with the Caspian Sea, calling this too a lake and asserting that both were connected with one another by an underground passage and that each was a part of the other. Polycleitus goes on to adduce proofs in connection with his belief that the sea is a lake (for instance, he says that it produces serpents, and that its water is sweetish); and that it is no other than Maeotis he judges from the fact that the Tanaïs empties into it. From the same Indian mountains, where the Ochus and the Oxus and several other rivers rise, flows also the Iaxartes, which, like those rivers, empties into the Caspian Sea and is the most northerly of them all. This river, accordingly, they named Tanaïs; and in addition to so naming it they gave as proof that it was the Tanaïs mentioned by Polycleitus that the country on the far side of this river produces the fir-tree and that the Scythians in that region use arrows made of fir-wood; and they say that this is also evidence that the country on the far side belongs to Europe and not to Asia, for, they add, Upper and Eastern Asia does not produce the fir-tree. But Eratosthenes says that the fir-tree grows also in India and that Alexander built his fleet out of fir-wood from there. Eratosthenes tries to reconcile many other differences of this kind, but as for me, let what I have said about them suffice.

5This too, among the marvellous things recorded of Hyrcania, is related by Eudoxus†and others: that there are some cliffs facing the sea with caverns underneath, and between these and the sea, below the cliffs, is a low-lying shore; and that rivers flowing from the precipices above rush forward with so great force that when they reach the cliffs they hurl their waters out into the sea without wetting the shore, so that even armies can pass underneath sheltered by the stream above; and the natives often come down to the place for the sake of feasting and sacrifice, and sometimes they recline in the caverns down below and sometimes they enjoy themselves basking in the sunlight beneath the stream itself, different people enjoying themselves in different ways, having in sight at the same time on either side both the sea and the shore, which latter, because of the moisture, is grassy and abloom with flowers.

1As one proceeds from the Hyrcanian Sea towards the east, one sees on the right the mountains that extend as far as the Indian Sea, which by the Greeks are named the Taurus. Beginning at Pamphylia and Cilicia they extend thus far in a continuous line from the west and bear various different names. In the northerly parts of the range dwell first the Gelae and Cadusii and Amardi, as I have said, and certain of the Hyrcanians, and after them the tribe of the Parthians and that of the Margianians and the Arians; and then comes the desert which is separated from Hyrcania by the Sarnius River as one goes eastwards and towards the Ochus River. The mountain which extends from Armenia to this point, or a little short of it, is called Parachoathras. The distance from the Hyrcanian Sea to the country of the Arians is about six thousand stadia. Then comes Bactriana, and Sogdiana, and finally the Scythian nomads. Now the Macedonians gave the name Caucasus to all the mountains which follow in order after the country of the Arians; but among the barbarians†the extremities†on the north were given the separate names “Paropamisus” and “Emoda” and “Imaus”; and other such names were applied to separate parts.

2On the left and opposite these peoples are situated the Scythian or nomadic tribes, which cover the whole of the northern side. Now the greater part of the Scythians, beginning at the Caspian Sea, are called Däae, but those who are situated more to the east than these are named Massagetae and Sacae, whereas all the rest are given the general name of Scythians, though each people is given a separate name of its own. They are all for the most part nomads. But the best known of the nomads are those who took away Bactriana from the Greeks, I mean the Asii, Pasiani, Tochari,†and Sacarauli, who originally came from the country on the other side of the Iaxartes River that adjoins that of the Sacae and the Sogdiani and was occupied by the Sacae. And as for the Däae, some of them are called Aparni, some Xanthii, and some Pissuri. Now of these the Aparni are situated closest to Hyrcania and the part of the sea that borders on it, but the remainder extend even as far as the country that stretches parallel to Aria.

3Between them†and Hyrcania and Parthia and extending as far as the Arians is a great waterless desert, which they traversed by long marches and then overran Hyrcania, Nesaea, and the plains of the Parthians. And these people agreed to pay tribute, and the tribute was to allow the invaders at certain appointed times to overrun the country and carry off booty. But when the invaders overran their country more than the agreement allowed, war ensued, and in turn their quarrels were composed and new wars were begun. Such is the life of the other nomads also, who are always attacking their neighbors and then in turn settling their differences.

4The Sacae, however, made raids like those of Cimmerians and Treres,†some into regions close to their own country, others into regions farther away. For instance, they occupied Bactriana, and acquired possession of the best land in Armenia, which they left named after themselves, Sacasene; and they advanced as far as the country of the Cappadocians, particularly those situated close to the Euxine, who are now called the Pontici. But when they were holding a general festival and enjoying their booty, they were attacked by night by the Persian generals who were then in that region and utterly wiped out. And these generals, heaping up a mound of earth over a certain rock in the plain, completed it in the form of a hill, and erected on it a wall, and established the temple of Anaïtis and the gods who share her altar—Omanus and Anadatus, Persian deities; and they instituted an annual sacred festival, the Sacaea, which the inhabitants of Zela (for thus the place is called) continue to celebrate to the present day. It is a small city belonging for the most part to the temple slaves. But Pompey added considerable territory to it, settled the inhabitants thereof within the walls, and made it one of the cities which he organized after his overthrow of Mithridates.

5Now this is the account which some writers give of the Sacae. Others say that Cyrus made an expedition against the Sacae, was defeated in the battle, and fled; but that he encamped in the place where he had left behind his supplies, which consisted of an abundance of everything and especially of wine, rested his army a short time, and set out at nightfall, as though he were in flight, leaving the tents full of supplies; and that he proceeded as far as he thought best and halted; and that the Sacae pursued, found the camp empty of men but full of things conducive to enjoyment, and filled themselves to the full; and that Cyrus turned back, and found them drunk and crazed, so that some were slain while lying stupefied and asleep, whereas others fell victims to the arms of the enemy while dancing and revelling naked, and almost all perished; and Cyrus, regarding the happy issue as of divine origin, consecrated that day to the goddess of his fathers and called it Sacaea; and that wherever there is a temple of this goddess, there the festival of the Sacaea, a kind of Bacchic festival, is the custom, at which men, dressed in the Scythian garb, pass day and night drinking and playing wantonly with one another, and also with the women who drink with them.

6The Massagetae disclosed their valor in their war with Cyrus, to which many writers refer again and again; and it is from these that we must get our information. Statements to the following effect are made concerning the Massagetae: that some of them inhabit mountains, some plains, others marshes which are formed by the rivers, and others the islands in the marshes. But the country is inundated most of all, they say, by the Araxes River, which splits into numerous branches and empties by its other mouths into the other sea†on the north, though by one single mouth it reaches the Hyrcanian Gulf. They regard Helius alone as god, and to him they sacrifice horses. Each man marries only one wife, but they use also the wives of others; not in secret, however, for the man who is to have intercourse with the wife of another hangs up his quiver on the wagon and has intercourse with her openly. And they consider it the best kind of death when they are old to be chopped up with the flesh of cattle and eaten mixed up with that flesh. But those who die of disease are cast out as impious and worthy only to be eaten by wild beasts. They are good horsemen and foot-soldiers; they use bows, short swords, breastplates, and sagares†made of brass; and in their battles they wear headbands and belts made of gold. And their horses have bits and girths made of gold. Silver is not found in their country, and only a little iron, but brass and gold in abundance.

7Now those who live in the islands, since they have no grain to sow, use roots and wild fruits as food, and they clothe themselves with the bark of trees (for they have no cattle either), and they drink the juice squeezed out of the fruit of the trees. Those who live in the marshes eat fish, and clothe themselves in the skins of the seals that run up thither from the sea. The mountaineers themselves also live on wild fruits; but they have sheep also, though only a few, and therefore they do not butcher them, sparing them for their wool and milk; and they variegate the color of their clothing by staining it with dyes whose colors do not easily fade. The inhabitants of the plains, although they possess land, do not till it, but in the nomadic or Scythian fashion live on sheep and fish. Indeed, there not only is a certain mode of life common to all such peoples, of which I often speak,†but their burials, customs, and their way of living as a whole, are alike, that is, they are self-assertive, uncouth, wild, and warlike, but, in their business dealings, straightforward and not given to deceit.

8Belonging to the tribe of the Massagetae and the Sacae are also the Attasii and the Chorasmii, to whom Spitamenes†fled from the country of the Bactriani and the Sogdiani. He was one of the Persians who escaped from Alexander, as did also Bessus; and later Arsaces,†when he fled from Seleucus Callinicus,†withdrew into the country of the Apasiacae. Eratosthenes says that the Arachoti and Massagetae are situated alongside the Bactrians towards the west along the Oxus River, and that the Sacae and the Sogdiani, with the whole of their lands, are situated opposite India, but the Bactriani only for a slight distance; for, he says, they are situated for the most part alongside the Paropamisus, and the Sacae and the Sogdiani are separated from one another by the Iaxartes River, and the Sogdiani and the Bactriani by the Oxus River; and the Tapyri live between the Hyrcanians and the Arians; and in a circuit round the sea after the Hyrcanians one comes to the Amardi, Anariacae, Cadusii, Albani, Caspii, Vitii, and perhaps also other peoples, until one reaches the Scythians; and on the other side of the Hyrcanians are Derbices; and the Cadusii border on the Medi and Matiani below the Parachoathras.

9Eratosthenes gives the distances as follows: From Mt. Caspius to the Cyrus River, about one thousand eight hundred stadia; thence to the Caspian Gates, five thousand six hundred; then to Alexandreia in the country of the Arians, six thousand four hundred; then to the city Bactra, also called Zariaspa, three thousand eight hundred and seventy; then to the Iaxartes River, to which Alexander came, about five thousand; a distance all told of twenty-two thousand six hundred and seventy stadia. He gives also the distance from the Caspian Gates to India as follows: To Hecatompylus, one thousand nine hundred and sixty stadia; to Alexandreia in the country of the Arians, four thousand five hundred and thirty; then to Prophthasia in Drangge, one thousand six hundred (others say one thousand five hundred); then to the city Arachoti, four thousand one hundred and twenty; then to Ortospana, to the junction of the three roads leading from Bactra, two thousand; then to the borders of India, one thousand; a distance all told of fifteen thousand three hundred stadia.†We must conceive of the length of India, reckoned from the Indus River to the eastern sea, as continuous with this distance in a straight line. So much for the Sacae.

1As for the Parthian country, it is not large; at any rate, it paid its tribute along with the Hyrcanians in the Persian times, and also after this, when for a long time the Macedonians held the mastery. And, in addition to its smallness, it is thickly wooded and mountainous, and also poverty stricken, so that on this account the kings send their own throngs through it in great haste, since the country is unable to support them even for a short time. At present, however, it has increased in extent. Parts of the Parthian country are Comisene and Chorene, and, one may almost say, the whole region that extends as far as the Caspian Gates and Rhagae and the Tapyri, which formerly belonged to Media. And in the neighborhood of Rhagae are the cities Apameia and Heracleia. The distance from the Caspian Gates to Rhagae is five hundred stadia, as Apollodorus says, and to Hecatompylus, the royal seat of the Parthians, one thousand two hundred and sixty. Rhagae is said to have got its name from the earthquakes that took place in that country, by which numerous cities and two thousand villages, as Poseidonius says, were destroyed. The Tapyri are said to live between the Derbices and the Hyrcanians. It is reported of the Tapyri that it was a custom of theirs to give their wives in marriage to other husbands as soon as they had had two or three children by them; just as in our times, in accordance with an ancient custom of the Romans, Cato gave Marcia in marriage to Hortensius at the request of the latter.

2But when revolutions were attempted by the countries outside the Taurus, because of the fact that the kings of Syria and Media, who were in possession also of these countries, were busily engaged with others, those who had been entrusted with their government first caused the revolt of Bactriana and of all the country near it, I mean Euthydemus and his followers; and then Arsaces, a Scythian, with some of the Däae (I mean the Aparnians, as they were called, nomads who lived along the Ochus), invaded Parthia and conquered it. Now at the outset Arsaces was weak, being continually at war with those who had been deprived by him of their territory, both he himself and his successors, but later they grew so strong, always taking the neighboring territory, through successes in warfare, that finally they established themselves as lords of the whole of the country inside the Euphrates. And they also took a part of Bactriana, having forced the Scythians, and still earlier Eucratides and his followers, to yield to them; and at the present time they rule over so much land and so many tribes that in the size of their empire they have become, in a way, rivals of the Romans. The cause of this is their mode of life, and also their customs, which contain much that is barbarian and Scythian in character, though more that is conducive to hegemony and success in war.

3They say that the Aparnian Däae were emigrants from the Däae above Lake Maeotis, who are called Xandii or Parii. But the view is not altogether accepted that the Däae are a part of the Scythians who live about Maeotis. At any rate, some say that Arsaces derives his origin from the Scythians, whereas others say that he was a Bactrian, and that when in flight from the enlarged power of Diodotus and his followers he caused Parthia to revolt. But since I have said much about the Parthian usages in the sixth book of my Historical Sketches and in the second book of my History of events after Polybius,†I shall omit discussion of that subject here, lest I may seem to be repeating what I have already said, though I shall mention this alone, that the Council of the Parthians, according to Poseidonius, consists of two groups, one that of kinsmen,†and the other that of wise men and Magi, from both of which groups the kings were appointed.†

1Aria and Margiana are the most powerful districts in this part of Asia, these districts in part being enclosed by the mountains and in part having their habitations in the plains. Now the mountains are occupied by Tent-dwellers, and the plains are intersected by rivers that irrigate them, partly by the Arius and partly by the Margus. Aria borders on Margiana and... Bactriana;†it is about six thousand stadia distant from Hyrcania. And Drangiana, as far as Carmania, was joined with Aria in the payment of tribute—Dragiana, for the most part, lying below the southern parts of the mountains, though some parts of it approach the northern region opposite Aria. But Arachosia, also, is not far away, this country too lying below the southern parts of the mountains and extending as far as the Indus River, being a part of Ariana. The length of Aria is about two thousand stadia, and the breadth of the plain about three hundred. Its cities are Artacaëna and Alexandreia and Achaïa, all named after their founders. The land is exceedingly productive of wine, which keeps good for three generations in vessels not smeared with pitch.

2Margiana is similar to this country, although its plain is surrounded by deserts. Admiring its fertility, Antiochus Soter†enclosed a circuit of fifteen hundred stadia with a wall and founded a city Antiocheia. The soil of the country is well suited to the vine; at any rate, they say that a stock of the vine is often found which would require two men to girth it,†and that the bunches of grapes are two cubits.†

1As for Bactria, a part of it lies alongside Aria towards the north, though most of it lies above Aria and to the east of it. And much of it produces everything except oil. The Greeks who caused Bactria to revolt grew so powerful on account of the fertility of the country that they became masters, not only of Ariana, but also of India, as Apollodorus of Artemita says: and more tribes were subdued by them than by Alexander—by Menander in particular (at least if he actually crossed the Hypanis towards the east and advanced as far as the Imaüs), for some were subdued by him personally and others by Demetrius, the son of Euthydemus the king of the Bactrians; and they took possession, not only of Patalena, but also, on the rest of the coast, of what is called the kingdom of Saraostus and Sigerdis. In short, Apollodorus says that Bactriana is the ornament of Ariana as a whole; and, more than that, they extended their empire even as far as the Seres and the Phryni.

2Their cities were Bactra (also called Zariaspa, through which flows a river bearing the same name and emptying into the Oxus), and Darapsa, and several others. Among these was Eucratidia, which was named after its ruler. The Greeks took possession of it and divided it into satrapies, of which the satrapy Turiva and that of Aspionus were taken away from Eucratides by the Parthians. And they also held Sogdiana, situated above Bactriana towards the east between the Oxus River, which forms the boundary between the Bactrians and the Sogdians, and the Iaxartes River. And the Iaxartes forms also the boundary between the Sogdians and the nomads.

3Now in early times the Sogdians and Bactrians did not differ much from the nomads in their modes of life and customs, although the Bactrians were a little more civilized; however, of these, as of the others, Onesicritus†does not report their best traits, saying, for instance, that those who have become helpless because of old age or sickness are thrown out alive as prey to dogs kept expressly for this purpose, which in their native tongue are called “under-takers,” and that while the land outside the walls of the metropolis of the Bactrians looks clean, yet most of the land inside the walls is full of human bones; but that Alexander broke up the custom. And the reports about the Caspians are similar, for instance, that when parents live beyond seventy years they are shut in and starved to death. Now this latter custom is more tolerable; and it is similar to that of the Ceians, although it is of Scythian origin; that of the Bactrians, however, is still more like that of the Scythians. And so, if it was proper to be in doubt as to the facts at the time when Alexander was finding such customs there, what should one say as to what sort of customs were probably in vogue among them in the time of the earliest Persian rulers and the still earlier rulers?

4Be this as it may, they say that Alexander founded eight cities in Bactriana and Sogdiana, and that he razed certain cities to the ground, among which was Cariatae in Bactriana, in which Callisthenes was seized and imprisoned, and Maracanda and Cyra in Sogdiana, Cyra being the last city founded by Cyrus†and being situated on the Iaxartes River, which was the boundary of the Persian empire; and that although this settlement was fond of Cyrus, he razed it to the ground because of its frequent revolts; and that through a betrayal he took also two strongly fortified rocks, one in Bactriana, that of Sisimithres, where Oxyartes kept his daughter Rhoxana, and the other in Sogdiana, that of Oxus, though some call it the rock of Ariamazes. Now writers report that that of Sisimithres is fifteen stadia in height and eighty in circuit, and that on top it is level and has a fertile soil which can support five hundred men, and that here Alexander met with sumptuous hospitality and married Rhoxana, the daughter of Oxyartes; but the rock in Sogdiana, they say, is twice as high as that in Bactriana. And near these places, they say, Alexander destroyed also the city of the Branchidae, whom Xerxes had settled there—people who voluntarily accompanied him from their homeland—because of the fact that they had betrayed to him the riches and treasures of the god at Didymi. Alexander destroyed the city, they add, because he abominated the sacrilege and the betrayal.

5Aristobulus†calls the river which flows through Sogdiana Polytimetus, a name imposed by the Macedonians (just as they imposed names on many other places, giving new names to some and slightly altering the spelling of the names of others); and watering the country it empties into a desert and sandy land, and is absorbed in the sand, like the Arius which flows through the country of the Arians. It is said that people digging near the Ochus River found oil. It is reasonable to suppose that, just as nitrous†and astringent and bituminous and sulphurous liquids flow through the earth, so also oily liquids are found; but the rarity causes surprise.†According to some, the Ochus flows through Bactriana; according to others, alongside it. And according to some, it is a different river from the Oxus as far as its mouths, being more to the south than the Oxus, although they both have their outlets into the Caspian Sea in Hyrcania, whereas others say that it is different at first, but unites with the Oxus, being in many places as much as six or seven stadia wide. The Iaxartes, however, from beginning to end, is a different river from the Oxus, and although it ends in the same sea, the mouths of the two, according to Patrocles, are about eighty parasangs distant from one another. The Persian parasang, according to some, is sixty stadia, but according to others thirty or forty. When I was sailing up the Nile, they used different measures when they named the distance in “schoeni” from city to city, so that in some places the same number of “schoeni” meant a longer voyage and in others a shorter;†and thus the variations have been preserved to this day as handed down from the beginning.

6Now the tribes one encounters in going from Hyrcania towards the rising sun as far as Sogdiana became known at first to the Persians—I mean the tribes inside†Taurus—and afterwards to the Macedonians and to the Parthians; and the tribes situated on the far side of those tribes and in a straight line with them are supposed, from their identity in kind, to be Scythian, although no expeditions have been made against them that I know of, any more than against the most northerly of the nomads. Now Alexander did attempt to lead an expedition against these when he was in pursuit of Bessus†and Spitamenes, but when Bessus was captured alive and brought back, and Spitamenes was slain by the barbarians, he desisted from his undertaking. It is not generally agreed that persons have sailed around from India to Hyrcania, but Patrocles states that it is possible.

7It is said that the last part of the Taurus, which is called Imaïus and borders on the Indian Sea, neither extends eastwards farther than India nor into it;†but that, as one passes to the northern side, the sea gradually reduces the length and breadth of the country, and therefore causes to taper towards the east the portion of Asia now being sketched, which is comprehended between the Taurus and the ocean that fills the Caspian Sea. The maximum length of this portion from the Hyrcanian Sea to the ocean that is opposite the Imaïus is about thirty thousand stadia, the route being along the mountainous tract of the Taurus, and the breadth less than ten thousand; for, as has been said, the distance from the Gulf of Issus to the eastern sea at India is about forty thousand stadia, and to Issus from the western extremity at the Pillars of Heracles thirty thousand more.†The recess of the Gulf of Issus is only slightly, if at all, farther east than Amisus, and the distance from Amisus to the Hyrcanian land is about ten thousand stadia, being parallel to that of the above-mentioned distance from Issus to India. Accordingly, there remain thirty thousand stadia as the above-mentioned length towards the east of the portion now described. Again, since the maximum breadth of the inhabited world, which is chlamys-shaped,†is about thirty thousand stadia, this distance would be measured near the meridian line drawn through the Hyrcanian and Persian Seas, if it be true that the length of the inhabited world is seventy thousand stadia. Accordingly, if the distance from Hyrcania to Artemita in Babylonia is eight thousand stadia, as is stated by Apollodorus of Artemita, and the distance from there to the mouth of the Persian Sea another eight thousand, and again eight thousand, or a little less, to the places that lie on the same parallel as the extremities of Ethiopia, there would remain of the above-mentioned breadth of the inhabited world the distance which I have already given,†from the recess of the Hyrcanian Sea to the mouth of that sea. Since this segment of the earth tapers towards the eastern parts, its shape would be like a cook’s knife, the mountain being in a straight line and conceived of as corresponding to the edge of the knife, and the coast from the mouth of the Hyrcanian Sea to Tamarum as corresponding to the other side of the knife, which ends in a line that curves sharply to the point.

8I must also mention some strange customs, everywhere talked about, of the utterly barbarous tribes; for instance, the tribes round the Caucasus and the mountainous country in general. What Euripides refers to is said to be a custom among some of them,to lament the new-born babe, in view of all the sorrows it will meet in life, but on the other hand to carry forth from their homes with joy and benedictions those who are dead and at rest from their troubles;†and it is said to be a custom among others to put to death none of the greatest criminals, but only to cast them and their children out of their borders—a custom contrary to that of the Derbices, for these slaughter people even for slight offences. The Derbices worship Mother Earth; and they do not sacrifice, or eat, anything that is female; and when men become over seventy years of age they are slaughtered, and their flesh is consumed by their nearest of kin; but their old women are strangled and then buried. However, the men who die under seventy years of age are not eaten, but only buried. The Siginni imitate the Persians in all their customs, except that they use ponies that are small and shaggy, which, though unable to carry a horseman, are yoked together in a four-horse team and are driven by women trained thereto from childhood; and the woman who drives best cohabits with whomever she wishes. Others are said to practise making their heads appear as long as possible and making their foreheads project beyond their chins. It is a custom of the Tapyri for the men to dress in black and wear their hair long, and for the women to dress in white and wear their hair short. They live between the Derbices and the Hyrcanians. And he who is adjudged the bravest marries whomever he wishes. The Caspians starve to death those who are over seventy years of age and place their bodies out in the desert; and then they keep watch from a distance, and if they see them dragged from their biers by birds, they consider them fortunate, and if by wild beasts or dogs, less so, but if by nothing, they consider them cursed by fortune.

1Since the northern parts of Asia are formed by the Taurus,— I mean the parts which are also called “Cis-Tauran” Asia, I have chosen to describe these first. These include all or most of the regions in the mountains themselves. All that lie farther east than the Caspian Gates admit of a simpler description because of the wildness of their inhabitants; and it would not make much difference whether they were named as belonging to this “clima”†or that, whereas all that lie to the west afford abundant matter for description, and therefore I must proceed to the parts which are adjacent to the Caspian Gates. Adjacent to the Caspian Gates on the west is Media, a country at one time both extensive and powerful, and situated in the midst of the Taurus, which is split into many parts in the region of Media and contains large valleys, as is also the case in Armenia.

2For this mountain has its beginning in Caria and Lycia; there, indeed, it has neither any considerable breadth nor height, but it first rises to a considerable height opposite the Chelidoniae, which are islands at the beginning of the coast of Pamphylia, and then stretching towards the east enclose long valleys, those in Cilicia, and then on one side the Amanus Mountain splits off it and on the other the Antitaurus Mountain, in which latter is situated Comana, in Upper Cappadocia, as it is called. Now the Antitaurus ends in Cataonia, whereas the mountain Amanus extends to the Euphrates River and Melitina where Commagene lies adjacent to Cappadocia. And it is succeeded in turn by the mountains on the far side of the Euphrates, which are continuous with those aforementioned, except that they are cleft by the river that flows through the midst of them. Here its height and breadth greatly increase and its branches are more numerous. At all events, the most southerly part is the Taurus proper, which separates Armenia from Mesopotamia.

3Thence flow both rivers, I mean the Euphrates and the Tigris, which encircle Mesopotamia and closely approach each other in Babylonia and then empty into the Persian Sea. The Euphrates is not only the larger of the two rivers, but also, with its winding stream, traverses more country, having its sources in the northerly region of the Taurus, and flowing towards the west through Greater Armenia, as it is called, to Lesser Armenia, having the latter on its right and Acilisene on the left. It then bends towards the south, and at its bend joins the boundaries of Cappadocia; and leaving these and the region of Commagene on the right, and Acilisene and Sophene in Greater Armenia on the left, it runs on to Syria and again makes another bend into Babylonia and the Persian Gulf. The Tigris, running from the southerly part of the same mountain to Seleuceia, approaches close to the Euphrates and with it forms Mesopotamia, and then flows into the same gulf as the Euphrates. The sources of the Euphrates and the Tigris are about two thousand five hundred stadia distant from each other.

4Now the Taurus has numerous branches towards the north, one of which is that of the Antitaurus, as it is called, for there too the mountain which encloses Sophene in a valley situated between itself and the Taurus was so named. On the far side of the Euphrates, near Lesser Armenia and next to the Antitaurus towards the north, there stretches a large mountain with many branches, one of which is called Paryadres, another the Moschian Mountains, and another which is called by various names; and these comprehend the whole of Armenia as far as Iberia and Albania. Then other mountains rise towards the east, I mean those which lie above the Caspian Sea, extending as far as Media, not only the Atropatian Media but also the Greater Media. Not only all these parts of the mountains are called Parachoathras, but also those which extend to the Caspian Gates and those which extend still farther towards the east, I mean those which border on Aria. The mountains on the north, then, bear these names, whereas those on the south, on the far side of the Euphrates, in their extent towards the east from Cappadocia and Commagene, are, at their beginning, called Taurus proper, which separates Sophene and the rest of Armenia from Mesopotamia; by some, however, these are called the Gordyaean Mountains, and among these belongs also Masius, the mountain which is situated above Nisibis and Tigranocerta. Then the Taurus rises higher and bears the name Niphates; and somewhere here are the sources of the Tigris, on the southern side of the mountainous country. Then from the Niphates the mountain chain extends still farther and farther and forms the mountain Zagrus which separates Media and Babylonia. After the Zagrus there follows, above Babylonia, the mountainous country of the Elymaei and that of the Paraetaceni, and also, above Media, that of the Cossaei. In the middle are Media and Armenia, which comprise many mountains, many plateaus, and likewise many low plains and large valleys, and also numerous tribes that live round among the mountains and are small in numbers and range the mountains and for the most part are given to brigandage. Thus, then, I am placing inside the Taurus both Media, to which the Caspian Gates belong, and Armenia.

5According to the way in which I place them, then, these tribes would be towards the north, since they are inside the Taurus, but Eratosthenes, who is the author of the division of Asia into “Southern Asia” and “Northern Asia” and into “Sphragides,”†as he calls them, calling some of the “sphragides” “northern” and others “southern,” represents the Caspian Gates as a boundary between the two “climata”†reasonably, therefore, he might represent as “southern” the parts that are more southerly, stretching towards the east,†than the Caspian Gates, among which are Media and Armenia, and the more northerly as “northern,” since this is the case no matter what distribution into parts is otherwise made of the country. But perhaps it did not strike Eratosthenes that no part either of Armenia or of Media lay outside the Taurus.

1Media is divided into two parts. One part of it is called Greater Media, of which the metropolis is Ecbatana, a large city containing the royal residence of the Median empire (the Parthians continue to use this as a royal residence even now, and their kings spend at least their summers there, for Media is a cold country; but their winter residence is at Seleuceia, on the Tigris near Babylon). The other part is Atropatian Media, which got its name from the commander†Atropates, who prevented also this country, which was a part of Greater Media, from becoming subject to the Macedonians. Furthermore, after he was proclaimed king, he organized this country into a separate state by itself, and his succession of descendants is preserved to this day, and his successors have contracted marriages with the kings of the Armenians and Syrians and, in later times, with the kings of the Parthians.

2This country lies east of Armenia and Matiane, west of Greater Media, and north of both; and it lies adjacent to the region round the recess of the Hyrcanian Sea and to Matiane on the south. It is no small country, considering its power, as Apollonides†says, since it can furnish as many as ten thousand horsemen and forty thousand foot soldiers. It has a harbor, Capauta,†in which salts effloresce and solidify. These salts cause itching and are painful, but this effect is relieved by olive-oil; and the water restores weathered garments, if perchance through ignorance one should dip them in it to wash them. They have powerful neighbors in the Armenians and the Parthians, by whom they are often plundered. But still they hold out against them and get back what has been taken away from them, as, for example, they got back Symbace from the Armenians when the latter became subject to the Romans; and they themselves have attained to friendship with Caesar. But they are also paying court to the Parthians at the same time.

3Their royal summer palace is situated in a plain at Gazaca, and their winter palace in a fortress called Vera, which was besieged by Antony on his expedition against the Parthians. This fortress is distant from the Araxes, which forms the boundary between Armenia and Atropene, two thousand four hundred stadia, according to Dellius, the friend of Antony, who wrote an account of Antony’s expedition against the Parthians, on which he accompanied Antony and was himself a commander. All regions of this country are fertile except the part towards the north, which is mountainous and rugged and cold, the abode of the mountaineers called Cadusii, Amardi, Tapyri, Cyrtii and other such peoples, who are migrants and predatory; for the Zagrus and Niphates fountains keep these tribes scattered; and the Cyrtii in Persis, and the Mardi (for the Amardi are also thus called), and those in Armenia who to this day are called by the same name, are of the same character.

4The Cadusii, however, are but little short of the Ariani in the number of their foot-soldiers; and their javelin-throwers are excellent; and in rugged places foot-soldiers instead of horsemen do the fighting. It was not the nature of the country that made the expedition difficult for Antony, but his guide Artavasdes, the king of the Armenians, whom, though plotting against him, Antony rashly made his counsellor and master of decisions respecting the war. Antony indeed punished him, but too late, when the latter had been proved guilty of numerous wrongs against the Romans, not only he himself, but also that other guide, who made the journey from the Zeugma on the Euphrates to the borders of Atropene eight thousand stadia long, more than twice the direct journey, guiding the army over mountains and roadless regions and circuitous routes.

5In ancient times Greater Armenia ruled the whole of Asia, after it broke up the empire of the Syrians, but later, in the time of Astyages, it was deprived of that great authority by Cyrus and the Persians, although it continued to preserve much of its ancient dignity; and Ecbatana was winter residence†for the Persian kings, and likewise for the Macedonians who, after overthrowing the Persians, occupied Syria; and still today it affords the kings of the Parthians the same advantages and security.

6Greater Media is bounded on the east by Parthia and the mountains of the Cossaei, a predatory people, who once supplied the Elymaei, with whom they were allies in the war against the Susians and Babylonians, with thirteen thousand bowmen. Nearchus†says that there were four predatory tribes and that of these the Mardi were situated next to the Persians; the Uxii and Elymaei next to the Mardi and the Susians; and the Cossaei next to the Medians; and that whereas all four exacted tribute from the kings, the Cossaei also received gifts at the times when the king, after spending the summer in Ecbatana, went down into Babylonia; but that Alexander put an end to their great audacity when he attacked them in the winter time. So then, Greater Media is bounded on the east by these tribes, and also by the Paraetaceni, who border on the Persians and are themselves likewise mountaineers and predatory; on the north by the Cadusii who live above the Hyrcanian Sea, and by the other tribes which I have just described; on the south by Apollioniatis, which the ancients called Sitacene, and by the mountain Zagrus, at the place where Massabatice is situated, which belongs to Media, though some say that it belongs to Elymaea; and on the west by the Atropatii and certain of the Armenians. There are also some Greek cities in Media, founded by the Macedonians, among which are Laodiceia, Apameia and the city†near Rhagae, and Rhaga†itself, which was founded by Nicator.†By him it was named Europus, but by the Parthians Arsacia; it lies about five hundred stadia to the south of the Caspian Gates, according to Apollodorus of Artemita.

7Now most of the country is high and cold; and such, also, are the mountains which lie above Ecbatana and those in the neighborhood of Rhagae and the Caspian Gates, and in general the northerly regions extending thence to Matiane and Armenia; but the region below the Caspian Gates, consisting of low-lying lands and hollows, is very fertile and productive of everything but the olive; and even if the olive is produced anywhere, it is dry and yields no oil. This, as well as Armenia, is an exceptionally good “horse-pasturing”†country; and a certain meadow there is called “Horse-pasturing,” and those who travel from Persis and Babylon to Caspian Gates pass through it; and in the time of the Persians it is said that fifty thousand mares were pastured in it and that these herds belonged to the kings. As for the Nesaean horses, which the kings used because they were the best and the largest, some writers say that the breed came from here, while others say from Armenia. They are characteristically different in form, as are also the Parthian horses, as they are now called, as compared with the Helladic and the other horses in our country. Further, we call the grass that makes the best food for horses by the special name “Medic,” from the fact that it abounds there. The country also produces silphium; whence the “Medic” juice, as it is called, which in general is not much inferior to the “Cyrenaic” juice, but sometimes is even superior to it, either owing to regional differences, or because of a variation in the species of the plant, or even owing to the people who extract and prepare the juice in such a way as to conserve its strength for storage and for use.

8Such is the nature of the country. As for its size, its length and breadth are approximately equal. The greatest breadth of Media seems to be that from the pass that leads over the Zagrus, which is called Medic Gate, to the Caspian Gates through Sigriane, four thousand one hundred stadia. The reports on the tributes paid agree with the size and the power of the country; for Cappadocia paid the Persians yearly, in addition to the silver tax, fifteen hundred horses, two thousand mules, and fifty thousand sheep, whereas Media paid almost twice as much as this.

9As for customs, most of theirs and of those of the Armenians are the same, because their countries are similar. The Medes, however, are said to have been the originators of customs for the Armenians, and also, still earlier, for the Persians, who were their masters and their successors in the supreme authority over Asia. For example, their “Persian” stole,†as it is now called, and their zeal for archery and horsemanship, and the court they pay to their kings, and their ornaments, and the divine reverence paid by subjects to kings, came to the Persians from the Medes. And that this is true is particularly clear from their dress; for tiara,†citaris,†pilus,†tunics with sleeves reaching to the hands, and trousers, are indeed suitable things to wear in cold and northerly regions, such as the Medes wear, but by no means in southerly regions; and most of the settlements possessed by the Persians were on the Red Sea, farther south than the country of the Babylonians and the Susians. But after the overthrow of the Medes the Persians acquired in addition certain parts of the country that reached to Media. However, the customs even of the conquered looked to the conquerors so august and appropriate to royal pomp that they submitted to wear feminine robes instead of going naked or lightly clad, and to cover their bodies all over with clothes.

10Some say that Medeia introduced this kind of dress when she, along with Jason, held dominion in this region, even concealing her face whenever she went out in public in place of the king; and that the Jasonian hero-chapels, which are much revered by the barbarians, are memorials of Jason (and above the Caspian Gates on the left is a large mountain called Jasonium), whereas the dress and the name of the country are memorials of Medeia. It is said also that Medus her son succeeded to the empire and left his own name to the country. In agreement with this are the Jasonia of Armenia and the name of that country and several other things which I shall discuss.

11This, too, is a Medic custom—to choose the bravest man as king; not, however, among all Medes, but only among the mountaineers. More general is the custom for the kings to have many wives; this is the custom of the mountaineers of the Medes, and all Medes, and they are not permitted to have less than five; likewise, the women are said to account it an honorable thing to have as many husbands as possible and to consider less than five a calamity.†But though the rest of Media is extremely fertile, the northerly mountainous part has poor soil; at any rate, the people live on the fruits of trees, making cakes out of apples that are sliced and dried, and bread from roasted almonds; and they squeeze out a wine from certain roots; and they use the meat of wild animals, but do not breed tame animals. Thus much I add concerning the Medes. As for the institutions in common use throughout the whole of Media, since they prove to have been the same as those of the Persians because of the conquest of the Persians, I shall discuss them in my account of the latter.

1As for Armenia, the southern parts of it have the Taurus situated in front of them,†which separates it from the whole of the country between the Euphrates and the Tigris, the country called Mesopotamia; and the eastern parts border on Greater Armenia and Atropene; and on the north are the mountains of Parachoathras that lie above the Caspian Sea, and Albania, and Iberia, and the Caucasus, which last encircles these nations and borders on Armenia, and borders also on the Moschian and Colchian mountains as far as the Tibarani, as they are called; and on the west are these nations and the mountains Paryadres and Scydises in their extent to Lesser Armenia and the river land of the Euphrates, which latter separates Armenia from Cappadocia and Commagene.

2For the Euphrates, having its beginnings on the northern side of the Taurus, flows at first towards the west through Armenia, and then bends towards the south and cuts through the Taurus between Armenia, Cappadocia, and Commagene, and then, after falling outside the Taurus and reaching the borders of Syria, it bends towards the winter-sunrise†as far as Babylon, and with the Tigris forms Mesopotamia; and both rivers end in the Persian Gulf. Such, then, is our circuit of Armenia, almost all parts being mountainous and rugged, except the few which verge towards Media. But since the above-mentioned Taurus takes a new beginning on the far side of the Euphrates opposite Commagene and Melitene, countries formed by that river, Mt. Masius is the mountain which ties above the Mygdonians of Mesopotamia on the south, in whose country is Nisibis, whereas Sophene is situated in the northern parts, between Masius and Antitaurus. The Antitaurus takes its beginning at the Euphrates and the Taurus and ends towards the eastern parts of Armenia, thus on one side enclosing the middle of Sophene,†of the Euphrates, before that river bends towards the south. The royal city of Sophene is Carcathiocerta. Above Mt. Masius, far towards the east opposite Gordyene, lies Mt. Niphates; and then comes Mt. Abus, whence flow both the Euphrates and the Araxes, the former towards the west and the latter towards the east; and then Mt. Nibarus, which stretches as far as Media.

3I have already described the course of the Euphrates. As for the Araxes, it first flows towards the east as far as Atropatene, and then bends towards the west and towards the north and flows first past Azara and then past Artaxata, Armenian cities, and then, passing through the Araxene Plain, empties into the Caspian Sea.

4In Armenia itself there are many mountains and many plateaus, in which not even the vine can easily grow; and also many valleys, some only moderately fertile, others very fertile, for instance, the Araxene Plain, through which the Araxes River flows to the extremities of Albania and then empties into the Caspian Sea. After these comes Sacasene, this too bordering on Albania and the Cyrus River; and then comes Gogarene. Indeed, the whole of this country abounds in fruits and cultivated trees and evergreens, and even bears the olive. There is also Phauene, a province of Armenia, and Comisene, and Orchistene, which last furnishes the most cavalry. Chorsene and Cambysene are the most northerly and the most subject to snows, bordering on the Caucasian mountains and Iberia and Colchis. It is said that here, on the passes over the mountains, whole caravans are often swallowed up in the snow when unusually violent snowstorms take place, and that to meet such dangers people carry staves, which they raise to the surface of the snow in order to get air to breathe and to signify their plight to people who come along, so as to obtain assistance, be dug out, and safely escape. It is said that hollow masses of ice form in the snow which contain good water, in a coat of ice as it were; and also that living creatures breed in the snow (Apollonides†calls these creatures “scoleces”,†and Theophanes†“thripes”); and that good water is enclosed in these hollow masses which people obtain for drinking by slitting open the coats of ice; and the genesis of these creatures is supposed to be like that of the gnats which spring from the flames and sparks at mines.

5According to report, Armenia, though a small country in earlier times, was enlarged by Artaxias and Zariadris, who formerly were generals of Antiochus the Great,†but later, after his defeat, reigned as kings (the former as king of Sophene, Acisene, Odomantis, and certain other countries, and the latter as king of the country round Artaxata), and jointly enlarged their kingdoms by cutting off for themselves parts of the surrounding nations,—I mean by cutting off Caspiane and Phaunitis and Basoropeda from the country of the Medes; and the country along the side of Mt. Paryadres and Chorsene and Gogarene, which last is on the far side of the Cyrus River, from that of the Iberians; and Carenitis and Xerxene, which border on Lesser Armenia or else are parts of it, from that of the Chalybians and the Mosynoeci; and Acilisene and the country round the Antitaurus from that of the Cataonians; and Taronitis from that of the Syrians; and therefore they all speak the same language, as we are told.

6The cities of Armenia are Artaxata, also called Artaxiasata, which was founded by Hannibal†for Artaxias the king, and Arxata, both on the Araxes River, Arxata being near the borders of Atropatia, whereas Artaxata is near the Araxene plain, being a beautiful settlement and the royal residence of the country. It is situated on a peninsula-like elbow of land and its walls have the river as protection all round them, except at the isthmus, which is enclosed by a trench and a palisade. Not far from the city are the treasuries of Tigranes and Artavasdes,†the strong fortresses Babyrsa and Olane. And there were other fortresses on the Euphrates. Of these, Artageras was caused to revolt by Ador, its commandant, but Caesar’s generals sacked it after a long siege and destroyed its walls.

7There are several rivers in the country, but the best known are the Phasis and the Lycus, which empty into the Pontic Sea (Eratosthenes wrongly writes “Thermodon” instead of “Lycus”), whereas the Cyrus and the Araxes empty into the Caspian Sea, and the Euphrates and the Tigris into the Red Sea.

8There are also large lakes in Armenia; one the Mantiane, which being translated means “Blue”;†it is the largest salt water lake after Lake Maeotis, as they say, extending as far as Atropatia; and it also has salt-works. Another is Arsene, also called Thopitis.†It contains soda,†and it cleanses and restores clothes; but because of this ingredient the water is also unfit for drinking. The Tigris flows through this lake after issuing from the mountainous country near the Niphates; and because of its swiftness it keeps its current unmixed with the lake; whence the name Tigris, since the Median word for “arrow” is “tigris.” And while the river has fish of many kinds, the fish in the lake are of one kind only. Near the recess of the lake the river falls into a pit, and after flowing underground for a considerable distance rises near Chalonitis.†Thence the river begins to flow down towards Opis and the wall of Semiramis, as it is called, leaving the Gordiaeans and the whole of Mesopotamia on the right, while the Euphrates, on the contrary, has the same country on the left. Having approached one another and formed Mesopotamia, the former flows through Seleuceia to the Persian Gulf and the latter through Babylon, as I have already said somewhere in my arguments against Eratosthenes and Hipparchus.

9There are gold mines in Syspiritis near Caballa, to which Menon was sent by Alexander with soldiers, and he was led up†to them by the natives. There are also other mines, in particular those of sandyx,†as it is called, which is also called “Armenian” color, like chalce†The country is so very good for “horse-pasturing,” not even inferior to Media, that the Nesaean horses, which were used by the Persian kings, are also bred there. The satrap of Armenia used to send to the Persian king twenty thousand foals every year at the time of the Mithracina.†Artavasdes, at the time when he invaded Media with Antony, showed him, apart from the rest of the cavalry, six thousand horses drawn up in battle array in full armour. Not only the Medes and the Armenians pride themselves upon this kind of cavalry, but also the Albanians, for they too use horses in full armour.

10As for the wealth and power of the country, the following is no small sign of it, that when Pompey imposed upon Tigranes, the father of Artavasdes, a payment of six thousand talents of silver, he forthwith distributed to the Roman forces as follows: to each soldier fifty drachmas, to each centurion a thousand drachmas, and to each hipparch and chiliarch a talent.

11The size of the country is given by Theophanes:†the breadth one hundred “schoeni,” and the length twice as much, putting the “schoenus at forty stadia;†but his estimate is too high; it is nearer the truth to put down as length what he gives as breadth, and as breadth the half, or a little more, of what he gives as breadth. Such, then, is the nature and power of Armenia.

12There is an ancient story of the Armenian race to this effect: that Armenus of Armenium, a Thessalian city, which lies between Pherae and Larisa on Lake Boebe, as I have already said, accompanied Jason into Armenia; and Cyrsilus the Pharsalian and Medius the Larisaean, who accompanied Alexander, say that Armenia was named after him, and that, of the followers of Armenus, some took up their abode in Acilisene, which in earlier times was subject to the Sopheni, whereas others took up their abode in Syspiritis, as far as Calachene and Adiabene, outside the Armenian mountains. They also say that the clothing of the Armenians is Thessalian, for example, the long tunics, which in tragedies are called Thessalian and are girded round the breast; and also the cloaks that are fastened on with clasps, another way in which the tragedians imitated the Thessalians, for the tragedians had to have some alien decoration of this kind; and since the Thessalians in particular wore long robes, probably because they of all the Greeks lived in the most northerly and coldest region, they were the most suitable objects of imitation for actors in their theatrical make-ups. And they say that their style of horsemanship is Thessalian, both theirs and alike that of the Medes. To this the expedition of Jason and the Jasonian monuments bear witness, some of which were built by the sovereigns of the country, just as the temple of Jason at Abdera was built by Parmenion.

13It is thought that the Araxes was given the same name as the Peneius by Armenus and his followers because of its similarity to that river, for that river too, they say, was called Araxes because of the fact that it “cleft”†Ossa from Olympus, the cleft called Tempe. And it is said that in ancient times the Araxes in Armenia, after descending from the mountains, spread out and formed a sea in the plains below, since it had no outlet, but that Jason, to make it like Tempe, made the cleft through which the water now precipitates itself into the Caspian Sea, and that in consequence of this the Araxene Plain, through which the river flows to its precipitate†descent, was relieved of the sea. Now this account of the Araxes contains some plausibility, but that of Herodotus not at all; for he says that after flowing out of the country of the Matieni it splits into forty rivers†and separates the Scythians from the Bactrians. Callisthenes, also, follows Herodotus.

14It is also said of certain of the Aenianes that some of them took up their abode in Vitia and others above the Armenians beyond the Abus and the Nibarus. These two mountains are parts of the Taurus, and of these the Abus is near the road that leads into Ecbatana past the temple of Baris. It is also said that certain of the Thracians, those called “Saraparae,” that is “Decapitators,” took up their abode beyond Armenia near the Guranii and the Medes, a fierce and intractable people, mountaineers, scalpers, and beheaders, for this last is the meaning of “Saraparae.” I have already discussed Medeia in my account of the Medes; and therefore, from all this, it is supposed that both the Medes and the Armenians are in a way kinsmen to the Thessalians and the descendants of Jason and Medeia.

15This, then, is the ancient account; but the more recent account, and that which begins with Persian times and extends continuously to our own, might appropriately be stated in brief as follows: The Persians and Macedonians were in possession of Armenia; after this, those who held Syria and Media; and the last was Orontes, the descendant of Hydarnes, one of the seven Persians; and then the country was divided into two parts by Artaxias and Zariadris, the generals of Antiochus the Great, who made war against the Romans; and these generals ruled the country, since it was turned over to them by the king; but when the king was defeated, they joined the Romans and were ranked as autonomous, with the title of king. Now Tigranes was a descendant of Artaxias and held what is properly called Armenia, which lay adjacent to Media and Albania and Iberia, extending as far as Colchis and Cappadocia on the Euxine, whereas the Sophenian Artanes, who held the southern parts and those that lay more to the west than these, was a descendant of Zariadris. But he was overcome by Tigranes, who established himself as lord of all. The changes of fortune experienced by Tigranes were varied, for at first he was a hostage among the Parthians; and then through them he obtained the privilege of returning home, they receiving as reward therefore seventy valleys in Armenia; but when he had grown in power, he not only took these places back but also devastated their country, both that about Ninus and that about Arbela; and he subjugated to himself the rulers of Atropene and Gordyaea, and along with these the rest of Mesopotamia, and also crossed the Euphrates and by main strength took Syria itself and Phoenicia; and, exalted to this height, he also founded a city near Iberia,†between this place and the Zeugma on the Euphrates; and, having gathered peoples thither from twelve Greek cities which he had laid waste, he named it Tigranocerta; but Leucullus, who had waged war against Mithridates, arrived before Tigranes finished his undertaking and not only dismissed the inhabitants to their several home-lands but also attacked and pulled down the city, which was still only half finished, and left it a small village; and he drove Tigranes out of both Syria and Phoenicia. His successor Artavasdes was indeed prosperous for a time, while he was a friend to the Romans, but when he betrayed Antony to the Parthians in his war against them he paid the penalty for it, for he was carried off prisoner to Alexandreia by Antony and was paraded in chains through the city; and for a time he was kept in prison, but was afterwards slain, when the Actian war broke out. After him several kings reigned, these being subject to Caesar and the Romans; and still today the country is governed in the same way.

16Now the sacred rites of the Persians, one and all, are held in honor by both the Medes and the Armenians; but those of Anaïtis are held in exceptional honor by the Armenians, who have built temples in her honor in different places, and especially in Acilisene. Here they dedicate to her service male and female slaves. This, indeed, is not a remarkable thing; but the most illustrious men of the tribe actually consecrate to her their daughters while maidens; and it is the custom for these first to be prostituted in the temple of the goddess for a long time and after this to be given in marriage; and no one disdains to live in wedlock with such a woman. Something of this kind is told also by Herodotus in his account of the Lydian women, who, one and all, he says, prostitute themselves. And they are so kindly disposed to their paramours that they not only entertain them hospitably but also exchange presents with them, often giving more than they receive, inasmuch as the girls from wealthy homes are supplied with means. However, they do not admit any man that comes along, but preferably those of equal rank with themselves.

1Cappadocia,†also, is a country of many parts and has undergone numerous changes. However, the inhabitants who speak the same language are, generally speaking, those who are bounded on the south by the “Cilician” Taurus, as it is called, and on the east by Armenia and Colchis and by the intervening peoples who speak a different group of languages, and on the north by the Euxine as far as the outlets of the Halys River, and on the west both by the tribe of the Paphlagonians and by those Galatae who settled in Phrygia and extended as far as the Lycaonians and those Cilicians who occupy Cilicia Tracheia.†

2Now as for the tribes themselves which speak the same language, the ancients set one of them, the Cataonians, by themselves, contradistinguishing them from the Cappadocians, regarding the latter as a different tribe; and in their enumeration of the tribes they placed Cataonia alter Cappadocia, and then placed the Euphrates and the tribes beyond it so as to include in Cataonia Melitene, which lies between Cataonia and the Euphrates, borders on Commagene, and, according to the division of Cappadocia into ten prefectures, is a tenth portion of the country. Indeed, it was in this way that the kings in my time who preceded Archeläus held their several prefectures over Cappadocia. And Cataonia, also, is a tenth portion of Cappadocia. In my time each of the two countries had its own prefect; but since, as compared with the other Cappadocians, there is no difference to be seen either in the language or in any other usages of the Cataonians, it is remarkable how utterly all signs of their being a different tribe have disappeared. At any rate, they were once a distinct tribe, but they were annexed by Ariarathes, the first man to be called king of the Cappadocians.

3Cappadocia constitutes the isthmus,as it were, of a large peninsula bounded by two seas, by that of the Issian Gulf as far as Cilicia Tracheia and by that of the Euxine as far as Sinope and the coast of the Tibareni. I mean by “peninsula” all the country which is west of Cappadocia this side the isthmus, which by Herodotus is called “the country this side the Halys River”; for this is the country which in its entirety was ruled by Croesus, whom Herodotus calls the tyrant of the tribes this side the Halys River. However, the writers of today give the name of Asia to the country this side the Taurus, applying to this country the same name as to the whole continent of Asia. This Asia comprises the first nations on the east, the Paphlagonians and Phrygians and Lycaonians, and then the Bithynians and Mysians and the Epictetus,†and, besides these, the Troad and Hellespontia, and after these, on the sea, the Aeolians and Ionians, who are Greeks, and, among the rest, the Carians and Lycians, and, in the interior, the Lydians. As for the other tribes, I shall speak of them later.

4Cappadocia was divided into two satrapies by the Persians at the time when it was taken over by the Macedonians; the Macedonians willingly allowed one part of the country, but unwillingly the other, to change to kingdoms instead of satrapies; and one of these kingdoms they named “Cappadocia Proper” and “Cappadocia near Taurus”, and even “Greater Cappadocia,” and the other they named “Pontus,” though others named it Cappadocia Pontica. As for Greater Cappadocia, we at present do not yet know its administrative divisions, for after the death of king Archeläus Caesar†and the senate decreed that it was a Roman province. But when, in the reign of Archeläus and of the kings who preceded him, the country was divided into ten prefectures, those near the Taurus were reckoned as five in number, I mean Melitene, Cataonia, Cilicia, Tyanitis, and Garsauritis; and Laviansene, Sargarausene, Saravene, Chamanene, and Morimene as the remaining five. The Romans later assigned to the predecessors of Archeläus an eleventh prefecture, taken from Cilicia, I mean the country round Castabala and Cybistra, extending to Derbe, which last had belonged to Antipater the pirate; and to Archeläus they further assigned the part of Cilicia Tracheia round Elaeussa, and also all the country that had organized the business of piracy.

1Melitene is similar to Commagene, for the whole of it is planted with fruit trees, the only country in all Cappadocia of which this is true, so that it produces, not only the olive, but also the Monarite wine, which rivals the Greek wines. It is situated opposite to Sophene; and the Euphrates River flows between it and Commagene, which latter borders on it. On the far side of the river is a noteworthy fortress belonging to the Cappadocians, Tomisa by name. This was sold to the ruler of Sophene for one hundred talents, but later was presented by Leucullus as a meed of valor to the ruler of Cappadocia who took the field with him in the war against Mithridates.

2Cataonia is a broad hollow plain, and produces everything except evergreen-trees. It is surrounded on its southern side by mountains, among others by the Amanus, which is a branch of the Cilician Taurus, and by the Antitaurus, which branches off in the opposite direction; for the Amanus extends from Cataonia to Cilicia and the Syrian Sea towards the west and south, and in this intervening space it surrounds the whole of the Gulf of Issus and the intervening plains of the Cilicians which lie towards the Taurus. But the Antitaurus inclines to the north and takes a slightly easterly direction, and then terminates in the interior of the country.

3In this Antitaurus are deep and narrow valleys, in which are situated Comana and the temple of Enyo,†whom the people there call “Ma.” It is a considerable city; its inhabitants, however, consist mostly of the divinely inspired people and the temple-servants who live in it. Its inhabitants are Cataonians, who, though in a general way classed as subject to the king, are in most respects subject to the priest. The priest is master of the temple, and also of the temple-servants, who on my sojourn there were more than six thousand in number, men and women together. Also, considerable territory belongs to the temple, and the revenue is enjoyed by the priest. He is second in rank in Cappadocia after the king; and in general the priests belonged to the same family as the kings. It is thought that Orestes, with his sister Iphigeneia, brought these sacred rites here from the Tauric Scythia, the rites in honor of Artemis Tauropolus, and that here they also deposited the hair†of mourning; whence the city’s name. Now the Sarus River flows through this city and passes out through the gorges of the Taurus to the plains of the Cilicians and to the sea that lies below them.

4But the Pyramus, a navigable river with its sources in the middle of the plain, flows through Cataonia. There is a notable pit in the earth through which one can see the water as it runs into a long hidden passage underground and then rises to the surface. If one lets down a javelin from above into the pit,†the force of the water resists so strongly that the javelin can hardly be immersed in it. But although it flows in great volume because of its immense depth and breadth, yet, when it reaches the Taurus, it undergoes a remarkable contraction; and remarkable also is the cleft of the mountain through which the stream is carried; for, as in the case of rocks which have been broken and split into two parts, the projections on either side correspond so exactly to the cavities on the other that they could be fitted together, so it was in the case of the rocks I saw there, which, lying above the river on either side and reaching up to the summit of the mountain at a distance of two or three plethra from each other, had cavities corresponding with the opposite projections. The whole intervening bed is rock, and it has a cleft through the middle which is deep and so extremely narrow that a dog or hare could leap across it. This cleft is the channel of the river, is full to the brim, and in breadth resembles a canal; but on account of the crookedness of its course and its great contraction in width and the depth of the gorge, a noise like thunder strikes the ears of travellers long before they reach it. In passing out through the mountains it brings down so much silt to the sea, partly from Cataonia and partly from the Cilician plains, that even an oracle is reported as having been given out in reference to it, as follows: Men that are yet to be shall experience this at the time when the Pyramus of the silver eddies shall silt up its sacred sea-beach and come to Cyprus.†Indeed, something similar to this takes place also in Egypt, since the Nile is always turning the sea into dry land by throwing out silt. Accordingly, Herodotus calls Egypt “the gift of the Nile,” while Homer speaks of Pharos as “being out in the open sea,” since in earlier times it was not, as now, connected with the mainland of Egypt.†

5†The third in rank is the priesthood of Zeus Daciëus,†which, though inferior to that of Enyo, is noteworthy. At this place there is a reservoir of salt water which has the circumference of a considerable lake; it is shut in by brows of hills so high and steep that people go down to it by ladder-like steps. The water, they say, neither increases nor anywhere has a visible outflow.

6Neither the plain of the Cataonians nor the country Melitene has a city, but they have strongholds on the mountains, I mean Azamora and Dastarcum; and round the latter flows the Carmalas River. It contains also a temple, that of the Cataonian Apollo, which is held in honor throughout the whole of Cappadocia, the Cappadocians having made it the model of temples of their own. Neither do the other prefectures, except two, contain cities; and of the remaining prefectures, Sargarausene contains a small town Herpa, and also the Carmalas River, this too†emptying into the Cilician Sea. In the other prefectures are Argos, a lofty stronghold near the Taurus, and Nora, now called Neroassus, in which Eumenes held out against a siege for a long time. In my time it served as the treasury of Sisines, who made an attack upon the empire of the Cappadocians. To him belonged also Cadena, which had the royal palace and had the aspect of a city. Situated on the borders of Lycaonia is also a town called Garsauira. This too is said once to have been the metropolis of the country. In Morimene, at Venasa, is the temple of the Venasian Zeus, which has a settlement of almost three thousand temple-servants and also a sacred territory that is very productive, affording the priest a yearly revenue of fifteen talents. He, too, is priest for life, as is the Priest at Comana, and is second in rank after him.

7Only two prefectures have cities, Tyanitis the city Tyana, which lies below the Taurus at the Cilician Gates, where for all is the easiest and most commonly used pass into Cilicia and Syria. It is called “Eusebeia near the Taurus”; and its territory is for the most part fertile and level. Tyana is situated upon a mound of Semiramis,†which is beautifully fortified. Not far from this city are Castabala and Cybistra, towns still nearer to the mountain. At Castabala is the temple of the Perasian Artemis, where the priestesses, it is said, walk with naked feet over hot embers without pain. And here, too, some tell us over and over the same story of Orestes and Tauropolus,†asserting that she was called “Perasian” because she was brought “from the other side.” So then, in the prefecture Tyanitis, one of the ten above mentioned is Tyana (I am not enumerating along with these prefectures those that were acquired later, I mean Castabala and Cybistra and the places in Cilicia Tracheia, where is Elaeussa, a very fertile island, which was settled in a noteworthy manner by Archeläus, who spent the greater part of his time there), whereas Mazaca, the metropolis of the tribe, is in the Cilician prefecture, as it is called. This city, too, is called “Eusebeia,” with the additional words “near the Argaeus,” for it is situated below the Argaeus, the highest mountain of all, whose summit never fails to have snow upon it; and those who ascend it (those are few) say that in clear weather both seas, both the Pontus and the Issian Sea, are visible from it. Now in general Mazaca is not naturally a suitable place for the founding of a city, for it is without water and unfortified by nature; and, because of the neglect of the prefects, it is also without walls (perhaps intentionally so, in order that people inhabiting a plain, with hills above it that were advantageous and beyond range of missiles, might not, through too much reliance upon the wall as a fortification, engage in plundering). Further, the districts all round are utterly barren and untilled, although they are level; but they are sandy and are rocky underneath. And, proceeding a little farther on, one comes to plains extending over many stadia that are volcanic and full of fire-pits; and therefore the necessaries of life must be brought from a distance. And further, that which seems to be an advantage is attended with peril, for although almost the whole of Cappadocia is without timber, the Argaeus has forests all round it, and therefore the working of timber is close at hand; but the region which lies below the forests also contains fires in many places and at the same time has an underground supply of cold water, although neither the fire nor the water emerges to the surface; and therefore most of the country is covered with grass. In some places, also, the ground is marshy, and at night flames rise therefrom. Now those who are acquainted with the country can work the timber, since they are on their guard, but the country is perilous for most people, and especially for cattle, since they fall into the hidden fire-pits.

8There is also a river in the plain before the city; it is called Melas, is about forty stadia distant from the city, and has its sources in a district that is below the level of the city. For this reason, therefore, it is useless to the inhabitants, since its stream is not in a favorable position higher up, but spreads abroad into marshes and lakes, and in the summertime vitiates the air round the city, and also makes the stone-quarry hard to work, though otherwise easy to work; for there are ledges of flat stones from which the Mazaceni obtain an abundant supply of stone for their buildings, but when the slabs are concealed by the waters they are hard to obtain. And these marshes, also, are everywhere volcanic. Ariarathes the king, since the Melas had an outlet into the Euphrates†by a certain narrow defile, dammed this and converted the neighboring plain into a sea-like lake, and there, shutting off certain isle—like the Cyclades—from the outside world, passed his time there in boyish diversions. But the barrier broke all at once, the water streamed out again, and the Euphrates,†thus filled, swept away much of the soil of Cappadocia, and obliterated numerous settlements and plantations, and also damaged no little of the country of the Galatians who held Phrygia. In return for the damage the inhabitants, who gave over the decision of the matter to the Romans, exacted a fine of three hundred talents. The same was the case also in regard to Herpa; for there too he dammed the stream of the Carmalas River; and then, the mouth having broken open and the water having ruined certain districts in Cilicia in the neighborhood of Mallus, he paid damages to those who had been wronged.

9However, although the district of the Mazaceni is in many respects not naturally suitable for habitation, the kings seem to have preferred it, because of all places in the country this was nearest to the center of the region which contained timber and stone for buildings, and at the same time provender, of which, being cattle-breeders, they needed a very large quantity, for in a way the city was for them a camp. And as for their security in general, both that of themselves and of their slaves, they got it from the defences in their strongholds, of which there are many, some belonging to the king and others to their friends. Mazaca is distant from Pontus†about eight hundred stadia to the south, from the Euphrates slightly less than double that distance, and from the Cilician Gates and the camp of Cyrus a journey of six days by way of Tyana. Tyana is situated at the middle of the journey and is three hundred stadia distant from Cybistra. The Mazaceni use the laws of Charondas, choosing also a Nomodus, who, like the jurisconsults among the Romans, is the expounder of the laws. But Tigranes put the people in bad plight when he overran Cappadocia, for he forced them, one and all, to migrate into Mesopotamia; and it was mostly with these that he settled Tigranocerta. But later, after the capture of Tigranocerta, those who could returned home.

10The size of the country is as follows: In breadth, from Pontus to the Taurus, about one thousand eight hundred stadia, and in length, from Lycaonia and Phrygia to the Euphrates towards the east and Armenia, about three thousand. It is an excellent country, not only in respect to fruits, but particularly in respect to grain and all kinds of cattle. Although it lies farther south than Pontus, it is colder. Bagadania, though level and farthest south of all (for it lies at the foot of the Taurus), produces hardly any fruit-bearing trees, although it is grazed by wild asses, both it and the greater part of the rest of the country, and particularly that round Garsauira and Lycaonia and Morimene. In Cappadocia is produced also the ruddle called “Sinopean”, the best in the world, although the Iberian rivals it. It was named “Sinopean” because the merchants were wont to bring it down thence to Sinope before the traffic of the Ephesians had penetrated as far as the people of Cappadocia. It is said that also slabs of crystal and of onyx stone were found by the miners of Archeläus near the country of the Galatians. There was a certain place, also, which had white stone that was like ivory in color and yielded pieces of the size of small whetstones; and from these pieces they made handles for their small swords. And there was another place which yielded such large lumps of transparent stone†that they were exported. The boundary of Pontus and Cappadocia is a mountain tract parallel to the Taurus, which has its beginning at the western extremities of Chammanene, where is situated Dasmenda, a stronghold with sheer ascent, and extends to the eastern extremities of Laviansene. Both Chammanene and Laviansene are prefectures in Cappadocia.

11It came to pass, as soon as the Romans, after conquering Antiochus, began to administer the affairs of Asia and were forming friendships and alliances both with the tribes and with the kings, that in all other cases they gave this honor to the kings individually, but gave it to the king of Cappadocia and the tribe jointly. And when the royal family died out, the Romans, in accordance with their compact of friendship and alliance with the tribe, conceded to them the right to live under their own laws; but those who came on the embassy not only begged off from the freedom (for they said that they were unable to bear it), but requested that a king be appointed for them. The Romans, amazed that any people should be so tired of freedom,†—at any rate, they permitted them to choose by vote from their own number whomever they wished. And they chose Ariobarzanes; but in the course of the third generation his family died out; and Archeläus was appointed king, though not related to the people, being appointed by Antony. So much for Greater Cappadocia. As for Cilicia Tracheia, which was added to Greater Cappadocia, it is better for me to describe it in my account of the whole of Cilicia.

1As for Pontus, Mithridates Eupator established himself as king of it; and he held the country bounded by the Halys River as far as the Tibarani and Armenia, and held also, of the country this side the Halys, the region extending to Amastris and to certain parts of Paphlagonia. And he acquired, not only the seacoast towards the west a far as Heracleia, the native land of Heracleides the Platonic philosopher, but also, in the opposite direction, the seacoast extending to Colchis and lesser Armenia; and this, as we know, he added to Pontus. And in fact this country was comprised within these boundaries when Pompey took it over, upon his overthrow of Mithridates. The parts towards Armenia and those round Colchis he distributed to the potentates who had fought on his side, but the remaining parts he divided into eleven states and added them to Bithynia, so that out of both there was formed a single province. And he gave over to the descendants of Pylaemenes the office of king over certain of the Paphlagonians situated in the interior between them,†just as he gave over the Galatians to the hereditary tetrarchs. But later the Roman prefects made different divisions from time to time, not only establishing kings and potentates, but also, in the case of cities, liberating some and putting others in the hands of potentates and leaving others subject to the Roman people. As I proceed I must speak of things in detail as they now are, but I shall touch slightly upon things as they were in earlier times whenever this is useful. I shall begin at Heracleia, which is the most westerly place in this region.

2Now as one sails into the Euxine Sea from the Propontis, one has on his left the parts which adjoin Byzantium (these belong to the Thracians, and are called “the Left-hand Parts” of the Pontus), and on his right the parts which adjoin Chalcedon. The first of these latter belong to the Bithynians, the next to the Mariandyni (by some also called Caucones), the next to the Paphlygonians as far as the Halys River, and the next to the Pontic Cappadocians and to the people next in order after them as far as Colchis. All these are called the Right-hand Parts of the Pontus. Now Eupator reigned over the whole of this seacoast, beginning at Colchis and extending as far as Heracleia, but the parts farther on, extending as far as the mouth of the Pontus and Chalcedon, remained under the rule of the king of Bithynia. But when the kings had been overthrown, the Romans preserved the same boundaries, so that Heracleia was added to Pontus and the parts farther on went to the Bithynians.

3Now as for the Bithynians, it is agreed by most writers that, though formerly Mysians, they received this new name from the Thracians—the Thracian Bithynians and Thynians—who settled the country in question, and they put down as evidences of the tribe of the Bithynians that in Thrace certain people are to this day called Bithynians, and of that of the Thynian, that the coast near Apollonia and Salmydessus is called Thynias. And the Bebryces, who took up their abode in Mysia before these people, were also Thracians, as I suppose. It is stated that even the Mysians themselves are colonists of those Thracians who are now called Moesians. Such is the account given of these people.

4But all do not give the same account of the Mariandyni and the Caucones; for Heracleia, they say, is situated in the country of the Mariandyni, and was founded by the Milesians; but nothing has been said as to who they are or whence they came, nor yet do the people appear characterized by any ethnic difference, either in dialect or otherwise, although they are similar to the Bithynians. Accordingly, it is reasonable to suppose that this tribe also was at first Thracian. Theopompus says that Mariandynus ruled over a part of Paphlagonia, which was under the rule of many potentates, and then invaded and took possession of the country of the Bebryces, but left the country which he had abandoned named after himself. This, too, has been said, that the Milesians who were first to found Heracleia forced the Mariandyni, who held the place before them, to serve as Helots, so that they sold them, but not beyond the boundaries of their country (for the two peoples came to an agreement on this), just as the Mnoan class,†as it is called, were serfs of the Cretans and the Penestae of the Thessalians.

5As for the Cauconians, who, according to report, took up their abode on the seacoast next to the Mariandyni and extended as far as the Parthenius River, with Tieium as their city, some say that they were Scythians, others that they were a certain people of the Macedonians, and others that they were a certain people of the Pelasgians. But I have already spoken of these people in another place. Callisthenes in his treatise on The Marshalling of the Ships was for inserting†after the wordsCromna, Aegialus, and lofty Erythini†the wordsthe Cauconians were led by the noble son of Polycles—they who lived in glorious dwellings in the neighborhood of the Parthenius River,for, he adds, the Cauconians extended from Heracleia and the Mariandyni to the white Syrians, whom we call Cappadocians, and the tribe of the Cauconians round Tieium extended to the Parthenius River, whereas that of the Heneti, who held Cytorum, were situated next to them after the Parthenius River, and still today certain “Cauconitae”†live in the neighborhood of the Parthenius River.

6Now Heracleia is a city that has good harbors and is otherwise worthy of note, since, among other things, it has also sent forth colonies; for both Chersonesus and Callatis are colonies from it. It was at first an autonomous city, and then for some time was ruled by tyrants, and then recovered its freedom, but later was ruled by kings, when it became subject to the Romans. The people received a colony of Romans, sharing with them a part of their city and territory. But Adiatorix, the son of Domnecleius, tetrarch of the Galatians, received from Antony that part of the city which was occupied by the Heracleiotae; and a little before the Battle of Actium he attacked the Romans by night and slaughtered them, by permission of Antony, as he alleged. But after the victory at Actium he was led in triumph and slain together with his son. The city belongs to the Pontic Province which was united with Bithynia.

7Between Chalcedon and Heracleia flow several rivers, among which are the Psillis and the Calpas and the Sangarius, which last is mentioned by the poet.†The Sangarius has its sources near the village Sangia, about one hundred and fifty stadia from Pessinus. It flows through the greater part of Phrygia Epictetus, and also through a part of Bithynia, so that it is distant from Nicomedeia a little more than three hundred stadia, reckoning from the place where it is joined by the Gallus River, which has its beginnings at Modra in Phrygia on the Hellespont. This is the same country as Phrygia Epictetus, and it was formerly occupied by the Bithynians. Thus increased, and now having become navigable, though of old not navigable, the river forms a boundary of Bithynia at its outlets. Off this coast lies also the island Thynia. The plant called aconite grows in the territory of Heracleia. This city is about one thousand five hundred stadia from the Chalcedonian temple and five hundred from the Sangarius River.

8Tieium is a town that has nothing worthy of mention except that Philetaerus, the founder of the family of Attalic Kings, was from there. Then comes the Parthenius River, which flows through flowery districts and on this account came by its name;†it has its sources in Paphlagonia itself. And then comes Paphlagonia and the Eneti. Writers question whom the poet means by “the Eneti,” when he says,And the rugged heart of Pylaemenes led the Paphlagonians, from the land of the Eneti, whence the breed of wild mules;for at the present time, they say, there are no Eneti to be seen in Paphlagonia, though some say that there is a village†on the Aegialus ten schoeni†distant from Amastris. But Zenodotus writes “from Enete,”†and says that Homer clearly indicates the Amisus of today. And others say that a tribe called Eneti, bordering on the Cappadocians, made an expedition with the Cimmerians and then were driven out to the Adriatic Sea.†But the thing upon which there is general agreement is, that the Eneti, to whom Pylaemenes belonged, were the most notable tribe of the Paphlagonians, and that, furthermore, these made the expedition with him in very great numbers, but, losing their leader, crossed over to Thrace after the capture of Troy, and on their wanderings went to the Enetian country,†as it is now called. According to some writers, Antenor and his children took part in this expedition and settled at the recess of the Adriatic, as mentioned by me in my account of Italy. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that it was on this account that the Eneti disappeared and are not to be seen in Paphlagonia.

9As for the Paphlagonians, they are bounded on the east by the Halys River, which, according to Herodotus, flows from the south between the Syrians and the Paphlagonians and empties into the Euxine Sea, as it is called;by “Syrians,” however, he means the “Cappadocians,” and in fact they are still today called “White Syrians,” while those outside the Taurus are called “Syrians.” As compared with those this side the Taurus, those outside have a tanned complexion, while those this side do not, and for this reason received the appellation “white.” And Pindar says that the Amazonsswayed a ‘Syrian’ army that reached afar with their spears, thus clearly indicating that their abode was in Themiscyra. Themiscyra is in the territory of the Amiseni; and this territory belongs to the White Syrians, who live in the country next after the Halys River. On the east, then, the Paphlagonians are bounded by the Halys River; on the south by Phrygians and the Galatians who settled among them; on the west by the Bithynians and the Mariandyni (for the race of the Cauconians has everywhere been destroyed), and on the north by the Euxine. Now this country was divided into two parts, the interior and the part on the sea, each stretching from the Halys River to Bithynia; and Eupator not only held the coast as far as Heracleia, but also took the nearest part of the interior,†certain portions of which extended across the Halys (and the boundary of the Pontic Province has been marked off by the Romans as far as this).†The remaining parts of the interior, however, were subject to potentates, even after the overthrow of Mithridates. Now as for the Paphlagonians in the interior, I mean those not subject to Mithridates, I shall discuss them later, but at present I propose to describe the country which was subject to him, called the Pontus.

10After the Parthenius River, then, one comes to Amastris, a city bearing the same name as the woman who founded it. It is situated on a peninsula and has harbors on either side of the isthmus. Amastris was the wife of Dionysius the tyrant of Heracleia and the daughter of Oxyathres, the brother of the Dareius whom Alexander fought. Now she formed the city out of four settlements, Sesamus and Cytorum and Cromna (which Homer mentions in his marshalling of the Paphlagonian ships) and, fourth, Tieium. This part, however, soon revolted from the united city, but the other three remained together; and, of these three, Sesamus is called the acropolis of Amastris. Cytorum was once the emporium of the Sinopeans; it was named after Cytorus, the son of Phryxus, as Ephorus says. The most and the best box-wood grows in the territory of Amastris, and particularly round Cytorum. The Aegialus is a long shore of more than a hundred stadia, and it has also a village bearing the same name, which the poet mentions when he says,Cromna and Aegialus and the lofty Erythini,though some write, “Cromna and Cobialus.” They say that the Erythrini of today, from their color, used to be called Erythini; they are two lofty rocks. After Aegialus one comes to Carambis, a great cape extending towards the north and the Scythian Chersonese. I have often mentioned it, as also Criumetopon which lies opposite it, by which the Euxine Pontus is divided into two seas.†After Carambis one comes to Cinolis, and to Anticinolis, and to Abonuteichus,†a small town, and to Armene, to which pertains the proverb, whoever had no work to do walled Armene. It is a village of the Sinopeans and has a harbor.

11Then one comes to Sinope itself, which is fifty stadia distant from Armene; it is the most noteworthy of the cities in that part of the world. This city was founded by the Milesians; and, having built a naval station, it reigned over the sea inside the Cyaneae, and shared with the Greeks in many struggles even outside the Cyaneae; and, although it was independent for a long time, it could not eventually preserve its freedom, but was captured by siege, and was first enslaved by Pharnaces and afterwards by his successors down to Eupator†and to the Romans who overthrew Eupator. Eupator was both born and reared at Sinope; and he accorded it especial honor and treated it as the metropolis of his kingdom. Sinope is beautifully equipped both by nature and by human foresight, for it is situated on the neck of a peninsula, and has on either side of the isthmus harbors and roadsteads and wonderful pelamydes-fisheries, of which I have already made mention, saying that the Sinopeans get the second catch and the Byzantians the third.†Furthermore, the peninsula is protected all round by ridgy shores, which have hollowed-out places in them, rock-cavities, as it were, which the people call “choenicides”;†these are filled with water when the sea rises, and therefore the place is hard to approach, not only because of this, but also because the whole surface of the rock is prickly and impassable for bare feet. Higher up, however, and above the city, the ground is fertile and adorned with diversified market-gardens; and especially the suburbs of the city. The city itself is beautifully walled, and is also splendidly adorned with gymnasium and marked place and colonnades. But although it was such a city, still it was twice captured, first by Pharnaces, who unexpectedly attacked it all of a sudden, and later by Leucullus and by the tyrant who was garrisoned within it, being besieged both inside and outside at the same time; for, since Bacchides, who had been set up by the king as commander of the garrison, was always suspecting treason from the people inside, and was causing many outrages and murders, he made the people, who were unable either nobly to defend themselves or to submit by compromise, lose all heart for either course. At any rate, the city was captured; and though Leucullus kept intact the rest of the city’s adornments, he took away the globe of Billarus and the work of Sthenis, the statue of Autolycus,†whom they regarded as founder of their city and honored as god. The city had also an oracle of Autolycus. He is thought to have been one of those who went on the voyage with Jason and to have taken possession of this place. Then later the Milesians, seeing the natural advantages of the place and the weakness of its inhabitants, appropriated it to themselves and sent forth colonists to it. But at present it has received also a colony of Romans; and a part of the city and the territory belong to these. It is three thousand five hundred stadia distant from the Hieron,†two thousand from Heracleia, and seven hundred from Carambis. It has produced excellent men: among the philosophers, Diogenes the Cynic and Timotheus Patrion; among the poets, Diphilus the comic poet; and, among the historians, Baton, who wrote the work entitled The Persica.

12Thence, next, one comes to the outlet of the Halys River. It was named from the “halae,” past which it flows. It has its sources in Greater Cappadocia in Camisene near the Pontic country;†and, flowing in great volume towards the west, and then turning towards the north through Galatia and Paphlagonia, it forms the boundary between these two countries and the country of the White Syrians.†Both Sinopitis and all the mountainous country extending as far as Bithynia and lying above the aforesaid seaboard have shipbuilding timber that is excellent and easy to transport. Sinopitis produces also the maple and the mountain-nut, the trees from which they cut the wood used for tables. And the whole of the tilled country situated a little above the sea is planted with olive trees.

13After the outlet of the Halys comes Gazelonitis, which extends to Saramene; it is a fertile country and is everywhere level and productive of everything. It has also a sheep-industry, that of raising flocks clothed in skins and yielding soft wool,†of which there is a very great scarcity throughout the whole of Cappadocia and Pontus. The country also produces gazelles, of which there is a scarcity elsewhere. One part of this country is occupied by the Amiseni, but the other was given to Deïotarus by Pompey, as also the regions of Pharnacia and Trapezusia as far as Colchis and Lesser Armenia. Pompey appointed him king of all these, when he was already in possession of his ancestral Galatian tetrarchy, the country of the Tolistobogii. But since his death there have been many successors to his territories.

14After Gazelon one comes to Saramene, and to a notable city, Amisus, which is about nine hundred stadia from Sinope. Theopompus says that it was first founded by the Milesians,...†by a leader of the Cappadocians, and thirdly was colonized by Athenocles and Athenians and changed its name to Peiraeus. The kings also took possession of this city; and Eupator adorned it with temples and founded an addition to it. This city too was besieged by Leucullus, and then by Pharnaces, when he crossed over from the Bosporus. After it had been set free by the deified Caesar,†it was given over to kings by Antony. Then Straton the tyrant put it in bad plight. And then, after the Battle of Actium, it was again set free by Caesar Augustus; and at the present time it is well organized. Besides the rest of its beautiful country, it possesses also Themiscyra, the abode of the Amazons, and Sidene.

15Themiscyra is a plain; on one side it is washed by the sea and is about sixty stadia distant from the city, and on the other side it lies at the foot of the mountainous country, which is well wooded and coursed by streams that have their sources therein. So one river, called the Thermodon, being supplied by all these streams, flows out through the plain; and another river similar to this, which flows out of Phanaroea, as it is called, flows out through the same plain, and is called the Iris. It has its sources in Pontus itself, and, after flowing through the middle of the city Comana in Pontus and through Dazimonitis, a fertile plain, towards the west, then turns towards the north past Gaziura itself an ancient royal residence, though now deserted, and then bends back again towards the east, after receiving the waters of the Scylax and other rivers, and after flowing past the very wall of Amaseia, my fatherland, a very strongly fortified city, flows on into Phanaroea. Here the Lycus River, which has its beginnings in Armenia, joins it, and itself also becomes the Iris. Then the stream is received by Themiscyra and by the Pontic Sea. On this account the plain in question is always moist and covered with grass and can support herds of cattle and horses alike and admits of the sowing of millet-seeds and sorghum-seeds in very great, or rather unlimited, quantities. Indeed, their plenty of water offsets any drought, so that no famine comes down on these people, never once; and the country along the mountain yields so much fruit, self-grown and wild, I mean grapes and pears and apples and nuts, that those who go out to the forest at any time in the year get an abundant supply—the fruits at one time still hanging on the trees and at another lying on the fallen leaves or beneath them, which are shed deep and in great quantities. And numerous, also, are the catches of all kinds of wild animals, because of the good yield of food.

16After Themiscyra one comes to Sidene, which is a fertile plain, though it is not well-watered like Themiscyra. It has strongholds on the seaboard: Side, after which Sidene was named, and Chabaca and Phabda. Now the territory of Amisus extends to this point; and the city has produced men note-worthy for their learning, Demetrius, the son of Rhathenus, and Dionysodorus, the mathematicians, the latter bearing the same name as the Melian geometer, and Tyrranion the grammarian, of whom I was a pupil.

17After Sidene one comes to Pharnacia, a fortified town; and afterwards to Trapezus, a Greek city, to which the voyage from Amisus is about two thousand two hundred stadia. Then from here the voyage to Phasis is approximately one thousand four hundred stadia, so that the distance from Hieron to Phasis is, all told, about eight thousand stadia, or slightly more or less. As one sails along this seaboard from Amisus, one comes first to the Heracleian Cape, and then to another cape called Jasonium, and to Genetes, and then to a town called Cytorus,†from the inhabitants of which Pharnacia was settled, and then to Ischopolis, now in ruins, and then to a gulf, on which are both Cerasus and Hermonassa, moderate-sized settlements, and then, near Hermonassa, to Trapezus, and then to Colchis. Somewhere in this neighborhood is also a settlement called Zygopolis. Now I have already described Colchis and the coast which lies above it.

18Above Trapezus and Pharnacia are situated the Tibarani and Chaldaei and Sanni, in earlier times called Macrones, and Lesser Armenia; and the Appaïtae, in earlier times called the Cercitae, are fairly close to these regions. Two mountains cross the country of these people, not only the Scydises, a very rugged mountain, which joins the Moschian Mountains above Colchis (its heights are occupied by the Heptacomitae), but also the Paryadres, which extends from the region of Sidene and Themiscyra to Lesser Armenia and forms the eastern side of Pontus. Now all these peoples who live in the mountains are utterly savage, but the Heptacomitae are worse than the rest. Some also live in trees or turrets; and it was on this account that the ancients called them “Mosynoeci,” the turrets being called “mosyni.” They live on the flesh of wild animals and on nuts; and they also attack wayfarers, leaping down upon them from their scaffolds. The Heptacomitae cut down three maniples†of Pompey’s army when they were passing through the mountainous country; for they mixed bowls of the crazing honey which is yielded by the tree-twigs, and placed them in the roads, and then, when the soldiers drank the mixture and lost their senses, they attacked them and easily disposed of them. Some of these barbarians were also called Byzeres.

19The Chaldaei of today were in ancient times named Chalybes; and it is just opposite their territory that Pharnacia is situated, which, on the sea, has the natural advantages of pelamydes-fishing (for it is here that this fish is first caught)†and, on the land, has the mines, only iron-mines at the present time, though in earlier times it also had silver-mines.†Upon the whole, the seaboard in this region is extremely narrow, for the mountains, full of mines and forests, are situated directly above it, and not much of it is tilled. But there remains for the miners their livelihood from the mines, and for those who busy themselves on the sea their livelihood from their fishing, and especially from their catches of pelamydes and dolphins; for the dolphins pursue the schools of fish—the cordyle and the tunny-fish and the pelamydes themselves;†and they not only grow fat on them, but also become easy to catch because they are rather eager to approach the land. These are the only people who cut up the dolphins, which are caught with bait, and use their abundance of fat for all purposes.

20So it is these people, I think, that the poet calls Halizoni, mentioning them next the after Paphlagonians in his Catalogue.But the Halizones were led by Odius and Epistrophus, from Alybe far away, where is the birth-place of silver,since the text has been changed from “Chalybe far away” or else the people were in earlier times called “Alybes” instead of “Chalybes”; for at the present time it proves impossible that they should have been called “Chaldaei,” deriving their name from “Chalybe,” if in earlier times they could not have been called “Chalybes” instead of “Alybes,” and that too when names undergo many changes, particularly among the barbarians; for instance, certain of the Thracians were called Sinties, then Sinti and then Saïi, in whose country Archilochus says he flung away his shield: One of the Saïi robbed me of my shield, which, a blameless weapon, I left behind me beside a bush, against my will.†These same people are now named Sapaei; for all these have their abode round Abdera and the islands round Lemnos. Likewise the Brygi and Bryges and Phryges are the same people; and the Mysi and Maeones and Meïones are the same; but there is no use of enlarging on the subject. The Scepsian†doubts the alteration of the name from “Alybes” to “Chalybes”; and, failing to note what follows and what accords with it, and especially why the poet calls the Chalybians Halizoni, he rejects this opinion. As for me, let me place his assumption and those of the other critics side by side with my own and consider them.

21Some change the text and make it read “Alazones,” others “Amazones,” and for the words “from Alybe” they read “from Alope,” or “from Alobe,” calling the Scythians beyond the Borysthenes River “Alazones,” and also “Callipidae” and other names—names which Hellanicus and Herodotus and Eudoxus have foisted on us—and placing the Amazons between Mysia and Caria and Lydia near Cyme, which is the opinion also of Ephorus, who was a native of Cyme. And this opinion might perhaps not be unreasonable, for he may mean the country which was later settled by the Aeolians and the Ionians, but earlier by the Amazons. And there are certain cities, it is said, which got their names from the Amazons, I mean Ephesus, Smyrna, Cyme, and Myrina. But how could Alybe, or, as some call it, “Alope” or “Alobe,” be found in this region, and how about “far away,” and how about “the birthplace of silver”?

22These objections Ephorus solves by his change of the text, for he writes thus: But the Halizones were led by Odius and Epistrophus, from Alope far away, where is the race of Amazons.But in solving these objections he has fallen into another fiction; for Alope is nowhere to be found in this region; and, further, his change of the text, with innovations so contrary to the evidence of the early manuscripts, looks like rashness. But the Scepsian apparently accepts neither the opinion of Ephorus nor of those who suppose them to be the Halizoni near Pallene, whom I have mentioned in my description of Macedonia.†He is also at loss to understand how anyone could think that an allied force came to help the Trojans from the nomads beyond the Borysthenes River; and he especially approves of the opinions of Hecataeus of Miletus, and of Menecrates of Elaea, one of the disciples of Xenocrates, and also of that of Palaephatus. The first of these says in his Circuit of the Earth: Near the city Alazia is the River Odrysses, which flows out of Lake Dascylitis from the west through the plain of Mygdonia and empties into the Rhyndacus. But he goes on to say that Alazia is now deserted, and that many villages of the Alazones, through whose country the Odrysses flows, are inhabited, and that in these villages Apollo is accorded exceptional honor, and particularly on the confines of the Cyziceni. Menecrates in his work entitled The Circuit of the Hellespont says that above the region of Myrleia there is an adjacent mountainous tract which is occupied by the tribe of the Halizones. One should spell the name with two l’s, he says, but on account of the metre the poet spells it with only one. But Palaephatus says that it was from the Amazons who then lived in Alope, but now in Zeleia, that Odius and Epistrophus made their expedition. How, then, can the opinions of these men deserve approval? For, apart from the fact that these men also disturb the early text, they neither show us the silver-mines, nor where in the territory of Myrleia Alope is, nor how those who went from there to Ilium were “from far away,” even if one should grant that there actually was an Alope or Alazia; for these, of course, are much nearer the Troad than the places round Ephesus. But still those who speak of the Amazons as living in the neighborhood of Pygela between Ephesus and Magnesia and Priene talk nonsense, Demetrius says, for, he adds, “far away” cannot apply to that region. How much more inapplicable, then, is it to the region of Mysia and Teuthrania?

23Yes, by Zeus, but he goes on to say that some things are arbitrarily inserted in the text, for example,from Ascania far away,andArnaeus was his name, for his revered mother had given him this name at his birth,andPenelope took the bent key in her strong hand.Now let this be granted, but those other things are not to be granted to which Demetrius assents without even making a plausible reply to those who have assumed that we ought to read “from Chalybe far away”; for although he concedes that, even if the silver-mines are not now in the country of the Chalybians, they could have been there in earlier times, he does not concede that other point, that they were both famous and worthy of note, like the iron-mines. But, one might ask, what is there to prevent them from being famous like the iron-mines? Or can an abundance of iron make a place famous but an abundance of silver not do so? And if the silver-mines had reached fame, not in the time of the heroes, but in the time of Homer, could any person find fault with the assertion of the poet? How, pray, could their fame have reached the poet? How, pray, could the fame of the copper-mine at Temesa in Italy have reached him? How the fame of the wealth of Thebes in Egypt, although he was about twice as far from Thebes as from the Chaldaeans? But Demetrius is not even in agreement with those for whose opinions he pleads; for in fixing the sites round Scepsis, his birth-place, he speaks of Nea, a village, and of Argyria and Alazonia as near Scepsis and the Aesepus River. These places, then, if they really exist, would be near the sources of the Aesepus; but Hecataeus speaks of them as beyond the outlets of it; and Palaephatus, although he says that they†formerly lived in Alope, but now in Zeleia, says nothing like what these men say. But if Menecrates does so, not even he tells us what kind of a Place “Alope” is or “Alobe,” or however they wish to write the name, and neither does Demetrius himself.

24As regards Apollodorus, who discusses the same subject in his Marshalling of the Trojan Forces, I have already said much in answer to him, but I must now speak again; for he does not think that we should take the Halizoni as living outside the Halys River; for, he says, no allied force came to the Trojans from beyond the Halys. First, therefore, we shall ask of him who are the Halizoni this side the Halys andfrom Alybe far away, where is the birthplace of silver.For he will be unable to tell us. And we shall next ask him the reason why he does not concede that an allied force came also from the country on the far side of the river; for, if it is the case that all the rest of the allied forces except the Thracians lived this side the river, there was nothing to prevent this one allied force from coming from the far side of the Halys, from the country beyond the White Syrians.†Or was it possible for peoples who fought the Trojans to cross over from these regions and from the regions beyond, as they say the Amazons and Treres and Cimmerians did, and yet impossible for people who fought as allies with them to do so? Now the Amazons would not fight on Priam’s side because of the fact that he had fought against them as an ally of the Phrygians, against theAmazons, peers of men, who came at that time,†as Priam says,for I too, being their ally, was numbered among them; but since the peoples whose countries bordered on that of the Amazons were not even far enough away to make difficult the Trojan summons for help from their countries, and since, too, there was no underlying cause for hatred, there was nothing to prevent them, I think, from being allies of the Trojans.

25Neither can Apollodorus impute such an opinion to the early writers, as though they, one and all, voiced the opinion that no peoples from the far side of the Halys River took part in the Trojan war. One might rather find evidence to the contrary; at any rate, Maeandrius says that the Eneti first set forth from the country of the White Syrians and allied themselves with the Trojans, and that they sailed away from Troy with the Thracians and took up their abode round the recess of the Adrias,†but that the Eneti who did not have a part in the expedition had become Cappadocians. The following might seem to agree with this account, I mean the fact that the whole of that part of Cappadocia near the Halys River which extends along Paphlagonia uses two languages which abound in Paphlagonian names, as “Bagas,” “Biasas,” “Aeniates,” “Rhatotes,” “Zardoces,” “Tibius,” “Gasys,” “Oligasys,” and “Manes,” for these names are prevalent in Bamonitis,†Pimolitis,†Gazelonitis, Gazacene and most of the other districts. Apollodorus himself quotes the Homeric verse as written by Zenodotus, stating that he writes it as follows: from Enete,†whence the breed of the wild mules;and he says that Hecataeus takes Enete to be Amisus. But, as I have already stated, Amisus belongs to the White Syrians and is outside the Halys River.

26Apollodorus somewhere states, also, that the poet got an account of those Paphlagonians who lived in the interior from men who had passed through the country on foot, but that he was ignorant of the Paphlagonian coast, just as he was ignorant of the rest of the Pontic coast; for otherwise he would have named them. On the contrary, one can retort and say, on the basis of the description which I have now given, that Homer traverses the whole of the coast and omits nothing of the things that were then worth recording, and that it is not at all remarkable if he does not mention Heracleia and Amastris and Sinope, cities which had not yet been founded, and that it is not at all strange if he has mentioned no part of the interior. And further, the fact that Homer does not name many of the known places is no sign of ignorance, as I have already demonstrated in the foregoing part of my work;†for he says that Homer was ignorant of many of the famous things round the Pontus, for example, rivers and tribes, for otherwise, he says, Homer would have named them. This one might grant in the case of certain very significant things, for example, the Scythians and Lake Maeotis and the Ister River, for otherwise Homer would not have described the nomads by significant characteristics as “Galactophagi” and “Abii” and as “men most just,” and also as “proud Hippemolgi,” and yet fail to call the Scythians either Sauromatae or Sarmatae, if indeed they were so named by the Greeks, nor yet, when he mentions the Thracians and Mysians, pass by the Ister River in silence, greatest of the rivers, and especially when he is inclined to mark the boundaries of places by rivers, nor yet, when he mentions the Cimmerians, omit any mention of the Bosporus or Lake Maeotis.

27But in the case of things not so significant, either not at that time or for the purposes of his work, how could anyone find fault with Homer for omitting them? For example, for omitting the Tanaïs River, which is well known for no other reason than that it is the boundary between Asia and Europe. But the people of that time were not yet using either the name “Asia” or “Europe,” nor yet had the inhabited world been divided into three continents as now, for otherwise he would have named them somewhere because of their very great significance, just as he mentions Libya and also the Lips, the wind that blows from the western parts of Libya. But since the continents had not yet been distinguished, there was no need of mentioning the Tanaïs either. Many things were indeed worthy of mention, but they did not occur to him; for of course adventitiousness is much in evidence both in one’s discourse and in one’s actions. From all these facts it is clear that every man who judges from the poet’s failure to mention anything that he is ignorant of that thing uses faulty evidence. And it is necessary to set forth several examples to prove that it is faulty, for many use such evidence to a great extent. We must therefore rebuke them when they bring forward such evidences, even though in so doing I shall be repeating previous argument. For example, in the case of rivers, if anyone should say that the poet is ignorant of some river because he does not name it, I shall say that his argument is silly, because the poet does not even name the Meles River, which flows past Smyrna, the city which by most writers is called his birth-place, although he names the Hermus and Hyllus Rivers; neither does he name the Pactolus River, which flows into the same channel as these two rivers and rises in Tmolus, a mountain which he mentions;†neither does he mention Smyrna itself, nor the rest of the Ionian cities; nor the most of the Aeolian cities, though he mentions Miletus and Samos and Lesbos and Tenedos; nor yet the Lethaeus River, which flows past Magnesia, nor the Marsyas River, which rivers empty into the Maeander, which last he mentions by name, as alsothe Rhesus and Heptaporus and Caresus and Rhodius,and the rest, most of which are no more than small streams. And when he names both many countries and cities, he sometimes names with them the rivers and mountains, but sometimes he does not. At any rate, he does not mention the rivers in Aetolia or Attica, nor in several other countries. Besides, if he mentions rivers far away and yet does not mention those that are very near, it is surely not because he was ignorant of them, since they were known to all others. Nor yet, surely, was he ignorant of peoples that were equally near, some of which he names and some not; for example he names the Lycians and the Solymi, but not the Milyae; nor yet the Pamphylians or Pisidians; and though he names the Paphlagonians, Phrygians, and Mysians, he does not name the Mariandyni; and he mentions the Amazons, but not the White Syrians, or Cappadocians, or Lycaonians, though he repeatedly mentions the Phoenicians and the Egyptians and the Ethiopians. And although he mentions the Alëian Plain and the Arimi, he is silent as to the tribe to which both belong. Such a test of the poet, therefore, is false; but the test is true only when it is shown that some false statement is made by him. But Apollodorus has not been proved correct in this case either, I mean when he was bold enough to say that the “proud Hippemolgi” and “Galactophagi” were fabrications of the poet. So much for Apollodorus. I now return to the part of my description that comes next in order.

28Above the region of Pharnacia and Trapezus are the Tibareni and the Chaldaei, whose country extends to Lesser Armenia. This country is fairly fertile. Lesser Armenia, like Sophene, was always in the possession of potentates, who at times were friendly to the other Armenians and at times minded their own affairs. They held as subjects the Chaldaei and the Tibareni, and therefore their empire extended to Trapezus and Pharnacia. But when Mithridates Eupator had increased in power, he established himself as master, not only of Colchis, but also of all these places, these having been ceded to him by Antipater, the son of Sisis. And he cared so much for these places that he built seventy-five strongholds in them and therein deposited most of his treasures. The most notable of these strongholds were these: Hydara and Basgoedariza and Sinoria; Sinoria was close to the borders of Greater Armenia, and this is why Theophanes changed its spelling to Synoria.†For as a whole the mountainous range of the Paryadres has numerous suitable places for such strongholds, since it is well-watered and woody, and is in many places marked by sheer ravines and cliffs; at any rate, it was here that most of his fortified treasuries were built; and at last, in fact, Mithridates fled for refuge into these farthermost parts of the kingdom of Pontus, when Pompey invaded the country, and having seized a well-watered mountain near Dasteira in Acilisene (near by, also, was the Euphrates, which separates Acilisene from Lesser Armenia), he stayed there until he was besieged and forced to flee across the mountains into Colchis and from there to the Bosporus. Near this place, in Lesser Armenia, Pompey built a city, Nicopolis, which endures even to this day and is well peopled.

29Now as for Lesser Armenia, it was ruled by different persons at different times, according to the will of the Romans, and finally by Archeläus. But the Tibareni and Chaldaei, extending as far as Colchis, and Pharnacia and Trapezus are ruled by Pythodoris, a woman who is wise and qualified to preside over affairs of state. She is the daughter of Pythodorus of Tralles. She became the wife of Polemon and reigned along with him for a time, and then, when he died in the country of the Aspurgiani, as they are called, one of the barbarian tribes round Sindice, she succeeded to the rulership. She had two sons and a daughter by Polemon. Her daughter was married to Cotys the Sapaean,†but he was treacherously slain,†and she lived in widowhood, because she had children by him; and the eldest of these is now in power.†As for the sons of Pythodoris, one of them as a private citizen is assisting his mother in the administration of her empire, whereas the other has recently been established as king of Greater Armenia. She herself married Archeläus and remained with him to the end;†but she is living in widowhood now, and is in possession not only of the places above mentioned, but also of others still more charming, which I shall describe next.

30Sidene and Themiscyra are contiguous to Pharnacia. And above these lies Phanaroea, which has the best portion of Pontus, for it is planted with olive trees, abounds in wine, and has all the other goodly attributes a country can have. On its eastern side it is protected by the Paryadres Mountain, in its length lying parallel to that mountain; and on its western side by the Lithrus and Ophlimus Mountains. It forms a valley of considerable breadth as well as length; and it is traversed by the Lycus River, which flows from Armenia, and by the Iris, which flows from the narrow passes near Amaseia. The two rivers meet at about the middle of the valley; and at their junction is situated a city which the first man who subjugated it†called Eupatoria after his own name, but Pompey found it only half-finished and added to it territory and settlers, and called it Magnopolis. Now this city is situated in the middle of the plain, but Cabeira is situated close to the very foothills of the Paryadres Mountains about one hundred and fifty stadia farther south than Magnopolis, the same distance that Amaseia is farther west than Magnopolis. It was at Cabeira that the palace of Mithridates was built, and also the water-mill; and here were the zoological gardens, and, near by, the hunting grounds, and the mines.

31Here, also, is Kainon Chorion, as it is called, a rock that is sheer and fortified by nature, being less than two hundred stadia distant from Cabeira. It has on its summit a spring that sends forth much water, and at its foot a river and a deep ravine. The height of the rock above the neck†is immense, so that it is impregnable; and it is enclosed by remarkable walls, except the part where they have been pulled down by the Romans. And the whole country around is so overgrown with forests, and so mountainous and waterless, that it is impossible for an enemy to encamp within one hundred and twenty stadia. Here it was that the most precious of the treasures of Mithridates were kept, which are now stored in the Capitolium, where they were dedicated by Pompey. Pythodoris possesses the whole of this country, which is adjacent to the barbarian country occupied by her, and also Zelitis and Megalopolitis. As for Cabeira, which by Pompey had been built into a city and called Diospolis, Pythodoris further adorned it and changed its name to Sebaste;†and she uses the city as a royal residence. It has also the temple of Men of Pharnaces,†as it is called,—the village-city Ameria, which has many temples servants, and also a sacred territory, the fruit of which is always reaped by the ordained priest. And the kings revered this temple so exceedingly that they proclaimed the “royal” oath as follows: “By the Fortune of the king and by Men of Pharnaces.”†And this is also the temple of Selene,†like that among the Albanians and those in Phrygia,†I mean that of Men in the place of the same name and that of Men†Ascaeus†near the Antiocheia that is near Pisidia†and that of Men in the country of the Antiocheians.†

32Above Phanaroea is the Pontic Comana, which bears the same name as the city in Greater Cappadocia, having been consecrated to the same goddess and copied after that city; and I might almost say that the courses which they have followed in their sacrifices, in their divine obsessions, and in their reverence for their priests, are about the same, and particularly in the times of the kings who reigned before this, I mean in the times when twice a year, during the “exoduses”†of the goddess, as they are called, the priest wore a diadem†and ranked second in honor after the king.

33Heretofore I have mentioned Dorylaüs the tactician, who was my mother’s great grandfather, and also a second Dorylaüs, who was the nephew of the former and the son of Philetaerus, saying that, although he had received all the greatest honors from Eupator and in particular the priesthood of Comana, he was caught trying to cause the kingdom to revolt to the Romans; and when he was overthrown, the family was cast into disrepute along with him. But long afterwards Moaphernes, my mother’s uncle, came into distinction just before the dissolution of the kingdom, and again they were unfortunate along with the king, both Moaphernes and his relatives, except some who revolted from the king beforehand, as did my maternal grandfather, who, seeing that the cause of the king was going badly in the war with Leucullus, and at the same time being alienated from him out of wrath at his recently having put to death his cousin Tibius and Tibius’ son Theophilus, set out to avenge both them and himself; and, taking pledges from Leucullus, he caused fifteen garrisons to revolt to him; and although great promises were made in return for these services, yet, when Pompey, who succeeded Leucullus in the conduct of the war, went over, he took for enemies all who had in any way favored Leucullus, because of the hatred which had arisen between himself and Leucullus; and when he finished the war and returned home, he won so completely that the Senate would not ratify those honors which Leucullus had promised to certain of the people of Pontus, for, he said, it was unjust, when one man had brought the war to a successful issue, that the prizes and the distribution of the rewards should be placed in the hands of another man.

34Now in the times of the kings the affairs of Comana were administered in the manner already described, but when Pompey took over the authority, he appointed Archeläus priest and included within his boundaries, in addition to the sacred land, a territory of two schoeni (that is, sixty stadia) in circuit and ordered the inhabitants to obey his rule. Now he was governor of these, and also master of the temple-servants who lived in the city, except that he was not empowered to sell them. And even here†the temple-servants were no fewer in number than six thousand. This Archeläus was the son of the Archeläus who was honored by Sulla and the Senate, and was also a friend of Gabinius,†a man of consular rank. When Gabinius was sent into Syria, Archeläus himself also went there in the hope of sharing with him in his preparations for the Parthian War, but since the Senate would not permit him, he dismissed that hope and found another of greater importance. For it happened at that time that Ptolemaeus, the father of Cleopatra, had been banished by the Egyptians, and his daughter, elder sister of Cleopatra, was in possession of the kingdom; and since a husband of royal family was being sought for her, Archeläus proffered himself to her agents, pretending that he was the son of Mithridates Eupator; and he was accepted, but he reigned only six months. Now this Archeläus was slain by Gabinius in a pitched battle, when the latter was restoring Ptolemaeus to his kingdom.

35But his son succeeded to the priesthood; and then later, Lycomedes, to whom was assigned an additional territory of four hundred schoeni; but now that he has been deposed, the office is held by Dyteutus, son of Adiatorix, who is thought to have obtained the honor from Caesar Augustus because of his excellent qualities; for Caesar, after leading Adiatorix in triumph together with his wife and children, resolved to put him to death together with the eldest of his sons (for Dyteutus was the eldest), but when the second of the brothers told the soldiers who were leading them away to execution that he was the eldest, there was a contest between the two for a long time, until the parents persuaded Dyteutus to yield the victory to the younger, for he, they said, being more advanced in age, would be a more suitable guardian for his mother and for the remaining brother. And thus, they say, the younger was put to death with his father, whereas the elder was saved and obtained the honor of the priesthood. For learning about this, as it seems, after the men had already been put to death, Caesar was grieved, and he regarded the survivors as worthy of his favor and care, giving them the honor in question.

36Now Comana is a populous city and is a notable emporium for the people from Armenia; and at the times of the “exoduses”†of the goddess people assemble there from everywhere, from both the cities and the country, men together with women, to attend the festival. And there are certain others, also, who in accordance with a vow are always residing there, performing sacrifices in honor of the goddess. And the inhabitants live in luxury, and all their property is planted with vines; and there is a multitude of women who make gain from their persons, most of whom are dedicated to the goddess, for in a way the city is a lesser Corinth, for there too, on account of the multitude of courtesans, who were sacred to Aphrodite, outsiders resorted in great numbers and kept holiday. And the merchants and soldiers who went there squandered all their money so that the following proverb arose in reference to them: Not for every man is the voyage to Corinth. Such, then, is my account of Comana.

37The whole of the country around is held by Pythodoris, to whom belong, not only Phanaroea, but also Zelitis and Megalopolitis. Concerning Phanaroea I have already spoken. As for Zelitis, it has a city Zela, fortified on a mound of Semiramis, with the temple of Anaïtis, who is also revered by the Armenians. Now the sacred rites performed here are characterized by greater sanctity; and it is here that all the people of Pontus make their oaths concerning their matters of greatest importance. The large number of temple-servants and the honors of the priests were, in the time of the kings, of the same type as I have stated before, but at the present time everything is in the power of Pythodoris. Many persons had abused and reduced both the multitude of temple-servants and the rest of the resources of the temple. The adjacent territory, also, was reduced, having been divided into several domains—I mean Zelitis, as it is called (which has the city Zela on a mound); for in, early times the kings governed Zela, not as a city, but as a sacred precinct of the Persian gods, and the priest was the master of the whole thing. It was inhabited by the multitude of temple-servants, and by the priest, who had an abundance of resources; and the sacred territory as well as that of the priest was subject to him and his numerous attendants. Pompey added many provinces to the boundaries of Zelitis, and named Zela, as he did Megalopolis, a city, and he united the latter and Culupene and Camisene into one state; the latter two border on both Lesser Armenia and Laviansene, and they contain rock-salt, and also an ancient fortress called Camisa, now in ruins. The later Roman prefects assigned a portion of these two governments to the priests of Comana, a portion to the priest of Zela, and a portion to Ateporix, a dynast of the family of tetrarchs of Galatia; but now that Ateporix has died, this portion, which is not large, is subject to the Romans, being called a province (and this little state is is a political organization of itself, the people having incorporated Carana into it, from which fact its country is called Caranitis), whereas the rest is held by Pythodoris and Dyteutus.

38There remain to be described the parts of the Pontus which lie between this country and the countries of the Amisenians and Sinopeans, which latter extend towards Cappadocia and Galatia and Paphlagonia. Now after the territory of the Amisenians, and extending to the Halys River, is Phazemonitis, which Pompey named Neapolitis, proclaiming the settlement at the village Phazemon a city and calling it Neapolis. The northern side of this country is bounded by Gazelonitis and the country of the Amisenians; the western by the Halys River; the eastern by Phanaroea; and the remaining side by my country, that of the Amaseians, which is by far the largest and best of all. Now the part of Phazemonitis towards Phanaroea is covered by a lake which is like a sea in size, is called Stephane, abounds in fish, and has all round it abundant pastures of all kinds. On its shores lies a strong fortress, Icizari, now deserted; and, near by, a royal palace, now in ruins. The remainder of the country is in general bare of trees and productive of grain. Above the country of the Amaseians are situated the hot springs of the Phazemonitae, which are extremely good for the health, and also Sagylium, with a strong hold situated on a high steep mountain that runs up into a sharp peak. Sagylium also has an abundant reservoir of water, which is now in neglect, although it was useful to the kings for many purposes. Here Arsaces, one of the sons of Pharnaces, who was playing the dynast and attempting a revolution without permission from any of the prefects, was captured and slain.†He was captured, however, not by force, although the stronghold was taken by Polemon and Lycomedes, both of them kings, but by starvation, for he fled up into the mountain without provisions, being shut out from the plains, and he also found the wells of the reservoir choked up by huge rocks; for this had been done by order of Pompey, who ordered that the garrisons be pulled down and not be left useful to those who wished to flee up to them for the sake of robberies. Now it was in this way that Pompey arranged Phazemonitis for administrative purposes, but the later rulers distributed also†this country among kings.

39My city is situated in a large deep valley, through which flows the Iris River. Both by human foresight and by nature it is an admirably devised city, since it can at the same time afford the advantage of both a city and a fortress; for it is a high and precipitous rock, which descends abruptly to the river, and has on one side the wall on the edge of the river where the city is settled and on the other the wall that runs up on either side to the peaks. These peaks are two in number, are united with one another by nature, and are magnificently towered.†Within this circuit are both the palaces and monuments of the kings. The peaks are connected by a neck†which is altogether narrow, and is five or six stadia in height on either side as one goes up from the riverbanks and the suburbs; and from the neck to the peaks there remains another ascent of one stadium, which is sharp and superior to any kind of force. The rock also has reservoirs of water inside it, A water-supply of which the city cannot be deprived, since two tube-like channels have been hewn out, one towards the river and the other towards the neck. And two bridges have been built over the river, one from the city to the suburbs and the other from the suburbs to the outside territory; for it is at this bridge that the mountain which lies above the rock terminates. And there is a valley extending from the river which at first is not altogether wide, but it later widens out and forms the plain called Chiliocomum;†and then comes the Diacopene and Pimolisene country, all of which is fertile, extending to the Halys River. These are the northern parts of the country of the Amaseians, and are about five hundred stadia in length. Then in order comes the remainder of their country, which is much longer than this, extending to Babanomus and Ximene, which latter itself extends as far as the Halys River. This, then, is the length of their country, whereas the breadth from the north to the south extends, not only to Zelitis, but also to Greater Cappadocia, as far as the Trocmi. In Ximene there are “halae”†of rock-salt,†after which the river is supposed to have been called “Halys.” There are several demolished strongholds in my country, and also much deserted land, because of the Mithridatic War. However, it is all well supplied with trees; a part of it affords pasturage for horses and is adapted to the raising of the other animals; and the whole of it is beautifully adapted to habitation. Amaseia was also given to kings, though it is now a province.†

40There remains that part of the Pontic province which lies outside the Halys River, I mean the country round Mt. Olgassys, contiguous to Sinopis. Mt. Olgassys is extremely high and hard to travel. And temples that have been established everywhere on this mountain are held by the Paphlagonians. And round it lies fairly good territory, both Blaëne and Domanitis, through which latter flows the Amnias River. Here Mithridates Eupator utterly wiped out the forces of Nicomedes the Bithynian—not in person, however, since it happened that he was not even present, but through his generals. And while Nicomedes, fleeing with a few others, safely escaped to his home-land and from there sailed to Italy, Mithridates followed him and not only took Bithynia at the first assault but also took possession of Asia as far as Caria and Lycia. And here, too, a place was proclaimed a city, I mean Pompeiupolis†and in this city is Mt. Sandaracurgium,†not far away from Pimolisa, a royal fortress now in ruins, after which the country on either side of the river is called Pimolisene. Mt. Sandaracurgium is hollowed out in consequence of the mining done there, since the workmen have excavated great cavities beneath it. The mine used to be worked by publicans, who used as miners the slaves sold in the market because of their crimes; for, in addition to the painfulness of the work, they say that the air in the mines is both deadly and hard to endure on account of the grievous odor of the ore, so that the workmen are doomed to a quick death. What is more, the mine is often left idle because of the unprofitableness of it, since the workmen are not only more than two hundred in number, but are continually spent by disease and death.†So much be said concerning Pontus.

41After Pompeiupolis comes the remainder of the interior of Paphlagonia, extending westwards as far as Bithynia. This country, small though it is, was governed by several rulers a little before my time, but, the family of kings having died out, it is now in possession of the Romans. At any rate, they give to the country that borders on Bithynia†the names “Timonitis,” “the country of Gezatorix,” and also “Marmolitis,” “Sanisene,” and “ Potamia. There was also a Cimiatene, in which was Cimiata, a strong fortress situated at the foot of the mountainous country of the Olgassys. This was used by Mithridates, surnamed Ctistes,†as a base of operations when he established himself as lord of Pontus; and his descendants preserved the succession down to Eupator. The last to reign over Paphlagonia was Deïotarus, the son of Castor, surnamed Philadelphus, who possessed Gangra, the royal residence of Morzeüs, which was at the same time a small town and a fortress.

42Eudoxus mentions fish that are “dug up” in Paphlagonia “in dry places,” but he does not distinguish the place; and he says that they are dug up “in moist places round the Ascanian Lake below Cius,” without saying anything clear on the subject.†Since I am describing the part of Paphlagonia which borders on Pontus and since the Bithynians border on the Paphlagonians towards the west, I shall try to go over this region also; and then, taking a new beginning from the countries of these people and the Paphlagonians, I shall interweave my description of their regions with that of the regions which follow these in order towards the south as far as the Taurus —the regions that ran parallel to Pontus and Paphlagonia; for some such order and division is suggested by the nature of the regions.

1Bithynia is bounded on the east by the Paphlagonians and Mariandyni and some of the Epicteti; on the north by the Pontic Sea, from the outlets of the Sangarius River to the mouth of the sea at Byzantium and Chalcedon; on the west by the Propontis; and towards the south by Mysia and by Phrygia “Epictetus”, as it is called, though the same is also called “Hellespontiac” Phrygia.

2In this last country, at the mouth of the Pontus, are situated Chalcedon, founded by the Megarians, and Chrysopolis, a village, and the Chalcedonian temple; and slightly above the sea the country has a spring called Azaritia, which breeds little crocodiles. Then the Chalcedonian shore is followed by the Astacene Gulf as it is called, a part of the Propontis; and it was on this gulf that Nicomedeia was founded, being named after one of the Bithynian kings, who founded it.†But many kings, for example the Ptolemies, were, on account of the fame of the first, given the same name. And on the gulf itself there was also a city Astacus, founded by the Megarians and Athenians and afterwards by Doedalsus; and it was after the city Astacus that the gulf was named. It was razed to the ground by Lysimachus, and its inhabitants were transferred to Nicomedeia by the founder of the latter.

3Continuous with the Astacene Gulf is another gulf, which runs more nearly towards the rising sun than the former does; and on this gulf is Prusias, formerly called Cius. Cius was razed to the ground by Philip, the son of Demetrius and father of Perseus, and given by him to Prusias the son of Zelas, who had helped him raze both this city and Myrleia, which latter is a neighboring city and also is near Prusa. And Prusias restored them from their ruins and named the city Cius “Prusias” after himself and Myrleia “Apameia” after his wife. This is the Prusias who welcomed Hannibal, when the latter withdrew thither after the defeat of Antiochus, and who retired from Phrygia on the Hellespont in accordance with an agreement made with the Attalici.†This country was in earlier times called Lesser Phrygia, but the Attalici called it Phrygia Epictetus.†Above Prusias lies a mountain called Arganthonium. And here is the scene of the myth of Hylas, one of the companions of Heracles who sailed with him on the Argo, and who, when he was going out to get water, was carried off by the nymphs. And when Cius, who was also a companion of Heracles and with him on the voyage, returned from Colchis, he stayed here and founded the city which was named after him. And still to this day a kind of festival is celebrated among the Prusians, a mountain ranging festival, in which they march in procession and call Hylas, as though making their exodus to the forests in quest of him. And having shown a friendly disposition towards the Romans in the conduct of their government, the Prusians obtained freedom. Prusa is situated on the Mysian Olympus; it is a well governed city, borders on the Phrygians and the Mysians, and was founded by the Prusias who made war against Croesus.†

4It is difficult to mark the boundaries between the Bithynians and the Phrygians and the Mysians, or even those between the Doliones round Cyzicus and the Mygdonians and the Trojans. And it is agreed that each tribe is “apart” from the others (in the case of the Phrygians and Mysians, at least, there is a proverb, Apart are the boundaries of the Mysians and Phrygians), but that it is difficult to mark the boundaries between them. The cause of this is that the foreigners who went there, being barbarians and soldiers, did not hold the conquered country firmly, but for the most part were wanderers, driving people out and being driven out. One might conjecture that all these tribes were Thracian because the Thracians occupy the other side†and because the people on either side do not differ much from one another.

5But still, as far as one is able to conjecture, one might put down Mysia as situated between Bithynia and the outlet of the Aesepus River, as touching upon the sea, and as extending as far as Olympus, along almost the whole of it; and Epictetus as lying in the interior round Mysia, but nowhere touching upon the sea, and as extending to the eastern parts of the Ascanian Lake and territory; for the territory was called by the same name as the lake. And a part of this territory was Phrygian and a part Mysian, but the Phrygian part was farther away from Troy. And in fact one should thus interpret the words of the poet when he says,And Phorcys and godlike Ascanius led the Phrygians from afar, from Ascania,that is, the Phrygian Ascania,†since his words imply that another Ascania, the Mysian, near the present Nicaea, is nearer Troy, that is, the Ascania to which the poet refers when he says,and Palmys, and Ascanius, and Morys, son of Hippotion, who had come from deep-soiled Ascania to relieve their fellows.And it is not remarkable if he speaks of one Ascanius as a leader of the Phrygians and as having come from Ascania and also of another Ascanius as a leader of the Mysians and as having come from Ascania, for in Homer identity of names is of frequent occurrence, as also the surnaming of people after rivers and lakes and places.

6And the poet himself gives the Aesepus as a boundary of the Mysians, for after naming the foothills of Troy above Ilium that were subject to Aeneas, which he calls Dardania, he puts down Lycia as next towards the north, the country that was subject to Pandarus, in which Zeleia was situated; and he says,and they that dwelt in Zeleia’neath the nethermost foot of Mt. Ida, wealthy men, Trojans, who drink the dark water of the Aesepus.Below Zeleia, near the sea, and on this side of the Aesepus, are the plain of Adrasteia, Mt. Tereia, and Pitya (that is, speaking generally, the present Cyzicene near Priapus), which the poet names next after Zeleia; and then he returns to the parts towards the east and those on the far side of the Aesepus, by which he indicates that he regards the country as far as the Aesepus as the northerly and easterly limit of the Troad. Assuredly, however, Mysia and Olympus come after the Troad. Now ancient tradition suggests some such position of the tribes as this, but the present differences are the result of numerous changes, since different rulers have been in control at different times, and have confounded together some tribes and sundered others. For both the Phrygians and the Mysians had the mastery after the capture of Troy; and then later the Lydians; and after them the Aeolians and the Ionians; and then the Persians and the Macedonians; and lastly the Romans, under whose reign most of the peoples have already lost both their dialects and their names, since a different partition of the country has been made. But it is better for me to consider this matter when I describe the conditions as they now are, at the same time giving proper attention to conditions as they were in antiquity.

7In the interior of Bithynia are, not only Bithynium, which is situated above Tieium and holds the territory round Salon, where is the best pasturage for cattle and whence comes the Salonian cheese, but also Nicaea, the metropolis of Bithynia, situated on the Ascanian Lake, which is surrounded by a plain that is large and very fertile but not at all healthful in summer. Nicaea was first founded by Antigonus†the son of Philip, who called it Antigonia, and then by Lysimachus, who changed its name to that of Nicaea his wife. She was the daughter of Antipater.†The city is sixteen stadia in circuit and is quadrangular in shape; it is situated in a plain, and has four gates; and its streets are cut at right angles, so that the four gates can be seen from one stone which is set up in the middle of the gymnasium. Slightly above the Ascanian Lake is the town Otroea, situated just on the borders of Bithynia towards the east. It is surmised that Otroea was so named after Otreus.

8That Bithynia was a settlement of the Mysians will first be testified by Scylax the Caryandian,†who says that Phrygians and Mysians lived round the Ascanian Lake; and next by the Dionysius†who wrote on “The Foundings” of cities, who says that the strait at Chalcedon and Byzantium, now called the Thracian Bosporus, was in earlier times called the Mysian Bosporus. And this might also be set down as an evidence that the Mysians were Thracians. Further, when Euphorion†says,beside the waters of the Mysian Ascanius, and when Alexander the Aetolian says,who have their homes on the Ascanian streams, on the lips of the Ascanian Lake, where dwelt Dolion the son of Silenus and Melia,†they bear witness to the same thing, since the Ascanian Lake is nowhere to be found but here alone.

9Bithynia has produced men notable for their learning: Xenocrates the philosopher, Dionysius the dialectician, Hipparchus,†Theodosius and his sons the mathematicians, and also Cleochares the rhetorician of Myrleia and Asclepiades†the physician of Prusa.

10To the south of the Bithynians are the Mysians round Olympus (who by some are called the Olympeni and by others the Hellespontii) and the Hellespontian Phrygia; and to the south of the Paphlagonians are the Galatae; and still to the south of these two is Greater Phrygia, as also Lycaonia, extending as far as the Cilician and the Pisidian Taurus. But since the region continuous with Paphlagonia is adjacent to Pontus and Cappadocia and the tribes which I have already described, it might be appropriate for me first to give an account of the parts in the neighborhood of these and then set forth a description of the places that come next thereafter.

1The Galatians, then, are to the south of the Paphlagonians. And of these there are three tribes; two of them, the Trocmi and the Tolistobogii, are named after their leaders, whereas the third, the Tectosages, is named after the tribe in Celtica. This country was occupied by the Galatae after they had wandered about for a long time, and after they had overrun the country that was subject to the Attalic and the Bithynian kings, until by voluntary cession they received the present Galatia, or Gallo-Graecia, as it is called. Leonnorius is generally reputed to have been the chief leader of their expedition across to Asia. The three tribes spoke the same language and differed from each other in no respect; and each was divided into four portions which were called tetrarchies, each tetrarchy having its own tetrarch, and also one judge and one military commander, both subject to the tetrarch, and two subordinate commanders. The Council of the twelve tetrarchs consisted of three hundred men, who assembled at Drynemetum, as it was called. Now the Council passed judgment upon murder cases, but the tetrarchs and the judges upon all others. Such, then, was the organization of Galatia long ago, but in my time the power has passed to three rulers, then to two; and then to one, Deïotarus, and then to Amyntas, who succeeded him. But at the present time the Romans possess both this country and the whole of the country that became subject to Amyntas, having united them into one province.

2The Trocmi possess the parts near Pontus and Cappadocia. These are the most powerful of the parts occupied by the Galatians. They have three walled garrisons: Tavium, the emporium of the people in that part of the country, where are the colossal statue of Zeus in bronze and his sacred precinct, a place of refuge; and Mithridatium, which Pompey gave to Bogodiatarus, having separated it from the kingdom of Pontus; and third, Danala, where Pompey and Leucullus had their conference, Pompey coming there as successor of Leucullus in the command of the war, and Leucullus giving over to Pompey his authority and leaving the country to celebrate his triumph. The Trocmi, then, possess these parts, but the Tectosages the parts near Greater Phrygia in the neighborhood of Pessinus and Orcaorci. To the Tectosages belonged the fortress Ancyra, which bore the same name as the Phrygian town situated toward Lydia in the neighborhood of Blaudus. And the Tolistobogii border on the Bithynians and Phrygia “Epictetus” as it is called. Their fortresses are Blucium and Peïum, the former of which was the royal residence of Deïotarus and the latter the place where he kept his treasures.

3Pessinus is the greatest of the emporiums in that part of the world, containing a temple of the Mother of the gods, which is an object of great veneration. They call her Agdistis. The priests were in ancient times potentates, I might call them, who reaped the fruits of a great priesthood, but at present the prerogatives of these have been much reduced, although the emporium still endures. The sacred precinct has been built up by the Attalic kings in a manner befitting a holy place, with a sanctuary and also with porticos of white marble. The Romans made the temple famous when, in accordance with oracles of the Sibyl, they sent for the statue of the goddess there, just as they did in the case of that of Asclepius at Epidaurus. There is also a mountain situated above the city, Dindymum, after which the country Dindymene was named, just as Cybele was named after Cybela. Near by, also, flows the Sangarius River; and on this river are the ancient habitations of the Phrygians, of Midas, and of Gordius, who lived even before his time, and of certain others,—habitations which preserve not even traces of cities, but are only villages slightly larger than the others, for instance, Gordium and Gorbeus, the royal residence of Castor the son of Saocondarius, where Deïotarus, Castor’s father-in-law, slew him and his own daughter. And he pulled down the fortress and ruined most of the settlement.

4After Galatia towards the south are situated Lake Tatta, which lies alongside Greater Cappadocia near Morimene but is a part of Greater Phrygia, and the country continuous with this lake and extending as far as the Taurus, most of which was held by Amyntas. Now lake Tatta is a natural salt-pan; and the water so easily congeals round everything that is immersed in it, that when people let down into it rings made of rope they draw up wreaths of salt, and that, on account of the congealing of the salt, the birds which touch the water with their wings fall on the spot and are thus caught.

1Such, then, is Tatta. And the regions round Orcaorci and Pitnissus, as also the plateaus of the Lycaonians, are cold, bare of trees, and grazed by wild asses, though there is a great scarcity of water; and even where it is possible to find water, then wells are the deepest in the world, just as in Soatra, where the water is actually sold (this is a village-city near Garsaüra). But still, although the country is unwatered,†it is remarkably productive of sheep; but the wool is coarse, and yet some persons have acquired very great wealth from this alone. Amyntas had over three hundred flocks in this region. There are also two lakes in this region, the larger being Lake Coralis and the smaller Lake Trogitis. In this neighborhood is also Iconium, a town that is well settled and has a more prosperous territory than the above-mentioned ass-grazing country. This place was held by Polemon. Here the region in question is near the Taurus, which separates Cappadocia and Lycaonia from Cilicia Tracheia, which last lies above that region. The boundary between the Lycaonians and the Cappadocians lies between Coropassus, a village of the Lycaonians,and Garsaüra, a town of the Cappidocians. The distance between these strongholds is about one hundred and twenty stadia.

2To Lycaonia belongs also Isaurice, near the Taurus itself, which has the two lsauras, villages bearing the same name, one of which is called Old lsaura, and the other New Isaura, which is well-fortified. Numerous other villages were subject to these, and they all were settlements of robbers. They were a source of much trouble to the Romans and in particular to Publius Servilius, surnamed Isauricus, with whom I was acquainted; he subjected these places to the Romans and also destroyed most of the strongholds of the pirates that were situated on the sea.

3On the side of Isaurice lies Derbe, which lies closer to Cappadocia than to any other country and was the royal seat of the tyrant Antipater Derbetes. He also possessed Laranda. But in my time Derbe and also the two lsauras have been held by Amyntas,†who attacked and killed Derbetes, although he received Isaura from the Romans. And, indeed, after destroying the Old Isaura, he built for himself a royal residence there. And though he was building a new wall in the same place, he did not live to complete it, but was killed by the Cilicians, when he was invading the country of the Homonadeis and was captured by ambuscade.

4For, being in possession of the Antiocheia near Pisidia and of the country as far as the Apollonias near Apameia Cibotus and of certain parts of the country alongside the mountain, and of Lycaonia, he was trying to exterminate the Cilicians and the Pisidians, who from the Taurus were overrunning this country, which belonged to the Phrygians and the Cilicians; and he captured many places which previously had been impregnable, among which was Cremna. However, he did not even try to win Sandalium by force, which is situated between Cremna and Sagalassus.

5Now Cremna is occupied by Roman colonists and Sagalassus is subject to the same Roman governor to whom the whole kingdom of Amyntas was subject. It is a day’s journey distant from Apameia, having a descent of about thirty stadia from the fortress. It is also called Selgessus; this city was also captured by Alexander. Now Amyntas captured Cremna, and, passing into the country of the Homonadeis, who were considered too strong to capture, and having now established himself as master of most of the places, having even slain their tyrant, was caught by treachery through the artifice of the tyrant’s wife. And he was put to death by those people, but Cyrinius†overthrew the inhabitants by starving them, and captured alive four thousand men and settled them in the neighboring cities, leaving the country destitute of all its men who were in the prime of life. In the midst of the heights of the Taurus, which are very steep and for the most part impassable, there is a hollow and fertile plain which is divided into several valleys. But though the people tilled this plain, they lived on the overhanging brows of the mountains or in caves. They were armed for the most part and were wont to overrun the country of others, having mountains that served as walls about their country.

1Contiguous to these are the Pisidians, and in particular the Selgeis, who are the most notable of the Pisidians. Now the greater part of them occupy the summits of the Taurus, but some, situated above Side and Aspendus, Pamphylian cities, occupy hilly places, everywhere planted with olive-trees; and the region above this (we are now in the mountains) is occupied by the Catenneis, whose country borders on that of the Selgeis and the Homonadeis; but the Sagalasseis occupy the region this side the Taurus that faces Milyas.

2Artemidorus says that the cities of the Pisidians are Selge, Sagalassus, Petnelissus, Adada, Tymbriada, Cremna, Pityassus, Amblada, Anabura, Sinda, Aarassus, Tarbassus, and Termessus. Of these, some are entirely in the mountains, while others extend even as far as the foot-hills on either side, to both Pamphylia and Milyas, and border on the Phrygians and the Lydians and the Carians, which are all peaceable tribes, although they are situated towards the north. But the Pamphylians, who share much in the traits of the Cilician stock of people, do not wholly abstain from the business of piracy, nor yet do they allow the peoples on their borders to live in peace, although they occupy the southern parts of the foot-hills of the Taurus. And on the borders of the Phrygians and Caria are situated Tabae and Sinda, and also Amblada, whence is exported the Ambladian wine, which is suitable for use in medicinal diets.

3Now all the rest of the above-mentioned Pisidians who live in the mountains are divided into separate tribes governed by tyrants, like the Cilicians, and are trained in piracy. It is said that in ancient times certain Leleges, a wandering people, intermingled with them and on account of similarity of character stayed there. Selge was founded at first by the Lacedaemonians as a city, and still earlier by Calchas; but later it remained an independent city, having waxed so powerful on account of the law-abiding manner in which its government was conducted that it once contained twenty thousand men. And the nature of the region is wonderful, for among the summits of the Taurus there is a country which can support tens of thousands of inhabitants and is so very fertile that it is planted with the olive in many places, and with fine vineyards, and produces abundant pasture for cattle of all kinds; and above this country, all round it, lie forests of various kinds of timber. But it is the styrax-tree†that is produced in greatest abundance there, a tree which is not large but grows straight up, the tree from which the styracine javelins are made, similar to those made of cornel-wood. And a species of wood-eating worm†is bred in the trunk which eats through the wood of the tree to the surface, and at first pours out raspings like bran or saw-dust, which are piled up at the root of the tree; and then a liquid substance exudes which readily hardens into a substance like gum. But a part of this liquid flows down upon the raspings at the root of the tree and mixes with both them and the soil, except so much of it as condenses on the surface of the raspings and remains pure, and except the part which hardens on the surface of the trunk down which it flows, this too being pure. And the people make a kind of substance mixed with wood and earth from that which is not pure, this being more fragrant than the pure substance but otherwise inferior in strength to it (a fact unnoticed by most people), which is used in large quantities as frankincense by the worshippers of the gods. And people praise also the Selgic iris†and the ointment made from it. The region round the city and the territory of the Selgians has only a few approaches, since their territory is mountainous and full of precipices and ravines, which are formed, among other rivers, by the Eurymedon and the Cestrus, which flow from the Selgic mountains and empty into the Pamphylian Sea. But they have bridges on their roads. Because of their natural fortifications, however, the Selgians have never even once, either in earlier or later times, become subject to others, but unmolested have reaped the fruit of the whole country except the part situated below them in Pamphylia and inside the Taurus, for which they were always at war with the kings; but in their relations with the Romans, they occupied the part in question on certain stipulated conditions. They sent an embassy to Alexander and offered to receive his commands as a friendly country, but at the present time they have become wholly subject to the Romans and are included in the territory that was formerly subject to Amyntas.

1Bordering on the Bithynians towards the south, as I have said, are the Mysians and Phrygians who live round the Mysian Olympus, as it is called. And each of these tribes is divided into two parts. For one part of Phrygia is called Greater Phrygia, the part over which Midas reigned, a part of which was occupied by the Galatians, whereas the other is called Lesser Phrygia, that on the Hellespont and round Olympus, I mean Phrygia Epictetus,†as it is called. Mysia is likewise divided into two parts, I mean Olympene, which is continuous with Bithynia and Phrygia Epictetus, which, according to Artemidorus, was colonized by the Mysians who lived on the far side of the Ister,†and, secondly, the country in the neighborhood of the Caïcus River and Pergamene, extending as far as Teuthrania and the outlets of the river.

2But the boundaries of these parts have been so confused with one another, as I have often said, that it is uncertain even as to the country round Mt. Sipylus, which the ancients called Phrygia, whether it was a part of Greater Phrygia or of Lesser Phrygia, where lived, they say, the “Phrygian” Tantalus and Pelops and Niobe. But no matter which of the two opinions is correct, the confusion of the boundaries is obvious; for Pergamene and Elaïtis, where the Caïcus empties into the sea, and Teuthrania, situated between these two countries, where Teuthras lived and where Telephus was reared, lie between the Hellespont on the one side and the country round Sipylus and Magnesia, which lies at the foot of Sipylus, on the other; and therefore, as I have said before, it is a task to determine the boundaries (Apart are the boundaries of the Mysians and Phrygians).

3And the Lydians and the Maeonians, whom Homer calls the Mëiones, are in some way confused both with these peoples and with one another, because some say that they are the same and others that they are different; and they are confused with these people†because some say that the Mysians were Thracians but others that they were Lydians, thus concurring with an ancient explanation given by Xanthus the Lydian and Menecrates of Elaea, who explain the origin of the name of the Mysians by saying that the oxya-tree is so named by the Lydians.†And the oxya-tree abounds in the neighborhood of Mt. Olympus, where they say that the decimated persons were put out†and that their descendants were the Mysians of later times, so named after the oxya-tree, and that their language bears witness to this; for, they add, their language is, in a way, a mixture of the Lydian and the Phrygian languages, for the reason that, although they lived round Mt. Olympus for a time, yet when the Phrygians crossed over from Thrace and slew a ruler of Troy and of the country near it, those people took up their abode there, whereas the Mysians took up their abode above the sources of the Caïcus near Lydia.

4Contributing to the creation of myths of this kind are the confusion of the tribes there and the fertility of the country this side the Halys River, particularly that of the seaboard, on account of which attacks were made against it from numerous places and continually by peoples from the opposite mainland, or else the people near by would attack one another. Now it was particularly in the time of the Trojan War and after that time that invasions and migrations took place, since at the same time both the barbarians and the Greeks felt an impulse to acquire possession of the countries of others; but this was also the case before the Trojan War, for the tribe of the Pelasgians was then in existence, as also that of the Cauconians and Leleges. And, as I have said before,†they wandered in ancient times over many regions of Europe. These tribes the poet makes the allies of the Trojans, but not as coming from the opposite mainland. The accounts both of the Phrygians and of the Mysians go back to earlier times than the Trojan War. The existence of two groups of Lycians arouses suspicion that they were of the same tribe, whether it was the Trojan Lycians or those near Caria that colonized the country of the other of the two. And perhaps the same was also true in the case of the Cilicians, for these, too, were two-fold; however, we are unable to get the same kind of evidence that the present tribe of Cilicians was already in existence before the Trojan War. Telephus might be thought to have come from Arcadia with his mother; and having become related to Teuthras, to whom he was a welcome guest, by the marriage of his mother to that ruler, was regarded as his son and also succeeded to the rulership of the Mysians.

5Not only the Carians, who in earlier times were islanders, but also the Leleges, as they say, became mainlanders with the aid of the Cretans, who founded, among other places, Miletus, having taken Sarpedon from the Cretan Miletus as founder; and they settled the Termilae in the country which is now called Lycia; and they say that these settlers were brought from Crete by Sarpedon, a brother of Minos and Rhadamanthus, and that he gave the name Termilae to the people who were formerly called Milyae, as Herodotus says, and were in still earlier times called Solymi, but that when Lycus the son of Pandion went over there he named the people Lycians after himself. Now this account represents the Solymi and the Lycians as the same people, but the poet makes a distinction between them. At any rate, Bellerophontes set out from Lycia andfought with the glorious Solymi.And likewise his son Peisander†was slain when fighting the Solymiby Ares, as he says. And he also speaks of Sarpedon as a native of Lycia.

6But the fact that the fertility of the country of which I am speaking†was set before the powerful as a common prize of war is confirmed by many things which have taken place even subsequent to the Trojan War,†since even the Amazons took courage to attack it, against whom not only Priam, but also Bellerophontes, are said to have made expeditions; and the naming of ancient cities after the Amazons attests this fact. And in the Trojan Plain there is a hillwhich by men is called ‘Batieia,’ but by the immortals ‘the tomb of the much-bounding Myrina,’who, historians say, was one of the Amazons, inferring this from the epithet “much-bounding”; for they say that horses are called “well-bounding” because of their speed, and that Myrina, therefore, was called “much-bounding” because of the speed with which she drove her chariot. Myrina, therefore, is named after this Amazon. And the neighboring islands had the same experience because of their fertility; and Homer clearly testifies that, among these, Rhodes and Cos were already inhabited by Greeks before the Trojan War.

7After the Trojan War the migrations of the Greeks and the Trerans, and the onsets of the Cimmerians and of the Lydians, and, after this, of the Persians and the Macedonians, and, at last, of the Galatians, disturbed and confused everything. But the obscurity has arisen, not on account of the changes only, but also on account of the disagreements of the historians, who do not say the same things about the same subjects, calling the Trojans Phrygians, as do the tragic poets, and the Lycians Carians; and so in the case of other peoples. But the Trojans, having waxed so strong from a small beginning that they became kings of kings, afforded both the poet and his expounders grounds for enquiring what should be called Troy; for in a general way he calls “Trojans” the peoples, one and all, who fought on the Trojan side, just as he called their opponents both “Danaans” and “Achaeans”; and yet, of course, we shall surely not speak of Paphlagonia as a part of Troy, nor yet Caria, nor the country that borders on Caria, I mean Lycia. I mean when the poet says,the Trojans advanced with clamor and with a cry like birds,and when he says of their opponents,but the Achaeans advanced in silence, breathing rage.And in many ways he uses terms differently. But still, although such is the case, I must try to arbitrate the several details to the best of my ability. However, if anything in ancient history escapes me, I must leave it unmentioned, for the task of the geographer does not lie in that field, and I must speak of things as they now are.

8Above the Propontis, then, there are two mountains, the Mysian Olympus and Mt. Ida. Now the region of the Bithynians lies at the foot of Olympus, whereas Troy is situated between Mt. Ida and the sea and borders on the mountain. As for Troy, I shall describe it and the parts adjacent to it towards the south later on, but at present let me describe the country of Mt. Olympus and the parts which come next in order thereafter, extending as far as the Taurus and lying parallel to the parts which I have previously traversed. Mt. Olympus, then, is not only well settled all round but also has on its heights immense forests and places so well-fortified by nature that they can support bands of robbers; and among these bands there often arise tyrants who are able to maintain their power for a long time; for example, Cleon, who in my time was chieftain of the bands of robbers.

9Cleon was from the village Gordium, which he later enlarged, making it a city and calling it Juliopolis; but from the beginning he used the strongest of the strongholds, Callydium by name, as retreat and base of operations for the robbers. And he indeed proved useful to Antony, since he made an attack upon those who were levying money for Labienus†at the time when the latter held possession of Asia, and he hindered his preparations, but in the course of the Actian War, having revolted from Antony, he joined the generals of Caesar and was honored more than he deserved, since he also received, in addition to what Antony had given him, what Caesar gave him, so that he was invested with the guise of dynast, from being a robber, that is, he was priest of Zeus Abrettenus, a Mysian god, and held subject a part of Morene, which, like Abrettene, is also Mysian, and received at last the priesthood of Comana in Pontus, although he died within a month’s time after he went down to Comana. He was carried off by an acute disease, which either attacked him in consequence of excessive repletion or else, as the people round the temple said, was inflicted upon him because of the anger of the goddess; for the dwelling of both the priest and the priestess is within the circuit of the sacred precinct, and the sacred precinct, apart from its sanctity in other respects, is most conspicuously free from the impurity of the eating of swine’s flesh; in fact, the city as a whole is free from it; and swine cannot even be brought into the city. Cleon, however, among the first things he did when he arrived, displayed the character of the robber by transgressing this custom, as though he had come, not as priest, but as corrupter of all that was sacred.

10Such, then, is Mt. Olympus; and towards the north it is inhabited all round by the Bithynians and Mygdonians and Doliones, whereas the rest of it is occupied by Mysians and Epicteti. Now the peoples round Cyzicus, from the Aesepus River to the Rhyndacus River and lake Dascylitis, are for the most part called Doliones, whereas the peoples who live next after these as far as the country of the Myrleians are called Mygdonians. Above lake Dascylitis lie two other lakes, large ones, I mean Lake Apolloniatis and Lake Miletopolitis. Near Lake Dascylitis is the city Dascylium, and near Lake Miletopolitis Miletopolis, and near the third lake “Apollonia on Rhyndacus,” as it is called. But at the present time most of these places belong to the Cyziceni.

11Cyzicus is an island in the Propontis, being connected with the mainland by two bridges; and it is not only most excellent in the fertility of its soil, but in size has a perimeter of about five hundred stadia. It has a city of the same name near the bridges themselves, and two harbors that can be closed, and more than two hundred ship-sheds. One part of the city is on level ground and the other is near a mountain called “Arcton-oros.”†Above this mountain lies another mountain, Dindymus; it rises into a single peak, and it has a temple of Dindymene, mother of the gods, which was founded by the Argonauts. This city rivals the foremost of the cities of Asia in size, in beauty, and in its excellent administration of affairs both in peace and in war. And its adornment appears to be of a type similar to that of Rhodes and Massalia and ancient Carthage. Now I am omitting most details, but I may say that there are three directors who take care of the public buildings and the engines of war, and three who have charge of the treasure-houses, one of which contains arms and another engines of war and another grain. They prevent the grain from spoiling by mixing Chalcidic earth†with it. They showed in the Mithridatic war the advantage resulting from this preparation of theirs; for when the king unexpectedly came over against them with one hundred and fifty thousand men and with a large cavalry, and took possession of the mountain opposite the city, the mountain called Adrasteia, and of the suburb, and then, when he transferred his army to the neck of land above the city and was fighting them, not only on land, but also by sea with four hundred ships, the Cyziceni held out against all attacks, and, by digging a counter-tunnel, all but captured the king alive in his own tunnel; but he forestalled this by taking precautions and by withdrawing outside his tunnel: Leucullus, the Roman general, was able, though late, to send an auxiliary force to the city by night; and, too, as an aid to the Cyziceni, famine fell upon that multitudinous army, a thing which the king did not foresee, because he suffered a great loss of men before he left the island. But the Romans honored the city; and it is free to this day, and holds a large territory, not only that which it has held from ancient times, but also other territory presented to it by the Romans; for, of the Troad, they possess the parts round Zeleia on the far side of the Aesepus, as also the plain of Adrasteia, and, of Lake Dascylitis, they possess some parts, while the Byzantians possess the others. And in addition to Dolionis and Mygdonis they occupy a considerable territory extending as far as lake Miletopolitis and Lake Apolloniatis itself. It is through this region that the Rhyndacus River flows; this river has its sources in Azanitis, and then, receiving from Mysia Abrettene, among other rivers, the Macestus, which flows from Ancyra in Abäeitis, empties into the Propontis opposite the island Besbicos. In this island of the Cyziceni is a well-wooded mountain called Artace; and in front of this mountain lies an isle bearing the same name; and near by is a promontory called Melanus, which one passes on a coasting-voyage from Cyzicus to Priapus.

12To Phrygia Epictetus belong the cities Azani, Nacolia, Cotiäeium, Midäeium, and Dorylaeum, and also Cadi, which, according to some writers, belongs to Mysia. Mysia extends in the interior from Olympene to Pergamene, and to the plain of Caïcus, as it is called; and therefore it lies between Mt. Ida and Catacecaumene, which latter is by some called Mysian and by others Maeonian.

13Above Phrygia Epictetus towards the south is Greater Phrygia, which leaves on the left Pessinus and the region of Orcaorci and Lycaonia, and on the right the Maeonians and Lydians and Carians. In Epictetus are Phrygia “Paroreia,”†as it is called, and the part of Phrygia that lies towards Pisidia, and the parts round Amorium and Eumeneia and Synnada, and then Apameia Cibotus, as it is called, and Laodiceia, which two are the largest of the Phrygian cities. And in the neighborhood of these are situated towns, and.....,†Aphrodisias, Colossae, Themisonium, Sanaüs, Metropolis, and Apollonias; but still farther away than these are Peltae, Tabae, Eucarpia, and Lysias.

14Now Phrygia Paroreia has a kind of mountainous ridge extending from the east towards the west; and below it on either side lies a large plain. And there are cities near it: towards the north, Philomelium, and, on the other side, the Antiocheia near Pisidia, as it is called, the former lying wholly in a plain, whereas the latter is on a hill and has a colony of Romans. The latter was settled by Magnetans who lived near the Maeander River. The Romans set them free from their kings at the time when they gave over to Eumenes†the rest of Asia this side the Taurus. Here there was also a priesthood of Men Arcaeus,†which had a number of temple-slaves and sacred places, but the priesthood was destroyed after the death of Amyntas by those who were sent thither as his inheritors. Synnada is not a large city; but there lies in front of it a plain planted with olives, about sixty stadia in circuit.†And beyond it is Docimaea, a village, and also the quarry of “Synnadic” marble (so the Romans call it, though the natives call it “Docimite” or “Docimaean). At first this quarry yielded only stones of small size, but on account of the present extravagance of the Romans great monolithic pillars are taken from it, which in their variety of colors are nearly like the alabastrite marble; so that, although the transportation of such heavy burdens to the sea is difficult, still, both pillars and slabs, remarkable for their size and beauty, are conveyed to Rome.

15Apameia is a great emporium of Asia, I mean Asia in the special sense of that term,†and ranks second only to Ephesus; for it is a common entrepôt for the merchandise from both Italy and Greece. Apameia is situated near the outlets of the Marsyas River, which flows through the middle of the city and has its sources in the city;†it flows down to the suburbs, and then with violent and precipitate current joins the Maeander. The latter receives also another river, the Orgas, and traverses a level country with an easygoing and sluggish stream; and then, having by now become a large river, the Maeander flows for a time through Phrygia and then forms the boundary between Caria and Lydia at the Plain of Maeander, as it is called, where its course is so exceedingly winding that everything winding is called “meandering.” And at last it flows through Caria itself, which is now occupied by the Ionians, and then empties between Miletus and Priene. It rises in a hill called Celaenae, on which there is a city which hears the same name as the hill; and it was from Celaenae that Antiochus Soter†made the inhabitants move to the present Apameia, the city which he named after his mother Apama, who was the daughter of Artabazus and was given in marriage to Seleucus Nicator. And here is laid the scene of the myth of Olympus and of Marsyas and of the contest between Marsyas and Apollo. Above is situated a lake which produces the reed that is suitable for the mouth-pieces of pipes; and it is from this lake that pour the sources of both the Marsyas and the Maeander.

16Laodiceia, though formerly small, grew large in our time and in that of our fathers, even though it had been damaged by siege in the time of Mithridates Eupator.†However, it was the fertility of its territory and the prosperity of certain of its citizens that made it great: at first Hieron, who left to the people an inheritance of more than two thousand talents and adorned the city with many dedicated offerings, and later Zeno the rhetorician and his son Polemon,†the latter of whom, because of his bravery and honesty, was thought worthy even of a kingdom, at first by Antony and later by Augustus. The country round Laodiceia produces sheep that are excellent, not only for the softness of their wool, in which they surpass even the Milesian wool, but also for its raven-black color, so that the Laodiceians derive splendid revenue from it, as do also the neighboring Colosseni from the color which bears the same name.†And here the Caprus River joins the Maeander, as does also the Lycus, a river of good size, after which the city is called the “Laodiceia near Lycus.”†Above the city lies Mt. Cadmus, whence the Lycus flows, as does also another river of the same name as the mountain. But the Lycus flows under ground for the most part, and then, after emerging to the surface, unites with the other rivers, thus indicating that the country is full of holes and subject to earthquakes; for if any other country is subject to earthquakes, Laodiceia is, and so is Carura in the neighboring country.

17Carura forms a boundary between Phrygia and Caria. It is a village; and it has inns, and also fountains of boiling-hot waters, some in the Maeander River and some above its banks. Moreover, it is said that once, when a brothel-keeper had taken lodging in the inns along with a large number of women, an earthquake took place by night, and that he, together with all the women, disappeared from sight. And I might almost say that the whole of the territory in the neighborhood of the Maeander is subject to earthquakes and is undermined with both fire and water as far as the interior; for, beginning at the plains, all these conditions extend through that country to the Charonia,†I mean the Charonium at Hierapolis and that at Acharaca in Nysaïs and that near Magnesia and Myus. In fact, the soil is not only friable and crumbly but is also full of salts†and easy to burn out.†And perhaps the Maeander is winding for this reason, because the stream often changes its course and, carrying down much silt, adds the silt at different times to different parts of the shore; however, it forcibly thrusts a part of the silt out to the high sea. And, in fact, by its deposits of silt, extending forty stadia, it has made Priene, which in earlier times was on the sea, an inland city.†

18Phrygia “Catacecaumene,” which is occupied by Lydians and Mysians, received its appellation for some such reason as follows: In Philadelphia, the city near it, not even the walls are safe, but in a sense are shaken and caused to crack every day. And the inhabitants are continually attentive to the disturbances in the earth and plan all structures with a view to their occurrence. And, among the other cities, Apameia was often shaken by earthquakes before the expedition of King Mithridates, who, when he went over to that country and saw that the city was in ruins, gave a hundred talents for its restoration; and it is said that the same thing took place in the time of Alexander. And this, in all probability, is why Poseidon is worshipped in their country, even though it is in the interior,†and why the city was called Celaenae, that is, after Celaenus, the son of Poseidon by Celaeno, one of the daughters of Danaüs, or else because of the “blackness” of the stone, which resulted from the burn-outs. And the story of Mt. Sipylus and its ruin should not be put down as mythical, for in our own times Magnesia, which lies at the foot of it, was laid low by earthquakes, at the time when not only Sardeis, but also the most famous of the other cities, were in many places seriously damaged. But the emperor†restored them by contributing money; just as his father in earlier times, when the inhabitants of Tralleis suffered their misfortune (when the gymnasium and other parts of the city collapsed), restored their city, as he also restored the city of the Laodiceians.

19One should also hear the words of the ancient historians, as, for example, those of Xanthus, who wrote the history of Lydia, when he relates the strange changes that this country often underwent, to which I have already referred somewhere in a former part of my work. And in fact they make this the setting of the mythical story of the Arimi and of the throes of Typhon, calling it the Catacecaumene country. Also, they do not hesitate to suspect that the parts of the country between the Maeander River and the Lydians are all of this nature, as well on account of the number of the lakes and rivers as on account of the numerous hollows in the earth. And the lake†between Laodiceia and Apameia, although like a sea,†emits an eflluvium that is filthy and of subterranean origin. And they say that lawsuits are brought against the god Maeander for altering the boundaries of the countries on his banks, that is, when the projecting elbows of land are swept away by him; and that when he is convicted the fines are paid from the tolls collected at the ferries.

20Between Laodiceia and Carura is a temple of Men Carus, as it is called, which is held in remarkable veneration. In my own time a great Herophileian†school of medicine has been established by Zeuxis, and afterwards carried on by Alexander Philalethes,†just as in the time of our fathers the Erasistrateian school†was established by Hicesius, although at the present time the case is not at all the same as it used to be.†

21Writers mention certain Phrygian tribes that are no longer to be seen; for example, the Berecyntes. And Alcman says,On the pipe he played the Cerbesian, a Phrygian melody.And a certain pit that emits deadly eflluvia is spoken of as Cerbesian. This, indeed, is to be seen, but the people are no longer called Cerbesians. Aeschylus, in his Niobe, confounds things that are different; for example, Niobe says that she will be mindful of the house of Tantalus,those who have an altar of their paternal Zeus on the Idaean hill;†and again,Sipylus in the Idaean land;†and Tantalus says,I sow furrows that extend a ten days’ journey, Berecyntian land, where is the site of Adrasteia, and where both Mt. Ida and the whole of the Erechtheian plain resound with the bleatings and bellowings of flocks.†

1Let this, then, mark the boundary of Phrygia.†I shall now return again to the Propontis and the coast that comes next after the Aesepus River, and follow the same order of description as before. The first country on this seaboard is the Troad, the fame of which, although it is left in ruins and in desolation, nevertheless prompts in writers no ordinary prolixity. With this fact in view, I should ask the pardon of my readers and appeal to them not to fasten the blame for the length of my discussion upon me rather than upon those who strongly yearn for knowledge of the things that are famous and ancient. And my discussion is further prolonged by the number of the peoples who have colonized the country, both Greeks and barbarians, and by the historians, who do not write the same things on the same subjects, nor always clearly either; among the first of these is Homer, who leaves us to guess about most things. And it is necessary for me to arbitrate between his statements and those of the others, after I shall first have described in a summary way the nature of the region in question.

2The seaboard of the Propontis, then, extends from Cyzicene and the region of the Aesepus and Granicus Rivers as far as Abydus and Sestus, whereas the parts round Ilium and Tenedos and the Trojan Alexandreia extend from Abydus to Lectum. Accordingly, Mt. Ida, which extends down to Lectum, lies above all these places. From Lectum to the Caïcus River, and to Canae,†as it is called, are the parts round Assus and Adramyttium and Atarneus and Pitane and the Elaïtic Gulf; and the island of the Lesbians extends alongside, and opposite, all these places. Then come next the parts round Cyme, extending to the Hermus and Phocaea, which latter constitutes the beginning of Ionia and the end of Aeolis. Such being the position of the places, the poet indicates in a general way that the Trojans held sway from the region of the Aesepus River and that of the present Cyzicene to the Caïcus River,†their country being divided by dynasties into eight, or nine, portions, whereas the mass of their auxiliary forces are enumerated among the allies.

3But the later authors do not give the same boundaries, and they use their terms differently, thus allowing us several choices. The main cause of this difference has been the colonizations of the Greeks; less so, indeed, the Ionian colonization, for it was farther distant from the Troad; but most of all that of the Aeolians, for their colonies were scattered throughout the whole of the country from Cyzicene to the Caïcus River, and they went on still farther to occupy the country between the Caïcus and Hermus Rivers. In fact, the Aeolian colonization, they say, preceded the Ionian colonization by four generations, but suffered delays and took a longer time; for Orestes, they say, was the first leader of the expedition, but he died in Arcadia, and his son Penthilus succeeded him and advanced as far as Thrace sixty years after the Trojan War, about the time of the return of the Heracleidae to the Peloponnesus; and then Archelaüs†the son of Penthilus led the Aeolian expedition across to the present Cyzicene near Dascylium; and Gras, the youngest son of Archelaüs, advanced to the Granicus River, and, being better equipped, led the greater part of his army across to Lesbos and occupied it. And they add that Cleues, son of Dorus, and Malaüs, also descendants of Agamemnon, had collected their army at about the same time as Penthilus, but that, whereas the fleet of Penthilus had already crossed over from Thrace to Asia, Cleues and Malaüs tarried a long time round Locris and Mt. Phricius, and only later crossed over and founded the Phryconian Cyme, so named after the Locrian mountain.

4The Aeolians, then, were scattered throughout the whole of that country which, as I have said, the poet called Trojan. As for later authorities, some apply the name to all Aeolis, but others to only a part of it; and some to the whole of Troy, but others to only a part of it, not wholly agreeing with one another about anything. For instance, in reference to the places on the Propontis, Homer makes the Troad begin at the Aesepus River,†whereas Eudoxus makes it begin at Priapus and Artace, the place on the island of the Cyziceni that lies opposite Priapus,†and thus contracts the limits; but Damastes contracts the country still more, making it begin at Parium; and, in fact, Damastes prolongs the Troad to Lectum, whereas other writers prolong it differently. Charon of Lampsacus diminishes its extent by three hundred stadia more, making it begin at Practius,†for that is the distance from Parium to Practius; however, he prolongs it to Adramyttium. Scylax of Caryanda makes it begin at Abydus; and similarly Ephorus says that Aeolis extends from Abydus to Cyme, while others define its extent differently.†

5But the topography of Troy, in the proper sense of the term, is best marked by the position of Mt. Ida, a lofty mountain which faces the west and the western sea but makes a slight bend also towards the north and the northern seaboard.†This latter is the seaboard of the Propontis, extending from the strait in the neighborhood of Abydus to the Aesepus River and Cyzicene, whereas the western sea consists of the outer Hellespont†and the Aegaean Sea. Mt. Ida has many foothills, is like the scolopendra†in shape, and is defined by its two extreme limits: by the promontory in the neighborhood of Zeleia and by the promontory called Lectum the former terminating in the interior slightly above Cyzicene (in fact, Zeleia now belongs to the Cyziceni), whereas Lectum extends to the Aegaean Sea, being situated on the coasting voyage between Tenedos and Lesbos. When the poet says that Hypnos and Heracame to many-fountained Ida, mother of wild beasts, to Lectum, where first the two left the sea,he describes Lectum in accordance with the facts; for he rightly states that Lectum is a part of Mt. Ida, and that Lectum is the first place of disembarkation from the sea for those who would go up to Mt. Ida, and also that the mountain is “many-fountained,” for there in particular the mountain is abundantly watered, as is shown by the large number of rivers there,all the rivers that flow forth from the Idaean mountains to the sea, Rhesus and Heptaporusand the following,†all of which are named by the poet and are now to be seen by us. Now while Homer thus describes Lectum†and Zeleia as the outermost foothills of Mt. Ida in either direction, he also appropriately distinguishes Gargarus from them as a summit, calling it “topmost.”†And indeed at the present time people point out in the upper parts of Ida a place called Gargarum, after which the present Gargara, an Aeolian city, is named. Now between Zeleia and Lectum, beginning from the Propontis, are situated first the parts extending to the straits at Abydus, and then, outside the Propontis, the parts extending to Lectum.

6On doubling Lectum one encounters a large wide-open gulf, which is formed by Mt. Ida as it recedes from Lectum to the mainland, and by Canae, the promontory opposite Lectum on the other side. Some call it the Idaean Gulf, others the Adramyttene. On this gulf†are the cities of the Aeolians, extending to the outlets of the Hermus River, as I have already said.†I have stated in the earlier parts of my work†that, as one sails from Byzantium towards the south, the route lies in a straight line, first to Sestus and Abydus through the middle of the Propontis, and then along the coast of Asia as far as Caria. It behooves one, then, to keep this supposition in mind as one listens to the following; and, if I speak of certain gulfs on the coast, one must think of the promontories which form them as lying in the same line, a meridian line, as it were.

7Now as for Homer’s statements, those who have studied the subject more carefully†conjecture from them that the whole of this coast became subject to the Trojans, and, though divided into nine dynasties, was under the sway of Priam at the time of the Trojan War and was called Troy. And this is clear from his detailed statements. For instance, Achilles and his army, seeing at the outset that the inhabitants of Ilium were enclosed by walls, tried to carry on the war outside and, by making raids all round, to take away from them all the surrounding places: Twelve cities of men I have laid waste with my ships, and eleven, I declare, by land throughout the fertile land of Troy.For by “Troy” he means the part of the mainland that was sacked by him; and, along with other places, Achilles also sacked the country opposite Lesbos in the neighborhood of Thebe and Lyrnessus and Pedasus, which last belonged to the Leleges, and also the country of Eurypylus the son of Telephus.But what a man was that son of Telephus who was slain by him with the bronze,that is, the hero Eurypylus, slain by Neoptolemus. Now the poet says that these places were sacked, including Lesbos itself: when he himself took well-built Lesbos;andhe sacked Lyrnessus and Pedasus;andwhen he laid waste Lyrnessus and the walls of Thebe.It was at Lyrnessus that Briseïs was taken captive,whom he carried away from Lyrnessus;and it was at her capture, according to the poet, that Mynes and Epistrophus fell, as is shown by the lament of Briseïs over Patroclus: thou wouldst not even, not even, let me weep when swift Achilles slew my husband and sacked the city of divine Mynes;for in calling Lyrnessus “the city of divine Mynes” the poet indicates that Mynes was dynast over it and that he fell in battle there. But it was at Thebe that Chryseïs was taken captive: We went into Thebe, the sacred city of Eëtion;and the poet says that Chryseïs was part of the spoil brought from that place. Thence, too, came Andromache: Andromache, daughter of great hearted Eëtion; Eëtion who dwelt’neath wooded Placus in Thebe Hypoplacia,†and was lord over the men of Cilicia.This is the second Trojan dynasty after that of Mynes. And consistently with these facts writers think that the following statement of Andromache,Hector, woe is me! surely to one doom we were born, both of us—thou in Troy in the house of Priam, but I at Thebae,should not be interpreted strictly, I mean the words “thou in Troy, but I at Thebae” (or Thebe), but as a case of hyperbaton, meaning “both of us in Troy—thou in the house of Priam, but I at Thebae.” The third dynasty was that of the Leleges, which was also Trojan: Of Altes, who is lord over the war-loving Leleges,by whose daughter Priam begot Lycaon and Polydorus. And indeed those who are placed under Hector in the Catalogue are called Trojans: The Trojans were led by great Hector of the flashing helmet.And then come those under Aeneias: The Dardanians in turn were commanded by the valiant son of Anchisesand these, too, were Trojans; at any rate, the poet says,Aeneias, counsellor of the Trojans.And then come the Lycians under Pandarus, and these also he calls Trojans: And those who dwelt in Zeleia beneath the nethermost foot of Ida, Aphneiï,†who drink the dark water of the Aesepus, Trojans; these in turn were commanded by Pandarus, the glorious son of Lycaon.And this was the sixth dynasty. And indeed those who lived between the Aesepus River and Abydus were Trojans; for not only were the parts round Abydus subject to Asius,and they who dwelt about Percote and Practius†and held Sestus and Abydus and goodly Arisbe†—these in turn were commanded by Asius the son of Hyrtacus,but a son of Priam lived at Abydus, pasturing mares, clearly his father’s: But he smote Democoön, the bastard son of Priam, who had come at Priam’s bidding from his swift mares;while in Percote a son of Hicetaon was pasturing kine, he likewise pasturing kine that belonged to no other:†And first he rebuked mighty Melanippus the son of Hicetaon, who until this time had been wont to feed the kine of shambling gait in Percote;so that this country would be a part of the Troad, as also the next country after it as far as Adrasteia, for the leaders of the latter werethe two sons of Merops of Percote.Accordingly, the people from Abydus to Adrasteia were all Trojans, although they were divided into two groups, one under Asius and the other under the sons of Merops, just as Cilicia†also was divided into two parts, the Theban Cilicia and the Lyrnessian;†but one might include in the Lyrnessian Cilicia the territory subject to Eurypylus, which lay next to the Lyrnessian Cilicia.†But that Priam was ruler of these countries, one and all, is clearly indicated by Achilles’ words to Priam: And of thee, old sire, we hear that formerly thou wast blest; how of all that is enclosed by Lesbos, out at sea, city of Macar, and by Phrygia in the upland, and by the boundless Hellespont.†

8Now such were the conditions at the time of the Trojan War, but all kinds of changes followed later; for the parts round Cyzicus as far as the Practius were colonized by Phrygians, and those round Abydus by Thracians; and still before these two by Bebryces and Dryopes.†And the country that lies next was colonized by the Treres, themselves also Thracians; and the Plain of Thebe by Lydians, then called Maeonians, and by the survivors of the Mysians who had formerly been subject to Telephus and Teuthras. So then, since the poet combines Aeolis and Troy, and since the Aeolians held possession of all the country from the Hermus River†to the seaboard at Cyzicus, and founded their cities there, I too might not be guilty of describing them wrongly if I combined Aeolis, now properly so called, extending from the Hermus River to Lectum, and the country next after it, extending to the Aesepus River; for in my detailed treatment of the two, I shall distinguish them again, setting forth, along with the facts as they now are, the statements of Homer and others.

9According to Homer, then, the Troad begins after the city of the Cyziceni and the Aesepus River. And he so speaks of it: And those who dwelt in Zeleia beneath the nethermost foot of Ida, Aphneii,†who drink the dark water of the Aesepus, Trojans; these in turn were commanded by Pandarus the glorious son of Lycaon.These he also calls Lycians. And they are thought to have been called “Aphneii” after Lake “Aphnitis,” for Lake Dascylitis is also called by that name.

10Now Zeleia†is situated on the farthermost foothill of Mt. Ida, being one hundred and ninety stadia distant from Cyzicus and about eighty stadia from the nearest part of the sea, where the Aesepus empties. And the poet mentions severally, in continuous order, the places that lie along the coast after the Aesepus River: And they who held Adrasteia and the land of Apaesus, and held Pityeia and the steep mountain of Tereia—these were led by Adrastus and Amphius of the linen corslet, the two sons of Merops of Percote.These places lie below Zeleia,†but they are occupied by Cyziceni and Priapeni even as far as the coast. Now near Zeleia is the Tarsius River,†which is crossed twenty times by the same road, like the Heptaporus River,†.which is mentioned by the poet. And the river that flows from Nicomedeia into Nicaea is crossed twenty-four times, and the river that flows from Pholoe into the Eleian country†is crossed many times... Scarthon twenty-five times,†and the river that flows from the country of the Coscinii into Alabanda is crossed many times, and the river that flows from Tyana into Soli through the Taurus is crossed seventy-five times.

11About...†stadia above the outlet of the Aesepus River is a hill, where is shown the tomb of Memnon, son of Tithonus; and near by is the village of Memnon. The Granicus River flows between the Aesepus River and Priapus, mostly through the plain of Adrasteia,†where Alexander utterly defeated the satraps of Dareius in battle, and gained the whole of the country inside the Taurus and the Euphrates River. And on the Granicus was situated the city Sidene, with a large territory of the same name; but it is now in ruins. On the boundary between the territory of Cyzicus and that of Priapus is a place called Harpagia,†from which, according to some writers of myths, Ganymede was snatched, though others say that he was snatched in the neighborhood of the Dardanian Promontory, near Dardanus.

12Priapus†is a city on the sea, and also a harbor. Some say that it was founded by Milesians, who at the same time also colonized Abydus and Proconnesus, whereas others say that it was founded by Cyziceni. It was named after Priapus, who was worshipped there; then his worship was transferred thither from Orneae near Corinth, or else the inhabitants felt an impulse to worship the god because he was called the son of Dionysus and a nymph; for their country is abundantly supplied with the vine, both theirs and the countries which border next upon it, I mean those of the Pariani and the Lampsaceni. At any rate, Xerxes gave Lampsacus to Themistocles to supply him with wine. But it was by people of later times that Priapus was declared a god, for even Hesiod does not know of him; and he resembles the Attic deities Orthane, Conisalus, Tychon, and others like them.

13This country was called “Adrasteia”†and “Plain of Adrasteia,” in accordance with a custom whereby people gave two names to the same place, as “Thebe” and “Plain of Thebe,” and “Mygdonia” and “Plain of Mygdonia.” According to Callisthenes, among others, Adrasteia was named after King Adrastus, who was the first to found a temple of Nemesis. Now the city is situated between Priapus and Parium; and it has below it a plain that is named after it, in which there was an oracle of Apollo Actaeus and Artemis....†But when the temple was torn down, the whole of its furnishings and stonework were transported to Parium, where was built an altar,†the work of Hermocreon, very remarkable for its size and beauty; but the oracle was abolished like that at Zeleia. Here, however, there is no temple of Adrasteia, nor yet of Nemesis, to be seen, although there is a temple of Adrasteia near Cyzicus. Antimachus says as follows: There is a great goddess Nemesis, who has obtained as her portion all these things from the Blessed.†Adrestus†was the first to build an altar to her beside the stream of the Aesepus River, where she is worshipped under the name of Adresteia.

14The city Parium is situated on the sea; it has a larger harbor than Priapus, and its territory has been increased at the expense of Priapus; for the Parians curried favor with the Attalic kings, to whom the territory of Priapus was subject, and by their permission cut off for themselves a large part of that territory. Here is told the mythical story that the Ophiogeneis are akin to the serpent tribe:†and they say that the males of the Ophiogeneis cure snake-bitten people by continuous stroking, after the manner of enchanters, first transferring the livid color to their own bodies and then stopping both the inflammation and the pain. According to the myth, the original founder of the tribe, a certain hero, changed from a serpent into a man. Perhaps he was one of the Libyan Psylli, whose power persisted in his tribe for a certain time.†Parium was founded by Milesians and Erythraeans and Parians.

15Pitya†is in Pityus in the territory of Parium, lying below a pine covered mountain;†and it lies between Parium and Priapus in the direction of Linum, a place on the seashore, where are caught the Linusian snails, the best in the world.

16On the coasting voyage from Parium to Priapus lie both the old Proconnesus and the present Proconnesus, the latter having a city and also a great quarry of white marble that is very highly commended; at any rate, the most beautiful works of art†in the cities of that part of the world, and especially those in Cyzicus, are made of this marble. Aristeas was a Proconnesian—the author of the Arimaspian Epic, as it is called—a charlatan if ever there was one.†

17As for “the mountain of Tereia,”†some say that it is the range of mountains in Peirossus which are occupied by the Cyziceni and are adjacent to Zeleia, where a royal hunting ground was arranged by the Lydians, and later by the Persians;†but others point out a hill forty stadia from Lampsacus, on which there is a temple sacred to the mother of the gods, entitled “Tereia’s” temple.

18Lampsacus,†a!so, is a city on the sea, a notable city with a good harbor, and still flourishing, like Abydus. It is about one hundred and seventy stadia distant from Abydus; and it was formerly called Pityussa, as also, it is said, was Chios. On the opposite shore of the Chersonesus is Callipolis, a small town. It is on the headland and runs far out towards Asia in the direction of the city of the Lampsaceni, so that the passage across to Asia from it is no more than forty stadia.

19In the interval between Lampsacus and Parium lay a city and river called Paesus; but the city is in ruins. The Paeseni changed their abode to Lampsacus, they too being colonists from the Milesians, like the Lampsaceni. But the poet refers to the place in two ways, at one time adding the first syllable,and the land of Apaesus,and at another omitting it,a man of many possessions, who dwelt in Paesus.And the river is now spelled in the latter way. Colonae,†which lies above Lampsacus in the interior of Lampsacene, is also a colony of the Milesians; and there is another Colonae on the outer Hellespontine sea, which is one hundred and forty stadia distant from Ilium and is said to be the birthplace of Cycnus.†Anaximenes says that there are also places in the Erythraean territory and in Phocis and in Thessaly that are called Colonae. And there is an Iliocolone in the territory of Parium. In the territory of Lampsacus is a place called Gergithium†which is rich in vines; and there was also a city called Gergitha from Gergithes in the territory of Cyme, for here too there was a city called Gergithes, in the feminine plural, the birthplace of Cephalon the Gergithian. And still today a place called Gergithium is pointed out in the territory of Cyme near Larissa. Now Neoptolemus,†called the Glossographer, a notable man, was from Parium; and Charon the historian†and Adeimantus†and Anaximenes the rhetorician†and Metrodorus the comrade of Epicurus were from Lampsacus; and Epicurus himself was in a sense a Lampsacenian, having lived in Lampsacus and having been on intimate terms with the ablest men of that city, Idomeneus and Leonteus and their followers. It was from here that Agrippa transported the Fallen Lion, a work of Lysippus; and he dedicated it in the sacred precinct between the Lake and the Euripus.†

20After Lampsacus come Abydus and the intervening places of which the poet, who comprises with them the territory of Lampsacus and part of the territory of Parium (for these two cities were not yet in existence in the Trojan times), speaks as follows: And those who dwelt about Percote and Practius, and held Sestus and Abydus and goodly Arisbe—these in turn were led by Asius, the son of Hyrtacus,... who was brought by his sorrel horses from Arisbe, from the River Sellëeis.In speaking thus, the poet seems to set forth Arisbe, whence he says Asius came, as the royal residence of Asius: who was brought by his horses from Arisbe, from the River Sellëeis.But these places†are so obscure that even investigators do not agree about them, except that they are in the neighborhood of Abydus and Lampsacus and Parium, and that the old Percote,†the site, underwent a change of name.

21Of the rivers, the Sellëeis flows near Arisbe, as the poet says, if it be true that Asius came both from Arisbe and from the Sellëeis River. The River Practius is indeed in existence, but no city of that name is to be found, as some have wrongly thought. This river also†flows between Abydus and Lampsacus. Accordingly, the words,and dwelt about Practius,should be interpreted as applying to a river, as should also those other words,and those who dwelt beside the goodly Cephisus River,andthose who had their famed estates about the Parthenius River.There was also a city Arisba in Lesbos, whose territory is occupied by the Methymnaeans. And there is an Arisbus River in Thrace, as I have said before,†near which are situated the Thracian Cebrenians. There are many names common to the Thracians and the Trojans; for example, there are Thracians called Scaeans, and a river Scaeus, and a Scaean Wall, and at Troy the Scaean Gates. And there are Thracian Xanthians, and in Troy-land a river Xanthus. And in Troy-land there is a river Arisbus which empties into the Hebrus, as also a city Arisbe. And there was a river Rhesus in Troy-land; and there was a Rhesus who was the king of the Thracians. And there is also, of the same name as this Asius, another Asius in Homer,who was maternal uncle to horse-taming Hector, and own brother to Hecabe, but son of Dymas, who dwelt in Phrygia by the streams of the Sangarius.

22Abydus was founded by Milesians, being founded by permission of Gyges, king of the Lydians; for this district and the whole of the Troad were under his sway; and there is a promontory named Gygas near Dardanus. Abydus lies at the mouth of the Propontis and the Hellespont; and it is equidistant from Lampsacus and Ilium, about one hundred and seventy stadia.†Here, separating Europe and Asia, is the Heptastadium,†which was bridged by Xerxes. The European promontory that forms the narrows at the place of the bridge is called the Chersonesus†because of its shape. And the place of the bridge lies opposite Abydus. Sestus†is the best of the cities in the Chersonesus; and, on account of its proximity to Abydus, it was assigned to the same governor as Abydus in the times when governorships had not yet been delimited by continents. Now although Abydus and Sestus are about thirty stadia distant from one another from harbor to harbor, yet the line of the bridge across the strait is short, being drawn at an angle to that between the two cities, that is, from a point nearer than Abydus to the Propontis on the Abydus side to a point farther away from the Propontis on the Sestus side. Near Sestus is a place named Apobathra,†where the pontoon-bridge was attached to the shore. Sestus lies farther in towards the Propontis, farther up the stream that flows out of the Propontis. It is therefore easier to cross over from Sestus, first coasting a short distance to the Tower of Hero and then letting the ships make the passage across by the help of the current. But those who cross over from Abydus must first follow the coast in the opposite direction about eight stadia to a tower opposite Sestus, and then sail across obliquely and thus not have to meet the full force of the current. After the Trojan War Abydus was the home of Thracians, and then of Milesians. But when the cities were burned by Dareius, father of Xerxes, I mean the cities on the Propontis, Abydus shared in the same misfortune. He burned them because he had learned after his return from his attack upon the Scythians that the nomads were making preparations to cross the strait and attack him to avenge their sufferings, and was afraid that the cities would provide means for the passage of their army. And this too, in addition to the other changes and to the lapse of time, is a cause of the confusion into which the topography of the country has fallen. As for Sestus and the Chersonesus in general, I have already spoken of them in my description of the region of Thrace.†Theopompus says that Sestus is small but well fortified, and that it is connected with its harbor by a double wall of two plethra,†and that for this reason, as also on account of the current, it is mistress of the passage.

23Above the territory of the Abydeni, in the Troad, lies Astyra. This city, which is in ruins, now belongs to the Abydeni, but in earlier times it was independent and had gold mines. These mines are now scant, being used up, like those on Mt. Tmolus in the neighborhood of the Pactolus River. From Abydus to the Aesepus the distance is said to be about seven hundred stadia, but less by straight sailing.†

24Outside Abydus lies the territory of Ilium—the parts on the shore extending to Lectum, and the places in the Trojan Plain, and the parts on the side of Mt. Ida that were subject to Aeneias. The poet names these last parts in two ways, at one time saying as follows: The Dardanii in turn were led by the valiant son of Anchises,calling the inhabitants “Dardanii”; and at another time, “Dardani”: The Trojans and Lycians and Dardani that fight in close combat.And it is reasonable to suppose that this was in ancient times.the site of the Dardania mentioned by the poet when he says,At first Dardanus was begotten by Zeus the cloud-gatherer, and he founded Dardania;for at the present time there is not so much as a trace of a city preserved in that territory.†

25Plato†conjectures, however, that after the time of the floods three kinds of civilization were formed: the first, that on the mountain tops, which was simple and wild, when men were in fear of the waters which still deeply covered the plains; the second, that on the foothills, when men were now gradually taking courage because the plains were beginning to be relieved of the waters; and the third, that in the plains. One might speak equally of a fourth and fifth, or even more, but last of all that on the seacoast and in the islands, when men had been finally released from all such fear; for the greater or less courage they took in approaching the sea would indicate several different stages of civilization and manners, first as in the case of the qualities of goodness and wildness, which in some way further served as a foundation for the milder qualities in the second stage. But in the second stage also there is a difference to be noted, I mean between the rustic and semi-rustic and civilized qualities; and, beginning with these last qualities, the gradual assumption of new names ended in the polite and highest culture, in accordance with the change of manners for the better along with the changes in places of abode and in modes of life. Now these differences, according to Plato,†are suggested by the poet, who sets forth as an example of the first stage of civilization the life of the Cyclopes, who lived on uncultivated fruits and occupied the mountain tops, living in caves: “but all these things,” he says, “grow unsown and unploughed” for them.... And they have no assemblies for council, nor appointed laws, but they dwell on the tops of high mountains in hollow caves, and each is lawgiver to his children and his wives.†And as an example of the second stage, the life in the time of Dardanus, whofounded Dardania; for not yet had sacred Ilios been builded to be a city of mortal men, but they were living on the foothills of many-fountained Ida.†And of the third stage, the life in the plains in the time of Ilus;†for he is the traditional founder of Ilium, and it was from him that the city took its name. And it is reasonable to suppose, also, that he was buried in the middle of the plain for this reason—that he was the first to take up his abode in the plains: And they sped past the tomb of ancient Ilus, son of Dardanus, through the middle of the plain past the wild fig tree.Yet even Ilus did not have full courage, for he did not found the city at the place where it now is, but about thirty stadia higher up towards the east, and towards Mt. Ida and Dardania, at the place now called “Village of the Ilians.”†But the people of the present Ilium, being fond of glory and wishing to show that their Ilium was the ancient city, have offered a troublesome argument to those who base their evidence on the poetry of Homer, for their Ilium does not appear to have been the Homeric city. Other inquirers also find that the city changed its site several times, but at last settled permanently where it now is at about the time of Croesus.†I take for granted, then, that such removals into the parts lower down, which took place in those times, indicate different stages in modes of life and civilization; but this must be further investigated at another time.

26It is said that the city of the present Ilians was for a time a mere village, having its temple of Athena, a small and cheap temple, but that when Alexander went up there after his victory at the Granicus†River he adorned the temple with votive offerings, gave the village the title of city, and ordered those in charge to improve it with buildings, and that he adjudged it free and exempt from tribute; and that later, after the overthrow of the Persians, he sent down a kindly letter to the place, promising to make a great city of it, and to build a magnificent sanctuary, and to proclaim sacred games.†But after his death Lysimachus†devoted special attention to the city, and built a temple there and surrounded the city with a wall about forty stadia in circuit, and also incorporated into it the surrounding cities, which were now old and in bad plight. At that time he had already devoted attention to Alexandreia, which had indeed already been founded by Antigonus and called Antigonia, but had changed its name, for it was thought to be a pious thing for the successors of Alexander to found cities bearing his name before they founded cities bearing their own. And indeed the city endured and grew, and at present it not only has received a colony of Romans but is one of the notable cities of the world.

27Also the Ilium of today was a kind of village-city when the Romans first set foot on Asia and expelled Antiochus the Great from the country this side of Taurus. At any rate, Demetrius of Scepsis says that, when as a lad he visited the city about that time, he found the settlement so neglected that the buildings did not so much as have tiled roofs. And Hegesianax says that when the Galatae crossed over from Europe they needed a stronghold and went up into the city for that reason, but left it at once because of its lack of walls. But later it was greatly improved. And then it was ruined again by the Romans under Fimbria, who took it by siege in the course of the Mithridatic war. Fimbria had been sent as quaestor with Valerius Flaccus the consul when the latter was appointed†to the command against Mithridates; but Fimbria raised a mutiny and slew the consul in the neighborhood of Bithynia, and was himself set up as lord of the army; and when he advanced to Ilium, the llians would not admit him, as being a brigand, and therefore he applied force and captured the place on the eleventh day. And when he boasted that he himself had overpowered on the eleventh day the city which Agamemnon had only with difficulty captured in the tenth year, although the latter had with him on his expedition the fleet of a thousand vessels and the whole of Greece, one of the Ilians said: “Yes, for the city’s champion was no Hector.” Now Sulla came over and overthrew Fimbria, and on terms of agreement sent Mithridates away to his homeland, but he also consoled the Ilians by numerous improvements. In my time, however, the deified Caesar was far more thoughtful of them, at the same time also emulating the example of Alexander; for Alexander set out to provide for them on the basis of a renewal of ancient kinship, and also because at the same time he was fond of Homer; at any rate, we are told of a recension of the poetry of Homer, the Recension of the Casket, as it is called, which Alexander, along with Callisthenes and Anaxarchus, perused and to a certain extent annotated, and then deposited in a richly wrought casket which he had found amongst the Persian treasures.†Accordingly, it was due both to his zeal for the poet and to his descent from the Aeacidae who reigned as kings of the Molossians—where, as we are also told, Andromache, who had been the wife of Hector, reigned as queen—that Alexander was kindly disposed towards the Ilians. But Caesar, not only being fond of Alexander, but also having better known evidences of kinship with the llians, felt encouraged to bestow kindness upon them with all the zest of youth: better known evidences, first, because he was a Roman, and because the Romans believe Aeneias to have been their original founder; and secondly, because the name Iulius was derived from that of a certain Iulus who was one of his ancestors,†and this Iulus got his appellation from the Iulus who was one of the descendants of Aeneas. Caesar therefore allotted territory to them end also helped them to preserve their freedom and their immunity from taxation; and to this day they remain in possession of these favors. But that this is not the site of the ancient Ilium, if one considers the matter in accordance with Homer’s account, is inferred from the following considerations. But first I must give a general description of the region in question, beginning at that point on the coast where I left off.

28After Abydus, then, comes the Dardanian Promontory, which I mentioned a little while ago, and also the city Dardanus, which is seventy stadia distant from Abydus. Between the two places empties the Rhodius River, opposite which, in the Chersonesus, is Cynos-Sema,†which is said to be the tomb of Hecabe. But some say that the Rhodius empties into the Aesepus. This too is one of the rivers mentioned by the poet: Rhesus, Heptaporus, Caresus, and Rhodius.Dardanus was an ancient settlement, but it was held in such contempt that it was oftentimes transplanted by some of the kings to Abydus and then resettled again by others on the ancient site. It was here that Cornelius Sulla, the Roman commander, and Mithridates surnamed Eupator met and arranged the terms for the conclusion of the war.

29Near by is Ophrynium, near which, in a conspicuous place, is the sacred precinct of Hector.†And next comes the Lake†of Pteleos.

30Then come Rhoeteium, a city situated on a hill, and, adjacent to Rhoeteium, a low-lying shore, on which are a tomb and temple of Aias, and also a statue of him, which was taken up by Antony and carried of to Aegypt; but Augustus Caesar gave it back again to the Rhoeteians, just as he gave back other statues to their owners. For Antony took away the finest dedications from the most famous temples, to gratify the Egyptian woman, but Augustus gave them back to the gods.

31After Rhoeteium come Sigeium, a destroyed city, and the Naval Station and the Harbor of the Achaeans and the Achaean Camp and Stomalimne,†as it is called, and the outlets of the Scamander; for after the Simoeis and the Scamander meet in the plain, they carry down great quantities of alluvium, silt up the coat, and form a blind mouth, lagoons, and marshes. Opposite the Sigeian Promontory on the Chersonesus are Eleussa†and the temple of Protesilaüs, both of which I have mentioned in my description of Thrace.†

32The length of this coast, I mean on a straight voyage from Rhoeteium to Sigeium, and the monument of Achilles, is sixty stadia; and the whole of it lies below Ilium, not only the present Ilium, from which, at the Harbor of the Achaeans, it is about twelve stadia distant, but also the earlier Ilium, which lies thirty stadia farther inland in the direction of Mt. Ida. Now there are a temple and a monument of Achilles near Sigeium, as also monuments of Patroclus and Antilochus; and the Ilians offer sacrifices to all four heroes, both to these and to Aias. But they do not honor Heracles, giving as their reason his sacking of the city. But one might say that, although Heracles did sack it, yet he sacked it in such a way as still to leave it a city, even though damaged, for those who were later to sack it utterly; and for this reason the poet states it thus: He sacked the city of Ilios and widowed her streets;for “widowed” means a loss of the male population, not a complete annihilation. But the others, whom they think fit to worship with sacrifices and to honor as gods, completely annihilated the city. Perhaps they might give as their reason for this that these waged a just war, whereas Heracles waged an unjust one “on account of the horses of Laomedon.” But writers set over against this reason the myth that it was not on account of the horses but of the reward offered for Hesione and the sea-monster.†But let us disregard these reasons, for they end merely in controversies about myths. And perhaps we fail to notice certain more credible reasons why it occurred to the Ilians to honor some and not others. And it appears that the poet, in what he says about Heracles, represents the city as small, if it be true thatwith only six ships and fewer men he sacked the city of Ilium.And it is clearly shown by this statement that Priam became great and king of kings from a small beginning, as I have said before.†Advancing a little farther along this shore, one comes to the Achaeïum, where begins the part of the mainland that belongs to Tenedos.

33Such, are the places on the sea. Above these lies the Trojan Plain, which extends inland for many stadia in the direction of the east as far as Mt. Ida. The part of this plain alongside the mountain is narrow, extending on one side towards the south as far as the region of Scepsis, and on the other towards the north as far as the Lycians of Zeleia. This is the country which the poet makes subject to Aeneias and the sons of Antenor, calling it Dardania; and below this is Cebrenia, which is level for the most part and lies approximately parallel to Dardania; and in it there was once a city called Cebrene.†Demetrius suspects that the territory of Ilium subject to Hector extended inland from the naval station as far a Cebrenia, for he says that the tomb of Alexander is pointed out there, as also that of Oenone, who, according to historians, had been the wife of Alexander before he carried off Helen. And, he continues, the poet mentionsCebriones, bastard son of glorious Priam,after whom, as one may suppose, the country was named—or the city too, which is more plausible; and Cebrenia extends as far as the territory of Scepsis; and the Scamander, which flows between, is the boundary; and the Cebreni and Scepsians were always hostile to one another and at war until Antigonus settled both peoples together in Antigonia, as it was then called, or Alexandreia, as it is now called; now the Cebreni, he adds, remained with the rest in Alexandreia, but the Scepsians, by permission of Lysimachus, went back to their homeland.

34From the mountain range of Ida in this region, according to Demetrius, two spurs extend to the sea, one straight to Rhoeteium and the other straight to Sigeium, forming together a semicircular line, and they end in the plain at the same distance from the sea as the present Ilium; this Ilium, accordingly, lies between the ends of the two spurs mentioned, whereas the old settlement lies between their beginnings; and, he adds, the spurs include both the Simoeisian Plain, through which the Simoeis runs, and the Scamandrian Plain, through which the Scamander flows. This is called the Trojan Plain in the special sense of the term; and here it is that the poet represents most of the fights as taking place, for it is wider; and here it is that we see pointed out the places named by the poet Erineus,†the tomb of Aesyetes, Batieia, and the monument of Ilus. The Scamander and Simoeis Rivers, after running near to Sigeium and Rhoeteium respectively, meet a little in front of the present Ilium, and then issue towards Sigeium and form Stomalimne,†as it is called. The two plains above mentioned are separated from each other by a great neck of land which runs in a straight line between the aforesaid spurs, starting from the present Ilium, with which it is connected, and stretches as far as Cebrenia and, along with the spur’s on either side,†forms a complete letter.†

35A little above this†is the Village of the Ilians, where the ancient Ilium is thought to have been situated in earlier times, at a distance of thirty stadia from the present city. And ten stadia above the Village of the Ilians is Callicolone, a hill, past which, at a distance of five stadia, flows the Simoeis. It therefore becomes easy to understand, first, the reference to Ares: And over against her leaped Ares, like unto a dreadful whirlwind, in shrill tones cheering the Trojans from the topmost part of the city, and now again as he sped alongside Simoeis o’er Callicolone;for if the battle was fought on the Scamandrian Plain, it is plausible that Ares should at one time shout his cheers from the acropolis and at another from the region near the Simoeis and Callicolone, up to which, in all probability, the battle would have extended. But since Callicolone is forty stadia distant from the present llium, for what useful purpose would the poet have taken in places so far away that the line of battle could not have reached them? Again, the words,And towards Thymbra fell the lot of the Lycians,are more suitable to the ancient settlement, for the plain of Thymbra is near it, as also the Thymbrius River, which flows through the plain and empties into the Scamander at the temple of the Thymbraean Apollo, but Thymbra is actually fifty stadia distant from the present Ilium, And again, Erineus,†a place that is rugged and full of wild fig trees, lies at the foot of the ancient site, so that Andromache might appropriately say, Stay thy host beside Erineus, where best the city can be approached and the wall scaled,but Erineus stands at a considerable distance from the present Ilium. Further, a little below Erineus is Phegus, in reference to which Achilles says,But so long as I was carrying on war amid the Achaeans, Hector was unwilling to rouse battle away from the wall, but would come only as far as the Scaean Gates and Phegus.

36However, the Naval Station, still now so called, is so near the present Ilium that one might reasonably wonder at the witlessness of the Greeks and the faintheartedness of the Trojans; witlessness, if the Greeks kept the Naval Station unwalled for so long a time, when they were near to the city and to so great a multitude, both that in the city and that of the allies; for Homer says that the wall had only recently been built (or else it was not built at all, but fabricated and then abolished by the poet, as Aristotle says); and faintheartedness, if the Trojans, when the wall was built, could besiege it and break into the Naval Station itself and attack the ships, yet did not have the courage to march up and besiege the station when it was still unwalled and only a slight distance away; for it is near Sigeium, and the Scamander empties near it, at a distance of only twenty stadia from Ilium. But if one shall say that the Harbor of Achaeans, as it is now called, is the Naval Station, he will be speaking of a place that is still closer, only about twelve stadia distant from the city, even if one includes the plain by the sea, because the whole of this plain is a deposit of the rivers—I mean the plain by the sea in front of the city; so that, if the distance between the sea and the city is now twelve stadia, it must have been no more than half as great at that time. Further, the feigned story told by Odysseus to Eumaeus clearly indicates that the distance from the Naval Station to the city is great, for after saying,as when we led our ambush beneath the walls of Troy, he adds a little below,for we went very far from the ships.And spies are sent forth to find whether the Trojans will stay by the ships “far away,” far separated from their own walls,or will withdraw again to the city.And Polydamas says,on both sides, friends, bethink ye well, for I, on my own part, bid you now to go to the city; afar from the walls are we.Demetrius cites also Hestiaea of Alexandreia as a witness, a woman who wrote a work on Homer’s Iliad and inquired whether the war took place round the present Ilium and the Trojan Plain, which latter the poet places between the city and the sea; for, she says, the plain now to be seen in front of the present Ilium is a later deposit of the rivers.

37Again, Polites,who was wont to sit as a sentinel of the Trojans, trusting in his fleetness of foot, on the topmost part of the barrow of aged Aesyetes,was doing a foolish thing, for even though he sat on the topmost part of it, still he might have kept watch from the much greater height of the acropolis, at approximately the same distance, with no need of fleetness of foot for safety; for the barrow of Aesyetes now pointed out is five stadia distant on the road to Alexandreia. Neither is the “clear running space”†of Hector round the city easy to understand, for the present Ilium has no “clear running space,” on account of the ridge that joins it. The ancient city, however, has a “clear running space” round it.

38But no trace of the ancient city survives; and naturally so, for while the cities all round it were sacked, but not completely destroyed, yet that city was so utterly demolished that all the stones were taken from it to rebuild the others. At any rate, Archaeanax of Mitylene is said to have built a wall round Sigeium with stones taken from there. Sigeium was seized by Athenians under Phrynon the Olympian victor, although the Lesbians laid claim to almost the whole of the Troad. Most of the settlements in the Troad belong, in fact, to the Lesbians, and some endure to this day, while others have disappeared. Pittacus of Mitylene, one of the Seven Wise Men, as they are called, sailed against Phrynon the general†and for a time carried on the war, but with poor management and ill consequences. It was at this time that the poet Alcaeus says that he himself, being sorely pressed in a certain battle, threw away his arms. He addresses his account of it to a certain herald, whom he had bidden to report to the people at home that “Alcaeus is safe, but his arms have been hung up as an offering to Ares by the Attic army in the temple of Athena Glaucopis.”†But later, on being challenged to single combat by Phrynon, he took up his fishing-tackle, ran to meet him, entangled him in his fishing net, and stabbed and slew him with trident and dagger. But since the war still went on, Periander was chosen by both sides as arbiter and ended it.

39Demetrius says that Timaeus falsifies when he informs us that Periander fortified Achilleium against the Athenians with stones from Ilium, to help the army of Pittacus; for this place, he says, was indeed fortified by the Mitylenaeans against Sigeium, though not with such stones as those, nor yet by Periander. For how could the opponent of the Athenians have been chosen as arbiter? Achilleium is the place where stands the monument of Achilles and is only a small settlement. Sigeium, also, has been razed to the ground by the Ilians, because of its disobedience; for the whole of the coast as far as Dardanus was later subject to the Ilians and is now subject to them. In ancient times the most of it was subject to the Aeolians, so that Ephorus does not hesitate to apply the name Aeolis to the whole of the coast from Abydus to Cyme. Thucydides says that Troy was taken away from the Mitylenaeans by the Athenians in the Pachetian part†of the Peloponnesian War.

40The present Ilians further tell us that the city was, in fact, not completely wiped out at its capture by the Achaeans and that it was never even deserted. At any rate the Locrian maidens, beginning a little later, were sent every year.†But this too is non-Homeric, for Homer knows not of the violation of Cassandra, but he says that she was a maiden at about that time,for he†slew Othryoneus, a sojourner in Troy from Cabesus, who had but recently come, following after the rumor of war,†and he was asking Cassandra in marriage, the comeliest of the daughters of Priam, without gifts of wooing,†and yet he does not so much as mention any violation of her or say that the destruction of Aias in the shipwreck took place because of the wrath of Athena or any such cause; instead, he speaks of Aias as “hated by Athena,” in accordance with her general hatred (for since they one and all committed sacrilege against her temple, she was angry at them all), but says that he was destroyed by Poseidon because of his boastful speech.†But the fact is that the Locrian maidens were first sent when the Persians were already in power.

41So the Ilians tell us, but Homer expressly states that the city was wiped out: The day shall come when sacred Ilios shall perish;andsurely we have utterly destroyed the steep city of Priam,by means of counsels and persuasiveness;†and in the tenth year the city of Priam was destroyed.And other such evidences of the same thing are set forth; for example, that the wooden image of Athena now to be seen stands upright, whereas Homer clearly indicates that it was sitting, for orders are given to “put” the robeupon Athena’s kneesHom. Il. 6.273(comparethat never should there sit upon his knees a dear child).For it is better to interpret it†in this way than, as some do, to interpret it as meaning “to put the robe ‘beside’ her knees,” comparing the wordsand she sits upon the hearth in the light of the fire,which they take to mean “beside” the hearth. For how could one conceive of the dedication of a robe “beside” the knees? Moreover, others, changing the accent on γούνασιν accenting it γουνάσιν,†like θυιάσιν (in whichever of two ways they interpret it), talk on endlessly... There are to be seen many of the ancient wooden images of Athena in a sitting posture, as, for example, in Phocaea, Massalia, Rome, Chios, and several other places. Also the more recent writers agree that the city was wiped out, among whom is the orator Lycurgus, who, in mentioning the city of the Ilians, says: Who has not heard that once for all it was razed to the ground by the Greeks, and is uninhabited?†

42It is surmised that those who later thought of refounding the city regarded that site as ill-omened, either on account of its misfortune or also because, in accordance with an ancient custom, a curse had been laid upon it by Agamemnon, just as Croesus, after he destroyed Sidene, whither the tyrant Glaucias had fled for refuge, put a curse on any persons who should re-fortify the site; and that they therefore avoided that place and fortified another. Now the Astypalaeans who held possession of Rhoeteium were the first to settle Polium, now called Polisma, on the Simoeis River, but not on a well protected site; and therefore it was soon demolished. It was in the time of the Lydians that the present settlement was founded, as also the temple. It was not a city, however, and it was only after many ages, and gradually, as I have said, that it increased. But Hellanicus, to gratify the Ilians, “such is the spirit of that man,”†agrees with them that the present Ilium is the same as the ancient. When the city was wiped out, its territory was divided up between the inhabitants of Sigeium and Rhoeteium and several other neighboring peoples, but the territory was given back when the place was refounded.

43The epithet “many fountained” is thought to be especially applied to Mt. Ida because of the great number of rivers that flow from it, particularly in those parts below it where lie the territory of Dardanus—even as far as Scepsis—and the region of Ilium. Demetrius, who as a native was acquainted with the topography of the country, says in one place as follows: There is a hill of Ida called Cotylus; and this hill lies about one hundred and twenty stadia above Scepsis; and from it flow the Scamander, the Granicus, and the Aesepus, the two latter flowing towards the north and the Propontis and constituting a collection of streams from several sources, while the Scamander flows towards the west from only one source; and all the sources lie close together, being comprised within a distance of twenty stadia; but the end of the Aesepus stands farthest away from its beginning, approximately five hundred stadia. But it is a matter of argument what the poet means when he says: And they came to the two fair-flowing streams, where well up the two springs of eddying Scamander; for the one flows with soft water(that is, with “hot water”), and the poet adds,and round about a smoke arises from it as if from a blazing fire, whereas the other even in summer flows forth cold as hail or chill snow.But, in the first place, no hot waters are now to be found at the site, and, secondly, the source of the Scamander is not to be found there, but in the mountain; and it has only one source, not two. It is reasonable to suppose, therefore, that the hot spring has given out, and that the cold one is evacuated from the Scamander through an underground passage and rises to the surface here, or else that because of the nearness of the Scamander this water is called a source of the Scamander; for people are wont to ascribe several sources to one and the same river in this way.

44The Scamander is joined by the Andirus, which flows from Caresene, a mountainous country settled with many villages and beautifully cultivated; it extends alongside Dardania as far as the regions of Zeleia and Pityeia. It is said that the country was named after the Caresus River, which is named by the poet,Rhesus, Heptaporus, Caresus, and Rhodius,and that the city of the same name as the river was torn down. Again, Demetrius says as follows: “The Rhesus River is now called Rhoeites, unless it be that the river which empties into the Granicus is the Rhesus. The Heptaporus, also called Polyporus, is crossed seven times by one travelling from the region of the Beautiful Pine to the village called Melaenae and the Asclepieium that was founded by Lysimachus. Concerning the Beautiful Pine, King Attalus the First writes as follows: “Its circumference is twenty-four feet; and its trunk rises to a height of sixty-seven feet from the root and then splits into three forks equidistant from one another, and then contracts again into one head, thus completing a total height of two plethra and fifteen cubits.” It is one hundred and eighty stadia distant from Adramyttium, to the north of it. The Caresus flows from Malus, a place situated between Palaescepsis and the Achaeïum, the part of the mainland that belongs to the Tenedians;†and it empties into the Aesepus. The Rhodius flows from Cleandria and Gordus, which are sixty stadia distant from the Beautiful Pine; and it empties into the Aenius.†

45In the dale of the Aesepus, on the left of the stream, one comes first to Polichna, a place enclosed by walls; and then to Palaescepsis; and then to Alizonium (this last name having been fabricated†to support the hypothesis about the Halizones, whom I have already discussed); and then to Caresus, which is deserted, and Caresene, and the river of the same name,†which also forms a notable dale, though smaller than that of the Aesepus; and next follow the plains and plateaux of Zeleia, which are beautifully cultivated. On the right of the Aesepus, between Polichna and Palaescepsis, one comes to Nea†Come and Argyria, and this again is a name fabricated to support the same hypothesis, in order to save the words,where is the birthplace of silver.Now where is Alybe, or Alope, or however they wish to alter the spelling of the name? For having once made their bold venture, they should have rubbed their faces†and fabricated this name too, instead of leaving it lame and readily subject to detection. Now these things are open to objections of this kind, but, in the case of the others, or at least most of them, I take it for granted that we must give heed to him†as a man who was acquainted with the region and a native of it, who gave enough thought to this subject to write thirty books of commentary on a little more than sixty lines of Homer, that is, on the Catalogue of the Trojans.†He says, at any rate, that Palaescepsis is fifty stadia distant from Aenea and thirty from the Aesepus River, and that from this Palaescepsis the same name was extended to several other sites. But I shall return to the coast at the point where I left off.

46After the Sigeian Promontory and the Achilleium one comes to the Achaeïum, the part of the mainland that belongs to the Tenedians;†and to Tenedos itself, which is not more than forty stadia distant from the mainland. It is about eighty stadia in circumference, and has an Aeolian city and two harbors and a temple of Sminthian Apollo, as the poet testifies: And dost rule mightily over Tenedos, O Sminthian.Round it lie several small islands, in particular two, which are called the Calydnae and are situated on the voyage to Lectum. And some give the name Calydna to Tenedos itself, while others call it Leucophrys. In it is laid the scene of the myth of Tennes,†after whom the island was named, as also that of Cycnus, a Thracian by birth and, according to some, father of Tennes and king of Colonae.†

47Both Larisa and Colonae used to be adjacent to the Achaeïum, formerly being on the part of the mainland that belonged to the Tenedians; and then one comes to the present Chrysa, which was founded on a rocky height above the sea, and to Hamaxitus, which lies below Lectum and adjacent to it. At the present time Alexandreia is adjacent to the Achaeïum; and those other towns, like several others of the strongholds, have been incorporated with Alexandreia, among them Cebrene and Neandria; and Alexandreia holds their territory. But the site on which Alexandreia now lies used to be called Sigia.

48In this Chrysa is also the temple of Sminthian Apollo; and the symbol which preserves the etymology of the name,†I mean the mouse, lies beneath the foot of his image. These are the works of Scopas of Paros; and also the history, or myth, about the mice is associated with this place: When the Teucrians arrived from Crete (Callinus the elegiac poet was the first to hand down an account of these people, and many have followed him), they had an oracle which bade them to “stay on the spot where the earth-born should attack them”; and, he says the attack took place round Hamaxitus, for by night a great multitude of field-mice swarmed out of the ground and ate up all the leather in their arms and equipment; and the Teucrians remained there; and it was they who gave its name to Mt. Ida, naming it after the mountain in Crete. Heracleides of Pontus says that the mice which swarmed round the temple were regarded as sacred, and that for this reason the image was designed with its foot upon the mouse. Others say that a certain Teucer came from the deme of Troes, now called Xypeteones, in Attica, but that no Teucrians came from Crete. As a further sign of the close relationship of the Trojans with the people of Attica they record the fact the Erichthonius was one of the original founders on both tribes. Now this is the account of the more recent writer; but more in agreement with Homer are the traces to be seen in the plane of Thebe and in the Chrysa which was once founded there, which I shall soon discuss. The name of Smintheus is used in many places, for in the neighborhood of Hamaxitus itself, apart from the Sminthium at the temple, there are two places called Sminthia; and there are others in the neighboring territory of Larisa. And also in the territory of Parium there is a place called Sminthia, as also in Rhodes and in Lindus and in many other places. And they now call the temple Sminthium. Apart, at any rate,†lie both the Halesian Plain, of no great size, and inland from Lectum, and the Tragasaean salt-pan near Hamaxitus, where salt is naturally caused to congeal by the Etesian winds. On Lectum is to be seen an altar of the twelve gods, said to have been founded by Agamemnon. These places are all in sight of Ilium, at a distance of about two hundred stadia or a little more; and the same is the case with the places round Abydus on the other side, although Abydus is a little closer.

49On doubling Lectum one comes next to the most notable cities of the Aeolians, and to the Gulf of Adramyttium, on which the poet obviously places the majority of the Leleges, as also the Cilicians, who were twofold.†Here too is the shore-land of the Mitylenaeans, with certain villages†belonging to the Mitylenaeans who live on the mainland. The same gulf is also called the Idaean Gulf, for the ridge which extends from Lectum to Mt. Ida lies above the first part of the gulf, where the poet represents the Leleges as first settled.

50But I have already discussed these matters. I must now add that Homer speaks of a Pedasus, a city of the Leleges, as subject to lord Altes: Of Altes, who is lord over the war-loving Leleges, who hold steep Pedasus on the Satnioeis.And the site of the place, now deserted, is still to be seen. Some write, though wrongly, “at the foot of Satnioeis,”†as though the city lay at the foot of a mountain called Satnioeis; but there is no mountain here called Satinoeis, but only a river of that name, on which the city is situated; but the city is now deserted. The poet names the river, for, according to him, he wounded Satnius with a thrust of his spear, even the son of Oenops, whom a peerless Naiad nymph bore unto Oenops, as he tended his herds by the banks of the Satnioeis;and again: And he dwelt by the banks of the fair-flowing Satnioeis in steep Pedasus.And in later times it was called Satnioeis, though some called it Saphnioeis. It is only a large winter torrent, but the naming of it by the poet has made it worthy of mention. These places are continuous with Dardania and Scepsia, and are, as it were, a second Dardania, but it is lower-lying.

51To the Assians and the Gargarians now belong all the parts as far as the sea off Lesbos that are surrounded by the territory of Antandrus and that of the Cebrenians and Neandrians and Hamaxitans; for the Antandrians are situated above Hamaxitus, like it being situated inside Lectum, though farther inland and nearer to Ilium, for they are one hundred and thirty stadia distant from Ilium. Higher up than these are the Cebrenians, and still higher up than the latter are the Dardanians, who extend as far as Palaescepsis and Scepsis itself. Antandrus is called by Alcaeus “city of the Leleges”: First, Antandrus, city of the Leleges†but it is placed by the Scepsian among the cities adjacent to their territory,†so that it would fall within the territory of the Cilicians; for the territory of the Cilicians is continuous with that of the Leleges, the former, rather than the latter, marking off the southern flank of Mt. Ida. But still the territory of the Cilicians also lies low and, rather than that of the Leleges, joins the part of the coast that is near Adramyttium.†For after Lectum one comes to a place called Polymedium, at a distance of forty stadia; then, at a distance of eighty,†to Assus, slightly above the sea; and then, at a distance of one hundred and twenty,†to Gargara, which lies on a promontory†that forms the Adramyttene Gulf, in the special sense of that term; for the whole of the coast from Lectum to Canae is also called by this same name, in which is also included the Elaïtic Gulf. In the special sense of the term, however, only that part of it is called Adramyttene which is enclosed by that promontory on which Gargara lies and the promontory called Pyrrha, on which the Aphrodisium†is situated. The breadth of the mouth across from promontory to promontory is a distance of one hundred and twenty stadia. Inside is Antandrus, above which lies a mountain called Alexandreia, where the Judgment of Paris is said to have taken place, as also Aspaneus, the market for the timber from Mt. Ida; for here people bring it down and sell it to those who want it. And then comes Astyra, a village with a precinct sacred to the Astyrene Artemis. And quite near Astyra is Adramyttium, a city colonized by the Athenians, which has both a harbor and a naval station. Outside the gulf and the promontory called Pyrrha lies Cisthene, a deserted city with a harbor. Above it, in the interior, lie the copper mine and Perperene and Trarium and other settlements like these two. On the next stretch of coast one comes to the villages of the Mitylenaeans, I mean Coryphantis and Heracleia; and after these places to Attea, and then to Atarneus and Pitane and the outlets of the Caïcus River; and here we have already reached the Elaïtic Gulf. On the far side of the river lie Elaea and the rest of the gulf as far as Canae. But let me go back and discuss in detail the several places, if anything worthy of mention has been passed over; and first of all, Scepsis.

52Palaescepsis lies above Cebren near the highest part of Mt. Ida, near Polichna; and it was then called Scepsis (whether for another reason or from the fact that the place is visible all round, if it is right to derive from Greek words names then used by barbarians),†but later the inhabitants were removed sixty stadia†lower down to the present Scepsis by Scamandrius the son of Hector and Ascanius the son of Aeneias; and their two families are said to have held the kingship over Scepsis for a long time. After this they changed to an oligarchy, and then Milesians settled with them as fellow-citizens; and they began to live under a democracy. But the heirs of the royal family none the less continued to be called kings and retained certain prerogatives. Then the Scepsians were incorporated into Alexandreia by Antigonus; and then they were released by Lysimachus and went back to their home-land.

53Demetrius thinks that Scepsis was also the royal residence of Aeneias, since it lies midway between the territory subject to Aeneias and Lyrnessus, to which latter he fled, according to Homer’s statement, when he was being pursued by Achilles. At any rate, Achilles says: Dost thou not remember how from the kine, when thou wast all alone, I made thee run down the Idaean mountains with swift feet? And thence thou didst escape to Lyrnessus, but I rushed in pursuit of thee and sacked it.However, the oft-repeated stories of Aeneias are not in agreement with the account which I have just given of the founders of Scepsis. For according to these stories he survived the war because of his enmity to Priam: For always he was wroth against goodly Priam, because, although he was brave amid warriors, Priam would not honor him at all;and his fellow-rulers, the sons of Antenor and Antenor himself, survived because of the hospitality shown Menelaüs at Antenor’s house. At any rate, Sophocles†says that at the capture of Troy a leopard’s skin was put before the doors of Antenor as a sign that his house was to be left unpillaged; and Antenor and his children safely escaped to Thrace with the survivors of the Heneti, and from there got across to the Adriatic Henetice,†as it is called, whereas Aeneias collected a host of followers and set sail with his father Anchises and his son Ascanius; and some say that he took up his abode near the Macedonian Olympus, others that he founded Capyae near Mantineia in Arcadia, deriving the name he gave the settlement from Capys, and others say that he landed at Aegesta in Sicily with Elymus the Trojan and took possession of Eryx and Lilybaeum, and gave the names Scamander and Simoeis to rivers near Aegesta, and that thence he went into the Latin country and made it his abode, in accordance with an oracle which bade him abide where he should eat up his table, and that this took place in the Latin country in the neighborhood of Lavinium, where a large loaf of bread was put down for a table, for want of a better table, and eaten up along with the meats upon it. Homer, however, appears not to be in agreement with either of the two stories, nor yet with the above account of the founders of Scepsis; for he clearly indicates that Aeneias remained in Troy and succeeded to the empire and bequeathed the succession thereto to his sons’ sons, the family of the Priamidae having been wiped out: For already the race of Priam was hated, by the son of Cronus; and now verily the mighty Aeneias will rule over the Trojans, and his sons’ sons that are hereafter to be born.And in this case one cannot even save from rejection the succession of Scamandrius.†And Homer is in far greater disagreement with those who speak of Aeneias as having wandered even as far as Italy and make him die there. Some write,the family of Aeneias will rule over all,†and his sons’ sons,meaning the Romans.

54From Scepsis came the Socratic philosophers Erastus and Coriscus and Neleus the son of Coriscus, this last a man who not only was a pupil of Aristotle and Theophrastus, but also inherited the library of Theophrastus, which included that of Aristotle. At any rate, Aristotle bequeathed his own library to Theophrastus, to whom he also left his school; and he is the first man, so far as I know, to have collected books and to have taught the kings in Egypt how to arrange a library. Theophrastus bequeathed it to Neleus; and Neleus took it to Scepsis and bequeathed it to his heirs, ordinary people, who kept the books locked up and not even carefully stored. But when they heard bow zealously the Attalic kings†to whom the city was subject were searching for books to build up the library in Pergamum, they hid their books underground in a kind of trench. But much later, when the books had been damaged by moisture and moths, their descendants sold them to Apellicon†of Teos for a large sum of money, both the books of Aristotle and those of Theophrastus. But Apellicon was a bibliophile rather than a philosopher; and therefore, seeking a restoration of the parts that had been eaten through, he made new copies of the text, filling up the gaps incorrectly, and published the books full of errors. The result was that the earlier school of Peripatetics who came after Theophrastus had no books at all, with the exception of only a few, mostly exoteric works, and were therefore able to philosophize about nothing in a practical way, but only to talk bombast about commonplace propositions, whereas the later school, from the time the books in question appeared, though better able to philosophise and Aristotelise, were forced to call most of their statements probabilities, because of the large number of errors.†Rome also contributed much to this; for, immediately after the death of Apellicon, Sulla, who had captured Athens, carried off Apellicon’s library to Rome, where Tyrannion the grammarian, who was fond of Aristotle, got it in his hands by paying court to the librarian, as did also certain booksellers who used bad copyists and would not collate the texts—a thing that also takes place in the case of the other books that are copied for selling, both here and at Alexandria. However, this is enough about these men.

55From Scepsis came also Demetrius, whom I often mention, the grammarian who wrote a commentary on The Marshalling of the Trojan Forces, and was born at about the same time as Crates and Aristarchus; and later, Metrodorus, a man who changed from his pursuit of philosophy to political life, and taught rhetoric, for the most part, in his written works; and he used a brand-new style and dazzled many. On account of his reputation he succeeded, though a poor man, in marrying brilliantly in Chalcedon; and he passed for a Chalcedonian. And having paid court to Mithridates Eupator, he with his wife sailed away with him to Pontus; and he was treated with exceptional honor, being appointed to the judgeship from which there was no appeal to the king. However, his good fortune did not continue, but he incurred the enmity of men less just than himself and revolted from the king when he was on the embassy to Tigranes the Armenian.†And Tigranes sent him back against his will to Eupator, who was already in flight from his ancestral realm; but Metrodorus died on the way, whether by order of the king or from disease; for both accounts are given of his death. So much for the Scepsians.

56After Scepsis come Andeira and Pioniae and the territory of Gargara. There is a stone in the neighborhood of Andeira which, when burned, becomes iron, and then, when heated in a furnace with a certain earth, distils mock-silver; and this, with the addition of copper, makes the “mixture,” as it is called, which by some is called “mountaincopper.”†These are the places which the Leleges occupied; and the same is true of the places in the neighborhood of Assus.

57Assus is by nature strong and well-fortified; and the ascent to it from the sea and the harbor is very steep and long, so that the statement of Stratonicus the citharist in regard to it seems appropriate: Go to Assus, in order that thou mayest more quickly come to the doom of death.†The harbor is formed by a great mole. From Assus came Cleanthes, the Stoic philosopher who succeeded Zeno of Citium as head of the school and left it to Chrysippus of Soli. Here too Aristotle tarried, because of his relationship by marriage with the tyrant Hermeias. Hermeias was a eunuch, the slave of a certain banker; and on his arrival at Athens he became a pupil of both Plato and Aristotle. On his return he shared the tyranny with his master, who had already laid hold of the districts of Atarneus and Assus; and then Hermeias succeeded him and sent for both Aristotle and Xenocrates and took care of them; and he also married his brother’s daughter to Aristotle. Memnon of Rhodes, who was at that time serving the Persians as general, made a pretence of friendship for Hermeias, and then invited him to come for a visit, both in the name of hospitality and at the same time for pretended business reasons; but he arrested him and sent him up to the king, where he was put to death by hanging. But the philosophers safely escaped by flight from the districts above-mentioned, which were seized by the Persians.

58Myrsilus†says that Assus was founded by the Methymnaeans; and Hellanicus too calls it an Aeolian city, just as also Gargara and Lamponia belonged to the Aeolians. For Gargara was founded by the Assians; but it was not well peopled, for the kings brought into it colonists from Miletopolis when they devastated that city, so that instead of Aeolians, according to Demetrius of Scepsis, the inhabitants of Gargara became semi-barbarians. According to Homer, however, all these places belonged to the Leleges, who by some are represented to be Carians, although by Homer they are mentioned apart: Towards the sea are the Carians and the Paeonians of the curved bow and the Leleges and the Cauconians.They were therefore a different people from the Carians; and they lived between the people subject to Aeneias and the people whom the poet called Cilicians, but when they were pillaged by Achilles they migrated to Caria and took possession of the district round the present Halicarnassus.

59However, the city Pedasus, now abandoned by them, is no longer in existence; but in the inland territory of the Halicarnassians there used to be a city Pedasa, so named by them; and the present territory is called Pedasis. It is said that as many as eight cities were settled in this territory by the Leleges, who in earlier times were so numerous that they not only took possession of that part of Caria which extends to Myndus and Bargylia, but also cut off for themselves a large portion of Pisidia. But later, when they went out on expeditions with the Carians, they became distributed throughout the whole of Greece, and the tribe disappeared. Of the eight cities, Mausolus†united six into one city, Halicarnassus, as Callisthenes tells us, but kept Syangela and Myndus as they were. These are the Pedasians of whom Herodotus says that when any misfortune was about to come upon them and their neighbors, the priestess of Athena would grow a beard; and that this happened to them three times. And there is also a small town called Pedasum in the present territory of Stratoniceia. And throughout the whole of Caria and in Miletus are to be seen tombs, fortifications, and traces of settlements of the Leleges.

60After the Leleges, on the next stretch of coast, lived the Cilicians, according to Homer; I mean the stretch of coast now held by the Adramytteni and Atarneitae and Pitanaei, as far as the outlet of the Caïcus. The Cilicians, as I have said, were divided into two dynasties,†one subject to Eëtion and one to Mynes.

61Now Homer calls Thebe the city of Eëtion: We went into Thebe, the sacred city of Eëtion;and he clearly indicates that also Chrysa, which had the temple of Sminthian Apollo, belonged to Eëtion, if it be true that Chryseïs was taken captive at Thebe, for he says,We went into Thebe, and laid it waste and brought hither all the spoil. And this they divided aright among themselves, but they chose out Chryseïs for the son of Atreus;†and that Lyrnessus belonged to Mynes, since Achilleslaid waste Lyrnessus and the walls of Thebeand slew both Mynes and Epistrophus; so that when Briseïs says,thou wouldst not even let me, when swift Achilles slew my husband and sacked the city of divine Mynes,Homer cannot mean Thebe (for this belonged to Eëtion), but Lyrnessus. Both were situated in what was afterwards called the Plain of Thebe, which, on account of its fertility, is said to have been an object of contention between the Mysians and Lydians in earlier times, and later between the Greeks who colonized it from Aeolis and Lesbos. But the greater part of it is now held by the Adramytteni, for here lie both Thebe and Lyrnessus, the latter a natural stronghold; but both places are deserted. From Adramyttium the former is distant sixty stadia and the latter eighty-eight, in opposite directions.†

62In the territory of Adramyttium lie also Chrysa and Cilla. At any rate there is still today a place near Thebe called Cilla, where is a temple of the Cillaean Apollo; and the Cillaeus River, which runs from Mt. Ida, flows past it. These places lie near the territory of Antandrus. The Cillaeum in Lesbos is named after this Cilla; and there is also a Mt. Cillaeum between Gargara and Antandrus. Daës of Colonae says that the temple of the Cillaean Apollo was first founded in Colonae by the Aeolians who sailed from Greece; it is also said that a temple of Cillaean Apollo was established at Chrysa, though it is not clear whether he is the same as the Sminthian Apollo or distinct from him.

63Chrysa was a small town on the sea, with a harbor; and near by, above it, lies Thebe. Here too was the temple of the Sminthian Apollo; and here lived Chryseïs. But the place is now utterly deserted; and the temple was transferred to the present Chrysa near Hamaxitus when the Cilicians were driven out, partly to Pamphylia and partly to Hamaxitus. Those who are less acquainted with ancient history say that it was at this Chrysa that Chryses and Chryseïs lived, and that Homer mentions this place; but, in the first place, there is no harbor here, and yet Homer says,And when they had now arrived inside the deep harbor;and, secondly, the temple is not on the sea, though Homer makes it on the sea;and out from the seafaring ship stepped Chryseïs. Here then did Odysseus of many wiles lead to the altar, and place in the arms of her dear father;neither is it near Thebe, though Homer makes it near; at any rate, he speaks of Chryseïs as having been taken captive there. Again, neither is there any place called Cilla to be seen in the territory of the Alexandreians, nor any temple of Cillaean Apollo; but the poet couples the two,who dost stand over Chrysa and sacred Cilla.But it is to be seen near by in the Plain of Thebe. And the voyage from the Cilician Chrysa to the Naval Station is about seven hundred stadia, approximately a day’s voyage, such a distance, obviously, as that sailed by Odysseus;†for immediately upon disembarking he offered the sacrifice to the god, and since evening overtook him he remained on the spot and sailed away the next morning. But the distance from Hamaxitus is scarcely a third of that above mentioned, so that Odysseus could have completed the sacrifice and sailed back to the Naval Station on the same day. There is also a tomb of Cillus in the neighborhood of the temple of the Cillaean Apollo, a great barrow. He is said to have been the charioteer of Pelops and to have ruled over this region; and perhaps it was after him that Cilicia was named, or vice versa.

64Now the story of the Teucrians and the mice—whence the epithet “Sminthian,”†since “sminthi” means “mice”—must be transferred to this place. And writers excuse this giving of epithets from small creatures by such examples as the following: It is from locusts, they say, which the Oetaeans call “cornopes,” that Heracles is worshipped among the Oetaeans as “Cornopion,” for ridding them of locusts; and he is worshipped among the Erythraeans who live in Mimas as “Ipoctonus,” because he is the destroyer of the vine-eating ips;†and in fact, they add, these are the only Erythraeans in whose country this creature is not to be found. And the Rhodians, who call erysibe “erythibe,” have a temple of Apollo “Erythibius” in their country; and among the Aeolians in Asia a certain month is called Pornopion, since the Boeotians so call the locusts, and a sacrifice is offered to Apollo Pornopion.

65Now the territory round Adramyttium is Mysian, though it was once subject to the Lydians; and today there is a gate in Adramyttium which is called the Lydian Gate because, as they say, the city was founded by Lydians. And they say that the neighboring village Astyra belongs to Mysia. It was once a small town, where, in a sacred precinct, was the temple of the Astyrene Artemis, which was superintended, along with holy rites, by the Antandrians, who were its nearer neighbors. It is twenty stadia distant from the ancient Chrysa, which also had its temple in a sacred precinct. Here too was the Palisade of Achilles. And in the interior, fifty stadia away, is Thebe, now deserted, which the poet speaks of as “beneath wooded Placus”; but, in the first place, the name “Placus” or “Plax” is not found there at all, and, secondly, no wooded place lies above it, though it is near Mt. Ida. Thebe is as much as seventy stadia distant from Astyra and sixty from Andeira. But all these are names of deserted or scantily peopled places, or of winter torrents; and they are often mentioned only because of their ancient history.

66Both Assus and Adramyttium are notable cities. But misfortune befell Adramyttium in the Mithridatic War, for the members of the city council were slaughtered, to please the king, by Diodorus†the general, who pretended at the same time to be a philosopher of the Academy, a dispenser of justice, and a teacher of rhetoric. And indeed he also joined the king on his journey to Pontus; but when the king was overthrown he paid the penalty for his misdeeds; for many charges were brought against him, all at the same time, and, being unable to bear the ignominy, he shamefully starved himself to death, in my own city. Another inhabitant of Adramyttium was the famous orator Xenocles,†who belonged to the Asiatic school and was as able a debater a ever lived, having even made a speech on behalf of Asia before the Senate,†at the time when Asia was accused of Mithridatism.

67Near Astyra is an abysmal lake called Sapra, which has an outbreak into a reefy seashore. Below Andeira is a temple sacred to the Andeirene Mother of the gods, and also a cave that runs underground as far as Palaea. Palaea is a settlement so named,†at a distance of one hundred and thirty stadia from Andeira. The underground passage became known through the fact that a goat fell into the mouth of it and was found on the following day near Andeira by a shepherd who happened to have come to make sacrifice. Atarneus is the abode of the tyrant Hermeias; and then one comes to Pitane, an Aeolic city, which has two harbors, and the Evenus River, which flows past it, whence the aqueduct has been built by the Adramytteni. From Pitane came Arcesilaüs, of the Academy, a fellow-student with Zeno of Citium under Polemon. In Pitane there is also a place on the sea called “Atameus below Pitane,” opposite the island called Eleussa. It is said that in Pitane bricks float on water, as is also the case with a certain earth in Tyrrhenia, for the earth is lighter than an equal bulk of water, so that it floats. And Poseidonius says that in Iberia he saw bricks moulded from a clay-like earth, with which silver is cleaned, and that they floated on water. After Pitane one comes to the Caïcus River, which empties at a distance of thirty stadia into the Elaïtic Gulf, as it is called. On the far side of the Caïcus, twelve stadia distant from the river, is Elaea, an Aeolic city, which also is a seaport of the Pergamenians, being one hundred and twenty stadia distant from Pergamum.

68Then, at a distance of a hundred stadia, one comes to Cane, the promontory which rises opposite Lectum and forms the Adramyttene Gulf, of which the Elaïtic gulf is a part. Canae is a small town of Locrians from Cynus, and lies in the Canaean territory opposite the southernmost ends of Lesbos. This territory extends as far as the Arginussae Islands and the promontory above them, which some call Aega, making it the same as the word for the animal;†but the second syllable should be pronounced long, that is, “Aega,” like Acta and Archa, for Aega used to be the name of the whole of the mountain which is now called Cane or Canae. The mountain is surrounded on the south and west by the sea, and on the east by the plain of the Caïcus, which lies below it, and on the north by the territory of Elaea. This mountain forms a fairly compact mass off to itself, though it slopes towards the Aegaean Sea, whence it got its name.†Later the promontory itself was called Aega, as in Sappho,†but the rest was called Cane or Canae.

69Between Elaea, Pitane, Atarneus, and Pergamum lies Teuthrania, which is at no greater distance than seventy stadia from any of them and is this side the Caïcus River; and the story told is that Teuthras was king of the Cilicians and Mysians. Euripides†says that Auge, with her child Telephus, was put by Aleus, her father, into a chest and submerged in the sea when he had detected her ruin by Heracles, but that by the providence of Athena the chest was carried across the sea and cast ashore at the mouth of the Caïcus, and that Teuthras rescued the prisoners, and treated the mother as his wife and the child as his own son.†Now this is the myth, but there must have been some other issue of fortune through which the daughter of the Arcadian consorted with the king of the Mysians and her son succeeded to his kingdom. It is believed, at any rate, that both Teuthras and Telephus reigned as kings over the country round Teuthrania and the Caïcus, though Homer goes only so far as to mention the story thus: But what a man was the son of Telephus, the hero Eurypylus, whom he slew with the bronze; and round him were slain many comrades, Ceteians, on account of a woman’s gifts.The poet thus sets before us a puzzle instead of making a clear statement; for we neither know whom we should understand the poet to mean by the “Ceteians” nor what he means by “on account of the gifts of a woman”;†but the grammarians too throw in petty myths, more to show their inventiveness than to solve questions.

70However, let us dismiss these; and let us, taking that which is more obvious, say that, according to Homer, Eurypylus clearly reigned in the region of the Caïcus, so that perhaps a part of the Cilicians were subject to him, in which case there were three dynasties among them and not merely two.†This statement is supported by the fact that there is to be seen in the territory of Elaea a torrential stream called the Ceteius; this empties into another like it, and this again into another, and they all end in the Caïcus. But the Caïcus does not flow from Ida, as Bacchylides†states; neither is Euripides correct in saying that Marsyasdwells in widely famed Celaenae, in the farthermost region of Ida;†for Celaenae is very far from Ida, and the sources of the Caïcus are also very far, for they are to be seen in a plain. Temnus is a mountain which forms the boundary between this plain and the Plain of Apia, as it is called, which lies in the interior above the Plain of Thebe. From Temnus flows a river called Mysius, which empties into the Caïcus below its sources; and it was from this fact, as some interpret the passage, that Aeschylus said at the opening of the prologue to the Myrmidons,Oh! thou Caïcus and ye Mysian in-flows.†Near the sources is a village called Gergitha, to which Attalus transferred the Gergithians of the Troad when he had destroyed their place.

1Since Lesbos, an island worthy of a full account, lies alongside and opposite the coast which extends from Lectum to Canae, and also has small islands lying round it, some outside it and some between it and the mainland, it is now time to describe these; for these are Aeolian, and I might almost say that Lesbos is the metropolis of the Aeolian cities. But I must begin at the point whence I began to traverse the coast that lies opposite the island.

2Now as one sails from Lectum to Assus, the Lesbian country begins at Sigrium, its promontory on the north.†In this general neighborhood is also Methymna, a city of the Lesbians, sixty stadia distant from the coast that stretches from Polymedium to Assus. But while the perimeter which is filled out by the island as a whole is eleven hundred stadia, the several distances are as follows: From Methymna to Malia, the southernmost†promontory to one keeping the island on the right, I mean at the point where Canae lies most directly opposite the island and precisely corresponds with it, the distance is three hundred and forty stadia; thence to Sigrium, which is the length of the island, five hundred and sixty; and then to Methymna, two hundred and ten.†Mitylene, the largest city, lies between Methymna and Malia, being seventy stadia distant from Malia, one hundred and twenty from Canae, and the same distance from the Arginussae, which are three small islands lying near the mainland alongside Canae. In the interval between Mitylene and Methymna, in the neighborhood of a village called Aegeirus in the Methymnaean territory, the island is narrowest, with a passage of only twenty stadia over to the Euripus of the Pyrrhaeans. Pyrrha is situated on the western side of Lesbos at a distance of one hundred stadia from Malia. Mitylene has two harbors, of which the southern can be closed and holds only fifty triremes, but the northern is large and deep, and is sheltered by a mole. Off both lies a small island, which contains a part of the city that is settled there. And the city is well equipped with everything.

3Mitylene has produced famous men: in early times, Pittacus, one of the Seven Wise Men; and the poet Alcaeus, and his brother Antimenidas, who, according to Alcaeus, won a great struggle when fighting on the side of the Babylonians, and rescued them from their toils by killing a warrior, the royal wrestler(as he says),who was but one short of five cubits in height.†And along with these flourished also Sappho, a marvellous woman; for in all the time of which we have record I do not know of the appearance of any woman who could rival Sappho, even in a slight degree, in the matter of poetry. The city was in those times ruled over by several tyrants because of the dissensions among the inhabitants; and these dissensions are the subject of the Stasiotic poems, as they are called, of Alcaeus. And also Pittacus†was one of the tyrants. Now Alcaeus would rail alike at both Pittacus and the rest, Myrsilus and Melanchrus and the Cleanactidae and certain others, though even he himself was not innocent of revolutionary attempts; but even Pittacus himself used monarchy for the overthrow of the oligarchs, and then, after overthrowing them, restored to the city its independence. Diophanes the rhetorician was born much later; but Potamon, Lesbocles, Crinagoras, and Theophanes the historian in my time. Theophanes was also a statesman; and he became a friend to Pompey the Great, mostly through his very ability, and helped him to succeed in all his achievements; whence he not only adorned his native land, partly through Pompey and partly through himself, but also rendered himself the most illustrious of all the Greeks. He left a son, Marcus Pompey, whom Augustus Caesar once set up as Procurator of Asia, and who is now counted among the first of the friends of Tiberius. The Athenians were in danger of suffering an irreparable disgrace when they voted that all Mitylenaeans from youth upwards should be slain, but they changed their minds and their counter-decree reached the generals only one day before the order was to be executed.

4Pyrrha has been razed to the ground, but its suburb is inhabited and has a harbor, whence there is a passage of eighty stadia over hills to Mitylene. Then, after Pyrrha, one comes to Eressus; it is situated on a hill and extends down to the sea. Then to Sigrium, twenty-eight stadia from Eressus. Both Theophrastus and Phanias, the peripatetic philosophers, disciples of Aristotle, were from Eressus. Theophrastus was at first called Tyrtamus, but Aristotle changed his name to Theophrastus, at the same time avoiding the cacophony of his name and signifying the fervor of his speech; for Aristotle made all his pupils eloquent, but Theophrastus most eloquent of all. Antissa, a city with a harbor, comes next in order after Sigrium. And then Methymna, whence came Arion, who, according to a myth told by Herodotus and his followers, safely escaped on a dolphin to Taenarum after being thrown into the sea by the pirates. Now Arion played, and sang to, the cithara; and Terpander, also, is said to have been an artist in the same music and to have been born in the same island, having been the first person to use the seven-stringed instead of the four-stringed lyre, as we are told in the verses attributed to him: For thee I, having dismissed four-toned song, shall sing new hymns to the tune of a seven-stringed cithara.†Also Hellanicus the historian, and Cailias, who interpreted Sappho and Alcaeus, were Lesbians.

5In the strait between Asia and Lesbos there are about twenty small islands, but according to Timosthenes, forty. They are called Hecatonnesi, a compound name like Peloponnesus, the second letter n being customarily redundant in such compounds, as in the names Myonnesus, Proconnesus, and Halonnesus; and consequently we have Hecatonnesi, which means Apollonnesi, for Apollo is called Hecatus; for along the whole of this coast, as far as Tenedos, Apollo is highly honored, being called Sminthian or Cillaean or Grynian or by some other appellation. Near these islands is Pordoselene, which contains a city of the same name, and also, in front of this city, another island, larger and of the same name, which is uninhabited and has a temple sacred to Apollo.

6Some writers, to avoid the indecency of the names, say that in this place we should read “Poroselene,” and that we should call Aspordenum, the rocky and barren mountain round Pergamum, “Asporenum,” and the temple of the Mother of the gods there the temple of the “Asporene” mother.†What, then, shall we say of Pordalis and Saperdes and Perdiccas, and of the phrase of Simonides,banished, ‘pordacian’ clothes and all,instead of “wet” clothes, and, somewhere in the early comedy,the place is ‘pordacian,’that is, the place that is “marshy”? Lesbos is equidistant from Tenedos and Lemnos and Chios, one might say rather less than five hundred stadia.

1Since the Leleges and the Cilicians were so closely related to the Trojans, people inquire for the reason why they are not included with the Trojans in the Catalogue. But it is reasonable to suppose that because of the loss of their leaders and the sacking of their cities the few Cilicians that were left were placed under the command of Hector, for both Eëtion and his sons are said to have been slain before the Catalogue:†Verily my father was slain by the goodly Achilles, who utterly sacked the well-peopled city of Cilicians, Thebe of the lofty gates. And the seven brothers of mine in our halls, all these on the same day†went inside the home of Hades, for all were slain by swift-footed, goodly Achilles.And so, in the same way, those subject to Mynes lost both their leaders and their city: And he laid low Mynes and Epistrophus, and sacked the city of godlike Mynes.Hom. Il. 19.296But he makes the Leleges present at the battles when he says as follows: Towards the sea are situated the Carians and the Paeonians, with curved bows, and the Leleges and Caucones.And again,he pierced with a sharp spear Satnius, son of Oenops, whom a noble Naiad nymph bore to Oenops, as he tended his herds beside the banks of the Satnioeis;for they had not so completely disappeared that they did not have a separate organization of their own, since their king still survived,of Altes, who is lord over the war-loving Leleges,and since their city had not been utterly wiped out, for the poet adds,who holds steep Pedasus on the Satnioeis.However, the poet has omitted them in the Catalogue, not considering their organization sufficient to have a place in it, or else including them under the command of Hector because they were so closely related; for Lycaon, who was a brother of Hector, says,to a short span of life my mother, daughter of the old man Altes, bore me—Altes who is lord over the war-loving Leleges.Such, then, are the probabilities in this matter.

2And it is also a matter of reasoning from probabilities if one inquires as to the exact bounds to which the poet means that the Cilicians extended, and the Pelasgians, and also the Ceteians, as they are called, under the command of Eurypylus, who lived between those two peoples. Now as for the Cilicians and the peoples under the command of Eurypylus, all has been said about them that can be said, and that their country is in a general way bounded by the region of the Caïcus River. As for the Pelasgians, it is reasonable, both from the words of Homer and from history in general, to place them next in order after these peoples; for Homer says as follows: And Hippothoüs led the tribes of the Pelasgians that rage with the spear, them that dwelt in fertile Larisa; these were ruled by Hippothoüs and Pylaeus, scion of Ares, the two sons of Pelasgian Lethus, son of Teutamus.By these words he clearly indicates that the number of Pelasgians was considerable, for he says “tribes,” not “tribe;” and he also specifies their abode as “in Larisa.” Now there are many Larisas, but we must interpret him as meaning one of those that were near; and best of all one might rightly assume the one in the neighborhood of Cyme; for of the three Larisas the one near Hamaxitus was in plain sight of Ilium and very near it, within a distance of two hundred stadia, and therefore it could not be said with plausibility that Hippothoüs fell in the fight over Patroclus “far away from” this “Larisa,” but rather from the Larisa near Cyme, for the distance between the two is about a thousand stadia. The third Larisa is a village in the territory of Ephesus in the Caÿster Plain; it is said to have been a city in earlier times, containing a temple of Larisaean Apollo and being situated closer to Mt. Tmolus than to Ephesus. It is one hundred and eighty stadia distant from Ephesus, and might therefore be placed under the Maeonians. But the Ephesians, having grown in power, later cut off for themselves much of the territory of the Maeonians, whom we now call Lydians, so that this could not be the Larisa of the Pelasgians either, but rather the one near Cyme. In fact we have no strong evidence that the Larisa in the Caÿster Plain was already in existence at that time, for we have no such evidence as to Ephesus either; but all Aeolian history, which arose but shortly after the Trojan times, bears testimony to the existence of the Larisa near Cyme.

3For it is said that the people who set out from Phricium, the Locrian mountain above Thermopylae, put in at the place where Cyme now is, and finding the Pelasgians in bad plight because of the Trojan War, though still in possession of Larisa, which was about seventy stadia distant from Cyme, built on their frontier what is still today called Neon Teichos, thirty stadia from Larisa, and that, having captured Larisa, they founded Cyme and settled there the survivors. And Cyme is called Cyme Phriconis after the Locrian mountain; and likewise Larisa is called Larisa Phriconis; but Larisa is now deserted. That the Pelasgians were a great tribe is said also to be the testimony of history in general: Menecrates of Elaea, at any rate, in his work On the Founding of Cities, says that the whole of what is now the Ionian coast, beginning at Mycale, as also the neighboring islands, were in earlier times inhabited by Pelasgians. But the Lesbians say that their people were placed under the command of Pylaeus, the man whom the poet calls the ruler of the Pelasgians, and that it is from him that the mountain in their country is still called Pylaeus. The Chians, also, say that the Pelasgians from Thessaly were their founders. But the Pelasgian race, ever wandering and quick to migrate, greatly increased and then rapidly disappeared, particularly at the time of the migration of the Aeolians and Ionians to Asia.

4A peculiar thing happened in the case of the Larisaeans, I mean the Caÿstrian and the Phryconian Larisaeans and, third, those in Thessaly: they all held land that was deposited by rivers, by the Caÿster and by the Hermus and by the Peneius. It is at the Phryconian Larisa that Piasus is said to have been honored, who, they say, was ruler of the Pelasgians and fell in love with his daughter Larisa, and, having violated her, paid the penalty for the outrage; for, observing him leaning over a cask of wine, they say, she seized him by the legs, raised him, and plunged him into the cask. Such are the ancient accounts.

5To the present Aeolian cities we must add Aegae, and also Temnus, the birthplace of Hermagoras, who wrote The Art of Rhetoric. These cities are situated in the mountainous country that lies above the territory of Cyme and that of the Phocians and that of the Smyrnaeans, along which flows the Hermus. Neither is Magnesia, which was under the command of Sipylus and has been adjudged a free city by the Romans, far from these cities. This city too has been damaged by the recent earthquakes. To the opposite parts, which incline towards the Caïcus, from Larisa across the Hermus to Cyme, the distance is seventy stadia; thence to Myrina, forty stadia; thence to Grynium, the same; and from there to Elaea. But, according to Artemidorus, one goes from Cyme to Adae, and then, forty stadia distant, to a promontory called Hydra, which with the opposite promontory Harmatus forms the Elaïtic Gulf. Now the width of the mouth of this gulf is about eighty stadia, but, including the sinuosities of the gulf, Myrina, an Aeolian city with a harbor, is at a distance of sixty stadia; and then one comes to the Harbor of the Achaeans, where are the altars of the twelve gods; and then to a town Grynium and an altar of Apollo and an ancient oracle and a costly shrine of white marble, to which the distance is forty stadia; and then seventy stadia to Elaea, with harbor and naval station belonging to the Attalic Kings, which was founded by Menestheus and the Athenians who took the expedition with him to Ilium. I have already spoken of the places that come next, those about Pitane and Atarneus and the others in that region.

6The largest and best of the Aeolian cities is Cyme; and this with Lesbos might be called the metropolis of the rest of the cities, about thirty in number, of which not a few have disappeared. Cyme is ridiculed for its stupidity, owing to the repute, as some say, that not until three hundred years after the founding of the city did they sell the tolls of the harbor, and that before this time the people did not reap this revenue. They got the reputation, therefore, of being a people who learned late that they were living in a city by the sea. There is also another report of them, that, having borrowed money in the name of the state, they pledged their porticos as security, and then, failing to pay the money on the appointed day, were prohibited from walking in them; when it rained, however, their creditors, through a kind of shame, would bid them through a herald to go under the porticos; so the herald would cry out the words, “Go under the porticos,” but the report went abroad that the Cymaeans did not understand that they were to go under the porticos when it rained unless they were given notice by the herald. Ephorus, a man indisputably noteworthy, a disciple of Isocrates the orator, and the author of the Historyand of the work on Inventions, was from this city; and so was Hesiod the poet, still earlier than Ephorus, for Hesiod himself states that his father Dius left Aeolian Cyme and migrated to Boeotia: And he settled near Helicon in a wretched village, Ascre, which is bad in winter, oppressive in summer, and pleasant at no time.†But it is not agreed that Homer was from Cyme, for many peoples lay claim to him. It is agreed, however, that the name of the city was derived from an Amazon, as was Myrina from the Amazon who lies in the Trojan plain below Batieia,which verily men call Batieia, but the immortals the tomb of much-bounding Myrina.†Ephorus, too, is ridiculed because, though unable to tell of deeds of his native land in his enumeration of the other achievements in history, and yet unwilling that it should be unmentioned, he exclaims as follows: At about the same time the Cymaeans were at peace. Since I have traversed at the same time the Trojan and Aeolian coasts, it would be next in order to treat cursorily the interior as far as the Taurus, observing the same order of approach.

1A kind of hegemony is held over these places by Pergamum, which is a famous city and for a long time prospered along with the Attalic kings; indeed I must begin my next description here, and first I must show briefly the origin of the kings and the end to which they came. Now Pergamum was a treasure-hold of Lysimachus, the son of Agathocles, who was one of the successors of Alexander, and its people are settled on the very summit of the mountain; the mountain is cone-like and ends in a sharp peak. The custody of this stronghold and the treasure, which amounted to nine thousand talents, was entrusted to Philetaerus of Tieium, who was a eunuch from boyhood; for it came to pass at a certain burial, when a spectacle was being given at which many people were present, that the nurse who was carrying Philetaerus, still an infant, was caught in the crowd and pressed so hard that the child was incapacitated. He was a eunuch, therefore, but he was well trained and proved worthy of this trust. Now for a time he continued loyal to Lysimachus, but he had differences with Arsinoe, the wife of Lysimachus, who slandered him, and so he caused Pergamum to revolt, and governed it to suit the occasion, since he saw that it was ripe for a change; for Lysimachus, beset with domestic troubles, was forced to slay his son Agathocles, and Seleucus Nicator invaded his country and overthrew him, and then he himself was overthrown and treacherously murdered by Ptolemy Ceraunus. During these disorders the eunuch continued to be in charge of the fortress and to manage things through promises and courtesies in general, always catering to any man who was powerful or near at hand. At any rate, he continued lord of the stronghold and the treasure for twenty years.

2He had two brothers, the elder of whom was Eumenes, the younger Attalus. Eumenes had a son of the same name, who succeeded to the rule of Pergamum, and was by this time sovereign of the places round about, so that he even joined battle with Antiochus the son of Seleucus near Sardeis and conquered him. He died after a reign of twenty-two years. Attalus, the son of Attalus and Antiochis, daughter of Achaeus, succeeded to the throne and was the first to be proclaimed king, after conquering the Galatians in a great battle. Attalus not only became a friend of the Romans but also fought on their side against Philip along with the fleet of the Rhodians. He died in old age, having reigned as king forty-three years; and he left four sons by Apollonis, a woman from Cyzicus, Eumenes, Attalus, Philetaerus, and Athenaeus. Now the two younger sons remained private citizens, but Eumenes, the elder of the other two, reigned as king. Eumenes fought on the side of the Romans against Antiochus the Great and against Perseus, and he received from the Romans all the country this side the Taurus that had been subject to Antiochus. But before that time the territory of Pergamum did not include many places that extended as far as the sea at the Elaïtic and Adramyttene Gulfs. He built up the city and planted Nicephorium with a grove, and the other elder brother,†from love of splendor, added sacred buildings and libraries and raised the settlement of Pergamum to what it now is. After a reign of forty-nine years†Eumenes left his empire to Attallus, his son by Stratonice, the daughter of Ariathres, king of the Cappadocians. He appointed his brother Attalus†as guardian both of his son, who was extremely young, and of the empire. After a reign of twenty-one years, his brother died an old man, having won success in many undertakings; for example, he helped Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, to defeat in war Alexander, the son of Antiochus, and he fought on the side of the Romans against the Pseudo-Philip, and in an expedition against Thrace he defeated Diegylis the king of the Caeni, and he slew Prusias, having incited his son Nicomedes against him, and he left his empire, under a guardian, to Attalus. Attalus, surnamed Philometor, reigned five years, died of disease, and left the Romans his heirs. The Romans proclaimed the country a province, calling it Asia, by the same name as the continent. The Caïcus flows past Pergamum, through the Caïcus Plain, as it is called, traversing land that is very fertile and about the best in Mysia.

3Pergamenians have become famous in my time: Mithridates the son of Menodotus and of Adobogion. Menodotus was of the family of the tetrarch of the Galatians, and Adobogion, it is said, was also the concubine of King Mithridates,†and for this reason her relatives gave to the child the name of Mithridates, pretending that he was the son of the king. At any rate, he became a friend to the deified Caesar and reached so great preferment with him that he was appointed tetrarch from his mothers family and king both of the Bosporus and other territories. He was overthrown by Asander, who not only slew King Pharnaces but also took possession of the Bosporus. Mithridates, then, has been thought worthy of a great name, as has also Apollodorus the rhetorician, who wrote the work on Rhetoric and was the leader of the Apollodoreian sect, whatever in the world it is; for numerous philosophies were prevalent, but to pass judgment upon them is beyond my power, and among these are the sects of Apollodorus and Theodorus. But the friendship of Caesar Augustus has most of all exalted Apollodorus, who was his teacher in the art of speech. And Apollodorus had a notable pupil in Dionysius, surnamed Atticus, his fellow-citizen, for he was an able sophist and historian and speech-writer.

4As one proceeds from the plain and the city towards the east, one comes to a city called Apollonia, which lies on an elevated site, and also, towards the south, to a mountain range, on crossing which, on the road to Sardeis, one comes to Thyateira, on the left-hand side, a settlement of the Macedonians, which by some is called the farthermost city of the Mysians. On the right is Apollonis, which is three hundred stadia distant from Pergamum, and the same distance from Sardeis, and it is named after the Cyzicene Apollonis. Next one comes to the plain of Hermus and to Sardeis. The country to the north of Pergamum is held for the most part by the Mysians, I mean the country on the right of the Abaeïtae, as they are called, on the borders of which is the Epictetus†as far as Bithynia.

5Sardeis is a great city, and, though of later date than the Trojan times, is nevertheless old, and has a strong citadel. It was the royal city of the Lydians, whom the poet calls Meïonians; and later writers call them Maeonians, some identifying them with the Lydians and others representing them as different, but it is better to call them the same people. Above Sardeis is situated Mt. Tmolus, a blest mountain, with a look-out on its summit, an arcade of white marble, a work of the Persians, whence there is a view of the plains below all round, particularly the Caÿster Plain. And round it dwell Lydians and Mysians and Macedonians. The Pactolus River flows from Mt. Tmolus; in early times a large quantity of gold-dust was brought down in it, whence, it is said, arose the fame of the riches of Croesus and his descendants. But the gold-dust has given out. The Pactolus runs down into the Hermus, into which also the Hyllus, now called the Phrygius, empties. These three, and other less significant rivers with them, meet and empty into the sea near Phocaea, as Herodotus says. The Hermus rises in Mysia, in the sacred mountain Dindymene, and flows through the Catacecaumene country into the territory of Sardeis and the contiguous plains, as I have already said, to the sea. Below the city lie the plain of Sardeis and that of the Cyrus and that of the Hermus and that of the Caÿster, which are contiguous to one another and are the best of all plains. Within forty stadia from the city one comes to Gygaea,†which is mentioned by the poet, the name of which was later changed to Coloe, where is the temple of Coloënian Artemis, which is characterized by great holiness. They say that at the festivals here the baskets dance,†though I do not know why in the world they talk marvels rather than tell the truth.

6The verses of Homer are about as follows: Mnesthles and Antiphus, the two sons of Talaemenes, whose mother was Lake Gygaea, who led also the Meïonians, who were born at the foot of Tmolus;but some add the following fourth verse: At the foot of snowy Tmolus, in the fertile land of Hyde.But there is no Hyde to be found in the country of the Lydians. Some also put Tychius there, of whom the poet says,far the best of workers in hide, who lived in Hyde.And they add that the place is woody and subject to strokes of lightning, and that the Arimi live there, for after Homer’s verse,in the land of the Arimi where men say is the couch of Typhon,they insert the words,in a wooded place, in the fertile land of Hyde.But others lay the scene of this myth in Cilicia, and some lay it in Syria, and still others in the Pithecussae Islands, who say that among the Tyrrhenians “pitheci” are called “arimi.” Some call Sardeis Hyde, while others call its acropolis Hyde. But the Scepsian†thinks that those writers are most plausible who place the Arimi in the Catacecaumene country in Mysia. But Pindar associates the Pithecussae which lie off the Cymaean territory, as also the territory in Sicily, with the territory in Cilicia, for he says that Typhon lies beneath Aetna: Once he dwelt in a far-famed Cilician cavern; now, however, his shaggy breast is o’er-pressed by the sea-girt shores above Cymae and by Sicily.And again,round about him lies Aetna with her haughty fetters,and again,but it was father Zeus that once amongst the Arimi, by necessity, alone of the gods, smote monstrous Typhon of the fifty heads.†But some understand that the Syrians are Arimi, who are now called the Arimaeans, and that the Cilicians in Troy, forced to migrate, settled again in Syria and cut off for themselves what is now called Cilicia. Callisthenes says that the Arimi, after whom the neighboring mountains are called Arima, are situated near Mt. Calycadnus and the promontory of Sarpedon near the Corycian cave itself.

7Near Lake Coloe are the monuments of the kings. At Sardeis is the great mound, on a lofty base, of Alyattes, built, as Herodotus says, by the common people of the city, most of the work on which was done by prostitutes; and he says that all women of that country prostituted themselves; and some call the tomb of Alyattes a monument of prostitution. Some report that Lake Coloe is an artificial lake, made to receive the overflows which take place when the rivers are full. Hypaepa is a city which one comes to on the descent from Mt. Tmolus to the Caÿster Plain.

8Callisthenes says that Sardeis was captured first by the Cimmerians, and then by the Treres and the Lycians, as is set forth by Callinus the elegiac poet, and lastly in the time of Cyrus and Croesus. But when Callinus says that the incursion of the Cimmerians was against the Esioneis, at the time of which Sardeis was captured, the Scepsian†and his followers surmise that the Asioneis were by Callinus called the Esioneis, in the Ionic dialect; for perhaps Meïonia, he says, was called Asia, and accordingly Homer likewise says,on the Asian mead about the streams of the Caÿster.The city was later restored in a notable way because of the fertility of its territory, and was inferior to none of its neighbors, though recently it has lost many of its buildings through earthquakes. However, the forethought of Tiberius, our present ruler, has, by his beneficence, restored not only this city but many others—I mean all the cities that shared in the same misfortune at about the same time.

9Notable men of the same family were born at Sardeis: the two Diodoruses, the orators, of whom the elder was called Zonas, a man who many times pleaded the cause of Asia; and at the time of the attack of King Mithridates, he was accused of trying to cause the cities to revolt from him, but in his defence he acquitted himself of the slander. The younger Diodorus, who was a friend of mine, is the author, not only of many historical treatises, but also of melic and other poems, which display full well the ancient style of writing. Xanthus, the ancient historian, is indeed called a Lydian, but whether or not he was from Sardeis I do not know.

10After the Lydians come the Mysians; and the city Philadelphia, ever subject to earthquakes. Incessantly the walls of the houses are cracked, different parts of the city being thus affected at different times. For this reason but few people live in the city, and most of them spend their lives as farmers in the country, since they have a fertile soil. Yet one may be surprised at the few, that they are so fond of the place when their dwellings are so insecure; and one might marvel still more at those who founded the city.

11After this region one comes to the Catacecaumene country,†as it is called, which has a length of five hundred stadia and a breadth of four hundred, whether it should be called Mysia or Meïonia (for both names are used); the whole of it is without trees except the vine that produces the Catacecaumenite wine, which in quality is inferior to none of the notable wines. The surface of the plain is covered with ashes, and the mountainous and rocky country is black, as though from conflagration. Now some conjecture that this resulted from thunderbolts and from fiery subterranean outbursts, and they do not hesitate to lay there the scene of the mythical story of Typhon; and Xanthus adds that a certain Arimus was king of this region; but it is not reasonable to suppose that all that country was burnt all at once by reason of such disturbances, but rather by reason of an earth-born fire, the sources of which have now been exhausted. Three pits are to be seen there, which are called “bellows,” and they are forty stadia distant from each other. Above them lie rugged hills, which are reasonably supposed to have been heaped up by the hot masses blown forth from the earth. That such soil should be well adapted to the vine one might assume from the land of Catana, which was heaped with ashes and now produces excellent wine in great plenty. Some writers, judging from places like this, wittily remark that there is good reason for calling Dionysus “Pyrigenes.”

12The parts situated next to this region towards the south as far as the Taurus are so inwoven with one another that the Phrygian and the Carian and the Lydian parts, as also those of the Mysians, since they merge into one another, are hard to distinguish. To this confusion no little has been contributed by the fact that the Romans did not divide them according to tribes, but in another way organized their jurisdictions, within which they hold their popular assemblies and their courts. Mt. Tmolus is a quite contracted mass of mountain and has only a moderate circumference, its limits lying within the territory of the Lydians themselves; but the Mesogis extends in the opposite direction as far as Mycale, beginning at Celaenae, according to Theopompus. And therefore some parts of it are occupied by the Phrygians, I mean the parts near Celaenae and Apameia, and other parts by Mysians and Lydians, and other parts by Carians and Ionians. So, also, the rivers, particularly the Maeander, form the boundary between some of the tribes, but in cases where they flow through the middle of countries they make accurate distinction difficult. And the same is to be said of the plains that are situated on either side of the mountainous territory and of the river-land. Neither should I, perhaps, attend to such matters as closely as a surveyor must, but sketch them only so far as they have been transmitted by my predecessors.

13Contiguous on the east to the Caÿster Plain, which lies between the Mesogis and the Tmolus, is the Cilbian Plain. It is extensive and well settled and has a fertile soil. Then comes the Hyrcanian Plain, a name given it by the Persians, who brought Hyrcanian colonists there (the Plain of Cyrus, like-wise, was given its name by the Persians). Then come the Peltine Plain (we are now in Phrygian territory) and the Cillanian and the Tabene Plains, which have towns with a mixed population of Phrygians, these towns also containing a Pisidian element; and it is after these that the plains themselves were named.

14When one crosses over the Mesogis, between the Carians and the territory of Nysa, which latter is a country on the far side of the Maeander extending to Cibyratis and Cabalis, one comes to certain cities. First, near the Mesogis, opposite Laodiceia, to Hierapolis, where are the hot springs and the Plutonium, both of which have something marvellous about them; for the water of the springs so easily congeals and changes into stone that people conduct streams of it through ditches and thus make stone fences†consisting of single stones, while the Plutonium, below a small brow of the mountainous country that lies above it, is an opening of only moderate size, large enough to admit a man, but it reaches a considerable depth, and it is enclosed by a quadrilateral handrail, about half a plethrum in circumference, and this space is full of a vapour so misty and dense that one can scarcely see the ground. Now to those who approach the handrail anywhere round the enclosure the air is harmless, since the outside is free from that vapor in calm weather, for the vapor then stays inside the enclosure, but any animal that passes inside meets instant death. At any rate, bulls that are led into it fall and are dragged out dead; and I threw in sparrows and they immediately breathed their last and fell. But the Galli,†who are eunuchs, pass inside with such impunity that they even approach the opening, bend over it, and descend into it to a certain depth, though they hold their breath as much as they can (for I could see in their countenances an indication of a kind of suffocating attack, as it were),—whether this immunity belongs to all who are maimed in this way or only to those round the temple, or whether it is because of divine providence, as would be likely in the case of divine obsessions, or whether it is, the result of certain physical powers that are antidotes against the vapor. The changing of water into stone is said also to be the case with the rivers in Laodiceia, although their water is potable. The water at Hierapolis is remarkably adapted also to the dyeing of wool, so that wool dyed with the roots rival those dyed with the coccus or with the marine purple.†And the supply of water is so abundant that the city is full of natural baths.

15After Hierapolis one comes to the parts on the far side of the Maeander; I have already described†those round Laodiceia and Aphrodisias and those extending as far as Carura. The next thereafter are the parts towards the west, I mean the city of the Antiocheians on the Maeander, where one finds himself already in Caria, and also the parts towards the south, I mean Greater Cibyra and Sinda and Cabalis, extending as far as the Taurus and Lycia. Now Antiocheia is a city of moderate size, and is situated on the Maeander itself in the region that lies near Phrygia, and there is a bridge over the river. Antiocheia has considerable territory on each side of the river, which is everywhere fertile, and it produces in greatest quantities the “Antiocheian” dried fig, as it is called, though they also name the same fig “three-leaved.” This region, too, is much subject to earthquakes. Among these people arose a famous sophist, Diotrephes, whose complete course was taken by Hybreas, who became the greatest orator of my time.

16The Cabaleis are said to be the Solymi; at any rate, the hill that lies above the fortress of the Termessians is called Solymus, and the Termessians themselves are called Solymi. Near by is the Palisade of Bellerophon, and also the tomb of his son Peisander, who fell in the battle against the Solymi. This account agrees also with the words of the poet, for he says of Bellerophon,next he fought with the glorious Solymi,and of his son,and Peisander†his son was slain by Ares, insatiate of war, when he was fighting with the Solymi.Termessus is a Pisidian city, which lies directly above Cibyra and very near it.

17It is said that the Cibyratae are descendants of the Lydians who took possession of Cabalis, and later of the neighboring Pisidians, who settled there and transferred the city to another site, a site very strongly fortified and about one hundred stadia in circuit. It grew strong through its good laws; and its villages extended alongside it from Pisidia and the neighboring Milyas as far as Lycia and the Peraea†of the Rhodians. Three bordering cities were added to it, Bubon, Balbura, and 0enoandon, and the union was called Tetrapolis, each of the three having one vote, but Cibyra two; for Cibyra could send forth thirty thousand footsoldiers and two thousand horse. It was always ruled by tyrants; but still they ruled it with moderation. However, the tyranny ended in the time of Moagetes, when Murena overthrew it and included Balbura and Bubon within the territory of the Lycians. But none the less the jurisdiction of Cibyra is rated among the greatest in Asia. The Cibyratae used four languages, the Pisidian, that of the Solymi, Greek, and that of the Lydians;†but there is not even a trace of the language of the Lydians in Lydia. The easy embossing of iron is a peculiar thing at Cibyra. Milya is the mountainrange extending from the narrows at Termessus and from the pass that leads over through them to the region inside the Taurus towards Isinda, as far as Sagalassus and the country of the Apameians.

1It remains for me to speak of the Ionians and the Carians and the seaboard outside the Taurus, which last is occupied by Lycians, Pamphylians, and Cilicians; for in this way I can finish my entire description of the peninsula, the isthmus of which, as I was saying, is the road which leads over from the Pontic Sea to the Issic Sea.†

2The coasting voyage round Ionia is about three thousand four hundred and thirty stadia, this distance being so great because of the gulfs and the fact that the country forms a peninsula of unusual extent; but the distance in a straight line across the isthmus is not great. For instance, merely the distance from Ephesus to Smyrna is a journey, in a straight line, of three hundred and twenty stadia, for the distance to Metropolis is one hundred and twenty stadia and the remainder to Smyrna, whereas the coasting voyage is but slightly short of two thousand two hundred. Be that as it may, the bounds of the Ionian coast extend from the Poseidium of the Milesians, and from the Carian frontiers, as far as Phocaea and the Hermus River, which latter is the limit of the Ionian seaboard.

3Pherecydes says concerning this seaboard that Miletus and Myus and the parts round Mycale and Ephesus were in earlier times occupied by Carians, and that the coast next thereafter, as far as Phocaea and Chios and Samos, which were ruled by Ancaeus, was occupied by Leleges, but that both were driven out by the Ionians and took refuge in the remaining parts of Caria. He says that Androclus, legitimate son of Codrus the king of Athens, was the leader of the Ionian colonization, which was later than the Aeolian, and that he became the founder of Ephesus; and for this reason, it is said, the royal seat of the Ionians was established there. And still now the descendants of his family are called kings; and they have certain honors, I mean the privilege of front seats at the games and of wearing purple robes as insignia of royal descent, and staff instead of sceptre, and of the superintendence of the sacrifices in honor of the Eleusinian Demeter. Miletus was founded by Neleus, a Pylian by birth. The Messenians and the Pylians pretend a kind of kinship with one another, according to which the more recent poets call Nestor a Messenian; and they say that many of the Pylians accompanied Melanthus, father of Codrus, and his followers to Athens, and that, accordingly, all this people sent forth the colonizing expedition in common with the Ionians. There is an altar, erected by Neleus, to be seen on the Poseidium. Myus was founded by Cydrelus, bastard son of Codrus; Lebedus by Andropompus, who seized a place called Artis; Colophon by Andraemon a Pylian, according to Mimnermus in his Nanno;†Priene by Aepytus the son of Neleus, and then later by Philotas, who brought a colony from Thebes; Teos, at first by Athamas, for which reason it is by Anacreon called Athamantis, and at the time of the Ionian colonization by Nauclus, bastard son of Codrus, and after him by Apoecus and Damasus, who were Athenians, and Geres, a Boeotian; Erythrae by Cnopus, he too a bastard son of Codrus; Phocaea by the Athenians under Philogenes; Clazomenae by Paralus; Chios by Egertius, who brought with him a mixed crowd; Samos by Tembrion, and then later by Procles.

4These are the twelve Ionian cities, but at a later time Smyrna was added, being induced by the Ephesians to join the Ionian League; for the Ephesians were fellow-inhabitants of the Smyrnaeans in ancient times, when Ephesus was also called Smyrna. And Callinus somewhere so names it, when he calls the Ephesians Smyrnaeans in the prayer to Zeus,and pity the Smyrnaeans; and again,remember, if ever the Smyrnaeans burnt up beautiful thighs of oxen in sacrifice to thee.†Smyrna was an Amazon who took possession of Ephesus; and hence the name both of the inhabitants and of the city, just as certain of the Ephesians were called Sisyrbitae after Sisyrbe. Also a certain place belonging to Ephesus was called Smyrna, as Hipponax plainly indicates: He lived behind the city in Smyrna between Tracheia and Lepra Acte;†for the name Lepra Acte was given to Mt. Prion, which lies above the present city and has on it a part of the city’s wall. At any rate, the possessions behind Prion are still now referred to as in the “opistholeprian” territory,†and the country alongside the mountain round Coressus was called “Tracheia.”†The city was in ancient times round the Athenaeum, which is now outside the city near the Hypelaeus, as it is called; so that Smyrna was near the present gymnasium, behind the present city, but between Tracheia and Lepra Acte. On departing from the Ephesians, the Smyrnaeans marched to the place where Smyrna now is, which was in the possession of the Leleges, and, having driven them out, they founded the ancient Smyrna, which is about twenty stadia distant from the present Smyrna. But later, being driven out by the Aeolians, they fled for refuge to Colophon, and then with the Colophonians returned to their own land and took it back, as Mimnermus tells us in his Nanno, after recalling that Smyrna was always an object of contention: After we left Pylus, the steep city of Neleus, we came by ship to lovely Asia, and with our overweening might settled in beloved Colophon, taking the initiative in grievous insolence. And from there, setting out from the Astëeis River, by the will of the gods we took Aeolian Smyrna.†So much, then, on this subject. But I must again go over the several parts in detail, beginning with the principal places, those where the foundings first took place, I mean those round Miletus and Ephesus; for these are the best and most famous cities.

5Next after the Poseidium of the Milesians, eighteen stadia inland, is the oracle of Apollo Didymeus among the Branchidae.†It was set on fire by Xerxes, as were also the other temples, except that at Ephesus. The Branchidae gave over the treasures of the god to the Persian king, and accompanied him in his flight in order to escape punishment for the robbing and the betrayal of the temple. But later the Milesians erected the largest temple in the world, though on account of its size it remained without a roof. At any rate, the circuit of the sacred enclosure holds a village settlement; and there is a magnificent sacred grove both inside and outside the enclosure; and other sacred enclosures contain the oracle and the shrines. Here is laid the scene of the myth of Branchus and the love of Apollo. The temple is adorned with costliest offerings consisting of early works of art. Thence to the city is no long journey, by land or by sea.

6Ephorus says: Miletus was first founded and fortified above the sea by the Cretans, where the Miletus of olden times is now situated, being settled by Sarpedon, who brought colonists from the Cretan Miletus and named the city after that Miletus, the place formerly being in the possession of the Leleges; but later Neleus and his followers fortified the present city. The present city has four harbors, one of which is large enough for a fleet. Many are the achievements of this city, but the greatest is the number of its colonizations; for the Euxine Pontus has been colonized everywhere by these people, as also the Propontis and several other regions. At any rate, Anaximenes of Lampsacus says that the Milesians colonized the islands Icaros and Leros; and, near the Hellespont, Limnae in the Chersonesus, as also Abydus and Arisba and Paesus in Asia; and Artace and Cyzicus in the island of the Cyziceni; and Scepsis in the interior of the Troad. I, however, in my detailed description speak of the other cities, which have been omitted by him. Both Milesians and Delians invoke an Apollo “Ulius,” that is, as god of “health and healing,” for the verb “ulein” means “to be healthy”; whence the noun “ule”†and the salutation, “Both health and great joy to thee”; for Apollo is the god of healing. And Artemis has her name from the fact that she makes people “Artemeas.”†And both Helius and Selene†are closely associated with these, since they are the causes of the temperature of the air. And both pestilential diseases and sudden deaths are imputed to these gods.

7Notable men were born at Miletus: Thales, one of the Seven Wise Men, the first to begin the science of natural philosophy†and mathematics among the Greeks, and his pupil Anaximander, and again the pupil of the latter, Anaximenes, and also Hecataeus, the author of the History, and, in my time, Aeschines the orator, who remained in exile to the end, since he spoke freely, beyond moderation, before Pompey the Great. But the city was unfortunate, since it shut its gates against Alexander and was taken by force, as was also the case with Halicarnassus; and also, before that time, it was taken by the Persians. And Callisthenes says that Phrynichus the tragic poet was fined a thousand drachmas by the Athenians because he wrote a play entitled The Capture of Miletus by Dareius. The island Lade lies close in front of Miletus, as do also the isles in the neighborhood of the Tragaeae, which afford anchorage for pirates.

8Next comes the Latmian Gulf, on which is situated “Heracleia below Latmus,” as it is called, a small town that has an anchoring-place. It was at first called Latmus, the same name as the mountain that lies above it, which Hecataeus indicates, in his opinion, to be the same as that which by the poet is called “the mountain of the Phtheires” (for he says that the mountain of the Phtheires lies above Latmus), though some say that it is Mt. Grium, which is approximately parallel to Latmus and extends inland from Milesia towards the east through Caria to Euromus and Chalcetores. This mountain lies above Heracleia, and at a high elevation.†At a slight distance away from it, after one has crossed a little river near Latmus, there is to be seen the sepulchre of Endymion, in a cave. Then from Heracleia to Pyrrha, a small town, there is a voyage of about one hundred stadia.

9But the voyage from Miletus to Heracleia, including the sinuosities of the gulfs, is a little more than one hundred stadia, though that from Miletus to Pyrrha, in a straight course, is only thirty—so much longer is the journey along the coast. But in the case of famous places my reader must needs endure the dry part of such geography as this.

10The voyage from Pyrrha to the outlet of the Maeander River is fifty stadia, a place which consists of shallows and marshes; and, travelling in rowboats thirty stadia, one comes to the city Myus, one of the twelve Ionian cities, which, on account of its sparse population, has now been incorporated into Miletus. Xerxes is said to have given this city to Themistocles to supply him with fish, Magnesia to supply him with bread, and Lampsacus with wine.

11Thence, within four stadia, one comes to a village, the Carian Thymbria, near which is Aornum, a sacred cave, which is called Charonium, since it emits deadly vapors. Above it lies Magnesia on the Maeander, a colony of the Magnesians of Thessaly and the Cretans, of which I shall soon speak.†

12After the outlets of the Maeander comes the shore of Priene, above which lies Priene, and also the mountain Mycale, which is well supplied with wild animals and with trees. This mountain lies above the Samian territory†and forms with it, on the far side of the promontory called Trogilian, a strait about seven stadia in width. Priene is by some writers called Cadme, since Philotas, who founded it, was a Boeotian. Bias, one of the Seven Wise Men, was a native of Priene, of whom Hipponax saysstronger in the pleading of his cases than Bias of Priene.†

13Off the Trogilian promontory lies an isle of the same name. Thence the nearest passage across to Sunium is one thousand six hundred stadia; on the voyage one has at first Samos and Icaria and Corsia on the right, and the Melantian rocks on the left; and the remainder of the voyage is through the midst of the Cyclades islands. The Trogilian promontory itself is a kind of spur of Mt. Mycale. Close to Mycale lies another mountain, in the Ephesian territory, I mean Mt. Pactyes, in which the Mesogis terminates.

14The distance from the Trogilian promontory to Samos†is forty stadia. Samos faces the south, both it and its harbor, which latter has a naval station. The greater part of it is on level ground, being washed by the sea, but a part of it reaches up into the mountain that lies above it. Now on the right, as one sails towards the city, is the Poseidium, a promontory which with Mt. Mycale forms the seven-stadia strait; and it has a temple of Poseidon; and in front of it lies an isle called Narthecis; and on the left is the suburb near the Heraeum, and also the Imbrasus River, and the Heraeum, which consists of an ancient temple and a great shrine, which latter is now a repository of tablets.†Apart from the number of the tablets placed there, there are other repositories of votive tablets and some small chapels full of ancient works of art. And the temple, which is open to the sky, is likewise full of most excellent statues. Of these, three of colossal size, the work of Myron, stood upon one base; Antony took these statues away, but Augustus Caesar restored two of them, those of Athena and Heracles, to the same base, although he transferred the Zeus to the Capitolium, having erected there a small chapel for that statue.

15The voyage round the island of the Samians is six hundred stadia. In earlier times, when it was inhabited by Carians, it was called Parthenia, then Anthemus, then Melamphyllus, and then Samos, whether after some native hero or after someone who colonized it from Ithaca and Cephallenia. Now in Samos there is a promontory approximately facing Drepanum in Icaria which is called Ampelus, but the entire mountain which makes the whole of the island mountainous is called by the same name. The island does not produce good wine, although good wine is produced by the islands all round, and although most of the whole of the adjacent mainland produces the best of wines, for example, Chios and Lesbos and Cos. And indeed the Ephesian and Metropolitan wines are good; and Mt. Mesogis and Mt. Tmolus and the Catacecaumene country and Cnidos and Smyrna and other less significant places produce exceptionally good wine, whether for enjoyment or medicinal purposes. Now Samos is not altogether fortunate in regard to wines, but in all other respects it is a blest country, as is clear from the fact that it became an object of contention in war, and also from the fact that those who praise it do not hesitate to apply to it the proverb that “it produces even birds’ milk,” as Menander somewhere says. This was also the cause of the establishment of the tyrannies there, and of their enmity against the Athenians.

16Now the tyrannies reached their greatest height in the time of Polycrates and his brother Syloson. Polycrates was such a brilliant man, both in his good fortune and in his natural ability, that he gained supremacy over the sea; and it is set down,†as a sign of his good fortune, that he purposely flung into the sea his ring, a ring of very costly stone and engraving, and that a little later one of the fishermen brought him the very fish that swallowed it; and that when the fish was cut open the ring was found; and that on learning this the king of the Egyptians, it is said, declared in a kind of prophetic way that any man who had been exalted so highly in welfare would shortly come to no happy end of life; and indeed this is what happened, for he was captured by treachery by the satrap of the Persians and hanged. Anacreon the melic poet lived in companionship with Polycrates; and indeed the whole of his poetry is full of his praises. It was in his time, as we are told, that Pythagoras, seeing that the tyranny was growing in power, left the city and went off to Egypt and Babylon, to satisfy his fondness for learning; but when he came back and saw that the tyranny still endured, he set sail for Italy and lived there to the end of his life. So much for Polycrates.

17Syloson was left a private citizen by his brother, but to gratify Dareius, the son of Hystaspes, he gave him a robe which Dareius desired when he saw him wearing it; and Dareius at that time was not yet king, but when Dareius became king, Syloson received as a return-gift the tyranny of Samos. But he ruled so harshly that the city became depopulated; and thence arose the proverb, by the will of Syloson there is plenty of room.

18The Athenians at first sent Pericles as general and with him Sophocles the poet, who by a siege put the disobedient Samians in bad plight; but later they sent two thousand allottees from their own people, among whom was Neocles, the father of Epicurus the philosopher, a schoolmaster as they call him. And indeed it is said that Epicurus grew up here and in Teos, and that he became an ephebus†at Athens, and that Menander the comic poet became an ephebus at the same time. Creophylus, also, was a Samian, who, it is said, once entertained Homer and received as a gift from him the inscription of the poem called The Capture of Oechalia. But Callimachus clearly indicates.the contrary in an epigram of his, meaning that Creophylus composed the poem, but that it was ascribed to Homer because of the story of the hospitality shown him: I am the toil of the Samian, who once entertained in his house the divine Homer. I bemoan Eurytus, for all that he suffered, and golden-haired Ioleia. I am called Homer’s writing. For Creophylus, dear Zeus, this is a great achievement.Some call Creophylus Homer’s teacher, while others say that it was not Creophylus, but Aristeas the Proconnesian, who was his teacher.

19Alongside Samos lies the island Icaria, whence was derived the name of the Icarian Sea. This island is named after Icarus the son of Daedalus, who, it is said, having joined his father in flight, both being furnished with wings, flew away from Crete and fell here, having lost control of their course; for, they add, on rising too close to the sun, his wings slipped off, since the wax†melted. The whole island is three hundred stadia in perimeter; it has no harbors, but only places of anchorage, the best of which is called Histi. It has a promontory which extends towards the west. There is also on the island a temple of Artemis, called Tauropolium; and a small town Oenoe; and another small town Dracanum, bearing the same name as the promontory on which it is situated and having near by a place of anchorage. The promontory is eighty stadia distant from the promontory of the Samians called Cantharius, which is the shortest distance between the two. At the present time, however, it has but few inhabitants left, and is used by Samians mostly for the grazing of cattle.

20After the Samian strait, near Mt. Mycale, as one sails to Ephesus, one comes, on the right, to the seaboard of the Ephesians; and a part of this seaboard is held by the Samians. First on the seaboard is the Panionium, lying three stadia above the sea where the Pan-Ionia, a common festival of the Ionians, are held, and where sacrifices are performed in honor of the Heliconian Poseidon; and Prienians serve as priests at this sacrifice, but I have spoken of them in my account of the Peloponnesus. Then comes Neapolis, which in earlier times belonged to the Ephesians, but now belongs to the Samians, who gave in exchange for it Marathesium, the more distant for the nearer place. Then comes Pygela, a small town, with a temple of Artemis Munychia, founded by Agamemnon and inhabited by a part of his troops; for it is said that some of his soldiers became afflicted with a disease of the buttocks†and were called “diseased-buttocks,” and that, being afflicted with this disease, they stayed there, and that the place thus received this appropriate name. Then comes the harbor called Panormus, with a temple of the Ephesian Artemis; and then the city Ephesus. On the same coast, slightly above the sea, is also Ortygia, which is a magnificent grove of all kinds of trees, of the cypress most of all. It is traversed by the Cenchrius River, where Leto is said to have bathed herself after her travail.†For here is the mythical scene of the birth, and of the nurse Ortygia, and of the holy place where the birth took place, and of the olive tree near by, where the goddess is said first to have taken a rest after she was relieved from her travail. Above the grove lies Mt. Solmissus, where, it is said, the Curetes stationed themselves, and with the din of their arms frightened Hera out of her wits when she was jealously spying on Leto, and when they helped Leto to conceal from Hera the birth of her children. There are several temples in the place, some ancient and others built in later times; and in the ancient temples are many ancient wooden images, but in those of later times there are works of Scopas; for example, Leto holding a sceptre and Ortygia standing beside her with a child in each arm. A general festival is held there annually; and by a certain custom the youths vie for honor, particularly in the splendor of their banquets there. At that time, also, a special college of the Curetes holds symposiums and performs certain mystic sacrifices.

21The city of Ephesus was inhabited both by Carians and by Leleges, but Androclus drove them out and settled the most of those who had come with him round the Athenaeum and the Hypelaeus, though he also included a part of the country situated on the slopes of Mt. Coressus. Now Ephesus was thus inhabited until the time of Croesus, but later the people came down from the mountainside and abode round the present temple until the time of Alexander. Lysimachus built a wall round the present city, but the people were not agreeably disposed to change their abodes to it; and therefore he waited for a downpour of rain and himself took advantage of it and blocked the sewers so as to inundate the city; and the inhabitants were then glad to make the change. He named the city after his wife Arsinoe; the old name, however, prevailed. There was a senate, which was conscripted; and with these were associated the Epicleti,†as they were called, who administered all the affairs of the city.

22As for the temple of Artemis, its first architect was Chersiphron; and then another man made it larger. But when it was set on fire by a certain Herostratus, the citizens erected another and better one, having collected the ornaments of the women and their own individual belongings, and having sold also the pillars of the former temple. Testimony is borne to these facts by the decrees that were made at that time. Artemidorus says: Timaeus of Tauromenium, being ignorant of these decrees and being any way an envious and slanderous fellow (for which reason he was also called Epitimaeus), says that they exacted means for the restoration of the temple from the treasures deposited in their care by the Persians; but there were no treasures on deposit in their care at that time, and, even if there had been, they would have been burned along with the temple; and after the fire, when the roof was destroyed, who could have wished to keep deposits of treasure lying in a sacred enclosure that was open to the sky? Now Alexander, Artemidorus adds, promised the Ephesians to pay all expenses, both past and future, on condition that he should have the credit therefor on the inscription, but they were unwilling, just as they would have been far more unwilling to acquire glory by sacrilege and a spoliation of the temple.†And Artemidorus praises the Ephesian who said to the king that it was inappropriate for a god to dedicate offerings to gods.

23After the completion of the temple, which, he says, was the work of Cheirocrates†(the same man who built Alexandreia and the same man who proposed to Alexander to fashion Mt. Athos into his likeness, representing him as pouring a libation from a kind of ewer into a broad bowl, and to make two cities, one on the right of the mountain and the other on the left, and a river flowing from one to the other)—after the completion of the temple, he says, the great number of dedications in general were secured by means of the high honor they paid their artists,†but the whole of the altar was filled, one might say, with the works of Praxiteles. They showed me also some of the works of Thrason, who made the chapel of Hecate, the waxen image of Penelope, and the old woman Eurycleia. They had eunuchs as priests, whom they called Megabyzi. And they were always in quest of persons from other places who were worthy of this preferment, and they held them in great honor. And it was obligatory for maidens to serve as colleagues with them in their priestly office. But though at the present some of their usages are being preserved, yet others are not; but the temple remains a place of refuge, the same as in earlier times, although the limits of the refuge have often been changed; for example, when Alexander extended them for a stadium, and when Mithridates shot an arrow from the corner of the roof and thought it went a little farther than a stadium, and when Antony doubled this distance and included within the refuge a part of the city. But this extension of the refuge proved harmful, and put the city in the power of criminals; and it was therefore nullified by Augustus Caesar.

24The city has both an arsenal and a harbor. The mouth of the harbor was made narrower by the engineers,†but they, along with the king who ordered it, were deceived as to the result, I mean Attalus Philadelphus; for he thought that the entrance would be deep enough for large merchant vessels—as also the harbor itself, which formerly had shallow places because of the silt deposited by the Caÿster River—if a mole were thrown up at the mouth, which was very wide, and therefore ordered that the mole should be built. But the result was the opposite, for the silt, thus hemmed in, made the whole of the harbor, as far as the mouth, more shallow. Before this time the ebb and flow of the tides would carry away the silt and draw it to the sea outside. Such, then, is the harbor; and the city, because of its advantageous situation in other respects, grows daily, and is the largest emporium in Asia this side the Taurus.

25Notable men have been born in this city: in ancient times, Heracleitus the Obscure, as he is called; and Hermodorus, concerning whom Heracleitus himself says: It were right for the Ephesians from youth upwards to be hanged, who banished their most useful man, saying: ‘Let no man of us be most useful; otherwise, let him be elsewhere and with other people.’Hermodorus is reputed to have written certain laws for the Romans. And Hipponax the poet was from Ephesus; and so were Parrhasius the painter and Apelles, and more recently Alexander the orator, surnamed Lychnus, who was a statesman, and wrote history, and left behind him poems in which he describes the position of the heavenly bodies and gives a geographic description of the continents, each forming the subject of a poem.

26After the outlet of the Caÿster River comes a lake that runs inland from the sea, called Selinusia; and next comes another lake that is confluent with it, both affording great revenues. Of these revenues, though sacred, the kings deprived the goddess, but the Romans gave them back; and again the tax-gatherers forcibly converted the tolls to their own use; but when Artemidorus was sent on an embassy, as he says, he got the lakes back for the goddess, and he also won the decision over Heracleotis, which was in revolt,†his case being decided at Rome; and in return for this the city erected in the temple a golden image of him. In the innermost recess of the lake there is a temple of a king, which is said to have been built by Agamemnon.

27Then one comes to the mountain Gallesius, and to Colophon, an Ionian city, and to the sacred precinct of Apollo Clarius, where there was once an ancient oracle. The story is told that Calchas the prophet, with Amphilochus the son of Amphiaräus, went there on foot on his return from Troy, and that having met near Clarus a prophet superior to himself, Mopsus, the son of Manto, the daughter of Teiresias, he died of grief. Now Hesiod revises the myth as follows, making Calchas propound to Mopsus this question: I am amazed in my heart at all these figs on this wild fig tree, small though it is; can you tell me the number?And he makes Mopsus reply: They are ten thousand in number, and their measure is a medimnus;†but there is one over, which you cannot put in the measure.†“Thus he spake,” Hesiod adds,and the number the measure could hold proved true. And then the eyes of Calchas were closed by the sleep of death.†But Pherecydes says that the question propounded by Calchas was in regard to a pregnant sow, how many pigs she carried, and that Mopsus said, “three, one of which is a female,” and that when Mopsus proved to have spoken the truth, Calchas died of grief. Some say that Calchas propounded the question in regard to the sow, but that Mopsus propounded the question in regard to the wild fig tree, and that the latter spoke the truth but that the former did not, and died of grief, and in accordance with a certain oracle. Sophocles tells the oracle in his Reclaiming of Helen, that Calchas was destined to die when he met a prophet superior to himself, but he transfers the scene of the rivalry and of the death of Calchas to Cilicia. Such are the ancient stories.

28The Colophonians once possessed notable naval and cavalry forces, in which latter they were so far superior to the others that wherever in wars that were hard to bring to an end, the cavalry of the Colophonians served as ally, the war came to an end; whence arose the proverb, “he put Colophon to it,” which is quoted when a sure end is put to any affair. Native Colophonians, among those of whom we have record, were: Mimnermus, who was both a flute-player and elegiac poet; Xenophanes, the natural philosopher, who composed the “Silli”†in verse; and Pindar speaks also of a certain Polymnastus as one of the famous musicians: Thou knowest the voice, common to all, of Polymnastus the Colophonian.†And some say that Homer was from there. On a straight voyage it is seventy stadia from Ephesus, but if one includes the sinuosities of the gulfs it is one hundred and twenty.

29After Colophon one comes to the mountain Coracius and to an isle sacred to Artemis, whither deer, it has been believed, swim across and give birth to their young. Then comes Lebedus, which is one hundred and twenty stadia distant from Colophon. This is the meeting-place and settlement of all the Dionysiac artists in Ionia as far as the Hellespont; and this is the place where both games and a general festal assembly are held every year in honor of Dionysus. They formerly lived in Teos, the city of the Ionians that comes next after Colophon, but when the sedition broke out they fled for refuge to Ephesus. And when Attalus settled them in Myonnesus between Teos and Lebedus the Tëians sent an embassy to beg of the Romans not to permit Myonnesus to be fortified against them; and they migrated to Lebedus, whose inhabitants gladly received them because of the dearth of population by which they were then afflicted. Teos, also, is one hundred and twenty stadia distant from Lebedus; and in the intervening distance there is an island Aspis, by some called Arconnesus. And Myonnesus is settled on a height that forms a peninsula.

30Teos also is situated on a peninsula; and it has a harbor. Anacreon the melic poet was from Teos; in whose time the Tëians abandoned their city and migrated to, Abdera, a Thracian city, being unable to bear the insolence of the Persians; and hence the verse in reference to Abdera.Abdera, beautiful colony of the Tëians.But some of them returned again in later times. As I have already said, Apellicon also was a Tëian; and Hecataeus the historian was from the same city. And there is also another harbor to the north, thirty stadia distant from the city, called Gerrhaeïdae.

31Then one comes to Chalcideis, and to the isthmus of the Chersonesus, belonging to the Tëians and Erythraeans. Now the latter people live this side the isthmus, but the Tëians and Clazomenians live on the isthmus itself; for the southern side of the isthmus, I mean the Chalcideis, is occupied by Tëians, but the northern by Clazomenians, where their territory joins the Erythraean. At the beginning of the isthmus lies the place called Hypocremnus, which lies between the Erythraean territory this side the isthmus and that of the Clazomenians on the other side. Above the Chalcideis is situated a sacred precinct consecrated to Alexander the son of Philip; and games, called the Alexandreia, are proclaimed by the general assembly of the Ionians and are celebrated there. The passage across the isthmus from the sacred precinct of Alexander and from the Chalcideis to Hypocremnus is fifty stadia, but the voyage round by sea is more than one thousand. Somewhere about the middle of the circuit is Erythrae, an Ionian city, which has a harbor, and also four isles lying off it, called Hippi.

32Before coming to Erythrae, one comes first to a small town Erae belonging to the Tëians; and then to Corycus, a high mountain, and to a harbor at the foot of it, Casystes, and to another harbor called Erythras, and to several others in order thereafter. The waters along the coast of Mt. Corycus, they say, were everywhere the haunt of pirates, the Corycaeans, as they are called, who had found a new way of attacking vessels; for, they say, the Corycaeans would scatter themselves among the harbors, follow up the merchants whose vessels lay at anchor in them, and overhear what cargoes they had aboard and whither they were bound, and then come together and attack the merchants after they had put to sea and plunder their vessels; and hence it is that we call every person who is a busybody and tries to overhear private and secret conversations a Corycaean; and that we say in a proverb: Well then, the Corycaean was listening to this,when one thinks that he is doing or saying something in secret, but fails to keep it hidden because of persons who spy on him and are eager to learn what does not concern them.

33After Mt. Corycus one comes to Halonnesos, a small island. Then to Argennum, a promontory of the Erythraean territory; it is very close to the Poseidium of the Chians, which latter forms a strait about sixty stadia in width. Between Erythrae and Hypocremnus lies Mimas, a lofty mountain, which is well supplied with game and well wooded. Then one comes to a village Cybelia, and to a promontory Melaena, as it is called, which has a millstone quarry.

34Erythrae was the native city of Sibylla, a woman who was divinely inspired and had the gift of prophecy, one of the ancients. And in the time of Alexander there was another woman who likewise had the gift of prophecy; she was called Athenaïs, and was a native of the same city. And, in my time, Heracleides the Herophileian physician, fellow.pupil of Apollonius Mys,†was born there.

35As for Chios, the voyage round it along the coast is nine hundred stadia; and it has a city with a good port and with a naval station for eighty ships. On making the voyage round it from the city, with the island on the right, one comes first to the Poseidium. Then to Phanae, a deep harbor, and to a temple of Apollo and a grove of palm trees. Then to Notium, a shore suited to the anchoring of vessels. Then to Laïus, this too a shore suited to the anchoring of vessels; whence to the city there is an isthmus of sixty stadia, but the voyage round, which I have just now described, is three hundred and sixty stadia. Then to Melaena, a promontory, opposite to which lies Psyra, an island fifty stadia distant from the promontory, lofty, and having a city of the same name. The circuit of the island is forty stadia. Then one comes to Ariusia, a rugged and harborless country, about thirty stadia in extent, which produces the best of the Grecian wines. Then to Pelinaeus, the highest mountain in the island. And the island also has a marble quarry. Famous natives of Chios are: Ion the tragic poet, and Theopompus the historian, and Theocritus the sophist. The two latter were political opponents of one another. The Chians also claim Homer, setting forth as strong testimony that the men called Homeridae were descendants of Homer’s family; these are mentioned by Pindar: Whence also the Homeridae, singers of deftly woven lays, most often....The Chians at one time possessed also a fleet, and attained to liberty and to maritime empire. The distance from Chios to Lesbos, sailing southwards, is about four hundred stadia.

36After Hypocremnus one comes to Chytrium, the site on which Clazomenae was situated in earlier times. Then to the present Clazomenae, with eight small islands lying off it that are under cultivation. Anaxagoras, the natural philosopher, an illustrious man and associate of Anaximenes the Milesian, was a Clazomenian. And Archeläus the natural philosopher and Euripides the poet took his entire course. Then to a temple of Apollo and to hot springs, and to the gulf and the city of the Smyrnaeans.

37Next one comes to another gulf, on which is the old Smyrna, twenty stadia distant from the present Smyrna. After Smyrna had been razed by the Lydians, its inhabitants continued for about four hundred years to live in villages. Then they were reassembled into a city by Antigonus, and afterwards by Lysimachus, and their city is now the most beautiful of all; a part of it is on a mountain and walled, but the greater part of it is in the plain near the harbor and near the Metröum and near the gymnasium. The division into streets is exceptionally good, in straight lines as far as possible; and the streets are paved with stone; and there are large quadrangular porticoes, with both lower and upper stories. There is also a library; and the Homereium, a quadrangular portico containing a shrine and wooden statue†of Homer; for the Smyrnaeans also lay especial claim to the poet; and indeed a bronze coin of theirs is called Homereium. The River Meles flows near the walls; and, in addition to the rest of the city’s equipment, there is also a harbor that can be closed. But there is one error, not a small one, in the work of the engineers, that when they paved the streets they did not give them underground drainage; instead, filth covers the surface, and particularly during rains, when the cast-off filth is discharged upon the streets. It was here that Dolabella captured by siege, and slew, Trebonius, one of the men who treacherously murdered the deified Caesar; and he set free†many parts of the city.

38After Smyrna one comes to Leucae, a small town, which after the death of Attalus Philometor was caused to revolt by Aristonicus, who was reputed to belong to the royal family and intended to usurp the kingdom. Now he was banished from Smyrna, after being defeated in a naval battle near the Cymaean territory by the Ephesians, but he went up into the interior and quickly assembled a large number of resourceless people, and also of slaves, invited with a promise of freedom, whom he called Heliopolitae.†Now he first fell upon Thyateira unexpectedly, and then got possession of Apollonis, and then set his efforts against other fortresses. But he did not last long; the cities immediately sent a large number of troops against him, and they were assisted by Nicomedes the Bithynian and by the kings of the Cappadocians. Then came five Roman ambassadors, and after that an army under Publius Crassus the consul, and after that Marcus Perpernas, who brought the war to an end, having captured Aristonicus alive and sent him to Rome. Now Aristonicus ended his life in prison; Perpernas died of disease; and Crassus, attacked by certain people in the neighborhood of Leucae, fell in battle. And Manius Aquillius came over as consul with ten lieutenants and organized the province into the form of government that still now endures. After Leucae one comes to Phocaea, on a gulf, concerning which I have already spoken in my account of Massalia. Then to the boundaries of the Ionians and the Aeolians; but I have already spoken of these. In the interior above the Ionian seaboard there remain to be described the places in the neighborhood of the road that leads from Ephesus to Antiocheia and the Maeander River. These places are occupied by Lydians and Carians mixed with Greeks.

39The first city one comes to after Ephesus is Magnesia, which is an Aeolian city and is called “Magnesia on the Maeander,” for it is situated near that river. But it is much nearer the Lethaeus River, which empties into the Maeander and has its beginning in Mt. Pactyes, the mountain in the territory of the Ephesians. There is another Lethaeus in Gortyna, and another near Tricce, where Asclepius is said to have been born, and still another in the country of the Western Libyans. And the city lies in the plain near the mountain called Thorax, on which Daphitas the grammarian is said to have been crucified, because he reviled the kings in a distich: Purpled with stripes, mere filings of the treasure of Lysimachus, ye rule the Lydians and Phrygia.It is said that an oracle was given out that Daphitas should be on his guard against Thorax.

40The Magnetans are thought to be descendants of Delphians who settled in the Didyman hills, in Thessaly, concerning whom Hesiod says: Or as the unwedded virgin who, dwelling on the holy Didyman hills, in the Dotian Plain, in front of Amyrus, bathed her foot in Lake Boebeïs.††Here was also the temple of Dindymene, Mother of the gods. According to tradition, the wife of Themistocles, some say his daughter, served as a priestess there. But the temple is not now in existence, because the city has been transferred to another site. In the present city is the temple of Artemis Leucophryene, which in the size of its shrine and in the number of its votive offerings is inferior to the temple at Ephesus, but in the harmony and skill shown in the structure of the sacred enclosure is far superior to it. And in size it surpasses all the sacred enclosures in Asia except two, that at Ephesus and that at Didymi. In ancient times, also, it came to pass that the Magnetans were utterly destroyed by the Treres, a Cimmerian tribe, although they had for a long time been a prosperous people, but the Milesians took possession of the place in the following year. Now Callinus mentions the Magnetans as still being a prosperous people and as being successful in their war against the Ephesians, but Archilochus is obviously already aware of the misfortune that befell them: to bewail the woes of the Thasians, not those of the Magnetans;†whence one may judge that he was more recent than Callinus. And Callinus recalls another, and earlier, invasion of the Cimmerians when he says: And now the army of the Cimmerians, mighty in deeds, advanceth,†in which he plainly indicates the capture of Sardeis.

41Well-known natives of Magnesia are: Hegesias the orator, who, more than any other, initiated the Asiatic style, as it is called, whereby he corrupted the established Attic custom; and Simus the melic poet, he too a man who corrupted the style handed down by the earlier melic poets and introduced the Simoedia, just as that style was corrupted still more by the Lysioedi and the Magoedi, and by Cleomachus the pugilist, who, having fallen in love with a certain cinaedus†and with a young female slave who was kept as a prostitute by the cinaedus, imitated the style of dialects and mannerisms that was in vogue among the cinaedi. Sotades was the first man to write the talk of the cinaedi; and then Alexander the Aetolian. But though these two men imitated that talk in mere speech, Lysis accompanied it with song; and so did Simus, who was still earlier than he. As for Anaxenor, the citharoede†, the theatres exalted him, but Antony exalted him all he possibly could, since he even appointed him exactor of tribute from four cities, giving him a body.guard of soldiers. Further, his native land greatly increased his honors, having clad him in purple as consecrated to Zeus Sosipolis, as is plainly indicated in his painted image in the market-place. And there is also a bronze statue of him in the theatre, with the inscription,Surely this is a beautiful thing, to listen to a singer such as this man is, like unto the gods in voice.But the engraver, missing his guess, left out the last letter of the second verse, the base of the statue not being wide enough for its inclusion; so that he laid the city open to the charge of ignorance, Because of the ambiguity of the writing, as to whether the last word should be taken as in the nominative case or in the dative;†for many write the dative case without the iota, and even reject the ordinary usage as being without natural cause.

42After Magnesia comes the road to Tralleis, with Mt. Mesogis on the left, and, at the road itself and on the right, the plain of the Maeander River, which is occupied by Lydians and Carians, and by Ionians, both Milesians and Myesians, and also by the Aeolians of Magnesia. And the same kind of topographical account applies as far as Nysa and Antiocheia. The city of the Tralleians is situated upon a trapezium-shaped site, with a height fortified by nature; and the places all round are well defended. And it is as well peopled as any other city in Asia by people of means; and always some of its men hold the chief places in the province, being called Asiarchs. Among these was Pythodorus, originally a native of Nysa, but he changed his abode to Tralleis because of its celebrity; and with only a few others he stood out conspicuously as a friend of Pompey. And he came into possession of the wealth of a king, worth more than two thousand talents, which, though sold by the deified Caesar, was redeemed by him through his friendship with Pompey and was left by him unimpaired to his children. He was the father of Pythodoris, the present queen in Pontus, of whom I have already spoken.†Pythodorus, then, flourished in my time, as also Menodorus, a man of learning, and otherwise august and grave, who held the priesthood of Zeus Larisaeus. But he was overthrown by a counter-party friendly to Dometius Ahenobarbus; and Dometius, relying on his informers, slew him, as guilty of causing the fleet to revolt. Here were born famous orators: Dionysocles and afterwards Damasus Scombrus. Tralleis is said to have been founded by Argives and by certain Tralleian Thracians, and hence the name. And the city was ruled for a short time by tyrants, the sons of Cratippus, at the time of the Mithridatic war.

43Nysa is situated near Mt. Mesogis, for the most part lying upon its slopes; and it is a double city, so to speak, for it is divided by a torrential stream that forms a gorge, which at one place has a bridge over it, joining the two cities, and at another is adorned with an amphitheatre, with a hidden underground passage for the torrential waters. Near the theatre are two heights, below one of which is the gymnasium of youths; and below the other is the market place and the gymnasium for older persons. The plain lies to the south of the city, as it does to the south of Tralleis.

44On the road between the Tralleians and Nysa is a village of the Nysaeans, not far from the city Acharaca, where is the Plutonium, with a costly sacred precinct and a shrine of Pluto and Core, and also the Charonium, a cave that lies above the sacred precinct, by nature wonderful; for they say that those who are diseased and give heed to the cures prescribed by these gods resort thither and live in the village near the cave among experienced priests, who on their behalf sleep in the cave and through dreams prescribe the cures. These are also the men who invoke the healing power of the gods. And they often bring the sick into the cave and leave them there, to remain in quiet, like animals in their lurking-holes, without food for many days. And sometimes the sick give heed also to their own dreams, but still they use those other men, as priests, to initiate them into the mysteries and to counsel them. To all others the place is forbidden and deadly. A festival is celebrated every year at Acharaca; and at that time in particular those who celebrate the festival can see and hear concerning all these things; and at the festival, too, about noon, the boys and young men of the gymnasium, nude and anointed with oil, take up a bull and with haste carry him up into the cave; and, when let loose, the bull goes forward a short distance, falls, and breathes out his life.

45Thirty stadia from Nysa, after one crosses over Mt. Tmolus and the mountain called Mesogis, towards the region to the south of the Mesogis,†there is a place called Leimon, whither the Nysaeans and all the people about go to celebrate their festivals. And not far from Leimon is an entrance into the earth sacred to the same gods, which is said to extend down as far as Acharaca. The poet is said to name this meadow when he says, “On the Asian meadow”; and they point out a hero-temple of Caÿster and a certain Asius, and the Caÿster River that streams forth near by.

46The story is told that three brothers, Athymbrus and Athymbradus and Hydrelus, who came from Lacedaemon, founded the three cities which were named after them, but that the cities later became scantily populated, and that the city Nysa was founded by their inhabitants; but that Athymbrus is now regarded by them as their original founder.

47Near Nysa, on the far side of the Maeander River, are situated noteworthy settlements; I mean Coscinia and Orthosia; and this side the river, Briula, Mastaura and Acharaca, and above the city, on the mountain, Aroma (in which the letter rho†is short), whence comes the best Mesogitan wine, I mean the Aromian.

48Famous men born at Nysa are: Apollonius the Stoic philosopher, best of the disciples of Panaetius; and Menecrates, pupil of Aristarchus; and Aristodemus, his son, whose entire course, in his extreme old age, I in my youth took at Nysa; and Sostratus, the brother of Aristodemus, and another Aristodemus, his cousin, who trained Pompey the Great, proved themselves notable grammarians. But my teacher also taught rhetoric and had two schools, both in Rhodes and in his native land, teaching rhetoric in the morning and grammar in the evening; at Rome, however, when he was in charge of the children of Pompey the Great, he was content with the teaching of grammar.

1Coming now to the far side of the Maeander,†the parts that remain to be described are all Carian, since here the Lydians are no longer intermingled with the Carians, and the latter occupy all the country by themselves, except that a segment of the seaboard is occupied by Milesians and Myesians. Now the beginning of the seaboard is the Peraea†of the Rhodians on the sea, and the end of it is the Poseidium of the Milesians; but in the interior are the extremities of the Taurus, extending as far as the Maeander River. For it is said that the mountains situated above the Chelidonian islands, as they are called, which islands lie off the confines of Pamphylia and Lycia, form the beginning of the Taurus, for thence the Taurus rises to a height; but the truth is that the whole of Lycia, towards the parts outside and on its southern side, is separated by a mountainous ridge of the Taurus from the country of the Cibyrans as far as the Peraea of the Rhodians. From here the ridge continues, but is much lower and is no longer regarded as a part of the Taurus; neither are the parts outside the Taurus and this side of it so regarded, because of the fact that the eminences and depressions are scattered equally throughout the breadth and the length of the whole country, and present nothing like a wall of partition. The whole of the voyage round the coast, following the sinuosities of the gulfs, is four thousand nine hundred stadia, and merely that round the Peraea of the Rhodians is close to fifteen hundred.

2The Peraea of the Rhodians begins with Daedala, a place in the Rhodian territory, but ends with Mt. Phoenix, as it is called, which is also in the Rhodian territory. Off the Peraea lies the island Elaeussa, distant one hundred and twenty stadia from Rhodes. Between the two, as one sails towards the west in a straight line with the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia and Lycia, one comes to a gulf called Glaucus, which has good harbors; then to the Artemisium, a promontory and temple; then to the sacred precinct of Leto, above which, and above the sea, at a distance of sixty stadia, lies Calynda, a city; then to Caunus and to the Calbis, a river near Caunus, which is deep and affords passage for merchant vessels; and between the two lies Pisilis.

3The city has dockyards, and a harbor that can be closed. Above the city, on a height, lies Imbrus, a stronghold. Although the country is fertile, the city is agreed by all to have foul air in summer, as also in autumn, because of the heat and the abundance of fruits. And indeed little tales of the following kind are repeated over and over, that Stratonicus the citharist, seeing that the Caunians were pitiably†pale,†said that this was the thought of the poet in the verse,Even as is the generation of leaves, such is that also of men;and when people complained that he was jeering at the city as though it were sickly, he replied, “Would I be so bold as to call this city sickly, where even the corpses walk about?” The Caunians once revolted from the Rhodians, but by a judicial decision of the Romans they were restored to them. And there is extant a speech of Molon†entitled Against the Caunians. It is said that they speak the same language as the Carians, but that they came from Crete and follow usages of their own.†

4Next one comes to Physcus, a small town, which has a harbor and a sacred precinct of Leto; and then to Loryma, a rugged coast, and to the highest mountain in that part of the country; and on top of the mountain is Phoenix, a stronghold bearing the same name as the mountain; and off the mountain, at a distance of four stadia, lies Elaeussa, an island, which is about eight stadia in circuit.

5The city of the Rhodians lies on the eastern promontory of Rhodes; and it is so far superior to all others in harbors and roads and walls and improvements in general that I am unable to speak of any other city as equal to it, or even as almost equal to it, much less superior to it. It is remarkable also for its good order, and for its careful attention to the administration of affairs of state in general; and in particular to that of naval affairs, whereby it held the mastery of the sea for a long time and overthrew the business of piracy, and became a friend to the Romans and to all kings who favoured both the Romans and the Greeks. Consequently it not only has remained autonomous. but also has been adorned with many votive offerings, which for the most part are to be found in the Dionysium and the gymnasium, but partly in other places. The best of these are, first, the Colossus of Helius,†of which the author of the iambic verse says,seven times ten cubits in height, the work of Chares the Lindian; but it now lies on the ground, having been thrown down by an earthquake and broken at the knees. In accordance with a certain oracle, the people did not raise it again. This, then, is the most excellent of the votive offerings (at any rate, it is by common agreement one of the Seven Wonders); and there are also the paintings of Protogenes, his Ialysus†and also his Satyr, the latter standing by a pillar, on top of which stood a male partridge. And at this partridge, as would be natural, the people were so agape when the picture had only recently been set up, that they would behold him with wonder but overlook the Satyr, although the latter was a very great success. But the partridge-breeders were still more amazed, bringing their tame partridges and placing them opposite the painted partridge; for their partridges would make their call to the painting and attract a mob of people. But when Protogenes saw that the main part of the work had become subordinate, he begged those who were in charge of the sacred precinct to permit him to go there and efface the partridge, and so he did. The Rhodians are concerned for the people in general, although their rule is not democratic; still, they wish to take care of their multitude of poor people. Accordingly, the people are supplied with provisions and the needy are supported by the well-to-do, by a certain ancestral custom; and there are certain liturgies†that supply provisions, so that at the same time the poor man receives his sustenance and the city does not run short of useful men, and in particular for the manning of the fleets. As for the roadsteads, some of them were kept hidden and forbidden to the people in general; and death was the penalty for any person who spied on them or passed inside them. And here too, as in Massalia and Cyzicus, everything relating to the architects, the manufacture of instruments of war, and the stores of arms and everything else are objects of exceptional care, and even more so than anywhere else.

6The Rhodians, like the people of Halicarnassus and Cnidus and Cos, are Dorians; for of the Dorians who founded Megara after the death of Codrus, some remained there, others took part with Althaemenes the Argive in the colonization of Crete, and others were distributed to Rhodes and to the cities just now mentioned. But these events are later than those mentioned by Homer, for Cnidus and Halicarnassus were not yet in existence, although Rhodes and Cos were; but they were inhabited by Heracleidae. Now when Tlepolemus had grown to manhood,he forthwith slew his own father’s dear uncle, Licymnius, who was then growing old; and straightway he built him ships, and when he had gathered together a great host he went in flight.The poet then adds,he came to Rhodes in his wanderings, where his people settled in three divisions by tribes;and he names the cities of that time,Lindus, Ialysus, and Cameirus white with chalk,the city of the Rhodians having not yet been founded. The poet, then, nowhere mentions Dorians by name here, but perhaps indicates Aeolians and Boeotians, if it be true that Heracles and Licymnius settled there. But if, as others say, Tlepolemus set forth from Argos and Tiryns, even so the colonization thence could not have been Dorian, for it must have taken place before the return of the Heracleidae. And of the Coans, also, Homer says, were led by Pheidippus and Antiphus, the two sons of lord Thessalus, son of Heraclesand these names indicate the Aeolian stock of people rather than the Dorian.

7In earlier times Rhodes was called Ophiussa and Stadia, and then Telchinis, after the Telchines, who took up their abode in the island. Some say that the Telchines are “maligners” and “sorcerers,” who pour the water of the Styx mixed with sulphur upon animals and plants in order to destroy them. But others, on the contrary, say that since they excelled in workmanship they were “maligned” by rival workmen and thus received their bad reputation; and that they first came from Crete to Cypros, and then to Rhodes; and that they were the first to work iron and brass, and in fact fabricated the scythe for Cronus. Now I have already described them before, but the number of the myths about them causes me to resume their description, filling up the gaps, if I have omitted anything.

8After the Telchines, the Heliadae, according to the mythical story, took possession of the island; and to one of these, Cercaphus, and to his wife Cydippe, were born children who founded the cities that are named after them,Lindus, Ialysus, and Cameirus white with chalk.But some say that Tlepolemus founded them and gave them the same names as those of certain daughters of Danäus.

9The present city was founded at the time of the Peloponnesian War by the same architect, as they say, who founded the Peiraeus. But the Peiraeus no longer endures, since it was badly damaged, first by the Lacedaemonians, who tore down the two walls, and later by Sulla, the Roman commander.

10It is also related of the Rhodians that they have been prosperous by sea, not merely since the time when they founded the present city, but that even many years before the establishment of the Olympian Games they used to sail far away from their homeland to insure the safety of their people. Since that time, also, they have sailed as far as Iberia; and there they founded Rhodes, of which the Massaliotes later took possession; among the Opici they founded Parthenope; and among the Daunians they, along with the Coans, founded Elpiae. Some say that the islands called the Gymnesiae were founded by them after their departure from Troy; and the larger of these, according to Timaeus, is the largest of all islands alter the seven—Sardinia, Sicily, Cypros, Crete, Euboea, Cyrnos, and Lesbos, but this is untrue, for there are others much larger. It is said that “gymnetes “†are called “balearides”†by the Phoenicians, and that on this account the Gymnesiae were called Balearides. Some of the Rhodians took up their abode round Sybaris in Chonia. The poet, too, seems to bear witness to the prosperity enjoyed by the Rhodians from ancient times, forthwith from the first founding of the three cities: and there his†people settled in three divisions by tribes, and were loved of Zeus, who is lord over gods and men; and upon them,wondrous wealth was shed by the son of Cronus.Other writers refer these verses to a myth, and say that gold rained on the island at the time when Athena was born from the head of Zeus, as Pindar states. The island has a circuit of nine hundred and twenty stadia.

11As one sails from the city, with the island on the right, one comes first to Lindus, a city situated on a mountain and extending far towards the south and approximately towards Alexandria.†In Lindus there is a famous temple of Athena Lindia, founded by the daughters of Danäus. Now in earlier times the Lindians were under a separate government of their own, as were also the Cameirians and the Ialysians, but after this they all came together at Rhodes. Cleobulus, one of the Seven Wise Men, was a native of Lindus.

12After Lindus one comes to Ixia, a stronghold, and to Mnasyrium; then to Atabyris, the highest of the mountains there, which is sacred to Zeus Atabyrius; then to Cameirus; then to Ialysus, a village, above which there is an acropolis called Ochyroma; then to the city of the Rhodians, at a distance of about eighty stadia. Between these lies Thoantium, a kind of promontory; and it is off Thoantium, generally speaking, that Chalcia and the Sporades in the neighborhood of Chalcia lie, which I have mentioned before.

13Many men worthy of mention were native Rhodians, both commanders and athletes, among whom were the ancestors of Panaetius the philosopher; and, among statesmen and rhetoricians and philosophers, Panaetius himself and Stratocles and Andronicus, one of the Peripatetics, and Leonides the Stoic; and also, before their time, Praxiphanes and Hieronymus and Eudemus. Poseidonius engaged in affairs of state in Rhodes and taught there, although he was a native of Apameia in Syria, as was also the case with Apollonius Malacus†and Molon,†for they were Alabandians,†pupils of Menecles the orator. Apollonius Malacus began his sojourn there earlier than Molon, and when, much later, Molon came, the former said to him, “you are a late ‘molon,’”†instead of saying, “late ‘elthon.’”†And Peisander the poet, who wrote the Heracleia, was also a Rhodian; and so was Simmias the grammarian, as also Aristocles of my own time. And Dionysius the Thracian and the Apollonius who wrote the Argonauts, though Alexandrians, were called Rhodians. As for Rhodes, I have said enough about it.

14As for the Carian coast that comes after Rhodes, beginning at Eleus and Loryma, it bends sharply back towards the north, and the voyage thereafter runs in a straight line as far as the Propontis, forming, as it were, a meridian line about five thousand stadia long, or slightly short of that distance. Along this line is situated the remainder of Caria, as are also the Ionians and the Aeolians and Troy and the parts round Cyzicus and Byzantium. After Loryma, then, one comes to Cynos-Sema†and to Syme, an island.

15Then to Cnidus, with two harbors, one of which can be closed, can receive triremes, and is a naval station for twenty ships. Off it lies an island which is approximately seven stadia in circuit, rises high, is theatre-like, is connected by moles with the mainland, and in a way makes Cnidus a double city, for a large part of its people live on the island, which shelters both harbors. Opposite it, in the high sea, is Nisyrus. Notable Cnidians were: first, Eudoxus the mathematician, one of the comrades of Plato; then Agatharchides, one of the Peripatetics, a historian; and, in my own time, Theopompus, the friend of the deified Caesar, being a man of great influence with him, and his son Artemidorus. Thence, also, came Ctesias, who served Artaxerxes as physician and wrote the works entitled Assyrica and Persica. Then, after Cnidus, one comes to Ceramus and Bargasa, small towns situated above the sea.

16Then to Halicarnassus, the royal residence of the dynasts of Caria, which was formerly called Zephyra. Here is the tomb of Mausolus,†one of the Seven Wonders, a monument erected by Artemisia in honor of her husband; and here is the fountain called Salmacis, which has the slanderous repute, for what reason I do not know, of making effeminate all who drink from it. It seems that the effeminacy of man is laid to the charge of the air or of the water; yet it is not these, but rather riches and wanton living, that are the cause of effeminacy. Halicarnassus has an acropolis; and off the city lies Arconnesus. Its colonizers were, among others, Anthes and a number of Troezenians. Natives of Halicarnassus have been: Herodotus the historian, whom they later called a Thurian, because he took part in the colonization of Thurii; and Heracleitus the poet, the comrade of Callimachus; and, in my time, Dionysius the historian.

17This city, too, met a reverse when it was forcibly seized by Alexander. For Hecatomnus, the king of the Carians, had three sons, Mausolus and Hidrieus and Pixodarus, and two daughters. Mausolus, the eldest of the brothers, married Artemisia, the elder of the daughters, and Hidrieus, the second son, married Ada, the other sister. Mausolus became king and at last, childless, he left the empire to his wife, by whom the above-mentioned tomb was erected. But she pined away and died through grief for her husband, and Hidrieus then became ruler. He died from a disease and was succeeded by his wife Ada; but she was banished by Pixodarus, the remaining son of Hecatomnos. Having espoused the side of the Persians, he sent for a satrap to share the empire with him; and when he too departed from life, the satrap took possession of Halicarnassus. And when Alexander came over, the satrap sustained a siege. His wife was Ada, who was the daughter of Pixodarus by Aphenis, a Cappadocian woman. But Ada, the daughter of Hecatomnos, whom Pixodarus had banished, entreated Alexander and persuaded him to restore her to the kingdom of which she had been deprived, having promised to cooperate with him against the parts of the country which were in revolt, for those who held these parts, she said, were her own relations; and she also gave over to him Alinda, where she herself was residing. He assented and appointed her queen; and when the city, except the acropolis (it was a double acropolis), had been captured, he assigned to her the siege of the acropolis. This too was captured a little later, the siege having now become a matter of anger and personal enmity.

18Next one comes to a promontory, Termerium, belonging to the Myndians, opposite which lies Scandaria, a promontory of Cos, forty stadia distant from the mainland. And there is a place called Termerum above the promontory of Cos.

19The city of the Coans was in ancient times called Astypalaea; and its people lived on another site, which was likewise on the sea. And then, on account of a sedition, they changed their abode to the present city, near Scandarium, and changed the name to Cos, the same as that of the island. Now the city is not large, but it is the most beautifully settled of all, and is most pleasing to behold as one sails from the high sea to its shore. The size†of the island is about five hundred and fifty stadia. It is everywhere well supplied with fruits, but like Chios and Lesbos it is best in respect to its wine. Towards the south it has a promontory, Laceter, whence the distance to Nisyros is sixty stadia (but near Laceter there is a place called Halisarna), and on the west it has Drecanum and a village called Stomalimne. Now Drecanum is about two hundred stadia distant from the city, but Laceter adds thirty-five stadia to the length of the voyage. In the suburb is the Asclepïeium, a temple exceedingly famous and full of numerous votive offerings, among which is the Antigonus of Apelles. And Aphrodite Anadyomene†used to be there,†but it is now dedicated to the deified Caesar in Rome, Augustus thus having dedicated to his father the female founder of his family. It is said that the Coans got a remission of one hundred talents of the appointed tribute in return for the painting. And it is said that the dietetics practised by Hippocrates were derived mostly from the cures recorded on the votive tablets there. He, then, is one of the famous men from Cos; and so is Simus the physician; as also Philetas, at the same time poet and critic; and, in my time, Nicias, who also reigned as tyrant over the Coans; and Ariston, the pupil and heir of the Peripatetic;†and Theomnestus, a renowned harper, who was a political opponent of Nicias, was a native of the island.

20On the coast of the mainland near the Myndian territory lies Astypalaea, a promontory; and also Zephyrium. Then forthwith one comes to Myndus, which has a harbor; and after Myndus to Bargylia, which is also a city; between the two is Caryanda, a harbor, and also an island bearing the same name, where the Caryandians lived. Here was born Scylax, the ancient historian. Near Bargylia is the temple of Artemis Cindyas, round which the rain is believed to fall without striking it. And there was once a place called Cindye. From Bargylia there was a man of note, the Epicurean Protarchus, who was the teacher of Demetrius called Lacon.†

21Then one comes to Iasus, which lies on an island close to the mainland. It has a harbor; and the people gain most of their livelihood from the sea, for the sea here is well supplied with fish, but the soil of the country is rather poor. Indeed, people fabricate stories of this kind in regard to Iasus: When a citharoede†was giving a recital, the people all listened for a time, but when the bell that announced the sale of fish rang, they all left him and went away to the fish market, except one man who was hard of hearing. The citharoede, therefore, went up to him and said: “Sir, I am grateful to you for the honor you have done me and for your love of music, for all the others except you went away the moment they heard the sound of the bell.” And the man said, “What’s that you say? Has the bell already rung?” And when the citharoede said “Yes,” the man said, “Fare thee well,” and himself arose and went away. Here was born the dialectician Diodorus, nicknamed Cronus, falsely so at the outset, for it was Apollonius his master who was called Cronus, but the nickname was transferred to him because of the true Cronus’ lack of repute.†

22After Iasus one comes to the Poseidium of the Milesians. In the interior are three noteworthy cities: Mylasa, Stratoniceia, and Alabanda. The others are dependencies of these or else of the cities on the coast, among which are Amyzon, Heracleia, Euromus, and Chalcetor. As for these, there is little to be said.

23But as for Mylasa: it is situated in an exceedingly fertile plain; and above the plain, towering into a peak, rises a mountain, which has a most excellent quarry of white marble. Now this quarry is of no small advantage, since it has stone in abundance and close at hand, for building purposes and in particular for the building of temples and other public works;†accordingly this city, as much as any other, is in every way beautifully adorned with porticoes and temples. But one may well be amazed at those who so absurdly founded the city at the foot of a steep and commanding crag. Accordingly, one of the commanders, amazed at the fact, is said to have said, “If the man who founded this city, was not afraid, was he not even ashamed?” The Mylasians have two temples of Zeus, Zeus Osogo, as he is called, and Zeus Labrandenus. The former is in the city, whereas Labranda is a village far from the city, being situated on the mountain near the pass that leads over from Alabanda to Mylasa. At Labranda there is an ancient shrine and statue of Zeus Stratius. It is honored by the people all about and by the Mylasians; and there is a paved road of almost sixty stadia from the shrine to Mylasa, called the Sacred Way, on which their sacred processions are conducted. The priestly offices are held by the most distinguished of the citizens, always for life. Now these temples belong peculiarly to the city; but there is a third temple, that of the Carian Zeus, which is a common possession of all Carians, and in which, as brothers, both Lydians and Mysians have a share. It is related that Mylasa was a mere village in ancient times, but that it was the native land and royal residence of the Carians of the house of Hecatomnos. The city is nearest to the sea at Physcus; and this is their seaport.

24Mylasa has had two notable men in my time, who were at once orators and leaders of the city, Euthydemus and Hybreas. Now Euthydemus, having inherited from his ancestors great wealth and high repute, and having added to these his own cleverness, was not only a great man in his native land, but was also thought worthy of the foremost honor in Asia. As for Hybreas, as he himself used to tell the story in his school and as confirmed by his fellow-citizens, his father left him a mule-driver and a wood-carrying mule. And, being supported by these, he became a pupil of Diotrephes of Antiocheia for a short time, and then came back and “surrendered himself to the office of market-clerk.” But when he had been “tossed about” in this office and had made but little money, he began to apply himself to the affairs of state and to follow closely the speakers of the forum. He quickly grew in power, and was already an object of amazement in the lifetime of Euthydemus, but in particular after his death, having become master of the city. So long as Euthydemus lived he strongly prevailed, being at once powerful and useful to the city, so that even if there was something tyrannical about him, it was atoned for by the fact that it was attended by what was good for the city. At any rate, people applaud the following statement of Hybreas, made by him towards the end of a public speech: “Euthydemus: you are an evil necessary to the city, for we can live neither with you nor without you.” However, although he had grown very strong and had the repute of being both a good citizen and orator, he stumbled in his political opposition to Labienus; for while the others, since they were without arms and inclined to peace, yielded to Labienus when he was coming against them with an army and an allied Parthian force, the Parthians by that time being in possession of Asia, yet Zeno of Laodiceia and Hybreas, both orators, refused to yield and caused their own cities to revolt. Hybreas also provoked Labienus, a lad who was irritable and full of folly, by a certain pronouncement; for when Labienus proclaimed himself Parthian Emperor, Hybreas said, “Then I too call myself Carian Emperor.” Consequently Labienus set out against the city with cohorts†of Roman soldiers in Asia that were already organized. Labienus did not seize Hybreas, however, since he had withdrawn to Rhodes, but he shamefully maltreated his home, with its costly furnishings, and plundered it. And he likewise damaged the whole of the city. But though Hybreas abandoned Asia, he came back and rehabilitated both himself and the city. So much, then, for Mylasa.

25Stratoniceia is a settlement of Macedonians. And this too was adorned with costly improvements by the kings. There are two temples in the country of the Stratoniceians, of which the most famous, that of Hecate, is at Lagina; and it draws great festal assemblies every year. And near the city is the temple of Zeus Chrysaoreus,†the common possession of all Carians, whither they gather both to offer sacrifice and to deliberate on their common interests. Their League, which consists of villages, is called “Chrysaorian.” And those who present the most villages have a preference in the vote,†like, for example, the people of Ceramus. The Stratoniceians also have a share in the League, although they are not of the Carian stock, but because they have villages belonging to the Chrysaorian League. Here, too, in the time of our fathers, was born a noteworthy man, Menippus, surnamed Catocas, whom Cicero, as he says in one of his writings,†applauded above all the Asiatic orators he had heard, comparing him with Xenocles and with the other orators who flourished in the latter’s time. But there is also another Stratoniceia, “Stratoniceia near the Taurus,” as it is called; it is a small town situated near the mountain.

26Alabanda is also situated at the foot of hills, two hills that are joined together in such a way that they present the appearance of an ass laden with panniers. And indeed Apollonius Malacus, in ridiculing the city both in regard to this and in regard to the large number of scorpions there, said that it was an “ass laden with panniers of scorpions.” Both this city and Mylasa are full of these creatures, and so is the whole of the mountainous country between them. Alabanda is a city of people who live in luxury and debauchery, containing many girls who play the harp. Alabandians worthy of mention are two orators, brothers, I mean Menecles, whom I mentioned a little above, and Hierocles, and also Apollonius and Molon, who changed their abode to Rhodes.

27Of the numerous accounts of the Carians, the one that is generally agreed upon is this, that the Carians were subject to the rule of Minos, being called Leleges at that time, and lived in the islands; then, having migrated to the mainland, they took possession of much of the coast and of the interior, taking it away from its previous possessors, who for the most part were Leleges and Pelasgians. In turn these were deprived of a part of their country by the Greeks, I mean Ionians and Dorians. As evidences of their zeal for military affairs, writers adduce shield-holders, shield-emblems, and crests, for all these are called “Carian.” At least Anacreon says,Come, put thine arm through the shield-holder, work of the Carians.And Alcaeus says,shaking the Carian crest.†

28When the poet says,Masthles†in turn led the Carians, of barbarian speech,†we have no reason to inquire how it is that, although he knew so many barbarian tribes, he speaks of the Carians alone as “of barbarian speech,” but nowhere speaks of “barbarians.” Thucydides, therefore, is not correct, for he says that Homer “did not use the term ‘barbarians’ either, because the Hellenes on their part had not yet been distinguished under one name as opposed to them”; for the poet himself refutes the statement that the Hellenes had not yet been so distinguished when he says,My husband, whose fame is wide through Hellas and mid-Argos.†And again,And if thou dost wish to journey through Hellas and mid-Argos.Further, if they were not called “barbarians,” how could they properly be called a people “of barbarian speech?” So neither Thucydides is correct, nor Apollodorus the grammarian, who says that the general term was used by the Hellenes in a peculiar and abusive sense against the Carians, and in particular by the Ionians, who hated them because of their enmity and the continuous military campaigns; for it was right to name them barbarians in this sense. But I raise the question, Why does he call them people “of barbarian speech,” but not even once calls them barbarians? “Because,” Apollodorus replies, “the plural does not fall in with the metre; this is why he does not call them barbarians.” But though this case†does not fall in with metre, the nominative case does not differ metrically from that of “Dardanians”:Trojans and Lycians and Dardanians. So, also, the word “Trojan,” inof what kind the Trojan horses are.Neither is he correct when he says that the language of the Carians is very harsh, for it is not, but even has very many Greek words mixed up with it, according to the Philip who wrote The Carica.†I suppose that the word “barbarian” was at first uttered onomatopoetically in reference to people who enunciated words only with difficulty and talked harshly and raucously, like our words “battarizein,” “traulizein,” and “psellizein”;†for we are by nature very much inclined to denote sounds by words that sound like them, on account of their homogeneity. Wherefore onomatopoetic words abound in our language, as, for example, “celaryzein,” and also “clange,” “psophos,” “boe,” and “crotos,”†most of which are by now used in their proper sense. Accordingly, when all who pronounced words thickly were being called barbarians onomatopoetically, it appeared that the pronunciations of all alien races were likewise thick, I mean of those that were not Greek. Those, therefore, they called barbarians in the special sense of the term, at first derisively, meaning that they pronounced words thickly or harshly; and then we misused the word as a general ethnic term, thus making a logical distinction between the Greeks and all other races. The fact is, however, that through our long acquaintance and intercourse with the barbarians this effect was at last seen to be the result, not of a thick pronunciation or any natural defect in the vocal organs, but of the peculiarities of their several languages. And there appeared another faulty and barbarian-like pronunciation in our language, whenever any person speaking Greek did not pronounce it correctly, but pronounced the words like barbarians who are only beginning to learn Greek and are unable to speak it accurately, as is also the case with us in speaking their languages. This was particularly the case with the Carians, for, although the other peoples were not yet having very much intercourse with the Greeks nor even trying to live in Greek fashion or to learn our language—with the exception, perhaps, of rare persons who by chance, and singly, mingled with a few of the Greeks—yet the Carians roamed throughout the whole of Greece, serving on expeditions for pay. Already, therefore, the barbarous element in their Greek was strong, as a result of their expeditions in Greece; and after this it spread much more, from the time they took up their abode with the Greeks in the islands; and when they were driven thence into Asia, even here they were unable to live apart from the Greeks, I mean when the Ionians and Dorians later crossed over to Asia. The term “barbarize,” also, has the same origin; for we are wont to use this too in reference to those who speak Greek badly, not to those who talk Carian. So, therefore, we must interpret the terms “speak barbarously” and “barbarously-speaking” as applying to those who speak Greek badly. And it was from the term “Carise” that the term “barbarize” was used in a different sense in works on the art of speaking Greek; and so was the term “soloecise,” whether derived from Soli,†or made up in some other way.†

29Artemidorus says that, as one goes from Physcus, in the Peraea of the Rhodians, to Ephesus, the distance to Lagina is eight hundred and fifty stadia; and thence to Alabanda, two hundred and fifty more; and to Tralleis, one hundred and sixty. But one comes to the road that leads into Tralleis after crossing the Maeander River, at about the middle of the journey,†where are the boundaries of Caria. The distance all told from Physcus to the Maeander along the road to Ephesus amounts to one thousand one hundred and eighty stadia. Again, from the Maeander, traversing next in order the length of Ionia along the same road, the distance from the river to Tralleis is eighty stadia; then to Magnesia, one hundred and forty; to Ephesus, one hundred and twenty; to Smyrna, three hundred and twenty; and to Phocaea and the boundaries of Ionia, less than two hundred; so that the length of Ionia in a straight line would be, according to Artemidorus, slightly more than eight hundred stadia. Since there is a kind of common road constantly used by all who travel from Ephesus towards the east, Artemidorus traverses this too: from Ephesus to Carura, a boundary of Caria towards Phrygia, through Magnesia, Tralleis, Nysa, and Antiocheia, is a journey of seven hundred and forty stadia; and, from Carura, the journey in Phrygia, through Laodiceia, Apameia, Metropolis and Chelidonia.†Now near the beginning of Paroreius,†one comes to Holmi, about nine hundred and twenty stadia from Carura, and, near the end of Paroreius near Lycaonia, through Philomelium, to Tyriaeum, slightly more than five hundred. Then Lycaonia, through Laodiceia Catacecaumene, as far as Coropassus, eight hundred and forty stadia; from Coropassus in Lycaonia to Garsaura, a small town in Cappadocia, situated on its borders, one hundred and twenty; thence to Mazaca, the metropolis of the Cappadocians, through Soandum and Sadacora, six hundred and eighty; and thence to the Euphrates River, as far as Tomisa, a place in Sophene, through Herphae, a small town, one thousand four hundred and forty. The places on a straight line with these as far as India are the same in Artemidorus as they are in Eratosthenes. But Polybius says that we should rely most on Artemidorus in regard to the places here. He begins with Samosata in Commagene, which lies at the river crossing and at Zeugma, and states that the distance to Samosata, across the Taurus, from the boundaries of Cappadocia round Tomisa is four hundred and fifty stadia.

1†After the Peraea of the Rhodians, of which Daedala is a boundary, sailing next in order towards the rising sun, one comes to Lycia, which extends as far as Pamphylia; then to Pamphylia, extending as far as the Tracheian Cilicians;†and then to the country of these, extending as far as the other Cilicians living round the Gulf of Issus. These are parts of the peninsula, the isthmus of which, as I was saying, is the road from Issus to Amisus, or, according to some, Sinope, but they lie outside the Taurus on the narrow coast which extends from Lycia as far as the region of Soli, the present Pompeïopolis. Then forthwith the coast in the neighborhood of Soli, beginning at Soli and Tarsus, spreads out into plains. So then, when I have traversed this coast, my account of the whole peninsula will have been completed. Then I shall pass to the other parts of Asia that are outside the Taurus. And lastly I shall set forth my account of Libya.

2After Daedala of the Rhodians, then, one comes to a mountain in Lycia which bears the same name as the city, Daedala, whence the whole voyage along the Lycian coast takes its beginning; this coast extends one thousand seven hundred and twenty stadia, and is rugged and hard to travel, but is exceedingly well supplied with harbors and inhabited by decent people. Indeed, the nature of the country, at least, is similar to both that of the Pamphylians and the Tracheian Cilicians, but the former used their places as bases of operation for the business of piracy, when they engaged in piracy themselves or offered them to pirates as markets for the sale of booty and as naval stations. In Side, at any rate, a city in Pamphylia, the dockyards stood open to the Cilicians, who would sell their captives at auction there, though admitting that these were freemen. But the Lycians continued living in such a civilized and decent way that, although the Pamphylians through their successes gained the mastery of the sea as far as Italy, still they themselves were stirred by no desire for shameful gain, but remained within the ancestral domain of the Lycian League.

3There are twenty-three cities that share in the vote. They come together from each city to a general congress, after choosing whatever city they approve of. The largest of the cities control three votes each, the medium-sized two, and the rest one. In the same proportion, also, they make contributions and discharge other liturgies.†Artemidorus said that the six largest were Xanthus, Patara, Pinara, Olympus, Myra, and Tlos, the last named being situated near the pass that leads over into Cibyra. At the congress they first choose a “Lyciarch,” and then other officials of the League; and general courts of justice are designated. In earlier times they would deliberate about war and peace and alliances, but now they naturally do not do so, since these matters necessarily lie in the power of the Romans, except, perhaps, when the Romans should give them permission or it should be for their benefit. Likewise, judges and magistrates are elected from the several cities in the same proportion. And since they lived under such a good government, they remained ever free under the Romans, thus retaining their ancestral usages; and they saw the pirates utterly wiped out, first by Servilius Isauricus, at the time that he demolished Isaura, and later by Pompey the Great, when he set fire to more than thirteen hundred boats and laid waste their settlements. Of the pirates who survived the fights, he brought some down to Soli, which he named Pompeïopolis, and the others to Dyme, where there was a dearth of population; it is now occupied by a colony of Romans. The poets, however, and especially the tragic poets, confuse the tribes, as, for example, the Trojans and the Mysians and the Lydians, whom they call Phrygians; and likewise the Lycians, whom they call Carians.

4After Daedala, then, I mean the mountain in Lycia, one comes to a Lycian town near it, Telmessus, and to Telmessis, a promontory with a harbor. Eumenes†received this place from the Romans in the Antiochian War, but when his kingdom was dissolved the Lycians got it back again.

5Then, next, one comes to Anticragus, a steep mountain, where is Carmylessus, an inhabited place situated in a ravine; and, after this, to Cragus, which has eight promontories and a city of the same name. The scene of the myth of Chimaera is laid in the neighborhood of these mountains. Chimaera, a ravine extending up from the shore, is not far from them. At the foot of Cragus, in the interior, lies Pinara, one of the largest cities in Lycia. Here Pandarus is held in honor, who may, perhaps, be identical with the Trojan hero, as when the poet says,The daughter of Pandareus, the nightingale of the greenwood,for Pandareus is said to have been from Lycia.

6Then one comes to the Xanthus River, which the people of earlier times called the Sirbis. Sailing up this river by rowboat for ten stadia one comes to the Letoüm; and proceeding sixty stadia beyond the temple one comes to the city of the Xanthians, the largest city in Lycia. After Xanthus, to Patara, which is also a large city, has a harbor, has a temple of Apollo, and was founded by Patarus. When Ptolemy Philadelphus repaired it, he called it Lycian Arsinoe, but the original name prevailed.

7Then one comes to Myra, at a distance of twenty stadia above the sea, on a lofty hiIl. Then to the outlet of the Limyrus River, and then, going twenty stadia inland on foot, to Limyra, a small town. In the intervening distance on the coasting voyage there are numerous isles and harbors, among which are the island Megiste, with a city of the same name, and Cisthene. And in the interior are places called Phellus and Antiphellus and Chimaera, which last I have mentioned above.

8Then one comes to the promontory Hiera and to the Chelidoniae, three rugged islands, which are about equal in size and are about five stadia distant from one another. They lie about six stadia off the shore, and one of them has a landing-place for vessels. Here it is, according to the majority of writers, that the Taurus takes its beginning, not only because of the loftiness of the promontory and because it extends down from the Pisidian mountains that lie above Pamphylia, but also because of the islands that lie off it, presenting, as they do, a sort of conspicuous sign in the sea, like outskirts of a mountain. But in truth the mountainous tract is continuous from the Peraea of the Rhodians to the parts near Pisidia; and this tract too is called the Taurus. The Chelidoniae are likewise thought to lie approximately opposite to Canobus;†and the passage thence to Canobus is said to be four thousand stadia. From the promontory Hiera to Olbia there remain three hundred and sixty-seven stadia; and on this stretch lie, not only Crambusa, but also Olympus, a large city and a mountain of the same name, which latter is also called Phoenicus. Then one comes to Corycus, a tract of sea-coast.

9Then one comes to Phaselis, with three harbors, a city of note, and to a lake. Above it lies Solyma, a mountain, and also Termessus, a Pisidian city situated near the defiles, through which there is a pass over the mountain to Milyas. Alexander destroyed Milyas for the reason that he wished to open the defiles. Near Phaselis, by the sea, there are defiles, through which Alexander led his army. And here there is a mountain called Climax, which lies near the Pamphylian Sea and leaves a narrow pass on the shore; and in calm weather this pass is free from water, so that it is passable for travellers, but when the sea is at flood-tide it is to a considerable extent hidden by the waves. Now the pass that leads over through the mountain is circuitous and steep, but in fair weather people use the pass along the shore. Alexander, meeting with a stormy season, and being a man who in general trusted to luck, set out before the waves had receded; and the result was that all day long his soldiers marched in water submerged to their navels. Now this city too is Lycian, being situated on the borders towards Pamphylia, but it has no part in the common League and is a separate organization to itself.

10Now the poet makes the Solymi different from the Lycians, for when Bellerophon was sent by the king of the Lycians to the second struggle,he fought with the glorious Solymi.But others, who assert that the Lycians were in earlier times called Solymi, but in later times were called Termilae from the Termilae who came there from Crete with Sarpedon, and after this were called Lycians, from Lycius the son of Pandion, who, after having been banished from his homeland, was admitted by Sarpedon as a partner in his empire, are not in agreement with Homer. Better is the opinion of those who assert that by “Solymi” the poet means the people who are now called the Milyae, of whom I have already spoken.”†

1After Phaselis one comes to Olbia, the beginning of Pamphylia, a large fortress; and after this to the Cataractes, as it is called, a river which dashes down†in such volume and so impetuously that the noise can be heard from afar. Then to a city, Attaleia, so named after its founder Attalus Philadelphus, who also sent a colony to Corycus, a small neighboring town, and surrounded it with a greater circuit-wall. It is said that both Thebe and Lyrnessus are to be seen between Phaselis and Attaleia, a part of the Trojan Cilicians having been driven out of the plain of Thebe into Pamphylia, as Callisthenes states.

2Then one comes to the Cestrus River; and, sailing sixty stadia up this river, one comes to Perge, a city; and near Perge, on a lofty site, to the temple of Artemis Pergaea, where a general festival is celebrated every year. Then, about forty stadia above the sea, one comes to Syllium, a lofty city that is visible from Perge. Then one comes to a very large lake, Capria; and after this, to the Eurymedon River; and, sailing sixty stadia up this river, to Aspendus, a city with a flourishing population and founded by the Argives. Above Aspendus lies Petnelissus. Then comes another river; and also numerous isles that lie off it. Then Side, a colony of the Cymaeans, which has a temple of Athena; and near by is the coast of the Lesser Cibyratae. Then the Melas River and a mooring-place. Then Ptolemaïs, a city. And after this come the boundaries of Pamphylia, and also Coracesium, the beginning of Cilicia Tracheia. The whole of the voyage along the coast of Pamphylia is six hundred and forty stadia.

3Herodotus says that the Pamphylians are the descendants of the peoples led by Amphilochus and Calchas, a miscellaneous throng who accompanied them from Troy; and that most of them remained here, but that some of them were scattered to numerous places on earth. Callinus says that Calchas died in Clarus, but that the peoples led by Mopsus passed over the Taurus, and that, though some remained in Pamphylia, the others were dispersed in Cilicia, and also in Syria as far even as Phoenicia.

1As for Cilicia outside the Taurus, one part of it is called Tracheia and the other Pedias. As for Tracheia, its coast is narrow and has no level ground, or scarcely any; and, besides that, it lies at the foot of the Taurus, which affords a poor livelihood as far as its northern side in the region of Isaura and of the Homonadeis as far as Pisidia; and the same country is also called Tracheiotis, and its inhabitants Tracheiotae. But Cilicia Pedias extends from Soli and Tarsus as far as Issus, and also to those parts beyond which, on the northern side of the Taurus, Cappadocians are situated; for this country consists for the most part of plains and fertile land. Since some parts of this country are inside the Taurus and others outside it, and since I have already spoken of those inside it, let me now speak of those outside it, beginning with the Tracheiotae.

2The first place in Cilicia, then, to which one comes, is a stronghold, Coracesium, situated on an abrupt rock, which was used by Diodotus, called Tryphon, as a base of operations at the time when he caused Syria to revolt from the kings and was fighting it out with them, being successful at one time and failing at another. Now Tryphon was hemmed up in a certain place by Antiochus, son of Demetrius, and forced to kill himself; and it was Tryphon, together with the worthlessness of the kings who by succession were then reigning over Syria and at the same time over Cilicia, who caused the Cilicians to organize their gangs of pirates; for on account of his revolutionary attempts others made like attempts at the same time, and thus the dissensions of brethren with one another put the country at the mercy of any who might attack it. The exportation of slaves induced them most of all to engage in their evil business, since it proved most profitable; for not only were they easily captured, but the market, which was large and rich in property, was not extremely far away, I mean Delos, which could both admit and send away ten thousand slaves on the same day; whence arose the proverb, “Merchant, sail in, unload your ship, everything has been sold. The cause of this was the fact that the Romans, having become rich after the destruction of Carthage and Corinth, used many slaves; and the pirates, seeing the easy profit therein, bloomed forth in great numbers, themselves not only going in quest of booty but also trafficking in slaves. The kings both of Cyprus and of Egypt cooperated with them in this, being enemies to the Syrians. Neither were the Rhodians friendly to the Syrians, and they therefore afforded them no assistance. And at the same time the pirates, pretending to be slave-dealers, carried on their evil business unchecked. Neither were the Romans concerning themselves as yet so much about the peoples outside the Taurus; but they sent Scipio Aemilianus, and again certain others, to inspect the tribes and the cities; and they decided that the above mentioned piracy was due to the incompetence of the rulers, although they were ashamed, since they themselves had ratified the hereditary succession from Seleucus Nicator, to deprive them of it. And this is what made the Parthians masters of the country, who got possession of the region on the far side of the Euphrates; and at last made also the Armenians masters, who not only seized the country outside the Taurus even as far as Phoenicia, but also, so far as they could, overthrew the kings and the whole royal stock; the sea, however, they gave over to the Cilicians. Then, after these people had grown in power, the Romans were forced to destroy them by war and with an army, although they had not hindered their growing power. Now it is hard to condemn the Romans of negligence, since, being engaged with matters that were nearer and more urgent, they were unable to watch those that were farther away. So much I have decided to say by way of a brief digression from my geographical description.

3After Coracesium, one comes to Arsinoe,†a city; then to Hamaxia, a settlement on a hill, with a harbor, where ship-building timber is brought down. Most of this timber is cedar; and it appears that this region beyond others abounds in cedar-wood for ships; and it was on this account that Antony assigned this region to Cleopatra, since it was suited to the building of her fleets. Then one comes to Laertes, a stronghold on a breast-shaped hill, with a mooring-place. Then to Selinus, a city and river. Then to Cragus, a rock which is precipitous all round and near the sea. Then to Charadrus, a fortress, which also has a mooring-place (above it lies Mt. Andriclus); and the coast alongside it, called Platanistes, is rugged. Then to Anemurium, a promontory, where the mainland approaches closest to Cyprus, in the direction of the promontory of Crommyus, the passage across being three hundred and fifty stadia. Now the coasting-voyage along Cilicia from the borders of Pamphylia to Anemurium is eight hundred and twenty stadia, whereas the rest, as far as Soli, is about five hundred stadia. On this latter one comes to Nagidus, the first city after Anemurium; then to Arsinoe, which has a landing-place; then to a place called Melania,†and to Celenderis, a city with a harbor. Some writers, among whom is Artemidorus, make Celenderis, not Coracesium, the beginning of Cilicia. And he says that the distance from the Pelusian mouth†to Orthosia is three thousand nine hundred stadia; to the Orontes River, one thousand one hundred and thirty; to the Gates†next thereafter, five hundred and twenty-five; and to the borders†of the Cilicians, one thousand two hundred and sixty.†

4Then one comes to Holmi, where the present Seleuceians formerly lived; but when Seleuceia on the Calycadnus was founded, they migrated there; for immediately on doubling the shore, which forms a promontory called Sarpedon, one comes to the outlet of the Calycadnus. Near the Calycadnus is,also Zephyrium, likewise a promontory. The river affords a voyage inland to Seleuceia, a city which is well-peopled and stands far aloof from the Cilician and Pamphylian usages. Here were born in my time noteworthy men of the Peripatetic sect of philosophers, Athenaeus and Xenarchus. Of these, Athenaeus engaged also in affairs of state and was for a time leader of the people in his native land; and then, having fallen into a friendship with Murena, he was captured along with Murena when in flight with him, after the plot against Augustus Caesar had been detected, but, being clearly proven guiltless, he was released by Caesar. And when, on his return to†Rome, the first men who met him were greeting him and questioning him, he repeated the following from Euripides: I am come, having left the vaults of the dead and the gates of darkness.But he survived his return only a short time, having been killed in the collapse, which took place in the night, of the house in which he lived. Xenarchus, however, of whom I was a pupil, did not tarry long at home, but resided at Alexandria and at Athens and finally at Rome, having chosen the life of a teacher; and having enjoyed the friendship both of Areius and of Caesar Augustus, he continued to be held in honor down to old age; but shortly before the end he lost his sight, and then died of a disease.

5After the Calycadnus one comes to the rock Poecile,†as it is called, which has steps hewn in it that lead to Seleuceia; then to Anemurium, a promontory, bearing the same name as the former,†and to Crambusa, an island, and to Corycus, a promontory, above which, at a distance of twenty stadia, is the Corycian cave, in which the best crocus†grows. It is a great circular hollow, with a rocky brow situated all round it that is everywhere quite high. Going down into it, one comes to a floor that is uneven and mostly rocky, but full of trees of the shrub kind, both the evergreen and those that are cultivated. And among these trees are dispersed also the plots of ground which produce the crocus. There is also a cave here, with a great spring, which sends forth a river of pure and transparent water; the river forthwith empties beneath the earth, and then, alter running invisible underground, issues forth into the sea. It is called Picrum Hydor.

6Then, after Corycus, one comes to Elaeussa, an island lying close to the mainland, which Archelaüs settled, making it a royal residence, after he had received†the whole of Cilicia Tracheia except Seleuceia—the same way in which it was obtained formerly by Amyntas and still earlier by Cleopatra;†for since the region was naturally well adapted to the business of piracy both by land and by sea—by land, because of the height of the mountains and the large tribes that live beyond them, tribes which have plains and farm-lands that are large and easily overrun, and by sea, because of the good supply, not only of shipbuilding timber, but also of harbors and fortresses and secret recesses—with all this in view, I say, the Romans thought that it was better for the region to be ruled by kings than to be under the Roman prefects sent to administer justice, who were not likely always to be present or to have armed forces with them. Thus Archelaüs received, in addition to Cappadocia, Cilicia Tracheia; and the boundary†of the latter, the river Lamus and the village of the same name, lies between Soli and Elaeussa.

7Near the mountain ridges of the Taurus lies the piratical stronghold of Zenicetus—I mean Olympus, both mountain and fortress, whence are visible all Lycia and Pamphylia and Pisidia and Milyas; but when the mountain was captured by Isauricus,†Zenicetus burnt himself up with his whole house. To him belonged also Corycus and Phaselis and many places in Pamphylia; but all were taken by Isauricus.

8After Lamus one comes to Soli, a noteworthy city, the beginning of the other Cilicia, that which is round Issus; it was founded by Achaeans and Rhodians from Lindus. Since this city was of scant population, Pompey the Great settled in it those survivors of the pirates whom he judged most worthy of being saved and provided for; and he changed its name to Pompëiopolis. Among the famous natives of Soli were: Chrysippus the Stoic philosopher, whose father had moved there from Tarsus; Philemon, the comic poet; and Aratus, who wrote the work entitled The Phaenomena, in verse.

9Then to Zephyrium, which bears the same name as the place near Calycadnus. Then, a little above the sea, to Anchiale, which, according to Aristobulus, was founded by Sardanapallus. Here, he says, is the tomb of Sardanapallus, and a stone figure which represents the fingers of the right hand as snapping together, and the following inscription in Assyrian letters: “Sardanapallus, the son of Anacyndaraxes, built Anchiale and Tarsus in one day. Eat, drink, be merry, because all things else are not worth this,” meaning the snapping of the fingers. Choerilus also mentions this inscription; and indeed the following verses are everywhere known: Mine are all that I have eaten, and the delights of love that I have enjoyed; but those numerous blessings have been left behind.†

10Above Anchiale lies Cyinda, a fortress, which at one time was used as a treasury by the Macedonians. But the treasures were taken away by Eumenes, when he revolted from Antigonus. And still above this and Soli is a mountainous country, in which is a city Olbe, with a temple of Zeus, founded by Ajax the son of Teucer. The priest of this temple became dynast of Cilicia Tracheia; and then the country was beset by numerous tyrants, and the gangs of pirates were organized. And after the overthrow of these they called this country the domain of Teucer, and called the same also the priesthood of Teucer; and most of the priests were named Teucer or Ajax. But Aba, the daughter of Xenophanes, one of the tyrants, came into this family by marriage and herself took possession of the empire, her father having previously received it in the guise of guardian. But later both Antony and Cleopatra conferred it upon her as a favor, being moved by her courteous entreaties. And then she was overthrown, but the empire remained with her descendants. After Anchiale one comes to the outlets of the Cydnus, near the Rhegma, as it is called. It is a place that forms into a lake, having also ancient arsenals; and into it empties the Cydnus River, which flows through the middle of Tarsus and has its sources in the city Taurus, which lies above Tarsus. The lake is also the naval station of Tarsus.

11Now thus far the seaboard as a whole, beginning at the Peraea of the Rhodians, extends towards the equinoctial east from the equinoctial west,†and then bends in the direction of winter sunrise as far as Issus, and then forthwith takes a bend towards the south as far as Phoenicia; and the remainder extends towards the west as far as the Pillars†and there ends. Now the truth is that the actual isthmus of the peninsula which I have described is that which extends from Tarsus and the outlet of the Cydnus to Amisus, for this is the shortest distance from Amisus to the boundaries of Cilicia; and the distance thence to Tarsus is one hundred and twenty stadia, and the distance from there to the outlet of the Cydnus is no more than that. And in fact to Issus, and the sea near it, there is no other road from Amisus which is shorter than that through Tarsus, and Tarsus is not nearer to Issus than to the Cydnus;†and therefore it is clear that in reality this would be the isthmus; but still people call that which extends as far as the Gulf of Issus the true isthmus, thus betraying the facts because of the significance of the gulf. And it is because of this very thing that I, without making any accurate distinctions, represent the line from Rhodes, which I have prolonged to the Cydnus, to be the same as the line extending as far as Issus, and also assert that the Taurus extends in a straight line with that line as far as India.

12As for Tarsus, it lies in a plain; and it was founded by the Argives who wandered with Triptolemus in quest of Io; and it is intersected in the middle by the Cydnus River, which flows past the very gymnasium of the young men. Now inasmuch as the source of the river is not very far away and its stream passes through a deep ravine and then empties immediately into the city, its discharge is both cold and swift; and hence it is helpful both to men and to cattle that are suffering from swollen sinews, if they immerse themselves in its waters.

13The people at Tarsus have devoted themselves so eagerly, not only to philosophy, but also to the whole round of education in general, that they have surpassed Athens, Alexandria, or any other place that can be named where there have been schools and lectures of philosophers. But it is so different from other cities that there the men who are fond of learning, are all natives, and foreigners are not inclined to sojourn there; neither do these natives stay there, but they complete their education abroad; and when they have completed it they are pleased to live abroad, and but few go back home. But the opposite is the case with the other cities which I have just mentioned except Alexandria; for many resort to them and pass time there with pleasure, but you would not see many of the natives either resorting to places outside their country through love of learning or eager about pursuing learning at home. With the Alexandrians, however, both things take place, for they admit†many foreigners and also send not a few of their own citizens abroad. Further, the city of Tarsus has all kinds of schools of rhetoric; and in general it not only has a flourishing population but also is most powerful, thus keeping up the reputation of the mother-city.†

14The following men were natives of Tarsus: among the Stoics, Antipater and Archedemus and Nestor; and also the two Athenodoruses, one of whom, called Cordylion, lived with Marcus Cato and died at his house; and the other, the son of Sandon, called Cananites after some village, was Caesar’s teacher and was greatly honored by him; and when he returned to his native land, now an old man, he broke up the government there established, which was being badly conducted by Boethus, among others, who was a bad poet and a bad citizen, having prevailed there by currying the favour of the people. He had been raised to prominence by Antony, who at the outset received favorably the poem which he had written upon the victory at Philippi, but still more by that facility prevalent among the Tarsians whereby he could instantly speak offhand and unceasingly on any given subject. Furthermore, Antony promised the Tarsians an office of gymnasiarch, but appointed Boethus instead of a gymnasiarch, and entrusted to him the expenditures. But Boethus was caught secreting, among other things, the olive-oil; and when he was being proven guilty by his accusers in the presence of Antony he deprecated Antony’s wrath, saying, among other things, that “Just as Homer had hymned the praises of Achilles and Agamemnon and Odysseus, so I have hymned thine. It is not right, therefore, that I should be brought before you on such slanderous charges.” When, however, the accuser caught the statement, he said, “Yes, but Homer did not steal Agamemnon’s oil, nor yet that of Achilles, but you did; and therefore you shall be punished.” However, he broke the wrath of Antony by courteous attentions, and no less than before kept on plundering the city until the overthrow of Antony. Finding the city in this plight, Athenodorus for a time tried to induce both Boethus and his partisans to change their course; but since they would abstain from no act of insolence, he used the authority given him by Caesar, condemned them to exile, and expelled them. These at first indicted him with the following inscription on the walls: Work for young men, counsels for the middle-aged, and flatulence for old men;and when he, taking the inscription as a joke, ordered the following words to be inscribed beside it, “thunder for old men,” someone, contemptuous of all decency and afflicted with looseness of the bowels, profusely bespattered the door and wall of Athenodorus’ house as he was passing by it at night. Athenodorus, while bringing accusations in the assembly against the faction, said: “One may see the sickly plight and the disaffection of the city in many ways, and in particular from its excrements.” These men were Stoics; but the Nestor of my time, the teacher of Marcellus, son of Octavia the sister of Caesar, was an Academician. He too was at the head of the government of Tarsus, having succeeded Athenodorus; and he continued to be held in honor both by the prefects and in the city.

15Among the other philosophers from Tarsus,whom I could well note and tell their names,are Plutiades and Diogenes, who were among those philosophers that went round from city to city and conducted schools in an able manner. Diogenes also composed poems, as if by inspiration, when a subject was given him—for the most part tragic poems; and as for grammarians whose writings are extant, there are Artemidorus and Diodorus; and the best tragic poet among those enumerated in the “Pleias”†was Dionysides. But it is Rome that is best able to tell us the number of learned men from this city; for it is full of Tarsians and Alexandrians. Such is Tarsus.

16After the Cydnus River one comes to the Pyramus River, which flows from Cataonia, a river which I have mentioned before. According to Artemidorus, the distance thence to Soli in a straight voyage is five hundred stadia. Near by, also, is Mallus, situated on a height, founded by Amphilochus and Mopsus, the latter the son of Apollo and Manto, concerning whom many myths are told. And indeed I, too, have mentioned them in my account of Calchas and of the quarrel between Calchas and Mopsus about their powers of divination. For some writers transfer this quarrel, Sophocles, for example, to Cilicia, which he, following the custom of tragic poets, calls Pamphylia,just as he calls Lycia “Caria” and Troy and Lydia “Phrygia.” And Sophocles, among others, tells us that Calchas died there. But, according to the myth, the contest concerned, not only the power of divination, but also the sovereignty; for they say that Mopsus and Amphilochus went from Troy and founded Mallus, and that Amphilochus then went away to Argos, and, being dissatisfied with affairs there, returned to Mallus, but that, being excluded from a share in the government there, he fought a duel with Mopsus, and that both fell in the duel and were buried in places that were not in sight of one another. And today their tombs are to be seen in the neighborhood of Magarsa near the Pyramus River. This was the birthplace of Crates the grammarian, of whom Panaetius is said to have been a pupil.

17Above this coast lies the Aleïan Plain, through which Philotas led the cavalry for Alexander, when Alexander led his phalanx from Soli along the coast and the territory of Mallus against Issus and the forces of Dareius. It is said that Alexander performed sacrifices to Amphilochus because of his kinship with the Argives. Hesiod says that Amphilochus was slain by Apollo at Soli; but others say that he was slain in the neighborhood of the Aleïan Plain, and others in Syria, when he was quitting the Aleïan Plain because of the quarrel.

18After Mallus one comes to Aegaeae, a small town, with a mooring-place; and then to the Amanides Gates, with a mooring-place, where ends the mountain Amanus, which extends down from the Taurus and lies above Cilicia towards the east. It was always ruled by several powerful tyrants, who possessed strongholds; but in my time a notable man established himself as lord of all, and was named king by the Romans because of his manly virtues—I refer to Tarcondimotus, who bequeathed the succession to his posterity.

19After Aegaeae, one comes to Issus, a small town with a mooring-place, and to the Pinarus River. It was here that the struggle between Alexander and Dareius occurred; and the gulf is called the Issic Gulf. On this gulf are situated the city Rhosus, the city Myriandrus, Alexandreia, Nicopolis, Mopsuestia, and Pylae, as it is called, which is the boundary between the Cilicians and the Syrians. In Cilicia is also the temple and oracle of the Sarpedonian Artemis; and the oracles are delivered by persons who are divinely inspired.

20After Cilicia the first Syrian city is Seleuceiain-Pieria, near which the Orontes River empties. The voyage from Seleuceia to Soli, on a straight course, is but little short of one thousand stadia.

21Since the Cilicians in the Troad whom Homer mentions are far distant from the Cilicians outside the Taurus, some represent those in Troy as original colonizers of the latter, and point out certain places of the same name there, as, for example, Thebe and Lyrnessus in Pamphylia, whereas others of contrary opinion point out also an Aleïan Plain in the former. Now that the parts of the aforesaid peninsula outside the Taurus have been described, I must add what follows.

22Apollodorus, in his work On the Catalogue of Ships, goes on to say to this effect, that all the allies of the Trojans from Asia were enumerated by the poet as being inhabitants of the peninsula, of which the narrowest isthmus is that between the innermost recess at Sinope and Issus. And the exterior sides of this peninsula, he says, which is triangular in shape, are unequal in length, one of them extending from Cilicia to the Chelidonian Islands, another from the Chelidonian Islands to the mouth of the Euxine, and the third thence back to Sinope. Now the assertion that the allies were alone those who lived in the peninsula can be proved wrong by the same arguments by which I have previously shown that the allies were not alone those who lived this side the Halys River. For just as the places round Pharnacia, in which, as I said, the Halizoni lived, are outside the Halys River, so also they are outside the isthmus, if indeed they are outside the narrows between Sinope and Issus; and not outside these alone, but also outside the true narrows between Amisus and Issus, for he too incorrectly defines the isthmus and its narrows, since he substitutes the former for the latter. But the greatest absurdity is this, that, after calling the peninsula triangular in shape, he represents the “exterior sides” as three in number; for when he speaks of the “exterior sides” he seems privily to exclude the side along the narrows, as though this too were a side, but not “exterior” or on the sea. If, then, these narrows were so shortened that the exterior side ending at Issus and that ending at Sinope lacked but little of joining one another, one might concede that the peninsula should be called triangular; but, as it is, since the narrows mentioned by him leave a distance of three thousand stadia between Issus and Sinope, it is ignorance and not knowledge of chorography to call such a four-sided figure triangular. Yet he published in the metre of comedy a work on chorography entitled A Description of the Earth. The same ignorance still remains even though one should reduce the isthmus to the minimum distance, I mean, to one-half of the whole distance, as given by those who have most belied the facts, among whom is also Artemidorus, that is, fifteen hundred stadia; for even this does contract the side along the narrows enough to make the peninsula a triangular figure. Neither does Artemidorus correctly distinguish the exterior sides when he speaks of “the side that extends from Issus as far as the Chelidonian Islands,” for there still remains to this side the whole of the Lycian coast, which lies in a straight line with the side he mentions, as does also the Peraea of the Rhodians as far as Physcus. And thence the mainland bends and begins to form the second, or westerly, side extending as far as the Propontis and Byzantium.

23But though Ephorus said that this peninsula was inhabited by sixteen tribes, of which three were Hellenic and the rest barbarian, except those that were mixed, adding that the Cilicians, Pamphylians, Lycians, Bithynians, Paphlagonians, Mariandynians, Trojans, and Carians lived on the sea, but the Pisidians, Mysians, Chalybians, Phrygians, and Milyans in the interior, Apollodorus, who passes judgment upon this matter, says that the tribe of the Galatians, which is more recent than the time of Ephorus, is a seventeenth, and that, of the aforesaid tribes, the Hellenic had not yet, in the time of the Trojan War, settled there, and that the barbarian tribes are much confused because of the lapse of time; and that the poet names in his Catalogue the tribes of the Trojans and of the Paphlagonians, as they are now named, and of the Mysians and Phrygians and Carians and Lycians, as also the Meïonians, instead of the Lydians, and other unknown peoples, as, for example, the Halizones and Caucones; and, outside the Catalogue, the Ceteians and the Solymi and the Cilicians from the plain of Thebe and the Leleges, but nowhere names the Pamphylians, Bithynians, Mariandynians, Pisidians, Chalybians, Milyans, or Cappadocians—some because they had not yet settled in this region, and others because they were included among other tribes, as, for example, the Hidrieis and the Termilae among the Carians, and the Doliones and Bebryces among the Phrygians.

24But obviously Apollodorus does not pass a fair judgment upon the statement of Ephorus, and also confuses and falsifies the words of the poet; for he ought first to have asked Ephorus this question: Why he placed the Chalybians inside the peninsula when they were so far distant towards the east from both Sinope and Amisus? For those who say that the isthmus of this peninsula is the line from Issus to the Euxine make this line a kind of meridian, which some think should be the line to Sinope, and others, that to Amisus, but no one that to the land of the Chalybians, which is absolutely oblique; in fact, the meridian through the land of the Chalybians would be drawn through Lesser Armenia and the Euphrates, cutting off on this side of it the whole of Cappadocia, Commagene, Mt. Amanus, and the Issic Gulf. If, however, we should concede that the oblique line bounds the isthmus, at least most of these places, and Cappadocia in particular, would be cut off on this side, as also the country now called Pontus in the special sense of the term, which is a part of Cappadocia towards the Euxine; so that, if the land of the Chalybians must be set down as a part of the peninsula, much more should Cataonia and both Cappadocias, as also Lycaonia, which is itself omitted by him. Again, why did Ephorus place in the interior the Chalybians, whom the poet called Halizones, as I have already demonstrated? For it would have been better to divide them and set one part of them on the sea and the other in the interior, as should also be done in the case of Cappadocia and Cilicia; but Ephorus does not even name Cappadocia, and speaks only of the Cilicians on the sea. Now as for the people who were subject to Antipater Derbetes, and the Homonadeis and several other peoples who border on the Pisidians,men who do not know the sea and even do not eat food mingled with salt,where are they to be placed? Neither does he say in regard to the Lydians or Meïones whether they are two peoples or the same, or whether they live separately by themselves or are included within another tribe. For it would be impossible to lose from sight so significant a tribe; and if Ephorus says nothing about it, would he not seem to have omitted something most important?

25And who are the “mixed” tribes? For we would be unable to say that, as compared with the aforesaid places, others were either named or omitted by “him which we shall assign to the “mixed” tribes; neither can we call “mixed” any of these peoples themselves whom he has mentioned or omitted; for, even if they had become mixed, still the predominant element has made them either Hellenes or barbarians; and I know nothing of a third tribe of people that is “mixed.”

26And how can there be three Hellenic tribes that live on the peninsula? For if it is because the Athenians and the Ionians were the same people in ancient times, let also the Dorians and the Aeolians be called the same people; and thus there would be only two tribes. But if one should make distinctions in accordance with the customs of later times, as, for example, in accordance with dialects, then the tribes, like the dialects, would be four in number. But this peninsula, particularly in accordance with the division of Ephorus, is inhabited, not only by Ionians, but also by Athenians, as I have shown in my account of the several places. Now although it is worth while to raise such questions as these with reference to Ephorus, yet Apollodorus took no thought for them and also goes on to add to the sixteen tribes a seventeenth, that of the Galatians—in general a useful thing to do, but unnecessary for the passing of judgment upon what is said or omitted by Ephorus. But Apollodorus states the reason himself, that all this is later than the time of Ephorus.

27Passing to the poet, Apollodorus rightly says that much confusion of the barbarian tribes has taken place from the Trojan times to the present because of the changes, for some of them have been added to, others have vanished, others have been dispersed, and others have been combined into one tribe. But he incorrectly sets forth as twofold the reason why the poet does not mention some of them; either because a country was not yet inhabited by this or that tribe or because this or that tribe was included within another; for instance, the poet fails to mention Cappadocia, Cataonia, and likewise Lycaonia, but for neither of these reasons, for we have no history of this kind in their case. Further, it is ridiculous that Apollodorus should concern himself about the reason why Homer omitted the Cappadocians and Lycaonians and speak in his defence, and yet should himself omit to tell the reason why Ephorus omitted them, and that too when he had cited the statement of the man for the very purpose of examining it and passing judgment upon it; and also to teach us why Homer mentioned Meïonians instead of Lydians, but not to remark that Ephorus mentions neither Lydians nor Meïonians.

28After saying that the poet mentions certain unknown tribes, Apollodorus rightly names the Cauconians, the Solymi, the Ceteians, the Leleges, and the Cilicians of the plain of Thebe; but the Halizones are a fabrication of his own, or rather of the first men who, not knowing who the Halizones were, wrote the name in several different ways and fabricated the “birthplace of silver” and many other mines, all of which have given out. And in furtherance of their emulous desire they also collected the stories cited by Demetrius of Scepsis from Callisthenes and certain other writers, who were not free from the false notions about the Halizones. Likewise the wealth of Tantalus and the Pelopidae arose from the mines round Phrygia and Sipylus; that of Cadmus from those round Thrace and Mt. Pangaeus; that of Priam from the gold mines at Astyra near Abydus (of which still today there are small remains; here the amount of earth thrown out is considerable, and the excavations are signs of the mining in olden times); and that of Midas from those round Mt. Bermius; and that of Gyges and Alyattes and Croesus from those Lydia and from the region between Atarneus and Pergamum, where is a small deserted town, whose lands have been exhausted of ore.

29Still further one might find fault with Apollodorus, because, when the more recent writers make numerous innovations contrary to the statements of Homer, he is wont frequently to put these innovations to the test, but in the present case he not only has made small account of them, but also, on the contrary, identifies things that are not meant alike; for instance, Xanthus the Lydian says that it was after the Trojan War that the Phrygians came from Europe and the left-hand side of the Pontus, and that Scamandrius led them from the Berecyntes and Ascania, but Apollodorus adds to this the statement that Homer refers to this Ascania that is mentioned by Xanthus: And Phorcys and godlike Ascanius led the Phrygians from afar, from Ascania.However, if this is so, the migration must have taken place later than the Trojan War, whereas the allied force mentioned by the poet came from the opposite mainland, from the Berecyntes and Ascania. Who, then, were the Phrygians,who were then encamped along the banks of the Sangarius,when Priam says,for I too, being an ally, was numbered among these?And how could Priam have sent for Phrygians from the Berecyntes, with whom he had no compact, and yet leave uninvited those who lived on his borders and to whom he had formerly been ally? And after speaking in this way about the Phrygians he adds also an account of the Mysians that is not in agreement with this; for he says that there is also a village in Mysia which is called Ascania, near a lake of the same name, whence flows the Ascanius River, which is mentioned by Euphorion,beside the waters of the Mysian Ascanius,and by Alexander the Aetolian,who have their homes on the Ascanian streams, on the lips of the Ascanian Lake, where dwelt Dolion, the son of Silenus and Melia.And he says that the country round Cyzicus, as one goes to Miletupolis, is called Dolionis and Mysia. If this is so, then, and if witness thereto is borne both by the places now pointed out and by the poets, what could have prevented Homer from mentioning this Ascania, and not the Ascania spoken of by Xanthus? I have discussed this before, in my account of the Mysians and Phrygians;†and therefore let this be the end of that subject.

1It remains for me to describe the island which lies alongside this peninsula on the south, I mean Cyprus. I have already said that the sea surrounded by Egypt, Phoenicia, Syria, and the rest of the coast as far as Rhodia†consists approximately of the Aegyptian and Pamphylian Seas and of the sea at the gulf of Issus. In this last sea lies Cypros; its northern parts closely approach Cilicia Tracheia, where they are closest to the mainland, and its eastern parts border on the Issic Gulf, and its western on the Pamphylian Sea, being washed by that sea, and its southern by the Aegyptian Sea. Now the Aegyptian Sea is confluent on the west with the Libyan and Carpathian Seas, but in its southern and eastern parts borders on Aegypt and the coast next thereafter as far as Seleuceia and lssus, and towards the north on Cypros and the Pamphylian Sea; but the Pamphylian Sea is surrounded on the north by the extremities of Cilicia Tracheia, of Pamphylia, and of Lycia, as far as Rhodia, and on the west by the island of the Rhodians, and on the east by the part of Cypros near Paphos and the Acamas, and on the south is confluent with the Aegyptian Sea.

2The circuit of Cypros is three thousand four hundred and twenty stadia, including the sinuosities of the gulfs. The length from Cleides to the Acamas by land, travelling from east to west, is one thousand four hundred stadia. The Cleides are two isles lying off Cypros opposite the eastern parts of the island, which are seven hundred stadia distant from the Pyramus. The Acamas is a promontory with two breasts and much timber. It is situated at the western part of the island, and extends towards the north; it lies closest to Selinus in Cilicia Tracheia, the passage across being one thousand stadia, whereas the passage across to Side in Pamphylia is one thousand sixteen hundred and to the Chelidonian islands one thousand nine hundred. The shape of the island as a whole is oblong; and in some places it forms isthmuses on the sides which define its breadth. But the island also has its several parts, which I shall describe briefly, beginning with the point that is nearest to the mainland.

3I have said somewhere that opposite to Anemurium, a cape of Cilicia Tracheia, is the promontory of the Cyprians, I mean the promontory of Crommyus, at a distance of three hundred and fifty stadia. Thence forthwith, keeping the island on the right and the mainland on the left, the voyage to the Cleides lies in a straight line towards the north-east, a distance of seven hundred stadia. In the interval is the city Lapathus, with a mooring-place and dockyards; it was founded by Laconians and Praxander, and opposite it lies Nagidus. Then one comes to Aphrodisium, where the island is narrow, for the passage across to Salamis is only seventy stadia. Then to the beach of the Achaeans, where Teucer, the founder of Salamis in Cypros, first landed, having been banished, as they say, by his father Telamon. Then to a city Carpasia, with a harbor. It is situated opposite the promontory Sarpedon; and the passage from Carpasia across the isthmus to the Carpasian Islands and the southern sea is thirty stadia. Then to a promontory and mountain. The mountain peak is called Olympus; and it has a temple of Aphrodite Acraea, which cannot be entered or seen by women. Off it, and near it, lie the Cleides, as also several other islands; and then one comes to the Carpasian Islands; and, after these, to Salamis, where Aristus the historian was born. Then to Arsinoe, a city and harbor. Then to another harbor, Leucolla. Then to a promontory, Pedalium, above which lies a hill that is rugged, high, trapezium-shaped, and sacred to Aphrodite, whereto the distance from the Cleides is six hundred stadia. Then comes the coasting-voyage to Citium, which for the most part is sinuous and rough. Citium has a harbor that can be closed; and here were born both Zeno, the original founder of the Stoic sect, and Apollonius, a physician. The distance thence to Berytus is one thousand five hundred stadia. Then to the city Amathus, and, in the interval, to a small town called Palaea, and to a breast-shaped mountain called Olympus. Then to Curias, which is peninsula-like, whereto the distance from Throni is seven hundred stadia. Then to a city Curium, which has a mooring-place and was founded by the Argives. One may therefore see at once the carelessness of the poet who wrote the elegy that begins,we hinds, sacred to Phoebus, racing across many billows, came hither in our swift course to escape the arrows of our pursuers,whether the author was Hedylus or someone else; for he says that the hinds set out from the Corycian heights and swam across from the Cilician shore to the beach of Curias, and further says thatit is a matter of untold amazement to men to think how we ran across the impassable stream by the aid of a vernal west wind;for while there is a voyage round the island from Corycus to the beach Curias, which is made neither by the aid of a west wind nor by keeping the island on the right nor on the left, there is no passage across the sea between the two places. At any rate, Curium is the beginning of the westerly voyage in the direction of Rhodes; and immediately one comes to a promontory, whence are flung those who touch the altar of Apollo. Then to Treta, and to Boosura, and to Palaepaphus, which last is situated at about ten stadia above the sea, has a mooring-place, and an ancient temple of the Paphian Aphrodite. Then to the promontory Zephyria, with a landing-place, and to another Arsinoe, which likewise has a landing-place and a temple and a sacred precinct. And at a little distance from the sea is Hierocepis. Then to Paphus, which was founded by Agapenor, and has both a harbor and well-built temples. It is sixty stadia distant from Palaepaphus by land; and on this road men together with women, who also assemble here from the other cities, hold an annual procession to Palaepaphus. Some say that the distance from Paphus to Alexandria is three thousand six hundred stadia. Then, after Paphus, one comes to the Acamas. Then, after the Acamas, towards the east, one sails to a city Arsinoe and the sacred precinct of Zeus. Then to a city Soli, with a harbor and a river and a temple of Aphrodite and Isis. It was founded by Phalerus and Acamas, Athenians; and the inhabitants are called Solians; and here was born Stasanor, one of the comrades of Alexander, who was thought worthy of a chief command; and above it, in the interior, lies a city Limenia. And then to the promontory of Crommyus.

4But why should one wonder at the poets, and particularly at writers of the kind that are wholly concerned about style, when we compare the statements of Damastes, who gives the length of the island as from north to south, “from Hierocepias,” as he says, “to Cleides”? Neither is Eratosthenes correct, for, although he censures Damastes, he says that Hierocepias is not on the north but on the south; for it is not on the south either, but on the west, since it lies on the western side, where are also Paphus and the Acamas. Such is the geographical position of Cypros.

5In fertility Cypros is not inferior to any one of the islands, for it produces both good wine and good oil, and also a sufficient supply of grain for its own use. And at Tamassus there are abundant mines of copper, in which is found chalcanthite†and also the rust of copper, which latter is useful for its medicinal properties. Eratosthenes says that in ancient times the plains were thickly overgrown with forests, and therefore were covered with woods and not cultivated; that the mines helped a little against this, since the people would cut down the trees to burn the copper and the silver, and that the building of the fleets further helped, since the sea was now being navigated safely, that is, with naval forces, but that, because they could not thus prevail over the growth of the timber, they permitted anyone who wished, or was able, to cut out the timber and to keep the land thus cleared as his own property and exempt from taxes.

6Now in the earlier times the several cities of the Cyprians were under the rule of tyrants, but from the time the Ptolemaic kings became established as lords of Aegypt Cypros too came into their power, the Romans often cooperating with them. But when the last Ptolemy that reigned, the brother of the father of Cleopatra, the queen in my time, was decreed to be both disagreeable and ungrateful to his benefactors, he was deposed, and the Romans took possession of the island; and it has become a praetorian province by itself. The chief cause of the ruin of the king was Publius Claudius Pulcher; for the latter, having fallen into the hands of the bands of pirates, the Cilicians then being at the height of their power, and, being asked for a ransom, sent a message to the king, begging him to send and rescue him. The king indeed sent a ransom, but so utterly small that the pirates disdained to take it and sent it back again, but released him without ransom. Having safely escaped, he remembered the favour of both; and, when he became tribune of the people, he was so powerful that he had Marcus Cato sent to take Cypros away from its possessor. Now the king killed himself beforehand, but Cato went over and took Cypros and disposed of the king’s property and carried the money to the Roman treasury. From that time the island became a province, just as it is now—a praetorian province. During a short intervening time Antony gave it over to Cleopatra and her sister Arsinoe, but when he was overthrown his whole organization was overthrown with him.