The
younger sons continued in a private station, but Eumenes, the elder, was
king.
younger sons continued in a private station, but Eumenes, the elder, was
king.
Strabo
At the distance of 50
stadia in the interior is Thebe, uninhabited, which the poet says was
situated below the woody Placus. But there is neither Placus nor Plax
there, nor a wood above it, although near Ida.
Thebe is distant from Astyra 70, and from Andeira 60 stadia. All these
are names of uninhabited places, or thinly inhabited, or of rivers which
are torrents. But they owe their fame to ancient history.
66. Assus and Adramyttium are considerable cities. Adramyttium was
unfortunate in the Mithridatic war, for Diodorus the general, in order
to gratify the king, put to death the council of the citizens, although
at the same time he pretended to be a philosopher of the Academy,
pleaded causes, and professed to teach rhetoric. He accompanied the king
on his voyage to Pontus, but upon his overthrow Diodorus was punished
for his crimes. Many accusations were simultaneously preferred against
him: but, unable to endure the disgrace, he basely destroyed himself in
my native city by abstaining from food.
Adramyttium produced Xenocles, a distinguished orator, who adopted the
Asiatic style of eloquence and was remarkable for the vehemence of his
manner; he defended Asia before the senate, at the time when that
province was accused of favouring the party of Mithridates.
67. Near Astyra is a lake called Sapra, full of deep holes, that empties
itself by a ravine among ridges of rocks on the coast. Below Andeira is
a temple dedicated to the Andeirenian mother of the gods, and a cave
with a subterraneous passage extending to Palæa. Palæa is a settlement
distant 130 stadia from Andeira. A goat, which fell into the opening,
discovered the subterraneous passage. It was found at Andeira the next
day, accidentally, by the shepherd, who had gone there to a sacrifice.
Atarneus[1490] is the royal seat of Hermeas the tyrant. Next is Pitane,
an Æolian city, with two harbours, and the river Euenus flowing beside
it, which supplies the aqueduct of the Adramyttium with water.
Arcesilaus of the Academy was a native of Pitane, and a fellow-disciple
of Zeno of Citium in the school of Polemo.
There is a place in Pitane called “Atarneus under Pitane,” opposite to
the island called Elæussa.
It is said that at Pitane bricks float upon the water, as was the case
with a small island[1491] in Tyrrhenia, for the earth, being lighter
than an equal bulk of water, swims upon it. Poseidonius says, that he
saw in Spain bricks made of an argillaceous earth (with which silver
vessels are cleansed) floating upon water.
After Pitane the Caïcus[1492] empties itself, at the distance of 30
stadia from it, into the Elaïtic bay. Beyond the Caïcus, at the distance
of 12 stadia from the river, is Elæa, an Æolian city; it is the arsenal
of Pergamum, and distant from it 120 stadia.
68. [CAS. 615] At 100 stadia farther is Cane, the promontory opposite
to Lectum, and forming the gulf of Adramyttium, of which the Elaïtic
Gulf is a part. Canæ is a small city of the Locrians who came from
Cynus; it is situated in the Canæan territory, opposite the most
southerly extremities of Lesbos. This territory extends to the Arginusæ,
and the promontory above, which some call Aiga, or the goat. The second
syllable however must be pronounced long, Aigan, like Actan and Archan,
for this was the name of the whole mountain, which at present is called
Cane, or Canæ. [1493] The sea surrounds the mountain on the south and
west; towards the east the plain of Caïcus lies below, and on the north
the Elaïtic district. The mountain itself is very much contracted. It
inclines indeed towards the Ægæan Sea, from which it has the name (Æga),
but afterwards the promontory itself was called Æga, the name which
Sappho gives it, and then Cane and Canæ.
69. Between Elæa, Pitane, Atarneus, and Pergamum on this side the
Caïcus, is Teuthrania, distant from none of these places above 70
stadia. Teuthras is said to have been king of the Cilicians and Mysians.
According to Euripides, Auge, with her son Telephus, was enclosed in a
chest and thrown into the sea, by command of her father Aleus, who
discovered that she had been violated by Hercules. By the care of
Minerva the chest crossed the sea, and was cast ashore at the mouth of
the Caïcus. Teuthras took up the mother and her son, married the former,
and treated the latter as his own child. This is a fable, but another
concurrence of circumstances is wanting to explain how the daughter of
the Arcadian became the wife of the king of the Mysians, and how her son
succeeded to the throne of the Mysians. It is however believed that
Teuthras and Telephus governed the country lying about Teuthrania and
the Caïcus, but the poet mentions a few particulars only of this
history:
“as when he slew the son of Telephus, the hero Eurypylus, and
many of his companions, the Cetæi, were killed around him for
the sake of the gifts of women. ”[1494]
Homer here rather proposes an enigma than a clear meaning. For we do not
know who the Cetæi were, nor what people we are to understand by this
name, nor what is meant by the words, “for the sake of the gifts of
women. ”[1495] Grammarians adduce and compare with this other stories,
but they indulge in invention rather than solve the difficulty.
70. Let us dismiss this doubtful matter, and turn to what is more
certain; for instance, according to Homer, Eurypylus appears to have
been king of the places about the Caïcus, so that perhaps a part of the
Cilicians were his subjects, and that there were not only two but three
dynasties among that people.
This opinion is supported by the circumstance that in the Elaïtis there
is a small river, like a winter torrent, of the name of Ceteium. This
falls into another like it, then again [CAS. 616] into another, but all
discharge themselves into the Caïcus. The Caïcus does not flow from Ida,
as Bacchylides says, nor does Euripides say correctly that Marsyas
“inhabited the famous Celænæ, at the extremity of Ida,”
for Celænæ is at a great distance from Ida, and so are the sources of
the Caïcus, for they are to be seen in the plain.
There is a mountain, Temnum, which separates this and the plain of Asia;
it lies in the interior above the plain of Thebe. A river, Mysius, flows
from Temnum and enters the Caïcus below its source. Hence some persons
suppose that Æschylus refers to it in the beginning of the prologue to
the play of the Myrmidons,
“Caïcus, and ye Mysian streams”--
Near its source is a village called Gergitha, to which Attalus
transferred the inhabitants of Gergitha in the Troad, after destroying
their own town.
CHAPTER II.
1. Since Lesbos, a very remarkable island, lies along and opposite to
the sea-coast, extending from Lectum to Canæ, and since it is surrounded
by small islands, some of which lie beyond it, others in the space
between Lesbos and the continent, it is now proper to describe them,
because they are Æolian places, and Lesbos is, as it were, the capital
of the Æolian cities. We shall begin where we set out to describe the
coast opposite to the island.
2. In sailing from Lectum to Assus the Lesbian district begins opposite
to Sigrium,[1496] its northern promontory. Somewhere there is
Methymna,[1497] a city of the Lesbians, 60 stadia from the coast,
between Polymedium and Assus. The whole island is 1100 stadia in
circumference. The particulars are these.
From Methymna to Malia,[1498] the most southern promontory to those who
have the island on their right hand, and to which Canæ[1499] lies
directly opposite, are 340 stadia. Thence to Sigrium, which is the
length of the island, 560 stadia, thence to Methymna 210 stadia. [1500]
Mitylene, the largest city, lies between Methymna and Malia, at the
distance from Malia of 70 stadia, and from Canæ of 120, and as many from
the Arginussæ islands,[1501] which are three small islands near the
continent, and situated near Canæ. In the interval between Mitylene and
Methymna, at a village called Ægeirus in the Methymnæan territory, is
the narrowest part of the island, having a passage of 20 stadia to the
Pyrrhæan Euripus. [1502] Pyrrha[1503] is situated on the western side of
Lesbos, at the distance of 100 stadia from Malia.
Mitylene has two harbours; of which the southern is a closed harbour for
triremes, and capable of holding 50 vessels. The northern harbour is
large, and deep, and protected by a mole. In front of both lies a small
island, which contains a part of the city. Mitylene is well provided
with everything.
3. It formerly produced celebrated men, as Pittacus, one of the Seven
Wise Men; Alcæus the poet, and his brother Antimenidas, who, according
to Alcæus, when fighting on the side of the Babylonians, achieved a
great exploit, and extricated them from their danger by killing
“a valiant warrior, the king’s wrestler, who was four cubits
in height. ”
Contemporary with these persons flourished Sappho, an extraordinary
woman; for at no period within memory has any woman been known at all to
be compared to her in poetry.
At this period Mitylene was ruled by many tyrants, in consequence of the
dissensions among the citizens. These dissensions are the subject of the
poems of Alcæus called Stasiotica (the Seditions). One of these tyrants
was Pittacus: Alcæus inveighed against him as well as against Myrsilus,
Megalagyrus[1504] the Cleanactidæ, and some others; nor was he [CAS.
617] himself clear from the imputation of favouring these political
changes. Pittacus himself employed monarchical power to dissolve the
despotism of the many, but, having done this, he restored the
independence of the city.
At a late period afterwards appeared Diophanes the rhetorician; in our
times Potamo, Lesbocles, Crinagoras, and Theophanes the historian. [1505]
The latter was versed in political affairs, and became the friend of
Pompey the Great, chiefly on account of his accomplishments and
assistance he afforded in directing to a successful issue all his
enterprises. Hence, partly by means of Pompey, partly by his own
exertions, he became an ornament to his country, and rendered himself
the most illustrious of all the Grecians. He left a son, Mark Pompey,
whom Augustus Cæsar appointed prefect of Asia, and who is now reckoned
among the number of the chief friends of Tiberius.
The Athenians were in danger of incurring irremediable disgrace by
passing a decree that all the Mitylenæans who had attained the age of
puberty should be put to death. They, however, recalled their
resolution, and the counter-decree reached their generals only one day
before the former order was to be executed.
4. Pyrrha is in ruins. But the suburb is inhabited, and has a port,
whence to Mitylene is a passage of 80 stadia. Next after Pyrrha is
Eressus. [1506] It is situated upon a hill, and extends to the sea.
Thence to Sigrium 28 stadia.
Eressus was the birth-place of Theophrastus, and of Phanias, Peripatetic
philosophers, disciples of Aristotle. Theophrastus was called Tyrtamus
before his name was changed by Aristotle to Theophrastus, thus getting
rid of the cacophony of the former name, and at the same time expressing
the beauty of his elocution, for Aristotle made all his disciples
eloquent, but Theophrastus the most eloquent of them all.
Antissa[1507] is next to Sigrium. It is a city with a harbour. Then
follows Methymna, of which place Arion was a native, who, as Herodotus
relates the story, after having been thrown into the sea by pirates,
escaped safe to Tænarus on the back of a dolphin. He played on the
cithara and sang to it. Terpander, who practised the same kind of music,
was a native of this island. He was the first person that used the lyre
with seven instead of four strings, as is mentioned in the verses
attributed to him:
“we have relinquished the song adapted to four strings, and
shall cause new hymns to resound on a seven-stringed cithara. ”
The historian Hellanicus, and Callias, who has commented on Sappho and
Alcæus, were Lesbians.
5. Near the strait situated between Asia and Lesbos there are about
twenty small islands, or, according to Timosthenes, forty. They are
called Hecatonnesoi,[1508] a compound name like Peloponnesus, the letter
N being repeated by custom in such words as Myonnesus, Proconnesus,
Halonnesus, so that Hecatonnesoi is of the same import as Apollonnesoi,
since Apollo is called Hecatus;[1509] for along the whole of this coast,
as far as Tenedos, Apollo is held in the highest veneration, and
worshipped under the names of Smintheus, Cillæus, Gryneus, or other
appellations.
Near these islands is Pordoselene, which contains a city of the same
name, and in front of this city is another island[1510] larger than
this, and a city of the same name, uninhabited, in which there is a
temple of Apollo.
6. Some persons, in order to avoid the indecorum couched in these
names,[1511] say that we ought to read in that place Poroselene, and to
call Aspordenum, the rocky and barren mountain near Pergamum, Asporenum,
and the temple there of the mother of the gods the temple of the
Asporene mother of the gods; what then are we to say to the names
Pordalis, Saperdes, [CAS. 619] Perdiccas, and to this word in the verse
of Simonides, “with clothes dripping with wet,” (πορδάκοισιν for
διαβρόχοις,) and in the old comedy somewhere, “the country is πορδακόν,
for λιμνάζον, or ‘marshy. ’”
Lesbos is at the same distance, rather less than 500 stadia, from
Tenedos, Lemnos, and Chios.
CHAPTER III.
1. Since there subsisted so great an affinity among the Leleges and
Cilicians with the Trojans, the reason is asked, why these people are
not included in Homer’s Catalogue. Perhaps it is that, on account of the
loss of their leaders and the devastation of the cities, the few
Cilicians that were left placed themselves under the command of Hector.
For Eetion and his sons are said to have been killed before the
Catalogue is mentioned;
“The hero Achilles,”
says Andromache,
“killed my father, and destroyed Thebe, with its lofty gates,
the city of the Cilicians. ”--
“I had seven brothers in the palace; all of them went in one
day to Hades, for they were all slain by the swift-footed
divine Achilles. ”[1512]
Those also under the command of Mynes had lost their leaders, and their
city;
“He slew Mynes, and Epistrophus,
And destroyed the city of the divine Mynes. ”[1513]
He describes the Leleges as present at the battles;
“on the sea-coast are Carians, and Pæonians with curved bows,
Leleges, and Caucones. ”[1514]
And in another place,
“he killed Satnius with a spear--the son of Enops, whom a
beautiful nymph Neis bore to Enops, when he was tending herds
near the banks of Satnioeis,”[1515]
for they had not been so completely annihilated as to prevent their
forming a body of people of themselves, since their king still survived,
“Altes, king of the war-loving Leleges,”[1516]
nor was the city entirely razed, for he adds,
“who commanded the lofty city Pedasus. ”[1517]
He has passed them over in the Catalogue, not considering the body of
people large enough to have a place in it; or he comprised them among
the people under the command of Hector, as being allied to one another.
For Lycaon, the brother of Hector, says,
“my mother Laothoë, daughter of the old Altes, brought me into
the world to live but a short time; of Altes, king of the
war-loving Leleges. ”[1518]
Such is the reasoning, from probability, which this subject admits.
2. We reason from probability when we endeavour to determine by the
words of the poet the exact bounds of the territory of the Cilicians,
Pelasgi, and of the people situated between them, namely, the Ceteii,
who were under the command of Eurypylus.
We have said of the Cilicians and of the people under the command of
Eurypylus what can be said about them, and that they are bounded by the
country near the Caïcus.
It is agreeable to probability to place the Pelasgi next to these
people, according to the words of Homer and other histories. Homer says,
“Hippothous led the tribes of the Pelasgi, who throw the
spear, who inhabited the fertile Larisa; their leaders were
Hippothous and Pylæus, a son of Mars, both sons of Lethus the
Pelasgian, son of Teutamis. ”[1519]
He here represents the numbers of Pelasgi as considerable, for he does
not speak of them as a tribe, but “tribes,” and specifies the place of
their settlement, Larisa. There are many places of the name of Larisa,
but we must understand some one of those near the Troad, and perhaps we
might not be wrong in supposing it to be that near Cyme; for of three
places of the name of Larisa, that near Hamaxitus is quite in sight of
Ilium and very near it, at the distance of about 200 stadia, so that
Hippothous could not be said consistently with probability to fall, in
the contest about Patroclus,[CAS. 620]
“far from Larisa,”[1520]
at least from this Larisa, but rather from the Larisa near Cyme, for
there are about 1000 stadia between them. The third Larisa is a village
in the Ephesian district in the plain of the Caÿster; which, it is said,
was formerly a city containing a temple of Apollo Larisæus, and situated
nearer to Mount Tmolus than to Ephesus. It is distant from Ephesus 180
stadia, so that it might be placed rather under the government of the
Mæonians. The Ephesians, having afterwards acquired more power, deprived
the Mæonians, whom we now call Lydians, of a large part of their
territory; but not even this, but the other rather, would be the Larisa
of the Pelasgi. For we have no strong evidence that the Larisa in the
plain of Caÿster was in existence at that time, nor even of the
existence of Ephesus. But all the Æolian history, relating to a period a
little subsequent to the Trojan times, proves the existence of the
Larisa near Cyme.
3. It is said that the people who set out from Phricium, a Locrian
mountain above Thermopylæ, settled on the spot where Cyme is now
situated; and finding the Pelasgi, who had been great sufferers in the
Trojan war, yet still in possession of Larisa, distant about 70 stadia
from Cyme, erected as a defence against them what is at present called
Neon-teichos, (or the New Wall,) 30 stadia from Larisa. They took
Larisa,[1521] founded Cyme, and transferred to it as settlers the
surviving Pelasgi. Cyme is called Cyme Phriconis from the Locrian
mountain, and Larisa also (Phriconis): it is now deserted.
That the Pelasgi were a great nation history, it is said, furnishes
other evidence. For Menecrates of Elæa, in his work on the foundation of
cities, says, that the whole of the present Ionian coast, beginning from
Mycale and the neighbouring islands, were formerly inhabited by Pelasgi.
But the Lesbians say, that they were commanded by Pylæus, who is called
by the poet the chief of the Pelasgi, and that it was from him that the
mountain in their country had the name of Pylæum.
The Chians also say, that the Pelasgi from Thessaly were their
founders. The Pelasgi, however, were a nation disposed to wander, ready
to remove from settlement to settlement, and experienced both a great
increase and a sudden diminution of strength and numbers, particularly
at the time of the Æolian and Ionian migrations to Asia.
4. Something peculiar took place among the Larisæans in the plain of
Caÿster, in the Phriconis, and in Thessaly. All of them occupied a
country, the soil of which has been accumulated by rivers, by the
Caÿster,[1522] the Hermus,[1523] and the Peneus. [1524]
At Larisa Phriconis Piasus is said to receive great honours. He was
chief of the Pelasgi, and enamoured, it is said, of his daughter Larisa,
whom he violated, and was punished for the outrage. She discovered him
leaning over a cask of wine, seized him by his legs, lifted him up, and
dropped him down into the vessel. These are ancient accounts.
5. To the present Æolian cities we must add Ægæ and Temnus, the
birth-place of Hermagoras, who wrote a book on the Art of Rhetoric.
These cities are on the mountainous country which is above the district
of Cyme, and that of the Phocæans and Smyrnæans, beside which flows the
Hermus.
Not far from these cities is Magnesia under Sipylus, made a free city by
a decree of the Romans. The late earthquakes have injured this place. To
the opposite parts, which incline towards the Caïcus to Cyme from
Larisa, in passing to which the river Hermus is crossed, are 70 stadia;
thence to Myrina 40 stadia; thence to Grynium 40 stadia, and thence to
Elæa. But, according to Artemidorus, next to Cyme is Adæ; then, at the
distance of 40 stadia, a promontory, which they call Hydra, that forms
the Elaïtic Gulf with the opposite promontory Harmatus. The breadth of
the entrance is about 80 stadia, including the winding of the bays.
Myrina, situated at 60 stadia, is an Æolian city with a harbour, then
the harbour of Achæans, where are altars of the twelve gods; next is
Grynium, a small city [of the Myrinæans], a temple of Apollo, an ancient
oracle, and a costly fane of white marble. To Myrina are 40 stadia; then
70 stadia to Elæa, which has a harbour and a station for vessels of the
Attalic kings, founded [CAS. 622] by Menestheus and the Athenians who
accompanied him in the expedition against Ilium.
The places about Pitane, and Atarneus, and others in this quarter, which
follow Elæa, have been already described.
6. Cyme is the largest and best of the Æolian cities. This and Lesbos
may be considered the capitals of the other cities, about 30 in number,
of which not a few exist no longer. The inhabitants of Cyme are
ridiculed for their stupidity, for, according to some writers, it is
said of them that they only began to let the tolls of the harbour three
hundred years after the foundation of their city, and that before this
time the town had never received any revenue of the kind; hence the
report that it was late before they perceived that they inhabited a city
lying on the sea.
There is another story, that, having borrowed money in the name of the
state, they pledged their porticos as security for the payment of it.
Afterwards, the money not having been repaid on the appointed day, they
were prohibited from walking in them. The creditors, through shame, gave
notice by the crier whenever it rained, that the inhabitants might take
shelter under the porticos. As the crier called out, “Go under the
porticos,” a report prevailed that the Cymæans did not perceive that
they were to go under the porticos when it rained unless they had notice
from the public crier. [1525]
Ephorus, a man indisputably of high repute, a disciple of Isocrates the
orator, was a native of this city. He was an historian, and wrote the
book on Inventions.
Hesiod the poet, who long preceded Ephorus, was a native of this place,
for he himself says, that his father Dius left Cyme in Æolis and
migrated to the Bœotians;
“he dwelt near Helicon in Ascra, a village wretched in winter,
in summer oppressive, and not pleasant at any season. ”
It is not generally admitted that Homer was from Cyme, for many dispute
about him.
The name of the city was derived from an Amazon, as that of Myrina was
the name of an Amazon, buried under the Batieia in the plain of Troy;
“men call this Batieia; but the immortals, the tomb of the
bounding Myrina. ”[1526]
Ephorus is bantered, because, having no achievements of his countrymen
to commemorate among the other exploits in his history, and yet being
unwilling to pass them over unnoticed, he exclaims,
“at this time the Cymæans were at peace. ”
After having described the Trojan and Æolian coasts, we ought next to
notice cursorily the interior of the country as far as Mount Taurus,
observing the same order.
CHAPTER IV.
1. Pergamum[1527] has a kind of supremacy among these places. It is a
city of note, and flourished during a long period under the Attalic
kings; and here we shall begin our description, premising a short
account of her kings, their origin, and the end of their career.
Pergamum was the treasure-hold of Lysimachus, the son of Agathocles, and
one of the successors of Alexander. It is situated on the very summit of
the mountain which terminates in a sharp peak like a pine-cone.
Philetærus of Tyana was intrusted with the custody of this stronghold,
and of the treasure, which amounted to nine thousand talents. He became
an eunuch in childhood by compression, for it happened that a great body
of people being assembled to see a funeral, the nurse who was carrying
Philetærus, then an infant, in her arms, was entangled in the crowd, and
pressed upon to such a degree that the child was mutilated.
He was therefore an eunuch, but having been well educated he was thought
worthy of this trust. He continued for [CAS. 623] some time well
affected to Lysimachus, but upon a disagreement with Arsinoë, the wife
of Lysimachus, who had falsely accused him, he caused the place to
revolt, and suited his political conduct to the times, perceiving them
to be favourable to change. Lysimachus, overwhelmed with domestic
troubles, was compelled to put to death Agathocles his son. Seleucus
Nicator invaded his country and destroyed his power, but was himself
treacherously slain by Ptolemy Ceraunus.
During these disorders the eunuch remained in the fortress, continually
employing the policy of promises and other courtesies with those who
were the strongest and the nearest to himself. He thus continued master
of the stronghold for twenty years.
2. He had two brothers, the elder of whom was Eumenes, the younger
Attalus. Eumenes had a son of the same name, who succeeded to the
possession of Pergamum, and was then sovereign of the places around, so
that he overcame in a battle near Sardes[1528] Antiochus, the son of
Seleucus, and died after a reign of two-and-twenty years.
Attalus, the son of Attalus and Antiochis, daughter of Achæus, succeeded
to the kingdom. He was the first person who was proclaimed king after a
victory, which he obtained in a great battle with the Galatians. He
became an ally of the Romans, and, in conjunction with the Rhodian
fleet, assisted them in the war against Philip. He died in old age,
having reigned forty-three years. He left four sons by Apollonis, a
woman of Cyzicus,--Eumenes, Attalus, Philetærus, and Athenæus.
The
younger sons continued in a private station, but Eumenes, the elder, was
king. He was an ally of the Romans in the war with Antiochus the Great,
and with Perseus; he received from the Romans all the country within the
Taurus which had belonged to Antiochus. Before this time there were not
under the power of Pergamum many places which reached the sea at the
Elaïtic and the Adramyttene Gulfs. Eumenes embellished the city, he
ornamented the Nicephorium[1529] with a grove, enriched it with votive
offerings and a library, and by his care raised the city of Pergamum to
its present magnificence. After he had reigned forty-nine years he left
the kingdom to Attalus, his son by Stratonice, daughter of Ariarathus,
king of Cappadocia.
He appointed as guardian of his son, who was very young,[1530] and as
regent of the kingdom, his brother Attalus, who died an old man after a
reign of twenty years, having performed many glorious actions. He
assisted Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, in the war against Alexander,
the son of Antiochus, and was the ally of the Romans in the war against
the Pseudo-Philip. In an expedition into Thrace he defeated and took
prisoner Diegylis, king of the Cæni. [1531] He destroyed Prusias by
exciting his son Nicomedes to rebel against his father. He left the
kingdom to Attalus his ward. His cognomen was Philometor. He reigned
five years, and died a natural death. He left the Romans his
heirs. [1532] They made the country a province, and called it Asia by the
name of the continent.
The Caïcus flows past Pergamum through the plain of Caïcus, as it is
called, and traverses a very fertile country, indeed almost the best
soil in Mysia.
3. The celebrated men in our times, natives of Pergamum, were
Mithridates, the son of Menodotus and the daughter of Adobogion; he was
of the family of the Tetrarchs of Galatia. Adobogion, it is said, had
been the concubine of Mithridates the king; the relatives therefore gave
to the child the name of Mithridates, pretending that he was the king’s
son.
This prince became so great a friend of divus Cæsar, that he was
promoted to the honour of Tetrarch (of Galatia); out of regard also to
his mother’s family, he was appointed king of Bosporus and of other
places. He was overthrown by Asander, who put to death Pharnaces the
king and obtained [CAS. 625] possession of the Bosporus. He had a great
reputation as well as Apollodorus the rhetorician, who composed a work
on the Art of Rhetoric, and was the head of the Apollodorian sect of
philosophers, whatever that may be; for many opinions have prevailed,
the merits of which are beyond our power to decide upon, among which are
those of the sects of Apollodorus and Theodorus.
But the friendship of Augustus Cæsar, whom he instructed in oratory, was
the principal cause of the elevation of Apollodorus. He had a celebrated
scholar Dionysius, surnamed Atticus, his fellow-citizen, who was an able
teacher of philosophy, an historian, and composer of orations.
4. Proceeding from the plain and the city towards the east, we meet with
Apollonia, a city on an elevated site. To the south is a mountainous
ridge, which having crossed on the road to Sardes, we find on the left
hand the city Thyateira, a colony of the Macedonians, which some authors
say is the last city belonging to the Mysians. On the right hand is
Apollonis, 300 stadia from Pergamum, and the same distance from Sardes.
It has its name from Apollonis of Cyzicus (wife of Attalus). Next are
the plains of Hermus and Sardes. The country to the north of Pergamum is
principally occupied by Mysians; it lies on the right hand of the people
called Abaïtæ, on whose borders is the Epictetus, extending to Bithynia.
5. Sardes is a large city, of later date than the Trojan times, yet
ancient, with a strong citadel. It was the royal seat of the Lydians,
whom the poet calls Meones, and later writers Mæones, some asserting
that they are the same, others that they are a different people, but the
former is the preferable opinion.
Above Sardes is the Tmolus, a fertile mountain having on its summit a
seat[1533] of white marble, a work of the Persians. There is a view from
it of the plains around, particularly of that of the Caÿster. There
dwell about it Lydians, Mysians, and Macedonians. [1534]
The Pactolus flows from the Tmolus. [1535] It anciently brought down a
large quantity of gold-dust, whence, it is said, the proverbial wealth
of Crœsus and his ancestors obtained renown. No gold-dust is found at
present. The Pactolus descends into the Hermus, into which also the
Hyllus, now called Phrygius, discharges itself. These three and other
less considerable rivers unite in one stream, and, according to
Herodotus, empty themselves into the sea at Phocæa.
The Hermus takes its rise in Mysia, descending from the sacred mountain
of Dindymene, after traversing the Catacecaumene, it enters the Sardian
territory, and passes through the contiguous plains to the sea, as we
have mentioned above. Below the city lie the plains of Sardes, of the
Cyrus, of the Hermus, and of the Caÿster, which are contiguous to one
another and the most fertile anywhere to be found.
At the distance of 40 stadia from the city is the lake Gygæa, as it is
called by the poet. [1536] Its name was afterwards altered to Coloë. Here
was a temple of Artemis Coloëne, held in the highest veneration. It is
said that at the feasts celebrated here the baskets dance. [1537] I know
not why the circulation of such strange and absurd stories should be
preferred to truth.
6. The verses in Homer are to this effect,
“Mesthles and Antiphus, sons of Talæmenes, born of the lake
Gygæa, were the leaders of the Meones, who live below
Tmolus. ”[1538]
Some persons add a fourth verse to these,
“below snowy Tmolus, in the rich district of Hyda. ”
But no Hyda[1539] is to be found among the Lydians. Others make this the
birth-place of Tychius, mentioned by the poet,
“he was the best leather-cutter in Hyda. ”[1540]
They add that the place is woody, and frequently struck with lightning,
and that here also were the dwellings of the Arimi; for to this verse,
“Among the Arimi, where they say is the bed of Typhoëus,”[1541]
they add the following,[CAS. 626]
“in a woody country, in the rich district of Hyda. ”
Some lay the scene of the last fable in Cilicia, others in Syria, others
among the Pithecussæ (islands),[1542] who say that the Pitheci (or
monkeys) are called by the Tyrrhenians Arimi. Some call Sardes Hyda;
others give this name to its Acropolis.
The Scepsian (Demetrius) says that the opinion of those authors is most
to be depended upon who place the Arimi in the Catacecaumene in Mysia.
But Pindar associates the Pithecussæ which lie in front of the Cymæan
territory and Sicily with Cilicia, for the poet says that Typhon lay
beneath Ætna;
“Once he dwelt in far-famed Cilician caverns, but now Sicily,
and the sea-girt isle, o’ershadowing Cyme, press upon his
shaggy breast. ”[1543]
And again,
“O’er him lies Ætna, and in her vast prison holds him. ”
And again,
“’Twas the great Jove alone of gods that o’erpowered, with
resistless force, the fifty-headed monster Typhon, of yore
among the Arimi. ”
Others understand Syrians by the Arimi, who are now called Aramæi, and
maintain that the Cilicians in the Troad migrated and settled in Syria,
and deprived the Syrians of the country which is now called Cilicia.
Callisthenes says, that the Arimi from whom the mountains in the
neighbourhood have the name of Arima, are situated near the
Calycadnus,[1544] and the promontory Sarpedon close to the Corycian
cave.
7. The monuments of the kings lie around the lake Coloë. At Sardes is
the great mound of Alyattes upon a lofty base, the work, according to
Herodotus,[1545] of the people of the city, the greatest part of it
being executed by young women. He says that they all prostituted
themselves; according to some writers the sepulchre is the monument of a
courtesan.
Some historians say, that Coloë is an artificial lake, designed to
receive the superabundant waters of the rivers when they are full and
overflow.
Hypæpa[1546] is a city situated on the descent from Tmolus to the plain
of the Caÿster.
8. Callisthenes says that Sardes was taken first by Cimmerians, then by
Treres and Lycians, which Callinus also, the elegiac poet, testifies,
and that it was last captured in the time of Cyrus and Crœsus. When
Callinus says that the incursion of the Cimmerians when they took Sardes
was directed against the Esioneis, the Scepsian (Demetrius) supposes the
Asioneis to be called by him Esioneis, according to the Ionian dialect;
for perhaps Meonia, he says, was called Asia, as Homer describes the
country, “in the Asian meadows about the streams of Caÿstrius. ”[1547]
The city, on account of the fertility of the country, was afterwards
restored, so as to be a considerable place, and was inferior to none of
its neighbours; lately it has lost a great part of its buildings by
earthquakes. But Sardes, and many other cities which participated in
this calamity about the same time, have been repaired by the provident
care and beneficence of Tiberius the present emperor.
9. The distinguished natives of Sardes were two orators of the same name
and family, the Diodori; the elder of whom was called Zonas, who had
pleaded the cause of Asia in many suits. But at the time of the invasion
of Mithridates the king, he was accused of occasioning the revolt of the
cities from him, but in his defence he cleared himself of the charge.
The younger Diodorus was my friend; there exist of his [CAS. 628]
historical writings, odes, and poems of other kinds, which very much
resemble the style of the ancients.
Xanthus, the ancient historian, is said to be a Lydian, but whether of
Sardes I do not know.
10. After the Lydians are the Mysians, and a city Philadelphia, subject
to constant earthquakes. The walls of the houses are incessantly
opening, and sometimes one, sometimes another, part of the city is
experiencing some damage. The majority of people (for few persons live
in the city) pass their lives in the country, employing themselves in
agriculture and cultivating a good soil. Yet it is surprising that there
should be even a few persons so much attached to a place where their
dwellings are insecure; but one may marvel more at those who founded the
city.
11. Next is the tract of country called the Catacecaumene, extending 500
stadia in length, and in breadth 400. It is uncertain whether it should
be called Mysia or Meonia, for it has both names. The whole country is
devoid of trees, excepting vines, from which is obtained the
Catacecaumenite wine; it is not inferior in quality to any of the kinds
in repute. The surface of the plains is covered with ashes, but the
hilly and rocky part is black, as if it were the effect of combustion.
This, as some persons imagine, was the effect of thunderbolts and of
fiery tempests, nor do they hesitate to make it the scene of the fable
of Typhon. Xanthus even says that a certain Arimus was king of these
parts. But it is unreasonable to suppose that so large a tract of
country was all at once consumed by lightning and fiery meteors; it is
more natural to suppose that the effect was produced by fire generated
in the soil, the sources of which are now exhausted. There are to be
seen three pits, which are called Physæ, or breathing holes, situated at
the distance of 40 stadia from each other. Above are rugged hills, which
probably consist of masses of matter thrown up by blasts of air (from
the pits).
That ground of this kind should be well adapted to vines, may be
conceived from the nature of the country Catana,[1548] which was a mass
of cinders, but which now produces excellent wine, and in large
quantities.
Some persons, in allusion to such countries as these, wittily observe
that Bacchus is properly called Pyrigenes, or fire-born.
12. The places situated next to these towards the south, and extending
to Mount Taurus, are so intermixed, that parts of Phrygia, Lydia, Caria,
and Mysia running into one another are difficult to be distinguished.
The Romans have contributed not a little to produce this confusion, by
not dividing the people according to tribes, but following another
principle have arranged them according to jurisdictions, in which they
have appointed days for holding courts and administering justice.
The Tmolus is a well compacted mass of mountain,[1549] of moderate
circumference, and its boundaries are within Lydia itself. The Mesogis
begins, according to Theopompus, from Celænæ,[1550] and extends on the
opposite side as far as Mycale,[1551] so that Phrygians occupy one part,
towards Celænæ and Apameia; Mysians and Lydians another; Carians and
Ionians a third part.
So also the rivers, and particularly the Mæander, are the actual
boundaries of some nations, but take their course through the middle of
others, rendering accurate distinction between them difficult.
The same may be said of plains, which are found on each side of a
mountainous range and on each side of a river. Our attention however is
not required to obtain the same degree of accuracy as a surveyor, but
only to give such descriptions as have been transmitted to us by our
predecessors.
13. Contiguous on the east to the plain of Caÿster, which lies between
the Mesogis and Tmolus, is the plain Cilbianum. It is extensive, well
inhabited, and fertile. Then follows the Hyrcanian plain, a name given
by the Persians, who brought colonists from Hyrcania (the plain of
Cyrus, in like manner, had its name from the Persians). Next is the
Peltine plain, belonging to the Phrygians, and the Cillanian and the
Tabenian plains, the latter of which contains small towns, inhabited by
a mixed population of Phrygians, with a portion of Pisidians. The plains
have their names from the towns.
14. After crossing the Mesogis, situated between the Carians[1552] and
[CAS. 629] the district of Nysa,[1553] which is a tract of country
beyond the Mæander, extending as far as the Cibyratis and Cabalis, we
meet with cities. Near the Mesogis, opposite Laodicea,[1554] is
Hierapolis,[1555] where are hot springs, and the Plutonium, both of
which have some singular properties. The water of the springs is so
easily consolidated and becomes stone, that if it is conducted through
water-courses dams are formed consisting of a single piece of stone.
The Plutonium, situated below a small brow of the overhanging mountain,
is an opening of sufficient size to admit a man, but there is a descent
to a great depth. In front is a quadrilateral railing, about half a
plethrum in circumference. This space is filled with a cloudy and dark
vapour, so dense that the bottom can scarcely be discerned. To those who
approach round the railing the air is innoxious, for in calm weather it
is free from the cloud which then continues within the enclosure. But
animals which enter within the railing die instantly. Even bulls, when
brought within it, fall down and are taken out dead. We have ourselves
thrown in sparrows, which immediately fell down lifeless. The
Galli,[1556] who are eunuchs, enter the enclosure with impunity,
approach even the opening or mouth, bend down over it, and descend into
it to a certain depth, restraining their breath during the time, for we
perceived by their countenance signs of some suffocating feeling. This
exemption may be common to all eunuchs, or it may be confined to the
eunuchs employed about the temple, or it may be the effect of divine
care, as is probable in the case of persons inspired by the deity, or it
may perhaps be procured by those who are in possession of certain
antidotes.
The conversion of water into stone is said to be the property of certain
rivers in Laodiceia, although the water is fit for the purpose of
drinking. The water at Hierapolis is peculiarly adapted for the dyeing
of wool. Substances dyed with “the roots,”[1557] rival in colour those
dyed with the coccus, or the marine purple. There is such an abundance
of water, that there are natural baths in every part of the city.
15. After Hierapolis are the parts beyond the Mæander. Those about
Laodiceia and Aphrodisias,[1558] and those extending to Carura, have
been already described. The places which succeed are Antiocheia[1559] on
the Mæander, now belonging to Caria, on the west; on the south are
Cibyra the Great,[1560] Sinda,[1561] and Cabalis, as far as Mount Taurus
and Lycia.
Antiocheia is a city of moderate size situated on the banks of the
Mæander, at the side towards Phrygia. There is a bridge over the river.
A large tract of country, all of which is fertile, on each side of the
river, belongs to the city. It produces in the greatest abundance the
fig of Antioch, as it is called, which is dried. It is also called
Triphyllus. This place also is subject to shocks of earthquakes.
A native of this city was Diotrephes, a celebrated sophist; his disciple
was Hybreas, the greatest orator of our times.
16. The Cabaleis, it is said, were Solymi. The hill situated above the
Termessian fortress is called Solymus, and the Termessians themselves
Solymi. Near these places is the rampart of Bellerophon and the
sepulchre of Peisandrus his son, who fell in the battle against the
Solymi. This account agrees with the words of the poet. Of Bellerophon
he speaks thus,
“he fought a second time with the brave Solymi;”[1562]
and of his son,
“Mars, unsated with war, killed Peisandrus his son fighting
with the Solymi. ”[1563]
Termessus is a Pisidian city situated very near and immediately above
Cibyra.
17. The Cibyratæ are said to be descendants of the Lydians who occupied
the territory Cabalis. The city was afterwards in the possession of the
Pisidians, a bordering nation, who occupied it, and transferred it to
another place, very strongly fortified, the circuit of which was about
100 stadia. It flourished in consequence of the excellence of its laws.
The villages belonging to it extended from Pisidia, and the bordering
territory Milyas, as far as Lycia and the country opposite to Rhodes.
Upon the [CAS. 631] union of the three bordering cities, Bubon,[1564]
Balbura,[1565] and Œnoanda,[1566] the confederation was called
Tetrapolis; each city had one vote, except Cibyra, which had two, for it
could equip 30,000 foot soldiers and 2000 horse. It was always governed
by tyrants, but they ruled with moderation. The tyrannical government
terminated in the time of Moagetes. It was overthrown by Murena, who
annexed Balbura and Bubon to the Lycians. Nevertheless the Cibyratic
district is reckoned among the largest jurisdictions in Asia.
The Cibyratæ used four languages, the Pisidic, that of Solymi, the
Greek, and the Lydian, but of the latter no traces are now to be found
in Lydia.
At Cibyra there is practised the peculiar art of carving with ease
ornamental work in iron.
Milya is the mountain-range extending from the defiles near Termessus,
and the passage through them to the parts within the Taurus towards
Isinda, as far as Sagalassus and the country of Apameia.
THE
GEOGRAPHY
OF
STRABO.
LITERALLY TRANSLATED, WITH NOTES.
THE FIRST SIX BOOKS
BY H. C. HAMILTON, ESQ.
THE REMAINDER
BY W. FALCONER, M. A. ,
LATE FELLOW OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD,
RECTOR OF BUSHEY, HERTFORDSHIRE.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. III.
WITH A COMPLETE INDEX.
LONDON:
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
MDCCCLVII.
JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.
PREFACE.
Strabo, the author of this work, was born at Amasia, or Amasijas, a town
situated in the gorge of the mountains through which passes the river
Iris, now the Ieschil Irmak, in Pontus, which he has described in the
12th book. [1] He lived during the reign of Augustus, and the earlier
part of the reign of Tiberius; for in the 13th book[2] he relates how
Sardes and other cities, which had suffered severely from earthquakes,
had been repaired by the provident care of Tiberius the present Emperor;
but the exact date of his birth, as also of his death, are subjects of
conjecture only. Coraÿ and Groskurd conclude, though by a somewhat
different argument, that he was born in the year B. C. 66, and the
latter that he died A. D. 24. The date of his birth as argued by
Groskurd, proceeds on the assumption that Strabo was in his
thirty-eighth year when he went from Gyaros to Corinth, at which latter
place Octavianus Cæsar was then staying on his return to Rome after the
battle of Actium, B. C. 31. We may, perhaps, be satisfied with following
Clinton, and place it not later than B. C. 54.
In the 17th book our author speaks of the death of Juba as a recent
occurrence. This event took place A. D. 21, or A. D. 18 or 19, according
to other chronologists; he, therefore, outlived that king, but for how
long a period we have no means of ascertaining.
The only information which we can obtain of the personal history of
Strabo is to be collected from the scanty references made to himself in
the course of this work;[3] for although a writer of the Augustan age,
his name and his works appear to have been generally unknown to his
contemporaries, and to have been passed over in silence by subsequent
authors who occupied themselves with the same branch of study. The work
being written in Greek, and the subject itself not of a popular kind,
would be hindrances to its becoming generally known; and its voluminous
character would prevent many copies being made; moreover, the author
himself, although for some time a resident at Rome, appears to have made
Amasia his usual place of residence, and there to have composed his
work.
stadia in the interior is Thebe, uninhabited, which the poet says was
situated below the woody Placus. But there is neither Placus nor Plax
there, nor a wood above it, although near Ida.
Thebe is distant from Astyra 70, and from Andeira 60 stadia. All these
are names of uninhabited places, or thinly inhabited, or of rivers which
are torrents. But they owe their fame to ancient history.
66. Assus and Adramyttium are considerable cities. Adramyttium was
unfortunate in the Mithridatic war, for Diodorus the general, in order
to gratify the king, put to death the council of the citizens, although
at the same time he pretended to be a philosopher of the Academy,
pleaded causes, and professed to teach rhetoric. He accompanied the king
on his voyage to Pontus, but upon his overthrow Diodorus was punished
for his crimes. Many accusations were simultaneously preferred against
him: but, unable to endure the disgrace, he basely destroyed himself in
my native city by abstaining from food.
Adramyttium produced Xenocles, a distinguished orator, who adopted the
Asiatic style of eloquence and was remarkable for the vehemence of his
manner; he defended Asia before the senate, at the time when that
province was accused of favouring the party of Mithridates.
67. Near Astyra is a lake called Sapra, full of deep holes, that empties
itself by a ravine among ridges of rocks on the coast. Below Andeira is
a temple dedicated to the Andeirenian mother of the gods, and a cave
with a subterraneous passage extending to Palæa. Palæa is a settlement
distant 130 stadia from Andeira. A goat, which fell into the opening,
discovered the subterraneous passage. It was found at Andeira the next
day, accidentally, by the shepherd, who had gone there to a sacrifice.
Atarneus[1490] is the royal seat of Hermeas the tyrant. Next is Pitane,
an Æolian city, with two harbours, and the river Euenus flowing beside
it, which supplies the aqueduct of the Adramyttium with water.
Arcesilaus of the Academy was a native of Pitane, and a fellow-disciple
of Zeno of Citium in the school of Polemo.
There is a place in Pitane called “Atarneus under Pitane,” opposite to
the island called Elæussa.
It is said that at Pitane bricks float upon the water, as was the case
with a small island[1491] in Tyrrhenia, for the earth, being lighter
than an equal bulk of water, swims upon it. Poseidonius says, that he
saw in Spain bricks made of an argillaceous earth (with which silver
vessels are cleansed) floating upon water.
After Pitane the Caïcus[1492] empties itself, at the distance of 30
stadia from it, into the Elaïtic bay. Beyond the Caïcus, at the distance
of 12 stadia from the river, is Elæa, an Æolian city; it is the arsenal
of Pergamum, and distant from it 120 stadia.
68. [CAS. 615] At 100 stadia farther is Cane, the promontory opposite
to Lectum, and forming the gulf of Adramyttium, of which the Elaïtic
Gulf is a part. Canæ is a small city of the Locrians who came from
Cynus; it is situated in the Canæan territory, opposite the most
southerly extremities of Lesbos. This territory extends to the Arginusæ,
and the promontory above, which some call Aiga, or the goat. The second
syllable however must be pronounced long, Aigan, like Actan and Archan,
for this was the name of the whole mountain, which at present is called
Cane, or Canæ. [1493] The sea surrounds the mountain on the south and
west; towards the east the plain of Caïcus lies below, and on the north
the Elaïtic district. The mountain itself is very much contracted. It
inclines indeed towards the Ægæan Sea, from which it has the name (Æga),
but afterwards the promontory itself was called Æga, the name which
Sappho gives it, and then Cane and Canæ.
69. Between Elæa, Pitane, Atarneus, and Pergamum on this side the
Caïcus, is Teuthrania, distant from none of these places above 70
stadia. Teuthras is said to have been king of the Cilicians and Mysians.
According to Euripides, Auge, with her son Telephus, was enclosed in a
chest and thrown into the sea, by command of her father Aleus, who
discovered that she had been violated by Hercules. By the care of
Minerva the chest crossed the sea, and was cast ashore at the mouth of
the Caïcus. Teuthras took up the mother and her son, married the former,
and treated the latter as his own child. This is a fable, but another
concurrence of circumstances is wanting to explain how the daughter of
the Arcadian became the wife of the king of the Mysians, and how her son
succeeded to the throne of the Mysians. It is however believed that
Teuthras and Telephus governed the country lying about Teuthrania and
the Caïcus, but the poet mentions a few particulars only of this
history:
“as when he slew the son of Telephus, the hero Eurypylus, and
many of his companions, the Cetæi, were killed around him for
the sake of the gifts of women. ”[1494]
Homer here rather proposes an enigma than a clear meaning. For we do not
know who the Cetæi were, nor what people we are to understand by this
name, nor what is meant by the words, “for the sake of the gifts of
women. ”[1495] Grammarians adduce and compare with this other stories,
but they indulge in invention rather than solve the difficulty.
70. Let us dismiss this doubtful matter, and turn to what is more
certain; for instance, according to Homer, Eurypylus appears to have
been king of the places about the Caïcus, so that perhaps a part of the
Cilicians were his subjects, and that there were not only two but three
dynasties among that people.
This opinion is supported by the circumstance that in the Elaïtis there
is a small river, like a winter torrent, of the name of Ceteium. This
falls into another like it, then again [CAS. 616] into another, but all
discharge themselves into the Caïcus. The Caïcus does not flow from Ida,
as Bacchylides says, nor does Euripides say correctly that Marsyas
“inhabited the famous Celænæ, at the extremity of Ida,”
for Celænæ is at a great distance from Ida, and so are the sources of
the Caïcus, for they are to be seen in the plain.
There is a mountain, Temnum, which separates this and the plain of Asia;
it lies in the interior above the plain of Thebe. A river, Mysius, flows
from Temnum and enters the Caïcus below its source. Hence some persons
suppose that Æschylus refers to it in the beginning of the prologue to
the play of the Myrmidons,
“Caïcus, and ye Mysian streams”--
Near its source is a village called Gergitha, to which Attalus
transferred the inhabitants of Gergitha in the Troad, after destroying
their own town.
CHAPTER II.
1. Since Lesbos, a very remarkable island, lies along and opposite to
the sea-coast, extending from Lectum to Canæ, and since it is surrounded
by small islands, some of which lie beyond it, others in the space
between Lesbos and the continent, it is now proper to describe them,
because they are Æolian places, and Lesbos is, as it were, the capital
of the Æolian cities. We shall begin where we set out to describe the
coast opposite to the island.
2. In sailing from Lectum to Assus the Lesbian district begins opposite
to Sigrium,[1496] its northern promontory. Somewhere there is
Methymna,[1497] a city of the Lesbians, 60 stadia from the coast,
between Polymedium and Assus. The whole island is 1100 stadia in
circumference. The particulars are these.
From Methymna to Malia,[1498] the most southern promontory to those who
have the island on their right hand, and to which Canæ[1499] lies
directly opposite, are 340 stadia. Thence to Sigrium, which is the
length of the island, 560 stadia, thence to Methymna 210 stadia. [1500]
Mitylene, the largest city, lies between Methymna and Malia, at the
distance from Malia of 70 stadia, and from Canæ of 120, and as many from
the Arginussæ islands,[1501] which are three small islands near the
continent, and situated near Canæ. In the interval between Mitylene and
Methymna, at a village called Ægeirus in the Methymnæan territory, is
the narrowest part of the island, having a passage of 20 stadia to the
Pyrrhæan Euripus. [1502] Pyrrha[1503] is situated on the western side of
Lesbos, at the distance of 100 stadia from Malia.
Mitylene has two harbours; of which the southern is a closed harbour for
triremes, and capable of holding 50 vessels. The northern harbour is
large, and deep, and protected by a mole. In front of both lies a small
island, which contains a part of the city. Mitylene is well provided
with everything.
3. It formerly produced celebrated men, as Pittacus, one of the Seven
Wise Men; Alcæus the poet, and his brother Antimenidas, who, according
to Alcæus, when fighting on the side of the Babylonians, achieved a
great exploit, and extricated them from their danger by killing
“a valiant warrior, the king’s wrestler, who was four cubits
in height. ”
Contemporary with these persons flourished Sappho, an extraordinary
woman; for at no period within memory has any woman been known at all to
be compared to her in poetry.
At this period Mitylene was ruled by many tyrants, in consequence of the
dissensions among the citizens. These dissensions are the subject of the
poems of Alcæus called Stasiotica (the Seditions). One of these tyrants
was Pittacus: Alcæus inveighed against him as well as against Myrsilus,
Megalagyrus[1504] the Cleanactidæ, and some others; nor was he [CAS.
617] himself clear from the imputation of favouring these political
changes. Pittacus himself employed monarchical power to dissolve the
despotism of the many, but, having done this, he restored the
independence of the city.
At a late period afterwards appeared Diophanes the rhetorician; in our
times Potamo, Lesbocles, Crinagoras, and Theophanes the historian. [1505]
The latter was versed in political affairs, and became the friend of
Pompey the Great, chiefly on account of his accomplishments and
assistance he afforded in directing to a successful issue all his
enterprises. Hence, partly by means of Pompey, partly by his own
exertions, he became an ornament to his country, and rendered himself
the most illustrious of all the Grecians. He left a son, Mark Pompey,
whom Augustus Cæsar appointed prefect of Asia, and who is now reckoned
among the number of the chief friends of Tiberius.
The Athenians were in danger of incurring irremediable disgrace by
passing a decree that all the Mitylenæans who had attained the age of
puberty should be put to death. They, however, recalled their
resolution, and the counter-decree reached their generals only one day
before the former order was to be executed.
4. Pyrrha is in ruins. But the suburb is inhabited, and has a port,
whence to Mitylene is a passage of 80 stadia. Next after Pyrrha is
Eressus. [1506] It is situated upon a hill, and extends to the sea.
Thence to Sigrium 28 stadia.
Eressus was the birth-place of Theophrastus, and of Phanias, Peripatetic
philosophers, disciples of Aristotle. Theophrastus was called Tyrtamus
before his name was changed by Aristotle to Theophrastus, thus getting
rid of the cacophony of the former name, and at the same time expressing
the beauty of his elocution, for Aristotle made all his disciples
eloquent, but Theophrastus the most eloquent of them all.
Antissa[1507] is next to Sigrium. It is a city with a harbour. Then
follows Methymna, of which place Arion was a native, who, as Herodotus
relates the story, after having been thrown into the sea by pirates,
escaped safe to Tænarus on the back of a dolphin. He played on the
cithara and sang to it. Terpander, who practised the same kind of music,
was a native of this island. He was the first person that used the lyre
with seven instead of four strings, as is mentioned in the verses
attributed to him:
“we have relinquished the song adapted to four strings, and
shall cause new hymns to resound on a seven-stringed cithara. ”
The historian Hellanicus, and Callias, who has commented on Sappho and
Alcæus, were Lesbians.
5. Near the strait situated between Asia and Lesbos there are about
twenty small islands, or, according to Timosthenes, forty. They are
called Hecatonnesoi,[1508] a compound name like Peloponnesus, the letter
N being repeated by custom in such words as Myonnesus, Proconnesus,
Halonnesus, so that Hecatonnesoi is of the same import as Apollonnesoi,
since Apollo is called Hecatus;[1509] for along the whole of this coast,
as far as Tenedos, Apollo is held in the highest veneration, and
worshipped under the names of Smintheus, Cillæus, Gryneus, or other
appellations.
Near these islands is Pordoselene, which contains a city of the same
name, and in front of this city is another island[1510] larger than
this, and a city of the same name, uninhabited, in which there is a
temple of Apollo.
6. Some persons, in order to avoid the indecorum couched in these
names,[1511] say that we ought to read in that place Poroselene, and to
call Aspordenum, the rocky and barren mountain near Pergamum, Asporenum,
and the temple there of the mother of the gods the temple of the
Asporene mother of the gods; what then are we to say to the names
Pordalis, Saperdes, [CAS. 619] Perdiccas, and to this word in the verse
of Simonides, “with clothes dripping with wet,” (πορδάκοισιν for
διαβρόχοις,) and in the old comedy somewhere, “the country is πορδακόν,
for λιμνάζον, or ‘marshy. ’”
Lesbos is at the same distance, rather less than 500 stadia, from
Tenedos, Lemnos, and Chios.
CHAPTER III.
1. Since there subsisted so great an affinity among the Leleges and
Cilicians with the Trojans, the reason is asked, why these people are
not included in Homer’s Catalogue. Perhaps it is that, on account of the
loss of their leaders and the devastation of the cities, the few
Cilicians that were left placed themselves under the command of Hector.
For Eetion and his sons are said to have been killed before the
Catalogue is mentioned;
“The hero Achilles,”
says Andromache,
“killed my father, and destroyed Thebe, with its lofty gates,
the city of the Cilicians. ”--
“I had seven brothers in the palace; all of them went in one
day to Hades, for they were all slain by the swift-footed
divine Achilles. ”[1512]
Those also under the command of Mynes had lost their leaders, and their
city;
“He slew Mynes, and Epistrophus,
And destroyed the city of the divine Mynes. ”[1513]
He describes the Leleges as present at the battles;
“on the sea-coast are Carians, and Pæonians with curved bows,
Leleges, and Caucones. ”[1514]
And in another place,
“he killed Satnius with a spear--the son of Enops, whom a
beautiful nymph Neis bore to Enops, when he was tending herds
near the banks of Satnioeis,”[1515]
for they had not been so completely annihilated as to prevent their
forming a body of people of themselves, since their king still survived,
“Altes, king of the war-loving Leleges,”[1516]
nor was the city entirely razed, for he adds,
“who commanded the lofty city Pedasus. ”[1517]
He has passed them over in the Catalogue, not considering the body of
people large enough to have a place in it; or he comprised them among
the people under the command of Hector, as being allied to one another.
For Lycaon, the brother of Hector, says,
“my mother Laothoë, daughter of the old Altes, brought me into
the world to live but a short time; of Altes, king of the
war-loving Leleges. ”[1518]
Such is the reasoning, from probability, which this subject admits.
2. We reason from probability when we endeavour to determine by the
words of the poet the exact bounds of the territory of the Cilicians,
Pelasgi, and of the people situated between them, namely, the Ceteii,
who were under the command of Eurypylus.
We have said of the Cilicians and of the people under the command of
Eurypylus what can be said about them, and that they are bounded by the
country near the Caïcus.
It is agreeable to probability to place the Pelasgi next to these
people, according to the words of Homer and other histories. Homer says,
“Hippothous led the tribes of the Pelasgi, who throw the
spear, who inhabited the fertile Larisa; their leaders were
Hippothous and Pylæus, a son of Mars, both sons of Lethus the
Pelasgian, son of Teutamis. ”[1519]
He here represents the numbers of Pelasgi as considerable, for he does
not speak of them as a tribe, but “tribes,” and specifies the place of
their settlement, Larisa. There are many places of the name of Larisa,
but we must understand some one of those near the Troad, and perhaps we
might not be wrong in supposing it to be that near Cyme; for of three
places of the name of Larisa, that near Hamaxitus is quite in sight of
Ilium and very near it, at the distance of about 200 stadia, so that
Hippothous could not be said consistently with probability to fall, in
the contest about Patroclus,[CAS. 620]
“far from Larisa,”[1520]
at least from this Larisa, but rather from the Larisa near Cyme, for
there are about 1000 stadia between them. The third Larisa is a village
in the Ephesian district in the plain of the Caÿster; which, it is said,
was formerly a city containing a temple of Apollo Larisæus, and situated
nearer to Mount Tmolus than to Ephesus. It is distant from Ephesus 180
stadia, so that it might be placed rather under the government of the
Mæonians. The Ephesians, having afterwards acquired more power, deprived
the Mæonians, whom we now call Lydians, of a large part of their
territory; but not even this, but the other rather, would be the Larisa
of the Pelasgi. For we have no strong evidence that the Larisa in the
plain of Caÿster was in existence at that time, nor even of the
existence of Ephesus. But all the Æolian history, relating to a period a
little subsequent to the Trojan times, proves the existence of the
Larisa near Cyme.
3. It is said that the people who set out from Phricium, a Locrian
mountain above Thermopylæ, settled on the spot where Cyme is now
situated; and finding the Pelasgi, who had been great sufferers in the
Trojan war, yet still in possession of Larisa, distant about 70 stadia
from Cyme, erected as a defence against them what is at present called
Neon-teichos, (or the New Wall,) 30 stadia from Larisa. They took
Larisa,[1521] founded Cyme, and transferred to it as settlers the
surviving Pelasgi. Cyme is called Cyme Phriconis from the Locrian
mountain, and Larisa also (Phriconis): it is now deserted.
That the Pelasgi were a great nation history, it is said, furnishes
other evidence. For Menecrates of Elæa, in his work on the foundation of
cities, says, that the whole of the present Ionian coast, beginning from
Mycale and the neighbouring islands, were formerly inhabited by Pelasgi.
But the Lesbians say, that they were commanded by Pylæus, who is called
by the poet the chief of the Pelasgi, and that it was from him that the
mountain in their country had the name of Pylæum.
The Chians also say, that the Pelasgi from Thessaly were their
founders. The Pelasgi, however, were a nation disposed to wander, ready
to remove from settlement to settlement, and experienced both a great
increase and a sudden diminution of strength and numbers, particularly
at the time of the Æolian and Ionian migrations to Asia.
4. Something peculiar took place among the Larisæans in the plain of
Caÿster, in the Phriconis, and in Thessaly. All of them occupied a
country, the soil of which has been accumulated by rivers, by the
Caÿster,[1522] the Hermus,[1523] and the Peneus. [1524]
At Larisa Phriconis Piasus is said to receive great honours. He was
chief of the Pelasgi, and enamoured, it is said, of his daughter Larisa,
whom he violated, and was punished for the outrage. She discovered him
leaning over a cask of wine, seized him by his legs, lifted him up, and
dropped him down into the vessel. These are ancient accounts.
5. To the present Æolian cities we must add Ægæ and Temnus, the
birth-place of Hermagoras, who wrote a book on the Art of Rhetoric.
These cities are on the mountainous country which is above the district
of Cyme, and that of the Phocæans and Smyrnæans, beside which flows the
Hermus.
Not far from these cities is Magnesia under Sipylus, made a free city by
a decree of the Romans. The late earthquakes have injured this place. To
the opposite parts, which incline towards the Caïcus to Cyme from
Larisa, in passing to which the river Hermus is crossed, are 70 stadia;
thence to Myrina 40 stadia; thence to Grynium 40 stadia, and thence to
Elæa. But, according to Artemidorus, next to Cyme is Adæ; then, at the
distance of 40 stadia, a promontory, which they call Hydra, that forms
the Elaïtic Gulf with the opposite promontory Harmatus. The breadth of
the entrance is about 80 stadia, including the winding of the bays.
Myrina, situated at 60 stadia, is an Æolian city with a harbour, then
the harbour of Achæans, where are altars of the twelve gods; next is
Grynium, a small city [of the Myrinæans], a temple of Apollo, an ancient
oracle, and a costly fane of white marble. To Myrina are 40 stadia; then
70 stadia to Elæa, which has a harbour and a station for vessels of the
Attalic kings, founded [CAS. 622] by Menestheus and the Athenians who
accompanied him in the expedition against Ilium.
The places about Pitane, and Atarneus, and others in this quarter, which
follow Elæa, have been already described.
6. Cyme is the largest and best of the Æolian cities. This and Lesbos
may be considered the capitals of the other cities, about 30 in number,
of which not a few exist no longer. The inhabitants of Cyme are
ridiculed for their stupidity, for, according to some writers, it is
said of them that they only began to let the tolls of the harbour three
hundred years after the foundation of their city, and that before this
time the town had never received any revenue of the kind; hence the
report that it was late before they perceived that they inhabited a city
lying on the sea.
There is another story, that, having borrowed money in the name of the
state, they pledged their porticos as security for the payment of it.
Afterwards, the money not having been repaid on the appointed day, they
were prohibited from walking in them. The creditors, through shame, gave
notice by the crier whenever it rained, that the inhabitants might take
shelter under the porticos. As the crier called out, “Go under the
porticos,” a report prevailed that the Cymæans did not perceive that
they were to go under the porticos when it rained unless they had notice
from the public crier. [1525]
Ephorus, a man indisputably of high repute, a disciple of Isocrates the
orator, was a native of this city. He was an historian, and wrote the
book on Inventions.
Hesiod the poet, who long preceded Ephorus, was a native of this place,
for he himself says, that his father Dius left Cyme in Æolis and
migrated to the Bœotians;
“he dwelt near Helicon in Ascra, a village wretched in winter,
in summer oppressive, and not pleasant at any season. ”
It is not generally admitted that Homer was from Cyme, for many dispute
about him.
The name of the city was derived from an Amazon, as that of Myrina was
the name of an Amazon, buried under the Batieia in the plain of Troy;
“men call this Batieia; but the immortals, the tomb of the
bounding Myrina. ”[1526]
Ephorus is bantered, because, having no achievements of his countrymen
to commemorate among the other exploits in his history, and yet being
unwilling to pass them over unnoticed, he exclaims,
“at this time the Cymæans were at peace. ”
After having described the Trojan and Æolian coasts, we ought next to
notice cursorily the interior of the country as far as Mount Taurus,
observing the same order.
CHAPTER IV.
1. Pergamum[1527] has a kind of supremacy among these places. It is a
city of note, and flourished during a long period under the Attalic
kings; and here we shall begin our description, premising a short
account of her kings, their origin, and the end of their career.
Pergamum was the treasure-hold of Lysimachus, the son of Agathocles, and
one of the successors of Alexander. It is situated on the very summit of
the mountain which terminates in a sharp peak like a pine-cone.
Philetærus of Tyana was intrusted with the custody of this stronghold,
and of the treasure, which amounted to nine thousand talents. He became
an eunuch in childhood by compression, for it happened that a great body
of people being assembled to see a funeral, the nurse who was carrying
Philetærus, then an infant, in her arms, was entangled in the crowd, and
pressed upon to such a degree that the child was mutilated.
He was therefore an eunuch, but having been well educated he was thought
worthy of this trust. He continued for [CAS. 623] some time well
affected to Lysimachus, but upon a disagreement with Arsinoë, the wife
of Lysimachus, who had falsely accused him, he caused the place to
revolt, and suited his political conduct to the times, perceiving them
to be favourable to change. Lysimachus, overwhelmed with domestic
troubles, was compelled to put to death Agathocles his son. Seleucus
Nicator invaded his country and destroyed his power, but was himself
treacherously slain by Ptolemy Ceraunus.
During these disorders the eunuch remained in the fortress, continually
employing the policy of promises and other courtesies with those who
were the strongest and the nearest to himself. He thus continued master
of the stronghold for twenty years.
2. He had two brothers, the elder of whom was Eumenes, the younger
Attalus. Eumenes had a son of the same name, who succeeded to the
possession of Pergamum, and was then sovereign of the places around, so
that he overcame in a battle near Sardes[1528] Antiochus, the son of
Seleucus, and died after a reign of two-and-twenty years.
Attalus, the son of Attalus and Antiochis, daughter of Achæus, succeeded
to the kingdom. He was the first person who was proclaimed king after a
victory, which he obtained in a great battle with the Galatians. He
became an ally of the Romans, and, in conjunction with the Rhodian
fleet, assisted them in the war against Philip. He died in old age,
having reigned forty-three years. He left four sons by Apollonis, a
woman of Cyzicus,--Eumenes, Attalus, Philetærus, and Athenæus.
The
younger sons continued in a private station, but Eumenes, the elder, was
king. He was an ally of the Romans in the war with Antiochus the Great,
and with Perseus; he received from the Romans all the country within the
Taurus which had belonged to Antiochus. Before this time there were not
under the power of Pergamum many places which reached the sea at the
Elaïtic and the Adramyttene Gulfs. Eumenes embellished the city, he
ornamented the Nicephorium[1529] with a grove, enriched it with votive
offerings and a library, and by his care raised the city of Pergamum to
its present magnificence. After he had reigned forty-nine years he left
the kingdom to Attalus, his son by Stratonice, daughter of Ariarathus,
king of Cappadocia.
He appointed as guardian of his son, who was very young,[1530] and as
regent of the kingdom, his brother Attalus, who died an old man after a
reign of twenty years, having performed many glorious actions. He
assisted Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, in the war against Alexander,
the son of Antiochus, and was the ally of the Romans in the war against
the Pseudo-Philip. In an expedition into Thrace he defeated and took
prisoner Diegylis, king of the Cæni. [1531] He destroyed Prusias by
exciting his son Nicomedes to rebel against his father. He left the
kingdom to Attalus his ward. His cognomen was Philometor. He reigned
five years, and died a natural death. He left the Romans his
heirs. [1532] They made the country a province, and called it Asia by the
name of the continent.
The Caïcus flows past Pergamum through the plain of Caïcus, as it is
called, and traverses a very fertile country, indeed almost the best
soil in Mysia.
3. The celebrated men in our times, natives of Pergamum, were
Mithridates, the son of Menodotus and the daughter of Adobogion; he was
of the family of the Tetrarchs of Galatia. Adobogion, it is said, had
been the concubine of Mithridates the king; the relatives therefore gave
to the child the name of Mithridates, pretending that he was the king’s
son.
This prince became so great a friend of divus Cæsar, that he was
promoted to the honour of Tetrarch (of Galatia); out of regard also to
his mother’s family, he was appointed king of Bosporus and of other
places. He was overthrown by Asander, who put to death Pharnaces the
king and obtained [CAS. 625] possession of the Bosporus. He had a great
reputation as well as Apollodorus the rhetorician, who composed a work
on the Art of Rhetoric, and was the head of the Apollodorian sect of
philosophers, whatever that may be; for many opinions have prevailed,
the merits of which are beyond our power to decide upon, among which are
those of the sects of Apollodorus and Theodorus.
But the friendship of Augustus Cæsar, whom he instructed in oratory, was
the principal cause of the elevation of Apollodorus. He had a celebrated
scholar Dionysius, surnamed Atticus, his fellow-citizen, who was an able
teacher of philosophy, an historian, and composer of orations.
4. Proceeding from the plain and the city towards the east, we meet with
Apollonia, a city on an elevated site. To the south is a mountainous
ridge, which having crossed on the road to Sardes, we find on the left
hand the city Thyateira, a colony of the Macedonians, which some authors
say is the last city belonging to the Mysians. On the right hand is
Apollonis, 300 stadia from Pergamum, and the same distance from Sardes.
It has its name from Apollonis of Cyzicus (wife of Attalus). Next are
the plains of Hermus and Sardes. The country to the north of Pergamum is
principally occupied by Mysians; it lies on the right hand of the people
called Abaïtæ, on whose borders is the Epictetus, extending to Bithynia.
5. Sardes is a large city, of later date than the Trojan times, yet
ancient, with a strong citadel. It was the royal seat of the Lydians,
whom the poet calls Meones, and later writers Mæones, some asserting
that they are the same, others that they are a different people, but the
former is the preferable opinion.
Above Sardes is the Tmolus, a fertile mountain having on its summit a
seat[1533] of white marble, a work of the Persians. There is a view from
it of the plains around, particularly of that of the Caÿster. There
dwell about it Lydians, Mysians, and Macedonians. [1534]
The Pactolus flows from the Tmolus. [1535] It anciently brought down a
large quantity of gold-dust, whence, it is said, the proverbial wealth
of Crœsus and his ancestors obtained renown. No gold-dust is found at
present. The Pactolus descends into the Hermus, into which also the
Hyllus, now called Phrygius, discharges itself. These three and other
less considerable rivers unite in one stream, and, according to
Herodotus, empty themselves into the sea at Phocæa.
The Hermus takes its rise in Mysia, descending from the sacred mountain
of Dindymene, after traversing the Catacecaumene, it enters the Sardian
territory, and passes through the contiguous plains to the sea, as we
have mentioned above. Below the city lie the plains of Sardes, of the
Cyrus, of the Hermus, and of the Caÿster, which are contiguous to one
another and the most fertile anywhere to be found.
At the distance of 40 stadia from the city is the lake Gygæa, as it is
called by the poet. [1536] Its name was afterwards altered to Coloë. Here
was a temple of Artemis Coloëne, held in the highest veneration. It is
said that at the feasts celebrated here the baskets dance. [1537] I know
not why the circulation of such strange and absurd stories should be
preferred to truth.
6. The verses in Homer are to this effect,
“Mesthles and Antiphus, sons of Talæmenes, born of the lake
Gygæa, were the leaders of the Meones, who live below
Tmolus. ”[1538]
Some persons add a fourth verse to these,
“below snowy Tmolus, in the rich district of Hyda. ”
But no Hyda[1539] is to be found among the Lydians. Others make this the
birth-place of Tychius, mentioned by the poet,
“he was the best leather-cutter in Hyda. ”[1540]
They add that the place is woody, and frequently struck with lightning,
and that here also were the dwellings of the Arimi; for to this verse,
“Among the Arimi, where they say is the bed of Typhoëus,”[1541]
they add the following,[CAS. 626]
“in a woody country, in the rich district of Hyda. ”
Some lay the scene of the last fable in Cilicia, others in Syria, others
among the Pithecussæ (islands),[1542] who say that the Pitheci (or
monkeys) are called by the Tyrrhenians Arimi. Some call Sardes Hyda;
others give this name to its Acropolis.
The Scepsian (Demetrius) says that the opinion of those authors is most
to be depended upon who place the Arimi in the Catacecaumene in Mysia.
But Pindar associates the Pithecussæ which lie in front of the Cymæan
territory and Sicily with Cilicia, for the poet says that Typhon lay
beneath Ætna;
“Once he dwelt in far-famed Cilician caverns, but now Sicily,
and the sea-girt isle, o’ershadowing Cyme, press upon his
shaggy breast. ”[1543]
And again,
“O’er him lies Ætna, and in her vast prison holds him. ”
And again,
“’Twas the great Jove alone of gods that o’erpowered, with
resistless force, the fifty-headed monster Typhon, of yore
among the Arimi. ”
Others understand Syrians by the Arimi, who are now called Aramæi, and
maintain that the Cilicians in the Troad migrated and settled in Syria,
and deprived the Syrians of the country which is now called Cilicia.
Callisthenes says, that the Arimi from whom the mountains in the
neighbourhood have the name of Arima, are situated near the
Calycadnus,[1544] and the promontory Sarpedon close to the Corycian
cave.
7. The monuments of the kings lie around the lake Coloë. At Sardes is
the great mound of Alyattes upon a lofty base, the work, according to
Herodotus,[1545] of the people of the city, the greatest part of it
being executed by young women. He says that they all prostituted
themselves; according to some writers the sepulchre is the monument of a
courtesan.
Some historians say, that Coloë is an artificial lake, designed to
receive the superabundant waters of the rivers when they are full and
overflow.
Hypæpa[1546] is a city situated on the descent from Tmolus to the plain
of the Caÿster.
8. Callisthenes says that Sardes was taken first by Cimmerians, then by
Treres and Lycians, which Callinus also, the elegiac poet, testifies,
and that it was last captured in the time of Cyrus and Crœsus. When
Callinus says that the incursion of the Cimmerians when they took Sardes
was directed against the Esioneis, the Scepsian (Demetrius) supposes the
Asioneis to be called by him Esioneis, according to the Ionian dialect;
for perhaps Meonia, he says, was called Asia, as Homer describes the
country, “in the Asian meadows about the streams of Caÿstrius. ”[1547]
The city, on account of the fertility of the country, was afterwards
restored, so as to be a considerable place, and was inferior to none of
its neighbours; lately it has lost a great part of its buildings by
earthquakes. But Sardes, and many other cities which participated in
this calamity about the same time, have been repaired by the provident
care and beneficence of Tiberius the present emperor.
9. The distinguished natives of Sardes were two orators of the same name
and family, the Diodori; the elder of whom was called Zonas, who had
pleaded the cause of Asia in many suits. But at the time of the invasion
of Mithridates the king, he was accused of occasioning the revolt of the
cities from him, but in his defence he cleared himself of the charge.
The younger Diodorus was my friend; there exist of his [CAS. 628]
historical writings, odes, and poems of other kinds, which very much
resemble the style of the ancients.
Xanthus, the ancient historian, is said to be a Lydian, but whether of
Sardes I do not know.
10. After the Lydians are the Mysians, and a city Philadelphia, subject
to constant earthquakes. The walls of the houses are incessantly
opening, and sometimes one, sometimes another, part of the city is
experiencing some damage. The majority of people (for few persons live
in the city) pass their lives in the country, employing themselves in
agriculture and cultivating a good soil. Yet it is surprising that there
should be even a few persons so much attached to a place where their
dwellings are insecure; but one may marvel more at those who founded the
city.
11. Next is the tract of country called the Catacecaumene, extending 500
stadia in length, and in breadth 400. It is uncertain whether it should
be called Mysia or Meonia, for it has both names. The whole country is
devoid of trees, excepting vines, from which is obtained the
Catacecaumenite wine; it is not inferior in quality to any of the kinds
in repute. The surface of the plains is covered with ashes, but the
hilly and rocky part is black, as if it were the effect of combustion.
This, as some persons imagine, was the effect of thunderbolts and of
fiery tempests, nor do they hesitate to make it the scene of the fable
of Typhon. Xanthus even says that a certain Arimus was king of these
parts. But it is unreasonable to suppose that so large a tract of
country was all at once consumed by lightning and fiery meteors; it is
more natural to suppose that the effect was produced by fire generated
in the soil, the sources of which are now exhausted. There are to be
seen three pits, which are called Physæ, or breathing holes, situated at
the distance of 40 stadia from each other. Above are rugged hills, which
probably consist of masses of matter thrown up by blasts of air (from
the pits).
That ground of this kind should be well adapted to vines, may be
conceived from the nature of the country Catana,[1548] which was a mass
of cinders, but which now produces excellent wine, and in large
quantities.
Some persons, in allusion to such countries as these, wittily observe
that Bacchus is properly called Pyrigenes, or fire-born.
12. The places situated next to these towards the south, and extending
to Mount Taurus, are so intermixed, that parts of Phrygia, Lydia, Caria,
and Mysia running into one another are difficult to be distinguished.
The Romans have contributed not a little to produce this confusion, by
not dividing the people according to tribes, but following another
principle have arranged them according to jurisdictions, in which they
have appointed days for holding courts and administering justice.
The Tmolus is a well compacted mass of mountain,[1549] of moderate
circumference, and its boundaries are within Lydia itself. The Mesogis
begins, according to Theopompus, from Celænæ,[1550] and extends on the
opposite side as far as Mycale,[1551] so that Phrygians occupy one part,
towards Celænæ and Apameia; Mysians and Lydians another; Carians and
Ionians a third part.
So also the rivers, and particularly the Mæander, are the actual
boundaries of some nations, but take their course through the middle of
others, rendering accurate distinction between them difficult.
The same may be said of plains, which are found on each side of a
mountainous range and on each side of a river. Our attention however is
not required to obtain the same degree of accuracy as a surveyor, but
only to give such descriptions as have been transmitted to us by our
predecessors.
13. Contiguous on the east to the plain of Caÿster, which lies between
the Mesogis and Tmolus, is the plain Cilbianum. It is extensive, well
inhabited, and fertile. Then follows the Hyrcanian plain, a name given
by the Persians, who brought colonists from Hyrcania (the plain of
Cyrus, in like manner, had its name from the Persians). Next is the
Peltine plain, belonging to the Phrygians, and the Cillanian and the
Tabenian plains, the latter of which contains small towns, inhabited by
a mixed population of Phrygians, with a portion of Pisidians. The plains
have their names from the towns.
14. After crossing the Mesogis, situated between the Carians[1552] and
[CAS. 629] the district of Nysa,[1553] which is a tract of country
beyond the Mæander, extending as far as the Cibyratis and Cabalis, we
meet with cities. Near the Mesogis, opposite Laodicea,[1554] is
Hierapolis,[1555] where are hot springs, and the Plutonium, both of
which have some singular properties. The water of the springs is so
easily consolidated and becomes stone, that if it is conducted through
water-courses dams are formed consisting of a single piece of stone.
The Plutonium, situated below a small brow of the overhanging mountain,
is an opening of sufficient size to admit a man, but there is a descent
to a great depth. In front is a quadrilateral railing, about half a
plethrum in circumference. This space is filled with a cloudy and dark
vapour, so dense that the bottom can scarcely be discerned. To those who
approach round the railing the air is innoxious, for in calm weather it
is free from the cloud which then continues within the enclosure. But
animals which enter within the railing die instantly. Even bulls, when
brought within it, fall down and are taken out dead. We have ourselves
thrown in sparrows, which immediately fell down lifeless. The
Galli,[1556] who are eunuchs, enter the enclosure with impunity,
approach even the opening or mouth, bend down over it, and descend into
it to a certain depth, restraining their breath during the time, for we
perceived by their countenance signs of some suffocating feeling. This
exemption may be common to all eunuchs, or it may be confined to the
eunuchs employed about the temple, or it may be the effect of divine
care, as is probable in the case of persons inspired by the deity, or it
may perhaps be procured by those who are in possession of certain
antidotes.
The conversion of water into stone is said to be the property of certain
rivers in Laodiceia, although the water is fit for the purpose of
drinking. The water at Hierapolis is peculiarly adapted for the dyeing
of wool. Substances dyed with “the roots,”[1557] rival in colour those
dyed with the coccus, or the marine purple. There is such an abundance
of water, that there are natural baths in every part of the city.
15. After Hierapolis are the parts beyond the Mæander. Those about
Laodiceia and Aphrodisias,[1558] and those extending to Carura, have
been already described. The places which succeed are Antiocheia[1559] on
the Mæander, now belonging to Caria, on the west; on the south are
Cibyra the Great,[1560] Sinda,[1561] and Cabalis, as far as Mount Taurus
and Lycia.
Antiocheia is a city of moderate size situated on the banks of the
Mæander, at the side towards Phrygia. There is a bridge over the river.
A large tract of country, all of which is fertile, on each side of the
river, belongs to the city. It produces in the greatest abundance the
fig of Antioch, as it is called, which is dried. It is also called
Triphyllus. This place also is subject to shocks of earthquakes.
A native of this city was Diotrephes, a celebrated sophist; his disciple
was Hybreas, the greatest orator of our times.
16. The Cabaleis, it is said, were Solymi. The hill situated above the
Termessian fortress is called Solymus, and the Termessians themselves
Solymi. Near these places is the rampart of Bellerophon and the
sepulchre of Peisandrus his son, who fell in the battle against the
Solymi. This account agrees with the words of the poet. Of Bellerophon
he speaks thus,
“he fought a second time with the brave Solymi;”[1562]
and of his son,
“Mars, unsated with war, killed Peisandrus his son fighting
with the Solymi. ”[1563]
Termessus is a Pisidian city situated very near and immediately above
Cibyra.
17. The Cibyratæ are said to be descendants of the Lydians who occupied
the territory Cabalis. The city was afterwards in the possession of the
Pisidians, a bordering nation, who occupied it, and transferred it to
another place, very strongly fortified, the circuit of which was about
100 stadia. It flourished in consequence of the excellence of its laws.
The villages belonging to it extended from Pisidia, and the bordering
territory Milyas, as far as Lycia and the country opposite to Rhodes.
Upon the [CAS. 631] union of the three bordering cities, Bubon,[1564]
Balbura,[1565] and Œnoanda,[1566] the confederation was called
Tetrapolis; each city had one vote, except Cibyra, which had two, for it
could equip 30,000 foot soldiers and 2000 horse. It was always governed
by tyrants, but they ruled with moderation. The tyrannical government
terminated in the time of Moagetes. It was overthrown by Murena, who
annexed Balbura and Bubon to the Lycians. Nevertheless the Cibyratic
district is reckoned among the largest jurisdictions in Asia.
The Cibyratæ used four languages, the Pisidic, that of Solymi, the
Greek, and the Lydian, but of the latter no traces are now to be found
in Lydia.
At Cibyra there is practised the peculiar art of carving with ease
ornamental work in iron.
Milya is the mountain-range extending from the defiles near Termessus,
and the passage through them to the parts within the Taurus towards
Isinda, as far as Sagalassus and the country of Apameia.
THE
GEOGRAPHY
OF
STRABO.
LITERALLY TRANSLATED, WITH NOTES.
THE FIRST SIX BOOKS
BY H. C. HAMILTON, ESQ.
THE REMAINDER
BY W. FALCONER, M. A. ,
LATE FELLOW OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD,
RECTOR OF BUSHEY, HERTFORDSHIRE.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. III.
WITH A COMPLETE INDEX.
LONDON:
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
MDCCCLVII.
JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.
PREFACE.
Strabo, the author of this work, was born at Amasia, or Amasijas, a town
situated in the gorge of the mountains through which passes the river
Iris, now the Ieschil Irmak, in Pontus, which he has described in the
12th book. [1] He lived during the reign of Augustus, and the earlier
part of the reign of Tiberius; for in the 13th book[2] he relates how
Sardes and other cities, which had suffered severely from earthquakes,
had been repaired by the provident care of Tiberius the present Emperor;
but the exact date of his birth, as also of his death, are subjects of
conjecture only. Coraÿ and Groskurd conclude, though by a somewhat
different argument, that he was born in the year B. C. 66, and the
latter that he died A. D. 24. The date of his birth as argued by
Groskurd, proceeds on the assumption that Strabo was in his
thirty-eighth year when he went from Gyaros to Corinth, at which latter
place Octavianus Cæsar was then staying on his return to Rome after the
battle of Actium, B. C. 31. We may, perhaps, be satisfied with following
Clinton, and place it not later than B. C. 54.
In the 17th book our author speaks of the death of Juba as a recent
occurrence. This event took place A. D. 21, or A. D. 18 or 19, according
to other chronologists; he, therefore, outlived that king, but for how
long a period we have no means of ascertaining.
The only information which we can obtain of the personal history of
Strabo is to be collected from the scanty references made to himself in
the course of this work;[3] for although a writer of the Augustan age,
his name and his works appear to have been generally unknown to his
contemporaries, and to have been passed over in silence by subsequent
authors who occupied themselves with the same branch of study. The work
being written in Greek, and the subject itself not of a popular kind,
would be hindrances to its becoming generally known; and its voluminous
character would prevent many copies being made; moreover, the author
himself, although for some time a resident at Rome, appears to have made
Amasia his usual place of residence, and there to have composed his
work.
