”[1463]
Present traditions respecting Æneas do not agree with the story
respecting the first founders of Scepsis.
Present traditions respecting Æneas do not agree with the story
respecting the first founders of Scepsis.
Strabo
[CAS.
596] Let
us, however, dismiss this subject, for the discussion leads to the
refutation of fables only, and probably there may be reasons unknown to
us which induced the Ilienses to worship some of these persons, and not
others. The poet seems, in speaking of Hercules, to represent the city
as small, since he ravaged the city
“with six ships only, and a small band of men. ”[1398]
From these words it appears that Priam from a small became a great
person, and a king of kings, as we have already said.
A short way from this coast is the Achæïum, situated on the continent
opposite Tenedos.
33. Such, then, is the nature of the places on the sea-coast. Above them
lies the plain of Troy, extending as far as Ida to the east, a distance
of many stadia. [1399] The part at the foot of the mountain is narrow,
extending to the south as far as the places near Scepsis, and towards
the north as far as the Lycians about Zeleia. This country Homer places
under the command of Æneas and the Antenoridæ, and calls it Dardania.
Below it is Cebrenia, which for the most part consists of plains, and
lies nearly parallel to Dardania. There was also formerly a city
Cybrene. Demetrius (of Scepsis) supposes that the tract about Ilium,
subject to Hector, extended to this place, from the Naustathmus (or
station for vessels) to Cebrenia, for he says that the sepulchre of
Alexander Paris exists there, and of Œnone, who, according to
historians, was the wife of Alexander, before the rape of Helen; the
poet says,
“Cebriones, the spurious son of the far-famed Priam,”[1400]
who, perhaps, received his name from the district, (Cebrenia,) or, more
probably, from the city (Cebrene[1401]). Cebrenia extends as far as the
Scepsian district. The boundary is the Scamander, which runs through the
middle of Cebrenia and Scepsia. There was continual enmity and war
between the Scepsians and Cebrenians, till Antigonus settled them both
together in the city, then called Antigonia, but at present Alexandria.
The Cebrenians remained there with the other inhabitants, but the
Scepsians, by the permission of Lysimachus, returned to their own
country.
34. From the mountainous tract of Ida near these places, two arms, he
says, extend to the sea, one in the direction of Rhœteium, the other of
Sigeium, forming a semicircle, and terminate in the plain at the same
distance from the sea as the present Ilium, which is situated between
the extremities of the above-mentioned arms, whereas the ancient Ilium
was situated at their commencement. This space comprises the Simoïsian
plain through which the Simoeis runs, and the Scamandrian plain, watered
by the Scamander. This latter plain is properly the plain of Troy, and
Homer makes it the scene of the greatest part of his battles, for it is
the widest of the two; and there we see the places named by him, the
Erineos, the tomb of Æsyetes,[1402] Batieia, and the tomb of Ilus. With
respect to the Scamander and the Simoeis, the former, after approaching
Sigeium, and the latter Rhœteium, unite their streams a little in front
of the present Ilium,[1403] and then empty themselves near Sigeium, and
form as it is called the Stomalimne. Each of the above-mentioned plains
is separated from the other by a long ridge[1404] which is in a straight
line with the above-mentioned arms;[1405] the ridge begins at the
present [CAS. 597] Ilium and is united to it; it extends as far as
Cebrenia, and completes with the arms on each side the letter θ.
35. A little above this ridge of land is the village of the Ilienses,
supposed to be the site of the ancient Ilium, at the distance of 30
stadia from the present city. Ten stadia above the village of the
Ilienses is Callicolone, a hill beside which, at the distance of five
stadia, runs the Simoeis.
The description of the poet is probable. First what he says of Mars,
“but on the other side Mars arose, like a black tempest, one
while with a shrill voice calling upon the Trojans from the
summit of the citadel, at another time running along
Callicolone beside the Simoeis;”[1406]
for since the battle was fought on the Scamandrian plain, Mars might,
according to probability, encourage the men, one while from the citadel,
at another time from the neighbouring places, the Simoeis and the
Callicolone, to which the battle might extend. But since Callicolone is
distant from the present Ilium 40 stadia, where was the utility of
changing places at so great a distance, where the array of the troops
did not extend? and the words
“The Lycii obtained by lot the station near Thymbra,”[1407]
which agree better with the ancient city, for the plain Thymbra,[1408]
is near, and the river Thymbrius, which runs through it, discharges
itself into the Scamander, near the temple of Apollo Thymbræus, but is
distant 50 stadia from the present Ilium. The Erineos,[1409] a rugged
spot abounding with wild fig-trees, lies below the ancient city, so that
Andromache might say in conformity with such a situation,
“but place your bands near Erineos, where the city is most
accessible to the enemy, and where they can mount the
wall,”[1410]
but it is very far distant from the present city. The beech-tree was a
little lower than the Erineos; of the former Achilles says,
“When I fought with the Achæans Hector was not disposed to
urge the fight away from the wall, but advanced only as far as
the Scæan gates, and the beech-tree. ”[1411]
36. Besides, the Naustathmus, which retains its name at present, is so
near the present city that any person may justly be surprised at the
imprudence of the Greeks, and the want of spirit in the
Trojans;--imprudence on the part of the Greeks, that they should have
left the place for so long a time unfortified with a wall, in the
neighbourhood of so large a city, and so great a body of men, both
inhabitants and auxiliaries; for the wall, Homer says, was constructed
at a late period; or perhaps no wall was built and the erection and
destruction of it, as Aristotle says, are due to the invention of the
poet;--a want of spirit on the part of the Trojans, who, after the wall
was built, attacked that, and the Naustathmus, and the vessels
themselves, but had not the courage before there was a wall to approach
and besiege this station, although the distance was not great, for the
Naustathmus is near Sigeium. The Scamander discharges itelf near this
place at the distance of 20 stadia from Ilium. [1412] If any one shall
say that the Naustathmus is the present harbour of the Achæans, he must
mean a place still nearer, distant about twelve stadia from the sea,
[CAS. 599] which is the extent of the plain in front of the city to the
sea; but he will be in error if he include (in the ancient) the present
plain, which is all alluvial soil brought down by the rivers,[1413] so
that if the interval is 12 stadia at present, it must have been at that
period less in extent by one half. The story framed by Ulysses, which he
tells Eumæus, implies a great distance from the Naustathmus to the city;
“when we lay in ambush below Troy,”[1414]
and he adds afterwards,
“for we had advanced too far from the ships. ”[1415]
Scouts are despatched to learn whether the Trojans will remain near the
ships when drawn away far from their own walls, or whether
“they will return back to the city. ”[1416]
Polydamas also says,
“Consider well, my friends, what is to be done, for my advice
is to return now to the city, for we are far from the
walls. ”[1417]
Demetrius (of Scepsis) adds the testimony of Hestiæa[1418] of
Alexandreia, who composed a work on the Iliad of Homer, and discusses
the question whether the scene of the war was about the present city,
and what was the Trojan plain which the poet mentions as situated
between the city and the sea, for the plain seen in front of the present
city is an accumulation of earth brought down by the rivers, and formed
at a later period.
37. Polites also,
“who was the scout of the Trojans, trusting to his swiftness
of foot, and who was on the summit of the tomb of the old
Æsyetes,”[1419]
was acting absurdly. For although he was seated
“on the summit of the tomb,”
yet he might have observed from the much greater height of the citadel,
situated nearly at the same distance, nor would his swiftness of foot
have been required for the purpose of security, for the tomb of Æsyetes,
which exists at present on the road to Alexandreia, is distant five
stadia from the citadel.
Nor is the course of Hector round the city at all a probable
circumstance, for the present city will not admit of a circuit round it
on account of the continuous ridge of hill, but the ancient city did
allow such a course round it. [1420]
38. No trace of the ancient city remains. This might be expected, for
the cities around were devastated, but not entirely destroyed, whereas
when Troy was overthrown from its foundation all the stones were removed
for the reparation of the other cities. Archæanax of Mitylene is said to
have fortified Sigeium with the stones brought from Troy. Sigeium was
taken possession of by the Athenians, who sent Phryno, the victor in the
Olympic games, at the time the Lesbians advanced a claim to nearly the
whole Troad. They had indeed [CAS. 600] founded most of the
settlements, some of which exist at present, and others have
disappeared. Pittacus of Mitylene, one of the seven wise men, sailed to
the Troad against Phryno, the Athenian general, and was defeated in a
pitched battle. (It was at this time that the poet Alcæus, as he himself
says, when in danger in some battle, threw away his arms and fled. He
charged a messenger with injunctions to inform those at home that Alcæus
was safe, but that he did not bring away his arms. These were dedicated
by the Athenians as an offering in the temple of Minerva
Glaucopis. )[1421] Upon Phryno’s proposal to meet in single combat,
Pittacus advanced with his fishing gear,[1422] enclosed his adversary in
a net, pierced him with his three-pronged spear, and despatched him with
a short sword. The war however still continuing, Periander was chosen
arbitrator by both parties, and put an end to it.
39. Demetrius accuses Timæus of falsehood, for saying that Periander
built a wall round the Achilleium out of the stones brought from Ilium
as a protection against the attacks of the Athenians, and with a view to
assist Pittacus; whereas this place was fortified by the Mitylenæans
against Sigeium, but not with stones from Ilium, nor by Periander. For
how should they choose an enemy in arms to be arbitrator?
The Achilleium is a place which contains the monument of Achilles, and
is a small settlement. It was destroyed, as also Sigeium, by the
Ilienses on account of the refractory disposition of its inhabitants.
For all the sea-coast as far as Dardanus was afterwards, and is at
present, subject to them.
Anciently the greatest part of these places were subject to the Æolians,
and hence Ephorus does not hesitate to call all the country from Abydos
to Cume by the name of Æolis. But Thucydides[1423] says that the
Mitylenæans were deprived of the Troad in the Peloponnesian war by the
Athenians under the command of Paches.
40. The present Ilienses affirm that the city was not entirely
demolished when it was taken by the Achæans, nor at any time deserted.
The Locrian virgins began to be sent there, as was the custom every
year, a short time afterwards. This however is not told by Homer. Nor
was Homer acquainted with the violation of Cassandra,[1424] but says
that she was a virgin about that time:
“He slew Othryoneus, who had lately come to the war from
Cabesus, induced by the glory of the contest, and who sought
in marriage the most beautiful of the daughters of Priam,
Cassandra, without a dower. ”[1425]
He does not mention any force having been used, nor does he attribute
the death of Ajax by shipwreck to the wrath of Minerva, nor to any
similar cause, but says, in general terms, that he was an object of
hatred to Minerva, (for she was incensed against all who had profaned
her temple,) and that Ajax died by the agency of Neptune for his
boasting speeches.
The Locrian virgins were sent there when the Persians were masters of
the country.
41. Such is the account of the Ilienses. But Homer speaks expressly of
the demolition of the city:
“The day will come when at length sacred Ilium shall perish,[1426]
After we have destroyed the lofty city of Priam,[1427]
By counsel, by wisdom, and by artifice,
The city of Priam was destroyed in the tenth year. ”[1428]
Of this they produce evidence of the following kind; the statue of
Minerva, which Homer represents as in a sitting posture, is seen at
present to be a standing figure, for he orders them
“to place the robe on the knees of Athene,”[1429]
in the same sense as this verse,
“no son of mine should sit upon her knees,”[1430]
and it is better to understand it thus, than as some explain it, “by
placing the robe at the knees,” and adduce this line,
“she sat upon the hearth in the light of the fire,”[1431]
[CAS. 601] for “near the hearth. ” For what would the laying the robe at
the knees mean? And they who alter the accent, and for γούνασιν read
γουνασιν, like θυιάσιν, or in whatever way they understand it,[1432]
come to no conclusion. Many of the ancient statues of Minerva are found
in a sitting posture, as those at Phocæa, Massalia, Rome, Chios, and
many other cities. But modern writers, among whom is Lycurgus the
rhetorician, agree that the city was destroyed, for in mentioning the
city of the Ilienses he says, “who has not heard, when it was once razed
by the Greeks, that it was uninhabited? ”[1433]
42. It is conjectured that those who afterwards proposed to rebuild it
avoided the spot as inauspicious, either on account of its calamities,
of which it had been the scene, or whether Agamemnon, according to an
ancient custom, had devoted it to destruction with a curse, as Crœsus,
when he destroyed Sidene, in which the tyrant Glaucias had taken refuge,
uttered a curse against those who should rebuild its walls. They
therefore abandoned that spot and built a city elsewhere.
The Astypalæans, who were in possession of Rhœteium, were the first
persons that founded Polium near the Simoïs, now called Polisma, but not
in a secure spot, and hence it was soon in ruins.
The present settlement, and the temple, were built in the time of the
Lydian kings; but it was not then a city; a long time afterwards,
however, and by degrees, it became, as we have said, a considerable
place.
Hellanicus, in order to gratify the Ilienses, as is his custom,
maintains that the present and the ancient city are the same. But the
district on the extinction of the city was divided by the possessors of
Rhœteium and Sigeium, and the other neighbouring people among
themselves. Upon the rebuilding of the city, however, they restored it.
43. Ida is thought to be appropriately described by Homer, as abounding
with springs on account of the multitude of rivers which issue from it,
particularly where Dardania as far as Scepsis lies at its foot, and the
places about Ilium.
Demetrius, who was acquainted with these places, (for he was a native,)
thus speaks of them: “There is a height of Ida called Cotylus; it is
situated about 120 stadia above Scepsis, and from it flow the Scamander,
the Granicus, and the Æsepus;[1434] the two last, being the
contributions of many smaller sources, fall into the Propontis, but the
Scamander, which has but a single source, flows towards the west. All
these sources are in the neighbourhood of each other, and are comprised
within a circuit of 20 stadia. The termination of the Æsepus is farthest
distant from its commencement, namely, about 500 stadia. ”
We may, however, ask why the poet says,
“They came to the fair fountains, whence burst forth two
streams of the eddying Scamander, one flowing with water
warm,”[1435]
that is, hot; he proceeds, however,
“around issues vapour as though caused by fire--the other
gushes out in the summer, cold like hail, or frozen as snow,”
for no warm springs are now found in that spot, nor is the source of the
Scamander there, but in the mountain, and there is one source instead of
two. [1436] It is probable that the [CAS. 602] warm spring has failed,
but the cold spring flowing from the Scamander along a subterraneous
channel emerges at this place; or, because the water was near the
Scamander, it was called the source of that river, for there are several
springs, which are said to be its sources.
44. The Andirus empties itself into the Scamander; a river which comes
from the district of Caresene, a mountainous country, in which are many
villages. It is well cultivated by the husbandmen. It adjoins Dardania,
and extends as far as the places about Zeleia and Pityeia. The country,
it is said, had its name from the river Caresus, mentioned by the poet,
“the Rhesus, Heptaporus, Caresus, and Rhodius,”[1437]
but the city of the same name as the river is in ruins.
Demetrius again says, the river Rhesus is now called Rhoeites, unless it
is the Rhesus which empties itself into the Granicus.
The Heptaporus, which is called also Polyporus, is crossed seven times
in travelling from the places about Cale Peuce (or the beautiful pitch
tree) to the village Melænæ and to the Asclepieium, founded by
Lysimachus.
Attalus, the first king, gives this account of the beautiful pitch tree;
its circumference, he says, was 24 feet; the height of the trunk from
the root was 67 feet; it then formed three branches, equally distant
from each other; it then contracts into one head, and here it completes
the whole height of two plethra, and 15 cubits. It is distant from
Adramyttium 180 stadia towards the north.
The Caresus flows from Malus, a place situated between Palæscepsis and
Achæïum, in front of the isle of Tenedos, and empties itself into the
Æsepus.
The Rhodius flows from Cleandria and Gordus, which are distant 60 stadia
from Cale Peuce, and empties itself into the Ænius (Æsepus? ).
45. In the valley about the Æsepus, on the left of its course, the first
place we meet with is Polichna, a walled stronghold; then Palæscepsis,
next Alizonium, a place invented for the supposed existence of the
Halizoni whom we have mentioned before. [1438] Then Caresus, a deserted
city, and Caresene, and a river of the same name, (Caresus,) which also
forms a considerable valley, but less than that about the Æsepus. Next
follow the plains of Zeleia, and the mountain plains, which are well
cultivated. On the right of the Æsepus, between Polichna and Palæscepsis
is Nea-Come,[1439] and Argyria, [CAS. 603] (the silver mines,)[1440]
which are another fiction framed to support the same hypothesis, in
order that the words of Homer may be defended,
“where silver is produced. ”[1441]
Where then is Alybe, or Alope, or in whatever way they please to play
upon the name? For they ought to have had the impudence to invent this
place also, and not to leave their system imperfect and exposed to
detection, when they had once ventured so far. This is the contradiction
which may be given to Demetrius.
As to the rest, we ought at least in the greatest number of instances to
attend to a man of experience, and a native of the country, who also had
bestowed so much thought and time on this subject as to write thirty
books to interpret little more than 60 lines of the catalogue of the
Trojan forces.
Palæscepsis, according to Demetrius, is distant from Ænea 50, and from
the river Æsepus 30, stadia, and the name of Palæscepsis is applied to
many other places. [1442]
We return to the sea-coast, from which we have digressed.
46. After the Sigeian promontory, and the Achilleium, is the coast
opposite to Tenedos, the Achæïum, and Tenedos itself, distant not more
than 40 stadia from the continent. It is about 80 stadia in
circumference. It contains an Æolian city, and has two harbours, and a
temple of Apollo Smintheus, as the poet testifies;
“Smintheus, thou that reignest over Tenedos. ”[1443]
There are several small islands around it, and two in particular, called
Calydnæ,[1444] situated in the course of the voyage to Lectum. There are
some writers who call Tenedos Calydna, and others Leucophrys. [1445]
There are other small islands around it besides these. They lay near the
scene of the fable about Tennes, from whom the island has its name, and
of the story of Cycnus, a Thracian by descent, and father, according to
some writers, of Tennes, and king of Colonæ.
47. Continuous with the Achæium are Larisa and Colonæ, formerly
belonging to the people of Tenedos, who occupied the opposite coast; and
the present Chrysa, situated upon a rocky height above the sea, and
Hamaxitus lying below, and close to Lectum. But at present Alexandreia
is continuous with the Achæium; the inhabitants of those small towns,
and of many other strongholds, were embodied in Alexandreia. Among the
latter were Cebrene and Neandria. The territory is in the possession of
the Alexandrini, and the spot in which Alexandreia is now situated was
called Sigia.
48. The temple of Apollo Smintheus is in this Chrysa, and the symbol, a
mouse, which shows the etymology of the epithet Smintheus, lying under
the foot of the statue. [1446] They are the workmanship of Scopas of
Paros. They reconcile the history, and the fable about the mice, in this
following manner.
The Teucri, who came from Crete, (of whom Callinus, the elegiac poet,
gave the first history, and he was followed by many others,) were
directed by an oracle to settle wherever the earth-born inhabitants
should attack them, which, it is said, occurred to them near Hamaxitus,
for in the night-time great multitudes of field-mice came out and
devoured all arms or utensils which were made of leather; the colony
therefore settled there. These people also called the mountain Ida,
after the name of the mountain in Crete.
But [CAS. 604] Heracleides of Pontus says, that the mice, which swarmed
near the temple, were considered as sacred, and the statue is
represented as standing upon a mouse.
Others say, that a certain Teucer came from Attica, who belonged to the
Demus of Troes, which is now called Xypeteon, but that no Teucri came
from Crete. They adduce as a proof of the intermixture of Trojans with
Athenians, that an Ericthonius was a founder of both people.
This is the account of modern writers. But the traces which now exist in
the plain of Thebe, and at Chrysa situated there, coincide better with
the description of Homer; and of these we shall speak immediately. [1447]
The name of Smintheus is to be found in many places, for near Hamaxitus
itself, besides the Sminthian Apollo at the temple, there are two places
called Sminthia, and others in the neighbouring district of Larissa. In
the district also of Pariane is a place called Sminthia; others in
Rhodes,[1448] Lindus, and in many places besides. The temple is now
called Sminthium.
Separate from the other is the Halesian plain near Lectum, which is not
extensive, and the Tragasæan salt-pan near Hamaxitus,[1449] where the
salt spontaneously concretes on the blowing of the Etesian winds. On
Lectum stands an altar dedicated to the Twelve Gods, erected, it is
said, by Agamemnon.
These places are in sight of Ilium, at the distance of a little more
than 200 stadia. On the other side the parts about Abydos are visible,
although Abydos is somewhat nearer.
49. After doubling Lectum, there follow the most considerable cities of
the Æolians, the bay of Adramyttium, on which Homer seems to have placed
the greater part of the Leleges, and the Cilicians, divided into two
tribes. There also is the coast of the Mitylenæans with some villages of
the Mitylenæans on the continent. The bay has the name of the Idæan bay,
for the ridge extending from Lectum to Ida overhangs the commencement
of the bay, where, according to the poet,[1450] the Leleges were first
settled.
50. I have spoken before of the Leleges, and I shall now add that the
poet speaks of a Pedasus, a city of theirs which was subject to Altes;
“Altes, king of the war-loving Leleges, governs
The lofty Pedasus on the river Satnioeis:”[1451]
the spot exists but there is no city. Some read, but incorrectly, “below
Satnioeis,” as if the city lay at the foot of a mountain called
Satnioeis; yet there is no mountain there called Satnioeis, but a river,
on which the city is placed. The city is at present deserted. The poet
mentions the river;
“Ajax pierced with his spear Satnius, the son of Œnops, whom
the beautiful nymph Naïs bore to Œnops, when he tended herds
on the banks of the Satnioeis. ”[1452]
And in another place;
“Œnops dwelt on the banks of the smooth-flowing Satnioeis
In lofty Pedasus. ”[1453]
Later writers called it Satioeis, and some writers Saphnioeis. It is a
great winter torrent, which the poet, by mentioning it, made remarkable.
These places are continuous with the districts Dardania and Scepsia, and
are as it were another Dardania, but lower than the former.
51. The country comprised in the districts of Antandria, Cebrene,
Neandria, and the Hamaxitus, as far as the sea opposite to Lesbos, now
belongs to the people of Assus and Gargara. [1454]
The Neandrians are situated above Hamaxitus on this side Lectum, but
more towards the interior, and nearer to Ilium, from which they are
distant 130 stadia. Above these people are the Cebrenii, and above the
Cebrenii the Dardanii, extending as far as Palæscepsis, and even to
Scepsis.
The poet Alcæus calls Antandrus a city of the Leleges:
“First is Antandrus, a city of the Leleges. ”
Demetrius of Scepsis places it among the adjacent cities, so that it
might be in the country of the Cilicians, for these people are rather to
be regarded as bordering upon the Leleges, [CAS. 606] having as their
boundary the southern side of Mount Ida. These however are situated low
down, and approach nearer the sea-coast at Adramyttium. After Lectum, at
the distance of 40 stadia is Polymedium,[1455] a stronghold; then at the
distance of 80 stadia Assus, situated a little above the sea; next at
140 stadia Gargara, which is situated on a promontory, which forms the
gulf, properly called the gulf of Adramyttium. For the whole of the
sea-coast from Lectum to Canæ, and the Elaïtic bay, is comprised under
the same name, the gulf of Adramyttium. This, however, is properly
called the Adramyttene gulf, which is enclosed within the promontory on
which Gargara stands, and that called the promontory Pyrrha,[1456] on
which is a temple of Venus. The breadth of the entrance forms a passage
across from promontory to promontory of 120 stadia. Within it is
Antandrus,[1457] with a mountain above it, which is called Alexandreia,
where it is said the contest between the goddesses was decided by Paris;
and Aspaneus, the depository of the timber cut from the forests of Ida;
it is here that wood is brought down and disposed of to those who want
it.
Next is Astyra, a village and grove sacred to Artemis Astyrene. Close to
it is Adramyttium, a city founded by a colony of Athenians, with a
harbour, and a station for vessels. Beyond the gulf and the promontory
Pyrrha is Cisthene, a deserted city with a harbour. Above it in the
interior is a copper mine, Perperena, Trarium, and other similar
settlements.
On this coast after Cisthene are the villages of the Mitylenæans,
Coryphantis and Heracleia; next to these is Attea; then Atarneus,[1458]
Pitane,[1459] and the mouths of the Caïcus. These, however, belong to
the Elaïtic gulf. On the opposite side of the Caïcus are Elæa,[1460] and
the remainder of the gulf as far as Canæ.
We shall resume our description of each place, lest we should have
omitted any one that is remarkable. And first with regard to Scepsis.
52. Palæscepsis is situated above Cebrene towards the most elevated part
of Ida near Polichna. It had the name of Scepsis[1461] either for some
other reason or because it was within view of the places around, if we
may be allowed to derive words then in use among Barbarians from the
Greek language. Afterwards the inhabitants were transferred to the
present Scepsis, 60 stadia lower down, by Scamandrius, the son of
Hector, and by Ascanius, the son of Æneas; these two families reigned,
it is said, a long time at Scepsis. They changed the form of government
to an oligarchy; afterwards the Milesians united with the Scepsians, and
formed a democracy. [1462] The descendants of these families had
nevertheless the name of kings, and held certain dignities. Antigonus
incorporated the Scepsians with the inhabitants of Alexandreia (Troas);
Lysimachus dissolved this union, and they returned to their own country.
53. The Scepsian (Demetrius) supposes that Scepsis was the palace of
Æneas, situated between the dominion of Æneas and Lyrnessus, where, it
is said, he took refuge when pursued by Achilles.
“Remember you not,” says Achilles, “how I chased you when
alone and apart from the herds, with swift steps, from the
heights of Ida, thence indeed you escaped to Lyrnessus; but I
took and destroyed it.
”[1463]
Present traditions respecting Æneas do not agree with the story
respecting the first founders of Scepsis. For it is said that he was
spared on account of his hatred to Priam:
“he ever bore hatred to Priam, for never had Priam bestowed
any honour upon him for his valour. ”[1464]
His companion chiefs, the Antenoridæ, and Antenor, and myself, escaped
on account of the hospitality which the latter had shown to Menelaus.
Sophocles, in his play, The Capture of Troy, says, that a panther’s skin
was placed before Antenor’s door as a signal that his house should be
spared from plunder. Antenor and [CAS. 600] [CAS. 608] his four sons,
together with the surviving Heneti, are said to have escaped into
Thrace, and thence into Henetica on the Adriatic;[1465] but Æneas, with
his father Anchises and his son Ascanius, are said to have collected a
large body of people, and to have set sail. Some writers say that he
settled about the Macedonian Olympus; according to others he founded
Capuæ,[1466] near Mantineia in Arcadia, and that he took the name of the
city from Capys. There is another account, that he disembarked at
Ægesta[1467] in Sicily, with Elymus, a Trojan, and took possession of
Eryx[1468] and Lilybæus,[1469] and called the rivers about Ægesta
Scamander and Simoïs; that from Sicily he went to Latium, and settled
there in obedience to an oracle enjoining him to remain wherever he
should eat his table. This happened in Latium, near Lavinium, when a
large cake of bread which was set down instead of, and for want of, a
table, was eaten together with the meat that was laid upon it.
Homer does not agree either with these writers or with what is said
respecting the founders of Scepsis. For he represents Æneas as remaining
at Troy, succeeding to the kingdom, and delivering the succession to his
children’s children after the extinction of the race of Priam:
“the son of Saturn hated the family of Priam: henceforward
Æneas shall reign over the Trojans, and his children’s
children to late generations. ”[1470]
In this manner not even the succession of Scamandrius could be
maintained. He disagrees still more with those writers who speak of his
wanderings as far as Italy, and make him end his days in that country.
Some write the verse thus:
“The race of Æneas and his children’s children,” meaning the Romans,
“shall rule over all nations. ”
54. The Socratic philosophers, Erastus, Coriscus, and Neleus, the son of
Coriscus, a disciple of Aristotle, and Theophrastus, were natives of
Scepsis. Neleus succeeded to the possession of the library of
Theophrastus, which included that of Aristotle; for Aristotle gave his
library, and left his school, to Theophrastus. Aristotle[1471] was the
first person with whom we are acquainted who made a collection of books,
and suggested to the kings of Ægypt the formation of a library.
Theophrastus left his library to Neleus, who carried it to Scepsis, and
bequeathed it to some ignorant persons who kept the books locked up,
lying in disorder. When the Scepsians understood that the Attalic kings,
on whom the city was dependent, were in eager search for books, with
which they intended to furnish the library at Pergamus, they hid theirs
in an excavation under-ground; at length, but not before they had been
injured by damp and worms, the descendants of Neleus sold the books of
Aristotle and Theophrastus for a large sum of money to Apellicon of
Teos. Apellicon[1472] was rather a lover of books than a philosopher;
when therefore he attempted to restore the parts which had been eaten
and corroded by worms, he made alterations in the original text and
introduced them into new copies; he moreover supplied the defective
parts unskilfully, and published the books full of errors. It was the
misfortune of the ancient Peripatetics, those after Theophrastus, that
being wholly unprovided with the books of Aristotle, with the exception
of a few only, and those chiefly of the exoteric[1473] kind, they were
unable to philosophize according [CAS. 609] to the principles of the
system, and merely occupied themselves in elaborate discussions on
common places. Their successors however, from the time that these books
were published, philosophized, and propounded the doctrine of Aristotle
more successfully than their predecessors, but were under the necessity
of advancing a great deal as probable only, on account of the multitude
of errors contained in the copies.
Even Rome contributed to this increase of errors; for immediately on the
death of Apellicon, Sylla, who captured Athens, seized the library of
Apellicon. When it was brought to Rome, Tyrannion,[1474] the grammarian,
who was an admirer of Aristotle, courted the superintendent of the
library and obtained the use of it. Some vendors of books, also,
employed bad scribes and neglected to compare the copies with the
original. This happens in the case of other books which are copied for
sale both here and at Alexandreia.
This may suffice on this subject.
55. Demetrius the grammarian, whom we have frequently mentioned, was a
native of Scepsis. He composed a comment on the catalogue of the Trojan
forces. He was contemporary with Crates and Aristarchus. He was
succeeded by Metrodorus,[1475] who changed from being a philosopher to
engage in public affairs. His writings are for the most part in the
style of the rhetoricians. He employed a new and striking kind of
phraseology. Although he was poor, yet, in consequence of the reputation
which he had acquired, he married a rich wife at Chalcedon, and acquired
the surname of the Chalcedonian. He paid great court to Mithridates
Eupator, whom he accompanied with his wife on a voyage to Pontus, and
received from him distinguished honours. He was appointed to preside
over a tribunal where the party condemned by the judge had no power of
appeal to the king. His prosperity however was not lasting, for he
incurred the enmity of some very unjust persons, and deserted from the
king at the very time that he was despatched on an embassy to Tigranes
the Armenian. Tigranes sent him back much against his inclination to
Eupator, who was then flying from his hereditary kingdom. Metrodorus
died on the road, either in consequence of orders from the king, or by
natural disease, for both causes of his death are stated.
So much then respecting Scepsis.
56. Next to Scepsis are Andeira, Pioniæ, and Gargaris. There is found at
Andeira a stone, which when burnt becomes iron. It is then put into a
furnace together with some kind of earth, when it distils a mock silver,
(Pseudargyrum,) or with the addition of copper it becomes the compound
called oreichalcum. There is found a mock silver near Tmolus also. These
places and those about Assus were occupied by the Leleges.
57. Assus is a strong place, and well fortified with walls. There is a
long and perpendicular ascent from the sea and the harbour, so that the
verse of Stratonicus the citharist seems to be applicable to it; [CAS.
610]
“Go to Assus, if you mean to reach quickly the confines of death. ”
The harbour is formed of a large mole.
Cleanthes, the Stoic philosopher, was a native of this place. He
succeeded to the school of Zeno of Citium, and left it to Chrysippus of
Soli. Here also Aristotle resided for some time, on account of his
relationship to Hermeas the tyrant. Hermeas was an eunuch, servant of a
money-changer. When he was at Athens he was the hearer both of Plato and
of Aristotle. On his return he became the associate in the tyranny of
his master, who attacked the places near Atarneus and Assus. He
afterwards succeeded his master, sent for both Aristotle and Xenocrates,
and treated them with kindness. He even gave his niece in marriage to
Aristotle. But Memnon of Rhodes, who was at that time general in the
service of the Persians, invited to his house Hermeas, under the mask of
friendship, and on pretence of business. He seized Hermeas, and sent him
to the king, who ordered him to be hanged. The philosophers, avoiding
places in possession of the Persians, escaped by flight.
58. Myrsilus says that Assus was founded by Methymnæans; but according
to Hellanicus it was an Æolian city, like Gargara and Lamponia of the
Æolians. Gargara[1476] was founded from Assus; it was not well peopled,
for the kings introduced settlers from Miletopolis,[1477] which they
cleared of its inhabitants, so that Demetrius the Scepsian says that,
instead of being Æolians, the people became semi-barbarians. In the time
of Homer all these places belonged to Leleges, whom some writers
represent as Carians, but Homer distinguishes them,
“Near the sea are Carians, and Pæonians with curved bows,
Leleges, and Caucones. ”[1478]
The Leleges were therefore a different people from the Carians, and
lived between the people subject to Æneas and the Cilicians, as they are
called by the poet. After being plundered by Achilles, they removed to
Caria, and occupied the country about the present Halicarnassus.
59. Pedasus, the city which they abandoned, is no longer in existence.
But in the interior of the country belonging to the people of
Halicarnassus there was a city called by them Pedasa, and the territory
has even now the name of Pedasis. It is said that this district
contained eight cities, occupied by the Leleges, who were formerly so
populous a nation as to possess Caria as far as Myndus, Bargylia, and a
great part of Pisidia. In later times, when they united with the Carians
in their expeditions, they were dispersed throughout the whole of
Greece, and the race became extinct.
Mausolus, according to Callisthenes, assembled in Halicarnassus[1479]
alone the inhabitants of six out of the eight cities, but allowed
Suangela and Myndus to remain untouched. Herodotus[1480] relates that
whenever anything unfortunate was about to befall the inhabitants of
Pedasus[1481] and the neighbourhood a beard appeared on the face of the
priestess of Minerva, and that this happened three times.
There is now existing in the territory of the Stratoniceis[1482] a small
town called Pedasum. There are to be seen throughout the whole of Caria
and at Miletus sepulchres, and fortifications, and vestiges of
settlements of the Leleges.
60. The tract of sea-coast following next after the Leleges was
occupied, according to Homer, by Cilicians, but at present it is
occupied by Adramytteni, Atarneitæ, and Pitanæi as far as the mouth of
the Caïcus. The Cilicians were divided into [CAS. 611] two dynasties,
as we have before said,[1483] the head of one was Eetion, the other
Mynes.
61. Homer says that Thebe was the city of Eetion;
“We went to Thebe, the sacred city of Eetion. ”[1484]
To him also belonged Chrysa, which contained the temple of Apollo
Smintheus, for Chryseïs was taken from Thebe;
“We went,”
he says,
“to Thebe, ravaged it, and carried everything away; the sons
of the Achæans divided the booty among themselves, but
selected for Atrides the beautiful Chryseïs. ”
Lyrnessus he calls the city of Mynes, for
“having plundered Lyrnessus, and destroyed the walls of
Thebe,”[1485]
Achilles slew Mynes and Epistrophus, so that when Bryseïs says,
“you suffered me not to weep when the swift Achilles slew my
husband, and laid waste the city of the divine Mynes,”[1486]
the poet cannot mean Thebe, for that belonged to Eetion, but Lyrnessus,
for both cities lay in what was afterwards called the plain of Thebe,
which, on account of its fertility, was a subject of contest among the
Mysians and Lydians formerly, and latterly among the Greeks who had
migrated from Æolis and Lesbos. At present Adramytteni possess the
greater part of it; there are Thebe and Lyrnessus, a strong place, but
both are deserted. One is situated at the distance of 60 stadia from
Adramyttium on one side, and the other 88 stadia on the other side.
62. In the Adramyttene district are Chrysa and Cilla. There is at
present near Thebe a place called Cilla, in which is a temple of Apollo
Cillæus. Beside it runs a river, which comes from Mount Ida. These
places are near Antandria. The Cillæum in Lesbos has its name from this
Cilla. There is also a mountain Cillæum between Gargara and Antandrus.
Daes of Colonæ says that the temple of Apollo Cillæus was founded at
Colonæ by the Æolians, who came by sea from Greece. At Chrysa also it is
said that there is a Cillæan Apollo, but it is uncertain whether it is
the same as Apollo Smintheus, or a different statue.
63. Chrysa is a small town on the sea-coast with a harbour. Near and
above it is Thebe. Here was the temple of Apollo Smintheus, and here
Chryseïs lived. The place at present is entirely abandoned. To the
present Chrysa, near Hamaxitus, was transferred the temple of the
Cilicians, one party of whom went to Pamphylia, the other to Hamaxitus.
Those who are not well acquainted with ancient histories say that
Chryses and Chryseïs lived there, and that Homer mentions the place. But
there is no harbour at this place, yet Homer says,
“but when they entered the deep harbour,”[1487]--
nor is the temple on the sea-coast, but Homer places it there;
“Chryseïs left the ship; then the sage Ulysses, leading her to
the altar, placed her in the hands of her beloved
father. ”[1488]
Nor is it near Thebe, but it is near it, according to Homer, for he
says, that Chryseïs was taken away from thence.
Nor is there any place of the name of Cilla in the district of the
Alexandreia, (Troas,) nor a temple of Apollo Cillæus, whereas the poet
joins them together:
“who art the guardian of Chrysa, and the divine Cilla. ”[1489]
But it is in the plain of Thebe that they are seen near together. The
voyage from the Cilician Chrysa to the Naustathmus (or naval station) is
about 700 stadia, and occupies a day, which is as much as Ulysses seems
to have completed; for immediately upon leaving the vessel he offers
sacrifice to the god, and being overtaken by the evening, remains there.
In the morning he sets sail. It is scarcely a third of the
above-mentioned distance from Hamaxitus, so that Ulysses could have
performed his sacrifice and have returned to the Naustathmus the same
day. There is also a monument of Cillus, a large mound, near the temple
of Apollo Cillæus. He is said to have been the charioteer of Pelops, and
to have had the chief command in these parts. Perhaps the country
Cilicia had its name from him, or he had his from the country.
64. The story about the Teucri, and the mice from whom the name of
Smintheus is derived, (for mice are called Sminthii,) must be
transferred to this place.
They [CAS. 613] excuse the derivation of titles from insignificant
objects by examples of this kind; as from the parnopes, which the Œtæans
call cornopes, Hercules had a surname, and was worshipped under the
title of Hercules Cornopion, because he had delivered them from locusts.
So the Erythræans, who live near the river Melius, worship Hercules
Ipoctonus, because he destroyed the ipes, or worms, which are
destructive to vines; for this pest is found everywhere except in the
country of the Erythræans. The Rhodians have in the island a temple of
Apollo Erythibius, so called from erysibe, (mildew,) and which they call
erythibe. Among the Æolians in Asia one of their months is called
Pornopion, for this name the Bœotians give to parnopes, (locusts,) and a
sacrifice is performed to Apollo Pornopion.
65. The country about Adramyttium is Mysia. It was once subject to
Lydians, and there are now Pylæ Lydiæ (or the Lydian Gates) at
Adramyttium, the city having been founded, it is said, by Lydians.
Astyra also, the village near Adramyttium, is said to belong to Mysia.
It was once a small city, in which was the temple of Artemis Astyrene,
situated in a grove. The Antandrians, in whose neighbourhood it is more
immediately situated, preside over it with great solemnity. It is
distant 20 stadia from the ancient Chrysa, which also has a temple in a
grove. There too is the Rampart of Achilles. 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.
us, however, dismiss this subject, for the discussion leads to the
refutation of fables only, and probably there may be reasons unknown to
us which induced the Ilienses to worship some of these persons, and not
others. The poet seems, in speaking of Hercules, to represent the city
as small, since he ravaged the city
“with six ships only, and a small band of men. ”[1398]
From these words it appears that Priam from a small became a great
person, and a king of kings, as we have already said.
A short way from this coast is the Achæïum, situated on the continent
opposite Tenedos.
33. Such, then, is the nature of the places on the sea-coast. Above them
lies the plain of Troy, extending as far as Ida to the east, a distance
of many stadia. [1399] The part at the foot of the mountain is narrow,
extending to the south as far as the places near Scepsis, and towards
the north as far as the Lycians about Zeleia. This country Homer places
under the command of Æneas and the Antenoridæ, and calls it Dardania.
Below it is Cebrenia, which for the most part consists of plains, and
lies nearly parallel to Dardania. There was also formerly a city
Cybrene. Demetrius (of Scepsis) supposes that the tract about Ilium,
subject to Hector, extended to this place, from the Naustathmus (or
station for vessels) to Cebrenia, for he says that the sepulchre of
Alexander Paris exists there, and of Œnone, who, according to
historians, was the wife of Alexander, before the rape of Helen; the
poet says,
“Cebriones, the spurious son of the far-famed Priam,”[1400]
who, perhaps, received his name from the district, (Cebrenia,) or, more
probably, from the city (Cebrene[1401]). Cebrenia extends as far as the
Scepsian district. The boundary is the Scamander, which runs through the
middle of Cebrenia and Scepsia. There was continual enmity and war
between the Scepsians and Cebrenians, till Antigonus settled them both
together in the city, then called Antigonia, but at present Alexandria.
The Cebrenians remained there with the other inhabitants, but the
Scepsians, by the permission of Lysimachus, returned to their own
country.
34. From the mountainous tract of Ida near these places, two arms, he
says, extend to the sea, one in the direction of Rhœteium, the other of
Sigeium, forming a semicircle, and terminate in the plain at the same
distance from the sea as the present Ilium, which is situated between
the extremities of the above-mentioned arms, whereas the ancient Ilium
was situated at their commencement. This space comprises the Simoïsian
plain through which the Simoeis runs, and the Scamandrian plain, watered
by the Scamander. This latter plain is properly the plain of Troy, and
Homer makes it the scene of the greatest part of his battles, for it is
the widest of the two; and there we see the places named by him, the
Erineos, the tomb of Æsyetes,[1402] Batieia, and the tomb of Ilus. With
respect to the Scamander and the Simoeis, the former, after approaching
Sigeium, and the latter Rhœteium, unite their streams a little in front
of the present Ilium,[1403] and then empty themselves near Sigeium, and
form as it is called the Stomalimne. Each of the above-mentioned plains
is separated from the other by a long ridge[1404] which is in a straight
line with the above-mentioned arms;[1405] the ridge begins at the
present [CAS. 597] Ilium and is united to it; it extends as far as
Cebrenia, and completes with the arms on each side the letter θ.
35. A little above this ridge of land is the village of the Ilienses,
supposed to be the site of the ancient Ilium, at the distance of 30
stadia from the present city. Ten stadia above the village of the
Ilienses is Callicolone, a hill beside which, at the distance of five
stadia, runs the Simoeis.
The description of the poet is probable. First what he says of Mars,
“but on the other side Mars arose, like a black tempest, one
while with a shrill voice calling upon the Trojans from the
summit of the citadel, at another time running along
Callicolone beside the Simoeis;”[1406]
for since the battle was fought on the Scamandrian plain, Mars might,
according to probability, encourage the men, one while from the citadel,
at another time from the neighbouring places, the Simoeis and the
Callicolone, to which the battle might extend. But since Callicolone is
distant from the present Ilium 40 stadia, where was the utility of
changing places at so great a distance, where the array of the troops
did not extend? and the words
“The Lycii obtained by lot the station near Thymbra,”[1407]
which agree better with the ancient city, for the plain Thymbra,[1408]
is near, and the river Thymbrius, which runs through it, discharges
itself into the Scamander, near the temple of Apollo Thymbræus, but is
distant 50 stadia from the present Ilium. The Erineos,[1409] a rugged
spot abounding with wild fig-trees, lies below the ancient city, so that
Andromache might say in conformity with such a situation,
“but place your bands near Erineos, where the city is most
accessible to the enemy, and where they can mount the
wall,”[1410]
but it is very far distant from the present city. The beech-tree was a
little lower than the Erineos; of the former Achilles says,
“When I fought with the Achæans Hector was not disposed to
urge the fight away from the wall, but advanced only as far as
the Scæan gates, and the beech-tree. ”[1411]
36. Besides, the Naustathmus, which retains its name at present, is so
near the present city that any person may justly be surprised at the
imprudence of the Greeks, and the want of spirit in the
Trojans;--imprudence on the part of the Greeks, that they should have
left the place for so long a time unfortified with a wall, in the
neighbourhood of so large a city, and so great a body of men, both
inhabitants and auxiliaries; for the wall, Homer says, was constructed
at a late period; or perhaps no wall was built and the erection and
destruction of it, as Aristotle says, are due to the invention of the
poet;--a want of spirit on the part of the Trojans, who, after the wall
was built, attacked that, and the Naustathmus, and the vessels
themselves, but had not the courage before there was a wall to approach
and besiege this station, although the distance was not great, for the
Naustathmus is near Sigeium. The Scamander discharges itelf near this
place at the distance of 20 stadia from Ilium. [1412] If any one shall
say that the Naustathmus is the present harbour of the Achæans, he must
mean a place still nearer, distant about twelve stadia from the sea,
[CAS. 599] which is the extent of the plain in front of the city to the
sea; but he will be in error if he include (in the ancient) the present
plain, which is all alluvial soil brought down by the rivers,[1413] so
that if the interval is 12 stadia at present, it must have been at that
period less in extent by one half. The story framed by Ulysses, which he
tells Eumæus, implies a great distance from the Naustathmus to the city;
“when we lay in ambush below Troy,”[1414]
and he adds afterwards,
“for we had advanced too far from the ships. ”[1415]
Scouts are despatched to learn whether the Trojans will remain near the
ships when drawn away far from their own walls, or whether
“they will return back to the city. ”[1416]
Polydamas also says,
“Consider well, my friends, what is to be done, for my advice
is to return now to the city, for we are far from the
walls. ”[1417]
Demetrius (of Scepsis) adds the testimony of Hestiæa[1418] of
Alexandreia, who composed a work on the Iliad of Homer, and discusses
the question whether the scene of the war was about the present city,
and what was the Trojan plain which the poet mentions as situated
between the city and the sea, for the plain seen in front of the present
city is an accumulation of earth brought down by the rivers, and formed
at a later period.
37. Polites also,
“who was the scout of the Trojans, trusting to his swiftness
of foot, and who was on the summit of the tomb of the old
Æsyetes,”[1419]
was acting absurdly. For although he was seated
“on the summit of the tomb,”
yet he might have observed from the much greater height of the citadel,
situated nearly at the same distance, nor would his swiftness of foot
have been required for the purpose of security, for the tomb of Æsyetes,
which exists at present on the road to Alexandreia, is distant five
stadia from the citadel.
Nor is the course of Hector round the city at all a probable
circumstance, for the present city will not admit of a circuit round it
on account of the continuous ridge of hill, but the ancient city did
allow such a course round it. [1420]
38. No trace of the ancient city remains. This might be expected, for
the cities around were devastated, but not entirely destroyed, whereas
when Troy was overthrown from its foundation all the stones were removed
for the reparation of the other cities. Archæanax of Mitylene is said to
have fortified Sigeium with the stones brought from Troy. Sigeium was
taken possession of by the Athenians, who sent Phryno, the victor in the
Olympic games, at the time the Lesbians advanced a claim to nearly the
whole Troad. They had indeed [CAS. 600] founded most of the
settlements, some of which exist at present, and others have
disappeared. Pittacus of Mitylene, one of the seven wise men, sailed to
the Troad against Phryno, the Athenian general, and was defeated in a
pitched battle. (It was at this time that the poet Alcæus, as he himself
says, when in danger in some battle, threw away his arms and fled. He
charged a messenger with injunctions to inform those at home that Alcæus
was safe, but that he did not bring away his arms. These were dedicated
by the Athenians as an offering in the temple of Minerva
Glaucopis. )[1421] Upon Phryno’s proposal to meet in single combat,
Pittacus advanced with his fishing gear,[1422] enclosed his adversary in
a net, pierced him with his three-pronged spear, and despatched him with
a short sword. The war however still continuing, Periander was chosen
arbitrator by both parties, and put an end to it.
39. Demetrius accuses Timæus of falsehood, for saying that Periander
built a wall round the Achilleium out of the stones brought from Ilium
as a protection against the attacks of the Athenians, and with a view to
assist Pittacus; whereas this place was fortified by the Mitylenæans
against Sigeium, but not with stones from Ilium, nor by Periander. For
how should they choose an enemy in arms to be arbitrator?
The Achilleium is a place which contains the monument of Achilles, and
is a small settlement. It was destroyed, as also Sigeium, by the
Ilienses on account of the refractory disposition of its inhabitants.
For all the sea-coast as far as Dardanus was afterwards, and is at
present, subject to them.
Anciently the greatest part of these places were subject to the Æolians,
and hence Ephorus does not hesitate to call all the country from Abydos
to Cume by the name of Æolis. But Thucydides[1423] says that the
Mitylenæans were deprived of the Troad in the Peloponnesian war by the
Athenians under the command of Paches.
40. The present Ilienses affirm that the city was not entirely
demolished when it was taken by the Achæans, nor at any time deserted.
The Locrian virgins began to be sent there, as was the custom every
year, a short time afterwards. This however is not told by Homer. Nor
was Homer acquainted with the violation of Cassandra,[1424] but says
that she was a virgin about that time:
“He slew Othryoneus, who had lately come to the war from
Cabesus, induced by the glory of the contest, and who sought
in marriage the most beautiful of the daughters of Priam,
Cassandra, without a dower. ”[1425]
He does not mention any force having been used, nor does he attribute
the death of Ajax by shipwreck to the wrath of Minerva, nor to any
similar cause, but says, in general terms, that he was an object of
hatred to Minerva, (for she was incensed against all who had profaned
her temple,) and that Ajax died by the agency of Neptune for his
boasting speeches.
The Locrian virgins were sent there when the Persians were masters of
the country.
41. Such is the account of the Ilienses. But Homer speaks expressly of
the demolition of the city:
“The day will come when at length sacred Ilium shall perish,[1426]
After we have destroyed the lofty city of Priam,[1427]
By counsel, by wisdom, and by artifice,
The city of Priam was destroyed in the tenth year. ”[1428]
Of this they produce evidence of the following kind; the statue of
Minerva, which Homer represents as in a sitting posture, is seen at
present to be a standing figure, for he orders them
“to place the robe on the knees of Athene,”[1429]
in the same sense as this verse,
“no son of mine should sit upon her knees,”[1430]
and it is better to understand it thus, than as some explain it, “by
placing the robe at the knees,” and adduce this line,
“she sat upon the hearth in the light of the fire,”[1431]
[CAS. 601] for “near the hearth. ” For what would the laying the robe at
the knees mean? And they who alter the accent, and for γούνασιν read
γουνασιν, like θυιάσιν, or in whatever way they understand it,[1432]
come to no conclusion. Many of the ancient statues of Minerva are found
in a sitting posture, as those at Phocæa, Massalia, Rome, Chios, and
many other cities. But modern writers, among whom is Lycurgus the
rhetorician, agree that the city was destroyed, for in mentioning the
city of the Ilienses he says, “who has not heard, when it was once razed
by the Greeks, that it was uninhabited? ”[1433]
42. It is conjectured that those who afterwards proposed to rebuild it
avoided the spot as inauspicious, either on account of its calamities,
of which it had been the scene, or whether Agamemnon, according to an
ancient custom, had devoted it to destruction with a curse, as Crœsus,
when he destroyed Sidene, in which the tyrant Glaucias had taken refuge,
uttered a curse against those who should rebuild its walls. They
therefore abandoned that spot and built a city elsewhere.
The Astypalæans, who were in possession of Rhœteium, were the first
persons that founded Polium near the Simoïs, now called Polisma, but not
in a secure spot, and hence it was soon in ruins.
The present settlement, and the temple, were built in the time of the
Lydian kings; but it was not then a city; a long time afterwards,
however, and by degrees, it became, as we have said, a considerable
place.
Hellanicus, in order to gratify the Ilienses, as is his custom,
maintains that the present and the ancient city are the same. But the
district on the extinction of the city was divided by the possessors of
Rhœteium and Sigeium, and the other neighbouring people among
themselves. Upon the rebuilding of the city, however, they restored it.
43. Ida is thought to be appropriately described by Homer, as abounding
with springs on account of the multitude of rivers which issue from it,
particularly where Dardania as far as Scepsis lies at its foot, and the
places about Ilium.
Demetrius, who was acquainted with these places, (for he was a native,)
thus speaks of them: “There is a height of Ida called Cotylus; it is
situated about 120 stadia above Scepsis, and from it flow the Scamander,
the Granicus, and the Æsepus;[1434] the two last, being the
contributions of many smaller sources, fall into the Propontis, but the
Scamander, which has but a single source, flows towards the west. All
these sources are in the neighbourhood of each other, and are comprised
within a circuit of 20 stadia. The termination of the Æsepus is farthest
distant from its commencement, namely, about 500 stadia. ”
We may, however, ask why the poet says,
“They came to the fair fountains, whence burst forth two
streams of the eddying Scamander, one flowing with water
warm,”[1435]
that is, hot; he proceeds, however,
“around issues vapour as though caused by fire--the other
gushes out in the summer, cold like hail, or frozen as snow,”
for no warm springs are now found in that spot, nor is the source of the
Scamander there, but in the mountain, and there is one source instead of
two. [1436] It is probable that the [CAS. 602] warm spring has failed,
but the cold spring flowing from the Scamander along a subterraneous
channel emerges at this place; or, because the water was near the
Scamander, it was called the source of that river, for there are several
springs, which are said to be its sources.
44. The Andirus empties itself into the Scamander; a river which comes
from the district of Caresene, a mountainous country, in which are many
villages. It is well cultivated by the husbandmen. It adjoins Dardania,
and extends as far as the places about Zeleia and Pityeia. The country,
it is said, had its name from the river Caresus, mentioned by the poet,
“the Rhesus, Heptaporus, Caresus, and Rhodius,”[1437]
but the city of the same name as the river is in ruins.
Demetrius again says, the river Rhesus is now called Rhoeites, unless it
is the Rhesus which empties itself into the Granicus.
The Heptaporus, which is called also Polyporus, is crossed seven times
in travelling from the places about Cale Peuce (or the beautiful pitch
tree) to the village Melænæ and to the Asclepieium, founded by
Lysimachus.
Attalus, the first king, gives this account of the beautiful pitch tree;
its circumference, he says, was 24 feet; the height of the trunk from
the root was 67 feet; it then formed three branches, equally distant
from each other; it then contracts into one head, and here it completes
the whole height of two plethra, and 15 cubits. It is distant from
Adramyttium 180 stadia towards the north.
The Caresus flows from Malus, a place situated between Palæscepsis and
Achæïum, in front of the isle of Tenedos, and empties itself into the
Æsepus.
The Rhodius flows from Cleandria and Gordus, which are distant 60 stadia
from Cale Peuce, and empties itself into the Ænius (Æsepus? ).
45. In the valley about the Æsepus, on the left of its course, the first
place we meet with is Polichna, a walled stronghold; then Palæscepsis,
next Alizonium, a place invented for the supposed existence of the
Halizoni whom we have mentioned before. [1438] Then Caresus, a deserted
city, and Caresene, and a river of the same name, (Caresus,) which also
forms a considerable valley, but less than that about the Æsepus. Next
follow the plains of Zeleia, and the mountain plains, which are well
cultivated. On the right of the Æsepus, between Polichna and Palæscepsis
is Nea-Come,[1439] and Argyria, [CAS. 603] (the silver mines,)[1440]
which are another fiction framed to support the same hypothesis, in
order that the words of Homer may be defended,
“where silver is produced. ”[1441]
Where then is Alybe, or Alope, or in whatever way they please to play
upon the name? For they ought to have had the impudence to invent this
place also, and not to leave their system imperfect and exposed to
detection, when they had once ventured so far. This is the contradiction
which may be given to Demetrius.
As to the rest, we ought at least in the greatest number of instances to
attend to a man of experience, and a native of the country, who also had
bestowed so much thought and time on this subject as to write thirty
books to interpret little more than 60 lines of the catalogue of the
Trojan forces.
Palæscepsis, according to Demetrius, is distant from Ænea 50, and from
the river Æsepus 30, stadia, and the name of Palæscepsis is applied to
many other places. [1442]
We return to the sea-coast, from which we have digressed.
46. After the Sigeian promontory, and the Achilleium, is the coast
opposite to Tenedos, the Achæïum, and Tenedos itself, distant not more
than 40 stadia from the continent. It is about 80 stadia in
circumference. It contains an Æolian city, and has two harbours, and a
temple of Apollo Smintheus, as the poet testifies;
“Smintheus, thou that reignest over Tenedos. ”[1443]
There are several small islands around it, and two in particular, called
Calydnæ,[1444] situated in the course of the voyage to Lectum. There are
some writers who call Tenedos Calydna, and others Leucophrys. [1445]
There are other small islands around it besides these. They lay near the
scene of the fable about Tennes, from whom the island has its name, and
of the story of Cycnus, a Thracian by descent, and father, according to
some writers, of Tennes, and king of Colonæ.
47. Continuous with the Achæium are Larisa and Colonæ, formerly
belonging to the people of Tenedos, who occupied the opposite coast; and
the present Chrysa, situated upon a rocky height above the sea, and
Hamaxitus lying below, and close to Lectum. But at present Alexandreia
is continuous with the Achæium; the inhabitants of those small towns,
and of many other strongholds, were embodied in Alexandreia. Among the
latter were Cebrene and Neandria. The territory is in the possession of
the Alexandrini, and the spot in which Alexandreia is now situated was
called Sigia.
48. The temple of Apollo Smintheus is in this Chrysa, and the symbol, a
mouse, which shows the etymology of the epithet Smintheus, lying under
the foot of the statue. [1446] They are the workmanship of Scopas of
Paros. They reconcile the history, and the fable about the mice, in this
following manner.
The Teucri, who came from Crete, (of whom Callinus, the elegiac poet,
gave the first history, and he was followed by many others,) were
directed by an oracle to settle wherever the earth-born inhabitants
should attack them, which, it is said, occurred to them near Hamaxitus,
for in the night-time great multitudes of field-mice came out and
devoured all arms or utensils which were made of leather; the colony
therefore settled there. These people also called the mountain Ida,
after the name of the mountain in Crete.
But [CAS. 604] Heracleides of Pontus says, that the mice, which swarmed
near the temple, were considered as sacred, and the statue is
represented as standing upon a mouse.
Others say, that a certain Teucer came from Attica, who belonged to the
Demus of Troes, which is now called Xypeteon, but that no Teucri came
from Crete. They adduce as a proof of the intermixture of Trojans with
Athenians, that an Ericthonius was a founder of both people.
This is the account of modern writers. But the traces which now exist in
the plain of Thebe, and at Chrysa situated there, coincide better with
the description of Homer; and of these we shall speak immediately. [1447]
The name of Smintheus is to be found in many places, for near Hamaxitus
itself, besides the Sminthian Apollo at the temple, there are two places
called Sminthia, and others in the neighbouring district of Larissa. In
the district also of Pariane is a place called Sminthia; others in
Rhodes,[1448] Lindus, and in many places besides. The temple is now
called Sminthium.
Separate from the other is the Halesian plain near Lectum, which is not
extensive, and the Tragasæan salt-pan near Hamaxitus,[1449] where the
salt spontaneously concretes on the blowing of the Etesian winds. On
Lectum stands an altar dedicated to the Twelve Gods, erected, it is
said, by Agamemnon.
These places are in sight of Ilium, at the distance of a little more
than 200 stadia. On the other side the parts about Abydos are visible,
although Abydos is somewhat nearer.
49. After doubling Lectum, there follow the most considerable cities of
the Æolians, the bay of Adramyttium, on which Homer seems to have placed
the greater part of the Leleges, and the Cilicians, divided into two
tribes. There also is the coast of the Mitylenæans with some villages of
the Mitylenæans on the continent. The bay has the name of the Idæan bay,
for the ridge extending from Lectum to Ida overhangs the commencement
of the bay, where, according to the poet,[1450] the Leleges were first
settled.
50. I have spoken before of the Leleges, and I shall now add that the
poet speaks of a Pedasus, a city of theirs which was subject to Altes;
“Altes, king of the war-loving Leleges, governs
The lofty Pedasus on the river Satnioeis:”[1451]
the spot exists but there is no city. Some read, but incorrectly, “below
Satnioeis,” as if the city lay at the foot of a mountain called
Satnioeis; yet there is no mountain there called Satnioeis, but a river,
on which the city is placed. The city is at present deserted. The poet
mentions the river;
“Ajax pierced with his spear Satnius, the son of Œnops, whom
the beautiful nymph Naïs bore to Œnops, when he tended herds
on the banks of the Satnioeis. ”[1452]
And in another place;
“Œnops dwelt on the banks of the smooth-flowing Satnioeis
In lofty Pedasus. ”[1453]
Later writers called it Satioeis, and some writers Saphnioeis. It is a
great winter torrent, which the poet, by mentioning it, made remarkable.
These places are continuous with the districts Dardania and Scepsia, and
are as it were another Dardania, but lower than the former.
51. The country comprised in the districts of Antandria, Cebrene,
Neandria, and the Hamaxitus, as far as the sea opposite to Lesbos, now
belongs to the people of Assus and Gargara. [1454]
The Neandrians are situated above Hamaxitus on this side Lectum, but
more towards the interior, and nearer to Ilium, from which they are
distant 130 stadia. Above these people are the Cebrenii, and above the
Cebrenii the Dardanii, extending as far as Palæscepsis, and even to
Scepsis.
The poet Alcæus calls Antandrus a city of the Leleges:
“First is Antandrus, a city of the Leleges. ”
Demetrius of Scepsis places it among the adjacent cities, so that it
might be in the country of the Cilicians, for these people are rather to
be regarded as bordering upon the Leleges, [CAS. 606] having as their
boundary the southern side of Mount Ida. These however are situated low
down, and approach nearer the sea-coast at Adramyttium. After Lectum, at
the distance of 40 stadia is Polymedium,[1455] a stronghold; then at the
distance of 80 stadia Assus, situated a little above the sea; next at
140 stadia Gargara, which is situated on a promontory, which forms the
gulf, properly called the gulf of Adramyttium. For the whole of the
sea-coast from Lectum to Canæ, and the Elaïtic bay, is comprised under
the same name, the gulf of Adramyttium. This, however, is properly
called the Adramyttene gulf, which is enclosed within the promontory on
which Gargara stands, and that called the promontory Pyrrha,[1456] on
which is a temple of Venus. The breadth of the entrance forms a passage
across from promontory to promontory of 120 stadia. Within it is
Antandrus,[1457] with a mountain above it, which is called Alexandreia,
where it is said the contest between the goddesses was decided by Paris;
and Aspaneus, the depository of the timber cut from the forests of Ida;
it is here that wood is brought down and disposed of to those who want
it.
Next is Astyra, a village and grove sacred to Artemis Astyrene. Close to
it is Adramyttium, a city founded by a colony of Athenians, with a
harbour, and a station for vessels. Beyond the gulf and the promontory
Pyrrha is Cisthene, a deserted city with a harbour. Above it in the
interior is a copper mine, Perperena, Trarium, and other similar
settlements.
On this coast after Cisthene are the villages of the Mitylenæans,
Coryphantis and Heracleia; next to these is Attea; then Atarneus,[1458]
Pitane,[1459] and the mouths of the Caïcus. These, however, belong to
the Elaïtic gulf. On the opposite side of the Caïcus are Elæa,[1460] and
the remainder of the gulf as far as Canæ.
We shall resume our description of each place, lest we should have
omitted any one that is remarkable. And first with regard to Scepsis.
52. Palæscepsis is situated above Cebrene towards the most elevated part
of Ida near Polichna. It had the name of Scepsis[1461] either for some
other reason or because it was within view of the places around, if we
may be allowed to derive words then in use among Barbarians from the
Greek language. Afterwards the inhabitants were transferred to the
present Scepsis, 60 stadia lower down, by Scamandrius, the son of
Hector, and by Ascanius, the son of Æneas; these two families reigned,
it is said, a long time at Scepsis. They changed the form of government
to an oligarchy; afterwards the Milesians united with the Scepsians, and
formed a democracy. [1462] The descendants of these families had
nevertheless the name of kings, and held certain dignities. Antigonus
incorporated the Scepsians with the inhabitants of Alexandreia (Troas);
Lysimachus dissolved this union, and they returned to their own country.
53. The Scepsian (Demetrius) supposes that Scepsis was the palace of
Æneas, situated between the dominion of Æneas and Lyrnessus, where, it
is said, he took refuge when pursued by Achilles.
“Remember you not,” says Achilles, “how I chased you when
alone and apart from the herds, with swift steps, from the
heights of Ida, thence indeed you escaped to Lyrnessus; but I
took and destroyed it.
”[1463]
Present traditions respecting Æneas do not agree with the story
respecting the first founders of Scepsis. For it is said that he was
spared on account of his hatred to Priam:
“he ever bore hatred to Priam, for never had Priam bestowed
any honour upon him for his valour. ”[1464]
His companion chiefs, the Antenoridæ, and Antenor, and myself, escaped
on account of the hospitality which the latter had shown to Menelaus.
Sophocles, in his play, The Capture of Troy, says, that a panther’s skin
was placed before Antenor’s door as a signal that his house should be
spared from plunder. Antenor and [CAS. 600] [CAS. 608] his four sons,
together with the surviving Heneti, are said to have escaped into
Thrace, and thence into Henetica on the Adriatic;[1465] but Æneas, with
his father Anchises and his son Ascanius, are said to have collected a
large body of people, and to have set sail. Some writers say that he
settled about the Macedonian Olympus; according to others he founded
Capuæ,[1466] near Mantineia in Arcadia, and that he took the name of the
city from Capys. There is another account, that he disembarked at
Ægesta[1467] in Sicily, with Elymus, a Trojan, and took possession of
Eryx[1468] and Lilybæus,[1469] and called the rivers about Ægesta
Scamander and Simoïs; that from Sicily he went to Latium, and settled
there in obedience to an oracle enjoining him to remain wherever he
should eat his table. This happened in Latium, near Lavinium, when a
large cake of bread which was set down instead of, and for want of, a
table, was eaten together with the meat that was laid upon it.
Homer does not agree either with these writers or with what is said
respecting the founders of Scepsis. For he represents Æneas as remaining
at Troy, succeeding to the kingdom, and delivering the succession to his
children’s children after the extinction of the race of Priam:
“the son of Saturn hated the family of Priam: henceforward
Æneas shall reign over the Trojans, and his children’s
children to late generations. ”[1470]
In this manner not even the succession of Scamandrius could be
maintained. He disagrees still more with those writers who speak of his
wanderings as far as Italy, and make him end his days in that country.
Some write the verse thus:
“The race of Æneas and his children’s children,” meaning the Romans,
“shall rule over all nations. ”
54. The Socratic philosophers, Erastus, Coriscus, and Neleus, the son of
Coriscus, a disciple of Aristotle, and Theophrastus, were natives of
Scepsis. Neleus succeeded to the possession of the library of
Theophrastus, which included that of Aristotle; for Aristotle gave his
library, and left his school, to Theophrastus. Aristotle[1471] was the
first person with whom we are acquainted who made a collection of books,
and suggested to the kings of Ægypt the formation of a library.
Theophrastus left his library to Neleus, who carried it to Scepsis, and
bequeathed it to some ignorant persons who kept the books locked up,
lying in disorder. When the Scepsians understood that the Attalic kings,
on whom the city was dependent, were in eager search for books, with
which they intended to furnish the library at Pergamus, they hid theirs
in an excavation under-ground; at length, but not before they had been
injured by damp and worms, the descendants of Neleus sold the books of
Aristotle and Theophrastus for a large sum of money to Apellicon of
Teos. Apellicon[1472] was rather a lover of books than a philosopher;
when therefore he attempted to restore the parts which had been eaten
and corroded by worms, he made alterations in the original text and
introduced them into new copies; he moreover supplied the defective
parts unskilfully, and published the books full of errors. It was the
misfortune of the ancient Peripatetics, those after Theophrastus, that
being wholly unprovided with the books of Aristotle, with the exception
of a few only, and those chiefly of the exoteric[1473] kind, they were
unable to philosophize according [CAS. 609] to the principles of the
system, and merely occupied themselves in elaborate discussions on
common places. Their successors however, from the time that these books
were published, philosophized, and propounded the doctrine of Aristotle
more successfully than their predecessors, but were under the necessity
of advancing a great deal as probable only, on account of the multitude
of errors contained in the copies.
Even Rome contributed to this increase of errors; for immediately on the
death of Apellicon, Sylla, who captured Athens, seized the library of
Apellicon. When it was brought to Rome, Tyrannion,[1474] the grammarian,
who was an admirer of Aristotle, courted the superintendent of the
library and obtained the use of it. Some vendors of books, also,
employed bad scribes and neglected to compare the copies with the
original. This happens in the case of other books which are copied for
sale both here and at Alexandreia.
This may suffice on this subject.
55. Demetrius the grammarian, whom we have frequently mentioned, was a
native of Scepsis. He composed a comment on the catalogue of the Trojan
forces. He was contemporary with Crates and Aristarchus. He was
succeeded by Metrodorus,[1475] who changed from being a philosopher to
engage in public affairs. His writings are for the most part in the
style of the rhetoricians. He employed a new and striking kind of
phraseology. Although he was poor, yet, in consequence of the reputation
which he had acquired, he married a rich wife at Chalcedon, and acquired
the surname of the Chalcedonian. He paid great court to Mithridates
Eupator, whom he accompanied with his wife on a voyage to Pontus, and
received from him distinguished honours. He was appointed to preside
over a tribunal where the party condemned by the judge had no power of
appeal to the king. His prosperity however was not lasting, for he
incurred the enmity of some very unjust persons, and deserted from the
king at the very time that he was despatched on an embassy to Tigranes
the Armenian. Tigranes sent him back much against his inclination to
Eupator, who was then flying from his hereditary kingdom. Metrodorus
died on the road, either in consequence of orders from the king, or by
natural disease, for both causes of his death are stated.
So much then respecting Scepsis.
56. Next to Scepsis are Andeira, Pioniæ, and Gargaris. There is found at
Andeira a stone, which when burnt becomes iron. It is then put into a
furnace together with some kind of earth, when it distils a mock silver,
(Pseudargyrum,) or with the addition of copper it becomes the compound
called oreichalcum. There is found a mock silver near Tmolus also. These
places and those about Assus were occupied by the Leleges.
57. Assus is a strong place, and well fortified with walls. There is a
long and perpendicular ascent from the sea and the harbour, so that the
verse of Stratonicus the citharist seems to be applicable to it; [CAS.
610]
“Go to Assus, if you mean to reach quickly the confines of death. ”
The harbour is formed of a large mole.
Cleanthes, the Stoic philosopher, was a native of this place. He
succeeded to the school of Zeno of Citium, and left it to Chrysippus of
Soli. Here also Aristotle resided for some time, on account of his
relationship to Hermeas the tyrant. Hermeas was an eunuch, servant of a
money-changer. When he was at Athens he was the hearer both of Plato and
of Aristotle. On his return he became the associate in the tyranny of
his master, who attacked the places near Atarneus and Assus. He
afterwards succeeded his master, sent for both Aristotle and Xenocrates,
and treated them with kindness. He even gave his niece in marriage to
Aristotle. But Memnon of Rhodes, who was at that time general in the
service of the Persians, invited to his house Hermeas, under the mask of
friendship, and on pretence of business. He seized Hermeas, and sent him
to the king, who ordered him to be hanged. The philosophers, avoiding
places in possession of the Persians, escaped by flight.
58. Myrsilus says that Assus was founded by Methymnæans; but according
to Hellanicus it was an Æolian city, like Gargara and Lamponia of the
Æolians. Gargara[1476] was founded from Assus; it was not well peopled,
for the kings introduced settlers from Miletopolis,[1477] which they
cleared of its inhabitants, so that Demetrius the Scepsian says that,
instead of being Æolians, the people became semi-barbarians. In the time
of Homer all these places belonged to Leleges, whom some writers
represent as Carians, but Homer distinguishes them,
“Near the sea are Carians, and Pæonians with curved bows,
Leleges, and Caucones. ”[1478]
The Leleges were therefore a different people from the Carians, and
lived between the people subject to Æneas and the Cilicians, as they are
called by the poet. After being plundered by Achilles, they removed to
Caria, and occupied the country about the present Halicarnassus.
59. Pedasus, the city which they abandoned, is no longer in existence.
But in the interior of the country belonging to the people of
Halicarnassus there was a city called by them Pedasa, and the territory
has even now the name of Pedasis. It is said that this district
contained eight cities, occupied by the Leleges, who were formerly so
populous a nation as to possess Caria as far as Myndus, Bargylia, and a
great part of Pisidia. In later times, when they united with the Carians
in their expeditions, they were dispersed throughout the whole of
Greece, and the race became extinct.
Mausolus, according to Callisthenes, assembled in Halicarnassus[1479]
alone the inhabitants of six out of the eight cities, but allowed
Suangela and Myndus to remain untouched. Herodotus[1480] relates that
whenever anything unfortunate was about to befall the inhabitants of
Pedasus[1481] and the neighbourhood a beard appeared on the face of the
priestess of Minerva, and that this happened three times.
There is now existing in the territory of the Stratoniceis[1482] a small
town called Pedasum. There are to be seen throughout the whole of Caria
and at Miletus sepulchres, and fortifications, and vestiges of
settlements of the Leleges.
60. The tract of sea-coast following next after the Leleges was
occupied, according to Homer, by Cilicians, but at present it is
occupied by Adramytteni, Atarneitæ, and Pitanæi as far as the mouth of
the Caïcus. The Cilicians were divided into [CAS. 611] two dynasties,
as we have before said,[1483] the head of one was Eetion, the other
Mynes.
61. Homer says that Thebe was the city of Eetion;
“We went to Thebe, the sacred city of Eetion. ”[1484]
To him also belonged Chrysa, which contained the temple of Apollo
Smintheus, for Chryseïs was taken from Thebe;
“We went,”
he says,
“to Thebe, ravaged it, and carried everything away; the sons
of the Achæans divided the booty among themselves, but
selected for Atrides the beautiful Chryseïs. ”
Lyrnessus he calls the city of Mynes, for
“having plundered Lyrnessus, and destroyed the walls of
Thebe,”[1485]
Achilles slew Mynes and Epistrophus, so that when Bryseïs says,
“you suffered me not to weep when the swift Achilles slew my
husband, and laid waste the city of the divine Mynes,”[1486]
the poet cannot mean Thebe, for that belonged to Eetion, but Lyrnessus,
for both cities lay in what was afterwards called the plain of Thebe,
which, on account of its fertility, was a subject of contest among the
Mysians and Lydians formerly, and latterly among the Greeks who had
migrated from Æolis and Lesbos. At present Adramytteni possess the
greater part of it; there are Thebe and Lyrnessus, a strong place, but
both are deserted. One is situated at the distance of 60 stadia from
Adramyttium on one side, and the other 88 stadia on the other side.
62. In the Adramyttene district are Chrysa and Cilla. There is at
present near Thebe a place called Cilla, in which is a temple of Apollo
Cillæus. Beside it runs a river, which comes from Mount Ida. These
places are near Antandria. The Cillæum in Lesbos has its name from this
Cilla. There is also a mountain Cillæum between Gargara and Antandrus.
Daes of Colonæ says that the temple of Apollo Cillæus was founded at
Colonæ by the Æolians, who came by sea from Greece. At Chrysa also it is
said that there is a Cillæan Apollo, but it is uncertain whether it is
the same as Apollo Smintheus, or a different statue.
63. Chrysa is a small town on the sea-coast with a harbour. Near and
above it is Thebe. Here was the temple of Apollo Smintheus, and here
Chryseïs lived. The place at present is entirely abandoned. To the
present Chrysa, near Hamaxitus, was transferred the temple of the
Cilicians, one party of whom went to Pamphylia, the other to Hamaxitus.
Those who are not well acquainted with ancient histories say that
Chryses and Chryseïs lived there, and that Homer mentions the place. But
there is no harbour at this place, yet Homer says,
“but when they entered the deep harbour,”[1487]--
nor is the temple on the sea-coast, but Homer places it there;
“Chryseïs left the ship; then the sage Ulysses, leading her to
the altar, placed her in the hands of her beloved
father. ”[1488]
Nor is it near Thebe, but it is near it, according to Homer, for he
says, that Chryseïs was taken away from thence.
Nor is there any place of the name of Cilla in the district of the
Alexandreia, (Troas,) nor a temple of Apollo Cillæus, whereas the poet
joins them together:
“who art the guardian of Chrysa, and the divine Cilla. ”[1489]
But it is in the plain of Thebe that they are seen near together. The
voyage from the Cilician Chrysa to the Naustathmus (or naval station) is
about 700 stadia, and occupies a day, which is as much as Ulysses seems
to have completed; for immediately upon leaving the vessel he offers
sacrifice to the god, and being overtaken by the evening, remains there.
In the morning he sets sail. It is scarcely a third of the
above-mentioned distance from Hamaxitus, so that Ulysses could have
performed his sacrifice and have returned to the Naustathmus the same
day. There is also a monument of Cillus, a large mound, near the temple
of Apollo Cillæus. He is said to have been the charioteer of Pelops, and
to have had the chief command in these parts. Perhaps the country
Cilicia had its name from him, or he had his from the country.
64. The story about the Teucri, and the mice from whom the name of
Smintheus is derived, (for mice are called Sminthii,) must be
transferred to this place.
They [CAS. 613] excuse the derivation of titles from insignificant
objects by examples of this kind; as from the parnopes, which the Œtæans
call cornopes, Hercules had a surname, and was worshipped under the
title of Hercules Cornopion, because he had delivered them from locusts.
So the Erythræans, who live near the river Melius, worship Hercules
Ipoctonus, because he destroyed the ipes, or worms, which are
destructive to vines; for this pest is found everywhere except in the
country of the Erythræans. The Rhodians have in the island a temple of
Apollo Erythibius, so called from erysibe, (mildew,) and which they call
erythibe. Among the Æolians in Asia one of their months is called
Pornopion, for this name the Bœotians give to parnopes, (locusts,) and a
sacrifice is performed to Apollo Pornopion.
65. The country about Adramyttium is Mysia. It was once subject to
Lydians, and there are now Pylæ Lydiæ (or the Lydian Gates) at
Adramyttium, the city having been founded, it is said, by Lydians.
Astyra also, the village near Adramyttium, is said to belong to Mysia.
It was once a small city, in which was the temple of Artemis Astyrene,
situated in a grove. The Antandrians, in whose neighbourhood it is more
immediately situated, preside over it with great solemnity. It is
distant 20 stadia from the ancient Chrysa, which also has a temple in a
grove. There too is the Rampart of Achilles. 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.
