Assus and
Adramyttium
are considerable cities.
Strabo
[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. The northern harbour is
large, and deep, and protected by a mole. In front of both lies a small
island, which contains a part of the city. Mitylene is well provided
with everything.
3. It formerly produced celebrated men, as Pittacus, one of the Seven
Wise Men; Alcæus the poet, and his brother Antimenidas, who, according
to Alcæus, when fighting on the side of the Babylonians, achieved a
great exploit, and extricated them from their danger by killing
“a valiant warrior, the king’s wrestler, who was four cubits
in height. ”
Contemporary with these persons flourished Sappho, an extraordinary
woman; for at no period within memory has any woman been known at all to
be compared to her in poetry.
At this period Mitylene was ruled by many tyrants, in consequence of the
dissensions among the citizens. These dissensions are the subject of the
poems of Alcæus called Stasiotica (the Seditions). One of these tyrants
was Pittacus: Alcæus inveighed against him as well as against Myrsilus,
Megalagyrus[1504] the Cleanactidæ, and some others; nor was he [CAS.
617] himself clear from the imputation of favouring these political
changes. Pittacus himself employed monarchical power to dissolve the
despotism of the many, but, having done this, he restored the
independence of the city.
At a late period afterwards appeared Diophanes the rhetorician; in our
times Potamo, Lesbocles, Crinagoras, and Theophanes the historian. [1505]
The latter was versed in political affairs, and became the friend of
Pompey the Great, chiefly on account of his accomplishments and
assistance he afforded in directing to a successful issue all his
enterprises. Hence, partly by means of Pompey, partly by his own
exertions, he became an ornament to his country, and rendered himself
the most illustrious of all the Grecians. He left a son, Mark Pompey,
whom Augustus Cæsar appointed prefect of Asia, and who is now reckoned
among the number of the chief friends of Tiberius.
The Athenians were in danger of incurring irremediable disgrace by
passing a decree that all the Mitylenæans who had attained the age of
puberty should be put to death. They, however, recalled their
resolution, and the counter-decree reached their generals only one day
before the former order was to be executed.
4. Pyrrha is in ruins. But the suburb is inhabited, and has a port,
whence to Mitylene is a passage of 80 stadia. Next after Pyrrha is
Eressus. [1506] It is situated upon a hill, and extends to the sea.
Thence to Sigrium 28 stadia.
Eressus was the birth-place of Theophrastus, and of Phanias, Peripatetic
philosophers, disciples of Aristotle. Theophrastus was called Tyrtamus
before his name was changed by Aristotle to Theophrastus, thus getting
rid of the cacophony of the former name, and at the same time expressing
the beauty of his elocution, for Aristotle made all his disciples
eloquent, but Theophrastus the most eloquent of them all.
Antissa[1507] is next to Sigrium. It is a city with a harbour. Then
follows Methymna, of which place Arion was a native, who, as Herodotus
relates the story, after having been thrown into the sea by pirates,
escaped safe to Tænarus on the back of a dolphin. He played on the
cithara and sang to it. Terpander, who practised the same kind of music,
was a native of this island. He was the first person that used the lyre
with seven instead of four strings, as is mentioned in the verses
attributed to him:
“we have relinquished the song adapted to four strings, and
shall cause new hymns to resound on a seven-stringed cithara. ”
The historian Hellanicus, and Callias, who has commented on Sappho and
Alcæus, were Lesbians.
5. Near the strait situated between Asia and Lesbos there are about
twenty small islands, or, according to Timosthenes, forty. They are
called Hecatonnesoi,[1508] a compound name like Peloponnesus, the letter
N being repeated by custom in such words as Myonnesus, Proconnesus,
Halonnesus, so that Hecatonnesoi is of the same import as Apollonnesoi,
since Apollo is called Hecatus;[1509] for along the whole of this coast,
as far as Tenedos, Apollo is held in the highest veneration, and
worshipped under the names of Smintheus, Cillæus, Gryneus, or other
appellations.
Near these islands is Pordoselene, which contains a city of the same
name, and in front of this city is another island[1510] larger than
this, and a city of the same name, uninhabited, in which there is a
temple of Apollo.
6. Some persons, in order to avoid the indecorum couched in these
names,[1511] say that we ought to read in that place Poroselene, and to
call Aspordenum, the rocky and barren mountain near Pergamum, Asporenum,
and the temple there of the mother of the gods the temple of the
Asporene mother of the gods; what then are we to say to the names
Pordalis, Saperdes, [CAS. 619] Perdiccas, and to this word in the verse
of Simonides, “with clothes dripping with wet,” (πορδάκοισιν for
διαβρόχοις,) and in the old comedy somewhere, “the country is πορδακόν,
for λιμνάζον, or ‘marshy. ’”
Lesbos is at the same distance, rather less than 500 stadia, from
Tenedos, Lemnos, and Chios.
CHAPTER III.
1. Since there subsisted so great an affinity among the Leleges and
Cilicians with the Trojans, the reason is asked, why these people are
not included in Homer’s Catalogue. Perhaps it is that, on account of the
loss of their leaders and the devastation of the cities, the few
Cilicians that were left placed themselves under the command of Hector.
For Eetion and his sons are said to have been killed before the
Catalogue is mentioned;
“The hero Achilles,”
says Andromache,
“killed my father, and destroyed Thebe, with its lofty gates,
the city of the Cilicians. ”--
“I had seven brothers in the palace; all of them went in one
day to Hades, for they were all slain by the swift-footed
divine Achilles. ”[1512]
Those also under the command of Mynes had lost their leaders, and their
city;
“He slew Mynes, and Epistrophus,
And destroyed the city of the divine Mynes. ”[1513]
He describes the Leleges as present at the battles;
“on the sea-coast are Carians, and Pæonians with curved bows,
Leleges, and Caucones. ”[1514]
And in another place,
“he killed Satnius with a spear--the son of Enops, whom a
beautiful nymph Neis bore to Enops, when he was tending herds
near the banks of Satnioeis,”[1515]
for they had not been so completely annihilated as to prevent their
forming a body of people of themselves, since their king still survived,
“Altes, king of the war-loving Leleges,”[1516]
nor was the city entirely razed, for he adds,
“who commanded the lofty city Pedasus. ”[1517]
He has passed them over in the Catalogue, not considering the body of
people large enough to have a place in it; or he comprised them among
the people under the command of Hector, as being allied to one another.
For Lycaon, the brother of Hector, says,
“my mother Laothoë, daughter of the old Altes, brought me into
the world to live but a short time; of Altes, king of the
war-loving Leleges. ”[1518]
Such is the reasoning, from probability, which this subject admits.
2. We reason from probability when we endeavour to determine by the
words of the poet the exact bounds of the territory of the Cilicians,
Pelasgi, and of the people situated between them, namely, the Ceteii,
who were under the command of Eurypylus.
We have said of the Cilicians and of the people under the command of
Eurypylus what can be said about them, and that they are bounded by the
country near the Caïcus.
It is agreeable to probability to place the Pelasgi next to these
people, according to the words of Homer and other histories. Homer says,
“Hippothous led the tribes of the Pelasgi, who throw the
spear, who inhabited the fertile Larisa; their leaders were
Hippothous and Pylæus, a son of Mars, both sons of Lethus the
Pelasgian, son of Teutamis. ”[1519]
He here represents the numbers of Pelasgi as considerable, for he does
not speak of them as a tribe, but “tribes,” and specifies the place of
their settlement, Larisa. There are many places of the name of Larisa,
but we must understand some one of those near the Troad, and perhaps we
might not be wrong in supposing it to be that near Cyme; for of three
places of the name of Larisa, that near Hamaxitus is quite in sight of
Ilium and very near it, at the distance of about 200 stadia, so that
Hippothous could not be said consistently with probability to fall, in
the contest about Patroclus,[CAS. 620]
“far from Larisa,”[1520]
at least from this Larisa, but rather from the Larisa near Cyme, for
there are about 1000 stadia between them. The third Larisa is a village
in the Ephesian district in the plain of the Caÿster; which, it is said,
was formerly a city containing a temple of Apollo Larisæus, and situated
nearer to Mount Tmolus than to Ephesus. It is distant from Ephesus 180
stadia, so that it might be placed rather under the government of the
Mæonians. The Ephesians, having afterwards acquired more power, deprived
the Mæonians, whom we now call Lydians, of a large part of their
territory; but not even this, but the other rather, would be the Larisa
of the Pelasgi. For we have no strong evidence that the Larisa in the
plain of Caÿster was in existence at that time, nor even of the
existence of Ephesus. But all the Æolian history, relating to a period a
little subsequent to the Trojan times, proves the existence of the
Larisa near Cyme.
3. It is said that the people who set out from Phricium, a Locrian
mountain above Thermopylæ, settled on the spot where Cyme is now
situated; and finding the Pelasgi, who had been great sufferers in the
Trojan war, yet still in possession of Larisa, distant about 70 stadia
from Cyme, erected as a defence against them what is at present called
Neon-teichos, (or the New Wall,) 30 stadia from Larisa. They took
Larisa,[1521] founded Cyme, and transferred to it as settlers the
surviving Pelasgi. Cyme is called Cyme Phriconis from the Locrian
mountain, and Larisa also (Phriconis): it is now deserted.
That the Pelasgi were a great nation history, it is said, furnishes
other evidence. For Menecrates of Elæa, in his work on the foundation of
cities, says, that the whole of the present Ionian coast, beginning from
Mycale and the neighbouring islands, were formerly inhabited by Pelasgi.
But the Lesbians say, that they were commanded by Pylæus, who is called
by the poet the chief of the Pelasgi, and that it was from him that the
mountain in their country had the name of Pylæum.
The Chians also say, that the Pelasgi from Thessaly were their
founders. The Pelasgi, however, were a nation disposed to wander, ready
to remove from settlement to settlement, and experienced both a great
increase and a sudden diminution of strength and numbers, particularly
at the time of the Æolian and Ionian migrations to Asia.
4. Something peculiar took place among the Larisæans in the plain of
Caÿster, in the Phriconis, and in Thessaly. All of them occupied a
country, the soil of which has been accumulated by rivers, by the
Caÿster,[1522] the Hermus,[1523] and the Peneus. [1524]
At Larisa Phriconis Piasus is said to receive great honours. He was
chief of the Pelasgi, and enamoured, it is said, of his daughter Larisa,
whom he violated, and was punished for the outrage. She discovered him
leaning over a cask of wine, seized him by his legs, lifted him up, and
dropped him down into the vessel. These are ancient accounts.
5. To the present Æolian cities we must add Ægæ and Temnus, the
birth-place of Hermagoras, who wrote a book on the Art of Rhetoric.
These cities are on the mountainous country which is above the district
of Cyme, and that of the Phocæans and Smyrnæans, beside which flows the
Hermus.
Not far from these cities is Magnesia under Sipylus, made a free city by
a decree of the Romans. The late earthquakes have injured this place. To
the opposite parts, which incline towards the Caïcus to Cyme from
Larisa, in passing to which the river Hermus is crossed, are 70 stadia;
thence to Myrina 40 stadia; thence to Grynium 40 stadia, and thence to
Elæa. But, according to Artemidorus, next to Cyme is Adæ; then, at the
distance of 40 stadia, a promontory, which they call Hydra, that forms
the Elaïtic Gulf with the opposite promontory Harmatus. The breadth of
the entrance is about 80 stadia, including the winding of the bays.
Myrina, situated at 60 stadia, is an Æolian city with a harbour, then
the harbour of Achæans, where are altars of the twelve gods; next is
Grynium, a small city [of the Myrinæans], a temple of Apollo, an ancient
oracle, and a costly fane of white marble. To Myrina are 40 stadia; then
70 stadia to Elæa, which has a harbour and a station for vessels of the
Attalic kings, founded [CAS. 622] by Menestheus and the Athenians who
accompanied him in the expedition against Ilium.
The places about Pitane, and Atarneus, and others in this quarter, which
follow Elæa, have been already described.
6. Cyme is the largest and best of the Æolian cities. This and Lesbos
may be considered the capitals of the other cities, about 30 in number,
of which not a few exist no longer. The inhabitants of Cyme are
ridiculed for their stupidity, for, according to some writers, it is
said of them that they only began to let the tolls of the harbour three
hundred years after the foundation of their city, and that before this
time the town had never received any revenue of the kind; hence the
report that it was late before they perceived that they inhabited a city
lying on the sea.
There is another story, that, having borrowed money in the name of the
state, they pledged their porticos as security for the payment of it.
Afterwards, the money not having been repaid on the appointed day, they
were prohibited from walking in them. The creditors, through shame, gave
notice by the crier whenever it rained, that the inhabitants might take
shelter under the porticos. As the crier called out, “Go under the
porticos,” a report prevailed that the Cymæans did not perceive that
they were to go under the porticos when it rained unless they had notice
from the public crier. [1525]
Ephorus, a man indisputably of high repute, a disciple of Isocrates the
orator, was a native of this city. He was an historian, and wrote the
book on Inventions.
Hesiod the poet, who long preceded Ephorus, was a native of this place,
for he himself says, that his father Dius left Cyme in Æolis and
migrated to the Bœotians;
“he dwelt near Helicon in Ascra, a village wretched in winter,
in summer oppressive, and not pleasant at any season. ”
It is not generally admitted that Homer was from Cyme, for many dispute
about him.
The name of the city was derived from an Amazon, as that of Myrina was
the name of an Amazon, buried under the Batieia in the plain of Troy;
“men call this Batieia; but the immortals, the tomb of the
bounding Myrina. ”[1526]
Ephorus is bantered, because, having no achievements of his countrymen
to commemorate among the other exploits in his history, and yet being
unwilling to pass them over unnoticed, he exclaims,
“at this time the Cymæans were at peace. ”
After having described the Trojan and Æolian coasts, we ought next to
notice cursorily the interior of the country as far as Mount Taurus,
observing the same order.
CHAPTER IV.
1. Pergamum[1527] has a kind of supremacy among these places. It is a
city of note, and flourished during a long period under the Attalic
kings; and here we shall begin our description, premising a short
account of her kings, their origin, and the end of their career.
Pergamum was the treasure-hold of Lysimachus, the son of Agathocles, and
one of the successors of Alexander. It is situated on the very summit of
the mountain which terminates in a sharp peak like a pine-cone.
Philetærus of Tyana was intrusted with the custody of this stronghold,
and of the treasure, which amounted to nine thousand talents. He became
an eunuch in childhood by compression, for it happened that a great body
of people being assembled to see a funeral, the nurse who was carrying
Philetærus, then an infant, in her arms, was entangled in the crowd, and
pressed upon to such a degree that the child was mutilated.
He was therefore an eunuch, but having been well educated he was thought
worthy of this trust. He continued for [CAS. 623] some time well
affected to Lysimachus, but upon a disagreement with Arsinoë, the wife
of Lysimachus, who had falsely accused him, he caused the place to
revolt, and suited his political conduct to the times, perceiving them
to be favourable to change. Lysimachus, overwhelmed with domestic
troubles, was compelled to put to death Agathocles his son. Seleucus
Nicator invaded his country and destroyed his power, but was himself
treacherously slain by Ptolemy Ceraunus.
During these disorders the eunuch remained in the fortress, continually
employing the policy of promises and other courtesies with those who
were the strongest and the nearest to himself. He thus continued master
of the stronghold for twenty years.
2. He had two brothers, the elder of whom was Eumenes, the younger
Attalus. Eumenes had a son of the same name, who succeeded to the
possession of Pergamum, and was then sovereign of the places around, so
that he overcame in a battle near Sardes[1528] Antiochus, the son of
Seleucus, and died after a reign of two-and-twenty years.
Attalus, the son of Attalus and Antiochis, daughter of Achæus, succeeded
to the kingdom. He was the first person who was proclaimed king after a
victory, which he obtained in a great battle with the Galatians. He
became an ally of the Romans, and, in conjunction with the Rhodian
fleet, assisted them in the war against Philip. He died in old age,
having reigned forty-three years. He left four sons by Apollonis, a
woman of Cyzicus,--Eumenes, Attalus, Philetærus, and Athenæus. The
younger sons continued in a private station, but Eumenes, the elder, was
king. He was an ally of the Romans in the war with Antiochus the Great,
and with Perseus; he received from the Romans all the country within the
Taurus which had belonged to Antiochus. Before this time there were not
under the power of Pergamum many places which reached the sea at the
Elaïtic and the Adramyttene Gulfs. Eumenes embellished the city, he
ornamented the Nicephorium[1529] with a grove, enriched it with votive
offerings and a library, and by his care raised the city of Pergamum to
its present magnificence. After he had reigned forty-nine years he left
the kingdom to Attalus, his son by Stratonice, daughter of Ariarathus,
king of Cappadocia.
He appointed as guardian of his son, who was very young,[1530] and as
regent of the kingdom, his brother Attalus, who died an old man after a
reign of twenty years, having performed many glorious actions. He
assisted Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, in the war against Alexander,
the son of Antiochus, and was the ally of the Romans in the war against
the Pseudo-Philip.
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. The northern harbour is
large, and deep, and protected by a mole. In front of both lies a small
island, which contains a part of the city. Mitylene is well provided
with everything.
3. It formerly produced celebrated men, as Pittacus, one of the Seven
Wise Men; Alcæus the poet, and his brother Antimenidas, who, according
to Alcæus, when fighting on the side of the Babylonians, achieved a
great exploit, and extricated them from their danger by killing
“a valiant warrior, the king’s wrestler, who was four cubits
in height. ”
Contemporary with these persons flourished Sappho, an extraordinary
woman; for at no period within memory has any woman been known at all to
be compared to her in poetry.
At this period Mitylene was ruled by many tyrants, in consequence of the
dissensions among the citizens. These dissensions are the subject of the
poems of Alcæus called Stasiotica (the Seditions). One of these tyrants
was Pittacus: Alcæus inveighed against him as well as against Myrsilus,
Megalagyrus[1504] the Cleanactidæ, and some others; nor was he [CAS.
617] himself clear from the imputation of favouring these political
changes. Pittacus himself employed monarchical power to dissolve the
despotism of the many, but, having done this, he restored the
independence of the city.
At a late period afterwards appeared Diophanes the rhetorician; in our
times Potamo, Lesbocles, Crinagoras, and Theophanes the historian. [1505]
The latter was versed in political affairs, and became the friend of
Pompey the Great, chiefly on account of his accomplishments and
assistance he afforded in directing to a successful issue all his
enterprises. Hence, partly by means of Pompey, partly by his own
exertions, he became an ornament to his country, and rendered himself
the most illustrious of all the Grecians. He left a son, Mark Pompey,
whom Augustus Cæsar appointed prefect of Asia, and who is now reckoned
among the number of the chief friends of Tiberius.
The Athenians were in danger of incurring irremediable disgrace by
passing a decree that all the Mitylenæans who had attained the age of
puberty should be put to death. They, however, recalled their
resolution, and the counter-decree reached their generals only one day
before the former order was to be executed.
4. Pyrrha is in ruins. But the suburb is inhabited, and has a port,
whence to Mitylene is a passage of 80 stadia. Next after Pyrrha is
Eressus. [1506] It is situated upon a hill, and extends to the sea.
Thence to Sigrium 28 stadia.
Eressus was the birth-place of Theophrastus, and of Phanias, Peripatetic
philosophers, disciples of Aristotle. Theophrastus was called Tyrtamus
before his name was changed by Aristotle to Theophrastus, thus getting
rid of the cacophony of the former name, and at the same time expressing
the beauty of his elocution, for Aristotle made all his disciples
eloquent, but Theophrastus the most eloquent of them all.
Antissa[1507] is next to Sigrium. It is a city with a harbour. Then
follows Methymna, of which place Arion was a native, who, as Herodotus
relates the story, after having been thrown into the sea by pirates,
escaped safe to Tænarus on the back of a dolphin. He played on the
cithara and sang to it. Terpander, who practised the same kind of music,
was a native of this island. He was the first person that used the lyre
with seven instead of four strings, as is mentioned in the verses
attributed to him:
“we have relinquished the song adapted to four strings, and
shall cause new hymns to resound on a seven-stringed cithara. ”
The historian Hellanicus, and Callias, who has commented on Sappho and
Alcæus, were Lesbians.
5. Near the strait situated between Asia and Lesbos there are about
twenty small islands, or, according to Timosthenes, forty. They are
called Hecatonnesoi,[1508] a compound name like Peloponnesus, the letter
N being repeated by custom in such words as Myonnesus, Proconnesus,
Halonnesus, so that Hecatonnesoi is of the same import as Apollonnesoi,
since Apollo is called Hecatus;[1509] for along the whole of this coast,
as far as Tenedos, Apollo is held in the highest veneration, and
worshipped under the names of Smintheus, Cillæus, Gryneus, or other
appellations.
Near these islands is Pordoselene, which contains a city of the same
name, and in front of this city is another island[1510] larger than
this, and a city of the same name, uninhabited, in which there is a
temple of Apollo.
6. Some persons, in order to avoid the indecorum couched in these
names,[1511] say that we ought to read in that place Poroselene, and to
call Aspordenum, the rocky and barren mountain near Pergamum, Asporenum,
and the temple there of the mother of the gods the temple of the
Asporene mother of the gods; what then are we to say to the names
Pordalis, Saperdes, [CAS. 619] Perdiccas, and to this word in the verse
of Simonides, “with clothes dripping with wet,” (πορδάκοισιν for
διαβρόχοις,) and in the old comedy somewhere, “the country is πορδακόν,
for λιμνάζον, or ‘marshy. ’”
Lesbos is at the same distance, rather less than 500 stadia, from
Tenedos, Lemnos, and Chios.
CHAPTER III.
1. Since there subsisted so great an affinity among the Leleges and
Cilicians with the Trojans, the reason is asked, why these people are
not included in Homer’s Catalogue. Perhaps it is that, on account of the
loss of their leaders and the devastation of the cities, the few
Cilicians that were left placed themselves under the command of Hector.
For Eetion and his sons are said to have been killed before the
Catalogue is mentioned;
“The hero Achilles,”
says Andromache,
“killed my father, and destroyed Thebe, with its lofty gates,
the city of the Cilicians. ”--
“I had seven brothers in the palace; all of them went in one
day to Hades, for they were all slain by the swift-footed
divine Achilles. ”[1512]
Those also under the command of Mynes had lost their leaders, and their
city;
“He slew Mynes, and Epistrophus,
And destroyed the city of the divine Mynes. ”[1513]
He describes the Leleges as present at the battles;
“on the sea-coast are Carians, and Pæonians with curved bows,
Leleges, and Caucones. ”[1514]
And in another place,
“he killed Satnius with a spear--the son of Enops, whom a
beautiful nymph Neis bore to Enops, when he was tending herds
near the banks of Satnioeis,”[1515]
for they had not been so completely annihilated as to prevent their
forming a body of people of themselves, since their king still survived,
“Altes, king of the war-loving Leleges,”[1516]
nor was the city entirely razed, for he adds,
“who commanded the lofty city Pedasus. ”[1517]
He has passed them over in the Catalogue, not considering the body of
people large enough to have a place in it; or he comprised them among
the people under the command of Hector, as being allied to one another.
For Lycaon, the brother of Hector, says,
“my mother Laothoë, daughter of the old Altes, brought me into
the world to live but a short time; of Altes, king of the
war-loving Leleges. ”[1518]
Such is the reasoning, from probability, which this subject admits.
2. We reason from probability when we endeavour to determine by the
words of the poet the exact bounds of the territory of the Cilicians,
Pelasgi, and of the people situated between them, namely, the Ceteii,
who were under the command of Eurypylus.
We have said of the Cilicians and of the people under the command of
Eurypylus what can be said about them, and that they are bounded by the
country near the Caïcus.
It is agreeable to probability to place the Pelasgi next to these
people, according to the words of Homer and other histories. Homer says,
“Hippothous led the tribes of the Pelasgi, who throw the
spear, who inhabited the fertile Larisa; their leaders were
Hippothous and Pylæus, a son of Mars, both sons of Lethus the
Pelasgian, son of Teutamis. ”[1519]
He here represents the numbers of Pelasgi as considerable, for he does
not speak of them as a tribe, but “tribes,” and specifies the place of
their settlement, Larisa. There are many places of the name of Larisa,
but we must understand some one of those near the Troad, and perhaps we
might not be wrong in supposing it to be that near Cyme; for of three
places of the name of Larisa, that near Hamaxitus is quite in sight of
Ilium and very near it, at the distance of about 200 stadia, so that
Hippothous could not be said consistently with probability to fall, in
the contest about Patroclus,[CAS. 620]
“far from Larisa,”[1520]
at least from this Larisa, but rather from the Larisa near Cyme, for
there are about 1000 stadia between them. The third Larisa is a village
in the Ephesian district in the plain of the Caÿster; which, it is said,
was formerly a city containing a temple of Apollo Larisæus, and situated
nearer to Mount Tmolus than to Ephesus. It is distant from Ephesus 180
stadia, so that it might be placed rather under the government of the
Mæonians. The Ephesians, having afterwards acquired more power, deprived
the Mæonians, whom we now call Lydians, of a large part of their
territory; but not even this, but the other rather, would be the Larisa
of the Pelasgi. For we have no strong evidence that the Larisa in the
plain of Caÿster was in existence at that time, nor even of the
existence of Ephesus. But all the Æolian history, relating to a period a
little subsequent to the Trojan times, proves the existence of the
Larisa near Cyme.
3. It is said that the people who set out from Phricium, a Locrian
mountain above Thermopylæ, settled on the spot where Cyme is now
situated; and finding the Pelasgi, who had been great sufferers in the
Trojan war, yet still in possession of Larisa, distant about 70 stadia
from Cyme, erected as a defence against them what is at present called
Neon-teichos, (or the New Wall,) 30 stadia from Larisa. They took
Larisa,[1521] founded Cyme, and transferred to it as settlers the
surviving Pelasgi. Cyme is called Cyme Phriconis from the Locrian
mountain, and Larisa also (Phriconis): it is now deserted.
That the Pelasgi were a great nation history, it is said, furnishes
other evidence. For Menecrates of Elæa, in his work on the foundation of
cities, says, that the whole of the present Ionian coast, beginning from
Mycale and the neighbouring islands, were formerly inhabited by Pelasgi.
But the Lesbians say, that they were commanded by Pylæus, who is called
by the poet the chief of the Pelasgi, and that it was from him that the
mountain in their country had the name of Pylæum.
The Chians also say, that the Pelasgi from Thessaly were their
founders. The Pelasgi, however, were a nation disposed to wander, ready
to remove from settlement to settlement, and experienced both a great
increase and a sudden diminution of strength and numbers, particularly
at the time of the Æolian and Ionian migrations to Asia.
4. Something peculiar took place among the Larisæans in the plain of
Caÿster, in the Phriconis, and in Thessaly. All of them occupied a
country, the soil of which has been accumulated by rivers, by the
Caÿster,[1522] the Hermus,[1523] and the Peneus. [1524]
At Larisa Phriconis Piasus is said to receive great honours. He was
chief of the Pelasgi, and enamoured, it is said, of his daughter Larisa,
whom he violated, and was punished for the outrage. She discovered him
leaning over a cask of wine, seized him by his legs, lifted him up, and
dropped him down into the vessel. These are ancient accounts.
5. To the present Æolian cities we must add Ægæ and Temnus, the
birth-place of Hermagoras, who wrote a book on the Art of Rhetoric.
These cities are on the mountainous country which is above the district
of Cyme, and that of the Phocæans and Smyrnæans, beside which flows the
Hermus.
Not far from these cities is Magnesia under Sipylus, made a free city by
a decree of the Romans. The late earthquakes have injured this place. To
the opposite parts, which incline towards the Caïcus to Cyme from
Larisa, in passing to which the river Hermus is crossed, are 70 stadia;
thence to Myrina 40 stadia; thence to Grynium 40 stadia, and thence to
Elæa. But, according to Artemidorus, next to Cyme is Adæ; then, at the
distance of 40 stadia, a promontory, which they call Hydra, that forms
the Elaïtic Gulf with the opposite promontory Harmatus. The breadth of
the entrance is about 80 stadia, including the winding of the bays.
Myrina, situated at 60 stadia, is an Æolian city with a harbour, then
the harbour of Achæans, where are altars of the twelve gods; next is
Grynium, a small city [of the Myrinæans], a temple of Apollo, an ancient
oracle, and a costly fane of white marble. To Myrina are 40 stadia; then
70 stadia to Elæa, which has a harbour and a station for vessels of the
Attalic kings, founded [CAS. 622] by Menestheus and the Athenians who
accompanied him in the expedition against Ilium.
The places about Pitane, and Atarneus, and others in this quarter, which
follow Elæa, have been already described.
6. Cyme is the largest and best of the Æolian cities. This and Lesbos
may be considered the capitals of the other cities, about 30 in number,
of which not a few exist no longer. The inhabitants of Cyme are
ridiculed for their stupidity, for, according to some writers, it is
said of them that they only began to let the tolls of the harbour three
hundred years after the foundation of their city, and that before this
time the town had never received any revenue of the kind; hence the
report that it was late before they perceived that they inhabited a city
lying on the sea.
There is another story, that, having borrowed money in the name of the
state, they pledged their porticos as security for the payment of it.
Afterwards, the money not having been repaid on the appointed day, they
were prohibited from walking in them. The creditors, through shame, gave
notice by the crier whenever it rained, that the inhabitants might take
shelter under the porticos. As the crier called out, “Go under the
porticos,” a report prevailed that the Cymæans did not perceive that
they were to go under the porticos when it rained unless they had notice
from the public crier. [1525]
Ephorus, a man indisputably of high repute, a disciple of Isocrates the
orator, was a native of this city. He was an historian, and wrote the
book on Inventions.
Hesiod the poet, who long preceded Ephorus, was a native of this place,
for he himself says, that his father Dius left Cyme in Æolis and
migrated to the Bœotians;
“he dwelt near Helicon in Ascra, a village wretched in winter,
in summer oppressive, and not pleasant at any season. ”
It is not generally admitted that Homer was from Cyme, for many dispute
about him.
The name of the city was derived from an Amazon, as that of Myrina was
the name of an Amazon, buried under the Batieia in the plain of Troy;
“men call this Batieia; but the immortals, the tomb of the
bounding Myrina. ”[1526]
Ephorus is bantered, because, having no achievements of his countrymen
to commemorate among the other exploits in his history, and yet being
unwilling to pass them over unnoticed, he exclaims,
“at this time the Cymæans were at peace. ”
After having described the Trojan and Æolian coasts, we ought next to
notice cursorily the interior of the country as far as Mount Taurus,
observing the same order.
CHAPTER IV.
1. Pergamum[1527] has a kind of supremacy among these places. It is a
city of note, and flourished during a long period under the Attalic
kings; and here we shall begin our description, premising a short
account of her kings, their origin, and the end of their career.
Pergamum was the treasure-hold of Lysimachus, the son of Agathocles, and
one of the successors of Alexander. It is situated on the very summit of
the mountain which terminates in a sharp peak like a pine-cone.
Philetærus of Tyana was intrusted with the custody of this stronghold,
and of the treasure, which amounted to nine thousand talents. He became
an eunuch in childhood by compression, for it happened that a great body
of people being assembled to see a funeral, the nurse who was carrying
Philetærus, then an infant, in her arms, was entangled in the crowd, and
pressed upon to such a degree that the child was mutilated.
He was therefore an eunuch, but having been well educated he was thought
worthy of this trust. He continued for [CAS. 623] some time well
affected to Lysimachus, but upon a disagreement with Arsinoë, the wife
of Lysimachus, who had falsely accused him, he caused the place to
revolt, and suited his political conduct to the times, perceiving them
to be favourable to change. Lysimachus, overwhelmed with domestic
troubles, was compelled to put to death Agathocles his son. Seleucus
Nicator invaded his country and destroyed his power, but was himself
treacherously slain by Ptolemy Ceraunus.
During these disorders the eunuch remained in the fortress, continually
employing the policy of promises and other courtesies with those who
were the strongest and the nearest to himself. He thus continued master
of the stronghold for twenty years.
2. He had two brothers, the elder of whom was Eumenes, the younger
Attalus. Eumenes had a son of the same name, who succeeded to the
possession of Pergamum, and was then sovereign of the places around, so
that he overcame in a battle near Sardes[1528] Antiochus, the son of
Seleucus, and died after a reign of two-and-twenty years.
Attalus, the son of Attalus and Antiochis, daughter of Achæus, succeeded
to the kingdom. He was the first person who was proclaimed king after a
victory, which he obtained in a great battle with the Galatians. He
became an ally of the Romans, and, in conjunction with the Rhodian
fleet, assisted them in the war against Philip. He died in old age,
having reigned forty-three years. He left four sons by Apollonis, a
woman of Cyzicus,--Eumenes, Attalus, Philetærus, and Athenæus. The
younger sons continued in a private station, but Eumenes, the elder, was
king. He was an ally of the Romans in the war with Antiochus the Great,
and with Perseus; he received from the Romans all the country within the
Taurus which had belonged to Antiochus. Before this time there were not
under the power of Pergamum many places which reached the sea at the
Elaïtic and the Adramyttene Gulfs. Eumenes embellished the city, he
ornamented the Nicephorium[1529] with a grove, enriched it with votive
offerings and a library, and by his care raised the city of Pergamum to
its present magnificence. After he had reigned forty-nine years he left
the kingdom to Attalus, his son by Stratonice, daughter of Ariarathus,
king of Cappadocia.
He appointed as guardian of his son, who was very young,[1530] and as
regent of the kingdom, his brother Attalus, who died an old man after a
reign of twenty years, having performed many glorious actions. He
assisted Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, in the war against Alexander,
the son of Antiochus, and was the ally of the Romans in the war against
the Pseudo-Philip.
