It was from this place that the
Heracleidæ
set out on their return to
Peloponnesus.
Peloponnesus.
Strabo
This people made an
irruption into the country, and took possession of Crisa, and restored
it. The plain, which had been consecrated by the Amphictyons, was
diligently cultivated, but strangers were more harshly treated than by
the Crisæans before them. The Amphictyons punished them and restored the
territory to the god. The temple at Delphi is now much neglected,
although formerly it was held in the greatest veneration. Proofs of the
respect which was paid to it are, the treasuries constructed at the
expense of communities and princes, where was deposited the wealth
dedicated to sacred uses, the works of the most eminent artists, the
Pythian games, and a multitude of celebrated oracles.
5. The place where the oracle is delivered, is said to be a deep hollow
cavern, the entrance to which is not very wide. From it rises up an
exhalation which inspires a divine frenzy: over the mouth is placed a
lofty tripod on which the Pythian priestess ascends to receive the
exhalation, after which she gives the prophetic response in verse or
prose. The prose is adapted to measure by poets who are in the service
of the temple. Phemonoë is said to have been the first Pythian
prophetess, and both the prophetess and the city obtained their
appellation from the word Pythesthai, to inquire, (πυθέσθαι).
The first syllable was lengthened, as in the words ἀθάνατος, ἀκάματος,
διάκονος.
[420][The establishment of cities, and the honour paid to common
temples, are due to the same feelings and causes. Men were collected
together into cities and nations, from a natural disposition to society,
and for the purpose of mutual assistance. Hence common temples were
resorted to, festivals celebrated, and meetings held of the general body
of the people. For friendship commences from and is promoted by
attending the same feasts, uniting in the same worship, and dwelling
under the same roof. The advantages derived from these meetings were
naturally estimated from the number of persons who attended them, as
also from the number of places from whence they came. ]
6. Although the highest honour was paid to this temple on account of the
oracle, (for it was the most exempt of any from deception,) yet its
reputation was owing in part to its situation in the centre of all
Greece, both within and without the isthmus. It was also supposed to be
the centre of the habitable [CAS. 420] earth, and was called the Navel
of the earth. A fable, referred to by Pindar, was invented, according to
which two eagles, (or, as others say, two crows,) set free by Jupiter,
one from the east, the other from the west, alighted together at Delphi.
In the temple is seen a sort of navel wrapped in bands, and surmounted
by figures representing the birds of the fable.
7. As the situation of Delphi is convenient, persons easily assembled
there, particularly those from the neighbourhood, of whom the
Amphictyonic body is composed. It is the business of this body to
deliberate on public affairs, and to it is more particularly intrusted
the guardianship of the temple for the common good; for large sums of
money were deposited there, and votive offerings, which required great
vigilance and religious care. The early history of this body is unknown,
but among the names which are recorded, Acrisius appears to have been
the first who regulated its constitution, to have determined what cities
were to have votes in the council, and to have assigned the number of
votes and mode of voting. To some cities he gave a single vote each, or
a vote to two cities, or to several cities conjointly. He also defined
the class of questions which might arise between the different cities,
which were to be submitted to the decision of the Amphictyonic tribunal;
and subsequently many other regulations were made, but this body, like
that of the Achæans, was finally dissolved.
At first twelve cities are said to have assembled, each of which sent a
Pylagoras. The convention was held twice a year, in spring and autumn.
But latterly a greater number of cities assembled. They called both the
vernal and the autumnal convention Pylæan, because it was held at Pylæ,
which has the name also of Thermopylæ. The Pylagoræ sacrificed to Ceres.
In the beginning, the persons in the neighbourhood only assembled, or
consulted the oracle, but afterwards people repaired thither from a
distance for this purpose, sent gifts, and constructed treasuries, as
Crœsus, and his father Alyattes, some of the Italians also, and the
Siceli (Sicilians).
8. But the wealth, being an object of cupidity, was guarded with
difficulty, although dedicated to sacred uses. At present, however,
whatever it might have been, the temple at Delphi is exceedingly poor.
Some of the offerings have been taken away for the sake of the money,
but the greater part remain there. It is true that the temple was once
very opulent, as Homer testifies;
“Nor all the wealth, which the marble threshold of Phœbus
Apollo, the Archer, (Aphetor,)[421] contains in the rocky
Pytho. ”[422]
The treasuries indicate its riches, and the plunder committed by the
Phocians, which gave rise to the Phocic or Sacred war, as it was called.
It is however supposed that a spoliation of the temple must have taken
place at some more remote period, when the wealth mentioned by Homer
disappeared; for no vestige of it whatever was preserved to later times,
when Onomarchus and Phayllus pillaged the temple, as the property [then]
removed was of a more recent date than that referred to by the poet. For
there were once deposited in the treasuries, offerings from spoils,
bearing inscriptions with the names of the donors, as of Gyges, of
Crœsus, of the Sybaritæ, of the Spinetæ on the Adriatic, and of others
also. It would be unbecoming to suppose[423] that modern and ancient
treasures were confounded together: other places pillaged by these
people confirm this view.
Some persons, however, understanding the word Aphetor to signify
treasure, and the threshold of the aphetor the repository of the
treasure under-ground, say, that this wealth was buried beneath the
temple, and that Onomarchus and his companions attempted to dig it up by
night; violent shocks of an earthquake caused them to fly out of the
temple, and desist from their excavation; thus others were impressed
with a dread of making similar attempts.
9. Of the shrines, the winged shrine[424] is to be placed among fabulous
stories. The second is said to have been the workmanship of Trophonius
and Agamedes, but the present shrine[425] was built by the Amphictyons.
A tomb of Neoptolemus is shown in the sacred enclosure. It was built
according [CAS. 421] to the injunction of an oracle. Neoptolemus was
killed by Machæreus, a Delphian, when, as the fable goes, he was seeking
redress from the god for the murder of his father, but, probably, he was
preparing to pillage the temple. Branchus, who presided over the temple
at Didyma, is said to have been a descendant of Machæreus.
10. There was anciently a contest held at Delphi, of players on the
cithara, who executed a pæan in honour of the god. It was instituted by
Delphians. But after the Crisæan war the Amphictyons, in the time of
Eurylochus, established contests for horses, and gymnastic sports, in
which the victor was crowned. These were called Pythian games. The
players[426] on the cithara were accompanied by players on the flute,
and by citharists,[427] who performed without singing. They performed a
strain (Melos),[428] called the Pythian mood (Nomos). [429] It consisted
of five parts; the anacrusis, the ampeira, cataceleusmus, iambics and
dactyls, and pipes. [430] Timosthenes, the commander of the fleet of the
Second Ptolemy, and who was the author of a work in ten books on
Harbours, composed a melos. His object was to celebrate in this melos
the contest of Apollo with the serpent Python. The anacrusis was
intended to express the prelude; the ampeira, the first onset of the
contest; the cataceleusmus, the contest itself; the iambics and dactyls
denoted the triumphal strain on obtaining the victory, together with
musical measures, of which the dactyl is peculiarly appropriated to
praise, and the use of the iambic to insult and reproach; the syringes
or pipes described the death, the players imitating the hissings of the
expiring monster. [431]
11. Ephorus, whom we generally follow, on account of his exactness in
these matters, (as Polybius, a writer of repute, testifies,) seems to
proceed contrary to his proposed plan, and to the promise which he made
at the beginning of his work. For after having censured those writers
who are fond of intermixing fable with history, and after having spoken
in praise of truth, he introduces, with reference to this oracle, a
grave declaration, that he considers truth preferable at all times, but
especially in treating subjects of this kind. For it is absurd, he says,
if, in other things, we constantly follow this practice, but that when
we come to speak of the oracle, which of all others is the most exempt
from deception, we should introduce tales so incredible and false. Yet
immediately afterwards he says, that it is the received opinion that
Apollo, by the aid of Themis, established this oracle with a view to
benefit the human race. He then explains these benefits, by saying, that
men were invited to pursue a more civilized mode of life, and were
taught maxims of wisdom by oracles; by injunctions to perform or to
abstain, or by positive refusal to attend to the prayers of petitioners.
Some, he says, suppose, that the god himself in a bodily form directs
these things; others, that he communicates an intimation of his will to
men [by words].
12. And lower down, when speaking of the Delphians and their origin, he
says, that certain persons, called Parnassii, an indigenous tribe,
anciently inhabited Parnassus, about which time Apollo, traversing the
country, reclaimed men from their savage state, by inducing them to
adopt a more civilized mode of life and subsistence; that, setting out
from Athens on his way to Delphi, he took the same road along which the
Athenians at present conduct the procession of the Pythias; that when he
arrived at the Panopeis, he put to death Tityus, who was master of the
district, a violent and lawless man; that the Parnassii having joined
him informed him of Python, another desperate man, surnamed the Dragon.
Whilst he was despatching this man with his arrows, they shouted, Hie
Paian;[432] whence has been transmitted the custom of singing the Pæan
before the onset of a battle; that after the death of the Python the
Delphians burnt even his tent, as they still continue to burn a tent in
memorial of these events. Now what can be more fabulous than Apollo
discharging his arrows, chastising Tityi and Pythons, his journey from
Athens to Delphi, and his travels over the whole country? If he did not
consider these as fables, why did he call the fabulous Themis a woman,
and the fabulous dragon a man, unless he intended to confound the
provinces of history and fable. His account of the Ætolians is similar
to this. After having [CAS. 423] asserted that their country was never
ravaged at any period, he says, that at one time it was inhabited by
Ætolians, who had expelled the Barbarians; that at another time, Ætolus,
together with the Epeii from Elis, inhabited it; [that Ætolus was
overthrown by the Epeii,] and these again by Alcmæon and Diomedes.
I now return to the Phocians.
13. Immediately on the sea-coast, next after Anticyra,[433] and
behind[434] it, is the small city Marathus; then a promontory,
Pharygium, which has a shelter for vessels; then the harbour at the
farthest end, called Mychus,[435] from the accident of its situation
between Helicon[436] and Ascra.
Nor is Abæ,[437] the seat of an oracle, far from these places, nor
Ambrysus,[438] nor Medeon, of the same name as a city in Bœotia.
In the inland parts, next after Delphi, towards the east is Daulis,[439]
a small town, where, it is said, Tereus, the Thracian, was prince; and
there they say is the scene of the fable of Philomela and Procne;
Thucydides lays it there; but other writers refer it to Megara. The name
of the place is derived from the thickets there, for they call thickets
Dauli. Homer calls it Daulis, but subsequent writers Daulia, and the
words
“they who occupied Cyparissus,”[440]
are understood in a double sense; some persons supposing it to have its
name from the tree of the country, but others from a village situated
below the Lycoreian territory.
14. Panopeus, the present Phanoteus, the country of Epeius, is on the
confines of the district of Lebadeia. Here the fable places the abode of
Tityus. But Homer says, that the Phæacians conducted Rhadamanthus to
Eubœa,
“in order to see Tityus, son of the earth;”[441]
they show also in the island a cave called Elarium, from Elara the
mother of Tityus, and an Heroum of Tityus, and some kind of honours are
spoken of, which are paid to him.
Near Lebadeia is Trachin, having the same name as that in Œtæa; it is a
small Phocian town. The inhabitants are called Trachinii.
15. Anemoreia[442] has its name from a physical accident, to which it is
liable. It is exposed to violent gusts of wind from a place called
Catopterius,[443] a precipitous mountain, extending from Parnassus. It
was a boundary between Delphi and the Phocians, when the Lacedæmonians
made the Delphians separate themselves from the common body of the
Phocians,[444] and permitted them to form an independent state.
Some call the place Anemoleia; it was afterwards called by others
Hyampolis,[445] (and also Hya,) whither we said the Hyantes were
banished from Bœotia. It is situated quite in the interior, near
Parapotamii, and is a different place from Hyampea on Parnassus.
Elateia[446] is the largest of the Phocian cities, but Homer was not
acquainted with it, for it is later than his times. It is conveniently
situated to repel incursions on the side of Thessaly. Demosthenes[447]
points out the advantage of its position, in speaking of the confusion
which suddenly arose, when a messenger arrived to inform the Prytaneis
of the capture of Elateia.
16. Parapotamii is a settlement on the Cephissus, in the neighbourhood
of Phanoteus, Chæroneia, and Elateia. This place, according to
Theopompus, is distant from Chæroneia about 40 stadia, and is the
boundary between the Ambryseis, Panopeis, and Daulieis. It is situated
at the entrance from Bœotia to the Phocians, upon an eminence of
moderate height, between Parnassus and the mountain [Hadylium, where
there is an open space] of 5 stadia in extent, through which runs the
Cephissus, affording on each side a narrow pass. This river has its
source at Lilæa, a Phocian city, as Homer testifies;[CAS. 424]
“they who occupied Lilæa, near the source of the Cephissus;”[448]
and empties itself into the lake Copais. But Hadylium extends 60 stadia,
as far as Hyphanteium, on which Orchomenus is situated. Hesiod also
enlarges on the river and its stream, how it takes through the whole of
Phocis an oblique and serpentine course;
“which, like a serpent, winds along Panopeus and the strong
Glechon, and through Orchomenus. ”[449]
The narrow pass near Parapotamii, or Parapotamia, (for the name is
written both ways,) was disputed in [the Phocian war,] for this is the
only entrance [into Phocis]. [450]
There is a Cephissus in Phocis, another at Athens, and another at
Salamis. There is a fourth and a fifth at Sicyon and at Scyrus; [a sixth
at Argos, having its source in the Lyrceium]. [451] At Apollonia,[452]
also, near Epidamnus,[453] there is near the Gymnasium a spring, which
is called Cephissus.
17. Daphnus[454] is at present in ruins. It was at one time a city of
Phocis, and lay close to the Eubœan Sea; it divided the Locri
Epicnemidii into two bodies, namely, the Locri on the side of
Bœotia,[455] and the Locri on the side of Phocis, which then extended
from sea to sea. A proof of this is the Schedieum, [in Daphnus,] called
the tomb of Schedius. [456] [It has been already said] that Daphnus
[divides] Locris into two parts, [in such a manner as to prevent] the
Epicnemidii and Opuntii from touching upon each other in any part. In
after-times Daphnus was included within the boundaries of the [Opuntii].
On the subject of Phocis, this may suffice.
CHAPTER IV.
1. Locris, which we are now to describe, follows next in order.
It is divided into two parts, one of which is occupied by the Locri
opposite Eubœa, and, as we have already said, formerly consisted of two
bodies, situated one on each side of Daphnus. The Locri Opuntii had
their surname from Opus,[457] the capital; the Epicnemidii from a
mountain called Cnemis. [458] The rest are the Locri Hesperii, who are
called also Locri Ozolæ. These are separated from the Locri Opuntii and
Epicnemidii by Parnassus, which lies between them, and by the Tetrapolis
of the Dorians. We shall first speak of the Opuntii.
2. Immediately after Halæ, where the Bœotian coast opposite Eubœa
terminates, is the Opuntian bay. Opus is the capital, as the inscription
intimates, which is engraved on the first of the five pillars at
Thermopylæ, near the Polyandrium:[459]
“Opoeis, the capital of the Locri, hides in its bosom those
who died in defence of Greece against the Medes. ”
It is distant from the sea about 15 stadia, and 60 from the naval
arsenal. The arsenal is Cynus,[460] a promontory, which forms the
boundary of the Opuntian bay. The latter is 40 stadia in extent. Between
Opus and Cynus is a fertile plain, opposite to Ædepsus in Eubœa, where
are the warm baths[461] of Hercules, and is separated by a strait of 160
stadia. Deucalion is said to have lived at Cynus. There also is shown
the tomb of Pyrrha; but that of Deucalion is at Athens. Cynus is distant
from Mount Cnemis about 50 stadia. The island Atalanta[462] is opposite
to Opus, having the [CAS. 425] same name as the island in front of
Attica. It is said, that some Opuntii are to be found in the Eleian
territory, whom it is not worth while to notice, except that they
pretend to trace some affinity subsisting between themselves and the
Locri Opuntii. Homer[463] says that Patroclus was from Opus, and that
having committed murder undesignedly, he fled to Peleus, but that the
father Menœtius remained in his native country; for it is to Opus that
Achilles promised Menœtius that he would bring back Patroclus on his
return from the Trojan expedition. [464] Not that Menœtius was king of
the Opuntii, but Ajax the Locrian, who, according to report, was born at
Narycus. The name of the person killed by Patroclus was Æanes; a grove,
called after him Æaneium, and a fountain, Æanis, are shown.
3. Next after Cynus is Alopē[465] and Daphnus, which last, we have said,
is in ruins. At Alopē is a harbour, distant from Cynus about 90 stadia,
and 120 from Elateia, in the interior of the country. But these belong
to the Maliac, which is continuous with the Opuntian Gulf.
4. Next to Daphnus, at the distance of about 20 stadia by sea, is
Cnemides, a strong place, opposite to which in Eubœa is Cenæum, a
promontory, looking towards the west and the Maliac Gulf, and separated
by a strait of nearly 20 stadia.
At Cnemides we are in the territory of the Locri Epicnemidii. Here are
the Lichades, as they are called, three islands, having their name from
Lichas; they lie in front of Cnemides. Other islands also are met with
in sailing along this coast, which we purposely pass over.
At the distance of 20 stadia from Cnemides is a harbour, above which at
the same distance, in the interior, is situated Thronium. [466] Then the
Boagrius, which flows beside Thronium, empties itself into the sea. It
has another name also, that of Manes. It is a winter torrent; whence its
bed may be crossed at times dry-shod, and at another it is two plethra
in width.
Then after these is Scarpheia, at a distance of 10 stadia from the sea,
and of 30 from Thronium, but at a little [less from its harbour. ][467]
Next are Nicæa and Thermopylæ.
5. It is not worth while to speak of any of the other cities. Of those
mentioned by Homer, Calliarus is no longer inhabited, it is now a
well-cultivated plain. Bessa, a sort of plain, does not now exist. It
has its name from an accidental quality, for it abounds with woods.
χώραν ἔχουσι Σκαρφιεῖς, &c. It ought to be written with a double s,
for it has its name from Bessa, a wooded valley, like Napē,[468] in
the plain of Methymna,[469] which Hellanicus, through ignorance of the
local circumstances, improperly calls Lapē; but the demus in Attica,
from which the burghers are called Besæenses, is written with a single
s.
6. Tarphē is situated upon a height, at the distance of 20 stadia from
[Thronium]. It has a territory, productive and well wooded; for this
place also has its name from its being thickly wooded. It is now called
Pharygæ. A temple of Juno Pharygæa is there, called so from the Argive
Juno at Pharygæ; and the inhabitants assert that they are of Argive
origin.
7. Homer does not mention, at least not in express words, the Locri
Hesperii, but only seems to distinguish them from the people of whom we
have spoken;
“Locri, who dwell beyond the sacred Eubœa;”[470]
as if there were other Locri. They occupied the cities Amphissa[471] and
Naupactus. [472] The latter still subsists near Antirrhium. [473] It has
its name from the ships that were built there, either because the
Heraclidæ constructed their fleet at this place, or because the Locri,
as Ephorus states, had built vessels there long before that time. At
present it belongs to the Ætolians, by a decree of Philip.
8. There also is Chalcis, mentioned by the poet[474] in the Ætolian
Catalogue. It is below Calydon. There also is the hill Taphiassus, on
which is the monument of Nessus, and of the other Centaurs. From the
putrefaction of the bodies of these people there flows, it is said, from
beneath the foot of that hill a stream of water, which exhales a fœtid
odour, and [CAS. 427] contains clots of blood. Hence also the nation
had the name of Ozolæ. [475]
Opposite Antirrhium is Molycreia,[476] a small Ætolian city.
Amphissa is situated at the extremity of the Crisæan plain. It was
razed, as we have said before, by the Amphictyons. Œanthia and Eupalium
belong to the Locri. The whole voyage along the coast of the Locri is a
little more than 200 stadia.
9. There is an Alope[477] both here among the Locri Ozolæ, as also among
the Epicnemidii, and in the Phthiotis. These are a colony of the
Epicnemidii, and the Epizephyrii a colony of the Ozolæ.
10. Ætolians are continuous with the Locri Hesperii, and the Ænianes,
who occupy Œta with the Epicnemidii, and between them Dorians. These
last are the people who inhabited the Tetrapolis, which is called the
capital of all the Dorians. They possessed the cities Erineus, Bœum,
Pindus, Cytinium. Pindus is situated above Erineus. A river of the same
name flows beside it, and empties itself into the Cephissus, not far
from Lilæa. Some writers call Pindus, Acyphas.
Ægimius, king of these Dorians, when an exile from his kingdom, was
restored, as they relate, by Hercules. He requited this favour after the
death of Hercules at Œta by adopting Hyllus, the eldest of the sons of
Hercules, and both he and his descendants succeeded him in the kingdom.
It was from this place that the Heracleidæ set out on their return to
Peloponnesus.
11. These cities were for some time of importance, although they were
small, and their territory not fruitful. They were afterwards neglected.
After what they suffered in the Phocian war and under the dominion of
the Macedonians, Ætolians, and Athamanes, it is surprising that even a
vestige of them should have remained to the time of the Romans.
It was the same with the Ænianes, who were exterminated by Ætolians and
Athamanes. The Ætolians were a very powerful people, and carried on war
together with the Acarnanians. The Athamanes were the last of the
Epeirotæ, who attained distinction when the rest were declining, and
acquired power by the assistance of their king Amynander. The Ænianes,
however, kept possession of Œta.
12. This mountain extends from Thermopylæ and the east, to the
Ambracian Gulf and the west; it may be said to cut at right angles the
mountainous tract, extending from Parnassus as far as Pindus, and to the
Barbarians who live beyond. The portion of this mountain verging towards
Thermopylæ[478] is called Œta; it is 200 stadia in length, rocky and
elevated, but the highest part is at Thermopylæ, for there it forms a
peak, and terminates with acute and abrupt rocks, continued to the sea.
It leaves a narrow passage for those who are going from Thessaly to
Locris.
13. This passage is called Pylæ, or gates, straits, and Thermopylæ,
because near the straits are hot springs, which are held in honour as
sacred to Hercules. The mountain above is called Callidromus; but some
writers call by the name of Callidromus the remaining part of the range
extending through Ætolia and Acarnania to the Ambracian Gulf.
At Thermopylæ within the straits are strongholds, as Nicæa, on the sea
of the Locri, Teichius and Heracleia above it, formerly called Trachin,
founded by the Lacedæmonians. Heracleia is distant from the ancient
Trachin about 6 stadia. Next follows Rhoduntia, strong by its position.
14. These places are rendered difficult of access by a rocky country,
and by bodies of water, forming ravines through which they pass. For
besides the Spercheius,[479] which flows past Anticyra, there is the
Dyras, which, it is said, endeavoured to extinguish the funeral pile of
Hercules, and another river, the Melas, distant about 5 stadia from
Trachin. Herodotus says,[480] that to the south of Trachin there is a
deep fissure, through which the Asopus, (which has the same name as
other rivers that we have mentioned,) empties itself into the sea
without the Pylæ, having received the river Phœnix which flows from the
south, and unites with it. The latter river bears the name of the hero,
whose tomb is shown near it. From the Asopus (Phœnix? ) to Thermopylæ are
15 stadia.
15. These places were of the greatest celebrity when they formed the
keys of the straits. There were frequent contests for the ascendency
between the inhabitants without and those within the straits. Philip
used to call Chalcis and Corinth the fetters of Greece with reference to
the opportunity which they afforded for invasions from Macedonia; and
persons in [CAS. 429] later times called both these places and
Demetrias “the fetters,” for Demetrias commanding Pelion and Ossa,
commanded also the passes at Tempe. Afterwards, however, when the whole
country was subject to one power, the passes were freely open to
all. [481]
16. It was at these straits that Leonidas and his companions, together
with a small body of persons from the neighbourhood, resisted the
numerous forces of the Persians, until the Barbarians, making a circuit
of the mountains along narrow paths, surrounded and cut them to pieces.
Their place of burial, the Polyandrium, is still to be seen there, and
the celebrated inscription sculptured on the Lacedæmonian pillar;
“Stranger, go tell Lacedæmon that we lie here in obedience to her laws. ”
17. There is also a large harbour here and a temple of Ceres, in which
the Amphictyons at the time of every Pylæan assembly offered sacrifice.
From the harbour to the Heracleian Trachin are 40 stadia by land, but by
sea to Cenæum[482] it is 70 stadia. The Spercheius empties itself
immediately without the Pylæ. To Pylæ from the Euripus are 530 stadia.
And here Locris terminates. The parts without the Pylæ towards the east,
and the Maliac Gulf, belong to the Thessalians; those towards the west,
to the Ætolians and Acarnanians. The Athamanes are extinct.
18. The Thessalians form the largest and most ancient community. One
part of them has been mentioned by Homer, and the rest by many other
writers. Homer constantly mentions the Ætolians under one name; he
places cities, and not nations dependent upon them, if we except the
Curetes, whom we must place in the division of Ætolians.
We must begin our account with the Thessalians, omitting very ancient
and fabulous stories, and what is not generally admitted, (as we have
done in other instances,) but propose to mention what appears suited to
our purpose.
CHAPTER V.
1. The sea-coast, extending from Thermopylæ to the mouths of the
Peneius,[483] and the extremities of Pelion, looking towards the east,
and the northern extremities of Eubœa, is that of Thessaly. The parts
opposite Eubœa and Thermopylæ are occupied by Malienses, and by Achæan
Phthiotæ; those towards Pelion by the Magnetes. This may be called the
eastern and maritime side of Thessaly. From either side from Pelion, and
the Peneius, towards the inland parts are Macedonians, who extend as far
as Pæonia, (Pindus? ) and the Epeirotic nations. From Thermopylæ, the
Œtæan and Ætolian mountains, which approach close to the Dorians, and
Parnassus, are parallel to the Macedonians. The side towards the
Macedonians may be called the northern side; the other, the southern.
There remains the western side, enclosed by Ætolians and Acarnanians, by
Amphilochians and Athamanes, who are Epirotæ; by the territory of the
Molotti, formerly said to be that of the Æthices, and, in short, by the
country about Pindus. Thessaly,[484] in the interior, is a plain country
for the most part, and has no mountains, except Pelion and Ossa. These
mountains rise to a considerable height, but do not encompass a large
tract of country, but terminate in the plains.
2. These are the middle parts of Thessaly, a district of very fertile
country, except that part of it which is overflowed by rivers. The
Peneius flows through the middle of the country, and receiving many
rivers, frequently overflows. Formerly, according to report, the plain
was a lake; it is enclosed on all sides inland by mountains, and the
sea-coast is more elevated than the plains. When a chasm was formed, at
the place now called Tempe, by shocks of an earthquake, and Ossa was
riven from Olympus, the Peneius flowed out through it to the sea, and
drained this tract of country. Still there remained the large lake
Nessonis, and the lake Bœbeis; which is of less extent than the
Nessonis, and nearer to the sea-coast.
3. [CAS. 430] Such then is Thessaly, which is divided into four parts,
Phthiotis, Hestiæotis, Thessaliotis, and Pelasgiotis.
Phthiotis comprises the southern parts, extending along Œta from the
Maliac and (or) Pylaïc Gulf[485] as far as Dolopia and Pindus,
increasing in breadth to Pharsalia and the Thessalian plains.
Hestiæotis comprises the western parts and those between Pindus and
Upper Macedonia; the rest is occupied by the inhabitants of the plains
below Hestiæotis, who are called Pelasgiotæ, and approach close to the
Lower Macedonians; by the [Thessalians] also, who possess the country
next in order, as far as the coast of Magnesia.
The names of many cities might here be enumerated, which are celebrated
on other accounts, but particularly as being mentioned by Homer; few of
them, however, but most of all Larisa, preserve their ancient
importance.
4. The poet having divided the whole of the country, which we call
Thessaly, into ten[486] parts and dynasties, and having taken in
addition some portion of the Œtæan and Locrian territory, and of that
also which is now assigned to the Macedonians, shows (what commonly
happened to every country) the changes which, entirely or in part, they
undergo according to the power possessed by their respective governors.
5. The poet first enumerates the Thessalians subject to Achilles, who
occupied the southern side, and adjoined Œta, and the Locri Epicnemidii;
“All who dwelt in Pelasgic Argos; they who occupied Alus,
Alope, and Trachin; they who possessed Phthia, and Hellas,
abounding with beautiful women, were called Myrmidones,
Hellenes, and Achæi. ”[487]
He joins together with these the people under the command of Phœnix, and
makes them compose one common expedition. The poet nowhere mentions the
Dolopian forces in the battles near Ilium, neither does he introduce
their leader Phœnix, as undertaking, like Nestor, dangerous enterprises.
But Phœnix is mentioned by others, as by Pindar,
“Who led a brave band of Dolopian slingers,
Who were to aid the javelins of the Danai, tamers of horses. ”
The words of the poet are to be understood according to the figure of
the grammarians, by which something is suppressed, for it would be
ridiculous for the king to engage in the expedition,
(“I live at the extremity of Phthia, chief of the Dolopians,”[488])
and his subjects not to accompany him. For [thus] he would not appear to
be a comrade of Achilles in the expedition, but only as the commander of
a small body of men, and a speaker, and if so, a counsellor. The verses
seem to imply this meaning, for they are to this effect,
“To be an eloquent speaker, and to achieve great deeds. ”[489]
From this it appears that Homer considered the forces under Achilles and
Phœnix as constituting one body; but the places mentioned as being under
the authority of Achilles, are subjects of controversy.
Some have understood Pelasgic Argos to be a Thessalian city, formerly
situated near Larisa, but now no longer in existence. Others do not
understand a city to be meant by this name, but the Thessalian plain,
and to have been so called by Abas, who established a colony there from
Argos.
6. With respect to Phthia, some suppose it to be the same as Hellas and
Achaia, and that these countries form the southern portion in the
division of Thessaly into two parts. But others distinguish Phthia and
Hellas. The poet seems to distinguish them in these verses;
“they who occupied Phthia and Hellas,”[490]
as if they were two countries. And, again,
“Then far away through wide Greece I fled and came to Phthia,”[491]
and,
“There are many Achæan women in Hellas and Phthia. ”[492]
The poet then makes these places to be two, but whether cities or
countries he does not expressly say. Some of the later writers, who
affirm that it is a country, suppose it to have extended from
Palæpharsalus to Thebæ Phthiotides. In this country also is Thetidium,
near both the ancient and the modern Pharsalus; and it is conjectured
from [CAS. 432] Thetidium that the country, in which it is situated,
was a part of that under the command of Achilles. Others, who regard it
as a city, allege that the Pharsalii show at the distance of 60 stadia
from their own city, a city in ruins, which they believe to be Hellas,
and two springs near it, Messeïs and Hypereia. But the Melitæenses say,
that at the distance of about 10 stadia from their city, was situated
Hellas on the other side of the Enipeus,[493] when their own city had
the name of Pyrrha, and that the Hellenes migrated from Hellas, which
was built in a low situation, to theirs. They adduce in proof of this
the tomb of Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, which is in their
market-place. For according to historians, Deucalion was king of
Phthiotis and of all Thessaly. The Enipeus flows from Othrys[494] beside
Pharsalus,[495] and empties itself into the Apidanus,[496] and the
latter into the Peneius.
Thus much, then, respecting the Hellenes.
7. The people under the command of Achilles, Protesilaus, and
Philoctetes, are called Phthii. The poet furnishes evidence of this.
Having recited in the Catalogue of those under the command of Achilles,
“the people of Phthia,”[497]
he represents them at the battle at the ships, as remaining in the ships
with Achilles, and inactive; but those under the command of Philoctetes,
as fighting with Medon [as their leader], and those under the command of
Protesilaus, with Podarces [as their chief]. Of these the poet speaks in
general terms;
“there were Bœoti and Iaones wearing long robes, Locri,
Phthii, and illustrious Epeii. ”[498]
But here he particularizes them;
“at the head of the Phthii fought Medon and Podarces, firm in
battle. These armed with breastplates fought together with
Bœoti, at the head of the magnanimous Phthii, keeping away the
enemy from the ships. ”[499]
Perhaps the people with Eurypylus were called Phthii, as they bordered
upon the country of the latter. At present, however, historians assign
to Magnesia the country about Ormenium, which was subject to Eurypylus,
and the whole of that subject to Philoctetes; but they regard the
country under the command of Protesilaus as belonging to Phthia, from
Dolopia and Pindus to the sea of Magnesia; but as far as the city
Antron, (now written in the plural number,) which was subject to
Protesilaus, beginning from Trachinia and Œta, is the width of the
territory belonging to Peleus and Achilles. But this is nearly the whole
length of the Maliac Gulf.
8. They entertain doubts respecting Halus and Alope, whether Homer means
the places which are now comprised in the Phthiotic government, or those
among the Locri, since the dominion of Achilles extended hither as well
as to Trachin and the Œtæan territory. For Halus and Halius, as well as
Alope, are on the coast of the Locri. But some substitute Halius for
Alope, and write the verse in this manner;
“they who inhabited Halus, and Halius, and Trachin. ”[500]
But the Phthiotic Halus lies under the extremity of the mountain Othrys,
which lies to the north of Phthiotis, and borders upon the mountain
Typhrestus and the Dolopians, and thence stretches along to the country
near the Maliac Gulf. Halus,[501] either masculine or feminine, for it
is used in both genders, is distant from Itonus[502] about 60 stadia.
Athamas founded Halus; it was destroyed, but subsequently [restored by
the Pharsalii]. It is situated above the Crocian plain, and the river
Amphrysus[503] flows by its walls. Below the Crocian plain lies Thebæ
Phthiotides; Halus likewise, which is in Achaia, is called Phthiotis;
this, as well as the foot of Mount Othrys, approaches close to the
Malienses. As Phylace too, which was under the command of Protesilaus,
so Halus also belongs to Phthiotis, which adjoins to the Malienses.
Halus is distant from Thebes about 100 stadia, and lies in the middle
between Pharsalus and Thebæ Phthiotides. Philip, however, took it from
the latter, and assigned it to the Pharsalii. Thus it happens, as we
have said before, that boundaries and the distribution of nations and
places are in a state of continual change. Thus Sophocles also called
Phthiotis, Trachinia, Artemidorus places Halus on the coast beyond the
Maliac Gulf, but as belonging to Phthiotis. For proceeding thence in the
direction of the Peneius, he places Pteleum after Antron, then Halus at
the distance of 110 stadia from Pteleum.
[CAS. 433] I have already spoken of Trachin, and described the nature of
the place. The poet mentions it by name.
9. As Homer frequently mentions the Spercheius as a river of the
country, having its source in the Typhrestus, a Dryopian mountain,
formerly called [Tymphrestus], and emptying itself near Thermopylæ,
between Trachin and Lamia,[504] he might imply that whatever parts of
the Maliac Gulf were either within or without the Pylæ, were subject to
Achilles.
The Spercheius is distant about 30 stadia from Lamia, which lies above a
plain, extending to the Maliac Gulf. That the Spercheius is a river of
the country [subject to Achilles], appears from the words of Achilles,
who says, that he had devoted his hair to the Spercheius; and from the
circumstance, that Menesthius, one of his commanders, was said to be the
son of Spercheius and the sister of Achilles.
It is probable that all the people under the command of Achilles and
Patroclus, and who had accompanied Peleus in his banishment from Ægina,
had the name of Myrmidons, but all the Phthiotæ were called Achæans.
10. They reckon in the Phthiotic district, which was subject to
Achilles, beginning from the Malienses, a considerable number of towns,
and among them Thebæ Phthiotides, Echinus, Lamia, near which the war was
carried on between the Macedonians and Antipater, against the Athenians.
In this war Leosthenes, the Athenian general, was killed, [and
Leonnatus,] one of the companions of Alexander the king. Besides the
above-mentioned towns, we must add [Narthac]ium, Erineus, Coroneia, of
the same name as the town in Bœotia, Melitæa, Thaumaci, Proerna,
Pharsalus, Eretria, of the same name as the Euboic town, Paracheloïtæ,
of the same name as those in Ætolia; for here also, near Lamia, is a
river Achelous, on the banks of which live the Paracheloïtæ.
This district, lying to the north, extended to the north-western
territory of the Asclepiadæ, and to the territory of Eurypylus and
Protesilaus, inclining to the east; on the south it adjoined the Œtæan
territory, which was divided into fourteen demi, and contained Heracleia
and Dryopis, which was once a community of four cities, (a Tetrapolis,)
like Doris, and accounted the capital of the Dryopes in Peloponnesus. To
the Œtæan district belong also the Acyphas, Parasopias, Œneiadæ, and
Anticyra, of the same name as the town among the Locri Hesperii. I do
not mean that these divisions always continued the same, for they
underwent various changes. The most remarkable, however, are worthy of
notice.
11. The poet with sufficient clearness describes the situation of the
Dolopes, as at the extremity of Phthia, and says that both they and the
Phthiotæ were under the command of the same chief, Peleus;
“I lived,” he says, “at the farthest part of Phthia, king of
the Dolopes. ”[505]
Peleus, however, had conferred on him the authority.
This region is close to Pindus, and the places about it, most of which
belong to the Thessalians. For in consequence of the renown and
ascendency of the Thessalians and Macedonians, those Epeirotæ, who
bordered nearest upon them, became, some voluntarily, others by force,
incorporated among the Macedonians and Thessalians. In this manner the
Athamanes, Æthices, and Talares were joined to the Thessalians, and the
Orestæ, Pelagones, and Elimiotæ to the Macedonians.
12. Pindus is a large mountain, having on the north Macedonia, on the
west Perrhæbi, settlers from another country, on the south Dolopes, [and
on the east Hestiæotis] which belongs to Thessaly. Close upon Pindus
dwelt Talares, a tribe of Molotti, detached from the Molotti about Mount
Tomarus, and Æthices, among whom the poet says the Centaurs took refuge
when expelled by Peirithous. [506] They are at present, it is said,
extinct. But this extinction is to be understood in two senses; either
the inhabitants have been exterminated, and the country deserted, or the
name of the nation exists no longer, or the community does not preserve
its ancient form. Whenever the community, which continues, is
insignificant, we do not think it worth while to record either its
existence or its change of name. But when it has any just pretensions to
notice, it is necessary to remark the change which it has undergone.
13. It remains for us to describe the tract of sea-coast subject to
Achilles: we begin from Thermopylæ, for we have spoken of the coast of
Locris, and of the interior.
Thermopylæ is separated from the Cenæum by a strait 70 stadia across.
Coasting beyond the Pylæ, it is at a distance from the Spercheius of
about 10, (60? ) and thence to Phalara of 20 stadia. Above Phalara, 50
stadia from the sea, lies the city of the [Lamians]. Then coasting along
the shore 100 stadia, we find above it, Echinus. At the distance [CAS.
435] of 20 stadia from the following tract of coast, in the interior, is
Larisa Cremaste, which has the name also of Larisa Pelasgia.
14. Then follows a small island, Myonnesus; next Antron; which was
subject to Protesilaus. Thus much concerning the territory subject to
Achilles.
As the poet, in naming the chiefs, and cities under their rule, has
divided the country into numerous well-known parts, and has given an
accurate account of the whole circuit of Thessaly, we shall follow him,
as before, in completing the description of this region.
Next to the people under the command of Achilles, he enumerates those
under the command of Protesilaus. They were situated, next, along the
sea-coast which was subject to Achilles, as far as Antron. The boundary
of the country under the command of Protesilaus, is determined by its
being situated without the Maliac Gulf, yet still in Phthiotis, though
not within Phthiotis subject to Achilles.
Phylacē[507] is near Thebæ Phthiotides, which was subject to
Protesilaus, as were also Halus, Larisa Cremaste, and Demetrium, all of
which lie to the east of Mount Othrys.
The Demetrium he speaks of[508] as an enclosure sacred to Ceres, and
calls it Pyrasus. Pyrasus was a city with a good harbour, having at the
distance of 2 stadia from it a grove, and a temple consecrated to Ceres.
It is distant from Thebæ 20 stadia. The latter is situated above
Pyrasus. Above Thebæ in the inland parts is the Crocian plain at the
extremity of the mountain Othrys. Through this plain flows the river
Amphrysus. Above it is the Itonus, where is the temple of the Itonian
Minerva, from which that in Bœotia has its name, also the river Cuarius.
[Of this river and] of Arnē we have spoken in our account of Bœotia.
These places are in Thessaliotis, one of the four divisions of all
Thessaly, in which were the possessions of Eurypylus. Phyllus, where is
a temple of the Phyllæan Apollo, Ichnæ, where the Ichnæan Themis is
worshipped, Cierus, and [all the places as far as] Athamania, are
included in Thessaliotis.
At Antron, in the strait near Eubœa, is a sunk rock, called
“the Ass of Antron. ” Next are Pteleum and Halus; next the temple of
Ceres, and Pyrasus in ruins; above these, Thebæ; then Pyrrha, a
promontory, and two small islands near, one of which is called Pyrrha,
the other Deucalion. Somewhere here ends the territory of Phthiotis.
15. The poet next mentions the people under Eumelus, and the continuous
tract of coast which now belongs to Magnesia, and the Pelasgiotis.
Pheræ is the termination of the Pelasgic plains towards Magnesia, which
plains extend as far as Pelion, a distance of 160 stadia. Pagasæ is
the naval arsenal of Pheræ, from which it is distant 90 stadia, and
20 from Iolcus. Iolcus has been razed from ancient times. It was from
this place that Pelias despatched Jason and the ship Argo. Pagasæ
had its name,[509] according to mythologists, from the building of
the ship Argo at this place. Others, with more probability, suppose
that the name of the place was derived from the springs, (πηγαί,)
which are very numerous and copious. Near it is Aphetæ, (so named) as
the starting-place[510] from which the Argonauts set off. Iolcus is
situated 7 stadia from Demetrias, overlooking the sea. Demetrias was
founded by Demetrius Poliorcetes, who called it after his own name. It
is situated between Nelia and Pagasæ on the sea. He collected there the
inhabitants of the neighbouring small cities, Nelia, Pagasæ, Ormenium,
and besides these, Rhizus, Sepias, Olizon, Bœbe, and Iolcus, which are
at present villages belonging to Demetrias. For a long time it was a
station for vessels, and a royal seat of the Macedonian kings. It had
the command of Tempe, and of both the mountains Pelion and Ossa. At
present its extent of power is diminished, yet it still surpasses all
the cities in Magnesia.
The lake Bœbeis[511] is near Pheræ,[512] and approaches close to the
extremities of Pelion and Magnesia.
irruption into the country, and took possession of Crisa, and restored
it. The plain, which had been consecrated by the Amphictyons, was
diligently cultivated, but strangers were more harshly treated than by
the Crisæans before them. The Amphictyons punished them and restored the
territory to the god. The temple at Delphi is now much neglected,
although formerly it was held in the greatest veneration. Proofs of the
respect which was paid to it are, the treasuries constructed at the
expense of communities and princes, where was deposited the wealth
dedicated to sacred uses, the works of the most eminent artists, the
Pythian games, and a multitude of celebrated oracles.
5. The place where the oracle is delivered, is said to be a deep hollow
cavern, the entrance to which is not very wide. From it rises up an
exhalation which inspires a divine frenzy: over the mouth is placed a
lofty tripod on which the Pythian priestess ascends to receive the
exhalation, after which she gives the prophetic response in verse or
prose. The prose is adapted to measure by poets who are in the service
of the temple. Phemonoë is said to have been the first Pythian
prophetess, and both the prophetess and the city obtained their
appellation from the word Pythesthai, to inquire, (πυθέσθαι).
The first syllable was lengthened, as in the words ἀθάνατος, ἀκάματος,
διάκονος.
[420][The establishment of cities, and the honour paid to common
temples, are due to the same feelings and causes. Men were collected
together into cities and nations, from a natural disposition to society,
and for the purpose of mutual assistance. Hence common temples were
resorted to, festivals celebrated, and meetings held of the general body
of the people. For friendship commences from and is promoted by
attending the same feasts, uniting in the same worship, and dwelling
under the same roof. The advantages derived from these meetings were
naturally estimated from the number of persons who attended them, as
also from the number of places from whence they came. ]
6. Although the highest honour was paid to this temple on account of the
oracle, (for it was the most exempt of any from deception,) yet its
reputation was owing in part to its situation in the centre of all
Greece, both within and without the isthmus. It was also supposed to be
the centre of the habitable [CAS. 420] earth, and was called the Navel
of the earth. A fable, referred to by Pindar, was invented, according to
which two eagles, (or, as others say, two crows,) set free by Jupiter,
one from the east, the other from the west, alighted together at Delphi.
In the temple is seen a sort of navel wrapped in bands, and surmounted
by figures representing the birds of the fable.
7. As the situation of Delphi is convenient, persons easily assembled
there, particularly those from the neighbourhood, of whom the
Amphictyonic body is composed. It is the business of this body to
deliberate on public affairs, and to it is more particularly intrusted
the guardianship of the temple for the common good; for large sums of
money were deposited there, and votive offerings, which required great
vigilance and religious care. The early history of this body is unknown,
but among the names which are recorded, Acrisius appears to have been
the first who regulated its constitution, to have determined what cities
were to have votes in the council, and to have assigned the number of
votes and mode of voting. To some cities he gave a single vote each, or
a vote to two cities, or to several cities conjointly. He also defined
the class of questions which might arise between the different cities,
which were to be submitted to the decision of the Amphictyonic tribunal;
and subsequently many other regulations were made, but this body, like
that of the Achæans, was finally dissolved.
At first twelve cities are said to have assembled, each of which sent a
Pylagoras. The convention was held twice a year, in spring and autumn.
But latterly a greater number of cities assembled. They called both the
vernal and the autumnal convention Pylæan, because it was held at Pylæ,
which has the name also of Thermopylæ. The Pylagoræ sacrificed to Ceres.
In the beginning, the persons in the neighbourhood only assembled, or
consulted the oracle, but afterwards people repaired thither from a
distance for this purpose, sent gifts, and constructed treasuries, as
Crœsus, and his father Alyattes, some of the Italians also, and the
Siceli (Sicilians).
8. But the wealth, being an object of cupidity, was guarded with
difficulty, although dedicated to sacred uses. At present, however,
whatever it might have been, the temple at Delphi is exceedingly poor.
Some of the offerings have been taken away for the sake of the money,
but the greater part remain there. It is true that the temple was once
very opulent, as Homer testifies;
“Nor all the wealth, which the marble threshold of Phœbus
Apollo, the Archer, (Aphetor,)[421] contains in the rocky
Pytho. ”[422]
The treasuries indicate its riches, and the plunder committed by the
Phocians, which gave rise to the Phocic or Sacred war, as it was called.
It is however supposed that a spoliation of the temple must have taken
place at some more remote period, when the wealth mentioned by Homer
disappeared; for no vestige of it whatever was preserved to later times,
when Onomarchus and Phayllus pillaged the temple, as the property [then]
removed was of a more recent date than that referred to by the poet. For
there were once deposited in the treasuries, offerings from spoils,
bearing inscriptions with the names of the donors, as of Gyges, of
Crœsus, of the Sybaritæ, of the Spinetæ on the Adriatic, and of others
also. It would be unbecoming to suppose[423] that modern and ancient
treasures were confounded together: other places pillaged by these
people confirm this view.
Some persons, however, understanding the word Aphetor to signify
treasure, and the threshold of the aphetor the repository of the
treasure under-ground, say, that this wealth was buried beneath the
temple, and that Onomarchus and his companions attempted to dig it up by
night; violent shocks of an earthquake caused them to fly out of the
temple, and desist from their excavation; thus others were impressed
with a dread of making similar attempts.
9. Of the shrines, the winged shrine[424] is to be placed among fabulous
stories. The second is said to have been the workmanship of Trophonius
and Agamedes, but the present shrine[425] was built by the Amphictyons.
A tomb of Neoptolemus is shown in the sacred enclosure. It was built
according [CAS. 421] to the injunction of an oracle. Neoptolemus was
killed by Machæreus, a Delphian, when, as the fable goes, he was seeking
redress from the god for the murder of his father, but, probably, he was
preparing to pillage the temple. Branchus, who presided over the temple
at Didyma, is said to have been a descendant of Machæreus.
10. There was anciently a contest held at Delphi, of players on the
cithara, who executed a pæan in honour of the god. It was instituted by
Delphians. But after the Crisæan war the Amphictyons, in the time of
Eurylochus, established contests for horses, and gymnastic sports, in
which the victor was crowned. These were called Pythian games. The
players[426] on the cithara were accompanied by players on the flute,
and by citharists,[427] who performed without singing. They performed a
strain (Melos),[428] called the Pythian mood (Nomos). [429] It consisted
of five parts; the anacrusis, the ampeira, cataceleusmus, iambics and
dactyls, and pipes. [430] Timosthenes, the commander of the fleet of the
Second Ptolemy, and who was the author of a work in ten books on
Harbours, composed a melos. His object was to celebrate in this melos
the contest of Apollo with the serpent Python. The anacrusis was
intended to express the prelude; the ampeira, the first onset of the
contest; the cataceleusmus, the contest itself; the iambics and dactyls
denoted the triumphal strain on obtaining the victory, together with
musical measures, of which the dactyl is peculiarly appropriated to
praise, and the use of the iambic to insult and reproach; the syringes
or pipes described the death, the players imitating the hissings of the
expiring monster. [431]
11. Ephorus, whom we generally follow, on account of his exactness in
these matters, (as Polybius, a writer of repute, testifies,) seems to
proceed contrary to his proposed plan, and to the promise which he made
at the beginning of his work. For after having censured those writers
who are fond of intermixing fable with history, and after having spoken
in praise of truth, he introduces, with reference to this oracle, a
grave declaration, that he considers truth preferable at all times, but
especially in treating subjects of this kind. For it is absurd, he says,
if, in other things, we constantly follow this practice, but that when
we come to speak of the oracle, which of all others is the most exempt
from deception, we should introduce tales so incredible and false. Yet
immediately afterwards he says, that it is the received opinion that
Apollo, by the aid of Themis, established this oracle with a view to
benefit the human race. He then explains these benefits, by saying, that
men were invited to pursue a more civilized mode of life, and were
taught maxims of wisdom by oracles; by injunctions to perform or to
abstain, or by positive refusal to attend to the prayers of petitioners.
Some, he says, suppose, that the god himself in a bodily form directs
these things; others, that he communicates an intimation of his will to
men [by words].
12. And lower down, when speaking of the Delphians and their origin, he
says, that certain persons, called Parnassii, an indigenous tribe,
anciently inhabited Parnassus, about which time Apollo, traversing the
country, reclaimed men from their savage state, by inducing them to
adopt a more civilized mode of life and subsistence; that, setting out
from Athens on his way to Delphi, he took the same road along which the
Athenians at present conduct the procession of the Pythias; that when he
arrived at the Panopeis, he put to death Tityus, who was master of the
district, a violent and lawless man; that the Parnassii having joined
him informed him of Python, another desperate man, surnamed the Dragon.
Whilst he was despatching this man with his arrows, they shouted, Hie
Paian;[432] whence has been transmitted the custom of singing the Pæan
before the onset of a battle; that after the death of the Python the
Delphians burnt even his tent, as they still continue to burn a tent in
memorial of these events. Now what can be more fabulous than Apollo
discharging his arrows, chastising Tityi and Pythons, his journey from
Athens to Delphi, and his travels over the whole country? If he did not
consider these as fables, why did he call the fabulous Themis a woman,
and the fabulous dragon a man, unless he intended to confound the
provinces of history and fable. His account of the Ætolians is similar
to this. After having [CAS. 423] asserted that their country was never
ravaged at any period, he says, that at one time it was inhabited by
Ætolians, who had expelled the Barbarians; that at another time, Ætolus,
together with the Epeii from Elis, inhabited it; [that Ætolus was
overthrown by the Epeii,] and these again by Alcmæon and Diomedes.
I now return to the Phocians.
13. Immediately on the sea-coast, next after Anticyra,[433] and
behind[434] it, is the small city Marathus; then a promontory,
Pharygium, which has a shelter for vessels; then the harbour at the
farthest end, called Mychus,[435] from the accident of its situation
between Helicon[436] and Ascra.
Nor is Abæ,[437] the seat of an oracle, far from these places, nor
Ambrysus,[438] nor Medeon, of the same name as a city in Bœotia.
In the inland parts, next after Delphi, towards the east is Daulis,[439]
a small town, where, it is said, Tereus, the Thracian, was prince; and
there they say is the scene of the fable of Philomela and Procne;
Thucydides lays it there; but other writers refer it to Megara. The name
of the place is derived from the thickets there, for they call thickets
Dauli. Homer calls it Daulis, but subsequent writers Daulia, and the
words
“they who occupied Cyparissus,”[440]
are understood in a double sense; some persons supposing it to have its
name from the tree of the country, but others from a village situated
below the Lycoreian territory.
14. Panopeus, the present Phanoteus, the country of Epeius, is on the
confines of the district of Lebadeia. Here the fable places the abode of
Tityus. But Homer says, that the Phæacians conducted Rhadamanthus to
Eubœa,
“in order to see Tityus, son of the earth;”[441]
they show also in the island a cave called Elarium, from Elara the
mother of Tityus, and an Heroum of Tityus, and some kind of honours are
spoken of, which are paid to him.
Near Lebadeia is Trachin, having the same name as that in Œtæa; it is a
small Phocian town. The inhabitants are called Trachinii.
15. Anemoreia[442] has its name from a physical accident, to which it is
liable. It is exposed to violent gusts of wind from a place called
Catopterius,[443] a precipitous mountain, extending from Parnassus. It
was a boundary between Delphi and the Phocians, when the Lacedæmonians
made the Delphians separate themselves from the common body of the
Phocians,[444] and permitted them to form an independent state.
Some call the place Anemoleia; it was afterwards called by others
Hyampolis,[445] (and also Hya,) whither we said the Hyantes were
banished from Bœotia. It is situated quite in the interior, near
Parapotamii, and is a different place from Hyampea on Parnassus.
Elateia[446] is the largest of the Phocian cities, but Homer was not
acquainted with it, for it is later than his times. It is conveniently
situated to repel incursions on the side of Thessaly. Demosthenes[447]
points out the advantage of its position, in speaking of the confusion
which suddenly arose, when a messenger arrived to inform the Prytaneis
of the capture of Elateia.
16. Parapotamii is a settlement on the Cephissus, in the neighbourhood
of Phanoteus, Chæroneia, and Elateia. This place, according to
Theopompus, is distant from Chæroneia about 40 stadia, and is the
boundary between the Ambryseis, Panopeis, and Daulieis. It is situated
at the entrance from Bœotia to the Phocians, upon an eminence of
moderate height, between Parnassus and the mountain [Hadylium, where
there is an open space] of 5 stadia in extent, through which runs the
Cephissus, affording on each side a narrow pass. This river has its
source at Lilæa, a Phocian city, as Homer testifies;[CAS. 424]
“they who occupied Lilæa, near the source of the Cephissus;”[448]
and empties itself into the lake Copais. But Hadylium extends 60 stadia,
as far as Hyphanteium, on which Orchomenus is situated. Hesiod also
enlarges on the river and its stream, how it takes through the whole of
Phocis an oblique and serpentine course;
“which, like a serpent, winds along Panopeus and the strong
Glechon, and through Orchomenus. ”[449]
The narrow pass near Parapotamii, or Parapotamia, (for the name is
written both ways,) was disputed in [the Phocian war,] for this is the
only entrance [into Phocis]. [450]
There is a Cephissus in Phocis, another at Athens, and another at
Salamis. There is a fourth and a fifth at Sicyon and at Scyrus; [a sixth
at Argos, having its source in the Lyrceium]. [451] At Apollonia,[452]
also, near Epidamnus,[453] there is near the Gymnasium a spring, which
is called Cephissus.
17. Daphnus[454] is at present in ruins. It was at one time a city of
Phocis, and lay close to the Eubœan Sea; it divided the Locri
Epicnemidii into two bodies, namely, the Locri on the side of
Bœotia,[455] and the Locri on the side of Phocis, which then extended
from sea to sea. A proof of this is the Schedieum, [in Daphnus,] called
the tomb of Schedius. [456] [It has been already said] that Daphnus
[divides] Locris into two parts, [in such a manner as to prevent] the
Epicnemidii and Opuntii from touching upon each other in any part. In
after-times Daphnus was included within the boundaries of the [Opuntii].
On the subject of Phocis, this may suffice.
CHAPTER IV.
1. Locris, which we are now to describe, follows next in order.
It is divided into two parts, one of which is occupied by the Locri
opposite Eubœa, and, as we have already said, formerly consisted of two
bodies, situated one on each side of Daphnus. The Locri Opuntii had
their surname from Opus,[457] the capital; the Epicnemidii from a
mountain called Cnemis. [458] The rest are the Locri Hesperii, who are
called also Locri Ozolæ. These are separated from the Locri Opuntii and
Epicnemidii by Parnassus, which lies between them, and by the Tetrapolis
of the Dorians. We shall first speak of the Opuntii.
2. Immediately after Halæ, where the Bœotian coast opposite Eubœa
terminates, is the Opuntian bay. Opus is the capital, as the inscription
intimates, which is engraved on the first of the five pillars at
Thermopylæ, near the Polyandrium:[459]
“Opoeis, the capital of the Locri, hides in its bosom those
who died in defence of Greece against the Medes. ”
It is distant from the sea about 15 stadia, and 60 from the naval
arsenal. The arsenal is Cynus,[460] a promontory, which forms the
boundary of the Opuntian bay. The latter is 40 stadia in extent. Between
Opus and Cynus is a fertile plain, opposite to Ædepsus in Eubœa, where
are the warm baths[461] of Hercules, and is separated by a strait of 160
stadia. Deucalion is said to have lived at Cynus. There also is shown
the tomb of Pyrrha; but that of Deucalion is at Athens. Cynus is distant
from Mount Cnemis about 50 stadia. The island Atalanta[462] is opposite
to Opus, having the [CAS. 425] same name as the island in front of
Attica. It is said, that some Opuntii are to be found in the Eleian
territory, whom it is not worth while to notice, except that they
pretend to trace some affinity subsisting between themselves and the
Locri Opuntii. Homer[463] says that Patroclus was from Opus, and that
having committed murder undesignedly, he fled to Peleus, but that the
father Menœtius remained in his native country; for it is to Opus that
Achilles promised Menœtius that he would bring back Patroclus on his
return from the Trojan expedition. [464] Not that Menœtius was king of
the Opuntii, but Ajax the Locrian, who, according to report, was born at
Narycus. The name of the person killed by Patroclus was Æanes; a grove,
called after him Æaneium, and a fountain, Æanis, are shown.
3. Next after Cynus is Alopē[465] and Daphnus, which last, we have said,
is in ruins. At Alopē is a harbour, distant from Cynus about 90 stadia,
and 120 from Elateia, in the interior of the country. But these belong
to the Maliac, which is continuous with the Opuntian Gulf.
4. Next to Daphnus, at the distance of about 20 stadia by sea, is
Cnemides, a strong place, opposite to which in Eubœa is Cenæum, a
promontory, looking towards the west and the Maliac Gulf, and separated
by a strait of nearly 20 stadia.
At Cnemides we are in the territory of the Locri Epicnemidii. Here are
the Lichades, as they are called, three islands, having their name from
Lichas; they lie in front of Cnemides. Other islands also are met with
in sailing along this coast, which we purposely pass over.
At the distance of 20 stadia from Cnemides is a harbour, above which at
the same distance, in the interior, is situated Thronium. [466] Then the
Boagrius, which flows beside Thronium, empties itself into the sea. It
has another name also, that of Manes. It is a winter torrent; whence its
bed may be crossed at times dry-shod, and at another it is two plethra
in width.
Then after these is Scarpheia, at a distance of 10 stadia from the sea,
and of 30 from Thronium, but at a little [less from its harbour. ][467]
Next are Nicæa and Thermopylæ.
5. It is not worth while to speak of any of the other cities. Of those
mentioned by Homer, Calliarus is no longer inhabited, it is now a
well-cultivated plain. Bessa, a sort of plain, does not now exist. It
has its name from an accidental quality, for it abounds with woods.
χώραν ἔχουσι Σκαρφιεῖς, &c. It ought to be written with a double s,
for it has its name from Bessa, a wooded valley, like Napē,[468] in
the plain of Methymna,[469] which Hellanicus, through ignorance of the
local circumstances, improperly calls Lapē; but the demus in Attica,
from which the burghers are called Besæenses, is written with a single
s.
6. Tarphē is situated upon a height, at the distance of 20 stadia from
[Thronium]. It has a territory, productive and well wooded; for this
place also has its name from its being thickly wooded. It is now called
Pharygæ. A temple of Juno Pharygæa is there, called so from the Argive
Juno at Pharygæ; and the inhabitants assert that they are of Argive
origin.
7. Homer does not mention, at least not in express words, the Locri
Hesperii, but only seems to distinguish them from the people of whom we
have spoken;
“Locri, who dwell beyond the sacred Eubœa;”[470]
as if there were other Locri. They occupied the cities Amphissa[471] and
Naupactus. [472] The latter still subsists near Antirrhium. [473] It has
its name from the ships that were built there, either because the
Heraclidæ constructed their fleet at this place, or because the Locri,
as Ephorus states, had built vessels there long before that time. At
present it belongs to the Ætolians, by a decree of Philip.
8. There also is Chalcis, mentioned by the poet[474] in the Ætolian
Catalogue. It is below Calydon. There also is the hill Taphiassus, on
which is the monument of Nessus, and of the other Centaurs. From the
putrefaction of the bodies of these people there flows, it is said, from
beneath the foot of that hill a stream of water, which exhales a fœtid
odour, and [CAS. 427] contains clots of blood. Hence also the nation
had the name of Ozolæ. [475]
Opposite Antirrhium is Molycreia,[476] a small Ætolian city.
Amphissa is situated at the extremity of the Crisæan plain. It was
razed, as we have said before, by the Amphictyons. Œanthia and Eupalium
belong to the Locri. The whole voyage along the coast of the Locri is a
little more than 200 stadia.
9. There is an Alope[477] both here among the Locri Ozolæ, as also among
the Epicnemidii, and in the Phthiotis. These are a colony of the
Epicnemidii, and the Epizephyrii a colony of the Ozolæ.
10. Ætolians are continuous with the Locri Hesperii, and the Ænianes,
who occupy Œta with the Epicnemidii, and between them Dorians. These
last are the people who inhabited the Tetrapolis, which is called the
capital of all the Dorians. They possessed the cities Erineus, Bœum,
Pindus, Cytinium. Pindus is situated above Erineus. A river of the same
name flows beside it, and empties itself into the Cephissus, not far
from Lilæa. Some writers call Pindus, Acyphas.
Ægimius, king of these Dorians, when an exile from his kingdom, was
restored, as they relate, by Hercules. He requited this favour after the
death of Hercules at Œta by adopting Hyllus, the eldest of the sons of
Hercules, and both he and his descendants succeeded him in the kingdom.
It was from this place that the Heracleidæ set out on their return to
Peloponnesus.
11. These cities were for some time of importance, although they were
small, and their territory not fruitful. They were afterwards neglected.
After what they suffered in the Phocian war and under the dominion of
the Macedonians, Ætolians, and Athamanes, it is surprising that even a
vestige of them should have remained to the time of the Romans.
It was the same with the Ænianes, who were exterminated by Ætolians and
Athamanes. The Ætolians were a very powerful people, and carried on war
together with the Acarnanians. The Athamanes were the last of the
Epeirotæ, who attained distinction when the rest were declining, and
acquired power by the assistance of their king Amynander. The Ænianes,
however, kept possession of Œta.
12. This mountain extends from Thermopylæ and the east, to the
Ambracian Gulf and the west; it may be said to cut at right angles the
mountainous tract, extending from Parnassus as far as Pindus, and to the
Barbarians who live beyond. The portion of this mountain verging towards
Thermopylæ[478] is called Œta; it is 200 stadia in length, rocky and
elevated, but the highest part is at Thermopylæ, for there it forms a
peak, and terminates with acute and abrupt rocks, continued to the sea.
It leaves a narrow passage for those who are going from Thessaly to
Locris.
13. This passage is called Pylæ, or gates, straits, and Thermopylæ,
because near the straits are hot springs, which are held in honour as
sacred to Hercules. The mountain above is called Callidromus; but some
writers call by the name of Callidromus the remaining part of the range
extending through Ætolia and Acarnania to the Ambracian Gulf.
At Thermopylæ within the straits are strongholds, as Nicæa, on the sea
of the Locri, Teichius and Heracleia above it, formerly called Trachin,
founded by the Lacedæmonians. Heracleia is distant from the ancient
Trachin about 6 stadia. Next follows Rhoduntia, strong by its position.
14. These places are rendered difficult of access by a rocky country,
and by bodies of water, forming ravines through which they pass. For
besides the Spercheius,[479] which flows past Anticyra, there is the
Dyras, which, it is said, endeavoured to extinguish the funeral pile of
Hercules, and another river, the Melas, distant about 5 stadia from
Trachin. Herodotus says,[480] that to the south of Trachin there is a
deep fissure, through which the Asopus, (which has the same name as
other rivers that we have mentioned,) empties itself into the sea
without the Pylæ, having received the river Phœnix which flows from the
south, and unites with it. The latter river bears the name of the hero,
whose tomb is shown near it. From the Asopus (Phœnix? ) to Thermopylæ are
15 stadia.
15. These places were of the greatest celebrity when they formed the
keys of the straits. There were frequent contests for the ascendency
between the inhabitants without and those within the straits. Philip
used to call Chalcis and Corinth the fetters of Greece with reference to
the opportunity which they afforded for invasions from Macedonia; and
persons in [CAS. 429] later times called both these places and
Demetrias “the fetters,” for Demetrias commanding Pelion and Ossa,
commanded also the passes at Tempe. Afterwards, however, when the whole
country was subject to one power, the passes were freely open to
all. [481]
16. It was at these straits that Leonidas and his companions, together
with a small body of persons from the neighbourhood, resisted the
numerous forces of the Persians, until the Barbarians, making a circuit
of the mountains along narrow paths, surrounded and cut them to pieces.
Their place of burial, the Polyandrium, is still to be seen there, and
the celebrated inscription sculptured on the Lacedæmonian pillar;
“Stranger, go tell Lacedæmon that we lie here in obedience to her laws. ”
17. There is also a large harbour here and a temple of Ceres, in which
the Amphictyons at the time of every Pylæan assembly offered sacrifice.
From the harbour to the Heracleian Trachin are 40 stadia by land, but by
sea to Cenæum[482] it is 70 stadia. The Spercheius empties itself
immediately without the Pylæ. To Pylæ from the Euripus are 530 stadia.
And here Locris terminates. The parts without the Pylæ towards the east,
and the Maliac Gulf, belong to the Thessalians; those towards the west,
to the Ætolians and Acarnanians. The Athamanes are extinct.
18. The Thessalians form the largest and most ancient community. One
part of them has been mentioned by Homer, and the rest by many other
writers. Homer constantly mentions the Ætolians under one name; he
places cities, and not nations dependent upon them, if we except the
Curetes, whom we must place in the division of Ætolians.
We must begin our account with the Thessalians, omitting very ancient
and fabulous stories, and what is not generally admitted, (as we have
done in other instances,) but propose to mention what appears suited to
our purpose.
CHAPTER V.
1. The sea-coast, extending from Thermopylæ to the mouths of the
Peneius,[483] and the extremities of Pelion, looking towards the east,
and the northern extremities of Eubœa, is that of Thessaly. The parts
opposite Eubœa and Thermopylæ are occupied by Malienses, and by Achæan
Phthiotæ; those towards Pelion by the Magnetes. This may be called the
eastern and maritime side of Thessaly. From either side from Pelion, and
the Peneius, towards the inland parts are Macedonians, who extend as far
as Pæonia, (Pindus? ) and the Epeirotic nations. From Thermopylæ, the
Œtæan and Ætolian mountains, which approach close to the Dorians, and
Parnassus, are parallel to the Macedonians. The side towards the
Macedonians may be called the northern side; the other, the southern.
There remains the western side, enclosed by Ætolians and Acarnanians, by
Amphilochians and Athamanes, who are Epirotæ; by the territory of the
Molotti, formerly said to be that of the Æthices, and, in short, by the
country about Pindus. Thessaly,[484] in the interior, is a plain country
for the most part, and has no mountains, except Pelion and Ossa. These
mountains rise to a considerable height, but do not encompass a large
tract of country, but terminate in the plains.
2. These are the middle parts of Thessaly, a district of very fertile
country, except that part of it which is overflowed by rivers. The
Peneius flows through the middle of the country, and receiving many
rivers, frequently overflows. Formerly, according to report, the plain
was a lake; it is enclosed on all sides inland by mountains, and the
sea-coast is more elevated than the plains. When a chasm was formed, at
the place now called Tempe, by shocks of an earthquake, and Ossa was
riven from Olympus, the Peneius flowed out through it to the sea, and
drained this tract of country. Still there remained the large lake
Nessonis, and the lake Bœbeis; which is of less extent than the
Nessonis, and nearer to the sea-coast.
3. [CAS. 430] Such then is Thessaly, which is divided into four parts,
Phthiotis, Hestiæotis, Thessaliotis, and Pelasgiotis.
Phthiotis comprises the southern parts, extending along Œta from the
Maliac and (or) Pylaïc Gulf[485] as far as Dolopia and Pindus,
increasing in breadth to Pharsalia and the Thessalian plains.
Hestiæotis comprises the western parts and those between Pindus and
Upper Macedonia; the rest is occupied by the inhabitants of the plains
below Hestiæotis, who are called Pelasgiotæ, and approach close to the
Lower Macedonians; by the [Thessalians] also, who possess the country
next in order, as far as the coast of Magnesia.
The names of many cities might here be enumerated, which are celebrated
on other accounts, but particularly as being mentioned by Homer; few of
them, however, but most of all Larisa, preserve their ancient
importance.
4. The poet having divided the whole of the country, which we call
Thessaly, into ten[486] parts and dynasties, and having taken in
addition some portion of the Œtæan and Locrian territory, and of that
also which is now assigned to the Macedonians, shows (what commonly
happened to every country) the changes which, entirely or in part, they
undergo according to the power possessed by their respective governors.
5. The poet first enumerates the Thessalians subject to Achilles, who
occupied the southern side, and adjoined Œta, and the Locri Epicnemidii;
“All who dwelt in Pelasgic Argos; they who occupied Alus,
Alope, and Trachin; they who possessed Phthia, and Hellas,
abounding with beautiful women, were called Myrmidones,
Hellenes, and Achæi. ”[487]
He joins together with these the people under the command of Phœnix, and
makes them compose one common expedition. The poet nowhere mentions the
Dolopian forces in the battles near Ilium, neither does he introduce
their leader Phœnix, as undertaking, like Nestor, dangerous enterprises.
But Phœnix is mentioned by others, as by Pindar,
“Who led a brave band of Dolopian slingers,
Who were to aid the javelins of the Danai, tamers of horses. ”
The words of the poet are to be understood according to the figure of
the grammarians, by which something is suppressed, for it would be
ridiculous for the king to engage in the expedition,
(“I live at the extremity of Phthia, chief of the Dolopians,”[488])
and his subjects not to accompany him. For [thus] he would not appear to
be a comrade of Achilles in the expedition, but only as the commander of
a small body of men, and a speaker, and if so, a counsellor. The verses
seem to imply this meaning, for they are to this effect,
“To be an eloquent speaker, and to achieve great deeds. ”[489]
From this it appears that Homer considered the forces under Achilles and
Phœnix as constituting one body; but the places mentioned as being under
the authority of Achilles, are subjects of controversy.
Some have understood Pelasgic Argos to be a Thessalian city, formerly
situated near Larisa, but now no longer in existence. Others do not
understand a city to be meant by this name, but the Thessalian plain,
and to have been so called by Abas, who established a colony there from
Argos.
6. With respect to Phthia, some suppose it to be the same as Hellas and
Achaia, and that these countries form the southern portion in the
division of Thessaly into two parts. But others distinguish Phthia and
Hellas. The poet seems to distinguish them in these verses;
“they who occupied Phthia and Hellas,”[490]
as if they were two countries. And, again,
“Then far away through wide Greece I fled and came to Phthia,”[491]
and,
“There are many Achæan women in Hellas and Phthia. ”[492]
The poet then makes these places to be two, but whether cities or
countries he does not expressly say. Some of the later writers, who
affirm that it is a country, suppose it to have extended from
Palæpharsalus to Thebæ Phthiotides. In this country also is Thetidium,
near both the ancient and the modern Pharsalus; and it is conjectured
from [CAS. 432] Thetidium that the country, in which it is situated,
was a part of that under the command of Achilles. Others, who regard it
as a city, allege that the Pharsalii show at the distance of 60 stadia
from their own city, a city in ruins, which they believe to be Hellas,
and two springs near it, Messeïs and Hypereia. But the Melitæenses say,
that at the distance of about 10 stadia from their city, was situated
Hellas on the other side of the Enipeus,[493] when their own city had
the name of Pyrrha, and that the Hellenes migrated from Hellas, which
was built in a low situation, to theirs. They adduce in proof of this
the tomb of Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, which is in their
market-place. For according to historians, Deucalion was king of
Phthiotis and of all Thessaly. The Enipeus flows from Othrys[494] beside
Pharsalus,[495] and empties itself into the Apidanus,[496] and the
latter into the Peneius.
Thus much, then, respecting the Hellenes.
7. The people under the command of Achilles, Protesilaus, and
Philoctetes, are called Phthii. The poet furnishes evidence of this.
Having recited in the Catalogue of those under the command of Achilles,
“the people of Phthia,”[497]
he represents them at the battle at the ships, as remaining in the ships
with Achilles, and inactive; but those under the command of Philoctetes,
as fighting with Medon [as their leader], and those under the command of
Protesilaus, with Podarces [as their chief]. Of these the poet speaks in
general terms;
“there were Bœoti and Iaones wearing long robes, Locri,
Phthii, and illustrious Epeii. ”[498]
But here he particularizes them;
“at the head of the Phthii fought Medon and Podarces, firm in
battle. These armed with breastplates fought together with
Bœoti, at the head of the magnanimous Phthii, keeping away the
enemy from the ships. ”[499]
Perhaps the people with Eurypylus were called Phthii, as they bordered
upon the country of the latter. At present, however, historians assign
to Magnesia the country about Ormenium, which was subject to Eurypylus,
and the whole of that subject to Philoctetes; but they regard the
country under the command of Protesilaus as belonging to Phthia, from
Dolopia and Pindus to the sea of Magnesia; but as far as the city
Antron, (now written in the plural number,) which was subject to
Protesilaus, beginning from Trachinia and Œta, is the width of the
territory belonging to Peleus and Achilles. But this is nearly the whole
length of the Maliac Gulf.
8. They entertain doubts respecting Halus and Alope, whether Homer means
the places which are now comprised in the Phthiotic government, or those
among the Locri, since the dominion of Achilles extended hither as well
as to Trachin and the Œtæan territory. For Halus and Halius, as well as
Alope, are on the coast of the Locri. But some substitute Halius for
Alope, and write the verse in this manner;
“they who inhabited Halus, and Halius, and Trachin. ”[500]
But the Phthiotic Halus lies under the extremity of the mountain Othrys,
which lies to the north of Phthiotis, and borders upon the mountain
Typhrestus and the Dolopians, and thence stretches along to the country
near the Maliac Gulf. Halus,[501] either masculine or feminine, for it
is used in both genders, is distant from Itonus[502] about 60 stadia.
Athamas founded Halus; it was destroyed, but subsequently [restored by
the Pharsalii]. It is situated above the Crocian plain, and the river
Amphrysus[503] flows by its walls. Below the Crocian plain lies Thebæ
Phthiotides; Halus likewise, which is in Achaia, is called Phthiotis;
this, as well as the foot of Mount Othrys, approaches close to the
Malienses. As Phylace too, which was under the command of Protesilaus,
so Halus also belongs to Phthiotis, which adjoins to the Malienses.
Halus is distant from Thebes about 100 stadia, and lies in the middle
between Pharsalus and Thebæ Phthiotides. Philip, however, took it from
the latter, and assigned it to the Pharsalii. Thus it happens, as we
have said before, that boundaries and the distribution of nations and
places are in a state of continual change. Thus Sophocles also called
Phthiotis, Trachinia, Artemidorus places Halus on the coast beyond the
Maliac Gulf, but as belonging to Phthiotis. For proceeding thence in the
direction of the Peneius, he places Pteleum after Antron, then Halus at
the distance of 110 stadia from Pteleum.
[CAS. 433] I have already spoken of Trachin, and described the nature of
the place. The poet mentions it by name.
9. As Homer frequently mentions the Spercheius as a river of the
country, having its source in the Typhrestus, a Dryopian mountain,
formerly called [Tymphrestus], and emptying itself near Thermopylæ,
between Trachin and Lamia,[504] he might imply that whatever parts of
the Maliac Gulf were either within or without the Pylæ, were subject to
Achilles.
The Spercheius is distant about 30 stadia from Lamia, which lies above a
plain, extending to the Maliac Gulf. That the Spercheius is a river of
the country [subject to Achilles], appears from the words of Achilles,
who says, that he had devoted his hair to the Spercheius; and from the
circumstance, that Menesthius, one of his commanders, was said to be the
son of Spercheius and the sister of Achilles.
It is probable that all the people under the command of Achilles and
Patroclus, and who had accompanied Peleus in his banishment from Ægina,
had the name of Myrmidons, but all the Phthiotæ were called Achæans.
10. They reckon in the Phthiotic district, which was subject to
Achilles, beginning from the Malienses, a considerable number of towns,
and among them Thebæ Phthiotides, Echinus, Lamia, near which the war was
carried on between the Macedonians and Antipater, against the Athenians.
In this war Leosthenes, the Athenian general, was killed, [and
Leonnatus,] one of the companions of Alexander the king. Besides the
above-mentioned towns, we must add [Narthac]ium, Erineus, Coroneia, of
the same name as the town in Bœotia, Melitæa, Thaumaci, Proerna,
Pharsalus, Eretria, of the same name as the Euboic town, Paracheloïtæ,
of the same name as those in Ætolia; for here also, near Lamia, is a
river Achelous, on the banks of which live the Paracheloïtæ.
This district, lying to the north, extended to the north-western
territory of the Asclepiadæ, and to the territory of Eurypylus and
Protesilaus, inclining to the east; on the south it adjoined the Œtæan
territory, which was divided into fourteen demi, and contained Heracleia
and Dryopis, which was once a community of four cities, (a Tetrapolis,)
like Doris, and accounted the capital of the Dryopes in Peloponnesus. To
the Œtæan district belong also the Acyphas, Parasopias, Œneiadæ, and
Anticyra, of the same name as the town among the Locri Hesperii. I do
not mean that these divisions always continued the same, for they
underwent various changes. The most remarkable, however, are worthy of
notice.
11. The poet with sufficient clearness describes the situation of the
Dolopes, as at the extremity of Phthia, and says that both they and the
Phthiotæ were under the command of the same chief, Peleus;
“I lived,” he says, “at the farthest part of Phthia, king of
the Dolopes. ”[505]
Peleus, however, had conferred on him the authority.
This region is close to Pindus, and the places about it, most of which
belong to the Thessalians. For in consequence of the renown and
ascendency of the Thessalians and Macedonians, those Epeirotæ, who
bordered nearest upon them, became, some voluntarily, others by force,
incorporated among the Macedonians and Thessalians. In this manner the
Athamanes, Æthices, and Talares were joined to the Thessalians, and the
Orestæ, Pelagones, and Elimiotæ to the Macedonians.
12. Pindus is a large mountain, having on the north Macedonia, on the
west Perrhæbi, settlers from another country, on the south Dolopes, [and
on the east Hestiæotis] which belongs to Thessaly. Close upon Pindus
dwelt Talares, a tribe of Molotti, detached from the Molotti about Mount
Tomarus, and Æthices, among whom the poet says the Centaurs took refuge
when expelled by Peirithous. [506] They are at present, it is said,
extinct. But this extinction is to be understood in two senses; either
the inhabitants have been exterminated, and the country deserted, or the
name of the nation exists no longer, or the community does not preserve
its ancient form. Whenever the community, which continues, is
insignificant, we do not think it worth while to record either its
existence or its change of name. But when it has any just pretensions to
notice, it is necessary to remark the change which it has undergone.
13. It remains for us to describe the tract of sea-coast subject to
Achilles: we begin from Thermopylæ, for we have spoken of the coast of
Locris, and of the interior.
Thermopylæ is separated from the Cenæum by a strait 70 stadia across.
Coasting beyond the Pylæ, it is at a distance from the Spercheius of
about 10, (60? ) and thence to Phalara of 20 stadia. Above Phalara, 50
stadia from the sea, lies the city of the [Lamians]. Then coasting along
the shore 100 stadia, we find above it, Echinus. At the distance [CAS.
435] of 20 stadia from the following tract of coast, in the interior, is
Larisa Cremaste, which has the name also of Larisa Pelasgia.
14. Then follows a small island, Myonnesus; next Antron; which was
subject to Protesilaus. Thus much concerning the territory subject to
Achilles.
As the poet, in naming the chiefs, and cities under their rule, has
divided the country into numerous well-known parts, and has given an
accurate account of the whole circuit of Thessaly, we shall follow him,
as before, in completing the description of this region.
Next to the people under the command of Achilles, he enumerates those
under the command of Protesilaus. They were situated, next, along the
sea-coast which was subject to Achilles, as far as Antron. The boundary
of the country under the command of Protesilaus, is determined by its
being situated without the Maliac Gulf, yet still in Phthiotis, though
not within Phthiotis subject to Achilles.
Phylacē[507] is near Thebæ Phthiotides, which was subject to
Protesilaus, as were also Halus, Larisa Cremaste, and Demetrium, all of
which lie to the east of Mount Othrys.
The Demetrium he speaks of[508] as an enclosure sacred to Ceres, and
calls it Pyrasus. Pyrasus was a city with a good harbour, having at the
distance of 2 stadia from it a grove, and a temple consecrated to Ceres.
It is distant from Thebæ 20 stadia. The latter is situated above
Pyrasus. Above Thebæ in the inland parts is the Crocian plain at the
extremity of the mountain Othrys. Through this plain flows the river
Amphrysus. Above it is the Itonus, where is the temple of the Itonian
Minerva, from which that in Bœotia has its name, also the river Cuarius.
[Of this river and] of Arnē we have spoken in our account of Bœotia.
These places are in Thessaliotis, one of the four divisions of all
Thessaly, in which were the possessions of Eurypylus. Phyllus, where is
a temple of the Phyllæan Apollo, Ichnæ, where the Ichnæan Themis is
worshipped, Cierus, and [all the places as far as] Athamania, are
included in Thessaliotis.
At Antron, in the strait near Eubœa, is a sunk rock, called
“the Ass of Antron. ” Next are Pteleum and Halus; next the temple of
Ceres, and Pyrasus in ruins; above these, Thebæ; then Pyrrha, a
promontory, and two small islands near, one of which is called Pyrrha,
the other Deucalion. Somewhere here ends the territory of Phthiotis.
15. The poet next mentions the people under Eumelus, and the continuous
tract of coast which now belongs to Magnesia, and the Pelasgiotis.
Pheræ is the termination of the Pelasgic plains towards Magnesia, which
plains extend as far as Pelion, a distance of 160 stadia. Pagasæ is
the naval arsenal of Pheræ, from which it is distant 90 stadia, and
20 from Iolcus. Iolcus has been razed from ancient times. It was from
this place that Pelias despatched Jason and the ship Argo. Pagasæ
had its name,[509] according to mythologists, from the building of
the ship Argo at this place. Others, with more probability, suppose
that the name of the place was derived from the springs, (πηγαί,)
which are very numerous and copious. Near it is Aphetæ, (so named) as
the starting-place[510] from which the Argonauts set off. Iolcus is
situated 7 stadia from Demetrias, overlooking the sea. Demetrias was
founded by Demetrius Poliorcetes, who called it after his own name. It
is situated between Nelia and Pagasæ on the sea. He collected there the
inhabitants of the neighbouring small cities, Nelia, Pagasæ, Ormenium,
and besides these, Rhizus, Sepias, Olizon, Bœbe, and Iolcus, which are
at present villages belonging to Demetrias. For a long time it was a
station for vessels, and a royal seat of the Macedonian kings. It had
the command of Tempe, and of both the mountains Pelion and Ossa. At
present its extent of power is diminished, yet it still surpasses all
the cities in Magnesia.
The lake Bœbeis[511] is near Pheræ,[512] and approaches close to the
extremities of Pelion and Magnesia.
