Mopsopus, from whom Attica is called Mopsopia, is a
different
person.
Strabo
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. Bœbe is a small place situated on
the lake.
As civil dissensions and usurpations reduced the flourishing condition
of Iolcus, formerly so powerful, so they affected Pheræ in the same
manner, which was raised to prosperity, and was destroyed by tyrants.
Near Demetrias flows the Anaurus. The continuous line [CAS. 436] of
coast is called also Iolcus. Here was held the Pylaic (Peliac? ) assembly
and festival.
Artemidorus places the Gulf of Pagasæ farther from Demetrias, near the
places subject to Philoctetes. In the gulf he says is the island
Cicynethus,[513] and a small town of the same name.
16. The poet next enumerates the cities subject to Philoctetes.
Methone is not the Thracian Methone razed by Philip. We have already
noticed the change of name these places and others in the Peloponnesus
have undergone. Other places enumerated as subject to Philoctetes, are
Thaumacia, Olizon, and Melibœa, all along the shore next adjacent.
In front of the Magnetes lie clusters of islands; the most celebrated
are Sciathus,[514] Peparethus,[515] Icus,[516] Halonnesus, and
Scyrus,[517] which contain cities of the same name. Scyrus however is
the most famous of any for the friendship which subsisted between
Lycomedes and Achilles, and for the birth and education of Neoptolemus,
the son of Achilles. In after times, when Philip became powerful,
perceiving that the Athenians were masters of the sea, and sovereigns
both of these and other islands, he made those islands which lay near
his own country more celebrated than any of the rest. For as his object
in waging war was the sovereignty of Greece, he attacked those places
first which were near him; and as he attached to Macedonia many parts of
Magnesia itself, of Thrace, and of the rest of the surrounding country,
so also he seized upon the islands in front of Magnesia, and made the
possession of islands which were before entirely unknown, a subject of
warlike contention, and brought them into notice.
Scyrus however is particularly celebrated in ancient histories. It is
also highly reputed for the excellence of its goats, and the quarries of
variegated marble, such as the Carystian, the Deucallian, (Docimæan? )
the Synnadic, and the Hierapolitic kinds. For there may be seen at Rome
columns, consisting of a single stone, and large slabs of variegated
marble, (from Scyrus,) with which the city is embellished both at the
public charge and at the expense of individuals, which has caused works
of white marble to be little esteemed.
17. The poet having proceeded so far along the Magnesian coast, returns
to Upper Thessaly, for beginning from Dolopia and Pindus he goes through
the region extending along Phthiotis to Lower Thessaly.
“They who occupy Tricca and rocky Ithome. ”[518]
These places belong to Histiæotis, which was formerly called Doris. When
it was in the possession of the Perrhæbi, who destroyed Histiæotis in
Eubœa, and had removed the inhabitants by force to the continent, they
gave the country the name of Histiæotis, on account of the great numbers
of Histiæans among the settlers. This country and Dolopia are called
Upper Thessaly, which is in a straight line with Upper Macedonia, as
Lower Thessaly is in a straight line with Lower Macedonia.
Tricca,[519] where there is a very ancient and famous temple of
Æsculapius, borders upon the Dolopes, and the parts about Pindus.
Ithome, which has the same name as the Messenian Ithome, ought not, they
say, to be pronounced in this manner, but should be pronounced without
the first syllable, Thome, for this was its former name. At present, it
is changed to [Thumæum]. It is a spot strong by nature, and in reality
rocky. It lies between four strongholds, which form a square, Tricca,
Metropolis, Pelinnæum, and Gomphi. [520] Ithome belongs to the district
of the Metropolitæ. Metropolis was formed at first out of three small
obscure cities, and afterwards more were included, and among these
Ithome. Callimachus says in his Iambics,
“among the Venuses, (for the goddess bears several titles,)
Venus Castnietis surpasses all others in wisdom,”
for she alone accepts the sacrifice of swine. Certainly Callimachus, if
any person could be said to possess information, was well informed, and
it was his object, as he himself says, all his life to relate these
fables. Later writers, however, have proved that there was not one Venus
only, but several, who accepted that sacrifice, from among whom the
goddess worshipped at Metropolis came, and that this [foreign] rite was
delivered down by one of the cities which contributed to form that
settlement.
Pharcadon [CAS. 438] also is situated in the Hestiæotis. The Peneius
and the Curalius flow through it. The Curalius, after flowing beside the
temple of the Itonian Minerva, empties itself into the Peneius.
The Peneius itself rises in Mount Pindus, as I have before said. It
leaves Tricca, Pelinnæum, and Pharcadon on the left hand, and takes its
course beside Atrax and Larisa. After having received the rivers of the
Thessaliotis it flows onwards through Tempe, and it empties itself into
the sea.
Historians speak of Œchalia, the city of Eurytus, as existing in these
parts, in Eubœa also, and in Arcadia; but some give it one name, others
another, as I have said in the description of Peloponnesus.
They inquire particularly, which of these was the city taken by
Hercules, and which was the city intended by the author of the poem,
“The Capture of Œchalia”?
The places, however, were subject to the Asclepiadæ.
18. The poet next mentions the country which was under the dominion of
Eurypylus;
“They who possessed Ormenium and the spring Hypereia,
And they who occupied Asterium and the white peaks of Titanus. ”[521]
Ormenium is now called Orminium. It is a village situated below Pelion,
near the Pagasitic Gulf, but was one of the cities which contributed to
form the settlement of Demetrias, as I have before said.
The lake Bœbeis must be near, because both Bœbe and Ormenium belonged to
the cities lying around Demetrias.
Ormenium is distant by land 27 stadia from Demetrias. The site of
Iolcus, which is on the road, is distant 7 stadia from Demetrias, and
the remaining 20 from Ormenium.
Demetrius of Scepsis says, that Phœnix came from Ormenium, and that he
fled thence from his father Amyntor, the son of Ormenus, to Phthia, to
king Peleus. For this place was founded by Ormenus, the son of
Cercaphus, the son of Æolus. The sons of Ormenus were Amyntor and
Euæmon; the son of the former was Phœnix, and of the latter, Eurypylus.
The succession to his possessions was preserved secure for Eurypylus,
after the departure of Phœnix from his home, and we ought to write the
verse of the poet in this manner:
“as when I first left Ormenium, abounding with flocks,”[522]
instead of
“left Hellas, abounding with beautiful women. ”
But Crates makes Phœnix a Phocæan, conjecturing this from the helmet of
Meges, which Ulysses wore on the night expedition; of which helmet the
poet says,
“Autolycus brought it away from Eleon, out of the house of
Amyntor, the son of Ormenus, having broken through the thick
walls. ”[523]
Now Eleon was a small city on Parnassus, and by Amyntor, the son of
Ormenus, he could not mean any other person than the father of Phœnix,
and that Autolycus, who lived on Parnassus, was in the habit of digging
through the houses of his neighbours, which is the common practice of
every house-breaker, and not of persons living at a distance. But
Demetrius the Scepsian says, that there is no such place on Parnassus as
Eleon, but Neon, which was built after the Trojan war, and that digging
through houses was not confined to robbers of the neighbourhood. Other
things might be advanced, but I am unwilling to insist long on this
subject. Others write the words
“from Heleon;”
but this is a Tanagrian town; and the words
“Then far away I fled through Hellas and came to Phthia,”[524]
would make this passage absurd.
Hypereia is a spring in the middle of the city of the Pheræi [subject to
Eumelus]. It would therefore be absurd [to assign it to Eurypylus].
Titanus[525] had its name from the accident of its colour, for the soil
of the country near Arne and [Aphe]tæ is white, and Asterium is not far
from these places.
19. Continuous with this portion of Thessaly are the people subject to
Polypœtes.
“They who possessed Argissa; those who inhabited Gyrtone,[526]
Orthe, Elone, and the white city Oloosson. ”[527]
This country was formerly inhabited by Perrhæbi, who [CAS. 439]
possessed the part towards the sea and the Peneius, as far as[528] its
mouth and the city Gyrton, belonging to the district Perrhæbis.
Afterwards the Lapithæ, Ixion and his son Peirithous, having reduced the
Perrhæbi,[529] got possession of these places. Peirithous took
possession also of Pelion, having expelled by force the Centaurs, a
savage tribe, who inhabited it. These
“he drove from Pelion to the neighbourhood of the Æthices,”[530]
but he delivered up the plains to the Lapithæ. The Perrhæbi kept
possession of some of these parts, those, namely, towards Olympus, and
in some places they lived intermixed altogether with the Lapithæ.
Argissa, the present Argura, is situated upon the banks of the Peneius.
Atrax lies above it at the distance of 40 stadia, close to the river.
The intermediate country along the side of the river was occupied by
Perrhæbi.
Some call Orthe the citadel of the Phalannæi. Phalanna is a Perrhæbic
city on the Peneius, near Tempe.
The Perrhæbi, oppressed by the Lapithæ, retreated in great numbers to
the mountainous country about Pindus, and to the Athamanes and Dolopes;
but the Larisæi became masters of the country and of the Perrhæbi who
remained there. The Larisæi lived near the Peneius, but in the
neighbourhood of the Perrhæbi. They occupied the most fertile portion of
the plains, except some of the very deep valleys near the lake Nessonis,
into which the river, when it overflowed, usually carried away a portion
of the arable ground belonging to the Larisæi, who afterwards remedied
this by making embankments.
These people were in possession of Perrhæbia, and levied imposts until
Philip became master of the country.
Larisa is a place situated on Ossa, and there is Larisa Cremaste, by
some called Pelasgia. In Crete also is a city Larisa, the inhabitants of
which were embodied with those of Hierapytna; and from this place the
plain below is called the Larisian plain. In Peloponnesus the citadel of
the Argives is called Larisa, and there is a river Larisus, which
separates Eleia from Dyme. Theopompus mentions a city Larisa, situated
on the immediate confines of this country. In Asia is Larisa Phriconis
near Cume, and another Larisa near Hamaxitus, in the Troad. There is
also an Ephesian Larisa, and a Larisa in Syria. At 50 stadia from
Mitylene are the Larisæan rocks, on the road to Methymne. There is a
Larisa in Attica; and a village of this name at the distance of 30
stadia from Tralleis, situated above the city, on the road to the plain
of the Cayster, passing by Mesogis towards the temple of Mater Isodroma.
This Larisa has a similar position, and possesses similar advantages to
those of Larisa Cremaste; for it has abundance of water and vineyards.
Perhaps Jupiter had the appellation of Larisæus from this place. There
is also on the left side of the Pontus (Euxine) a village called Larisa,
near the extremities of Mount Hæmus, between Naulochus [and
Odessus]. [531]
Oloosson, called the White, from its chalky soil, Elone, and Gonnus are
Perrhæbic cities. The name of Elone was changed to that of Leimone. It
is now in ruins. Both lie at the foot of Olympus, not very far from the
river Eurotas, which the poet calls Titaresius.
20. The poet speaks both of this river and of the Perrhæbi in the
subsequent verses, when he says,
“Guneus brought from Cyphus two and twenty vessels. His
followers were Enienes and Peræbi, firm in battle. They dwelt
near the wintry Dodona, and tilled the fields about the lovely
Titaresius. ”[532]
He mentions therefore these places as belonging to the Perrhæbi, which
comprised a part of the Hestiæotis. [533] They were in part Perrhæbic
towns, which were subject to Polypœtes. He assigned them however to the
Lapithæ, because these people and the Perrhæbi lived intermixed
together, and the Lapithæ occupied the plains. The country, which
belonged to the Perrhæbi, was, for the most part, subject to the
Lapithæ, but the Perrhæbi possessed the more mountainous tracts towards
Olympus and Tempe, such as Cyphus, Dodonē, and the country about the
river Titaresius. This river rises [CAS. 441] in the mountain Titarius,
which is part of Olympus. It flows into the plain near Tempe belonging
to Perrhæbia, and somewhere there enters the Peneius.
The water of the Peneius is clear, that of the Titaresius is unctuous; a
property arising from some matter, which prevents the streams mingling
with each other,
“but runs over the surface like oil. ”[534]
Because the Perrhæbi and Lapithæ lived intermingled together, Simonides
calls all those people Pelasgiotæ, who occupy the eastern parts about
Gyrton and the mouths of the Peneius, Ossa, Pelion, and the country
about Demetrias, and the places in the plain, Larisa, Crannon, Scotussa,
Mopsium, Atrax, and the parts near the lakes Nessonis and Bœbeis. The
poet mentions a few only of these places, either because they were not
inhabited at all, or badly inhabited on account of the inundations which
had happened at various times. For the poet does not mention even the
lake Nessonis, but the Bœbeis only, which is much smaller, for its water
remained constant, and this alone remains, while the former probably was
at one time filled irregularly to excess, and at another contained no
water.
We have mentioned Scotussa in our accounts of Dodona, and of the oracle,
in Thessaly, when we observed that it was near Scotussa. Near Scotussa
is a tract called Cynoscephalæ. It was here that the Romans with their
allies the Ætolians, and their general Titus Quintius, defeated in a
great battle Philip, son of Demetrius, king of Macedon.
21. Something of the same kind has happened in the territory of
Magnetis. For Homer having enumerated many places of this country, calls
none of them Magnetes, but those only whom he indicates in terms
obscure, and not easily understood;
“They who dwelt about Peneius and Pelion with waving woods. ”[535]
Now about the Peneius and Pelion dwell those (already mentioned by
Homer) who occupied Gyrton, and Ormenium, and many other nations. At a
still greater distance from Pelion, according to later writers, were
Magnetes, beginning from the people, that were subject to Eumelus. These
writers, on account of the continual removals from one settlement to
another, alterations in the forms of government, and intermixture of
races, seem to confound both names and nations, which sometimes
perplexes persons in these times, as is first to be observed in the
instances of Crannon and Gyrton.
Formerly they called the Gyrtonians Phlegyæ, from Phlegyas, the brother
of Ixion; and the Crannonii, Ephyri, so that there is a doubt, when the
poet says,
“These two from Thrace appeared with breastplates armed
against Ephyri, or haughty Phlegyæ,”[536]
what people he meant.
22. The same is the case with the Perrhæbi and Ænianes, for Homer joins
them together, as if they dwelt near each other; and it is said by later
writers, that, for a long period, the settlement of the Ænianes was in
the Dotian plain. Now this plain is near Perrhæbia, which we have just
mentioned, Ossa, and the lake Bœbeis: it is situated about the middle of
Thessaly, but enclosed by itself within hills. Hesiod speaks of it in
this manner;
“Or, as a pure virgin, who dwells on the sacred heights of the
Twin hills, comes to the Dotian plain, in front of Amyrus,
abounding with vines, to bathe her feet in the lake Bœbias. ”
The greater part of the Ænianes were expelled by the Lapithæ, and took
refuge in Œta, where they established their power, having deprived the
Dorians and the Malienses of some portions of country, extending as far
as Heracleia and Echinus. Some of them however remained about Cyphus, a
Perrhæbic mountain, where is a settlement of the same name. As to the
Perrhæbi, some of them collected about the western parts of Olympus and
settled there, on the borders of the Macedonians. But a large body took
shelter among the mountains near Athamania, and Pindus. But at present
few, if any, traces of them are to be found.
The Magnetes, who are mentioned last in the Thessalian catalogue of the
poet, must be understood to be those situated within Tempe, extending
from the Peneius and Ossa to Pelion, and bordering upon the Pieriotæ in
Macedonia, who occupy the country on the other side of the Peneius as
far as the sea.
Homolium, or Homolē, (for both words are in use,) must be [CAS. 443]
assigned to the Magnetes. I have said in the description of Macedonia,
that Homolium is near Ossa at the beginning of the course which the
Peneius takes through Tempe.
If we are to extend their possessions as far as the sea-coast, which is
very near Homolium, there is reason for assigning to them Rhizus, and
Erymnæ, which lies on the sea-coast in the tract subject to Philoctetes
and Eumelus. Let this however remain unsettled. For the order in which
the places as far as the Peneius follow one another, is not clearly
expressed, and as the places are not of any note, we need not consider
that uncertainty as very important. The coast of Sepias, however, is
mentioned by tragic writers, and was chaunted in songs on account of the
destruction of the Persian fleet. It consists of a chain of rocks.
Between Sepias and Casthanæa, a village situated below Pelion, is the
sea-shore, where the fleet of Xerxes was lying, when an east wind began
to blow violently; some of the vessels were forced on shore, and
immediately went to pieces, others were driven on Hipnus, a rocky spot
near Pelion, others were lost at Melibœa, others at Casthanæa.
The whole of the coasting voyage along Pelion, to the extent of about 80
stadia, is among rocks. That along Ossa is of the same kind and to the
same extent.
Between them is a bay of more than 200 stadia in extent, upon which is
situated Melibœa.
The whole voyage from Demetrias, including the winding of the bays, to
the Peneius is more than 1000 stadia, from the Spercheius 800 stadia
more, and from the Euripus 2350 stadia.
Hieronymus assigns a circuit of 3000 stadia to the plain country in
Thessaly and Magnesia, and says, that it was inhabited by Pelasgi, but
that these people were driven into Italy by Lapithæ, and that the
present Pelasgic plain is that in which are situated Larisa, Gyrton,
Pheræ, Mopsium, Bœbeis, Ossa, Homole, Pelion, and Magnetis. Mopsium has
not its name from Mopsus, the son of Manto the daughter of Teiresias,
but from Mopsus, one of the Lapithæ, who sailed with the Argonauts.
Mopsopus, from whom Attica is called Mopsopia, is a different person.
23. This then is the account of the several parts of Thessaly.
In general we say, that it was formerly called Pyrrhæa, from Pyrrha, the
wife of Deucalion; Hæmonia, from Hæmon; and Thettalia, from Thettalus,
the son of Hæmon. But some writers, after dividing it into two portions,
say, that Deucalion obtained by lot the southern part, and called it
Pandora, from his mother; that the other fell to the share of Hæmon,
from whom it was called Hæmonia; that the name of one part was changed
to Hellas, from Hellen, the son of Deucalion, and of the other to
Thettalia, from Thettalus, the son of Hæmon. But, according to some
writers, it was the descendants of Antiphus and Pheidippus, sons of
Thettalus, descended from Hercules, who invaded the country from Ephyra
in Thesprotia, and called it after the name of Thettalus their
progenitor. It has been already said that once it had the name of
Nessonis, as well as the lake, from Nesson, the son of Thettalus.
BOOK X.
GREECE.
SUMMARY.
The Tenth Book contains Ætolia and the neighbouring islands;
also the whole of Crete, on which the author dwells some time
in narrating the institutions of the islanders and of the
Curetes. He describes at length the origin of the Idæan
Dactyli in Crete, their customs and religious rites. Strabo
mentions the connexion of his own family with Crete. The Book
contains an account of the numerous islands about Crete,
including the Sporades and some of the Cyclades.
CHAPTER I.
1. Since Eubœa[537] stretches along the whole of this coast from Sunium
to Thessaly, except the extremity on each side,[538] it may be
convenient to connect the description of this island with that of
Thessaly. We shall then pass on to Ætolia and Acarnania, parts of Europe
of which it remains to give an account.
2. The island is oblong, and extends nearly 1200 stadia from Cenæum[539]
to Geræstus. [540] Its greatest breadth is about 150 stadia, but it is
irregular. [541]
Cenæum is opposite to Thermopylæ, and in a small degree to the parts
beyond Thermopylæ: Geræstus[542] and Petalia[543] are opposite to
Sunium.
Eubœa then fronts[544] Attica, Bœotia, Locris, and the Malienses. From
its narrowness, and its length, which we have mentioned, it was called
by the ancients Macris. [545]
It approaches nearest to the continent at Chalcis. It projects with a
convex bend towards the places in Bœotia near Aulis, and forms the
Euripus,[546] of which we have before spoken at length. We have also
mentioned nearly all the places on either side of the Euripus, opposite
to each other across the strait, both on the continent and on the
island. If anything is omitted we shall now give a further explanation.
And first, the parts lying between Aulis (Chalcis? ) and the places about
Geræstus are called the Hollows of Eubœa, for the sea-coast swells into
bays, and, as it approaches Chalcis, juts out again towards the
continent.
3. The island had the name not of Macris only, but of Abantis also. The
poet in speaking of Eubœa never calls the inhabitants from the name of
the island, Eubœans, but always Abantes;
“they who possessed Eubœa, the resolute Abantes;”[547]
“in his train Abantes were following. ”
Aristotle says that Thracians, taking their departure from Aba, the
Phocian city, settled with the other inhabitants in the island, and gave
the name of Abantes to those who already occupied it; other writers say
that they had their name from a hero,[548] as that of Eubœa was derived
from a heroine. [549] But perhaps as a certain cave on the sea-coast
fronting the [CAS. 445] Ægean Sea is called Boos-Aule, (or the Cow’s
Stall,) where Io is said to have brought forth Epaphus, so the island
may have had the name Eubœa[550] on this account.
It was also called Oché, which is the name of one of the largest
mountains[551] there.
It had the name of Ellopia, from Ellops, the son of Ion; according to
others, he was the brother of Æclus, and Cothus, who is said to have
founded Ellopia,[552] a small place situated in the district called Oria
of the Histiæotis, near the mountain Telethrius. [553] He also possessed
Histiæa, Perias, Cerinthus, Ædepsus,[554] and Orobiæ, where was an
oracle very free from deception. There also was an oracle of Apollo
Selinuntius.
The Ellopians, after the battle of Leuctra, were compelled by the tyrant
Philistides to remove to the city Histiæa, and augmented the number of
its inhabitants. Demosthenes[555] says that Philistides was appointed by
Philip tyrant of the Oreitæ also, for afterwards the Histiæans had that
name, and the city, instead of Histiæa, was called Oreus. According to
some writers, Histiæa was colonized by Athenians from the demus of the
Histiæeis, as Eretria was from the demus of the Eretrieis. But
Theopompus says, that when Pericles had reduced Eubœa, the Histiæans
agreed to remove into Macedonia, and that two thousand Athenians, who
formerly composed the demus of the Histiæans, came, and founded
Oreus. [556]
4. It is situated below Mount Telethrius, at a place called Drymus, near
the river Callas, on a lofty rock;[557] whence perhaps because the
Ellopians, the former inhabitants, were a mountain tribe,[558] the city
had the name of Oreus. Orion, who was brought up there, seems to have
had his name from the place. But according to some writers, the Oreitæ,
who had a city of their own, being attacked by the Ellopians, migrated,
and settled with the Histiæans, and although it was a single city it had
both appellations, as Lacedæmon and Sparta were the same city. We have
said, that the Histiæotis in Thessaly had its name from the people who
were carried away from this country by the Perrhæbi.
5. As Ellopia induced us to commence our description with Histiæa and
Oreus, we shall proceed with the places continuous with these.
The promontory Cenæum is near Oreus, and on the promontory is situated
Dium,[559] and Athenæ Diades, a town founded by Athenians, and overlooks
the passage across the strait to Cynus. Canæ in Æolia received colonists
from Dium. These places are situated near Histiæa, and besides these
Cerinthus, a small city, close to the sea. Near it is a river Budorus,
of the same name as the mountain in Salamis on the side of Attica.
6. Carystus[560] lies at the foot of the mountain Oche, and near it are
Styra[561] and Marmarium,[562] where is a quarry, from which are
obtained the Carystian columns. It has a temple of Apollo Marmarinus,
where there is a passage across to Halæ-Araphenides. At Carystus there
is found in the earth a stone,[563] which is combed like wool, and
woven, so that napkins are made of this substance, which, when soiled,
are thrown into the fire, and cleaned, as in the washing of linen. [564]
These places are said to be inhabited by colonists from the Tetrapolis
of Marathon, and by Steirieis. Styra was destroyed in the Maliac
(Lamiac? ) war by Phædrus, the general of the Athenians. But the
Eretrians are in possession of the territory. There is also a Carystus
in Laconia, a place belonging to Ægys, towards Arcadia; from whence
comes the Carystian wine, spoken of by Alcman.
7. Geræstus[565] is not mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of the
Ships; it is however mentioned by him elsewhere;[CAS. 447]
“The vessels came to Geræstus by night;”[566]
which shows, that the place being near Sunium lies conveniently for
persons who cross from Asia to Attica. It has a temple of Neptune the
most remarkable of any in that quarter, and a considerable number of
inhabitants.
8. Next to Geræstus is Eretria, which, after Chalcis, is the largest
city in Eubœa. Next follows Chalcis, the capital as it were of the
island, situated immediately on the Euripus. Both these cities are said
to have been founded by Athenians before the Trojan war; [but it is also
said that] after the Trojan war, Æclus and Cothus took their departure
from Athens; the former to found Eretria, and Cothus, Chalcis. A body of
Æolians who belonged to the expedition of Penthilus remained in the
island. Anciently, even Arabians[567] settled there, who came over with
Cadmus.
These cities, Eretria and Chalcis, when their population was greatly
augmented, sent out considerable colonies to Macedonia, for Eretria
founded cities about Pallene and Mount Athos; Chalcis founded some near
Olynthus, which Philip destroyed. There are also many settlements in
Italy and Sicily, founded by Chalcidians. These colonies were sent out,
according to Aristotle,[568] when the government of the Hippobatæ, (or
Knights,) as it is called, was established; it was an aristocratical
government, the heads of which held their office by virtue of the amount
of their property. At the time that Alexander passed over into Asia,
they enlarged the compass of the walls of their city, including within
them Canethus,[569] and the Euripus, and erected towers upon the bridge,
a wall, and gates.
9. Above the city of the Chalcidians is the plain called Lelantum, in
which are hot springs, adapted to the cure of diseases, and which were
used by Cornelius Sylla, the Roman general. There was also an
extraordinary mine which produced both copper and iron; such, writers
say, is not to be found elsewhere. At present, however, both are
exhausted.
The whole of Eubœa is subject to earthquakes, especially the part near
the strait. It is also exposed to violent subterraneous blasts, like
Bœotia, and other places of which I have before spoken at length. [570]
The city of the same name as the island is said to have been swallowed
up by an earthquake. [571] It is mentioned by Æschylus in his tragedy of
Glaucus Pontius;
“Euboïs near the bending shore of Jupiter Cenæus, close to the
tomb of the wretched Lichas. ”
There is also in Ætolia a town of the name of Chalcis,
“Chalcis on the sea-coast, and the rocky Calydon,”[572]
and another in the present Eleian territory;
“they passed along Cruni, and the rocky Chalcis,”[573]
speaking of Telemachus and his companions, when they left Nestor to
return to their own country.
10. Some say, that the Eretrians were a colony from Macistus in
Triphylia, under the conduct of Eretrieus; others, that they came from
Eretria, in Attica, where now a market is held. There is an Eretria also
near Pharsalus. In the Eretrian district there was a city, Tamynæ,
sacred to Apollo. The temple (which was near the strait) is said to have
been built by Admetus, whom the god, according to report, served a
year[574] for hire.
Eretria,[575] formerly, had the names of Melaneïs and Arotria. The
village Amarynthus, at the distance of 7 stadia from the walls, belongs
to it.
The Persians razed the ancient city, having enclosed with multitudes the
inhabitants, according to the expression of Herodotus,[576] in a net, by
spreading the Barbarians around the walls. The foundations are still
shown, and the place is called ancient Eretria. The present city is
built near it.
The power which the Eretrians once possessed, is evinced by a pillar
which was placed in the temple of Diana Amarynthia. There is an
inscription on it to this effect, that their processions upon their
public festivals consisted of three thousand heavy-armed soldiers, six
hundred horsemen, and [CAS. 448] sixty chariots. They were masters,
besides other islands, of Andros, Tenos, and Ceos. They received
colonists from Elis, whence their frequent use of the letter R, (ρ,)[577]
not only at the end, but in the middle of words, which exposed them to
the raillery of comic writers.
Œchalia,[578] a village, the remains of a city destroyed by Hercules,
belongs to the district of Eretria. It has the same name as that in
Trachinia, as that near Tricca,[579] as that in Arcadia, (which later
writers call Andania,) and as that in Ætolia near the Eurytanes.
11. At present Chalcis[580] is allowed, without dispute, to hold the
first rank, and is called the capital of the Eubœans. Eretria holds the
second place. Even in former times these cities had great influence both
in war and peace, so that they afforded to philosophers an agreeable and
tranquil retreat. A proof of this is the establishment at Eretria of the
school of Eretrian philosophers, disciples of Menedemus; and at an
earlier period the residence of Aristotle[581] at Chalcis, where he also
died.
12. These cities generally lived in harmony with each other, and when a
dispute arose between them respecting Lelantum, they did not even then
suspend all intercourse so as to act in war entirely without regard to
each other, but they agreed upon certain conditions, on which the war
was to be conducted. This appears by a column standing in the
Amarynthium, which interdicts the use of missiles. [For with respect to
warlike usages and armour, there neither is nor was any common usage;
for some nations employ soldiers who use missile weapons, such as bows,
slings, and javelins; others employ men who engage in close fight, and
use a sword, or charge with a spear. [582] For there are two methods of
using the spear; one is to retain it in the hand; the other, to hurl it
like a dart; the pike[583] answers both purposes, for it is used in
close encounter and is hurled to a distance. The sarissa and the hyssus
are similarly made use of. ][584]
13. The Eubœans excelled in standing[585] fight, which was also called
close fight,[586] and fight hand to hand. [587] They used spears extended
at length according to the words of the poet;
“warriors eager to break through breastplates with extended
ashen spears. ”[588]
The missile weapons were perhaps of different kinds, as, probably, was
the ashen spear of Pelion, which, as the poet says,
“Achilles alone knew how to hurl. ”[589]
When the poet says,
“I strike farther with a spear than any other person with an
arrow,”[590]
he means with a missile spear. They, too, who engage in single combat,
are first introduced as using missile spears, and then having recourse
to swords. But they who engage in single combat do not use the sword
only, but a spear also held in the hand, as the poet describes it,
“he wounded him with a polished spear, pointed with brass, and
unbraced his limbs. ”[591]
He represents the Eubœans as fighting in this manner; but he describes
the Locrian mode as contrary to this;
“It was not their practice to engage in close fight, but they
followed him to Ilium with their bows, clothed in the pliant
fleece of the sheep. ”[592]
An answer of an oracle is commonly repeated, which was returned to the
Ægienses;
“a Thessalian horse, a Lacedæmonian woman, and the men who
drink the water of the sacred Arethusa,”
meaning the Chalcideans as superior to all other people, for Arethusa
belongs to them.
14. At present the rivers of Eubœa are the Cereus and Neleus. The cattle
which drink of the water of the former become white, and those that
drink of the water of the latter become black. We have said that a
similar effect is produced by the water of the Crathis. [593]
15. As some of the Eubœans, on their return from Troy, were driven out
of their course among the Illyrians; pursued their journey homewards
through Macedonia, and stopped in the neighbourhood of Edessa; having
assisted the people in a war, who had received them hospitably; they
founded a city, [CAS. 450] Eubœa. There was a Eubœa in Sicily, founded
by the Chalcideans, who were settled there. It was destroyed by Gelon,
and became a stronghold of the Syracusans. In Corcyra also, and at
Lemnus, there was a place called Eubœa, and a hill of this name in the
Argive territory.
16. We have said, that Ætolians, Acarnanians, and Athamanes are situated
to the west of the Thessalians and Œtæans, if indeed we must call the
Athamanes,[594] Greeks. It remains, in order that we may complete the
description of Greece, to give some account of these people, of the
islands which lie nearest to Greece, and are inhabited by Greeks, which
we have not yet mentioned.
CHAPTER II.
1. Ætolians and Acarnanians border on one another, having between them
the river Achelous,[595] which flows from the north, and from Pindus
towards the south, through the country of the Agræi, an Ætolian tribe,
and of the Amphilochians.
Acarnanians occupy the western side of the river as far as the Ambracian
Gulf,[596] opposite to the Amphilochians, and the temple of Apollo
Actius. Ætolians occupy the part towards the east as far as the Locri
Ozolæ, Parnassus, and the Œtæans.
Amphilochians are situated above the Acarnanians in the interior towards
the north; above the Amphilochians are situated Dolopes, and Mount
Pindus; above the Ætolians are Perrhæbi, Athamanes, and a body of the
Ænianes who occupy Œta.
The southern side, as well the Acarnanian as the Ætolian, is washed by
the sea, forming the Corinthian Gulf, into which the Achelous empties
itself. This river (at its mouth) is the boundary of the Ætolian and the
Acarnanian coast. The Achelous was formerly called Thoas. There is a
river of this name near Dyme,[597] as we have said, and another near
Lamia. [598] We have also said,[599] that the mouth of this river is
considered by some writers as the commencement of the Corinthian Gulf.
2. The cities of the Acarnanians are, Anactorium, situated upon a
peninsula[600] near Actium, and a mart of Nicopolis, which has been
built in our time; Stratus,[601] to which vessels sail up the Achelous,
a distance of more than 200 stadia; and Œniadæ[602] is also on the banks
of the river. The ancient city is not inhabited, and lies at an equal
distance from the sea and from Stratus. The present city is at the
distance of 70 stadia above the mouth of the river.
There are also other cities, Palærus,[603] Alyzia,[604] Leucas,[605] the
Amphilochian Argos,[606] and Ambracia:[607] most of these, if not all,
are dependent upon Nicopolis.
Stratus lies half-way between Alyzia and Anactorium. [608]
3. To the Ætolians belong both Calydon[609] and Pleuron, which at
present are in a reduced condition, but, anciently, these settlements
were an ornament to Greece.
Ætolia was divided into two portions, one called the Old, the other the
Epictetus (the Acquired). The Old comprised the sea-coast from the
Achelous as far as Calydon, extending far into the inland parts, which
are fertile, and consist of plains. Here are situated Stratus and
Trichonium, which has an excellent soil. The Epictetus, that reaches
close to the Locri in the direction of Naupactus[610] and Eupalium,[611]
[CAS. 451] is a rugged and sterile tract, extending as far as Œtæa, to
the territory of the Athamanes, and the mountains and nations following
next in order, and which lie around towards the north.
4. There is in Ætolia a very large mountain, the Corax,[612] which is
contiguous to Œta. Among the other mountains, more in the middle of the
country, is the Aracynthus,[613] near which the founders built the
modern Pleuron, having abandoned the ancient city situated near Calydon,
which was in a fertile plain country, when Demetrius, surnamed Ætolicus,
laid waste the district.
Above Molycreia[614] are Taphiassus[615] and Chalcis,[616] mountains of
considerable height, on which are situated the small cities, Macynia and
Chalcis, (having the same name as the mountain,) or, as it is also
called, Hypochalcis. Mount Curium is near the ancient Pleuron, from
which some supposed the Pleuronii had the appellation of Curetes.
5. The river Evenus rises in the country of the Bomianses, a nation
situated among the Ophienses, and an Ætolian tribe like the Eurytanes,
Agræi, Curetes, and others. It does not flow, at its commencement,
through the territory of the Curetes, which is the same as Pleuronia,
but through the country more towards the east along Chalcis and Calydon;
it then makes a bend backwards to the plains of the ancient Pleuron, and
having changed its course to the west, turns again to the south, where
it empties itself. It was formerly called Lycormas. There Nessus, who
had the post of ferryman, is said to have been killed by Hercules for
having attempted to force Deïaneira while he was conveying her across
the river.
6. The poet calls Olenus and Pylene Ætolian cities, the former of which,
of the same name as the Achæan city, was razed by the Æolians. It is
near the new city Pleuron. The Acarnanians disputed the possession of
the territory. They transferred Pylene to a higher situation, and
changed its name to Proschium. Hellanicus was not at all acquainted with
the history of these cities, but speaks of them as still existing in
their ancient condition, but Macynia and Molycria, which were built
subsequent to the return of the Heracleidæ, he enumerates among ancient
cities, and shows the greatest carelessness in almost every part of his
work.
7. This, then, is the general account of the country of the Acarnanians
and Ætolians. We must annex to this some description of the sea-coast
and of the islands lying in front of it.
If we begin from the entrance of the Ambracian Gulf, the first place we
meet with in Acarnania is Actium. The temple of Apollo Actius has the
same name as the promontory, which forms the entrance of the Gulf, and
has a harbour on the outside.
At the distance of 40 stadia from the temple is Anactorium, situated on
the Gulf; and at the distance of 240 stadia is Leucas. [617]
8. This was, anciently, a peninsula belonging to the territory of the
Acarnanians. The poet calls it the coast of Epirus, meaning by Epirus
the country on the other side of Ithaca,[618] and Cephallenia,[619]
which country is Acarnania; so that by the words of the poet,
“the coast of Epirus,”
we must understand the coast of Acarnania.
To Leucas also belonged Neritus, which Laertes said he took--
“as when I was chief of the Cephallenians, and took Nericus, a
well-built city, on the coast of Epirus,”[620]
and the cities which he mentions in the Catalogue,
“and they who inhabited Crocyleia, and the rugged Ægilips. ”[621]
But the Corinthians who were despatched by Cypselus and Gorgus, obtained
possession of this coast, and advanced as far as the Ambracian Gulf.
Ambracia and Anactorium were both founded. They cut through the isthmus
of the peninsula, converted Leucas into an island, transferred Neritus
to the spot, which was once an isthmus, but is now a channel connected
with the land by a bridge, and changed the name to Leucas from Leucatas,
as I suppose, which is a white rock, projecting from Leucas into the sea
towards Cephallenia, so that it might take its name from this
circumstance.
9. [CAS. 452] It has upon it the temple of Apollo Leucatas, and the
Leap, which, it was thought, was a termination of love.
“Here Sappho first ’tis said,” (according to Menander,) “in
pursuit of the haughty Phaon, and urged on by maddening
desire, threw herself[622] from the aerial rock, imploring
Thee, Lord, and King. ”
Menander then says that Sappho was the first who took the leap, but
persons better acquainted with ancient accounts assert that it was
Cephalus, who was in love with Pterelas, the son of Deïoneus. [623] It
was also a custom of the country among the Leucadians at the annual
sacrifice performed in honour of Apollo, to precipitate from the rock
one of the condemned criminals, with a view to avert evil. Various kinds
of wings were attached to him, and even birds were suspended from his
body, to lighten by their fluttering the fall of the leap. Below many
persons were stationed around in small fishing boats to receive, and to
preserve his life, if possible, and to carry him beyond the boundaries
of the country. The author of the Alcmæonis says that Icarius, the
father of Penelope, had two sons, Alyzeus, and Leucadius, who reigned
after their father in Acarnania, whence Ephorus thinks that the cities
were called after their names.
10. At present those are called Cephallenians who inhabit Cephallenia.
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. Bœbe is a small place situated on
the lake.
As civil dissensions and usurpations reduced the flourishing condition
of Iolcus, formerly so powerful, so they affected Pheræ in the same
manner, which was raised to prosperity, and was destroyed by tyrants.
Near Demetrias flows the Anaurus. The continuous line [CAS. 436] of
coast is called also Iolcus. Here was held the Pylaic (Peliac? ) assembly
and festival.
Artemidorus places the Gulf of Pagasæ farther from Demetrias, near the
places subject to Philoctetes. In the gulf he says is the island
Cicynethus,[513] and a small town of the same name.
16. The poet next enumerates the cities subject to Philoctetes.
Methone is not the Thracian Methone razed by Philip. We have already
noticed the change of name these places and others in the Peloponnesus
have undergone. Other places enumerated as subject to Philoctetes, are
Thaumacia, Olizon, and Melibœa, all along the shore next adjacent.
In front of the Magnetes lie clusters of islands; the most celebrated
are Sciathus,[514] Peparethus,[515] Icus,[516] Halonnesus, and
Scyrus,[517] which contain cities of the same name. Scyrus however is
the most famous of any for the friendship which subsisted between
Lycomedes and Achilles, and for the birth and education of Neoptolemus,
the son of Achilles. In after times, when Philip became powerful,
perceiving that the Athenians were masters of the sea, and sovereigns
both of these and other islands, he made those islands which lay near
his own country more celebrated than any of the rest. For as his object
in waging war was the sovereignty of Greece, he attacked those places
first which were near him; and as he attached to Macedonia many parts of
Magnesia itself, of Thrace, and of the rest of the surrounding country,
so also he seized upon the islands in front of Magnesia, and made the
possession of islands which were before entirely unknown, a subject of
warlike contention, and brought them into notice.
Scyrus however is particularly celebrated in ancient histories. It is
also highly reputed for the excellence of its goats, and the quarries of
variegated marble, such as the Carystian, the Deucallian, (Docimæan? )
the Synnadic, and the Hierapolitic kinds. For there may be seen at Rome
columns, consisting of a single stone, and large slabs of variegated
marble, (from Scyrus,) with which the city is embellished both at the
public charge and at the expense of individuals, which has caused works
of white marble to be little esteemed.
17. The poet having proceeded so far along the Magnesian coast, returns
to Upper Thessaly, for beginning from Dolopia and Pindus he goes through
the region extending along Phthiotis to Lower Thessaly.
“They who occupy Tricca and rocky Ithome. ”[518]
These places belong to Histiæotis, which was formerly called Doris. When
it was in the possession of the Perrhæbi, who destroyed Histiæotis in
Eubœa, and had removed the inhabitants by force to the continent, they
gave the country the name of Histiæotis, on account of the great numbers
of Histiæans among the settlers. This country and Dolopia are called
Upper Thessaly, which is in a straight line with Upper Macedonia, as
Lower Thessaly is in a straight line with Lower Macedonia.
Tricca,[519] where there is a very ancient and famous temple of
Æsculapius, borders upon the Dolopes, and the parts about Pindus.
Ithome, which has the same name as the Messenian Ithome, ought not, they
say, to be pronounced in this manner, but should be pronounced without
the first syllable, Thome, for this was its former name. At present, it
is changed to [Thumæum]. It is a spot strong by nature, and in reality
rocky. It lies between four strongholds, which form a square, Tricca,
Metropolis, Pelinnæum, and Gomphi. [520] Ithome belongs to the district
of the Metropolitæ. Metropolis was formed at first out of three small
obscure cities, and afterwards more were included, and among these
Ithome. Callimachus says in his Iambics,
“among the Venuses, (for the goddess bears several titles,)
Venus Castnietis surpasses all others in wisdom,”
for she alone accepts the sacrifice of swine. Certainly Callimachus, if
any person could be said to possess information, was well informed, and
it was his object, as he himself says, all his life to relate these
fables. Later writers, however, have proved that there was not one Venus
only, but several, who accepted that sacrifice, from among whom the
goddess worshipped at Metropolis came, and that this [foreign] rite was
delivered down by one of the cities which contributed to form that
settlement.
Pharcadon [CAS. 438] also is situated in the Hestiæotis. The Peneius
and the Curalius flow through it. The Curalius, after flowing beside the
temple of the Itonian Minerva, empties itself into the Peneius.
The Peneius itself rises in Mount Pindus, as I have before said. It
leaves Tricca, Pelinnæum, and Pharcadon on the left hand, and takes its
course beside Atrax and Larisa. After having received the rivers of the
Thessaliotis it flows onwards through Tempe, and it empties itself into
the sea.
Historians speak of Œchalia, the city of Eurytus, as existing in these
parts, in Eubœa also, and in Arcadia; but some give it one name, others
another, as I have said in the description of Peloponnesus.
They inquire particularly, which of these was the city taken by
Hercules, and which was the city intended by the author of the poem,
“The Capture of Œchalia”?
The places, however, were subject to the Asclepiadæ.
18. The poet next mentions the country which was under the dominion of
Eurypylus;
“They who possessed Ormenium and the spring Hypereia,
And they who occupied Asterium and the white peaks of Titanus. ”[521]
Ormenium is now called Orminium. It is a village situated below Pelion,
near the Pagasitic Gulf, but was one of the cities which contributed to
form the settlement of Demetrias, as I have before said.
The lake Bœbeis must be near, because both Bœbe and Ormenium belonged to
the cities lying around Demetrias.
Ormenium is distant by land 27 stadia from Demetrias. The site of
Iolcus, which is on the road, is distant 7 stadia from Demetrias, and
the remaining 20 from Ormenium.
Demetrius of Scepsis says, that Phœnix came from Ormenium, and that he
fled thence from his father Amyntor, the son of Ormenus, to Phthia, to
king Peleus. For this place was founded by Ormenus, the son of
Cercaphus, the son of Æolus. The sons of Ormenus were Amyntor and
Euæmon; the son of the former was Phœnix, and of the latter, Eurypylus.
The succession to his possessions was preserved secure for Eurypylus,
after the departure of Phœnix from his home, and we ought to write the
verse of the poet in this manner:
“as when I first left Ormenium, abounding with flocks,”[522]
instead of
“left Hellas, abounding with beautiful women. ”
But Crates makes Phœnix a Phocæan, conjecturing this from the helmet of
Meges, which Ulysses wore on the night expedition; of which helmet the
poet says,
“Autolycus brought it away from Eleon, out of the house of
Amyntor, the son of Ormenus, having broken through the thick
walls. ”[523]
Now Eleon was a small city on Parnassus, and by Amyntor, the son of
Ormenus, he could not mean any other person than the father of Phœnix,
and that Autolycus, who lived on Parnassus, was in the habit of digging
through the houses of his neighbours, which is the common practice of
every house-breaker, and not of persons living at a distance. But
Demetrius the Scepsian says, that there is no such place on Parnassus as
Eleon, but Neon, which was built after the Trojan war, and that digging
through houses was not confined to robbers of the neighbourhood. Other
things might be advanced, but I am unwilling to insist long on this
subject. Others write the words
“from Heleon;”
but this is a Tanagrian town; and the words
“Then far away I fled through Hellas and came to Phthia,”[524]
would make this passage absurd.
Hypereia is a spring in the middle of the city of the Pheræi [subject to
Eumelus]. It would therefore be absurd [to assign it to Eurypylus].
Titanus[525] had its name from the accident of its colour, for the soil
of the country near Arne and [Aphe]tæ is white, and Asterium is not far
from these places.
19. Continuous with this portion of Thessaly are the people subject to
Polypœtes.
“They who possessed Argissa; those who inhabited Gyrtone,[526]
Orthe, Elone, and the white city Oloosson. ”[527]
This country was formerly inhabited by Perrhæbi, who [CAS. 439]
possessed the part towards the sea and the Peneius, as far as[528] its
mouth and the city Gyrton, belonging to the district Perrhæbis.
Afterwards the Lapithæ, Ixion and his son Peirithous, having reduced the
Perrhæbi,[529] got possession of these places. Peirithous took
possession also of Pelion, having expelled by force the Centaurs, a
savage tribe, who inhabited it. These
“he drove from Pelion to the neighbourhood of the Æthices,”[530]
but he delivered up the plains to the Lapithæ. The Perrhæbi kept
possession of some of these parts, those, namely, towards Olympus, and
in some places they lived intermixed altogether with the Lapithæ.
Argissa, the present Argura, is situated upon the banks of the Peneius.
Atrax lies above it at the distance of 40 stadia, close to the river.
The intermediate country along the side of the river was occupied by
Perrhæbi.
Some call Orthe the citadel of the Phalannæi. Phalanna is a Perrhæbic
city on the Peneius, near Tempe.
The Perrhæbi, oppressed by the Lapithæ, retreated in great numbers to
the mountainous country about Pindus, and to the Athamanes and Dolopes;
but the Larisæi became masters of the country and of the Perrhæbi who
remained there. The Larisæi lived near the Peneius, but in the
neighbourhood of the Perrhæbi. They occupied the most fertile portion of
the plains, except some of the very deep valleys near the lake Nessonis,
into which the river, when it overflowed, usually carried away a portion
of the arable ground belonging to the Larisæi, who afterwards remedied
this by making embankments.
These people were in possession of Perrhæbia, and levied imposts until
Philip became master of the country.
Larisa is a place situated on Ossa, and there is Larisa Cremaste, by
some called Pelasgia. In Crete also is a city Larisa, the inhabitants of
which were embodied with those of Hierapytna; and from this place the
plain below is called the Larisian plain. In Peloponnesus the citadel of
the Argives is called Larisa, and there is a river Larisus, which
separates Eleia from Dyme. Theopompus mentions a city Larisa, situated
on the immediate confines of this country. In Asia is Larisa Phriconis
near Cume, and another Larisa near Hamaxitus, in the Troad. There is
also an Ephesian Larisa, and a Larisa in Syria. At 50 stadia from
Mitylene are the Larisæan rocks, on the road to Methymne. There is a
Larisa in Attica; and a village of this name at the distance of 30
stadia from Tralleis, situated above the city, on the road to the plain
of the Cayster, passing by Mesogis towards the temple of Mater Isodroma.
This Larisa has a similar position, and possesses similar advantages to
those of Larisa Cremaste; for it has abundance of water and vineyards.
Perhaps Jupiter had the appellation of Larisæus from this place. There
is also on the left side of the Pontus (Euxine) a village called Larisa,
near the extremities of Mount Hæmus, between Naulochus [and
Odessus]. [531]
Oloosson, called the White, from its chalky soil, Elone, and Gonnus are
Perrhæbic cities. The name of Elone was changed to that of Leimone. It
is now in ruins. Both lie at the foot of Olympus, not very far from the
river Eurotas, which the poet calls Titaresius.
20. The poet speaks both of this river and of the Perrhæbi in the
subsequent verses, when he says,
“Guneus brought from Cyphus two and twenty vessels. His
followers were Enienes and Peræbi, firm in battle. They dwelt
near the wintry Dodona, and tilled the fields about the lovely
Titaresius. ”[532]
He mentions therefore these places as belonging to the Perrhæbi, which
comprised a part of the Hestiæotis. [533] They were in part Perrhæbic
towns, which were subject to Polypœtes. He assigned them however to the
Lapithæ, because these people and the Perrhæbi lived intermixed
together, and the Lapithæ occupied the plains. The country, which
belonged to the Perrhæbi, was, for the most part, subject to the
Lapithæ, but the Perrhæbi possessed the more mountainous tracts towards
Olympus and Tempe, such as Cyphus, Dodonē, and the country about the
river Titaresius. This river rises [CAS. 441] in the mountain Titarius,
which is part of Olympus. It flows into the plain near Tempe belonging
to Perrhæbia, and somewhere there enters the Peneius.
The water of the Peneius is clear, that of the Titaresius is unctuous; a
property arising from some matter, which prevents the streams mingling
with each other,
“but runs over the surface like oil. ”[534]
Because the Perrhæbi and Lapithæ lived intermingled together, Simonides
calls all those people Pelasgiotæ, who occupy the eastern parts about
Gyrton and the mouths of the Peneius, Ossa, Pelion, and the country
about Demetrias, and the places in the plain, Larisa, Crannon, Scotussa,
Mopsium, Atrax, and the parts near the lakes Nessonis and Bœbeis. The
poet mentions a few only of these places, either because they were not
inhabited at all, or badly inhabited on account of the inundations which
had happened at various times. For the poet does not mention even the
lake Nessonis, but the Bœbeis only, which is much smaller, for its water
remained constant, and this alone remains, while the former probably was
at one time filled irregularly to excess, and at another contained no
water.
We have mentioned Scotussa in our accounts of Dodona, and of the oracle,
in Thessaly, when we observed that it was near Scotussa. Near Scotussa
is a tract called Cynoscephalæ. It was here that the Romans with their
allies the Ætolians, and their general Titus Quintius, defeated in a
great battle Philip, son of Demetrius, king of Macedon.
21. Something of the same kind has happened in the territory of
Magnetis. For Homer having enumerated many places of this country, calls
none of them Magnetes, but those only whom he indicates in terms
obscure, and not easily understood;
“They who dwelt about Peneius and Pelion with waving woods. ”[535]
Now about the Peneius and Pelion dwell those (already mentioned by
Homer) who occupied Gyrton, and Ormenium, and many other nations. At a
still greater distance from Pelion, according to later writers, were
Magnetes, beginning from the people, that were subject to Eumelus. These
writers, on account of the continual removals from one settlement to
another, alterations in the forms of government, and intermixture of
races, seem to confound both names and nations, which sometimes
perplexes persons in these times, as is first to be observed in the
instances of Crannon and Gyrton.
Formerly they called the Gyrtonians Phlegyæ, from Phlegyas, the brother
of Ixion; and the Crannonii, Ephyri, so that there is a doubt, when the
poet says,
“These two from Thrace appeared with breastplates armed
against Ephyri, or haughty Phlegyæ,”[536]
what people he meant.
22. The same is the case with the Perrhæbi and Ænianes, for Homer joins
them together, as if they dwelt near each other; and it is said by later
writers, that, for a long period, the settlement of the Ænianes was in
the Dotian plain. Now this plain is near Perrhæbia, which we have just
mentioned, Ossa, and the lake Bœbeis: it is situated about the middle of
Thessaly, but enclosed by itself within hills. Hesiod speaks of it in
this manner;
“Or, as a pure virgin, who dwells on the sacred heights of the
Twin hills, comes to the Dotian plain, in front of Amyrus,
abounding with vines, to bathe her feet in the lake Bœbias. ”
The greater part of the Ænianes were expelled by the Lapithæ, and took
refuge in Œta, where they established their power, having deprived the
Dorians and the Malienses of some portions of country, extending as far
as Heracleia and Echinus. Some of them however remained about Cyphus, a
Perrhæbic mountain, where is a settlement of the same name. As to the
Perrhæbi, some of them collected about the western parts of Olympus and
settled there, on the borders of the Macedonians. But a large body took
shelter among the mountains near Athamania, and Pindus. But at present
few, if any, traces of them are to be found.
The Magnetes, who are mentioned last in the Thessalian catalogue of the
poet, must be understood to be those situated within Tempe, extending
from the Peneius and Ossa to Pelion, and bordering upon the Pieriotæ in
Macedonia, who occupy the country on the other side of the Peneius as
far as the sea.
Homolium, or Homolē, (for both words are in use,) must be [CAS. 443]
assigned to the Magnetes. I have said in the description of Macedonia,
that Homolium is near Ossa at the beginning of the course which the
Peneius takes through Tempe.
If we are to extend their possessions as far as the sea-coast, which is
very near Homolium, there is reason for assigning to them Rhizus, and
Erymnæ, which lies on the sea-coast in the tract subject to Philoctetes
and Eumelus. Let this however remain unsettled. For the order in which
the places as far as the Peneius follow one another, is not clearly
expressed, and as the places are not of any note, we need not consider
that uncertainty as very important. The coast of Sepias, however, is
mentioned by tragic writers, and was chaunted in songs on account of the
destruction of the Persian fleet. It consists of a chain of rocks.
Between Sepias and Casthanæa, a village situated below Pelion, is the
sea-shore, where the fleet of Xerxes was lying, when an east wind began
to blow violently; some of the vessels were forced on shore, and
immediately went to pieces, others were driven on Hipnus, a rocky spot
near Pelion, others were lost at Melibœa, others at Casthanæa.
The whole of the coasting voyage along Pelion, to the extent of about 80
stadia, is among rocks. That along Ossa is of the same kind and to the
same extent.
Between them is a bay of more than 200 stadia in extent, upon which is
situated Melibœa.
The whole voyage from Demetrias, including the winding of the bays, to
the Peneius is more than 1000 stadia, from the Spercheius 800 stadia
more, and from the Euripus 2350 stadia.
Hieronymus assigns a circuit of 3000 stadia to the plain country in
Thessaly and Magnesia, and says, that it was inhabited by Pelasgi, but
that these people were driven into Italy by Lapithæ, and that the
present Pelasgic plain is that in which are situated Larisa, Gyrton,
Pheræ, Mopsium, Bœbeis, Ossa, Homole, Pelion, and Magnetis. Mopsium has
not its name from Mopsus, the son of Manto the daughter of Teiresias,
but from Mopsus, one of the Lapithæ, who sailed with the Argonauts.
Mopsopus, from whom Attica is called Mopsopia, is a different person.
23. This then is the account of the several parts of Thessaly.
In general we say, that it was formerly called Pyrrhæa, from Pyrrha, the
wife of Deucalion; Hæmonia, from Hæmon; and Thettalia, from Thettalus,
the son of Hæmon. But some writers, after dividing it into two portions,
say, that Deucalion obtained by lot the southern part, and called it
Pandora, from his mother; that the other fell to the share of Hæmon,
from whom it was called Hæmonia; that the name of one part was changed
to Hellas, from Hellen, the son of Deucalion, and of the other to
Thettalia, from Thettalus, the son of Hæmon. But, according to some
writers, it was the descendants of Antiphus and Pheidippus, sons of
Thettalus, descended from Hercules, who invaded the country from Ephyra
in Thesprotia, and called it after the name of Thettalus their
progenitor. It has been already said that once it had the name of
Nessonis, as well as the lake, from Nesson, the son of Thettalus.
BOOK X.
GREECE.
SUMMARY.
The Tenth Book contains Ætolia and the neighbouring islands;
also the whole of Crete, on which the author dwells some time
in narrating the institutions of the islanders and of the
Curetes. He describes at length the origin of the Idæan
Dactyli in Crete, their customs and religious rites. Strabo
mentions the connexion of his own family with Crete. The Book
contains an account of the numerous islands about Crete,
including the Sporades and some of the Cyclades.
CHAPTER I.
1. Since Eubœa[537] stretches along the whole of this coast from Sunium
to Thessaly, except the extremity on each side,[538] it may be
convenient to connect the description of this island with that of
Thessaly. We shall then pass on to Ætolia and Acarnania, parts of Europe
of which it remains to give an account.
2. The island is oblong, and extends nearly 1200 stadia from Cenæum[539]
to Geræstus. [540] Its greatest breadth is about 150 stadia, but it is
irregular. [541]
Cenæum is opposite to Thermopylæ, and in a small degree to the parts
beyond Thermopylæ: Geræstus[542] and Petalia[543] are opposite to
Sunium.
Eubœa then fronts[544] Attica, Bœotia, Locris, and the Malienses. From
its narrowness, and its length, which we have mentioned, it was called
by the ancients Macris. [545]
It approaches nearest to the continent at Chalcis. It projects with a
convex bend towards the places in Bœotia near Aulis, and forms the
Euripus,[546] of which we have before spoken at length. We have also
mentioned nearly all the places on either side of the Euripus, opposite
to each other across the strait, both on the continent and on the
island. If anything is omitted we shall now give a further explanation.
And first, the parts lying between Aulis (Chalcis? ) and the places about
Geræstus are called the Hollows of Eubœa, for the sea-coast swells into
bays, and, as it approaches Chalcis, juts out again towards the
continent.
3. The island had the name not of Macris only, but of Abantis also. The
poet in speaking of Eubœa never calls the inhabitants from the name of
the island, Eubœans, but always Abantes;
“they who possessed Eubœa, the resolute Abantes;”[547]
“in his train Abantes were following. ”
Aristotle says that Thracians, taking their departure from Aba, the
Phocian city, settled with the other inhabitants in the island, and gave
the name of Abantes to those who already occupied it; other writers say
that they had their name from a hero,[548] as that of Eubœa was derived
from a heroine. [549] But perhaps as a certain cave on the sea-coast
fronting the [CAS. 445] Ægean Sea is called Boos-Aule, (or the Cow’s
Stall,) where Io is said to have brought forth Epaphus, so the island
may have had the name Eubœa[550] on this account.
It was also called Oché, which is the name of one of the largest
mountains[551] there.
It had the name of Ellopia, from Ellops, the son of Ion; according to
others, he was the brother of Æclus, and Cothus, who is said to have
founded Ellopia,[552] a small place situated in the district called Oria
of the Histiæotis, near the mountain Telethrius. [553] He also possessed
Histiæa, Perias, Cerinthus, Ædepsus,[554] and Orobiæ, where was an
oracle very free from deception. There also was an oracle of Apollo
Selinuntius.
The Ellopians, after the battle of Leuctra, were compelled by the tyrant
Philistides to remove to the city Histiæa, and augmented the number of
its inhabitants. Demosthenes[555] says that Philistides was appointed by
Philip tyrant of the Oreitæ also, for afterwards the Histiæans had that
name, and the city, instead of Histiæa, was called Oreus. According to
some writers, Histiæa was colonized by Athenians from the demus of the
Histiæeis, as Eretria was from the demus of the Eretrieis. But
Theopompus says, that when Pericles had reduced Eubœa, the Histiæans
agreed to remove into Macedonia, and that two thousand Athenians, who
formerly composed the demus of the Histiæans, came, and founded
Oreus. [556]
4. It is situated below Mount Telethrius, at a place called Drymus, near
the river Callas, on a lofty rock;[557] whence perhaps because the
Ellopians, the former inhabitants, were a mountain tribe,[558] the city
had the name of Oreus. Orion, who was brought up there, seems to have
had his name from the place. But according to some writers, the Oreitæ,
who had a city of their own, being attacked by the Ellopians, migrated,
and settled with the Histiæans, and although it was a single city it had
both appellations, as Lacedæmon and Sparta were the same city. We have
said, that the Histiæotis in Thessaly had its name from the people who
were carried away from this country by the Perrhæbi.
5. As Ellopia induced us to commence our description with Histiæa and
Oreus, we shall proceed with the places continuous with these.
The promontory Cenæum is near Oreus, and on the promontory is situated
Dium,[559] and Athenæ Diades, a town founded by Athenians, and overlooks
the passage across the strait to Cynus. Canæ in Æolia received colonists
from Dium. These places are situated near Histiæa, and besides these
Cerinthus, a small city, close to the sea. Near it is a river Budorus,
of the same name as the mountain in Salamis on the side of Attica.
6. Carystus[560] lies at the foot of the mountain Oche, and near it are
Styra[561] and Marmarium,[562] where is a quarry, from which are
obtained the Carystian columns. It has a temple of Apollo Marmarinus,
where there is a passage across to Halæ-Araphenides. At Carystus there
is found in the earth a stone,[563] which is combed like wool, and
woven, so that napkins are made of this substance, which, when soiled,
are thrown into the fire, and cleaned, as in the washing of linen. [564]
These places are said to be inhabited by colonists from the Tetrapolis
of Marathon, and by Steirieis. Styra was destroyed in the Maliac
(Lamiac? ) war by Phædrus, the general of the Athenians. But the
Eretrians are in possession of the territory. There is also a Carystus
in Laconia, a place belonging to Ægys, towards Arcadia; from whence
comes the Carystian wine, spoken of by Alcman.
7. Geræstus[565] is not mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of the
Ships; it is however mentioned by him elsewhere;[CAS. 447]
“The vessels came to Geræstus by night;”[566]
which shows, that the place being near Sunium lies conveniently for
persons who cross from Asia to Attica. It has a temple of Neptune the
most remarkable of any in that quarter, and a considerable number of
inhabitants.
8. Next to Geræstus is Eretria, which, after Chalcis, is the largest
city in Eubœa. Next follows Chalcis, the capital as it were of the
island, situated immediately on the Euripus. Both these cities are said
to have been founded by Athenians before the Trojan war; [but it is also
said that] after the Trojan war, Æclus and Cothus took their departure
from Athens; the former to found Eretria, and Cothus, Chalcis. A body of
Æolians who belonged to the expedition of Penthilus remained in the
island. Anciently, even Arabians[567] settled there, who came over with
Cadmus.
These cities, Eretria and Chalcis, when their population was greatly
augmented, sent out considerable colonies to Macedonia, for Eretria
founded cities about Pallene and Mount Athos; Chalcis founded some near
Olynthus, which Philip destroyed. There are also many settlements in
Italy and Sicily, founded by Chalcidians. These colonies were sent out,
according to Aristotle,[568] when the government of the Hippobatæ, (or
Knights,) as it is called, was established; it was an aristocratical
government, the heads of which held their office by virtue of the amount
of their property. At the time that Alexander passed over into Asia,
they enlarged the compass of the walls of their city, including within
them Canethus,[569] and the Euripus, and erected towers upon the bridge,
a wall, and gates.
9. Above the city of the Chalcidians is the plain called Lelantum, in
which are hot springs, adapted to the cure of diseases, and which were
used by Cornelius Sylla, the Roman general. There was also an
extraordinary mine which produced both copper and iron; such, writers
say, is not to be found elsewhere. At present, however, both are
exhausted.
The whole of Eubœa is subject to earthquakes, especially the part near
the strait. It is also exposed to violent subterraneous blasts, like
Bœotia, and other places of which I have before spoken at length. [570]
The city of the same name as the island is said to have been swallowed
up by an earthquake. [571] It is mentioned by Æschylus in his tragedy of
Glaucus Pontius;
“Euboïs near the bending shore of Jupiter Cenæus, close to the
tomb of the wretched Lichas. ”
There is also in Ætolia a town of the name of Chalcis,
“Chalcis on the sea-coast, and the rocky Calydon,”[572]
and another in the present Eleian territory;
“they passed along Cruni, and the rocky Chalcis,”[573]
speaking of Telemachus and his companions, when they left Nestor to
return to their own country.
10. Some say, that the Eretrians were a colony from Macistus in
Triphylia, under the conduct of Eretrieus; others, that they came from
Eretria, in Attica, where now a market is held. There is an Eretria also
near Pharsalus. In the Eretrian district there was a city, Tamynæ,
sacred to Apollo. The temple (which was near the strait) is said to have
been built by Admetus, whom the god, according to report, served a
year[574] for hire.
Eretria,[575] formerly, had the names of Melaneïs and Arotria. The
village Amarynthus, at the distance of 7 stadia from the walls, belongs
to it.
The Persians razed the ancient city, having enclosed with multitudes the
inhabitants, according to the expression of Herodotus,[576] in a net, by
spreading the Barbarians around the walls. The foundations are still
shown, and the place is called ancient Eretria. The present city is
built near it.
The power which the Eretrians once possessed, is evinced by a pillar
which was placed in the temple of Diana Amarynthia. There is an
inscription on it to this effect, that their processions upon their
public festivals consisted of three thousand heavy-armed soldiers, six
hundred horsemen, and [CAS. 448] sixty chariots. They were masters,
besides other islands, of Andros, Tenos, and Ceos. They received
colonists from Elis, whence their frequent use of the letter R, (ρ,)[577]
not only at the end, but in the middle of words, which exposed them to
the raillery of comic writers.
Œchalia,[578] a village, the remains of a city destroyed by Hercules,
belongs to the district of Eretria. It has the same name as that in
Trachinia, as that near Tricca,[579] as that in Arcadia, (which later
writers call Andania,) and as that in Ætolia near the Eurytanes.
11. At present Chalcis[580] is allowed, without dispute, to hold the
first rank, and is called the capital of the Eubœans. Eretria holds the
second place. Even in former times these cities had great influence both
in war and peace, so that they afforded to philosophers an agreeable and
tranquil retreat. A proof of this is the establishment at Eretria of the
school of Eretrian philosophers, disciples of Menedemus; and at an
earlier period the residence of Aristotle[581] at Chalcis, where he also
died.
12. These cities generally lived in harmony with each other, and when a
dispute arose between them respecting Lelantum, they did not even then
suspend all intercourse so as to act in war entirely without regard to
each other, but they agreed upon certain conditions, on which the war
was to be conducted. This appears by a column standing in the
Amarynthium, which interdicts the use of missiles. [For with respect to
warlike usages and armour, there neither is nor was any common usage;
for some nations employ soldiers who use missile weapons, such as bows,
slings, and javelins; others employ men who engage in close fight, and
use a sword, or charge with a spear. [582] For there are two methods of
using the spear; one is to retain it in the hand; the other, to hurl it
like a dart; the pike[583] answers both purposes, for it is used in
close encounter and is hurled to a distance. The sarissa and the hyssus
are similarly made use of. ][584]
13. The Eubœans excelled in standing[585] fight, which was also called
close fight,[586] and fight hand to hand. [587] They used spears extended
at length according to the words of the poet;
“warriors eager to break through breastplates with extended
ashen spears. ”[588]
The missile weapons were perhaps of different kinds, as, probably, was
the ashen spear of Pelion, which, as the poet says,
“Achilles alone knew how to hurl. ”[589]
When the poet says,
“I strike farther with a spear than any other person with an
arrow,”[590]
he means with a missile spear. They, too, who engage in single combat,
are first introduced as using missile spears, and then having recourse
to swords. But they who engage in single combat do not use the sword
only, but a spear also held in the hand, as the poet describes it,
“he wounded him with a polished spear, pointed with brass, and
unbraced his limbs. ”[591]
He represents the Eubœans as fighting in this manner; but he describes
the Locrian mode as contrary to this;
“It was not their practice to engage in close fight, but they
followed him to Ilium with their bows, clothed in the pliant
fleece of the sheep. ”[592]
An answer of an oracle is commonly repeated, which was returned to the
Ægienses;
“a Thessalian horse, a Lacedæmonian woman, and the men who
drink the water of the sacred Arethusa,”
meaning the Chalcideans as superior to all other people, for Arethusa
belongs to them.
14. At present the rivers of Eubœa are the Cereus and Neleus. The cattle
which drink of the water of the former become white, and those that
drink of the water of the latter become black. We have said that a
similar effect is produced by the water of the Crathis. [593]
15. As some of the Eubœans, on their return from Troy, were driven out
of their course among the Illyrians; pursued their journey homewards
through Macedonia, and stopped in the neighbourhood of Edessa; having
assisted the people in a war, who had received them hospitably; they
founded a city, [CAS. 450] Eubœa. There was a Eubœa in Sicily, founded
by the Chalcideans, who were settled there. It was destroyed by Gelon,
and became a stronghold of the Syracusans. In Corcyra also, and at
Lemnus, there was a place called Eubœa, and a hill of this name in the
Argive territory.
16. We have said, that Ætolians, Acarnanians, and Athamanes are situated
to the west of the Thessalians and Œtæans, if indeed we must call the
Athamanes,[594] Greeks. It remains, in order that we may complete the
description of Greece, to give some account of these people, of the
islands which lie nearest to Greece, and are inhabited by Greeks, which
we have not yet mentioned.
CHAPTER II.
1. Ætolians and Acarnanians border on one another, having between them
the river Achelous,[595] which flows from the north, and from Pindus
towards the south, through the country of the Agræi, an Ætolian tribe,
and of the Amphilochians.
Acarnanians occupy the western side of the river as far as the Ambracian
Gulf,[596] opposite to the Amphilochians, and the temple of Apollo
Actius. Ætolians occupy the part towards the east as far as the Locri
Ozolæ, Parnassus, and the Œtæans.
Amphilochians are situated above the Acarnanians in the interior towards
the north; above the Amphilochians are situated Dolopes, and Mount
Pindus; above the Ætolians are Perrhæbi, Athamanes, and a body of the
Ænianes who occupy Œta.
The southern side, as well the Acarnanian as the Ætolian, is washed by
the sea, forming the Corinthian Gulf, into which the Achelous empties
itself. This river (at its mouth) is the boundary of the Ætolian and the
Acarnanian coast. The Achelous was formerly called Thoas. There is a
river of this name near Dyme,[597] as we have said, and another near
Lamia. [598] We have also said,[599] that the mouth of this river is
considered by some writers as the commencement of the Corinthian Gulf.
2. The cities of the Acarnanians are, Anactorium, situated upon a
peninsula[600] near Actium, and a mart of Nicopolis, which has been
built in our time; Stratus,[601] to which vessels sail up the Achelous,
a distance of more than 200 stadia; and Œniadæ[602] is also on the banks
of the river. The ancient city is not inhabited, and lies at an equal
distance from the sea and from Stratus. The present city is at the
distance of 70 stadia above the mouth of the river.
There are also other cities, Palærus,[603] Alyzia,[604] Leucas,[605] the
Amphilochian Argos,[606] and Ambracia:[607] most of these, if not all,
are dependent upon Nicopolis.
Stratus lies half-way between Alyzia and Anactorium. [608]
3. To the Ætolians belong both Calydon[609] and Pleuron, which at
present are in a reduced condition, but, anciently, these settlements
were an ornament to Greece.
Ætolia was divided into two portions, one called the Old, the other the
Epictetus (the Acquired). The Old comprised the sea-coast from the
Achelous as far as Calydon, extending far into the inland parts, which
are fertile, and consist of plains. Here are situated Stratus and
Trichonium, which has an excellent soil. The Epictetus, that reaches
close to the Locri in the direction of Naupactus[610] and Eupalium,[611]
[CAS. 451] is a rugged and sterile tract, extending as far as Œtæa, to
the territory of the Athamanes, and the mountains and nations following
next in order, and which lie around towards the north.
4. There is in Ætolia a very large mountain, the Corax,[612] which is
contiguous to Œta. Among the other mountains, more in the middle of the
country, is the Aracynthus,[613] near which the founders built the
modern Pleuron, having abandoned the ancient city situated near Calydon,
which was in a fertile plain country, when Demetrius, surnamed Ætolicus,
laid waste the district.
Above Molycreia[614] are Taphiassus[615] and Chalcis,[616] mountains of
considerable height, on which are situated the small cities, Macynia and
Chalcis, (having the same name as the mountain,) or, as it is also
called, Hypochalcis. Mount Curium is near the ancient Pleuron, from
which some supposed the Pleuronii had the appellation of Curetes.
5. The river Evenus rises in the country of the Bomianses, a nation
situated among the Ophienses, and an Ætolian tribe like the Eurytanes,
Agræi, Curetes, and others. It does not flow, at its commencement,
through the territory of the Curetes, which is the same as Pleuronia,
but through the country more towards the east along Chalcis and Calydon;
it then makes a bend backwards to the plains of the ancient Pleuron, and
having changed its course to the west, turns again to the south, where
it empties itself. It was formerly called Lycormas. There Nessus, who
had the post of ferryman, is said to have been killed by Hercules for
having attempted to force Deïaneira while he was conveying her across
the river.
6. The poet calls Olenus and Pylene Ætolian cities, the former of which,
of the same name as the Achæan city, was razed by the Æolians. It is
near the new city Pleuron. The Acarnanians disputed the possession of
the territory. They transferred Pylene to a higher situation, and
changed its name to Proschium. Hellanicus was not at all acquainted with
the history of these cities, but speaks of them as still existing in
their ancient condition, but Macynia and Molycria, which were built
subsequent to the return of the Heracleidæ, he enumerates among ancient
cities, and shows the greatest carelessness in almost every part of his
work.
7. This, then, is the general account of the country of the Acarnanians
and Ætolians. We must annex to this some description of the sea-coast
and of the islands lying in front of it.
If we begin from the entrance of the Ambracian Gulf, the first place we
meet with in Acarnania is Actium. The temple of Apollo Actius has the
same name as the promontory, which forms the entrance of the Gulf, and
has a harbour on the outside.
At the distance of 40 stadia from the temple is Anactorium, situated on
the Gulf; and at the distance of 240 stadia is Leucas. [617]
8. This was, anciently, a peninsula belonging to the territory of the
Acarnanians. The poet calls it the coast of Epirus, meaning by Epirus
the country on the other side of Ithaca,[618] and Cephallenia,[619]
which country is Acarnania; so that by the words of the poet,
“the coast of Epirus,”
we must understand the coast of Acarnania.
To Leucas also belonged Neritus, which Laertes said he took--
“as when I was chief of the Cephallenians, and took Nericus, a
well-built city, on the coast of Epirus,”[620]
and the cities which he mentions in the Catalogue,
“and they who inhabited Crocyleia, and the rugged Ægilips. ”[621]
But the Corinthians who were despatched by Cypselus and Gorgus, obtained
possession of this coast, and advanced as far as the Ambracian Gulf.
Ambracia and Anactorium were both founded. They cut through the isthmus
of the peninsula, converted Leucas into an island, transferred Neritus
to the spot, which was once an isthmus, but is now a channel connected
with the land by a bridge, and changed the name to Leucas from Leucatas,
as I suppose, which is a white rock, projecting from Leucas into the sea
towards Cephallenia, so that it might take its name from this
circumstance.
9. [CAS. 452] It has upon it the temple of Apollo Leucatas, and the
Leap, which, it was thought, was a termination of love.
“Here Sappho first ’tis said,” (according to Menander,) “in
pursuit of the haughty Phaon, and urged on by maddening
desire, threw herself[622] from the aerial rock, imploring
Thee, Lord, and King. ”
Menander then says that Sappho was the first who took the leap, but
persons better acquainted with ancient accounts assert that it was
Cephalus, who was in love with Pterelas, the son of Deïoneus. [623] It
was also a custom of the country among the Leucadians at the annual
sacrifice performed in honour of Apollo, to precipitate from the rock
one of the condemned criminals, with a view to avert evil. Various kinds
of wings were attached to him, and even birds were suspended from his
body, to lighten by their fluttering the fall of the leap. Below many
persons were stationed around in small fishing boats to receive, and to
preserve his life, if possible, and to carry him beyond the boundaries
of the country. The author of the Alcmæonis says that Icarius, the
father of Penelope, had two sons, Alyzeus, and Leucadius, who reigned
after their father in Acarnania, whence Ephorus thinks that the cities
were called after their names.
10. At present those are called Cephallenians who inhabit Cephallenia.
