Thermopylæ is
separated
from the Cenæum by a strait 70 stadia across.
Strabo
Then after these is Scarpheia, at a distance of 10 stadia from the sea,
and of 30 from Thronium, but at a little [less from its harbour. ][467]
Next are Nicæa and Thermopylæ.
5. It is not worth while to speak of any of the other cities. Of those
mentioned by Homer, Calliarus is no longer inhabited, it is now a
well-cultivated plain. Bessa, a sort of plain, does not now exist. It
has its name from an accidental quality, for it abounds with woods.
χώραν ἔχουσι Σκαρφιεῖς, &c. It ought to be written with a double s,
for it has its name from Bessa, a wooded valley, like Napē,[468] in
the plain of Methymna,[469] which Hellanicus, through ignorance of the
local circumstances, improperly calls Lapē; but the demus in Attica,
from which the burghers are called Besæenses, is written with a single
s.
6. Tarphē is situated upon a height, at the distance of 20 stadia from
[Thronium]. It has a territory, productive and well wooded; for this
place also has its name from its being thickly wooded. It is now called
Pharygæ. A temple of Juno Pharygæa is there, called so from the Argive
Juno at Pharygæ; and the inhabitants assert that they are of Argive
origin.
7. Homer does not mention, at least not in express words, the Locri
Hesperii, but only seems to distinguish them from the people of whom we
have spoken;
“Locri, who dwell beyond the sacred Eubœa;”[470]
as if there were other Locri. They occupied the cities Amphissa[471] and
Naupactus. [472] The latter still subsists near Antirrhium. [473] It has
its name from the ships that were built there, either because the
Heraclidæ constructed their fleet at this place, or because the Locri,
as Ephorus states, had built vessels there long before that time. At
present it belongs to the Ætolians, by a decree of Philip.
8. There also is Chalcis, mentioned by the poet[474] in the Ætolian
Catalogue. It is below Calydon. There also is the hill Taphiassus, on
which is the monument of Nessus, and of the other Centaurs. From the
putrefaction of the bodies of these people there flows, it is said, from
beneath the foot of that hill a stream of water, which exhales a fœtid
odour, and [CAS. 427] contains clots of blood. Hence also the nation
had the name of Ozolæ. [475]
Opposite Antirrhium is Molycreia,[476] a small Ætolian city.
Amphissa is situated at the extremity of the Crisæan plain. It was
razed, as we have said before, by the Amphictyons. Œanthia and Eupalium
belong to the Locri. The whole voyage along the coast of the Locri is a
little more than 200 stadia.
9. There is an Alope[477] both here among the Locri Ozolæ, as also among
the Epicnemidii, and in the Phthiotis. These are a colony of the
Epicnemidii, and the Epizephyrii a colony of the Ozolæ.
10. Ætolians are continuous with the Locri Hesperii, and the Ænianes,
who occupy Œta with the Epicnemidii, and between them Dorians. These
last are the people who inhabited the Tetrapolis, which is called the
capital of all the Dorians. They possessed the cities Erineus, Bœum,
Pindus, Cytinium. Pindus is situated above Erineus. A river of the same
name flows beside it, and empties itself into the Cephissus, not far
from Lilæa. Some writers call Pindus, Acyphas.
Ægimius, king of these Dorians, when an exile from his kingdom, was
restored, as they relate, by Hercules. He requited this favour after the
death of Hercules at Œta by adopting Hyllus, the eldest of the sons of
Hercules, and both he and his descendants succeeded him in the kingdom.
It was from this place that the Heracleidæ set out on their return to
Peloponnesus.
11. These cities were for some time of importance, although they were
small, and their territory not fruitful. They were afterwards neglected.
After what they suffered in the Phocian war and under the dominion of
the Macedonians, Ætolians, and Athamanes, it is surprising that even a
vestige of them should have remained to the time of the Romans.
It was the same with the Ænianes, who were exterminated by Ætolians and
Athamanes. The Ætolians were a very powerful people, and carried on war
together with the Acarnanians. The Athamanes were the last of the
Epeirotæ, who attained distinction when the rest were declining, and
acquired power by the assistance of their king Amynander. The Ænianes,
however, kept possession of Œta.
12. This mountain extends from Thermopylæ and the east, to the
Ambracian Gulf and the west; it may be said to cut at right angles the
mountainous tract, extending from Parnassus as far as Pindus, and to the
Barbarians who live beyond. The portion of this mountain verging towards
Thermopylæ[478] is called Œta; it is 200 stadia in length, rocky and
elevated, but the highest part is at Thermopylæ, for there it forms a
peak, and terminates with acute and abrupt rocks, continued to the sea.
It leaves a narrow passage for those who are going from Thessaly to
Locris.
13. This passage is called Pylæ, or gates, straits, and Thermopylæ,
because near the straits are hot springs, which are held in honour as
sacred to Hercules. The mountain above is called Callidromus; but some
writers call by the name of Callidromus the remaining part of the range
extending through Ætolia and Acarnania to the Ambracian Gulf.
At Thermopylæ within the straits are strongholds, as Nicæa, on the sea
of the Locri, Teichius and Heracleia above it, formerly called Trachin,
founded by the Lacedæmonians. Heracleia is distant from the ancient
Trachin about 6 stadia. Next follows Rhoduntia, strong by its position.
14. These places are rendered difficult of access by a rocky country,
and by bodies of water, forming ravines through which they pass. For
besides the Spercheius,[479] which flows past Anticyra, there is the
Dyras, which, it is said, endeavoured to extinguish the funeral pile of
Hercules, and another river, the Melas, distant about 5 stadia from
Trachin. Herodotus says,[480] that to the south of Trachin there is a
deep fissure, through which the Asopus, (which has the same name as
other rivers that we have mentioned,) empties itself into the sea
without the Pylæ, having received the river Phœnix which flows from the
south, and unites with it. The latter river bears the name of the hero,
whose tomb is shown near it. From the Asopus (Phœnix? ) to Thermopylæ are
15 stadia.
15. These places were of the greatest celebrity when they formed the
keys of the straits. There were frequent contests for the ascendency
between the inhabitants without and those within the straits. Philip
used to call Chalcis and Corinth the fetters of Greece with reference to
the opportunity which they afforded for invasions from Macedonia; and
persons in [CAS. 429] later times called both these places and
Demetrias “the fetters,” for Demetrias commanding Pelion and Ossa,
commanded also the passes at Tempe. Afterwards, however, when the whole
country was subject to one power, the passes were freely open to
all. [481]
16. It was at these straits that Leonidas and his companions, together
with a small body of persons from the neighbourhood, resisted the
numerous forces of the Persians, until the Barbarians, making a circuit
of the mountains along narrow paths, surrounded and cut them to pieces.
Their place of burial, the Polyandrium, is still to be seen there, and
the celebrated inscription sculptured on the Lacedæmonian pillar;
“Stranger, go tell Lacedæmon that we lie here in obedience to her laws. ”
17. There is also a large harbour here and a temple of Ceres, in which
the Amphictyons at the time of every Pylæan assembly offered sacrifice.
From the harbour to the Heracleian Trachin are 40 stadia by land, but by
sea to Cenæum[482] it is 70 stadia. The Spercheius empties itself
immediately without the Pylæ. To Pylæ from the Euripus are 530 stadia.
And here Locris terminates. The parts without the Pylæ towards the east,
and the Maliac Gulf, belong to the Thessalians; those towards the west,
to the Ætolians and Acarnanians. The Athamanes are extinct.
18. The Thessalians form the largest and most ancient community. One
part of them has been mentioned by Homer, and the rest by many other
writers. Homer constantly mentions the Ætolians under one name; he
places cities, and not nations dependent upon them, if we except the
Curetes, whom we must place in the division of Ætolians.
We must begin our account with the Thessalians, omitting very ancient
and fabulous stories, and what is not generally admitted, (as we have
done in other instances,) but propose to mention what appears suited to
our purpose.
CHAPTER V.
1. The sea-coast, extending from Thermopylæ to the mouths of the
Peneius,[483] and the extremities of Pelion, looking towards the east,
and the northern extremities of Eubœa, is that of Thessaly. The parts
opposite Eubœa and Thermopylæ are occupied by Malienses, and by Achæan
Phthiotæ; those towards Pelion by the Magnetes. This may be called the
eastern and maritime side of Thessaly. From either side from Pelion, and
the Peneius, towards the inland parts are Macedonians, who extend as far
as Pæonia, (Pindus? ) and the Epeirotic nations. From Thermopylæ, the
Œtæan and Ætolian mountains, which approach close to the Dorians, and
Parnassus, are parallel to the Macedonians. The side towards the
Macedonians may be called the northern side; the other, the southern.
There remains the western side, enclosed by Ætolians and Acarnanians, by
Amphilochians and Athamanes, who are Epirotæ; by the territory of the
Molotti, formerly said to be that of the Æthices, and, in short, by the
country about Pindus. Thessaly,[484] in the interior, is a plain country
for the most part, and has no mountains, except Pelion and Ossa. These
mountains rise to a considerable height, but do not encompass a large
tract of country, but terminate in the plains.
2. These are the middle parts of Thessaly, a district of very fertile
country, except that part of it which is overflowed by rivers. The
Peneius flows through the middle of the country, and receiving many
rivers, frequently overflows. Formerly, according to report, the plain
was a lake; it is enclosed on all sides inland by mountains, and the
sea-coast is more elevated than the plains. When a chasm was formed, at
the place now called Tempe, by shocks of an earthquake, and Ossa was
riven from Olympus, the Peneius flowed out through it to the sea, and
drained this tract of country. Still there remained the large lake
Nessonis, and the lake Bœbeis; which is of less extent than the
Nessonis, and nearer to the sea-coast.
3. [CAS. 430] Such then is Thessaly, which is divided into four parts,
Phthiotis, Hestiæotis, Thessaliotis, and Pelasgiotis.
Phthiotis comprises the southern parts, extending along Œta from the
Maliac and (or) Pylaïc Gulf[485] as far as Dolopia and Pindus,
increasing in breadth to Pharsalia and the Thessalian plains.
Hestiæotis comprises the western parts and those between Pindus and
Upper Macedonia; the rest is occupied by the inhabitants of the plains
below Hestiæotis, who are called Pelasgiotæ, and approach close to the
Lower Macedonians; by the [Thessalians] also, who possess the country
next in order, as far as the coast of Magnesia.
The names of many cities might here be enumerated, which are celebrated
on other accounts, but particularly as being mentioned by Homer; few of
them, however, but most of all Larisa, preserve their ancient
importance.
4. The poet having divided the whole of the country, which we call
Thessaly, into ten[486] parts and dynasties, and having taken in
addition some portion of the Œtæan and Locrian territory, and of that
also which is now assigned to the Macedonians, shows (what commonly
happened to every country) the changes which, entirely or in part, they
undergo according to the power possessed by their respective governors.
5. The poet first enumerates the Thessalians subject to Achilles, who
occupied the southern side, and adjoined Œta, and the Locri Epicnemidii;
“All who dwelt in Pelasgic Argos; they who occupied Alus,
Alope, and Trachin; they who possessed Phthia, and Hellas,
abounding with beautiful women, were called Myrmidones,
Hellenes, and Achæi. ”[487]
He joins together with these the people under the command of Phœnix, and
makes them compose one common expedition. The poet nowhere mentions the
Dolopian forces in the battles near Ilium, neither does he introduce
their leader Phœnix, as undertaking, like Nestor, dangerous enterprises.
But Phœnix is mentioned by others, as by Pindar,
“Who led a brave band of Dolopian slingers,
Who were to aid the javelins of the Danai, tamers of horses. ”
The words of the poet are to be understood according to the figure of
the grammarians, by which something is suppressed, for it would be
ridiculous for the king to engage in the expedition,
(“I live at the extremity of Phthia, chief of the Dolopians,”[488])
and his subjects not to accompany him. For [thus] he would not appear to
be a comrade of Achilles in the expedition, but only as the commander of
a small body of men, and a speaker, and if so, a counsellor. The verses
seem to imply this meaning, for they are to this effect,
“To be an eloquent speaker, and to achieve great deeds. ”[489]
From this it appears that Homer considered the forces under Achilles and
Phœnix as constituting one body; but the places mentioned as being under
the authority of Achilles, are subjects of controversy.
Some have understood Pelasgic Argos to be a Thessalian city, formerly
situated near Larisa, but now no longer in existence. Others do not
understand a city to be meant by this name, but the Thessalian plain,
and to have been so called by Abas, who established a colony there from
Argos.
6. With respect to Phthia, some suppose it to be the same as Hellas and
Achaia, and that these countries form the southern portion in the
division of Thessaly into two parts. But others distinguish Phthia and
Hellas. The poet seems to distinguish them in these verses;
“they who occupied Phthia and Hellas,”[490]
as if they were two countries. And, again,
“Then far away through wide Greece I fled and came to Phthia,”[491]
and,
“There are many Achæan women in Hellas and Phthia. ”[492]
The poet then makes these places to be two, but whether cities or
countries he does not expressly say. Some of the later writers, who
affirm that it is a country, suppose it to have extended from
Palæpharsalus to Thebæ Phthiotides. In this country also is Thetidium,
near both the ancient and the modern Pharsalus; and it is conjectured
from [CAS. 432] Thetidium that the country, in which it is situated,
was a part of that under the command of Achilles. Others, who regard it
as a city, allege that the Pharsalii show at the distance of 60 stadia
from their own city, a city in ruins, which they believe to be Hellas,
and two springs near it, Messeïs and Hypereia. But the Melitæenses say,
that at the distance of about 10 stadia from their city, was situated
Hellas on the other side of the Enipeus,[493] when their own city had
the name of Pyrrha, and that the Hellenes migrated from Hellas, which
was built in a low situation, to theirs. They adduce in proof of this
the tomb of Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, which is in their
market-place. For according to historians, Deucalion was king of
Phthiotis and of all Thessaly. The Enipeus flows from Othrys[494] beside
Pharsalus,[495] and empties itself into the Apidanus,[496] and the
latter into the Peneius.
Thus much, then, respecting the Hellenes.
7. The people under the command of Achilles, Protesilaus, and
Philoctetes, are called Phthii. The poet furnishes evidence of this.
Having recited in the Catalogue of those under the command of Achilles,
“the people of Phthia,”[497]
he represents them at the battle at the ships, as remaining in the ships
with Achilles, and inactive; but those under the command of Philoctetes,
as fighting with Medon [as their leader], and those under the command of
Protesilaus, with Podarces [as their chief]. Of these the poet speaks in
general terms;
“there were Bœoti and Iaones wearing long robes, Locri,
Phthii, and illustrious Epeii. ”[498]
But here he particularizes them;
“at the head of the Phthii fought Medon and Podarces, firm in
battle. These armed with breastplates fought together with
Bœoti, at the head of the magnanimous Phthii, keeping away the
enemy from the ships. ”[499]
Perhaps the people with Eurypylus were called Phthii, as they bordered
upon the country of the latter. At present, however, historians assign
to Magnesia the country about Ormenium, which was subject to Eurypylus,
and the whole of that subject to Philoctetes; but they regard the
country under the command of Protesilaus as belonging to Phthia, from
Dolopia and Pindus to the sea of Magnesia; but as far as the city
Antron, (now written in the plural number,) which was subject to
Protesilaus, beginning from Trachinia and Œta, is the width of the
territory belonging to Peleus and Achilles. But this is nearly the whole
length of the Maliac Gulf.
8. They entertain doubts respecting Halus and Alope, whether Homer means
the places which are now comprised in the Phthiotic government, or those
among the Locri, since the dominion of Achilles extended hither as well
as to Trachin and the Œtæan territory. For Halus and Halius, as well as
Alope, are on the coast of the Locri. But some substitute Halius for
Alope, and write the verse in this manner;
“they who inhabited Halus, and Halius, and Trachin. ”[500]
But the Phthiotic Halus lies under the extremity of the mountain Othrys,
which lies to the north of Phthiotis, and borders upon the mountain
Typhrestus and the Dolopians, and thence stretches along to the country
near the Maliac Gulf. Halus,[501] either masculine or feminine, for it
is used in both genders, is distant from Itonus[502] about 60 stadia.
Athamas founded Halus; it was destroyed, but subsequently [restored by
the Pharsalii]. It is situated above the Crocian plain, and the river
Amphrysus[503] flows by its walls. Below the Crocian plain lies Thebæ
Phthiotides; Halus likewise, which is in Achaia, is called Phthiotis;
this, as well as the foot of Mount Othrys, approaches close to the
Malienses. As Phylace too, which was under the command of Protesilaus,
so Halus also belongs to Phthiotis, which adjoins to the Malienses.
Halus is distant from Thebes about 100 stadia, and lies in the middle
between Pharsalus and Thebæ Phthiotides. Philip, however, took it from
the latter, and assigned it to the Pharsalii. Thus it happens, as we
have said before, that boundaries and the distribution of nations and
places are in a state of continual change. Thus Sophocles also called
Phthiotis, Trachinia, Artemidorus places Halus on the coast beyond the
Maliac Gulf, but as belonging to Phthiotis. For proceeding thence in the
direction of the Peneius, he places Pteleum after Antron, then Halus at
the distance of 110 stadia from Pteleum.
[CAS. 433] I have already spoken of Trachin, and described the nature of
the place. The poet mentions it by name.
9. As Homer frequently mentions the Spercheius as a river of the
country, having its source in the Typhrestus, a Dryopian mountain,
formerly called [Tymphrestus], and emptying itself near Thermopylæ,
between Trachin and Lamia,[504] he might imply that whatever parts of
the Maliac Gulf were either within or without the Pylæ, were subject to
Achilles.
The Spercheius is distant about 30 stadia from Lamia, which lies above a
plain, extending to the Maliac Gulf. That the Spercheius is a river of
the country [subject to Achilles], appears from the words of Achilles,
who says, that he had devoted his hair to the Spercheius; and from the
circumstance, that Menesthius, one of his commanders, was said to be the
son of Spercheius and the sister of Achilles.
It is probable that all the people under the command of Achilles and
Patroclus, and who had accompanied Peleus in his banishment from Ægina,
had the name of Myrmidons, but all the Phthiotæ were called Achæans.
10. They reckon in the Phthiotic district, which was subject to
Achilles, beginning from the Malienses, a considerable number of towns,
and among them Thebæ Phthiotides, Echinus, Lamia, near which the war was
carried on between the Macedonians and Antipater, against the Athenians.
In this war Leosthenes, the Athenian general, was killed, [and
Leonnatus,] one of the companions of Alexander the king. Besides the
above-mentioned towns, we must add [Narthac]ium, Erineus, Coroneia, of
the same name as the town in Bœotia, Melitæa, Thaumaci, Proerna,
Pharsalus, Eretria, of the same name as the Euboic town, Paracheloïtæ,
of the same name as those in Ætolia; for here also, near Lamia, is a
river Achelous, on the banks of which live the Paracheloïtæ.
This district, lying to the north, extended to the north-western
territory of the Asclepiadæ, and to the territory of Eurypylus and
Protesilaus, inclining to the east; on the south it adjoined the Œtæan
territory, which was divided into fourteen demi, and contained Heracleia
and Dryopis, which was once a community of four cities, (a Tetrapolis,)
like Doris, and accounted the capital of the Dryopes in Peloponnesus. To
the Œtæan district belong also the Acyphas, Parasopias, Œneiadæ, and
Anticyra, of the same name as the town among the Locri Hesperii. I do
not mean that these divisions always continued the same, for they
underwent various changes. The most remarkable, however, are worthy of
notice.
11. The poet with sufficient clearness describes the situation of the
Dolopes, as at the extremity of Phthia, and says that both they and the
Phthiotæ were under the command of the same chief, Peleus;
“I lived,” he says, “at the farthest part of Phthia, king of
the Dolopes. ”[505]
Peleus, however, had conferred on him the authority.
This region is close to Pindus, and the places about it, most of which
belong to the Thessalians. For in consequence of the renown and
ascendency of the Thessalians and Macedonians, those Epeirotæ, who
bordered nearest upon them, became, some voluntarily, others by force,
incorporated among the Macedonians and Thessalians. In this manner the
Athamanes, Æthices, and Talares were joined to the Thessalians, and the
Orestæ, Pelagones, and Elimiotæ to the Macedonians.
12. Pindus is a large mountain, having on the north Macedonia, on the
west Perrhæbi, settlers from another country, on the south Dolopes, [and
on the east Hestiæotis] which belongs to Thessaly. Close upon Pindus
dwelt Talares, a tribe of Molotti, detached from the Molotti about Mount
Tomarus, and Æthices, among whom the poet says the Centaurs took refuge
when expelled by Peirithous. [506] They are at present, it is said,
extinct. But this extinction is to be understood in two senses; either
the inhabitants have been exterminated, and the country deserted, or the
name of the nation exists no longer, or the community does not preserve
its ancient form. Whenever the community, which continues, is
insignificant, we do not think it worth while to record either its
existence or its change of name. But when it has any just pretensions to
notice, it is necessary to remark the change which it has undergone.
13. It remains for us to describe the tract of sea-coast subject to
Achilles: we begin from Thermopylæ, for we have spoken of the coast of
Locris, and of the interior.
Thermopylæ is separated from the Cenæum by a strait 70 stadia across.
Coasting beyond the Pylæ, it is at a distance from the Spercheius of
about 10, (60? ) and thence to Phalara of 20 stadia. Above Phalara, 50
stadia from the sea, lies the city of the [Lamians]. Then coasting along
the shore 100 stadia, we find above it, Echinus. At the distance [CAS.
435] of 20 stadia from the following tract of coast, in the interior, is
Larisa Cremaste, which has the name also of Larisa Pelasgia.
14. Then follows a small island, Myonnesus; next Antron; which was
subject to Protesilaus. Thus much concerning the territory subject to
Achilles.
As the poet, in naming the chiefs, and cities under their rule, has
divided the country into numerous well-known parts, and has given an
accurate account of the whole circuit of Thessaly, we shall follow him,
as before, in completing the description of this region.
Next to the people under the command of Achilles, he enumerates those
under the command of Protesilaus. They were situated, next, along the
sea-coast which was subject to Achilles, as far as Antron. The boundary
of the country under the command of Protesilaus, is determined by its
being situated without the Maliac Gulf, yet still in Phthiotis, though
not within Phthiotis subject to Achilles.
Phylacē[507] is near Thebæ Phthiotides, which was subject to
Protesilaus, as were also Halus, Larisa Cremaste, and Demetrium, all of
which lie to the east of Mount Othrys.
The Demetrium he speaks of[508] as an enclosure sacred to Ceres, and
calls it Pyrasus. Pyrasus was a city with a good harbour, having at the
distance of 2 stadia from it a grove, and a temple consecrated to Ceres.
It is distant from Thebæ 20 stadia. The latter is situated above
Pyrasus. Above Thebæ in the inland parts is the Crocian plain at the
extremity of the mountain Othrys. Through this plain flows the river
Amphrysus. Above it is the Itonus, where is the temple of the Itonian
Minerva, from which that in Bœotia has its name, also the river Cuarius.
[Of this river and] of Arnē we have spoken in our account of Bœotia.
These places are in Thessaliotis, one of the four divisions of all
Thessaly, in which were the possessions of Eurypylus. Phyllus, where is
a temple of the Phyllæan Apollo, Ichnæ, where the Ichnæan Themis is
worshipped, Cierus, and [all the places as far as] Athamania, are
included in Thessaliotis.
At Antron, in the strait near Eubœa, is a sunk rock, called
“the Ass of Antron. ” Next are Pteleum and Halus; next the temple of
Ceres, and Pyrasus in ruins; above these, Thebæ; then Pyrrha, a
promontory, and two small islands near, one of which is called Pyrrha,
the other Deucalion. Somewhere here ends the territory of Phthiotis.
15. The poet next mentions the people under Eumelus, and the continuous
tract of coast which now belongs to Magnesia, and the Pelasgiotis.
Pheræ is the termination of the Pelasgic plains towards Magnesia, which
plains extend as far as Pelion, a distance of 160 stadia. Pagasæ is
the naval arsenal of Pheræ, from which it is distant 90 stadia, and
20 from Iolcus. Iolcus has been razed from ancient times. It was from
this place that Pelias despatched Jason and the ship Argo. Pagasæ
had its name,[509] according to mythologists, from the building of
the ship Argo at this place. Others, with more probability, suppose
that the name of the place was derived from the springs, (πηγαί,)
which are very numerous and copious. Near it is Aphetæ, (so named) as
the starting-place[510] from which the Argonauts set off. Iolcus is
situated 7 stadia from Demetrias, overlooking the sea. Demetrias was
founded by Demetrius Poliorcetes, who called it after his own name. It
is situated between Nelia and Pagasæ on the sea. He collected there the
inhabitants of the neighbouring small cities, Nelia, Pagasæ, Ormenium,
and besides these, Rhizus, Sepias, Olizon, Bœbe, and Iolcus, which are
at present villages belonging to Demetrias. For a long time it was a
station for vessels, and a royal seat of the Macedonian kings. It had
the command of Tempe, and of both the mountains Pelion and Ossa. At
present its extent of power is diminished, yet it still surpasses all
the cities in Magnesia.
The lake Bœbeis[511] is near Pheræ,[512] and approaches close to the
extremities of Pelion and Magnesia. 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.
