[31]
Here, also, is Kainon Chorion,1 as it is called, a rock that is sheer and fortified by nature, being less than two hundred stadia distant from Cabeira. It has on its summit a spring that sends forth much water, and at its foot a river and a deep ravine. The height of the rock above the neck2 is immense, so that it is impregnable; and it is enclosed by remarkable walls, except the part where they have been pulled down by the Romans. And the whole country around is so overgrown with forests, and so mountainous and waterless, that it is impossible for an enemy to encamp within one hundred and twenty stadia. Here it was that the most precious of the treasures of Mithridates were kept, which are now stored in the Capitolium, where they were dedicated by Pompey. Pythodoris possesses the whole of this country, which is adjacent to the barbarian country occupied by her, and also Zelitis and Megalopolitis. As for Cabeira, which by Pompey had been built into a city and called Diospolis,3 Pythodoris further adorned it and changed its name to Sebaste;4 and she uses the city as a royal residence. It has also the temple of Men of Pharnaces,5 as it is called,—the village-city Ameria, which has many temples servants, and also a sacred territory, the fruit of which is always reaped by the ordained priest. And the kings revered this temple so exceedingly that they proclaimed the "royal" oath as follows: "By the Fortune of the king and by Men of Pharnaces."6 And this is also the temple of Selene,7 like that among the Albanians and those in Phrygia,8 I mean that of Men in the place of the same name and that of Men9 Ascaeus10 near the Antiocheia that is near Pisidia11 and that of Men in the country of the Antiocheians.12
1 "New Place."
2 i.e., the "neck," or ridge, which forms the approach to rock (cp. the use of the word in section 39 following).
3 "City of Zeus."
4 In Latin, "Augusta."
5 i.e., established by Pharnaces.
6 Professor David M. Robinson says (in a private communication): "I think that Μήν Φαρνάκου equals Τύχη Βασιλέως, since Μήν equals Τύχη on coins of Antioch."
7 Goddess of the "Moon."
8 See 11. 4. 7 and 12. 8. 20.
9 Sir William Ramsay (Journal of Hellenic Studies 1918, vol. 38, pp. 148 ff.) argues that "Men" is a grecized form for the Anatolian "Manes," the native god of the land of Ouramma; and "Manes Ourammoas was Hellenized as Zeus Ouruda-menos or Euruda-mennos." See also M. Rostovtzeff, Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire, p. 238, and Daremberg et Saglio, Dict. Antiq., s.v. "Lunus."
10 "Ascaënus (Ἀσκαηνός) is the regular spelling of the word, the spelling found in hundreds of inscriptions, whereas Ascaeus (Α᾿σκαῖος) has been found in only two inscriptions, according to Professor David M. Robinson. On this temple, see Sir W. M. Ramsay's "Excavations at Pisidian Antioch in 1912," The Athenaeum, London, March 8, Aug. 31, and Sept. 7, 1913.
11 Note that Strabo, both here and in 12. 8. 14, refers to this Antioch as "the Antioch near Pisidia," not as "Pisidian Antioch," the appellation now in common use. Neither does Artemidorus (lived about 100 B.C.), as quoted by Strabo (12. 7. 2), name Antioch in his list of Pisidian cities.
12 i.e., in the territory of which Antiocheia was capital. At this "remote old Anatolian Sanctuary" (not to be confused with that of Men Ascaeus near Antiocheia), "Strabo does not say what epithet Men bore" (Ramsay is first article above cited). That of Men Ascaeus on Mt. Kara Kuyu has been excavated by Ramsay and Calder (J.H.S. 1912, pp 111-150, British School Annual 1911-12, XVIII, 37 ff., J.R.S. 1918, pp 107-145. The other, not yet found, "may have been," according to Professor Robinson, "at Saghir."
Strabo. ed. H. L. Jones, The Geography of Strabo. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.
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