Strabo, Geography

On doubling the cape of Sunium one comes to Sunium, a noteworthy deme; then to Thoricus; then to a deme called Potamus, whose inhabitants are called Potamii; then to Prasia, to Steiria, to Brauron, where is the temple of the Artemis Brauronia, to Halae Araphenides, where is the temple of Artemis Tauropolus, to Myrrinus, to Probalinthus, and to Marathon, where Miltiades utterly destroyed the forces under Datis the Persian, without waiting for the Lacedaemonians, who came too late because they wanted the full moon. Here, too, is the scene of the myth of the Marathonian bull, which was slain by Theseus. After Marathon one comes to Tricorynthus; then to Rhamnus, the sanctuary of Nemesis; then to Psaphis, the land of the Oropians. In the neighborhood of Psaphis is the Amphiaraeium, an oracle once held in honor, where in his flight Amphiaraüs, as Sophocles says, "with four-horse chariot, armour and all, was received by a cleft that was made¹ in the Theban dust."² Oropus has often been disputed territory; for it is situated on the common boundary of Attica and Boeotia. Off this coast are islands: off Thoricus and Sunium lies the island Helene; it is rugged and deserted, and in its length of about sixty stadia extends parallel to the coast. This island, they say, is mentioned by the poet where Alexander³ says to Helen: "Not even when first I snatched thee from lovely Lacedaemon and sailed with thee on the seafaring ships, and in the island Cranaë joined with thee in love and couch";⁴ for he calls Cranaë⁵ the island now called Helene from the fact that the intercourse took place there. And after Helene comes Euboea, which lies off the next stretch of coast; it likewise is narrow and long and in length lies parallel to the mainland, like Helene. The voyage from Sunium to the southerly promontory of Euboea, which is called Leuce Acte, is three hundred stadia. However, I shall discuss Euboea later ;⁶ but as for the demes in the interior of Attica, it would be tedious to recount them because of their great number.