[19] Myrsilus tells us that Antissa1 was formerly an island, and so called because it was opposite to Lesbos,2 then named Issa. Now, however, it forms one of the towns of Lesbos.3 Some have believed that Lesbos itself has been disjoined from Mount Ida in the same way as Prochytas4 and Pithecussa5 from Misenum,6 Capreæ7 from the Athenæum, Sicily from Rhegium,8 and Ossa from Olympus.9 Many changes similar to these have occurred elsewhere. The river Ladon in Arcadia ceased for some time its flow. Duris informs us that the Rhagæ10 in Media gained that appellation from chasms made in the ground near the Gates of the Caspian11 by earthquakes, in which many cities and villages were destroyed, and the rivers underwent various changes. Ion, in his satirical composition of Omphale, has said of Eubœa, “‘The light wave of the Euripus has divided the land of Eubœa from Bœotia; separating the projecting land by a strait.’”
1 That is to say, the territory opposite Issa; probably the ruins near to Kalas Limenaias.
2 The present island of Metelino.
3 ῾η δὲ ῎αντισσα νῆσος ὴ̂ν ποͅότεοͅον, ὡς μυοͅσίλος φησί τῆς [δὲ] λέσβου καλουμένης ποͅὀτεοͅον ῎ισσης, καὶ τὴν νῆσον ῎αντισσαν καλεῖσθσι συνέβη. Our rendering of this passage, though rather free, seemed necessary to the clear explication of the Greek.
4 Procita.
5 Ischia.
6 Miseno, the northern cape of the Gulf of Naples.
7 Capri.
8 Reggio.
9 These two mountains are separated from each other by the river Penæus.
10 ῾παγάς,a rent or chink. This town was sixty miles from Ecbatana; it was named by the Arabs Raï, and is now in ruins. It is the Rhages in Tobias.
11 Certain mountain defiles, now called Firouz-Koh.
The Geography of Strabo. Literally translated, with notes, in three volumes. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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