BOOK XIII.
ASIA.
SUMMARY. The Thirteenth Book contains the part of Asia south of the Propontis (Sea of Marmara), the whole of the sea-coast, and the adjacent islands. The author dwells some time on Troy, though deserted, on account of its distinction, and the great renown it derived from the war.CHAPTER I.
THESE are the limits of Phrygia. We return again to the Propontis, and to the sea-coast adjoining the Æsepus,1 and shall observe, in our description of places, the same order as before. The first country which presents itself on the sea-coast is the Troad.2 Although it is deserted, and covered with ruins, yet it is so celebrated as to furnish a writer with no ordinary excuse for expatiating on its history. But we ought not only to be excused, but encouraged, for the reader should not impute the fault of prolixity to us, but to those whose curiosity and desire of information respecting the celebrated places of antiquity is to be gratified. The prolixity is greater than it would be otherwise, from the great number of nations, both Greeks and Barbarians, who have occupied the country, and from the disagreement among writers, who do not relate the same things of the same persons and places, nor even do they express themselves with clearness. Among these in particular is Homer, who suggests occasions for conjecture in the greatest part of his local descriptions. We are therefore to examine what the poet and other writers advance, premising a summary description of the nature of the places. [2] The coast of the Propontis extends from Cyzicene and the places about the Æsepus and Granicus3 as far as Abydos, and Sestos.4 Between Abydos and Lectum5 is the country about Ilium, and Tenedos and Alexandreia Troas.6 Above all these is the mountain Ida, extending as far as Lectum. From Lectum to the river Caïcus7 and the Canæ mountains as they are called is the district comprising Assus,8 Adramyttium,9 Atarneus,10 Pitane,11 and the Elaïtic bay, opposite to all which places lies the island Lesbos.12 Next follows the country about Cyme13 as far as Hermus,14 and Phocæa,15 where Ionia begins, and Æolis terminates. Such then is the nature of the country. The poet implies that it was the Trojans chiefly who were divided into eight or even nine bodies of people, each forming a petty princedom, who had under their sway the places about Æsepus, and those about the territory of the present Cyzicene, as far as the river Caïcus. The troops of auxiliaries are reckoned among the allies. [3] The writers subsequent to Homer do not assign the same boundaries, but introduce other names, and a greater number of territorial divisions. The Greek colonies were the cause of this; the Ionian migration produced less change, for it was further distant from the Troad, but the Æolian colonists occasioned it throughout, for they were dispersed over the whole of the country from Cyzicene as far as the Caïcus, and occupied besides the district between the Caïcus and the river Hermus. It is said that the Æolian preceded the Ionian migration four generations, but it was attended with delays, and the settlement of the colonies took up a longer time. Orestes was the leader of the colonists, and died in Arcadia. He was preceded by his son Penthilus, who advanced as far as Thrace, sixty years16 after the Trojan war, about the time of the return of the Heracleidæ to Peloponnesus. Then Archelaus the son of Penthilus conducted the Æolian colonies across the sea to the present Cyzicene, near Dascylium. Gras his youngest son proceeded as far as the river Granicus, and, being provided with better means, transported the greater part of those who composed the expedition to Lesbos, and took possession of it. On the other side, Cleuas, the son of Dorus, and Malaus, who were descendants of Agamemnon, assembled a body of men for an expedition about the same time as Penthilus, but the band of Penthilus passed over from Thrace into Asia before them; while the rest consumed much time near Locris, and the mountain Phricius. At last however they crossed the sea, and founded Cyme, to which they gave the name of Phriconis, from Phricius, the Locrian mountain. [4] The Æolians then were dispersed over the whole country, which we have said the poet calls the Trojan country. Later writers give this name to the whole, and others to a part, of Æolis; and so, with respect to Troja, some writers understand the whole, others only a part, of that country, not entirely agreeing with one another in anything. According to Homer, the commencement of the Troad is at the places on the Propontis, reckoning it from the Æsepus. According to Eudoxus, it begins from Priapus, and Artace, situated in the island of the Cyziceni opposite to Priapus, and thus lie contracts the boundaries [of the Troad]. Damastes contracts them still more by reckoning its commencement from Parium.17 He extends the Troad as far as Lectum. But different writers assign different limits to this country. Charon of Lampsacus diminishes its extent by three hundred stadia more, by reckoning its commencement from Practius, for this is the distance between Parium and Practius, but protracts it to Adramyttium. It begins, according to Scylax of Caryanda, at Abydos. There is the same diversity of opinion respecting the boundaries of Æolis. Ephorus reckons, its extent from Abydos to Cyme, but different writers compute it in different ways. [5] The situation of the country actually called Troja is best marked by the position of Ida, a lofty mountain, looking to the west, and to the western sea, but making a slight bend to the north and towards the northern coast. This latter is the coast of the Propontis, extending from the straits near Abydos to the Æsepus, and to the territory of Cyzicene. The western sea is the exterior (part of the) Hellespont, and the Ægtæan Sea. Ida has many projecting parts like feet, and resembles in figure a tarantula, and is bounded by the following extreme points, namely, the promontory18 at Zeleia, and that called Lectum; the former terminates in the inland parts a little above Cyzicene (to the Cyziceni belongs the present Zeleia), and Lee tum projects into the Ægæan Sea, and is met with in the coasting voyage from Tenedos to Lesbos. “‘They (namely, Somnus and Juno) came, says Homer, to Ida, abounding with springs, the nurse of wild beasts, to Lectum where first they left the sea,’19” where the poet describes Lectum in appropriate terms, for he says correctly that Lectum is a part of Ida, and that this was the first place of disembarkation for persons intending to ascend Mount Ida.20 [He is exact in the epithet ‘abounding with springs;’ for the mountain, especially in that part, has a very large supply of water, which appears from the great number of rivers which issue from it; “‘all the rivers which rise in Ida, and proceed to the sea, the Rhesus, and Heptaporus,’21” and others, which he mentions afterwards, and which are now to be seen by us.] In speaking of the projections like feet on each side of Ida, as Lectum, and Zeleia,22 he distinguishes in proper terms the summit Gargarum,23 calling it the top24 (of Ida), for there is now in existence in the higher parts of Ida a place, from which the present Gargara, an Æolian city, has its name. Between Zeleia and Lectum, proceeding from the Propontis, are first the parts extending to the straits at Abydos. Then the parts below the Propontis, extending as far as Lectum. [6] On doubling Lectum a large bay opens,25 formed by Mount Ida, which recedes from Lectum, and by Canæ, the promontory opposite to Lectum on the other side. Some persons call it the Bay of Ida, others the Bay of Adramyttium. On this bay are situated the cities of the Æolians, extending, as we have said, to the mouths of the Hermus. I have mentioned also in a former part of my work, that in sailing from Byzantium in a straight line towards the south, we first arrive at Sestos and Abydos through the middle of the Propontis; then at the sea-coast of Asia as far as Caria. The readers of this work ought to attend to the following observation; although we mention certain bays on this coast, they must understand the promontories also which form them, situated on the same meridian.26 [7] Those who have paid particular attention to this subject conjecture, from the expressions of the poet, that all this coast was subject to the Trojans, when it was divided into nine dynasties, but that at the time of the war it was under the sway of Priam, and called Troja. This appears from the detail. Achilles and his army perceiving, at the beginning of the war, that the inhabitants of Ilium were defended by walls, carried on the war beyond them, made a circuit, and took the places about the country; “‘I sacked with my ships twelve cities, and eleven in the fruitful land of Troja.’27” By Troja he means the continent which he had ravaged. Among other places which had been plundered, was the country opposite Lesbos,—that about Thebe, Lyrnessus, and Pedasus belonging to the Leleges, and the territory also of Eurypylus, the son of Telephus; “‘as when he slew with his sword the hero Eurypylus, the son of Telephus;’28” and Neoptolemus, “ the hero Eurypylus.” The poet says these places were laid waste, and even Lesbos;
and,“ when he took the well-built Lesbos,29
”Il. ix. 129.
and,“ he sacked Lyrnessus and Pedasus,30
”Il. xx. 92.
Briseïs was taken captive at Lyrnessus;“ laid waste Lyrnessus, and the walls of Thebe.31
”Il. ii. 691.
In the capture of this place the poet says, Mynes and Epistrophus were slain, as Briseïs mentions in her lament over Patroclus, “‘Thou didst not permit me, when the swift-footed Achilles slew my husband, and destroyed the city of the divine Mynes, to make any lamentation;’33” for by calling Lyrnessus ‘the city of the divine Mynes,’ the poet implies that it was governed by him who was killed fighting in its defence. Chryseïs was carried away from Thebe;“ whom he carried away from Lyrnessus.32
”Il. ii. 690.
and Chryseïs is mentioned among the booty which was carried off from that place. “Andromache, daughter of the magnanimous Eetion, Eetion king of the Cilicians, who dwelt under the woody Placus at Thebe Hypoplacia.35” This is the second Trojan dynasty after that of Mynes, and in agreement with what has been observed are these words of Andromache; “‘Hector, wretch that I am; we were both born under the same destiny; thou at Troja in the palace of Priam, but I at Thebe.’” The words are not to be understood in their direct sense, but by a transposition; ‘both born in Troja, thou in the house of Priam, but I at Thebe.’ The third dynasty is that of the Leleges, which is also a Trojan dynasty;“ we came to Thebe, the sacred city of Eetion,34
”Il. i. 366.
by whose daughter Priam had Lycaon and Polydorus. Even the people, who in the Catalogue are said to be commanded by Hector, are called Trojans;“ of Altes, the king of the war-loving Leleges,36
”Il. xxi. 86.
then those under Æneas,“ Hector, the mighty, with the nodding crest, commanded the Trojans;37
”Il. iii. 816.
and these were Trojans, for the poet says,“ the brave son of Anchises had the command of the Dardanii,38
”Il. ii. 819.
then the Lycians under the command of Pandarus he calls Trojans; “‘Aphneian Trojans, who inhabited Zeleia at the farthest extremity of Ida, who drink of the dark waters of Æsepus, these were led by Pandarus, the illustrious son of Lycaon.’40” This is the sixth dynasty. The people, also, who lived between the Æsepus and Abydos were Trojans, for the country about Abydos was governed by Asius; “‘those who dwelt about Percote and Practius, at Sestos, Abydos, and the noble Arisbe, were led by Asius, the son of Hyrtacus.’41” Now it is manifest that a son of Priam, who had the care of his father's brood mares, dwelt at Abydos; “‘he wounded the spurious son of Priam, Democoon, who came from Abydos from the pastures of the swift mares.’42” At Percote,43 the son of Hicetaon was the herdsman of oxen, but not of those belonging to strangers; “‘first he addressed the brave son of Hicetaon, Melanippus, who was lately tending the oxen in their pastures at Percote.’44” so that this country also was part of the Troad, and the subsequent tract as far as Adrasteia, for it was governed by“ Thou, Æneas, that counsellest Trojans;39
”Il. xx. 83.
All therefore were Trojans from Abydos to Adrasteia, divided, however, into two bodies, one governed by Asius, the other by the Meropidæ, as the country of the Cilicians is divided into the Thebaic and the Lyrnessian Cilicia. To this district may have belonged the country under the sway of Eurypylus, for it follows next to the Lyrnessis, or territory of Lyrnessus.46 That Priam47 was king of all these countries the words with which Achilles addresses him clearly show; “‘we have heard, old man, that your riches formerly consisted in what Lesbos, the city of Macar, contained, and Phrygia above it and the vast Hellespont.’48” [8] Such was the state of the country at that time. Afterwards changes of various kinds ensued. Phrygians occupied the country about Cyzicus as far as Practius; Thracians, the country about Abydos; and Bebryces and Dryopes, before the time of both these nations. The next tract of country was occupied by Treres, who were also Thracians; the plain of Thebe, by Lydians, who were then called Mæonians, and by the survivors of the Mysians, who were formerly governed by Telephus and Teuthoras. Since then the poet unites together Æolis and Troja, and since the Æolians occupied all the country from the Hermus as far as the sea-coast at Cyzicus, and founded cities, we shall not do wrong in combining in one description Æolis, properly so called, (extending from the Hermus to Lectum,) and the tract which follows, as far as the Æsepus; distinguishing them again in speaking of them separately, and comparing what is said of them by Homer and by other writers with their present state. [9] According to Homer, the Troad begins from the city Cyzicus and the river Æsepus. He speaks of it in this manner: “‘Aphneian Trojans, who inhabited Zeleia at the farthest extremity of Ida, who drink the dark waters of Æsepus, these were led by Pandarus, the illustrious son of Lycaon.’49” These people he calls also Lycians. They had the name of Aphneii, it is thought, from the lake Aphnitis, for this is the name of the lake Dascylitis. [10] Now Zeleia is situated at the farthest extremity of the country lying at the foot of Ida, and is distant 190 stadia from Cyzicus, and about 8050 from the nearest sea, into which the Æsepus discharges itself. The poet then immediately gives in detail the parts of the sea-coast which follow the Æsepus; “‘those who occupied Adrasteia, and the territory of Apæsus, and Pityeia and the lofty mountain Tereia, these were commanded by Adrastus, and Amphius with the linen corslet, the two sons of Merops of Percote,’51” These places lie below Zeleia, and are occupied by Cyziceni, and Priapeni as far as the sea-coast. The river Tarsius52 runs near Zeleia; it is crossed twenty times on the same road, like the Heptaporus, mentioned by the poet, which is crossed seven times. The river flowing from Nicomedia to Nicæa is crossed four-and-twenty times; the river which flows from Pholoe to Eleia, several times; [that flowing from * * * * to Scardon,53] five-and-twenty times; that running from Coscinii to Alabanda, in many places, and the river flowing from Tyana through the Taurus to Soli, is crossed seventy-five times. [11] Above the mouth of the Æsepus about * * stadia is a hill on which is seen the sepulchre of Memnon, the son of Tithonus. Near it is the village of Memnon. Between the Æsepus and Priapus flows the Granicus, but for the most part it flows through the plain of Adrasteia, where Alexander defeated in a great battle the satraps of Dareius, and obtained possession of all the country within the Taurus and the Euphrates. On the banks of the Granicus was the city Sidene, with a large territory of tile same name. It is now in ruins. Upon the confines of Cyzicene and Priapene is Harpagia, a place from which, so says the fable, Ganymede was taken away by force. Others say that it was at the promontory Dardanium, near Dardanus. [12] Priapus is a city on the sea, with a harbour. Some say that it was built by Milesians, who, about the same time, founded Abydos and Proconnesus; others, that it was built by Cyziceni. It has its name from Priapus,54 who is worshipped there; either because his worship was transferred thither from Orneæ near Corinth, or the inhabitants were disposed to worship him because the god was said to be the son of Bacchus and a nymph, for their country abounds with vines, as also the country on their confines, namely, the territory of the Pariani and of the Lampsaceni. It was for this reason that Xerxes assigned Lampsacus55 to Themistocles to supply him with wine. It was in later times that Priapus was considered as a god. Hesiod for instance knew nothing of Priapus, and he resembles the Athenian gods Orthane, Conisalus, Tychon, and others such as these. [13] This district was called Adrasteia, and the plain of Adrasteia, according to the custom of giving two names to the same place, as Thebe, and the plain of Thebe; Mygdonia, and the plain of Mygdonia. Callisthenes says that Adrasteia had its name from King Adrastus, who first built the temple of Nemesis. The city Adrasteia is situated between Priapus and Parium, with a plain of the same name below it, in which there was an oracle of the Actæan Apollo and Artemis near the sea-shore.56 On the demolition of the temple, all the furniture and the stonework were transported to Parium, where an altar, the workmanship of Hermocreon, remarkable for its size and beauty, was erected, but the oracle, as well as that at Zeleia, was abolished. No temple either of Adrasteia or Nemesis exists. But there is a temple of Adrasteia near Cyzicus. Antimachus, however, says, “‘There is a great goddess Nemesis, who has received all these things from the immortals. Adrastus first raised an altar to her honour on the banks of the river Æsepus, where she is worshipped under the name of Adrasteia.’” [14] The city of Parium lies upon the sea, with a harbour larger than that of Priapus, and has been augmented from the latter city; for the Pariani paid court to the Attalic kings, to whom Priapene was subject, and, by their permission, appropriated to themselves a large part of that territory. It is here the story is related that the Ophiogeneis have some affinity with the serpent tribe (τοὺς ὄθεις.) They say that the males of the Ophiogeneis have the power of curing persons bitten by serpents by touching them without intermission, after the manner of the enchanters. They first transfer to themselves the livid colour occasioned by the bite, and then cause the inflammation and pain to subside. According to the fable, the founder of the race of Ophiogeneis, a hero, was transformed from a serpent into a man. He was perhaps one of the African Psylli. The power continued in the race for some time. Parium was founded by Milesians, Erythræans, and Parians. [15] Pitya is situated in Pityus in the Parian district, and having above it a mountain abounding with pine trees (πι- τυῶδες); it is between Parium and Priapus, near Linum, a place upon the sea, where the Linusian cockles are taken, which excel all others. [16] In the voyage along the coast from Parium to Priapus are the ancient and the present Proconnesus,57 with a city, and a large quarry of white marble, which is much esteemed. The most beautiful works in the cities in these parts, and particularly those in Cyzicus, are constructed of this stone. Aristeas, the writer of the poems called Arimaspeian, the greatest of impostors, was of Proconnesus. [17] With respect to the mountain Tereia, some persons say that it is the range of mountains in Peirossus, which the Cyziceni occupy, contiguous to Zeleia, among which was a royal chase for the Lydian, and afterwards for the Persian, kings. Others say that it was a hill forty stadia from Lampsacus, on which was a temple sacred to the mother of the gods, surnamed Tereia. [18] Lampsacus, situated on the sea, is a considerable city with a good harbour, and, like Abydos, supports its state well. It is distant from Abydos about 170 stadia. It had formerly, as they say Chios had, the name of Pityusa. On the opposite territory in Cherronesus is Callipolis,58 a small town. It is situated upon the shore, which projects so far towards Asia opposite to Lampsacus that the passage across does not exceed 40 stadia. [19] In the interval between Lampsacus and Parium was Pæsus, a city, and a river Pæsus.59 The city was razed, and the Pæseni, who, as well as the Lampsaceni, were a colony of Milesians, removed to Lampsacus. The poet mentions the city with the addition of the first syllable,“ the two sons of Merops of Percote.45
”Il. ii. 831.
and without it,“ and the country of Apæsus;60
”Il. ii. 328.
and this is still the name of the river. Colonæ also is a colony of Milesians. It is situated above Lampsacus, in the interior of the territory Lampsacene. There is another Colonæ situated upon the exterior Hellespontic Sea, at the distance of 140 stadia from Ilium; the birth-place, it is said, of Cycnus. Anaximenes mentions a Colonæ in the Erythræan territory, in Phocis, and in Thessaly. Iliocolone is in the Parian district. In Lampsacene is a place well planted with vines, called Gergithium, and there was a city Gergitha, founded by the Gergithi in the Cymæan territory, where formerly was a city called Gergitheis, (used in the plural number, and of the feminine gender,) the birthplace of Cephalon62 the Gergithian, and even now there exists a place in the Cymæan territory called Gergithium, near Larissa. Neoptolemus,63 surnamed the Glossographer, a writer of repute, was of Parium. Charon,64 the Historian, was of Lampsacus. Adeimantes,65 Anaximenes,66 the Rhetorician, and Metrodorus, the friend of Epicurus, even Epicurus himself might be said to be a Lampsacenian, having lived a long time at Lampsacus, and enjoyed the friendship of Idomeneus and Leontes, the most distinguished of its citizens. It was from Lampsacus that Agrippa transported the Prostrate Lion, the workmanship of Lysippus, and placed it in the sacred grove between the lake67 and the strait. [20] Next to Lampsacus is Abydos, and the intervening places, of which the poet speaks in such a manner as to comprehend both Lampsacene and some parts of Pariane, for, in the Trojan times, the above cities were not yet in existence: “‘those who inhabited Percote, Practius, Sestos, Abydos, and the famed Arisbe, were led by Asius, the son of Hyrtacus,’68” who, he says, “‘came from Arisbe, from the river Selleïs in a chariot drawn by large and furious coursers;’” implying by these words that Arisbe was the royal seat of Asius, whence, he says, he came, “ drawn by coursers from the river Selleis.“ a man of great possessions, who lived at Pæsus;61
”Il. v.612.
” But these places are so little known, that writers do not agree among themselves about their situation, except that they are near Abydos, Lampsacus, and Parium, and that the name of the last place was changed from Percope to Percote. [21] With respect to the rivers, the poet says that the Selleis flows near Arisbe, for Asius came from Arisbe and the river Selleis. Practius is a river, but no city of that name, as some have thought, is to be found. This river runs between Abydos and Lampsacus; the words, therefore, “ and dwelt near Practius,
” must be understood of the river, as these expressions of the poet,
and“ they dwelt near the sacred waters of Cephisus,69
”Il. iv. 522.
There was also in Lesbos a city called Arisba, the territory belonging to which was possessed by the Methymnæans. There is a river Arisbus in Thrace, as we have said before, near which are situated the Cabrenii Thracians. There are many names common to Thracians and Trojans, as Scei, a Thracian tribe, a river Sceus, a Scæn wall, and in Troy, Scæan gates. There are Thracians called Xanthii, and a river Xanthus in Troja; an Arisbus which discharges itself into the Hebrus,71 and an Arisbe in Troja; a river Rhesus in Troja, and Rhesus, a king of the Thracians. The poet mentions also another Asius, besides the Asius of Arisbe, “‘who was the maternal uncle of the hero Hector, own brother of Hecu- ba, and son of Dymas who lived in Phrygia on the banks of the Sangarius.’72” [22] Abydos was founded by Milesians by permission of Gyges, king of Lydia; for those places and the whole of the Troad were under his sway. There is a promontory near Dardanus called Gyges. Abydos is situated upon the mouth of the Propontis and the Hellespont, and is at an equal distance from Lampsacus and Ilium, about 170 stadia. At Abydos is the Hepta Stadium, (or strait of seven stadia,) the shores of which Xerxes united by a bridge. It separates Europe from Asia. The extremity of Europe is called Cherronesus, from its figure; it forms the straits at the Zeugma (or Junction)73 which is opposite to Abydos. Sestos is the finest74 city in the Cherronesus, and from its proximity to Abydos was placed under the command of the same governor, at a time when the same limits were not assigned to the governments and to the continents. Sestos and Abydos are distant from each other, from harbour to harbour, about 30 stadia. The Zeugma is a little beyond the cities; on the side of the Propontis, beyond Abydos, and on the opposite side, beyond Sestos. There is a place near Sestos, called Apobathra, where the raft was fastened. Sestos lies nearer the Propontis, and above the current which issues from it; whence the passage is more easy from Sestos by deviating a little towards the tower of Hero, when, letting the vessel go at liberty, the stream assists in effecting the crossing to the other side. In crossing from Abydos to the other side persons must sail out in the contrary direction, to the distance of about eight stadia towards a tower which is opposite Sestos; they must then take an oblique course, and the current will not be entirely against them. After the Trojan war, Abydos was inhabited by Thracians, then by Milesians. When the cities on the Propontis were burnt by Dareius, father of' Xerxes, Abydos shared in the calamity. Being informed, after his return from Scythia, that the Nomades were preparing to cross over to attack him, in revenge for the treatment which they had experienced, he set fire to these cities, apprehending that they would assist in transporting the Scythian army across the strait. In addition to other changes of this kind, those occasioned by time are a cause of confusion among places. We spoke before of Sestos, and of the whole of the Cherronesus, when we described Thrace. Theopompus says that Sestos is a small but well-fortified place, and is connected with the harbour by a wall of two plethra in extent, and for this reason, and by its situation above the current, it commands the passage of the strait. [23] In the Troad, above the territory of Abydos is Astyra, which now belongs to the Abydeni,—a city in ruins, but it was formerly an independent place, and had gold-mines, which are now nearly exhausted, like those in Mount Tmolus near the Pactolus. From Abydos to the Æsepus are, it is said, about 700 stadia, but not so much in sailing in a direct line. [24] Beyond Abydos are the parts about Ilium, the seacoast as far as Lectum, the places in the Trojan plain, and the country at the foot of Ida, which was subject to Æneas. The poet names the Dardanii in two ways, speaking of them as“ they occupied the fertile land about the river Parthenius.70
”Il. ii. 254.
calling them Dardanii, and also Dardani;“ Dardanii governed by the brave son of Anchises,75
”Il. ii. 819.
It is probable that the Dardania,77 so called by the poet, was anciently situated there;“ Troes, and Lycii, and close-fighting Dardani.76
”Il. xv. 425.
at present there is not a vestige of a city. [25] Plato conjectures that, after the deluges, three kinds of communities were established; the first on the heights of the mountains, consisting of a simple and savage race, who had taken refuge there through dread of the waters, which overflowed the plains; the second, at the toot of the mountains, who regained courage by degrees, as the plains began to dry; the third, in the plains. But a fourth, and perhaps a fifth, or more communities might be supposed to be formed, the last of which might be on the sea-coast, and in the islands, after all fear of deluge was dissipated. For as men approached the sea with a greater or less degree of courage, we should have greater variety in forms of government, diversity also in manners and habits, accord- ing as a simple and savage people assumed the milder cha- racter of the second kind of community. There is, however, a distinction to be observed even among these, as of rustic, half rustic, and of civilized people. Among these finally arose a gradual change, and an assumption of names, applied to polished and high character, the result of an improved moral condition produced by a change of situation and mode of life. Plato says that the poet describes these differences, alleging as an example of the first form of society the mode of life among the Cyclops, who subsisted on the fruits of the earth growing spontaneously, and who occupied certain caves in the heights of mountains; “‘all things grow there,’ he says, "without sowing seed, and without the plough. ‘But they have no assemblies for consulting together, nor administration of laws, but live on the heights of lofty mountains, in deep caves, and each gives laws to his wife and children.’79” As an example of the second form of society, he alleges the mode of life und er Dardanus; “‘he founded Dardania; for sacred Ilium was not yet a city in the plain with inhabitants, but they still dwelt at the foot of Ida abounding with streams.’80” An example of the third state of society is taken from that in the time of Ilus, when the people inhabited the plains. He is said to have been the founder of Ilium, from whom the city had its name. It is probable that for this reason he was buried in the middle of the plain, because he first ventured to make a settlement in it, “‘they rushed through the middle of the plain by the wild fig-tree near the tomb of ancient Ilus, the son of Dardanus.’81” He did not, however, place entire confidence in the situation, for he did not build the city where it stands at present, but nearly thirty stadia higher to the east, towards Ida, and Dardania, near the present village of the Ilienses. The present Ilienses are ambitious of having it supposed that theirs is the ancient city, and have furnished a subject of discussion to those who form their conjectures from the poetry of Homer; but it does not seem to be the city meant by the poet. Other writers also relate, that the city had frequently changed its place, but at last about the time of Cræsus it became station- ary. Such changes, which then took place, from higher to lower situations, mark the differences, I conceive, which followed in the forms of government and modes of life. But we must examine this subject elsewhere. [26] The present city of Ilium was once, it is said, a village, containing a small and plain temple of Minerva; that Alexander, after82 his victory at the Granicus, came up, and decorated the temple with offerings, gave it the title of city, and ordered those who had the management of such things to improve it with new buildings; he declared it free and exempt from tribute. Afterwards, when he had destroyed the Persian empire, he sent a letter, expressed in kind terms, in which he promised the Ilienses to make theirs a great city, to build a temple of great magnificence, and to institute sacred games. After the death of Alexander, it was Lysimachus who took the greatest interest in the welfare of the place; built a temple, and surrounded the city with a wall of about 40 stadia in extent. He settled here the inhabitants of the ancient cities around, which were in a dilapidated state. It was at this time that he directed his attention to Alexandreia, founded by Antigonus, and surnamed Antigonia, which was altered (into Alexandreia). For it appeared to be an act of pious duty in the successors of Alexander first to found cities which should bear his name, and afterwards those which should be called after their own. Alexandreia continued to exist, and became a large place; at present it has received a Roman colony, and is reckoned among celebrated cities. [27] The present Ilium was a kind of village-city, when the Romans first came into Asia and expelled Antiochus the Great from the country within the Taurus. Demetrius of Scepsis says that, when a youth, he came, in the course of his travels, to this city, about that time, and saw the houses so neglected that even the roofs were without tiles. Hegesianax83 also relates, that the Galatians, who crossed over from Europe, being in want of some strong-hold, went up to the city, but immediately left it, when they saw that it was not fortified with a wall; afterwards it underwent great reparation and improvement. It was again injured by the Romans under the command of Fimbrias. They took it by siege in the Mithridatic war. Fimbrias was sent as quæstor, with the consul Valerius Flaccus, who was appointed to carry on the war against Mithridates. But having excited a sedition, and put the consul to death in Bithynia, he placed himself at the head of the army and advanced towards Ilium, where the inhabit- ants refused to admit him into the city, as they regarded him as a robber. He had recourse to force, and took the city on the eleventh day. When he was boasting that he had taken a city on the eleventh day, which Agamemnon had reduced with difficulty in the tenth year of the siege with a fleet of a thousand vessels, and with the aid of the whole of Greece, one of the Ilienses replied, ‘We had no Hector to defend the city.’ Sylla afterwards came, defeated Fimbrias, and dismissed Mithridates, according to treaty, into his own territory. Sylla conciliated the Ilienses by extensive repairs of their city. In our time divus Cæsar showed them still more favour, in imitation of Alexander. He was inclined to favour them, for the purpose of renewing his family connexion with the Ilienses, and as an admirer of Homer. There exists a corrected copy of the poems of Homer, called ‘the casket-copy.’ Alexander perused it in company with Callisthenes and Anaxarchus, and having made some marks and observations deposited it in a casket84 of costly workmanship which he found among the Persian treasures. On account then of his admiration of the poet and his descent from the Æacidæ, (who were kings of the Molossi, whose queen they say was Andromache, afterwards the wife of Hector,) Alexander treated the Ilienses with kindness. But Cæsar, who admired the character of Alexander, and had strong proofs of his affinity to the Ilienses, had the greatest possible desire to be their benefactor. The proofs of his affinity to the Ilienses were strong, first as being a Roman, —for the Romans consider Æneas to be the founder of their race,—next he had the name of Julius, from Iulus, one of his ancestors, a descendant of Æneas. He therefore assigned to them a district, and guaranteed their liberty with exemption from imposts, and they continue at present to enjoy these advantages. They maintain by this evidence that the ancient Ilium, even by Homer's account, was not situated there. I must however first describe the places which commence from, the sea-coast, where I made the digression. [28] Next to Abydos is the promontory Dardanis,85 which we mentioned a little before, and the city Dardanus, distant 70 stadia from Abydos. Between them the river Rhodius discharges itself, opposite to which on the Cherronesus is the Cynos-sema,86 which is said to be the sepulchre of Hecuba. According to others, the Rhodius empties itself into the Æsepus. It is one of the rivers mentioned by the poet, “ Rhesus, and Heptaporus, Caresus, and Rhodius.87“ Dardanus, the son of cloud-compelling Jupiter, founded Dardania:78
”Il. xx. 215.
” Dardanus is an ancient settlement, but so slightly thought of, that some kings transferred its inhabitants to Abydos, others re-settled them in the ancient dwelling-place. Here Cornelius Sylla, the Roman general, and Mithridates, surnamed Eurptor, conferred together, and terminated the war by a treaty. [29] Near Dardanus is Ophrynium, on which is the grove dedicated to Hector in a conspicuous situation, and next is Pteleos, a lake. [30] Then follows Rhœteium, a city on a hill, and continuous to it is a shore on a level with the sea, on which is situated a monument and temple of Ajax, and a statue. Antony took away the latter and carried it to Ægypt, but Augustus Cæsar restored it to tie inhabitants of Rhœteium, as he restored other statues to other cities. Antony took away the most beautiful offerings from the most celebrated temples to gratify the Ægyptian queen, but Augustus Cæsar restored them to the gods. [31] After Rhœteium is Sigeium,88 a city in ruins, and the naval station, the harbour of the Achæans, the Achæan camp, the Stomalimne, as it is called, and the mouths of the Scamander. The Scamander and the Simoeis, uniting in the plain,89 bring down a great quantity of mud, bank up the sea-coast, and form a blind mouth, salt-water lakes, and marshes. Opposite the Sigeian promontory on the Cherronesus is the Protesilæium,90 and Eleussa, of which I have spoken in the description of Thrace. [32] The extent of this sea-coast as we sail in a direct line from Rhœteium to Sigeium, and the monument of Achilles, is 60 stadia. The whole of the coast lies below the present Ilium; the part near the port of the Achæans,91 distant from the present Ilium about 12 stadia, and thirty stadia more from the ancient Ilium,92 which is higher up in the part towards Ida. Near the Sigeium is a temple and monument of Achilles, and monuments also of Patroclus and Anthlochus.93 The Ilienses perform sacred ceremonies in honour of them all, and even of Ajax. But they do not worship Hercules, alleging as a reason that he ravaged their country. Yet some one might say that he laid it waste in such a manner that lie left it to future spoilers in an injured condition indeed, but still in the condition of a city; wherefore the poet expresses himself in this manner,
Let us, however, dismiss this subject, for the discussion leads to the refutation of fables only, and probably there may be reasons unknown to us which induced the Ilienses to worship some of these persons, and not others. The poet seems, in speaking of Hercules, to represent the city as small, since he ravaged the city“ He ravaged the city of Ilium, and made its streets desolate,
”Il. v. 612.
From these words it appears that Priam from a small became a great person, and a king of kings, as we have already said. A short way from this coast is the Achæïum, situated on the continent opposite Tenedos. [33] Such, then, is the nature of the places on the sea-coast. Above them lies the plain of Troy, extending as far as Ida to the east, a distance of many stadia.95 The part at the foot of the mountain is narrow, extending to the south as far as the places near Scepsis, and towards the north as far as the Lycians about Zeleia. This country Homer places under the command of Æneas and the Antenoridæ, and calls it Dardania. Below it is Cebrenia, which for the most part consists of plains, and lies nearly parallel to Dardania. There was also formerly a city Cybrene. Demetrius (of Scepsis) supposes that the tract about Ilium, subject to Hector, extended to this place, from the Naustathmus (or station for vessels) to Cebrenia, for he says that the sepulchre of Alexander Paris exists there, and of Œnone, who, according to historians, was the wife of Alexander, before the rape of Helen; the poet says,“ with six ships only, and a small band of men.94
”Il. v. 641.
who, perhaps, received his name from the district, (Cebrenia,) or, more probably, from the city (Cebrene97). Cebrenia extends as far as the Scepsian district. The boundary is the Scamander, which runs through the middle of Cebrenia and Scepsia. There was continual enmity and war between the Scepsians and Cebrenians, till Antigonus settled them both together in the city, then called Antigonia, but at present Alexandria. The Cebrenians remained there with the other inhabitants, but the Scepsians, by the permission of Lysimachus, returned to their own country. [34] From the mountainous tract of Ida near these places, two arms, he says, extend to the sea, one in the direction of Rhœteium, the other of Sigeium, forming a semicircle, and terminate in the plain at the same distance from the sea as the present Ilium, which is situated between the extremities of the above-mentioned arms, whereas the ancient Ilium was situated at their commencement. This space comprises the Simoïsian plain through which the Simoeis runs and the Scamandrian plain, watered by the Scamander. This latter plain is properly the plain of Troy, and Homer makes it the scene of the greatest part of his battles, for it is the widest of the two; and there we see the places named by him, the Erineos, the tomb of Æsyetes,98 Batieia, and the tomb of Ilus. With respect to the Scamander and the Simoeis, the former, after approaching Sigeium, and the latter Rhœteium, unite their streams a little in front of the present Ilium,99 and then empty themselves near Sigeium, and form as it is called the Stomalimne. Each of the above-mentioned plains is separated from the other by a long ridge100 which is in a straight line with the above-mentioned arms;101 the ridge begins at the pre- sent Ilium and is united to it; it extends as far as Cebrenia, and completes with the arms on each side the letter 0. [35] A little above this ridge of land is the village of the Ilienses, supposed to be the site of the ancient Ilium, at the distance of 30 stadia from the present city. Ten stadia above the village of the Ilienses is Callicolone, a hill beside which, at the distance of five stadia, runs the Simoeis. The description of the poet is probable. First what he says of Mars, “‘but on the other side Mars arose, like a black tempest, one while with a shrill voice calling upon the Trojans from the summit of the citadel, at another time running along Callicolone beside the Simoeis;’102” for since the battle was fought on the Scamandrian plain, Mars might, according to probability, encourage the men, one while from the citadel, at another time from the neighbouring places, the Simoeis and the Callicolone, to which the battle might extend. But since Callicolone is distant from the present Ilium 40 stadia, where was the utility of changing places at so great a distance, where the array of the troops did not extend? and the words“ Cebriones, the spurious son of the far-famed Priam,96
”Il. xvi. 738.
which agree better with the ancient city, for the plain Thym- bra,104 is near, and the river Thymbrius, which runs through it, discharges itself into the Scamander, near the temple of Apollo Thymbræus, but is distant 50 stadia from the present Ilium. The Erineos,105 a rugged spot abounding with wild fig-trees, lies below the ancient city, so that Andromache might say in conformity with such a situation, “‘but place your bands near Erineos, where the city is most accessible to the enemy, and where they can mount the wall,’106” but it is very far distant from the present city. The beech-tree was a little lower than the Erineos; of the former Achilles says, “‘When I fought with the Achæans Hector was not disposed to urge the fight away from the wall, but advanced only as far as the Scæan gates, and the beech-tree.’107” [36] Besides, the Naustathmus which retains its name at present, is so near the present city that any person may justly be surprised at the imprudence of the Greeks, and the want of spirit in the Trojans;—imprudence on the part of the Greeks, that they should have left the place for so long a time unfortified with a wall, in the neighbourhood of so large a city, and so great a body of men, both inhabitants and auxiliaries; for the wall, Homer says, was constructed at a late period; or perhaps no wall was built and the erection and destruction of it, as Aristotle says, are due to the invention of the poet;—a want of spirit on the part of the Trojans, who, after the wall was built, attacked that, and the Naustathmus, and the vessels themselves, but had not the courage before there was a wall to approach and besiege this station, although the distance was not great, for the Naustathmus is near Sigeium. The Scamander discharges itelf near this place at the distance of 20 stadia from Ilium.108 If any one shall say that the Naustathmus is the present harbour of the Achæans, he must mean a place still nearer, distant about twelve stadia from the sea, which is the extent of the plain in front of the city to the sea; but he will be in error if he include (in the ancient) the present plain, which is all alluvial soil brought down by the rivers,109 so that if the interval is 12 stadia at present, it must have been at that period less in extent by one half. The story framed by Ulysses, which he tells Eumæus, implies a great distance from the Naustathmus to the city;“ The Lycii obtained by lot the station near Thymbra,103
”Il. x. 430.
and he adds afterwards,“ when we lay in ambush below Troy,110
”Od. xiv. 469.
Scouts are despatched to learn whether the Trojans will remain near the ships when drawn away far from their own walls, or whether“ for we had advanced too far from the ships.111
”Od. xiv. 496.
Polydamas also says, “‘Consider well, my friends, what is to be done, for my advice is to return now to the city, for we are far from the walls.’113” Demetrius (of Scepsis) adds the testimony of Hestiæa114 of Alexandreia, who composed a work on the Iliad of Homer, and discusses the question whether the scene of the war was about the present city, and what was the Trojan plain which the poet mentions as situated between the city and the sea, for the plain seen in front of the present city is an accumulation of earth brought down by the rivers, and formed at a later period. [37] Polites also, “‘who was the scout of the Trojans, trusting to his swiftness of foot, and who was on the summit of the tomb of the old Æsyetes,’115” was acting absurdly. For although he was seated “ on the summit of the tomb,“ they will return back to the city.112
”Il. xx. 209.
” yet he might have observed from the much greater height of the citadel, situated nearly at the same distance, nor would his swiftness of foot have been required for the purpose of security, for the tomb of Æsyetes, which exists at present on the road to Alexandreia, is distant five stadia from the citadel. Nor is the course of Hector round the city at all a probable circumstance, for the present city will not admit of a circuit round it on account of the continuous ridge of hill, but the ancient city did allow such a course round it.116 [38] No trace of the ancient city remains. This might be expected, for the cities around were devastated, but not entirely destroyed, whereas when Troy was overthrown from its foundation all the stones were removed for the reparation of the other cities. Archæanax of Mitylene is said to have fortified Sigeium with the stones brought from Troy. Sigeium was taken possession of by the Athenians, who sent Phryno, the victor in the Olympic games, at the time the Lesbians advanced a claim to nearly the whole Troad. They had in- deed founded most of the settlements, some of which exist at present, and others have disappeared. Pittacus of Mitylene, one of the seven wise men, sailed to the Troad against Phryno, the Athenian general, and was defeated in a pitched battle. (It was at this time that the poet Alcæus, as he himself says, when in danger in some battle, threw away his arms and fled. He charged a messenger with injunctions to inform those at home that Alcæus was safe, but that he did not bring away his arms. These were dedicated by the Athenians as an offering in the temple of Minerva Glaucopis.)117 Upon Phryno's proposal to meet in single combat, Pittacus advanced with his fishing gear,118 enclosed his adversary in a net, pierced him with his three-pronged spear, and despatched him with a short sword. The war however still continuing, Periander was chosen arbitrator by both parties, and put an end to it. [39] Demetrius accuses Timæus of falsehood, for saying that Periander built a wall round the Achilleium out of the stones brought from Ilium as a protection against the attacks of the Athenians, and with a view to assist Pittacus; whereas this place was fortified by the Mitylenæans against Sigeium, but not with stones from Ilium, nor by Periander. For how should they choose an enemy in arms to be arbitrator? The Achilleium is a place which contains the monument of Achilles, and is a small settlement. It was destroyed, as also Sigeium, by the Ilienses on account of the refractory disposition of its inhabitants. For all the sea-coast as far as Dardanus was afterwards, and is at present, subject to them. Anciently the greatest part of these places were subject to the Æolians, and hence Ephorus does not hesitate to call all the country from Abydos to Cume by the name of Æolis. But Thucydides119 says that the Mitylenæans were deprived of the Troad in the Peloponnesian war by the Athenians under the command of Paches. [40] The present Ilienses affirm that the city was not entirely demolished when it was taken by the Achæans, nor at any time deserted. The Locrian virgins began to be sent there, as was the custom every year, a short time afterwards. This however is not told by Homer. Nor was Homer acquainted with the violation of Cassandra,120 but says that she was a virgin about that time: “‘He slew Othryoneus, who had lately come to the war from Cabesus, induced by the glory of the contest, and who sought in marriage the most beautiful of the daughters of Priam, Cassandra, without a dower.’121” He does not mention any force having been used, nor does he attribute the death of Ajax by shipwreck to the wrath of Minerva, nor to any similar cause, but says, in general terms, that he was an object of hatred to Minerva, (for she was incensed against all who had profaned her temple,) and that Ajax died by the agency of Neptune for his boasting speeches. The Locrian virgins were sent there when the Persians were masters of the country. [41] Such is the account of the Ilienses. But Homer speaks expressly of the demolition of the city:
“ The day will come when at length sacred Ilium shall perish,
”Il. vi. 448.
“After we have destroyed the lofty city of Priam,
”Od. iii. 130.
Of this they produce evidence of the following kind; the statue of Minerva, which Homer represents as in a sitting posture, is seen at present to be a standing figure, for he orders them“By counsel, by wisdom, and by artifice,
”
The city of Priam was destroyed in the tenth year.Il. xii. 15.
in the same sense as this verse,“ to place the robe on the knees of Athene,122
”Il. vi. 92 and 273.
and it is better to understand it thus, than as some explain it, ‘by placing the robe at the knees,’ and adduce this line,“ no son of mine should sit upon her knees,123
”Il. ix. 455.
for ‘near the hearth.’ For what would the laying the robe at the knees mean? And they who alter the accent, and for γούνασιν like θυιάσιν, or in whatever way they understand it,125 come to no conclusion. Many of the ancient statues of Minerva are found in a sitting posture, as those at Phocæa, Massalia, Rome, Chios, and many other cities. But modern writers, among whom is Lycurgus the rhetorician, agree that the city was destroyed, for in mentioning the city of the Ilienses he says, ‘who has not heard, when it was once razed by the Greeks, that it was uninhabited?’126 [42] It is conjectured that those who afterwards proposed to rebuild it avoided the spot as inauspicious, either on account of its calamities, of which it had been the scene, or whether Agamemnon, according to an ancient custom, had devoted it to destruction with a curse, as Crcesus, when he destroyed Sidene, in which the tyrant Glaucias had taken refuge, uttered a curse against those who should rebuild its walls. They therefore abandoned that spot and built a city elsewhere. The Astypalæans, who were in possession of Rhœteium, were the first persons that founded Polium near the Simoïs, now called Polisma, but not in a secure spot, and hence it was soon in ruins. The present settlement, and the temple, were built in the time of the Lydian kings; but it was not then a city; a long time afterwards, however, and by degrees, it became, as we have said, a considerable place. Hellanicus, in order to gratify the Ilienses, as is his custom, maintains that the present and the ancient city are the same. But the district on the extinction of the city was divided by the possessors of Rhœteium and Sigeium, and the other neighbouring people among themselves. Upon the rebuilding of the city, however, they restored it. [43] Ida is thought to be appropriately described by Homer, as abounding with springs on account of the multitude of rivers which issue from it, particularly where Dardania as far as Scepsis lies at its foot, and the places about Ilium. Demetrius, who was acquainted with these places, (for he was a native,) thus speaks of them: ‘There is a height of Ida called Cotylus; it is situated about 120 stadia above Scepsis, and from it flow the Scamander, the Granicus, and the Æsepus;127 the two last, being the contributions of many smaller sources, fall into the Propontis, but the Scamander, which has but a single source, flows towards the west. All these sources are in the neighbourhood of each other, and are comprised within a circuit of 20 stadia. The termination of the Æsepus is farthest distant from its commencement, namely, about 500 stadia.’ We may, however, ask why the poet says, “‘They came to the fair fountains, whence burst forth two streams of the eddying Scamander, one flowing with water warm,’128” that is, hot; he proceeds, however, “‘around issues vapour as though caused by fire—the other gushes out in the summer, cold like hail, or frozen as snow,’” for no warm springs are now found in that spot, nor is the source of the Scamander there, but in the mountain, and there is one source instead of two.129 It is probable that the warm spring has failed, but the cold spring flowing from the Scamander along a subterraneous channel emerges at this place; or, because the water was near the Scamander, it was called the source of that river, for there are several springs, which are said to be its sources. [44] The Andirus empties itself into the Scamander; a river which comes from the district of Caresene, a mountain ous country, in which are many villages. It is well cultivated by the husbandmen. It adjoins Dardania, and extends as far as the places about Zeleia and Pityeia. The country, it is said, had its name from the river Caresus, mentioned by the poet,“ she sat upon the hearth in the light of the fire,124
”Il. vi. 305.
but the city of the same name as the river is in ruins. Demetrius again says, the river Rhesus is now called Rhoeites, unless it is the Rhesus which empties itself into the Granicus. The Heptaporus, which is called also Polyporus, is crossed seven times in travelling from the places about Cale Peuce (or the beautiful pitch tree) to the village Melænæ and to the Asclepieium, founded by Lysimachus. Attalus, the first king, gives this account of the beautiful pitch tree; its circumference, he says, was 24 feet; the height of the trunk from the root was 67 feet; it then formed three branches, equally distant from each other; it then contracts into one head, and here it completes the whole height of two plethra, and 15 cubits. It is distant from Adramyttium 180 stadia towards the north. The Caresus flows from Malus, a place situated between Palæscepsis and Achæïum, in front of the isle of Tenedos, and empties itself into the Æsepus. The Rhodius flows from Cleandria and Gordus, which are distant 60 stadia from Cale Peuce, and empties itself into the Ænius (Æsepus?). [45] In the valley about the Æsepus, on the left of its course, the first place we meet with is Polichna, a walled stronghold; then Palæscepsis, next Alizonium, a place invented for the supposed existence of the Halizoni whom we have mentioned before.131 Then Caresus, a deserted city, and Caresene, and a river of the same name, (Caresus,) which also forms a considerable valley, but less than that about the Æsepus. Next follow the plains of Zeleia, and the mountain plains, which are well cultivated. On the right of the Æsepus, between Polichna and Palæscepsis is Nea-Come,132 and Argyria, (the silver mines,)133 which are another fiction framed to sup port the same hypothesis, in order that the words of Homer may be defended,“ the Rhesus, Heptaporus, Caresus, and Rhodius,130
”Il. xii. 20.
Where then is Alybe, or Alope, or in whatever way they please to play upon the name? For they ought to have had the impudence to invent this place also, and not to leave their system imperfect and exposed to detection, when they had once ventured so far. This is the contradiction which may be given to Demetrius. As to the rest, we ought at least in the greatest number of instances to attend to a man of experience, and a native of the country, who also had bestowed so much thought and time on this subject as to write thirty books to interpret little more than 60 lines of the catalogue of the Trojan forces. Palæscepsis, according to Demetrius, is distant from Ænea 50, and from the river Æsepus 30, stadia, and the name of Palæscepsis is applied to many other places.135 We return to the sea-coast, from which we have digressed. [46] After the Sigeian promontory, and the Achilleium, is the coast opposite to Tenedos, the Achæïum, and Tenedos itself, distant not more than 40 stadia from the continent. It is about 80 stadia in circumference. It contains an Æolian city, and has two harbours, and a temple of Apollo Smintheus, as the poet testifies;“ where silver is produced.134
”Il. ii. 856.
There are several small islands around it, and two in particular, called Calydne,137 situated in the course of the voyage to Lectum. There are some writers who call Tenedos Calydna, and others Leucophrys.138 There are other small islands around it besides these. They lay near the scene of the fable about Tennes, from whom the island has its name, and of the story of Cycnus, a Thracian by descent, and father, according to some writers, of Tennes, and king of Colonæ. [47] Continuous with the Achæium are Larisa and Colonæ, formerly belonging to the people of Tenedos, who occupied the opposite coast; and the present Chrysa, situated upon a rocky height above the sea, and Hamaxitus lying below, and close to Lectum. But at present Alexandreia is continuous with the Achæium; the inhabitants of those small towns, and of many other strongholds, were embodied in Alexandreia. Among the latter were Cebrene and Neandria. The territory is in the possession of the Alexandrini, and the spot in which Alexandreia is now situated was called Sigia. [48] The temple of Apollo Smintheus is in this Chrysa, and the symbol, a mouse, which shows the etymology of the epithet Smintheus, lying under the foot of the statue.139 They are the workmanship of Scopas of Paros. They reconcile the history, and the fable about the mice, in this following manner. The Teucri, who came from Crete, (of whom Callinus, the elegiac poet, gave the first history, and he was followed by many others,) were directed by an oracle to settle wherever the earth-born inhabitants should attack them, which, it is said, occurred to them near Hamaxitus, for in the night-time great multitudes of field-mice came out and devoured all arms or utensils which were made of leather; the colony therefore settled there. These people also called the mountain Ida, after the name of the mountain in Crete. But Heracleides of Pontus says, that the mice, which swarmed near the temple, were considered as sacred, and the statue is represented as standing upon a mouse. Others say, that a certain Teucer came from Attica, who belonged to the Demus of Troes, which is now called Xypeteon, but that no Teucri came from Crete. They adduce as a proof of the intermixture of Trojans with Athenians, that an Ericthonius was a founder of both people. This is the account of modern writers. But the traces which now exist in the plain of Thebe, and at Chrysa situated there, coincide better with the description of Homer; and of these we shall speak immediately.140 The name of Smintheus is to be found in many places, for near Hamaxitus itself, besides the Sminthian Apollo at the temple, there are two places called Sminthia, and others in the neighbouring district of Larissa. In the district also of Pariane is a place called Sminthia; others in Rhodes,141 Lindus, and in many places besides. The temple is now called Sminthium. Separate from the other is the Halesian plain near Lectum, which is not extensive, and the Tragasæan salt-pan near Ha- maxitus,142 where the salt spontaneously concretes on the blowing of the Etesian winds. On Lectum stands an altar dedicated to the Twelve Gods, erected, it is said, by Agamemnon. These places are in sight of Ilium, at the distance of a little more than 200 stadia. On the other side the parts about Abydos are visible, although Abydos is somewhat nearer. [49] After doubling Lectum, there follow the most considerable cities of the Æolians, the bay of Adramyttium, on which Homer seems to have placed the greater part of the Leleges, and the Cilicians, divided into two tribes. There also is the coast of the Mitylenæans with some villages of the Mitylenæans on the continent. The bay has the name of the Idæan bay, for the ridge extending from Lectum to Ida overhangs the commencement of the bay, where, according to the poet,143 the Leleges were first settled. [50] I have spoken before of the Leleges, and I shall now add that the poet speaks of a Pedasus, a city of theirs which was subject to Altes;“ Smintheus, thou that reignest over Tenedos.136
”Il. i. 38.
the spot exists but there is no city. Some read, but incorrectly, ‘below Satnioeis,’ as if the city lay at the foot of a mountain called Satnioeis; yet there is no mountain there called Satnioeis, but a river, on which the city is placed. The city is at present deserted. The poet mentions the river; “‘Ajax pierced with his spear Satnius, the son of Œnops, whom the beautiful nymph Naïs bore to Œnops, when he tended herds on the banks of the Satnioeis.’145” And in another place; “‘Œnops dwelt on the banks of the smooth-flowing Satnioeis In lofty Pedasus.’146” Later writers called it Satioeis, and some writers Saphnioeis. It is a great winter torrent, which the poet, by mentioning it, made remarkable. These places are continuous with the districts Dardania and Scepsia, and are as it were another Dardania, but lower than the former. [51] The country comprised in the districts of Antandria, Cebrene, Neandria, and the Hamaxitus, as far as the sea opposite to Lesbos, now belongs to the people of Assus and Gargara.147 The Neandrians are situated above Hamaxitus on this side Lectum, but more towards the interior, and nearer to Ilium, from which they are distant 130 stadia. Above these people are the Cebrenii, and above the Cebrenii the Dardanii, extending as far as Palæscepsis, and even to Scepsis. The poet Alcæus calls Antandrus a city of the Leleges: “ First is Antandrus, a city of the Leleges.“ Altes, king of the war-loving Leleges governs
”
The lofty Pedasus on the river Satnioeis:144Il. xxi. 86.
” Demetrius of Scepsis places it among the adjacent cities, so that it might be in the country of the Cilicians, for these people are rather to be regarded as bordering upon the Le- leges, having as their boundary the southern side of Mount Ida. These however are situated low down, and approach nearer the sea-coast at Adramyttium. After Lectum, at the distance of 40 stadia is Polymedium,148 a stronghold; then at the distance of 80 stadia Assus, situated a little above the sea; next at 140 stadia Gargara, which is situated on a promontory, which forms the gulf, properly called the gulf of Adramyttium. For the whole of the sea-coast from Lectum to Canoe, and the Elaitic bay, is comprised under the same name, the gulf of Adramyttium. This, however, is properly called the Adramyttene gulf, which is enclosed within the promontory on which Gargara stands, and that called the promontory Pyrrha,149 on which is a temple of Venus. The breadth of the entrance forms a passage across from promontory to promontory of 120 stadia. Within it is Antandrus,150 with a mountain above it, which is called Alexandreia, where it is said the contest between the goddesses was decided by Paris; and Aspaneus, the depository of the timber cut from the forests of Ida; it is here that wood is brought down and disposed of to those who want it. Next is Astyra, a village and grove sacred to Artemis Astyrene. Close to it is Adramyttium, a city founded by a colony of Athenians, with a harbour, and a station for vessels. Beyond the gulf and the promontory Pyrrha is Cisthene, a deserted city with a harbour. Above it in the interior is a copper mine, Perperena, Trarium, and other similar settle- ments. On this coast after Cisthene are the villages of the Mitylenæans, Coryphantis and Heracleia; next to these is Attea; then Atarneus,151 Pitane,152 and the mouths of the Caïcus. These, however, belong to the Elaitic gulf. On the opposite side of the Caïcus are Elæ,153 and the remainder of the gulf as far as Canæ. We shall resume our description of each place, lest we should have omitted any one that is remarkable. And first with regard to Scepsis. [52] Palescepsis is situated above Cebrene towards the most elevated part of Ida near Polichna. It had the name of Scepsis154 either for some other reason or because it was within view of the places around, if we may be allowed to derive words then in use among Barbarians from the Greek language. Afterwards the inhabitants were transferred to the present Scepsis, 60 stadia lower down, by Scamandrius, the son of Hector, and by Ascanius, the son of Æneas; these two families reigned, it is said, a long time at Scepsis. They changed the form of government to an oligarchy; afterwards the Milesians united with the Scepsians, and formed a democracy.155 The descendants of these families had nevertheless the name of kings, and held certain dignities. Antigonus incorporated the Scepsians with the inhabitants of Alexandreia (Troas); Lysimachus dissolved this union, and they returned to their own country. [53] The Scepsian (Demetrius) supposes that Scepsis was the palace of Æneas, situated between the dominion of Æneas and Lyrnessus, where, it is said, he took refuge when pursued by Achilles. “‘Remember you not,’ says Achilles, ‘how I chased you when alone and apart from the herds, with swift steps, from the heights of Ida, thence indeed you escaped to Lyrnessus; but I took and destroyed it.’156” Present traditions respecting Æneas do not agree with the story respecting the first founders of Scepsis. For it is said that he was spared on account of his hatred to Priam: “‘he ever bore hatred to Priam, for never had Priam bestowed any honour upon him for his valour.’157” His companion chiefs, the Antenoridæ, and Antenor, and myself, escaped on account of the hospitality which the latter had shown to Menelaus. Sophocles, in his play, The Capture of Troy, says, that a panther's skin was placed before Antenor's door as a signal that his house should be spared from plunder. Antenor and his four sons, together with the surviving Heneti, are said to have escaped into Thrace, and thence into Henetica on the Adriatic;158 but Æneas, with his father Anchises and his son Ascanius, are said to have collected a large body of people, and to have set sail. Some writers say that he settled about the Macedonian Olympus; according toothers he founded Capuæ,159 near Mantineia in Arcadia, and that he took the name of the city from Capys. There is another account, that he disembarked at Ægesta160 in Sicily, with Elymus, a Trojan, and took possession of Eryx161 and Lilybæus,162 and called the rivers about Ægesta Scamander and Simoïs; that from Sicily he went to Latium, and settled there in obedience to an oracle enjoining him to remain wherever he should eat his table. This happened in Latium, near Lavinium, when a large cake of bread which was set down instead of, and for want of, a table, was eaten together with the meat that was laid upon it. Homer does not agree either with these writers or with what is said respecting the founders of Scepsis. For he represents Æneas as remaining at Troy, succeeding to the kingdom, and delivering the succession to his children's children after the extinction of the race of Priam: “‘the son of Saturn hated the family of Priam: henceforward Æneas shall reign over the Trojans, and his children's children to late generations.’163” In this manner not even the succession of Scamandrius could be maintained. He disagrees still more with those writers who speak of his wanderings as far as Italy, and make him end his days in that country. Some write the verse thus: “‘The race of Æneas and his children's children,’ meaning the Romans, shall rule over all nations."” [54] The Socratic philosophers, Erastus, Coriscus, and Neleus, the son of Coriscus, a disciple of Aristotle, and Theophrastus, were natives of Scepsis. Neleus succeeded to the possession of the library of Theophrastus, which included that of Aristotle; for Aristotle gave his library, and left his school, to Theophrastus. Aristotle164 was the first person with whom we are acquainted who made a collection of books, and suggested to the kings of Ægypt the formation of a library. Theophrastus left his library to Neleus, who carried it to Scepsis, and bequeathed it to some ignorant persons who kept the books locked up, lying in disorder. When the Scepsians understood that the Attalic kings, on whom the city was dependent, were in eager search for books, with which they intended to furnish the library at Pergamus, they hid theirs in an excavation under-ground; at length, but not before they had been injured by damp and worms, the descendants of Neleus sold the books of Aristotle and Theophrastus for a large sum of money to Apellicon of Teos. Apellicon165 was rather a lover of books than a philosopher; when therefore he attempted to restore the parts which had been eaten and corroded by worms, he made alterations in the original text and introduced them into new copies; he moreover supplied the defective parts unskilfully, and published the books full of errors. It was the misfortune of the ancient Peripatetics, those after Theophrastus, that being wholly unprovided with the books of Aristotle, with the exception of a few only, and those chiefly of the exoteric166 kind, they were unable to philosophize according to the principles of the system, and merely occupied themselves in elaborate discussions on common places. Their successors however, from the time that these books were published, philosophized, and propounded the doctrine of Aristotle more successfully than their predecessors, but were under the necessity of advancing a great deal as probable only, on account of the multitude of errors contained in the copies. Even Rome contributed to this increase of errors; for immediately on the death of Apellicon, Sylla, who captured Athens, seized the library of Apellicon. When it was brought to Rome, Tyrannion,167 the grammarian, who was an admirer of Aristotle, courted the superintendent of the library and obtained the use of it. Some vendors of books, also, employed bad scribes and neglected to compare the copies with the original. This happens in the case of other books which are copied for sale both here and at Alexandreia. This may suffice on this subject. [55] Demetrius the grammarian, whom we have frequently mentioned, was a native of Scepsis. He composed a comment on the catalogue of the Trojan forces. He was contemporary with Crates and Aristarchus. He was succeeded by Metrodorus,168 who changed from being a philosopher to engage in public affairs. His writings are for the most part in the style of the rhetoricians. He employed a new and striking kind of phraseology. Although he was poor, yet, in consequence of the reputation which he had acquired, he married a rich wife at Chalcedon, and acquired the surname of the Chalcedonian. He paid great court to Mithridates Eupator, whom he accompanied with his wife on a voyage to Pontus, and received from him distinguished honours. He was appointed to preside over a tribunal where the party condemned by the judge had no power of appeal to the king. His prosperity however was not lasting, for he incurred the enmity of some very unjust persons, and deserted from the king at the very time that he was despatched on an embassy to Tigranes the Armenian. Tigranes sent him back much against his inclination to Eupator, who was then flying from his hereditary kingdom. Metrodorus died on the road, either in consequence of orders from the king, or by natural disease, for both causes of his death are stated. So much then respecting Scepsis. [56] Next to Scepsis are Andeira, Pioniæ, and Gargaris. There is found at Andeira a stone, which when burnt becomes iron. It is then put into a furnace together with some kind of earth, when it distils a mock silver, (Pseudargyrum,) or with the addition of copper it becomes the compound called oreichalcum. There is found a mock silver near Tmolus also. These places and those about Assus were occupied by the Leleges. [57] Assus is a strong place, and well fortified with walls. There is a long and perpendicular ascent from the sea and the harbour, so that the verse of Stratonicus the citharist seems to be applicable to it; “ Go to Assus, if you mean to reach quickly the confines of death.
” The harbour is formed of a large mole. Cleanthes, the Stoic philosopher, was a native of this place. He succeeded to the school of Zeno of Citium, and left it to Chrysippus of Soli. Here also Aristotle resided for some time, on account of his relationship to Hermeas the tyrant. Hermeas was an eunuch, servant of a money-changer. When he was at Athens he was the hearer both of Plato and of Aristotle. On his return he became the associate in the tyranny of his master, who attacked the places near Atarneus and Assus. He afterwards succeeded his master, sent for both Aristotle and Xenocrates, and treated them with kindness. He even gave his niece in marriage to Aristotle. But Memnon of Rhodes, who was at that time general in the service of the Persians, invited to his house Hermeas, under the mask of friendship, and—on pretence of business. He seized Hermeas, and sent him to the king, who ordered him to be hanged. The philosophers, avoiding places in possession of the Persians, escaped by flight. [58] Myrsilus says that Assus was founded by Methymnæ- ans; but according to Hellanicus it was an Æolian city, like Gargara and Lamponia of the Æolians. Gargara169 was founded from Assus; it was not well peopled, for the kings introduced settlers from Miletopolis,170 which they cleared of its in- habitants, so that Demetrius the Scepsian says that, instead of being Æolians, the people became semi-barbarians. In the time of Homer all these places belonged to Leleges, whom some writers represent as Carians, but Homer distinguishes them, “‘Near the sea are Carians, and Pœonians with curved bows, Leleges, and Caucones.’171” The Leleges were therefore a different people from the Carians, and lived between the people subject to Æneas and the Cilicians, as they are called by the poet. After being plundered by Achilles, they removed to Caria, and occupied the country about the present Halicarnassus. [59] Pedasus, the city which they abandoned, is no longer in existence. But in the interior of the country belonging to the people of Halicarnassus there was a city called by them Pedasa, and the territory has even now the name of Pedasis. It is said that this district contained eight cities, occupied by the Leleges, who were formerly so populous a nation as to possess Caria as far as Myndus, Bargylia, and a great part of Pisidia. In later times, when they united with the Carians in their expeditions, they were dispersed throughout the whole of Greece, and the race became extinct. Mausolus, according to Callisthenes, assembled in Halicarnassus172 alone the inhabitants of six out of the eight cities, but allowed Suangela and Myndus to remain untouched. Herodotus173 relates that whenever anything unfortunate was about to befall the inhabitants of Pedasus174 and the neighbourhood a beard appeared on the face of the priestess of Minerva, and that this happened three times. There is now existing in the territory of the Stratoniceis175 a small town called Pedasum. There are to be seen throughout the whole of Caria and at Miletus sepulchres, and fortifications, and vestiges of settlements of the Leleges. [60] The tract of sea-coast following next after the Leleges was occupied, according to Homer, by Cilicians, but at present it is occupied by Adramytteni, Atarneitæ, and Pitanæi as far as the mouth of the Caïcus. The Cilicians were divided into two dynasties, as we have before said,176 the head of one was Eetion, the other Mynes. [61] Homer says that Thebe was the city of Eetion;
To him also belonged Chrysa, which contained the temple of Apollo Smintheus, for Chryseis was taken from Thebe; “ We went,“ We went to Thebe, the sacred city of Eetion.177
”Il. i. 366.
” he says, “‘to Thebe, ravaged it, and carried everything away; the sons of the Achtæans divided the booty among themselves, but selected for Atrides the beautiful Chryseis.’” Lyrnessus he calls the city of Mynes, for
Achilles slew Mynes and Epistrophus, so that when Bryseis says, “‘you suffered me not to weep when the swift Achilles slew my husband, and laid waste the city of the divine Mynes,’179” the poet cannot mean Thebe, for that belonged to Eetion, but Lyrnessus, for both cities lay in what was afterwards called the plain of Thebe, which, on account of its fertility, was a subject of contest among the Mysians and Lydians formerly, and latterly among the Greeks who had migrated from Æolis and Lesbos. At present Adramytteni possess the greater part of it; there are Thebe and Lyrnessus, a strong place, but both are deserted. One is situated at the distance of 60 stadia from Adramyttium on one side, and the other 88 stadia on the other side. [62] In the Adramyttene district are Chrysa and Cilla. There is at present near Thebe a place called Cilla, in which is a temple of Apollo Cillæus. Beside it runs a river, which comes from Mount Ida. These places are near Antandria. The Cillæum in Lesbos has its name from this Cilla. There is also amountain Cillæum between Gargara and Antandrus. Dæs of Colonæ says that the temple of Apollo Cillæus was founded at Colonæ by the Æolians, who came by sea from Greece. At Chrysa also it is said that there is a Cillæan Apollo, but it is uncertain whether it is the same as Apollo Smintheus, or a different statue. 63. Chrysa is a small town on the sea-coast with a harbour. Near and above it is Thebe. Here was the temple of Apollo Smintheus, and here Chryseis lived. The place at present is entirely abandoned. To the present Chrysa, near Hamaxitus, was transferred the temple of the Cilicians, one party of whom went to Pamphylia, the other to Hamaxitus. Those who are not well acquainted with ancient histories say that Chryses and Chryseis lived there, and that Homer mentions the place. But there is no harbour at this place, yet Homer says,“ having plundered Lyrnessus, and destroyed the walls of Thebe,178
”Il. ii. 691.
nor is the temple on the sea-coast, but Homer places it there; “‘Chryseïs left the ship; then the sage Ulysses, leading her to the altar, placed her in the hands of her beloved father.’180” Nor is it near Thebe, but it is near it, according to Homer, for he says, that Chryseis was taken away from thence. Nor is there any place of the name of Cilla in the district of the Alexandreia, (Troas,) nor a temple of Apollo Cillæus, whereas the poet joins them together:“ but when they entered the deep harbour,—
”Il. i. 432.
But it is in the plain of Thebe that they are seen near together. The voyage from the Cilician Chrysa to the Naustathmus (or naval station) is about 700 stadia, and occupies a day, which is as much as Ulysses seems to have completed; for immediately upon leaving the vessel he offers sacrifice to the god, and being overtaken by the evening, remains there. In the morning he sets sail. It is scarcely a third of the above-mentioned distance from Hamaxitus, so that Ulysses could have performed his sacrifice and have returned to the Naustathmus the same day. There is also a monument of Cillus, a large mound, near the temple of Apollo Cillæus. He is said to have been the charioteer of Pelops, and to have had the chief command in these parts. Perhaps the country Cilicia had its name from him, or he had his from the country. [64] The story about the Teucri, and the mice from whom the name of Smintheus is derived, (for mice are called Sminthii,) must be transferred to this place. Writers defend the derivation of titles from insignificant objects by examples of this kind; as from the parnopes, which the Œtæsans call cornopes, Hercules had a surname, and was worshipped under the title of Hercules Cornopion, because he had delivered them from locusts. So the Erythræans, who live near the river Melius, worship Hercules Ipoctonus, because he destroyed the ipes, or worms, which are destructive to vines; for this pest is found everywhere except in the country of the Erythræans. The Rhodians have in the island a temple of Apollo Erythibius, so called from erysibe, (mildew,) and which they call erythibe. Among the Æolians in Asia one of their months is called Pornopion, for this name the Bœotians give to parnopes, (locusts,) and a sacrifice is performed to Apollo Pornopion. [65] The country about Adramyttium is Mysia. It was once subject to Lydians, and there are now Pylæ Lydiæ (or the Lydian Gates) at Adramyttium, the city having been founded, it is said, by Lydians. Astyra also, the village near Adramyttium, is said to belong to Mysia. It was once a small city, in which was the temple of Artemis Astyrene, situated in a grove. The Antandrians, in whose neighbourhood it is more immediately situated, preside over it with great solemnity. It is distant 20 stadia from the ancient Chrysa, which also has a temple in a grove. There too is the Rampart of Achilles. At the distance of 50 stadia in the interior is Thebe, uninhabited, which the poet says was situated below the woody Placus; but there is neither a place called Placus nor Plax there, nor a wood above it, although it is near Ida. Thebe is distant from Astyra 70, and from Andeira 60 stadia. All these are names of uninhabited places, or thinly inhabited, or of rivers which are torrents. But they owe their fame to ancient history. [66] Assus and Adramyttium are considerable cities. Adramyttium was unfortunate in the Mithridatic war, for Diodorus the general, in order to gratify the king, put to death the council of the citizens, although at the same time he pretended to be a philosopher of the Academy, pleaded causes, and professed to teach rhetoric. He accompanied the king on his voyage to Pontus, but upon his overthrow Diodorus was punished for his crimes. Many accusations were simultane- ously preferred against him: but, unable to endure disgrace, he basely destroyed himself in my native city by abstaining from food. Adramyttium produced Xenocles, a distinguished orator, who adopted the Asiatic style of eloquence and was remarkable for the vehemence of his manner; he defended Asia before the senate, at the time when that province was accused of favouring the party of Mithridates. [67] Near Astyra is a lake called Sapra, full of deep holes, that empties itself by a ravine among ridges of rocks on the coast. Below Andeira is a temple dedicated to the Andeirenian Mother of the gods, and a cave with a subterraneous passage extending to Palæa. Palæa is a settlement distant 130 stadia from Andeira. A goat, which fell into the opening, discovered the subterraneous passage. It was found at Andeira the next day, accidentally, by the shepherd, who had gone there to a sacrifice. Atarneus182 is the royal seat of Hermeas the tyrant. Next is Pitane, an Æolian city, with two harbours, and the river Euenus flowing beside it, which supplies the aqueduct of the Adramyttium with water. Arcesilaus of the Academy was a native of Pitane, and a fellow-disciple of Zeno of Citium in the school of Polemo. There is a place in Pitane called ‘Atarneus under Pitane,’ opposite to the island called Elæussa. It is said that at Pitane bricks float upon the water, as was the case with a small island183 in Tyrrhenia, for the earth, being lighter than an equal bulk of water, swims upon it. Poseidonius says, that he saw in Spain bricks made of an argillaceous earth (with which silver vessels are cleansed) floating upon water. After Pitane the Caïcus184 empties itself, at the distance of 30 stadia from it, into the Elaitic bay. Beyond the Caïcus, at the distance of 12 stadia from the river, is Elsæa, an Æolian city; it is a naval arsenal of Pergamum, and distant from it 120 stadia. [68] At 100 stadia farther is Cane, the promontory opposite to Lectum, and forming the gulf of Adramyttium, of which the Elaitic Gulf is a part. Canoe is a small city of the Locrians who came from Cynus; it is situated in the Canæan territory, opposite the most southerly extremities of Lesbos. This territory extends to the Arginusæ, and the promontory above, which some call Æga, or the goat. The second syllable however must be pronounced long, Aigan, like Actan and Archan, for this was the name of the whole mountain, which at present is called Cane, or Canæ.185 The sea surrounds the mountain on the south and west; towards the east the plain of Cæcus lies below, and on the north the Elaïtic district. The mountain itself is very much contracted. It inclines indeed towards the Ægnæan Sea, from which it has the name (Ega), but afterwards the promontory itself was called Æga, the name which Sappho gives it, and then Cane and Canæ. 69. Between Elæa, Pitane, Atarneus, and Pergamum on this side the Caïcus, is Teuthrania, distant from none of these places above 70 stadia. Teuthras is said to have been king of the Cilicians and Mysians. According to Euripides, Auge, with her son Telephus, was enclosed in a chest and thrown into the sea, by command of her father Aleus, who discovered that she had been violated by Hercules. By the care of Minerva the chest crossed the sea, and was cast ashore at the mouth of the Caïcus. Teuthras took up the mother and her son, married the former, and treated the latter as his own child. This is a fable, but another concurrence of circumstances is wanting to explain how the daughter of the Arcadian became the wife of the king of the Mysians, and how her son succeeded to the throne of the Mysians. It is however believed that Teuthras and Telephus governed the country lying about Teuthrania and the Caïcus, but the poet mentions a few particulars only of this history: “‘as when he slew the son of Telephus, the hero Eurypylns, and many of his companions, the Ceæi, were killed around him for the sake of the gifts of women.’186” Homer here rather proposes an enigma than a clear meaning. For we do not know who the Cetæi were, nor what people we are to understand by this name, nor what is meant by the words, ‘for the sake of the gifts of women.’187 Gram- marians adduce and compare with this other trifling stories, but they indulge in invetion rather than solve the difficulty. [70] Let us dismiss this doubtful matter, and turn to what is more certain; for instance, according to Homer, Eurypylus appears to have been king of the places about the Caïcus, so that perhaps a part of the Cilicians were his subjects, and that there were not only two but three dynasties among that people. This opinion is supported by the circumstance that in the Elaïtis there is a small river, like a winter torrent, of the name of Ceteium. This falls into another like it, then again into another, but all discharge themselves into the Caïcus. The Caïcus does not flow from Ida, as Bacchylides says, nor does Euripides say correctly that Marsyas “ inhabited the famous Celænæ, at the extremity of Ida,“ who art the guardian of Chrysa, and the divine Cilla.181
”Il. i. 37.
” for Celænæ is at a great distance from Ida, and so are the sources of the Caïcus, for they are to be seen in the plain. There is a mountain, Temnum, which separates this and the plain of Asia; it lies in the interior above the plain of Thebe. A river, Mysius, flows from Temnum and enters the Caïcus below its source. Hence some persons suppose that Æschylus refers to it in the beginning of the prologue to the play of the Myrmidons, “ Caïcus, and ye Mysian streams—
” Near its source is a village called Gergitha, to which Attalus transferred the inhabitants of Gergitha in the Troad, after destroying their own stronghold.
CHAPTER II.
SINCE Lesbos, a very remarkable island, lies along and opposite to the sea-coast, extending from Lectum to Canæ, and since it is surrounded by small islands, some of which lie beyond it, others in the space between Lesbos and the continent, it is now proper to describe them, because they are Æolian places, and Lesbos is, as it were, the capital of the Æolian cities. We shall begin where we set out to describe the coast opposite to the island. [2] In sailing from Lectum to Assos the Lesbian district begins opposite to Sigrium,188 its northern promontory. Somewhere there is Methymna,189 a city of the Lesbians, 60 stadia from the coast, between Polymedium and Assos. The whole island is 1100 stadia in circumference. The particulars are these. From Methymna to Malia,190 the most southern promontory to those who have the island on their right hand, and to which Canæ191 lies directly opposite, are 340 stadia. Thence to Sigrium, which is the length of the island, 560 stadia, thence to Methymna 210 stadia.192 Mitylene, the largest city, lies between Methymna and Malia, at the distance from Malia of 70 stadia, and from Canæ of 120, and as many from the Arginussæ islands,193 which are three small islands near the continent, and situated near Canæ. In the interval between Mitylene and Methymna, at a village called Ægeirus in the Methymnæan territory, is the narrowest part of the island, having a passage of 20 stadia to the Pyrrhæan Euripus.194 Pyrrha195 is situated on the western side of Lesbos, at the distance of 100 stadia from Malia. Mitylene has two harbours; of which the southern is a close harbour and capable of holding 50 triremes. The northern harbour is large, and deep, and protected by a mole. In front of both lies a small island, which contains a part of the city. Mitylene is well provided with everything. [3] It formerly produced celebrated men, as Pittacus, one of the Seven Wise Men; Alcæus the poet, and his brother Antimenidas, who, according to Alcæus, when fighting on the side of the Babylonians, achieved a great exploit, and extricated them from their danger by killing “ a valiant warrior, the king's wrestler, who was four cubits in height.” Contemporary with these persons flourished Sappho, an extraordinary woman; for at no period within memory has any woman been known at all to be compared to her in poetry. At this period Mitylene was ruled by many tyrants, in consequence of the dissensions among the citizens. These dissensions are the subject of the poems of Alcæus called Stasiotica (the Seditions). One of these tyrants was Pittacus: Alcæus inveighed against him as well as against Myrsilus, Melanchrus the Cleanactidæ, and some others; nor was he himself clear from the imputation of favouring these political changes. Pittacus himself employed monarchical power to dissolve the despotism of the many, but, having done this, he restored the independence of the city. At a late period afterwards appeared Diophanes the rhetorician; in our times Potamo, Lesbocles, Crinagoras, and Theophanes the historian.196 The latter was versed in political affairs, and became the friend of Pompey the Great, chiefly on account of his accomplishments and assistance he afforded in directing to a successful issue all his enterprises. Hence, partly by means of Pompey, partly by his own exertions, he became an ornament to his country, and rendered himself the most illustrious of all the Grecians. He left a son, Mark (Macer?) Pompey, whom Augustus Cæsar appointed prefect of Asia, and who is now reckoned among the number of the chief friends of Tiberius. The Athenians were in danger of incurring irremediable disgrace by passing a decree that all the Mitylenæans who had attained the age of puberty should be put to death. They, however, recalled their resolution, and the counter-decree reached their generals only one day before the former order was to be executed. [4] Pyrrha is in ruins. But the suburb is inhabited, and has a port, whence to Mitylene is a passage of 80 stadia. Next after Pyrrha is Eressus.197 It is situated upon a hill, and extends to the sea. Thence to Sigrium 28 stadia. Eressus was the birth-place of Theophrastus, and of Phanias, Peripatetic philosophers, disciples of Aristotle. Theophrastus was called Tyrtamus before his name was changed by Aristotle to Theophrastus, thus getting rid of the cacophony of the former name, and at the same time expressing the beauty of his elocution, for Aristotle made all his disciples eloquent, but Theophrastus the most eloquent of them all. Antissa198 is next to Sigrium. It is a city with a harbour. Then follows Methymna, of which place Arion was a native, who, as Herodotus relates the story, after having been thrown into the sea by pirates, escaped safe to Tænarum on the back of a dolphin. He played on the cithara and sang to it. Terpander, who practised the same kind of music, was a native of this island. He was the first person that used the lyre with seven instead of four strings, as is mentioned in the verses attributed to him: “‘we have relinquished the song adapted to four strings, and shall cause new hymns to resound on a seven-stringed cithara.’” The historian Hellanicus, and Callias, who has commented on Sappho and Alcæus, were Lesbians. [5] Near the strait situated between Asia and Lesbos there are about twenty small islands, or, according to Timosthenes, forty. They are called Hecatonnesoi,199 a compound name like Peloponnesus, the letter N being repeated by custom in such words as Myonnesus, Proconnesus, Halonnesus, so that Hecatonnesoi is of the same import as Apollonnesoi, since Apollo is called Hecatus;200 for along the whole of this coast, as far as Tenedos, Apollo is held in the highest veneration, and worshipped under the names of Smintheus, Cillæus, Gryneus, or other appellations. Near these islands is Pordoselene, which contains a city of the same name, and in front of this city is another island201 larger than this, and a city of the same name, uninhabited, in which there is a temple of Apollo. [6] Some persons, in order to avoid the indecorum couched in these names,202 say that we ought to read in that place Poroselene, and to call Aspordenum, the rocky and barren mountain near Pergamum, Asporenum, and the temple there of the Mother of the gods, the temple of the Asporene Mother of the gods; what then are we to say to the names Pordalis, Saper- des, Perdiccas, and to this word in the verse of Simonides, ‘with clothes dripping with wet,’ (ποοͅσάκοισιν for διαβόχοις,) and in the old comedy somewhere, ‘the country is ποοͅδακόν, for λιμνάζον, or ' marshy.'’ Lesbos is at the same distance, rather less than 500 stadia, from Tenedos, Lemnos, and Chios.
CHAPTER III.
SINCE there subsisted so great an affinity among the Leleges and Cilicians with the Trojans, the reason is asked, why these people are not included in Homer's Catalogue. Perhaps it is that, on account of the loss of their leaders and the devastation of the cities, the few Cilicians that were left placed themselves under the command of Hector. For Eetion and his sons are said to have been killed before the Catalogue is mentioned; “ The hero Achilles,” says Andromache, “‘killed my father, and destroyed Thebe, with its lofty gates, the city of the Cilicians.’— ‘I had seven brothers in the palace; all of them went in one day to Hades, for they were all slain by the swift-footed divine Achilles.’Il. vi. 414, 421.” Those also under the command of Mynes had lost their leaders, and their city;
He describes the Leleges as present at the battles; when he says, “‘on the sea-coast are Carians, and Pæonians with curved bows, Leleges, and Caucones.’204” And in another place, “‘he killed Satnius with a spear—the son of Enops, whom a beautiful nymph Neis bore to Enops, when he was tending herds near the banks of Satnioeis,’205” for they had not been so completely annihilated as to prevent their forming a body of people of themselves, since their king still survived,“ He slew Mynes, and Epistrophus,
”
And destroyed the city of the divine Mynes.203Il. ii. 692; xix. 296.
nor was the city entirely razed, for he adds,“ Altes, king of the war-loving Leleges,206
”Il. xxi. 86.
He has passed them over in the Catalogue, not considering the body of people large enough to have a place in it; or he comprised them among the people under the command of Hector, as being allied to one another. For Lycaon, the brother of Hector, says, “‘my mother Laothoë, daughter of the old Altes, brought me into the world to live but a short time; of Altes, king of the war-loving Leleges.’208” Such is the reasoning, from probability, which this subject admits. [2] We reason from probability when we endeavour to determine by the words of the poet the exact bounds of the territory of the Cilicians, Pelasgi, and of the people situated between them, namely, the Ceteii, who were under the command of Eurypylus. We have said of the Cilicians and of the people under the command of Eurypylus what can be said about them, and that they are bounded by the country near the Caïcus. It is agreeable to probability to place the Pelasgi next to these people, according to the words of Homer and other histories. Homer says, “‘Hippothous led the tribes of the Pelasgi, who throw the spear, who inhabited the fertile Larisa; their leaders were Hippothous and Pylæus, a son of Mars, both sons of Lethus the Pelasgian, son of Teutamis.’209” He here represents the numbers of Pelasgi as considerable, for he does not speak of them as a tribe, but ‘tribes,’ and specifies the place of their settlement, Larisa. There are many places of the name of Larisa, but we must understand some one of those near the Troad, and perhaps we might not be wrong in supposing it to be that near Cyme; for of three places of the name of Larisa, that near Hamaxitus is quite in sight of Ilium and very near it, at the distance of about 200 stadia, so that Hippothous could not be said consistently with probability to fall, in the contest about Patroclus,“ who commanded the lofty city Pedasus on the Satnioeis.207
”Il. xxi. 87.
at least from this Larisa, but rather from the Larisa near Cyme, for there are about 1000 stadia between them. The third Larisa is a village in the Ephesian district in the plain of the Caÿster; which, it is said, was formerly a city containing a temple of Apollo Larisæus, and situated nearer to Mount Tmolus than to Ephesus. It is distant from Ephesus 180 stadia, so that it might be placed rather under the government of the Mæonians. The Ephesians, having afterwards acquired more power, deprived the Mæonians, whom we now call Lydians, of a large part of their territory; but not even this, but the other rather, would be the Larisa of the Pelasgi. F o w e have no strong evidence that the Larisa in the plain of Caÿster was in existence at that time, nor even of the existence of Ephesus. But all the Æolian history, relating to a period a little subsequent to the Trojan times, proves the existence of the Larisa near Cyme. [3] It is said that the people who set out from Phricium, a Locrian mountain above Thermopylæ, settled on the spot where Cyme is now situated; and finding the Pelasgi, who had been great sufferers in the Trojan war, yet still in possession of Larisa, distant about 70 stadia from Cyme, erected as a defence against them what is at present called Neon-teichos, (or the New Wall,) 30 stadia from Larisa. They took Larisa,211 founded Cyme, and transferred to it as settlers the surviving Pelasgi. Cyme is called Cyme Phriconis from the Locrian mountain, and Larisa also (Phriconis): it is now deserted. That the Pelasgi were a great nation, history, it is said, furnishes other evidence. For Menecrates of Elæa, in his work on the foundation of cities, says, that the whole of the present Ionian coast, beginning from Mycale and the neighbouring islands, were formerly inhabited by Pelasgi. But the Lesbians say, that they were commanded by Pylæus, who is called by the poet the chief of the Pelasgi, and that it was from him that the mountain in their country had the name of Pylæmem. The Chians also say, that the Pelasgi from Thessaly were their founders. The Pelasgi, however, were a nation disposed to wander, ready to remove from settlement to settlement, and experienced both a great increase and a sudden diminution of strength and numbers, particularly at the time of the Æolian and Ionian migrations to Asia. [4] Something peculiar took place among the Larisæans in the plain of the Cayster, in the Phriconis, and in Thessaly. All of them occupied a country, the soil of which has been accumulated by rivers, by the Caÿster,212 the Hermus,213 and the Peneus.214 At Larisa Phriconis Piasus is said to receive great honours. He was chief of the Pelasgi, and enamoured, it is said, of his daughter Larisa, whom he violated, and was punished for the outrage. She discovered him leaning over a cask of wine, seized him by his legs, lifted him up, and dropped him down into the vessel. These are ancient accounts. [5] To the present Æolian cities we must add Ægæ and Temnus, the birth-place of Hermagoras, who wrote a book on the Art of Rhetoric. These cities are on the mountainous country which is above the district of Cyme, and that of the Phocæans and Smyrnæans, beside which flows the Hermus. Not far from these cities is Magnesia under Sipylus, made a free city by a decree of the Romans. The late earthquakes have injured this place. To the opposite parts, which incline towards the Caïcus to Cyme from Larisa, in passing to which the river Hermus is crossed, are 70 stadia; thence to Myrina 40 stadia; thence to Grynium 40 stadia, and thence to Elæa. But, according to Artemidorus, next to Cyme is Adæ; then, at the distance of 40 stadia, a promontory, which is called Hydra, and forms the Elaïtic Gulf with the opposite promontory Harmatus. The breadth of the entrance is about 80 stadia, including the winding of the bays. Myrina, situated at 60 stadia, is an Æolian city with a harbour, then the harbour of Achæans, where are altars of the twelve gods; next is Grynium, a small city [of the Myrinæans], a temple of Apollo, an ancient oracle, and a costly fane of white marble. To Myrina are 40 stadia; then 70 stadia to Elæa, which has a harbour and a station for vessels of the Attalic kings, founded by Menestheus and the Athenians who accompanied him in the expedition against Ilium. The places about Pitane, and Atarneus, and others in this quarter, which follow Elæa, have been already described. [6] Cyme is the largest and best of the Æolian cities. This and Lesbos may be considered the capitals of the other cities, about 30 in number, of which not a few exist no longer. The inhabitants of Cyme are ridiculed for their stupidity, for, according to some writers, it is said of them that they only began to let the tolls of the harbour three hundred years after the foundation of their city, and that before this time the town had never received any revenue of the kind; hence the report that it was late before they perceived that they inhabited a city lying on the sea. There is another story, that, having borrowed money in the name of the state, they pledged their porticos as security for the payment of it. Afterwards, the money not having been repaid on the appointed day, they were prohibited from walking in them. The creditors, through shame, gave notice by the crier whenever it rained, that the inhabitants might take shelter under the porticos. As the crier called out, ‘Go under the porticos,’ a report prevailed that the Cymæans did not perceive that they were to go under the porticos when it rained unless they had notice from the public crier.215 Ephorus, a man indisputably of high repute, a disciple of Isocrates the orator, was a native of this city. He was an historian, and wrote the book on Inventions. Hesiod the poet, who long preceded Ephorus, was a native of this place, for he himself says, that his father Dius left Cyme in Æolis and migrated to the Bœotians; “‘he dwelt near Helicon in Ascra, a village wretched in winter, in summer oppressive, and not pleasant at any season.’” It is not generally admitted that Homer was from Cyme, for many dispute about him. The name of the city was derived from an Amazon, as that of Myrina was the name of an Amazon, buried under the Batieia in the plain of Troy; “‘men call this Batieia; but the immortals, the tomb of the bounding Myrina.’216” Ephorus is bantered, because, having no achievements of his countrymen to commemorate among the other exploits in his history, and yet being unwilling to pass them over unnoticed, he exclaims, “ at this time the Cymæans were at peace.“ far from Larisa210
”Il. xvii. 301.
” After having described the Trojan and Æolian coasts, we ought next to notice cursorily the interior of the country as far as Mount Taurus, observing the same order.
CHAPTER IV.
PERGAMUM217 has a kind of supremacy among these places. It is a city of note, and flourished during a long period under the Attalic kings; and here we shall begin our description, premising a short account of her kings, their origin, and the end of their career. Pergamum was the treasure-hold of Lysimachus, the son of Agathocles, and one of the successors of Alexander. It is situated on the very summit of the mountain which terminates in a sharp peak like a pine-cone. Phileterus of Tyana was intrusted with the custody of this strong-hold, and of the treasure, which amounted to nine thousand talents. He became an eunuch in childhood by compression, for it happened that a great body of people being assembled to see a funeral, the nurse who was carrying Philetærus, then an infant, in her arms, was entangled in the crowd, and pressed upon to such a degree that the child was mutilated. He was therefore an eunuch, but having been well educated he was thought worthy of this trust. He continued for some time well affected to Lysimachus, but upon a disagree ment with Arsinoë, the wife of Lysimachus, who had falsely accused him, he caused the place to revolt, and suited his political conduct to the times, perceiving them to be favourable to change. Lysimachus, overwhelmed with domestic troubles, was compelled to put to death Agathocles his son. Seleucus Nicator invaded his country and destroyed his power, but was himself treacherously slain by Ptolemy Ceraunus. During these disorders the eunuch remained in the fortress, continually employing the policy of promises and other courtesies with those who were the strongest and nearest to himself. He thus continued master of the strong-hold for twenty years. [2] He had two brothers, the elder of whom was Eumenes, the younger Attalus. Eumenes had a son of the same name, who succeeded to the possession of Pergamum, and was then sovereign of the places around, so that he overcame in a battle near Sardes218 Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, and died after a reign of two-and-twenty years. Attalus, the son of Attalus and Antiochis, daughter of Achæus, succeeded to the kingdom. He was the first person who was proclaimed king after a victory, which he obtained in a great battle with the Galatians. He became an ally of the Romans, and, in conjunction with the Rhodian fleet, assisted them in the war against Philip. He died in old age, having reigned forty-three years. He left four sons by Apollonis, a woman of Cyzicus,—Eumenes, Attalus, Philetærus, and Athenæus. The younger sons continued in a private station, but Eumenes, the elder, was king. He was an ally of the Romans in the war with Antiochus the Great, and with Perseus; he received from the Romans all the country within the Taurus which had belonged to Antiochus. Before this time there were not under the power of Pergamum many places which reached to the sea at the Elaïtic and the Adramyttene Gulfs. Eumenes embellished the city, he ornamented the Nicephorium219 with a grove, enriched it with votive offer- ings and a library, and by his care raised the city of Perga mum to its present magnificence. After he had reigned forty-nine years he left the kingdom to Attains, his son by Stratonice, daughter of Ariarathus, king of Cappadocia. He appointed as guardian of his son, who was very young,220 and as regent of the kingdom, his brother Attalus, who died an old man after a reign of twenty years, having performed many glorious actions. He assisted Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, in the war against Alexander, the son of Antiochus, and was the ally of the Romans in the war against the Pseudo-Philip. In an expedition into Thrace he defeated and took prisoner Diegylis, king of the Cæni.221 He destroyed Prusias by exciting his son Nicomedes to rebel against his father. He left the kingdom to Attalus his ward. His cognomen was Philometor. He reigned five years, and died a natural death. He left the Romans his heirs.222 They made the country a province, and called it Asia by the name of the continent. The Caïcus flows past Pergamum through the plain of Caïcus, as it is called, and traverses a very fertile country, indeed almost the best soil in Mysia. [3] The celebrated men in our times, natives of Pergamum, were Mithridates, the son of Menodotus and the daughter of Adobogion; he was of the family of the Tetrarchs of Galatia. Adobogion, it is said, had been the concubine of Mithridates the king; the relatives therefore gave to the child the name of Mithridates, pretending that he was the king's son. This prince became so great a friend of Divus Cæsar, that he was promoted to the honour of Tetrarch (of Galatia) out of regard to his mother's family; he was appointed also king of Bosporus and of other places. He was overthrown by Asander, who put to death Pharnaces the king and obtained possession of the Bosporus. He had a great reputation as well as Apollodorus the rhetorician, who composed a work on the Art of Rhetoric, and was the head of the Apollodorian sect of philosophers, whatever that may be; for many opinions have prevailed, the merits of which are beyond our power to decide upon, among which are those of the sects of Apollodorus and Theodorus. But the friendship of Augustus Cæsar, whom he instructed in oratory, was the principal cause of the elevation of Apollodorus. He had a celebrated scholar Dionysius, surnamed Atticus, his fellow-citizen, who was an able teacher of philosophy, an historian, and composer of orations. [4] Proceeding from the plain and the city towards the east, we meet with Apollonia, a city on an elevated site. To the south is a mountainous ridge, which having crossed on the road to Sardes, we find on the left hand the city Thyateira, a colony of the Macedonians, which some authors say is the last city belonging to the Mysians. On the right hand is Apollonis, 300 stadia from Pergamum, and the same distance from Sardes. It has its name from Apollonis of Cyzicus (wife of Attalus). Next are the plains of Hermus and Sardes. The country to the north of Pergamum is principally occupied by Mysians; it lies on the right hand of the people called Abaïtæ, on whose borders is the Epictetus, extending to Bithynia. [5] Sardes is a large city, of later date than the Trojan times, yet ancient, with a strong citadel. It was the royal seat of the Lydians, whom the poet calls Meones, and later writers Meones, some asserting that they are the same, others that they are a different people, but the former is the preferable opinion. Above Sardes is the Tmolus, a fertile mountain having on its summit a seat223 of white marble, a work of the Persians. There is a view from it of the plains around, particularly of that of the Caÿster. There dwell about it Lydians, Mysians, and Macedonians.224 The Pactolus flows from the Tmolus.225 It anciently brought down a large quantity of gold-dust, whence, it is said, the proverbial wealth of Crœsus and his ancestors obtained renown. No gold-dust is found at present. The Pactolus descends into the Hermus, into which also the Hyllus, now called Phrygius, discharges itself: These three and other less considerable rivers unite in one stream, and, according to Herodotus, empty themselves into the sea at Phocæa. The Hermus takes its rise in Mysia, descending from the sacred mountain of Dindymene; after traversing the Catacecaumene, it enters the Sardian territory, and passes through the contiguous plains to the sea, mentioned above. Below the city lie the plains of Sardes, of the Cyrus, of the Hermus, and of the Caÿster, which are contiguous to one another and the most fertile anywhere to be found. At the distance of 40 stadia from the city is the lake Gygæa, as it is called by the poet.226 Its name was afterwards altered to Coloë. Here was a temple of Artemis Coloëne, held in the highest veneration. It is said that at the feasts celebrated here the baskets dance.227 I know not whether this is circulated as a strange story, or as truth. [6] The verses in Homer are to this effect, “‘Mesthles and Antiphus, sons of Talæmenes, born of the lake Gygæa, were the leaders of the Meones, who live below Tmolus.’228” Some persons add a fourth verse to these, “ below snowy Tmolus, in the rich district of Hyde.” But no Hyde229 is to be found among the Lydians. Others make this the birth-place of Tychius, mentioned by the poet,
They add that the place is woody, and frequently struck with lightning, and that here also were the dwellings of the Arimi; for to this verse, Among the Arimi, where they say is the bed of Typhoëus,231 they add the following, “ in a woody country, in the rich district of Hyde.“ he was the best leather-cutter in Hyde.230
”Il. vii. 221.
” Some lay the scene of the last fable in Cilicia, others in Syria, others among the Pithecussæ (islands),232 who say that the Pitheci (or monkeys) are called by the Tyrrhenians Arimi. Some call Sardes Hyde; others give this name to its Acropolis. The Scepsian (Demetrius) says that the opinion of those authors is most to be depended upon who place the Arimi in the Catacecaumene in Mysia. But Pindar associates the Pithecussæ which lie in front of the Cymæan territory and Sicily with Cilicia, for the poet says that Typhon lay beneath Ætna; “‘Once he dwelt in far-famed Cilician caverns, but now Sicily, and the sea-girt isle, o'ershadowing Cyme, press upon his shaggy breast.’233” And again, “ O'er him lies Ætna, and in her vast prison holds him.
” And again, “‘'Twas the great Jove alone of gods that overpowered, with resistless force, the fifty-headed monster Typhon, of yore among the Arimi.’” Others understand Syrians by the Arimi, who are now called Aramæi, and maintain that the Cilicians in the Troad migrated and settled in Syria, and deprived the Syrians of the country which is now called Cilicia. Callisthenes says, that the Arimi from whom the mountains in the neighbourhood have the name of Arima, are situated near the Calycadnus,234 and the promontory Sarpedon close to the Corycian cave. [7] The monuments of the kings lie around the lake Coloë. At Sardes is the great mound of Alyattes upon a lofty base, the work, according to Herodotus,235 of the people of the city, the greatest part of it being executed by young women. He says that they all prostituted themselves; according to some writers the sepulchre is the monument of a courtesan. Some historians say, that Coloë is an artificial lake, designed to receive the superabundant waters of the rivers when they are full and overflow. Hyptæpa236 is a city situated on the descent from Tmolus to the plain of the Caÿster. [8] Callisthenes says that Sardes was taken first by Cimmerians, then by Treres and Lycians, which Callinus also, the elegiac poet, testifies, and that it was last captured in the time of Cyrus and Crœsus. When Callinus says that the incursion of the Cimmerians when they took Sardes was directed against the Esioneis, the Scepsian (Demetrius) supposes the Asioneis to be called by him Esioneis, according to. the Ionian dialect; for perhaps Meonia, he says, was called Asia, as Homer describes the country,
The city, on account of the fertility of the country, was afterwards restored, so as to be a considerable place, and was inferior to none of its neighbours; lately it has lost a great part of its buildings by earthquakes. But Sardes, and many other cities which participated in this calamity about the same time, have been repaired by the provident care and beneficence of Tiberius the present emperor. [9] The distinguished natives of Sardes were two orators of the same name and family, the Diodori; the elder of whom was called Zonas, who had pleaded the cause of Asia in many suits. At the time of the invasion of Mithridates the king, he was accused of occasioning the revolt of the cities from him, but in his defence he cleared himself of the charge. The younger Diodorus was my friend; there exist of his historical writings, odes, and poems of other kinds, which very much resemble the style of the ancients. Xanthus, the ancient historian, is said to be a Lydian, but whether of Sardes I do not know. [10] After the Lydians are the Mysians, and a city Philadelphia, subject to constant earthquakes. The walls of the houses are incessantly opening, and sometimes one, sometimes another, part of the city is experiencing some damage. The majority of people (for few persons live in the city) pass their lives in the country, employing themselves in agriculture, and cultivate a good soil. Yet it is surprising that there should be even a few persons so much attached to a place where their dwellings are insecure; but one may marvel more at those who founded the city. [11] Next is the tract of country called the Catacecaumene, extending 500 stadia in length, and in breadth 400. It is uncertain whether it should be called Mysia or Meonia, for it has both names. The whole country is devoid of trees, excepting vines, from which is obtained the Catacecaumenite wine; it is not inferior in quality to any of the kinds in repute. The surface of the plains is covered with ashes, but the hilly and rocky part is black, as if it were the effect of combustion. This, as some persons imagine, was the effect of thunder-bolts and of fiery tempests, nor do they hesitate to make it the scene of the fable of Typhon. Xanthus even says that a certain Arimus was king of these parts. But it is unreasonable to suppose that so large a tract of country was all at once consumed; it is more natural to suppose that the effect was produced by fire generated in the soil, the sources of which are now exhausted. Here are to be seen three pits, which are called Physæ, or breathing holes, situated at the distance of 40 stadia from each other. Above are rugged hills, which probably consist of masses of matter thrown up by blasts of air (from the pits). That ground of this kind should be well adapted to vines, may be conceived from the nature of the country Catana,238 which was a mass of cinders, but which now produces excellent wine, and in large quantity. Some persons, in allusion to such countries as these, wittily observe that Bacchus is properly called Pyrigenes, or fire-born. 12. The places situated next to these towards the south, and extending to Mount Taurus, are so intermixed, that parts of Phrygia, Lydia, Caria, and Mysia running into one another are difficult to be distinguished. The Romans have contributed not a little to produce this confusion, by not dividing the people according to tribes, but following another principle have arranged them according to jurisdictions, in which they have appointed days for holding courts and administering justice. The Tmolus is a well compacted mass of mountain,239 of moderate circumference, and its boundaries are within Lydia itself. The Mesogis begins, according to Theopompus, from Celænæ,240 and extends on the opposite side as far as Mycale,241 so that Phrygians occupy one part, towards Celænæ and Apameia; Mysians and Lydians another; Carians and Ionians a third part. So also the rivers, and particularly the Mæander, are the actual boundaries of some nations, but take their course through the middle of others, rendering accurate distinction between them difficult. The same may be said of plains, which are found on each side of a mountainous range and on each side of a river. Our attention however is not required to obtain the same degree of accuracy as a surveyor, but only to give such descriptions as have been transmitted to us by our predecessors. [13] Contiguous on the east to the plain of Caÿster, which lies between the Mesogis and Tmolus, is the plain Cilbianum. It is extensive, well inhabited, and fertile. Then follows the Hyrcanian plain, a name given by the Persians, who brought colonists from Hyrcania (the plain of Cyrus, in like manner had its name from the Persians). Next is the Peltine plain, belonging to the Phrygians, and the Cillanian and the Tabenian plains, the latter of which contains small towns, inhabited by a mixed population of Phrygians, with a portion of Pisidians. The plains have their names from the towns. [14] After crossing the Mesogis, situated between the Cari- ans242 and the district of Nysa,243 which is a tract of country be yond the Mæander, extending as far as the Cibyratis and Cabalis, we meet with cities. Near the Mesogis, opposite Laodicea,244 is Hierapolis,245 where are hot springs, and the Plutonium, both of which have some singular properties. The water of the springs is so easily consolidated and becomes stone, that if it is conducted through water-courses dams are formed consisting of a single piece of stone. The Plutonium, situated below a small brow of the overhanging mountain, is an opening of sufficient size to admit a man, but there is a descent to a great depth. In front is a quadrilateral railing, about half a plethrum in circumference. This space is filled with a cloudy and dark vapour, so dense that the bottom can scarcely be discerned. To those who approach round the railing the air is innoxious, for in calm weather it is free from the cloud which then continues within the enclosure. But animals which enter within the railing die instantly. Even bulls, when brought within it, fall down and are taken out dead. We have ourselves thrown in sparrows, which immediately fell down lifeless. The Galli,246 who are eunuchs, enter the enclosure with impunity, approach even the opening or mouth, bend down over it, and descend into it to a certain depth, restraining their breath as much as possible, for we perceived by their countenance signs of some suffocating feeling. This exemption may be common to all eunuchs; or it may be confined to the eunuchs employed about the temple; or it may be the effect of divine care, as is probable in the case of persons inspired by the deity; or it may perhaps be procured by those who are in possession of certain antidotes. The conversion of water into stone is said to be the property of certain rivers in Laodiceia, although the water is fit for the purpose of drinking. The water at Hierapolis is peculiarly adapted for the dyeing of wool. Substances dyed with ‘the roots,’247 rival in colour those dyed with the coccus, or the marine purple. There is such an abundance of water, that there are natural baths in every part of the city. [15] After Hierapolis are the parts beyond the Mæander. Those about Laodiceia and Aphrodisias,248 and those extending to Carura, have been already described. The places which succeed are Antioch249 on the Mæander, now belonging to Caria, on the west; on the south are Cibyra the Great,250 Sinda,251 and Cabalis, as far as Mount Taurus and Lycia. Antioch is a city of moderate size situated on the banks of the Mæander, at the side towards Phrygia. There is a bridge over the river. A large tract of country, all of which is fertile, on each side of the river, belongs to the city. It produces in the greatest abundance the fig of Antioch, as it is called, which is dried. It is also called Triphyllus. This place also is subject to shocks of earthquakes. A native of this city was Diotrephes, a celebrated sophist; his disciple was Hybreas, the greatest orator of our times. [16] The Cabaleis, it is said, were Solymi. The hill situated above the Termessian fortress is called Solymus, and the Termessians themselves Solymi. Near these places is the rampart of Bellerophon and the sepulchre of Peisander his son, who fell in the battle against the Solymi. This account agrees with the words of the poet. Of Bellerophon he speaks thus,“ in the Asian meadows about the streams of Caÿster. 237
”Il. ii. 461.
and of his son,“ he fought a second time with the brave Solymi;252
”Il. vi. 184.
Termessus is a Pisidian city situated very near and immediately above Cibyra. [17] The Cibyratæ are said to be descendants of the Lydians who occupied the territory Cabalis. The city was afterwards in the possession of the Pisidians, a bordering nation, who occupied it, and transferred it to another place, very strongly fortified, the circuit of which was about 100 stadia. It flourished in consequence of the excellence of its laws. The villages belonging to it extended from Pisidia, and the bordering territory Milyas, as far as Lycia and the country opposite to Rhodes. Upon the union of the three bordering cities, Bubon,254 Balbura,255 and Œnoanda,256 the confederation was called Tetrapolis; each city had one vote, except Cibyra, which had two, for it could equip 30,000 foot soldiers and 2000 horse. It was always governed by tyrants, but they ruled with moderation. The tyrannical government terminated in the time of Moagetes. It was overthrown by Murena, who annexed Balbura and Bubon to the Lycians. Nevertheless the Cibyratic district is reckoned among the largest jurisdictions in Asia. The Cibyratæ used four languages, the Pisidic, that of the Solymi, the Greek, and the Lydian, but of the latter no traces are now to be found in Lydia. At Cibyra there is practised the peculiar art of carving with ease ornamental work in iron. Milya is the mountain-range extending from the defiles near Termessus, and the passage through them to the parts within the Taurus towards Isinda, as far as Sagalassus and the country of Apameia.“ Mars, unsated with war, killed Peisander his son fighting with the Solymi.253
”Il. vi. 203.