[5] In former times the Ionians occupied this country, and were also in possession of Attica, before the time of the building of Megara, wherefore the poet does not mention these places by any appropriate name, but when he calls all those dwelling in Attica, Athenians, he comprehends these also in the common appellation, regarding them as Athenians; so when, in the Catalogue of the Ships, he says,
we must understand the present Megarenses also, as having taken a part in the expedition. The proof of this is, that Attica was, in former times, called Ionia, and Ias, and when the poet says,“ And they who occupied Athens, a well-built city,1
”Il. ii. 546.
he means the Athenians. But of this Ionia Megaris was a part.“ There the Bœoti, and Iaones,2
”Il. xiii. 685.
