Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges

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[*] 1901. Imperfect for Present.—In descriptions of places and scenery and in other statements of existing facts the imperfect, instead of the present, is often used by assimilation to the time of the narrative (usually set forth in the main verb).

““ἀφί_κοντο ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν ὃς ὥριζε τὴν τῶν Μακρώνων χώρα_ν καὶ τὴν τῶν Σκυθηνῶν” they came to the river which divided the country of the Macrones from that of the Scytheni” X. A. 4.8.1, ἐξελαύνει ἐπὶ ποταμὸν πλήρη ἰχθύων, οὓς οἱ Σύροι θεοὺς ἐνόμιζον he marched to a river full of fish, which the Syrians regarded as gods 1. 4. 9.