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Ἐμήκυνα. H., apart from his interest in Samos (cf. Introd. p. 3), made it his object to describe great works everywhere (cf. i. 93. 1). For Samos generally cf. V. Guérin, Patmos et Samos, 1856.

ὄρυγμα. The object of the ‘tunnel’ was to bring the water from the other (i. e. the north) side of Mount Ampelus; the ‘channel’ in it (ἄλλο ὄρυγμα) is not quite ‘thirty feet’ deep at the outlet, and decreases in depth as it approaches the spring from which it issues; this was to give sufficient fall for the water, but H. had of course only seen the outlet on the south side; as the boring was begun on both sides, the engineering skill required was very considerable. The work is a good instance of the way in which the tyrants ‘courted popularity by providing for the needs of their people’, and may be compared with the contemporary aqueduct of Pisistratus (cf. E. Gardner, Athens, pp. 26-7). The tunnel was discovered in 1882 (cf. Mittheil. des Deutsch. Archaeol. Instit. 1884 (Athen.), pp. 163 f., with two plans, or Tozer's Islands of Aegean, pp. 167 seq.). On the whole the accuracy of H. is strikingly confirmed, though he exaggerates the length of the tunnel, which is really about 1,100 feet.

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