ACHILLE´OS DROMOS
ACHILLE´OS DROMOS (
Δρόμος Ἀχιλλῆος, or
Ἀχιλλέως, or
Ἀχίλλειος, or
Ἀχιλλήϊος᾿, a long narrow strip of land in the Euxine, NW. of the Chersonesus Taurica (
Crimea) and S. of the mouth of the Borysthenes (
Dnieper), running W. and E., with a slight inclination N. and S., for about 80 miles, including that portion of the coast from which it is a prolongation both ways.
It is now divided by a narrow gap, which insulates its W. portion, into two parts, called
Kosa (i. e.
tongue)
Tendra on the W., and
Kosa Djarilgatclh on the E.
In the ancient legends, which connected Achilles with the NW. shores of the Euxine, this strip of land was pitched upon as a sort of natural stadium on which he might have exercised that swiftness of foot which Homer sings; and he was supposed to have instituted games there. Further to the W., off the mouth of the Ister, lay a small island, also sacred to the hero, who had a temple there.
This island, called Achillis Insula, or Leuce (
Ἀχιλλέως ἢ Λευκὴ νῆσος), was said to be the place to which Thetis transported the body of Achilles.
By some it was made the abode of the shades of the blest, where Achilles and other heroes were the judges of the dead. Geographers identify it with the little island of
Zmievoï, or
Oulan Adassi (i. e.
Serpents' Island) in 30° 10′ long., 45° 15′ N. lat. (
Hdt. 4.55,
76; Eurip.
Iphig. in Taur. 438;
Pind. O. 2.85;
Paus. 3.19.11; Strab. pp. 306--308, foll.; and other passages collected by Ukert, vol. iii. p. 2, pp. 442, foll., and Forbiger, vol. iii. pp. 1121--1122.)
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P.S]
