CESTRINE
CESTRINE (
Κεστρίνη, Thuc. Paus.;
Κεστρινία,
Steph. B. sub voce Καμμανία; Κεστρία,
Steph. B. sub voce Τροΐα), a district of Epeirus in the south of Chaonia, separated from Thesprotia by the river Thyamis. (
Thuc. 1.46.)
It is said to have received its name from Cestrinus, son of Helenus and Andromache, having been previously called Cammania. (
Paus. 1.11.1,
2.23.6;
Steph. B. sub voce Καμμανία.) The principal town of this district is called Cestria by Pliny (
4.1), but its more usual name appears to have been Ilium or Troja, in memory of the Trojan colony of Helenus. (
Steph. B. sub voce Τροΐα.) The remains of this town are still visible at the spot called
Paleá Venetía, near the town of
Filiátes. In the neighbourhood are those fertile pastures, which were celebrated in ancient times for the Cestrinic oxen. (
Hesych. sub voce Κεστρινικοὶ Βοές; Schol.
ad Aristoph. Pac. 924.)
The inhabitants of the district were called
Κεστρηνοί by the poet Rhianus (
Steph. B. sub voce Χαῦνοι). (Leake,
Northern Greece, vol. iv. pp. 73, 175.)
