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MIMAS

MIMAS ( Μίμας), a mountain range in Ionia, traversing the peninsula of Erythrae from south to north. It still bears its ancient name, under which it is mentioned in the Odyssey (3.172).) It is, properly speaking, only a branch of Mount Tmolus, and was celebrated in ancient times for its abundance of wood and game (Strab. xiv. pp. 613, 645.) The neck at the south-western extremity of the peninsula formed by Mount Mimas, a little to the north of Teos, is only about 7 Roman miles broad, and Alexander the Great intended to cut a canal through the isthmus, so as to connect the Caystrian and Hermaean bays; but it was one of the few undertakings in which he did not succeed. (Plin. Nat. 5.31; Paus. 2.1.5; comp. 7.4.1; Thuc. 8.34; Ov. Met. 2.222; Amm. Marc. 31.42; Callim. Hymn. in Del. 157; Sil. Ital. 2.494.)

Mount Mimas forms three promontories in the peninsula; in the south Coryceum (Koraka or Kurko), in the west Argennum (Cape Blanco), and in the north Melaena (Kara Burnu). Chandler (Travels, p. 213) describes the shores of Mount Mimas as covered with pines and shrubs, and garnished with flowers. He passed many small pleasant spots, well watered, and green with corn or with myrtles and shrubs. The summit of the mountain commands a magnificent view, extending over the bays of Smyrna, Clazomenae, and Erythrae, the islands of Samos, Chios, and several others.

[L.S]

hide References (5 total)
  • Cross-references from this page (5):
    • Homer, Odyssey, 3.172
    • Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2.1.5
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 2.222
    • Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 5.31
    • Thucydides, Histories, 8.34
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