TA´PHIAE
TA´PHIAE and more anciently TELEBO´IDES, a number of small islands off the western coast of Greece, between Leucas and Acarnania (
Plin. Nat. 4.12. s. 19), also called the islands of the Taphii or Teleboae (
Ταφίων, Τηλεβοῶν νῆσοι, Strab. x. p.459), who are frequently mentioned in the Homeric poems as pirates. (
Od. 15.427,
16.426.) When Athena visited Telemachus at Ithaca, she assumed the form of Mentes, the leader of the Taphians. (
Od. 1.105.) The Taphians or Teleboans are celebrated in the legend of Amphitryon, and are said to have been subdued by this hero. (
Hdt. 5.59;
Apollod. 2.4. § § 6, 7; Strab.
l.c.; Plaut. Amph. 1.1;
Dict. of Biog. art. AMPHITRYON.) The principal island is called Taphos (
Τάφος) by Homer (
Hom. Od. 1.417), and by later writers Taphiūs, Taphiussa, or Taphias (
Ταφιοῦς, Ταφιοῦσσα, Ταφιάς, Strab.
l. e.; Plin.
l.c.; Steph. B. sub voce Τάφος), now
Meganisí. The next largest island of the Taphii was Carnus, now
Kálamo. (
Scylax, p. 13;
Steph. B. sub voce Leake,
Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 16; Dodwell, vol. i. p. 60.) Stephanus B. mentions a town in Cephallenia, named Taphus, represented by the modern
Tafió, where many ancient sepulchres are found. (Leake,
Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 67.)
