previous next

CHAP. 30.—LYDIA.

Lydia, bathed by the sinuous and ever-recurring windings of the river Mæander, lies extended above Ionia; it is joined by Phrygia on the east and Mysia on the north, while on the south it runs up to Caria: it formerly had the name of Mæonia1. Its place of the greatest celebrity is Sardes2, which lies on the side of Mount Tmolus3, formerly called Timolus. From this mountain, which is covered with vineyards, flows the river Pactolus4, also called the Chrysorroas, and the sources of the Tarnus: this famous city, which is situate upon the Gygæan Lake5, used to be called Hyde6 by the people of Mæonia. This jurisdiction is now called that of Sardes, and besides the people of the places already mentioned, the following now resort to it—the Macedonian Cadueni7, the Loreni, the Philadelpheni8, the Mæonii, situate on the river Cogamus at the foot of Mount Tmolus, the Tripolitani, who are also called the Antoniopolitæ, situate on the banks of the Mæander, the Apollonihieritæ9, the Mesotimolitæ10, and some others of no note.

1 By this name alone it is known to Homer.

2 Its ruins, now called Sart, are very extensive, though presenting nothing of importance. Its citadel, situated on a rock, was considered to be almost impregnable.

3 Now called Kisilja Musa Dagh. It was famous for its wine, saffron, and gold.

4 Now called the Sarabat. It was famous for its gold-producing sands.

5 On the road between Thyatira and Sardes: near it was situate the necropolis of Sardes.

6 Strabo says that some persons called the citadel only by that name.

7 There was a city of Mysia or Phrygia of the name of Cadus or Cadi; but nothing is known of the place here alluded to, whose people would appear to have been a colony from Macedonia.

8 The people of Philadelphia, now Ala-Cher, or the "Fine City," twelve leagues south-east of Sardes, and nine leagues south of Attalia.

9 So called from the Greek ᾿απόλλωνος ἱερὸν, "the temple of Apollo," in the vicinity of which, south-east of Pergamus, their town was probably situate. Nothing is known of these localities.

10 Dwellers in Mesotmolus, a town which, from its name, would appear to have been situate on the middle of Mount Tmolus.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

load focus Latin (Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff, 1906)
hide Places (automatically extracted)

View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.

hide References (37 total)
  • Commentary references to this page (1):
    • W. W. How, J. Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus, 1.7
  • Cross-references to this page (27):
    • The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, NEANDRIA (Çgri Dağ) Troad, Turkey.
    • Harper's, Niger, Nigir, Nigris
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ANTANDRUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), APOLLO´NIS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ATARNEUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), A´TTEA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), BALCE´A
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), BE´BRYCES
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CE´TIUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CHRYSA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CISTHE´NE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), COLO´NAE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CORYPHANTIS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CYME
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), DA´RDANUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ERE´ZII
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), GYGAEUS LACUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LY´DIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MILE´TUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PACTO´LUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PHILADELPHEIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), POLYME´DIUM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SARDES
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TARNE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TMOLUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TMOLUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TRI´POLIS
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (9):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: