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Δόβηρας: west of the Sapaean pass, on the left bank of the Angites, between Philippi and Amphipolis, to be distinguished from the larger Paeonian tribe in the land. Doberus, between the upper Axius and the Strymon (Thuc. ii. 98).

Παιόπλαι: cf. v. 15. 3 n.

H.'s orientation is, as often, loose. He seems to conceive the Strymon as flowing from west to east, and the Angites as flowing into it from the north, but really the Strymon here flows from north-west to south-east and the Angites joins it from the north-east. H., by making the Angites flow into the Strymon not into a lake, implies that Lake Cercinitis did not then exist, or was of small importance; similarly Thucydides (ii. 98) ignores it, and only speaks of τὸ λιμνῶδες τοῦ Στρυμόνος (v. 7). It is first clearly mentioned by Arrian (i. 11. 3), and has apparently increased in size greatly since ancient times (Kiepert, Map XVI, p. 4).


καλλιρέεσθαι: to offer sacrifice in order to learn the will of the gods (vi. 82. 2; vii. 167. 1); the active καλλιρέειν (impersonal in H.) is used of the sacrifice itself = χρηστὰ γίνεσθαι, vi. 76. 2; vii. 134. 2; ix. 19. 2, 38. 2, 96. 1.

The offering of a horse is genuinely Persian (i. 133. 1; Tac. Ann. vi. 37; Xen. Anab. iv. 5. 35), and water, especially running water, was sacred (i, 131. 2, 138. 2 n.); but Strabo (732) says that when the Persians come to a stream or spring, they dig a pit, and there sacrifice their victim, taking care that the pure water near them is not stained with the blood, since that would be pollution. It would seem then that if H. is right, the Magi were following not Persian but local custom (cf. vi. 97. 2; vii. 43. 2; viii. 133; ix. 37. 1). The Strymon received divine honours from Greeks; cf. C.I.G. 2008 (from Amphipolis) τὸ δ᾽ ἐπιδέκατον ἱρὸν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ τοῦ Στρυμόνος and ἁγνὸς Στρυμών (Aesch. Supp. 254; Pers. 497). For the worship of rivers cf. vi. 76; viii. 138. 1, and especially of the river Scamander cf. Hom. Il. xxi. 132ζωοὺς δ᾽ ἐν δίνῃσι καθίετε μώνυχας ἵππους”.

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hide References (5 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (5):
    • Aeschylus, Persians, 497
    • Aeschylus, Suppliant Maidens, 254
    • Thucydides, Histories, 2.98
    • Xenophon, Anabasis, 4.5.35
    • Homer, Iliad, 21.132
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