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λόγος seems here to be ‘theory’ rather than ‘tradition.’ Cp. λέγεται 1. 17 infra. ὥστε=ἅτε: cp. 6. 44.
τὰ ... αὐτῆς πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ ἔχοντα: the orientation of Thessaly in this passage is only approximate, as compared with the true points. There is a more serious difficulty arising from the fact that Hdt. puts Pelion and Ossa in line on the east side, and Olympos by itself on the north; nor does Rawlinson's suggestion, that Olympos here covers the <*>le Kambunian range, fully meet the difficulty. Hdt. is not quite at home in Thessaly; in 1. 56 he makes Histiaiotis the part of Thessaly under Ossa and Olympos.
ἔχειν πρός, a locative or geographical term, cp. έχεσθαι, c. 108 supra. τὸ Πήλιον (known to Homer, Il. 2. 757; Od. 11. 315) hes south-east of Ossa, at a distance of about 40 miles, and rises to a height of 5300 ft. The bases or skirts ὑπωρέαι (cp. 9. 25) may be said to join, or mingle (συμμίσγειν, c. 127 supra, of rivers), i.e. there is no pass between them as between Olympos and Ossa, but of course there is a way over; cp. Tozer, ii. 106 ff. While Ossa, Pelion, and Othrys here all have the appropriate article, Olympos and Pindos, the two maseuline mountains, are anarthrous: c'est bien distingué. ἡ Ὄσσα: known to Homer (Od. 11. 315).
Ὄλυμπος: in the Iliad the earthly mountain; in the Odyssey, above the heaven. Cp. Munro, Odyssey, xii.-xxiv. p. 336. In Hdt. it has returned again to earth. Πίνδος: here the mountain as in 1. 56. In 8. 43 infra a city of Doris. This great range runs nearly north and south from 41° to 39° longit. Hdt. perhaps restriets the name to Thessaly. Strabo (or his authorities) extended the name through Lokris; Forbiger, iii. 856 n., approves Mannert's idea that Strabo uses ἡ Πίνδος for the whole range, ὁ Πίνδος for the highest point.
ἡ Ὄθρυς: mentioned by Hesiod Theogon. 632. Though not again named by Hdt. it was of course traversed by the Persians before reaching Thermopylai. Cp. c. 196 infra. τὸ μέσον δὲ τ. τ. λ. ὀρ. ἡ Θεσσαλίη ἐστὶ ἐοῦσα κοίλη, ‘the space between these said four mountain-ranges constitutes Thessaly, and Thessaly is a large vale.’ We should put the points in reverse order, ‘the space between these said mountain-ranges constitutes a great hollow, and bears the name of Thessaly.’ With έστὶ έοῦσα cp. c. 73 supra Εὐρωπήιοι ἐόντες σύνοικοι ἦσαν: 4. 47 ἐοῦσα πεδιὰς ... εὔυδρος ἐστί, where in each case a reason is supplied. So too practically in 3. 49. In 3. 108 η<*> προνοίη, ὥσπερ καὶ οἰκός ἐστι, ἐοῦσα σοφή, . . πεποίηκε κτλ. there is a ehange of subject. Nowhere else is the duplication of the substantive verb so bald as here. With τὸ μέσον cp. c. 121, 1. 14 supra.
Πηνειοῦ: the Peneios, now Salamvrias, known to Homer (Il. 2. 752) and Pindar (Pyth. 10. 56), and of course to the geographers, as the chief river of Thessaly, and one of the principal rivers of Greece; a marked feature of the hydrography of Thessaly being that the other rivers are all auxiliaries of the Peneios. Hdt. does not name the Titaresios among them (Il. 2. 751); in fact he names only the streams draining the plain of Pharsalos—a hint, perhaps, in regard to his authorities.
Ἀπιδανοῦ: cp. Eurip. Hek. 451 Φθιάδος, ἔνθα καλλίστων ὑδάτων πατέρα ι φασὶν Ἀπιδανὸν γύας λιπαίνειν: Ovid Met. 1. 580 “Apidanusque senex”; placed near Pharsalos by Thucyd. 4. 78. 5. The modern Vrysia, strictly an affluent of the Enipeus, and itself reinforced by tributaries, among them probably the ‘Phoenix,’ mentioned by Pliny l.c. Ὀνοχώνου: mentioned again, c. 196 infra, as one of the rivers that failed. Though mentioned by Pliny 4. 15 among the rivers of Thessaly, its identity is in dispute. Leake, followed by Forbiger, identified it with a small stream terminating in Lake Boibeis, named Onchestos (Ὀγχηστός) by Polybios and Livy; but Rawlinson argues well that the Onochonos must have been a tributary of Peneios, in proximity to the Enipeus and Apidanos, and would identify it with the Sofádhes. Cp. c. 196 infra. Ἐνιπέος: irrequietus Enipeus (Ovid l.c.), the principal tributary of Peneios from the sonth, known to Homer (Od. 11. 238) and Thucydides (4. 78. 3), where Brasidas reaches it at Meliteia before he comes to Pharsalos and the Apidanos, a fact explicable by the much longer course of the Enipeus (mod. Fersaliti). The Apidanos, Onochonos, and Pamisos are indeed all represented (Kiepert, Forma xv.) as tributaries of the Enipeus, as well as the Knralios (Strabo 438). Παμίσου occurs also in Pliny's list, and is synonymous with the principal river of Messenia, and one or two other streams of Peloponnese. Leake, N. Gr. iv. 514, identifies it with a “considerable tributary of the Peneius, now called the Bliúri or Piliúri,” which joins the Salamvria ‘not far from the bridge of Keramídhi.’ οι<*>` μέν demands an antithesis ὁ δὲ Πηνειός, but Hdt. anticipates the predicate, which materially belongs to the Peneios, and transfers it to its tributaries, with the result of confusing his antithesis. He starts as if to say, ‘The five rivers which have separate names have not separate exits; the Peneios receives all their waters and carries them into the sea.’ He actually says, ‘The five streams have an exit, but four of them lose their names in the Peneios.’ (1) The omission of the Titaresios; (2) the failure to distinguish the northern and southern tributaries; (3) the omission of the line of hills dividing eastern and western Thessaly; (4) the restriction of the tributaries to the <*>reams round Pharsalos; (5) the styl<*>tic confusion of the passage, all confirm the view that Hdt. is not really describing at first hand.
τὸ πεδίον τοῦτο. Hdt. is not aware of the existence of more than one plain in Thessaly. The existence of the mountain-range Kynoskephalai, dividing eastern and western Thessaly, is unknown to him. As Stein has rightly observed, this passage is wanting in clearness, and does not bear the impress of autopsy, or personal insp<*> n.
δἰ ἑνὸς αὐλῶνος. Hdt. plainly refers to Tempe (c. 128 supra), but there is a previous αυ<*>λών, through which the Peneios, already enforced by the waters of all the rivers named by Hdt., flows from upper western Thessaly into the lower <*>n of Larisa to the east, and so on to <*>empe and the sea.
λέγεται: this could only refer to ‘theory,’ not ‘tradition,’ and in any case is a clear reference to geographical discussions, no doubt in prose works. Cp. λόγος 1. 2 supra.
τὴν Βοιβηίδα λίμνην: named by Homer, Il. 2. 711, as near Pherai, Boibe, Glaphyrai, Iaolkos, the land of Eumelos, son of Admetos and Alkestis. Pindar, Pyth. 3. 34, has the form Βοιβιάς, found also in the later writers, the lake having a long literary record. The town Boibe (Il. 2. 712) is located on the SW. shore. The identification with the modern Lake Karla is indubitable. The lake drains into another to the north (Nessonis; Strabo 430 makes it larger than Boibeis, probably in error), and so into Peneios. Hdt.'s knowledge here too seems at fault.
τὴν Θεσσαλίην πᾶσαν πέλαγος: the theory or tradition of a time when ‘all Thessaly was under water’ appears to be scientifically acceptable, subject perhaps to some reservations or corrections. Hdt. treats ‘Thessaly’ as a single plain, or hollow basin, rimmed round with mountains, and filled with water, until the formation of the cuttings (Τέμπεα) drained the waters off. The structure of Thessaly is not quite so simple as that (cp. notes supra), and the history of the landscape is also more complicated. That at any date worth thinking of, in an historical connexion, the whole of Thessaly was under water is hardly credible, but the eastern portion was liable to floods at all times, and the lakes there no doubt represent a diminished survival of the <*>nitive condition. The myth of Deukalion and Pyrrha may be located in Thessaly, but is there specially associated with Phthiotis (Hdt. 1. 56), while the actual flood (ὁ καλούμενος ἐπὶ Δευκαλίωνος κατακλυσμός） is by Aristotle Meteor. 1. 14=352A fixed at Dodona on the Acheloos—perhaps in connexion with his theory of the proper site of ἡ Ἑλλὰς ἡ ἀρχαία. The story of the flood, unfortunately, in any form now recoverable is late (Apollod. Biblioth. and Ovid). In the Iliad (20. 478) one Deukalion is a Trojan, slain by Achilles; another (13. 451) is a Kretan, son of Minos, and father of Idomeneus (cp. Od. 19. 180 f.). Had Hdt. been acquainted with a story associating his Thessalian Deukalion with the flood, he would hardly have omitted all reference to it.
αὐτοὶ μέν νυν Θεσσαλοί φασι: this formula cannot be taken to prove (a) an actual visit of Hdt.'s to Thessaly (for he might have discussed the matter with Thessalians elsewhere); nor (b) an actual discussion with a Thessalian or Thessalians anywhere (for Hdt. might report ‘Thessalian’ theories on the authority of non-Thessalian informants); nor even (c) an oral source a<*>l (for the formula is applicable to written sources). Cp. Introduction, § 10.
ὅστις γάρ. The ‘Posidonian’ origin of the Tempe gorge refers it to seismic action. Seism, or volcano, may perhaps have started the crack, but, as in other river gorges, however narrow and however high, the greater part of the result is, presumably, the work of erosion and of the river's action.
ὡς ἐμοὶ φαίνεται εἶναι by no means asserts Hdt.'s autopsy, which is rather suggested by ἐκεῖνο ἰδών just before. ἐφαίνετο or ἐφάνη would have been more difficult to explain away. for which reason the change has been made in the inferior class of MSS. Cp. App. Crit. What “appears to Hdt. to be” is obvious: τὰ διεστεῶτα ὑπὸ σεισμοῦ φαίνεται τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου ἔργα εἶναι.
ἡ διάστασις, ‘the standing apart,’ separation: φάραγγες καὶ δ. τῆσγῆς Aristot. Meteor. 1. 13=350B. 36. Cp. διεστεῶτα just above.
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