IDA
IDA,
IDAEUS MONS (
ἡ Ἴδη, Eth.
Ἰδαῖος,
Ida), a range of mountains of Phrygia, belonging to the system of Mount Taurus.
It traverses western Mysia in many branches, whence it was compared by the ancients to the scolopendra or milliped (
Strab. xiii. p.583), its main branch extending from the south-east to the north-west; it is of considerable height, the highest point, called Gargarus or Gargaron, rising about 4650 feet above the level of the sea.
The greater part is covered with wood, and contains the sources of innumerable streams and many rivers, whence Homer (
Hom. Il. 8.47) calls the mountain
πολυπίδαξ. In the Homeric poems it is also described as rich in wild beasts. (Comp. Strab. xiii. pp. 602, 604; Hom.
Il. 2.824,
6.283,
8.170,
11.153,
196;
Ath. 1.8 ; Hor.
Od. 3.20. 15;
Ptol. 5.2.13;
Plin. Nat. 5.32.)
The highlands about Zeleia formed the northern extremity of Mount Ida, while Lectum formed its extreme point in the south-west. Two other subordinate ranges, parting from the principal summit, the one at Cape Rhoeteum, the other at Sigeum, may be said to enclose the territory of Troy in a crescent; while another central ridge between the two, separating the valley of the Scamander from that of the Simois, gave to the whole the form of the Greek letter
ε. (Demetr. ap.
Strab. xiii. p.597.)
The principal rivers of which the sources are in Mount Ida, are the Simois, Scamander, Granicus, Aesepus, Rhodius, Caresus, and others. (Hom
Il. 12.20, foil.)
The highest peak, Gargarus, affords an extensive view over the Hellespont, Propontis, and the whole surrounding country. Besides Gargarus, three other high peaks of Ida are mentioned: viz. Cotylus, about 3500 feet high, and about 150 stadia above Scepsis; Pytna; and Dicte. (
Strab. xiii. p.472.) Timosthenes (ap.
Steph. B. sub voce Ἀλεξάνδρεια) and Strabo (
xiii. p.606) mention a mountain belonging to the range of Ida, near Antandrus, which bore the name of Alexandria, where Paris (Alexander) was believed to have pronounced his judgment as to the beauty of the three goddesses. (Comp. Clarke's
Travels, ii. p. 134; Hunt's Journal in
Walpole's Turkey, i. p. 120; Cramer's
Asia Minor, 1.120.)
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