SUMMARY.

The Fourteenth Book contains an account of the Cyclades islands and the region opposite to them, Pamphylia, Isauria, Lycia, Pisidia, Cilicia as far as Seleucia of Syria, and that part of Asia properly called Ionia.

CHAPTER I.

1. There remain to be described Ionia, Caria, and the sea-coast beyond the Taurus, which is occupied by Lycians, Pamphylians, and Cilicians.19 We shall thus finish the description of the whole circuit of the peninsula, the isthmus of which, we have said, consists of the tract between the Euxine and the Sea of Issus.

2. The navigation around Ionia along the coast is about 3430 stadia. It is a considerable distance, on account of the gulfs, and of the peninsular form for the most part of the country, but the length in a straight line is not great. The distance, for example, from Ephesus to Smyrna is a journey in a straight line of 320 stadia; to Metropolis20 is 120 stadia, and the remainder to Smyrna; but this distance by sea is little less than 2200 stadia. The extent of the Ionian coast is reckoned from Poseidium,21 belonging to the Milesians,[Pg 2]
CAS. 632 and the boundaries of Caria, as far as PhocÆa,22 and the river Hermus.23

3. According to Pherecydes, Miletus, Myus,24 Mycale, and Ephesus, on this coast, were formerly occupied by Carians; the part of the coast next in order, as far as PhocÆa, and Chios, and Samos, of which AncÆus was king, were occupied by Leleges, but both nations were expelled by the Ionians, and took refuge in the remaining parts of Caria.

Pherecydes says that the leader of the Ionian, which was posterior to the Æolian migration, was Androclus, a legitimate son of Codrus king of the Athenians, and that he was the founder of Ephesus, hence it was that it became the seat of the royal palace of the Ionian princes. Even at present the descendants of that race are called kings, and receive certain honours, as the chief seat at the public games, a purple robe as a symbol of royal descent, a staff instead of a sceptre, and the superintendence of the sacrifices in honour of the Eleusinian Ceres.

Neleus, of a Pylian family, founded Miletus. The Messenians and Pylians pretend that there is some affinity between them; in reference to which later poets say that even Nestor was a Messenian, and that many Pylians accompanied Melanthus, the father of Codrus, to Athens, and that all this people sent out the colony in common with the Ionians. There is also to be seen on the promontory Poseidium an altar erected by Neleus.

Myus was founded by Cydrelus, a spurious son of Codrus; Lebedos25 by Andropompus, who took possession of a place called Artis; Colophon by AndrÆmon, a Pylian, as Mimnermus mentions in his poem of Nanno;26 Priene by Æpytus, son of Neleus; and afterwards by Philotas, who brought a colony from Thebes; Teos by Athamas, its first founder, whence Anacreon calls the city Athamantis, but at the time of the Ionian migration of the colony it received settlers from Nauclus, a spurious son of Codrus, and after this from Apoecus and Damasus, who were Athenians, and from Geres, a Boeotian; ErythrÆ was founded by Cnopus, who also was a spurious son of Codrus; PhocÆa by Athenians, who accompanied Philogenes; ClazomenÆ by Paralus; Chios by Egertius, who brought with him a mixed body of colonists; Samos by Tembrion, and afterwards by Procles.

4. These are the twelve Ionian cities. At a subsequent period Smyrna also was added to the Ionian association at the instance of the Ephesians, for anciently they inhabited the same city, at which time Ephesus was called Smyrna. Callinus somewhere gives it this name, and calls the Ephesians SmyrnÆans in the address to Jupiter:

and in another passage,

“remember now, if ever, the beautiful thighs of the oxen [which the SmyrnÆans burnt in sacrifice].”

Smyrna was an Amazon, who got possession of Ephesus; from her the inhabitants and the city had their name, in the same manner as some Ephesians were called SisyrbitÆ from Sisyrba; and a certain spot in Ephesus was called Smyrna, as Hipponax testifies:

“He lived in Smyrna, at the back of the city between Tracheia and Lepre Acta.”

The mountain Prion was called Lepre Acta; it overhangs the present city, and has on it a portion of the wall. Even now the farms at the back of the Prion retain the name in the term Opistholepria. The country along the foot of the mountain about Coressus was called Tracheia. The city was anciently built about the AthenÆum, which is now beyond the city, at the (fountain) HypelÆus. Smyrna therefore was situated near the present gymnasium, at the back of the present city, but between Tracheia and Lepre Acta. The SmyrnÆans, upon quitting the Ephesians, marched to the place where Smyrna now stood, and which was in the possession of Leleges. They expelled these people and founded the ancient Smyrna, which is distant from the present city about 20 stadia. They were themselves afterwards expelled by Æolians, and took refuge at Colophon; they then returned with a body of men from the latter place, and recovered their own city, Smyrna. Mimnermus relates this in his poem of Nanno, and says of Smyrna, that it was always a subject of contention;

[Pg 4]
CAS. 634

“after leaving Pylus, the lofty city of Neleus, we came in our voyage to the long wished-for Asia, and settled at Colophon, and hastening thence from the river AstËeis, by the will of the gods we took Æolian Smyrna.”

So much then on this subject.

We must, however, again describe each place in particular, beginning with the principal cities, from which the first settlements originated, I mean Miletus and Ephesus, for these are superior to all others, and the most celebrated.

5. Next after the Poseidium of the Milesians, at the distance of 1827 stadia from the sea-coast, is the oracle of Apollo Didymeus among the BranchidÆ. This, as well as the other temples, except that at Ephesus, was burnt by the order of Xerxes.28 The BranchidÆ delivered up the treasures of the god to the Persian king, and accompanied him in his flight, in order to avoid the punishment of sacrilege and treachery.

The Milesians afterwards built a temple, which exceeded in size all others, but it remained without a roof on account of its magnitude. The circuit of the sacred enclosure contained within it a village with a magnificent grove, which also extended beyond it; other sacred enclosures contain the oracle, and what belongs to the worship of the god.

Here is laid the scene of the fable of Branchus, and Apollo’s love for him. The temple is adorned with the most costly offerings, the productions of ancient art.

Thence to the city the journey is not long either by land or sea.29

6. Ephorus relates that Miletus was first founded and fortified by the Cretans on the spot above the sea-coast where at present the ancient Miletus is situated, and that Sarpedon conducted thither settlers from the Miletus in Crete,30 and gave it the same name; that Leleges were the former occupiers of the country, and that afterwards Neleus built the present city.The present city has four harbours, one of which will admit a fleet of ships.31 The citizens have achieved many great deeds, but the most important is the number of colonies which they established. The whole Euxine, for instance, and the Propontis, and many other places, are peopled with their settlers.

Anaximenes of Lampsacus says, that the Milesians colonized both the island Icarus and Lerus, and LimnÆ on the Hellespont, in the Chersonesus; in Asia, Abydus, Arisba, and PÆsus; on the island of the Cyziceni, Artace and Cyzicus; in the interior of the Troad, Scepsis. We have mentioned, in our particular description of places, other cities which this writer has omitted.

Both the Milesians and Delians invoke Apollo Ulius, as dispensing health and curing diseases; for ???e??32 is to be in health, whence ????,33 a wound healed, and the phrase in Homer,34 ???? te ?a? ??a ?a??e, “health and good welcome;” for Apollo is a healer, and Artemis has her name from making persons ??te?a?, or sound. The sun, also, and moon are associated with these deities, since they are the causes of the good qualities of the air; pestilential diseases, also, and sudden death are attributed to these deities.

7. Illustrious persons, natives of Miletus, were Thales, one of the seven wise men, the first person who introduced among the Greeks physiology and mathematics; his disciple Anaximander, and Anaximenes the disciple of Anaximander. Besides these, HecatÆus the historian;35 and of our time, Æschines the orator, who was banished for having spoken with too great freedom before Pompey the Great, and died in exile.

Miletus shut her gates against Alexander, and experienced the misfortune of being taken by storm, which was also the fate of Halicarnassus; long before this time it was captured by the Persians. Callisthenes relates, that Phrynichus the tragic writer was fined a thousand drachmÆ by the Athenians for composing a play entitled “The taking of Miletus by Darius.” [Pg 6]
[CAS. 635]The island Lade lies close in front of Miletus, and small islands about TragÆÆ,36 which afford a shelter for pirates.

8. Next follows the Gulf of Latmus, on which is situated “Heracleia under Latmus,”37 as it is called, a small town with a shelter for vessels. It formerly had the same name as the mountain above, which HecatÆus thinks was the same as that called by the poet38 the mountain of the Phtheiri, for he says that the mountain of the Phtheiri was situated below Latmus; but some say that it was Grium, as being parallel to Latmus, and extending from the Milesian territory towards the east, through Caria, as far as Euromus and Chalcetores. However, the mountain rises up in sight of39 the city.

At a little distance further, after crossing a small river near Latmus, there is seen in a cave the sepulchre of Endymion. Then from Heracleia to Pyrrha, a small city, is about 100 stadia by sea, but a little more from Miletus to Heracleia, if we include the winding of the bays.

9. From Miletus to Pyrrha, in a straight line by sea, is 30 stadia; so much longer is the journey by sailing near the land.

10. When we are speaking of celebrated places, the reader must endure with patience the dryness of such geographical descriptions.

From Pyrrha to the mouth of the MÆander are 50 stadia. The ground about it is marshy and a swamp. In sailing up the river in vessels rowed by oars to the distance of 30 stadia, we come to Myus,40 one of the twelve Ionian cities, which, on account of its diminished population, is now incorporated with Miletus. Xerxes is said to have given this city to Themistocles to supply him with fish, Magnesia with bread, and Lampsacus with wine.41

11. At four stadia from Myus is Thymbria, a Carian village, near which is Aornum; this is a sacred cave called Charonium, which emits destructive vapours. Above it is Magnesia42 on the MÆander, a colony of the Magnesians of Thessaly and Crete. We shall speak of it very soon.

12. After the mouths of the MÆander follows the shore of Priene. Above it is Priene,43 and the mountain Mycale,44 which abounds with animals of the chace, and is covered with forests. It is situated above the Samian territory, and forms towards it, beyond the promontory Trogilium,45 a strait of above 7 stadia in width. Priene is called by some writers Cadme, because Philotus, its second founder, was a Boeotian. Bias, one of the seven wise men, was a native of Priene, of whom Hipponax uses this expression;

13. In front of Trogilium lies an island of the same name. Thence, which is the nearest way, is a passage across to Sunium of 1600 stadia. At the commencement of the voyage, on the right hand are Samos, Icaria, and the CorsiÆ islands;46 on the left, the Melantian rocks.47 The remainder of the voyage lies through the middle of the Cyclades islands. The promontory Trogilium itself may be considered as a foot of the mountain Mycale. Close to Mycale is another mountain, the Pactyas, belonging to the Ephesian territory, where the Mesogis terminates.

14. From Trogilium to Samos are 40 stadia. Both this and the harbour, which has a station for vessels, have a southern aspect. A great part of it is situated on a flat, and is overflowed by the sea, but a part also rises towards the mountain which overhangs it. On the right hand, in sailing towards the city, is the Poseidium, a promontory, which forms towards Mycale the strait of 7 stadia. It has upon it a temple of Neptune. In front is a small island, Narthecis; on the left, near the HerÆum, is the suburb, and the river Imbrasus, and the HerÆum, an ancient temple, and a large nave, which at present is a repository for paintings. Besides the great number of paintings in the HerÆum, there are other repositories and some small chapels, filled with works of ancient art. The HypÆthrum also is full of the best statues. Of these, three of colossal size, the work of Myron, stand [Pg 8]
[CAS. 637]upon the same base. Antony took them all away, but Augustus CÆsar replaced two, the Minerva and the Hercules, upon the same base. He transported the Jupiter to the Capitol, having built a chapel for its reception.

15. The voyage round the island Samos is 600 stadia.48 Formerly, when the Carians inhabited it, it was called Parthenia, then Anthemus, then Melamphylus,49 then Samos, either from the name of some native hero, or from some one who conducted a colony thither from Ithaca and Cephallenia. In it is a promontory looking towards Drepanum in Icaria, which has the name of Ampelos, (the Vine,) but the whole mountain, which spreads over the island, has the same name. The island is not remarkable for good wine,50 although the islands around, as Chios, Lesbos, Cos, and almost all the adjacent continent, produce wines of the best kind. The Ephesian and the Metropolites are good wines, but the Mesogis, the Tmolus, the Catacecaumene, Cnidos, Smyrna, and other more obscure places, are distinguished for the excellence of their wines, whether for gratification or dietetic purposes.

Samos is not very fortunate as regards the production of wine, but in general it is fertile, as appears from its possession being a subject of warlike contention, and from the language of its panegyrists, who do not hesitate to apply to it the proverb,

as Menander somewhere says. This was the cause also of the tyrannies established there, and of the enmity of the Athenians.

16. The tyrannies were at their height in the time of Polycrates and his brother Syloson. The former was distinguished for his good fortune, and the possession of such a degree of power as made him master of the sea. It is related as an instance of his good fortune, that having purposely thrown into the sea his ring, which was of great value both on account of the stone and the engraving, a short time afterwards a fisherman caught the fish which had swallowed it, and on cutting the fish open, the ring was discovered. When the king of Egypt was informed of this, he declared, it is said, with a prophetic spirit, that Polycrates, who had been elevated to such a height of prosperity, would soon end his life unfortunately; and this was actually the case, for he was taken by the Persian satrap by stratagem, and crucified. Anacreon, the lyric poet, was his contemporary, and all his poetry abounds with the praises of Polycrates.

It is said that in his time Pythagoras, observing the growing tyranny, left the city, and travelled to Egypt and Babylon, with a view to acquire knowledge. On his return from his travels, perceiving that the tyranny still prevailed, he set sail for Italy, and there passed the remainder of his life.

So much respecting Polycrates.

17. Syloson was left by his brother in a private station. But he made a present to Darius, son of Hystaspes, of a robe which the latter saw him wearing, and very much desired to possess. Darius was not king at this time, but when he became king, Polycrates received as a compensation the tyranny of Samos. He governed with so much severity, that the city was depopulated, which gave occasion to the proverb,

18. The Athenians formerly sent Pericles their general, and with him Sophocles the poet, who harassed with the evils of a siege the refractory Samians. Afterwards51 they sent thither a colony of two thousand citizens, among whom was Neocles the father of Epicurus, and, according to report, a school-master. It is said, that Epicurus was educated here and at Teos, and was admitted among the ephebi at Athens, having as his comrade in that class Menander the comic poet. Creophylus was a native of Samos,52 who, it is said, once entertained Homer as his guest, and received, in return, his poem entitled “The taking of Œchalia.” Callimachus, on the contrary, intimates in an epigram that it was the composition of [Pg 10]
[CAS. 639]Creophylus, but ascribed to Homer on account of the story of his hospitable entertainment by Creophylus:

“I am the work of the Samian, who once entertained in his house, as a guest, the divine Homer. I grieve for the sufferings of Eurytus, and mourn for the yellow-haired Ioleia. I am called Homer’s writing. O Jupiter, how glorious this for Creophylus.”

Some say that he was Homer’s master; according to others, it was not Creophylus, but Aristeas of Proconnesus.

19. The island of Icaria, from which the Icarian Sea has its name, is near Samos. The island has its name from Icarus, the son of DÆdalus, who, it is said, having accompanied his father in his flight, when both of them, furnished with wings, set out from Crete, fell on that island, unable to sustain his flight. He had mounted too near the sun, and the wings dropped off on the melting of the wax [with which they were fastened].

The whole island is 300 stadia in circumference; it has no harbours, but only anchorages, the best of which is called Histi. A promontory stretches towards the west. There is also on the island a temple of Diana, called Tauropolium, and a small town ŒnoË; and another, Dracanum,53 of the same name as the promontory on which it stands, with an anchorage for vessels. The promontory is distant from the promontory of the Samians, called Cantharius, 80 stadia, which is the shortest passage from one to the other. The Samians occupy it at present in its depopulated state, chiefly for the sake of pasture which it affords for cattle.

20. Next to the Samian strait at Mycale, on the right hand on the voyage to Ephesus, is the sea-coast of the Ephesians, a part of which even the Samians possess. First on the sea-coast is the Panionium,54 distant from the sea three stadia, where the Panionia, a common festival of the Ionians, is celebrated, and a sacrifice is performed in honour of the Heliconian Neptune. The priests are Prienians. We have spoken of them in the description of Peloponnesus.

Then follows Neapolis, which formerly belonged to the Ephesians, but now belongs to the Samians, having exchanged Marathesium55 for it, the more distant for the nearer place. Next is Pygela, a small town, containing a temple of Diana Munychia. It was founded by Agamemnon, and colonized by some of his soldiers, who had a disease in the buttocks, and were called Pygalgeis; as they laboured under this complaint, they settled there, and the town had the appropriate name of Pygela.56

Next is a harbour called Panormus, with a temple of the Ephesian Diana; then the city.

On the same coast, at a little distance from the sea, is Ortygia, a fine wood with trees of all kinds, but the cypress in the greatest abundance. Through this wood flows the river Cenchrius, in which Latona is said to have bathed after the birth of her child. For here is laid the scene of the birth of the child, the cares of the nurse Ortygia, the cave in which the birth took place, the neighbouring olive tree under which the goddess first reposed when the pains of child-birth had ceased.

Above the wood is the mountain Solmissus, where, it is said, the Curetes stationed themselves, and with the noise of their arms perplexed and terrified Juno, who was enviously watching in secret the delivery of Latona, who was thus assisted in concealing the birth of the child.

There are many temples in the place, some of which are ancient, others of later times; in the former are ancient statues; in the latter are works of Scopas, Latona holding a sceptre, and Ortygia standing by her with a child in each arm.

A convention and festival are celebrated there every year. It is the custom for young men to vie with each other, particularly in the splendour of their convivial entertainments. The body of Curetes celebrate their Symposia at the same time, and perform certain mystic sacrifices.

21. The city of Ephesus was inhabited both by Carians and Leleges. After Androclus had expelled the greatest part of the inhabitants, he settled his companions about the AthenÆum, and the HypelÆum, and in the mountainous tract at the foot of the Coressus. It was thus inhabited till the time of Croesus. Afterwards, the inhabitants descended from the mountainous district, and settled about the present temple, and continued there to the time of Alexander. Then Lysimachus built a wall round the present temple, and, perceiving the inhabitants [Pg 12]
[CAS. 640] unwilling to remove thither, took advantage of a heavy storm of rain which he saw approaching, and obstructed the drains so as to inundate the city, and the inhabitants were glad to leave it for another place.

He called the city ArsinoË, after the name of his wife, but the old name prevailed. A body of elders was enrolled, with whom were associated persons called Epicleti, who administered all the affairs of the city.

22. Chersiphron57 was the first architect of the temple of Diana; another afterwards enlarged it, but when Herostratus set fire to it,58 the citizens constructed one more magnificent. They collected for this purpose the ornaments of the women, contributions from private property, and the money arising from the sale of pillars of the former temple. Evidence of these things is to be found in the decrees of that time. Artemidorus says, that TimÆus of Tauromenium, in consequence of his ignorance of these decrees, and being otherwise a calumniator and detractor, (whence he had the name of EpitimÆus, or Reviler,) avers that the Ephesians restored the temple by means of the treasure deposited there by the Persians. But at that time no treasure was deposited, and if any had been deposited there, it must have been consumed together with the temple: after the conflagration, when the roof was destroyed, who would wish to have a deposit lying there, with the sacred enclosure exposed to the air?

Besides, Artemidorus says, that Alexander promised to defray the expense of its restoration, both what had been and what would be incurred, on condition that the work should be attributed to him in the inscription, but the Ephesians refused to accede to this; much less, then, would they be disposed to acquire fame by sacrilege and spoliation. He praises also the reply of an Ephesian to the king, “that it was not fit that a god should provide temples in honour of gods.”

23. After the completion of the temple, which, he says, was the work of Cheirocrates (the same person who built Alexandria, and also promised Alexander that he would form Mount Athos into a statue of him, which should represent him as pouring a libation into a dish out of an ewer; that he would build two cities, one on the right hand of the mountain, and another on the left, and a river should flow out of the dish from one to the other,)59—after the completion of the temple, he says that the multitude of other sacred offerings were purchased by the Ephesians, at the value set on them by artificers, and that the altar was almost entirely full of the works of Praxiteles. They showed us also some of the performances of Thraso, namely, the Hecatesium, a Penelope,60 and the old woman Eurycleia.

The priests were eunuchs, who were called Megabyzi. It was the practice to send to various places for persons worthy of this office, and they were held in high honour. They were obliged to appoint virgins as their colleagues in their priesthood. At present some of their rites and customs are observed, and some are neglected.

The temple was formerly, and is at present, a place of refuge, but the limits of the sanctity of this asylum have been frequently altered; Alexander extended them to the distance of a stadium. Mithridates discharged an arrow from the angle of the roof, and supposed that it fell a little beyond the distance of a stadium. Antonius doubled this distance, and included within the range of the sanctuary a certain portion of the city. This was attended with much evil, as it placed the city in the power of criminals and malefactors. On this account Augustus CÆsar abolished the privilege.

24. The city has an arsenal and a harbour. The entrance of the harbour was made narrow, by order of the king Attalus Philadelphus, who, together with the persons that constructed it, was disappointed at the result. The harbour was formerly shallow, on account of the embankment of earth accumulated by the Caÿster; but the king, supposing that there would be [Pg 14]
[CAS. 641]deep water for the entrance of large vessels of burden, if a mole were thrown up before the mouth of the river, which was very wide, gave orders for the construction of a mole; but the contrary effect took place, for the mud, being confined within the harbour, made the whole of it shallow to the mouth. Before the construction of the mole, the flow and ebb of the sea cleared the mud away entirely, by forcing it outwards.

Such then is the nature of the harbour.

The city, by the advantages which it affords, daily improves, and is the largest mart in Asia within the Taurus.

25. Among illustrious persons in ancient times natives of Ephesus were Heracleitus, surnamed Scoteinus, or the Obscure, and Hermodorus, of whom Heracleitus himself says:

“The Ephesians, youths and all, deserve hanging, for expelling Hermodorus, an honest citizen,61 a citizen distinguished for his virtues, and saying, let there be no such amongst us; if there be, let it be in another place and among other people.”

Hermodorus seems to have compiled laws for the Romans. Hipponax the poet was an Ephesian, and the painters Parrhasius and Apelles.

In more recent times was Alexander the orator, surnamed Lychnus, or the Lamp;62 he was an administrator of state affairs, a writer of history, and left behind him poems which contain a description of the heavenly phenomena and a geographical account of the continents, each of which forms the subject of a distinct poem.

26. Next to the mouth of the Caÿster is a lake called Selinusia, formed by the overflowing of the sea. It is succeeded by another, which communicates with this. They afford a large revenue, of which the kings, although it was sacred, deprived the goddess, but the Romans restored it; then the tax-gatherers seized upon the tribute by force, and converted it to their own use. Artemidorus, who was sent on an embassy to Rome, as he says, recovered possession of the lakes for the goddess, and also of the territory of Heracleotis, which was on the point of separating from Ephesus, by proceeding in a suit at Rome. In return for these services, the city erected in the temple to his honour a statue of gold.

In the most retired part of the lake is a temple of a king, built, it is said, by Agamemnon.

27. Next follows the mountain Gallesius, and Colophon, an Ionian city, in front of which is the grove of Apollo Clarius, where was once an ancient oracle.63 It is said that the prophet Calchas came hither on foot, on his return from Troy with Amphilochus, the son of Amphiaraus, and that meeting at Clarus with a prophet superior to himself, Mopsus, the son of Mantus, the daughter of Teiresias, he died of vexation.

Hesiod relates the fable somewhat in this manner: Calchas propounds to Mopsus something of this kind:

“I am surprised to see how large a quantity of figs there is on this small tree; can you tell the number?”

Mopsus answered:

“There are ten thousand; they will measure a medimnus, and there is one over, which you cannot comprehend.”

Thus he spoke; the number and measure were exact. Then Calchas closed his eyes in the sleep of death.

But Pherecydes says, that Calchas proposed a question respecting a pregnant sow, and asked how many young she had; the other answered, “three, one of which is a sow.” Upon his giving the true answer, Calchas died of vexation. According to others, Calchas propounded the question of the sow, and Mopsus that of the fig-tree; that Mopsus returned the true answer, and that Calchas was mistaken, who died of vexation, according to some oracular prophecy.

Sophocles, in his “Helen Claimed,” says that he was destined by fate to die when he should meet with a prophet superior to himself. But this writer transfers the scene of the rivalry, and of the death of Calchas, to Cilicia.

These are ancient traditions.

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[CAS. 643]

28. The Colophonians once possessed a considerable armament, consisting both of ships and of cavalry. In the latter they were so much superior to other nations, that in any obstinate engagement, on whichever side the Colophonian horse were auxiliaries, they decided it; whence came the proverb, “he put the Colophon to it,” when a person brought any affair to a decisive issue.64

Among some of the remarkable persons born at Colophon were Mimnermus, a flute-player and an elegiac poet; Xenophanes, the natural philosopher, who composed Silli in verse. Pindar mentions one Polymnastus also, a Colophonian, as distinguished for his skill in music:

“Thou knowest the celebrated strains of Polymnastus, the Colophonian:”

and some writers affirm that Homer was of that city. The voyage from Ephesus in a straight line is 70 stadia, and including the winding of the bays, 120.

29. Next to Colophon is the mountain Coracium, and a small island sacred to Artemis, to which it is believed that the hinds swim across to bring forth their young.

Then follows Lebedos,65 distant from Colophon 120 stadia. This is the place of meeting and residence66 of the Dionysiac artists (who travel about) Ionia as far as the Hellespont. In Ionia a general assembly is held, and games are celebrated every year in honour of Bacchus. These artists formerly inhabited Teos,67 a city of the Ionians, next in order after Colophon, but on the breaking out of a sedition they took refuge at Ephesus; and when Attalus settled them at Myonnesus,68 between Teos and Lebedos, the Teians sent a deputation to request the Romans not to permit Myonnesus to be fortified, as it would endanger their safety. They migrated to Lebedos, and the Lebedians were glad to receive them, on account of their own scanty population.

Teos is distant from Lebedos 120 stadia. Between these two places is the island Aspis,69 which some writers call Arconnesus. Myonnesus is situated upon high ground resembling a peninsula.

30. Teos is situated upon a peninsula, and has a port. Anacreon, the lyric poet, was a native of this place; in his time, the Teians, unable to endure the insults and injuries of the Persians, abandoned Teos, and removed to Abdera, whence originated the verse—

Some of them returned in after-times to their own country. We have said that Apellicon was of Teos, and HecatÆus also, the historian.

There is another port to the north, at the distance of 30 stadia from the city, GerrhÆÏdÆ.70

31. Next follows Chalcideis, and the isthmus of the peninsula71 of the Teians and ErythrÆans; the latter inhabit the interior of the isthmus. The Teians and Clazomenians are situated on the isthmus itself. The Teians occupy the southern side of the isthmus, namely, Chalcideis;72 the Clazomenians, the northern side, whence they are contiguous to the ErythrÆan district. At the commencement of the isthmus is Hypocremnus, having on this side the ErythrÆan, and on the other, the Clazomenian territory. Above Chalcideis is a grove, dedicated to Alexander, the son of Philip, and a festival called Alexandreia is proclaimed and celebrated there by the common body of the Ionians.

The passage across the isthmus from the Alexandrine grove and Chalcideis, as far as the Hypocremnus, is 50 stadia (150?). The circuit round by sea is more than 1000 stadia. Somewhere about the middle of the voyage is ErythrÆ,73 an Ionian city, with a port, having in front four small islands, called Hippoi (the Horses).

32. But before we come to ErythrÆ, the first place we meet with is ErÆ,74 a small city belonging to the Teians.

Next is Corycus, a lofty mountain; and below it, Casystes, a port;75 then another, called the port of ErythrÆ, and afterwards many others.

[Pg 18]
[CAS. 644]It is said that the whole sea-coast along the Corycus was the haunt of pirates, who were called CorycÆans, and who had contrived a new mode of attacking vessels. They dispersed themselves among the ports, and went among the merchants who had just arrived, and listened to their conversation respecting the freight of their ships, and the places whither they were bound. The pirates then collected together, attacked the merchants at sea, and plundered the vessels. Hence all inquisitive persons and those who listen to private and secret conversation we call CorycÆans, and say proverbially,

when any one thinks that he has done or said anything not to be divulged, but is betrayed by spies or persons anxious to be informed of what does not concern them.

33. Next to Corycus is Halonnesus, a small island, then the Argennum,76 a promontory of the ErythrÆan territory, situated close to Poseidium, belonging to the Chians, and forming a strait of about 60 stadia in width. Between ErythrÆ and Hypocremnus is Mimas,77 a lofty mountain, abounding with beasts of chase, and well wooded. Then follows Cybelia, a village, and a promontory called MelÆna,78 (or Black,) which has a quarry whence millstones are obtained.

34. ErythrÆ was the native place of the Sibyl, an ancient inspired prophetess. In the time of Alexander there was another Sibyl, who was also a prophetess, whose name was Athenais, a native of the same city; and in our age there was Heracleides the Herophilian physician, a native of ErythrÆ, a fellow-student of Apollonius surnamed Mus.

35. The coasting circumnavigation of Chios is 900 stadia. It has a city79 with a good port, and a station for eighty vessels. In the voyage round the island, a person sailing from the city, with the island on his right hand, first meets with Poseidium,80 then PhanÆ,81 a deep harbour, and a temple of Apollo, and a grove of palm trees; then Notium, a part of the coast affording a shelter for vessels; next LaÏus,82 which is also a place of shelter for vessels; hence to the city is an isthmus of 60 stadia. The circumnavigation is 360 stadia, as I have before described it. Next, the promontory MelÆna,83 opposite to which is Psyra,84 an island distant from the promontory 50 stadia, lofty, with a city of the same name. The island is 40 stadia in circumference. Next is the rugged tract, Ariusia, without harbours, about 30 stadia in extent. It produces the best of the Grecian wines. Then follows PelinÆum,85 the highest mountain in the island. In the island is a marble quarry.

Among illustrious natives of Chios were Ion86 the tragic writer, Theopompus the historian, and Theocritus the sophist. The two latter persons were opposed to each other in the political parties in the state. The Chians claim Homer as a native of their country, alleging as a proof the HomeridÆ, as they are called, descendants from his family, whom Pindar mentions:

“Whence also the HomeridÆ, the chanters of the rhapsodies, most frequently begin their song.”87

The Chians once possessed a naval force, and aspired to the sovereignty of the sea, and to liberty.88

From Chios to Lesbos is a voyage of about 400 stadia, with a south wind.

[Pg 20]
[CAS. 645]36. After the Hypocremnus is Chytrium, a place where ClazomenÆ89 formerly stood; then the present city, having in front eight small islands, the land of which is cultivated by husbandmen.

Anaxagoras, the natural philosopher, was a distinguished Clazomenian; he was a disciple of Anaximenes the Milesian, and master of Archelaus the natural philosopher, and of Euripides the poet.

Next is a temple of Apollo, and hot springs, the bay of Smyrna, and the city Smyrna.

37. Next is another bay, on which is situated the ancient Smyrna, at the distance of 20 stadia from the present city. After Smyrna had been razed by the Lydians, the inhabitants continued for about four hundred years to live in villages. It was then restored by Antigonus, and afterwards by Lysimachus, and at present it is the most beautiful city in Ionia.

One portion of Smyrna is built up on a hill, but the greater part is in the plain near the harbour, the Metroum, and the Gymnasium. The division of the streets is excellent, and as nearly as possible in straight lines. There are paved roads, large quadrangular porticos, both on a level with the ground and with an upper story.

There is also a library, and the Homereium, a quadrangular portico, which has a temple of Homer and a statue. For the SmyrnÆans, above all others, urge the claims of their city to be the birth-place of Homer, and they have a sort of brass money, called Homereium.90

The river Meles flows near the walls. Besides other conveniences with which the city is furnished, there is a close harbour.

There is one, and not a trifling, defect in the work of the architects, that when they paved the roads, they did not make drains beneath them; the filth consequently lies on the surface, and, during rains particularly, the receptacles of the filth spread it over the streets.

It was here that Dolabella besieged and slew Trebonius, one of the murderers of divus CÆsar; he also destroyed many parts of the city.

38. Next to Smyrna is LeucÆ,91 a small city, which Aristonicus caused to revolt, after the death of Attalus, the son of Philometor,92 under pretence of being descended from the royal family, but with the intention of usurping the kingdom. He was, however, defeated in a naval engagement by the Ephesians, near the CumÆan district, and expelled. But he went into the interior of the country, and quickly collected together a multitude of needy people and slaves, who were induced to follow him by the hope of obtaining their freedom, whom he called HeliopolitÆ. He first surprised Thyateira,93 he then got possession of Apollonis, and had an intention of making himself master of other fortresses, but he did not maintain his ground long. The cities sent immediately a large body of troops against him, and were supported by Nicomedes the Bithynian and the kings of Cappadocia. Afterwards five deputies of the Romans came, then an army, and the consul Publius Crassus. These were followed by M. Perperna, who took Aristonicus prisoner, sent him to Rome, and thus put an end to the war. Aristonicus died in prison; Perperna died of some disease, and Crassus fell near LeucÆ, in a skirmish with some people who had attacked him from an ambuscade. Manius Aquillius the consul came afterwards, with ten lieutenants; he regulated the affairs of the province, and established that form of government which continues at present.

After LeucÆ follows PhocÆa,94 situated on a bay. I have mentioned this place in the description of Massalia.95 Then follow the confines of the Ionians and the Æolians. I have already spoken of these.96

In the interior of the Ionian maritime territory there remain to be described the places about the road leading from Ephesus, as far as Antioch97 and the MÆander.

This tract is occupied by a mixed population of Lydians, Carians, and Greeks.

39. The first place after Ephesus is Magnesia, an Æolian city, and called Magnesia on the MÆander, for it is situated near it; but it is still nearer the LethÆus, which discharges itself into the MÆander. It has its source in Pactyes, a mountain in the Ephesian district. There is another LethÆus in [Pg 22]
[CAS. 647]Gortyne, a third near Tricca, where Asclepius is said to have been born, and the fourth among the HesperitÆ Libyans.98

Magnesia lies in a plain, near a mountain called Thorax,99 on which it is said Daphitas the grammarian was crucified, for reviling the kings in a distich—

“O slaves, with backs purpled with stripes, filings of the gold of Lysimachus, you are the kings of Lydia and Phrygia.”

An oracle is said to have warned Daphitas to beware of the Thorax.100

40. The Magnesians appear to be the descendants of Delphians who inhabited the DidymÆan mountains in Thessaly, and of whom Hesiod says,

“or, as the chaste virgin, who inhabits the sacred DidymÆan hills in the plain of Dotium, opposite Amyrus, abounding with vines, and bathes her feet in the lake Boebias—”

At Magnesia also was the temple of Dindymene, the mother of the gods. Her priestess, according to some writers, was the daughter, according to others, the wife, of Themistocles. At present there is no temple, because the city has been transferred to another place. In the present city is the temple of Artemis Leucophryene, which in the size of the nave and in the number of sacred offerings is inferior to the temple at Ephesus; but, in the fine proportion and the skill exhibited in the structure of the enclosure, it greatly surpasses the Ephesian temple; in size it is superior to all the temples in Asia, except that at Ephesus and that at Didymi.

Anciently the Magnetes were utterly extirpated by Treres, a Cimmerian tribe, who for a long period made successful inroads. Subsequently Ephesians got possession of the place.101 Callinus speaks of the Magnetes as still in a flourishing state, and successful in the war against the Ephesians. But Archilochus seems to have been acquainted with the calamities which had befallen them:

whence we may conjecture that Archilochus was posterior to Callinus. Yet Callinus mentions some other earlier inroad of the Cimmerians, when he says—

where he is speaking of the capture of Sardis.

41. Among the illustrious natives of Magnesia were Hegesias the orator, who first introduced the Asiatic fervour, as it was called, and corrupted the established Attic style of eloquence; Simon (Simus?) the lyric poet, who also corrupted the system and plan of former lyric poets, by introducing the Simodia; it was still more corrupted by the Lysiodi and Magodi;102 Cleomachus the pugilist, who was enamoured of a certain cinÆdus, and a female servant, who was maintained by the cinÆdus, imitated the sort of dialect and the manners of the cinÆdi. Sotades was the first person that employed the language of the cinÆdi, and he was followed by Alexander the Ætolian; but these were only prose writers. Lysis added verse, but this had been done before his time by Simus.

The theatres had raised the reputation of Anaxenor, the player on the cithara, but Antony elevated him as high as possible, by appointing him receiver of the tribute from four cities, and by giving him a guard of soldiers for the protection of his person. His native country also augmented his dignity, by investing him with the sacred purple of Jupiter Sosipolis, as is represented in the painted figure in the forum. There is also in the theatre a figure in brass, with this inscription:

[Pg 24]
[CAS. 648]

“It is truly delightful to listen to a minstrel such as he is, whose voice is like that of the gods.”103

The artist who engraved the words was inattentive to the space which they would occupy, and omitted the last letter of the second verse, ?????, (voice,) the breadth of the base not being large enough to allow its insertion; this afforded an occasion of accusing the citizens of ignorance, on account of the ambiguity of the inscription; for it is not clear whether the nominative ????, or the dative ?????, is to be understood, for many persons write the dative cases without the ?, and reject the usage, as not founded on any natural reason.

42. After Magnesia is the road to Tralles;104 travellers have on the left hand Mesogis,105 and on the right hand, and from the road itself, the plain of the MÆander, which is occupied in common by Lydians, Carians, Ionians, Milesians, Mysians, and the Æolians of Magnesia.

The character of the sites of places is the same even as far as Nysa106 and Antioch.

The city of Tralles is built upon ground in the shape somewhat of a trapezium. It has a citadel strongly fortified, and the places around are well defended. It is as well peopled as any of the cities in Asia, and its inhabitants are wealthy; some of them constantly occupy chief stations in the province, and are called Asiarchs. Among the latter was Pythodorus, originally a native of Nysa; but, induced by the celebrity of the place, he migrated hither. He was one of the few friends of Pompey who were fortunate. His wealth was kingly, and consisted of more than two thousand talents, which he redeemed when it was confiscated by divus CÆsar, on account of his attachment to Pompey, and left it undiminished to his children. Pythodoris, who is at present queen in Pontus, and whom we have mentioned before, is his daughter. Pythodorus flourished in our times, and also Menodorus, an eloquent man, and a person of dignified and grave demeanour; he was priest of Jupiter LarisÆus. He was circumvented by the adherents of Domitius Ænobarbus, who, on the credit of informers, put him to death, for attempting, as was supposed, the revolt of his fleet.

Tralles produced also celebrated orators, Dionysocles, and after him Damasus, surnamed Scombrus.

It is said to have been founded by Argives and a body of Tralli Thracians,107 from whom it had its name. It was governed for a short time by tyrants, sons of Cratippus, about the period of the Mithridatic war.

43. Nysa is situated near the Mesogis, resting for the most part against the mountain. It is as it were a double town, for a kind of torrent watercourse divides it into two parts, and forms a valley, one part of which has a bridge over it, connecting the two towns; the other is adorned with an amphitheatre; underneath it is a passage through which the waters of the torrents flow out of sight.

Near the theatre are situated108 two heights; below one lies the gymnasium for the young men; below the other is the forum, and a place of exercise for older persons. To the south below the city lies the plain, as at Tralles.

44. On the road between Tralles and Nysa is a village of the NysÆans, not far from the city Acharaca, in which is the Plutonium, to which is attached a large grove, a temple of Pluto and Proserpine, and the Charonium, a cave which overhangs the grove, and possesses some singular physical properties. The sick, it is said, who have confidence in the cures performed by these deities, resort thither, and live in the village near the cave, among experienced priests, who sleep at night in the open air, on behoof of the sick, and direct the modes of cure by their dreams. The priests invoke the gods to cure the sick, and frequently take them into the cave, where, as in a den, they are placed to remain in quiet without food for several days. Sometimes the sick themselves observe their own dreams, but apply to these persons, in their character of priests and guardians of the mysteries, to interpret them, and to counsel what is to be done. To others the place is interdicted and fatal.

An annual festival, to which there is a general resort, is celebrated at Acharaca, and at that time particularly are to be [Pg 26]
[CAS. 650]seen and heard those who frequent it, conversing about cures performed there.109 During this feast the young men of the gymnasium and the ephebi, naked and anointed with oil,110 carry off a bull by stealth at midnight, and hurry it away into the cave. It is then let loose, and after proceeding a short distance falls down and expires.

45. Thirty stadia from Nysa, as you cross the Mesogis towards the southern parts of Mount Tmolus,111 is a place called Leimon, or the Meadow, to which the NysÆans and all the people around repair when they celebrate a festival. Not far from this plain is an aperture in the ground, sacred to the same deities, which aperture is said to extend as far as Acharaca. They say that the poet mentions this meadow, in the words,

and they show a temple dedicated to two heroes, Caÿstrius and Asius, and the Caÿster flowing near it.

46. Historians relate that three brothers, Athymbrus, Athymbradus, and Hydrelus, coming hither from LacedÆmon, founded (three?) cities, to which they gave their own names; that the population of these towns afterwards declined, but that out of these jointly Nysa was peopled. The NysÆans at present regard Athymbrus as their founder.

47. Beyond the MÆander and in the neighbourhood are considerable settlements, Coscinia113 and Orthosia, and on this side the river, Briula, Mastaura,114 Acharaca, and above the city on the mountain, Aroma; the letter o is shortened in the pronunciation. From this latter place is obtained the Aromeus, the best Mesogitian wine.

48. Among illustrious natives of Nysa were Apollonius the Stoic philosopher, the most eminent of the disciples of PanÆtius, and of Menecrates, the disciple of Aristarchus; Aristodemus, the son of Menecrates, whom, when I was a very young man, I heard lecturing on philosophy, in extreme old age, at Nysa; Sostratus, the brother of Aristodemus, and another Aristodemus, his cousin, the master of Pompey the Great, were distinguished grammarians. My master taught rhetoric also at Rhodes, and in his own country he had two schools; in the morning he taught rhetoric, in the evening grammar. When he superintended the education of the children of Pompey at Rome, he was satisfied with teaching a school of grammar.

CHAPTER II.

1. The places beyond the MÆander, which remain to be described, belong to the Carians. The Carians here are not intermixed with Lydians, but occupy the whole country by themselves, if we except a small portion of the sea-coast, of which the Milesians and Mysians have taken possession.

Caria115 begins on the sea-coast opposite to Rhodes, and ends at Poseidium,116 belonging to the Milesians. In the interior are the extremities of Taurus, which extend as far as the MÆander. For the mountains situated above the Chelidonian islands,117 as they are called, which lie in front of the confines of Pamphylia and Lycia, are, it is said, the beginning of the Taurus; for the Taurus has there some elevation, and indeed a mountainous ridge of Taurus separates the whole of Lycia towards the exterior and the southern part from Cibyra and its district, as far as the country opposite to Rhodes. Even there a mountainous tract is continued; it is, however, much lower in height, and is not considered as any longer belonging to Taurus, nor is there the distinction of parts lying within and parts lying without the Taurus, on account of the eminences and depressions being scattered about through the whole country both in breadth and length, and not presenting anything like a separation-wall.

The whole voyage along the coast, including the winding [Pg 28]
[CAS. 651]of the bays, is 4900 stadia, and that along the country opposite to Rhodus 1500 stadia.

2. The beginning of this tract is DÆdala,118 a stronghold; and ends at the mountain Phoenix,119 as it is called, both of which belong to the Rhodian territory. In front, at the distance of 120 stadia from Rhodes, lies Eleussa.120 In sailing from DÆdala towards the west in a straight line along Cilicia, Pamphylia, and Lycia, in the midway is a bay called Glaucus, with good harbours; then is the promontory Artemisium, and a temple; next, the grove sacred to Latona; above this, and at the distance of 60 stadia, is Calynda, a city; then Caunus,121 and a deep river near it, the Calbis,122 which may be entered by vessels; between these is Pisilis.

3. The city Caunus has a naval arsenal and a close harbour. Above the city upon a height is Imbrus, a stronghold. Although the country is fertile, yet the city is allowed by all to be unhealthy in summer, on account of the heat, and in autumn, from the abundance of fruits.

Stories of the following kind are related respecting the city. Stratonicus, the player on the cithara, seeing the Caunians somewhat dark and yellow,123 said that this was what the poet meant in the line,

When he was accused of ridiculing the unhealthiness of the city, he answered, “Can I be so bold as to call that city unhealthy, where even the dead walk about?”

The Caunians once revolted from the Rhodians, but, by a decision of the Romans, they were received again by the Rhodians into favour. There is in existence an oration of Molo against the Caunians.

It is said that they speak the same language as the Carians, that they came from Crete, and retained their own laws and customs.1254. Next is Physcus,126 a small town; it has a port and a grove sacred to Latona: then Loryma, a rugged line of sea-coast, and a mountain, the highest of any in that quarter, on the summit of which is Phoenix, a stronghold, of the same name as the mountain. In front is the island Eleussa, at the distance of 4 stadia. Its circumference is about 8 stadia.

5. The city of the Rhodians is on the eastern promontory. With regard to harbours, roads, walls, and other buildings, it so much surpasses other cities, that we know of none equal, much less superior to it.

Their political constitution and laws were excellent, and the care admirable with which they administered affairs of state generally, and particularly those relative to their marine. Hence being for a long period masters of the sea, they put an end to piracy, and became allies of the Romans, and of those kings who were well affected to the Romans and the Greeks; hence also the city was suffered to preserve her independence, and was embellished with many votive offerings. These are distributed in various places, but the greatest part of them are deposited in the Dionysium and in the gymnasium. The most remarkable is the Colossus of the Sun, which, the author of the iambics says, was

It now lies on the ground, having been thrown down by an earthquake, and is broken off at the knees. An oracle prohibited its being raised again. This is the most remarkable of the votive offerings, and it is allowed to be one of the seven wonders of the world.127 There were also the pictures by Protogenes,128 the Ialysus, and the Satyr, who was represented [Pg 30]
[CAS. 652]standing by a pillar. On the top of the pillar was a partridge. The bird strongly attracted, as was natural, the gaping admiration of the people, when the picture was first hung up in public, and they were so much delighted, that the Satyr, although executed with great skill, was not noticed. The partridge-breeders were still more struck with the picture of the bird. They brought tame partridges, which, when placed opposite to the picture, made their call, and drew together crowds of people. When Protogenes observed that the principal had become the subordinate part of his work, he obtained permission of the curators of the temple to efface the bird, which he did.

The Rhodians, although their form of government is not democratic, are attentive to the welfare of the people, and endeavour to maintain the multitude of poor. The people receive allowances of corn, and the rich support the needy, according to an ancient usage. There are also public offices in the state, the object of which is to procure and distribute provisions,129 so that the poor may obtain subsistence, and the city not suffer for want of persons to serve her, especially in manning her fleets.

Some of the dockyards are kept private, and the multitude are prohibited from seeing them. If any person should be found inspecting, or to have entered them, he would be punished with death. As at Massalia and Cyzicus,130 so here particularly, everything relating to architects, the manufacture of engines, stores of arms, and of other materials, is administered with peculiar care, much more so than in other places.

6. Like the people of Halicarnassus,131 Cnidus, and Cos, the Rhodians are of Doric origin. Some of the Dorians, who founded Megara after the death of Codrus, remained there; others associated themselves with the colony which went to Crete under the conduct of AlthÆmenes the Argive; the rest were distributed at Rhodus, and among the cities just mentioned.

But these migrations are more recent than the events related by Homer. For Cnidus and Halicarnassus were not then in existence. Rhodes and Cos existed, but were inhabited by HeracleidÆ. Tlepolemus, when he attained manhood,

“slew the maternal uncle of his father, the aged Licymnius. He immediately built ships, and, collecting a large body of people, fled away with them:”132

and adds afterwards—

“after many sufferings on the voyage, he came to Rhodes; they settled there according to their tribes, in three bodies:”

and mentions by name the cities then existing133—

the city of the Rhodians not being yet founded.

Homer does not here mention Dorians by name, but means Æolians and Boeotians, since Hercules and Licymnius lived in Boeotia. If however, as others relate, Tlepolemus set out from Argos and Tiryns, even so the colony would not be Dorian, for it was settled before the return of the HeracleidÆ.

And of the Coans also Homer says—

“their leaders were Pheidippus and Antiphus, two sons of Thessalus the King, an Heracleid;”134

and these names designate rather an Æolian than a Dorian origin.

7. Rhodes was formerly called Ophiussa and Stadia, then Telchinis, from the Telchines, who inhabited the island.135

These Telchines are called by some writers charmers and enchanters, who besprinkle animals and plants, with a view to destroy them, with the water of the Styx, mingled with sulphur. Others on the contrary say, that they were persons who excelled in certain mechanical arts, and that they were calumniated by jealous rivals, and thus acquired a bad reputation; that they came from Crete, and first landed at Cyprus, and then removed to Rhodes. They were the first workers in iron and brass, and were the makers of Saturn’s scythe.

I have spoken of them before, but the variety of fables [CAS. 654] which are related of them induces me to resume their history, and to supply what may have been omitted.

8. After the Telchines, the HeliadÆ136 were said, according to fabulous accounts, to have occupied the island. One of these HeliadÆ, Cercaphus, and his wife Cydippe had children, who founded the cities called after their names—

Others say, that Tlepolemus founded them, and gave to them the names of some of the daughters of DanaÜs.

9. The present city was built during the Peloponnesian war, by the same architect,138 it is said, who built the PirÆus. The PirÆus, however, does not continue to exist, having formerly sustained injuries from the LacedÆmonians, who threw down the walls, and then from Sylla, the Roman general.

10. It is related of the Rhodians that their maritime affairs were in a flourishing state, not only from the time of the foundation of the present city, but that many years before the institution of the Olympic festival, they sailed to a great distance from their own country for the protection of sailors. They sailed as far as Spain, and there founded Rhodus, which the people of Marseilles afterwards occupied; they founded Parthenope139 among the Opici, and ElpiÆ in Daunia, with the assistance of Coans. Some authors relate, that after their return from Troy they colonized the Gymnasian islands. According to TimÆus, the greater of these islands is the largest known,140 next the seven following, Sardinia, Sicily, Cyprus, Crete, Euboea,141 Corsica, and Lesbos; but this is a mistake, for these others are much larger. It is said, that gymnetes (or light-armed soldiers142) are called by the Phoenicians balearides, and that from hence the Gymnasian islands were called Balearides.

Some of the Rhodians settled in the neighbourhood of Sybaris, in the Chonian territory.143 Homer seems to bear evidence of the former prosperity of the Rhodians, from the very foundation of the three cities;

“they settled according to their tribes, in three companies, and were the favourites of Jupiter, who showered upon them great wealth.”144

Other writers have applied these verses to a fable, according to which, at the birth of Minerva, it rained gold on the island from the head of Jupiter, as Pindar has said.145

The island is 920 stadia in circumference.

11. In sailing from the city, and leaving the island on the right hand, the first place we meet with is Lindus,146 a city situated on a mountain extending far towards the south, and particularly towards Alexandreia (in Egypt).147 There is here a celebrated temple of the Lindian Diana, built by the Danaides. Formerly, the Lindians, like the inhabitants of Cameirus,148 and Ialyssus, formed an independent state, but afterwards they all settled at Rhodes.

Cleobulus, one of the seven wise men, was a native of Lindus.

12. Next to Lindus is Ixia,149 a stronghold, and Mnasyrium; then the Atabyris,150 the highest mountain in the island, sacred to Jupiter Atabyrius; then Cameirus; then Ialysus a village, and above it is an acropolis called Ochyroma (the Fortification); then, at the distance of about 80 stadia, the city of the Rhodians. Between these is the Thoantium, a sort of beach, immediately in front of which are situated the Sporades islands lying about Chalcis, which we have mentioned before.151

13. There have been many remarkable persons, natives of Rhodes, both generals and athletÆ, among whom were the ancestors of PanÆtius the philosopher. Among statesmen, orators, and philosophers, were PanÆtius, Stratocles, Andronicus the Peripatetic, Leonides the Stoic, and long before the time of these persons, Praxiphanes, Hieronymus, and Eudemus. Poseidonius was concerned in the administration of the affairs of state, and taught philosophy at Rhodes, (but he was a native of Apameia in Syria,) as did Apollonius Malacus, and [Pg 34]
[CAS. 655]Molon, who were natives of Alabanda, and disciples of Menecles the rhetorician. Apollonius had resided at Rhodes long before, but Molon came late; whence the former said to him “late comer,” ??? ????, instead of ?????.152 Peisander, a Rhodian poet, author of the Heracleia; Simmias the grammarian, and Aristocles, of our time. Dionysius the Thracian, and Apollonius, author of the Argonautics, although natives of Alexandreia, were called Rhodians.

This is sufficient on the subject of the island of Rhodes.

14. There is a bend of the Carian coast opposite to Rhodes, immediately after Eleus153 and Loryma, towards the north, and then the ship’s course is in a straight line to the Propontis,154 and forms as it were a meridian line of about 500 stadia in length, or somewhat less. Along this line are situated the remainder of Caria, Ionians, Æolians, Troy, and the parts about Cyzicus and Byzantium. Next to Loryma is the Cynossema, or dogs’ monument,155 and the island Syme.156

15. Then follows Cnidus,157 which has two harbours, one of which is a close harbour, fit for receiving triremes, and a naval station for 20 vessels. In front of Cnidus is an island, in circumference about 7 stadia; it rises high, in the form of a theatre, and is united by a mole to the continent, and almost makes Cnidus a double city, for a great part of the inhabitants occupy the island, which shelters both harbours. Opposite to it, far out at sea, is Nisyrus.158

Illustrious natives of Cnidus were, first, Eudoxus the mathematician, a disciple of Plato’s; Agatharchides, the Peripatetic philosopher and historian; Theopompus, one of the most powerful of the friends of divus CÆsar, and his son Artemidorus. Ctesias also, the physician of Artaxerxes, was a native of this place. He wrote a history of Assyria and Persia.

Next after Cnidus are Ceramus159 and Bargasa, small towns overlooking the sea.

16. Then follows Halicarnasus, formerly called Zephyra, the royal seat of the dynasts of Caria. Here is the sepulchre of Mausolus, one of the seven wonders of the world;160 Artemisia erected it, in honour of her husband. Here also is the fountain Salmacis, which has a bad repute, for what reason I know not, for making those who drink of it effeminate. Mankind, enervated by luxury, impute the blame of its effects to different kinds of air and water, but these are not the causes of luxury, but riches and intemperance.

There is an acropolis at Halicarnasus. In front of it lies Arconnesus.161 It had, among others, as its founders, Anthes and a body of Troezenians.162

Among the natives of Halicarnasus were Herodotus the historian, who was afterwards called Thurius, because he was concerned in sending out the colony to Thurii; Heracleitus the poet, the friend of Callimachus; and in our time, Dionysius the historian.

17. Halicarnasus suffered, when it was taken by storm by Alexander. Hecatomnus, who was then king of the Carians, had three sons, Mausolus, Hidrieus, and Pixodarus, and two daughters. Mausolus, the eldest son, married Artemisia, the eldest daughter; Hidrieus, the second son, married Ada, the other sister. Mausolus came to the throne, and, dying without children, left the kingdom to his wife, by whom the above-mentioned sepulchre was erected. She pined away for grief at the loss of her husband. Hidrieus succeeded her; he died a natural death, and was succeeded by his wife Ada. She was ejected by Pixodarus, the surviving son of Hecatomnus. Having espoused the party of the Persians, Pixodarus sent for a satrap to share the kingdom with him. After the death of Pixodarus, the satrap became master of Halicarnasus. But upon the arrival of Alexander, he sustained a siege. His wife was Ada, daughter of Pixodarus, and AphneÏs, a woman of Cappadocia. But Ada, the daughter of Hecatomnus, whom Pixodarus ejected, entreated Alexander, and endeavoured to prevail upon him to reÏnstate her in the kingdom of which she had been deprived; she promised (in return) her assistance in reducing to obedience the parts of the country which had revolted; for the persons who were in possession of them [Pg 36]
[CAS. 657]were her relations and subjects. She also delivered up Alinda where she herself resided. Alexander granted her request and proclaimed her queen, after the city was taken, but not the acropolis, which was doubly fortified. He assigned to Ada the siege of the acropolis, which was taken in a short time afterwards, the besiegers having attacked it with fury and exasperation at the resistance of the besieged.

18. Next is Termerium,163 a promontory of the Myndians, opposite to which lies Scandaria, a promontory of Cos, distant 40 stadia from the continent. There is also above the promontory a fortress, Termerum.

19. The city of the Coans was formerly called AstypalÆa, and was built in another place, but is at present on the sea-coast. Afterwards, on account of a sedition, they migrated to the present city, near Scandarium, and changed the name to that of the island, Cos. The city is not large, but beautifully built, and a most pleasing sight to mariners who are sailing by the coast. The island is about 550 stadia in circumference. The whole of it is fertile, and produces, like Chios and Lesbos, excellent wine. It has, towards the south, the promontory Laceter,164 from which to Nicyrus is 60 stadia, and near Laceter is Halisarna, a stronghold; on the west is Drecanum, and a village called Stomalimne. Drecanum is distant about 200 stadia from the city. The promontory Laceter adds to the length of the navigation 35 stadia. In the suburb is the celebrated temple Asclepieium, full of votive offerings, among which is the Antigonus of Apelles. It formerly contained the Venus Anadyomene, (Venus emerging from the sea,) but that is now at Rome, dedicated to divus CÆsar by Augustus, who consecrated to his father the picture of her who was the author of his family. It is said that the Coans obtained, as a compensation for the loss of this painting, an abatement, amounting to a hundred talents, of their usual tribute.

It is said, that Hippocrates learned and practised the dietetic part of medicine from the narrative of cures suspended in the temple. He is one of the illustrious natives of Cos. Simus, also, the physician, Philetas the poet and critic, Nicias of our time, who was tyrant of Cos; Ariston, the disciple and heir of Ariston the Peripatetic philosopher; and Theomnestus, a minstrel of name, who was of the opposite political party to Nicias.20. On the coast of the continent opposite to the Myndian territory is AstypalÆa a promontory, and Zephyrium. The city Myndus follows immediately after, which has a harbour; then the city Bargylia. In the intervening distance is Caryanda165 a harbour, and an island of the same name, occupied by Caryandians. Scylax the ancient historian was a native of this island. Near Bargylia is the temple of Artemis Cindyas, round which the rain falls, it is believed, without touching it. There was once a strong place called Cindya.

Among the distinguished natives of Bargylia was Protarchus the Epicurean; Demetrius surnamed Lacon was his disciple.

21. Next follows Iasus, situated upon an island,166 on the side towards the continent. It has a port, and the inhabitants derive the greatest part of their subsistence from the sea, which abounds with fish, but the soil is very barren. Stories of the following kind are related of Iasus.

As a player on the cithara was displaying his art in public, every one listened to him attentively till the market bell rung for the sale of fish, when he was deserted by all except one man, who was quite deaf. The minstrel coming up to him said, “Friend, I am much obliged to you for the honour you have done me, and I admire your love of music, for all the others have left me at the sound of the bell.”—“What say you, has the bell rung?”—“Yes, he replied?”—“Good bye to you,” said the man, and away he also went.

Diodorus the Dialectician was a native of this place. He was surnamed Cronus (or Old Time); the title was not properly his from the first; it was his master Apollonius who (in the first instance) had received the surname of Cronus, but it was transferred to Diodorus on account of the want of celebrity in the true Cronus.

22. Next to Iasus is Cape Poseidium167 of the Milesians. In the interior are three considerable cities, Mylasa,168 Stratoniceia,169 and Alabanda.170 The others are guard forts to these or to the maritime towns, as Amyzon, Heracleia, Euromus, Chalcetor. But we make little account of these.

23. Mylasa is situated in a very fertile plain; a mountain, containing a very beautiful marble quarry, overhangs the city; and it is no small advantage to have stone for building [Pg 38]
[CAS. 659]in abundance and near at hand, particularly for the construction of temples and other public edifices; consequently, no city is embellished more beautifully than this with portico and temples. It is a subject of surprise, however, that persons should be guilty of the absurdity of building the city at the foot of a perpendicular and lofty precipice. One of the governors of the province is reported to have said, when he expressed his astonishment at this circumstance, “If the founder of the city had no fear, he had no shame.”

The Mylasians have two temples, one of Jupiter called Osogo, and another of Jupiter Labrandenus. The former is in the city. Labranda is a village on the mountain, near the passage across it from Alabanda to Mylasa, at a distance from the city. At Labranda is an ancient temple of Jupiter, and a statue of Jupiter Stratius, who is worshipped by the neighbouring people and by the inhabitants of Mylasa. There is a paved road for a distance of about 60 stadia from the temple to the city; it is called the Sacred Way, along which the sacred things are carried in procession. The most distinguished citizens are always the priests, and hold office during life. These temples belong peculiarly to the city. There is a third temple of the Carian Jupiter, common to all the Carians, in the use of which the Lydians, also, and Mysians participate, as being brethren.

Mylasa is said to have been anciently a village, but the native place and royal residence of Hecatomnus and the Carians. The city approaches nearest to the sea at Physcus, which is their naval arsenal.

24. Mylasa has produced in our time illustrious men, who were at once orators and demagogues, Euthydemus and Hybreas. Euthydemus inherited from his ancestors great wealth and reputation. He possessed commanding eloquence, and was regarded as a person of eminence, not only in his own country, but was thought worthy of the highest honours even in Asia. The father of Hybreas, as he used to relate the circumstance in his school, and as it was confirmed by his fellow-citizens, left him a mule which carried wood, and a mule driver. He was maintained for a short time by their labour, and was enabled to attend the lectures of Diotrephes of Antioch. On his return he held the office of superintendent of the market. But here being harassed, and gaining but little profit, he applied himself to the affairs of the state, and to attend to the business of the forum. He quickly advanced himself and became an object of admiration, even during the lifetime of Euthydemus, and still more after his death, as the leading person in the city. Euthydemus possessed great power, and used it for the benefit of the city, so that if some of his acts were rather tyrannical, this character was lost in their public utility.

The saying of Hybreas, at the conclusion of an harangue to the people, is applauded: “Euthydemus, you are an evil necessary to the city; for we can live neither with thee nor without thee.”171

Hybreas, although he had acquired great power, and had the reputation of being both a good citizen and an excellent orator, was defeated in his political opposition to Labienus. For the citizens, unarmed, and disposed to peace, surrendered to Labienus, who attacked them with a body of troops and with Parthian auxiliaries, the Parthians being at that time masters of Asia. But Zeno of Laodiceia and Hybreas, both of them orators, did not surrender, but caused their own cities to revolt. Hybreas provoked Labienus, an irritable and vain young man, by saying, when the youth announced himself emperor of the Parthians, “Then I shall call myself emperor of the Carians.” Upon this Labienus marched against the city, having with him cohorts drafted from the Roman soldiery stationed in Asia. He did not however take Hybreas prisoner, who had retreated to Rhodes, but plundered and destroyed his house, which contained costly furniture, and treated the whole city in the same manner. After Labienus had left Asia, Hybreas returned, and restored his own affairs and those of the city to their former state.

This then on the subject of Mylasa.

25. Stratoniceia is a colony of Macedonians. It was embellished by the kings with costly edifices. In the district of the Stratoniceians are two temples. The most celebrated, that of Hecate, is at Lagina, where every year great multitudes assemble at a great festival. Near the city is the temple of Jupiter Chrysaoreus,172 which is common to all the Carians, and whither they repair to offer sacrifice, and to deliberate on their common interests. They call this meeting the Chrysaoreon, [Cas. 660] which is composed of villages. Those who represent the greatest number of villages have the precedency in voting, like the CeramietÆ. The Stratoniceians, although they are not of Carian race, have a place in this assembly, because they possess villages included in the Chrysaoric body.

In the time of our ancestors there flourished at Stratoniceia a distinguished person, Menippus the orator, surnamed Catocas, whom Cicero173 commends in one of his writings above all the Asiatic orators whom he had heard, comparing him to Xenocles, and to those who flourished at that time.

There is another Stratoniceia, called Stratoniceia at the Taurus, a small town adjacent to the mountain.

26. Alabanda lies at the foot of two eminences, in such a manner as to present the appearance of an ass with panniers. On this account Apollonius Malacus ridicules the city, and also because it abounds with scorpions; he says, it was an ass, with panniers full of scorpions.

This city and Mylasa, and the whole mountainous tract between them, swarm with these reptiles.

The inhabitants of Alabanda are addicted to luxury and debauchery. It contains a great number of singing girls.

Natives of Alabanda, distinguished persons, were two orators, brothers, Menecles, whom we mentioned a little above, and Hierocles, Apollonius, and Molo; the two latter afterwards went to Rhodes.

27. Among the various accounts which are circulated respecting the Carians, the most generally received is that the Carians, then called Leleges, were governed by Minos, and occupied the islands. Then removing to the continent, they obtained possession of a large tract of sea-coast and of the interior, by driving out the former occupiers, who were, for the most part, Leleges and Pelasgi. The Greeks again, Ionians and Dorians, deprived the Carians of a portion of the country.

As proofs of their eager pursuit of war, the handles of shields, badges, and crests, all of which are called Carian, are alleged. Anacreon says,

and AlcÆus—

28. But when Homer uses these expressions, “Masthles commanded the Carians, who speak a barbarous language,”174 it does not appear why, when he was acquainted with so many barbarous nations, he mentions the Carians alone as using a barbarous language, but does not call any people Barbarians. Nor is Thucydides right, who says that none were called Barbarians, because as yet the Greeks were not distinguished by any one name as opposed to some other. But Homer himself refutes this position that the Greeks were not distinguished by this name:

and in another place—

But if there was no such term as Barbarian, how could he properly speak of people as Barbarophonoi (i. e. speaking a barbarous language)?

Neither is Thucydides nor Apollonius the grammarian right, because the Greeks, and particularly the Ionians, applied to the Carians a common term in a peculiar and vituperative sense, in consequence of their hatred of them for their animosity and continual hostile incursions. Under these circumstances he might call them Barbarians. But we ask, why does he call them Barbarophonoi, but not once Barbarians? Because, replies Apollonius, the plural number does not fall in with the metre; this is the reason why Homer does not call them Barbarians. Admitting then that the genitive case (a?????) does not fall in with the measure of the verse, the nominative case (??a???) does not differ from that of Dardani (???da???);

and of the same kind is the word TroÏi177 in this verse,

Nor is the reason to be found in the alleged excessive harshness of the Carian language, for it is not extremely harsh; and besides, according to Philippus, the author of a history of Caria, their language contains a very large mixture of Greek words.[Cas. 661] I suppose that the word “barbarian” was at first invented to designate a mode of pronunciation which was embarrassed, harsh, and rough; as we use the words battarizein, traulizein, psellizein,178 to express the same thing. For we are naturally very much disposed to denote certain sounds by names expressive of those sounds, and characteristic of their nature; and hence invented terms abound, expressive of the sounds which they designate, as kelaryzein, clange, psophos, boe, krotos,179 most of which words are at present used in an appropriate sense.

As those who pronounce their words with a thick enunciation are called Barbarians, so foreigners, I mean those who were not Greeks, were observed to pronounce their words in this manner. The term Barbarians was therefore applied peculiarly to these people, at first by way of reproach, as having a thick and harsh enunciation; afterwards the term was used improperly, and applied as a common gentile term in contradistinction to the Greeks. For after a long intimacy and intercourse had subsisted with the Barbarians, it no longer appeared that this peculiarity arose from any thickness of enunciation, or a natural defect in the organs of the voice, but from the peculiarities of their languages.

But there was in our language a bad and what might be called a barbarous utterance, as when any person speaking Greek should not pronounce it correctly, but should pronounce the words like the Barbarians, who, when beginning to learn the Greek language, are not able to pronounce it perfectly, as neither are we able to pronounce perfectly their languages.

This was peculiarly the case with the Carians. For other nations had not much intercourse with the Greeks, nor were disposed to adopt the Grecian manner of life, nor to learn our language, with the exception of persons who by accident and singly had associated with a few Greeks; but the Carians were dispersed over the whole of Greece, as mercenary soldiers. Then the barbarous pronunciation was frequently met with among them, from their military expeditions into Greece; and afterwards it spread much more, from the time that they occupied the islands together with the Greeks: not even when driven thence into Asia, could they live apart from Greeks, when the Ionians and Dorians arrived there.

Hence arose the expression, “to barbarize,” for we are accustomed to apply this term to those whose pronunciation of the Greek language is vicious, and not to those who pronounce it like the Carians.

We are then to understand the expressions, “barbarous speaking” and “barbarous speakers,” of persons whose pronunciation of the Greek language is faulty. The word “to barbarize” was formed after the word “to Carize,” and transferred into the books which teach the Greek language; thus also the word “to soloecize” was formed, derived either from Soli or some other source.

29. Artemidorus says that the journey from Physcus, on the coast opposite to Rhodes, towards Ephesus, as far as Lagina is 850 stadia; thence to Alabanda 250 stadia; to Tralles 160. About halfway on the road to Tralles the MÆander is crossed, and here are the boundaries of Caria. The whole number of stadia from Physcus to the MÆander, along the road to Ephesus, is 1180 stadia. Again, along the same road, from the MÆander of Ionia to Tralles 80 stadia, to Magnesia 140 stadia, to Ephesus 120, to Smyrna 320, to PhocÆa and the boundaries of Ionia, less than 200 stadia; so that the length of Ionia in a straight line would be, according to Artemidorus, a little more than 800 stadia.

But as there is a public frequented road by which all travellers pass on their way from Ephesus to the east, Artemidorus thus describes it. [From Ephesus] to Carura, the boundary of Caria towards Phrygia, through Magnesia and Tralles, Nysa, Antioch, is a journey of 740 stadia. From Carura, the first town in Phrygia, through Laodiceia, Apameia, Metropolis, and ChelidoniÆ,180 to Holmi, the beginning of the Paroreius, a country lying at the foot of the mountains, about 920 stadia; to TyriÆum,181 the termination towards Lycaonia of the Paroreius,182 through Philomelium183 is little more than 500 stadia. Next is Lycaonia as far as Coropassus,184 through Laodiceia in the Catacecaumene, 840 stadia; from Coropassus [Cas. 662] in Lycaonia to GarsaÜra,185 a small city of Cappadocia, situated on its borders, 120 stadia; thence to Mazaca,186 the metropolis of the Cappadocians, through Soandus and Sadacora, 680 stadia; thence to the Euphrates, as far as Tomisa, a stronghold in Sophene, through HerphÆ,187 a small town, 1440 stadia.

The places in a straight line with these, as far as India, are described in the same manner by Artemidorus and Eratosthenes. Polybius says, that with respect to those places we ought chiefly to depend upon Artemidorus. He begins from Samosata in Commagene, which is situated at the passage, and the Zeugma of the Euphrates, to Samosata across the Taurus, from the mountains of Cappadocia about Tomisa, he says is a distance of 450 stadia.

CHAPTER III.

1. After the part of the coast opposite188 to Rhodes, the boundary of which is DÆdala, in sailing thence towards the east, we come to Lycia, which extends to Pamphylia; next is Pamphylia, extending as far as Cilicia Tracheia, which reaches as far as the Cilicians, situated about the Bay of Issus. These are parts of the peninsula, the isthmus of which we said was the road from Issus as far as Amisus,189 or, according to some authors, to Sinope.The country beyond the Taurus consists of the narrow line of sea-coast extending from Lycia to the places about Soli, the present Pompeiopolis. Then the sea-coast near the Bay of Issus, beginning from Soli and Tarsus, spreads out into plains.

The description of this coast will complete the account of the whole peninsula. We shall then pass to the rest of Asia without the Taurus, and lastly we shall describe Africa.

2. After DÆdala of the Rhodians there is a mountain of Lycia, of the same name, DÆdala, and here the whole Lycian coast begins, and extends 1720 stadia. This maritime tract is rugged, and difficult to be approached, but has very good harbours, and is inhabited by a people who are not inclined to acts of violence. The country is similar in nature to that of Pamphylia and Cilicia Tracheia. But the former used the places of shelter for vessels for piratical purposes themselves, or afforded to pirates a market for their plunder and stations for their vessels.

At Side,190 a city of Pamphylia, the Cilicians had places for building ships. They sold their prisoners, whom they admitted were freemen, by notice through the public crier.

But the Lycians continued to live as good citizens, and with so much restraint upon themselves, that although the Pamphylians had succeeded in obtaining the sovereignty of the sea as far as Italy, yet they were never influenced by the desire of base gain, and persevered in administering the affairs of the state according to the laws of the Lycian body.

3. There are three and twenty cities in this body, which have votes. They assemble from each city at a general congress, and select what city they please for their place of meeting. Each of the largest cities commands three votes, those of intermediate importance two, and the rest one vote. They contribute in the same proportion to taxes and other public charges. The six largest cities, according to Artemidorus, are Xanthus,191 Patara,192 Pinara,193 Olympus, Myra, Tlos,194 which is situated at the pass of the mountain leading to Cibyra.

At the congress a lyciarch is first elected, then the other officers of the body. Public tribunals are also appointed for [Cas. 665] the administration of justice. Formerly they deliberated about war and peace, and alliances, but this is not now permitted, as these things are under the control of the Romans. It is only done by their consent, or when it may be for their own advantage.

Thus judges and magistrates are elected according to the proportion of the number of votes belonging to each city.195 It was the fortune of these people, who lived under such an excellent government, to retain their liberty under the Romans, and the laws and institutions of their ancestors; to see also the entire extirpation of the pirates, first by Servilius Isauricus, at the time that he demolished Isaura, and afterwards by Pompey the Great, who burnt more than 1300 vessels, and destroyed their haunts and retreats. Of the survivors in these contests he transferred some to Soli, which he called Pompeiopolis; others to Dyme, which had a deficient population, and is now occupied by a Roman colony.

The poets, however, particularly the tragic poets, confound nations together; for instance, Trojans, Mysians, and Lydians, whom they call Phrygians, and give the name of Lycians to Carians.

4. After DÆdala is a Lycian mountain, and near it is Telmessus,196 a small town of the Lycians, and Telmessis, a promontory with a harbour. Eumenes took this place from the Romans in the war with Antiochus, but after the dissolution of the kingdom of Pergamus, the Lycians recovered it again.

5. Then follows Anticragus, a precipitous mountain, on which is Carmylessus,197 a fortress situated in a gorge; next is Mount Cragus, with eight peaks,198 and a city of the same name. The neighbourhood of these mountains is the scene of the fable of the ChimÆra; and at no great distance is ChimÆra, a sort of ravine, extending upwards from the shore. Below the Cragus in the interior is Pinara, which is one of the largest cities of Lycia. Here Pandarus is worshipped, of the same name perhaps as the Trojan Pandarus;

for this Pandarus, it is said, came from Lycia.

6. Next is the river Xanthus, formerly called Sirbis.200 In sailing up it in vessels which ply as tenders, to the distance of 10 stadia, we come to the Letoum, and proceeding 60 stadia beyond the temple, we find the city of the Xanthians, the largest in Lycia. After the Xanthus follows Patara, which is also a large city with a harbour, and containing a temple of Apollo. Its founder was Patarus. When Ptolemy Philadelphus repaired it, he called it the Lycian ArsinoË, but the old name prevailed.

7. Next is Myra, at the distance of 20 stadia from the sea, situated upon a lofty hill; then the mouth of the river Limyrus, and on ascending from it by land 20 stadia, we come to the small town Limyra. In the intervening distance along the coast above mentioned are many small islands and harbours. The most considerable of the islands is Cisthene, on which is a city of the same name.201 In the interior are the strongholds Phellus, Antiphellus, and ChimÆra, which I mentioned above.

8. Then follow the Sacred Promontory202 and the ChelidoniÆ, three rocky islands, equal in size, and distant from each other about 5, and from the land 6 stadia. One of them has an anchorage for vessels. According to the opinion of many writers, the Taurus begins here, because the summit is lofty, and extends from the Pisidian mountains situated above Pamphylia, and because the islands lying in front exhibit a [Pg 48]
[CAS. 666]remarkable figure in the sea, like a skirt of a mountain. But in fact the mountainous chain is continued from the country opposite Rhodes to the parts near Pisidia, and this range of mountains is called Taurus.

The ChelidoniÆ islands seem to be situated in a manner opposite to Canopus,203 and the passage across is said to be 4000 stadia.

From the Sacred Promontory to Olbia204 there remain 367 stadia. In this distance are Crambusa,205 and Olympus206 a large city, and a mountain of the same name, which is called also Phoenicus;207 then follows Corycus, a tract of sea-coast.

9. Then follows Phaselis,208 a considerable city, with three harbours and a lake. Above it is the mountain Solyma209 and Termessus,210 a Pisidic city, situated on the defiles, through which there is a pass over the mountain to Milyas. Alexander demolished it, with the intention of opening the defiles.

About Phaselis, near the sea, are narrow passes through which Alexander conducted his army. There is a mountain called Climax. It overhangs the sea of Pamphylia, leaving a narrow road along the coast, which in calm weather is not covered with water, and travellers can pass along it, but when the sea is rough, it is in a great measure hidden by the waves. The pass over the mountains is circuitous and steep, but in fair weather persons travel on the road along the shore. Alexander came there when there was a storm, and trusting generally to fortune, set out before the sea had receded, and the soldiers marched during the whole day up to the middle of the body in water.

Phaselis also is a Lycian city, situated on the confines of Pamphylia. It is not a part of the Lycian body, but is an independent city.

10. The poet distinguishes the Solymi from the Lycians, when he despatches Bellerophon by the king of the Lycians to this second adventure;

other writers say that the Lycians were formerly called Solymi, and afterwards TermilÆ, from the colonists that accompanied Sarpedon from Crete; and afterwards Lycians, from Lycus the son of Pandion, who, after having been banished from his own country, was admitted by Sarpedon to a share in the government; but their story does not agree with Homer. We prefer the opinion of those who say that the poet called the people Solymi who have now the name of MilyÆ, and whom we have mentioned before.

CHAPTER IV.

1. After Phaselis is Olbia; here Pamphylia begins. It is a large fortress. It is followed by the Cataractes,212 as it is called, a river which descends violently from a lofty rock, with a great body of water, like a winter torrent, so that the noise of it is heard at a great distance.

Next is Attaleia,213 a city, so called from its founder Attalus Philadelphus, who also settled another colony at Corycus, a small city near Attaleia, by introducing other inhabitants, and extending the circuit of the walls.

It is said, that between Phaselis and Attaleia, Thebe and Lyrnessus214 are shown; for, according to Callisthenes, a part of the Trojan Cilicians were driven from the plain of Thebe into Pamphylia.2. Next is the river Cestrus;215 on sailing up its stream 60 stadia we find the city Perge,216 and near it upon an elevated place, the temple of the PergÆan Artemis, where a general festival is celebrated every year.

Then at the distance of about 40 stadia from the sea is [Syllium],217 on an elevated site, and visible at Perge. Next is Capria, a lake of considerable extent; then the river Eurymedon;218 sailing up it to the distance of 60 stadia, we come to Aspendus,219 a well-peopled city, founded by Argives. Above it is Petnelissus;220 then another river, and many small islands [Pg 50]
[CAS. 668]lying in front; then Side, a colony of the CymÆans, where there is a temple of Minerva. Near it is the coast of the Little CibyratÆ; then the river Melas,221 and an anchorage for vessels; then Ptolemais222 a city; next the borders of Pamphylia, and Coracesium,223 where Cilicia Tracheia begins. The whole of the voyage along the coast of Pamphylia is 640 stadia.

3. Herodotus says,224 that the Pamphylians are descendants of the people who accompanied Amphilochus and Calchas from Troy, a mixture of various nations. The majority of them settled here, others were dispersed over different countries. Callinus says that Calchas died at Clarus, but that some of the people who, together with Mopsus, crossed the Taurus, remained in Pamphylia, and that others were scattered in Cilicia and Syria, and as far even as Phoenicia.

CHAPTER V.

1. Of Cilicia without the Taurus one part is called Cilicia Tracheia, the rugged; the other, Cilicia Pedias, the flat or plain country.

The coast of the Tracheia is narrow, and either has no level ground or it rarely occurs; besides this, the Taurus overhangs it, which is badly inhabited as far even as the northern side, about Isaura and the Homonadeis as far as Pisidia. This tract has the name of Tracheiotis, and the inhabitants that of TracheiotÆ. The flat or plain country extends from Soli and Tarsus as far as Issus, and the parts above, where the Cappadocians are situated on the northern side of the Taurus. This tract consists chiefly of fertile plains.

I have already spoken of the parts within the Taurus; I shall now describe those without the Taurus, beginning with the TracheiotÆ.

2. The first place is Coracesium,225 a fortress of the Cilicians, situated upon an abrupt rock. Diodotus surnamed Tryphon used it as a rendezvous at the time that he caused Syria to revolt from her kings, and carried on war against them with various success. Antiochus, the son of Demetrius, obliged him to shut himself up in one of the fortresses, and there he killed himself.

Tryphon was the cause of originating among the Cilicians a piratical confederacy. They were induced also to do this by the imbecility of the kings who succeeded each other on the thrones of Syria and Cilicia. In consequence of his introduction of political changes, others imitated his example, and the dissensions among brothers exposed the country to the attacks of invaders.

The exportation of slaves was the chief cause of inducing them to commit criminal acts, for this traffic was attended with very great profit, and the slaves were easily taken. Delos was at no great distance, a large and rich mart, capable of receiving and transporting, when sold, the same day, ten thousand slaves; so that hence arose a proverbial saying,

“Merchant, come into port, discharge your freight—everything is sold.”

The Romans, having acquired wealth after the destruction of Carthage and Corinth, employed great numbers of domestic slaves, and were the cause of this traffic. The pirates, observing the facility with which slaves could be procured, issued forth in numbers from all quarters, committing robbery and dealing in slaves.

The kings of Cyprus and of Egypt, who were enemies of the Syrians, favoured their marauding enterprises; the Rhodians were no less hostile to the Syrians, and therefore afforded the latter no protection. The pirates, therefore, under the pretence of trading in slaves, continued without intermission their invasions and robbery.

The Romans paid little attention to the places situated without the Taurus; they sent, however, Scipio Æmilianus, and afterwards some others, to examine the people and the cities. They discovered that the evils arose from negligence on the part of the sovereigns, but they were reluctant to deprive the family of Seleucus Nicator of the succession, in which he had been confirmed by themselves.

For the same reason the Parthians, who occupied the parts[Pg 52]
[CAS. 669] beyond the Euphrates, became masters of the country; and lastly the Armenians, who also gained possession of the country without the Taurus as far as Phoenicia. They used their utmost to extirpate the power of the kings and all their descendants, but surrendered the command of the sea to the Cilicians.

The Romans were subsequently compelled to reduce the Cilicians, after their aggrandizement, by war and expeditions, whose progress, however, and advancement they had not obstructed; yet it would be improper to accuse the Romans of neglect, because, being engaged with concerns nearer at hand, they were unable to direct their attention to more distant objects.

I thought proper to make these remarks in a short digression from my subject.3. Next to the Coracesium is the city Syedra;226 then Hamaxia,227 a small town upon a hill, with a harbour, to which is brought down timber for ship-building; the greatest part of it consists of cedar. This country seems to produce this tree in abundance. It was on this account that Antony assigned it to Cleopatra, as being capable of furnishing materials for the construction of her fleet.

Then follows Laertes a fortress, situated upon the crest of a hill, of a pap-like form; a port belongs to it; next, the city Selinus,228 then Cragus, a precipitous rock on the sea-coast; then Charadrus229 a fortress, which has a port (above it is the mountain Andriclus230) and a rocky shore, called Platanistus, next Anemurium231 a promontory, where the continent approaches nearest to Cyprus, towards the promontory Crommyum,232 the passage across being 350 stadia.

From the boundaries of Pamphylia to Anemurium, the voyage along the Cilician coast is 820 stadia; the remainder of it as far as Soli233 is about 500 stadia (1500?). On this coast, after Anemurium, the first city is Nagidus, then ArsinoË,234 with a small port; then a place called Melania,235 and Celenderis236 a city, with a harbour.Some writers,237 among whom is Artemidorus, consider this place as the commencement of Cilicia, and not Coracesium. He says, that from the Pelusiac mouth to Orthosia are 3900 stadia, and to the river Orontes238 1130 stadia; then to the gates of Cilicia 525 stadia, and to the borders of Cilicia 1260 stadia.239

4. Next is Holmi,240 formerly inhabited by the present Seleucians; but when Seleucia on the Calycadnus was built, they removed there. On doubling the coast, which forms a promontory called Sarpedon,241 we immediately come to the mouth of the Calycadnus.242 Zephyrium243 a promontory is near the Calycadnus. The river may be ascended as far as Seleucia, a city well peopled, and the manners of whose inhabitants are very different from those of the people of Cilicia and Pamphylia.

In our time there flourished at that place remarkable persons of the Peripatetic sect of philosophers, AthenÆus and Xenarchus. The former was engaged in the administration of the affairs of state in his own country, and for some time espoused the party of the people; he afterwards contracted a friendship with Murena, with whom he fled, and with whom he was captured, on the discovery of the conspiracy against Augustus CÆsar; but he established his innocence, and was set at liberty by CÆsar. When he returned from Rome, he addressed the first persons who saluted him, and made their inquiries, in the words of Euripides—

He survived his return but a short time, being killed by the fall, during the night, of the house in which he lived.

Xenarchus, whose lectures I myself attended, did not long remain at home, but taught philosophy at Alexandreia, Athens, and Rome. He enjoyed the friendship of Areius, and afterwards of Augustus CÆsar; he lived to old age, honoured and respected. Shortly before his death he lost his sight, and died a natural death.

[Pg 54]
[CAS. 670]

5. After the Calycadnus, is the rock called Poecile,245, which has steps, like those of a ladder, cut in the rock, on the road to Seleucia. Then follows the promontory Anemurium,246 of the same name with the former, Crambusa an island, and then Corycus247 a promontory, above which, at the distance of 20 stadia, is the Corycian cave, where grows the best saffron. It is a large valley of a circular form, surrounded by a ridge of rock, of considerable height all round. Upon descending into it, the bottom is irregular, and a great part of it rocky, but abounding with shrubs of the evergreen and cultivated kind. There are interspersed spots which produce the saffron. There is also a cave in which rises a river of pure and transparent water. Immediately at its source the river buries itself in the ground, and continues its subterraneous course till it discharges itself into the sea. The name of (Pikron Hydor) “bitter water” is given to it.

6. After Corycus, is the island ElÆussa,248 lying very near the continent. Here Archelaus resided, and built a palace, after having become master of the whole of Cilicia Tracheiotis, except Seleucia, as Augustus had been before, and as at a still earlier period it was held by Cleopatra. For as the country was well adapted by nature for robbery both by sea and land, (by land, on account of the extent of the mountains, and the nations situated beyond them, who occupy plains, and large tracts of cultivated country easy to be overrun; by sea, on account of the supply of timber for ship-building, the harbours, fortresses, and places of retreat,) for all these reasons the Romans thought it preferable that the country should be under the government of kings, than be subject to Roman governors sent to administer justice, but who would not always be on the spot, nor attended by an army. In this manner Archelaus obtained possession of Cilicia Tracheia, in addition to Cappadocia. Its boundaries between Soli and ElÆussa are the river Lamus,249 and a village of the same name.250

7. At the extremity of the Taurus is Olympus a mountain,251 the piratical hold of Zenicetus, and a fortress of the same name. It commands a view of the whole of Lycia, Pamphylia, and Pisidia. When the mountain was taken by (Servilius) Isauricus, Zenicetus burnt himself, with all his household. To this robber belonged Corycus, Phaselis, and many strongholds in Pamphylia, all of which were taken by (Servilius) Isauricus.

8. Next to Lamus is Soli,252 a considerable city, where the other Cilicia, that about Issus, commences. It was founded by AchÆans, and by Rhodians from Lindus. Pompey the Great transferred to this city, which had a scanty population, the survivors of the pirates, whom he thought most entitled to protection and clemency, and changed its name to Pompeiopolis.

Chrysippus the Stoic philosopher, the son of an inhabitant of Tarsus, who left it to live at Soli; Philemon the comic poet; and Aratus, who composed a poem called “the PhÆnomena,” were among the illustrious natives of this place.

9. Next follows Zephyrium,253 of the same name as that near Calycadnus; then Anchiale, a little above the sea, built by Sardanapalus, according to Aristobulus. (According to the same author) the tomb of Sardanapalus is here, and a stone figure representing him with the fingers of his right hand brought together as in the act of snapping them, and the following inscription in Assyrian letters: “SARDANAPALUS, THE SON OF ANACYNDARAXES, BUILT ANCHIALE AND TARSUS IN ONE DAY. EAT, DRINK, BE MERRY; EVERYTHING ELSE IS NOT WORTH254 THAT”—the snapping of the fingers.

Choerilus mentions this inscription, and the following lines are everywhere known:

“Meat and drink, wanton jests, and the delights of love, these I have enjoyed; but my great wealth I have left behind.”254

10. Above Anchiale is situated Cyinda a fortress, where the Macedonian kings formerly kept their treasure. Eumenes, when he revolted from Antigonus, took it away. Further above this place and Soli, is a mountainous tract, where is situated Olbe a city, which has a temple of Jupiter, founded by Ajax, son of Teucer. The priest of this temple was master [Pg 56]
[CAS. 672]of the Tracheiotis. Subsequently many tyrants seized upon the country, and it became the retreat of robbers. After their extermination, the country was called, even to our times, the dominion of Teucer; and the priesthood, the priesthood of Teucer; indeed, most of the priests had the name of Teucer, or of Ajax. Aba, the daughter of Xenophanes, one of the tyrants, entered into this family by marriage, and obtained possession of the government. Her father had previously administered it as guardian, but Antony and Cleopatra afterwards conferred it upon Aba, as a favour, being ultimately prevailed upon to do so by her entreaties and attentions. She was afterwards dispossessed, but the government remained in the hands of the descendants of her family.

Next to Anchiale are the mouths of the Cydnus255 at the Rhegma, (the Rent,) as it is called. It is a place like a lake, and has ancient dockyards; here the Cydnus discharges itself, after flowing through the middle of Tarsus. It rises in the Taurus, which overhangs the city. The lake is a naval arsenal of Tarsus.11. The whole of the sea-coast, beginning from the part opposite to Rhodes, extends to this place in the direction from the western to the eastern point of the equinoctial. It then turns towards the winter solstice, as far as Issus, and thence immediately makes a bend to the south to Phoenicia. The remainder towards the west terminates at the pillars (of Hercules).256

The actual isthmus of the peninsula, which we have described, is that which extends from Tarsus and the mouth of the Cydnus as far as Amisus, for this is the shortest distance from Amisus to the boundaries of Cilicia; from these to Tarsus are 120 stadia, and not more from Tarsus to the mouth of the Cydnus. To Issus, and the sea near it, there is no shorter road from Amisus than that leading through Tarsus, nor from Tarsus to Issus is there any nearer than that leading to Cydnus; so that it is clear, that, in reality, this is the isthmus. Yet it is pretended that the isthmus extending as far as the Bay of Issus is the true isthmus, on account of its presenting remarkable points.

Hence, not aiming at exactness, we say that the line drawn from the country opposite to Rhodes, which we protracted as far as Cydnus, is the same as that extending as far as Issus, and that the Taurus extends in a straight direction with this line as far as India.

12. Tarsus is situated in a plain. It was founded by Argives, who accompanied Triptolemus in his search after Io. The Cydnus flows through the middle of it, close by the gymnasium of the young men. As the source is not far distant, and the stream passing through a deep valley, then flows immediately into the city, the water is cold and rapid in its course; hence it is of advantage to men and beasts affected with swellings of the sinews, fluxions, and gout.257

13. The inhabitants of this city apply to the study of philosophy and to the whole encyclical compass of learning with so much ardour, that they surpass Athens, Alexandreia, and every other place which can be named where there are schools and lectures of philosophers.

It differs however so far from other places, that the studious are all natives, and strangers are not inclined to resort thither. Even the natives themselves do not remain, but travel abroad to complete their studies, and having completed them reside in foreign countries. Few of them return.

The contrary is the case in the other cities which I have mentioned, except Alexandreia; for multitudes repair to them, and reside there with pleasure; but you would observe that few of the natives travel abroad from a love of learning, or show much zeal in the pursuit of it on the spot. But both these things are to be seen at Alexandreia, a large number of strangers is received, (into their schools,) and not a few of their own countrymen are sent out to foreign countries (to study). They have schools of all kinds, for instruction in the liberal arts. In other respects Tarsus is well peopled, extremely powerful, and has the character of being the capital.258

[Pg 58]
[CAS. 674]14. The Stoic philosophers Antipater, Archedemus, and Nestor were natives of Tarsus: and besides these, the two Athenodori, one of whom, Cordylion, lived with Marcus Cato, and died at his house; the other, the son of Sandon, called Cananites, from some village, was the preceptor of CÆsar,259 who conferred on him great honours. In his old age he returned to his native country, where he dissolved the form of government existing there, which was unjustly administered by various persons, and among them by BoËthus, a bad poet and a bad citizen, who had acquired great power by courting the favour of the people. Antony contributed to increase his importance by having in the first instance commended a poem which he had composed on the victory at Philippi; his influence was still augmented by the facility which he possessed (and it is very general among the inhabitants of Tarsus) of discoursing at great length, and without preparation, upon any given subject. Antony also had promised the people of Tarsus to establish a gymnasium; he appointed BoËthus chief director of it, and intrusted to him the expenditure of the funds. He was detected in secreting, among other things, even the oil, and when charged with this offence by his accusers in the presence of Antony, he deprecated his anger by this, among other remarks in his speech, that as Homer had sung the praises of “Achilles, Agamemnon, and Ulysses, so have I sung yours. I therefore ought not to be brought before you on such a charge.” The accuser answered, “Homer did not steal oil from Agamemnon260 nor Achilles; but you have stolen it from the gymnasium, and therefore you shall be punished.” Yet he contrived to avert the displeasure of Antony by courteous offices, and continued to plunder the city until the death of his protector.

Athenodorus found the city in this state, and for some time attempted to control BoËthus and his accomplices by argument; but finding that they continued to commit all kinds of injustice, he exerted the power given to him by CÆsar, condemned them to banishment, and expelled them. They had previously caused to be written upon the walls, “Action for the young, counsel for the middle-aged, discharging wind for the old;” but Athenodorus, accepting it as a jest, gave orders to inscribe by the side of it, “Thunder for the old.” Some one, however, in contempt for his good manners, having a lax state of body, bespattered the gate and wall of his house as he passed by it at night. Athenodorus, in an assembly of the people, accusing persons of being factiously disposed, said, “We may perceive the sickly condition of the city, and its bad habit of body, from many circumstances, but particularly from its discharges.”

Those men were Stoics, but Nestor, of our time, the tutor of Marcellus, son of Octavia, the sister of CÆsar, was of the Academic sect. He was also at the head of the government, having succeeded Athenodorus, and continued to be honoured both by the Roman governors and by the citizens.

15. Among the other philosophers,

were Plutiades and Diogenes, who went about from city to city, instituting schools of philosophy as the opportunity occurred. Diogenes, as if inspired by Apollo, composed and rehearsed poems, chiefly of the tragic kind, upon any subject that was proposed. The grammarians of Tarsus, whose writings we have, were Artemidorus and Diodorus. But the best writer of tragedy, among those enumerated in “The Pleiad,” was Dionysides. Rome is best able to inform us what number of learned men this city has produced, for it is filled with persons from Tarsus and Alexandreia.

Such then is Tarsus.

16. After the Cydnus follows the Pyramus,262 which flows from Cataonia. We have spoken of it before. Artemidorus says, that from thence to Soli is a voyage in a straight line of 500 stadia. Near the Pyramus is Mallus,263 situated upon a height; it was founded by Amphilochus, and Mopsus, the son of Apollo, and Mantus, about whom many fables are related. I have mentioned them in speaking of Calchas, and of the contest between Calchas and Mopsus respecting their skill in divination. Some persons, as Sophocles, transfer the scene of this contest to Sicily, which, after the custom of tragic poets, they call Pamphylia, as they call Lycia, Caria, and [Pg 60]
[CAS. 676]Troy and Lydia, Phrygia. Sophocles, among other writers, says that Calchas died there. According to the fable, the contest did not relate to skill in divination only, but also to sovereignty. For it is said, that Mopsus and Amphilochus, on their return from Troy, founded Mallus; that Amphilochus afterwards went to Argos, and being dissatisfied with the state of affairs there, returned to Mallus, where, being excluded from a share in the government, he engaged with Mopsus in single combat. Both were killed, but their sepulchres are not in sight of each other. They are shown at present at Magarsa, near the Pyramus.

Crates the grammarian was a native of this place, and PanÆtius is said to have been his disciple.

17. Above this coast is situated the AleÏan plain, over which Philotas conducted Alexander’s cavalry, he himself leading the phalanx from Soli along the sea-coast and the territory of Mallus to Issus, against the forces of Darius. It is said that Alexander performed sacrifices in honour of Amphilochus, on account of their common affinity to Argos. Hesiod says that Amphilochus was killed by Apollo at Soli; according to others, at the AleÏan plain; and others again say, in Syria, upon his quitting the AleÏan plain on account of the quarrel.

18. Mallus is followed by ÆgÆÆ, a small town264 with a shelter for vessels; then the Amanides Gates, (Gates of Amanus,265) with a shelter for vessels. At these gates terminates the mountain Amanus,266 which extends from the Taurus, and lies above Cilicia towards the east. It was successively in the possession of several tyrants, who had strongholds; but, in our time, Tarcondimotus, who was a man of merit, became master of all; for his good conduct and bravery, he received from the Romans the title of King, and transmitted the succession to his posterity.

19. Next to ÆgÆÆ is Issus, a small town with a shelter for vessels, and a river, the Pinarus.267 At Issus the battle was fought between Alexander and Darius. The bay is called the Issic Bay. The city Rhosus268 is situated upon it, as also the city Myriandrus, Alexandreia,269 Nicopolis, Mopsuestia,270 and the Gates,271 as they are called, which are the boundary between Cilicia and Syria.

In Cilicia are the temple of the Sarpedonian Artemis and an oracle. Persons possessed with divine inspiration deliver the oracles.

20. After Cilicia, the first Syrian city is Seleucia-in-Pieria;272 near it the river Orontes273 empties itself. From Seleucia to Soli is a voyage in a straight line of nearly 1000 stadia.

21. Since the Cilicians of the Troad, whom Homer mentions, are situated at a great distance from the Cilicians without the Taurus, some writers declare that the leaders of the latter colony were Cilicians of the Troad, and point to Thebe and Lyrnessus in Pamphylia, places bearing the same name as those in the Troad; other authors are of a contrary opinion, and (considering the Cilicians of the Troad as descendants of those from beyond the Taurus) point to an AleÏan plain (in support of their hypothesis).

22. Having described the parts of the before-mentioned Chersonesus without the Taurus, I must add these particulars.

Apollodorus, in his work on the catalogue of the ships mentioned in Homer, relates, that all the allies of the Trojans, who came from Asia, inhabited, according to the poet, the peninsula of which at its narrowest part is the isthmus between the innermost recess of the bay at Sinope and Issus. The exterior sides (of this peninsula), which is of a triangular shape, are unequal. Of these, one extends from Cilicia to ChelidoniÆ, (islands,) another thence to the mouth of the Euxine, and the third from the mouth of the Euxine to Sinope.

The assertion that the allies were only those who occupied the peninsula may be proved to be erroneous by the same arguments by which we before showed that those who lived within the Halys were not the only allies. For the places about Pharnacia, where we said the Halizoni lived, are situated without the Halys, and also without the isthmus, for they [Pg 62]
[CAS. 677]are without the line drawn from Sinope to Issus;274 and not only without this line, but also without the true line of the isthmus drawn from Amisus to Issus; for Apollodorus incorrectly describes the isthmus and the line of its direction, substituting one line for another (the line drawn from Sinope to Issus for the line drawn from Amisus to Issus).

But the greatest absurdity is this, that after having said that the peninsula was of a triangular shape, he speaks of three exterior sides. For in speaking of exterior sides, he seems to except the line of the isthmus itself, considering it still a side, although not an exterior side, from its not being upon the sea. But if this line were so shortened that the extremities of the (exterior) sides falling upon Issus and Sinope nearly coincided, the peninsula might in that case be said to be of a triangular shape; but as his own line (from Sinope to Issus) is 3000 stadia in length, it would be ignorance, and not a knowledge of chorography, to call such a four-sided figure a triangle. Yet he published a work on Chorography, in the metre of comedy, (Iambic metre,) entitled “The Circuit of the Earth.”

He is still liable to the same charge of ignorance, even if we should suppose the isthmus to be contracted to its least dimensions, and follow writers who erroneously estimate the distance at one-half of the sum, namely 1500 stadia, to which it is reduced by Artemidorus; but even this would not by any means reduce the thus contracted space to the figure of a triangle.

Besides, Artemidorus has not correctly described the exterior sides; one side, he says, extends from Issus to the ChelidoniÆ islands, although the whole Lycian coast, and the country opposite to Rhodes as far as Physcus, lies in a straight line with, and is a continuation of it; the continent then makes a bend at Physcus, and forms the commencement of the second or western side, extending to the Propontis and Byzantium.

23. Ephorus had said that this peninsula was inhabited by sixteen tribes, three of which were Grecian, and the rest barbarous, with the exception of the mixed nations; he placed on the sea-coast Cilicians, Pamphylians, Lycians, Bithynians, Paphlagonians, Mariandyni, Troes, and Carians; and in the interior, Pisidians, Mysians, Chalybes, Phrygians, and MilyÆ.275 Apollodorus, when discussing this position, says there is a seventeenth tribe, the Galatians, who are more recent than the time of Ephorus; that of the sixteen tribes mentioned, the Greeks were not settled (in the peninsula) at the period of the Trojan war, and that time has produced great intermixture and confusion among the barbarous nations. Homer, he continues, recites in his Catalogue the Troes, and those now called Paphlagonians, Mysians, Phrygians, Carians, Lycians, Meionians, instead of Lydians and other unknown people, as Halizoni and Caucones; nations besides not mentioned in the Catalogue but elsewhere, as Ceteii, Solymi, the Cilicians from the plain of Thebe, and Leleges. But the Pamphylians, Bithynians, Mariandyni, Pisidians, and Chalybes, MilyÆ, and Cappadocians are nowhere mentioned by the poet; some because they did not then inhabit these places, and some because they were surrounded by other tribes, as Idrieis and TermilÆ by Carians, Doliones and Bebryces by Phrygians.

24. But Apollodorus does not seem to have carefully examined the statements of Ephorus, for he confounds and misrepresents the words of Homer. He ought first to have inquired of Ephorus why he placed the Chalybes within the peninsula, who were situated at a great distance from Sinope, and Amisus towards the east. Those who describe the isthmus of this peninsula to be on the line drawn from Issus to the Euxine, lay down this line as a sort of meridian line, which some suppose to pass through Sinope, others through Amisus; but no one through the Chalybes, for such a line would be altogether an oblique line. For the meridian passing through the Chalybes, drawn through the Lesser Armenia, and the Euphrates, would comprise (on the east) the whole of Cappadocia, Commagene, Mount Amanus, and the Bay of Issus. [Pg 64]
[CAS. 678]But if we should grant (to Ephorus) that this oblique line is the direction of the isthmus, most of these places, Cappadocia in particular, would be included, and (the kingdom of) Pontus, properly so called, which is a part of Cappadocia on the Euxine; so that if we were to admit the Chalybes to be a part of the peninsula, with more reason we ought to admit the Cataonians, the two nations of Cappadocians, and the Lycaonians, whom even he himself has omitted. But why has he placed in the interior the Chalybes, whom the poet, as we have shown, calls Halizoni? It would have been better to divide them, and to place one portion of them on the sea-coast, and another in the inland parts. The same division ought to be made of the Cappadocians and Cilicians. But Ephorus does not even mention the former, and speaks only of the Cilicians on the sea-coast. The subjects, then, of Antipater of Derbe, the Homonadeis, and many other tribes contiguous to the Pisidians,

“men, who know not the sea, nor have ever eaten food seasoned with salt,”276

where are they to be placed? Nor does he say whether the Lydians and the Meonians are two nations or the same nation, or whether they live separately by themselves or are comprehended in another tribe. For it was impossible for Ephorus to be ignorant of so celebrated a nation, and does he not, by passing it over in silence, appear to omit a most important fact?

25. But who are “the mixed nations”? For we cannot say that he either named or omitted others, besides those already mentioned, whom we should call mixed nations. Nor, indeed, should we say that they were a part of those nations whom he has either mentioned or omitted. For if they were a mixed people, still the majority constituted them either Greeks or Barbarians. We know nothing of a third mixed people.

26. But how (according to Ephorus) are there three tribes of Greeks who inhabit the peninsula? Is it because anciently the Athenians and Ionians were the same people? In that case the Dorians and the Æolians should be considered as the same nation, and then there would be (only) two tribes (and not three, inhabiting the peninsula). But if, following modern practice, we are to distinguish nations according to dialects, there will be four nations, as there are four dialects. But this peninsula is inhabited, especially if we adopt the division by Ephorus, not only by Ionians, but also by Athenians, as we have shown in the account of each particular place.

It was worth while to controvert the positions of Ephorus, Apollodorus however disregards all this, and adds a seventeenth to the sixteen nations, namely, the Galatians; although it is well to mention this, yet it is not required in a discussion of what Ephorus relates or omits; Apollodorus has assigned as the reason of the omission, that all these nations settled in the peninsula subsequently to the time of Ephorus.

27. Passing then to Homer, Apollodorus is correct in saying that there was a great intermixture and confusion among the barbarous nations, from the Trojan war to the present time, on account of the changes which had taken place; for some nations had an accession of others, some were extinct or dispersed, or had coalesced together.

But he is mistaken in assigning two reasons why the poet does not mention some nations, namely, either because the place was not then occupied by the particular people, or because they were comprehended in another tribe. Neither of these reasons could induce him to be silent respecting Cappadocia or Cataonia, or Lycaonia itself, for we have nothing of the kind in history relating to these countries. It is ridiculous to be anxious to find excuses why Homer has omitted to speak of Cappadocia [Cataonia] and Lycaonia, and not to inform us why Ephorus omitted them, particularly as the proposed object of Apollodorus was to examine and discuss the opinions of Ephorus; and to tell us why Homer mentions MÆonians instead of Lydians, and also not to remark that Ephorus has not omitted to mention either Lydians or MÆonians.277

28. Apollodorus remarks, that Homer mentions certain unknown nations, and he is right in specifying Caucones, Solymi, Ceteii, Leleges, and the Cilicians from the plain of Thebe; but the Halizones are a fiction of his own, or rather of those who, not knowing who the Halizones were, frequently altered the mode of writing the name, and invented the existence of [Pg 66]
[CAS. 680]mines of silver and of many other mines, all of which are abandoned.

With this vain intention they collected the stories related by the Scepsian, (Demetrius,) and taken from Callisthenes and other writers, who did not clear them from false notions respecting the Halizones; for example, the wealth of Tantalus and of the PelopidÆ was derived, it is said, from the mines about Phrygia and Sipylus; that of Cadmus from the mines about Thrace and Mount PangÆum; that of Priam from the gold mines at Astyra, near Abydos (of which at present there are small remains, yet there is a large quantity of matter ejected, and the excavations are proofs of former workings); that of Midas from the mines about Mount Bermium; that of Gyges, Alyattes, and Croesus, from the mines in Lydia and the small deserted city between Atarneus and Pergamum, where are the sites of exhausted mines.278

29. We may impute another fault to Apollodorus, that although he frequently censures modern writers for introducing new readings at variance with the meaning of Homer, yet in this instance he not only neglects his own advice, but actually unites together places which are not so represented (by Homer).

(For example), Xanthus the Lydian says, that after the Trojan times the Phrygians came from Europe (into Asia) and the left (western) side of the Euxine, and that their leader Scamandrius conducted them from the Berecynti and Ascania. Apollodorus adds, that Homer mentions the same Ascania as Xanthus,

“Phorcys and the divine Ascanius led the Phrygians from the distant Ascania.”279

If this be so, the migration (from Europe to Asia) must be later than the Trojan war; but in the Trojan war the auxiliaries mentioned by the poet came from the opposite continent, from the Berecynti and Ascania. Who then were the Phrygians,

when Priam says,

And how came Priam to send for the Phrygians from among the Berecynti, between whom and himself no compact existed, and pass over the people who were contiguous to him, and whose ally he formerly had been?

Apollodorus, after having spoken of the Phrygians in this manner, introduces an account concerning the Mysians which contradicts this. He says that there is a village of Mysia called Ascania, near a lake of the same name,281 out of which issues the river Ascanius, mentioned by Euphorion:282

and by Alexander of Ætolia:

“they who dwell on the stream of Ascanius, on the brink of the Ascanian lake, where lived Dolion, the son of Silenus and Melia.”

The district, he says, about Cyzicus, on the road to Miletopolis, is called Dolionis and Mysia.

If this is the case, and if it is confirmed by existing places and by the poets, what prevented Homer, when he mentioned this Ascania, from mentioning the Ascania also of which Xanthus speaks?

I have already spoken of these places in the description of Mysia and Phrygia, and shall here conclude the discussion.

CHAPTER VI.

1. It remains for me to describe the island Cyprus, which adjoins this peninsula on the south. I have already said, that the sea comprised between Egypt, Phoenice, Syria, and the remainder of the coast as far as that opposite to Rhodes, consists, [Pg 68]
[CAS. 681]so to say, of the Egyptian and Pamphylian seas and the sea along the Bay of Issus.

In this sea lies the island Cyprus, having its northern side approaching to Cilicia Tracheia, and here also it approaches nearest to the continent; on the east it is washed by the Bay of Issus, on the west by the Pamphylian sea, and on the south by that of Egypt. The latter sea is confluent on the west with the Libyan and Carpathian seas. On its southern and eastern parts is Egypt, and the succeeding tract of coast as far as Seleucia and Issus. On the north is Cyprus, and the Pamphylian sea.

The Pamphylian sea is bounded on the north by the extremities of Cilicia Tracheia, of Pamphylia, and of Lycia as far as the territory opposite to Rhodes; on the west, by the island of Rhodes; on the east, by the part of Cyprus near Paphos, and the Acamas; on the south, it unites with the Egyptian sea.

2. The circumference of Cyprus is 3420 stadia, including the winding of the bays. Its length from Cleides283 to the Acamas,284 to a traveller on land proceeding from east to west, is 1400 stadia.

The Cleides are two small islands lying in front of Cyprus on the eastern side, at the distance of 700 stadia from the Pyramus.285

The Acamas is a promontory with two paps, and upon it is a large forest. It is situated at the western part of the island, but extends towards the north, approaching very near Selinus in Cilicia Tracheia, for the passage across is only 1000 stadia; to Side in Pamphylia the passage is 1600 stadia, and to the ChelidoniÆ (islands) 1900 stadia.

The figure of the whole island is oblong, and in some places on the sides, which define its breadth, there are isthmuses.

We shall describe the several parts of the island briefly, beginning from the point nearest to the continent.

3. We have said before, that opposite to Anemyrium, a promontory of Cilicia Tracheia, is the extremity of Cyprus, namely, the promontory of Crommyon,286 at the distance of 350 stadia.

From the cape, keeping the island on the right hand, and continent on the left, the voyage to the Cleides in a straight line towards north and east is a distance of 700 stadia.

In the interval is the city Lapathus,287 with a harbour and dockyards; it was founded by Laconians and Praxander. Opposite to it was Nagidus. Then follows Aphrodisium;288 here the island is narrow, for over the mountains to Salamis289 are 70 stadia. Next is the sea-beach of the AchÆans; here Teucer, the founder of Salamis in Cyprus, being it is said banished by his father Telamon, first disembarked. Then follows the city Carpasia,290 with a harbour. It is situated opposite to the promontory Sarpedon.291 From Carpasia there is a transit across the isthmus of 30 stadia to the Carpasian islands and the southern sea; next are a promontory and a mountain. The name of the promontory is Olympus, and upon it is a temple of Venus AcrÆa, not to be approached nor seen by women.

Near and in front lie the Cleides, and many other islands; next are the Carpasian islands, and after these Salamis, the birth-place of Aristus the historian; then ArsinoË, a city with a harbour; next Leucolla, another harbour; then the promontory Pedalium, above which is a hill, rugged, lofty, and table-shaped, sacred to Venus; to this hill from Cleides are 680 stadia. Then to Citium292 the navigation along the coast is for the greater part difficult and among bays. Citium has a close harbour. It is the birth-place of Zeno, the chief of the Stoic sect, and of Apollonius the physician. Thence to Berytus are 1500 stadia. Next is the city Amathus,293 and between Citium and Berytus, a small city called PalÆa, and a pap-shaped mountain, Olympus; then follows Curias,294 a promontory of a peninsular form, to which from Throni295 are 700 stadia; then the city Curium,296 with a harbour, founded by Argives.

Here we may observe the negligence of the author, whether Hedylus, or whoever he was, of the elegiac lines which begin,

“We hinds, sacred to Phoebus, hither came in our swift course; we traversed the broad sea, to avoid the arrows of our pursuers.”

He says, that the hinds ran down from the Corycian heights, [Pg 70]
[CAS. 683] and swam across from the Cilician coast to the beach near Curias, and adds,

“That it was a cause of vast surprise to men to think how we scoured the trackless waves, aided by the vernal Zephyrs.”

For it is possible (by doubling the cape) to sail round from Corycus to the beach of Curias, but not with the assistance of the west wind, nor by keeping the island on the right, but on the left hand; and there is no (direct) passage across.

At Curium is the commencement of the voyage towards the west in the direction of Rhodes; then immediately follows a promontory, whence those who touch with their hands the altar of Apollo are precipitated. Next are Treta,297 Boosura,298 and PalÆpaphus, situated about 10 stadia from the sea, with a harbour and an ancient temple of the Paphian Venus; then follows Zephyria,299 a promontory with an anchorage, and another ArsinoË, which also has an anchorage, a temple, and a grove. At a little distance from the sea is Hierocepis.300 Next is Paphos, founded by Agapenor, with a harbour and temples, which are fine buildings. It is distant from PalÆpaphus 60 stadia by land. Along this road the annual sacred processions are conducted, when a great concourse both of men and women resort thither from other cities. Some writers say, that from Paphos to Alexandreia are 3600 stadia. Next after Paphos is the Acamas; then after the Acamas the voyage is easterly to ArsinoË a city, and to the grove of Jupiter; then Soli301 a city, where there is a harbour, a river, and a temple of Venus and Isis. It was founded by Phalerus and Acamas, who were Athenians. The inhabitants are called Solii. Stasanor, one of the companions of Alexander, was a native of Soli, and was honoured with a chief command. Above Soli in the interior is Limenia a city, then follows the promontory of Crommyon.

4. But why should we be surprised at poets, and those particularly who study modes of expression only, when we compare them with Damastes? The latter gives the length of the island from north to south, from Hierocepia, as he says, to Cleides.

Nor does even Eratosthenes give it exactly. For, when he censures Damastes, he says that Hierocepia is not on the north, but on the south. Yet neither is it on the south, but the west, since it lies on the western side, where are situated Paphos and Acamas.

Such then is the position of Cyprus.

5. It is not inferior in fertility to any one of the islands, for it produces good wine and oil, and sufficient corn to supply the wants of the inhabitants. At Tamassus there are abundant mines of copper, in which the calcanthus is found, and rust of copper, useful for its medicinal properties.

Eratosthenes says, that anciently the plains abounded with timber, and were covered with forests, which prevented cultivation; the mines were of some service towards clearing the surface, for trees were cut down to smelt the copper and silver. Besides this, timber was required for the construction of fleets, as the sea was now navigated with security and by a large naval force; but when even these means were insufficient to check the growth of timber in the forests, permission was given to such as were able and inclined, to cut down the trees and to hold the land thus cleared as their own property, free from all payments.

6. Formerly the Cyprian cities were governed by tyrants, but from the time that the PtolemaÏc kings were masters of Egypt, Cyprus also came into their power, the Romans frequently affording them assistance. But when the last Ptolemy that was king, brother of the father of Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt in our time, had conducted himself in a disorderly manner, and was ungrateful to his benefactors, he was deposed, and the Romans took possession of the island, which became a PrÆtorian province by itself.

The chief author of the deposition of the king was Pub. Claudius Pulcher, who having fallen into the hands of the Cilician pirates, at that time at the height of their power, and a ransom being demanded of him, despatched a message to the king, entreating him to send it for his release. The king sent a ransom, but of so small an amount, that the pirates disdained to accept it, and returned it, but they dismissed Pulcher without any payment. After his escape, he remembered what he owed to both parties; and when he became tribune of the people, he had sufficient influence to have Marcus[Pg 72]
[CAS. 684] Cato sent to deprive the king of the possession of Cyprus. The latter put himself to death before the arrival of Cato, who, coming soon afterwards, took possession of Cyprus, sold the king’s property, and conveyed the money to the public treasury of the Romans.

From this time the island became, as it is at present, a PrÆtorian province. During a short intervening period Antony had given it to Cleopatra and her sister ArsinoË, but upon his death all his arrangements were annulled.